Transcript Ch.7 Africa

Africa:
4001450
AD
Most African history of this period
was “oral history.” There are few
written records of events or people.
Is oral history
reliable to modern
historians?
Africa was (and is) divided by the
Sahara desert. The Southern people
in the Sahel saw
Northern people
as “bidan”
(white). There
were cultural
divisions, too.
This period is characterized by the
rise and fall of regional empires
such as
Nubia,
Kush,
Axum,
Ghana,
and Mali.
The Roman Empire had extended
into Africa and some Roman culture
remained. Many African empires
became Christian. Unfortunately,
this made Africa more complex.
Imagine the Kingdom of Nubia,
near Egypt. They had divisions of
race (bidan or black), religion
(Christian or tribal), language
(Xhosa, Kordofan, Bantu, etc…),
and place of origin (Egypt, Sahel,
or Nubia). Confused?
People divided themselves into:
Nubian Christian Xhosa Bidan,
Nubian tribal Xhosa Bidan, Nubian
Christian Kordofanian Bidan,
Nubian tribal Kordofanian Bidan,
Nubian Christian Xhosa black,
Nubian tribal Xhosa black, Nubian
Christian Kordofanian black…
See where this is going?
There were 256 different groups in
Nubia alone! No wonder empires
would rise and fall. People were
also loyal to their tribes, dividing
into different groups that hated each
other for no good
reason (like a gang
mentality.)
Nations were not characterized by
borders, but by who represented
which empire.
Boundaries could
move on a daily basis.
They were geographic
expressions more than
they were countries.
One of the reasons for constant
fighting in Africa in this period was
the introduction of Islam to Africa.
“I swear by that who holds in His
Hands the Soul of Muhammad! I
indeed wish to go to war for the sake
of Allah! I will assault and kill,
assault and kill, assault and kill.”The Charter of the Hamas
In Muslim law, it is OK to have slaves if
those slaves are not Muslim. So
slavery begins to increase among
Islamic Africans by taking Christian
captives in war.
Arab slave traders in Africa.
Slavery in Africa was practiced by
Africans on Africans. Europeans
found the
system useful
1000 years
later.
Like Europe, Africa experiences
little progress in science,
society, or art during the
medieval period (400-1450).
The big difference is that when
Europe comes out of the middle
ages, they use their progress to
take over most of Africa.