Ancient Africa UNIT II

African Religion Traditionally African religion was Syncretic Syncretic can be described as the blending of various ideas When Christianity and later Islam arrived, religions were often blended with traditional beliefs Can this be a conflict with a Monotheistic religion?

Sudanic Empires Ghana, Mali, Songhai All three started in the Sahel region around the headwaters of the Niger River These Empires acquired wealth in gold accumulated in Trans-Saharan Trade Old world importance of land trade Era of pre-European maritime importance

What’s so good about being a “Middle Man?” Conversion to Islam was important for trade relationships Arab and Berber traders had salt to the north Many groups to the south extracted Gold and produced Ivory All the trade empires successfully taxed all goods coming through the Empire. They were successful in receiving tribute

Ghana Empire (830-1235 CE)

Mali Empire (1230- 1600 CE)

Songhai Empire (1430- 1591 CE)

Trade networks Salt to the north Gold to the south

Mansa Kankan Musa I (Mansa Musa) Very effective ruler, divided the Empire into different provinces Mali became an important cultural and intellectual center under Mansa Musa Important City of Timbuktu Pilgrimage to Mecca 1324. Brought thousands of solders and hundreds of camels Flooded the Egyption gold market with tribute Decrease in value from 10 to 25% Add picture of gold

Bantu Migrations

Bantu Migrations Long complex process where two groups of Bantu speakers eventually linked up Bantu based languages began to dominate the continent This can still be seen today The Bantu people brought new agricultural practices to mostly nomadic peoples

Modern Language family map of Africa What language family has the most land? What is important about the Niger River?

Swahili City-States A large scale ocean trading network developed on the Indian Ocean Chinese, Indian and Arab merchants all began trading on the East African coast Swahili Culture was born A blend of native Bantu based languages and Arabic Islam became the religion of the area City-states such as Zanzibar, Mombasa, and Mogadishu became wealthy through trade

Compared to Europe What happens when there is plenty of land and plentiful trade? Europe had more blood shed and all conflict was over land Europe’s only source of wealth was land European monarchs would envy Ghana, Mali’s and Zanzibar’s resources and wealth Mali was an intellectual hub while Europe crawled out of the Dark Ages