Chapter 9 (Ancient Africa Study Guide)
A. MALI
a. Geography: Replaced the kingdom of Ghana in the Western Sudan. Located largely on
the rich tropical savannah, which supported extensive agriculture that supplied a
growing population.
b. RELIGION: The Mali’s were animistic, believing in spirits that occupied all aspects of life,
from families, to crops, to villages, to the elements. As a result of the Trans-Saharan
trade, many Muslim merchants moved into their own Mali towns and built many
mosques. Many Malis converted to Islam as a consequence.
c. ACHIEVEMENTS: The Mali’s built one of the greatest and richest empires of their time,
and lavished gifts of gold all across northern Africa.
d. SOCIETY: Mali society was stratified by class, with a king at the top, followed by a
priestly class, warriors, merchants, workers, and slaves. The family structure was a
polygamous nuclear family.
e. POLITICAL: Mali was led by a king, where power was passed along matrilineal lines
(sister’s children ascended to leadership).
f. ECONOMICS: The Mali economy was mercantile in structure, relying on exports of
natural resources, especially gold and slaves through Trans-Saharan trade, in exchange
for finished manufactured goods from northern Africa and the Mediterranean Sea basin.
g. DIFFUSION: Agricultural technology was diffused from the east, from the Nubians in the
Upper Nile, while written language (Arabic), mathematical systems, and Islam was
diffused from the north through the Trans-Saharan trading networks.
B. CITY STATES OF THE SWAHILI COAST
a. Geography: Located on the east coast of Africa.
b. RELIGION: The great emigration from Arabia after the death of Muhammad accelerated
Muslim penetration of the area, which the Arabs called the Zanj, “land of the blacks.”
Along the coast, Arabic Muslims established small trading colonies whose local peoples
were ruled by kings and practiced various animistic religions. Eventually— whether
through Muslim political hegemony or gradual assimilation— the coastal peoples slowly
converted to Islam.
c. ACHIEVEMENTS: In the 14th and 15th centuries, the coastal cities were great commercial
empires comparable to Venice. The Portuguese, approaching the East African coastal
cities in the late 15th century, were astounded at their enormous wealth and prosperity.
d. SOCIETY: Beginning in the late 12th century, fresh waves of Arabs and of Persians from
Shiraz poured down the coast, first settling at Mogadishu, then pressing southward to
Kilwa. Everywhere they landed, they introduced Islamic culture to the indigenous
population. Similarly, from the earliest Christian centuries through the Middle Ages,
Indonesians crossed the Indian Ocean and settled on the African coast and on the large
island of Madagascar, or Malagasy, an Indonesian name. All these immigrants
intermarried with Africans, and the resulting society combined Asian, African, and
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especially Islamic traits. The East African coastal culture was called Swahili, after a Bantu
language whose vocabulary and poetic forms exhibit a strong Arabic influence.
e. POLITICAL: From among the rich mercantile families that controlled the coastal cities
arose a ruler who by the 14th century had taken the Arabic title sheik. The sheik
governed both the island city and the nearby mainland. Farther inland, tribal chiefs
ruled with the advice of councils of elders.
f. ECONOMICS: The Swahili economy was mercantile. Importing ships carried
manufactured goods— cotton cloth, copper and brass, iron tools, and gold and silver
plate. Mediterranean merchants exchanged these goods for cinnamon, myrrh and
frankincense, captive slaves, and animal byproducts such as ivory, rhinoceros horns, and
tortoise shells.
g. DIFFUSION: There was enormous economic diffusion connecting African exports with
Arabia, Persia, and the Mediterranean world, as well as with India and East Asia.
Trans-Saharan Trade
a. Participants
The major participants if the Trans-Saharan trade were
i. the people of western Sudan south of the Sahara (Ghana and Mali)
ii. and the Berbers in the north. The major cities of northern Africa all participated
in this trade, including Marrakesh, Tunis, and Cairo.
b. Structure
i. Major factors
Introduction of the camel (before 200CE) proved more efficient for desert
transportation than horses or oxen, and the use of this beast to carry heavy and
bulky freight not only brought economic and social change to Africa but also
affected the development of world commerce.
ii. Structure of trade
The Trans-Saharan trade was seen as mercantile in structure by both the north
and the south. The Arab- Berber merchants from North Africa who controlled
the caravan trade carried manufactured goods— silk and cotton cloth, beads,
mirrors— as well as dates and salt. These products were exchanged for the
much-coveted commodities of the West African savanna— gold, ivory, gum,
kola nuts (a stimulant), and captive slaves.
c. Consequences of the trade
1. Stimulated gold mining and the search for slaves.
2. Development of vigorous urban centers in West Africa
3. Introduction of Islam into West Africa
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1. Kingdom of Ethiopia.
a. GEOGRAPHY: Located southeast of the headwater of the Nile River, the Kingdom of
Ethiopia is located in East Africa surrounded by the Ethiopian mountains.
b. RELIGION: Ethiopia’s religious traditions go back to biblical times, rooted in the Jewish
traditions of King Solomon. In the mid-300’s AD, Christianity was introduced to
Ethiopia, and it eventually became the largest Christian center in Africa.
c. ACHIEVEMENTS: Ethiopia believes itself to be the successor to the traditions of ancient
Israel, the keeper of the Arc of the Covenant, and the home of the Solomonic dynasty.
Ethiopia was the first African society outside of Egypt with a written language tradition.
d. SOCIETY: Farmers used a scratch plow. Plentiful rainfall produced abundant crops,
leading to population growth. Both sexes probably married young. Monogamy was the
norm, except for kings and the very rich. Widely scattered farms, with the parish church
as the central social unit, seem to have been the usual pattern of existence. Above the
peasant farmers stood warrior-nobles. Their wealth and status derived from their
fighting skills, which kings rewarded with grants of estates and with the right to collect
tribute from the peasants (FEUDALISM).
e. POLITICAL: Ethiopia was led by an extraordinarily long succession of hereditary kings
and queens within the Solomonic dynasty, originating with the Queen of Sheba.
f. ECONOMICS: Like many African societies, Ethiopia’s economy was largely mercantile,
focusing on the export trade of natural resources (especially gold) through the Gulf of
Aden. Merchants at Adulis, its main port on the Red Sea, sold ivory, gold, emeralds,
rhinoceros horns, shells, and slaves to the Sudan, Arabia, Yemen, and various cities
across the Indian Ocean in exchange for glass, ceramics, fabrics, sugar, oil, spices, and
precious gems.
g. DIFFUSION: There was widespread economic diffusion between Ethiopia and its many
trading partners. Christianity was diffused into Ethiopia from Egypt, through the Nubian
kingdom.
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