STATION #1: North Africa Before Islam

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Lambert Smith
5 years ago
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1 STATION #1: North Africa Before Islam Most of Northern Africa was disorganized and underdeveloped before Islam came. Islam unified the tribes of Northern Africa leading to civilizations, society, power, science, and technology. For centuries, there were many schools and libraries across North Africa and many advances in learning. As a power, they were able to conquer and control a great portion of Spain for many centuries as well. During more recent centuries, they were a pain for Europeans travelling the open waters in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Now that Islam was the dominant religion in North Africa, it slowly began to spread to Central and Southern Africa (called sub-saharan Africa). There are many sub-saharan African cities still today with significant Muslim populations. In what ways did the organization of North Africa help the people?

2 STATION #2: Islam in Africa As Islam spread across the Southwest Asia and later across North Africa and the Middle East, it caused the peoples to group together. The tribal people of these areas had been nomadic tribes for a very long time. They were polytheistic, meaning they worshipped more than one god. Remember, although tribes or regions may share the same group of gods, they tend to place importance on different individual gods. Consequently, the belief in many gods lends itself very readily to conflicting loyalties and competition in politics. That means that the tribes often went to war because of religious differences. This caused the small tribes to never unify with other tribes into one large tribe. As tribes began to follow Islam, they were able to work together and unify. As Islam began to spread and tribes began to unify into one large tribe, how would this have impacted the governments of North Africa?

3 STATION #3: Trade Routes & Islam Many people wonder how Islam traveled from Southwest Asia into Africa. The main reason for this was traveling traders and caravans that traveled from Southwest Asia to Africa trading goods and telling Africans about their religion, Islam. Unlike early Christianity, Muslims were not reluctant to engage in trade and profit; Muhammad himself was a merchant. As Southwest Asians traded with Africans, Islam provided merchants with a safe context for trade. In fact, Islam has a set of rules called Sharia law that protects trade and imposes stiff punishments for theft and dishonesty. Merchants were protected by being a follower of Islam and now had a court of law to make complaints and have them resolved in a consistent way. Trade and travel were not as risky or dangerous as before. Islam allowed both Southwest Asians and Africans to have successful trade. How did Islam positively affect the economy in North Africa?

4 STATION #4: Shift in African Societies While there are many tribal African religions, there are many similarities found among from one tribe to another. For the most part, all tribes believe in a single god or creator who lives in the heavens. Even though in some instances there is a collection of gods (polytheism), there is usually one supreme god who has domain over all. Other spiritual beings that are worshipped include nature spirits such as the weather, plants, and trees and even a worship of deceased ancestors. This is called Animism. Many of the animistic and tribal religious groups in various parts of the continent are on the decline. The largest religious influence in Africa has been Islam, which came first to North Africa. Islam spread early on along the Mediterranean shores from Egypt to Morocco. Islamization of Africa was well advanced by the ninth century; Muslim dynasties were established in West Africa as early as the eleventh century in Takrur and Kanem. Write two sentences that summarize why many Africans once followed tribal animistic religions and now follow Islam.

5 STATION #5: A Written Language Islam had a wide ranging and diverse effect on ancient African societies. The most profound was literacy. Before Islam, most African societies did not have a written language. This is true especially of West Africa. These West African peoples created great urban civilizations, the most famous example being the peoples of Mali. They were a major civilization before Mohammed ever even founded Islam. However the peoples of Mali never developed a written language of their own. Islam was able to offer many African people a chance to demonstrate and exercise their love of learning. The most surprising result of which was Timbuktu--an ancient Malian town, home of Sankore Mosque and University, which was very prestigious. At one point in time it housed 28,000 students within its mud walls. And it was not simply a case of Africans learning to speak and write Arabic; they also used the Arabic script to write in their own language. A good example is in the18th century when the Malian people translated the Koran in their native language, Pullar. How did Islam change education in North Africa?

6 STATION #6: Cultural Diffusion Today, religion in Northern and Western Africa has been a major influence on the people and culture. The continents various populations and individuals are mostly followers of Christianity, Islam, and to a lesser extent African Tribal religions and animism. Animism is the belief that natural objects such as plants, water, and trees have souls. In Christian or Islamic communities, religious beliefs are also sometimes characterized with the beliefs and practices of traditional tribal religions. As the religions combined, Islam took on a new form as a blended African version of Islam with animistic African characteristics. What is Africa like today in terms of religion?

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