African Societies

African
Societies
African Cultural Characteristics
• Common features
• Concept of king
• Society arrange in age groups and kinship divisions
– Sub-Saharan Africans descended from people
who lived in southern Sahara during “wet period”
– Migrated south where cultural traditions
developed
– Kingship
• Kings ritually isolated
Sub-Saharan Africa:
A Challenging Geography
• Large area with many different environmental zones
and many geographical obstacles to movement
– Sahara Desert—North Africa
• World's largest desert
– Maghreb—northwest Africa
• Coastlands and Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia
– Sahel—belt of grasslands south of Sahara
– Sudan—just below the Sahel
– Guinea—rainforests
• Along Atlantic coast from Guinea to Nigeria
– Congo—rainforest region of Congo River Basin
– Great Lakes—series of five lakes
Early East Africa
• Egyptians and Sabaeans
– Egypt referred to the area as Punt
• Documentary evidence of trade between Egypt
and Punt
• Products were spices, gold, ivory, animals, slaves
– Semitics in Southern Yemen & East Africa
• Created dams, terraced agriculture
• Cities connected by trade to SW Asia
• Specialize in gold, frankincense, myrrh
Early East Africa
• Axum-Ethiopia
– Civilization arose in Axum: records,
coinage, monuments
– Great power mentioned in Greek,
Roman, Persian records
– 3rd Century Christianity
– In decline after rise of Islam in Red
Sea & Arabian Sea
Movement in Africa
• Romans and Greek
– Greek, Roman, and Persian coins of 3rd
century CE found in area
• Three movements converge
– Polynesians of Indian Ocean
– Arabic merchants along East
African Coast
– Bantu Migration down East
African Coast
Movement in Africa
• Polynesian immigrants settle parts
– Introduce bananas
• Muslim Arab merchants
– Arab Muslims trade for slaves, gold, ivory
– Link East Africa to wider Indian Ocean
– Arab merchants take Bantu
wives
– Mixed families link interior Bantu,
coastal Arabs
Advent of Iron
and Bantu Migrations
• Sub-Saharan agriculture
• Origins north of equator
• Spread southward
• Iron-working also began north of
equator and spread southward
• Reached southern Africa by 800 c.e.
Advent of Iron
and Bantu Migrations
• Bantu migrations
• Linguistic evidence
• Spread of iron and other technology in sub-
Saharan Africa
• Original homeland of Bantu was area on the
border of modern Nigeria and Cameroon
• Spread out toward east and south through
series of migrations in first millennium CE
• Introduce cattle, iron, slash-burn agriculture
• By 8th century, Bantu-speaking people
reached East Africa
El Zanj: The Swahili
• 30-40 separate city-states along East

African coast
• "Swahili" used by early Arabs, means "coast“
• By 1st century BCE Arab and Indian traders
• Brought bananas, cloves, cinnamon and pepper
• Left with gold, ivory and slaves
• Spoke African language enriched with Arabic
and Persian vocabulary
• 8th Century CE
• Settlement Arabs from Persian Gulf
• Small settlements of Indians
Swahili Coastal
Trade
• Trade Winds
– Monsoon winds dictate all
movement
– November to February:
Indians can arrive
– April to September: Swahili
go to India
Swahili History
• Swahili city-states
– Muslim and cosmopolitan
– Bantu, Islamic, and Indian influences
– Politically independent of one another
– Never a Swahili empire or hegemony
• Trade and economics
– Cities like competitive companies,
corporations vying for African trade
– Chief exports: ivory, sandalwood, ebony,
and gold; later slaves
– Trade linked to both Arabia and India; even
Chinese goods, influence reached area
Swahili History
• Social construct
– Arabs, Persians were significant players
– Cities were run by nobility that was African in origin
– Below nobility: commoners, resident foreigners
– Large group of artisans, weavers, craftsmen
– Slavery was actively practiced
• 16th century
– Advent of Portuguese trade disrupted trade routes, made
commercial centers obsolete
– Portuguese allowed natives no share in African trade
– Began conquering Islamic city-states along eastern coast
• Late 17th century
– Oman conquered Portuguese cities along coast
– Area controlled by Omani sultanate for another 200 years
– Cotton, cloves, plantation agriculture thrived and used
slaves for labor
Swahili Cities
• Swahili garden cities
– Built around palaces, mosques
– Walled cities
– Many markets, harbors
– Wealthy
• Built homes within walls
• Endowed mosques, schools
– Muslims transplanted many different plants, crops to
area
Great Zimbabwe
• Swahili cities
• Wealth led to centralization
of Zimbabwean government
around 1300 CE
• Gold and copper
• Easily mined and obtained
• Capital was Great Zimbabwe
• Huge fortification surrounded by stone walls
• Economy rested on agriculture, cattle
herding, and trade
• Declined due to an ecological crisis brought
on by deforestation and overgrazing
GREAT ZIMBABWE
•200 Square Miles

•Built consistently from 11th
century to 15th century
•Estimates are that Great Zimbabwe had
as many as 18,000 inhabitants at its peak

African Societies

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African

• 30-40 separate city-states along East

•200 Square Miles

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