1. Islam in Africa

2. Prior to Islam Lack of political unity
Secret societies handle disputes
No need to tax b/c don’t have to support a bureaucracy
Social—organized by lineage and age
Unifying force
Religion—animism and ancestors
Language--Bantu

3. A Satellite View

4. Vegetation Zones

5. Natural Resources

6. Bantu Migration

7. 1000 different languages; 1000+ different tribes
Unifying aspect
Bantu-speaking peoples provided a linguistic base across Africa
1000 different languages; different tribes

8. An African’s “Search for Identity”
1. Nuclear Family
2. Extended Family
3. Age-Set
4. Clan
5. Lineage (ancestry)
TRIBE (communal living)

9. Traditional African Religion
ANIMISM
1. Belief in one remote Supreme Being.
2. A world of spirits (good & bad) in all things.
3. Ancestor veneration.
4. Belief in magic, charms, and fetishes.
5. Diviner  mediator between the tribe and God.

10. African Diviner (Shaman)

11. Ancestors

12. Prior to the Arrival of Islam
North of the Sahara had been part of classical civilizations (Phoenician, Greek outpost, Carthage Roman province)

13. Arrival of Islam 640-700 CE Attraction
Abbasid’s provided some political stability
Equality within a community of believers made it easier to accept new conquerors and rulersegalitarian
Unite state & religion under 1 helped reinforce the authority of African kings—caliph
BUT locally divided by social, ethnic and gender

14. Divisions
Berbers—North Africa into Spain stopped from taking over France by Charles Martel in 711 CE
Almoravids—puritanical reformers launched jihads (purify, spread or protect faith) into the South and West
Almahadis—also puritanical reformist

15. Christian: Nubia & Ethiopia
Reached Africa before Rome’s conversion
Coptic (Egypt & Nubia) translated the gospels into their language & were tolerated
Ethiopia—Remained isolated and independent
King Lalibela—11 churches carved from stone
Later Dynasty—traced lineage back to Solomon & Sheba

16. Bet Giorgis, a 12th century Rock-Hewn church in Ethiopia

17. Kingdom of Grasslands Sudanic State—Mali Mansa Musa 1312-1337
*pilgrimage
*brought back scholars
*trade protection
*cosmopolitan court life
*tolerant
*gold, salt, dates—
Camel caravans couldn’t survive in the forests so the Sahel became a point of exchange
The hoe and the bow—symbols of the common

18. Mosque of Jenne a “port” city on the Niger River

19. Matrilineal & patrilineal
Arab slave trade—women and children

20. Ibn Battuta & Mansa Musa

21. Sundiata, Lion Prince of Mali as told by griots

22. Sudanic Grasslands Daily Life
80% farmers: millet, rice, sorghum, wheat
Polygamy
Crop rotation

23. Swahili Coast of East Africa
Indian Ocean trade
Contact with China, India, SE Asia, Middle East
Class Division
Merchants tended to be Muslim
Rulers tended to speak Arabic

24. Peoples of the Forest & Plains Zimbabwe