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OT: historical data from morocco
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Doug M: [QB] Just a note, those houses called "Nubian" are actually in Upper Egypt and therefore Egyptian. This is another example of how foreign terms for African people and culture only serves to distort the history and connections of people from Africa. The people around Aswan are Egyptians. Technically, Nubian is a term for Egyptians from the area between modern Naqada. Naqada was originally named Nubt, for gold, by the Egyptians. Thefore, this area is Nubia from an ancient Egyptian perspective. Hierankopolis is South of Nubt. So, if you put it in perspective you see that the modern distinction of what a Nubian is has nothing to do with the ancient Egyptian concept of Nubian, which had to do with gold, a shining one, revered ancestors and the people from the golden city and golden regions to the south. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/naqada.htm Another page on the cities of Africa and cultures of Africa as found by European explorers. Many of these cities have houses and the people dont all live in huts. Also shows some photos of the calvary that was widespread among African people in the Sahel and West Africa from prior to the medeival period right through to the 1800s. Much of this African cavalry tradition, along with the metal smith tradition made these African troops formiddable and was another reason of the success of African armies in Muslim Spain. http://www.the153club.org/barth1.html http://www.the153club.org/haardt2.html (note the derma cavalry) Stories about Hassi Inifel a fort in Southern Algeria where the French had a unit stationed (photo in pages on link above). Books by French authors offer insights to the Tuareg and Saharan history: http://manybooks.net/support/b/benoitp/benoitp1430114301-8.exp.html More photos of African cavalry from Mali and Niger. The cavalry tradition in Africa is one of the most colorful anywhere in the world, but unfortunately, like anything else, understudied in the West and almost unknown. http://www.geocities.com/jmayer_mac/mirriah.html Every year in Niger, Mali, Nigeria and elsewhere there are festivals featuring men in their traditional cavalry dress. These styles cross many groups including Hausa, Dogon, Kanem, Sokoto and others. A very expensive book on the topic for those who are so interested in such things: http://salempress.com/store/samples/weapons_and_warfare/weapons_and_warfare_westafrica.htm I like this part: [QUOTE] The kingdom of Mali eventually standardized its warriors’ battle regalia and uniforms, as did the kingdoms of Ghana, Songhai, and Benin. In addition, Malian rulers introduced the so-called Honor of the Trousers. According to the twelfth century Arab author al-4Umart (1301-1349), who chronicled the history of the Mali Empire, “Whenever a hero adds to the list of his exploits, the king gives him a pair of wide trousers, and the greater the number of a knight’s exploits, the bigger the size of trousers. These trousers are characterized by narrowness in the leg and ampleness in the seat.” Combat insignia and ethnic accoutrements were also characteristically donned by warriors, and the role of insignia, such as feathers inserted into headgear, was intended to signify rank and status within the battle formations. [b]Fifteenth century Bini swordsmen were depicted in brass castings wearing an elaborately standardized protective armor that included armored helmets, spiked collars and breastplates, massive curvilinear swords, and war-hammers.[/b] [/QUOTE]Now with all this military might, people might wonder why the Europeans were able to conquer West Africa. The answer is multiple. Some groups, like the Tuareg (Moors) were under attack on multilpe fronts by Arab armies. They also refused to use gunpowder weapons because of their cultural traditions and beliefs (to this day some Tuareg view guns as weapons of "treachery"). Their main tradition was horseback/camelback warfare with swords and javelins. In West Africa, the main problem was that many of the kingdoms were warring with each other and this weakened the militaries of these areas which made it easier to conquer. The Toucoleurs in particular are a good example of this, but this was late, occurring in the 1800s. But primarily the advent of Islamic slavery and wars between Islamic states and non Islamic states did much to damage the ability of Africans to resist European invasions. But even then, many colonial attempts to pacify West Africa met with stiff resistance in Dahomey and elsewhere. More on the cities and cultures of West Africa found by the Europeans: [QUOTE] Many centuries ago, at the time when Benin was called Igodomingodo, that geographical area now known as Benin, was the hob of a conglomeration of little towns that developed or spread into most of the areas of modern Bendel State. Throughout that period, lgodomingodo made steady progress especially in the areas of spiritual, philosophical and administrative development.[b] Its efforts were largely concentrated on the arrangement of human order so that by the time Europeans made contact with the people of Benin in the 15th century, they had already established an administrative system which, till this day, baffled the Europeans and earned for the Capital of this "far flung" African country, the appellation "City".[/b] The nucleus of this great civilization was the monarchy which the Binis perfected around the 18th century when, after a series of experimentation with the Ogiso, and some of the past-Ogiso Obas, they introduced a monarchical system that is based on the principle of primogeniture, beginning with Ewuakpe, about 1712 A. D. [/QUOTE] http://www.edofolks.com/html/hist.htm (These people were the one with the war hammers and cavalry mentioned in the previous link above) Note also that the Bini are a secret society in West Africa and this may have much to do with the traditions of cavalry and other customs not being widely known outside Africa. Another reason is that the Bini are part of the Edo and other cultures that produced the fine lost wax bronze casts we know today from Benin. Their civilization was largely destroyed by Europeans. links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0368-4016(191610)16%3A61%3C16%3ATOAOSS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4 http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/mind/mind19.htm While on the subject of secret societies and cavalry, the Oyo of Nigeria also had cavalry and they were responsible for attacks on the Nupe civilization (note:Nupe is another name for the African American fraternity that uses sticks when they step-an ancient African tradition, but they think they are Greek so anyway.....) [QUOTE] The Ife model of government was adapted at Oyo, where a member of its ruling dynasty consolidated several smaller citystates under his control. A council of state, the Oyo Mesi, eventually assumed responsibility for naming the alafin (king) from candidates proposed from the ruling dynasty and acted as a check on his authority. Oyo developed as a constitutional monarchy; actual government was in the hands of the basorun (prime minister), who presided over the Oyo Mesi. The city was situated 170 kilometers north of Ife, and about 100 kilometers north of present-day Oyo. Unlike the forest-bound Yoruba kingdoms, Oyo was in the savanna and drew its military strength from its cavalry forces, which established hegemony over the adjacent Nupe and the Borgu kingdoms and thereby developed trade routes farther to the north (see fig. 2). [/QUOTE] http://www.workmall.com/wfb2001/nigeria/nigeria_history_yoruba_kingdoms_and_benin.html Image of the region: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/nigeria/ng01_01a.pdf Another jstor article about the cavalries in West Africa: //links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8537(1975)16%3A1%3C1%3AAWACST%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L However, note also that there is a difference between the ancient traditions of warfare and cavalries among Africans from the times of the Moors, to the cavalries that came about through slave trading with Europeans. Indeed the two are linked, but there is a also a tradition of cavalry that came to West Africa from the East and peoples in the North as well. Much of it traces back to the trade routes across the Sahara and the cavalry traditions of Dongola in Sudan, which was widely known as a horse breeding center. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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