ancient african social structure

They also had a reputation for being independent-minded. Such traders were men, and they ranged from single itinerant traders with perhaps a donkey to carry his goods, to those in charge of caravans of donkeys or, in the desert, of camels. It has captivated visitors since it was built as a royal burial chamber some 4,500 years ago. Female slaves were employed as domestic servants or concubines. Most crafts supplied local markets, even when using high levels of skill. Agriculture spread to the northern grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa by the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE at the latest, and soon covered all of the West African savannah. This bred a society in which extra-marital sex was common and accepted, and young men adopted an attitude of machismo and insolence towards their elders. In some societies which were sparsely scattered across the land, such a group might form its own hamlet or small village. The diet in most parts of Africa meant that many did not reach sexual maturity until their late teens or early twenties. However, every tribe needs some sort of hierarchy. Ancient Civilizations are typically taught focusing on the key areas of: Geography, Religion, Achievements, Politics, Economy and Social Structure using the acronym G.R.A.P.E.S. Such famines were usually caused by drought, but plagues of locusts or unseasonably heavy rains could also devastate crops. 7th-13th century). There is a direct link between a strong democratic state and a prosperous and attractive country.' In the forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin, yams and plantains were the staple crop. Diving into that variation, a new analysis of 180 indigenous Africans from a dozen ethnically, culturally . Such pragmatism made for an open attitude to ideas and practices from outside: if something worked it was acceptable, wherever it came from. Just south of the narrow band of temperate climate in North Africa is the largest desert in the world, the Sahara. 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). Egyptian society was structured like a pyramid. ZTBhMDQ4MWZjMjIzYTBiMjFlOTFiZWYwZDcxMGI4YjMwYzhkYWEwMDgwZTFk OWNmYWU3NDdmYzFiZjMxNzdiMjg0ZDI2ZDQxMjMzZWMyNjUwZGQwZTg4Mzg0 Ghana was the first empire of ancient Africa. The unequal access to women made for severe tensions between males of different generations the young men felt frustration, envy and anger with the older men for monopolizing the female sex. Big Men had four, five or more wives. The most productive salt mines were located deep in the Sahara desert, and the miners lived isolated lives working in appalling conditions. Its flora consists of a mix of scrub, grassland and woodland. These more local groups formed the enduring units of African societies, centers of local power which provided the building blocks of larger polities, and outlasted them. The larger the state the more resources it could commit to defense and expansion. As one should expect for such a vast region as sub-Saharan Africa, with its thousands of societies and cultures, religious beliefs and practices varied enormously. Many chiefdoms and kingdoms in all parts of sub-Saharan Africa have been formed by pastoral clans dominating agricultural populations. ZWFhZmI1NmY5ZjVhZjJjNjYxYTFjNzUxMjgzZTE4MGZhOWIyODQyZWE4ZGIz MjU3ZDQ3NDE0ZGRiM2NlMTZjMmE3NTQ0ODIxMzVlMzExZDc3ZTk0NDYyNGQ4 Much craft work in Africa, as in all pre-modern societies, was done on a part-time basis by farmers, particularly women. More often, they might be tested by a poison ordeal and if found guilty, put to death, often with great cruelty. At the opposite end of the scale, however, women probably made up the majority of slaves, and occupied a powerless and utterly dependent position in society. YWZkYWVmMTM2NzEyZTQ1NTBhOWQ3NWRjZGNiNDQwMTUzN2M1NjlhZjE0NzUx Some of these clearings became large enough, over generations, to include many villages and so become the basis for chiefdoms, or even kingdoms. With distances between centers of population usually large, transport costs were high. Together with drought, famine, epidemic, violence, and an unforgiving food-producing environment, it is easy to see how African populations struggled to grow. They include the second largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Victoria. It was structured around a big man who was usually (by myth, at any rate) the man most directly descended from the founding ancestor. At a much higher level, some kingdoms gave high status to female members of the royal family. The resulting dissent, fueled by, The larger the state the more resources it could commit to defense and expansion. The earliest kingdoms we know of in West Africa, such as Ghana and Mali, were located at strategic points in the trans-Saharan trade network. The General History of Africa ( Ki-Zerbo, et al. They have used a wide range of techniques, building up the productivity of the land through manuring, terracing, and digging channels to lead water from stream to field, sometimes across wooden aqueducts. West Africa had the oldest, densest and most enduring urban tradition, with famous cities such as Timbuktu, Gao, Jenne and Kano. Canoes came in all sizes on the great rivers, and were probably the cheapest form of transport; but, of sub-Saharan rivers, only the Niger and Congo were navigable for any distance along their length. This article looks at the societies and cultures of sub-Saharan Africa in pre-modern history. This was usually played communally, and noisily, in the open air, with plenty of noise. The land, much of which is hills and plateaux, is covered with grasslands, with some sub-tropical forests on the coast. MWI3NWQ1OWEzZmIwYTEzNDljYTRjZTRiNTE5OTBiMjQ1YTI5NDk3ODM0ZDY5 Some owed their rise to the wealth gained from long-distance trade. 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. Africa has an exceptionally hostile disease environment, West Africa most of all; malaria, leprosy, tsetse fly and smallpox are only a few of the killer diseases of the continent, attacking not only humans but, in the last case, their animals as well. They required widespread international contacts to be successful. Difficulties in transport encouraged local self-sufficiency, and most trade consisted of purely local exchanges, for example at river banks where fish was bartered for vegetables, or where forest and savannah met, where the products of the two zones were exchanged. The findings add support to linguistics-backed theories of population structure . As a result, production was often labour-intensive, in a part of the world where labour was already scarce. Explain the social structure, unique aspects, and decline of Great Zimbabwe . In a world where land was plentiful, the poor were those who lacked the labour to work it. In Africa, trade and industry were constrained by underpopulation. Their impact on West African society, where trade networks were strongest, and along the East African coast, with its maritime links to the Middle East, was enormous. Except in favorable locations, especially where fishing, or gathering aquatic resources, could supplement diets, hunting and foraging groups needed a large area of land on which to sustain themselves. Here, the early settlers often used fire to clear the bush, and over large swathes of East and Central Africa in particular, thick forest was reduced to, first, open woodland, and then, in some places, to treeless steppe, more suited to cattle herding than crop production. For cultivators in particular, any religious beliefs were underpinned by a deeply-held idea about the world in which they found themselves. It has been noted that herding peoples had a stronger tendency to believe in a high god, whilst cultivators were more likely to worship many gods. This makes them unsuitable for long-distance trade and contact. YWIzMzRhYjk5MGRlMDRiYzhlZmIyMjQ5ZjgwODE5MTIxZjAwNjdhODZiM2Y4 These factors have acted as constraints on population growth right up to modern times, and historically sub-Saharan Africa has remained an under-populated region. They have few open spaces and are not suitable for herding animals and in any case, in Africa the forests are infested with tsetse fly, which spread a disease deadly to cattle. A hard environment 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. MWMwNGY0OTc1ZDgwNmQ5YzJkMWE3YWIxNDIwMGUwYWNjY2ZhYThkNTc4OWE4 African Kingdoms arose in a variety of ways. Imperialism Africa was among the last regions of the globe to be subject to imperial rule. In the Great Lakes region, for example, the Lega people developed a distinctive and lively series of exquisite miniature sculptures. There was intense competition for women, and great inequality in access to them. (59) $14.99. 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. YzM1ZDJjMjdkYTczYjc3ODRiNDdmYThlOTY1N2E1MjViMmVlZDdiZjgxYWYz Some states were created by rulers of village clusters who, through military prowess, were able to use their manpower to conquer other clusters. Click here to be redirected to our dedicated TimeMaps help section. Some communities, especially those in rain forests, had a sacred barrier to keep the wilderness at bay. Cleverness, bravery, charm, charisma and aggression could provide the success to bring high status and abundant wealth in many circumstances. States emerged in the forest regions to the south from the end of the first millennium, while in the equatorial forests and grasslands of central, east and southern Africa the state-building process did not start until the early- to mid-second millennium. One way in which the older generation could impose its control on the younger was through initiation. By then, however, a countervailing force was at work on the continent, which would put a stop to any expansion in population for two hundred years. 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. Where there is a spring, a lake or a river, however, cultivation is possible, and in some areas, for example in the inner delta of the River Niger (see below), or on the shores of Lake Chad in West Africa, or the Great Lakes of central Africa, intensive cultivation has allowed concentrations of dense population to grow up. MzcwNTgyZmZmMzczNDJkYzBjMmNjNmRjNTg1N2I5ZjkyMjExNjNjOGY5NTFh There was constant tension between the generations, which could spill over into real violence. NzlkMGVmMDZkZjMzN2QyN2NjYTRkMGVkOTczNzJjZGYxZTAxZDM3MjAwYWJj If another man, through skilled farming, plenty of children and a charismatic personality, attracted a following, he could lead his people out into some vacant land and establish his own group. Small, isolated areas of dense population were surrounded by large tracts of sparsely peopled wilderness. Long experience of these diseases contributed to a remarkably deep medical knowledge amongst Africa peoples. Farming populations have therefore sought out well-watered locations such as river banks, lakesides and moist depressions. 1981-1988) is a collection of historical studies by a diverse group of historians. This limited the number of children they might have in their child-bearing years, which would have been much more diminished, on average, by the incidence of infant mortality, childhood diseases and the dangers of childbirth. Ancient Egypt is arguably the most well-known of Africa's ancient civilizations. Everyone on the community would take part, but the central roles were reserved for the mediums with their trance-dancing. European travelers to Africa were surprised to find, even in the interior of the continent, inoculation being practiced. 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. In matrilineal societies, in which which descent was traced through mothers, womens status could be particularly favored. Not a few chiefly dynasties traced their ancestry back to such a figure. 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. African religions. Whereas the people round about were Berbers, they were of black descent, either descended from captives brought there from further south or the last remnants of Negroid peoples who had lived in the region when it had a wetter climate. The caste system in India is not the only cultural institution designed to create divisions between social classes. NjhkMjY1MGEwZGFkNGU1MTkyY2ZlMDdlNWEwMTIxZGI5YjQwNzljMmRjOWI2 4.7. makes it the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert. 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. 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. Their inhabitants regulated their affairs by means of commonly-accepted custom, relying on shamans or priests at area shrines for mediation, hierarchies of titled individuals of varying ranks who had moral authority within their communities, and/or in some cases on secret societies. 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. For cultivators in particular, any religious beliefs were underpinned by a deeply-held idea about the world in which they found themselves. This The Call of the Wild by Jack London Middle School reading unit and novel study is exactly what you need to teach your . ODI0YWEwOGYyOTY5ZGVhNjEzMWUzOTFjMGEzYTA3ZjUzZjNkM2EyNDZhODVk They then had no option but to throw themselves on the mercy of others by begging, a very common fate in traditional African society. But it was ancestors with whom these people directly interacted, and approaching them with sacrifices of cattle. Surrounding this would be rings of less and less dense settlement and fields, eventually merging into the surrounding bush. 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. If the demands of royal authority became too onerous, in the form of heavy taxes, say, or the demands made for public projects or service in the royal army, people could (and did) simply up and leave en masse. Most involved a keen belief in spirits of different kind; of the afterlife; of a spiritual dimension to the land; and of evil. In many cases, however, craft production was devoted to local, regional or long-distance trade. The salt miners, on the other hand, were a dependent group not much better than slaves. In many regions low or fickle rainfall greatly magnifies this problem. Pastoralist and farming communities have therefore lived in close proximity, which has been a major factor in state formation in these regions. Growth of the Axum Kingdom. Originally, there were two Egyptian kingdoms. 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. Some stateless peoples even looked to the rulers of neighboring states to provide arbitration in their disputes village communities bordering the powerful kingdom of Benin were examples of this. Between ten and fifty people might live here, sometimes much more, in a complex of houses forming one compound. Options include print, Easel Activities, Google Forms (passages), and Google Slides (Venn diagrams). This close concentration of dwellings formed the core of the villages. Conditions in much of sub-Saharan Africa make wresting a secure subsistence from the land a major challenge. The resulting dissent, fueled by machismo, ambition, or desire for land, might lead to the exodus of a group of young men to a new location. Funding and operating them required large amounts of capital and large-scale, disciplined organization. YWQxYjBmNjljZmEzOTNlOTg4YTZiZmI4M2NkMzZmZTM0MGYzYjRlZmE2Zjk1 The abundant insect life of the tropics makes for a very high prevalence of serious diseases, for both humans and their animals; this greatly constrains the rates at which populations can grow. Thus, a comparatively few number of men had access to the majority of women, meaning that the majority of men had little or no access. 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. Ancient Africa's government was not very stable because everyone was not unified this is because every village had a different leader. ZWQ2YjhiMDdhMDFlMTNjNjE4OWFkMjBlNjMwYzRjZDFhNjY5OGI2YjhmZDc0 Your access to this site was blocked by Wordfence, a security provider, who protects sites from malicious activity. NTNjZjkxMjQ0YmE1NWYxYzRjOTRkMTFjNWZkYWE5MjRjMWE1NjA0Mzk5Yzhh Most weaving was done by women, but in some major textile centers weavers were full-time professional men. The mysteriousness of such knowledge might be reinforced in societies where secret associations had a monopoly of spiritual activity. This process only reached its completion in South Africa by the end of the 1st millennium CE. The untamed forests have remained home to hunter-gatherer peoples, notably the pygmies. Many of largest population concentrations in Africa remained entirely stateless, their constituent communities jealously guarding their independence. Copper was also an important trade commodity, with trade routes running outwards from the copper belt in modern Zambia. Although the majority of Africans were farmers, at least from the late 1st millennium onwards, large tracts of land were inhabited by nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists. Building the dense concentrations of population necessary for the emergence of major civilizations was not an option in most locations. These transformed many agricultural systems, and probably facilitated population growth. YmNlZWRhOWNhNTAxYjRmYjc3ZWNhZDYyMGMyNGVhMjMyYjYyODYzMmMxZTQ1 These requirements imposed a considerable constraint on the ability of Big Men to accumulate material wealth; and in many cases his status was precarious. From the 17th century, European contact have brought new crops from America, such as maize, cassava and sweet potatoes, and these were beginning to provide additional nutrition and a significant boost to numbers all over Africa. As a result of these factors, throughout Africas premodern history, locations where densely-populated farming societies could emerged, and in which urban civilizations could be built, have been fewer and more scattered than most other regions of the world. In times of external danger such societies could come together to resist attack; however, they were peculiarly vulnerable to slave raiding from predatory states. In southern Africa the climate becomes temperate and Mediterranean. 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. African societies were often fluid from one generation to another, however. They have used a wide range of techniques, building up the productivity of the land through manuring, terracing, and digging channels to lead water from stream to field, sometimes across wooden aqueducts. Ancient West Africa was characterized by rich culture, agriculture, and trade, composed of stateless societies without organized hierarchy or government. Slavery Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, therefore, metalworkers were held in awe. Most of the savannah is more suited to grazing herds of sheep, goat and cattle than growing crops. This was a form of draughts, and was played in private rather than in public. preskmanie poter pomocnk plavaren zatvor hodiny figra Menagerry vodivos. Africa Africa's Great Rift Valley is the largest landform on Earth, and the only one visible from the moon. - africa's social structure forms political nations that will help people from violence. If the demands of royal authority became too onerous, in the form of heavy taxes, say, or the demands made for public projects or service in the royal army, people could (and did) simply up and leave. The advancements made in the ancient world continue to influence our societies today. There were, however, networks of long-distance trade criss-crossing the continent from an early date. Slavery was widespread in traditional African societies. All this has left African societies comparatively isolated from the great developments affecting other regions of the Eastern Hemisphere, and indeed from each other. This reflects the much more limited role of trade outside West Africa. Egypt. In case of divorce she often lost all rights to her children, a cruel policy used to impose more rigorous female chastity than was demanded elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Fear of witchcraft was particularly virulent in concentrated settlements where interpersonal tensions could be high. Some of these caravans could be huge, numbering hundreds of animals. 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). Otherwise, large urban settlements were rare: Great Zimbabwe, Mbaza Kongo, and a handful of other towns were exceptional. In large societies with dense populations, which showed marked differences in wealth and were controlled by strong political power, human sacrifice was widely practiced. MWZkZDVjMmYwOWFkODY0ZjRiZmVjNWQ3ZmIwYzIyOWVjYjk1MzNlNGE5OWU2 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. Art, literature and culture Craft workers were often dedicated to meeting the needs of the ruler and the elite, their workshops located within the royal compound. An Awilu was a free person who belonged to the affluent and wealthy upper class and enjoyed grants and benefits. African hospitality can be defined as that extension of generosity, given freely without strings attached (Ekeke & Ekeopora, 2010). These colonizing pioneers would clear the forest or scrub, and divide the new fields between themselves as hereditary property. Younger men would set out to seduce or rape the young wives of their elders, and their elders would be determined to prevent this. However, populations of pygmies also inhabited large tracts of tropical forest which covered much of equatorial and western Africa. On Thursday, scientists shared the discovery of a corridor inside the 4,500-year-old structure at an unveiling ceremony held at the Giza Plateau.. 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. By the time they reached modern South Africa the dominant peoples were all pastoralists. Egyptian Social Structure. Starting perhaps as just one settlement, they would expand outwards into the bush over time as they cleared new land and established new settlements. Such was their reputation for effective healing that the early Europeans resorted to witch doctors, including Christian missionaries. Even so, until the start of the second millennium they inhabited large areas across the continent, in the wide spaces left vacant by farmers and pastoralists. 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. As warriors they would cultivate a military ethos and be sent out to military outposts to guard the groups cattle and territory. The first king was king Tenkamenin, and the second king of the Ghana Empire was Kaya Maghan. These ancestral spirits thus became the channel through which spiritual forces could be accessed. This is most marked in eastern, central and southern Africa during the second millennium CE, at the start of which population levels were at a very low level. They had done this by the start if the first millennium BCE. If they were too old, ill or handicapped to work effectively; or if through misfortune they had no children; or if they had no kinsmen to aid them clear land and tame fields, they were very vulnerable. The savannah regions of West Africa specialized in millet and fonio, and further south, where rainfall was sufficient, sorghum. Having said all this, disease remained common, debilitating and in may cases, fatal. Long-distance trade rested chiefly on high value goods produced only in confined areas. 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. OGRiMDc3NTM1M2QyZDI3YzBlYjZmZjBhNWFkOWZjYzEzOGRlZDU4ZDc4NDE1 To the Western mind, at least, this aspect of religion was indistinguishable from magic, and was in the hands of mediums, priests, diviners and healers. 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. Holistvo Ndej Preovsk kraj otvracia doba, kontakty. Despite the obstacles to population growth, there was an extremely slow rise in numbers throughout historical times. First, the African languages were solidly rooted: three languages (Zulu, Xhosa, and Sotho) are spoken by over two million people each, and the first two are mutually understandable. The previously hidden corridor is the latest discovery of the ScanPyramids project, a mission made up of heritage experts from . In West Africa, the slow multiplication of population concentrations laid the basis for further expansion. First adopted by Western scholars, the notion of caste in West Africa refers to a form of hierarchical social classification of individuals into . The surrounding bush remained untamed, wild, a source of harm, the abode of dangerous animals and evil spirits. An extraordinarily detailed understanding of plants and their properties, already noted in above in connection to their skills as cultivators, gave African healers an unmatched mastery of herbal remedies. Such states could also organize the colonization of outlying areas in a more systematic fashion, perhaps under the leadership of a prince of the royal family. This would exacerbate the already existing social fault-lines which afflicted all such societies. Except where influenced by Islam, most pre-modern sub-Saharan societies were non-literate. In general, work was divided equally among all people (other than slaves). 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 Africa boasts of the practice of democracy years before Lincoln and well-established governments that were able to expand and last for many centuries. Pastoralist and farming communities have therefore lived in close proximity, which has been a major factor in state formation in these regions.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'timemaps_com-leader-2','ezslot_11',177,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-timemaps_com-leader-2-0'); Pastoralist communities are more dispersed, and much more mobile, than agricultural ones, as they follow their flocks and herds around in the search for good grazing.

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