Christian Nubia and the Nile cataracts After Ezana of Aksum sacked Meroe ,

Christian Nubia and the Nile
cataracts
After Ezana of Aksum sacked Meroe , people associated with the site of Ballana moved into Nubia from the southwest and founded three kingdoms: Makuria,
Nobatia , and Alodia . They would rule for 200 years. Makuria was above the third cataract , along the Dongola Reach with its capital at Dongola . Nobadia was to the north with its capital at Faras, and Alodia was to the south with its capital at Soba. Makuria eventually absorbed Nobadia. The people of the region converted to
Monophysite Christianity around 500 to 600 CE. The church initially started writing in Coptic, then in Greek, and finally in Old Nubian, a Nilo-Saharan language. The church was aligned with the Egyptian Coptic Church .[129][130]
By 641, Egypt was conquered by the
Rashidun Caliphate . This effectively blocked Christian Nubia and Aksum from Mediterranean Christendom. In 651–652, Arabs from Egypt invaded Christian Nubia. Nubian archers soundly defeated the invaders. The Baqt (or Bakt) Treaty was drawn, recognizing Christian Nubia and regulating trade. The treaty controlled relations between Christian Nubia and Islamic Egypt for almost six hundred years. [131]
By the 13th century, Christian Nubia began its decline. The authority of the monarchy was diminished by the church and nobility. Arab bedouin tribes began to infiltrate Nubia, causing further havoc.
Fakirs (holy men) practicing Sufism introduced Islam into Nubia. By 1366, Nubia had become divided into petty fiefdoms when it was invaded by
Mamluks . During the 15th century, Nubia was open to Arab immigration. Arab nomads intermingled with the population and introduced the Arab culture and the
Arabic language. By the 16th century,
Makuria and Nobadia had been Islamized. During the 16th century, Abdallah Jamma headed an Arab confederation that destroyed Soba, capital of Alodia, the last holdout of Christian Nubia. Later Alodia would fall under the Funj Sultanate .[132]
During the 15th century, Funj herders migrated north to Alodia and occupied it. Between 1504 and 1505, the kingdom expanded, reaching its peak and establishing its capital at Sennar under
Badi II Abu Daqn (c. 1644–1680). By the end of the 16th century, the Funj had converted to Islam. They pushed their empire westward to Kordofan. They expanded eastward, but were halted by Ethiopia. They controlled Nubia down to the 3rd Cataract. The economy depended on captured enemies to fill the army and on merchants travelling through Sennar. Under Badi IV (1724–1762), the army turned on the king, making him nothing but a figurehead. In 1821, the Funj were conquered by Muhammad Ali (1805–1849), Pasha of Egypt. [133][134]
Southern Africa
Further information: Early history of South Africa, History of South Africa, History of Namibia , and History of Botswana
Settlements of Bantu-speaking peoples who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen were present south of the
Limpopo River by the 4th or 5th century CE, displacing and absorbing the original
Khoisan speakers. They slowly moved south, and the earliest ironworks in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050. The southernmost group was the Xhosa people, whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier Khoi-San people, reaching the Great Fish River in today's Eastern Cape Province .[citation needed]
Great Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe
Further information: List of rulers of Mutapa
Towers of Great Zimbabwe .
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was the first state in Southern Africa, with its capital at Mapungubwe. The state arose in the 12th century CE. Its wealth came from controlling the trade in ivory from the Limpopo Valley, copper from the mountains of northern Transvaal, and gold from the Zimbabwe Plateau between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers, with the
Swahili merchants at Chibuene . By the mid-13th century, Mapungubwe was abandoned. [135]
After the decline of Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe rose on the Zimbabwe Plateau.
Zimbabwe means stone building. Great Zimbabwe was the first city in Southern Africa and was the center of an empire, consolidating lesser Shona polities. Stone building was inherited from Mapungubwe. These building techniques were enhanced and came into maturity at Great Zimbabwe, represented by the wall of the Great Enclosure. The dry-stack stone masonry technology was also used to build smaller compounds in the area. Great Zimbabwe flourished by trading with Swahili Kilwa and Sofala . The rise of Great Zimbabwe parallels the rise of Kilwa. Great Zimbabwe was a major source of gold. Its royal court lived in luxury, wore Indian cotton, surrounded themselves with copper and gold ornaments, and ate on plates from as far away as Persia and China. Around the 1420s and 1430s, Great Zimbabwe was on decline. The city was abandoned by 1450. Some have attributed the decline to the rise of the trading town Ingombe Ilede .[136][137]
A new chapter of Shona history ensued. Nyatsimba Mutota, a northern Shona king of the Karanga, engaged in conquest. He and his son Mutope conquered the Zimbabwe Plateau, going through
Mozambique to the east coast, linking the empire to the coastal trade. They called their empire Wilayatu 'l Mu'anamutapah or
mwanamutapa (Lord of the Plundered Lands), or the Kingdom of Mutapa .
Monomotapa was the Portuguese corruption. They did not build stone structures; the northern Shonas had no traditions of building in stone. After the death of Matope in 1480, the empire split into two small empires: Torwa in the south and Mutapa in the north. The split occurred over rivalry from two Shona lords, Changa and Togwa, with the
mwanamutapa line. Changa was able to acquire the south, forming the Kingdom of Butua with its capital at Khami . [137]
[138]
The Mutapa Empire continued in the north under the mwenemutapa line. During the 16th century the Portuguese were able to establish permanent markets up the Zambezi River in an attempt to gain political and military control of Mutapa. They were partially successful. In 1628, a decisive battle allowed them to put a puppet mwanamutapa named Mavura, who signed treaties that gave favorable mineral export rights to the Portuguese. The Portuguese were successful in destroying the mwanamutapa system of government and undermining trade. By 1667, Mutapa was in decay. Chiefs would not allow digging for gold because of fear of Portuguese theft, and the population declined. [139]
The Kingdom of Butua was ruled by a
changamire , a title derived from the founder, Changa. Later it became the
Rozwi Empire. The Portuguese tried to gain a foothold but were thrown out of the region in 1693, by Changamire Dombo. The 17th century was a period of peace and prosperity. The Rozwi Empire fell into ruins in the 1830s from invading
Nguni from Natal. [138]
Namibia
Herero and Nama territories
By 1500 AD, most of southern Africa had established states. In northwestern
Namibia , the Ovambo engaged in farming and the Herero engaged in herding. As cattle numbers increased, the Herero moved southward to central Namibia for grazing land. A related group, the
Ovambanderu , expanded to Ghanzi in northwestern Botswana . The Nama, a
Khoi-speaking , sheep-raising group, moved northward and came into contact with the Herero; this would set the stage for much conflict between the two groups. The expanding Lozi states pushed the Mbukushu, Subiya, and Yei to Botei,
Okavango, and Chobe in northern Botswana. [140]
South Africa and Botswana
Sotho–Tswana
South African ethnic groups
The development of Sotho–Tswana states based on the highveld , south of the
Limpopo River, began around 1000 CE. The chief's power rested on cattle and his connection to the ancestor. This can be seen in the Toutswemogala Hill settlements with stone foundations and stone walls, north of the highveld and south of the Vaal River . Northwest of the Vaal River developed early Tswana states centered on towns of thousands of people. When disagreements or rivalry arose, different groups moved to form their own states. [141]
Nguni peoples
Southeast of the Drakensberg mountains lived Nguni-speaking peoples (Zulu,
Xhosa, Swazi , and Ndebele ). They too engaged in state building, with new states developing from rivalry, disagreements, and population pressure causing movement into new regions. This 19th-century process of warfare, state building and migration later became known as the Mfecane (Nguni) or Difaqane (Sotho). Its major catalyst was the consolidation of the Zulu Kingdom.[142] They were metalworkers, cultivators of millet, and cattle herders. [141]
Khoisan and Afrikaaner
Political map of Southern Africa in 1885
The Khoisan lived in the southwestern
Cape Province, where winter rainfall is plentiful. Earlier Khoisan populations were absorbed by Bantu peoples, such as the
Sotho and Nguni, but the Bantu expansion stopped at the region with winter rainfall. Some Bantu languages have incorporated the click consonant of the Khoisan languages . The Khoisan traded with their Bantu neighbors, providing cattle, sheep, and hunted items. In return, their Bantu speaking neighbors traded copper, iron, and tobacco.[141]
By the 16th century, the Dutch East India Company established a replenishing station at Table Bay for restocking water and purchasing meat from the Khoikhoi . The Khoikhoi received copper, iron, tobacco, and beads in exchange. In order to control the price of meat and stock and make service more consistent, the Dutch established a permanent settlement at Table Bay in 1652. They grew fresh fruit and vegetables and established a hospital for sick sailors. To increase produce, the Dutch decided to increase the number of farms at Table Bay by encouraging freeburgher boers (farmers) on lands worked initially by slaves from West Africa. The land was taken from Khoikhoi grazing land, triggering the first Khoikhoi-Dutch war in 1659. No victors emerged, but the Dutch assumed a "right of conquest " by which they claimed all of the cape. In a series of wars pitting the Khoikhoi against each other, the Boers assumed all Khoikhoi land and claimed all their cattle. The second Khoikoi-Dutch war (1673–1677) was a cattle raid. The Khoikhoi also died in thousands from European diseases. [143]
By the 18th century, the cape colony had grown, with slaves coming from
Madagascar , Mozambique , and
Indonesia . The settlement also started to expand northward, but Khoikhoi resistance, raids, and guerrilla warfare slowed the expansion during the 18th century. Boers who started to practice pastoralism were known as trekboers . A common source of trekboer labor was orphan children who were captured during raids and whose parents had been killed. [144]
Southeast Africa
Prehistory
According to the theory of recent African origin of modern humans , the mainstream position held within the scientific community, all humans originate from either Southeast Africa or the Horn of Africa. [145] During the first millennium CE, Nilotic and Bantu-speaking peoples
moved into the region .[citation needed]
Swahili coast
A traditional Zanzibari-style Swahili coast door in Zanzibar.
Following the Bantu Migration, on the coastal section of Southeast Africa, a mixed Bantu community developed through contact with Muslim Arab and
Persian traders, leading to the development of the mixed Arab, Persian and African Swahili City States. [146] The
Swahili culture that emerged from these exchanges evinces many Arab and Islamic influences not seen in traditional Bantu culture, as do the many Afro-Arab members of the Bantu Swahili people. With its original speech community centered on the coastal parts of Tanzania (particularly Zanzibar ) and Kenya—a seaboard referred to as the Swahili Coast
—the Bantu Swahili language contains many Arabic language loan-words as a consequence of these interactions. [147]
The earliest Bantu inhabitants of the Southeast coast of Kenya and Tanzania encountered by these later Arab and Persian settlers have been variously identified with the trading settlements of
Rhapta, Azania and Menouthias[148] referenced in early Greek and Chinese writings from 50 AD to 500 AD, [149][150]
[151][152][153][154][155][156] ultimately giving rise to the name for Tanzania .[157]
[158] These early writings perhaps document the first wave of Bantu settlers to reach Southeast Africa during their migration. [159]
Historically, the Swahili people could be found as far north as northern Kenya and as far south as the Ruvuma River in
Mozambique . Arab geographers referred to the Swahili coast as the land of the
zanj (blacks). [160]
Although once believed to be the descendants of Persian colonists, the ancient Swahili are now recognized by most historians, historical linguists, and archaeologists as a Bantu people who had sustained important interactions with Muslim merchants, beginning in the late 7th and early 8th centuries AD. [161]
Arab slave traders and their captives along the Ruvuma River in Mozambique along the Swahili coast.
Medieval Swahili kingdoms are known to have had island trade ports, described by Greek historians as "metropolises ", and to have established regular trade routes [162] with the Islamic world and Asia. [163] Ports such as Mombasa, Zanzibar , and
Kilwa [164] were known to Chinese sailors under Zheng He and medieval Islamic geographers such as the Berber traveller
Abu Abdullah ibn Battuta. [165] The main Swahili exports were ivory, slaves, and gold. They traded with Arabia, India, Persia, and China. [166]
The Portuguese arrived in 1498. On a mission to economically control and
Christianize the Swahili coast, the Portuguese attacked Kilwa first in 1505 and other cities later. Because of Swahili resistance, the Portuguese attempt at establishing commercial control was never successful. By the late 17th century, Portuguese authority on the Swahili coast began to diminish. With the help of Omani Arabs, by 1729 the Portuguese presence had been removed. The Swahili coast eventually became part of the Sultanate of Oman. Trade recovered, but it did not regain the levels of the past.[167]
Urewe
Main article: Urewe
The Urewe culture developed and spread in and around the Lake Victoria region of Africa during the African Iron Age . The culture's earliest dated artifacts are located in the Kagera Region of Tanzania , and it extended as far west as the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , as far east as the Nyanza and
Western provinces of Kenya, and north into Uganda , Rwanda and Burundi . Sites from the Urewe culture date from the Early Iron Age, from the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD. [168]
The origins of the Urewe culture are ultimately in the Bantu expansion originating in Cameroon. Research into early Iron Age civilizations in Sub-Saharan Africa has been undertaken concurrently with studies on African linguistics on Bantu expansion. The Urewe culture may correspond to the Eastern subfamily of Bantu languages, spoken by the descendants of the first wave of Bantu peoples to settle East Africa. At first sight, Urewe seems to be a fully developed civilization recognizable through its distinctive, stylish earthenware and highly technical and sophisticated iron working techniques. Given our current level of knowledge, neither seems to have developed or altered for nearly 2,000 years. However, minor local variations in the ceramic ware can be observed. [citation needed]
Urewe is the name of the site in Kenya brought to prominence through the publication in 1948 of Mary Leakey 's archaeological findings. She described the early Iron Age period in the Great Lakes region in Central East Africa around Lake Victoria.[168]
Madagascar and Merina
Madagascar was apparently first settled by Austronesian speakers from Southeast Asia before the 6th century AD and subsequently by Bantu speakers from the east African mainland in the 6th or 7th century, according to archaeological and linguistic data. The Austronesians introduced banana and rice cultivation, and the Bantu speakers introduced cattle and other farming practices. About the year 1000, Arab and Indian trade settlement were started in northern Madagascar to exploit the Indian Ocean trade. [169] By the 14th century, Islam was introduced on the island by traders. Madagascar functioned in the East African medieval period as a contact port for the other Swahili seaport city-states such as Sofala , Kilwa , Mombasa , and
Zanzibar .[ citation needed]
Several kingdoms emerged after the 15th century: the Sakalava Kingdom (16th century) on the west coast, Tsitambala Kingdom (17th century) on the east coast, and Merina (15th century) in the central highlands. By the 19th century, Merina controlled the whole island. In 1500, the Portuguese were the first Europeans on the island, raiding the trading settlements. [170]
The British and later the French arrived. During the latter part of the 17th century, Madagascar was a popular transit point for pirates . Radama I (1810–1828) invited Christian missionaries in the early 19th century. Queen Ranavalona I "the Cruel" (1828–61) banned the practice of
Christianity in the kingdom, and an estimated 150,000 Christians perished. Under Radama II (1861–1863), Madagascar took a French orientation, with great commercial concession given to the French. In 1895, in the second
Franco-Hova War , the French invaded Madagascar, taking over Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) and declaring Madagascar a protectorate . [170]
Lake Plateau states and empires
Between the 14th and 15th centuries, large Southeast African kingdoms and states emerged, such as the
Buganda [171] and Karagwe [171] Kingdoms of Uganda and
Tanzania .[ citation needed]
Kitara and Bunyoro
By 1000 AD, numerous states had arisen on the Lake Plateau among the Great Lakes of East Africa. Cattle herding, cereal growing, and banana cultivation were the economic mainstays of these states. The Ntusi and Bigo earthworks are representative of one of the first states, the Bunyoro kingdom , which oral tradition stipulates was part of the Empire of Kitara that dominated the whole Lakes region. A
Luo ethnic elite, from the Bito clan, ruled over the Bantu-speaking Nyoro people. The society was essentially Nyoro in its culture, based on the evidence from pottery, settlement patterns, and economic specialization. [172]
The Bito clan claimed legitimacy by being descended from the Bachwezi clan, who were said to have ruled the Empire of Kitara. However, very little is known about Kitara; some scholars even question its historical existence. Most founding leaders of the various polities in the lake region seem to have claimed descent from the Bachwezi. [172] There are now 13 million Tara who are part of the second African loss,(Nafi and Uma are two losses). [ citation needed]
Buganda
Further information: Kabaka of Buganda
The Buganda kingdom was founded by
Kato Kintu around the 14th century AD. Kato Kintu may have migrated to the northwest of Lake Victoria as early as 1000 BC. Buganda was ruled by the
kabaka with a bataka composed of the clan heads. Over time, the kabakas diluted the authority of the bataka, with Buganda becoming a centralized monarchy. By the 16th century, Buganda was engaged in expansion but had a serious rival in Bunyoro. By the 1870s, Buganda was a wealthy nation-state. The
kabaka ruled with his Lukiko (council of ministers). Buganda had a naval fleet of a hundred vessels, each manned by thirty men. Buganda supplanted Bunyoro as the most important state in the region. However, by the early 20th century, Buganda became a province of the British
Uganda Protectorate .[173]
Rwanda
Southeast of Bunyoro, near Lake Kivu at the bottom of the western rift, the
Kingdom of Rwanda was founded, perhaps during the 17th century. Tutsi (BaTutsi) pastoralists formed the elite, with a king called the mwami . The Hutu (BaHutu) were farmers. Both groups spoke the same language, but there were strict social norms against marrying each other and interaction. According to oral tradition, the Kingdom of Rwanda was founded by Mwami Ruganzu II (Ruganzu Ndori) (c. 1600–1624), with his capital near Kigali. It took 200 years to attain a truly centralized kingdom under Mwami
Kigeli IV (Kigeri Rwabugiri) (1840–1895). Subjugation of the Hutu proved more difficult than subduing the Tutsi. The last Tutsi chief gave up to Mwami Mutara II (Mutara Rwogera) (1802–1853) in 1852, but the last Hutu holdout was conquered in the 1920s by Mwami Yuhi V (Yuli Musinga) (1896–1931). [174]
Burundi
Further information: List of Kings of Burundi
South of the Kingdom of Rwanda was the
Kingdom of Burundi . It was founded by the Tutsi chief Ntare Rushatsi (c. 1657–1705). Like Rwanda, Burundi was built on cattle raised by Tutsi pastoralists, crops from Hutu farmers, conquest, and political innovations. Under Mwami Ntari Rugaamba (c. 1795–1852), Burundi pursued an aggressive expansionist policy, one based more on diplomacy than force.[175]
Maravi (Malawi)
Maravi Kingdom
The Maravi claimed descent from Karonga (kalonga), who took that title as king. The Maravi connected Central Africa to the east coastal trade, with Swahili
Kilwa . By the 17th century, the Maravi Empire encompassed all the area between Lake Malawi and the mouth of the Zambezi River. The karonga was Mzura, who did much to extend the empire. Mzura made a pact with the Portuguese to establish a 4,000-man army to attack the Shona in return for aid in defeating his rival Lundi, a chief of the Zimba. In 1623, he turned on the Portuguese and assisted the Shona. In 1640, he welcomed back the Portuguese for trade. The Maravi Empire did not long survive the death of Mzura. By the 18th century, it had broken into its previous polities. [176]
West Africa
Sahelian empires & states
Ghana
See also: Serer history
Ghana at its greatest extent
The Ghana Empire may have been an established kingdom as early as the 8th century AD, founded among the Soninke by Dinge Cisse. Ghana was first mentioned by Arab geographer Al-Farazi in the late 8th century. Ghana was inhabited by urban dwellers and rural farmers. The urban dwellers were the administrators of the empire, who were Muslims, and the Ghana (king), who practiced traditional religion. Two towns existed, one where the Muslim administrators and Berber-Arabs lived, which was connected by a stone-paved road to the king's residence. The rural dwellers lived in villages, which joined together into broader polities that pledged loyalty to the Ghana. The Ghana was viewed as divine, and his physical well-being reflected on the whole society. Ghana converted to Islam around 1050, after conquering Aoudaghost . [177]
The Ghana Empire grew wealthy by taxing the trans-Saharan trade that linked Tiaret and Sijilmasa to Aoudaghost. Ghana controlled access to the goldfields of
Bambouk , southeast of Koumbi Saleh . A percentage of salt and gold going through its territory was taken. The empire was not involved in production. [178]
By the 11th century, Ghana was in decline. It was once thought that the sacking of Koumbi Saleh by Berbers under the Almoravid dynasty in 1076 was the cause. This is no longer accepted. Several alternative explanations are cited. One important reason is the transfer of the gold trade east to the Niger River and the
Taghaza Trail, and Ghana's consequent economic decline. Another reason cited is political instability through rivalry among the different hereditary polities. [179] The empire came to an end in 1230, when Takrur in northern Senegal took over the capital.[180][181]
Mali
Further information: Keita Dynasty
Mali Empire at its greatest extent
The Mali Empire began in the 13th century AD, when a Mande (Mandingo) leader,
Sundiata (Lord Lion) of the Keita clan, defeated Soumaoro Kanté, king of the
Sosso or southern Soninke , at the Battle of Kirina in c. 1235. Sundiata continued his conquest from the fertile forests and Niger Valley, east to the Niger Bend, north into the Sahara, and west to the Atlantic Ocean, absorbing the remains of the Ghana Empire. Sundiata took on the title of mansa. He established the capital of his empire at Niani .[182]
Although the salt and gold trade continued to be important to the Mali Empire, agriculture and pastoralism was also critical. The growing of sorghum ,
millet , and rice was a vital function. On the northern borders of the Sahel , grazing cattle, sheep, goats, and camels were major activities. Mande society was organize around the village and land. A cluster of villages was called a kafu , ruled by a farma . The farma paid tribute to the
mansa. A dedicated army of elite cavalry and infantry maintained order, commanded by the royal court. A formidable force could be raised from tributary regions, if necessary. [183]
Conversion to Islam was a gradual process. The power of the mansa depended on upholding traditional beliefs and a spiritual foundation of power. Sundiata initially kept Islam at bay. Later
mansas were devout Muslims but still acknowledged traditional deities and took part in traditional rituals and festivals, which were important to the Mande. Islam became a court religion under Sundiata's son Uli I (1225–1270). Mansa Uli made a pilgrimage to Mecca , becoming recognized within the Muslim world. The court was staffed with literate Muslims as secretaries and accountants. Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta left vivid descriptions of the empire. [183]
Mali reached the peak of its power and extent in the 14th century, when Mansa Musa (1312–1337) made his famous hajj to Mecca with 500 slaves, each holding a bar of gold worth 500 mitqals. [184]
Mansa Musa's hajj devalued gold in
Mamluk Egypt for a decade. He made a great impression on the minds of the Muslim and European world. He invited scholars and architects like Ishal al-Tuedjin (al-Sahili) to further integrate Mali into the Islamic world. [183]
The Mali Empire saw an expansion of learning and literacy . In 1285, Sakura , a
freed slave, usurped the throne. This
mansa drove the Tuareg out of Timbuktu and established it as a center of learning and commerce. The book trade increased, and book copying became a very respectable and profitable profession. Timbuktu and Djenné became important centers of learning within the Islamic world. [185]
After the reign of Mansa Suleyman (1341–1360), Mali began its spiral downward. Mossi cavalry raided the exposed southern border. Tuareg harassed the northern border in order to retake Timbuktu. Fulani (Fulbe) eroded Mali's authority in the west by establishing the independent Imamate of Futa Toro , a successor to the kingdom of Takrur . Serer and Wolof alliances were broken. In 1545 to 1546, the Songhai Empire took Niani . After 1599, the empire lost the Bambouk goldfields and disintegrated into petty polities. [