History of ancient Africa and southern Arabia. The most important historical events in Africa African countries in the 10th and 15th centuries

Egypt is not the only state in Africa where high culture has existed and developed since ancient times. Many peoples of Africa have long been able to smelt and process iron and other metals. Maybe they learned this before the Europeans. Modern Egyptians speak Arabic, and a significant part of them are indeed descended from the Arabs, but the ancient population of Egypt came to the Nile Valley from the Sahara Desert, which in ancient times had abundant rivers and rich vegetation. In the center of the Sahara on the plateaus, drawings on rocks, carved with sharp stones or painted with paint, have been preserved. From these drawings it is clear that in those days the population of the Sahara hunted wild animals and raised livestock: cows, horses.

On the northern African coast and the adjacent islands lived tribes who knew how to make large boats and were successfully engaged in fishing and other marine crafts.

In the 1st millennium BC. e. The Phoenicians, and later the Greeks, appeared in ancient settlements on the shores of North Africa. The Phoenician city-colonies - Utica, Carthage, etc. - grew stronger over time and, under the rule of Carthage, united into a powerful state.

Carthage's neighbors, the Libyans, created their own states - Numidia and Mauritania. From 264 to 146 BC. e. Rome fought with the Carthaginian state. After the destruction of the city of Carthage, the Roman province of Africa was created on the territory that belonged to it. Here, through the labor of Libyan slaves, a strip of coastal desert was turned into a flourishing land. Slaves dug wells, built stone cisterns for water, built large cities with stone houses, water pipes, etc. Subsequently, the cities of Roman Africa suffered from the invasions of German Vandals, and later these areas became a colony of the Byzantine Empire, and finally, in the 8th-10th centuries. this part of North Africa was conquered by Muslim Arabs and became known as the Maghreb.

In the Nile Valley, south of the territory of ancient Egypt, the Nubian kingdoms of Napata and Meroe existed even before our era. To this day, the ruins of ancient cities, small pyramids similar to ancient Egyptian ones, as well as monuments of ancient Meroitic writing have been preserved there. Subsequently, the Nubian kingdoms were conquered by the kings of the powerful state of Aksum, which emerged in the first centuries of our era on the territory of what is now South Arabia and Northern Ethiopia.

Sudan stretches from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the Nile itself.

It was possible to penetrate from North Africa to the country of Sudan only along ancient caravan roads that passed along the dried up beds of ancient rivers of the Sahara Desert. During scanty rains, some water sometimes collected in the old riverbeds, and in some places wells were dug by the ancient Saharawis.

The people of Sudan grew millet, cotton and other plants; raised livestock - cows and sheep. They sometimes rode bulls, but they did not know how to plow the land with their help. The soil for crops was cultivated with wooden hoes with iron tips. Iron in Sudan was smelted in small clay blast furnaces. Weapons, knives, hoe tips, axes and other tools were forged from iron. Initially, blacksmiths, weavers, dyers and other artisans were simultaneously engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. They often exchanged surplus products of their craft for other goods. Bazaars in Sudan were located in villages on the borders of the territories of various tribes. The population of such villages grew rapidly. Part of it grew rich, seized power and gradually subjugated the poor. Military campaigns against neighbors, if successful, were accompanied by the capture of prisoners and other military booty. The prisoners of war were not killed, but forced to work. Thus, slaves appeared in some settlements that grew into small towns. They began to be sold in bazaars, like other goods.

Ancient Sudanese cities often fought among themselves. The rulers and nobles of one city often brought several surrounding cities under their rule.

For example, around the 9th century. n. e. in the very west of Sudan, in the area of ​​Auker (the territory of the northern part of the modern state of Mali), the state of Ghana, strong at that time, was formed.

Ancient Ghana was the center of trade between Western Sudan and North Africa, which was very important for the prosperity and power of this state.

In the 12th century. Muslim Berbers from the Maghreb state of the al-Moravids, in northern Africa, attracted by the wealth of Ghana, attacked it and destroyed the state. The remote southern region of Mali suffered the least from the defeat. One of the rulers of Mali, named Sundiata, who lived in the middle of the 13th century, gradually captured the entire former territory of Ghana and even annexed other lands to it. After this, the state of Mali began to occupy a significantly larger territory than Ghana. However, the continuous struggle with neighbors gradually led to the weakening of the state and its collapse.

In the XIV century. The scattered and weak cities of the state of Mali were captured by the rulers of the city of Gao - the center of the small state of the Songhai people. The Songhai kings gradually united under their rule a vast territory on which there were many large cities. One of these cities, which existed during the times of the state of Mali, Timbuktu became the cultural center of the entire Western Sudan. The inhabitants of the Songhai state were Muslims.

Medieval Muslim scholars from Timbuktu became known far beyond Western Sudan. They were the first to create writing in the languages ​​of Sudan, using characters from the Arabic alphabet. These scientists wrote many books, including chronicles - books on the history of the states of Sudan. Sudanese architects built large and beautiful houses, palaces, and mosques with six-story minarets in Timbuktu and other cities. The cities were surrounded by high walls.

In the 16th century The sultans of Morocco repeatedly tried to conquer the state of Songhai. They eventually conquered it, destroying Timbuktu and other cities in the process. Wonderful libraries with valuable ancient manuscripts perished in the burning of Timbuktu. Many architectural monuments were destroyed. Sudanese scientists-architects, doctors, astronomers, taken into slavery by the Moroccans, almost all died on the way through the desert. The remnants of the cities' wealth were plundered by their nomadic neighbors - the Tuaregs and Fulani. The huge state of Songhai fell apart into many small and weak states.

From this time on, the trade caravan routes running from Lake Chad through the interior of the Sahara - Fezzan - to Tunisia were of primary importance. In the northern part of the territory of modern Nigeria until the 19th century. There were independent small states (sultanates) of the Hausa people. The Sultanate included a city with surrounding countryside. The richest and most famous city was Kano.

The western part of tropical Africa, located off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, was discovered by Portuguese, Dutch and English sailors of the 15th-18th centuries. was named Guinea. For a long time, sailors did not suspect that densely populated areas with large, crowded cities were hidden behind the wall of tropical vegetation of the Guinea coast. European ships landed on the shore and traded with the coastal population. Ivory, valuable wood, and sometimes gold were brought here from the interior regions. European merchants also bought prisoners of war, who were taken from Africa, first to Portugal, and later to the Spanish colonies in Central and South America. Hundreds of slaves were loaded onto sailing ships and transported across the Atlantic Ocean with almost no food or water. Many of them died along the way. Europeans in every possible way incited wars between the tribes and peoples of Guinea in order to get more slaves. European merchants of the XV-XVI centuries. I really wanted to penetrate into the rich interior regions of Guinea ourselves. However, tropical forests and swamps, as well as the resistance of strong, well-organized states, prevented this for several centuries. Only a few people managed to get there. When they returned, they talked about large, well-planned cities with wide streets, about the rich palaces of the kings, well-armed troops maintaining order, wonderful bronze and stone works of art by local craftsmen, and about many other amazing things.

The cultural values ​​and historical monuments of these ancient states were destroyed by Europeans in the 19th century. during the colonial partition of West Africa. In our century, in the forests of Guinea, researchers discovered the remains of an ancient African culture: broken stone statues, heads made of stone and bronze, ruins of palaces. Some of these archaeological sites date back to the 1st millennium BC. e., when most of Europe was still inhabited by wild tribes.

In 1485, the Portuguese navigator Diego Cano discovered the mouth of the high-water African Congo River. During the following voyages, the Portuguese ships ascended the river and reached the state of Congo. They brought with them ambassadors from the Portuguese king, as well as monastic preachers who were tasked with converting the population of the Congo to Christianity. Portuguese monks left records that tell about the medieval state of Congo and neighboring states - Lunda, Luba, Kasongo, Bushongo, Loango, etc. The population of these countries, like Guinea, was engaged in agriculture: they grew yams, taro, sweet potatoes and other plants .

Local craftsmen were famous for the art of making various wood products. Blacksmithing was of great importance.

All these states fell into decay and collapsed as a result of long wars with the Portuguese, who tried to conquer them.

The eastern coast of Africa is washed by the Indian Ocean. In winter, the wind (monsoon) blows here from the coast of Asia to the coast of Africa, and in the summer in the opposite direction. Since ancient times, the peoples of Asia and Africa have used monsoon winds for merchant shipping. Already in the 1st century. on the eastern coast of Africa there were permanent trading posts where the local population exchanged ivory, tortoiseshell shields and other goods for metal tools, weapons and fabrics from Asian merchants. Sometimes merchants from Greece and Egypt sailed here across the Red Sea.

Later, when some trading settlements grew into large cities, their inhabitants - Africans (the Arabs called them “Swahili”, i.e. “coastal”) - began to sail to Asian countries themselves. They traded in ivory, copper and gold, the skins of rare animals and valuable wood. The Swahili bought these goods from peoples who lived far from the ocean shores, in the depths of Africa. Swahili merchants bought elephant tusks and rhino horns from the leaders of various tribes, and exchanged gold in the country of Makaranga for glass, porcelain and other goods brought from overseas.

When merchants in Africa collected so much cargo that their porters could not carry it, then they bought slaves or took with them by force people from some weak tribe. As soon as the caravan reached the shore, the merchants sold the porters into slavery or took them to sell overseas.

Over time, the most powerful cities on the East African coast subjugated the weaker ones and formed several states: Pate, Mombasa, Kilwa, etc. Many Arabs, Persians and Indians moved to them. Scientists in East African cities created writing in the Swahili language, using, as in Sudan, signs of Arabic writing. There were literary works in the Swahili language, as well as chronicles of the history of cities.

During Vasco da Gama's voyages to India, Europeans first visited the ancient Swahili cities. The Portuguese repeatedly conquered and again lost East African cities, while many of them were destroyed by the invaders, and the ruins were overgrown with thorny tropical bushes over time. And now only in folk legends are the names of ancient African cities preserved.

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The world's largest desert, the Sahara, divides Africa into two unequal parts. In the smaller of them - North Africa - there were Egypt, Carthage and other ancient states. Tropical Africa extends south of the Sahara. It is inhabited by peoples with black or dark skin. The life of their ancestors in ancient times and the Middle Ages is told by the rock paintings that have reached us, inscriptions on stones, and oral traditions, which are carefully preserved by almost all African peoples. Information about the peoples of Tropical Africa was preserved by Egyptian inscriptions on stone and papyrus, as well as some books by Greek and Roman writers and scientists.

Sources say that African peoples have been engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding, fishing and hunting since ancient times. Millet and sorghum, cotton and various root crops were grown here. In many areas, canals and dams were built to irrigate fields. Among domestic animals, the most important economically were sheep, cows and goats. And at the beginning of our era, camels were imported from the Middle East into North Africa, and they became indispensable for the peoples of the Sahara and the adjacent regions.

In Tropical Africa, gold, silver, copper, and iron have been mined and processed since ancient times. African craftsmen widely used copper; their gold products that have come down to us amaze with their high art. In the southwest of what is now Nigeria, a school of bronze artistic casting has developed, surprising with the beauty and completeness of its works. Most of the peoples of Tropical Africa switched from stone tools directly to iron ones. Pottery was a very common craft - making jugs, pots and other utensils; Unlike their counterparts in other parts of the world, African craftsmen did not know the potter's wheel. Brilliant craftsmanship distinguishes the products of African wood and bone carvers, as well as baskets, mats, and clothing woven from plant fibers.

Tropical Africa was famous for its riches. For a long time it has been trading with the peoples of North Africa, the Middle East, and then with others. Ships from the Roman Empire, Arabia, India and other countries took slaves, ivory, gold, emeralds, animal skins, hippopotamus teeth, and various animals for menageries from here. In exchange, Africans received handicrafts and salt.

One of the most ancient states of Tropical Africa - Napata - emerged in the 8th century. BC e. in the northern regions of what is now Sudan. In 736 BC. e. The rulers of Napata managed to subjugate Egypt, weakened by internal struggle, and ruled it for six and a half decades. Only powerful Assyria was able to expel them from Egypt.

At the end of the 6th century. BC e. Napata was replaced by a new strong state - Meroe, which existed until the beginning of the 4th century. n. e. Neither the Persians nor the Romans could conquer it. The kingdom of Meroe had two capitals: Napata and Meroe. On the site of these cities, stone pyramids, temples and palaces decorated with sculpture have been preserved.

In the 50s and 60s of our century, two inscriptions were found in northern Ethiopia. From them it became known that in the 5th century. BC e. there was a state here. Excavations helped discover the remains of temples, stone sculptures, obelisks, which testified to the high culture of the ancient Ethiopians. The inhabitants of northern Ethiopia, just like in Napata and Meroe, knew writing. At first, Egyptian writing was used here, as well as the writing of one of the peoples of South Arabia - Sabaean. In the II century. n. e. in Meroe, and then in Ethiopia, their own alphabet was invented.

Among the ancient states of Tropical Africa, the Kingdom of Aksum, which arose in the 2nd century, was especially famous. n. e. in the north of modern Ethiopia. The strong and warlike rulers of Aksum subjugated not only the peoples of Ethiopia, but also parts of Sudan and South Arabia. They maintained diplomatic relations with neighboring countries: Aksumite ambassadors visited Egypt, Arabia, and India. Ambassadors and travelers from different countries arrived in Axum.

Foreign ships came to the main port of the state - the city of Adulis, located on the shores of the Red Sea. They brought handicrafts to Aksum - fabrics, dishes, jewelry, metal tools - and generous gifts to the king. And they took away ivory, gold, emeralds, and animal skins. Trade brought large revenues to the state. Aksumite caravans penetrated far into the depths of Africa; they exported gold from the Blue Nile Valley to their homeland.

The Aksumites achieved great skill in making statues and huge stone obelisks, which were carved entirely from basalt blocks. Some of them reach 20 - 30 m in height and weigh tens of tons. In Axum, coins began to be minted for the first time in the countries of Tropical Africa.

The ruler of Aksum bore the title “king of kings.” He was considered a descendant of the war god Mahrem and was worshiped as a deity. The power of the “king of kings” was passed on from father to son. According to legend, before taking the throne, the heir had to fight a bull and a lion to prove that he was a brave and dexterous warrior. The people saw the ruler only on holidays. Custom forbade him to address his subjects directly - to convey the royal will there was a special dignitary, called the “mouth of the king.” The king also could not touch food with his hands: he was watered and fed by another dignitary - the “feeder”. The ruler's mother and his brother enjoyed great influence. A special council of nobles controlled his most important actions. The king and the nobility were served by many slaves.

A giant obelisk created in ancient Axum. Its height is 24 m.

The splendor and power of the Aksumite state was based on the labor of peasant farmers who were subject to royal taxes. It is no coincidence that it was the gods of agriculture Becher and Medr who were considered until the 4th century. n. e. the main gods of the Aksumites.

Sculptural portrait made of terracotta, created by an African sculptor in the 5th century. BC e. Found in tin mines in northern Nigeria.

In the 4th century. Aksum was ruled by King Ezana. He sought to unite the peoples subject to Aksum under a single religion (before this, the tribes conquered by the Aksumites retained their own gods). Ezana proclaimed the veneration of a single god - “the lord of heaven and earth” - as the state religion; he declared himself the son of this god. At the same time, he patronized Christianity, which began to spread in Aksum at that time. In the V - VI centuries. Christianity became the dominant religion in Axum.

The Aksumite state ceased to exist in the 9th - 10th centuries. The traditions of its once brilliant culture were preserved by medieval Ethiopia.

Bronze head. Benin.

In the western part of Africa, the first states emerged later than in the northeast. One of the earliest was Ghana, created by the Soninke people on the territory of modern Mauritania and Mali. According to legend, Ghana arose at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th century. Busy trade routes passed through the capital of the country, the “city of Ghana,”: slaves and gold were transported from the south to the north (before the discovery of America, West Africa was the main source of gold that circulated in world trade), and from the north - salt and handicrafts. According to the descriptions of Arab historians and geographers of the 8th century, medieval Ghana was primarily a “country of gold”; it was mined both in the country itself and to the south of Ghana - in the tropical forest zone, where the Soninka sent caravans to buy the precious metal.

In 1076, Ghana was defeated by the Almoravid Berber tribes that inhabited the Sahara. They also captured Morocco, Algeria, and Spain. The name of ancient Ghana has been preserved in the name of the modern African state.

In the 13th century The state of Mali, which had previously been a vassal of Ghana, rose to prominence. It extended its power from Gao to the Atlantic Ocean. In the Malian city of Timbuktu on the Niger River in the 16th century. the university arose. In addition to theology, they studied history, literary criticism, law, grammar, rhetoric, and Arabic. The city of Timbuktu was widely known as a scientific center later, when it was part of the Songhai state.

East of Ghana, on another caravan route to North Africa, connecting the Niger River valley with Egypt, at the end of the 7th century. The city of Gao was founded, which became from the end of the 9th century. capital of the Songhai state.

Even further east, northeast of Lake Chad, the state of Kanem arose, created by the Kanuri people. It was first mentioned in the works of Arab writers at the same time as Ghana, in the 8th - 9th centuries. In the 13th century the center of this state moved to the southwestern shore of Lake Chad, and since then it began to be called Bornu. Bornu reached its peak in the second half of the 16th century.

The peoples of West African states deified kings, worshiped the spirits of ancestors and the forces of nature. From the 8th century Islam began to penetrate into West Africa from the north (see article “How Islam Arose”), which was brought by Arab and Berber merchants. Gradually Islam became the religion of the majority of the inhabitants. The spread of Arabic writing was of great importance for the culture of the peoples of this part of Africa: in the 16th - 18th centuries. Several historical works were written in Arabic, which tell us many interesting information about the life of West Africa in the Middle Ages.

In the 7th - 8th centuries. Rich trading city-states arose on the east coast of Africa and remained independent for centuries. Their inhabitants were engaged in agriculture and ocean fishing. African sailors successfully sailed to Arabia and India. The city-states of East Africa developed a unique culture in which local traditions mixed with the culture of the Muslim peoples of the Middle East.

In the southeastern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, in the 14th century. a powerful state of Monomotapa emerged, inhabited by the Karanga people. The ruins of huge fortress and palace buildings erected by order of the rulers of Monomotapa have survived to this day. There were legends about their wealth and power. In the 16th century dozens of Portuguese adventurers tried to make their way deep into the mainland, to the fabulous gold deposits that beckoned them. The intervention of the Portuguese in the feuds of various groups of Karanga nobility ultimately proved fatal for Monomotapa: in the 17th century. the unified state broke up into many small possessions.

In the southwestern part of Nigeria there is a city called Ife. It was once the capital of a medieval kingdom created by the ancestors of a people called the Yoruba. Archaeological materials show that Ife flourished in the 14th century. Archaeologists have found in the city the remains of fortress walls and amazing pavements made of tens of millions of round clay shards. Many museums around the world contain sculptures of Ife foundry masters: human heads cast in bronze or sculpted in clay. They depicted ancestors and were considered sacred.

The city was inhabited by farmers and artisans: weavers, foundries, blacksmiths, potters, carvers. The townspeople, as a rule, had plots of land in the city itself or not far from it, on which grain crops, cotton, and various fruits were cultivated. The state of Ife consisted primarily of the city and its surroundings.

The powerful state of Ono was also inhabited by the Yoruba people, ruled by the Alafin (in the Yoruba language - “master of the palace”). Ordinary people could not see or hear him. The power of the king of Oyo was limited by a council of the largest dignitaries of seven people - “Oyo mesi”. If the alafin made decisions they disliked, oyo mesi sent him a parrot egg or an empty calabash - a vessel hollowed out from a pumpkin. According to the custom of the country, this “gift” meant that people were tired of the king’s rule and it was time for him to “fall asleep,” that is, to commit suicide. Only once in the entire history of Oyo did the Alafin dare to refuse the parrot's eggs and, instead of dying himself, killed his dignitaries.

The majority of Oyo's population were peasant farmers. They worked in the fields of the ruler of their district, built and repaired the master's estate for free, and sent him gifts every year.

Many artisans lived in the cities. Their products, especially fabrics, were highly valued in other countries. Important trade routes passed through Oyo territory. They connected the coast of the Gulf of Guinea with the interior of West Africa. Along these routes, large caravans of slave porters brought horses from the west of Sudan and carried salt, copper and other goods that were not available in Oyo. And kola nuts, ivory, and fabrics were sent north. Bundles of cowrie shells, which foreign merchants brought from the Maldives of the Indian Ocean, served as money. The priests enjoyed great influence in Oyo. They propagated the cult of the god Shango: he was considered the ancestor of Alafin.

During campaigns and punitive expeditions against conquered peoples, the Oyo army captured thousands of prisoners. When in the 16th century Europeans began to buy African slaves in large quantities to send to America (see article “International Slave Trade”), the Alafin and the Yoruba nobility around him became the largest slave traders. Captives were sold to European merchants for firearms, copper wire for making jewelry, and alcoholic beverages. But the demand for slaves increased, and the rulers of Oyo began to sell their own subjects. Soon, sale into slavery became the most common punishment in the lands subject to Oyo (as well as in most countries on the coast of West Africa). Rich people hired gangs that waylaid travelers on the roads, kidnapped people from their homes and sold them to slave traders. The slave hunt had a devastating impact on the entire life of society: no one could be sure of their safety. Entire regions were depopulated, and the economy fell into disrepair. Ultimately, it was the slave trade that became one of the main reasons for the fall of the power of Oyo and the actual collapse of this state in the second half of the 18th century.

To the east of Oyo was another strong state - Benin. It was inhabited by the Bini people, related to the Yoruba. In terms of its culture and customs, Benin had much in common with Oyo.

In the 17th century, judging by the story of the Dutch physician and geographer Dapper, the capital of Benin was no less than the largest Dutch cities. The towers of the magnificent royal palace were decorated with bronze sculptures of birds and snakes. The walls of the palace were covered with bronze plaques depicting various events from the history of Benin.

The king of Benin had strong power. Without his permission, no European merchant could trade with the Benin people. He also set prices for foreign goods and for captives, whom he sold to Europeans as slaves.

As in Oyo, the slave trade and captive wars sapped Benin's strength. In 1397, Benin was destroyed by the British. They subjected it to severe bombardment from their ships; The royal palace was destroyed and burned, and art objects were taken to Europe.

The original culture of the peoples of Tropical Africa was subjected to brutal defeat and destruction by European colonialists.

In the East, in ancient times, under the influence of Egypt and trade relations between the Mediterranean, Arabia and India, the states of Nubia and Aksum (present-day Ethiopia) arose. Starting from the 7th century, Arab and Berber merchants brought salt, highly valued in Africa, and some other goods from the Mediterranean to the Western Sudanese lands. At the intersection of trade routes, trading centers began to grow: Aukar, Ghana, Timbuktu, Gao, Mali, etc. They were inhabited mainly by Muslim traders and local trading nobility. They gradually seized power in the resulting medieval states. In the Middle Ages, the first states were formed in the basins of the Niger and Senegal rivers: Ghana, Mali, Songhai. The earliest of these in Western Sudan was Ghana. It arose in the 8th century, and in the 10th century. reached the pinnacle of her power.

Remember!
Ghana, Mali, Songhai and Aksum are the first medieval states of Africa.

One of the main sources of income for Ganga was the trade duty paid by visiting merchants, Arabs, Berbers, and Jews. However, her main wealth was gold.

Trade in gold and salt brought great income to the ruler of Ghana and its nobility.

The ruler had a large army consisting of 200 thousand warriors, 40 thousand of them were archers and a large cavalry army. There were legends about the wealth of Arab merchants and the countless treasures of the ruler of Ghana. This attracted the attention of warlike neighboring tribes to her. In 1076

Sultan of Morocco Abu Bekr, at the head of a Muslim army, conquered Ghana and plundered it. The ruler of Ghana undertook to pay tribute and, together with his nobility, converted to Islam. Although popular uprisings in 1087 ended Moroccan rule, Ghana fell apart. Its successor was the new state of Mali.

State of Mali.

Although Mali was formed as a state in the 8th-9th centuries, its further development was hampered by the power of Ghana.

In the 11th century The population of Mali converted to Islam, which contributed to the influx of Muslim merchants into the country.

As a result of the development of crafts and trade by the 13th century. Mali is reaching the peak of its power.

The ruler of Mali, Sundiata Keith (1230-1255), created a large army. He conquered neighboring territories where caravan routes passed and gold was mined, incl. and the ancient lands of Ghana. The Malian rulers appointed their relatives and associates as governors of the conquered territories. The governors allocated land to distinguished military leaders. Their duties also included collecting taxes from the population. Soon Mali became famous throughout the Arab world. Its ruler, Musa I, performed the hajj to Mecca in 1324. According to legend, he carried a lot of gold with him and generously distributed it during his journey. He was accompanied by 8 thousand warriors and 500 slaves, who carried 10-12 tons of gold. For many years after this, the price of gold remained low in the Arab world.

The capital Niara and other cities of Mali were built up with rich buildings and mosques. Crafts and trade flourished. The clan nobility played a major role. To protect themselves from claims to power by close relatives, rulers elevated warriors and officials from among foreigners, primarily foreigners - slaves. The ruler's guard also consisted of slaves.

The bulk of the population lived in large communities consisting of patriarchal families. Foreign slaves lived on the farm as family members. Already in the second generation they became free.

From the end of the 14th century. Due to infighting between dynasties, political fragmentation increased, and the state fell into decay.

Songhai State.

The Songhai tribe lived northeast of Ganges and Mali, near the trading center of Gao.

In the XI-XII centuries. The Songhai state union was under the rule of Mali. With its weakening at the end of the 14th century. The Songhairs, who by that time had converted to Islam, led by their ruler Ali, defeated the Malians and created a large state with its capital in Gao. At its peak, Songhai occupied the entire territory of the Niger River basin.

The country was divided into provinces, which were ruled by the ruler's associates. The main income to the treasury came from transit trade and gold mining. Higher officials were generously distributed lands on which the labor of slaves - foreigners - was used. After a certain time, they turned into dependent peasants, and their descendants became owners of small plots of land, which they paid taxes to the state. A special mercenary army was created in Songhai.

Remember!
Since the end of the 16th century, the Songhai state pursued an independent policy; its capital was the city of Gao. At the end of the 16th century. Songhai is conquered by the Sultan of Morocco.

State of Aksum.

In ancient times, in the north of what is now Ethiopia, there was the state of Aksum, which flourished in the 4th-5th centuries.

The coast of South Arabia, along with the caravan routes, and part of Eastern Sudan came under the authority of its rulers. Aksum maintained close ties with the Roman Empire and later with Byzantium. The ruler and his entourage accepted the Christian faith.

In the 7th century The Arabs conquered the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, which was controlled by Aksum, and began to advance to the continental part of the country. Aksum suffered defeat after defeat in the 10th century. it was destroyed, and power passed to a dynasty that did not profess Christianity. According to legend, the first ruler of Aksum is the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba - the ruler of Arabian Saba, with whom the Aksumites were closely connected in ancient times - Manelik. This indicates that Aksum's relations with Arabia have been good since ancient times, and the name of the dynasty has a historical basis.

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A report about Africa will help you prepare for the lesson. Descriptions of the continent of Africa are presented in this article. You can supplement your brief message about Africa with interesting facts.

Brief information about continent Africa

Africa is the hottest continent on Earth. It is the second largest continent after Eurasia.

Area of ​​Africa- 29.2 million km 2, and together with the islands it is 30.3 million km 2.

The highest peak is Mount Kilimanjaro, and the deepest depression is Lake Assal. Most of the territory is occupied by plateaus and hills. By the way, in Africa there are much fewer mountainous areas, unlike other continents.

Geographical location of continent Africa

The continent belongs to the group of southern continents. It was formed after the split of an ancient continent called Gondwanaland. Africa has the smoothest coastline. The largest bay on the mainland is the Gulf of Guinea. There are also a large number of small bays in the Mediterranean Sea. But the only large peninsula is Somalia. It is worth noting that there are quite a few islands off the mainland - their area is 1.1 million km 2, the largest coastline belongs to the island of Madagascar.

Relief of Africa

The terrain of Africa is predominantly flat, this is because the base of the continent is represented by an ancient platform. Over time, it slowly rose, which is why high plains were formed: plateaus, plateaus, mountain basins and ridges. In the north and west of Africa, plates predominate, and in the eastern and southern parts, on the contrary, shields. Here the altitudes are above 1000 m. The continental East African faults stretch through the eastern part of the continent. Faults led to the formation of grabens, horsts, and highlands. It is here that volcanic eruptions and strong earthquakes constantly occur.

African climate

The climate of the continent is determined by its position in tropical and equatorial latitudes, as well as the flatness of the topography. From the equator to the south and north, climate zones successively change from equatorial to subtropical. Tropical areas have the highest temperatures on the planet. In the mountains, temperatures drop below 0°C. It is paradoxical that on the hottest continent snow falls annually in the Atlas. And there are even glaciers on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. The atmospheric circulation is also special in Africa - the amount of precipitation decreases from the equator, and in the tropics its amount is the smallest. And in the subtropics there are more of them. You can notice a decreasing trend in precipitation from east to west.

African water resources

The deepest river is the Congo River. The major rivers include the Zambezi, Niger, Limpopo and Orange. Large lakes are Rudolf, Tanganyika and Nyasa.

Natural areas and riches of Africa

Africa is characterized by such natural zones - the zone of equatorial forests, the zone of variable-humid forests, the zone of savannas and woodlands, the zone of deserts and semi-deserts, evergreen forests and shrubs. Africa is considered the storehouse of the world. Here are the richest deposits of gold, diamonds, uranium, copper, and rare metals. Deposits of gas, oil, aluminum ores and phosphorites are common in western and northern Africa.

Brief message about the peoples of Africa

The northern part is inhabited by Arabs, Berbers, who belong to the Indo-Mediterranean race. To the south of the Sahara live the peoples of the Negrillian, Negro and Bushman races. Peoples of the Ethiopian race live in Northeast Africa. South Asian and Negroid races live in the southern territories of Africa.

• By the way, the largest mammals on land also live here.
• The name Africa comes from the name of the tribe that once lived in the north and was called the Afrigs.
• The continent accounts for half of the world's diamonds and gold.
• Lake Malawi contains the most species of fish on the planet.
• The longest river in the world, the Nile, flows here.
• Interestingly, the island of Chad has shrunk by 95% over the past 38 years.

We hope that this brief information about Africa has helped you. You can leave your story about Africa using the comment form.

According to the latest research, humanity has been around for three to four million years, and for most of that time it has evolved very slowly. But in the ten-thousand-year period of the 12th-3rd millennia, this development accelerated. Starting from the 13th-12th millennia, in the advanced countries of that time - in the Nile Valley, in the highlands of Kurdistan and, perhaps, the Sahara - people regularly reaped “harvest fields” of wild cereals, the grains of which were ground into flour on stone grain grinders. In the 9th-5th millennia, bows and arrows, as well as snares and traps, became widespread in Africa and Europe. In the 6th millennium, the role of fishing in the life of the tribes of the Nile Valley, Sahara, Ethiopia, and Kenya increased.

Around the 8th-6th millennium in the Middle East, where the “Neolithic revolution” took place from the 10th millennium, a developed organization of tribes already dominated, which then grew into tribal unions - the prototype of primitive states. Gradually, with the spread of the “Neolithic revolution” to new territories, as a result of the settlement of Neolithic tribes or the transition of Mesolithic tribes to productive forms of economy, the organization of tribes and tribal unions (tribal system) spread to most of the ecumene.

In Africa, the areas of the northern part of the continent, including Egypt and Nubia, apparently became the earliest areas of tribalism. According to the discoveries of recent decades, already in the 13th-7th millennia, tribes lived in Egypt and Nubia who, along with hunting and fishing, engaged in intensive seasonal gathering, reminiscent of the harvest of farmers (see and). In the 10th-7th millennia, this method of farming was more progressive than the primitive economy of wandering hunter-gatherers in the interior of Africa, but still backward compared to the productive economy of some tribes of Western Asia, where at that time there was a rapid flowering of agriculture, crafts and monumental construction in the form of large fortified settlements, much like early cities. with coastal cultures. The oldest monument of monumental construction was the temple of Jericho (Palestine), built at the end of the 10th millennium - a small structure made of wood and clay on a stone foundation. In the 8th millennium, Jericho became a fortified city with 3 thousand inhabitants, surrounded by a stone wall with powerful towers and a deep moat. Another fortified city existed from the end of the 8th millennium on the site of the later Ugarit, a seaport in northwestern Syria. Both of these cities traded with agricultural settlements in southern Anatolia, such as Aziklı Guyuk and early Hasilar. where houses were built from unbaked bricks on a stone foundation. At the beginning of the 7th millennium, the original and relatively high civilization of Çatalhöyük arose in southern Anatolia, which flourished until the first centuries of the 6th millennium. The bearers of this civilization discovered copper and lead smelting and knew how to make copper tools and jewelry. At that time, settlements of sedentary farmers spread to Jordan, Northern Greece and Kurdistan. At the end of the 7th - beginning of the 6th millennium, the inhabitants of Northern Greece (the settlement of Nea Nicomedia) were already growing barley, wheat and peas, making houses, dishes and figurines from clay and stone. In the 6th millennium, agriculture spread northwest to Herzegovina and the Danube Valley and southeast to Southern Iran.

The main cultural center of this ancient world moved from Southern Anatolia to Northern Mesopotamia, where the Hassun culture flourished. At the same time, several more original cultures formed in the vast areas from the Persian Gulf to the Danube, the most developed of which (slightly inferior to the Hassun one) were located in Asia Minor and Syria. B. Brentjes, a famous scientist from the GDR, gives the following characterization of this era: “The 6th millennium was a period of constant struggle and civil strife in Western Asia. In areas that had gone forward in their development, the initially unified society disintegrated, and the territory of the first agricultural communities constantly expanded... Forward Asia of the 6th millennium was characterized by the presence of many cultures that coexisted, displaced one another, or merged, spread, or died." At the end of the 6th and beginning of the 5th millennium, the original cultures of Iran flourished, but Mesopotamia increasingly became the leading cultural center, where the Ubaid civilization, the predecessor of the Sumerian-Akkadian, developed. The beginning of the Ubaid period is considered to be the century between 4400 and 4300 BC.

The influence of the Hassuna and Ubaid cultures, as well as the Hadji Muhammad (existed in southern Mesopotamia around 5000), extended far to the north, northeast and south. Hassoun products were found during excavations near Adler on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, and the influence of the Ubeid and Hadji Muhammad cultures reached southern Turkmenistan.

Approximately simultaneously with the Western Asian (or Western Asian-Balkan) in the 9th-7th millennia, another center of agriculture, and later of metallurgy and civilization, was formed - Indo-Chinese, in southeast Asia. In the 6th -5th millennia, rice cultivation developed on the plains of Indochina.

Egypt of the 6th-5th millennium also appears to us as an area of ​​settlement of agricultural and pastoral tribes that created original and relatively highly developed Neolithic cultures on the outskirts of the ancient Near Eastern world. Of these, the most developed was the Badari, and the early cultures of Fayum and Merimde (on the western and northwestern outskirts of Egypt, respectively) had the most archaic appearance.

The Fayum people cultivated small plots of land on the shores of Lake Meridov, which were flooded during flood periods, growing spelt, barley and flax. The harvest was stored in special pits (165 such pits were opened). Perhaps they were also familiar with cattle breeding. In the Fayum settlement, bones of an ox, a pig and a sheep or goat were found, but they were not studied in a timely manner and then disappeared from the museum. Therefore, it remains unknown whether these bones belong to domestic or wild animals. In addition, bones of an elephant, a hippopotamus, a large antelope, a gazelle, a crocodile and small animals that constituted hunting prey were found. In Lake Merida, the Fayum people probably fished with baskets; large fish were caught with harpoons. Hunting for waterfowl with bows and arrows played an important role. The Fayum people were skilled weavers of baskets and mats, with which they covered their homes and grain pits. Scraps of linen fabric and a spindle whorl have been preserved, indicating the advent of weaving. Pottery was also known, but Fayum ceramics (pots, bowls, bowls on bases of various shapes) were still quite rough and not always well fired, and at the late stage of Fayum culture it disappeared altogether. The Fayum stone tools consisted of celt axes, adze chisels, microlithic sickle inserts (inserted into a wooden frame) and arrowheads. Tesla-chisels were of the same shape as in the then Central and Western Africa (Lupembe culture), the shape of the arrows of the Neolithic Fayum is characteristic of the ancient Sahara, but not of the Nile Valley. If we also take into account the Asian origin of the cultivated cereals cultivated by the Fayum people, then we can get a general idea of ​​the genetic connection between the Neolithic culture of Fayum and the cultures of the surrounding world. Additional touches to this picture are added by research into Fayum jewelry, namely beads made from shells and amazonite. The shells were delivered from the shores of the Red and Mediterranean Seas, and the amazonite, apparently, from the Aegean-Zumma deposit in the north of Tibesti (Libyan Sahara). This indicates the scale of intertribal exchange in those distant times, in the middle or second half of the 5th millennium (the main stage of the Fayum culture is dated according to the Radiocarbon to 4440 ± 180 and 4145 ± 250).

Perhaps the contemporaries and northern neighbors of the Fayum people were the early inhabitants of the vast Neolithic settlement of Merimde, which, judging by the earliest radiocarbon dates, appeared around 4200. The inhabitants of Merimde inhabited a village similar to an African village of our time somewhere in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bLake. Chad, where groups of oval-shaped adobe and mud-covered reed houses made up neighborhoods united into two “streets.” Obviously, in each of the quarters there lived a large family community, on each “street” there was a phratry, or “half,” and in the entire settlement there was a clan or neighbor-tribal community. Its members were engaged in agriculture, sowing barley, spelt and wheat and reaping with wooden sickles with flint inserts. Grain was kept in clay-lined wicker granaries. There was a lot of livestock in the village: cows, sheep, pigs. In addition, its inhabitants were engaged in hunting. Merimde pottery is much inferior to Badari pottery: coarse black pots predominate, although thinner, polished vessels of quite varied shapes are also found. There is no doubt that this culture is connected with the cultures of Libya and the regions of the Sahara and Maghreb further to the west.

The Badari culture (named after the Badari region in Middle Egypt, where necropolises and settlements of this culture were first discovered) was much more widespread and reached a higher development than the Neolithic cultures of Fayum and Merimde.

Until recent years, her actual age was not known. Only in recent years, thanks to the use of the thermoluminescent method of dating clay shards obtained during excavations of settlements of the Badari culture, has it become possible to date it to the mid-6th - mid-5th millennium. However, some scientists dispute this dating, pointing to the novelty and controversy of the thermoluminescent method. However, if the new dating is correct and the Fayums and the inhabitants of Merimde were not predecessors, but younger contemporaries of the Badaris, then they can be considered representatives of two tribes that lived on the periphery of ancient Egypt, less rich and developed than the Badaris.

In Upper Egypt, a southern variety of the Badari culture, the Tasian, was discovered. Apparently, Badari traditions persisted in various parts of Egypt into the 4th millennium.

Residents of the Badari settlement of Hamamiya and the nearby settlements of the same culture, Mostagedda and Matmara, were engaged in hoe farming, growing emmer and barley, raising large and small cattle, fishing and hunting on the banks of the Nile. These were skilled artisans who made various tools, household items, jewelry, and amulets. The materials for them were stone, shells, bone, including ivory, wood, leather, and clay. One Badari dish depicts a horizontal loom. Particularly good is the Badari ceramics, amazingly thin, polished, handmade, but very diverse in shape and design, mostly geometric, as well as soapstone beads with a beautiful glassy glaze. The Badaris also produced genuine works of art (unknown to the Fayum people and the inhabitants of Merimde); they carved small amulets, as well as animal figures on the handles of spoons. The hunting tools were arrows with flint tips, wooden boomerangs, fishing tools - hooks made of shells, as well as ivory. The Badaris were already familiar with copper metallurgy, from which they made knives, pins, rings, and beads. They lived in strong houses made of mud brick, but without doorways; probably their inhabitants, like some residents of the villages of Central Sudan, entered their houses through a special “window”.

The religion of the Badarians can be inferred from the custom of setting up necropolises to the east of the settlements and placing corpses of not only people, but also animals wrapped in mats in their graves. The deceased was accompanied to the grave by household items and decorations; In one burial, several hundred soapstone beads and copper beads, which were especially valuable at that time, were discovered. The dead man was truly a rich man! This indicates the beginning of social inequality.

In addition to the Badari and Tasi, the 4th millennium also includes the Amrat, Gerzean and other cultures of Egypt, which were among the relatively advanced. The Egyptians of that time cultivated barley, wheat, buckwheat, flax, and raised domestic animals: cows, sheep, goats, pigs, as well as dogs and, possibly, cats. The flint tools, knives and ceramics of the Egyptians of the 4th - first half of the 3rd millennium were distinguished by their remarkable variety and thoroughness of decoration.

The Egyptians of that time skillfully processed native copper. They built rectangular houses and even fortresses from adobe.

The level to which the culture of Egypt reached in proto-dynastic times is evidenced by the finds of highly artistic works of Neolithic craft: the finest fabric painted with black and red paint from Gebelein, flint daggers with handles made of gold and ivory, the tomb of a leader from Hierakonpolis, lined on the inside with mud bricks and covered with multi-colored frescoes, etc. Images on the fabric and walls of the tomb give two social types: nobles, for whom the work was done, and workers (rowers, etc.). At that time, primitive and small states - future nomes - already existed in Egypt.

In the 4th - early 3rd millennium, Egypt's ties with the early civilizations of Western Asia strengthened. Some scientists explain this by the invasion of Asian conquerors into the Nile Valley, others (which is more plausible) by “an increase in the number of traveling traders from Asia who visited Egypt” (as the famous English archaeologist E. J. Arkell writes). A number of facts also testify to the connections of the then Egypt with the population of the gradually drying up Sahara and the upper Nile in Sudan. At that time, some cultures of Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the Caucasus and South-Eastern Europe occupied approximately the same place on the near periphery of the ancient civilized world, and the culture of Egypt of the 6th-4th millennia. In Central Asia, in the 6th - 5th millennium, the agricultural Dzheitun culture of Southern Turkmenistan flourished; in the 4th millennium, the Geok-Sur culture flourished in the valley of the river. Tejen, further east in the 6th-4th millennia BC. e. - Gissar culture of southern Tajikistan, etc. In Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the 5th-4th millennia, a number of agricultural and pastoral cultures were widespread, the most interesting of which were the Kura-Araks and the recently discovered Shamu-Tepe culture that preceded it. In Dagestan in the 4th millennium there was a Neolithic Ginchi culture of the pastoral-agricultural type.

In the 6th-4th millennia, the formation of agricultural and pastoral farming took place in Europe. By the end of the 4th millennium, diverse and complex cultures of distinctly productive forms existed throughout Europe. At the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia, the Trypillian culture flourished in Ukraine, which was characterized by wheat cultivation, cattle breeding, beautiful painted ceramics, and colored paintings on the walls of adobe dwellings. In the 4th millennium, the most ancient settlements of horse breeders on Earth existed in Ukraine (Dereivka, etc.). A very elegant image of a horse on a shard from Kara-Tepe in Turkmenistan also dates back to the 4th millennium.

Sensational discoveries of recent years in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Moldova and southern Ukraine, as well as generalizing research by the Soviet archaeologist E.N. Chernykh and other scientists, have revealed the oldest center of high culture in southeastern Europe. In the 4th millennium, in the Balkan-Carpathian subregion of Europe, in the Lower Danube river system, a brilliant, advanced culture for those times (“almost a civilization”) flourished, which was characterized by agriculture, copper and gold metallurgy, and a variety of painted ceramics (including including painted in gold), primitive writing. The influence of this ancient center of “pre-civilization” on the neighboring societies of Moldova and Ukraine is undeniable. Did he also have connections with the societies of the Aegean, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt? This question is just being posed; there is no answer to it yet.

In the Maghreb and the Sahara, the transition to productive forms of economy occurred more slowly than in Egypt, its beginning dates back to the 7th - 5th millennia. At that time (until the end of the 3rd millennium), the climate in this part of Africa was warm and humid. Grassy steppes and subtropical mountain forests covered the now deserted spaces, which were endless pastures. The main domestic animal was the cow, the bones of which were found at sites in Fezzan in the eastern Sahara and at Tadrart-Acacus in the central Sahara.

In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, in the 7th-3rd millennia, there were Neolithic cultures that continued the traditions of the more ancient Ibero-Moorish and Capsian Paleolithic cultures. The first of them, also called the Mediterranean Neolithic, occupied mainly the coastal and mountain forests of Morocco and Algeria, the second - the steppes of Algeria and Tunisia. In the forest belt, settlements were richer and more common than in the steppe. In particular, the coastal tribes made excellent pottery. Some local differences within the Mediterranean Neolithic culture are noticeable, as well as its connections with the Capsian steppe culture.

The characteristic features of the latter are bone and stone tools for drilling and piercing, polished stone axes, and rather primitive pottery with a conical bottom, which is also not often found. In some places in the Algerian steppes there was no pottery at all, but the most common stone tools were arrowheads. The Neolithic Capsians, like their Paleolithic ancestors, lived in caves and grottoes and were primarily hunters and gatherers.

The heyday of this culture dates back to the 4th - early 3rd millennium. Thus, its sites are dated according to radiocarbon: De Mamel, or “Sostsy” (Algeria), - 3600 ± 225 g, Des-Ef, or “Eggs” (Ouargla oasis in the north of the Algerian Sahara), - also 3600 ± 225 g ., Hassi-Genfida (Ouargla) - 3480 ± 150 and 2830 ± 90, Jaacha (Tunisia) - 3050 ± 150. At that time, among the Capsians, shepherds already prevailed over hunters.

In the Sahara, the “Neolithic revolution” may have been somewhat late compared to the Maghreb. Here, in the 7th millennium, the so-called Sahrawi-Sudanese “Neolithic culture” arose, related in origin to the Capsian one. It existed until the 2nd millennium. Its characteristic feature is the oldest ceramics in Africa.

In the Sahara, the Neolithic differed from more northern regions in the abundance of arrowheads, which indicates the comparatively greater importance of hunting. The pottery of the inhabitants of the Neolithic Sahara of the 4th-2nd millennia is cruder and more primitive than that of the contemporary inhabitants of the Maghreb and Egypt. In the east of the Sahara there is a very noticeable connection with Egypt, in the west - with the Maghreb. The Neolithic of Eastern Sahara is characterized by an abundance of ground axes - evidence of slash-and-burn agriculture in the local highlands, then covered with forests. In the river beds that later dried up, residents engaged in fishing and sailed on reed boats of the type that were common at that time and later in the valley of the Nile and its tributaries, on Lake. Chad and lakes of Ethiopia. The fish were hit with bone harpoons, reminiscent of those discovered in the Nile and Niger valleys. The grain grinders and pestles of the Eastern Sahara were even larger. and are made more carefully than in the Maghreb. Millet was planted in the river valleys of the area, but the main means of subsistence came from livestock raising, combined with hunting and probably gathering. Huge herds of cattle grazed in the vastness of the Sahara, contributing to its transformation into a desert. These herds are depicted on the famous rock frescoes of Tassili-n'Adjer and other highlands. The cows have an udder, therefore, they were milked. Roughly processed stone pillars-steles may have marked the summer camps of these shepherds in the 4th - 2nd millennia, distilling herds from the valleys to the mountain pastures and back.According to their anthropological type, they were Negroids.

Remarkable cultural monuments of these farmers-pastoralists are the famous frescoes of Tassili and other regions of the Sahara, which flourished in the 4th millennium. The frescoes were created in secluded mountain shelters, which probably served as sanctuaries. In addition to frescoes, there are the oldest bas-reliefs-petroglyphs in Africa and small stone figurines of animals (bulls, rabbits, etc.).

In the 4th - 2nd millennia, in the center and east of the Sahara, there were at least three centers of relatively high agricultural and pastoral culture: on the wooded Hoggar highlands, abundantly irrigated by rain at that time, and its spur Tas-sili-n'Ajer, on no less fertile in the Fezzan and Tibesti highlands, as well as in the Nile Valley.Materials from archaeological excavations and especially rock paintings of the Sahara and Egypt indicate that all three centers of culture had many common features: in the style of images, forms of ceramics, etc. Everywhere - from the Nile to Khogtar -pastoralists-farmers revered the heavenly bodies in the images of a solar ram, a bull and a heavenly cow. Along the Nile and along the now dry river beds that then flowed across the Sahara, local fishermen sailed on reed boats of similar shapes. One can assume very similar forms of production, life and social organization But still, from the middle of the 4th millennium, Egypt began to overtake both the Eastern and Central Sahara in its development.

In the first half of the 3rd millennium, the drying out of the ancient Sahara, which by that time was no longer a humid, forested country, intensified. In low-lying lands, dry steppes began to replace tall-grass park savannas. However, in the 3rd and 2nd millennia, the Neolithic cultures of the Sahara continued to develop successfully, in particular, the fine arts improved.

In Sudan, the transition to productive forms of economy occurred a thousand years later than in Egypt and the eastern Maghreb, but approximately simultaneously with Morocco and the southern regions of the Sahara and earlier than in areas further south.

In Middle Sudan, on the northern edge of the swamps, in the 7th - 6th millennia, the Khartoum Mesolithic culture of wandering hunters, fishermen and gatherers, already familiar with primitive pottery, developed. They hunted a wide variety of animals, large and small, from elephant and hippopotamus to water mongoose and red cane rat, found in the forested and swampy region that was at that time the middle Nile valley. Much less often than mammals, the inhabitants of Mesolithic Khartoum hunted reptiles (crocodile, python, etc.) and very rarely birds. Hunting weapons included spears, harpoons and bows with arrows, and the shape of some stone arrowheads (geometric microliths) indicates a connection between the Khartoum Mesolithic culture and the Capsian culture of North Africa. Fishing played a relatively important role in the life of the early inhabitants of Khartoum, but they did not yet have fish hooks; they caught fish, apparently, with baskets, hit with spears and shot with arrows. At the end of the Mesolithic, the first bone harpoons, as well as stone drills, appeared. The gathering of river and land mollusks, Celtis seeds and other plants was of considerable importance. Rough dishes were made from clay in the form of round-bottomed basins and bowls, which were decorated with simple ornaments in the form of stripes, giving these vessels a resemblance to baskets. Apparently, the inhabitants of Mesolithic Khartoum were also engaged in basket weaving. Their personal jewelry was rare, but they painted their vessels and, probably, their own bodies with ocher, mined from nearby deposits, pieces of which were ground on sandstone graters, very diverse in shape and size. The dead were buried right in the settlement, which may have been just a seasonal camp.

How far to the west the bearers of the Khartoum Mesolithic culture penetrated is evidenced by the discovery of typical shards of the late Khartoum Mesolithic in Menyet, in the north-west of Hoggar, 2 thousand km from Khartoum. This find is dated by radiocarbon to 3430.

Over time, around the middle of the 4th millennium, the Khartoum Mesolithic culture is replaced by the Khartoum Neolithic culture, traces of which are found in the vicinity of Khartoum, on the banks of the Blue Nile, in the north of Sudan - up to the IV threshold, in the south - up to the VI threshold, in the east - up to Kasala, and in the west - to the Ennedi mountains and the Wanyanga area in Borku (Eastern Sahara). The main occupations of the inhabitants of the Neolithic. Khartoum - the direct descendants of the Mesolithic population of these places - remained hunting, fishing and gathering. The subject of the hunt was 22 species of mammals, but mainly large animals: buffalos, giraffes, hippos, and to a lesser extent elephants, rhinoceroses, warthogs, seven species of antelope, large and small predators, and some rodents. On a much smaller scale, but larger than in the Mesolithic, the Sudanese hunted large reptiles and birds. Wild donkeys and zebras were not killed, probably for religious reasons (totemism). The hunting tools were spears with tips made of stone and bone, harpoons, bows and arrows, as well as axes, but now they were smaller and less well processed. Crescent-shaped microliths were made more often than in the Mesolithic. Stone tools, such as celt axes, were already partially ground. Fishing was done less than in the Mesolithic, and here, as in hunting, appropriation took on a more selective character; We caught several types of fish on a hook. The hooks of Neolithic Khartoum, very primitive, made from shells, are the first in Tropical Africa. The collection of river and land mollusks, ostrich eggs, wild fruits and Celtis seeds was important.

At that time, the landscape of the middle Nile Valley was a forested savannah with gallery forests along the banks. In these forests, the inhabitants found material for building canoes, which they hollowed out with stone and bone celts and semicircular planing axes, possibly from the trunks of the duleb palm. Compared to the Mesolithic, the production of tools, pottery and jewelry progressed significantly. Dishes decorated with stamped patterns were then polished by the inhabitants of Neolithic Sudan using pebbles and fired over fires. The production of numerous personal decorations took up a significant part of the working time; they were made from semi-precious and other stones, shells, ostrich eggs, animal teeth, etc. In contrast to the temporary camp of the Mesolithic inhabitants of Khartoum, the settlements of the Neolithic inhabitants of Sudan were already permanent. One of them - al-Shaheinab - has been studied especially carefully. However, no traces of dwellings, not even holes for supporting pillars, were found here, and no burials were found (perhaps the inhabitants of Neolithic Shaheinab lived in huts made of reeds and grass, and their dead were thrown into the Nile). An important innovation compared to the previous period was the emergence of cattle breeding: the residents of Shaheinab raised small goats or sheep. However, the bones of these animals constitute only 2% of all bones found in the settlement; this gives an idea of ​​the share of cattle breeding in the economy of the residents. No traces of agriculture were found; it appears only in the next period. This is all the more significant since al-Shaheinab, judging by radiocarbon analysis (3490 ± 880 and 3110 ± 450 AD), is contemporary with the developed Neolithic culture of el-Omari in Egypt (radiocarbon date 3300 ± 230 AD).

In the last quarter of the 4th millennium, the same Chalcolithic cultures (Amratian and Gerzean) existed in the middle Nile valley in northern Sudan as in neighboring Predynastic Upper Egypt. Their bearers were engaged in primitive agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting and fishing on the banks of the Nile and on neighboring plateaus, covered at that time with savannah vegetation. At that time, a relatively large pastoral and agricultural population lived on the plateaus and mountains west of the middle Nile valley. The southern periphery of this entire cultural zone was located somewhere in the valleys of the White and Blue Nile (burials of “group A” were discovered in the Khartoum area, in particular at the Omdurman Bridge) and near al-Shaheinab. The language affiliation of their speakers is unknown. The further south you go, the more Negroid the carriers of this culture were. In al-Shaheynab they clearly belong to the Negroid race.

Southern burials are generally poorer than northern ones; Shaheinab products look more primitive than Faras and especially Egyptian ones. The grave goods of the “proto-dynastic” al-Shaheynab differ markedly from those of the burials at the Omdurman Bridge, although the distance between them is no more than 50 km; this gives some idea of ​​the size of ethnocultural communities. The characteristic material of the products is clay. It was used to make cult figurines (for example, a clay female figurine) and quite a variety of well-fired dishes, decorated with embossed patterns (applied with a comb): bowls of various sizes, boat-shaped pots, spherical vessels. Black vessels with notches characteristic of this culture are also found in protodynastic Egypt, where they were clearly objects of export from Nubia. Unfortunately, the contents of these vessels are unknown. For their part, the inhabitants of proto-dynastic Sudan, like the Egyptians of their time, received Mepga shells from the shores of the Red Sea, from which they made belts, necklaces and other jewelry. No other information about the trade has been preserved.

According to a number of characteristics, the cultures of Meso- and Neolithic Sudan occupy an intermediate place between the cultures of Egypt, the Sahara and East Africa. Thus, the stone industry of Gebel Auliyi (near Khartoum) is reminiscent of the Nyoro culture in Interzero, and the ceramics is Nubian and Saharan; stone celts, similar to those of Khartoum, are found in the west as far as Tener, north of Lake. Chad, and Tummo, north of the Tibesti mountains. At the same time, the main cultural and historical center to which the cultures of Northeast Africa gravitated was Egypt.

According to E.J. Arqella, the Khartoum Neolithic culture was connected to the Egyptian Fayum through the mountainous regions of Ennedi and Tibesti, from where both the Khartoum and Fayum people obtained blue-gray amazonite for making beads.

When class society began to develop in Egypt at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia and a state emerged, Lower Nubia turned out to be the southern outskirts of this civilization. Typical settlements of that time were excavated near the village. Dhaka S. Fersom in 1909 -1910 and at Khor Daud by the Soviet expedition in 1961-1962. The community that lived here was engaged in dairy farming and primitive agriculture; They sowed wheat and barley mixed together, and collected the fruits of the doum palm and siddera. Pottery reached significant development. Ivory and flint were processed, from which the main tools were made; The metals used were copper and gold. The culture of the population of Nubia and Egypt of this era of archeology is conventionally designated as the culture of the “group A” tribes. Its bearers, anthropologically speaking, belonged mainly to the Caucasian race. At the same time (around the middle of the 3rd millennium, according to radiocarbon analysis), the Negroid inhabitants of the Jebel al-Tomat settlement in Central Sudan sowed sorghum of the species Sorgnum bicolor.

During the period of the III dynasty of Egypt (around the middle of the 3rd millennium), a general decline in economy and culture occurs in Nubia, associated, according to a number of scientists, with the invasion of nomadic tribes and the weakening of ties with Egypt; At this time, the process of drying out of the Sahara sharply intensified.

In East Africa, including Ethiopia and Somalia, the "Neolithic revolution" appears to have occurred only in the 3rd millennium, much later than in Sudan. Here at this time, as in the previous period, lived Caucasoids or Ethiopians, similar in their physical type to the ancient Nubians. The southern branch of the same group of tribes lived in Kenya and Northern Tanzania. To the south lived the Boscodoid (Khoisan) hunter-gatherers, related to the Sandawe and Hadza of Tanzania and the Bushmen of South Africa.

The Neolithic cultures of East Africa and Western Sudan apparently developed fully only during the heyday of the ancient Egyptian civilization and the comparatively high Neolithic cultures of the Maghreb and Sahara, and they coexisted for a long time with the remains of Mesolithic cultures.

Like the Stillbey and other Paleolithic cultures, the Mesolithic cultures of Africa occupied vast areas. Thus, Capsian traditions can be traced from Morocco and Tunisia to Kenya and Western Sudan. Later Magosi culture. first discovered in eastern Uganda, it was distributed in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, almost throughout East and South-East Africa to the river. Orange. It is characterized by microlithic blades and incisors and coarse pottery, appearing already in the late stages of the Capsian.

Magosi comes in a number of local varieties; some of them developed into special cultures. This is the Doi culture of Somalia. Its bearers hunted with bows and arrows and kept dogs. The relatively high level of the Pre-Mesolithic is emphasized by the presence of pestles and, apparently, primitive ceramics. (The famous English archaeologist D. Clark considers the current hunter-gatherers of Somalia to be the direct descendants of the Doits).

Another local culture is the Elmentate of Kenya, whose main center was in the lake area. Nakuru. Elmenteit is characterized by abundant pottery - goblets and large earthenware jugs. The same is true of the Smithfield culture in South Africa, which is characterized by microliths, ground stone tools, bone products and rough pottery.

The Wilton crop that replaced all these crops took its name from Wilton Farm in Natal. Its sites are found all the way to Ethiopia and Somalia in the northeast and all the way to the southern tip of the continent. Wilton in different places has either a Mesolithic or a distinctly Neolithic appearance. In the north, this is mainly a culture of pastoralists who bred long-horned humpless bulls of the Bos Africanus type, in the south - a culture of hunter-gatherers, and in some places - primitive farmers, as, for example, in Zambia and Rhodesia, where several polished stone tools were found among the characteristic late Wiltonian stone implements stone axes. Apparently, it is more correct to talk about the Wilton complex of cultures, which includes the Neolithic cultures of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya of the 3rd - mid-1st millennium. At the same time, the first simplest states were formed (see). They arose on the basis of a voluntary union or forced unification of tribes.

The Neolithic culture of Ethiopia of the 2nd - mid-1st millennium is characterized by the following features: hoe farming, pastoralism (breeding large and small horned animals, livestock and donkeys), rock art, grinding stone tools, pottery, weaving using plant fiber, relative sedentism , rapid population growth. At least the first half of the Neolithic period in Ethiopia and Somalia is an era of coexistence of appropriative and primitive productive economies with the dominant role of cattle breeding, namely the breeding of Bos africanus.

The most famous monuments of this era are large groups (many hundreds of figures) of rock art in Eastern Ethiopia and Somalia and in the Korora Cave in Eritrea.

Among the earliest in time are some images in the Porcupine Cave near Dire Dawa, where various wild animals and hunters are painted in red ocher. The style of the drawings (the famous French archaeologist A. Breuil identified over seven different styles here) is naturalistic. Stone tools of the Magosian and Wilton types were found in the cave.

Very ancient images of wild and domestic animals in a naturalistic or semi-naturalistic style were discovered in the areas of Genda-Biftu, Lago-Oda, Errer-Kimyet, etc., north of Harar and near Dire Dawa. Shepherd scenes are found here. Long-horned, humpless cattle, Bos africanus species. Cows have udders, which means they were milked. Among domestic cows and bulls there are images of African buffalos, obviously domesticated. No other pets are visible. One of the images suggests that, as in the 9th-19th centuries, African Wilton shepherds rode bulls. The shepherds are dressed in legguards and short skirts (made of leather?). There is a comb in the hair of one of them. The weapons consisted of spears and shields. Bows and arrows, also depicted on some frescoes at Genda Biftu, Lago Oda and Saka Sherifa (near Errere Quimiet), were apparently used by hunters contemporary with the Wiltonian shepherds

At Errer Quimyet there are images of people with a circle on their heads, very similar to the rock paintings of the Sahara, in particular the Hoggar region. But in general, the style and objects of the images of the rock frescoes of Ethiopia and Somalia show an undoubted similarity with the frescoes of the Sahara and Upper Egypt of predynastic times.

From a later period are schematic representations of people and animals in various places in Somalia and the Harar region. At that time, the zebu became the predominant livestock breed - a clear indication of Northeast Africa's connections with India. The most sketchy images of livestock in the Bur Eibe region (Southern Somalia) seem to indicate a certain originality of the local Wilton culture.

If rock frescoes are found in both Ethiopian and Somali territory, then engraving on rocks is characteristic of Somalia. It is approximately contemporary with the frescoes. In the area of ​​Bur Dahir, El Goran and others, in the Shebeli Valley, engraved images of people armed with spears and shields, humpless and humpbacked cows, as well as camels and some other animals were discovered. In general they resemble similar images from Onib in the Nubian Desert. In addition to cattle and camels, there may be images of sheep or goats, but these are too sketchy to be identified with certainty. In any case, the ancient Somali Bushmenoids of the Wilton period raised sheep.

In the 60s, several more groups of rock carvings and Wilton sites were discovered in the area of ​​​​the city of Harar and in the province of Sidamo, northeast of Lake. Abaya. Here, too, the leading branch of the economy was cattle breeding.

In West Africa, the "Neolithic Revolution" took place in a very difficult environment. Here, in ancient times, wet (pluvial) and dry periods alternated. During wet periods, in place of savannas, which abounded in ungulates and were favorable for human activity, dense rain forests (hylaea) spread, almost impenetrable for Stone Age people. They, more reliably than the desert spaces of the Sahara, blocked the access of the ancient inhabitants of North and East Africa to the western part of the continent.

One of the most famous Neolithic monuments of Guinea is the Cakimbon grotto near Conakry, discovered in colonial times. Pickaxes, hoes, adzes, jagged tools and several axes, polished entirely or only along the cutting edge, as well as ornamented pottery were found here. There are no arrowheads at all, but there are leaf-shaped spearheads. Similar implements (in particular, hatchets polished to a blade) were found in three more places near Conakry. Another group of Neolithic sites was discovered in the vicinity of the city of Kindia, approximately 80 km northeast of the Guinean capital. A characteristic feature of the local Neolithic is polished hatchets, picks and chisels, round trapezoidal dart and arrow tips, stone discs for weighting digging sticks, polished stone bracelets, as well as ornamented ceramics.

Approximately 300 km north of the city of Kindia, near the city of Telimele, on the Futa Djallon highlands, the Ualia site was discovered, the inventory of which is very similar to the tools from Kakimbon. But unlike the latter, leaf-shaped and triangular arrowheads were found here.

In 1969-1970 Soviet scientist V.V. Soloviev discovered a number of new sites on Futa Djallon (in central Guinea) with typical ground and chipped axes, as well as picks and disc-shaped cores chipped on both surfaces. At the same time, there is no ceramics at the newly discovered sites. Dating them is very difficult. As the Soviet archaeologist P.I. Boriskovsky notes, in West Africa “the same types of stone products continue to be found, without undergoing particularly significant changes, over a number of eras - from Sango (45-35 thousand years ago. - Yu. K .) to the Late Paleolithic". The same can be said about the West African Neolithic monuments. Archaeological research carried out in Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Upper Volta and other West African countries shows a continuity of forms of microlithic and grinding stone tools, as well as ceramics, from the end of the 4th to the 2nd millennium BC. e. and up to the first centuries of the new era. Often individual objects made in ancient times are almost indistinguishable from products of the 1st millennium AD. e.

Undoubtedly, this testifies to the amazing stability of ethnic communities and the cultures they created on the territory of Tropical Africa in ancient and ancient times.