Africa, Emerging
Civilizations In Sub-Sahara Africa
Various Authors
Edited By: R. A. Guisepi
Date: 2001
Native Cultures In Sub-Sahara Africa
Introduction
By A.D. 1200, the process of civilization was approaching global
dimensions. At the same time that Europe, Asia, and the Middle East were
experiencing dynamic cultural growth during the late medieval period,
sub-Sahara Africa and the New World were undergoing similar changes.
Indeed,
both regions had developed high civilizations before the European impact
of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
African and American civilizations were each distinctive, although
generally similar to those in Eurasia. In all three areas, flourishing
agriculture supported expanding populations, large cities, highly
skilled
crafts, expanding trade, complex social orders, and developing states.
The
basic culture of sub-Sahara Africa evolved mainly from its own
traditions,
while imported Eurasian culture, such as Islam, was relatively
superficial.
American civilizations were even more original, having developed in
complete
isolation from the Old World.
The most noteworthy native American civilizations were those of the
Mayas
in Yucatan and Guatemala, the Aztecs in central Mexico, and the Incas in
Peru.
The Mayas are especially famous for their mathematics, their solar
calendar,
and their writing system, still largely undeciphered. The Aztecs and
Incas
conquered large populations and governed large states. Each civilization
produced distinctive art, religion, values, and customs, some of which
have
become part of the Latin American heritage. Even today, Latin American
artists
often take their themes from these traditions.
African civilizations before the sixteenth century compared favorably
with those in Europe. Ethiopia, in East Africa, was already flourishing
while
the Roman Empire was disintegrating. In the tenth century, and possibly
two
centuries earlier, East African cities were trading by sea with Persia
and
India. Shortly after, the Kingdom of Ghana rose in the western Sudan.
After
about A.D. 1200, when European states were becoming centralized
monarchies,
comparable kingdoms were rising in sub-Sahara Africa, particularly in
regions
drained by the Niger, Congo, and Zambesi rivers. Europeans arriving
after the
1400s found well-organized governments and societies bound by strong
traditions.
Native Cultures In Sub-Sahara Africa
As late as the fifteenth century, cultures in sub-Sahara Africa were
still somewhat distinct from the states, which were relatively new and
often
shaped by foreign influences among the ruling minorities. Most
sub-Saharan
Africans, even those living in powerful states, still held firmly to old
loyalties associated with lineage, village, and religion. Because this
respect
for tradition was so typical of all these societies, we can understand
them
better if we first take note of their ancient cultural foundations.
Geographic, Ethnic, And Historical Backgrounds
Geographic factors help explain sub-Sahara Africa's relatively late
state-building. Climatic changes between 5000 and 1500 B.C., which
produced
the Sahara Desert, limited cultural contacts with the Middle East and
the
Mediterranean basin. When such contacts became more frequent in the
Christian
era, local African traditions were deeply rooted and resistant to
change. In
addition, the vast space open to migration south of the Sahara decreased
conflict over land, thereby lessening what had been a significant
stimulus in
the formation of many early Eurasian states. This factor, too, helps
account
for delayed political development.
Although most Americans have traditionally thought of sub-Sahara Africa
as an immense jungle, more than half of the area comprises grassy
plains,
known as savanna. The northern savanna, sometimes called the Sudan,
stretches
across the continent, just south of the Sahara. Other patches of savanna
are
interspersed among the mountains of East Africa, and another belt of
grassland
runs east and west across the southern continent, north of the Kalahari
Desert. Between the northern and southern savannas, in the region of the
equator, is jungle. Heavy rainfall here permitted the cultivation of
some
nutritious crops, but soils were not very fertile, and the rain forests
produced many dangers, including sleeping sickness, to which both humans
and
animals are susceptible. Generally, the most habitable regions have been
the
savannas, which have favored transportation and agriculture.
After the Sahara became arid, the most prominent sub-Saharan peoples
were
Negroid speakers of diverse but related Bantu languages. Originating in
west
central Africa, between the savanna and the forests, the Bantu began
migrating
after about 1000 B.C. For centuries, they moved south and east,
ultimately
spreading along the east coast. By A.D. 1000, they had reached central
Natal,
in what is now the Republic of South Africa. During their migrations,
the
Bantu absorbed or displaced other Negroid peoples of eastern and
southern
Africa, driving pygmies, Bushmen, and Khoisan-speaking pastoralists into
the
southern jungle, the Kalahari Desert, or the extreme southwestern
savanna.
Thus Bantu migrants provided most of sub-Sahara Africa with a common
cultural
identity.
The Bantu migrations were closely related to agriculture and
iron-working
in a continuous reciprocal process. Developing agriculture expanded
Bantu
populations; iron tools and weapons provided the means to acquire new
lands;
and the resulting migrations spread both technologies through the whole
sub-Sahara region.
Until recently, most scholars believed that early Bantu peoples acquired
agriculture from the upper Nile, via the northern savanna. More recent
linguistic and archeological investigations suggest that plant
domestication
began independently in Ethiopia, the central Sudan, and the upper Niger,
centuries before the Sahara became a desert. Regardless of which theory
is
correct, it is clear that a number of native crops, most notably bulrush
millet and sorghum, were cultivated in the western savannah by 2000 B.C.
These
were diffused south to the original Bantu homelands, where they were
augmented
by African yams.
The vitality of early Bantu agrarian society is well illustrated by the
Nok culture, which flourished in central Nigeria after 1000 B.C. Its
skilled
gardeners provided economic support for great artists, who produced
beautiful
terracotta (baked clay) sculpture. Later, as the Bantu moved east and
south,
leaving the forest, they improved their gardening techniques and their
food
stocks by adopting Near Eastern grains and plantains. They also began
herding
cattle, sheep, and goats.
With the Bantu migrations, iron-working diffused rapidly through
sub-Sahara Africa. This revolution, which had recently stirred all
Eurasian
civilizations, was brought from Egypt to Nubia in the seventh century
B.C. It
appeared in the western Sudan at about the same time, apparently brought
south
across the Sahara by Berbers, in contact with Phoenician or Carthaginian
traders. Iron was produced in the Nok culture by 500 B.C., and
iron-working
was known to the earliest Bantu migrants, who ultimately brought it down
the
east coast beyond the Zambezi by the fifth century A.D. African
ironmasters
became very proficient and were highly respected. In some areas of
West-Central Africa, their craft assumed such ritualistic significance
that
their furnaces were located in secluded places. After about A.D. 900,
during
the second iron age, African furnaces were capable of generating higher
temperatures than those in Europe before the 1700s. By then, Bantu
craftsmen
were producing high quality implements, as well as beautiful jewelry in
copper
and gold.
This later era brought a climax in social evolution. Between 1300 and
1500, for example, the Bantu population increased from 21 to 30 million
people. ^1 Trade also expanded significantly, not only within sub-Sahara
Africa but also with the Mediterranean basin and other Eurasian areas.
Rising
commerce encouraged the growth of cities and the organization of large
states.
Such changes were most typical of the western Sudan and East Africa,
which
combined native African and non-African cultures. But even in the Bantu
hinterlands, where foreign influences were nonexistent or only indirect,
cities appeared and strong kingdoms emerged. In their institutions and
values,
these proto-civilizations were predominantly African.
[Footnote 1: Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones, Atlas of World Population
History (New York: Penguin, 1978), pp. 238-259.]
[See Bantu Migrations]
The General Culture Pattern
Although Bantu-speaking societies were remarkably diverse, their
institutions, values, and aesthetic styles reflected a common pattern.
Usually, authority was strongest in the village, where it was exercised
by
elders of extended families (lineages), who claimed descent from a great
ancestor. Both custom and religion supported this system. Traditional
rules
governed an individual's social functions and activities, which were
often
performed within his or her age group. Respect for the community was
paramount, speculative innovation was suspect, and selfish behavior was
discouraged or punished. Political authority beyond the village was most
effective where it depended upon these local loyalties. Kings based
their
right to rule on descent from divine ancestors but exercised such rights
within the limits of customary law.
Sub-Saharan economies, outside of the Sudan, Ethiopia, and the east
coast, were based largely upon simple agriculture without plows and
draft
animals, although a primitive irrigation was in evidence. Pastoralism
was
common throughout the savannas, particularly among seminomadic peoples,
including some Bantu-speakers. Most of the basic handicraft industries
were
well developed, including spinning, weaving pottery-making, carpentry,
and
metal-working. Using relatively crude methods, African miners procured
iron,
copper, and gold ores. Highly skilled craftsmen sought to protect their
secrets by organizing their families into tightly knit groups. Trade was
usually a function of the crafts, although specialized merchants and
trading
societies were often present in the cities. Generally, these economies
depended upon individual skills, employed within community and family
traditions.
The kinship principle was fundamental to social organization throughout
sub-Sahara Africa. Loyalties to the clans, each comprising all members
of an
extended family, living and dead, were more compelling than class
interests,
even in the cities. Sometimes, clans were combined in more artificial
tribal
systems. Tribal chiefs were often hereditary, but most were also
confirmed by
clan elders, who were all presumed to be at least distantly
blood-related.
Because tribes and lineages were older than the villages, the latter
were
often divided into separate kinship groups. Grouping individuals of
different
lineages into age-sets, such as children, apprentice warriors, and
elders,
helped alleviate divisiveness. Secret societies, including members drawn
from
mature age groups, also united lineages and encouraged loyalty to
village or
tribal communities.
Kinship societies were typical; but many changed as they experienced
productive economies, property relationships, and increasingly prevalent
warfare. In the process, ancient matrilineal clans, with descent traced
through women, gave way gradually to patrilineal groups, with men in
control.
The change was reflected in marriage customs, where the traditional
dowry,
supplied by the wife's family, was replaced by "bride-price," paid by
the
prospective husband. This enforced the idea that wives are valuable
property,
to be protected and used for economic gain. Within patrilineal
societies, a
minority of male elders governed, while women did most of the work,
including
agricultural labor. Such practices, however, do not prove the complete
demise
of matriarchal values, many of which lingered on. There were instances
where
wives still dominated their husbands, demanding gifts when they produced
children and going back to their families when at odds with their
spouses.
The confusion of male and female roles is perhaps best illustrated in
Bantu political institutions. Most states were headed by kings, but
matrilineal descent was quite common in royal lines. This could involve
complex relationships, resulting from the effort to reconcile male royal
authority with the traditional practice of matrilineal succession. To
solve
this problem, the heir apparent was sometimes a nephew of the queen and
a son
of her oldest brother. In another scenario, where kings followed the
common
practice of marrying their sisters, the relationship may not have been
sexual
but merely symbolic, permitting women to share royal power in nominal
patrilineal systems. There were also numerous examples of queens who
held
supreme authority, with or without a consort. This was not typical, but
even
in states where male supremacy was most pronounced, women were often
powers
behind the thrones. The king's mother, the queen, or both usually
advised the
monarch, particularly on matters pertaining to women and economic
organization. On occasion, women also served as councilors or officials;
they
were often priests; and in a few instances, they fought as soldiers.
The newer patrilineal political systems developed slowly but directly
from older kinship structures. Although many Bantu-speaking societies
remained
"stateless," some developed kingdoms from tribal bases. Monarchs were at
first
tribal chiefs, some of whom managed to conquer or otherwise unite other
tribes. Kings generally carried on the traditions of the lineages,
claiming
descent from divine ancestors who lived in a half-mythical "dreamtime"
of the
distant past, when they had brought a message from the gods, led their
blood
brothers on a great migration, or found land to settle. Kings were
considered
semidivine, but their actual powers were limited by traditional ceremony
and
law. Their rule depended upon support from lineage chiefs, village
headmen,
and secret societies. Some later kings appointed their own officials,
but
these were usually selected from local leaders.
The most abiding part of the sub-Saharan African heritage was its value
system, rather than its social or political institutions. Supporting
such
institutions were customary beliefs which shaped all aspects of life.
Most
common to these beliefs was a profound awareness of human
interdependence.
Appreciation for community and law, mingled in primitive superstitions
and
intuitive insights, found expression in hundreds of oral myths and
stories,
known to Africans from the Niger to the Limpopo. The rich Bantu heritage
in
art and music reflected the same communal perspectives. Such values have
been
common to tribal societies everywhere, but nowhere else have they
endured so
tenaciously into advanced stages of civilization.
Religion touched every phase of human experience in sub-Sahara Africa.
Specific beliefs varied from tribe to tribe, but some general tenets
were
common. Most Bantu-speaking peoples believed that the dead continued to
influence the lives of their survivors; indeed, the ancestors were
considered
to remain in spirit, eliciting respect and concern from the living, who
might
welcome ancestors at meals or appease them when they were angry.
Sub-Saharan
Africans also recognized many spirits identified with natural forces,
both
benign and dangerous. Most of these societies also believed in a supreme
being
as the highest power, the source of all excellence and virtue but far
removed
from human understanding.
Sub-Saharan Africans were remarkably skilled and sensitive artists,
particularly in sculpture. Ancient sculptors carved wood, ivory, or
soapstone
and cast in bronze, as well as working with baked clay. The famous
bronze
statuary of Benin, climaxing a long development in Nigeria, has been
compared
in craftsmanship and aesthetic sensitivity with the best work of the
European
Renaissance. Statuary and sculptured architectural decorations were
often used
to record historical events. Despite its characteristic realism, black
African
sculpture also symbolized religious themes.
Symbolism, religious and otherwise, was also typical of African music,
especially of drum rhythms and dance. Like law and religion, music was a
part
of everyday life. Bantu songs recounted real life experiences such as
hunting,
planting, cattle trading, courtship, and the adventures of famous
heroes.
Unlike musical events in Europe or contemporary America, where the
performing
artist plays to an audience, all individuals present tended to
participate.
Exceptions were mostly to be found in such states as Mali and Axum,
where
professional musicians were kept at royal courts, according to customs
prevalent in North Africa or the Middle East. African audiences in the
traditional Bantu societies usually became involved by clapping or
dancing.
Nothing could better illustrate the prevailing adherence to communal
values.
Representative Bantu States
The ancient common culture pattern was well illustrated by a number of
emerging Bantu states in the late medieval period. They include Zimbabwe
and
Mutapa in contemporary Zimbabwe; Kongo, which straddled the great river
in the
southwest; and Benin, near the mouth of the Niger. The Mossi and Yoruba
states, which arose in the Niger backcountry, were typical of numerous
less
powerful Bantu polities.
Upon arriving in East Africa at the opening of the sixteenth century,
the
Portuguese found the Kingdom of Mutapa controlling 700 miles of the
upper
Zambezi. They learned from Mutapan oral tradition about two recent kings
who
had conquered an empire between the Zambezi and the Limpopo. The last
conqueror had moved his capital north to the Zambezi, but his successors
still
revered the ancient stone ruins of the original capital at Zimbabwe in
the
southern highlands. Great Zimbabwe, which reached its peak of
development
between 1250 and 1450, is the most impressive among hundreds of stone
ruins,
dating from the same era in that region. Its great buildings, extending
over
sixty acres, included a palace capable of housing a thousand servants
and a
temple with walls ten feet thick and twenty feet high. Labor for such
projects
was supported by a flourishing gold trade with the coastal cities,
continued
later by Mutapa. Without written records, scholars cannot precisely
describe
the Zimbabwe polity, but Portuguese accounts of Mutapa provide some
indication
of what the parent civilization was like.
The royal capital of Mutapa contained a palace complex within a wooden
palisade. Here, in addition to the king's quarters, were those for the
queens
and the royal pages, who were young hostages from subject peoples, sent
to
serve at the Mutapan court. The royal household also included the king's
personal aides, such as the captain of the guard, the king's pharmacist,
the
head musician, and the doorkeeper. The most powerful officials, however,
were
the nine "wives of the king." Of these, the top ranking "wife" was the
king's
sister, who was in charge of foreign affairs. Only one queen, who ranked
third
in the hierarchy, was a true wife. The others were chief ministers and
regional governors, with their own estates, vassals, and revenues. Some
were
not even women, but all were related to the dynasty by symbolic marriage
ties,
a practice evidently carried over from a past when all the ministers
were
women. Another sign of an earlier female emphasis was a military
contingent of
women, who played a decisive part in the election of kings. This
tradition-bound bureaucracy and its related lineages imposed practical
limits
upon the king, despite his recognized divinity.
Another notable kingdom was Kongo, located near the mouth of the Congo
River. It was formed in the fourteenth century when a petty northern
prince
named Wene led a migration into the south, married into the local ruling
family, and began acquiring vassals through conquest and voluntary
submission
of local rulers. A typical Bantu hero, Wene took the title of ManiKongo
(lord
of the Kongo). His successors governed a realm which united six former
states
between the coast and Stanley Pool.
By the time the Portuguese arrived in the 1400s, Kongo had already
developed a bureaucratic monarchy. The king had a paid bodyguard and a
central
government, collecting taxes in copper and cloth, which served as
currency in
regular trade between the coast and the interior. Appointed governors
and
district officials enforced authority in the six provinces. In the late
fifteenth century, the whole system was based upon innumerable
agricultural
villages, which were still organized in the old matrilineal lineages but
governed by brothers and nephews. Wives and daughters did most of the
work in
the fields.
North of Kongo, on the forested coast of southern Nigeria, was Benin, a
prosperous and powerful kingdom two centuries before the Portuguese
arrived.
Unlike Kongo, it had grown wealthy from its merchants' overland trade
with the
Sudan, although it did not become Muslim or import Sudanese culture.
Among
Benin's greatest rulers was Ewuare, who killed his rival and took the
throne
in 1440. He was remembered as a powerful magician and healer but was
more
famous as a conqueror of 200 towns, extending Benin's boundaries to the
Niger
and into the Yoruba hinterlands.
The kings of Benin, known as Obas, lived in a huge palace, protected by
a
surrounding maze of courtyards. They maintained large, well-trained
armies.
Aiding the king was a council, comprised of hereditary officials who
were
royal family members. Government outside of the capital, Benin City, was
largely in the hands of town and village chiefs, also related to the
ruling
dynasty.
In addition to Benin, other states in the Niger region profited from
contacts with the Sudan but continued developing their Bantu culture.
Commerce, traditionally monopolized by women at the local level, had
become
thriving long-distance trade by the fifteenth century, when tribal towns
north
and west of Benin were heavily involved in military struggles for
commercial
dominance. The kings (Alafins) of Oyo, one Yoruba state, began building
a
tributary empire. It functioned, before 1500, as a complex mix of palace
councils, subkings, secret societies, and lineage organizations at the
village
level. Later, in the sixteenth century, Oyo would become a strong rival
of
Benin.
The Bantu heritage was equally striking among the Mossi states of the
upper Volta, on the borders of Mali and Songhai in the western Sudan. By
the
fifteenth century, the five original Mossi kingdoms were united in a
federation of subkings, each recognizing one ruler as overlord. This
potentate
headed a government of sixteen ministries, his palace housed hundreds of
servants, and his army included efficient cavalry units. The Mossi
polity
resembled its greater Muslim neighbors, except for its religion and its
orientation toward the outside world. In these respects, its rulers were
loyal
to the spirit of their ancestral religion and their customary law.
All of the states described here were closer to their native traditions
than were the older and more complex polities in the Sudan, in Ethiopia,
and
along the East Coast. Most of these latter states espoused Islam, while
Ethiopia had been Christian since the fourth century. In addition, they
imported non-African languages, writing systems, art, and cultural
traditions.
Because they developed earlier, they have often been regarded as sources
of
civilization spreading into the African interior. Such a process did
take
place, as is most evident on the borders of the northern savanna. Yet
all
innovations were integrated into older African cultures. This was true
of all
sub-Saharan states, but especially true of emerging southern Bantu
monarchies
after A.D. 1000.
Hybrid Civilizations Of Sub-Sahara Africa
While Bantu states in the forests and the southern highlands were
evolving toward centralized monarchies, other sub-Saharan cultures were
maturing into complex but varied civilizations. The western Sudan
produced
great empires, comparing in reputation with Eurasian imperial states.
Ethiopia, a compact Christian monarchy, developed a unique identity
while
relatively isolated in the Abyssinian highlands. The Swahili sultanates
on the
east coast were independent cities, prospering in sea trade with Asia.
But
despite their differences, these societies were more economically
advanced,
more complex in political organization, more literate, and more aware of
the
larger world than those of the southern Bantu. Indeed, they were hybrid
civilizations, with a layer of non-African values and institutions
superimposed upon their native cultural foundations.
Early Contacts With Non-African Civilizations
Outside influences reached sub-Sahara Africa from ancient times, despite
its relative isolation. Egypt expanded southward into the eastern Sudan
before
2000 B.C.; Phoenicians, in their day, circumnavigated the continent,
trading
along the way. Later, Carthaginian galleys sailed the northwest coast,
and
still later, Romans reached the east coast through the Red Sea. They
also
traded across the Sahara, particularly after the second century A.D.,
when
they brought Asian camels to North Africa. Following the Roman era,
Eurasian
influences reached Africa via the upper Nile, the ports of western Asia,
and
the rapidly developing caravan trade of the western Sahara.
The major source of Egyptian influence upon sub-Sahara Africa was the
black Nubian Kingdom of Kush. Once an Egyptian province, Kush became
independent in the eighth century B.C. Its kings governed Egypt briefly
before
the 600s; after being driven from the north, they continued to rule the
upper
Nile, perpetuating an Africanized version of Egyptian culture, complete
with
pyramids. During the early Christian era, their capital city at Meroe
became a
famous iron-smelting center. Kush conducted a lively trade with Egypt,
the
central Sudan, Ethiopia, and Arabia. An Axumite invasion destroyed the
kingdom
in the fourth century, but two surviving Nubian states maintained
Christianity
and the traditional civilization until they were overrun by Arabs in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
A second foreign influence upon sub-Sahara Africa came from pre-Islamic
Arabs, who crossed the Red Sea and colonized the Eritrean coast around
1000
B.C. They interbred with native Africans to form a state called Axum,
which
rose on the Somali coast of Ethiopia. After destroying Kush in 350 B.C.,
Axum
extended its control into the highlands. It brought many Semitic
influences to
northeast Africa, including some aspects of Judaism and a distinctive
language. It also accepted Coptic Christianity from Egypt, maintaining
close
contacts with Near Eastern centers until it was isolated by the rise of
Islam
in the seventh century.
Of all the early foreign influences in sub-Sahara Africa, the Islamic
religion was undoubtedly the most significant. Originating in western
Arabia,
it spread rapidly through the Near East and North Africa in the seventh
century. From Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt, it was carried into the
northern
savanna by traders, missionaries, and conquerors. It also followed Arab
and
Persian sea trade from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to East Africa.
With
Islam came monotheism, Arabic language and writing, Arabic and Persian
literature, coined money, and bureaucratic government. Islam was
considerably
modified by African customs, but it became a potent force, particularly
in the
western Sudan.
Ethiopia
Among the later sub-Saharan states, Ethiopia was the oldest. Historians
usually record its beginnings with Axum's conquest of Kush, but
Ethiopian
monarchs traced their lineage back to the Hebrew King Solomon and the
Queen of
Sheba, or Sabea, an ancient state in southwestern Arabia. Whether this
is
true, Axum's strong roots in Near Eastern culture were strengthened
after its
conversion to Christianity. Although predominantly black, its people
were
ethnically, culturally, and linguistically different from the Bantu.
In the sixth century, the country was wealthy and powerful. Cities
boasted stone houses and beautiful churches; the king wore luxurious
robes and
rode in chariots pulled by elephants. Axum also produced its own
distinctive
gold coins and conducted trade throughout the Near East, transacting
business
in Greek or in its own official language, known as Ge'ez.
This picture changed drastically after Muslims conquered North Africa in
the seventh century. They soon drove the Axumites from the Red Sea coast
and
into the highlands of the interior, where they fought to preserve their
independence, their Christianity, and their culture. This struggle
became
particularly intense after the tenth century, when the country was
weakened by
a revolt, led by a reputedly Jewish queen in the southwest who played
off
Muslims against Christians, killed the Ethiopian king in battle, seized
the
throne, and reigned for forty years, persecuting Ethiopian Christians
throughout the land. In the twelfth century, another rebellious local
queen
helped further Muslim influence. By the fifteenth century, however,
Ethiopian
monarchs had united local tribes, Christian and Muslim, into a tributary
empire, whose monarch termed himself "King of Kings."
The outstanding emperor of the era was Zara Yakob (1434-1468), who
achieved internal unity for Ethiopia and security among its warlike
Muslim
neighbors, most of whom he defeated and reduced to vassalage. He is best
remembered as a stern reformer who stamped out heresy, strengthened the
Ethiopian Church, and reorganized the bureaucracy. He also established
tentative relations with the pope, seeking European aid against his
Muslim
enemies. Unpopular at the time, this policy later led to alliance with
the
Portuguese.
Zara Yakob held sway over a loosely controlled tributary state, but
within his immediate environs he ruled as an absolute autocrat,
surrounded by
hundreds of courtiers and servants. He was aided by two chief ministers,
two
chief justices, a secretary, and a chaplain. The "Negus" (Emperor), as
head of
the Church, appointed the bishops and took an active part in church
administration. Although he traveled constantly about the country,
accompanied
by his enormous retinue, the Negus allowed the public to see him only on
rare
occasions, when he appeared on a high platform, specially built for the
purpose.
Like the Middle Eastern states, to which it was closely related in
history and culture, Ethiopia developed a male-centered society.
According to
Ethiopian legend, the first king, a son of the Queen of Sheba, swore at
his
coronation that Ethiopia would never be ruled by a woman. The king,
though a
Christian, usually had three wives and numerous concubines, who were
kept
secluded in their own quarters of the household. They had few political
duties. Although the queen mothers were honored, and one might
occasionally
serve as regent for a young son, their political influence, like that of
the
royal wives, usually had to be exerted through some sympathic male of
status.
As among Arabs and Jews, this influence was often beneficial and
decisive,
despite its unofficial nature. On the other hand it could be quite
disruptive
when it resulted in palace intrigues and conspiracies among royal
mothers,
maneuvering to gain the throne for their sons.
The economy of medieval Ethiopia was based primarily upon local
agriculture. Axum's extensive commerce declined after the eighth
century, as
it shifted gradually from the sea to land trade with the interior.
Nevertheless, the country enjoyed moderate prosperity, as evidenced by
bountiful public revenues and lavish expenditures in church-building.
The
Emperor received tribute and taxes, mostly in goods, which were stored
in
warehouses. In addition, the monarch's daily needs were largely supplied
by
local rulers or officials, who entertained his entourage as it moved
from
place to place.
Ethiopia acquired a rich cultural heritage, drawn mainly from the Middle
East. Its traditions, even before the Christian era, were generated from
the
religious lore of Palestine and Arabia. Consequently, its most enduring
cultural expressions were its churches, the most famous of which are the
beautiful and awe-inspiring rock-hewn cathedrals of Roha, built after
the
eleventh century in the reign of the legendary Emperor Lalibela, who was
declared a saint by the Ethiopian Church. These huge architectural
projects
compare favorably with similar temples in India for their ingenious
engineering. This religious accent was typical of all scholarly and
aesthetic
pursuits, particularly in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when
Ethiopians produced innumerable biblical translations, theological
treatises,
biographies of saints, historical chronicles, illuminated manuscripts,
and
mural paintings.
Swahili Cities In East Africa
From ancient times the East African coast was involved in long-range
maritime trade. Phoenician, Greek, Roman, and Arab traders regularly
operated
as far south as Zanzibar before Bantu migrants arrived in early
Christian
times. The rise of Islam furthered commercial expansion in the Indian
Ocean,
but East Africa was not much affected until the twelfth century, when a
wave
of Arab and Persian commercial colonists begantransforming primitive
trading
settlements into flourishing Muslim commercial cities.
During the peak period of Swahili civilization, between 1200 and 1500,
the east coast was studded with thirty-seven city-states along the 1500
miles
between Mogadishu in the north and Sofala in the south. Among the best
known
were Malindi, Mombasa, and Kilwa. Most Swahili cities were on islands,
protected by sea from the foreign Bantu world of the mainland. Common
people
in the cities were from that world, either as descendants or migrants.
Free
intermarriage between a Middle Eastern elite and native inhabitants had
produced a diverse racial mixture, described later by the Portuguese as
varying from black through tawny to light, according to locality and
social
class. Swahili, the language of these cities, was mainly Bantu, but
included
some Arabic, Persian, and Hindu. Islam was usually the official
religion,
although shaped by local beliefs and customs. Generally, the culture was
a
synthesis of African and Middle Eastern, with the latter more pronounced
among
the upper classes.
The Swahili cities were independent, with some temporary exceptions. At
times, one city might exact tribute from its neighbors, or a number of
states
might federate in time of war. But commercial competition made such
cooperation difficult to maintain and curtailed political expansion
toward the
Bantu interior, where kingdoms like Mutapa played one coastal city
against
another. Within the cities, governments were usually headed by monarchs
(sultans), assisted by merchant councils, holy men, or royal relatives.
Although the sultans were typical Muslim rulers in most respects, the
common
order of succession was drawn from the Bantu matrilineal tradition. When
a
sultan died at Kilwa, Pate, or numerous other cities, the throne passed
to one
of the head queen's brothers.
As the Muslim Middle East became the commercial center of Eurasia,
maritime trade of the Swahili cities figured largely in the commercial
development of three continents. Kilwa became the major port for gold
sent
through Egypt to Europe. Iron ore, exported from Malindi and Mombasa,
supplied
the furnaces of India. A number of Chinese expeditions visited the coast
in
the early 1400s (see ch. 8), exchanging porcelain for typical African
products, including exotic animals such as ostriches, zebras, and
giraffes.
In this era of their greatest prosperity, the Swahili cities built stone
mosques and palaces, adorning their buildings with gold, ivory, and
other
wealth from nearly every major port in southern Asia. Kilwa impressed
the
famous Muslim scholar-traveler Ibn Batuta as the most beautiful and
well-constructed city he had seen anywhere. Archeological excavations
revealing the ruins of enormous palaces, great mansions, elaborate
mosques,
arched walkways, town squares, and public fountains have confirmed this
evaluation. The main palace at Kilwa, built on the edge of an ocean
cliff,
contained over 100 rooms, as well as an eight-sided bathing pool in one
of its
many courtyards.
The Swahili cities produced their own characteristic culture. Their
beautiful architecture, borrowed from Arabia and Persia, was matched by
a
Swahili literature, written in an Arabic script. Poems, ballads, and
letters
in Swahili reflected the perspectives of a Muslim urban elite. Most
common
people, however, were only indifferent converts to Islam, which they
accepted
while holding to their own orally expressed traditional beliefs. A few
miles
inland from the cities, the lives of Bantu villagers were relatively
untouched
by the ways of the coastal cities.
Empires Of The Western Sudan
More than the Swahili cities and Ethiopia, the great states of the
western Sudan were based upon native African traditions. The old Bantu
ways
remained very strong, particularly among women, who outwardly accepted
the
imported Muslim religion but retained their attachment to old customs
and
freedoms. Yet despite this pull of the past, the area was much affected
by
outside contacts, particularly those arising from trans-Saharan trade
with the
Mediterranean lands to the north.
Following the third century, when camels were first employed in this
trade, large caravans, sometimes including 10,000 pack animals, made
regular
trips across the dangerous desert, carrying North African salt in
exchange for
West African gold. To these great expeditions, the Niger River offered a
secure watering and resting place. Here were people who knew the savanna
and
could easily find the still distant gold-producing areas. Thus Africans
living
near the great bend of the river came into control of the lucrative gold
and
salt trade. Many traders were women, particularly those operating in
local
markets, where rising prosperity and accumulating wealth increased the
traffic
in foods and luxury goods.
Ghana
The earliest of the kingdoms of the western Sudan was Ghana (not to be
confused with the modern state of the same name). It arose on the upper
Niger
during the fourth century as a loose federation of village states,
inhabited
by Soninke farmers. According to unconfirmed legends, it was first ruled
by a
Berber dynasty, which was overthrown about A.D. 700, when Kaya Maghau
led his
kinsmen in an uprising, killed the last white ruler, and established a
Soninke
dynasty. Kaya was remembered as a great warrior, who expanded Ghana's
boundaries while furthering trade across the desert.
Ghana reached its peak in the eleventh century. The Arab chronicler
al-Bakri noted in 1067 that the army was 200,000 strong, with many
contingents
wearing chain mail. The king, who had not converted to Islam, was
considered
divine and able to intercede with the gods. He appointed all officials
and
served as supreme judge. When he appeared in public, he was surrounded
by
advisors and princes of the empire, along with personal retainers
holding gold
swords, horses adorned with gold-cloth blankets, and dogs wearing gold
collars.
Ghana's wealth derived partially from its efficient irrigation
agriculture, but the gold trade was an even more significant factor. The
king
claimed every gold nugget coming into the country, leaving ordinary
citizens
the right to buy and sell only gold dust. Taxes were levied on the many
goods
crossing Ghana's borders. The commercial emphasis is evident in
al-Bakri's
description of the capital, Kumbi-Saleh. This was really two towns, some
six
miles apart, one occupied by the king and his retinue and the other by
foreign
merchants. Even the merchants' town had twelve mosques, two-storied
stone
houses, and public squares. This, along with the Muslim legalists and
theologians who lived in Kumbi-Saleh, suggests a prevailing Islamic
influence,
although the king publicly consulted priests of the traditional cults.
Ghana's decline and eclipse in the early thirteenth century remains
something of a mystery. One Muslim account of an Almoravid invasion from
Morocco, around 1080, has been seriously questioned by recent
scholarship,
without completely resolving the question. Later kings apparently
accepted
Islam, but this may have been voluntary. At any rate, Ghana remained
intact
but weakening for another hundred years. In 1203, its rule was ended by
the
uprising of a petty vassal, who was later overthrown by Sundiata,
founder of
Mali.
Mali
After defeating and killing the tyrant who had subjugated his kinsmen
and
murdered his brothers, Sundiata took over Ghana and gained control of
the
desert gold trade. Thus began a new ruling dynasty in the western Sudan.
Sundiata's immediate descendants converted to Islam, which aided their
further
conquests, until by the fourteenth century, Malian kings ruled over more
than
forty million people and 400 towns in the entire Sudan-Sahel region of
West
Africa, which stretched from beyond the upper Niger to the Atlantic.
The kingdom was at the height of its power and prosperity during the
reign of Mansa (King) Musa (1312-1337). Musa was perhaps the first
African
ruler to be known throughout the civilized world of western Asia and
Europe.
He was a great soldier, consolidating his control over a vast domain. He
also
encouraged the growth of Islam in his lands, importing Muslim scholars
and
architects to promote learning, build mosques, and implement his
political
authority. His fame abroad resulted mainly from his pilgrimage to Mecca
in
1324, when his thousands of retainers and generous gifts completely
amazed his
hosts along the way. Gold expended then in Cairo caused ruinous Egyptian
inflation for a generation.
Mansa Musa ruled over a state more efficiently organized than the
relatively crude European kingdoms of the time. On the north and
northeast
were loosely held tributary kingdoms of diverse populations, including
some
Berbers. To the south were more closely controlled tributary states,
under
resident viceroys, appointed by the Mansa. Elsewhere, particularly in
the
cities, such as Timbuktu, provincial administrators governed directly in
the
king's name and at his pleasure. The central government included
ministries
forfinance, justice, agriculture, and foreign relations.
Ibn Batuta visited Mali in 1352 and left a detailed description of the
country. He was most impressed by its law and justice, which guaranteed
that
no man "need fear brigands, thieves, or ravishers" anywhere in the
Mansa's
vast domain. Batuta praised the king's devotion to Islam but was
disappointed
that so many Malians were not Muslim. He noted also that the unveiled
women
were most attractive but lacking in humility. He was astounded that they
might
take lovers without arousing their husbands' jealousy and might have
male
friends, with whom they regularly discoursed on learned subjects. Batuta
was
describing the city of Walata, where he found women better educated and
enjoying more freedom that in other countries he had visited. ^2 He
might have
said the same about a number of Sudanese trading cities, including
Adoghast,
Kumi Saleh, Gao, and Timbuktu.
[Footnote 2: Rhoda Hoff, Africa: Adventures in Eyewitness History (New
York:
A. Walck, 1963), pp. 10-13.]
After Mansa Musa's death, his successors found the large empire
increasingly difficult to govern. They were plagued by poor
communications,
the diversity of cultures, and the competition of rising states, whose
rulers
were also converting to Islam. One of the rebellious states was Songhai,
farther down the Niger. Before the end of the fourteenth century it had
won
its independence. Within another century it had conquered Mali.
Other Sudanese States
Songhai reached its zenith during the reigns of Sonni Ali (1464-1492)
and
Askia Muhammed (1493-1528). Sonni Ali captured Timbuktu in 1468, while
conquering most of Mali, When he died, after thirty years of ruthless
military
dictatorship, Askia Muhammed set about reorganizing the whole empire. He
created central ministries, an appointed provincial administration, a
professional army, and an enlarged fleet of canoes, which constantly
patroled
the Niger. He also reformed taxation, instituted a systems of weights
and
measures, and regularized judicial procedures. During his reign, the
Sankore
mosque in Timbuktu became so renowned as a center of learning that a
contemporary traveler noted more profit being made from bookselling than
from
any other trade. When Askia Muhammed died, Songhai was respected
throughout
the western Islamic world.
Another rising Savanna state after the fourteenth century was
Kanem-Bornu, located near Lake Chad in the central Sudan. By the
eleventh
century, the parent kingdom of Kanem was a prosperous contemporary of
Ghana.
After being overrun by invaders and then reconquered by earlier migrants
to
Bornu in the west, it emerged a second time after 1400. As did those of
Mali,
the women of Kanem-Bornu enjoyed a high social status. From the tenth
century,
they had held important government positions; the king's mother was an
official advisor along with his chief wife and eldest sister. The kings
commanded a large army, which they used to extend their territories.
Like the
Mansas of Mali, they attempted, with some success, to impose their
Islamic
religion upon their people. In the fifteenth century, they developed
close
relations with pro-Turkish regimes in North Africa and the Middle East,
thus
increasing their trade and their military support.
Farther west, between Lake Chad and the Niger, were the seven
independent
Hausa kingdoms, each organized as a city-state. Before the eleventh
century,
Hausa kings were hampered by a lingering matrilineal system, in which
each
monarch shared power with a queen mother and other female councilors.
Later,
as the cities began prospering in trans-Saharan trade, and as commercial
rivalry increased, their weaknesses became more evident. This situation
changed some after the fourteenth century, when most of the kings
accepted
Islam, using it to free them from old matriarchal restraints and prepare
literate officials for governing the villages. The new Muslim age of
despotism, competition, and warfare decisively weakened the traditional
status
of Hausa women. One king of Kano, in the late 1400s, even had his wives
and
thousand concubines secluded, as was the custom in the Muslim Middle
East.
All the Sudanese states, despite their significance in the trans-Saharan
trade, were relatively weak and insecure. Their Islamic culture, which
generated literary and architectural achievements, was a thin veneer
over a
traditional African way of life. Royal administrators were hard pressed
to
control lineage chiefs and self-sustaining villages. Ultimately,
Sudanese
polities depended upon able kings; inefficient monarchs invariably
brought
collapse.
Back to Main menu
A
project by History World International
World
History Center
|