the only major civilizations to establish formal borders in the European sense.. In most cases the borders and frontiers in the medieval world, even in those instances where they were de
Trang 1the only major civilizations to establish formal borders in the
European sense
In most cases the borders and frontiers in the medieval
world, even in those instances where they were defined in
writing, rarely lasted for long With the fluctuating fortunes
of rulers and their armies, the borders of their lands regularly
changed The few exceptions were small city-states or states
based on islands, with Portugal being one of the few medieval
kingdoms that has retained its frontiers for many centuries
Below the national level, the county system in Britain also
remained largely untouched from medieval times until 1974
The Papal States, in central Italy, also managed to retain their
size until 1860 For the most part borders changed as local
rulers switched their loyalties or when their lands were
in-vaded and captured Although the medieval world would see
some of the greatest empires in history (among them, those
of the Mongols and the Arabs), the existence of
confedera-tions, especially in the Americas, allowed for the formation
of many city-states with their borders often largely defined
by the lands needed for the maintenance of the city or other
population center
AfricA
by miCHaEl J o’nEal
In the modern world the borders that define nation-states are
generally (though not always) clear, fixed, and recognized by
other nations When travelers pass from one nation to
an-other, they are likely to be greeted by signs, fences, border
control posts, and in some cases armed soldiers or police that
make it clear that they have left the territory of one country
and are entering that of another
During the medieval period in Africa territorial borders
were not as clearly fixed A community of people that can be
identified as forming a “state” or “kingdom” lived and worked
around a magnet city that formed the core of that
commu-nity The city was the site of governmental, administrative,
and often religious activities Surrounding the city was
coun-tryside peopled by farmers, herders, miners, and others who
earned their living from the land Trade took place between
the central city and the outlying regions; people living
out-side the city supplied agricultural products, while city
dwell-ers provided manufactured goods As the distance from the
city increased, the kingdom’s hold over the territory was apt
to weaken until eventually the territory came under the sway
of another kingdom Occupying the border regions were
trib-utary states dominated by the central empire through
con-quest, payment of tribute, or alliance The kingdom’s borders
were defined, in effect, by the extent of the territory it was
willing to claim as its own and defend
Borders, too, often were defined by geographical fea-tures Certainly mountains and rivers presented barriers not easily bridged; in this sense borders in Africa were little dif-ferent from those in other parts of the world Contributing to this geographical differentiation were climate and resources
As it still does, Africa in the medieval period presented its inhabitants with a wide range of climatic conditions that in large part defined the terrain Some Africans inhabited for-ests where gold could be a primary resource Others lived
on savannas, or immense open grasslands, where herders tended animals and miners extracted copper from the earth Still others scratched out livings from the desert, where salt was extracted
Because of differences in climate, terrain, and resources, the various kingdoms of medieval Africa were defined in large part by the nature of their trade The kingdoms were linked by networks of trade that tended to run from east to west, although considerable trade to the north took place
as well People at the frontiers of a kingdom typically were members of caravans of traders who exchanged the goods
of their own kingdom for those of another In medieval Af-rica, therefore, traders were similar to the frontiersmen of the American West
One of the most prominent medieval African kingdom was Mali, which dominated the region of the Upper Niger River in West Africa Beginning in about 1100 Mali replaced Ghana as the major empire in the area Ghana had been an important gold-trading empire, but beginning in the 11th century the mines became depleted Further, the area was raided by Berbers from the north These events led to the breakup of the kingdom of Ghana In the resulting vacuum smaller states in the region vied for dominance Chief among them were the Tekrur and the Soso, the latter under the lead-ership of Soumaoro Kanté Kanté ruled over a federation of states, but he was challenged by a Mali prince named Sun-diata Keita, who led a coalition of forces that defeated Kantéat the battle of Kirina in the 1230s
Sundiata thus became head of a federation of states that surrounded the Upper Niger River Under the leadership of Sundiata, his son and successor Ouali I, and eventually Sun-diata’s grandnephew Kankan Musa, Mali extended its fron-tiers by exerting political control over neighboring states By the early 14th century Mali had become a major empire in West Africa, extending its borders primarily through mili-tary conquest, revitalizing the gold trade, and becoming im-mensely wealthy But the kingdom began to weaken in the late 14th century Mali was unable to defend its borders against incursions, notably the Berbers from the north Additionally,
a pastoralist society called the Fulani made inroads across Mali’s borders These events, combined with internal strife
12 borders and frontiers: Africa