Download chapter 8: african civilizations

CHAPTER 8: AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS
AND THE SPREAD OF ISLAM
Pages 170 – 191
I.
SUMMARY
A. African Societies: Diversity and Similarities
African societies developed diverse forms, from large centralized states to stateless
societies organized around kinship or age sets rather than central authority. Within
this diversity were many shared aspects of language and beliefs. Universalistic
faiths penetrated the continent and served as the basis for important cultural
developments in Nubia and Ethiopia.
B. Kingdoms of the Grasslands
In the Sahel grasslands, several powerful states emerged that combined Islamic
religion and culture with local practices. Mali, Songhay, and the Hausa states were
African adaptations of Islam and its fusion with African traditions.
C. The Swahili Coast of East Africa
A string of Islamicized African ports tied to the trade across the Indian Ocean
dotted the east African coast. Although these cities were Islamicized, African
customs and the Bantu Swahili language remained so strong that they represented
a cultural fusion, mostly limited to the coastal areas.
D. Peoples of the Forest and Plains
Across central Africa, kingdoms developed that were supported by complex
agrarian societies capable of great artistic achievements. At Benin, in the Kongo, in
the Yoruba city-states, and at Great Zimbabwe, royal authority – often considered
divinely inspired – led to the creation of powerful states.
E. Conclusion: Internal Development and External Contacts
In the Sudanic states and along the Swahili coasts, the impact of Islam was the
most profound. Because of written sources, it is somewhat easier to construct the
region’s history. Sub-Saharan Africa was never isolated from the Mediterranean
world, but the spread of Islam brought large areas of Africa into more intensive
contact with the global community. The fusion of Islamic and indigenous African
cultures created a synthesis that restructured many Africans’ lives. Nevertheless, it
would be wrong to see Africa’s history in this period exclusively in terms of the
Islamic impact. Great Zimbabwe, Kongo, Benin, and the Yoruba represented the
development of Bantu concepts of kingship and state-building independently of
trends elsewhere. Meanwhile in Ethiopia and the eastern Sudan, the impact of the
pre-Islamic Mediterranean world had long been felt.
II.
CHAPTER REVIEW
A. What African political and social institutions predate the arrival of Islam?
B. How did the arrival of Islam and Christianity affect African societies?
C. What internal developments and external contacts spread civilization in Africa?
D. Describe the rise and fall of African states and societies.
E. How did religion and trade connect Africa to a larger world; with what results?
F. Describe the intellectual accomplishments of the African and Bantu civilizations.
III.
VOCABULARY
A. Stateless societies
B. Lineage, secret societies, age sets
C. Animism, diviners
D. Ifriqiya, Maghrib
E. Copts
F. Jihad
G. Conquest states
H. Juula
I. Griots
J. Timbuktu
K. Askia, emir, caliph
L. Sharia
M. Zanj, Swahili
N. Demography
O. Demographic transition
IV.
MAP EXERCISES
A. Map 8.1: Empires of the West Sudan (Page 177)
1. What are the geographic boundaries of the West Sudanic empires?
2. What city and river are shared by many of these civilizations?
3. Theorize why the Sahel states did not push southward towards the ocean?
B. Map 8.2: The Swahili Coast (Use maps on pages 147, 158, and 183)
1. What elements of geography and climate would confine the Swahili
civilization to the coasts of the Indian Ocean?
2. With what other Indian Ocean cultures did the Swahili trade?
V.
PHOTO ESSAY 8.4: Benin Bronze (Page 188)
Bronzes from Benin have symbolic as well as aesthetic purposes. One purpose is to
celebrate the powers and majesty of the royal lineage as well as represent the rituals
surrounding kingship. How does the bronze sculpture accomplish these goals?
VI.
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS: The Epic of Sundiata Ali of Mali (Page 178)
A. Document Analysis
1. Who wrote it? (Attribution includes biographical references)
2. What was the author’s point of view?
3. How reliable is the document? Why?
4. What was the intent or purpose behind the document?
B. Sundiata as the King
1. Describe the Sudanic qualities of being a king as represented by Sundiata.
2. What does iron represent and how is iron used in the epic?
3. Why would Sundiata need a griot?
C. Sundiata and the Outside World
1. What evidence is there that Sundiata knew of the larger, non-Sudanic world?
2. What elements of animism and Islam are present in the story?
VII.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. Unlike the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa
A. never developed a classical civilization.
B. was never totally isolated from other civilizations.
C. had little popular migration or trade.
D. developed its indigenous civilizations later.
E. had no extensive river systems or grasslands.
2. Sub-Saharan African societies are similar to Latin American Indian societies in
that both
A. built classical civilizations without cultural diffusion from other civilizations.
B. developed in mountainous environments.
C. originated complex mathematics and scientific traditions.
D. were so numerous that it is impossible to generalize about them.
E. were devastated by contacts with Europeans and Arabs, which led to mass
epidemics and the death of whole indigenous populations.
3. Stateless societies in Africa
A. persisted and predominated until the age of European colonialism.
B. effectively controlled trade in west Africa.
C. found it difficult to resist external pressures from more organized states.
D. lacked the institutions associated with government.
E. could not maintain stability within the group and often broke up.
4. Common elements in African societies included all of these EXCEPT:
A. similar languages generally descended from a common proto-language.
B. animistic religions with a class of diviners.
C. a belief in a creator god or spirit.
D. family lineages of all dead, living, and yet to be born members.
E. settled agriculture as a way of life across most of Africa.
5. While all of these peoples migrated to, settled, and influenced north Africa, the
only indigenous inhabitants seem to be the:
A. Phoenicians (Cathaginians).
B. Greeks and Romans.
C. Vandals.
D. Arabs.
E. Berbers.
6.
Islamic teachings in north and west Africa
A. served to divide the people.
B. fostered jihads and crusades between Christians and Muslims.
C. destroyed the trade between west and north African ports.
D. introduced a common bond but did not erase social or ethnic stratifications.
E. put an end to the African slave trade.
7. The first universalist religion to take root in Africa was
A. Judaism.
B. Roman Catholicism.
C. Coptic Christianity.
D. Islam.
E. Hinduism.
8. The first black African states and civilizations developed in the
A. Sahel, the grassland belt south of the Sahara.
B. in the tropical forests along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean.
C. in the Ahaggar and Atlas Mountains around and in the Sahara.
D. along the coasts of east Africa.
E. in the highland plateaus of Ethiopia.
9. The Sudanic conquest states
A. ruled lands through military force and foreign bureaucracies.
B. monopolized trade in one area.
C. practiced pastoral nomadism and raided sedentary areas.
D. exacted taxes and tribute from areas without directly controlling them.
E. converted to Islam and waged holy wars on non-believers.
10. Islam in west Africa
A. was popular with most elements of society.
B. converted the kings and elites first without necessarily affecting the masses.
C. interested merchants alone.
D. confronted an entrenched Christian religion, which resisted conversion.
E. had little lasting effect on the area.
11. A common concern for west African Muslim jurists and clerics was
A. the persistence of pagan beliefs and practices amongst its population.
B. control of the trans-Saharan trade.
C. influence of Christianity on west Africans.
D. the practice of polygamy by many African families.
E. puritanical nature of west African society.
12. Islam was spread through west and east Africa as well as Southeast Asia by
A. Jihad or holy war.
B. mass conversions ordered by the rulers and monarchs.
C. wandering Sufi mystics.
D. merchants who established Muslim families and traditions.
E. migration to the areas by large groups of Muslims.
13. After the arrival of Islam, societies in west Africa
A. became largely patrilineal.
B. implemented Islamic law regarding the seclusion of women.
C. often continued to recognize traditions granting women extensive rights.
D. abandoned the tradition of polygamy.
E. abolished slavery.
14. The slave trade from West Africa to the Muslim world
A. was abolished once the inhabitants converted to Islam.
B. existed before the arrival of Islam but was expanded over the centuries.
C. was introduced by the Muslims.
D. rivaled the trans-Atlantic slave trade in numbers and brutality.
E. preferred male slaves for administration and military occupations.
15. In the west African forest states, the king’s power
A. was considered divine but limited by the aristocrats.
B. was absolute and similar to the power of the Japanese leaders.
C. rested on his relationship to Islam and his authority as an Islamic judge.
D. varied based on the amount of trade he controlled.
E. was symbolic; the priests and the diviners ran the state.
VIII. ESSAY QUESTIONS
A. Compare the spread of Islam in west Africa with the spread of Buddhism to
China and Japan.
B. How did Islam change as it spread across Africa? (Change over time)
C. Compare and contrast animism and Islam.
D. Compare and contrast the African civilizations of the forest and savannas.
E. Compare and contrast African and Muslim views of gender.
F. Compare and contrast the rise and fall of west African savanna civilizations with
the cycle of civilizations in Mesopotamia.
G. Compare and contrast African institutions before and after contacts with
Christianity and Islam.
H. Compare the impact of trade on Africa with the impact of trade in southeast
Asia.
I. Compare and contrast one of the African sahel states with any other postclassical state.