Chris has a master's degree in history and teaches at the University of Northern Colorado.
As human beings, we like our tools. From our first genetic ancestors who started using sticks and stones to get things done to today's tweens who are using digital technology to slowly take over the world, human populations have always been defined by their tools. So, the materials used to create those tools are a useful way to categorize societies over time.
Around 3500 years ago, certain populations around the Mediterranean began systematically smelting iron, leading to a millennia-long period of human history known as the Iron Age. The advent of iron tools led to massive social changes across the world, including in Africa, the cradle of humanity. Africa's Iron Age changed the continent and opened up new styles of living to many cultures. These populations weren't the first to redefine themselves by their tools, and they won't be the last.
Iron smelting may have been possible in parts of Africa for millennia. There are some researchers who think that the ancient Egyptians may have experimented with it up to 5000 years ago. However, iron working as a consistent process may have entered Northern Africa around 750 BCE. By the 6th century BCE, it may have made its way to Nigeria, practiced by the Nok culture, and over time spread throughout the continent. The spread was probably largely thanks to the Bantu-speaking people of North/Central Africa, who migrated across the continent over centuries and brought iron working with them. By roughly 1600 CE, iron working was found throughout all of Africa.
The rise of iron tools signaled some major changes in societies across Africa. In areas where people had lived in settled, urban communities for hundreds of years, like Northern Africa, these changes were less pronounced. Mostly, agricultural and military practices were improved.
South of the Sahara Desert, however, settled civilizations and iron tools often went hand-in-hand. Iron is a very hard, strong metal and iron tools made even the toughest soils workable for agriculture. So, the introduction of iron tools was often accompanied by the establishment of more settled, agricultural communities. As they settled down and develop more reliable food sources through agriculture, these societies tended to grow in size and complexity. It's no coincidence that many of Sub-Saharan Africa's larger kingdoms first appeared when iron and agriculture both appeared.
Iron agricultural tools introduced some of the most dramatic changes in Africa, but we can't ignore iron's other uses either. When we talk about the rapid spread of the iron-using Bantu cultures and the rise of powerful African kingdoms, we have to acknowledge that iron weapons had a large influence as well. Variations of iron knives, swords, and spears were developed by warring societies across the continent. Since these societies did not develop firearm technology until it was introduced by European empires, these Iron Age weapons became symbols of cultural unity in many parts of Africa.
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All in all, iron working played a major role in African society. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it was pretty highly revered. Blacksmiths were respected members of many societies and were practically nobility in some cases. In fact, even iron working itself was a semi-sacred action in many societies. This meant that the tools for iron working often held ceremonial, ritual purposes. Amongst cultures of what is now Nigeria, the anvil served as sort of a shrine and altar. In parts of West Africa, iron objects made in a ritual fashion were believed to contain living spirits that required offerings of water, millet, or beer. So, iron tools could have magical, spiritual uses as well.
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As many societies in Africa developed iron technology and more urbanized societies, their architecture changed as well. Now, few African societies ever made heavy use of iron in their actual architecture, but the tools did help with stone and wood cutting. In fact, many societies developed their first major examples of stone architecture after the arrival of iron tools.
There are examples of large-scale architecture from around 700 BCE in Sudan and Ethiopia, and perhaps up to 500 BCE in West Africa. This large-scale stone architecture really took off after the arrival of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa, however. Muslim merchants brought with them advanced knowledge about building and construction, creating some impressive mosques and universities across the continent.
Besides the stone buildings, one common characteristic of Iron Age African architecture was stone walls. Stone-walled structures, called SWS by many archaeologists, are a common feature of many urban, Iron Age African communities. In some cultures, these walls formed protected compounds that sheltered communities from raiding war parties. In others, villages were class-segregated, with systems of walls dividing the parts of town where nobles or commoners resided. In both cases, we aren't talking about simple walls here, but assortments of terraces, platforms, retaining walls, cattle enclosures, windbreaks, and defensive walls that created unique architectural traditions.
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The Iron Age, defined by the widespread introduction of iron tools into human societies, created some pretty substantial changes. In Africa, iron tools lead to a wider reliance on agriculture and a rise in settled, urban societies. Iron weapons helped societies expand or defend themselves as well. Iron tools held a nearly sacred place in many African societies, and in some cases, even the tools for iron working were elevated as shrines or altars.
While these societies did not use iron too widely in their architecture, they did embrace larger scale stone construction. Stone-walled structures were especially prominent across Africa, ranging from defensive walls around communal compounds to complex forms of urban planning. Like most human groups, the societies of Africa largely defined themselves by their tools. So, the Iron Age wasn't just a period of technological invention, but of societal reinvention as well.
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