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African Societies: Diversity & Similarities
• Stateless Societies: organized around kinship, lacked political power & authority
• Did not need rulers or bureaucracies
• Sometimes larger & more extensive than actual African states
• Families, communities held power; no need to tax to support government
Other Alternatives
• Secret societies: found in west Africa forests, men and women could join societies through initiation ceremony
• Settled village disputes, enforced by masked members
• Large space of Africa and frontier mentality enabled stateless societies to thrive
Common Elements
• Bantu Language: provided linguistic ties among Africans
• Animalism & Ancestor worship: provided need for priests, gave guide for ethics and behavior
Economy
• Economies of Africa far more diverse
• North: had always been integrated into world markets due to proximity of the great empires (Rome, Greece)
• Sub-Sahara: varied from region to region, mostly local and regional trade; integrated more into world markets when Islam arrived
• By 711, Islam had spread from Arabia, into N. Africa, up into Spain
• Secret to Success: Equality under the law; uniting state & religion attractive to African kings
• Arabs = Berbers = Africans; at least under the law, but not in practice
• Ex: Fine for killing a man 2x more thank killing a woman
Early Reform Movements
• Almoravids: Berbers of the western Sahara, Islamic puritans
• Almohadis: same as above
• “The disparity between law & practice - between equality before God and inequality within the world – led to these reform movements.” (175)
The Christian Kingdoms• Egypt & Nubia: arrived here
even before Rome; Egyptian Christians called Copts; allowed to keep faith after Islamic conquests
• Ethiopian Kingdom: remained a fiercely independent Christian kingdom to this day; resisted all outside influences from Islam, Turks and other Christian kingdoms
Kingdoms of the Grasslands
• 3 “Coasts”: Atlantic, Indian, & the sahel
• Sahel: belt of grassland between Sahara desert and jungles to the south; became point of exchange for North & South Africans
• Kingdom of Ghana: 3rd c. to 11th c., rose to power by controlling salt & gold trade; converted to Islam in 10th c., invaded by Almoravids in 1076
Sudanic States• Led by patriarch /
council of elders
• Subordinated neighboring states through taxes, tribute, and/or military support
• Rulers considered sacred, even after they converted to Islam; took on cultish status
Mali, Sundiata, Lion Princes, Oh My!
• Mali: broke away from Ghana in 13th c.; model Islamic Sudanic kingdom
• Diverse economy: agriculturally based, but also depended on trade, especially gold
• Juula: Mali traders, spread throughout west Africa
• Sundiata: legendary “Lion Prince”; organized political structure of Mali; died in 1260, but Mali remained strong
Mister Mansa Musa
• Mansa Musa: made hajj in 1324, brought attention to the wealth of Mali; caused sensation across N. Africa (179);
• Brought back Muslim architect to build mosques in the Sudan (example of cross-regional ties)
City vs. Country
• Wealth of Sudan trade spawned great cities, like Jenne and Timbuktu, which had a pop. of 50,000 by the 1300s
• 80% of villagers were famers, NOT traders
• Hard to farm in the Sudan, sandy soil, most farms less than 10 acres
• Polygamy common: more wives = more kids = more farmers
+ +
•Replaced Mali, formed around Niger River Valley beginning in 7th c.; completely independent by 1370s•Rulers were Islam, commoners remained pagan (COMMON THEME FOR SUDANIC STATES)•Sunni Ali: fierce leader & military commander; expanded borders, conquering Jenne & Timbuktu; Muslim, but opposed anyone in his way (even fellow Muslims); used cavalry to dominate enemies WHY CAVALRY?•Empire broke apart at the end of 16th c.
Political & Social Themes Among Sudanic States
• Village clans & ethnic groups very important; development of states provided larger framework, but small groups still important
• Movement & fusion of populations• Ruling families used religious titles to enforce authority• Formation of states heightened social differences• Islam provided religious unity, but was fused with other beliefs;
Sudanic states accommodated pagan beliefs• Ex: differences in status of women (181)• Slave Trade: escalated with Islamic contact; viewed as stage in
conversion process; C. Africans sent to E. African coast
The Swahili Coast of East Africa•1st – 10th c., Swahili Coast becomes melting pot of Arabs, Africans, and immigrants from Malaysia•Zanj: Arabic term for coast•By 13th c., string of trading ports had developed•Governed by different Muslim rulers•Ivory, gold, iron, slaves, exotic animals brought to coast, traded for silks & porcelain from the East
Coast Culture
• Rulers & merchants were often Muslim, majority of population was not (ALERT! COMMON AFRICAN THEME!)
• Swahili = Bantu language mixed with Arabic
• Fused Islam with traditional beliefs
• A true “melting pot” of cultures
Peoples of the Forest and Plains• Sub-Saharan Central Africa:
preliterate, used oral traditions
• Nok: village in C. Nigeria, created highly complex artistic objects
• Yoruba: non-Bantu speaking people, ag. society ruled by royal family & aristocracy; organized in small city-states, highly urbanized
• Benin: large city-state on W. African coast
• Yoruban & Benin societies highly artistic, and considered rulers divine
Central African Kingdoms• Beyond the rule & influence of Islam, settled around Congo
River• Began state formation around AD 1000• Kongo: flourishing kingdom by 15th c.; based on ag., also
developed weaving, pottery, blacksmithing; pop. Of 60k – 100k by early 1500s
• Sharp division of labor between men & women in Kongo• King was hereditary, chiefs were not; allowed king to better
controls subordinates• Kongo became essentially a confederation of smaller states
under the rule of the king
Greater Zimbabwe• Zimbabwe literally means stone house; these
housed the local rulers
• Bantu-speakers, believed in bird of God, built stone houses partially in bird’s honor
• 19th C. Europeans first suspected Arabs or Phoenicians built stone houses, due to their complexity
• King Mwene Mutapa: dominated interior gold trade, allowed Zimbabwe to flourish