1. Eastern city-States and Southern Empires in africa

2. Aksum
Aksum had a trading port along the Red Sea, which made it quite powerful and wealthy but when the Muslims invaded they cut the Aksumites from their port, forcing them to move their capital from Aksum to Roha (later Lalibela)

3. East Coast Trade Cities
By 1100 Bantu had moved to the East Coast of Africa
Trading ports developed along the coastline to engage in Indian Ocean trade
Over time Muslim and Persian traders settle there
Arabic blends with Bantu to create Swahili
Persians settle the horn of Africa
By 1300 more than 35 trading cities dotted the coastline

4. City-State of Kilwa
Muslim rulers and merchants lived luxurious lives there
Rich because it was the furthest south a ship from India could sail during one Monsoon season
Kilwa also controlled Sofala, a center for gold trade in southern Africa

5. Portuguese Conquest
1488 first Portuguese ships rounded the tip of Africa
Using heavy ships’ guns they take Sofala, Kilwa and Mombasa

6. Islamic Influences Muslim traders had introduced Islam to East Africa
A Muslim sultan ruled most cities and most officials and wealthy merchants were Muslim
However, most people remained animist

7. Enslavement of Africans
Vibrant trade of people, usually captured through raids
Wealthy used them for domestic tasks
Slave trade was steady- but small in comparison to the numbers in the 1700s

8. Southern Africa and Great Zimbabwe
In southeast Africa the Shona people established a city called Great Zimbabwe
By 1100 Shona people had claimed the fertile territory between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers in modern Zimbabwe
Good agriculture and access to gold fields and Sofala to trade
Great Zimbabwe became capital of a thriving state
Taxed traders along trade routes
By 1450 city was abandoned for unknown reasons

9. Ruins of Zimbabwe 60 acres of ruins Zimbabwe means “stone enclosure”
Walls built for defense and to impress visitors
Construction of the Great Zimbabwe probably took 400 years

10. Mutapa Empire
Story says that Mutota left Great Zimbabwe around 1420 and settled in the north, where he founded a new state to replace Great Zimbabwe
Conquered people called him Mwene Mutapa, which means conqueror
By the time of Mutota’s death they controlled all of the old Zimbabwe territory
Wealth based on gold
Southern part of empire broke away
Portuguese failed to conquer them but interfere in their politics anyway