East African Trading Empire

East African Trading Empire

Islam in 7th Century Africa

• Spread mainly through trade (hence, "East African Trading Empire")
• Islam first reached Ethiopia
• Trade between Arabs and Africans was made easier because of Nile River and Red Sea

IMPACTS

Social Impacts

Language

The trade part...

Religious Impacts

• The spread of Islam impacted the native language spoken.
• Nubian Creole Arabic
• People in present day Zanzibar, Pempa, and Comoros still speak Swahili to this day.

Social Inequality

Axum Empire

• Copts (Christian Egyptians) spread down to the Axum Empire
• Islam controlled the political aspect of East African areas

• Women's rights decreased once Islam spread to East Africa
• still had right to own property

Intellectual Impacts

• Muslims came just to trade
• No plan to convert the inhabitants to Islam
• Complicated conversion
• uneasy transportation
• bad weather
• Traded mainly with East Africa - the shore
• that's all they could reach

• Two forms of Islam were practiced: Shi'ite and Sunni
• The presence of mosques and minarets grew
• Women began wearing a more strict kind of veil.
• Covered their face
• NOW covered their body as well
• Men were not able to resist women's beauty, making it necessary for the women to wear these veils.

Political Impacts

• 100 - 940 CE
• trading center of Eastern Africa
• Mainly Sudan, Ethiopoia, and Eritrea
• Adulis: A port along the coast of Red Sea
• used a lot for incoming ships

INVENTIONS

• Empires came together because of the change from monotheism to polytheism
• Harar became the capital by 1000 CE
• Sharia Law became key in East Africa
• Kenya and other coastal regions
• Protected trade and commerce and set harsh punishments for dishonesty or theft

Traded Goods:

• Influence of Arabic Numbers
• Clocks
• Arabic alphabet (led to a high literacy rate)
• solar calender (the one we use today

Economical Impacts

Why trade?

Muslims Africa

• textiles
• spices
• porcelain
• glassware

Muslims Africa

• As they traded, Muslims started settling down in East Africa, making room for influence in the region
• Soon, the native inhabitants of East Africa also start following the Muslim ways, causing cultural diffusion.
• Called "Swahili": the cultural mix of Islamic and African cultures
• Inner Africa (not just coastal) started relying on trade as well, allowing Islam to reach further into the heart of Africa

• Merchants were more necessary for trade to happen
• Artisans were important to manufacture things to be sold

• gold
• ivory
• slaves
• cotton

Memorable Leaders

• Aṣḥama ibn Abjar: Axum emperor during time of Muhammad
• hosted Muslim refugees of Quraysh persecution
• refugees settled in Ethiopia eventually
• Uthman ibn Affan: Caliph amongst the refugees
• third prophet of Muhammad's successors
• ruled for 12 years
• Ahmad Gran: Did not succeed in converting people to Islam
• 16th century
• Ethiopia