AFRICAN
HISTORY
IN FOCUS.
“2009 SYLLABUS COVERAGE FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS’
KILAMHAMA, L .C
TABLE OF CONTENT.
Pre-colonial African societies
Pre-colonial social formation
Political organizations in pre-colonial Africa
Pre colonial education and culture
Africa and Europe in the 15th century
System of exchange
Political systems
Science and technology
The rise of gap between Africa and Europe.
People of African origin in the new world
Legacy of slavery and slave trade.
The civil rights movements.
Black solidarity and the “back to Africa movement”
From colonialism to first world war (1880’s – 1914)
The colonial state
Reasons for adoption of various colonial agricultural systems
Colonial economy and social services after the Second World War.
Changes in colonial agriculture
Changes in colonial industrial policies
Changes in colonial trade
Changes in colonial labour policies
Changes in colonial transport and communication
Changes in social services policies.
The influence of external forces and the rise of nationalism and the struggle for independence.
The impact of peace settlement (Versailles treaty 1919) after ww1.
Pan African movement
Impact of ww2 and subsequent changes
Influence of the bandung conference
Influence of the independence of India and burma.
Political and economic Development in Tanzania since Independence.
Political development in Tanzania since independence.
Economic Development in Tanzania since independence.
Education development in Tanzania after independence.
Challenges to development.
PRE- COLONIAL AFRICAN SOCIETIES
INTRODUCTION
Pre colonial African societies were the African societies which existed in Africa before the intrusion of colonialism. Before the invasion of Africa by colonialists, there was the production of material wealth(objects with value) as a basic of life of the society because people started to think about what to produce in order to rise the social development.
There are different perceptions about social development; the following are views about social development;
Scientist views.
Both sciences and practices have proved that no supernatural power involved in development. According to scientists, development is a result of individual hard working.
Religious views.
Religious put development of nature and society development as God’s will. There fore, it is God who grants development of an individual and the society.
Bourgeoisie scholars’ views
These believe that the development of the society depending decisively on geographical environment. There fore, the development of the society depend largely on decision made on the utilizations of natural resources such as soil, vegetation and climates
MODE OF PRODUCTION
What is a mode of production?
This is the economic and corresponding social structure of the society which results from the combination of productive forces and relations of production.
Both productive forces and relations of production interact and influence each other and both develop in the course of historical development of the society.
Diagram.
Mode of production
Productive forces Relations of production
Means people with forms of Relations forms of
Of Prd- Production- ownership btn classes distribu-
uction Experience& of major &social tion of
Labor skills means of group in material
Production production wealth
Generally, by the beginning of the 19th century, most African societies had attained the communal mode of production. A few were under the slave mode of production, others were under the feudal mode of production, quite a few others were under a mixture of both the feudal and slave mode of productions.
There fore, the modes of productions developed by African societies during pre-colonial era are,
1) Primitive communalism
2) Slavery
3) Feudal mode of production.
PRIMITIVE COMMUNALISM
This was the first mode of production through which all societies passed through. This mode of production was called “primitive” due to the existence of low level of development of productive forces and “communalism” due to the absence of exploitation of man by man.
Primitive communalism in Africa existed for a much longer period than any other mode of production, it ranged from the emergence of man more than one million years ago and in some societies especially hunting and gathering communities still practice primitive mode of life, hadzabe and Tindiga of central and northern Tanzania, Dorobo in Kenya and Teuso in Uganda are the best example of the societies living primitive mode of life.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PRIMITIVE COMMUNALISM.
The primitive mode of production was characterized by the following features.
1. Low level of development of the productive forces, in primitive communalism there was the use of tools made of stones. Depending on the type of tools used, there were three (3) phases of the development of the productive forces:
i) Early Stone Age, in this phase man was hardly distinguished from animals; man used sticks and stones as tools.
ii) Middle Stone Age, in this phase man was distinguished from animals due to the development he had attained such as using stones as raw materials in making tools, and roasting foods.
iii) Late Stone Age, during this period hunting and gathering way of life was developed, stones accompanied with wood and bones continued to be the raw materials in making tools although.
2. People lived in small kinship, kinship was a small group of people living together according to blood relationship, and there fore they were forced to live in small kinship due to the low level of development of productive forces in which the economy could not support large population.
3. Limited division of labor, in primitive communalism there existed only division of labor between man and woman, and it was not clearly defined.
4. Communal ownership of the major means of production, in primitive communalism there was no private ownership of major, ownership depended on use foristance weapons and tools belonged to men while women owned household items.
5. Presence of full democracy, in primitive communalism all decisions had to be arrived at by all the adult members of the group regardless of their sex. Adult had no coercive power and instead they exercised their power purely through respect and need.
6. The absence of surplus products, in primitive societies, labor was not very productive and created no surplus products over and above the amount essential for life.
7. Absence of clear distinction between duties and rights, there was no distinction between duties and rights due to the fact that the society had neither the exploiter nor the toiler, all able-bodied worked as a matter of routine.
8. Absence of exploitation of man by man, there was no exploitation of man by man, the egalitarian distribution of the scanty food between the members of the community was done equally.
THE TRANSITION FROM PRIMITIVE COMMUNALISM
TO SLAVE MODE OF PRODUCTION.
All the time, man was struggling to control nature so as to increase his labor productivity, this resulted into Neolithic Revolution.
What is Neolithic Revolution?
This was the first agricultural revolution in which there was transition from hunting and gathering communities and bands to agricultural communities and permanent settlement.
The change from dependence on hunting and gathering edible fruits and roots as well as fishing to domestication of animals and cultivation of crops marked significant steps in human history. Man’s ways of life was changed tremendously, some people became pastoralists looking after cattle, sheep, goats, and camels but the majority engaged in mixed farming.
The following are the social, economic, and political implications of Neolithic revolution.
1) Realing of animals and crop cultivation freed people from depending on the environment as adequate food was produced with a surplus for storage.
2) The increase in the knowledge of domestication resulted into developed hybrid plants and livestock. In many cases, entirely new foods were evolved from wild species.
3) Improvement in the methods of cultivation, in the beginning digging sticks were used but later iron hoes and ploughs were devised. Inadequate rainfall did not seriously affect production especially in areas near permanent water course since irrigation was practiced; as a result man also expanded his area of habitation.
4) High food supplies freed many people from farming to other activities. There was a division of labor as other members of the society worked in pottery, basketry, weaving, metal works and related crafts as well as profession such medicine and administration.
5) The development of trade, specialization led to the development of trade due to the presence of surplus. At the beginning barter trade was practiced where goods were exchanged with goods, but as time went on some commodities were given the value of money hence used as the standard of exchange.
Factors for transition.
The following were the factors which enabled a few pre-colonial communal societies to transform into slavery following Neolithic revolution.
1. The emergence of a social division of labor where one part of the society began to concentrate on agriculture whiles the other on stock rising. This separation of livestock breeding from farming was the first major social division of labor in history. It made people’s labor more productive.
2. Availability of surplus, the appearance of certain surplus of some products and demand for others led to the foundation for the exchange between livestock breeding and farming societies. There fore, people with no livestock were used by those with livestock as their domestic slaves and those with poor harvest were used by those with good harvest as their slaves.
3. The development of the productive forces, this increased the productivity of human labor but the existing relations of production in communal society did not accommodate the new productive forces, hence the need for joint labor disappeared and individual labor emerged. Since the individual labor required private ownership, it resulted into rich people and poor people in the society where the poor were enslaved by the rich.
4. The availability of more means of subsistence than what was essential for man’s survival; this was due to the development of productive forces. Under this condition, it became important for some people to employ more workers who were captives of war or those provided by prisoners etc as slaves.
5. The increase of property inequality, rich people began to enslave not only captives, but also members of their fellow tribesmen who had become impoverished or were in dept.
CONCLUSSION.
The growing inequality between people led to the formation of the state as an organ of oppression of the exploited class by the class of exploiters, thus slavery grew up on the ruins of primitive-communal mode of production.
But the majority of pre-colonial African societies did not develop slave mode of production due to the following reasons.
1. In many pre-colonial African societies, the social division of labor appeared in responsibilities between men and women, there fore there was no domination of one class of people by the other.
2. There was very low surplus products in many pre-colonial African societies due to low productive forces, there fore the presence of low surplus products could not stimulate exchange of products hence people remained at the same level of development.
3. The practice of joint labor in many pre-colonial African societies, this encouraged communal ownership hence there was no class of poor and rich which could subject the other class into slave
4. Relation of cooperation and mutual assistance kind of workers, in many pre-colonial African societies, there was no employment of workers because people provided their labor on mutual assistance basis.
5. Absence of inter-tribal war and disputes due to availability of enough plots of land and small population. There fore, in many pre-colonial African societies people regarded one another as relatives and there were no captives of war to be given as a slave.
THE SLAVE MODE OF PRODUCTION.
This was the second mode of production and the first exploitative mode of production in which human was used by other human in production.
Historians have noted down the evidence for the existence of slavery in areas like karagwe, Sudan, Egypt and among the Muslim communities along the coast of east Africa. Slave labor in Africa during pre-colonial era was used in the following;
. In the construction of tall buildings called pyramids in northern Africa specifically in Egypt
. In the construction of dams in Egypt and Sudan
. In large irrigation schemes of Sudan
. In the iron works of interlacustrine area
. in keeping cattle among tutsi and hutu
CHARACTERISTICS OF SLAVERY
The slave mode of production was characterized by the following features,
1) Inequality in the distribution of material wealth, in slave mode of production the slave master benefited with the surplus products produced by slaves
2) Presence of classes, in slave mode of production there existed two antagonistic classes, the slaves and the slave masters.
3) Private ownership of major means of production, the major means of production such as land, farms, machinery and slaves were all owned privately by individual person called slave master.
4) The absence of human dignity, in the slave mode of production slaves lost their respect and dignity as human through oppression, humiliation and exploitation
5) Absence of democracy, in slave mode of life democracy became a dream, slaves were denied from making decision and instead all decisions were to be made by the slave masters. Slaves were deprived from their rights, the rights remained with the slave master who owned the slaves.
6) Exploitation of man by man, in slavery the slave master exploited the slaves through low payments and sometimes without payments at all.
THE FEUDAL MODE OF PRODUCTION.
This was the second exploitative mode of production in which the major means of production based on land. In feudalism, the class of people called serfs were given plots of land to cultivate by the other class of people called feudal lords and in return the former class was obliged to pay rent for the usage of the land.
During pre colonial era, feudalism in many areas was associated with some elements of slavery. In Africa, feudalism was developed in Egypt until the reign of king Faruku. Also, feudalism was dev eloped in Buganda and areas of western lake in Tanganyika. It is said that, feudalism in those places was initiated by kinilo dynastry which migrated from southern Sudan in between 1300 BC and 1500 BC. In karagwe and Buhaya, feudalism was known as Nyarubanja. In buganda, feudalism was known as nvunjo and busulo.
Among the tutsi and hutu of Rwanda, Burundi and buha, the feudal relationship developed on cattle ownership was called obugabire. Along the coast of east Africa and Zanzibar, the feudalism developed was called umwinyi in which the tenants and serfs lived on the land of the feudal lords and in turn the former class provided labour services and tributes for the usage of the land.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FEUDALISM.
The following may be regarded as the basic features of feudal mode of production.
1. Private ownership, there was private ownership of the land during feudalism. The land was privately owned by feudal lords.
2. Production was primarily subsistent in nature, in feudalism the products were mainly produced for personal consumption rather than for exchange.
3. exploitation, the large scale feudal landownership underlay the exploitation of the peasants by the feudal lords. Exploitation was done through the payment of rent, there were three(3) types of rents;
i) labour rent(corvee); In this type of rent, peasants who were given plots of land were obliged to work the land owner’s land using their own implements.
ii) Rent in kind or Quit rent; In this type of rent, serfs were supposed hand over part of their output or harvest to the land owners.
iii) Money rent, after the emergence of money economy, serfs were obliged to sell their harvest and hand over the agreed amount of money to the landowners as the rent for the usage of the land.
4. The major means of production based on land, in feudalism land was the major means of production through which feudalism as the system based. The land was owned by the feudal lords who in turn divided it into small plots which were handed over the peasants(serfs)
5. Presence of classes, in feudalism there existed classes in the society, there was the class of the serfs which owned their labour power and the class of feudal lords which owned the major means of production such as land or cattle.
POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS IN PRE- COLONIAL AFRICA.
REFERENCES:
T.I.E (2000) The development of African societies up to 19th century, DUP ltd
Davidson, B (1967) The growth of African Civilisation: East and Central Africa to the late 19th Century, Longman Publishers
Ogot, B.A (1969) Zamani: A survey of east African History, Longman Publishers.
Nyirenda, H.D (1994) Aspects of African History, UDSM PRESS
INTRODUCTION
Political organizations were the systems of government which were responsible in organizing people for the material production and social interaction. There fore, political organization consider how people in a given society organize themselves for the material production, it also show that social organization relates to the development of productive forces.
In pre-colonial Africa, there were basically three (3) forms of political organizations.
1. Clan organizations
2. Age-Set organizations
3. State organizations
CLAN ORGANIZATIONS.
The basic and simplest unit of social organization in the early agricultural societies was the family. The family constitutes of a husband, wife and children. The family was also the basic unit of production.
Several related families comprised a clan, there fore a clan is a political organization in which several related families lived together under one leader, clan head. In some areas, the instruments of labour such as tools and the objects of labour such as land were communally owned by the members of the clan.
A clan head was chosen by adult members of the community among the elders basing on his influences, wealth, and power. The clan head had the following duties,
i) To preserve the land belonging to the clan members.
ii) To settle and solve problems concerning the land among the members of the clan following the population increases.
iii) To apportion the plot of land to the members of the clan.
iv) Clan head’s experiences in life was crucial in providing guidance in the process of production.
v) The clan head married off the young by choosing spouses for the young/men and women.
vi) Clan heads led religious ceremonies in the society.
The clan organization was characterized by the following features,
1. clan organization was limited to small population and a certain level of the development of productive forces, but with the development of technology and increase of population, clan organization changed into chiefdom and later on into kingdoms.
2. clan organization was possible in permanently settled communities.
3. clan organization existed in both matrilineal and patrilineal societies. In patrilineal societies, clan heritage was based on the father where as in the matrilineal societies, clan heritage was based on the mother. The good example of matrilineal societies are wayao, wakamba, wamakonde, wamwera, wamakua and wakikuyu.
During pre-colonial period, there were different types of patrilineal and matrilineal societies. In some of the former societies, the practice was the wife to move to the husband’s family in exchange for the bride wealth and children belonged to the wife’s clan.
4. Clan organization was highly practiced in the grassland and woodland plateaus. Clan organization was practiced in the area which received rainfall half a year, the rainfall supported crops such as millet, sorghum and maize. There fore, agriculture was the main activity although in favorable areas there is animal husbandly as additional activity.
Members of the clan practiced shifting agriculture which led to environmental degradation and soil infertility, hence ther was shifting of people from one place to another place in the search of fertile land.
AGE-SET ORGANIZATIONS.
This was the system of social and political organization in which there was the allocation of duties and responsibilities among the members of the community basing on age and sex.
Organizationally, there are agricultural societies with age-set systems, also many pastoral societies with age-set organization. For example, the wanyakyusa of southern Tanzania and wakikuyu of Kenya were predominantly agricultural communities but had age-set organization, on the other hand, the wamasai who are predominantly pastoral communities have an elaborated age-set system.
Why?
The following are the reasons which explain the practice of age set organization among the wanyakyusa (agricultural society) and the wamasai (pastoral society)
1. The wanyakyusa were faced by the rapid population growth by 19th century, but the same time, they had ample supply of fertile arable land. There fore in order to overcome overpopulation, they developed a system of social organization based on age sets. Under this system, each generation had to clear their own land and set up their own village. The UBUSOKA ceremony marked the passing-in of the new leadership and the passing out of the old leadership.
2. the masai of Kenya and Tanzania practiced age-set organization because livestock demands continuous care and attention, it demands great efforts in search of pasture land and water holes. Above all, livestock keeping requires an efficient system of mobilizing the Youngman for defense and offence.
Such combined efforts could not be possible with the family or clan organization, there fore, they organized themselves in age-set groups.
The practice of age-set organization among the pastoral societies.
The age-set organization was developed mainly among the societies whose main economic activity was pastoralism, such societies were such as the masai of Tanzania and Kenya, the hausa and Fulani of west Africa, the khoi khoi of south Africa, oromo of southern ethiopia, the kikuyu and nyakyusa of southern Tanzania.
The keeping of animals formed the main economic base of those societies who practiced age-set organizations. The need to find enough pasture required or obliged them always to look for favourable pastures for their cattle and at the same time defend their livestock against wild beasts and thieves.
The determination of the age groups took into consideration the three (3 ) main economic activities, namely;
i) Grazing and milking
ii) Defense and offence
iiii) Provision of guidance and religious leadership.
DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITIES.
Among the pastoral societies, the division of responsibilities was based on four (4) age groups.
1) Children below 8years, these were considered infants and formed the first group, their labour was used at home and generated no economic activity outside the homestead. They could be sent on small errands, look after their siblings and help in small household chores.
2) The youth aged between 8 and 18 years, these basically looked after cattle, goats and sheep. They also helped in milking cattle. The young boys and girls in this group were supervised by women.
3) The moran aged between 18 and 38years, these were the youth and matured people in the society. The main duties of moran in the societies were as follows;
i) Protecting their society as specialized soldiers against external attacks.
ii) Protecting livestock against wild animals and thieves.
iii) Increasing the size of their cattle herd through frequent raids and bringing home the captured animals.
iv) Traveling to distant places with their cattle seeking pastures and water especially in the dry season and drought.
4) Elders, these controlled livestock and other property in the society on behalf of the community. Elders were divided into junior elders, the elders and senior elders. The senior elders were called laibon and had special respect as political and religious leaders. All leaders were not directly involved in production; however they were called retired officers. Elders had the following responsibilities:
i) Giving counseling to the other groups
ii) Performing rituals and providing religious leadership.
iii) Offering wisdom to their society.
ADVANTAGES OF AGE SET SYSTEM.
The age set organization had the following advantages in the society,
1. It provided strong defense system for livestock and other properties of the society. This was due to the division and specialization of labour as it created a goup of people for the work of defending.
2. The society’s wealthy was owned by the whole society under the supervision of the elders, hence there was no disputes and conflicts on the possession of wealthy.
3. The age set organization produced a well-disciplined and hard working people who were/are responsible to their society.
4. The age set organization ensured a fair and equally distribution of labour in the society, every able person in the society participated in working.
5. The age set organization preserved the customs and traditions of the pastoral societies such as dressing patterns, taboos, hair plaiting, dances and marriage forms.
6. The age set organization created stability within the pastoral society, there was strong and stable leadership based on age set groupings.
CRITICISM OF AGE-SET ORGANIZATIONS.
The following were/are the challenges facing age- set organization as practiced among the pastoral societies.
· Low level of technological development, the migratory tendency of the pastoral societies as the result of age-set organization, obstructed the development of science and technology; hence there existed low level of technological development among the pastoral societies.
· Disputes between agricultural and pastoral societies over land control, this is due to the tendency of the pastoral societies to invade agricultural land for their pasture, this has resulted into frequent disputes between the two.
· Environmental degradation, the pastoral societies considered the quantity (size) of their livestock instead of quality (few cattle which are productive). This has resulted into soil erosion and environmental degradation.
· Gender bias, among the pastoral societies, women were/are subjected by men. Women had no voice and were not allowed to be leaders at the society level except at family levels.
· Lack of access to social services, the migratory nature of the pastoral society obstructed them from getting access to the social services found in the society such as education, health services, treated and cured water…”
CONCLUSSION
There fore, the specialization based on age set resulted into the political organization based on age groupings without a centralized system of government. A council of elders made decisions in regard to political matters, the elders were/are entrusted by the society to make decisions since there was no central authority.
STATE ORGANIZATIONS.
This is the political organization with a centralized government with power to collect tributes, make laws and reinforce them. The role of the state did not begin with independence; it dates back to the pre-colonial period when the basis of production was mainly communal to the present where labour power is seen as a commodity.
In centuries between 1000AD – 1500AD, nearly all the people of east and central Africa moved from the ways of life of the early iron age to more advanced ways of living. This was the period in which African people went far to master and control this whole great section of Africa and to buld communities and states that were to continue growing and expanding until the 19th century.
Types of state organizations in Africa.
Depending on the level of economic development of the society, African societies had developed the following types of state organizations.
1. Decentralized state organizations
2. Centralized state organizations
3. City state organizations.
DECENTRALIZED STATE ORGANIZATIONS.
These were the African societies that did not have a well defined and complex or centralized political organization. These societies were organized according to the clan system of organization. Clans members participated in different political matters in their societies, these societies did not recognize any authority beyond that of the clan. The clan head was elected from among the clan elders on the basis of his influence, which was determined by age, wisdom and wealth.
Decentralized state organizations in Africa was characterized dy the following;
1. Non-centralization of power, there was no chief or ruler in these societies, a clan head had the duty of leading the clan.
2. Absence of standing armies, the security and defence of the society was the responsibility of all able-bodied men
3. There were few wars of conquest due to the absence of ambition among the societies to expand its area by conquering other clans.
4. society sanctions were used to punish criminals and make them realize their mistakes.
5. Communal ownership of land, in decentralized states, land was utilized fairly by all people in the society.
6. Low levels of production, this was contributed by the low level of science and technology.
7. Intermarriages, there was marriage between one clan and the neighbor clans, however marriage from the same clan was discouraged.
CITY STATE ORGANIZATIONS.
Basing on Swahili coast, the people of the coast were already in touch with sea-traders from the north, for pottery made in the countries round the Persian Gulf has been found there. As yet, however, none of them seem to have been muslims. Even if some of them had become muslims, they did not have a mosque to worship in. toward 900 this situation changed in the following ways;
1. as the great age of islam got into its stride, more ships and merchants came from Arabia and India in quest of gold and ivory, tortoiseshell, and other products. Now it was that the villages began to grow into small towns. Traders came ashore and stayed for longer periods, or settled and made their homes here.
2. islam won its first firm footholds among the coastal peoples. To begin with, these footholds were mostly on islands such as Manda, Pemba, and Zanzibar.
3. The mingling of local Africans and of muslim vistors from Arabia and India, ther came the civilization of the Swahili, a muslim civilization that was also an African civilization. By 1000 AD, there were many muslims in these growing towns, especially on Zanzibar and Pemba, and in the towns of the Banadir Coast. In 1100 the first stone mosques were built, some of the towns were now growing into states called city states.
What is a city-state?
Is a political organization in which all the power lies within the walls of a single city, but whose citizens may dominate the surrounding countryside and control the neighboring trade-routes.
Many city-states became strong enough to exercise control over several smaller ones, though none of them had any power in the inland country beyond a dozen or twenty miles from their walls.
There fore, city-state organizations were smaller centralized political units made up of large urban population in urban areas. Most city states developed at different trading centres where traders from different clans or places met for exchange of goods and services.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY-STATE ORGANIZATIONS.
1. The city-states were the popular trading centres which attracted people from distant areas to make their settlement temporary or permanently. Forexample Sofara, Kilwa, Mombasa, Lamu, Oyo, Ife etc.
2. The city-states had strong military organization which was capable of safeguarding the economic interests of the state such as collection of taxes from traders.
3. City-states were rulled by traders, the leaders of the city-states were elected among the traders. There fore, leaders were traders who also involved in trading activities.
4. Some times City-states quarreled with each other, mainly to win a bigger share of trade and taxes, but all of them belonged to the same civilization.
5. City-states drew their strength from trade especially through the collection of taxes, tributes and participation in trade.
6. It was in the city-state where local industries at first were developed. For example, Oyo developed as the manufacturing centre, there existed quality cloth, leather and iron products which were ready for sale.
CENTRALISED STATE ORGANIZATIONS.
These were the complex political organization which developed from decentralized and city-state in order to run the complex society emerged. Many centralized states developed in areas with high rainfall that practiced permanent agriculture.
Historically, with the development of productive forces and technology, man managed to establish an economy that provided opportunity for them to accumulate wealth. The accumulated wealth brought social differentiation which in turn resulted into social classes. There was the class of the rich which controlled the wealth of the society, also the class of professionals such as blacksmiths and rainmakers and lastly there was a class of the poor who possessed nothing and had no property.
Moreover, the improvement in productive forces and technology resulted into the increase in production, hence surplus product which stimulated the development of trade and growth of market centre. All those development needed a system of law, order, and justice to ensure the maximum production to satisfy individual needs. There fore, the society became complex and there was the need of centralized organization to run/rule the complex societies.
Centralized state organizations developed in different parts of Africa, there were centralized states in east Africa, South Africa, north-eastern Africa which comprised of Egypt and Ethiopian high lands, and west Africa from the forest zone to sudanic zone. These areas had developed centralized states by 15th century.
Centralized states were characterized by the following features.
1. They extended over large areas; sometimes conquering of weak neighbour states was used as the mechanism of extending the area of the state. Buganda kingdom expanded its area in the interlacustrine region by conquering Bunyoro- kitara kingdom.
2. Hereditary nature of leadership, in centralized state once a king/queen passed away, children from the same family inherited the throne.
3. The king directed different aspects of the states such as agricultural, pastoral and trading activities of the society.
4. The king was the supreme judge of all the people in his kingdom. There fore maintenance of peace and justice, sentencing people to death or forgiving people found guilt was done by king.
5. There was strong standing armies which helped to defend the territory and resolve internal disputes in the state.
6. Taxation, there was taxes charged by the king to all his subjects and all people who came to his land.
7. The important source of wealth of the state was obtained through conquest, raids and taxation.
8. The king was a social and religious leader who presided over the most important social functions of the state.
CASE STUDIES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CENTRALISED STATES IN AFRICA.
1. The Asante Empire.
2. The Buganda kingdom.
3. The Mwanamutapa Empire.
THE ASANTE EMPIRE.
The historical background.
At the beginning of 19th century, the Asante empire was born in 1600’s expanded to include the whole region of modern Ghana and parts of modern Ivory Coast and Togo. The only state of modern Ghana that had not been incorporated into the Asante empire by that time was the relatively small kingdom of Fante which stretched along the coast of Ghana about twenty miles inland. But even within this stretch was the state of Elmina which was directly under Asante.
The government of Asante Empire.
The Asante Empire had two parts, each with its own system of administration (government).
1. Metropolitan Asante, This was the central Administration centred in kumas. This government was under Asantehene and it covered all the states within about thirty to forty miles from modern kumas.
2. Provincial Asante, this was the province administration which consisted of all states conquered and annexed by the Asante during the 18th Century. Until about the middle of 18th C, all these states continued to govern themselves in exactly the same way as they were doing before their conquest and annexation. All that they were expected to do was to accept one of the wing chief of kumas.
FACTORS FOR THE GROWTH OF ASANTE EMPIRE.
The following factors contributed to the rise of Asante Kingdom about 1680 and 1750.
1. Centralization of political power, the Asante kingdom had centralized system of government under Asantehene who was assisted by Omanihene. Asantehene headed the central government while Omanihene headed small states within the kingdom (provincial states).
2. Trade, the Asante people participated full in internal trade and external trade. Internally, the Asante people traded with Ghana and the Coastal Region involving items such as salt, fish, cloth, and beads. Externally, Asante’s people acted as the link between traders from the north and those from the south, this enabled them to develop contact with the Dutch and British traders at Elmina, Accra and Tema.
Through trade, Asante were able to obtain firearms which were used to strengthen their state by conquering neighbour states and control the source of trade at the coast.
3. Agriculture, Asante’s people practiced plantation agriculture in which crops such as coconut, cocoa, palm oil and coffee were grown. This enabled the growth of population and availability of trade items demanded by British, Dutch, and northern traders.
4. Superior military techniques and bravery of their army, there were dissatisfaction of small states to be under central government, for example in the government of the provinces, Osei Kwandwo and his successor attempted to introduce some changes in order to be out of the central government such as establishment of a regional commissioner in Akwapem to be responsible for Dutch, English and Danish Accra in 1776. Asante managed to crush all the rebellions and preserved the empire intact.
5. Golden stool, this was the symbol of people soul and unity which was founded by Osei Tutu. All people respected Asantehene as the guardian of the Golden stool. The kingdom maintained annual festivals where members of the kingdom came to the kings palace to pay homage to the Golden stool. The festival was regarded as symbols of political unity in the kingdom while the Golden stool represented the spirit of the Asante people.
THE RELATIOONS BETWEEN ASANTE AND FANTE KINGDOM.
The only state within modern Ghana that had been able to dam the tide of Asante Imperialism was the Fante kingdom. By the beginning of the 19th century, this kingdom consisted about seventeen states and the founder of these states lived in Mankessim for Centuries.
Throughout 18th Century, Relations between the asante and Fante remained by and large hostile. There are numerous references in the records of Threats of Asante invasion of Fante , there are three occasions in which the Asante attacked the fante, namely in 1727, 1765 and 1776.
The causes of the Asante-Fante Wars.
The main reasons for this state of enmity between the Asante and Fante were as follows.
1. The refusal of the Fante to allow the Asante to come and trade directly with Europeans on the coast. The Asante never abandoned their determination to gain direct access to the Fante coast and the conflicts between them over trade routes in the 18th century continued into the 19th century. This conflict was worsened when Fante traders were not honest in their trade dealings with the asante traders, the Fante obtained pure Gold from Asante and mixed it with other base metals before selling it to European at the coast.
2. The second main Asante grievance against the Fante was political. The Asante needed regular supply of firearms to defend their huge empire and suppress all internal revolts. There fore, Asante maintained their hold on and persistently defended Accra and Elmina their two principal coastal outlets.
3. Fante assisted southern tributary states such as Denkyira, Twifu and Akyem whenever any of them rose up in rebellion against their master, Asante. Fante aimed at safeguarding their middleman position and to ensure that there were strong buffer between them and the Asante.
4. Personal ambition of osei bonsu, this was the last leader of Asante kingdom before British Colonization in !900. Osei Bonsu was highly influenced by preceded leaders such as Osei Tutu and Opoku Ware. There fore he stressed on expansion of the Asante kingdom to Fante areas.
5. British influence at the coast, the Fante were in collaboration with European traders stationed at the coastal region, this prevented the political and economic interests of Asante kingdom who sweared to fight against fante.
THE DECLINE OF ASANTE POWER.
However, by 1874, only fifty years after the death of Osei Bonsu, the Asante Kingdom had completely broken up. The following are the reasons behind the collapse of Asante Kingdom.
1. The independence of Asante controlled states. All the southern states had first reasserted their independence their independence and then lost it again to the British who formed them into a crown colony.
2. The weakness of the Asante provincial system of Administration. It seems that despite the work of Osei Kwadwo and Osei Bonsu, the Asante system of provincial Administration never fully incorporated into their empire.
3. The destruction of Asante military strength by British. This was due to the series of defeats inflicted on the Asante by the british and their allies in 1824, 1826 and 1874. indeed, from 1824 onwards, the wars between the Asante and their colonies (provincial states) became primarily wars between the Asante and British.
4. British adopted the policy of preventing any direct clash between Asante and Fante, and instead British supported the Fante in any event of Asante attack. British were forced to support Fante as a way of preventing Asante’s administration from mastering the Fante as it could endanger their interests.
THE BUGANDA KINGDOM.
The historical Background.
After 1500, the people to the west of Lake Victoria, and southward along the hills and pastures as far as Lake Kivu continued to develop their own ways of self-rule and everyday life. Except in northern Uganda, these were especially the work of ruling groups such as the Hima and Tutsi.
After 1600, new kingdoms grew in strength, the biggest of which became Buganda Kingdom. Around 1650, the Ganda were ruled by king Katerega who proved to to be a determined leader in wars by doubling the size of the Kingdom through the conquest of Bunyoro-kitara kingdom which was under Bito kings.
By 1750, the king of Buganda whose title was Kabaka, was the supreme in all the lakeside country between the mouth of the Kagera River and exit of Nile River
FACTORS FOR THE RISE AND EXPANSION OF BUGANDA KINGDOM.
Under the leadership of King Katerega, the Ganda more than doubled the size of their territory. They expanded westward into Mawokota and Gomba, Butambala and Singo. This expansion was not over nightly done, it took different stages and centuries from 16th to 19th century. The reasons for the expansion of Buganda kingdom help to explain a great deal of the history of a large part of Uganda. The following are the factors for the rise of Buganda Kingdom.
1. Agriculture, Buganda had a sound/strong agricultural based economy. Agriculture was favored by good climatic conditions and fertile soil which in turn led to abundant crop yield and high livestock keeping. The Ganda were big banana growers, using bananas as their main thing in their everyday food supply.this resulted into the increase in population which created strong leadership and labour force in expansion process.
2. Division of labour, the Ganda had good division of labour wher the task of supplying food could be largely left to women so that men were free for other duties including warfare, through most of the year. This enabled men to specialize in various activities and services of expanding the empire.
3. Military Advantage, the Kabakas were able to call on many warriors who were always more available for the services. This gave Buganda a military advantage over the most of their neighbours such as Bunyoro whose men engaged in caring for their cattle and tilling soil, for they regarded it wrong for women to do such works. There fore, men were less available for military services than their Ganda Rivals.
4. The good system of Government, the Ganda had a well organized system of government, in early times their Kabakas had been higher in rank more than senior religious chiefs among the Batokas(section- heads).The wars of 17th Century taught the Ganda that they could do better if the Kabaka had more political power than any of the Batokas or all Batokas put together. Therefore, the centralized political power gave the Ganda a political advantage and unity among themselves.
5. The absence of civil wars on succession of power(leadership), the Ganda cut down quarrels among different candidates for the throne whenever a Kabaka died. Among the Ganda, the choice of a new ruler was made from a number of candidates and it was controlled by two senior officials, these were the Katikiro(country’s prime minister) and the Mugema (the senior chief among the heads of section). The Katikiro and Mugema tried to have a peaceful succession to the throne whenever a Kabaka died.
6. The control of trade, the Ganda participated in various trading activities and controlled the trade routes. In 18th century, the Ganda kings began to open a trade route with the coast for the first time. Traditionally, Ganda believes that Kabaka Kyabuga(1763-1780) imported tableware such as cups and plates, while his son Semakokiro(1797-1814) sold vivory to Swahili traders in exchange for Indian cottons and cowrie shells to be used as money. Inside Buganda Kingdom, the long distance trade was controlled by the king. This increased his power because he could now reward his soldiers and officials with goods from abroad as well as with gift of land.
7. Iron works, Buganda had been very short of iron, it had to buy its hoes from neighbouring bunyoro which had large supply of iron in its territory and excellent metal smiths. But during the 19th century, the Ganda conquest of eastern Kyaggwe by king Mawanda, the annexation of Buddu by king Junja and the friendship of Koki had all increased Buganda’s source of iron and had also obtained a new large number of smiths.
8. Strong leadership, the pressures of warfare strengthened the power of the kings of Buganda. In 1850, the Buganda kingdom reached the height of its power under two outstanding Kabakas, these were Suna II who reigned until 1856 and Mutesa I who reigned until 1884. Suna was the first king In Buganda to import guns in any quantity from Zanzibar and handed them to soldiers only under his personal supervision. Mutesa improved Ganda control on Lake Victoria by organizing a canoe navy under an official called Gabunga. These armed canoes raided the islands of the lake as well as lakeside villages, for cattle, ivory and captives.
THE COLLAPSE OF BUGANDA EMPIRE.
Toward the end of n19th century, Buganda kingdom started to collapse despite of being a well established centralized state due to the following reasons.
1. The arrival of Christianity and Islam in Buganda, in the second half of 19th century, the two religions came in Buganda hand in hand with Arab traders and European missionaries. Muslim who arrived first in Buganda managed to convert Kabaka and his officials into Islamic, but Islamic roots were obstructed in 1877 when British protestant arrived in Buganda where they converted some Gandas into Christianity. This brought division among the Gandas where some were Christian and other were muslims,this led to its downfall.
2. Religious conflicts, There was rivals between protestant and catholic in Buganda. During the reign of Kabaka Mwanga,French came with Roman Catholicism following Islamic and protestant. This brought a stiff competition between protestant and cathoric which nearly led to war. This situation confused kabaka Mwanga who tried to chase all foreigners out of Uganda, but he failed.
3. Presence of large number of Kabakas, Buganda kingdom had been ruled by large number of kabaka starting from Kintu to Mutebi II. These Kings came into conflicts over certain administrative issues. King Semakokiro stoped anyone else from pushing him off the throne, because he himself had obtained it through violence by killing his brother Junja. This inturn brought the whole kingdom into a state of chaos and disorder,hence the collapse.
4. The declaration of British protectorate, in 1894, Uganda was declared as a British protectorate and Buganda as the kingdom was not recognized any more. In 1900, the kingdom lost all his political autonomy when kabaka signed the Buganda agreement with British, which claimed that Buganda was part of the Uganda protectorate. This reduced the power of Kabaka.
MWANAMUTAPA EMPIRE
The Historical Background.
The Mwanamtapa Kingdom which is also spelled as Monomotapa was the largest kingdom founded in 1420 among the karanga people(a sub-group of shona people) and it was centred at great Zimbabwe in present day south-east Zimbabwe.
Mwanamutapa was founded under the leadership of Mutota. After moving into Mashonaland, Mutota established as overlord over many tribes. Through the war, he brought indigenous chiefs under his control. He appointed chief of his own to rule over the conquered areas. After his death in 1450,the throne was inherited by his son Matope. Mwanamutapa was the name given to Mutota by Tonga and Tavara meaning “the lord of the plundered lands” and this became the royal title.
The kingdom was ruled in pyramidal fashion, where at the top there was Mwanamutapa who appointed regionally based vassals. In 1490, the kingdom spirited into two, Mwanamutapa in the north and Changamire with great Zimbabwe in the south. The former stretched from the Indian ocean in the east to the present day Central Zambia in the west and from central Zimbabwe in the south to Zambezi River in the north.
In the early 1500’s the Portuguese established themselves along the coast of modern Mozambique and along the banks of lower Zambezi river, they determined to monopolize Mwanamutapa trade.
FACTORS FOR THE GROWTH OF MWANAMUTAPA EMPIRE.
In about 1425, a branch of Shona, the Karanga who lived in the south-western part of the country set forth to buld an empire which could make them both secure and prosperous. The following factors contributed to the growth of Mwanamutapa Kingdom.
1. The influence of the long distance Swahili traders, the Swahili traders had long been trafficking in mwanamutapa, bringing cotton goods from India, pottery and porcelain from Persia and china, and other foreign things in exchange for central African Gold and Ivory. This led to the expansion of Mwanamutapa Kingdom.
2. The pyramidal nature of administration(power), the Mwanamutapa system of Government was organized in such a way that Mwanamutapa stood at the peak of the pyramid power and under him there were many lesser kings and chiefs whom he had conquered and who paid him tributes. The lesser kings were such as Togwa of Mbire,Changa of Guniuswa…’
3. The control of inland based outlying trading post,all these inland based post including Sena, Tete, Bokoto and Dambarare were occupied by the Portuguese by the permission of the Mwanamutapa, the Portuguese were obliged to pay annual tax. As long as the tax was paid Portuguese traders were allowed to travel freely in Mwanamutapa and its vassal kingdoms. This annual tax paid by the Portuguese enabled the growth of Mwanamutapa power.
4. The strength of mwanamutapa’s laws, mwanamutapa kingdom had strong laws that forced whoever visted the empire to obey, the Portuguese missionaries after visting the Mwanamutapa lands in the 1590’s, declared that travel in the land was safer than in Portuguese. This increased the prosperous of the kingdom.
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