Bellwork
• What was the earliest culture and the
earliest city in West Africa? How recently
were these cultures discovered?
World History
Section 4, Unit 2
Eastern and Southern African
Empires
Objectives
• Identify characteristics of East African societies
• Read and interpret maps covering the East African
region
• Identify the spread of religion and effects of Islam
on the East African cultures
• Describe what caused the fall of Aksum– a major
East African Kingdom
• Describe how the language of Swahili was formed.
• Identify great cities and empires following the fall of
Aksum in the Eastern Africa and Southern Africa.
• Describe the effects of Islam on the Eastern Africa.
Recall
• Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush (who
conquered Egypt), became a powerful
kingdom in western Africa. Their presence
allowed for other powerful kingdoms to
grow and prosper in the area.
Kingdom of Aksum
• South of Kush arose
Aksum, a new kingdom
on the rugged plateau
on the Red Sea.
• The beginning of Aksum
is hard to trace, with
legends saying that it
was founded by the son
of King Solomon of
Ancient Israel, possibly
around 1,000 B.C.
Egypt
Kush/Nubia
Early Beginnings and expansion
• Aksumites began to seize areas surrounding
them and intermingled with its people.
They intermingled with the southern
Kushite farmers and took control of lands in
the southern Arabian Peninsula.
In time, Aksum would begin to
form powerful trading routes with
other countries.
Trading Networks
Aksum began to join the already existing Silk Road
trading system. It was in a prime location to do so,
as it has immediate access to powerful trading
centers near the Mediterranean and the Indian
Ocean.
Trading Power
• In part due to its location, Adulis, the chief
port city of Aksum, became a large trading
center and international trading power.
– It traded goods with Egypt, Arabia, Persia,
India, and even the Roman Empire.
– Akumite merchants traded necessities such as
salt and luxury goods- rhino horns, tortoise
shells, ivory, and gold– and receive items such
as cloth, glass, olive oil, wine and much more.
Expansion
• The kingdom of Aksum reached it’s height
between 325 and 360 A.D., when Ezana–
their new ruler– occupied the throne.
• Determined to establish and expand his
authority, Ezana conquered a part of the
Arabian Peninsula now known as Yemen
and then turned his attention to Kush.
– By this time, the Kushite Empire had already
begun to decline.
Expansion
• In 350 AD, Ezana conquered the Kingdom
of Kush and burned the city of Meroe to the
ground.
– They plundered the cities that rebelled against
them and laid waste to whatever they crossed.
Developing Culture
• The Aksumites always had a fairly diverse
culture, due to blending traditions from the
Arab peoples who crossed the Red Sea and
those of the Kushite people whom they
settled near.
• As the kingdom expanded, their culture
further developed, allowing them to blend
with other cultures, such as Roman, Greek,
Indian, and even those from Byzantine.
Overtime, Aksum began to form a Cosmopolitan
culture– one that includes elements from many
parts of the world.
Beliefs
• The Aksumites, like other Africans,
traditionally believed in only one god.
• They called their god Mahrem and believed
that their king descended from him.
• However, like the Western Africans, they were
animists and believed that spirits of nature and
the dead did exist.
– They would offer sacrifices to the sprits, to
Mahrem, and even to the Greek God of war, Ares.
Question
• How do you think their religion would
change if they started trading with other
cultures?
What would they share with other cultures other
than just goods?
Overtime, the religion of the Aksumites would soon change as
ideas would be spread throughout their kingdom. This new
religion had already taken a hold in the Roman Empire.
Christianity
• As they traded, the
Aksumites became
exposed to
Christianity.
– King Ezana even
converted to the new
religion and helped
strengthen it’s hold in
Aksum.
Christian Monastery
Crisis of Faith
• In 451, a dispute arose over the nature of
Christ– whether he was divine or divine and
human.
• This dispute lead to a split between Egypt and
Aksum and Constantinople and Rome.
– The Egyptian and Aksumite beliefs lead to the
creation of the Coptic Church of Egypt and the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church, both of whom
believed that Christ was solely divine.
– These churches continue to exist to today and
continue to attract more than 22 million people
into their fold.
Architecture
• The establishment of Christianity was just
one lasting achievement of the Aksumites.
• They developed a unique architecture,
using stone instead of mud bricks to
construct vast royal palaces and public
buildings.
– Much like the Egyptians, the Aksumites did not
use mortar to hold their stone together, but
instead build their structures so that the stones
would fit tightly together.
Architecture (cont.)
• Aksumite kings also
build large stone pillars
called stelae, which were
used to celebrate king’s
conquests and
demonstrate Aksum’s
greatness.
• Some are up to 60 ft. tall
and many were
dedicated to the
Christian God.
Language
• The people of Aksum
spoke Ge’ez, and was
the only Ancient
African language
(other than Egyptian
and Nubian) to be
written.
Agriculture
• The Aksumite’s adapted to
their rugged, hilly
environment.
• They created a new form
of farming, terrace
farming, which enabled
them to greatly increase
the productivity of their
land.
• The Aksumites also dug
canals to channel water
from mountain streams
into fields and build dams
and tanks to hold water.
Terrace Farming
• Terraces– step-like
ridges constructed on
mountain slopes–
helped retain rain water
and prevented the soil
from being washed
downhill during heavy
rain seasons. This form
of farming is commonly
used in other
mountainous regions of
the world.
Question
What religious group appeared in the
Arabian Peninsula?
How do you think their presence would
affect the control of the region by the
Aksumites?
Fall of Aksum
• Aksums cultural and technological
achievements enabled it to last over 800
years, but the kingdom began to decline as
Islamic invaders came and began to
conquer Arabic regions.
• However, Aksum itself was not attacked, as
Muhammad and his family were sheltered
there during his rise to power.
Fall of Adulis
• Before long, raiders gained control of the
African Red Sea coast and in 710 they
destroyed the Aksumite port city of Adulis.
• This conquest cut Aksum off from other
major ports along the Red Sea and
Mediterranean.
What would happen to their trading power if they
lost Adulis?
What would happen to their spiritual
identity if the raiders are not Christian?
Escape
• The invaders spread Islam throughout the
lands they conquered and Aksum soon
became isolated from other Christian
settlements.
• To escape Islam, Aksum’s rulers moved the
capital over the mountains into what is now
Northern Ethiopia.
Environmental changes
• Within this new mountainous region, the
Aksumites were completely isolated.
• Environmental changes are believed to have
occurred around this time, such as over
flooding from the Nile, depletion of the
forests, and soil erosion due to over farming.
– Such changes continued to cause the kingdom
to weaken.
Legacy
• Although the kingdom
of Aksum reached great
heights and left a lasting
legacy on religion,
architecture, and
agriculture, Aksum
never spread as far as
many other kingdoms.
• However, the culture of
Aksum would continue
to live on to today in the
modern nation of
Ethiopia.
Break
• Take two minutes to
stretch and breathe.
Where we left off
• The last time we discussed Eastern Africa,
we discussed the Kingdom of Aksum, which
had taken control of much Eastern Africa,
including Nubia.
• With this region under their control, the
Aksumites traded with Arabia, Persia, India,
and Rome.
Question: Despite their power, why did the kingdom of
Aksum eventually fall?
Power struggle
• However, in 600s, when the Muslims forces
gained control over Arabia and North
Africa, they cut Aksum off from their ports
near the Red Sea.
• While Aksum had to relocate and regain
power, other cities on the East Coast of
Africa were thriving on the Indian Ocean
trade.
East Coast Trading Cities
• By 1100, waves of Africans had migrated
from Central Africa to the east coast, where
they established fishing and farming
villages.
• Slowly, these coastal villages grew into
bustling seaports, built on trade between
East African merchants and Arabian traders
who would meet in these villages.
Swahili
• As trade increased
between East Africans
and those from the
Middle East, a new
language blended
between Arabic and
the native African
language, Bantu.
Swahili
• These two languages
created the Swahili
language.
• This language was
formed by a mixing of
ancestry between
Arabic peoples and
Africans.
Trade
• Persian traders began to move south from
the Horn of Africa and brought with them
Asian manufactured goods to Africa and
bought raw materials from Africa to Asia.
Trade
• From Asia, Persian
merchants sold fine
porcelain, jewels, and
cotton cloth from India
and China.
• In Africa, these traders
would buy from the
African merchants ivory,
gold, ambergris, and
various animal products
to carry to Arabia.
Effect of Trade
• This increase in trade along the eastern
seaboard created new towns and, by 1300,
more than 35 trading cities dotted the coast of
Eastern Africa.
• Much like the empires of Western Africa, who
became wealthy by controlling trade within
their region, Eastern Africa got wealthy by
controlling all incoming and outgoing trade.
– In some cases, some cities even manufactured
goods for export.
Kilwa
• Kilwa, a South-Eastern
African port city, grew very
rich and powerful due to
this trade.
• Kilwa grew wealthy
because it was the farthest
city to the south a Indian
merchant ship could ride
on the monsoon winds
from India.
– The city became a port for
Southern African goods and
Asian goods.
Kilwa
• Kilwa also expanded its power by taking
control of the gold trade in southern Africa.
• Having done this, Kilwa was able to become
the wealthiest coastal city-state in Africa at
this time.
Trade
Routes
Kilwa
Islamic Influences
• Much like in Western Africa, Muslim
traders introduced Islam to the East African
coast through commerce and trade.
• Even the smallest towns in the region often
had a mosque for the faithful.
• By this time, most government officials and
wealthy merchants had become Muslim.
Muslims
• Most of the rulers, government officials,
and merchants were Muslim.
• However, the vast majority of people along
the Eastern African coast held on to their
traditional religious beliefs.
Enslavement
• Aside from trading
goods, Arab traders
exported one other good
from Africa: slaves.
• Traders sent Africans
acquired through
kidnapping and raids to
markets in the Middle
east.
– The wealthy in these
nations often bought
enslaved people to do the
more bothersome
domestic tasks.
Enslavement
• The enslavement of Africans was quite
popular.
• Muslim traders shipped them to India,
where Indians would use Africans as
soldiers.
• In Asia, Africans sometimes worked as
household servants in China.
Enslavement
• While East Africans were trading African
slaves early in their history, the trade was
actually quite small– only about 1,000 slaves
a year.
• The uptick in African slaves did not occur
until the 1700s.
Question: Why did the slave trade increase during the 1700’s?
By the 1700’s, Europeans began to demand Africans to do
slave labor in the colonies throughout the Americas.
Trade and South Africa
• The gold and ivory that helped make coastal
city-states grow rich– such as Kilwa- came
from the interior of the southern Africa.
• In Southeastern Africa, the Shona people
established a city called Great Zimbabwe,
which grew into an empire built on the gold
trade.
Great Zimbabwe
• By 1000, the Shona
people had claimed
the fertile, wellwatered plateau
between Zambezi and
Limpopo rivers in
modern Zimbabwe.
• The area is well suited
for farming and cattle
raising.
Great Zimbabwe
• Great Zimbabwe also had
economic advantages.
• It stood near an important
trade route linking the
inland gold-fields with the
coastal trading cities-- like
Sofala.
• Sometime around 1000,
Great Zimbabwe gained
control of these trade
routes and, by the 1200s,
became a capital of the
Kingdom of Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe
• Great Zimbabwe taxed
those who traveled
these routes and
demanded payment
from the less powerful
chiefs.
• By the 1400s, Great
Zimbabwe was an
economic, political,
and religious center of
the empire.
Ruins of Zimbabwe
• However, by 1450, the city of Great
Zimbabwe was abandoned.
– No one is sure why.
• According to theory, it’s very likely that the
cattle had worn out the grasslands and that
resources became too scarce to support a
large population.
Mutota
• About 30 years prior to
the fall of Great
Zimbabwe, Shona
tradition tells the story
of a man named
Mutota who left the
city in 1420 to find a
new source of salt.
Mutota
• Traveling north, he settled in a valley with
fertile soil, good rainfall, and ample wood.
• Here, he founded a new state to replace
Great Zimbabwe and, as it grew, Mutota
used his army to dominate the people living
in the area and force them to make
payments to him.
Mutota
• The conquered peoples
called Mutota and his
successors “mwene
mutapa”, meaning
“conqueror”.
• Under Mutota, the
Mutapa Empire was
founded.
• By the time Mutota died,
the Mutapa Empire had
conquered all of what is
now Zimbabwe except the
eastern portion.
Mutapa Empire
• By 1480, Mutota’s son
Matope claimed control of
the area along the
Zambezi River to the
Indian Ocean coast.
• From here, the Mutapa
Empire was able to mine
gold deposited in the river
and streams.
• As well, the Mutapa rulers
forced those people in
conquered areas to mine
gold for them.
Interference
• By the 1500s, the Portuguese (who by this
time have expanded into trading with India)
attempted to conquer the Mutapa Empire.
• They were unsuccessful at defeating them
in this fashion, but instead attempted to
defeat the empire by interfering with their
politics.
Portuguese
• The Portuguese helped
to depose one ruler and
put one they could
control onto the throne.
• These attempts would
increase Portuguese
control in the area,
although Mutapa would
continue to be a
independent state for
centuries to come.
Portuguese
• The Portuguese would continue to have a
strong presence in East Africa.
• In 1488, the Portuguese ships had
conquered several eastern African port
cities with the goal of establishing a strong
trading presence.
– Portuguese wanted the wealth and power of the
eastern cities, rather than simply trade with
them.
Africa
• In the future, we will discuss more of
European influences in Africa.
• In the meantime, while the Africans in the
east grew large, powerful trading centers,
those in North and Central Africa would
come into further contact with Muslim
traders and invaders.
Review Objectives
• Identify characteristics of East African societies
• Read and interpret maps covering the East African
region
• Identify the spread of religion and effects of Islam
on the East African cultures
• Describe what caused the fall of Aksum– a major
East African Kingdom
• Describe how the language of Swahili was formed.
• Identify great cities and empires following the fall of
Aksum in the Eastern Africa and Southern Africa.
• Describe the effects of Islam on the Eastern Africa.
Questions?
• If you have any questions, please ask now.
Next Lesson
• In the next lesson, we are going to discuss
northern and central Africa.
Review
Please read “Africa before the Transatlantic
Slave Trade” and respond to the question on
the last page.