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Kingdoms and Trading States of Africa 750 BC to 1586 AD. AFRICA. Africa is the second largest continent after Asia. It contains 1/5 of the earth’s land. It has traditionally been seen as the birthplace of humankind, either in a garden or the Olduvai Gorge, depending on your view.
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AFRICA Africa is the second largest continent after Asia. It contains 1/5 of the earth’s land. It has traditionally been seen as the birthplace of humankind, either in a garden or the Olduvai Gorge, depending on your view. It is also something that most in the Western industrialized world don’t know much about.
North Africa North Africa was dominated initially by the Roman Empire. Remember that the Punic Wars were fought with Carthage in North Africa. So Roman culture played a big role. One of the most important imports of the Romans were camels from Asia. Camels are particularly suited to life in the desert and serve many roles for the North Africans. They are beasts of burden, they provide meat and milk and as cavalry mounts. Without the camel, much of the civilization of North Africa would not be possible, particularly the trade networks. The second great import, though not by the Romans was Islam. Islam came out of the Arabian Peninsula in 632 AD and quickly spread to the rest of Africa.
Early Civilizations The Sahara Desert has not always been as extensive as today. In the Neolithic Era, it was forests and steppes. About 2500 BC, desertification took place. This forced the migrations of many people, most notably the Bantu. These migrations took place over thousands of years and spread the culture and language of the Bantu over almost all of Africa. Bantu is the root language of almost all West African people. To a large extent, this was how Africa was settled. The mass migration of people because of climatic and geographic change is repeated throughout history: the Irish, the movement of Muslims and Hindus, etc.
Bantu Migrations Approximately 5000 years ago, the Sahara Desert was a forest with rivers and lakes. Climate change altered this. About 2500 BC the process of desertification started to create what is one of the world’s largest deserts. This process continues today and is one of the world’s great unheard of problems. Desertification was one of many forms of climate change that forced early peoples to migrate. One group that migrated were the Bantus, a group that migrated into most of SubSaharan Africa (below the Sahara). The Bantu language is the basis of a large part of all African languages. Along with their language, the Bantus also carried along their culture and technology, most importantly, iron working.
Trade Networks The trade networks of Africa go both North to South and East to West. The Saharan Trade Network moved from the Middle East to the West African coast. Two commodities dominated the Saharan Trade, Gold and Salt. This great trade of gold led directly to the creation of the kingdom of Ghana in 800 AD by the Soninke people.
KumbiSaleh The capital of the Kingdom of Ghana was KumbiSaleh.
West Africa:the Kingdom of Ghana Trade is the greatest of all transmitters of culture. People may fight and kill each other but when all is said and done they will buy and sell. The early people of Africa traded in gold, which was mined in West Africa and Salt which was mined in northeast Africa. Everyone wants gold and everyone has to have salt to survive. The Gold/Salt trade networks of Africa helped create the great kingdoms of Africa such as Ghana. The Soninke people of West Africa united a series of villages in 800 AD. The most important was the village of KumbiSaleh which is between the Niger and Senegal Rivers. This location made it possible for the Kingdom of Ghana to grow by controlling the trade on these rivers. Eventually, Ghana became an Islamic kingdom by conversion, not by conquest. Before this, Ghana had prospered in isolation, but with the Islamic tie, the connections to northern and eastern Africa became more important. Eventually Ghana was conquered by the newer and more powerful Kingdom of Mali.
THE KINGDOM OF MALI The Kingdom of Mali was created by the Mandinka People led by their great war leader Sundiata. Mali became the center of control for the gold trade and the wealthiest kingdom in all of Africa. Mali extended its influence in all directions and created great trade centers like Timbuktu. The kingdom lasted from about 1025 until the 1400’s, making it one of the longest lived of all the kingdoms.
Mansa Musa In Arabic, Mansa means king and the greatest of all Malian kings was undoubtedly Mansa Musa. He came to power about 1312 and ruled about 25 years. During his rule, he extended the empire to the Atlantic Ocean and it was secure. The Mandinke people felt that they controlled what they thought was the world. Mansa Musa was a devout Muslim and in 1324 he performed his Hajj to Mecca. This is one of the grand trips of history.
The Pilgrimage of Mansa Musa Mansa Musa is mostly remembered for his extravagant hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca with, according to the Arab historian al-Umari, 100 camel-loads of gold, each weighing 300 lbs.; 500 slaves, each carrying a 4 lb. gold staff; thousands of his subjects; as well as his senior wife, with her 500 attendants. With his lavish spending and generosity in Cairo and Mecca, he ran out of money and had to borrow at usurious rates of interest for the return trip. Al-Umari also states that Mansa Musa and his retinue "gave out so much gold that they depressed its value in Egypt and caused its value to fall." However, attention should be focused on the effects of the hajj, rather than the pilgrimage itself. The hajj planted Mali in men's minds and its riches fired up the imagination as El Dorado did later. In 1339, Mali appeared on a "Map of the World". In 1367, another map of the world showed a road leading from North Africa through the Atlas Mountains into the Western Sudan. In 1375 a third map of the world showed a richly attired monarch holding a large gold nugget in the area south of the Sahara. Also, trade between Egypt and Mali flourished. Mansa Musa brought back with him an Arabic library, religious scholars, and most importantly the Muslim architect al-Sahili, who built the great mosques at Gao and Timbuktu and a royal palace. Al-Sahili's most famous work was the chamber at Niani. Mansa Musa strengthened Islam and promoted education, trade, and commerce in Mali. Diplomatic relations were established and ambassadors were exchanged between Mali and Morocco, and Malinke students were sent to study in Morocco. For the forty-seven years between the time of the death of his grandfather's brother, Sundiata, and Mansa Musa's accession to the throne, Mali endured a period of political instability. Mansa Musa ruled for 25 years, bringing prosperity and stability to Mali and expanding the empire he inherited. Mansa Musa died in 1337. He had brought stability and good government to Mali, spreading its fame abroad
The Empire of Songhai After the death of Mansa Musa, the usual problems occurred. The sons and grandsons fought over the spoils that known of them had earned and the kingdom declined. What arose was the Empire of the Songhai between 1464 and 1492. This empire was created by Sunni Ali, a great war leader. He conquered Timbuktu and extended the empire. Unlike other African rulers, he didn’t adopt Islam and retained his pagan animism. He was followed by Askia Muhammad who, as you can tell by his name, converted to Islam . Askia Muhammad also extended the empire to its greatest limits. He created a great court at Gao and built mosques all over western Africa.
Hausa City States The lands of what is now northern Nigeria was homeland to the Hausa people. The built a series of walled cities that functioned as independent kingdoms. These city states operated for years without being conquered. They were important trade centers and one may guess that no one wanted to kill the golden goose, so to speak. The greatest of all these cities was Kano that had walls that extended for 14 miles. It was ruled by their great king Muhammad Rumfa that supported the arts and education and helped establish a written language based on arabic. Many of the rulers were women, the most famous being Amina of Zaria. The status of independent city states, walled cities, written language and matriarchal (female) rulers made the Hausa very unusual for their time.
The Forest Kingdom of Benin The Benin lived along the Guinea coast and were residents of the deep rainforests. They created the Kingdom of Benin in the 1300’s. They were led by an Oba or king that was both a political and religious leader. Benin is known for two great things: art and tragedy. The art are the incomparable Benin bronzes. These statues are amongst the most beautiful and complex art in Africa. The tragedy is that in about 1500, the statues started portraying bearded Portuguese soldiers and traders. This is the first substantial evidence of the arrival of Europeans in Africa and the start of the tragedy of the African Diaspora or slave trade.
ETHIOPIA According to legend, the first ruler of Ethiopia was the son of King Solomon of Israel and the Queen of Sheba. The roots of this story are hard to trace, but it does point up the importance of Jewish and Christian traditions in Ethiopian history. While the rest of Africa became primarily Islamic, Ethiopia remained Christian and created the Coptic Christian Church.
Kingdom of Nubia Nubia is amongst the oldest of African kingdoms. It is seen by many as part of the Egyptian Civilization. It was also called Kush. About 750 BC, the king of Nubia, Piankhi conquered Egypt. By 500 BC the Nubian rulers had moved their capital to Meroe. This move set up a trade network from the Red Sea and the Nile. This area of Africa has enormous iron deposits which made Nubia a weapons center. This is know by what is known as the Furnaces of Meroe. Much of Nubian culture was absorbed from Egypt. Nubia was eventually conquered in 350 AD by the kingdom of Axum.
Axum In 350 AD, King Ezana of Axum conquered the ancient kingdom of Nubia and created the greater kingdom of Axum. The people of Axum are descended from traders and African farmers and had a unique language (Geez) and culture. King Ezana converted to Christianity and it, along with Judaism, were the primary religions. With the arrival of Islam, Axum became a center of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Native Animism. It was also a trade center and became very wealthy until the usual problems, What are they?, arose. Eventually Axum evolved into Ethiopia which still exists .
East African City States The cities of Mogadishu, Mombasa, Sofila, and Kilwa were great trading city states. They controlled the movement of gold, salt, linen, brass and other commodities from Africa to the rest of the world. Because of this they became very wealthy and very powerful Cultural assimilation is so evident here. The cultures of India, China, Europe, Russia and the Middle East all mingled here. With the wildly varied cultures, the only thing that really united these city states in any way was their basic language, Swahili.
