The African continent features a beautiful mixture of culture, religion, and ideas. In particular, West Africa has a fascinating mixture of Islamic and traditional African culture. This mixture of religion is seen in West Africa due to the growing presence of Islam from 1200 to 1500. West Africa underwent a huge transformation as Islam became more widespread during the latter timeframe. Islam was transformative to West Africa’s economy, art, religious practices, and politics. Without Islam, West Africa’s economy would have been greatly affected from 1200-1500. The most obvious impact that Islam has on the regional economy in West Africa is the usage of coin-based currency. Islamic coin molds were used to press semi-gold coins (Doc 2). These coins were used extensively in …show more content…
The Hogon that was featured on the aforementioned wooden sculpture also serves to show how Islam transformed political authority in West Africa. After all, the Hogon derived religious authority from syncretic West African Islam. The Epic of Sundiata grants another example of Islam transforming West African political authority. Sundiata Keita, king of Mali from 1235-1255, practiced a syncretic form of Islam (Doc 3). He worshiped many deities, which does not line up with traditional Islam. Despite this, Sundiata did make a sacrifice of 100 cocks to an Islamic spirit in the Epic of Sundiata (Doc 3). After his sacrifice, he reportedly recited in prayer, “Oh jinn of the water, master of the Moghoya Dji, master of the magic water, I sacrificed to you a hundred bulls, I sacrificed to you a hundred cocks. You gave me victory.” (Doc 3). Sundiata’s prayer and worship of an Islamic spirit shows how Islam affected the spirituality of Mali’s king. While West Africa’s interaction with Islam was transformative in a generally positive way, there was still religious tension between West Africa and the Middle
The African empires, kingdoms, and cities had many achievements before the arrival of the Europeans. Some of these achievements had influences many other places in the world. Three major achievements were the trading systems, their military forces and strengths of its people, and the wealth and success.
African society used bodies of water such as the Nile, the Red Sea, and many more to transport goods across the continent and generate profit. For example, the city of “Aksum reached its height between 325-360. Aksum’s location made it an important international trading center.” After analyzing the map of trade routes in Document 1, it is clear Aksum was strategically built to have ties to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. These two bodies of water give the city the freedom to import and export goods. Additionally, this work of trade did not come without reward. Cities who succeeded in the business became overly wealthy and had surpluses of gold and other riches. A king, Mansa Mansa, who expanded the Mali kingdom to be twice the size of Ghana, was not afraid to show his wealth as he showered other cities in riches out of generosity. In Cairo, Egypt, “there was no person, officer of the court, or holder of any office of the Sultanate who did not receive a sum of gold from him.” This is just one of the many examples of wealth in african cities and empires. What is impressive is the fact that before European trade became an influence, African people had already created a successful and very profitable system of
During the late 19th century and the early 20th century many of the European nations began their scramble for Africa which caused Many Africans to suffer from violence like wars, slavery and inequality. Although the Europeans felt power as though they were doing a great cause in the African continent during the Scramble for Africa; Africans had many reactions and actions including factors as rebellion for freedom, against the white settlers and violent resistance.
In the great empires of Africa they developed many things. In the Axum (Aksum) Empire (Ethiopia, in present time) they developed a trade route that stretched of Asia to Africa and back. Document one, states that people in the trade route traveled along the Red Sea. This affected the Axum Empire in many ways. They (Axum people) had gained wealth because it was a great trade point and from it, it was introduced to religions, Christianity and Islam. Another empire is called the Kingdom of Ghana in Western Africa. They became one of the richest civilizations due to commerce. In document two, it states that the amount of wealth was visible because of what the pages were wearing. They had on gold. Even the dogs guarding had on silver and gold.
Islam is presented in the Epic of Sundiata in a way that encourages listeners to embrace Islam over their indigenous belief systems. The epic accomplishes this by incorporating elements and practices of the indigenous beliefs into Islamic tradition; and by adapting certain Islamic mythology — such as the Jinn — to the existing West African culture. It also asserts the superior power and strength of those who derive their power from Allah and the Jinn, to those whose power is based in ancestral worship and fetishes. Through conflict, adaptation, and tolerance, the Epic of Sundiata presents an accessible version of Islam to the people of the Mali Empire; and promotes the acceptance of this new faith over the indigenous beliefs of the area.
Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta, is well-known for being one of the greatest travelers of his time. Battuta’s descriptive account of his travels to East and West Africa in the fourteenth century provides important insight into African Islamic life at that point in time. Although Battuta and the peoples in black Africa shared the same religion, he comes to realize that sharing a religion is not enough to completely relate to a different group of people. The story of Ibn Battuta in Black Africa illustrates the difficulties he faced in relating to these peoples due to the non-traditional role of women, different religious customs, and frequent misinterpretation of situations.
“Caravans of Gold”, a video by Basil Davison discovers and highlights numerous assets about gold and its prominent role in Africa. Additionally, the video examines some of the past and influential empires and their achievements. Davison discusses the history of Africa before the arrival of Europeans to demonstrate how Africa was already a well-flourished continent. “Caravans of Gold” also discusses many topics such as the Mali Empire, trading systems, and the use of gold which shows the audience of the video of how Africa was. In the long run, the aim of the video is to give the audience of the video an understanding of how the empires in Africa used its resource of gold to flourish.
Underneath the tale of Segu is the hushed and disloyal question few people tend to voice: how did they lose the rights to use the land and resources of an entire continent? This novel explains that it was not just Europe’s greed and Christianity pretense that led to the fall of Africa. It shows that Islam was a major force that endangered Segu as well. However, aside from the tragedy’s that were outlined, there lies a captivating story about culture, spirituality, and diversity.
Brief History From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern: the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art of the cuisine so treasured and carefully transmitted to their daughters has become part of the great culinary classics of these lands. But seldom are the African blacks given that recognition.
West African Kingdoms It is generally accepted by scholars and scientists today that Africa is the original home of man. One of the most tragic misconceptions of historical thought has been the belief that Black Africa had no history before European colonization. Whites foster the image of Africa as a barbarous and savage continent torn by tribal warfare for centuries. It was a common assumption of nineteenth-century European and American Whites - promoted by the deliberate cultivation of pseudoscientific racism - that Africans were inferior to Whites and were devoid of any trace of civilization or culture.
J Cole is an American rapper whose fame rises in the contemporary or personal hip-hop category. Rapping in music focuses on the speech's vocal delivery through rhythm and rhyming. In many rap songs, the use of urban language is commonly used, making people believe that the rap category of music has a bad influence on people. This is a common thought people have about rappers in the music industry. The genre of rap that J. Cole plays is hip-hop, which includes the aspect of rapping, but also uses many ideas different from those of other genres.
The Kingdom of Mali was an African hub of wealth, trade and education for over 225 years. Mali is an Arab version of the Mandinka word that means, “Where the king dwells”, and was vitally important in spreading trade, education, religion and culture along the Niger River. The rise of Mali into an Empire occurred in the early 13th century, when Sundiata defeated his enemies and won control of the West African gold mines. In 1312 Mansa Musa became ruler of Mali. During his reign which was known as Mali’s, “Golden Age”, he introduced Islamic beliefs to many communities along the Niger and enhanced education after his historic pilgrimage to Mecca. Mali’s rise was attributed to the Trans-Saharan Trade routes leading to and from Western and Eastern Africa. These trade routes contributed to the rise and fall of powerful African Kingdoms for hundreds of years, but for 250 years, Mali was the crown jewel of Africa.
The spread of Islam in Africa had taken course from a number of factors, including external and internal forces. After my analyzing of the spread of Islam in Africa, I have gather three main themes that stuck out during the expansion of Islam: Islam and trade, the conversion conditions of Islam, and the economics/political development involving Islam. These three themes provide great insight on how Islam started to spread through out Africa. Through trade the culture and religion of Islam was spread to many different areas. This correlates to the conversion of different people, which helped spread Islam. By these conversions Islam was able to establish Islamic states, which played a factor in the development of strong economic and political
Kaduna: Baraka Press, 2004. Magesa, Laurenti. A. African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant Life. Nairobi: Pauline Pub., Africa, 1998. Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion.
...aharan Africa. Although northern Africa is primarily Muslim, 21% of the world’s Christian population lives in Africa. Some former colonies have also adopted their own form of their former ruler’s currency. An example of this is Egypt which uses the Egyptian pound instead of the British pound.