• Pre Islamic Sub Saharan Africa has no written history– Stories preserved by Griots – tribal story tellers– Reports by travelers from other countries give

credibility to oral traditions– Continuing migration and expansion brought

more land under cultivation– Trade promoted urban development

States and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa

Migration Push Pull Factors

Push Examples

Migration Factor

Pull Examples

Climate changes, exhausted resources, earthquakes, volcanoes, drought/famine

environmental Abundant land, new resources, good climate

Unemployment, slavery

Economic Employment opportunities

Religious, ethnic, or political persecution, war

Political Political and/or religious freedom

• By 1000 ACE most of the Bantu, Kushite, Sudanese, Mande had settled South of the Sahara

• Some migration continued into the 19th Century

• Agriculture and herding spread to all but most dry desert and wet equatorial areas of the continent

Migrations Completed

• New crops resulted in improved health and longer life– Bananas, yams and chickens from SE Asia– First to Madagascar then to mainland

• Population grew requiring more land and new migrations– New crops grew in tropics and allowed their

settlement

Agriculture

• Jumped over the bronze age and entered directly into the iron age

• Metallurgy brought by migration• Major commodity for export

Iron Working

• Small scale before the introduction of the Camel• Camel

– Allowed for long distance trade• Horse were kept as sign of status and for use in

war

Trade

• Around 1000 ACE – Increased populations– No place to expand– Village conflicts over resources led to

organization of armies– Government was required– Kingdoms emerged

Emergence of Chiefdoms

• Matrilineal traced family through mothers• Male family heads made up village counsel• Village chief represented the settlement when

dealing with neighbors• work divided along gender and age• boys 10-12 herders• girls 10-12 planted and harvest crops• 12 became adults

Village life

• rich trading nation• Salt, gold , copper and slaves• 120 kings called Ghana• controlled empire of 100,000 square miles

– taxes paid on goods coming in– taxes paid on goods going out

Ghana 300-1200 ACE

• dominated by Soninke people• capital Kumi Saheh

– kingship was matrilineal (sister provided the heir)

Ghana the beginnings

• Kingdom never became Muslim– allowed Muslims to live in territory and help

rule– Some of the last rulers converted

• Environment over grazed and over farmed

Ghana – the end

• Brought by traders• Lived separately• Religion of the cities• More acceptable because it allowed

multiple wives• Villages remained loyal to local religions

Islam Arrives

• Strict Islamic sect– Fought jihad against infidels– 1040s controlled the western trade route with

Ghana– 1055 took control of Trans Saharan gold trade– 1057 conquered into Spain and all of North

west Africa– Too big and so leadership concentrated on the

North

The Almoravids

• Almoravids had become corrupt and desert Berbers rose in rebellion– Almohad jihad

• Unified the northern Berbers• Mosques became center of learning• Mathematical and scientific achievements

– Decimals– Split into rival states in 1300’s

Muslim States of North Africa 1100-1400 ACE

• Broke a way from Ghana • Sundiata Keita early king

– established empire 1235 ACE• grabbed the gold and salt routes• sought to improve agriculture

– Organized Malinke resistance to raiding at collapse of Ghana

• restored the trans-Saharan trade routes

Mali

• ‘Spirits of the land’– Ensured success of crops– Original ancestors and settlers made compact

with the spirits– Through ancestors the “mansa” or chieftain

was the guardian of the compact

Native Religion and Kingship

• At its height Mali stretched from the Atlantic to the middle Niger River bend

• Most rulers were Muslims• A few Muslim administrators• Mansa had a standing army

– Elite corps of cavalry and many foot soldiers

Mali II

• Economy– Agricultural

• Food surpluses• Small independent peasant farmers majority• Mansa and army officers had large state farms

manned by slaves– Mining

• Independent miners• When government tried to control they stopped

Mali III

• Wangara– Professional traders– Muslim

• Shifted center eastwards to Timbuktu and Jenne• Cowrie shells in 1300’s became the currency

– Encouraged by the government– Improved collection of taxes

• Gold dust and salt still main medium of exchange

Trade

– brought Islam to Mali• established capital in Timbuktu• Center of Islamic art and culture• Made the Hajj to Mecca (collapsed European gold

market)– Carried 100 + camel loads of gold– Gave much away in gifts spreading the fame of Mali

– Succeeded by brother Mansa Sulyeman– After death Mossi attacked from the north and

ended Mali

Mansa Musa 1312-1332

• Originally tent settlement• Grazing settlement for flocks and herds• Link point for the Trans Saharan trade

– Permanent homes were built of mud brick– Became center of trade and scholarship

Timbuktu

• Centered on upper Niger– Fisherman and farmers– Traded food for salt and cloth

• Rose as Mali declined– Army of horseman – Army of war canoes

Songhai

– took most of old Mali kingdom• military man• captured Timbuktu and Djenne• Conquering hero• Not a Muslim and so often portrayed him as ruthless

Sonni Ali – ruler of Gao

• Established the Songhai Empire– Askiya dynasty– Askiya Muhammad 1493-1528

• law based on the Quran• appointed Muslim judges

– Consolidated Sonni Ali’s conquest– Used Islam to reinforce his authority– Makes pilgrimage to Mecca– Revives Timbuktu as a center of scholarship

and trade

Muhammad Ture (1493-1528)

• Askia Daud (1549-1582)– empire stretched to Cameroon– largest empire in African history– 97% of population followed old religion

Songhai II

• Government– Replaced traditional rulers with royal

appointees• Members of court or royal family• Not an inherited position had to be earned

• Trade– Salt still major currency of external exchange– Cowrie shells used for taxes and internal trade– Gold, slaves, and kola nuts exported

Administration

• East Africa– Trade with Arabia and South Asia

• Current countries– Yemen– Saudi Arabia– Oman– Pakistan– India

• Used dhows –sail boats• Ivory, gold, iron and rhinoceros horn

Trading Cities and States

– Trade settlements along the coast (Indian Ocean and Red Sea trade)

– Kilda –gold monopoly– Mombasa, Malinid and Sofala iron monopoly– Island of Zanzibar –ivory and gold– 1300 ACE height of prosperity– Blended Islamic and African culture– Swahili

• Bantu language with Arabic and Persian words• Language of traders

– Built palaces and forts of coral

Coastal City States

• 100 CE referenced in trading guide for Greek and Roman sailors– Exported Coconut oil, tortoise-shell, ivory and

rhinoceros horn– Imported cotton, iron tools and weapons, grain

and wine• Boosted by spread of Islam

– Shi’ite refugees settled along east coast and intermarried

Beginnings

• Indian Ocean trade– control by Arabs using Monsoon winds

• Interior trade and coastal trade– controlled by local traders– Took goods to major port cities– Made trade quick for the Ocean travelers since

time was a factor• Demand for gold and Ivory brought more

Arabs who settled coastal towns

Arab Control

• Came when first followers of Mohammed fled persecution in Arabia

• Brought by soldiers after death of Muhammad• Trade with Persian Gulf continued the contact• Unlike Christianity traditional values were

accepted (multiple wives)

East African Islam

• Mixed farming communities– Agriculture– Cattle kept in interior enclosures– Homes built in circular patterns

• Made of thatch and mud-brick• Exported raw materials and imported

luxury goods

The towns

• Main export for Chinese market– Softer than Asian elephant tusks– Used to make ceremonial chairs– India used it for knife hilts

African Ivory

• Created by trade with coastal cities• Mining communities

– Copper– Gold

• Great Zimbabwe(stone building)– Built by Karanga ancestors of Shona– City wall was30 feet high– Supplied Ivory and gold to Kilwa

• 1400’s power lost due to internal warfare and land exhaustion

Bantu Kingdoms in South

• Practice throughout the world• 15 million Africans will be forcibly removed• In African society used for domestic labor

by nobles• Taken in raids of neighboring tribes• Women were sold but men were not until

Europeans and Arabs arrived

Slavery

• Kingship was linked with religious power• Mediators in religious practices and

communicated with ancestors• Kongo guardians of ‘spirits of land’• Malawi and Angola ‘rain-making shrine’

– weather– Nature– Success of crops

• protected and guided village

Religion in Central Africa

• Located on Zaire (Congo) river– Rich in copper and iron– Rich in fish

• By 1500 a loose confederation of villages merged into a kingdom headed by the Manikongo

• Traded cloth made of raffia and metals, copper• Expanded through trade rather then warfare-

ruled by governors loyal to king (ManiKongo)• Increased population caused expansion of

territory from Atlantic to Kwango River

Kingdom of Kongo

• Yoruba Myth says that Ife was founded by a deity Oduduwa acting on the order of the supreme God

• Leader became known as Ooni• Abundant food supply

– Released labor to create art centering on kingship- bronze and copper heads made using lost wax method

Ife/Benin-Rainforest Kingdoms

• May have been from Kush• Benin inherited power from Ife• Greatest Ruler was Ewuare 1440-1473

– Magician– Warrior

• Laws, walled city, police• Traded with Portuguese and Dutch

Origins

• No Territorial identity• Relationships and loyalties were tribal• Family and kinship groups• 100 families to a village

Political Life pre Islam

• Important in grass lands south of the Zambezi• Not eaten

– Special occasions– Time of famine

• Source of wealth and social control– Men owned– Provided source of bride wealth– Needed many wives to cultivate soil and produce food

surplus– Those without cattle worked for those with in return for

milk or for a cow to pay own bride price• Size of herd determined chieftaincy

Cattle in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Village of cattle men– Flat topped hill

• Defense against wild animals• Circular pole and clay houses• Built around central enclosures where cattle was kept

– Valleys• Home of cultivators and herdsmen

Cattle communities in Botswana

• Schillington, K. (2005). History of Africa. Chapters 5-10. New York. Palgrave MacMillan.