Africa andTrans-Sahara Trade

Routes

600-1450

“Always something new out of Africa” (Greek Proverb; 1st C CE)

What do you suppose this proverb is referring to?

Pre-600 CE

West Africa: domesticated millet & sorghumIronworking technologyBetween North Africa & Sub-Saharan Africa: trade included ivory, hides, cola, copper, slaves, and dates

Expanded to Islamic World by 700 CE

300 CE: introduction of camels

Pre-600Predominately Christian or ATRState-level societies: Jenne-Jeno and Gao (in present-day Mali)Stateless societies: organized around kinship boundariesNot-consolidated power: power-vacuumCommon language: Bantu

Trans-Sahara Trade Routes

Trans-Sahara Trade Routes

Began with Soninke Empire (Ghana) in the 5th century

Linked to Mediterranean Empiressupplied gold and salt

Used camels (Ibn Battuta, camel caravan size = 1,000-12,000)

Eventually sent slaves north

Trans-Sahara Trade Routes

Beginning of trade: Ghana

Height of trade: Mali

Decline of trade: Portuguese invaders/Atlantic slave trade

African Political OrganizationKinship groups

Through family groupsVillage council = male family headsChiefsDistrict

ChiefdomsPopulation growth increased conflictOrganized military forces, around 1000 CEPowerful chiefs overrode kinship networks and imposed authorityEx: Benin and Ife (Yoruba)

African Political Organization

Kingdom of KongoVillages formed small city-states along the Congo River, 1000 CE

Small stateslarger principalities, 1200 CE

One conquered others: Kongo• Centralized government• Royal currency system• Until mid-17th century

African Political Organization: Christian Kingdoms:

Reached Africa by 1st C; Axum by 4th CNubia

Independently Christian until the 13th C.

EthiopiaKing Lalibela (13th C)

Egypt: Copts

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms

Spread of Islam When did it spread through Africa?

How?

Why?

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms

Islamic Impact Active trade with Islamic world (Dar al-Islam)

Islamic world interested in Ghana:• “The richest king on the face of the earth by

reason of wealth and treasure of [gold]”

By 11th C, Muslims part of culture of the Savannah

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms

Mansa Musa Malian Muslim King1324-1325, set out to take a Hajj

• Thousands of retainers• 100 camel loads of gold• Prices skyrocketed in

Alexandria

Reports of wealthy Africans to EuropeSet out to build new mosques

Timbuktu: Center of learning

Young men “kept in irons until they had memorized the entire Qu’ran” (Ibn Battuta)“Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom come from Timbuktu."High literacy rate

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms

Oral Tradition What is a griot?Any connections to other traditions?What is the value of oral traditions?What were the qualities people expected in a king?What’s the connection between Africa and the wider world?

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms

Songhay Kingdom Refer to your notes from chapter 8:

• What are key components of the Songhay Kingdom?

Timbuktu at its height; decline of Mali and GhanaReplaces Mali by the late 15th C

Commonalities in Sudanic Islamic States:

Clans, kinship groups, etc. formed social aspectsUnified states allowed for coexistence of diverse groups and communitiesIslam served as a common religion

Islam fused with existing traditions and beliefsMatrilineal societiesSlavery and slave trade: Africa and Islamic world: 4.8 million people in the 700 years of the trans-Saharan trade

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms: East Africa

SwahiliArabic term meaning “coasters”

• Mogadishu to Sofala• Swahili: Bantu derivative language +

Arabic• Trade with Muslim merchants

City-States• Chiefs gain power by taxing trade on

ports• Portscity-states governed by kings in

11th and 12th centuries

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms: East Africa

Great ZimbabweThe stone complex known as Great Zimbabwe built in 12th C

18,000 people lived there in the 15th C (some say up to 30,000!)

Kings organized flow of gold, ivory, slaves

Wealth lie in cattle production

African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms: East Africa

KilwaBegan around the 9th CTraded throughout the Indian OceanTrade:

• Gold and iron from Great Zimbabwe

• Ivory and slaves from mainland Tanzania

• Jewelry, porcelain and spices from Asia.

Islamic: mosquesIbn Battuta

African Society and Cultural Development

Social classes:Diverse dependent upon location

Kinship groups

No private property

African Society and Cultural Development

MenHeavy labor

Public authority

Kings/chiefs

Womenchild rearing, domesticity

High honor as source of life

Aristocratic women could influence public affairs

Women merchants

All-female military units

African Society and Cultural Development

SlaveryMost were captives of war, debtors, criminalsAgricultural laborIncreased after 11th CDemand outstripped supply from eastern EuropeLarge states began slave raids from small states or villages