Part I Becoming African

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Part I Becoming African

• Chapter 1
• Africa

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A Satellite View
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I. A Huge and Diverse Land

• 2nd largest continent in the world
• 10 of the worlds population.
• 2 ½ times the size of the U.S.

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• From North to South
• several climatic zones
• Desert, savannah, rain forest, mountain ranges

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Mediterranean Sea
Atlas Mts.
Libyan Desert
The Complete Topography Of AFRICA
Tropic of Cancer 20 N
Red Sea
Sahara Desert
Nile River
Sahel
Niger River
L. Chad--gt
Great Rift Valley
lt--Gulf of Aden
L. Albert--gt
? Mt. Kenya
Equator 0
Congo River
L. Victoria
? Mt. Kilimanjaro
Indian Ocean
L. Tanganyika-gt
Ruwenzori Mts.
Atlantic Ocean
Zambezi River
Namib Desert
Kalahari Desert
Limpopo River
Tropic of Capricorn20 S
Orange River
Drajensburg Mts.
Pacific Ocean
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II. Birthplace of Humanity

• Fossil and genetic evidence
• Out-of-Africa model
• Multiregional model
• Eve model
• All modern humans from a single African woman

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Birthplace of Humanity

• Origins of humanity in Savannah regions of Africa
• All people today descendants of beings who lived
  in Africa millions of years ago
• Paleoanthropologists believe
• Homo sapiens evolved from homo erectus

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Out-of-Africa model

• Modern humans emerged 200,000 years ago
• Migrated to the rest of the world 100,000 years
  ago

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III. Ancient Civilizations

• Race debate
• Black Egyptians colonized ancient Greece
• Became the originators of Western civilization
• Modern racial categories irrelevant to ancient
  Egypt
• Egypt influenced Greek and Western civilization

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Egyptian Civilization

• What is the racial identity of Egyptians?
• Why is this argument debated?

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Egyptian Society

• Patrilineal/patriarchal
• Male dominated
• Hierarchical
• Warriors, priests, merchants, artisans, peasants
• Comprehensive bureaucracy

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Egyptian Society (cont.)

• Women
• Owned property
• Managed household slaves
• Educated their children
• Held public office
• Served as priests
• Operated businesses

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Egyptian Society (cont.)

• Polytheistic religion
• Re (Ra) the sun god
• Osiris god of the Nile
• Immortality
• Personal and state combined in kings

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Our Main Focus!
West African Empires Civilizations
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IV. West Africa

• Physically, ethnically, and culturally diverse
• Savannah and forest
• Home to a variety of cultures and languages
• Divided labor by gender
• Lived in villages composed of extended families

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West Africa

• Accorded semi-divine status to their kings
• Cultivated crops
• Tended domesticated animals
• Produced iron tools and weapons

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West Africa

• Trade with North Africa
• Essential part of the economy and kingdoms

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Ghana Empire 4c-11c Means King
Gold Money, Ghana/Ivory Coast
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Key Economic Info - Ghana

• Known by Europeans as the richest kingdom in
  Western Africa
• Use of camels in trade created riches!

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Key Economic Info - Ghana

• Exports slaves, peppers and gold (not mined,
  but taxed by kings passing through empire
• Imports horses, silk, cotton and . . .

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Salt
Why is it so important?
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Ghana

• First known kingdom in the western Sudan
• Founded between 4th and 8th centuries CE
• Warfare and iron weapons created an empire
• Commerce and religion destroyed Ghana in the 12th
  century

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Major Focus Gold-Salt Trade
Berbers
SALT
GOLD
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Empire of Mali, 1230-1468

• Sundiata
• Reigned 1210-1260
• Led the Mandinka to victory over the Sosso in
  1235

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Empire of Mali, 1230-1468

• Larger than Ghana
• Greater rainfall
• More crops
• Control of gold mines
• Population reached eight million

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Mali Empire 13c-15c (rose out of Ghanas
decline)
SALT
GOLD
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Empire of Mali (cont.)

• Commerce, bureaucracy and scholarship
• Most merchants and rulers
• Moslems by 1210s
• Converted to gain stature among Arab states

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Mali

• Very similar to Ghana
• Islam grew in region most merchants and govt
  officials were of the Muslim faith
• Timbuktu key city and major hub of trade and
  Islamic education

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Empire of Mali (cont.)

• Timbuktu
• Major trading hub
• Gold, slaves, and salt
• Center of Islamic learning 13th century
• 150 Islamic schools
• Cosmopolitan community
• Religious and ethnic toleration common

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Timbuktu-Heavenly Clay
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Timbuktu Rooftop, Mosque
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Marketplace near the Niger River
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Mosque in Gao
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Great Mosque at Djenne, Mali
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Distant Mosque at Djenne, Mali
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Sundiata 1210-1260
http//www.youtube.com/watch?va1WDAfT7kcU
Lion Prince
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• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vNMk2mZcQCokfeature
  related

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Empire of Mali (cont.)

• Mansa Musa
• Reigned 1312-1337
• Pilgrimage across Africa to Mecca in Arabia
• Empire declined with Musas death

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Mansa Musa r. 1312-1337
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European Map
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Empire of Songhai, 1461-1591

• The last and largest of the Sudanese empires
• Sunni Ali
• Reigned 1464-1492
• Conquered people paid tribute
• Generally ran their own affairs

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Songhai Empire 15c-16c
SALT
GOLD
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Songhai (or Songhay)

• Had seceded from Mali in 1375
• Great traders and warriors
• Last and largest of western Sudanese empires

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Sunni Ali r.1464-1492
First leader after capture of Timbuktu Led
building of Songhai Empire
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Empire of Songhai (cont.)

• -- Askia Muhammad Toure
• Reigned 1492-1528
• Devout Moslem

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Askia Mohammed r.1493-1529
Led successful revolt against Sunni Alis
son Enlarged empire significantly
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Askia Mohammeds Tomb 1443-1538
Gao, Mali
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Empire of Songhai (cont.)

• Expanded empire
• Established bureaucratic trade regulation
• Used his power to spread Islam within the empire

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Empire of Songhai (cont.)

• Askia Daud
• Reigned 1549-1582
• Songhai failed to adapt to changing political
  atmosphere
• Portuguese established trading centers along the
  Guinea coast

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Empire of Songhai

• Arab rulers of North Africa threatened with loss
  of trade
• King of Morocco sent mercenaries to Songhai in
  1591

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Empire of Songhai

• Defeated the Songhai army and empire fell apart
• When Moroccans left the region
• West Africa without a government powerful enough
  to stop the Portuguese

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West African Forest Region

• Cultural diversification
• Small powerful kingdoms
• Benin City
• Little influenced by Islam or Christianity

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West African Forest Region

• Trading center
• Gold, peppers, ivory, and slaves
• By 17th century dependent on slave trade

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V. Kongo and Angola

• Kongo-Angola region
• Trade with the interior of the continent
• Late 15th century rulers more welcoming of
  Portuguese
• Nzinga Mbemba tried to convert kingdom to
  Christianity
• Unrest, Portuguese greed, and slave trade destroy
  the kingdom

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VI. West African Society and Culture

• Most were farmers
• Villages and hamlets
• Extended families and clans
• Some patrilineal, others matrilineal
• Produced cotton for clothes
• Variety of crops

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Women

• Served as government officials in ancient Ghana
• Enslaved women in the royal court of Dahomey also
  held official posts
• Increased sexual freedoms
• West African women could have male friends apart
  from relatives

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Women (cont.)

• Sande a secret society for women
• Taught sex education to girls
• Initiated into adulthood
• (Poro male secret society)

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Women (cont.)

• Both societies established standards of
• Male and female conduct
• Emphasized female virtue and male honor

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Class and Slavery

• Royalty
• Landed nobles, warriors, peasants and bureaucrats
• Lower classes
• Artisans and laborers blacksmiths, butchers,
  tanners, and oral historians called griots

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Class and Slavery

• Slavery
• Common in West Africa
• More so in the savannah region than in forest
  areas
• Variety of forms
• Not necessarily a permanent condition

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Class and Slavery (cont.)

• Islamic regions
• Masters responsible for slaves religious
  well-being
• Non-Islamic regions children of slaves
• Legal rights
• Not to be sold from the land they occupied

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Class and Slavery (cont.)

• Slaves in royal courts or in the armies
• Owned property and often held power over free
  people
• Agricultural slaves
• Less fortunate
• Work and privilege for second and third
  generation offspring similar to free people

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Religion

• 15th century West Africa
• Islam
• Introduced by Arab traders
• More prevalent in cosmopolitan areas
• The religion of merchants and bureaucrats
• Fostered learning and building mosques in West
  African cities

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Religion (cont.)

• Indigenous religions
• Strongest in forest areas
• Polytheistic and animistic
• One creator God and a host of lesser gods

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Religion (cont.)

• Saw the force of God in all things
• Ancestor worship, magicians, and oracles
• Ceremonies and animal sacrifices

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Art and Music

• Related to religious practices
• Excelled in woodcarving and sculpture
• Wooden masks and terra-cotta figurines
• Used in funerals, medical practices, and in
  coming-of-age ceremonies
• Musical instruments
• Drums, xylophones, bells, flutes, and mbanzas

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Literature

• Oral histories, poetry, and tales
• Specially trained poets and musicians
• Served kings and nobles
• Views of common people also represented

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Literature

• Prose tales
• Human characters
• Tales about creation, success, romance
• Animal characters
• Trickster tales
• Entertained and taught lessons

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VII. Conclusion

• The history of African Americans begins in West
  Africa.
• Family organization, work habits, language,
  religious beliefs, legends, and more came to
  America and influenced the way African Americans
  and others lived in their new land.