Early Civilizations in Africa 8

©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license. The Continent of Africa

The Emergence of Civilization  The Land  Diverse, from mountains to deserts to jungles  5,000 miles long  Sahara is the great divide  Kush (or ancient Nubia, South of Egypt)  Agriculture may have first appeared in Nubia rather than the lower Nile valley  Perhaps the site of the first true African kingdom  Nubia became an Egyptian tributary  Disintegration of the Egyptian New Kingdom (end of second millennium B.C.E.) resulted in the independent state of Kush Kush became a major trading state Little known about the society of Kush (Egyptians influenced Kush; ex. Pyramids, hieroglyphics, religions Seems to have been widespread material prosperity

©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license. Ancient Ethiopia and Nubia

Axum, Son of Saba (Sheba)  Conquered Kush in first millennium C.E.  Axum founded as a colony of the kingdom of Saba in first millennium B.C.E.  Saba a trading state, goods from South Asia to the Mediterranean  Axum continued the trade after Saba declined  Location on trade routes responsible for prosperity  Competed for control of ivory trade  Followed Egyptian Christianity (Coptic)  Would be renamed Ethiopia  Called the “hermit kingdom” by Europeans

The Sahara and Its Environs  From 8000 to 4000 B.C.E. a warm, humid climate that created lakes, ponds, grasslands, and game  Desiccation began in 6th and 5th millennium B.C.E.  After 3000 B.C.E. farming spread to the south; Berbers (pastoral people from North Africa) were intermediaries  Carthage became focal point of trans-Saharan trade  Traded salt, copper, gold, and probably slaves *Cultural Exchange-iron through the Berbers to Niger’s Nok culture

East and Southern Africa  Bantu language group  Introduced cultivation of crops and ironworking  The Bantu settled into rural communities  Commercial trade  Egyptians may have arrived looking for trade goods  A Greek seafarer from Alexandria wrote an account of his travels down the coast of East Africa to the Strait of Madagascar, called Periplus.  The port of Rhapta was a commercial metropolis (according to Periplus)-exported ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell; imported glass, wine, grain, metal goods such as weapons and tools  Trade across the Indian Ocean  Swahili language is a mix of African and Arabian culture  Trade also from Southeast Asia  Malay people settled on Madagascar

©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license. Ancient Africa

The Coming of Islam  African Religious Beliefs before Islam  Common beliefs Single creator god Sometimes accompanied by a pantheon of lesser gods Most believed in an afterlife in which ancestral souls floated in the atmosphere through eternity Closely connected to importance of ancestors and lineage Rituals very important  Challenge by Islam but not always replaced; synthesized

The Coming of Islam (cont.’d)  North Africa  Arab forces seized the Nile delta of Egypt in 641  New capital at Cairo  Arabs welcome due to high taxes and periodic persecution of Coptic Christians by Byzantines  Arabs seize Carthage in 690, called Al Maghrib  Berbers resisted for many years  The Kingdom of Ethiopia: A Christian Island in a Muslim Sea  Axum began to decline  Shift in trade routes and overexploited agriculture  Muslim trading states on the African coast of the Red Sea transforming Axum into an isolated agricultural society Source of ivory, resins, and slaves  Attacked by Muslim state of Adal in early 14th century  Became a Christian state in mid-twelfth century

East Africa: The Land of Zanj  Legend says a Persian and his six sons founded the trading centers on the coast of East Africa  Self-governing city-states  Trade with the interior  Trade with the Indian Ocean, China, and along the coast  Mixed African-Arab culture  Mixed culture and language called Swahili  Conversion to Islam grows

©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license. The Emergence of States in Africa

The States of West Africa  Expansion of Islam has impact on political system  Introduction of Arabic for a writing system  Ghana  Majority of people were farmers  Primary reason for Ghana’s growth was gold  Trans-Saharan trade with Ghana becomes very important  Divine right monarchy assisted by hereditary aristocracy  Kings did not convert to Islam, but many of their subjects did  Mali  Ruinous wars by the twelfth century in Ghana New states of Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, and Hausa states  Greatest state was Mali Gold trade Farming in the savanna region Mansa Musa ( ), king, encouraged Islam Timbuktu becomes center of trade, religion and learning

©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license. Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

States and Stateless Societies in Southern Africa  From the basin of the Congo River to the Cape of Good Hope  Stateless society  Progress made with regional trade  Zimbabwe (sacred house)  Capital known as Great Zimbabwe  Benefited from trade between interior and coast  Evidence of great wealth, but Great Zimbabwe abandoned  The Khoi (herders) and the San (hunter-gatherers) people  Language known as Khoisan, “click” sounds

African Society  African Society  Urban life (began as fortified villages and evolved into centers of government with markets)  Village Life-most Africans lived in small rural villages  Role of women-subordinate to men, lineage was matrilineal rather than patrilineal  Slavery-existed long before arrival of Europeans, common in Egypt, slaves often POWs, and gaining slaves was a major cause of wars Life difficult for average slave, but under Islam slaves might win their freedom

African Culture  Painting and Sculpture  Rock paintings, wood carving, pottery, metalwork  Music and Dance  Often served religious purposes  Wide variety of instruments  Integration of voice and instrument  Music produced for social rituals and educational purposes  Architecture  Pyramid  Stone pillars  Stone buildings  Sometimes reflected Moorish styles  Literature  Written works did not exist in the early traditional period  Professional storytellers, bards  Importance of women in passing down oral traditions

Discussion Questions  How is Axum a “bridge” between East African society and the culture of Southern Arabia?  What is the history of the geography and climate of the Sahara?  How is the Sahara both a barrier and a highway in the development of Sub-Saharan Africa?  How are the East African states and the West African states alike? How are they different?