AKS 35: Early African Civilizations

1. AKS 35:Early African Civilizations Chapters 8 & 15

2. 35a - identify the Bantu migration patterns and contribution to settled agriculture • WARM-UP:

3. 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

4. Causes of Migration • Pull Factors • Environmental • Abundant land; new resources; good climate • Economic • Employment opportunities • Political • Political and/or religious freedom

5. Effects of Migration • Brings diverse cultures into contact • Changes life in the new land

6. How Do We Trace Migration? • One way is to study how language is spread • Africa has many complex language families

7. Case-Study:Bantu Migrations • Originally lived in savanna south of Sahara • Bantu means “the people”

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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:

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

16. 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

17. West Africa:Ghana • Grew from Kumba tribe around A.D. 200 • Used iron weapons to conquer neighbors • Very wealthy due to surplus ofgoldand 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.

18. 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”

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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)

22. 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

23. 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)

24. 35c – describe the trading networks by examining trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, and slaves including the Swahili trading cities • WARM-UP: • Define: • Swahili

25. 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

26. 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

28. 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

29. 35d – analyze the process of religious syncretism as a blending of traditional African beliefs (animism) with new ideas from Islam and Christianity • WARM-UP:

30. What is religious syncretism? • The blending of old beliefs with new ones • Example: • Blending Animism (traditional African belief) with Islam and Christianity

31. 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 

32. Chart on Next Slide 

33. MAJOR TRADE NETWORKS