Art and Architecture of Sub-Saharan Africa Module 7 Done 1
Ile-Ife and Benin Sculpture
The Yoruba and Benin cultures, located in modern Nigeria, were known for producing bronze and ivory sculptures from the 13th through the 19th centuries.
Learning Objectives
Describe the characteristics of Ile-Ife and Benin sculpture.
Key Points
Ife, home to the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria, was established around the ninth century CE and reached its artistic peak between 1200 and 1400 CE.
Ife is renowned for its naturalistic bronze sculptures.
Stone and terra cotta artwork were also common.
Leaders were often depicted with large heads to signify their power.
The Benin Empire, which ruled Nigeria from the 11th to the late 19th century, created sculptures in various media for political, social, and religious purposes.
In the 15th century, Benin art began incorporating European styles due to contact with Portuguese traders and colonists.
Key Terms
Terra cotta: Hard, red-brown unglazed earthenware used for pottery and building construction.
Deities: Divine beings; gods or goddesses.
Yoruba
Ife is the ancestral home of the Yoruba people, who reside in southwestern Nigeria, specifically in present-day Osun State.
The Yoruba people represent one of the largest ethnic groups in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a population of approximately 40 million, predominantly in Nigeria.
Evidence suggests habitation at the site dates as far back as 600 BCE, with some theories proposing their development from the Nok culture (1000 BCE-500 CE).
The word "ife" means "expansion" in Yoruba.
According to Yoruba faith, Ife is the origin of humanity.
Oduduwa created the world where Ife would be built.
His brother, Obatala, created the first humans from clay.
The city flourished as a substantial settlement between the ninth and 12th centuries CE.
Yoruba artwork production peaked between 1200 and 1400 CE.
After this peak, political and economic power shifted to the neighboring kingdom of Benin, leading to a decline in Ife's artistic prominence.
Artwork of Ife
Ife is most famous for its naturalistic bronze sculptures, exemplifying realism in precolonial African art through hollow-cast bronze techniques.
Important people were often depicted with large heads.
The Yoruba believed that the Ase, or inner power and energy, resided in the head.
Rulers were often portrayed with covered mouths to moderate the power of their speech.
Houses in Ife
Everyday houses were made of mud with thatched roofs and bare earth floors, featuring carved doors.
Some houses featured elaborate interior and exterior designs, including Uli art designed by Igbo women.
Benin
In 1897, the British led the Punitive Expedition, ransacking the Benin kingdom and confiscating much of their artwork.
Over 3,000 brass plaques were seized and are now held in museums around the world.
In 1936, Oba Akenzua II initiated a movement to repatriate the art.
Nigeria bought approximately 50 bronzes from the British Museum between the 1950s and 1970s.
Nigeria has repeatedly requested the return of the remaining artifacts.
Sculpture of the Kingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo was a highly developed state in the 13th century, known for its nkisi (power objects).
Learning Objectives
Discuss the function of Kongolese nkisi and nkondi.
Key Points
The Kingdom of Kongo was established in the 13th century and was highly developed by the time of European contact.
Kongo had an extensive trading network involving ivory, copperware, ferrous metal goods, cloth, and pottery.
Nkisi are containers (ceramic vessels, gourds, animal horns, or shells) designed to hold spiritually-charged substances.
They were believed to aid in communication with the dead.
Nkisi made in human (anthropomorphic) or animal (zoomorphic) form were often used in divination practices for healing or good fortune.
Nkondi, whose etymological root means "to hunt," are believed to protect the user from forces of evil.
Key Terms
Ferrous: Iron-based.
Anthropomorphic: Having the form or attributes of a human.
Zoomorphic: Having the shape, form, or likeness of an animal.
The Kingdom of the Kongo
The Kingdom of the Kongo was an African kingdom located in west central Africa.
Present-day: northern Angola, Cabinda, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the southernmost part of Gabon.
Extent:
From the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east.
From the Congo River in the north to the Kwanza River in the south.
Architecture of the Sub-Saharan Civilizations
Architecture of Djenne
Djenné, once a thriving town in Mali, is known for its Great Mosque.
This is the largest example of Sudanese-style mud-brick architecture.
Learning Objectives
Locate Djenné in time and place, and describe its Sudanese-style mud-brick architecture.
Key Points
From the 11th to 13th centuries, Djenné was a leading commercial center in west Africa.
After its decline during the rise of the Mali Empire, it continued to operate as an important trading post through the 17th century.
The town, designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988, is famous for its distinctive Sudanese-style mud-brick architecture.
The Great Mosque, originally built in the 13th or 14th century and then rebuilt in 1907, is the largest mud-brick building in the world.
It is considered by many architects the greatest achievement of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style, with clear Islamic influence.
Key Terms
Pilaster: A rectangular column that projects partially from the wall to which it is attached; it gives the appearance of support but is only for decoration.
Façade: The face of a building, especially the front.
Load-bearing: Architectural structural system in which the walls form the main source of support for the building.
Qibla: The direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during the Call to Prayer.
Minaret: A tower outside a mosque from which a muezzin leads the Call to Prayer.
Parapet: Part of a perimeter that extends above the roof.
History
Djenné is a town and an urban commune in the inland Niger Delta region of central Mali.
Between the 11th and 13th centuries, Djenné was a leading commercial center in West Africa.
As a major terminal in the gold, salt, and slave trade of the trans-Saharan trade route, it flourished for several centuries.
Much of the trans-Saharan trade in and out of Timbuktu passed through Djenné.
Djenné was also a chief center of Sudanese Islam in this period.
Its Great Mosque was an important pillar of religious life.
However, the rise of the Mali Empire in the 13th century contributed to the civilization's steady decline, and its brief period of dominance ended when it was reduced to a tributary state.
Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Djenné and Timbuktu were both important trading posts in a long-distance trade network.
Both towns became centers of Islamic scholarship, and in the 17th century, Djenné was a thriving center of learning.
The town is famous for its distinctive Sudanese-style mud-brick architecture, most notably the Great Mosque.
To the south of the town is Djenné-Jéno, the site of one of the oldest-known towns in sub-Saharan Africa.
Djenné together with Djenné-Jéno and the Great Mosque, was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Architecture of Aksum and Lalibela
Aksum and Lalibela were cities in northern Ethiopia known for architectural achievements.
Learning Objectives
Identify the famous rock-cut churches of Lalibela and the stelae, obelisk, and Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion of Aksum.
Key Points
Aksum was the original capital of the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled the region from about 400 BCE to the 10th century.
The stelae were large stone towers that served as grave markers and reached up to 33 meters high.
In 1937, the 24-meter tall, 1,700-year-old Obelisk of Aksum was discovered.
Today, it is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of engineering from the height of the Aksumite empire.
The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, believed to house the Ark of the Covenant, bears a design similar to that of Eastern Orthodox churches in Europe.
Its most recent building, constructed in the 1950s, has a dome similar to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
Lalibela is a holy town most famous for its churches carved from the living rock, which play an important part in the history of rock-cut architecture.
Its buildings, built in the 11th and 12th centuries, are considered symbolic representations of Jerusalem.
Key Terms
Obelisk: A tall, square, tapered stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument.
Rock-cut architecture: The creation of structures by excavating solid rock where it naturally occurs.
Aksum
Aksum (sometimes spelled Axum) is a city in northern Ethiopia that was the original capital of the Kingdom of Aksum.
A naval and trading power, the kingdom ruled the region from about 400 BCE to the 10th century, reaching its height under King Ezana (baptized as Abreha) in the fourth century.
The stelae are the most identifiable part of the Aksumite legacy.
These stone towers marked graves and were often engraved with a pattern or emblem denoting the person's rank.
The largest number are in the Northern Stelae Park, ranging to the grand size of the Great Stele (33 meters high, 2.35 meters deep, and 520 tons), which is believed to have fallen and broken during construction.
The stelae have most of their mass above-ground but are stabilized by massive underground counterweights.
Architecture of Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city constructed by the Mwenemutapa and is perhaps the most famous site in southern Africa.
Learning Objectives
Distinguish the features of the Hill Complex, the Great Enclosure, and the Valley Complex of Great Zimbabwe.
Key Takeaways
Small cattle-herding communities began to appear in the vicinity of what would become Great Zimbabwe from the fourth through seventh century CE.
As the people began to exploit the nearby gold mines, their leaders became very rich and were able to form a centralized state.
Capable of sustaining up to 18,000 people, Great Zimbabwe was built between 1100 and 1400 as a massive capital city and home to the king.
Elaborate artifacts, including the famous soapstone Zimbabwe Birds, suggest that Great Zimbabwe was the hub of an extensive global trade network.
By 1500, Great Zimbabwe was abandoned, either because of changes in the environment or changes in trade networks.
Though European colonists long attempted to deny that Great Zimbabwe had been built by native Africans, it has become a major cultural landmark and source of pride in Africa.
Key Terms
Pastoralist: A person whose primary occupation is the raising of livestock.
Development of Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe is a ruined civilization constructed by the Mwenemutapa and is perhaps the most famous site in southern Africa.
A monumental city built of stone, it is one of the oldest and largest structures in southern Africa.
It is located about 150 miles from the modern Zimbabwean capital of Harare.
Great Zimbabwe was the capital of a medieval kingdom that occupied the region on the eastern edge of Kalahari Desert.
As there are no written records from the people who inhabited Great Zimbabwe, knowledge of the culture is dependent on archaeology.
Small farming and iron-mining communities began to appear in the area between the fourth and seventh centuries CE.
Most were cattle pastoralists, but the discovery of gold and new mining techniques contributed to a rise in trade with caravan merchants to the north.
As local leaders became rich from trade, they grew in power and created the centralized city-state of Great Zimbabwe.
Monument Construction
Construction of the monument began in the 11th century and continued through the fourteenth century, spanning an area of 1,780 acres and covering a radius of 100 to 200 miles.
At its peak, it could have housed up to 18,000 people.
The load-bearing walls of its structures were built using granite with no mortar, evidence of highly skilled masonry.
The ruins form three distinct architectural groups:
Hill Complex (occupied from the ninth through 13th centuries)
Great Enclosure (occupied from the 13th through 15th centuries)
Valley Complex (occupied from the 14th through 16th centuries).
One of the most prominent features of Great Zimbabwe was its walls, some of which reached 11 meters high and extended approximately 820 feet.