on the continent some 5,000 years ago led to the development
of a sedentary lifestyle, domestication of animals and crops,
and the formation of organized societies, which took the form
of villages and larger human settlements. Th e typical African
family in ancient times was both a social/cultural and pro-
duction unit. It was a social unit because all individuals be-
longed to a family, which served as a vehicle for socialization
and cultural assimilation. Th e family therefore integrated
people into the culture of the entire community. As a produc-
tion unit, all members of a family were collectively involved
in tilling the land and producing agricultural products. Farm
produce was consumed collectively, while excesses were sold
in exchange for other goods the family lacked.
As in most ancient cultures, marriage was needed for
families to be established. Marriage was a compulsory rite
of passage. All individuals were expected to get married and
form their own families. Conditions that prevented people
from marrying were rare. Marriage was a union not just
of a woman and man but of two families, clans, and some-
times villages and empires. Naturally, new families were es-
tablished from preexisting ones, and the link between the
old and the new was important for generational continu-
ity. Th us, the Karanko of Sierra Leone had a proverb: Soron
i la ko yolke, meaning “One’s birth is like a chain.” Only
through family formation could humans guarantee genera-
tional continuity because the African race would have been
wiped out of existence without marriage, procreation, and
family organization.
Th e most prevalent type of family in ancient Africa was
the extended family. An extended family consists of numer-
ous families that descend from a single ancestor. Most ex-
tended families, oft en made up of several generations, lived
in compounds, with diff erent huts belonging to individual
families. New family compounds were established when
members of an extended family migrated to another part of
the town or an entirely new settlement. Th e history of sev-
eral communities in Africa is therefore replete with refer-
ences to migration. Also, new communities, which later
developed into large human settlements, were sometimes
founded by migratory families. Among the Yoruba of south-
western Nigeria, some families were exclusively responsible
for producing the king because the oral history of the com-
munity indicates that their forefathers were responsible for
establishing the community and laying the foundation of its
culture and tradition.
Th e family played a signifi cant role in determining the
social, economic, and political status or standing of an in-
dividual within the larger community. In both theory and
practice, an individual’s behavior represented the attitude
and general character of the family. Th e reason for t his is sim-
ple: Th e family was a vehicle for socialization. All members
conformed to certain modes or patterns of behavior that had
been laid down by the family’s founders or ancestors. Human
socialization began with the family, which molded its mem-
bers in important ways. A Yoruba saying, Ile la tin ko eso r’
ode (“Charity begins at home”), indicated that the household
molded and determined the public attitude and disposition
of an individual. Th e oral history of African peoples is replete
with references to families that are boastful, polite, humane,
aggressive, or antisocial.
While the family served as the primary and basic unit
of socialization, the well-being of the entire community was
measured by the stability of its numerous families. Families
marked by tension and crises risked neglect. Contracting a
marriage was more diffi cult, and a person’s social and eco-
nomic standing in the larger community was threatened.
Community-oriented opportunities, such as becoming chief,
were limited.
All families were traditionally headed by the oldest male,
because most African societies are patrilineal. Also, ancient
African societies were predominantly gerontocratic, mean-
ing that the oldest men and women were expected to guide
and lead the community because of their wealth of wisdom,
which comes with age. Again, among the Yoruba the oldest
man who looked aft er the day-to-day activities of the ex-
tended family was called the Olori ebi, or “the head of the
family.” It was also the role of the head of the family to reduce
friction among family members. Most families held regular
meetings to discuss the family’s aff airs. Th e head of the fam-
ily was the custodian of the family’s heritage. He organized
the family’s aff airs in accordance with the rules and regula-
tions laid down by the ancestors. All these rules and regula-
tions were parts of larger unwritten traditions and customs
transmitted orally from one generation to another.
Most families had cults of gods and goddesses they wor-
shiped daily, weekly, or yearly. Th e origins of some of these
cults are obscure, but what is clear is that they were associ-
ated with the history of the family’s ancestors or founders.
Interfamily relations served as the vehicle for the dispersal of
ancestral worship. Th e worship of some gods and goddesses
spread from one community to another through family mi-
gration. Sometimes, other families borrowed or adopted gods
that belonged to another family, or entire communities wor-
shiped of the deities of the ruling family.
Th e family was also a unit of production and distribu-
tion. One of the major purposes of family formation was the
need for helping hands on farms. Polygyny, or the practice
of taking more than one wife, guaranteed large households
when manpower was needed for agricultural production. Th e
size of families was signifi cant in determining an individual’s
status. Chieft aincies were sometimes conferred on people
who could prove that they had a large household.
Not all families derived means of survival and livelihood
from agriculture. Some were artisans such as wood carvers
and blacksmiths. Some were entertainers, while others were
diviners and healers. Th e skills required in these professions
were transmitted from one generation to another. Th e en-
dogamous nature of African families, where marriage took
place within the tribe or clan, ensured that skills were passed
from one generation to another within the family and was a448 family: Africa