Africa Primary sources
All:
Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe Tower
34 feet high
Good secondary source
7d. Great Zimbabwe
The word "Zimbabwe" is thought to be derived from a Shona phrase meaning "stone enclosure" or "house of rock."
The House of Rock.
It's not the name of a dance club or a new band. It's actually a translation of the Shona word, "Zimbabwe." Though not the best illustration of the modern African nation, this phrase is a perfect description of the ancient city within its borders known as Great Zimbabwe. Sixty acres of immense stone ruins comprise the city and tell the story of the people who created and resided in it some 900 years ago.
For a long time, many Westerners argued that such amazing structures could not have been crafted in Africa without European influence or assistance. These notions reflect ethnocentrism, or the tendency to view one's own culture as the best and others as inferior. With the help of modern dating techniques, today's archaeologists have been able to disprove these arguments and expose the truth. Africans, and Africans alone, were responsible for building this astounding and complex city.
Shona Settlement
The first inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe were Shona-speaking peoples who likely settled in the region as early as 400 C.E. Back then, the land was full of possibilities: plains of fertile soil to support farming and herding, and mineral rich territories to provide gold, iron, copper, and tin for trading and crafting. It was fine place for the Shona to call home.
Over the years, descendants of the Shona made transitions from simple farming communities to more complex, stratified societies. By 1000 C.E., the population of Great Zimbabwe was divided and ranked by status — from elite leaders and their cattle to the peasants who did all the work. Cattle were very desirable and actually more valuable than most of the workers.
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
In response to the changing social, political, and economic landscape, new buildings were gradually built. Tremendous stone houses were constructed by the peasants for their kings. Sophisticated workplaces were designed for conducting trades such as blacksmithing.
The buildings were made of heavy granite blocks, stacked tightly together. Stones were arranged carefully, and no mortar was used to seal them together. The largest and most impressive building was an elliptical structure known today as the Great or Western Enclosure. The remains of its outer wall measure over 800 feet long and up to 32 feet high. The wall enclosed several huts and a tall, cone-shaped tower. Archaeologists and anthropologists believe that the enclosure was the city's center and was occupied only by the elite. It was the dividing line between the rich and the rest.
Several clues led to this theory. First, remnants of exotic items from overseas were found within the enclosure. Second, no evidence of cooking was found within the walled area. Most likely, this means that food was prepared elsewhere by servants and delivered to the wealthy inhabitants upon demand. And third, evidence of only 100-200 residents is shown, while many thousands occupied the city.
Where did everyone else live? They lived in mud huts surrounding the enclosure. Although the huts were not quite as glamorous as the granite "palaces," they were well constructed.
Long Live Rock
By 1200 C.E., the city had grown strong, and was well known as an important religious and trading center. Some believe that religion triggered the city's rise to power, and that the tall tower was used for worship. The people of Great Zimbabwe most likely worshipped Mwari, the supreme god in the Shona religion.
Long looted by treasure hunters, thrill-seekers, and lay archaeologists, it has been only in past two decades that the ruins of the stone city of Great Zimbabwe have begun to reveal their secrets of past African culture and history.
Discoveries of Chinese porcelain, engraved glass from the Middle East, and metal ornaments from West Africa provide evidence that Great Zimbabwe participated in a comprehensive trade network during the 13th and 14th centuries. Gold was probably its chief export and East African cities — especially those along the coast that had overseas connections — were most likely its primary trading partners.
Zimbabwe's prosperity continued until the mid-15th century. At this time, the city's trade activity declined and the people began to migrate elsewhere. The exact cause of the evacuation remains a puzzle, but many scientists agree that a decline in soil quality and fertility was probably a major factor. The Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe has declined, but the House of Rock still stands.
Great Zimbabwe
500-1600 AD
Not much is known about the people and the culture of Great Zimbabwe. This is due to the fact that they had no written language and the oral traditions have not survived. What we do know is what they left behind in form of the Great Zimbabwe ruins. The Shona speaking people moved into the valley around 500 AD and began building major parts of the stone walls in the 1100s. Zimbabwe is the Shona word meaning house of rock.
The city of Great Zimbabwe is located in the present day country of Zimbabwe. Geographically it is located to the east of the Kalahari desert between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. The huge plains that surround the city can support agricultural and herding that the people of Great Zimbabwe needed to sustain themselves. It is interesting to note that although Great Zimbabwe is in the area of several rivers it is not actually on the shores of a river. The city appears to be in the middle of nowhere. It is believed, however, that the city was located on a gold-rich mine. Great Zimbabwe was used and built as a religious center and a place from which they worshipped Mwari, the creator of all life as well as the sustainer of all things.
Back to "Africa South of the Sahara" Chronology
The Elliptical building is the most impressive and extraordinary of the stone remains. The outer wall of the building is 32 feet high and up to 17 feet thick in parts. It stretches over 800 feet, forming a circumference with a maximum diameter of 293 feet. The inside of this building was probably reserved for the king or ruler for melting down gold in smelters. As well as being impressive for the fine granite walls, the city was very rich in gold. The people traded along the nearby Limpopo river. One of the most amazing aspects of this great civilization is that they had up to 20,000 people living around the elliptical building in mud huts. The huge stone buildings are built very straight and uniform and were very well planned in their construction. The stones in the major walls were perfectly fitted with each other and no mortar was used. The only openings in the wall were for the entrance and several drainage ditches. It is interesting to note the similarities of these walls to those of the castles built during Medieval Europe.
Great Zimbabwe is so well known because it is not known how it was constructed nor why the civilization declined around 1600. Much of this is due to the strange fact that the people of Great Zimbabwe left behind no record of a written language nor any oral traditions. The fact that the civilization disappeared as well as the impressive and mysterious walls make the Great Zimbabwe one of the truly lost civilizations of the world. Great Zimbabwe
Sources
Nelson, Harold D.Zimbabwe, A Country Study. Washington DC: United States Government, 1983.
Bahr, Lauren S.Collier's Encyclopedia. Vol. 23, New York: P.F. Collier, INC, 1992: 774-775
Gazlake, Peter S.Great Zimbabwe. Great Britain: Hazell Watson and Viney LTD, Alesbury, 1973.
Axum
- Inscription of Ezana, King of Axum
Inscription of Ezana, King of Axum, c. 325 CE
Through the might of the Lord of All I took the field against the Noba [Nubians] when the people of Noba revolted, when they boasted and "He will not cross over the Takkaze," said the Noba, when they did violence to the peoples Mangurto and Hasa and Barya, and the Black Noba waged war on the Red Noba and a second and a third time broke their oath and without consideration slew their neighbors and plundered our envoys and messengers whom I had sent to interrogate them, robbing them of their possessions and seizing their lances. When I sent again and they did not hear me, and reviled me, and made off, I took the field against them. And I armed myself with the power of the Lord of the Land and fought on the Takkaze at the ford of Kemalke. And thereupon they fled and stood not still, and I pursued the fugitives twenty-three days slaying them and capturing others and taking plunder from them, where I came; while prisoners and plunder were brought back by my own people who marched out; while I burnt their towns, those of masonry and those of straw, and seized their corn and their bronze and the dried meat and the images in their temples and destroyed the stocks of corn and cotton; and the enemy plunged into the river Seda, and many perished in the water, the number I know not, and as their vessels foundered a multitude of people, men and women were drowned. . .
And I arrived at the Kasu [Kush], slaying them and taking others prisoner at the junction of the rivers Seda and Takkaze. And on the day after my arrival I dispatched into the field the troop of Mahaza and the Damawa and Falha and Sera up the Seda against the towns of masonry and of straw; their towns of masonry are called >Alwa, Daro. And they slew and took prisoners and threw them into the water and they returned safe and sound, after they had terrified their enemies and had conquered through the power of the Lord of the Land. And I sent the troop Halen and the troop Laken and the troop Sabarat and Falha and Sera down the Seda against the towns of straw of the Noba and Negues; the towns of masonry of the Kasu which the Noba had taken were Tabito, Fertoti; and they arrived at the territory of the Red Noba, and my people returned safe and sound after they had taken prisoners and slain others and had seized their plunder through the power of the Lord of Heaven. And I erected a throne at the junction of the rivers Seda and Takkaze, opposite the town of masonry which is on this peninsula.
Good secondary source
Ghana
Kingdom of Ghana
Primary Source Documents
The following description of the Kingdom of Ghana was written by Al-Bakri, a member of a prominent Spanish Arab family who lived during the 11thcentury.
The city of Ghana consists of two towns situated on a plain. One of these towns, which is inhabited by Muslims, is large and possesses twelve mosques, in which they assemble for the Friday prayer. There are salaried imams and muezzins, as well as jurists and scholars. In the environs are wells with sweet water, from which they drink and with which they grow vegetables. The king’s town is six miles distant from this one…
Between these two towns are continuous habitations. …In the king’s town, and not far from his court of justice, is a mosque where the Muslims who arrive at his court pray. Around the king’s town are domed buildings and groves and thickets where the sorcerers of these people, men in charge of the religious cult, live. In them too are their idols and the tombs of their kings. These woods are guarded and none may enter them and know what is there…. The king’s interpreters, the official in charge of his treasury and the majority of his ministers are Muslims. Among the people who follow the king’s religion only he and his heir apparent (who is the son of his sister) may wear sewn clothes. All other people wear robes of cotton, silk, or brocade, according o their means. All of them shave their beards, and women shave their heads. The king adorns himself like a woman (wearing necklaces) round his neck and (bracelets) on his forearms, and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. He sits in audience or to hear grievances against officials in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials. Behind the king stand ten pages holding shields and swords decorated with gold, and on his right are the sons of the (vassel) kings of his country wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold. The governor of the city sits on the ground before the king and around him are ministers seated likewise. At the door of the pavilion are dogs of excellent pedigree who hardly ever leave the place where the king is, guarding him. Round their necks they wear collars of gold and silver studded with a number of balls of the same metals. The audience is announced by the beating of a drum which they calldubamade from a long hollow log. When the people who profess the same
religion as the king approach him they fall on their knees and sprinkle dust on their head, for this is their way of greeting him. As for the Muslims, they greet him only by clapping their hands….
Their religion is paganism and the worship of idols….
On every donkey-load of salt when it is brought into the country their king levies one golden dinar and two dinars when it is sent out. … The best gold is found in his land comes from the town of Ghiyaru, which is eighteen days’ traveling distance from the king’s town over a country inhabited by tribes of the Sudan whose dwellings are continuous…
The king of Ghana when he calls up his army, can put 200,000 men into the field, more than 40,000 of them archers.
Questions:
- What can you tell about religion in Ghana?
- What was the basis of Ghana’s wealth?
- Is there any example of ethnocentrism in this account?
Selected by Dorian Bowman, Winsor School
Al-Bakri,The Book of Routes and Realms, cited in Levitzion and
Hopkins,Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, (Cambridge University Press, 1981) pp. 79-81.
Glimpses of the Kingdom of Ghana in 1067 CE
"Ghana" is a deeply-resonant term in the African historical tradition. Today's west African nation-state of that name is located south of the wealthy and powerful kingdom of Ghana, which flourished between the 6th and 12th centuries over a vast Texas-sized area north of the Senegal and Niger rivers. Supporting a population estimated at 200,000, the kingdom rested on a diverse economic base of gold, farming and international trade. As wealth accumulated, the influence of Ghana expanded over the centuries. By the time described in this doc ment, the sway of the King of Ghana exerted itselffrom the so ther Sahara to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
You are about to read translated pieces from the writings of a Muslim Spaniard named Al-Bakir,who travelled through the kingdom in the llth century. These fragments provide a glimpse into this intriguing world. Note certain clues which suggest its grandeur, and its complexity. Prominent wealth abounds, the product of an elaborate bureaucracy which collected taxesfrom trans-Saharan camel caravans trading in gold, salt, silks and jewelry. Sense the dramatic presence of Islam, which prefig res the imminent demise of the Ghanian kingdom and the gradual rise of Muslim authority.
The city of Ghana consists of two towns lying on a plain, one of which is inhabited by Muslims and is large, possessing twelve mosques-one of which is a congregational mosque for Friday prayer; each has its imam, its muezzin and paid reciters of the Quran. The town possesses a large number of juriconsults and learned men.' . . . (1)
The town inhabited by the king is six miles from the Muslim one and is called Al Ghana.... The residence of the king consists of a palace and a number of dome-shaped dwellings, all of them surrounded by a strong enclosure, like a city wall. In the town