40 Berbers century b.c.e Ironworking appears to have displaced Neolithic techniques without an intermediate bronze period, suggesting that iron smelting was probably introduced by outsiders, perhaps the Berbers of early antiquity There is little information about the first millennium c.e in the area, other than the prosperity and subsequent disappearance from the historical record of the Nok people in what is now northeastern Nigeria The founders of the Benin kingdom were the Bini (an ethnic subgroup of the Edo language group to which many modern inhabitants belong), but they or their ruling dynasties had a significant relationship to the Yoruba people of Ife According to one version of the founding of Benin, people called for the Ife prince Oranmiyan to come to their aid and displace the tyrannical rule of the Ogisos dynasty, which founded the city of Ibinu and had ruled the area for the previous few centuries or more (36 Ogiso dynastic rulers are known) Another version omits the plea for help, painting Oranmiyan as a simple invader At the time of the Ife incursion—whether it was invited or not—most of the power in Benin rested in the hands of the council of chiefs, the uzama Beginning with Oranmiyan’s son Eweka (1180–1246), the uzama was presided over by the oba, a war leader who over time became a more powerful monarch with religious significance As the oba became paramount, the kingdom became an empire Beginning with Ewuare (1440–73), the title of oba became a hereditary one, while Ibinu was rebuilt with military fortifications in order to protect the Benin center of power, as Ewuare’s forces expanded to conquer the lands surrounding them The port of Lagos was established around this time, and diplomatic and trade relations began with Europe, beginning with the Portuguese Early trade was primarily in ivory, pepper, and palm oil, before the slave trade became prominent The kingdom of Benin is not related to the modernday Republic of Benin, except insofar as that nation took its name in 1975 from the Bight of Benin, the bay along which both entities are or were situated Further reading: Diop, Cheikh Anta Precolonial Black Africa Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1988; Isichei, Elizabeth A History of African Societies to 1870 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997; Millar, Heather The Kingdom of Benin in West Africa New York: Benchmark Books, 1996 Bill Kte’pi Berbers The Berbers are the earliest known inhabitants of northwestern Africa’s Mediterranean coast, plains, and mountain ranges Living as nomadic herders or farmers in Morocco’s Atlas and Rif mountain ranges, Algeria, the Sahara Desert, east into Libya and Egypt, the exact ethnic and cultural origins of the Berbers is unknown, though their languages, called Tamazight, belongs to a family of Afro-Asiatic languages In ancient times, Berber religions were polytheistic Although ancient Berber history is sketchy because of the fact that there was no written form of their languages, references to them exist in chronicles from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome Beginning around 600 b.c.e some Berber regions of North Africa came under foreign occupation, first by the mighty city-state of Carthage, and then by the Roman republic Under Carthaginian and Roman rule, Berber merchants linked the Mediterranean coastal settlements with West Africa, trading in slaves, gold, and ivory Under the Roman Empire, some Berbers residing on the Mediterranean coast became imperial citizens, though Berber communities living in the North African interior mountain ranges and other rural areas remained largely independent After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, large sections of North Africa’s seacoast remained under the control of the Byzantine Empire of Asia Minor After the rise of Islam in the first half of the seventh century c.e Arab Muslim expansion into North Africa began in earnest, beginning in 642 during the reign of the second al-Rashidun caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab The new religion slowly spread among segments of the Berber tribes, replacing Byzantine Christianity, which many Berbers practiced in some form, and Judaism Although many Berbers accepted the basic tenets of Islam, their method of practice generally remained unorthodox This led to a growing level of tension between them and the Arab Umayyad Caliphate of Syria by the middle of the eighth century A large number of Berbers joined the fundamentalist movement of the Kharijites, who opposed the Umayyads and preached that any qualified Muslim could lead the community Berber opposition to the centralized power of the caliphate continued after the collapse of the Umayyads in 750 by the Abbasid Revolution The Fatimids, an Isma’ili Shi’i movement that arose in 969, received substantial Berber support in their takeover of Egypt and parts of North Africa from the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad, Iraq During the Fatimid dynasty, there is evidence that there was an attempt to instill Arab culture within Berber societies, which had largely retained their own cultural practices and languages In 711 during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik, the first Muslim expeditions to the Iberian Peninsula were launched under the command of a Berber, Tariq ibn al-Ziyad, and other Berber Muslims A mixed party of Arabs and Berbers under the Umayy-