Early Civilizations in Africa

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• Early Civilizations in Africa

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The Continent of Africa
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The Emergence of Civilization

• The Land
• 5,000 miles long
• Sahara is the great divide
• Kush
• Agriculture may have first appeared in Nubia
  rather than the lower Nile valley
• Perhaps the site of the first true African
  kingdom
• Nubia became an Egyptian tributary
• Disintegration of the Egyptian New Kingdom (end
  of second millennium B.C.E.) resulted in the
  independent state of Kush
• Kush became a major trading state
• Little known about the society of Kush
• Seems to have been widespread material prosperity

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Ancient Ethiopia and Nubia
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Nubia / Kush

• Egyptians withdrew from Nubia, ca. 1000 BCE
• Southern region became known to them as "Kush
• Trade links continued, but the two realms
  separated politically.

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Nubia / Kush

• 730 BCE, new rulers of independent Kush felt
  strong enough to invade Egypt seized Thebes
• Ruled Egypt for 60 years-a period known as the
  25th ("Ethiopian/Nubian") dynasty
• Assyrian invasion of Lower Egypt (ca. 670 BCE),
  withdrew to Nubia
• Moved their administrative center further south,
  from Napata to Meroe, ca. 550 BCE

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Nubia / Kush

• Development of iron technology in Meroe
• The region of Meroe supported agriculture and
  herding
• Very well situated for trade
• gold
• ostrich feathers
• ebony
• ivory
• leopard skins
• elephants
• iron

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Nubia / Kush

• Trade across the desert to Egypt or via Red Sea
  port to several destinations
• Especially during the period of Greek/Roman
  control of Egypt
• Distinctive features of Kushite civilization
  emerged, particularly after the move to Meroe

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Meroe Transitional Stage 310-270 BC

• It was assumed that the Kingdom of Kush was at
  this time divided into a northern (Napatan)
  territory with its capital at Napata and a
  southern (Meriotic) territory with its capital at
  Meroe.
• There is a greater emphasis on Amun of Napata
  as a traditional god.
• In their cartouches, all the rulers of this
  period add to their own names the epithet
  beloved of Amun.

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Meroe Early Meroitic Period 270-90 BC

• The influence of the priests of Amun came to an
  end with the transfer of the royal cemetery to
  Meroe.
• The first 3 rulers of the Meroitic Period assumed
  throne names modeled upon rulers of the Egyptian
  Dynasty XXVI.
• During the reign of King Tanyidamani (110-90 BC),
  the oldest datable text of significant length
  written in the Meroitic language is found on a
  stelae containing a detailed government report
  and temple endowments.
• Henceforth, Meroitic hieroglyphs were
  increasingly used and soon replaced Egyptian
  writing altogether.

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Middle Meroitic Period 90 BC0 AD

• The 1st century BC can in many ways be regarded
  as a golden age the height of Meroitic power.
• The strong concentration of reigning queens in
  this period is striking.
• Increasing Meroitic activity in Lower Nubia is
  evident and this eventually leads to a military
  confrontation with the Romans.

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Late Meroitic Period 0 AD320 AD

• This period began with King Natakami (0-20 AD).
  He managed to introduce a new smaller size
  pyramid and a new kind of chapel decoration.
• Natakami also carried out renovations for old
  temples and built new ones.
• There are very few observable decisive changes
  within this period and it is generally regarded
  as marking the decline and fall of the Meroitic
  Kingdom.

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Language

• Local (Meroitic) replaced Egyptian as language of
  court.
• New alphabetic script developed (remains
  un-deciphered today)
• The Meroitic script has a cursive and more rarely
  used hieroglyphic form.
• The individual characters derived from Egyptian
  demotic script and hieroglyphs.
• The Meroitic system of writing differs
  fundamentally from that of the Egyptian.
• The complicated Egyptian system was reduced to a
  simple alphabet of 23 symbols.
• Meroitic script includes vowel notations.
• The Meroitic language was almost exclusively the
  written language

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Religion and Art

• lion god
• Apedemek (lion's head on body of snake)
• The elephant had great significance in Meroe,
  particularly in Musawwarat es-Sufra where it was
  frequently represented in relief and sculpture.
• Distinctive art
• Portrayals of tropical African animals on
• Art objects
• Pottery
• Public sculptures
• The minor arts especially that of goldsmiths,
  continued to develop and reached high levels of
  achievement.

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Economic Organization

• Rulers were not able to exert as much direct
  control over their subjects
• Slightly less autocratic than Egypt.
• Nobility priesthood occasionally removed kings.
• The king's mother was traditionally a key
  political player ("kingmaker").

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Decline

• Kingdom declined by CE 300
• City of Meroe itself was abandoned between CE
  300-350
• Major factors in its decline included
• Over-exploitation of the environment
• The land became agriculturally untenable
• Iron smelting had consumed most of the forests
  for charcoal
• Widespread erosion ensued
• Decline of Roman power in Egypt affected Meroe as
  well
• Demand for luxury goods fell
• New power of Aksum took control of the Red Sea
  trade, and even invaded region of Meroe ca. CE 350

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Axum, Son of Saba

• Conquered Kush in first millennium C.E.
• Axum founded as a colony of the kingdom of Saba
  (Sheba) in first millennium B.C.E.
• Saba a trading state, goods from South Asia to
  the Mediterranean
• Axum continued the trade after Saba declined
• Location on trade routes responsible for
  prosperity
• Competed for control of ivory trade
• Followed Egyptian Christianity (Coptic)
• Would be renamed Ethiopia
• Called the hermit kingdom by Europeans

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Axum

• ca. 500 BCE, peoples from southwestern Arabia
  migrated across Red Sea
• Established farming settlements and trading
  centers on African coast (particularly Adulis)
• In order to take advantage of ivory trade for
  Persia and India
• Came to dominate the Red Sea trade, already in
  the period of Ptolemaic Egypt
• This facilitated the establishment of their
  independent inland state at Aksum
• Eventually edged out Meroe for domination of Red
  Sea Indian Ocean trade by 300.

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Axum Prosperity

• Aksum's economic well-being was, dependent upon
  trade
• The king's power relied on the tax revenues
  raised on import/export duties
• Important export goods included
• ivory
• slaves
• crystal
• brass
• copper
• frankincense
• Myrrh
• Prosperity was reflected in ambitious building
  projects
• stone stelae tall, thin columns marking notable
  gravesites
• adopted Christianity in 4th century CE

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Axum Decline

• Aksum was eventually confronted by two principal
  economic political challenges
• Persian Empire, particularly in the 6th-century
  Arabian trade
• Islamic Caliphate presented a political threat,
• Trade also began to shift more to the Persian
  Gulf, away from Red Sea
• However, over-exploitation of land and forests
  also played a major role in Aksum's decline
• Managed to avoid incorporation into the Islamic
  world system,
• The effect of cultural isolation
• The eventual development of very distinctive
  Ethiopian Christianity

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The Sahara and Its Environs

• From 8000 to 4000 B.C.E. a warm, humid climate
  that created lakes, ponds, grasslands, and game
• Desiccation began in 6th and 5th millennium
  B.C.E.
• After 3000 B.C.E. and farming spread to the
  savannas to the south Berbers were
  intermediaries
• Carthage became focal point of trans-Saharan
  trade
• Ironworking by the people along the Niger River
  in the middle of the first millennium B.C.E., Nok
  culture

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East and Southern Africa

• Bantu language group
• Introduced cultivation of crops and ironworking
• The Bantu settled into rural communities
• Commercial trade
• Egyptians may have arrived looking for trade
  goods
• Rhapta a commercial metropolis
• Trade across the Indian Ocean
• Khoisan language group

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Ancient Africa
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The Coming of Islam

• African Religious Beliefs before Islam
• Common beliefs
• Single creator god
• Sometimes accompanied by a pantheon of lesser
  gods
• Most believed in an afterlife in which ancestral
  souls floated in the atmosphere through eternity
• Closely connected to importance of ancestors and
  lineage
• Rituals very important
• Challenge by Islam but not always replaced
  synthesized

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The Coming of Islam (cont.d)

• North Africa
• Arab forces seized the Nile delta of Egypt in 641
• New capital at Cairo
• Arabs welcome due to high taxes and periodic
  persecution of Coptic Christians by Byzantines
• Arabs seize Carthage in 690, called Al Maghrib
• Berbers resisted for many years
• The Kingdom of Ethiopia A Christian Island in a
  Muslim Sea
• Axum began to decline
• Shift in trade routes and overexploited
  agriculture
• Muslim trading states on the African coast of the
  Red Sea transforming Axum into an isolated
  agricultural society
• Source of ivory, resins, and slaves
• Attacked by Muslim state of Adal in early 14th
  century
• Became a Christian state in mid-twelfth century

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East Africa The Land of Zanj

• Legend says a Persian and his six sons founded
  the trading centers on the coast of East Africa
• Self-governing city-states
• Trade with the interior
• Trade with the Indian Ocean, China, and along the
  coast
• Mixed African-Arab culture
• Mixed culture and language called Swahili
• Conversion to Islam grows

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The Emergence of States in Africa
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The States of West Africa

• Expansion of Islam has impact on political system
• Introduction of Arabic for a writing system
• Ghana
• Majority of people were farmers
• Primary reason for Ghanas growth was gold
• Trans-Saharan trade with Ghana becomes very
  important
• Divine right monarchy assisted by hereditary
  aristocracy
• Kings did not convert to Islam, but many of their
  subjects did
• Mali
• Ruinous wars by the twelfth century in Ghana
• New states of Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, and
  Hausa states
• Greatest state was Mali
• Gold trade
• Farming in the savanna region
• Mansa Musa (1312-1337), king, encouraged Islam
• Timbuktu becomes center of trade, religion and
  learning

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Trans-Saharan Trade Routes
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States and Stateless Societies in Southern Africa

• From the basin of the Congo River to the Cape of
  Good Hope
• Stateless society
• Progress made with regional trade
• Zimbabwe (sacred house)
• Capital known as Great Zimbabwe
• Benefited from trade between interior and coast
• Evidence of great wealth, but Great Zimbabwe
  abandoned
• The Khoi and the San (Bushman) people

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African Society

• African Society
• Urban life
• Village Life
• Role of women
• Slavery

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African Culture

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