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3. Connections and Interactions

Sahara/West Africa: Sand Roads

linked North Africa, Mediterranean world with land and peoples of interior West Africa
stimulated and enriched West African civilization well before European slave system linked Africa to larger Atlantic network of exchange

Environmental variation

North African coastal regions (Roman and later Arab empires)
cloth
glassware
weapons
books
other manufactured goods
Sahara Desert (people mostly pastoral/nomadic)
copper
salt
dates (from oases)
sub-Saharan Africa (agricultural peoples)
variety of crops
textiles
metal products
gold
two ecological zones
savanna grasslands
immediately south of Sahara
grain crops (millet, sorghum)
forest areas
farther south
root and tree crops (yams, kola nuts)
provided economic incentive for exchange of goods

Arabian camel

major turning point in African commercial life
introduced to North Africa and Sahara in early CE
could go for 10 days without water
made trek across Sahara possible
camel owners in oases initiated regular trans-Saharan commerce (300-400)
centuries later, North African Arabs (now Islamic) organized caravans across desert
Arab merchants sought gold
found in border areas between grasslands and forests
also African ivory, kola nuts, slaves
West Africans south of desert received horses, cloth, dates, various manufactured goods, salt from Sahara

Commerce and state-building

for a thousand years, Sahara was major international trade route that fostered new relationships among distant peoples
West Africans in savannah grasslands were in best position to take advantage of new opportunities
West African civilization developed sometime between 600-1600
Atlantic coast to Lake Chad
included Ghana (700-1200), Mali (1230-1500), Songhay (1430-1591), Kanem (height: 1571-1603), numerous towns and cities within them like Kumbi Saleh, Jenne, Timbuktu, Tao
Hausa-speaking peoples of now-northern Nigeria created substantial number of independent city-states
including Kano, Katsina, Gobir
resembled Swahili city-states of East Africa
flourishing urban, commercial culture
middlemen in West African commerce
obtained kola nuts, etc. from forest and sent north to trans-Saharan trade
14th-15th: Kano became famous for production of dyed cotton textiles

Politics and economy

monarchies
elaborate court life
varying administrative complexity, military forces
drew on wealth of trans-Saharan trade
taxed merchants
acquired reputation for great riches
Ghana: treasures, stocks of gold
Mali:
monopolized import of strategic goods like horses, metals
levied duties on salt, copper, other merchandise
reserved large nuggets of gold for selves, permitted free export of gold dust

Society

generated social complexity, hierarchy
royal families and elite classes
mercantile and artisan groups
military and religious officials
free peasants and slaves

Gender hierarchies

did not have rigidity of more established Eurasian civilizations
rulers, merchants, public officials almost always male
by 1200: earlier matrilineal descent patterns replaced with patriarchal
view on women:
male bards (who kept history) viewed powerful women as:
dangerous
not to be trusted
seductive distraction
ordinary women were central to agricultural women and weaving
royal women played important political roles
oral traditions, mythologies frequently portrayed complementary (not hierarchal) relationship
people derived power/authority by releasing, accumulating nyama (pervasive vital power) through acts of transforming one thing into another
men:
making living animal dead in hunting
making lump of metal into find bracelet
women:
turning clay into pots
turning bodily fluids into a baby
Ibn Battuta appalled at casual intimacy of unmarried men and women despite commitment to Islam

Slavery

early on: most slaves were women
domestic servants
concubines
male slaves later put to work
state officials
porters
craftsmen
salt miners
agricultural laborers (royal granaries)
most slaves were from non-Islamic, stateless societies further south
raided during dry season by calvary-based West African states
most were within West African civilization but also developed trans-Saharan slave trade
1100-1400: 5,500 slaves per year made perilous trek across desert, most put to work in homes of wealthy in Islamic North Africa

Urban and commercial centers

where traders congregated, goods exchanged
some also became centers of manufacturing
finely wrought beads
iron tools
cotton textiles
cosmopolitan places
people of all classes/places interacted
facilitated by diasporic communities
settled communities of North African merchants lived in kingdom of Mali
Hausa merchants established permanent settlements in West African commercial network

Islam

accompanied trade, became important element in urban culture
introduced largely by Muslim traders across Sahara
peaceful, voluntary acceptance
accepted primarily in urban centers of West African states
reasons for conversion
African merchants: important link to Muslim trading partners
monarchs and courts: source of literate officials to assist in administration, religious legitimacy
Mansa Musa: undertook hajj
accompanied by huge entourage
enormous quantities of gold
Timbuktu: renowned center of learning
more than 150 lower-level Quranic schools
several major centers of higher education
attracted thousands of students from all over West Africa and beyond
libraries with tens of thousands of books, scholarly manuscripts
monarchs subsidized construction of mosques as West Africa became integral to larger Islamic world
Arabic became important language of education, religion, administration, trade but not dominant in daily life
West Africa did not experience massive migration of Arab people like North Africa and Middle East
spread little in rural West Africa until 19th
many rulers adopted Islam but governed people who practiced African religions
made few efforts to impose it on rural subjects or govern in strict accordance with Islamic law
Ibn Battuta: appalled that practicing Muslims in Mali permitted women to appear in public almost naked, mingle freely with unrelated men
Sonni Ali (15th-century ruler of Songhay)
observed Ramadan and built mosques
consulted traditional diviners, performed customary sacrifices
became Africanized even as parts of West African became Islamized
⁠
Go to "Connections across the Islamic World
⁠
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Environmental variation
Arabian camel
Commerce and state-building
Politics and economy
Society
Gender hierarchies
Slavery
Urban and commercial centers
Islam
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