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African History 2: Decentralized Society Jenne-Jeno 162 Views


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Today we're going to learn about decentralized societies like Jenne-Jeno who lived without any power hierarchy in their city. Je-no kings, Je-no problems, right? We'll see ourselves out.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:01

Kings.

00:04

Pharaohs.

00:06

Powerful priests.

00:07

Massive monuments and written languages.

00:11

These are the kinds of things that Western historians are looking for, because they look

00:14

a lot like European history and…sorta make sense to us.

00:18

Like, does it even count as a civilization if there aren't ginormous buildings and stuff

00:23

written in stone?

00:25

Are those people even worth studying?

00:27

Well…yeah, actually.

00:29

Throughout ancient Africa’s history there were other types of societies that did things…

00:33

a little differently.

00:34

They were …

00:35

Ready for some vocab…?

00:37

“decentralized or stateless political societies.”

00:40

Rather than having rigid societal structures where the powerful ruled the weak, things

00:45

were a lot more loosey-goosey…and actually equal for all.

00:48

The closest thing to a government in some of these societies was a council of elders,

00:52

made up of the old people in town.

00:55

Some have called these societies democracies of age.

00:58

…which would probably go over well in most nursing homes.

01:01

Sometimes, if there was a chief, he was nominated by the elders because he seemed like the best

01:06

dude for the job.

01:07

In these kinds of societies, chiefs didn’t pass down the title to their kids, so you

01:11

don’t hear stories about some dynasty ruthlessly holding onto its power.

01:15

A famous example of decentralized society is the ancient city of Jenne-Jeno [JEN-ay

01:21

juh-NO].

01:22

Located in modern day Mali, Jenne-Jeno was a thriving center of trade.

01:26

In particular, the folks there knew their way around some iron ore.

01:31

They were great blacksmiths, and the city exported iron and iron products, along with

01:35

smoked meat, fish, and fish oils.

01:37

Mm…fish oil.

01:39

Stop making us hungry.

01:41

Jenne-Jenno was also located on the Niger River floodplain, making the land around it

01:46

mega-fertile.

01:47

So there’s a good chance they would’ve also been able to grow rice and millet, adding

01:51

that to their trading power.

01:52

There’s evidence they imported all kinds of stuff: copper, salt, beads, stone grinders,

01:57

and even iron ore for blacksmithing.

01:59

Covering 83 acres, this walled city was at one time one of the largest trading centers

02:04

in all of West Africa.

02:06

Talk about a success story, right?

02:08

And the thing that blows the minds of modern scholars is that the folks of Jenne-Jenno

02:12

did it all without a king, ruling priesthood, or governing body.

02:16

To date, all the evidence points to the idea that they lived a completely communal lifestyle,

02:22

with no person having more power than another.

02:25

Hm, maybe Karl Marx was an African at heart…

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