SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
By Raiyah Nafee, Kah Soon Yap, Karan Sheth, Haider
Nazir, Christopher Yuan, Weichao Zheng
Sub-Saharan Region
● Sub-Saharan Africa refers to the area
below the Sahara Desert
● Above the Sahara Desert is North Africa
● The Sahara Desert acts a natural barrier
blocking the sub-Sahara from North
Africa
● Geographic term rather than political
Sub-Saharan Africa in green
Bantu Migrations
● The Bantu people is a large language-based group that originated from the
Niger River Basin
● Bantu Expansion: around 1000 BCE the Bantu people began migrating
eastward and displaced and/or assimilated with the people already living
there.
● They populated sub-Saharan Africa with many different ethnic groups,
languages, and cultures. An example of the effects of the migration is the
Swahili language which has both Arabic and Bantu influences in it.
● Many groups were organized into stateless societies
● As the Bantu people moved around sub-Saharan Africa, they introduced
ironworking into the areas and is believed to have introduced agriculture
as well
Stateless Societies
● Stateless societies had no centralization of power; power was
balanced between families
● Disputes would be settled by the elders of the families
● Many stateless societies were matrilineal meaning that
heritage would be traced through the mother’s side of the
family and men would marry into the wife's household.
However, men usually were dominant and held authority
Trans-Saharan Trade Begins
● Prior to the third century CE, trans-Saharan trade was very difficult
because of the Saharan Desert. It was hard to get through the
desert and little people tried to trade across the Sahara.
● Around 300 CE the Berber people in North Africa began to use
camels to travel across the desert.
● Camels could cover 60 miles a day while most other pack animals,
such as horses, oxen, and donkeys, couldn’t travel very far in the
desert without rest or water
● African trade resides around gold, salt, ivory, animal hides, and
slaves.
Gold-Salt Trade
● Sub-Saharan Africa had a lot of gold
● Until the 1350s two-thirds of the world’s supply of gold came from subSaharan Africa
● People would either mine for gold or sift for gold in streams
● Gold wasn’t as valuable to sub-Saharans as it was to other peoples
● Gold went north and salt and other goods from the Mediterranean went
south through the trans-Saharan trade
● Gold was brought to the east coast for the Indian Ocean Trade Network
● The gold-salt system remained the same in sub-Saharan Africa except for
the time period between the fall of the Ghana Empire and the rise of the
Mali Empire
Impact of Trans-Saharan Trade
● As trade increased, many rulers saw this as a chance to grow rich and
powerful.
● Rulers taxed the trade in their cities and kingdoms. As a result, kingdoms
grew very quickly and became powerful.
● Some kingdoms grew to become empires such as the Ghana empire and
the Mali Empire.
● Trade not only brought goods and wealth, but ideas as well. Islam had
become popular in North Africa and traders brought Islam south into subSaharan Africa.
Ghana
● The Soninke people were agricultural and called their ruler ghana, or war
chief.
● Muslim traders often passed through the region the Soninke people lived
and began to use the word ghana to refer to that region.
● Ghana became known as Land of Gold
● By the 700s, Ghana had become a kingdom and the rulers grew rich from
taxing the goods traders brought into their territory
● By 800 CE Ghana had become an empire. It had a large army and
controlled trade in the region so it could demand taxes and tributes from
surrounding lands.
● The ruler of Ghana was the military commander, religious leader, and
chief judge.
Ghana (cont.)
● Ghana participated in the gold-salt trade because gold was bountiful in
Ghana and it lacked salt, copper, and iron. Salt, copper, and iron were
more useful than gold to the people of Ghana so they traded gold for them.
● Royal officials made sure trade within the empire was trade and abided by
the laws. They also taxed the goods making the empire wealthy.
● Royal guards protected merchants from bandits.
● The king prevented gold from inflating by keeping gold nuggets in the
royal palace. No one was allowed to have gold nuggets other than the
king, but gold dust was free to circulate. This limited the supply of gold
and kept the price of gold from falling.
Ghana (cont.)
● Ghana rulers converted to Islam and Ghana became a Muslim state by the
11th century. Muslim advisers gained official positions and helped run the
empire.
● Literacy was encouraged among the upper class Muslims so that they could
study the Qur’an
● Food production couldn’t keep up with the growing population and weakened
Ghana for the Muslim conquest.
● In 1076, the Muslim Almoravids of North Africa conquered Ghana. The
Almoravids eventually left, but it had disrupted the gold-salt trade in Ghana
and it never recovered.
● By 1100, Ghana was no longer a military or commercial power and it broke
up into many tribal groups. Some of these groups would later come together
to create the Mali Empire.
Mali
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Islam spread to the land of the bilad alsudan (land of the blacks.)
The spread of Islam was gradual and peaceful.
Takrur becomes the first state to adopt Islam.
Expands under King Sunmanguru. Around 1230, Sundiata, leader of the
Malinke people, defeats Sunmanguru. Despite the fact that both leaders
professed Islam, legends tell of magical powers. However, Sundiata does
establish the Mali Empire.
● Empire depends on an agricultural base and control of trade routes.
● Controlled area from the Upper Niger River heading southwest.
● Control gold and copper trades.
Mali (cont.)
● Mansa Musa helps Mali’s reputation grow.
● However, sometimes spread wealth too much. After his trip to Mecca, the
value of gold in Cairo was lowered for many years.
● Built new mosques and opened Quranic schools.
● Mansa Suleiman also continued to follow Islamic views.
● However, around the 1430s, the rulers could not prevent rebellions from
breaking out. The Tuareg people take back the city of Timbuktu in 1433
and by 1500, the Mali rule over a small portion of land.
Swahili Coast
● Derives its name from the Arabic name sawahil al-sudan (shores of the
blacks.)
● Kilwa was the most important commercial center
● Ibn Battuta- “one of the most beautiful and well-constructed towns in the
world”
● Praised for traditional Muslim values of humility and generosity
Great Zimbabwe
● Located on a plateau south of the Zambezi River
● Farming and cattle herding provide economic growth
● Trade was usually regional, but gold trade in the fourteenth and fifteenth
century brought Great Zimbabwe to its peak
● However, historians believe that an ecological crisis led to the fall of
Great Zimbabwe
Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
● Islam did not influence the sub-Saharan as much as North Africa which
almost became completely Muslim
● Many who did convert to Islam incorporated their animist beliefs.
● Because Islam allowed slavery, slave trade became popular in subSaharan Africa. Many Arab slavers forced the indigenous people into
slavery.
● Islam also undermined women and many societies stopped being
matrilineal
● Many rulers who converted to Islam had Muslims in high government
positions to help them run the state.
Sub-Saharan Africa (1450 CE - 1750 CE)
First European Contacts
-Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal sowed the seeds of tremendous
change of Africa in the early to mid-1400s.
-He and his men cautiously explored farther and farther south along
Africa’s West Coast
-Following their conquest of the Moroccan city of Ceuta in 1450, the
Portuguese became intensely curious to discover the origins of the gold and
slaves were brought to North Africa via established trade routes from the
continent’s sub-Saharan interior
-They also sought to spread Christianity to any lands they might discover,
and counteract the expansion of the rising Ottoman Empire.
European Contacts (cont.)
-These economic, religious, and political motives combined with European
advances in maritime technology during the 15th century to spur the
Portuguese to reach the southern tip of Africa before the century’s end.
-Along the way, they found many West Africans who were experienced in
trade and ready for new contacts that would expand their volume of exports
and imports.
Beginnings of the Slave Trade
-In 1482, the African king Caramansa allowed the Portuguese to open a
trading post on what the Europeans would call the Gold Coast of West
Africa, where vast amounts of African gold were soon traded for goods
from Europe, Asia, and other parts of Africa that arrived on Portuguese
ships.
-Soon after, monarchs such as the oba of Benin and the manikongo of Kongo
sent delegates to Portugal to gather information on the homeland of these
foreign men.
-Satisfied with what they had learned, the traders of Benin continued to
provide the Portuguese with pepper, ivory, and textiles.
-Africa would be forever transformed, and the effects of the of the European
slave trade would be felt in nearly every corner of the world.
Slave Trade(cont.)
-The leaders of Benin chose to restrict contact with the Portuguese by the
1530s. But by then, the king of Kongo had made Catholicism the official
faith of his lands and provided the Portuguese with more and more slaves.
-The Kongolese slave trade soon got out of control, however, with
unauthorized traders resorting to kidnapping to meet the growing demand
for slaves.
-The king’s plea for help from the Portuguese met with no response; the
Portuguese had already begun to turn their attention to finding the route
with the Indian Ocean trade.
-The Manikongo faced rebellion, and by the 1540s, the center of the slave
trade moved farther south, to what was dubbed the Slave Coast.
Portuguese Involvement
• Meanwhile, by the end of the 15th century, the Swahili coast of East
Africa featured a number of prosperous Muslim-ruled trading states.
• In 1505, nearly all of them were attacked and plundered by the
Portuguese, who rounded the southern tip of Africa in their continuing
quest for sea routes to India.
• By the mid-1500s, Portuguese attention shifted to India and colonial
conquests in the New World.
• European involvement in Africa would level off temporarily but as the
17th century unfolded, the seeds of change planted by Henry the
Navigator would begin to burst forth with dramatic consequences.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
• At first, Portugal led the way to change slave trade for Africa and the Americas.
Initially Portuguese planters relied on Amerindian slaves to produce crops.
• However, old world diseases ravaged the indigenous American population, African
slaves were taken across the Atlantic in increasing numbers by the Portuguese,
Spanish, British, and other European colonists.
• By the 17th century, European ships transported large numbers of young African
adults(more males than females) to a life of slavery in the Americas.
• European manufactured goods(guns), Indian textiles, African gold, timber, and
other products found their way into the expanding global network.
• The European fervor for African slaves fueled the growth of a number of a number
of West African kingdoms.
European Colonization
● For the most part, outright European colonization would not take place
until well after 1750.
● Both the Portuguese and the Dutch established African colonies after
1500, however.
● The Dutch East India Company created their Cape Colony, located at the
far southern tip of Africa. It still played a minor role in African affairs, as
big companies such as this started to focus more on Indian Ocean trade
than African commercial ventures.
● Slave trade was still going on as the Cape’s slaves were imported from
South Asia and the East Indies.
Africa and Islam
● While the 15th century marked the beginnings of significant European
contact with Africa, the Islamic world continued to develop strong ties
with the continent. Muslim beliefs and practices spread from the North to
the South via overland trade.
● The Islamic world would maintain a much stronger influence than
Europeans over African culture and politics throughout the period of
1450-1750.
● Nearly all of North Africa was taken over by the Ottoman Empire in the
16th century, but the kingdoms and states of sub-Saharan Africa remained
independent from the Middle East and Europe as a result of geography
and skills of military leaders. However, everything changed when, later,
imperialist Europeans attacked.
Angola
● Also known as Ndongo, it was a small Portuguese trading post to
the south of the Kongo.
● First European colony established.
● It grew into a powerful state from the slave trade, so when the
Portuguese attempted to further exert control, they met
resistance from Queen Nzinga.
● She studied European military tactics and made alliances with
Dutch rivals, fighting the Portuguese for 40 years.
● In the end she was unable to overcome the superior weaponry of
the Portuguese.
The Songhai Empire
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The Songhai Empire succeeded the Ghana and Mali Empires
The Songhai Empire was an Islamic state, connected to the Muslim world through
the trans-Saharan trade.
Sunni Ali consolidated the empire in the Niger River Valley and centralized
power. He also created an imperial navy and developed the city of Timbuktu into
a major Islamic center.
When the Songhai expanded its border into the Sahara, the kingdom of Morocco
successfully crossed the Sahara (losing half of its military force) and defeated the
Songhai army in 1591 in response. However, Morocco was not able to annex Sudan
to the west.
As a result Hausa trading cities in Sudan attracted caravans crossing the Sahara,
which brought textiles, hardware, and weapons. In return they sent gold, textiles,
leather goods, and slaves.
Islamic Slave Trade
● In the Islamic slave trade, male African slaves were soldiers and servants,
in contrast to the plantation slavery in the Americas.
● The majority of African slaves were women who served as concubines,
servants, and entertainers.
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The Central Sudanese kingdom of Kanem-Bornu(800-1893):
o Powerful Islamic state that was important to both the trans-Saharan trade
and the spread of Islam. They traded captives accumulated from wars in
return for firearms and horses.
o One Bornu king, Mai Ali, displayed the Bornu’s new wealth and power during
four pilgrimages to Mecca, bringing a rumored entourage of 15,000 slaves
with him.
In comparison to the Atlantic slave trade, the Islamic slave trade took
more women and children, and slaves were altogether treated better.
● The Islamic slave trade continued after the Atlantic slave trade ended.
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Cultural Influences
Scholars and merchants learned Arabic to communicate with North Africans and to read the
Quran.
● Islamic beliefs and practices as well as legal and administrative systems were used in African
trading cities on the southern edge of the Sahara and the Swahili Coast. By 1750, Islam was
still mainly an urban religion.
● European influence was more limited in Africa. Only Angola had a significant number of
Christians in the 1700s.
● However, during the period of the Atlantic trade, about 8 million Africans were sent to the
Americas in comparison to the 2 million sent to North Africa and the Middle East.
How did this affect Africa?
● Sub-Saharan Africa’s overall population remained very large even at the peak of the slave
trade in the 1700s.
● Africa was very selective in what they received in exchange for slaves: as a result, the limited
amount of manufactured goods couldn’t compete with established African weavers,
metalworkers, and other producers.
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Sub-Saharan Africa (1750 - 1914)
Zulu Kingdom - Southern Africa
● In 1818, Zulu Kingdom was created by Shaka Zulu through military conquest.
● Expanded by raiding neighboring states. Took their cattle and kidnapped women
and children.
● Because of this, people around the Zulu Kingdom banded together to protect
themselves. Created new states like Swaziland and Lesotho.
Sokoto Caliphate (1806 - 1906) - West Africa
● Largest state in West Africa since the 16th century.
● Created by Muslim reformers in the Hausa states. They did not believe their rulers
were true believers of Islam.
● Consisted of conquered Hausa states along with neighboring territories.
End of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
● Great Britain and the U.S outlawed the import of slaves from Africa in
1807. Many other countries followed their lead by 1850.
● The ban drove the price of slaves up and encouraged African rulers to help
smuggle slaves past British naval patrol ships.
● Cuba, Brazil, and some other countries continued with the slave trade.
● Transatlantic slave trade finally ended in 1867.
● Legitimate trade was expanded after the end of the slave trade to
compensate for the decrease of exports.
● Most successful new export was palm oil, which was used to make soap
and candles.
Scramble for Africa
● The “scramble” for Africa is a term used to describe the sudden colonization
of Africa by European powers in the late 19th century.
France and West Africa
● The French built railroads extending from the Senegal River all the way to
upper Niger. This allowed the area to be more accessible by merchants and led
the military conquest of western Sudan.
Conflict over the Congo
● The Congo Basin had a very large natural supply of rubber.
● A journalist that explored the Congo named Henry Morton Stanley convinced
King Leopold II of Belgium to invest his money to open the area up to trade.
● A French military man, Savorgnan de Brazza got a treaty from an African
ruler.
placing the area under the protection of France.
● Led to conflict between France and Belgium.
Scramble for Africa (Pt. 2)
Berlin Conference
● Chancellor of Germany, Otto von
Bismarck called the conference to
resolve any conflicts over control of
areas in Africa and to decide how to
divide the continent.
● Belgium gained control of the Congo,
named the Congo Free State.
● West Africa was occupied by Germany,
France, and Britain.
● Portugal and France got the rest of
equatorial Africa besides the Congo.
Africa’s Colonization
Scramble for Africa (Pt. 3)
South Africa
● This area attracted a lot of European settlers because of its good farmland,
pastures, and the large amount of valuable minerals.
● Diamonds were discovered in 1868, which led to the annexation of the
area by Great Britain, which greatly angered the Afrikaners.
● Cecil Rhodes, the owner of De Beers Consolidated, a diamond company,
used his influence to help convince the British to push into central Africa.
● British defeated the Zulu in a war and exiled their king. The land was
given to white ranchers.
Scramble for Africa (Pt. 3, cont.)
Boer Wars (1880 - 1881, 1899 - 1902)
● The Boer Wars were wars fought by Britain against two states ruled by
Afrikaners, Orange Free State and Transvaal.
● Great Britain wanted to annex these two states because they had very rich natural
deposits of diamond and gold.
● In the First Boer War against the Transvaal Republic, the South African settlers
were victorious.
● The Second Boer War was fought against both Transvaal and the Orange Free
State.
● The Afrikaners had the upper hand in the beginning, however Britain eventually
sent 450,000 troops to defeat their armies. The previously independent republics
became colonies of Great Britain, with relative autonomy.
Sub-Saharan Africa (1914-Present)
Colonial Africa: Economic and Social Changes
● Outside of Algeria, Kenya, and South Africa few Europeans lived in
Africa.
● The colonial power built railroads from coastal cities to mines and
plantations in the interior to transport raw materials to the industrial world,
but few African benefited from these changes.
● Colonial governments took lands from africans and sold or leased them to
European companies or white settlers.
● Where land was divided into small farms, some Africans benefited from
the boom. Farmers in the Gold Coast (present day Ghana) profited from
high price of cocoa, as did palm-oil producers in Nigeria and coffee
growers in East Africa.
Colonial Africa: Economic and Social Changes
● In most of Africa women played a major role in retail trades, selling cloth,
food, and other items in the markets. Many maintained their economic
independence and kept their household finances separate from those of
their husbands
● For many Africans, however, economic development meant working in
European owned mines and plantations. Colonial governments were eager
to develop the resources of the territories under their control but would not
pay wages high enough to attract workers. Instead, they used police
powers to force Africans to work for little or no pay.
● Often, Europeans soldiers and migrants brought diseases such as
tuberculosis, malaria, and smallpox.
Religious and Political Changes
● Christianity was introduced into African
Western missionaries. A major attraction
to Christianity was their schools.
Christian churches associated christian
beliefs with radical ideas of racial
equality and participation in politics.
● Islam spread across sub-Saharan Africa
through trade. Islam emphasizes literacy
(mainly Arabic), and was less disruptive
of traditional African customs.
Early Political Movements & Africa in WWII
● The contrast between the liberal ideas imparted by Western education was realities
of racial discrimination under colonial rule contributed to the rise of nationalism
among education Africans.
● In Senegal, Blaise Diagne agitated for African participation in politics and fair
treatment in the French army during WWI.
● To defend the interests of Africans, Western-educated lawyers and journalists in
South Africa founded the African national Congress.
● World War II brought hardships, such as increased forced labor, inflation, and
requisitions of raw metals in sub-Saharan colonies.
● Many Africans served as soldiers and carriers in Burma, North Africa, and
Europe, where many became aware of Africa's role in helping the allied effort.
Independence in Sub-Saharan Africa
● Independence was achieved in most of sub-Saharan Africa through
negotiation, not revolution. In colonies with significant white settler
minorities, however, the path to independence involved violent protests
and rebellions.
● For the most part, these were nonviolent movements led by intellectuals
and labor activists.
● Major freedom movements began during 1940’s, in South Africa (the
African National Congress/Nelson Mandela), Ghana (Kwame Nkrumah),
and Kenya (Jomo Kenyatta).
● The nations of sub-Saharan Africa had more of a struggle to create
successful independent states.
Decolonization: Road to Freedom
● Decolonization in parts of Africa that had been British and French went smoothly. Both
Britain and France prepared their colonies for freedom by educating natives, allowing
greater native representation in transitional governments, and minimizing the
possibility of inter-ethnic conflict.
● However, not all decolonization processes were non-violent.
o The Mau Mau movements in Kenya departed from Kenyatta’s approach and killed
almost 2,000 people in the 1950s.
o Violence played a substantial part in the decolonization of Zimbabwe. (Rhodesia),
South Africa, Rwanda, Zaire (Belgian Congo), Angola, and Mozambique.
o In Rhodesia, a white-controlled government declared independence from Britain
in 1965. This harshly repressed black natives, who responded with violence. After
a savage conflict, Rhodesia gained independence was renamed Zimbabwe.
Decolonization: Road to Freedom (cont...)
● In 1950s and 1960s world economic expansion and growing support for liberation
overcame African worries about potential economic and political problems that might
follow independence.
● African nationalists were able to take advantage of other legacies of colonial rule as
well.
● Kwame Nkrumah became the prime minister of Ghana, the first British colony in West
Africa to gain independence. Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966 by a group of army
officers.
● Nkrumah joined Kenyan nationalist Jomo Kenyatta, who sought out freedom and
equality in Kenya.
● In Kenya, a small movement called Mau Mau, where violent protesters attacked British
officials and wealthy villages.
● Kenyatta, after being released from jail in 1961, negotiation with the British to write a
constitution for independent Kenya. Kenyatta was elected the first president.
Decolonization: Road to Freedom
● Belgium pulled out of Rwanda in 1962, having artificially exacerbated
differences between two tribes, the Hutu and the Tutsi. Within these tribes
we have seen major differences that have caused warfare and death.
● When the Belgians free the Congo, post independence violence was so
pervasive from 1960 to 1964 that the United Nation had to intervene. The
prime mover of the Congolese independence was Patrice Lumumba, who
was assassinated by political rivals.
Decolonization: Road to Freedom
● Decolonization in South Africa was tainted by a clash between white and black
citizens. The government that declared freedom from Britain was controlled by the
white minority, descended from Dutch Boers called Afrikaners. The Afrikaners
practiced the policy of apartheid, a system of extreme racial segregation.
● By the 1980s, internal unrest, economic problems, and international revulsion
were placing pressure on South African government to abandon apartheid.
● The Zulu confederation and the African National Congress (ANC) opposed the
white government.
● The ANC’s leader, Nelson Mandela, gained the status of sympathetic dissident
during his long imprisonment by the white authorities. After gaining their
independence, in 1994, free elections resulted in the ANC’s victory with Mandela
as their new president.
Nelson Mandela
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Mandela was born in South America in 1918. He was first in his family to receive a formal
education, Mandela completed his primary studies at a local missionary school.
Nelson Mandela’s commitment to politics and the ANC grew stronger after the 1948 election
victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party, which introduced a formal system of racial
classification and segregation—apartheid—that restricted nonwhites’ basic rights and barred them
from government while maintaining white minority rule.
On December 5, 1956, Mandela and 155 other activists were arrested and went on trial for treason.
After attaining his freedom, Nelson Mandela led the ANC in its negotiations with the governing
National Party and various other South African political organizations for an end to apartheid and
the establishment of a multiracial government.
South Africa has seen democratic progress and a steady decline in armed conflicts since 1991. A
key change came in South Africa in 1994, when a long-time political prisoner Nelson Mandela and
his ANC won the elections in which the African majority could participate equally.
Mandela died in December, 2013.
Rwandan Genocide
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Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced political instability, military coups, civil wars, and conflicts
over resources since independence.
Years before decolonization, different tribes in the regions generated endless tension, and it
continued till after independence as well.
In 1994, the political leaders of Central African nation Rwanda incited Hutu people to massacre
their Tutsi neighbors.
Although the Tutsi constituted for about 10% of the Rwandan population and the Hutu with almost
90%, the Tutsi were given the leadership positions. Once the Belgium’s left, the Hutu gained
control of the government, which upset the Tutsi.
On April 6, 1994, President Juvénal Habyarimana of Rwanda (a Hutu leader) was on a flight back
to Rwanda when an air missile shot the plane out of the sky, killing him and everyone else on the
flight. This pushed the Hutu’s into an extremist mindset, which began the Rwandan Genocide. In
nearly 100 days, the Hutu extremists killed approximately 800,000 Tutsi men, women, and children
with clubs and guns, and raped over 50,000 women.
The genocide ended with foreign intervention to stop prevent it from spreading to neighboring
countries.
Rwanda Genocide
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