The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 2: From c. 500 BC to AD 1050

788 Pages·1979·18.5 MB·English

by  J. D. Fage

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF AFRICA
General Editors: J. D. FAGE and ROLAND OLIVER
Volume 2
from c. 500 BC to AD 1050
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
T HE C A M B R I D GE H I S T O RY
OF A F R I CA
i From the Earliest Times to c. 500 BC
edited by J. Desmond Clark
2 From c. 500 BC to AD 1050
edited by J. D. Fage
3 From c. 1050 to c. 1600
edited by Roland Oliver
4 From c. 1600 to c. 1790
edited by Richard Gray
5 From c. 1790 to c. 1870
edited by John Flint
6 From c. 1870 to c. 1905
edited by Roland Oliver
and G. N. Sanderson
7 From c. 1905 to c. 1940
edited by A. D. Roberts
8 From c. 1940 to c. 1975
edited by Michael Crowder
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
THE CAMBRIDGE
HISTORY OF
AFRICA
Volume 2
from c. 500 BC to AD 1050
edited by
J. D. FAGE
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
Published by the Press Syndicate of The University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building,Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
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http://www.cambridge.org
First Published 1978
Reprinted 1984, 1986, 1988, 1995, 1999, 2002
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
The Cambridge history of Africa
Bibliography: v. 2, v. 3, v. 4, v. 5
Includes index.
CONTENTS:
v. 2. From c. 500 BC to AD 1050, edited by J.D. Fage.
v. 3. From c. 1050 to c. 1600, edited by R. Oliver,
v. 4. From c. 1600 to c. 1790, edited by R. Gray,
v. 5. From c. 1790 to c. 1870, edited by J. Flint.
I. Africa—History—Collected works. I. Fage, J.D.
II. Oliver, Roland Anthony. III. Gray, Richard. IV. Flint, John
DT20.C28 960 76-2261
ISBN 0 521 21592 7 (v. 2)
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
C O N T E N TS
List of figures page ix
List ofplates xii
Preface xiv
Introduction
by J. D. FAGE, Professor of African History,
University of Birmingham i
1 The legacy of prehistory: an essay on the
background to the individuality of African cultures
by J. DESMOND CLARK, Professor of Anthropology,
University of California, Berkeley 11
Setting the stage i *
Man's prehuman ancestors and the earliest hominids 16
Behaviour patterning of the Plio-Pleistocene tool-makers 24
Homo erectus and the Acheulian Industrial Complex 30
The Middle Palaeolithic/Middle Stone Age 3 5
Upper Palaeolithic and epi-Palaeolithic traditions
in northern Africa and Later Stone Age complexes
south of the Sahara 54
African physical populations and the origin of 'races' 67
The African Neolithic and the origins of domestication 70
Conclusions 82
2 North Africa in the period of Phoenician and
Greek colonization, c. 800 to 323 BC
by R. C. C. LAW, Lecturer in African History,
University of Stirling 87
The Saite Dynasty in Egypt, 663 to 525 BC 89
Persian rule in Egypt, 525 to 404 BC 98
The last native dynasties and the establishment
of Greek rule in Egypt, 404 to 323 BC 103
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L
CONTENTS
The Greek colonization of Cyrenaica; the
Battiadai (c. 639 to c. 439 BC) and the
Republic (c. 439 to 322 Bp) 107
Greeks and Libyans 114
Phoenician colonization in North Africa; Carthage
and its empire 116
Carthage and North Africa 126
Carthage and sub-Saharan Africa 133
The Libyans 140
3 North Africa in the Hellenistic and Roman
periods, 323 BC to AD 305
by R. C. C. LAW 148
Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty, 323 to 30 BC 148
Cyrenaica under Ptolemaic rule 164
The fall of Carthage, 264 to 146 BC 167
The Berber kingdoms of North Africa,
e. 250 BC to AD 40 176
The Roman empire in Africa 191
Egypt and Cyrenaica under Roman rule 193
Tripolitania and North-West Africa under Roman rule 199
Decline and reorganization of the Roman empire
in the third century AD 205
4 The Nilotic Sudan and Ethiopia, c. 660 BC to c. AD 600
by P. L. SHINNIE, Professor of Archaeology,
University of Calgary 210
The origins of Meroitic civilization 210
Meroe from c. 300 BC to the Roman invasion 226
Meroe and the Roman Empire 245
The later culture of Meroe 2$ 2
The rise of Aksum 259
The end of Meroe 26 j
j Trans-Saharan contacts and the Iron Age
in West Africa
by RAYMOND MAUNY, Emeritus Professor of African History
at the Sorbonne 272
The climatic background: the desiccation of the Sahara 272
Trans-Saharan contacts: horses, chariots and the
introduction of the camel 2 77
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CONTENTS
The failure to make maritime contact with West Africa 292
Early food production in the Sahara and the
western Sudan 301
Technology: the transition from the Late Stone Age
to the Iron Age in West Africa 318
The peoples of West Africa during the Early Iron Age 335
6 The emergence of Bantu Africa
by ROLAND OLIVER, Professor of African History
in the University of London, and BRIAN M. FAGAN,
Professor of Anthropology, University of California,
Santa Barbara 342
Stone Age food production 342
The classification of Bantu 353
The spread of iron-working 359
The Early Iron Age in East Africa 366
The Early Iron Age in Zambia and Malawi 374
The Early Iron Age of southern Africa 386
Problems of western Central Africa 397
Conclusions 406
7 The Christian period in Mediterranean
Africa, c. AD 200 to 700
by W. H. C. FREND, Professor of Ecclesiastical History
in the University of Glasgow 410
Introduction 410
The early years of the Church in Egypt and Cyrenaica 412
From Nicaea to Chalcedon 427
The consolidation of the Coptic Church in Egypt
and North-East Africa 447
The early years of the Church in North-West Africa 451
The Donatists 467
Augustine and the Catholic revival 473
The Vandal invasion and the eclipse of Christianity
in North-West Africa 478
8 The Arab conquest and the rise of Islam in
North Africa
by MICHAEL BRETT, Lecturer in the History of North
Africa, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 490
Problems of sources 490
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CONTENTS
The Arab occupation of Egypt 49$
The advance into the Maghrib 505
The fall of the Umayyads 513
Statesmen and scholars 522
The ninth century AD 533
Islamization and arabization 544
9 Christian Nubia
by P. L. SHINNIE 556
Introduction 556
The beginnings of Christianity in Nubia 559
The first Arab attacks 564
The flowering of Christian Nubia, c. 750-1050 569
Late Christian times, c. 1160-1400 583
10 The Fatimid revolution (861-973) and its
aftermath in North Africa
by MICHAEL BRETT 589
The end of the ninth century AD 589
The establishment of the Fatimids 602
Circumstances leading up to the conquest of Egypt 611
The Zirid succession 623
The abandonment of Kairouan 633
11 The Sahara and the Sudan from the Arab conquest
of the Maghrib to the rise of the Almoravids
by NEHEMIA LEVTZION, Professor in African
and Islamic History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 637
The trade of the Sahara 637
The Sanhaja and the Almoravids 651
Ghana 66 5
Takrur 675
Gao and the Songhay 677
The Zaghawa and Kanem 680
Bibliographical essays 685
Bibliography 7l9
Index 77i
viii
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FIGURES
x The main phyto-geographic regions of Africa page i j
2 Radiometric and palaeo-magnetic chronology for fossil
hominids in the Plio-Pleistocene time-range in
Africa and Eurasia 18
3 The distribution of early hominid and Lower and
Middle Palaeolithic sites referred to in the text 20
4 Attributes of human flaking and some of the basic
techniques in stone-tool manufacture 22
5 Tools of the Oldowan Industrial Complex from Bed I,
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania 25
6 Radiometric and palaeo-magnetic chronology for stone
industries in the late Pliocene/earlier Pleistocene
time-range in Africa and Eurasia up to 1975 27
7 Tools of the Upper Acheulian Industrial Complex from
the Kalambo Falls 31
8 Middle Palaeolithic tools from northern Africa 36
9 Middle Stone Age tools from sub-Saharan Africa 40
10 Radiometric dates for comparable later Quaternary
techno-complexes in Africa and Eurasia 44
11 Tools of the earlier (Sangoan facies) and later
stages of the Lupemban Industrial Complex from
the Congo and Zambezi basins 50
12 Upper Palaeolithic, epi-Palaeolithic, Later Stone Age
and Neolithic (with domestication) sites referred
to in the text 5 5
13 Tools from Upper Palaeolithic and epi-Palaeolithic
sites from North Africa 56
14 Tools from various Later Stone Age Industries and
Industrial Complexes from sub-Saharan Africa 62
15 Tools from 'Mesolithic' and Neolithic Industries
from Egypt and the Sudan 72
ix
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FIGURES
16 Tools of 'Neolithic' Industries and Complexes from
northern, West and East Africa
17 The Mediterranean in the era of Phoenician and Greek
colonization
18 Egypt, 663-323 BC
19 Cyrenaica
20 The Carthaginian sphere in North-West Africa
21 Carthaginian exploration along the Atlantic coast
22 Major Libyan peoples
23 North-eastern Africa in the Hellenistic and Roman periods
24 North-West Africa, third to first centuries BC
25 Roman provinces in Africa, early third century AD
26 Numidia and Africa Proconsularis
27 Roman provinces in Africa, early fourth century AD
28 Nubia in relation to Egypt and Ethiopia
29 Nubia in Meroitic times
30 Meroitic royal burials: (1) Tumulus at Kurru;
(2) Section through to a typical pyramid and burial-chamber
31 Meroitic domestic pottery of non-Egyptian styles
32 Plan of the town of Meroe
3 3 King Sherkarer smiting his enemies
34 Aksumite coin found at Meroe
3 5 The vegetation of Africa in modern times
36 Mega-Lake Chad, dessicated only at the end of the Neolithic
37 Saharan rock-painted or engraved chariots
38 The concentration of rock sites with chariot
drawings along two main axes
39 The Ancient World's knowledge of the Sahara
40 Square-sailed and rudderless Roman ship
41 Ancient or medieval ship engraved at Azru Aklan,
Dar'a, southern Morocco
42 First-millennium copper arrowheads from western
Mauritania
43 Vegetational zones and major archaeological configurations
44 Stone bowls from Prospect Farm, Kenya
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