African Societies – Similarities and Differences Chapter 8 (1 of 4)

African Diversity There was no dominant state or religion in Africa Africans very diverse making it hard to generalize about them (each group different) Diverse = Different

Stateless Societies States emerged, but many stateless Power shared by families No kings, so no need for taxes Disputes settled easily, lot of open land to move to Could be large No central power Difficulties = hard to raise army and defend itself vs. organized states or raise money for public works

Though Diverse, some similarities Existed in African Society Bantu people spread out, so language similar Even as Islam spread to Africa, these beliefs still held Animism common throughout Africa – though local practices differed Many believed in creator god and lesser gods Believed in good and evil (witches evil and had to be eliminated) – similar view to Europeans Ancestors who founded land seen as holy, so land was holy (religion, economics, and history closely linked) Overall, African religion = provided view of how world worked and code of ethics

Had been involved in trade with other parts of the world for a while Economies varied greatly from region to region Agriculture and skilled ironwork spread rapidly throughout Trade (especially w/Arabs increased greatly - led to some big cities w/professional traders – women involved too) North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa at Trade Disadvantage Traded away valuable resources (gold, ivory, salt) for expensive manufactured goods Africa didn’t gain much new technology and manufacturing through this trade

Islam Comes to North Africa in the 600s North Africa had been part of classical world for a long time already Christianity had already spread to the area towards the end of the Roman era By 670, Muslims controlled northeast Africa, called Ifriqiya Soon after, Muslims got control of northwest Africa, called Maghrib The North Africans converted rapidly to Islam

The Berbers Almoravids Reform movement within the Berbers. Practiced stricter version of Islam and spread religion through jihad. Almohadis Islamic reformers within the Berbers, key to spreading Islam to sub- Saharan Africa and Spain through jihad Berbers = Africans from Sahara Desert (indigenous people) The Berbers created states in North Africa

Islam Attractive to Africans Example of social stratification that still existed = punishment for killing man twice as much as for killing woman The kings and rulers were the first to convert (they used Islam to enhance their power Egalitarian, so African converts would be equal to Arab Muslims (though stratification still existed)

Christianity Arrives 1 st in Africa (Before Islam) EGYPT Coptic Christians = Christians of Egypt, 1 st universal religion in Africa Coptic Christians had spread Christianity from Egypt up the Nile to Nubia Egypt and Ethiopia = Christian, even before Romans converted Arabs conquered Egypt, but Copts remained ETHIOPIA Click map for video on Coptic Christians

Ethiopia Ethiopia grew when King Lalibela conquered surrounding lands from Axum Formed from the trading kingdom of Axum

Ethiopia The Ethiopian Highlands - Ethiopians lived in mountainous area so they learned to use terrace farming Ethiopians built many great buildings, especially massive churches which they built from rock terrace farming

Ethiopian Religious Isolation Ethiopia was cut off from other Christian areas (like Byzantine Empire) so it developed Christianity independently Ethiopia was (and still is) surrounded by Muslims countries, which caused friction (and still causes problems today)

Ethiopia Surrounded Ethiopia almost conquered by Muslims in 1542, but Portuguese helped stop the takeover Portuguese tried to bring the Ethiopians into the Roman Catholic Church, but failed Ethiopia remained an independent, and Christian kingdom, and is mostly Christian to this day