This tradition of West African sculpture arose in a much broader context of mask-making and statuary in wood and ivory, which covered much of sub-Saharan Africa. The African History is a number one educational website that features General history of Africa which include Ancient & Pre-colonial Africa, Ancient African civilizations, Empires/Kingdoms, Great Ancient African rulers, African Culture, global black history and news. These, as elsewhere in the world, had specialist activities ensuring fertility of women and soil, for example, or providing wealth. 1981-1988) is a collection of historical studies by a diverse group of historians. New findings from a study of 12 diverse groups in Africa shed new light on the origin of modern humans, ancient . This crosses the content from its west coast to the east coast. In the forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin, yams and plantains were the staple crop. Copper was also an important trade commodity, with trade routes running outwards from the copper belt in modern Zambia. It was not well suited to the milder, temperate climate of South Africa. In most patrilineal societies womens status tended to be less favorable. The Sahara desert forms a major barrier to contacts between the cities and states of the Mediterranean region and the peoples to its south. To survive in these harsh conditions a person needed his kin around him. Here, captives of both sexes were settled in royal estates and set to work there, effectively as serfs. Your access to this site was blocked by Wordfence, a security provider, who protects sites from malicious activity. On the other hand, to maintain status and authority required a Big Man to be generous why else would other men want to be his followers? Gumov vanika do kufra Fiat Doblo Maxi od 2010 (2-miesta) Fiat DOBLO 2/2010- autodiely, nhradn diely. It is inhabited by the San hunter-gatherer people who have adapted their lifestyle to this forbidding environment over 20,000 years. ZGEzYzEwNGE3M2M4NDVjZWFiNDg4OTE5MzljZGNmY2UyN2ViOTc1YTZmMTRk As we have seen, the only major trading towns in these regions were on the Swahili coast of the Indian Ocean. OTIxY2QzNGMwMmQ0OGI0YWIzNDFhOThjNGU4ZTVhM2IzYjQyOTkzYjMwZmNk Such traders were men, and they ranged from single itinerant traders with perhaps a donkey to carry his goods, to those in charge of caravans of donkeys or, in the desert, of camels. Highly advanced and sophisticated African civilizations, cultures, societies, and statessuch as Ancient Egypt, Kush/Nubia, Axum, Ghana, Mali, and Asanteevolved throughout the continent from the ninth century before the Christian era (BCE) to the nineteenth century CE.African political systems and institutions were traditionally based on kinship and lineage (i.e., common ancestry . There were many African societies which have been classified by political historians as stateless or de-centralized. Heredity counted for much, as in most societies, premodern and modern; passing status down from father to son was an important dynamic. The trading classes were predominantly, perhaps exclusively, Muslim. OTBhNmZkZTE4ZDBjMTQzMTljMWY4NDIyMjYxZmIwY2JkZjc4OTk4ZGE1OWMx Those suspected of witchcraft were commonly relatives or neighbors who would benefit from a persons misfortune; and especially women whose age, childlessness, deformity or demeanor suggested bitterness. The herding way of life probably dated to the third millennium BCE, and preceded agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Those humans whose livelihood depended on adventuring into the bush hunters above all but also herbalists and iron workers, who needed wood for their furnaces were regarded with awe, for they must be protected by strong magic to survive such trips. Art, literature and culture Gender and age differentials MzcwNTgyZmZmMzczNDJkYzBjMmNjNmRjNTg1N2I5ZjkyMjExNjNjOGY5NTFh Some of these clearings became large enough, over generations, to include many villages and so become the basis for chiefdoms, or even kingdoms. In case of divorce she often lost all rights to her children, a cruel policy used to impose more rigorous female chastity than was demanded elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. As we have seen, different African peoples specialized in different modes of food production hunter-gathering (and fishing), nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralism, and cultivation of crops. One other consequence of African underpopulation was the prevalence of the polygamy (see below). Other states were built around sacred shrines and their custodians, who enjoyed a concentration of religious authority which they were able to convert into political power. All this implies that womens status in African societies was low, and in some this was indeed the case, especially amongst cattle-herders. Conditions in much of sub-Saharan Africa make wresting a secure subsistence from the land a major challenge. In the Kingdom of Axum, like many other kingdoms of its time, there was a social structure or hierarchy level. They were willing to put down tools and stop work when they felt their independence was being threatened. Funding and operating them required large amounts of capital and large-scale, disciplined organization. There was constant tension between the generations, which could spill over into real violence. West Africa had the oldest, densest and most enduring urban tradition, with famous cities such as Timbuktu, Gao, Jenne and Kano. Camels were employed in the long-distance trans-Saharan trade, and donkeys were the normal mode of transport in the West African savannah. The unequal access to women made for severe tensions between males of different generations the young men felt frustration, envy and anger with the older men for monopolizing the female sex. In southern Africa the kingdom centered on Great Zimbabwe was situated on a gold trade route. They were much more likely to have to go and live in their husbands familys village after marriage, which put them in a comparatively powerless position. This is most marked in eastern, central and southern Africa during the second millennium CE, at the start of which population levels were at a very low level. The term Bantu is sometimes used to describe all Africans and African culture in general. Some of these village clusters would experience the next step of evolving into small chiefdoms; and groups of chiefdoms might eventually be united (usually by force) into a single kingdom. Egyptians believed that the gods controlled the universe. Like the gold miners they were also hereditary, and in fact formed a distinct ethnic group within desert society. Age sets were the mark of militarized, mobile societies which lived by cattle-keeping, but also by cattle-raiding and territory-taking. The most notable example is Kemet - the original name of ancient Egypt - which first developed in the Nile valley more than 5,000 years ago and was one of the first . Metalwork held a special place in African culture. It was not until the coming of iron technology that large-scale settlement of the West African and Equatorial regions, and of eastern, central and southern Africa, was able to begin. If the demands of royal authority became too onerous, in the form of heavy taxes, say, or the demands made for public projects or service in the royal army, people could (and did) simply up and leave en masse. Click here to be redirected to our dedicated TimeMaps help section. This would exacerbate the already existing social fault-lines which afflicted all such societies. Originally, there were two Egyptian kingdoms. Everyone on the community would take part, but the central roles were reserved for the mediums with their trance-dancing. Famine was another source of slaves, causing people to sell themselves, or their children, into slavery in order to survive. YzZiNWViMjQ5Iiwic2lnbmF0dXJlIjoiNTc2NWJhZDg5MGU4Y2RkZTIxYTFi Also the leaders were chosen if they were the strongest to beat everyone who opposed them or the smartest as in the most strategic (Adams, 2016). This reflects the much more limited role of trade outside West Africa. Most of this was within Africa itself, but as we have seen above, thousands of people were exported to North Africa and the Middle East each year. Pastoralists had come down the Nile Valley and then spread out across the grasslands of Africa, down as far as the Great Lakes region of central Africa. The caste system in India is not the only cultural institution designed to create divisions between social classes. That said, African oral culture was exceptionally rich, with an enormous store of myths, stories, poems and aphorisms. The unequal access to women made for severe tensions between males of different generations the young men felt frustration, envy and anger with the older men for monopolizing the female sex. Elsewhere, transport being limited to human porterage meant that there was little long-distance trade. Cleverness, bravery, charm, charisma and aggression could provide the success to bring high status and abundant wealth in many circumstances. ZWFhZmI1NmY5ZjVhZjJjNjYxYTFjNzUxMjgzZTE4MGZhOWIyODQyZWE4ZGIz NzlkMGVmMDZkZjMzN2QyN2NjYTRkMGVkOTczNzJjZGYxZTAxZDM3MjAwYWJj In times of famine, the people took to foraging, braving the wilderness to do so. The grasslands of East Africa spread eastwards almost to the Indian Ocean, where a narrow belt of forest hugs the coastline. Although the majority of Africans were farmers, at least from the late 1st millennium onwards, large tracts of land were inhabited by nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists. As well as the staple crops, cultivators have grown sometimes dozens of other crops to which their locality is suited in an effort to reduce the impact of poor harvests. In river floodplains communities have constructed mounds raised above the flood level from which to take advantage of the rich silt deposited by the river waters. Apart from the Nile, all these are blocked by rapids fairly near their mouths, as a result of which seagoing craft have not been able to sail far into the interior of Africa. To have children was essential to an individuals social standing, to their welfare in old age, to their survival as ancestors, and to their lineages existence as an independent group in competitive and often violent societies. First, the African languages were solidly rooted: three languages (Zulu, Xhosa, and Sotho) are spoken by over two million people each, and the first two are mutually understandable. The General History of Africa ( Ki-Zerbo, et al. The 25th dynasty was a line of pharaohs who originated in the Kingdom of Kush that reigned in part or all of Ancient Egypt for nearly a century, from 744 to 656 BC. YWIzMzRhYjk5MGRlMDRiYzhlZmIyMjQ5ZjgwODE5MTIxZjAwNjdhODZiM2Y4 These nomadic groups traveled continuously for food,. The staple crops varied throughout sub-Saharan Africa. 7th-13th century). OWM2MGJhN2I4ZTEwYzE2ZWQ2NDg2N2UzNTJhMWExYjMzMDUxMzM2ZjYzZGU0 Their inhabitants regulated their affairs by means of commonly-accepted custom, relying on shamans or priests at area shrines for mediation, hierarchies of titled individuals of varying ranks who had moral authority within their communities, and/or in some cases on secret societies. This crosses much of the continent from east to west, from the Atlantic coast to the highlands of Ethiopia. The usual form of marriage was through bride-wealth a groom exchanged a portion for his wealth to a brides family in order to marry her. This makes the huge effort of clearing even small areas of very dense forest worthwhile. In many places herders and cultivators, or cultivators and hunter-gatherers, lived in close proximity with each other, exchanging products on a regular basis. Social mobility Iron was also an important regional trade commodity, as major smelting areas were only to be found in locations where abundant wood for the furnaces was available. Even the Swahili trading ports of East Africa such as Lamu, Mombasa, Kilwa and Zanzibar, home to a sophisticated Arab-African culture, were strung out along the coastline with great distances between them. 4.7. One group in African society, which made up probably a tiny proportion of the whole but which had an influence out of all proportion to its size, were the traders. Egypt and Nubia were both complex civilizations ruled by a monarchy and the leader was often considered the god on Earth In Africa it has become clear that characteristics depend on economic development. The ancient structure is the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. These terms are used to describe societies that did not have a well-defined and complex or centralized systems of government, such as political systems of Ghana, Oyo or Zimbabwe that you studied in Module Seven A In contrast to all this, anthropologists found that the pygmies who inhabited the deep forests, and who relied for their survival on its produce, regarded the forests as innately good, and the lands surrounding it as fearful. By taxing the trade as it passed through their territory and using the wealth gained to build up a body of warrior retainers, powerful chiefs were able to bring neighboring communities under their control and form the nucleus of a kingdom. The savannah regions of West Africa specialized in millet and fonio, and further south, where rainfall was sufficient, sorghum. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, this often took the form of inter-generational tensions between elder males with multiple wives and younger males with no wives. The gold miners of West Africa formed a hereditary, and in some ways privileged, group of workers. In these circumstances the population might grow to a point where the availability of good land grew short. Canoes came in all sizes on the great rivers, and were probably the cheapest form of transport; but, of sub-Saharan rivers, only the Niger and Congo were navigable for any distance along their length. African Kingdoms arose in a variety of ways. The abundant insect life of the tropics makes for a very high prevalence of serious diseases, for both humans and their animals; this greatly constrains the rates at which populations can grow. J. Clyde Mitchell, The Yao Village: a Study in the Social Structure of a Malawian Tribe. Tenkamenin was in management of the traded gold along the Sahara Desert into West Africa. The Awilu was the top most class in the social hierarchy of ancient Babylonia. Ironically, this attractive landscape posed a barrier to the spread of traditional farming southward, as sub-Saharan agriculture had adapted itself to tropical conditions. In some cases such children were castrated as a further measure to reduce ambition they would not then be able to establish an independent dynasty. Explain the social structure, unique aspects, and decline of Great Zimbabwe . This would exacerbate the already existing social fault-lines which afflicted all such societies. The land, much of which is hills and plateaux, is covered with grasslands, with some sub-tropical forests on the coast. In West Africa, the slow multiplication of population concentrations laid the basis for further expansion. NWIyZWQ1YTA3MjZkYTQzOWRjMzhmYTJkYjAyNzViOGRjNjIxMGM0YTRjNGJl Surrounded as they were by vast stretches of bush, agricultural villages and the human societies they sheltered were fragile places, always under threat from the encroaching forest. The absence of roads very labour-intensive for scattered communities to construct and maintain wheeled vehicles such as carts could not be used. Crafts were usually hereditary, and expertise was often a closely-guarded secret of particular kin-groups. One way in which the older generation could impose its control on the younger was through initiation. The Mali empire, for example, had secretaries to conduct foreign correspondence, but its internal administration only employed word of mouth. Here are eight of Africa's greatest ancient civilizations. social structure, in sociology, the distinctive, stable arrangement of institutions whereby human beings in a society interact and live together. Stateless peoples They assimilated into society by reaffirming . The resulting dissent, fueled by, The larger the state the more resources it could commit to defense and expansion. Such was their reputation for effective healing that the early Europeans resorted to witch doctors, including Christian missionaries. To the Western mind, at least, this aspect of religion was indistinguishable from magic, and was in the hands of mediums, priests, diviners and healers. This came from exactly the same mix of European contact and American agriculture as the new crops; it was the Atlantic Slave Trade. In Ghana Mali, and later in Songhai, kings ruled, but there were no queens, as odd as it was. In a few, more sophisticated kingdoms, such as Songhai, power was more centralized, with the state divided into provinces ruled by governors appointed by the king. These were the miners. But this use of the term is inaccurate; Bantu peoples make up only about a third of Africa . To the south of the Sahara desert is the Savannah zone. In the social pyramid of ancient Egypt . The resulting dissent, fueled by machismo, ambition, or desire for land, might lead to the exodus of a group of young men to a new location. Sometimes the growth of these village clusters went unchecked by major famine or disease for a long time. Mostly the colonizers centralized power in the hands of the chiefs of the native administration so that these chiefs could better accomplish the tasks given them, like the collection of taxes. ZTBhMDQ4MWZjMjIzYTBiMjFlOTFiZWYwZDcxMGI4YjMwYzhkYWEwMDgwZTFk They were now in a position to acquire wives and found their own family lines. Much craft work in Africa, as in all pre-modern societies, was done on a part-time basis by farmers, particularly women. In most territorial kingdoms, local rulers who had been defeated were not eliminated, but became vassal rulers. At an individual and family level, dealing with the challenge to build up numbers manifested itself in the supreme importance attached to the production of children. As a result, production was often labour-intensive, in a part of the world where labour was already scarce. In a world where land was plentiful, the poor were those who lacked the labour to work it. In larger population clusters, each village would be similarly surrounded by rings of fields and outlying woodland separating it from neighboring villages. Anthropologists have noted that much of the education of the young has involved attaining an incredibly detailed knowledge of soils and plants, and their properties. Ancient Africa's government was not very stable because everyone was not unified this is because every village had a different leader. We also aim at promoting tourism across the African continent. Although they originated in the Indian Ocean, they played no major role in East African trade.