Classical African Societies
1500 B.C.E.- 700 C.E.
Geography
—  The Deserts are largely unsuitable for human life
and also hamper peoples movements.
—  Africa’s largest deserts are the Sahara in the North
and the Kalahari in the South.
—  Each year the desert grows and takes over more
land in Southern edge of the Sahara, the Sahel
The Rainforest
—  Know as nature’s greenhouse the African rainforest
is another largely uninhabitable territory on the
African continent.
—  It produces mahogany and teak trees up to 150ft.
tall. The leaves from these massive trees form a
dense canopy.
—  The tsetse fly is found in the African rainforest and
is deadly to farm animals.
Welcoming Territory
—  Savannas are not just endless plains; they include
mountainous highlands and swampy tropical
stretches.
—  Covered with tall grass and dotted with trees the
savannas stretches across more than 40 percent of
the African continent.
The Northern coast and Southern tip of Africa have
welcoming Mediterranean type climates and fertile
soil.
Bantu Speaking People
—  The Bantu Speaking people one of the greatest
migrations in human history.
—  Beginning in the first few centuries AD and
continuing over the course of 1,500 years these
people came to occupy the southern third of the
continent.
—  Anthropologist theorize that the Bantu societies that
originated in the west Africa were forced to migrate
after an increase in agricultural production sparked
a population boom.
Bantu Migration
—  The Bantu brought with them iron smelting and
agricultural technology.
—  The Bantu shared their skills with the people they
met, adapted their methods to suit each new
environment, and learned new customs.
—  They followed the Congo river through the
rainforest and farmed the riverbanks.
Bantu Migration
Effects
—  Highly adaptable, the Bantu were able to
overwhelm the peoples that they encountered along
the way with iron tipped spears.
—  Also, the Bantu carried disease which non
agricultural groups could not survive.
—  Through exchange in ideas and intermarriage the
Bantu speakers came to occupy the region from the
edge of the Sahara desert to the tip of South Africa.
Kingdom of Aksum
—  Located south of Kush on the Horn of Africa in
what is now the countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
—  Zoskales was said to be the first king of Aksum. He
seized area along the Red Sea and the Blue Nile.
—  Also, Zoskales crossed the Red Sea and took control
of the southwestern Arabian Peninsula.
Askum Trade
—  Aksum was hub for caravan trade from Egypt and
Meroe.
—  Its access to sea trade via the Mediterranean made it
an international trading power.
—  Traders from Egypt, Rome, Persia, India and Arabia
crowded Aksum’s chief seaport, Adulis.
—  Aksumite merchants traded salt, rhinoceros horns,
ivory, tortoise shells, emeralds, and gold.
—  In return they imported cloth, glass, olive oil, wine,
brass, and copper.
Ezana
—  The Kingdom of Aksum reached its height between
325-360 B.C.E. when an exceptionally strong ruler,
Ezana took the thrown.
—  First Ezana captured the part of the Arabian
Peninsula that is modern day Yemen.
—  Then he conquered the Kushites and burned Meroe
to the ground.
P R I M A RY SO U R C E
—  I carried war against [them] when they had
rebelled. . . . I burnt their towns of stone and their
towns of straw. At the same time, my men
plundered [stole] their grain, their bronze, their iron
and their copper, destroyed the idols in their homes,
their stocks of corn and of cotton; and they threw
themselves into the river.
KING EZANA OF AKSUM, quoted in Africa: Past and
Present
Cultural Exchange
—  Merchants exchanged more than raw materials they
shared ideas as well.
—  In his youth Ezana was introduced to Christianity.
—  When he unified the kingdom by making it the
official religion of the Kingdom.
This Mural is located on the wall of one of the oldest
Christian Churches in Aksum
Pillars of
Aksum
•  These huge stone pillars
were erected as
monuments or tomb
markers.
•  To the left, the towering
stone pillar, or stele, was
built to celebrate Aksum’s
achievements.
•  Still standing today, its size
and elaborate inscriptions
make it an achievement in
its own right.
The Fall of Aksum
—  Aksum’s cultural and technological achievements enabled it to
last for 800 years.
—  Between 632 and 750 Islamic invaders conquered vast
territories in the Mediterranean world, spreading their religion
as they went.
—  In 710 they destroyed Adulis. This conquest cut Aksum off
from the major ports along both the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean.
—  To escape the advancing wave of Islam, Aksum’s rulers moved
their capital over the mountains into what is now northern
Ethiopia.
—  Aksum’s new geographic isolation—along with depletion of
the forests and soil erosion—led to its decline as a world
power.
Stateless Societies
—  South of the Sahara, in central Africa many groups
developed systems of governing based on lineages.
—  These societies, known as stateless societies, did not
have a centralized system of power.
—  Instead, authority in a stateless society was balanced
among lineages of equal power so that no one
family had too much control.
—  The Igbo people—also called Ibo—of southern
Nigeria lived in a stateless society as early as the
ninth century.
Stateless Societies
—  Also a series of distinct and specialized economic
groups shared authority and voluntarily used the
service of one another.
—  Archeologist have found few signs of widespread
warfare and deep seated social inequality in their
remains.
—  An occupational caste developed that allowed
members of these communities to marry those only
within their caste.