Lesson 1.5 · Unit 1 · CED topic 1.5
State building in Africa
Africa in this period had many kinds of states. The CED says that in Africa, as in Eurasia and the Americas, state systems demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity and expanded in scope and reach. This lesson covers Great Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and the Hausa kingdoms, and then adds two of the best-known African states, Mali and the Swahili city-states, which the rest of Unit 2 returns to.
Learning objective.
- 1J. Explain how and why states in Africa developed and changed over time.
Historical developments.
- 3.2.I.D.ii. In Africa, as in Eurasia and the Americas, state systems demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity, and expanded in scope and reach.
Great Zimbabwe
In southeastern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, the Shona-speaking people built a state centered on a stone city called Great Zimbabwe (c. 1100 to 1450). Its massive stone walls, built without mortar, enclosed a royal compound. The state grew rich from cattle herding and from trade in gold and ivory with Swahili merchants on the coast, who in turn traded with the Indian Ocean world. Archaeologists have found Chinese porcelain and glass beads at the site, which shows how far its trade reached. Its decline in the fifteenth century may have come from overuse of the land and shifts in trade routes.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, in the highlands of East Africa, was a Christian kingdom that had existed since the fourth century. In the 1200s, the Zagwe dynasty, and then from 1270 the Solomonic dynasty, ruled from the highlands. Kings claimed descent from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, which supported their legitimacy. Ethiopia is known for its churches carved from solid rock at Lalibela, built under a Zagwe ruler about 1200. The kingdom was surrounded by Muslim states and traded with them while also fighting them for control of land and routes. It also kept contact with Christians in Egypt and Europe.
The Hausa kingdoms
In what is now northern Nigeria, a group of Hausa city-states, such as Kano and Katsina, developed from about 1000. Each was a walled city ruled by its own king and surrounded by farmland. The cities made cloth and leather goods and were important points on the trans-Saharan trade routes (Lesson 2.4). Hausa rulers adopted Islam over time, and Kano and Katsina became centers of Muslim learning. The Hausa kingdoms did not form one empire, which makes them an example of the diversity the CED mentions.
Two more African examples
The CED names three examples, but any account of African states in this period must include two others.
- Mali. Founded about 1235 by Sundiata Keita, Mali grew into a large empire in West Africa that controlled much of the gold trade. Its most famous ruler, Mansa Musa (r. c. 1312 to 1337), made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 and gave away so much gold in Cairo that it affected prices there. We return to Mali in Lesson 2.4.
- The Swahili city-states. Along the East African coast, trading cities such as Kilwa, Mombasa, and Mogadishu grew rich in Indian Ocean trade. They were ruled by Muslim merchants and rulers, and their culture combined African, Arab, and Persian elements. We return to them in Lesson 2.3.
Why diversity matters
Some African societies had kings and large armies, and others were organized around lineages and councils of elders without central rulers. Trade, religion, and military force each shaped state growth, and no one pattern applied everywhere. Most African states relied on agriculture and herding and on trade in gold, salt, ivory, and enslaved people, and they built institutions that fit local needs, such as the stone buildings of Great Zimbabwe or the rock churches of Ethiopia.
Description of the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia (c. 1200). This is a description of a monument, not a quotation.
Eleven churches were carved down into solid volcanic rock to form buildings, with courtyards and passages between them. Local tradition ties them to King Lalibela, who wanted to make a "new Jerusalem" in the highlands.
Sourcing (HIPP). The churches were commissioned by a king, so their point of view is royal and Christian. The purpose was religious devotion and the building of a holy site, and it also strengthened the ruler's legitimacy. The audience was worshipers and pilgrims. Because the sources for the king's motives come largely from later tradition, the monument is better evidence for the kingdom's wealth and its Christian identity than for the details of Lalibela's reign.
Claim. Ethiopian rulers used Christianity to strengthen their authority.
Evidence. A king had eleven churches carved from solid rock and linked to the idea of a "new Jerusalem," and later kings claimed descent from King Solomon.
Reasoning. Building a holy city and claiming a biblical ancestor tied the dynasty to sacred tradition, which made rule seem divinely supported. The limit is that the stories about Lalibela's motives come from later traditions, so the monument is stronger evidence for the kingdom's wealth and Christian identity than for exact events.
Question. Explain one way African states developed through trade.
Model. Great Zimbabwe grew rich by trading gold and ivory with Swahili merchants on the coast, who linked it to the Indian Ocean world. The wealth supported the building of a large stone capital and the power of its rulers, and its decline in the fifteenth century coincided with shifts in trade routes and pressure on the land.
Learning Objective 1J asks how and why states in Africa developed and changed. Use specific examples: Great Zimbabwe (cattle and gold trade), Ethiopia (Christian kingship), the Hausa city-states (trans-Saharan trade and Islam), Mali (gold), and the Swahili coast (Indian Ocean trade). Say that African states differed from one another and were not isolated.
- What was Great Zimbabwe and how did it get wealthy?
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A stone-walled capital of a Shona-speaking state in southeastern Africa that grew rich through cattle herding and trade in gold and ivory with Swahili merchants.
- Why is Lalibela important?
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It is a site of eleven rock-cut churches built about 1200 under an Ethiopian king, showing the wealth of the Christian kingdom and the ruler's religious claims.
- What were the Hausa kingdoms?
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City-states in northern Nigeria such as Kano and Katsina, ruled by their own kings and involved in trans-Saharan trade; they were not united into one empire.
- Who was Mansa Musa?
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The ruler of Mali (r. c. 1312 to 1337) whose pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, with large amounts of gold, made West African wealth famous.
- Which trade networks did the Swahili city-states belong to?
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The Indian Ocean trade network, linking East Africa to Arabia, India, and China.
- Give one example of diversity in African state building.
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Some societies had kings and large states, such as Mali and Great Zimbabwe, while others, such as the Hausa city-states, remained separate cities, and others were organized around lineages without central rulers.