Tropical Africa & Asia 1200-1500

The Spread of Islam

• Came to North Africa in the 600s with initial invasions.

• Muslims set up theocracies

– “God” is head of state

• Islam spread peacefully (forced conversion very rare) through sub-Saharan, West Africa and Swahili.

• Muslim domination of trade routes (merchants responsible for conversion as ‘missionaries’)

• In Indian invasions were brutal (usually Turkish & Afghan) and replaced Buddhism as the second most popular Indian faith.

The Kingdom of Ghana

• Traders crossed the Sahara desert as early as CE 200

• By 700’s rulers of Ghana growing rich– Taxed the goods that traders

carried through their land– Two most important items

were gold and salt– Arab traders brought cloth and

manufactured goods from cities on the Mediterranean

• King of Ghana was powerful, only he could own gold nuggets

• By the year 800 Ghana had become an empire

• By the 1000s the kings converted to Islam although many people still kept their traditional beliefs.

The Kingdom of Mali

• By 1235 a new kingdom began- Mali

• Its wealth was also based on the gold trade

• Later Mali rulers adopted Islam

• Emperor Mansa Musa made Mali twice the size of the old empire of Ghana

• To rule this large empire he named governors to head several provinces

• He was a devoted Muslim making the hajj to Mecca.

The Pilgrimage of Mansa Kankan Musa• Camel caravan with up to 60,000

porters for the year-long journey

– His senior wife brought 500 ladies in waiting and their slaves

– 500 other slaves each carrying a solid gold walking stick

• 100 Camels each carrying gold weighing about 300 pounds each (one load was worth about $1 million).

• In Egypt he gave so much gold to the poor that 12 years later it was written that “so much gold was current in Cairo that it ruined the value of money.”

Social & Cultural Change

• Commercial Contacts & peaceful spread of Islam created cultural change

– Literacy and Development of Language– Law, Science, & Mathematics– Islam adapted to new cultures

• Merchants class widening gap between elites & common people

• Slavery increased (Africans & Hindus)– 2.5 million 1200-1500

• Women’s status varied by region– Status determined by male (owner x3)– Tasks (Cooking, Brewing, Farm Work)– Arab customs not always adopted by

Muslims (absence of veiling in Mali).– Family organization important in

African Society (lineages). Both Patrilineal / Matrilineal societies = traced through fathers / mothers