ethics of civilization

North Africa and Europeans
Tunisia and Tripoli 1500-1800
Yusuf Qaramanli (r. 1795-1832) managed to consolidate his political authority and revive the economy, making Tripoli a maritime power with help from the Ottomans. After his corsairs captured two American ships in 1796, Yusuf released the one which was carrying money to the Dey of Algiers but made the other a warship. In a treaty the Americans promised to pay Tripoli $52,000 and give them naval materials; but when these did not arrive, Yusuf declared war in 1801. The Americans blockaded Tripoli, but in 1803 corsairs captured the Philadelphia and its crew of 307 men. For two years the Americans tried to help Ahmad overthrow his brother Yusuf until they made a treaty with Yusuf, paying $60,000 as prisoners on both sides were released. Like the Husainids of Tunisia, Yusuf made produce and livestock state monopolies. He gained duty from slaves sold at Tripoli and tribute from Fazzan's trans-Saharan trade.

After 1810 the British persuaded Tripoli to end its monopoly on livestock trade, and in 1816 the powerful British fleet forced Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli to prohibit piracy and release Christian captives. Two years later the French fleet added their influence on the Maghrib to end piracy. In 1830 Admiral de Rosamel's French squadron made the pasha sign a treaty not to interfere in Algeria nor engage in piracy, and to limit its navy. Yusuf had so much trouble with his finances that he debased the currency seven times between 1829 and 1832. 'Abdul-Jalil began a tribal rebellion in 1831 and asked for British protection. When the British insisted the pasha pay his foreign debts, his special levy stimulated more rebellion. In 1832 Yusuf abdicated to his son 'Ali. British consul Warrington ignored his instructions to be neutral and helped the rebels get weapons from Malta. The British government declined Warrington's request for military intervention, because they were negotiating with the French, who supported the Tripoli government. Eventually in 1835 the Ottomans sent a fleet commanded by Tahir Pasha and arrested 'Ali Qaramanli, replacing him with Nashib Pasha, whom the rebels of Manshiya accepted. The previous rebel choice, Muhammad Qaramanli, fled and committed suicide.

After studying various Sufi orders, in 1837 Sidi Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Sanusi (1787-1859) founded the Sanusiya tariqa in Mecca. Four years later he settled in Banghazi, and in Cyrenaica the Sanusis resisted foreign influences. Cyrenaica was separated administratively from Tripolitania, and the Sanusis helped Turkish officials collect taxes and enforce laws. Probably to avoid Turkish authorities, Sanusi moved the seat of his order to Jaghbub in 1856. Like many Sufis, Sanusi wrote a book describing the phases a soul passes through to be purified and united with God; but the Sanusiya Order also became a political movement, and by the time of his death he had founded 21 lodges in Cyrenaica. He was succeeded by his son, and the movement spread to Tunisia, Egypt, the Hijaz, and central Africa.

The Tripolitanian governor defeated the rebel leaders of Tarhuna, Fazzan, and Sirta in 1841, and the next year Gharyan submitted. Inland rebels continued to fight the Turks, and the most famous Ghuma al-Mahmudi was not killed until 1858. After Tunisia abolished slavery in 1846 and Algeria in 1848, Tripoli increased its slave trade, sending 2,733 to the Levant in 1850, nearly twice the previous year. A decree abolished slavery in Tripolitania in 1857, though slaves still passed through Tripoli to the Ottoman empire even after slavery was abolished by Turkey in 1889.

Ottoman authority modernized Islamic courts, and in 1851 a mixed court was established to help foreigners. In 1853 modern secondary schools began teaching history, science, and European languages as well as Arabic and Turkish. In 1865 governor Mahmud Nedim Pasha reformed the Tripolitanian administration and established new criminal, civil, and commercial courts. Governor 'Ali Rashid Rida (r. 1867-70) used French technical help and allowed them to settle in Tubruq until British resentment caused his recall. Food distribution centers were established in 1870 to relieve a famine.


Tunisia and Tripoli 1500-1800
Tunisia's 'Ali Bey II had promised Algerians favors with olive oil and cattle; but Hamuda Bey defied Algerian rulers in 1806, and Tunisia fought back three Algerian invasions in the next seven years. When the Janissaries revolted in 1811, Hamuda gained popularity by dissolving them. Hamuda's brother 'Uthman demoted vizier Yusuf to treasurer; but after ruling less than a year, 'Uthman was assassinated by his cousin Mahmud. His feared vizier Muhammad Zarruq had Yusuf assassinated in 1815 and was killed himself in 1822. Mahmud (r. 1814-24) fell back into raising taxes and monopolizing produce; farmers and merchants especially resented the tax and monopoly over olive oil. Under pressure by a naval squadron from France and Britain, Mahmud freed Christian captives and abolished slavery in 1816; but the Tunisians engaged in privateering during the Greek War. In 1817 a major plague ravaged Tunisia.

After a crisis in 1829, Husain Bey (r. 1824-35) signed a treaty with the French in 1830 that abolished the monopoly on produce, prohibited acts of piracy, confirmed previous trade treaties, made France most favored, and allowed European consuls to try all cases involving Europeans. Three days later Tripoli signed a similar treaty. Husain refused to allow the Ottoman official Tahir Pasha to land in Tunis to challenge the French blockade of Algeria, and he helped the French by allowing the sale of cattle for their army. However, Husain's brother Mustafa Bey (r. 1835-37) sent Tunisian troops to help Tahir Pasha's Ottoman fleet subdue a rebellion at Tripoli in 1836.

Ahmad Bey (r. 1837-55) resisted pressure to accept Ottoman sovereignty, and in 1836 the French warned the Sultan in Istanbul not to use force against Tunisia. The next year an Ottoman envoy asked for annual tribute to confirm their religious connection. In 1838 Ahmad sent the renowned scholar Ibrahim al-Riyahi to Istanbul with rich gifts to plead Tunisia's poverty. Ahmad founded a military school in 1840 and hired Europeans to train his officers. Tunisia banned the sale of slaves in 1841, and the next year children of slaves were pronounced free. In 1846 a manumission decree made owning slaves illegal. That year Ahmad was the first non-European ruler to visit Paris and was honored as an independent sovereign. He reduced privileges of Turks to give Tunisians equal rights. Tunisia did send 4,000 troops to help the Turks in the Crimean War of 1854. Some of Ahmad Bey's reforms wasted money, such as the large frigate built at La Goulette that could not make it through the channel to the sea. Despite his financial difficulties, the army was expanded to 26,000 men, and Ahmad had three palaces constructed. New taxes were put on olives and palm trees, and excises were imposed on all agricultural produce and livestock. The state monopolized the sale of tobacco, salt, and leather. These taxes and the corruption hurt agriculture. When the tithe on cereals was no longer enough for the army and the poor, grain was imported from Egypt.

Muhammad Bey (r. 1855-59) tried to defy the European consuls without relying on the local chiefs. He administered justice himself, and in 1857 he executed the Jew Samuel Sfez for having cursed a Muslim and the Islamic faith. However, the same year Muhammad issued the Pledge of Security that protected persons and property with equality for Muslims and non-Muslims; this law also allowed foreigners to own property in Tunisia. He rescinded oppressive taxes to stimulate agriculture. This reduced revenues; but the economy did not improve, because Ahmad Bey's extravagance had enriched the European merchants, who removed the gold and silver coins. When the foreign merchants refused to accept copper coins, Muhammad Bey borrowed from the Tunisians by issuing weaker currency in 1858.

Khayr al-Din and other leaders with pressure from the consuls insisted that the Bey keep the Pledge and reform corrupt government. So Muhammad appointed a constitutional commission in 1861 with Khayr al-Din as its president. However, he soon resigned in opposition to loans from Europe. While he was away for seven years, Khayr al-Din wrote The Surest Path to Know the Conditions of the State in which he compared 21 European states so that they could learn how to be prosperous. He suggested that Muslims learn from others, because the whole world is becoming like one united country with nations that need each other. Islamic law should protect the rights of all, not just Muslims, and Muslims have a right to borrow any methods that will help them prosper. Europeans have made much progress in science, industry, and agriculture by allowing personal liberty while maintaining justice under the rule of law. Rulers should be restrained by Islamic law and policies based on reason.

Muhammad al-Sadiq Bey (r. 1859-82) revived the commission, and the new constitution was promulgated in 1860, making the Bey a constitutional and hereditary monarch. Ministers were responsible to a council of sixty appointed by the Bey. The corrupt vizier Mustafa Khaznadar had been in office for a quarter century, and the 'ulama (religious scholars) did not want to give up their influence either. Provincial governors made fortunes collecting taxes. Thus the constitution failed and was suspended after four years. Yet between 1863 and 1871 the British, Austrians, Italians, and French accepted the jurisdiction of the Tunisian courts.

In 1862 Khaznadar began borrowing money for Tunisia in fraudulent transactions. After the poll tax was doubled, 'Ali ben Guedahem and the Tijaniya brotherhood led the tribal rebellion that erupted in March 1864. A month later Oudi Sidi Shaykh and the Dergawa brotherhood revolted; but most resistance was crushed by April 1865. Britain, France, and Italy sent squadrons to protect their interests. Financial ruin was compounded by drought, famine, a cholera epidemic in 1865, and a typhus epidemic in 1868. Smuggling food to Algeria in 1867 made these worse. Khaznadar continued to borrow from abroad. After long negotiations an International Financial Commission was composed equally of English, French, and Italians in 1869. The Tunisian debt was reduced from 275 million francs to 125 million, and treasury bills were sold with five percent interest. The Tunisian army was reduced to 8,000 men, and the military academy was closed. Khaznadar then profited by issuing debased coins in 1871. That year Italy used force to gain concessions. Finally Khayr al-Din went to Istanbul for the third time, and the Ottoman sultan confirmed al-Sadiq as his vizier in November 1871.

Richard Wood gained concessions for England, and the London Bank of Tunis opened in 1873. That year Villet proved that Khaznadar owned one-fifth of the treasury bills, 24 million francs. Khaznadar was dismissed and replaced by Khayr al-Din. He reduced taxes and required tax-collectors to submit annual accounts. Good harvests enabled him to redeem treasury bills. He founded the Sadiqiya College with a modern curriculum in 1875. English enterprises set up with the help of the previous prime minister failed, and Khayr al-Din refused to allow the French to build a rail line that would help them invade Algeria.


Algeria 1500-1800
In 1802 Algerian Ra'is Hamidu was acclaimed for capturing a Portuguese brig with 282 men and 44 cannons. The Jewish ship-owner Nephtali Bushnaq, who transported wheat and influenced the government, was killed by a Turkish soldier in 1805. Religious scholars thanked the assassin, and rioting Algerians killed about 200 Jews and looted their property. Troops also killed Mustafa Dey (r. 1798-1805) and the next six deys over eleven years. Algerian privateers had a very big year in 1812 when they took in 2,136,675 gold francs. The United States declared war on Algeria in 1815 because of the privateering, and Commodore Stephen Decatur defeated and killed Ra'is Hamidu. In 1816 British admiral Exmouth went to Algiers and forced the Dey to free slaves from the Ionian islands, Sardinia, and Naples. After doing the same to Tunis, he returned and demanded that slavery and privateering be abolished. When the Dey refused, he bombarded Algiers with 34,000 shells on August 27, 1816. A devastating plague hit Algeria the next year. In 1827 Muhammad al-Kabir led a tribal rebellion that attacked al-Mu'askar, but he was captured and executed. Followers of Ahmed al-Tijani (d. 1815) resented the Turks so much that they considered the French conquest of Algeria in 1830 an answer to their prayers.

In the late 18th century the Jewish merchant families, Bakri and Bushnaq, sold Algerian wheat to the French army. The French owed them millions of francs, and they owed the Algerian government. Husain Dey came to power in 1818 and tried to get French consul Pierre Deval to pay this debt; but his nephew Alexandre Deval fortified the French factories with cannons. When Pierre Deval refused to reply to letters about the debts in 1827, Husain Dey slapped him with a fly swatter. Husain refused to make reparations or amends for the insult, and so the French government blockaded Algerian ports. In October 1827 a united squadron of British, French, and Russian warships destroyed the remaining Tunisian and Algerian fleets with their Turkish and Egyptian vessels in the battle of Navarino. In March 1830 Charles X opened the Chamber of Deputies session by announcing the invasion of Algeria led by Bourmont. In July Husain Dey signed a capitulation to France and left for Naples. About a hundred million francs were taken from the Bey and private sources and sent to France, though only half of it went into the treasury to pay for the expedition; the rest was looted by those invading. French elections and demonstrations forced Charles X to abdicate in August, and Bourmont withdrew the troops and took refuge in Spain.

The Polignac government of France retained Algiers and let military commander Clauzel begin colonization. In 1831 Clauzel tried to put Tunisian princes over Oran and Constantine under French sovereignty. Berthezene and Pichon, who wanted to restrain speculation and settlers, were recalled, and in 1832 Rovigo used force to convert a mosque into a cathedral and destroyed two Muslim cemeteries to build a road. Colonization of Algeria was debated in France, and the policy was called limited occupation (occupation restreinte). Resistance led by Emir 'Abdul-Qadir and Moroccan encroachment stimulated the French to take control of Oran and Constantine in 1831, and the next year Morocco ruler 'Abdul-Rahman agreed to withdraw his troops from Algeria. 'Annaba and Bijaya, which Bourmont had evacuated, were reoccupied. As French colonists settled in the al-Mitija plain, 6,000 troops were stationed at the Blida military base.

In February 1834 French general Desmichels in Oran made an agreement with 'Abdul-Qadir recognizing his authority in the region around the towns of Oran, Arzu, and Mustaghanim, which the French controlled; but the first French governor-general Marshal Clauzel, appointed as military commander and civil administrator, marched on al-Mu'askar in December 1835. 'Abdul-Qadir abandoned his capital, and Clauzel set it on fire. The next month Clauzel occupied and garrisoned Tlemcen, extorting the costs of his expedition from the kulughlis. Ahmad Bey governed Constantine since 1826 and after 1830 wanted to be an independent regency under the Ottomans. In November 1836 Clauzel tried to storm the city with 8,700 men but failed and lost a thousand men. General Bugeaud, who had defeated 'Abdul-Qadir at Sikkak, signed the Treaty of Tafna with him, redefining their boundaries in May 1837. In July, Ahmad Bey declined to sign a treaty when he learned an Ottoman fleet was approaching; but a French naval squadron kept them away. In October 1837 French forces captured Constantine as Ahmad Bey fled into the desert. Damremont was killed assaulting Constantine, and Valée became governor-general.

Emir 'Abdul-Qadir won over tribes in eastern Algeria and renewed his holy war when Valée defied the agreement in 1839. 'Abdul-Qadir's warriors invaded al-Mitija plain and killed more than a hundred European settlers. Valée was replaced by General Bugeaud (1841-47), who implemented the policy of total occupation. The French used the tribal method of razzia even more efficiently as they destroyed villages, stole cattle, burned crops, and chopped down trees. French troops led by Col. Pélissier caused hundreds of Muslims in caves to suffocate from smoke. The French army forced 'Abdul-Qadir to flee to Morocco in 1843. The next year the French defeated the Moroccan army at Isly, and the French navy bombarded Tangier and Mogador. The Moroccan government signed the Treaty of Tangier, promising to treat the Emir as an outlaw. In the Dahra young chief Bu Ma'za claimed to be the mahdi, allowing 'Abdul-Qadir to invade the Tafna valley in 1846; but the next year Bu Ma'za surrendered, and the Emir took refuge in Morocco. Bugeaud disobeyed orders when he made a destructive expedition into the Banu 'Abbas mountains; criticized for this, he resigned. Trapped between Moroccan and French forces, 'Abdul-Qadir surrendered in December 1847.

By 1847 there were 109,380 Europeans in Algeria, but only about a seventh lived outside of large towns. Tribal lands were sold to settlers, because grazing lands were defined as vacant. Many Europeans had their lands cultivated by Muslim farmers. The Second Republic of 1848 brought reforms to French Algeria, letting them elect representatives; the military only governed the Muslims. In 1848 religious leader Bu Zayyan led a revolt because of an arbitrary tax on palms, and the next year French troops exterminated his Za'atsha oasis. The Grand Kabyla rebellion led by Bu Baghla in 1851 lasted until he was killed in 1854. That year the Algerian judicial system that had been used by 'Abdul-Qadir was modernized as Franco-Muslim courts were established.

Napoleon III visited Algeria in 1863 and said Muslim society should be preserved. He ordered a survey of tribal lands and their division so that administrators could deal with tribal chiefs. The Awlad Sidi al-Shaykh tribe accepted French rule, but in 1864 chief Sulayman ibn Hamza led a rebellion against arbitrary taxes after his assistant was beaten in public. Emperor Napoleon tried to institute reform by giving Algerians French citizenship; but because they had to renounce their religious laws, only 194 Muslims and 398 Jews had done so by 1870. Lavigerie became archbishop of Algiers in 1867; but he offended Muslims when he put 1,753 Muslim orphans in charitable institutions so that he could convert them, ignoring their relatives' demands.

Muhammad al-Muqrani's father worked for the French until he died in 1853; but the son was given a lesser title and incurred huge debts for his people during the famine of 1868. Faced with financial ruin, al-Muqrani led a rebellion in 1871 that was supported by the Rahmaniya tariqa. When about a third of Algerian Muslims rose up and destroyed farms and plundered villages, al-Muqrani offered to surrender; but the settlers demanded he be treated as a criminal. After al-Muqrani was killed fighting, Rahmaniya chief Shaykh Haddad and his son 'Aziz surrendered, resulting in the subjugation of Kabyla. In the south rebel Bu Mazraq was captured in 1872. The French had lost 2,686 men; but the Muslim losses were much greater, and the economy was ruined. Kabyla was expected to pay a war indemnity of 36.5 million francs, ten times their annual tribute. Only a third of the money paid by the Muslims to repurchase their lands went to the French victims; the remainder was used for expanding colonization. The French rural population went from 119,000 in 1871 to 200,000 in 1898. French government imposed their colonial regime with the 1874 "native code" that subjected the indigenous population to restrictive rules that deprived them of rights.


Morocco 1500-1800
Morocco developed commercially under Sultan Mawlay Sulayman (r. 1792-1822), who promoted trade and sold monopolies to Jewish merchants. He abolished the gate tolls and market taxes, winning urban support; but he increased taxes on agriculture and livestock. Sulayman led a campaign against Ait Umalu Berbers in 1811 and was defeated at Azru. He was rescued by the Ait Idrasin. Three years later the Ait Umalu defeated the Ait Idrasin, and Ait Zammur chief Muhammad ibn al-Ghazi became the leader of the lowland Berbers, allied with the Darqawiya Tariqa in opposition to the Sultan. Al-'Arabi al-Darqawi (d. 1823) founded this brotherhood, emphasizing asceticism, mystical union with God, and poverty. They used music and singing in their ecstatic experiences and thus were opposed by 'ulama (clerics). Sulayman had welcomed Sufi teacher Ahmad al-Tijani in Fez, but the Sultan denounced some of their practices and had closed a zawiya and imprisoned a leader in 1795. When tribes influenced by the Darqawiya brotherhood in western Algeria rose up against the Turks at Oran in 1805, Sulayman refused to aid them. After Tayibiya leader Sidi 'Ali ibn Ahmad died in 1811, Sulayman tried but failed to influence the selection of his successor. Sulayman was also criticized for adopting Wahhabi doctrines.

In 1816 Sulayman freed the Christians in Morocco captured by pirates, and the next year he prohibited piracy. He banned most exports and collected fifty percent duty on imports. Thus trade with foreigners was minimal, and only a few Europeans lived in Morocco. In 1819 Ait Zammur chief al-Ghazi deserted Sulayman's 'Abid and Wadaya army, helping the Ait Umalu to win. The Sultan was captured, and his son Ibrahim was killed. Sulayman was soon taken back to Miknasa, but he had lost his authority. When the Ait Umalu attacked Miknasa, the 'Abid killed their commander, the Sultan's chief minister. Sulayman fled to Fez and Marrakesh. The 'ulama of Fez declared him incompetent and proclaimed his nephew Ibrahim sultan; but the 'Abid and Wadaya refused to support Ibrahim and helped Sulayman regain northern Morocco. Europeans sent money and materials, and Fez submitted to Sulayman in 1822. Before he died in November, Sulayman chose his nephew 'Abdul-Rahman as his successor.

Mawlay 'Abdul-Rahman (r. 1822-59) revived piracy in 1825 until Austrians destroyed his ships at Larache in 1829. When the French invaded Algeria in 1830, popular pressure compelled him to send Moroccan troops against the French; but they were withdrawn from Tlemcen and Oran two years later, using the excuse that the Wadaya had looted Tlemcen. The British made the French promise not to invade Moroccan territory and urged the Moroccans to avoid the Algerian conflict. Three-quarters of Morocco's foreign trade was through the British at Gibraltar. After Emir 'Abdul-Qadir took refuge in Morocco, the Moroccan army went to Wujda in 1844 but was defeated by the French at Isly. The French navy commanded by Prince de Joinville also bombarded Tangier and Mogador. Dukkala tribes massacred officials and looted al-Jadida, and rebels threatened Marrakesh. French diplomat Léon Roches went to Tangier, and in 1846 French ships connected that port with Oran. The Sultan established monopolies, and Moroccans blamed their 1847 famine on European trade. In 1850 he revived taxes on leather and cattle. British consul John D. Hay persuaded Morocco to make a treaty in 1856 banning all monopolies except on arms, ammunition, and tobacco. Import duties were set at ten percent, and foreign merchants were exempt from regular taxes unrelated to trade.

'Abdul-Rahman was succeeded by his son Muhammad IV (r. 1859-73). Spain envied the British success and fortified Sabta, which was attacked by Anjara tribes in 1859. The next year Spanish forces defeated the Anjara warriors and occupied Tatuan. In the peace treaty Morocco agreed to pay a war indemnity of twenty million duoros, and the next year a commercial treaty was signed. This Moroccan defeat provoked rebellions in Marrakesh and the north which lasted until 1862 when the northern leader al-Jilani was killed. Spaniards evacuated Tatuan after Morocco borrowed money from London to pay them three million duoros. A consular sanitary council had been established at Tangier in 1846 to supervise health conditions in Moroccan ports, and the British, French, and Spanish established their own post offices in 1857, 1860, and 1861 respectively. The French persuaded Sultan Muhammad to grant judiciary privileges to merchants in 1863, and the next year he ordered Moroccan officials to handle the affairs of Jews quickly and justly. European commerce increased, and 1,500 Europeans lived in Morocco by 1867.

When Mawlay Hasan (r. 1873-94) became sultan, craftsmen demanded that commerce taxes be abolished before they would pledge their allegiance. Hasan used force to make them submit and later added special taxes on land. He modernized his army and set recruiting quotas by region to increase it to 25,000 soldiers. He reformed Moroccan government by making taxes more uniform so that Europeans and Muslim leaders had to pay their fair share. Hasan campaigned against the rebellious Rahamna in the south in 1875.

Islam in Western Sudan
Western and Central Sudan 1500-800
Usman dan Fodio (ibn Fudi) was born in 1754 and studied for a year with the radical Jibril ibn 'Umar of Agades, who had to flee from persecution by Tuareg aristocrats because of his subversive preaching. As a Fulani scholar and Qadiriya Sufi, Usman wrote books to explain Islam to Fulani pastoralists, composed poems in Fulfulde, and preached to Hausa peasants. He challenged the moral positions of Gobir king Bawa and struggled for freedom of religion. Shaykh Usman called for reforms, and his Fulani community became an alternative to oppressive Gobir rule. He did not claim to be the coming Mahdi but his forerunner. Usman met with Bawa at age thirty and then moved from the Zamfara region to Degel in western Gobir, where his growing community became independent of the Alkalawa government. Gobir king Nafata rescinded the rights they had won and banned the Fulani turbans and veils about 1796. After raids captured Fulanis as slaves, Usman approved carrying arms for defense.

Usman helped Nafata's son Yunfa become the next Gobir king in 1801, but Yunfa's resistance to Usman's reforms led to conflict. Yunfa summoned Usman dan Fodio and tried to shoot him with a pistol; but it backfired and wounded his own hand. After proscribed Muslims used force to liberate some captives, Yunfa expelled Usman and his community from Degel. Like the prophet Muhammad, they emigrated and began a jihad in 1804. In his book Bayan Wujub al-hijra Usman wrote,

Seeing to the welfare of subjects
is more effective than a large number of soldiers.
It has been said that the crown of a king is his integrity,
his stronghold is his impartiality and his capital is his subjects.
There can be no triumph with transgression,
no rule without learning (fiqh) of the law
and no chieftaincy with vengeance.1

Shaykh Usman sent letters to Hausa rulers in 1804, asking them to reform; now he tried to negotiate, but Hausa leaders rejected his offer. Those supporting Shaykh Usman were driven out of Alkalawa and villages. During a famine the Muslims gained the support of pastoralist Fulanis against Tuareg raiders. Because they did not have fire-arms, the Muslims used poisoned arrows despite Islamic law. Usman's brother 'Abdullah criticized vainglorious worldliness and other departures from Islamic law. Fulani Muslims combined with those from Zumfara and Katsina, and on their fourth attempt they captured Alkalawa and killed Yunfa in 1808. Muslims already controlled Katsina and Kano.

Umar ibn Abdur sent his brother Sambo from Bornu to Gobir for a jihad flag as allies of Shaykh Usman, and they took over Hadejia and attacked Auyo. When Galadima Dunama tried to stop this, Ardo Lerlima revolted and joined his cousin Abdur to drive Dunama from his capital at Nguru. In Deya of Bornu scholars al-Bukhari and Goni Mukhtar led Fulani discontent and ravaged the region. Bornu mai Ahmad wrote to the jihad leaders that he was a Muslim leader, and Usman's son Muhammad Bello answered the letter by asking the Mai to join the jihad. However, Ahmad was already fighting with his son Dunama against Lerlima, who was killed. Ibrahim Zaki marched on the Bornu capital at Birni Gazargamu, and the forces of Goni Mukhtar forced Mai Ahmad to flee eastward, where the aged ruler abdicated to his son Dunama.

Muhammad al-Amin ibn Muhammad al-Kanemi was born in the Fezzan to an Arab mother and a Kanembu father. He studied Islam in Murzuk and Tripoli and went on a pilgrimage with his father, who died in 1790. Al-Kanemi settled in Ngala to teach, but he was also a military leader and was called to support Mai Dunama. He had written to al-Bukhari and Goni Mukhtar, questioning the wisdom of their aggression. He argued that people should be taught Islam not by war and that to kill Muslims in a jihad is worse than to tolerate the practices of unbelievers. Justifying his action as defending legitimate authority, his Bornu army defeated and killed Goni Mukhtar, enabling Dunama to return to his palace two months after his father left. Al-Kanemi returned to Ngala, and Dunama rewarded him with slaves. Ibrahim Zaki captured the capital again the next year but soon had to retreat. The nobles lost their faith in Dunama and forced him to abdicate to his uncle, Muhammad Ngileruma, and a new Bornu capital was built at Birni Kafela. Al-Kanemi gained the fief of Ngurno before he agreed to attack Zaki.

By the end of 1808 the Muslims captured Zaria. The Bornu mai complained that the Fulani were emigrating from his territory. Most peasants remained neutral, as the Muslim reformers fought a revolution to replace Hausa aristocrats. Shaykh Usman established a caliphate at Sokoto and sent governors and judges to implement Islamic law (shari'a) in the provinces. In 1812 he divided the caliphate into east and west, and after his death five years later the Gwandu emir controlled the western region.

Bornu's Ngileruma was disliked for his strict laws, and al-Kanemi was offered even more land to support the return of Dunama. Al-Kanemi then had a new town built at Kukawa. He campaigned against rebellious Fulani and used Fezzani troops. Dunama formed an alliance with the Baghirmi sultan east of Lake Chad against al-Kanemi, who intercepted his letter and killed Dunama. After 1819 al-Kanemi ruled Bornu as Dunama's young brother Ibrahim was under his influence. Baghirmi was defeated in 1824 after ten years of fighting. In 1826 al-Kanemi drove the Fulani leader Muhammad Manga to Kano, invading the Sokoto caliphate until he was defeated by Yaqub of Bauchi.

Usman dan Fodio's son Muhammad Bello became Sokoto caliph in 1817. 'Abd al-Salim led the Arewa tribe in revolt against him, but he was defeated in January 1818 and died of his wounds. Maradi sarki Dan Kassawa (r. 1819-31) often attacked Katsina. The jihad overcame Zamfara by 1821, and in 1826 Bello attacked Konya and Magariya in Gobir. The Muslims defeated the Kebbi about 1831 when their sarkin Karari was killed; his son Ya'qub Nabame was kept as a hostage at Sokoto. The Muslims defeated the Gobirawa and their Tuareg allies at the battle of Gawakuke in 1836. Bello fought 47 campaigns in the twenty years before he died in 1837. His successor Abubakar Atiku campaigned against Gobir every year until he died in 1842. That year Gobir sarkin Mayaki founded a new capital at Tsibiri. Sokoto and Kano forces under 'Ali ibn Bello (r. 1842-59) struggled for years against Maradawa raids. The caliphate suffered a defeat in 1849 after Ya'qub Nabame was released and led a Kebbi revolt. In 1848 Bukhari in Hadejia refused to obey a summons to Sokoto and fought a war against the caliphate for about fifteen years until his death, causing devastation, famine, and much slavery. Caliph 'Ali increased taxes in Zaria, and in 1855 he deposed Sidi Abdulkadir of Zaria for insubordination. Damagaram under Tenimu ibn Sulayman (c. 1851-84) became a threat to the caliphate, because he had 6,000 guns and forty cannons. Caliph Ahmad al-Rifa'l (r. 1867-73) deposed Zaria emir 'Abdullah for disobedience in 1870. Ahmad made a truce with Sarkin Kebbi 'Abdullah (r. 1863-80), though it was broken in 1875.

The new Muslims tended to restrict the roles of women to the household, and having up to four wives plus concubines, they produced more children. Usman dan Fodio had 37 children, and his son Bello had 73. The women were well educated, and Usman's daughter Nana Asma'u (1793-1864) became a renowned poet, scholar, and teacher, writing in Arabic, Hausa, and Fulfulde. Many of the pagan captives enslaved were women and girls. They were taught Islam, and emancipating slaves was encouraged. Muslims' beliefs placed more value on generosity than wealth, and inheritances were divided among many relatives. The jihad was fought between the elites over religion and power rather than against peoples, though the peasants were often caught in between. In Masina cattle had to be protected from raids by the Bambara and Tuareg.

Al-Kanemi governed Bornu with six Arab advisors and was succeeded in 1837 by his eldest son Umar. Mai Ibrahim instigated Wadai sultan Muhammad ash-Sharif to invade Bornu, Umar learned of it and had Ibrahim arrested. The Wadai army killed many top Bornu officials, and Umar fled to Kukawa. Sultan Muhammad at Ngurno approved the appointment of Ibrahim's son Ali as mai; but Ali was defeated and killed, and the inhabitants of destroyed Birni Kafela fled. Thus in 1846 the Kanem dynasty in Bornu ended after a thousand years. The descendants of al-Kanemi's council of six had fiefs with titles; but their functions became ceremonial. Umar relied on his vizier al-Hajj Bashir. In 1853 Umar's brother Abdurrahman took over the government for a year, killing al-Hajj Bashir but allowing Umar to live in Kukawa. After Umar regained the throne, Abdurrahman revolted again and was put to death. Umar began to rely on Bashir's assistant Laminu Njitiya, who governed until he died in 1871. Slavery flourished in Bornu; by 1870 there were three thousand royal slaves, but some of these held high offices. Some slaves even owned their own slaves, and those called kachella became a standing army in Bornu.

Monzon Diarra (r. 1790-1808) expanded the Segu empire, and the pressures on the nomadic Fulani (Fulbe) increased under Da Monzon (r. 1808-27). Ahmadu ibn Hammadi (1775-1844) taught for twenty years near Jenne before he led a jihad that won a major victory at Noukoma in 1818. The trouble began when an Ardo's son was killed for having insulted Ahmadu's students. Bambara (pagan) rulers tried to suppress the movement; but Ahmadu was able to organize a massive Fulani army against the Ardo'en and took over Masina from the Bambara. Ahmadu created an Islamic state and appointed emirs, who were responsible to a council of forty. Military service was required of men, although some, such as traders and smiths, could pay a tax instead. Unlike Usman dan Fodio, Ahmadu did not abolish the caste system. A new capital was established at Hamdallahi, and prosecutor Samba Bubakari enforced the laws strictly. Masina's influence extended to Timbuktu; but after Ahmadu died in 1844, the Tuareg there asserted their independence. Masina army commander Balobbo marched to Timbuktu, while Shaykh Sidi al-Bekkai of the Kunta family negotiated and got the garrison disbanded, though Masina governor Sansirfi was reinstated. Ahmadu Seku's reign (1844-1853) was fairly peaceful; but after he died, Balobbo took control by getting the young Ahmadu mo Ahmadu (r. 1853-1862) elected.


In 1799 when Abdulay Bademba was made almami, Futa Jallon began an alternating rule every two years between the families of Alfaya and Soriya. In 1810 the Soriya almami Abdul Gadiri was sent into exile; but four years later he returned and killed Abdulay Bademba and ruled for eight years until his death in 1822. After about five years of civil war, Abdulay's son Bubakar became almami and ruled Timbo for twelve years. Another civil war erupted when Bakari refused to yield after his two years.

The Muslim reformer al-Hajj 'Umar Saidu was born in Futa Toro as an aristocratic Tukulor (torodo), and he was brought up in the Qadiriya brotherhood. After visiting Saint Louis he went on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1825. He joined the Tijaniya Sufi brotherhood, and authorities in Hijaz appointed him Tijani leader for West Africa. On his return he toured Bornu and spent six years in Sokoto, where his daughter Mariam married Muhammad Bello. After Bello died in 1837, he left there, wealthy in slaves and property. 'Umar gained support in Masina but was imprisoned briefly by the ill fama Cefolo in Segu. After returning to Futa Toro, he settled in Futa Jallon near Timbo and taught Tijaniya doctrines. In 1844 'Umar helped resolve the civil war in Futa Jallon by restoring the biennial rule agreement. His disciples traded in guns and gunpowder with the British and French. In Kaarta the Jawara (Diawara), who had been driven out of Nioro, revolted in 1843 against the taxes and oppression by the Massassi, who eventually won the civil war in 1850.

During the Napoleonic wars France had lost control of some settlements to the British, but they had regained them in a treaty signed in 1817. France banned the slave trade the next year, and in 1819 the French made a treaty with Walo to exclude the Moors from the gum trade. In 1830 a Kayor blacksmith named Diile led a revolution for egalitarian Islam that took over the country in a few weeks; but the French governor in Saint Louis sent forces that defeated them and hanged Diile. To stop the Trarza Moors from ravaging their country, Walo made an alliance with the Moors in 1833; but the French got the Moors to renounce it in 1835. The French had established trading posts at Bakel in 1820, at Dagana the next year, and at Merinaghen in 1822; posts were added at Lampbar in 1843 and at Senodebou in 1845. Al-Hajj 'Umar visited Senegambia in 1847 and assured the French that he would prevent wars that harmed commerce. He won people over with Tijani promises of glory, and in 1849 he founded Dinguiraye before destroying the hegemony of Tamba in 1852. The French Second Republic had appointed Protet governor of Senegal in 1850, and he enforced laws to protect the gum trade. In 1854 he sent Louis Faidherbe, who succeeded him that year, to build a post at Podor to wage wars. Similar posts were built at Medine in 1855, at Matam in 1857, at Saldé in 1859, at Aéré and Ndiagne in 1866, and at Klur-Mandoumbe-Khary, Khaoulou, and Talem in 1867.

Al-Hajj 'Umar helped create a new Muslim empire at Tukulor, and he influenced Alfa Mamadu, who led the Joola (Dyula) religious revolution. In Senegambia the Tukulor took over Jallonka, Bambuk, Bondu, and Khasso. By 1854 'Umar was demanding tribute from the French as the price for trade. He wrote a letter to the French governor that year which said,

The whites are only traders:
let them bring merchandise in their ships,
let them pay me a good tribute when I'm master of the Negroes,
and I will live in peace with them.
But I don't wish them to erect permanent establishments
or send warships into the river.2

Local tribes were caught between these two dominating powers. In 1855 'Umar defeated the Massassi and sent a message to Masina; but they chose to fight the Tukulors, and their eight-year war began the next year at Kasakary. In 1855 Governor Faidherbe made a commercial agreement with Khasso king Sambala and his chiefs, promising to defend them from 'Umar's invasion, and the French annexed Walo the next year. The war over Senegambia between the French and Tukulor began when al Hajj 'Umar besieged Medine in 1857. After three months Faidherbe relieved the fort in July, and 'Umar marched on from Bundu and Futa, urging people to migrate with their families and cattle to his Muslim state in the east. He returned to Futa with 40,000 people two years later.

'Umar worked to convert the two remaining pagan kingdoms of the Bambara at Segu and Kaarta. He established his Tijani community on the upper Senegal River between Futa Jallon and Kaarta. His Fulani troops used guns against the Bambara armies. In September 1859 he left Nioro to invade Segu, preaching and using the two cannons they had captured from the French. Although Segu had been fighting off attacks from Masina for years, Segu ruler 'Ali Monzon took refuge in Masina as the Muslim army entered Segu in 1861. The next year 'Umar marched on Masina, and Ahmadu's grandson Ahmadu mo Ahmadu agreed to end pagan practices to become a part of the protectorate. After Kunta chief Sidi Ahmad al-Bekkai at Timbuktu supported the revolt by Balobbo at Hamdallahi, in 1862 'Umar marched on Masina and Hamdallahi and fought Ahmadu mo Ahmadu, who died of his wounds in the battle of Tyayawal. 'Umar's forces even captured Timbuktu. However, the coalition formed by al-Bekkai and Balobbo defeated 'Umar's army in 1863. After eight months of siege, the Tukulor army broke out; 'Umar fled and died in February 1864.

'Umar's eldest son Ahmadu Seku struggled with relatives over the inheritance and made a treaty with French envoy Mage in 1866, though he opposed French posts along the Niger and in his territory. That year the new French governor Pinet-Laprade rejected the treaty. Ahmadu Seku kept the agreement and asked the French for two cannons. The civil strife subsided by 1869 as Ahmadu Seku consolidated his power. That year French governor Valiere was appointed to be more diplomatic and to encourage commerce. Kayor damel Lat-Dior fostered the cultivation of groundnuts and Islam, but in 1871 the French took over Kayor. During the early 1870s Ahmadu Seku proclaimed himself almami and made the Tukulor warriors accept Islam.

In the east Mamadu Dyué led those who rejected Tijani ideas and called themselves hubbu rassul Allah (those who love God). Almami Umaru, who accepted alternating terms, began a war against the Hubbu movement in 1849 that lasted a generation. After many victories, Umaru faced a mutiny in his army about 1865 and went to help the Alfa-Mo-Labé fight the Gabu, whose king he had killed in 1849. Kansala fell, but Umaru died on his way back to Futa Jallon and was succeeded by his brother Ibrahima Sori Dongol Fella (r. 1870-90). Ibrahima Sori Dari tried to take control but was killed fighting the Hubbu at Boketto in 1871. Ibrahima Sori Dongol did not yield power until he was forced to do so in 1875 to the new Alfaya, Amadu Dara, restoring the alternation.

Asante, British, and the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Asante, and Slavery 1500-1800
When Osei Bonsu became Asantehene in 1801, the Gofan army conquered Banda and invaded the Asante; but they were defeated by the Asante general Amankwa Tia. This Asantehene continued the reforms of his predecessors by appointing officers based on merit rather than heredity. In 1805 Osei Bonsu tried to mediate a dispute between three Assin chiefs; but when his messengers were executed, he marched against Kwaku Aputae and Kwadwo Otibu of the Assin Atadanso and defeated them. They fled to the Fante, whose council refused to surrender them and killed the Asante messengers. The Asante invaded Fante territory and defeated their army at Abora in May 1806. While the two Assin chiefs escaped and took refuge with the British governor Torrane at Cape Coast, the Asante occupied Kormantine without Dutch resistance. Torrane decided to help the Assins and Fante, either by mediation or force. Fort William commandant White at Anomabu tried to mediate with the Denkyirahene, who commanded the Asante at Kormantine; but he refused. So White had people of Anomabu attack the small Asante post at Egya. In response the Asante army assaulted Anomabu as two thousand people entered the fort. White had only 25 soldiers, but their artillery killed 2,000. Torrane decided to hand over the two Assin chiefs; Kwadwo Otibu was tortured and killed; but Kwaku Aputae escaped. Torrane also gave up half the refugees and allowed Assin people to be enslaved, and he recognized the Asante conquest of Fante territory.

After suffering smallpox and dysentery in 1807, the Asante army went home. In 1809 the Fante army attacked Accra and Elmina but accomplished little, and in 1811 Asantehene Osei Bonsu sent an army to each place to defend them, while treating the Dutch and English as neutrals. However, the Asante ally Atta Wusu Yiakosan and his Akyem Abuakwa joined with the Akwapim and declared war on Asante. This prevented Appia Dankwa and his 4,000 Asante from relieving Accra. This Asante army fought a battle at Apam against the Fante army in which losses on both sides were high. Atta Wusu joined the Akyem with the Fante army; but before he could carry out his plan of attack, he died of smallpox. In 1814 the Asantehene sent his main army, led by Amankwa Abinowa, against the Akyem and Akwapim army, defeating them but not decisively. Asante pillaging alienated their Accra allies. During the chaos of these wars, the British had been trying to abolish the slave trade since 1807, but the English and Americans continued to run slave-ships under the Spanish flag.

In 1816 British governor T. E. Bowditch made a treaty with the Asante recognizing the rents the British paid the Asante for the forts and the British right to protect natives. Osei Bonsu complained to Bowditch that the Fante debased the pure gold the Asante sold them before selling it to the Europeans. In 1818 the Asante went to war with the Gyaman again and killed their chief Adinkera. The British put the Gold Coast settlements under Sierra Leone governor Charles McCarthy, who arrived in 1822. After an Anomabu policeman abused Asantehene Osei Bonsu and was put to death by him, McCarthy persuaded Accra to send their militia and not support Asante with munitions. In 1824 the Asante army surrounded the British and killed 178 of 250 men; McCarthy was wounded and committed suicide. Captain Ricketts agreed to an armistice, which frightened the Fante, Wassaw, and Denkyira allies that they might be surrendered. Asantehene Osei, called Bonsu (Whale) for having conquered to the sea, had died on the same day as Governor McCarthy and was succeeded by his brother Osei Yaw. Between 1823 and 1825 the British sent 1,554 soldiers to West Africa, but more than half of them died.

In 1826 the Asante army invaded Fante, and near Dodowa they faced a slightly larger army of 11,000 allies that included Accra, Ga, Fante, Denkyira, Akyem, Akwamu, and a few British troops. Finally the British use of Congreve rockets caused the Asante army to break and flee. The Asante had seventy commanders killed; hundreds were captured; and the Asantehene was wounded. After this battle of Katamanso the English no longer paid rent to Asante for their forts. During peace negotiations the Asante released their captives; but they complained that their prisoners were still detained at Osu, and they criticized the allies for attacking Elmina. In 1828 the British decided to abandon the Gold Coast but yielded to the merchants' desire to maintain forts at Cape Coast and Accra, for which the government granted 4,000 pounds per year.

In 1831 the new governor George Maclean persuaded the Asante and the allied chiefs to accept a treaty. Asante deposited 600 ounces of gold and two princes as security for six years, and trade (except for slaves) was to be unrestricted. The former subjects of the Asantehene became independent but were forbidden to insult him. Any violations of the treaty were to be judged by the governor of Sierra Leone or Cape Coast, and anyone refusing to accept this would not be protected by the allies. The Juabenhene refused to come to Kumari for a year, and so in 1832 Asantehene Osei Yaw attacked Juaben, forcing them to migrate to Kibi. Methodists arrived in 1833 and evangelized the Fante country. Maclean arbitrated disputes between Wassa and Denkyira in 1833 and between Akuapem and Krobo in 1836 and 1838. In 1834 Denkyira king Kojo Tsibu complained that Maclean fined him 200 pounds for sacrificing humans after his sister's death, and in 1835 Maclean invaded Nzima to stop its king from raiding and slave trading. Maclean and a member of his council watched local trials, criticizing native customs that were inhumane. He helped Asante princes get education and took two of them to England in 1836; at the request of the Asantehene they returned in 1841. Kwaku Dua succeeded Osei Yaw as Asantehene in 1838, and after much fighting he with help from Maclean and the Dutch persuaded the Juaben people to return to Kumasi in 1841. Their queen Ama Sewa rebuilt the town of Juaben and was succeeded by her daughter eight years later.

Under Maclean's wise rule, exports from British forts went from 90,000 pounds in 1830 to 325,508 in 1840, and imports in the same period increased from 131,000 pounds to 422,170. Cowrie shells replaced gold dust as currency, and much palm oil was exported. Maclean married a popular poetess, who wrote as L.E.L.; but her sudden death brought scandal and criticism. In 1843 the British Crown resumed control and sent Commander Hill as governor, though Maclean was appointed Judicial Assessor. Hill made an agreement with Fante and other chiefs called the Bond of 1844, which outlawed human sacrifices and panyarring (selling debtors into slavery) while recommending the principles of British law. Maclean died in 1847, but the Judicial Assessor continued to be assisted by a panel of chiefs who applied native customs.

In 1850 the Gold Coast became a separate government from Sierra Leone, and that year the British bought all the Danish forts for 10,000 pounds. Yet the British and the Dutch were unable to cooperate on customs duties. So in 1852 an assembly of elders and chiefs passed a poll tax of one shilling for every man, woman, and child in the territory south of the Asante. This tax was resented by the people, especially since the British spent most of it to pay their officials' salaries, and only 8% of it went for education and roads. In 1853 they collected 7,500 pounds; but in 1854 and 1857 tax collection provoked rioting. By 1861 they collected only 1,500 pounds, and the tax was eliminated three years later. Cotton growing was tried in 1850; but farmers would not do plantation labor, and the British would not allow them to hire pawns, as being too much like slavery. In 1858 British governor Richard Pine introduced the Municipal Ordinance that allowed towns to elect a council from chiefs and merchants for local government with courts for civil litigation and criminal misdemeanors.

An intrigue between another Assin chief named Kwadwo Otibu and the Asantehene Kwaku Dua that started in 1853 aroused the gathering of an Asante force of 6,000 led by chief Akyeampon. In reaction the Fante arrested four hundred Asante traders, while the British levied the Fante army and sent for reinforcements from Sierra Leone. Orders from Kumasi caused Akyeampon to withdraw across the Pra River, and the allies beheaded Otibu. Kwaku Dua ignored the incident, and peace was kept until 1862 when a slave boy escaped from his Asante master and fled to British governor Pine. An embassy from Kumasi complained, and the Asante began buying munitions from Elmina. The British gathered 400 men and levied 15,000 allies. Major Cochrane shocked the allies by retreating. Unfortunately the British had not maintained an ambassador in Kumasi for negotiation. Pine wanted 2,000 troops to invade Asante territory, but London restrained him. Lt. Col. Conran brought 700 men of the 4th West India Regiment, but they began dying of malaria, yellow fever, and dysentery. Kwaku Dua kept the Asante from invading in 1864 and sent an embassy the next year; but Col. Conran insulted the Asante by announcing they were suing for peace. The Asantehene broke off negotiations and died in 1867. Meanwhile the Anlo army fought the British in 1866.

The British implied that the people on the coast would have to defend themselves. John Aggrey acted as the king of Cape Coast by refusing to surrender prisoners or allow appeals of his judicial sentences to British courts and by inciting a chief to make war. In 1866 Conran deposed Aggrey and banished him to Sierra Leone. Gold Coast chiefs sent protests to Governor Pine that their rights were being violated by civil servants. In 1867 the Dutch and the British made a treaty in which they traded some forts so that they were no longer intermingled. The Denkyira and Wassaw had been allied with the British and mistrusted the neutral Dutch. The Kommenda people rejected the Dutch flag even after their chief changed his mind. This broke out into war, and the Kommenda plundered Elmina villages. Next the Fante army blockaded Elmina. Two Cape Coast chiefs joined the blockade and were outlawed by British administrator H. T. Ussher. Arthur Kennedy arrived from Sierra Leone; but when he could not get Elmina to sever their tie with Asante, he approved the Fante action against Elmina.

After Kwakua Dua died in 1867, the Asante general Asamoa Nkwanta resented that his nephew was killed with the royal attendants who were to accompany the Asantehene into the next world. This delayed Kofi Karikari being enthroned on the golden stool as Asantehene. The Asante force in Krepi led by Nantwi was increased to 30,000, and Adu Bofo was sent to command the Elmina army by way of Krepi. Their leader Dompre appealed to Akwapim, Accra, and his Akyem people, stimulating W. H. Simpson to try to intervene diplomatically. The Akwamu arrested him for five days until Adu Bofo persuaded them to release Simpson so as not to provoke war with the British. In June 1869 two German missionaries were captured and taken to Kumasi, but in October Krepi inflicted a defeat on the Asante and Akwamu, encouraging the Akyem, Akwapim, and others to join them. The Asantehene ordered Adu Bofo to abandon the Krepi war; but the general persisted, and the Akwamu ambushed and killed Dompre a year later. Hennessy sent Plange, a former Dutch envoy, to Kumasi to negotiate; but Adu Bofo wanted 1,800 ounces of gold for the captured missionaries.

In 1869 the Dutch began negotiating their cession of forts to the British; but the treaty was not signed until 1871. Elmina had been paying the Asante rent since 1702, but in 1872 it was turned over to the British as its chief Kobina Edjan was deposed. Hennessy promised Asantehene Kofi Karikari that the British would double the payment, and he reopened the roads to Asante.

Meanwhile the Fante chiefs met at Mankesim in 1868 to form a confederation under a constitution. Ussher warned them the British would not support them in a war against Asante. James Africanus Horton of Sierra Leone had just published his book West African Countries and Peoples, in which he suggested self-government under British auspices with a Fante kingdom and a republic of Accra. Methodists and school-teachers were also influential in the constitutional movement. The Accra Native Confederation was formed in the eastern region in 1869, but it failed because it did not gain the support of local chiefs. The Mankesim Constitution was completed in 1871 for the purposes of uniting the Fante chiefs and improving the country, specifically the roads, schools, agriculture, industry, and mineral resources. Education was to include training in crafts and schools for girls. Each chief in the representative assembly was to be accompanied by an educated person. Administrator Salmon was so upset that the Fante did this without British authority that he had the three officials bringing him the document arrested but later released them on bail. The British lost an opportunity to encourage self-government when they neglected to support this constitution. Instead, in 1874 they included Lagos and established the Gold Coast Colony.

Early in 1873 the Asante army of about 15,000 or so crossed the Pra River and defeated the Assins, who were reinforced by Fante and Denkyira allies and British troops totaling about 25,000; but they were defeated again at Dunkwa. A letter from Asantehene Kofi Karikari claimed that the Asante were fighting not only for Elmina but also to regain authority over Denkyira, Assin, and Akyem. After the Asante, led by Amankwa Tai, won another victory at Jukwa, thousands took refuge in Cape Coast. Eight days later the British bombarded and destroyed Elmina. While people in Cape Coast starved, the Asante army suffered smallpox and dysentery. The Asantehene refused to let them come home, saying that the chiefs had wanted the war. Major-General Garnet Wolseley arrived in October 1873, and the conflict became known as the Sagrenti war from the African version of his name. His letter to the Asantehene was intercepted by Amankwa Tai, who replied with the same claims. He attacked the British at Abakrampa and then began a retreat back to Asante, fighting rearguard actions.

The Asantehene thought the war was over. However, the 1st West India regiment arrived from Jamaica, and the Europeans had 2,500 men. Garnet sent a message to Kumasi, demanding all prisoners and 50,000 ounces of gold; but the Asante had no large reserves of gold. The British had superior rifles to the muzzle-loading guns of the Asante, who had no cannons. After the people of Kumasi departed, the Fante prisoners looted and set fires. The British then blew up the palace and burned Kumasi in February 1874 before marching back to the coast. The Asantehene's envoys overtook General Garnet to accept his conditions, giving him 1,040 ounces of gold as the most they could gather. Gonja and Dabomba rebelled against Asante, and the Brong Confederation became independent under the spiritual leadership of Krakye Dente. Gyaman, Sefwi, and Adansi also threw off Asante rule. Asantehene Kofi Karikari signed the Treaty of Fomena, but he was deposed that summer for having stolen buried treasures of his predecessors. His successor Mensa Bonsu had Kumasi rebuilt and reasserted his authority over rebellious tribes, though the Juaben killed Kumasi traders. In October 1875 a Kumasi army attacked Juaben, and hundreds of Juaben captives were sent to Sefwi. Others from Juaben took refuge in the British Protectorate known as the Gold Coast Colony. The Asante only paid 4,000 of the 50,000 ounces of gold promised to the British in the treaty.

In Sierra Leone the Temne ruler Pa Kokelly took the title King Tom and demanded a new treaty, because the Sierra Leone Company had claimed the land and would not pay him rent. When British soldiers arrived, King Tom attacked their fort in 1801; but they counter-attacked and burned his towns. The Temne rulers were thus dispossessed and agreed to a treaty in 1807. That year the British Parliament outlawed slave trading, as the Danes had three years earlier. The United States prohibited the slave trade in 1808, Sweden in 1813, the Dutch the next year, and France outlawed it for the second time in 1818. The British government made the settlement a colony in 1808, because the Sierra Leone Company was bankrupt. Freetown became the capital for the British governor and the anti-slave-trade courts. A naval squadron based there captured slave ships and liberated the Africans, who were called "recaptives." When the Napoleonic wars ended in 1815, the navy was no longer allowed to capture non-British ships. So the British made treaties to be able to continue this, although France and the United States used their own navies. Despite these efforts, the slave trade had doubled by 1840. From 1825 to 1865 the British navy used twenty ships to arrest 1,287 slave ships and free about 130,000 slaves; but during that period about 1,436,000 African slaves were transported to America.

Author Thomas Buxton proposed a humanitarian expedition up the Niger River to teach agriculture and Christianity in 1841; but British public opinion was shocked when all 48 Europeans lost their lives. The British law-courts decided in 1848 that slave traders could be dispossessed. Brazil stopped importing slaves in the 1850s, and the emancipation of slaves in the United States brought an end to most slave trading in West Africa by 1866. The British began exporting timber from Sierra Leone in 1816; but by the 1860s the available forests had been cut. Children of the recaptives were mostly Christian and were called Creoles. Church missionaries established a grammar school at Freetown in 1845 and a girls school in 1849.

James Africanus Horton was born near Freetown in Sierra Leone on June 1, 1835. He was well educated, learning Greek and Latin at the missionary grammar school. He studied five years at King's College in London and earned his M.D. at Edinburgh University in 1859. He served as a doctor in the army for twenty years in West Africa, retiring as a lieutenant-general. He published several treatises on Africa and medicine, including The Diseases of Tropical Climate and Their Treatment in 1874. In his 1868 book West African Countries and Peoples he refuted the fallacious doctrines of anthropologists about Africans, discussed conditions in the various parts of West Africa, and recommended self-government and specific improvements. He quoted abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, who said in 1818, "Africa ought to be allowed to have a fair chance of raising her character in the scale of the civilized world."3 He argued that differences in cultures arose because of external circumstances. He believed that Africans would improve and become prominent in the civilized world.

Horton found that Christian ethics, science, and literature were being taught in Sierra Leone. For that country he recommended a constitutional monarchy with an elected assembly and a senate. On the Gold Coast he observed that domestic slavery caused laziness and immorality. He advised monarchy for Fante but a republic for Accra. Horton noted that among the Ibos women had a superior social status, though a large sum had to be paid to raise an Ibo to a higher social rank. For Sierra Leone he recommended extending the franchise, improving education and making Fourbah Bay College the University of Western Africa, forming a municipal council, establishing a health officer, extending British protection to merchants up the rivers, abolishing the sending of liberated Africans to the West Indies and re-introducing apprenticeship, improving the water supply of Freetown, introducing new plants and encouraging agriculture, raising money for health and industrial development, enrolling a militia, forming a national bank and a post office, legislating vaccinations, supplying medical doctors to villages, and creating parks. Concerned that Muslims had gained supremacy in Gambia, Horton advised strengthening British authority there. For the Gold Coast he suggested convening a congress of kings at Cape Coast and at Accra, a resident consul at Kumasi, improved education including an industrial school, the abolition of slavery, and improved law and order.


The American Colonization Society was founded in 1816, and three years later the United States Congress appropriated $100,000 to return illegally imported slaves to Africa; but the Society had to buy the land. In 1820 a U. S. navy vessel shipped 88 immigrants to Sherbro near Sierra Leone; because this settlement lacked fresh water and was infested with malaria, they soon moved to Fourah Bay. In 1822 a U. S. navy ship forced the rulers of Mesurado to cede some land. In December native chief Sao Boso agreed to this in a peace treaty, and he provided them with a trade route through Bopolu. As settlements extended along the coast, slave traders had more difficulty. Immigrants believed they had the rights of United States citizens; but the settlement was governed by the Colonization Society, and riots often caused the white agent to flee. In 1824 a Colonial Council was established, and the settlement was named Liberia with the capital Monrovia. The white Jehudi Ashmun governed the colony from 1822 to 1830. By then the United States had spent $264,710 transporting 260 rescued slaves to Africa, but in 1834 the Jackson administration reduced the budget. Colonization societies from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Mississippi contributed to the effort. The first general elections were held in 1834, though Africans from Brazil complained of discrimination. Two years later the Society affirmed the citizenship of these New Georgians, but native Africans still lacked their rights.

In 1838 the Commonwealth of Liberia was based on a constitution, though the Maryland Society declined to join. The white governor was replaced in 1841 by the mulatto lieutenant governor Joseph J. Roberts. In 1847 Liberia became an independent nation with a constitution written by a white Harvard law professor. The new nation was made up of 80,000 natives, 7,000 immigrants, and 15,000 rescued slaves. The Maryland settlement declared its independence in 1854; but after they were defeated in a war by the Greboes two years later, they joined Liberia. Franchise was given to residents who had lived there for three years in a "civilized Western" way.

The United States did not recognize Liberia until President Lincoln promised in 1862 not to interfere with its government. That year Liberia College was founded, but the emphasis was on politics rather than on economic development. Edward Blyden led the first immigration from the West Indies in 1865. The opposition True Whig Party lost every election until 1869 when they elected the wealthy African Edward J. Roye as president. That year law and taxes were extended inland under a new Department of the Interior. The Republican Roberts became president again in 1872 until 1876. Christian converts organized the Grebo Reunited Kingdom in 1873, because they felt they had lost trade and too much of their land to immigrants. The Greboes had an army of 7,000 equipped with rifles and defeated a thousand Liberians in 1875. This third tribal war led to more liberal laws for African tribes in Liberia.

Edward Wilmot Blyden was born in the Virgin Islands on August 3, 1832. After living briefly in Venezuela and the United States, he emigrated to Liberia in 1851. He became proficient in all the romance languages, plus Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, and several West African dialects. His 1856 pamphlet A Voice from Bleeding Africa called for "immediate emancipation" and described the accomplishments of thirty Africans and Afro-Americans. In 1857 he wrote Vindication of the Negro Race to refute theories of Negro inferiority and promote African independence, praising the Mande and Fulbe Muslims. In an Independence Day address he criticized the Liberians for being too much in a hurry to become rich and indulge in extravagance. The next year he was ordained a Presbyterian minister and became principal of Alexander High School in Monrovia. He visited the United States in 1861 and 1862, urging Africans to come to Liberia, because they would not be treated equally in America. He was appointed professor of classics at Liberia College, and from 1864 to 1866 he also served as Secretary of State, arranging for 346 skilled Barbadians to emigrate to Liberia; but lack of funds prevented other West Indians from coming. He designed reforms in 1870 for President Roye to reconstruct Liberian finances and promote general education, but the 100,000 pounds borrowed from England had very high interest.

Blyden clashed with mulattoes, because he believed they did not identify with the Negro race. His black Whig party challenged the mulatto Republicans led by J. J. Roberts. In 1871 he went to Sierra Leone for two years and promoted Liberia, hoping they would unite. He urged the British to protect West Africa and prophesied that colonialism would be temporary. He led official expeditions to Falaba and Timbo. He believed that African Muslims usually had greater self-esteem, and he encouraged Muslim-Christian cooperation. He advised the teaching of Arabic to African Christians so that they could understand Islamic culture and communicate better with other Africans. He was proud of Negro history and promoted pan-Africanism. He recommended an independent non-denominational church for Africans and a secular West African university. He founded a weekly newspaper in Freetown in 1872 and a monthly journal two years later. His writings condemned slavery and encouraged Afro-Americans to emigrate to Liberia.


To the east of the Gold Coast and west of the Niger River the old Oyo and Benin kingdoms declined in the 19th century. When the Oyo army mutinied about 1797, Kakanfo Afonja joined with the Basorun and war chiefs to compel the Alafin Aole to commit suicide. The next two alafins Adebo and Maku had little power, as provincial chiefs acted independently for the next twenty years. Afonja controlled Ekun Osi and Ibolo until he was destroyed by the Muslim jihad. Some of the Yoruba recaptives who returned from Sierra Leone were Muslims, and they encouraged Muslim slaves to revolt as free men, forming a force called the Jama'a. Afonja refused to become a Muslim and was killed by the Jama'a. His successor Toyeje of Ogbomoso tried to reconquer Ilorin but failed. After the charismatic Muslim priest Alimi died, his son Abdul Solagberu kept Ilorin independent and expanded Muslim power, being recognized as emir by the Sokoto caliphate. As Oyo control faded, Owu traders tried to stop the kidnapping and riots. Ife challenged Owu but was defeated. Then Ife joined with Ijebu to besiege Owu for the first half of the 1820s. In this Owu war the Ijebu used muskets for the first time in this region. Owu was razed and not rebuilt. About 1830 Sodeke led Owu and Egba in founding a new capital at Abeokuta. Prince Atiba rejected Islam in Ilorin and went to the village Ago-Oja and renamed it Oyo as the war chiefs appointed him alafin about 1835.

Many of the ex-slaves in Sierra Leone were Yoruba, especially Egba, and in 1838 some returned, having learned English and Christianity. Ibadan gained strength and took on Ilorin at the battle of Osogbo in 1840, using muskets to defeat Ilorin's cavalry. Christian missionaries began arriving in the area. Meanwhile the Dahomey kingdom captured slaves for sale and cultivation. They fought a war with the Egba from 1842 until 1853, when missionaries persuaded Egba to end the siege. Dahomey led by Gezo (r. 1818-58) had attacked Abeokuta in 1851, but European arms helped the Egbado defeat them. The demand for slaves decreased after Brazil banned importation in 1850. The next year a British anti-slave-trade squadron bombarded Lagos, which became a British consulate in 1853 and was annexed as a colony in 1861. In the early 1850s Ibadan used armed force to take over towns in Ekiti and Akoko. In 1860 Adelus succeeded his father Atiba as Oyo alafin, but Ijaye's Kurunmi refused to recognize him. Ibadan helped Oyo besiege Ijaye into starvation in 1862. Kurunmi died, and Ibadan took over Ibarapa and let Oyo have the Upper Ogum. Two years later Dahomey attacked Abeokuta, but again they were defeated. Ibadan's expansion to the east further shrunk the kingdom of Benin, which suffered a civil war from 1854 to 1880. In 1871 Momoh Latosisa became Ibadan's first Muslim ruler. In 1863 the British and French had divided this coastal region at the Yewa River. In 1872 the British helped open a route through Ondo to Okeigbo, Ife, and Ibadan.

East Africa, Arabs, and Europeans
East Africa, Portuguese, and Arabs
While the slave trade from West Africa was being greatly reduced, the Portuguese exported about 25,000 captives a year from Mozambique in the first half of the 19th century. In 1800 Kilwa was the biggest slaving port between Zanzibar and Mozambique. By 1807 the French had 49,000 slaves on the island of Mauritius. Sayyid Sa'id al-Busa'idi was only 13 years old when he inherited the Omani throne at Muscat in 1806, and he ruled for fifty years. Mombasa governor Ahmad ibn Sa'id al-Mazrui (r. 1783-1814) had submitted to al-Busa'idi sovereignty in 1784, but in 1807 he led the attack that replaced the Omani governor at Pate with their own man. Yet when the Mazrui attacked Lamu in 1813, they were defeated. Lamu then asked for Busa'idi protection. The next year Ahmad was succeeded by his son Abdullah (r. 1814-25), who appealed to the British at Bombay to protect Mombasa's independence. British captain Smee had described the misery of some 150,000 slaves on Zanzibar during his visit in 1811, and he complained that the Indians, who were British subjects, were being excessively taxed. Sayyid Sa'id sent 4,000 Omanis to attack the Mazrui at Pate in 1817.

In 1822 the people of Pemba helped the Omanis drive out the Mazrui governor Rizike, and Sayyid Sa'id and his Lamu governor kept the Mazrui candidate Fumoluti from taking power at Pate. Led by their hero Mbaruk, the Mazrui at Mombasa again appealed to the British for protection against the Omani navy; but the British had just made a treaty with Sa'id to abolish the slave trade. After an Omani squadron captured two leaders from Mogadishu and demanded a $2,000 ransom, this city formed an alliance with Merka, Barawa, Pate, and Mombasa against Sa'id. In December 1823 a British captain refused permission for the Mazrui at Mombasa to fly the British flag. Two months later the Omani fleet invaded, and Shaykh Sulayman Mazrui engaged them with the cannons of Fort Jesus. When a British warship arrived, both sides stopped fighting. Captain William F. Owen saw that Mombasa had put up a home-made British flag, and on his own authority he promised the Mazrui protection against the Omanis. Owen believed the Omanis to be the worst slavers, and he got the Mazrui to promise to abolish the slave trade at Mombasa. They wanted control over Pemba, and Owen took Mbaruk with him to Pemba; but Owen merely asked them to respect the rights of those from Mombasa. He went to Zanzibar and persuaded its governor Abdullah to release the two imprisoned chiefs from Mogadishu. In 1826 a Mazrui council at Mombasa decided they had not ceded Fort Jesus to the British and that the agreement was nullified, because they had not been given control over Pemba. British captain Arland then ordered his troops to evacuate Mombasa.

The Mazrui capitulated to Sayyid Sa'id and signed a peace treaty in January 1828; but Sa'id quickly broke his word by installing his men in Fort Jesus. Mogadishu refused to submit and was sacked by the Omani navy. Sa'id ordered Pemba governor Nasir bin Sultan, an old enemy of the Masrui, to become governor of Mombasa. The Masrui revolted against this second violation of the treaty and besieged the fort for three months until the starving garrison surrendered. Nasir was imprisoned; but when the Omani fleet arrived, the Masrui cut his throat. Mombasa shaykh Salim bin Ahmed (r. 1826-35) accepted a new treaty but would not let Omanis in the fort. Yet Sa'id kept attacking Mombasa. After Salim died in 1835, his son Rashid seized the fort; but his opponents held the town. Some of the Mazrui, disgusted with this conflict, called in Sa'id; but Rashid refused Sa'id's offers to leave. Sa'id sent his son Khalid to invite the Mazrui and then treacherously arrest them. Thus in 1837 the leaders of the Mazrui family were deported, and all died in prison. After Pate revolted in 1839 and killed the Omani governor and some of his Baluchi soldiers, Sa'id merely assigned the Lamu governor to rule Pate. That year Captain Robert Cogan estimated that 40,000 slaves were sold every year in the Zanzibar market.

In 1840 Sayyid Sa'id moved from Muscat to Zanzibar, where large numbers of slaves worked the clove plantations for the rich. He made commercial treaties with the United States in 1833, allowing them extra-territorial rights, with Britain in 1839, and with France in 1844. Sa'id had farmed out the taxes to the Indian firm Wat Bania for $70,000 a year; but they soon passed it over to Jairam Sewji for twenty years, and the customs master Taria Topan dominated Zanzibar after Sa'id's death. Because Sa'id got rid of their Mazrui rulers, Pemba paid his taxes and accepted an Arab garrison.

Sa'id tried to conquer independent Siu, which was ruled by Matata bin Mbaraka; but after five expeditions Sa'id gave up in 1845 when his commander Hamad bin Ahmad and 300 men were killed in an ambush. Two years later Sa'id sent a judge from Zanzibar to negotiate peace with the sultan of Pate, and the 5% customs duties on exports and imports were reinstated. Sa'id generally tried to preserve peace so that he could collect these duties. After a French adventurer named Maisan was murdered by brigands in the interior in 1845, French officials pressured the reluctant Sa'id to send some Baluchi soldiers to kill and ruin villages in revenge. That year the British consul Atkins Hamerton persuaded Sa'id to sign a treaty banning the export of slaves from his African dominions or the importation into his Asian possessions. Yet after 1850 Hamerton estimated that about 450,000 slaves worked on the two islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. Sa'id's economic policy simplified customs to a 5% duty on all imports, produced most of the world's cloves on Zanzibar, promoted the caravan trade in Africa, welcomed trade with Europeans, and encouraged Indians to handle business in Zanzibar. Between 1830 and his death in 1856 Sa'id multiplied his African revenue ten-fold.

By the time Sa'id died in 1856 Zanzibar had become a British protectorate. His son Majid took over Zanzibar and was supported by the British in his conflict with his brother Thuwain, who ruled at Muscat and tried to take over Zanzibar in 1859; but a British man-of-war persuaded him to turn back. In 1861 a man-of-war helped suppress the pirates ravaging Zanzibar. That year the British granted the right to hire Indian "coolies." Also in 1861 Governor General Canning of India arbitrated the Omani succession dispute by deciding they should rule their separate realms, and Majid should pay Thuwain 40,000 crowns a year. France accepted the agreement the next year. Majid stopped paying the tribute in 1866, when Thuwain was murdered by his son Salim, though for two more years it was sent to the governor of Bombay. In 1861 Ahmad ibn Fumuloti, who was called Simba (Lion), joined with Mutaka ibn Mbaraka and led a revolt that destroyed the Busa'idi fort at Siu; but Majid led the expedition that restored order and rebuilt the fort. In 1866 two sons of Mutaka were arrested while on an embassy to Zanzibar and soon died in the prison at Mombasa. Despite agreements, in the 1860s Zanzibar and Pemba were absorbing about 10,000 slaves a year. Kilwa declined as its slave trade diminished, and it was devastated by epidemics in 1857 and 1870. Owen observed that the slave trade also ruined the economy around Mozambique. In 1873 the British agent John Kirk by threatening to blockade Zanzibar got Sayyid Barghash ibn Sa'id to sign a treaty banning the slave trade by sea and promising to protect all liberated slaves, but this and the supplementary treaty of 1875 were often abused.


About 1800 Andrianampoinimerina began expanding his Imerina kingdom on Madagascar. His successor Radama I (r. 1810-28) subdued Bezanozano rebels and gained access to the sea at Tamatave in 1812. Radama signed two treaties with the British in 1817, accepting money and arms in exchange for outlawing the slave trade in Madagascar. In 1820 the British refused to pay the subsidies, but James Hastie persuaded Radama to renew the treaty and allow British missionaries. By 1829 the London Missionary Society (LMS) had built 23 schools for 2300 students in Madagascar. They put the Malagasy language in written form by using the Latin alphabet and translated the Bible. Radama recruited an army of 15,000, modernized with English guns and cannon. In 1822 this force defeated the Menabe in the west. The Sakalava continued to resist, though Boina was invaded and submitted. Most of the island was under Merina control by the time Radama died from a licentious life-style at the age of 36. He was succeeded by his cousin and first wife Ranavalona I (r. 1828-61), who was advised by two clan leaders Rainiharo and Rainijohary. In December 1828 her government informed the British that the treaty was cancelled. Trade between Madagascar and the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon was banned. The next year the French bombarded and invaded Tintingue and Tamatave. In 1832 Queen Ranavalona prohibited baptism, and three years later preaching Christianity was outlawed. This persecution killed many Christians, but the faith spread.

In the early 1840s the French acquired the islands of Nossi-bé and Mayotta. Despite agreements banning the slave trade, in 1843 they introduced the "free labor emigration system" in which they purchased slaves from Arab traders, usually at Kilwa, then formally set them free so they could "emigrate" to the island plantations. After the revolution of 1848 the French changed the name of the island Bourbon to Réunion.

By 1841 the Sakalava chiefs had fled to nearby islands, and the French were supporting their claims to western Madagascar. In 1844 foreigners were made subject to Malagasy law. Fearing they could be enslaved, the next year a French and British squadron bombarded and invaded Tamatave; but those captured in this failure were beheaded. Queen Ranavalona expelled foreign traders and suspended overseas commerce, except with the United States. Modernization continued though, as de Lastelle helped establish sugar plantations and a factory to produce sugar and rum. The queen got Jean Laborde to build an industrial complex at Mantasoa that employed 20,000 workers to produce guns, cannon, glass, soap, etc. After Mauritius and Réunion paid Ranavolana $15,000 compensation, the trade ban was lifted in 1853. Foreigners were allowed back to Madagascar, and in 1857 Joseph Lambert plotted a coup d'état with Laborde, de Lastelle, the Rainiharo clan, and Christians.

Queen Ranavalona went into isolation and designated her son Rakoto Radama as her successor. When she died in 1861, King Radama II immediately opened Madagascar to foreign traders, investors, and missionaries. The next year he signed treaties with the French and the British that exempted them from import and export duties and gave them other privileges. When Radama II tried to remove the leaders of the two prominent clans, he was strangled to death. The oligarchs made his cousin and wife, Queen Rasoherina, agree to renounce alcohol and follow the advice of the pro-European majority in her council. In 1864 army commander Rainilaiarivony took the place of the prime minister. He married the queen and her successor as well. In 1865 the British agreed to pay ten percent duties on imports and exports. The French insisted Madagascar pay an indemnity of 1,200,000 francs, but in 1868 they agreed to a treaty forbidding the French from buying land in Madagascar. A code of 101 articles was promulgated, and more were added later. By then there were 153,000 Christians in Madagascar, and Queen Ranavalona II converted in 1869 to the Protestant faith of the British. In 1872 Rainilaiarivony modernized the Malagasy army by employing a British instructor. The next year an expedition brought Bara under control.


In the interior west of Lake Victoria, Kyabuga's son Semakokiro ruled Buganda from about 1797 to 1814 and increased his power through war with his neighbors and by selling slaves, ivory, and livestock to Swahili traders for Indian cotton and other goods. Semakokiro was so afraid of being overthrown by a relative that he killed all of his grown sons except three and later murdered about seventy of his in-laws. Karagwe king Ndagara (r. 1832-55) also expanded his Haya kingdom, but he and his son Rumanika allowed the people conquered to keep their own chiefs. By 1830 east and central Africa were being ravaged for captives, as tens of thousands of slaves were exported every year. Slaves were traded for guns loaded from the muzzle. After Europeans began using breech-loading rifles in 1866, tens of thousands of the old guns were sold to Africa annually, greatly increasing the violence of the battles. Buganda kabaka Suna II killed all his 58 brothers, and he bought many guns from Zanzibar traders. His successor Mutesa (r. 1856-1884) had about a thousand guns by 1872. Sixty raids using armed canoes on Lake Victoria were recorded during his reign, and his Buganda army used guns and spears to attack Busoga, Bunyoro, Ankole, and others. After a long decline, Bunyoro began fighting back more successfully under Mukama Kamurasi, who died in 1869 and was succeeded by another strong leader, Kabarega. He reformed his army and bought guns from Khartoum as well as Zanzibar.

These larger kingdoms developed class structures such as that of the cattle-owning Tutsi over the farming Hutu in Ruanda. Ruanda king Mutara II began using warfare more often in the 1840s, and his successor Kigeri raided as far away as Ankole. Kigeri bought guns from Zanzibaris and made all able men serve in his army. Leaders such as Horombo of the Chagi around 1840 extended their authority over local chiefs and built stone forts. He was killed fighting the Masai, who fought a series of wars after the famine of 1836. Chiefs such as Rengwa and Masaki could not unite the Chagi as well as Rindi of the Moshi Chaga did in the 1860s. Johann Krapf landed on Zanzibar in 1844 and was given a helpful letter by Sa'id. He was the first Christian missionary to explore the interior of Kenya and observed that the Masai were dangerous. Krapf visited Shambaa (Usambara) ruler Kimweri ye Nyumbai (r. 1836-62) at Vuga in 1848 and 1852 and estimated that his kingdom southeast of Mount Kilimanjaro contained half a million people. Kimweri was a very effective autocrat and made detailed arrangements for the hospitality of strangers. After Kimweri died, the Shambaa kingdom broke apart. The fighting between the tribes allowed thousands of captives to be sold as slaves in Pangani. The Masai engaged in another series of wars between 1860 and 1864.

David Livingstone came from Scotland to Cape Town in 1841 as a missionary doctor. He married Moffat's daughter Mary in 1845, and he helped discover Lake Ngami in 1849. After Boers destroyed his home at Kolobeng and attacked his African friends in 1852, he set out on a long journey. In 1854 he pioneered a northern trade route between Angola and the southern Kololo. From Luanda on the west coast he crossed Africa, exploring the Zambesi and reaching Quilimane in Mozambique in 1856. He returned to England as a hero and wrote a detailed account of his adventures in his Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, which soon sold 70,000 copies. He made eloquent speeches against the Arab slave trade and for Christianity and commerce but downplayed the dangers, diseases, and sacrifices he suffered in order to promote the development of Africa. He believed that the British had a divine mission to elevate those less fortunate. He calculated that for every slave brought to Zanzibar four or five lives were lost. British consul Rigby at Zanzibar believed that only one woman slave in twenty bore children.

In 1858 Richard Burton and J. H. Speke explored Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria, finding the source of the Nile. The British government sponsored Livingstone's Zambesi expedition in 1858. Observing the hunting for slaves and ivory by the Arabs and Portuguese in the Kongo and the Shire highlands, he hoped that a British administration would bring improvement; but the British authorities recalled him in 1863. In his 1865 book, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries, Livingstone described the cruelty of the slavers in the Lake Nyasa region. At Zanzibar he observed hundreds of slaves being sold each day and estimated the island imported about 15,000 slaves per year. After this visit to England, Livingstone went back to East Africa in 1866 with only Africans and Asians. After Nguni raids forced them to enter Portuguese territory, some of his followers left and as an excuse reported at Zanzibar that Livingstone had been killed. He went on and explored Lake Tanganyika and the Lualaba River, though he was mistaken about the source of the Nile. He sent forty letters, and only one got through. The New York Herald hired Henry Morton Stanley to find Livingstone, which he did by Lake Tanganyika in October 1871. Livingstone refused to leave Africa and died in May 1873. He was very sympathetic to Africans, and Livingstone's explorations and writings stimulated great interest in Africa, commerce, and colonialism.

Southern Africans and Zulus
Southern Africa, Portuguese, and Dutch 1500-1800
From 1780 to 1830 Portuguese Angola exported between 15,000 and 20,000 slaves annually, mostly to Brazil, but the slave trade declined rapidly in the 1850s. When Rodrigues Graça informed Lunda chiefs that Portugal had outlawed the slave trade, they noted that Portugal was still sending convicts to Angola and asked why they could not transport convicts to Portugal. About a third of the slaves exported from Luanda and Benguela in the past century had been from Lunda territories. Most of the 2,000 Europeans in Luanda were deported criminals, and its military garrison was mostly African convicts. The rest of Luanda consisted of a few hundred mulattoes and free Africans and about 3,000 slaves. Lunda mwant yav Naweji ya Ditende (c. 1821-53) of the Kalagne dynasty increased his power and began using firearms from Angola. After a few years of conflict mwant yav Muteba ya Chikombe (c. 1857-73) welcomed the great caravans and ruled in peace. The Portuguese colonial power suffered military defeats at Cassanga in 1862 and in the Dembo country a decade later.

After the Portuguese royal monopoly on ivory was abolished in 1834, Chokwe hunters used their skill with guns to develop this trade. As the elephants diminished, the Chokwe hunted them in Lunda territory, giving half the ivory to the Lunda. The Chokwe traded their ivory for women and increased their population. Agriculture spread, and by the 1850s the upper Kasai was running out of cultivable farmland. In 1840 Luanda founded a trading port at Moçamedes for the highland ivory market. In the 1840s wax from Chokwe increased this trade from Benguela and Luanda thirty-fold. In the 1860s Moçamedes developed a fishing industry with the Portuguese using slave labor that could no longer be legally exported. In the late 1860s the Chokwe began to produce rubber. The Kasanje in the central plateau found their Imbangala territory bypassed by new commercial routes, and in 1850 disputes led to a war with the Portuguese; by the 1870s the relationship between the Kasanje plain and Angola had been reduced to a few Portuguese cattle ranchers and sugar planters. The Portuguese established a garrison at the English settlement of Ambriz in 1855. In the 1860s Luanda began to increase its export of agricultural products such as cotton, coffee, beeswax, and palm oil.

From the east Swahili-Arabs penetrated Zambia, which was ruled by a series of Kazembes. The Swahili-Arabs used guns to hunt for ivory, much as the Chokwe did further west. The Bemba kingdom made contact with Swahili-Arabs south of Lake Tanganyika about 1850. After Bemba chitimukulu Chileshye died about 1860, Chitapankwa eventually gained power and began to trade for guns to develop Bemba slave raiding and ivory hunting as well as to fight off the Nguni in the east. The Luba kingdom between the Lualaba River and Lake Tanganyika expanded from 1780 to 1870 during the three long reigns of Ilunga Sunga, his son Kumwimba, and Ilunga Kalala. In the 1850s the Nyamwezi developed commerce as caravan operators, and they bought ivory and Katanga copper from the Kazembe. The Sumbwa Nyamwezi began trading for copper directly from the Katanga and became known as the Yeke. Their leader Msiri used firearms to dominate his neighbors, taking captives to carry ivory and copper to Unyamwezi, which between 1861 and 1875 was dominated by Swahili-Arabs. Yet Ntemi Mkasiwa retained political control in Unyanyembe, and the Arabs supported the war against the expelled ntemi Mnywasele. Tutsis migrated and served in the Nyamwezi army. The Yeke campaigned against the Luba, and by 1870 Msiri was challenging the power of Kazembe. Through links with the Lovale he was able to trade ivory, slaves, rubber, and wax with Ovimbundu in southern Angola.


A famine in 1802 pushed refugees into the camps of the Ndwandwe, Ngwane, and Mthethwa. In 1804 Mthethwa chief Jobe learned of his son Godongwana's plot to overthrow him and sent him into exile. After Jobe died in 1809, his son returned and was called "the outcast" (Dingiswayo). He became chief and wisely allowed the opponents he defeated to keep their chiefs and cattle, increasing his army. Dingiswayo gained control over the trade route to Delagoa Bay and united several northern Nguni kingdoms into his Mthethwa confederacy. Shaka was the son of Zulu leader Senzangakona by the Langeni woman Nandi, and he was brought up by his parents' tribes, the Langeni and Qwabe. Shaka at 16 became a herder for the Mthethwa, and six years later he was conscripted into this army. Because of his bravery and military ideas, Dingiswayo made Shaka commander of a regiment. After defeating a Buthelezi champion in a duel with a stabbing spear, Shaka developed the use of this new weapon into an effective tactic.

When Senzangakona died about 1816, he was succeeded by his son Sigujana; but Nandi's son by a later marriage, Ngwadi, killed Sigujana. Dingiswayo's warriors then helped Shaka become Zulu chief. Shaka expanded the Zulu army from 500 to 2,000 and instilled discipline. He did not allow his soldiers to marry until they were old enough for the reserves. Surviving enemies they conquered were incorporated into the Zulu regiments, but they were discriminated against until they learned the Zulu dialect. Dingiswayo's rivals, Ndwandwe chief Zwide and Ngwane chief Sobhuza, quarreled with each other, and the Ngwane fled north, where they overcame some Nguni. In 1818 Zwide invited Dingiswayo to peace talks and had him assassinated. The Mthethwa fled across Mfolozi River, and Shaka merged the Mthethwa confederacy into his Zulu nation. Shaka and chiefs he trusted judged individuals and executed them for murder, robbery, rape, adultery, treason, cowardice, and spying. Zululand was shared by all, as no one held private property, except that ivory traded at Delagoa Bay for beads belonged to Shaka. The Zulu defeated the Ndwandwe in 1819.

The Bantu-speaking Nguni have a humanistic proverb, "Man becomes human through other humans."4 About 1820 the Nguni led by Soshangane fled from the Zulu to Mozambique, where they plundered the Shona, collected tribute from the Portuguese, and overcame his Nguni rivals Zwangendaba and Nxaba. The latter turned west and invaded the peaceful region of the Urozwi, destroying the great cities at Zimbabwe and Khami. Matiwane led the Ngwane west and attacked the Hlubi, killing their chief Mtimkulu and taking most of their herds. Those fleeing south joined the Mfengu. Mpangazita led the Hlubi in an invasion of the Tlokwa, causing Ma Nthatisi to lead her people west across the Drakensberg mountains. In 1822 the Tlokwa defeated the Mfengu, whose survivors migrated north and eventually established the Lozi state. Zwide's grandson Mzilikazi defected from Shaka and led the Khumalo (later called the Ndebele) across the Vaal River. In 1825 Matiwane's Ngwane defeated the Hlubi, killing Mpangazita.

Jakot Msimbithi was the son of a chief, but he had been seized in a commando raid and was apprenticed to a Boer farmer. He became an interpreter for the British, but he and war-doctor Nxele were captured during the Xhosa attack on Grahamstown and were sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island. After Nxele drowned in an escape attempt, Msimbithi was taken as an interpreter on the HMS Leven before being employed by Lt. Francis Farewell in a journey to Zululand. During a storm at sea, Msimbithi escaped and went to warn Shaka that white traders were coming. In 1823 Farewell and Henry Fynn, who had studied the native languages, lied when they told Shaka that they were envoys from King George. After Shaka was stabbed by a Ndwandwe spy, Fynn treated the nearly mortal wound with chamomile tea for several days; Fynn was given much of Natal and acquired a harem of Zulu wives. Both Fynn and Farewell published diaries portraying Shaka as barbaric so that the British public would be moved to take over the territory where they now owned so much land. According to them, Shaka was so afraid of being overthrown that he had killed most of his male relatives. He even was said to have killed wives who became pregnant so that he would not have any children. Every man was conscripted into the Zulu army, while the old and unfit were exterminated.

By 1824 Shaka had conquered all the clans in the region south to the Xhosa. Meanwhile Farewell was building a fort at Port Natal and claiming it was British territory. After Zwide died, Shaka intervened in the Ndwandwe succession. In 1826 Fynn and Farewell aided his Zulu army of 40,000 in a bloody battle against Ndwandwe that destroyed that tribe; the refugees with their chief Soshangane joined Mzilikazi, the Ndebele chief who had defected from Shaka five years before. Nathaniel Isaacs, who failed to gain the ivory he coveted, wrote a lurid account of Shaka that was published as his Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa in 1836. He reported that Shaka had 170 young men and isiGodlo girls executed, because he suspected them of adultery.

When his mother Nandi died in 1827, Shaka demanded that his entire nation mourn; 12,000 men were ordered to guard her grave for a year. Fynn reported that thousands died from exhaustion or were killed for disobeying severe restrictions against planting crops, drinking milk, or having sexual intercourse. After three months of this, Gala asked Shaka to put a stone in his stomach and pointed out that others besides Nandi die. Shaka then rewarded him and cancelled the mourning punishments. In March 1828 Shaka tried to send an embassy to King George that was led by former British naval officer James King and chief Sotobe; but Major Josias Cloete at Algoa Bay denied them access to the governor, and they failed to bring back the youth elixir Shaka most wanted. Shaka's army defeated the Mpondo but avoided encountering the British, who mistook chief Matiwane and his Ngwane for Zulu and defeated them at Mbholompo. According to Isaacs, Shaka's Zulu invaded Mozambique to attack Soshangane's Nguni and lost 5,000 men in battle, and another 15,000 starved or died of malaria on the march home. Outrage over the suffering caused by these losses and the mourning punishments motivated Dingane and Mhlangana to stab their half-brother Shaka to death on September 24, 1828.

Dingane and Mhlangana first attacked and destroyed Ngwadi and his followers. Dingane was supported by the chief induna (Zulu official) Mbopha, and they executed Mhlangane. Dingane then had Mbopha killed and restored Sotobe. This caused Qwabe chief Nqeto to organize a rebellion and flee south through Natal. Dingane fought Mzilikazi's Ndebele and Sobhuza. He gave Matiwane refuge but later had the old chief killed. Dingane sent a present to the British, hoping to develop trade and asking for a missionary; but he demanded tribute from the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay. After they refused, in 1833 he sent Zulu warriors that drove the Portuguese out and killed their governor Ribeiro. Xhosa interpreter Jacot Msimbithi warned Dingane that the white men were coming; but Fynn made him suspect Msimbithi, whom Dingane also killed. Missionary Allen Gardiner began giving the Zulus religious instruction in 1835, and the same year he mediated a treaty between the traders at Port Natal and Dingane. The next year Dingane used guns in an expedition against Sobhuza. By 1837 six American missionaries were in Natal and Zululand, and Anglican Francis Owen began a mission in the Zulu capital at Mgungundlovu.

Mzilikazi considered himself a Zulu, and his Nguni tribe of Ndebele grew to several thousand and attacked the Tswana and Rolong. His warriors stole cattle, destroyed towns, and captured women and children for the Ndebele tribe. Between 1825 and 1834 the Ndebele ravaged the central and northern Transvaal. Young men lived in military settlements until their regiment was victorious in battle. Later they were allowed to marry and farm for the Ndebele while still performing as reserves during wars. Although a few private individuals could own cattle, no one could slaughter livestock without Mzilikazi's permission. In 1829 the Korana defeated the Ndebele using guns; but in a surprise night raid the Ndebele captured the guns. That year Mzilikazi first met the missionary Robert Moffat, and their close friendship lasted many years. In 1832 the Ndebele defeated an invasion by Dingane's Zulu, and Mzilikazi moved his capital west to Hurutshe country; their chief Mokgatla fled, and many Hurutshe joined the Ndebele tribe.

In 1835 Ndebele envoys went to Cape Town and signed a friendship treaty. In 1836 the Ndebele attacked Voortrekkers at Vegkop; but the next year these Boers, allied with Griqua and Rolong, attacked and killed more than four hundred Ndebele at Mosega, destroying fifteen kraals. After suffering an attack by the Zulu and another by Voortrekkers led by Hendrik Potgieter in October 1837, Mzilikazi led his people north across the Limpopo River. The Ndebele ravaged the Urozwi, but they eventually got along and stayed. Another skirmish between Potgieter and the Ndebele occurred in 1847, but five years later Mzilikazi agreed to a treaty allowing the Boers to hunt in Ndebele territory. Moffat found Mzilikazi physically incapacitated when he visited him in 1854; he accepted missionaries in his country and ruled the Ndebele until he died in 1868. A majority of the indunas selected Lobengula as Ndebele king; but one regiment resisted, and Lobengula had to win a civil war to gain the throne.


In the 1830s Zwangendaba, after he was defeated by Soshangane and Nxaba, led his Nguni north across the Zambesi into Zambia, Tanzania, and Malawi, while those led by Nxaba stayed in Urozwi raiding the cattle of the Shona. In 1835 Nxaba ventured north of the Zambesi River also, but he was killed fighting the Kololo. Zwangendaba welcomed various peoples into his Nguni nation and settled at Mapupo. After Zwangendaba suspected witchcraft and destroyed the "great house," he died about 1848. His Nguni nation split into five kingdoms. Three factions moved south to Zambia and Malawi, while the Tuta went north to Nyamwezi. The Gwangara moved to the east of Lake Nyasa but collided with the Nguni Maseko led by Maputo, eventually driving them south of the Ruvuma River. The Ndendeule fled to the Kilombero valley and in the 1860s established the Mbunga kingdom. The Nguni invasions in eastern and central Africa destroyed many villages and killed thousands, causing famines and the displacement of populations.

Sebetwane increased the Kololo by entering into marriage alliances and by assimilating the Lozi into the Kololo culture without discrimination. After Sebetwane died in 1851, his successor Sekeletu, suffering from leprosy and fearing witchcraft, reversed the liberal Kololo policy and suspected the Lozi. When he died in 1864, he was succeeded by Mbololu; but the Lozi commander Njakwa led a rebellion, supported by Lozi prince Sipopa, that killed the Kololo. Sipopa then ruled the Lozi homeland until 1876. David Livingstone had visited the Kololos in 1851, and he used them as porters going down the Zambezi. A few settled among the Manganja; these Kololos opposed the slave trade and, using firearms given them by Livingstone, they were able to deter the Yao, Portuguese, Arabs, and Nguni; thus they were welcomed by the Manganja.


In November 1837 Voortrekker Piet Retief asked Dingane for fertile land and was promised it if he could retrieve stolen cattle, horses, and guns from Tlokwa chief Sekonyela. Retief met Sekonyela in the garden of Wesleyan missionary James Allison and put the chief in handcuffs until the Tokla delivered the goods. Retief turned the seven hundred cattle over to the Zulu king at Mgungundlovu but not the fifty horses and guns. When Retief and seventy Boers came for their land in February 1838 and entered the enclosure unarmed, Dingane treacherously had all of them slaughtered. He respected the missionaries to avoid antagonizing the English. Eleven days later near Bloukrans River the Zulus massacred 281 European men, women, and children along with more than 200 native servants, taking some 35,000 cattle and sheep.

After these long-remembered massacres, the missionaries left Zululand. John Cane led an African force from Port Natal that destroyed Zulu villages; but when traders led a similar force across the Thukela (Tugela) River, they were annihilated by a Zulu regiment commanded by Dingane's half-brother Mpande. These Zulus then destroyed Port Natal as the remaining Europeans took refuge on a ship. In December 1838 a stronger Boer force in Zululand formed a laager and fighting 10,000 Zulu with firearms killed about 3,000 in the battle at Blood River, while only three Boers were wounded. Dingane abandoned and burned Mgungundlovu. Voortrekkers were ambushed near the Black Mfolozi but managed to kill about a thousand Zulu while only losing five men. Dingane then made peace with the Boers, promising to move up the coast and stay north of the Thukela.

Shaka's brother Mpande stayed in Natal, and about 17,000 Zulus came over to him, "breaking the rope" to Dingane. Mpande went before the Boers' council and requested land south of the Thukela. In December 1839 the British withdrew from Natal. Boer commando Andries Pretorius executed two Zulu envoys by firing squad, after Mpande testified they were involved in the murder of Retief's party. After trying to capture Dingane, Pretorius took about 36,000 Zulu cattle back to Natal. Dingane put to death his best general Ndlela for having persuaded him to let Mpande live years before. With Boer support in the Zulu civil war, Mpande defeated Dingane at Magongo in February 1840. Dingane fled to Sobhuza but was put to death. Sobhuza also died that year and was succeeded by his son Mswazi, who developed the Swazi kingdom by adopting Zulu military methods and Sotho democratic influences. Pretorius proclaimed Mpande king of the Zulus and vassal of his Natal republic.

Zulu king Mpande maintained good relations with the Boers and the British for nearly a third of a century. He made a treaty with British commissioner Henry Cloete in 1843, making the Thukela and Buffalo rivers the border between Zululand and Natal. Mpande had many wives who gave him 23 sons and more than thirty daughters. His council met annually and approved his new laws that greatly reduced the severity of punishments. Zulu young people were allowed to be sexually active, and prostitution was unknown. Zulus believe that dreams are messages from their ancestors and reveal the truth. His sons divided into two factions as Mpande favored Mbuyazi; but Cetshwayo led about 20,000 Usuthu warriors, who defeated Mbuyazi's 7,000 Isigqoza in a battle that killed thousands of men, women, and children in 1856. Cetshwayo remained loyal to his father but made sure he had no other heir. After Mpande died, Cetshwayo was crowned king by Shepstone in 1873. His friend John Dunn was made a chief and eventually ruled about 10,000 Zulus, naming 49 wives in his will. Cetshwayo ruled 300,000 with an army of 30,000, reviving the military system. He collected over 100,000 cattle in his royal kraal at Ulundi; but a lung disease spread, causing an epidemic that destroyed about half of the Zulu cattle by 1875. Novelist Anthony Trollope visited South Africa in 1877 and published a sympathetic account of the natives the next year, prophesying, "I have no fears myself that Natal will be overrun by hostile Zulus;-but much fear that Zululand should be overrun by hostile Britons."5 The Zulu concept ubuntu means wholeness and implies that compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony, and humanity are needed for community.

Named for the sound of cutting hair, Sotho (Basuto) chief Moshweshwe did not smoke nor drink, though he had more than thirty wives. He was taught by Motlomi, who emphasized impartial justice and peace instead of war, warning him against relying on witchdoctors. In 1822 Moshweshwe made peace with Ngwane chief Matiwane by giving him cattle, and he cultivated Shaka's friendship with gifts. When Shaka learned that the gifts were being hindered by the Ngwane, he attacked them. A siege by Ma Nthatisi's Tlokwa caused Moshweshwe to flee and negotiate with Matiwane. The Sotho found a secure home on top of a steep mountain called Thaba Bosiu. In 1825 the Ngwane defeated the Hlubi and killed Mpangazita, causing some to join Sotho chief Moshweshwe. After the Zulu ravaged Ngwane cattle in 1827, Matiwane attacked the Sotho the next year. The Ngwane were forced to retreat and were defeated by the Cape corps. Moshweshwe made peace with the Tlokwa and defeated the marauding Ndebele in 1831. Then Moshweshwe sent the cattle back to the Ndebele with the message, "Our master assumes you must have been hungry to have attacked his people. He sends you these cattle so that you may eat and go in peace."6 In 1832 Adam Krotz, a Griqua Christian, visited Moshweshwe at Thaba Bosiu and told him about missionaries. French missionaries, deterred by Mzilikazi's violence, were drawn to Thaba Bosiu the next year and soon established missions at Morija, Beersheba, and Mekuatling. During the turmoil of the next decade the peaceful Sotho increased to 40,000.

Moshweshwe's Sotho territory between the Orange and Caledon rivers was defined in a treaty he made with Cape governor Napier in 1843. Two years later Cape governor Peregrine Maitland persuaded Moshweshwe and Griqua leader Adam Kok III to let the Boers pay rent for using their land. In 1847 Governor Harry Smith informed the Griqua that rent from the tenant farmers would go to the colony; but Moshweshwe was able to negotiate British protection against trekkers' claims to his land. Yet the next year Smith used Major Warden to annex Sotho land. The Sotho routed a Mfengu force commanded by Englishman Bailie and in 1851 defeated Warden's army at Viervoet. Ma Nthatisi's son Sekonyela had become chief of the Tlokwa, and their numbers increased; using firearms supplied by the British, Sekonyela attacked the Sotho capital at Thaba Bosiu in 1852. In December of that year Governor Cathcart demanded 10,000 cattle and a thousand horses in three days. Moshweshwe sent the British 3,500 cattle and begged for peace. Because of raids by the Tlokwa and Korana, Moshweshwe attacked them in 1853. Sekonyela went to live in exile, but his brother Mota and most of the Tlokwa agreed to live under Sotho sovereignty.

After creating the Orange Free State, the Boers clashed with their Sotho neighbors, and war broke out in 1858. Having modernized the military with guns and horses, 10,000 mounted Sothos were able to defend the mountain fortress at Thaba Bosiu, and Governor Grey arbitrated a treaty between the Sotho and South African president Boshoff. Unable to stop cattle raids against both sides, in 1866 Boers led by President J. H. Brand destroyed the crops until the starving Sotho ceded most of their fertile land to the Orange Free State. However, the Sotho did not abandon their territory, and the Boers could not take Thaba Bosiu. Moshweshwe had appealed to the British in 1861 and again in 1865. Finally in 1868 Cape governor Wodehouse took it upon himself to annex Basutoland (Lesotho) from the two exhausted sides, letting the Orange Free State retain most of the conquered territory. Moshweshwe died at the age of 84 in March 1870, the month Brand ratified the agreement.

British and Boers in South Africa
The British government began publishing the Cape Gazette in 1800. The next year a contract system for farm labor was introduced. In 1802 Britain and France ratified the Amiens treaty that gave the Cape settlement back to the Batavian Republic. Jacob de Mist and the new governor Jan Willem Janssens arrived to take over at the end of the year, but the British general Dundas did not leave until March 4, 1803. General Janssens ended the third frontier war by granting Khoikhoi leaders their own lands. In the peace agreement neither side had to return stolen livestock; the trekboers resented this, because they believed they had lost 50,000 cattle, 50,000 sheep, and 1,000 horses. More than a third of the farms in Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet had been abandoned. After the Napoleonic Wars broke out in 1805, the British moved to regain the Cape colony. When a British force of 4,000 men arrived in January 1806, Janssens and a thousand men fled to the mountains. Major General David Baird offered a liberal capitulation, and on March 6, 1807 the Batavian troops were deported in British ships to Holland. After Britain banned the slave trade in 1807, Cape Town's exports went up from 180,000 rixdollars that year to 1,320,000 in 1815. In the ten years after the end of the slave trade the number of slaves in the Cape colony only went up from 30,000 to 32,046; by then they were no longer a majority of the Cape Town population.

The first British governor, Lord Caledon, appointed Col. Richard Collins to report on the colonists' concerns regarding the Khoisans and Xhosa. In 1809 the so-called "Magna Carta of the Hottentots" was proclaimed that required Khoisan to register and carry a pass or risk being arrested as vagabonds. The fear of a French invasion was greatly reduced after the British took over the islands of Mauritius and Réunion in 1810. John Craddock became governor the next year, and in 1812 he enacted a law whereby Khoisan children of employed parents should be apprenticed at age eight for ten years. Dr. Van der Kemp had married a Khoikhoi and adopted Xhosa ways. He and his assistant James Read of the London Missionary Society (LMS) complained that this was a way of enslaving the Khoisan. Their charges of cruelty and murder were investigated by judges in what was called the "black circuit." Nearly a hundred families were involved, and more than a thousand witnesses were summoned; several were found guilty of violence. The Cape Town Free School for the poor was founded in 1813 and began teaching more than two hundred students of all races and both sexes.

In the Zuurveld the Xhosa stole cattle and murdered five Khoisan herders in December 1809. As the Xhosa moved west, the Boers abandoned their farms and moved back toward Graaff-Reinet. In 1810 Ndlambe kept demanding cattle from his people, and the Xhosa raiding continued. The next year Governor Craddock sent Col. John Graham with troops to be joined by the commandos of landdrost Andries Stockenstrom, who tried to negotiate with the Xhosa and was killed along with thirteen Boers. On the first day of 1812 Graham ordered 500 men to enter the woods and kill any Kaffir they found in order to show their superiority. His forces and the farmers killed Xhosa men and women, capturing 2,500 cattle. Chungwa was killed resisting, but Ndlambe and the Xhosa escaped across the Fish River. Governor Craddock promulgated the quitrent system that went into effect in August 1813 and made land-owning hereditary, though the Boers preferred the old system with lower rent. Taxes were raised on most towns to pay for the defense of the eastern frontier. After his brother was killed, Johannes Bezuidenhout led a Boer rebellion against British rule in 1815. They were defeated at Slagter's Nek, and he was killed; many were put on trial, and five were hanged.

In 1817 Cape Town governor Charles Somerset visited the east and asked chief Ngqika (Gaika) to stop the Xhosa stealing, but by the end of the year a force was sent to make Ndlambe comply. They captured 2,060 cattle; though only 603 were identified by their owners, the others were kept as compensation for other losses. The next year a few soldiers were murdered in isolated attacks.

Nxele (Makanna) was a Xhosa who had grown up on a Boer farm and learned Dutch. He returned to his people and became an inyanga (diviner). He disagreed with missionaries and believed that white people had been banished to Africa for having killed Jesus and that Mdalidiphu, God of the black people, would drive them into the sea. Another diviner named Ntsikana had a more peaceful vision of submitting to the will of God, but he could not persuade Ndlambe, who followed Nxele. However, Ngqika sponsored Ntsikana. After Ndlambe and Nxele slaughtered hundreds of Ngqika's men at Amalinde, Ntsikana told Governor Somerset that he had been attacked for trying to stop cattle stealing. Boers volunteered, and retreating Ndlambe abandoned 23,000 cattle to the pursuing commandos and Ngqika, who was reinstated and given 9,000 cattle. Nxele urged the Xhosa to unite and led about 6,000 men in an attack on Grahamstown in 1819, but the bullets did not melt like water as he had predicted. Col. Willshire commanded a force; using 270 muskets, the British had only three men die, while they killed about a thousand spear-carrying warriors. Nxele surrendered the next day and was sent to Robben Island, but he drowned while trying to escape. Ndlambe eluded capture, but he had lost his power and died a few years later. Ngqika now was the main chief over the Xhosa west of the Kei River, and he promised to keep them out of the neutral territory and "ceded" 10,000 square kilometers of good pastureland to Governor Somerset. The Xhosa would remember the British as those who came to help but killed instead.

In 1819 the government in England financed with 50,000 pounds a program to move a thousand unemployed families to the Cape. Land grants were given to those who could afford to hire ten people; but the Zuurveld, named "sour country" by the Boers, was difficult to farm, and in 1823 farmers' petitions protested their miserable conditions. By reducing customs duties on wines, exports to England made this the Cape's most profitable business until 1825 when the duties were increased. In 1827 the British established a legal system in the Cape colony with resident magistrates and trials by jury, though slaves and Khoisan usually found their participation to be only as defendants in criminal cases. Well into the 1830s theft, cattle-killing, arson, rape, incest, and burglary were still capital crimes. A newspaper was suppressed in 1827, but two years later publishing was allowed without the governor and council's approval; security was required in case of libel until 1859. Missionary John Philip persuaded Cape authorities in 1828 to enact Ordinance 50 guaranteeing equal rights for all "Hottentots and other free persons of colour." This abolished the Pass laws and allowed the Khoisan to own land; it also prohibited employers from making contracts with servants for more than a year or from making children apprentices without their parents' consent, causing resentment among white farmers who feared losing control over their servants and workers. In 1829 the Cape government expelled Ngqika's successor Maqoma, the brother of Sandile, and gave the fertile Kat River valley to Khoikhoi and the mixed-race Barends called "bastards."

In 1834 the British government voided a vagrancy law aimed at Africans, and in December of that year the British decreed the emancipation of all the slaves in their colonies, including 39,000 in Cape Town, though the slaves would have to work for their former owners for four more years. The Xhosa invaded the colony to recover lost land in 1834. Governor Benjamin D'Urban ordered villages destroyed and crops burned; he and missionaries persuaded 16,000 Mfengu to move to the eastern frontier of the Cape colony. The British government ordered D'Urban to return the land he annexed. Named beggars because of their plight, the Mfengu worked for white farmers to learn skills and after a few years were selling grain, tobacco, cattle, milk, and firewood. They fought for the Cape colony in three frontier wars.

Unwilling to pay taxes to British authorities, about 15,000 Boers left their homes between 1835 and 1841 to trek into Zulu country. With guns the Voortrekkers were able to fight off about 5,000 Ndebele at Vegkop in October 1836. Most of their livestock were taken, but Rolong chief Moroka helped Potgieter's people to survive. The next January the wealthy Gert Maritz joined Potgieter, and with the help of Griqua, Kora, Rolong, and Tlokwa they captured the Ndebele stronghold at Mosega, killing 430 and regaining 7,000 cattle. In November 1837 commandos led by Potgieter and Piet Uys defeated the Ndebele again, forcing Mzilikazi to cross the Limpopo. After the two massacres of Voortrekkers by Zulus in February 1838, trekkers got revenge in December when they were attacked at the Ncome River, which was renamed Blood River. Shooting from inside their laager (circle of wagons), they killed some 3,000 Zulus while only three Boers were wounded.

That month, in response to the Republic of Natalia proclaimed by the Boers with Pretorius as president, British governor George Napier sent a force to occupy Port Natal. Sotho chief Moshweshwe did not object to the trekkers occupying some of the grazing land. After the Zulus destroyed the trading post of Port Natal, the Voortrekkers built a new capital they called Pietermaritzburg. Voortrekker commandos captured Zulu children and made them "apprentices" until the age of 25 for males and 21 for females. After the Volksraad (Council) decided to remove Africans from Natal, Napier sent a force to reoccupy Port Natal. In May 1842 the British forces and Voortrekkers clashed at Congella, and in October Jan Mocke proclaimed a republic by the Orange River. Reinforcements led by Col. Josias Cloete got the Volksraad at Pietermaritzburg to submit. T. C. Smith was put in command at Fort Napier, which was built to control Pietermaritzburg.

In 1835 Col. Henry Smith crossed the Kei River and offered Gcaleka chief Hintsa safe passage for talks; but Hintsa was arrested and shot dead when he tried to escape. After Governor D'Urban claimed the short-lived province of Queen Adelaide, the Xhosa chiefs made peace. Commissioner-General Andries Stockenstrom (junior) proposed a system of treaties with the Xhosa to settle cattle-stealing disputes in the Cape colony, while he criticized the commando raids of suspected thieves' homesteads as having caused the sixth frontier war. The British appointed Stockenstrom Lieutenant-Governor for the Eastern Districts in 1836, and his treaty system reduced conflict until the drought of 1842.

Missionary John Philip hoped that the Griqua in the north would help convert other Africans to Christianity. In 1842 British governor George Napier warned those who might invade, molest, or injure Africans, and a judge interpreted the Cape of Good Hope Punishment Act as authorizing the British government to protect the Griqua lands. In 1843 Napier made a treaty with Adam Kok III and Sotho chief Moshweshwe to maintain order with British courts. The next year Lt. General Peregrine Maitland replaced Napier as clashes between Voortrekkers and the Griqua escalated. After Tsili was arrested for stealing an axe, Xhosa chief Tola had him liberated by hacking off the hand of a fellow prisoner, who died. In reaction Col. John Hare sent out a punitive expedition. Chief Sandile refused to surrender Tola, and the "War of the Axe" erupted in which colonial cavalry killed 500 Ndlambe soldiers. By 1846 the Xhosa had 7,000 armed men; but because of the famine they wanted to make peace. They would not fight, but they also refused to leave the region. Governor Henry Pottinger stopped war-time rations, because the 400 men he ordered into military duty from the Kat River Settlement did not report. Yet all but about a hundred of the able-bodied men were already on military duty.

Harry Smith replaced the incompetent Pottinger as governor later in 1847. Increasing pressures for more grazing land were a result of the proliferation of sheep and the wool industry that by 1851 accounted for 59% of all Cape export revenue. To drive the Xhosa out, Smith gave annexation as an excuse to impose martial law; fines were imposed on the Xhosa for petty offenses. Ngqika chief Sandile refused to obey a summons to Governor Smith and attacked a colonial patrol, causing the eighth frontier war to break out on Christmas Day in 1850. Some ranchers were motivated to side with the Xhosa against the British government. The rebellion led by Smith's former interpreter Hermanus Matroos was suppressed, and their lands were given to Europeans, who quickly bought up the best land. Smith's failed attempt to annex Sotho land caused the British government to send a commission to assess his aggressive policies, and he was replaced by George Cathcart. Amid an epidemic of lung disease in the cattle, in 1856 a girl named Nongqawuse persuaded Xhosa chief Sarhili that the ancestors directed them to slaughter all the cattle, destroy their grain, and stop cultivation to build new facilities, expecting miracles. Some resisted and were blamed for the failure, resulting in a civil war that lasted a year until Sarhili renounced the devastating policy.

When the British tried to import convict labor into Cape Town in 1849, protests promoted by the South African Commercial Advertiser persuaded Governor Harry Smith to block their even leaving the boat, causing the British Parliament to change its policy. Editor John Fairbairn and Andries Stockenstrom proposed a constitution; a committee drafted one in 1851, and by 1854 representative government was achieved with voting rights for adult males of all races who had property worth at least 25 pounds. This liberal policy was in contrast to the color discrimination in the Orange Free State and Natal. Xhosa Tiyo Soga was educated in Scotland, became a missionary, married a Scot, and translated the Gospels and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress into Xhosa before he died in 1871.

In Natal neither the local government nor the British would expend funds to help the Africans get education, which was left to the missionaries. Theophilus Shepstone grew up in the Cape colony and was fluent in Xhosa. He served as Diplomatic Agent in Natal from 1845 to 1853 and then as Secretary for Native Affairs until 1875. He based administration on the tribal chiefs he recognized. In 1847 the British made Natal their colony and established the Locations Commission that put nearly a hundred thousand Africans under the jurisdiction of Shepstone. After 1849 every Zulu chief had to pay in cash or cattle an annual tax of seven shillings for each hut. Shepstone tried to use some native laws. In 1850 he let chieftain Matyana off with a fine of 500 cattle after he killed three relatives; but in November Shepstone instituted capital punishment in murder cases. After Matyana had a witch doctor beaten to death in 1858, a skirmish erupted, wounding Shepstone; Matyana escaped and fled. In 1856 Natal gained representative government, but most Africans were under their chiefs and could not vote.

An economic depression in the British Isles between 1847 and 1851 stimulated massive emigration, and about 5,000 came to Natal lured by twenty acres of land for ten pounds in a scheme designed by the British government and land speculator Joseph Byrne. However, the best land was already occupied by Afrikaners (Boers) or owned by speculators. Byrne went bankrupt in 1850, and most of the immigrants ended up in the towns of Pietermaritzburg or Durban. Experiments in growing arrowroot, coffee, cotton, indigo, tobacco, and sugar resulted in only sugar becoming a commercial success along the coast. Wool was the major product in the interior. Wool exports went from 20,000 pounds in 1832 to 25,000,000 in 1862, when they were more than 80% of the colony's exports. John W. Colenso became Natal's first Anglican bishop in 1853, and he translated the New Testament and some of the Old Testament into Zulu. Because of his efforts to promote Zulu rights and understand their religion, he was accused of heresy by Archbishop Robert Gray; but his sentence of deprivation was voided by the Privy Council in 1864. Europeans, upset that Natal Kaffirs (Africans) were avoiding work on their farms, began importing indentured laborers from India in 1860. These immigrants were indentured for five years, usually to sugar planters, and after ten years they received free passage back to India. The governor could grant them land instead, and most Indians stayed in Natal. About 6,000 came from Madras and 300 from Calcutta. By 1870 about 18,000 Europeans lived in Natal among a quarter million Africans; the Boer republics had about 45,000 whites; and the Cape colony had 200,000 Europeans.

In 1848 Cape governor Harry Smith used troops to annex the territory between the Orange and Vaal rivers, forcing Andries Pretorius to lead his people across the Vaal. Smith ordered Major Henry Warden to draw the boundaries without disturbing any white landowners, and the "Warden line" reduced the territory Napier had recognized as Sotho's. When Warden attacked Taung chief Moletsane's villages on Viervoet mountain in 1851, Moshweshwe helped defeat Warden. In February 1852 British commissioners by the Sand River Convention guaranteed the Boers north of the Vaal self-government without interference in alliance with Africans. Two years later the Bloemfontein Convention established a Boer republic called the Orange Free State (OFS). Their constitution made all white people there for six months citizens and gave the vote to male citizens registered for the military. Josias Hoffman became the first president of the Orange Free State, but in 1855 for conciliating the British and giving the Sotho gunpowder he was forced to resign by guns after impeachment failed. The new president, Jacobus Boshof, accepted the Warden line.

Ivory hunters and slave raiders caused troubles in Soutpansberg of the northern Transvaal. After the elephants were killed there, they taught Africans to shoot so that they could bring back ivory from areas with malaria. Hermanus Potgieter captured so many Ndebele children to be "apprentices" that chief Mankopane and Mokopane led an attack that killed him and several Boers in 1854. Five hundred Boer commandos tracked these Ndebele to caves, where seven hundred surrendered; but at least a thousand Ndebele were killed escaping or died in the caves during the 25-day siege. Marthinus Pretorius of Potchefstroom, who led this expedition, in 1856 accepted a constitution, as did the Jouberts in Lydenburg; but Stephanus Schoeman of Soutpansberg did not join this South African Republic (SAR) until 1860, when he became commandant-general. The Transvaal constitution specifically denied equality to non-whites. In 1859 mistreated Africans around Schoemansdal rebelled, and in the 1860s the Venda defended themselves with firearms they had learned to use shooting elephants. When Venda chief Makhado led an uprising in 1867, commandant-general Paul Kruger had to withdraw from Schoemansdal with the white inhabitants. The Venda and Sotho were both divided, and Soutpansberg was ravaged by Shoshangane's successor Mzila and by Mswazi.

When Marthinus Pretorius tried to take over the Orange Free State as the heir of his father Andries Pretorius in 1857, a confrontation was resolved by agreeing to mutual autonomy. British commissioner George Grey tried to mediate the conflict with the Sotho; but in 1859 Grey was recalled to England for promoting British annexation of the Orange Free State. This caused Boshof, who also favored this, to resign. In 1861 South African Republic president Marthinus Pretorius signed the Treaty of Waaihoek, which redefined the border between Zululand and the Transvaal. The unionists elected Pretorius president of the OFS, and he had to resign his office in the SAR. In 1863 Pretorius went back to the Transvaal, where he served as president of the South African Republic until 1871. Parliamentarian Jan Hendrik Brand was elected president of the Orange Free State in 1864 and held that position until 1888. The South African Republic followed the policies of the Natal Republic in not allowing Africans to have firearms, ammunition, or horses and requiring a pass signed by an employer or an official. Africans had to pay taxes and were pushed off fertile land by white farmers. Adam Kok III sold his rights in the Orange Free State and led his people out to found East Griqualand. Africans could be conscripted to work for a year, and the laws were enforced by the military. Mistreated African servants could appeal to the landdrost but risked being punished for a "frivolous" complaint.

Diamonds were discovered in 1867, and by 1870 some 10,000 people were digging along the Vaal River. Natal Lt. Governor Robert Keate arbitrated that Griqualand West belonged to the Griqua, but in 1871 chief Nicolaas Waterboer gained protection as Griqualand West became a British colony. African labor was hired and by 1873 made up half of the 50,000 workers. They worked six months or a year for cash to buy guns, farm tools, or brides. An international recession in 1873 forced many to sell their diamond stocks to the wealthy. Hlubu chief Langalibalele had a record harvest that year and owned 15,000 cattle. Suspected for having 63 unregistered guns, he was attacked for not obeying a summons and was imprisoned on Robben Island. Other Hlubi prisoners were made indentured servants. Bishop Colenso defended the Hlubi chief and observed that the Hlubi were treated unjustly because of swartgevaar, an excessive fear of Africans by Europeans. Colonial secretary Kimberley, after whom the diamond town was named, believed that conflict over the diamond mines prevented the confederation of South Africa; but in 1874 he was replaced by Lord Carnavan, who began working for federation the next year.

Notes
1. Quoted in The History of West Africa, Volume 2, p. 84
2. Ibid., p. 402-3.
3. West African Countries and Peoples by James Africanus Horton, p. 24.
4. Quoted in Shaka's Children by Stephen Taylor, p. 32.
5. South Africa by Anthony Trollope, p. 228.
6. Quoted in The Zulu Aftermath by J. D. Omer-Cooper, p. 103.


Copyright © 2004 by Sanderson Beck
This chapter has been published in the book Middle East & Africa to 1875.
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Introduction
Ethics
Prehistoric Cultures
Sumer, Babylon, and Hittites
Egypt
Israel
Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Empires
Muhammad and Islamic Conquest
Abbasid, Buyid, and Seljuk Empires 750-1095
Islamic Culture 1095-1300
Ottoman and Persian Empires 1300-1730
Ottoman and Persian Empires 1730-1875
Africa to 1500
Africa and Slavery 1500-1800
Africa and Europeans 1800-1875
Summary and Evaluation
Bibliography
ETHICS OF CIVILIZATION Index
BECK index

BECK index
Summary and Evaluation
Prehistory
Ancient Near East
Muslim Middle East 610-1875
Africa to 1875
Evaluating the Middle East and Africa to 1875
This chapter has been published in the book Middle East & Africa to 1875.
For ordering information, please click here.

Prehistory
Planet earth is a place of ever-changing experience. Yet of all the diversity of living species only the humans have developed artificial civilization that dominates the environment and uses sophisticated means of communication with art, technology, and writing that are passed on to future generations. To discuss the ethics of early humans before the appearance of this evidence is very speculative and uncertain. Nonetheless to understand ourselves better it is useful to have some ideas as to our origins. Readers may disagree or agree about the spiritual aspects of our being and its source in God or a creator, but the long process of evolution is fairly well proven now by the scientific research of the last century or so. What does the nature of our bodies and how they evolved reveal about our values?

As warm-blooded mammals our bodies must be constantly fed and protected from cold weather. To do this requires using resources of the environment. In our time excessive exploitation of the environment threatens our very survival, but in the ancient world with a small human population this was only rarely the case. The extension of childhood development and dependence on the mother for longer periods stimulated family values. The enjoyment of sexual relations at any time by creatures with brains large enough to make conscious choices brought greater emotional attachment, rivalry, jealousy, and social customs in mating. Much of human ethics is concerned with the morals of mating and the raising of children to understand the customary behaviors of the social group.

A few million years ago the need to gather more food led a resourceful primate to begin eating the flesh of other animals as other predators do. This led to the aggressive behavior of hunting in which group cooperation was found to be successful. The success of hunters and gatherers in some areas eventually brought about crises, which stimulated the development of agriculture, opening the great source of reliable sustenance that would bring about the birth of civilization in villages, towns, and cities. Instead of following herds, more people began to settle down in one place and tend their own animals as possessions. Animal food could be used especially in emergencies or between crops. Only recently are scientists discovering that eating animal products is less healthy for the human body, but old social habits are hard to break. The domestication of large animals also provided an interim technology to assist human labor and transportation before the industrial age replaced them with machines. Before force was organized for warfare, women were very likely equal partners with men; mothers may even have been worshiped for their ability to bear children and nurture them.

Skill using weapons in hunting animals could be turned against fellow humans in violent social conflicts and so was also valued by many aggressive humans in battles between one group and another even if individual violence within the group was discouraged. As clans of families and eventually tribes joined together to protect developing property such as animals, houses, fields, and irrigation systems, war became an organized activity to defend against marauding raiders. Stronger males naturally became leaders in these aggressive confrontations. Thus patriarchs developed sexist values in a male-dominated society. Cultures where the nurturing skills of women made them equal or superior tended to be those societies which were more "primitive" in the sense that they did not develop as much surplus wealth that needed forceful protection or were in isolated places where they did not have to fear encroachment. Those aggressive bands of raiders, who perverted hunting skills into plundering other human settlements, were surely the most violent and probably the most dominated by men.

The development of language and storytelling increased social cohesion that could now be passed on to other generations through oral tradition. Tribal loyalties gained continuity, and rituals were celebrated to strengthen emotional attachments to the group's cultural values. As population increased with successful agriculture, tribes with a common language interacted in cities and were often united by a social hierarchy headed by kings and priests. The lessons of Atlantean destruction, though attempts were made to pass them on through the Egyptians and Greeks, are controversial and mostly lost.

Ancient Near East
The earliest cities were built in the fertile crescent from Jericho to Catal Huyuk in Anatolia and especially along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Sumer. Here and concurrently in Egypt along the Nile developed the first great civilizations. Agriculture was enhanced with the use of metal, pottery, and the wheel. Writing promoted economic and political development in business, trade, law, government, education, and literature. Sumerian religion was important; priests gained power and wealth, while women were exploited as temple prostitutes. Men dominated as kings and governors although women could hold important positions in the temples. The three classes distinguished in the laws of Sumerian society were the nobles (government administrators, army officers, and priests), the workers in farming and crafts, and the slaves who could earn their freedom. The development of written codes of criminal law and civil contracts were outstanding ethical developments for justice.

Governments were organized by city, and conflicts between cities and neighboring cultures led to the organized violence of war that eventually destroyed Sumerian civilization. The earliest historical Sumerian king, Mebaragesi of Kish, attacked and plundered Elam. The epic hero Gilgamesh first became famous as a king who successfully defended Uruk against an attack by Kish. According to the poem his using his office for the primitive sexual exploitation of women was stopped by the other hero Enkidu. The Uruk dynasty was overthrown by Ur's first king Mesannepadda. Ur's Lagash king Ur-Nanshe was constructive, and Ur experienced a century of great wealth. However, his grandson Eannatum fought and won wars with neighbors while killing many. Eannatum's nephew Entemena won back a disputed canal from Umma, made a treaty with united Uruk and Ur, and reigned so well that he was worshiped for a millennium, as people of Umma were allowed civil liberties in Lagash.

The corruption of greedy priests was reformed by Urukagina, who reduced taxes and stopped religious extortion. Unfortunately his Lagash was invaded by the army of Umma governor Lugalzagesi, who conquered most of Sumer and ruled with fifty governors. Nonetheless he was defeated and captured by Sargon, who built the new capital of Agade and installed Akkadian governors. The Semitic Akkadian replaced Sumerian as the official language. Sargon expanded his empire by conquest of Elam, Mari, and Ebla. The reigns of Sargon, Rimush, Manishtusu, and Naram-Sin from 2390 to 2274 BC were filled with wars for copper, tin, silver, timber, stone, and slaves. Naram-Sin was criticized for bringing on the destruction of Agade by the Guti, because he devastated the temple of Nippur.

The Guti ruled Mesopotamia for a century, during which Lagash governor Gudea was known for building temples and purifying the city. In 2176 BC Uruk overthrew the Guti, but seven years later they were replaced by the third dynasty of Ur that lasted a century. Ur-Nammu rid the land of robbers and established written law codes based on equity and truth. His building projects were continued by his son Shulgi, who also campaigned militarily in the north and used diplomacy by marrying his daughters to governors in the east. His Sumerian government reached its height of power, even subduing the influence of the temples and private wealth, as the state took over land and businesses. Sumerian literature celebrated anthropomorphic gods and goddesses and the divine gifts of civilization. However, in the 21st century BC the empire of Ur broke up, as power shifted in the next century to cities such as Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna, Mari, Assur, and Babylon.

Hammurabi made Babylon the capital of a large empire by armed conquest, and he promulgated a strict law code with much capital punishment and retaliatory mutilation. The three Babylonian classes were the free awelu, the commoners dependent on the state, and slaves. Babylonians adopted most of the Sumerian religion and culture but added the powerful war god Marduk. After the death of Hammurabi, rebellion and wars soon reduced the Babylonian empire. Ammisaduqa reformed economic oppression by canceling debts and back taxes and by punishing officials and creditors who disobeyed. After the Hittites invaded Babylon and left, the Kassites took control and ruled fairly peacefully there for about four centuries, preserving Akkadian literature. Wars and power struggles still occurred in the region with the Assyrians, Mitanni, Hurrians, Hittites, and Egyptians. Babylonian literature emphasized creation stories, conflicts between deities, and the triumph of the new god Marduk. Ishtar (representing the planet Venus) stood for feminine qualities of love and friendship, and some poets expressed the value of justice and of returning kindness even to enemies.

Hittite civilization grew in Anatolia, beginning with much violence but eventually developing law codes and a council to advise the king. A Hittite army pushed back the expanding Egyptian empire at Kadesh about 1300 BC. The Hittites also added Sumerian and Babylonian deities to their own violent storm gods.


Egyptian civilization probably learned the use of seals and writing from the Sumerians. Being more isolated, their wars with the Asiatics in the east, Libyans to the west, and Nubians in the south were infrequent and less threatening. The first historical king in Egypt was about 3100 BC, as people prospered around the fertile Nile. When the north and south were united under one king, a powerful empire arose and continued for many centuries. As early as the 27th century BC the kings demonstrated their power by exploiting thousands of laborers in constructing the great pyramids, the largest buildings on earth. These immense projects could not be sustained though, and later kings reduced their ambitions to more modest building. Egyptian religion was obsessed with the life after death, though this did give people an incentive to be just. Pepi II ruled Egypt for more than ninety years. Tomb inscriptions indicate the ethical values of honesty, justice, and caring for others. Nefer-rohu described the turmoil and violence of civil war. Instructions for Merikare advise him on the principles for ruling wisely and warn him that he will be judged after death.

The Old Kingdom period degenerated into violent strife, turmoil, and revolution until the Theban king Mentuhotep II re-united Egyptians about 2040 BC, founding the Middle Kingdom era. Sesostris III centralized power but allowed a middle class to develop. Again Egypt exploited its Nubian, Libyan, and Syrian neighbors for building materials, and Asiatic nomads were forced out of the eastern Delta. Egypt was stable for about three centuries before the Bedouin shepherds with improved weapons took over Memphis and ruled most of Egypt for a century, a conquest resented by Egyptians for turning their society upside down.

In the 16th century BC the Hyksos rulers were expelled, as Ahmose established the 18th dynasty and the New Kingdom, which expanded the Egyptian empire. Pyramids were no longer built, as temples were separated from tombs, probably indicating more emphasis on life than on death, although the spiritual instructions in the Book of the Dead remained popular. The military leader Thutmose III conquered extensive territory in Asia as far as Kadesh in Syria and even crossed the Euphrates to defeat the Mitanni. Increased Egyptian wealth was based on imported slave labor. Egyptian society reflected a pyramid-like structure headed by the king or pharaoh, who ruled as a god over a militarized state governed by authoritarian administrators. Obedience was the rule unless bribery could corrupt. The needs of the people seem to have been met by their labor, but education was only for the elite. The failed religious revolution of Akhenaten did not seem to affect the ethics of the culture, as the empire continued though perhaps a little weaker; his successors eradicated his reforms. Yet it can be argued that the weakening of empire was a benefit to humanity's freedom. The military leader Horemheb tried to instill discipline with harsh punishments.

Although Ramses II fought boldly at Kadesh in 1300 BC, the Egyptian empire was beginning to shrink, as he had to accept co-existence with the Hittites in Syria. Invasions by the mysterious Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC not only devastated the Hittite empire but also forced the Egyptians back to their traditional Nile kingdom. Egypt continued as a regional power for several centuries. In the 8th century BC Nubians led by Piankhi took over Egypt, and the Kushites ruled Egypt until they were conquered by Assyrian king Esarhaddon in 671 BC. Egypt revived under Psamtik fifteen years later; they were defeated by Babylonians under Nebuchadressar in 605 BC, fought back under Amasis, and were taken into the Persian empire for two centuries by Cambyses in 525 BC. Alexander and his Macedonian army conquered Egypt in 332 BC. After his death in 323 BC, his general Ptolemy established a dynasty in Egypt that lasted until they were conquered by Julius Caesar and the Romans.

Much ancient wisdom came from Egypt. The invisible God was called Amen. The wise counsel of Ptah-hotep for a king is from the 25th century BC. A dialog between a man contemplating suicide and his soul indicates their spiritual view of psychology. Imaginative tales include Sinuhe's adventures in Palestine, a shipwrecked sailor, a peasant pleasing a king with his eloquent appeals for justice, and fantastic magicians. The Egyptian Book of the Dead provided a guidebook and preparation for what happens to the soul after the body dies. Realizing that they would be held to justice must have encouraged ethical behavior. The wise counsel of Amenemope and the tale of two brothers influenced Jewish literature.

Egypt's authoritarian monarchy did little to promote human freedom, and their empire was based on military power and slavery. Egyptians excelled in architecture, building, and surgery; yet their belief in magic did little to promote science, although it had some charm in literature. Egypt was a stable though static society with apparently little interest in historical process or the human interactions portrayed in theater.


The Hebrew Bible, which has had a tremendous impact on religion and ethics, tells us much about the people of Israel. Genesis combined ancient folktales with a religious message to produce a scripture of great influence. The six days of creation implies that the stages of evolution are part of a greater plan by a Creator, while the story of Adam and Eve reflects the increase in awareness that made the human species responsible for its ethical behavior. Developing self-consciousness is a major development in evolution, but the promise of eternal life is deferred. Violent conflicts between shepherds and farmers are indicated by Cain's killing Abel. The story of the primeval deluge taught obedience to God, as did the account of Abraham's sacrifice of a ram. The story of Lot in Sodom emphasizes the importance of respecting hospitality. The patriarchs passed on their authority to their sons, and Jacob used a trick to gain the inheritance. The tale of Jacob's twelve sons explained how the Hebrews went to Egypt, and the skill of Joseph indicates the spiritual value of understanding dreams.

Moses led the Hebrews out of tyrannical Egypt in probably the greatest slave revolt of all time. He gave them laws that emphasized worshipping only one God. In the Torah the Lord (Yahweh) comes across not only as a jealous God but a cruel one as well. Nonetheless the ideas of following God's guidance and practicing ethical laws, such as the ten commandments, are great contributions to civilization.

Yet justifying the violent conquest of Canaan led by Joshua is questionable, and the intolerance of other religious beliefs and practices caused many needless conflicts and problems. The attempt to live by God's guidance through prophets gave way because of social violence to war-lords called judges and then to traditional monarchy, as Saul and David were made kings. David was a musician but surpassed Saul by killing tens of thousands instead of thousands. He established a kingdom ruled in glory by his wealthy son Solomon, who had the great temple built. The religious poetry of David and the wisdom of Solomon have inspired many. Some precepts of Israel's wisdom literature resemble those of Egypt's. The Proverbs contain wise ethical advice. The poignant story of Job attempted with religious faith to resolve the disparity of why the innocent and virtuous sometimes suffer. Yet the frequent wars between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, even though they shared the same faith, indicate serious ethical and political limitations in this violent era. That even exalted prophets like Elijah could try to prove their "holiness" by causing many deaths reveals lack of respect for the value of human life. Not having learned ways of peace, Israel and Judah had to suffer from the greater power of empires like Assyria and Babylon.

Yet the messages of prophets like Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah attempted to teach people justice, mercy, and how to achieve peace. Isaiah prophetically advised Hezekiah to hold out against the Assyrian attack, and he later predicted that Assyria would conquer Egypt but would return to its own land. Jeremiah warned them not to resist the inevitable Babylonian conquest with violence, which would only make things worse; but he was imprisoned for his effort. Taken captive to Babylon, there Jews discovered and edited their religious writings. There Ezekiel and second Isaiah presented them with inspiring visions of redemption and a return, which was fulfilled by the generosity of the Persian emperor Cyrus. After a remnant came back to Jerusalem, conflicts of religious customs still occurred; Ezra would not tolerate "foreign" wives, though Nehemiah showed charity. Jewish culture clung to its sacred scriptures and survived.


In Mesopotamia the Kassites were overthrown by Elam in the 12th century BC. Assyria and Babylon increased their power and became rivals for two centuries; then they fought the proliferating Aramaeans. Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883-859 BC) created an Assyrian empire by using cavalry, battering rams, and by deporting defeated enemies. The Sarduri dynasty in Urartu lasted a quarter of a millennium; but Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, who deported masses of people, defeated them in 736 BC. Babylonians and Elamites resisted the Assyrian imperialism of Sargon II (r. 721-705 BC). His son Sennacherib invaded Palestine and destroyed Babylon, and Sennacherib's son Esarhaddon conquered Egypt in 671 BC. The Assyrian military empire was based on slaves captured in war or sold for debt. Armed authorities taxed the people to pay for the military establishment in a society with little opportunity for social mobility; roles of women were especially confined.

Babylonians took over the Assyrian empire in 609 BC. Nebuchadrezzar II conquered Jerusalem in 597 BC and again in 586 BC; they deported people from Judah and elsewhere. Babylonians tolerated diverse cultures and religious views; but their empire was overthrown by the Persians when Cyrus II entered Babylon in 539 BC.

The Persians practiced a religion enlightened by the teachings of Zarathustra, whose philosophy emphasized the wisdom of learning and following the good truthfully while avoiding the evils of injustice, lying, and harm. After Cyrus had conquered western Asia to the Aegean coast, he was killed invading the east. His son Cambyses II conquered Egypt. Parthian governor Darius won the Persian throne and tried to rule justly; but the Ionian revolt provoked him into invading Greece in 490 BC. A second Persian invasion led by Xerxes in 480 BC was again defeated by Greeks fighting on land and sea. Frequent rebellions in the western portions of the Persian empire during the reigns of Artaxerxes (r. 464-424 BC), Darius II (424-404 BC), and Artaxerxes II (404-359 BC) caused difficult Persian-Greek relations. Alexander and his Macedonian army invaded Asia in 334 BC and conquered the entire Persian empire from Egypt to India before he died in 323 BC. The great wealth Persians had used for so long to hire Greek mercenaries and interfere in Greek conflicts was eventually captured and appropriated by the Hellenizers.

The Arsacid dynasty of the Parthian empire was founded in 247 BC. They struggled against the Seleucids and survived in the east. When the Romans defeated Seleucid king Antiochus III in 190 BC, Artaxias II founded an Armenian dynasty. Parthian king Mithradates II (r. 124-88 BC) made a trade treaty with China and invaded Armenia. Crassus led a Roman invasion into Parthia, but he was defeated and killed in 53 BC. Mark Antony also failed to conquer the Parthians. The Parthians practiced the Zoroastrian religion and continued to fight off the Roman empire.

In 224 CE Ardashir defeated the last Parthian king Artabanus IV and founded the Sasanian dynasty, reviving the Persian empire. Mani was called to be a prophet, and in 243 he converted the governor of Khurasan. King Shapur I (r. 240-70) allowed Mani to preach throughout the Persian empire for ten years until resentful Zoroastrian priests changed his mind. King Bahram I imprisoned Mani and executed him in 274. Mani's disciples spread the Manichaean message despite persecution in the Persian and Roman empires. Mani left behind many writings and paintings, but most of them were destroyed. He taught that salvation from the darkness of matter and the body is found in the love and goodness of the Spirit, and he acknowledged the teachings of the Christ.

The Sasanians were also able to defend themselves from Roman imperialism, capturing Emperor Valerian in 260 and killing Emperor Julian in 363. Shapur II (r. 309-79) was elected shah of Persia before he was born. In the 5th century Mazdak taught a communist doctrine of sharing, but he and his followers were persecuted by Khusrau I (r. 531-79) even before he became shah. Khusrau reformed the land tax and promoted agriculture. Khusrau II (r. 590-628) greatly expanded the Persian empire to the west as far as Egypt, pushing back the Roman empire almost to Constantinople; but Byzantine emperor Heraclius reconquered what had been lost and more, causing the Persian nobles to kill Khusrau II. The Muslim invasion from Arabia began in 633 and conquered the Sasanian empire in a decade.

Muslim Middle East 610-1875
Muhammad was born at Mecca in 570 and was an orphan at six. At 25 he married the wealthy Khadija, and in 610 he began having revelations that became the Qur'an. He criticized the worship of idols and was persecuted in Mecca, but he gradually gained more followers called Muslims. Abu Bakr converted many and freed some slaves. The Hashim clan protected Muhammad and was boycotted for two years. After his wife Khadija and his uncle Abu Talib died, protection was weakened. Muhammad claimed that the angel Gabriel took him at night to meet Moses in Jerusalem. Muhammad converted men of Yathrib, and a revelation gave Muslims permission to fight wrong-doers. When attempts were made to murder or capture Muhammad in 622, he migrated to Medina, where he bought a house. Jews were accepted as equals, but they were expected to contribute to the war against wrong-doers. The former slave Bilal was the first to call Muslims to prayer. Muhammad said they should not worship him but only God. He approved the stoning of a couple guilty of adultery. Muhammad married 'A'isha when she was nine. Prayers were now made facing Mecca instead of Jerusalem.

Raids were made against Quraysh caravans, and the prophet was given one-fifth of the booty for his family's needs and to distribute to the poor. Muhammad promised that his warriors who died fighting would enter paradise. He declared that a Muslim could not be the wife of a pagan. Twice Muhammad converted men intending to assassinate him. He was considered the first prophet allowed to take prisoners and spoils. After a Muslim woman was insulted by a Jew, killing resulted; then Muhammad ordered Muslims to kill Jews. Muhammad's daughter Fatima married his adopted son 'Ali, and Muhammad began marrying widows. Muhammad said his followers could use deception during war. In a large battle against the Quraysh, Muhammad was wounded. After the defeat a revelation prevented Muhammad from mutilating thirty prisoners. The prophet had limited Muslims to four wives but made an exception for himself. After the Muslim army cut down their palm trees, the Bani Nadir Jews joined the Quraysh against Muhammad. An army three times the size of the Muslims' besieged them at Medina. Muhammad used intrigue to get the Qurayza to leave but then marched against them. After a siege Qurayza men were executed as the women and children were enslaved. Muhammad selected the beautiful Rayhana as his slave.

Muhammad wanted to make an unarmed pilgrimage to Mecca in 628 and agreed on a truce that helped the Muslim community double in two years. The prophet's message that Persian shah Khusrau had died converted Yemen's Persian viceroy Badhan when he learned it was true. During the truce Muhammad's army attacked the Khaybar Jews; those surrendering had to give up half their crops. After Muslim envoys were killed, Muhammad sent an army to attack Syria. Most Meccans converted when a Muslim army of 10,000 conquered the sacred city, destroying pagan idols. Soon an army of 30,000 was expanding the emerging Islamic state and collecting taxes. Muhammad prohibited usury and monopolies. He permitted slavery but ordered they should receive food and clothing equal to the owner's. He opposed artistic representations of humans and animals. Muhammad's last pilgrimage to Mecca was the first from which pagans were excluded. The prophet died in 632 and was succeeded by his closest friend Abu Bakr.

Muslims believe that Muhammad received the Qur'an from God though often the angel Gabriel speaks. Muhammad is the messenger warning all to worship the one God and nothing else. Charity and good deeds are encouraged, and those doing evil or disbelieving are often threatened with punishment in the fire of hell. The prophet advised respect for Jews and Christians and referred to stories from the Old and New Testaments, summarizing many of their teachings. Believers are reminded to pray five times a day, give charity, fast during the month of Ramadan, and not eat animals that died naturally nor pork. Believers are urged to fight wrong-doers and unbelievers.

Abu Bakr appointed Khalid to lead the army, and he defeated another prophet named Musaylima, who had raised a large army too. Muslim armies invaded Syria, and those who did not accept Islam or agree to pay higher taxes were killed. Khalid invaded Iraq and threatened the Persians with the same three choices. The Byzantine army was defeated in Palestine, and after a siege Damascus surrendered. In 634 Abu Bakr was succeeded by the ascetic 'Umar. He had mosques and prisons built, expelling Jews from Arabia to Syria. Non-Muslims in conquered lands were not allowed to carry arms, and Muslims were forbidden to cultivate the land there. Muslims defeated the Persian army in 637. That year 'Umar himself traveled to claim Jerusalem. Antioch paid 300,000 gold coins in 638, and the Persian empire was defeated in 641. Egypt was invaded, and Alexandria surrendered after a long siege in 642. Egyptian grain alleviated famine in Arabia. In 644 'Umar was assassinated by a Persian slave while praying. 'Uthman was elected caliph, because 'Ali would not agree to follow the precedents of the caliphs. 'Uthman appointed many of his Umayyad relatives, and their misrule was resented. Muslims invaded North Africa, and their newly organized navy conquered Cypress.

After 'Uthman lost the prophet's ring in 650, resentment grew because of decreasing spoils from conquest. Though 'Ali tried to protect him, 'Uthman was murdered in 656; 'Ali became caliph. A civil war was fought in Basra. 'A'isha retired to Medina, and 'Ali moved the capital to Kufa in Iraq. The Ummayad Mu'awiya ruled Syria and Palestine. A compromise was opposed by the Kharijis, who tried to assassinate both leaders in 661. 'Ali was killed; but Mu'awiya was only wounded and persuaded 'Ali's successor to retire on a pension. 'Ali's son Husain and his supporters were massacred in 680, and Mu'awiya was succeeded by his son Yazid. In 683 Medina was destroyed, and Mecca was attacked in another civil war. Mukhtar took up the 'Ali cause called Shi'a and gave non-Arab Muslims equality, but he was defeated in 687.

Eventually Caliph 'Abd al-Malik unified the Islamic empire, making Arabic the official language. While the imperial army of al-Hajjaj subdued the east as far as India, 'Abd al-Malik's son al-Walid (r. 705-15) organized public charity in Syria and promoted building. The Muslim conquest of Spain took only two years and was completed in 713. The saintly Caliph 'Umar II (r. 717-20) reduced taxes, stopped wars of conquest, and tolerated Jews and Christians; unfortunately his reforms did not last. The Muslim invasion of Gaul was defeated by the Frank army of Charles Martel in 732. Caliph Hisham (r. 724-43) was unpopular for raising taxes. The 'Abbasids rose to power in Khurasan and moved west, replacing the Ummayads with their dynasty in 750.


At a banquet in 750 the 'Abbasids slaughtered eighty Umayyad leaders, but Rahman ibn Mu'awiya escaped to Spain and became an independent governor there in 756. Al-Mansur (r. 754-75) used force and spies to consolidate his empire and built a new capital at Baghdad. Harun al-Rashid (r. 786-809) ruled at the height of 'Abbasid wealth and power in Baghdad. He sponsored academies and translations from Greek and Sanskrit. As the basis of Islamic law al-Shafi'i added consensus and analogy to the Qur'an and the traditions of the prophet. After Harun's death the empire was divided between his two sons until Al-Ma'mun (r. 813-833) gained control. He promoted education and a less fundamentalist theology. Numerous conflicts between Sunnis and Shi'is as well as struggles for power over the next century eventually resulted in the Turk Buyids taking control of the Baghdad government in 945. Muslims dominated Spain, and Cordoba became the greatest intellectual center in Europe with a university and 400,000 books. North Africa was governed by the independent Idrisid dynasty in Morocco from 788 to 974. Shi'i Fatimids took over Egypt in 968 and then Syria for about a century. The Persian Samanids were ruling most of the east by the end of the 9th century.

Better paid Turkish cavalry defeated the Buyids' Daulami infantry, though 'Adud al-Daula promoted civilization from Baghdad until he died in 983. The Ghaznavid empire was founded in 977, and Mahmud (r. 998-1030) ended Samanid rule in Iran and invaded India, while Caliph al-Qadir (991-1031) codified Sunni doctrine in Baghdad. In 1040 the Seljuq Turks defeated the Ghaznavids, whose kingdom shrunk to Afghanistan. Al-Qadir's son al-Qa'im survived the Shi'i Buyids but gave way to the Sunni Seljuqs, crowning Tughril-Beg in Baghdad in 1056. The Seljuqs decisively defeated the Byzantine army at Manzikert in 1071. Alp-Arslan had an army of 200,000 Turks, but he was assassinated by a prisoner and was succeeded by his son Malik-Shah (r. 1072-1092). Both these Seljuqs were aided by the capable vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who wrote Rules for Kings. Nizam and Malik-Shah were both murdered by the sect of Assassins in 1092. Nizam's book suggested that the best government was by one wise king, who would put in offices those with education and merit. Justice is most important and should be carefully monitored. He criticized the pre-Muslim Sasanians and also Shi'i heretics.

Ferdausi's Shah-nama is an epic poem meaning The Book of Kings based on chronicles; it focuses on the heroic deeds of Rostam and the struggles of Persian kingship after the Greek wars until the fall of the Sasanians to the Muslims. The horror of the violence is captured as fathers cause the death of their own sons. Only the wiser kings that practice justice bring peace.

Sufism arose in the 8th century; the woman Rabi'a remained celibate and sought God neither out of fear of punishment nor for hope of reward. Muhasibi emphasized self-discipline and moral psychology; he taught Junayd (d. 910), who developed Sufism as a theology. Al-Hallaj (858-922) drew attention by announcing that he is the truth; he sought martyrdom and was eventually executed. The Samanids in Khurasan and Transoxiana were more tolerant of the Sufi mystics. Abu Nasr as-Sarraj (d. 988) of Tus in Khurasan described seven stations of the Sufi way as repentance, watchfulness, renunciation, poverty, patience, trust, and acceptance. 'Abdullah Ansari (1006-88) taught Sufis in Herat, analyzing a hundred spiritual stations.

Al-Razi (865-925) was a physician, emphasized reason, and adapted Platonic philosophy. Al-Farabi (870-950) was a Sufi and applied Plato's political philosophy to Islamic culture. Saadia ben Joseph (882-942) founded scientific Judaism and systematized the Talmud. The Sora school of Talmud was closed in the middle of the 10th century, but the school at Pumbeditha lasted until 1040. Miskawayh (c. 936-1030) applied the ethics of Aristotle, criticized anti-social asceticism, and wrote a history of the world. Avicenna (980-1037) served the Samanids and fled from the Ghaznavids; he wrote the most influential medical Canon. Avicenna was strongly influenced by Aristotle but wrote his own Islamic philosophy. Ibn Hazm (994-1064) was vizier at Valencia and Cordoba. He wrote about romantic love in The Ring of the Dove and defended the rights of women and slaves. He compiled an encyclopedic study of comparative religion, and his ethical ideas were well expressed in A Philosophy of Character and Conduct. Also in Spain the Jews Ibn Gabirol and Bahya wrote valuable books on ethics. Islamic urban culture is depicted in the Arabian tales of the 1001 Nights, and the astronomer and mathematician 'Umar Khayyam left behind Epicurean quatrains in his Ruba'iyat.


A civil war between Berkyaruq and Muhammad Tapar kept them from defending Muslims against the invasion of crusading Franks. The Egyptian army took over Jerusalem, but it was conquered by the crusaders in 1099. Zengi's army regained Edessa in 1149. Nur-ad-Din defended Edessa against the second crusade and later dispensed justice in Damascus. After Sanjar died in the east, none of the Seljuqs could unify the empire. Saladin gained control of Egypt in 1169 and made it Sunni. Saladin made treaties with Baldwin IV, Tripoli's Raymond III, and Bohemond III and sponsored schools. Raids by Reginald led to conflict, and Saladin's army took over Jerusalem and Acre before signing a three-year truce with England's Richard. Caliph an-Nasir (1180-1225) ignored the crusades and focused his diplomatic efforts in the east. Mongol Ogedei (r. 1229-41) invaded Persia, and Hulegu's Mongol army sacked Baghdad in 1258. The Mamluk dynasty ruled Egypt after 1250. Baybars won many victories, and the Mamluk army drove the crusaders out of Asia in 1291.

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) taught jurisprudence and philosophy at the Nizamiya academy. He practiced Sufi exercises, and his books on philosophy and religion made Sufi mysticism acceptable to more people. He taught that a moral life is the basis for mystical intuition. He valued the use of reason with shari'a (Islamic law) and adapted Aristotle's ethics of the mean between extreme vices. Al-Ghazali believed that love is the highest virtue and recommended the golden rule.

Ibn Tufayl wrote the philosophical romance Hayy the Son of Yaqzan that describes a spiritual life on an isolated island. Averroes (1126-98) was a judge and a physician in Seville and Cordoba but is best known for his extensive commentaries on Aristotle. Averroes believed in the consensus of Islamic law but argued that the elite could benefit from philosophy. Nasir ad-Din Tusi (1201-74) was a prominent Shi'i jurist. He wrote a comprehensive Islamic ethics in 1235. He adapted the psychology and virtues of the Greeks. His stages of ethical development indicate a spiritual progression and deep mysticism.

Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) was born at Cordoba into a Jewish family that fled religious persecution to Africa and Palestine before settling in Egypt. He worked as a physician and even treated Saladin. Maimonides wrote the Code of Laws (Mishna Torah) and a digest of the Palestinian Talmud. He is most famous for applying rational philosophy to Judaism in his Guide for the Perplexed. In this work he advised against starting with metaphysics, because it is too difficult; moral conduct is needed to moderate the passions of youth. He emphasized the value of prophecy. In ethics Maimonides recommended reducing desires and developing the intellectual faculties. Evils are only the relative opposites of true values such as life, health, wealth, and knowledge. God's creation is perfectly good, but the corporeal element contains the possibility of evil. In ignorance humans may harm themselves and others. He found that the most important precepts relate to learning and prayer. The son and grandson of Maimonides also wrote on ethics and were influenced by Sufism.

The Sufi Gilani (1077-1166) gave sermons on practical morality at Baghdad and distributed money he received to the poor. The mystical Persian philosopher Suhrawardi (1153-91) was called the master of illumination. Orthodox jurists, who disliked his theosophical views, got Sultan Saladin to order him executed. Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240) emphasized the imagination and the perpetual transformation that leads to union with the real. The first great Sufi poetry was written in The Enclosed Garden of Truth by Sana'i of Ghazna. He recommended selflessness and becoming a friend of poverty in order to find the knowledge of God. Sana'i interpreted the symbols in dreams. 'Attar traveled widely, wrote biographies of Sufi saints, and completed his allegorical Conference of the Birds in 1188. The Hoopoe teaches the other birds how they can find the true king by withdrawing from attachment to the world. They travel through the seven valleys of the quest, love, understanding, independence, unity, astonishment, and finally nothingness. In the Book of God (Ilahi-nama) 'Attar conveyed his mystical teachings in various stories that a caliph tells his six sons, who seek worldly pleasures and power.

Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-73) was influenced by 'Attar and succeeded his own father as a religious teacher at the Seljuq capital of Iconium in 1231. Rumi developed the circling movements of the whirling dervishes and wrote mystical love poetry. He wrote six books of tales in his Masnavi, and his talks were written down in the Discourses. Rumi urged his readers to be free and love God in all. He considered God the first cause of everything. He found the divine in the inner voice. Rumi believed love makes all things better. He described the lust for wealth as a chain of fears and anxieties. To the mystic "There is no God but God" really means "There is nothing but God." In the Discourses Rumi suggested that one should serve God above the prince. He recommended mingling with friends, who have turned away from the world and toward God.

The Persian Sa'di was educated at the Nizamiya college in Baghdad, and he published his Rose Garden in 1258, the year Baghdad was conquered by the Mongols. In stories, poetry, and moral maxims Sa'di commented on his times. He warned tyrants and noted that people with a clear conscience have nothing to fear. He satirized religious hypocrisy and wrote that the true qualities of a dervish are praying, gratitude, service, obedience, alms-giving, contentment, professing the unity of God, trust, submission, and patience. In his Orchard Sa'di included ten chapters as doors of edification. His practical ethics emphasized justice. He advised a ruler that conciliating an enemy is better than conflict; but if he seeks malice, one may confront him, because kindness to malice is an error. Instead of going to a prince, by putting aside desire one is a prince oneself. The soul must conquer the lower self.


The Oghuz warriors depicted in the Book of Dede Korkut valued honesty, courage, and family loyalty. Osman Ghazi (r. 1299-1326) founded the Ottoman dynasty, and his son Orkhan (r. 1326-60) expanded the Turkish nation by defeating the Byzantine army. Orkhan's brother Ala-ed-Din organized the Ottoman government with lower taxes on peasants. Christians were tolerated but had to pay more taxes than Muslims, who served in the military. Orkhan's son Murad I (r. 1361-89) expanded Turkish conquests to the west and made Adrianople the Ottoman capital, defeating Serbians and Hungarians in 1364. He began the devshirme system of training enslaved Christian boys to be Muslim soldiers called Janissaries. The Ottomans defeated the Serbians at Kosovo in 1389. Bayezid I (r. 1389-1402) had his brother killed and annexed Bulgaria, but he was defeated and killed by the conqueror Timur, whose plundering stretched from Egypt, Ankara, and Baghdad to Delhi in India. After a decade-long civil war with his brothers, Mehmed I (r. 1413-21) gained the throne, but his troops were defeated by Venice and Hungary. Murad II (r. 1421-51) invaded Transylvania.

Mehmed II (r. 1451-81) conquered Constantinople, vanquishing the Byzantine empire and renaming the city Istanbul. He annexed Serbia, and his army invaded the Morea (Greece), Bosnia, and Albania. Sultan Bayezid made truces with Hungary, Poland, Venice, and Egypt. Selim (r. 1512-20) won a power struggle with his brothers. His army defeated the Persians and took over Egypt in 1517. Sulayman (r. 1520-66) invaded Hungary in 1526 but was stopped at Vienna. He conquered Baghdad in 1534, and the same year former pirate Khayr al-Din captured Tunis. A naval victory over the Venetians made the Turks dominant in the Mediterranean. The Ottoman empire now included twenty ethnic groups and 21 governments. After more campaigns the Turks made peace with Persia in 1555.

While Selim II (r. 1566-74) drank, grand vizier Sokollu ran the government. Crusading Spain and Venice defeated the Ottoman fleet at Lepanto in 1571. Yet the Turks built a new fleet the next year, retook Cyprus, and made a treaty with Venice. The Sunni Ottomans went to war against the Shi'i Safavids in Persia 1577-90 and again 1610-12. In between the Ottoman empire fought the Hungarian war 1593-1606. Mehmed III (r. 1595-1603) had his nineteen brothers strangled. European commerce brought changes in weapons and the economy as inflation resulted from imported American gold and silver. Corruption increased, and military officers mutinied. Rebellions by peasants and local governors spread in the 17th century. After 1632 Murad IV used harsh measures to eradicate banditry, end the devshirme slave system, and reform corruption; he even tried to ban tobacco and coffee. Ibrahim (r. 1640-48) canceled the reforms as the rebel Jelalis took control over Anatolia. In 1656 Koprulu Mehmed became vizier and tried to end corruption by executing 35,000 people. The Turks fought to expand their domain against Venice, Russia, Poland, and the Austrian empire, but their siege of Vienna in 1683 failed because of inferior artillery. The Ottoman empire lost territory to Europeans in the treaty of 1699 and even more to the Habsburg empire in 1718, while gaining Morea from Venice. The Turkish court began imitating European culture during the "tulip era."

In the 14th century Mongol rule of Persia by the Il-khans broke down in 1340. Though the Jalayarid dynasty took control at Baghdad, local warlords ruled in most areas. 'Ubayd-i-Zakani satirized this amoral era, and the poet Hafiz wrote poetry about wine and romance, symbolizing mystical love. Timur rose to power, married a Mongol princess, established a capital at Samarqand, and with a disciplined army conquered Herat and Qandahar before invading Persia in 1386. His plundering forces moved west and captured Baghdad. After conquering India in 1398, Timur came back to take Aleppo and Damascus before defeating Ottoman sultan Bayezid at Ankara in 1402. Timur died while on his way to invading China in 1405. His son Shah Rukh won a struggle for power and governed the Timurid empire from Herat until 1447. Abu Sa'id (r. 1451-69) lost the western part of the empire to the Qara Quyunlu and Aq Quyunlu, but a Sufi persuaded him to reinstitute Islamic law. Turkman Uzun Hasan defeated the Qara Quyunlu and overcame the Timurid Abu Sa'id in 1469. Husayn Baiqara (r. 1469-1506) reigned during a peaceful era in Herat.

In 1501 Turkmen wearing red hats (qizilbash) helped young Isma'il establish the Safavid dynasty over Persia that made Shi'a Islam the dominant religion by persecuting Sunnis. Uzbek khan Shaybani took over Herat from the Timurids; but he was defeated and killed by Isma'il at Marv in 1510. The Safavids did not use firearms against the Ottoman invasion of 1514 and were defeated. Tahmasp (r. 1524-76) continued the use of Iranian administrators and expanded the empire. Persian shah 'Abbas (r. 1587-1629) made peace with the Ottomans in 1590 and bought new weapons from Europeans to drive back the Uzbek Turks. Then his army won back territory from the Ottoman Turks. 'Abbas centralized the empire and tried to eradicate Sunnis, moving the capital to Isfahan. Trading relations with the English and Dutch helped push out the Portuguese. Mir Damad established a school of hikmat (theosophy) at Isfahan, and Mulla Sadra taught his mystical ideas at Shiraz. Shahs kept future rulers confined to the harem, limiting their political experience. Though Baghdad and Qandahar were regained, the Persian government and army deteriorated in the 17th century. Intolerant Shi'i clerics persecuted all other religions. Afghans revolted, and in 1722 Mir Mahmud captured Isfahan. Ottomans and Russians grabbed western territory, as Ashraf took over for the Sunni Afghans; but Nadir Quli Beg led the Persian army to victory over the Afghans in 1729.


Al-Wahhab (1703-92) in Arabia taught puritanical reforms, and at al-Diriya in 1744 he made an alliance with Muhammad ibn Saud. The Wahhabis raided neighbors and in 1773 took over Riyadh. They invaded Oman and Karbala of Iraq in 1802. The Wahhabis captured Mecca, and in 1805 they stopped Ottoman pilgrimages. Although they tried to help the poor, revolts were frequent; most of the declining revenue went to the soldiers and the Saudi and Wahhabi families. The Egyptian army invaded the Hijaz for the Ottoman empire in 1811, took over Mecca in 1813, and by 1818 had destroyed al-Diriya. Abdallah ibn Saud's son Turki drove the Egyptians out of Arabia in 1824 and governed until he was assassinated in 1834. Egypt invaded again, but in 1840 the British persuaded Muhammad 'Ali to withdraw his troops. Turki's son Faisal escaped from Egypt in 1843 and returned to rule the Saudi kingdom until 1865. For the next ten years his sons fought over the kingdom.

The Janissaries made Mahmud I (r. 1730-54) sultan of the Ottoman empire, and he went to war with Russia and the Habsburgs, regaining territory. After adopting western military methods, Mustafa III (r. 1757-74) declared war on Russia, but he had to recognize Russia's right to protect Christians in Ottoman Europe. Abdul Hamid (r. 1774-89) had little money and avoided war until late in his reign. Selim III (r. 1789-1807) sponsored military education, land and tax reforms, and a government monopoly on grain. After the French invaded Egypt in 1798, he made an alliance with Russia and England. By 1806 the Ottoman empire was at war with Russia over Moldavia and Wallachia and allied again with France. Janissaries mutinied and deposed Selim; but Albanian troops made his brother Mahmud II (r. 1808-39) sultan. A Greek revival broke into revolt in 1821, and they struggled to form a constitutional government.

After Mahmud II rejected a treaty, European navies destroyed the fleets of the Turks and Egyptians in 1827. Russia invaded the Ottoman empire and made a treaty with Mahmud in 1829. Mahmud had abolished the Janissaries in 1826 and began instituting numerous reforms to modernize the Turkish government. Egypt invaded Syria in 1833 but was forced to withdraw in 1839 by the British. When Abdul Mejid became sultan in 1839, he announced an even broader reorganization promising rights for all and better government. Muslims objected, and only military reforms were implemented. Persecution of some Jews in Syria aroused protests, and in 1841 non-Muslims were granted judicial equality. Conflicts in Lebanon eventually resulted in letting educated Christians govern. English ambassador Stratford Canning urged reforms, and a revised law code was promulgated in 1851. Diplomacy failed to prevent the Crimean War against Russia, but the British and French helped the Turks win and began loaning them money. The 1856 treaty at Paris called for more reforms in the Ottoman empire that benefited European commerce. Gradually the Turks began to develop a modern school system.

Abdul Mejid was succeeded by his brother Abdul Aziz (r. 1861-76); but he was autocratic and resisted reforms, while many provinces began demanding more autonomy. Young Turks such as writer Namik Kemal (1840-88) called for liberty and constitutional government while maintaining Islamic law. His plays and others' dramatized patriotic and romantic themes. After two better administrators had died by 1871, Abdul Mejid reverted to his irresponsible ways, running up a debt of 200 million pounds. Insurrections erupted, and in 1875 the government announced it would only pay half the interest on the debt. The Ottoman empire suffered from the economic mercantilism and capitalist advantages imposed by the European powers, and in 1876 disorder would lead to a coup d'état and the acceptance of a constitution.

Nadir Shah (r. 1736-47) moved the Persian capital to Mashhad, and in 1739 he plundered Delhi. Back in Persia and Iraq, the war expenses of his conquering army caused hardships. After Nadir was assassinated, chiefs put young Shahrukh on the throne. Ahmad Shah Durrani (r. 1747-73) in Qandahar protected Khurasan. Karim Khan fought his way to power to establish the brief Zand dynasty in 1757 but ruled justly until 1779. Then a struggle for power lasted fifteen years until Agha Muhammad Khan founded the Qajar dynasty in 1794.

Fath 'Ali Khan (r. 1797-1834) consolidated his power in Tehran. In treaties Persia ceded territory to Russia in 1813 and protected England's route to India the next year; Iran lost more fertile land to the Russians in 1828. Muhammad Shah (r. 1834-48) suppressed rebellions and allowed the Persian treasury to be depleted. Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-96) gave up claims to Afghanistan in 1857 and relied on governors to raise money by taxing the people. His minister Mirza Husain Khan tried to establish provincial councils in 1875.

In 1844 the Bab proclaimed his spiritual mission at Shiraz. His idea of a new era offended Muslims; he was executed in 1850, and hundreds of Babis were killed after an attempted assassination of Nasir al-Din in 1852. Bahá'u'lláh came to Baghdad in 1856 and advised Babis not to use violent resistance against the persecution. Bahá'u'lláh wrote mystical books, and in 1863 he founded an ecumenical religion called Bahá'í. He was imprisoned by the Turks that year until his death in 1892. He sent letters in 1867 to the rulers of France, Russia, England, Germany, Austria, Persia, America, and the Ottoman empire, asking them to make peace.

Africa to 1875
Ancient Egypt has been discussed above. Civilization in Nubia established a capital at Napata in the 8th century BC. Black Nubians merged with Semites from Yemen to develop Ethiopia. Part of the Roman empire, Ethiopia adopted Christianity early. In the 12th and 13th centuries the Zagwe dynasty came into conflict with Muslim Egypt. The monk Ewostatewos encouraged agriculture and denounced the slave trade.

The Sahara desert was a natural barrier but was crossed on camels to trade salt, gold, and slaves. The Ghana empire had gold, but its capital Kumbi fell to the Almoravids in 1076. The Mali kingdom expanded; Mansa Musa (r. 1312-37) made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and promoted Islam. Sonni 'Ali (r. 1464-92) of Songhay persecuted Muslims, recaptured Timbuktu, and conquered Jenne. Islam spread in Hausaland. Bantus flourished in southern Africa, and the Kikuyu lived in the eastern highlands, governing with councils of elders. The Great Zimbabwe was built in the 14th century.

Traditional African culture was passed on orally and emphasized family, clan, and tribe more than the individual. They revered the spirits of their ancestors and believed that those who do wrong are punished by God. Their healers sought to restrain the evil intentions in witchcraft. Taboos warned people not to do harm. The Hausa believe that a good person is truthful, trusting, generous, patient, prudent, courteous, respectful, wise, and just. Shame often regulated behavior. The Yoruba also had communal values. The Asante practiced discipline and trained priests, though their king still practiced human sacrifices. Secret societies operating at night used violence to protect the honor and standards of the community. Africans celebrated the rites of passage at birth, puberty, marriage, and death.

North Africa was colonized by Phoenicians from Tyre in the 8th century BC. Carthage was infamous for exacting tribute and sacrificing humans. Three Punic wars with Rome between 264 and 146 BC destroyed Carthage. Under the Roman empire Christianity spread in North Africa; but after 640 CE a Muslim invasion spread across North Africa and into Spain in 711. Most Berbers converted to Islam, although they often fought the Arab invaders. An independent Idrisid dynasty was founded in 788 in Morocco. The Aghlabid dynasty took over Tunis in 797 and conquered Sicily in 831. The Fatimids captured Qairawan from the Aghlabids in 909, deposed the last Idrisid ruler at Fez in 921, and took over Egypt in 968. Nomadic rebellions challenged Fatimid taxes.

The ascetic Maliki scholar Ibn Yasin led Guddala and Sanhaja tribes in the holy war of the Almoravids that conquered Sijilmasa in 1053. Yusuf ibn Tashfin led Almoravids in Morocco, took over Fez in 1069, and conquered most of Muslim Spain. His son 'Ali ibn Yusuf (r. 1106-43) followed Maliki advisors and persecuted Sufis. Ibn Tumart challenged 'Ali ibn Yusuf and led the Almohad movement, which emphasized the unity of God and the Qur'an. Almohads fought the Almoravids in Morocco and Spain, confiscating property from those who did not accept their doctrines. Almohad caliph al-Nasir (r. 1199-1214) defeated the Almoravids by 1206. The Hafsids began ruling Ifriqiya and traded with Venice, Pisa, and Genoa. Hafsid al-Mustansir (r. 1249-77) tolerated Christians and was recognized as caliph after the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258. Al-Mustansir made peace with crusaders Louis XI and Charles of Anjou and a commercial treaty with Aragon in 1271. Marinids fought the Almohads and conquered most of Morocco. Marinids and Hafsids introduced madrasas for students of Islamic law, countering the influence of the Sufi brotherhoods.

Mamluks were military slaves and took over Egypt during the crusades in 1250. Al-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310-41) redistributed lands as fiefs, taxed agriculture, and lengthened the Alexandria canal. Muslim poets and scholars thrived in wealthy Egypt, but Christians were persecuted. Circassians like Barquq (r. 1382-99) replaced Turkish slaves. Barsbay (r. 1422-38) gained wealth by monopolizing sugar and taxing the spice trade from India. Egypt fought a war for five years against the Ottomans over Cilicia during the reign (1467-96) of Sultan Qait Bay.

Conflicts between the Hafsids in Tunisia, the Marinids in Morocco, and the Zayyanids in Tlemcen often disrupted the peasants. The Portuguese captured Ceuta in 1415 and by 1444 had set up a company in Lagos to exploit the African slave trade. Wattasid Muhammad al-Shaikh (r. 1472-1505) conquered Fez from the Marinid sharifs; but he had to recognize Europeans on the Atlantic coast. In 1471 the Portuguese began mining gold from Elmina on the Gold Coast, and by 1483 they had reached the Kongo and soon were trading with the Benin empire.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) served rulers in Fez, Granada, Bougie, Tlemcen, Tunis, and Cairo. He wrote histories and described Islamic civilization in his Introduction (Muqaddimah). He warned that histories can be distorted. He believed that religious laws and ethical rules are essential to maintaining justice and stability. He observed how Bedouin civilization rose because of group feeling ('asabiyya) that fosters courage, generosity, forgiveness, tolerance, hospitality, charity, patience, respect for teachers, and honesty. After a royal family establishes a dynasty, group feeling fades as empire reaches its military limitations. Increased expenses, luxury, and high taxes begin the decline. Corruption sets in, and the worse govern. Eventually they are overthrown by those with more solidarity.


The Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt in 1517 and sent pashas to govern it. Turkish officers collected taxes called "protection charges" and came into conflict with Arab shaykhs. A vendetta between the Fiqari and Qasimi families caused instability. 'Ali Bey deposed the viceroy in 1768 and attacked the Ottomans in Syria; but he was imprisoned in Egypt and died. Peasants refusing to pay high taxes left their farms, causing a famine and economic collapse. In 1786 the Ottomans sent troops to Egypt. Scholars from al-Azhar led the uprising of 1795 against high taxes.

In the 16th century Ethiopia fought wars against Muslim Adal, and in the 17th and 18th centuries they suffered civil wars, a theological controversy, and court intrigues that resulted in chaotic rule by warlords. In the eastern Sudan Funj kings ruled amid much strife.

Muslim corsair 'Aruj took Algiers from the Spanish in 1516, and his brother Khayr al-Din was appointed beylerbey by Ottoman sultan Selim. He fought the Hafsids and sponsored piracy but left in 1536 to command the Ottoman navy. Spanish count Alcaudete in Oran exacted tribute but was defeated and killed by Turks in 1558. Turkish Janissaries governed Algiers and monopolized privateering, acquiring 25,000 Christian captives. Algeria became a military republic in 1671, but fourteen of the thirty deys elected in the next century and a half were removed by assassination. Military officers used the privileged makhzan tribes to collect taxes. As privateering profits decreased and taxes increased, Algerians complained about exporting wheat. The Darqawiyya Tariqa rebelled in the west from 1783 to 1805.

Turks conquered Tripoli in 1551 and Tunis in 1574; but in 1591 Tunisian officers revolted and forced the Ottoman pasha to accept an elected dey. Murad Bey (r. 1612-31) gained the title pasha and was succeeded by his son Humada Bey (r. 1631-1666). The Muradists profited from trade with Europe and monopolized agriculture. After a 20-year civil war, cavalry commander Husain ibn 'Ali gained power and was recognized as pasha by the Ottomans in 1711. After a civil war over Tunisian succession, 'Ali Bey II (r. 1759-82) and Hamuda Bey (r. 1782-1814) eliminated government price fixing, reduced taxes and expenditures, and improved army discipline, allowing prosperity. In Tripoli cavalry chief Ahmad Qaramanli usurped power by massacring 300 Janissary officers in 1711. His Qaramanli dynasty exploited privateering while making commercial treaties with Britain and France.

After three kings were killed in the famous battle of Alcazarquivir in 1578, victorious Mawlay Ahmad (al-Mansur) ruled Morocco until 1603. He gained wealth by ransoming the 14,000 Christian captives and suppressed his opponents. Using firearms he got from the Turks, his army conquered the Songhay empire south of the Sahara Desert in 1591, importing gold and slaves. His death was followed by a civil war and a struggle between the Dala'iya shaykhs and 'Alawi sharifs until Mawlay Isma'il (r. 1672-1727) claimed religious authority as a sharif. He recruited black Africans into his army of 150,000 and by 1691 had consolidated his kingdom. When scholars protested his using slaves in the army, he arrested those who would not agree to his policy, confiscating their property. Mawlay 'Abdulla became sultan in 1729 but was deposed four times. Mawlay Muhammad ibn 'Abdulla (r. 1757-90) overcame Wadaya resentment at Fez in 1760 and suppressed Sanhaja revolts; but lack of security and a plague reduced the population of Morocco by two million.

Muhammad Ture (r. 1493-1528) founded Songhay's Askiya dynasty and implemented Islamic law with jihads. A Kebbi revolt made him leave Hausaland in 1515. He revived learning at Timbuktu. Dawud (r. 1549-82) also promoted Islam and won victories over the Mossi, Mali, Fulani, Arabs, and others. In 1591 a Songhay army of about 40,000 was defeated by 4,000 Moroccans with muskets. Askia Ishaq II agreed to pay Morocco a large annual tribute, as Gao and Timbuktu were occupied by troops. Through the 18th century the military continued to govern Timbuktu and Jenne through pashas despite numerous revolts.

Fulbe nomads and the Bambara revolted against the declining Mali empire, and the Kulibali family founded the Masasi dynasty. Biton Kulibali reduced taxes, and slaves helped him conquer the Mali capital of Niani in 1751. While Tuareg warriors controlled the Middle Niger, al-Mukhtar al-Kunti (1729-1811) united Qadiri factions into a zawiya (religious) group that renounced arms and pillaging; he mediated various disputes for the Aulimadan, Tadmakka, and the arma (military rulers).

Kano and Katsina battled each other in the Hausaland until they made peace in 1650. Kwararafa attacked and plundered both cities in 1671. In the 18th century Katsina welcomed commerce and refugee scholars from Kano. In the second half of the 18th century Gobir fought wars against Kano, Zamfara, and Katsina.

In the 16th century Bornu fought with the Bulala until Bornu mai Idris Alooma (r. 1571-1603) made peace. Trade helped him get Turkish military aid from Tripoli. Wars with Tuaregs afflicted Bornu with famines. In the 18th century Bornu rulers Hamdun ibn Dunama and 'Ali ibn Hamdun emphasized piety and learning and fought off Tuareg attacks. Bagirmi and Gobir were able to throw off Bornu hegemony.

An estimated ten million African slaves were transported to the Americas, more than six million during the 18th century. The Portuguese established sugar plantations worked by slaves on the island of Sao Tomé, which imported 76,000 slaves by 1600. The Dutch took Elmina and drove the Portuguese off the Gold Coast by 1642. The Dutch, English, and French competed for the slave trade and sent firearms to West Africa. War chiefs battled each other in this exploitation, and the Moors used British arms to overcome Wolof and dominate Futa Toro. Religious leader 'Abd al-Qadir ibn Hammadi defeated the Moors, was captured, and in 1796 invaded Wolof. Marabouts led by Ibrahima Sambegu in a jihad defeated Jallonke cattle herders and formed a confederation in 1747. After he died, army commander Ibrahima Sory allied with Sulimana and attacked Farabana in 1754 to procure slaves; slaves revolted, but Sory ruled Futa Jallon until 1791.

The priest Okomfo Anokye advised Asante (Ashanti) chief Osei Tutu to bring conquered provinces into the Asante confederation as equals. In 1699 the Asante defeated the Denkyira and took over Elmina. Opoku Ware used the Asante army to invade Bono in 1723, Fante in 1726, Gonja in 1732, and between 1742 and 1744 Akyem Abuakwa, Accra, Adangme, Akwamu, and Dagomba. Osei Kwadwo (r. 1764-77) fought the Akyem, Akwapim, and Assin. In 1787 Granville Sharp persuaded the British government to let ex-slaves move to Sierra Leone in West Africa, and a thousand former slaves from Nova Scotia built Freetown. In the 1780s three ex-slaves published books in England, arguing that Christians should not engage in the slave trade. Slave trading along the Niger coast stimulated wars to gain captives between the Oyo and the Aja of Allada and Dahomey in the 18th century.

The Portuguese built forts at Sofala, Kilwa, and Mozambique by 1507. They battled Muslim traders and revolts sponsored by the Turks. The Portuguese built Fort Jesus at Mombasa in 1593; but Arabs from Oman drove them out a century later. Portuguese attempts to exploit East Africa for its gold, ivory, and slaves had little positive effect except for the foods they introduced from America. Madagascar supplied tens of thousands of slaves for the West Indies in the 17th century and for the French islands of Mauritius and Bourbon in the 18th century. The French also purchased slaves from east and central Africa, which suffered from conflicts caused by Bunyoro militarism.

By 1506 the Portuguese had converted the Kongo king to Catholicism, and they soon were exporting five thousand slaves a year. In 1571 the Portuguese chartered the royal colony of Angola at Luanda. For a century they fought over silver from the Ndongo mountains. By 1612 the Portuguese were shipping 10,000 slaves a year from Angola. In 1665 an Angolan army of 360 Europeans and 7,000 Africans defeated and killed Antonio and 400 Kongo nobles at Mbwila; but five years later the Portuguese failed to conquer the Kongo, which was exporting 15,000 slaves per year. Between 1758 and 1777 a repressive Portuguese policy by Carvalho expelled anti-slavery Jesuits and destroyed religious materials in the Kimbundu language.

From Mozambique the Portuguese tried to exploit the mineral resources of the mwanamutapa kingdom, but their violence often discouraged the Africans from helping them. The Portuguese began trading for ivory from the interior when they founded a market at Zumbo in 1714. They granted estates to encourage settlers (prazeros), who waged wars, exacted tribute, and exploited African labor. As the trade in gold and ivory declined, the slave trade increased at Kilwa.

In southern Africa the Nguni cultivated the soil; the Khoikhoi kept herds; and the San (Bushmen) hunted and gathered. In 1652 the Dutch East India Company established a refreshment station at Table Bay. Forbidden to capture slaves, Riebeeck began importing them from Angola and Guinea in 1658. The Dutch used firearms and horses to win wars over cattle raiding and in 1677 forced the Cochoqua to pay an annual tribute of 30 cattle. The San and Khoikhoi lost their livelihoods and were reduced to being servants. The Company monopolized all commercial activity and fixed prices. Trekboers with Khoikhoi servants began wandering outside of the Company's control to find grazing land, and their conflicts with the Xhosa began in 1702. After 1740 the Khoisan were not allowed to herd livestock. After trekboers crossed the Gamtoos River in 1771, Xhosa resistance increased despite a split over their succession. When Xhosa regent Ndlambe attacked the Gqunukhwebe in 1789, they fled across the Fish River, causing deadly battles in recently established Graaff-Reinet. In 1795 Cape officials stopped the supply of ammunition. The burghers rebelled against the Company as the Dutch government was overthrown. The British took over the Cape Town colony; but their attempts to collect rent provoked rebellions.


In 1798 Napoleon led the French invasion of Egypt, overcoming Ottoman and Egyptian resistance by killing thousands. A British force pushed the French out in 1801, and French researchers published the 20-volume Description de l'Egypte. The British withdrew two years later. Albanian officer Muhammad 'Ali distributed grain and became viceroy in 1805. His forces attacked the Mamluks and collected taxes, and they repelled a British invasion in 1807. Muhammad 'Ali massacred Mamluks and tripled revenues by exporting grain from Upper Egypt. His son Ibrahim led the army that helped the Ottomans defeat the Wahhabi revolt in Arabia in 1818. The Egyptian government manufactured armaments and wove cotton, jute, and silk, as the viceroy monopolized staple foods and used corvée labor on canals. His son Isma'il Pasha captured 20,000 slaves from Sudan for the army. Muhammad 'Ali used half his budget to pay his army of 130,000. His son Ibrahim Pasha led troops aiding the Ottoman fight against the Greeks and in 1831 invaded Syria, occupying Konya and threatening Istanbul; but Muhammad 'Ali stopped him, and the Egyptian army withdrew. Ibrahim led another invasion of Syria in 1839, but Europeans persuaded Egypt to accept the Balta Liman treaty banning monopolies and limiting its army. Wealthy private estates increased. Muhammad 'Ali's son Muhammad Sa'id (r. 1854-63) and Isma'il Pasha (r. 1863-1879) borrowed money for construction, and the Suez Canal opened in 1869.

Ethiopia remained Christian despite conflicts with its Muslim neighbors, and Emperor Tewodros II (r. 1855-68) tried to modernize his army but was defeated by the British. Ethiopia defended itself against an invading Egyptian army in 1875.

In 1816 the British fleet forced Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli to prohibit piracy. After the Ottomans arrested and replaced the last Qaramanli in Tripoli in 1835, their pashas modernized administration, the courts, and education. Ahmad Bey (r. 1837-55) governed Tunisia independently and banned slavery in 1846, but his extravagance enriched European merchants and depleted the currency. In 1862 vizier Khaznadar began borrowing money for Tunisia in fraudulent transactions. Economic collapse was worsened by famine, epidemics, and smuggling food to Algeria. In 1873 Khayr al-Din replaced the corrupt Khaznadar and reduced taxes.

A dispute over a French debt for Algerian wheat provoked French, British, and Russian warships to destroy the Algerian and Tunisian fleets in 1827. Three years later France invaded Algiers and began colonization. Emir 'Abdul-Qadir led a rebellion in the countryside; he fled to Morocco in 1843 and surrendered four years later. By then 109,380 Europeans were in Algeria. Franco-Muslim courts were established in 1854. A Kabyla revolt led by al-Muqrani in 1871 that ruined the economy was crushed, and the French imposed a war indemnity to pay for colonization.

Morocco sultan Mawlay Sulayman (r. 1792-1822) promoted trade at first but later banned exports and collected fifty percent duty on imports. Mawlay 'Abdul-Rahman (r. 1822-59) intervened briefly on behalf of Algerians against the French in 1844 but was defeated, and the French navy bombarded Tangier and Mogador. In 1856 he made a treaty with the British and reduced import duties to ten percent. After Spanish forces defeated Anjara warriors in 1860, Morocco's Muhammad IV (r. 1859-73) agreed to pay a war indemnity to Spain, provoking riots in Marrakesh.

Shaykh Usman dan Fodio emigrated from Gobir and began a jihad in 1804. Pastoral Fulanis supported the Muslims, and by 1808 they controlled Katsina and Kano. Muhammad al-Kanemi believed that aggression against Muslims was wrong and helped Bornu defend itself. Shaykh Usman established a caliphate at Sokoto and implemented Islamic law (shari'a) in the provinces; he was succeeded by his son Muhammad Bello (r. 1817-37), who fought 47 campaigns. The wars between elites over religion and power continued to 1875. Al-Kanemi governed Bornu with six Arab advisors and was succeeded by his son Umar (r. 1837-71). Teacher Ahmadu ibn Hammadi (1775-1844) led a jihad and created an Islamic state at Masina, requiring military service. 'Umar Saidu was born in Futa Toro and joined the Tijaniyya brotherhood on his pilgrimage to Mecca. In 1844 he helped resolve a civil war in Futa Jallon, and he created a new Muslim empire at Tukulor in Senegambia. He began a war with the French in 1857, returned to Futa with 40,000 people, marched on Masina and Hamdallahi, and captured Timbuktu before he died in 1864. Two years later his son Ahmadu Seku made a treaty with the French.

Disputes provoked the Asante conquest of Fante in 1806. The British made a treaty with the Asante in 1816 but had 178 men killed in 1824. Two years later their rockets helped stop another Asante invasion of Fante. British governor George Maclean (1831-43) developed better relations with the Asante, greatly increasing trade. The Asante people resisted a poll tax that mostly went to officials. Amid a

Volume 2: INDIA & SOUTHEAST ASIA to 1800

BECK index
Vedas and Upanishads
Harappan Civilization
Rig Veda
Sama Veda
Yajur Veda
Atharva Veda
Brahmanas
Aranyakas
Early Upanishads
Kena, Katha, Isha, and Mundaka
Later Upanishads
This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800.
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Harappan Civilization
Although they did use some writing with pictographic symbols at Mohenjo-daro, they were not extensive nor alphabetic nor have they been deciphered yet, and the Indo-European Sanskrit which did develop in India is probably quite different. Nevertheless the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley in what is now Pakistan did borrow many ideas from Mesopotamia and is considered the third civilization to develop. Two seals of the Mohenjo-daro type were discovered at Elam and Mesopotamia, and a cuneiform inscription was unearthed at Mohenjo-daro.

The pastoral villages that spread out east of Elam through Iran and Baluchistan prepared the way for the cities that were to develop around the Indus River, particularly at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. By about 3000 BC they were building mud-brick houses; burials in the houses included funereal objects; and pottery had fine designs and the potters' marks. After 2500 BC farmers moved out into the alluvial plain of the Indus River valley and achieved full-sized villages using copper and bronze pins, knives, and axes; figurines of women and cattle indicate probable religious attitudes.

The urban phase began about 2300 BC and lasted for about six hundred years with elaborate cities like Mohenjo-daro (called locally Mound of the Dead), which was excavated in the 1920s. This city and others not yet excavated had about 40,000 inhabitants congregated in well built houses with private showers and toilets that drained into municipal sewer lines. Suffering from occasional flooding by the Indus, Mohenjo-daro was rebuilt seven times. The largest structures were the elevated granary and the great bath or swimming pool which was 12 by 7 meters. Around the pool were dressing rooms and private baths.

The people of the Harappan culture did not seem to be very warlike, although they hunted wild game and domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats. Wheat and barley were the main food supplemented by peas, sesame, and other vegetables and fruits, beef, mutton, pork, eggs, fish, and milk. Compared to other ancient civilizations, the houses were of nearly equal size, indicating a more egalitarian social structure. The potter's wheel and carts were used; children played with miniature toy carts. Cotton, perhaps first used here, and wool were made into clothing. A bronze figurine was found of an expressive dancing girl with her hand on her hip, naked except for jewelry. The numerous figurines of the Mother Goddess indicate a likely source for what later became the Shakti worship of the feminine power in India. A male god in a yoga posture, depicted with three faces and two horns, has been identified with Shiva, another important figure in later Indian religion. Phallic lingams, also associated with Shiva, have been found. A civilization that endured dangerous flooding for six hundred years very likely had a strong religion to help hold people together.

With no written histories the decline of this civilization is subject to much speculation. The traditional theory is that the Aryans invaded from the northwest. Although this is likely, the decline of Harappan culture was quite gradual and indicates problems beyond foreign conquest. One theory is deforestation, because of all the wood needed for the kilns to make the bricks used to keep out the flood waters that gradually brought about salinization of the soil, as it had to Sumer over centuries, so that the Harappan culture had greatly declined by 1900 BC.

However, a more comprehensive explanation comes from an analysis of the consequences of the extensive herds of cattle that indicate overgrazing and a general degradation of the ecosystem, including salinization of water supplies. This led farmers to move on to greener pastures, leaving behind abandoned villages and depopulated cities. Even though fodder was probably grown to feed the cattle, this would not have been enough; and the overgrazing by the bullocks and milk cows could have caused the surrounding land to deteriorate. By 1500 BC the Harappan civilization had faded away into a culture that was spreading throughout India with new ideas from the west.

The traditional theory, well documented by the ancient hymns of the Vedas, is that a people calling themselves Aryans conquered the native peoples of India and destroyed their forts. Because of language similarities these Aryans are associated particularly with the Iranians and even further back with the origins of the Indo-European language group. The general consensus seems to be that this culture must have begun somewhere in the Russian steppes and Central Asia about 2000 BC, though some have put their origin in Lithuania because of similarity to that language. The branch of these speakers, who came to India under the name Aryans, which means "noble ones," is the Indo-Iranian group. In fact "Iran" derives from the Persian cognate of the word for Aryan. Other branches spread into Greece and western Asia as Hittites, Kassites, and Mitanni. A rock inscription found at Boghaz Koi dated about 1400 BC, commemorating a treaty between the Mitanni and Hittites, invokes the Aryan gods Indra, Varuna, Mitra, and the twins Nasatya (Asvins).

The ancient writings of the Persian Avesta and the Hindu Vedas share many gods and beliefs. Eventually they must have split, causing later authors to demonize the divinities of their adversaries. In early Hindu writings the asuras were respected gods, but later they became the demons most hated, while Ahura Mazda became the chief god of the Zoroastrians. (Persian often uses an h where Sanskrit uses an s, such as haoma for soma.) On the other hand the Hindu term for divinities, devas, was used by Zoroastrians to describe the devils from which even our English word is derived. Some scholars have concluded that the ancient Hindus did not want to admit that they came from Iran, and therefore the origin of the Aryans is never mentioned in the ancient texts, although they frankly boast of their conquest over the indigenous Dasas or Dasyus in India.

The word Veda means knowledge, and the Vedas are considered the most sacred scripture of Hinduism referred to as sruti, meaning what was heard by or revealed to the rishis or seers. The most holy hymns and mantras put together into four collections called the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas are difficult to date, because they were passed on orally for about a thousand years before they were written down. More recent categories of Vedas include the Brahmanas or manuals for ritual and prayer, the Aranyakas or forest texts for religious hermits, and the Upanishads or mystical discourses.

Rig Veda
The hymns of the Rig Veda are considered the oldest and most important of the Vedas, having been composed between 1500 BC and the time of the great Bharata war about 900 BC. More than a thousand hymns are organized into ten mandalas or circles of which the second through the seventh are the oldest and the tenth is the most recent. The Hindu tradition is that even the Vedas were gradually reduced from much more extensive and ancient divine revelations but were perverted in the recent dark age of Kaliyuga. As the only writings from this ancient period of India, they are considered the best source of knowledge we have; but the ethical doctrines seem to have improved from the ancient hymns to the mystical Upanishads.

Essentially the Rig Veda is dominated by hymns praising the Aryan gods for giving them victories and wealth plundered from the local Dasas through warfare. The Aryans apparently used their advances in weaponry and skill in fighting to conquer the agricultural and tribal peoples of the fading Harappan culture. Numerous hymns refer to the use of horses and chariots with spokes which must have given their warriors a tremendous advantage. Spears, bows, arrows, and iron weapons are also mentioned. As a nomadic and pastoral culture glorifying war, they established a new social structure of patriarchal families dominated by warriors and, eventually with the power of the Vedas themselves, by priests also.

The Rig Veda does mention assemblies, but these were probably of the warrior elite, which may have had some controlling influence on the kings and the tribal priest called a purohita. The gods worshiped resemble the Indo-European gods and were headed by the powerful Indra, who is often credited with destroying ninety forts. Also popular was Agni, the fire-god considered a messenger of the gods. Varuna and Mitra, the gods of the night and day sky, have been identified with the Greek Uranos and the Persian Mithras respectively. Dyaus, who is not mentioned nearly as often, has been correlated with the Greek Zeus. Surya the sun-god is referred to as the eye of Varuna and the son of Dyaus and rides through the sky on his chariot led by his twin sons, the Asvins who represent his rays; Ushas the dawn is his wife or daughter. Maruts are storm-gods shaped by Rudra, who may have been one of the few indigenous deities adopted by the Aryans. Like the Iranian Avesta, the Rig Veda refers to the thirty-three gods.

Generally the hymns of the Rig Veda praise the gods and ask them for worldly benefits such as wealth, health, long life, protection, and victory over the Dasa peoples.

He, self-reliant, mighty and triumphant,
brought low the dear head of the wicked Dasas.
Indra the Vritra-slayer, Fort-destroyer,
scattered the Dasa hosts who dwelt in darkness.
For men hath he created earth and waters,
and ever helped the prayer of him who worships.
To him in might the Gods have ever yielded,
to Indra in the tumult of battle.
When in his arms they laid the bolt,
he slaughtered the Dasyus
and cast down their forts of iron.1

They call upon Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, who has been related to a Hittite thunder-god, to avenge the sinner and protect them from the deceitful and wicked man. The Aryans did have a concept of eternal law called rita, which the immortal Agni in serving the gods is said to never break (Rig Veda III:3:1).

In Rig Veda III:34:9 Indra killed the Dasyus and "gave protection to the Aryan color." Not only did the Aryans shamelessly pray for booty in war, but they based their militarily won supremacy on the lightness of their skin color compared to the dark colors of the native Dasyus. They arrogantly proclaimed, "Let those who have no weapons suffer sorrow." (Rig Veda IV:5:14.)

Renowned is he when conquering and when slaying:
'tis he who wins cattle in the combat.
When Indra hardens his indignation
all that is fixed and all that moves fear him.
Indra has won all kine, all gold, all horses, -
Maghavan, he who breaks forts in pieces;2

Indra is praised for killing thousands of the abject tribes of Dasas with his arrow and taking great vengeance with "murdering weapons." (Rig Veda IV:28:3-4) One hymn mentions sending thirty thousand Dasas "to slumber" and another hymn sixty thousand slain. A hymn dedicated to the weapons of war (Rig Veda VI:75) refers to a warrior "armed with mail," using a bow to win cattle and subdue all regions, "upstanding in the car the skillful charioteer guides his strong horses on whithersoe'er he will." The arrows had iron mouths and shafts "with venom smeared" that "not one be left alive." Hymn VII:83 begins, "Looking to you and your alliance, O ye men, armed with broad axes they went forward, fain for spoil. Ye smote and slew his Dasa and his Aryan enemies."

Only occasionally did the authors of these hymns look to their own sins.

Free us from sins committed by our fathers,
from those wherein we have ourselves offended.
O king, loose, like a thief who feeds the cattle,
as from the cord a calf, set free Vasishtha.
Not our own will betrayed us, but seduction,
thoughtlessness, Varuna! wine, dice or anger.
The old is near to lead astray the younger:
even sleep removes not all evil-doing.3

A hymn to the frogs compares the repetitions of the priests around the soma bowl to the croaking of the frogs around a pond after the rains come. (Rig Veda VII:103)

The basic belief of the prayers and sacrifices is that they will help them to gain their desires and overcome their enemies, as in Rig Veda VIII:31:15: "The man who, sacrificing, strives to win the heart of deities will conquer those who worship not." Some awareness of a higher law seems to be dawning in the eighth book in hymn 75: "The holy law hath quelled even mighty men of war. Break ye not off our friendship, come and set me free." However, the enemies are now identified with the Asuras and still are intimidated by greater weapons: "Weaponless are the Asuras, the godless: scatter them with thy wheel, impetuous hero." (Rig Veda VIII:85:9)

Many of the hymns refer to the intoxicating soma juice, which is squeezed from the mysterious soma plant and drank. All of the hymns of the ninth book of the Rig Veda are dedicated to the purifying soma, which is even credited with making them feel immortal, probably because of its psychedelic influence. The first hymn in this book refers to the "iron-fashioned home" of the Aryans.

In the first book of the Rig Veda the worshipers recognize Agni as the guard of eternal law (I:1:8) and Mitra and Varuna as lovers and cherishers of law who gained their mighty power through law (I:2:8). In the 24th hymn they pray to Varuna, the wise Asura, to loosen the bonds of their sins. However, the prayers for riches continue, and Indra is thanked for winning wealth in horses, cattle, and gold by his chariot. Agni helps to slay the many in war by the hands of the few, "preserving our wealthy patrons with thy succors, and ourselves." (Rig Veda I:31:6, 42) Indra helped win the Aryan victory:

He, much invoked, hath slain Dasyus and Simyus,
after his wont, and laid them low with arrows.
The mighty thunderer with his fair-complexioned friends
won the land, the sunlight, and the waters.4

Control of the waters was essential for agricultural wealth. Indra is praised for crushing the godless races and breaking down their forts. (Rig Veda I:174)

In the tenth and last book of the Rig Veda some new themes are explored, but the Dasyus are still condemned for being "riteless, void of sense, inhuman, keeping alien laws," and Indra still urges the heroes to slay the enemies; his "hand is prompt to rend and burn, O hero thunder-armed: as thou with thy companions didst destroy the whole of Sushna's brood." (Rig Veda X:22)

One unusual hymn is on the subject of gambling with dice. The speaker regrets alienating his wife, wandering homeless in constant fear and debt, envying others' well-ordered homes. He finally warns the listener not to play with dice but recommends cultivating his land. (Rig Veda X:34) Hymn 50 of this most recent last book urges Indra to win riches with valor "in the war for water on their fields." Now the prayer is that "we Gods may quell our Asura foemen." (Rig Veda X:53:4) A wedding ceremony is indicated in a hymn of Surya's bridal, the daughter of the sun. (Rig Veda X:85)

The first indication of the caste system is outlined in the hymn to Purusha, the embodied human spirit, who is one-fourth creature and three-fourths eternal life in heaven.

The Brahmin was his mouth,
of both his arms was the Rajanya made.
His thighs became the Vaisya,
from his feet the Sudra was produced.5

The Brahmin caste was to be the priests and teachers; the Rajanya represents the king, head of the warrior or Kshatriya caste; Vaishyas are the merchants, craftsmen, and farmers; and the Sudras are the workers. In hymn 109 the brahmachari or student is mentioned as engaged in duty as a member of God's own body.

The hymn to liberality is a breath of fresh air:

The riches of the liberal never waste away,
while he who will not give finds none to comfort him.
The man with food in store who,
when the needy comes in miserable case
begging for bread to eat,
Hardens his heart against him -
even when of old he did him service -
find not one to comfort him.6

Yet later we realize that the priests are asking for liberality to support their own services, for the "plowing makes the food that feeds us," and thus a speaking (or paid) Brahmin is better than a silent one.

The power of speech is honored in two hymns.

Where, like men cleansing corn-flour in a cribble,
the wise in spirit have created language,
Friends see and recognize the marks of friendship:
their speech retains the blessed sign imprinted.7

In hymn 125 of the tenth mandala Vak or speech claims to have penetrated earth and heaven, holding together all existence.

A philosophical hymn of creation is found in Rig Veda X:129. Beginning from non-being when nothing existed, not even water nor death, that One breathless breathed by itself. At first this All was concealed by darkness and formless chaos, but by heat (tapas) that One came into existence. Thus arose desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages searching in their hearts discovered kinship with the non-existent. A ray of light extended across the darkness, but what was known above or below? Creative fertility was there with energy and action, but who really knows where this creation came from? For the gods came after the world's creation. Who could know the source of this creation and how it was produced? The one seeing it in the highest heaven only knows, or maybe it does not.

Sama Veda
The Sama Veda contains the melodies or music for the chants used from the Rig Veda for the sacrifices; almost all of its written verses are traceable to the Rig Veda, mostly the eighth and ninth books and most to Indra, Agni, or Soma. These are considered the origin of Indian music and probably stimulated great artistry to make the sacrifices worthwhile to their patrons who supported the priests. The Sama Veda helped to train the musicians and functioned as a hymnal for the religious rites.

The animal sacrifices did not use the Sama chants, but they were used extensively in agricultural rites and in the soma rituals for which the plant with inebriating and hallucinogenic qualities was imported from the mountains to the heartland of India. By this time the priests were specializing in different parts of the sacrifices as professional musicians and singers increased. The singing was like the strophe, antistrophe, and epode of the Greek chorus and used the seven tones of the European scale. By the tenth century BC the Aryans had invaded most of northern India, and once again trade resumed with Babylon and others in the near east. As the sacrifices became more complex, the priestly class used them to enhance their role in the society. Many considered this musical portion the most important of the Vedas.

Yajur Veda
Though also following many of the hymns of the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda deviates more from the original text in its collection of the ritual formulas for the priests to use in the sacrifices, which is what yaja means. It explains how to construct the altars for new and full-moon sacrifices and other ceremonies. The Yajur Veda has two collections or samhitas called White and Black, the latter being more obscure in its meanings.

By this time (10th century BC and after) the Aryan conquest has proceeded from the northwest and Punjab to cover northern India, especially the Ganges valley. The caste system was in place, and as the warriors settled down to ruling over an agricultural society, the role of the priests and their ceremonies gained influence and justified the Aryan ways to the native workers, who labored for the farmers, merchants, craftsmen, who in turn were governed by their kings and priests. Land and wealth were accumulated in the hands of a few ruling families, and with food scarce the indigenous people were enslaved or had to sell their labor cheap to the ruling classes.

By instituting more elaborate sacrifices for their wealthy patrons, the priests could grow both in numbers and wealth as well. The famous horse sacrifice was not celebrated often but was used by a king to show his lordship over potential adversaries, who were invited to acknowledge this overlordship in the ritual. The parts of the horse symbolize different aspects of the universe so that tremendous power is invoked. The complicated and obscure rituals were presided over by the priests - the three symbols of the lotus leaf, the frog (for rain), and the golden man (for the sun) representing the Aryan dominance over the land and waters of India and the natural powers that sustain agriculture.

The soma sacrifice was the most important and could last up to twelve years. Since the soma plant was imported from distant mountains, it had to be purchased. A ritual drama re-enacted this business and aggressive Aryan history by showing the buyer snatching back the calf, which was paid for the soma plant, after the transaction occurs. The soma plant was then placed in a cart and welcomed as an honored guest and king at the sacrifice. Animals were slain and cut up in the rites before their meat was eaten. After various offerings and other ceremonies the soma juice is poured and toasted to different gods, and finally the text lists the sacrificial fees, usually goats, cows, gold, clothes, and food.

Coronation ceremonies supported the inauguration of kings. The priests tried to keep themselves above the warrior caste though by praising soma as king of the Brahmins. Waters were drawn from various rivers to sprinkle on the king and indicate the area of his kingdom, and he strode in each direction to signify his sovereignty. The king was anointed by the royal priest, giving some water to his son, the designated prince, and ritually enacting a raid against a kinsman's cattle, once again affirming their history of conquest. The booty was taken and divided into three parts for the priest, those who drank, and the original owner. A ritual dice game was played, which the king was allowed to win. The king then rode out in his chariot and was publicly worshiped as a divine ruler.

Agricultural rites were common and regular, and chariot races were no doubt popular at some of the festivals. The Purusha (person) sacrifice symbolized human sacrifice, which may refer back to the time when a hunting and pastoral people did not allow their enemies to live because of the shortage of food. However, in an agricultural society more labor was needed and could produce surplus food. The Purusha sacrifice recognized 184 professional crafts and guilds.

Finally the highest sacrifice was considered to be the Sarvamedha in which the sacrificer offered all of his possessions as the fee at the end of the ceremony. The last chapter of the Yajur Veda is actually the Isha Upanishad, expressing the mystical view that the supreme spirit pervades everything.

This society was highly patriarchal, and the status of women declined, especially as men often married non-Aryan women. Women did not attend public assemblies and could not inherit property on their own. Polyandry was discouraged, but polygamy, adultery, and prostitution were generally accepted except during certain rituals. A sacrificer was not allowed to seek a prostitute on the first day of the sacrificial fire, nor the wife of another on the second day, nor his own wife on the third day.

The priests placed themselves at the top of the caste system as they supervised a religion most of the people could not understand without them. After the Atharva Veda was accepted, each sacrifice required at least four priests, one on each side of the fire using the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas, plus their assistants. After the wars of conquest were completed and the warrior caste settled down to rule, the priests were needed to sustain social stability. Yet in these times the caste system was much more flexible, as it is indicated that one should not ask about the caste of a learned man. The Brahmins, as the priest caste was called, had three obligations or debts to pay back in life: they paid back the seers by studying the Vedas, the gods by offering sacrifices, and their fathers by raising a family.

Like their European ancestors, the Aryan warriors considered themselves above laboring for food and so organized society that food would be provided for them. One ethical duty later found in the epics was that of taking care of refugees, probably because as marauding raiders they had often been refugees themselves. The priests assured their livelihood by making sure that penance through religious ritual was a prime social value.

Atharva Veda
The latest and fourth Veda is in a different category. For a long time many referred to only three Vedas, by which complete ceremonies could be conducted with the Rig hotr reciting, the Sama udgatri singing, and the Yajur adhvaryu performing the ritual. Even later the Atharvan Brahmin's part was often performed unaccompanied by the other three priests. Also much of it draws from the customs and beliefs of pre-Aryan or pre-Vedic India. The Atharva Veda is much longer than the Sama and Yajur and only about a sixth of it is from the Rig Veda.

The Atharva Veda is primarily magical spells and incantations. The line between prayer and magic and between white and black magic is usually drawn by ethical considerations. The bheshajani are for healing and cures using herbs to treat fever, leprosy, jaundice, dropsy, and other diseases. The Aryans looked down on doctors and medicine, probably because the natives were more skilled in these than they. Other more positive spells were for successful childbirth, romance, fecundity, virility, etc.

The negative or bewitching spells were called abhichara and attempted to cause diseases or harm to enemies; often they were aimed at serpents and demons. The sorcery is ascribed to one of the authors, Angiras, whose name is related to Agni (Latin ignis), the divine messenger and possibly a distant cognate of the Greek word for messenger, angel. Another author, Atharvan, derives from the old Iranian root, atar, meaning fire. The third author, Bhrigu, was the name of a tribe which opposed Sudas in the battle of ten kings in the Rig Veda, and his name has also been related to a Greek word for fire. The fourth author is Brahmin, the name which was given to the Atharvan priest, which eventually became so sacred that it was used as a name not only for the priestly caste but even for God the Creator.

In addition to physicians the Vedic Aryans also held in contempt Atharvan astrologers as well as magic, but from this came not only astrology but also the beginning of Ayurvedic medicine. Like most ancient peoples, they also believed that the main cause of disease was evil spirits, possession, or what we would call psychological factors. The magical elements, particularly the abhicara, and the subjects of healing, herbs, and cooking, which were mostly in the woman's domain, made the Atharva Veda obnoxious to many Vedic priests. However, these rituals were very popular, and the Brahmin priest's share of the fees soon became equal to the other three priests' combined. Eventually this shamanic tradition had to be incorporated into the Vedic religion, especially later when it faced the new challenges of Jainism and Buddhism.

The Brahmin caste became even stronger, and their wealth can be seen by the belief that the cow by right belonged exclusively to them. Taxes were collected probably by the warrior Kshatriya caste from the Vaisya artisans, farmers, and merchants. The Sudra workers were too poor to be taxed, and the Brahmins were exempt. One verse (Atharva Veda 3:29:3) describes heaven as "where a tax is not paid by a weak man for a stronger."

Marriage ceremonies are included. Here is a brief example:

I am he; you are she.
I am song; you are verse.
I am heaven; you are earth.
Let us two dwell together here;
let us generate children.8

According to the Atharva Veda (5:17:8-9), a Brahmin could take a wife from the husband of any other caste simply by seizing her hand. Book 18 contains only funeral verses. There are coronation rites for kings, though the prayer is that the people will choose the king, usually already selected by heredity or the council. Philosophy and abstraction are creeping in, as there are two hymns to the deity of time, and kama (love, desire, pleasure) is praised as "the first seed of the mind" that generated heaven. (Atharva Veda 19:52)

Let us conclude this section on the Atharva Veda with some selections from its beautiful hymn to the Earth as a sample of the more positive expression of the Vedas:

High Truth, unyielding Order, Consecration,
Ardor and Prayer and Holy Ritual
uphold the Earth, may she, the ruling Mistress
of what has been and what will come to be,
for us spread wide a limitless domain.

Untrammeled in the midst of men, the Earth,
adorned with heights and gentle slopes and plains,
bears plants and herbs of various healing powers.
May she spread wide for us, afford us joy!

On whom are ocean, river, and all waters,
on whom have sprung up food and plowman's crops,
on whom moves all that breathes and stirs abroad -
Earth, may she grant to us the long first draught!

To Earth belong the four directions of space.
On her grows food; on her the plowman toils.
She carries likewise all that breathes and stirs.
Earth, may she grant us cattle and food in plenty!

On whom the men of olden days roamed far,
on whom the conquering Gods smote the demons,
the home of cattle, horses, and of birds,
may Earth vouchsafe to us good fortune and glory!

Bearer of all things, hoard of treasures rare,
sustaining mother, Earth the golden-breasted
who bears the Sacred Universal Fire,
whose spouse is Indra - may she grant us wealth!

Limitless Earth, whom the Gods, never sleeping,
protect forever with unflagging care,
may she exude for us the well-loved honey,
shed upon us her splendor copiously!

Earth, who of yore was Water in the oceans,
discerned by the Sages' secret powers,
whose immortal heart, enwrapped in Truth,
abides aloft in the highest firmament,
may she procure for us splendor and power,
according to her highest royal state!

On whom the flowing Waters, ever the same,
course without cease or failure night and day,
may she yield milk, this Earth of many streams,
and shed on us her splendor copiously!

May Earth, whose measurements the Asvins marked,
over whose breadth the foot of Vishnu strode,
whom Indra, Lord of power, freed from foes,
stream milk for me, as a mother for her son!

Your hills, O Earth, your snow-clad mountain peaks,
your forests, may they show us kindliness!
Brown, black, red, multifarious in hue
and solid is this vast Earth, guarded by Indra.
Invincible, unconquered, and unharmed,
I have on her established my abode.

Impart to us those vitalizing forces
that come, O Earth, from deep within your body,
your central point, your navel, purify us wholly.
The Earth is mother; I am son of Earth.
The Rain-giver is my father; may he shower on us blessings!

The Earth on which they circumscribe the altar,
on which a band of workmen prepare the oblation,
on which the tall bright sacrificial posts
are fixed before the start of the oblation -
may Earth, herself increasing, grant us increase!

That man, O Earth, who wills us harm, who fights us,
who by his thoughts or deadly arms opposes,
deliver him to us, forestalling action.

All creatures, born from you, move round upon you.
You carry all that has two legs, three, or four.
To you, O Earth, belong the five human races,
those mortals upon whom the rising sun
sheds the immortal splendor of his rays.

May the creatures of earth, united together,
let flow for me the honey of speech!
Grant to me this boon, O Earth.

Mother of plants and begetter of all things,
firm far-flung Earth, sustained by Heavenly Law,
kindly and pleasant is she. May we ever
dwell on her bosom, passing to and fro!...

Do not thrust us aside from in front or behind,
from above or below! Be gracious, O Earth.
Let us not encounter robbers on our path.
Restrain the deadly weapons!

As wide a vista of you as my eye
may scan, O Earth, with the kindly help of Sun,
so widely may my sight be never dimmed
in all the long parade of years to come!

Whether, when I repose on you, O Earth,
I turn upon my Right side or my left,
or whether, extended flat upon my back,
I meet your pressure from head to foot,
be gentle, Earth! You are the couch of all!

Whatever I dig up of you, O Earth,
may you of that have quick replenishment!
O purifying One, may my thrust never
reach Right into your vital points, your heart!

Your circling seasons, nights succeeding days,
your summer, O Earth, your splashing rains, your autumn,
your winter and frosty season yielding to spring---
may each and all produce for us their milk!...

From your numberless tracks by which mankind may travel,
your roads on which move both chariots and wagons
your paths which are used by the good and the bad,
may we choose a way free from foes and robbers!
May you grant us the blessing of all that is wholesome!

She carries in her lap the foolish and also the wise.
She bears the death of the wicked as well as the good.
She lives in friendly collaboration with the boar,
offering herself as sanctuary to the wild pig....

Peaceful and fragrant, gracious to the touch,
may Earth, swollen with milk, her breasts overflowing,
grant me her blessing together with her milk!

The Maker of the world sought her with oblations
when she was shrouded in the depth of the ocean.
A vessel of gladness, long cherished in secret,
the earth was revealed to mankind for their joy.

Primeval Mother, disperser of men,
you, far-flung Earth, fulfill all our desires.
Whatever you lack, may the Lord of creatures,
the First-born of Right, supply to you fully!

May your dwellings, O Earth, free from sickness and wasting,
flourish for us! Through a long life, watchful,
may we always offer to you our tribute!

O Earth, O Mother, dispose my lot
in gracious fashion that I be at ease.
In harmony with all the powers of Heaven
set me, O Poet, in grace and good fortune!9

Brahmanas
Between about 900 and 700 BC the Brahmanas were written in prose as sacerdotal commentaries on the four Vedas to guide the practices of the sacrifices and give explanations often mythical and fanciful for these customs. However, their limited focus of justifying the priestly actions in the sacrifices restricted the themes of these first attempts at imaginative literature. Nevertheless they do give us information about the social customs of this period and serve as a transition from the Vedas to the Aranyakas and the mystical Upanishads.

The caste system based on color (varna) was now established, though not as rigidly as it became later. The essential difference was between the light-skinned Aryans, who made up the top three castes of the priestly Brahmins, warrior Kshatriyas, and artisan Vaishyas, and the dark-skinned Dasas, who were the servant Sudras. Sudras, like women, could not own property, and only rarely did they rise above service positions. The Vaishyas were the basis of the economic system of trade, crafts, and farming. The Vaishyas were considered inferior by the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, and a female was generally not allowed to marry below her caste, though it was common for a male to do so. Even a Brahmin's daughter was not supposed to marry a Kshatriya.

The rivalry for prestige and power was between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas or rajanyas. Brahmins often held debates on Brahman and other religious issues. Janaka, a rajanya gained knowledge and defeated some Brahmins in discussion. So some Brahmins suggested a symposium on Brahman to prove who was superior, but since Brahmins were expected to be superior on these issues, Yajnavalkya prudently replied, "We are Brahmins; he is a rajanya. If we win, whom shall we say that we have defeated? But if he defeats us, they will say a rajanya has defeated Brahmins; so let us not convene this symposium."10

Kings were consecrated by Vedic rites and ruled with the help of the assembly (sabha) that met in a hall to administer justice; women were excluded. Ordeals were used, such as making a suspected thief touch a hot ax to see if his hand burned, which might be the origin of the saying, "being caught red-handed." Politics and legislation took place in a larger council (samiti). Taxes were collected to support these institutions and the army.

Each village was administered by a Gramani, a Vaisya who functioned like a mayor with civil rather than military authority. The Gramani and the royal charioteer (Suta) were considered the kingmakers. This latter privileged position was not merely the driver of the king but also his chief advisor and perhaps storyteller as well. The royal priest or Purohito was also supposed to advise the king in peace and protect him in war. The season of dew after the monsoons ended was considered the time for "sacking cities," as ambitious kings came into conflict with each other in wars.

In addition to the discussions of sacerdotal matters, the Brahmanas do contain some stories meant to explain or rationalize their religious practices. Some of these are quite imaginative, though the usual pattern is for the hero to discover a rite to perform or a chant to intone which miraculously solves whatever problem is pressing to give a happy ending.

Wendy O'Flaherty has translated some stories from the Jaiminiya Brahmana, illustrating how they dealt with the fears of death, God, the father, wives, and demonic women; many of these stories are sexually explicit, indicating that these people were not afraid of discussing their sexuality. However, since the usual way of handling these fears was to use a sacrificial ritual, the solutions probably had only limited social and psychological value.

The most famous of these stories, and the best in my opinion, is the tale of Bhrigu's journey in the other world. Bhrigu was the son of Varuna and devoted to learning, and he thought that he was better than the other Brahmins and even better than the gods and his own father. So Varuna decided to teach him something by stopping his life breaths, causing Bhrigu to enter the world beyond, where he saw someone cut another man to pieces and eat him, a second man eating another who was screaming, a third eating a man who was silently screaming, another world where two women were guarding a treasure, a fifth where a stream of blood was guarded by a naked black man with a club and a stream of butter provided all the desires of golden men in golden bowls, and a sixth world where flowed five rivers of blue and white lotuses and flowing honey with wonderful music, celestial nymphs dancing and singing, and a fragrant odor.

When Bhrigu returned, his father Varuna explained to him that the first man represented people who in ignorance destroy trees, which in turn eat them; the second are those who cook animals that cry out and in the other world are eaten by them in return; the third are those who ignorantly cook rice and barley, which scream silently and also eat them in return; the two women are Faith and non-Faith; the river of blood represents those who squeeze the blood out of a Brahmin, and the naked black man guarding is Anger; but the true sacrificers are the golden men, who get the river of butter and the paradise of the five rivers.

To me this myth is a clear warning against the harmful actions of deforestation and meat-eating, and even the eating of living vegetables is to be done in silent respect. It shows an intuitive understanding of the principle of karma or the consequences of action as well as the growing importance of the concept of faith in addition to the usual theme of the sacrifice.

The power of the word is increasing, as the sacrifices were glorified and given power even over the Vedic gods. Japa or the practice of chanting a mantram like Aum practiced ascetically with the sacrifices was believed to produce all one's desires. At the same time knowledge was beginning to be valued. In one exchange mind says that speech merely imitates it, but speech emphasizes the importance of expression and communication; however, Prajapati decides that mind is more important even than the word.

This new god, Prajapati, is said to have given birth to both the gods and the demons. The ethical principle of truth appears as the gods are described as being truthful and the demons as being false. However, realizing the ways of the world, many complain that the demons grew strong and rich, just as cattle like salty soil; but by performing the sacrifice the gods attained the whole truth and triumph, as, analogically I might add, people will eventually realize that cattle as well as salt ruins the land.

Prajapati not only was the first to sacrifice but was considered the sacrifice itself. He practiced tapas to create by the heat of his own effort, and this heat was also related to cosmic fire and light as well as the warmth of the body and breath. Another concept of energy associated with the breath was prana; it also was identified with goodness, as the texts imply that as the life force it cannot be impure or bad. Prajapati not only created but entered into things as form and name, giving them order. Eventually Prajapati would be replaced by Brahman, who was identified with truth and would become the Creator God in the trinity that would include Vishnu, a sun-god who becomes the Preserver, and Shiva, who is derived from the indigenous Rudra, the Destroyer. With all the mental activity going on analyzing the rites and their explanation, abstractions were increasing in the religion.

A judgment after death using a scale to weigh good against evil is described in the Satapatha Brahmana, an idea which may have been transported from Egypt by merchants. This text recommends that the one who knows this will balance one's deeds in this world so that in the next the good deeds will rise, not the evil ones. Belief in repeated lives through reincarnation is indicated in several passages in the Brahmanas. A beef-eater is punished by being born into a strange and sinful creature. As knowledge rivaled the value of ritual, this new problem of how to escape from an endless cycle of rebirth presented itself.

Aranyakas
The larger body of Vedic literature is divided into two parts with the four Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Samhitas and their Brahmanas making up the Karmakanda on the work of the sacrifices and the Aranyakas and the Upanishads the section on knowledge called the Jnanakanda. The Aranyakas and the Upanishads were tacked on to the end of Brahmanas, and the only three Aranyakas extant share the names of the Brahmanas they followed and the Upanishads they preceded: Aitareya, Kausitaki, and the Taittiriya; the first two are associated with the Rig Veda, the last with the Yajur Veda.

The Aranyakas are called the forest texts, because ascetics retreated into the forest to study the spiritual doctrines with their students, leading to less emphasis on the sacrificial rites that were still performed in the towns. They were transitional between the Brahmanas and the Upanishads in that they still discuss rites and have magical content, dull lists of formulas and some hymns from the Vedas as well as the early speculations and intellectual discussions that flowered in the Upanishads. The sages who took in students in their forest hermitages were not as wealthy as the Brahmins in the towns who served royalty and other wealthy patrons.

The Taittiriya Aranyaka tells how when the Vataramsa sages were first approached by other sages, they retreated; but when the sages came back with faith and tapas (ardor), they instructed them how to expiate the sin of abortion. Prayers were offered for pregnant women whether they were married or not, even if the father was unknown because of promiscuity. Yet the double standard against women for unchastity was in effect, unless a student seduced the teacher's wife. Truth was the highest value; through truth the right to heaven was retained. Debtors were in fear of punishment in hell, probably because the social punishments in this world were severe---torture and perhaps even death.

The emphasis now was on knowledge, even on wisdom, as they prayed for intelligence. The concept of prana as the life energy of the breath is exalted as that which establishes the entire soul. Prana is found in trees, animals, and people in ascending order. Human immortality is identified with the soul (atman), not the body. Hell is still feared, but by practicing austerity (tapas) to gain knowledge individuals hope to be born into a better world after death or be liberated from rebirth. Non-attachment (vairagya) also purifies the body and overcomes death.

The essence of the Vedic person was considered Brahman, and the knower or inner person was known as the soul (atman). The guardians of the spiritual treasures of the community were called Brahmavadins (those who discuss Brahman). A son approached his father and asked what was supreme. The father replied, "Truth, tapas, self-control, charity, dharma (duty), and progeny."11

Early Upanishads
The term Upanishad means literally "those who sit near" and implies listening closely to the secret doctrines of a spiritual teacher. Although there are over two hundred Upanishads, only fifteen are mentioned by the philosophic commentator Shankara (788-820 CE). These fifteen and the Maitri are considered Vedic and the principal Upanishads; the rest were written later and are related to the Puranic worship of Shiva, Shakti, and Vishnu. The oldest and longest of the Upanishads are the Brihad-Aranyaka and the Chandogya from about the seventh century BC.

The Brihad-Aranyaka has three Aranyaka chapters followed by six Upanishad chapters. The first chapter of the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad describes the world as represented by the horse-sacrifice. The primordial battle between the gods and the devils accounts for the evil found in the senses, mind, and speech, but by striking off the evil the divinities were carried beyond death. The priest chants for profound aspiration, one of the most famous verses from the Upanishads:


From the unreal lead me to the real!
From darkness lead me to light!
From death lead me to immortality!12

The primary message of the Upanishads is that this can be done by meditating with the awareness that one's soul (atman) is one with all things. Thus whoever knows that one is Brahman (God) becomes this all; even the gods cannot prevent this, since that one becomes their soul (atman). Therefore whoever worships another divinity, thinking it is other than oneself, does not know.

Out of God (Brahman) came the Brahmin caste of priests and teachers and the Kshatriyas to rule, development through the Vaishyas and the Sudras. However, a principle was created as justice (dharma), than which nothing is higher, so that a weak person may control one stronger, as if by a king. They say that those who speak the truth speak justice and vice versa, because they are the same. By meditating on the soul (atman) alone, one does not perish and can create whatever one wants. Whatever suffering occurs remains with the creatures; only the good goes to the soul, because evil does not go to the gods.

The soul is identified with the real, the immortal, and the life-breath (prana), which is veiled by name and form (individuality). By restraining the senses and the mind, one may rest in the space within the heart and become a great Brahmin and like a king may move around within one's body as one pleases. The world of name and form is real, but the soul is the truth or reality of the real. Immortality cannot be obtained through wealth, and all persons and things in the world are dear not for love of them (husband, wife, sons, wealth, gods, etc.); but for the love of the soul, all these are dear. The soul is the overlord of all things, as the spokes of the wheel are held together by the hub.

The principle of action (karma) is explained as "one becomes good by good action, bad by bad action."13 How can one get beyond the duality of seeing, smelling, hearing, speaking to, thinking of, and understanding another? Can one see the seer, smell the smeller, hear the hearer, think the thinker, and understand the understander? It is the soul which is in all things; everything else is wretched. By passing beyond hunger and thirst, sorrow and delusion, old age and death, by overcoming desire for sons, wealth, and worlds, let a Brahmin become disgusted with learning and live as a child; disgusted with that, let one become an ascetic until one transcends both the non-ascetic and the ascetic states. Thus is indicated a spiritual path of learning and discipline that ultimately transcends even learning and discipline in the soul, the inner controller, the immortal, the one dwelling in the mind, whom the mind does not know, who controls the mind from within.

The one departing this world without knowing the imperishable is pitiable, but the one knowing it is a Brahmin. The following refrain is repeated often:

That soul is not this, not that.
It is incomprehensible, for it is not comprehended.
It is indestructible, for it is never destroyed.
It is unattached, for it does not attach itself.
It is unfettered; it does not suffer; it is not injured.14

The soul is considered intelligent, dear, true, endless, blissful, and stable. As a king prepares a chariot or ship when going on a journey, one should prepare one's soul with the mystic doctrines of the Upanishads. The knowledge that is the light in the heart enables one to transcend this world and death while appearing asleep. The evils that are obtained with a body at birth are left behind upon departing at death. One dreams by projecting from oneself, not by sensing actual objects. In sleep the immortal may leave one's nest and go wherever one pleases. In addition to being free from desire the ethical admonition of being without crookedness or sin is also indicated. At death the soul goes out first, then the life, and finally the breaths go out.

The soul is made of everything; as one acts, one becomes. The doer of good becomes good; the doer of evil becomes evil. As is one's desire, such is one's resolve; as is the resolve, such is the action, which one attains for oneself. When one's mind is attached, the inner self goes into the action. Obtaining the consequences of one's actions, whatever one does in this world comes again from the other world to this world of action (karma).

By releasing the desires in one's heart, one may be liberated in immortality, reaching Brahman (God). One is the creator of all, one with the world. Whoever knows this becomes immortal, but others go only to sorrow. The knowing is sought through the spiritual practices of repeating the Vedas, sacrifices, offerings, penance, and fasting. Eventually one sees everything, as the soul overcomes both the thoughts of having done wrong and having done right. The evil does not burn one; rather one burns the evil. In the soul's being the world-all is known. The student should practice self-restraint, giving, and compassion.

The Chandogya Upanishad belongs to the Sama Veda and is the last eight chapters of the ten-chapter Chandogya Brahmana. The first two chapters of the Brahmana discuss sacrifices and other forms of worship. As part of the Sama Veda, which is the chants, the Chandogya Upanishad emphasizes the importance of chanting the sacred Aum. The chanting of Aum is associated with the life breath (prana), which is so powerful that when the devils struck it, they fell to pieces.

The religious life recommended in the Chandogya Upanishad has three parts. The first is sacrifice, study of the Vedas, and giving alms; the second is austerity; and the third is studying the sacred knowledge while living in the house of a teacher. One liberal giver, who had many rest-houses built and provided with food, said, "Everywhere people will be eating of my food."15

The soul in the heart is identified with Brahman (God), and it is the same as the light which shines higher than in heaven. Knowing and reverencing the sacrificial fire is believed to repel evil-doing from oneself. To the one who knows the soul, evil action does not adhere, just as water does not adhere to the leaf of the lotus flower. To know the soul as divine is called the "Loveliness-uniter" because all lovely things come to such.

The doctrine of reincarnation is clearly implied in the Chandogya Upanishad as it declares that those whose conduct is pleasant here will enter a pleasant womb of a Brahmin, Kshatriya, or Vaisya; but those of stinking conduct will enter a stinking womb of a dog, swine, or outcast. Thus reincarnation is explained as an ethical consequence of one's actions (karma).

At death the voice goes into the mind, the mind into the breath, the breath into heat, and heat into the highest divinity, the finest essence of truth and soul. Speaking to Svetaketu, the teacher explains that a tree may be struck at the root, the middle, or the top, but it will continue to live if pervaded by the living soul. Yet if the life leaves one branch of it, it dries up; and if it leaves the whole of it, the whole dries up. Then the teacher explains how the soul is the essence of life and does not die, concluding with the repeated refrain that his student thus ought to identify with the soul.

Truly, indeed, when the living soul leaves it,
this body dies; the living soul does not die.
That which is the subtle essence
this whole world has for its soul.
That is reality (truth). That is the soul.
That you are, Svetaketu.16

Then the teacher placed salt in water and asked his student to taste different parts of the water. Just so is Being hidden in all of reality, but it is not always perceived. Just as the thief burns his hand on the hot ax when tested, the one who did not steal and is true does not burn his hand, so the whole world has that truth in its soul.

Speech is to be valued, because it makes known right and wrong, true and false, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant. Mind is revered, because it enables one to do sacred works. Will is valued, because heaven and earth and all things were formed by being willed. Thought is important, because it is better not to be thoughtless. Meditation is revered, because one attains greatness by meditating. Understanding is valued, because by it we can understand everything. Strength maintains everything. Food, water, heat, and space each have their values. Finally also memory, hope, and life (prana) are to be revered.

Those, who take delight in the soul, have intercourse with it and find pleasure and bliss in it and freedom; but those, who do not, have perishable worlds and no freedom. The seer does not find death nor sickness nor any distress but sees the all and obtains the all entirely. The soul is free of evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, and thirstless. For those, who go from here having found the soul here, there is freedom in all worlds. No evil can go into the Brahma-world.

The chaste life of the student of sacred knowledge is the essence of austerity, fasting, and the hermit life, for in that way one finds the reality of the soul. The soul must be searched out and understood. The Chandogya Upanishad concludes with the advice that one should learn the Veda from the family of a teacher while working for the teacher, then study in one's own home producing sons and pupils, concentrate one's senses upon the soul, be harmless toward all living things except in the sacrifices (The religion has not yet purified itself of animal sacrifices.), so that one may attain the Brahma-world and not return here again. The implication is that one may become free of the cycle of reincarnation.

The Taittiriya and Aitareya Upanishads were associated with Aranyakas of the same name. In the Taittiriya Upanishad once again Aum is emphasized, as is peace of soul. Prayers often end with Aum and the chanting of peace (shanti) three times. This may be preceded by the noble sentiment, "May we never hate."17 One teacher says truth is first, another austerity, and a third claims that study and teaching of the Veda is first, because it includes austerity and discipline.

The highest goal is to know Brahman, for that is truth, knowledge, infinite and found hidden in the heart of being and in the highest heaven, where one may abide with the eternal and intelligent Spirit (Brahman). Words turn away from it, and the mind is baffled by the delight of the eternal; the one who knows this shall not fear anything now or hereafter. Creation becomes a thing of bliss, for who could labor to draw in breath or have the strength to breathe it out if there were not this bliss in the heaven of one's heart?

The Aitareya Upanishad begins with the one Spirit creating the universe out of its being. As guardians for the worlds, Spirit made the Purusha (person). Out of the cosmic egg came speech, breath, eyes and sight, ears and hearing, skin, hair, and herbs; from the navel and outbreath came death, and from the organ of pleasure seed and waters were born.

In the concluding chapter of this short Upanishad the author asked who is this Spirit by whom one sees and hears and smells and speaks and knows? The answer is the following:

That which is heart, this mind---that is,
consciousness, perception, discernment, intelligence,
wisdom, insight, persistence, thought, thoughtfulness,
impulse, memory, conception, purpose, life, desire, will
are all names of intelligence.18

All things are guided by and based on this intelligence of Spirit (Brahman). Ascending from this world with the intelligent soul, one obtains all desires in the heavenly world, even immortality.

The Kaushitaki Upanishad begins by asking if there is an end to the cycle of reincarnation. The teacher answers that one is born again according to one's actions (karma). Ultimately the one who knows Spirit (Brahman) transcends even good and evil deeds and all pairs of opposites as a chariot-driver looks down upon two chariot wheels.

A ceremony is described whereby a dying father bequeaths all he has to his son. If he recovers, it is recommended that he live under the lordship of his son or wander as a religious mendicant. This practice of spiritual seeking as a beggar became one of the distinctive characteristics of Indian culture.

A story is told of Pratardana, who by fighting and virility arrives at the beloved home of Indra, who grants him a gift. Pratardana asks Indra to choose for him what would be most beneficial to humanity, but Indra replies that a superior does not choose for an inferior. Pratardana responds that then it is not a gift. After bragging of many violent deeds and saying that anyone who understands him is not injured even after committing the worst crimes such as murdering a parent, Indra identifies himself with the breathing spirit (prana) of the intelligent soul (prajnatman). This breathing spirit is the essence of life and thus immortal. It is by intelligence (prajna) that one is able to master all of the senses and faculties of the soul. All these faculties are fixed in the intelligence, which is fixed in the breathing spirit, which is in truth the blissful, ageless, immortal soul.

One does not become greater by good action nor less by bad action. One's own self (atman) causes one to lead up from these worlds by good action or is led downward by bad action. The soul itself (atman) is the world-protector and the sovereign of the world. Thus ultimately the soul is responsible for everything it experiences.

It is mentioned in the Kaushitaki Upanishad that it is contrary to nature for a Kshatriya to receive a Brahmin as a student. However, the Upanishads represent a time when the Kshatriya caste began to compete with Brahmins in spiritual endeavors. Though the Brahmins had control of the formal religion in the villages where the Kshatriyas controlled the government, by tutoring their sons and others in the forest the Kshatriyas developed a less ritualistic and traditional spirituality that is recorded in the mystical Upanishads.

Kena, Katha, Isha, and Mundaka
The Kena Upanishad consists of an older prose section and some more recent verse with which it begins. The word Kena means "by whom" and is the first word in a series of questions asking by whom is the mind projected, by whom does breathing go forth, by whom is speech impelled? What god is behind the eye and ear? The answer to these questions points to a mystical self that is beyond the mind and senses but is that God by which the mind and senses operate.

Those, who think they know it well, know it only slightly. What relates to oneself and the gods needs to be investigated. Beyond thought it is not known by those who think they know it. Beyond understanding it is not known by those who think they understand it, but by those who realize they do not understand it. It is correctly known by an awakening, for the one who knows it finds immortality. It can only be known by the soul. If one does not know it, it is a great loss. The wise see it in all beings and upon leaving this world become immortal.

In the prose section this mystical Spirit (Brahman) is shown to transcend the Vedic gods of fire (Agni), wind (Vayu), and even powerful Indra, who being above the other gods at least came nearest to it, realizing that it was Brahman. In summary the Kena Upanishad concludes that austerity, restraint, and work are the foundation of the mystical doctrine; the Vedas are its limbs, and truth is its home. The one who knows it strikes off evil and becomes established in the most excellent, infinite, heavenly world.

The Katha Upanishad utilizes an ancient story from the Rig Veda about a father who gives his son Nachiketas to death (Yama) but brings in some of the highest teachings of mystical spirituality, helping us to realize why the Upanishads are referred to as the "end of the Vedas" in the double sense of completing the Vedic scripture and in explaining the ultimate goals.

When Vajashrava was sacrificing all his possessions, faith entered into Nachiketas, his son, who asked his father three times to whom would he give him. Losing patience with these pestering questions, the father finally said, "I give you to Death (Yama)." Nachiketas knew that he was not the first to go to death, nor would he be the last, and like grain one is born again anyway.

When he arrived at the house of Death, Yama was not there and only returned after three days. Because Nachiketas had not received the traditional hospitality for three days, Yama granted him three gifts. His first request was that his father would greet him cheerfully when he returned. The second was that he be taught about the sacrificial fire. These were easily granted.

The third request of Nachiketas was that the mystery of what death is be explained to him, for even the gods have had doubts about this. Death tries to make him ask for something else, such as wealth or long life with many pleasures, but Nachiketas firmly insists on his original request, knowing that these other gifts will soon pass away.

So Death begins by explaining that the good is much better than the pleasant, which Nachiketas has just proved that he understands. He wisely wants knowledge not ignorance, and Death describes how those, who think themselves learned but who are ignorant, run around deluded and are like the blind leading the blind. Those, who think this world is the only one, continually come under the control of Death. Death explains that this knowledge cannot be known by reasoning or thought, but it must be declared by another. I interpret this to mean that it must be learned by direct experience or from one who has had the experience.

Death tells how the truth is hard to see, but one must enter into the hidden, secret place in the depth of the heart. By considering this as God, one through yoga (union) wisely leaves joy and sorrow behind. One must transcend what is right and not right, what has been done and will be done. The sacred word Aum is declared to be the imperishable Spirit (Brahman). The wise realize that they are not born nor die but are unborn, constant, eternal, primeval; this is not slain when the body is slain.

Smaller than the small, greater than the great, the soul is in the heart of every creature here. The one who is not impulsive sees it and is free of sorrow. Through the grace of the creator one sees the greatness of the soul. While sitting one may travel far; while lying down one may go everywhere. Who else but oneself can know the god of joy and sorrow, who is bodiless among bodies and stable among the unstable?

This soul is not obtained by instruction nor by intellect nor by much learning, but is obtained by the one chosen by this; to such the soul reveals itself. However, it is not revealed to those who have not ceased from bad conduct nor to those who are not peaceful. Those, who drink of justice, enter the secret place in the highest heaven. Thus correct ethics is a requirement, and one must also become peaceful.

Psychology is explained in the Katha Upanishad by using the analogy of a chariot. The soul is the lord of the chariot, which is the body. The intuition (buddhi) is the chariot-driver, the mind the reins, the senses the horses, and the objects of the senses the paths. Those, who do not understand and whose minds are undisciplined with senses out of control, are like the wild horses of a chariot that never reaches its goals; these go on to reincarnate. The wise reach their goal with Vishnu and are not born again. The hierarchy, starting from the bottom, consists of the objects of sense, the senses, the mind, the intuition, the soul, the unmanifest, and the person (Purusha).

Though hidden, the soul may be seen by subtle seers with superior intellect. The intelligent restrain speech with the mind, the mind with the knowing soul, the knowing soul with the intuitive soul, and the intuitive soul with the peaceful soul. Yet the spiritual path is as difficult as crossing on the sharpened edge of a razor. By discerning what has no sound nor touch nor form nor decay nor taste nor beginning nor end, one is liberated from the mouth of death.

A wise person, seeking immortality, looked within and saw the soul. The childish go after outward pleasures and walk into the net of widespread death. The wise do not seek stability among the unstable things here. Knowing the experiencer, the living soul is the lord of what has been and what will be. This is the ancient one born from discipline standing in the secret place. This is the truth that all things are one, but those, who see a difference here, go from death to death like water runs to waste among the hills. The soul goes into embodiment according to its actions and according to its knowledge.

The inner soul is in all things yet outside also; it is the one controller which when perceived gives eternal happiness and peace. Its light is greater than the sun, moon, stars, lightning, and fire which do not shine in the world illuminated by this presence. The metaphor of an upside down tree is used to show that heaven is the true root of all life.

The senses may be controlled by the mind, and the mind by the greater self. Through yoga the senses are held back so that one becomes undistracted even by the stirring of the intuition. Thus is found the origin and the end. When all the desires of the heart are cut like knots, then a mortal becomes immortal. There is a channel from the heart to the crown of the head by which one goes up into immortality, but the other channels go in various directions. One should draw out from one's body the inner soul, like an arrow from a reed, to know the pure, the immortal. The Katha Upanishad concludes that with this knowledge learned from Death with the entire rule of yoga, Nachiketas attained Brahman and became free from passion and death, and so may any other who knows this concerning the soul.

Greatly respected, the short Isha Upanishad is often put at the beginning of the Upanishads. Isha means "Lord" and marks the trend toward monotheism in the Upanishads. The Lord encloses all that moves in the world. The author recommends that enjoyment be found by renouncing the world and not coveting the possessions of others. The One pervades and transcends everything in the world.

Whoever sees all beings in the soul
and the soul in all beings
does not shrink away from this.
In whom all beings have become one with the knowing soul
what delusion or sorrow is there for the one who sees unity?
It is radiant, incorporeal, invulnerable,
without tendons, pure, untouched by evil.
Wise, intelligent, encompassing, self-existent,
it organizes objects throughout eternity.19

The One transcends ignorance and knowledge, non-becoming and becoming. Those, who know these pairs of opposites, pass over death and win immortality. The Isha Upanishad concludes with a prayer to the sun and to Agni.

The Mundaka Upanishad declares Brahman the first of the gods, the creator of all and the protector of the world. Connected to the Atharva Veda the Mundaka Upanishad has Brahman teaching his eldest son Atharvan. Yet the lower knowledge of the four Vedas and the six Vedangas (phonetics, ritual, grammar, definition, metrics, and astrology) is differentiated from the higher knowledge of the imperishable source of all things. The ceremonial sacrifices are to be observed; but they are now considered "unsafe boats," and fools, who approve them as better, go again to old age and death.

Like the Katha, the Mundaka Upanishad warns against the ignorance of thinking oneself learned and going around deluded like the blind leading the blind. Those, who work (karma) without understanding because of attachment, when their rewards are exhausted, sink down wretched. "Thinking sacrifices and works of merit are most important, the deluded know nothing better."20 After enjoying the results of their good works, they enter this world again or even a lower one. The Mundaka Upanishad recommends a more mystical path:

Those who practice discipline and faith in the forest,
the peaceful knowers who live on charity,
depart without attachment through the door of the sun,
to where lives the immortal Spirit, the imperishable soul.
Having tested the worlds won by works,
let the seeker of God arrive at detachment.
What is not made is not attained by what is done.21

To gain this knowledge the seeker is to go with fuel in hand to a teacher who is learned in the scriptures and established in God. Approaching properly, calming the mind and attaining peace, the knowledge of God may be taught in the truth of reality by which one knows the imperishable Spirit.

The formless that is higher than the imperishable and is the source and goal of all beings may be found in the secret of the heart. The reality of immortal life may be known by using the weapons of the Upanishads as a bow, placing an arrow on it sharpened by meditation, stretching it with thought directed to that, and knowing the imperishable as the target. Aum is the bow; the soul is the arrow; and God is the target. Thus meditating on the soul and finding peace in the heart, the wise perceive the light of blissful immortality. The knot of the heart is loosened, all doubts vanish, and one's works (karma) cease when it is seen. Radiant is the light of lights that illuminates the whole world. God truly is this immortal, in front, behind, to the right and left, below and above; God is all this great universe.

By seeing the brilliant creator, the God-source, being a knower, the seer shakes off good and evil, reaching the supreme identity of life that shines in all beings. Enjoying the soul, doing holy works, such is the best knower of God. The soul can be attained by truth, discipline, correct knowledge, and by studying God. Truth conquers and opens the path to the gods by which sages, whose desires are satisfied, ascend to the supreme home. Vast, divine, subtler than the subtle, it shines out far and close by, resting in the secret place seen by those with vision. It is not grasped by sight nor speech nor angels nor austerity nor work but by the grace of wisdom and the mental purity of meditation which sees the indivisible.

Whatever world a person of pure heart holds clearly in mind is obtained. Yet whoever entertains desires, dwelling on them, is born here and there on account of those desires; but for the one whose desire is satisfied, whose soul is perfected, all desires here on earth vanish away. This soul is not attained by instruction nor intellect nor much learning but by the one whom it chooses, who enters into the all itself. Ascetics with natures purified by renunciation enter the God-worlds and transcend death. As rivers flow into the ocean, the liberated knower reaches the divine Spirit. Whoever knows that supreme God becomes God.

Later Upanishads
These Upanishads are being discussed in this chapter in their estimated chronological order. The previous group is from about the sixth century BC, and thus some of them are probably contemporary with the life of the Buddha (563-483 BC). This next group is almost certainly after the time of the Buddha, but it is difficult to tell how old they are.

The Prashna Upanishad is also associated with the Atharva Veda and discusses six questions; Prashna means question. Six men approached the teacher Pippalada with sacrificial fuel in hands and questions in their minds. Pippalada agreed to answer their questions if they would live with him another year in austerity, chastity, and faith.

The first question is, "From where are all these creatures born?"22 The answer is that the Creator (Prajapati) wanted them, but two paths are indicated that lead to reincarnation and immortality. The second question is how many angels support and illumine a creature and which is supreme? The answer is space, air, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, sight, and hearing, but the life-breath (prana) is supreme. The third question seeks to know the relationship between this life-breath and the soul. The short answer is, "This life is born from the soul (atman)."23

The fourth question concerns sleep, waking, and dreams. During sleep the mind re-experiences what it has seen and heard, felt and thought and known. When one is overcome by light, the god dreams no longer; then all the elements return to the soul in happiness. The fifth question asks about the result of meditating on the word Aum. When someone meditates on all three letters, then the supreme may be attained. The sixth question asks about the Spirit with sixteen parts. The sixteen parts of the Spirit are life, faith, space, air, light, water, earth, senses, mind, food, virility, discipline, affirmations (mantra), action, world, and naming (individuality). All the parts are like spokes of a wheel, the hub of which is the Spirit.

In the Shvetashvatara Upanishad monotheism takes the form of worshipping Rudra (Shiva). The later quality of this Upanishad is also indicated by its use of terms from the Samkhya school of philosophy. The person (Purusha) is distinguished from nature (Prakriti), which is conceived of as illusion (maya). The method of devotion (bhakti) is presented, and the refrain "By knowing God one is released from all fetters" is often repeated. Nevertheless the Upanishadic methods of discipline and meditation are recommended to realize the soul by controlling the mind and thoughts. Breathing techniques are also mentioned as is yoga. The qualities (gunas) that come with action (karma) and its consequences are to be transcended. Liberation is still found in the unity of God (Brahman) by discrimination (samkhya) and union (yoga). By the highest devotion (bhakti) for God and the spiritual teacher (guru) all this may be manifested to the great soul (mahatma).

The short Mandukya Upanishad is associated with the Atharva Veda and delineates four levels of consciousness: waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and a fourth mystical state of being one with the soul. These are associated with the three elements of the sacred chant Aum (a, u, and m) and the silence at its cessation. Thus this sacred chant may be used to experience the soul itself.

The thirteenth and last of what are considered the principal Upanishads is the Maitri Upanishad. It begins by recommending meditation upon the soul and life (prana). It tells of a king, Brihadratha, who established his son as king and, realizing that his body is not eternal, became detached from the world and went into the forest to practice austerity. After a thousand days Shakayanya, a knower of the soul, appeared to teach him. The king sought liberation from reincarnating existence. The teacher assures him that he will become a knower of the soul. The serene one, who rising up out of the body reaches the highest light in one's own form, is the soul, immortal and fearless.

The body is like a cart without intelligence, but it is driven by a supersensuous, intelligent being, who is pure, clean, void, tranquil, breathless, selfless, endless, undecaying, steadfast, eternal, unborn, and independent. The reins are the five organs of perception; the steeds are the organs of action; and the charioteer is the mind. The soul is unmanifest, subtle, imperceptible, incomprehensible, selfless, pure, steadfast, stainless, unagitated, desireless, fixed like a spectator, and self-abiding.

How then does the soul, overcome by the bright and dark fruits of action (karma), enter good or evil wombs? The elemental self is overcome by these actions and pairs of opposites, the qualities (gunas) of nature (prakriti) and does not see the blessed one, who causes action standing within oneself. Bewildered, full of desire, distracted, this self-conceit binds oneself by thinking "This is I," and "That is mine." So as a bird is caught in a snare, it enters into a good or evil womb.

Yet the cause of these actions is the inner person. The elemental self is overcome by its attachment to qualities. The characteristics of the dark quality (tamas) are delusion, fear, despondency, sleepiness, weariness, neglect, old age, sorrow, hunger, thirst, wretchedness, anger, atheism, ignorance, jealousy, cruelty, stupidity, shamelessness, meanness, and rashness. The characteristics of the passionate quality (rajas) are desire, affection, emotion, coveting, malice, lust, hatred, secretiveness, envy, greed, fickleness, distraction, ambition, favoritism, pride, aversion, attachment, and gluttony.

How then may this elemental self on leaving this body come into complete union with the soul? Like the waves of great rivers or the ocean tide, it is hard to keep back the consequences of one's actions or the approach of death. Like the lame bound with the fetters made of the fruit of good and evil, like the prisoner lacking independence, like the dead beset by fear, the intoxicated by delusions, like one rushing around are those possessed by an evil spirit; like one bitten by a snake are those bitten by objects of sense; like the gross darkness of passion, the juggling of illusion, like a falsely apparent dream, like an actor in temporary dress or a painted scene falsely delighting the mind, all these attachments prevent the self from remembering the highest place.

The antidote is to study the Veda, to pursue one's duty in each stage of the religious life, and to practice the proper discipline, which results in the pure qualities (sattva) that lead to understanding and the soul. By knowledge, discipline, and meditation God is apprehended, and one attains undecaying and immeasurable happiness in complete union with the soul. The soul is identical with the various gods and powers.

Having bid peace to all creatures and gone to the forest,
then having put aside objects of sense,
from out of one's own body one should perceive this,
who has all forms, the golden one, all-knowing,
the final goal, the only light."24

The means of attaining the unity of the One is the sixfold yoga of breath control (pranayama), withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara), attention (dhyana), concentration (dharana), contemplation (tarka), and meditation (samadhi).

When one sees the brilliant maker,
lord, person, the God-source,
then, being a knower, shaking off good and evil,
the sage makes everything one in the supreme imperishable.25

When the mind is suppressed, one sees the brilliant soul, which is more subtle than the subtle; having seen the soul oneself, one becomes selfless and is regarded as immeasurable, without origin - the mark of liberation (moksha). By serenity of thought one destroys good and evil action (karma). In selflessness one attains absolute unity.

The sound Aum may be used. Meditation is directed to the highest principle within and also outer objects, qualifying the unqualified understanding; but when the mind has been dissolved, there is the bliss witnessed by the soul that is the pure and immortal Spirit. But if one is borne along by the stream of the qualities, unsteady, wavering, bewildered, full of desire, and distracted one goes into self-conceit. Standing free from dependence, conception, and self-conceit is the mark of liberation.

The influence of Buddhism can be seen in the description of liberation from one's own thoughts. As fire destitute of fuel goes out, so thought losing activity becomes extinct in its source. What is one's thought, that one becomes; this is the eternal mystery. By the serenity of thought one destroys good and bad karma; focused on the soul, one enjoys eternal delight. The mind is the means of bondage and release. Though the sacrificial fire is still important, meditation has become the primary means of liberation.

The Mahanarayana Upanishad is a long hymn to various forms of God with prayers for everything from wealth to liberation. At one point the author identifies with the divine light:

I am that supreme light of Brahman
which shines as the inmost essence of all that exists.
In reality I am the same infinite Brahman
even when I am experiencing myself
as a finite self owing to ignorance.
Now by the onset of knowledge
I am really that Brahman which is my eternal nature.
Therefore I realize this identity
by making myself, the finite self,
an oblation into the fire
of the infinite Brahman which I am always.
May this oblation be well made.26

The Jabala Upanishad, which is quoted by Shankara, gives a description of the four stages of religious life for a pious Hindu. Yajnavalkya suggests that after completing the life of a student, a householder, and a forest dweller, let one renounce, though one may renounce while a student or householder if one has the spirit of renunciation. Suicide apparently was not forbidden, for to the one who is weary of the world but is not yet fit to become a recluse, Yajnavalkya recommends a hero's death (in battle), fasting to death, throwing oneself into water or fire, or taking a final journey (to exhaustion). The wandering ascetic though wearing an orange robe, with a shaven head, practicing non-possession, purity, nonviolence, and living on charity obtains the state of Brahman.

The Vajrasuchika Upanishad claims to blast ignorance and exalts those endowed with knowledge. It raises the question who is of the Brahmin class. Is it the individual soul, the body, based on birth, knowledge, work, or performing the rites? It is not the individual soul (jiva), because the same soul passes through many bodies. It is not the body, because all bodies are composed of the same elements even though Brahmins tend to be white, Kshatriyas red, Vaishyas tawny, and Sudras dark in complexion. It is not birth, because many sages are of diverse origin. It is not knowledge, because many Kshatriyas have attained wisdom and seen the highest reality. It is not work, because good men perform works based on their past karma. It is not performing the rites, because many Kshatriyas and others have given away gold as an act of religious duty.

The true Brahmin directly perceives the soul, which functions as the indwelling spirit of all beings, blissful, indivisible, immeasurable, realizable only through one's experience. Manifesting oneself directly through the fulfillment of nature becomes rid of the faults of desire, attachment, spite, greed, expectation, bewilderment, ostentation, and so on and is endowed with tranquillity. Only one possessed of these qualities is a Brahmin. This flexible viewpoint indicates that the caste system may not yet have been as rigid as it was later to become.

Although as the major teachings passed down orally from the century before the Buddha, the Upanishads don't tell us too much about the worldly society of India, they do express a widespread mysticism and spiritual life-style that was to prepare the way for the new religions of Jainism and Buddhism as well as the deepened spirituality and mystical philosophies of Hinduism. The values of the teachers and ascetics of this culture that has been likened to the New Thought movement of the recent New Age philosophy were spiritual and other worldly, but if they did not do much to improve the whole society, at least they did not do the harm of the conquering Aryans.

A personal educational system of spiritual tutoring for adults developed, and individuals were encouraged to improve themselves spiritually as they gave and received charity. (When renouncing they gave to charity; then they accepted charity for basic sustenance.) The rituals of animal sacrifices were de-emphasized, and knowledge became greatly valued, especially self-knowledge. The doctrine of reincarnation made the sacrifices for a better life now or in the future eventually give way to the higher spiritual goal of liberation from the entire cycle of rebirth. Thus austerity and meditation became the primary methods of spiritual realization.

Notes
1. Rig Veda tr. Ralph T. H. Griffith, II:20:6-8.
2. Ibid. IV:17:10-11.
3. Ibid. VII:86:5-6.
4. Ibid. I:100:18.
5. Ibid. X:90:12.
6. Ibid. X:117:1-2.
7. Ibid. X:71:2.
8. Atharva Veda, W. D. Whitney, 14:2-71.
9. Atharva Veda 12:1:1-17, 32-36, 47-48, 59-63 tr. Raimundo Panikkar The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari, p. 123-129.
10. Bhattacharji, Sukumari, Literature in the Vedic Age, Vol. 2, p. 109.
11. Taittiriya Aranyaka 10:63:1.
12. Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad tr. Robert E. Hume, 1:3:28.
13. Ibid. 3:2:13.
14. Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad tr. S. Radhakrishnan, 3:9:26.
15. Chandogya Upanishad tr. Robert E. Hume, 4:1:1.
16. Chandogya Upanishad tr. S. Radhakrishnan, 6:11:3.
17. Taittiriya Upanishad 2:1:1.
18. Aitareya Upanishad tr. S. Radhakrishnan, 3:1:2.
19. Isha Upanishad English version by Sanderson Beck 6-8.
20. Mundaka Upanishad English version by Sanderson Beck 1:2:10.
21. Ibid. 1:2:11-12.
22. Prashna Upanishad English version by Sanderson Beck 1:3.
23. Ibid. 3:3.
24. Maitri Upanishad tr. S. Radhakrishnan, 6:8.
25. Ibid. 6:18.
26. Mahanarayana Upanishad tr. Swami Vimalananda, 1:67.


Copyright © 1998-2004 by Sanderson Beck
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Contents
Vedas and Upanishads
Mahavira and Jainism
Buddha and Buddhism
Political and Social Ethics of India
Hindu Philosophy
Literature of India
India 30 BC to 1300
Delhi Sultans and Rajas 1300-1526
Mughal Empire 1526-1707
Marathas and the English Company 1707-1800
British India 1800-1848
British India's Wars 1848-1881
India's Renaissance 1881-1905
India's Freedom Struggle 1905-1918
Gandhi and India 1919-1941
Tibet, Nepal, and Ceylon 1800-1941
Southeast Asia to 1875
Pacific Islands to 1875
Summary and Evaluation
Bibliography
Chronological Index
KENA UPANISHAD
KATHA UPANISHAD
ISHA UPANISHAD
MUNDAKA UPANISHAD
PRASHNA UPANISHAD
MANDUKYA UPANISHAD
SHVETASHVATARA UPANISHAD