Africa from Kush to the Fifteenth Century

Greater part of continent had no written language Different levels of sophistication Natural environment and location on routes of trade and travel had bigger impact on history

African Geography and Climates

Many parts of Africa was isolated by geography from centers of human activity o Exception: Mediterranean coast and Horn of African In contact with Middle Eastern civilization Continent like an inverted saucer o Coastal lowlands giving way to Deserts (north, northwest, and southwest) Inland plateaus Highlands and mountains (east and southeast) o Coastal strip along Mediterranean Sea gives to the Atlas o Sahara Desert divides continent into North African and sub-Saharan components o Rainforest by coastal areas restricted travel o Waterfalls and rapids also block human travel o Inland plateaus and rolling country could only be reached after lengthy journey o Heavy surfs make Atlantic coasts unusable for small crafts o Coastal land on eastern side have excellent natural harbors Divided into 5 climatic and vegetative zones 1. Mediterranean and extreme southern coasts are outside the tropical zones and have good soil and weather 2. Sahel (dry and mainly treeless steppes (semiarid grass-covered plains between desert and savanna)) a. Cross Africa from Atlantic to Indian Ocean 3. Deserts a. Sahara not only desert 4. Rainforest a. Either side of the equator in west and center 5. Savanna a. Grassland regions of interior plateaus b. Mainly south of the Sahara Desert and north of rainforest Various people of Africa developed different lives based on zone

o Mediterranean coast was closely linked to Europe and Middle east o Rainforests infection by tsetse flies and other diseases inhibited largescale development almost to the present o Desert regions Nomadics pastoralism and small-scale oasis agriculture only possible lifestyles o Sahel only pastoral economy o Only savannas of the west and eastern plateaus had good soil to have crop agriculture and dense village population

Early Movements of People and Ideas

In Coastal strip along Mediterranean and Nile valley and northern Sahara lived Egyptians and Berbers Northeastern coasts and upper Nile valley were Abyssinians (Egyptians), Nubians and Somalis Various Bantu speaking ethnic groups made up large majority South and southwest original inhabitants were Khoisan speaking people o Hunting-gathering culture in Kalahari Desert African Forest belt live the Pygmies o Also hunting-gathering people Forests and grassland savannas o People depended on pastoralism or farming for food o Many combined into mixed farming o Hunting was subsidiary resource o Women performed daily task with farming Sowing, weeding, hoeing and preparing food Some areas more farming others pastoral lifestyle Tools were made from stone Most of land for agriculture was in savanna south of Sahara and Nile Valley Wet phase o Sahara began drying up and Saharan herding people migrated north and south Growing use of iron help spread agriculture into southern half of Africa Bantu speakers profited from mastery of yam agriculture and began to expand o Used canoes to navigate waters of Congo river o Clear forest for farming o Emerged from forest and reached drier savanna west of Lake Victoria o Acquired iron and breed livestock and grow grain crops o Helped enlarge their numbers o Established small kingdoms o Stretched across eastern, central, and southern Africa

The Bantu Expansion into Subequatorial Africa

o Had no written language and built few monuments that survived o Only when arrival on Coast of Indian Ocean and built port cities do we know more about them

Social Organization and State Formation

Basic unit of society was clan or lineage o Larger unit supposedly descended from common ancestor o Children took names and had specific status and rights o Patrilineal descent Descent and rights were determined by fathers lineage o Matrilineal descent Clan lived together in compounds (like village or towns) o Occasionally formed guild-like organizations to specialize in certain craft Several clans made up ethnic group (tribe) Local village key-stone of social organization and responsible for enforcing rules of daily life (government) Clan elders made most important decisions Religious sacrifices were made before important action Women o No attempt to seclude women except some upper-class o Subordinate to men in public life o Had rights to be heard on public issues o Some held positions of power o Had stronger hand in family and economies of communites o Rights equal to men Access and inheritance of clan resources o Organized local markets Crucial part in regional trade Male polygamy o Number of wives was sign of wealth and social status o Offspring were responsibility of females African people fell under sway of Islam o Women were controlled more closely o Matrilineal descent was replaced by patrilineal descent o Restricted womans inheritance to half of man of population lived without any form of government o Controls would have included Conflict and dispute resolution by medicine men having spiritual access to ancestors Social rules Certain duties accorded to age group o Where states did emerge Organized around principle of divine kingship

Had large number of court functionaries whose combine power would negate king Queen mother, prime minister, royal historian, royal drummers ,divines, medicine men and women King was member of royal lineage and was sacred Intermediary between living and dead o Discern wishes of royal ancestors through divination or spirit possession A weak, sick or old king threatened the state o Could be deposed Surrounded by symbols of office or regalia o Ivory horns, royal drums, ceremonial swords and umbrellas or fans

Kingdoms of the Nile

Agriculture and livestock breeding were cornerstones of daily existence for most Africans but trade also one of primary bases which kingly or queenly authority relied Africa exported few manufactures internationally o Local productions and export of high-valued commodities created a lot of wealth Gold, ivory, dyes, gums, aromatic, human beings Ambitious individuals were able to control and tax their wealth o Had sway over large populations Goods became symbols of prestige and power Political power rested on control over salt, dates, weapons, Chinese porcelain, textiles and beads Earliest trade was Nile valley and Mediterranean world o Then western Sudan, coastal Swahili and Zimbabwe Nile flows across series of cataracts (rapids) Area never brought under pharaohs rule Called Nubia o Present day Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia o Successors to ancient kingdoms of Kush and Axum African kingdom Original capital was Kerma o Then moved to Napata o Then Meroe Had a written language but is still undeciphered Once partner and rival of pharaohs o Became profitable as Hellenistic and Roman rules developed taste for gold, spices and aromatic

Kush

In early history when capital was at Kerma o Associated with Egypt and strongly influence Assyrian invaded Egypt o Capital moved to Meroe Cut ties of Egypt and became increasingly African in character o Major industrial center whose principal product was iron In the Ethiopian highlands Established when local people and immigrants arrived from southwestern Arabia and intermarried After establishing port at Adulis challenged Kush for control of Red Sea trade and upper Nile corridor o Conquered Kush Rise coincided with conversion to Christianity by Byzantine missionaries King Azana of Axum accepted Christianity Oldest and most distinctive version of religion in all of Africa Mountains and physical isolation of country enable Ethiopians to hold of repeated Muslim attempts to conquer it Allowed the growth of Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopian Christian kings Crossed the Red Sea and conquered south western Arabia o But were drive from its Red Sea coast and under siege th 8 century Arab Muslim dominated seaborne trade Nubian society matured into 3 small states of Noba, Makuria and Alowa

Axum

Trans-Saharan Trade and Kingdoms of the Sudan

Sudanese kingdoms were series of state that formed in bulge of West Africa below Sahar Desert Iron tools, good soils and transport by Niger River allowed agriculture to advance Trans-Saharan trade routes developed that connected western Sudan with North Africa 3 most well known kingdoms o Ghana, Mali, and Songhay First of the kingdoms o 500 years before falling apart as result of combination of events Founded by Soninke people Kings established monopoly of trade in gold o Mining region southwest of Ghana on Senegal river Ghana was title given to king o Ruled through network of regional officials Kumbi Saleh

Ghana

o Capital town o Muslim geographer al-Bakri spent some time describing Muslim were influential in Ghana o Little difficulty converting to monotheistic doctrine of Islam o Missionaries concentrated efforts on upper class o African merchants gained advantage Literacy, access to new commerce and financial connections, written law code and access to Muslim trade network that extended across Africa and Asia Ghanas sources of gold dried up and weakened it when confronted by war Regions fought with each other until Sundiata subdued most of western Sudan Better and larger than Ghana and gold came from new region closer to heart of new kingdom Keitas were original ruling clan o Nominally Muslin o Ruled primarily as divine kings who governed with court officials and regional representative o Adoption of stricter forms of Islam by new ruling clan, Mansas encourage good relations with Berbers Sudanese kingdoms products of strategic posttion in international trade o Controlling movement of goods from sub-Saharan to North Africa Ghana and Mali relied on taxes on Saharan traders on gold, salt and slaves o Made it possible to support hierarchy of officials and large army o Gold was important to trade Rare in Europe but large quantities in sub-Saharan Africa Controlled by western Sudanese merchants and Swahili city-states o Salt was almost as prized as gold Difficult to transport and limited in most areas Very valuable Saltpans in oases like Taghaza and Tassili o Slave common in African markets Common accepted consequences of war, debt, and crime Large numbers of slaves passed northward through Ghana and Mali Kingdom of Mali expanded by military conquests Mansa Musa o Extended kingdom o 8 million people lived under his rule o Was a Muslim and made pilgrimage to holy places in Arabia Islam gained much ground in West Africa o Religions passed through upper class

Mali

o Musa founded a madrasa (university) at Sankore mosque in Timbuktu Became a center of Islamic book production as well as trade

Songhay
Niger River city of Gao was focus of central Sudanic trade Dominance of Niger River trade and major trans- Saharan routes to Timbuktu gave it great commercial and military power Sonni Ali o Used strategy that combined attacks of cavalry or armored warriors and nave of river canoes to create core of kingdom of Songhay Askia Muhammad o Most lasting contribution was his support of Islam o Gave Muslim scholars important position is state apparatus o Enforced orthodox practices among his subjects o Built mosques o Subsidized book production and scholarship in intellectual centers Tuareg Berbers from the north weaken Songhay state Overthrew by Moroccan forces when invaded

The Swahili City-States

Greek, Roman, Egyptian ships traveled down Red Sea and were trading with coastal ports of Horn of Africa and Azania o Periplus of the Erythraean Sea described Arab and Greco-Roman trade for ivory Enormous expansion of trade Persia, Arab and Indian traders traded with the local Bantu-speaking people whom the Arab called the Zanj o Popular imports were dates, glassware, Persian ceramic, Chinese porcelains and silks, Indian cotton fabric and glass beads o Traded locally manufacture iron, timber, ivory, hides, rhinoceros horn and tortoise shell Swahili ships were also making the reverse journey Foreign Muslim and local Bantu-speaking people intermarried and children were raised as Muslim Series of small city-states as community life centered on manufacturing and trade o Earliest were Mogadishu, Shanga and Manda Coast of Somalia and Kenya o Great East African emporium of Kilwa became prominent o Local Swahili controlled these commercial states o Mahdali clan from southwestern Arabia established an Arab Sultanate in Kilwa Called themselves the Abul-Mawahibs (The Givers of Gifts)

Position based on Islamic piety, claims of descent from Prophet Muhammad and monopoly of Kilwas gold Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta provided one of the best accounts of this period

Great Zimbabwe
Southern Africa has moderate climate and good soil Bantu-speaking mixed farmers and Khoisan-speaking hunter-gathers and cattle pastoralists were living in agricultural villages, pastoralist communities or hunter-gatherer camps Iron was used Chief center of early settled life in southern Africa was Great Zimbabwe o Ruins can be seen o Massive walls and towers one of most impressive monuments Trade in gold and ivory passed down to Swahili ports and exotic imports such as glass beads and pottery passed in other direction Flourished as political, religious and trading center o Additional stone structure continued to be built at Great Zimbabwe site and also other zimbabwes (court and burial places for royal clan members) State broke apart into several smaller kingdoms Supply of gold begun to peter out

African Art
Was necessarily visual and plastic Most famous are Benin bronzes from West African kingdom Benin (one of successors of Mali) o Highly stylized busts and full-length figures in bronze, gold and combinations of metals o Benins enemies vandalized many of these pieces Same as the wood sculptures of the Kanem and Bornu people of central Sudan o Series of kingdoms in Vicinity of Lake Chad Ivory and gold work of Swahili city-states also remarkable o Some muslim looked on artwork depicting human figures as mockery of Allah and destroyed much of it Earthenware heads of the Nok people of prehistoric Nigeria have to come to light only in this century o Terra cotta portrait heads are oldest examples yet found of African art

European Impressions
Europeans arrived on African coast at time when Sub-Saharan kingdoms collapsed or were in decline o Seemed to have involved a combination of internal quarrels among nobility and conquests from outside European explorer-traders perceived kingdoms of Africa as backward o Reinforced by Africans lack of knowledge in military and technological matters and also slavery Portuguese thought it would not be wrong to take advantage of them o Africans not see as human o 25 percent mortality rate per year of Europeans who went to African coast Saw Africans as source of profit rather than as fellow human beings was rationalized by everything o Basis of European racism directed against dark-skinned people 1