Bellwork What was the earliest culture and the earliest city in West Africa? How recently were these cultures discovered?

World History Section 4, Unit 2 Eastern and Southern African Empires

Objectives Identify characteristics of East African societies Read and interpret maps covering the East African region Identify the spread of religion and effects of Islam on the East African cultures Describe what caused the fall of Aksum– a major East African Kingdom Describe how the language of Swahili was formed. Identify great cities and empires following the fall of Aksum in the Eastern Africa and Southern Africa. Describe the effects of Islam on the Eastern Africa.

Recall Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush (who conquered Egypt), became a powerful kingdom in western Africa. Their presence allowed for other powerful kingdoms to grow and prosper in the area.

Kingdom of Aksum South of Kush arose Aksum, a new kingdom on the rugged plateau on the Red Sea. The beginning of Aksum is hard to trace, with legends saying that it was founded by the son of King Solomon of Ancient Israel, possibly around 1,000 B.C. Kush Egypt

Early Beginnings and expansion Aksumites began to seize areas surrounding them and intermingled with its people. They intermingled with the southern Kushite farmers and took control of lands in the southern Arabian Peninsula. In time, Aksum would begin to form powerful trading routes with other countries.

Trading Networks Aksum began to join the already existing Silk Road trading system. It was in a prime location to do so, as it has immediate access to powerful trading centers near the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.

Trading Power In part due to its location, the chief port city of Aksum, Adulis, became a large trading center and allowed Aksum to become an international trading power. – It traded goods with Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India, and even the Roman Empire. – Akumite merchants traded necessities such as salt and luxury goods- rhino horns, tortoise shells, ivory, and gold– and receive items such as cloth, glass, olive oil, wine and much more.

Expansion The kingdom of Aksum reached it’s height between 325 and 360 A.D., when Ezana– their new ruler– occupied the throne. Determined to establish and expand his authority, Ezana conquered a part of the Arabian Peninsula now known as Yemen and then turned his attention to Kush. – By this time, the Kushite Empire had already begun to decline.

Conquering the Kushites In 350 AD, Ezana conquered the Kingdom of Kush and burned the city of Meroe to the ground. – They plundered the cities that rebelled against them and laid waste to whatever they crossed.

Developing Culture The Aksumites always had a fairly diverse culture, due to blending traditions from the Arab peoples who crossed the Red Sea and those of the Kushite people whom they settled near. As the kingdom expanded, their culture further developed, allowing them to blend with other cultures, such as Roman, Greek, Indian, and even those from Byzantine. Overtime, Aksum began to form a Cosmopolitan culture– one that includes elements from many parts of the world.

Beliefs The Aksumites, like other Africans, traditionally believed in only one god. They called their god Mahrem and believed that their king descended from him. However, like the Western Africans, they too were animists and believed that spirits of nature and the dead did exist. – They would offer sacrifices to the sprits, to Mahrem, and even to the Greek God of war, Ares.

Question How do you think their religion would change if they started trading with other cultures? What would they share with other cultures other than just goods? Overtime, the religion of the Aksumites would soon change as ideas would be spread throughout their kingdom. This new religion had already taken a hold in the Roman Empire.

Christianity As they traded, the Aksumites became exposed to Christianity. – King Ezana even converted to the new religion and helped strengthen it’s hold in Aksum. Christian Monastery

Crisis of Faith In 451, a dispute arose over the nature of Christ– whether he was divine or divine and human. This dispute lead to a split between Egypt and Aksum and Constantinople and Rome. – The Egyptian and Aksumite beliefs lead to the creation of the Coptic Church of Egypt and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, both of whom believed that Christ was solely divine. – These churches continue to exist to today and continue to attract more than 22 million people into their fold.

Architecture The establishment of Christianity was just one lasting achievement of the Aksumites. They also developed a unique architecture, using stone instead of mud bricks to construct vast royal palaces and public buildings. – Much like the Egyptians, the Aksumites did not use mortar to hold their stone together, but instead build their structures so that the stones would fit tightly together.

Architecture (cont.) Aksumite kings also build large stone pillars called stelae, which were used to celebrate king’s conquests and demonstrate Aksum’s greatness. Some are up to 60 ft. tall and many were dedicated to the Christian God.

Language The people of Aksum spoke Ge’ez, and was the only Ancient African language (other than Egyptian and Nubian) to be written.

Agriculture The Aksumite’s adapted to their rugged, hilly environment. They created a new form of farming, terrace farming, which enabled them to greatly increase the productivity of their land.

Agriculture The Aksumites also dug canals to channel water from mountain streams into fields and build dams and tanks to hold water.

Terrace Farming Terraces– step-like ridges constructed on mountain slopes– helped retain rain water and prevented the soil from being washed downhill during heavy rain seasons. This form of farming is commonly used in other mountainous regions of the world.

Question (Bellwork) What religious group appeared in the Arabian Peninsula? How do you think their presence would affect the control of the region by the Aksumites?

Fall of Aksum Aksums cultural and technological achievements enabled it to last over 800 years, but the kingdom began to decline as Islamic invaders came and began to conquer Arabic regions. However, Aksum itself was not attacked, as Muhammad and his family were sheltered there during his rise to power.

Fall of Adulis Before long, however, raiders gained control of the African Red Sea coast and in 710 they destroyed the Aksumite port city of Adulis. This conquest cut Aksum off from other major ports along the Red Sea and Mediterranean. What would happen to their trading power if they lost Adulis? What would happen to their spiritual identity if the raiders are not Christian?

Escape The invaders spread Islam throughout the lands they conquered and Aksum soon became isolated from other Christian settlements. To escape Islam, Aksum’s rulers moved the capital over the mountains into what is now Northern Ethiopia.

Environmental changes Within this new mountainous region, the Aksumites were completely isolated. Environmental changes are believed to have occurred around this time, such as over flooding from the Nile, depletion of the forests, and soil erosion due to over farming. – Such changes continued to cause the kingdom to weaken.

Legacy Although the kingdom of Aksum reached great heights and left a lasting legacy on religion, architecture, and agriculture, Aksum never spread as far as many other kingdoms. However, the culture of Aksum would continue to live on to today in the modern nation of Ethiopia.

Break Take two minutes to stretch and breathe.

Where we left off The last time we discussed Eastern Africa, we discussed the Kingdom of Aksum, which had taken control of much Eastern Africa, including Nubia. With this region under their control, the Aksumites traded with Arabia, Persia, India, and Rome. Question: Despite their power, why did the kingdom of Aksum eventually fall?

Power struggle However, in 600s, when the Muslims forces gained control over Arabia and North Africa, they cut Aksum off from their ports near the Red Sea. While Aksum had to relocate and regain power, other cities on the East Coast of Africa were thriving on the Indian Ocean trade.

East Coast Trading Cities By 1100, waves of Africans had migrated from Central Africa to the east coast, where they established fishing and farming villages. Slowly, these coastal villages grew into bustling seaports, built on trade between East African merchants and Arabian traders who would meet in these villages.

Swahili As trade increased between East Africans and those from the Middle East- Arabs and Persians- a new language blended between Arabic and the native African language, Bantu.

Swahili These two languages created the Swahili language. This language was formed by a mixing of ancestry between Arabic peoples and Africans.

Trade Persian traders began to move south from the Horn of Africa and brought with them Asian manufactured goods to Africa and brought raw materials from Africa to Asia.

Trade From Asia, Persian merchants sold fine porcelain, jewels, and cotton cloth from India and China. In Africa, these traders would buy from the African merchants ivory, gold, ambergris, and various animal products to carry to Arabia.

Effect of Trade This increase in trade along the eastern seaboard created new towns and, by 1300, more than 35 trading cities dotted the coast of Eastern Africa. Much like the empires of Western Africa, who became wealthy by controlling trade within their region, Eastern Africa got wealthy by controlling all incoming and outgoing trade. – In some cases, some cities even manufactured goods for export.

Kilwa Kilwa, a South-Eastern African port city, grew very rich and powerful due to this trade. Kilwa grew wealthy because it was the farthest city to the south a Indian merchant ship could ride on the monsoon winds from India. – The city became a port for Southern African goods and Asian goods.

Kilwa Kilwa also expanded its power by taking control of the gold trade in southern Africa. Having done this, Kilwa was able to become the wealthiest coastal city-state in Africa at this time.

Trade Routes Kilwa

Islamic Influences Much like in Western Africa, Muslim traders introduced Islam to the East African coast through commerce and trade. Even the smallest towns in the region often had a mosque for the faithful. By this time, most government officials and wealthy merchants had become Muslim.

Muslims Most of the rulers, government officials, and merchants were Muslim. However, the vast majority of people along the Eastern African coast held on to their traditional religious beliefs.

Enslavement Aside from trading goods, Arab traders exported one other good from Africa: slaves. Traders sent Africans acquired through kidnapping and raids to markets in Arabia, Persia, and Iraq. – The wealthy in these nations often bought enslaved people to do the more bothersome domestic tasks.

Enslavement The enslavement of Africans was quite popular. Muslim traders shipped them to India, where Indians would use Africans as soldiers. In Asia, Africans sometimes worked as household servants in China.

Enslavement While East Africans were trading African slaves early in their history, the trade was actually quite small– only about 1,000 slaves a year. The uptick in African slaves did not occur until the 1700s. Question: Why did the slave trade increase during the 1700’s? By the 1700’s, Europeans began to demand Africans to do slave labor in the colonies throughout the Americas.

Trade and South Africa The gold and ivory that helped make coastal city-states grow rich– such as Kilwa- came from the interior of the southern Africa. In Southeastern Africa, the Shona people established a city called Great Zimbabwe, which grew into an empire built on the gold trade.

Great Zimbabwe By 1000, the Shona people had claimed the fertile, well- watered plateau between Zambezi and Limpopo rivers in modern Zimbabwe. The area is well suited for farming and cattle raising.

Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe also had economic advantages. It stood near an important trade route linking the inland gold-fields with the coastal trading cities-- like Sofala. Sometime around 1000, Great Zimbabwe gained control of these trade routes and, by the 1200s, became a capital of a thriving state– the Kingdom of Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe taxed those who traveled these routes and demanded payment from the less powerful chiefs. By the 1400s, Great Zimbabwe was an economic, political, and religious center of the empire.

Ruins of Zimbabwe However, by 1450, the city of Great Zimbabwe was abandoned. – No one is sure why. According to theory, it’s very likely that the cattle had worn out the grasslands and that resources became too scarce to support a large population.

Mutota About 30 years prior to the fall of Great Zimbabwe, Shona tradition tells the story of a man named Mutota who left the city in 1420 to find a new source of salt.

Mutota Traveling north, he settled in a valley with fertile soil, good rainfall, and ample wood. Here, he founded a new state to replace Great Zimbabwe and, as it grew, Mutota used his army to dominate the people living in the area and force them to make payments to him.

Mutota The conquered peoples called Mutota and his successors “mwene mutapa”, meaning “conqueror”. Under Mutota, the new Mutapa Empire was founded. By the time Mutota died, the Mutapa Empire had conquered all of what is now Zimbabwe except the eastern portion.

Mutapa Empire By 1480, Mutota’s son Matope claimed control of the area along the Zambezi River to the Indian Ocean coast. From here, the Mutapa Empire was able to mine gold deposited in the river and streams. As well, the Mutapa rulers forced those people in conquered areas to mine gold for them.

Interference By the 1500s, the Portuguese (who by this time have expanded into trading with India) attempted to conquer the Mutapa Empire. They were unsuccessful at defeating them in this fashion, but instead attempted to defeat the empire by interfering with their politics.

Portuguese The Portuguese helped to depose one ruler and put one they could control onto the throne. These attempts would increase Portuguese control in the area, although Mutapa would continue to be a independent state for centuries to come.

Portuguese The Portuguese, however, would continue to have a strong presence in East Africa. In 1488, the Portuguese ships had conquered several eastern African port cities with the goal of establishing a strong trading presence. – Portuguese wanted the wealth and power of the eastern cities, rather than simply trade with them.

Africa In the last few lessons, we have discussed the changes in Africa throughout history. We saw the beginnings of African culture from nomadic cultures to large scale empires. When we return to Africa, we are going to see the effects of further European interference in African affairs– from European colonization in Africa to the African slave trade.

Questions? If you have any questions, please ask now.

Next Lesson In the next lesson, we are going to move farther East and discuss the Mongol Empire.

Review 1.Why did the Portuguese want to conquer the eastern African cities? 2.Why did the kingdom of Aksum begin to decline? Name at least (3) causes. 3.What was “terrace farming”? Why did the Aksumites utilize them? 4.What was the effect of trade on Aksum’s religious beliefs? 5.Why was the kingdom able to become a trading center? 6.How did the rise of Islam help cause the fall of Aksum? 7.Why did the Christian church of Aksum break away from those of Constantinople and Rome? 8.Name at least four (4) goods that were traded between Africa and Asia. 9.Where did Eastern Africans get their slaves from? Why did the African slave trade increase in the 1700s? 10.What might have been the reason that the city of Great Zimbabwe was abandoned?