The Development in Africa Prior to 1800ad, Essay Example

Introduction

The development of Africa before 1800AD can be categorized into three major components that are deemed important when studying the history of a given society. These three facets include the following, political, economical and social. The interplay between the three elements helps a historian to understudy the lives of people in every society.

Development of Africa

On the political front, Africa is one of the regions in the world that is historically known for emperor kingdoms. As early as 1600 AD most regions of the content were ruled by emperors who conquered lands big pieces of fertile lands to establish their political kingdoms. The emperors were the main rulers of the land. The most issue is that weaker political empires were dominated by the stronger political empires. Strong political empires could easily go to war and also defend itself against any external aggression. The emperors operated their kingdoms through slave and agricultural practices. Studies touching on the history of Africa reveal that West and Central Africa were the major regions that were dominated by the development of political kingdoms. In other regions such as the Eastern Africa there were presence of strong kings that ruled a set of clans (Inikori, 2009).

However, it is cognizance to note that certain regions of Africa such as Ancient Egypt and Ethiopia had strong and well organized political foundations, for instance political development of Egypt can be traced as early as 4 BC. Egypt had a good political setting where the king, also known as pharaoh, was the ruler of the empire. Pharaoh was the overall ruler of the kingdom whose leadership was hereditary. The country is one of the oldest civilizations in the world due to good leadership system; Egypt was civilized way before many countries of the world and is famous for its unique art that is manifested in ancient Pyramids.

The other noticeable empire in Africa is the Asante Kingdom of west Africa. The development of the empire was attributed to the presence of gold and other precious minerals. The empire is one of the oldest mining regions in Africa. The region is currently occupied by Ghana. There are strong connections between the empire the emergence of Ghana as a country, for example Akan culture which was the major cultural habit of the people is still present in most regions of Ghana country.

On the economic front, trade has been rated as the major factor that led to the economic growth of African empires. Trade routes played an important role in the establishment of political kingdoms. Studies reveal that the development of empires such as Songhai in West Africa was due to presence of trade routes that connected the Berbers of North Africa to other regions of the West. By 1250AD, the main goods for trade in Africa included the following, cowry shells, gold, iron, and kola nuts. Trade during those days was dominated by barter mode of transaction. The advent of 1700 AD was characterized by significant changes in trade commodities in Africa. By this time many of the regions that were located in the coastal areas started slave trade. Many African traders who interacted with the Arabs started engaging in slave trade. Many kings and emperors also recruited the slaves for farming activities. Stronger slaves were later recruited into soldiers by the emperors to defend the empire (Collins and James, 2007).

On the cultural facet, Africa is one of the regions that a rich historical culture. Before 1800 AD, religious practices in Africa were very unique. During those days every clan or kingdom had their religion and believed in different gods. Many of the people in Africa worshipped their ancestors the spirits. Sacrifices and offerings were given to the ancestors to appease them, rains and divinely blessings were believed to come from the ancestors. The worship of ancestors was very common in most regions except for Egypt where the people worshipped idols, different idols had different god roles, for instance there was the goddess of rain that was mainly worshipped to provide rains during drought (Daniels, 2006).

Prior to 1800 AD, there was significant development in art and craft in most parts of the region. In this area, regions such as Egypt and Asante Kingdom had well developed art and craft practices than most areas. Egypt, for instance, is known for ancient art and has significantly contributed to the development of art in the world. The country enjoys a rich heritage of art that is envied by most regions of the world. The origin of ancient architecture can be associated with Egypt than other older civilizations such as Athens. Other regions of the continent also practiced art and craft but in very minute levels, for instance in most kingdoms art was concentrated in the making of idols of gods and kings (Fage, 2010).

Conclusion

Political, economical and social elements contributed greatly to the development of Africa before 1800 AD. The development of African during those days was not under the influence of any external forces as colonization of the continent had not picked during the period.

References

Inikori, J. (2009) The Atlantic Slave Trade Effects on Economies, Societies, and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Durham: Duke University Press,

Daniels, R. (2006). “The Nature of the Agrarian Land Question in the Republic of South Africa.” The American Journal of Economics, pp. 1–16

Fage, J. (2010). A History of Africa (Routledge, 4th edition, 2001 ISBN 0-415-25247-4) (Hutchinson, 1978, ISBN 0-09-132851-9) (Knopf 1st American edition, ISBN 0-394-32277-0)

Collins, R. and James M. (2007). A History of Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge University Press p. 371. ISBN 9780521687089.