Chapter 7

I wanted to answer the question, "How does the experience of the Niger Valley challenge conventional notions of "civilization""? (188).

Since we spent so much time talking about what made a civilization I figured this was a good question to answer, a bit of a distinction between what we have been studying. As far as the experience of the Niger Valley it differed in many ways from the civilizations we have looked at for the most part. The first striking difference was the lack of an imperial system. The Niger Valley, as far as historians have been able to tell were a series of "complex urban centers" which did not need the authority of some stately power. What I found most interesting however was the way the economy was organized (188). There was such a thing as a specialty where it ended up turning into a caste system where you could not marry outside of your specialization, such as rice cultivating or fishing. Another big difference for this civilization was the trade, how they traded and what they traded. Because there was scarcity among the land for certain resources it meant that the inhabitants had to travel further for what they needed, ultimately creating stronger relationships and a pattern of commerce.