ancient african social structure

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 histories and cultures of Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia and North Africa are covered elsewhere. In fact, we should not think of communities of cultivators or pastoralists concentrating entirely on a single subsistence strategy. A medieval (c. 1220-1450) kingdom located in modern-day Zimbabwe. 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 . MDg2MzFiMDZmODM4NDFlY2UyNjFkYzVlM2U3MWExNTI3ODU4YmEyZTM3NWYx In large settlements religion and healing was in the hands of professionals, whose interests naturally lay in keeping such matters out of the reach of the general populace. In a world where land was plentiful, the poor were those who lacked the labour to work it. What are Mali traditions? Such organizations had strong parallels with modern corporations, with agents stationed in towns scattered over the area where they operated. Even large towns often resembled several villages grouped together, with each lineage group in its own walled sector. Firstly there was the King who ruled over everyone and was thought to have divine powers. Conditions in much of sub-Saharan Africa make wresting a secure subsistence from the land a major challenge. The surrounding bush remained untamed, wild, a source of harm, the abode of dangerous animals and evil spirits. Otherwise, large urban settlements were rare: Great Zimbabwe, Mbaza Kongo, and a handful of other towns were exceptional. ODRiZmMzYWI1MGJhMTAxYjU4NWIxMzE1YzMyMGYxMGZlMmU4MjZkNjY1ZjVk ZDQ1YTJjMTY4ZmNjMzllMjdlY2MwMTUyYmJiMDBiZTQ2M2IxYjg4OGY2YTBi It began around 3400 BCE. Egypt. 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. Some of these clearings became large enough, over generations, to include many villages and so become the basis for chiefdoms, or even kingdoms. 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. 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. Africa has some giant lakes, including a number strung out down the spine of the continent, from Lake Turkana in northern Kenya to Lake Malawi in south-east Africa. 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? Egyptian culture has six thousand years of recorded history. 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. 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. The geography of Sub-Saharan Africa poses severe challenges to the rise and spread of pre-modern civilization. Ancient Africa's government was not very stable because everyone was not unified this is because every village had a different leader. However, all African cities were to some extent religious centers, as rulers were closely associated with local shrines and rituals. MWMwNGY0OTc1ZDgwNmQ5YzJkMWE3YWIxNDIwMGUwYWNjY2ZhYThkNTc4OWE4 However, population pressures often forced farmers out onto drier land. The absence of roads very labour-intensive for scattered communities to construct and maintain wheeled vehicles such as carts could not be used. 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. Outside the oases there are some areas of scrubland, and here nomadic pastoralists Berber peoples, most notably the Tuareg graze their herds. YjE4NWI3ZjI1ZTFlNDUxYmJhY2U0N2E1ODZjNzFmOWJlM2FkMzA2OGZkN2Q4 This was a strategy to counter a shortage of population, embarking on war and raids with the deliberate intention of taking captives to build up a concentration of unfree farmers under direct royal control. This was that there was a fundamental distinction between the cultivated and the wild, between civilization and savagery. This was Islam, which gradually spread throughout the region over a number of centuries. A womans standing and access to wealth was entirely dependent upon her husband. In many cases, however, craft production was devoted to local, regional or long-distance trade. 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. Ancient Africa had many different societies, but they can be roughly categorized into four types. Not only so, but the general health of the population was regularly weakened by famine. The caste system in India is not the only cultural institution designed to create divisions between social classes. Come drought, famine or epidemic, however, clusters would contract again. Small, isolated areas of dense population were surrounded by large tracts of sparsely peopled wilderness. The Rhodes-Livingstone Papers. In everyday matters, the members of many stateless societies relied upon the threat of violent retaliation to maintain order. 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. (59) $14.99. In matrilineal societies, in which which descent was traced through mothers, womens status could be particularly favored. African Kingdoms arose in a variety of ways. Indigenous African belief systems have the oldest roots of any of the continent's religions. In larger population clusters, each village would be similarly surrounded by rings of fields and outlying woodland separating it from neighboring villages. . 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. South of the forest the grasslands resume, having skirted around the Congo Basin; but further south, on the western coast of south-central Africa, lies the Kalahari desert, smaller than the Sahara but perhaps even more arid. The ancient structure is the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. eyJtZXNzYWdlIjoiYTQ3YTllNzM5MzNhY2U5MTg3MDQzZTY2YzI0NGNiOTQx 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. All this has left African societies comparatively isolated from the great developments affecting other regions of the Eastern Hemisphere, and indeed from each other. Some of these village clusters would experience the next step of evolving into small chiefdoms; and groups of chiefdoms might eventually be united (usually by force) into a single kingdom. So too did the more widespread infestation of tsetse fly, which set a limit of animal transport. YWIzMzRhYjk5MGRlMDRiYzhlZmIyMjQ5ZjgwODE5MTIxZjAwNjdhODZiM2Y4 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. In some societies which were sparsely scattered across the land, such a group might form its own hamlet or small village. As we have seen, the only major trading towns in these regions were on the Swahili coast of the Indian Ocean. The majority of townsmen, like villagers, were cultivators. At the top were the gods, such as Ra, Osiris, and Isis. 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. This would exacerbate the already existing social fault-lines which afflicted all such societies. MzE2MGQ0NGZjMTczYTA2YjU3ZDY1YWQ3YTRiOTdlZmE5NTQyMTg0NDgwZTYz The savannah regions of West Africa specialized in millet and fonio, and further south, where rainfall was sufficient, sorghum. MTJmOWQxYjMzYzM3MzdkNTQ0ZDhiZWYzMWEzZThiZWJlOTZmODA5ZmM3ZDI0 -----BEGIN REPORT----- This article looks at the societies and cultures of sub-Saharan Africa in pre-modern history. However, state-building was not a straightforward process in African conditions. They also had a reputation for being independent-minded. 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. OWM2MGJhN2I4ZTEwYzE2ZWQ2NDg2N2UzNTJhMWExYjMzMDUxMzM2ZjYzZGU0 Many African societies were highly competitive in the pursuit of status and wealth. Men who were spared death were set to work as laborers, miners or porters; or, if they had suitable skills, as craftsmen. Gumov vanika do kufra Fiat Doblo Maxi od 2010 (2-miesta) Fiat DOBLO 2/2010- autodiely, nhradn diely. 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. 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. In the Great Lakes region, for example, the Lega people developed a distinctive and lively series of exquisite miniature sculptures. 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. Government and Economy. 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. Village clusters would be located in areas suitable for intensive crop production river valleys, floodplains, lakesides and other well-watered places. Underpopulation meant that disgruntled people could always seek new land beyond the reach of royal authority. M2M4NGNlYzZmM2IzNmFlYTA3OGFjMDcwMWRiZjdmY2UyMzM5ZDg5OTcwNjA1 In southern Africa the kingdom centered on Great Zimbabwe was situated on a gold trade route. These requirements imposed a considerable constraint on the ability of Big Men to accumulate material wealth; and in many cases his status was precarious. This was almost universal throughout Africa, and was a painful, even traumatic ceremony by which boys entered adulthood. In the Kingdom of Axum, like many other kingdoms of its time, there was a social structure or hierarchy level. In West Africa, a new religious influence began to make itself felt in the later first millennium. 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. Female slaves were employed as domestic servants or concubines. To judge by reports of early European travelers, many Africans had the misfortune to find themselves without kin, and unable to work. In more densely populated societies a number of such lineages might be clustered together to form a large village or small town. MzcwNTgyZmZmMzczNDJkYzBjMmNjNmRjNTg1N2I5ZjkyMjExNjNjOGY5NTFh This came from exactly the same mix of European contact and American agriculture as the new crops; it was the Atlantic Slave Trade. The work they did tended to be less valued than the mens: mundane work in the fields and in the house, rather than the demanding work of clearing the bush, which established a mans rights to a piece of land. Africas other rivers are all interrupted by falls and rapids along their courses. Some communities, especially those in rain forests, had a sacred barrier to keep the wilderness at bay. Underpopulation meant that disgruntled people could always seek new land beyond the reach of royal authority. The usual form of marriage was through bride-wealth a groom exchanged a portion for his wealth to a brides family in order to marry her. 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 large number of top officials in Hausaland, in West Africa, were eunuchs. Explain the social structure, unique aspects, and decline of Great Zimbabwe . OGUyMjAwMmI0ZjlmYzAyMmYxYjllZmEzN2EwMTYzMmMyNzQyZGIwY2IifQ== The previously hidden corridor is the latest discovery of the ScanPyramids project, a mission made up of heritage experts from . However, populations of pygmies also inhabited large tracts of tropical forest which covered much of equatorial and western Africa. 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. 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. Camels were employed in the long-distance trans-Saharan trade, and donkeys were the normal mode of transport in the West African savannah. African religious practices were equally common, involving ritual experts, mediums, dances, often with masks and often involving trances, witches, and charms. Climatic zones In large societies with dense populations, which showed marked differences in wealth and were controlled by strong political power, human sacrifice was widely practiced. Around the year 3000 BC, agriculture arose independently in Ethiopia with crops like coffee, teff, finger millet, sorghum, barley, and ensete. 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. In many regions low or fickle rainfall greatly magnifies this problem. 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. 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 many places herders and cultivators, or cultivators and hunter-gatherers, lived in close proximity with each other, exchanging products on a regular basis. The difficulties of transport noted above acted to restrict trade, and thus to the emergence of centers of specialist production. Long experience of these diseases contributed to a remarkably deep medical knowledge amongst Africa peoples. First adopted by Western scholars, the notion of caste in West Africa refers to a form of hierarchical social classification of individuals into . The histories and cultures of Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia and North Africa are covered elsewhere. In Ghana Mali, and later in Songhai, kings ruled, but there were no queens, as odd as it was. But it was ancestors with whom these people directly interacted, and approaching them with sacrifices of cattle. Next were the farmers. Each village consisted of a lineage group, or clan, tracing its origin to a founding ancestor. Circumstances might have been against African societies in the effort to create advanced material cultures, but this did not stop some of them from producing some of the most highly regarded works of art known to man. Throughout Africa the basic unit of society was the lineage-group, or clan. In the forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin, yams and plantains were the staple crop. These operated as almost military organization, and required large investment to fund. NzA0NTc2MTNjMDFjMzQ0ODY3ODRmNjZhMzc0ZGFjNDExMDIzN2VhMGNhNGE4 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. This makes them unsuitable for long-distance trade and contact. The African History is a number one educational website that features General history of Africa which include Ancient & Pre-colonial Africa, Ancient African civilizations, Empires/Kingdoms, Great Ancient African rulers, African Culture, global black history and news. Many African kingdoms had lineages of rulers who traced their origins to foreign lands. 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. Just as there is great cultural diversity so there is diversity in belief systems. 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. Social Structure and Political Authority The Kushites lived in tribes also known as chiefdoms. Upon Africa's soils our prehistoric relatives have walked side by side. The challenge for premodern African societies was to build up numbers to create viable communities. The diet in most parts of Africa meant that many did not reach sexual maturity until their late teens or early twenties. 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. In fact, cults involving rain shrines and weather gods might command the loyalty of people over a wide area, a form of worship practiced side-by-side with that concerning the spirits of the land. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, therefore, metalworkers were held in awe. Keywords population phratries gene citizenship metics slavery Type Chapter Information Copper was also an important trade commodity, with trade routes running outwards from the copper belt in modern Zambia. As warriors they would cultivate a military ethos and be sent out to military outposts to guard the groups cattle and territory. Further upstream all have their flows interrupted by falls and rapids, making them unsuitable for long-distance trade even in the interior of Africa. The surviving examples re terracotta, though there may well have been a much more substantial tradition of wood carving which lay behind these. Many captives were sold on to other peoples; there was an active slave trade in Africa. This categorization was not hard and fast. 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). OTE0MDljOTVhZWU3M2Q2ZmQ2ZGFhNWZmOTE2N2FmZWM0MGJhM2I5YzYxZjZm This was usually played communally, and noisily, in the open air, with plenty of noise. The magnificent sculptures of the West African societies of Ife and Benin, for example, depict human figures in an idealized yet deeply moving way, and possess a serene majesty unsurpassed in human art. This is due to a number of factors. OTZhNjdjMmQ4MzVlNTAyODMzY2ZjOTFlOWE3NjJkOGI5NjVmODQ2NGRhN2Y2 Such pragmatism made for an open attitude to ideas and practices from outside: if something worked it was acceptable, wherever it came from. Compounding these difficulties, sub-Saharan Africa has been largely cut-off from the great centers of civilization elsewhere in Eurasia. Ancient African Civilizations: East. As suggested by the above reference to status titles, however, stateless societies were by no means always egalitarian ones. The gold miners of West Africa formed a hereditary, and in some ways privileged, group of workers. All climate zones in sub-Saharan Africa were characterized by a highly uneven settlement pattern. To the south of the Sahara desert is the Savannah zone. 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. 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. These nomadic groups traveled continuously for food,. 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. NzlkMGVmMDZkZjMzN2QyN2NjYTRkMGVkOTczNzJjZGYxZTAxZDM3MjAwYWJj 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. YWZkYWVmMTM2NzEyZTQ1NTBhOWQ3NWRjZGNiNDQwMTUzN2M1NjlhZjE0NzUx 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. The shores of these large bodies of water have been suitable for intensive agriculture, allowing some of Africas most notable kingdoms to flourish. The continent of Africa covers several broad climatic zones. There was intense competition for women, and great inequality in access to them. Big Men had four, five or more wives. They assimilated into society by reaffirming . Women of a particular lineage could live together in a close-knit group until long after they were married, while their husbands worked for their (the wifes) father until they had earned the right to take their wives back to their own communities. These transformed many agricultural systems, and probably facilitated population growth. Holistvo Ndej Preovsk kraj otvracia doba, kontakty. Ancient Mali Social Hierarchy The Mali Empire was an ancient empire in West Africa between c.1230 to c.1600. The donkeys also were domesticated independently in the Ethiopian and Somalian region, but the majority of the domesticated animals came there from the regions around . 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 Europeans then made use of existing (African) political structures, which proved themselves not primitive at all, to run the colonies. Fewer than 30 examples have survived, all made by the lost wax process. However the more organized societies such kingdoms had groups of full-time professional craftsmen. In general, work was divided equally among all people (other than slaves). ZDQwYTliY2VjMzM2YmIyZDM1ODQ4Zjc4NzY2ZWQ4NWU5YTliYzE4N2FhMTQw 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. Gradually, the hunter-gatherers were squeezed off the best lands by the incoming pastoralists and cultivators, who were able to live in larger groups. Africa Africa's Great Rift Valley is the largest landform on Earth, and the only one visible from the moon. Moreover, away from areas especially favored with plentiful rainfall or rivers, the grasslands which cover much of Africa do not make ideal land for crop growing, and are prone to droughts and famines. 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. Malaria was probably the biggest killer, especially of infants. The long-distance trade networks were in the hands of comparatively large and sophisticated commercial organizations. 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. NjI4MDI2ZmM3ZTBmNTYxODBhNzFhOWVhY2RlY2YxZDc2ODQwYjlkMTdhZjE3 Virtually all young men in a community were unmarried. 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. 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. In the second millennium CE copper crosses served as a form of currency across much of southern and central Africa. They were now in a position to acquire wives and found their own family lines. 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.

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