There was constant tension between the generations, which could spill over into real violence. This caused individuals to be very sensitive to attacks on their personal honor, real or imagined. 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 1981-1988) is a collection of historical studies by a diverse group of historians. By the time they reached modern South Africa the dominant peoples were all pastoralists. eyJtZXNzYWdlIjoiYTQ3YTllNzM5MzNhY2U5MTg3MDQzZTY2YzI0NGNiOTQx It has been noted that herding peoples had a stronger tendency to believe in a high god, whilst cultivators were more likely to worship many gods. 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? Egyptian Social Structure. Suspects were often the victims of mob violence. Even in West Africa, and certainly for Africa as a whole, salt was probably the most traded commodity, being an essential part of peoples diet, especially for those in regions where meat was hard to come by. These West African trade systems were facilitated by an international currency based on cowrie shells, whose distinctive appearance, durability, and limited supply made them very suitable for such a role. There were high levels of polygamy throughout Africa in some societies perhaps two-thirds of women were in polygamous marriages. The wealthier the man, the more women he could marry. 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. Some of these lived permanently in one town, but others spent much of their time wandering from town to town, market to market, with their wares. Much more frequently however, a kingdom simply fragmented into its constituent population clusters. Similarly, belief that spiritual power came only through dead ancestors was common amongst herding societies. The sparser population of eastern, central and southern Africa, compared with western Africa, reduced the scale and impact of commercial activity. Their impact on West African society, where trade networks were strongest, and along the East African coast, with its maritime links to the Middle East, was enormous. Still others were created by nomadic pastoral groups imposing control over a population of farmers, such as the Fulani kingdoms in West Africa. Moreover, away from areas especially favored with plentiful rainfall or rivers, the grasslands which cover much of Africa do not make ideal land for crop growing, and are prone to droughts and famines. In West Africa, the slow multiplication of population concentrations laid the basis for further expansion. In many agricultural societies, however, the most important spiritual beings were the spirits of the land and, closely associated with these, ancestral spirits. Ironically, this attractive landscape posed a barrier to the spread of traditional farming southward, as sub-Saharan agriculture had adapted itself to tropical conditions. Otherwise, large urban settlements were rare: Great Zimbabwe, Mbaza Kongo, and a handful of other towns were exceptional. The great majority of this area is far too dry for agriculture whether crop cultivation or animal grazing of any kind. YmNlZWRhOWNhNTAxYjRmYjc3ZWNhZDYyMGMyNGVhMjMyYjYyODYzMmMxZTQ1 An Awilu was a free person who belonged to the affluent and wealthy upper class and enjoyed grants and benefits. The caste system in India is not the only cultural institution designed to create divisions between social classes. MjU3ZDQ3NDE0ZGRiM2NlMTZjMmE3NTQ0ODIxMzVlMzExZDc3ZTk0NDYyNGQ4 The narrow Nile corridor was home for one of the greatest and earliest of all human civilizations, ancient Egypt; but south of Egypt a series of impassable rapids severely limits contact with the interior of Africa. One other consequence of African underpopulation was the prevalence of the polygamy (see below). In the second millennium CE copper crosses served as a form of currency across much of southern and central Africa. In that case, though not always, the excluded group has the propensity to oppose the incumbent extractive governance system. It has captivated visitors since it was built as a royal burial chamber some 4,500 years ago. OGFiY2MzM2UxNTEyOTJjNWUxYWE1ZmEyODEwNDc0MzU5OTRkZmNhNThmOTM0 Much craft work in Africa, as in all pre-modern societies, was done on a part-time basis by farmers, particularly women. NjI3NjM4ODlkZDhlYWEyNmY2NmFiMDk1NjJjYjUwZTQxNmQwMmM4M2E4Mzkz NjFkYmJjYjc2MmM4OGJiZTM3ZDU4YWMzMGI2Y2IwMmY2MGE1ZDJhM2Y3OGQ1 From a wider communal viewpoint, wives and children were needed to build up a lineages numbers and so help it survive into the future. Through history, Africa has had an exceptionally hostile environment in terms of the diseases which could strike humans and their animals; and of the regions, West Africa was probably the most dangerous. Tenkamenin was in management of the traded gold along the Sahara Desert into West Africa. The most prized qualities were seen as the preserve of males, such as aggression and courage. 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. OTIxY2QzNGMwMmQ0OGI0YWIzNDFhOThjNGU4ZTVhM2IzYjQyOTkzYjMwZmNk Facts about Ancient Africa 1: the great civilization Africa is the home to some great civilizations. In many places herders and cultivators, or cultivators and hunter-gatherers, lived in close proximity with each other, exchanging products on a regular basis. Dance was the most important African cultural form, central to communal festivals, religious ceremonies and masquerades. A patchy record. Malaria was probably the biggest killer, especially of infants. In some kingdoms, such as Songhai and the Hausa states in West Africa, and Kongo and Luba in Equatorial Africa, slave labour was on a larger scale than in other places. If another man, through skilled farming, plenty of children and a charismatic personality, attracted a following, he could lead his people out into some vacant land and establish his own group. NjI4MDI2ZmM3ZTBmNTYxODBhNzFhOWVhY2RlY2YxZDc2ODQwYjlkMTdhZjE3 Come drought, famine or epidemic, however, clusters would contract again. FIAT DOBLO (2015-) VANIKA DO KUFRA. These, as elsewhere in the world, had specialist activities ensuring fertility of women and soil, for example, or providing wealth. YmNjNjY4NWM4MWUxYzhlYjFmYzIwMmNiMTBmZTA0OWZlNGQ4ZmI5MzNlNmMz Some cultures preferred more naturalistic depictions of human faces and other organic forms. In large societies with dense populations, which showed marked differences in wealth and were controlled by strong political power, human sacrifice was widely practiced. Ancient Civilizations are typically taught focusing on the key areas of: Geography, Religion, Achievements, Politics, Economy and Social Structure using the acronym G.R.A.P.E.S. 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. 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. West Africa had the oldest, densest and most enduring urban tradition, with famous cities such as Timbuktu, Gao, Jenne and Kano. If you believe Wordfence should be allowing you access to this site, please let them know using the steps below so they can investigate why this is happening. The sculptural tradition in West Africa goes back to the terracotta figures of the Nok culture of the early first millennia BCE and CE, and began to reach a peak in the 13th and14th centuries in Ife, in Yorubaland (in modern day Nigeria). They were now in a position to acquire wives and found their own family lines. OTE0MDljOTVhZWU3M2Q2ZmQ2ZGFhNWZmOTE2N2FmZWM0MGJhM2I5YzYxZjZm When one society was conquered by another, it was the mediums and priests, as well as others in the community with high religious status such as iron workers and herbalists, who often put up the stoutest resistance to alien rule. Pastoralist and farming communities have therefore lived in close proximity, which has been a major factor in state formation in these regions. Cutting through these landscapes are huge rivers, outstanding amongst which are the Nile, the Niger, the Congo and the Zambezi. Indigenous religions never died out, however, and the two belief-systems lived side by side in uneasy co-existence for a long time (indeed, they still do in parts of West Africa). However springs or small lakes allow oases of vegetation to flourish at scattered spots, sometimes hundreds of miles apart. African ritual experts learnt thousands of verses of religious and wisdom poetry, and expounded the appropriate one to guide kings and ministers as they resolved disputes; Rememberers treasured the traditions and histories of the kingdoms; and traders astonished early European travelers with their powers of recall. Having said that, no one can look at a Benin bronze figure and argue that skills of the very highest level were lacking in African craftsmanship; and fine crafts were to be found up and down the continent. 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. Even here, however, there was commonly a belief that a higher or ultimate power lay behind the pantheon of gods who interacted with humans. In the grasslands, the hot, dry climate makes for a short growing season. This bred a society in which extra-marital sex was common and accepted, and young men adopted an attitude of machismo and insolence towards their elders. This process started to happen at different times according to region. Each passage features one paragraph of informational text and 4 multiple-choice questions. social structure, in sociology, the distinctive, stable arrangement of institutions whereby human beings in a society interact and live together. Women who could not bear children were held in contempt, and by the same token male potency was esteemed. Many studies have been mostly about political centralisation. African kingdoms suffered severely from the divisive effects of violent competition between royal princes. 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. In most patrilineal societies womens status tended to be less favorable. Here, regional trade networks grew up based on such geographically specialized products as fish and salt. These were societies that had no. With the evolving of African settlements into bigger towns and cities, the Caste system slowly began to take shape and become a distinctive social structure. He therefore possessed both religious and secular authority within his community. Social Structure - Ancient Africa - Kingdom of Axum Social Structure There was not very much information on this particular topic, but this is what I did find. The environment of sub-Saharan Africa is one of the hardest environments for human populations to thrive in. Conversely, most men could afford only one wife, if that. 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 larger oases house trading towns and farming communities. The salt miners, on the other hand, were a dependent group not much better than slaves. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations.For millennia, Egypt maintained a strikingly complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.After the Pharaonic era, Egypt itself came under the influence of Hellenism, for a time Christianity, and later, Arab and Islamic culture. The more high-status and long-distance traders, however, were men. 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). Africa was not just the birthplace of humanity but also the cradle of early civilisations that made an immense contribution to the world and are still marvelled at today. ODI0YWEwOGYyOTY5ZGVhNjEzMWUzOTFjMGEzYTA3ZjUzZjNkM2EyNDZhODVk Keywords population phratries gene citizenship metics slavery Type Chapter Information The trading classes were predominantly, perhaps exclusively, Muslim. However, there have been many They were willing to put down tools and stop work when they felt their independence was being threatened. This close concentration of dwellings formed the core of the villages. Ghana, first of the great medieval trading empires of western Africa (fl. In some societies which were sparsely scattered across the land, such a group might form its own hamlet or small village. On the boundaries between the desert and savannah is a marginal band called the Sahel, which consists almost entirely of dry scrub. Many of the market traders were local women, but above them was a class of comparatively wealthy merchants. Hamilton, et al. In Ghana Mali, and later in Songhai, kings ruled, but there were no queens, as odd as it was. Learn about the Bantu migrations,. One of the biggest threats to harmony within society was witchcraft. Fear of witchcraft was particularly virulent in concentrated settlements where interpersonal tensions could be high. In the West African state of Bornu, for example, some royal women controlled extensive territories and were active in the government of the realm. Study compare and contrast nonfiction text structure with 6 short passages, questions, and graphic organizers about similar animals. They seem mostly to have been related to the present-day San people of southern Africa. However, populations of pygmies also inhabited large tracts of tropical forest which covered much of equatorial and western Africa. Despite the obstacles to population growth, there was an extremely slow rise in numbers throughout historical times. So too did the more widespread infestation of tsetse fly, which set a limit of animal transport. NGMzYjY2N2JjMDIxN2EyZWI0ZmM1ODc0MjY4OTQzYmM1YmJkMTViN2U5NjAw Heredity counted for much, as in most societies, premodern and modern; passing status down from father to son was an important dynamic. This was greatly feared, as it could spring up in communities and tear them apart. In times of external danger such societies could come together to resist attack; however, they were peculiarly vulnerable to slave raiding from predatory states. The ancient structure is the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. The shores of these large bodies of water have been suitable for intensive agriculture, allowing some of Africas most notable kingdoms to flourish. Therefore, it was important to keep them happy. MWI3NWQ1OWEzZmIwYTEzNDljYTRjZTRiNTE5OTBiMjQ1YTI5NDk3ODM0ZDY5 These occupied the grasslands around (and sometimes within) the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, and the more arid grasslands which covered so much of the continent. In these, men did the more highly valued work of herding, protecting or raiding cattle, while women did the household chores and cultivated crops a lowly occupation in such societies. In : General history of Africa, V: Africa from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, 5, p. 895-905 Language : English Also available in : Also available in : Franais Also available in : Portugus Year of publication : 1992 Licence type : CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. 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. One way in which the older generation could impose its control on the younger was through initiation. That said, African oral culture was exceptionally rich, with an enormous store of myths, stories, poems and aphorisms. As in other parts of the world, textile crafts were widespread. MDg2MzFiMDZmODM4NDFlY2UyNjFkYzVlM2U3MWExNTI3ODU4YmEyZTM3NWYx In West Africa, a new religious influence began to make itself felt in the later first millennium. A medieval (c. 1220-1450) kingdom located in modern-day Zimbabwe. 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. Egyptian society was structured like a pyramid. State formation Such was their reputation for effective healing that the early Europeans resorted to witch doctors, including Christian missionaries. The previously hidden corridor is the latest discovery of the ScanPyramids project, a mission made up of heritage experts from . Surrounding this would be rings of less and less dense settlement and fields, eventually merging into the surrounding bush. Compounding these difficulties, sub-Saharan Africa has been largely cut-off from the great centers of civilization elsewhere in Eurasia. ZWQ2YjhiMDdhMDFlMTNjNjE4OWFkMjBlNjMwYzRjZDFhNjY5OGI2YjhmZDc0 The absence of roads very labour-intensive for scattered communities to construct and maintain wheeled vehicles such as carts could not be used. Nevertheless there were some features which were widespread amongst African religions. So too could warfare or misrule. 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. Slavery New findings from a study of 12 diverse groups in Africa shed new light on the origin of modern humans, ancient . Sometimes the growth of these village clusters went unchecked by major famine or disease for a long time. As the years went by they (or in some societies their entire age set) would move up the rungs to senior warrior, and then when they were thirty or so, to elder-hood. These transformed many agricultural systems, and probably facilitated population growth. Outside the oases there are some areas of scrubland, and here nomadic pastoralists Berber peoples, most notably the Tuareg graze their herds. Given the nomadic nature of these societies the spiritual power in question could not be tied to a particular area might, indeed, be a universal spirit who controlled all the land. Younger men would set out to seduce or rape the young wives of their elders, and their elders would be determined to prevent this. However, every tribe needs some sort of hierarchy. They have used a wide range of techniques, building up the productivity of the land through manuring, terracing, and digging channels to lead water from stream to field, sometimes across wooden aqueducts. In many regions low or fickle rainfall greatly magnifies this problem. In Africa, trade and industry were constrained by underpopulation. There were, however, networks of long-distance trade criss-crossing the continent from an early date. Slavery was widespread in traditional African societies. In the savannah and forest regions of West Africa, an international group of traders grew up named the Dyula, who achieved an impressive scale of organization to handle commercial activities over a very wide area. They would form a group of inter-related clans, or lineages, tracing their descent back to a single ancestor. This came from exactly the same mix of European contact and American agriculture as the new crops; it was the Atlantic Slave Trade. We learn about their beliefs and religion and the important structures that still stand in Egypt today. This was almost universal throughout Africa, and was a painful, even traumatic ceremony by which boys entered adulthood. Weaving with the loom seems to have come late to sub-Saharan Africa, introduced by Muslim traders into West Africa towards the end of the first millennium AD; and probably separately to eastern and southern Africa, also by Muslim merchants via the Swahili ports. Such pragmatism made for an open attitude to ideas and practices from outside: if something worked it was acceptable, wherever it came from. First adopted by Western scholars, the notion of caste in West Africa refers to a form of hierarchical social classification of individuals into . 7. Under these circumstances, the ability of ruling classes to build strong state institutions like powerful armies or effective bureaucracies, or even construct impressive temples or palaces, was limited. Pastoralist people such as the Khoisan of southern Africa are closely related to San groups who still maintain their traditional hunting and foraging economy. However, all African cities were to some extent religious centers, as rulers were closely associated with local shrines and rituals. Many of them rose and fell throughout the African history. HUM 2213 Midterm Paper essay. 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. Social Structure and Political Authority The Kushites lived in tribes also known as chiefdoms. Of the outlying settlements, only the more successful ones would survive. Some towns specialized in a particular industry, such as leather-making, bead-making or metal-work, for which they were renowned over a large area. The Mali empire, for example, had secretaries to conduct foreign correspondence, but its internal administration only employed word of mouth. Male children could be trained up to become administrators in the royal service, and in some states filled the most responsible positions at court: their lowly social status was thought to act as a check to their ambitions and a guarantee of their loyalty (though a chief slave may have usurped the Mali throne in 1357). This makes them unsuitable for long-distance trade and contact. One other consequence of African underpopulation was the prevalence of the polygamy (see below). This article looks at the societies and cultures of sub-Saharan Africa in pre-modern history. Art, literature and culture First are the hunter-gatherer societies. Hunter-gatherer peoples had inhabited sub-Saharan Africa for millennia prior to herders, and later agriculturalists, starting to settle the region. In fact, we should not think of communities of cultivators or pastoralists concentrating entirely on a single subsistence strategy. In terms of history and culture this zone has been part of the European and Middle Eastern regions, and is therefore not covered by this article. This categorization was not hard and fast. In the forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin, yams and plantains were the staple crop. He was therefore required to host lavish feasts at which many could eat and drink at his expense; and to provide costly gifts to his allies and supporters. They required widespread international contacts to be successful. Such states could also organize the colonization of outlying areas in a more systematic fashion, perhaps under the leadership of a prince of the royal family. Local trade certainly existed, especially in areas of dense population such as in the Great Lakes region (which also benefitted from the water-borne transport which the huge lakes themselves permitted). 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. Circumstances might have been against African societies in the effort to create advanced material cultures, but this did not stop some of them from producing some of the most highly regarded works of art known to man. Agricultural populations were driven by a need to humanize the landscape, to drive back the forest, where danger lurked, and to make the land productive. Ancient Africa boasts of the practice of democracy years before Lincoln and well-established governments that were able to expand and last for many centuries. It was not well suited to the milder, temperate climate of South Africa. The 25th Dynasty's reunification of Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and Kush, created the largest Egyptian empire since the New Kingdom.