African Languages and Kingdoms

• Archaeological studies confirm Africa as the cradle of humankind and a center of ancient and medieval culture.
• Peoples, kingdoms, and empires in Africa contributed significantly to cultural exchange, technology, science, art, and literature.

Unit 5 Learning Outcomes

• Identifying major language groups and their distribution in Africa
• Analyzing relationships among African states and kingdoms
• Examining the social origins of the slave trade in Africa.

African Languages

• Linguistic diversity is a major feature of Africa.
• The number of first languages spoken in Africa ranges from 1,000 to 2,000, about 1/3 of the world’s languages.
• At least 75 African languages have a million or more speakers.
• Nigeria, is one of the most linguistically diverse countries with around 500 languages.
• Language scholars classify African languages into four main families: Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan.

Niger-Congo Languages

• The Niger-Congo family is the largest in Africa, found in western, central, and southeastern regions.
• It is divided into Bantu and non-Bantu languages, with Bantu languages more common in the southern part of the Niger-Congo area.
• Swahili, a Niger-Congo language, is spoken by about 16 million natively and 82 million as a second language and is considered the lingua franca of the African Great Lakes region.
• Swahili was significantly influenced by Arabic due to trade history.
• Other Niger-Congo languages with millions of speakers include Yoruba (Nigeria), Kirundi (Burundi), Lingala (Congo), Sesotho (Lesotho/South Africa), and Shona (Zimbabwe).
• South Africa recognizes 9 Bantu languages: Xhosa, Ndebele, Zulu, Tswana, Swati, Sotho, Southern Sotho, Venda, and Tsonga.

Afro-Asiatic Languages

• The Afro-Asiatic language group includes 200-300 languages.
• Arabic is the most widely spoken, with over 150 million speakers, mainly in North African countries.
• Other Afro-Asiatic languages: Somali, Amharic, Afan Oromo (Ethiopia and the Horn), Berber (North Africa), Hausa (West Africa).

Nilo-Saharan Languages

• There are about 80 languages in the Nilo-Saharan family.
• They are spread across parts of central, eastern, and northeastern Africa, like Chad, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya.
• Examples include Lugbara (Uganda), Zarma (Niger), and Dholuo (Kenya).

Khoisan Languages

• The Khoisan family includes 40-70 languages concentrated in Southern Africa - Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Angola.
• The Hadza language of Tanzania and the Naro language of Botswana are also part of the Khoisan languages.

Mamluk Egypt

• Mamluks were a military aristocracy that ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517 and were originally Turkish slaves brought to Egypt in the late 12th century.
• Mamluk comes from the Arabic word for "owned" or "slave."
• The rise of the Mamluks was due to power struggles within the Ayyubid family and the need for loyal mercenary soldiers.
• The Ayyubid Sultan al-Malik al-Salih organized a Mamluk regiment.
• The Mongol invasion of the Middle East allowed the Mamluks to seize power in Egypt, defeating crusaders and the Mongols and gaining prestige as champions of Islam.
• Under Mamluk rule, Egypt experienced economic prosperity, with flourishing architecture, craftsmanship, and scholarship.
• The Mamluks were actively involved in the Trans-Saharan Trade and benefited from the Spice Trade.
• In 1275, they controlled Nubia in Sudan and converted the people to Islam.
• In 1516, the Ottoman Turks took control of Egypt, marking the end of 260 years of Mamluk rule.
• From 1517-1805, the Mamluks ruled Egypt under the Ottoman Sultans of Istanbul, with their rule motivated by rivalries over the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Spread of Islam to North Africa

• The Maghreb, or western North Africa, includes present-day Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Mauritania.
• The Almoravid movement, starting in the 11th century with the Lamtuna tribe, aimed to restore Islam's primitive purity.
• Key Almoravid leaders: Ibin Yasin and Emir Yahiya of Morocco.
• In 1062, Marrakesh became the capital of the Almoravids, who captured Morocco and western Algeria and by 1106, Saragossa was the only Muslim state to survive prior conquests.
• The Almohads replaced the Almoravids in the mid-12th century because of strict observance of Islam, and internal rivalries.

Almohad Movement

• It significantly spread Islam in the Maghreb.
• The Almohads were settled Masmuda Berbers from the Atlas Mountains, led by Ibn Tumart, a religious reformer opposing certain customs, and by 1130, Tumart became a religious and political leader.
• Abdul Mumin succeeded Tumart and led the Almohads to victory over the Almoravids, and in 1117, the Almohads invaded Morocco, deposed the Almoravid king, and controlled power.
• In 1050, they invaded Spain and by 1160 they controlled the whole Maghreb region.
• The Almohad rule ended in North Africa in 1269 due to internal division and civil war.

States in West Africa

• West Africa extends from Lake Chad in the east to the Senegal, Gambia, and Niger Rivers in the west, the region was called Bilad al-Sudan ("land of the blacks") by Arabs.
• Thriving empires once existed here, like Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Kanem-Bornu.
• The Trans-Saharan Trade connecting North and West Africa with East Africa was the economic base for these empires.

Empire of Ghana

• Ghana was the oldest known kingdom in western Sudan, founded around the 4th century by the Soninke people, its height circa 1000 A.D.
• Kumbi Saleh was the political center, and Awadaghust was the economic hub.
• Ghana’s greatness came from its location on Trans-Saharan trade routes, allowing it to act as a middleman.
• Trade income enabled Ghana’s rulers to set up a strong central government and a strong army.
• Ghanian craftsmen were skilled at iron work.
• Ghana stretched over much of present day Mali and Mauritania.
• The empire declined in the 11th century after the Almoravid attack, specifically, in 1054, by controlling Awadaghust, and in 1076, by controlling Kumbi Saleh.

Empire of Mali

• Information on the rise of Mali comes from West African griots and storytellers.
• After Ghana’s collapse, the Mandinka people of the upper Niger were defeated, but by 1235, Sundiata had won control of gold trade routes, and he ruled from 1230-1255 and founded the empire of Mali, controlling gold fields such as Wangara and Bambak.
• Mali reached the height of power during the reign of Mansa Musa (1312-1337) and he embraced Islam that made much progress afterwards.
• Mali declined due to weak rulers and attacks from the north and east, such as the Mossi and the Tuareg by the Berbers from the north and the Songhai people from the east.
• Although the empire continued until 1550, its kings exercised nominal power.

Empire of Songhai

• In the 1400s, disputes over succession weakened Mali, and by the 1460s, Gao became the capital of the emerging West African kingdom of Songhai.
• Between 1464 and 1492, Sunni Ali expanded Songhai into the largest state in West Africa, bringing trade routes and wealthy states like Timbuktu under control.
• Askia Muhammad established a Muslim dynasty, improving the government and expanding the territory and like Mansa Musa, Askia Muhammad made a pilgrimage to Mecca, leading to stronger ties with the wider Muslim world.
• Songhai declined after the death of Askia Muhammad (1528), with disputes over succession, and in 1549 Askia Daud became emperor.
• By 1591, invaders from Morocco conquered the empire with gunpowder weapons.

Empire of Kanem-Bornu

• It was an African trading empire ruled by the Saifuwa dynasty that controlled the area around Lake Chad from the 9th to the 19th century.
• Its territory at various times included what is now southern Chad, northern Cameroon, northeastern Nigeria, eastern Niger, and southern Libya.
• The empire was founded by the Kanuri, ruled by the Mais sultans of the Saifuwa dynasty from about 850 AD, with the capital city called Njimi.
• The empire was conveniently located in the center of Sudan, so it was in contact with Nubia, Egypt, and its western and southern neighbors.
• Kano exploited the trade of half of the continent north of the equator.
• Islam became the accepted religion in the 11th century.
• In the 14th century, wars with the Bulala people forced the Mias to move West to Bornou, where succeeding Mais reestablished the empire.
• The 16th century was one of renewed expansion under Mai Idris Alooma who acquired firearms from the Turks in North Africa.
• The empire declined again in the 18th century, due in part to infiltration by the Fulani from the West.

Hausa City States

• The city-state governments had full control over themselves without any interference from outside governments.
• The Hausa established several city-states in what is now Northern Nigeria, beginning around 1000 A.D.
• Hausa city states included Daura, Gobir, Rano, Katsina, Zazzau, Kano, and Biram, and the Hausa city states emerged as the southern terminals of the Trans-Saharan caravan trade.
• Trade and agriculture formed the economic basis of the Hausa city states, with the trade probably influencing political development.
• By 1200, all of the city states had Muslim rulers.
• The Hausa city-states were specialized in different occupations, and bBy the 1500s Kano was the largest and most prosperous and despite that. they remained a loose confederation.
• In 1804, Uthman Dan Fodio began a jihad that swallowed all of the city states into the Sokoto Caliphate, and nearly a century later in 1903 the Hausa city states became part of the British Empire and are now major cities in Northern Nigeria.

Spread of Islam in West Africa

• Islam was present in West Africa dating back to the eighth century, with the spread being a gradual process.
• The early presence of Islam in West Africa was linked to trade and commerce with North Africa, with the intensity increased by North African Muslims in Trans-Saharan trade.
• In the Kingdom of Tekrur, Islam was accepted as early as 850 A.D., by the Dya'ogo dynasty.
• In the 11th century A.D., Islam was introduced into the empire of Ghana, as were the rulers of Mali accepted Islam in the 14th century.
• Between the 8th and the 14th centuries, Islam was firmly established in areas where ancient and medieval empires of West Africa once flourished, including the territories of the Hausa city-states in what is now Northern Nigeria.

Central and Eastern Africa

• In the geographic region that spans from Somalia in the North to Mozambique in the South, people of mixed culture developed lively commercial transactions with the interior of Africa and as far east as China.
• The Swahili people established maritime city-states.
• Owing to its proximity to the Near East, it is one of the places in Africa where Islam reached early.

The East Coast, Islam, and Trade

• On the east coast of Africa, alternating Indian Ocean monsoon winds allowed for efficient sea voyages.
• One of the first written records of the area's significance, a Greek merchant's guide from the first century A.D, describes sailing voyages on the Red Sea and the coast of East Africa known as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.
• This coastal region is known as Zanj, or the Swahili Coast, which is home to a unique culture and language-a mixture of African, Arab, and Indian Ocean peoples, made up of Bantu-speaking Africans.
• The prominent settlements on the Zanj coast included Shungwaya, Malindi, Gedi, and Mombasa.
• The Bantu people inhabited the coastal regions, and were organized only as family groups, and were often shipped as slaves by Arab traders to all the countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
• The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs recruited many slaves from Zanj as soldiers.
• After 1861, the area controlled by the Arab Sultan of Zanzibar was often referred to as Zanj.
• Starting with the eighth century A.D, Muslim traders began settling the region
• In the 12th century, Persian settlers known as Shirazi-arrived.
• Today, the vast majority of Swahili people are Sunni Muslims.
• The Swahili Coast appears to have reached its zenith during the Medieval Period, from around the 11th to 15th centuries.
• The Swahili Coast comprised numerous city-states that traded across the Indian Ocean, and some cities maintained an outpost for trading with the gold-rich Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe.
• The Chinese admiral Zheng He visited Mombasa and Malindi (Kenya), and Mogadishu (Somalia).
• In response to one of the expeditions, the Sultan of Malindi sent the Chinese emperor a giraffe and other creatures.
• From 1497 to 1498, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama led an expedition past the Cape of Good Hope, up the east coast of Africa, and into the Indian Ocean.
• There, the Portuguese attempted to control all trade in the Indian Ocean, but the Swahili Coast city-states declined, although some carried on for another few centuries, some under the rule of the Omani Empire.
• Today, Swahili, derived from Arabic, is the lingua franca of East Africa.

Southern Africa

• In Southern Africa, in what is today South Africa, archaeological excavations revealed stone built walls, large palaces, and cone-shaped towers were once part of a powerful civilization.
• The word Zimbabwe comes from a Bantu-based word for "stone house."
• Great Zimbabwe was built by Bantu-speaking peoples, who settled in the region between 900-1500 A.D.
• By 1300 A.D., its capital had tapped nearby gold resources and cultivated commercial links with coastal cities such as Sofala and Kilwa.
• By about 1500 A.D., Great Zimbabwe was in decline due to overpopulation that over exploited the environment, civil-war, and declining trade.
• Finally the place of Great Zimbabwe was taken over by the kingdom of Monopotapa.

The Khoi Khoi and San

• The southern part of Africa was occupied by three major ethnic and linguistic groups - the dominant Bantu, the Khoi-Khoi and San peoples.
• In the 17th century, the Khoi Khoi were pastoral, call "Hottentos," Majority live in Namibia and extended to include the culturally mixed descendants scattered throughout the south-western part of South Africa.
• From c. 1300, the Khoi Khoi expanded and despite that they became a minority group in the inhospitable part of the Kalahari Desert.
• The San have lived as hunter-gatherers, the San are distinguished by their short height, yellow and copper skin colour and kinky hair.

Relationships and Exchanges among Different Regions of Africa

• Trade connected North, West, and East Africa across the Sahara Desert, as well as north-east Africa and south-east Africa with the Swahili coast.

The Trans-Saharan Caravan Trade

• It began to take place on a regular basis during the fourth century among peoples of the forest, savanna, Sahel, and Sahara.
• It reached its peak during the heyday of the Mali and Songhai Empires between the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries.
• Major trade routes were the North-South, West-East, and Southern routes.
• Camel formed the major pack animal for goods and merchants.
• The major market centers included Fez, Marrakesh (Morocco), Sijilmasa, Wadan, Audaghost, Takrur, Taghaza, Tichitt-Walata, Djenné, Wargla, Timbuktu, Tripoli, Ghadames, Ghat, Takedda, Katsina, Kano, Fezzan, Bilma, Bauchi, Cyrenaicain, and Wadai.
• Salt, gold and slaves were the essential commodities.
• A viable cloth-production industry began around the eleventh century.

Unit 6 Introduction

Introduction

• Unit studies the relationship between Africa and the outside world between the 16th and 19th centuries.
• Major themes: pre-colonial African states, appearance of the Portuguese colonizers to coastal areas of Africa, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the legitimate commerce, and explorations in Africa.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain trade, Islam, and the rise/consolidation of African states.
• Examine the triangular trade.
• Analyze the slave trade's impact on Africa.

Medieval African States

• The 16th-19th centuries` history of Africa was marked by state formation and the expansion of trade and Islamic religion in the continent.

The Funj Sultanate

• In northeast Africa, in 1275, the Nubian (now Sudan) Christian kingdoms were annexed by the Egyptian Mamluks.
• Since the 14th century the expansion of Islam resulted in the supremacy of Arabs in Nubia.
• By the 16th century, Arab supremacy was challenged by the Funj.
• In 1504 they converted to Islam and established the Funj Sultanate.
• The Funj faced three rounds of major attacks from the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia and the Funj Sultanate extended its hegemony until it was conquered by Mohammed Ali's Egypt in 1821.

The Rise of the Moroccan Sultanate

• In North Africa, the 16th century saw the rise of Morocco as an independent state under Ahmad al-Mansur (r. 1578-1603), which was the only state not ruled by the Ottoman Turks.
• Morocco drove out the Portuguese. it came into conflict with the Songhay Empire, seizing Songhay's gold mines.
• The Moroccan army captured Gao and Timbuktu, which resulted in the Songhay Empire’s disintegration.
• The regular trade in gold was disrupted.
• The state was weakened, and conscripted West African captives into the Moroccan army.
• The sultans of Alawid Dynasty restored unity by conscripting more West African captives and the military of Morocco continued in the 17th century but most parts of the Songhay Empire were outside of Moroccan control.

Benin, Oyo, Dahomey and Ashante

• Sizable states developed to owe their growth and prosperity to distance trade organized by Muslim traders.
• By the end of the 15th century, the Empire of Benin reached its peak.
• With merchants Exchanging pepper and cotton for European and bronze sculptures Benin began to decline in the 17th century.
• Also, in the 17th century, the Yoruba chieftaincies formed the Empire of Oyo.
• The Empire of Oyo disintegrated due to invasions, that led to the Sokoto caliphate in what is now northern Nigeria during the first half of the 19th century.
• Meanwhile, Dahomey and Ashante emerged to the west as powerful West African states.
• Dahomey became an independent kingdom and particpated in the transatlantic slave trade from its female military.
• The Ashanti traded in gold with the Songhay Empire.
• At the end of the 17th century, the Ashante united most of what is now Ghana. The power and prosperity of the kingdom grew as Tribute came from subjected people and the Gold trade were the revenue source.
• Ashanti Kings modernized the government using appointment based on ability.

Eastern Africa

• States clustered all over Sub-Saharan Africa with the best-known and powerful of them being Buganda, which flourished on the fertile plain northwest of Lake Victoria.
• To the southwest of Buganda, the kingdom of Rwanda was set up by the cattle-keeping Tutsi and agricultural Hutu, with the Tutsi forming the ruling class with tribute from farmers and cattle keepers.

West and South-Central African Kingdoms

• The Kingdom of Kongo flourished south of the Congo River.
• The Manikongo ruled a government as it collected tribute from local chiefs in the form of ivory, millet, palm wine, and leopard and lion skins.
• Agriculture and trade were the basis of the economy.
• Portuguese traders expanded the slave trade further as Kongo was one of the leading suppliers to the slave trade.
• Kongo declined due to internal unrest.

Torwa, Mutapa and Rozwi

• Great Zimbabwe was abandoned due to environmental exhaustion, with Zimbabwe's stone enclosure ruins standing as a memorial
• In Great Zimbabwe's place, two successor states emerged between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers
• The Torwa state, which emerged in the 15th century, with its capital was Khami
• Towards the end of the 15th century, the Mutapa state emerged.

The Zulu Kingdom

• 1780s, the Southern came into conflict with the Dutch.
• Shaka Zulu defended the kingdom.
• The Zulu kingdom was weakened by wars.
• In the middle of the 19th century, colonial powers Took over Cape colony.

The Ottoman Conquest of North Africa

• The Ottoman remained until the 19th century.
• The Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517 by Utterly defeating its Mamluk.
• The Ottomans extended their conquest by controlling Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia.
• This was completed by the end of the 16th century.
• These countries became Ottoman provinces.
• The Ottomans also made reform to Develop trade and Local administration.
• The local rules practically the Ottoman Sultan. Muhammad Ali a new dynasty that ruled in 1805.

Contacts of Africa with the Outside World

• European contact with the other parts of Africa was begun by the Portuguese.
• The exploration was facilitated and sponsored by Henry.
• The main motive was the need to gain direct access to the golden producing areas.

Early Contacts Along the Western and Central African Coasts

• During the period between 1430 and 1490, Portuguese sailsor reached all the coast .
• Around this the slaves are now be able to reach to Far East, and by pass the Turkish .
• Exploration by Africa led to the Establishment at least of its series in European hold foot on the coast to Africa.
• Therefore, was the Portuguese was exploring and monopolizing northwest African isles.
• They traded goods then are used to labour slaves from West African Coast, and by Central west the Portuguese is in Diogo Cao that is to arrival at most of Congo River.
• Later by 1580s as Portuguese are Made some that meant led to breakage of kingdom also present were mainly only found it in, due to continued Portuguese resistance and anticolonial put up by local people.
• The Kindogm had Suffered similar also was aligned through the Portuguese by kingoloese.

Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa

• It was found as other in words that they experiences in indigenous forms of slaves.

Slavery Inside Africa

• African societies have experienced indigenous slavery and slave trade from ancient times down to the early 20th century. They were often acquired.

The Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Slave Trade

• Also been exported to the world since time and the trans-Saharan trade,Red is more and extended before because beginning with the transatlantic-slave trade.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

• More extensive , after discovery to America by Christopher. which has to last from mid 16th 19th Centuries. European is to establish it was large Plantations in,the following those Voyages in Central America ,North America and in America to follow.
• As most of other America people die is due to hardship in treatment has created by low cost force for European ,in this Europeans was find themselves to Africa's to a for plantation. The ship African slaves to The Portugal is an atlantic country.

Abolishing Slavery

• Although enslaved Africans resisted captivity and protested
• Religious people put pressure as people grow.
• the growth, European and plantations became uneconomical.

effects of Slave Trade on Africa

• Slaves are of the African on the largest type of slave .
• Enslavement had many consequences.
• in general The result in complete destruction of those Africans that are small.

The Legitimate Trade

• Gradually Africans the slave and found the slave.
• They organized people to be for transport and production by West Africa, the west countries have come to by exported the Africa.

The White Settlement in South Africa

One most consequence is to reach from Far East in the.South A

• Africa is to became settlements in the White Company
• the company are going to the to ships and Provide medical hospitals.
• Also To work that, imported from the to company slaves the by west Africa.
• The British had taken the place, also In 1830’s The African colonies.

European Explorers and Missionaries

• Atlantic, due to Trade had gave legitimate way to, Europeans and others is for get much it was beneficial
• Commercial interest was motive.
• European Show significant and progress, and the European is to Africa that were quickened. Due the great number to them had and were to the those.

Early Contact Through The Western And Central African Coasts.

• Portuguese and The Spanish were made too hold it on the and coasts in The Africa.