All
together over four centuries about ten million African slaves were transported
to the Americas. Africans were most viable economically for this exploitation
because of their superior resistance to diseases and willingness to work.
Native Americans died in enormous numbers as a result of contact with
Europeans, and Europeans themselves were three times more likely to die of
disease in America than Africans. Thus a greater percentage of the crews on the
ships died during the passage than the slaves in miserable conditions. More
slaves were continually needed because only half as many women were transported
as men, and the raising of children was difficult.
For
fifty years after 1482 over 400 kilograms of gold were sent annually from El
Mina (“The Mine”) to Lisbon, Portugal. Led by Tengella and his son Koly, the
Denianke Fulani fought a war against Mali between 1481 and 1514. Tengella
invaded Zara but was defeated and killed about 1512 by the Songhay; Tengella
had led the Fulani into Futa Toro and Jolof. Mali retained authority from
Gambia to Casamance, and the mansa maintained
diplomatic and trade relations with the Portuguese. Mansa Mahmud III in 1534
received envoys from Joao de Barros, who governed at Fort Elmina. The
Portuguese transported slaves from Benin and the Kongo to Elmina to sell them
to interior merchants; but Portuguese King Joao III (r. 1521-57) declared this
illegal because the slaves were becoming Muslims.
Portuguese
Jews and criminals were sent to colonize the island of Sao Tomé in the Gulf of
Guinea as the slave trade was organized. In 1506 Pereira wrote that every year
they were getting 3,500 slaves, plus ivory, gold, and cotton. The Portuguese
established sugar plantations worked by slaves on Sao Tomé, and as late as 1560
this island was exporting twice as much sugar as the Caribbean island of
Española. The Portuguese took over the Cape Verde Islands in 1484 and required
a license to travel to Guinea in 1514. By 1582 the Cape Verde Islands had 1,600
Europeans, 400 free Africans, and 13,700 slaves. By 1600 Sao Tomé had imported
76,000 slaves as compared to 75,000 for all of Spanish America and 50,000 for
Brazil.
After
the Mali empire declined, the Kaabu became the dominant military power in this
region. Early Portuguese trade favored the coasts and broke up the Jolof
confederacy. In 1660 the Hassani were fighting the Berber marabouts in
Mauritania. When Amari Ngoone defeated the Buurba Jolof at Danki, he proclaimed
Wolof independent and became the Damel of
Kayor.
A
Zawiya (religious) leader who took the title Nasir al-Din opposed the slave
trade and condemned kings who killed and enslaved people. He declared a holy
war (jihad) against
the Hassani in 1673 and crossed the Senegal River to invade Futa Toro, Wolof,
Kayor, and Jolof. Marabouts from the countryside joined his movement, defeating
and killing Wolof brak Fara
Kumba. Nasir al-Din set up a theocratic government using the royal puppet Yerim
Kode as brak, and he
imposed an Islamic tax on tribes north of the Senegal. Turmoil occurred in
Kayor as the marabout Njaay Sall assassinated Mafaali Gey for not respecting
the Qur’an and then
proclaimed himself viceroy. In 1674 Nasir al-Din was killed in a third battle
against Hassani warriors in Mauritania, and his successor ‘Uthman was killed
fighting the Wolof. Three succeeding imams were also defeated as the marabout
movement declined. Because trade had been suspended by the viceroys, the French
at Saint-Louis intervened for the Futa Toro, Wolof, Kayor, and Jolof kings and
helped them defeat the marabouts by 1677. The war disrupted agriculture, and
famine followed. Marabouts fled from Futa Toro to Bundu, where Maalik Sy
founded a Muslim theocracy about 1690, taking the title Almamy.
Mai
‘Ali Gaji founded a Bornu dynasty about 1472 at Ngasargamu east of the Songhay
empire and ruled for a quarter century. His son Idris, called Katakarmabe,
inherited a peaceful kingdom but attacked Bulala’s Sultan Dunama ibn Salama,
driving him out of Njimi before departing. Dunama was killed by his brother
Adam, who reoccupied Kanem. Mai Idris then invaded Njimi again. Traveler Leo
Africanus considered Bulala more powerful than Bornu because of its flourishing
trade with Egypt. Bulala’s Sultan Kadai ibn ‘Abd al-Jalil attacked the son of
Idris, Mai Muhammad (r. 1525-43), but Kadai was defeated and killed. In 1555
Bornu’s Dunama (r. 1545-62) opened diplomacy with the Ottoman Turks, who had
occupied Tripoli in 1551. Dunama and his son ‘Abdullah (r. 1562-69) continued
to battle the Bulala. The mother of Bornu mai Idris Alooma (r. 1571-1603) was a Bulala princess.
Idris Alooma led a campaign against the Kano, Tuareg, and Teda, and he also
suppressed internal resistance of the Kotoko, Buduma, Ngizim, and the So. After
fighting Kanem, Idris Alooma made a peace treaty with the Bulala. Trade with
the Ottomans in Tripoli enabled him to employ Turkish musketeers. In 1582 Idris
Alooma asked for military aid to fight infidels, and al-Mansur used this
opportunity to extend his imperial influence from Morocco.
Idris
Alooma in Bornu was succeeded by his three sons, Muhammad (r. 1603-18), Ibrahim
(r. 1618-25), and ‘Umar (r. 1625-44). Muhammad was said to have ruled in peace,
but he died fighting a jihad.
Ibrahim changed from a dissolute youth to a pious warrior who fought ten
battles. A song to the queen mother Amina praises Bornu as having a thousand
thrones and 500 gunmen. ‘Umar was elderly but went on a pilgrimage, and his son
‘Ali ibn ‘Umar went on three pilgrimages, letting his brother Kashim Birri rule
as regent while he was away. When Kashim tried to take the throne, ‘Ali had him
blinded and banished. During his last four years in the early 1680s his son
Idris acted as regent.
Tuareg
warriors gave the Hausa states troubles as Ahir’s Sultan Muhammad al-Mubarak
(r. 1654-87) and his son Agg-Abba expanded their domain and challenged Bornu
sovereignty. In 1667 Tuareg disputes caused Sultan al-Mubarak to flee to In
Gall. In 1679 he launched a raid on Bornu from Dabak, but four years later he
arbitrated a peace between the Itisen and the Kel Away. In 1685 Sarkin Zamfara
led forces that wiped out a party of about 700 Tuaregs. The same year Muhammad
al-Mubarak retaliated with a Tuareg army that routed the Zamfara forces,
killing a thousand. Al-Mubarak died during a severe epidemic at Agades in 1687.
His son Agg-Abba campaigned against Gobir in 1689 and sold some Gobirawa into
slavery. Five years later he left Agades and took refuge in Dabak. In 1696 the
War of Hunger between the Kel Away and the Itisen ravaged the sultanate, followed
the next year by a devastating drought in the Sahel.
In
the Hausaland wars between the Kano and Katsina were continued by Kano’s sarki Muhammad Rumfa’s son
‘Abdullah (r. 1499-1509) and grandson Muhammad Kosoki (r. 1509-65). Katsina’s
ruler ‘Ali (r. 1498-1524) was known as a religious warrior. However, tradition
credits Katsina’s Chief Ibrahim Maje (r. 1549-66) with being a religious
reformer. Kuta Kanta led Kebbi by invading the Hausa states and defeating the
Bornu army; but after he died in 1556, Kano and Katsina regained their
independence. Rumfa’s elderly son Yakufu let the Katsinawa ravage the country
while he devoted himself to religion; he was deposed in 1573. Katsina defeated
Kano’s sarki Muhammad
Shashere (r. 1573-82); but his successor Muhammad Kisoki (r. 1582-1618) was
victorious over them. Zamfara, south of Gobir, gained strength and fought a war
for about fifteen years with Katsina that ended in 1609.
Kano’s sarki Muhammad Zaki (r. 1618-23)
tried to make peace with Katsina; but according to the Kano Chronicle when they
invaded, he won. Kano’s sarki Kutumbi
(r. 1623-48) sacked the main city in the Gombe region, and Kano and Zaria
warriors raided the Kwararafa empire to capture slaves. Kutumbi invaded Katsina
twice; the first was a nine-month siege, but in the second he was defeated and
killed. When Kwararafa began invading Zaria, Kano, and Katsina about 1650, Kano
and Katsina made a perpetual peace treaty with each other that was not broken.
About 1653 Kwararafa attacked Kano while Sarki Muhammad Kukuna was touring
eastern provinces. The same year Kwararafa besieged and set fire to Katsina,
which was reported to have been saved by the prayers of a pious poet known as
Dan Marina. Kwararafa attacked Kano and Katsina again in 1671; many were slaughtered
as both cities were plundered. After Katsina’s Muhammad Uban Yara (c. 1641-71)
killed a Zamfara prince, Zamfara’s sarkiZaudai
wanted to retaliate but was persuaded not to and died. The electors chose his
brother Aliyu, who was the first Muslim ruler of Zamfara. In 1674 Sulayman led
the Hausa states in a major attack on Kebbi’s army of 6,000 and defeated them,
enabling Ahir’s Prince Agaba to take over Adar.
Muhammad
Ture (r. 1493-1528) founded Songhay’s Askiya dynasty. He went on a pilgrimage
and got the caliph in Cairo to recognize his authority over Takrur (West
Africa). When he returned in 1497, he implemented Islamic law by
appointing qadis (Muslim
judges), such as Mahmud ibn ‘Umar in Jenne. That year Muhammad Askiya declared
a jihad to convert Nassere,
the Naba of Yatenga; so many Mossi resisted that he had to build a special
quarter for the captives in his capital at Gao. Muhammad fought wars against
Mali governors, conquering the provinces of Baghana, Ka’arta, and Galam. He
drove the Tuareg back into the Sahara, captured Air in the east, and took over
the salt mines at Taghaza. The Mali retreated south of the Niger delta to
Malinke territory. However, Songhay failed to conquer the Bariba of Borgu, who
defeated their army in 1504. Muhammad invaded the Hausaland, conquering Katsina
and Zaria and killing their rulers; but Songhay had to withdraw from the
Hausaland in 1515 because of the Kebbi revolt led by Kuta Kanta. Muhammad
Askiya revived learning at Timbuktu but did not force the common people to
become Muslims. The Songhay empire declined as Muhammad aged; in 1528 he had
become blind and was finally deposed by his son.
Dynastic
conflicts among the Askiya family caused short reigns in the next decade.
Muhammad Benkan overcame the pagan Gurma but was defeated by the Kebbi before
he was deposed in 1537. Ishaq I (r. 1539-49) was elected but was so suspicious
that he had governors killed and dismissed. After he died, Dawud (r. 1549-82)
gained the throne peacefully. Dawud also tried to subdue the Mossi and was
praised for memorizing the Qur’an and
supporting learning and religion. He even forced two scholars to become judges.
A struggle with Morocco’s Sultan Muhammad al-Shaykh caused the loss of the salt
mines at Taghaza in 1557. Dawud reorganized the Songhay army and won victories
over the Mossi, Borgu, Gurma, Hombori, Bandiagara, Mali, Fulani of the Sahel,
and Arabs in the desert, though a cavalry raid on Katsina failed. When
al-Mansur (r. 1578-1603) of Morocco imposed a tax, Dawud sent him 10,000 mithqals (1,250 ounces) of gold
but did not recognize it as a tax. Al-Mansur sent an expedition in 1583 that in
three years took over the Sahara oases at Tuat and Gurara for Morocco, which
exchanged diplomatic gifts with al-hajj Muhammad II (r. 1582-86) of Songhay.
Civil war caused by another succession struggle then weakened the Songhay
empire, and Moroccan spies captured a brother of Askiya Muhammad Bani (r.
1586-88) and Askia Ishaq II, taking him to Marrakesh in 1589.
The
next year al-Mansur demanded a tax of one mithqal of gold for every load of salt from Taghaza, but
Askia Ishaq II answered his letter with spears. Al-Mansur sent 4,000 men under
his Spanish eunuch, the pasha Judar.
This force met the Songhay army of about 40,000 or more about 35 miles north of
Gao in March 1591. The small Moroccan force had muskets and prevailed. Ishaq
submitted and offered a heavy annual tribute, as Judar’s troops occupied Gao
and Timbuktu. The latter, led by qadi ‘Umar
ibn Mahmud Aqit, refused to cooperate with the conquering army, which tore down
people’s houses. Judar was replaced by pasha Mahmud ibn Zarqun. After a disturbance when a former
Songhay governor of Timbuktu returned and was killed, ‘Umar ibn Mahmud sent
three ‘ulama’ (clerics)
to Marrakesh. People put their goods in the houses of leading jurists; but in
1593 Mahmud sent the seventy jurists, including the great scholar Ahmad Baba,
to Marrakesh in chains. The next year Mahmud ibn Zarqun was assassinated by the
Songhay resistance in Bandiagra. Pasha Sulayman (r. 1600-04) restored order in
Timbuktu by punishing criminals and by not letting Moroccan soldiers out after
sunset.
In
1598 Fulani ardo Hammadi
Amina tried to intervene for an imprisoned ‘ulama’ in Timbuktu and was driven into exile by the
Moroccans. Mali’s mansa Mahmud
IV attacked Jenne in 1599 but was defeated by Moroccan reinforcements. The
death of Mawlay Ahmad in Morocco led to civil war there in 1603, and after that
the Sudan army gave their allegiance to the prince in Marrakesh. Jenne revolted
in 1609 with Songhay’s aid; but eventually the Moroccan army subdued the
region. After 1612 the sultans of Morocco abandoned control of Timbuktu, and
without Sudanese trade it fell into anarchy. The Fulbe and Tuareg plundered the
fallen Songhay empire, which was divided among local pashas. Askiya al-Amin governed the
Songhay in Dendi 1612-18 and helped them during famine. His successor Askiya
Dawud was said to have killed many people, including his relatives and army
commanders. His brother Isma‘il escaped to Timbuktu, gained the support of the
Pasha, and returned in 1639 to depose Dawud. When he asserted his independence
by sending back the arma (Moroccan
troops also called Ruma), the Pasha attacked the Dendi capital at Lulami and
deposed Isma‘il. However, the askiya appointed
by the Pasha was later rejected by the independent Songhay.
In
1618 Marrakesh sent to Timbuktu the new amin Mahmud ibn Abi Bakr; but in 1629 he was accused of
corruption and executed by Mawlay ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Zaydan. He was replaced by
a local commander (qa’id),
and two years later the Pasha appointed the amin, who became his assistant. After the army elected the amin to be Pasha in 1638, the
former office was no longer filled. Jenne revolted against the Pasha in 1632,
but they were punished two years later by the new Pasha from Timbuktu.
Merchants left Jenne and went to Bina in 1637, and in 1643 the arma in Jenne revolted again,
getting the troops in Timbuktu to replace the Pasha. In 1644 the Pasha
defeated ardo Hammadi
Amina II; but he regained his position the same year, and the next year a qadi of Masina went to Timbuktu
and restored peaceful relations. After the ‘Alawi dynasty gained power in
Morocco, the army in Timbuktu pledged allegiance to Mawlay al-Rashid in 1671.
In
the early 17th century slave-owning Fulbe nomads settled in the Segu region and
married Berber, Bambara and Mande women. Banmana animists, called Bambara,
revolted against local chiefs and the last Mali Emperor Mansa Magan in 1645.
The Kulibali family founded the Masasi dynasty that was established by the time
of Kaladian Kulibali (r. 1652-82), but its influence declined under Danfassar
(r. 1682-97) and Souma (r. 1697-1712).
As
early as about 1500 the Portuguese were selling slaves from the fort at Accra
on the Gold Coast west of the Volta River. The Accra people destroyed that fort
in 1578. The Ga people, led by priests, moved into the Accra region and came
into conflict with the Akwamu, reaching their peak of power during the reign of
Accra’s King Okai Akwei (c. 1640-77). In 1659 Denkyira defeated Adansi and
surrounding tribes to take control of trade routes from Assini and Axim to the
coast. From 1662 to 1666 so much fighting occurred in the Accra region that
Danes at Christiansborg could not get their provisions locally. The Ga army did
not defend Okai Akwei, who was surrounded by the Akwamu army. He shot himself
and left a curse on Accra. His son Ashangmo continued the war against the
Akwamu. In 1677 the Akwamu led by Ansa Sasraku (d. 1688) using cannons took
over the capital of Great Accra and drove their kings beyond the Volta to
Little Popo on the Dahomey coast, where they became vassals of the Dahomey
kingdom. The Akwamu made Nyanoase their capital.
Early
in the 17th century the Dutch put agents in Assim in the Aja kingdom of Allada,
and the French sent Capuchin missionaries in 1640. The Allada King even sent an
envoy to Paris in 1670, but the Aja would not sign a trade agreement he
considered unfair. The French established a trading station at Whydah the next
year, giving Allada an economic rival. The English established their factory
for slave trading at Allada in 1674 and began trading at Whydah in 1681. The
Dutch arrived the next year and Brandenburgers in 1684.
About
1625 a younger brother was forced off the Allada throne and migrated north. His
followers killed the local leader Da. Dogbagrigenu still did not have land for
a kingdom; but he was succeeded by his son Dukodonu, who conquered enough
territory and was crowned Dahomey King. The next King, Wegbaja, reigned from
about 1650 for thirty years; he encouraged agriculture, trained his warriors,
and used new tactics such as surprise night raids to expand his domain. This
new kingdom in the Abomey plateau emphasized merit and service to the King over
lineage. Dahomeans turned away Allada slave raiders in 1671 and 1688 and made
them negotiate.
French
raiders captured 300 Portuguese caravels between 1500 and 1531, and the French
increased their trade on the Guinea coast. Starting in 1553, English ships
began visiting and for a while were allied with the French. Captains William
Towerson and George Fenner found trading difficult because previous English
privateers had raided the coast for slaves. In 1588 England’s Queen Elizabeth
granted merchants the right to trade on the Senegal and Gambia rivers. The
Dutch made their first voyage to the Gold Coast in 1595, and three years later
they settled at Mori, Butri, Kormantine, and Kommenda.
After
tunnels collapsed near Elmina in 1622, Africans refused to go back in the
mines. The next year the Portuguese went up the Ankobra River and built a fort
to work a gold mine in Aowin territory. However, after an earthquake in 1636
destroyed tunnels, the Aowin people killed Portuguese; the surviving garrison fled
to Axim. In 1625 natives near Elmina repulsed an attack by 1,200 Dutch troops
and 150 Africans. Organization of the Dutch West India Company in 1629 for
expeditions to the Gold Coast got competition two years later when the English
crown chartered the Company of Adventurers of London Trading in Africa. The
Dutch fortified Mori, and the English built a fort at Kormantine. The Dutch
appealed to natives upset with the Portuguese and used force to take over
Elmina from the Portuguese in 1637. While Portugal was preoccupied winning its
independence from Spain in 1640, the Dutch captured Axim and drove the
Portuguese off the Gold Coast by 1642.
In
1660 the Dutch ended their ban on exporting firearms. The English formed a new
trading company of Royal Adventurers in 1662 that included King Charles II’s
brother James. Their encroachment led to a war in 1665 with the Dutch, whose
Admiral de Ruyter took back the lost towns on the Gold Coast, causing the Royal
Company to go out of business in 1672. However, the same year the Royal African
Company was formed with Charles II as a stockholder, and between 1673 and 1704
they shipped nearly 66,000 firearms and more than 9,000 barrels of gun-powder
to West Africa. Brandenburgers, Swedes, and Danes sent traders. In 1693 the
African Asameni tricked a Danish garrison into giving his men guns, and they
took over the fort at Christiansborg. When the Dutch mediated, Asameni gave the
fort back for £1,600 after having taken £7,000 worth of trading goods. The next
year Dutch mining of a sacred hill at Fort Vredenburg provoked a war with the
Kommenda people, who gained the Fante as allies. In 1698 the British Parliament
opened West African trade to anyone paying ten percent on exports and imports
as a license fee; but the Royal African Company complained because gold and
slaves were exempted.
Operating
from the Cape Verde Islands, the Portuguese traded for gold, ivory, hides,
spices, and slaves along the Senegal and Gambia rivers, and between 1562 and
1640 they transported about 5,000 slaves per year from the southern rivers to
islands and the New World. In 1621 the Dutch moved into Gorée Island. The
English built Fort St. James at the mouth of the Gambia River in 1651, and the
French established Saint-Louis across from the Senegal River mouth in 1659. In
1660 the leather trade peaked with 150,000 hides meeting European demand. Gorée
Island was taken by the Dutch in 1629 and 1645, by the English in 1667, and by
the French in 1677. The French built the Saint Joseph fort at Galam in 1700. These
western-most ports were used for transporting slaves before the larger slave
markets were developed in the Gulf of Guinea and Angola.
Under
Oti Akenten the Asante (Ashanti) became a military people. When he died about
1660, his nephew Obiri Yeboa continued military expansion and confederated
Asante tribes. Obiri Yeboa’s sister Manu Kotosii had a son named Osei Kofi
Tutu, who was raised at the Denkyira court of Boa Amponsem. After making the
chief’s sister Ako Abena Bensua pregnant, he fled to the Akwamu court. There he
became friends with the priest Okomfo Anokye. When Obiri Yeboa was killed
fighting the Doma, Osei Tutu was chosen chief. Okomfo Anokye and thirty Akwamus
from Anum accompanied him back to Asante. The spiritual power of Okomfo Anokye
helped mold the Asante into a unified nation so that they were able to overcome
the Doma and the people of Tafo. The Doma chief was given a position in Osei
Tutu’s house, and the Tafo chief was killed. People hated and feared the
domination of both the Akwamu and the Denkyira; but Okomfo Anokye brought
conquered provinces into the Asante confederation as equals, respecting their
customs and territory while listening to their chiefs in the Asante council
called Abrempon.
The
Asante had to pass through Denkyira and Adansi territory to get to the sea.
When the Adansi rebelled against Denkyira and fled to Asante, the latter
prepared for war against Denkyira. After Denkyira’s Chief Bosianti died, he was
succeeded by Ntim Gyakari, believed to be the son of Osei Tutu and Ako Abena
Bensua.
The
Benin empire of Nigeria was east of the Oyo River. They settled succession
disputes for the Ibo rulers by keeping the rejected candidate as a sword-bearer
and sending back the new king. The Portuguese founded Christian missions in Benin
and Warri in the 16th century. In the 1640s Benin supplied the Dutch and
British with large amounts of cloth.
West
of the Niger River, the Aja felt the impact of Europeans before the inland
Yorubas at Oyo. After the Moroccans conquered the towns of Gao, Timbuktu, and
Jenne in Songhay in 1591, the Oyo began moving south toward the coast. Horses
helped them conquer the grasslands. The Nupe drove the Oyo from their homes but
were defeated by Oyo’s King Ajiboyede. Oyo expansion in the Yoruba country was
continued by kings Abipa and Obalokun. Under Ajagbo’s improvement of the
military the Oyo cavalry reached the coast, conquering Weme. A series of
unpopular rulers led to an army mutiny against Odarawu for carrying on a
vendetta.
In
1680 the Oyo went to war against the Aja of Allada and Dahomey for two years.
Then Oyo warriors withdrew; but civil wars resulted in which European
mercenaries participated as traders tried to set up favorable kings.
Nubia
was attacked by the earliest Egyptian dynasty before 3000 BC and occasionally
after that. In the eighth century BC the Kushite civilization was led by
princes who made Napata their capital. King Piankhi reversed the trend by
attacking Memphis and seizing Thebes and most of Upper Egypt. In 716 BC his
brother Shabaka even brought the Nile delta within the Kushite kingdom. His
successor Taharqa (r. 690-664 BC) ruled Egypt peacefully but was driven out of
Memphis by the imperialist Assyrians led by Esarhaddon in 671 BC; although
Kushite Tanutamen invaded Egypt in 664, ten years later the Kushites were back
in Napata.
The
Kushites were defeated by an invasion of Egyptians and Greek mercenaries in 593
BC. As the Sahara got drier, the grazing land around Napata deteriorated, and
Meroe became the new center of the Kushites led by King Aspelta from 593 to 568
BC. Meroe was further away from possible Egyptian attacks and had developed the
use of iron, which was more plentiful there. Iron weapons had given the
Assyrians a military advantage, but now this was no longer the case. The
Kushites, like the Egyptians, also built pyramids.
During
the reign of Kushite King Nastasen from 328 to 308 BC the Meroites began to use
their own hieroglyphs, which were soon followed by a Meroitic alphabet and
script. The religion, which was derived from the Egyptians, changed also in the
reign of Ergamenes in the last quarter of the third century BC from the worship
of the Egyptian ram to a lion god depicted with three faces and four arms.
Elephants were domesticated and used for royal prestige and in war. The
Kushites traded extensively with the Egyptians but also through Red Sea ports
with Arabia, East Africa, India, and perhaps even China. The multi-faces and
arms of their lion god seem to reflect the influence of India’s Shiva cults.
Although
the Greeks used their term meaning “dark-skinned” to refer to the Kushites as
Ethiopians, they were not what became Ethiopia. The civilization which did
develop in Ethiopia was at Axum, where many Semitic people from Yemen
congregated by the third century BC. They were ruled by kings claiming to be
descendants of the son of Solomon and Sheba, who was supposed to have brought
the Ark of the Law from Jerusalem to Axum. Although they sometimes called
themselves Israelites, their religion was actually more Arabian in origin.
Nubians controlled Thebes from 203 to 187 BC.
Strabo
wrote that Ethiopia was so peaceful that the Romans only needed three cohorts
there. However, when the Roman army in Egypt was busy with a war in Arabia, the
Ethiopians (Kushites) took over Syene, Elephantine, and Philae, pulling down
statues of Augustus Caesar. In retaliation for this raid near the Nile’s first
cataract, a Roman army led by Petronius plundered the Kushite city of Napata in
23 BC, sending a thousand prisoners to Caesar. In the next generation Kushite
King Netekamani and his Queen Amanitare built temples at Naga, and King
Sherkarer, probably their son, commemorated a military victory with an
inscription. Ethiopian civilization founded a new dynasty of kings at Axum soon
after 50 CE.
About
two thousand years ago the spread of iron-working gradually brought Africa
south of the Sahara desert out of the stone age. Farming could be done more
easily, although the tsetse fly in central Africa prevented the use of draft
animals for plowing. Population began to increase, especially among those
speaking Bantu languages. The coast around the horn of eastern Africa was
described by a Roman official from Alexandria in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea about
75 CE. Goods were traded for ivory and tortoise shells at Adulis, the port city
for Axum; slaves, incense, and Indian cinnamon could be obtained along the
coast to the south. Natives at Rhapta were described as pirates of great
stature ostensibly under Arab rule. Bananas and yams were brought to Africa by
Indonesian traders, who settled on the island of Madagascar about the second
century CE. With the exception of Bushmen and a few others in central and
southern Africa who continued to hunt and herd, by the 8th century CE the iron
age had spread throughout Africa.
In
the 4th century CE the Axumites conquered Kush. After Himyarite King Dimnos
massacred some Greek merchants in revenge for the Roman empire’s ill treatment
of Jews, Abyssinian King Andas invaded Yemen and killed Dimnos. Andas had vowed
if he were victorious, he would become a Christian; in response the Roman
Emperor sent a bishop from Alexandria. Christianity was made the state religion
when his successor King Ezana was converted by the captured Syrian Frumentius,
who had become his tutor and later was appointed bishop of Axum by the bishop
of Alexandria. Axum King Ezana devastated the once powerful empire of the
Meroitic Kush. Apparently the royal family and military class of Meroites,
which exploited the masses of workers, had not proved stable. Desiccation
caused by over-grazing and soil erosion was another factor in the decline of
Meroe, as the desert expanded. The army of Axum under Ezana made the caravan
trade routes safer, destroying his enemies by sacking cities, taking prisoners,
ruining crops, and confiscating livestock. Ezana was succeeded by his son
Elesboas.
Another
Jewish Himyarite named Dhu Novas overcame the Ethiopian garrison and proclaimed
himself king in 519. He persecuted Christians and tried to exterminate all
Ethiopians who would not accept Judaism. In 523 a siege of Nejran resulted in
the massacre of 280 Christians. Two years later Axum King Ela Atzbeha led a
large army of Abyssinians to defeat and kill Dhu Novas, establishing a
tributary Christian King named Esimiphaios. In 531 Roman Emperor Justinian sent
Julian to ask the two Red Sea kingdoms of Ela Atzbeha and Esimiphaios for help
against the Persians, but they did little.
As
Isis worship at the Philae temple had been ended by imperial decree,
Christianity grew rapidly in Nubia after Byzantine Empress Theodora sent the
Monophysite Julian there in 543; she and the Egyptians made sure that the rival
Melkite mission was delayed even though her husband, Emperor Justinian, opposed
the Monophysites. Thus the Nobadae (Nubians) and their King Silko became
Monophysite Christians, and with the help of a Byzantine general they made the
Blemyes adopt the same faith. Julian’s work in Nubia was continued by Philae
bishop Theodoros; Longinus went as far as ‘Alwa, where he baptized the King and
his people in 580. The Ethiopian church followed the Egyptian Copts in adhering
to the Monophysite doctrine. When their trade routes to Yemeni, Jewish, and
Greek merchants were cut off by Muslim invaders in the 7th century CE, the
Ethiopian economy stagnated.
The
Mukurra kingdom was attacked by Arabs in 641, and in the peace treaty of 651
the Nubians agreed to tolerate a Muslim mosque and provide 360 slaves annually
to the Muslim imam in
exchange for some supplies not mentioned in the treaty, which enabled Nubians
to co-exist next to Muslim Egypt peacefully for six centuries. The Nubian
church was greatly strengthened when Merkurios became King in 697. When Copts
were persecuted in Egypt about 745, Nubian King Kiriakos demanded that
imprisoned Alexandrian patriarch Khael be released and, according to a
Christian author, invaded. In 836 Nubians made a treaty with the Caliph of
Baghdad, and they occupied southern Egypt in 962.
At
the end of the 10th century the Ethiopian King, because of a conflict with the
patriarch of Alexandria, asked Nubian King George II to send a bishop, while
many Christians from Egypt fled to Nubia. Ethiopian expansion led to conflicts
in the 10th century, and forces of a queen in Damot even defeated and killed
the Christian king. Late in the 10th century the Agau revolted and slaughtered
Christian clergy. The Ethiopian monarchy subdued them eventually; but local
Agau religious customs were made part of church rituals. As an isolated
Christian community, practices such as circumcision and polygamy justified by
the Old Testament persisted,
as the Ethiopians identified with the tribes of Israel surrounded by enemies.
In
the 12th century the Agau gained control of the Ethiopian monarchy as the Zagwe
dynasty and ruled for 133 years, building impressive churches with gigantic
sculptures. King Lalibela ruled for at least twenty years in the early 13th
century and used his army of more than 60,000 to invade pagans to the west and
south. A chronicle reported that Lalibela had ten churches built and that he
donated all his worldly possessions to the poor before he died of illness at
age 70 in 1220.
In
1171 Nubians attacked Egypt and were counter-attacked two years later by
Saladin’s brother Turan-Shah. A century later in 1272 Nubian King Dawud
captured the Arab trading post at ‘Aydhab; this also resulted in attacks by
Mamluk Egypt which captured prominent Nubians and helped Shakanda defeat Dawud
II in a struggle over the Nubian throne. Shakanda agreed to pay annual tribute
to the Egyptian Sultan; Nubians not becoming Muslims had to pay a poll tax; and
it was reported that 10,000 captives were sent to Egypt as slaves. Conflicts in
Mukurra with Mamluk troops engaged 40,000 tribesmen seeking booty, and in 1290
Nubian King Shamamun captured the Mamluk garrison at Dunkula; Sultan Kala‘un,
busy with the last crusaders, agreed to a treaty.
Ethiopian
expansion led to conflicts in the 10th century, and forces of a queen in Damot
even defeated and killed the Christian king. Late in the 10th century the Agau
revolted and slaughtered Christian clergy. The Ethiopian monarchy subdued them
eventually; but local Agau religious customs were made part of church rituals.
As an isolated Christian community, practices such as circumcision and polygamy
justified by the Old Testament persisted,
as the Ethiopians identified with the tribes of Israel surrounded by enemies.
In the 12th century the Agau gained control of the monarchy as the Zagwe
dynasty and ruled for 133 years, building impressive churches with gigantic
sculptures. King Lalibela ruled for at least twenty years in the early 13th
century and used his army of more than 60,000 to invade pagans to the west and
south. A chronicle reported that Lalibela had ten churches built.
Opposition
to the Zagwe dynasty came from a monastic school on an island of Lake Hayq in
Amhara led by Yekunno-Amlak. After winning a dynastic struggle, Zagwe King
Yitbarek arrested Yekunno-Amlak; but he broke out of jail and led a revolt that
defeated and killed Yitbarek. The last Zagwe King Dilanda donated land to
another monastic stronghold in 1268, but two years later Yekunno-Amlak must
have been in control as he was giving them land then. Thus in 1270
Yekunno-Amlak claimed to be restoring the ancient Solomonid dynasty. When he
died fifteen years later, struggle for the throne caused a civil war and led to
the practice for two centuries of imprisoning his descendants on Mount Gishen
until each was chosen to rule or died. To the northwest of Ethiopia was the
Jewish community of Falasha. Muslim settlers in the sultanate of Shoa came into
conflict with Ethiopia in 1128. The Muslim merchants often fought each other
too, and in 1285 Ifat King ‘Umar Walasma defeated and annexed the sultanate of
Shoa, controlling the trade route from Zeila.
Monastic
schools like the one at Lake Hayq founded in 1248 by Iyesus-Mo’a (d. 1292) did
much to educate clerics and Christians. The monasteries spread along with the
Ethiopian empire. Tekla-Haymanot (1215-1313) was trained at Hayq by Iyasus Mo’a
and started the important monastic community of Debre Asbo in Shoa. The Asbo
abbot Filippos criticized Amda-Siyon and Sayfa-Ar’ad for their polygamy; for
this Filippos and others were flogged and exiled, stimulating many monks to
move into the highlands. Monastery leaders were elected democratically and
managed considerable property.
After
attacking and annexing Damot, Hadya, Gojjam, and Falasha, Ethiopian Emperor
Amda-Siyon (r. 1314-44) invaded Ifat, defeating and killing its King Haqedin I.
Dawaro and Sharka made treaties with this growing Christian empire; but ruling
from a mobile camp, Amda-Siyon had to quell Christian rebellions in Tigray and
along the Eritrean coast. In 1332 Ifat King Sabredin revolted by attacking
Christian garrisons, burning churches, enslaving and forcing clergy to accept
Islam, and arresting even Muslim merchants doing business for Amda Tseyon. Ifat
formed an alliance with Dawaro, Sharka, Bali, and Adal, but they were all
defeated and forced to submit to the forces of Amda-Siyon. His son and
successor as Emperor of Ethiopia, Sayfa Ar’ad (r. 1344-72), managed to divide
the Muslims of Ifat by cooperating with some of them. In retaliation for the
persecution of Copts in Egypt, in 1352 Sayfa Ar’ad imprisoned Egyptian merchants
and executed those refusing to become Christians.
The
Muslim ruler of Zeila, Sa’ad-ad-Din (r. 1373-1403), attacked the Christian army
in Dawaro and Bali, taking many slaves and cattle as booty; but he was
eventually driven back to Zeila and executed by Ethiopian Emperor Dawit (r.
1382-1411). Conflicts continued as Dawit’s sons and successors, Tewodros and
Yeshaq (r. 1414-29), were killed fighting Adal princes. Adal ruler Ahmad Badlay
(r. 1432-45) led a jihad against
the Christian highlands and recaptured Bali; but in an attack on Dawaro he was
killed. His Muslim army was badly defeated by the forces of Ethiopian Emperor
Zara Ya‘qob (r. 1434-68), who centralized power at the new capital
Debre-Birhan. In 1453 Zara Ya‘qob persecuted Stephanists who refused to worship
the Virgin. His son Ba’eda Maryam (r. 1468-78) pardoned the political prisoners
and relaxed the strict controls of his father that had led to rebellions.
Empress Eleni continued to exert considerable influence well into the next
century.
A
second monastic movement was led by Ewostatewos, who encouraged his students to
produce their own food; he prohibited accepting gifts from the wealthy or those
in authority. He denounced the slave trade some Christian chiefs practiced, and
he urged people to follow the teachings of Christ, refusing to deal with those
who would not. He insisted on observing the Sabbath and eventually went to
Palestine, Cyprus, and Armenia, where he died in 1352. Followers of Ewostatewos
were excommunicated by Egyptian bishops in Ethiopia and in fleeing persecution
spread to the frontiers; their main monastery in the Eritrean plateau was
founded in 1390. Conflicts between the two monastic groups finally led Emperor
Zara Ya‘qob in 1450 to call a council, which managed to resolve the differences
by accepting the Sabbath. Zara Ya‘qob sent a letter to Egyptian Sultan Jaqmaq
protesting the demolition of the Coptic church of Mitmak, and not liking the
reply, he detained an Egyptian diplomat for four years. He formed a
relationship with Rome, and he also instituted an inquisition against heresy
that killed innocent people falsely accused, including members of the royal
family.
The
area that became Somalia was under Ethiopia in 1499 when the Portuguese
bombarded Mogadishu. Ethiopia’s Empress Eleni requested a mission from
Portugal, and the Portuguese arrived at the Red Sea port of Massawa in 1520.
That year Adal’s Muslim General Ahmad ibn al-Ghazi or Gragn for “left-handed,”
killed Sultan Abu Bakr at Harar, and he led a jihad in 1529 that defeated Ethiopia’s Emperor Lebna Dengel
(r. 1508-40). The Ethiopian Royal
Chronicles reported that the latter had 16,000 cavalry and 200,000
infantry against Gragn’s 560 cavalry and 12,000 soldiers; but Adal had
firearms. The battle was bloody as Adal lost 5,000 men and Ethiopia even more.
The Muslims plundered southern Ethiopia for many years, burning churches and
monasteries and forcing Christians to convert. After Lebna was succeeded by his
son Galawdewos (r. 1540-59), Ethiopians appealed to the Portuguese. Estevao da
Gama led a fleet from India and came to Massawa in February 1541. In July he
sent 400 musketeers led by Christavao da Gama, and they helped defeat Adal near
Lake Tana in 1543, killing Gragn. His widow, Bati Del Wambara, married Gragn’s
nephew Nur ibn Mujahid because he agreed to seek revenge. In 1548 the Ottoman
empire annexed the port of Zeila.
In
1557 Turks led by Ozdemir Pasha took over the port of Massawa. Jesuit priest
Andre de Oviedo from Portugal tried to convert them but was resisted by people
in Tigray. In the next two years Ethiopians led by Bahr Negash Yishaq drove the
Turks back to the coast. In 1559 after the Ethiopian army attacked Harar and
killed Adal’s Sultan Barakat, Gragn’s nephew Nur defeated the Ethiopians and
killed Galawdewos in battle. Oromo tribes (called Galla by Ethiopians) moved
into the area. Minas, the brother of Galawdewos, attacked the Falasha of
Semien; but he was challenged by Tigray’s ruler Bahr Negash Yishaq, who allied
with the Ottomans. Before Minas died of a fever, he banished the Jesuits to
Maigoga, which they renamed Fremona. His son Sarsa Dengel (r. 1563-97) became
Emperor of Ethiopia as a child. He won over the Amhara aristocrats and Yishaq
by 1567, and he defeated Adal in 1576. He also fought the Turks in Tigray
successfully in 1578 and 1589. He sold about ten thousand slaves a year to the
Turks.
When
Sarsa Dengel’s infant son Ya‘qob succeeded in 1597, the military took power.
After Ya‘qob grew up, he was deposed and replaced by Za Dengel (r. 1603-04).
Jesuit Pedro Paez learned the languages Ge’ez and Amharic and was able to
convert the emperors Za Dengel and Susenyos (r. 1607-32). Za Dengel was killed
by nobles for trying to implement radical tax reforms. Ya‘qob became King
again, but he was defeated by Lebna Dengel’s grandson Susenyos. The prudent
advice of Paez kept Susenyos from submitting his country to Pope Paul V in Rome
in 1612. Susenyos invaded Sennar in 1617 and had to put down a rebellion at
home. He announced his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith in 1622.
Religious conflict and his large army burdened Ethiopia, and during a civil war
he abdicated in favor of his son Fasiladas, who immediately expelled the
Jesuits from Dankaz to Fremona. Seven Jesuits remained in Ethiopia; but two were
assassinated, and the other five were hanged.
Fasiladas
(r. 1632-67) moved the Ethiopian capital to Gondar and had a castle built there
in 1636. The Oromos continued to spread, and in 1642 they destroyed the royal
army of Tigray. An attempt by a Muslim judge to convert Fasiladas in 1650
caused a riot in Gondar. Christians divided over a theological controversy
regarding the nature of Christ. When Fasiladas sided with the Unctionists in
1654, he had to suppress a rebellion by the Unionists. During the reign (1667-82)
of Yohannes monks at a council in 1668 tried to excommunicate him for marrying
a distant relative. That council expelled Portuguese descendants from Ethiopia
and segregated Muslims from Christians.
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