AFRICA TO 1500

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CHAPTER 8

• AFRICA TO 1500

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Popular Misconceptions

• Not so long ago the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa
  were commonly identified as savages in the
  popular imagination of the civilized Western
  world.
• They were thought to be most comfortable in
  jungles where they made their living by hunting
  and gathering.

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Noble Savages

• They were sometimes described as noble.
• Their simplicity reproached the excessive
  complexity and artificiality of the lives of
  modern Europeans and Americans.
• Savages could also appear threatening or
  intimidating.

4
History Tells a Different Story

• This concept of the savage is belied by the
  history of sub-Saharan Africa.

5
Bantu Life

• Life among the Bantu-speaking people was in
  harmony with nature's rhythms.
• Africas early empires generally developed along
  a course that mirrored the cultural values of
  their founding peoples.

6
Shaping Society

• African societies were shaped by centuries of
  cultural experience in adapting to and surviving
  in an often difficult natural environment.
• Over time, many of these societies were
  influenced by outside cultural forceswith both
  positive and negative results.

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Savages?

• The malign connotation of savage can be
  supported by a superficial examination of the
  historical record of the African peoples.
• Sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed many terrible
  and bloody conflicts among its many tribes.

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European Savages?

• However, the African record of violence scarcely
  exceeds that of Europe, even during the most
  recent century.

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History Teaches True Natures

• The most important contribution that history can
  make toward correcting false impressions of
  African societies is to explore the true nature
  of the civilizations of these peoples.

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Complex Societies

• Their societies were complex organizations that
  achieved high levels of skill in
• agriculture
• architecture
• crafts
• engineering
• government.

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Morality

• They also developed effective systems of social
  morality.
• They prized communal qualities rather than
  competition.

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YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The broad outlines of African historyits
  geographic, trade, ethnic and historical
  background, and general cultural patterns.
• The civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa.

13
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The major empires of East Africa and the western
  Sudan.
• The cross-cultural impact of the trans-Saharan
  and Indian Ocean trade.