Savannah Empires The way of life of the People West African Societies The wide belt of grasslands known as the Sudan/Savan, region in West Africa lay between the forests to the Sou and the desert to the North. Within this region, three i pires flourished between AD 800 and 1600. They — Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. ‘These empires were Organizeg for trade, which was directed to the North. The basis of the trade between the Western Sudan ang the Berbers of the Sahara to the North lay in the exchange of saltTrade Occupations for gold. The people of West Africa needed salt, which could be supplied by people of the Sahara and beyond. The people who lived to the North of the desert needed gold, which those of the Western Sudan could help to supply. The Saharan Berbers sold other goods, which they bought from the West- ern Sudan to the traders of North Africa. These included ivory, kola nuts, slaves and European and Asian goods, for example copper, silk, metal ware such as pots, pans and swords. Similarly, dates and cowrie shells came down into West Africa by the same method. The towns and trading settlements of the Western Sudan, therefore, became the intermediaries with residents serving as middlemen in the trade between the Berber and the Arab traders of the North, and the ivory and gold producers of the South. This middle- man position helped to produce strong and prosperous gov- ermments within the region. Trading between North Africa and West Africa led to the founding of cities, many of which began as small trading- settlements and then grew bigger as more traders came and went. These cities also became centres for craftsmen. Later, they grew into states, and states grew into empires. As they grew, there was the need for administrators, for men to be trained in charge of keeping accounts, people for maintaining law and order and for a strong warrior class, that is, an army. People were also involved in local trading, as farmers who cultivated food crops, those who reared animals, as well as the craftsmen, traded their goods with each other. There were also local merchants called “dyula” who, using their camels, traded with the North in goods made by Savan- nah craftsmen and items secured from the forest region, for example, pepper, ebony, jasper stones and leopard skins. On their return trips from the North, they brought goods to be traded with the forest people. Both import and export taxes had to be paid on these foods. The dyula adopted the technique of using credit that Islam had developed in North Africa. (This was the technique of lending and borrowinganoubuew eu0z 199104 vaNINo 4o | EE wyoo0L 4aino oeReligion Forest States Way of life of the People money for trade purposes. The borrower paid the lender a fee, called interest, in exchange for having the use of the lenders’ money for a certain length of time. ‘There were other ways in which the people of the Savan- nah region made a living. The fertile grasslands were ideal for farming. Crops such as peanuts, millet, yam and green vegetables were grown, and goats and sheep were reared North of the tsetse line. Besides farming, there was also weaving, leather working, and there were craftsmen who worked with wood, ivory and metal. Saharan traders first brought Islam into the Sudan in the ninth or tenth century. It won a foothold among Western Sudanese as a new way of worshipping God. This spread of Islam helped to join the civilization of North Africa and Egypt closely with that of the Western Sudan. Many of the people of the region, however, continued to believe in their Jocal religions, in the worship of many gods, including their ances- tor worship. Trade, Islam and scholarship grew together. In towns and cities where Islam was widely accepted, literacy appeared, and soon the art of printing developed as schools of Muslim learning grew up to teach the civil laws which were used to regulate trade and business. The tropical forest region of West Africa extended be- tween 150 to 300 kilometres deep, from the coast. Slaves were taken almost entirely from this region, that is the Windward Coast (modern Liberia), the Gold Coast (Ghana) and the Slave Coast (Togoland, Dahomey and Western Nigeria). The forest states, Benin, Oyo, Dahomey and As- ante took advantage of the European demand for slaves. ‘The dense tropical forest made communication difficult within the region, so footpaths were often the only links between settlements. Within the region many people devel- oped the skill of farming, that is, planting root crops such as yam, cassava and bananas; and they reared small animals like chickens, pigs, goats and guinea fowl. However, the presence of the tsetse fly, an insect about the size of a common houseOccupation Trade Religion The Igbo Government fly, which by its bite, caused disease in horses, dogs and cattle, prevented the rearing of these larger domestic animals, The forest provided ideal ground for game life of all kinds, there were fruits aplenty, and the rivers teemed with fish. In addition to farming, there was hunting, fishing and gathering as means of making a living. A number of skilled craftsmen also lived in the region, many of whom were supported by the food surplus of the farmers. There were the potters, carpenters, cloth weavers, sculptors, miners and metalwork- ers, including goldsmiths and blacksmiths. Initially, these forest people bartered goods among them- selves, for example, the farmers traded food with the craft workers. Later, they became suppliers of goods such as gold, ebony, leopard skin and pepper for the trade to the North. People of the region were polytheistic, and they practised ancestral worship. Some of the different ethnic groups within the forest region had similar political organizations, and they had simi- lar social practices. The Igbo (also Ibo) and Yoruba are examples of these groups. Governments Among the Igbo, the village was the most important organi- zation. Each village managed its own affairs through a Coun- cil of Elders headed by a Chief or Headman. Every adult male had a right to voice his opinion in the village assemblies. The Igbo people, in the fifteenth century, believed that they all belonged to a wider society, not just their own village, and so they established social networks in other villages. The Igbo men chose their wives from other villages. All Igbo shared a common language, and they traded with one an- other. When disputes arose over trade, the villagers would send elders to consult the priest at one of the shrines where oracles were kept. After listening to the dispute, the priestYoruba Government Similarities and differences between Igbo ‘and Yoruba Governments Similarities in Igbo and Yoruba soclal practices would make a ruling that would be respected by all the communities. The Igbo people believed that there was a bond between the living, the dead, and the unborn, ‘The living were grouped into grades according to age and gender. ‘The Head- man and Elders were at the top, and below them were the younger men who were warriors, and who organized the village farming and trade. At the bottom were the youths who were the village workers. Igbos also maintained the tradition of an initiation for boys upon entering manhood. Yoruba political life was imilar to the Igbo’s except that it was centred on forest towns rather than villages. The towns became the centre of small kingdom ruled by a king or Oba. Major similarities between the Yoruba and the Igbo gov- ernments included the following: (i) ‘There was no central- ized ruler over the entire Igboland or Yorubaland. (ii) The town kingdoms over which the Oba ruled were really a coflection of villages, so the village was an administrative unit in both Igboland and Yorubaland. Differences between the two governments were: (i) The democratic than the Igbo government because the Yoruba tended to be monarchical. (ii) Unlike the Igbo, the ordinary people in Yorubaland did not have a lot of say in government. (iii) There was no village government in Yorubaland, (iv) an Oba ruled each town kingdom and each Oba also ruled nearby forest lands. (v) The Igbo had no King or Oba, and (vi) there was no extension of power to nearby people. (vii) Igboland was a Jess monarchical society, with no centralized ruler. Yoruba government was in some ways le: Some of the social practices of these two groups of people were similar. They included the following: (i) Like the Igbo, all of the Yoruba people shared a common language, which facilitated easy communication. (ii) They traded with one another. (iii) On certain occasions they interacted with each other for purely social reasons, where they danced and sang together. (iv) They relied on the medicine-man to drive out spirits. (v) ‘They believed in a common ancestor, Oduduwa.Similarities between Forest and Savannah regions Differences between Forest and Savannah regions (vi) They had a common sense of belonging to a clan/fam- ily/town group. There were some clear similarities, as well as some marked differences, between the people of the Savannah and Forest regions of West Africa. In both regions (i) people had devel- oped skills of trade and agriculture, (ii) there were cloth makers in both regions, (iii) the people developed skills in hunting and fighting, and (iv) they had organized political systems. However, (i) the Savannah region had large, sophisticated empires while small kingdoms or villages were the most important organizations for people in the Forest region. (ii) Tradeplayed a larger part in the Savannah region, and was more highly developed than it was in the Forest region, particularly the Saharan Trade that was enhanced by an efficient transportation system. (iii) There was greater em- phasis on pastoral farming in the Savannah region where they raised cattle, horses and goats. (iv) The presence of the tsetse fly in the Forest region prevented the rearing of cattle and horses. As a result, there was more hunting in this region. (v) The Savannah region had more skills in building and con- struction, and the advanced technology of printing had been employed there. There was also the skill of literacy in the region. (vi)There was a greater use of currency in the Savan- nah region, for example gold, salt and cowrie shells, There was less use of currency and more bartering done in the Forest region.