Chapter 19 13/11/2007 19:17:00

Girots – oral speaker of Africa. Story of Sundiata, founder of Mali, lame but
killed of enemies and won. Sub-Sahara Africa not so active like N. Africa due
to geographical barriers. Bantu encourage cultivation and trade.
Effects of early African migrations: 1000CE – Bantu settled in most
parts of Africa. Kushite, Sudanese, Mande and other people also moved.
Some migrations continued till 19th century
• Agriculture and population growth
o Bantu and other migrations from 2000 B.C.E.--1000 C.E.
 Spread agriculture and herding throughout Africa
 Displaced and/or absorbed
hunting/gathering/fishing people
 Iron metallurgy after 500 B.C.E. facilitated
clearing more land
 Yams, sorghum, and millet cultivated
 Khoi people have adopted cattle before migrations
 Introduction of bananas after 500 C.E. caused
migration and population surge
• Came from SE Asia (Malay) - Madagascar
 Population growth: from 3.5 million in 400 B.C.E. to 22
million by 1000 C.E.
• African political organization: By 1000CE, Bantu already spread to
most of Africa, thus they begun to settle down.
o Kin-based society the norm (sometimes called "stateless
society/segmentary society")
 Early societies did not depend on elaborate bureaucracy
 Societies governed through family and kinship groups
 Village council consisted of male family heads
 Chief of a village was from the most prominent family
head
 A group of villages constituted a district – principal
focus of ethnic loyalties
 Villages chiefs negotiated intervillage affairs
  Niv of Nieria – One million people organized with kins
o Chiefdoms
 Population growth strained resources and increased
conflict
 Some African communities began to organize military
forces, 1000 C.E.
 Powerful chiefs overrode kinship networks and imposed
authority and conquered, liggle kingdoms
 Examples: Ife and Benin – city-states
o Kingdom of Kongo
 Villages formed small states along the Congo River,
1000 C.E.
 Small states formed several larger principalities, 1200
C.E.
 One of the principalities overcame its neighbors and
built kingdom of Kongo
 Maintained a centralized government with a royal
currency system
 Provided effective organization until the mid-
seventeenth century
Islamic kingdoms and empires: While Bantu were migrating, Islam came
by land in camel caravans and the coast with Indian ocean trade routes
• Trans-Saharan trade and Islamic states in west Africa: Never stood
as absolute barrier (nomads living in it, some trade expedition)
o After 300 C.E. camels replaced horses and donkeys as
transport animals (a special saddle and water-retainment)
 Camels' arrival quickened pace of communication across
the Sahara
 Islamic merchants crossed desert and established
relations
 Trading sites established and caravans
o The kingdom of Ghana became the most important
commercial site in west Africa
 Started probably in 5th century, agricultural, sought
together to protect from camel riding nomads
  Provided gold (most important), ivory, and slaves for
traders from north Africa
 Exchanged for horses, cloth, manufactured goods, and
salt (crucial in tropics)
 Koumbi-Saleh, capital city of Ghana, a thriving
commercial center
 Tax allowed very large armies
 Ghana kings converted to Islam by the tenth century,
didn't force on others
 Nomadic raids from the Sahara weakened the kingdom
in the early thirteenth century
o Sundiata, or lion prince, built Mali empire (reigned 1230-1255
C.E.), built army on cavalry
o Mali empire and trade
 Controlled and taxed almost all trade passing through
west Africa
 Enormous caravans linked Mali to north Africa
 Besides the capital Niani, many other prosperous cities
on caravan routes
 Also is Islam but didn’t impose them
o Mansa Musa, Sundiata's grandnephew (reigned 1312-1337
C.E.)
 Made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-1325 with huge
caravan
 Upon return to Mali, built mosques
 Sent students to study with distinguished Islamic
scholars in northern Africa
 Established Islamic schools in Mali
o Decline of Mali due to factions and military pressure from
neighbors and nomads
o The Songhay empire replaced Mali by the late fifteenth
century
• The Indian Ocean trade and Islamic states in east Africa: Indian,
Persian, Romans and Malay all came here.
o Swahili is an Arabic term meaning "coasters"
 Dominated east African coast from Mogadishu to Sofala
 Spoke Swahili, a Bantu language, supplemented with
some Arabic words
 Frequently visited each other
 Trade with Muslim merchants became important by the
tenth century
 Trade exotic stuff and old for textile, glass etc.
o The Swahili city-states
 Chiefs gained power through taxing trade on ports
 Ports developed into city-states governed by kings,
eleventh and twelfth centuries
 Mogadishu, Lamu, Malindi, Mombasa, Zanzibar,
Kilwa, Mozambique and Sofala
 Cities much richer than former villages
o Kilwa: good example of busy city-state on east coast;
exported gold. Started with fishing and moved to trade
o Zimbabwe was powerful kingdom of east Africa
 By the ninth century, chiefs began to build stone
residences (Zimbabwe – dwelling of a chief)
 Magnificent stone complex known as Great Zimbabwe in
the twelfth century (Started with wood)
 Eighteen thousand people lived in Great Zimbabwe in
the late fifteenth century
 Kings organized flow of gold, ivory, and slaves
o Islam in east Africa
 Ruling elite and wealthy merchants converted to Islamic
faith
 Conversion promoted close cooperation with Muslim
merchants
 Conversion also opened door to political alliances with
Muslim rulers
African society and cultural development
• Social classes
o Diversity of African societies: villages, kingdoms, empires,
city-states
o Kinship groups: extended families and clans as social and
economic organizations
 Communities claimed rights to land; no private property
 Village council allocated land to clan members
o Sex and gender relations
 Men undertook heavy labor
 Women were responsible for child rearing, domestic
chores
 Men monopolized public authority, but women enjoyed
high honor as the source of life
 Aristocratic women could influence public affairs
 Women merchants commonly traded at markets
 Sometimes women organized all-female military units
 Islam did little to curtail women's opportunities in sub-
Saharan Africa
o Age grades
 Assumed responsibilities and tasks appropriate to their
age grades
 Age group formed tight circle of friends, later allies
o Slavery
 Most slaves were captives of war, debtors, criminals
 Worked as agricultural labor or sold in slave markets
 Slave trade increased after the eleventh century
 Demand for slaves outstripped supply from eastern
Europe
 Slave raids of large states against small states or
villages
  Zanj slave revolt in Mesopotamia in tenth century
• African religion
o Creator god as source of world order
o Lesser gods and spirits
 Often associated with natural features
 Intervened in the workings of the world
 Believed in ancestors' souls; had many rituals
o Diviners mediated between humanity and supernatural beings
 Interpreted the cause of the people's misfortune
 Used medicine or rituals to eliminate problems
 African religion was not theological but practical
• The arrival of Christianity and Islam
o Early Christianity in north Africa
 Christianity reached north Africa during the first century
C.E.
 Christian kingdom of Axum in Ethiopia (fourth century
C.E.)
o Ethiopian Christianity
 Missionaries translated Bible and popularized
Christianity there
 Carved churches out of solid rock
 Solomonic dynasty claimed descent from Israelite kings
(thirteenth century)
 Kebra Negast fictionalized account of lineage; was
popular with Rastafarians
o African Islam
 Appealed strongly to ruling elite and merchants of sub-
Saharan Africa
 Converts took their religion seriously; they built
mosques and schools, invited experts
 Accommodated African gender relations; women
retained more freedoms
 Supplemented rather than replaced traditional religions
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13/11/2007 19:17:00