1. Africa & The Spread of Islam
Stearns Chapter 8

2. Diversities & Similarities
Sub-Saharan Africa was mostly isolated from the civilizations of the Mediterranean and Asia before 800 CE
From the frequency and intensity of contacts increased
Spread of Islam
Trading networks
Much of Southern Africa will still be isolated

3. Large Continent with great diversity
Lack of unifying political structure or religion led to great divisions
Both States and Stateless Societies with little concentration of authority
States would ultimately form as the stateless found it difficult to organize militaries and do other things that create stable, long- lasting civilizations

4. Common Elements Bantu migration leading to similar language attributes
Animist religions: power of natural forces personified as gods
Role of worship: Dancing, drumming, sacrifice
Cosmology: how the world/heavens worked
Guides to ethical behaviors
Veneration of ancestors
Economics: While N. Africa was involved in Mediterranean trade, Sub-Sahara was more varied: agriculture, iron working, regional trading (C&C)

5. Christianity
Early Christian converts in Axum, Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia
Egypt: The Copts, early Christian group
Spread south to Nubia
From Axum grew Ethiopia
Frequent conflict with surrounding Muslims

6. Islam in North Africa From 640-700, Islam swept across North Africa
Rapid conversion of populations under the unity of the Abassids (more intense conversions than under Umayyad)
When that unity broke, separate, competing states will form (i.e. Egypt)
Why Islam
Egalitarian in the eyes of Allah
Though, this did not always play out this way on earth
Single-rule under Abbasid

7. Grassland Kingdoms
In the Sahel Region: Between the Sahara and the Forests of Africa, powerful states emerge
Most thrive on regional trade of Gold and Salt
Ghana: 4th-11th Centuries
Mali: 13th-15th Centuries (Mansa Musa)
Songhay: 15th-16th Centuries

8. Commonalities
Islam providing a universal faith and fixed laws
Existing traditions remain
Treatment of women: some were matrilineal

9. The Swahili of East Africa
Islamicized African ports along the Indian Ocean
Enhanced trading
Most retained traditional beliefs
Swahili language with a combination of African (Bantu) and Islamic languages and practices

10. Central African Kingdoms
By the 13th Century, Bantu speakers approached Southern Africa
States forming linking diverse people into political units
The Kongo
Zimbabwe