AP World History - Ch.18 - States & Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa

00:44:53
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw_teuiX7nM

Summary

TLDRThis chapter explores the historical development of states and societies in sub-Saharan Africa from the 1st millennium BCE to 1500 CE. It examines the impact of the Bantu migrations, which spread agriculture and ironworking skills across the continent. As iron metallurgy spread, so did the cultivation of new crops like bananas, leading to significant population growth. The chapter highlights how these changes led to the rise of complex forms of government and various kingdoms controlling regional trade. The spread of Islam through trade routes significantly influenced the region’s cultural and religious landscape, with Islam often complementing rather than replacing traditional African religions. Key states such as Ghana, Mali, and the Swahili city-states became major trade centers for gold, ivory, and slaves, thus integrating Africa more closely with Eurasian trade networks. Additionally, it emphasizes the structure of African societies, marked by kinship and gender roles, decentralized village networks, and the growth of Islamic and Christian religious practices blended with local traditions.

Takeaways

  • 🌍 Bantu migrations spread agriculture and iron across Africa.
  • 🕌 Islam influenced African societies significantly through trade.
  • 🌱 Banana cultivation led to increased population growth.
  • 🏛️ Various states emerged based on control of trade routes.
  • 📜 Historians now recognize pre-European African history more fully.
  • 📈 Trade in gold, ivory, and slaves drove economic growth.
  • 🔄 African societies blended Islam with traditional religions.
  • 👬 Kinship and gender played central roles in social structures.
  • ⛓️ Slavery evolved into a commoditized trade network.
  • 🗿 Significant architectural developments occurred during this period.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The Bantu migrations led to the spread of agriculture and iron metallurgy across Sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in population growth and the emergence of complex governments. Islam was introduced, supplementing traditional beliefs, and trade networks involving gold, ivory, and slaves flourished, with major kingdoms like Congo, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Mali becoming influential.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Historians have revised views on African history, acknowledging the continent's pre-European trade and cultural achievements. Agriculture, iron production, and trade were more interconnected globally than previously thought. The introduction of bananas from Southeast Asia boosted population growth significantly as they adapted well to the African environment.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The successful adaptation of bananas in Africa due to suitable climate conditions led to substantial population increase. Stateless societies with kin-based structures were common, resolving disputes ad hoc. As populations grew, competition and conflicts arose, leading to the development of small chiefdoms and kingdoms, indicating evolving governance structures.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    In the Congo region, Bantu societies developed centralized trade networks. The arrival of Islam via trans-Saharan caravans and maritime trade influenced African kingdoms. Arabian camels were crucial for Sahara crossings, boosting trade networks. The Ghana Kingdom thrived as an African gold trade center, innovating in trade with regions as far as Eurasia.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    The Ghana Kingdom centered its economy on gold, alongside ivory and slaves, interacting with North African traders. Islam was partially integrated with local traditions, and rulers like Sundiata of Mali expanded empires through trade networks without enforcing religious conversion. Mali became a hub of wealth and Islamic culture under leaders like Mansa Musa.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Eastern coast city-states like Swahili thrived on Indian Ocean trade, adopting coral and stone in architecture, importing goods like Chinese silk. Kilwa exemplified the transition from fishing to agriculture and trade, symbolizing the integration of local economies into global networks. Zimbabwe's growth further illustrated trade's central role in societal development.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Islamic influence spread, harmonizing with local customs. Societies were structured around ruling elites and kin-based groups. Slavery persisted, with a surge in the trade of slaves due to demand. This period saw internal conflicts and a shift towards a market-based slave trade system. Religious practices involved male creator deities and ancestor worship.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:44:53

    Ethiopian Christianity diverged under isolation, with unique practices like amulet use and strong spiritual beliefs. The chapter highlights the evolutionary governance, complex trade relationships, societal roles, diverse religious practices, and external cultural influences in Africa, emphasizing the continent's dynamic history before modern interventions.

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Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What was the Bantu migration?

    The Bantu migration was the gradual spread of Bantu-speaking peoples across sub-Saharan Africa, starting around 2000 BCE and ending around the 1st millennium CE, spreading agriculture and iron metallurgy.

  • How did Islam spread into sub-Saharan Africa?

    Islam spread into sub-Saharan Africa through the trans-Saharan trade routes and maritime trade along the East African coast, significantly impacting the region by the 8th century.

  • Why is agriculture significant in African history?

    Agriculture, including the cultivation of bananas, led to population growth and the development of more complex societies in Africa.

  • What role did trade play in sub-Saharan Africa's development?

    Trade, especially in gold, ivory, and slaves, was crucial for the emergence of powerful states, facilitating cross-cultural interactions and economic prosperity.

  • What is the significance of the kingdom of Ghana in African history?

    It was a major center of African gold trade and played a significant role in West Africa's Islamic states formation through strategic trading practices.

  • Who was Mansa Musa?

    Mansa Musa was the grand-nephew of Sundiata who ruled the Mali Empire from 1312-1337, known for his pilgrimage to Mecca and significant influence on the Islamic world.

  • What are the Swahili city-states?

    The Swahili city-states were prosperous trade hubs along the East African coast, engaging in extensive maritime trade from the 11th century.

  • What is the kingdom of Kongo?

    The Kingdom of Kongo was a centralized Bantu kingdom in Central Africa, known for its active participation in trade networks and unique currency system.

  • What were the roles of gender and kinship in African societies?

    Kinship and gender played central roles in societal organization, with men often engaging in skilled labor while women had expanded roles beyond agriculture.

  • How did African traditional religions coexist with Islam and Christianity?

    African traditional religions often blended with Islam and Christianity, with local beliefs and practices such as ancestor worship and magic being retained.

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  • 00:00:00
    what we do here just go back back back
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    [Music]
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    hello and welcome to mr. Toyama xapi
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    world history this is chapter 18 states
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    and societies of sub-saharan Africa
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    first up agricultural and herding spread
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    gradually throughout sub-saharan Africa
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    from about 2000 BCE until the end of the
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    1st millennium CE II through a process
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    known as the Bantu migrations after
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    about 500 BCE the knowledge of iron
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    metallurgy also was disseminating
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    throughout Africa as a result of these
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    movements of the introduction of new
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    nutritious foods such as bananas and of
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    long-distance trade the population of
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    Africa grew dramatically and
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    increasingly complex forms of government
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    began to emerge most sub-saharan African
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    cultures work in based and organized
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    into relatively small villages that were
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    loosely applied in two districts
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    governed by a chief occasionally larger
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    and more structured kingdoms and empires
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    appeared these larger states generally
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    consolidated their position through
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    controlling long distance trade in their
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    regions in general the history of
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    sub-saharan Africa from 1000 to 1500 C
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    II is noted for the following number one
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    the introduction and widespread
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    dissemination of the Islamic religion in
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    many cases the belief in Islam
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    supplemented rather than supplanted
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    traditional religious practices in
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    subsidy sub-saharan societies became
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    important centers of worship and
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    learning in the Islamic world a regular
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    and reliable flow of trade goods gold
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    ivory and slaves being the most
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    important exports these trade networks
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    both overland particularly notable was a
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    transparent camel caravan routes and
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    maritime where East African city-states
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    became important stops in the Indian
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    Ocean see ways and finally the emergence
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    and growth of states that became highly
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    influential in the cross-cultural
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    interactions of this period the states
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    of Congo Zimbabwe Ghana and Mali and the
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    song Healy city-states became trade and
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    religious centers whose fortunes were
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    clearly tied into those of Eurasia so
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    we're first going to talk about some big
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    ideas
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    number one is trade this chapter kind of
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    highlights some things that historians
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    have been talking about for a little bit
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    that we didn't really understand a ton
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    about the history of Africa during this
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    period for a very long time
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    many Europeans as they were writing
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    their history wanted to almost whitewash
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    if it were the history of Africa by
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    saying that most of Africa could not
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    have created its own culture or its own
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    history without the help of Europeans
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    and this is kind of changed over the
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    last number of years because historians
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    have been able to unearth pre-european
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    interaction with African cultures and
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    are now now starting to see more and
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    more African centered or African started
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    ideas trade networks and processes that
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    we weren't aware of before and so one of
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    the big things again is gold ivory
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    enslaves agriculture and iron production
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    is huge and it's more interconnected
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    than the world and we previously thought
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    before we thought Africa was doing its
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    own thing and in a number of rears
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    recently we've kind of noticed that
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    Africa probably was interacting with
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    Europe and Asia more readily than we
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    previously thought kin groups are big
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    and Islam is a big part of Africa during
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    this period so the effects of the early
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    African migration Andrew speaking people
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    settle south of the Equator around 1,000
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    c/e these are some of the people that
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    kind of are we don't have a ton of
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    information about them but we do know
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    that they settled probably south of the
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    Equator they started with agriculture
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    start of civilizations herding spreads
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    within the Bantu migrations and they
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    practice iron metallurgy they get axes
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    hoes and aids aids uh this like weird
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    kind of tongue kind of thing that you
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    use to dig in the ground it's kind of
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    like a hoe but it looks more like a
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    spiky kind of thing cultivation of
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    bananas domestication in Southeast Asia
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    so we know that in Africa there was a
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    big shift in our understanding when we
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    started to figure out the cultivation of
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    bananas as it traveled from Southeast
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    Asia to Africa originally melee soldiers
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    or Indonesian sold excuse me sailors
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    colonized madagascar the small island to
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    the south-east of the continent of
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    africa around 300 to 500 seee they
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    introduced bananas yams and chickens
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    couple things number one chickens are a
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    really good source of protein they don't
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    require a lot of food most chicken
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    scavenge their own food they can eat
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    leftover grains the bugs from the ground
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    they can be grown relatively quickly
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    they also provide other sources of
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    protein in the form of eggs and you can
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    get a lot of them going very easily for
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    a supplement to your diet yams yams are
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    very calorie rich and they grow
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    underground
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    they can be stored just like potatoes
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    could in North America and in similar
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    ways they provide a lot of calories and
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    a lot of nutrition and finally bananas
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    bananas are specifically very important
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    because of their introduction of the
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    ability to grow abundantly well outside
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    of its original habitat one of the
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    things about the way we study history is
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    looking at how trade affects the goods
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    and the people but also how does the
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    supplanting or changing of where those
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    original Goods started affect the
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    regions that those areas those items
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    move to a perfect example of this that
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    many of you would understand is cocaine
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    cocaine as a drug is originally in the
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    coca leaf and many of the villagers
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    around the areas where cocaine comes
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    from and is naturally grown used the
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    coca leaves as kind of like chewing kind
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    of tobacco kind of thing they would grab
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    it grind up some leaves stuffing in
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    their cheeks and just kind of chew on
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    that leaf all day but as people start to
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    experiment with chemistry and they start
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    to learn more and more about
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    synthesizing and purifying the raw like
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    good and drug that's inside of that leaf
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    people made it into a powder form and
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    then the introduction of pure cocaine
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    into the Americas and into the larger
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    the world at large now has created a
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    drug problem for many people and drug
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    epidemics around the world
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    well bananas are kind of like that in
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    the sense that in Indonesia bananas grow
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    fairly well but they grow exceptionally
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    well in Africa where the they are well
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    adapted to the African climate it's hot
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    they also can grow very quickly
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    bananas basically are their own little
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    seed pods you can take a banana throw it
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    in the ground let it be a read for a
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    while water a banana tree will pop up
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    the heat the humidity from Africa itself
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    will allow the banana tree to grow
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    quickly
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    it grows lots of bananas on bushels
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    those bushels can be used to feed people
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    and this supplements their caloric
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    intake and food supply increases with
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    this key prop and like we've talked
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    about before when calorie counts
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    increase so does population growth
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    around 400 BCE we see we only have about
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    two to three million peoples within
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    Africa and about the Year Zero or right
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    about approaching 11 million but after
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    the introduction of the crop of bananas
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    around 800 C we're at 17 and by 1,000 C
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    the time we're talking about we're at 22
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    million people with living within the
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    area of Africa
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    shinbei society stateless segmented
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    societies they didn't believe in having
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    a large formed government it was
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    segmented meaning that there were
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    sectioned off areas even though people
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    were living close by there were no
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    elaborate hierarchies or bureaucracies
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    the average population of the village
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    was only about 100 it was ruled by
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    elders or the oldest people living
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    within that group these network of
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    villages resolve disputes in an ad hoc
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    manner ad hoc just means kind of going
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    by the situation ad hoc sometimes means
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    that the dispute would be solved in a
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    traditional fashion sometimes a dispute
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    would be solved in an irrational fashion
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    sometimes a dispute with viewers not
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    really get resolved so it just depends
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    on how the people at the time wanted to
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    deal with this situation this reminds me
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    a lot of what we talked about with the
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    Mongols
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    and this kind of brings us back to the
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    point of comparing and contrasting
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    societies the traditions and encounters
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    textbook does a really good job of
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    matching up chapters of peoples that
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    kind of have similar structures to their
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    society similar outcomes and similar
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    outlooks on their world and as we look
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    at what their kin based society it looks
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    like in Africa we can compare this to
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    the Eurasian Central Asian Plains the
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    we talked about in the last chapter the
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    higher government authorities were rare
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    during this time leading to back to this
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    whole kin based society chiefdoms
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    population pressures the growth of
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    people after 1000 see increased
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    competition and disputes people are
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    competing over land more people means
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    just more conflict in general small
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    chiefdoms appear an over well
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    kin based groups as these chieftains
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    appear these kinder based groups kind of
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    break up the traditional family and
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    extended family structures that we had
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    during the time before 1000 CE II these
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    small kingdoms formed during this time
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    based around a chief or a great leader
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    the kingdom of if and Benning here are
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    the kingdom's empires and city-states of
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    sub-saharan Africa from 800 to 1500 C II
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    you can see in the purple we have the
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    trans-saharan trade routes which you're
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    going to talk about the maritime trade
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    routes of Eastern Africa so we're going
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    to talk about we have the Mali Empire
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    overlapping in areas where the songhay
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    will spread out the kingdom of Ghana in
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    the red we're gonna talk about all those
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    in just a second so first we have the
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    kingdom of Kongo the basin of the Congo
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    or Zaire River it was a conglomeration
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    or gathering together of several village
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    alliances they participated actively in
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    trade networks most centralized rule of
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    early Banta Bantu kingdoms what happened
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    is during this time these bantu kingdoms
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    that we talked about that weren't really
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    a well-structured well organized kind of
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    group kind of moved together to kind of
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    organize themselves in a way that found
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    commonalities in terms of trade networks
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    their royal currencies were called or
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    calories and/or seashells that they got
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    from the Indian Ocean now if you think
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    about where I'm talking the Congo River
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    in the village of the year we have on
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    the western coast so we now know that
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    when we look at these royal currency
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    that these calorie seashells come from
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    the Indian Ocean we know that there was
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    large-scale transcontinental migrate
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    trade networks that were set up early on
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    even in this kingdom of Kongo they ruled
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    from the 14th to the 17th century until
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    undermined by Portuguese slave traders
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    which we'll talk about in a later
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    chapter
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    the Islamic Kingdom and empires Islam
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    spreads to West Africa originally
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    through trans-saharan caravans and
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    coastal East Africa through maritime
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    trade they have a profound influence
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    after the eighth century if you think
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    about where a map is situated between
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    where Mecca would be situated where
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    Mohammed starts his proselytizing and
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    pronouncement of Islam and then you
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    think about the spread of Islam through
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    its empires you start to see that
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    there's only a few ways that Islam can
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    spread into Africa number one it can
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    travel through the Islamic sailors that
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    are traveling up and down the coast of
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    East Africa through the maritime trade
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    and then you can also see that this
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    trans-saharan Caravan these caravans led
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    by camels and again Mohammed was a
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    trader by my profession he was very big
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    into making money through trade this
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    transparent Caravan is only accessible
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    through the use of camels which mainly
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    come from the Middle East
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    using camels to cross the Sahara Desert
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    that kind of goes across the entirety of
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    North Africa you can only really make it
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    through that desert with the caravans
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    through the process of using an animal
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    that doesn't take up a lot of water that
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    can carry a very heavy load and this is
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    how Islam spread throughout Africa the
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    trans-saharan trade in Islamic states in
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    West Africa we just talked about how
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    there was a desiccation or a desert off'
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    occasion of sahara begins around 5000
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    BCE and then there's an introduction of
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    Arabian camels which revolutionizes the
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    trade it takes only about 70 to 90 days
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    to cross the Sahara not terribly long
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    for this time but it was able to reach a
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    new market for the goods that were
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    coming in to Africa Arabs established
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    trading communities specifically in Gao
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    next we have the kingdom of Ghana it's
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    not related to the modern state of ganda
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    but developed the 4th to 5th century CE
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    II
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    protection against camel driving Raiders
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    now if you were one of the peoples that
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    were trading across the Sahara you would
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    think of having
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    a good amount of money with you going
  • 00:13:14
    back and forth well if you are an
  • 00:13:16
    enterprising thief
  • 00:13:17
    you could also raid and wait in the
  • 00:13:21
    Sahara and just attack the caravans that
  • 00:13:24
    travel through the Sarah it becomes
  • 00:13:27
    apparent to the kingdom of God that they
  • 00:13:29
    need to come together to protect
  • 00:13:31
    themselves against these camel driving
  • 00:13:33
    Raiders and it becomes the center of
  • 00:13:35
    African gold train they imported from
  • 00:13:37
    South to Ghana and also sold ivory
  • 00:13:40
    slaves exchanged horses cloth and salt
  • 00:13:44
    so this most of the gold deposits in
  • 00:13:50
    Africa really come from the south if
  • 00:13:53
    you're one of the traders that is
  • 00:13:55
    looking to find gold you're gonna have
  • 00:13:57
    to travel very far across pretty much
  • 00:13:58
    the whole of Africa well the people of
  • 00:14:00
    Ghana figure out that their main way of
  • 00:14:03
    making money would be to get the gold
  • 00:14:06
    from the south to the kingdom of Ghana
  • 00:14:08
    and then once the camel traders come you
  • 00:14:12
    can trade them the African gold for
  • 00:14:13
    their goods they also sold ivory which
  • 00:14:16
    is made of the bones or the tusks of
  • 00:14:19
    like rhinos and elephants
  • 00:14:21
    it's a highly prized as a good for
  • 00:14:24
    making different kind of like handles
  • 00:14:27
    for knives and boxes it's just a very
  • 00:14:30
    fancy kind of good today
  • 00:14:33
    ivory trade is a very big problem in
  • 00:14:36
    those places because of the need to kill
  • 00:14:41
    some of the world's most endangered
  • 00:14:43
    species specifically rhinoceros and
  • 00:14:45
    elephants slaves also are traded the
  • 00:14:49
    people have gone out were not the first
  • 00:14:51
    people to be trading slaves this goes
  • 00:14:54
    back to even far to the Greeks and the
  • 00:14:56
    Romans that we talked about they had
  • 00:14:57
    slaves and so the use however of slaves
  • 00:15:02
    being sold for the purpose of Commerce
  • 00:15:04
    is a very new introduction to Africa
  • 00:15:08
    during this time people had used slaves
  • 00:15:10
    before this in terms of war as we had
  • 00:15:13
    seen with other cultures you attack a
  • 00:15:15
    village or a town or a group of people
  • 00:15:17
    they you don't kill all the people they
  • 00:15:20
    then become your slaves but then the
  • 00:15:23
    kingdom of Ghana starts to sell slaves
  • 00:15:24
    during this time
  • 00:15:25
    they did exchange horses which is again
  • 00:15:30
    a very profitable part of the caravan
  • 00:15:34
    they're able to move lots of good goods
  • 00:15:36
    they move quickly for warfare as well
  • 00:15:38
    cloth is another thing in salt salt is
  • 00:15:41
    highly prized good in commodity for
  • 00:15:43
    preserving meat for flavoring food our
  • 00:15:47
    bodies naturally need salt to function
  • 00:15:50
    to function and yeah
  • 00:15:53
    salt becomes one of the things that's
  • 00:15:55
    traded in the kingdom of Ghana next we
  • 00:15:58
    get como saleh the capital of the
  • 00:16:00
    kingdom of ghana principal training
  • 00:16:01
    center high point is in the 9th to 12th
  • 00:16:03
    century population about 15,000 to
  • 00:16:05
    20,000 much larger than those original
  • 00:16:07
    villages we talked about before and it
  • 00:16:09
    was a military and cultural center so
  • 00:16:11
    here is a map of africa and then here is
  • 00:16:15
    the area we're talking about and then
  • 00:16:17
    here is gonna be saleh right there where
  • 00:16:21
    that red box just fell so just to kind
  • 00:16:23
    of give you an understanding if you look
  • 00:16:24
    at these lines you can see some of the
  • 00:16:26
    trade network routes that kind of
  • 00:16:27
    crisscross across the sahara and kombu
  • 00:16:32
    combee salad a becomes one of the main
  • 00:16:36
    military and cultural centers for the
  • 00:16:39
    kingdom of ghana islam in West Africa
  • 00:16:42
    Kings have gone and convert in the 10th
  • 00:16:43
    century as a positive impact on trade
  • 00:16:45
    and relations with North Africa if you
  • 00:16:47
    think about it the more in line you are
  • 00:16:49
    with the people you're trading the more
  • 00:16:50
    likely you are to get a fair deal the
  • 00:16:52
    more likely you are to get along and not
  • 00:16:53
    compete also less fighting less rating
  • 00:16:57
    in general they synthesized Islam with
  • 00:16:59
    local traditions practicing magic and
  • 00:17:01
    wooden idols in Islam Muhammad was very
  • 00:17:04
    much against magic in the sense that you
  • 00:17:07
    were bending a laws will and the will of
  • 00:17:10
    what Allah has set up for the world to
  • 00:17:14
    your will and especially with Islam
  • 00:17:16
    being about submission to what Allah
  • 00:17:18
    wants practicing magic almost is an
  • 00:17:20
    affront to God because you're saying
  • 00:17:22
    that you know what's best for the world
  • 00:17:25
    and so by practicing magic you are
  • 00:17:27
    trying to go around the will of Allah
  • 00:17:30
    like for example if your kid was sick
  • 00:17:33
    and you practice magic to trying to
  • 00:17:36
    divine or get
  • 00:17:37
    a positive outcome where your kid is no
  • 00:17:41
    longer sick
  • 00:17:41
    you are almost resisting some of the
  • 00:17:44
    will that Allah has while we might beg
  • 00:17:47
    that Allah heals your kid it is
  • 00:17:50
    absolutely unacceptable with an Islam to
  • 00:17:53
    try to use magic to create a favorable
  • 00:17:56
    outcome outside of praying to Allah for
  • 00:17:59
    deliverance from the illness also they
  • 00:18:02
    said they used wooden idols all if you
  • 00:18:05
    remember back to my stories of Muhammad
  • 00:18:07
    he when taking over Mecca goes into the
  • 00:18:11
    Kaaba and he destroys all the idols
  • 00:18:12
    within the Kaaba and this is his belief
  • 00:18:18
    that the destruction of these idols will
  • 00:18:20
    lead the people to only worship Allah as
  • 00:18:22
    he is the only true God and that there
  • 00:18:24
    should be no graven images of other gods
  • 00:18:26
    but within is in what Islam in West
  • 00:18:29
    Africa you have people that are not
  • 00:18:31
    willing to completely give up every
  • 00:18:34
    little bit of what they were practicing
  • 00:18:37
    before in religion and instead are
  • 00:18:39
    willing to kind of blend together Islam
  • 00:18:42
    with some of their tribal traditions in
  • 00:18:46
    nearby at ecru
  • 00:18:47
    there's aggressive missionaries to Islam
  • 00:18:50
    these aggressive missionaries basically
  • 00:18:53
    were very violence-prone to try and
  • 00:18:56
    convince people to convert to Islam
  • 00:19:00
    Sundiata the lion prince who rules from
  • 00:19:03
    12:30 to 12:55 as the Empire of Mali
  • 00:19:06
    extends over the kingdom of Ghana they
  • 00:19:09
    do this through the process of cavalry
  • 00:19:11
    we talked about this with the Mongols
  • 00:19:13
    chapter quick hits guerrillas hostile
  • 00:19:15
    warfare faints the neighboring kingdoms
  • 00:19:18
    as well or conquered by Sundiata the
  • 00:19:19
    lion Prince took greater advantage of
  • 00:19:22
    the trans-saharan trade network
  • 00:19:23
    nominally he was a Muslim but didn't
  • 00:19:25
    force conversion as a ruler you have
  • 00:19:27
    some decisions that you can make you can
  • 00:19:29
    choose to make all of your subjects
  • 00:19:30
    follow your faith to the letter and be
  • 00:19:33
    very brutal in their practice or non
  • 00:19:36
    practice of your faith or you could be a
  • 00:19:41
    for this example with Sundiata Muslim
  • 00:19:44
    but not force the conversion over the
  • 00:19:46
    people you rule for some practical
  • 00:19:48
    purposes mostly to prevent
  • 00:19:51
    if your people feel like their religion
  • 00:19:53
    is important to them it can inspire some
  • 00:19:56
    people within your kingdom that you're
  • 00:19:58
    ruling to fight back against your rule
  • 00:20:00
    because you aren't practicing the right
  • 00:20:02
    version of what the god or gods want you
  • 00:20:06
    to do so by not forcing conversions
  • 00:20:08
    you're really gaining a lot of favor by
  • 00:20:10
    the people that you're ruling then we
  • 00:20:14
    get Mansa Musa who rules from 13 12 to
  • 00:20:16
    13 37 he was the grand nephew of
  • 00:20:18
    Sundiata he was a very fervent Muslim he
  • 00:20:21
    performed the Hajj in 13 24 through 13
  • 00:20:24
    earth 1325 when he returned he did some
  • 00:20:28
    gold distribution spreading out gold to
  • 00:20:30
    his subjects now this teaches us a
  • 00:20:31
    couple things number one that the Hajj
  • 00:20:33
    was able to be completed by somebody
  • 00:20:35
    from West Africa relatively easily in
  • 00:20:39
    only about a year or two to get to Mecca
  • 00:20:42
    and to return as a king in West Africa
  • 00:20:46
    so we know that the trans-saharan trade
  • 00:20:48
    network was very efficient and moved
  • 00:20:50
    people as well as goods along that
  • 00:20:52
    transit network very efficiently we also
  • 00:20:54
    know that this gold distribution means
  • 00:20:56
    that the ruler Mansa Musa has access to
  • 00:21:00
    large reserves of gold
  • 00:21:01
    Gold is a valuable commodity to this
  • 00:21:03
    community and that these people can now
  • 00:21:06
    use it for trade in the larger sphere of
  • 00:21:09
    these trade networks we've been talking
  • 00:21:10
    about he constructed numerous mosques
  • 00:21:12
    supported Muslim scholars and the Empire
  • 00:21:15
    declines
  • 00:21:16
    soon after his rule Indian Ocean trade
  • 00:21:20
    in Islamic states in East Africa now
  • 00:21:21
    moving to the east side east coast
  • 00:21:23
    maritime trade with week until the
  • 00:21:24
    second century the Bantu people's
  • 00:21:26
    populate the coasts the Swahili or
  • 00:21:28
    Coasters is what it means in Arabic
  • 00:21:31
    engage in trade with the Arabs the
  • 00:21:34
    language forms as a kind of mix between
  • 00:21:37
    Bantu influenced by Arabic and so you
  • 00:21:41
    can see that early interactions in the
  • 00:21:44
    10th century with excuse me with in the
  • 00:21:47
    second century increases through their
  • 00:21:51
    interaction with Arabs and Islam the
  • 00:21:55
    trade increases in the 10th century
  • 00:22:00
    so while Healy city states great wealth
  • 00:22:03
    why basically because of the trade
  • 00:22:06
    networks the 11 to 12 century ce e
  • 00:22:08
    there's development of city-states just
  • 00:22:10
    like that in Greece but not based on the
  • 00:22:12
    models of democracy but similar in the
  • 00:22:14
    form that these cities whereas large
  • 00:22:15
    estates interacted with the world
  • 00:22:17
    independently while still being a part
  • 00:22:20
    of larger networks of trade architecture
  • 00:22:22
    moved from wood / mud to coral and stone
  • 00:22:26
    they were able to harvest coral from the
  • 00:22:28
    ocean and we're building monumental
  • 00:22:31
    architecture during this time what we
  • 00:22:32
    find very interesting is that Chinese
  • 00:22:34
    silk and porcelain is also imported
  • 00:22:36
    imported to the eastern coast of Africa
  • 00:22:39
    meaning that the maritime trade routes
  • 00:22:41
    were also working very efficiently
  • 00:22:43
    during this time here is a Knox
  • 00:22:46
    sculpture from that time period you can
  • 00:22:48
    see it moved away from the clay and mud
  • 00:22:51
    and more into the stone structure of
  • 00:22:54
    what we've been talking about kilwa was
  • 00:22:58
    a city-state on the east african coast
  • 00:23:00
    it had fishing some limited trades from
  • 00:23:02
    800 to 1000 CE they then turned to
  • 00:23:04
    agriculture and increased trade in
  • 00:23:06
    pottery and stone where it would become
  • 00:23:09
    in became a major training center by the
  • 00:23:11
    14th century gill was an example of how
  • 00:23:13
    agriculture and trade radically
  • 00:23:16
    transforms an area of the globe
  • 00:23:17
    specifically in East Africa exporting
  • 00:23:20
    over a ton of gold per year by the 15th
  • 00:23:23
    century CE so as this city-state grows
  • 00:23:27
    it from and shifts its focus from
  • 00:23:30
    fishing and limited trade to being a one
  • 00:23:33
    of agriculture and being a trade good in
  • 00:23:36
    terms of pottery in stone where we see
  • 00:23:38
    that they're able to increase their
  • 00:23:39
    wealth and value all the way to the 15th
  • 00:23:43
    century then we get to Zimbabwe which
  • 00:23:47
    stands for the dwelling of the chief
  • 00:23:49
    there's a stone complex called Great
  • 00:23:51
    Zimbabwe built in the early 13th century
  • 00:23:53
    seee and it was used as its capital the
  • 00:23:55
    picture is there in the background his
  • 00:23:57
    population was 18,000 in the late 15th
  • 00:24:00
    century and it was one of the largest
  • 00:24:02
    kingdoms for its time managed trade
  • 00:24:04
    between internal and coastal regions
  • 00:24:06
    very impressive feat for a group of
  • 00:24:11
    people who many European said
  • 00:24:13
    could not have done all this work or all
  • 00:24:15
    these organizing principles for the
  • 00:24:17
    trade networks and agriculture and
  • 00:24:18
    monumental architecture as they believed
  • 00:24:22
    so from my class you guys are going to
  • 00:24:25
    be writing a paper and it says who
  • 00:24:27
    writes history and why is it written as
  • 00:24:29
    it is to page minimum type double
  • 00:24:31
    12-point font Times New Roman one-inch
  • 00:24:33
    margins typical MLA format you're going
  • 00:24:36
    to be watching this video I'll be
  • 00:24:38
    showing it in class you can also find
  • 00:24:39
    out in YouTube ancient Africa a history
  • 00:24:41
    tonight we're gonna be watching it it's
  • 00:24:43
    51 minutes yeah go ahead and check in
  • 00:24:47
    with me and I'll tell you when that one
  • 00:24:48
    is - islam in east africa ruling elites
  • 00:24:52
    in east africa accept islam without
  • 00:24:54
    forcing general population to convert
  • 00:24:57
    again back to that principle of keeping
  • 00:25:00
    the peace often retain pagan religious
  • 00:25:02
    traditions and practices islam serves as
  • 00:25:04
    the social glue within other merchants
  • 00:25:07
    and states it opened doors to alliances
  • 00:25:08
    and trade if your islamic or i must
  • 00:25:11
    accuse me if you're a muslim you don't
  • 00:25:14
    really see any problem in believing in
  • 00:25:17
    the brotherhood of all peoples under
  • 00:25:18
    allah and this allows this glue of
  • 00:25:22
    religion to kind of make people see the
  • 00:25:25
    world in a similar way allowing people
  • 00:25:28
    to form alliances based on trust of
  • 00:25:30
    religion and trade networks you're
  • 00:25:32
    trading things that people really want
  • 00:25:35
    your training goods that you could see
  • 00:25:39
    people needing you're not trading goods
  • 00:25:41
    that are haraam or forbidden by islam
  • 00:25:44
    specifically like pork or pigs and you
  • 00:25:47
    really are able to observe things like
  • 00:25:49
    holidays and practices like five times a
  • 00:25:53
    day prayer and you also understand a lot
  • 00:25:56
    of the same a worldview and you also
  • 00:25:59
    sort of speak the same language in
  • 00:26:00
    arabic and so this makes things a lot
  • 00:26:02
    easier in terms of relationships between
  • 00:26:04
    traders during this time Arabian society
  • 00:26:09
    and cultural development some kingdoms
  • 00:26:11
    empires city-states with well-defined
  • 00:26:13
    classes there were ruling elites there
  • 00:26:17
    was a merchant class peasant class
  • 00:26:19
    sounds a lot like feudalism that we
  • 00:26:22
    talked about before in other areas in
  • 00:26:24
    sub-saharan Africa continue to use
  • 00:26:26
    traditional kin
  • 00:26:27
    based groups so some groups were this
  • 00:26:31
    way some groups are that way other
  • 00:26:33
    groups were another way but yeah it just
  • 00:26:36
    depended on which group you were looking
  • 00:26:38
    at similar again to some of the problems
  • 00:26:40
    that we saw when we looked at the
  • 00:26:41
    Eurasian central plains that as the
  • 00:26:46
    Mongols and that those groups living
  • 00:26:48
    there kind of spread out they adopted
  • 00:26:50
    different ways of ruling different ways
  • 00:26:52
    of organizing their society based on the
  • 00:26:54
    needs of their people in chip groups
  • 00:26:58
    extended families clans there was an
  • 00:27:01
    idea of private property less prevalent
  • 00:27:03
    they didn't really completely have the
  • 00:27:06
    idea that the land was your land but
  • 00:27:09
    they did kind of understand that there
  • 00:27:10
    was like set aside land for like the
  • 00:27:13
    king or for the people but they didn't
  • 00:27:15
    see it as like you could own the land
  • 00:27:16
    the land was held communally so the land
  • 00:27:20
    for farming was held for all of the
  • 00:27:22
    community and then the harvest was
  • 00:27:25
    distributed by elders so these kinship
  • 00:27:27
    groups were seen as almost a form of
  • 00:27:31
    proto communism proto socialism the land
  • 00:27:35
    was not owned by one person it was not
  • 00:27:38
    seen as something that could be taken
  • 00:27:42
    from one person and given to another
  • 00:27:43
    person but they believed that the land
  • 00:27:45
    was to be used by all people for the
  • 00:27:47
    good of all people within the community
  • 00:27:49
    these harvest being distributed by the
  • 00:27:50
    elders would be distributed based on the
  • 00:27:53
    needs of the individuals that came to
  • 00:27:55
    collect the food so if you had a family
  • 00:27:58
    of four you would get a certain amount
  • 00:28:00
    of food but you would get probably less
  • 00:28:01
    than the family of eight for example and
  • 00:28:04
    the elders would use their wisdom and
  • 00:28:06
    judgment to kind of distribute the food
  • 00:28:07
    as well and as evenly as they could sex
  • 00:28:10
    and gender relations men work with
  • 00:28:12
    specialized skills canning like leather
  • 00:28:14
    and iron work and also heavy labor they
  • 00:28:18
    guarded their secrets to trade
  • 00:28:20
    hereditary so if you were a tanning or a
  • 00:28:22
    leather worker you probably would not
  • 00:28:24
    have learned it from anyone other than
  • 00:28:26
    maybe your grandfather your uncle or
  • 00:28:28
    your this is to protect the kind of hold
  • 00:28:34
    you as a family would have over the
  • 00:28:36
    secrets of making that good
  • 00:28:39
    if there is a lot of people doing the
  • 00:28:42
    same trade within a small area the value
  • 00:28:45
    of that trade goes down but if you hold
  • 00:28:47
    on to that secrets of the trade through
  • 00:28:49
    hereditary succession you're able to
  • 00:28:51
    make lots of money because not a lot of
  • 00:28:52
    people know how to do the thing that you
  • 00:28:54
    know how to do really well both sexes
  • 00:28:56
    however work in agriculture male rule is
  • 00:28:59
    more common but there were expanded
  • 00:29:01
    roles for women
  • 00:29:02
    merchants some military activity for
  • 00:29:07
    them but there was a lot of honor as
  • 00:29:09
    life-giver specifically women would be
  • 00:29:10
    praised for bringing about people and
  • 00:29:16
    there were thing of people women are
  • 00:29:20
    uniquely designed or uniquely suited or
  • 00:29:24
    uniquely evolved for that purpose and
  • 00:29:27
    one of the amazing things that this
  • 00:29:30
    culture did was they were able to kind
  • 00:29:32
    of see that without women they would not
  • 00:29:35
    have any men so women almost are like
  • 00:29:38
    the first step if kind of comes back to
  • 00:29:41
    the if men are so great where do they
  • 00:29:43
    all come from women is it a chicken or
  • 00:29:45
    egg thing or egg chicken thing it's a
  • 00:29:47
    lot of norms slow to penetrate African
  • 00:29:50
    society age grades from during the
  • 00:29:54
    agricultural period in the Sudan there
  • 00:29:57
    are peer groups of a single age cohort a
  • 00:29:59
    cohort is a group of people that share a
  • 00:30:03
    similar goal or similar thing that
  • 00:30:05
    they're trying to do together it crossed
  • 00:30:08
    lines of family and kinship and these
  • 00:30:10
    peer groups were used for a number
  • 00:30:12
    different things
  • 00:30:13
    excuse me specifically for the creation
  • 00:30:17
    and of trade goods and also for the work
  • 00:30:23
    in agriculture they also would be
  • 00:30:24
    organized for different activities
  • 00:30:28
    within the community as well slavery
  • 00:30:31
    again slavery was practice since ancient
  • 00:30:33
    times go all the way back to the first
  • 00:30:35
    eight chapters of our book most slaves
  • 00:30:37
    were captives of war
  • 00:30:38
    some were debt slaves so let's say you
  • 00:30:42
    owed me 20 bucks in this example you
  • 00:30:44
    could be my slave for like three weeks
  • 00:30:46
    and that would pay off your $20 dead but
  • 00:30:49
    it usually wouldn't happen for a small
  • 00:30:51
    amount of money it was probably
  • 00:30:52
    thousands and millions of whatever the
  • 00:30:56
    currency would be worth and people could
  • 00:30:58
    sell themselves in slavery to pay off
  • 00:30:59
    that debt rather than try and pay back
  • 00:31:02
    through loans or a non guarantee that I
  • 00:31:06
    would ever get repaid we also put into
  • 00:31:10
    slavery suspected witches at this time
  • 00:31:12
    they didn't really have the religious
  • 00:31:14
    prohibition from Christianity that talks
  • 00:31:19
    about not suffering a witch to live and
  • 00:31:21
    stoning them to death but they did not
  • 00:31:24
    really like witches so what they did is
  • 00:31:27
    they kind of made them slaves believing
  • 00:31:30
    that kind of harnessing their freedom
  • 00:31:34
    would allow them to be kind of
  • 00:31:36
    controlled and to protect the community
  • 00:31:37
    as a whole and of course criminals were
  • 00:31:40
    used as slaves he was principally an
  • 00:31:42
    agricultural labor that back-breaking
  • 00:31:43
    picking up harvesting planting kind of
  • 00:31:47
    work and slaves are a form of personal
  • 00:31:50
    wealth and social status this starts to
  • 00:31:52
    kind of pervade Africa during this time
  • 00:31:55
    more slaves you have meaning the less
  • 00:31:57
    work you have to do but you receives the
  • 00:32:00
    benefits and rewards of having slaves do
  • 00:32:02
    the work for you this also provides the
  • 00:32:05
    growth and wealth which provides a
  • 00:32:07
    growth and social status within the
  • 00:32:08
    community and the cycle just kind of
  • 00:32:11
    keeps on going on slave trading
  • 00:32:13
    increased trans-saharan and Indian Ocean
  • 00:32:16
    trade stimulates slave trade in the
  • 00:32:18
    ninth century CE II Africa replaces
  • 00:32:21
    Eastern Europe as principal source of
  • 00:32:22
    slaves originally in Eastern Europe was
  • 00:32:26
    where most of the slaves came from think
  • 00:32:28
    back to some of the kind of barbaric
  • 00:32:32
    cultures that we talked about under the
  • 00:32:33
    Romans this moves down to Africa as just
  • 00:32:38
    kind of the quantity becomes available
  • 00:32:43
    as a result of these trans-saharan trade
  • 00:32:44
    networks
  • 00:32:46
    it creates internal African slave trade
  • 00:32:48
    more powerful States or groups of people
  • 00:32:50
    attack smaller kinship based groups at
  • 00:32:54
    its high point 10,000 to 20,000 slaves
  • 00:32:57
    per year during this phase of slave
  • 00:32:59
    trading this is before transatlantic
  • 00:33:01
    slave trade are you our sold per year
  • 00:33:05
    now the monetization of slavery is a
  • 00:33:08
    very big shift in history during this
  • 00:33:11
    time before like I talked about we
  • 00:33:13
    basically had slavery based on a number
  • 00:33:15
    of social problems that needed to be
  • 00:33:18
    solved you owe me money you need to pay
  • 00:33:21
    me back you don't have a good job or a
  • 00:33:22
    way to pay me back you have to be my
  • 00:33:24
    slave
  • 00:33:24
    however slave trade in the 9th century
  • 00:33:27
    shift to a value of creating currency or
  • 00:33:32
    a almost trade market for people as the
  • 00:33:40
    demand for labor goes up using slaves
  • 00:33:43
    and capturing slaves and trading slaves
  • 00:33:45
    becomes its own industry something in
  • 00:33:48
    the same way that a iron worker creates
  • 00:33:51
    some iron good or a Tanner creates some
  • 00:33:53
    leather good aged slave trader now
  • 00:33:56
    becomes a merchant of slaves and creates
  • 00:33:58
    a commodity or ain't good in the form of
  • 00:34:02
    goods not a good isn't positive for this
  • 00:34:06
    culture and this creates a desire and
  • 00:34:10
    demand for more and more slaves which is
  • 00:34:12
    going to become a very large negative
  • 00:34:14
    impact as we look at Africa going
  • 00:34:18
    forward here is an Arabian Swahili slave
  • 00:34:21
    trade interestingly enough this is a
  • 00:34:23
    photograph not a painting of slave
  • 00:34:26
    trading meaning that all the way into I
  • 00:34:30
    want to say that this is it says 2000
  • 00:34:33
    from the copyright but I'm positive this
  • 00:34:36
    is not from that time even into the 19th
  • 00:34:40
    and 20th centuries we still had slavery
  • 00:34:43
    in Africa of people being chained
  • 00:34:46
    together and sold as laborers to this
  • 00:34:49
    day they're still slaves that are sold
  • 00:34:53
    on black markets around the world and
  • 00:34:54
    people are traded like a commodity the
  • 00:34:59
    Zanjeer revolt this is a slave revolt
  • 00:35:02
    slaves from Swahili coast exported to
  • 00:35:03
    work in Mesopotamia sugar cane
  • 00:35:06
    plantations sugar cane is back-breaking
  • 00:35:07
    work it's very tedious it's very painful
  • 00:35:09
    you can die a lot of times it sugar cane
  • 00:35:13
    is very weird in that it has very weird
  • 00:35:16
    leaves that can cut your
  • 00:35:17
    and you have to use a machete and just
  • 00:35:19
    like labor all day in the hot Sun also
  • 00:35:24
    they were used for scraping out salt
  • 00:35:28
    deposits you basically use salt from the
  • 00:35:32
    ocean and you scrape at the salt until
  • 00:35:35
    it basically becomes table salt and you
  • 00:35:38
    use it for preserving meat or seasoning
  • 00:35:41
    food or you basically go into salt mines
  • 00:35:44
    and dig it out of the ground and work in
  • 00:35:47
    very dangerous conditions where the mine
  • 00:35:49
    could like collapse and you would die
  • 00:35:51
    and so they worked in these very painful
  • 00:35:54
    and very labor intensive industries in
  • 00:35:57
    Mesopotamia around 869 seee slave Ali
  • 00:36:01
    bin Muhammad mounts a revolt of fifteen
  • 00:36:03
    thousand slaves they actually capture
  • 00:36:05
    Basra and it's later crushed by the
  • 00:36:08
    Ambassador
  • 00:36:09
    I'd like you to think back to what other
  • 00:36:11
    slave revolts that we've talked about
  • 00:36:13
    ended in a very negative way as well if
  • 00:36:17
    you were thinking of the Spartacus
  • 00:36:19
    slaver pool then you'd be right next we
  • 00:36:23
    get African religion great diversity of
  • 00:36:25
    religious beliefs it's it's enumerable
  • 00:36:28
    the number of religions that we could
  • 00:36:30
    probably start to talk about in what
  • 00:36:32
    people believe pre introduction of
  • 00:36:34
    monotheistic religions from the Middle
  • 00:36:37
    East there was a common element however
  • 00:36:39
    that there was a single male creator God
  • 00:36:42
    lesser deities were associated with
  • 00:36:44
    natural phenomenon like wind or
  • 00:36:46
    hurricanes or thunderstorms or whatever
  • 00:36:49
    and they believed in ancestor worship
  • 00:36:52
    they had diviners they had religious
  • 00:36:55
    specialists who are principally men and
  • 00:36:57
    these diviners could do a number of
  • 00:36:59
    things they were oracle reading they
  • 00:37:01
    could take chicken bones and roll them
  • 00:37:03
    on the ground and depending on how these
  • 00:37:05
    chicken bones when you say these magic
  • 00:37:07
    words and they fall could create some
  • 00:37:12
    messages for what the people were
  • 00:37:14
    supposed to do next or what the future
  • 00:37:16
    holds they could cast spells on people
  • 00:37:18
    where they would maybe kill a chicken
  • 00:37:21
    and take the blood say some magic words
  • 00:37:23
    and curse somebody or they could use the
  • 00:37:26
    spells to heal people they also had a
  • 00:37:29
    number of other rituals
  • 00:37:32
    either helped or hurt or they believed
  • 00:37:35
    helped or hurt people in the real world
  • 00:37:37
    there was a limited emphasis on theology
  • 00:37:40
    or the study of God it was just kind of
  • 00:37:42
    assumed there's a God up there he's
  • 00:37:44
    doing stuff and we can kind of get him
  • 00:37:46
    to be happy if we do certain rituals or
  • 00:37:49
    we interact with him in certain ways
  • 00:37:52
    like throwing those chicken bones or he
  • 00:37:55
    really doesn't care about it so they
  • 00:37:56
    didn't really focus that much on the
  • 00:37:58
    study of God which is what theology
  • 00:38:00
    means morality and the balance of nature
  • 00:38:03
    was important there were good and bad
  • 00:38:05
    actions that people needed to follow
  • 00:38:07
    there was a positive and a negative
  • 00:38:09
    event and the outcome of which people
  • 00:38:12
    needed to be aware of and make sure that
  • 00:38:15
    they didn't harm one another or steal
  • 00:38:17
    from one another or do anything negative
  • 00:38:20
    to one another there was also a balance
  • 00:38:22
    to nature that they believed that for
  • 00:38:24
    cutting down trees you need to plant
  • 00:38:26
    trees for every time you kill an animal
  • 00:38:27
    you need to say a blessing for killing
  • 00:38:29
    that animal believing that there was a
  • 00:38:32
    kind of tit for tat or yin and yang or
  • 00:38:35
    balance style to everything within
  • 00:38:38
    nature early Christianity in North
  • 00:38:41
    Africa in the first century it's popular
  • 00:38:43
    in Egypt and North Africa it's initially
  • 00:38:46
    weak in sub-saharan Africa because of
  • 00:38:48
    the non introduction of camels the
  • 00:38:50
    Christian kingdom of Aksum in the 4th
  • 00:38:52
    century CE II is around the area of
  • 00:38:56
    Ethiopia if you are a Catholic or a
  • 00:39:01
    Protestant you probably are familiar
  • 00:39:03
    with the story of in the book of Acts
  • 00:39:06
    where one of the Apostles after being
  • 00:39:10
    given the great commission by Jesus to
  • 00:39:12
    go out and tell everybody about the good
  • 00:39:13
    news of what Jesus has come to do is
  • 00:39:17
    kind of on the road one day and he comes
  • 00:39:21
    across an Ethiopian eunuch and this
  • 00:39:23
    Ethiopian eunuch is seen as the founder
  • 00:39:25
    of Christianity in Ethiopia as he brings
  • 00:39:27
    back the message of Jesus to Africa
  • 00:39:29
    these merchants and kings then convert
  • 00:39:32
    back into the 4th century now the Bible
  • 00:39:35
    is translated into Ethiopian something
  • 00:39:37
    that was very rare for the time during
  • 00:39:39
    this time Christianity was heavily
  • 00:39:41
    regulated by the people so we said
  • 00:39:43
    the Western and Eastern Orthodox Church
  • 00:39:46
    they believe that the Bible was the
  • 00:39:49
    words of God but not to the extent that
  • 00:39:52
    Islam would believe that Arabic was the
  • 00:39:55
    only true version of God's Word in any
  • 00:39:58
    translation would be a summary of what
  • 00:40:02
    God was talking about but during this
  • 00:40:04
    time this translation into the dialect
  • 00:40:06
    of the people is something that is very
  • 00:40:09
    rare for the world the people of
  • 00:40:11
    Ethiopia could actually understand what
  • 00:40:14
    the Bible had in it and also some of the
  • 00:40:17
    things that Jesus said from the original
  • 00:40:21
    text but in its own language it was
  • 00:40:24
    isolated during the Islamic period and
  • 00:40:25
    there was a Renaissance during 12th
  • 00:40:27
    century CE II and then they have massive
  • 00:40:29
    churches carved out of solid rock what
  • 00:40:32
    they would actually do is find a rock
  • 00:40:34
    somewhere on a hillside and then they
  • 00:40:35
    would have people slowly carved into the
  • 00:40:38
    rock and they would carve down into the
  • 00:40:41
    rock creating these like hits that could
  • 00:40:43
    be a number of stories deep and within
  • 00:40:46
    that pit would be a tower with windows
  • 00:40:48
    and elaborate porticos and all these
  • 00:40:51
    different doorways that people could go
  • 00:40:55
    into and these solid rock churches to
  • 00:40:58
    this day are still used by many within
  • 00:41:01
    North Africa for worship in Christian
  • 00:41:04
    practice Ethiopian Christianity
  • 00:41:08
    isolation from other Christian areas
  • 00:41:10
    until the 16th century so it kind of
  • 00:41:12
    develops independently it has a strong
  • 00:41:15
    African influence a connection to the
  • 00:41:18
    spirit world and amulets so as we've
  • 00:41:22
    talked about in the past with
  • 00:41:23
    Christianity there's a lot of back and
  • 00:41:25
    forth between the people in Rome and the
  • 00:41:27
    people in Constantinople and the people
  • 00:41:29
    in Russia and the people in Alexandria
  • 00:41:32
    Egypt who are debating what it means to
  • 00:41:34
    be a Christian debating what it means to
  • 00:41:37
    follow Jesus to practice the sacraments
  • 00:41:40
    to how you're supposed to just do
  • 00:41:43
    Christianity well because the Ethiopian
  • 00:41:45
    Christianity is all the way in Africa
  • 00:41:47
    and most of the Europeans are kind of
  • 00:41:48
    obsessed with themselves
  • 00:41:50
    Christianity kind of develops in
  • 00:41:52
    Ethiopia in a very unique way it becomes
  • 00:41:56
    very
  • 00:41:57
    African in its form of religion focuses
  • 00:42:00
    heavily on a spirit world or a spiritual
  • 00:42:02
    world this is not a heaven but more
  • 00:42:05
    understanding that the world has spirits
  • 00:42:08
    to it and that the when we die we will
  • 00:42:13
    go to a spirit world or we are all
  • 00:42:16
    spirits within the world they also
  • 00:42:18
    believe in amulets or protector symbols
  • 00:42:20
    that you wear on your body think of like
  • 00:42:23
    how some people wear crosses or crucifix
  • 00:42:26
    on their body on a necklace they as
  • 00:42:30
    Catholics who wear crucifix don't
  • 00:42:32
    believe necessarily that that crucifix
  • 00:42:34
    will protect them from bad things like
  • 00:42:36
    getting hit by a bus but amulets however
  • 00:42:38
    are little crosses or little symbols
  • 00:42:41
    that people were on their body that are
  • 00:42:43
    supposedly supposed to keep evil spirits
  • 00:42:44
    away supposed to keep negative things
  • 00:42:48
    from happening to you as you have them
  • 00:42:51
    near you so we made it all the way
  • 00:42:54
    through Africa when you finish studying
  • 00:42:55
    this chapter you should be able to do
  • 00:42:56
    the following number one explain the
  • 00:42:58
    connections between agriculture and
  • 00:42:59
    population growth in Paul's classical
  • 00:43:01
    sub-saharan Africa there's only a couple
  • 00:43:02
    things that happened and we talked about
  • 00:43:05
    how as calories increase population goes
  • 00:43:08
    up identify key features a post
  • 00:43:10
    classical African political organization
  • 00:43:11
    there are some organizing principles you
  • 00:43:14
    can cling on to even though it's kind of
  • 00:43:16
    a mishmash number three I explained the
  • 00:43:19
    links between trans-saharan trade in the
  • 00:43:20
    formation of West African Islamic states
  • 00:43:22
    that one's pretty easy number for
  • 00:43:24
    explain the roles East African Islamic
  • 00:43:27
    states in the Indian Ocean trade also
  • 00:43:28
    easy number five outlined the formation
  • 00:43:31
    of social classes in post classical
  • 00:43:33
    Africa whole slide on that one six
  • 00:43:35
    identify key features of post classical
  • 00:43:37
    African religion just talked about that
  • 00:43:38
    and number seven discuss the arrival of
  • 00:43:40
    Christianity and Islam in sub-saharan
  • 00:43:42
    Africa and here's your writing
  • 00:43:45
    assignment write a short response about
  • 00:43:46
    a census to the following question
  • 00:43:48
    specifically prayer discussing in class
  • 00:43:50
    everyone why do you think we have so few
  • 00:43:52
    names who associate with sub-saharan
  • 00:43:54
    African history in this period
  • 00:43:55
    interesting huh that we only talked
  • 00:43:57
    about really two people and we kind of
  • 00:43:58
    talked in a general sense about
  • 00:44:00
    everything else how did the nature of
  • 00:44:02
    the societies contribute to this
  • 00:44:04
    phenomenon how did their cultural
  • 00:44:06
    traditions contribute
  • 00:44:07
    interesting number two listen explain at
  • 00:44:10
    least five reasons why Islam became such
  • 00:44:11
    a prevalent religion in sub-saharan
  • 00:44:14
    Africa in this period use examples to
  • 00:44:15
    justify each point there's a number of
  • 00:44:17
    those in the book number three comparing
  • 00:44:19
    contrast the development of the Swahili
  • 00:44:20
    city-states with West African empires in
  • 00:44:22
    the years from the 11th to the 15th
  • 00:44:23
    century ooh that's so good once you know
  • 00:44:26
    that you're going to be able to knock
  • 00:44:27
    this out of the park as always it has
  • 00:44:29
    been great talking to you it is time to
  • 00:44:31
    bust open that book make sure you do
  • 00:44:33
    those writing assignments I'm sure those
  • 00:44:35
    will help you out I'll understand this
  • 00:44:37
    chapter a lot better I'll see you a bit
  • 00:44:39
    later thanks bye what we do here just go
  • 00:44:44
    back back back
  • 00:44:47
    [Music]
Tags
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Bantu Migrations
  • Islamic Influence
  • Trade Networks
  • African Kingdoms
  • Population Growth
  • Iron Metallurgy
  • Banana Cultivation
  • Slavery
  • Traditional Religions