Post Classical Africa

African history is often overlooked in the pre-modern and early modern period. However, there were many dynamic and vibrant post classical African societies, including several large empires that were known around the world for their wealth and culture. Learn about some of the most important post classical African societies and aspects of post classical African history in this article.

Post Classical African Societies

A number of advanced civilizations, kingdoms, and empires in Africa emerged in the post classical era. In North Africa and the northern areas of West Africa and East Africa, complex trade networks emerged between Africans and Arabs in the Middle East. Meanwhile, in South Africa, some smaller kingdoms also emerged.

See the map and the sections below to learn about briefly about some of the most important post classical African societies.

Post Classical Africa Map

See the locations of some of the major civilizations and post classical African societies in the post classical Africa map below.

Fig 1 - Map showing the major civilizations of post classical Africa.

Post Classical North Africa

North Africa, on the coast of the Mediterranean and with a land border to Southwest Asia, or the Middle East, became the site of the expansion of great Muslim empires.

Ancient Egypt had emerged as a major civilization and then part of the Roman Empire, earlier. In the 600s, Islamic armies conquered Egypt, which served as a base for further expansion into the Maghreb.

The Muslim tribesmen in these areas were called Berbers, which led to many Europeans referring to the area as the Barbary Coast.

They developed extensive trade networks, especially with sub-Saharan West Africa, which stimulated further growth in both areas.

Fig 2 - Depiction of Timbuktu, an important link in the trade bewteen North Africa and West Africa.

In the 11th century, the Almoravids created a larger empire that may have included areas to the south in sub-Saharan West Africa. Islamic armies also succeeded in conquering Spain, known as Al Andalus and built extensive trade networks connecting North Africa to not only the rest of Africa but also Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East.

Post Classical Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is the area of Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Trade across the desert helped a number of civilizations develop in West Africa.

Meanwhile, in East Africa and South Africa, more independent kingdoms developed.

West Africa

A number of important African kingdoms and empires developed in West Africa in the area known as the Sahel.

Among the earliest of these civilizations was the Kingdom of Ghana, which was known for having fabulous gold mines. A vibrant trade developed that sent gold from West Africa north across the desert in exchange for salt and other goods. This trade would flourish for hundreds of years and helped turn this area of northern West African into a center of trade and culture.

The Kingdom of Ghana peaked around the year 1000 CE and was eventually absorbed into the growing Mali Empire by 1240. The Mali Empire expanded all the way to the Atlantic and experienced a golden age under its leader Mansa Musa, who was world-famous for his riches.

Fig 3 - Depiction of Mansa Musa.

The city of Timbuktu especially became a flourishing trade center by the 14th century. As the Mali Empire declined, it and much of the surrounding areas fell under the control of the Songhay Kingdom.

In this period, the city became known as a great center of learning with the construction of the University of Timbuktu. It also became a center of African Islamic culture with several great mosques built.

From the 1500s to the 1800s, the Hausa Kingdoms also emerged as a major independent confederation of kingdoms in the eastern Sahel.

Further south, the Igbo people created a number of smaller kingdoms and empires in the area known as Yorubaland around modern-day Nigeria. These included the Oyo Empire and Benin Empire.

Finally, further down the East African coast, the Kingdom of Congo also flourished from around 1390 to 1665.

East Africa

Between 2,500 and 3,000 years ago, the Bantu people migrated from the original homelands in West Africa to East Africa.

Along the east African coast, they mixed with Persian and Arab traders, leading to the creation of the Swahili culture and the establishment of city states along the coast.

Small empires such as Buganda, Karagwe, and Uganda carved out areas of control in modern-day Uganda and Tanzania, but many of the peoples in East Africa maintained traditional decentralized tribal life.

In modern-day Ethiopia, the Abyssinian Empire (also called the Ethiopian Empire) emerged as a powerful Christian kingdom from the legacy of the ancient Kingdom of Axum around the 1200s.

The Solomonid Dynasty of Ethiopia would reign in an unbroken line until the 20th century and was one of the few areas of Africa to not fall under European rule in the late 19th Century.

Southern Africa

Bantu people also migrated to the southern reaches of Africa. Southern Africa also maintained decentralized tribal life for most of post classical African history. However, in modern-day Zimbabwe, a few larger kingdoms and empires did emerge during the Post Classical era.

The Kingdom of Mapungubwe emerged here in the 11th century CE. It was eventually supplanted by the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, which is sometimes called Great Zimbabwe. This references the kingdom's fortified capital city, which was the largest stone structure built in precolonial sub-Saharan Africa, only slightly smaller than the ancient Egyptian Pyramids. Great Zimbabwe was abandoned in the 14th century for reasons historians cannot explain.

European Incursions into Post Classical Africa

European incursions into post classical Africa began in the 15th century. The Portuguese were especially active in the early exploration and exploitation of the African coasts. They had established trading posts and fortresses on the coasts of West Africa and East Africa by the end of the 16th century.

In addition to further promoting the existing slave trades in these areas, they also often manipulated and pit different post classical African societies against one another. In this manner, Europeans contributed to the destabilization of Africa and exported millions of Africans as slaves.

Only in the 19th century did Europeans explore and conquer Africa's interior.

Post Classical African Culture

It's hard to discuss post classical African culture as a monolith because it spanned hundreds of years across a huge continent with many different peoples.

However, we can examine some of the broad trends and characteristics of post classical African culture.

Religion in Post Classical Africa

Religion in post classical Africa varied widely among the different regions and societies of post classical Africa.

Most traditional African religions were polytheistic and animist. They were passed down by oral tradition, folk songs and dance, and other ritual traditions. Some recognized a superior or creator god within their pantheon of gods.

Yoruba Religion

One particularly notable traditional religion in post classical Africa is the Yoruba religion, practiced by the Yoruba people in the modern-day area of Nigeria in West Africa.

Because so many slaves that were forced to go to the Americas came from this area, this religion also underwent a large degree of syncretism with Christianity.

Islam in Post Classical Africa

The spread of Islam had an enormous impact on post classical African societies. In addition to the Arab and Muslim led empires created in North Africa, Islam had many converts, by force and by choice, in sub-Saharan Africa as well.

In the Sahel, the close trade connections with the Arab and Berber kingdoms to the north contributed to the adoption of Islam by many of the ruling elite and urban population in the Kingdom of Ghana, the Mali Empire, the Songhay Kingdom, and the Hausa Kingdoms.

There were also large communities of Muslim converts in East Africa.

Fig 4 - A Muslim trader in North Africa stopping to pray.

Christianity in Post Classical Africa

In the Ethiopian Empire, a large African Christian community thrived. The ruling Solomonid Dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire claimed to have descended from the biblical King Solomon and to be in possession of the Ark of the Covenant.

After the European colonization of Africa later, Christianity also spread elsewhere in Africa with a large degree of syncretism with traditional belief systems.

Post Classical African Art

There was a rich tradition of post classical African art. Traditional post classical African art includes a variety of ceremonial and decorative masks throughout Africa.

The Kingdom of Ghana was renowned for its elaborate gold work. Later, during the Empire of Mali and Songhay Kingdom's rule, Timbuktu became a well-known center of culture, learning, and art. There are still remains of the elaborate mosques built in the city.

Further south, archeological evidence and artifacts found in the lower Niger Basin in modern-day Nigeria show unique and elaborate techniques for crafting clay, ivory, and metal sculptures.

Christian Ethiopia also had a unique artistic and architectural style.

Fig 5 - An elaborate relief sculpture from Benin on display today at the Lourve.

Post Classical Africa Technology, Learning, and Science

The advances of post classical African technology often go under recognized by Western historians.

The Bantu migrations helped to spread farming, irrigation, and herding techniques from West Africa to the rest of Africa. The introduction of the camel in the 7th and 8th centuries played an enormously important role in the development of trade across the Sahara that led to the flourishing of the kingdoms and empires of the Sahel. This trade helped to further spread technology.

The Arab and Islamic influence on learning and technology was evident in North Africa and the Sahel. Especially during the Mali Empire's Golden Age under Mansa Musa, it emerged as a leading center of learning. The Sankoré University had one of the largest collections of manuscripts in the world.

The use of iron and bronze spread to North, West, and East Africa from the Islamic world. Copper and iron production and smelting were common in West Africa even before the post classical era. In the 1750s, in the Congo, Portuguese colonial smiths using European techniques produced steel that was considered of lesser quality than that of their native counterparts.

In medicine, there is evidence that inoculation against smallpox was practiced in Africa. Traditional medicinal techniques were also reported to be successful against it and other diseases on slave ships, evidence that there was a fairly advanced use of traditional and natural remedies in the post classical African world.