SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA DURING

THE POST-CLASSICAL AGEKingdoms, Diffusion, and Change

THE IMPORTANCE OF A DESERT Not just physically, but also culturally and

politically, Africa is divided by the Sahara desert

The Sahara is the world’s largest desert During the Post-Classical age, almost of

Saharan Africa and the northern continent had fallen into the orbit of the Islamic world

But the story of sub-Saharan Africa is much more complex

The Sahel is the

semidesert southern fringe of

the Sahara

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA In sub-Saharan Africa, the

development of strong, sizable political units occurred later and more slowly than in many other parts of the world

Much of this had to do with the tremendous varieties of ethnicity and language in sub-Saharan Africa

For example, more than 2,000 languages and dialects are spoken in the region

THE BANTU One of the few common threads

shared by many – but not all – peoples of sub-Saharan Africa is descent from the Bantu tribes

Around 1000 B.C.E., the Bantu began to move out of their homelands in west central Africa

By 1000 C.E., descendants of the Bantu tribes had settled in almost all parts of the continent south of the Sahara

With the passage of time, however, each smaller group developed its own distinct language and cultural tradition

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS Another factor limiting the

growth of major states was environmental

The fluctuating climate of sub-Saharan Africa and human susceptibility to various insect- and animal-borne diseases in sub-Saharan regions were both obstacles to increasing the size of local populations and the number of workers available to cultivate the land

FEATURES OF SUB-SAHARAN SOCIETIES Most sub-Saharan communities were

small Social life revolved around the village Food was provided by means of a

combination of hunting, herding, and limited agriculture

It appears that most African societies gained the skill of metalworking on their own, rather than having it taught to them by outsiders, as was commonly thought until recently

Women in sub-Saharan Africa tended to be treated as subservient to men

However, women were often valued for their labor as fieldworkers (while men tended cattle) and for producing heirs

Women were also respected for their storytelling abilities and their role in educating young people about moral values and religious beliefs

Interestingly, unlike in most other societies, in Africa, lineage was sometimes matrilinear, rather than patrilinear

Women often inherited property and the husband was required to move into his wife’s house

ART African tribes possess a high degree of

skill in carving and sculpture, especially in wood and ivory

Metal sculptures became more common over time

By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, West African artists were creating masterpieces out of bronze and ivory

In Ife, in present-day Nigeria, metal workers formed bronze and iron statues by designing molds with melted wax

These sculptures may have influenced the work of metalworkers from the West African state of Benin

Such artists are famous for their sophisticated and detailed bronze, brass, and copper sculptures of heads, ornaments, animal figures, and reliefs depicting court life

ARCHITECTURE Architecture in Africa varied across

regions due to diverse cultural influences

In sub-Saharan Africa, Greater Zimbabwe stood out for its impressive stone buildings and walls

The stones had been carefully cut and then set in place without mortar

In Mali, fourteenth-century builders used timber as skeletons in reinforcing mud mosques that still stand today

LITERATURE African literature of this period

was preserved less by the written language than by oral tradition

In their narratives, professional storytellers chronicled history and social custom

They also acted as entertainers and served as advisers to kings

The most famous epic of sub-Saharan Africa from these years is Son-Jara (or Sundiata) from Mali

GRIOTS A griot was a West African storyteller A griot perpetuated the oral traditions of a

family or village The griot carries the cultural knowledge and

identity of each people The griot legacy stretches back for hundreds,

and in some cases, thousands of years The griot is a chronicler of history – keeping

track of the history and developments of his people over time

The griot is also guardian of the knowledge of his people’s ancestry, or genealogy

ISLAM AND DIFFUSION As time passed, there was increased

interaction between North Africa and the sub-Saharan part of the continent

This included trade Unfortunately, it also included slavery: for

hundreds of years, Arab slavers from the Middle East penetrated to the south, capturing Africans and forcing them into bondage

To a good extent, Islam became part of sub-Saharan life

In West Africa, the state of Mali, with its great city of Timbuktu, was an important part of the Islamic world

Muslims also brought their religion to the cities of the eastern coast

The spread of Islam brought trade to previously isolated parts of southern Africa

Still, in comparison to North Africa, which became almost completely Muslim, Islam’s presence in sub-Saharan Africa was not as extensive

THE KINGDOM OF GHANA The greatest of early Sudanic (a region in

North Africa, South of the Sahara and Libyan deserts, extending from the Atlantic to the Red Sea) civilizations was Ghana

Ghana was founded in the fourth century C.E. on the main caravan route to north Africa

At its height in the tenth century, Ghana controlled an area extending from the Atlantic Ocean almost to Timbuktu

Ghana controlled the prosperous salt for gold trade

This trade connected North Africa and West Africa

North African salt was exchanged for West African gold

While Ghana did not control the salt or gold deposits, its location allowed it to tax traders entering the region

As such, Ghana was called “the land of gold” though it owned no gold fields

Ghana’s capital of Koumbi Saleh hosted a prosperous Muslim community of merchants linked to the Trans-Saharan trade routes

Over time, Ghana’s ecological and demographic conditions weakened its society

As its population grew, its food production failed to meet demand in what was by then an extremely arid environment

All of this left Ghana vulnerable to Muslim conquest, the immediate cause of Ghana’s downfall

Berbers from the desert moved against Ghana in 1062, but not until 1076 were they able to capture the capital

Yet the nomads were unable to benefit from their conquest, for they soon began fighting among themselves, and Ghana became independent once again

However, the kingdom was never able to recover its trade or repair the damage done to its agriculture, and the empire began to break up into tribal units

THE KINGDOM OF MALI With the decline of Ghana, Mali (which

probably had been a subject nation) grew, and the Mali empire was firmly established in the upper Niger River valley by Sundiata (1230-1255)

Sundiata adopted Islam and Mali became a Muslim kingdom

By the fourteenth century Mali controlled the upper Niger west to the Atlantic and all the land north of the forest and east along the Niger to Hausaland

SUNDIATA Sundiata Keita rose to power by defeating

the king of the Sosso - Soumaoro (Sumanguru), known as the Sorcerer King, in 1235

He then brought all the Mandinke clans rulers (or Mansas) under his leadership, declaring himself overall Mansa

He took Timbuktu from the Tuareg, transforming it into a substantial city, a focus for trade and scholarship

A significant portion of the wealth of the Empire derived from the Bure goldfields

The first capital, Niani, was built close to this mining area

Gold was not its only mainstay Mali also acquired control over the salt

trade The capital of Niani was situated on the

agriculturally rich floodplain of upper Niger, with good grazing land further north

A class of professional traders emerged in Mali

In the 14th century, cowrie shells were established as a form of currency for trading and taxation purposes

Mali reached its peak in the 14th century

MANSA MUSA Mansa Musa was a significant king of Mali

during its height Mansa Musa (1312-1337) was immortalized

in the descriptions of Arab writers, when he made his magnificent pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324

“It is said that he brought with him 14,000 slave girls for his personal service. The members of his entourage proceeded to buy Turkish and Ethiopia slave girls, singing girls and garments, so that the rate of the gold dinar fell by six dirhams. Having presented his gift he set off with the caravan." - Cairo born historian al- Maqurizi

Mansa Musa also spent his wealth to more permanent effect

He commissioned the design and construction of a number of stunning buildings, for example, the building of the mosques at Gao and Jenne

Timbuktu became a place of great learning with young men linked to Fez in the north

The court of Mali converted to Islam after Sundiata

As in Ghana, Muslim scribes played an important role in government and administration

But traditional religion persisted Arab historians make much of the

Islamic influence in Mali, whereas oral historians place little emphasis on Islam in their histories

IBN BATTUTA Ibn Battuta visited Mali This great medieval writer of

travel literature rivals the significance of his contemporary Marco Polo

Setting out from his native Morocco in the 14th century he travelled – or claims to have travelled – the important regions of the medieval world stretching from west Africa to China

THE DECLINE OF MALI A combination of weak and ineffective

rulers and increasingly aggressive raids by Mossi neighbors and Tuareg Berbers gradually reduced the power of Mali

In the east, Gao began its ascendancy while remaining part of the Mali Empire

In the early 1400's, Tuareg launched a number of successful raids on Timbuktu

They did not disrupt scholastic life or commercial activity, but fatally undermined the government by appropriating taxes for themselves

SONGHAI Mali collapsed when one of its vassals,

the King of Songhai, broke away in the fifteenth century and eventually captured Mali territory, ending up with an empire even greater than Mali

The capital of Songhai was Goa, and its wealth was based on control of the salt mines

King Mohammed Askia’s reign (1493-1528) was exceptional

The city of Timbuktu became his center of learning, a university was built, and clerics, judges, and scholars flourished under his patronage

Songhai fell to the Moroccans in1591

EAST AFRICA Muslims had little influence in east

Africa until the thirteenth century Although they occupied the coastline

and most of the land along the eastern frontier of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and although by the tenth century a series of Muslim trading states had been built, Christian Abyssinia was able to dominate them and force them to pay tribute

Ethiopia became Christian during the fourth century A.D.

This domination eventually led, in the fifteenth century, to religious wars between Abyssinia and the Muslims

GREAT ZIMBABWE From the 1250s to the 1450s,

the most powerful of the central African states was the one that emerged around the cities of Mutapa and Great Zimbabwe

Politically linked, Mutapa and Great Zimbabwe controlled seven hundred miles of the Zambezi river basin

The larger and more important of the two cities was Great Zimbabwe (ca. 1000-1400)

Its name means “sacred graves of the chiefs”

Great Zimbabwe was crucial as both a political and religious center

Zimbabwe was a great walled city, encircling 193 acres

It is clear that the people of Great Zimbabwe were skilled builders

Great Zimbabwe was reputed to be immensely wealthy, thanks to large deposits of gold and diamonds

The city gained its wealth from the gold trade

Gold was shipped east to Sofala, where it became part of the East African-Indian Ocean coastal trade complex

Rumors of Great Zimbabwe’s wealth – and lost treasures and hidden mines – persisted for hundreds of years, long after the city itself collapsed in the mid-to-late 1400s