African+Civilizations+and+the+Spread+of+Islam



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001: Chapter 8: African Civilizations and the Spread of Islam: __Notes on Stateless Societies, Songhay Kingdom, Congo Society, and Swahili Coast:__

 * **Stateless societies: Though stateless societies lacked a central government, the people of these societies were bound together by a set of customs, beliefs, and kinships.**
 * organized around kinship/ other kinds forms of obligation and lacking the concentration of political power and authority
 * larger and more extensive than neighboring states
 * forms of government
 * authority exercised by ruler and his court by a council of families or community
 * no need to tax the population
 * little concentration of authority
 * had small role in the lives of the governed
 * In west African forest:
 * secret societies of men and women
 * controlled customs and beliefs and were able to limit authority of rulers
 * provided cut along lineage divisions
 * settled village disputes
 * maintained stability w/in community and served as alternative to authority of state institutions
 * many stateless societies thrived in Africa, possibly due to:
 * internal social pressures/ disputes that could be resolved by allowing dissidents to leave and establish a new village in the sparsely populated continent
 * formation of states in sub-Saharan Africa resulted from:
 * difficulty to resist external pressures
 * mobilizing for warfare
 * organized large building projects
 * creating continuous long distance trade with other peoples
 * **Bantu: provided linguistic base throughout most of Africa**
 * allowed distinct African cultures to communicate with another
 * **Songhay Kingdom: Emerging as Mali influence began to decline, the Songhay empire established itself through the spread of Islamic religion and laws.**
 * emerged as Mali influence began to decline
 * dominated middle areas of Niger valley
 * consisted of:
 * "masters of the soil"
 * herders
 * farmers
 * "master of the waters"
 * fishers
 * began in 7th century as independent kingdom under Berber dynasty
 * 1010 - formation of capital at Gao on Niger River
 * rulers became Muslims, majority of population were pagan
 * Gao became large city with resident foreign merchant community and multiple mosques
 * Were ruled by Mali for a short period
 * 1370s --> Songhay established independence and thrived off new sources of gold from the west African forests
 * **Sunni Ali (1464- 1492)** - forged the Songhay empire
 * great tactical leader and ruthless leader
 * expanded borders and captured trading cities of Timbuktu and Jenne
 * middle Niger valley fell under his control
 * developed system of provincial administration to mobilize recruits for the army and rule far-flung conquests
 * despite being a Muslim, Ali met any challenges, even those from Muslim scholars, persecuting them
 * succeeded by a line of Muslim rulers who took the military title : **askia**
 * Muhammad the Great:
 * extended boundaries of the empire so that by the mid-16th century Songhay dominated central Sudan
 * Fusion of Islamic and pagan traditions persisted
 * Muslim clerics and jurists were sometimes upset by pagan beliefs that remained in pop., and local interpretation of Islamic law
 * wanted to impose strict interpretation of Islamic law
 * were appauled at the diversity of men and women(genders) in marketplaces and the unveilling of women in public
 * Songhay remained dominant power in region until end of 16th century:
 * 1591 - a Muslim army from Morocco, with with muskets
 * invaded Sahara and defeated large forces of Songhay
 * sign of weakness triggered internal revolts against the ruling family and eventually the parts of the old empire broke away.
 * Fall of Songhay did NOT signify the end of political and cultural tradition in western Sudan
 * other states that combined with Muslim and pagan traditions rose among the Hausa people of northern Nigeria
 * based on Kano and Katsina
 * Kano took control in 14th century
 * turned city into center of Muslim learning
 * in Kano and other Hausa cities of religion:
 * an urbanized royal court in a fortified capital ruled over animistic villages
 * trade in salt, grains, cloth were preserved through powerful cavalry forces
 * Beyond Sudan:
 * Muslim penetrations came in many forms:
 * merchants became established in most major trading cities
 * networks of trade were widely established over the region
 * Muslim traders, herders, warriors, religious leaders became important minorities in segmented African societies
 * Muslim law spread
 * by 18th century, Muslim minorities were scattered widely throughout west Africa
 * **Congo Society: The Kingdom of Kongo began in the 13th century and prospered by the 15th century, with its evident distinctions between gender, dependence on kinships, and gold.**
 * began in 13th century
 * flourished by late 15th century, the kingdom of Kongo was:
 * situated on the lower Congo River
 * its people developed skills of:
 * Agricultural:
 * weaving
 * pottery
 * blacksmithing
 * Artisan:
 * wood-working
 * copper
 * iron
 * acute division of labor b/t men and women
 * Men:
 * took responsibility of clearing forest and scrub
 * producing palm oil and wine
 * building houses
 * hunting
 * long distance trade
 * Women:
 * cultivation in all its aspects
 * tended to domestic animals
 * household duties
 * On seacoast:
 * women:
 * made salt from saltwater
 * collected shells that served as currency in Kongo kingdom
 * population was distributed in small family based villages and in towns
 * Mbanza Kongo = area around capital
 * had population of 60,000 - 100,000 by early 16th century
 * kingship of Kongo was:
 * hereditary
 * local chieftainships were not
 * gave central power to control subordinated
 * Kongo kingdom was like a confederation of smaller states brought under control of **manikongo/** king
 * 15th century:
 * kingship was divided into 8 major provinces
 * **mani** = "blackmith" representation of the importance of iron and the art of working in its association with political power
 * **Great Zimbabwe:**
 * stone houses
 * housed local rulers and subchiefs
 * center of kingdom and had a religious importance
 * associated with bird of God
 * an eagle that served as a link b/t the world and the spirits
 * by 15th century:
 * centralized state ruled from Great Zimbabwe
 * controlled large portion of the interior of Southeast Africa to Indian Ocean
 * under a king who took title **Mwene Mutapa**
 * kingdom experienced short period of rapid expansion in the late 15th and 16th centuries
 * dominance over sources of gold led to advantages in commerce
 * developed with Arab port of Sofala on the coast
 * 16th century:
 * internal divisions and rebellion split Great Zimbabwe kingdom apart
 * emphasis on cattle as a symbol of wealth led to soil exhaustion
 * control of gold fields continued to provide source of power and trade
 * **Swahili Coast: Islamic influence along the Swahili coast provided commerce and expansion, and urging of Muslim converts.**
 * established along the Indian Ocean coast, extending from the horn of Africa to Mozambique, and was a string of Islamicized trading cities that developed on contacts with trading partners from Arabia, Persia, India, and China
 * from 1st- 10th century:
 * wave of Bantu immigration reached eastern-African interior
 * Bantu-speaking herders in the north and farmers in the south mixed with older populations in the region
 * contact with Indian Ocean dated back to at least 2nd century B.C.E.
 * Indonesia/ Malaya, seaborne immigrants settled on Madagascar
 * introduced bananas, coconuts
 * by 8th-9th century:
 * visitors from Oman and Persian Gulf established themselves in some villages
 * attracted possibility of trade with land of the **Zenj, or East African coast**
 * 13th century:
 * string of urbanized east African trading ports developed along the coast
 * shared common Bantu-based and Arabic-influenced Swahili languages
 * Towns that eventually contained mosques, tombs, palaces of cut stone and coral:
 * Mogadishu
 * Mombasa
 * Kilwa
 * Pate
 * Zanzibar
 * ivory, gold, iron, slaves, and exotic animals were exported from these ports for silks from Persia, porcelain from China for ruling Muslim families
 * **Kilwa**
 * controlled southern port of Sofala
 * had access to gold produced in the interior
 * location was farthest point south at which ships from India could hope to sail
 * 13th century was period of great Islamic expansion
 * faith spread eastward to India and Indonesia
 * provided a religious bond of trust that facilitated trade throughout ports of Indian Ocean
 * Ruling families in east African trading ports:
 * built mosques and palaces
 * Mosque at Mogadishu was built in 1231
 * claimed to be descendants of immigrants from Shiraz in Persia
 * used to legitimize positions and orthodoxy
 * actually emigrated from Somali coast and towns further south
 * Swahili:
 * essentially a Bantu language
 * contained large number of Arabic words
 * written in Arabic script before 13th century
 * ruling families could also speak in Arabictheir language and culture along coast of East Africa
 * Swahili culture was a dynamic hybrid
 * people spread
 * Islam had very little influence on:
 * hunters, pastoralists, farmers
 * in towns, the mud and thatch houses of non-Muslim common peoples surrounded the stone and coral buildings of Muslim elite
 * Islamization was, in a way, class based
 * culture continued to fused Islamic and traditional elements
 * family lineage:
 * traced through maternal line
 * controlled property
 * paternal line:
 * Muslim custom
 * 1500:
 * Portuguese arrival on Indian Ocean Coast:
 * Swahili culture was widely diffused
 * Kilwa = no longer dominant city
 * focus on trade shifted to Malindivand Mombasa of Kenya coast
 * commerce on Indian cost thrived, nonetheless
 * Portuguese attempted to capture trade of Kilwa and Mombasa
 * outpost on Momzambique and control of Sofala
 * gave them control of most of gold trade
 * 1592 --> built Fort Jesus in Mombasa
 * served as major outpost
 * unable to control trade on northern Swahili coast
 * served as major outpost
 * unable to control trade on northern Swahili coast