such monuments built with dry stone. In additional to their
tremendous size and craft smanship, they represent a remark-
able engineering feat, not least because they were erected
without the benefi t of mortar.
Th e Swahili Coast is located along the east coast of Africa,
from Mogadishu (in Somalia) down to northern Mozambique.
Swahili culture was the product of a unique blend of African
traditions mixed with Arab and Islamic infl uences. In Th e
Periplus of the Erythraean, a sailor’s handbook written by an
Egyptian Greek in the fi rst century c.e., the author describes
how East Africa traded with other nations in Arabia, the Per-
sian Gulf, and Asia. In time these coastal cities drew visitors
and migrants from those same regions. Th e Swahili popula-
tion was concentrated in the cities that dotted the Swahili
Coast and the off shore islands. Trade with the Indian Ocean
world was well established probably no later than 600 c.e.,
long before Islam made inroads among the coastal peoples.
West African cities of size existed even before the open-
ing up of the trans-Saharan trade on a signifi cant scale and
the penetration of Islam. Th e site of Jenne-jeno (in present-
day Mali) on a fl oodplain of the Niger River provides clear
evidence of an urban center before the Christian era. Th e
city was founded in approximately 250 b.c.e. and fl ourished
between the second century b.c.e. and the 15th century c.e.
Already by 200 c.e. it probably had a population of 4,000,
which was later to swell to between 10,000 and 25,000. Its
prosperity was the result of the active trade its merchants
plied as they capitalized on the movement of goods along
the Niger. It was close to large deposits of gold and cop-
per and enjoyed the added advantage of being protected by
marshes largely impenetrable to outside invaders. Fishing
and intensive agriculture on the fertile fl oodplain contrib-
uted to its thriving population.
Other West African cities were founded at an early date
but assumed the status of great cities only later. In the savanna
and forest lands of Nigeria, the Yoruba and Edo peoples built
large urban centers surrounded by earthen walls and earth-
works. Most notably, the Yoruba city of Ile Ife was probably
established as early as the fourth century b.c.e. in southwest-
ern Nigeria, but it emerged as a large and powerful city only
in the 10th century c.e.
Th e Hausa city-states of Kano, Zaria, Katsina, and Gobir
in northern Nigeria were founded possibly as early as the
fi ft h century c.e. Tapping into the lucrative caravan trade
that linked neighbors to the west (the West African states of
Mali and Songhay) and east (Kanem-Bornu) with Mediterra-
nean ports on the coast of North Africa, they acquired great
wealth and grew dramatically in size, but scholars know little
of these city-states before the 16th century.
Carthage, a port city founded by the Phoenicians ca. 800
b.c.e., developed into a unique civilization that was variously
Semitic, Mediterranean, and African in its origins. By the
sixth century b.c.e. it dominated the entire North African
coast. Two centuries later it controlled much of the western
Mediterranean world and extended its infl uence even beyond
the Strait of Gibraltar, reaching Britain in the north and sail-
ing down the coast of West Africa. Its immense wealth and
power eventually brought it into confl ict with the Roman Re-
public. Th ree costly confl icts with Rome between 264 and 146
b.c.e., known as the Punic Wars, ultimately resulted in the
Roman conquest and destruction of Carthage. Of its popula-
tion, which may have exceeded 700,000, only 50,000 inhabit-
ants remained alive by the end of the Th ird Punic War.
Aft er it was destroyed and razed, Carthage was resur-
rected in 122 b.c.e. by the Romans and renamed Colonia
Junonia. Th is city too was destroyed, but in 29 b.c.e. Caesar
Augustus rebuilt it, naming it Colonia Julia Carthago. Car-
thage declined aft er the third century c.e. All told, Rome
built an impressive urban society along the North African
coast, with as many as 500 cities and a population of nearly
two million inhabitants. Roman rule ended in North Africa
with the invasion in 429 c.e. of the Vandals, who were con-
quered in turn by the Byzantine Empire in 534 c.e.EGYPT
BY DAVID PETECHUK
Egypt was once believed to be a “civilization without cities,”
but archaeological explorations over the past several decades
have shown otherwise. Settlement excavations in Egypt have
revealed that towns and cities date back at least to 3500 b.c.e.
Th e cities were essentially regional capitals connected to
smaller towns that made up various administrative districts.
It would be many centuries, however, before Egypt would de-
velop cities as they are thought of today.
Although it was home to one of the most ancient civili-
zations in the world, Egypt has kept the secrets of its ancient
settlements and cities relatively hidden. Part of the reason is
that people generally lived along the fertile riverbeds, espe-
cially along the Nile River. As a result, they also lived near
shift ing fl oodplains. Because houses and most other build-
ings—other than the stone temples and tombs—were built
of mud brick, recurring fl oods and the changing course of
the Nile in ancient times have destroyed the bulk of these
dwellings. Furthermore, the Egyptians usually built direct-
ly on top of previous buildings and settlements because of
the scarcity of good building sites. Consequently, much of
Egypt’s ancient cities—such as Heliopolis, which is largely
buried under the urban expansion of Cairo, and Th ebes,
where the current city of Luxor rests—remain inaccessible
to archaeological research.URBANIZATION
Th e people who lived in the Nile River valley of Egypt be-
fore 5000 b.c.e. were primarily hunters and gatherers. Th e
oldest-known farming village existed about 15 miles outside
present-day Cairo from about 5000 b.c.e. to 4000 b.c.e. With
a population believed to be between 1,300 and 2,000, it in-
cluded residential areas, work facilities, and public areas. As
villages and settlements grew, however, the rural communitycities: Egypt 205