Assignment 5: African Empires (P. 317-324)
After reading the section on African Empires before the arrival of the Europeans, what do they
have in common? What are the general features of the pre-colonial African Empires?
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Chiefdoms instead of stateless societies (see Assgn. 6)
Access to intercontinental trade by land (caravans) or by sea
Adopted foreign religions, (Islam and some Christianity) which gave them favored status
in international trade
Had large cities near natural harbors
Traded away natural resources in return for finished products (including guns)
Used newfound wealth, arms and power against inland African peoples to further enrich
themselves
Expanded by conquering neighboring African societies, with some defeated peoples sold
as slaves to Muslim states.
Remember, large “empires” contained a relatively tiny number of Sub-Saharan Africans. Most
peoples lived in stateless village societies (described in Assgn. 6)
Assignment 6: Stateless/Kin-Based Societies (Handout D, P. 496-501, 486)
Terms to Know:
Kinship
“Age Grades”
Clan
Questions to Discuss:
1. In a traditional African village, what roles did the following groupings have?
A. Kinship Groups (Extended family)
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Basic “belonging”
Created a large support system where tasks such as cooking could be shared
Collectively watched over children
B. Clan (to be discussed further in class – think of the “four houses” at Hogwarts or
college sororities)
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Brought groups of families together
Provided friendships and prospects for arranged marriages in other villages
Gave people a place to go if there was trouble in their own families
Brought people from different villages together in a friendly way
C. Gender
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Divided tasks between men and women, with very little open to either gender
D. Age Grades
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Created an easily-recognizable “generation” that would grow up together and share
common experiences
Trained future leaders to see themselves as part of a group, since the heads of families
of the oldest generation would make decisions/laws for the village collectively (See
question 2)
Allowed slaves and free people to mix as equals
Made sure that children from different families and clans would mix and learn to get
along
E. Slave/Free status
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Gave people a place to go as a last resort
Transfer of slaves helped settle disputes and prevented violence
Allowed productive farmers to produce more thanks to the extra labor
2. Who governed villages or ethnic groups if there was no assigned “chief?”
Usually, all male heads of families would meet together to make decisions jointly. Often they all
had to agree on the decision. A representative from each clan in every village would meet with
the leaders of other villages to reach decisions in the same way if an issue concerned a large
area.
3. How is African slavery different than that which you know about slavery in America?
Do not confuse slaves in Africa with slaves in the Middle East or America. Africans
treated their slaves much better. They became educated, their children were often
considered free, and they lived in the same housing complex as their new families.
4. Why did chiefdoms increasingly replace stateless societies in many parts of Sub-Saharan
Africa after 1000 c.e. or so?
Superior weapons allowed for larger states to form, so more organized leadership was needed.
Also, foreign traders usually insisted that a single person represent an area.
5. What are some the main features of Sub-Saharan Africans’ native religions?
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Belief in a distant creator god who did not interfere in people’s lives
Belief in spirits of all living things
Belief in each person’s “personal god” who had to be appeased and could help or harm a person. This
helped explain why some people were lucky and some were not
Lucky charms, rituals, and prayer are needed to keep the spirits happy and on one’s side
“Diviners”, or “medicine men/women” (often trained from a young age) could connect to the spirit world
and could:
Tell a person how to change his or her fortune
Create lucky charms
Perform certain rituals
Heal the sick through his or her training in medicine