| The Rise and Spread of Islam continue |
| By the tenth century A.D., networks of commerce had been established far into the interior of the African continent, between North and West Africa, and between East Africa and the central interior. Within the Sudan and along the East African coastline, old markets grew and new markets were founded. These markets turned into prosperous and wealthy cities. Examples of cities in the Sudan include Kumbi, Audagost, Timbuktu, Gao, and Jenne. In East Africa emerged the cities of Kilwa, Zanzibar, Mogadishu, and Mombasa, amound many. All these cities flourished and became powerful and wealth through trade with either the Berbers or the Arabs. With the trade came also the spread and influence of the Islamic faith and ideals into East and West Africa. However, the degree of influence and Islamic conversion differed bweteen the two regions. In East Africa, many coastal Africans converted to Islam. Urbanization developed, and the trading markets grew to become prosperous cities. Mosques were built. Intermarriage between the Africans and Arabs also occurred. This helped expand the trading settlements and helped successful trade with the Indian Ocean. This trade was successful until the arrival of the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, when they slowly destroyed what the Africans had built. The Islam influence in West Africa was more indirect. Islam sought converts primarily in the trading communities within the cities. The townspeople and the people from the countryside never converted to Islam and continued proacticing their old traditions. By the thirteenth century, kings of various states also started to convert to the Islamic faith for commercial and political reasons. From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, Islam expanded into the Sudanic regions and helped in the rise of powerful states. Islam brought a literate bureaucracy, Islamic learning, and the idea of centralized power and authority. The influence of Islam was important for two reasons. It revived and expanded commerce, and it helped in the development of powerful states, such as the states of Mali, Songhai, and Kanem-Bornu. These states acted as middlemen in the trade between the Sudan and the interior along the West African coast. Many powerful smal states arose along the coast of West Africa as a result, such as the state of Benin, the Akan states, and the kingdoms of Kongo and Luba. The Africans on the east coast also traded with people from the central interior, creating new political entities in that region, such as the "Great" Zimbabwe Civilization. |
| East Africa read pages 372-375 in your text book also check out the following websites: |