Africa, 500 BCE – 1200 CE
WHAP/Napp
“Sub-Saharan Africa had an intense microparasitic environment that largely
prohibited southward expansion of Mediterranean peoples. Clearings at the edge of
forests provided ideal breeding places for insects that transmitted three deadly
diseases. Trypanosome is an ancient parasite of wild animals that is transmitted to
humans by the tsetse fly, causing sleeping sickness across its domain in WestCentral Africa. The mosquito Anopheles gambiae proved a most efficient vector for
a deadly strain of malaria. Many Africans developed the sickle-cell trait as a genetic
defense, which incidentally caused anemia and death in one-fourth of the children
who inherited the trait from both parents. The mosquito Aedes aegypti spread
yellow fever. Areas of Africa also endured guinea-worm infection (dracunculiasis),
schistosomiasis, elephantiasis (filariasis), yaws, and leprosy. Hookworm infestations
were so intense that West Africans became immune to hookworm anemia.
High mortality rates kept population growth in check. The best cultural defense
Africans had was isolation, setting small villages widely apart in forest clearings or
on the savanna. Besides those of the Niger valley, temporary towns appeared by the
first millennium C.E. on the grasslands of the Sudan, Mali, and northern Ghana.
Several regions of sub-Saharan Africa participated strongly in international trade
and cultural contacts, and the Bantu migrations assured major population
movement within the vast subcontinent. But there was no substantial population
movement into or out of sub-Saharan Africa during the early civilization or classical
periods, and disease patterns provide part of the explanation. And important parts
of sub-Saharan Africa had little contact with Eurasian civilizations until after the
15th century C.E.” ~ Experiencing World History
1- What largely prohibited the southward expansion of Mediterranean people
into sub-Saharan Africa?
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2- Define sub-Sahara.
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3- What three deadly diseases were transmitted by insects in sub-Saharan
Africa?
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4- What was the impact of disease in sub-Saharan Africa?
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5- How did Africans respond to the impact of disease?
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6- What were several examples of cultural contacts within Africa?
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7- What substantial population did not occur during the early civilization or
classical periods?
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8- Identify the geographic factors of Africa.
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9- Identify the effects of Africa’s geography.
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Notes:
I. Africa in the Classical Era
A. Home to about 11% of the world’s population
B. Lacked wild sheep, goats, chickens, horses and camels, but proximity to
Eurasia meant that these animals, once domesticated, became available
C. Writing confined to the northern and northeastern parts of the continent
D. Classical-era civilizations in Africa fewer in number/smaller than Eurasia
E. Many Africans lived in communities that did not feature cities and states
F. Stateless societies have minimal or no government involvement rather
kinship relationships influence interactions
II. Geographical Diversity
A. Large deserts (Sahara and Kalahari), larger savannas or grasslands, tropical
rain forest in center, highlands and mountains in eastern Africa and small
regions of Mediterranean climate in north/south extremes
B. Geographic factors ensured variation and difference among cultures
C. But proximity to Eurasia
1. North Africa incorporated into Roman Empire
2. Christianity spread Saint Augustine (354-430 CE)African, theologian
D. Proximity to Arabiaanother point of contact
1. Arrival of the domesticated camel, probably from Arabia, generated a
nomadic pastoral way of life among some of the Berbers
a) Camel  Trans-Saharan trade
b) East African coast  Part of Indian Ocean Trade Network
III. Meroë
A. South of Egypt lay Nubian civilization  contact, trade, selective borrowing
B. Nubian civilization came to center on the southern city of Meroë
C. Flourished between 300 BCE and 100 CE
D. Governed by an all-powerful and sacred monarch, on sometimes a woman
E. Smelting of iron and the manufacture of iron tools and weapons
D. Rainfall-based agriculture was possible; Extensive trade
E. Following 100 CE, declined in part due to deforestation caused by the need
for wood to make charcoal for smelting iron
F. Axum conquered in the 340s CE
IV. Axum
A. Lay in the Horn of Africa, in what is now Eritrea and northern Ethiopia
B. Plow-based farming system, unlike most of the rest of Africa, which relied on
the hoe or digging stickvery productive agriculture
C. Wheat, barley, millet, and teff, a highly nutritious grain unique to region
D. Participation in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean commerce
1. Adulis  the largest port on the East African coast
E. Taxes on trade provided a major source of revenue
F. Interior capital city, also known as Axum, center of monumental building
1. Huge stone obelisks, which most likely marked royal graves
G. Language at court, in towns, and commerce was Geez, written in a script
derived from South Arabia
H. To Romans, Axum was the third major empire-following Rome and Persia
I. Axum was introduced to Christianity in the fourth century CE
J. King Ezana, adopted the new religion about the same time as Constantine
1. Linking kingdom religiously to Egypt, where a distinctive Christian
church known as Coptic was established but whereas Egypt became
largely Islamic, half of Ethiopians are still Christians
K. Sixth century CE, Axum mounted a campaign of imperial expansiontook
Kingdom of Meroë and across the Red Sea into Yemen in South Arabia
L. Next several centuriesdecline due to soil exhaustion, erosion, and
deforestationintensive farming as well as the rise of Islam
M. Last coins were struck in the early seventh century CE (a state by 50 CE)
V. Around the Niger River
A. West Africa  a distinctive city-based civilization
1. City of Jenne-jeno
a) But apparent absence of a corresponding state structure
b) Emerged as clusters of economically specialized settlements
VI. The Bantu
A. Most significant development of the classical era in Africa involved the
accelerating movement of the Bantu-speaking peoples into the subcontinent
B. Homeland region in what is now southeastern Nigeria and the Cameroons
C. Migration generated some 400 distinct but closely related languages, known
collectively as Bantu
D. By the first century CE, agricultural peoples speaking Bantu languages
occupied the forest regions of equatorial Africa
E. Slow movement that brought Africa south of the equator a measure of
cultural and linguistic commonality, marking it as a distinct region
F. Farming largely replaced foraging
1. Farmers brought with them both parasitic and infectious diseases to
which foragers had little immunity
G. Iron was another advantage the Bantu migrants had
H. Bantu migrants also brought a common set of cultural and social practices
Europeans often referred to Africa as the “Dark Continent” as in mysterious
continent.
 What geographic factors limited Africa’s contact with Eurasia?
 Yet what part of Africa was clearly incorporated into the Eurasian world?
Why?
 Provide examples of cultural diffusion in Africa’s classical era.
 You are the teacher. What facts must a student know about Meroë?
 You are the teacher. What facts must a student know about Axum?
 You are the teacher. What facts must a student know about Jenne-Jeno?
 You are the teacher. What facts must a student know about the Bantu
migrations?
Strayer Questions:
 How did the history of Meroë and Axum reflect interaction with neighboring
civilizations?
 How does the experience of the Niger Valley challenge conventional notions
of "civilization"?
 In what ways did the arrival of Bantu-speaking peoples stimulate crosscultural interaction?
Write a Thesis Statement: Comparative Civilization and Empire-Building
in Africa/Eurasia
1. The earliest Bantu were
4. The arrival of camels in Africa
(A) Aggressive warriors
(A) Made communication across
(B) Hunting and gathering
the Sahara possible.
peoples
(B) Quickened the pace of
(C) Fishing peoples
communication across the
(D) Agriculturalists
Sahara.
(E) Horsemen
(C) Replaced elephants as the
preferred transport animals
2. Before the tenth century, the
throughout the Sahara.
dominant form of social
(D) Still made travel across the
organization in sub-Saharan
Sahara impossible.
Africa was
(A) City-state
5. In the societies of the sub-Sahara,
(B) Empire
(A) Slaves did not exist.
(C) Kin-based system
(B) Private ownership of land did
(D) Kingdom
not exist.
(E) Theocracy
(C) Gender differentiation did not
exist.
3. Which of the following typically
(D) Currency did not exist.
describes a kin-based society?
(A) Male heads presided over
6. Trade and communications
village affairs.
networks were slower to
(B) The most prominent of the
penetrate sub-Saharan Africa
family heads acted as chiefs.
compared to other regions
(C) A group of villages constituted
because
a district.
(A) Africans had little contact
(D) Ethnic loyalties were focused
with each other.
at the district level.
(B) Africans did not have any
(E) All of the above.
goods that others wanted to
trade for.
(C) There was a language barrier.
(D) There were formidable
geographic barriers to
overcome.