HIS 106 Chapter 17

1. HIS 106Chapter 17 Africa 1000 - 1800

2. Africa • How do you see it? • Had kingdoms, laws, religion, and art • Received outside influences -- some beneficial, some not: • Muslims • European • Foodstuffs • Slavery

3. Kingdoms • Present from 1000 to 1800 • Some lasted longer than others • No single power could control Africa for long • Regionalism and tribal conflicts kept that from happening

4. Spread of Islam in Africa • Islam spread south throughout many, but not all, areas through trade routes • Islam either co-existed or blended with traditional beliefs • Islam took hold primarily in urban trade centers • It was rare to find Islam in more remote areas

5. What is Islam? • Begun by Muhammad who was born in570 • He resided in Mecca • In 610 he began receiving revelations, he felt, from God via the angel Gabriel • These were later collected in the Muslim holy book called the Qu’ran and became the basis of Islam

6. Not immediately accepted by all • Threatened the traditional Arab gods • Muhammad fled to Medina when he felt his life was in danger • His following grew, and he returned to Mecca in 629 • He was then able to convert most of the inhabitants of Mecca to Islam

7. Islam united the Arab people like never before • They had a belief in one God called Allah • All believers were equal before Allah • The strong and wealthy were responsible for the care of the weak and poor • Muhammad and his teachings became the basis for laws regulating the Muslim faith

8. In Islam, all would face a last judgment before a stern but compassionate Allah • Islam’s 5 Pillars provided the basis for underlying unity: • Acceptance of Islam • Pray 5 times daily facing Mecca • Pay a zakat to charity (tithe) • Fast during month of Ramadan • Make a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca at least 1 time

9. Muhammad died in 632 • His followers quarreled over succession • A new leader was chosen who reunited Islam by 633 • Muslims then began to take new territory and spread their religion to these areas • There were victories in today’s Iraq, Iran, and North Africa

10. Succession Problems • Succession problems led to a split in the religion • There were those who would follow the appointed leader of Islam • There were others who felt the leader should be a blood relative of Muhammad • As a result, the religion split into 2 parts: Sunnis and Shi’ites

11. Presence of Islam • In East Africa there were Islamic city-states along the coast in port cities • In the western and central areas, Islam arrived by overland trade routes • Some of the Muslims stayed in these trade cities • Conversion campaigns led by the Almorvids swept through Ghana, and Kumbi by 1076 • Islam moved into Senegal by 1030s

12. African kingdoms • There were major African Kingdoms before Islamic trade routes added to their influence • From 1000 – 1600, there were 4 long-lived empires of note: • Ghana • Mali • Songhai • Kanem-Bornu

13. All had hierarchical societies, successful economies, and an army • There were also some Christian states in the eastern Sudan • Maqurra • Alwa • Nubia

14. With increasing Muslim immigration and an elitist quality to their Christianity, these Christian areas slowly changed over to Islam

15. European Entry • When Europeans entered Africa, change was the result • It was the Portuguese who first came and set up small trading forts or settlements near the coast (fear of disease) • They traded for African food crops, gold, salt, hides, copper, and slaves

16. Later, other European groups arrived wanting slaves to work on their plantations in their New World colonies • The Senegambian states provided about 1/3 of all African slaves during the 16th century • After that, slaves were primarily taken from other areas to the south

17. On the east coast of Africa changes were coming to their culture and languages • A Swahili culture and language was taking hold • Swahili = Arabic with Bantu • So we had Muslims settling in the east and Europeans in the west and south

18. Settlement of South Africa • In the 17th century the Dutch East India Company set up a station at the Cape of Good Hope • 1657 – Colonization was allowed • A Dutch-speaking, slave-owning, agricultural community developed • They were called the Boers, Dutch for peasant or farmer

19. Each Dutch planter felt entitled to 6,000 acres • As the Dutch moved in, the Africans were pushed out • Those Africans who weren’t enslaved by the Dutch moved into other territories • This resulted in CONFLICT with other African tribes, mainly the Zulus

20. The whites there believed in white dominance, and some racial mixing took place resulting in a “colored race” or mixed • Boers kept pushing out the Africans who moved in on the Zulus. • The Zulus pushed back in what has been called the “Mfecane” or crushing in the 19th century

21. Zulus were able to remain independent until the late 1870s • Another problem arose for the Dutch • As a result of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the Cape of Good Hope came under British control in 1806 • This caused the Dutch frustration leading to conflict in the 1800s

22. The result was that the British remained in control and tried to assimilate the Dutch • The Union of South Africa was formed in 1910