READING IN THE BOOK? Pages 222-242

Great West, East, and South African states arose as a result of the growth and spread of Islamic trade and culture.

In West Africa, Islam and its culture spread by cultural diffusion, in East Africa by colonization of port cities.

With trade came a new culture, giving African kingdoms not just a new religion but Islamic literacy, trade, methods of statecraft, and art.

Like Classical Greek civilization, Islamic civilization illustrates culture and commercial hegemony can wield power equal to that of political hegemony.

On the Niger River, the Nok peoples’ culture flourished from 500 BCE to 200 CE.

The Nok culture the first to create sculpture.

WEST AFRICA

By 700, Arabs establish trade routes with Sub-Saharan west Africa.

WEST AFRICA

The Africans traded gold for salt to the Islamic

The trip across the desert took 3 months, according to Ibn Battuta, the Arab Marco Polo. The Berber tribes dominated the trip.

The Arabs traded salt for African gold and slaves.

Slaves cut salt into slabs, strapped it onto camels and shipped it south.

The South Sahara had gold deposits. Scholars estimate that by the 11th Century, they exported 9 tons of gold annually to Europe alone.

Slaves, the next biggest export, filled the homes of Muslims everywhere.

In Morocco and Egypt they filled the army (the Marmaluks).

At least 4 million people enslaved from 650-1500.

Manumission freedom on conversion. Muslims thought Northern Europeans the best slaves.

Slav=Slaves.

Three powerful Kingdoms arose Ghana, Mali and Songhai.

The “Kingdom of Gold” inhabited by the Soninke people by the 5th C who traded with the Berbers originally Phoenician colonists.

The Soninke had iron weapons, horses, and farming with the capital of Saleh.

In 992, they captured Berber towns and took over the trans Saharan trade routes, which led to the spread of Muslim culture into Ghana.

Al Bakri (muslim geographer) wrote the Ghannise had 22 kings before the Muslim arrival, and regularly traded 20,000 gold coins in a single contract for salt.

Social classes consisted of the Gahanna aristocracy, Muslim administrators, merchants, farmers, craftsmen, and slaves.

Ghana adopted the Muslim diwan for record keeping, the king held all justice, and kept its indigenous religion.

By 1077, the Almoravids, Saharan tribesmen converted to Islam, swept into Ghana and imposed a Muslim King ending independence.

The people of Ghana fled south to Mali, another Mande speaking clans.

From 1250-1460, Mali reigned as the most powerful West African state, Timbuktu the trade capital.

Sundiata (1230-1255) founded the dynasty and claimed to be both tribal and Muslim.

Uli his son converted to Islam. This helped trade relations with North Africa and spread Muslim education throughout the empire.

While Gold and Salt dominated international trade, cowry shells were used for internal trade.

Mansa Musa (1317-1337) expanded the empire and controlled fabulous wealth.

In 1324 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, on the way he visited the Egyptian sultan.

On entrance into Cairo, 500 slaves each carrying a 3 kilo staff of gold preceded him, he was followed by a vast host of retainers including 100 elephants each carrying 50 kilos of gold.

Timbuktu had 150 Islamic schools, its’ book trade the largest in the world.

In 1464, the Songhay people led by Sonni Ali (1464-1492) conquered Mali.

By 1591, Arab Morocco took control of the gold and salt trade and Songhay fragmented in to tribal kingdoms.

In the 14th Century, the Portuguese set up forts along the coast further dividing the tribal kingdoms between Morocco and Europe.

BENIN ART

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Yoruba people at Ife (Nigeria) produced wonderful bronze sculptures.

These reached an artistic peak in the Benin style of West Africa.

BENIN ART

Axum had been founded by Arabs.

330 Christian King Ezana of Axum (Ethiopia) converts to Christianity, they had conquered Kush.

Axum (Ethiopia) people prosper by trading frankincense, mer, ivory and slaves to the Silk Road and Rome.

South of Axum (Ethiopia), Bantu (Language) subsistent farmers and Muslim Arab tradesmen set up ports along the coast of east Africa.

These ports became great cities; Mogadishu, Mombasa, Kilwa.

Wealthy merchants’ Chinese style house in Mogadishu.

Coral Palace of Kilwa

Coral Grande Mosque of Kilwa

Swahili (a mix of Arabic and African culture) became the dominate culture, the official language of Kenya and Tanzineria today.

Sheik (now same as Sultan) lead rich monopolistic mercantile families rulings the port cities.

In the late 15th Century, the wealth of the area astounded the Portuguese, huge amounts of gold, ivory and slaves.

By the late 16th Century, the Europeans had started to take over the port cities.

In South Africa, Islamic trade causes the creation of Great Zimbabwe (1000-1400).

In the 700s, the Bantu speaking people brought iron and farm skills to Zimbabwe.

They founded a great city, and exported huge amounts of gold, which can be found in China today.

In 1450, they abandoned the city, no one knows why as they did not write.

Indonesians crossed the Indian Ocean and settled on the island of Madagascar.

15th-16th Centuries, the Portuguese then Spanish set up forts all along the African coast against Muslims to secure the trade route to India.

16th-19th Centuries, Europeans took 22 million slaves taken out or die from Africa.

Between 1880 and 1900, England and France took all of Africa with a little going to Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

HOME WORK

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