Changes & Continuities in Sub Saharan Africa
CHART #2: Thematic Organization
COMPARISON THEMES (SCRIPTED):1. Politics 2. Social Structure 3. Economics/Interactions
TIME PERIODS: 1. 400-600 CE 2. 600-1000 CE 3. 1000-1450 CE
THESIS
As the political and social structures of Sub-Saharan Africa developed during the years 400 - 1450 C.E., hierarchy structures based on kinship were maintained, however self-contained city-states grew into large empires.
BEGINNING TIME PERIOD INTERIM TIME PERIOD
END TIME
PERIOD
GLOBAL
CONTEXT
1st THEME’S
TOPIC
SENTENCE
Politics
During much of the post-classical period, political structures
evolved and diversified throughout sub saharan Africa.
Describe the theme at the beginning of the period
People along the Niger River created a distinctive city-based civilization. They were not encompassed in a larger imperial system. Nor were they like the city-states of ancient Mesopotamia, in which each city had its own centralized political structures, embodied in a monarch and his accompanying bureaucracy. They were “cities without citadels,” complex urban centers that operated without the coercive authority of a state.
Key Changes and/or Continuities in theme from previous period
The Bantu speaking peoples began to create distinct societies. They organized themselves without any formal political specialists at all. They made decisions, resolved conflicts, and maintained order by using kinship structures or lineage principles supplemented by age grades, which joined men of a particular generation together across various lineages. Elsewhere, lineage heads who acquired a measure of personal wealth or who proved skillful at meditating between the local spirits and the people might evolve into chiefs with a modest political authority.
By 700s, a farming group of people called the Soninke built an
COMPARISON THEMES (SCRIPTED):1. Politics 2. Social Structure 3. Economics/Interactions
TIME PERIODS: 1. 400-600 CE 2. 600-1000 CE 3. 1000-1450 CE
THESIS
As the political and social structures of Sub-Saharan Africa developed during the years 400 - 1450 C.E., hierarchy structures based on kinship were maintained, however self-contained city-states grew into large empires.
BEGINNING TIME PERIOD INTERIM TIME PERIOD
END TIME
PERIOD
GLOBAL
CONTEXT
1st THEME’S
TOPIC
SENTENCE
Politics
During much of the post-classical period, political structures
evolved and diversified throughout sub saharan Africa.
Describe the theme at the beginning of the period
People along the Niger River created a distinctive city-based civilization. They were not encompassed in a larger imperial system. Nor were they like the city-states of ancient Mesopotamia, in which each city had its own centralized political structures, embodied in a monarch and his accompanying bureaucracy. They were “cities without citadels,” complex urban centers that operated without the coercive authority of a state.
Key Changes and/or Continuities in theme from previous period
The Bantu speaking peoples began to create distinct societies. They organized themselves without any formal political specialists at all. They made decisions, resolved conflicts, and maintained order by using kinship structures or lineage principles supplemented by age grades, which joined men of a particular generation together across various lineages. Elsewhere, lineage heads who acquired a measure of personal wealth or who proved skillful at meditating between the local spirits and the people might evolve into chiefs with a modest political authority.
By 700s, a farming group of people called the Soninke built an