African SocietiesAfrican SocietiesDuring the Classical During the Classical

EraEra

500 BCE-500CE• 250 million people on the planet –

sparsely populated.• Population uneven throughout the 3

major continents– Euroasia – 80%– Africa – 11% (no cultural identity)– The Americas – 5-7% (no pastoral

societies)

Geography of Africa• Deserts (Savanna and Kalahari)• Savanna grasslands (central)• Tropical rain forest (central)• Highlands and mountains (East)

• Proximity to Euroasia

• Poor, little fertile soil• Disease carrying insects

• Proximity to Euroasia– N. Africa was incorporated into the

Roman Empire.– Christianity thrived in Ethiopia and

Egypt.– Domestication of camel

•Arabian Influence

– Domesticated camel •created a new way of life for the Berber peoples

•Nomadic and pastoral•Made trans-Saharan travel & commerce possible

•Kingdom of Meroë -Nubia–

• Governed by an all-powerful and sacred monarch – usually conferred on women.

• Rural life = herding and farming• Urban centers = economic specialties:

– Merchants, potters, masons, servants – Manufacturing of iron – tools and

weapons

– Women had positions of power•Matrilineal descent – power passed down through the mother’s line

•Ruled as monarchs independent of male authority

Queen Amanishaketo

– Very wealthy & highly developed• Meroitic script• Extensive trade networks

– North/South & East/West-iron weapons-cotton cloth-other luxury goods ivory, gold, ostrich feathers,

tortoise shells

• Decline of Kingdom of Meroë – Deforestation -Wood needed for charcoal for iron

smelting– Erosion from overgrazing– Constant battles with nomads and other Nubian states– New Nubian states emerged and Coptic (Egyptian)

Christianity emerged– For almost 1,000 years, Nubia was a Christian

civilization even using Greek as a liturgical language. – After 1300 CE, Arab immigration brought Islam to the

region.

•Axum – The Christian Kingdom– New type of civilization– Highly productive agriculture

•Plow farming•Wheat, barley, millet, teff

– Commerce in Red Seaand Indian Ocean

– Important port city•Adulis•Attracted merchants•Taxes on trade was major source

Of revenue for the Axumite state

• Language of the courts = Geez, a script derived from South Arabia.

• To the Romans, Axum was the third major empire within the world they knew, following their own and the Persian empire.

AXUM’SACHIEVEMENTSControlled

NE AfricanTrade

WrittenLanguage

Spread Christianityin No. & E.

Africa

TerraceFarming

BuiltStelae

Christianity in Axum• Introduced 4th century CE• King Ezana adopted the new religion

about the same time as Constantine in the RE.

• The next few centuries marked a decline in the Axumite state– Soil exhaustion, erosion and deforestation– Last coins struck in 7th century

Connections• Both Meroe and Axum paralleled

Euroasian developments and had direct contact with Mediterranean civilizations.

Along the Niger river…• Cities without states: Mali and Ghana

– Governments begin to appear in W. Africa in the 2nd millennium CE.

• Economically specialized settlements– Jenne-jeno – example of one such settlement– Iron smithing– Cotton weavers– Potters– Leather workers– Griots – sang oral traditions– Growing network of indigenous West African

commerce – donkey and camel

Southern Bantu Africa• The movement of people to the

southern section of Africa generated some 400 distinct languages = became known as Bantu.

• Brought to Africa south of the equator a measure of cultural and linguistic commonality = unique.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c246fZ-7z1w

African Trade [15c-17c]