Early African Societies and the Bantu Migrations

Chapter 3

Early Agricultural Society in Africa• c. 10,000 BCE: N. Africa was grassy steppe, with

lakes and rivers– Domesticated cattle, farming, permanent settlements,

small scale states (Sudanic culture)• c. 5,000 BCE: became hotter and drier (Sahara

Desert)– People moved south, east

Egypt and Nubia: “Gifts of the Nile”• Nile River Valley – fertile floodplain• High productivity -> big pop. -> irrigation • Needed organization -> small kingdoms• 3100 BCE: unified by Menes = centralized state

with pharaoh (early = gods, later = sons of Amon)

Old Kingdom and Nubia• Pharaohs built pyramids for burial• Close connections with Nubia (trade, wars)– Est’d Kingdom of Kush (less powerful, but wealthy)

• Egypt declined as areas ignored pharaoh

Middle Kingdoms• Pharaohs stabilized Egypt• Hyksos invaded (horse-riding nomads with bronze

weapons and chariots)• Egyptians copied their technology and pushed

them out => New Kingdom

New Kingdom• Army, bureaucracy, population supported surplus

– built temples, palaces• Tuthmosis III expanded into E. Med., Nubia, N. Afr.• Decline -> loss of new land and invasions by

Kushite and Assyrian armies

Formation of Complex Societies and Sophisticated Cultural Traditions

• Not many big cities • Wealth -> social distinctions and hierarchies– Pharaoh, prof. mil. forces and bureaucracy,

commoners, slaves• Patriarchal (but women could be

regents, priestesses, and scribes)

Economic Specialization and Trade• Metallurgy: bronze (from Hyksos), iron (indep.)• Transportation: sailing ships, wheeled carts• Trade Networks: Long-distance – for natural

resources and Regional – for ivory, ebony, etc.

Early Writing in the Nile Valley• By 3200 BCE, pictographs (from Mesopot??)• Added symbols -> hieroglyphics, plus simpler

version (Hieratic)• buildings and papyrus• Nubia: used hieroglyphics, later developed own

The Development of Organized Religious Tradition

• Amon-Re, but polytheistic• Akhenaten tried to make religion monotheistic

(Aten)• Life after death -> mummification, grave goods,

retainers (cult of Osiris)

Bantu Migrations• West Africa: Sudanic agriculture– Clan-based villages with chiefs– Interacted with hunter/gatherers

• Migrations began c. 3000 BCE: south and east, prob. due to pop. pressure

• Absorbed peoples, some settled, language differentiated

• Increased c. 1000 BCE with iron tools and weapons

Early Agricultural Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa

• Distinctive societies and cultural traditions• Chiefs, age grades, gender roles • Monotheistic – impersonal divine force, source of

good and evil, plus ancestor and territorial spirits