Chapter 8 Early Civilizations in Africa

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Chapter 8Early Civilizations in Africa
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The Continent of Africa 1. Africa covers twenty
percent of the earth's land surface. There are
five climatic zones to the continent. In the
north along the Mediterranean are fertile lands
rimmed by mountains. Though unpredictable, there
is sufficient rainfall for agriculture in these
areas. Similar fertile lands are found on the
southwestern Cape of Good Hope. South of the
northern mountains is the great Sahara Desert
stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red
Sea, covering 3.5 million square miles.
Bracketing this and other deserts of Africa is
the sahel, a dry, treeless semi-arid
grass-covered plain. The Sahara gives way to
savannahs and then to tropical rain forests along
the coast in the area of the Niger River. These
forests extend into the interior of central
Africa until met by the mountains, upland
plateaus, and lakes of eastern Africa. In the
East African Rift Valley of modern Kenya,
hominids made their appearance. Further to the
south are the dense jungles of equatorial Africa
watered by the Congo (Zaire) River. These lands
give way to the hills, plateaus, savannahs, and
deserts of the south. 2. While evidence suggests
that agriculture was pursued in the lower Nile
valley around 5000 B.C.E., there may have been
even earlier activity in the area of Nubia at the
confluence of the White and Blue Nile. Here
farmers may have cultivated sorghum and millet on
the upper Nile as early as the eleventh
millennium B.C.E. By at least 3000 B.C.E.
farming had spread throughout the savannas and
between 1500 and 1000 B.C.E. settled agriculture
had reached south into the Rift Valley. From
the Nile valley, agriculture also moved west to
the central and western Sudan. By the first
century B.C.E. settled agriculture was in West
Africa from where it spread to the forests. 3.
By the third millennium B.C.E. the upper and
lower Nile trade of Nubia included ivory, ebony,
frankincense, gold, oils, cotton, and slaves.
Meroe was strategically located at the
intersection of the northern African trade routes
and the Nile. It was here that iron working was
perhaps developed (either introduced indigenously
or brought by the Phoenicians to Egypt). From
the Nile, iron smelting spread west and was
present in West Africa by 250 B.C.E. and
sub-Saharan Africa by 600 C.E. Some evidence,
however, suggests iron smelting took place as
early as 500 B.C.E. in the regions of the Niger
River. 4. One of the most important areas of
West Africa was Ghana with its capital at Saleh,
a city of 15,000-20,000 by the twelfth century.
Emerging in the fifth century C.E. north of the
Senegal and Niger Rivers, it was located near one
of the richest gold producing areas in Africa.
The gold was procured from neighboring people and
transported to Marrakech and Morocco where it was
distributed to the northern world. Ghana also
exported to the Mediterranean ivory, ostrich
feathers, hides, leather goods, and ultimately
slaves. In 992 Ghana captured the Berber town of
Awdaghast which controlled the southern portion
of the major trans-Saharan trade routes. By the
thirteenth century, Ghana was destroyed and in
its place grew several states including Mali,
Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, and the Hausa. Mali
extended from the Atlantic coast to the Niger
River. Timbuktu was not only a main trading
center for the gold that was used to build the
power of Mali but also by the fifteenth century
it had developed into a center of scholarship and
learning. Songhai, at the eastern end of the
Niger, was under Mali's control until 1375. By
the late fifteenth century Songhai dominated the
entire upper Niger and had captured Timbuktu.
Under Songhai trans-Saharan trade reached its
height focusing on gold, slaves, and ivory. At
the end of the sixteenth century Songhai
collapsed. The fourth significant state was
Kanem-Bornu near Lake Chad. Kanem from 1100 to
1500 controlled the trade routes north to the
Mediterranean and east to the Nile. In the
fifteenth century power shifted to
Bornu. Question 1.How did geography shape the
development of ancient Africa?
The Continent of Africa
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Ancient Africa
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• The Land
• Civilization
• Kush
• Meroë
• Trade
• Writing

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Ancient Ethiopia and Nubia 1. The origins of
agriculture in Egypt may have been in the area
called Nubia at the confluence of the White and
Blue Nile. It would appear that crops such as
sorghum and millet were being cultivated as early
as the eleventh millennium B.C.E. By the third
millennium B.C.E. the upper and lower Nile trade
of Nubia included such goods as ivory, ebony,
frankincense, gold, oils, cotton, and slaves. 2.
Neolithic groups were migrating east from the
Sahara Desert by at least 2200 B.C.E. and around
1500 B.C.E. these dark skinned people had created
their own kingdom of Kush. 3. About 750 B.C.E.
the Kushites took advantage of Egyptian decay and
conquered Thebes, the capital of Lower Egypt.
The Kushites, however, soon withdrew back to
their homeland as the Assyrians burst into Egypt
in 670 B.C.E. Their rule centered on the
important trading center of Meroe from which the
Kushites served as the conduit for goods from
Central and East Africa as well as the Red Sea to
Rome and its tributaries. The zenith of Kush was
from 250 B.C.E to 200 C.E. 4. Axum was located
in the northern highlands of Ethiopia. It was
colonized about 500 B.C.E. by the kingdom of Saba
(Sheba) across the Red Sea on the southern tip of
the Arab Peninsula (Yemen). When Saba declined,
Axum became independent. Its prosperity was
based upon trade moving between India and the
Mediterranean. Key was the Red Sea port of
Adulis. Among the items exported were ivory,
frankincense, myrrh, and slaves while imports
included textile, metal goods, wine, and olive
oil. In about 330 C.E. Kush was eliminated as a
rival when it was conquered. 5. The zenith of
Axum was from about 200 to 400 C.E. In the sixth
and seventh centuries the kingdom was
Christianized and the church became Monophysite
in doctrine (the single, unitary nature of
Jesus). Christianity became the tool for
unifying the various chieftains of Axum into the
kingdom of Ethiopia. By the tenth century the
Axumite Kingdom had disappeared, replaced by
Christian Ethiopia. In relative seclusion due to
mountainous and almost inaccessible highlands, a
stable monarchy and distinctive Christian culture
were created. Questions 1. How was Kush an
important link to the Mediterranean
civilizations? 2. What was the role of geography
and location in the rise of Axum and its
successor Ethiopia?
Ancient Ethiopia and Nubia
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• Axum
• Ethiopia
• Kingdom of Saba (Sheba)
• Trade
• Religion
• Sahara
• Climate, Desiccation, c. 5000 B.C.E.
• Agriculture, c. 7000 B.C.E.
• Trade
• East Africa, Land of Zanj
• Bantu language group
• Rhapta
• South Africa
• Khoisan language group

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Trans-Saharan Trade Routes 1. One of the keys to
the trans-Saharan trade was Carthage, established
about 813 B.C.E. in North Africa by Phoenicia.
Carthage did not directly carry out the African
trade but used the nomadic Berbers as
intermediaries. Utilizing camels that were
domesticated sometime at the beginning of the
Christian era, the traders could move about 500
pounds for each animal and travel around
twenty-five miles a day. Merchants usually
walked and guided the animals. Travel, which
could last three months, was predominantly at
night since the desert day temperatures reached
well over a hundred degrees while the low at
night would be in the twenties. One caravan in
the fourteenth century reportedly contained
12,000 camels. After about the fifth century the
Berbers adapted the saddle for the camel thereby
giving them powerful political and military
advantage, especially in controlling the trade
routes. 2. Ancient trade routes included
trans-Saharan links between North Africa and the
Nile River. There was also an ancient route
connecting the Nile and Niger Rivers. Since at
least 130 B.C.E West Africa shipped north and
east gold, precious stones, cola nuts, slaves,
and wild animals. In turn, horses, cattle,
millet, leather, cloth, and weapons came from the
north. 3. One of the most important areas of
West Africa was Ghana with its capital at Saleh,
a city of 15,000-20,000 by the twelfth century.
Emerging in the fifth century C.E. north of the
Senegal and Niger Rivers, it was located near one
of the richest gold producing areas in Africa.
The gold was procured from neighboring people and
transported to Marrakech and Morocco where it was
distributed to the northern world. Ghana also
exported to the Mediterranean ivory, ostrich
feathers, hides, leather goods, and ultimately
slaves. In 992 Ghana captured the Berber town of
Awdaghast which gave it control of the southern
portion of the major trans-Saharan trade routes.
By the thirteenth century, Ghana was destroyed
and in its place grew several states including
Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, and the Hausa. Mali
extended from the Atlantic coast to the Niger
River. Timbuktu was not only one of the main
trading centers from which gold was traded to
build the power of wealth of Mali but also by the
fifteenth century had developed into a great
center of scholarship and learning. Songhai, at
the eastern end of the Niger, was under Mali's
control until 1375. By the late fifteenth
century Songhai dominated the entire upper Niger
and had captured Timbuktu. Under Songhai the
trans-Saharan trade reached its height focusing
on gold and other commodities of West Africa such
as slaves and ivory. At the end of the sixteenth
century Songhai collapsed. The fourth
significant state was Kanem-Bornu near Lake Chad.
Kanem from 1100 to 1500 controlled the trade
routes north to the Mediterranean and east to the
Nile. In the fifteenth century power shifted to
Bornu. Question 1. What was the relationship
between the growth of empire and trade?
Trans-Saharan Trade Routes
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• Coming of Islam to Africa
• Egypt
• Al Maghrib
• Berbers
• Christian Ethiopia
• Axum
• East Africa and Indian Ocean Trade
• Trade
• Swahili

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The Emergence of States in Africa 1. In the
tenth century the Muslim Umayyads of Spain gained
control of Morocco but lost it to the Almoravids
in the middle of the eleventh century. They soon
conquered western Algeria and southern Spain.
The Almoravids were succeeded in 1140 by the
Almohads (Muslim Berbers) from the Atlas
Mountains of Morocco. 2. In 909 a claimant of
descendentcy from Fatimah (Muhammad's daughter)
seized Algeria and Tunisia. By the second half
of the tenth century Egypt had fallen to the
Fatimids who built a new capital at Cairo. Before
the empire crumbled in the eleventh century, they
controlled southern Syria, the Hijaz, and
Yemen. 3. Ghana built its power in the fifth
century on the gold trade coming from the
Senegal and Niger Rivers. It also had
substantial agricultural land that supported a
population of about 200,000. By the thirteenth
century Ghana's empire was destroyed. Nearby
Songhai did not get involved in the gold trade
until the fourteenth century. Its orientation was
toward the forest trade of the lower Niger and
the trans-Saharan trade to eastern Algeria.
Developing between the eighth and ninth
centuries, Kanem's formation was as a nomadic
federation of black tribes that eventually formed
a single people, the Kanuri. These people took
over the sedentary societies of Kanem east of
Lake Chad and later Bornu, west of the lake. By
the thirteenth century Kanem-Bornu controlled the
southern terminus of the trans-Saharan trade
route to the Mediterranean. To the south was
Benin on the southern Niger. Existing at least
by the twelfth century, its villages were
directed by a powerful king in the fifteenth
century. 4. Zimbabwe, south of the Zambezi
River, was located in a rocky, savanna-woodland
watershed far enough inland never to be
influenced by Islam. It was founded by eleventh
century Bantu speakers called the Shona and
flourished until the sixteenth century. The area
consisted of at least 150 settlements that were
apparently involved in the trade of East Africa.
Among its products was gold found to the west and
north and traded to Sofala on the coast. 5.
Ethiopia, centered at Axum, had commercial ties
to Rome, Byzantium, as well as to the east across
the Indian Ocean. It also exercised significant
military and political power in eastern Africa
but in the eighth century the Muslims cut off
Axum's commercial contacts with the Byzantine
Empire. Soon, Ethiopia lost its control of the
Red Sea trade routes. 6. Kongo, located near the
mouth of the Kongo River, was formed in the
fourteenth century by a Bantu prince.
Ultimately, six states were brought under the
Mani Kongo ("lord of the Kongo"). By the 1400s,
Kongo was a bureaucratic monarchy. Question 1.Ho
w did the African states differ in their
organization?
The Emergence of States in Africa
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• State Building in West Africa
• Ghana
• Farming
• Trade
• Mali
• Gold trade
• Mansa Musa (1312-1337)
• Government and Kingship
• Divine right
• Hereditary aristocracy
• City-states

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• States and Stateless Societies in Southern Africa
• Zaire River to the Cape of Good Hope
• Zimbabwe
• Great Zimbabwe
• Trade
• The San (Bushman) people

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• African Society
• Urban life
• Timbuktu
• Merchant class
• Family, village, women
• Role of women
• Slavery
• Religious Beliefs
• Single creator god
• Rituals
• Ancestors
• Islam

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• African Culture
• Painting and Sculpture
• Rock paintings
• Wood carving
• Nok pottery
• Metal work
• Music and Dance
• Rituals
• Architecture
• Pyramid
• Stone pillars
• Stone buildings
• Literature

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Example of Middle Eastern Islamic ironwork on
window