Transcript History 247-20th Century Africa

The Nineteenth Century:
Islam
Main Themes:
-Islam critical in shaping pre-colonial
Africa
-Reinforced by/reinforcing links with
broader Muslim world
-Role revivalist movements in generating
religious, social, economic change
Pre-colonial Islamic Africa
-filters into Africa through world
commercial systems: Trans-Saharan,
Indian Ocean
-in turn provides continued linkage major
Islamic empires: Ottoman, Persian, Indian
-role of the Hajj
Pre-colonial Islamic Africa
-15th-17th centuries portrayed as ‘peak’ of
Islamic world influence
-’long decline’ through 18th-19th centuries
providing Europe with opportunity to
‘rise’
-perception shaped historiography
-question degree to which true, especially
in Africa
Nineteenth Century
-key changes 18th-19th century Islamic
world: reformism, revivalism
-militaristic expression: jihad, ‘mahdism’
-transformation relations with Ottoman
empire: Africa seeking autonomy
-transformation relations with Europe: cooperation or conflict?
-Islam politicized
Reformism, Revivalism
Ottoman Empire key:
-attempts modernization, westernization
provoking response
-movements seeking purer, fundamental
Islam
-resistance to increasing European
influence tied to resisting central
Ottoman power: secularism vs religiosity
-new reformist movements politicized
Reformism, Revivalism
Africa:
-takes various forms:
-rise new ‘tariqa’ or brotherhoods
-mahdism
-jihad
-used to unify, build new states
-effective ‘resistance’ European colonial
rule
-reshapes societies, economies
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
‘tariqa’: Tidjaniya, Qadiriya, Sanussiya
-named after Islamic clerics, often sufi
based
-each with own ‘rules’ of affiliation
-spreading into and through Sahara
-follows commercial networks
-supporting economic and political
activities
-acting as ‘ideology’ even in ‘stateless’
Sahara
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
Examples:
-Kunta (Qadiriya – 18th-19th c. Sahara)
-al-Qadir (Qadiriya – 19th c. Algeria)
-al-Hajj Umar (Tidjaniya – 19th c. Mali)
-Uthman dan Fodio (Qadiriya – 19th c.
Nigeria)
-al-Sanusi (Sanusiyya – 19th c. Libya)
-al-Mahdi (Shi’ism – 19th c. Sudan)
Jihad States in the Nineteenth Century
Abd Al-Qadir (Algeria)
“Al-Mahdi (Sudan)
“Futanke” (Fulani) soldier,
Umarian Jihad (Mali)
Samory Ture
(Guinea-Ivory Coast)
“Mahdi” saviour of slaves (imagined scene)
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
Questions:
-how significant was religious base of
movements?
-to what extent were they ‘local’ in origin?
-to what extent were they ‘legitimate’?
-were they beneficial to African growth?
-how do they relate to other 19th century
‘themes’ in African History?
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
‘Tariqa’ in the Sahara:
-closely linked to economic success
-’talibes’ (students) labour force
-clans ‘owed’ allegiance to spiritual leader
(military, economic)
-19th c. conflict and competition increase
-religious power vs ‘political’ power
-divisions over interaction with European
‘infidel’
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
Mahdism:
-shia in belief: emphasis on role of Imam
in society – return of ‘last Imam’
-militaristic ‘battle’ – jihad
-initial target: Egypt – secular,
imperialistic
-intervention of British turned jihad into
‘resistance to European imperialism’
-mixed motives of army
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
Jihad:
-several examples across West African
Sahel
-tied to Saharan ‘revivalism’, same tariqa
-sometimes actual alliances (eg al-hajj
Umar)
-real religious concerns (eg taxation,
practices of slavery) but also generated by
social, economic issues
Jihad States c.1830
Jihad States in the Nineteenth Century
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
-issue of ‘bad Muslim’ (eg Uthman dan
Fodio): legitimacy?
-warfare with what consequences?
-feeding into ‘growth’ slave trading
-establishment of ‘jihad states’: increase in
slave use
-economic impact
-religious warfare but political state:
politicization of Islam
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
State building:
-jihads of al-hajj Umar, Uthman dan
Fodio most effective
-next generation carried on new state,
based on Islamic law and practise
-Sokoto largest, most sophisticated
economy and administration
-Umarian regime more localised,
attracting migrants to settle
-both resisted Europeans as ‘states’
Reformism, Revivalism:
North & West Africa
Egypt:
-’different’ only to extent embodied
tensions with both European and
Ottoman powers
-rise of Muhamed Ali Pasha
-resistance to ‘revivalism’ (Wahabism)
-resistance to Ottoman control
-role of British
-1880-2: crisis of Islam and Imperialism
-key ‘flashpoint’ in Scramble for Africa
Muhamed Ali Pasha
(Egypt)
“Egyptian Imperialism”
(Mohamed Ali Pasha’s
empire)
Swahili Coast
- Islamic influences came from several
directions, over long period time: Egypt,
Somalia, Arabia, Persia
- Most important process: trade and
intermarriage with locals by merchants
-Indian Ocean: monsoon winds controlled when
ships could move across and around Ocean
– merchants forced to spend up to six months
on East African coast
-married, established families
Swahili Coast
- Local chronicles speak of founding of citystates by Persians (Shiraz)
– tale of purchasing island of Kilwa with the
cloth it took to surround the land, establishes
link between commerce and Islam
-Archaeology (excavation Mosques on the Isle
Shanga) shows growing Muslim community
from 11th c.
Swahili Coast
Swahili Coast
-Emergence of Swahili (from Arabic ‘sahil’ or
coast) – language of Bantu origin, grammar
-large Arabic vocabulary, also Persian words
-Mixed ‘Arab-Persian’ influence seen in
architecture, literature (poetry – utendi)
-Network provided basis for spread of Islam,
especially in 19th C.
Swahili Coast
-1830s Sultan Sayyid Said (Oman) established
capital at Zanzibar
-Traders of mixed descent: ‘Swahili’ and
African (eg ‘Tippu Tip’)
-Took language, ‘culture’, religion to
settlements far in interior
-looked not only to Zanzibar but to traditions of
Oman
- brought different ‘school’ of Islamic practice:
Ibadi
- affected social structure, marriage, identity
Swahili Coast
“Traditional” modest
Muslim dress
Celebration of the
Prophet’s Birthday
Islam in
Africa
(2003)