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African History
African
Kingdoms
1. Ghana
2. Mali
-Origins of Mali
-Government and Law
-Mansa's Cabinet
-Provincial Government
-Division of Labor
-Role of the Mansa
-Law
-Economy and Trade
-Scholaryly Nature of Mali
-Military
-Morality
-Fall of Mali
3. Songhay
4. Kongo
5. Zimbabwe
6. Swahili
7. Bornu
8. Benin
9. Ethiopia in the Middle Ages
10. Ancient Nubia
11. Ancient Aksum
Ancient and
Medieval Attitudes:
12. Black and White Morality
13. Black and White Intelligence
14. Blacks in Greece and Rome
15. Power and Origins of Blacks
16. African Architecutre
17. Wealth: Africa and Europe
18. Philosophy: Africa and Europe
19. Rise of Africa and Europe
20. Was Egyptian Culture African
21. Fall of Africa
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Mali
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"Among the kingdoms of
the rulers of the world, only Syria is more beautiful. Its
inhabitants are rich and live comfortably."1
~Mahmud Ka'ti, medieval Syrian scholar on Mali
"…the Negroes (of Mali)
are of all peoples those who most abhor injustice…Complete and
general safety one enjoys throughout the land."
~Ibn Battuta, 14th century Arab who traveled to China, India,
the Swahili Coast of Africa, North Africa, the Mid East,
and finally West Africa2
"European travelers
in the sixteenth century were impressed with the African kingdoms of Timbuktu and Mali, already stable and
organized at a time when European states were just beginning to develop
into the modern nation."3
~Howard Zinn, famous modern day historian best known for his People's
History of the United States
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Origins of Mali
Mali
was a Kingdom founded in 1213 by Mansa Allakoi Keita. (Mansa is the
equivalent of King or Sultan or Pharaoh) Twenty-five years later Mansa
Allakio Keita's successor, Sundiata, rallied his countrymen and
overthrew their oppressive rulers, the Sosso--another black West
African people. Through military conquests and alliances Sundiata
expanded Mali
and formed the foundations of its constitution and government. A century
later Mali
was as large as W. Europel4
(2nd in size only to Genghis Kahn's empire) with 40-50 million people within its
domain.5
It may have been the wealthiest kingdom in the world.
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Government
and Law
Renowned professor D.T. Niane of Guinea explained that,
"Sundiata surrounded himself with black scholars," who helped
craft a complex and efficient government that was later fine-tuned and
expanded by his successors.6
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Mansa's
Cabinet
Sundiata formed a cabinet that resembles most modern countries. Members
of the cabinet included: Master of Foreign Affairs, Master of Fishery,
Master of the Forest, Master of Agriculture, Master of the Treasury,
Master of Commerce, the Sanitation Commissioner, the Head Inspector of
Mali, the Lieutenant Governor--who was second in command, and the
Griot--whose functions included spokesman for the king, tutor to the
princes, historian, among other tasks.7
Each department-head had many lower ranking officials. These
subordinate officials gathered information and reported it back to the
cabinet while the Mansa was present.
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Provincial Government
Sundiata split his country into 16 clans, appointing each clan a
military governor. Following Sundiata's reign Mali
became a provincial government where most of the governors were chosen
by their popularity with their people, usually the most powerful Chief
of the region.8
At Mali's
height the kingdom contained 12 provinces,9
and had 24 kingdoms or chiefdoms pledging allegiance.10
The provinces were essentially a microcosm of the central government.
They were subdivided into cities, villages, and clans.11
The Mansa or the governor appointed mayors to the cities and villages.12
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Division of Labor
Sundiata set forth with a massive division of labor: one author wrote
that Sundiata, "divided up the world."13
Sundiata divided the rights and duties of each clan, ordering them to
focus on a certain craft, such as metal working, weaving, shoemaking
(leather and skins), herding, fishing, and alike--each town, village, and city nevertheless still needed
their own craftsmen, woodcarvers, silversmiths, goldsmiths,
coppersmiths, blacksmiths, weavers, tanners, dyers, ect.14
Four clans were created to specialize in certain areas; these
specialists were shoemakers, griots, and different smiths (iron and
gold for instance).15
The division had been loosely established during the kingdom of Ghana,
yet under the Ghanaian system any individual could freely choose their
profession; Sundiata though codified the clans' crafts in order to make
them hereditary--son learning from father; this was especially the case
in the four specialized clans.16
The clans, in essence, were guilds that had a representative, (the
appointed leader), on a council that met with the Mansa.17
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Role of the Mansa
The four main roles of the Mansa were to: 1) appoint government
officials 2) lead the cavalry--the most elite unit in the military 3)
maintain a spiritual equilibrium with the heavens; Mansas were know to
apathetically perform ceremonial traditions for political purposes, and
4) dispense justice-considered his most important duty.
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Law
As recorded by 14th century world traveler Ibn Battuta
Malian law had an appeals system where the Mansa was the highest court
in the land.18
At court proceedings oversaw by the Mansa secretaries jot down notes.19
Justice was extremely important to the people of Mali.
Ibn Battuta, who had journeyed through the Mid-East, East Africa, China, and India,
noted that the most admirable quality of the people of Mali
was "The small number of acts of injustice that one finds there,
for the Negroes are of all peoples those who most abhor injustice…Complete
and general safety one enjoys throughout the land."20
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Economy and Trade
"Mali and
Songhay (Mali's
successor of the region) organized a careful system of controlling
exports and taxing imports."21
~J. Devisse and S. Labib
"Mali….(was)
the largest producer of precious metals in the ancient world."22
~D.T. Niane, The famous Senegal
historian of the Mandingo culture
The government played a
large role in the economy.23
They set quotas for farmers, fishermen, metal workers, lumberjacks,
carpenters, and textile companies among others.24
The regulations and incentives on foreign and interstate trade were
successful; Mali
rarely experienced food shortages, and foreigners were provided with
free food throughout the kingdom--which was also a clever way to
attract foreign business.25
As recorded by Mahmud Ka'ti, a medieval Muslim scholar: "Its
inhabitants are rich and live comfortably."26
Salt, copper, and gold
were Mali's
main sources of trade. The first coins in Europe since the fall of Rome were actually smelted from Mali
gold.27
Because of Mansa Musa's
famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324--which made a considerable and
calculated impression in the mind's of foreign merchants--Mali was
quickly recognized as one of the world's greatest, if not the greatest,
economic power; Egypt, Maghrib (North African Kingdoms), Portugal, and
the trading cities of Italy became very interested in Mali.28
Merchants from those areas flooded into Mali and the Mansa
accumulated large tax revenues that he imposed in diverse ways.29
In 1375, 38 years after the death of Mansa Musa, an Atlas of Africa was
drawn for King Charles V of France. The atlas has a
large picture of a black king sitting on his throne in royal attire; he
holds a giant gold nugget in one hand, a golden scepter in the other.
The map reads, "This Negro lord is called Mousse Melly (Musa of
Mali), Lord of the Negroes….So abundant is the gold which is found
in his country that he is the richest and most noble king of all the
land."30
Agriculture flourished.
Farmers grew a variety of food using slash-and-burn techniques: this is
where fields are burnt to clear them of tree stumps, grass, and bushes.
Malians raised cattle, sheep, poultry and goats; they hunted
hippopotamus, wild buffalo, elephant and crocodile with poisoned
arrows.31
Along with the expansion
of foreign trade Mali
industry expanded and prospered. "Every large city or middle-sized
village," Chu and Skinner wrote,
"had its own craftsmen, woodcarvers, silversmiths, goldsmiths,
coppersmiths, blacksmiths, weavers, tanners, and dyers."32
Foreigners were amazed at the number of Malian homes lit by candles,
which were atypical in those times. Chu and Skinner wrote,
"Almost daily the city served as a setting for magnificent
ceremonies and pageants." 33
"European travelers
in the sixteenth century," noted the famous historian Howard Zinn,
"were impressed with the African kingdoms of Timbuktu
and Mali,
already stable and organized at a time when European states were just
beginning to develop into the modern nation."34
Top
Scholarly Nature of Mali
"In the Sudan
the large volume of trade led to a rapid social development and a new
social class of black merchants and scholars emerged."35
-D.T. Niane, The famous Senegal
historian of the Mandingo culture
By the dawn of the 1st
millennium Mali
had a small literate culture.36
Malians used the Arabic written script, which they had borrowed from
North Africa, just as Western Europeans and Northern Europeans used
Latin that they had learned from Italy. By the mid 14th
century--thanks to Mansa Musa--Mali had become a nation
filled with libraries, schools, and universities.37
In Timbuktu
alone, the medieval Syrian scholar Mahmud Kati reordered, there were
150 to 180 schools.38
The university in Timbuktu--perhaps the
most famous university of the time--attracted Muslim scholars from N.
Africa, the Mid-East, Europe, and other parts of sub-Sahara Africa.39
The famed 16th
century Arab historian and traveler Leo Africanus recorded: "In Timbuktu there are numerous judges, doctors, and
clerics, all receiving good salaries from the Mansa…There is a big
demand for books and manuscripts imported from Barbary.
More profit is made from the
book trade than from any other line of business."40
Abderranman es Sadi, a 16th
and 17th West African historian and biographer born in Timbuktu, wrote that Abderrahman-El-Teminin, an
Arab who returned to Mali
with Mansa Musa, "…settled in Timbuktu and found this city full of
Sudanese (black West Africans) legal experts. As soon as he realized
that they knew more than he in legal matters, he left for Fez, devoted himself to the study of the law
there, and then returned again to Timbuktu
to settle here."41
Even more impressive was
the city of Jenne located about
300 miles south of Timbuktu along the Niger River. Jenne had an intellectual culture
arguably greater than Timbuktu
and moreover their doctors performed advanced surgical operations, such
as removing cataracts from the eyes.42
In 1655, al-Sa'di, a local
scholar who had worked in Jenne for ten years, wrote: "This city
is large, flourishing and prosperous; it is rich, blessed and favoured by
the Almighty…Jenne is one of the great markets of the Muslim
world…Because of this blessed city, caravans flock to Timbuktu from all
points of the horizon…The area around Jenne is fertile and well
populated; with numerous markets held there on all the days of the
week. It is certain that it contains 7077 villages very near to one
another."43
The renowned West African
historian, E.W. Bovill, called that a "convincing tribute"
because al-Sa'di was "intensely jealous of the reputation of his
own city of Timbuktu,
of which Jenne was a rival in both trade and culture."44
Jenne was actually very
hostile towards Islamic culture and tradition. Unfortunately, due to a
15th century drought, three-quarters of the city was
abandoned.
The capitol of Mali,
Niani, (population 100,000) located 300 miles southwest of Jenne and
600 miles south of Timbuktu, and the capitol of Songhai, Gao,
(population 100,000), and 200 miles east of Timbuktu were also
prominent centers of learning in the time of Mali's preeminence.
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Military
Mali
had 100,00 soldiers, including a 10,000 soldier cavalry unit; the
cavalry was headed by the Mansa and considered the elite unit in the
military. The soldiers were armed with sabers (sword with a curved
blade), lances, bows and arrows, long spears, and skin shields. Unlike
most societies Mali had no slave battalions, and did not institute one
until they began to decline.
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Morality
Ibn Battuta wrote:
"These Negroes are seldom unjust, and have a greater abhorrence of
injustice than any other people. Their sultan shows no mercy to anyone
who is guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in the
country. Neither traveler nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear
from robbers or men of violence. They do not confiscate the property of
any white (Arab) man who dies in their country, even if it be uncounted
wealth. On the contrary, they give it into the charge of some
trustworthy person among the whites (Arabs), until the rightful heir
takes possession of it."45
He also recorded that,
"Woman were shown more respect than men."46
Top
Fall
of Mali
Following the death of Mansa Musa II in 1387 there was an internal
struggle within the royal family. The senior branch of the family
(Sundiata's direct descendants) attempted to regain the throne from the
Junior branch (Descendants of Sundiatas brother, whom the Musa family
belonged) Two Mansa's were executed in three years. The struggle
weakened Mali's
central authority and in 1433 the Tuareg captured the cities of Timbuktu, Walata,
Nema, and possibly Gao. The Portuguese began to give the small coastal
cities in West Africa trading
advantages over the central government so that the coastal cities could
gain enough power to break from Mail's central control, and thus
increase competition, which would subsequently lower prices. The
fragmentation deprived the kingdom of valuable recourses and revenue.
By 1490 the nomadic Fulani made the gold trade too perilous: Merchants
were forced to take alternative routs, which took extra months; the
increased expense dissuaded most from making the trip. The final blow
came from their former province, Songhay, led by their savvy pagan military
ruler Sonni Ali. Sunni Ali took Timbuktu
from the Tuareg, driving them north; he even took the once
unconquerable Jenne. By the 17th century, the areas not
taken by Songhay split into 3 kingdoms: the Salum, Wuli, and Cantor.47
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1Africa
from the twelfth to the sixteenth century/ editor, D.T. Niane (London; Heinemann
Educational Books; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 156
2African
Kingdoms Page Davidson, Basil. African Kingdoms. New York: Time, inc., 1966, 82
3Zinn,
Howard. A People's History of the united states: 1492-Present. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers Inc., 1999, 182
4Davidson,
Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little
Brown, 1959, 91
5Africa
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Heinemann Educational Books; Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984), 156
6Africa
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Heinemann Educational Books; Berkeley: University of California Press,
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7IV,
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8Chu,
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10Chu,
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11Africa
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1984), 161
12Chu,
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City, New York:
Doubleday, 1965, 67
13Africa
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Heinemann Educational Books; Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984), 134
14Chu,
Daniel and Skinner, Elliot. A Glorious Age in Africa, 1st ed. Garden
City, New York:
Doubleday, 1965, 69
15Africa
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16Africa
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27Bovil,
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29Chu,
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30Chu,
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City, New York:
Doubleday, 1965, 66
31Chu,
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City, New York:
Doubleday, 1965, 69
32Chu,
Daniel and Skinner, Elliot. A Glorious Age in Africa, 1st ed. Garden
City, New York:
Doubleday, 1965, 69
33Chu,
Daniel and Skinner, Elliot. A Glorious Age in Africa, 1st ed. Garden
City, New York:
Doubleday, 1965, 74
34Zinn,
Howard. A People's History of the united states: 1492-Present. New York:
HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1999, 182
35Africa
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Heinemann Educational Books; Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984), 674
36Davidson,
Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little
Brown, 1959, 92
37Davidson,
Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little
Brown, 1959, 93
38Diop,
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Lawrence Hill Books, 1987, 177
39Olsen,
37
40Davidson,
Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little
Brown, 1959, 93
41Diop,
Cheikh Anta. Precolonial Black Africa. Brooklyn, N.Y.:
Lawrence Hill Books, 1987, 182
42VanSertima,
Ivan. They Came Before Columbus.
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43Connah,
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England, 1998, 97
44Connah,
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England, 1998, 98
45Davidson,
Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little
Brown, 1959, 79
46Davidson,
Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little
Brown, 1959, 82
47Africa
from the twelfth to the sixteenth century/ editor, D.T. Niane (London;
Heinemann Educational Books; Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984), 184
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