Post on 02-Jan-2016
AfricaAfricaPost Classical Period
The Sahara: to 600Pre- Post Classical Age
• long history of sporadic encounters for more than 1000 years.
• Site of Innovation: urbanization and state-formation started in Western Africa independently (jenne-Jeno)
regular commercial and cultural exchange between Western Africa and the Mediterranean
world did not start until the 8th century AD.
West AfricanWest African DevelopmentDevelopmentNiger River Valley
Leadership: Stateless Societies Leadership: Stateless Societies
• Village LifeVillage Life– 100s of people– Chief & Council of Elders– Groups of villages constituted a district– Consensus or agreement
• Less social stratification Less social stratification than urban areas– A type of ‘Aristocratic’ ruling elite– Religious authorities– No concept of individual property
ownership
Evolution African Political Organization
• Stateless society or Segmentary society– No bureaucracy – Family and kinship groups (TribalismTribalism)
• Around 1000 – Changes… during post classical age!– Population growth– Strained resources– Increased conflict
• Emergence of Formal Governments in some areas
West African Changes…West African Changes…WHY?WHY?
• Trans Saharan Muslims traders joined up with the internal West African networks.
• The savanna’s established states (Ghana and Gao) and cities, like Jenne had some twenty thousand inhabitants. – Demand for Salt in the north– Gold reserves in Niger Delta (south)
• Camel caravans revolutionize trade across Sahara
• Governments regulated and profit from Gold for Salt TradeGold for Salt Trade
Trans-Saharan Trade Influence
Ghana Ghana ((700-1000)700-1000)4th century• Agricultural traditional
people• Sought protection from
Camel nomads
8th Century• Ghana rulers (divine)
welcomed Muslim traders• 2 cities
(Muslim/Traditional)
11th Century• Almoravids introduced
Islam
West African heritage• Formal Governments became
prosperous from taxes and duties that regulated gold-for-salt trade networks, YET….
• Most people outside cities maintained a traditional agricultural existence– Tribal identities & animistic beliefs continued to
dominate the region/people
Tribal CultureTribal Culture• Gender expectations
– Men- blacksmiths, tanners, clear the field– Women – potters, domestic chores, child-rearing– Both planted & harvested crops– Women enjoyed more rights in Africa than other Eurasian
regions (occupations, freedom of movement)
• Age sets (age grade)– Communal tasks – Rights of passage
Mali Mali (1200-1450)(1200-1450)
• Sundiata – founder• Peak of Gold-Salt
trade• Mansa Musa
– Importance of Hajj
• Timbuktu – intellectual capital of scholarship
• University of Sankore• Competing factions
led to decline - invasions
Songhai Songhai ( - 1591)( - 1591)• Sunni Ali – founder• Gao – capital
– Well-organized government
• Prosperity continued through trade, commerce, agriculture
• Scholarly pursuits continued at universities – Timbuktu, Jenne