Around the year 3000 BC, agriculture arose independently in Ethiopia with crops like coffee, teff, finger millet, sorghum, barley, and ensete. Most of this was within Africa itself, but as we have seen above, thousands of people were exported to North Africa and the Middle East each year. In the second millennium CE copper crosses served as a form of currency across much of southern and central Africa. Come drought, famine or epidemic, however, clusters would contract again. In many of the great kingdoms of Africa, administration was carried on entirely orally. Ancient Africa's government was not very stable because everyone was not unified this is because every village had a different leader. The resulting dissent, fueled by, The larger the state the more resources it could commit to defense and expansion. All women married, as early as possible. Ancient Egypt is arguably the most well-known of Africa's ancient civilizations. There was intense competition for women, and great inequality in access to them. In river floodplains communities have constructed mounds raised above the flood level from which to take advantage of the rich silt deposited by the river waters. The geography of Sub-Saharan Africa poses severe challenges to the rise and spread of pre-modern civilization. We also aim at promoting tourism across the African continent. Pastoralist people such as the Khoisan of southern Africa are closely related to San groups who still maintain their traditional hunting and foraging economy. In other traditional African societies, class structure has been based on levels of control or servitude. In many agricultural societies, however, the most important spiritual beings were the spirits of the land and, closely associated with these, ancestral spirits. They also applied a wide range of ointments, and practiced bone setting, surgery and skilled midwifery. In more densely populated societies a number of such lineages might be clustered together to form a large village or small town. eyJtZXNzYWdlIjoiYTQ3YTllNzM5MzNhY2U5MTg3MDQzZTY2YzI0NGNiOTQx It offers a general survey of the geographical environments they inhabited; their settlements, social structures and economies; and their religions and cultures. On the other hand, everyone, regardless of sex or age, was required to work in the fields in times of peak activity such as harvest, and in some societies men prided themselves in their diligence as farmers. Big Men had four, five or more wives. Virtually all young men in a community were unmarried. Cotton and woolen textiles were probably introduced at the same time, and by the 16th century cotton had become a form of currency amongst some peoples in southern Africa (for example the Shona). ZDQwYTliY2VjMzM2YmIyZDM1ODQ4Zjc4NzY2ZWQ4NWU5YTliYzE4N2FhMTQw The most productive salt mines were located deep in the Sahara desert, and the miners lived isolated lives working in appalling conditions. There were many African societies which have been classified by political historians as stateless or de-centralized. Explain the social structure, unique aspects, and decline of Great Zimbabwe . African religions. Women predominated in small-scale trade as market sellers, which gave those involved considerable economic independence. Crafts were usually hereditary, and expertise was often a closely-guarded secret of particular kin-groups. Oral traditions and Muslim and European records suggest that large-scale famines occurred every 70 years or so, and were often accompanied by epidemic disease. Population growth, Gods and spirits NTNjZjkxMjQ0YmE1NWYxYzRjOTRkMTFjNWZkYWE5MjRjMWE1NjA0Mzk5Yzhh Like all pre-modern medicinal practitioners, they also used traditional methods less appealing to the modern Western mind, such as bleeding, purgatives, magic and exorcism. The art of ancient African was just as diverse as its cultures, languages, and political structures. At the top were the gods, such as Ra, Osiris, and Isis. 1981-1988) is a collection of historical studies by a diverse group of historians. African kingdoms suffered severely from the divisive effects of violent competition between royal princes.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'timemaps_com-leader-3','ezslot_12',183,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-timemaps_com-leader-3-0'); When a state fell, its population sometimes dispersed away from its core area, perhaps due to attack from and/or immigration by a new group of people, or through desiccation of the environment. It further summarizes some of the key social, economic, political, and religious groups and divisions in Classical Athenian society and how these interacted with each other and with questions of belonging and identity in the polis. He was surrounded by his extended family his wives and children, his brothers and their families, more distant relatives, and unrelated families who had been separated from their own clans for various reasons and who looked to him for protection. 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? Despite the obstacles to population growth, there was an extremely slow rise in numbers throughout historical times. M2M4NGNlYzZmM2IzNmFlYTA3OGFjMDcwMWRiZjdmY2UyMzM5ZDg5OTcwNjA1 Copper was also an important trade commodity, with trade routes running outwards from the copper belt in modern Zambia. Some states were created by rulers of village clusters who, through military prowess, were able to use their manpower to conquer other clusters. These matters touched on the central concern of Africans, the continuity of the community. Slavery 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. African religious practices were equally common, involving ritual experts, mediums, dances, often with masks and often involving trances, witches, and charms. ZWQ2YjhiMDdhMDFlMTNjNjE4OWFkMjBlNjMwYzRjZDFhNjY5OGI2YjhmZDc0 MWI3NWQ1OWEzZmIwYTEzNDljYTRjZTRiNTE5OTBiMjQ1YTI5NDk3ODM0ZDY5 When Europeans arrived in the region, in the 1500s, they found only a small population of hunter-gatherers there. What are Mali traditions? Secondly there was the nobles, people who fought in the King's army and provided it with weapons. The society of ancient Egypt was strictly divided into a hierarchy with the king at the top and then his vizier, the members of his court, priests and scribes, regional governors (eventually called 'nomarchs'), the generals of the military (after the period of the New Kingdom, c. 1570- c. 1069 BCE), artists and craftspeople, government overseers Holistvo Ndej Preovsk kraj otvracia doba, kontakty. Compounding these difficulties, sub-Saharan Africa has been largely cut-off from the great centers of civilization elsewhere in Eurasia. Younger men would set out to seduce or rape the young wives of their elders, and their elders would be determined to prevent this. Such famines were usually caused by drought, but plagues of locusts or unseasonably heavy rains could also devastate crops. Sometimes these were royal kinsmen or aristocrats, at other times royal slaves completely dependent upon the king for his authority. 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). Together with freedom it is an important element of the economy, culture and social structure of a country. In cattle-herding societies, and some crop-growing societies which were in close proximity to them, the young men were grouped into an age set of junior warriors. Sub-Saharan Africa was therefore never able to develop an original civilization with the material culture on the scale of, say, an ancient Mesopotamia or Egypt. Many African societies were highly competitive in the pursuit of status and wealth. OTIxY2QzNGMwMmQ0OGI0YWIzNDFhOThjNGU4ZTVhM2IzYjQyOTkzYjMwZmNk The culture,language and customs of this empire were greatly influenced by the culture of Western African cities and the people were divided into sects or sections based on their social standing. Further south a huge, well-nigh impenetrable swamp, the Sud, acts as a further major barrier. Witches were widely blamed for misfortunes, especially involving the fertility of women and the survival of children. - studies work with social structure to explain matters that are such as crimes or stolen things. As we have seen, different African peoples specialized in different modes of food production hunter-gathering (and fishing), nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralism, and cultivation of crops. It was not well suited to the milder, temperate climate of South Africa. In eastern and southern Africa, the folded landscape laid down by tectonic activity millions of years ago means that highland farming areas are interspersed with dry lowlands, suitable only for herding cattle. Africa Africa's Great Rift Valley is the largest landform on Earth, and the only one visible from the moon. Village clusters would be located in areas suitable for intensive crop production river valleys, floodplains, lakesides and other well-watered places. A common idea was that the founders of a particular community, on first settling the area, had made a pact with the spirits of the land in order to ensure good harvests. Long experience of these diseases contributed to a remarkably deep medical knowledge amongst Africa peoples. At an individual and family level, dealing with the challenge to build up numbers manifested itself in the supreme importance attached to the production of children. This would exacerbate the already existing social fault-lines which afflicted all such societies. 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. YzM1ZDJjMjdkYTczYjc3ODRiNDdmYThlOTY1N2E1MjViMmVlZDdiZjgxYWYz He therefore possessed both religious and secular authority within his community. These encompass the worship of gods, ancestors and spirits, and are based on an understanding that the spiritual infuses every aspect of daily life. Learning support for teachers and students. Facts about Ancient Africa 1: the great civilization Africa is the home to some great civilizations. 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. 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. One other consequence of African underpopulation was the prevalence of the polygamy (see below). Even then it had left vast tracts uncultivated, which would be gradually and incompletely settled by farmers over the next thousand years. Just as there is great cultural diversity so there is diversity in belief systems. Similarly, belief that spiritual power came only through dead ancestors was common amongst herding societies. Zip. Just south of the narrow band of temperate climate in North Africa is the largest desert in the world, the Sahara. The Islamic Revolution was a disaster for Persia in general, I've spent some time in Iran touring the historical sites, Mt Bisitun, Persepolis, Pasargedae, etc, it's a beautiful country with a cultured and ancient people, they've suffered a lot under the Ayatollahs since the Shah was driven out, despite negative Western stereotypes I found . Although it is generally agreed that the term social structure refers to . Unlike in other parts of the world, temples and other religious buildings did not dominate townscapes the exception here being the large mosques of Muslim cities. Click here to be redirected to our dedicated TimeMaps help section. Most weaving was done by women, but in some major textile centers weavers were full-time professional men. Religious and medical knowledge was interwoven, and was mysterious to the community at large (except in so far as the healing properties of many plants were commonly appreciated). A further one thousand a year may have been taken each year through the Swahili ports and up the east coast of Africa, destined for the Middle East and South Asia. 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. Establishing a new settlement was not just about clearing forest or scrub and creating fields for crops; it was about taming the land, seeking the permission of the spiritual forces which controlled a patch to settled on it, and making a contract with them to bless them with protection and fertility. They include the second largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Victoria. We learn about their beliefs and religion and the important structures that still stand in Egypt today. First are the hunter-gatherer societies. African kingdoms suffered severely from the divisive effects of violent competition between royal princes. Some of these clearings became large enough, over generations, to include many villages and so become the basis for chiefdoms, or even kingdoms. In southern Africa the climate becomes temperate and Mediterranean. The diet in most parts of Africa meant that many did not reach sexual maturity until their late teens or early twenties. However, it was also played in the more refined atmosphere of some royal courts, both in West Africa and East Africa, where the game formed part of a succession ritual. They would form a group of inter-related clans, or lineages, tracing their descent back to a single ancestor. They were much more likely to have to go and live in their husbands familys village after marriage, which put them in a comparatively powerless position. The surrounding bush remained untamed, wild, a source of harm, the abode of dangerous animals and evil spirits. All these diseases were, despite higher levels of resistance in indigenous populations to foreign ones (West Africa in particular would become known as the The White Mans Grave) were all widespread killers. The gold miners of West Africa formed a hereditary, and in some ways privileged, group of workers. The staple crops varied throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Men captured in war or raids were often sacrificed to the gods, and the wives, retainers and servants of dead rulers were frequently buried with him. In that case, though not always, the excluded group has the propensity to oppose the incumbent extractive governance system. By the time they reached modern South Africa the dominant peoples were all pastoralists. Those suspected of witchcraft were commonly relatives or neighbors who would benefit from a persons misfortune; and especially women whose age, childlessness, deformity or demeanor suggested bitterness. For cultivators in particular, any religious beliefs were underpinned by a deeply-held idea about the world in which they found themselves. Begins with an engaging introduction, including an original thesis of the essay's main point Identifies three (3) civilizations introduced in the first half of the class Compares and contrasts the values and beliefs of each civilization Provides specific evidence, including well-integrated, appropriate . It offers a general survey of the geographical environments they inhabited; their settlements, social structures and economies; and their religions and cultures. NjFkYmJjYjc2MmM4OGJiZTM3ZDU4YWMzMGI2Y2IwMmY2MGE1ZDJhM2Y3OGQ1 Facts about Ancient Africa 2: the important civilization Oratory, debate, story-telling, poetry and conversation were all held in high esteem, and were developed into a highly sophisticated art at the royal courts of African kingdoms and chiefdoms. 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. Environment and population, Village society Most crafts supplied local markets, even when using high levels of skill. Social Structure and Political Authority The Kushites lived in tribes also known as chiefdoms. Many of largest population concentrations in Africa remained entirely stateless, their constituent communities jealously guarding their independence. 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. Ancient Mali Social Hierarchy The Mali Empire was an ancient empire in West Africa between c.1230 to c.1600. Cleverness, bravery, charm, charisma and aggression could provide the success to bring high status and abundant wealth in many circumstances. OWNmYWU3NDdmYzFiZjMxNzdiMjg0ZDI2ZDQxMjMzZWMyNjUwZGQwZTg4Mzg0 African hospitality can be defined as that extension of generosity, given freely without strings attached (Ekeke & Ekeopora, 2010). NDJiMmE4NmUzM2JjYWVjMzMwOGIyMzIwMTJjODRhNTY1YjBiYWE5ZTA5NTIx The Awilu was the top most class in the social hierarchy of ancient Babylonia. One group of industrial workers should be mentioned in this context, although they were not strictly speaking craftsmen in the normal use of the term. The advancements made in the ancient world continue to influence our societies today. The difficulties of transport noted above acted to restrict trade, and thus to the emergence of centers of specialist production. 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. A womans standing and access to wealth was entirely dependent upon her husband. ZTBhMDQ4MWZjMjIzYTBiMjFlOTFiZWYwZDcxMGI4YjMwYzhkYWEwMDgwZTFk NzA0NTc2MTNjMDFjMzQ0ODY3ODRmNjZhMzc0ZGFjNDExMDIzN2VhMGNhNGE4 Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, this often took the form of inter-generational tensions between elder males with multiple wives and younger males with no wives. Hunter-gatherer peoples had inhabited sub-Saharan Africa for millennia prior to herders, and later agriculturalists, starting to settle the region. Options include print, Easel Activities, Google Forms (passages), and Google Slides (Venn diagrams). The previously hidden corridor is the latest discovery of the ScanPyramids project, a mission made up of heritage experts from . From a wider communal viewpoint, wives and children were needed to build up a lineages numbers and so help it survive into the future. 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. The wealthier the man, the more women he could marry. However, at the very least these would have had a psychological impact which in many cases would have contributed to the healing process. Outside the oases there are some areas of scrubland, and here nomadic pastoralists Berber peoples, most notably the Tuareg graze their herds. All Africans believed in spiritual beings. Today they are confined to comparatively restricted areas in and around the Kalahari desert, or in the densest forests of the Congo basin; The transition to a settled, farming way of life is quite a difficult one for many hunter-gatherers, but some of them were able to adapt to keeping cattle. The Discipline of International Relations (IR) has been broadly Eurocentric since its inception about a century ago. The same eye for beauty and spirit, along with a zest for color and pattern, was revealed in countless textile works from all over the continent. OTBhNmZkZTE4ZDBjMTQzMTljMWY4NDIyMjYxZmIwY2JkZjc4OTk4ZGE1OWMx The poor These operated as almost military organization, and required large investment to fund. Later, they faced competition from Hausa traders, who created an even more far flung network. The Europeans then made use of existing (African) political structures, which proved themselves not primitive at all, to run the colonies. 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. Yet there is still debate about how many species of elephant bird there actually were. It was here our earliest ancestors evolved. The original settlers became the founding ancestors of the new community, and because it was they who had struck the original pact with the spirits of the land, it was they alone who could communicated with them, even (or especially) after death. Female slaves were employed as domestic servants or concubines. 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. The main structure of the Awilu class people were considered precious in Hammurabi's Code and they were richer than the other two majorclasses in the society. African farming has relied on a thorough understanding of local environments, to an extent which has astonished Western observers. This was that there was a fundamental distinction between the cultivated and the wild, between civilization and savagery. Work in rafia and other fibers was common from an early date, and in the Great Lakes region bark cloth was common, as was the use of animal skins for clothes. There is little known about the early history of Axum, however, from Greek and Roman sources, we know that the Axum Kingdom was a rapid growing kingdom in the first century CE. An Awilu was a free person who belonged to the affluent and wealthy upper class and enjoyed grants and benefits. The effects of disease were compounded by diets amongst crop-growing peoples low in animal protein and vitamins, in milk for infants, and, for many places, restricted access to clean fresh water. The Rhodes-Livingstone Papers. 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. Iron was also an important regional trade commodity, as major smelting areas were only to be found in locations where abundant wood for the furnaces was available. But humans also were traded: it has been estimated that from the mid-second millennium CE perhaps seven thousand captives a year were taken north across the Sahara from the south, to the slave markets of North Africa and the Middle East. African Kingdoms arose in a variety of ways. Beside having been balkanized into several countries and branched among myriads of ethnic groups each speaking its own language and having its own cultural heritage, West Africa caste system constitutes yet another layer of its social structure. 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.