Transcript The African Experience

The African Experience
States and Societies of Sub-Saharan
Africa
Migrations and demographics
1000 C.E Bantu had spread as primary
linguistic and ethnic group throughout SubSaharan Africa.
Mastered Iron and had spread the skill
throughout.
Agricultural advancements-Iron, Banana, and
Irrigation lead to population boom. 3.5-22
million in just 600 years.
Stateless societies
Africas politics reflects its extraordinary
diversity
Stateless societies means: no bureaucracy or
hierarchy of officials.
Governed by family and kinships…male family
heads and patriarchal leaders acting as
“chiefs”.
Confederate in that villages would unite to
form “districts”.
Evolution to Empire
Increasing commerce
Increasing populations
Military challenges
Led to more centralized governments
and eventually kingdoms which
absorbed others to form small empires.
Alternative Governments in Africa
North Africa: Egypt and Nubia saw
more formal forms of traditional
monarchies
West African Forest peoples saw the
evolution of secret societies.
Fragmentation and tribal governments
were the most common.
Still constant features in Africa.
Common Elements of African
Societies
The migration of Bantu speakers gave a
common linguistic base for much of
Africa
Animistic religion, a belief in natural
forces personified as gods, was
common, with well-developed concepts
of good and evil.
Common Elements
Priests guided religious practices for community
benefit.
African religions provided a cosmology and a guide to
ethical behavior.
Many Africans believed in a creator deity whose
power was expressed through lesser spirits and
ancestors.
Families, lineages, and clans had an important role
in dealing with gods. Deceased ancestors were a link
to the spiritual world; they retained importance after
world religions appeared.
Economics
African economies were extremely diversified.
North Africa was integrated into the world economy,
but sub-Saharan regions had varying structures.
Settled agriculture and iron-working were present in
many areas before postclassical times, with
specialization encouraging regional trade and
urbanization.
International trade increased in some regions, mainly
toward the Islamic world. Both women and men
were important in market life. In general Africans
exchanged raw materials for manufactured goods.
Trade changes Africa
Trans-Saharan trade,
previously impossible
thanks to the Camel
changed African History.
Unique goods moving
across the forbidding
continent but
also…ideas. Islam.
Did you know…Camels
can run at a pace of 30
MPH!
Islam
North Africa was an integral part of
the classical Mediterranean
civilization.
From the mid 7th century Muslim
armies pushed westward from Egypt
across the regions called Ifriqiya by
the Romans and the Maghrib (the
west) by the Arabs.
By 711 they crossed into Spain.
Conversion was rapid, but initial
unity soon divided North Africa soon
into competing Muslim states.
In the 11th century reforming
Muslim Berbers, the Almoravids of
the western Sahara, controlled lands
extending between the southern
savanna and into Spain.
Almohads
In the 12th century another group, the
Almohads, succeeded them. Islam, with its
principle of the equality of believers, won
African.
The unity of the political and religious worlds
appealed to many rulers. Social disparities
continued, between ethnicities and men and
women, the former stimulating later reform
movements.
Powerful Islamic States: Ghana
Ghana controlled the gold trade across
SS Africa.
Capital at Koumbi-Saleh
“Reception”
Extensive use of horses, powerful
cavalry.
Gold Trade
Began attracting Muslim
merchants.
Saw the origins in the
trade of humans.
Led to prominent urban
centers such as
Koumbi-Saleh
Attracted Qadi, such as
Ibn Battuta.
Kingdom of Mali
Absorbed Ghana under Sundiata in the 13th century.
Mali, along the Senegal and Niger rivers, was formed among the
Malinke peoples who broke away from Ghana in the 13th
century.
Ruler authority was strengthened by Islam.
Agriculture, combined with the gold trade, was the economic
base of the state. The ruler (mansa) Sundiata (d. 1260)
receives credit for Malinke expansion and for a governing
system based upon clan structure.
Sundiata's successors in this wealthy state extended Mali's
control through most of the Niger valley to near the Atlantic
coast.
Mansa Musa
Peak of Mali’s power
Mansa Kankan Musa’s
pilgrimage to Mecca
during the 14th century
became legendary
because of the wealth
distributed along the
way. He returned with
an architect, Ishak alSahili who created a
distinctive Sudanic
architecture utilizing
beaten clay.
Mansa’s Hajj
He arrived in Cairo at the head of a huge
caravan, which included 60,000 people and
80 camels carrying more than two tons of
gold to be distributed among the poor. Of the
12,000 servants who accompanied the
caravan, 500 carried staffs of pure gold.
Moussa spent lavishly in Egypt, giving away
so many gold gifts—and making gold so
plentiful—that its value fell in Cairo and did
not recover for a number of years
Impacts
In Cairo, the Sultan of Egypt received Moussa with
great respect, as a fellow Muslim. The splendor of his
caravan caused a sensation and brought Mansa
Moussa and the Mali Empire fame throughout the
Arab world. Mali had become so famous by the
fourteenth century that it began to draw the
attention of European mapmakers.
Aftervisiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina on
his pilgrimage, Moussa set out to build great
mosques, vast libraries, and madrasas (Islamic
universities) throughout his kingdom. Many Arab
scholars, including the poet and architect, Abu-Ishaq
Ibrahim-es-Saheli, who helped turn Timbuktu into a
famous city of Islamic scholarship, returned with him.
East Africa
Dependent on
trade…maritime trade.
Saw more urbanization
than the interior.
Strong presence of
Islamic merchants.
Cultural diffusion:
Persia, China, and India
had prominent
presences.
Ibn Battuta.
Urban development
As many as 30 towns flourished, their
number including Mogadishu, Mombasa,
Malindi, Kilwa, Pate, and Zanzibar.
From the 13th to the 15th century Kilwa
was the most important. All were tied
together by coastal commerce and by
an inland caravan trade.
Cultural Impacts
The expansion of Islamic influence in the
Indian Ocean facilitated commerce.
It built a common bond between rulers and
trading families, and allowed them to operate
under the cover of a common culture.
Apart from rulers and merchants, most of the
population, even in the towns, retained
African beliefs.
A dynamic culture developed, using Swahili as
its language, and incorporating African and
Islamic practices