African Civilizations and the Spread of Islam

World History

Marinate on this…• Just as Pre-Columbian civs were forever changed by

European conquest, so too were traditional African societies we learn about here.

• Though many aspects of traditional African civilizations survived, Africa was irrevocably changed by the European “Scramble for Africa.” More about Euro colonization later.

• Relevant to what you just learned about the Islamic World, you will see how the spread of Islam impacted African civs as well.

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The Continent of Africa

1000 different languages; 1000+ different tribes

The Classical Period in Africa• The Kushites seem to have established a monarchy- divine kingship. • Kingdom of Kush was defeated by a rival kingdom called Axum by 300 B.C.E. • Axum fell to another regional kingdom, Ethiopia. Axum and Ethiopia had

contacts with the eastern Mediterranean world until after the fall of Rome. • Greek-speaking merchants had considerable influence, and it was through

them that Christianity was brought to Ethiopia by the 4th c C.E. • Ethiopian Christianity flourished in isolation to modern times. Ethiopia was

described as a “Christian island in a Muslim sea.” • For sub-Saharan Africa, the further extension of agriculture was the major

development up to 500 C.E. • Toward the end of the classical era, important regional kingdoms were

forming in western Africa, leading to the 1st great state in the region: Ghana.

African Development

• Differences in geography, language, religion, and politics contribute to Africa’s lack of political unity.– No universal states, nor universal religions

• Christianity and Islam do find adherents in Africa, sometimes leading to large empires.

Stateless Societies• Organized around kinship• Lacking the concentration of political power

and authority normally associated with the “state”

• No taxation• Dissenters encouraged to move to other

sparsely populated areas to create their own community.

• External pressures, warfare, large building projects and the impact of long-distance trade causes many of these societies to move towards the formation of states.

Common Elements…

• Bantu migrations offered a linguistic base for Africans– Different dialects

• Animism: belief in the power of natural forces personified as spirits or gods in the form of dancing, drumming, and sacrifice.

African Diviner (Shaman)

Fetishes

Rubbing Oracle, wood

Economics of Africa• North Africa: involved

in Mediterranean and Arab Trade system

• Sub-Saharan varies from one region to the next- mostly agricultural.

• Throughout the post-classical period, increased international trade was apparent

Arrival of Islam

• Northern Africa has always been part of the classical world

• After the age of the Pharaohs, Egypt was an important part of the Greek Empire, then later in the Roman Empire.

Arrival of Islam

• Toward the end of the Roman Empire, Christianity had taken hold in Mediterranean Africa.

• Between 640 and 700 CE followers of Islam swept across Northern Africa.

• By 670, Muslims ruled Tunisia

Arrival of Islam

– Conversion was fast and easy in North Africa with the success and unity of the Abbasid Dynasty.

– This unity will break down eventually, and North Africa will divide into several separate states, but Islam endures.

What does Islam offer Africa?

• All Muslims are equal within the community of believers made acceptance easier.

• Islamic tradition of uniting the powers of the state in a ruler reinforces the concept of the African King.

• The equality of the umma put Africans legally at the same level as the Arabs.

However…

• Practices differ considerably at the local level.– Social Stratification– Ethnic divisions– Gender differences

North African Christianity

• Christian converts were made in Egypt long before the conversion of the Roman Empire.

• Christian kingdom of Axum, with communities in Nubia and Egypt (Copts).– Copts maintained religious connection with the

Byzantine Empire. When Egypt was conquered by the Arabs and converted to Islam, the Copts were able to keep their religion.

North African Christianity

• The Ethiopian kingdom that grew from Axum in the 13th and 14th centuries was the most important Christian outpost.

• Constant struggle with Christian Ethiopia and Muslim Somalia

Kingdoms of the Grasslands

• Merchants and travelers spread the word of Islam from North Africa across the Sahara towards the Savanna on the southern edge of the Sahara

The Grasslands• The SAHEL was the

extensive grassland belt at the southern edge of the Sahara.

• African state of Ghana had already formed there by the 8th Century.– TRADE:

• Exchange gold from the forests of West Africa for salt from the Sahara (or goods from North Africa)

• Camels, introduced from Asia, had improved trade possibilities.

The Grasslands• The SAHEL becomes an active

“coast” of trade between the forests to the south and North Africa.

• States develop along with trading cities to take advantage of their position as intermediaries in the trade.

Ghana• The “first” of the West African Kingdoms• Rose to power in the 3rd Century CE by taxing

the heavy Gold-Salt trade within its borders.• By the 900’s, its rulers converted to Islam and

Ghana was at the height of its power.• Almoravid armies invade Ghana in 1076, and

even though it survives, its power was in decline, such that by the beginning of the 1200’s (13th Century), new states emerged in the savanna.

Ghana

Common elements in West African States• Patriarch, or council of

elders as leaders• Territorial core with

peoples of the same linguistic or ethnic background– Power extended over

subordinate communities which were often the result of conquest

• Rulers were sacred and were surrounded by rituals.

• Islam was used to reinforce indigenous ideas of kingship.

• Mali and Songhay fit the description of the fusion of Islamic and African culture.

The West African Kingdoms

Mali

• Created by the Malinke people who broke away from Ghana.

• Rulers supported Islam by building mosques, and supporting preachers.– In return, sermons would encourage loyalty to

the king.– Mali became a model of the Islamicized

Kingdom

Mosque at Jenne

Mali

• Economic base was agriculture• Sundiata: Malinke leader who led towards

prosperity as the state of Mali.• Mansa = emperor• Crime was severely punished (as

evidenced by Ibn Batuta, the Arab traveler).– Security of travelers and trade was a key

element to Mali’s success as a state where commerce plays such an important role

Mali

• Sundiata dies around 1260 CE.

• Of his sucessors, Mansa Musa was the most famous (r. 1312-1337)

Mansa Musa!!!• Made a pilgrimage to

Mecca in 1324 with 100+ camels and a blinged out entourage.

• His wealth and polished manners dazzled all in his path.

• Spent so much gold in the markets of Cairo and gave so much in alms that the price of gold declined due to its ample supply.

• Mansa Musa’s fantastic voyage, and the history of Mali in general underlines the fact that Sub-Saharan Africa was never totally isolated from Egypt, West Asia, and the Mediterranean.

• Mansa Musa's Musical Debut

Mali

• Cities and towns of West Africa came to be modeled after North Africa, but with a distinctive flair.

• Cosmopolitan court life.

• Timbuktu was a center of culture and learning.

• By the 14th century Timbuktu had a population of 50,000.– Contained a library and

university.

• 80% of the villagers lived by the agricultural lifestyle.– Labor intensive– Polygamy was

common

Mali elephant migration

Roll Tide.

Songhai• Songhai begins to form

around the 7th century. By 1010, a capital had been established at Gao on the Niger River. – Rulers became Muslim– Dominated by Mali for a

while– By 1370’s, had

established themselves as an independent state

• Under the leadership of Sunni Ali (1464-1492) the Empire of Songhai began.– Tactical commander– Ruthless leader.– Successors known as

askia’s.– Muhammad the Great

expanded the borders of the empire.

Songhai

• Remained the dominant power in the region until the end of the 16th century.

• In 1591, a Muslim army with muskets crossed the Sahara and defeated the larger forces of Songhai.

• Songhai split up, but other groups experienced success:– The Hausa peoples of Northern Nigeria

Political Life

• Unified states allowed the various communities, clans, and ethnic groups to coexist.

• Movement and fusion of populations was constant in the Sudanic Kingdoms

• Common religion and law provided solidarity and trust to the merchants.

• Organized under Muslim concept of a ruler who united civil and religious authority.

Political Life

• Formation of large state heightened social differences and made societies more hierarchical.

• Islam tended to accommodate pagan practices and beliefs. Large populations of Mali and Songhai never converted.– Many Sudanic states were matrilineal, which is

contrary to patrilineal lines of kinship in the Sharia, or Islamic law.

Slavery

• Slave trade between Africa and the Islamic World predated the arrival of Islam– Muslims viewed slavery as a stage in the

process of conversion.• Slaves were used as domestic servants, laborers,

soldiers, eunuchs, concubines.

The Swahili Coast of East Africa

• From the Horn of Africa to modern-day Mozambique lay a string of Islamicized trading cities with contacts from Arabia, Persia, India, and China.

• As in the Savanna Kingdoms of West Africa, Islam was slow to reach the general population in East Africa, and when it did, it was a fusion of indigenous beliefs and the new Islamic faith.

East Africa• Coastal cities

developed from the mixture of Bantu migrants, as well as with Indonesian seaborne migrants.– Settled on the island of

Madagascar, introducing bananas and coconuts.

• Coastal villages of fishers, farmers dotted the coast

East Africa

• Zenj: Arabic for the East African Coast.

• 13th Century: urbanized East African trading ports develop.– Shared Bantu-based

and Arabic Influenced Swahili (coastal) language.

• Different Muslim ruling families, but similar language united them in trade.– Towns such as

Mogadishu (Somalia), Mombasa, Malindi (Kenya), Kilwa, and Zanzibar (Tanzania).• Ibn Batuta said of Kilwa

that it was “one of the most beautiful and well-constructed towns in the world”

East Africa

• Kilwa was wealthy because of its access to the Gold produced in the interior.

• Many port towns were tied to each other in an active trade network.– 1300s-1400s: large

sailing expeditions stopped at the East African coast for ivory, and gold. • After 1431, only the

Arabs and Indians continued this trade.

Central/Southern Africa

• While the impact of trade and Islam radically altered the West/North/East African “coasts”, Central and Southern Africa was developing on its own trajectory.

• By 1000 CE, still small agricultural societies, preliterate, but with great strides in arts, building, and statecraft…without writing.

Artists…

• Terra Cotta objects discovered in Nok, in the forests of Central Nigeria dating to 500-200 BCE.

• Terra Cotta and bronze portrait heads were found among the Yoruba people of Nigeria

The Yoruba• Agricultural society

supported by a peasantry and dominated by a ruling family and aristocracy.

• Spoke a non-Bantu language and recognized a relationship with the Hausa, who spoke Afro-Asian language.

• Small city-states, each controlling about 50 miles.

• Highly urbanized.

Benin• Similar settlement

patterns as the Yoruba can be found among Edo people who formed the state of Benin.

• Ewuare the Great (r. 1440-1473) extended Benin’s control from the Niger River to the Coast.

• The Oba, or ruler, lived in a huge royal compound.

Central African Kingdoms• By the 5th Century CE,

Bantu farmers and fishers reach central Africa.

• By the 13th Century, they were approaching the southern end of the continent.

• Beyond the scope of Islam

• By 1000 CE, many of these groups were forming states.

Kongo

• Late 15th Century, the Kongo was forming along the lower Congo River.

• Agricultural base, with skills of weaving, pottery, blacksmithing, and carving.

• Men:– Clearing the forest,

producing palm oil and palm wine, building houses, hunting, long-distance trade.

• Women:– Cultivation, care of animals,

household duties, made salt from seawater, collected seashells which were used as currency.

Kongo

Great Zimbabwe

• Farther to the east, among the farming and cattle-herding Shona-speaking peoples.

• Creation of GREAT stone enclaves to serve as the capital town area.

• By the 15th century, a centralized state had begun to form controlling central Africa to the Indian Ocean.

Great Zimbabwe