Transcript HIS 106 Chapter 17

HIS 106
Chapter 17
Africa 1000 - 1800
Africa
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How do you see it?
Had kingdoms, laws, religion, and art
Received outside influences -- some
beneficial, some not:
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Muslims
European
Foodstuffs
Slavery
Kingdoms
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Present from 1000 to 1800
Some lasted longer than others
No single power could control Africa for long
Regionalism and tribal conflicts kept that
from happening
Spread of Islam in Africa
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Islam spread south throughout many, but not
all, areas through trade routes
Islam either co-existed or blended with
traditional beliefs
Islam took hold primarily in urban trade
centers
It was rare to find Islam in more remote areas
What is Islam?
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Begun by Muhammad who was born in570
He resided in Mecca
In 610 he began receiving revelations, he
felt, from God via the angel Gabriel
These were later collected in the Muslim holy
book called the Qu’ran and became the basis
of Islam
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Not immediately accepted by all
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Threatened the traditional Arab gods
Muhammad fled to Medina when he felt his life
was in danger
His following grew, and he returned to Mecca in
629
He was then able to convert most of the
inhabitants of Mecca to Islam
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Islam united the Arab people like never
before
They had a belief in one God called Allah
All believers were equal before Allah
The strong and wealthy were responsible for
the care of the weak and poor
Muhammad and his teachings became the
basis for laws regulating the Muslim faith
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In Islam, all would face a last judgment
before a stern but compassionate Allah
Islam’s 5 Pillars provided the basis for
underlying unity:
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Acceptance of Islam
Pray 5 times daily facing Mecca
Pay a zakat to charity (tithe)
Fast during month of Ramadan
Make a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca at least 1 time
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Muhammad died in 632
His followers quarreled over succession
A new leader was chosen who reunited Islam
by 633
Muslims then began to take new territory and
spread their religion to these areas
There were victories in today’s Iraq, Iran, and
North Africa
Succession Problems
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Succession problems led to a split in the
religion
There were those who would follow the
appointed leader of Islam
There were others who felt the leader should
be a blood relative of Muhammad
As a result, the religion split into 2 parts:
Sunnis and Shi’ites
Presence of Islam
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In East Africa there were Islamic city-states along the
coast in port cities
In the western and central areas, Islam arrived by
overland trade routes
Some of the Muslims stayed in these trade cities
Conversion campaigns led by the Almorvids swept
through Ghana, and Kumbi by 1076
Islam moved into Senegal by 1030s
African kingdoms
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There were major African Kingdoms before
Islamic trade routes added to their influence
From 1000 – 1600, there were 4 long-lived
empires of note:
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Ghana
Mali
Songhai
Kanem-Bornu
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All had hierarchical societies, successful
economies, and an army
There were also some Christian states in the
eastern Sudan
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Maqurra
Alwa
Nubia
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With increasing Muslim immigration and an
elitist quality to their Christianity, these
Christian areas slowly changed over to Islam
European Entry
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When Europeans entered Africa, change was
the result
It was the Portuguese who first came and set
up small trading forts or settlements near the
coast (fear of disease)
They traded for African food crops, gold, salt,
hides, copper, and slaves
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Later, other European groups arrived wanting
slaves to work on their plantations in their
New World colonies
The Senegambian states provided about 1/3
of all African slaves during the 16th century
After that, slaves were primarily taken from
other areas to the south
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On the east coast of Africa changes were
coming to their culture and languages
A Swahili culture and language was taking
hold
Swahili = Arabic with Bantu
So we had Muslims settling in the east and
Europeans in the west and south
Settlement of South Africa
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In the 17th century the Dutch East India
Company set up a station at the Cape of
Good Hope
1657 – Colonization was allowed
A Dutch-speaking, slave-owning, agricultural
community developed
They were called the Boers, Dutch for
peasant or farmer
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Each Dutch planter felt entitled to 6,000
acres
As the Dutch moved in, the Africans were
pushed out
Those Africans who weren’t enslaved by the
Dutch moved into other territories
This resulted in CONFLICT with other African
tribes, mainly the Zulus
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The whites there believed in white
dominance, and some racial mixing took
place resulting in a “colored race” or mixed
Boers kept pushing out the Africans who
moved in on the Zulus.
The Zulus pushed back in what has been
called the “Mfecane” or crushing in the 19th
century
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Zulus were able to remain independent until
the late 1870s
Another problem arose for the Dutch
As a result of the Napoleonic Wars in
Europe, the Cape of Good Hope came under
British control in 1806
This caused the Dutch frustration leading to
conflict in the 1800s
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The result was that the British remained in
control and tried to assimilate the Dutch
The Union of South Africa was formed in
1910