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Feast, Famine or Fighting? pp 61–89Cite as

Trade and State Formation in Ancient East African Coast and Southern Zambezia

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Part of the book series: Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation ((STHE,volume 8))

Abstract

Why is social inequality a feature of so many societies? Every generation of archaeologists has sought to understand the transformation from egalitarian bands to today’s world of ‘savage inequalities.’ In this chapter, we draw from recent archaeological research in Eastern and Southern Africa to explain the emergence of socially and politically hierarchical chiefdoms, polities, and states. We identify three main sources of social power: trade, investment in extractive technologies , and elite monopolization of wealth-creating resources. Along the East African Coast, we find that autonomous city-states developed here on local, regional, and trans-continental scales because of Indian Ocean trade. In spite of the wealth the Swahili elites amassed, their city-states remained independent. In Southern Africa, the Southern Zambezian Culture developed similar political formations, but in this highland fertile plain some polities were able to extend their political control over larger geographical areas. Like the Swahili , the Zimbabwe elites were wealthy through trade, taking tribute from foot caravans of gold and ivory bound for the southern Swahili Coast. In the case of Zimbabwe, militarism was a second strategy to consolidate power over the geography of these trade conduits. Studying the evolution of social complexity among the Swahili city-states and the Zimbabwe Plateau demonstrates that trade and militarism are sources of political power for African elites, as they were in other parts of the ancient world. We discuss the impact of these findings in understanding today’s dilemmas of power and inequality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 60605-2496, USA

    Chapurukha M. Kusimba & Sibel B. Kusimba

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W. Harrison Street, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA

    Nam C. Kim

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  1. Chapurukha M. Kusimba
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  3. Sibel B. Kusimba
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Correspondence to Chapurukha M. Kusimba .

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  1. Soc & Anth Dept, Winthrop University Soc & Anth Dept, Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA

    Richard J. Chacon

  2. Social, Behavioral and Global Studies, CSU Monterey Bay Social, Behavioral and Global Studies, Seaside, California, USA

    Rubén G. Mendoza

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Kusimba, C.M., Kim, N.C., Kusimba, S.B. (2017). Trade and State Formation in Ancient East African Coast and Southern Zambezia. In: Chacon, R., Mendoza, R. (eds) Feast, Famine or Fighting?. Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48402-0_4

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