Chapter 8 Africa Civilizations and the Spread of Islam

Chapter 8 – African Civilizations and the
Spread of Islam
•The spread of Islam in Africa linked its regions to the outside world through trade, religion, and politics
•States like Mali and Songhai are built on military power and dynastic alliances
•Parts of sub-Saharan Africa entered into the expanding world network; many others remained isolated
•Christianity and Islam sometimes influenced political and cultural development

Empires of the Western
Sudan
(West/Northwest
Africa)
 th th
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Ghana: 4 – 11 centuries
Mali: 13th – 15th centuries
Songhai: 15th – 16th centuries

•Stateless Societies – varied in size; organized through kinship and lacking the concentration of power found in centralized states •Weaknesses of stateless societies: delayed ability to respond to outside pressures, mobilize for war, undertake large building projects, or create stability for long-distance trade.

Common Elements in
African Society
•Migration of Bantu speakers provided a common linguistic base
•Animistic religion – belief in natural forces personified as gods
•Families, lineages, and clans had an important role in dealing with gods •Deceased ancestors were their link to the spiritual world

•International trade increased in some regions, mainly toward the Islamic world •Both women and men were important in market life
(trade)

The Kingdom of
Nubia/Kush
•Heavily influenced by ancient
Egyptian culture
•Nubia lasts for 1000 years 3000 BCE–
2000 BCE
•Kush - 2000 BCE emerges from
Nubia
•King Piankhi led the Kingdom in the conquest of
Egypt
•City of Meroe center of trade

•Nubia, Kush, Axum and the
Nok all served as a basis for later civilizations that formed
Islamic Africa
•Nubians resisted Muslim incursions until the 13th century.
•Axum – (1st – 6th centuries)
Developed in the Ethiopian highlands; traded with India and the Mediterranean areas to gain
Greek and Arabian cultural influences; conversion of the king to Christianity in 350 C.E. laid the basis for Ethiopian Christian culture •The Ethiopian successors to

^Christian
Churches in the mountains of

The AXUM
•Great geographic location – best of African and Arabic culture •(Why a “great” geographic location?) – HINT = red lines
•TRADE ROUTES
•King Ezana made
Christianity official religion of the Axum

•Jihad - an Islamic term used for holy war waged to purify, spread, or protect the faith. (you SHOULD already know this!)
•Ethiopia – A
Christian kingdom in the highlands of eastern Africa
•Sahel – The extensive grassland belt at the southern edge of the Sahara; an exchange region between north & south Africa
•Christian
Kingdoms: Nubia and Ethiopia

King Lalibela – early 13th century Ethiopian King/ruler; built great rock churches (pg.
175 in textbook)

•Muslim armies pushed westward from Egypt across
Africa
•Conversion to Islam was rapid, but unity divided north Africa into various competing Muslim states •Almoravids: A puritanical Islamic reform movement among the Berber tribes of northern Africa; conquered
Ghana in 1076 CE; built an empire reaching from the

•Ghana – Territory in west
Africa, north of the Senegal and Niger rivers; inhabited by the Soninke people in the 5th
c.
•Soninke called their ruler
“Ghana,” thus was created the name of the Kingdom
•First kingdom on the Niger
River valley
•Gold and Salt main products
•Attacks by Almoravids
(Muslim group) led to decline around 1100-1200 C.E.

•Mali – Next Kingdom to settle on the Niger River
(ca. 1250 C.E.)
•Timbuktu: major city of
Mali (salt and gold major products) •Sundiata – King who created a unified state that became the Mali Empire; died in 1260
•Mansa Musa – Mali’s greatest king. Made a pilgrimage to Mecca during the 14th c. that became legendary because of the wealth distributed along the way; he also

•Agriculture & gold trade, was the economic base of the state of Mali

•Timbuktu – Niger River port city of Mali; had a famous
Muslim university
•Sundiata’s successors in this wealthy state extended
Mali’s control through most of the Niger valley to near the
Atlantic coast.

•Songhai – Successor state to Mali; dominated middle reaches of the Niger valley; capital at Gao
•Muhammad the Great – Extended the boundaries of
Songhai in the mid -16th century
•Songhai people dominated the middle areas of the
Niger valley; Men and women mixed freely; women went unveiled •Sunni Ali Ber – Ruler of Songhai who led forces to dominate the regions along the Niger River; once conquering the region he presided over an efficient hierarchical bureaucracy of ministers and advisors.
Ibn Batuta – Muslim traveler who described African societies and cultures
•“Islamization” – The spread of the
Islamic faith across the Middle East, southeastern Asia, and northern Africa

Sunni Ali
Ber

Political and Social life in the Sudanic
States:
•Rulers reinforce authority through Muslim officials and ideology, but existing traditions continued to be vital, many subjects were not Muslims
•Islam provided a universal faith and a mixed law that served common interests
•Many Sudanic societies were matrilineal and did not seclude women. Slavery and slave trade to the Islamic world lasting more than 700 years had a major effect on women and children
•Caliph – Term meaning supreme ruler; used by
Muhammad’s successors as political and religious heads of Islam (you SHOULD already know this!)
•Sharia – Codified Islamic law which is ethically based on

Compare the Travels of Ibn Batuta and

•East African trading ports
– Urbanized commercial centers mixing African and
Arab cultures; included
Mogadishu, Mombassa,
Malindi, Kilwa, Pate, Zanzibar
•Demographic Transition –
The change from slow to rapid population growth; often associated with industrialization; occurred first in Europe and is more of a characteristic of the
“developed world.”
•The Swahili Coast of East
Africa – A series of trading

The Coastal Trading Ports:
•They exported raw materials in return for
Indian, Islamic, and Chinese luxuries. •All were tied together by coastal commerce and by an inland caravan trade.

Mixture of Cultures on the
Swahili Coast:
•The expansion of Islamic influence in the Indian Ocean facilitated commerce
*(what is commerce?)
•A dynamic culture developed , using Swahili as its language, and incorporating African and
Islamic practices
•Family lineages passed through both maternal and paternal lines
•There was not a significant penetration of Islam into the interior of Africa.

•Yoruba – A highly urbanized group of Nigerian agriculture societies that were organized into small city-states; each ruled under the authority of regional kings presiding over elaborate courts.
•Ile-Ife – The holiest Yoruba city; inhabitants created terra-cotta and bronze portraits heads that rank among the greatest achievements of African art.

Yoruba

•Benin – Nigerian city-state formed by the Edo people during the 14th c.; famous for its bronze art work.

Congo Kingdom – Large agricultural state on the lower Congo
River; capital at Mbanza Congo; The
Congo was a federation of states grouped into eight major provinces

•The Great Zimbabwe was the center of a state flourishing by the 11th century.
•Zimbabwe dominated gold sources and trade with coastal ports of the Indian Ocean network. Internal division split Zimbabwe during the 16th century

Conclusion
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At its height, the Islamic Empire encompassed all of the Middle East,
North Africa, and Spain
Trade led not only to the exchange of goods but also of cultural ideas that affected the way African civilizations developed
(DIFFUSION!)