1.4 Africa’s Ancient Societies

Egypt and Nubia (also called Kush) both grew along the Nile around 3000 BCE. Nubia, in present-day southern Egypt and Sudan, was the source of much of Egypt's gold, ivory and other luxury goods. Control of that trade caused centuries of conflict, and at times Egypt conquered Nubia.

Around 750 BCE the tables turned. Nubian kings conquered Egypt and ruled it for about a century as the twenty-fifth dynasty, often called the Black Pharaohs. Later, the Nubian city of Meroë became a center of ironworking with its own writing system, and Nubian rulers built more pyramids than Egypt did.

The Aksumite Empire grew in present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea starting around 100 BCE. Its location was its strength: through its Red Sea ports, Aksum traded with the Mediterranean, the Roman Empire, Arabia and India, exporting goods like ivory and gold.

Aksum minted its own coins in gold, silver and bronze, which few ancient states did. It developed its own script, Ge'ez. In the 300s CE, King Ezana made Aksum the first African state to adopt Christianity. His coins show the change: earlier designs used older religious symbols, and later ones show a cross.

Aksum chose Christianity on its own terms, centuries before European colonialism or the transatlantic slave trade. Ge'ez is still the main language of worship in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

The Nok society, in present-day central Nigeria, emerged around 500 BCE and was one of the earliest ironworking societies in West Africa. It's best known for terracotta (baked clay) sculptures of people and animals. The human figures show detailed hairstyles and jewelry.

These sculptures are the oldest surviving evidence of a complex, settled society south of the Sahara. Archaeologists began uncovering Nok's history in the 1940s, and the style may be an ancestor of later Yoruba and Benin art.

From the late 1700s on, African American writers and ministers pointed to Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia in sermons, essays and histories. These examples answered racist stereotypes that Africans had no government or culture, and those writings became part of the early foundations of African American Studies.

In the mid-1900s, research on Africa's ancient societies supported African demands for independence from European colonial rule. The new nations chose names that honored the past: the Gold Coast became Ghana in 1957, and Mali took its name in 1960.