The Spread of Islam
Islamic States in Sub-Saharan Africa and
India
Spread of Islam
• In the centuries after its birth, Islam
spread quickly
– Refer back to chapter 8 on Islam for refresher
• Trade and peaceful interaction helped to
spread Islamic faith to Sub-Saharan Africa
– Regional states in Africa thrived on TransSaharan trade and adopted Islam
• Although less peaceful, Islam also spread
to India
African Societies
• Huge Continent
(See Overhead map of Africa)
– Sparsely populated relative to size
– Unification of culture difficult due to geography
– Regions develop at different rates
• Some develop large, complex societies while others remain
foragers
• Much of the continent lies in the Tropics
– Near equator (b/t Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of
Cancer)
– Diverse climates due to wind patterns, altitude, and
landforms
http://planetsave.com/files/2007/12/800px-world-map-torrid.svg-thumb.png
Tropics
African Societies
• Although there is a great degree of diversity among the
cultures of Africa, some commonalities can be observed
– Language: Bantu Migrations (ch. 7) provide lang. base for
many African groups
• Each with local variation, but similar structure
– Religion: animistic, belief in witchcraft and evil spirits,
veneration of ancestors
– Govt: Stateless societies common
• Governed by council from the community
• As time passed, external pressures from other groups
created a need for larger, organized states
– Trade major motivator
• Trans-Saharan trade conducted by Muslims
Islam Beyond the Sahara
• By 700, Islam dominated North Africa
– Trade along caravan routes across the Sahara
encouraged the spread of Islam further south
• Regional Kingdoms emerged to take
advantage of the trade
– Ghana, Mali, Songhay
– Served as “middle men” between the Muslims
and the African communities further south and
in the interior
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aah/aaheritage/images/AfricaComposite.
gif
Ghana
• Founded in W. Africa
during 3rd Century
– Dev. Of gold and saltbased economy
• At height of power in 900’s
• Evetually, Ghana converts
to Islam
• Went into decline in 1200’s
– Vulnerable to attack from
those seeking wealth
• Other states rose up to
take Ghana’s place
http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/~walters/web%20230/map%2
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– Refer to Chapter 7 for
more on Ghana
Mali
• Founded by Muslims who broke from
Ghana
– Build economy based upon trade and ag.
– Mali assumes power position after decline of
Ghana
• Creates much larger state
• See map on page 331 for size and location
of Mali
Mali
– Emphasis on trade
• Harsh penalties for those who disrupt trade routes
– Highly organized society
• Each clan assigned specific occupations for efficiency
– Gold and copper make Mali a very wealthy
kingdom
Mali
• Mansa Musa (1312-1337)
– Famous ruler, made pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324
• Opportunity to show Mali’s wealth to the rest of the world
– Floods markets with so much gold, its value declines
– Returns from Pilgrimage with Muslims architects and
scholars
• Timbuktu became a center for Islamic learning and art
– Mosques
– Construct Quranic schools to study Islam
Mali
• Mali began to disintegrate after 2 centuries
– Lack of strong leadership in latter rulers
– Rebellions by conquered peoples
– Attacks from those seeking wealth
• As was the case with Ghana, Mali will then
be replaced by another kingdom
Songhay
• Farmers, herders, and fishers in the Niger Valley
began to organize a state in 7th century
– 1010: est. capital at Gao
• Ruled by Muslims, but much of the populace retains tribal
religion
– Attempts at instituting Shar’ia difficult b/c many people
in empire were still non-Mulsim
• Gao grew into a wealthy city as a result of gold
• Sunni Ali forged the Songhay Empire in the 1400’s
– Empire continues to expand into the mid-1500’s
Swahili Coast of East Africa
• Islam also thrived on Africa’s east coast
– Swahili Coast
• Trading centers where Muslims engaged in trade along
Indian Ocean
• Diverse peoples on the Swahili Coast
– Bantu and Swahili-speaking peoples governed by Muslim
elites
– Swahili most common language
• Major cities emerge on coast
• Location made travel on monsoon winds easy
• access to gold from Great Zimbabwe, a powerful state in
Southern Africa near the Zambezi River
Slave Trade
• Although the spread of Islam brought wealth to
Africa, it also led to an increase in the slave trade
• Slavery had existed in pre-Islamic Africa, but
Muslim rule led to a drastic increase in the trade
– Estimates of up to 4.8 million slaves transported along
Muslim Caravans from Africa
– Slaves fulfilled many tasks from household labor to
serving as concubines in harems
• Slavery was usually not hereditary, leading to a constant
demand for more slaves
New Delhi Sultanate
• After fall of the Gupta, India fragmented
into regional kingdoms
– Invaders took advantage of lack of political
unity
– Set up government in Delhi
• Recognized by the Muslim Caliph
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Delhi Sultanate
• Sultans in India often ruled with brutality
– Maintained rule through fear
• Violent raids, looting, forcing Indian women into
harems
– Instituted high taxes
• Min-14th Century, Sultanate in decline and
new states rose up
Impact of Islam in India
• Introduction of papermaking in India
• Urdu: new language
– Combination of Persian and Hindi written in Arabic
characters
• Islam became second most popular religion in
India
– Buddhism largely pushed out
• Muslims burn Buddhist manuscripts and terrorize monks
• Patriarchy still firmly in place, but evidence
suggests that the condition of women saw some
improvement
– “Sati”- widows burning themselves on their husband’s
funeral pyre became less common