Chapter Eight: African Civilizations and the Spread of Islam

1. Chapter Eight: African Civilizations and the Spread of Islam Mr. Toma AP World History Midwest City High School

2. Background: African Civilizations and the Spread of Islam • Extremely diverse • Wide variety of societies developed • Political unity was difficult • Universal states and religions do not develop in Africa • Universal religions from elsewhere impact region • Christianity and Islam sometimes influenced political and cultural development.

3. Background: African Civilizations and the Spread of Islam • 800 -1500 C.E.: Increasing contact between Africa (esp. lower) and Mediterranean and Asian civilizations. • State building in Africa influenced by a variety of things • West Africa: mix cultural influence from Islam with indigenous culture • Mali and Songhay = depend on military power and dynastic alliances more than cultural unity • Parts of Africa south of the Sahara entered into expanding world network • Western and Eastern Africa connected by coasts • Still, many remained in isolation.

6. African Societies: Diversity and Similarities • Political forms • Hierarchical states • Rulers who exercised control through a hierarchy of officials in states • “Stateless" societies • organized on lineage or kinship principles • lacking concentration of power and authority • Authority and power normally exercised by a ruler and court is held by a council or families or community

7. African Societies: Diversity and Similarities • Weakness of stateless societies • No tax collection so no military • Difficult to resist external pressures • Hard to mobilize for war • No undertaking of large building projects • Hard to create stability for long-distance trade • Still, many stateless societies thrived • Internal social pressures could be resolved by allowing dissidents to leave and establish new villages

8. African Societies: Diversity and Similarities • Bantu = common language • Animistic religion was common. • Belief in natural forces personified as gods • Concepts of good and evil • African economies vary by region • N. Africa was already integrated into the world economy via Islamic trade routes • Settled agriculture and ironworking • W and E Africa are becoming more involved in regional trade and urbanization. • Africans exchanged raw materials for manufactured goods.

9. African Societies: Diversity and Similarities • Mid-7th c. = Muslim armies moved west from Egypt across N. Africa • Spreads Islamic influence; rapid conversions • Berbers (people of the Sahara) begin conversion • 11th century = reforming Muslim Berbers called Almoravids from western Sahara grow • launch jihad (war to spread and protect faith) • move south against African kingdoms and west into Spain. • 12th century = the Almohadis defeat Almoravids • Almoravids and Almohadis are essential to penetration of Islam into sub-Saharan Africa

10. Almoravids 1040-1147

11. African Societies: Diversity and Similarities • Christian states are present in North Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia before the arrival of Islam • Egyptian Christians, the Copts, had a rich and independent tradition (Coptic Christianity) • Oppression by Byzantine Christians caused them to welcome Muslim invaders • The Nubians resisted Muslim incursions from 9th until 13th century. • Ethiopia continues to retain Christianity

12. Kingdoms of the Grasslands Sahel Grasslands: zone of transition between Sahara Desert and Sudanic savannahs to the south Point of exchange between North and South; important regions of trade

13. Kingdoms of the Grasslands Ghana: - Rose to power by taxing salt and gold - Almoravid armies invaded Ghana in 1076 - By 13th c., new states would rise to take place

14. Kingdoms of the Grasslands • Sudanic States • Often led by a patriarch or council of elders from a family or lineage. • Control of subordinate societies • Arrival of Islam after the 10th century reinforced ideas of kingship and ruling power: “royal cult” • Majority of pop. never converted • Mali, Ghana and Songhay • Combine Islamic religion/culture with local practices

17. Kingdoms of the Grasslands • Mali was formed by Malinke peoples • broke away from Ghana in 13th c. • Economy: agriculture and gold trade • Traders spread beyond W Africa • Islamicized state • The ruler/mansa: Sundiata (Sunjata) • Credited with Malinke expansion and unified state • a governing system based on clan structure • Died 1260; Mansa Musa is successor

18. Kingdoms of the Grasslands • Jenne and Timbuktu, cities of W Sudan • residents = scholars, craft specialists, and foreign merchants • Timbuktu was famous for its library and university; book trade • Cities of commercial exchange • Military expansion of Mali and Songhay contributed to their strength. • Mali's population lived in villages and were agriculturists (80%) • Poor soils, primitive technology, droughts, insect pests, and storage problems

19. Kingdoms of the Grasslands • The Songhay Kingdom • Became an independent state in the 7th century. • Capital city at Gao. • Prospered as a trading state. • Dominated by Mali, then in 1370s independent • Empire founded by Sunni Ali (1464-1492) • great military leader • extended rule over the entire middle Niger valley. • Sunni Ali’s successors were Muslim military rulers, askia • Muhammad the Great extends borders • Songhay remained dominant until defeated by Moroccans in 1591.

20. Kingdoms of the Grasslands • Islam provided universal faith and fixed law. • Rulers reinforced authority through Muslim ideology. • Many Sudanic societies were matrilineal and did not seclude women. • Slavery and slave trade was prevalent from Muslim influence • Viewed as stage in conversion process • Development of unified states/empires provided structure that allowed various groups and communities to coexist

21. The Swahili Coast of East Africa • Islamicized trading ports along Africa’s Indian Ocean coast • Increases contact with other regions • Bantu speaking migrants • Bantu Swahili language emerged in a string of urbanized trading ports • Immigrants from Southeast Asia • Exported raw materials in return for Indian, Islamic and Chinese luxuries • 30 coastal trading towns flourished • 13th-15th Century= Kilwa was the most important.

23. The Swahili Coast of East Africa • Islam built a common bond between rulers and trading families. • Allowed them to operate under common culture. • Rulers and merchants were often Muslim. • Most of the population retained African beliefs. • Culture = Swahili as language and incorporated African and Islamic practices. • Fused Islam and Swahili culture

24. Peoples of the Forest and Plains • Across central Africa, agrarian societies thrived and kingdoms developed • The Yoruba city-states • Non Bantu speaking peoples • Highly urbanized agriculturalists • Ile-Ife was the holiest Yoruba city; “place of their birth” • Remarkable terra-cotta and bronze portrait heads produced of rulers • Also work in ivory and wood

25. Peoples of the Forest and Plains

26. Peoples of the Forest and Plains • Benin • Forms in 14th century under ruler/oba Ewuare the Great • Ruled from the Niger River to the coast near Lagos • Peoples of east Yoruba • Artists worked in ivory and cast bronze to produce art celebrating royal authority

27. People of the Forest and Plains • 13th century, Bantu speakers approached the southern tip of Africa • The Luba peoples, in Katanga, created a form of divine kingship • Divine kingship; ruler has power to ensure fertility of people and crops • Hereditary bureaucracy formed to administer the state • Allowed the integration of many people into one political unit

28. People of the Forest and Plains • Kingdom of Kongo (lower Congo River, 13th c.) • Agricultural society, flourishes by 15th • Gender division of labor and family-based villages • Mbanza Kongo = 60,000-100,000 people • Zimbabwe, 15th c. - the east, in central Africa • Shona-speaking peoples • Great Zimbabwe, largest site • Ruler = Mwene Mutapa • Dominated gold sources and trade with coastal ports • Internal divisions split Zimbabwe during the 16th century

29. Global Connections: Internal Development and External Contacts • The spread of Islam had brought large areas of Africa into the global community. • The most pronounced contacts • south of the Sahara were in the Sudanic states and • East Africa • Most of Africa evolved in regions free of Islamic contact. • Many other Africans organized their lives in stateless societies.

30. Chapter 8 Homework Questions • What is the difference between a state and stateless society? Where did stateless and state societies develop in Africa? • In what ways did Islam influence sub-Saharan African culture? • Who are the Almoravids and Almohadis? Why are they important? • Where did Islamicized African ports develop? Why? What are the items traded? • Describe the process of developing kingdoms in Central Africa.