Political System in Sub-Saharan Africa during the 1500's

Sub-Saharan Africa is the birthplace of the four most important African Empires. The largest and longest lasting was Ghana followed by Mali, Songhai, and Kanem. From 1575 to 1610 Kanem was united with Kanuri Bornu. This civilization lasted 200 years. Complex societies like these developed into kingdoms, empires, and smaller city-states. The larger kingdoms were ruled by kings that controlled both internal and external affairs. Many of these larger entities sat next to small states and even stateless societies consisting of ethnically diverse tribes without any strong central organization. Many of the people of the larger empires as well as the small city-states of the Savannah settled in villages and paid dues to their rulers. The kings did not have direct control over the internal life of the kingdom, just the external affairs. A later kingdom (late 16th century) called the Luba Kingdom grew because of its beliefs in a sacred kingship and a rule by council. It gained strength because of the arrival of the Portuguese to this region. All of these political structures were greatly influenced by the African slave trade. It both helped and hindered the civilizations.

Sub Sharan Africas Contact with Broader World

Although Sub Saharan Africa was isolated from much of the world because of its hot dry climate that did not stop it from having trade relations with foreigners. For example the Nubian Kingdom of Kush had a bug influence on culture and way of life. Sub Saharan Africa is located south of the Saharan desert which is considered to be mostly Arab land although many refer to it as a barrier in between the sub Saharan's and the Arabs the sub Saharan's like to think of it as a bridge linking the two different nations together.

The Nubian's were not the only foreign kingdoms to interact with the Sub Saharan Africans, when Romans obtained camels from Asian trade they to visited and started trading with and through the Sub Saharan African people. Although they were considered isolated some foreign nations still believed they were valuable for trade and continued to have interactions with the country. Another way to get from one place to the next was the Nile River the nile river was very inportant in the interactions with other people. The Nile River was key because it streatched from east africa to the mediteranean sea and is said to be approximatley 4,000 miles long(as seen in the picture above).

Religion in Africa!

Southern Africa's' religion is unique in every way, because of its geographical segregation to the middle east and Mediterranean world. While the Middle east followed the Islamic trend, sub Saharan Africa was mainly Christian, despite the minority of Islamic peoples that trickled into southern Africa. Although the majority of people followed Christianity, there where many tribes with their own religions and beliefs. Their beliefs ranged from the Ni lo Saharan people who believed in one divinity, to the Afro-Asiatic people who believed in henotheism,the belief in one's own gods but accepting the existence of other god. The Diagram to the right shows the parts of Africa that follow each religion. You can see from the picture the dominance for Christianity as well as the variety of religions in this one diverse area. The diagram to the left also shows the diversity of Sub Saharan African religion in the 1500s. As shown Christianity is dominant in Sub Saharan Africa.