The History of South Africa Part II

The Hottentots/Khoi/KhoiKhoi

• The Hottentots originally call themselves “KhoiKhoi” that is “Men of Men” meaning real people / people people, the term used to show their pride in themselves. Europeans called them Hottentots and their language Hottentot.
• –The Hottentots are taller than the Bushmen, but like the Bushmen, they are yellow skinned and their language is full of clicks.
• The Hottentots are also another indigenous people in South Africa who came from Botswana. They moved from Botswana to occupy South Africa around 500 BC.
• – Archaeological evidence shows that the Khoikhoi entered South Africa through two distinct routes:

• travelling west, dodging the Kalahari to the west coast, then later, down to the Cape, and

• travelling south-east out into the Highveld and then southwards to the south coast

• – When the Portuguese arrived in Southern Africa in 1487, they found the Hottentots living at Table bay(west coast)and Mossel bay(east coast). By the mid of the 17th century they were living around the Cape, along the banks of the Orange river and Natal.

Economy

• The Hottentots kept large herds of cattle and flock of sheep, which formed the basis of their life and economy.
• Since they were cattle keepers, the Hottentots had to move from place to place with their herds of cattle and flock of sheep in search of fresh pasture and water.
• Although they kept numerous animals, the Hottentots rarely killed them for food, except when there was an important function such as a ceremony.
• The Hottentots also fed on honey, wild fruits and roots and fish. Thus, like the Bushmen, the Hottentots were hunters and gatherers. They did not grow any food crops.

Social and political organization

• The Hottentots had a large and more efficient social and political organization than the Bushmen.
• They lived in large groups or camps, each of which consisted of several related clans.
• Each camp was therefore a large village. The camp also enclosed all the herds of its inhabitants.
• The Khoi society was the earliest unequal society in South Africa. This means that some people managed to accumulate wealth as they owned large herds of cattle than others.
• As a result, they developed a social hierarchy, for example chieftaincy, that is some people became rulers because of their wealth, hence leadership was based on wealth and seniority.
• It was in this ground that each camp had a chief who ruled with the help of the head of clans comprising his territory, that is a camp village.
• Since they were animal keepers who moved from one place to another, they sometimes became competitors with the San.
• The Khoikhoi were more centralized and lived in large communities than the San. At a later stage, the San were in cooperated by the Khoikhoi through intermarriage.
• The Khoikhoi were religious people. They had few religious ceremonies as such, but they believed in the existence of a supreme God. This supreme God was responsible for bringing thunderstorms which refreshed the pasture.
• The Khoi also believed that the spirits of their ancestors inhabited natural features of the landscape such as valleys, rivers, and mountains.

The Bantu

• Until at least the 1960s, South African historians and white politicians had a very distorted view of South African early history:
• –They believed that black Bantu- speaking, iron working farmers were fairly recent immigrants into South Africa.
• –Furthermore it was claimed that, these Bantu migrations first crossed the Limpopo between 1500 and 1600AD, and certainly not earlier than 1000AD.
• –The Blacks were said to have swept into South Africa from the North in large successive, and conquering waves of migration.
• However, since the 1970s, archaeological research, linguistics evidence and the use of carbon 14 dating have totally overturned this distorted and biasedversion of Southern Africa history.

The new evidence suggest that:

1. The first Bantu speaking people seem to have crossed the Limpopo into Southern Africa by about 200AD. Therefore, the Bantu were not recent immigrants of South Africa as suggested by colonial historians and politicians.
2. By 300 AD they had pushed Southwards into the present day Natal and by 400AD their settlement were evident in the Transvaal. However, there is no evidence of large scale migrations as suggested by colonial historians. The Bantu travelled and settled in small, and fairly sized groups.

• What does the above arguments imply? –The Bantu entered in South Africa earlier than the period suggested by Europeans / colonial scholars (1500-1600AD) –The Bantu did notenter in South Africa in large successive and conquering wave of migrations as suggested by these scholars, but rather in small and fairly sized groups

3. Archaeological evidence recovered very few skeletal remains of the early Bantu in South Africa. This little evidence shows that the Bantu were larger than the Khoikhoi and the San.

4. This archaeological evidence further suggests that, these early Bantu were of a definite Negroid racial type though with signs of intermixing with the local Khoikhoi and San population.

5. Linguistic evidence further suggests that, the earliest iron age immigrants (who are believed to be the Bantu) into Southern Africa were probably speakers of early forms of the Bantu family language. There are today more than 300 Bantu languages between Cameroon in West Africa and the Southern coast of South Africa.

• –By studying similarities and differences between them, linguists have concluded that probably all stem from an original parent language somewhere in the region of modern Cameroon.
• –The iron age farmers, therefore, were almost certainly the earliest ancestors of the Black Bantu speaking people who forms the vast majority of the population of Central and Southern Africa today.

Economy

• The Bantu were mixed farmers; their economy was more advanced, combining agriculture with pastoralism and their standard of living was a great deal higherthan that of their predecessors ( the San and the Khoi).
• They grew millets, sorghum, melons, and beans.
• They kept sheep, goat, and cattle.
• They also hunted a wide range of animals of all sizes and gathered wild plantsespecially fruits.
• From rivers they obtained fish and those near the coast collected shell fish.
• The Bantu managed to do all these because:
• –They knew and introduced the art of iron working. With their efficient tools, they could clear the forests and bushes and cultivate the soil on a large scale. Thus , their growing population could be sustained by food from the soil and cattle products
• –They kept many herds of cattle. Cattle were greatly valued as a source and form of wealth. Cattle were used for important functions such as payment of bride wealth and they valued for their milk , meat and skin.
• Because the Bantu kept cattle and also grew food crops, their population increased fast. The mixed economy of cattle keeping and agriculture supported a fairly high population by contemporary standards. People had enough to eat, more important they had rich and balanced diet.
• The arrival of the Bantu had a negative impact on the Bushmen and the Hottentots economic, social, and political life ways. They were conquered and dispossessed of their favorite hunting grounds by the Bantu.As a result:
• –They were pushed into the remote areas of the country where game and foodwere scarce and life difficulty, and many of them even had to flee to the Kalaharidesert for refuge
• –Some were absorbed by the Bantu, living among them as people without their own independence, identity and intermarrying with them.
• –A few other had a worse fate/destiny. They were either killed in clashes with the Bantu or died as a result of social and economic hardship following their defeat and dispossession.
• The third major group of the Bantu is represented by the Herero and Avambo. These live in Namibia and are generally called the South Western Bantu.
  Particularly, all these Bantu groups have been influenced by the Bushmen and Hottentots with whom they came into contact. This is why the Nguni languages have clicks, just like the languages of the Bushmen and the Hottentots.
  – Each tribe had its own territory, central clan, central family and a chief. The chief always came the central family and clan.
• –In addition the chief was the head of the tribe in all matters relating to religion, administration of justice, government and welfare. –Appeals could be made from small courts to his court served as the country’s supreme court and was the only competent to try murder cases.
• –In both tribes the chief was very powerful, but an autocratic and unpopular chief could not last longer, his people could desert him and join a friendly and just ruler. –The chief was highly respected as the symbol of tribal unity and the focus of loyalty in the tribe. 

Administration.

• To enable the chief do his duties properly:
• –The whole territory was divided into several subdivisions. The most important of these were the provinces and below them, were the districts.
• –The system of administration was strengthened through the appointment of Indunas. These were special state officials in various fields, both military and civil. They were permanent and assisted the chief in his duties.
• The most important was the chief Induna:
• He could deputize for the chief in his absence
• He could give orders and instructions in the chief’s name.
• He had the responsibility of keeping the chief well informed about public opinions and about any dangerous developments such as rebellion.
• No wonder the chief Induna came to be regarded as the eyes of the chief. –Head of districts took the title of Izikhulu. These had the responsibility of trying cases at lower levels, and they also received tributes and fines from the inhabitants of the districts they administered within the kingdom. Thus the king ruled in conjunction with this men.
• –Both the king and the Izikhulu formed the council of state. This was called the Ibandia, that is the highest administrative organ in the kingdom.
• –Among the Nguni speakers there was a rigid age group system and sexual division of labor. One of the results of such social organization was that, the king was able to have control over the institution of marriage.
• No youth would get married until he/she had gone through all the tasks demanded of his or her age group.
• For example, boys were called upon to herd the king’s cattle. Politically, this was referred to as “drinking the King’s milk”
  Thus, this meant that one could enter into marriage in an advanced stage of adulthood(when they were already adult).
  –The restriction of marriage: •Allowed the king to divert labor power from individual homesteads to his own service (this process allowed the king to get enough labor power for his own use) •This also allowed the king to have control over the process of reproduction ( birth rate) in his kingdom. By delaying marriage in this manner, the king was able to control the rate of population growth.

Source

Social formation

• Among the Bantu, Crop production and livestock keeping were the major economic activities.
• Trade or exchange transactions involved bulls while cows were retained for the purpose of maintaining and increasing wealth.
• The basic unit of production was the homestead.
• The homestead was made up of small segments or units and a homestead head.
• Each segment comprised of the wife and her children
• Each segment was supposed to provide for its own means of subsistence and to be self sufficient
• Majority of the homestead were made up of the homestead head, two or three wives and children
• The essential goods that could not be produced by the home stead were obtained through barter.
• Land on which the society depended for its production and reproductionbelonged to the king. Individuals gained rights over land on the condition that they remained loyal (trustworthy) to the king.
• –Occasionally individuals would be called upon to render services to the king or his officials. These services would be in the form agricultural labor, herding the king’s cattle or direct military service.
• Thus theoretically, all adult men were members of the state army, although in practice the standing army was composed of youth. –The army was used to forcibly appropriate and accumulate wealth for the king.
• Internally this took the form of tribute and fines for offences (the army was used in the collection of fines and tributes). Thus irrespective of the nature of the offence, part of the fine imposed had to remain in the king’s court.
• Externally, all the wealth plundered and brought to the state as a result of raidingor war fare, belonged to the state. This practically meant that such wealth was at the disposal or under the control of the king.

The Newcomers

• Towards the end of the 17th century, South Africa received newcomers from outside the continent. These were:

Europeans;

• This group is divided into two sections:
• The Afrikaners, that is, the people of Dutch origin who first settled in the Cape in 1652. Another name used to describe the Afrikaners is “Boers”, which should be used more strictly to refer to an “Afrikaner farmer”.
• The other major European group is English speaking group and has been associated with South Africa since the beginning of the 19th century (1806)

The people of mixed racial origin.

• These are called the “Coloreds”. Nearly all of them occupied the Cape province. They were of a mixed race, being the result of the union between the Boers and the slaves (imported from outside i.e. Indonesia and Madagascar), Hottentots,Bushmen, and Xhosa

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The History of South Africa Part I

Topic 1. General overview

• The most important feature of South African history which makes it an immensely interesting and rewarding region to study is the great variety of people (who are these people?) leading very different kinds of lives. Therefore, the history of these African communities has been dominated by :
• The movements of various groups of people
• The reaction of one community (group) upon another
• The story of how different groups either accepted or were forced to accept changes.
• In most cases every group tried to maintain its traditional way of life. For example:

i. The San fought hard for the survival of their nomadic (hunter-gatherer)existence ii.The Bantu fought hard to defend their land

iii. The Boers in their trek (1830s) away from the Cape demonstrated their burning desire to retain a way of life established over a period of two hundred years.

• Despite this fight for the retention of traditional ways of life and territory, there has always been a mixing between the different racial groups and from this exchange of cultures, there developed a growth of South African civilization. What does this mean?

• Thus, different ways of living, ideas of government and administration, and modern scientific and technological knowledge have crossed barriers of color and shown that people can adopt a culture different from the one into which they are born.

• Beyond the movements of people and the effect they had on each other, South African history focuses on:

- The setting up of African states in the 19th century and how after the discovery of precious minerals in the interior, these African states were undermined /eclipsed/ overshadowed by the increased power of the European communities.

- The different methods of African resistances to European control.

- How apartheid policy strengthened white domination in the region and African reaction to apartheid policy through the careers of major African leaders such as Lithuli, Mandela and Sobukwe.

Sources of South African History

• A variety of sources have greatly assisted in compiling the history of South Africa. The most important ones are:

1. Oral histories; this has provided a way to learn about the South African pastfrom people with first hand knowledge of historical events or their own experiences, which in themselves form the raw data/materials of history.

• Historians and other people find out about the lives of ordinary people through spoken stories. Oral histories provides important historical evidence about people, especially minority or marginalized groups (old people, uneducated people, women, children, etc) who were excluded from mainstream histories (written histories).
• A good example of this oral history is the “praise poem” from indigenous South African culture, which predates European contact, and tells us about leadersand events in the time before and during the history writing of white settlers in South Africa.

2. Archaeological evidence, that is the remains of stone tools, bones, sticks, sheltersand fire places found in campsites. These kind of materials have been particularly well preserved in some caves and rock shelters along the southern coast of the Cape. The interpretation of these archaeological remains have provided valuable information for the reconstruction of South African history 3. Paintings, there are paintings made by the San on the walls of their rock shelters. These depict people as well as animals, tools, weapons and other objects. Many fine examples of rock artare to be found in Drankensberg mountains of South Africa and parts of Lesotho as well as in the hills and rock shelters of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.

4. Written records of early European travelers, traders, missionaries and colonistswho came at the Cape from the 17th century onward. Their writings often provide useful descriptions about peoples' life ways.

5.There is evidence of the ways of life of the San’s descendants. Those few who still live a hunting and gathering existence, especially in the remoter desert regions of Botswana, have recent years been intensively studied by anthropologists. These studies of modern hunter-gatherer communities can tell the historians much about how their ancestors probably lived many hundreds of years ago.

Brief Historiography of South Africa

• Many books written by Colonial historians and Anthropologists have been published on the history of South Africa. However, most of these suffers from a number of fundamental weaknesses:
• They were mainly written through the eyes of the white men. These authors were preoccupied with the history of Europeans in South Africa as seen by Europeans and ignored the contributions of Africans to the total history of the country.
• Due to the official policy of apartheid based on the fiction of the superiority of thewhite race, the vast majority of these books are biased against Africans and other non-white .
• While most books on the history of South Africa tells us a great deal about events in South Africa since white settlement, they tells us little about African societies and states both before and since the coming of the whites. Thus, for most part, Africans are simply mentioned in connection with fiction with whites. To authors of such books,
• The African was merely a passive character who was incapable of initiating change and development or influencing policy, thus, making history.

• It was against these serious weaknesses that Nationalist Historians found it important to review and re-write the history of South Africa so as to overcome the weaknesses by portraying developments among Africans and other non-whitesocieties and by emphasizing the roles of Africans as well as that of the whites, in the development of South Africa.

• Generally, Nationalist Historians who reviewed South African History have attempted to break away from the European approach which was common to colonial historians, that is, Africans were inferior and incapable of initiating their own development.

– The emphasis of Nationalist Historians became the history of the majority black population of South Africa. As far as possible, attempts have been made to interpret South African historical events in African perspective.

Topic 2. South Africa before foreign intrusion

• Archaeological evidence suggests that South Africa was inhabited by man many years ago. Between half a million and two million years ago, the country was already peopled by early man. These early men are called australopithecine(Southern apes) , the specie from which modern man descended.
• – The Australopithecine are said to have had a small brain size, a huge lower jaw with large molars (teeth used for crushing food). In most cases they used born implements.
• – As man became more advanced, so also his culture and implements for cutting, defense, hunting, and even for digging up roots for food became more and more efficient as they were more refined.
• During the late stone age when tools were widely in use, this long process of change, adaptation, and advancement led to the emergence of a group of people similar to the present Bushmen of the Kalahari desert. These people lived by hunting, fishing and gathering.

The peopling of South Africa, their economy, social formations and political organization

1. The Bushmen

• These are said to have been the earliest inhabitants of South Africa. In South Africa, they are known by various names:
• Europeans calls them Bushmen ( a name first given to them by the Boers who referred to them as Bosjesmannes, that is “men of the bush”

– The Xhosa call them the “Twa”

– The Sotho call them the “Roa”

– The Hottentots call them the “San” or “Saan”

• The Bushmen’s early occupation of the country is partly proved by numerous relics (remains) of their stone tools, rock paintings and sculpture, all these are found in places like Damaraland, the Orange Free States (OFS), the Transvaal and Transkei

Physical characteristics of the Bushmen

• They are short and yellow or brown skinned
• Their language is characterized by the use of “clicks”, that is, it has click sounds
• They are generally hospitable and peaceful although they hate intrusion by strangers into their privacy and their hunting grounds, for they are great hunters. Any intruders are attacked with poisonous arrows.
• The hair is weak in growth, in age it becomes grey
• A hollowed back and protruding stomach are frequent characteristics of their figure
• The amount of fat under the skin in both sexes is remarkably small; hence the skin is as dry as leather and falls into strong folds around the stomach and at the joints.

Source

Economy

• Although the Bushmen had only simple tools, the early Bushmen had no major difficult in getting food. They lived on wild animals , wild roots, fruits, locust, wild honey, caterpillars, etc.
• They supplemented their rich diet with fish which they caught in numerous rivers such as the Kei, Vaal, Tsomo and Tugele.
• They did not grow food crops and they kept no domestic animals except the dog, which they used for hunting.
• They did not engage in pottery or basketry making. In order to store/ keep their food and water, they used ostrich egg shells.
• They owned little properties collectively, there was no individualism, for example, hunted wild animals were shared among themselves.
• They did not posses iron tools as they lacked iron technology. Their weapons were made up of woods, stone and animal and fish bones.
• In order to survive and have enough food, the Bushmen have developed a division of labor based on gender. Women perform the food gathering and menperform the hunting

Social and political organization

• The kind of life the San lived did not encourage a high degree of social and political organization. –As there was plenty of land and people lived by huntingand gathering, the Bushmen lived a predominantlynomadic life .
• –They moved from one place to another looking for animals to hunt depending on weather.
• –They lived in caves or temporary shelters made up of grasses or bushes
• The San were very good at rock paintings and stone carvings.
• Animals were represented in paintings on rocks, stone and ostrich egg shells as well as walls of caves

1. They made their paints out of animal fats and vegetable dyes and applied it with sticks or feathers .
2. The most common colors were red, orange, yellow and brown.
3. Among the later paintings, the largest antelope, the eland occurs most frequently. It is believed that this was a sacred animal
4. They lived in small family groups of about 12 to a maximum of 30 people.
5. It was common for girls of seven (7) or eight (8) years to be married to boys of 14 or 15 years. vi.Boys underwent initiation which included a test of their skills as hunters. Polygamy (one man with more than one wife ) was widely practiced

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History of West Africa part I

These notes are much useful for university level or higher learning students. The notes aimed at giving historical information about the people of West Africa and their region.

Source

Geographical Locationand Regional Variation

History expresses mans struggle to master his environment. History is the relationship between man and his environment.

Therefore, history without environment would be like a dead thing. Physical environment that influence production include:

• Soil
• Climate
• Vegetation
• Mode of production

Much of West Africa depends on the physical environment. West Africa is located between 5-25* due to this location there are two geographical zones; (i) Forest zone (ii) Grassland zone

A. Forest zone and its features

• Before the contact with whites the people of West Africa were predominantly agriculturalists. They cultivated rice, wheat, and tubers. There was presence of numerous grains like millet, and sorghum which supported the Yoruba, Ibo and Ashanti people.
• Forests discouraged agricultural settlements; hence people could not stay in the forests. Their social political organization was rooted in kingship organization. There were some kind of trade relations between the forest people and the Savannah people.

B. Grassland of savannah zone and its features

• The area covered more than three quarters of West Africa in Guinea, Sudan and near Sahara desert. The Savannah area was not preferred hence it was not populated.
• They kept animals in this area and some parts were highly populated compared to the forest areas.
• There were some emergence of towns due to trade between West African societies, North Africa and the Mediterranean world, example Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires.
• These areas were developed economically and the people found in there were pastoralist.

Sources of historical knowledge in west Africa

The sources of historical information include the following:

• Written sources
• Anthropological sources
• Archaeology
• Historical sites
• Oral Tradition

In case of West Africa, there are three major sources of historical knowledge.

Archaeology

This is a study of artifacts that have been dug from the earth. Artifacts are the remains of the material culture made by people in the past. In addition to the artifacts, engraving and paintings found on the caves help in the study of human activities in the past.

The word archaeology came from Greek origin meaning the study old things but also it means a carefully investigation of the material remains of the past include tombs, graves, ancient cities, settlements, tools and past weapons that were used by the past people.

It is done by using common sense approach, advanced laboratory techniques, e.g radio carbon dating techniques.

Archaeology is very useful in obtaining the information of distant past and they do this by excavation. E.g in the Olduvai Gorge (E.A), Kumbi Saleh in ancient Ghana

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Oral Tradition

• Involve the passing of information by word of mouth through talking and listening to people especially elders who transmit the information from one generation to another.
• Oral tradition has been described as a testimony transmitted from one generation to another. The messages were transmitted orally and preserved by memory.
• Mbiti J.S (2003) asserts that because most of the African peoples did not invent an alphabet for the art of reading or writing, therefore they could not keep written records of their history, instead; they passed on information from one generation to another by word of mouth. In some societies there have been special keepers of oral tradition, whose duty was to memorize and recite historical and other relevant information up to when that history would be collected, written down and published.
• According to Ogutu and Kenyanchui (2007), there are five basic forms of oral tradition which are: Formulae (titles, slogans, and ritual), Poetry, Lists, Tales and

Limitation of Oral Traditions

All oral traditions are influenced by culture of the society that produces them. Thus the type of tradition will depend on the political organization of that particular society. Some of the weaknesses of oral tradition include the following:-

• Lack of accuracy

Some information could be dropped as time passes deliberately or accidentally hence distorting the historical knowledge.

• Periodization was somehow approximation not exactly
• It cannot show transformation or changes. It was static and sometimes it was exaggerated.
• It is difficulty to recover if the narrators die.
• However, one can verify the information in oral traditions by analyzing the related contribution from written sources. Since the history of African societies is embodied in oral traditions, it is therefore wise for African scholars and historians to write their own history to repudiate the reports of foreign taletellers. It had therefore been important to study all aspects of human life-social, cultural, political as well as economic events so as to come out with a concrete history of Africans.

Written Sources

• The common source of history to day is the written records of the past. These sorts of records go as far back to the periods of the Greeks and the Romans and they became more popular with the European penetration in the 19^th century

Tarikhs and Chronicles

A Tarikh consists of a complete written text of oral traditions. A Chronicle consists of direct records of traditions which previously were preserved orally. Tarikhs and Chronicles primarily concentrate on the role of rulers. Example, Tarikh al- Sudan, Tarikh al- Fattash (of Mali); the Kano Chronicles, and Gonja Chronicles (central Ghana)

Questions

- Discuss the different sources that can help in the process of writing the history of West Africa.

- Examine the various forms of oral tradition and their importance in reconstruction of West African history.

- Discuss the major functions of oral tradition in non-literate society.

Category of Written Sources

(i) The Greek and Roman written sources

Provided scarcity of information of West Africa before the Christian era, though there are private documents and family such as the one written by PTOLEMY the Greek writer who wrote a book, The Periplus of HAMO.

(ii) Islamic Sources

The historical information of West Africa got from Islamic documents. The Arabs appear to have been better informed than their classical predecessors. The introduction of camel across the Sahara facilitated commerce, urban settlement and trade between North Africa and Western Sudan. Some of Arab scholars whose written records are used in the writing of West African history include:

• El Masudi about 912 AD visited the kingdom of Ghana and wrote accounts praising the kingdom for its gold.

• El Bakri wrote around 1062 describing the wealth and trade of Ghana Empire.
• During the reign of Mansa Musa, the famous Arab writer Ibn Batuta visited and wrote an account of what he saw.(14^th century)
• Leo Africanus (al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi) A Moorish born at Fez made two trips to the Sudan and Timbuktu: One in early 1510 and one in 1513. He was 16 years old on his first trip, a companion to his uncle, sent as ambassador to the Sudan. During his two trips, Leo visited several kingdoms. “I visited 15 kingdoms in the land of the blacks, and there are three times as many which I have not seen" he wrote. Leo is credited with proposing that the origin of the word "Africa" comes from Greek meaning "without cold or fear."

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Historiography of West Africa

• Historiography is the study of a process at which historical knowledge is obtained and transmitted. It examines the writing of history and the way it changes in time. It is a study and writing of history. Historiography also deals with recording and interpretation of past events.
• In this case, every historian uses information according to his/her view but events remain the same.

Types of Historiography in West Africa

(i) Colonial Historiography

(ii) NationalistSchool of Historiography

(iii) Marxist School of Historiography

Colonial Historiography

• The type of history which was written by colonial anthropologists and colonial historians, it dominated from the time of colonial conquest up to 1940s. Colonial historiography believed in racial superiority of their race. They considered the white race to be superior and the African race inferior.
• This type of historiography was developed by conservative and racist historians. It came about with the force of capitalism in the 19^th century. Prominent scholars in this historiography include MungoPark, Richard Burton, H. M Stanley, Coupland, Cecil Rhodes, Seligman and Sir Harry Johnson,
• Richard Burton, for example wrote Mission to Ghana, King of Dahomey, where he described Africans as inferior, after his travels between 1821 – 1890

C.G Seligman published a book in 1930 Races of Africa and claimed that civilizations of Africa were not indigenous but it was a work of the Hamites. He regarded the Negroes and Bushmen as people of inferior race.

Views;

• West Africa had no history before the coming of Europeans, Jews, Arabs and Phoenician
• Africans were passive to colonial expansion and control; History of Colonization of the African Races (1899) by Harry Johnson
• Africans were victims of nature, could not control nature.
• Africans had no culture; they were barbaric e.g engaging into human sacrifices, and secret societies.
• Many of the African societies were prone to senseless wars, diseases and enslavement.
• Colonial scholars wrote such a history so as to undermine Africans. Justify colonialism and express European superiority to Africans. The reality of this is outlined by Mungazi (1996) when he writes, “One of the great tragedies of colonialism in Africa is that the white man never understood the potential of the African mind because Europeans were preoccupied with justifying the reasons for colonizing the continent.” Nevertheless, the African mind proved capable of surviving and retaining its distinctive quality in an oppressive and dehumanizing situation.

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Marxist Historiography

• Marxist historiography became popular in 1970s.

Marxist Historiography comprised of the writing of history in the ideas of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. In the writing of history Marx and Engels insist on four major issues:-

• Social relations within the society. How people interact when they act on nature. i.e social relation in the process of production.
• Who owns the major means of production, and who controls the profits/ surpluses.
• They want to know the dynamics within the society. Marxist historians analyze events in relation or interconnection with the other.
• Give emphasis on internal forces and contradictions within the society. Class struggle between the have and the have-nots, the capitalists and the proletariat (Social contradictions)
• Resources are not scarce but the capitalist are the ones who make them scarce for their interests.
• Marxist Historiography is based on the writing of proletarian history that develops at a specific time in the history.

Nationalist Historiography

• A type of Historiography that was introduced so as to oppose colonial historiography, scholars of this historiography supported African nationalism and glorified pre-colonial African societies. It was popular in 1960s when many African states were struggling for independence.
• Scholars in this historiography included Ade Ajay, David Fage, and some others who have written extensively on West African history.

Questions

1. To what extent Colonial historiography was conservative and segregative?
2. Differentiate Nationalist historiography to Colonial historiography.
3. Discuss the main tenets of the Marxist historiography.

West African society from antiquity to 7th century AD

Transformation occurs in West Africa from this period. The people of West Africa interacted and involved in various activities like political, economical and social. Therefore the societies in West Africa were not static; they kept on changing and improving in all aspects.

Characteristics

• The major means of production were owned communally
• Clan heads were responsible for the land distribution to the rest of the people
• The community members respected each other and everyone was responsible.
• The major economic activity was hunting and gathering
• The nomadic hunter –gatherer had no permanent settlement

Transformation from one mode to another took place as surplus increased. The surplus started around 300 BC.

Activities of Pre-colonial West African Societies

• Pastoralism,

In West Africa it was done by Fulani people. Other societies include the Beja, the Afar and Baggara of the Sahara.

• Manufacturing industries

Traditional industries were developed among West African societies such as balk cloth industries and cotton industries in Kano among the Fulani.

• Pottery, leather and basket making handcrafts were developed by indigenous West African people
• Science and technology, such as iron smelting. West Africa is considered to be home of ancient iron technology e,g the Nok culture and mining of gold in Bure and Wangara.
• Agricultural activities

The greatest population in Africa had been practicing agriculture for many centuries. Traditional African agriculture was geared towards subsistence and not towards commercialization.

• Trade

Local trade and regional trade developed because there was an uneven distribution of resources. In the Trans Saharan trade gold and salt were commodities of trade.

History of trans saharan trade

• The trade conducted from West Africa to North Africa across Sahara desert. The current features of the Sahara desert are different from the previous Sahara. The previous Sahara was fertile, had rock painting, vegetation, and cattle keeping was taking place in the area. It can be pre-dated as the settlement of the Cathageans under Roman Empire. It is said that trade involved the exchange of goods from West Africa to North Africa through Sahara.
• The goods included slaves, gold (from Bambuk and Bure), ostrich feathers, ivory, kola nuts were transported to North Africa from West Africa, while in return West Africa received not only salt, but also commodities such as cowrie shells, cloths, figs and dates, horses, guns, beads, and ornaments.

Participants

Participants in that trade were the Berbers from North Africa and the Dyula from West Africa.

Trade routes

• Western route From Morocco southwards to Timbuktu, this route joined the famous salt centre Taghaza and the gold mining at Wangara

• The Central route Started at Tunis and proceeded southwards across the Sahara to Timbuktu and finally to Kano and Katsina

• The Eastern route It started from Tunisia to Tripoli to Alexandria to Ghati to Aghades southwards to Bilma for gold and other commodities.

Caravan left the Barbary states of West Africa between September and October, and departed from the Sudan at the beginning of the rainy season in April or May each year. The size of caravan varied from one consisting only five to one of 200 camels.

Factors for the development of Trans- Saharan trade

• Both communities of west and north Africa were stable politically which enabled the traders to move from one place to another
• The Western states provided goods which the people of North Africa and the Mediterranean needed e.g gold, ivory, slaves.
• Existence of goods in large quantities in West Africa such as kola nuts, fish etc.
• The Berber of North Africa and the people of West Africa trusted one another.
• The use of camel as a means of transport encouraged the development of Trans Sahara trade. Camels were able to carry more commodities than horses or human beings porters.
• Good leadership of the kingdoms of West Africa like Sundiata, Mansa Musa. They arranged fair taxes and tariffs hence traders managed to conduct trade.
• Security; the strong empires in West Africa ensured harmony, peace and security which are prerequisites for trading activities.
• Availability of water in the desert. Traders were able to get some water in the oasis.

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The collapse of Trans Saharan Trade

• Change of routes; commodities were no longer exported across Sudan instead they were taken through the Atlantic Ocean
• As time went on West Sudan lost the monopoly of goods such as salt and gold. People from Europe got them from other parts of the world.
• The Sahara desert gradually became dry. Due to scarcity of water, traders found it difficulty to cross the Sahara desert.
• The trade was disrupted by wars between the Christian and Moslems in Morocco. The area became insecure (crusade wars). The Turkish imposed their rule in Morocco.

The impacts of Trans Saharan Trade

There is no doubt that T.S.T had far reaching political, social and economic effects in West Africa. Adu Boahen et al (1986) outline the following impacts of this trade.

• The trade contributed to the formation of states and kingdoms in West Africa.
• It created a desire of the local rulers to establish control over the trade routes and over the areas that produced gold, salt, and kola.
• The T.S.T provided a means for expansion through the provision of effective means of warfare such as horses, guns and metals suitable for the manufacturing of spears, arrowheads, or axes.
• It increased the power of the rulers, by ensuring regular sources of income through tariffs and tributes on import and exports. The rulers were able to pay the soldiers who protected and expanded the empires.
• Great improvement in political administration of the kingdoms. Well educated Muslim traders were incorporated in kingdoms as advisers, civil servants and ministers.
• Economically the trade greatly promoted the exploitation of natural resources. Through T.S.T, West Sudan became known throughout Europe and the Muslim world as gold producing area.
• Socially, the T,S,T promoted urbanization, that is the development of small villages, towns and cities e.g Taghaza, Takedda, Awdaghost, Kumbi Saleh, Jenne, Timbuctu, Gao, Kano Katsina, Gobir and Zamfara.
• The development of T.S.T was assisted by Islam but the caravan trade itself greatly accelerated the spread of this religion in West Africa. Clerics or holly men, and teachers were also traders.

In all of these ways, it can be concluded that the Trans Saharan trade did have a very important impact on West Africa.

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Questions

• Examine the contribution of Trans-Saharan trade the state formation and civilization of West Africa.
• Discuss the impacts of Trans-Saharan trade to the people of West Africa.
• Give a historical synthesis of the Trans-Saharan trade and highlight the factors for its rise and development.

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