Developments in Africa
Big Picture
Much like the Americas before 1450, Africa was largely tribal or clan-based. Clans are kin-based networks where many people within the community are related. Led by a chief, these smaller communities work with and have conflict with other communities in their area. Islam, the Trans-Saharan Trade Network and the Indian Ocean Trade Network are examples of unifying factors for many of these clans.
Around 1,000 CE and later, many empires did emerge. These kingdoms brought unity, continuity, and complexity to the regions they controlled.
Post-Classical Africa
Ghana | 300 CE - 1000 CE, Western African Trade gold for salt with North African Berbers (nomads) who were the middle men with Europe. No state religion. Not as unified as empires that come later |
Mali | Mansa Musa is a famous and powerful king who built mosques and famous libraries in Timbuktu (capital). Mansa Musa travels the Trans-Saharan Trade Network on his hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca in Arabia, exposing those along the way to Mali’s wealth and power 1200 CE - 1400 CE, replaced Ghana, Islam unites Mali and those it conquers |
Songhay | 1400-1500, replaced Mali, Conquered Mali and then collapsed because of slave trade |
Swahili Coast | This region is along the eastern coast of Africa allowing its use of both the Trans-Saharan Trade Network and the Indian Ocean Trade Network. Its city-states were united in trade and variations of the Bantu language. Its largest city-state, Great Zimbabwe, was protected by a large wall demonstrating the unity of its people. |
Ethiopia | This eastern kingdom was a lone Christian kingdom in a region converting to Islam |
Mansa Musa. Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
These African societies have many shared characteristics. Family and communal activities were the centerpiece of the clan or village. Music and dancing were a common way of both entertainment but also veneration of the dead. Most Sub-Saharan societies did not have a written language rather passed on their history, literature, and culture through oral tradition. Griots were storytellers who would make kings famous for generations.
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Resources:
journal article
Economic Imperialism Revisited: Late-Nineteenth-Century Europe and AfricaThe Journal of Modern History
Vol. 47, No. 3 (Sep., 1975)
, pp. 519-529 (11 pages)
Published By: The University of Chicago Press
//www.jstor.org/stable/1876006
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Current issues are now on the Chicago Journals website. Read the latest issue.The Journal of Modern History is recognized as the leading American journal for the study of European intellectual, political, and cultural history. The Journal"s geographical and temporal scope-the history of Europe since the Renaissance-makes it unique: the JMH explores not only events and movements in specific countries, but also broader questions that span particular times and places.
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