posted 12 March 2005 02:35 PM            

Black Excellence In World History. Subject Document

Submitted by: Donavan Duncan, Student, Mira Costa Community College

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West African Kingdoms

by: Donavan Duncan

It is generally accepted by scholars and scientists today that Africa is the continent where humankind first saw the light of day. Indeed, it is widely recognized as the original home of man. One of the most tragic misconceptions of historical thought has been the belief that Black Africa had no history before European colonization. Whites foster the image of Africa as a barbarous and savage continent torn by tribal warfare for centuries. It was a common assumption of nineteenth-century European and American Whites - promoted by the deliberate cultivation of pseudoscientific racism - that Africans were inferior to Whites and were devoid of any trace of civilization or culture.

It is only recently that more reliable studies has brought to light much information about great civilizations that developed in Africa while Europe was in the period often referred as the Dark Ages. The earliest of these mature civilizations were in West Africa. In a vast region south of the Sahara, Africans organized kingdoms which in time became great empires. This region is called the Sudan (a word meaning "land of the Blacks" in Arabic) The Sudan was important in the early history of Black Africa because the Africans first practiced agriculture in this region, and thus became the first people south of the Sahara to fashion and use iron tools and weapons. They were also among the first people in Africa to organize viable political systems. The Sudanic Blacks had learn to domesticate crops long before the coming of Christianity, and their grain production furnished food for an expanding population.

The first West African state of record was Ghana which had been ruled by over forty kings by the year 300 A.D. The early Ghanaians were a peaceful and prosperous people who developed an economy based on agriculture and mining. The power and prosperity of Ghana, and the two other descendant empires of Mali and Songhay, arose from the following factors: (1) the agricultural base in the Niger River Valley; (2) their control of trade as middlemen between the North African Arabs, the Saharan salt mines, and the gold mines of the Guinea forests; (3) the existence of the open Savannah (a treeless plain) which their armies could traverse quickly to hold the empires together; and (4) their eventual adoption of the Islamic faith. Islam contributed the Arabic script and language to the Sudanic empires, which became known as centers of learning and culture. The invasion of Ghana by the Muslems along with a disastrous series of droughts that dried up the vital Bagana and Wagadu Rivers helped to plunge the empire into economic decline; and it became easy prey for hordes of conquerors who completed its destruction by the thirteenth century.

After the fall of Ghana, a Black state called Mali became the successor power in West Africa. The king of Mali formed alliances with other Islamic rulers, and this military and religious strength made him the most powerful ruler in Africa. Mali was founded by the Mande people of the upper Niger River, famous for their weaving, mining and architecture. By the close of the fourteenth century, the Mali empire had achieved greater wealth and power than Ghana. Civil warfare, attacks from Mossi and Songhay, and the arrival of the Portuguese in Africa mortally reduced Mali's power.

The third of the great kingdoms of the West, Songhay, began in the early eight century at Gao near the bend of the River Niger. By 1500, the empire of Songhay had become the largest and most powerful state in the history of West Africa. Some of the most important innovations associated with this empire are the establishment of schools, a uniform system of weights and measures, the improvement of banking and credit procedures, reorganization of the armed forces, the promotion of more foreign trade, and the creation of an effective government administrative network throughout the land. As Songhay was a Moslem state, the laws of the Koran became the basis for the administration of justice. Songhay made its greatest progress in education during the reign of Askia Mohammed. Askia Mohammed was overthrown by his eldest son in 1529. The Moroccans and Spanish invaders from the north, defeated the Songhay forces and took control of Timbuktu; and the once great empire soon dissolved into warring regional factions. Thereafter, like Ghana and Mali, Songhay went into an inevitable decline as a major power in West African affairs.

Though most European explorers did not penetrate into Africa far enough to encounter the Guinea kingdoms until the nineteenth century, some visited the city of Benin as early as the sixteenth century. Benin, located in the forest of what is today Nigeria, was an impressive commercial and cultural state. Benin conducted large-scale trade throughout Western Africa. Benin evolved a system of currency (cowrie shells and metal rings called manillas). A number of new states emerged in Guinea during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Ashanti kingdom in the Gold Coast and the state of Dahomey were two of the most celebrated. These kingdoms developed complex and efficient systems of government, and their subjects lived in towns comparable to some of the leading cities of Europe.

The rise of the great kingdoms and empires in West Africa paralleled other civilizations which emerged elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Their existence proves that Africans were capable of managing their own affairs and creating noteworthy civilizations long before Europeans appeared on that continent. They left a heritage that continues to influence the lives of Blacks in Africa and abroad today.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Go to Home Page, Documents & Links, top of this page or use the "Back" button your browser for previous page.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Koslow, Philip. Centuries of Greatness - The West African Kingdoms:750-1900, Chelsea House Publishers, 1995.

McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick Mckissack. The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay - Life in Medieval Africa, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1994.

Bianchi, Robert Steven. The Nubians - People of the Ancient Nile,

Millbrook Press,1994.

Chu, Daniel and Elliott Skinner. A Glorious Age in Africa - The Story of Three Great African Empires, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1965.

Trupin, James E. West Africa - A Background Book from Ancient Kingdoms to Modern Times, Parent's Magazine Press. New York, 1971.

Date Submitted: April 30, 1997

Comments to Dolwain Green
All rights reserved:
URL: http://ww2.csusm.edu/Black_Excellence/documents/pg-g-m-s-empires.html
Last Update: March 03, 1999

Black Excellence In World History. Subject Document

Submitted by: Donavan Duncan, Student, Mira Costa Community College

Go to Home Page, Documents & Links, or use the "Back" button on your browser for previous page.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

West African Kingdoms

by: Donavan Duncan

It is generally accepted by scholars and scientists today that Africa is the continent where humankind first saw the light of day. Indeed, it is widely recognized as the original home of man. One of the most tragic misconceptions of historical thought has been the belief that Black Africa had no history before European colonization. Whites foster the image of Africa as a barbarous and savage continent torn by tribal warfare for centuries. It was a common assumption of nineteenth-century European and American Whites - promoted by the deliberate cultivation of pseudoscientific racism - that Africans were inferior to Whites and were devoid of any trace of civilization or culture.

It is only recently that more reliable studies has brought to light much information about great civilizations that developed in Africa while Europe was in the period often referred as the Dark Ages. The earliest of these mature civilizations were in West Africa. In a vast region south of the Sahara, Africans organized kingdoms which in time became great empires. This region is called the Sudan (a word meaning "land of the Blacks" in Arabic) The Sudan was important in the early history of Black Africa because the Africans first practiced agriculture in this region, and thus became the first people south of the Sahara to fashion and use iron tools and weapons. They were also among the first people in Africa to organize viable political systems. The Sudanic Blacks had learn to domesticate crops long before the coming of Christianity, and their grain production furnished food for an expanding population.

The first West African state of record was Ghana which had been ruled by over forty kings by the year 300 A.D. The early Ghanaians were a peaceful and prosperous people who developed an economy based on agriculture and mining. The power and prosperity of Ghana, and the two other descendant empires of Mali and Songhay, arose from the following factors: (1) the agricultural base in the Niger River Valley; (2) their control of trade as middlemen between the North African Arabs, the Saharan salt mines, and the gold mines of the Guinea forests; (3) the existence of the open Savannah (a treeless plain) which their armies could traverse quickly to hold the empires together; and (4) their eventual adoption of the Islamic faith. Islam contributed the Arabic script and language to the Sudanic empires, which became known as centers of learning and culture. The invasion of Ghana by the Muslems along with a disastrous series of droughts that dried up the vital Bagana and Wagadu Rivers helped to plunge the empire into economic decline; and it became easy prey for hordes of conquerors who completed its destruction by the thirteenth century.

After the fall of Ghana, a Black state called Mali became the successor power in West Africa. The king of Mali formed alliances with other Islamic rulers, and this military and religious strength made him the most powerful ruler in Africa. Mali was founded by the Mande people of the upper Niger River, famous for their weaving, mining and architecture. By the close of the fourteenth century, the Mali empire had achieved greater wealth and power than Ghana. Civil warfare, attacks from Mossi and Songhay, and the arrival of the Portuguese in Africa mortally reduced Mali's power.

The third of the great kingdoms of the West, Songhay, began in the early eight century at Gao near the bend of the River Niger. By 1500, the empire of Songhay had become the largest and most powerful state in the history of West Africa. Some of the most important innovations associated with this empire are the establishment of schools, a uniform system of weights and measures, the improvement of banking and credit procedures, reorganization of the armed forces, the promotion of more foreign trade, and the creation of an effective government administrative network throughout the land. As Songhay was a Moslem state, the laws of the Koran became the basis for the administration of justice. Songhay made its greatest progress in education during the reign of Askia Mohammed. Askia Mohammed was overthrown by his eldest son in 1529. The Moroccans and Spanish invaders from the north, defeated the Songhay forces and took control of Timbuktu; and the once great empire soon dissolved into warring regional factions. Thereafter, like Ghana and Mali, Songhay went into an inevitable decline as a major power in West African affairs.

Though most European explorers did not penetrate into Africa far enough to encounter the Guinea kingdoms until the nineteenth century, some visited the city of Benin as early as the sixteenth century. Benin, located in the forest of what is today Nigeria, was an impressive commercial and cultural state. Benin conducted large-scale trade throughout Western Africa. Benin evolved a system of currency (cowrie shells and metal rings called manillas). A number of new states emerged in Guinea during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Ashanti kingdom in the Gold Coast and the state of Dahomey were two of the most celebrated. These kingdoms developed complex and efficient systems of government, and their subjects lived in towns comparable to some of the leading cities of Europe.

The rise of the great kingdoms and empires in West Africa paralleled other civilizations which emerged elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Their existence proves that Africans were capable of managing their own affairs and creating noteworthy civilizations long before Europeans appeared on that continent. They left a heritage that continues to influence the lives of Blacks in Africa and abroad today.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Go to Home Page, Documents & Links, top of this page or use the "Back" button your browser for previous page.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Koslow, Philip. Centuries of Greatness - The West African Kingdoms:750-1900, Chelsea House Publishers, 1995.

McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick Mckissack. The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay - Life in Medieval Africa, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1994.

Bianchi, Robert Steven. The Nubians - People of the Ancient Nile,

Millbrook Press,1994.

Chu, Daniel and Elliott Skinner. A Glorious Age in Africa - The Story of Three Great African Empires, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1965.

Trupin, James E. West Africa - A Background Book from Ancient Kingdoms to Modern Times, Parent's Magazine Press. New York, 1971.

Date Submitted: April 30, 1997

Comments to Dolwain Green
All rights reserved:
URL: http://ww2.csusm.edu/Black_Excellence/documents/pg-g-m-s-empires.html
Last Update: March 03, 1999

posted 12 March 2005 04:36 PM            

Evidence of much earlier iron-making, was found in the Nok settlements. It underlines complexity of this newly arrived society in the region...though, lack of written material has meant that not much has been learned from this culture. Their artwork, however speaks for itself.

For artwork, check this out: http://www.kmtspace.com/kmt/nok.htm

Interesting notes of the iron age in the region:

"Iron smelting and forging technologies may have existed in West Africa among the Nok culture of Nigeria as early as the sixth century B.C. In the period from 1400 to 1600, iron technology appears to have been one of a series of fundamental social assets that facilitated the growth of significant centralized kingdoms in the western Sudan and along the Guinea coast of West Africa. The fabrication of iron tools and weapons allowed for the kind of extensive systematized agriculture, efficient hunting, and successful warfare necessary to sustain large urban centers."
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/iron/hd_iron.htm

"Still, early sub-Saharan Africans developed metallurgy at a very early stage, possibly even before other peoples. Around 1400 BC, East Africans began producing steel in carbon furnaces (steel was invented in the west in the eighteenth century). The Iron Age itself came very early to Africa, probably around the sixth century BC, in Ethiopia, the Great Lakes region, Tanzania, and Nigeria. Iron technology, however, only spread slowly across Africa; it wasn't until the first century AD that the smelting of iron began to rapidly diffuse throughout the continent."
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAFRCA/IRONAGE.HTM

"Archaeologists long argued that the spread of Bantu-speaking people throughout Africa was rapid, no earlier than the first millennium A.D., and facilitated by their superior knowledge of iron technology. But excavations at various sites have shown that there is no abrupt change from the Late Stone Age (supposedly pre-Bantu) to the Iron Age (early Bantu). Stone remained in use even after iron was introduced, and so-called proto-Bantu ceramics appear even before iron. This is not to underestimate the importance of iron in Africa. Iron furnaces have been found dating from the eighth century B.C., and possibly as early as 1300 B.C.; true steel was invented by the middle of the first millennium B.C."
http://www.homestead.com/wysinger/ironage.html

posted 12 March 2005 05:57 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by kenndo:
you have a point,but while this article focues on west africa,i agree with you that a short mention of nubia and egypt should be at the beginning since they were really first and there were others in west africa and other places in africa before ghana,mali,and songhay.

---

Kenndo, if they are mentioning West African civilizations then why does the article mention Nubia. Not only that but why does it say, "The Sudan was important in the early history of Black Africa...", yet not include Egypt. This author believes that Egypt is non-Black or white.

I have a feeling that Western scholars are holding back on West African history. This is intentionally done. In the US, Africans were taught that they all originated from West Africa. This is why they have been making sure West Africa remains to be presented as a backward region. Since Mande and the Olmec writing are similar, it must mean that there was an ancient West African civilization.

posted 12 March 2005 07:50 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roy_2k5:

Kenndo, if they are mentioning West African civilizations then why does the article mention Nubia. Not only that but why does it say, "The Sudan was important in the early history of Black Africa...", yet not include Egypt.

---

I believe the author is using the old usage of "Sudanic Africa" to mean, south of the Sahara. This terminology has had the tendency of being erroneously used in a similar manner as "Sub-Saharan" is sometimes associated with phenotype. Sub-Sahara, if put to use in its actual meaning, is meant to designate the region on or below the Sahara. We've touched on the origins of this word/Sudan earlier:
http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/Forum8/HTML/001546.html

posted 12 March 2005 10:28 PM            

• these civilizations began relatively lated in history somewhere during the Middle Ages!

• these civilizations only began by (the popular Hegelian notion of) foreign influence or intervention, like from Phoenicians or Islamic Arabs!

• All of these civilizations along with all their power and wealth were based solely on the trade they did with nations and powers outside of Africa!

• Lastly, these "Sub-Saharan" so-called civilizations were not as complex and sophisticated as many blacks, and especially Afrocentrics want to believe!
  

Of course, recent archaeological as well as historical research are refuting all of these claims. Evidence shows that civilizations in "Sub-Sahara" are a lot older and more advanced than what earlier scholars 'thought.' Their power and influence was independent of foreign trade and that trade merely increased it, and most of all these civilizations developed fully independent without any foreign influence at all!

Ironically, despite Europeans' claims of African fecklessness and primitivism, Africa has independently produced more civilizations than Europe!!

Europe has produced two main civilized cultures, the Helladic and the Etruscan. Three, if you include the Iberian. But Helladic and Etruscan are the main ones because from these two, Greek and Roman culture were descended respectively. All of these civilizations of Europe began in its southern fringes along the Mediterranean basin.

Africa has produced various other civilizations, besides those of Egypto-Nubia of the Nile basin. There was Aksum, but that culture was inpart derived from Semitic peoples of Arabia, and so not fully African. But there was also the Garamantes of Libya; Kanem-Bornu of the Kanuri people; the Hausa states; the Sahelian kingdoms--Ghana, Mali, and Songhay; the Guinea kingdoms--Ife, Benin, and others; the central African kingdom of Kuba deep in the Congo; and last but not least Great Zimbabwe of Southern Africa.

One of the big reasons why many of these civilizations are under-recognized is because not as much remains of them as there does Egypt. A great deal of the building materials early Africans used was mud-brick, which was also the exact same material used by Egyptians on most of their constructions. But mud-brick erodes very easily and is not as durable as stone. Most of the stone monuments that the Egyptians left behind are those of the deceased which were made to last for eternity. Not many people know, but there are various stone tombs that peoples in “Sub-Sahara” left behind, unfortunately these were not left in very good condition. Perhaps the biggest problem with ancient and early African history is the lack of archaeology. This is starting to change, but very slowly.

posted 12 March 2005 11:27 PM            

Not to forget the recent archaeology of dr, Felix Chami have overturned the myth of Swahili culture in Tanzania being solely imitation or Arabs. The communities already existed there and are mentioned in Greco-Roman texts such as the Periplus of the Eretreyan Sea. Though personal correspondence with Mark Horton he told me that the Mtepe in Kenya were indigenous origins and not influced by Arab dhows.

Don't forget about Meroitic civlization either. The alphabetic script is superior in many ways to Mdu ntr writting. The script has yet to be deciphered and will produce more information once it is deciphered.

posted 12 March 2005 11:46 PM            

quote:

---

Djehuti:
One of the big reasons why many of these civilizations are under-recognized is because not as much remains of them as there does Egypt.

---

I disagree with this. The old commercial cities of Timbuktu are still standing, not to mention the great sculptures of Zimbabwe. The ancient Nok culture, as old as it is and with many elements of it lost throughout the ages, the items they left behind tell us that they were a complex culture.

quote:

---

Djehuti:
Europe has produced two main civilized cultures, the Helladic and the Etruscan. Three, if you include the Iberian. But Helladic and Etruscan are the main ones because from these two, Greek and Roman culture were descended respectively. All of these civilizations of Europe began in its southern fringes along the Mediterranean basin.

---

...which is no accident, considering the heavy influences from the Near East and the Nile Valley.

Of Note: The Nok culture goes way back before Christ, and the actual age of Ghanaian empire is still not known. The seeds of this ancient culture goes well into the B.C. timeframe.

Here's an interesting excerpt on ancient Jenne city:

Three kilometers to the southeast, the large mound called Jenne-jeno (ancient Jenne) or Djoboro is claimed by oral traditions as the original settlement of Jenne. Barren and carpeted by a thick layer of broken pottery, Jenne-jeno lay mute for decades, its history and significance totally unknown. Scientific excavations in the 1970's and 1980's revealed that the mound is composed of over five meters of debris accumulated during sixteen centuries of occupation that began c. 200 B.C.E. These excavations, in addition to more than doubling the period of known history for this region, provided some surprises regarding the local development of society. The results indicated that earlier assumptions about the emergence of complex social organization in urban settlements and the development of long-distance trade as innovations appearing only after the arrival of the Arabs in North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries were incorrect. The archaeology of Jenne- jeno and the surrounding area clearly showed an early, indigenous growth of trade and social complexity. The importance of this discovery has resulted in the entry of Jenne- jeno, along with Jenne, on the list of UNESCO World Heritage.
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~anth/arch/brochure/

posted 13 March 2005 01:49 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super car:
...which is no accident, considering the heavy influences from the Near East and the Nile Valley.

Of Note: The Nok culture goes way back before Christ, and the actual age of Ghanaian empire is still not known. The seeds of this ancient culture goes well into the B.C. timeframe.

Here's an interesting excerpt on ancient Jenne city:

Three kilometers to the southeast, the large mound called Jenne-jeno (ancient Jenne) or Djoboro is claimed by oral traditions as the original settlement of Jenne. Barren and carpeted by a thick layer of broken pottery, Jenne-jeno lay mute for decades, its history and significance totally unknown. Scientific excavations in the 1970's and 1980's revealed that the mound is composed of over five meters of debris accumulated during sixteen centuries of occupation that began c. 200 B.C.E. These excavations, in addition to more than doubling the period of known history for this region, provided some surprises regarding the local development of society. The results indicated that earlier assumptions about the emergence of complex social organization in urban settlements and the development of long-distance trade as innovations appearing only after the arrival of the Arabs in North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries were incorrect. The archaeology of Jenne- jeno and the surrounding area clearly showed an early, indigenous growth of trade and social complexity. The importance of this discovery has resulted in the entry of Jenne- jeno, along with Jenne, on the list of UNESCO World Heritage.
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~anth/arch/brochure/

[This message has been edited by Super car (edited 13 March 2005).]

---

I have to agree with this as well,but 1 correction jenne goes back to 250 b.c. and there was another african civilization in mauritania around the same time.

posted 13 March 2005 05:06 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Djehuti:
The question is how many unknown aspects of these civilizations remain to be discovered?

Better yet, how many other civilizations in Africa are there have not yet been discovered?

---

The direct precursors of most West Africans is found in the Sahara. Yet this seems to have been a relatively neglected region, and as we have heard lately, at least some portion of this region maybe in danger of oil exploration quests from the Libyan State. While these may not be as spectacularly visible as the pyramids, I am sure the Sahara, the home of the Black Mummy, has more secrets buried beneath...just waiting to be unearthed. Funding and initiative of Africans, should bring this about more quickly.

Africans have probably lost more relics, than anywhere else. This applies to Egypt as well.

The Rape of Nok and Kwatakwashi: the crisis in Nigerian Antiquities

Throughout history, countries commanding strong military or financial power have encouraged a movement of antiquities and art objects from other nations. This is true for Nok and 'Kwatakwashi' (Sokoto )