From Slavery to Freedom
th
9 ed.
Chapter 1
Ancestral Africa
An Ancient Land and People
 Ecology of Africa
 Most of Africa in tropics; northern and southern
tips have moderate, Mediterranean climate
 Various ecological zones distinguishable in
West Africa
 Ecological diversity affected social development
 Significant change in ecology over time;
desiccation
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African
climate and its
impact on
development
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An Ancient Land and People
 The Bantu Migration
 About 2,000 African languages can be classified
into four linguistic groups:
 Kosian (southern); Afro-Asiatic (northern); Nilo-
Siharan (north-central); Niger-Congo (equatorial and
southern)
 Most native languages belong to the Niger-
Congo group


4
This linguistic dominance believed to be the result of a twowave migration of Bantu speakers
The first wave eventually met with the second, creating an
interconnectedness among various groups
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An Ancient Land and People
 Iron Technology
 Production of steel as early as 600 B.C.E.
 Nok people important early iron-age society
 Nok Pottery and Sculpture
 Nok terracotta figures dating from 500 B.C.E. to
200 C.E. are oldest evidence of advanced,
organized society in the sub-Sahara
 Copper Technology
 Use of copper and copper alloy widespread
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Early Commercial Networks
 West African Trade Routes
 Ecological conditions necessitated specialization
and trade
 Trans-Saharan trade connected West Africans
with people and goods from distant places
 Gold, Africa’s most valuable trade item
 Specific groups, known as dyula, dominated
long-distance trade
 Used complex system of weights and measures, money
 Developed a contact language to communicate
 Earliest converts to Islam
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Trans-Saharan trade routes
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Early Commercial Networks
 Interregional Trade
 Ethnic groups linked into regional networks by
inland waterways
 Trade facilitated by great West African rivers –
the Niger, the Gambia, the Benue, and the Volta
– and interlacing lakes, lagoons, and streams
 Merchants used slaves and draft animals to carry
cargo along overland trade routes
 Internal Slave Trade
 Many slaves came from the decentralized interior
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West Africa river system
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African Slavery
 African Slavery
 Slavery existed from earliest known history of
Africa
 Slavery in European Communities
 Unfree status not unique to Africa
 Coerced labor, chattel slavery, serfdom common in
Europe in the Middle Ages
 Slaves in Africa
 Many slaves used to carry goods on trade routes
 Most slaves in Africa were women
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African Slavery
 Slaves and Status
 Slave ownership validated status and prosperity
 “Continuum” of unfree status
 Some slaves able to amass wealth and influence
 Slaves in the Economy
 Importance to economy varied among states
 Prevalence of slaves and slave-owning classes
set stage for commercial network linking
Europeans and complicit Africans in slave trade
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The Great Empires
 Ghana’s Trading Empire
 11th century – Ghana had large army and
lucrative trade across Sahara
 Imports exchanged for ivory, slaves, and gold
 King taxed imports and exports
 Late 11th century economic decline brought on
by drought
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The Great Empires
 Mali’s Rise
 Emergence as a power in 1235
 Successful revolt under Sundiata Keita gave
Mali control over internal trade routes
 Mansa-Musa ruled from 1312 to 1337
 Mansa-Musa’s Pilgrimage
 Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in 1324
 Mali became powerful and well-organized
political state
 Influence did not decline until early 15th century
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Mansa Musa portrait on
fourteenth-century Catalan atlas
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The Great Empires
 The Rise of Songhay
 Songhay rose to power under Sonni Ali
 Built river navy
 Achieved dominance in West Africa
 Askia Muhammad’s Reforms
 Reigned from 1493 to 1529
 Songhay most powerful state in West African history
 Askia Muhammad instituted many social, political and
economic reforms after trip to Mecca in 1497

15
Most significant reforms were educational
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View of the city of Timbuktu
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The Great Empires
 Dichotomy of Sovereignty
 Division between central and local authority
 Kings sensitive to possibility of conflict within
their territories
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Other States
 Other States
 Village states flourished in 15th and 16th centuries
 The Mossi States
 Five loosely confederated states
 Governors of each state composed council of
state
 Efficient political and military system
 Emperor was absolute
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Other States
 The Hausa States
 Hausa city-states grew from trade relations with
other African states and North Africa
 Each city retained its own identity
 The Kingdom of Benin
 Known for bronze and copper artistry
 Also wielded substantial military might
 Artistic renderings show veneration of both male
and female authority
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Other States
 The Christian Kongo
 Voluntarily converted to Catholicism under king
Nzinga a Nkuwu
 Baptized by Portuguese; established trade and religious
relations with them
 In Kongo, Africans controlled church
 Catholic worship melded with indigenous beliefs
 Ndongo-Matamba
 Queen Njinga spent most of reign fighting off
Portuguese encroachment
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Other States
 Great Zimbabwe
 Benefited from control of gold, ivory, and cattle
 Famous for stone walls and towers, elliptical
building
 Linked to Swahili coastal trade
 The Swahili Coast
 Peopled by African, Arab, Persian, and Indian
traders
 11th century on, blended African and Arab ways
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