African Societies – Similarities and Differences

Chapter 8 (1 of 4)

African Diversity

There was no dominant state or religion in Africa

Africans very diverse making it hard to

generalize about them (each group different)

Diverse = Different

Stateless Societies States emerged, but many stateless

Power shared by familiesNo kings, so no need for taxesDisputes settled easily, lot of open land to move to

Could be largeNo central powerDifficulties = hard to raise

army and defend itself

vs. organized states or

raise money for public

works

Though Diverse, some similarities Existed in African Society

Bantu people spread out, so

language similar

Even as Islam spread to Africa, these beliefs still held

Animism common throughout Africa – though local practices differed

Many believed in creator god and lesser gods

Believed in good and evil (witches evil and had to be eliminated) – similar

view to Europeans

Ancestors who founded land seen as holy, so land was holy (religion,

economics, and history closely linked)

Overall, African religion = provided view of how world worked and code

of ethics

Had been involved in trade with other parts of the world

for a while

Economies varied greatly from region

to region

Agriculture and skilled ironwork spread rapidly

throughout

Trade (especially w/Arabs increased

greatly - led to some big cities w/professional

traders – women involved too)

North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa at Trade Disadvantage

Traded away valuable resources (gold, ivory, salt) for expensive

manufactured goods

Africa didn’t gain much new technology and manufacturing

through this trade

Islam Comes to North Africa in the 600s

North Africa had been part of classical world for a long time already

Christianity had already

spread to the area towards

the end of the Roman

era

By 670, Muslims

controlled northeast

Africa , called

Ifriqiya

Soon after, Muslims got

control of northwest

Africa, called Maghrib

The North Africans

converted rapidly to

Islam

The Berbers

AlmoravidsReform movement within

the Berbers. Practiced stricter version of Islam

and spread religion through jihad.

AlmohadisIslamic reformers within

the Berbers, key to spreading Islam to sub-

Saharan Africa and Spain through jihad

Berbers = Africans from Sahara Desert (indigenous people)

The Berbers created states in North Africa

Islam Attractive to Africans

Example of social stratification that

still existed = punishment for

killing man twice as much as for killing woman

The kings and rulers were the first to convert

(they used Islam to enhance their

power)

Egalitarian, so African converts would be equal to Arab Muslims

(though stratification still

existed)

Christianity Arrives 1st in Africa (Before Islam)

EGYPT

Coptic Christians = Christians of Egypt, 1st

universal religion in Africa

Coptic Christians had spread Christianity from

Egypt up the Nile to Nubia

Egypt and Ethiopia = Christian, even before

Romans converted

Arabs conquered Egypt, but Copts remained

ETHIOPIA

Click map for video on Coptic Christians

Ethiopia

Ethiopia grew when King Lalibela conquered

surrounding lands from Axum

Formed from the trading kingdom of Axum

EthiopiaThe Ethiopian Highlands -

Ethiopians lived in mountainous area so they

learned to use terrace farming

Ethiopians built many great buildings, especially massive churches which

they built from rockterrace farming

Ethiopian Religious Isolation

Ethiopia was cut off from other Christian areas (like Byzantine Empire) so it developed Christianity

independently

Ethiopia was (and still is) surrounded by Muslims countries, which caused friction (and still causes

problems today)

Ethiopia Surrounded

Ethiopia almost

conquered by Muslims in 1542, but

Portuguese helped stop the takeover

Portuguese tried to bring

the Ethiopians into the Roman Catholic

Church, but failed

Ethiopia remained an independent, and Christian kingdom, and

is mostly Christian to

this day