Mongols and Sub Saharan Africa Flashcards
What resulted from the Mongol Empire’s fragmentation following Genghis Khan’s death?
The development of khanates in Central Asia changed to fit the culture and religion of the area they conquered (Ilkhanate = Muslim, Yuan Dynasty= Chinese Buddhist/Confucianist)
Sub-Saharan Africa, from 1200-1450, became more active in interregional trade as a result of what?
Contact with Islamic missionaries and merchants promoting trade between North and West Africa
When Islam was introduced into western Africa, what was the general response of the African people?
Blended elements of Islam and Animism, creating a new syncretic religion that allowed for nonsegregation of genders, etc. Ibn Battuta was not happy with this.
Because Islam does not separate religious authority from political authority, it was most appealing to tribal leaders because it strengthened the African concept of kingship. Kings who converted had more power and authority at their disposal. Several Muslim empires would emerge as a result. The common people did not practice Islam in as pure a form as did the kings and other people of
influence. Most people combined it with their established beliefs of ancestor worship and fetishes. Nor did it greatly affect gender roles. “Women in sub-Saharan Africa possessed more opportunities than did women in other parts of the world. Even the arrival of Islam did not substantially worsen the condition of women in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Before 1450 C.E. what was true of sub-Saharan Africa’s commercial economy?
exported gold and Ivory to the Middle East and Europe.
What was the greatest extent of the Sub Saharan Trade Routes?
From the seventh to the eleventh century, trans-Saharan trade linked the Mediterranean economies that demanded gold—and could supply salt—to the sub-Saharan economies, where gold was abundant. Although local supply of salt was sufficient in sub-Saharan Africa, the consumption of Saharan salt was promoted for trade purposes. In the eighth and ninth centuries, Arab merchants operating in southern Moroccan towns such as Sijilmasa bought gold from the Berbers, and financed more caravans. These commercial transactions encouraged further conversion of the Berbers to Islam.
What was the greatest extent of the Mongol Trade Routes?
The vast Mongol empire he created stretched from China to Europe, across which the Silk Routes functioned as efficient lines of communication as well as trade. Protected under the so-called Pax Mongolica, the Routes were particularly safe from raiders or aggressive tribes in this period, and great expeditions, such as the famous journey of Marco Polo in the late thirteenth century, became possible.
What resulted from the Bantu Migration in Africa?
The effects of the Bantu migration included a spread to other parts of Africa of new technologies like iron tools, farming techniques, pottery making, new foods, language, and an increase in people living together in villages.
What was the impact of the spread of the Bantu lan
What was the impact of the spread of the Bantu language?
A traditional branch of the Niger-Congo languages. It is not known how many of them exist today, but Ethnologue counts 535 languages. They are spoken mostly east and south of present-day Cameroon, that is, in the regions commonly known as Central Africa, Southeast Africa, and Southern Africa. A postulated millennia-long series of migrations of speakers of the original proto-Bantu language group. The primary evidence for this expansion has been linguistic, namely that the languages spoken in sub-Equatorial Africa are remarkably similar to each other.
Why was the Swahili Coast so important to the Arab and SubSaharan Trade networks?
Swahili means “people of the coast” in Arabic. The coast and its links with external cultures has been overemphasized at the expense of the role of inland populations. For a long time, racist perspectives believed that the uniqueness and cosmopolitan aspects of the Swahili were because the Swahili were Arab immigrants. New scholarship understands the Swahili as home to African populations and similarities between inland and coastal sites show that they were part of the same society.Trade allowed for rich cultural exchange that is evidenced in food, dress, architecture, language, and religion. The KiSwahili language is an archive that offers a rich entry point into study of the region, as it is a Bantu- (African) language to which other words in Arabic and other languages were added .
easier:
The Swahili coast became the center of trade because it had sea ports where vessels from across the Indian Ocean could dock. The Swahili coast became the meeting place of traders from inland Africa, Middle East, and Asia.
How did the expansion of Islam relate to the travels of Mansa Musa?
Musa was a Muslim, and his pilgrimage to Mecca, also known as hajj, made him well known across Northern Africa and the Middle East. To Musa, Islam was “an entry into the cultured world of the Eastern Mediterranean”. He would have spent much time fostering the growth of the religion within his empire.
What was the impact of Mansa Musa’s pilgramage?
Mūsā I’s pilgrimage caravan to Mecca in 1324 comprised some 60,000 people and an immeasurable amount of gold. He stopped in Cairo along the way, and his luxurious spending and gift giving was so extensive that he diluted the value of gold by 10 to 25 percent and impacted Cairo’s economy for at least 12 years afterward.
What was the major contributing factor to the spread of the plague to Cairo, Beijing, and Florence in the fourteenth century?
Trade along the Mongol road system across Central Asia
Describe Middle Eastern trade in the period 1000 to 1450 ?
The area was engaged in regular trade with China, India, and sub-Saharan Africa.
How did Maritime (Sea) Trade developments impact African and Mongolian trade routes?
Trade and commerce flourished under the stability of powerful governments that created common trading rules and had strong militaries to protect trade routes.
How did trade impact the spread of Islam and Christianity?
An important result of these institutions was an increase in trade. Unlike Christianity, Islam did not originally have prohibitions against wealth and profit. Muhammad himself was a merchant. With the establishment of ulama and qadis, merchants were protected by Islamic law and had recourse to a systematic method of having disputes settled. Banking and credit flourish, easing financial transactions. Within this framework of legal protection and regulation, trade and financial transactions became much safer and easier. Merchants on the trans-Saharan trade routes were key to the spread of Islam in Africa.
