Earl Sweeting & Lez Edmond African History: An Illustrated Handbook
I'm trying to trace down further information on the Arab army that in ~734 reached the Western Sudan (i.e., Old Ghana) and per abd ul~Hakam obtained much gold booty.
But the other side to the story tells us of al~Hunayhin, remnants of that army per al~Bakri, who settled down near Ghana.
Now Sweeting and Edmonds have a page showing the Old Ghana cavalry, their heads tied with white fillets, routing Ubayda's Arab expeditionary force losers into a pall mall retreat though it's always written that Ubaida took what he pleased from Wagadu.
The fact is if he was so successful and easily won out over Wagadu then why was there no follow up conquest to incorporate it into Dar al Islam and how is it that an Arab originated ethny named Honeihin (Hunayhin) came to be in the Tagant under the Kaya Magha converting from Islam to the Wagadu-Bida spirituality?
quote:Originally posted by zarahan- aka Enrique Cardova:
Good find. And it also indicates that Africa has a long and sophisticated cavalry tradition, and its armies were not simply masses of charging spearmen. Do you have anything on the Ghanian armies Takur? Their organization, weaponry and makeup?
I'm leary researching topics to post on these forums since their bent has turned to race bait and far out pro-black claims but maybe some will pitch in and prove me wrong even if the thread will get buried under trivialities.
Off the top of my head I just have the standard on Old Ghana's army being 200,000 strong (conscripts not standing army) and having cavalry and artillery (archer) units besides the obvious foot soldiery. Wagadu's advantage over most neighboring polities was iron weaponry.
Iirc their cavalry horses were of the small African breed of horses, maybe similar to those of Numidia. Great care was given each horse, having three attendants, a feeder, a groomer, and a piss pot remover/shitt shoveller.
Cavalries were only possible in Africa north of the forest zone and I can't think of any cavalry south of 10° north latitude.
But the cavalry was of utmost importance in the sahel and savanna and plays a prominent role in the major kingdoms and empires from at least the 8th-19th centuries and imported horses, larger than the African stocks became a staple in the slave trade. Apparently the purchases were geldings or else it was impossible to breed the imported horse species.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
An Ashantee horseman equipped for war, Ashanti, Africa, 1824. From Journal of a Residence in Ashantee. Not exactly the image I was looking for,there was a sculpture of an Ashanti horseman in full gallop dread locs flying while he has his rifle cocked and aimed.
While I cannot attest to the age of this sculpture it is selling for $3995 I guess the forest Kingdoms did try and introduce horses in their lands but like you said it would have been difficult in the tsetse fly regions.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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This map better shows the cavalry disabling forest belt.
Courtesy Berkely and Columbia Universities
It's more like 5° rather than 10°, my bad. You could draw a line from Freetown, Sierra Leone to Accra, Ghana and it would be much more accurate than my latittudinal generalization.
This zone would pick up again at Porto Novo, Benin to Akure, Nigeria then on to the Cross River.
So Kumasi and a large part of Ghana, even at the coast is in the "tree savanna" and this applies to coastal Togo and Benin too which are all coastal scrub and grasslands.
Even noting these horse disabling "mangrove" limits we could still locate cavalries in Musardu (Cote d'Ivoire) and Abeokuta (southern Nigeria) of up to 1000 and 500 horsemen respectively.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
Just to point out, it is often assumed that horses were introduced in the Western Sudan by Muslims. Indeed many a Muslim group in West Africa like the Hausa have as part of their founding legends a male Muslim ancestor riding his steed from the north who happened upon and rescued their matriarch. Though like many scholars in African history, I believe the Islamic elements were added in much later. The heroic chevalier himself having actually been a non-Muslim. This is also further supported by the use of horses in the Sahelian kingdom before their conversion to Islam. I agree with Takruri, that these horses may very well derive from the Numidians.
Numidian horsemen
Note that even before Numidia, horses were used by peoples in Libya such as the Pharusii, Nigretai, and Garamantes.
But getting back to the actual cavalries...
The Empire of Ghana secured its territory with its strong army. According to “Al Barki” wrote in 1067 Emperor could disperse of 200,000 warriors and 40,000 cavalry men at any given time. Wagadu had gained more territory from 7th century to 11century. The Soninke people had many advantages over the armies of the neighboring territories. One of them was iron weapons and swords, and distinct superb disciplined military, with great attack formations. But the Soninke’s primary advantage was their ironmade weapons against the opposing tribes ivory and wood weapons. Their strategy was to defeat a clan or village allow the local ruler to remain in power, if he pledged allegiance to Ghana. Other times the king directly ruled over the conquered peoples without an intermediary or vassal. All conquered tribes or people were expected to provide soldiers for the army. Ghana had an estimated control of 800,000 km2 (308,882 sq mi) of land area at its apex.
As for Songhai...
The Songhai Empire ( 1460 AD - 1591 AD ) extended from east of the Niger River as far as the Atlantic Ocean and "from the frontiers of the Land of Bindoko as far as Teghezza and its dependencies" under Askia Mohammed. The strength of the army hastily raised to fight Djuder was 12,500 cavalry and 30,000 infantry. Songhay inherited the international renown of Mali. From Kankan Mussa to Askia Mohammed, the memory of the voyages of African princes is recorded in the annals of the East, where the astonishment expressed at the power of the African empires is indescribable...
Military Organization
In Mali and Songhai, we know for certain, the king who appointed the generals was himself commander-in-chief of the army and personally directed military operations, .... In each kingdom, each nation, the army was devided into several corps assigned to the defense of various provinces, although under command of the civil authority. Thus, each provincial governor had at his disposal a part of this army to which he could assign tasks under the orders of a general whose powers were purely military. On the lower level, below the king, in political or administrative affairs, the distinction between civil and military powers was thus very clear. The king of Mali, when he conquered Songhai, Timbuktu, Zagha, Mima, the Baghena, and the environs of that region as far as the Atlantic Ocean, had 2 generals under his command. One was responsible for the defense of the southern part of the empire, on the Mossi border, the other of the northern part at the edge of the desert. Their respective names were Sankar-Zuma and Faran-Sura.
These were the titles corresponding to their military functions. Each of them had under his command a certain number of officers and troops. The western borders of the state of Djenne, before the conquest of the city by Sonni Ali, were defended by the commanders of 12 army corps deployed in the country of Sana: They were specifically assigned to surveillance of the movements of Mali. The Sana-faran was their general-in-chief. ....In Songhai, beginning with the reign of Askia Mohammed, a distinction began to be made between the people and the army. Instead of mass conscripton, a permanent army was created; civilians who were not part of it could go about their business. During the reign of Sonni Ali, all able-bodied nationals were subject to enlistment. The major divisions of the army were : knights, cavalry, foot soldiers, auxilliary bodies of Tuaregs, elite infantry regiments, the royal guard, and an armed flotilla.-- Cheikh Anta Diop, Precolonial Black AfricaPosts: 26239 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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This map better shows the cavalry disabling forest belt.
GOod map. One way some savannah cavalaries seemed to have worked around this problem is keeping horses in stables year round rather than let them feed in the open, exposed to the tsttse fly.
"Horses also had to be fed and maintained, a pressing logistical burden for large formations. Indeed, fighting horses in West African states were often kept in stables and fed there, rather than being put out to graze in the open where the tsetse fly might whittle down their numbers.[27] In Oyo, large numbers of slaves were kept to maintain horses, hauling fodder and water to the stables, and accompanying the cavalry forces as support troops. "[28] --Wiki -- based on -- Robin Law, Horses, Firearms, and Political Power in Pre-Colonial West Africa, Past and Present, No. 72, (Aug., 1976), pp. 112-132
^^This must have been one of the Asante chiefs or sub-commanders. Most Asante fighting forces were infantry.
According to “Al Barki” wrote in 1067 Emperor could disperse of 200,000 warriors and 40,000 cavalry men at any given time The strength of the army hastily raised to fight Djuder was 12,500 cavalry and 30,000 infantry.
Indeed. While most African kindgoms could not reach this level of cavalry mobilization for a single battle, the numbers above are comparable to some European states- for instance 10,000-20000 cavalry is around what Napoleon deployed at Waterloo.
^^One difference between European and African cavalry traditions is that the Africans seemed to use a more "combined arms" approach, with african infantry, versus some European traditions like the classic knight, charging into battle in all cavalry formats. Of course the pattern varied depending on the era examined in both Africa and EUrope. But the more I read, it seems there is a closer infantry-cavalry operational format in Africa. Not just supporting maintenance types like horse feeders/cleaners/stable boys, or senties around a corral, but actual infantry in battle alongside the horsemen as a routine practice. So suggests John Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 99-127
Does anyone have info on:
a) Feelings of the cavalry elite- songs, poems etc as far as their status or profession?
b) SIngle combat incidents/scenarios like the knights of Europe?
-------------------- Note: I am not an "Egyptologist" as claimed by some still bitter, defeated, trolls creating fake profiles and posts elsewhere. Hapless losers, you still fail. My output of hard data debunking racist nonsense has actually INCREASED since you began.. Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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Can we begin seeing Africa through African eyes without the "penis envy" of Europe as the yardstick for everything in the world. I hate this comparing African reality with Europe this and Europe that. Stop giving the whiteman a god complex. Cease worship.
Why must this Ashanti horseman be a "chief" or sub-commander? He could be someone of no more rank than a courier. What nations had larger cavalry than infantry that the Ashanti military should be unusual in having a smaller cavalry than infantry (not that it was easy maintaining even its limited up to 500 horse force)?
posted
Has nothing do do with 'worshiping' the white man but rather making distinctions between an African cavalry style and that of others. THis is standard procedure in any discussion of military forces. You are overreacting. Such comparisons are the routine bread and butter of military historians. Red John Thornton's Warfare inAtlantic Africa where he compares ANgolan Forces to the Portugese, or Vandervort's Wars of Imperial Conquest- where he compares casualty rates inflicted by the Ethiopians at Adowa to the casualty rates on other 19th century battlefields. QUOTE:
"Baratieri's army suffered 50 percent casualties, far higher than those suffered by participants in any other major battle of the nineteenth century. Eylau, the greatest blood-letting of the Napoleonic era, cost the French army casualties of 33.8 per cent and its losses at Waterloo were just under 30 per cent. "Macello, carneficina, strage" (butchery, slaughterhouse, slaughter) are the words which recur in the memories of the Italian combatants at Adowa."
That is significant info showing African militaries were not only capable of holding their own, but when armed sufficiently and motivated could inflict some of the heaviest casualty rates in history.
If you can't handle such comparisons because "white people" might be involved, you should not be writing about military topics. One of own references, Legassick, on the Samorian Army had this to say: QUOTE: "French observers were amazed at the discipline and manoeuvrability of the Samorian forces, and their earlier derogatory remarks on African musketry were replaced by comments on the accuracy of Samori's riflemen."
Well now, looks like he made a "racial" comparison. Why are you referencing his works then? Aren't you yourself engaging also in "white worshipping"?
I can think of nothing more "Afrocentric" than identifying the distinctive African style. No contemporary nation for example pursued the distinctive "buffalo horns" attack style of the Zulu in so consistent and large-scale a manner, although encirclement tactics were well understood on every continent. You claim you are seeking to explore more "Africanized" topics and to be avoiding "race bait" things, and yet here you are doing precisely what you say you want to avoid- playing your own little "race card."
If you don't want to provide the requested information then don't. No need to launch into some bogus charge of "white worship." Spare me the bullshiit.
Why must this Ashanti horseman be a "chief" or sub-commander? He could be someone of no more rank than a courier. What nations had larger cavalry than infantry that the Ashanti military should be unusual in having a smaller cavalry than infantry (not that it was easy maintaining even its limited up to 500 horse force)?
^^OK, He could very well be either chief, sub-commander or courier. Take yo pick. The central point is that mounted personnel were a very small minority in the Asante forces, which were overwhelmingly infantry. As for anything being unusual, what would be? Most African militaries fielded more infantry than cavalry, and that is the case even in the cavalry prominent polities.
Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
To begin, Ashanti was a constitutional monarchy and as such I find "chief" as an inappropriate descriptor for its government officials/agents.
One day some will learn to write of internal African subject matter without measuring it by a European standard as would be expected of European writers or Africans who look up to Europeans.
On that day no longer will inferior minded passages like "African militaries were not only capable of holding their own" because why would anyone think African militaries incable of holding their own unless in the mind lurks the premise of African inferiority.
This thread starts with an example of Old Ghana utterly defeating an Arab invading army. Nowhere does it put any non-African on a pedestal or suggest Africans were unarmed or unmotivated. What good would a military force be without motivation and arms? The dialectic in the statement "but when armed sufficiently and motivated could inflict some of the heaviest casualty rates in history", is seemingly that of a perceived African norm of ill arms and lack of motivation.
I would expect Euro writers and observers to be surprised at anything African that does not fit their ideal of inherent African inferiority. It does not surprise me that Samori's in particular and African forces in general are disciplined, maneuver well, and marksmen. This is expected of national armed forces unless the concept of bungling inept negro inferiority lurks in the mind.
There is no escaping Euro authored works on Africa but in drawing on them the need is to disregard their comparisons of Africa by the Euro meterstick, and "goodboy" assessments, for whatever gleanable dry facts there are.
Yes it is of the essence to inform on "the distinctive African style" precisely as you point out. And of course when the conflict is between Africans and Euros they must be compared but not measured by the European standard. There is a difference.
What I'm asking is just tell about African cavalry styles, give us their mobilization figures, lay out the "combined arms" approach but please do it without constant reference of measuring all that up to Europe as the yardstick. That's all I'd like but of course you are free to do as you wish.
As for Ashanti I did not initially make it plain the minute number of horses there but it is implied in the Musardu and Abeokuta figures that they were miniscule far in the south very near the tropical forests. Yes, it's an overstatement to say Ashanti had a cavalry in any strategical use of that kind of regiment. But still, I do not know of nor have you pointed out any polity's military that had more cavalry than infantry. Could you please apprise because your statement, "Most African militaries fielded more infantry than cavalry, and that is the case even in the cavalry prominent polities.", is true and remains true when restated "Most militaries fielded more infantry than cavalry,and that is the case even in the cavalry prominent polities."
It was your questioning that led me to broach this thread and your further input has been valuable. I just have low tolerance for the injecting of Europe where it's unnecessary and when comparisons are not equalized by citing Arab, Indian, Mongol, Comanche etc., examples too, if comparisons must be done.
I can't answer your questions Does anyone have info on: a) Feelings of the cavalry elite- songs, poems etc as far as their status or profession? b) SIngle combat incidents/scenarios?
except to suggest perusing the literature of the polities with noted horsemen and so chose silence though an excerpt from the Dausi I posted some time ago has an instance of a single combatant taking on multiple foes (link).
I expect to learn more from you Zarahan and I suspect one of your fine graphics w/text blurbs will result from the info that will come up in this thread.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
OK, I see what you are saying here. That is a valid concern, the Eurocentric outlook overshadowing the historical detail. Lack of extensive research in the area also hinders analysis, and that available can skew the picture. Fair enough.
ON the African style it seems it is due to the environment in part- the tsetse fly burden and of course the fact that horses and cav forces are more expensive to maintain. SO infantry and cav had to work together, and made for larger infantry forces.
I wonder though if there were not also some distinctive cultural/politico factors at play. In the Kongo the style was to mix forces of different types- heavy, light, and mix in contingents from allied contingents under their own leaders. Might be the same cultural preference in the cavalry areas- mix force types, thus allowing more flexibility over a wide range of terrain or situations. Contingents under their own leaders were also responsible for their own rations and weapons, another consideration. Allies could be mixed and matched, then disbanded at campaign's end, without having the burden of creating create one centralized, standardized regime. So the African style may also be based on these cultural considerations. But there can be no hard and fast rule for Africa, for the Zulu explicitly pursued the heavy-duty standardized, centralized option.
I cannot think of any polities where cav outnumbered infantry, but perhaps some of the Mossi polities, if small enough groupings, might fit the bill. I am not too clear on the Mossi. How large were they and how organized? It is documented that they conducted extensive raiding type warfare against foot soldier peoples for slaves and other purposes.
But in your thread we should also consider the matter of change. You mentioned above small horses and their limitations, but one writer in the area, Robin Law holds that there was great change.
Robin Law, Horses, Firearms, and Political Power in Pre-Colonial West Africa, Past and Present, No. 72, (Aug., 1976), pp. 112-132
Robin Law above maintains that there was a "revolutionary" change in West African warfare around the 14th century with the into of larger horse breeds and into of the saddle and bit. He also mentions Mans Musa receiving large gifts of horses from the Sultn of Egypt.
But the book I read this from then adds: "Thus began a history of militarism in africa and the gradual militarization of the continent." --Re-inventing Africa: matriarchy, religion, and culture By Ifi Amadiume
It is certain that the intro of aggressive cavalry operations would have a major impact at least locally, especially againt peoples who were not organized to fight back effectively. But I question this notion of Amadiume (he may be getting this from Law but doesnt say) of a "militarization of Africa" due to the coming of more cavalry. I can see the rise of an elite and more conquests regionally but not something as full blown as militarization of the continent. There seems to have been plenty of warfare going on before the coming of effective cavalry.
What do you think?
Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote: An Ashantee horseman equipped for war, Ashanti, Africa, 1824. From Journal of a Residence in Ashantee. Not exactly the image I was looking for,there was a sculpture of an Ashanti horseman in full gallop dread locs flying while he has his rifle cocked and aimed.
While I cannot attest to the age of this sculpture it is selling for $3995 I guess the forest Kingdoms did try and introduce horses in their lands but like you said it would have been difficult in the tsetse fly regions.
These images of Asante horsemen may actually speak directly to the cavalry tradition in the Western Sudan. The Gonja chronicles mention how Northern Ghana was invaded in the late part of the sixteenth century by horsemen from Mali. I want to look more into it but the rise of Asante in the early 18th century may evince a growing centralization in the wake of the local trade opportunities (not just with Europeans) introduced in the region as they began trading gold for horses, cloth, slaves, etc (by 1744 they were even receiving tribute from Gonja). No doubt that the cavalry tradition in Asante was passed down from the Malian tradition. Islam, while never catching on was introduced into the Asante courts via the same process. Through this proxy the Asante may have also already known about firearms as they are mentioned in the earliest chronicles from Gonja, but I doubt that any Gonja imports were used in warfare.
posted
According to Thornton the Asante were primarily infantry but managed to hold their own against cavalry forces, including GOnja and various Muslim opponents. In early engagements the Asante were unimpressive, but their fighting traditions and unit discipline sometimes extricated them from difficult situatons. In one battle, the Asante were surrounded but their musketry frightned the horses of their cavalry opponents and thus were able to withdraw from a dangerous situation in good order. As time went on, they saw more success. As you say there is some limited evidence of the Asante adopting horses, but such units were usually relative ineffective or small per Thornton. The Asante road network was praised by contemporary outside observers but their messenger service did not seem to use horses extensively to take advantage of the "great road" system.
Brada's picture plus data by Thornton, makes claims by various authors like Iliffe below, that the Asante never used cavalry misleading. This would be an example would show how ES threads cross checks historians and writers as to accuracy and concepts. Indeed, ES can be more accurate.
"Asante never used cavalry, even in the savanna, but relied on the flintlock muskets that every man was expected to own"
--John Iliffe 2005, Honor in African History
Haven't found many detailed examples of Asante versus cavalry as yet.
-------------------- Note: I am not an "Egyptologist" as claimed by some still bitter, defeated, trolls creating fake profiles and posts elsewhere. Hapless losers, you still fail. My output of hard data debunking racist nonsense has actually INCREASED since you began.. Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by zarahan- aka Enrique Cardova: I cannot think of any polities where cav outnumbered infantry, but perhaps some of the Mossi polities, if small enough groupings, might fit the bill. I am not too clear on the Mossi. How large were they and how organized? It is documented that they conducted extensive raiding type warfare against foot soldier peoples for slaves and other purposes.
Outside of the little that Williams wrote and the fact that Mossi once freely pillaged Timbuktu I know little of them. I think their cavalry numbered up to 5000 horsemen. Here are two etchings in Watts 1992 pamphlet 100,000 Horsemen of West Africa.
Mossi Prince Bukhari(?) with his escort (Burkina Fasso 1886)
Mossi horsemen in slave raid (Burkina Faso 1886)
I guess the below excerpts from Kibibi Mack-Williams is as good a simple intro to Mossi as any and it shows the horse is even at their Burkinabe origin.
BTW I find the series -- The Heritage Library of African Peoples -- a decent enough set of little books on African ethnic groups for little readers (our kids but watch out when an author is writing about his own ethny's "rival").
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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Speaking of African cavalry, some Indian rulers in the 1800s like one in the Raja of Wanaparthy organized two regiments from Somalia and Abyssinia- one detailed as an official Bodyguard and the other as field units- known as the Wanaparthy Lancers. The African cavalry was later renamed the Golconda Lancers. The BRitish reportedly were disturbed in 1905 when the black cavalry men showed up for an official ceremony armed with loaded carbines. from: the African dispersal in the Decan by S. S. ALi
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Speaking of African cavalry, in India, in 1236 an Abyssinian named Jalal-ud-din Yakut served in the important imperial post of master of the royal stable, an honor conferred by the Delhi sultana Raziya. In India, where Africans were known for their equestrian skills and their ability to tame wild horses, they served in the cavalry, unlike in the Middle East, where they were limited to service in the infantry. Yakut, a skilled soldier and horseman, was also a political ally of Raziya during her fight for control of the throne. Raziya's father, the Turkish ruler Iltutmish, who had conquered much of northern India, had named her as his successor, but Raziya's brother opposed her. She ruled for four years, before both she and Yakut were killed—on the run and in battle.
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Elswwherein India, in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, African soldiers called Chaush (derived from Ottoman military nomenclature) served in the army and cavalry of the Nizam-ul-Mulk (the title of the sovereign of the state). From at least the mid-19th century through 1948, various Nizams kept 300 soldiers serving as their personal guards stationed in a compound in Hyderabad. These Africans, from diverse origins, were organized into two regiments, the African Bodyguard and the African Cavalry Guard. The last surviving guardsman, Feroz bins Abdullah, interviewed at the turn of the 21st century, believed his father came from Zanzibar.
In addition to parading and performing military music as a show of force to assert the authority of the Nizam, the African soldiers also performed their own music for the court, which included drumming, dancing and singing. These regiments were disbanded after India's independence in 1947. The soldiers' descendants continue to live in the "AC Guards District" of Hyderabad. While their exact African origins are unknown, the Chaush of Somali background can recount their genealogies. Some descendants remember their parents greeting friends in Swahili—the lingua franca for many of the Africans taken out of East Africa.
The cavalries above were recruited from East Africa. I wonder about their appearance or that of Sudanics, in other places in the Mediterranean or Middle East. WHat is the story on the Moorish cavalries? Would they have a place here- i.e. were such deployed as part of the Moor spearhead into Spain and Portugal?
-------------------- Note: I am not an "Egyptologist" as claimed by some still bitter, defeated, trolls creating fake profiles and posts elsewhere. Hapless losers, you still fail. My output of hard data debunking racist nonsense has actually INCREASED since you began.. Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
Well Tariq ibn Ziyad is reported to have had Senegalese horsemen in his invasion of Iberia one reportedly killed king Rodriguez,and lets not forget the Almoravid centuries later started out on the banks of the Senegal,I know that there is a detail description somewhere of how they were uniformed,and rode black steeds in red trappings,problem is I can't remember the work.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
Something curious I can't help but notice that these Mossi horsemen are also face mufflers like the Tuareg.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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