Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

CENTRALLY ORGANIZED HIERARCHICAL SOCIETIES

Th e ancient civilization of Nubia in present-day Sudan and

part of southern Egypt (also known as Kush during certain

periods) formed around 3100 b.c.e. Th is area came under

Egyptian rule between 2000 and 1000 b.c.e. and as such is

outside the terms of this discussion, but for much of its his-

tory it was autonomous from Egypt. (Nubia even governed

Egypt from around 800 to 700 b.c.e.) From about 900 b.c.e.

this civilization was based on a divine kingship, which de-

veloped from a loosely related collective of locally governed

human groups. Th is might have been partly due to the na-

ture of their livelihoods as nomadic pastoralists and the low

population density of the region. Women appear to have had

an important role in Nubian culture. Nubian queens were de-

picted in art as defending the nation’s interests, and in reli-

gion the cult of the goddess Isis was widespread. Th e Nubians

developed a system of writing and were also known for their

skilled warrior bowmen.

Th e great African kingdom of Axum (present-day Ethio-

pia, northeastern Africa) emerged as a city-state during the

fi rst century c.e. and dominated trade in the Red Sea by

around the third century c.e. Th is state was another centrally

organized, hierarchical, sociopolitical system. Th e king was

the leader of the political, military, and religious systems.

Axum was founded in the Ethiopian highlands, which at the

time was fertile ground where agricultural innovations such

as terracing and the ox-drawn plow increased productivity.

Th is civilization developed an indigenous written script, en-

gaged in extensive trade with Arabia, and issued its own coin-

age. Axum gained control over other lands (including ancient

Nubia) and, at the height of the empire, there was a fi rmly es-

tablished elite class whose members surrounded themselves

with luxury goods from Axum and beyond.

LESS CENTRALLY ORGANIZED AND LESS

HIERARCHICAL SOCIETIES

Urban societies that appear from archaeological evidence

to have been less centrally governed also existed in Africa.

One example is the settlement of Jenne-jeno, which appeared

sometime in the third century b.c.e. in Mali (West Africa)

near the modern town of Djenné. (It reached its height around

900 c.e. in the medieval period.) Despite the apparent lack of

centralized governance and rigid hierarchy, the city grew to

be very densely populated with houses situated very close to-

gether, and there may have been a centralized marketplace.

Households were oft en organized based on trade (farming,

metallurgy, fi shing, and ceramics). Other than the location of

housing, dedication to a specifi c craft did not seem to indicate

any hierarchical status.

It is thought that many of the pastoralists, agricultur-

alists, and fi shermen in the region around Jenne-jeno had

moved from the drying-out Sahara. West African rice became

a n i mpor ta nt ag r icu lt u ra l produc t. Houses were made of mud

bricks. Despite numerous human groups in the region and

diff erent ethnic backgrounds, centralized, rigid hierarchical

political systems did not prevail in the Niger delta. Archaeol-

ogists typically look for evidence of monumental architecture

as one of the main signs of a political system ruled by one per-

son or a relatively small group of wealthy individuals. Sites in

the Niger delta off er no such evidence (with the exception of

the wall surrounding the city of Jenne-jeno, which has been

interpreted somewhat tentatively as a defensive structure to

protect the city from fl oods).

In other areas of ancient Africa many nomadic and semi-

nomadic pastoral groups (for example, some of the Berber—

also known as Amazigh—groups) in northern Africa near the

Nile delta during the fi rst millennium b.c.e. were organized

into segmentary societies characterized by social and politi-

cal systems that oft en did not have a specifi ed leader but that

placed individuals within a series of progressively larger net-

works such as family, lineage, clan, and tribe. Th ese networks

played a primary governing role only when it was necessary

to settle disputes with opposing networks.

Th e archaeological record is not as complete yet for social

organization in ancient southern Africa, but it is known that

around 300 to 400 c.e. sedentary groups that relied on agri-

culture and herding lived in villages. Many of these villages

engaged in trade for goods from at least as far away as the

eastern Africa coast.

ANCIENT SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN LIGHT

OF MODERN SYSTEMS

Th e term chiefdom is applied to societies in which one indi-

vidual holds the decision-making power and in which his or

her authority is related to his or her relationship to an im-

portant ancestor of the group (oft en the founder); ability to

communicate with the ancestors; success in wielding the

power and maintaining or improving living standards; or ob-

taining loyalty in a patron-client relationship through a large

following. Th ere were African chiefdoms in western Africa

that were connected by a council of chiefs who shared power

among many leaders representing their respective chiefdoms.

Many of the southern African Bantu societies that were ob-

served by the fi rst European travelers (aft er 1400 c.e.) were

organized into chiefdoms where successive chiefs inherited

their position based on their lineage back to previous chiefs.

Another feature of these societies was the categorization of

clans in which some were less defi nitively associated with the

royal lineage but were recognized as related enough to allow

clan members to be part of the higher leadership commu-

nity. In this way a system of hierarchy was established based

on clan membership. However, there is little evidence from

ancient times that tells when human groups developed into

chiefdoms, what their social and political organization had

been prior to that development, or if they had always been

organized into chiefdoms.

Colonialists may have created the concept of tribe, which

has been applied to African societies from the ancient past

(as well as today). A tribe has been defi ned as a society larger

social organization: Africa 1013

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