African+Politics+and+Society+In+Early+Modern+Times+(695-699)+2

= African Politics and Society In Early Modern Times and The Kingdoms of Central and South Africa (695-705) = = = =The States of West Africa and East Asia=

Ghana > Mali > Songhay > Kanem-Bornu, Oyo, Asante > Swahili Decline

Ghana- estabished in the 4th or 5th century Mali- 15th century Songhay Empire
 * Controlled taxing and trans- Saharan trade
 * Influenced much of west Africa
 * continued controlling trans- Saharan trade
 * based in the trading center of Gao
 * ruler- Sunni Ali
 * goal to conquer his neighbors to consolidate the empire
 * brought trading cities Timbuktu and Jenne under his control
 * flourishing city-state
 * Songhay Administration
 * heirarchy of command
 * navy to patrol Niger River
 * enabled Sunni Ali's successors to extend authority to the Sahara, east, and west
 * Emperors all Muslims- promoted Islam
 * Trans-Saharan trade
 * Brought salt, textiles, and metal goods for gold and slaves
 * Fall of Songhay
 * Moroccan army trekked across the Sahara
 * Empire crumbled, and that led to small, regional empires and city states
 * Some of the kingdoms were Kanem- Bornu, Oyo, and Asante
 * Coast city-states had commercial relations with European merchants
 * hurt city-states like Mali and Songhay because they lost their trans- Saharan trading partners
 * Swahili Decline- East city-states fell
 * Portuguese naval expeditions led to the doom of the East city-states
 * Disrupted trade patterns and city- states never recovered

The Kingdoms of Central Africa

 * Kongo, Ndongo, Luba, and Lunda
 * Kingdom of Kongo
 * best known central African state because of several written records
 * 14th century- 18th century
 * Centralized state- officials oversaw military, judicial, and financial affairs
 * 1483- Portuguese fleet arrived in Congo river and established commercial relations with the kingdom
 * turned into close political and diplomatic relations as well (good!)
 * Kings of Kongo even converted to Christianity and took it very seriously to establsih closer relations with Portuguese merchants
 * King Afonso 1 became a devoted Roman Catholic and wanted to convert all of his subjects as well.
 * Kongo had so many churches that it was referred to as the "Kongo of the Bell"
 * Slave Raiding in Kongo
 * Portuguese merchants sometimes went into Africa and made their own agreements with people selling slaves (trading weapons for slaves)
 * Some portuguese moved to Kongo and married there
 * Portuguese colonist went to war with Kongo... no more good relations between Portugal and the Kongo
 * Portuguese won and gradually withdrew and turned focus to Ndongo for more profitable business
 * The Kingdom of Ndongo
 * Referred to as Angola by the Portuguese because the kings were called ngola.
 * Attracted wealth by trading with Portuguese
 * Portuguese founded a small colony there in 1575- goal was to establish a colony that would support large-scale trading in slaves
 * Queen Nzinga- led spirited resistance against Portuguese
 * Goal- drive Portuguese from her land, expel the Dutch, create a vast central African empire embracing the entire lower Congo basin
 * The Portuguese Colony of Angola
 * Queen died, Portugues tightened control and took over angola

The Kingdoms of South Africa

 * Kingdoms dominated by political affairs in South and Central Africa
 * Increased wealth because East African states wanted their gold, ivory, and slaves
 * Europeans created relationships with these people because they wanted to build a trading post at Cape Town
 * Dutch arrived to establish settlements
 * Led to the formation of the Dutch and British colonies- Europe highly valued these colonies

Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
-Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
 * Islam and Christianity attracted increasing interests
 * Islam was in commercial centers of west Africa and Swahili city-states of eats Africa
 * 16th century, the city Timbuktu had a prominent Islamic university and 180 schools that taught the Quran
 * African Muslims blended Islam with indigenous beliefs and customs
 * They created a syncretic brand of Islam where men and women can associate with one another on much more familiar terms
 * Their brand of Islam offended the Muslims and was considered to be impure

- The Fulani and Islam
 * Fulani: A pastoral people who, for centuries kept herd of cattle in the savannas of west Africa
 * late 17th century, they settled in cities
 * They observed a strict form of Islam
 * 1680 they formed military campaigns to establish Islamic states and impose their own brand of Islam in west Africa
 * The Fulanis didn't kick out the other religions but founded a very powerful state and promoted the spread of Islam
 * the campaigns stregthened Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa and laid a foundation for new rounds of Islamic stated building and conversions in the 19th and 20th centuries

- Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa
 * Christianity made compromises with the other religions
 * the Portuguese community supported the priests and missionaries who introduced Roman Catholic Christianity as a foundation for commercial and political alliances with portugal
 * Christian teachings blended with the african traditions to form syncretic cults

- The Antonian movement -American Food Crops in Sub-Saharan Africa -Population Growth __**ZK**__
 * The Antonian movement was an influential syncretic cult in Kongo
 * it began in 1704 when Dona Beatriz proclaimed that St. Anthony of Padua had possessed her and chosen her to communicate his messages
 * St. Anthony was a 13th century Franciscan missionary and popular teacher, he became a patron saint of Portugal
 * He was popular with Portuguese Christians
 * Dona gained a reputation for working miracles and curing diseases
 * She used that to promote her own brand of African Christianity
 * She urged Kongolese to ignore European missionaries and heed her disciples instead
 * 1706 she was arrested and was proven to be a false prophet
 * She was burned at the stake but the Antonian movement didn't stop
 * Social Change in Early Modern Africa**
 * Despite increased state-building activity and political turmoil, long-established patterns were still followed by some, such as kinship groups.
 * Kinship groups- sometimes the basis for social and political organization on a village level.
 * Prominent individuals would organize the affairs of the groups and discipline those who violated community standards.
 * Interaction with European peoples brought change to African society
 * Trade brought European textiles and metal goods
 * Trade brought new crops to sub-Saharan Africa, including manioc, maize, and peanuts
 * Manioc was the most important of these because of its high yield and it thrived in tropical soils.
 * By the 18th century bread from manioc flour had become a staple food in west and central Africa, leading to a steady population growth
 * 1500- 34 million, 1600- 44 million, 1700- 52 million, 1800- 60 million
 * Even more remarkable because it took place during a period of forced migration to the New World (slavery)