Transcript Societies & Empires of Africa

African Civilizations
I. Early Societies
 Many early African societies based on small social
units, the family
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Stateless societies – organized around kinship, no formal
political organization
 Lacked ability to respond to outside forces, create complex
structures, embark on long-distance trade
 Diverse local religious traditions, typically based on
animism
 Most lacked formal record keeping
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Few societies had written language, depended on oral tradition –
griots (storytellers)
II. The Kingdom of Aksum
 Aksum - located south of Egypt, along Red Sea
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Was once most powerful kingdom in East Africa, 300-700
C.E.
People decedents from
African farmers and
migrants from Middle East
 Grew rich, powerful through
international trade
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Trade brought new ideas and
culture, including Christianity
 After decline of Aksum, Ethiopia
grew, with large population of Christians, despite
pressure from Islam
III. Kingdom of Ghana (800-1200 C.E.)
 By 700s, Ghana’s rulers were rich from
taxing merchants and traders
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Gold and salt most important
 Rulers peacefully convert to Islam
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Much of population did not convert, but
Islam became influential in politics and
social life
Fusion of Islam and traditional African beliefs
 Islam helped spread literacy through learning to read the Qur’an
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 1100 – Decline
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The Almoravids – from northern Africa – seized control of Ghana
Disrupted gold/salt trade
 Groups migrated away, merged with other societies
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IV. Kingdom of Mali (1200s – 1500s C.E.)
 Founded c. 1200 by Malinke people, who broke away from
Ghana during its decline
 Trading kingdom, based around gold, salt
 Sundiata
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Mali’s greatest leader
Established strong, bureaucratic government
Promoted agriculture to increase population
Helped reestablish gold/salt trade after fall of Ghana
 After death of Sundiata (1255), many of Mali’s next rulers
converted to Islam
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Mansa Musa expanded Mali to almost twice the size empire of
Ghana had been
V. Continued…
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Mansa Musa (continued…)
 Helped
establish city of Timbuktu as one of the most
important trading cities in Africa
 Attracted Muslim scholars, doctors, religious leaders
from neighboring regions
 Mosques and universities were well known
throughout region
 Ibn Battuta –
famous Muslim
traveler and
historian, wrote
extensively on
Mali and
Timbuktu
VI. Kingdom of Songhay (1400s – 1500s)
 Mali declined in 1400s
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People once under their control began to break away, form
independent kingdoms
 Songhai people in east built up army, extended territory
to the Niger River
 Sunni Ali (ruled 1464-1492)
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Muslim leader, built massive professional army
 Established
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bureaucracy to control region
Captured two great trading cities during his reign
 Timbuktu, Djenne
VI. Continued…
 After Sunni Ali, Muslim rulers took title “askia”
Spread kingdom to include area of modern-day Sudan
 Islamic traditions combined with traditional African
culture
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Men and women mixed freely, women did not wear veils
 Eventually defeated by Moroccans, kingdom splintered
in to smaller states, such as the Hausa people
VII. Trading Cities of the East
 Like the kingdom of Aksum, cities of eastern coastal
Africa were diverse, due to trade
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Bantu-speaking people migrated from west
Merchants and traders came from Arabia, Persia, India

Swahili – new language arose from mix of Arabic and Bantu
language
 By 1300, more than 35 trading cities along coast
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Example: Kilwa
 Most powerful, wealthiest coastal city-state
 Controlled trade, including gold, from southern Africa
to Asia
 Cities fell to European control in late 1400s
VIII. Great Zimbabwe (1100-1450)
 Established sometime around 1000, by the Shona
people in southern Savanda
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Located between Zambezi and Limpopo rivers in modern-day
Zimbabwe
Near important trading routes for gold trade
Controlled and taxed traders who travelled routes
1200s-1400s, became economic, political, and religious center
 Essentially abandoned by 1450, reasons largely
unknown
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Theory:
 Cattle grazing wore out land, salt and timber used up, could
not support large population
Great Zimbabwe
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Songhai Empire
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