Chapter Eight AP World History Ms. Tully

 Extremely diverse societies developed  No political or religious unity  Bantu migration  primary spoken language  Animistic/polytheistic belief systems

 Varied in size & influence – organized around kinship  Political power shared with councils & secret societies  Weakness of “stateless” societies  No organization to collect taxes  no effective militaries  No consensus  Difficult to resist external pressures  No undertaking of large building projects  Hard to create stability for long-distance trade  These goals contributed to the formation of states

 N. Africa connected to Mediterranean & Arab economic world  Sub-Saharan African economies varied greatly  Focus on iron working & agriculture  Specialization encouraged trade

 7 th C – Muslim armies moved west from Egypt thru N. Africa  11 th -12 th C - Almoravids and Almohadis (reforming Muslim Berbers) from western Sahara grow in power  Almohad Caliphate:  Islamic tradition of political/religious ruler attractive to Africans  Introduced social stratification of Islamicized societies

 Sahel Grasslands: transition zone between Sahara Desert and savannahs to the south  Point of exchange between North and Sub-Saharan Africa; important region of trade  Grasslands Kingdoms = Sudanic States = Ghana, Mali, Songhai

 Islam reinforced ideas of kingship and power: “royal cult”  Trade gold for salt from Berbers in North Africa  Mali, Ghana and Songhai

 1 st great West African empire  Rose to power by taxing salt and gold  10 th c: rulers convert to Islam while common people remain loyal to polytheism  Reaches 11 th c. height  Almoravid armies invaded Ghana in 1076

 Broke away from Ghana in 13 th C  Islamicized in 13 th  Economy: Agriculture & Gold Trade – Juula  Founder: Sundiata  Mansa Musa successor to Sundiata – Greatest Mali ruler

 Great mosque of Jenne  Major cities – Jenne and Timbuktu  80% of pop. villagers who lived by farming

 Independent from Mali in 1370s – capital at Gao  Prospered as a trading state and military power  Sunni Ali ( )  Songhai remained dominant until defeated by Moroccans in 1591 for not being “Muslim enough”

 Islam provided universal faith and fixed law.  Rulers reinforced authority through Muslim ideology.  Many Sudanic societies were matrilineal and did not seclude women  Slavery and slave trade was prevalent from Muslim influence

 Islamized trading ports along coast by 13 th c.  Kilwa, Mogadishu, Mombasa: large city- state centers of Islam  Rulers and merchants were often Muslim  Culture = Swahili as language and fused African and Islamic practices.

 Across central Africa, agrarian societies thrived and kingdoms developed  Preliterate – knowledge passed orally, rich artistic tradition  Yoruba people & Ile-Ife

 Edo peoples & Benin  Kongo  Great Zimbabwe

 Christian states are present in North Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia before the arrival of Islam.  Egyptian Christians, the Copts, had a rich and independent tradition (Coptic Christianity).  The Nubians resisted Muslim incursions from 9 th until 13 th century.  Ethiopia continues to retain Christianity.  Christianity will come later to the rest of the continent with the presence of Europeans.

 Spread of Islam brought large areas of Africa into the global community through increasing contact from CE between Africa and Mediterranean and Asian civilizations.  However, most of Africa evolved in regions free of Islamic contact (Central + Southern Africa).  While no universal empires and religions develop in Africa, Christianity and Islam impact the region through political, economic, and cultural development.