ancient african social structure ancient african social structure

Pastoralist and farming communities have therefore lived in close proximity, which has been a major factor in state formation in these regions. African societies never really ceased to be colonizing societies, and this profoundly influenced all aspects of African culture. One common social structure among ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa is segmentary lineage organisation. Fewer than 30 examples have survived, all made by the lost wax process. The surrounding bush remained untamed, wild, a source of harm, the abode of dangerous animals and evil spirits. Keywords population phratries gene citizenship metics slavery Type Chapter Information They did obeisance to their overlord, forwarded tribute to his court and providing men for his army. Indigenous African belief systems have the oldest roots of any of the continent's religions. As such it was essentially a form of theatre. It has captivated visitors since it was built as a royal burial chamber some 4,500 years ago. This is due to a number of factors. Africa, where humans first evolved, today remains a place of remarkable diversity. After about A.D. 500, several centrally organized, warring states appeared in parts of Africa. In matrilineal societies, in which which descent was traced through mothers, womens status could be particularly favored. These occupied the grasslands around (and sometimes within) the Sahara and Kalahari deserts, and the more arid grasslands which covered so much of the continent. Copper was also an important trade commodity, with trade routes running outwards from the copper belt in modern Zambia. 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. Egyptians believed that the gods controlled the universe. Such organizations had strong parallels with modern corporations, with agents stationed in towns scattered over the area where they operated. The land, much of which is hills and plateaux, is covered with grasslands, with some sub-tropical forests on the coast. ZDQwYTliY2VjMzM2YmIyZDM1ODQ4Zjc4NzY2ZWQ4NWU5YTliYzE4N2FhMTQw 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. OGFiY2MzM2UxNTEyOTJjNWUxYWE1ZmEyODEwNDc0MzU5OTRkZmNhNThmOTM0 State formation Its primary engagement with great-power rivalry, and universalisation of realist ideas of power, order, security, and national interestsprimarily built on Western Christian foundations of state and statecrafthave marginalised the significance of knowledge production in non . Ironically, this attractive landscape posed a barrier to the spread of traditional farming southward, as sub-Saharan agriculture had adapted itself to tropical conditions. ZWFhZmI1NmY5ZjVhZjJjNjYxYTFjNzUxMjgzZTE4MGZhOWIyODQyZWE4ZGIz These requirements imposed a considerable constraint on the ability of Big Men to accumulate material wealth; and in many cases his status was precarious. Gender and age differentials The foundation myths of several states, including the kingdom of Benin, tell of populations inviting a foreigner to settle among them, to settle their disputes and provide them with leadership. Here are eight of Africa's greatest ancient civilizations. Unlike in other parts of the world, temples and other religious buildings did not dominate townscapes the exception here being the large mosques of Muslim cities. Population growth, Gods and spirits A large number of top officials in Hausaland, in West Africa, were eunuchs. 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. There was constant tension between the generations, which could spill over into real violence. Except where influenced by Islam, most pre-modern sub-Saharan societies were non-literate. Indigenous religions never died out, however, and the two belief-systems lived side by side in uneasy co-existence for a long time (indeed, they still do in parts of West Africa). Many African societies were highly competitive in the pursuit of status and wealth. 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. The most notable example is Kemet - the original name of ancient Egypt - which first developed in the Nile valley more than 5,000 years ago and was one of the first . Most involved a keen belief in spirits of different kind; of the afterlife; of a spiritual dimension to the land; and of evil. Having said that, no one can look at a Benin bronze figure and argue that skills of the very highest level were lacking in African craftsmanship; and fine crafts were to be found up and down the continent. When one society was conquered by another, it was the mediums and priests, as well as others in the community with high religious status such as iron workers and herbalists, who often put up the stoutest resistance to alien rule. Spinning and weaving technologies remained comparatively primitive, and therefore labour intensive, but craftsmen and women produced cloth of high quality and often of great beauty. However springs or small lakes allow oases of vegetation to flourish at scattered spots, sometimes hundreds of miles apart. Egypt. Many towns were centers of craft production. There are also some large mountain ranges, such as the Ruwenzori mountains in Uganda (the Mountains of the Moon). In southern Africa the climate becomes temperate and Mediterranean. 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. Several high mountains rise up from the East African plains, most famously Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. The ancient structure is the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. This crosses the content from its west coast to the east coast. The shores of these large bodies of water have been suitable for intensive agriculture, allowing some of Africas most notable kingdoms to flourish. The ancient structure is the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. In large societies with dense populations, which showed marked differences in wealth and were controlled by strong political power, human sacrifice was widely practiced. 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. 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. Much religious activity, however, was in the hands of religious specialists adept at making contact with the spirit world in order to influence the forces of nature. They include the second largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Victoria. 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. These ancestral spirits thus became the channel through which spiritual forces could be accessed. Craft workers were often dedicated to meeting the needs of the ruler and the elite, their workshops located within the royal compound. There was intense competition for women, and great inequality in access to them. African kingdoms suffered severely from the divisive effects of violent competition between royal princes. In the rest of Africa towns were few and far between. It began around 3400 BCE. The gold miners of West Africa formed a hereditary, and in some ways privileged, group of workers. OGRiMDc3NTM1M2QyZDI3YzBlYjZmZjBhNWFkOWZjYzEzOGRlZDU4ZDc4NDE1 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 West Africa, a new religious influence began to make itself felt in the later first millennium. It has captivated visitors since it was built as a royal burial chamber some 4,500 years ago. For cultivators in particular, any religious beliefs were underpinned by a deeply-held idea about the world in which they found themselves. The surrounding bush remained untamed, wild, a source of harm, the abode of dangerous animals and evil spirits. West Africa had the oldest, densest and most enduring urban tradition, with famous cities such as Timbuktu, Gao, Jenne and Kano. Come drought, famine or epidemic, however, clusters would contract again. In the Great Lakes region, for example, the Lega people developed a distinctive and lively series of exquisite miniature sculptures. 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. From its territories, great civilizations have risen to glory. Underpopulation, and the difficulties that this created for taxation and control, meant that the kind of bureaucracies which invented literacy in Sumer or Egypt could not emerge in the African context. In some societies the wives even retained ownership of their family property after marriage. 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. 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. More often, they might be tested by a poison ordeal and if found guilty, put to death, often with great cruelty. The great majority of this area is far too dry for agriculture whether crop cultivation or animal grazing of any kind. Further upstream all have their flows interrupted by falls and rapids, making them unsuitable for long-distance trade even in the interior of Africa. At their centers were located rulers palaces, usually a complex of buildings housing a large number of people the king, his wives and concubines and children, numerous attendants, often groups of skilled craftsmen such as the sculptures who produced the famous Benin bronzes, and a large body of domestic servants, often slaves. Indeed, they even went on strike when a neighboring ruler attempted to convert them to Islam. NTNjZjkxMjQ0YmE1NWYxYzRjOTRkMTFjNWZkYWE5MjRjMWE1NjA0Mzk5Yzhh Yet there is still debate about how many species of elephant bird there actually were. The surviving examples re terracotta, though there may well have been a much more substantial tradition of wood carving which lay behind these. Pastoralist people such as the Khoisan of southern Africa are closely related to San groups who still maintain their traditional hunting and foraging economy. MWI3NWQ1OWEzZmIwYTEzNDljYTRjZTRiNTE5OTBiMjQ1YTI5NDk3ODM0ZDY5 They also applied a wide range of ointments, and practiced bone setting, surgery and skilled midwifery. This reflects the much more limited role of trade outside West Africa. Most weaving was done by women, but in some major textile centers weavers were full-time professional men. Only the driest and coolest regions escaped this disease. 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. YzZiNWViMjQ5Iiwic2lnbmF0dXJlIjoiNTc2NWJhZDg5MGU4Y2RkZTIxYTFi The Discipline of International Relations (IR) has been broadly Eurocentric since its inception about a century ago. 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. In some societies which were sparsely scattered across the land, such a group might form its own hamlet or small village. 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. 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. The abundant insect life of the tropics makes for a very high prevalence of serious diseases, for both humans and their animals; this greatly constrains the rates at which populations can grow. One of the biggest threats to harmony within society was witchcraft. In most territorial kingdoms, local rulers who had been defeated were not eliminated, but became vassal rulers. 7. 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. Otherwise, large urban settlements were rare: Great Zimbabwe, Mbaza Kongo, and a handful of other towns were exceptional. Facts about Ancient Africa 1: the great civilization Africa is the home to some great civilizations. From the 17th century onwards, indigenous African crops were supplemented by crops introduced from America, especially maize, cassava, beans and sweet potatoes. In many places herders and cultivators, or cultivators and hunter-gatherers, lived in close proximity with each other, exchanging products on a regular basis. This task would be helped by the fact that a defeated ruler had, by definition, been shown to have lost the support of the gods, and the victorious ruler had proved himself to be the more spiritually powerful. Even here, however, there was commonly a belief that a higher or ultimate power lay behind the pantheon of gods who interacted with humans. 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. In these circumstances the population might grow to a point where the availability of good land grew short. Many African societies therefore experienced considerable social mobility. African kingdoms suffered severely from the divisive effects of violent competition between royal princes.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'timemaps_com-leader-3','ezslot_12',183,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-timemaps_com-leader-3-0'); When a state fell, its population sometimes dispersed away from its core area, perhaps due to attack from and/or immigration by a new group of people, or through desiccation of the environment.