Unit II: Early African Civilizations

GhanaMali

AxumZimbabwe

Bantu Migration*• About 1500 b.c.e. an extraordinary

cultural migration began to transform sub-Saharan Africa. From their homeland near the Niger delta, groups of Bantu-speaking (Swahili) farmers began to move east and south, spreading cattle domestication, crop cultivation, and iron-working.

• By about 500 c.e. southern Africa had been reached, the original hunter-gatherers having been marginalized to remote regions such as the Kalahari Desert. (last phase to about 1000 CE)

Environment - Migration caused by overuse of soil and loss of its fertility

Trade & Iron Smelting

It was at Meroe that iron working was perhaps developed (either introduced indigenously or brought by the Phoenicians to Egypt). From the Nile, iron smelting spread west and was present in West Africa by 250 B.C.E. and sub-Saharan Africa by 600 C.E. Some evidence, however, suggests iron smelting took place as early as 500 B.C.E. in the regions of the Niger River (NOK peoples).

•Bracketing the Sahara and other deserts of Africa is the sahel, a dry, treeless semi-arid grass-covered plain

• Many states appeared in 1000-1500 CE in northern and western Africa, their power based on control over long-distance trade

East Africa

(Egpyt, Nubia – covered

previously)

Kush, Axum,

Zanj

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Kingdom of Kush (760 BCE to 350 CE)

About 750 B.C.E. the Kushites took advantage of Egyptian decay and conquered Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt. The Kushites, however, soon withdrew back to their homeland as the Assyrians burst into Egypt in 670 B.C.E. Their rule centered on the important trading center of Meroe from which the Kushites served as the conduit for goods from Central and East Africa as well as the Red Sea to Rome and its tributaries. The zenith of Kush was from 250 B.C.E to 200 C.E.

Women – important role in ruling dynastyDecline – slow, eventually captured by

Axum (350 CE)

Kush Culture & Trade

While Kushite culture was influenced by the Egyptians and the other African cultures that surrounded them (began using Egyptian hieroglyphics – but morphed to own; syncretism of Egyptian and Kushite gods, used pyramids for burial of dead), they maintained their own art and traditions.

Economy – agriculture, trade of emeralds, gold (Nubian means “gold”), ebony, incense, ivory, leopard skins, oils, and ostrich feathers.

An Ancient Testimonial

• In the third century CE, the Persian religious leader Mani is said to have identified the four most important kingdoms of the world: Persia, Rome, Sileos (possibly China), and Aksum (also called Axum)

Wow – Pretty important company! Must be HUGE (as Fuccillo’s would say)

Kingdom of Axum

• Trade based on Red Sea and port of Adulis. Among the items exported were ivory, frankincense, myrrh, and slaves while imports included textile, metal goods, wine, and olive oil.

• In about 330 C.E. Kush was eliminated as a rival when it was conquered by Axum.

• In the eighth century the Muslims cut off Axum's commercial contacts with the Byzantine Empire. Soon, Ethiopia lost its control of the Red Sea trade routes. Now landlocked and primarily agricultural society.

• Began as a trade colony about 500 B.C.E. by the kingdom of Saba (Sheba) across the Red Sea on the southern tip of the Arab Peninsula (Yemen). When Saba declined, Axum became independent.

Stele to mark location of royal tombs, not like Ashoka’s

for laws

Trade in ivory, resin, and slaves

Sheba

Axum & Christianity• In the sixth and seventh centuries the

kingdom was Christianized via Coptic Egypt (under Emperor Justinian) and the church became Monophysite in doctrine (the single, unitary nature of Jesus). Christianity became the tool for unifying the various chieftains of Axum into the kingdom of Ethiopia.

• By the tenth century the Axumite Kingdom had disappeared, replaced by Christian Ethiopia. In relative seclusion due to mountainous and almost inaccessible highlands, a stable monarchy and distinctive Christian culture were created.

Coin of Ousanas, king of Aksumin the fourth century A.D., reverse has the symbol of the cross toshow conversion

Axum overthrown by Jewish Queen, Judith in 960 CE

Ethiopia

• Christian community of Axum moved inland into highlands of Ethiopia – Abyssinian period.

• Increasingly feudal and militarized in resistant to encroachment of Islamic Africans.

• Military strength of Ethiopians combined with assistance from Portuguese allowed for Ethiopia to remain an isolated Christian state until 1974 when military coup.

The Land of Zanj• 7th-8th c CE – Arabian (and later

Persian) merchants began settling on east coast.Created string of 37 ports – Mombasa, Pemba, Zanzibar and Kilwa (southern limit a ship could go in one season)

• Trade with the Indian Ocean and as far away as China. (rhinocerous horns, ivory and gold exchanged for Chinese porcelain and Indian textiles)

• Mixed African-Arab culture (Bantu, Persian and Arab)

• Self-governing cities • Swahili develops w/loans words from Arabia, India and even China – becomes the lingua franca of East Africa

• The Indian Ocean was the pivot of long-distance seaborne trade from the Mediterranean to the South China Sea. Each of its port cities housed a rich diversity of merchants of many ethnicities and cultures.

Trading ports and cities, Indian Ocean,

618-1500 c.e.

Kilwa – 1200s CE

Ibn Battuta (Muslim travelor in 1352 CE) describes it as “amongst the most beautiful of cities and most elegantly built.”

West Africa

Ghana, Mali, Songhai

Ghana (800-1200)

• Capital at Saleh, a city of 15,000-20,000 by the twelfth century. Emerging in the fifth century C.E. north of the Senegal and Niger Rivers, it was located near one of the richest gold producing areas in Africa.

• The gold was procured from neighboring people and transported to Marrakech and Morocco where it was distributed to the northern world.

• Ghana also exported to the Mediterranean ivory, ostrich feathers, hides, leather goods, and ultimately slaves.

• It also had substantial agricultural land that supported a population of about 200,000.

• Divine right monarchy assisted by hereditary aristocracy

Decline of Ghana

13th century Islamic attack by the nomadic Almoravids from the Sahara had devastated Ghana's main trading centers, and tribes previously under Ghana's dominance (such as Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, and the Hausa) began to exert their independence

Mali (13th – 15th c.)The Malinke tribe were originally pagan, but

they saw the economic potential of Islam. Embracing the faith would not only give them equality with Arabic traders, but it would also lessen the chance of being attacked by the Almoravids. Thus, Malian traders spread Islam in their travels.

Timbuktu was not only a main trading center for the gold that was used to build the power of Mali but also by the fifteenth century it had developed into a center of scholarship and learning. Songhai, at the eastern end of the Niger

Sundiata (1210 CE – 1255 CE)

• There are many oral traditions (by griots) about Sundiata but little in the way of written evidence about his early life.

• Under Sundiata, Mali thrived economically. The merchants of Mali were particularly fond of the stability brought by Sundiata. The people of Mali became very rich by supplying the trans-Saharan caravans with ebony, fish, gold, iron, ivory, kola nuts, palm oil, salt, and woods. Due to the success of its diverse economy, Mali at its height was the envy of many leaders throughout the world.

• Although a Muslim who created bonds with Trans-Saharan Arab merchants, he was beloved by his people for his respect of native traditions and animism.

• Founder of the Mali Empire. • Uniting his society and eliminate

his enemies, Sundiata was able to establish the framework for Mali's eventual economic and political leadership of the region.

Mansa Musa (1312-1337)Mansa Musa made a

pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. He took 12,000 slaves each holding a golden staff weighing 5-6 pounds. He had 60,000 followers with 80-100 camel-loads of dust, each load weighing 300 lbs.

Legends arose about his wealth – Spanish record him on a map (Catalan Atlas) calling him “the richest and most noble king in all the lands”Builds his palace and mosque in capital city of Timbuktu in style of Arabic buildings.

Songhai (1375-1591)• Songhai was under Mali's control until 1375. By the late

fifteenth century Songhai dominated the entire upper Niger and had captured Timbuktu.

• Under Songhai trans-Saharan trade reached its height focusing on gold, slaves, and ivory. Extended trade with Arabs and Europeans

• 16th century, the country fell into civil war (animist vs. Muslims) and chaos. Songhai's rule waned because of European traders from Portugal who diverted gold resources from the more traditional trading relationship with the Arab empires. (also price of gold dropped due to New World – Aztec gold)

• Moroccan forces invaded the vulnerable empire in 1591 using muskets, and a fractured Songhai soon fell to the Moroccans and the preying forces of the increasing Atlantic slave trade. (Breaks into competing Slave Trade States)

Southern Africa

Khoisan People Zimbabwe

San Bushmen of Kalahari

Kongo

Khoisan• One of the most ancient

population groups in the world. They have inhabited regions of southern Africa for around 30,000 years.

• the primary population group in southern Africa prior to the Bantu migration into the region approximately 2,000 years ago.

• The Khoikhoi maintained hunter-gatherer and pastoral herding lifestyles until very recently; the economic limitations of those lifestyles are one of the main reasons that the Bantus with their more productive agricultural methods, were able to displace and assimilate many of the Khoikhoi populations.

• European colonists began settling South Africa in the 17th century, they referred to the Khoikhoi as "Hottentots" (derived from a Dutch word meaning "stutterer," referring to the characteristic clicks of the Khoisan language) or "Bushmen." In modern times, those terms are considered offensive.

Kingdom of Zimbabwe

Founded by eleventh century Bantu speakers called the Shona and flourished until the sixteenth century.

The area consisted of at least 150 settlements that were apparently involved in the trade of East Africa.

Among its products was gold found to the west and north and traded to coast.

Great Zimbabwe – palace complexDecline – shift in trade due to

Portuguese, environmental degradation due to overutilization of agricultural resources

Kingdom of Kongo

• Located near the mouth of the Kongo River, was formed in the fourteenth century by a Bantu prince. Ultimately, six states were brought under the Mani Kongo ("lord of the Kongo"). By the 1400s, Kongo was a bureaucratic monarchy.

• Alfonso I (1506-1543) converted to Christianity by Portuguese missionaries.

• Exploitive policies by Portuguese, however, ended further conversions.

• Between 1100 and 1500 a relay system of trade by land and sea connected almost all populous regions of Eurasia, as well as north and east Africa. Long-distance traders carried goods along their own segments of these routes, and then turned them over to traders in the next sector. The western hemisphere was still separate, and had two major trade networks of its own.

The pattern of emporia trade in the Indian Ocean, c. 1000-1500

• Trade goods did not travel on a single ship the whole length of this region. Rather, they would be loaded at a port in one of the three regions, off-loaded and reloaded in the next for shipment to the third region.

• Ivory, gold, hardwoods, and slaves were the magnets which drew trading caravans south across the arid Saharan wastes, often following routes established before the desert had formed. These routes linked the classical cultures of the Mediterranean and southwest Asia with an array of rich trading states strung along the Sahel/Sudan axis.

Camel introduced in 1st c. BCE

Zheng-He• Chinese expeditions of

1417-1419; 1421-1422 traded with Swahili coast. Ming emperor finally decided not worth effort.

African Kingdoms - Religion

Animism

Christianity

Islam

Native African Religion

– Animism• Single creator god

– Sometimes accompanied by a pantheon of gods– Reason why easily accepted monotheistic Christianity

and Islam

• Divine Kingship – divine status of kings was seen through practices like secluding king from commoners, sacrifices and taboos

• Shamans – medium and prophet who through animal sacrifice could obtain power over or from the spirits

• Challenged by Islam but not always replaced

• Disciples and early missionaries established Christian communities in southwest Asia, Greece, Italy, north Africa, and India. On the other hand, Roman persecution, the decline of western Rome, and the rise of Islam hindered its dissemination.

Christianity

• Islam entered sub-Saharan Africa as a result of trade. Trans-Saharan caravans from Egypt, Libya, and Morocco gradually introduced the faith overland among the trading kingdoms of west Africa, while the Arab traders of the Indian Ocean carried the message south by sea along the east coast of the continent.

African Kingdoms - Social• African Society

– Urban life• Fortified villages

– Government– Clans lived in own

compounds• Relationship between the

king and merchant class– Village Life

• Most people lived in small villages

• Nuclear families and larger kinship communities

• Village was usually composed of a single lineage group

– Role of women• Usually subordinate

to men• Polygamy not

uncommon• Many societies had

matrilinear lineage• Could be warriors or

leaders in certain tribes

• Could own property and trade

Slavery

• Practiced in Africa since ancient times, probably originating in prisoners of war

• Common in ancient Egypt• Berbers raided agricultural villages and the slaves

were sold throughout the Mediterranean• Could gain freedom• Living conditions often decent • Pre-modern slavery not as impacting because

smaller quantities• Muslims could not enslave other muslims –

frequently trained slaves as soldiers creating warrior slave caste known as mamluks (would sometimes become so strong could usurp power)

African Kingdoms – Art/Literature

– Painting and Sculpture• Rock paintings, wood carving, • Nok pottery, Benin bronzes

– Music and Dance– Architecture (pyramids, stone bldgs.)– Mostly Preliterate - Professional storytellers (griots)

African Kingdoms - Ethnology

• Continent of very complex and diverse mixture of ethnic groups.

• North – Semitic, now largely Arabic, but originally Phoenician and Jews.

• Sahara – Berbers and Egyptians

• South of Sahara – Black Africans w/enclaves of Khoisan and Malaysians who migrated from SE Asia in 5th c. CE