East AfricaKingdoms & Trade

Coins of AksumCoins used by the Kingdom of Aksum

How similar are these coins?

How are they different?

Coins of AksumOne has a crescent, the other has a cross

What does this tell us?

Who was this ruler?

Aksum

How important was Aksum at its peak?

How important were the kings of Aksum?

How important was trade to Aksum?

What was Aksum like?

Aksum: Decline & Legacy

How did the kingdom of Aksum come to an end?

How was Ethiopia influenced by Aksum?

What happened to Ethiopia after the spread of Islam?

The Swahili Coast

The east coast of Africa was home to a number of city-states.

The Swahili were a combination of African and Islamic culture.

By 1100 CE many of the city-states had become wealthy and powerful.

Why?

The Swahili Coast

How did the Swahili become influenced by Islamic culture?

Why were the city-states wealthy and powerful?

The Swahili Coast

The city-states were part of the Indian Ocean Trade.

Who did they trade with?

Coins found in Kilwa

Kilwa & the Swahili Coast

Kilwa became the most powerful city-state.

How powerful was it?

Kilwa & the Swahili Coast

Was the coast the only part of Africa impacted by the Indian Ocean Trade?

Where else might have been?

Great Zimbabwe

A “zimbabwe” is a stone structure.

The city became powerful around 1250.

Why?

Great Zimbabwe

Gold beads found in Great

Zimbabwe

Do these items provide a

clue?

Great Zimbabwe controlled the gold and ivory trade to the coast.

Great Zimbabwe

Historiographical controversy

Who built Great Zimbabwe?

Great Zimbabwe“It can be taken as a fact that the wood which we obtained [from

Great Zimbabwe] actually is cedar-wood and it cannot come from anywhere else but from the Lebanon. Furthermore, only the Phoenicians could have brought it here; also, Solomon used a lot of cedar-wood for the building of the temple [in Jerusalem].”

Karl Mauch, German explorer & geographer (1871)

“The word ‘peacocks’ in the Bible may be read as parrots and amongst the stone ornaments from Zimbabwe are green parrots.”

Cecil Rhodes, English businessman & politician (1891)

“In recent years, most Africans have not only claimed the ruins as the product of an indigenous African society but have taken pride in them as a reminder of past glories.”

Peter Garlake, Zimbabwean archaeologist & art historian (1973)

Great Zimbabwe

What do you think?

In a short essay, determine who built Great Zimbabwe and explain why.

Be sure to consider historical thinking in your response.