States in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ms. Fishel - January 2014

Last time we saw Africa...

• River Kingdoms in Egypt and Nubia
• The Bantu
• migrated into Sub-Saharan Africa
• most of the people in Africa after 1000ce
• iron weapons
• agriculture & herding

Bananas

• From South East Asia - Indian Ocean Trade
• 300-500 Malaysian settlement of Madagascar
• yams, bananas, chickens

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• Expanded food source and territory inland to more vegetated areas

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What happens with a growing stable food source?

Iron tools and available food sources led to a population increase

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• 400BCE - 3.5 million people
• 1000CE - 22 million people

How do Africans organize their societies?

• ‘stateless society’ - family and kinship groups vs. the bureaucracies of China or India etc.�
• ~100 person villages
• ruling council (male heads of families)
• chief
• district

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Population Issues

• Increased population, but no land to move to
• Conflicts led to military forces
• more bureaucratic management of groups

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• Powerful chiefs began to take over neighboring villages and create small kingdoms EX/ Ife and Benin

Ife Art

Kingdoms, Empires, and city-states of �sub-Saharan Africa

Kingdom of Kongo

• Most centralized rule of early Bantu kingdoms
• Actively traded in trade networks
• copper, cloth, nzimba shells
• Government - king, gov’t officials, provincial governors
• Good until mid-17th Century - Portuguese slave traders

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Islam in Africa

• Islam spreads to west Africa from Northern Africa
• Trans-Saharan caravans
• Coastal east Africa through maritime trade

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Profound influence after 8th century

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Camel Camels!

• from northwest Africa in 7th Century
• introduction of special camel saddle to N. Africa in early centuries CE
• Need less water than horses, made 90 day journey across Saharan Desert possible

Kingdom of Ghana

• Developed as a state 4th-5th c. CE
• Center of African gold trade
• Imported from south
• Also sold ivory, slaves�
• Koumbi-Saleh - thriving economic center
• qadi and Muslim scholars, large armies
• Islamic - 10th cent.
• Falls to invaders from Desert

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Islam in West Africa

• Not forced conversion
• continued traditional religions
• Islam in economic centers allowed for easy trade with Muslim merchants and Saharan nomads
• Protection from North Africa

Kingdom of Mali

• Sundiata (r. 1230-1255) then Mansa Musa (r. 1312-1337)
• Trans-Saharan trade
• not forced conversion to Islam

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• After Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca, took religion more serious
• Mosques and Islamic scholars

Swahili

• Arabic - ‘coasters’ (people who lived on the east African coast)
• As a language - Bantu language with influence from Arabic
• added gold, slaves, ivory, exotic skins to Indian Ocean Trade

Swahili Political Structure

• Local chiefs in small communities increased wealth and influence by trade
• local villages in ideal locations developed into powerful city-states
• King to supervise trade
• Mogadishu, Lamu, Mombasa, Kilwa, Mozambique

Zimbabwe

• switch from wood to stone zimbabwes�
• Kings controlled trade from interior to coastal kingdoms

Islam in East Africa

• Leaders and elites converted to Islam
• No forced conversion and observation of traditional religions
• Political Influence - allowed for relationships, protections, and trading with Muslims in Indian Ocean

Social Classes

• Complex Societies (Mali, Kilwa, Kongo)
• Ruling elites, military nobles, officials, religious authorities, merchants, common people, peasants, slaves

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• Small States/Kin-based
• authority positions - elites and religious leaders
• based on age, gender, kinship for place in society

Small States

• Communal, no private property
• extended family groups run by men
• men - skilled workers
• Women - life givers
• higher roles than in other post-classical societies
• merchants, public positions
• agriculture

Slavery in Africa

• debtors, prisoners of war, criminals
• slaves = wealth -> work the land
• Increased with demand from Muslim traders
• Raiding - big states use power to take slaves from smaller states
• Foundation for Atlantic Slave trade by Europeans

• Zanj taken as slaves in Southern Mesopotamia �
• Led by Ali bin Muhammad

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African Culture

• 800 languages in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Religion
• creator god, lesser nature gods,
• Explaining, predicting, controlling morality
• Ethiopia (Axum) = Christianity
• developed separate from Christian world
• Islam/Christianity merged with local culture