State Building in Africa Learning Objective Explain how

State Building in Africa

Learning Objective Explain how and why states in Africa developed and changed over time.

Note: Much of the discussion of states in Africa will be during the next Unit (Unit 2) which deals with trade during this time period. Think of this as an introduction to African societies.

Bantu Migrations Became the dominant culture of Sub -Saharan Africa Displaced local people due to Iron technology Agriculture Diseases Not an invasion, many waves of migrations over hundreds of years

Bantu Society Polytheistic Practiced ancestor veneration Small Chiefdoms and Kin-Based societies Matrilineal (NOT matriarchal)

States we need to Know Great Zimbabwe Ethiopia Hausa kingdoms Mali Swahili City-States Note: those listed in red are specifically tested in Unit II, but we might as well mention them now

Great Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe City, Center of Zimbabwe Kingdom Now in ruins (in the modern African country of Zimbabwe) stone structures were built between about 1250 and 1450, Trading center Gold Linked interior Africa to the Swahili and Indian Ocean

Great Zimbabwe, from Strayer Hundreds of miles inland, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, lay rich sources of gold, much in demand on the Swahili coast. The emergence of a powerful state, known as Great Zimbabwe, seems clearly connected to the growing trade in gold to the coast as well as to the wealth embodied in its large herds of cattle. At its peak between 1250 and 1350, Great Zimbabwe had the resources and the labor power to construct huge stone enclosures entirely without mortar, with walls sixteen feet thick and thirty-two feet tall. “[It] must have been an astonishing sight, ” writes a recent scholar, "for the subordinate chiefs and kings who would have come there to seek favors at court. ” Here in the interior of southeastern Africa lay yet another example of the reach and transforming power of Indian Ocean commerce.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia Grew out of older Kingdom of Axum Embraced Christianity “A Christian Island in sea of Islam” Cut off from the rest of the Christian world, leads to? Unique Christian Culture Syncretism Ancestor Veneration Belief in Spirits Creation of 11 Rock Churches

Hausa Kingdoms Series of kingdoms in present day Nigeria Between Niger River and Lake Chad Shared culture, not unified Active in trade

Hausa Continued Linked in the Trans. Saharan trade Exported slaves, leather, gold, cloth, salt, kola nuts, animal hides, and henna Islam was brought through trade

Mali

Mali West African Trading Kingdom founded by Sundiata Gold and Salt Trade Famous city of Timbuktu Leader Mansa Musa goes on famous Hajj to Mecca

Swahili-City States Active in the Indian Ocean Trade Links Africa to the Indian Ocean Arabs, Persians, Indians and Chinese Blended Bantu and Arabic culture (in the language too) Muslim