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.
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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
http://www.csusm.edu/Black_Excellence/documents/pg-g-m-s-empires.html