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Greater part of continent had no written language Different levels of sophistication Natural environment and location on routes of trade and travel had bigger impact on history
o Mediterranean coast was closely linked to Europe and Middle east o Rainforests infection by tsetse flies and other diseases inhibited largescale development almost to the present o Desert regions Nomadics pastoralism and small-scale oasis agriculture only possible lifestyles o Sahel only pastoral economy o Only savannas of the west and eastern plateaus had good soil to have crop agriculture and dense village population
o Had no written language and built few monuments that survived o Only when arrival on Coast of Indian Ocean and built port cities do we know more about them
Had large number of court functionaries whose combine power would negate king Queen mother, prime minister, royal historian, royal drummers ,divines, medicine men and women King was member of royal lineage and was sacred Intermediary between living and dead o Discern wishes of royal ancestors through divination or spirit possession A weak, sick or old king threatened the state o Could be deposed Surrounded by symbols of office or regalia o Ivory horns, royal drums, ceremonial swords and umbrellas or fans
Kush
In early history when capital was at Kerma o Associated with Egypt and strongly influence Assyrian invaded Egypt o Capital moved to Meroe Cut ties of Egypt and became increasingly African in character o Major industrial center whose principal product was iron In the Ethiopian highlands Established when local people and immigrants arrived from southwestern Arabia and intermarried After establishing port at Adulis challenged Kush for control of Red Sea trade and upper Nile corridor o Conquered Kush Rise coincided with conversion to Christianity by Byzantine missionaries King Azana of Axum accepted Christianity Oldest and most distinctive version of religion in all of Africa Mountains and physical isolation of country enable Ethiopians to hold of repeated Muslim attempts to conquer it Allowed the growth of Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopian Christian kings Crossed the Red Sea and conquered south western Arabia o But were drive from its Red Sea coast and under siege th 8 century Arab Muslim dominated seaborne trade Nubian society matured into 3 small states of Noba, Makuria and Alowa
Axum
Ghana
o Capital town o Muslim geographer al-Bakri spent some time describing Muslim were influential in Ghana o Little difficulty converting to monotheistic doctrine of Islam o Missionaries concentrated efforts on upper class o African merchants gained advantage Literacy, access to new commerce and financial connections, written law code and access to Muslim trade network that extended across Africa and Asia Ghanas sources of gold dried up and weakened it when confronted by war Regions fought with each other until Sundiata subdued most of western Sudan Better and larger than Ghana and gold came from new region closer to heart of new kingdom Keitas were original ruling clan o Nominally Muslin o Ruled primarily as divine kings who governed with court officials and regional representative o Adoption of stricter forms of Islam by new ruling clan, Mansas encourage good relations with Berbers Sudanese kingdoms products of strategic posttion in international trade o Controlling movement of goods from sub-Saharan to North Africa Ghana and Mali relied on taxes on Saharan traders on gold, salt and slaves o Made it possible to support hierarchy of officials and large army o Gold was important to trade Rare in Europe but large quantities in sub-Saharan Africa Controlled by western Sudanese merchants and Swahili city-states o Salt was almost as prized as gold Difficult to transport and limited in most areas Very valuable Saltpans in oases like Taghaza and Tassili o Slave common in African markets Common accepted consequences of war, debt, and crime Large numbers of slaves passed northward through Ghana and Mali Kingdom of Mali expanded by military conquests Mansa Musa o Extended kingdom o 8 million people lived under his rule o Was a Muslim and made pilgrimage to holy places in Arabia Islam gained much ground in West Africa o Religions passed through upper class
Mali
o Musa founded a madrasa (university) at Sankore mosque in Timbuktu Became a center of Islamic book production as well as trade
Songhay
Niger River city of Gao was focus of central Sudanic trade Dominance of Niger River trade and major trans- Saharan routes to Timbuktu gave it great commercial and military power Sonni Ali o Used strategy that combined attacks of cavalry or armored warriors and nave of river canoes to create core of kingdom of Songhay Askia Muhammad o Most lasting contribution was his support of Islam o Gave Muslim scholars important position is state apparatus o Enforced orthodox practices among his subjects o Built mosques o Subsidized book production and scholarship in intellectual centers Tuareg Berbers from the north weaken Songhay state Overthrew by Moroccan forces when invaded
Position based on Islamic piety, claims of descent from Prophet Muhammad and monopoly of Kilwas gold Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta provided one of the best accounts of this period
Great Zimbabwe
Southern Africa has moderate climate and good soil Bantu-speaking mixed farmers and Khoisan-speaking hunter-gathers and cattle pastoralists were living in agricultural villages, pastoralist communities or hunter-gatherer camps Iron was used Chief center of early settled life in southern Africa was Great Zimbabwe o Ruins can be seen o Massive walls and towers one of most impressive monuments Trade in gold and ivory passed down to Swahili ports and exotic imports such as glass beads and pottery passed in other direction Flourished as political, religious and trading center o Additional stone structure continued to be built at Great Zimbabwe site and also other zimbabwes (court and burial places for royal clan members) State broke apart into several smaller kingdoms Supply of gold begun to peter out
African Art
Was necessarily visual and plastic Most famous are Benin bronzes from West African kingdom Benin (one of successors of Mali) o Highly stylized busts and full-length figures in bronze, gold and combinations of metals o Benins enemies vandalized many of these pieces Same as the wood sculptures of the Kanem and Bornu people of central Sudan o Series of kingdoms in Vicinity of Lake Chad Ivory and gold work of Swahili city-states also remarkable o Some muslim looked on artwork depicting human figures as mockery of Allah and destroyed much of it Earthenware heads of the Nok people of prehistoric Nigeria have to come to light only in this century o Terra cotta portrait heads are oldest examples yet found of African art
European Impressions
Europeans arrived on African coast at time when Sub-Saharan kingdoms collapsed or were in decline o Seemed to have involved a combination of internal quarrels among nobility and conquests from outside European explorer-traders perceived kingdoms of Africa as backward o Reinforced by Africans lack of knowledge in military and technological matters and also slavery Portuguese thought it would not be wrong to take advantage of them o Africans not see as human o 25 percent mortality rate per year of Europeans who went to African coast Saw Africans as source of profit rather than as fellow human beings was rationalized by everything o Basis of European racism directed against dark-skinned people 1