A Moorish Captain"
Virginia Mason Vaughan "thick lips"
SUNJATA: West African Epic of Mande Peoples
Mandinka People
Epic of Sundiata Sundiata Keita (1217-1255) Founder of the Mali Empire Mansa Musa (1280-1337)
Hamlet
MMW 13 Lecture 6, April 19
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This week s lecture Today Europe Sub-Saharan Africa Thursday: Asia: China, India, Japan
Europe In 1200 Europe, as an economically, politically, and religious/cultural landmass, has little coherence
Class Noble (aristocracy; clergymen, dukes, knights Servants Artisans & Guilds Peasantry Boroughs (self-governing walled town) rising middle class 1050-1300
Medieval Guilds: Guilds were able to transform the labor system on the estates of members of the nobility.
Labor Unions
Annual Fairs at public squares
Champagne Fairs
Lex mercatoria Largely administrated by the merchants Merchant justice system: codes, laws and customs practiced throughout Europe 1. Property rights 2. Contractual formalities 3. A common language for commerce * Formation of GOOD PRACTICES
Specialization of labor and production
Professionalization & the Separation of Work and Domestic Space
Gender Artisan (ex. Spinning by hand), peasant Bankers or tailors Private domain: embroidery, needlepoint, sewing, spinning, and weaving
Most populated city in Medieval Europe?
Paris
Venice
Afro-Eurasia
Sub-Saharan Africa States and Societies
600 ethnic groups Bantu peoples 2500-3000: millennia-long migration from west to east, central and south Africa Established major states from the 14 th century
Commerce and Urbanization Trade with Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean basin Development of new commodities desired by consumers throughout the eastern hemisphere. Urbanization and organization of large states
Kingdoms 11 th to 15 th centuries Swahili cities. 12 th to 16 th centuries Christian Kingdom of Axum 13 th to 15 th centuries Mali Empire Kingdom of Kongo 14 th to 17 th century
Societies: Kinship Groups Kin-based Societies: members related based on marriage or descent. Stateless society or segmentary society Political structure: governed themselves through family and kinship groups. 1) Village chiefs ruled but through concessions and negotiations. Bantu kingdoms: appoint officials on the local level. 2) Ruling elites, military nobles, business entrepreneurs (male heads of the families). 3) Villages consisted of several extended families. 4) Common people, peasants and slaves.
Code of Ethics. Descent: Unilineal lineages can be matrilineal or patrilineal. Not biological linkage but a moral one. Confucian filial piety.
Unlike Eurasia and North Africa No institution of privately owned property (sub-saharan Africa). Communities claimed ownership based on rights to land and used it in common. Status group: iron working, highly prestigious.
Sub-Saharan societies. Agricultural economy and iron-working skills. King groups. Coastal Trade. African traditions and Islam: The emergence of productive and powerful societies in Africa.
Kingdom of Kongo 1200 small states near the Congo River form an alliance. Kingdom of Kongo: a Congolese states that did trade from the Atlantic Ocean. Centralized government: king, officials and six provinces administrated by governors. Villages ruled by chiefs. Effective organization of society.
Islam & sub-saharan Africa Kingdom of Ghana: regional state and a commercial site for trade in gold (Senegal river and Nigeria) in exchange of horses, cloth, small manufactured wares and salt (a major commodity in the tropics). Introduction of Islam: Caravan (from north Africa and Mediterranean basis) and Indian basin. 10 th century, Ghana converted to Islam.
TAXES & TRADE Trade played a major role in the emergence of cities and states in sub-saharan Africa. 1) Taxes levied on trade provided finances for large armies. 2) Armies protected the sources and trade of gold. 3) Security 4) Maintained tributary states and defended Ghana against nomadic incursions from the Sahara.
The lion prince Sundiata (1230-1255) Founder of the Mali empire. 1235 consolidated his power on the Mali empire, which included Ghana, Senegal and Niger rivers. Naini: capital city very hospitable to Muslim merchants. Mali taxed all trade passing through west Africa.
The lion prince Sundiata (1230-1255) Founder of the Mali empire. 1235 consolidated his power on the Mali empire, which included Ghana, Senegal and Niger rivers. Naini: capital city very hospitable to Muslim merchants. Mali taxed all trade passing through west Africa.
Mansa Musa (1312-1337) Grand-nephew of Sundiata. Muslim ruler. Pilgrimage to Mecca (1324-1325) Expanded Islam throughout west Africa. Trade and Islam: More Muslim merchants. Established a tradition of centralized government and expansion of Islam in the region.
What role did Islam play in Africa? Source of Legitimacy for rulers. Cooperation between states Alliances. Expansion of commerce: Appealed to merchants and ruling elites and a cultural foundation for business relations with north African traders.
Non-Islamic Religions Monotheism: A single divine force as the generator of life and order. Moralistic: promoted proper moral behavior and set ethnical standards for members of the community. Ancestor cults: rituals to regain their goodwill Diviners: mediators between the spiritual and mundane worlds, consulting oracles, identified the causes of the trouble, gave medicine or assigned sacrificial performances to heal.
Christianity 4 th century: Kingdom of Axum Merchants and missionaries. Ethiopia: highlands Magical Christianity: amulets or charms for protection. Rocks shrines & Church: 11 massive churches.
13 th century: Ethiopia s Dynasty claimed descent from the Israelite Kings David and Solomon.