Chapter 13 Medieval Africa

African Society and Culture Section 3 African Society and Culture

Life in Medieval Africa The Bantu people traveled through southern Africa, and had settled most of Africa by A.D. 400. The Bantu spread their culture through migration. They spread skills such as pottery making, mining, and ironworking. They also spread their language, Swahili.

Africans often lived in extended families, or families made up of several generations. Many African villages were matrilineal, meaning they traced their ancestors through their mothers’ side of the family rather than their fathers’. Matrilineal descent was used mainly by the Bantu.

Children were valued in African culture. They were considered the link between the past and the future. Some people believed ancestors could be reborn in children. Families and villages taught children the history of their people and the skills they would need as adults.

In West Africa, griots, or storytellers, helped in schooling. Children in medieval Western Africa were educated using oral histories and proverbs. Oral histories are the stories passed down from generation to generation. Many of these stories included a lesson about living. Short proverbs, or wise sayings, were often used in oral histories to pass along lessons.

This panel shows a family from the Congo at work. One Bantu proverb stated: “A good deed will make a good neighbor.” This panel shows a family from the Congo at work.

Slavery Slavery existed in Africa before the arrival of Europeans. Africans enslaved criminals and enemies captured in war. The slave trade grew as trade with Muslim merchants increased. Muslims were not allowed to enslave other Muslims, but they could enslave people of other faiths.

The nature of slavery in Africa changed with the arrival of Europeans. Europeans opened a new and larger market for enslaved Africans. The Portuguese brought enslaved Africans to Europe in 1441. These enslaved people were used to farm crops.

A plantation is a huge farm that grows crops for sale. In the late 1400s, European established plantations in the Americas and brought enslaved Africans to work the fields. A plantation is a huge farm that grows crops for sale. The major crop produced on the Portuguese plantations was sugarcane. On a slave ship, enslaved people were transported in the dark, crowded spaces of the ships cargo deck.

African Culture Artistic expression was an important part of African culture. Enslaved Africans took their culture with them when they were traded. Through slavery, African culture was spread around the world. The earliest African art form was cave paintings.

These cave paintings showed scenes of daily life, told stories, and had some religious meaning or use. Music was an important aspect of almost every part of African life. Many African songs used musical instruments to keep a beat during singing.

Enslaved Africans used music to remind them of their homeland. Their songs of hardship and religious faith grew into gospel songs. Jazz, blues, ragtime, rock and roll, and rap are genres also based in African musical traditions.

The Portuguese built Elmire Castle on the coast of Ghana to hold enslaved Africans before shipping them overseas.