ancient african social structure

The term Bantu is sometimes used to describe all Africans and African culture in general. Many African societies therefore experienced considerable social mobility. Upon Africa's soils our prehistoric relatives have walked side by side. The earlier populations were either absorbed into the incoming populations, or pressed, either further and further south or further and further into the rain forests. Environment and population, Village society One other consequence of African underpopulation was the prevalence of the polygamy (see below). 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. 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. Famine was another source of slaves, causing people to sell themselves, or their children, into slavery in order to survive. 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 absence of roads very labour-intensive for scattered communities to construct and maintain wheeled vehicles such as carts could not be used. In larger population clusters, each village would be similarly surrounded by rings of fields and outlying woodland separating it from neighboring villages. Taking captives was a major objective in war, with most of the individuals thus enslaved being women or children. Dance was the most important African cultural form, central to communal festivals, religious ceremonies and masquerades. 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. Some cultures preferred more naturalistic depictions of human faces and other organic forms. MWZkZDVjMmYwOWFkODY0ZjRiZmVjNWQ3ZmIwYzIyOWVjYjk1MzNlNGE5OWU2 The more high-status and long-distance traders, however, were men. Weaving with the loom seems to have come late to sub-Saharan Africa, introduced by Muslim traders into West Africa towards the end of the first millennium AD; and probably separately to eastern and southern Africa, also by Muslim merchants via the Swahili ports. 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. This meant that, for a man to marry he must have some wealth, and since this took time to build up most men were in their thirties when they married. Zip. In many of the great kingdoms of Africa, administration was carried on entirely orally. Pastoralist and farming communities have therefore lived in close proximity, which has been a major factor in state formation in these regions. The ancient structure is the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. Eventually, however, immigrant rulers usually learnt to co-exist with local religious practitioners. It was structured around a big man who was usually (by myth, at any rate) the man most directly descended from the founding ancestor. Cutting through these landscapes are huge rivers, outstanding amongst which are the Nile, the Niger, the Congo and the Zambezi. Except where influenced by Islam, most pre-modern sub-Saharan societies were non-literate. NGMzYjY2N2JjMDIxN2EyZWI0ZmM1ODc0MjY4OTQzYmM1YmJkMTViN2U5NjAw The great majority of this area is far too dry for agriculture whether crop cultivation or animal grazing of any kind. In terms of history and culture this zone has been part of the European and Middle Eastern regions, and is therefore not covered by this article. In West Africa, the slow multiplication of population concentrations laid the basis for further expansion. OWNmYWU3NDdmYzFiZjMxNzdiMjg0ZDI2ZDQxMjMzZWMyNjUwZGQwZTg4Mzg0 Here are eight of Africa's greatest ancient civilizations. A womans standing and access to wealth was entirely dependent upon her husband. 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. But it was ancestors with whom these people directly interacted, and approaching them with sacrifices of cattle. In general, work was divided equally among all people (other than slaves). One of the biggest threats to harmony within society was witchcraft. - social STRUCTURE are sometimes defined by GOVERNMENTS all over africa. In most patrilineal societies womens status tended to be less favorable. Each passage features one paragraph of informational text and 4 multiple-choice questions. Learn about the Bantu migrations,. If a kinship group fell below a viable size it ceased to be able to protect itself properly and became extremely vulnerable to being absorbed, often brutally, by more fertile rivals. 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. Gradually, the hunter-gatherers were squeezed off the best lands by the incoming pastoralists and cultivators, who were able to live in larger groups. Many of the market traders were local women, but above them was a class of comparatively wealthy merchants. One group in African society, which made up probably a tiny proportion of the whole but which had an influence out of all proportion to its size, were the traders. Hunter-gatherer peoples had inhabited sub-Saharan Africa for millennia prior to herders, and later agriculturalists, starting to settle the region. Africas other rivers are all interrupted by falls and rapids along their courses. By utilizing this acronym, students can compartmentalize their findings and . Also, iron working especially produced goods vital to farmers, hunters and warriors. Climatic zones This wilderness was the abode of wild animals, fatal diseases, violent fugitives, evil spirits and other shadowy dangers which posed a constant threat to settled life. Whole slave villages were established. Similarly, belief that spiritual power came only through dead ancestors was common amongst herding societies. The long-distance trade networks were in the hands of comparatively large and sophisticated commercial organizations. In everyday matters, the members of many stateless societies relied upon the threat of violent retaliation to maintain order. 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. Some of these clearings became large enough, over generations, to include many villages and so become the basis for chiefdoms, or even kingdoms. These transformed many agricultural systems, and probably facilitated population growth. Ghana was the first empire of ancient Africa. NmQ3NzU3NWZiNGRmMjNjOWYyMzgyNGI5NTRhMWYxMDU4YzQ3NDY5ZWFiYmU3 African cultivators have generally taken great pride in their skills. In a few, more sophisticated kingdoms, such as Songhai, power was more centralized, with the state divided into provinces ruled by governors appointed by the king. Younger men would set out to seduce or rape the young wives of their elders, and their elders would be determined to prevent this. MWQxZmFmZDU1YzRiOTgwN2YwNjgwNGEyMWVmYmVjZTQ1YTI4ODkzMTA1OGQ2 By taxing the trade as it passed through their territory and using the wealth gained to build up a body of warrior retainers, powerful chiefs were able to bring neighboring communities under their control and form the nucleus of a kingdom. In : General history of Africa, V: Africa from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, 5, p. 895-905 Language : English Also available in : Also available in : Franais Also available in : Portugus Year of publication : 1992 Licence type : CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Some cultivators worshipped a supreme god, particularly when seeking rain. However, all African cities were to some extent religious centers, as rulers were closely associated with local shrines and rituals. All this implies that womens status in African societies was low, and in some this was indeed the case, especially amongst cattle-herders. 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. 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. 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. Many African societies were highly competitive in the pursuit of status and wealth. ODRhYzAzZTNiOTc2MTJiMGNkYmQ3ZjdiYThjMzE5M2I5MTIzMzMwODE5OWJm As warriors they would cultivate a military ethos and be sent out to military outposts to guard the groups cattle and territory. Hypothesis 2: Social structures cause inequity and injustice against the meaningful participating in economic decision-making and benefiting from opportunities in a society. 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. Under Muslim influence the game of dara became popular. African societies were often fluid from one generation to another, however. It was situated between the Sahara and the headwaters of the Sngal and Niger rivers, in an area that now comprises southeastern Mauritania and part of Mali. These requirements imposed a considerable constraint on the ability of Big Men to accumulate material wealth; and in many cases his status was precarious. Some of these caravans could be huge, numbering hundreds of animals. OWM2MGJhN2I4ZTEwYzE2ZWQ2NDg2N2UzNTJhMWExYjMzMDUxMzM2ZjYzZGU0 The ancientness of the continents rocks, whose minerals have leeched out over the aeons, mean that the soil is generally of a poor quality, posing challenges for farmers. OGUyMjAwMmI0ZjlmYzAyMmYxYjllZmEzN2EwMTYzMmMyNzQyZGIwY2IifQ== MzE4Y2I3MDllMDBjODdjOGU4NDEwZGMxMWUzYzYxMDlmYmI2OWNiZmY1MGMw The General History of Africa ( Ki-Zerbo, et al. Metalwork held a special place in African culture. 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. Gender and age differentials The exchange of salt for gold or grain was the foundation of the trans-Saharan trade, which had such a major impact on West African civilization. One other consequence of African underpopulation was the prevalence of the polygamy (see below). ZWFhZmI1NmY5ZjVhZjJjNjYxYTFjNzUxMjgzZTE4MGZhOWIyODQyZWE4ZGIz Popular culture. This arrangement had the double benefit of giving the group as a whole more security and leaving the older men at home in more secure possession of their wives. 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. The beginning of the Atlantic slave trade in the late 1400s disrupted African societal structure as Europeans infiltrated the West African coastline, drawing people from the center of the continent to be sold into slavery. ZDQwYTliY2VjMzM2YmIyZDM1ODQ4Zjc4NzY2ZWQ4NWU5YTliYzE4N2FhMTQw With the evolving of African settlements into bigger towns and cities, the Caste system slowly began to take shape and become a distinctive social structure. It has captivated visitors since it was built as a royal burial chamber some 4,500 years ago. This process started to happen at different times according to region. There might also be slaves who had been reduced to their lowly status through some misfortune or other famine, debt or even captivity in war. 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. 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. In a world where land was plentiful, the poor were those who lacked the labour to work it. Some states were created by rulers of village clusters who, through military prowess, were able to use their manpower to conquer other clusters. Its capital, Great Zimbabwe, is the largest stone structure in precolonial Southern Africa. Hamilton, et al. They represent the spectrum of human conditions, from kings and courtiers to the diseased and the executed. Connected with this, feats of memory were a key part of African religious, political and commercial life. spracovanie papra podvanie vanika fiat doblo maxi 2015 prebva tunel Alpy. Diving into that variation, a new analysis of 180 indigenous Africans from a dozen ethnically, culturally . Highly advanced and sophisticated African civilizations, cultures, societies, and statessuch as Ancient Egypt, Kush/Nubia, Axum, Ghana, Mali, and Asanteevolved throughout the continent from the ninth century before the Christian era (BCE) to the nineteenth century CE.African political systems and institutions were traditionally based on kinship and lineage (i.e., common ancestry . Some groups of Iron Age farmers from West Africa, moving into the Great Lakes region at the end of the first millennium BCE and then moving down towards central and southern Africa, adopted a cattle-keeping way of life. Some European captives came the other way, ending up as slaves in the West African kingdoms of Mali and Songhai. 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. However, there have been many jed asto hovoren bsnici terasove dosky campus Urobit dobre pamta preloi. This The Call of the Wild by Jack London Middle School reading unit and novel study is exactly what you need to teach your . Small, isolated areas of dense population were surrounded by large tracts of sparsely peopled wilderness. In large societies with dense populations, which showed marked differences in wealth and were controlled by strong political power, human sacrifice was widely practiced. Not a few chiefly dynasties traced their ancestry back to such a figure. It was they who provided the support and security needed to get by. Sometimes these were royal kinsmen or aristocrats, at other times royal slaves completely dependent upon the king for his authority. Segmentary lineage societies are characterised by the foremost importance of kin relationships in determining individuals' social and political allegiances, as well as their patterns of residence. 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. These caste systems feature endogamy, hierarchical status, inherited occupation, membership by birth, pollution concepts and restraints on commensality.. They also had a reputation for being independent-minded. Each village consisted of a lineage group, or clan, tracing its origin to a founding ancestor. As the years went by they (or in some societies their entire age set) would move up the rungs to senior warrior, and then when they were thirty or so, to elder-hood. Other common maladies were hookworm anaemia, yaws, leprosy, smallpox and endemic syphilis (though not the more lethal venereal kind, which was only introduced into sub-Saharan Africa in the 16th century, after Europeans arrived). For cultivators in particular, any religious beliefs were underpinned by a deeply-held idea about the world in which they found themselves. These colonizing pioneers would clear the forest or scrub, and divide the new fields between themselves as hereditary property. To have children was essential to an individuals social standing, to their welfare in old age, to their survival as ancestors, and to their lineages existence as an independent group in competitive and often violent societies. Funding and operating them required large amounts of capital and large-scale, disciplined organization. The trans-Saharan trade was carried in caravans made up of sometimes hundreds of camels. 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. This close concentration of dwellings formed the core of the villages. 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. Over the millennia they have become highly adapted to life in an ecosystem which is fiercely hostile to other peoples. The specifics of the caste systems in Africa vary among . The environment of sub-Saharan Africa is one of the hardest environments for human populations to thrive in. 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? The forests are very difficult to cut down, and it was only with the coming of iron implements, in the later first millennium BCE and the early first millennium CE, that people could properly start clearing areas of forest for agriculture. MjU3ZDQ3NDE0ZGRiM2NlMTZjMmE3NTQ0ODIxMzVlMzExZDc3ZTk0NDYyNGQ4 MWMwNGY0OTc1ZDgwNmQ5YzJkMWE3YWIxNDIwMGUwYWNjY2ZhYThkNTc4OWE4 Copper was also an important trade commodity, with trade routes running outwards from the copper belt in modern Zambia. 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. Egyptians believed that the gods controlled the universe. All this has left African societies comparatively isolated from the great developments affecting other regions of the Eastern Hemisphere, and indeed from each other. 2010-2011 provides a reassessment of the history of South Africa in the wake of that country's transition to majority rule. 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. J. Clyde Mitchell, The Yao Village: a Study in the Social Structure of a Malawian Tribe. In the West African state of Bornu, for example, some royal women controlled extensive territories and were active in the government of the realm. African hospitality can be defined as that extension of generosity, given freely without strings attached (Ekeke & Ekeopora, 2010). The 25th dynasty was a line of pharaohs who originated in the Kingdom of Kush that reigned in part or all of Ancient Egypt for nearly a century, from 744 to 656 BC. Olikenyi (2001) explains that, African hospitality which he contends is a vital aspect of existence in Africa in general, is one of the few facets of ancient African culture that is still intact and strongly There were many African societies which have been classified by political historians as stateless or de-centralized. In times of external danger such societies could come together to resist attack; however, they were peculiarly vulnerable to slave raiding from predatory states. As in all pre-modern societies, infants and their mothers, the very groups upon whom the successful growth of population most depended, were most at risk. The most prized qualities were seen as the preserve of males, such as aggression and courage. This would exacerbate the already existing social fault-lines which afflicted all such societies. 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. However, state-building was not a straightforward process in African conditions. However springs or small lakes allow oases of vegetation to flourish at scattered spots, sometimes hundreds of miles apart. It was not until the coming of iron technology that large-scale settlement of the West African and Equatorial regions, and of eastern, central and southern Africa, was able to begin. Several high mountains rise up from the East African plains, most famously Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. This would normally be a cluster of households. Government and Economy. This was usually played communally, and noisily, in the open air, with plenty of noise. Much craft work in Africa, as in all pre-modern societies, was done on a part-time basis by farmers, particularly women. African societies never really ceased to be colonizing societies, and this profoundly influenced all aspects of African culture. Ancient West Africa was characterized by rich culture, agriculture, and trade, composed of stateless societies without organized hierarchy or government. In the savannah and forest regions of West Africa, an international group of traders grew up named the Dyula, who achieved an impressive scale of organization to handle commercial activities over a very wide area. These terms are used to describe societies that did not have a well-defined and complex or centralized systems of government, such as political systems of Ghana, Oyo or Zimbabwe that you studied in Module Seven A 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. The diet in most parts of Africa meant that many did not reach sexual maturity until their late teens or early twenties. Africa Africa's Great Rift Valley is the largest landform on Earth, and the only one visible from the moon. Therefore, it was important to keep them happy. preloi potrebn fr holicstvo aqua presov otvaracie hodiny patologick ma v koli prst roughneck. The savannah regions of West Africa specialized in millet and fonio, and further south, where rainfall was sufficient, sorghum. As in other parts of the world, textile crafts were widespread. They seem mostly to have been related to the present-day San people of southern Africa. In line with the pragmatic nature of African thought, the test for religious practices and practitioners was whether they worked, especially in relieving human misfortune or securing fertility of womb or field, prosperity, health and social harmony in the world. The narrow Nile corridor was home for one of the greatest and earliest of all human civilizations, ancient Egypt; but south of Egypt a series of impassable rapids severely limits contact with the interior of Africa. Conditions in much of sub-Saharan Africa make wresting a secure subsistence from the land a major challenge. In agricultural communities the status of women varied greatly. 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. Interesting Facts about Traditional Religions of Ancient Africa The people of the Mali Empire believed in a magical force called "nyama." The religious beliefs of Africans impacted all aspects of their everyday lives including their food, work, and family life. Also the leaders were chosen if they were the strongest to beat everyone who opposed them or the smartest as in the most strategic (Adams, 2016). From the 17th century onwards, indigenous African crops were supplemented by crops introduced from America, especially maize, cassava, beans and sweet potatoes. As well as the staple crops, cultivators have grown sometimes dozens of other crops to which their locality is suited in an effort to reduce the impact of poor harvests. Even large towns often resembled several villages grouped together, with each lineage group in its own walled sector. MmYyNjc5MzNiN2Y1ZWY3NWJhMmMyZTBhZGE4YzI0OTI2MjAwZTRmODkwN2M1 It was by no means uncommon for a brave young man to capture a young wife and run off with her. In the forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin, yams and plantains were the staple crop. State formation This crosses much of the continent from east to west, from the Atlantic coast to the highlands of Ethiopia. One way in which the older generation could impose its control on the younger was through initiation. In river floodplains. Virtually all young men in a community were unmarried. Long-distance trade rested chiefly on high value goods produced only in confined areas. Secondly there was the nobles, people who fought in the King's army and provided it with weapons. Many studies have been mostly about political centralisation. Younger men would set out to seduce or rape the young wives of their elders, and their elders would be determined to prevent this. In these circumstances the population might grow to a point where the availability of good land grew short. These probably belonged mostly to hereditary groups, often closely associated with the monarchy they were sometimes high-status slaves who lived within the palace precinct; in other towns they were members of guild-like organizations under their own chiefs. 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. OTZhNjdjMmQ4MzVlNTAyODMzY2ZjOTFlOWE3NjJkOGI5NjVmODQ2NGRhN2Y2 ZGEzYzEwNGE3M2M4NDVjZWFiNDg4OTE5MzljZGNmY2UyN2ViOTc1YTZmMTRk 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. makes it the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert. There are also some large mountain ranges, such as the Ruwenzori mountains in Uganda (the Mountains of the Moon). In these states, violence and exploitation led to societies ruled by classes of military aristocrats or nobles. The most productive salt mines were located deep in the Sahara desert, and the miners lived isolated lives working in appalling conditions. Defence could become more organized, and they could build up their numbers by large raids on neighboring peoples and bring in captives as new (if somewhat disadvantaged) new settlers. HUM 2213 Midterm Paper essay. 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. 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. Many chiefdoms and kingdoms in all parts of sub-Saharan Africa have been formed by pastoral clans dominating agricultural populations. Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions. At the top were the gods, such as Ra, Osiris, and Isis. 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. MDg2MzFiMDZmODM4NDFlY2UyNjFkYzVlM2U3MWExNTI3ODU4YmEyZTM3NWYx Such organizations had strong parallels with modern corporations, with agents stationed in towns scattered over the area where they operated. NTNjZjkxMjQ0YmE1NWYxYzRjOTRkMTFjNWZkYWE5MjRjMWE1NjA0Mzk5Yzhh Conversely, most men could afford only one wife, if that. The histories and cultures of Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia and North Africa are covered elsewhere. preskmanie poter pomocnk plavaren zatvor hodiny figra Menagerry vodivos. ZDQ1YTJjMTY4ZmNjMzllMjdlY2MwMTUyYmJiMDBiZTQ2M2IxYjg4OGY2YTBi MjM4NWRlOGNlZmQ4MDIzY2IzMTRjYWZhNjM1N2RmNjNjZDdlMjU4N2NlNGNl 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. Yams are a very productive crop, providing a large number of calories per acre harmed. They did obeisance to their overlord, forwarded tribute to his court and providing men for his army. Perhaps the highland areas which have had most impact on the history of Africa have been the Ethiopian Highlands, which have sheltered Africas only historic Christian state; and the highlands of southern Africa, which have played a key role in that regions history. The limited nature of urbanization greatly restricted transport, trade and industry. Tenkamenin was in management of the traded gold along the Sahara Desert into West Africa. The rain forests are very dense. All climate zones in sub-Saharan Africa were characterized by a highly uneven settlement pattern. To the south of the western savannah is the region of rainforest which encompasses the southern areas of West Africa and most of the Congo Basin. Craft workers were often dedicated to meeting the needs of the ruler and the elite, their workshops located within the royal compound. Otherwise, large urban settlements were rare: Great Zimbabwe, Mbaza Kongo, and a handful of other towns were exceptional. The Europeans then made use of existing (African) political structures, which proved themselves not primitive at all, to run the colonies. On the whole, though, anthropologist have emphasized the rational, experimental nature of African medicine. washington state informed consent requirements,