Early Civilizations in Africa
Africas Size
4600 MILES 5 0 0 0 M I L E S
# Second largest continent # 10% of the worlds population
The Continent of Africa
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The Emergence of Civilization
The Land 5,000 miles long Sahara is the great divide Nomadicherders Migration: Bantu peoples
cultivation of crops and
ironworking
Family=basic social unit Extended families/clans Animism: spiritual religion/ancestor worship Griots: specialized storytellers, pass history
Ancient Africa
2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning is a trademark used herein under license.
Bantu migration spread use of iron across continent
Axum
Axum trading state, goods from South Asia to the Mediterranean Prosperous Control of ivory trade Had written language Followed Coptic Christianity Mixes Christian beliefs and African traditions Would be renamed Ethiopia
Stele, Ezanas Royal Tomb, Aksum (4c)
Christian Church, Lalibela
Christian Church, Lalibela
Coptic Christian Priest
The States of West Africa
Expansion
of Islam
Arabic Gold-Salt Trade Very wealthy Kings did not convert to Islam, people did Gold trade Mansa Musa (1312-1337), encouraged Islam, built university in Timbuktu
Ghana
Mali
Gold-Salt Trade
SALT
Berbers
GOLD
Ghana Empire [4c-11c]
Gold Money, Ghana/Ivory Coast
Salt
King of Ghana
"The King . . .(wears). . . necklaces round his neck and bracelets on his forearms and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. He (meets people) in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with goldembroidered materialsand on his right, are the sons of the (lesser) kings of his country, wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold. At the door of the pavilion are dogs of excellent pedigree. Round their necks they wear collars of gold and silver, studded with a number of balls of the same metals."
10th century geographer Al-Bakri, quoted in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History.
Mali Empire [13c-15c]
SALT
GOLD
Timbuktu-Heavenly Clay
Timbuktu Rooftop, Mosque
Great Mosque at Djenne, Mali
Mansa Musa [r. 1312-1337]
East Africa
Self-governing
city-states Trade with the interior, Indian Ocean, China, and along the coast Ex: Zanzibar Mixed African-Arab culture Mixed culture and language called Swahili
Swahili-Speaking Areas of E. Africa
SWAHILI [the coast] = Bantu + some Arabic
Stateless Societies in Southern Africa
From
the basin of the Congo River to the Cape of Good Hope Stateless society: power is not in a government Progress made with regional trade Zimbabwe (Sacred House, Great Stone House)
Capital known as Great Zimbabwe Benefited from trade between interior and coast Evidence of great wealth, but Great Zimbabwe abandoned
Great Zimbabwe [1200-1450]
Great Zimbabwe Street
Great Enclosure, Zimbabwe
African Culture
Painting and Sculpture
Rock paintings, wood carving, pottery, metalwork Often served religious purposes Wide variety of instruments Integration of voice and instrument Music produced for social rituals and educational purposes Pyramid Stone pillars Stone buildings Sometimes reflected Moorish styles Written works did not exist in the early traditional period Professional storytellers, bards Importance of women in passing down oral traditions
Music and Dance
Architecture
Literature
