Brief Look at a Few West African Kingdoms

[Fenix]

I've been meaning to do this for a long time. Anyway, a few notes on Ghana, Mali and Songhay from From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr. Hopefully these will be expanded as I get more time to organize them. Let's start with Ghana.

The Classical West African Kingdom of Ghana sprang up about 500 miles from what we now know as Ghana. The kingdom was also known by the name of its capital city, Kumbi Saleh. Ghana's written history extends back to the 7th century but evidence exists that suggests the kingdom's political, social and cultural institutions extends to the very early Common Era.

Ghana began as an unbounded collection of settlements. The people of the early Ghanaian kingdom were skilled farmers but the area was often plagued by droughts which eventually led to the desert being extended into their farmlands. As such, a booming trade economy grew out of Kumbi Saleh which soon became an important commercial city during the Middle Ages.

As the influence of Islam spread, Ghanaians adapted and by the early tenth century there was a Muslim area in Kumbi Saleh and people across the kingdom began to gradually accept Islam. With the spread of Islam, Ghana's power grew and so did the kingdom's prosperity. By the eleventh century the king of Ghana had adopted Islam and Ghana's army had grown. Trade routes extended across the desert, bringing wheat, sugar and fruit from Muslim countries along with textiles, brass, pearls and salt in exchange for Ghanaian ivory and gold.

With the rule of the Sisse Dynasty, Ghana reached the apex of its influence. Beginning in 1062 Tenkamenin took over as ruler of the prosperous kingdom. Tenkamenin headed a religion based on the belief that every object contained good and evil spirits which must be satiated to ensure the continuing prosperity of the people of Ghana and of the kingdom itself.

In 1076, the Almoravids, a band of Muslims, invaded and seized the capital of Ghana, bringing the city under its religion and rule. The invasion caused strife across the kingdom and soon droughts diminished the flourishing economy. Under these circumstances, Ghana weakened and fell to wave after wave of conquerors in the 12th and 13th centuries, leading to the kingdom's ultimate destruction.

Next: Mali.

[Fenix]

Another kingdom emerged from the shadows as Ghana began its decline. Mali (aka Melle) has a rich and extensive history that extends to the beginning of the seventh century. It wasn't until the eleventh century that Mali grew in significance and when the mansas (kings) of Mali began to spread their influence and the year 1235 marks the beginning of the organized kingdom.

Mali's legendary Mansa Sundiata Keita was largely responsible for consolidating and strengthening the kingdom. It was in 1240 that Sundiata Keita defeated the Soso and destroyed Ghana's capital.

Another member of the Keita Dynasty, Gonga-Musa (Mansa-Musa) ruled from 1312 until 1337, and took the kingdom of Mali to all new heights. His kingdom included much of what we know as "francophone" Africa. Under the rule of Gonga-Musa, Malian people were encouraged to engage in various crafts and mining in addition to agriculture.

When Gonga-Musa passed away in 1337, Mali was easily one of the most powerful and well organized political states of the period. Under Gonga-Musa and the successor to his throne, Suleiman, Mali boasted a flourishing economy, well established schools, booming international trade relations (mostly with Muslim nations) and a stable nation that spanned from the Atlantic Coast to Lake Chad. With Islam as the state religion, Mali developed international ties that helped its tremendous growth.

It was not until the 15th century that Mali began to decline under attacks from Songhay and the Mossi but continued to exist as a small, semi-independent state.

from From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr.

Next: Songhay

[Fenix]

Just to offer a visual view of the kingdoms and civilizations...



Source

[Fenix]

The origin of Songhay can be traced to the 18th century. Unstable and small, Songhay fell under the influence of Mali. By the 15th century, Songhay began to chip away at the power of Mali. Rising to great heights under the rule of Sonni Ali (1464-1492) by 1355 Songhay flexed its muscles and completely asserted its own sovereignty.

When Sonni Ali took the throne, most of West Africa was ripe for conquest; Mali was on the decline and the smaller states had not the resources or the necessary leadership to dominate the region. By 1469 Sonni Ali had taken over Timbuktu, Jenne, and other major cities. Soon after these conquests, he successfully attacked Mali.

Sonni Ali was met with much resistance because of his hesitance or unwillingness to embrace Islam. He spent most of his reign fighting to keep his power. At the time of his death in 1492, he had successfully turned Songhay into the dominant kingdom in West Africa.

In 1493, General Askia Mohammed overthrew the dynasty of Sonni Ali and took control of the Songhay Empire. He would come to be known as the kingdom's most brilliant ruler. From 1493 to 1529 Askia Mohammed dedicated himself to increasing the prosperity of his people, strengthening his empire and encouraging education.

Askia Mohammed, throughout his reign, established schools all over the kingdom, creating intellectual centers in Gao, Walata, Timbuktu and Jenne. It was there where West African scholars were in high number and there that people from Asia and Europe came to study. Scholars including El-Akit and Bagayogo were educated at Timbuktu, a distinctly Sudanese literature began to emerge and the University of Sankore educated young Africans.

Civil war, massacres and unsuccessful military expeditions followed when Askia was dethroned by his eldest son. The empire began to crumble under increased pressure from the Moors who viewed the area and its resources covetously. With the help of Spanish renegades, Moroccans overthrew the Songhay empire and began their brief rule in Timbuktu.

from From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr.

[Sourakhata]

Asante Sana Fenix..! Your updates on West Afrikan Kingdoms are short but accurate.
Through those Kingdoms one can see that Islam has been playing an important part in the lives of our ancestors for a very long period of time.
I look forward to read the one on the Puulaar/Fulani Kingdom under Shaykh El Haddj Umar Tall, or even Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodiyo.

[Fenix]

I actually need a little help with this one. My research is thin to say the least. If anyone can point me to any books, articles or websites, I'd be extremely grateful!

What I do know, from Basil Davidson's The Lost Cities of Africa is that the Sao settled in the areas around Lake Chad. Some sources trace the origin of the Sao civilization to the 8th century and others to the 5th. Similarly, some sources mark the decline of the Sao civilization at the 10th century while others claim it lasted well into the 15th century.



There the Sao constructed towns, elevated women to positions of influence in the government, developed complicated burial rituals, fashioned extravagant pottery, "cult figures", toys and animals from clay and worked with bronze. The bronze work was similar to that which we would see in Benin later.

The mode of life of the Sao seems to be a mixture of Eastern and Western African traditions. Davidson says that The Sao are to Kush as Kush is to Egypt. That's a very dense statement that I will have to attempt to parse out later.

Perhaps due to the advanced society built by the Sao, early historians attempted to identify them as descendants of the Hyskos but there is evidence to suggest that the Sao originated from an area just north of Lake Chad and were in fact African ("Black" African, whatever that might mean). Legend refers to them as giants, and perhaps that is based in truth and the Sao were "Nilotic" as people of that classification were (and are still) unusually tall.

I know this post was a bit disjointed. Any additional info would be appreciated. Hopefully I will be able to get it polished in the coming weeks.

[Elisa Keisha]

Fenix, thank you sooo much!! ASANTE SANA! This are fantastic briefs. You are giving enough info to get a global (and chronological) idea, and helping a further search for those interested. Like now, i can research myself about some of the kings you mentioned, the universities, etc. This is great! Please keep them coming.

Thats interesting the Sao were reffered as giants, it sures make sense that they were Nilotic people.

On a different note, the past week in my Islamology class, the teacher was talking about Al-Andalus times (Muslim name for Spain) She said its inhabitants (that were mostly bereber and iberic, but always tried to deny their roots saying they were arabic = descendents of The Prophet) once needed help to get rid of i dont remember which non-muslim force, and therefore called the Moors from southers Afrikan kingdoms (probably Ghana or Mali, cause we are talking about the 11th century), who had a very strong army and were known for defending Islam.
She (my teacher) also explained how al-andalus people were afraid of calling and welcoming Black people that will pervert their suppossed arabic "royal" (that in reality WAS NOT) blood. She mentioned a book that tells the story but i havent searched it yet.

[Sourakhata]

Don't worry Sistren, your article is helpful & very instructive, as a matter of fact i did not know about the Sao Civilisation at all.
It's up to us to make some further research if we are interested. How can it be otherwise?
A lost civilisation of unusually tall afrikan warriors, wow!!

Wikipedia's article is not too bad.

"A. Masson-Détourbet suggest that the civilisation may have been the link between the advanced civilisations of the Nile and the Niger rivers."
I found that extremely interesting.

Sao civilisation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I found another article which seems to be quite thorough but i just briefly read it.

"The Emergence of social complexity in the southern Chad Basin towards 500 BC: Archaeological and other evidence"

"Everywhere in the former Borno Empire, the most prominent pre-Islamic
inhabitants are called Sâo, Sâu, Sô or Sôo. They are said to having been giants
who built large buildings and produced high, thick-walled clay pots. Hence
Kanuri consider them town builders and producers of much larger containers
than in use nowadays. In Kawar and southern Fezzan they are thought to
have been the builders of mighty castles.53 The Kotoko likewise ascribe to
them the imposing clay architecture, the former town walls, and the large clay
pots that served as storage and burial containers.54 We are apparently faced
here with old and relatively precise traditions common to Kanuri and Kotoko,
which refer to craftsmen no longer in existence.

The Sao were not at all the autochthonous inhabitants of the Borno Empire as
is often assumed.55 Various traditions confer to them a far-away place of origin
comparable to the Yemenite provenance of the Sefuwa. Among the Kanuri of
Kawar (Bilma) it is said that they were descendants of Noumouroudou Kinana
(Nimrod Canaan), a Biblical figure also known elsewhere in the Central
Sudan.56 During their immigration from their home region – probably Canaan
– they are said to have followed a route via the Nile Valley in the east or a
route passing through North Africa.57 Only among the Kanuri of the
Komadugu Yobe region might a local origin of the Sao initially be considered to
be correct. This opinion, however, results from the contrast between the
Sefuwa immigrants from Kanem and the local people. It only corresponds to
the traditions of the ruling dynasty and not to - so far unknown - traditions of
the local population.58 Further to the north the legends of the Saharan Kanuri
clearly indicate an early connection with Canaan.
According to older Kotoko traditions, the Sao originated from Syria or Palestine
in the Near East.59 Informants of the colonial period trace the origin of the Sao
to northern towns with stone walls and mention the crossing of a desert. They
furthermore explain certain customs by reference to the behaviour of their
ancestors who lived in far-away towns abandoned by them at the edge of the
sea. In particular they refer to ancestral Sao who inhabited a coastal town of
the bahr N’Gouloufoun (bahr, Arab. ‘sea’) on the other side of the desert.60
Other traditions connect the Near Eastern origin of the Sao with a pair of
twins of a woman from Jerusalem. Her descendants, the Sao, are said to have
inhabited the dark island of Goulefou which was located in a black sea without
sunlight, illuminated only by shining metal, the “living gold”.61 Traditions
published by anthropologists in post-colonial times distinguish between
hunters with spears, hunters with bow and arrows, and fishermen. The
hunters are believed to have originally lived in Kanem or further north or
northeast. The fishermen are said to have come from the north, from Lake
Fitri, and from the region of River Benue.62 Neither general Kotoko traditions
nor those of the individual city-states support the idea of a purely local origin.
Even behind the place names Kanem and Fitri, which prevail in the more
recent accounts, one may suspect the previously mentioned relations with North Africa and beyond. The legendary locality N’Gouloufoun or Goulefou, at
the sea shore or on a small island, might have been a coastal town at the edge
of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It may hypothetically be identified with
either the harbour town Byblos, called Gubla in Phoenician and
Jubayl/Gubayl in Arabic, or Tyros situated on a small island in the see.63 Both
towns were located amidst a region which during the neo-Assyrian period
received large numbers of deportees from Mesopotamia.64
In addition, among the Kotoko circulate stories with strange biblical
connotations. According to one narrative, the Sao had left their home at a
“black river” close to the Red Sea after the destruction of their harvest by the
Deluge.65 Following another story, the Sao boarded Noah’s Arc and left it at
Moussoro, east of Lake Chad. It is also said that Noah saw, from the mountain
Hadjer al-Khamis, his people in a pirogue on Lake Chad. On attempting to
reach them, he fell into the water and the pirogue capsized. After this the Sao
emerged from the fertile mud of Lake Chad – out of Noah’s body? The
ancestry of the Sao is sometimes traced back to Iwètche, son of Anak
(Henoch), son of Sita (Set), son of Adam and Eve.67 This tradition may be
compared with the genealogy of the Sefuwa kings of Kanem-Borno transmitted
by the D3w1n, which has with one exception all the names of the Biblical
patriarchs from Abraham to Adam.68 The suspicion of a loan from Islamic
written material can be shown to be unfounded in the case of the D3w1n since
some of its biblical names have more authentic forms than those transmitted
by Arab authors.69 Although the biblical stories of Kotoko oral traditions
likewise have an authentic flavour because of their closeness to oriental
mythology, Islamic feedback can in this case not be formally excluded. With
respect to these biblical elements, note should also be taken of the Israelite
impact on the early culture of Kanem-Borno as witnessed by the Mune-
Symbol, which Ibn Furt5 in the sixteenth century considered to be identical
with the Arc of the Covenant of King Saul.70
So far, it is unclear whether the Sao were strangers or simply ancestors of the present carriers of these traditions. They are mostly regarded as giants, able to
erect large buildings and to produce huge pots, but who rejected Islam. As
pagans, they stood in opposition to the Muslim people of Borno. Sometimes it
is purported that they had tried to trick the Yemenites (Kanuri) into death.
However, more frequent are traditions according to which the Kanuri tricked
the Sao without any previous enmity. In the region of the Komadugu Yobe and
in Kawar the story is told that the Kanuri overwhelmed the Sao in a
defenceless condition after they had beguiled them into letting their hands be
tied together in order to have them henna-dyed.71 According to these legends,
the Sao must have lived for some time side-by-side with the Kanuri before they
died out or were forcefully eliminated.72 Other narratives claim that the Sao
had disappeared already or moved to other places when the Kanuri arrived.73
It would appear that these stories are told by present-day people who prefer to
dissociate themselves from any Sao ancestry. This is the prevalent tendency
among all the Kanuri speakers. Only with respect to the Ngwma of southeastern
Borno do some informants suggest an earlier Sao identity.74 Also it
should be noted that modern researchers tend to press local traditions into
the mould of ethnical constructs. This is most apparent in the usage of the
ethnonyms Kanuri and Kotoko as opposed to the term Sao, a contrast which
local informants even today do not perceive in the same way.75
In the first quarter of the twentieth century people in various places insisted
on ethnic continuity between the Sao and themselves. It was then possible to
meet individuals who used the term with positive connotations. That was the
case with the majority of the inhabitants of Yau on the Komadugu Yobe who
called themselves specifically Sao-Ngissim (not Ngizim). The village head of
Yau considered his own father to be Sao and his mother Kangu. In Gumsai
Gagala close to Birni Gazargamo, the village head (lawan) and his
representative (bwlama) likewise claimed for themselves and fifty other persons
in the village Sao ancestry. In Monguno further south 150 Sao families were
recorded and the office bwlama was said to be reserved to the Sao.76 Here it
was even believed that the newcomers from Kanem in the area of Birni
Gazargamo speaking Arabic learnt the Kanuri language from local Sao.77
These statements would seem to refer to a section or a clan of the Bornoan society with handicraft specialisation akin to the Magumi Duguwa or the
Ngalaga likewise marginalised by the Sefuwa.78
Among the Kotoko the opinion of an original Sao identity was even more
prevalent. In particular, it was generally believed that all the pre-Islamic kings
of Kotoko towns were Sao while the people themselves had Sao ancestors.79
The common designation of formerly prestigious predecessors associated with
the birni complex can be taken in itself as important evidence of an ancient
cultural hegemony exercised by the Magumi – first the Duguwa, then the
Sefuwa – on the city-state societies of the firgi land. Among the Kanuri and the
Kotoko four factors led to a growing dissociation from the Sao: increasing
identification of the Sao with paganism, loss of craft skills connected with pre-Islamic practices and rituals,80 association of the Sao with people of unusual gigantic size, and preference for clan names not bearing negative connotations.
Attention should further be drawn to the prominence of an individual Sao in
the traditions of central Borno. Arriving in the region of their future Bornoan
capital, the Sefuwa are said to have first met So Dala Gumami, an individual
who was the mai, “king”, of the Sao or just their leader. He is the one who
interacted with the newcomers and built Birni Gazargamo for them, not the
Sao people in general. When after some time of cohabitation, war broke out
two different sets of traditions refer to the consequences. In the area of Birni
Gazargamo it is believed that the Sefuwa exterminated the Sao only sparing
their friend So Dala Gumami who left for Kano.81 In Yau, 120 km to the east,
people have a different opinion on the outcome of the war. Dala Gumami
having already died, his son Duna is supposed to have been slain by the
Sefuwa. But subsequently the women united and killed the Sefuwa king in
turn.82 This victory and the subsequent survival of the Sao explain why the
inhabitants of Yau could still recently claim to be of Sao origin.83
Sao traditions of Tedjerhe, the most northern Kanuri locality situated in southern Libya, ignore a people of that name and only deal with an individual
called Sôo. He is said to have been a giant who built not only the castle of
Tedjerhe but also those of Agram/Fachi und Brao/Djado in Niger and Traghen
in Libya.84 In Kawar people tell the story of an individual Sao who usually
travelled in half a day from Tedjerhé to Fachi but died in a well in southern
Libya.85 Going one step further, we note that according to the tradition of
Makari, the most important Kotoko town, the city was founded by a hero
called Ma Sougou, “king” Sougou, whose people were called Sougou or Sao.86 It
would therefore appear that certain traditions preserve the memory of a “king”
of the Sao, others of an individual Sao and still others of a fuller name
Sougou/S5g5.
In connection with an overall history of the Central Sudan it may be
worthwhile considering the possibility that the quasi ethnic label Sao is itself
an abbreviation of an originally more complete name such as Shango. Like in
Magumi > Maami elision may have reduced the name Shango/Sango to Sao:
Sango > Sago/Sugu > Sao. It should be noted that yangû itself was the
priestly name of Assyrian kings which is widespread in West Africa.87 In the
light of this etymology the previously noted marginal Sao traditions insisting
on royalty, individuality and the full name S5g5 may in fact reflect traces of an
older form of the Sao tradition focussed on an ancestral individual king called
Shango/ yangû.
Evidence for a survival of the Shango title among the Kotoko is provided by the
kinglist of Makari, the traditional centre of the Kotoko: In the seventh, eighth
and fifteenth position of the list it has the names Sungu dumu (Kot.: “Sungu
the strong”), Sungu yim2 (Akk.: yangû yanû “Shango, the second”) and Sungu
dal,.88 These names were formerly wrongly written as Sug Dumuh, Sug Smé
and Sug Dalé because they were solely rendered on the basis of a transcription
of their written Arabic form and not on account of their local pronunciation.89
In the list, they follow names of apparently Kassite and Assyrian origin which
are similar to those of other Central Sudanic kinglists. Furthermore, with respect to the importance of the Shango name for the Sao-Kotoko, it may be
noted that the founder of Gawi, the most eastern Kotoko town, is said to have
been Dongo, the slave of a Babaliya king.91 The slave status of a Shango city
founder of the Kotoko matches well with the subservient position of the Sao
vis-à-vis the Magumi – Duguwa and Sefuwa – ruling groups. It seems to reflect
a reversal of destiny of the Assyrian ruling elite owing to their defeat by the
Babylonian (Babaliya) army.92 Assyrian traditions are most strikingly
preserved in the former Kotoko town of Sangaya, a name apparently derived
from yangû, where the founding heroes are called Adimun and Adisun, two
names which figure in the Assyrian kinglist as Adamu and Adasi in the 2nd
and 47th position, the second being considered as a dynastic founder.93 South
of Lake Chad, certain political entities would appear to have perpetuated the
names and traditions inherited from their ancient Near Eastern forebears. In
Kanem-Borno as in other states of the Central Sudan, the name Shango – in
this case apparently shortened to Sao – could thus originally have referred to
the ancestral figure of an ancient Near Eastern group of refugees perpetuating
the tradition of Assyrian rulership. The supposition of a specifically
Mesopotamian connection of the Kotoko is further supported by the dragon
killing myth of Makari and the associated triadic structure of the town and of
the whole country.

Conclusion

Contrary to the theories of the colonial period claiming that the city culture of
the Sao-Kotoko is of Mediterranean or ancient Near Eastern origin, the
tendency prevails today to consider only local factors for the emergence of sub-
Saharan cultures. This approach, rooted in the post-colonial paradigm, has
undoubtedly contributed to the decolonisation of African history. Its continued
pre-eminence in African historical research is likely to be an obstacle for
further progress in the attempt to throw light on the period most relevant for
the emergence of social complexity.
Admittedly, the absence of North African importation items in the older layers
of settlement mounds south of Lake Chad has reinforced the impression of
purely local developments leading to the rise of the birni complex and the
state. However, non-archaeological evidence points to the likelihood that early
slave raiding inhibited normal trade relations and thus distorted considerably
the archaeological record. Therefore it would be one-sided and misleading to
base consideration concerning the early history of the firgi people solely on archaeological findings.
In spite of the noted shortcomings of the proposed historical reconstructions,
the results of archaeological research provide important evidence for the reevaluation
of the early history of the Central Sudan. By dating the first protourban
settlements to the middle of the first millennium BC and by revealing
manifold connections between urbanisation, agricultural and craft
innovations, archaeologists have highlighted new aspects of the beginning of
social complexity in West Africa. Nevertheless, climatic models should not be
considered in isolation from a number of possible political factors contributing
to the explanation of the sudden emergence of the birni complex south of Lake
Chad. First, the likelihood of a slightly earlier rise of the nucleus of the Kanem
Empire in the region north or northeast of Lake Chad. Second, the plausibility
of an ethnic contrast between the state builders of the north and the
inhabitants of the proto-urban settlements south of Lake Chad, as evidenced
by the linguistic distinction between Nilo-Saharan Kanuri and Chadic Kotoko.
Third, the probability that the Kotoko and a fortiori the Ngwma had adopted
major characteristics of the Kanem-Borno state and town culture associated
with the name Sao. Fourth, the possibility that the defeated inhabitants of the
marginal firgi lands of the west used in the mid-first century BC the central
firgi lands as a region of retreat, thus protecting themselves against further
slave-raids. Fifth, the expectation that defectors and interlopers supported the
process of cultural transfers including the transmission of the concept of the
birni, but excluding at first the spread of the militarily important technology of
iron production.
Apart from local aspects of history, any attempt at historical reconstruction
should take into consideration the inter-continental context. None of the sub-
Saharan societies of West Africa had the same favourable possibilities of
contacts with North Africa as the societies of the Lake Chad region. Major
innovations might thus have reached the Lake Chad region by groups of
refugees from the Near East shipping through the Mediterranean Sea, passing
by the coastal cities of Tripolitania and crossing the Sahara.95 Such a process
of direct cultural transfers would of course have more far-reaching effects than
the normally considered indirect transmission of innovations by way of the
Saharan Berbers.96
Neglect of these possibilities leads to the overemphasis of the post-colonial
paradigm and consequently increases the intellectual one-sidedness in spite of
the tremendously greater research potential of our time as compared with the
colonial period. In fact, cultural parallels between sub-Saharan Africa and
ancient Near Eastern societies are myriad, they only have to be looked for properly.97 In our time of globalisation it is of greater interest than ever before
to examine the question of a possible participation of the great Sudanic
empires, especially Kanem, in the history of the ancient world. "


http://dierklange.com/pdf/recent_art...complexity.pdf

[Fenix]

Sis Elisa, thank you for sharing that interesting story.

My hope was that this thread would encourage further rese