Wolaita Sodo University

College of Social Sciences and Humanity

Department of History and Heritage Management
Course Title: Africa to 1500
Course Code: HiHm-2221
Credit Hours: 3
ECTS: 5
Prerequisite: None
Instructor: Demeke D.
Course Description:
The study of African history has achieved high recognition in university
curricula over the last fifty years. Africa is central to human history. It is the
continent where our species arose, where some of the greatest ancient
civilizations throve, and where dynamic, complex, and innovative cultures
confronted a variety of social, political, and environmental challenges. This
course is a survey of the emerging themes of pre-colonial African history as
revealed in on-going research. It will focus on historical methods used to
uncover the African past, including the use of archaeology, oral traditions,
and written documentation left by Africans and by outside travelers, as well
as attempting to place African developments as we now understand them in
the larger frame of human history. Topics include human evolution in Africa,
development of agriculture and pastoralism, ancient civilizations of the Nile,
African participation in the spread of Christianity and Islam, empires of West
Africa, and Swahili city-states.
Course Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:-
 Recognize the range of historic, geographic, and cultural diversities of
the African continent
 Read critically, distinguishing between accepted truths and an
author‘s opinions

i
  Read and analyze texts for arguments and critique the use of sources
and evidence
 Demonstrate an understanding of the cultures and history of the
major civilizations of the African continent prior to 1500
 Recognize that history is a study of change over time, and all
societies are constantly adapting to internal and external pressures,
so that there is no timeless past but a complex historical web of
shifting beliefs, practices, behaviors, and interactions

Methodological Strategies
Lecture, group discussion, independent reading, and term paper
writing
Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
Mid exam=25%
Assignment=20%
Attendance=10%
Final exam=45%
Individual presentation; Group presentation; Class participations;
Final Exam
Topical Outline
I. Introduction to the Study of Africa and African History
II. Northern Africa to 1500
III. The Sudanic African Empires: Ghana-Mali-Songhai
IV. East and Southern Africa to 1500: Cattle, Trade, and Gold
IV. Peoples and Empires in South Central Africa
V. Women and Political Power in Pre-Colonial Africa to 1500
References
Bill Freund. Africanist History and the History of Africa .Cambridge .1982.
Robert Collins and James Burms. A History of Sub Saharan Africa.
Cambridge. 2008.

ii
Kevin Shillington. History of Africa, 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave MacMillan,
2012.
The Cambridge History of Africa Volume I-III
The UNESCO General History of Africa I-V

iii
 UNIT ONE
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF AFRICA AND AFRICAN HISTORY
1.1. The importance of studying African history
It helps to discover activities of man in far off times. Africa has been proved
by researchers to be the original home of man. The study of African
history would lead to more discoveries of hidden facts. It will highlight
Africa’s contribution to world civilization. It gives opportunity to relate
past with present. The various stages of development of society have to be
evaluated to understand present situation. This gives key to find solutions to
problems of today Africa. It addressed the notion and misconception.
Early Arab and European travelers met Africans in different cultural
setting. The Africans have distinctive names, music & dances, political &
religious practices. Because these practices did not conform to the cultural
practices of the Europeans and the Arab writers, they classified Africans as
primitive, backward and culturally stagnant (not dynamic).
African history enables the student to develop a critical mind & appreciate
variety of human behavior & motives & understand politics, economics and
society. The study of African history is beneficial since it helps to acquire
knowledge about African traditions, culture, norms & values & to
take pride in them & present them. African history enables history student to
acquire knowledge of their own country & African continent. African
history has a practical use in international relations & diplomacy. Its study
promotes international understanding & sympathy. It enables the student to
develop an accurate sense of African historical chronology (sequential
order of events).
1.2. Sources of African History
1.2.1. Primary Sources
Primary sources are materials produced by the people or groups directly
involved in the event or topic under discussion, ether as participants or as
witnesses.

1
Some primary sources are written documents such as letters, diaries,
newspaper and magazine articles, speeches, autobiographies, treatise,
census data and marriage, birth and death registers. In addition, historians
often examine primary sources that are not written. Examples are works of
art, films, and recordings, items of clothing, household objects, tools and
archaeological remains.
A. Written Sources
This refers to documents or written accounts which give information about
past events concerning people. Examples of documentary sources are
newspapers, diaries, and travelers’ account, journals, reports of commissions
of enquiry, manifesto parties, government official records, and minutes of
meetings, private and official letters, official reports of officers, court records,
books, anniversary brochures, magazines, etc.
Advantages of written sources
Written sources of history are easy to use, accurate and reliable facts,
effective means of keeping records, and promotion of research, help cross-
checking information and provision of detailed information.
Disadvantages of Written Sources
Written sources can be easily destroyed, condition biases and distortions,
false information, expensive, difficult to get, getting lost, available for literate
society, etc.
B. Non Documentary or Unwritten Sources of African History
This refers to pieces of information about past events collected from sources
of history other than books and other written materials. Examples of non-
documentary sources are archaeology, oral tradition, linguistic, ethnography,
art history, ethnomusicology, numismatics, and serology. The study of coins
known as numismatics can show level of civilization, economic development,
military strength, external trade and foreign relation.
C. Oral Data
It refers to accounts of the traditions about the past passed from generation
to generation orally. It is usually passed on in the form of a story, legend,

2
song, myth, folk tales, customs or other forms of music. The two forms of
oral traditions are fixed text type and free text type.
a. Fixed-Text Type
the fixed text type of oral traditions have an unchanging format and content
and have to be memorized and passed on from generation to generation.
Example is words of folk music, praise songs and drum music
b. Free-Text Type
It consists of accounts of events usually dynastic histories and family or
village traditions. For example some court officials can memorize some
aspects of the state history and can tell others when necessary.
Advantages of Oral Tradition
The advantages of oral tradition are easy access, main source of history,
helps other sources, interpretation of archeological findings and preservation
of history.
Disadvantages of Oral Tradition
The disadvantages are not precise in detail, exaggerations, inaccurate
figures, death of informants, mixing up facts and difficult to cross-check
Oral tradition tends to lay more emphasis on personalities like kings, rulers
and leaders as well as events like wars and migration neglecting social and
economic aspects of history of people. Most of the time, oral traditions are
men dominated thus there is a gendered bias that diminishes the role
women in African past.
However, oral tradition has done a lot to assist with the reconstruction of
African history. This is because Africans have relied on oral traditions to
preserve their history for centuries due to illiteracy and colonialism.
Archaeology as a Source of African History
Archaeology is the study of culture of prehistoric through excavation and
examination of material remains that is found. It is the understanding of
human actions in the past through a study of what they did rather than what
they said of themselves. Again, archaeology provides information about how
societies adapted their ways of life to suit their natural environment or how

3
they modified their environment to suit their way of life. Archaeological
information is obtained through the excavation or digging of specially chosen
sites.
In Europe, archaeology has been a useful source of historical evidence since
the 19thc AD whereas in Africa, it has been helpful in the reconstruction of
the past since the 2nd half of 20thc.
Advantages of Archaeology
Archaeological finding can show existence of civilization long ago, trade
contacts revelation (disclosure) of culture, ancient tools, make other sources
clear, main sources of pre-history, how ancient people lived, and origin of
humanity and is reliable source.
Disadvantages Archaeology
The disadvantages of archaeology source of history are guessing work, very
expensive, climate condition, accidental preservation, view not
comprehensive contains limited information, difficult to interpret and
depends on other sources.
Linguistics as a Source of African History
Linguistics is the scientific study of the origin, structure and changes of a
language that occur in the languages over a period of time. Languages do
change in vocabulary and grammar over periods of time. Such changes can
tell the historian about the adoption of new ideas by people. Some
languages, when studied closely relate to the other. One could venture that
those languages may have developed from one single parent language. The
comparative study of such related languages can provide useful information.
Advantages of Linguistics
Linguistics study has several advantages and importance in the
reconstruction of African history. It shows origin of ethnic group and confirms
its origin. It helps to identify ethnic groups, borrowed words, new ideas,
emergence languages from the same source and related languages.
Disadvantages of Linguistics

4
The disadvantages of linguistics are difficult to study, less developed in
Africa and relies on other sources
Ethnography as a Source of African History

5
Ethnography is the study of present-day social institutions as well as the crafts and artistic skills
of people. Example is the collaboration of festivals, the process of making pottery, weaving,
construction etc. Advantages Ethnography
It helps to understand past and present day technology, study festivals
Disadvantages Ethnography
Not easy to get meanings and tracing of ancestry. It can be influenced by religions.

6
Numismatics as a Source of African History
Numismatics is the study of coins. This study helps us to know where the
coins were minted and found.
Advantages
a. It can show advanced economy
Numismatics studies have proved that Africans had an advanced economy in
minting of coins. Numismatics throws light on trade contacts between
people. For an example the discovery of 240 coins at Kilwa on the East
African Coast shows that from the 13th century AD, the sultans of Kilwa had
their own mint.
b. Accurate date
Numismatic gives accurate dates, names, places and events. For example
the king list of Kilwa came to light when the 240 coins were discovered. It
showed the sultans of the Swahili Coast.
c. Reliable
Discovered coins can be seen, felt or touched, makes history live, or more
interesting or reliable.
d. High level of civilization
Numismatics shows the level of civilization to the people using coins. For
instance, by the 13thc AD, the Sultans of the East African Coast had their own
mint of coins for producing their coins for trade and other purposes.
e. Political dominance
Numismatics shows the political dominance in societies using coins.
f. Preservation for longer periods
Numismatics unlike the other artifacts, a coin can be preserved for a
relatively longer period.
g. Trade links
Through the activities of numismatics, it is known that as far back as the 9 th
and 10th centuries AD, the people of East Africa and China had established
trading links.

7
Disadvantages of Numismatics
a. Gives limited information
Numismatics gives limited information in the story it tells. It may only
identify a ruling class in the society engaged in trading activity that used the
coin. This makes numismatics handicapped in tracing the other aspects of
cultural lives of the user societies.
b. Rely on other sources
Without the consultation of other sources like archeology and oral tradition,
numismatics may somehow be weak in revealing the entire cultural history
of a society. This is also because not all pre-historic societies minted and
used coins.
Arts History as a Form of African History
Art history is the study of art forms such as engravings, paintings, carvings
and sculpture on stone surface, tombs, slabs or walls of caves, palaces and
shrines.

8
Advantages of Art History
It can shows activities of human beings like eating habits and life styles.
Disadvantages of art history
It is difficult to get and depends on other sources
1.3. The Geographical Setting of Africa
Africa is the second largest continent in the world. It stretches 4,600 miles
from east to west and 5,000 miles from north to south. With a total of 11.7
million square miles, it occupies about one-fifth of Earth’s land surface.
Narrow coastlines (50 to 100 miles) lie on either side of a central plateau.
Waterfalls and rapids often form as rivers drop down to the coast from the
plateau, making navigation impossible to or from the coast. Africa’s coastline
has few harbors, ports, or inlets. Because of this, the coastline is actually
shorter than that of Europe, a land one-third Africa’s size.
Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, the Sahara covers an
area roughly the size of the United States. Only a small part of the Sahara
consists of sand dunes. The rest is mostly a flat, gray wasteland of scattered
rocks and gravel. Each year the desert takes over more and more of the land
at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel.
1.4. Methods Used to collecting Information for Writing of

African History
To collect data for the reconstruction of African history, the
historian must not rely solely on written and non-documentary
sources to check biases, prejudices and exaggerations.
i. Personal enquiry and interview
One method of gathering information from non-documentary
sources of African history is interviewing of knowledgeable
persons about the culture of a particular community. This is to say
that the historian must interview people about the information of

9
the past. The historian can record these interviews analyze the
information given.
ii. Inter-disciplinary approach
Another method of gathering information about African history is
the interdisciplinary approach. Cooperation with scholars in other
fields of knowledge gives information for African history. The
historian has to cooperate with specialists like the linguists,
archeologists, ethnographers among others to obtain materials
that can be used to reconstruct African history.

10
In writing African history, one can use the review method to get
information by reviewing the written sources such as books,
newspapers, journals, broadcasts, diaries, manifestoes, and
private letters among others, by reviewing the research through
written sources both primary and secondary for information which
they examine and cross-check. Even though these written records
have shortcomings and inadequacies, they can be reviewed by
the historian to ensure an accurate reflection of the past. This
helps to produce unbiased history which is backed by evidence. .
Personal Observation and Records
Through personal observation by visiting places of historical
importance like castles, forts etc. and personally recording events
like festivals, funerals and the like, important findings can result
in the collection of data for writing African history. Such details
are necessary since they constitute first-hand information as the
events happened before their own eyes i.e. eye witness account.
Such accounts can be compared and questions are asked on them
to get a reliable view of what actually happened in the past.
Reliability of the sources for the study of African history
Despite the fact that written and unwritten sources of African
history have shortfalls, we can still describe them as adequately
reliable, since the work of a historian is based on historical
methods where they use scientific methods in drawing
conclusions. Written records of history have a high level of
precision and very reliable. All the documentary sources e.g.
newspapers, personal letters, diaries, journals, manifestoes etc.

11
can be reviewed and cross checked for a fair assessment of the
past. This process helps to get rid of prejudices, biases to ensure
truthfulness. By putting written records side by side with other
forms of evidence, the historian can establish an objective
conclusion.

1.5. Peoples and Languages of Africa

1.5.1. The peoples of Africa
Prehistoric man in Africa was nomadic, a hunter-gatherer. During Neolithic
period, man began domestication. The Neoliths man began to search for
food game. The shift from nomads to cultivation marked by domestication of
plants and animals.
Peoples of Africa belong to a variety of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups.
In Africa, there are more than 800 ethnic groups of dark-skinned Africans.
Black Africans account for about 75% of the population of Africa. Most of
them live south of the Sahara. In northern Africa, the Arabs are the majority
and the region also includes the Berber people.
A. The Blacks: They are probably the original inhabitants of the continent.
There are also variations in the physical features and color of black
Africans.
i. Bantu: The name given by modern linguists for a particular family of
African language. This family belongs to a wider Niger-Congo group of the
Congo Kordofanian super-family.
ii. The Pygmies. They live in the tropical forest of Congo (Zaire) River Basin
in central Africa. They are short reddish brown skin and the tallest pygmies
are from 120 to 140 cms.

12
iii. The Koisan: They are physically shorter and lighter skinned. These
people include the San (Bushmen) and the Khoikoi (Hottentos). The Khoisan
have yellowish brown skin and tightly coiled black hair.
The Khoisan once lived throughout much of southern and eastern Africa.
Today many San live in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana and Namibia.
Today, the Khoisan are living in the drier south western part of the continent.
It is believed that before the immigration of the Bantu people, the Khoisan
hunter-gatherers were the indigenous people in central and eastern Africa.
iv. The Berbers: They were the major indigenous ethnic group in the region
west of Egypt (Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
v. The Arabs: The earliest Arab migrants, during the first millennium B.C
came for trade on the east African coast. They settled, intermarried and
learned local languages. Over the years, the number of Arab immigrants
increase and was able to influence the culture in the region. The Ksiwashli
language that was developed from the Arabic and Bantu tongues and
Islamization of the region since the 7 thc onwards shows the interaction with
Africans and their deep influence.
In north Africa, the Arabs began to settle in 600 A.D. The live in Egypt,
northern Sudan and along the Mediterranean coast (Tunisia, Morocco and
Algeria)
v. The Sabeans: In the 6thc B.C. they crossed the Red Sea from Saba in
Arabia and settled on the Eritrean coast of the Horn. By 500 B.C their
settlement expanded and intermarried with the local people giving way to
the evolution of Geez language.At about the first century A.D, the Geez
speaking famers and traders developed a powerful state of Aksum. Today, it
is believed that people that belong to Ethio-Semitic language descended
from the Sabean speaking settlers.
Vi. Europeans: Their settlement began in different parts of Africa since
1600s A.D. Most of them were British, Dutch and France descents. The
majority of Europeans live along the Mediterranean coast, Republic of South
Africa and Zimbabwe.

13
a. The Boers: The soldiers and servants of the Dutch citizens led by their
company commander, Van Riebeeck, sailed to the cape of South Africa in
1657 and settled as independent Boers (farther). Later, the Boers
expanded in the region where the Khoisan and Bantu people were living
in South Africa. Within three centuries, the Boers developed their
language in to Afrikaner and assumed themselves as white Africans.
There are also British, French, Portuguese, Belgian and Italian descents.
b. Asians: They live and southern and eastern Africa. Most of them were
come from India during 1800s. People of Asian ancestors from Indonesia
migrated to Madagascar.
1.5.2. Languages of Africa
Linguists are able to trace a family of languages back to their original parent
language and tell us which language more closely or remotely related. Based
on this principle, all languages spoken in Africa can be classifies in to three
groups: native, foreign and mixed.
1. The Native Languages of Africa: They are categorized in to four super-
families: Congo-Kordofanian, Nilo-Sahara, Khoisan and Afro-Asiatic.
A. Congo-Kordofanian: spoken by people of West Africa, grasslands of
central Africa, coastal regions of eastern Africa and southern Africa. It is
by the largest of native African language. Its two main branches are
a. Niger-Congo: Of its seven branches, six are spoken in West Africa. One
of it is spoken in grasslands of Cameroon and CAR. Though the Bantu
people cannot communicate with the West African people, their language
belongs to the Niger-Congo family. There are about 450 languages in
Bantu family. Among the most important Bantu languages are Ganda,
Kikuyu, Kongo, Rundi, Sotho and Zulu. The main languages of Niger-
Congo family mainly spoken in West Africa are Mande, Akan, Ibo, Igbo,
Yoruba, etc.
b. Kordofanian Language: Is spoken by the people in the pocket places of
southern Sudan, west of Nile River.

14
B. Nilo-Saharan: is spoken by people who are living in north and northeast
of Great Lakes region, eastern Sahel, the adjoining portion of the Sahara,
and in the region between Chad and the Nile. The people that retreated
from Sahara (when it dried up) were probably the speakers of this family.
This family includes Songhai, Sahara, Maban Fur, Chari-Nile, Koman,
Anuak, Gumuz, Mien, Berta, Majang, Nuer, Kunama, e.t.c.
C. Khoisan: The oldest of all in Africa. It includes the Bushmen (San) and
the Hottentots or the Khoikhoi.
a. Bushmen: Is speakers to live in Kalahari Desert. In earlier times,
they used to live in the grassland north and east of the Kalahari. But
later, the other groups drove them.
b. Hottentots: They speak language which belongs to Khoisan family.
They are living in the western side of the Bushmen in Namibia and
South Africa. And The Sandawe and Hadza (Hatse) of Tanzania also
speak languages that belong to it.
D. Afro-Asiatic: Is spoken by people of North Africa, the Horn, and the area
around Lake Chad. It covers the largest sector of African population.
Languages which belong to this super-family are: Semitic, Ancient
Egyptian (Coptic), Berberic, Chadic, Cushitic and Semitic.
1.6. Human Evolution in Africa
Hunting-gathering societies, the oldest form of social organization in the
world, began in Africa. Hunting-gathering societies still exist in Africa today,
though they form an extremely small percentage of the population.
Scattered throughout Africa, these groups speak their own languages and
often use their own hunting techniques. By studying these groups, scholars
learn clues about how hunter-gatherers may have lived in the past.

15
Prehistory, however, dates back to the time before the invention of writing,
roughly 5,000 years ago. Without access to written records, scientists
investigating the lives of prehistoric peoples face special challenges.
The first humans appeared in the Great Rift Valley. People moved outward
from this area in the world’s first migration. They developed technologies
that helped them survive their surroundings.
Archaeologists are specially trained scientists who uncover the history of
prehistoric peoples. They learn about early people by excavating and
studying the traces of early settlements. An excavated site, called an
archaeological dig, provides one of the richest sources of clues to the
prehistoric way of life. They analyze all existing evidence, such as bones
and artifacts. Bones might reveal what the people looked like, how tall they
were, the types of food they ate, diseases they may have faced, and how
long they lived. Artifacts are human-made objects, such as tools and jewelry.
These items might hint at how people dressed, what work they did, or how
they worshiped.
Scientists called anthropologists study culture, or a people’s unique way of
life. Anthropologists examine the artifacts at archaeological digs. From these,
they re-create a picture of early people’s cultural behavior.
Other scientists, called paleontologists, study fossils evidence of early life
preserved in rocks. Human fossils often consist of small fragments of teeth,
skulls, or other bones. Paleontologists use complex techniques to date
ancient fossil remains. Archaeologists, anthropologists,
paleontologists, and other scientists work as a team to make new
discoveries about how prehistoric people lived.
A civilization is often defined as a complex culture with five characteristics:
advanced cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping
and advanced technology. Culture comprises common practices, shared
understandings and social organization. Common practices include what
people eat, clothing and adornment, sports, tools and technology, and social
customs and work. Shared understandings include language, religious

16
beliefs, values, the arts, and political beliefs. Social organizations include
family, classes, relationship b/n individual and community, government,
economic system and view of authority.
In prehistoric times, bands of humans that lived near one another began to
develop shared ways of doing things: common ways of dressing, similar
hunting practices, and favorite animals to eat. These shared traits were the
first beginnings of what anthropologists and historians call culture. Culture is
the way of life of a group of people. Culture includes common practices of a
society, its shared understandings, and its social organization. By
overcoming individual differences, culture helps to unify the group.
The varied climates and natural resources of Africa offered opportunities for
developing different lifestyles. By 500 B.C, the Nok people of West Africa had
pioneered iron-making technology. Africa’s earliest peoples were nomadic
hunter-gatherers. Today, some of the San of the Kalahari Desert and the
BaMbuti of the rain forests of Congo are still hunter-gatherers.
Other early Africans eventually learned to domesticate and raise a variety of
animals for food. The Masai of Tanzania and southern Kenya, for example,
still measure their wealth by the size of their herds. Experts believe that
agriculture in Africa probably began by 6000 B.C. Between 8000 and 6000
B.C., the Sahara received increased rainfall and turned into a savanna. But
about 6000 B.C., the Sahara began to dry up again. To survive, many early
farmers moved east into the Nile Valley and south into West Africa.
The Discovery of Early Footprints
In the 1970s, archaeologist Mary Leakey led a scientific expedition to the
region of Laetoli in Tanzania in East Africa. There, she and her team looked
for clues about human origins. In 1978, they found prehistoric footprints that
resembled those of modern humans preserved in volcanic ash. These
footprints were made by humanlike beings now called australopithecines
Humans and other creatures that walk upright, such as australopithecines,
are called hominids. The Laetoli footprints provided striking evidence about
human origins.

17
The Discovery of “Lucy”
While Mary Leakey was working in East Africa, U.S. anthropologist Donald
Johanson and his team were also searching for fossils. They were exploring
sites in Ethiopia, about 1,000 miles to the north. In 1974, Johanson’s team
made a remarkable find, an unusually complete skeleton of an adult female
hominid. They nicknamed her “Lucy” after the song “Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds.” She had lived around 3.18 million years ago, the oldest hominid
found to that date.
Lucy and the hominids that left their footprints in East Africa were species of
australopithecines.
Genus Homo
A. Homo-habilis
Before the australopithecines eventually vanished, new hominids appeared
in East Africa around 2.5 million years ago. In 1960, archaeologists Louis and
Mary Leakey discovered a hominid fossil at Olduvai Gorge in northern
Tanzania and named the fossil Homo habilis, which means “man of skill.”
They believed Homo habilis used tools to cut meat and crack bones. He was
handy human species.
B. Homo erectus
About 1.6 million years ago, before Homo habilis left the scene, Homo
erectus, or “upright man appeared in east Africa.” Homo erectus was a more
intelligent and adaptable species than Homo habilis. Homo erectus people
used intelligence to develop technology. These hominids gradually became
skillful hunters and invented more sophisticated tools for digging, scraping,
and cutting. They also eventually became the first hominids to migrate from
Africa. Fossils and stone tools show that bands of Homo erectus hunters
settled in India, China, Southeast Asia and Europe.
According to anthropologists, Homo erectus was the first to use fire for
warmth in cold climates, cooking food to frighten away attacking animals.
Homo erectus may have developed the beginnings of spoken language.

18
Homo erectus might have named objects, places, animals, and plants and
exchanged ideas.
C. Homo-Sapiens
Many scientists believe Homo erectus eventually developed into Homo
sapiens, which mean “wise men.” While they physically resembled Homo
erectus, Homo sapiens had much larger brains.

UNIT TWO
NORTHERN AFRICA TO 1500
2.1. Egypt
Egyptians lived in farming villages as far back as 5000 BC. Egyptologists
conventionally use three major periods until Egypt was absorbed in to the
Roman Empire in 30 B.C.
1. Presynaptic Period: This is the period before the unification of Upper
and Lower Egypt in by 3200 B.C. by king Narmer, who established the
first Egyptian dynasty. In-between 5000 to 4000 B.C. permanent
settlement of full time farmers established in Nile Valley area. The villages

19
 of Egypt were under the rule of two separate kingdoms: Eventually, the
history of ancient Egypt would consist of 31 dynasties and three
kingdoms: Old Kingdom, Middle kingdom and New Kingdom. Egypt’s great
civilization was set during the period from 3200 to 2700 B.C.
2. Pharaonic period (3100-332 B.C)
To the Egyptians, pharaohs were gods. The Egyptian god-kings, called
pharaohs, were thought to be powerful. The pharaoh stood at the center of
Egypt’s religion, government and army. It was the pharaoh who caused the
sun to rise, the Nile to flood, and the crops to grow.
A. Pyramids: It refers to the foundation of the first united Dynastic state. It
ended when
Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquered Egypt in 332 B.C)
Scholars also divide pharaohnic period in to three periods: the Old Kingdom
(3100-2200B.C), the Middle Kingdom (2200-1730 B.C) and New Kingdom
(1570-1100 B.C).
3. Ptolemaic period: This period starts from the conquest of Alexander the
Great of Macedonia in 332 B.C and ended in 30 B.C. when the Romans
conquered Egypt. This period brought the final end of Pharahnic period in
Egypt. After the death of Alexander, one of his four generals, Ptolemy
founded his own dynasty and ruled Egypt until the death of Queen
Cleopatra and Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 B.C.
Egypt during New Kingdom
After overthrowing the Hyksos, the pharaohs of the New Kingdom (about
1570–1075 B.C.) sought to strengthen Egypt by building an empire. Egypt
entered its third period of glory during the New Kingdom era. During this
time, it was wealthier and more powerful than ever before. Equipped with
bronze weapons and two-wheeled chariots, the Egyptians became
conquerors.
Among the rulers of the New Kingdom, Hatshepsut, who declared herself
pharaoh around 1472 B.C. Unlike other New Kingdom rulers, Hatshepsut
spent her reign encouraging trade rather than just waging war.

20
The trading expedition Hatshepsut ordered to the Land of Punt was
particularly successful. She sent a fleet of five ships to Punt in search of
myrrh, frankincense, and fragrant ointments natural products for religious
ceremonies and in cosmetics. In addition to these goods, Hatshepsut’s fleet
brought back gold, ivory, and unusual plants and animals.
Pharaoh Thutmose III proved to be a much more warlike ruler. Between
the time he took power and his death around 1425 B.C., Thutmose III led a
number of victorious invasions eastward into Palestine and Syria. His
armies also pushed farther south into Nubia. Egypt had traded with Nubia
and influenced the region since the time of the Middle Kingdom.
Ramses II (c.1290 to 1224 B.C), was great builders of the New Kingdom.
He ordered monumental temples to Egypt’s chief god at Karnak. He also
ordered a temple to be carved at Abu Simbel. He had these temples
decorated with enormous statues of himself.
Egyptians believed that their king ruled even after his death. He had an
eternal life. Since kings expected to reign forever, their tombs were even
more important than their palaces. For the kings of the Old Kingdom, the
resting place after death was an immense structure called a pyramid. The
Old Kingdom was the great age of pyramid building. These magnificent
monuments were remarkable engineering achievements. The pyramids
reflected the strength of the Egyptian civilization. They show that Old
Kingdom dynasties were economically developed and technologically
advanced.
Religion and Belief
The early Egyptians were polytheistic, believing in many gods. The most
important gods were Re, the sun god, and Osiris god of the dead. The most
important goddess was Isis, who represented the ideal mother and wife. In
all, Egyptians worshiped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses. They built
huge temples to honor the major deities.
Egyptians believed in an afterlife. Egyptians believed they would be judged
for their deeds when they died. Anubis, god and guide of the underworld,

21
would weigh each dead person’s heart. To win eternal life, the heart could be
no heavier than a feather. If the heart tipped the scale, showing that it was
heavy with sin. But if the soul passed this test for purity and truth, it would
live forever in the beautiful Other World.Royal and elite Egyptians’ bodies
were preserved by mummification, which involves preserving and drying
the corpse to prevent it from decaying.
Society
Egyptian society formed a pyramid. The king, queen and royal family were at
the top. Below them were wealthy landowners, government officials, priests,
and army commanders. The middle class included merchants and artisans.
At the base of the pyramid was the lower class, by far the largest class that
consisted of peasant and laborers.
Technology
The Egyptians develop writing system calendar. Simple pictographs were
the earliest form of Egyptian writing. Scribes quickly developed a more
flexible writing system called hieroglyphics. This term comes from Greek
words hieros (sacred) and gluph (curving) carving. It was written on stone
and clay. The Egyptians developed a calendar to help them keep track of
the time between floods and to plan their planting season. The Egyptian
priests developed calendar with 365 days. They divided this year into 12
months of 30 days each and added five days for holidays and feasting.
Egypt under Roman Rule
It was introduced in 30 B.C. It applied more oppressive form of taxation that
forced peasants to abandon their field and took to banditry. Following the
decline of the Roman Empire Egypt was ruled by the Byzantine Empire since
the 4thc A.D. The Byzantine rule was more oppressive than the Roman’s rule
from Rome.
Egypt under Muslim Arab Occupation
The oppressive and corrupt rule of Byzantium in Egypt prompted the
majority of Egyptians to offer no resistance to the Arab forces. By 642 A.D.
the Muslim Arabs had expelled the unpopular Byzantine administration from

22
Egypt. When the Byzantines threatened the Arab at Alexandria, the latter
moved their center of administration inland to ruins of Ancient Egyptian city
of Memphis where they built Cairo as Islamic capital. From Cairo, they
dominated Nile valley to the south & kept open their trading links with Syria
and Arabia.
Egypt under Fatimid Dynasty (969-1117 A.D.)
The Fatimids were Shi’it immigrants who seized control of Egypt in 969 A.D.
They conquered Egypt with a small but effective Berber army. Their rule in
Egypt was initially a period of prosperity. In the late period, due to
corruption, the caliph was unable to pay for his army. Finally, by the mid-
12thc, conflict between different regiments (Mukluks, Berbers and Sudanese)
interrupted commercial activities that weakened the authority of Fatimid
government. Moreover, in the 1160s, Egypt was in danger of being overrun
by Christian Crusaders.
Salah al-Din ibr Ayyub , the leader of small band of professional soldiers who
had originally came from Kurdistan, east of Turkey saved Egypt from the
conquest of the crusaders. He reorganized Egyptian army and expelled
Christian Crusaders from borders of Egypt and recaptured Jerusalem.
Egypt under Ayyubid Dynasty
It was Sunni Muslim dynasty, founded by Saladin that ruled in the late 12 th &
early 13th centuries over Egypt and Syria, and Yemen. The father of Saladin,
Ayyub, for whom the Ayyubid dynasty is named, was a member of a family
of Kurdish soldiers, who took service under the Seljuk Turkish rulers in Iraq
and Syria. Appointed governor of Damascus, Ayyub, united Syria in
preparation for war against the Crusaders. After the death of his father in
1173, Saladin created a united front against the Crusades, and made Egypt
the most powerful Muslim state in the world. The Ayyubid decline in Egypt
was completed with the Mamluk accession to power in 1250. But the dynasty
persisted in some areas of Syria until 1260.
Egypt under Mukluks Rule

23
The Mamluks, reed slave soldiers, ruled Egypt from 1250-1517. It was ruled
by a military, headed by a sultan. It replaced Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in
1250. It was, ultimately, conquered by Ottoman in 1517. In 1260, they
halted southward expanding Mongolians. They then conquered Syrian
principalities of Ayyubids. Following their conquest of Crusader states by the
end of 13thc, the sultanate experienced a long period of stability and
prosperity.
The Maghrib
The Arabs referred to the whole coastal region of North Africa west of Egypt
as al-Maghib, meaning 'the West'. Conquest of Maghreb was by no means as
easy as that of Egypt. The Arabs faced fierce resistance from Byzantine
Empire and North African Berbers. Their initial object was to seize control of
Carthage and the fertile Tunisian plain, which was Roman province of 'Africa'
which the Arabs called 'Ifriqiya'.
In 690s, Arabs had built enough ships to defeat Byzantine fleet. The Arabs
built their own city of Tunis. Meanwhile Ifriqiya itself was under attack from
Berber chiefdoms. The Berbers of North Africa had resisted Romans and
Arabs. But they were unable to sustain their resistance due to lack of unity
and coordination. Unlike Berbers, for Arabs, unity was their greatest strength
that helped them to overcome of Berbers. By 711 A.D., the Islamic army had
reached the Atlantic coast of Morocco.
Maghreb region underwent great changes, which arise from the conflict
between the Spaniards and the Ottomans in the modern period. The last of
Moorish emirates, was to fall only in 1491.
In Asia Minor, the Ottoman Turks were, at the beginning of 15 thc, still
assaulting the eastern flanks of Byzantine Empire. Constantinople was to fall
in their hands in 1453, Greece in 1460 and Aegean island much later.
At the head of each province, there was a “pasha” nominated by the Sultan
of Turkey and commissioned to control the provinces. The late generation of
the “Ojak” (the soldiers) were Turks, recruited from Anatolia under the
license from Turkish Sultan.The military commanders of the Ojak formed a

24
divan (council) which took over the real government of every province
leaving apart of the “pasha” as a mere figure head.
Ifriqiya, one of the oldest Maghrib states, occupied by the Ottomans in the
16thc.and represented from Tunisia. From 154 A.D onwards, the Ojak
assimilated to the local population and took the state affairs in to their own
hands in Tunisia. Tunisia, led by former Ojak, became part of the French
informal empire. During the 1780s, their economy recovered and the
informal status of the state was put off. However, Tunisia became formal
colony of France in 1881 and gained its independence in 1956.
The Kush
The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along
the Nile Valley northern Sudan and southern Egypt. The first Nubian
kingdom, Kerma, emerged between 2450 and 1450 BC, controlling the Nile
Valley. Between 2000-10000B.C, the civilizations of Egypt and Kush were
engaged in intermittent warfare, trade, and cultural exchange.
Much of Nubia came under Egyptian rule during the New Kingdom
period (1550–1070 BC). Egyptian governors, priests, soldiers, and artists
strongly influenced the Nubians. But as Egypt fell into decline during the
Hyksos rule, Kush began to emerge as a regional power and established its
own Kushite dynasty in Egypt. Capital of combined Kush and Egypt was
Napata, now modern Karima in Sudan.
Though Kush had developed many cultural affinities with Egypt, Kushite
culture, language and ethnicity was distinct. The Kushites established the
Twenty-fifth Dynasty of their own in Egypt. The kings of Kush ruled Egypt for
over a century until the Assyrian conquest. When the Assyrians expelled
Kushite from Egypt, they retreated further south and made Meroe as their
imperial capital during which time it was known by the Greeks as Aethiopia.
Meroe lay closer to the Red Sea than Napata, capital of Kush. Meroe was so
active in the flourishing trade among Africa, Arabia, and India. Meroe
was destroyed by Aksumite king, Ezana around A.D. 350.
The Three Nubian Kingdoms

25
Following the Aksumite invasion of Meroe in 350, the Nubian area was
divided in to three major kingdoms. They were Noba, Makura and Alwa. The
Egyptian monophysite missionaries converted the subjects of these
kingdoms in to Christianity since 500 A.D. the Christian Nubian kingdoms
were thickly populated with small agricultural villages. Throughout Nubia, the
grazing of cattle was widespread. Nubian craftsmen produced fine pottery.
The earlier artisctic styles influenced the Nubian art.
The Muslim Arab forces conquered the whole North Africa. The first was
Egypt to be conquered. The gradual of Islam to Nubia was brought about by
centuries of peaceful trading contact with Muslim Egypt. The final collapse of
Christianity, as a result of southward movement of Arab nomad pastoralists
was signaled by the conversion of Dongola Cathedral in to a Muslim mosque
in 1317. The Arab nomads, during their movement to the south, intermarried
with local Nubians and heavily Africanized in physical appearance and
culture.
2.2. Cartage
Ancient Carthage was an ancient Semitic civilization in North Africa, in
present day Tunisia. Later, it was developed in to city-state and then
an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians in the 9th BC, Carthage reached its
height in the 4thc BC as one of the largest metropolis in the world. It was the
center of the Carthaginian Empire, a major power led by the Punic
people who dominated the ancient western and central Mediterranean Sea.
Following the Punic Wars, Carthage was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC.
Carthage was settled around 814 BC by colonists from Tyre, a leading
Phoenician city-state located in present-day Lebanon. In the 7thc BC,
following the conquest of Phoenicia by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Carthage
became independent, gradually expanding its economic and
political hegemony across the western Mediterranean. By 300 BC, Cartage
established naval dominance in western and central Mediterranean Sea.
Carthage controlled the largest territory in the region, including the coast

26
of northwest Africa, southern and eastern Iberia, and the islands
of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, etc.
Among the ancient world's largest and richest cities, Carthage was a
commercial empire that engaged in both export and import trade with west
Asia and northern Europe. It had access to abundant fertile land and major
maritime trade routes. It provided varieties of commodities from all over
the ancient world. Cartage exported
lucrative agricultural products and manufactured goods. Cartage as
commercial empire was secured by one of the largest and most powerful
navies in the ancient Mediterranean.
As the dominant power, Carthage certainly came into conflict with many
neighbors and rivals, like Berbers of North Africa and Roman Republic. Its
growing competition with Rome culminated in the Punic Wars (264–146 BC).
After the Third Punic War of 146 A.D., Romans destroyed Cartage. The
Romans later founded a new city in its place. All remnants of Carthaginian
civilization came under Roman rule by the 1stcAD. The Romans subsequently
became the dominant Mediterranean power.
Despite the cosmopolitan character of its empire, the culture and identity of
Carthage rooted in its Canaanite heritage. Carthaginians were renowned for
their commercial activities, ambitious explorations and unique system
of government, which combined elements of democracy, oligarchy,
and republicanism, including modern examples of checks and balances. They
also developed alphabetic system of writing.
Despite having been one of the most influential civilizations of antiquity,
Carthage is mostly remembered for its long and bitter conflict with Rome,
which threatened the rise of the Roman Republic and almost changed the
course of Western civilization. Much of what is known about its civilization
comes from Roman and Greek sources.

2.3. Muslim States in North Africa

27
Islam played a vital role in North Africa. After Muhammad’s death in 632,
Muslims swept across the northwest part of the continent. They converted
many by the sword of conquest and others peacefully. By 670, Muslims ruled
Egypt and had entered the Maghrib, the part of North Africa that is today the
Mediterranean coast of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.
As Islam spread, some African rulers converted to Islam. These African
Muslim rulers then based their government upon Islamic law. Muslims
believe that God’s law is a higher authority than any human law. Therefore,
Muslim rulers often relied on religious scholars as government advisers.
Islamic law has been such a significant force in history that some states,
especially in North Africa, are still influenced by it today.
Among those who converted to Islam were the Berbers. Fiercely independent
desert and mountain dwellers, the Berbers were the original inhabitants of
North Africa. While they accepted Islam as their faith, many maintained their
Berber identities and loyalties. Two Berber groups, the Almoravids and the
Almohads, founded empires that united the Maghrib under Muslim rule.
2.3.1. Almoravid Movement
In the 11thc, Muslim reformers founded the Almoravid Empire. The Almoravid
Empire came into being through the success of a militant Islamic movement
that was initiated among the Ṣanhajah Berbers, who were living in the
Western Sahara in what is today Mauritania, by one of its chiefs about 1035.
The leader of the movement was Abd Allah ibn Yāsin, Ṣanhajah religious
scholar from southern Morocco. Before joining the Ṣanhajah tribes, Ibn Yasin
was attached to a center of religious learning. The Almoravids were strict
adherents of the Maliki School of law.
The movement began after devout Berber Muslims made a hajj, or
pilgrimage, to Mecca. On their journey, home, they convinced a Muslim
scholar from Morocco named Abd Allah Ibn Yasin to return with them to
teach their people about Islam. Ibn Yasin’s teachings soon attracted
followers, and he founded a strict religious brotherhood, known as the
Almoravids.

28
The Almoravids began the invasion of Morocco after consolidating their
control over Sijilmāssah in 1056. When Ibn Yasin was killed in 1059, the
Almoravid’s leadership passed to Abu Bakr ibn Umar. The Almoravids
conquered most of the Maghrib and Muslim Spain. By 1082 Almoravid rule
extended to Algiers. The Almoravids sent their army into Spain in 1086. By
1110, the Almoravids had become masters of the whole of Muslim Spain. The
capital of their empire was Marrakech.
In the 1050s, Ibn Yasin led the Almoravids in an effort to spread Islam
through conquest. They overran the West African empire of Ghana by 1076.
The Almoravids also captured parts of southern Spain, where they were
called Moors.
In the Almoravid Empire, the Ṣanhajah tribes of Mauretania constituted a
ruling class, Strict adherence to the Maliki version of Islamic law provided the
religious legitimization for the authority of this tribal.
2.3.2. Almohads Movement
In the mid-1100s, the Almohads, another group of Berber Muslim reformers,
seized power from the Almoravids. They developed from religious opposition
to the Islam of the Almoravids. The Almohads developed revolutionary
movement and followed tawḥid, the belief in the oneness and uniqueness of
God. The Almohads began as a religious movement in the Atlas Mountains of
Morocco. The movement was founded by Ibn Tumart. After a pilgrimage to
Mecca, he criticized Almoravid rulers for moving away from the traditional
practice of Islam. He urged his followers to strictly obey the teachings of the
Qur’an and Islamic law.
He called for a return to its original sources of Islam, the Quran and the
Traditions (Hadith) of the Prophet. Ibn Tumart fled from Marrakech in 1122
when he realized that he would be put to death if he did not cease criticizing
the state’s official religious dogma. After settling with some people of his
tribe in the village of Tinmallal in 1124, he started to organize a
religious community. After his death in 1130, the movement and the

29
conquest of the Almoravid Empire continued under his trusted
successor, Abd al-Muʾmin, a Berber from Tlemcen.
By 1148 the Almohads controlled most of Morocco and ended Almoravid rule.
The new Muslim reformers kept Marrakech as their capital. By the end of the
12ttc, they had conquered much of southern Spain. In Africa, their territory
stretched from Marrakech to Tripoli and Tunis on the Mediterranean. The
Almohad Empire broke up into individual Muslim dynasties. While the
Almohad Empire lasted just over 100 years, it united the Maghrib under one
rule for the first time.

UNIT THREE
THE SUDANIC AFRICAN EMPIRES: GHANA-MALI-SONGHAY
3.1. West African Iron Age
Archaeologists’ main source of information about early West African cultures
has been from artifacts such as pottery, charcoal, and slag, a waste product
of iron smelting. By dating these artifacts, scientists can piece together a
picture of life in West Africa as early as 500 B.C.
Unlike cultures to the north, the peoples of Africa south of the Sahara seem
to have skipped the Copper and Bronze Ages and moved directly into the
Iron Age. Evidence of iron production dating to around 500 B.C. has been
found in the area just north of the Niger and Benue rivers. The ability to
smelt iron was a major technological achievement of the ancient Nok of sub-
Saharan Africa.

30
West Africa contained several rich and powerful states, including Ghana,
Mali, and Songhai. These civilizations demonstrate the richness of African
culture before European colonization.
While the Almohads and Almoravids were building empires in North Africa,
three powerful empires flourished in West Africa. These ancient African
empires arose in the Sahel, the savanna region just south of the Sahara.
They grew strong by controlling trade.
3.2. The Trans-Sahara Trade
Long-distance trade across the Sahara had gone on for many centuries
before the introduction of the camel. Originally desert-dwellers sold Saharan
salt in exchange for food grown by people living to north or south of the
desert. By the time of the Roman conquest of North Africa the desert-
dwellers had abandoned wheeled chariots in exchange for pack-horses and
troops of cavalry for warfare. Wheeled chariots were clearly no longer
effective in the shifting sands of the increasingly arid desert.
Trade across the desert was anything other than small-scale and sporadic
before the introduction of the camel. Travel across the desert remained a
risky business and most trade was passed through the hands of several
groups of desert-dwellers before it reached its final destination. But the
Romans did little to stimulate any regular or direct trade right across the
Sahara. Trans-Saharan trade was mostly a local affair; its main stimulus was
still desert salt in exchange for food.
During the third and fourth centuries the camel spread among most of the
Berber nomads of the northern Sahara. By the fifth century it had become
the major form of transport in the desert. The introduction of the camel could
be said to have revolutionized the scope and scale of trans-Saharan trade.
The camel had a number of distinct advantages over other transport
animals.
The camel could maintain a steady pace over much longer distances. A fully-
laden camel, carrying 130 kilos, could maintain a steady regular pace of 25
to 30 kilometers a day. It could even on occasion travel a hundred kilometers

31
or more in a single day. The fat stored in its hump and water stored in its gut
enabled it to travel up to ten days without fresh water. The camel
withstands both the daytime heat and the night-time cold of the desert. And
with its large splayed feet it could negotiate the soft sandy conditions often
found away from the main desert tracks.
Desert transport itself remained largely in the hands of Berber nomads. The
principal Berber groups involved were the Sanhaja in the west and the
Tuareg in the central and southern Sahara. Though many Saharan Berbers
engaged in long-distance trade, it was seldom at this stage a full-time
occupation. They remained primarily nomadic pastoralists. At the Saharan
oases they harvested date palms and grazed their flocks of sheep and goats,
camels and occasional cattle. Wealthy nomads also kept horses. These were
a sign of status and were particularly useful in warfare. In the hottest, driest
season of the year, desert nomads moved their flocks and herds to the
better grazing of the Maghrib in the north or the Sahel to the south. This
brought them into contact, and sometimes conflict, with more settled
agricultural populations. (The Sahel is that region of savannah grassland
immediately to the south of the desert proper. The word comes from the
Arabic sahil meaning 'shore'. The Arabs looked on the Sahara desert as an
ocean, the sahil marking the boundary of that ocean of sand with the
habitable grasslands beyond.)
Though the Sahara itself was mainly Berber territory, small groups of black
negroid peoples lived at some of the central Saharan oases. They harvested
dates and dug salt to exchange for food, but they were often kept in a
subordinate position by the Berber nomads who dominated most of the
oases. They were possibly descendants from those earlier Neolithic
fishermen and hunters. One of the principal salt mines of the desert was
Taghaza in the center of the Western Sahara. With the expansion of trade in
later centuries the houses and mosques of Taghaza were even built out of
blocks of salt and roofed with camel skins.Historically the West African Sahel
is sometimes referred to as the western Sudan and its black negroid

32
inhabitants as Sudanese. The name comes from al-Sudan, the Arabic word
for 'the black peoples' of tropical Africa.
As the camel revolutionized desert transport, the products of subSaharan
Africa became more readily available to the Mediterranean world. The trade
in West African gold began to expand. This led to an increasing demand for
ivory, ostrich feathers and furs from the sub-Saharan savannah. With all this
expansion in cross-desert trade, a number of important trading settlements
developed north and south of the Sahara. Here goods were exchanged and
camel caravans off-loaded and re-loaded for transport across the desert.
Though the caravan traffic re- maimed in the hands of desert nomads, the
actual demand and exchange of goods was largely controlled by the peoples
of the settled societies to their north and south.
3.3. Empire of Ghana
The kingdom of ancient Ghana is not to be confused with the modern
republic of the same name. Though the name of modern Ghana was chosen
in honor of the ancient historic state, there was in fact no direct relationship
between the two. Ancient Ghana was several hundred kilometers northwest
of the modern republic. It was one of the most important, and certainly the
best-known, of the early West African Iron Age states. It dominated the
southern border region of modern Mauritania and Mali between about 5 th and
13th AD. The principal people of ancient Ghana were the Soninke who speak
Soninke language of Niger-Congo group.
The nucleus of the origin of Ghana was the territory of Awkar that was
inhabited by Soninke people whose language belongs to the Niger-Congo
family (as a division of Mande language). The responsible factors for the
origin of Ghana were: (a) The ability of the Soninke iron working farmers to
form larger settled communities; (b) The raids of the Sanhaja Berbers deep
in to the Soninke territory forced them to defend themselves by establishing
a short of political groups; and (c) Ghana’s strategic position with regard to
trade

33
The trans-Sahara trade had been a major factor for the growth of sates in
Sudanic Africa. Because of the mid way position of Soninke between the salt
mines to the north and the gold field area (around Bambuk) to the south had
played a significant role for the development of Ghana. The introduction of
camel during 5thc A.D enhanced the trans-Sahara caravan trade. Grana’s
capital, Kumbi-Saleh was an important trading center. About 9 th and 10th
centuries, Ghana controlled Awdaghast, one of the most important Berber
towns, and enclosed within its kingdom.
The Soninke people called their ruler ghana, or war chief. Muslim traders
began to use the word to refer to the Soninke region. By the 700s, Ghana
was a kingdom, and its rulers were growing rich by taxing the goods that
traders carried through their territory.
The two most important trade items of Ghana were gold and salt. Gold came
from a forest region south of the savanna between the Niger and Senegal
rivers. It is estimated that until about 1350, at least two-thirds of the world’s
supply of gold came from West Africa. The Sahara contained deposits of salt.
Arab and Berber traders crossed the desert with camel caravans loaded
down with salt. After a long journey, they reached the market towns of the
savanna. Meanwhile, African traders brought gold north from the forest
regions.
By the year 800, Ghana had become an empire. Because Ghana’s king
controlled trade and commanded a large army, he could demand taxes and
gifts from the chiefs of surrounding lands. As long as the chiefs made their
payments, the king left them in peace to rule their own people. The king of
Ghana acted as a religious leader, chief judge, and military commander. He
headed a large bureaucracy and could call up a huge army
While Islam spread through North Africa by conquest, south of the Sahara,
Islam spread through trade. Muslim merchants and teachers settled in the
states south of the Sahara and introduced Islam there. The earliest written
mention of Ghana was by the 8thc Arab geographer, al-Fazari who made a
brief passing reference to Ghana, the land of gold. Ghana was famed for its

34
trade in gold. Later Arabic writers provided more detailed descriptions of
Ghana and in particular of its capital Kumbi-Saleh. The fullest account was
written by the 11th Arab geographer, al-Bakri.
Eventually, Ghana’s rulers converted to Islam. By the end of the 11 th century,
Muslim advisers were helping the king run his kingdom. But the commoners
of Ghana continued to believe in animistic beliefs. Animism is the belief that
spirits living in animals, plants, and natural forces play an important role in
daily life. Much of the population never converted. Those who did kept many
of their former beliefs, which they observed along with Islam. Among the
upper class, Islam’s growth encouraged the spread of literacy. To study the
Qur’an, converts to Islam had to learn Arabic.
In 1076 the Muslim Almoravids of North Africa completed their conquest of
Ghana. The disruptive war of Almoravids caused the decline and fall of
Ghana. Following the decline of the Almoravid in early 1200s the Soninke
retook most of the territories of former Ghana as well as their neighbors, the
Malinke. The Almoravid’s invasion had badly disrupted the gold-salt trade.
The struggle for Malinke’s independence from repressive rule of the Soninke
finally brought an end to Ghana and the rise of Mali. As a result, Ghana
never regained its power.
3.3. Empire of Mali
Sundiata of Malinke organized the resistance of his people against the Sosso,
a branch of southern Soninke, ruler and defeated them in 1235. Within short
period, Sundiata built a vast empire of Mali with its capital Niani. Its
founders were Mande-speaking people, who lived south of Ghana. The
wealth of Mali was built on gold. As Ghana remained weak, people who had
been under its control began to act independently. In addition, miners found
new gold deposits farther east. This caused the most important trade routes
to shift eastward, which made a new group of people, the people of Mali,
wealthy. It also enabled them to seize power.
The first great leader of Mali, Sundiata, came to power by crushing a cruel,
unpopular leader. Sundiata became the mansa (emperor) of Mali. Through a

35
series of military victories, he took over the kingdom of Ghana and the
trading cities of Kumbi and Walata. A period of peace and prosperity
followed.
Sundiata was proved to be great a leader in peace and at war. He put able
administrators in charge of Mali’s finances, defense, and foreign affairs. From
his new capital at Niani, near the gold mines of Bure, he promoted
agriculture and reestablished the gold-salt trade. Niani became an important
center of commerce and trade. People began to call Sundiata’s empire Mali,
meaning “where the king lives.” During Sundiata’s reign (1230-55), the Mali
empire extended in all direction and included the former Ghana except
Awdaghast that remained in the hands of the Sanhaja Berbers. His
successors also added Timbuktuand in the 14 thc, the empire stretched from
the Atlantic coast of Senegal to Gao (capital of Songhai)
The post-Sundiata rulers of Mali were Muslims. These African Muslim rulers
built mosques, attended public prayers, and supported the preaching of
Muslim holy men. The most famous of them was Mansa Musa (r. 1312-32).
Between the reigns of Sundiata and Mansa Musa, Mali experienced turmoil.
There had been seven different rulers in approximately 50 years. Like
Sundiata, Mansa Musa was a skilled military leader who exercised royal
control over the goldsalt trade and put down every rebellion. His 100,000-
man army kept order and protected Mali from attack. Under Mansa Musa, the
empire expanded to roughly twice the size of the empire of Ghana. To
govern his far-reaching empire, Mansa Musa divided it into provinces and
appointed governors, who ruled fairly and efficiently.
A devout Muslim, Mansa Musa went on a hajj to Mecca from 1324 to 1325.
When he returned, he ordered the building of new mosques at the trading
cities of Timbuktu and Gao. Timbuktu became one of the most important
cities of the empire that attracted scholars, Muslim judges and religious
leaders.
In 1352, one of the successors of Mansa Musa received a traveler and
historian named Ibn Battuta, a native of Tangier in North Africa. Ibn Battuta

36
had traveled for 27 years, visiting most of the countries in the Islamic world.
He visited Timbuktu and other cities in Mali. The justice system of Mali
greatly impressed him.
Though the empire of Mali reached peak of its power in the 14 thc, palace
struggle temporarily weakened the empire. But Mansa Musa and his brother
Mansa Suleiman (r.1341-60) recovered the empire from the great political
crisis. However, at the end of 14 thc, the period of Mali’s greatness was over.
Its wealth was sapped-up by raids from the Mossi people in the south and the
Tuareg in the north. Finally, by 1500 the end of Mali became real when the
Songhai controlled most of its territories.
3.4. Empire of Songhai
The principal peoples of the region were Do farmers, Gow hunters related to
the Mossi, and Sorko fishermen. The latter were in the strongest position to
dominate the region. From at least as early as the 8 thc, Sorko fishermen
began to extend their territory upstream towards the Niger bend. They set
up trading villages along middle Niger from which they dominated nearby
communities of peasant farmers. By the 9 thc, this region of the middle Niger
had been welded together into the single state of Songhai with its capital,
Kukiya. By then the people of Songhai were in regular contact with Muslim
traders who had settled at Gao.
The trading town of Gao was founded by Berber and possibly Egyptian
merchants who were attracted to the region by the Bambuk gold trade of
Ghana. It became the trans-Saharan trading link of the central and eastern
Sahara. The rulers of Songhai became at least nominally Muslim by the
beginning of the 11thc, earlier than Takrur or Ghana. It was not long before
Gao became the new capital of Songhai. Gao and other western parts of
Songhai were brought within the boundaries of Mali during the 14 thc. But the
bulk of Songhai remained beyond the tax-collecting armies of Mali.
With the decline of Mali in the 15 thc, Songhai showed its independence. Its
Sonni dynasty built up a powerful army of horsemen and war canoes. During
the reign of Sonni Sulayman Dandi, the Songhai army began to extend its

37
territory upstream along the Niger bend. It was during the reign of his
successor, Sonni Ali the Great (1464-92) that Songhai became an empire,
totally eclipsing Mali.

Sonni Ali and the founding of the Songhay Empire

Sonni Ali began his reign of conquests by capturing Timbuktu from the
Tuareg in 1468. Thereafter much of his reign was taken up with fighting off
Tuareg raiders from the southern desert and extending the empire by
military conquest. He built up a powerful army of horsemen backed up by a
fleet of war canoes. His army had a reputation in Songhai oral tradition of
having never been beaten. Certainly he was a formidable military general
who extended the Songhai Empire deep into the desert in the north and as
far as Jenne in the southwest. Djenne, had a trade city that had a university
Sonni Ali was forced to wage wars against the Tuareg & Mossi before his
death in 1492. The Mossi were pushed back south of the Niger in the late
1480s and Songhai’s army raided deep into Mossi territory. A year later his
successor was ousted from power by a man called Askia Muhammad Ture
(r.1493-1528) of Soninke origin. He founded dynasty. He was devoted
Muslim.
During his reign, Timbuktu emerged as the center of Islamic learning. He
consolidated Songhai Empire. H believed that Islam is a unifying force of his
empire. The Songhai Empire benefited from the Trans-Sahara trade. The
revenue sources of Songhai Empire were tribute, tax on trade and slave
trade. Songhai built up an army and extended territory. It gained control of
trade routes. Gao was capital of the empire.
In 1528, Askia Muhammad was deposed by his own son. This was certainly
the main reason for the beginning of the collapse of the empire. Absence of
fixed law of succession to the throne is assumed to be the responsible
factors for a number of intrigues, plots and civil wars that spanned for six
decades (1528-91). At the same time, the agriculture basis of economy was
weakened by draught and famine. Its eastern neighbor diverted long

38
distance trade to their side. Gradually, Songhai lost control of trade. The
supply of gold from south to its commercial centers declined due to the
appearance of European merchants on the Atlantic coast. The final
destruction of the empire came from external invasion by the Moroccans in
1591, who wanted to control the gold mines of Songhai and revive the trans-
Sahara trade.
The Sultan of Morocco Ahmed al-Mansur sent across the desert his small but
well-armed and experienced army and defeated the Songhai army by
surprise in 1591. But the Moroccan forces were unable to control the whole
territory of former Songhai Empire. They controlled only the region around
Gao, Timbuktu, Jennie as their colonies. After the collapse of Songhai, a
number of small states emerged in the region.
3.5. Other Sates of West Africa, South of the Sudanic Region
3.5.1. Hausa City-States
The Hausa were a group of people named after the language they spoke.
They emerged between 1000 and 1200 in the savanna area east of Mali
and Songhai in what is today northern Nigeria. Songhai briefly ruled the
Hausa city-states, but they soon regained their independence. In such city-
states as Kano, Katsina, and Zazzau (later Zaria), local rulers built walled
cities for their capitals. From their capitals, Hausa rulers governed the
farming villages outside the city walls.
Because they were located on trade routes that linked other West African
states with the Mediterranean, Kano and Katsina became major trading
states. Zazzau, the southernmost state, conducted slave trade. All the Hausa
city-states had similar forms of government. Rulers held great power over
their subjects. For protection, each city-state raised an army. The constant
fighting among city-states prevented any one of their rulers from building a
Hausa empire.
3.5.2. Yoruba
Like the Hausa, the Yoruba people all spoke a common language. Originally
the Yoruba-speaking people belonged to a number of small city-states in the

39
forests on the southern edge of the savanna in what is today Benin and
southwestern Nigeria. Over time, some of these smaller communities joined
together under strong leaders that led to the formation of several Yoruba
kingdoms.
Considered divine, Yoruba kings served as the most important religious and
political leaders. All Yoruba chiefs traced their descent from the first ruler of
Ife All Yoruba chiefs regarded the king of Ife as their highest spiritual
authority.
A. Ife and Oyo
They were the two largest Yoruba kingdoms. Ife, developed by 1100, was the
most powerful Yoruba kingdom until the late 1600s, when Oyo became more
prosperous. As large urban centers, both Ife and Oyo had high walls
surrounding them.
3.5.3. Kingdom of Benin
To the south and west of Ife, near the delta of the Niger River, lay the
kingdom of Benin. Like Yoruba people of Ife and Oyo, the people of Benin
made their homes in the forest. The first kings of Benin date from the 1200s.
Like the Yoruba kings, the oba, or ruler, of Benin based his right to rule on
claims of descent from the first king of Ife.
In the 1400s, the oba Ewuare made Benin into a major West African state. He
did so by building a powerful army. He used it to control an area that by
1500 stretched from the Niger River delta in the east to what is today Lagos,
Nigeria. He also strengthened Benin City by building walls around it. In the
1480s, Portuguese trading ships began to sail into Benin’s port at Gwatto.
The Portuguese traded with Benin merchants for pepper, leopard skins,
ivory, and slaves.
3.5.4. Igbo or Ibo
South of the Sahara, many African groups developed systems of governing
based on lineages. In some African societies, lineage groups took the place
of rulers. These societies, known as stateless societies, did not have a
centralized system of power. Instead, authority in a stateless society was

40
balanced among lineages of equal power so that no one family had too much
control. The Igbo or Ibo, of southern Nigeria lived in a stateless society as
early as the 9thc. Although the Igbo lived in West Africa, their political
structure was similar to stateless societies found in central Africa. If a dispute
arose within an Igbo village, respected elders from different lineages settled
the problem. Igbos later encountered challenges from 19th-century
European colonizers who expected one single leader to rule over society.
3.5.5. Kannem-Bornu
In the region between Niger River and east of Lake Chad, is take
conventionally as central Sudan. In central Sudan around north east of Chad
region arose the empire of Kanem. It had begun to develop since the 9 thc
A.D. Control of trade and trade routes are assumed to be responsible for the
origin of Kanem. It enjoyed the economic benefit of the Sahara trade. The
main trading connection with North Africa was across central Sahara to
Fezzan then to Tripoli and final to Egypt. The main export of their trade was
slaves, ivory and ostrich feather.
The empire of Kanem was founded by Kanuri speaking nomadic clans that
belonged to the Nilo-Saharan language family. In the second half of 11 thc, the
Kanem speaking Saifawa clan established an Islamic dynasty in Kanem. Njimi
was its capital. Kanem reached the heit of its power during the reign of Mai
(king) Danama, who controlled the trade route as far as Feza.
By the end of 13thc, Bornu in the south west of Lake Chad area, became a
tributary state of Kanem. During the 14 thc, Kanem went in to decline and the
former tributary state of Bornu replaced its former master.
In Bornu too the Kanem people were the ruling ethnic. During its hey-day,
Bornu established trading links with Hausa city-states in the west. In the
16thc, Bornu was also shaken by internal revolts. Bornu under its ruler Mai
Idris Aloma was able to bring the conditions under control. During the 18 thc,
Bornu consisted of the vassal states of Kanem, Bagimi and Zinder; and the
tributary states of Kano, Katsina and Zaria.

41
Kanem-Bornu, the uninterrupted and long-lasting master of central Sudan for
about thousand years, was affected by the 19 thc challenging events in the
region, i.e. the influence of Sokoto Caliphates in east; the pressure of
Sanusia order from the north; and the Waddai invaders led by Rabeh ibn
Fadl-Allah from the east .

42
3.6. Islam in West Africa. Introduction, spread and effects
Africa was the first continent that Islam spread into out of Arabia in the early
seventh century. Almost one-third of the world’s Muslim population resides
today in the continent. It was estimated in 2002 that Muslims constitute 45%
of the population of Africa. Islam has a large presence in North Africa, West
Africa, the horn of Africa, the Southeast and among the minority but
significant immigrant population in South Africa.
The first West Africans to be converted were the inhabitants of the Sahara,
the Berbers, and it is generally agreed that by the second half of the tenth
century, the Sahara had become Dar al-Islam that is the country of Islam.
In this chapter, we shall look at the spread of Islam in West Africa as well as
the effects of Islam. We shall also find out the activities of the Almoravids.
After the Berbers’ Islamisation, the religion spread into the Western Sudan
from the closing decades of the tenth century. First, Islam spread into the
regions West of the Niger Bend (Senegambia, Mali), then into Chad region
and finally into Hausaland.
According to some Arabic sources the first Black ruler to embrace Islam was
the King of Gao who had done so by 1009. The first King of Mali to become a
Muslim was Barmandana, who was reigning by the middle of the eleventh
century. The Kings of Ghana, on the other hand did not embrace Islam until
about the beginning of the twelfth century, after the Almoravid invasions.
In the Chad region, it appears from the Arabic sources that Umme Jilmi, who
became the king of Kanem in 1086, was the first Muslim King. Islam was first
introduced into Hausaland from either Kanem or Air in the twelfth or
thirteenth centuries, but it did not really take root there until during the
second half of the fourteenth Century.
The following are the reasons for the spread Islam in West Africa. By the end
of the fifteenth century, Islam had spread southwards to the fringes of the
forest belt. The nature of Islam as a religion accepting polygamy to some
extent, its tolerance of traditional African religions, its simplicity of doctrine
and mode of worship helped propagators to make converts in Africa. These

43
factors also made Islam easily adaptable to the African communities with
which it came in contact. Again, the Islamization of Africa was paralleled by
the Africanization of Islam.

UNIT FIVE
PEOPLES AND EMPIRES IN SOUTH CENTRAL AFRICA
5.1. The Kingdom of Luba
A chieftaincy flourished in the upper Lualaba valley, around Lake Kisale in
the southeast of modern Zaire. The Lake Kisale region had been continuously
occupied by iron-working farmers since at least the 4 thc. It was particularly
wellsituated for the production of food surpluses. The savannah woodland on
the southern edge of the Zairian forest was a fertile region for the cultivation
of cereal crops with sufficient rainfall. In addition, the woodlands were good
for hunting and the river and lakes for fishing.
The peoples of the Lake Kisale region made maximum use of the available
resources. Over the centuries, they developed the use of nets, harpoons and
dugout canoes. They bought iron and salt from the north, and copper from
the south where it was mined extensively in the region of the modern
Zambia. They became expert craftsmen, especially in metal manufacture.

44
 The Kisalian Grave
By at least 1300 A.D, the peoples of the Lake Kisale region were organized
into a number of prosperous farming and trading chiefdoms: the ancestors of
the modern Luba. But, their prime farming and fishing grounds were strictly
limited. It was possibly competition for increasingly limited resources that led
some village chiefdoms to group together into larger, more centralized
states. Between 1300 and 1400, the Luba east of the Lualaba were
organized into a single centralized kingdom under a dynasty known as
Nkongolo. According to Luba oral tradition, the original Nkongolo came from
the Songye peoples of the north. In the early 1400s, the Nkongolo were
ousted by a new dynasty. According to Luba mythology the founding hero of
this dynasty was a great huntsman called Ilunga Kalala. His father had come
to Lubaland from the Kunda in the north and had married the Nkongolo's
sister.
The Ilunga dynasty strengthened the centralized power of government and
expanded the kingdom west of Lake Kisale. The central court of the kingdom

45
was dominated by the royal dynasty. The king appointed provincial
governors, often from the royal family, to collect tribute from local chiefs and
headmen. The Luba kings had only a very small standing army but this was
backed up by the powerful mystical and religious authority of the king.
Within the court itself, there was great family rivalry for power. Around the
1450s disappointed rivals from within the royal clan moved off to found their
own kingdom among the Lunda to their west.
5.2. The Lunda
The incoming Luba royals justified their position by marrying into the family
of the senior chief. In Lunda oral tradition, this is personified in the person of
Chibunda Ilunga who married the Lunda queen Rweej (or Lueji). The
descendants of this marriage produced a new Lunda dynasty which during
16thc assumed the The Lord of Vipers. In doing so they drew the loosely-
scattered Lunda chiefdoms into a single, centralized and expanding empire.
The main period of growth and power of the Lunda Empire was the 17th &
18th centuries. But the foundations of the state had been laid by 1600.
The Lunda of the 15thc were less densely populated than the Luba. They lived
in a large number of small villages where they practiced farming, fishing,
hunting and trading. Their technology, arts and crafts were less developed
than those of the Luba. The small number of incoming royal Luba was thus
able to bring to the region the metal-working technology. Lunda religious
practices were respected and Lunda chiefs were left in place as the
guardians of local spirits and land owners.
5.3. Peoples of central and southern Angola
Meanwhile among the Mbundu-speaking peoples of modern Angola,
chieftaincy and kingship were already developing along similar religious lines
to those of the Luba and the Lunda. The principal Mbundu-speaking peoples
were the Ndongo, Pende and Libolo. By the 1300s the guardians of their
rainmaking shrines were assuming the positions of chiefs and exacting
tribute for their services. In a number of Ndongo villages, the guardians of
the shrines were also known to possess important metal-working skills. They

46
used the title of Ngola. Whatever their source of power, they used it to weld
the Ndongo chiefdoms together into a single united states. By 1500 there
was a single Ngola a Kiluanje ruling over the Ndongo. Very little is known of
the peoples further south except that by the fifteenth century groups of
Ovimbundu and Ovambo were practicing mixed farming along the southern
slopes of the central Angolan highlands. Further south still in the dry
grasslands bordering modern Namibia, the Herero were developing a mainly
pastoral existence
5.4. The Kingdom of Kongo
One of the most important kingdoms to arise in western central Africa was
Kongo. The origins of the state are to be traced to a group of small
prosperous farming villages just north of Malebo Pool on the lower Zaire
River. On the margins of forest and savannah woodlands soils were fertile
and rainfall plentiful. There were sources of copper, iron and salt within easy
trading distance.
Kongo was established by Bakongo people. Being basically farming people
their religious practices centered on their shrines to the spirits of the land.
The guardians of these shrines were called mani kabunga. By 1400, the
Bakongo villages south of the Zaire River had been loosely united into a
single kingdom with its capital at Mbanza Kongo. The king bore the title
Manikongo. Bakongo arts and crafts were skilled metal-workers, potters and
weavers. By the early 1500s the Manikongo held authority over the region
from the Atlantic in the west to the Kwango River in the east. The indigenous
development of the Kongo kingdom was disrupted after the 1480s by the
arrival of the Portuguese and their increasing demands for a trade in slaves.
5.5. The Great Zimbabwe
The modern republic of Zimbabwe is named after the stone enclosures of
Great Zimbabwe which were abandoned more than five hundred years ago
and now lie in ruins. They were originally built between 1200 and 1450 AD by
Shona of the modern republic. Great Zimbabwe itself was the center or
capital of a large and thriving early Shona state. The word Zimbabwe (plural

47
madzimbabwe) comes from the Shona dzimba dzamabwe, meaning
stone buildings.
What was unusual about Great Zimbabwe was their elaborate development,
first on the hilltop and later, from the early 1300s, in the valley. By 1400 AD,
the stonemasons of Great Zimbabwe had developed their craft to a fine art.
The ten-meter-high great enclosure in the valley shows early Shona
stonemasonry at its finest. The techniques developed here for building walls
to such a height without the use of mortar were unique in the whole of
Africa.
The original stonework on the hilltop may have been intended for defense, or
to impress potential enemies from a far. But it is unlikely that the later
elaborate enclosures of the valley were ever built for defensive purposes.
The main purpose of the Great Zimbabwe enclosures was to emphasize and
enhance the mystery, power and prestige of the king.
The site for this capital was chosen for its valuable position on the
southeastern edge of the Zimbabwe plateau. Cattle were very important to
the early Zimbabwean economy. In addition, there was a plentiful supply of
timber for firewood and building and well-watered fertile soil for cultivation.
But perhaps most important of all for the growth of Great Zimbabwe's power
and wealth was the capital's strategic position for trade.
Standing at the head of the Sabi river valley, it was ideally situated for
exploiting the long-distance trade between goldfields of western plateau and
the Swahili of the Sofala coast. It was Great Zimbabwe that supplied the
Swahili of Kilwa with the gold and ivory that made theirs the richest
coastal city-state between 1300 and 1450.
5.5.1. The Rise of Great Zimbabwe
The state of Great Zimbabwe probably started as a prosperous center for
cattle-keeping and farming peoples. The ownership of cattle led to
considerable divisions between rich and poor. During the 12 thc and 13thc,
much of the LDT between western plateau and coast was diverted to pass
via the Great Zimbabwe capital. Taxation from this trade was a major source

48
of wealth in addition to the tribute paid by local Shona chiefdoms in ivory,
gold and food. With this wealth the rulers of Great Zimbabwe were able to
reward their supporters and feed their dependents and so increase their
power.
The building of elaborate stone enclosures at the capital was extended into
the valley during the 14thc. Within the great enclosure was the main
residence or palace of the king. Here he and his court lived in some luxury,
surrounded by gold and copper ornaments and jeweler and eating off fine
imported plates made in Persia and China. At the same time similar, smaller
madzimbabwe were built over a wide area of the eastern plateau, probably
as centres of provincial government. Great Zimbabwe itself became a major
focus, not only of trade, but also of craft manufacture. Resident craftsmen at
the capital worked gold and copper into fine jewellery and forged imported
iron into a wide range of tools. There is also evidence from throughout the
region of the extensive weaving of cloth from locally-grown cotton. Even so,
wealthy people still imported brightly-cultured Indian cotton from the coast.
5.5.2. The decline of Great Zimbabwe
In about 1450 AD, the site of Great Zimbabwe was abandoned. By then the
cultivation, grazing and timber resources of the region were exhausted. Oral
tradition also refers to a shortage of salt. It has been estimated that in the
early 1400s there were as many as 11 000 people living in or around the city
of Great Zimbabwe. By 1450, the region could no longer support them. At
the same time, the main focus of the region's LDT was shifting northwards
towards the Zambezi valley. This was quickly followed by the rise of the
Mutapa state at the head of the Mazoe valley
5.6. The Torwa State
A close successor to Great Zimbabwe was the Torwa state. Its capital,
Khami, was probably founded by 15thc migrants from Great Zimbabwe. Here
the stonewalling traditions of Great Zimbabwe were further developed and
refined. Hills were terraced and dry stone walls were elaborately decorated
by the layering of carefully-trimmed stones. Besides being the center of the

49
goldfields of the western plateau, the region was particularly healthy for the
grazing of large herds of cattle. This was to provide the basis for the
development of Rozvi state of Changamire in 17thc and 18thc.
5.7. The State of Mutapa
5.7.1. Origin and expansion
According to Shona oral tradition the Mutapa state was founded by
Nyatsimbe Mutota, sent north from Great Zimbabwe to seek out a new
source of salt. This is thought to have occurred in about 1420. Mutota settled
among the northern Shona in the Dande area around the head of the Mazoe
valley. Here was an apparently ideal site for the founding of an alternative
state to that of Great Zimbabwe. It had fertile soil, good rainfall and plenty of
woodland for building. In addition the Mazoe valley gave access to the
Zambezi and the Swahili trading stations of Sena and Tete which were
established at about this time. The Swahili were probably originally tempted
to penetrate the lower Zambezi by the wealth of copper and ivory coming
down the valley from the inland trading town of Ingombe Hebe.
Mutota and his son and successor Matope quickly took advantage of their
favorable trading position. Using a small but powerful army they established
control over the northern Shona of the region. Mutota and his successors
took the title Munhumutapa (or Mwene Mutapa) meaning 'Conqueror' or
'Master-pillager', which can be taken as some sign of their relationship with
their subject people. Ingombe Ilede went into premature decline, unable to
compete, and in the 1450s Mutapa took over from Great Zimbabwe as the
principal Shona state of the interior plateau. By the end of the reign of
Matope in the 1480s the Munhumutapa's tribute demands extended
eastwards into the coastal lowlands to include the states of Uteve, Barwe
and Manyika.
There were a number of important differences between the Mutapa state and
that of its predecessor, Great Zimbabwe. The rulers of Mutapa came in as
outsiders and used an army to maintain control over their subject peoples.
This ensured that local village headmen paid them regular tribute. The

50
northern Shona did not have a stone building tradition and the
Munhumutapa's Zimbabwe of pole and clay houses was enclosed by a
wooden palisade. Unlike the rulers of Great Zimbabwe, who imported their
gold from the west, the rulers of Mutapa had their own supply of gold ready
to hand. Peasant farmers of the gold-bearing regions were expected to
provide a certain amount of regular labor, mining gold for the king. Most of
the gold was used in foreign trade with the coast.
5.7.2. The Mutapa State and the Portuguese
When the Portuguese arrived in the western Indian Ocean they tried seizing
control of the Swahili trade in gold by building fortresses at Sofala and
Mozambique. But by then the export of Zimbabwean gold had switched from
the Sabi valley and Sofala to the Mazoe valley and the Zambezi. And from
there the Swahili deliberately evaded Portuguese control by diverting their
trade to their own coastal port of Angoche. The Portuguese responded by
sending a small army up the Zambezi in the 1530s and seizing the Swahili
trading posts of Sena and Tete. From there they established direct trading
contact with the Munhumutapa's court and diverted the Zambezi valley trade
to their own fortress town of Mozambique.
Initially, the Portuguese were prepared to pay tribute to the Munhumutapa
for permission to trade within his territory. But, frustrated by the small
amount of gold they could legally buy, they determined to gain personal
control over the Munhumutapa and operate the gold mines themselves. After
an unsuccessful attempt to convert the Munhumutapa to Christianity, the
Portuguese launched an all-out invasion in 1571. However, the Portuguese
were defeated by drought, disease and determined resistance from the local
Tonga of the valley. Another invasion in 1574 managed to force the ruler of
Uteve to agree to pay tribute to the Portuguese at Sofala. But, the Mutapa
state remained beyond Portuguese control and ended the century still the
dominant independent state of the eastern plateau.
5.7. Cattle-keeping peoples south of the Limpopo

51
South of the Limpopo River, there was a general expansion of cattle-keeping
as woodland was cleared and more upland grassland was brought into
regular use. Cattle often provided the material basis of chieftaincy. Certain
clans wealthy in cattle established ruling lineages (or dynasties) over large
numbers of dependents. The spiritual power of chieftaincy was based upon
the chief's links with the ancestors. In practical terms the claim chieftaincy
was often assessed in terms of his rainmaking powers.
The origins of the ancestral chiefly lineages of the modern Sotho-Tswana of
the southern African Highveld can be traced to about this time. The evidence
of their settlements is shown in the large number of stonewalled enclosures
and stone house-foundations that have been found across the Highveld north
and south of the Vaal. Some of these house foundations bear striking
resemblance to the architecture of southern Tswana houses observed by
European travellers in the early 1800s.
In the dry Highveld grassland northwest of the Vaal, the early Batswana
lineages evolved fairly large chiefdoms based on central towns of several
thousand people. Their concentrations of population were probably related to
limited sources of water. When they became too large or were torn by
succession disputes, chiefdoms split and subdivided. Wealthy rivals led their
supporters and dependents away to found new chiefdoms.
Southeast of the Drakensberg, rainfall was greater and the environment
more varied. Within any one small area people had a wide range of hill and
valley grazing, woodland and land for cultivation. As a result, chiefdoms
could be smaller and settlements more self-contained. Here the ancestors of
the modern Nguni-speaking peoples founded a wide range of small
chiefdoms stretching from the Kei to the Pongolo. Nguni is the name given to
a southern sub-group of the Bantu language family. There is no such thing as
the Nguni language or the Nguni people as such. It is merely a convenient
modern term used by linguists and historians to refer to the linguistically-
related peoples of the southwestern low-veld. In this way, they can be
distinguished from the Sotho-Tswana of the Highveld. These chiefdoms

52
were often little more than groups of several extended family homesteads
under the leadership of the senior clan head. Here too when population grew
and disputes over leadership emerged, chiefdoms split and rivals moved off
to found new settlements. As with the Sotho-Tswana of the Highveld, though
they were farmers, metalworkers, craftsmen and traders, the main source of
their material wealth was their large herds of cattle. This point was clearly
noted by a Portuguese sailor who was shipwrecked off the southeast coast in
1593. He travelled safely through the region all the way from the Mbashe
River to Delagoa Bay.
During the process of expansion, the Khoisan-speaking hunter-gatherers and
pastoralists were gradually absorbed. The presence of the characteristic
Khoisan click sounds in the southern Nguni and southern Sotho languages is
evidence of this process. In the drier southwestern part of the continent,
Khoisan communities retained their distinctive languages and cultures. But
even here they did not develop in isolation. They traded with Bantu-speaking
farmers, selling them sheep, cattle and hunting produce in exchange for
copper, iron, dagga and tobacco. Khoikhoi clans of sheep and cattle
pastoralists prospered in particular in the winter-rainfall grasslands of the
extreme southwestern Cape. And it was this source of meat which first
attracted European shipping to the region.

53
 UNIT SIX
Women and Political Power in Pre-Colonial Africa to 1500
In pre-colonial Africa, relations between women and men were varied, changing, and culturally
specific, yet there were some common themes. Most African societies attempted to attain forms
of heterarchy, which meant they often created several centers of authority and aspired to
establish communities where gender relations between women and men were equitable.
Additionally, throughout history most Africans determined status by the amount of labor a group
or individual could control, and in a historically under populated continent, this meant that
motherhood and giving birth to children was very important. The result is that women, as both
biological and social mothers and as grandmothers, were highly respected throughout the history
of the continent.
The earliest ancestors of modern humans originated in Africa, and so the history of women
starts earlier in Africa than anywhere else, probably around 200,000 BCE. Anthropologists of
early humanity have proposed that the most successful human families in the earliest eras were
based on family units that situated grandmothers at the center, a family structure found in many
parts of Africa in the early 21stc around.
Around 5,500 years ago, a small group of Bantu-speaking people migrated from West Africa
and over time populated large portions of Africa below the Sahara Desert. Heterarchy and gender
equity were features of most Bantu-speaking societies. Their worldviews were manifested in the
matrilineal social structure that most Bantu societies preferred until recent history. Even the
earliest empires in Africa, Nubia and Egypt, were organized matrilineally. The West African
Sahel empires from 700 CE were also matrilineal, and there is a long history of Muslim African
female rulers. However, with the creation of empires and more centralized societies, hierarchy
among some societies replaced heterarchy. This change motivated a shift in gender relations:

54
Women from elite lineages maintained their status, while other women tended to lose their
traditional positions of authority as mothers and elders within their clans.
Overall, the Atlantic slave trade severely challenged heterarchical social relations and threatened
women’s authority and status in West Africa. Another element of this period is the transference
of African gender relations to the Americas. During the 19 thc, as Europeans arrived in greater
numbers, they imposed new gender ideologies as they began to structure how the rest of the
world viewed Africans.
From the so-called White Man’s Burden to Social Darwinism, new definitions of the placed
African women at the bottom of this new social order. While women played key roles in the long
term history of Africa, the Western analysis of African gender dynamics began to inform
colonial policies, dominate world opinion, and shape academic research.
Europeans began arriving in Africa in the 15th, most frequently settling in coastal enclaves while
they pursued trade in goods such as ivory and gold, as well as in slaves. Although some areas
came under European influence from those early years, it was not until the late 19 thc that the
European nations of Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Portugal met in a famous
conference in Berlin in 1884–1885 and divided areas of influence among themselves. The years
of most intense colonialism then followed, with increased warfare when the Europeans
attempted, and in most areas succeeded, in enforcing their own political control over African
communities.
Africans resisted these incursions from the beginning, and the first nationalist movements arose
in the early 20thc, culminating in successful transfers to independent status for most African
nations in the 1950s and early 1960s. Women were involved in these activities in a variety of
ways. Studies of women’s work during the colonial period often show that they lost power and
economic autonomy with the arrival of cash crops and women’s exclusion from the global
marketplace. Even further, men and international commerce benefited because they were able to
rely to some extent on women’s unremunerated labor. The dynamic varied from place to place.
In some areas, the introduction of cash crops led to changes in women’s agricultural work and in
men’s and women’s control over land. In other areas, women typically continued their work
growing food for their family’s consumption while men earned wages by working on tea and
cotton plantations or, in central and southern Africa, by going to work in gold, diamond, and
copper mines.

55
 Some women moved to the newly developing urban communities in search of new
opportunities, though the majority remained in the rural areas. Analysis of the development of
legal systems under colonialism suggests that women were at a disadvantage, as “customary”
laws were established based on male testimony that gave men, especially elite men, advantages
over women in issues of marriage and divorce. Women’s pre-colonial political activity was
generally disregarded by the colonial authorities, who turned exclusively to men when they
established local political offices. In many parts of West Africa, women were members of
associations run by and for women, which gave women the final say in disputes over markets or
agriculture. The colonial agents, nearly always men, ignored that reality.
Female Warriors Who Led African Empires and Armies
Long before and during European colonization of Africa, ancient kingdoms and empires thrived
for centuries on the continent. Some were headed by women, including female warriors who led
armies against invading European powers to defend their people from conquest and enslavement.
Even though Black women have been at the forefront of impressive exploits in combat, their
stories are often overlooked. The following African female warrior queens and all-female armies
are among those who fought for freedom from colonial occupation.
A. Queen Amanirenas, c. 40 B.C.
Queen Amanirenas ruled the Kingdom of Kush from 40 B.C. to 10 B.C., in the Nubian region,
now modern-day Sudan. When Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar, conquered neighboring
Egypt in 30 B.C. with plans to next invade Kush, Amanirenas launched a surprise attack on the
Romans.
Leading an army of 30,000 from the frontlines, Amanirenas successfully captured three Roman-
ruled cities. But it wasn’t long before Rome retaliated, invading Kush, destroying the Kingdom’s
capital and selling thousands into slavery. After years of bitter fighting and significant casualties
on both sides, negotiations to end the war began in 24 B.C., culminating in a peace treaty five
years after the fighting first began.
Although the hostilities ended in a stalemate, Queen Amanirenas, unlike many of her
neighbors, was victorious in resisting conquest by Rome, never ceding large swaths of territory
or paying taxes to the empire. Amanirenas is remembered throughout the Nile Valley and
beyond as the Nubian queen who conquered the Romans.

56
 Prepare term paper
1. Africa as the cradle of Human beings
2. Introduction and expansion of Islam in Africa
3. Egyptian civilization
4. Africa and the outside world in pre-colonial period
5. Christianity in Pre-conical Africa

57