African American 500-600 words only

Choose and write on one question from below. Use the question that you are attempting as the title of your essay. Discussion essay should be between 500 and 600 words long. Your discussions must include references from the assigned course readings and a Word Count at the end of your essay.

1. Discuss the contributions of Mansa Musa to the greatness of the Mali empire.

2. Using the Asante empire as a case study, discuss the role of the trans-Saharan trade in the emergence and growth of the western Sudanese polities (states and empires).

3. Discuss the contributions of iron technology to the process of state formation in Bantu Africa (reference specific polities in your discussion).

4. Evaluate the contributions of international trade to the process of state formation in the Swahili city states.

African History and Civilization
Asante Empire

Map of Asante Empire

Geography and early history
History started as a progressive consolidation of estates into small polities
Emerged in the late 17th c. as powerful kingdom
Located on the boundary between the forest and savanna regions
In the Volta, Pra, and Ofin basins

Early history…
Founded by members of the Oyoko clan
Each social and political unit constituting an Oman
Under the unpopular rule of Denkyira
Cultural homogeneity and common hatred of Denkyira were platforms for unity

Leadership
Obiri Yeboa
The founding ruler
Died in the 1670s

Osei Tutu (1670s-1717)
ably assisted by Chief Priest Okomfo Anokye
Unified the members of the Oyoko clan
Established Kumasi as the capital
The Golden Stool as a symbol of the nation
Started the annual Odwira festival
Strong military – Van, Rear, Left, and Right

Opoku Ware
Grand nephew of Osei Tutu
last of the great rulers

Political organization and leadership
Sovereignty was parcellized
At the apex was the Asantehene
Political authority devolved through parallel structures
Functions of authority are replicated at each level
Political control in tributary provinces rested on the system of “indirect rule.”

Asante stools

Fall of Asante Empire
Weakness of central and provincial administration
British imperialism
100-year war

AFRICAN HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION:
THE IGBO
Thru Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Geography

Linguistic groups of Nigeria

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Individual in Society
Emphasis on personal achievement
Chi and personhood
Ikenga

Family life
Nuclear family
Social hierarchy in the family
Gender roles in the family
Spatial organization of family dwelling

Kola nut in the pod

Kola nut

Community affairs
Political structure
A classic example of a de-centralized state
Council of elders
Masquerade societies
Inter-community relations

Igbo civilization and colonialism
Coming of the Europeans
Missionary activities
Colonialism
Strategies of expansion
Subtle persuasion
Use of force (aggression)

Effects of colonialism on Igbo culture and civilization
Family life
Community life
Political structure
Economic life
Social life
Igbo state and civilization
THINGS FALL APART

AFRICAN HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION
The Bantu Africa

Map of Africa (physical)

Bantu Africa
Bantu, a language/linguistic group
Stem word: Ntu = person
Prefix: Ba = plural
Closely related languages (about 450)
Close to 100 million people across southern half of Africa

Origin and early history
Linguistic evidence show that the root Bantu language emerged by c.2000 BC.
Cross River region around Nigeria/Cameroon border
By 1000 B.C., in a series of migrations, expanded east into Lake Victoria (expansion)
then southwest and south

Map of Bantu expansion

Origin and early history …
Over the next 1500 they scattered throughout central and southern Africa
Mingled and mixed with earlier settlers
Earlier settlers practiced cereal farming
Introduced a new political ideology (praise-singing of “big men”)
Ideology became the basis for kingship
Introduced root crop agriculture
Iron working technology introduced into region by 1st millennium from the north

Origin and early history …
All of these processes and elements gave rise to states
Lacustrine region
Swahili and coastal city states
Zambezian states

African Kingdoms and Empires

Swahili city states

African History and Civilization
Mali Empire

Map of Africa

African Kingdoms and Empires

Geography
Located in the savanna region
Ideal for grain production
Strategically located to control the westernmost trans-Saharan trade route

Early history
Started out as a polity of the Madingo people (Kangaba kingdom)
Spoke the Mande language
One of the former subject states of Ghana empire
Became a powerful kingdom in the 13th c.

Trans-Saharan trade
Agricultural goods
Mineral resources
Gold (Wangara)
Salt (Taghaza)
Developed 3 commercial centers
Timbuktu
Gao
Jenne

Sundiata (1234-1255)
Crippled
Defeated Sumanguru (Soso or Susu Kingdom) in 1235
Conquered gold producing regions to the south

Mansa Kankan Musa (1307-1337)
Devout muslim
Went on pilgrimage, 1324-1325
Performed pilgrimage on a lavish scale
100 camel loads of gold
500 servants carried gold staff
Very generous on the way

Mansa Musa cont…
Attracted skilled manpower
Built efficient administration
Judicial system based on the Islamic tenets
Built a strong cavalry

Fall of Mali
Decline set in by the 1360s
Internal problems and external threat
Dynastic disputes
Weak administrations
External aggression of the Mossi to the north and Tuaregs to the south
The rise of Songhai to the east