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AP World Chapter 3: Early African Societies and Bantu Migrations
Introduction
-Egyptian funerary customs were reflections of a prosperous agricultural society
-Egypt, and Nubia to the south, began to emerge as distinctive societies in the late
fourth millennium BCE.
-Like Mesopotamia, Egypt was part of a much larger trading world that involved
Mesopotamians, Phoenicians, and others from the Eastern Mediterranean
I. Early Agricultural Society in Africa
-Egypt was linked to sub-Saharan Africa by Nubia
A. Climatic Changes and the Development of Agriculture in Africa
-About 10,000 BCE, after the end of the last ice age, the area now occupied by the
Sahara Desert was mostly a grassy steppe with lakes, rivers, and streams
-After 9000 BCE peoples of the eastern Sudan domesticated cattle and became
nomadic herders
-After 7500 BCE, they established permanent settlements and began to cultivate
sorghum
-Meanwhile, in the western Sudan, after 8000 BCE inhabitants began to cultivate
yams in the region between the Niger and Congo rivers
-Diversity continued as goats and sheep arrived from SW Asia after 7000 BCE
-Sudanic peoples formed small-scale states with monarchs after 5000 BCE and
associated rain with good and evil.
-After 5000 BCE, as Sahara underwent desiccation, Sudanic cultivators relocated to
Lake Chad and Nile River valley
B. Egypt and Nubia: “Gifts of the Nile”
-Egypt knows as the ‘Gift of the Nile’ by Herodotus (Greek historian) because of its
large floodplains and ability to support a much larger population than even Nubia to
the south
-Early agriculture in Egypt was a combination of wheat and barley that came from
Mesopotamia up the Nile River and gourds and watermelons and donkeys that
flowed down river from cultivators from the Sudan
-Early agricultural state were formed on a small-scale basis after 4000 BCE and took
on many of the same features (i.e. servants were killed and buried with a deceased
king) as the Sudanic states
C. The Unification of Egypt
-The conqueror Menes was the first to unify Egypt after 3100 BCE
-Memphis, near modern day Cairo, was built as the capital
-Pharaoh was the ruler and claimed to be a god living on earth in human form
-Initially pharaohs were associated with Horus, the god of the sky (symbolized by
falcon or hawk), and later they were associated with Amon (sun god)
-Power of pharaohs was greatest during the Archaic Period (3100 – 2660 BCE) and
the Old Kingdom (2660-2160 BCE)
-Pyramids are most enduring symbols of their legacy—the pyramid of Khufu
required 84,000 laborers working eighty days per year for 20 years
-Both Egypt and Nubia were interested in the other for trade and to be sure the
other didn’t take them over
-When Egyptians took over Upper Nubia (to the north) from 3000 to 2400 BCE,
Nubians concentrated their efforts on the South with a powerful kingdom called
Kush that held its own
-Despite constant tensions between Nubia and Egypt, there was ongoing trade as
proven by the expedition of the Egyptian traveler Harkhuf, who returned from
Nubia with a caravan of 300 donkeys bearing exotic, tropical African products and a
dancing dwarf
D. Turmoil and Empire
-Declining central state during the end of the Old Kingdom made many regions of
Egypt so prosperous that they ignored the pharaohs and pursued local interests.
-Upheaval persisted from 2160 BCE to 2040 BCE until the establishment of the
Middle Kingdom (2040 BCE to 1640 BCE)
-Middle Kingdom pharaohs were weaker than Old Kingdom pharaohs and gradually
Egypt came under attack of Hyksos from SW Asia
-Hyksos had advantage of bronze weapons and horse-chariots
-Egyptian response led to new, powerful state known as the New Kingdom (15501070 BCE), which was characterized by a powerful army and elaborate bureaucracy
-New Kingdom pharaohs like Tuthmosis III (reigned 1479-1425 BCE) led campaigns
to spread Egypt’s influence to Syria and Palestine
-Eventually New Kingdom imperialism led to reactions from those who were being
dominated and a revamped Kushite empire took over Egypt in 760 BCE until being
pushed out by the Assyrians in the mid 7th century
II. The Formation of Complex Societies and Sophisticated Cultural
Traditions
-Like Mesopotamia, Egypt built a patriarchal society with distinct social classes
-Egypt the center of trade by linking SW Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and subSaharan Africa
-Writing system also proves sophisticated
A. The Emergence of Cities and Sophisticated Societies
-Memphis founded in 3100 BCE by Menes
-Thebes became the capital city of unified Egypt
-Heliopolis was the cultural center of Egypt, especially during the New Kingdom
when it housed a temple to the Sun God Re.
-Tanis was a bustling city on the Mediterranean on the Nile Delta
-In Nubia, cities like Kerma, Napata, and Meroe arose (in that chronological order)
-Egyptians recognized the pharaoh as supreme ruler, unlike in Mesopotamia where
a series of urban kings had power, and thus in Egypt there was no room for a noble
class since absolutism reigned supreme
-Thus, individuals of common birth had more opportunity in Egypt
-Men ruled both the homes and societies in Egypt and Nubia, but women made their
presence felt—women in royal families served as regents for young rulers and took
place in plots to oust pharaohs
-Queen Hatshepsut (reigned 1473 – 1458 BCE) even became pharaoh with her
stepson Tuthmosis IIII
-In Nubia, particularly in later days when Meroe was the capital after the Assyrians
had attacked the north, women were frequently in positions of leadership by
themselves or as regents in a position known as kandake (origin of the name
Candice)
-Women also served as priestesses and scribes
B. Economic Specialization and Trade
-Egyptians were slower than the Mesopotamians to develop bronze weapons, as
Mesopotamians were doing so by 3000 BCE but Egyptians didn’t until after
expelling the Hyksos in 17th century
-After 1000 BCE, southern Nile societies overcame lack of copper and tin (and thus
of bronze) by developing iron production.
-Iron production arose circa 1000 BCE in the Greak Lakes region of east Africa
(modern day Burundi and Rwanda) and also on the southern side of Lake Chad
(modern day Cameroon)
-Meroe became an important center of iron production
-Egyptians were involved in shipbuilding and extensive Nile River trade, while
Nubians had to contend with cataracts and thus dealt more with land-based donkey
caravan trade
-Egyptians imported aromatic cedar for pharaoh’s tombs and thus there was
extensive trade with Lebanon in exchange for gold, silver, linen textiles, leather
goods, and lentils
-Trading also took place with Punt (modern day Somalia and Ethiopia) to obtain
apes, monkeys, dogs, panthers, and myrrh trees
C. Early Writing in the Nile Valley
-Writing appeared by 3200 BCE as a result of Mesopotamian influence
-Hieroglyphics on papyrus were preserved due to hot, dry climate
-Hieratic was also a type of writing that was less cumbersome and used for everyday
writing by priests
-Meroe also used Egyptian hieroglyphics until a Meroitic language was developed
when Meroe became the principle city of Kush
D. The Development of Organized Religious Traditions
-Amon, originally a local Theban deity associated with the sun, creation, fertility, and
reproduction, was a major god
-Re, a sub god worshiped at Heliopolis, was also the major god
-Together, Amon-Re was worshiped as a combined cult
-For a brief period, the monotheistic god Aten, also associated with the Sun, was
championed by Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (reigned 1353-1335 BCE), who changed his
name to Akhenaten
-Akhenaten and his followers thus were some of the earliest examples of
monotheists
-Cult of Amon-Re returns after the death of Pharaoh Akhenaten
-Yearning for immortality reflected in mummification process
-The cult of Osiris was also significant, as myths suggested that Osiris’ brother Seth
murdered him and spread all his parts throughout Egypt only to have Osiris’ wife
Isis retrieve them all and give him a proper burial.
-Impressed by this devotion, the gods restored Osiris as the god of the underworld
and Egyptians associated Osiris with the Nile (flooded, retreated, then flooded
again)
-Cult of Osiris also suggested that Osiris would weigh individuals’ hearts upon death
and make a final judgment about immortality
-Amon and Osiris were also quite popular in Nubia
III. Bantu Migrations and Early Agricultural Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa
A. The Dynamics of Bantu Expansion
-Bantu language was one of many related tongues in the larger Niger-Congo family
of languages spoken widely in West Africa after 4000 BCE
-Early Bantus lived in eastern Nigeria and southern Cameroon and cultivated yams,
palm oils, and in later centuries, millet and sorghum
-Bantus also traded with forest peoples, formerly known as pygmies
-Migrations south and east began after 3000 BCE, and over the centuries languages
spread into 500 related but distinct tongues (90 million people today speak Bantu
languages)
-Migrations were not mass migrations, but rather incremental throughout the time
period until 1000 CE
-Population pressures most likely drove the early migrations
-Canoe travel along Niger and Congo rivers was instrumental in migrations
-Also, agricultural surpluses allowed Bantus to multiply quicker than hunting,
gathering, and fishing peoples they encountered
-After 1000 BCE, the pace of migrations quickened as Bantu peoples produced iron
weapons and tools
B. Early Agricultural Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa
-Spread of agricultural societies throughout Sub-Saharan Africa was a key
development of Bantu migrations
-Between 1000 BCE and 500 BCE, cultivation of yams and grains spread into east
and South Africa
-Bantu speaking peoples also spread the cultivation of yams, palm oils, millet, and
sorghum to west and central Africa
-Bantus lived in communities of a few hundred led by chiefs
-Age-sets were groups of similarly aged members who conducted chores
appropriate to their age
-Both Sudanic and Niger-Congo peoples held monotheistic religious views by 5000
BCE
-Niger-Congo peoples believed in the god Nyama, who created the world and then
stepped back to run according to his principles
-Rather than directly addressing Nyamba, people would pray to ancestor spirits
-Sudanic peoples believed in a single god who was the source of both good and evil
-As Africans migrated and these beliefs mixed, many Bantu peoples came to see
Nyamba as more personal and less distant—thus interactions shaped religious
views