1.5: Developments in Africa

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What is this about? Talks about the states that came about in Africa and how they changed over time

Ibn Buttuta

Scholar from Morocco (North Africa)
Was a qadi, a Muslim judge, meaning he was very knowledgeable in sharia (Islamic law)
Traveled extensively throughout the Islamic world and beyond

Most African societies that adopted Islam kept most of their local traditions

Ex: women got to keep a lot of their rights that they enjoyed in African societies even despite Islam’s arrival

🗳️ Political Structures

Inland Africa

No concept of central government

Communities formed kin-based networks

Families governed themselves
Male head of network was chief, and they resolved conflicts and dealt with other neighboring groups
Groups of villages became districts, where chiefs decided amongst each other how to deal with problems
As populations grew this system became hard to maintain and eventually larger kingdoms started to rise

The Hausa Kingdoms

Collection of seven states

Each state had its own power; no central government

States were loosely connected through kinship ties

Basically became Muslim in 1300s thanks to missionaries

Benefited greatly from trans-Saharan trade

Political Structures of West and East Africa

There were kingdoms

Were very rich thanks to thriving trade

Four examples are Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe

notion image

Ghana

On the west coast of Africa

Sold gold and ivory to Muslim traders in exchange for salt, copper, cloth, tools

Had a centralized government

Capital at Koumbi Saleh
Army equipped with iron weapons

Mali

Replaced Ghana

Ghana fell due to wars with neighboring states which weakened the empire

Founder was Sundiata and he was a Muslim and he used his faith to create trade relationships with North African and Arab merchants

Under Sundiata, Mali’s gold trade profits grew tremendously

Mansan Musa, Sundiata’s nephew, would later make a pilgrimage to Mecca while showing off his wealth through acts of giving away wealth

Would later fall and become the Songhai Empire

Zimbabwe

In East Africa

Zimbabwes = the houses they constructed that were made from stone

“Zimbabwes” is Bantu word for “dwellings”

Way it made its money was it got gold, ivory, and slaves from West Africa, and then sold it to maritime traders

Was a “middle-man”

Also traded with coastal city-states such as Mombasa, Kilwa, and Mogadishu

Swahili came into being

Syncretic language that was a fusion of Bantu and Arabic

Great Zimbabwe = capital city of Zimbabwe that was surrounded by a stone wall

Decline of Zimbabwe occurred as overgrazing damaged the surrounding environment so badly that residents of Great Zimbabwe abandoned it

Ethiopia

At this time Ethiopia was ruled by the Kingdom of Axum

The rulers promoted Christianity throughout the kingdom

In the 600s, Islam came and Christianity declined a bit

However in the 1200s a new ruling dynasty came that enthusiastically promoted Christianity as a foundation of cultural unity for Ethiopia

Ordered creation of 11 churches carved out of rock known as the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela

Christianity in Ethiopia developed into Ethiopian Christianity due to limited contact with Christians from other lands

Retained basic ideology of Christianity while heavily reflecting traditional African traditions
For example they continued to believe in ancestor veneration and beliefs in spirits

For the spirits, they believed a bunch of evil spirits were in the world and to protect yourself from them you could wear an amulet

👥 Social Structures of Sub-Saharan Africa

Remember that in Sub-Saharan Africa there wasn’t really a concept of kingdoms and most organized kin-based societies

The three main structures that kin-based societies organized themselves through were kinship, age, and gender

Kinship:

Members identified themselves through a clan or family

Age:

Divided work according to age

This division was called age grades

Ex: An 18 year old can do more physical labor than a 60 year old but a 60 year old can provide more advice that young people could rely on

Gender:

Men had most authority and dominated specialized skills (blacksmiths, leather tanners)
Women however had more freedom compared to other societies during this time

Had more opportunities: a few became merchants and some even held political power
Despite this the vast majority generally did agriculture tasks and were in charge of raising children

Even when Islam arrived women retained a lot of their rights so Islam didn’t negatively affect them much

Slavery in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southwest Asia (Middle East)

Prisoners of war, debtors, and criminals were often enslaved

Often worked as agricultural laborers

Most kin-based societies prevented people from owning land but allowed people to own slaves

This meant that owning slaves could boost one’s wealth and social status

Indian Ocean Slave Trade

Slave trade between East Africa and the Middle East

This came about as the Middle East had a strong demand for slaves for labor

Labor primarily used for sugar plantations

Enslaved East Africans in Middle East were known as zanj

Zanj Rebellion

Uprising in late 800s where African slaves revolted against their Arab masters
Were able to seize large amounts of territories and even establish their own state

Captured city of Basra and held it for ten years

Eventually Arab and Persian forces defeated the zanj and they returned to their “normal” lives

🙏 Cultural Life in Sub-Saharan Africa

Music allowed people to communicate with the spirit world and ancestors

Griots and Griottes

Were storytellers

Literature was spread orally, not written, and the griots told them

Knew the lineage of a family and the lives of past great leaders

Were also good at music and instruments

One instrument was a 12 string harp called the kora

Preserved a people’s history and passed it down to the next generations

Kings often sought the advice of griots for political purposes

Women could also become griottes, an example of a job that opened up doors in a patriarchal society