The history of the peoples of Africa goes back to ancient times. In the 60-80s. 20th century on the territory of South and East Africa, scientists found the remains of human ancestors - Australopithecus monkeys, which allowed them to suggest that Africa could be the ancestral home of mankind (see Formation of mankind). In the north of the continent, about 4 thousand years ago, one of the most ancient civilizations arose - the ancient Egyptian, which left numerous archaeological and written monuments (see Ancient East). One of the most populated areas Ancient Africa was the Sahara with abundant vegetation and diverse wildlife.

Starting from the 3rd c. BC e. there was an active process of migration of Negroid tribes to the south of the continent, associated with the advance of the desert to the Sahara. In the 8th c. BC e. - 4 in. n. e. in the northeast of Africa, there were the states of Kush and Meroe, connected in many respects with the culture of Ancient Egypt. Ancient Greek geographers and historians called Africa Libya. The name "Africa" ​​appeared at the end of the 4th century. BC e. at the Romans. After the fall of Carthage, the Romans founded the province of Africa on the territory adjacent to Carthage, then this name spread to the entire continent. North Africa met the early Middle Ages under the rule of barbarians (Berbers, Goths, Vandals). In 533-534. it was conquered by the Byzantines (see Byzantium). In the 7th century they were replaced by the Arabs, which led to the Arabization of the population, the spread of Islam, the formation of new state and social relations, and the creation of new cultural values.

Left: Head of the Queen Mother. Benin. 1515-1550.

In antiquity and the early Middle Ages in West Africa, three large states arose, replacing each other. Their formation is associated with the expansion of intercity trade in the Niger River basin, pastoral agriculture, and the widespread use of iron.

Written sources about the first of them - the state of Ghana - appear in the 8th century. with the arrival of the Arabs in Africa south of the Sahara, and oral traditions date back to the 4th century. Its heyday belongs to the 8th-11th centuries. Arab travelers called Ghana the country of gold: it was the largest supplier of gold to the Maghreb countries. Here, crossing the Sahara, caravan routes passed to the north and south. By its nature, it was an early class state, whose rulers controlled the transit trade in gold and salt and imposed a high duty on it. In 1076, the capital of Ghana, the city of Kumbi-Sale, was captured by newcomers from Morocco - the Almoravids, who initiated the spread of Islam. In 1240, the Malinke king from the state of Mali, Sundiata, subjugated Ghana.

In the 14th century (the time of its highest prosperity) the vast state of Mali stretched from the Sahara to the edge of the forest in the south of Western Sudan and from the Atlantic Ocean to the city of Gao; its ethnic basis was the Malinke people. The cities of Timbuktu, Djenne, and Gao became important centers of Muslim culture. Within Malian society, early feudal forms of exploitation spread. The well-being of the state was based on income from caravan trade, agriculture along the banks of the Niger, and cattle breeding in the savannah strip. Mali has been repeatedly invaded by nomads and neighboring peoples; dynastic strife led to its demise.

The state of Songhai (the capital of Gao), which came to the fore in this part of Africa after the fall of Mali, continued the development of the civilization of Western Sudan. Its main population was the Songhai people, who still live along the banks of the middle course of the Niger River. By the 2nd half of the 16th century. an early feudal society developed in Songai; at the end of the 16th century he was captured by the Moroccans.

The states of Kanem and Bbrnu (9th-18th centuries) existed in the region of Lake Chad in the early Middle Ages. The European slave trade put an end to the normal development of the states of Western Sudan (see Slavery, Slave trade). Meroe and Aksum - the most significant states of Northeast Africa between the 4th century. BC e. and 6 c. n. e. The kingdoms of Kush (Napata) and Meroe were located on the territory of the north of modern Sudan, the state of Aksum - on the Ethiopian highlands. Kush and Meroe represented a late phase of ancient Oriental society.

Few archaeological sites have survived to this day. In the temples and on the steles near Napata, several inscriptions in the Egyptian language have been preserved, which allow us to judge the political life of the state. The tombs of the rulers of Napata and Meroe were built in the form of pyramids, although they were much smaller than those of Egypt (see Seven Wonders of the World). The transfer of the capital from Napata to Meroe (Meroe was located about 160 km north of modern Khartoum) was apparently associated with the need to reduce the danger from the invasions of the Egyptians and Persians. Meroe was an important center of trade between Egypt, the states of the Red Sea coast and Ethiopia. An iron ore processing center arose near Meroe, iron from Meroe was exported to many African countries.

The heyday of Meroe covers Sv. BC. - 1c. n. e. Slavery here, just as in Egypt, was not the main thing in the system of exploitation, the main hardships were borne by the village community members - plowmen and pastoralists. The community paid taxes and supplied labor for the construction of pyramids and irrigation systems. The civilization of Meroe is still insufficiently explored - we still know little about the daily life of the state, its relations with the outside world.

The state religion followed the Egyptian models: Amon, Isis, Osiris - the gods of the Egyptians - were also the gods of the Meroiites, but along with this, purely Meroitic cults also arise. The Meroiites had their own script, the alphabet contained 23 letters, and although its study began as early as 1910, the Meroe language still remains difficult to access, making it impossible to decipher the surviving written monuments. In the middle of the 4th c. King Ezana of Aksum inflicted a decisive defeat on the Meroitic state.

Aksum is the forerunner of the Ethiopian state, its history shows the beginning of the struggle waged by the peoples of the Ethiopian highlands to preserve their independence, religion and culture in a hostile environment. The emergence of the Aksumite kingdom dates back to the end of the 1st century BC. BC e., and its heyday - to 4-6 centuries. In the 4th c. Christianity became the state religion; monasteries arose throughout the country, exerting great economic and political influence. The population of Aksum led a settled way of life, being engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. Wheat was the most important crop. Irrigation and terraced agriculture developed successfully. Aksum was an important trade center linking Africa with Arabian Peninsula, where in 517-572. he belonged to South Yemen, but the powerful Persian power ousted Aksum from the south of Arabia. In the 4th c. Aksum established ties with Byzantium, controlled the caravan routes from Adulis along the Atbara River to the middle reaches of the Nile. The Aksumite civilization brought cultural monuments to our days - the remains of palaces, epigraphic monuments, steles, the largest of which reached a height of 23 m.

In the 7th century n. e., with the beginning of the Arab conquests in Asia and Africa, Aksum lost its power. Period from 8th to 13th c. characterized by deep isolation of the Christian state, and only in 1270 begins its new rise. At this time, Aksum loses its importance as the political center of the country, it becomes the city of Gondar ( north of the lake Tana). Simultaneously with the strengthening of the central government, the role of the Christian church also increased, the monasteries concentrated large land holdings in their hands. Slave labor began to be widely used in the country's economy; corvée and in-kind deliveries are being developed.

Leader statue. Ife culture. 12-15

The rise also affected the cultural life of the country. Such monuments are being created as chronicles of the life of kings, church history; the works of Copts (Egyptians professing Christianity) on the history of Christianity, world history are translated. One of the outstanding Ethiopian emperors - Zera-Yaikob (1434 - 1468) is known as the author of works on theology and ethics. He advocated strengthening ties with the Pope, and in 1439 the Ethiopian delegation took part in the Florentine Cathedral. In the 15th century The embassy of the king of Portugal visited Ethiopia. Portuguese in the early 16th century assisted the Ethiopians in the fight against the Muslim Sultan of Adal, hoping then to penetrate the country and capture it, but failed.

In the 16th century the decline of the medieval Ethiopian state began, torn apart by feudal contradictions, subjected to raids by nomads. A serious obstacle to the successful development of Ethiopia was its isolation from the centers of trade relations on the Red Sea. The process of centralization of the Ethiopian state began only in the 19th century. On the east coast of Africa, the trading city-states of Kilwa, Mombasa, and Mogadishu grew up in the Middle Ages. They had extensive ties with the states of the Arabian Peninsula, Asia Minor and India.

The Swahili civilization arose here, absorbing African and Arab culture. Starting from the 10th c. the Arabs played an increasing role in the connections of the east coast of Africa with a large number Muslim states of the Middle East and South Asia. The appearance of the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century. disrupted the traditional ties of the eastern coast of Africa: a period of long-term struggle of the African peoples against the European conquerors began. The history of the interior regions of this region of Africa is not well known due to the lack of historical sources. Arabic sources of the 10th c. It was reported that between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers there was a large state with a large number of gold mines. The civilization of Zimbabwe (its heyday dates back to the beginning of the 15th century) is best known during the period of the Monomotapa state; Numerous public and religious buildings have survived to this day, testifying to the high level of building culture. The collapse of the Monomotapa empire came at the end of the 17th century. due to the expansion of the Portuguese slave trade.

In the Middle Ages (12th-17th centuries) in southern West Africa, there was a developed culture of the Yoruba city-states - Ife, Oyo, Benin, etc. Crafts, agriculture, and trade reached a high level of development in them. In the 16-18 centuries. these states took part in the European slave trade, which led to their decline at the end of the 18th century.

A large state of the Gold Coast was the confederation of Amanti states. This is the most developed feudal formation in West Africa in the 17th-18th centuries. In the Congo River basin in the 13th-16th centuries. there were early class states of the Congo, Lunda, Luba, Bushongo, and others. However, with the advent of the 16th century. the Portuguese, their development was also interrupted. There are practically no historical documents about the early period of development of these states.

Africa in antiquity and the Middle Ages Warriors in national dress. Burundi. Modern photo.

Madagascar in the 1st-10th centuries developed in isolation from the mainland. The Malagasy who inhabited it were formed as a result of a mixture of newcomers from Southeast Asia and Negroid peoples; the population of the island consisted of several ethnic groups - gelding, sokalava, betsimisarak. In the Middle Ages, the kingdom of Imerina arose in the mountains of Madagascar. The development of medieval Tropical Africa, due to natural and demographic conditions, and also because of its relative isolation, lagged behind North Africa.

The penetration of Europeans at the end of the 15th century. was the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, which, like the Arab slave trade on the east coast, delayed the development of the peoples of Tropical Africa, caused them irreparable moral and material damage. On the threshold of a new era, Tropical Africa turned out to be defenseless against the colonial conquests of Europeans.

Although it was in Africa that man arose as a biological species and here, in the Nile Valley, one of the most brilliant civilizations in antiquity developed, this continent as a whole lagged behind others in its development, and the very fact of such a lag is obvious and generally recognized. The only question is why it happened.

For a long time, experts have been trying to find out what the essence of the problem is. A variety of hypotheses were put forward, from openly racist (Negroes, by their biological nature, are not capable of development) to equally openly apologists (Africans could and knew how to do everything, they created everything on their own, from agriculture and iron making to statehood; the reason for their backwardness is in the cruelties of colonialism ). If we leave aside the extremes and pay attention to those main reasons and circumstances that, according to various Africanists, played a role in the lag of Africa and Africans (it is important to note that here and below we are talking only about Africans living south of the Sahara, about the peoples Tropical Africa), then among other things we will find references to the hot climate and generally unfavorable human living conditions in most of the continent, tropical forests and numerous serious diseases affecting people and livestock (fever; sleeping sickness caused by the bite of a tsetse fly, etc. ), about insufficiently favorable soils for intensive farming, primitive methods of agricultural technology and, accordingly, a low work culture. It also speaks of gigantic spaces and low population density, of the relative isolation of the continent as a whole, of the extraordinary multiplicity of linguistic and tribal barriers separating people, of the tenacity of primitive traditions and the strength of early religious cults. Finally, the abundance of non-producing groups of the population, gatherers and hunters, the weakness and subsistence nature of the economy of producers, farmers and pastoralists, the rare possibility of creating food surpluses and stocks, the underdevelopment of internal trade and the absence of commodity-money relations under the dominance of barter are taken into account.

All these and many other considerations are valid in principle and explain a lot. In particular, they allow us to conclude that the backwardness of Africa cannot be blamed on one or the other; a complex set of causes, consisting of a number of significant factors, played a role here. Perhaps the first of them in importance should be considered the natural and climatic factor: the climate, and tropical forests, and poor soils, seemingly saturated with savannah vegetation, and unsuitable conditions for intensive agriculture, and living conditions, including severe diseases, high mortality . Of course, all this could be overcome somehow, and eventually it was overcome. People have adapted. But what did it cost them? The second significant factor of backwardness should be considered the people themselves, but not in terms of their race, but in terms of ethnocultural potential. Being forced to spend incredible efforts for the sake of adaptation, Africans as a whole found themselves in unfavorable living conditions, which could not but have a negative effect on the pace of development of society and its culture, on the level of habitual real life. Insignificant average needs (meager food, minimal clothing, the simplest housing) did not stimulate the search and did not lead to the development of highly productive labor skills, to the accumulation and consolidation of new labor experience in generations - at least in such quantities as to overcome the conservatism of tradition.

Finally, the third significant factor of backwardness is the relative isolation of many ethnic communities and the insignificant role of contacts with the outside world until the end of the 1st millennium AD. e. That is why, although the colonial invasion of Europeans brought innumerable disasters and suffering to Africa (which is worth the slave trade alone, which claimed tens of millions of lives and distorted the socio-political being and consciousness of many peoples of the continent!), It should not be assessed unambiguously. As in the entire East, it has introduced a lot of new, including useful, into the traditional way of existence. In particular, new agricultural crops (corn, cassava, peanuts, etc.) that had taken root there were brought to Africa, which became the basis of nutrition for many peoples.

Here it is worth mentioning that the isolation in question has always been relative. As for intra-African contacts, they, on the contrary, have been very lively since ancient times and until recently. Migration of significant groups of the population, not only pastoralists, usually very easy-going, but also farmers, as evidenced by the settlement of Bantu-speaking peoples south of the center of the continent, where they, in all likelihood, originally lived (this is evidenced by the data of linguistic analysis) , were commonplace in Africa. Apparently, it was this that played a significant role in the spread of agriculture and cattle breeding across the continent, especially in the south.

If we talk about the main habitats on the continent, it should be noted that they are very diverse. It can be considered a regularity that the equatorial belt of Africa, covered with tropical forests and the least suitable for human habitation and the producing economy, is inhabited mainly by hunters and gatherers. However, even here there are many farmers who grow mainly tubers, primarily yams. The wide savannah zones surrounding the forests of Africa from the north and south are more favorable for the existence of farmers and especially pastoralists. But even here, in the savannah, as well as in the forest, the farmers conducted extensive land use (a slash-and-burn system with a rather frequent transition to new arable land), were not familiar with draft cattle and a plow, making do with primitive hoes, which, however, corresponded to poor soils. with a very small superficial fertile layer of humus. Only in a few areas of the savannah (along the Niger Valley, in particular) were agricultural conditions more favorable and contributed not only to the cultivation of cereals, including, apparently, rice brought to Africa by the Arabs, but also to the creation of grain reserves, i.e., an excess product, which is always was the material basis for the emergence and existence of supra-communal political structures, proto - and early state formations.

The history of Tropical Africa as a political history, that is, a description of just this kind of supra-communal structures fixed by legends and documents, begins precisely in the zone of the northern savannah, within the vast belt of semi-deserts, steppes and forest-steppes located south of the Sahara and called Sudan (northern part of this belt, where mainly nomads lived, is called the Sahel). In the east of this trans-African belt, in antiquity and clearly under the influence Egyptian civilization and transit trade between the Mediterranean, Arabia and India, the already mentioned African states of Nubia and Ethiopia (Aksum) arose. But they developed, as it were, apart from the rest of Tropical Africa, although there were clearly connections between them and the continent. There is even a hypothesis according to which iron-making in Africa goes back to the ancient eastern Sudanese state of Meroe, from where it began to spread throughout the continent. However, the emergence of iron-making at that distant time (I millennium BC) did not play a significant role in the formation of statehood in most of Tropical Africa. Statehood appeared here much later, and in the opposite part of the Sudanese belt, in its west. However, almost the most important role of the initial impetus for its appearance here was played by similar circumstances. We are talking about influences and contacts with developed civilizations at the end of the 1st millennium AD. e.

As mentioned, the intra-African system of contacts has existed since antiquity and included not only the Sahara, through which many caravan routes passed, but also North Africa, including the inhabitants of Carthage, who had heard about the gold placers of Western Sudan. Since Western Sudanese gold, mined from century to century by local peoples, was highly valued in the Mediterranean, where it was minted as a coin, it is not surprising that from ancient times there was a transit trade connecting northern Africa through the Sahara with Sudan. This trade stalled for a long time at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. e., but after the Arabization of the North African coast, Muslim merchants of the Maghreb began to actively act as intermediary merchants interested in Sudanese gold (later Fatimid Egypt became the center of this trade).

Starting from the 7th century and for a number of subsequent centuries, Arab and Berber merchants carried salt, highly valued in Africa, and some other Mediterranean goods to the western Sudanese lands. Trade centers (Audagost, Ghana, Timbuktu, Gao, etc.) began to grow one after another on trade routes and their intersections, inhabited by Islamic merchants and people from among the local nobility who had grown rich on this trade, gradually seizing administrative and political power into their own hands. .

Western Sudan

Western Sudan from the 7th–8th centuries was the place of the most intensive transit trade, the point of intersection of many migration flows. Savannah farmers lived here. Pastoralists, both of Negroid and Berbero-Libyan origin, also sporadically moved here with their herds. There is reason to believe that the latter themselves took part in the caravan trade, providing merchants with their dromedary camels for this. On the western Sudanese lands moistened by the floods of Niger, cereals were grown, including rice. In the trading cities, in addition to merchants, there were many artisans who served the needs of the urban population. In short, many factors contributed to the creation of favorable conditions in the Western Sudanese region of Africa for the emergence of cities and urban life, and along with this, centers of civilization and statehood. But the main factor of all was still gold, without which everything else might not have appeared. It was the control of the mines, and thus the key position in the system of profitable trade exchange, that created the initial conditions for the emergence of the first strong West African states. The earliest of these was Ghana (not to be confused with modern Ghana!).

Ghana. The origins of Ghanaian statehood are unclear. There are legends according to which the first rulers of this state were people from the north (“white rulers”). Perhaps these were nomadic Berbers from among those who migrated to the western Sudanese lands for the same purpose of enrichment as the Mediterranean merchants. But this is just a guess. In the 8th century, however, this was already a distant past. By this time, the rulers of Ghana were racially and ethnically the same as their subjects, coming from the Soninke ethnic community, which formed the basis of the inhabitants of Ghana. The proto-state formation of Ghana, which developed around the trade center, existed mainly due to customs duties and duties from merchants, partly due to tribute from the neighboring tribes that obeyed it. But the main treasure of the rulers of Ghana was gold, more precisely, control over the mines: all the nuggets from them were supposed to be given to the ruler; only gold dust was considered the legitimate income of prospectors.

Pushing back the Berbers, Ghana at the end of the tenth century. annexed the important shopping center Audagost, located to the north of it. It is worth noting that the rulers of the country themselves and their subjects practically did not take part in transit trade: visiting merchants - Arabs, Berbers, Jews - traded. In short, Ghana was in many respects an unusual proto-state that lived off its advantageous location and disposal of rich resources, but not on production (except for gold mining). In 1076, the Almoravid sultan Abu Bekr, at the head of a Muslim army, conquered Ghana and destroyed the city. And although 11 years later, after a successful uprising, the conquerors were forced to leave, the days of a prosperous Ghana were already numbered. Part of the dependent territories fell away from it, and the related Soso tribe, who was a tributary, captured the capital in 1203, after which many of the foreign merchants who lived there left the city. The political successor of Ghana was the new proto-state - Mali.

Mali. Mali was formed as a proto-state entity in the VIII-IX centuries. Initially located south of Ghana, in a zone where access was difficult for northern nomads, Mali, however, unlike Ghana, in the 11th century. accepted Islam. The Islamization of the ruling elite of Mali contributed to the development of a proto-state inhabited by the related Soninka Malinka (both peoples from the Mande, Mandingo language group), and the influx of Muslim merchants into the country. In 1235, the ruler of Mali, Mundiata Keita, defeated the neighboring proto-state of Soso and annexed the ancient lands of Ghana to the country. Mali soon became a wealthy and well-known Western Sudanese state entity in the Arab world: its ruler Musa I made a hajj to Mecca in 1324. According to legend, Musa brought with him so much gold, which was generously distributed during the journey (10-12 tons, it was carried by about 500 porter slaves), that for many years after that the price of gold in the Arab world was underestimated.

The cities of Mali were built up with rich buildings and mosques. Trade and crafts flourished. There was so much gold that the highly valued salt was sometimes exchanged for it by weight in a ratio of 2: 1 (trade in Sudan was barter; there was no money in circulation). The administrative structure was significantly more developed than in Ghana. supreme power the ruler carried out, but the tribal nobility played an important role, primarily from the ruling family of Keita, whose representatives were appointed governors of the regions annexed to the country (part of the conquered or voluntarily joined lands remained under the authority of local leaders who paid tribute to the ruler).

In order to protect themselves from the claims of close relatives to power, the rulers elevated warriors and officials from among strangers, primarily foreign slaves, whose number in the apparatus of power and in the army, especially in the guard of the ruler, was great. The Islamic power structure, apparently, affected the fact that employees and soldiers received official lands, more precisely, the right to taxes (rent-tax) from the population of the granted lands. As for the main part of the population, the Malinka, they lived in large communities, consisting of patriarchal families, the heads of which disposed of the property of the entire collective and contributed the necessary part of it in the form of tax to the elder. Slaves from among foreigners were most often included in the economy as the younger members of the family, and the status of a slave in the second generation practically ceased to be a slave.

From the end of the XIV century. Mali began to weaken under the influence of dynastic strife. And although the Keita dynasty lasted until the 17th century, it practically no longer ruled a large and prosperous country: under the blows of successful neighbors, especially the Songhais, the rulers of Mali lost in the 15th century. almost all of their possessions. But Mali was replaced by the state of Songhai, the most powerful of the three Sudanese state entities and the most developed of them.

Songhai. The Songhai community lived northeast of Ghana and Mali, near the trading center of Gao, which eventually became the capital of the new state. Traditions testify to the existence of the Songhai and the formation of their statehood at the end of the 1st millennium BC. e., and special studies indicate that state institutions and positions arose on a local basis (this is evidenced by their names). This, however, does not in any way exclude the possibility of external influence on the entire process, especially if we take into account the situation already described. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium, the Songhai proto-state entity (or a series of entities?) was under the rule of Mali. Only with the weakening of Mali at the end of the XIV century. The Songhai, who by that time had already converted to Islam, led by their ruler Ali, defeated the Malians and created a large state that covered a significant part of Western Sudan, including all its well-known trading centers. In the state of Songhai, a professional army of mercenaries was created. The country was divided into provinces headed by those close to the ruler.

At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. Under Muhammad, the Songhai empire reached the pinnacle of its power. Mohammed himself, a zealous Muslim, not only made the Hajj to Mecca, but also widely patronized Muslim scholars, whom he invited from the Arab countries. In Timbuktu, under him, there was a higher educational institution like a university, where specialists in the field of Islamic theology, law, mathematics, and the humanities were trained. Songai cities, like all transit trade and, above all, gold mining, brought considerable income to the treasury. But, as in Mali, in the Songhai state there was already a regular taxation of the population. Dependent foreigners, slaves, were used in the cultivation of land, which was generously distributed to senior officials. Vassal chieftains paid tribute to the ruler. The state actively absorbed innovations, facilitating the transfer of experience (inviting foreign scientists; providing conditions for European gardeners; building irrigation facilities in Niger).

The power of Songhay was undermined by the invasion of the Moroccan army at the end of the 16th century. Armed with firearms and consisting largely of Spanish mercenaries, partially Islamized, this army managed to deliver a decisive blow to the Songhai state, whose rulers, pushed back to the east, gradually degraded. The Moroccans arrived in Sudan from the north in search of the same gold. But the mines were already depleted by this time, and the expedition was expensive. The Moroccan sultan soon lost interest in Sudan, and the soldiers he sent, having married local women, remained there, establishing a pashalyk, which was ruled by pashas elected by the soldiers. Pashalyk existed in the northern part of Western Sudan, including Timbuktu and Gao, until the middle of the 18th century, when it was defeated by the Saharan Tuareg nomads. To the south and southwest of the Moroccan pashalik in the XVII-XVIII centuries. several states arose, founded by the local peoples of the Fulbe and Bambara.

Tribal proto-states of the Fulbe and Bambara. The cattle breeders of the western Sahel from the Fulbe tribe already in the 9th century. in the area of ​​​​modern Senegal (a coast separated from the Western Sudanese savannah by a mountain plateau), they headed the tribal proto-state formation Tekrur, becoming the first of the four Tukuler dynasties. There is evidence that the Fulbe cattle breeders appeared here from the north, were racially different from the local Negroid population and were familiar with Islam. Part of the Fulani settled, the rest remained nomads and, in search of pastures, gradually migrated to the east, spreading almost throughout the entire territory of Western and Central Sudan. In the region of the bend of the Niger in Masina, part of the Fulbe (Fulbe-bororo), having undergone a process of tribalization, settled, creating a proto-state, first dependent on Mali, then on Songhay. Having withstood the onslaught of the Moroccans, the Masin Fulani at the turn of the 16th–17th centuries. achieved independence. Former Fulbe nomads fit well into the urban culture of Western Sudan, took up many positions of officials and joined the ranks of the Muslim clergy. Apparently, the small number of the settled part of the Fulbe was one of the reasons that they underwent Mandingization, i.e., they gradually lost their language, adopting the language of the Manding Bambara people (but retaining their ethnic identity).

The ethnic community of the Bambara, related to the Soninka and Malinka of Ghana and Mali, in the 16th-17th centuries. became almost predominant in the western Sudanese region of the middle reaches of the Niger, i.e., in the habitat of the three above-mentioned state structures (Ghana, Mali, Songhay). Having finally pushed back the last rulers of Mali and taking advantage of the collapse of Songhay under the blows of the Moroccans, the tribalized Bambara created a series of tribal proto-states southwest of the Moroccan pashalik, which flourished in the 18th century. The strongest of them was Segu, whose ruler Biton Coulibaly created a strong army and made a number of successful conquests, adding to Segu, in particular, the Fulban Masina.

At the end of the XVIII century. the Fulani again came to the fore, who tried, under the sign of religious renewal, to unite a number of small state formations of Western and Central Sudan up to Lake Chad. Fulbian Muslim preacher Osman dan Fodio at the turn of the 18th–19th centuries. managed to create in this region of Africa a large caliphate of Sokoto, which lasted almost the entire 19th century and was built mainly on an Islamic administrative-political and socio-economic basis with a strong centralized authority and a well-established tax system. The specific difference of the caliphate was ethnic superstratification: the Fulbe were considered a privileged minority, while the majority of the population, belonging to the Hausa, obeyed them.

Tribal proto-states of the Mosi. The southeastern part of Western Sudan, the Volta basin, was inhabited by the Mosi ethnic community, which developed at the turn of the 1st-2nd millennia on a local basis. Under the influence of migrants from the east, this community was transformed and subjected to the process of tribalization. In the XII-XIV centuries. several neighboring state formations already existed here, the largest among which was Ouagadougou. Ouagadugu, Yatenga, and some other proto-states of the Moxi were well organized. Islam and transit trade affected their territories to a lesser extent than it was to the north. But the influence of both had an effect. existed until the 19th century. (which was clearly facilitated by their geographical location - away from the main trade and migration routes) the tribal proto-states of the Mosi were rather peculiar political structures. Territorial-administrative division was closely connected with the communal-tribal. However, the leaders preferred to appoint as heads of districts not representatives of noble families, but people loyal to them from among foreign slaves, which played a role in stabilizing their power. However, the degree of centralization of this power should not be exaggerated, as well as the role of state institutions: in general, we are talking about extremely primitive political formations, at the heart of which the ancient African community with all its primitive traditions existed and preserved for centuries.

Central Sudan

Geographically, Central Sudan is the vast central part of the Sudanese belt, the middle of which is roughly Lake Chad. However, the focus will be on political structures located on the western side of this part of the Sudanese belt, between Western Sudan and the Lake Chad region. Here it is necessary to single out two large zones of statehood, partially overlapping one another.

Hausa tribal proto-states. The first of them is a group of Khausan proto-state formations, the earliest of which arose in the 8th-10th centuries. We are talking about very primitive supra-communal political structures such as city-states, and the formation of these formations also took place around trade centers located on trans-African caravan routes that went both from east to west and from north to south. Particularly important was the route from north to south, linking the north of Africa through the Sahara with its Guinean coast, with the area of ​​​​dense settlement of the Yoruba.

The Khausan proto-states, of which the most significant were first Kano, then Katsina and even later Gobir, were grouped around cities and in the XIV-XVI centuries. were already developed in their own way, well acquainted with Islam, which had penetrated here through Mali. The fall of Mali and Songhai and the decline of the gold fields of Western Sudan led to a weakening of intensive trade there and, accordingly, to an increase in trade links through the Hausan cities to the Guinean coast, where there was also gold (the "Gold Coast" of the Portuguese). This is what contributed to the flourishing of the Hausan political formations, although the main role in their trade was played not by gold, but rather by kola nuts, exported from the forest regions of the coast to northern Africa.

Crafts developed in the Hausa cities, especially weaving. Large buildings and mosques were erected. There were quarters inhabited by Arab and other foreign merchants. The rural periphery of the cities also expanded, which fiercely competed with each other, sometimes waged wars, as a result of which one, then the other, then the third of them came to the fore (there were 14 in total: seven main, purely Hausan, and seven others , with a mixed population). According to some data, in the proto-states there was an established administrative system of government with stable authorities and the collection of taxes (an eighth share of the harvest). Slavery played a significant role in the life of the Hausans, like all Sudanese proto-states. However, foreign slaves usually had land and lived on the rights of a taxable population, although legally not full; often they formed new settlements.

In the 17th century As mentioned, quite a large number of Fulbe Bororos penetrated into the Hausan proto-states, both nomads and especially the settled population, including from among the educated intellectuals of Islam. It was their efforts that raised the wave of the movement for religious renewal, which at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. led to the creation of the Sokoto caliphate, in which the Fulani dominated, while the Hausans were the main part of the taxable population.

Kanem and Bornu. The Lake Chad region is perhaps the most important center of the ancient cultures of Africa. It was from here in the 1st millennium BC. e. the Bantu-speaking peoples of modern Africa settled. Traces of archaeological cultures of the metal age of an even earlier time have been found here. And here, to the east of the lake, in the VIII-IX centuries. one of the early African proto-states, Kanem, was formed. The ruler of Kanem Khume at the end of the 11th century. converted to Islam, and this time Islam did not come from the west, but from the east or from the north, from the Maghreb. Kanem in the 12th century. vigorously expanded its borders in the XIII century. under Dunam II (1221–1259) he reached the highest power, becoming perhaps the largest in Africa along with Mali.

In the 14th century, however, under pressure from neighboring Bulala tribes, the ruler of Kanem was forced to move his residence to the west of Lake Chad, to the Bornu region, where, as a result of ethnic mixing of immigrants from the east with the local population, an ethnic community of Kanuri was formed. The rulers of Bornu (Kanem-Bornu), who headed this community, gradually strengthened their position and reached the highest power under Idris Alum (1571–1603), who managed to acquire firearms in Tunisia and equip his army with them, as a result of which Bornu made its neighbors dependent on itself, including the Hausanian proto-states. Since the 17th century the influence of Kanem-Bornu again began to weaken.

The political organization of Kanem-Bornu was fairly common in Sudanese countries with an Islamic orientation. The country was divided into regional divisions, headed by representatives of the ruling house, very prone to separatist aspirations and rebellions on occasion. The power of the ruler was limited by the council of the nobility and high dignitaries. The ruler himself was deified and was closed from the eyes of his subjects. It was believed that he had the right to appoint his successor, but in practice, the ruler's mother usually enjoyed great influence in political affairs. As elsewhere in the Sudan, in Kanem-Bornu there were many foreign slaves who could be traded, exchanging them, for example, for horses highly valued and imported from the north, from the Maghreb.

According to the majority scientists Africa- the cradle of mankind. The remains of the most ancient hominids, found in 1974 in Harare (), are determined by the age of up to 3 million years. Around the same time, the remains of hominids in Koobi Fora () belong. It is believed that the remains in the Olduvai Gorge (1.6 - 1.2 million years) belong to the species of hominid, which in the process of evolution led to the emergence of Homo sapiens.

The formation of ancient people took place mainly in the grass zone. Then they spread to almost the entire continent. The first found remains of African Neanderthals (the so-called Rhodesian man) date back to 60 thousand years old (sites in Libya, Ethiopia).

The earliest remains of a modern human (Kenya, Ethiopia) date back to 35 thousand years old. Finally, a modern man supplanted the Neanderthals about 20 thousand years ago.

About 10 thousand years ago, a highly developed society of gatherers developed in the Nile Valley, where the regular use of grains of wild cereals began. It is believed that it was there that by the 7th millennium BC. the oldest civilization in Africa. The formation of pastoralism in general in Africa ended by the middle of the 4th millennium BC. But most modern agricultural crops and domestic animals apparently came to Africa from Western Asia.

Ancient history of Africa

In the second half of the 4th millennium BC social differentiation intensified in North and North-East Africa and on the basis of territorial entities - nomes, two political associations arose - Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The struggle between them ended by 3000 BC. the emergence of a single (the so-called Ancient Egypt). During the reign of the 1st and 2nd dynasties (30-28 centuries BC), a unified irrigation system for the whole country was formed, the foundations of statehood were laid. In the era of the Old Kingdom (3rd-4th dynasties, 28th-23rd centuries BC), a centralized despotism headed by the pharaoh, the unlimited master of the whole country, took shape. Diversified (royal and temple) became the economic basis of the power of the pharaohs.

Simultaneously with the rise of economic life, the local nobility strengthened, which again led to the disintegration of Egypt into many nomes, to the destruction of irrigation systems. In the course of the 23rd-21st centuries BC (7th-11th dynasty) there was a struggle for a new unification of Egypt. State power was especially strengthened during the 12th dynasty during the Middle Kingdom (21-18 centuries BC). But again, the discontent of the nobility led to the disintegration of the state into many independent regions (14-17 dynasty, 18-16 centuries BC).

The nomadic tribes of the Hyksos took advantage of the weakening of Egypt. About 1700 B.D. they took possession of Lower Egypt, and by the middle of the 17th century BC. already ruled the whole country. At the same time, the liberation struggle began, which by 1580 before A.D. finished Ahmose 1 who founded the 18th dynasty. With this began the period of the New Kingdom (rule of 18-20 dynasties). The New Kingdom (16-11 centuries BC) is the time of the highest economic growth and cultural upsurge of the country. The centralization of power increased - local government passed from independent hereditary nomarchs into the hands of officials.

As a result, Egypt experienced invasions of the Libyans. In 945 B.D. The Libyan military leader Sheshonk (22nd dynasty) proclaimed himself pharaoh. In 525 B.D. Egypt was conquered by the Persians, in 332 by Alexander the Great. In 323 B.D. after the death of Alexander, Egypt went to his commander Ptolemy Lag, who in 305 BC. declared himself king and Egypt became the state of the Ptolemies. But endless wars undermined the country, and by the 2nd century BC. Egypt was conquered by Rome. In 395 AD, Egypt became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, from 476 - as part of the Byzantine Empire.

In the 12th-13th centuries, the crusaders also made a number of attempts to conquer, which further aggravated the economic decline. In the 12th-15th centuries, rice and cotton crops, sericulture and winemaking gradually disappeared, and the production of flax and other industrial crops fell. The population of the centers of agriculture, including the valley, reoriented to the production of cereals, as well as dates, olives and horticultural crops. Huge areas were occupied by extensive cattle breeding. The process of the so-called Bedouinization of the population proceeded exceptionally fast. At the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, most of North Africa, and by the 14th century Upper Egypt, turned into dry semi-desert. Almost all cities and thousands of villages disappeared. During the 11th-15th centuries, the population of North Africa decreased, according to Tunisian historians, by about 60-65%.

Feudal arbitrariness and tax oppression, the deteriorating environmental situation led to the fact that Islamic rulers could not simultaneously restrain the discontent of the people and withstand an external threat. Therefore, at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, many cities and territories of North Africa were captured by the Spaniards, the Portuguese and the Order of St. John.

Under these conditions, the Ottoman Empire, acting as the defenders of Islam, with the support of the local population, overthrew the power of the local sultans (Mamluks in Egypt) and raised anti-Spanish uprisings. As a result, by the end of the 16th century, almost all the territories of North Africa became provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Expulsion of conquerors, termination feudal wars and the restriction of nomadism by the Ottoman Turks led to the revival of cities, the development of crafts and agriculture, the emergence of new crops (corn, tobacco, citrus fruits).

Much less is known about the development of sub-Saharan Africa in the Middle Ages. A rather large role was played by trade and intermediary contacts with North and Western Asia, which required great attention to the military-organizational aspects of the functioning of society to the detriment of the development of production, and this naturally led to a further lag in Tropical Africa. But on the other hand, according to most scientists, Tropical Africa did not know the slave system, that is, it passed from the communal system to a class society in an early feudal form. The main centers for the development of Tropical Africa in the Middle Ages are: Central and Western, the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, the basin, the Great Lakes region.

New African History

As already noted, by the 17th century, the countries of North Africa (except Morocco) and Egypt were part of the Ottoman Empire. These were feudal societies with long traditions of urban life and highly developed handicraft production. The peculiarity of the social and economic structure of North Africa was the coexistence of agriculture and extensive pastoralism, which was carried out by nomadic tribes who preserved the traditions of tribal relations.

The weakening of the power of the Turkish sultan at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries was accompanied by economic decline. The population (in Egypt) halved between 1600 and 1800. North Africa again disintegrated into a number of feudal states. These states recognized vassal dependence on the Ottoman Empire, but had independence in internal and external affairs. Under the banner of protecting Islam, they waged military operations against European fleets.

But by the beginning of the 19th century European countries achieved superiority at sea and since 1815 the squadrons of Great Britain, France, and began to take military action off the coast of North Africa. Since 1830, France began the colonization of Algeria, part of the territories of North Africa were captured.

Thanks to the Europeans, North Africa began to be drawn into the system. The export of cotton and grain grew, banks were opened, railways and telegraph lines. In 1869 the Suez Canal was opened.

But such penetration of foreigners caused discontent among the Islamists. And since 1860, propaganda of the ideas of jihad (holy war) began in all Muslim countries, which led to multiple uprisings.

Tropical Africa until the end of the 19th century served as a source of supply of slaves to the slave markets of America. Moreover, local coastal states most often played the role of intermediaries in the slave trade. Feudal relations in the 17-18 centuries, it was in these states (the Benin region) that a large family community was distributed in a separate territory, although formally there were many principalities (as an almost modern example - Bafut).

From the middle of the 19th century, the French expanded their possessions along, the Portuguese held the coastal regions of modern Angola and Mozambique.

This had a strong effect on the local economy: the range of food products was reduced (Europeans imported corn and cassava from America and widely distributed), many crafts fell into decay under the influence of European competition.

Since the end of the 19th century, the Belgians (since 1879), the Portuguese, have joined the struggle for the territory of Africa (since 1884), (since 1869).

By 1900, 90% of Africa was in the hands of the colonial invaders. The colonies were turned into agricultural and raw material appendages of the metropolises. The foundations were laid for the specialization of production in export crops (cotton in Sudan, peanuts in Senegal, cocoa and oil palms in Nigeria, etc.).

The beginning of the colonization of South Africa was laid in 1652, when about 90 people (Dutch and Germans) landed on the Cape of Good Hope in order to create a transshipment base for the East India Company. This was the beginning of the creation of the Cape Colony. The result of the creation of this colony was the extermination of the local population and the appearance of a colored population (since during the first decades of the existence of the colony, mixed marriages were allowed).

In 1806, Great Britain took over the Cape Colony, which led to an influx of immigrants from Britain, the abolition of slavery in 1834 and the introduction of the English language. The Boers (Dutch colonists) took this negatively and moved north while destroying the African tribes (Xhosa, Zulu, Suto, etc.).

A very important fact. By establishing arbitrary political boundaries, chaining each colony to its own market, tying it to a certain currency zone, the Metropolises dismembered entire cultural and historical communities, disrupted traditional trade ties, and suspended the normal course of ethnic processes. As a result, no colony had a more or less ethnically homogeneous population. Within the same colony, there were many ethnic groups belonging to different language families, and sometimes to different races, which naturally complicated the development of the national liberation movement (although in the 20-30s of the 20th century, military uprisings took place in Angola, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Congo).

During World War II, the Germans tried to include the African colonies in the "living space" of the Third Reich. The war was fought on the territory of Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Equatorial Africa. But in general, the war gave impetus to the development of the mining and manufacturing industries, Africa supplied food and strategic raw materials to the warring powers.

During the war, national-political parties and organizations began to form in most of the colonies. First post-war years(with the help of the USSR) communist parties began to arise, often leading armed uprisings, options for the development of "African socialism" arose.
Sudan liberated in 1956

1957 - Gold Coast (Ghana),

After gaining independence, they went along different paths of development: a number of countries, mostly poor in natural resources, went along the socialist path (Benin, Madagascar, Angola, Congo, Ethiopia), a number of countries, mostly rich - along the capitalist path (Morocco, Gabon, Zaire, Nigeria, Senegal, CAR, etc.). A number of countries carried out both reforms under socialist slogans (, etc.).

But in principle, there was no big difference between these countries. Both here and there, the nationalization of foreign property, land reforms were carried out. The only question was who paid for it - the USSR or the USA.

As a result of World War I, all of South Africa came under British rule.

In 1924, the "civilized labor" law was passed, according to which Africans were suspended from jobs requiring qualifications. In 1930, a law was passed on the distribution of land, according to which Africans were deprived of land ownership and were to be placed in 94 reserves.

Teacher: Africa in the Middle Ages developed very unevenly. Nature itself divided this continent into two unequal parts. In the northern part, adjacent to the Mediterranean and Red Seas, centers of civilization arose from ancient times. It was here that the ancient Egyptian civilization was born and flourished. In North Africa, the Phoenicians and Greeks founded colonies; they were an integral part of Ancient Rome, Byzantium, and the Arab Caliphate. In the 7th century, the Arabs captured the entire coast of North Africa to the very Atlantic, subjugating the local tribes of the Berbers. The Arabs called the lands to the west of Egypt Maghrib, that is, the western lands. Huge cities flourished here, such as Fez and Tangier, wonderful monuments of Moorish architecture were created.

Scientist-archaeologist: From the Arab cities of the Mediterranean to the south, through the Sahara desert, ancient caravan routes led. These were the routes to another Africa, which is called Black or Tropical Africa. The Arabs called it Bilad as-Sudan - the Country of "blacks" or simply Sudan.

Now Sudan is a country in northeast Africa. But before the Arabs called so the entire territory south of the Sahara. In this part of the continent lived Negro peoples who spoke different languages: there were several hundred of them in Africa. Researches of scientists prove that in this part of the continent humanity has achieved a lot. After all, the Africans were faced with the most difficult task of mastering vast spaces, little adapted for normal human life. There are very few fertile lands in Africa. The vast majority of it is occupied by deserts, infertile savannahs, tropical forests. In vast areas, people are threatened by malaria, and domestic animals by the tsetse fly. In addition, the sweltering heat also presented its limitations for people's activities.

Being in different natural conditions, the peoples of Africa and developed in different ways. The inhabitants of the rainforests, such as the undersized pygmies, were hunters and gatherers. And to the north and south of them, in the savannas, lived farmers and pastoralists. The economic life of the Africans was in balance with nature, ensuring the normal existence of the tribe with minimal labor costs.

At the turn of our era, many peoples of Tropical Africa mastered the technique of manufacturing tools and weapons from iron. The use of iron and other improvements made it possible to obtain higher yields and keep small stocks of grain. There were more opportunities for the division of labor and the development of crafts.

Scientist-archivist: African states.

Along the ancient trade routes that connected the Maghreb with Tropical Africa, the Arabs carried on a profitable trade. They were especially attracted by Western Sudan, which abounded in gold - lands located between the Sahara and the Gulf of Guinea. In addition to gold, other goods were also traded: salt, livestock, agricultural products, ivory.

Islam penetrated Western Sudan along with Arab merchants. First of all, it was accepted by the rulers and their entourage, as well as residents of large shopping centers. With Islam, the brilliant Arab culture also penetrated here: mosques and madrasahs were built, books were brought. At the same time, ordinary farmers and pastoralists retained their former beliefs for a long time. Religious differences exacerbated growing social inequality.

Large cities grew up along the trade routes: Tombuktu, Gao, Djenne and others. Their rulers grew rich by levying duties on merchants. Their power over their fellow tribesmen gradually increased, and the territories subject to them expanded. The task of state power was to reconcile the differing interests of the cities (with their merchants, officials, and growing desire for the accumulation of wealth) and the villages, where inequality was much less pronounced. Sovereigns lived in palaces, surrounded by courtiers, officials and warriors, and became more and more isolated from their people. Their power was considered sacred. Performing rituals, they acted as intermediaries between their people and the gods - the patrons of the tribe.

The most ancient state of Western Sudan was Ghana, located in the upper reaches of the Senegal and Niger rivers and so rich in gold that the title of its ruler is translated as "master of gold." The huge incomes of the kings of Ghana allowed them to maintain a magnificent court and a huge army and keep a large territory under their control.

The heyday of Ghana dates back to the 10th-11th centuries, but then it weakened and in the 13th century it was captured by a neighboring state Mali. The peak of Mali's power falls on the second half of the 13th - the first half of the 14th century, when the lands subject to the ruler stretched from west to east for almost 2000 kilometers. Gold trading and mining brought fantastic incomes. At this time, the long-known gold deposits in Europe and the Middle East became scarce, and it was from the gold of Mali in the countries of the Maghrib that money was minted that served the entire Arab world. Especially famous for his riches mansa(title of ruler) MusA(1312-1337), a former zealous Muslim. The hajj he made in 1324 to Mecca, apparently, can be considered the most expensive journey in history. On the way, Mansu was accompanied by thousands of warriors and slaves, and for travel expenses a caravan of camels carried one hundred bales of gold, weighing about 12 tons. When Musa's beloved wife in the middle of the Sahara expressed a desire to swim, they dug a pool for her overnight, filling it with water from wineskins. In Cairo and Mecca, Musa spent so much gold that he undermined the local currency for a long time. But the East for a long time preserved the memory of the wealth and power of the Malian rulers, and Mali's ties with other countries of Islam were strengthened.

Scientist-archaeologist: Christian Ethiopia. In the northeast of Africa, on the Ethiopian highlands, where the Blue Nile is born in the large mountain lake Tana, is located Ethiopia, which Europeans often used to call Abyssinia. In the first centuries of our era, the ancient Aksumite kingdom.

Already in the 4th century, the Aksumite king and his entourage adopted Christianity, which came here from Egypt. Later, the rulers of the country managed to defend him in the fight against Islam. However, the Aksumite kingdom itself broke up into separate principalities, which waged a fierce struggle among themselves. Only in the 13th century did a strong state revive in Ethiopia, the rulers of which were called negus, that is, kings; Europeans often attached to them the title of emperor. The Negus built their dynasty to the biblical Solomon. There was also a legend about the union of two emperors - Ethiopian and Roman, who divided the whole world among themselves.

The unification of the country was not strong, strife often broke out, especially dangerous in the face of constant threats from Muslim neighbors. Needing allies against Islam, Ethiopia in the 15th-16th centuries negotiated with Western countries for this purpose. Her delegation took part in the work of the Ferrara-Florence Council, which discussed the issue of church union between Western and Eastern Christianity.

Ethiopian Christianity is quite close to Orthodoxy, although, developing in different conditions, it was peculiar. Numerous clergy enjoyed great influence, they owned a third of all cultivated land. It is curious that the Christian Church of Ethiopia for a long time prohibited the use of coffee(the birthplace of coffee is Ethiopia). But coffee was quickly adopted in Arabia, where there was no such ban, and then in other countries.

As Christianity spread in Ethiopia, churches and monasteries were built. Chronicles developed in the monasteries, many works of ancient and medieval authors were translated into the local language, and in some cases the originals of the works have not been preserved, and scientists know their content only thanks to the Ethiopian translation.

From the XII-XIII centuries, the flowering of Ethiopian art begins. Churches were carved from stone and decorated with magnificent carvings, and inside they were painted with frescoes and decorated with icons; book miniature developed.

Gold Monomotapa. In addition to the Maghreb, the Arabs actively penetrated the east coast of Africa, where they conducted a profitable trade with the locals. However, Arab merchants rarely managed to penetrate deep into the country. There was a world of its own, about which visitors knew little. In the 15th century, a huge state arose in southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. The Arabs called him Monomotapa, although in fact it was a distorted title of the ruler of the country - “mwene mutapa”, which means “owner of the mines”. Deposits of metals, primarily gold, as well as ivory, constituted the main wealth of the country and attracted Arab merchants. In exchange for gold and ivory Arabs imported fabrics, ceramics, porcelain, beads and trinkets into the country. The consumers of these goods were the ruler and the nobility. To purchase them, the ruler increased taxes on subjects for whom these goods were an inaccessible luxury. So development foreign trade contributed to the division of society.

From the capital of Monomotapa - Great Zimbabwe - only ruins have survived. But even in this form, the walls of the so-called "Acropolis" on the hill of Zimbabwe do not cease to amaze archaeologists, because they reached a height of 10 m, testifying to the highest level construction equipment.

Teacher: Until recently, very little was known about the ancient states of Africa and their culture. There were reasons for that. Most of Africa did not know its written language for a long time, and scientists paid little attention to the richest oral tradition, the stories of the old people who kept the memory of the past. Archeology could help in this situation, but in a tropical climate, very much has not survived to this day. Yet it is quite clear that Africa has played an important role in world history.

Egypt is not the only state in Africa where a high culture has existed and developed since ancient times. Many peoples of Africa have long been able to smelt and process iron and other metals. Maybe they learned this before the Europeans. Modern Egyptians speak Arabic, and a significant part of them really come from the Arabs, but the ancient population of Egypt came to the Nile Valley from the Sahara desert, in which in ancient times there were abundant rivers and rich vegetation. In the center of the Sahara, on the plateaus, drawings on the rocks, carved with a sharp stone or painted with paint, have been preserved. These drawings show that in those days the population of the Sahara was engaged in hunting wild animals, raising livestock: cows, horses.

On the northern African coast and the islands adjacent to it lived tribes who knew how to make large boats and successfully engaged in fishing and other marine activities.

In the first millennium BC. e. in ancient settlements on the shores of North Africa, the Phoenicians appeared, and later the Greeks. The Phoenician city-colonies - Utica, Carthage, etc. - strengthened over time and, under the rule of Carthage, united into a powerful state.

The neighbors of Carthage, the Libyans, created their own states - Numidia and Mauritania. From 264 to 146 BC e. Rome was at war with the Carthaginian state. After the destruction of the city of Carthage, the Roman province of Africa was created on its territory. Here, by the labor of Libyan slaves, a strip of coastal desert was turned into a flourishing land. Slaves dug wells, built stone water tanks, built large cities with stone houses, water pipes, etc. Later, the cities of Roman Africa suffered from the invasions of German vandals, and later these areas became a colony of the Byzantine Empire, and, finally, in the VIII-X centuries. this part of North Africa was conquered by the Muslim Arabs and became known as the Maghreb.

In the Nile Valley, south of the territory of ancient Egypt, the Nubian kingdoms of Napata and Meroe existed even before our era. Until now, the ruins of ancient cities, small pyramids similar to ancient Egyptian ones, as well as monuments of ancient Meroitic writing have been preserved there. Later, the Nubian kingdoms were conquered by the kings of the powerful state of Aksum, which developed in the first centuries of our era on the territory of present-day South Arabia and Northern Ethiopia.

Sudan stretches from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the Nile.

From North Africa to the country of Sudan it was possible to penetrate only along the ancient caravan roads that passed along the dried up channels of the ancient rivers of the Sahara desert. During poor rains, some water sometimes collected in the old channels, and in some places wells were dug by the ancient inhabitants of the Sahara.

The people of Sudan grew millet, cotton and other plants; raised livestock - cows and sheep. Bulls were sometimes ridden on horseback, but they did not know how to plow the land with their help. The soil for crops was cultivated with wooden hoes with iron tips. Iron in Sudan was smelted in small clay blast furnaces. Weapons, knives, hoe tips, axes and other tools were forged from iron. Initially, blacksmiths, weavers, dyers and other artisans were simultaneously engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. They often exchanged surplus products of their craft for other goods. Bazaars in Sudan were located in villages on the borders of the territories of various tribes. The population of these villages grew rapidly. Part of it grew rich, seized power and gradually subjugated the poor. Military campaigns against neighbors, if successful, were accompanied by the capture of prisoners and other military booty. Prisoners of war were not killed, but forced to work. Thus, in some settlements that grew into small towns, slaves appeared. They began to be sold in the markets, like other goods.

Ancient Sudanese cities often waged wars among themselves. The rulers and nobility of one city often subjugated several surrounding cities to their power.

For example, around the ninth century n. e. in the very west of Sudan, in the Auker area (the territory of the northern part of the modern state of Mali), the state of Ghana, which was strong at that time, was formed.

Ancient Ghana was the center of trade between Western Sudan and North Africa, which was very important for the prosperity and power of this state.

In the XII century. Muslim Berbers from the Maghreb state of the al-Moravids, in northern Africa, attracted by the wealth of Ghana, attacked it and destroyed the state. The remote southern region - Mali - suffered the least from the defeat. One of the rulers of Mali, named Sundiata, who lived in the middle of the 13th century, gradually captured the entire former territory Ghana and even annexed other lands to it. After that, the state of Mali began to occupy a much larger territory than Ghana. However, the continuous struggle with neighbors gradually led to the weakening of the state and its disintegration.

In the XIV century. scattered and weak cities of the state of Mali were captured by the rulers of the city of Gao - the center of a small state of the Songhai people. The Songhai kings gradually united under their rule a vast territory, on which there were many large cities. One of these cities, which existed back in the days of the state of Mali, Timbuktu became the cultural center of the entire Western Sudan. The inhabitants of the Songhai state were Muslims.

Medieval Muslim scholars from Timbuktu became known far beyond Western Sudan. They first created writing in the languages ​​​​of Sudan, using the signs of the Arabic alphabet for this. These scientists have written many books, including chronicles - books on the history of the states of Sudan. Sudanese architects built large and beautiful houses, palaces, mosques with six-story minarets in Timbuktu and other cities. The cities were surrounded by high walls.

In the XVI century. The sultans of Morocco repeatedly tried to conquer the Songhai state. They eventually conquered it, destroying Timbuktu and other cities in the process. In the burning Timbuktu, wonderful libraries with valuable ancient manuscripts perished. Many architectural monuments were destroyed. Sudanese scientists, architects, doctors, astronomers - taken into slavery by the Moroccans, almost all died on the way through the desert. The remnants of the riches of the cities were plundered by the nomadic neighbors - the Tuareg and the Fulani. The huge state of Songhai broke up into many small and weak states.

Since that time, trade caravan routes leading from Lake Chad through the inland region of the Sahara - Fezzan - to Tunisia have been of primary importance. In the northern part of the territory of modern Nigeria until the XIX century. there were independent small states (sultanates) of the Hausa people. The Sultanate included the city with the surrounding countryside. The richest and most famous was the city of Kano.

The western part of tropical Africa, located off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, among the Portuguese, Dutch and English navigators of the 15th-18th centuries. was named Guinea. Navigators did not suspect for a long time that behind the wall of tropical vegetation of the Guinean coast populated areas with large populous cities. European ships landed on the coast and traded with the coastal population. Ivory, precious woods, and sometimes gold were brought here from the interior. European merchants also bought prisoners of war, who were taken from Africa, first to Portugal, and later to the Spanish colonies in Central and South America. Hundreds of slaves were loaded onto sailing ships and transported almost without food and water across the Atlantic Ocean. Many of them died along the way. The Europeans in every possible way fomented wars between the tribes and peoples of Guinea in order to get more slaves. European merchants of the XV-XVI centuries. I really wanted to penetrate into the rich interior regions of Guinea. However, tropical forests and swamps, as well as the resistance of strong, well-organized states, prevented this for several centuries. Only a few people managed to get there. When they returned, they talked about large, well-planned cities with wide streets, rich palaces of kings, well-armed guards, wonderful bronze and stone works of art by local craftsmen, and many other amazing things.

Cultural values ​​and historical monuments of these ancient states were destroyed by Europeans in the 19th century. during the colonial partition of West Africa. In our century, in the forests of Guinea, researchers discovered the remains of an ancient African culture: broken stone statues, heads made of stone and bronze, ruins of palaces. Some of these archaeological sites date back to the 1st millennium BC. e., when most of Europe was still inhabited by wild tribes.

In 1485, the Portuguese navigator Diego Cano discovered the mouth of the deep African Congo River. During the following voyages, the ships of the Portuguese went up the river and reached the state of the Congo. They brought with them ambassadors from the Portuguese king, as well as preacher monks who were instructed to convert the population of the Congo to Christianity. Portuguese monks left notes that tell about the medieval state of the Congo and neighboring states - Lunda, Luba, Kasongo, Bushongo, Loango, etc. The population of these countries, as well as Guinea, was engaged in agriculture: they grew yams, taro, sweet potatoes and other plants .

Local craftsmen were famous for the art of making various wood products. Great importance had blacksmithing.

All these states fell into decay and collapsed as a result of prolonged wars with the Portuguese, who tried to conquer them.

The east coast of Africa is washed by the Indian Ocean. In winter, the wind (monsoon) blows here from the shores of Asia to the shores of Africa, and in the summer in the opposite direction. Since ancient times, the peoples of Asia and Africa have used the monsoon winds for merchant shipping. Already in the 1st century on the east coast of Africa there were permanent trading posts where the local population exchanged ivory, tortoiseshell shields and other goods for metal tools, weapons and fabrics from Asian merchants. Sometimes merchants from Greece and Egypt sailed here along the Red Sea.

Later, when some trading settlements grew into large cities, their inhabitants - Africans (the Arabs called them "Swahili", that is, "coastal") - began to sail to Asian countries themselves. They traded in ivory, copper and gold, the skins of rare animals and valuable wood. Swahili bought these goods from peoples who lived far from the ocean shores, in the depths of Africa. Swahili merchants bought elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns from the leaders of various tribes, and gold was exchanged in the country of Makaranga for glassware, porcelain and other goods brought from overseas.

When merchants in Africa collected so much cargo that their porters could not carry it, then they bought slaves or took away by force people from some weak tribe. As soon as the caravan reached the shore, the merchants sold the porters into slavery or took them overseas for sale.

Over time, the most powerful cities of the East African coast subjugated the weaker ones and formed several states: Pate, Mombasa, Kilva, etc. Many Arabs, Persians and Indians moved to them. Scholars in East African cities created a script in Swahili, using, as in Sudan, the signs of Arabic writing. In Swahili there were literary works, as well as annals of the history of cities.

During the voyages of Vasco da Gama to India, Europeans first visited the ancient Swahili cities. The Portuguese repeatedly conquered and again lost East African cities, while many of them were destroyed by the invaders, and the ruins eventually became overgrown with thorny tropical shrubs. And now only in folk legends the names of ancient African cities have been preserved.