Mostly the colonizers centralized power in the hands of the chiefs of the native administration so that these chiefs could better accomplish the tasks given them, like the collection of taxes. The continent of Africa covers several broad climatic zones. NTNjZjkxMjQ0YmE1NWYxYzRjOTRkMTFjNWZkYWE5MjRjMWE1NjA0Mzk5Yzhh When Europeans arrived in the region, in the 1500s, they found only a small population of hunter-gatherers there. They represent the spectrum of human conditions, from kings and courtiers to the diseased and the executed. A common idea was that the founders of a particular community, on first settling the area, had made a pact with the spirits of the land in order to ensure good harvests. In many of the great kingdoms of Africa, administration was carried on entirely orally. There is a direct link between a strong democratic state and a prosperous and attractive country.' This would normally be a cluster of households. To survive in these harsh conditions a person needed his kin around him. They believed in both good and bad spirits. The specifics of the caste systems in Africa vary among . In West Africa, a new religious influence began to make itself felt in the later first millennium. OGJhZDA5YWFmYzE1NjI3OGEwZTY3MmE2NDFiYjllYjg5MDM2MGFmNmNiZWRm Next were the farmers. It was not well suited to the milder, temperate climate of South Africa. These terms are used to describe societies that did not have a well-defined and complex or centralized systems of government, such as political systems of Ghana, Oyo or Zimbabwe that you studied in Module Seven A Olikenyi (2001) explains that, African hospitality which he contends is a vital aspect of existence in Africa in general, is one of the few facets of ancient African culture that is still intact and strongly African ritual experts learnt thousands of verses of religious and wisdom poetry, and expounded the appropriate one to guide kings and ministers as they resolved disputes; Rememberers treasured the traditions and histories of the kingdoms; and traders astonished early European travelers with their powers of recall. Together with drought, famine, epidemic, violence, and an unforgiving food-producing environment, it is easy to see how African populations struggled to grow. Like all pre-modern medicinal practitioners, they also used traditional methods less appealing to the modern Western mind, such as bleeding, purgatives, magic and exorcism. One other consequence of African underpopulation was the prevalence of the polygamy (see below). Learn about the Bantu migrations,. This was that there was a fundamental distinction between the cultivated and the wild, between civilization and savagery. Even large towns often resembled several villages grouped together, with each lineage group in its own walled sector. The resulting dissent, fueled by, The larger the state the more resources it could commit to defense and expansion. An Awilu was a free person who belonged to the affluent and wealthy upper class and enjoyed grants and benefits. A hidden corridor nine meters (30 feet) long has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, Egyptian . Study compare and contrast nonfiction text structure with 6 short passages, questions, and graphic organizers about similar animals. The unequal access to women made for severe tensions between males of different generations the young men felt frustration, envy and anger with the older men for monopolizing the female sex. Ancient Mali Social Hierarchy The Mali Empire was an ancient empire in West Africa between c.1230 to c.1600. The untamed forests have remained home to hunter-gatherer peoples, notably the pygmies. Indeed, in some areas, particularly where grassland and forest met, all three modes were practiced locally, resulting in a particularly fruitful exchange of produce. There was constant tension between the generations, which could spill over into real violence. It was here our earliest ancestors evolved. Rulers displayed their power by the number of retainers they had, and the sophistication of their court, where urbanity, eloquence, and quickness of wit were cultivated. Other common maladies were hookworm anaemia, yaws, leprosy, smallpox and endemic syphilis (though not the more lethal venereal kind, which was only introduced into sub-Saharan Africa in the 16th century, after Europeans arrived). At their centers were located rulers palaces, usually a complex of buildings housing a large number of people the king, his wives and concubines and children, numerous attendants, often groups of skilled craftsmen such as the sculptures who produced the famous Benin bronzes, and a large body of domestic servants, often slaves. Ancient Africa's government was not very stable because everyone was not unified this is because every village had a different leader. To the Western mind, at least, this aspect of religion was indistinguishable from magic, and was in the hands of mediums, priests, diviners and healers. The ancientness of the continents rocks, whose minerals have leeched out over the aeons, mean that the soil is generally of a poor quality, posing challenges for farmers. It offers a general survey of the geographical environments they inhabited; their settlements, social structures and economies; and their religions and cultures. They did obeisance to their overlord, forwarded tribute to his court and providing men for his army. makes it the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert. All these diseases were, despite higher levels of resistance in indigenous populations to foreign ones (West Africa in particular would become known as the The White Mans Grave) were all widespread killers. 10 Facts about Ancient Africa - Fact File 7. African kingdoms suffered severely from the divisive effects of violent competition between royal princes.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'timemaps_com-leader-3','ezslot_12',183,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-timemaps_com-leader-3-0'); When a state fell, its population sometimes dispersed away from its core area, perhaps due to attack from and/or immigration by a new group of people, or through desiccation of the environment. The limited nature of urbanization greatly restricted transport, trade and industry. Underpopulation, and the difficulties that this created for taxation and control, meant that the kind of bureaucracies which invented literacy in Sumer or Egypt could not emerge in the African context. South of the forest the grasslands resume, having skirted around the Congo Basin; but further south, on the western coast of south-central Africa, lies the Kalahari desert, smaller than the Sahara but perhaps even more arid. This crosses the content from its west coast to the east coast. At the opposite end of the scale, however, women probably made up the majority of slaves, and occupied a powerless and utterly dependent position in society. They sought to bring shrines and cults under their authority through a mixture of threat and patronage. Indigenous religions never died out, however, and the two belief-systems lived side by side in uneasy co-existence for a long time (indeed, they still do in parts of West Africa). This reflects the much more limited role of trade outside West Africa. This is most marked in eastern, central and southern Africa during the second millennium CE, at the start of which population levels were at a very low level. Those humans whose livelihood depended on adventuring into the bush hunters above all but also herbalists and iron workers, who needed wood for their furnaces were regarded with awe, for they must be protected by strong magic to survive such trips.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'timemaps_com-leader-4','ezslot_13',198,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-timemaps_com-leader-4-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'timemaps_com-leader-4','ezslot_14',198,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-timemaps_com-leader-4-0_1'); .leader-4-multi-198{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:15px !important;margin-left:auto !important;margin-right:auto !important;margin-top:15px !important;max-width:100% !important;min-height:250px;min-width:250px;padding:0;text-align:center !important;}. Facts about Ancient Africa 2: the important civilization The effects of disease were compounded by diets amongst crop-growing peoples low in animal protein and vitamins, in milk for infants, and, for many places, restricted access to clean fresh water. Africa before Transatlantic Enslavement - Black History Month 2023 The most prized qualities were seen as the preserve of males, such as aggression and courage. The histories and cultures of Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia and North Africa are covered elsewhere. NGMzYjY2N2JjMDIxN2EyZWI0ZmM1ODc0MjY4OTQzYmM1YmJkMTViN2U5NjAw In the savannah and forest regions of West Africa, an international group of traders grew up named the Dyula, who achieved an impressive scale of organization to handle commercial activities over a very wide area. OTg3ZTYwNWY1OWRjMGZiYzY3ZjQ0MGEzYTgyOTVhZDY3M2YwZDIyMzFjMzJk African societies were often fluid from one generation to another, however. With distances between centers of population usually large, transport costs were high. This meant that, for a man to marry he must have some wealth, and since this took time to build up most men were in their thirties when they married. A West African Social Hierarchy: The Caste System They must also have all been centers of exchange, yet many African towns, especially outside West Africa (where commercial activity was a major function in urban settlements), seem to have had no markets. The geography of Sub-Saharan Africa poses severe challenges to the rise and spread of pre-modern civilization. Tenkamenin was in management of the traded gold along the Sahara Desert into West Africa. It is inhabited by the San hunter-gatherer people who have adapted their lifestyle to this forbidding environment over 20,000 years. Options include print, Easel Activities, Google Forms (passages), and Google Slides (Venn diagrams). Not only so, but the general health of the population was regularly weakened by famine. They were usually much younger than their husbands, and were expected to act in a submissive way towards him and his family. African belief systems | The British Library It was situated between the Sahara and the headwaters of the Sngal and Niger rivers, in an area that now comprises southeastern Mauritania and part of Mali. Prime Minister gives lecture to first-year students - Leiden University Male children could be trained up to become administrators in the royal service, and in some states filled the most responsible positions at court: their lowly social status was thought to act as a check to their ambitions and a guarantee of their loyalty (though a chief slave may have usurped the Mali throne in 1357). This was Islam, which gradually spread throughout the region over a number of centuries. Together with freedom it is an important element of the economy, culture and social structure of a country. Many African societies were highly competitive in the pursuit of status and wealth. Ironically, this attractive landscape posed a barrier to the spread of traditional farming southward, as sub-Saharan agriculture had adapted itself to tropical conditions. The Mali empire, for example, had secretaries to conduct foreign correspondence, but its internal administration only employed word of mouth. This is due to a number of factors. These West African trade systems were facilitated by an international currency based on cowrie shells, whose distinctive appearance, durability, and limited supply made them very suitable for such a role. Most of the savannah is more suited to grazing herds of sheep, goat and cattle than growing crops. Hypothesis 2: Social structures cause inequity and injustice against the meaningful participating in economic decision-making and benefiting from opportunities in a society. As in other parts of the world, textile crafts were widespread. In the 14th and 15th centuries this tradition was transferred to brass. There was a strongly felt urge to claim new land for future generations by burying their dead in it. We learn about their beliefs and religion and the important structures that still stand in Egypt today. YmNlZWRhOWNhNTAxYjRmYjc3ZWNhZDYyMGMyNGVhMjMyYjYyODYzMmMxZTQ1 Growth of the Kingdom - Ancient Africa - Kingdom of Axum - Weebly As we have seen, different African peoples specialized in different modes of food production hunter-gathering (and fishing), nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralism, and cultivation of crops. Camels were employed in the long-distance trans-Saharan trade, and donkeys were the normal mode of transport in the West African savannah. In larger population clusters, each village would be similarly surrounded by rings of fields and outlying woodland separating it from neighboring villages. Many of them rose and fell throughout the African history. Also, iron working especially produced goods vital to farmers, hunters and warriors. Long-distance trade rested chiefly on high value goods produced only in confined areas. Gender and age differentials Over the millennia they have become highly adapted to life in an ecosystem which is fiercely hostile to other peoples. This situation was exacerbated by the extreme competitiveness which members of such societies displayed, in a situation where ones status was not inherited but was down to ones own abilities and cunning. One group in African society, which made up probably a tiny proportion of the whole but which had an influence out of all proportion to its size, were the traders. They could make the Nile overflow, cause famine, or even bring death. Environment and population, Village society The pastoralists tended to inhabit the desert and Sahel regions, leaving most of the savannah and forest regions to the farmers. Bantu Peoples - Geography Perhaps the highland areas which have had most impact on the history of Africa have been the Ethiopian Highlands, which have sheltered Africas only historic Christian state; and the highlands of southern Africa, which have played a key role in that regions history. These ancestral spirits thus became the channel through which spiritual forces could be accessed. The salt miners, on the other hand, were a dependent group not much better than slaves. Africa, where humans first evolved, today remains a place of remarkable diversity. Apart from the Nile, all these are blocked by rapids fairly near their mouths, as a result of which seagoing craft have not been able to sail far into the interior of Africa. It has captivated visitors since it was built as a royal burial chamber some 4,500 years ago. Africa has an exceptionally hostile disease environment, West Africa most of all; malaria, leprosy, tsetse fly and smallpox are only a few of the killer diseases of the continent, attacking not only humans but, in the last case, their animals as well. All climate zones in sub-Saharan Africa were characterized by a highly uneven settlement pattern.
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