Early Civilizations in Africa

Africas Size
4600 MILES 5 0 0 0 M I L E S

# Second largest continent # 10% of the worlds population

The Continent of Africa

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The Emergence of Civilization

The Land 5,000 miles long Sahara is the great divide Nomadicherders Migration: Bantu peoples
cultivation of crops and

ironworking

Family=basic social unit Extended families/clans Animism: spiritual religion/ancestor worship Griots: specialized storytellers, pass history

Ancient Africa

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Bantu migration spread use of iron across continent

Axum

Axum trading state, goods from South Asia to the Mediterranean Prosperous Control of ivory trade Had written language Followed Coptic Christianity Mixes Christian beliefs and African traditions Would be renamed Ethiopia

Stele, Ezanas Royal Tomb, Aksum (4c)

Christian Church, Lalibela

Christian Church, Lalibela

Coptic Christian Priest

The States of West Africa

Expansion

of Islam

Arabic Gold-Salt Trade Very wealthy Kings did not convert to Islam, people did Gold trade Mansa Musa (1312-1337), encouraged Islam, built university in Timbuktu

Ghana

Mali

Gold-Salt Trade

SALT

Berbers

GOLD

Ghana Empire [4c-11c]

Gold Money, Ghana/Ivory Coast

Salt

King of Ghana
"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 goldembroidered materialsand 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.

Mali Empire [13c-15c]

SALT

GOLD

Timbuktu-Heavenly Clay

Timbuktu Rooftop, Mosque

Great Mosque at Djenne, Mali

Mansa Musa [r. 1312-1337]

East Africa
Self-governing

city-states Trade with the interior, Indian Ocean, China, and along the coast Ex: Zanzibar Mixed African-Arab culture Mixed culture and language called Swahili

Swahili-Speaking Areas of E. Africa

SWAHILI [the coast] = Bantu + some Arabic

Stateless Societies in Southern Africa

From

the basin of the Congo River to the Cape of Good Hope Stateless society: power is not in a government Progress made with regional trade Zimbabwe (Sacred House, Great Stone House)

Capital known as Great Zimbabwe Benefited from trade between interior and coast Evidence of great wealth, but Great Zimbabwe abandoned

Great Zimbabwe [1200-1450]

Great Zimbabwe Street

Great Enclosure, Zimbabwe

African Culture
Painting and Sculpture

Rock paintings, wood carving, pottery, metalwork Often served religious purposes Wide variety of instruments Integration of voice and instrument Music produced for social rituals and educational purposes Pyramid Stone pillars Stone buildings Sometimes reflected Moorish styles Written works did not exist in the early traditional period Professional storytellers, bards Importance of women in passing down oral traditions

Music and Dance

Architecture

Literature