Important Events
- 1500's: Benin Kingdom at the height of its power; city-states (i.e. Ife-Ife and Oyo) ruled by obas (kings) with court societies supporting arts
- 1562: Great Britain begins its slave trade in Africa
- 14th-15th centuries: Inter-regional trade networks developed in southern Africa- famous burial site in Zambezi Valley shows that communities traded gold and copper of this region for products of wider Indian Ocean world. This would contribute to the rise of Luba states in the savannas.
- Late 15th- mid 16th century: Islam spreads across North Africa and central Sudan; nomadic Kunta Arabs were the ones that spread Sufi Islam throughout western Africa (led to structures like Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali)
- 1700-1717: Ashanti Empire of Akan peoples is unified under Osei Tutu (dominates with control of gold-producing zones and supplying slaves in exchange of firearms) on the "Gold Coast"
- Late 18th- mid 19th century: Africa faced European imperialist aggression, diplomatic pressures, and eventually colonization
- 19th century: "Scramble for Africa"- issues back in Europe (industrialization, struggle for European power, and social issues like poverty) prompted European exploration and led to creation of settler-colonies in Africa to contain this surplus population; countries like Great Britain, Belgium, France, Portugal, and Spain participated in this "scramble"
Political Organizations
GREAT ZIMBABWE
- power was concentrated in the hands of a few (king and his councilors)
- Other kingdoms with centralized political systems include: Ghana and Mali
IGBO PEOPLES (NIGERIA)
of governance
- lived in politically autonomous villages that had own distinct political structures
- political matters were decided by a headman and a council of elders
- There were also religious organizations , structures of kinship ties (lineage groups), and secret societies, that
provided regulations that governed people's lives --> provided a system of checks and balances
- decentralized politics did not mean less cultural achievement:
Examples:
- center of political authority and long distance trade
- Its rulers exported gold to Indian Ocean ports in modern- day Mozambique and Tanzania
- built imposing structures to show political and religious authority
- at the shrines where Zimbabweans venerated their ancestral spirits, spirit mediums gave voice to grievances against political leaders who threatened the autonomy of local communities
- Rulers of Zimbabwe brought artistic and stone-masonry traditions from Mapungubwe
- example of a centralized political system:
- power was concentrated in the hands of a few (king and his councilors)
- Other kingdoms with centralized political systems include: Ghana and Mali
IGBO PEOPLES (NIGERIA)
- example of a decentralized political system:
of governance
- lived in politically autonomous villages that had own distinct political structures
- political matters were decided by a headman and a council of elders
- There were also religious organizations , structures of kinship ties (lineage groups), and secret societies, that
provided regulations that governed people's lives --> provided a system of checks and balances
- decentralized politics did not mean less cultural achievement:
Examples:
POST-COLONIAL INFLUENCES ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE
By 1900, nearly all of Africa was colonized by seven European powers. After the conquest of African and central and decentralized systems, Europeans established colonial state systems, which were bureaucratic and authoritarian. This relatively ineffective political system depended on force for maintenance of the government and the appointment of power to military officers and civil servants. European countries chose to rule through either indirect rule (i.e. Britain) or direct rule (i.e. France). The British established indirect rule in Nigeria and the Gold Coast in West Africa though organization at the central, provincial, and regional levels. Generally, indirect rule worked best in areas that had long-established centralized systems such as chiefdoms, city-states, kingdoms, and empires. French direct rule in various colonies of West and Central Africa consisted of assimilation policies and depended on a governor to impose policies sent from France.
By 1900, nearly all of Africa was colonized by seven European powers. After the conquest of African and central and decentralized systems, Europeans established colonial state systems, which were bureaucratic and authoritarian. This relatively ineffective political system depended on force for maintenance of the government and the appointment of power to military officers and civil servants. European countries chose to rule through either indirect rule (i.e. Britain) or direct rule (i.e. France). The British established indirect rule in Nigeria and the Gold Coast in West Africa though organization at the central, provincial, and regional levels. Generally, indirect rule worked best in areas that had long-established centralized systems such as chiefdoms, city-states, kingdoms, and empires. French direct rule in various colonies of West and Central Africa consisted of assimilation policies and depended on a governor to impose policies sent from France.
Economy
- Under colonialism, African economies were solely based on interests of European powers
- Africa= source of minerals and agricultural commodities, market for European manufacturers
- Because colonial economies required cheap labor over skilled labor, colonial administrators rarely provided either education or health care for Africans
- Europeans preferred migrant workers (left rural homes for brief periods to work in mining or plantation regions) rather than urbanized, permanent workers
- Africans had little opportunity to obtain new forms of knowledge and economic opportunity and instead were confined to poorly-paying, menial jobs