Marshall Jiang

Introductory Paragraph
• Emergence of city prompt specialized labor, especially in Egypt.
• Also clearly defined social class emerged, patriarchal society
• Egypt linked SW Asia, E. Mediterranean, Sub-Sah Africa
o Writing appeared in Egypt and Nubia
Emergence of Cities and Stratified Societies
Cities of the Nile Valley: Clustered mostly in villages, not
cities
o Memphis, used as capital, 3100BCE, Menes
o Thebes, prominent political center b4 unification, aft –
administrative center of Upper Egypt, some capital
o Heliopolis, city of sun 2900BCE, New Kingdom – Temple to Re
o Tanis – Busy port by Middle Kingdom
o Kerma, 2500BCE, 3rd cataract, Kush capital, destroyed 1450B
o Napata, 1000BCE, 4th Cataract, less vunerable, Kashata
helped make wealthy
o Meroe, 700BCE, 5th a. 6th, gradually declined from 100CE
Social Classes: Both have social classes
o Peasants and Slaves carry hard work, same as Mesopotamia
o Pharaoh as supreme central ruler, little nobles,
 Relied of pro military, tax collector – could attain high
positions
Patriarchal Society: Both E a. N vested power in men
o Rare exceptions when women were pharaohs
o Hatshepsut(1473-1458BCE) coruler with Tuthmosis III
 Uncommon, statue with beard
o More women in Kush, especially in Meroe,
 Governed with men or regent known as kandake
Economic Specialization and Trade
Nile valley became more specialized
Bronze Metallurgy: Slower than Mesopotamia, 1700BCE after
Hyksos
o Tuthmosis used bronze, closely monitored, weigh tools
Iron Metallurgy: Nubia poor in bronze, after 1000BCE large
iron
o Hittites-1300BCE, Sudan-900BCE Great Lakes,Chad,
o 500BCE, started to churn out iron
Transportation
o 3500BCE, Nile flows N, Winds blow S
o 3000BCE, Egyptians travel to Mediteranean
o 2000BCE, Explored Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea
 Used Mesopotamian wheeled vehical
o Nubia less navigatable – cataracts, winds blow same direction
as Nile, rely more on land
Trade Networks: Specialized labor a. transportation helped
long trade
o Egypt needs it, few resources, traded with Nubia b4 4000BCE
 Old Kingdom – traded regularly
 Aswan-swene-trade, Elephantine-ivory
  Export fine textile from flax
o With Mesopotamia early 3500, 3000 actively trading
 Get lots of trees from Lebanon
 One expedition with 40 ships of cedar logs
o New Kingdom traded with Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Punt-
Somalia a. Ethiopia,
 Queen Hatshepsut, expedition to Punt in 1450
Early Writing in the Nile Valley
Hieroglyphic Writing: Appeared by 3200BCE, Mesopotamian
influence
o Pictographs – Early Greek marveled at them, called
hieroglyphs – Greek for “holy inscriptions”
o Also survive on papyrus, hot dried weather
o Cumbersome, used hieratic script, easier early 3000BCE, used
from 2600BCE to 600CE
 Disappeared after middle of 1st millennium CE
 Adopted greek
o Demotic(“popular”)and Coptic(“Egyptian”)
Education: Formal education brings great money
o “The Satire of the Trades” Middle Kingdom
o Nubian spoke own language but fluent in Egyptian, early
writing were Egyptian hieroglyphic
o Egypt wielded culture influence – when political and military
strong.
 Priest travel to Nubia to build temples, strong influence
in 800 and 700BCE when king of Kush ruled Egypt
Meroitic Writing: Nubian inscriptions appeared in hieroglyphic
writing as late as 100CE
o 500BCE, Egyptian influence declined, Capital transferred to
Meroe
o Nubia developed alphabetic for Meroitic language, used
characters to represent sound, many survived but no one can
translate them
Development of Organized Religious Traditions
Amon and Re: Important responsibility religion
o Amon, Thebes – Sun,creation,fertility, reproduction, RE,
Heliopolis- sun
o Old and Middle, worshiped in cult of Amon-Re,
 Heliopolis – temple complex supported priests who
studied the sky
Aten: Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1353 – 1335BCE) to Akhenaten
o Consider Aten sole god, Amon-Re out of many, Aten-one
 Earliest form of monotheism
o Built new capital Akhetaten(Horizon of Aten), Tell el-Amarna
 Broad Streats, courtyard, open temples,
o Agents destroy Amon-RE
Mummification: yearning for immortality for mummification
o Old Kingdom – only elites,
 Later other royal started
o Middle and New, anyone, Herodotus 500BCe, weathy
Cult of Osiris: Seth murdered and scattered body parts, isis
retrieved and gave proper burial
o God of underworld, nile and crops,
o Immortality-high moral standard, weigh hearts against
feather
Nubian Religious Beliefs: Observed own traditions, little
written
o Lion-god Apedemak – bow and arrows, war god for kush
 o Sebiumeker creator god guardian of human devotees
o Egyptian were strong expecially in New kingdom,
 Did not mummify but build pyramids
o Amon, Osiris, attracted big following, remained popular till
600CE

Bantu Migrations and Early Agricultural Societies of Sub-Saharan

Africa
Dynamics of Bantu Expansion
The Bantu: Most influential SSAfrica who spoke Bantu
o Original came from related tongues in Larger Niger-Congo in
WAfrica (Mande,Kru,Wolof,Yoruba,Igbo)
o Earliest at Nigeria and Cameroon
 Banks of rivers, cultivated yams and oil palms, later
millet and sorghum, goats and guinea fowl
o Clan based villages headed by chiefs, trade with hunter
gathers, called pygmies then forest peoples
Bantu Migrations: 3000BCE spreading wouth to WAfrican
Forest
o 2000BCE, S to Congo River towards great Lakes
 Language differentiated to 500 types(90mil today)
o Incremental process like Indo-Europeans,
o 1000BCE, occupied most of Africa S of equator
o Population pressure drove the migrants
 Used canoes in Niger and Congo, enabled them to trvel
rapidly up and down rivers
 Surplus enabled Bantu to increase more rapidly
o Forrest peopled intermarried
 Iron and Migration: 1000BCE, pace quickened due to iron
tools
o Clear land faster, iron strengthened army
o Supported faster growth, spread Iron to SSafrica
Early Agricultural Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa
Smaller migrations took place with Bantu, 3500 to 1000BCE
Kushite herders pushed east (Kenya and Tanzania) Sudanese
moved to upper reaches of Nile(S Sudan, N Uganda) Mande
(rice) Atlantic of W. Africa
Niger Congo spread okra to W Africa
Spread of Agriculture: Bantu help set agriculture societies to
SSAfrica
o 1000 to 500BCE, yams and grains deep into E. S.Africa
(Kenya Malawi Mozambique Zimbabwe A. S. Africa)
o Sheep and cattles too
o Bantu spread to W and Central Africa. And sheep,pigs cattle
o Late BCEs reached all Africa except desert and forests
o Few Hundred individuals in villages led by chiefs
 Age set
o Assumed responsibility approiprate for age groups
Religious Beliefs: Developed distinctive cultural a. religious
traditions
o Sudan and Bantu held monotheistic till 5000BCE
o Sudan – Single force that’s the source for good and evil
 Could take form of individual spirits
 Address force through intermediary spirits
o Bantu – Nyamba – created world
 Individual did not address the distant god but offered
prayers to ancestor spirits a. local spirits
o Individual communities may not have precise form, borrowed
and adapted
o Bantu help mingle and mix new cultures and religioin
o 1000BCe when meet sudan, Bantu associated Nyamba with
Goodness , new moral dimension brought him closer to lives
of individual.
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