African Empires

AFRICAN EMPIRES, TRADE AND
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN AFRICA
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The Kingdom of Kush
Pharaonic Egypt is arguably the most famous ancient civilization on the African
continent. This does not mean, however, that it was the only ancient civilization
that sprang from African soil. Egypt’s southern neighbors, the Nubians
(Egyptian for ‘gold’, due to the abundance of this precious metal in their lands),
have had an uneasy relationship with the Egyptians over the millennia. Nubia is
regarded by many biblical commentators as the location of the Garden of Eden.
In addition, remarkably differently to other states at the time, female rulers were
a norm in Nubia. [See map 01]
As far back as the Old Kingdom, Ancient Egypt had conducted trade with the
Nubian region of the upper Nile. Besides gold, they also imported from Nubia
tropical valuable such as ivory, ostrich feathers and ebony. At times, the
Nubians were seen as allies of the Egyptians, while at other times they were
seen as the wretched enemies. Under the Kingdom of Kush, however, the
Nubians would conquer Egypt and establish a dynasty of their own.
The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient African Nubian kingdom that was located
in modern day Northern Sudan. It was one of the earliest civilizations to exist
along the Nile River valley. The kingdom existed twice, with the first era being
around 2400 BCE and the second era around the 11th century BCE. It was a
commercially vibrant kingdom that lived for centuries at peace with its
neighbours primarily due to its key role in commerce and transportation of
goods. The first kingdom of Kush is known as Kerma, and was at its height of
prosperity between 1750 and 1500 BC. It was also at this time when Egyptian
expansion into the south resumed, resulting in the region becoming an Egyptian
colony under the rulership of Thutmose the first.
With a period of decline in Egypt after the fall of the New Kingdom dynasties,
Egyptian administration was withdrawn from Nubia. From about 1000 BCED,
local Nubian rulers built up a politically independent state known by the
Egyptians as Kush. The kings of Kush steadily gained in wealth and power until
in 730 BCE they invaded Egypt and seized control over the kingdom at Thebes.
In spite of this initial victory, Kushite rule in Egypt would last for less than a
century. This was due to the expansion of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Near
East. Although the Kushites were initially on peaceful terms with Assyria,
tensions grew over time. Following the Assyrian invasion of Lower Egypt in
670 BCE, the Kushite court withdrew again to Nubia and did not return to
Egypt. After a period of internal strife, they nevertheless managed to build a
powerful and independent kingdom south of the second cataract. A new capital
further south than the Kushite capital of Napata, called Meroë, was established
as a result. The kingdom became known by this name. Even though Egyptian
culture and religion was deeply entrenched in Kush, Meroë developed its own
language and writing script, breaking away from Egyptian hieroglyphics, and
prospered due to its political stability, peaceful trading relations with neighbors
and powerful military presence. Eventually, the emerging Kingdom of Axum in
Ethiopia would capture and burn the Kushite capital of Meroe to the ground,
thus marking the end of the Kingdom of Kush.
The Axum Empire
The Axum Empire [also known as Aksum Empire] was located in modern day
northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and rose to prominence and prestige around 100
BCE. [See map 02] The empire was an important marketplace for ivory, which
it exported throughout the ancient world. It also traded in exotic animal skin and
gold with other countries in the ancient world, which resulted in abundant
wealth and power. It built a centralized state that tightly controlled its people.
The empire’s geographical location enabled it to benefit from trade and moving
goods as it took advantage of the trading system that linked the Roman Empire
with India. Their Adulis port by the red sea became the main port for export,
and by the third century, Axum had succeeded Meroë, the capital of Kush, in
becoming the supplier of African goods to the Roman Empire.
Aksum was a major naval and trading power from the 1st to the 7th centuries
C.E. As a civilization it had a profound impact upon the people of Egypt,
southern Arabia, Europe and Asia, all of whom were visitors to its shores, and
in some cases were residents. The Aksumites developed Africa’s only
indigenous written script, Ge’ez.
It is also the first African empire to manufacture its own coins. This came as a
result of the development of its own currency in the third century. It adopted
Christianity as a religion in the third century after King Ezana converted to
Christianity and declared it as the empire’s official faith, making it the first
African state to do so and one of the few Christian states in the world. The
official language that was established was called Geez, and a writing script was
developed for it. At its height, Axum controlled northern Ethiopia, Eritrea,
northern Sudan, southern Egypt, Djibouti, Western Yemen, and southern Saudi
Arabia, totaling 1.25 million square kilometers, and was the meeting place of
various cultures including Egyptian, Sudanic, and Arabic, Indian, Jewish,
Buddhist and Nubian peoples.
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN AFRICA
When we think about Christianity being brought to Africa, we tend to think

about a European religion which was imposed on Africa. We also tend to see
Christianity as some kind of unified (and unifying) thing brought from Europe. I
would like to take a different point of departure and point out that Christianity
started as a Middle Eastern religion. Moreover, in its early years, it was not
axiomatic that it was going to “win out” and become the religion of the majority
of the European population. Even more importantly, North Africa, in particular
Egypt, played an important role in the development of the early church - it is not
inconceivable that, had things gone in another direction, Alexandria rather than
Rome may have become the centre of what we today know as the Roman
Catholic Church. Moreover, as a result of trade between Africa and the Middle
East, and following a much earlier transfer of Judaism, Christianity had been
carried into Ethiopia and southern Arabia in the first centuries CE. We will now
look at this process in slightly more detail.
Christianity in North Africa
According to legend, St Mark was responsible for bringing Christianity to

Alexandria in 61 CE. It is actually more likely that the church in Jerusalem sent
missionaries to the large Jewish community in Alexandria. In fact, the first firm
evidence of Christianity there comes from the early second century. At this
time, there were disputes between Jews who had, and those who had not,
accepted this new faith. By 200 CE, there was a Greek-speaking church under
the control of a Bishop of Alexandria. There were many Christians in upper, as
well as Lower, Egypt. Once Bishops began to be appointed outside Alexandria
early in the third century, Christianity spread among Egyptians as well as
Greeks. By 325, there were fifty-one known Bishoprics in Egypt. The Bible was
also widely available in the vernacular Coptic Language – Ancient Egyptian
written in Greek script. The chief leaders of popular Christianity were the
monks – first individual monks and then, from about 321, by disciplined
communities. In 312, Constantine made Christianity the Roman Empire’s
official religion. Later in the century, traditional priests were persecuted by the
authorities. Their temples were either closed or converted into churches or
monasteries. About ninety percent of Egyptians were Christians by 400 CE.1
The most serious challenge to Christianity from within the faith in Egypt came
after the Council of Chalcedon of 451. In an effort to shore up the disintegrating
Roman Empire, this declared the primacy of the Bishops of Rome and
Constantinople (the new imperial capital) over those of Alexandria. It also
adopted the view that Jesus had two distinct but inseparably united natures,
divine and human. While acceptable to Rome, this was completely anathema to
Alexandria. Overt schism came in 536, when the Egyptian Coptic Church
formally proclaimed the Monophysite (one nature) faith. The next serious
challenge to the faith came from without, with the Muslim invasion of 639.
While they outlawed and destroyed those churches with preached the dual
nature of Jesus, they nevertheless allowed the Coptic Christians to continue as
protected tributaries.2
Further to the west, Christianity may have reached the Maghrib through Greek
or Roman, rather than Jewish, networks.3 The execution of twelve Christians at
Carthage in 180 CE, for refusing to sacrifice in the Emperor’s honour, provides
the first firm evidence of its existence. These early Christians seem to have
come from every sex, age and rank in urban society. According to John Iliffe,
Christianity offered its adherents fellowship across social divisions in
increasingly socially and economically stratified towns. It also held out the
promise of spiritual protection in a dangerous world and bodily resurrection in a
purposeless world. In place of the numerous spiritual forces and sorcerers feared
by practitioners of local religion, Christianity provided a dualistic confrontation
between God – who protected the faithful – and the Devil, whose forces
included all aspects of what its adherents saw as paganism. Christianity did not
threaten social rank. Its teaching was also generally passed from older to
younger people. It nevertheless fed on generational and gender conflicts in
1
J. Iliffe, Africans, the history of a continent, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 37 & 39.
2
Iliffe, Africans, p. 40.
3
The Maghrib is the North African region encompassing Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya. In
Arabic it translates as where the sun sets, meaning the western Arab world. As a place, it is often used to refer to
the kingdom of Morocco alone. It is also the name of the obligatory salat, prayer, that is performed right after
the sun sets over the horizon.
complex, patriarchal households.4 Despite periodic persecution and various
schisms, Christianity remained a major force in the Maghrib until the seventh-
century Arab invasion.5
Christianity in Ethiopia
The Coptic Church was a missionary church. Its earliest field of expansion was
into the kingdom of Aksum, in modern Ethiopia. The introduction of
Christianity there is traditionally attributed to Frumentius, a young Christian
trader kidnapped en route from Tyre to India. He became tutor to the future king
Ezana, who officially adopted Christianity in about 333, after Frumentius had
been consecrated in Alexandria as Aksum’s first bishop. Aksum adopted
Christianity as its official religion in about 350 CE, only one generation after
Christianity became the official faith of Rome itself. Ethiopian Christianity
followed the Egyptian, or Monophysite, version and the church remained loyal
to the Patriarch of Alexandria. Thus, there were strong Christian kingdoms in
Africa long before much of Europe had even heard of Jesus of Nazareth.
However, we should note that this version of events is slightly over-simplified.
Christianity was only one of several religions (including Judaism) at Ezana’s
court. In addition, more than a century later a successor recorded the sacrifice
of fifty captives to Mahrem, the local god of war.6
Tales surrounding the arrival of Judaism and Christianity in Ethiopia provide a

fascinating saga. The first written records pertaining to the Horn of Africa date
back approximately four thousand five hundred years. We owe these early
historical commentaries to two of the very first centres of human civilisation -
Persia and Egypt - for both of which the Horn seems to have served as a source
of much-prized tropical products. Egyptian hieroglyphic records indicate that
the Pharaohs obtained frankincense and myrrh from Ethiopia, and from the
Somali coast, as far back as 2700 BCE. Trade with India was likewise of great
antiquity - the Horn has supplied the subcontinent with vast quantities of ivory
since time immemorial.7
It was ancient contacts such as these that nurtured and strengthened the
emerging culture of the peoples of northern Ethiopia. The result - not long after
David’s reign in Israel - was the establishment of a kingdom that was to
dominate the vital cross-roads of Africa and Asia for more than a thousand
years. Conducting its foreign trade through the Red Sea port of Adulis, this
kingdom’s capital was Aksum - described by Nonnosus, Ambassador of the
4
5
Iliffe, Africans, pp. 39-40.
6
7
C. Beckwith and A. Fisher, African Ark: Peoples of the Horn, London, Collins Harvill, 1990, p. 16.
Roman Emperor Justinian, as “the greatest city of all Ethiopia”.8
Perhaps Aksum’s greatest significance is as the supposed capital of the Queen

of Sheba - the capital from whence she set out on her legendary visit to the court
of King Solomon in Jerusalem. Upon this story, with some further
embellishments, rests the notion of the sacral kingship of the Semitic peoples of
Ethiopia - a notion that links the recent past to ancient times in a most
unambiguous fashion. Emperor Haile Selassie was, after all, the 225th monarch
of a dynasty that traced its descent back to the union of Solomon and Sheba.
The revolution of 1974, and the Emperor’s death in obscure circumstances a
year later, thus marked the end of an immense era - and the beginning of the end
for an entire way of life and an entire system of values associated with it.9
The earliest version of the legend of Solomon and Sheba is preserved in two
books of the Old Testament. Here we are told that the Queen of Sheba, lured by
Solomon’s fame, journeyed to Jerusalem with a great caravan of costly presents
and there “communed with him of all that was in her heart”. King Solomon, for
his part, “gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire ... So she turned and went to
her own land, she and her servants.” The Talmud also contains oblique
references to the story, as does the New Testament (where Sheba is referred to
as “the Queen of the South”). There is, in addition, a fairly detailed account in
the Koran, echoed in several African and Persian folk tales of a later date (in
which she is known as Bilquis). Further afield, in southern Africa, the stone
ruins of Great Zimbabwe were for many years thought by scholars to have been
the palace of the Queen of Sheba. There are also various local Mashona legends
which have been interpreted as referring to this. Of all these different narratives,
however, it is the Ethiopian variant (where Sheba’s name becomes Makeda) that
is the richest and the most convincing - despite the fact that it does not seem to
have been set down in writing until medieval times when it appeared in the
Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings), the Ethiopian national saga.10
One thing is certain: the veneration of the Queen of Sheba - and her
appropriation as the spiritual ancestress of the Ethiopian people - began much
earlier than the fourteenth century (when the Kebra Nagast was written); indeed
the cult of Makeda probably substantially predates the Christian era. As a
historical figure, she is thought to have lived in the period between 1000 and
950 BCE and, despite a rival claim from South Arabia, the evidence is
extremely strong that her capital was indeed in Abyssinia - although not
necessarily in the city of Aksum.11
8
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, p. 16.
9
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, pp. 16-17.
10
11
It is in Aksum, however, that the Ethiopians locate her. From here, according to
the Kebra Nagast, she was persuaded to travel to the court of Solomon by the
head of her caravans - a man much impressed by the King’s wisdom and might.
In Jerusalem, a banquet of specially seasoned meat was given in her honour
and, at the end of the evening, Solomon invited her to spend the evening with
him. Makeda agreed, but first extracted a commitment from the king that he
would not take her by force. To this he assented, on the single condition that the
Queen make a promise not to take anything in his house. Solomon then
mounted his bed on the one side of the chamber and had the Queen’s bed
prepared at the other side, placing near it a bowl of water. Made thirsty by the
seasoned food, Makeda soon awoke, arose and drank the water. At this point,
Solomon seized her hand and accused her of having broken her oath; the then
“worked his will with her.”12
That night the King dreamed that a brilliant light, the divine presence had left
Israel. Shortly afterwards, the Queen departed and returned to her country.
There, nine months and five days later, she gave birth to a son - Menelik, the
founder of Ethiopia’s Solomonic dynasty.13
In due course, when the boy had grown, he went to visit his father, who
received him with great honour and splendour. However, after spending a year
at court in Jerusalem, the prince decided to return to Ethiopia again. When he
was informed of this, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and commanded
them to send their first-born sons with Menelik. Before the young men departed,
however, they stole the Ark of the Covenant and took it with them to Ethiopia -
which then, according to the Kebra Nagast, became “the second Zion”.14
The notion that the Ark of the Covenant was removed from Jerusalem to Axum
is central to the reverence accorded to the tabots, the Tables of the Law, in
Abyssinian Christian practices. No other Christian Church give such importance
to this Judaic tradition. Some would argue that this bears witness to the deeper
truth of the Queen of Sheba “legend” and the story of Melenik, as testified to in
the Kebra Nagast and Falasha oral tradition. Other scholars argue that
Ethiopians adopted Judaism from Jews who migrated from Southern Arabia or
from those living in Egypt.15 There may never be any certainty on their origins
but the Falasha remained a part of Ethiopian life until modern times.
The term Falasha means “exiles” in Amharic. The Falasha refer to themselves
as Beta Israel, the House of Israel. The form of religion which they practiced in
12
13
14
15
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, pp. 17-18 and “Falashas on Encyclopedia.com at
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/F/Falashas.asp, downloaded 13 March 2006.
Ethiopia was based on the Jewish Holy Scriptures and other apocryphal books.
They also adhered to tradtions corresponding to some of those found in the
Midrash and Talmud. Other aspects of their religion were influenced by local
religious beliefs and by Christianity. In modern times, there were pogroms
against the Falasha. Like Jews in Medieval Spain, some, known as the Falash
Mura, formally converted to Christianity, often without becoming practicing
Christians. In 1975, the Israeli rabbinate recognised the Falasha legally as Jews.
During the Ethiopian Civil War, about 10 000 Falashas from the Gondor region
of Ethiopia were airlifted to Israel (September 1984 to March 1985). A second
airlift of more than 14 000 occurred in May, 1991. Ethiopia subsequently agreed
to permit Israel to evacuate those still remaining. By 1999, the last remaining
Jews from the Quare area of Ethiopia were flown to Israel, bringing the total
there to over 70 000. About 26 000 members of the Falash Mura, who wished to
emigrate to Israel, remained. Questions about the faith and sincerity of these
families by Isreali officials resulted in slow processing of their immigration
requests.
SLIDESHOW – FALASHA
01 [Ethiopia140] Falasha village scene – woman and children outside their

house16
02 [Ethiopia145] Falasha village scene – close up of woman and child outside
their house17
03 [Ethiopia141] Falasha village scene – square house with Star of David18
04 [Ethiopia142] Falasha village scene – round house with Star of David19
05 [Falasha1] Many Falasha women are skilled in pottery. They make clay
figurines, depicting various legends from the history of Judaism. The Star of
David is a pan-Judaic symbol believed to bring good luck 20
06 [Falasha2] Figure of a Cahen (Priest) carrying the Torah.21
07 [Falasha4] The Torah is a handwritten parchment scroll containing the five
books of Moses. It is read throughout the year, starting with Genesis and ending
with the arrival of the Hebrews in the promised land. Its cloth cover is decorated
with the Ten commandments written in Hebrew.22
08 [Ethiopia146] Falasha village scene – man outside house23
16
ethiopia 140, Falasha Village, Ethiopia – Travel photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, at
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/falashavillage.htm, downloaded 13 March 2006.
17
ethiopia 145, Galen R Frysinger.
18
19
20
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, pp. 70 (image) and 71 (text). Saved as Falasha1.
21
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, p. 71. Saved as Falasha2.
22
23
09 [Falasha3] Inside their synagogue, the elders of a Falasha village celebrate
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, by sharing a special feast of injara (sour
pancakes)24 with wat (spicy meat sauce).25
10 [Ethiopia143] Preparing injara26
11 [Ethiopia144] Baking injara27
12 [Ethiopia25] The Tabot28
As we have seen, building on these origins, the Aksumite realm converted to

Christianity in the fourth century CE, during the reign of King Ezana, who thus
occupies a vitally important place in Ethiopian history.29 The church was headed
by Coptic monks from Alexandria until the mid-twentieth century. Moreover,
because Christianity first became the religion of the court, it became a state
religion, gradually extended among the people by priests and monks with royal
backing. Between the fifth and seventh centuries, the scriptures were translated
into Ge’es (the Semitic lignua franca of Aksum, written in a script derived from
South Arabian). During the same period, Christianity and Aksumite authority
spread further southwards on the Ethiopian plateau, and pagan temples in
Aksum and Adulis became churches. But, from the late sixth century, Aksum’s
prosperity declined. This seems to have arisen first from the dislocation of trade
caused by wars between Byzantium and Persia. This was then followed by the
sacking and destruction of Adulis through Muslim expansion. Over the next
century, Muslim invaders from Arabia seized and occupied much of the coastal
zone. Deprived of its access to the sea, and at a time when increasing reliance
on agriculture coincided with declining rainfall, Aksum entered an economic
slump. It struck its last coins in the early seventh century. Lamenting their lost
grandeur, Ethiopia’s rulers retreated with their Christian subjects into the
remote central uplands of their vast country. The king who died in 630 was
buried not in the capital but further to the south-west. There, protected by
formidable mountain battlements, his descendants and their people were able to
resist further intrusions - trapping their enemies in the labyrinth of valleys
intersecting the high plateau. A fortress mentality took root during these
centuries of retreat. Indeed, in keeping out the hated “enemies of their religion”,
the Ethiopians also cut themselves off from the evolving mainstream of
Christian thought. However, this did not mean that the civilisation of the
highlands was not very much awake. A merging of Aksumite and indigenous
Cushitic cultures was to create the historic church and kingdom of Ethiopia. 30
24
See “Ethiopie- food, prices”, at http://www.hory.applet.cz/etiopie/et_jidlo_e.html, downloaded 13 March
2006.
25
26
27
28
ethiopia 25, “Rock Churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia – Travel photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan,
Wisconsin, at http://www.galenfrysinger.com/rock_church_ethiopia.htm, downloaded 13 March 2006.
29
30
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, p. 18 and Iliffe, Africans, pp. 40-41.
Show slideshow – Ethiopian Christianity:
The most famous churches in Ethiopia are the eleven rock-hewn churches of
Lalibela. They are carved out of solid red volcanic rock. Some of the churches
lie almost completely hidden in deep trenches, while others stand in open
quarried caves. A complex and bewildering labyrinth of tunnels and narrow
passageways with offset crypts, grottoes and galleries, connects the churches.
There are also hermit caves and catacombs. Some of the churches have wall
paintings and carved figures. Today, they are included in the World Heritage
list.31
Formerly known as Roha, the site now bears the name of King Lalibela (1181-
1221), a member of the Zagwe dynasty. Legend has it that, shortly after his
birth, his mother saw him happily in his cradle surrounded by a dense swarm of
bees. Recalling the old Ethiopian belief that bees could foretell the advent of
important personages, she reportedly cried out: “The bees know this child will
become king.” That is why she called the child Lalibela, meaning “the bee
recognizes his sovereignty”.32
Lalibela’s older brother, Harbay, was the incumbent monarch. Not surprisingly,
he was disturbed to hear this news and became jealous.33
As the years passed, Harbay began to fear for the safety of his throne. He
decided to eliminate his rival, and unsuccessfully tried to have him murdered by
giving him a deadly potion. Instead of dying, the young prince entered a deep
sleep for three days. During this period, he was transported by angels to the
first, second and third heavens, where God ordered him to return to Roha and
build churches, the like of which the world had never seen before. The
Almighty, it is said, further told the prince how to design those churches, where
to build them and how to decorate them.34
Legend also has it that Lalibela was built by angels armed with masonry tools.
Archaeologists estimate that it would have required the work of about 40 000
people to carve out the church complex.35
31
World Heritage in Images, “Rock-Hewn Churches Lalibela, Ethiopia”, at http://www.china.org.cn/english/en-
whii/41.htm, downloaded 13 March 2006, p. 1 of 2.
32
“The Fest Ethiopia Travel & Tour Plc”, at http://www.festethiopia.com/lalibela.htm, downloaded 13 March
2006, p. 1 of 5.
33
2006, p. 1 of 5.
34
2006, p. 1 of 5.
35
2006, p. 1 of 5.
01 – [Church1] A nun emerging from the labyrinth of tunnels which connect the
rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.36
02 – [Church 2] A priest standing at the entrance to a chiselled passageway. 37

(Note the graffiti “long Live War”, apparently from the Ethiopian Civil War.)
03 – [Church3- Beta Ghiorghis (the House of St. George), with its cruciform
design, is carved out of the surrounding rock and stands more than 40 feet high.
According to legend, St. George came by night to supervise the construction
work. It is said that the hoofprints of his horse can be seen to this day in the
courtyard
04 – [41.gif] Beta Ghiorgis38
05 – [rockch.gif] Beta Ghiorgis39
06 – [lalibela.gif]40 Church building at Lalibela (there are others besides Beta

Ghiorgis).
07 – [Church 5] The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela are renowned for their

window designs. The lower window, in the form of a swastika is believed to
symbolize the Greek cross with bent arms, or, according to legend, the axe-
shaped chisel which King Lalibela used to carve the churches. The centre and
upper windows show some of the more familiar cross shapes.41
08 – [ethiopia33]42 Swastika window (labelled “a religious emblem cut in

window in original].
09 - [ethiopia27]43 Another window (labelled “niche for the pigeons?” in

original.
10 - [ethiopia36] 44 Wall decoration on the rock.

36
C. Beckwith and A. Fisher, African Ark: Peoples of the Horn, London, Collins Harvill, 1990, p. 20.
37
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, pp. 20 (text) and 21 (image).
38
World Heritage in Images, “Rock-Hewn Churches Lalibela, Ethiopia”, at http://www.china.org.cn/english/en-
whii/41.htm, downloaded 13 March 2006.
39
http://rastaites.com/images/Ethiopia/rockch.gif, downloaded 13 March 2006.
40
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], International Campaign to
Safeguard the Principal Monuments and Sites of Ethiopia, Lalibela, at
http://www.unesco.org/culture/heritage/tangible/ethiopia/html_eng/lalibela.shtml, downloaded 13 March 2006.
41
42
Galen R Frysinger “Rock Churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia – Travel photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan,
Wisconsin, at http://www.galenfrysinger.com/rock_church_ethiopia.htm, downloaded 13 March 2006.
43
Frysinger, “Rock Churches”.
44
11 – [lalibela3.gif]45 UNESCO points out that “Erosion due mainly to
weathering is damaging the stone surfaces of all the churches [at Lalibela], so
that restoration is a matter of urgency. Religious objects too, such as a cross,
manuscripts and a wooden altar, must at all costs be preserved.
12 – [Church9] A priest, with processional cross and manuscript, stands at the

entrance to the Holy of Holies in the sixteenth-century church of Ura Kidane
Mehret on Lake Tana.46
13 – [Church10] The church of Debre Berhan Selassie in Gondar was built

during the reign of King Fasilidas in the seventeenth century. The canvasses are
affixed directly on to the walls and ceiling. They depict the Holy Trinity,
equestrian saints and religious heroes.47
14 - [addis01] “Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa”48
15 – [Church6] A deacon reads from one of the old Bibles still to be found in
every church. These large wood and leather-bound volumes are hand written in
Ge’ez, the ancient Semitic language of northern Ethiopia. Many are beautifully
illuminated and some are centuries old.49
16 – [ethiopia12]50 How manuscripts are stored
17 – [ethiopia10]51 Ethiopian Orthodox Priest with manuscript.
18 – [ethiopia11]52 Ethiopian Orthodox Priest with manuscript.
19 – [Church7] Genna (Christmas) occurs on 7 January according to Ethiopia’s

archaic Julian calendar and is one of the important celebrations of the Orthodox
Church. Young deacons wear filigree crowns and embroidered capes which,
when spread out, form the shape of a cross.53 The crown symbolizes the crown
of enlightenment.54
45
UNESCO, lalibela.shtml, downloaded 13 March 2006.
46
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, pp. 56 (image) and 57 (text).
47
48
Galen R Frysinger, “Ethiopia – Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, at
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/ethiopia.htm, downloaded 13 March 2006.
49
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, pp. 30 (text) and 32 (image).
50
Frysinger, “Ethiopia”.
51
52
53
Beckwith and Fisher, African Ark, pp. 36 (image) and 37 (text).
54
20 - [ethiopia55] 55 Ethiopian Orthodox Priest in robes wearing crown and with
cross
21 - [ethiopia38] 56 Ethiopian Orthodox Priest in robes with cross
22 - [ethiopia408] 57 Details of cross.
23 – [Church8] Each church has its own processional crosses, usually cast in
bronze or brass. Crosses of these designs have been manufactured in Lalibela
since at least the thirteenth century.58
24 - Church11 – George, patron saint of Ethiopia, slaying the dragon (19th.

Century), from the church of Debre Berhan Selassie in Gondar.59
Christianity in the Sudan
Christian origins in Nubia differed from those in Aksum, partly because Nubia
immediately adjoined Christian Egypt. At the time that we are talking about,
Nubian-speaking rulers ruled three kingdoms in the Nile valley: Notbatia in the
north, with its capital at Faras, Makuria in the centre, with its capital at Old
Dongola, and Alwa in the south, based on Soba (close to modern Khartoum).60
Christianity was introduced to Nubia by Egyptian traders by at least the fifth
century. Intensive missionising by both the Orthodox (Byzantine) and
Monophysite (Coptic) Churches occurred between the 540s and 580s.61
The Nubian kingdoms remained Christian for nearly a thousand years. Nobatia
and Alba were Monophysite from the beginning, Makuria either was so or soon
became so. Nubian bishops seem to have been appointed from Alexandria. But
the Coptic Church in Egypt soon fell under Muslim rule and Nubian rulers
looked increasingly towards the Christian Emperor in Constantinople. The
liturgical language was Greek, only slowly were parts of the liturgy and the
Bible translated into Nubian, written in the Coptic form of the Greek alphabet.
Church architecture suggests that the role of the laity diminished with time.
Kings were in priestly orders and bishops held state office as in the Byzantine
Empire. Some historians argue that Nubian Christianity ultimately disappeared
because it failed to adapt as fully to local culture as Ethiopian Christianity had
done. As we have already seen, the latter was far more isolated from external
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
influence. For example, Nubian paintings always depicted Christ and the saints
with white faces, setting them apart from the local people. As we have seen with
the illustration of St George, this was not done in Ethiopian art. While there is
some truth in this argument, we should nevertheless note that the two churches
also had different relationships with Islam. The Arabs had barely conquered
Egypt when their forces entered Christian Nubia in 641, meeting fierce
resistance from its famous bowmen. Unable to defeat the Nubian armies, they
made a truce which secured trade between Egypt and Makuria in 652. This was
followed by increasing settlement of Arabs as traders, miners of gold and
precious stones, and, later, pastoralists in the Christian kingdoms over the next
500 years. There were periodic tensions between Islamic Egypt and Christian
Nubia from 1171, when Saladin ousted the Fatimids, onwards. In 1253,
dissident Arab pastoral groups were driven from Egypt into Nubia, swelling the
growing Muslim population there. Exploiting the growing Muslim population of
Nubia, and divisions between the ruling Christian families, the Egyptians
increasingly intervened in Nubian dynastic squabblings from 1268 onwards. In
about 1317, a Muslim gained Makuria’s throne and the cathedral at Old
Dongola was converted into a mosque. This marked the beginnings of a period
of Arabisation and Islamisation, accompanied by frequent warfare and invasions
from neighbouring areas, by Arabs and Africans who later converted to Islam.
Islam was not only spread by force – its unifying power presented a strong
antidote to the “utter disorder and unceasing warfare” which characterised the
times. The last report of Christians in Nubia was in 1742, although village
women appealed to the virgin Mary in times of need even into the late twentieth
century.62
Ethiopia, on the other hand, survived Islamic expansion chiefly because it was
more remote from Islamic power. Having retreated southwards into the
highlands in the face of the expansion of Islam, the Christian rulers were able to
defend their faith against what they saw as the surrounding enemies. The main
exception to this general pattern occurred in 1529, when Muslim forces invaded
the Christian highlands. They devastated the highlands for fourteen years,
destroying some areas and leaving damage still visible on the rock churches at
Lalibela. However, in 1543, Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, in overall command,
was killed in a battle with a Christian army which included Portuguese
musketeers. His forces withdrew back to the Sultanate of Harar, leaving the
Ethiopian Church, alone in Africa, to survive in independence into the modern
world.63
Islam and the Muslim World
62
Iliffe, Africans, pp. 42 and 55-56.
63
Iliffe, Africans, pp. 42 and 56-61.
Turning to the other major world religion with which we are concerned, Islam
was started by the prophet Mohammed, who was born in Mecca, in what is now
Saudi Arabia, in about 570. By the time he died in 632 Islam had been accepted
in Arabia. Only 100 years later his followers had conquered Syria, Palestine,
Egypt, Iraq, Persia (Iran) northern India, North Africa, Spain and part of France.
The Muslims were now the rulers of what had been the most Christian part of
the Roman Empire, including areas that were significant to Christians, like
Jerusalem. Although they had not managed to take over the whole Byzantine
Empire they had managed to conquer vast tracts of their former territory.
In the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries the Muslims created a civilisation and
culture that had an important influence on the development and learning of not
only the Muslim areas, but also on Europe. Islam is still an important world
religion, and in fact, with the exception of Spain and France, all those areas
conquered in the eighth and ninth centuries are still Muslim today, as well as
large parts of Africa. South Africa has a fairly large Muslim population, mainly
in the Western Cape. We now look at how the process affected Africa in more
detail.
Islam in North Africa
A Muslim army invaded Egypt in December 639. Within less than three years,
they had conquered the Byzantine Empire’s richest province. They were helped
by the deep antagonism between the Byzantine rulers and their Monophysite
subjects, who confined their resistance to defending their villages. The
Muslim’s chief strength nevertheless lay in the unity and conviction that they
were given by their new faith. The armies were united by Islamic law, and the
strict schedule of prayers and other observances. The commanders rose through
the ranks and did not set themselves apart from their men, as all ultimately had
to submit to the will of Allah. An important part of Islam, that shaped their
history was the belief in jihad. This was a holy war - usually a war to convert
people by force. It is not explicitly stated in the Koran that force can be used to
convert people, but it is implied that only areas ruled by Islam are acceptable to
God. From this Muslims argued that they should try to impose Islam on the
whole world. To carry out holy war was a religious duty, and anybody who died
in a jihad was certain to go immediately to paradise. This is one of the reasons
why Islam spread so fast. In 643, the Muslim armies extended their campaign
into modern Libya. Four years later, they defeated the main Byzantine army in
modern Tunisia. At this point, further conquest faltered, owing to a conflict over
succession in the Caliphate. When expansion resumed in 665, the main Muslim
armies bypassed North Africa’s costal cities. Instead, Kariwan in the Tunisian
hinterland was established as the capital of a new province of Ifriqiya (Africa)
in 670. The main army then went westwards through the inland plains until they
reached the Atlantic. On their way back, they encountered exceptionally strong
resistance from the Berbers. It was only after the Berbers had become Muslims
that Algeria and Morocco would be conquered, early in the eighth century. In
fact, it was Berbers who comprised the majority of the army which defeated
these areas, as was the case with the expedition which defeated Spain in 711-
712.64
The Muslim system of government and Life in Muslim Society
Islam didn’t make a distinction between church and state. They believed that
God makes laws, and it is the job of the ruler just to enforce them. What this
means is that rulers should base their government on the laws of Islam, and in
theory that the state should be controlled by religious leaders.
When Mohammed was alive, he was the ruler, but conflict arose once he had
died, over who should succeed him. The Koran said nothing about who should
have political and military power, and how the state should be organised. One
split that occurred in the early days of Islam still plays an important role in
religious and political strife in the Muslim world today. This was the split
between Shi’ites and Sunnis. The Shi’ites believe that authority should be in the
hands of a descendant of the prophet. The Sunnis believe that religious authority
derives from the Koran and the Sunna.
In the Umayyid period (lasting until 750) Muslim society consisted of four main
classes. The elite was the caliph and the Arabian Muslims - i.e. the original
Arab Bedouin tribespeople - these became the aristocracy , and they were the
warriors and the governing officials. In theory, converts to Islam gained full
citizenship when they converted to Islam - so conquered people who converted
to Islam should have been accepted as equals. In practice, there was
discrimination against these converts, and they made up the second class in
Islamic society - they found they had to associate themselves with an Arabian
tribe to be really accepted, and often they resented this. From this class came
merchants, teachers, doctors, scholars, etc. - they were often the professionals.
The third class consisted of Jews, Christians or Zoroastrians living under

Muslim rule. They were called Dhimmis, which meant protected people. The
Muslims used to draw up a pact or agreement with the Dhimmis - they were
allowed to retain their religions, keep their places of worship, like churches and
synagogues, and to carry on with their economic activities. In return, they had to
agree to accept Muslim rule and respect Islam. They also generally had to pay
an extra poll tax. There was strict segregation between Muslims and non-
Muslims, and mixed marriages were not allowed. Usually when the Muslims
64
conquered a new area they built new towns which were entirely Muslim.
At the bottom of the society were large numbers of slaves. The slaves were
people who had been made prisoners of war, often in the jihads. For example,
one Muslim commander, who was himself the son of a slave , was supposed to
have taken 300 000 prisoners of war in one war in North Africa, and 30 000
women from Spain - every soldier of whatever rank got a share of the slaves
captured. The Koran forbade the enslavement of Muslims or protected peoples,
but slave converts to Islam were not automatically freed. Mohammed had said
that slaves should be well treated, and encouraged manumission. Islamic law
said the children of female slaves were slaves, but if the father was a free man
the children were free. Many Muslim men took slaves as concubines, but their
children would be free.
Slaves were used in the army, or as household servants. Some were used in
business, or were given administrative responsibilities. In classical Islamic
civilisation slaves often played an important role in the army, politics, religion,
and learning. Some of the caliphs were the emancipated sons of slave women.
The Position of women
Islam is often seen as a religion that discriminates against women. In fact, Islam
started in a society which discriminated heavily against women, and the Koran
improved the position of women in the society. For example, under the old
Arabian law fathers could bury their daughters alive at birth if they wanted -
they were sold into marriage by their guardians and they had almost no property
rights. Islamic law gave women more rights in theory, and in the early days of
Islam they had more rights than women under Christianity in Europe. They
were considered the spiritual and sexual equals of men, and they had some
economic rights. They played an active part in the religious, economic and
political life of the community, they had freedom to travel, and they could own
property.
But this progressive attitude towards women changed, and the position of
women in Islamic society declined - the Koran was reinterpreted again and
again by scholars, and gradually women lost their rights - by the 13th century
they couldn’t participate in religious ceremonies or give evidence in law courts
or participate in political activity.
In marriage - the Koran saw the husband as the head. The Koran allowed men to
have up to four wives. There was a proviso that a man could only marry more
than once if he was sure to be able to support all his wives and treat them all
fairly, but in later years this clause was often ignored.
Many Muslim women today are veiled. This was a practice that related to the
norms of the society rather to the religion, as the Koran said nothing about it
specifically. In pre-Islamic times free women in urban areas used to wear a veil,
to distinguish them from slaves. Women in the countryside didn’t wear it as it
would have got in the way of work. The veil was supposed to show
respectability and modesty. Gradually it began to be believed that women
should always be covered and shouldn’t be seen in public, and today the veiling
of women has become much more important. It became an issue in the Iranian
revolution - after the Iranian revolution laws were passed forcing women to
wear the veil.
Another practice is the practice of Purdah - where women don’t appear in public
at all. They have their own section of the house, and they are kept separate
from the rest of the household - shut off from the rest of the household and form
the outside world. This was also not laid down in the Koran but was rather a
social practice that got given the force of religion. For example, the practice of
Purdah first started over a century after the death of Mohammed.
The Trans-Saharan Trade and Trade and Islam in West Africa65
The Arab conquest of North Africa led to the transmission of Islam across the
Sahara to the West African savannah. Despite the vast size and extreme climate
of the Sahara Desert, for as far back as we can trace, it has not been a barrier
totally separating Black Africa from other civilisations to the north. For
example, archaeological evidence shows that there was a trade in copper which
crossed the desert from Morocco to Mauritania in the 11th century BCE. [See
Map 03] This went through a narrow corridor in the western Sahara where it is
relatively easy to cross the desert. At various times, other metals and other
products, such brass beads and rhinoceros horn, appear to have been traded.
However, it was the Muslim traders, particularly the nomadic Berber with their
camel flocks, who were responsible for a massive increase in the scale of trade
and the scope of goods carried. Greek and Roman literature has many accounts
of warfare and trade between the inhabitants of modern Libya, Egypt, Chad, and
Niger. One of these accounts described a Roman merchant called Julius
Maternus as having seen many rhinoceros. Since there were no rhinoceros in
Northern Africa at this time, he must have travelled to West Africa, probably to
northern Chad. The fact that this trade really occurred is also demonstrated by
65
A.G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa, London, Longman, 1973; J. Iliffe, Africans: The History
of a Continent, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995; P. Masonen, “Trans-Saharan Trade and the West
African Discovery of the Mediterranean World”, paper presented at the third Nordic conference on Middle
Eastern Socieites: Ethnic encounter and culture change, Joensuu, Finaldn, 19-22 June 1995, at
http://www.hf.uib.no/smi/paj/masonen.html.
archaeological remains, such as Roman beads, coins and ornaments. By the 8th
century ACE, there was regular commercial and cultural exchange between
Western Africa and the Mediterranean world.
The people who started the gradual expansion of the trans-Saharan trade were
the Berber nomads. They crossed the desert with their camel flocks. At the
beginning of the rainy season, they left their bases at the southern edge of the
Sahara, moving to the north. They then reversed the journey just before the start
of the dry season. It seems probable that, while pasturing their camels in
southern Morocco and the Atlas mountains, the nomads met people who had
contact with the Romans and others further north. Learning of the great value
that the Romans and other northern groups placed on gold, the Berbers started
bartering it for copper and salt. They then carried the gold northwards with
them, in turn bartering it for dates, corn and handycrafts. It is also very likely
that the nomads obtained luxury goods made in the Roman world which they
then bartered for gold in the south.
This trade could only start after the dromedary camel by the Saharan peoples,
somewhere around the beginning of the common era. Horses are not able to
survive in the very harsh conditions in the desert but camels are perfectly
adapted to do so. Camels are able to carry heavy loads and travel long distances
in a day. They have a hairy skin. This protects them from the heat in the day and
the cold at night. Their hump is used to store fat. This makes it possible for
them to go for days without eating and drinking. (Dromedaries have one hump
and Bactrian camels two.) In the hottest part of the year, a camel can go for
about a week without water. When water is available, they drink huge amounts
of it. Their long necks and legs keep their heads high above the sand. Their long
eyelashes prevent the sand from getting into their eyes. An extra eyelid works
like the windscreen wiper on a car, wiping sand out of the camel’s eye. The
animal is able to see through this eyelid. Because of this, in a sandstorm, it is
able to walk with its eyelids closed. Camels are also able to close their nostrils
to prevent sand from getting in. They have large feet, preventing them from
sinking into the sand, and a tough pad underneath their feet protects them from
the hot sand.
The first Muslim traders to enter the West African region found towns and an
extremely active regional trading system which had been established for
centuries. Indeed, the chief reason why the trans-Saharan trade grew so swiftly
in the early Islamic period was probably that it linked two flourishing regional
economies.66 Goods traded included gold, copper, salt, dates, corn, handycrafts
and luxury goods made in the Roman world. There was also an extremely lively
trade in slaves.
66
The relationship between the Islamic cultures of the North and the West African
cultures was a peaceful one. This did not mean that the lives of the Berber and
other Arab traders while in the West African cities was not a controlled one.
The area of contact was largely restricted to the cities on the edge of the desert.
In these cities, the North African traders lived in their own quarters. These
usually fell outside of the areas where local people lived. Over time, twin cities
with Muslim and non-Muslim Quarters became a common feature of urban
settlements all over West Africa.
It seems that this separation suited the North African traders and was not
enforced upon them as a means of racial discrimination. Firstly, the West
African interior was just as unhealthy for the Arab northerners as it would later
prove to be for Europeans. They had little or no immunity to local diseases, and
preferred to stay in the desert-edge cities where the climate was healthier for
outsiders. Secondly, if they moved into other quarters or cities, the traders had
to follow local laws and customs, even if these conflicted with Quranic Law. In
their own quarters, they were able to follow their own culture, and practice their
own religion. Some idea of the tolerance which the African rulers showed for
the traders may be gleaned from the fact that they were exempted from the usual
method of showing submission in the presence of the kings, namely that of
sprinkling dust over one’s head. Sexual relations do not necessarily imply
equality. Nevertheless, in their turn, in the absence of women from their own
societies, many of the traders took local concubines. A number also married
local women. This is understandable. Traders often spent several years in the
south, and there were also permanent agents of North African trading
companies stationed in the south. There is no evidence to suggest that the
majority of concubines or wives were treated any differently from, or regarded
as being inferior to, women in similar positions in Arabian society.
Unlike the situation with later European traders, the West African societies were
definitely in the stronger position in this trade. In the first place, their power
arose from their control over the trade routes leading from the trading centres on
the desert edge to the gold fields further south. The rulers maintained this trade
purely in West African hands, preventing the Arabs from establishing any direct
contact with the producers of gold. This gave them a monopoly which could not
be broken except by a military invasion, and subsequent occupation, on a scale
not possible given North African military technology at this stage. Firearms
were only introduced into Northern Africa in the 16th century. Before this, the
Arab and West African armies were fairly evenly matched in terms of military
technology. If a military invasion across the desert was to succeed, it would
have had to be based on overwhelming military superiority. In addition, the
armies of the West African kingdoms were extremely large, numbering tens of
thousands of men. Sending an army of this size across the Sahara was simply
too hazardous. Besides the desert, most parts of the West African savannah are
infected by trypanosomiasis.67 Since this is particularly infections to
quadrupeds, it prevented the use of cavalry by the Muslim forces in the area.
These strategic factors are not undermined by the successful Moroccan invasion
of Timbuktu in 1591. This only succeeded because the ruler of the Songhay
Empire thought it unnecessary to poison the wells in the desert or to plan an
effective counter attack – he thought that the Moroccan forces would all die in
the desert.
The second reason for the dominant position in trade held by the West African
states was that the Arabs needed the gold far more than the Africans needed the
goods for which it was traded. Until the European discovery of America, West
African gold mines were the most important source of gold for both northern
Africa and Europe – about two-thirds of all this mineral in circulation in the
Mediterranean area during the Middle Ages was imported across the Sahara. In
fact, historians have frequently over-estimated the demand for salt, which the
Arabs bartered for the gold of West Africa. Saharan rock salt was in fact
extremely expensive – a luxury which only the very rich could afford. There
was also enough local West African production of salt from plants and the soil
to cater for the needs of the wider society.
This trans-Saharan trade grew gradually until about the 7th century. Events in
the north led to remarkable changes after this. In the latter part of this century,
Northern Africa was drawn into the Islamic world, becoming a part of the
Umayyid Caliphate. This vast Muslim kingdom stretched from the slopes of the
Pyrenees to the banks of the Indus River. The monetary system of this kingdom,
which also formed a form of common market (a bit like the European Union of
today, but even stronger), was based on gold. In the eastern parts of the
caliphate this was obtained from mines and from melting down existing
stockpiles. In the western parts, things were more difficult, as there are no gold
mines in North Africa. Some of the golden coins in this area were made from
gold imported from Sicily and southern Spain. There is very strong evidence
that the rest came from West Africa.
67
There are two types of African trypanosomiasis (also called sleeping sickness); each named for the region of
Africa in which it is found. Individuals can become infected with West African trypanosomiasis if they receive a
bite from an infected tsetse fly, found only in Africa.West African trypanosomiasis, also called Gambian
sleeping sickness, is caused by a parasite called Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (tri-PAN-o-SO-ma BREW-see-
eye GAM-be-ense) carried by the tsetse fly. Worldwide, approximately 40,000 new cases of both East and West
African trypanosomiasis are reported to the World Health Organization each year. However, the majority of
cases are not reported due to a lack of infrastructure and it is likely that there are more than 100,000 new cases
annually. Few cases of West African trypanosomiasis have been reported in the United States.
By the mid-8th century, trade across the desert was regular and intensive.
Sijilmasa and Tahert were the two most important northern terminals. At the
other end of the trade, it was successful because it joined up with the already-
existing West African trade network. This was controlled by large states, like
Ghana and Gao, and cities like Jenne, which had about twenty-thousand
inhabitants. As the long distance trade grew, this also led to the development of
new cities on the edge of the desert, like Tadamakka, Kumbi Saleh and
Awdaghust. The prosperity of these cities was so closely tied to the long-
distance trade that, later, when the caravan routes changed and the volume of
trade declined, they were abandoned. There were three main routes across the
Sahara. One of these, commonly called the western route, led from Sijilmasa to
Awdaghust. The central, and most important, route led from Ifriqiya to the
Niger bend. Lastly, the so-called “Egyptian” route led from Egypt, via Siwa and
Kufra, to the Niger bend. This was nevertheless abandoned in the 10th century
as it was extremely dangerous.
It would seem that, during the 8th and 9th centuries, about 2 000 to 3 000 kg of
gold were carried across the Sahara each year. During the 10th century, there
was a great increase in this trade. This was because the Fatimid Caliphate, in
rivalry with the Abbasids of Baghdad and the Umayyads of Spain, needed vast
quantities of gold to finance their continuous wars and also the spread of
religious propaganda. Founded in North Africa in 910, the rise of this Caliphate
also meant that the western trade route became the most important. This was
because their access to the central route was blocked by their enemies.
There was a second boom in the gold trade in the late 11th century. Again, this
was related to the rise of a powerful Caliphate. This time, it was the
Almoravids. They succeeded in uniting western Sahara, Morocco and Islamic
Spain into a single empire. This did not go uncontested and they required vast
quantities of gold to finance their wars against the Christians in Spain and
Almohad rebels in the Maghrib. So much gold was transported that Almoravid
golden dinars became the most common currency in the Mediterranean area,
even in the Christian areas. Their was a brief period of stagnation after the fall
of the Almoravids in 1147. The trade nevertheless continued again from the
mid-13th century until the Moroccan invasion of Timbuktu in 1591.
The increased volume of trade led to the spread of new cultural influences in
Western Africa. Most important among these was the new religion, Islam. This
had been adopted in the states tied into the caravan trade by the eleventh
century. Conversion was peaceful, rather than being the result of jihad. In
addition to purely religious factors, we may find other reasons why this became
popular. Not only had there been a long period of coexistence in the trading
cities but Islam provided concrete advantages for its adherents. Firstly, it could
provide a platform of trust between North and West African traders in cases
where they were both Muslims. Secondly, as a literate religion, it provided
opportunities for education right up to university level. This also tied into the
new opportunities for social prestige that it offered. In addition, unlike
Christianity, where polygyny was forbidden, and beliefs in witchcraft were
frowned upon, a man could marry up to four wives and it provided methods of
dealing with perceived supernatural attack. For the rulers, conversion offered a
number of political advantages. At least in theory, but often in practice too,
West African rulers who converted became the equals of their North African
counterparts. Since conversion was voluntary, they also did not have to
recognise the political supremacy of the North African rulers. This made
diplomatic relations between the two groups of rulers much easier. Even
internally, rulers were able to increase their power through the new religion.
Literacy helped in the governance of the large empires and Islam served as a
unifying force among the different ethnic and religious groups within these
empires.
For a long time, Islam remained mainly confined to the courts and commercial
centres in Western Africa. Rulers often walked a religious tightrope. On the one
hand, to Arab traders and rulers, they portrayed themselves as pious Muslims.
On the other, to their own subjects, they continued acting as traditional kings.
This involved serving as leaders in African Religion as well. Thus, in contrast to
its unifying role, Islam could also create a tension within West African
societies. In some cases, where rulers were unable to maintain the balance
between the Muslim and traditional groupings within their empires, this could
even lead to civil war.
In linking West Africans culturally to the Islamic world, the adoption of Islam
also gave them a concrete reason to cross the Sahara for the first time in their
history. As you will hopefully see in your discussion of the slave trade, the first
Africans to arrive in the Mediterranean world had been taken there as slaves. In
addition to being taken by sea in the so-called East Coast trade, considerable
numbers had to face a forced crossing on foot over the Sahara Desert. As
opposed to this involuntary traffic, the voluntary traffic of West Africans to the
north began with the adoption of Islam. The pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the
five pillars of Islam, and the first West African Muslims began to visit the Holy
City from early in the 12th century. At first these were carried out only by
royals but, from the 15th century onwards, considerable numbers of commoners
also made the hadj. In addition to their religious significance, royal pilgrimages
also served an important role as diplomatic missions from the West African
rulers to those of North Africa. Indeed there is evidence that isolated diplomatic
missions from the sub-Saharan states may have preceded the pilgrimages by at
least a century. From the other side, the first delegations from North Africa to
the “Kings of the Blacks” had occurred much earlier, during the 9th century at
the latest. Until Islamic times, these were nevertheless isolated and sporadic
visits. By the 14th century, diplomatic delegations were exchanged regularly
between the West and North African capitals.
Through this increasing contact, West Africans learned to know the outside
world. Already before the adoption of Islam, the West African traders who did
business with the caravan traders must have developed some idea of conditions
in the Mediterranean area from their conversations with them. With the spread
of Islam, the news and first-hand accounts of the pilgrims were added to the
tales of the traders. En route to Mecca, many of the pilgrims also visited Cairo –
arguably the most important city in the eastern Mediterranean. The 19th century
accounts of European explorers record that some of the West African pilgrims
visited other Middle Eastern cities, including Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem
and even Istanbul. It is likely that this was a common practice even earlier.
In addition to meeting people from many different countries while on

pilgrimage, West Africans also learned about the outside world from books.
Conversion to Islam, and the accompanying mastery of Arabic script, opened
the entire realm of Arab scientific literature to them. At this time, Arab
geographical knowledge, for example, was the most advanced in the world.
Books came to form an important item in the trans-Saharan trade. From the 12th
century onwards, West African students began to study in the Islamic
universities in Spain and Morocco. During the following century, a hostel was
built for them at the al-Azhar University in Cairo. This was followed by the
foundation of the first West African University, Sankore in Timbuktu, during
the 1330s. On a less erudite level, paralleling these developments, West African
mercenaries also began to fight in the North African and Spanish armies.
Taking all of this into account, by the 14th century, many West Africans seem
to have had a more detailed knowledge of their contemporary world than most
of their contemporary Europeans, whose knowledge of sub-Saharan Africa was
effectively non-existent.
This golden age of trans-Saharan trade ended with the collapse of the Songhay
Empire after the Moroccan invasion of 1591. Against a background of the
disintegration of West African political structures, economic decline in
Northern Africa and increasing European competition on the Guinea coast, the
caravan trade became less profitable. With the arrival of the first Portuguese
ships on the Mauritanian coast in 1443, trade began to shift in favour of the
Atlantic coast. The trans-Saharan trade nevertheless continued in much
diminished form until the establishment of railroads at the beginning of the
twentieth century finally sealed its doom.
Trade and Islam in East Africa68
While Islam reached West Africa across the world’s harshest desert, it travelled
to East Africa along the easily-navigated trade routes of the Indian Ocean. The
people living along the eastern coast of Africa have a long history of trade with
other peoples going back for well over two thousand years. Trading partners
along the coast included seafarers from Arabia, Persia (Iran) and even China.
Greek and Roman authors referred to the area as Azania. The Arabs called it the
Land of Zanzi (the Black people). Beyond their trade in goods, there was also a
lively exchange in ideas, styles of dress, foodstuffs and ways of cooking and
eating, and architectural patterns. Women from Africa married men from the
Middle East. This gave rise to what has become known as the Swahili culture –
a name given to the culture of the coastal people stretching from Mogadishu
(Somalia) in the north to the Rovuma River (Mozambique) in the south. These
people shared a common language, Ki-Swahili, also widely spoken by non-
Swahili people. Their culture fused urban and agricultural communities and was
a blending of African and Arab culture. Although they also traded with the
interior, many historians have argued that coastal African people were culturally
68
Timeline
100 – What is believed to be the first written eyewitness account of the East African Coast compiled.
570 – Birth of Mohammed
610 – Mohammed receives the call to become a prophet
622 – The year zero in the Muslim calendar. This marks the flight of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to
Medina.
632 – Death of the Prophet Mohammed.
639 – Muslim invasion of Egypt.
750 – Capital of Muslim Empire moves from Mecca to Baghdad.
8th Century – The first Muslims establish themselves on the East Coast of Africa.
1062 – Famine in North Africa.
1086 – Muslim invasion and conquest of Spain.
c.1200 – Beginning of Great Zimbabwe Empire.
1348 – Black Death reaches North Africa from Sicily, killing over a quarter of the population.
1453 – Ottoman Turks take Constantinople. By this stage the Great Zimbabwe Empire is in decline.
1503 – Zanzibar attacked by Portuguese.
1505 – Looting of Kilwa and Mombasa by Portuguese.
1543 – Ethiopians defeat a Muslim army with the help of the Portuguese.
1599 – Building of Fort Jesus by Portuguese. Mombasa turned into a fortified city under Portuguese control.
1631 – The Roman Catholic Priest, Father Prior, and the Chaplain of Fort Jesus killed by order of the Sultan of
Mombasa for refusing to convert to Islam.
1698 – Portuguese pushed out of power along the Swahili Coast but remain in Mozambique.
1780s – Struggle for supremacy among Sultans of Oman and various Sultans and leaders along the East African
Coast.
1807 – Britain declares the slave trade to be illegal.
1834 – Britain attempts to abolish the institution of slavery.
1840 - The Sultan of Oman moves his capital to Zanzibar.
1873 – Closing of the Zanzibar slave market.
1885 – Tanganyika declared a protectorate of Germany.
1 January 1891 – Tanganyika becomes a German colony.
November 1890 - Britain declares Zanzibar a protectorate.
closer to the people of Arabia and the Gulf of Persia than to African societies in
the interior.
It is thus clear that this contact between Africa, Arabia and other parts of the
world goes back long before the coming of Islam in the 8th century CE. Also,
historians used to argue that Muslim Arabs played the dominant role on the
coast, dominating the Africans. We now know that the relationship was in fact
one of mutual dependence and benefit – each group needed, and benefited from,
the other. On the whole, the absorption of Arabs from the Persian Gulf or
Arabia into the coastal African societies seems to have been a very smooth
process.
The pattern of trade between Africa and the near East was determined by the
climate of the Indian Ocean. Between November and February, the Westerly
winds blew. Traders from the near East could sail to the East Coast of Africa at
this time. In March, there was usually a window period when the winds had not
yet changed. The traders continued to trade along the coast. By April, the
Easterly winds had started to blow. The traders then used these to sail home.
Commodities exported from Africa included gold, ivory, rhino horn, palm oil,
ostrich feathers, tortoise shell and slaves. Ivory was strong, easy to carve,
functional and decorative. Many things – such as piano keys and billiard balls -
which are made of plastic or resins today, were made out of ivory at this time.
Gold from the interior of southern Africa was also in great demand in the Near
East and in North Africa. Traders from southern Africa brought it to the coast.
From here, the East African traders exported it by sea to the east and overland to
the north. Among the most important imports were textiles, ceramics, glass
beads and metal goods. Textiles included embroidered silks and blue cotton
cloth. East Africa had an extremely lively textile industry. However, it did not
produce silk and blue die was unknown in the area. The blue cloth was
unpicked and strands of it were woven into white cloth.
In addition to the textile industry, there was a very large population of

craftsmen. They worked in metal, stone and wood. The Sultan, his family and
the important government officials lived in large houses, often with ornately
carved doors. Some of these were several stories high. They ate off porcelain
plates imported from China.
[See Map 04]
There were about forty cities, varying from small to large, along the coast. The
furthest North was Mogadishu (today the capital of Somalia). At the
southernmost end was Sofala, in modern-day Mozambique. One of the greatest
cities controlling trade was Kilwa. By the fourteenth century, it was the most
powerful city along the coast.
One of the very important inland trading partners of the coastal communities –
especially those at Kilwa, Malindi and Mogadishu - was the Great Zimbabwe
Empire. This had emerged by the thirteenth century, on the Harare-Plateau, in
the Shashe-Limpopo basin, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers. This
was a grassland zone which was rich in cattle and gold. One theory is that the
rulers of Great Zimbabwe did not have direct control over the gold mines,
which were situated about forty kilometres away from the capital. Instead, they
controlled trade in the mineral, using cattle as the medium of exchange for
buying up large quantities of gold. In addition to agriculture and the trade in
gold, craftspeople in this area also produced extremely beautiful pottery.
Scholars believe that Great Zimbabwe was at the centre of an international
commercial system. In addition to the coastal cities on the East Coast, this trade
extended into towns in the Gulf, in the western pares of India, and even into
China. By the mid-fifteenth century, apparently as a result of overgrazing,
drought and the need to move the capital in order to best control the gold trade,
the Zimbabwe Empire had collapsed. The centre of trade moved to the new
Mutapa state in the north (which dominated the gold trade) and the Torwa state
in the south.
The Portuguese arrived on the East Coast in 1498. Having sailed round the
southern tip of Africa, they then moved northwards up the East African coast.
Five years later, they began a determined campaign to take control of the trade
in ivory, textiles, spices and gold. To help them achieve this, they attempted to
force the Sultans to pay tribute to the King of Portugal and give trading
concessions to Portuguese traders. Zanzibar was attacked in 1503, followed two
years later by the looting of Kilwa and Mombasa. Since the Sultan at Mombasa
refused to surrender to the Portuguese, this city suffered the greatest damage.
The Portuguese completed their largest fort there in 1599. Called Fort Jesus, it
can still be seen today.
Despite these assaults on their power, many of the Sultans along the East coast
managed to retain a great deal of political and economic power for themselves.
The area was characterized by shifting power bases and alliances. Friends could
become enemies, and enemies friends, virtually overnight. Compromises and
changes were made according to the changing economic and strategic situation.
Over time, this tense situation led to a decline in trade.
The Portuguese were finally pushed out of power on the Swahili Coast in 1698
by combined forces from Oman and Pate. They nevertheless managed to remain
in Mozambique until the late twentieth century.
In the nineteenth century, the East Coast Sultans became very rich through
buying and selling slaves. While this trade had begun in the seventh century,
and continued since then, it grew particularly dramatically at this time. The
market was a particularly good one as the traders could play off French and
Portuguese buyers against each other. The British acted to make the Atlantic
slave trade illegal after 1807. By 1834, when they attempted to abolish the
institution of slavery itself, the East Coast became exceptionally important to
the Portuguese as a source of supply for slaves. (France had stopped slaving by
this time.) This was because the British anti-slavery squadron operated on the
West Coast.
A Swahili traveller and trader by the name of Tippu Tip was one of the key
traders with whom the Portuguese did business. He became one of the richest
and most influential men along the coast. Not only did he buy slaves at the
coast, he also made long and dangerous trips into the interior to capture and buy
slaves for sale at the coast. So powerful did he become that he was able to
maintain a monopoly of trade over a huge area stretching back from the coast.
The Zanzibar slave market was only closed in 1873. By this time, the Swahili
Coast was exporting a variety of spices and other tropical crops.
This Eastern slave trade has been called “the forgotten holocaust” by some
historians as it has not been written about as extensively as the Atlantic slave
trade, which we will discuss later. In some cases, the Arab traders raided
African villages themselves in order to obtain slaves. However, the more
common situation was for them to enlist the aid of fellow African Muslims, or
recently converted Black people. They could justify this as the selling of
“unbelievers”. At other times, the Arab traders would demand tribite in the form
of human beings from African rulers attempting to bring about an end to raids
into their territories.
“The Arab slavers raided at nightfall, during the dinner time. Africans who
resisted or tried to run were shot and killed. Most adult men were killed as the
Arabs favoured women and children for sale. The captives then endured a long
and tortuous march through the African countryside as the slavers searched and
gathered more captives. Young men, women and children were bound by hand
and neck throughout the journey, enduring beatings and rapes along the way.
Those who fell sick or dead were left behind. Others remained bound to living
captives.” [From: The Forgotten Holocaust: The Eastern Slave Trade.]
Unlike the case in the Atlantic slave trade, in this trade, about two times as
many women as men were sold. After surviving the terrible journey aboard the
Arab slave ships, the captives were taken to the slave markets. Here women and
young girls were assessed for their sexual worth, as much as for their ability to
work. Filling the harems of wealthy Arabs, they had to be available to their
masters whenever they wanted them and often bore them many children.
Hundreds of thousands of young boys, usually aged between eight and twelve
years, were also turned into Aghas or eunuchs – castrated male slaves. To
achieve this, their scrotums and penises were completely amputated. Many boys
bled to death and the survival rate varied from one in ten to one in thirty. They
then were trained to work as guards and tutors in Muslim households. Al least
9.6 million African women and 4.4 million African men were traded between
700 and 1911 – nearly 1 200 years.69
The Germans also began to show an interest in acquiring territory along the East
Coast in the nineteenth century. In 1885, she declared the mainland of
Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) a so-called “protectorate”. This was ruled
through at chartered company. However, in the face of strong resistance by the
local people the area was formally taken over by the German government on 1
January 1891. As part of the same “scramble” for Africa, Britain declared
Zanzibar a protectorate in November 1890. In doing so, they used the excuse
that they wished to suppress slave trading by the Sultan. They attempted to rule
the area indirectly through the Omani Arabs.
Show slideshow on Islam in Africa
Slide 01 [126a70] Islam came to some parts of the coast during the lifetime of
the Prophet Mohammed. In the ancient Somali town of Brava, the Mosque of
Sheikh Nureini is located where the desert meets the sea.
Slide 02 [136a71] By the twelfth century, Islam had spread inland from the
Horn’s coast. In the Ethiopian interior, the medieval walled city of Harar, with
its ninety mosques, is now regarded as the fourth most sacred centre in the
Muslim world. Historically, it was renowned as a placed of learning and as an
69
Main sources are Ancient History Sourcebook: The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Travel and Trade in the
Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century, at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/periplus.html,
downloaded 18 March 2006; The Forgotten Holocaust: The Eastern Slave Trade, at
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Classroom/9912/easterntrade.html, downloaded 18 March 2006 and The
Story of Africa / BBC World Service, The Swahili, at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section5.shtml, downloaded 18 March
2006 (follow links also). See also Beach, D.N., The Shona and Zimbabwe, Gweru, Mambo Press, 1980; Iliffe,
J., Africans: The History of a Continent, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995; Martin, P.M. and
O’Mera, P. (eds.). Africa, Third Edition, London, James Currey and Bloomington, Indiana University Press,
1995; Pikirayi, I., The Zimbabwe Culture: Origins and Decline in Southern Zambezian States, Walnut Creek,
New York and Oxford, Altamira Press, 2001; UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume III, Africa from the
Seventh to the Eleventh Centuy.
70
Beckwith and Fischer, African Ark, pp. 126 (image) and 127 (text).
71
Beckwith and Fischer, African Ark, p. 1367 (image and text).
emporium of exotic goods. In modern times, a weekly market maintains Harar’s
reputation as an important trading city and attracts visitors from far and near.
Slide 03 [45172] The Great Mosque at Dzenne in Mali in West Africa was built
in 1906, but a mosque has stood on this site since the thirteenth century. The
Great Mosque is one of the seven wonders of the Muslim world. It is made from
sun-dried mud bricks that are plastered over with mud. Its walls are more than
0,6 metres thick. The whole community gets involved in periodic reskinning of
the mosque and more than 6 000 people complete the massive job in less than a
month. The posts sticking out are part of the framework and also serve as
scaffolding posts.73
Slide 04 [127a74] This traditional Islamic wooden door, carved with floral
motifs in Arabic style, is one of many to be seen in the ancient town of
Mogadishu, the present day capital of Somalia.
Slide 05 [126b75] A local Swahili man in Lamu (island North of Mombasa in

Kenya along the so-called Swahili coast – see transparency - The Islamic Coast)
blows the siwa, a brass horn used to herald ceremonies and religious events.
Cast in the lost way method in the early eighteenth century, it is one of the
finest pieces of craftsmanship to be found in the Horn of Africa.
Slide 06 [133a76] According to the code of orthodox Islam, women must be

modest in public. They are required to cover their bodies from head to toe in an
all-encompassing black veil called a bui-bui. Despite this limitation, they have
perfected the art of speaking with their eyes. The Swahili mother from Lamu,
holding her child, reveals elaborate henna decoration on her hand.
Slide 07 [142a77] Muslim Afar girls from the family of the Sultan of Tadjourah
in the Djibouti Republic [see transparency - The Islamic Coast] wear some of
the most exotic gold jewellery to be found in the Horn. Some of the jewellery is
locally mmade and some is brought in by relatives returning from Saudi Arabia,
Yemen, Pakistan and India. The greatest finery is called for during marriages
and other celebrations.
72
Journeys – Ecotours and travel – Mali Timbuktu Tour, at
http://www.journeys-intl.com/destinations/africa/mali/459, downloaded 16 March 2006.
73
J. Bingham, African Art & Culture, Chicago, Raintree, 2004, p. 15.
74
Beckwith and Fischer, African Ark, p. 127 (image and text).
75
Beckwith and Fischer, African Ark, pp. 126 (image) and 127 (text). See map on p. 119 for Lamu – Produced
as transparency also. Also on Christianity and Islam map transparency above Zanzibar Island.
76
Beckwith and Fischer, African Ark, pp. 133 (image) and 134 (text).
77
Beckwith and Fischer, African Ark, pp. 140 (text) and 142 (image).
AFRICAN EMPIRES CONTINUED
Kingdom of Ghana
[Show movie The Ghana Empire]
The Kingdom of Ghana, also known as Wagadou, had its early origins in about
300 CE but reached its height in the period between 750 CE and 1076 CE. It
was located in southeastern Mauritania, western Mali and eastern Senegal. [See
Maps 5 and 5a] The founders of the empire were traders who capitalized on the
vibrant trans-Saharan trading route known as the Soninke. They called their
kingdom Wagadu, but we know it as Ghana, the name the Arabs gave it.
Ghana’s capital changed several times but the last and most famous of them was
Kumbi (or Koumbi Saleh), perhpas founded in the 4th century CE. It became
the biggest city south of the Sahara with some 15,000 inhabitants at its peak.
Due to its strategic location in trade routes, the kingdom became wealthy from
exports in gold, ivory and kola nuts (the later “secret ingredient” of Coca-Cola.
It was dubbed as the “Land of Gold” by its neighbours, having a monopoly over
well concealed gold mines. Camel caravans from North Africa carried bars
of salt as well as cloth, tobacco, and metal tools to Ghana.
The Soninke developed a monarchy, resulting in the kingdom growing in

political and military might, expanding throughout the kingdom and subduing
smaller kingdoms to its rule. It also had sophisticated methods of administration
and taxation. The vibrant trade in the kingdom resulted in written
documentation being kept, most notably documentation by the Cordoban
scholar al-Bakri, who consolidated a number of collected stories from travellers
to the region into a detailed description of the kingdom in 1067 AD. The
kingdom embraced Islam during its spread across northern Africa during the 7th
and 8th centuries when Saharan traders introduced their new religion to the
region. The royal court, however, did not convert, opting to retain traditional
religious practices throughout the city.
Ghana’s prosperity relied heavily on the Berber’s caravans, which were

organized independently by Berber chiefs and merchants: they were the only
link to the outside world. This relationship was tenuous, though, as the Berbers
usually complimented their income with raids on more established lands. Only
the mutual interest in trade profit kept the relationship stable; indeed, it worked
for centuries.
However, as Ghana grew richer and expanded its territorial base, tensions with
various tribes of Berber merchants grew as well. The Berbers resented the
increasing power of trading cities, dominated by the Soninke. With
the conquest by Ghana of the independent and important city-state of
Audaghost, relations became much more hostile. At the dawn of the 11th
century CE, the Berbers, who used to be the masters of Audaghost’s commerce,
repeatedly attempted to free the city from Ghana’s control.
In the mid 11th century CE, the Almoravid dynasty of Morroco (r. 1040–1147
CE) began to attract large numbers of Berbers, thus providing a more solid form
of organization and unity to the otherwise conflicting Berber clans. The
Almoravids became powerful enough to launch conquest campaigns abroad. To
the north they invaded Spain (Al-Andalus), defeating the Caliphate of Córdoba
(r. 929-1031 CE). To the south, the Almoravids brought havoc to Ghana, even
conquering the capital city, Kumbi, in 1076 CE. Although Ghana was
eventually able to expel the invaders, the damage was staggering. Ghana's
networks of trade were perturbed (Audaghost quickly lost all importance, for
example), but also the introduction of Berber’s pasturing flocks in what used to
be agricultural land, initiated a terrible process of desertification.
Ghana would not recover its former glory and the following decades saw further
decline as subject peoples broke free from the kingdom’s control. In 1203 CE,
Kumbi was taken by one of their former subject peoples: the Susu. In 1240 CE,
the kingdom collapsed when the Kumbi was devastated yet again and the heart
of Ghana was annexed by the rising Empire of Mali (c. 1230-1600 CE).
[Show movie I’ve got salt]
The Mali Empire
The Mali Empire was one of the world’s largest empires at the height of its
existence in 1300 CE. [See Map 06] It arose after the fall of the Kingdom of
Ghana, and was strategically located between the West African gold mines and
the agriculturally rich Niger River floodplain encompassing the modern nations
of Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
Sundiata Keita, who was a leader in one of the states formed from the dissipated
Kingdom of Ghana, is recognized as the founder of the Mali empire after he
defeated his principal rival in the neighbouring kingdom of Susu in 1235 CE.
He would extend the empire’s control west to the Atlantic, south into the rain
forest region and east beyond the great bend of the Niger River. The famous
Disney film “The Lion King” is based on the real life narrative of Mansa
Sundiata Keita. The empire experienced great prosperity during the rule of
Sundiata Keita’s half-brother’s grandson, Mansa (King) Musa. During this time,
Mansa Musa doubled the land area of the empire and the cities became
important trading areas for all of West Africa so much so that trade tripled
during this time. He is ranked as the richest person in history with an
estimated net worth of $400 billion [See Illustration 07].
Timbuktu became an important cultural hub not only for the empire, but for
Africa and the world. It became home to the biggest libraries and Islamic
universities, and it was the cultural and educational hub for scientists, scholars
and artists of African and the Middle East. The world’s oldest known
constitution, the Kurukan Fuga, was adopted in the semi-democratic empire. It
was created after 1235 by an assembly of nobles to create a government for the
newly established empire, dividing the empire into ruling clans that were
represented at a great assembly called the Gbara. The Gbara was the
deliberative body of the empire and they were given a voice in the government
and were a check against the emperor’s power. It was presided over by a belen-
tigui (master of ceremonies) who recognized anyone who wanted to speak,
including the emperor. The Gbara and the Kurukan Fuga remained in existence
until 1645. The empire declined after internal strife plagued the palace and after
smaller states opted for independence from the empire to break free of its rule to
reap the benefits of the salt and gold trade. The Wolof group were the first to
break free from the empire, creating the Jolof Empire in mid-1300 AD. This
was followed by the Tuareg seizure of Timbuktu, which had detrimental
commercial consequences for the wealthy city and a rebellion in Gao that led to
rise of the Songhai empire after its invasion ended Malian power in the savanna.
[Show movie on Timbuktu and movie on Timbuktu Universtiy]

The Songhai Empire
[Show movie on The Songhai Empire]
The Songhai Empire came into existence after its rebellion against the Mali
Empire in 1375 AD. [See Map 08] It conquered the city of Mema in 1465
followed by the seizure of the biggest and wealthiest city in the region,
Timbuktu, taking it from the Tuareg who had previously occupied it. The
empire was the largest and last of the three major pre-colonial empires to
emerge in West Africa, located in the modern countries of Senegal, Gambia,
northwestern Nigeria and central Niger, covering 1.4 million square kilometers.
Gao was established as the empire’s capital city in the 11th century, and was a
vibrant trade centre. The first great ruler of the kingdom was Sunni Ali Ber,
who was responsible for the empire’s expansion and the control of important
Trans-Saharan trade routes. After his death in 1492, his son, Sonni Baru, took
over as emperor but ruled for only a year, losing the throne to Emperor Askia
Muhammad Toure. He was a devout Muslim and established Sharia law
throughout the kingdom, and also strengthened political and cultural ties with
the rest of the Muslim world through encouraging immigration of scholars and
skilled workers from Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Muslim Spain. He was the
first West African ruler to allow the exchange of ambassadors with these and
other Muslim states. The empire continued to enjoy peace and prosperity under
a succession of emperors after Askia Muhammad Toure’s death in 1528, owing
much of it to agriculture. The empire’s demise begin in 1591 after a Moroccan
invasion led by Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi. After conquering the empire,
logistical implications of ruling the land led to the Moroccans withdrawing from
the region in 1661. Various emperors attempted to restore the empire to its
former glory, whoever a French colonial invasion in 1901 led to its final
demise.
The Mossi Kingdoms
The Mossi Kingdoms [See Map 09] consisted of twenty independent kingdoms
located by the headwaters of the Volta River within modern Burkina Faso and
Ghana. The Mossi were never integrated in the Mali Empire. The formation of
the kingdoms dates back to the 1500s.The Mossi states were well placed for
trade with neighbouring African state,s as well as areas where European trade
was dominant. The states lasted for 500 years and survived conflicts with
neighbouring Muslim empires during the spread of Islam across northern and
western Africa. They were very stable. They never converted to Islam and
fiercely guarded their traditional religion.
Mossi society was divided into castes - the slave caste called yemse, the
commoners called talse, and the noble caste called nakombe. The king or naaba
was assisted by a rigid administration. Initially, the king was mobile, moving
from province to province.
Their economic livelihood depended on raiding farming and prosperous

neighbouring communities and demanding tribute by utilising long-ranging
light cavalry. This set them apart from their forest neighbours. Utilising this
cavalry, they even harassed the empire of Mali to the north and that of
Songhai.
The kingdom was also involved with the salt, kola nuts, and slave trade of the
Sahel and Asante forest zone. They exchanged local donkey, cotton, sorghum,
and millet for aforementioned goods. The growing of millet and sorghum was a
major activity. A special caste existed called the tengabiise assured good
harvest via rituals.
The kingdoms declined after French colonisation in the 1800s.
The Benin Empire
[Show movie on The Benin Empire]
The kingdom of Benin lay deep inside the rainforest, but it was not cut off from
other places. To the north was the River Niger. [See Map 10] This major river
provided a route for trading goods with other African kingdoms. To the south
was the Atlantic Ocean. Ships sailed from Europe to West Africa and merchants
travelled up rivers into the heart of Benin.
Around the year 900 groups of Edo people began to cut down trees and make
clearings in the rainforest. At first they lived in small family groups, but
gradually these groups developed into a kingdom.
The kingdom was called Igodomigodo. It was ruled by a series of kings, known
as Ogisos, which means ‘rulers of the sky’. In the 1100s there were struggles for
power and the Ogisos lost control of their kingdom.
Fearing that their country would fall into chaos, various factions of the Edo
asked their neighbour, the King of Ife, for help. The king sent his son Prince
Oranmiyan to restore peace to the Edo kingdom. Oranmiyan chose his son
Eweka to be the first Oba of Benin. Eweka was the first in a long line of Obas,
who reached the peak of their power in the 1500s.
In 1440, Oba Ewuare (also known as Ewuare the Great) came to power and
turned the city-state into an empire, naming it Edo. Oba Ewuare is credited with
turning Benin City into a military fortress and expanding the kingdom into the
modern southwestern region of Nigeria and Ghana.
Oba Ewuare was the first of five great warrior kings. His son Oba Ozolua was
believed to have won 200 battles. He was followed by Oba Esigie who
expanded his kingdom eastwards to form an empire and won land from the
Kingdom of Ife. Ozolua and Esigie both encouraged trade with the Portuguese.
They used their wealth from trade to build up a vast army.
The fourth warrior king was Oba Orhogbua. During his reign, the empire
reached its largest size. It stretched beyond the River Niger in the east and
extended west as far as present-day Ghana.
The empire developed advanced artistic creations made of bronze, iron and
ivory that was commonly created for various royal ceremonies. [See 11 to 14 –
14 is Queen Mother Ivory mask Metropolitan Museum of Art.] Artworks
included bronze wall plaques and life-sized bronze heads of the Obas of Benin,
with the most common artefact being based on Queen Idia. The empire built a
strong mercantile relationship with Portugal in the 1400s, and the two nations
traded tropical goods, slaves and European goods and weapons. About a
hundred years later, Dutch merchants joined them. Over the next 200 years,
merchants from England, France, Germany and Spain all traded with Benin.
Visitors and Christian missionaries came to the empire during this time. The
empire grew in wealth during the 16th century due to the slave trade with
Europe as they sold off their war captives. During this century, the British
formed a relationship with the, trading in ivory, slaves and other goods. Visitors
went back to Europe to tell tales the great empire.
Oba Ehengbuda was the last of the warrior kings. But he spent most of his reign
stopping rebellions led by local chiefs. After his death in 1601, Benin’s empire
gradually shrank in size. The Obas started to lose control of their people. By the
1800s Benin was no longer strong or united. Benin was also under threat from
Britain. The British wanted to gain control of Benin so they could get rich by
selling its palm oil and rubber. The Oba tried to stop all contact with Britain, but
the British insisted on their right to trade.
In 1897 a group of British officials tried to visit Benin. They were sent away
because the Oba was busy with a religious ceremony, but they decided to visit
anyway. As they approached the borders of Benin, a group of warriors drove
them back and several British men were killed. The British used this as az
pretext to send over a thousand soldiers to invade Benin. Benin City was burnt
to the ground, much of the country’s treasured art was either destroyed or sent
back to Britain as booty, where it ended up in private collections or in museums.
Benin became part of the British Empire. The Oba is still in existence today,
and is very much respected in Nigeria as he most revered traditional ruler. His
powers are largely ceremonial and religious.

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AFRICAN EMPIRES, TRADE AND

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN AFRICA

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE NOTES ARE A ROUGH DRAFT OF MY

The Kingdom of Kush

The Axum Empire

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN AFRICA

When we think about Christianity being brought to Africa, we tend to think

Christianity in North Africa

According to legend, St Mark was responsible for bringing Christianity to

Tales surrounding the arrival of Judaism and Christianity in Ethiopia provide a

Perhaps Aksum’s greatest significance is as the supposed capital of the Queen

01 [Ethiopia140] Falasha village scene – woman and children outside their

As we have seen, building on these origins, the Aksumite realm converted to

02 – [Church 2] A priest standing at the entrance to a chiselled passageway. 37

04 – [41.gif] Beta Ghiorgis38

05 – [rockch.gif] Beta Ghiorgis39

06 – [lalibela.gif]40 Church building at Lalibela (there are others besides Beta

07 – [Church 5] The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela are renowned for their

08 – [ethiopia33]42 Swastika window (labelled “a religious emblem cut in

09 - [ethiopia27]43 Another window (labelled “niche for the pigeons?” in

10 - [ethiopia36] 44 Wall decoration on the rock.

12 – [Church9] A priest, with processional cross and manuscript, stands at the

13 – [Church10] The church of Debre Berhan Selassie in Gondar was built

14 - [addis01] “Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa”48

16 – [ethiopia12]50 How manuscripts are stored

17 – [ethiopia10]51 Ethiopian Orthodox Priest with manuscript.

18 – [ethiopia11]52 Ethiopian Orthodox Priest with manuscript.

19 – [Church7] Genna (Christmas) occurs on 7 January according to Ethiopia’s

21 - [ethiopia38] 56 Ethiopian Orthodox Priest in robes with cross

22 - [ethiopia408] 57 Details of cross.

24 - Church11 – George, patron saint of Ethiopia, slaying the dragon (19th.

Christianity in the Sudan

Islam and the Muslim World

Islam in North Africa

The Muslim system of government and Life in Muslim Society

The third class consisted of Jews, Christians or Zoroastrians living under

The Position of women

The Trans-Saharan Trade and Trade and Islam in West Africa65

In addition to meeting people from many different countries while on

In addition to the textile industry, there was a very large population of

[See Map 04]

Show slideshow on Islam in Africa

Slide 05 [126b75] A local Swahili man in Lamu (island North of Mombasa in

Slide 06 [133a76] According to the code of orthodox Islam, women must be

[Show movie The Ghana Empire]

The Soninke developed a monarchy, resulting in the kingdom growing in

Ghana’s prosperity relied heavily on the Berber’s caravans, which were

[Show movie I’ve got salt]

The Mali Empire

[Show movie on Timbuktu and movie on Timbuktu Universtiy]

[Show movie on The Songhai Empire]

The Mossi Kingdoms

Their economic livelihood depended on raiding farming and prosperous

The kingdoms declined after French colonisation in the 1800s.

The Benin Empire

[Show movie on The Benin Empire]

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