• agriculture was spread; yams, sorghum, and millet were major crops
• bananas, from Malaysia, were spread across the continent, and could be grown in forested regions
• iron metallurgy spread across the continent

• about 100 people in each village
• male family heads formed village councils
• most prominent male was the chief
• villages would band together to form larger political units

• at its height included Congo and Angola
• traded copper, raffia cloth, nzimba shellls
• divided into 6 provinces
• central gov't had currency based on cowry shells
• declined in 17th century after Portuguese slave traders undermined the king

• origins date to 4th/5th century C.E.
• controlled access to gold mines in the region of Niger, Gambia, and Senegal Rivers
• exchanged gold, ivory, slaves with merchants from N. Africa
• capital of Koumbi-Saleh prospered from 9th to 12th centuries
• in 10th centuries rulers converted to Islam
• in 13th century, collapsed in part due to attacks by Almoravids
  

• replaced Ghana as most powerful state in West Africa
• built by Sundiata (r. 1235 - 1255)
• included many countries of modern West Africa
• benefitted from trans-Saharan camel caravan trade
• Niani was capital, but other rich towns were Timbuktu, Gao, and Jenne
• Mansa Musa (r. 1312 - 1337) was famous for his pilgrimage to Mecca; he was a great supporter of Islam
• collapsed because of factionalism and attacks by neighbors

• Bantu people people brought farming to E. Africa
• Swahili people dominated lands from Mogadishu in the north to Kilwa, the Comoro islands, and Sofala in the South
• Islam went to the Swahili coast via trade across the Indian Ocean; ruling classes converted first
• from the 10th century, Muslim merchants traded with the Swahili people
• Lamu, Malindi, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Kilwa, and Mozambique were major cities
• Goods as far away as China reached the Swahili
• Ibn Battuta visited Kilwa
• by late 15th century exported 1 ton of gold a year
• destroyed by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama
  

• exported gold, slaves, ivory, tortoise shells, leopard skins from the interior
• imported pottery, glass, textiles from Muslim merchants

• Over 800 different languages were spoken on the continent
• different kinds of societies existed; hunter-gatherer, fishing peoples, nomadic herders, subsistence farmers, settled cultivators who built city-based societies

ruling elites: nobles,administrators,religious leaders

merchants,craftsmen,commoners

peasants

slaves

• Men were tanners and blacksmiths
• Wives of blacksmiths were oftenpotters

• Society was still patriarchal, but women had a greater role
• women took part in trade
• sometimes women took part in combat

• People around the same age were given jobs appropriate for them
• People in the age groups bonded with each other as friends and allies

What was slavery like in Sub-Saharan Africa?

• Slaves were POWs, suspected witches, debtors, and criminals
• Slaves were a form of personal wealth
• Slaves helped families increase their agricultural production
• Slaves could gain their freedom

• Demand for slaves in Persia, Sw Asia, and the Mediterranean increased
• Slaves from Eastern Europe could not keep up with demand

• Slave raiding intensified within Africa itself
• To acquire slaves larger states and empires began to make war against smaller kin-based societies
  
• from 750 to 1500, about 10 million African slaves were exported to foreign lands in the Muslim slave trade
• the 869 Zanj revolt in Mesopotamia showed the presence of African slaves in Muslim lands

• Many Africans were monotheistic, believing in a supreme male god
• lesser gods were associated with forces of nature
  
•  Ritual focused on worship of deities, spirits, and souls of ancestors
• Diviners were people Africans consulted to help them deal with hardships
• Religion was concerned with practical matters of explaining the world, and less with theology

• Arrived in Egypt not long after its appearance in the 1st century
• In the 4th century King Ezana of Axum became a Christian
• Kings of Ethiopia carved 11 massive churches out of rock in the 12th century
• Ethiopia's Solomonic dynasty claimed descent from kings David and Solomon
• After the rise of Islam, Ethiopian Christians were cut off from the rest of the Christian world until the 16th century
  

• Islam became a syncretic faith, adapting to the needs and interests of African people
• the ruling classes converted first
• African converts built mosques, religious schools, and invited Muslim scholars to their lands
• African women were not expected to follow the customs of women in other parts of the Muslim world