Early African Societies and the Bantu Migrations

-individuals who preserved the bodies of deceased people through mummification

-ruling elites, wealthy individuals, and sometimes commoners equipped deceased individuals with items (food, furniture, tools, ornaments) that may be needed in the next life -Greek historian Herodotus learned about the process by traveling to Egypt about 450 BCE -agricultural influenced religious beliefs because of the agricultural cycle in which crops grow, die, and come to life again in another season -Egyptians believed during Middle and New Kingdoms that eternal life was available to all normal mortals as well as other ruling classes -process never became general practice in Egypt

-emerged alongside Nubia -favorable geographical conditions allowed the building of a productive agricultural economy

-emerged alongside Egypt -less prosperous in agricultural economy due to geographical conditions

-after 10,000 BCE, the area that is now occupied by this desert was a grassy steppe land with many lakes, rivers, and streams -much agriculture and human inhabitants -climatic change in 5000 BCE led to dessiccation of Sahara desert making it barren and drove humans and animals to more hospitable lands; many moved to remaining bodies of water such as Lake Chad and the Nile River

after 9000 BCE peoples of eastern Sudan began to domesticate cattle and became nomadic herders -established permanent settlements after 7500 BCE and began to cultivate grains (sorghum), yams (after 8000 BCE) between Niger and Congo rivers, and gourds, watermelons, and cotton after 6500 BCE -small-scale states ruled by small monarchies seen as gods by 5000 BCE -buried royal servants and entombed them with deceased kings -had monotheistic beliefs

-world's longest river from the mountains of east Africa -6,696 km (4,160 miles) long -source is Lake Victoria to its outlet through the delta to the Mediterranean Sea -rain and melting snow swell the river in spring flooding the plains downstream leaving behind fertile layer of rich muck that helped the agricultural economy -construction of high dam at Aswan in 1968 stopped flooding of the Nile River -links Egypt and Nubia

-Egypt enjoyed much of the Nile River's floodplains than it's neighbors in the south, Nubia -Egypt was able to support a larger population by taking advantage of the annual flooding -Greek historian proclaimed Egypt as "the gift of the Nile" but would have also proclaimed Nubia if he had known more about it

-migrants about 10,000 BCE traveled from the Red Sea hills in northern Ethiopia down the Nile Valley and introduced Egyptians and Nubians to collecting wild grains and the Coptic language that would be the language of ancient Egypt -Sudanic cultivators after 5000 BCE moved down the Nile when the African climate grew hotter and introduced crops such as gourds and watermelons to Egypt and Nubia and cattle such as donkeys -after the annual flooding of the Nile River Egyptians cultivators let crops mature during the cool months of the year and harvested them during winter and early spring -Nubians had to prepare fields and rely on irrigation from the Nile River -an increase of population in Egypt led cultivators to higher lands to grow more crops

-geographical barriers surrounded Egypt and Nubia from foreign invaders because of the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and deserts -small kingdoms in southern Egypt and Nubia after 4000 BCE -small local kingdoms throughout public life in Egypt and Nubia by 3300 BCE

-small battles and skirmishes between Nile kingdoms by 3500 BCE -Ta-Seti kingdom, a Nubian realm, flourished between 3400-3200 BCE and extended rule north into Egypt until decline when local kingdoms of southern Egypt increased power to obtain Nubian territories to the south -unified rule in Egypt about 3100 BCE forging all territory between the Nile delta and the Nile River's first cataract by Menes (Egyptian ruler also called Narmer)

-pharaoh also known as Narmer -founded the city of Memphis near Cairo -unified Egyptian rule -built centralized state ruled by the pharaoh, the Egyptian king -early pharaohs associated with the sky god Horus represented by a falcon or hawk; later viewed rulers as offspring of Amon the sun god

-power of the pharaohs greatest during first millenium of Egyptian history between 3100-2660 BCE and 2660-2160 BCE

-massive pyramids constructed between 2600-2500 BCE as royal tombs -represented symbols of authority and divine status

-pharaonic forces destroyed Nubian kingdom of ta-Seti after unification of Egypt between 3100-2600 BCE and dominated Lower Nubia between first and second cataracts of the Nile River -Nubian leaders forced to focus towards southern Nubia (Upper Nubia) and established powerful kingdom of Kush by 2500 BCEwith capital Kerma that occasionally threatened southern Egypt -Nubian peoples often traded with Egypt despite conflicts and often intermarried with each other

-towards the end of the Old Kingdom, high agricultural productivity made several regions of Egypt so prosperous pharaohs were ignored and the central state decline and eventually disappeared; political and social unrest between 2160-2040 BCE -pharaohs returned around 2040-1640 BCEbut were not as powerful as the Old Kingdom -pharaohs, however, had relations with lands of Nubia, north Africa, and Syria

-foreign peoples from southwest Asia that were a Semitic people were name "foreign rulers" -were horse-riding nomads and introduced horses to Egypt that they most likely learned from the Hittites and Mesopotamians -used bronze weapons while Egyptians relied on wooden weapons and stone heads -the "foreign rulers" captured the Egyptian capital Memphis and claimed authority the rest of Egypt; ruled land through Egyptian intermediaries -revolts, especially in Upper Egypt, that worked form Thebes and later Memphis led to Egyptian leaders gradually pushing the Hyksos out of the Nile delta and founding a powerful state known as the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BCE)

-pharaohs controlled a prosperous society -bureaucracy was divided into departments in which each department was in charge of a responsibility -pharaohs did not build pyramids during this time but built many structures such as temples, palaces, and statues -pharaoh Tuthmosis III (reigned 1479-1425 BCE) dominated coastal regions of eastern Mediterrranean and north Africa -pharaohs tried to conquer surrounding regions that might pose a threat to Egypt -rulers turned to south to restore Egyptian dominance in Nubia; conquered the capital Kerma of the kingdom of Kush and other small Nubian states, but local resistance eventually drove the Egyptians out of Nubia and southwest Asia; Kushite and Assyrian forces invaded Egypt afterwards

-Egyptian forces retreated from Nubia by 1100 BCE and were vacated by 1000 BCE with new kingdom of Kush -capital at Napata -powerful enough to invade Egypt by 800 BCE and King Kashta conquered Thebes about 760 BCE forming a Kushite dynasty that ruled Egypt for almost a century -successors of Kashta declared authority throughout Upper Egypt and claimed the title of pharaoh and extended authority beyond the Nile delta -Kushites driven out by Assyrian invaders around mid-700 BCE and Egypt is subjected to Assyrian rule -Egypt is conquered by several foreign conquerors by mid-600 BCE

-city of Memphis was found by Egyptian conqueror Menes in 3100 BCE because of its easy location at the head of the Nile delta to rule over a unified Egypt -city of Thebes was a prominent political center before the unification of Egypt and became an administrative center at the center of Upper Egypt; sometimes was taken as a capital -city of Heliopolis "City of the Sun" was headquarters for sun cult near Memphis founded in 2900 BCE to honor the sun god Re -city of Tanis on Nile delta was Egypt's gateway to the Mediterranean -major Nubian cities were Kerma, Napata, and Meroe -earliest kingdom of Kush founded the capital Kerma about 2500 BCE until the destruction in 1450 BCE and the revived kingdom of Kush had a new capital at Napata that was farther south at Napata by king Kashta which was less vulnerable to threats; after Assyrian forces expelled Kushites in the mid-700 BCE the capital of Kush was moved further south to Meroe -capital Meroe of kingdom of Kush fell about 100 CE

-Egyptians recognized pharaoh as supreme central ruler -pharaohs relied on professional military forces and the bureaucracies that served the central government instead of nobles like in Mesopotamia; and because of this, many individuals of the commoner class could attain high positions in society through government service -Nubian cities also had a social hierarchy -cemeteries and tombs revealed social and economic distinctions; Nubians followed Sudanic traditions in burying their dead

-men dominated their households and public life most of the time with rare exceptions -women of the royal family in Egypt were regents for young rulers such as Queen Hatshepsut (reigned 1473-1458 BCE) who werved as coruler for her stepson Tuthmosis III -in Nubia, there has many plenty of evidence that showed many women rulers in the kingdom of Kush when Meroe was capital

-Egyptians adopted these metals later than the Mesopotamians; the Mesopotamians began to use these implements by 3000 BCE while the Egyptians began to use it by 1700 BCE after the Hyksos relied on these tools to invade on the Nile delta -copper and tin still made it hard for most people to afford them but were used in royal tombs and workers were closely monitored to avoid shaving off slivers of this metal

-large-scale production of this metal made up for the lack of resources (copper and tin) to make bronze -metallurgy for this metal was made independently in Africa from local experimentation in Anatolia about 1300 BCE -earliest traces of African experimentation about 900 BCE in Great Lakes region of east Africa (modern-day Burundi and Rwanda) and on southern side of Lake Chad (modern-day Cameroon) -possible this metal was produced before 1000 BCE -Meroe became large-scale production of this metal

-Egyptians traveled up and down the Nile River by 3500 BCE -prevailing winds that blow year-round from the north allowed Egyptians to travel upriver from Lower to Upper Egypt -Egyptians sailed beyond the Nile into the Mediterranean by 300o BCE and by 2000 BCE traveled to the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and western portion of Arabian sea -Nubia navigation less convenient that in Egypt because of unnavigable cataracts and had to rely on overland transport by wheeled vehicles and donkey caravan

-Egypt was in need of special trade of few natural resources that are limited to only the Nile -irregular exchanges of goods between Egypt and Nubia that took place as early as 4000 BCE or sooner and became regular by the Old Kingdom -major Egyptian cities that reflected trade were Aswan and Elephantine at southern border of Egypt -Egyptians traded with Mesopotamians around 3500 BCE and active throughout eastern Mediterranean basin by 3000 BCE -expedition recorded about 2600 BCE of 40 ships in which Egyptians traded luxuries and metals for cedar -Egyptians traded with east African land called Punt (modern-day Somalia and Ethiopia) and Queen Hatshepsut had detailed illustrations from about 1450 BCE

-means "holy inscriptions" -writing appeared in Egypt by 3200 BCE from Mesopotamian influence and Egyptians replaced pictographs with symbols to represent sounds and ideas -Egyptian writing survived on papyrus text -everyday affairs written using hieratic ("priestly") script which was more cursive form of Egyptian writing -Hieratic script used form 2600 BCE-600 CE and disappeared when Egyptian writing was replaced with Greek alphabet known as demotic ("popular") and Coptic ("Egyptian") scripts

-education and literacy were said to allow an individual to live a privileged life in ancient Egypt as a scribe shown in a short work known as "The Satire of the Trades" -"The Satire of the Trades" was written by a Middle Kingdom scribe who described him pushing his son to study hard and the miseries of 18 different professions when the life of a scribe was the only one that had a comfortable life -strong Egyptian influence in Nubia such as the hieroglyphic writing, political and military influence, and relgion -Egyptian influence strongest in Nubia during 800-700 BCEwhen kings of Kush ruled Egypt

-Egyptian hieroglyphs used in Nubian inscriptions until late 100 CE -Egyptian influence declined after 500 BCE when Kushite capital moved from Napata to Meroe and Nubian scribes developed alphabetic script for Meroitic language which use Egyptian hieroglyphs to represent more sounds than ideas -no one has been able to decipher the Meroitic writing

-principal gods in ancient Egypt -priests associated the two gods with one another during Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom in combined cult -during New Kingdom some devotees suggested that they might be a universal god

-originally a local Theban deity associated with sun, creation, fertility, and reproductive forces

-sun god worshiped at Heliopolis

-Amon-Re cult faced monotheistic challenge with a deity also associated with the sun -Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (reigned 1353-1335 BCE) changed name o Akhenaten in honor of the god who he considered to be the only god -Akhenaten built new capital city called Akhetaten ("Horizon of Aten") at modern Tell el-Amarna -when Pharaoh Akhenaten died the cult of Amon-Re was restored

-myth goes that Osiris's evil brother Seth murdered and scattered his dismembered parts but loyal wife Isis gave her husband a proper burial; the gods restored Osiris to life as the god of the Underworld -Egyptians associated Osiris with the Nile and agriculture because of the process of the flooding (flooded, retreated, and flooded again the following year) and agriculture (crops grew, died, and sprouted again) -Osiris had power to determine who deserved immortality or not by weighing their hearts against a feather -high moral standards were made by the cult

-most prominent of the Nubian gods were lion-god Apedemak (depicted with bow and arrows) and Sebiumeker (creator god and divine guardian of his human devotees) -Nubians did not mummify the deceased but did build pyramids similar to those of Egypt but smaller -Nubians embraced several Egyptian gods such as Amon and Osiris who sometimes was associated with native deity Sebiumeker -Egyptian gods remained popular in Nubia until 600 BCE

-most influential peoples of sub-Saharan Africa in ancient times and their languages are on of many related tongues in larger Niger-Congo family of languages widely spoken in west Africa after 4000 BCE -means "persons" or "peoples" -cultivated crops such as yams and oil palms like the peoples in western Sudan and later adopted crops from eastern and central Sudan such as millet and sorghum -kept cattle (goats and guinea fowl) -lived in clan villages with chiefs -traded regularly with forest peoples known as pygmies

-began to migrate south and into the west African forest -by 2000 BCE began to spread south toward the Congo River basin and east toward Great Lakes -spread of Bantu speakers led to more than 500 dialects of the Bantu language -migrations were a gradual spread of languages and ethnic communities in small groups which led to further expansion -by 1000 CE majority of these people occupied most of Africa south of the equator -two motives for migration: effective use of canoes in traveling the networks of the Niger, Congo, and other rivers; agricultural surpluses led to an uncomfortable increase in the population (population pressures)and migrants began to move inland toward the forest people

-pace of Bantu migrations quickened as iron tool and weapons began to be produced -iron tools allowed for more land to be cleared for agriculture and support a larger population -spread of iron metallurgy throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa

-between 1000-500 BCE cultivators extended the cultivation of yams and grains into east and south Africa (modern-day Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa) while herders introduced sheep and cattle to region -people of Niger-Congo languages spread cultivation of yams, oil palms, millet, sorghum throughout west and central Africa while also introducing cattle -agricultural peoples built distinctive societies and cultural tradition -communities had a few hundred individuals and were led by chiefs -communities often organized into age groups that were responsible for certain laborers

-Sudanic and Niger-Congo peoples (including Bantu) had monotheistic beliefs by 5000 BCE -Sudanic peoples believed in a divine force of both good and evil -Niger-Congo peoples believed in a god called Nyamba who created the world -after 1000 BCE, Bantu migrations to Sudan territory resulted in cultural mixing that led them to associate Nyamba with good forces