Download Chapter 7: Flowering of African Civilizations

Chapter
7
1500 B.C.–A.D. 1500
Flowering of African
Civilizations
S
The
toryteller
Chapter Themes
> Movement Migrations of Bantuspeaking people influence Africa’s
cultural development. Section 1
> Cultural Diffusion Africa’s trade
contacts with Europe and Asia
affect African cultures. Section 2
> Innovation East African city-states
develop a new culture based on
African and Arab cultures.
Section 3
The Yoruba—West Africans living by the Niger River—
gather each winter to hear storytellers recount a legend that tells
of how their ancestors struggled to clear their land with tools
made of wood and soft metal. Even orishas, or gods, could not
cut through vines or trees with these tools until the god Ogun
appeared, carrying his bush knife.
“He slashed through the heavy vines, felled the trees and
cleared the forest from the land.… So [the people] made [Ogun]
their ruler.… He built forges for them and showed them how to
make spears, knives, hoes, and swords.”
Legends such as this describe experiences that early people
valued most. Early Africans built civilizations that have left rich
traditions for today’s peoples.
Historical Significance
How did early Africans use the natural resources of
their environment to develop trade networks? What impact
did their cultures have on other lands?
182
History
& Art
Prehistoric cave art from
Tassili N’Ajjer Plateau, Algeria
Your History Journal
Chapter Overview
Visit the World History: The Human Experience
Web site at worldhistory.ea.glencoe.com and
click on Chapter 7—Chapter Overview to preview
the chapter.
Consult a historical atlas, and draw
an outline map of Africa showing early
African kingdoms, the dates when they
existed, and major trade routes. Write
and answer questions based on the map’s
data.
Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations 183
Section
1
Early Africa
Read to Find Out
Main Idea A variety of societies and
cultures emerged in early Africa.
> Terms to Define
oral tradition, plateau, savanna,
matrilineal, age set
> People to Meet
Piankhi, Ezana, the Nok
> Places to Locate
Nubia, Kush, Axum
S
The
toryteller
African oral tradition contained stories full of
wisdom, to be enjoyed by all. For example, where
did death come from? A myth from Madagascar
gave this answer. One day God asked the first couple what kind of death they wanted, one like that of
the moon, or that of the banana? The couple was
puzzled. God explained: The banana creates young
plants to take its place, but the moon itself comes
back to life every month. After consideration, the
couple prayed for children, because without children they would be lonely, would have to do all the
work, and would have no one to provide for. Since
that time, human life is short on this earth.
—freely adapted from
The Humanistic Tradition,
Gloria K. Fiero, 1992
Kilimanjaro
frica’s earliest civilizations left few
written records of their existence. It
was through oral traditions—legends and history passed by word of mouth from
one generation to another—that early African peoples communicated knowledge about their culture.
Thus, archaeologists and historians have had to
rely on legends and artifacts to learn about the culture of African civilizations between 1100 B.C. and
A.D. 1500.
Archaeologists have discovered that early
African cultures developed technologies and trade
based on regional natural resources. Civilizations
rose and declined, and were influenced by the
movement of people and by the way in which natural resources were developed.
A
Geography and Environment
Africa’s geography and climate are a study in
contrasts. Africa, the world’s second-largest continent, is three times larger than the United States.
Within its huge expanse lie desolate deserts, lofty
mountains, rolling grasslands, and fertile river
valleys.
Regions of Africa
The African continent can be divided into five
regions based on location and environment: North
Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and
Southern Africa.
North Africa consists of a thin coastal plain,
bordering the Mediterranean Sea, and an inland
desert area. Coastal North Africa has mild temperatures and frequent rainfall. In contrast, the area
south of this green belt is a vast expanse of sand:
the Sahara, the world’s largest desert. Extending
more than 3,500 miles (5,630 km) across the continent, the Sahara is a region of shifting dunes and
jagged rock piles.
History
Wall painting from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City,
& Art New York. Four late Bronze Age Nubian princes offer rings and gold
to an Egyptian ruler. In what ways did Nubian culture resemble Egyptian culture?
The Sahel
South of the Sahara, the continent of Africa is
dominated by a great central plateau—a relatively
high, flat area known as the Sahel. This region
receives moderate rainfall to sustain the savannas,
or treeless grasslands, that cover the plateau. The
savannas south of the Sahara constitute about 40
percent of Africa’s land area.
In East Africa, the Sahel descends into a deep
crack known as the Great Rift Valley. The valley
extends 40 miles (65 km) in width and 2,000 feet
(610 m) in depth. It runs 3,000 miles (4,827 km) from
the Red Sea in the north all the way to Southern
Africa. Rising above the Sahel plateau east of the
valley are two mountain peaks—Mount Kenya and
Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain, with an elevation of 19,340 feet (5,895 m).
In West Africa, the Sahel descends to a narrow
coastal plain that has a relatively unbroken coastline. The major rivers that do flow through the
coastal plain—the Niger and the Zaire (Congo)—
are navigable only for short distances. The few natural harbors and limited river travel isolated early
African civilizations and made foreign invasions
difficult in some areas.
Central Africa near the Equator has lush tropical rain forests so thick that sunlight cannot reach
the forest floor. Although the rain forest climate is
hot and humid, 1,500 miles (2,413 km) farther south
the land again turns into a desert—the Kalahari.
Still farther south, the Kalahari gives way to a cool,
fertile highland in Southern Africa.
The African continent has provided rich
resources for its people. Early cultures developed
where rainfall was plentiful, or near lakes or along
rivers like the Nile.
Nubia and Kush
By 3000 B.C., a people called the Nubians established a kingdom called Nubia in the southern part
of the Nile River valley in present-day Sudan. The
Nubian people mastered the bow and arrow and
became warriors. With their military skills, they
conquered smaller neighboring communities in the
Nile Valley.
The Nubians maintained close contacts with
Egypt to the north. Archaeologists have uncovered
the tombs of Nubian kings, which contained precious stones, gold, jewelry, and pottery. These are as
ornate as those found in Egypt from the same period. Some scholars believe that political ideas, such
as monarchy, and various objects, like boats and
eating utensils, reveal the early beginnings of the
close cultural links between Nubia and Egypt.
By 2000 B.C., the Nubian river civilization had
developed into the kingdom of Kush. After defeat
in warfare, Kush was under Egyptian rule for 500
years. Egyptian pharaohs stationed soldiers in Kush
to collect duties on goods moving through the region.
The people of Kush used their location along
the Upper Nile River to develop a strong trade
Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations 185
economy. The Kushite cities of Napata and Meroë
stood where trade caravans crossed the Nile, bringing gold, elephant tusks, and timber from the
African interior. This strategic location brought
wealth to the merchants and kings of Kush.
Around 1000 B.C. Kush broke away from Egypt
and became politically independent. In time Kush
grew strong enough that a Kushite king named
Piankhi (pee•AHNK•hee) in 724 B.C. led a powerful army from Kush into Egypt and defeated the
Egyptians. After this victory, Kushite kings ruled
over both Egypt and Kush from their capital at
Napata. The city boasted white sandstone temples,
monuments, and pyramids fashioned in styles similar to those of the Egyptians.
In 671 B.C. the Assyrians invaded Egypt, easily
defeating the Kushites, whose bronze weapons were
no match against Assyrian iron swords. The Kushites
were forced to leave Egypt and return to their home
territory at the bend of the Upper Nile. In spite of
their defeat, the Kushites learned from their enemies
the technology of making iron. They built a new
capital at Meroë that became a major center for iron
production. Kush merchants traded iron, leopard
Visualizing
skins, and ebony for goods from the Mediterranean
and the Red Sea regions. They also conducted business throughout the Indian Ocean area. Meroë’s
merchants used their wealth to construct fine houses built around a central courtyard and public baths
modeled after ones they had seen in Rome.
For about 150 years, the Kushite kingdom
thrived. Then a new power—Axum, a kingdom
located near the Red Sea—invaded Kush and
ended Kushite domination of northeastern Africa.
Axum
Because of its location along the Red Sea, Axum
also emerged as a trading power. During the 200s
B.C., merchants from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia,
and India sent ships laden with cotton cloth, brass,
copper, and olive oil to Axum’s main seaport at
Adulis. Traders exchanged their goods for cargoes
of ivory that the people of Axum hauled from
Africa’s interior.
Through trade Axum absorbed many elements
of Roman culture, including a new religion:
Church of St. Mary of Zion. According to tradition, this church
contains the original tablets of Moses, brought by King Menelik I
to Axum. Menelik, the legendary founder of Axum’s monarchy, was reputed to
be the son of the Israelite king Solomon and the Arabian queen of Sheba. How
did Christianity come to Axum?
History
186 Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations
Kingdoms of Kush and Axum
20°E
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Egypt
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Christianity. A remarkable event led to the conversion
of Axum’s King Ezana to Christianity. Shipwrecked
off the coast of Ethiopia, two Christians from Syria
were picked up and brought to King Ezana’s court.
Over time they convinced Ezana that he should
become a Christian. About A.D. 330 he made
Christianity Axum’s official religion. At this time,
Christianity also became dominant in other areas of
northeastern Africa—Kush and Egypt.
Axum declined after the rise of Islam during
the A.D. 600s. Its Red Sea ports lost their importance
as links to the Mediterranean, and Axum’s rulers—
confined to the remote interior of East Africa—set
up the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia.
Makkah
Adulis
Yemen
Ethiopia
South of the Sahara
Between 700 B.C. and 200 B.C., during Axum’s
rise to power, a West African culture called the Nok
had already established itself in the fertile Niger
and Benue River valleys. In the 1930s archaeologists working in present-day central Nigeria found
terra-cotta, or baked clay, figurines that provided
evidence of the Nok culture. Working in the Nok
sites and other areas of West Africa, archaeologists
also unearthed iron hoes and ax-heads. This latter
discovery provided evidence that metal production
had enabled African cultures south of the Sahara to
farm their land more effectively.
As West African farmers used their iron tools to
produce more food, the population increased. Arable
land became scarce, causing widespread food shortages. Small groups of Africans began to migrate
from West Africa to less populated areas. Over about
a thousand years a great migration took place.
Bantu Migrations
Historians call this mass movement the Bantu
migrations because descendants of the people who
migrated throughout the continent share elements
of a language group known as Bantu. The Bantu
migrations did not follow a single pattern. Some
villagers followed the Niger or other rivers, settling
in one spot to farm for a few years and moving on as
the soil became less fertile. Other groups penetrated
the rain forests and grew crops along the riverbanks.
Still others moved to the highland savannas of East
Africa and raised cattle. Groups that settled on the
eastern coastal plain grew new crops, such as
bananas and yams that had been brought to East
Africa by traders from Southeast Asia.
10°N
Kush
0
Axum
0
250
250
500 mi.
500 km
Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area Projection
Kush and Axum developed along
the Nile River and the Red Sea.
Location Because of its location,
Axum was influenced by merchants and traders
from what areas of the world?
Map
Study
As people pushed into new areas, they met other
African groups that adopted their ways of life. In
time, Bantu-speaking peoples became the dominant group in Africa south of the Sahara.
Village Life
Bantu-speaking Africans divided into hundreds
of ethnic groups, each with its own religious beliefs,
marriage and family customs, and traditions.
Close-knit communities formed in which most families were organized into large households that
included descendants of one set of grandparents.
Many villages were matrilineal societies in
which villagers traced their descent through mothers
rather than through fathers. However, when a girl
married, she joined her husband’s family. To compensate for the loss of a member, the bride’s family
received gifts of iron tools, goats, or cloth from the
husband’s family.
Student Web Activity 7
Visit the World History: The Human Experience Web
site at worldhistory.ea.glencoe.com and click on
Chapter 7—Student Web Activities for an activity
relating to Nubian women.
Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations 187
such as storms, mountains, and trees. Many
Africans also believed that spirits of dead ancestors
lived with them and guided their destiny.
The religious beliefs and family loyalties of
most Africans maintained village stability. Communities expected their members to obey social rules
they believed to have come from the supreme god.
Although African communities relied heavily
on religious and family traditions to maintain a stable social structure, outside influences through
trade and learning still affected them. North
Africans absorbed influences from the Arab world,
whereas African people south of the Sahara adapted to Persian, Indian, and later, European influences. From these outsiders, African communities
adopted many new customs, ideas, and languages.
The Arts
Even before marriage, specific jobs were
assigned to groups of males and females of a similar
age, called age sets. Boys younger than 10 or 12
herded cattle; girls of that age helped their mothers
plant, tend, and harvest crops. At about age 12,
boys and girls took part in ceremonies initiating
them into adulthood. A boy remained with his age
set throughout his life. After marriage, a girl joined
an age set in her husband’s village.
Religious Beliefs
To most Africans, all social laws and traditions
were made by a supreme god who created and
ruled the universe. The god rewarded those who
followed social rules with abundant harvests and
healthy children, and punished those who violated
tradition with accidents, crop failures, or illness.
Beneath the supreme god, many lesser deities
influenced the daily affairs of men and women.
These deities were present in natural phenomena
Various arts developed throughout Bantuspeaking Africa. African sculpture included figures,
masks, decorated boxes, and objects for ceremonial
and daily use. Most of these items were made of
wood, bronze, ivory, or baked clay. The wearing of
masks at ceremonial dances symbolized the link
between the living and the dead. Those wearing the
masks and performing the dances called upon
ancestral spirits to guide the community.
Music rich in rhythm was interwoven with the
fabric of everyday African life. It included choral
singing, music performed at royal courts, and
songs and dances for ceremonies. In villages, where
many activities were performed by groups, music
often provided the motivation and rhythm for various tasks, such as digging ditches or pounding
grain. African musicians used a variety of drums as
well as harps, flutes, pipes, horns, and xylophones.
Early Africa excelled in oral literature passed
down from one generation to another. The stories
included histories, fables, and proverbs. Oral literature not only recorded the past but also taught traditions and values.
SECTION 1 ASSESSMENT
Main Idea
1. Use a diagram like the one
below to identify the major
early African societies.
Early African
Societies
Recall
2. Define oral tradition, plateau,
savanna, matrilineal, age set.
3. Identify Sahel, Axum, Kush,
the Nok, Piankhi, Nubia, Ezana,
Bantu.
Critical Thinking
4. Applying Information
Explain how trade with the
188 Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations
Mediterranean world influenced the economy of the
kingdom of Axum.
Understanding Themes
5. Movement How do the
migrations of Bantu-speaking
peoples in early Africa compare
with the Aryan migrations in
early South Asia?
Section
2
Kingdoms in
West Africa
Read to Find Out
Main Idea Trade was an important aspect of
society in West Africa.
> Terms to Define
monotheism, ghana, mosque
> People to Meet
Sundiata Keita, Mansa Musa, Askia
Muhammad
> Places to Locate
Ghana, Mali, Timbuktu, Songhai
S
diverse environment provided rich
natural resources for the early kingdoms of West Africa. Africans living
in this region between A.D. 300 and A.D. 1500 mined
gold and other mineral resources. An active trade
developed between them and peoples outside West
Africa who practiced a religion called Islam. Islam
preached monotheism, or the belief in one God,
and spread throughout the Middle East, North
Africa, and Spain during the A.D. 600s and A.D.
700s. Through their trade contacts with Muslims,
the followers of Islam, African cultures gradually
adopted Islamic cultural elements such as language
and religion.
A
The
toryteller
The poets of Mali preserved the history of
their people. Hear one speak: ”I teach kings the
history of their ancestors so that the
lives of the ancients might serve them as
an example, for the world is old, but the
future springs from the past. My word is
pure and free of all untruth…. Listen to
my word, you who want to
know, by my mouth, you will
learn the history of Mali. By
my mouth you will get to
know the story of the ancestor of great Mali, the story of
him who … surpassed even
Horn player,
Alexander the Great….
Benin
Whoever knows the history of
a country can read its future.“
—from Sundiata: An Epic of
Old Mali in The Humanistic
Tradition, Gloria K. Fiero, 1992
Kingdom of Ghana
The kingdom of Ghana became one of the richest trading civilizations in West Africa due to its
location midway between Saharan salt mines and
tropical gold mines. Between A.D. 300 and A.D. 1200
the kings of Ghana controlled a trading empire that
stretched more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 sq.
km). They prospered from the taxes they imposed on
goods that entered or left their kingdom. Because
the ghana, or king, ruled such a vast region, the land
became known by the name of its ruler—Ghana.
There was two-way traffic by caravan between
cities in North Africa and Ghana. Muslim traders
from North Africa sent caravans loaded with cloth,
metalware, swords, and salt across the western Sahara
to northern settlements in Ghana. Large caravans
from Ghana traveled north to Morocco, bringing
kola nuts and farming produce. Ghanaian gold was
traded for Saharan salt brought by Muslim traders.
Salt was an important trade item for the people
of Ghana. They needed salt to preserve and flavor
their foods. Using plentiful supplies of gold as a
Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations 189
medium of exchange, Ghanaian merchants traded
the precious metal for salt and other goods from
Morocco and Spain.
Masudi, a Muslim traveler, writing about A.D.
950, described how trade was conducted:
The merchants … place their wares and
cloth on the ground and then depart, and
so the people of [Ghana] come bearing
gold which they leave beside the
merchandise and then depart. The owners of the merchandise then return, and if
they are satisfied with what they have
found, they take it. If not, they go away
again, and the people of [Ghana] return
and add to the price until the bargain is
concluded.
Ghana reached the height of its economic and
political power as a trading kingdom in the A.D.
800s and A.D. 900s. The salt and gold trade moving
through Ghana brought Islamic ideas and customs
to the kingdom. Muslim influence increased and
many Ghanaians converted to Islam.
At the end of the A.D. 1000s, an attack on
the Ghanaian trade centers by the Almoravids, a
Muslim group from North Africa, led to the decline
of Ghana as a prosperous kingdom. Groups of
Ghanaians broke away to form many small Islamic
states.
Kingdom of Mali
Mali, one of the small states to break away from
Ghana, became a powerful kingdom that eventually
ruled much of West Africa. The word Mali means
“where the king resides” and is an appropriate name
for a kingdom that gained much of its power and
influence from its kings. Sundiata Keita, one of Mali’s
early kings, defeated his leading rival in A.D. 1235
and began to conquer surrounding territories. By
the late A.D. 1200s, Mali’s territory included the old
kingdom of Ghana.
of the
Africa’s Religious Heritage
Religion played a central role in the development
of African cultures. Islam became the dominant
religion in the north.
Altar of the Hand, Benin
Beginning in the A.D. 1200s the
kingdom of Benin emerged as a
wealthy trading state. The oba, or
king, became the political, economic, and spiritual leader of the people.
190
The Great Mosque at Timbuktu
Founded around A.D. 1100, the city
of Timbuktu became a major center of trade and site of an important Islamic school.
Sundiata worked to bring prosperity to his new
empire. He restored the trans-Saharan trade in gold
and salt that had been interrupted by the Almoravid
attacks and he restored agricultural production.
Sundiata ordered soldiers to clear large expanses of
savanna and burn the grass that had been cleared to
provide fertilizer for crops of peanuts, rice, sorghum,
yams, beans, onions, and grains. With the benefit of
rainfall, agriculture flourished in Mali. With larger
tracts of land under cultivation, farmers produced
surplus crops that Mali’s kings collected as taxes.
Mali’s greatest king was Mansa Musa, who
ruled from A.D. 1312 to A.D. 1332. By opening trade
routes and protecting trade caravans with a powerful standing army, Musa maintained the economic
prosperity begun by Sundiata. He also introduced
Islamic culture to Mali.
A Muslim himself, Musa enhanced the prestige
and power of Mali through a famous pilgrimage to
Makkah in A.D. 1324. Arab writers report that Musa
traveled in grand style. He took with him 12,000
slaves, each dressed in silk or brocade and carrying
bars of gold. Musa gave away so much gold on his
journey that the world price of gold fell. At Makkah,
Musa persuaded a Spanish architect to return with
him to Mali. There the skilled architect built great
mosques—Muslim houses of worship—and other
fine buildings, including a palace for Musa in the capital of Timbuktu (TIHM•BUHK•TOO). Timbuktu
became an important center of Muslim art and culture mainly through the efforts of Mansa Musa, who
encouraged Muslim scholars to teach at his court.
Two hundred years later, the North African scholar
and traveler Hassan ibn Muhammad (known in the
West as Leo Africanus) described Timbuktu’s continuing intellectual brilliance:
Here are great store of doctors, judges,
priests, and other learned men that are
bountifully maintained at the king’s cost
and charges. And hither are brought
diverse manuscripts or written books out
of [North Africa], which are sold for more
money than any other merchandise.
Terra-cotta heads, c. early
1600s, commemorate the
deceased members of the royal
family among the Akan peoples
of southern Ghana.
REFLECTING ON THE TIMES
1. How did religion influence the arts and other
aspects of culture in Africa?
2. In what ways did Africans honor royalty?
191
James L. Stanfield
PICTURING HISTORY
West African Empire
T
his turreted mosque in Djenné, Mali, harks
back to the A.D. 1300s, when the town
thrived as a center of trade and Islamic
learning. A masterpiece of African-Muslim
architecture, the great mosque boasts massive mud
ramparts broken by patterns of protruding beams. Its
tall spires are crowned not with the traditional
Islamic crescent but with ostrich eggs, symbol of fertility and fortune. Every year, after the rainy season,
the town turns out 4,000 people to replaster the walls
of the mosque with their bare hands. The job is done
in a day.
Almost two centuries before Columbus set off for
the Americas, an Arab traveler and author named Ibn
Battuta began his travels in A.D. 1325 to the far
192 Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations
corners of the Islamic world—from North Africa to
China and back. He returned home three decades later
as one of history’s great travelers and travel writers.
His journeys totaled 75,000 miles (121,000 km)—
three times the distance logged by his European predecessor, Marco Polo. Ibn Battuta’s final journey
brought him here to the West African empire of Mali
where he praised the piety of the Muslims. Battuta
sought out the ruler, Mansa Sulayman, at his capital
but was not impressed with the king’s generosity.
Mansa Sulayman, he wrote, “is a miserly king.”
Battuta also traveled to Timbuktu—about a hundred
years before the city really started to prosper. At its
height, in the A.D. 1500s, the city could boast three
universities and perhaps 50,000 residents. Kingdoms of Africa A.D. 1000–1500
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The rebellious Songhai, who were skilled
traders, farmers, and fishers, were led by strong
leaders. During the late A.D. 1400s their ruler,
Sunni Ali, fought many territorial wars and managed to conquer the cities of Timbuktu and
Djenné, expanding his empire to include most of
the West African savanna. Sunni Ali was Muslim,
but when he died, rule fell to his non-Muslim son.
Songhai’s Muslim population overthrew Ali’s son
and brought a Muslim ruler to the throne.
Under the new ruler, Askia Muhammad, the
Songhai Empire reached the height of its glory.
Ruling from A.D. 1493 to A.D. 1528, Askia
Muhammad divided Songhai into five huge
provinces, each with a governor, a tax collector, a
court of judges, and a trade inspector—very much
like the government structure of China in the A.D.
1400s. The king maintained the peace and security
of his realm with a cavalry and a navy. Timbuktu
was a center of Muslim learning.
Devoted to Islam, Muhammad introduced laws
based on the teachings of the holy book of Islam, the
Quran (kuh•RAHN). Lesser crimes were sometimes
overlooked, but those who committed major crimes
such as robbery or idolatry received harsh punishments. Askia Muhammad appointed Muslim
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After Mansa Musa died in A.D. 1332, the
empire came under attack by Berbers, a people
living in the Sahara region to the north. They
raided Mali and captured Timbuktu. From the
south, warriors from the rain forest also attacked
Mali. Inside the kingdom, people living in the
Songhai region of the Niger River valley resented
losing control over their region and rebelled against
the empire. By the middle of the A.D. 1500s, Mali
had split into several independent states.
m
er
b e z i R iv
Zimbabwe
1,000 mi.
500 1,000 km
Zanzibar
Sofala
Madagascar
INDIAN
OCEAN
Miller Stereographic Projection
Mali traded with cities of
Map
northern Africa.
Study Movement What two obstacles
had to be overcome to carry out this trade?
judges, assuring that Islamic laws would be upheld.
In A.D. 1528 Askia Muhammad was overthrown by his son. A series of struggles for the
throne followed, leading to a weakened central
government. Around A.D. 1589 the rulers of
Morocco sent an army across the Sahara to attack
Songhai gold-trading centers. Moroccan soldiers,
armed with guns and cannons, easily defeated the
Songhai forces fighting with only swords, spears,
and bows and arrows. By A.D. 1600 the Songhai
Empire had come to an end.
SECTION 2 ASSESSMENT
Main Idea
1. Use a diagram like the one
below to list items traded in
West Africa.
Trade in
West Africa
Recall
2. Define monotheism, ghana,
mosque.
3. Identify the Almoravids,
Sundiata Keita, Mansa Musa,
Askia Muhammad.
Critical Thinking
4. Analyzing Information
Why was trade vital to the
economies of the West African
kingdoms?
Understanding Themes
5. Cultural Diffusion How
did trade with other parts of
the world influence the development of West African
cultures between A.D. 900
and A.D. 1500?
Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations 193
Section
3
African Trading
Cities and States
Read to Find Out
Main Idea Areas in East, Central, and
Southern Africa developed as a result of inland
and overseas trade.
> Terms to Define
monopoly, multicultural
> Places to Locate
Kilwa, Malindi, Mombasa, Sofala,
Zanzibar, Karanga, Great Zimbabwe
S
The
toryteller
The first trained engineer ever to see the
ruins of the Great Zimbabwe reported: “For fifty
miles I saw the ruins…. The ruins are principally
terraces, which rise up continually from the base
to the apex of all the hills…. The terraces are all
made very flat and of
dry masonry…. The
way the ancients seem
to have levelled off the
contours of the various
hills around which the
water courses are laid
is very astonishing, as
they seem to have been
levelled with as much
exactitude as we can
accomplish with our
best mathematical
instruments.”
Ruins of the Great Zimbabwe
—from The Mystery of
the Great Zimbabwe,
Wilfrid Mallows, 1984
194 Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations
uring the same time that West African
kings ruled their empires, important
trading communities developed along
the coast of East Africa and in the interior of Central
and Southern Africa. Inland African kingdoms
mined copper and iron ore and traded these minerals and ivory with city-states that had developed
along the East African coast. There Muslim traders
brought cotton, silk, and Chinese porcelain from
India and Southeast Asia to exchange for the products from Africa’s interior. As in West Africa, trade
contacts with the Muslim world enabled East
African coastal areas to adopt the religion of Islam
and Islamic cultural practices.
D
East Africa
As early as 500 B.C., coastal areas of East Africa
were trading with the Arabian Peninsula and South
Asia. Using dhows (Arab sailboats), East Africans
sailed with the monsoon winds across the stretch of
Indian Ocean separating Africa from India. By the
A.D. 900s Arab and Persian merchants had settled on
the East African coast and controlled the trade there.
Traders from the interior of Africa brought ivory, gold,
iron, and rhinoceros horn to the east coast to trade for
Indian cloth and Chinese porcelain.
Coastal City-States
By A.D. 1200 small East African trading settlements had become thriving city-states taxing the
goods that passed through their ports. The port of
Kilwa had a virtual monopoly, or sole control or
ownership, of the gold trade with the interior.
Malindi and Mombasa, both ports farther north on
the coast, were also important centers, as was
Sofala, a port in what is present-day Mozambique.
The iron mined in the surroundings of these three
city-states was widely used in the Arabian
Peninsula and South Asia.
The island of Zanzibar was also an important center of trade. Sailors from the islands of Southeast Asia
as well as India and China came to Zanzibar in search
of ivory and gold, which was brought to Zanzibar
ports from the coastal city-states of East Africa.
Blending of Cultures
CONN
By the A.D. 1300s, the city-states of East Africa
had reached the height of their prosperity. They had
become truly multicultural centers—populated by
a variety of cultural groups. Within each city-state,
Islamic and African cultures blended. For the most
part, Arab and Persian merchants ruled the trading
states. They converted many Africans to Islam.
Arab merchants married local women who had
converted to Islam. Families having members with
African and Islamic cultural backgrounds began
speaking Swahili, a Bantu language that included
Arabic and Persian words. The people of the East
African coastal city-states also developed an Arabic
form of writing that enabled them to record their
history.
East African rulers were either Arab governors
or African chieftains. They used coral from Indian
Ocean reefs to build mosques, palaces, and forts.
The Bantu Kingdoms
The Indian Ocean trade was not limited to the
coastal trading states. It reached far inland, contributing to the rise of wealthy Bantu kingdoms in
Central and Southern Africa. The inland kingdoms
mined rich deposits of copper and gold. During the
A.D. 900s, traders from the East African coast made
their way to the inland mining communities in
Central Africa and began an active trade among the
people living there. The traders brought silk and
porcelain from China, glass beads from India, carpets
from Arab lands, and fine pottery from Persia. They
traded these goods for minerals, ivory, and coconut
oil. They also acquired enslaved Africans for export.
Great Zimbabwe
The people of Karanga, a Bantu kingdom located on a high plateau between the Zambezi and
Limpopo Rivers, built nearly 300 stone-walled
fortresses throughout their territory between A.D.
TIONS
EC
East African Trading Cities
Port of
Mombasa, Kenya
In the A.D. 700s Arab immigrants
arrived on East Africa’s coast to set up a
flourishing trade in gold, ivory, and tortoise
shells. Descendants of the Arab immigrants
and the local African inhabitants became
known as the Swahili (an Arabic word for
“people of the coast”). By the late A.D. 1100s,
thriving Swahili port cities, such as Kilwa,
Malindi, and Mombasa, served as trading
links between the gold and ivory producers
of East Africa’s interior and traders from
India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and China. Cotton,
porcelain, and pottery were the
major imports. By the 1500s
China’s withdrawal from foreign
trade and the coming of European rule to East Africa contributed to a serious decline in
East Africa’s international trade.
Today, the East African coast
has become an important link in
the global trading network. While
preserving its old town and traditions, the
modern city of Mombasa ranks as one of
Africa’s busiest seaports and the secondlargest city in the nation of Kenya. It handles
most of the international shipping of Kenya
as well as that of the neighboring, landlocked nations of Uganda, Rwanda, and
Burundi, to which it is linked by rail. East
African agricultural products, such as coffee,
tea, sisal (a plant fiber used for twine), cotton, sugar, and coconuts are exported from
Mombasa, as well as petroleum products
produced from the foreign oil refined at
Mombasa’s refinery.
Compare and contrast
Mombasa’s trade in the A.D. 1200s
with that of the city today. What
factors have contributed to any
changes?
Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations 195
Visualizing
History
This view shows the circular stone ruins of the Great Zimbabwe with an exterior
wall more than 800 feet in circumference. What functions did this “stone house” serve?
1000 and A.D. 1500. The largest was called the Great
Zimbabwe—meaning “stone house”—and served
as the political and religious center of the kingdom.
The oval stone wall of the Zimbabwe enclosure was
30 feet (9.15 m) high. Within the wall was a maze of
interior walls and hidden passages that protected
the circular house of the Zimbabwe chief. Near the
house, archaeologists have uncovered a platform
with several upright stones that may have been the
place where the chief held court.
Territorial Divisions
For nearly five centuries, Karanga and the
other Bantu states grew wealthy from their control
of the chief routes between the gold mines and the
sea. However, during the A.D. 1400s, Bantu states in
Southern Africa struggled in civil wars that brought
disorder to the kingdoms and disrupted trade.
The Changamire Empire became stronger than
the Monomotapa Empire. Changamire rulers took
over Great Zimbabwe and built the fortress’s
largest structures. At the same time, European
explorers arrived along the African coasts. Eager to
control the sources of gold, ivory, and copper, the
Europeans posed challenges to the survival of the
African civilizations in the continent’s interior.
SECTION 3 ASSESSMENT
Main Idea
1. Use a chart like the one below
to show how inland and overseas trade affected areas in East,
Central, and Southern Africa.
East
Africa
Central
Africa
Southern
Africa
Recall
2. Define monopoly,
multicultural.
3. Identify Kilwa, Malindi, Mombasa, Sofala, Zanzibar, Karanga,
Great Zimbabwe.
Critical Thinking
4. Synthesizing Information
If you were an Arab merchant
visiting an East African coastal
196 Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations
city-state in the A.D. 1300s,
what aspects of the culture
would be familiar or unfamiliar
to you?
Understanding Themes
5. Innovation What new aspect
of cultural life developed in the
city-states of East Africa as a
result of African and Middle
Eastern contact?
Critical Thinking
Interpreting Point of View
S
uppose you are interested in seeing a new
science fiction movie, but you are hearing
mixed reviews from your friends. People
often have different opinions about the same
people, events, or issues because they look at
them from different points of view.
Learning the Skill
A point of view is a set of beliefs and values
that affects a person’s opinion. Many factors affect
an individual’s point of view, including age, sex,
racial or ethnic background, economic class, and
religion. In order to determine the accuracy of a
description or the objectivity of an argument, first
you must identify the speaker’s point of view.
To interpret point of view in written material,
read the material to identify the general subject.
Then gather background information on that
author that might reveal his or her point of view.
Identify aspects of the topic that the author
chooses to emphasize or exclude. Look for emotionally charged words such as cruel, vicious,
heartrending, drastic.
If you are uncertain of an author’s point of
view, read a selection on the same topic by another author with a different background. Comparison
may make both points of view clear.
Practicing the Skill
Read the following excerpt from Ross E.
Dunn’s book The Adventures of Ibn Battuta and then
answer these questions.
1. What is the general subject of the excerpt?
2. What do you know about Ibn Battuta that
might reveal his point of view?
3. What emotionally charged words and phrases
indicate his point of view?
4. Which aspects of Islamic leadership are praised
and which are not?
Sulayman came close to matching his
brother’s [Mansa Musa’s] reputation for
Islamic leadership and piety. Moreover,
he ruled Mali in prosperity and peace.
He was the sort of king from whom Ibn
Battuta had come to expect an honorable and large-hearted reception. . . .
Later, when Ibn Battuta had returned to
his house, one of the scholars called to
tell him that the sultan [Sulayman] had
sent along the requisite welcoming gift.
’I got up, thinking that it would be
robes of honor and money, but behold!
It was three loaves of bread and a piece
of beef fried in gharti [shea butter] and
a gourd containing yoghurt. When I
saw it I laughed, and was long astonished at their feeble intellect and their
respect for mean things.’
According to Dunn, Ibn Battuta found
Sulayman to be “a miserly king from whom no
great donation is to be expected,” while Mansa
Musa had been “generous and virtuous.”
Applying the Skill
In a newspaper, find an editorial, column, or
a letter to the editor that expresses a point of view
that conflicts with your own. Write a brief paragraph analyzing
the author’s point
of view and compare it to your
point of view.
Explain why you
agree or disagree
with the viewpoint of the author.
For More Practice
Turn to the Skill Practice in the Chapter
Assessment on page 199.
The Glencoe Skillbuilder
Interactive Workbook, Level 2
provides instruction and practice
in key social studies skills.
Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations 197
CHAPTER 7 ASSESSMENT
Using Your History Journal
Self-Check Quiz
Visit the World History: The Human Experience Web
site at worldhistory.ea.glencoe.com and click on
Chapter 7—Self-Check Quiz to prepare for the
Chapter Test.
Using Key Terms
Write the key term that completes each sentence.
Then write a sentence for each term not chosen.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
multicultural
matrilineal
plateau
savanna
ghana
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
oral traditions
monopoly
age sets
monotheism
mosque
1. Africa south of the Sahara includes a large central ______—a relatively high, flat area called the
Sahel.
2. Early African peoples communicated knowledge about their culture through _______
—legends and history passed by word of mouth
from one generation to another.
3. Much of Africa’s landscape is covered by ____,
or treeless grasslands.
4. The city-state of Kilwa had a near ______, or
sole control, of the gold trade along the East
African coast.
5. A society is said to be ____________ when
it has people of many different cultural backgrounds.
Technology Activity
Using a Computerized
Card Catalog Choose a
modern-day African country
to research. Use a computerized card catalog
to find information on that country from its
early history to the present. Then create a bulletin board about that country, including an
illustrated time line of significant events of the
country’s history. Display current information
about culture, national resources, demographics,
and government.
198 Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations
On your map of Africa draw in the
modern states where each ancient kingdom
that you identified was located. Use the
map of Africa in the Atlas of your text.
Reviewing the Facts
1. Geography Use a chart like the one below to
identify key geographical features of North,
East, West, Central, and Southern Africa.
North
Africa
East
Africa
West
Africa
Central
Africa
Southern
Africa
2. History Discuss how archaeologists and historians have learned about early Africa.
3. Culture Identify the Nok people, their location,
and their major cultural achievements.
4. Economics Explain Ghana’s wealth.
5. History Summarize the major accomplishments
of Mansa Musa in Mali.
6. Culture Name the city that became a major
center of trade and learning in Mali.
7. Government Explain how Askia Muhammad
kept order and control over his huge empire.
8. Economics List the products traded in the
coastal city-states of East Africa.
9. Culture State how the language of Swahili
originated.
10. Geography Name the three areas of Africa that
prospered from the Indian Ocean trade.
11. Culture Identify Great Zimbabwe and discuss
its importance to Karanga.
Critical Thinking
1. Apply How do climate and geography affect
the development of a civilization?
CHAPTER 7 ASSESSMENT
2. Evaluate The Bantu languages changed as
people moved into central, eastern, and southern regions of Africa. Why do you think this
happened?
3. Making Comparisons Compare the causes for
the decline of each of the three West African
kingdoms.
4. Synthesize Discuss how family and social life
in a typical Bantu-speaking village was
organized around A.D. 1000.
5. Analyze What two cultural
values does this artifact of a
West African horn player
reveal?
Horn player,
Benin
Understanding Themes
Read the following African proverbs carefully.
Then answer the questions for each proverb.
• Familiarity breeds contempt; distance
breeds respect.
• When you follow in the path of your father,
you learn to walk like him.
1. What is the general subject of each proverb?
2. Describe the point of view expressed in each
proverb.
3. Do you agree with the point of view? Make sure
you are able to support your answer.
Geography in History
1. How does the continent of Africa compare
with the United States in land area?
2. Refer to the map below. Why has communication and travel always been difficult between
the northwest African interior and northeast
Africa?
3. Why has Egypt had nearly continual contact
with peoples of Asia and Europe?
Africa
Delta of
the Nile
S
T A IN
H
A
R
R
GA
AG GE
AH AN AIR
R
RANGE
A
T
TIBESTI
HIGHLANDS
DARFUR
PLATEAU
ADAMAWA
HIGHLANDS
SER
DE
r
ive
rR
e
ig
PLATEAU
A
IA N
S
AB
N
N
OU TADEMAÏT
Nile River
A
M
AS
TL
AR
1. Movement How did population movements
affect the development of early Africa?
2. Cultural Diffusion What were major political
and cultural developments in each of the
following early African territories: Nubia,
Axum, Songhai, Kilwa, and Karanga?
3. Innovation What two examples can you give
that illustrate how the peoples of coastal East
Africa and of the interior of Central Africa and
Southern Africa made creative use of their
resources?
Skill Practice
ETHIOPIAN
HIGHLANDS
AFRICA
CONGO
Kasai
River
S.
MT
BE
RT
ESE
KALAHARI
DESERT
INDIAN
OCEAN
RG
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
MITUMB
A MT
S.
Lake
Victoria
BASIN
D
MIB
NA
1. Gold helped make Ghana a powerful
empire. Name another natural resource that
has made African countries wealthy today.
2. Ancient peoples adapted to their environments in order to survive. Explain ways we
adapt today.
3. How do strong central governments affect a
nation’s economic and social structures?
What factors often lead to a weakening of
central governments?
DRA
KE
NS
Chapter 7 Flowering of African Civilizations 199