Africa and Trans-Sahara Trade Routes

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Africa andTrans-Sahara Trade Routes

• 600-1450

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Always something new out of Africa (Greek
Proverb 1st C CE)

• What do you suppose this proverb is referring to?

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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

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Trans-Sahara Trade Routes
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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

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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)

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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

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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

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African Political Organization Islamic Kingdoms

• Spread of Islam
• When did it spread through Africa?
• How?
• Why?

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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

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African Political Organization Islamic Kingdoms

• Mansa Musa
• Malian Muslim King
• 1324-1325, 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

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African Political Organization Islamic Kingdoms

• Timbuktu Center of learning
• Young men kept in irons until they had memorized
  the entire Quran (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

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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?
• Whats the connection between Africa and the
  wider world?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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African Society and Cultural Development

• Social classes
• Diverse dependent upon location
• Kinship groups
• No private property

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African Society and Cultural Development

• Men
• 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

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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