Transcript Jihad
West African Empires and East African Trade Networks HIST 1007 12/4/13 Mansa Musa (r. 1307-1332) • Mali as source of gold for Middle East and Europe • Incredible wealth based on control of mines and markets • 1324 – Mansa Musa goes on pilgrimage to Mecca – 500 servants – each carrying a 6lbs. staff of gold – 100 camels carrying gold – 700lbs. of gold • Massive devaluation of gold in Cairo Songhay Empire (r. 1340-1591) • Changing trade patterns weaken Mali • Break up of Mali coalition • Sunni `Ali (r. 1464-92) – former tributary of Mali seizes control of Timbuktu, Jenne, and mining sites • Askiya Muhammad Ture (r. 1493-1528) – rebuild Malian Empire • Conquest and slave raids Tomb of Askiya Muhammad Ture, Mali Songhay and Islam • Islam as elite religion • Mixed with traditional beliefs • Invitation of foreign scholars and jurists • Timbuktu as center of Islamic learning • Legitimation via sharif of Mecca • Jihad and empire building Empires of West Africa Slave Trade and Collapse of West African Empire • Europeans showed little interest in colonizing West Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. • As demand for slaves rose in the Americas, trade moved from gold, ivory, and timber to slaves. • Non-slave goods still Made up 40% of trade with West Africa. Africa and the Slave Trade • West African states on the Gold and Slave Coast maintained control over trade with Europeans. • Europeans established trading “castles” • African merchants benefited from competition between different European trading companies. Sources of Slaves • Primarily prisoners of war, also criminals and victims of kidnapping. • Wars not begun for purposes of acquiring slaves, not giant slave raids. • Get rid of young men who could challenge authority in newly conquered territories. • Trade with Europeans did give certain African powers advantage over neighbors through guns and other technologies. Societies with Slaves to Slave Societies • Need more guns to defend against rivals… • Need slaves to trade for guns… • Ashanti Empire (1670-1902) • Kingdom of Dahomey (1600-1900) • Jihad and spread of Islam justify wars across Western Sudan Maraboutism Indian Ocean Trade and East Africa Swahili Coast Aden Gujarat and Malabar Coast Malacca Cosmopolitan Ports and Indigenous Hinterlands Great Zimbabwe vs… Cosmopolitan Ports and Indigenous Hinterlands Kilwa Kisiwani The Swahili Coast • Swahili – Plural of Arabic sahel or coast – coastal people • 7th century – Arab and Persian merchants establishing trading posts along East African coast • Limited contact – Muslim burials but no mosques • 12th century – Muslim settlement on Zanzibar • Afro-Shirazis – Mixed Persian-African population Dhow off of the coast of Zanzibar Settlement or Colonization • • • • 1250 – 1500 – high point of Swahili Coast Ports act as independent jurisdictions Each networked through Indian Ocean Often Arab or Persian (mixed with local populations, Afro-Shirazi) ruling class • Swahili develops as blending of Arab, Persian, and Bantu cultures (and later Indian) • By 1400 – Islam dominant along East African coast Old Fort, Stone Town, Zanaibar Colonization from the West and East • 1498 – Vasco de Gama sails around the southern tip of Africa • 16th century – Portuguese take control of Indian Ocean trade • 1530 – Portuguese have control of Swahili Coast • 1650-1728 – Sultanate of Oman defeats Portuguese, takes control of Zanzibar Bayt al-Sahel, Omani palace in Stone Town, Zanzibar Plantation Economy • Demand for trade goods • Cloves, coconut, coffee, pepper • Zanzibar as slave market to the east • Portuguese, then Arab plantation owners • Slaves from mainland • Exported across Indian Ocean and beyond Slavery memorial, Stone Town, Zanzibar