Africa

1. Africa

2. During time of slavery • Primarily sub-Saharan Africa • Africa is not a country • It is a continent! • Multiple nations with diverse and varied cultures

3. Some similarities • Extended families that live and work together • Polygyny • However, these are surface similarities the nations remained distinct in many other ways

4. Two basic modes of Subsistence • 1. Pastoralism • 2. Agriculture • -------------------------------------------------------- • 1. Cattle, sheep, camels in drier lands farther from the equator and nearer the deserts • 2. • a) rice, millet, sorghum. In the savannah regions north and south of equator • b) yams, Bananas, plantains heavily wooded areas near equator • But Nigerian Yam farmers, Angloan sorghum growers in different regions all used slash and burn agriculture

5. Africans and the ocean • Although African's did not have ocean going ships there was a significant coastal trade

6. Religion • Many African groups recognized a single creator figure • Often smaller lower level deities were the focus of day to day life • Linkage between humans and deities through ancestors • Christianity was almost entirely unknown • But Islam was not ~1030 King of Takur converted • The trans-Saharan trade, as seen in the case of Songahi, brought Islam to the region were it was combined with African religious practices • Although it did not spread rapidly until the nineteenth century

7. Extended family was the primary focus for individuals • But these could be and were on occasion spread to Clan and occasionally by force into states or empires • At the time of the first European arrival there were several such powerful states in the region • Eg. • Songhai - upper Niger river • Mali • Benin • Kongo

8. African states around the time of European contact • Songahi • Mali • Benin • Kongo

9. Songahi • On the edge of the desert held authority over thousands of miles • Its primary focus was not the Atlantic but the Sahara • Involved in trans-desert trade

10. Mali 1324-25 emperor Mansa Musa went on a haji to Mecca He took a huge amount of gold –possibly 100 camel loads – so much that he devalued the economy in Mecca Mali, like Songahi, traded across the Sahara Trading gold for goods from the east Trading posts, such as Djenni, became important location of exchange not only for goods but also culture as evidenced by the mud mosque opposite

11. Edo, Capital City of Benin • Described by a Dutch visitor as being • “four miles broad” • Thirty straight streets • Each forty yards across • All meeting at right angles • Lined with fine dwellings • Bennin is and was well known for its sculpture • Late 17th C the ruler of Benin or oba could field an army of 20,000 at a days notice

12. Kingdom of Kongo States had been situated around the lower Congo river for many years The reason for this is a geographical location known as the Pool Malebo Above the pool the Congo river was navigable for several hundred miles But below is a impassable cascade Therefore control of the portage allowed for the development of a powerful community Though to have a population of approximately half a million in 1500 And had control over, and collected tribute from, several smaller states

13. A contemporary snapshot of Africa • Al-Hassan ibn-Muhammad al Wavvan al-Fasi • Better known as Leo Africanus • raised in Fez (modern Morroco) • educated in Islamic law and worked for the Sultan of Fez • went on diplomatic missions • twice went to Sub-Saharan Africa • Captured by Christian pirates and taken to Rome in 1518

14. Presented as a slave to Pope Leo X • converted to Christianity - • Given name Giovani Leone (John Leo) • In 1526 completed Italian version of History and Description of Africa • became known as Leo Africanus (Leo the African)

15. Quotes from History and Description of Africa • Mali • ‘In this Kingdom there is a large and ample village containing more than six thousand families’ • ‘The region itself yields great abundance of wheat meat and cotton’ • ‘The inhabitants are rich and have plenty of merchandise’ • ‘Here is a great number of temples, clergymen, and teachers’

16. Timbuktu • ‘Here there are many shops of artisans and merchants, especially those who weave linen and cotton, and here Barbary merchants bring European cloth.’ • ‘The inhabitants, and especially resident aliens, are exceedingly rich, since the present King married both of his daughters to rich merchants’ • ‘The rich king of Timbuktu has many plates and scepters of gold, some of which weigh 1300 pounds, and he keeps a magnificent and well furnished court’