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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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The use of camels became very popular because they were able to travel long distances before needing water. Camels replaced horses and donkeys. Arab conquerors brought Islam to north Africa. The region became a region of commerce and communication which led to Muslims to explore trade across the Sahara.

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Men largely monopolized public authority. Even though this is true, woman in sub-Saharan Africa had more opportunities than women in other countries. 

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Men largely monopolized public authority. Even though this is true, woman in sub-Saharan Africa had more opportunities than women in other countries. 

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Families were responsible for the distribution and cultivation of food harvested.

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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Trans-Saharan caravans were traveling into the eastern hemisphere from the west, and many mariners were using sea lanes through the Indian Ocean. Specifically, Indian and Persian sailors had visited east African coasts circa 500 b.c.e.

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Diviners were mostly intelligent men, but sometimes women as well, who would travel through villages whenever there was any sort of distress. Whether it be illness, crop failure, or anything else, they would consult many different sources in order to restore normality.

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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The Islamic merchants trekked over the desert to establish commercial relations with societies in sub-Saharan west Africa

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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Merchants sailing the Indian Ocean visited east African coasts and made colonies on Madagascar. The population grew and eventually made settlements on the coasts on east Africa. This started agriculture production and maritime trade.

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Women were allowed to hold positions of power, were able to influence public affairs, and could be merchants. There were also some all-female military units. Even when Islam became popular in Africa, women still enjoyed rights that other women did not have in Islamic countries.

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The Axum Empire falls, a new dynasty rises and promotes Christianity as a foundation of their culture.

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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By the fourth and fifth centuries, Malay seafarers had traveled into the western Indian Ocean and established colonies on the island of Madagascar.

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Swahili language migrated to
new  areas due to the spreading of language through sea-fairers on their maritime affairs.

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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Integration into trans-Saharan networks brought lots of wealth and considerable power to Ghana

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Many districts fell under the leadership of powerful chiefs and those chiefs conquered their neighbors and made their lands into smaller kingdoms. Some of these kingdoms turned into several regions of sub-Saharan Africa after 1000 C.E.

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Men and women did not have equal roles in society. Workers with special skills were mostly men. Sex and gender relations also influenced the roles individuals played in society

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Swahili language, a combination of Bantu, Arabic, and other Indian Ocean languages, developed as a result of trade along the Eastern African coast when traders from several kingdoms and countries interacted.

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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By the Tenth century, the kings of Ghana had converted to Islam, which helped them improve relationships with the Muslim traders, and it brought support and recognition from other Muslim states.

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Sundiata was exiled from the Mali empire. He returned and regained the empire including Ghana and modern day Mauritania.

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expansion of the trans-Saharan and Indian ocean trade caused a higher demand of African slaves, slave raids became popular and the increase in demand of slaves led to the Zanj revolt

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The original Axum converts to Christianity were local merchants and sold things to traders in the Port of Adulis.

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By the eleventh and twelfth centuries, trade brought wealth to the coast of east Africa. They controlled tax trades, which increased the influence of the communities. The island port cities, including Mogadishu, Lamu, Malinda, Mombasa, Zanzinbar, Kilwa, Mozambique, and Sofala, developed to become powerful city-states, which were ruled by a king who watched the trade and organized the life in the region.

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Many Africans that converted to Islam still took protective measure to ward of evil spirits and participated in rituals to please the nature deities.

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When bananas were introduced as a food source in Africa by 500 B.C.E. the Bantu people began to move into more heavily forested areas.

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After about 1000 C.E. kin-based societies in the Congo region were encouraged to form small states and adopt villages. But by 1200 there was conflict between these small states had resulted in them organizing into larger more regional principalities that could resist political and military pressures better than the smaller kingdoms.

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa

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The Mali empire was built during the first half of the 13th century by the lion prince Sundiata. He gained recognition for battles and assembled a large army. By 1235 the empire had expanded to include Ghana as well as neighboring kingdoms and regions near the Senegal and Niger rivers.

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The Bantu-speaking had established a vibrant urban society in the middle stretches of the Niger river

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African religion encouraged proper behavior and high moral standards

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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Great Zimbabwe, a stone complex in which kings ruled over and taxed inferior coastal regions nearby, sprung up after African chiefs began to collect money and resources off of Indian Ocean trade.

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Kings of Ghana were not as strict as others who forced their subjects to believe in Islam. The kings of Ghana greatly appreciated Islam but they did not force others to join them. Therefore families were not disrupted or forced to change beleifs

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Slave trading was a result of trade networks opening up in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rulers of large scale states and empires began to make war on smaller states which could not defend themselves in search of captives. Slaves were also used as gifts that were given to people who helped the owner of the slaves out.

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Because christian missionaries moved into Ethiopia and converted many of the Ethiopians to Christianity, they decide that they needed to translate the bible into the Ethiopian language in order to better help the Ethiopian Christians.

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Males held high positions in society at the time, and women were not given any power in the society.

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Mansa Musa took his religion very seriously after his pilgrimage to Mecca. He

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While there was a head creator god there were also many lesser deities. These smaller deities would normally be the spirits that represented the sun, the wind, rain, or other natural features. These spirits could also be the ancestors of  the families who would shape events in the advantage of the descendants.

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Women merchants commonly traded at markets, and they participated actively in local and long-distance trade in Africa.

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As demands for slaves went up, slave raids on neighboring states became popular. States that couldn't efficiently defend themselves would have people taken away to be slaves. As many as ten to twenty thousand Africans were taken from their homes to be slaves.

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The introduction of bananas introduced a migratory surge toward heavily forested areas in Africa  around 500 b.c.

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa

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The development of

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Families would take responsibility for members who did not meet the expected standards.

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He took his religion very seriously after his pilgrimage to Mecca. He built mosques along trade routes.