Africa: Early History to 1000 C.E.

1. 5 Africa: Early History to 1000 C.E.

2. Africa: Early History to 1000 C.E. • Issues of Interpretation, Sources, and Disciplines • Physical Description of the Continent • African Peoples • The Sahara and the Sudan to the Beginning of the Common Era • Nilotic Africa and the Ethiopian Highlands • The Western and Central Sudan • Central, Southern, and East Africa

3. Rock Art from Tassili n’Ajjer National Park in Algeria

4. Issues of Interpretation, Sources, and Disciplines

5. Problems of Interpretation • Question of “Civilization” • Danger in constructing too narrow a definition • Broader sense of “sophistication” • Source Problem • Stateless societies leave few records • Oral historical tradition • Archaeological research • Records from outside observers – bias

6. History and Other Disciplines • Academic history intertwined with European nationalism • Africans, others, had “no history” • Anthropology developed to study the “Other” • “African Studies” combines history, anthropology, other disciplines

7. Global Perspectives: “Traditional” Peoples and Nontraditional Histories • What are the advantages and disadvantages of using written texts as primary sources for history? • Think about the histories of other regions you have studied. Have you noticed historians using sources other than documents in these histories? If so, what kinds of sources?

8. Global Perspectives: “Traditional” Peoples and Nontraditional Histories (cont'd) • For histories of what other regions, peoples, or topics (e.g., history of science, art history, history of religion) can scholars make good use of nonwritten sources?

9. Physical Description of the Continent

10. Physical Description of the Continent • Three and a half times the size of the U.S. • Few natural harbors or islands • Communication with interior difficult • Position astride the equator – high temperatures • Sahara Desert and the Sahel • Abundant animal life

11. Map 5–1. Africa: Physical Features and Early Sites

12. Different Regions • North Africa – Mediterranean coastal regions • Nilotic Africa – modern Egypt and Sudan • Sudan – belt of savannah below Sahara • West Africa – desert and savannah west of Lake Chad

13. Different Regions (cont’d) • East Africa – Ethiopian highlands to Rift Valley • Central Africa – north of Kalahari Desert • Southern Africa – Kalahari Desert to Cape of Good Hope

14. Origins of the Gikuyu

15. Origins of the Gikuyu

16. Great Rift Valley

17. African Peoples

18. African Peoples • Oldest hominid ancestor from Great Rift Valley • 1.5-1.8 million years ago • Modern humans also African • Homo sapiens (sapiens)

19. African Peoples (cont’d) • African participation in trade networks, migrations • African goods in Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trade • Nilotic Egypt connection to ancient world • Carthaginian Punic state • Massive internal movements of people

20. Map 5–2. Ancient African Kingdoms and Empires

21. Diffusion of Languages • Linguistic diversity – 1,000-3,000 languages • Four major language groupings • Afro-Asiatic • Nilo-Saharan • Niger-Kongo • Bantu – largest subgroup • Khoisan

22. Diffusion of Languages (cont’d) • Two later arrivals • Indo-European and Austronesian

23. “Race” and Physiological Variation • Some interpreters linked patterns in civilization to apparent differences in appearance of African populations • 1990s controversy over whether ancient Egyptians were “white” or “black” • Ancient Greeks, Arabs and terminology for Africans • Race is a problematic concept

24. San Hunters, Southern Africa

25. The Sahara and the Sudan to the Beginning of the Common Era

26. The Sahara and the Sudan to the Beginning of the Common Era • Early Saharan Cultures • Neolithic Sudanic Cultures • The Early Iron Age and the Nok Culture

27. Early Saharan Cultures • Wet Holocene period – 7500 – 2500 B.C.E. • Southern Sahara was well-watered • Climatic changes around 2500 B.C.E. • Rapid desiccation

28. A Terra-Cotta Head

29. Neolithic Sudanic Cultures • Settled agriculture by first millennium B.C.E. • Possibly into modern Sahara • Remains in Mali and Mauritania • Mid-fifth millennium B.C.E. • Pottery in Jenne – 1st millennium B.C.E. • Spread of Sudanic language and culture to central, West Africa • Influence over all of sub-Saharan Africa

30. Nok Culture • Iron smelting probably invented in Africa • Nok culture • Northeastern Nigeria • Jos plateau • 900-200 B.C.E. • Combined agriculture with cattle herding • Earliest Iron Age culture of West Africa • Extraordinary art; magnificent burial or ritual masks

31. Nilotic Africa and the Ethiopian Highlands

32. Nilotic Africa and the Ethiopian Highlands • The Kingdom of Kush • The Napatan Empire • The Meroitic Empire • Culture and Economy • Rule and Administration • Society and Religion • The Aksumite Empire • Isolation of Christian Ethiopia

33. Kingdom of Kush • Nilo-Saharan-speaking Nubians • Africa’s second earliest literate and politically unified civilization, after Pharaonic Egypt • As early as fourth millennium B.C.E. • Kerma – capital and major trading center • Height between Middle and New Kingdoms of Egypt, 1700–1500 B.C.E. • Traded with Egypt • Also took Nubian gold mines from Egypt

34. Napatan Empire (Kushite) • New Kushite empire • Capital at Napata • Tenth century B.C.E. – fourth century C.E. • Royalty saw themselves as Egyptian • Married own sisters, like pharaohs • Royalty embalmed in pyramids

35. Napatan Empire (Kushite) (cont’d) • Conquered Egypt in eighth century B.C.E. • Ruled it for a century as Twenty-fifth dynasty • Driven out of Egypt by Assyria around 650 B.C.E.

36. Ruins of the Great Amon Temple

37. Meroitic Empire (Kushite) • Egyptian army sacked Napata in 591 B.C.E. • Kushite capital moved south to Meroe • Expanding south and west • Center of iron industry by sixth century B.C.E.

38. Meroitic Empire (Kushite) (cont’d) • Center of expansive trade network • Traded with Hellenistic-Roman world, Arabia, India • Animal skins, ebony, ivory, gold, slaves, iron • Era of prosperity • Fine pottery

39. Meroitic Political World • Increasingly different from Egypt politically • Kings ruled by customary laws • Committed suicide when taboos broken • Royal election system • Although king was a living god

40. Meroitic Political World (cont’d) • Matrilineal influence • Long line of queens – “Candaces” • Kandake – Meroitic word for “queen mother” • Autocratic rule of monarch

41. Meroe

42. Meroitic Society and Religion • Limited sources about societal structure • Ruling class – monarchs, priests, nobility • Intermediary classes – farmers, artisans • Slaves – domestic and prisoners of war • Religion • Egyptian influence • Amon • Later unique local gods • Apedemak – warrior god with lion’s head

43. Meroitic Culture

44. Aksumite Empire • Northern Ethiopian highlands • Mixing of African Kushitic speakers with Semitic speakers from southern Arabia • Adulis – chief port • Major ivory and elephant market • Cosmopolitan commercial center • Coinage in gold, silver and copper • First tropical African state to mint coins • Defeated the Kushite state

45. A Giant Stela at Aksum

46. Herodotus on Carthaginian Trade and the City of Meroe

47. Herodotus on Carthaginian Trade and the City of Meroe

48. Christian Ethiopia • Early religions • Polytheistic worship of natural phenomena • Cosmopolitan – Jews and Buddhists • King Ezana • Converted to Christianity in fourth century • Whole country converted

49. Christian Ethiopia (cont’d) • Monophysite brand of Christianity • Single, unitary view of Christ • Aksum isolated by rise of Islam • Increasingly unique brand of Christianity

50. Chronology: Early African Civilizations