AKS 35:Early African Civilizations

Chapters 8 & 15

35a - identify the Bantu migration patterns and contribution to settled agriculture

• WARM-UP:

Causes of Migration• Push-Pull Factors• Push Factors

– Environmental•Climate changes; exhausted resources;

earthquakes; volcanoes; drought; famine– Economic

•Unemployment; slavery– Political

• Religious, ethnic, or political persecution; war

Causes of Migration• Pull Factors

– Environmental•Abundant land; new resources; good climate

– Economic•Employment opportunities

– Political• Political and/or religious freedom

Effects of Migration• Brings diverse cultures into

contact• Changes life in the new land

How Do We Trace Migration?

• One way is to study how language is spread– Africa has many

complex language families

Case-Study:Bantu Migrations• Originally lived in savanna south of

Sahara• Bantu means “the people”

Case-Study:Bantu Migrations

• Started migrating south & east around 3,000 B.C.

• Lived by slash-and-burn farming & nomadic herding– Slash-and-burn farming causes

soil to lose its fertility quickly, forcing them to look for new locations every few years

• Shared skills, learned new customs, adapted to environment

Causes of Bantu Migrations• Bantu speakers moved to find farmland

– As agriculture developed, this led to specialization and permanent villages in many areas

• To flee the growing Sahara Desert• Needed iron ore resources & hardwood

forests for iron smelting– Within 1500 years, they reached the southern

tip of Africa

Effects of Bantu Migrations• Bantu speakers drove out some inhabitants,

intermixed with others– Bantu migrations produced a great variety of

cultures– Language helped unify the continent

• Technology of ironworking– Forged tools & weapons from bronze, copper &

iron• Ideas about social & political organization

35b – describe the development and decline of the Sudanese kingdoms (Ghana, Mali, Songhai) including the roles of Sundiata, and the pilgrimage of Mansa Musa to Mecca• WARM-UP:

Background:African Societies (800-1500)• Hunter-Gatherers

– Semi-nomadic; lived by gathering wild foods & hunting animals

– The Efe were hunter-gatherers who traded with farming villages

– The San (aka Bushmen) lived in southern Africa and part of East Africa

Background:African Societies (800-1500)• Stateless Societies

– No centralized power• Power balanced among lineage groups,

usually within villages– Tiv had no formal gov’t– Igbo resolved disputes by having elders

from different lineages meet– Nuer organized over 250,000 people

without an official ruler

Background:African Societies (800-1500)• Muslim States

– Two Groups:•Almoravid Empire

– In 11th century, they controlled Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, and part of Spain

•Almohad Empire– Beginning in the mid-1100s, they controlled

Morocco, much of Maghrib, and part of Spain

Key to Trade:• CAMELS

– Causes:• Berbers began using camels because they could

cover greater distances than pack animals (60 miles per day)

• Could travel more than 10 days without water (twice as long as most pack animals)

– Effects:• Using camels, Berber nomads created new routes

across the Sahara – trade increased

West Africa:Ghana

• Grew from Kumba tribe around A.D. 200

• Used iron weapons to conquer neighbors

• Very wealthy due to surplus of gold and from taxing goods traders carried through their territory– Ghana’s king was able to keep the

price of gold high by limiting its supply• Traded gold for salt (for meat

preservation)• Islam brought by traders; attacked by

Muslim Almoravids in 1076– This disrupted the gold-salt trade that

Ghana had controlled. Ghana never regained power.

West Africa:Mali

• Reached its peak from 1230-1337– How?

• Gold was discovered farther east, causing a shift eastward in trade routes

• The people of Mali, who lived in the region of the new trade routes, were able to seize power.

• Larger & richer than Ghana

• Capital: Timbuktu• Mali = “where the king

lives”

West Africa:Mali

• Sundiata Keita– 1st great leader of Mali– Took title of “mansa” – emperor

• Took over Ghana & a few trading cities – period of peace & prosperity followed

– Accomplishments:• Put able administrators in charge of Mali’s

finances, defense, & foreign affairs• Promoted agriculture• Re-established the gold-salt trade

– Died in 1255

West Africa:Mali

• Mansa Musa (1312-1332)– Grandnephew of Sundiata, became a Muslim– Expanded size of the empire

• Divided it into provinces & appointed governors– Built mosques in Timbuktu & Gao– Went on a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca in 1324

• Gave away gold and jewels along the way to show Mali’s strength and wealth

West Africa:Songhai

• Began to grow as Mali declined– Mali declined because:

• most of Mansa Musa’s successors did not govern well

• New gold deposits were developed and trade shifted eastward again

– Took over the trade routes from the Atlantic Ocean to Gao (capital)

West Africa:Songhai• Sunni Ali

– Became leader of Songhai in 1464– Ruled for 30 years– Expanded empire through his skill

as a military commander and his aggressive leadership

– Conquered Timbuktu in 1468– Died in 1492

West Africa:Songhai• Askia Muhammad

– Led revolt against the son of Sunni Ali and took over

– Ruled for 37 years– Set up tax system and an efficient

government– He was overthrown in 1591 by the army

from Morocco who had advanced technology (Guns and cannons)

35c – describe the trading networks by examining trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, and slaves including the Swahili trading cities

• WARM-UP:– Define:

• Swahili

Trade:Gold, Salt, & Slaves

• Gold-Salt Trade– Gold from West

African forest region south of savanna between Niger & Senegal rivers

– Salt from Sahara desert

– Merchants brought each back and forth between trading cities where they exchanged the goods

Trade:Gold, Salt, & Slaves• Swahili Trading Cities

– Role of Monsoons:• Traders took advantage of the monsoons to

sail across Indian Ocean to East Africa– Kilwa:

• This city was as far south as a ship from India could sail and still sail home during the same monsoon season

• Trade goods from the south had to funnel into Kilwa so Asian merchants could buy them – allowed Kilwa to become very wealthy

Trade:Gold, Salt, & Slaves

• Slave Trade– Arab Muslim traders

exported enslaved persons from East African coast to places like India, China, Iraq, Persia, & Arabia

– Numbers traded remained small (perhaps 1,000 a year)

• Did not increase dramatically until 1700s when Europeans started to buy captured Africans for their colonial plantations An Arab slave market in

Yemen, A.D. 1237

35d – analyze the process of religious syncretism as a blending of traditional African beliefs (animism) with new ideas from Islam and Christianity

• WARM-UP:

What is religious syncretism?• The blending of old beliefs with new

ones– Example:

• Blending Animism (traditional African belief) with Islam and Christianity

How did religious syncretism occur?• Trade

– traders introduced Islam & Christianity the growth of commerce caused the religions to spread

• How?– As wealthy merchants & rulers did business with traders,

they shared their religion as well– Some held on to some of their traditional religious

beliefs, but mixed their beliefs with aspects of Islam or Christianity that they liked

Map on Next Slide

Chart on Next Slide

MAJOR TRADE NETWORKS