Some General Elements of Early Africa

Stateless Societies

somewhat common

kinship fundamental

little concentrated power, no taxes,

armies, or bureaucrats

Religion

animism

cosmology

ethical codes

ancestor worship

West Africa before Urbanization

iron smelting, terra cotta sculpture, settled agriculture

jump from stone to iron--few examples of bronze artifacts

Bantu migrations carry knowledge of iron working and settled agriculture

The Bantu migration

c. 2000 BCE-c. 500 CE

Language Families of Africa

Early African

States

Meroe

Kush (Nubia)

• from 1000 BCE

• linked to Egypt, but autonomous

• conquers Egypt, c. 750 BCE

Sub-Saharan Africa

• extension of agriculture along the Sahel (“coast”)

• followed by establishment of West African kingdoms

o Ghana--first great sub-Saharan state, c.400-c.1100 CE

The Sahel ⟼

The Camel: Courier of the Desert

♘ evolves in North America: one branch across Bering Strait, other to

South America ⇒ the llama and alpaca

♘ dromedary (one hump, Middle East and Africa)

and bactrian (two humps, Asia)

♘ carries twice the load of an ox at double the speed

♘ can drink 30 gallons of water in 10 minutes, then none for 10 days in

hot weather, for months in mild weather

♘ can withstand huge temperature variations

♘ urine is like syrup, feces super-dry

♘ can live off fat (in humps) without using proteins ⇒ retains muscle mass

♘ not efficient at coitus, and a 13-month gestation ⇒ camel shortage!!!!

Islam Arrives

Arabs sweep through N. Africa and into Spain by 711

conservative Muslim reformers arrive in N. Africa later

(Berber) Almoravids (c.1050-1150)

(Berber) Almohads succeed Almoravids (c.1120-1270)

Copts

Egyptian Christians, established by 2nd

cent. AD

centered in Alexandria

Christ is one person from, not in, two

natures (miaphysitism)

o Copts remain out of communion

with most other Christians

tolerated by Muslims after conquest of

Egypt in 641

o but many convert to Islam

o significant persecution in Egypt

today

spread south to Kush (Nubia)

The Copts have been always focused

on Egypt; it’s our identity, it’s our

nation, it’s our land, it’s our

language, it’s our culture...If you

come to a Coptic person and tell him

that he’s an Arab, that’s offensive.

We are not Arabs, we are Egyptians.

I am very happy to be an Egyptian

and I would not accept being "Arab"

because ethnically I am not. I speak

Arabic. Politically now...I belong to

an Arabic country, but that doesn’t

make a person Arab.

--Bishop Thomas of Cusae and Meir,

2008

Christian Kingdomsa Coptic monk

Christian Kingdoms (cont’d)

Axum

defeats Kush, c. 300 BCE.

converts to Christianity c. 350 CE

falls by c. 1000 (mysteriously)

more or less becomes Ethiopia

The Obelisk of Axum

The Chapel of the Tablet

Christian Kingdoms (cont’d)

Ethiopia

established by 11th cent., heir to (Christian) Axum

uses two languages: Amharic (for speech) and Ge’ez (for religion)

Ge’ez script is only indigenous script in Africa

King Lalibela (late 12th cent.)

o creates eleven churches hewn entirely from bedrock

country today is about 2/3 Christian, 1/3 Muslim

Ethiopian Orthodox Church is among those in communion with Copts

Bet Giorgis(Church of St. George)

Ge’ez Script

Jenné-jeno (Djenné-djenno)

probably first city in sub-Saharan Africa, on Niger R. floodplain

develops c.300 CE, peaks c.900 (pop. c. 27, 000)

central area: walled city containing about eighty acres

iron (imported), rice, mud-brick construction, terracotta

may have been a cooperative society--relative equality rather than

competition, dominance, and coercion

in decline by 1200 C.E.

Sudanic States

states in the Sahel—”Sudanic” refers to a language family, not today’s Sudan

two branches roughly equivalent to Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo A

gold is the source of wealth and power

Mediterranean world (Rome, Carthage, Greece, etc.) fuels demand

gold of little interest to locals—value iron and copper above all

gold trade spurred by Muslim Arabs

trans-Saharan trade made possible with domestication of camels

three great states: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai

Islam serves as a universalistic faith

o fuses with traditional practices and beliefs

o slavery becomes more widespread

• seen also as a step toward conversion

o c.750-1450, Muslims virtually only external influence on sub-Saharan

Africa

Sudanic States: Ghana

no relation to modern-day Ghana

flourishes c. 400-1100

major trading center at Kumbi-Saleh

vast reserves of gold and salt

It is said that beyond the source of

the Nile there is darkness and

beyond the darkness are waters that

make the gold grow...to the town of

Ghana is a three-months’ journey

through deserts. In the country of

Ghana gold grows in the sand as

carrots do, and it is plucked at

sunrise.

--Ibn al-Faqih, Iranian scholar, c.900

Sudanic States: Mali

founded 13th cent.; Malinke peoples from Ghana

agriculture, gold, salt

Sundiata (d.1260)

o Mansa (ruler)

o expands the state

Mansa Kankan Musa

o pilgrimage to Mecca, 1324

o brings back architect from Muslim Spain

• beaten-clay architecture

Timbuktu

o center for books, scholarship

Mansa Musa

salt at market in Moptimine at Taudenni

caravan to Timbuktu

Salt

Photographic essay: Mali

Sudanic States: Songhai

(Songhay)

middle of Niger valley

independent by 700

Muslim by 1010

Capital at Gao

Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

expands territory

successors are called askia

heavily Islamic

defeated by Morocco, 1591

Hausa states develop, northern

Nigeria

o keep Songhai’s political and

religious traditions alive

Swahili

States

centered in modern-

day Somalia, Kenya,

Tanzania

Swahili (“coastal”; cf.

Sahel) is blend of

Bantu, Arabian,

European languages

growth begins

c.1000

extensive contacts

with Arabia,

Indonesia, India,

even China

monsoon winds

o India to Africa in

winter

o Africa to India in

summer

West Africa: Beyond the Sahel

Nok, c.1000 BC - 300 CE

o modern-day Nigeria

o terracotta, iron

o discovered by tin miners in 1928

Benin, 14th-19th cents.

o southern coast of West Africa

o remarkable work in bronze and ivory

o heavy involvement in the Atlantic slave trade Nok

Benin bronzes

Southeast Africa: Great Zimbabwe

Bantu confederation of Shona speakers

Zimbabwe (stone courts)—impressive stonework

flourishes 14th – 16th cents.

Great Zimbabwe the greatest of 300 zimbabwe

ruler called Mwene Mutapa (“Lord of the Conquered Land”)

control of gold sources in the interior

trade with Arabs

Trade Routes of Post-Islamic Africa