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Sub-Saharan Africa during the Post-Classical Age WHAP/Napp

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“As in southeast Asia, Islam was first carried to sub-Saharan Africa by traders and Sufis. They came from three directions: from Mediterranean north Africa across the Sahara to west Africa; from Egypt up the Nile to east Africa; and from India and Arabia across the Indian Ocean to the coast of east Africa.

The Arab conquest of North Africa in the seventh and early eighth centuries set the scene for increasing contacts between Arab and Black Africans. As traders, and sometimes as warriors, the Arabs began to cross the Sahara. When they arrived, they found flourishing kingdoms in place, their power derived from control of the desert trade routes and the taxes they imposed on this trade. Founded about 300 C.E., Ghana was an important sub-Saharan kingdom, controlling the salt for gold trade. Yet trade connections were not the only source of converts. A wave of conversions followed the domination of Ghana in the eleventh century by the Almoravid dynasty of Morocco. The Almoravids waged a holy war to convert the Ghanaians, although many of the new converts continued to participate in indigenous religious practices while officially accepting Islam. As the Almoravids fought among themselves, the kingdom of Ghana began to assert its autonomy, until about 1235 when the Keita kings of Mali, with greater access to the Niger River, surpassed Ghana in importance. Mali’s founding king, Sundiata, is commemorated in the national epic of his nation, the Sundiata. Although he observed African religious practices along with Islam, he encouraged his people to accept Islam.

About a century later, a more orthodox Muslim came to rule Mali. Mansa Musa (r. 1307-1332) made the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca in 1324, disbursing legendary amounts of gold along the way. He and subsequent rulers of Mali sought prestige through public affiliation with, and support for, Islamic institutions. They made improvements in Timbuktu, the most important trading city on the Niger River, at its northern bend near the Sahara, transforming the city into a major center of Arabic and Islamic studies. In the late fifteenth century, however, Sonni Ali (1464-1492), king of the Songhay people, slightly to the east, destroyed the empire of Mali and diminished its connection to the Islamic world of North Africa.” ~ Adapted from The World’s History

1- How did Islam enter sub-Saharan Africa? ________________________________________________________________________

2- Describe the West African kingdom of Ghana. ________________________________________________________________________

3- Who were the Almoravids and how did they affect the kingdom of Ghana? ________________________________________________________________________

4- Describe the West African kingdom of Mali. ________________________________________________________________________

5- How was Sundiata similar to yet different from Mansa Musa? ________________________________________________________________________

6- Why was Timbuktu an important city? ________________________________________________________________________

7- Who was Sonni Ali and how did he change the history of the region? ________________________________________________________________________

|Geography and Regions |

|Physically, culturally and politically, Africa is divided by the Sahara desert |

|Sub-Saharan Africa |

|The Bantu |

|One of few common threads shared by sub-Saharan Africans |

|Around 1000 B.C.E., Bantu moved out of homelands in west central Africa |

|By 1000 C.E., had settled in almost all parts south of the Sahara |

|Bantu spread iron-making, agriculture, and language |

|Other Factors in Sub-Saharan African Cultures |

|Human susceptibility to various insect- and animal-borne diseases |

|Most sub-Saharan communities were small and life revolved around village |

|Women often valued for their labor as fieldworkers |

|Art and Architecture |

|In Ife, present-day Nigeria, metal workers formed bronze and iron statues by designing molds with melted wax |

|May have influenced metalworkers from West African state of Benin; a kingdom famous for its bronze sculptures |

|In Great Zimbabwe, impressive stone buildings/walls: stones carefully cut then set in place without mortar |

|African literature preserved less by written language than by oral tradition – professional storytellers or griots (storytellers) |

|Islam and Interaction |

|Trade included slavery: Arab slavers from Middle East penetrated to south |

|But through interaction, Islam became part of sub-Saharan life |

|Kingdoms of West Africa |

|Ghana: West African kingdom – founded in fourth century C.E. |

|Ghana controlled salt for gold trade (trans-Saharan trade) and called “the land of gold” though it owned no gold fields yet taxed trade; |

|capital – Koumbi Saleh |

|Berbers moved against Ghana and in 1076 were captured capital but in-fighting |

|With decline of Ghana, Mali grew, and was firmly established in upper Niger River valley by Sundiata (1230-1255) who adopted Islam and |

|transformed Timbuktu |

|Mansa Musa: significant king of Mali; famous pilgrimage to Mecca |

|Timbuktu became a place of great learning but religious syncretism |

|Ibn Battuta visited but horrified at syncretism |

|Mali declined due to weak rulers following Mansa Musa |

|Mali collapsed when King of Songhai broke away in 15th century and eventually captured Mali but Songhai fell to Moroccans with guns in 1591 |

|Other Kingdoms |

|Abyssinia (Ethiopia) became Christian during the fourth century C.E. |

|Great Zimbabwe: From the 1250s to the 1450s, most powerful of central African states emerged around cities of Mutapa and Great Zimbabwe |

|Politically linked, Mutapa and Great Zimbabwe controlled seven hundred miles of Zambezi river basin |

|Larger and more important of two cities was Great Zimbabwe (ca. 1000-1400): Name means “sacred graves of the chiefs” – wealth from gold and |

|diamonds |

|Gold was shipped east to Sofala, where it became part of Indian Ocean Trade |

1- What geographic factor divides the African continent? ________________________________________________________________________

2- Where did the Bantu originate and where did they migrate? ________________________________________________________________________

3- What did the Bantu spread during their migrations? ________________________________________________________________________

4- Why were many sub-Saharan African communities small? ________________________________________________________________________

5- How were women viewed and treated in sub-Saharan Africa? ________________________________________________________________________

6- What were metal workers in Ife noted for? ________________________________________________________________________

7- What was the West African kingdom of Benin famous for? ________________________________________________________________________

8- Why were buildings in Great Zimbabwe impressive? ________________________________________________________________________

9- Define griot. ________________________________________________________________________

10- Why did Arab traders enter sub-Saharan Africa? ________________________________________________________________________

11- What were the most important commodities in Trans-Saharan trade? ________________________________________________________________________

12- Why was the West African kingdom of Ghana called “the land of gold”? ________________________________________________________________________

13- What was Koumbi Saleh? ________________________________________________________________________

14- Why was the West African kingdom of Ghana weakened in 1076? ________________________________________________________________________

15- Who was Sundiata and why was he significant? ________________________________________________________________________

16- Identify two significant facts about Mansa Musa and one fact about Timbuktu. ________________________________________________________________________

17- Why was Ibn Battuta horrified when he visited the kingdom of Mali? ________________________________________________________________________

18- Why did Mali collapse? ________________________________________________________________________

19- Why did Songhai collapse? ________________________________________________________________________

20- Identify one significant fact about Abyssinia. ________________________________________________________________________

21- Identify two significant facts about Great Zimbabwe. ________________________________________________________________________

22- Why was Great Zimbabwe a wealthy kingdom? ________________________________________________________________________

23- How did Great Zimbabwe participate in Indian Ocean trade? ________________________________________________________________________

|[pic] |4. Which of the following is a viable reason why the development of|

|1. The photograph above of a mosque (first erected in the fourteenth|strong and sizable political units occurred later and more slowly |

|century) in the modern-day West African country of Mali best |in sub-Saharan Africa than in many other regions of the world? |

|exemplifies which of the following historical processes? |Language was not yet developed. |

|(A) Imposition of religion through military conquest |People in Africa had not yet evolved sufficiently to develop |

|(B) Spread of religion along trade routes |political units. |

|(C) Abandonment of indigenous cultural styles in the face of |There were many animists in this part of Africa. |

|colonization |There was a vast array of languages and dialects spoken. |

|(D) Conflict between local and universalizing religions |None of the above. |

| | |

|2. Why was Mali a powerful state in northern Africa by the 1300s? |5. How did women in the small communities of sub-Saharan Africa |

|(A) It was known for its huge military forces. |tend to be treated? |

|(B) It profited by cooperating with European slave traders. |They were seen as political equals. |

|(C) Mali was a center of Christian worship. |They were valued as fieldworkers and for educating children. |

|(D) It was a major center of trade and religious instruction and |They were treated as goddesses. |

|possessed large deposits of gold and metal ore. |More women served as chiefs than men. |

|(E) It controlled the African spice trade and was the center of |Women tended the cattle and so had a lot of power. |

|Buddhist worship. | |

| |6. Which of the following languages came into existence after 1000 |

|3. African literature of the post-classical period was largely |as the direct result of expanding global trade patterns? |

|preserved through |(A) Arabic |

|(A) Oral tradition |(B) Chinese |

|(B) Scroll painting |(C) Latin |

|(C) Writings of large slabs of stone |(D) Sanskrit |

|(D) Stories written on bronze statues |(E) Swahili |

|(E) Manuscripts kept in pyramid-shaped archives | |

Thesis Practice: Change over Time

Analyze changes and continuities in West Africa from 300 C.E. to 1500 C.E. ___________________________________________________________________________

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