1. Africa and Trans-Sahara Trade Routes

2. “Always something new out of Africa” (Greek Proverb; 1st C CE)
What do you suppose this proverb is referring to?

3. Pre-600 CE West Africa: domesticated millet & sorghum
Ironworking technology
Between North Africa & Sub-Saharan Africa: trade included ivory, hides, cola, copper, slaves, and dates
Expanded to Islamic World by 700 CE
300 CE: introduction of camels

4. Pre-600 Predominately Christian or ATR
State-level societies: Jenne-Jeno and Gao (in present-day Mali)
Stateless societies: organized around kinship boundaries
Not-consolidated power: power-vacuum
Common language: Bantu

5. Trans-Sahara Trade Routes

6. Trans-Sahara Trade Routes
Began with Soninke Empire (Ghana) in the 5th century
Linked to Mediterranean Empiressupplied gold and salt
Used camels (Ibn Battuta, camel caravan size = 1,000-12,000)
Eventually sent slaves north

7. Trans-Sahara Trade Routes
Beginning of trade: Ghana
Height of trade: Mali
Decline of trade: Portuguese invaders/Atlantic slave trade

8. African Political Organization
Kinship groups
Through family groups
Village council = male family heads
Chiefs
District
Chiefdoms
Population growth increased conflict
Organized military forces, around 1000 CE
Powerful chiefs overrode kinship networks and imposed authority
Ex: Benin and Ife (Yoruba)

9. African Political Organization
Kingdom of Kongo
Villages formed small city-states along the Congo River, 1000 CE
Small stateslarger principalities, 1200 CE
One conquered others: Kongo
Centralized government
Royal currency system
Until mid-17th century

10. African Political Organization: Christian Kingdoms:
Reached Africa by 1st C; Axum by 4th C
Nubia
Independently Christian until the 13th C.
Ethiopia
King Lalibela (13th C)
Egypt: Copts

11. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms
Spread of Islam
When did it spread through Africa?
How?
Why?

12. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms
Islamic Impact
Active trade with Islamic world (Dar al-Islam)
Islamic world interested in Ghana:
“The richest king on the face of the earth by reason of wealth and treasure of [gold]”
By 11th C, Muslims part of culture of the Savannah

13. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms
Mansa Musa
Malian Muslim King
, set out to take a Hajj
Thousands of retainers
100 camel loads of gold
Prices skyrocketed in Alexandria
Reports of wealthy Africans to Europe
Set out to build new mosques

14. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms
Timbuktu: Center of learning
Young men “kept in irons until they had memorized the entire Qu’ran” (Ibn Battuta)
“Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom come from Timbuktu."
High literacy rate

15. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms
Oral Tradition
What is a griot?
Any connections to other traditions?
What is the value of oral traditions?
What were the qualities people expected in a king?
What’s the connection between Africa and the wider world?

16. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms
Songhay Kingdom
Refer to your notes from chapter 8:
What are key components of the Songhay Kingdom?
Timbuktu at its height; decline of Mali and Ghana
Replaces Mali by the late 15th C

17. Commonalities in Sudanic Islamic States:
Clans, kinship groups, etc. formed social aspects
Unified states allowed for coexistence of diverse groups and communities
Islam served as a common religion
Islam fused with existing traditions and beliefs
Matrilineal societies
Slavery and slave trade: Africa and Islamic world: 4.8 million people in the 700 years of the trans-Saharan trade

18. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms: East Africa
Swahili
Arabic term meaning “coasters”
Mogadishu to Sofala
Swahili: Bantu derivative language + Arabic
Trade with Muslim merchants
City-States
Chiefs gain power by taxing trade on ports
Portscity-states governed by kings in 11th and 12th centuries

19. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms: East Africa
Great Zimbabwe
The stone complex known as Great Zimbabwe built in 12th C
18,000 people lived there in the 15th C (some say up to 30,000!)
Kings organized flow of gold, ivory, slaves
Wealth lie in cattle production

20. African Political Organization: Islamic Kingdoms: East Africa
Kilwa
Began around the 9th C
Traded throughout the Indian Ocean
Trade:
Gold and iron from Great Zimbabwe
Ivory and slaves from mainland Tanzania
Jewelry, porcelain and spices from Asia.
Islamic: mosques
Ibn Battuta

21. African Society and Cultural Development
Social classes:
Diverse dependent upon location
Kinship groups
No private property

22. African Society and Cultural Development
Heavy labor
Public authority
Kings/chiefs
Women
child rearing, domesticity
High honor as source of life
Aristocratic women could influence public affairs
Women merchants
All-female military units

23. African Society and Cultural Development
Slavery
Most were captives of war, debtors, criminals
Agricultural labor
Increased after 11th C
Demand outstripped supply from eastern Europe
Large states began slave raids from small states or villages