Bellwork

1
Bellwork

• How important was gold to the previous empires we
  discussed in the last lesson?
• What misconception was created by the abundance
  of gold in Africa?

2
World History

• Section 4, Unit 2
• Eastern City-States and Southern Empires

3
Objectives

• Recall earlier discussions on the Aksumites and
  Eastern Africa
• Describe how the language of Swahili was formed.
• Identify great cities and empires following the
  fall of Aksum in the Eastern Africa and Southern
  Africa.
• Describe the effects of Islam on the Eastern
  Africa.

4
Where we left off

• The last time we discussed Eastern Africa, we
  discussed the Kingdom of Aksum, which had taken
  control of much Eastern Africa, including Nubia.
• With this region under their control, the
  Aksumites traded with Arabia, Persia, India, and
  Rome.

Question Despite their power, why did the
kingdom of Aksum eventually fall?
5
Power struggle

• However, in 600s, when the Muslims forces gained
  control over Arabia and North Africa, they cut
  Aksum off from their ports near the Red Sea.
• While Aksum had to relocate and regain power,
  other cities on the East Coast of Africa were
  thriving on the Indian Ocean trade.

6
East Coast Trading Cities

• By 1100, waves of Africans had migrated from
  Central Africa to the east coast, where they
  established fishing and farming villages.
• Slowly, these coastal villages grew into bustling
  seaports, built on trade between East African
  merchants and Arabian traders who would meet in
  these villages.

7
Swahili

• As trade increased between East Africans and
  those from the Middle East- Arabs and Persians- a
  new language blended between Arabic and the
  native African language, Bantu.

8
Swahili

• These two languages created the Swahili language.
  
• This language was formed by a mixing of ancestry
  between Arabic peoples and Africans.

9
Trade

• Persian traders began to move south from the Horn
  of Africa and brought with them Asian
  manufactured goods to Africa and brought raw
  materials from Africa to Asia.

10
Trade

• From Asia, Persian merchants sold fine porcelain,
  jewels, and cotton cloth from India and China.
• In Africa, these traders would buy from the
  African merchants ivory, gold, ambergris, and
  various animal products to carry to Arabia.

11
Effect of Trade

• This increase in trade along the eastern seaboard
  created new towns and, by 1300, more than 35
  trading cities dotted the coast of Eastern
  Africa.
• Much like the empires of Western Africa, who
  became wealthy by controlling trade within their
  region, Eastern Africa got wealthy by controlling
  all incoming and outgoing trade.
• In some cases, some cities even manufactured
  goods for export.

12
Kilwa

• Kilwa, a South-Eastern African port city, grew
  very rich and powerful due to this trade.
• Kilwa grew wealthy because it was the farthest
  south city a Indian merchant ship could ride on
  the monsoon winds from India.
• The city became a port for Southern African goods
  and Asian goods.

13
Kilwa

• Kilwa also expanded its power by taking control
  of the gold trade in southern Africa.
• Having done this, Kilwa was able to become the
  wealthiest coastal city-state in Africa at this
  time.

14
Trade Routes
Kilwa
15
Question

• How did Muslims spread their religion in
• Northern Africa?
• Conquest
• Western Africa?
• Trade and Commerce

16
Islamic Influences

• Much like in Western Africa, Muslim traders
  introduced Islam to the East African coast
  through commerce and trade.
• Even the smallest towns in there region often had
  a mosque for the faithful.
• By this time, most government officials and
  wealthy merchants had become Muslim.

17
Muslims

• Most of the rulers, government officials, and
  merchants were Muslim.
• However, the vast majority of people along the
  Eastern African coast held on to their
  traditional religious beliefs.

18
Enslavement

• Aside from trading goods, Arab traders exported
  one other good from Africa slaves.
• Traders sent Africans acquired through kidnapping
  and raids to markets in Arabia, Persia, and Iraq.
  
• The wealthy in these nations often bought
  enslaved people to do the more bothersome
  domestic tasks.

19
Enslavement

• The enslavement of Africans was quite popular.
• Muslim traders shipped them to India, where
  Indians would use Africans as soldiers.
• In Asia, Africans sometimes worked as household
  servants in China.

20
Enslavement

• While East Africans were trading African slaves
  early in their history, the trade was actually
  quite small only about 1,000 slaves a year.
• The uptick in African slaves did not occur until
  the 1700s.

Question Why did the slave trade increase during
the 1700s? By the 1700s, Europeans began to
demand Africans to do slave labor in the colonies
throughout the Americas.
21
Trade and South Africa

• The gold and ivory that helped make coastal
  city-states grow rich such as Kilwa- came from
  the interior of the southern Africa.
• In Southeastern Africa, the Shona people
  established a city called Great Zimbabwe, which
  grew into an empire built on the gold trade.

22
Great Zimbabwe

• By 1000, the Shona people had claimed the
  fertile, well-watered plateau between Zambez and
  Limpopo rivers in modern Zimbabwe.
• The area is well suited for farming and cattle
  raising.

23
Great Zimbabwe

• Great Zimbabwe also had economic advantages.
• It stood near an important trade route linking
  the inland gold-fields with the coastal trading
  cities-- like Sofala.
• Sometime around 1000, Great Zimbabwe gained
  control of these trade routes and, by the 1200s,
  became a capital of a thriving state the Kingdom
  of Zimbabwe

24
Great Zimbabwe

• Great Zimbabwe taxed those who traveled these
  routes and demanded payment from the less
  powerful chiefs.
• By the 1400s, Great Zimbabwe was an economic,
  political, and religious center of the empire.

25
Ruins of Zimbabwe

• However, by 1450, the city of Great Zimbabwe was
  abandoned.
• No one is sure why.
• According to theory, its very likely that the
  cattle had worn out the grasslands and that
  resources became too scarce to support a large
  population.

26
Mutota

• About 30 years prior to the fall of Great
  Zimbabwe, Shona tradition tells the story of a
  man named Mutota who left the city in 1420 to
  find a new source of salt.

27
Mutota

• Traveling north, he settled in a valley with
  fertile soil, good rainfall, and ample wood.
• Here, he founded a new state to replace Great
  Zimbabwe and, as it grew, Mutota used his army to
  dominate the people living in the area and force
  them to make payments to him.

28
Mutota

• The conquered peoples called Mutota and his
  successors mwene mutapa, meaning conqueror.
• Under Mutota, the new Mutapa Empire was founded.
• By the time Mutota died, the Mutapa Empire had
  conquered all of what is now Zimbabwe except the
  eastern portion.

29
Mutapa Empire

• By 1480, Mutotas son Matope claimed control of
  the area along the Zambezi River to the Indian
  Ocean coast.
• From here, the Mutapa Empire was able to mine
  gold deposited in the river and streams.
• As well, the Mutapa rulers forced those people in
  conquered areas to mine gold for them.

30
Interference

• By the 1500s, the Portuguese (who by this time
  have expanded into trading with India) attempted
  to the conquer the Mutapa Empire.
• They were unsuccessful at defeating them in this
  fashion, but instead attempted to defeat the
  empire by interfering with their politics.

31
Portuguese

• The Portuguese helped to depose one ruler and put
  one they could control onto the throne.
• These attempts would increase Portuguese control
  in the area, although Mutapa would continue to be
  a independent state for centuries to come.

32
Portuguese

• The Portuguese, however, would continue to have a
  strong presence in East Africa.
• In 1488, the Portuguese ships had conquered
  several eastern African port cities with the goal
  of establishing a strong trading presence.
• Portuguese wanted the wealth and power of the
  eastern cities, rather than simply trade with
  them.

33
Africa

• In the last few lessons, we have discussed the
  changes in Africa throughout history. We saw the
  beginnings of African culture from nomadic
  cultures to large scale empires.
• When we return to Africa, we are going to see the
  effects of further European interference in
  African affairs from European colonization in
  Africa to the African slave trade.

34
Questions?

• If you have any questions, please ask now.

35
Next Lesson

• In the next lesson, we are going to move farther
  East and discuss the Mongol Empire.

36
Review

• Compare Great Zimbabwe to the previously
  discussed Kingdom of Ghana.
• How did they both control trade?
• What was the role of gold in their society?
• How did each kingdom treat the smaller groups
  from surrounding lands?
• Why did the Portuguese want to conquer the
  eastern African cities?
• Name at least four (4) goods that were traded
  between Africa and Asia.
• Where did Eastern Africans get their slaves from?
  Why did the African slave trade increase in the
  1700s?
• What might have been the reason that the city of
  Great Zimbabwe was abandoned?