HIS 106 Chapter 17

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HIS 106Chapter 17

• Africa 1000 - 1800

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Africa

• How do you see it?
• Had kingdoms, laws, religion, and art
• Received outside influences -- some beneficial,
  some not
• Muslims
• European
• Foodstuffs
• Slavery

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Kingdoms

• Present from 1000 to 1800
• Some lasted longer than others
• No single power could control Africa for long
• Regionalism and tribal conflicts kept that from
  happening

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Spread of Islam in Africa

• Islam spread south throughout many, but not all,
  areas through trade routes
• Islam either co-existed or blended with
  traditional beliefs
• Islam took hold primarily in urban trade centers
• It was rare to find Islam in more remote areas

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What is Islam?

• Begun by Muhammad who was born in570
• He resided in Mecca
• In 610 he began receiving revelations, he felt,
  from God via the angel Gabriel
• These were later collected in the Muslim holy
  book called the Quran and became the basis of
  Islam

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• Not immediately accepted by all
• Threatened the traditional Arab gods
• Muhammad fled to Medina when he felt his life was
  in danger
• His following grew, and he returned to Mecca in
  629
• He was then able to convert most of the
  inhabitants of Mecca to Islam

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• Islam united the Arab people like never before
• They had a belief in one God called Allah
• All believers were equal before Allah
• The strong and wealthy were responsible for the
  care of the weak and poor
• Muhammad and his teachings became the basis for
  laws regulating the Muslim faith

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• In Islam, all would face a last judgment before a
  stern but compassionate Allah
• Islams 5 Pillars provided the basis for
  underlying unity
• Acceptance of Islam
• Pray 5 times daily facing Mecca
• Pay a zakat to charity (tithe)
• Fast during month of Ramadan
• Make a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca at least 1 time

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• Muhammad died in 632
• His followers quarreled over succession
• A new leader was chosen who reunited Islam by 633
• Muslims then began to take new territory and
  spread their religion to these areas
• There were victories in todays Iraq, Iran, and
  North Africa

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Succession Problems

• Succession problems led to a split in the
  religion
• There were those who would follow the appointed
  leader of Islam
• There were others who felt the leader should be a
  blood relative of Muhammad
• As a result, the religion split into 2 parts
  Sunnis and Shiites

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Presence of Islam

• In East Africa there were Islamic city-states
  along the coast in port cities
• In the western and central areas, Islam arrived
  by overland trade routes
• Some of the Muslims stayed in these trade cities
• Conversion campaigns led by the Almorvids swept
  through Ghana, and Kumbi by 1076
• Islam moved into Senegal by 1030s

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African kingdoms

• There were major African Kingdoms before Islamic
  trade routes added to their influence
• From 1000 1600, there were 4 long-lived empires
  of note
• Ghana
• Mali
• Songhai
• Kanem-Bornu

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• All had hierarchical societies, successful
  economies, and an army
• There were also some Christian states in the
  eastern Sudan
• Maqurra
• Alwa
• Nubia

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• With increasing Muslim immigration and an elitist
  quality to their Christianity, these Christian
  areas slowly changed over to Islam

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European Entry

• When Europeans entered Africa, change was the
  result
• It was the Portuguese who first came and set up
  small trading forts or settlements near the coast
  (fear of disease)
• They traded for African food crops, gold, salt,
  hides, copper, and slaves

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• Later, other European groups arrived wanting
  slaves to work on their plantations in their New
  World colonies
• The Senegambian states provided about 1/3 of all
  African slaves during the 16th century
• After that, slaves were primarily taken from
  other areas to the south

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• On the east coast of Africa changes were coming
  to their culture and languages
• A Swahili culture and language was taking hold
• Swahili Arabic with Bantu
• So we had Muslims settling in the east and
  Europeans in the west and south

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Settlement of South Africa

• In the 17th century the Dutch East India Company
  set up a station at the Cape of Good Hope
• 1657 Colonization was allowed
• A Dutch-speaking, slave-owning, agricultural
  community developed
• They were called the Boers, Dutch for peasant or
  farmer

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• Each Dutch planter felt entitled to 6,000 acres
• As the Dutch moved in, the Africans were pushed
  out
• Those Africans who werent enslaved by the Dutch
  moved into other territories
• This resulted in CONFLICT with other African
  tribes, mainly the Zulus

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• The whites there believed in white dominance, and
  some racial mixing took place resulting in a
  colored race or mixed
• Boers kept pushing out the Africans who moved in
  on the Zulus.
• The Zulus pushed back in what has been called the
  Mfecane or crushing in the 19th century

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• Zulus were able to remain independent until the
  late 1870s
• Another problem arose for the Dutch
• As a result of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the
  Cape of Good Hope came under British control in
  1806
• This caused the Dutch frustration leading to
  conflict in the 1800s

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• The result was that the British remained in
  control and tried to assimilate the Dutch
• The Union of South Africa was formed in 1910