Chapter 19: States and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa

Bantu Migrations

• Earliest African migrations from the Bantu group.
• Spread agriculture and herding practices (pastoralism).
• Displaced/absorbed hunting, gathering, and fishing groups.
• Introduced iron metallurgy around 500 BCE.
  • Facilitated land clearing and growth.
• Key crops: yams, sorghum, millet.
• Bananas introduced later from Asia.

African Political Organization

• Kin-based society or stateless society.
  • Governed by family and kinship groups.
• Village council: consisted of male family heads.
• Chief of the village: most prominent family head.
• Population growth led to resource strain and conflict.
• Emergence of military forces and chiefdoms (bigger villages).

Islamic Kingdoms and Empires

Ghana

• Important commercial site in West Africa.
• Provided gold, ivory, and slaves for trade.
• Many Ghana kings converted to Islam.
• Ghana weakened by nomadic raids in the 13th century.

Mali Empire

• Founded by Sundiata (Lion Prince).
• Controlled most trade through West Africa.
• Linked caravans to North Africa (Islamic merchants).
• Mansa Musa: famous ruler known for his pilgrimage to Mecca.
  • Distributed vast amounts of gold, affecting its price.
  • Built mosques, sent students to study Islam.
• Declined due to internal factions and external pressures.
• Replaced by the Songhai Empire in the late 15th century.

Indian Ocean Trade and Swahili States

• Swahili States dominated East African coast.
• Spoke Swahili: syncretic Bantu language with Arabic influence.
• Traded heavily with Muslim merchants.
• Developed many port city-states governed by kings.
• Example: Kilwa exported gold.
• Zimbabwe: powerful kingdom with Great Zimbabwe stone complex.
• Conversion to Islam among elites and merchants.

Ibn Battuta

• Moroccan scholar and traveler.
• Traveled extensively to observe Islamic practices.
• Provided insights into various regions similar to Marco Polo.

African Society and Cultural Development

• Hierarchies: villages, kingdoms, city-states.
• Communal land practices; no private property.
• Matrilineal society: lineage traced through the mother.
• Slavery: captives of war, debtors, criminals.
• Existed long before European intervention.

African Religions and Cultures

• Animism: belief in lesser gods, spirits, ancestor veneration.
• Religion was practical, not theological.

Christianity and Islam

• Christianity reached North Africa by the 1st century CE.
• Christian kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia.
• Ethiopian Christians known for rock-carved churches.
• Coptic Christianity in Egypt/Ethiopia.
• Islam appealed to ruling elites and merchants.
• Built mosques, schools, and syncretized with African traditions.

This concludes Chapter 19 on the states and societies of Sub-Saharan Africa.