Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Early African Societies and the Bantu Migrations 1

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Explain the connections between climate, agriculture, and the Nile River in the development of Egypt and Nubia.  Understand the historical development of Egypt from unification to the fall of the New Kingdom.  Outline the emergence of cities and stratified societies. 2

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Identify significant aspects of Egyptian economic specialization and trade and the development of early writing.  Discuss the key features of Egyptian religious traditions.  Describe the dynamics of Bantu expansion and the early agricultural societies in sub-Saharan Africa. 3

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  5,000 miles north- south, east-west  NORTH  mountainous coastline  Sahara desert  WEST  interior grasslands, tropical jungle on coast 4

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  EAST (on Indian ocean):  snowy mountains, upland plateaus  CENTRAL: jungles  SOUTH: hills, plateaus, deserts 5

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Sahara desert originally highly fertile region  C BCE: Western Sudan was a region of nomadic herders  Domestication of cattle c BCE  Later, cultivation of sorghum, yams, increasingly diverse  Widespread desiccation of the Sahara c BCE 6

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Gradual, predictable flooding  Inundation (July- October)  Sprouting  Summer 7

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Communication:  Nubia-Egypt ▪ Current: north ▪ Winds: south  Sub-Saharan Africa- Mesopotamia  Increased in importance with desiccation of Sahara 8

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  10,000 BCE: Migrants from Red Sea hills (northern Ethiopia)  Introduce collection of wild grains, language roots of Coptic  5000 BCE: Sudanese cultivators, herders migrate to Nile River valley  Adaption to seasonal flooding of Nile through construction of dikes, waterways  Villages dot Nile by 4000 BCE 9

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  As in Mesopotamia, a need for formal organization of public affairs  creation of government  Need to maintain order and organize community projects  MESOPOTAMIA: grand public works to control flash floods  EGYPT: simple, local irrigation projects  Rural rather than heavily urban development  Trade networks develop 10

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  ARCHAIC PERIOD: BCE  OLD KINGDOM: BCE  Both ages represented the rise of the pharaoh  Building of the great pyramids (Giza)  MIDDLE KINGDOM: BCE  Period of the Hyksos invasion  NEW KINGDOM: BCE 11

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  C BCE: Legendary conqueror Menes unifies Egyptian kingdom  Sometimes identified with Narmer  TRADITION: founder of Memphis, cultural and political center of ancient Egypt 12

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Instituted the rule of the Pharaoh ▪ Claimed descent from the gods ▪ Absolute rulers, had slaves buried with them from 2600 BCE ▪ Most powerful during Archaic Period ( BCE) and Old Kingdom ( BCE) 13

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Symbols of the pharaoh’s authority and divine status  A testimony of the pharaohs’ ability to marshal Egypt’s resources  Early architecture from Old Kingdom  Tallest buildings in the world until 19 th century 14

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Largest: Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) at Giza  2 million blocks, some 60 tons each (avg. 2.5 tons each)  Role: Burial chambers for Pharaohs 15

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Competition over Nile trade  Military conflict between BCE  Drove Nubians to the south  Established Kingdom of Kush, c BCE  Trade, cultural influences continue despite military conflict 16

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Increasing agricultural productivity at end of Old Kingdom leads to rise of regional powers and decline of central state ( BCE)  Beginning of Middle Kingdom ( BCE)  Invasion of Hyksos from southwest Asia, c BCE  Semitic people, horse riders with bronze weaponry  Driven out by local military efforts, creation of New Kingdom ( BCE) 17

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Few pyramids, but major monumental architectural projects  Engaged in empire- building to protect against foreign invasion  Tuthmosis III led expansion into Syria, Palestine, Nubia 18

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  After New Kingdom, local resistance drives Egyptians out of Nubia  Kingdom of Kush revives c BCE  Invasions of Kushites, Assyrians destroy Egypt mid 6 th century BCE  iron weaponry key 19

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Major cities along Nile river, especially at delta  Memphis c BCE, Heliopolis c BCE  Nubian cities include Kerma, Napata, Meroë  Located at cataracts (waterfalls) of the Nile  Well-defined social classes  Pharaohs to slaves  Archaeological discoveries in Nubia also support class-based society  Patriarchal societies, notable exceptions: female Pharaoh Hatshepsut (r BCE) 20

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Bronze metallurgy introduced late, with Hyksos invasion  Development of iron early, c. 900 BCE  Trade along Nile river  More difficult in Nubia due to cataracts (waterfalls)  Sea trade in Mediterranean 21

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  HIEROGLYPHICS: “Holy inscriptions”  Writing appeared at least by 3200 B.C.E.  Pictographic, supplemented with symbols representing sounds and ideas  Survives on monuments, buildings, and sheets of papyrus 22 ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Hieroglyphs for formal writing, hieratic script for everyday affairs used from 2600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.  Greek alphabet adopted – demotic (popular) and Coptic scripts 23 ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Meroitic writing  Flexible system borrowed from hieroglyphs, represents sounds rather than ideas  Recorded after 5 th century BCE  Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799, used as a key to understand Egyptian hieroglyphs  Hieroglyphs  Demotic (“popular”)  Greek 24 ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Principal gods Amon and Re  Religious tumult under Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) (r BCE)  Introduces sole worship of sun god Aten  One of world’s earliest expressions of monotheism  After death of Akhenaten, traditional priests under Tutankhamen (“King Tut”) restored cult of Amon-Re to privileged status 25

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Inspiration of the cycles of the Nile  Belief in the revival of the dead  First: ruling classes only, later expanded to include lower classes  Cult of Osiris  “Lord of the underworld”  Originally, afterlife only for wealthy  Power to determine who deserved immortality  “Judge of Morality”  Held out hope of eternal reward for those who lived moral lives  Nubian worship of Apedemak and Sebiumeker 26

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  BANTU: “people”  Migration throughout sub-Saharan regions  Population pressures  Over 500 variations of original Bantu language  90 million speakers  By 1000 BCE, occupied most of Africa south of the equator 27 Bantu Migrations – BCE

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Evidence of early monotheism  Deistic views as well  Prayers to intercessors, e.g. ancestor spirits  Great variations among populations 28