1. Unit 4: Early Global Interaction
Topics:
The Rise of Islam in Arabia, Muslim conquest of North Africa and Spain, and the influence of Muslim traders in West and East Africa
The kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay in West Africa
The vibrant trade and interaction between Persians, Arabs, Indians, and Africans on the Swahili Coast as well as Great Zimbabwe.

2. The Rise of Islam in Arabia

3. Mohammed Born about 570 in Mecca
About 610, claims to receive visions and messages.
These collected and written down about as the Qur’an.
Flees to Medina, 622 (hegira)
Return to Mecca, 630
Unified Arabia by the time of his death in 632

4. Mohammed’s teachings had similarities to Judaism and Christianity, but they also presented new ideas.
Mohammed taught that there was only one God, Allah, which means “the God” in Arabic. This is similar to Christianity and Judaism.
Muslims also recognize many of the same prophets as Christians and Jews.
Muslims don’t believe that Jesus was the son of God.
Arabs were used to worshipping many gods, so many of them rejected Mohammed’s teachings.
Mohammed said the rich and poor should be equal. Many wealthy merchants did not like this idea.

5. Islam spread in Arabia after being rejected at first.
Islam spread from Mecca to Medina.
Rulers of Mecca began to threaten Muhammad and his followers with violence as Islam started to influence more people.
Muhammad left Mecca and went to Medina.
This departure became known in Muslim history as the hegira, or journey.
Islam thrived in Medina, and other Arab tribes in the region accepted Islam.

7. The Qur’an guides Muslims’ lives.
The world has a definite end, and on that final day, God will judge all people.
The Qur’an sets out guidelines for moral behavior, acts of worship, and rules for social life
Muslims were encouraged to free slaves.
Women could own property, earn money, and receive an education.
The Qur’an discusses Jihad, which means to make an effort, or to struggle. Jihad refers to the inner struggle people go through in their effort to obey God and behave according to Islamic ways.
Jihad can also mean the struggle to defend the Muslim community, or historically, to convert people to Islam. The word has also been translated as “holy war.”

8. The Five Pillars of Islam
Saying “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is his prophet”
Praying five times a day
Giving to the poor and needy
Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan
Traveling to Mecca at least once on a hajj

9. Early Expansion The Big Idea
7.2.4
7.2.5
The Big Idea
Conquest and trade led to the spread of Islam, the blending of cultures, and the growth of cities.
Main Ideas
Muslim armies conquered many lands into which Islam slowly spread.
Trade helped Islam spread into new areas.
A mix of cultures was one result of Islam’s spread.
Islamic influence encouraged the growth of cities.

10. Trade helped Islam spread into new areas.
Along with their trade goods, Arab merchants took Islamic beliefs to new lands.
Islam spread to India, Africa, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Trade also brought new products to Muslim lands and made many people rich.
Travelers learned how to make paper from the Chinese.
Merchants brought crops of cotton, rice, and oranges from India, China, and Southeast Asia.
Muslim merchants set up trade businesses in Africa.

11. The spread of Islam

12. After Mohammed’s death, Growth of the Empire
Muslim armies battled tribes that did not follow Muhammad’s teachings.
The Muslim armies united Arabia, then defeated the Persian and Byzantine empires.
After years of fighting Muslim armies, many Berbers, a native people of North Africa, converted to Islam and joined forces with the Arabs.
A combined Berber and Arab army invaded Spain and conquered it in AD 711.

14. Islam Penetrates Europe

15. A mix of cultures was one result of Islam’s spread.
As Islam spread through trade, warfare, and treaties, Arabs came into contact with people who had different beliefs and lifestyles.
Language and religion helped unify many groups that became part of the Islamic world.
Muslims generally practiced tolerance, or acceptance, with regard to these people.
Jews and Christians in particular could keep their beliefs. If convert, no longer pay higher taxes. Conversion incentive.

16. Great Islamic Cities of the Period
Cordoba
Capital of what is now Spain
Strong economy based on agriculture and trade
By the AD 900s, was the largest and most advanced city in Europe
Great center of learning
Also a center of Jewish culture
Baghdad
Capital of Islamic Empire
Located near land and water trade routes
Walled city
Built hospitals, observatories, and a library that was used as a university

17. West Africa: Ghana, Mali and Songhay

18. Animism Traditional African religious beliefs:
One God above a host of lesser gods or sem-divine figures
Ancestral spirits
Sacrifice to ensure divine protection and generosity
Rites of passage to move from child to adult, life to death

19. Christianity Legend: Spread Impact of Islam
Christianity brought from Jerusalem to Alexandria (Egypt) by evangelist Mark in 60 BCE. (About the same time or possibly before Christianity spread to N. Europe.)
Spread
slowly west from Alexandria and east to Ethiopia.
Around 300 B.C.E. Ethiopian King Ezana made Christianity the kingdom's official religion.
Impact of Islam
7th century: Christianity retreated with rise of Islam. Remained chosen religion of the Ethiopian Empire and persisted in pockets in North Africa.

20. Islam
Islam arrived in North Africa in 646 (seven years after Prophet Mohammed’s death).
4,000 strong Arab invading forces came from Mecca
Also linked to trade routes
Islam arrived on East African coast around 700 or so through traders from the Persian Gulf and Oman.
It is said Islam more attractive than Christianity because tolerated traditional values, including polygamy.
Islam in Africa had a dynamic and turbulent history, with reforming movements and dynasties clashing and succeeding each other (e.g., Almoravids and Almohads).
In the last quarter of the 11th century, Islam dominated the Mediterranean world.

21. Northern African Kingdoms
Cannot understand Western African kingdoms without Northern African kingdoms
Impact of Islam reforming movements
Some argue Almoravids conquered Ghana.
Regardless, it is around the time of the Kingdom of Ghana that Islam introduced to Western kingdoms.
Two most famous groups were Almoravids and Almohads
Both were reforming movements, launching jihads (Holy Wars) and becoming government.

22. Almoravids
Kingdom developed in western Sahara, as pressure from nearby trading kingdoms (Berbers and Ghana) grew.
Movement to reform: increase Islamic knowledge and practice
Shifted from promoting religious reform to military conquest after 1054
Marrakesh: capital
Conquered Morocco, part of Algeria and Spain
Not peaceful, but economic and cultural achievements
Muslim Spain: artistic and intellectual achievements

23. Almoravids

24. Almoravids Site: Almoravid Koubba; Koubba Ba'adiyn
Oldest building in Marrakesh
Only Almoravid building remaining in Morocco

25. Almohads Spiritual leader sought to reform Almoravid decadence.
Purity to Islam
Rejected in Marrakech and other cities, centered in Atlas Mountains
They emphasized the unity of God (unitarians, or Almohads).
Almohad rebellion began in 1125 with attacks on Moroccan cities, including Sus and Marrakech.
Andalusian amirs invited Almohads into Spain, who had risen against the Almoravids there.
They took over and reestablished caliphate of Córdoba, giving sultan supreme religious and political authority

26. Almohads
Took control of Morocco in 1146 and captured Algiers around 1151
At peak, awesome handcrafts and agriculture and efficient bureaucracy supported by taxes.
In 1212, Almohad army defeated in Spain
In 1229, Almohad court liberalized and hosted greatest thinkers of Andalus.
In Morocco, Almohads lost power to another dynasty, which took Marrakech in 1269.

27. Andalusiyyin Mosque, Fez, Morocco 1900 and today

28. Almohad architecture
Hasan Mosque, Rabat, Morocco

29. Western African Kingdoms
Important developments:
long distance trade
introduction of Islam
Led to:
-- kingdoms and empires flourishing in 5th – 16th century
-- each had extensive trade with North through Trans-Saharan Trade Route, large standing armies, and an effective system of taxation

30. GHANA

31. Current Day Location
Not in modern Ghana
about four hundred miles northwest in Northern Senegal and Southern Mauritania

32. Ghana developed in West Africa between the Niger and the Gambia Rivers (from ). The rivers helped Ghana to grow rich because they were used to transport goods and develop trade. Ghana also collected taxes from traders who passed through the kingdom.

33. Few natural resources: salt and gold.
Several clans of the Soninke people of west Africa came together under the leadership of a great king named Dinga Cisse
Few natural resources: salt and gold.
Adept at making things from iron.
Warriors used iron tipped spears
to subdue their neighbors, who
fought w/ weapons made of stone,
bone, and wood.

34. "The King . . .(wears). . . necklaces round his neck and bracelets on his forearms and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. He (meets people) in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials…and on his right, are the sons of the (lesser) kings of his country, wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold. At the door of the pavilion are dogs of excellent pedigree. Round their necks they wear collars of gold and silver, studded with a number of balls of the same metals."
10th century geographer Al-Bakri, quoted in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History.

35. Ghana became a rich and powerful nation, especially when the camel began to be used as a source of transport. Ghana relied on trade and trade was made faster and bigger with the use of the camel.
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36. Islamic Mosque in Ghana
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Islamic Mosque in Ghana
Muslim warriors came into Ghana and fought with the non-Islamic people there. This weakened the great civilization of Ghana. Local warriors then decided to break away from the power of Ghana and form their own local kingdoms. This ended many of the trade networks. This eventually weakened the civilization of Ancient Ghana.

37. Mali

39. Sundiata In 1235, at the battle of Kirina,
Sundiata and Sumanguru met in
battle. According to legend, both
were sorcerers, and their magic
would determine the outcome.
Sundiata roared at the troops
of King Sumanguru, who were
terrified and ran for cover.
Sumanguru retaliated, and the
heads of eight spirits magically
appeared above his own.
Unfortunately for Sumanguru,
Sundiata had the stronger magic,
and the spirits were defeated.
Sundiata then aimed an arrow at
Sumaguru, and although it only
grazed Sumanguru's shoulder, it
drained him of all magic, and
Sumanguru was defeated.

40. Mansa Musa ( ), king of Mali, developed the gold and salt trade of Mali. The kingdom became very powerful and rich.
Mansu Musa: Lord of the Negroes of Guinea. (Photo courtesy of History of Africa)

41. Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca, a holy city in Arabia, in 1324.
60,000 servants and followers
80 camels carrying
4,000 + pounds of gold
500 of his servants carried a staff of pure gold

42. Mansa Musa also built many beautiful mosques
in western Africa.

43. When Mansa Musa died, no kings as powerful as he followed
When Mansa Musa died, no kings as powerful as he followed. So, Mali weakened. Eventually, Berbers and others came into the area to claim kingdom’s territory. Although Mali fell, the kingdom of Songhay would rise in its place.
Berbers (1893)

44. Songhay

45. Check out the various pictures.
This map was created in The same trade routes were used by the merchants of the Songhay kingdom.
Check out the various pictures.

46. The picture above is one artist’s idea of what the great Songhay leader, Sunni Ali might have looked like. Sunni Ali saw that the kingdom of Mali was weakening and he led his soldiers to conquer the area. He began the kingdom of Songhay. He also set up a complex government to rule all the lands he had conquered.

47. Sunni Ali died in 1492 CE. His son took over the rule of Songhay but he did not accept Islam as a religion. Islam was accepted as a religion by many people in northern Africa. One of Sunni Ali’s generals, named Muhammad Ture, overthrew the new king and made himself king of Songhay. Ture was a follower of Islam (Muslim) and so he made Islam the religion of his kingdom.

48. (Photo courtesy of African Origin of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop)
Songhay remained a rich and strong kingdom under Muhammad Ture’s rule. It had a complex government centered in the city of Gao, and great centers of learning. But later rulers were not as powerful. In the late 1500s, Morocco invaded Songhay to take its rich trade routes. Moroccans had a new weapon, the gun, and the army of Songhay did not. This led to the fall of Songhay.

49. Silk, Ceramics, Beads, Islam from Europe and Asia
Salt
Timbuktu
Gao
Jenne
Gold, Ivory, Wood, Slaves
All three kingdoms of West Africa relied on trade for their strength and wealth.
Coming into West Africa
Coming from Africa and going to Europe and Asia

50. Vibrant trade and interaction between Persians, Arabs, Indians, and Africans
Swahili Coast

51. Swahili Coast
String of cities on coast of East Africa (Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania)
Independent city-states
Linked by trade, common culture and language
Role of merchants from the Arab peninsula, Persia, and India
settled among and intermarried with the Swahili towns' African founders.
By 12th century, Swahili culture exhibited Arab and Asian cultural influences (e.g., architecture, mixed religion)
Islam: well-established along the Swahili Coast by 12th century, though elements of indigenous African religions remained.
For centuries, Swahili merchants served as middlemen, exporting products from the East African interior in exchange for goods purchased from Indian Ocean merchant ships.

53. Decorative Arts: Door from S.C.

54. Great Zimbabwe

55. Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe Shona-speaking people No written records
Most famous stone building in southern Africa
built out of granite over a long period, beginning in 1200 and ending in 1450
Arrogant Europeans did not believe Africans built
Wealthy kingdom due to cattle and gold
No direct control over gold mines, managed gold trade, bought in exchange for cattle.
In turn, they traded gold to Swahili Coast

57. Great Zimbabwe

58. Great Zimbabwe Decline
environmental: overgrazing and drought caused the soil on the Zimbabwe Plateau to become exhausted and led to famine.
OR, moved in order to maximize their exploitation of the gold trade network.
By 1500, abandoned.