448 family: Africa on the continent some 5,000 years ago led to the development of a sedentary lifestyle, domestication of animals and crops, and the formation of organized societies, which took the form of villages and larger human settlements The typical African family in ancient times was both a social/cultural and production unit It was a social unit because all individuals belonged to a family, which served as a vehicle for socialization and cultural assimilation The family therefore integrated people into the culture of the entire community As a production unit, all members of a family were collectively involved in tilling the land and producing agricultural products Farm produce was consumed collectively, while excesses were sold in exchange for other goods the family lacked As in most ancient cultures, marriage was needed for families to be established Marriage was a compulsory rite of passage All individuals were expected to get married and form their own families Conditions that prevented people from marrying were rare Marriage was a union not just of a woman and man but of two families, clans, and sometimes villages and empires Naturally, new families were established from preexisting ones, and the link between the old and the new was important for generational continuity Thus, the Karanko of Sierra Leone had a proverb: Soron i la ko yolke, meaning “One’s birth is like a chain.” Only through family formation could humans guarantee generational continuity because the African race would have been wiped out of existence without marriage, procreation, and family organization The most prevalent type of family in ancient Africa was the extended family An extended family consists of numerous families that descend from a single ancestor Most extended families, often made up of several generations, lived in compounds, with different huts belonging to individual families New family compounds were established when members of an extended family migrated to another part of the town or an entirely new settlement The history of several communities in Africa is therefore replete with references to migration Also, new communities, which later developed into large human settlements, were sometimes founded by migratory families Among the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria, some families were exclusively responsible for producing the king because the oral history of the community indicates that their forefathers were responsible for establishing the community and laying the foundation of its culture and tradition The family played a significant role in determining the social, economic, and political status or standing of an individual within the larger community In both theory and practice, an individual’s behavior represented the attitude and general character of the family The reason for this is simple: The family was a vehicle for socialization All members conformed to certain modes or patterns of behavior that had been laid down by the family’s founders or ancestors Human socialization began with the family, which molded its members in important ways A Yoruba saying, Ile la tin ko eso r’ ode (“Charity begins at home”), indicated that the household molded and determined the public attitude and disposition of an individual The oral history of African peoples is replete with references to families that are boastful, polite, humane, aggressive, or antisocial While the family served as the primary and basic unit of socialization, the well-being of the entire community was measured by the stability of its numerous families Families marked by tension and crises risked neglect Contracting a marriage was more difficult, and a person’s social and economic standing in the larger community was threatened Community-oriented opportunities, such as becoming chief, were limited All families were traditionally headed by the oldest male, because most African societies are patrilineal Also, ancient African societies were predominantly gerontocratic, meaning that the oldest men and women were expected to guide and lead the community because of their wealth of wisdom, which comes with age Again, among the Yoruba the oldest man who looked after the day-to-day activities of the extended family was called the Olori ebi, or “the head of the family.” It was also the role of the head of the family to reduce friction among family members Most families held regular meetings to discuss the family’s affairs The head of the family was the custodian of the family’s heritage He organized the family’s affairs in accordance with the rules and regulations laid down by the ancestors All these rules and regulations were parts of larger unwritten traditions and customs transmitted orally from one generation to another Most families had cults of gods and goddesses they worshiped daily, weekly, or yearly The origins of some of these cults are obscure, but what is clear is that they were associated with the history of the family’s ancestors or founders Interfamily relations served as the vehicle for the dispersal of ancestral worship The worship of some gods and goddesses spread from one community to another through family migration Sometimes, other families borrowed or adopted gods that belonged to another family, or entire communities worshiped of the deities of the ruling family The family was also a unit of production and distribution One of the major purposes of family formation was the need for helping hands on farms Polygyny, or the practice of taking more than one wife, guaranteed large households when manpower was needed for agricultural production The size of families was significant in determining an individual’s status Chieftaincies were sometimes conferred on people who could prove that they had a large household Not all families derived means of survival and livelihood from agriculture Some were artisans such as wood carvers and blacksmiths Some were entertainers, while others were diviners and healers The skills required in these professions were transmitted from one generation to another The endogamous nature of African families, where marriage took place within the tribe or clan, ensured that skills were passed from one generation to another within the family and was a