1. Expanding Trade Networks in Africa and India, 1000 - 1500
Chapter 11

2. Muslim Traveler
In 1325, a twenty-year-old legal scholar named Ibn Battuta set off on a hajj pilgrimage from his home in Tangier. In Mecca, Ibn Battuta made a decision that changed his life: instead of returning home, he decided to keep going. He followed trade routes that knitted the entire Islamic world together. 2

3. Selected Journeys of Ibn Battuta3

4. Introduction
In 1325, Ibn Battuta left his home in Tangier to go on the Hajj
Once in Mecca, Ibn Battuta decided to keep traveling
Traveled the Islamic trade routes and covered 75,000 miles from North Africa to northern India
When his travels were over, he dictated an account of them

5. Reconstructing the History of Sub-Saharan Africa Before 1000
The geography and languages of Sub-Saharan Africa
The Sahara Desert is 3,000 miles from east to west and 1,000 miles north and south
Single-humped camels were introduced to the Sahara from Arabia in the first century B.C.E.
South of the Sahara is the Sahel, a semi-desert region
South of that are grassy savannas, then wooded savannas, followed by rainforests

6. The Geography and Languages of Sub-Saharan Africa
There are 2000 different languages in Africa
Several languages have had written forms for a thousand years or longer
Those south of the Sahara had no written form until after 1800

7. African Trade Routes Before 15007

8. The Spread of Bantu Languages
Glottochronology: analysis of the history of languages
Multiple waves of language spread
Likely that indigenous peoples adopted farming, iron-smelting, and the Bantu languages at different times in different regions

9. Society and Family Life (Slide 1 of 2)
Sources for pre-1000 sub-Saharan Africa
Oral histories
Griots
Writings by Arab geographers and explorers
Most sub-Saharan Africans lived in villages
Descent from a common ancestor defines a lineage or clan
Work in the villages was generally divided by gender
Men had greater prestige, hunted, worked metals, fought in the military, traveled for trade or diplomatic negotiations
Women tended the crops, gathered fruits and vegetables, made pottery, prepared meals

10. The Kingdom of Mali and its Precursors in Sub-Saharan Africa
The kingdom of Mali was located in West Africa centered on the Niger River basin
Straddled the Sahel and the vast savannah grasslands
Included some of the biggest gold mines in the world
Sought after by merchants coming to the area

11. The Kingdom of Ghana, ca. 700–1000
Source for studying Ghana is al-Bakri (d. 1094), in Book of Routes and Realms
Saharan trading kingdoms began as small settlements where trade routes met
Sijilmasa, north of the Sahara, began as such a settlement
Periodic market then evolved into a town
Became a kingdom and royal family made money from taxing traders
Kingdom of Ghana, south of the Sahara, followed a similar path
Some of the population had converted to Islam
The kings of Ghana did not convert but were welcoming to Muslims
Muslim geographer al-Bakri describes the natives’ religions as polytheistic and based on sorcery
The kingdom did not have a fixed capital

12. Jenne-jeno: A Different Path to Complex Society
Largest urban site was Jenne-jeno located on Middle Niger Valley
Settlement covered 80 acres – evidence of complex society
After 400 C.E. iron smelting and occupational specializations
City declined after 1300

13. Evidence of Plague?
This beautifully crafted statue, 10 inches (25 cm) tall, shows a seated man clasping a leg and resting his head sideways with his mouth open. Is he in pain? Mourning someone? Or simply lost in thought? The raised bumps on his back may represent plague pustules. The plague might have contributed to the demise of the Jenne state.

14. Sundiata and the Founding of the Mali Kingdom, ca. 1230 (Slide 1 of 3)
Source for Sundiata is an oral epic called Sundiata
Only written down in the twentieth century
Oral histories were recorded by a griot, a storyteller
Ibn Battuta describes a griot as wearing an elaborate costume and reciting before the king, called sultan

15. Sundiata and the Founding of the Mali Kingdom, ca. 1230 (Slide 2 of 3)
Sundiata was the son of a king and his hump-backed wife
Sundiata was exiled for ten years by one of his father’s other wives
Returned to conquer the Sosso king Soumaoro
Created the state of Mali

16. Sundiata and the Founding of the Mali Kingdom, ca. 1230 (Slide 3 of 3)
According to the epic, states are formed by conquest of humans or supernatural forces
Arab historian Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) in Tunis recorded the names of Mali kings and their major events
Army of Mali had independent armies with local leaders

17. A Modern Headdress from Mali
When Ibn Battuta visited the sultan of Mali, he described griots who wore a feathered costume topped by a bird’s head with a beak. Perhaps he saw something like this bird mask, made in the twentieth century from the same region of Mali that he went to. 17

18. Trans-Saharan Trade Networks (Slide 1 of 2)
Ibn Battuta provided details of Mali and the trans-Saharan caravan trade network
Traveled with the Saharan caravans along trade routes
In Taghaza, south of the Sahara, Ibn Battuta described the mining of salt
So little rain fell in the area that the locals built houses of salt
Salt was so precious in that hot climate it was used as currency

19. Trans-Saharan Trade Networks (Slide 2 of 2)
Ibn Battuta went to Timbuktu, on the Niger River
People of Mali captured slaves in the forest to the south
Most were female slaves, valuable as servants and concubines
Male slaves were often castrated
Slaves and gold were the two most important trade goods of Mali

20. The Richest King in the Land?
Mansa Musa of Mali In 1375, a European cartographer mapped Afro-Eurasia with unprecedented accuracy. The mapmaker included written labels that identify the seated figure on the lower right as Mansa Musa, the richest king in the land because of the abundant gold in his country. 20

21. Society in Mali
The observance of Islam was different from Muslim cultures in other states
Mali society was matrilineal with descent and inheritance determined by women
Ibn Battuta objected to the lack of seclusion of Mali women
Praised attendance at Friday services and memorizing the Quran

22. Islamic North Africa and the Mamluk Empire
North Africa was divided into three sultanates
Thousands of pilgrims traveled to Mecca for the hajj, going through Cairo
Cairo became was the cultural capital of the Islamic world in 1261
Rulers of the Mamluk empire announced the re-establishment of the caliphate

23. The Sultanates of North Africa (Slide 1 of 2)
Tunis, capital of one of the three North African sultanates, had a population of about 100,000 in 1325
Major trade port in the Mediterranean
Sultans collected taxes from the people and provided military and police protections and a justice system
Muslims paid less in taxes than non- Muslims

24. The Sultanates of North Africa (Slide 2 of 2)
Legal cases were heard by a qadi, or “chief jurist”
Assisted by subordinate jurists
Qadis enforced sharia, or “Islamic law,” based on the Quran, hadith, and precedent
Jurists heard disputes after Friday prayers
A qadi’s decisions, called fatwas, were enforced by the sultan as law

25. The Mamluk Empire 1250–1517 (Slide 1 of 2)
Mamluk originally meant “slave”
In the ninth and tenth centuries, Islamic rulers in Afghanistan, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain bought Turks as slaves to serve in the army
Taken as children, raised as soldiers, converted to Islam
Mamluks served in high positions in the Ayyubid Dynasty of Egypt (1171–1250)

26. The Mamluk Empire 1250–1517 (Slide 2 of 2)
In 1250, the Mamluks staged a coup and took over Egypt
In 1260, the Mamluks became one of the few armies to ever defeat the Mongols
Mamluks, who originated in the Central Asia grasslands, fought in a style similar to the Mongols

27. Cairo: Baghdad’s Successor as the Cultural Capital of the Islamic World
Mamluks reestablished the caliphate in Cairo in
A new kind of Islamic mysticism became popular
Sufis were mystics who taught that individuals could experience God directly, with mediation
Cairo became a cultural center
Population of 400,000 to 500,000

28. The Outbreak of Plague in Damascus, 1348
1346 : First new outbreak of the plague was at Kaffa, a port on the Black Sea
Traveled to Italy and Egypt
By 1348, it had reached Syria, where Ibn Battuta describes a thousand people a day dying
Plague losses in Egypt and Syria have been estimated at 33 to 40 percent of the population

29. East Africa, India, and the Trade Networks of the Indian Ocean
There are three different regions on the Indian Ocean, with their languages and states: Indian Ocean trade network
East African coast
Southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula
West coast of India
States made their money from taxing trade along the ocean routes

30. The East African Coast Travelers on the Indian Ocean used dhows
Had no deck; travelers slept with the cargo
Were inexpensive to make and to sail
Kilwa was a major port city near the Zambezi River
Center for trade of gold coming from the interior with China, Persia, and India

31. The Dhows of the Indian Ocean
Unlike most other boats, the dhows of the Indian Ocean were sewn and not nailed together. Boatmakers sewed planks of teak or coconut trees together with a cord and added a single sail. This boat design was so practical that it is still in use today. 31

32. Great Zimbabwe and Its Satellites, ca. 1275–1550
South of Kilwa was the state of Great Zimbabwe
Before 1000 C.E., most people of Zimbabwe lived in small villages
Walls of Great Zimbabwe do not resemble any Islamic buildings; evidence that there was no Arabic influence here as on the coast
There was no written language in Great Zimbabwe

33. The Delhi Sultanate and the Hindu Kingdoms of Southern India
In 1324, Muhammad bin Tughluq took over the Delhi sultanate (1210–1526)
Delhi sultanate had been created by Mamluk slaves from Afghanistan
Tughluq conquered most of India, his army in search of plunder
The most important Hindu empire was based at Vijayanagar

34. The Delhi Sultanate 34

35. The Ruins of Great Zimbabwe (Slide 1 of 2)
Located near Masvingo, Zimbabwe, the Great Zimbabwe site contains several large ruins and many smaller stone structures whose original purpose is undocumented and therefore still not well understood. The ruins cover almost 1,800 acres. The site was first settled before 1000, when the first stone structures were built, and continued to grow through the 1300s. 35

36. The Ruins of Great Zimbabwe (Slide 2 of 2)36

37. Qutb Minar
One of Delhi’s most recognizable landmarks, Qutb Minar is a high tower with inscriptions from the Quran written on the face of red and tan sandstone. To the right stands a 23-foot (7 m) iron pillar, originally from the courtyard of a Jain temple, that dates to at least the 300s, if not earlier. 37

38. Chapter 11 Timeline
EVENT
APPROXIMATE DATES (CE)
West Africa: Kingdom of Ghana
700 to circa 1000
For Comparison: United Abbasid caliphate
750 to 945
India: Chola dynasty in south India and Ceylon
Circa 850
East Africa: Earliest settlement at Great Zimbabwe site
1,000
North Africa: Al-Bakri's Book of Routes and Realms
1,068
North Africa: Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt
1171 to 1250
For Comparison: Ibn Jubayr's pilgrimage
1183 to 1185
India: Delhi sultanate in north India
1206 to 1526
West Africa: Mali kingdom in western Sudan
1230 to 1450
North Africa: Mamluk empire in Egypt and Syria
1250 to 1517
For Comparison: Mongols depose caliph
1258
East Africa: Great Zimbabwe kingdom
1275 to 1550
Lifetime of Ibn Battuta
1304 to 1368
India: Hindu Vijayanagar kingdom in south India
1336 to 1614
North Africa: Ibn Khaldun's world history
1377
For Comparison: Ming Chinese voyages reach Indian Ocean
1405 to 1433
Table description: Events and approximate dates as shown on the timeline. 38