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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-indegenous-versus-foreign-origins
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Most of the largest states in pre-colonial Africa were made up of culturally heterogeneous communities that were [products of historical processes](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the?utm_source=publication-search) rather than ‘bounded tribes’ with fixed homelands.
The 19th-century kingdom of Adamawa represents one of the best case studies of a multi-ethnic polity in pre-colonial Africa, where centuries of interaction between different groups produced a veritable ethnic mosaic.
Established between the plains of the Benue River in eastern Nigeria and the highlands of Northern Cameroon, Adamawa was the largest state among the semi-autonomous provinces that made up the empire of Sokoto.
This article explores the social history of pre-colonial Adamawa through the interaction between the state and its multiple ethnic groups.
_**Map of 19th-century Adamawa and some of its main ethnic groups**_[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-1-167035963)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5MaD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7fce441c-4c73-4a4f-b9ae-67696177d157_1338x657.png)
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**Historical background: ethnogenesis and population movements in Fombina before the 19th century.**
At the close of the 18th century, the region between Eastern Nigeria and Northern Cameroon was inhabited by multiple population groups living in small polities with varying scales of political organization. Some constituted themselves into chiefdoms that were territorially extensive, such as the Batta, Mbuom/Mbum, Tikar, Tchamba, and Kilba, while others were lineage-based societies such as the Vere/Pere, Marghi, and Mbula.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-2-167035963)
The Benue River Valley was mostly settled by the Batta/Bwatiye, who formed some of the most powerful polities before the 19th century as far north as the borders of Bornu and Mandara. According to the German explorer Heinrich Barth, who visited Adamawa in 1851, _**“it is their language**_[Batta]_**that the river has received the name Be-noë , or Be-nuwe, meaning ‘the Mother of Waters.’”**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-3-167035963)
The Adamawa plateau was mostly settled by the Mbum, who were related to the Jukun and Tchamba of the Benue valley and the Tikar of central Cameroon. They developed a well-structured social hierarchy with divine rulers (_Bellaka_) and exercised some hegemony over neighbouring groups.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-4-167035963)
According to the historian Eldridge Mohammadou, some of these groups were at one time members of the succession of Kwararafa confederations, which were potent enough to sack the Hausa cities of Kano, Katsina, and Zaria multiple times during the 16th and 17th centuries, and even besiege Ngazagarmu, the capital of the Bornu empire, before their forces were ultimately driven out of the region.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-5-167035963)
In the majority of the chieftaincies, a number of factors, such as kinship relations, language, religion, land, and the need for security, bound together the heterogeneous populations. Most chiefs were the political and religious heads of their communities; their authority was supported by religious sanctions. The polities had predominantly farming and herding economies, with marginal trade in cloth and ivory through the northern kingdoms of Bornu and Mandara.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-6-167035963)
The political situation of the region changed dramatically at the turn of the 19th century following the arrival of Fulbe groups. The region settled by these Fulbe groups came to be known as Fombina, a Fulfulde term meaning ‘the southlands’.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-7-167035963)
These groups, which had been present in the Hausalands and the empire of Bornu since the late Middle Ages, began their southward expansion in the 18th century. They mostly consisted of the Wollarbe/Wolarbe, Yillaga’en, Kiri’en, and Mbororo’en clans, who were mostly nomadic herders and the majority of whom remained non-Muslim until the early 19th century.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-8-167035963)
Some of these groups also established state structures over pre-existing societies that would later be incorporated into the emirate of Adamawa. The Wollarbe, for example, were divided into several groups, each of which followed their leaders, known as the Arɗo. In 1870, the group under Arɗo Tayrou founded the town of Garoua in 1780 around settlements populated by the Fali, while around the same time, another group moved to the southeast to establish Boundang-Touroua around the settlements of the Bata.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-9-167035963)
However, most of the Fulbe were subordinated to the authority of the numerous chieftains of the Fombina region, since acknowledgement of the autochthonous rulers was necessary to obtain grazing rights and security. Their position in the local social hierarchies varied, with some becoming full subjects in some societies, such as among the Higi and Marghi, while others were less welcome in societies such as the Batta of the Benue valley and the dependencies of the Mandara kingdom in northern Cameroon.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-10-167035963)
**The Sokoto Empire and the founding of Adamawa.**
In the early 19th century, the political-religious movement of Uthman Dan Fodio, which preceded the establishment of the empire of Sokoto, and the expulsion of sections of the Fulbe from Bornu in 1807-1809 during the Sokoto-Bornu wars, resulted in an influx of Fulbe groups into Fombina. The latter then elected to send Modibo Adama, a scholar from the Yillaga lineage, to pledge their allegiance to the Sokoto Caliph/leader Uthman Fodio. In 1809, Modibo Adama returned with a standard from Uthman Fodio to establish what would become the largest emirate of the Sokoto Caliphate.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-11-167035963)
Modibo Adama first established his capital at Gurin before moving it to Ribadou, Njoboli, and finally to Yola. As an appointed emir, he had defined duties and responsibilities over his officials, armed forces, tax collection, and obligations towards the Caliph, his political head and religious leader. His emirate, which was called Adamawa after its founder, eventually came to include over forty other units called _**lamidats**_ (sub-emirates), each with its _**Lamido**_ (chief) in his capital, and a group of officials similar to those in Yola.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-12-167035963)
After initial resistance from established Fulbe groups, Modibo Adama managed to forge alliances with other forces, including among the non-Fulbe Batta and the Chamba. He raised a large force that engaged in a series of campaigns from 1811-1847 that managed to subsume the small polities of the region. The forces of Adamawa saw more success in the south against the chiefdoms of the Batta and the Tchamba in the Benue valley than in the north against the Kilba.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-13-167035963)
In 1825, the Adamawa forces under Adama defeated the Mandara army and briefly captured the kingdom's capital, Dolo, but were less successful in their second battle in 1834. This demonstration of strength compelled more local rulers to submit to Adama's authority, which, together with further conquests against the Mbum in the south and east, created more sub-emirates and expanded the kingdom.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-14-167035963)
In Cameroon, several Wollarɓe leaders received the permission of Modibo Adama to establish lamidats in the regions of Tibati (1829), Ngaoundéré (1830), and Banyo (1862). The majority of the subject population was made up of the Vouté/Wute, Mbum, and the Péré. Immigrant Kanuri scholars also made up part of the founding population of Ngaoundéré, besides the Fulbe elites. It was the Banyo cavalry that assisted [the Bamum King Njoya](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-invention-of-writing-in-an-african) in crushing a local rebellion.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-15-167035963)
A group of lamidats was also established in the northernmost parts of Cameroon by another clan of Fulɓe, known as the Yillaga’en, who founded the lamidats of Bibèmi and Rey-Bouba, among others. The lamidat of Rey in particular is known for its strength and wealth, and for its opposition to incorporation into the emirate, resulting in two wars with the forces of Yola in 1836 and 1837.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-16-167035963)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8fRE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F07438da9-57fb-4d24-87c6-783ee96905a4_736x545.png)
_**Entrance to the Palace at Rey, Cameroon**_. ca 1930-1940. Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xrtP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb605eaa3-8b17-48b9-b35d-cae70949feb8_576x573.png)
_**Horsemen of Rey, Cameroon. ca. 1932**_. Quai Branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xx0L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c7ca74e-da1e-4aa9-a325-5fbf670b6455_889x602.png)
_**‘Knights of the Lamido of Bibémi’**_ Cameroon, ca. 1933. Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Rrxp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a559b8d-37e8-4440-8a46-c350425654a7_827x593.png)
_**an early 20th century illustration by a Bamum artist depicting the civil war of the late 19th century at Fumban and the alliance between Adamawa and Bamum to secure Njoya’s throne.**_ (Musée d'ethnographie de Genève Inv. ETHAF 033558)
**State and society in 19th-century Adamawa**
By 1840, the dozens of sub-emirates had been established across the region. Modibbo Adama, as the man to whom command was delegated, played the role of the Shehu in the distribution of flags to his subordinates. While all the lamidats were constituent sub-states within the emirate of Adamawa, they were allowed a significant degree of local autonomy. Each ruler could declare war, arrange for peace, and enter into alliances with others without reference to Yola.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-17-167035963)
Relations between Sokoto, Adamawa, and its sub-emirates began to take shape during the reign of Adama’s successor, Muhammad Lawal (r. 1847-1872). Contact with outside regions, which was hitherto limited, was followed by increased commerce with Bornu and Hausaland. Prospects for trade, settlement, and grazing attracted immigrant Fulbe, Hausa, and Kanuri traders into the emirate, further contributing to the region's dynamic social landscape.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-18-167035963)
The borders of the Emirate were extended very considerably during the reign of Lawal, from the Lake Chad basin in the north, to Bouar in what is now the Central African Republic in the east, and as far west as the Hawal river. The emirate government of Fombina became more elaborate, and multiple offices were created in Yola to centralise its administration, with similar structures appearing in outlying sub-emirates.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-19-167035963)
In many of the outlying sub-emirates, local allies acknowledged Adamawa’s suzerainity and thus retained their authority, such as in Tibati, Rey, Banyo, Marua, and Ngaoundéré. The local administration thus reflected the sub-emirate’s ethnic diversity, with two groups of councillors: one for the Fulbe and another for the autochthonous groups.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-20-167035963)
In the city of Ngaoundéré, for example, the governing council (_faada_) was comprised of three bodies for each major community: the _Kambari faada_, for Hausa and Kanuri notables, the _Fulani faada_ for Fulbe, and the _Matchoube faada_ for the Mbum chiefs. The Mbum chiefs had established matrimonial alliances with the Fulbe and were allowed significant autonomy, especially in regions beyond the capital. Chieftains from other groups, such as the Gbaya and the Dìì, were also given command of the periphery provinces and armies, or appointed as officials to act as buffers between rivaling Fulbe aristocrats.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-21-167035963)
Writing on the composition of the Yola government in the mid-19th century, the German explorer Heinrich Barth indicated that there was a Qadi, Modibbo Hassan, a ‘secretary of state’, Modibbo Abdullahi, and a commander of troops, Ardo Ghamawa. Other officials included the Kaigama, Sarkin Gobir, Magaji Adar, and Mai Konama. Despite the expansion of central authority, some of the more powerful local rulers retained their authority, especially the chiefs of Banyo, Koncha, Tibati, and Rey, but continued to pay tribute to the emir at Yola.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-22-167035963)
Additionally, many of the powerful autochthons that had accepted the suzerainty of Adamawa and were allowed to retain internal autonomy resisted Lawal’s attempts at reducing them to vassalage. The Batta chieftains, including some of those living near the capital itself, took advantage of the mountainous terrain to repel the cavalry of the Fuble and even assert ownership of the surrounding plains. These and other rebellions compelled Lawal to establish _**ribat**_ s (fortified settlements) with garrisoned soldiers to protect the conquered territories.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-23-167035963)
As Heinrich Barth observed while in Adamawa: _**“The Fúlbe certainly are always making steps towards subjugating the country, but they have still a great deal to do before they can regard themselves as the undisturbed possessors of the soil.”**_ adding that _**“the territory is as yet far from being entirely subjected to the Mohammedan conquerors, who in general are only in possesion of detached settlements, while the intermediate country, particulary the more mountainous tracts, are still in the hands of the pagans.”**_[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-24-167035963)
This constant tension between the rulers at Yola, the semi-independent sub-emirates, the autochthonous chieftains, and the independent kingdoms at nearly all frontiers of Adamawa, meant that war was not uncommon in the emirate. Such conflicts, which were often driven by political concerns, ended with defeated groups being reduced to slavery or payment of tribute. [Like in Sokoto](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-9-150446951), the slaves were employed in various roles, from powerful officials and soldiers to simple craftsmen and cultivators on estates (which Barth called ‘_rumde_’), where they worked along with other client groups and dependents.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-25-167035963)
The influx of Hausa, Fulbe, and Kanuri merchant-scholars gradually altered the cultural practices of the societies in Fombina. The Hausa in particular earned the reputation of being the most travelled and versatile merchants in Adamawa. They are first mentioned in Barth's description of Adamawa but likely arrived in the region before the 19th century for various reasons. Some were mercenaries, others were malams (teachers), and others were traders.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-26-167035963)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kNXA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9ee6490-f0d9-41aa-b28d-177d44cd1ac2_942x459.png)
_**Writing board and dyed-cotton robe**_, 19th century, Adamawa, Cameroon. Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
The rulers at Yola encouraged scholars to migrate from the western provinces of Sokoto. Some served in the emirate's administration, while others founded towns that were populated with their students, eg, the town of Dinawo, which was founded in 1861 by the Tijanniya scholar and Mahdi claimant Modibbo Raji. The founding of mosques and schools meant that Islam and some of the cultural markers of Hausaland were adopted among some of the autochthons and even neighbouring kingdoms like Bamum, but most of the subject population retained their traditional belief systems.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-27-167035963)
The diversity of the social makeup of Adamawa was invariably reflected in its hybridised architectural style, which displays multiple influences from different groups, and is the most enduring legacy of the kingdom.
The presence of walled towns, especially in northern Cameroon, is mentioned by Heinrich Barth, who notes that Rey-Bouba, alongside Tibati, was _**“the only walled town which the Fulbe found in the country; and it took them three months of continual fighting to get possession of it.”**_[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-28-167035963) Walled towns were present in the southern end of the Lake Chad basin since the Neolithic period, and became a feature of urban architecture across the region from [the Kotoko towns in northern Cameroon](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-political-history-of-the-kotoko) to the [Hausa city states in northern Nigeria](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-history-of-the-hausa-city-states?utm_source=publication-search).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!clic!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F620e2911-8eb8-4b54-83b0-068b284d6090_1048x442.png)
(left) _**Illustration of Lamido Muhammad Lawal’s palace at Yola by Heinrich Barth**_. (right) _**decorated facade of one of the entrances to the palace of Kano, Nigeria**_.
Barth’s account contains one of the earliest descriptions and drawings of the emir’s palace at Yola, and includes some of the distinctive features that are common across the region’s palatial architecture: _**“It has a stately, castle-like appearance, while inside, the hall was rather encroached upon by quadrangular pillars two feet in diameter, which supported the roof, about sixteen feet high, and consisting of a rather heavy entablature of poles in order to withstand the violence of the rains.”**_[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-29-167035963)
The historian Mark DeLancey’s study of the palace architecture of Adamawa’s subemirates in Cameroon shows how the different features of elite buildings in the region reflected not just Fulbe construction elements, but also influences from the building styles of the autochtonous Mbum, Dìì, and Péré communities, which were inturn adopted from Hausa and Kanuri architectural forms.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-30-167035963)
The distinctive [style of architecture found in the Hausa city states](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/hausa-urban-architecture-construction?utm_source=publication-search), which was adopted by the Fulbe elites of Sokoto and spread across the empire, had been present in Fomboni among some non-Fulbe groups, such as the Dìì and Mbum of the Adamawa plateau, as well as among early Fulbe arrivals before the establishment of Adamawa. [31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-31-167035963)
A particularly notable feature in Fomboni’s palatial architecture was the _**sooro**_ —a Hausa/Kanuri word for “a rectangular clay-built house, whether with flat or vaulted roof.” These palaces are typically walled or fenced and have monumental entrances, opening into a series of interior courtyards, halls, and rooms. The ceiling of the sooro is usually supported from within by earthen pillars with a series of arches or wooden beams, and the interior is often adorned with relief sculptures.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-32-167035963)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CALb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa045cdcb-aee3-4564-9d99-927719869b97_772x552.png)
(left) _**Vaulting in the palace throne room**_, built in the early 1920s by Mohamadou Maiguini at Banyo, Cameroon. Image by Virginia H. DeLancey. (right) _**Vaulted ceiling of the palace at Kano**_, Nigeria.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D4zu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F735e58d0-204c-45cb-bad9-7da2aaef4d4b_1195x426.png)
_**construction of Hausa vaults in Tahoua, Niger**_, ca. 1928. ANOM
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IO74!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faf7009af-39bb-4467-8331-ea677bdba87d_742x573.png)
_**Vestibule (sifakaré) of the Lamido’s palace at Garoua, Cameroon**_. ca 1932. Quai Branly museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QsKV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F106e7d97-9f52-4d39-9639-cc41e0204014_752x503.png)
_**Palace entrance in Kontcha, Cameroon**_. Image by Eldridge Mohammadou, ca. 1972
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KZnG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49d28f86-bf28-4846-95d5-5ec0432d4969_687x514.png)
_**Entrance to the Sultan's Palace at Rey, Cameroon**_, ca. 1955. Quai Branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xryf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F150cf83d-0548-4c2e-99c6-d4c100772867_955x572.png)
(left)_**Gate within the palace at Rey, Cameroon.**_ ca. 1932. Quai Branly. (right) _**interior of the palace at Garoua, Cameroon**_. ca. 1932. Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_FNW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f484240-5de3-4cc7-83b7-ab64a8069ae3_1364x447.png)
(left) _**Interior of Jawleeru Yonnde at Ngaoundéré, Cameroon**_, ca. 1897–1901. National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C. (right) _**Plan and interior of the palace entrance at Tignère, Cameroon**_, ca. 1920s–1930s.
The _sooro_ quickly became an architectural signifier of political power and a prominent mark of power, and as such was the prerogative of only the caliph and the emirs. The construction of a large and majestic _sooro_ at the entrance to the palace at Rey, for example, preceded the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate by 5 years and declared Bouba Ndjidda’s independent status in that land on the eastern periphery of the Fulɓe world.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-33-167035963)
While many of the palaces were destroyed during the colonial invasion, the region’s unique architectural style remained popular among local elites well into the colonial period.
**Decline, collapse, and the effects of colonialism in Adamawa.**
Lawal was succeeded by the _Lamido_ Umaru Sanda (r. 1872-1890), during whose relatively weak reign rebellions by the sub-emirates continued unabated, and some non-Fulbe peoples seized the opportunity to become independent. In the Benue valley, some of the more powerful chiefs among the Batta and Tengelen threw off their allegiance and began to attack ivory caravans. An expedition sent against the Tengelen in 1885 was defeated, underscoring the weakness of the Adamawa forces at the time, which often deserted during battle.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-34-167035963)
The expansion of European commercial interests on the Benue during the late 1880s was initially checked by Sanda, who often banned their ivory trade despite directives from Sokoto to open up the region for trade. Sanda ultimately allowed the establishment of two trading posts of The Royal Niger Company at Ribago and Garua, but none were allowed at the capital Yola.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-35-167035963)
Sanda was succeeded by the _Lamido_ Zubairu (r. 1890-1903,) who inherited all the challenges of his predecessor, including internal rebellions —the largest of which was in 1892, led by the Mahdist claimant Hayat, who was allied with the warlord Rabih. Zubairu's forces were equally less successful against the non-Fulbe subjects, who also rebelled against Yola, and his forces failed to reconquer the Mundang and Margi of the Bazza area on the Nigeria/Cameroon border region.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-36-167035963)
In the 1890s, Yola became the focus of colonial rivalry between the British, French, and Germans during the colonial scramble as each sought to partition the empire of Sokoto before formally occupying it.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-37-167035963)
Zubairu initially played off each side in order to acquire firearms, but the aggressive expansion of the Germans in Kamerun forced the southern emirates to adopt a more hostile stance towards the Germans, who promptly sacked Tibati and Ngaoundéré in 1899 and took control of the eastern sub-emirates.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-38-167035963)
While the defeat of Rabih by the French in 1900 removed Zubairu's main rival, it left him as the only African ruler surrounded by the three colonial powers. Lord Lugard, who took over the activities of the Royal Niger company that same year, sent an expedition to Yola in 1901 which captured the capital and burned its main buildings despite stiff resistance from Zubairu’s riflemen. Zubairu fled the capital and briefly led a guerrilla campaign against the colonialists but ultimately died in 1903, after which the emirate was formally partitioned between colonial Nigeria and Cameroon.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-39-167035963)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K6uo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc114718b-2fd6-4d86-84e5-e2edfe156d2e_718x490.png)
_**‘The final assault and capture of the palace and mosque at Yola.’**_ Lithograph by Henry Charles Seppings Wright, ca. 1901.
After the demarcation of the Anglo-German boundary, 7/8th of the Adamawa emirate fell on the German side of the colonial boundary in what is today Cameroon. The boundary line between the British and German possessions did not follow the boundaries of the sub-emirates, some of which were also divided. In some extreme cases, such as the metropolis of Yola itself, only the capitals remained under their rulers while the towns and villages were separated from their farmlands and grazing grounds.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-40-167035963)
While it’s often asserted that the colonial partition of Africa separated communities that were previously bound by their ethnic identity, the case of Adamawa and similar pre-colonial states shows that such partition was between heterogeneous communities with a shared political history. This separation profoundly altered the political and social interactions between the various sub-emirates and would play a significant role in shaping the history of modern Cameroon.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-41-167035963)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fEAv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdebfce2b-d595-4aa6-853d-c4da6005b681_825x576.png)
North Cameroon, _**Ngaounderé Horsemen of the Sultan of Rey Bouba**_. mid-20th century.
**My latest Patreon article explores the history of the Sanussiya order of the Central Sahara, which developed into a vast pan-african anti-colonial resistance that sustained the independence of this region until the end of the First World War.**
**Please subscribe to read more about it here.**
[THE SANUSIYYA MOVEMENT](https://www.patreon.com/posts/131994687?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6V4Y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6618a926-ee68-40f9-b3bd-10eb7ec0cee4_730x1234.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-1-167035963)
Modified by author based on the map of the Sokoto caliphate by Paul. E. Lovejoy and a map of Adamawa’s principal districts and tribes by MZ Njeuma
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-2-167035963)
The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 37-38
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-3-167035963)
The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 34-36, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, Volume 1 by Heinrich Barth, pg 473
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-4-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 1, 5-20, Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902 By M. Z. Njeuma, pg 25
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-5-167035963)
Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon By Mark DeLancey, pg 17
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-6-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 20-23
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-7-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg pg 5
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-8-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 30-32, 36-39, _on Islam among the Adamawa Fulani_: The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 55-57
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-9-167035963)
Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon By Mark DeLancey, pg 11
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-10-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 39-42, The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 40-43
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-11-167035963)
Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902 By M. Z. Njeuma, pg 5-12, The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 43-49
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-12-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 2-3, 50-51
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-13-167035963)
Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902 By M. Z. Njeuma, pg 14-15, The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 56-62)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-14-167035963)
Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902 By M. Z. Njeuma, pg 19- 24, The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 64-69
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-15-167035963)
Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon By Mark DeLancey pg 13-14, Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902 By M. Z. Njeuma, pg 36-38, War, Power and Society in the Fulanese “Lamidats” of Northern Cameroon: the case of Ngaoundéré in the 19th century by Theodore Takou pg 93-106
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-16-167035963)
Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902 By M. Z. Njeuma, pg 58
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-17-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 75-79
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-18-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 90-95
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-19-167035963)
The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 157-240
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-20-167035963)
The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 243-244
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-21-167035963)
War, Power and Society in the Fulanese “Lamidats” of Northern Cameroon: the case of Ngaoundéré in the 19th century by Theodore Takou pg 93-106
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-22-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 96-100
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-23-167035963)
Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902 By M. Z. Njeuma pg 37-41,
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-24-167035963)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, Volume 1 By Heinrich Barth, pg 430, 469
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-25-167035963)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, Volume 1 By Heinrich Barth, pg 458, 469
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-26-167035963)
The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 306-309)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-27-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 105-109
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-28-167035963)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, Volume 1 by Heinrich Barth, pg 472
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-29-167035963)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, Volume 1 by Heinrich Barth, pg 463
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-30-167035963)
Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon By Mark DeLancey 19-20, 34-64
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-31-167035963)
Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon By Mark DeLancey pg 72
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-32-167035963)
Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon By Mark DeLancey, pg 66-91)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-33-167035963)
Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon By Mark DeLancey, pg 75
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-34-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 124-126
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-35-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 134-135
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-36-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 135-138
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-37-167035963)
The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 317-320
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-38-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 139-144, The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 321-423
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-39-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 145-148, The Rise and Fall of Fulani Rule in Adamawa, 1809-1901 by MZ Njeuma, pg 424-460
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-40-167035963)
The Lāmīb̳e of Fombina: A Political History of Adamawa, 1809-1901 by Saʹad Abubakar, pg 154
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th#footnote-anchor-41-167035963)
Conquest and Construction: Palace Architecture in Northern Cameroon By Mark DeLancey, pg 79-100, Regional Balance and National Integration in Cameroon: Lessons Learned and the Uncertain Future by Paul Nchoji Nkwi, Francis B. Nyamnjoh
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5MaD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7fce441c-4c73-4a4f-b9ae-67696177d157_1338x657.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fEAv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdebfce2b-d595-4aa6-853d-c4da6005b681_825x576.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th
|
The modern separation of Africa into a “Mediterranean” North and a “Sub-Saharan” South had little basis in the historical geographies and political relationships of the pre-colonial period.
This Hegelian misconception, which is predicated on the belief that the Sahara was an impenetrable barrier, contradicts the historical evidence, which shows that the desert can be likened to an inland sea, facilitating cultural and economic exchanges between ancient societies along its ‘shores’ and within the desert itself.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-links-between-the-maghreb#footnote-1-166517760)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzB5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52057804-3b66-41f0-b217-f606a5ca803b_1027x561.jpeg)
_**The ancient cities and oases of the Sahara**_. Map by D. J. Mattingly et.al
In the western half of the Sahara, the emergence of large kingdoms in what is today Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, and Morocco during the Middle Ages enabled the creation of a broadly similar cultural economy across multiple societies that were interlinked through trade, travel, and Islamic scholarship.
The Almoravid empire (1040-1147), whose founder Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm hailed from what is today southern Mauritania, [was closely allied with the kingdom of Takrur in Senegal](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa#footnote-anchor-35-51075574), which provided [contingents for the empire's conquests into Morocco and Spain](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-diaspora-82902179).
The Almoravids established close ties with West African states such as the Ghana empire (700-1250), and the enigmatic kingdom of Zafun, about whose king the Almoravids were said to [“acknowledge his superiority over them.”](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa#footnote-anchor-60-51075574%20.)
Their successors, such as the Almohads (1121-1269) and the Marinids (1244-1465), continued in this tradition, enabling the career of celebrated scholars like Ibrahim Al-Kanemi (d. 1211), and the exchange of [several diplomatic missions with medieval Mali in 1337, 1348, 1351, and 1361.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/107625792)
By the close of the Middle Ages, scholarly exchanges between the intellectual communities of Timbuktu and Djenne (Mali) with those in Fez and Marrakesh (Morocco), as well as the expansion of trade between Sijilmasa (Morocco), Taghaza (Mali), and Walata (Mauritania) resulted in more direct links between both ends of the Sahara.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VL84!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1f07dc9-a1b9-4994-bd8c-56574383d10b_641x425.png)
_**Palm grove of Tafilalet in Sijilmassa, Morocco.**_ The oasis of Sijilmasa was a crucial hub in the trade route between medieval Ghana and Morocco.
The competitive political landscape engendered by these long-distance exchanges facilitated the expansion and inevitable [clash between the Songhai and Saadian empires](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/morocco-songhai-bornu-and-the-quest), which ended with the latter’s brief occupation of Timbuktu and Djenne in the 17th century. Forced to withdraw due to local resistance, the Moroccans retained some ties with [the old towns of Mauritania in the 18th century](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan).
However, the old scholarly and economic links between the two regions continued to flourish.
Movements such as the Tijaniyya attracted prominent scholars across the region during the 19th century, and its main _**zawiya**_ (sufi lodge) in Fez remains [an important cultural link between communities in Senegal and Morocco](https://www.patreon.com/posts/107625792), and today forms the lynchpin of the two countries' religious and political diplomacy.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zl2-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2f0585dd-b6e0-4a90-a56c-b109c97b201d_820x398.png)
_**Zawiya of Ahmad al-Tijânî in Fez, Morocco**_. _This Sufi lodge is a major pilgrimage site for Tijani scholars from Senegal and Mali._
In the central regions of the Sahara, [the empire of medieval Kānem (800-1472)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history) in Chad and [the Oasis towns of Kawar in eastern Niger](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-civilization-in-the-heart) maintained cultural and economic ties with societies in the Fezzan (Southern Libya) and the mediterranean coast since the middle ages.
After the conquest of the Fezzan by medieval Kanem in the 13th century, diplomatic missions from the latter were sent to the Hafsid court in Tunis in 1257. Kanem's successor, the empire of Bornu, continued this tradition, sending embassies to neighbouring Tripoli in 1526, 1535, 1551, 1574, 1581, and 1586.
Diasporic communities were established in Tunis and Tripoli, which facilitated [trade and diplomatic exchanges between Bornu and the Ottomans of Tripoli](https://www.patreon.com/posts/first-guns-and-84319870) during the 17th century, as well as the movement of pilgrims and scholars, some of whom settled in the oases of Murquz and Kufra in Libya.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Ddw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F89a796b9-11e3-495a-a76c-8dd3c7dd417d_673x458.png)
_**View of Murzuk, Libya. ca. 1890**_. GettyImages. _Some of the streets of Murzuq still bear Kanembu and Kanuri names, and the town was the birthplace of the Bornu ruler al-Kanemi_
Historical ties between the Maghreb and West Africa were thus unimpeded by the Sahara. As previously explored in my essay on [the colonial myth of Sub-Saharan Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan), this separation was never a historical reality for the people living in either region, but is instead a more recent colonial construct with a fabricated history.
This is especially evident in the expansion of the political-religious movement known as the Sanusiyya, a sufi order which emerged in eastern Libya during the 19th century.
The Sanusiyya, which was founded by a scholar from Mostaganem in Algeria, attracted scholars from across Africa and Arabia. Its adherents established numerous _**zawiya**_ s in Tunisia, Egypt, and Algeria, as well as in; Kawar and Zinder (Niger); Kano (Nigeria); Wadai and Kanem (Chad); and Darfur (Sudan).
The order provided a unified identity among the lineage-based acephalous societies of the Sahara, as every member considered themselves to be Sanusi, rather than Teda, Tuareg, or Arab. Scholars from across the central Sahara converged at its capital, Jaghbub, which was described as the _**“Oxford of the Sahara.”**_
During the colonial onslaught at the turn of the 20th century, Sanusi lodges became rallying points for anti-colonial resistance, providing modern firearms to the armies of Wadai and Darfur, and sustaining the independence of this region until the end of the First World War. The Sanusi-dominated central Sahara was thus the last region on the continent to fall under colonial control.
**The history of the Sanusiyya and their anti-colonial resistance is the subject of my latest Patreon article. Please subscribe to read more about it here.**
[THE SANUSIYYA MOVEMENT](https://www.patreon.com/posts/131994687?pr=true&forSale=true)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-links-between-the-maghreb#footnote-anchor-1-166517760)
Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by Martin Sterry, David J. Mattingly, Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by C. N. Duckworth, A. Cuénod, D. J. Mattingly, Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by M. C. Gatto, D. J. Mattingly, N. Ray, M. Sterry
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzB5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52057804-3b66-41f0-b217-f606a5ca803b_1027x561.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VL84!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1f07dc9-a1b9-4994-bd8c-56574383d10b_641x425.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zl2-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2f0585dd-b6e0-4a90-a56c-b109c97b201d_820x398.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Ddw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F89a796b9-11e3-495a-a76c-8dd3c7dd417d_673x458.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6V4Y!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6618a926-ee68-40f9-b3bd-10eb7ec0cee4_730x1234.png"
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-links-between-the-maghreb
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Pre-colonial Africa was home to some of the oldest and most diverse equestrian societies in the world. From the [ancient horsemen of Kush](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen) to the [medieval Knights of West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/knights-of-the-sahara-a-history-of) and [the cavaliers of Southern Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern?utm_source=publication-search), horses have played a significant role in shaping the continent's political and social history.
In Ethiopia, the introduction of the horse during the Middle Ages profoundly influenced the structure of military systems in the societies of the northern Horn of Africa, resulting in the creation of some of Africa's largest and most powerful cavalries.
As distinctive symbols of social status, horses were central to the aristocratic image of rulers and elites in medieval Ethiopia, while as weapons of war, they changed the face of battle and the region’s social landscape. Today, the horse remains the most culturally respected and highly valued domestic animal in Ethiopia, and the country is home to Africa's largest horse population.
This article explores the history of the horse in the kingdoms and empires of Ethiopia since the Middle Ages, and the development of the country’s diverse equestrian traditions.
_**Map showing some of the societies in northeastern Africa at the end of the 16th century.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-1-165941643)**_
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[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Historical background: horses and cavalries in Ethiopia until the 16th century**
The first equids used by the ancient societies of north-east Africa were donkeys, which were domesticated in the region around 2500BC, while horses were introduced later by 1500BC.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-2-165941643)
A few equid remains are represented in small numbers in the faunal assemblages of Aksum, but their exact identification remains problematic since none of the archaeozoological specimens has been precisely identified at the species level. According to the archaeologist David Phillipson, there is no convincing evidence that horses were exploited in the Aksumite kingdom.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-3-165941643)
Horses first appear in Ethiopia's historical record in the late Middle Ages, during the [Zagwe period (ca. 1150-1270CE)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/constructing-a-global-monument-in?utm_source=publication-search). There are a handful of representations of horses on the western porch of Betä Maryam church of Lalibäla, consisting of sculptures in low relief showing horsemen hunting real and mythological animals.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-4-165941643) Envoys from the Egyptian Coptic patriarch during the reign of Lalibela mention that the Zagwe monarch had a large army, consisting of an estimated 60,000 mounted soldiers, not counting the numerous servants who followed them.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-5-165941643)
In the area east and south of Lalibäla, three churches display on their walls paintings associated with Yǝkunno Amlak (r. 1270–1285), who overthrew the Zagwe rulers and founded the Solomonic dynasty of the Christian kingdom. One of the paintings in the vestibule of the rock-hewn church of Gännätä Maryam depicts a certain prince named Kwəleṣewon on a horse, in a style of royal iconography that would become common during later periods.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-6-165941643)
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(left) _**Horse tracks on the wall of Biete Giyorgis church**_, Lalibela, Ethiopia. Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. The church is dated to the 14th-15th century. (right) _**Mural depicting the Wise Virgins (upper register) and prince Kwəleṣewon with his mother Təhrəyännä Maryam (lower register)**_, church of Gännätä Maryam ca. 1270–85. image by Claire Bosc-Tiessé.
A letter from Yǝkunno Amlak to the Mamluk Egyptian Sultan Baybars (r. 1260-77), mentions that the large army of the Ethiopian monarch included a hundred thousand Muslim cavaliers. The above estimates of the cavalries of king Lalibela and Yǝkunno Amlak were certainly exaggerated, but indicate that mounted soldiers were already part of the military systems of societies in the northern Horn of Africa by the 13th century.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-7-165941643)
By the reign of ʿAmdä Ṣǝyon, the Solomonid monarchs of Ethiopia had built up a large cavalry force, mostly raised from the provinces of Goǧǧam and Damot. The King's chronicle mentions that in response to a rebellion in 1332, _**“He sent other contingents called Damot, Seqelt, Gonder, and Hadya (consisting of) mounted soldiers and footmen and well trained in warfare...”**_[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-8-165941643)
Mamluk records from the early 15th century, which describe the activities of the Persian merchant called al-Tabrīzī, mention horses and arms among the trade items exported from Egypt to Ethiopia through the Muslim kingdoms of the region.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-9-165941643)
The account of Ibn Fadl Allah, written between 1342 and 1349, lists the armed forces of Ethiopia’s Muslim sultanates: Hadya, ‘the most powerful of all’, had 40,000 horsemen and ‘an immense number of infantry’. Ifat and Dawaro had each about 15,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers, Bali 18,000 horsemen and a mass of footmen, Arababni nearly 10,000 cavalry and ‘very numerous’ infantry, Sharkha 3,000 horsemen and at least twice that number of infantry, and Dara, the weakest province, 2,000 horse and as many in the infantry.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-10-165941643)
However, these figures were likely inflated since internal accounts and accounts by later visitors to the region provide much lower estimates, especially for the cavalries of the Adal empire, which united these various Muslim polities in the 15th century and imported horses from Yemen and Arabia.
During the Adal invasion of Ethiopia in 1529, at the decisive battle of ShemberaKure, the Adal general Imam Ahmad Gran had an army of 560 horsemen and 12,000-foot soldiers, while the Ethiopian army was made up of 16,000 horsemen and more than 200,000 infantry; according to the Muslim chronicler of the wars. Ethiopian accounts, on the other hand, put the invading forces at 300 horsemen and very few infantry, and their own forces at over 3,000 horsemen and ‘innumerable’ foot-men.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-11-165941643)
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(left) _**Abyssinian Warriors**_ ca. 1930. Mary Evans Picture Library. (right) _**Horseman from Harar**_. ca. 1920, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
As for the cavalries forces of the southern regions, the 1592 account of Abba Baḥrǝy notes that the Oromo ruler luba mesele (Michelle Gada, r. 1554-1562) _**“began the custom of riding horses and mules, which the [Oromo] had not done previously.”**_ However, it’s likely that the Oromo began using horses much earlier than this, but hadn't deployed them in battle since their early campaigns mostly consisted of nighttime guerrilla attacks, which made horses less important.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-12-165941643)
Oromo moieties of the Borana and Barentu quickly formed cavalry units, which enabled them to rapidly expand their areas of influence over much of the horse-rich southern half of the territories controlled by [the Gondarine kingdom of Ethiopia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/global-encounters-and-a-century-of?utm_source=publication-search) as well as parts of the Muslim kingdom of Adal.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-13-165941643) According to Pedro Páez, after the Oromo attacked Gojjam, Sarsa Dengel thought it best to excuse the tribute of 3,000 so that the inhabitants of Gojjam could use the horses to defend themselves.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-14-165941643)
By the close of the 16th century, most of the armies of the northern horn of Africa had large cavalry units.
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_**St George slaying dragon next to the Madonna and Child**_, Fresco from the 18th-century church of Debre Birhan Selassie Church, Gondar, Amhara, Ethiopia.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Horse trade and breeding in Ethiopia from the Middle Ages to the 19th century**
Historical evidence indicates that Ethiopia was both an exporter and importer of horses since the middle ages.
A Ge'ez medieval work describing the 14th century period, mentions that Ethiopian Muslim merchants _**“did business in India, Egypt, and among the people of Greece with the money of the King. He gave them ivory, and excellent horses from Shewa... and these Muslims...went to Egypt, Greece, and Rome and exchanged them for very rich damasks adorned with green and scarlet stones and with the leaves of red gold, which they brought to the king.”**_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-15-165941643)
The coastal towns of [Zeila](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla) and Berbera in Somaliland, which served as the main outlet of Ethiopian trade during the Middle Ages, were also renowned for their horse exports. In his 14th-century account, Ibn Said described Zeila as an export center for captives and horses from Abyssinia, while Barbosa in the 16th century describes Zeila as ‘a well-built place’ with ‘many horses.’[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-16-165941643)
Similarly, the port of Berbera was renowned also for its horses which enjoyed a great reputation among the Arabs; the Arab writer Imrolkais emphasizes the quality of the local horses in telling the imaginary story of a noble steed from there that journeyed from the Roman Empire to Arabia. The account of the portuguese Tome Pires, which describes the period from 1512 to 1515, mentions that _**“The principal Abyssinian merchandise were gold, ivory, horses, slaves, and foodstuffs”**_ exported through Zeila and Berbera.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-17-165941643)
Horses were part of the tribute levied on some Ethiopian provinces, especially those in the southwest such as Gojjam. One of the Amharic royal songs in honor of the Emperor Yǝsḥaq (r. 1414–29) lists the southern provinces with their tribute in kind: gold, horses, cotton, etc. Portuguese accounts from the 16th century also mention that the tribute from Gojjam amounted to 3000 mules, 3000 horses, and 3000 large cotton garments.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-18-165941643)
The same accounts also mention that horses were received as tribute from Tigray, but many of these appear to have been imported from Egypt and Arabia and were said to be larger than those from Gojjam, implying that the latter were local breeds. The chronicle of Emperor Sartsa Dengel (r. 1563-1597), also notes that the tribute of the _Bahr Negash_ (governor of the coastal region) was composed of large numbers of imported silks and cloth, china ware, and excellent horses.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-19-165941643)
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_**Ethiopian rider**_, illustration by Charles-Xavier Rochet d'Héricourt, ca. 1841.
The 16th-century Portuguese traveler Francesco Alvares also mentions that _**“many lords breed horses from the mares they get from Egypt in their stables.”**_[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-20-165941643) 17th-century Portuguese accounts mention that the best of the imported breeds were bought in the hundreds from the kingdom of Dequin, located between Ethiopia and the Funj kingdom of Sennar: these were the famous [Dongola horses](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/knights-of-the-sahara-a-history-of#footnote-anchor-20-53158329) that were exported across west Africa. (James Bruce mentions that Dongola horses were about **16.5 hands** tall). Later accounts from the 17th century note that these breeds were crossed with horses from Tigray and Serae (in Eritrea) to supply the Emperor's stables.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-21-165941643)
Pedro Páez 1622 account mentions that large horses imported from Dequin (in Sudan) didn’t last long in Ethiopia _**“because they develop sores on their feet, from which they die. The other horses in the empire are commonly small but strong and run fast”**_ and that disputes between the two kingdoms often threatened the lucrative horse trade.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-22-165941643) It is thus likely that the crossbreeding mentioned above was in response to this challenge. Additionally, the breakdown of trade between Ethiopia and the Funj kingdom (which was the suzerain of Dequin) in the 18th century forced the Ethiopians to breed their own horses in the less-than-ideal conditions of the highlands.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-23-165941643)
In the 18th century, the regions of Damot and Gojjam were still an important source of horses and horsemen for the Christian kingdom. Internal markets for horses emerged in several trading settlements such as Makina in Lasta, Sanka in Yeju, Cäcaho in Bagémder, Yefag in Dembya, Gui in Gojam, and Bollo-Worké in Shewa.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-24-165941643)
During this period, horses were included among both the exports and imports to the Muslim kingdoms of Sudan, especially through the border town of Matemma. This was because the Sudanese region of Barca, east Sennar, and Dongola produced fine horses much sought after in Ethiopia for breeding purposes, while the Ethiopian horses were much cheaper than those of the Sudan and were hence in considerable demand across the frontier.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-25-165941643)
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_**Abyssinian troops in the field**_. image from "Voyage en Abyssinie", 1839-1843, by Charlemagne Theophile Lefebvre, Ethiopia.
Ethiopian horses were also exported to the Red Sea region, ultimately destined for markets in the western Indian Ocean. An estimated 150 to 200 horses were sold in the market of Galabat, which were then exported through the Red Sea port of Suakin. Merchants from [the city of Gondar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-gondar-africas?utm_source=publication-search) also traveled to the port town of Berbera in Somaliland, to export horses, ivory, and captives, which were exchanged for cotton cloths and Indian goods.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-26-165941643)
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the region of Wallo and Agaw Meder in Gojjam were major centers of horse breeding. The region of Agaw Meder in Gojjam was also noted for its production of pack animals. The inhabitants of Agaw Meder bred mare horses and donkey stallions, producing plenty of excellent mules and ponies. In the early 20th century horses of Agaw Meder were in high demand by government officials in the British Sudan, who used them to patrol the frontier.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-27-165941643)
Today, there are eight different breeds of horses in Ethiopia: Abyssinian, Bale, Boran, Horro, Kafa, Ogaden/Wilwal, Selale, and the Kundido feral horse, with a probable ninth breed known as the Gesha horse. Ethiopian horses have a mean height of **12-13 hands**, making them smaller than those in Lesotho and West Africa (13-14 hands), and Sudan (14-17 hands). The tallest Ethiopian breed is the Selale horse —also known as the Oromo horse, which is used as a riding horse. The rest of the breeds serve multiple functions, typically in agricultural work and rural transport.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-28-165941643)
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_**Hammel; the horse of emperor Tewodros II that was captured by the British after the battle of Magdala in 1868**_
**Cavalry warfare in medieval and early modern Ethiopia**
The core of Ethiopia's army, as in medieval Europe, was composed of horsemen.
Fighting was for the most part conducted with considerable chivalry. Descriptions of Ethiopian battles in the early 19th century (*****between culturally similar regions) mention that exchanges of civilities would constantly take place between hostile camps, messengers were respected, and prisoners were _**“generally well treated, if of any rank, even with courtesy.”**_ During the actual combat, _**“the horsemen would charge in large or small numbers when and where they thought fit.”**_ Battles were decided within a few hours, and the victors often took loot which included the enemy's horses.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-29-165941643)
A separate cavalry tradition was developed by the Oromo who organized cavalry formations and cultivated vital skills through frequent drilling. Young men grew up practicing throwing spears as well as riding horses in order to become formidable horsemen. Unlike the armies of the Solomonids, however, the Oromo cavalries were highly mobile and relied on guerrilla tactics in combat. According to a 17th-century Portuguese account:
_**“As soon as the [Oromo] perceive an enemy comes on with a powerful army they retire to the farther parts of the country, with all their cattle, the Abyssinians must of necessity either turn back or perish. This is an odd way of making war wherein by flying they overcome the conquerors; and without drawing sword oblige them to encounter with hunger, which is an invincible enemy.”**_[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-30-165941643)
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_**‘Cavalry going into battle, with spears and shields’**_ ca. 1721-c1730. From the ‘Nagara Maryam’ manuscript. Heritage Images
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gpkw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F449a611b-47b3-408d-aeab-1f0809afa999_736x457.png)
_**‘Fit Aurari Zogo attacking a foot soldier.’**_ Tigray, Ethiopia. ca. 1809. Engraving by Henry Salt.
Emperor Susenyos (r. 1607-1632), who had been raised among the Oromo, quickly adopted their mode of fighting and used it to great effect against internal enemies and the Oromo cavalries, some of whom he allied with and integrated into his own forces. Susenyos and his successors were however unable to gain a decisive advantage over the Oromo cavalries, who in the 18th century, managed to establish strong polities in regions like Wallo that were defended by powerful armies with up to 50,000 horsemen.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-31-165941643)
The horse-riding Awi Agaw groups, who lived in the Gojjam region, also raised large armies of horsemen who battled with the Gondarine monarchs of the Christian Kingdom and the Oromo cavalries during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Scottish traveler James Bruce mentions lineages of the ‘Agows’ such as the _**“Zeegam and Quaquera, the first of which, from its power arising from the populous state of the country, and the number of horses it breeds, seems to have no reason to fear the irregular invasions of [the Oromo]”**_[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-32-165941643)
In the mid-16th century, Galawdewos’ army consisted of only 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, but by the 17th century, Emperor Susneyos could field _**“30,000 to 40,000 soldiers, 4,000 or 5,000 on horseback and the rest on foot. Of the horses up to 1,500 may be jennets of quality, some of them very handsome and strong, the rest jades and nags. Of these horsemen as many as 700 or 800 wear coats of mail and helmets.”**_[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-33-165941643)
During the 18th century, the main Ethiopian army consisted of four regiments which were named after “houses” of about 2,000 men each, of which 500 were horsemen. The royal cavalry consisted of Sanqella, from the west of the capital. They wore coats-of-mail, and the faces of their horses were protected with plates of brass with sharp iron spikes, and the horses were covered with quilted cotton armor. The stirrups were of the Turkish type which held the whole foot, rather than only one or toes as was common in Ethiopia. Each rider was armed with a 14ft long lance and equipped with a small axe and a helmet made of copper or tin.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-34-165941643)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_GPp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa9ebe984-961c-4e49-ba0a-129654ac1964_1053x591.png)
(left) _**St Fasilidas on a horse covered with quilted cotton armour**_. Mural from the church of Selassie Chelekot near Mekele, Tigray, Ethiopia. image by María-José Friedlander[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-35-165941643)_**Quilted horse armour used by Mahdists of Sudan**_. 19th century. British Museum.
Horse equipment was mostly made by local craftsmen since the middle ages. The 14th-century monarch ʿAmdä Ṣǝyon is said to have formally organized in his court fifteen ‘houses’ each of which had its special responsibility. At least three of them looked after his defensive armor, his various other weapons of war, and the fittings of the horses.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-36-165941643)
In the 16th century, Emperor Lebna Dengel employed several Muslim tailors at the royal capital of Barara in Shewa, where they made coverings for the royal horses. Later accounts from the 19th century indicate that all the horse equipment and paraphernalia used in the region were made by local craftsmen.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-37-165941643)
A notable feature of Ethiopia's equestrian culture is the traditional stirrup which was thin and narrow, riders thus grasped the iron ring of the saddle with their big and index toe.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-38-165941643) During military parades when everyone displayed their horsemanship, warriors showed off their horse's maneuverability in galloping (_gilbiya_) and in parading (_somsoma_). Managing horse, shield, and spear while charging and retreating as necessary during a fight was admired.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-39-165941643)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LkbH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F67b13c96-99b7-4303-9f07-3f3b718a41e9_853x463.png)
_**St. Fasiladas (left) and St. George (right), showing the two different types of stirrups known in Gondar in this period: one holding two toes, the other the whole foot**_. From an 18th century Miracles of Mary, in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, Ethiopien d'Abbadie 222
By the 19th century, Ethiopian infantry and cavalry were primarily armed with spears and shields, while firearms and swords were also carried by persons of note. The largest number of horses were found in the southern pastoral lands of the Oromo. Possession of a steed was a sign of distinction, implying that its owner was a nobleman or man of substance, or else that he had distinguished himself in war, and had received one as a gift from his chief. A soldier's horse, mule, and weapons, however acquired, were invariably considered as his personal property.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-40-165941643)
In the eastern regions between Harar and Somaliland, large cavalries disappeared after the fall of the Adal empire, and the number of warhorses fell. According to the account of Richard Burton who visited Harar in 1855, the city had just 30 warhorses, which were small but well suited for the mountainous region. He mentions that the neighboring Somali horses were of the same size, about 13 hands tall, and were also used in fighting, but none of the societies in western Somaliland during the 19th century were large enough to command a sizeable cavalry force, since most lived in nomadic communities.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-41-165941643)
In the second half of the 19th century, the Ethiopian cavalry proved decisive against the Egyptians at the battle of Gura in 1876 as observed by the Egyptian contract officer Max von Thurneyssen who noted the superiority of Emperor Yohannes IV’s Oromo cavalry over their Egyptian counterparts. However, while Yohannes’ successor Menelik II was also able to field 40,000 horsemen in 1882, he was able to raise no more than 8,000 in 1896 due to the rinderpest epidemic.
Despite such losses, Menelik’s army of the 1890s was mainly armed with modern rifles, allowing it to prevail over the Italian colonial army at the famous battle Adwa, with the cavalry delivering shock attacks on the retreating enemy.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-42-165941643)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RK4l!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f535e7f-a5b6-419a-8d97-876a3f616569_939x713.png)
_**Detail of a mural depicting Ethiopians going into battle against the Egyptians from the church of Abreha Atsbeha, Tigray, Ethiopia.**_ (_top register; left to right_) in the top at the center is the crowned Emperor Yohannes IV on a horse, the next mounted figure is the Etege, and in front of the Etege is the mounted Abuna Atnatewos (1870-6), holding a hand-cross in his right hand, he died in battle. (_bottom register: left to right_) three mounted figures; the Nebura’ed Tedla, who was one of the commanders. In front of him is Emperor Yohannes IV, galloping into action, and, on the right is Emperor Yohannes IV’s brother, Dejazmach Maru, who occasionally commanded one of his armies.[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-43-165941643)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9W6P!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcfd7ae99-ee89-46f0-9925-c7af01df3cc0_446x600.png)
_**Abyssinian horse-soldier**_. Illustration for ‘The World Its Cities and Peoples by Robert Brown’. ca. 1885
**The cultural significance of the horse in Ethiopia**
The Ethiopian custom of calling royals and other elites after the names of the horses they rode, is arguably the most characteristic feature of the region's equestrian tradition.
The custom is attested in both the Oromo polities and the Christian kingdom, and likely originated from the former, who gained influence at the Gondarine court during the 18th century. Emperor Iyasu II (r. 1755-1768) is said to have erected a mausoleum for his horse called Qälbi, which is suggested to be the Afan Oromo word _qälbi_, for a ‘Cautious One.’ The late 18th-century Scottish traveler James Bruce also mentioned the use of horse names by Ethiopian noblemen and mentioned that he was treated with great respect by the local inhabitants because he was riding a gift horse given to him by the Oromo governor of Gojjam.[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-44-165941643)
By the 19th century, the custom of horse names had spread across the entire region. In Tigray during the early 19th century, the English traveler Nathaniel Pearce mentions that several of the most important chiefs had epithets _**“taken from the first horse which they ride on to war in their youth.”**_ In his 1842 account, John Krapft observed that _**“it is customary in Abyssinia, particularly among the Oromo, to call a chieftain according to the name of his horse.”**_ Horse names were common among the elites of Wallo, Shewa, Bagemder, Samen, Lasta, and Gojjam, as well as the southern polities of [Hirmata-Abba Jifar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia), and Limmu-Enarya.[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-45-165941643)
Ethiopian artwork was also influenced by its equestrian tradition, especially in the representation of warrior saints and royals as mounted knights. The iconography of equestrian saints, which developed in the Byzantine Empire based on antique triumphal imagery, was adapted to Ethiopia’s cultural environment during the Middle Ages with slight modifications.[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-46-165941643)
The paintings often depict religious scenes with known figures such as St. George, St. St Mercurius, St. Téwodros (Theodore), St. Gelawdewos (Claudius), St. Fikitor (Victor), St. Qeddus Fasilidas (Basilides), St Filotewos (Philoteus), St Aboli, St Fasilidas, Susenyos, St. Gabra Krestos and others. These are usually shown accompanying kings, queens, and other notables on horseback.[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-47-165941643)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xe5Y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F78c8da90-4072-40c4-9cf7-74b5ed0d778a_944x494.png)
from left to right: _**Mercurius, with, in a small frame above his horse's head, St Basil and St Gregory; Eusebius (son of St Basilides the Martyr); Claudius (Gelawdewos) killing the seba’at; Theodore the Oriental (Banadlewos); and George as King of Martyrs**_. Mural from the north wall of the church of Debre Berhan Selassie at Gondar, likely dated to the early 19th century.[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-48-165941643)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!90FI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F403daf06-3cfe-4268-acdd-7e51fea85a9c_935x847.png)
Equestrian figures: _**St Victor riding a light tan horse; St Aboli riding a black horse; St Theodore the Oriental (Masraqawi, aka Banadlewos) riding a brown horse, killing the King of Quz and his people; and St George, riding a white horse. Below the horse is the donor, Arnet-Selassie, together with her family, celebrating the completion of the paintings with the priests of the church**_. Mural from the north wall of the Narthex of the church of the church of Abreha Atsbeha, Tigray, Ethiopia.[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-49-165941643)
The most common depictions fall into three broad genres; images of saints holding the reigns of their horses; images of saints spearing the enemy; and images of saints in narrative scenes. The choice of the dress and ornamentation of the horsemen, their weapons, the toe or foot inserted into the stirrup, the colorful saddle cloth, and rich horse trappings, typically mirror the way of life of an Ethiopian nobleman in a given period.[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-50-165941643)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qAHN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6910d43a-b0b6-415f-be5d-61e921ec1be6_755x515.png)
_**St Mercurius on a black horse defeating Julian the Apostate, in front of him are the brothers; St Basil and St Gregory**_. Mural from the church of Agamna Giyorgis (Gojjam), Ethiopia.[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-51-165941643) note the distinctive toe stirrup and the round church.
Ethiopian princes often underwent a period of training in the art of warfare and horsemanship, especially during royal hunts, which were a notable feature of courtly life since the late Middle Ages. The chronicle of Yohannes (r. 1667-1682), mentions the existence of a stable (Beta Afras) in which the ruler resided at the time of his coronation and states that he had learned to ride while still little more than a child.[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-52-165941643)
Horse stables were part of the Ethiopian royal complex since the 16th century and are frequently mentioned in later accounts.[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-53-165941643) The palace at Dabra Tabor of Ras Ali Alula contained three recesses for the chief's steeds, transforming the royal residence into a stable for _**“the grandest personages of Abyssinia,”**_ who _**“feel extreme pleasure to see near them their animals which they passionately love.”**_ Similarly, at King Sahla Sellase's palace at Angolala, the monarch was often seen in the company of his _**“favourite war steeds”**_ which had managers in close proximity to the royal couch.[54](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-54-165941643)
Horses were also given as tribute, gifts, and tithes to important churches and monasteries such as Abba Garima, and Debre Bizen, which often owned large tracts of land. However, horse-riding in the vicinity of churches and other religious sites was discouraged, and everyone was usually required to dismount when approaching a monastery or in the presence of important priests.[55](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-55-165941643)
Horse riding remains an important activity among the diverse Equestrian societies of Ethiopia. Horses are involved in social-cultural events such as weddings and ceremonies, they are used in processions during religious and public festivals, in sporting events, and in horse shows such as the Agaw horse riding festival in Amhara and the _gugsi_ horse festival in the Oromia region.[56](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-56-165941643)
Today, Ethiopia is reported to possess 2.1 million horses[57](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-57-165941643); which constitutes more than half of Africa’s horse population, and is the legacy of one of the continent’s most enduring equestrian traditions.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RE8n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd860dd30-eae0-4f88-89ac-ddf8d5b4a04e_777x530.png)
_**Traditional marriage**_, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ca. 1930. Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-hBO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbede13d7-bfa5-49ab-b9d2-62b8538fc591_709x483.png)
_**‘Race of Abyssinian horsemen’**_ engraving by Eduardo Ximenes from L'Illustrazione Italiana No 7, February 13, 1887
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wTXN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18a07619-050c-4a6d-abff-ae214cdb4d1e_1323x635.png)
_**Horseman at a festival in Sandafa Bakkee**_. image by VisitOromia. _**A horseman in a lion-mane cape pounds after a foe in a traditional warrior’s game in the Afar region**_, ca. 1970, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
Glass objects were some of the products manufactured by the craftsmen of pre-colonial Africa in the ancient kingdom of Kush and medieval Nubia. **The history of glassworking and trade in ancient and medieval Nubia is the subject of my latest Patreon article,**
**Please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[GLASSWORKING AND TRADE IN NUBIA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/130935031?pr=true&forSale=true)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-1-165941643)
Map taken from: The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300-1700 By Mohammed Hassen pg 335
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-2-165941643)
The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns edited by Bassey Andah, Alex Okpoko, Thurstan Shaw, Paul Sinclair pg 65
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-3-165941643)
Foundations of an African Civilisation: Aksum and the Northern Horn By D. W. Phillipson pg 114
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-4-165941643)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 336
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-5-165941643)
Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 114, n.3
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-6-165941643)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 344-345
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-7-165941643)
Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 240-241
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-8-165941643)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 70-71, Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 375
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-9-165941643)
Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe By Verena Krebs pg 64
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-10-165941643)
Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 by Richard Pankhurst pg 159
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-11-165941643)
Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 by Richard Pankhurst pg 161-163
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-12-165941643)
The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300-1700 By Mohammed Hassen pg 173, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 476, n. 81
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-13-165941643)
The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300-1700 By Mohammed Hassen pg 173-174
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-14-165941643)
The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300-1700 By Mohammed Hassen pg 173-174, 203
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-15-165941643)
Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 167
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-16-165941643)
Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 by Richard Pankhurst pg 347, 348
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-17-165941643)
Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 by Richard Pankhurst pg 350, 358
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-18-165941643)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 422
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-19-165941643)
Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 by Richard Pankhurst pg 182-187
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-20-165941643)
Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia During the Years 1520-1527 by Francisco Alvarez, eds Henry E. Stanley of Alderley, pg 412
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-21-165941643)
Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 by Richard Pankhurst pg 218-219, 352-354, _on the identification of Dequin, see_; The Fung Kingdom of Sennar: With a Geographical Account of the Middle Nile Region by Osbert Guy Stanhope Crawford pg 114-115, _**“The horse was then lean, as he stood about sixteen and a half hands high, of the breed of Dongola.”** :_ Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile by James Bruce
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-22-165941643)
Pedro Páez's History of Ethiopia, 1622, Volume 1, eds Isabel Boavida, Hervé Pennec, Manuel João Ramo, pg 227, 254, 189
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-23-165941643)
Ethiopia's Economic and Cultural Ties with the Sudan from the Middle Ages to the Mid-nineteenth Century by Richard Pankhurst pg 85
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-24-165941643)
The Royal Chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769-1840 by Herbert Weld Blundell pg 382, 386, The Trade of Northern Ethiopia in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries by Richard Pankhurst pg 55, 66)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-25-165941643)
The Trade of Northern Ethiopia in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries by Richard Pankhurst pg 70-71, The Royal Chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769-1840 by Herbert Weld Blundell pg 262
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-26-165941643)
The Trade of Northern Ethiopia in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries by Richard Pankhurst pg 72, 80
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-27-165941643)
The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300-1700 By Mohammed Hassen pg 343, A short history of Awi Agew horse culture, Northwestern Ethiopia by Alemu Alene Kebede pg 5
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-28-165941643)
Morphological diversities and ecozones of Ethiopian horse populations by E. Kefena et al., Phenotypic characterization of Gesha horses in southwestern Ethiopia by Amine Mustefa et al., Kundudo feral horse: Trends, status and threats and implication for conservation by Abdurazak Sufiyan
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-29-165941643)
A Social History of Ethiopia: The Northern and Central Highlands from Early Medieval Times to the Rise of Emperor Téwodros II by Richard Pankhurst pg 156-157, The Royal Chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769-1840 by Herbert Weld Blundell pg 239, 319, 325, 427
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-30-165941643)
The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300-1700 By Mohammed Hassen pg 173, 195-196
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-31-165941643)
The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300-1700 By Mohammed Hassen pg 278-343, Islam in Nineteenth-Century Wallo, Ethiopia: Revival, Reform and Reaction By Hussein Ahmed pg 110-120, 164
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-32-165941643)
A Short History of Awi Agew Horse Culture, Northwestern Ethiopia by Alemu Alene Kebede pg 4-5
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-33-165941643)
Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 by Richard Pankhurst pg 165
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-34-165941643)
A Social History of Ethiopia: The Northern and Central Highlands from Early Medieval Times to the Rise of Emperor Téwodros II by Richard Pankhurst pg 82
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-35-165941643)
Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia: A Guide to the Remote Churches of an Ancient Land by María-José Friedlander, Bob Friedlander pg 29
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-36-165941643)
Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 199-200
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-37-165941643)
A Social History of Ethiopia: The Northern and Central Highlands from Early Medieval Times to the Rise of Emperor Téwodros II by Richard Pankhurst pg 62, 232, 239
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-38-165941643)
A Social History of Ethiopia: The Northern and Central Highlands from Early Medieval Times to the Rise of Emperor Téwodros II by Richard Pankhurst pg 83,
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-39-165941643)
Ethiopian Warriorhood: Defence, Land, and Society 1800-1941 By Tsehai Berhane-Selassie 155
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-40-165941643)
A Social History of Ethiopia: The Northern and Central Highlands from Early Medieval Times to the Rise of Emperor Téwodros II by Richard Pankhurst pg 152
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-41-165941643)
First Footsteps in East Africa: Or, An Explanation of Harar By Sir Richard Francis Burton pg 220-221, 336-337
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-42-165941643)
For God, Emperor, and Country!' The Evolution of Ethiopia's Nineteenth-Century Army by John Dunn 289-299
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-43-165941643)
Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia: A Guide to the Remote Churches of an Ancient Land by María-José Friedlander, Bob Friedlander pg 159-160
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-44-165941643)
The Early History of Ethiopian Horse-Names by Richard Pankhurst pg 198-199
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-45-165941643)
The Early History of Ethiopian Horse-Names by Richard Pankhurst pg 200-205
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-46-165941643)
A Note on the Customs in 15th and Early 16th-century Paintings: Portraits of the Nobles and Their Relation to the Images of Saints on Horseback by Stanislaw Chojnacki in ‘Ethiopian Studies Dedicated to Wolf Leslau’
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-47-165941643)
Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia: A Guide to the Remote Churches of an Ancient Land by María-José Friedlander, Bob Friedlander pg 26-34
[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-48-165941643)
Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia: A Guide to the Remote Churches of an Ancient Land by María-José Friedlander, Bob Friedlander pg 185
[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-49-165941643)
Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia: A Guide to the Remote Churches of an Ancient Land by María-José Friedlander, Bob Friedlander pg 143-144
[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-50-165941643)
Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Vol. 2: D-Ha 2, A Note on the Customs in 15th and Early 16th-century Paintings: Portraits of the Nobles and Their Relation to the Images of Saints on Horseback by Stanislaw Chojnacki
[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-51-165941643)
Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia: A Guide to the Remote Churches of an Ancient Land by María-José Friedlander, Bob Friedlander pg 33
[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-52-165941643)
Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 544, The Early History of Ethiopian Horse-Names by Richard Pankhurst pg 198
[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-53-165941643)
Pedro Páez's History of Ethiopia, 1622, Volume 1, eds Isabel Boavida, Hervé Pennec, Manuel João Ramo, pg 48, 101,104
[54](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-54-165941643)
The History of Däbrä Tabor (Ethiopia) by Richard Pankhurst pg 237, 240, The Early History of Ethiopian Horse-Names by Richard Pankhurst pg 199-200
[55](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-55-165941643)
A Social History of Ethiopia: The Northern and Central Highlands from Early Medieval Times to the Rise of Emperor Téwodros II by Richard Pankhurst pg 33, 37, 183, Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935 by Richard Pankhurst pg 195-196
[56](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-56-165941643)
A Social History of Ethiopia: The Northern and Central Highlands from Early Medieval Times to the Rise of Emperor Téwodros II by Richard Pankhurst pg 46, Morphological diversities and ecozones of Ethiopian horse populations by E. Kefena et al., Phenotypic characterization of Gesha horses in southwestern Ethiopia by Amine Mustefa et al. pg 9, A short history of Awi Agew horse culture, Northwestern Ethiopia by Alemu Alene Kebede pg 8-14
[57](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-57-165941643)
Phenotypic characterization of Gesha horses in southwestern Ethiopia by Amine Mustefa pg 36, Kundudo feral horse: Trends, status and threats and implication for conservation by Abdurazak Sufiyan pg 9
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-medieval-knights-of-ethiopia
|
Significant strides have been made over the last decades in the study of the pre-colonial industries of Africa, especially regarding their emergence and the scale of production.
The ubiquitous finds of spindle whorls in virtually all major archaeological sites across the continent are often considered direct evidence of the thriving textile industries which are extensively described in historical accounts. Pre-colonial societies developed a diverse range of looms and sophisticated weaving techniques using cotton, raffia, and other natural fibers to manufacture large quantities of cloth, some of which are found in museum collections worldwide.
[African cloth exports to European coastal traders](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-13-151079120) during the early 17th century indicate that domestic textile production was large enough to supply the regional markets. An estimated 38,000 meters of cloth was purchased by Dutch traders in the city of Benin in 1644-46, while Portuguese traders bought about 100,000 meters of cloth in 1611 from the kingdom of Kongo.
By the 19th century, [cloth production in the city of Kano](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry) reached proto-industrial levels, employing an estimated 20,000 dyers in a city of 100,000. The city's wealthiest merchants created complex manufacturing enterprises dealing with the import and export trade across long distances by controlling much of the production process.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JjRs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F27cea1f4-3792-41ad-a0df-ff653c40d68e_611x613.png)
_**weavers at work on traditional double-heddle looms with pulley wheels and foot peddles**_ ca. 1930-1950, Côte d'Ivoire. Quai Branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W7u6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0cb544f4-94e0-4692-ae41-8a28e1ab57da_777x600.png)
_**dyeing textiles with indigo in Kano**_, ca. 1938. Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!conk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F16d496c6-e9af-4a5a-98a3-40a6f6051348_910x632.png)
_**Embroidered Cotton and silk tunic**_. Ethiopia, ca. 1877, British Museum.
Besides textiles, the working of iron, copper, and gold is arguably the best known and studied among pre-colonial Africa's industries and pyro technologies. From the earliest [evidence of the processing of iron](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology) in the furnaces of Oboui and Gbatoro in Cameroon and Central Africa around c. 2200–1965 BCE, African societies have exploited the three metals simultaneously, using a wide variety of furnaces to fashion many luxury and utilitarian metal artifacts
Recent estimates of the quantities of iron slag and the number of furnaces found at some of these sites give some indication of the scale of this production. Specialist centers of iron production have been recorded in the Fiko region of Mali (300,000 m3 of slag), at Bassar in Togo (82,000 m3), and at Korsimoro, Burkina Faso (60,000 metric tonnes), and the Cameroon Grasslands (137,000 tonnes). In the middle Senegal River Valley, 41,325 single-use furnace bases were counted in an 80-km section alone.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial#footnote-1-165464018)
Such production was often expanded during wartime. In the 1880s, the [Wasulu ruler Samori Ture](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the) had entire villages of blacksmiths who manufactured modern rifles, musketballs and gunpowder. An estimated 300-400 smiths worked full-time to make about 200-300 rounds of ammunition a day and 12 rifles a week using local sources of metal. By 1893, Samori had amassed over 6,000 rifles, which he used in his battles with the French until 1898.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial#footnote-2-165464018)
The French commander Louis Archinard, who wrote an informative article about the Mande blacksmiths of Samory, examined some of Samory's guns and found them to have very accurate breech mechanisms. In the 20th century, Mande smiths were still able to make rifles, pistols, and ammunition entirely using local ores and methods of metalworking.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial#footnote-3-165464018)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5KEt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaf61d13-c34a-4aac-a928-042414336906_837x584.png)
_**Natural draft furnaces in the Seno plain below Segue, Burkina Faso**_, 1957, Quai Branly. _**Earthen smelting furnaces in Ouahigouya, near the capital of Yatenga kingdom, Burkina Faso**_, 1911, Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4Ibp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd41c1974-fbff-40c2-80e3-7cbc99aa6082_580x451.png)
_**Iron smelting at Oumalokho near the border of Mali & Cote d’ivoire**_, illustration by Louis Binger, ca. 1892.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Dojv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c4cb089-3c3f-472a-9305-8db128da5147_1351x569.png)
_**Flintlock pistol from**_**Dahomey**, Benin, ca. 1892, Quai Branly. _**Rifle from Bornu**_, Nigeria, ca. 1905. American Museum of Natural History
Other industries that have been the subject of significant study include construction (such as the mason guilds of [Hausaland](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/hausa-urban-architecture-construction?utm_source=publication-search) and [Djenne](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano?utm_source=publication-search)); Shipbuilding (especially [on the East African coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/maritime-trade-shipbuilding-and-african?utm_source=publication-search)); intensive agriculture (such as in [the Bendair region of Somalia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/maritime-trade-shipbuilding-and-african?utm_source=publication-search)), and glassworking in [the medieval city of Ile-Ife](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/maritime-trade-shipbuilding-and-african?utm_source=publication-search).
Glassworking was one of the most sophisticated technologies invented in the pre-industrial world, and glass objects were some of the most valuable trade items of the ancient world. While previous studies of glass in Africa focused on its trade and consumption, the discovery of a primary glass production site of Igbo Olukun, an industrial quarter of Ile-Ife, provided the first direct evidence for an independent invention of glass in Africa.
Archaeological excavations conducted at Igbo Olokun recovered more than 20,000 glass beads, glass waste, and glass-encrusted crucibles dated to the 11th-15th centuries. Glass manufactured at Ife has been found in multiple sites across West Africa; as far as Kumbi Saleh, the capital of medieval Ghana in Mauritania, and Tie, the capital of medieval Kanem in Chad.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial#footnote-4-165464018)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yrXF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3091492-f72c-478a-9e6d-474109dec981_971x311.png)
_**Glass studs in metal surround from Iwinrin Grove, and a glass sculpture of a snail**_. Ile-Ife, Nigeria. ca. 11th-15th century. images by Suzanne Blier
Besides Ife, some of the most significant evidence for an African glass industry has been found in the cities of ancient and medieval Nubia, with discoveries of glass workshops and glass waste in the sites of Hamadab, Meroe, Debeira, and Old Dongola.
Glass was considered a luxury material in Nubia and appears extensively in the archaeological record of elite settlement sites and grave goods across the region. Its use was largely decorative, for jewelry, as a surface adornment of walls, furniture, and windows, and for a wide variety of vessels that were used as containers for wine, perfumes, and other precious liquids.
While the glass objects found in ancient and medieval Nubia were initially assumed to have been imports, new research shows that some were made by local craftsmen, whose skill and ingenuity were well attested in other mediums like gold, faience, bronze, and iron.
**The history of glassworking and trade in ancient and medieval Nubia is the subject of my latest Patreon article,**
**Please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[GLASSWORKING AND TRADE IN NUBIA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/130935031?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7k9N!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3e2700-6b3c-4ae0-bf70-0da8a309b7ca_660x1233.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JSzt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F393297e6-4997-4a7f-a2e9-786151ba2c99_820x367.png)
_**Opaque green glass. Hieroglyphic inscription on one face; relief eye on other.**_ Napatan Period, reign of Piankhy (Piye) 743–712 B.C. el-Kurru, Ku. 51 (tomb of an unidentified queen of Piankhy). Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-1-165464018)
A Global Perspective on the Pyrotechnologies of Sub-Saharan Africa by D Killick pg 72)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-2-165464018)
Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa by Bruce Vandervort pg 132-133, UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume VII pg 123
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-3-165464018)
The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power, and Art in West Africa By Patrick R. McNaughton pg 35-37
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-4-165464018)
The Ile-Ife glass bead series: classification, chaîne opératoire and the ‘glass bead roads’ in West African archaeology by Abidemi Babatunde Babalola, Chemical analysis of glass beads from Igbo Olokun by AB Babalola, Ile-Ife, and Igbo Olokun in the history of glass in West Africa by AB Babalola et. al
|
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4Ibp!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd41c1974-fbff-40c2-80e3-7cbc99aa6082_580x451.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Dojv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c4cb089-3c3f-472a-9305-8db128da5147_1351x569.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yrXF!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3091492-f72c-478a-9e6d-474109dec981_971x311.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7k9N!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3e2700-6b3c-4ae0-bf70-0da8a309b7ca_660x1233.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JSzt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F393297e6-4997-4a7f-a2e9-786151ba2c99_820x367.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-industries-of-pre-colonial
|
At the end of the Middle Ages, a flourishing network of urban sites and stone settlements was integrated into the empire of Adal which covered large parts of western and central Somaliland.
Historical accounts of the Adal period, which describe the empire’s entanglement in the Portuguese-Ottoman wars of the 16th century in great detail, say little about the stone towns of Somaliland, whose ‘mysterious’ ruins first appear in the documentary record in the mid-19th century.
Recent archeological research across dozens of ruined towns has established that most were founded during the Adal period before they were gradually abandoned and transformed into pilgrimage sites.
This article explores the history of the ruined towns of Somaliland and their significance in the historiography of the medieval empires of the region.
_**Map showing the medieval ruined towns of the northern Horn of Africa.**_[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-1-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UZoG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36121b36-628b-4d87-9db6-9f62d62e1f7b_751x536.png)
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**A description of the stone towns of Somaliland.**
Until recently, the history of the medieval sultanate of Adal has been reconstructed using a significant corpus of written sources, which are mostly concerned with the western half of the state in what is today Ethiopia.
Over the last two decades, new archaeological discoveries in Somaliland have uncovered the ruins of over 30 sites whose material remains shed more light on the eastern half of the Sultanate. Most ruined settlements share a remarkable spatial and architectural uniformity, regardless of their location or size, which points to a basic common identity shared by the medieval Muslim states of the Horn of Africa.
There are several clusters of ruined sites in the western and central regions of Somaliland, with a few isolated ruins in the east.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-2-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YWfp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c72f94-0f89-41f7-8d65-cb472185124e_935x556.png)
_**Medieval sites of Somaliland.**_ Map by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez
The largest among the western ruins is the 56ha site of Abasa, near the modern city of Boorama, close to the border with Ethiopia. It consists of the ruins of about 200 stone houses each measuring 20-40 m2, a large mosque measuring 18x17m and a small secondary mosque, two graveyards, and a palatial building measuring 31×8m with wide walls and a monumental entrance that could be interpreted as a stronghold. The vast majority of the site's material culture consisted of local pottery, with only a few imported wares from China and Yemen dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-3-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-ipU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F35731385-dc39-4e23-aeac-2f9f35b9c516_875x662.png)
_**The mosque at Abasa looking towards the Mihrab**_, image by R.H.Taylor, reproduced by A.T.Curle, ca. 1934-1937
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JGS0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F94660b0c-0bf4-4a26-a281-5f222ecfe366_998x608.png)
_**"Abassa. View of "temple" from East End."**_ ca. 1880-1950, Somaliland. British Museum Af,B53.17
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-L8Q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F88d96731-48a2-4dbd-a98b-8604eafdd0c3_986x609.png)
_**‘Abassa. Part of S. wall of "Temple"**_ ca. 1880-1950. Somaliland. British Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3DEl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7092f572-c983-4a70-afd0-2741245d9885_789x544.png)
_**current state of the mosque at Abasa.**_ image by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Grgr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf835682-fde9-4d8e-abdd-f921d81ee1e0_792x589.png)
_**Monumental entrance to the monumental building at Abasa**_, image by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez
There are several sites within the vicinity of Abasa such as Hasandile, an 11ha site consisting of a mosque and about 60 stone houses, the largest of which measures 14x9m. The site lacks any imported wares. agricultural vocation of the site is supported by the wide alluvial plain in front of the houses, where cultivated parcels are still visible, and by the number of querns found throughout the site. The material culture collected in Hasadinle is almost completely of local origin and very similar to that found at Aabsa, with only a few imported wares that were originally made in northern Ethiopia.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-4-164899540)
Not far from Abasa is the archaeological site of Amud, whose ruins extend over an area of about 10ha. The structures include over 200 houses, all well-built of stone, with interior niches in the walls and rectangular windows with stone lintels. The mosque is found in the southern half of the town, which is also constructed with dry stone and features pillars that support the flat roof. The graves of Amud resemble those found at Abasa, and so too does that material culture which consists of mostly local pottery and a few imported wares similar to those found at Amud.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-5-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cpce!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc925c75e-7b44-4a88-8c9c-ff047c1ed04b_806x615.png)
_**The ruined town of Amud**_. image by A.T.Curle, ca. 1934-1937
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c5xe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F67b6e575-fcb6-4756-a359-23ad1a250043_996x599.png)
_**“Amud. Principal building, looking towards Buramo”**_ ca. 1880-1950, Somaliland. British Museum Af,B53.19.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WGvw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb86f18c8-b115-4b44-ae08-1a3158db2f5b_1112x619.png)
(left) _**“Amud. Principal building. Inside view of a room.”**_ ca. 1880-1950, Somaliland. British Museum Af,B53.16 (right) _**Triangular headed niches in the wall of a house at Amud.**_ image by R.H.Taylor, reproduced by A.T.Curle, ca. 1934-1937
The ruins found in the central region south of the coastal city of Berbera include the caravan station and fort of Qalcadda, whose ruins include a rectangular enclosure (55×90 m) with thick walls of dressed stone and corners defended by round bastions. To the south of this fort is a square building with an inner courtyard resembling a caravanserai. Neighbouring sites include the 6ha site of Bagan whose ruins consist of about 85 stone houses; and Gidheys, a 2ha site located on the route to Fardowsa, which features remains of stone buildings and graves.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-6-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!eE-D!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcba6e2eb-058a-42b6-b29e-0ea471bead31_749x485.png)
_**The caravan station of Qalcadda. 1 Satellite image of the site (Google Earth), 2 Detail of the several plaster floors of the excavated area, 3 Plan of the east nave and the test pit, 4 Test pit, 5 Comparison between Qalcadda and a Persian caravanserai.**_ images and captions by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!u1uS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4eacc7fb-829a-4a32-875b-3d4c6895ea19_989x602.png)
_**"Eik. 40 miles S. of Burao. General view of ruins"**_ ca. 1880-1950, Somaliland. British Museum Af,B53.23.
Excavations at the site of Fardowsa uncovered several rectangular stone buildings, the largest of which measured 14mx7.4m, surrounded by a fence, open spaces, and graves. The material culture of the site included local pottery and metal, imported wares from China and Yemen, as well as glass vessels, and cowries. Radiocarbon samples collected from one of the houses yielded dates between 1327–1351 CE and 1595–1618 CE, which fall within the period of the Sultanate of Adal (1415–1577), with a final, sporadic occupation between 1499–1600 CE.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-7-164899540)
The size and spatial organization of Fardowsa, its strategic location along the trade route from the city of Harar in eastern Ethiopia to the coastal city of Berbera, and the relatively large amount of imported pottery found at the site compared to the sites of Amud (10% vs 1%), indicate that it was part of the rich urban network that flourished during the period of Adal.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-8-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MuqN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13e35a1a-f8a5-4029-ac95-bc23ab2fa80a_666x474.png)
_**Excavation areas at Fardowsa.**_ image by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez et. al.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3Hiz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe262675c-25b7-437b-a491-9cf04ea506c3_1106x720.png)
_**General view of the site: with C-3000 to the left, C-4000 to the bottom right, and C-6000 (courtyard) to the right front.**_ image and captions by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez et. al.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n6Dn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8c2dd77-2b93-49b0-9a13-b0d66d07505f_711x457.png)
_**General view of C-3000.**_ image by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez et. al
The largest of the easternmost ruins is the site of Maduuna near the modern town of el Afwyen. The ruins consist of a large rectilinear mosque without columns that was built with drystone. Its walls were originally rendered with lime plaster and are currently the best preserved among the ruined towns of Somaliland, standing at a height of about 3m. The rest of the ruins include a smaller mosque and several curvilinear structures of drystone masonry. Material culture from the site consists mostly of local pottery and a few imported wares from Aden dated to the 17th century.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-9-164899540)
Three other towns have been identified further east of Maduuna in Puntland, showing that inland permanent settlements existed in the easternmost parts of the Horn of Africa during the medieval period. Images and descriptions of these three sites show architectural similarities with the constructions at Maduuna, featuring round houses grouped in clusters, which suggests the influence of nomadic architecture in this region, in contrast to the sites found in the western and central regions.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-10-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!APgD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb5227a47-804d-41d9-89e2-478744e0c88e_798x532.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OAr3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53701bde-9505-464d-8cb7-1dbb8128be78_801x533.png)
_**Ruined mosque of Maduna, Somaliland**_. Alamy images.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rVWK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F465cef0d-e024-4a80-8f7e-151ae9f93b2b_952x633.png)
_**Miḥrāb and niches of the Maduuna congregational mosque**_. image by StateHorn
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_7gs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1572e03c-deda-423a-bf10-7c20010db7b9_807x625.png)
_**Ruined houses in Maduuna.**_ image by Abdiqaadir Abdilaahi Yusuf
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
Most of the ruined towns possess a mosque built using the same construction technique as the rest of the buildings with square mihrabs and in some cases perimeter walls surrounding the building. In the bigger mosques such as those in Abasa and Hasadinle, circular or square pillars were used to support a flat roof. Unlike the mosques of Zeila, none found in the interior sites have minarets or minbars, pointing to the development of a unique architectural tradition in the interior.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-11-164899540)
Excavations in the coastal region around the port town of Berbera point to an expansion of trade during the 15th-16th century period, from sites like Siyaara and Farhad. Imports from Yemen diminished, while the number of East Asian wares especially from China, grew significantly, which reflects similar changes in the western Indian Ocean. The abundance of imported wares at these coastal sites relative to the interior sites indicates that the Indian Ocean trade went through Somaliland, but the commodities didn't remain in Somaliland.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-12-164899540)
In the 1930s, a few coins were recovered from surface finds at the sites of Derbi Adad in the region of Amud and the site of Eik, which is further south of the site of Fardowsa. The coins from Derbi Adad belong to sultan Kait Bey of Egypt (r. 1467-1495), while those from Eik were gold coins issued by sultan Selim II (r. 1566-1574).[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-13-164899540) One coin was also recovered from the site of Fardowsa, and dated to between the 13th and 17th centuries.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-14-164899540) The use of imported coins in the Muslim cities of the northern Horn is also mentioned in 15th-century Portuguese accounts regarding the kingdom of Ifat.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-15-164899540)
In the interior, only the largest sites, such as Fardowsa, Abasa, and Amud can be considered cities or towns, while the rest are likely to have been hamlets or religious centers. Although it has generally been assumed that these settlements were involved in trade, the low percentages of imported materials and the more abundant evidence for agricultural activity suggest that the economy of many of these settlements was based on agriculture.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-16-164899540)
The local pottery of most interior sites shows a high standardization in terms of technique, shapes, and decorations, and was different from those found in contemporaneous sites like Harar and Shewa. This suggests a shared social identity across the sites regardless of the region or the characteristics of the site. At the close of the 16th century, imports suffered a dramatic decline throughout Somaliland, materials from the 17th century are very scarce and concentrated in few places along the coast.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-17-164899540)
By this time, many of the interior towns were abandoned and a few were transformed into pilgrimage sites.
**The ruined towns of Somaliland and the empire of Adal.**
> _**“The scene was still and dreary as the grave; for a mile and a half in length all was ruins—ruins—ruins.”**_
>
>
> _Richard F. Burton at Abasa in 1854._
The history of the medieval empire of Adal, known in internal sources as the sultanate of Barr Sa'd al-Din, is represented by a complex mosaic of written sources from both internal and external accounts. Much of western and central Somaliland fell under the control of the Walasma sultans of Barr Saʿd al-Dīn, whose forces were progressively involved in a series of conflicts with the Solomonic monarchs of Christian Abyssinia/Ethiopia.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gSjK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c11bb40-ff64-4afb-a55c-11f3a497f942_746x465.png)
_**Distribution of the main polities and ethnicities during the Middle Ages in the Horn of Africa.**_ Map by Ulrich Braukämper, reproduced by Jorge de Torres Rodriguez
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TQtk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F145af03f-2d38-4807-b120-ad8bec20f787_491x553.png)
_**The northern Horn of Africa during the early 16th century.**_ Map by Matteo Salvadore
The polity of Barr Saʿd al-Dīn (“Land of Saʿd al-Dīn”) was ruled by the Walasma dynasty that had been displaced from Ifat by the Christian Ethiopian kingdom in the early 15th century. Following its re-establishment, the new state grew rapidly and expanded towards the east, while conducting an aggressive policy against the Ethiopian kingdom to its west, which culminated in the invasion of the latter by the forces of Barr Saʿd al-Dīn under Imām Aḥmad Gragn in the 1520s.
The empire established by Imām Aḥmad lasted until his death in battle with the Ethiopian forces in 1543, after which it was reduced to a rump state on the outskirts of Harar by the close of the century.
Archaeologists suggest that the western ruins of Abasa and Amud were likely included in the territory directly controlled by the sultanate of Adal despite their absence in contemporary accounts. In central Somaliland, the presence of a caravan station and a major trade hub at Fardowsa points to the influence, but not control, of the state of Adal. Farther to the east, the region around Maduuna lay in nomadic territory, with minimal influence of the Adal sultans. Prostelyzation in the easternmost sites was likely directed by scholars/holymen who are frequently mentioned in the traditional histories of the region.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-18-164899540)
Regardless of their function, location, and size, all the known inland settlements disappeared by the end of the 16th century during the political upheavals of the period, which coincided with the arrival of the Portuguese and Ottomans in the western Indian Ocean, who profoundly altered pre-existing patterns of exchanges and conflict.
The Portuguese raided the coast of Yemen and the Hejaz, and later attacked the port cities of Zeila in 1517 and Berbera in 1518. The disturbance caused by the Portuguese military campaigns on the Red Sea shores affected one of the main economic activities in central Somaliland. The concurrent expansion of the armies of the Adal sultanate into the Ethiopian highlands and their later defeat marked a period of social upheaval that ended with the expansion of Oromo-speaking herders from the south.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-19-164899540)
None of the ruined settlements of Somaliland were walled, except the fortress and caravanserai at Qalcadda. This lack of defenses is surprising considering the permanent state of war between the empires of Adal and Ethiopia described in the written sources, and is perhaps explained by the more distant position of the Somaliland sites from the border with the Christian kingdom. Fortresses and fortified settlements are more common in sites such as Harar, which are closer to the Ethiopian highlands.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-20-164899540)
Additionally, none of the ruined sites have shown evidence of destruction, and the good state of preservation of many of the buildings even in the early 20th century points to a peaceful, progressive abandonment once the political and economic structures that sustained them disappeared. At that time, the nomadic lifestyle likely proved far more efficient than ever-hazardous agriculture in a semidesert region such as Somaliland.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-21-164899540)
Traditions collected in the 19th and early 20th centuries often associate the ruined sites with Muslim saints who battled with and later displaced the pre-Islamic rulers. They also indicate that the sites were gradually transformed into places of pilgrimage by local visitors long after the collapse of the Adal sultanate.
The 19th-century British traveler Richard Burton visited the site of Abasa and passed by the site of Amud in December 1854. He described the ruins of Abasa in detail as well as a local tradition from his Somali informants, who mention that the town was ruled by an Oromo queen known as Darbiyah Kola.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-22-164899540)
For Amud, he referred to the visitation places of three celebrated saints, Amud, Sau, and Sharlagamadi in the neighborhood. Later travelers recounted that a number of ruined settlements in the region were also named after a local saint or holy man, prefixed by Au or Aw (meaning “holy men,” in Somali). It occurs in two cases where there are ruins, at Au Bare and Au Buba/ Aw Boba, the latter of which is on the Ethiopian side of the border. A son of a Sheik Boba is mentioned as being one of the Muslim commanders with Somalis under him in the Adal invasion of 1529.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-23-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ODjx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fef7a28ac-f2be-4061-a74a-775040fc0201_616x461.png)
_**Location of the site of Aw Boba/ Au Buba in relation to Abasa.**_ Map by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RlQq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb5596285-4e5a-4201-b020-0390b4618de8_754x683.png)
_**The tomb of sheikh Au Boba.**_ image by A.T.Curle, ca. 1934-1937
Burton relates a story in which the town of Saint Aw Boba was the bitterest enemy of Queen Kola who ruled the town of Abasa. The saint was reportedly a revered holy man whose descendants fought alongside Imam Ahmad Gragn in the first half of the 16th century, thus directly linking the town’s history to the Adal sultanate period.
_**"It is said that this city [Abasa] and its neighbor Aububah fought like certain cats in Kilkenny till both were ‘eaten up:’ the Gudabirsi fixed the event at the period when their forefathers still inhabited Bulhar on the coast,—about 300 years ago. [ie 1550 CE]"**_[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-24-164899540)
One such ruined settlement associated with religious figures is the site of Dameraqad, just north of Amud, which consists of about 15 stone structures linked together by walls defining courtyards. At least three of the buildings are squared mosques, the bigger one with two pillars and three rooms attached occupied by well-built tombs. The site is dated to the end of the Middle Ages and was in continued use long after the fall of Adal, thus resembling other sites associated with holy men such as Aw Bare, Aw Boba, and Aw Barkhadle.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-25-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!chCT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5de21bb6-10ca-4811-a101-7bf004303b6c_1139x429.png)
_**Ruined Mosques in Dameraqad.**_ image by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez
The site of Aw-Barkhadle is an important pilgrimage center that includes several archaeological remains and a mausoleum of Saint Aw-Barkhadle (a.k.a Sharif Yusuf Al-Kawnayn) who is said to have reached the region about 850 years ago.
The site appears to be of significant antiquity, with evidence of pre-Islamic burial mounds and phallic gravestones, as well as Christian and Jewish graves marked with Coptic crosses and a star of David. The ruins of the site cover about 4sqkm, and include the foundations of house structures, a mosque, a town wall about 3km long, and surrounding graves. The mausoleum of the Saint, which was completed in the 19th century, is surrounded by dozens of white-washed tombs belonging to various figures who lived between the 13th century and the 19th century.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-26-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wUJp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F353473fe-3dc0-42c7-a109-2462cc96a491_515x510.png)
_**Site plan of Aw-Barkhadle.**_ image by Sada Mire
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fa8W!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F301c550f-e944-4275-bb72-410f967871f0_913x573.jpeg)
_**The Mausoleum of Saint Aw-Barkhadle**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kNwX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6217b2ac-e60d-4ec3-bbc8-6ee621e4c627_1045x424.png)
(left) _**A Coptic Christian cross marked gravestone in situ at Aw-Barkhadle.**_ (right) _**A gravestone marked with the Star of David, found in Dhubato area.**_ images and captions by Sada Mire
According to the archaeologist Sada Mire who has surveyed the site and its related historical documents, the saint Aw-Barkhadle appears in some of the kinglists of the Walasma dynasty of Ifat and Adal. A chronicle from Harar, _The Tarikh al-Mujahidin_, discusses the death of Garaad Jibril who revolted against the city’s ruler sultan ‘Uthman’ (d.1569) and mentions _**‘the place of the great saint known as Aw Barkhadle’,**_ as Jibril’s burial place. A later account by Philipp Paulitschke in 1888, which identifies the capital of Adal as _‘AwBerkele’_ indicates that the walled settlement may have functioned as the capital of Ifat and Adal at the end of the Middle Ages.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-27-164899540)
Alternatively, the town of ‘Abaxa’ [presumably Abasa] is briefly mentioned in a Portuguese account from 1710 as the _**“capital city of the kingdom of Adel, adjoyning to Ethiopia, whose emperors were once masters of it”.**_ However, most historians and archeologists suggest that the capital of Adal, which was changed frequently between the 15th and 16th centuries, may have been located in the vicinity of Harar, with the city itself briefly serving as the main political center of the Sultanate.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-28-164899540)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5l_K!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49401fa3-c82f-4e06-bcd2-aa7f5056b011_1348x559.png)
_**Harar, Ethiopia, ca. 1944.**_ Quai Branly.
**Conclusion: New perspectives on the empire of Adal.**
Despite the silence of historical records regarding the eastern half of the empire of Adal, the archeological evidence from the ruined sites of Somaliland provides evidence for the emergence of trade hubs and nucleated settlements across the region between Harar and the coast which flourished at the height of Adal period.
The general lack of defenses at the sites, their gradual abandonment, and their continued veneration by pilgrims as the homes of important saints suggest a more stable political and economic environment in the eastern regions of Adal, in contrast to the near-constant state of war in the frontier regions bordering the territories of the Solomonids.
The archaeological data presented above shows that while the study of the medieval Muslim states of the Horn of Africa is often framed by their confrontation with the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, this dichotomy simplifies the complex world of the northern Horn of Africa at the end of the Middle Ages.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lcIs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd42b818d-5ead-4005-a090-23a9e10e0652_379x571.png)
_**Maduna, Somaliland.**_ Alamy images.
The southwestern region of Kenya is dotted with the ruins of over 138 stone-walled sites containing 521 structures, the largest of which is the UNESCO World Heritage site of Thimlich Ohinga whose walls stand at a height of over 4 meters. The historical record of this region describes over 500 walled settlements known as forts, some of which were besieged during the colonial invasion.
**The stone ruins of Thimlich Ohinga and the forts of western Kenya are the subject of my latest Patreon article.**
**Please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[THE STONE RUINS & FORTS OF WESTERN KENYA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-ruins-of-129762885)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EW8l!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbe72d1cb-3833-4084-be45-ce5a027fddfb_742x717.png)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-2-164899540)
f _or a more detailed Map of the historical sites in Somaliland, see_: Mapping the Archaeology of Somaliland: Religion, Art, Script, Time, Urbanism, Trade and Empire by Sada Mire
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-3-164899540)
Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 549-562
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-4-164899540)
Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 563-566
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-5-164899540)
The town of Amud, Somalia by G.W.B. Huntingford
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-6-164899540)
Exploring long distance trade in Somaliland (AD 1000–1900): preliminary results from the 2015–2016 field seasons by Alfredo González-Ruibal pg 149-152, 154-156)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-7-164899540)
The 2020 field season at the medieval settlement of Fardowsa (Somaliland) by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez et. al, City of Traders: Urbanization, Social Change, and Territorial Control in Medieval Fardowsa (Central Somaliland) by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 88-98
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-8-164899540)
City of Traders: Urbanization, Social Change, and Territorial Control in Medieval Fardowsa (Central Somaliland) by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 99, 108)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-9-164899540)
An Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Horn: The British-Somali Expedition, 1975 by Neville Chittick 1975 pg 129-130)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-10-164899540)
Urban mosques in the Horn of Africa during the medieval period by Carolina Cornax-Gómez et Jorge de Torres Rodríguez p. 37-64, prg 31
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-11-164899540)
Built on diversity: Statehood in Medieval Somaliland (12th-16th centuries AD) by Jorge de Torres Rodriguez pg 173-174, Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 572)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-12-164899540)
Asia in the Horn. The Indian Ocean trade in Somaliland by Alfredo Gonzalez-Ruibal et. al.
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-13-164899540)
The Ruined Towns of Somaliland by A. T. Curle pg 322
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-14-164899540)
City of Traders: Urbanization, Social Change, and Territorial Control in Medieval Fardowsa (Central Somaliland) by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 87
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-15-164899540)
In Search of Gendabelo, the Ethiopian “Market of the World” of the 15th and 16th Centuries by Amélie Chekroun, Ahmed Hassen Omer and Bertrand Hirsch
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-16-164899540)
Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 563, 572.
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-17-164899540)
Built on diversity: Statehood in Medieval Somaliland (12th-16th centuries AD) by Jorge de Torres Rodriguez pg, 176, 179).
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-18-164899540)
The Spanish Archaeological Mission in Somaliland by Jorge de Torres pg 59, Urban mosques in the Horn of Africa during the medieval period by Carolina Cornax-Gómez et Jorge de Torres Rodríguez p. 37-64, prg 34
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-19-164899540)
Islam in Ethiopia. By J. Spencer Trimingham pg 77, 91-95
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-20-164899540)
Built on diversity: Statehood in Medieval Somaliland (12th-16th centuries AD) by Jorge de Torres Rodriguez pg 172, The Ruined Towns of Somaliland by A. T. Curle pg 319
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-21-164899540)
Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 573
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-22-164899540)
Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez pg 549,
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-23-164899540)
The town of Amud, Somalia by G.W.B. Huntingford pg 182, 184, The Ruined Towns of Somaliland pg 319, n.4
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-24-164899540)
First Footsteps in East Africa By Richard Francis Burton pg 146
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-25-164899540)
Built on diversity: Statehood in Medieval Somaliland (12th-16th centuries AD) by Jorge de Torres Rodriguez pg 185-187
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-26-164899540)
Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa by Sada Mire pg 20-35, 52-63)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-27-164899540)
Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa by Sada Mire pg 64-68)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval#footnote-anchor-28-164899540)
Islam in Ethiopia By J. Spencer Trimingham pg 85-97, Dakar, capitale du sultanat éthiopien du Barr Sa‘d addīn by Amélie Chekroun, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly 108, Harar as the capital city of the Barr Saʿd ad-Dıˉn by Amélie Chekroun pg 27-28.
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval
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The architectural heritage of pre-colonial Africa includes numerous stone monuments and cities whose construction and function are sufficiently documented in the historical record.
The sandstone temples, palaces, and fortifications of [ancient Kush](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital) and [medieval Nubia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/christian-nubia-muslim-egypt-and?utm_source=publication-search) appear in multiple internal and external accounts of the region. So too do the [stone palaces and churches of Aksum](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-aksum-an?utm_source=publication-search) and [medieval Ethiopia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-gondar-africas?utm_source=publication-search), as well as the mosques and city walls of the [sultanates of the northern Horn of Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian?utm_source=publication-search) and southern Somalia.
In East Africa, local chronicles and external descriptions of [the Swahili coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-political-history-of-the-swahili?utm_source=publication-search), [Comoros](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja?utm_source=publication-search), [Mozambique](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal?utm_source=publication-search), and [northern Madagascar](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-of-stone-77497948) often mention the presence of coral-stone houses, palaces, and mosques that characterized the region's urban architecture. In West Africa, local chronicles and later external accounts describe the drystone towns of [medieval Ghana](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa) and [Gao](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city?utm_source=publication-search), as well as the stone-walled cities and forts from Mali to northern Nigeria.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i2Mt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7192c54f-52ab-4cef-bb87-5e2d600f8d14_630x596.png)
**Distribution of African stone ruins and cities, map by Author.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oIya!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34d97f72-2c25-4825-94d2-7ea12778803b_988x614.png)
_**The temple complex of Musawwarat es Sufra in Sudan.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hdoU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd08165c1-f8df-466f-bf00-e22c28b68311_903x725.png)
_**The Dungur palace at Aksum, Ethiopia.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wBsV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7bcb9059-2221-479b-8bb2-ac3bf04f655c_800x516.jpeg)
_**Houses at Songo Mnara, Tanzania.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!q_ik!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82397fee-f3ce-4fef-bfe1-59ec914a912b_1280x878.jpeg)
_**Ruins of**_[Wadan, Mauritania.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan)
In other parts of the continent, descriptions of stone settlements come exclusively from external accounts and are often fragmentary.
The [Zimbabwe tradition of stone ruins](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great?utm_source=publication-search), which covers an area about the size of France and extends into [eastern Botswana](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone?utm_source=publication-search) and [South Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a?utm_source=publication-search), was first described in a few Portuguese accounts from the 16th century before the ruins were “re-discovered” on the eve of colonialism.
The subsequent debate about the builders of the ruins lent them an enigmatic quality, that came to typify Africa's pre-historic stone structures.
Similar collections of African stone ruins for which there are few historical records of their construction include the ruins of [South Africa's high Veld](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south?utm_source=publication-search) and the neighboring [Bokoni ruins](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-bokoni-egalitarian?utm_source=publication-search), the west African Neolithic sites of Tichitt, [the medieval walled towns of Loropeni](https://www.patreon.com/posts/119309609?pr=true&forSale=true) on the Ghana/Burkina Faso border, [the DGB sites of Cameroon](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-ruins-of-109389947), and the stone ruins of western Kenya.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zp5K!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b8fb5fa-0a35-4eda-840b-90d2d1492d33_1600x1067.jpeg)
_**Valley ruins, Great Zimbabwe.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wU5_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc6672bcf-1bd7-4270-b8e9-446cb2c6a850_814x579.png)
_**[Loropeni ruins, Burkina Faso.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/119309609?pr=true&forSale=true)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eki!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7f8b1859-3d47-43e7-8ae7-1218a115d176_820x540.jpeg)
_**[DGB ruins, Cameroon.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-ruins-of-109389947)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Jlpv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b4fc67a-92cf-4d0b-a7c8-979efb4151e9_2048x1360.jpeg)
_**[Thimlich Ohinga, Kenya.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-ruins-of-129762885)**_
The historical enigma of these African stone ruins has since been solved by combining archaeological research with oral traditions. Studies of the material remains found at these sites have allowed researchers to reconstruct their history by establishing the chronology of the sites’ construction, uncovering the social practices of their occupants, and even identifying the builders of the ruins.
Most of these ruins have thus become the subject of intense scholarly interest and are considered central to the historiography of their respective regions. However, a few of these sites, such as the stone ruins of western Kenya, have not been sufficiently researched despite their historical significance in the emergence of complex societies in the African Great Lakes region.
Archaeological surveys in the southwestern region of Kenya uncovered more than 138 stone-walled ruins containing 521 structures, the largest of which is the UNESCO world heritage site of Thimlich Ohinga whose walls stand at a height of over 4meters.
The earliest recorded accounts of the region bordering the northeastern shores of Lake Victoria describe a land dotted with numerous walled settlements, often compared to forts, with towns and villages surrounded by deep moats and high walls. An estimated 500 forts were built in this region during the pre-colonial period, and some of the forts later became the site of intense battles with colonial forces when they were besieged and destroyed in 1895.
**The stone ruins of Thimlich Ohinga and the forts of western Kenya are the subject of my latest Patreon article.**
**Please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[THE STONE RUINS & FORTS OF WESTERN KENYA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-ruins-of-129762885)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EW8l!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbe72d1cb-3833-4084-be45-ce5a027fddfb_742x717.png)
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i2Mt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7192c54f-52ab-4cef-bb87-5e2d600f8d14_630x596.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oIya!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34d97f72-2c25-4825-94d2-7ea12778803b_988x614.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hdoU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd08165c1-f8df-466f-bf00-e22c28b68311_903x725.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wBsV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7bcb9059-2221-479b-8bb2-ac3bf04f655c_800x516.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!q_ik!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82397fee-f3ce-4fef-bfe1-59ec914a912b_1280x878.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zp5K!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b8fb5fa-0a35-4eda-840b-90d2d1492d33_1600x1067.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wU5_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc6672bcf-1bd7-4270-b8e9-446cb2c6a850_814x579.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eki!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7f8b1859-3d47-43e7-8ae7-1218a115d176_820x540.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Jlpv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b4fc67a-92cf-4d0b-a7c8-979efb4151e9_2048x1360.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EW8l!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbe72d1cb-3833-4084-be45-ce5a027fddfb_742x717.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/demystifying-the-stone-ruins-of-pre
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The Comoros archipelago, a natural stopover between the East African coast and Madagascar, was a crossroads for travelers and seafarers from across the African and Asian continents.
At the nexus of this diverse cultural exchange was the island of Mayotte, whose ethnically heterogeneous population attests to its role as an island bridge connecting the two worlds. On Mayotte, settlements of Shimaore speakers (a Bantu language related to Swahili) alternate with those of Kibushi speakers (an Austronesian language that's a dialect of Malagasy).
In the Middle Ages, urbanized communities on Mayotte participated in the maritime trading networks of the Indian Ocean. After the 15th century, the island was unified by an independent sultanate based at Tsingoni. The Sultanate of Mayotte lasted until the French colonial period in 1841, and the island is currently considered a French overseas department.
This article explores the pre-colonial history of the island of Mayotte from the late 1st millennium to the 19th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8ocy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf3bd309-d175-4a80-b67b-661ca5933cd7_937x631.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more on African history and keep this blog free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The early history of Mayotte**
The territory of Mayotte, known locally as **Maore**, consists of a large island (Grande Terre) of 363 km² that is surrounded by about 30 small islands.
The island of Mayotte, like the rest of the Comoro Archipelago, likely served as a route for Holocene hunter-gatherers from Africa who traveled to Madagascar by island hopping from the East African mainland, as evidenced by finds of stone tools and bones with tool marks found at sites in Madagascar dated to 2288–2035 BC and 402–204 BC.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-1-163770474) Direct evidence from the known archaeological sites on Mayotte itself, however, suggests that the human settlement began during the 1st millennium of the common era, with successive waves of migration continuing into the modern period.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-2-163770474)
The first permanent settlement on Mayotte emerged at Dembeni, a 5ha site that was occupied from the 9th-11th century by a mixed farming and fishing community that lived in rectilinear daub and wattle houses. The material culture of the site consists mostly of local _‘TIW’_ (Triangular incised ware) pottery, which is the material signature of Swahili-speaking groups on the East African coast. There were also imported wares of Abbasid, Persian, and Chinese origin, as well as chlorite schist vases from Madagascar and glassware from Egypt.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-3-163770474)
Unlike some of the early Swahili sites, the island of Mayotte doesn't appear in external accounts before the late 15th century.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-4-163770474) This is despite the relatively high proportion of imported wares that would suggest the presence of seafarers from beyond the East African coast. Other archaeological finds of shell-impressed vessels and chlorite schist vases indicate that the inhabitants of Dembeni were in contact with communities in Madagascar. It has thus been argued that speakers of Austroneanian languages to which the Ki-bushi language belongs, were also present on the island during the Dembeni phase.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-5-163770474)
During the Dembeni period, the Comoros archipelago served as a warehouse for Malagasy products, especially rock crystal, which was described in external Arab accounts as one of the products exported from the ‘Zanj coast’ in the 11th century to be reworked in Fatimid Egypt. The abundance of this material at Dembeni compared to other East African coastal sites indicates that Mayotte was a major transshipment point in the trade circuits of the western Indian Ocean.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-6-163770474)
The Dembeni phase on Mayotte lasted until the 11th/13th century, with two main sites; Dembeni and Bagamoyo, the latter of which is a necropolis dating from the 9th century. This early phase was succeeded by several archaeological sites that are periodized based on the type of local pottery traditions. These sites, which flourished during the late Middle Ages, belong to the Hanyoundrou tradition (11th-13th century); the Acoua tradition (14th century), and the Chingoni tradition (15th century).[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-7-163770474)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ibHA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a58a366-2871-41be-8537-557d3d558943_971x616.png)
_**Sailboats near Mayotte, ca. 1924.**_ BNF, Paris.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!a7Wj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F741a15e1-d6cd-4f8e-bd25-9491ae1ff062_646x427.png)
_**The necropolis of Bagamoyo on Petite Terre, Mayotte.**_ image by M. Pauly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ib9G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4f95fb0-1f8d-4908-bfe4-0cbd44799bf6_886x768.jpeg)
_**Islands and archipelagos of the western Indian Ocean showing the main ocean currents**_. Map by Laurent Berger and Sophie Blanchy[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-8-163770474)
During the late Middle Ages, increased agricultural development resulted in the establishment of large settlements (villages and towns). Most of the structures at these sites were built with daub and wattle, save for elite residencies, a few mosques, and ramparts that were constructed with coral and basalt blocks.
Important settlements from this period include; the site of _**Acoua**_ whose ruins include a stone wall enclosing an area of 4ha dated to the 11th century, a 12th century mosque and several domestic structures; _**Mbwanatsa**_, a 13th century site with a ruined rampart and a mosque; _**Kangani**_, an 11th century site with ruins of stone houses; _**Mitseni**_, an 11th-15th century site with ruins of a rampart, three mosques and tombs; and _**Tsingoni**_, the later capital of the Mayotte Sultanate in the 16th -18th centuries.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-9-163770474)
Excavations at the sites of Bagamoyo (9th-15th century) and Antsiraka Boira (12th century) uncovered Muslim burials, pointing to Mayotte's links with the wider Muslim world. Material culture from the site of Acoua (11th-15th century) included pottery similar to the Swahili wares found at Kilwa, indicating an influx of populations from the latter, especially in the 14th-15th century. The site also contained imported Chinese and Yemeni pottery, and Indian glass beads, providing further evidence of Mayotte's integration into the trading networks of the Indian Ocean world.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-10-163770474)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bN54!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc73bce4-ac24-481d-87d9-42383c608baf_1262x405.png)
_**Ruins of Mitseni, Mayotte**_. images by M. Pauly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QVHZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ddb1e38-9014-40bf-a793-431dd567a737_1020x765.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FA52!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F197eb59e-51ac-48b5-9744-423398ab9586_1020x765.png)
_**The Polé mosque on Petite-Terre, Mayotte**_. images by M. Pauly
**State and society on Mayotte during the late Middle Ages**
From the 11th to the 15th centuries, political power in Mayotte was fragmented into independent chiefdoms that local chronicles attribute to the _**Fani**_, a title for local rulers. The _Fani_ first appeared in written documents in the 1614 account of English captain Walter Peyton, who mentions that the father of the king of the island was called _**Fani Moheli**_. A few years earlier, in 1611, another account noted that this king was called Sariffo booboocarree [Sharifu Aboubacari], indicating links to the Sharifian groups of the Hejaz.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-11-163770474)
Traditional King-lists, oral accounts, and later chronicles for this period refer to a complex history of dynastic intermarriages between local elite families and immigrant families from the Swahili coast who called themselves _**shirazis**_. There were also intermarriages with the Sakalava of Madagascar and Sharifian families from Pate/Yemen. Given the matrilineal character of Comorian society, historical traditions regarding these elite intermarriages contain references to women as founders of important lineages, and at times mention intermarriages with foreign princesses —instead of princes— since power was often transmitted through the female line.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-12-163770474)
The Oral accounts indicate that the _Fani_ dynasty ended with the establishment of the _Shirazi_ dynasty in the late 15th century at the height of the Kilwa sultanate. Historians suggest that these _shirazi_ traditions were a result of the migration of elite families from Kilwa to the Comoros archipelago in the 15th century[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-13-163770474) (where they are attested at [Ngazidja](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-6-140646735) and Nzwani) and the southern Swahili coast at [Tungi in Mozambique](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-37-157684668). In Comoros, the _shirazi_ dynasty's founder, Hassan, is said to have lived in Nzwani from where he sent his son Mohammed to Mayotte, where the latter married the daughter of the _fani_ of Mtsamboro.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-14-163770474)
Mohammed's son Issa then claimed the title of sultan of Mayotte—through his mother’s lineage, and moved to Tsingoni where he built a mosque that bears an inscription with his name and is dated 994 AH (1538 CE). Recent excavations in and around the mosque show that it was preceded by a smaller mosque constructed in the 13th-14th century during the time of the _Fani_ rulers.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-15-163770474)
Between the 15th and 16th centuries, centralized political institutions emerged on the island, with kings called _wafaume_ (Swahili word for king), who unified earlier chiefdoms within the context of growing social hierarchization. In Mayotte's hierarchical society, the aristocracy resided in urban areas like Tsingoni and Mtsamboro which were characterized by coral-stone mosques and palaces, while the countryside was populated by free peasants and slaves living in small hamlets.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-16-163770474)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gdUl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfcfd0d-4b04-4380-a77f-38db28e28940_778x513.png)
_**3D photogrammetric survey of the Tsingoni mosque and the surveys**_. image by A. Daussy, Inrap
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!19MR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21784132-8f05-4fd2-9d52-73eed11263b0_1020x765.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zUwk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff292d9b1-0839-467a-84c7-02e322044931_1286x365.png)
_**Tsingoni mosque and mihrab inscription**_. images by M. Pauly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iVKD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b3008a9-3306-415a-9462-7721b3c8f45b_699x446.png)
_**Old tombs of Tsingoni, Mayotte. ca. 1973**_, Quai Branly.
**Mayotte as a trade hub during the 16th and 17th centuries.**
The European irruption on the East African coast during the 16th century wasn’t felt on Mayotte, as the islands remained on the periphery of the [Portuguese maritime empire that subsumed parts of the Swahili coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from?utm_source=publication-search).
Around 1506, a Portuguese captain at Kilwa mentioned the island of ‘_Maotoe’_ (Mayotte) among the six islands in the Comoro archipelago whose Muslim rulers supplied the Swahili cities of Kilwa and Mombasa with _**“cattle, great mil (sorghum), rice, ginger, fruit, and sugar”.**_ By the mid-16th century, the Portuguese captain Balthazar Lobo de Sousa mentioned that Mayotte was ruled by a single king and had _**“30 ‘cities’ of 300 to 400 inhabitants,”**_ suggesting that the island’s population exceeded 10,000.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-17-163770474)
According to the account of the Turkish admiral Piri Re’is, written in 1521-1526, Portuguese ships attacked the capital Tsingoni in the early 16th century but the fleet had been wrecked on the surrounding reefs and the crew was marooned on the island. He mentions that the island was ruled by a sultan/king (unlike Mwali and Ngazidja which were ruled by _sheikhs_) The sultan of Mayotte ruled from Chin Kuni (Tsingoni) over a population that was ‘black and white’ comprised of Shafi'i Muslims: _**“Among them there is no hypocrisy.”**_[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-18-163770474)
Mayotte and the Comoros archipelago remained important stopovers on maritime trade routes, carrying gold, ivory, iron, and captives, as well as supplying provisions for European ships.
In 1620 the French trader Beaulieu met two ships off Ngazidja coming from Mayotte and heading for Lamu, their port of registry: they were loaded with a great quantity of rice, smoked meat, and “many slaves.” The captives exported from Mayotte and the Comoros archipelago were most likely purchased from Madagascar, where ‘Buki’ (Malagasy) slaves appear in multiple accounts from the 16th-17th century.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-19-163770474)
Piri Re’is early 16th-century description of the islands as ‘warehouses’ for these captives suggests that the trade had a demographic effect on the islands.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-20-163770474) The name ‘Ki-Bushi’ for the Malagasy dialect of Mayotte is itself an exonymous term derived from the Comorian word for Malagasy people as _‘Bushi’_ similar to the Swahili’s _‘Buki’._[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-21-163770474)
In the first half of the 17th century, prior to their establishment of the Cape colony in 1652, the Dutch briefly used the island of Mayotte as a supply point, much like [Nzwani was to the English](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-island-at-the-nexus-of?utm_source=publication-search), albeit to a lesser extent.
In 1601 a Dutch fleet purchased a wide range of provisions, reporting that there were large numbers of cattle and fruit; in 1607 another Dutch ship was able to take on board 366 head of cattle, 276 goats, and ‘an extraordinary quantity of fruit’. In 1613, a Dutch fleet stayed five weeks at Mayotte while mustering strength to attack the Portuguese on Mozambique island. And in I6I5 Mayotte was still the island most frequented by the Dutch in the Comoros. However, the reefs that provided shelter in the lagoon were ultimately too great a hazard forcing the Dutch to abandon the island in favour of the Cape.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-22-163770474)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XbMm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b62ac52-8a1e-4a9d-8582-f6ea4da0a13d_1131x551.png)
_**Outrigger canoe, Basalt rocks, and stone houses. ca. 1955.**_ Mayotte or Ngazidja, Quai Branly.
**Mayotte’s politics from the period of Inter-Island warfare to the early colonial era (1700-1841)**
The rulers of Mayotte were kin to the rulers of Nzwani who claimed seniority and thus suzerainty over Mayotte and the neighboring island of Mwali. However, these links weakened with time as the two islands descended into a protracted period of dynastic rivalry and inter-island war as early as 1614. Tradition attributes this hostility to dynastic factors primarily concerned with the legitimacy of, and hierarchy among, the ruling lineages. These internal processes were exacerbated by the demand for provisions for European ships and the supply of mercenaries from the latter.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-23-163770474)
After a lull in hostilities, succession crises in Mayotte resulted in Nzwani reportedly establishing its suzerainty over Mayotte in the mid-18th century, but in 1781 Mayotte's king refused to pay tribute to Nzwani. The ruler of Nzwani thus invaded Mayotte forcing the latter to pay the tribute, after which Nzwani’s forces withdrew from the island, taking some as captives. In 1791, the ruler of Nzwani invaded Mayotte again with a fleet of 35 boats accompanied by 300 French mercenaries, presumably to obtain tribute and slaves, but the Nzwani army was defeated and the island reverted to the local authority.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-24-163770474)
In the last decade of the 18th century, succession struggles in Nzwani resulted in one of the claimants allying with the Sakalava of Madagascar who were then employed as mercenaries against his rival and neighboring rulers including Mayotte. The capital Tsingoni and the town of Mtsamboro were sacked and the island's population collapsed during [the Sakalava invasion of the East African coast that lasted until 1817](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-episode-of-naval-warfare-on-the?utm_source=publication-search). The ruling dynasty of Mayotte was forced to move to the small island at Dzaoudzi from where they forged alliances with the Sakalava kingdom of Boina.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-25-163770474)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WvhM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb151b639-a818-49a5-9702-5289a5bfe9a6_1040x467.png)
_**View of Dzaoudzi, Mayotte. ca. 1845, by M. Varney and A. Roussi.**_
In 1826, the Sakalava prince Andriantsoli fled from Madagascar to Mayotte, after his kingdom was conquered by the Merina king Radama I. After the latter's death, Andriantsoli returned to reclaim the throne of Boina but was overthrown in a succession conflict, forcing him to flee to Mayotte again in 1832. However, unlike his first exile, the Sakalava prince was not generously received by its ruler Bwana Combo, who attempted to expel the large group of Malagasy that had arrived with him.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-26-163770474)
After a series of wars and shifting alliances involving the three islands of Mayotte, Nzwani, and Mwali, the ruling dynasty of Mayotte briefly ceded the island to the ruler Nzwani, Abdallah II in 1835. Bwana Combo remained the ruler of Mayotte while Andriantsoli became the governor. Bwana Combo then joined forces with Abdallah II to invade the island of Mwali, but their forces were shipwrecked and the two were executed by the ruler of Mwali.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-27-163770474)
Andriantsoli thus became the sultan of Mayotte but was considered an unpopular ruler. Therefore in 1841, well aware that his hold over the island was tenuous, Andriantsoli ceded sovereignty of Mayotte to France but the latter were fiercely resisted by many Maorians in a series of colonial rebellions in 1849, 1854, and 1856. After pacifying the islanders, the French began importing enslaved and forced labor from the East African coast to the island for their sugar plantations. However, the island remained neglected and under-administered, a situation which prevails to the present day.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-28-163770474)
The depopulation of the late 18th century and the import of plantation labor in the colonial period had a significant demographic effect on the island. In 1851, just 17% of the population were native Maorians while 23% were from the rest of Comoros; 26% were Malagasy; and 32% were from Mozambique. By 1866 however, nearly 40% of the population were Maorians, many of whom had doubtlessly been acculturated into the local society through intermarriage. The great majority of Maorais today are thus descended from immigrants who arrived on the island in the 19th century.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-29-163770474)
These processes of acculturation and migration would continue to figure prominently in the political and social identity of Mayotte during the colonial period and would play a significant role in the controversial referenda of 1974 and 1976 when the islanders chose to remain a French overseas territory.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lZ63!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10022360-58f6-457d-b0c8-b53b45aa1a9e_850x573.jpeg)
_**Dhow off the coast of Dzaoudzi, Mayotte. ca. 1955**_. Quai Branly.
Like the Seafarers of the Swahili coast, societies in the interior regions of East Africa traveled across the Great Lakes and established lake ports whose significance to regional trade would be retained well into the modern era.
**The history of Navigation on the African Great Lakes is the subject of my latest Patreon article,**
**Please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[NAVIGATING THE AFRICAN GREAT LAKES](https://www.patreon.com/posts/navigating-great-128629739)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FlQB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d2b1df1-867a-4bc2-9116-e241bda184d4_827x654.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-vBe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5c67c20d-ac5e-457b-bdc7-636dc97ce201_756x474.png)
_**Maorian women at the maulida shengy festival, ca. 1985**_. image by J.S. Solway.
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-1-163770474)
Stone tools and foraging in northern Madagascar challenge Holocene extinction models by Robert E. Dewar, Chantal Radimilahy, Henry T. Wright
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-2-163770474)
The Swahili World edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 268-271
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-3-163770474)
Early Seafarers of the Comoro Islands: the Dembeni Phase of the IXth-Xth Centuries AD by Henry T. Wright et al. Dembéni, Mayotte (976) Archéologie swahilie dans un département français by Stéphane Pradines
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-4-163770474)
Acoua, archéologie d’une communauté villageoise de Mayotte (archipel des Comores) by Martial Pauly pg 23
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-5-163770474)
Early Seafarers of the Comoro Islands: the Dembeni Phase of the IXth-Xth Centuries AD by Henry T. Wright et al. pg 55-57, Dembéni (Mayotte) – rapport de mission archéologique 1999 by Bruno Desachy et al. pg 14-17, Acoua, archéologie d’une communauté villageoise de Mayotte (archipel des Comores) by Martial Pauly pg 26-30, 74-79.
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-6-163770474)
Acoua, archéologie d’une communauté villageoise de Mayotte (archipel des Comores) by Martial Pauly pg 115-116
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-7-163770474)
Développement de l'architecture domestique en pierre à Mayotte (XIIIe-XVIIe siècle), by Martial Pauly pg 8-20, Société et culture à Mayotte aux XIe-XVe siècles: la période des chefferies by Martial Pauly pg 90-91
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-8-163770474)
La fabrique des mondes insulaires Altérités, inégalités et mobilités au sud-ouest de l’océan Indien by Laurent Berger et Sophie Blanchy
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-9-163770474)
Société et culture à Mayotte aux XIe-XVe siècles: la période des chefferies by Martial Pauly pg 92-97
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-10-163770474)
La diffusion de l’islam à Mayotte à l’époque médiévale by Martial Pauly pg 70-86, Acoua-Agnala M'kiri, Mayotte (976), archéologie d'une localité médiévale (XIe-XVe siècles), entre Afrique et Madagascar by Martial Pauly pg 73-88
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-11-163770474)
Société et culture à Mayotte aux XIe-XVe siècles: la période des chefferies by Martial Pauly pg 69-83, 104-108)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-12-163770474)
Société et culture à Mayotte aux XIe-XVe siècles: la période des chefferies by Martial Pauly pg 84-85, Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Bruce Walker pg 39, _On sharifian families_: Les cités - Etats swahili de l'archipel de Lamu , 1585- 1810 by T. Vernet pg 179-180
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-13-163770474)
Acoua, archéologie d’une communauté villageoise de Mayotte (archipel des Comores) by Martial Pauly pg 121-123
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-14-163770474)
Dembéni, Mayotte (976) Archéologie swahilie dans un département français by Stéphane Pradines pg 69-70, Société et culture à Mayotte aux XIe-XVe siècles: la période des chefferies by Martial Pauly pg 85-88
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-15-163770474)
La mosquée de Tsingoni (Mayotte) Premières investigations archéologiques by Anne Jégouzo
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-16-163770474)
Société et culture à Mayotte aux XIe-XVe siècles: la période des chefferies by Martial Pauly pg 104-105
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-17-163770474)
Worlds of the Indian Ocean Vol. 2 by Philippe Beaujard pg 553-554, Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Bruce Walker pg 52-53
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-18-163770474)
L’archipel des Comores et son histoire ancienne. by Claude Allibert prg 34
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-19-163770474)
Slave Trade and Slavery on the Swahili Coast, 1500–1750 by Thomas Vernet pg 44. The Worlds of the Indian Ocean Vol. 2 by Philippe Beaujard pg 560-561,615,
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-20-163770474)
Société et culture à Mayotte aux XIe-XVe siècles: la période des chefferies by Martial Pauly pg 85
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-21-163770474)
L’archipel des Comores et son histoire ancienne. by Claude Allibert prg 20,
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-22-163770474)
The Comoro Islands in Indian Ocean Trade before the 19th century by M. Newitt pg 151-152, Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Bruce Walker pg 70
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-23-163770474)
The Comoro Islands in Indian Ocean Trade before the 19th century by M. Newitt pg 156-157
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-25-163770474)
Dzaoudzi (Mayotte, Petite Terre), Parc de la Résidence des Gouverneurs : Fouille archéologique d’office (2019), Rapport final d’opération. By Michaël Tournadre pg 39-41
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-26-163770474)
Note sur le shungu sha wamaore à Mohéli. Un élément de l’histoire politique et sociale de l’archipel des Comores by Sophie Blanchy, Madi Laguera pg 5-7
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-27-163770474)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Bruce Walker pg 84
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-28-163770474)
The Comoro islands: Struggle against dependency in the Indian Ocean. by M. D. D. Newitt pg 27, Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Bruce Walker pg 85-89
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean#footnote-anchor-29-163770474)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Bruce Walker pg 89)
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-island-bridge-in-the-indian-ocean
|
Pre-colonial African coastal societies had extensive experience with seaborne navigation, which opened up connections between the continent and the rest of the Old World.
Sailors from the Aksumite empire dominated maritime activity in the Red Sea region during late antiquity and were involved in the transshipment of trade goods from India and Sri Lanka to Roman ports in Egypt and Jordan.
Coastal communities in the medieval cities and offshore islands of East Africa, extending from Somalia to Mozambique [built ships that plied the great water routes of the Indian Ocean](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/maritime-trade-shipbuilding-and-african?utm_source=publication-search) from the Arabian coast to Malaysia.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2aHg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8236dd57-838a-4bc0-a0fb-4bc2e6bfec2a_1347x507.png)
_**Dhow under construction, ca. 1945, Tadjourah, Djibouti**_. Quai Branly. _**image of a shipyard with dhows under construction, showing scaffolding and thatching. ca. 1884, Moroni, Grande Comore**_. Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7Hj0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8e1153a-94b1-4ec1-9e59-03f5d2d7128f_834x500.png)
_**Swahili Ship graffiti from Tanzania dated 13th-16th century: a, c: from Great Mosque, Kilwa Kisiwani; b, from Husuni Kubwa, Kilwa Kisiwani; d, from Palace, Songo Mnara; e, from House 17, Songo Mnara.**_ (after Garlake and Garlake 1964).[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-1-163288708)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PIrK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe924fffb-a8a9-4dc5-9fec-8251265dd2f4_700x892.jpeg)
_**Illustration of a ship engaged in the East African trade in the Persian Gulf. 1237, Maqamat al-Hariri.**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-2-163288708)
While the relatively well-documented external navigation of these African societies along the Eastern coast of the continent has attracted significant scholarly interest, there is less research on internal waterborne traffic within the continent, whose lakes and rivers are erroneously thought to have been impossible to navigate.
Despite the often-repeated claim that Africa lacked navigable waterbodies, there’s plenty of historical evidence for trade and travel across the continent’s many rivers, lakes, and coastal waterways which contradicts this popular misconception.
The historian John Thornton argues that the Niger-Senegal-Gambia river complex united a considerable portion of West Africa from Senegal through the Hausalands and down to Benin, into a hydrographic system that was ultimately connected to the Atlantic. He writes:
_**“Geographical ideas held by Africans and outsiders alike in the sixteenth century conflated all these rivers —the Senegal, Gambia, Niger, and Benue— into a single ‘Nile of the Blacks’ ultimately connected to the Nile of Egypt. Although it is mistaken geography, it is a real reflection of the transport possibilities of river routes.”**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-3-163288708)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8oKw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20543118-dfd3-48ed-8d1a-37b008912f8d_793x570.png)
_**Navigable sections of the Niger River.**_ Map by author from a study on**[the History of Navigation of the Niger River](https://www.patreon.com/posts/79454230?pr=true)**. _note that this study doesn’t include the navigable sections of the Senegal, Gambia, and Benue rivers._
The historical evidence of navigation along the Niger River from Guinea to Nigeria's delta region supports Thornton's argument. Local chronicles from the 17th century combined with European travel accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries [document the extensive use of large river barges on the Niger River](https://www.patreon.com/posts/79454230?pr=true) for trade and travel between the great cities of the region.
These barges and other large rivercraft could carry more cargo than porters and most caravans, significantly reducing the cost of transportation and increasing the volume of regional trade.
The river barges of the Songhai empire that were mentioned in the 17th-century Timbuktu chronicles, could carry up to 30 tonnes of grain from Djenne to Gao. The same barges were encountered by the French traveler Rene Caillie in the 1820s, who mentions that the barges had a capacity of 60-80 tons, measured about 100ft long and 14ft wide, had a crew of 18 including the captain, and could accommodate more than 50 other passengers alongside their animals and cargo.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-4-163288708)
In the lower section of the Niger River in Nigeria where one visitor in 1832 claimed that _**“there appeared to be twice as much traffic going forward here as in the upper parts of the Rhine,”**_ large vessels measuring 70ft long and 8 ft wide, with benches for 20 rowers and a capacity to carry 80 passengers and their cargo, were being constructed as early as the 17th century.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-5-163288708)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!eEXQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F603a61c6-25e6-43a7-bb9d-fa558677ffd0_776x573.png)
_**Barge on Timbuktu's river port of Kabara, ca. 1930-1939**_, Quai Branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qvh6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b1c9014-585c-4672-aa2a-d91b32930b6c_800x349.jpeg)
_**Large canoe with a square sail and partially sheltered deck, on the Ogun River near Lagos, Nigeria, ca. 1883.**_ Basel mission archives.
Riverine transport was greatly preferred by the merchants in this region. Whereas a porter would carry 60-70 lbs and a donkey would carry 100-120 lbs, a small canoe would carry 2 tons and a large one 20-30 tons of trade goods. What two men could accomplish propelling a small canoe would be carried by 64 porters, and a big canoe could replace more than 600 porters.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-6-163288708)
Thornton also argues that the region of West-Central Africa was oriented by its rivers, especially the lower Congo and the Kwanza rivers which bore substantial commerce. The Kwanza in particular was a major artery of commerce for neighboring African kingdoms such as Angola/Ndongo and played a significant role in the military history of the region. So too did the Congo River and its tributaries, where riverine trade flourished among societies along the lower sections of the river.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-7-163288708)
This riverine commerce was ultimately connected with coastal commerce as African vessels plied the coastal waters between central Africa and West Africa.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AQoK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64dba893-d7e0-4001-bc90-07dcb8a98e59_600x373.png)
_**Illustration of a Dhow on the Congo River, ca. 1888**_, D.R.C
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fCm8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faabf8c56-8c74-482c-bb10-dc2f39ac0580_1000x651.jpeg)
_**Local sailboats near Dakar, Senegal, ca. 1906-1910**_, Edmond Fortier collection
My previous essay on [Seafaring, trade, and travel in the African Atlantic](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the?utm_source=publication-search), shows how local maritime activity by African sailors along the continent’s Atlantic shoreline created a highway that nurtured trade, travel, and migration from West Africa to west-Central Africa. Some of the maritime societies of this region such as the Mpongwe of Gabon constructed large sailboats which were so well built that they _**“would land them, under favorable circumstances, in South America”**_ according to a 19th-century visitor.
Similar dynamics of waterborne travel were attested in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, where the lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, and Malawi have been navigable for much of their known history.
In this region, a series of some of Earth's largest freshwater lakes constituted a crucial waterway for trade and travel between the various kingdoms and societies of the East African mainland. Using a variety of watercraft ranging from sea-worthy Dhows to large riverine canoes that could carry up to 80 passengers; travelers, merchants, and navies from surrounding lacustrine societies crisscrossed these vast waterbodies and established lake ports whose significance to regional trade would be retained well into the modern era.
**The history of Navigation on the African Great Lakes is the subject of my latest Patreon article,**
**please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[NAVIGATING THE AFRICAN GREAT LAKES](https://www.patreon.com/posts/navigating-great-128629739)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FlQB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d2b1df1-867a-4bc2-9116-e241bda184d4_827x654.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7YfX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ad8e97a-a6b5-4b99-9c53-7c0b3a16461a_726x477.png)
_**Dhow near Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi.**_ Alamy Images.
Thanks for reading African History Extra! This post is public so feel free to share it.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-anchor-1-163288708)
When Did the Swahili Become Maritime? by Jeffrey Fleisher et al.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-anchor-2-163288708)
Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by D. J. Mattingly pg 147
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-anchor-3-163288708)
Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 by John Thornton pg 19
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-anchor-4-163288708)
Timbuktu and Songhay by John Hunwick pg xxxi, li, 304 n.38, African Dominion by Micahel Gomez pg 341-342, Travels through central Africa by René Caillié Vol. 2, pg 5, 9-12
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-anchor-5-163288708)
The Canoe in West African History by Robert Smith pg 518, 528
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-anchor-6-163288708)
Human porterage in Nigeria by Deji Ogunremi pg 39)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history#footnote-anchor-7-163288708)
Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 by John Thornton pg 19, River of Wealth, River of Sorrow: the Central Zaire Basin in the era of the slave and ivory trade, 1500-1891 by R.W.Harms,
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2aHg!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8236dd57-838a-4bc0-a0fb-4bc2e6bfec2a_1347x507.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7Hj0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8e1153a-94b1-4ec1-9e59-03f5d2d7128f_834x500.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8oKw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20543118-dfd3-48ed-8d1a-37b008912f8d_793x570.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!eEXQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F603a61c6-25e6-43a7-bb9d-fa558677ffd0_776x573.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qvh6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b1c9014-585c-4672-aa2a-d91b32930b6c_800x349.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AQoK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64dba893-d7e0-4001-bc90-07dcb8a98e59_600x373.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fCm8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faabf8c56-8c74-482c-bb10-dc2f39ac0580_1000x651.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FlQB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d2b1df1-867a-4bc2-9116-e241bda184d4_827x654.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7YfX!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ad8e97a-a6b5-4b99-9c53-7c0b3a16461a_726x477.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/navigable-waterways-in-african-history
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The eastern plateau of South Africa, known as the Highveld, is dotted with the ruins of numerous stone towns founded at the end of the Middle Ages.
These pre-colonial capitals are some of the most visually striking built environments in southern Africa, and were, before their destruction, the largest urban settlements in the region, rivaling the colonial capital of Cape Town.
While Iron Age archaeology of southern Africa was initially concerned with the older and better-known ruins of [Great Zimbabwe](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great) and [Mapungubwe](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a?utm_source=publication-search), a growing number of researchers have broadened their focus to take in sites farther south in the pre-colonial societies of the Sotho-Tswana speakers.
This article outlines the archeological history of the stone towns on the Highveld and explores the reasons for their abandonment in the early 19th century.
**Map of South Africa showing some of the largest stone ruins in the HighVeld.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-1-162755041)**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JNcz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F892ee052-4103-4947-a932-bc660babea90_801x589.png)
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[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The stone towns of the northern Highveld**
The pre-colonial capitals of the various polities on the Highveld were described as large and densely populated when they first appeared in the documentary record during the early 19th century. Many of the first visitors who encountered these agglomerated settlements which were predominantly inhabited by speakers of the Sotho-Tswana languages, were often impressed by their scale and organization.
In 1820, the traveler John Campbell referred to Kaditshwene as a city[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-2-162755041), while Robert Moffat in 1843 described a more northerly Tswana capital as a metropolis and was _**“greatly surprised on beholding the number of towns which lay scattered in the valleys.”**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-3-162755041)
Another account by Arbousset and Daumas in 1836, which describes the capital of the Tlokoa polity, notes that _**“Their capital, Merabing, is built on the summit of a mountain. this stronghold is approached by two openings on the western side, which are very appropriately called Likorobetloa, or the hewn gates. These are narrow passages defended on both sides by strong walls of stones in the form of ramparts. By this simple defence, added to the work of nature, the inhabitants of Merabing have been enabled to sustain many protracted sieges. In time of peace the town numbers thirteen or fourteen hundred inhabitants; but in time of war it affords protection to a far greater number, who flee thither from the neighbouring kraals.”**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-4-162755041)
Descriptions of these capitals leave little doubt that they correspond to the present ruins found all over the Highveld, some of which were already abandoned by the early 19th century.
Moffat's account mentions that he encountered _**“the ruins of innumerable towns, some of which were of amazing extent... The ruins of many towns showed signs of immense labour and perseverance; stone fences, averaging from four to seven feet high, raised apparently without mortar, hammer or line. The raising of the stone fences must have been a work of immense labour, for the materials had all to be brought on the shoulders of men, and the quarries where these materials were probably obtained were at a considerable distance.”**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-5-162755041)
Archeological research has shown that at the end of the 15th century, the Highveld region south of the Vaal River saw dense concentrations of agropastoralist settlements, with economies based on cereal cultivation (mainly sorghum and millet) and livestock transhumance. Initially, their building traditions featured wood-and-pole and dry-walled stone construction, but by the early 18th century dry-stone became the most prevalent architectural material in the region.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-6-162755041)
It was during this period that agglomerated stone-built townscapes like Molokwane, Kaditshwene, and Bokoni***** proliferated across the northern highveld. These massive, sprawling towns incorporated a wide variety of architectural spaces, including semiprivate courtyards and living areas, cattle kraals and passages running through the center of local activity, public courts, and areas used for crafts.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-7-162755041)
[ *****On the stone ruins of Bokoni, please read: **[‘Egalitarian systems and agricultural technology in pre-colonial South Africa.’](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-bokoni-egalitarian)** ]
On the northern Highveld, agglomerated towns like Molokwane, Marothodi, and Kaditshwene represented the late 18th-century capitals of Kwena, Tlokwa, and Hurutshe states. The largest of these is Molokwane, covering an estimated 5km2. John Campbell, who visited Kaditshwene (Kurreechane) in 1820, reported a population of 16,000 to 20,000, apparently more than that of Cape Town at the time. A similarly sized capital was Pitsane of the Baralong, located further north in Botswana, it was said to have about 20,0000 inhabitants according to Robert Moffat.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-8-162755041)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_hhN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F23d0233e-37b5-459c-a90d-ba3964a56f31_961x530.png)
_**Molokwane ruins.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DYzo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3a79bdba-02a1-47e8-ae52-dcea31f2b10a_880x567.png)
_**Aerial view of the main settlement unit at Marothodi**_. image by J.C.A Boeyens.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-9-162755041)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RPn9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb08bf333-fc94-40cd-876d-6d5e339d73d3_850x537.png)
_**Aerial view of Kaditshwene Hill.**_ image by Gernot Langwieder[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-10-162755041)
The layouts of these settlements demonstrated different attitudes toward the control of space and resources. Molokwane’s and Marothodi’s layouts emphasized the location of cattle in a central, communal area, while Kaditshwene’s cattle were more spatially segregated from communal life. Marothodi featured evidence of significant metalworking of copper and iron, some of which was likely exported to Molokwane, which yielded finds of worked metal but no evidence of metalworking.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-11-162755041)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2a61!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc16789dd-3695-4c1c-aea9-67ef20046ca3_1010x718.png)
_**Site plan of the main ward (kgoro) in the kgosing of Kaditshwene.**_ image by J.C.A Boeyens
The inhabitants of these capitals were ruled by sovereign kings (_**dikgosi**_). Their capitals contained wards administered by appointed headmen, these wards were comprised of several dwellings, a cattle pen, and a court (_**kgotla**_); the primary, formal forum where judicial, political, and administrative affairs were debated. These features of Tswana society, which are first mentioned in the early 19th century accounts by various visitors to the region, were better described in early 20th century accounts of Tswana communities in the region.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-12-162755041)
Among the most distinctive features of the ruined capitals of the northern Highveld was the _kgotla_, next to this was the homestead of the chief and the central kraal complex. These were surrounded by a maze of wards and homesteads (_kgoro_) of the commoners, along with their kraals, all of which were bisected by stone walled lanes leading to different sections of the site which served various functions.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-13-162755041)
Some pre-colonial Tswana capitals were divided into three geographical zones the _kgosing_ in the centre (_fa gare_), and an upper (_ntlha ya godimo or kwa godimo_), and a lower division (_ntlha ya tlase or kwa tlase_) on either side. Each division consisted of a number of wards (_dikgoro_), comprising a number of lineages (_masika_). Besides wards of the royals (_dikgosana_), the _kgosing_ in the center comprised wards of the kgosi's retainers . The inhabitants of the other two divisions consisted of persons not specially bound to the _kgosi_ and included royals as well as commoners and immigrants.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-14-162755041)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZtJb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb08dbe5e-34d8-41db-8fdf-9bd1b748d36f_849x552.png)
_**Ruins of Kaditshwene**_, image by J. C.A. Boeyens.
[On the history of Kaditshwene, please read: **[Revolution and Upheaval in pre-colonial Southern Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/revolution-and-upheaval-in-pre-colonial)**. ]
**The ruined stone towns of the central and southern Highveld**
In this region of the Highveld, regional settlement proceeded at a more modest scale from the 15th century. While early architectural trends featured walling made of reeds, stone became the main building material from the 17th century at sites like Makgwareng and Kweneng. The typical household unit here featured a bilobial layout that linked three circular enclosures separating various domestic functions, and the material culture found within these units provided evidence for craft specialization and exchange.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-15-162755041)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ymEg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65543867-49e3-4ab9-a763-4ca9161b0b85_655x574.png)
_**Plan of a Molokwane-type homestead on the Highveld showing ‘scalloped’ perimeter walls, cattle track, cattle byres, and placement of ash**_. Image by Rachel King
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k3p7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6179687c-fe94-4ea5-897c-c73f7c2c7d75_729x500.png)
_**Outline of the ruins of a stone dwelling with a bilobial layout, at OXF 1; known as Matloang.**_ image by Tim Maggs
Makgwareng represented one of a number of settlement layouts observable on the southern Highveld, many of which featured large perimeter walls encircling rondavels whose architectural compositions included elements like corbelling, paved courtyards, and multiple ‘lobes’ in a single dwelling. The archaeologist Tim Maggs has identified several other similar sites across the southern Highveld using aerial photographs taken in the 1960s, and categorized them into four settlement types; N, V, Z, and R. The ruins at Makgwareng belong to type V, whose most distinctive feature is the corbelled stone dwellings and is thus the most archeologically visible of the four settlement types.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-16-162755041)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!s6gw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd02f3399-6e45-444b-861a-b19dfb98162c_799x391.png)
_**Stone-walled structures at Makgwareng, Free State, South Africa**_. Image by Tim Maggs
Excavations at the site of Makgwareng (known by its Sotho name of _lekgwara_ —stony hill/the place of stones) revealed multiple episodes of building across various zones beginning in 1520-1660. Material culture recovered from the site included local pottery, faunal remains, copper and iron objects, and a few trade items such as glass beads. In its later occupation phase, the number of stock pens decreased as human habitation increased. Finds of valuable material left in situ indicate that the site was hurriedly abandoned around the early 19th century, possibly due to the conflict between Hlubi and the Tlokoa just 60km away.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-17-162755041)
North of Makgwareng is the ruined capital of Kweneng, which is made up of three sectors of clustered districts, each comprising several clusters of compounds, the largest of which contained over forty houses. Within each compound, circular stone-walled enclosures demarcated spaces for various functions, and a few compounds contained stone towers of unknown function. Unlike many of its peers, few of the stone-walled enclosures at Kweneng served as stock pens, save for two large enclosures near the central sector. There are a number of narrow passageways lined with stone that were likely used as roads and cattle drives. The settlement was constructed in multiple phases and is dated to between the 15th and 18th centuries.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-18-162755041)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JP7W!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F87ac2851-fc5a-4084-9da4-1fa37f8d8465_875x444.png)
_**Examples of architectural styles at Kweneng. A) Type N; B-C) Klipriviersberg style; D-G) Molokwane style; H) Group IV**_. image by Karim Sadr
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K6bp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f566eb1-060a-41d6-93b6-43511f85c374_957x555.png)
_**Some examples of stone towers at Kweneng. Top row (A–C) shows images from Kweneng Central while the bottom row (D–F) is from Kweneng South. The middle image (E) in the bottom row shows the monumental tower: note the folded umbrella for scale, as well as the standing section of the tower.**_ image and caption by Karim Sadr.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-19-162755041)
According to the archaeologist Karim Sadr, Kweneng is considerably larger than the other known ancient Sotho-Tswana capitals in South Africa, such as Molokwane and Kaditshwene. While Kaditshwene measures 4.5 km long and 1 km wide, and Molokwane is about 2.7 km long and about 750 m wide, the portion of Kweneng surveyed by LiDAR is 10 km long and 2 km wide. However, as with Molokwane and Kaditshwene, it is not clear whether all of Kweneng was occupied concurrently or its three sectors represent three consecutive capitals, especially since Tswana capitals were often abandoned and rebuilt elsewhere.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-20-162755041)
Not far from Kweneng are the ruined settlements called Boschoek and Sun Shadow. The sites are part of a cluster of stone-walled ruins built in the Molokwane style, featuring a scalloped perimeter wall, with a few openings into the residential zone which surrounded the central livestock pens. their ceramics belong to the Buispoort facies found in neighbouring sites and are associated with Tswana-speaking groups. The material remains found at both sites indicate that the settlements were abandoned relatively quickly.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-21-162755041)
Other important sites include; Nstuanatsatsi, whose ruins are mentioned in the account of Arbusset and Dauma 1846 in the origin of the Sotho. The site features Type-N settlement patterns, which are the oldest building style, and Type-V patterns, which indicate continued occupation. Dated samples from the site yielded a range of 1330-1440 CE, making it the oldest settlement on the Highveld. Another site is OXF1, which is known by the Sotho name of Matloang. The ruins extend over an area of about 1.2 x 0.5 km and are comprised of densely concentrated units characteristic of Type-Z settlements, some with multi-lobial houses and a few cobbled roundavels similar to Makgwareng.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-22-162755041)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Jm4t!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb0a15e-5cd5-442f-a834-82e14100bb38_725x508.png)
_**Air photograph of part of the Nstuanatsatsi settlement showing Type N settlement units**_. Image by Tim Maggs.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yk6k!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd47dc895-ca98-422e-8caa-11e8a777a88d_889x559.png)
_**Section of the type-Z site ruins at OXF 1; known as Matloang, with walling built of thin flat slabs**_. image by Tim Maggs
**Sedentarism, Mobility, and Warfare: why the ruined towns of the Highveld were abandoned.**
_**“Many an hour have I walked, pensively, among the scenes of desolation —casting my thoughts back to the period when these now ruined habitations teemed with life and revelry. Nothing now remained but dilapidated walls, heaps of stones, and rubbish, mingled with human skulls, which, to a contemplative mind, told their ghastly tale.”**_
Travelers in the early 19th century who encountered these towns often attributed their abandonment to the regional warfare of the so-called _mfecane_ wars —a prolonged period of regional warfare in southern Africa. Robert Moffat’s account, which is quoted in the above paragraph, attributes the sack of some of these towns to the armies of the Ndebele king Mzilikazi.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-23-162755041)
This interpretation has been partially corroborated by the archaeological research at some of the sites described above. While many of the accounts had certainly been exaggerated by the biases of these external observers, the conflicts of the period were evidently disruptive. Yet despite the devastation, several polities survived this upheaval and were encountered by the same authors, indicating that its effects were varied.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-24-162755041)
Additionally, recent archaeological work on several sites across the plateau undermines this singular interpretation and has shown that the mobility of agro-pastoralist communities in this region was fairly commonplace well before the 19th century. This indicates that the abandonment of some of these capitals was unrelated to the _mfecane,_ but was likely tied to more localized factors.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-25-162755041)
At the site of Kweneng for example, only one of the sampled houses in one of the two tested compounds shows evidence of a violent end and hasty abandonment. The other eight sampled lobes in the two compounds showed no evidence of burnt and hastily abandoned houses. This indicates that Kweneng may have been largely abandoned before the arrival of the Ndebele armies in the region during the late 1820s.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-26-162755041)
Despite the seemingly permanent nature of the settlements, residents of some of the towns migrated semi-regularly within the vicinity of the town and beyond. Their populations often fluctuated significantly after the installation of new rulers as the latter reorganized the capital in order to accommodate changing social relations. Oral traditions of the Hurutshe for example, identify the following as their capitals in chronological order; Tswenyane, Powe, Rabogadi, Mmutlagae, Mmakgame, **Kaditshwene**, and Mosega.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-27-162755041)
These internal shifts are also mentioned in 19th-century accounts of the capitals. The town of Litakun/Litakoo/Lattakoo., which was the capital of the Batlaping polity, moved three times in 20 years, and its population fluctuated significantly. When Samuel Daniell visited the place in 1801, the population was estimated at between 10,000 and 15,000 inhabitants. However, William Burchell reported 5,000 inhabitants in 1812. [28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-28-162755041)This was a full decade before the Battle of Dithakong in 1823, which is considered part of the _mfecane_, which points to internal processes for this decline.
The stone settlements of the Highveld were the product of multiple internal and regional processes such as the centralization of political power by rulers the accumulation of cattle wealth, competition between chiefdoms, population growth, and ecological stress. While stone architecture may be relatively permanent, its production and maintenance were firmly located within peoples’ changing relationships with the surrounding landscape and resources.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-29-162755041)
Both internal processes and regional upheaval influenced the settlement patterns of Sotho-Tswana capitals, as well as the abandonment and establishment of new towns. The ruined stone-towns of the Highveld are thus the cumulative legacy of social complexity in southern Africa, preserving fragments of its dynamic social, economic, and political history as it evolved from the end of the Middle Ages to the dawn of the colonial era.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GNpq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd5590992-49c7-4f17-8f01-6b4eaadab96d_673x451.png)
_**View of Makgwareng, Free State, South Africa, from the northeast after excavation**_. Image by Timm Maggs.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-30-162755041)
**My latest Patreon article is about the gold standard of pre-colonial Asante in West Africa, whose economy and political hierarchy were strongly linked to the use of the precious metal as currency.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[GOLD STANDARD OF ASANTE](https://www.patreon.com/posts/127531257?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jKdR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5c4ce333-a758-46b0-9cce-3aeca963d745_1123x605.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-1-162755041)
Map by Karim Sadr, modified by author
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-2-162755041)
A Journey to Lattakoo, in South Africa. Abridged from the Author [from His "Travels in South Africa"]. [With a Map.] by John Campbell
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-3-162755041)
Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa By Robert Moffat pg 394
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-4-162755041)
Outlaws, Anxiety, and Disorder in Southern Africa: Material Histories of the Maloti-Drakensberg by Rachel King pg 109-110
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-5-162755041)
Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa By Robert Moffat pg 523-524
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-6-162755041)
Outlaws, Anxiety, and Disorder in Southern Africa: Material Histories of the Maloti-Drakensberg by Rachel King pg 114, The Late Iron Age Sequence in the Marico and Early Tswana History by Jan C. A. Boeyens pg 75
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-7-162755041)
Outlaws, Anxiety, and Disorder in Southern Africa: Material Histories of the Maloti-Drakensberg by Rachel King pg 115
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-8-162755041)
The spatial patterns of Tswana stone-walled towns in perspective Gerald Steyn pg 110-118, 122, 101
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-9-162755041)
The Entangled Past: Integrating Archaeology, Oral Tradition and History in the South African Interior by JCA Boeye
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-10-162755041)
A tale of two Tswana towns: In quest of Tswenyane and the twin capital of the Hurutshe in the Marico by Jan C.A. Boeyens
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-11-162755041)
Outlaws, Anxiety, and Disorder in Southern Africa: Material Histories of the Maloti-Drakensberg by Rachel King pg 123
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-12-162755041)
Kweneng: A Newly Discovered Pre-Colonial Capital Near Johannesburg Karim Sadr pg 1-2
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-13-162755041)
The spatial patterns of Tswana stone-walled towns in perspective by Gerald Steyn pg 115-118
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-14-162755041)
The Late Iron Age Sequence in the Marico and Early Tswana History by Jan C. A. Boeyens pg 71
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-15-162755041)
Iron Age Communities of the Southern Highveld by Tim Maggs pg 3-6, 130, 238-244)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-16-162755041)
Iron Age Patterns and Sotho history on the southern Highveld: South Africa by T Maggs pg 320-325 Iron Age Communities of the Southern Highveld by Tim Maggs pg 28-48
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-17-162755041)
Iron Age Communities of the Southern Highveld by Tim Maggs pg 48, 129-137
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-18-162755041)
Kweneng: A Newly Discovered Pre-Colonial Capital Near Johannesburg Karim Sadr pg 4-16
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-19-162755041)
The stone towers of Kweneng in Gauteng Province by Karim Sadr
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-20-162755041)
Kweneng how to lose a precolonial city by Karim Sadr
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-21-162755041)
Diving into the collections: Analysing two excavated Sotho-Tswana compounds in the Suikerbosrand, Gauteng Province. By Christopher Hodgson and Karim Sadr
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-22-162755041)
Iron Age Communities of the Southern Highveld by Tim Maggs pg 140-159, 230-235
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-23-162755041)
Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa By Robert Moffat pg 345-348
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-24-162755041)
Iron Age Communities of the Southern Highveld by Tim Maggs pg 310-311
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-25-162755041)
Re-constructing Tswana Townscapes: Toward a Critical Historical Archaeology by Paul Lane, The Late Iron Age Sequence in the Marico and Early Tswana History by Jan C. A. Boeyens
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-26-162755041)
Report on the test pit excavations at two stone-walled compounds in Kweneng North by Karim Sadr & Christopher Hodgson 9-10, Kweneng: A Newly Discovered Pre-Colonial Capital Near Johannesburg Karim Sadr pg 3)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-27-162755041)
The Late Iron Age Sequence in the Marico and Early Tswana History by Jan C. A. Boeyens pg 68-69
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-28-162755041)
The spatial patterns of Tswana stone-walled towns in perspective by Gerald Steyn pg 105
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-29-162755041)
The Late Iron Age Sequence in the Marico and Early Tswana History by Jan C. A. Boeyens pg 70-71, Outlaws, Anxiety, and Disorder in Southern Africa: Material Histories of the Maloti-Drakensberg by Rachel King pg 118-119
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south#footnote-anchor-30-162755041)
The Archaeology of Southern Africa By Peter Mitchell pg 369
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-towns-on-the-highveld-of-south
|
A bewildering variety of currencies circulated freely in the various states and societies of Africa during the pre-colonial period.
In his description of commercial life in 19th-century Timbuktu, the German traveler Heinrich Barth gives us a fascinating insight into the complexity of currency exchanges involving gold dust, cowries, cloth, and salt bars, which were all used as currencies in the city’s markets.
He mentions that a slab of salt, about 3.5ft long, was exchanged for between 3,000 to 6,000 cowrie shells depending on the season, while large quantities above 9 slabs were exchanged for six _turkedi_ (dyed tunics [manufactured in Kano](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry), Nigeria), and 8 slabs could fetch six _mithqāl_ of gold depending on the distance.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-1-162252162)
Among the land documents of late 18th century Ethiopia are records of several transactions made by a noblewoman named Sanayt from Bagemder, who sold and bought land on multiple occasions. Among some of the three land purchases she made; two were measured in gold ounces, and one of them was measured in salt bars and the _Thaler_ —silver coins of Queen Maria Theresa I of Austria. The manuscripts show that the exchange rates between these currencies were often measured against the _Thaler_.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-2-162252162)
A similar situation prevailed in the kingdom of Kongo during the early 17th century, where the predominant currencies were _nzimbu_ cowry-shells and [luxury textiles](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/textile-trade-and-industry-in-the), whose values were measured against each other and the Portuguese _reis_. The most expensive dyed cloth was valued at 640 _reis_ a piece in eastern Kongo but most of it was bought with cowries, with 1,000 of these shells being exchanged for 16—20 Portuguese _reis_ in Mbanza Kongo.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-3-162252162)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pmOb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d2ee818-bb68-42bd-95cb-1b543fda3b83_760x621.png)
_**‘Gold merchants' in Timbuktu, Mali, ca. 1896**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Taf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd5cd06f0-f440-4ebc-92c3-2c382d61cc7b_811x633.png)
_**12th-century painting of a financial transaction between two men, with one giving the other a handful of gold coins**_. [Old Dongola](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/self-representation-in-african-art#footnote-anchor-42-127386816), Sudan.
In most parts of the continent, trade in regional markets and other local transactions were mediated through many forms of money, including “classical” currencies such as coins, and commodity currencies like cowries, gold-dust, cloth, and salt which were standardized, could be stored, and were in high demand. Many of these types of exchanges were characterized by a variable rate of transactional money use and a degree of flexibility in currency substitution.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-4-162252162)
The production of such monies and the management of what we would now refer to as “exchange rates” between the different currency systems was restrained by discretionary political considerations and was generally localized to particular frontiers at the interface of different economic and value systems.
For example, traders used a measured weight of gold dust called the _mithqāl_ in the northern parts of western Africa, along with specific units of cowry shells and lengths of cloth, whose use extended into the forest regions and along the Atlantic coast, where all three currencies were used alongside other monies eg silver coins and manilla.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-5-162252162)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PvW9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F258e53f9-e5c8-40dd-a7f6-61cc865f8be9_659x528.png)
_**Continuum of consumption of money in West Africa before 1800**_. image by James L.A. Webb
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mKPu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F61321c36-bc5d-4298-83f2-3c4b35c1228b_727x423.png)
_**Changing value ratios of gold, silver, and cowries in the ‘western Soudan’**_. image by Philip Curtin
African states could, with varying degrees of success, control the circulation and use of currencies by imposing the payment of taxes in a specific currency, restricting the amount of currency in circulation using state treasuries, fixing prices of certain items, or issuing their own coinage.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-6-162252162)
Examples of African societies that minted their own coins include the Aksumite empire at Aksum (Ethiopia), the Mahdiyya at Omdurman (Sudan), at least seven East African cities (Shanga, Pemba, Zanzibar, Kilwa, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Lamu)[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-7-162252162), and the cities of [Harar (Ethiopia)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-harar-the-city#footnote-anchor-14-88379556), Nikki (Benin), Arawan (Mali),[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-8-162252162) Tadmekka (Mali) and the medieval empire of Kanem (Chad).[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-9-162252162)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mF1R!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8edb3cd9-7cf0-4cbd-8205-94877170325e_1000x707.jpeg)
_**Gold coin of King Ebana of Aksum, found in Yemen**_, ca. 450-500. British Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hUjV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fda0e342c-fb8a-4bcd-ac85-868aea93fdad_800x371.jpeg)
_**Gold coins from Kilwa Kisiwani**_, _**14th century, Tanzania**_. image by Helen Brown.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JNF9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7d2e973d-3823-4d08-9687-a4a8427d162a_866x286.png)
_**Silver coins from Essouk-Tadmekka, Mali**_. image by Sam Nixon.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qwcj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd432e8a8-da41-49d3-aa47-f10c64048182_997x491.png)
_**Gold Mahdi coin, late 19th century, Sudan**_. British Museum
In most of the societies where coins were minted (or circulated), the currencies were part of a complex monetary system characterized by the simultaneous circulation and acceptance of multiple currencies, including foreign coins —as was the case for most economies across the old world— and local commodity currencies.
Coins minted at Aksum, Harar, the Swahili coast, and Tadmekka were used alongside foreign coins from the Roman and Islamic world, with both local and foreign coins often found in the same hoards.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ENcI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdee77af1-3a01-46a5-b766-e3c3206d5863_526x428.png)
_**collection of gold jewelry, including 14 Roman coins of the Antonine era, crosses, and three chains**_. ca. 6th-7th century CE. late Aksumite period. Matara, Eritrea. image by Kebbedé Bogalé.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-10-162252162)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Va3s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F390bb3fc-db3a-435b-a524-e66fc1b3aa02_626x445.png)
_**The Mtambwe Mkuu hoard of silver coins, Pemba Island, Tanzania**_. image by Stephanie Wynne-Jones.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-11-162252162) Most of these coins were minted in Kilwa while others were from Fatimid Egypt.
The silver coins minted in Mombasa and Lamu during the 18th and 19th centuries were pegged to a fixed measure of grain and were used alongside the thaler which was also used as a unit of account.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-12-162252162)
Additionally, in Ethiopia, Bornu, Sokoto, and the Senegambia region where _thalers_ circulated, the silver coins were later melted down to make jewelry and other silver objects, further blurring the divide between so-called classical and commodity currencies.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-13-162252162)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WM13!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8139fc18-dcdb-4610-a94c-1d550a48eab8_1088x652.jpeg)
_**silver jewelry with rosette-shaped bezels and red stones.**_ late 19th-early 20th century, Harar, Ethiopia. Quai Branly.
Most states therefore chose not to impose a uniform pattern of currency use over an extended period, preferring instead, a more flexible monetary system for their economies, which left traders with a free hand. The maintenance of a single type of currency for a wide range of transactions is thus only attested in a handful of pre-colonial African societies and was relatively uncommon in world history, hence the need for ‘money changers’ in many cities.
Among the most notable exceptions was the west African kingdom of Asante in modern Ghana whose rulers created a monetary system based on gold-dust. Located in one of the richest gold-producing regions in the world, the economy of pre-colonial Asante and its political hierarchy were strongly linked to the precious metal.
The circulation of gold was centrally controlled by the treasury in Kumasi, where a great chest holding about 400,000 _oz_ of gold valued at £1.44 million in 1875 ( £156m today) was kept in the palace complex. The mining of gold was strictly regulated, the values of transactions and loans were all based on a fixed measure of gold called the _peredwan_, and most wealth was stored in gold-dust. Some of the wealthiest residents of Kumasi left treasures containing over 45,000 _oz_ of gold-dust valued at £176,000 in 1824 ( £24.6 m today).[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-14-162252162)
**The gold standard of pre-colonial Asante and the kingdom's monetary system are the subject of my latest Patreon article:**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[GOLD STANDARD OF ASANTE](https://www.patreon.com/posts/127531257?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jKdR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5c4ce333-a758-46b0-9cce-3aeca963d745_1123x605.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-1-162252162)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition Undertaken Under the Auspices of H. B. M.'s Government, in the Years 1849-1855, Volume 3 By Heinrich Barth, pg 361-2
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-2-162252162)
Land and Society in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: From the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century by Donald Crummey pg 195, 179.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-3-162252162)
The Mbundu and Neighbouring Peoples of Central Angola under the Influence of Portuguese Trade and Conquest by D Birmingham pg 146-147, The Kingdom of Kongo by Anne Hilton pg 106
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-4-162252162)
Toward the Comparative Study of Money: A Reconsideration of West African Currencies and Neoclassical Monetary Concepts by James L. A. Webb, Jr pg 459
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-5-162252162)
Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective by Endre Stiansen, Jane I. Guyer pg 45-47
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-6-162252162)
Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective by Endre Stiansen, Jane I. Guyer pg 36-38, 85-86, 96)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-7-162252162)
The Swahili World edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria Jean LaViolette pg 448-450)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-8-162252162)
Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective by Endre Stiansen, Jane I. Guyer pg 92-93)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-9-162252162)
Essouk - Tadmekka: An Early Islamic Trans-Saharan Market Town by Sam Nixon, pg 207
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-10-162252162)
Matara: the Archaeological Investigation of a City of Ancient Eritrea by Francis Anfray
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-11-162252162)
A Material Culture: Consumption and Materiality on the Coast of Precolonial East Africa by Stephanie Wynne-Jones
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-12-162252162)
The Swahili World edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria Jean LaViolette pg 453-455
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-13-162252162)
A Social History of Ethiopia by R. Pankhurst pg 235-238, Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective by Endre Stiansen, Jane I. Guyer pg 46, 58, 66, Africa and the wider monetary world, 1250-1850 by Philip. D. Curtin in ‘Precious Metals in the Later Medieval and Early Modern Worlds by J. F. Richards, John F. Richards’
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems#footnote-anchor-14-162252162)
State and Society in pre-colonial Asante by T. C. McCaskie pg 62-64
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-currencies-and-monetary-systems
|
A century before Mansa Musa’s famous pilgrimage, the political and cultural landscape of medieval West Africa was dominated by the empire of Kānem.
At its height in the 13th century, the empire's influence extended over a broad swathe of territory stretching from southern Libya in the north to the border of the Nubian kingdoms in the east to the cities of the eastern bend of the Niger river in the west.
Centred on Lake Chad, medieval Kānem was located at the crossroads of unique historical, cultural and economic significance for medieval and post-medieval Africa, and was one of the longest-lived precolonial states on the continent.
This article explores the history of Kanem during the middle ages, uncovering the political, intellectual and cultural history of the forgotten empire.
_**Map of medieval Kānem. the highlighted cities mark the limit of its area of influence during the 13th century.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wT_I!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62c42314-0d24-4908-b7e8-f96f58fa3001_749x500.png)
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**The early history and archeology of medieval Kānem**
Kānem first appears in written sources in the account of Al-Yakubi from 872 CE, who mentions the kingdom of the Zaghawa in a place called Kanim/Kānem.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-1-161674209)
Later accounts describe the state of Kānem [Zaghawa] as a vast empire extending from the lake Chad region to the borders of Nubia in Sudan. Writing a century later in 990 CE, al-Muhallabi mentions that :
_**“The Zaghawa kingdom is one of the most extensive. To the east it borders on the Nuba kingdom in Upper Egypt, and between them there is a ten-day march. They consist of many peoples. The length of their country is 15 stages as much as wide.”**_
Three centuries later in 1286 CE, Ibn Said comments that:
_**“At an angle of the lake [Chad], 51° longitude, is Matan, one of the famous towns of Kanem. South of this town is the capital of Kanem, Djimi. Here resides the sultan famous for his jihad and his acts of virtue. (...) Of this sultan depend [the countries] like the sultanate of Tadjuwa, the kingdoms of Kawar and Fazzan. (...) East of Matan, there are the territories of the Zaghawa, who are mostly Muslims under the authority of the ruler of Kanem. Between the south-east bank [of the Nile] and Tadjuwa, the capital of Zaghawa, 100 miles to go. Its inhabitants became Muslims under the authority of the sovereign of Kanem. (...) The territories of Tadjuwa and Zaghawa extend over the distance between the arc of the Nile (...).”**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-2-161674209)
The early descriptions of Kānem indicate that its rulers occupied different capitals. al-Muhallabi mentions that there were two towns in Kānem, one named Tarazki and the other Manan. al-Idrisi (1154) also mentions Manan and describes the new town of Anjimi as ‘a very small town’, while the town of Zaghawa was a well populated capital. Ibn said's account describes Manan as the pre-Islamic state capital and Anjimi/Njimi as the first Islamic state capital.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-3-161674209)
Neither of these early Kānem capitals have been identified with complete certainty, due to the very limited level of archaeological field investigations in Kānem until very recently.
The heartland of the kingdom of Kānem was one of the earliest sites of social complexity in west Africa, with evidence of plant domestication and nucleated settlements dating back to the 2nd millenium BC. The largest of the first proto-urban settlements emerged around c. 600–400 BC in the south-western region of Lake Chad at Zilum and Gagalkura A, which were surrounded by a system of ditches and ramparts, some extending over 1km long and resembling the layout of later medieval cities like Gulfey. These early sites were suceeded in the 1st millenium CE by similary fortified and even larger settlements such as Zubo and Dorotta, which were inhabited by an estimated 9700-7,000 people.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-4-161674209)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CKFZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffeb601c2-60d7-46b4-b19e-a387f9555eeb_732x754.png)
_**Magnetogram showing the outlines and arrangements of some sub-surface features as well as the location of an old ditch segment at Zilum, Nigeria**_. image by C. Magnavita.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O0rY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8064974c-731c-4a55-8c4d-e6f21c5a5f2f_820x489.jpeg)
_Aerial photo of Gulfey, a fortified Kotoko town near the southern margins of Lake Chad, showing what Zilum may have looked like in the 6th century BC._ image by C. Magnavita
None of these early sites yielded any significant finds of external material such as imported trade goods. Horses were introduced much later near the end of the 1st millenium CE, but their small size and rarity indicate that they were kept as status symbols. The combined evidence of ancient state development, extensive defensive architecture and limited external contact indicate that these features were endogenous to the early kingdoms of the lake Chad basin.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-5-161674209)
While neolithic and early iron-age sites in the Kānem region itself were about as old as those west of the lake, large settlements wouldn’t emerge until the mid-1st to early 2nd millenium CE.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-6-161674209) The most significant of these are represented by a cluster of 50 fired-brick settlements (enclosures, villages and farmsteads) within a radius of 25 km around the largest central enclosure, named Tié, that is dated to 1100-1260CE. The largest sites measure between 3.2 to 0.14 ha, have rectangular, fired-brick enclosures, featuring rectangular buildings of fired bricks. The second site type are dispersed hamlets of 1 ha featuring clusters of rectangular buildings of fired brick. The third site type feature one or two rectangular buildings made of fired brick.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-7-161674209)
The site of Tie consists of a 3.2 ha fired-brick enclosure built in the 12th-13th century and occupied until late 14th-15th century. The enclosure encompasses two Mounds; 1 and 2, the former of which conceals the ruins of a high-status firedbrick building (16.8x23.4 m) with lime-plastered interior walls, while Mound 2 is the place’s refuse heap containing local pottery and metals, and imported cowries and glass beads. These beads included the HLHA blue glass beads manufactured at the Nigerian site of Ife, as well as many from the Red sea and Indian ocean region, which were very likely transported to Lake Chad via an eastern route through Sudan rather than the better known northern route as most West African sites at the time.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-8-161674209)
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_Fired-brick sites presently known in the modern Chadian provinces of Kanem and adjacent Bahr-el-Ghazal to the east of Lake Chad. The map in the inlay shows the site cluster around Tié_. image by C. Magnavita
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_Aerial view of the ongoing excavations at the fired-brick ruins of the 12th–14th century AD site of Tié (3.2 ha), Kanem, Chad. This is the largest and one of the earliest known localities associated with the Kanem-Borno state at Lake Chad._ image and caption by C. Magnavita
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(L-R) _Detail of the outer wall as seen at excavation units I3 and I4, Orthorectified image composite showing the preserved foundation, plinth and outer wall at the SE-corner of the building under Mound 1 (excavation unit J6). A view of the preserved outer wall, plinth and foundation of the building under Mound 1 (excavation unit J6)_. images and captions by C. Magnavita
Archaeologists suggest that Tie was likely the site of medieval Njimi, based on etymological and oral historical evidence from surrounding villages, all of whose names begin with the root term Tié. When the site was first surveyed in the 20th century, it was known locally as Njimi-Ye, similar to the Njímiye mentioned by the explorer Heinrich Barth in his 19th century account of Kānem's history. This implies that the root Tié of the modern villages names very probably derives from the contraction Njimi-Ye. The site of Tié and a neighbouring site of Eri, are the only two fired-brick sites in Kānem that are associated with the early Sefuwa kings of Kānem, while the rest are associated with the Bulala who forced the former group to migrate from Kānem to Bornu during the late 14th century, as explred below.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-9-161674209)
The archaeological finds at Tie corroborate various internal and external textural accounts regarding the zenith of Kānem during the 13th century. The elite constructions at the site were built during a time of unparalleled achievements in the history of the Sultanate. Internal accounts, such as a charter (_**mahram**_) of the N’galma Duku’, which was written during the reign of Sultan Salmama (r. 1182-1210), mentions the construction of a plastered mosque similar to the elite building found at Tie. External sources, particulary Ibn Said's account, mention that Sultan Dibalami (r. 1210-1248) expanded Kānem political influence as far as Bornu (west of Chad), Fezzan (Libya) and Darfur (Sudan).[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-10-161674209)
**Expansion of medieval Kānem**
The northern expansion of Kānem begun with the empire's conquest of the Kawar Oases of north-eastern Niger. Al-Muhallabi's 10th century account mentions that the Kawar oases of Gasabi and Bilma as located along the route to Kānem. According to a local chronicle known as the Diwan, the Kānem ruler Mai Arku (r. 1023-1067), who was born to a _Tomgara_ mother from Kawar, is said to have established colonies in the oases of Kawar from Dirku to Séguédine.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-11-161674209)
Kānem’s suzeranity over Kawar during the 11th century may have been norminal or short-lived since Kawar is mentioned to be under an independent king according to al-Idrisi in the 12th century. Writing a century later however, Ibn said mentions that the Kānem king [possibly Mai Dunama Dibalami, r. 1210-1248] was in control of both Kawar and the Fezzan, he adds that _**“the land of the Kawar who are Muslim sudan, and whose capital is called Kawar too. At present it is subject to the sultan of Kanim.”**_[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-12-161674209)
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_**Séguédine.**_ image by Tillet Thierry[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-13-161674209)
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_**Dabasa.**_ image by Dierk Lange and Silvio Berthoud
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_**Dirku.**_
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_**Djado.**_
Kānem expansion into the Fezzan was a consequence of a power vacuum in the region that begun in 1172 when the Mamluk soldier Sharaf al-Din Qaraqush from Egypt raided the region. Having occupied Tunis and Tripoli for a brief time, Qaraqush founded a shortlived state, but was killed and crucified at the Fezzani town of Waddan in 1212. Not long after, a son Qaraqush from Egypt invaded Waddan, and according to the account of al-Tijani, _**“set the country ablaze. But the King of Kanem sent assassins to kill him and delivered the land from strife, his head was sent to Kanem and exhibited to the people, this happened in the year 656 AH [1258 CE].”**_[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-14-161674209)
Kānem’s control of the Fezzan was later confirmed by Abu’l-Fida (d. 1331) who states that the regional capital of Zawila was under Kanemi control after 1300.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-15-161674209) In his description of the kingdom of Kānem, al-Umari (d. 1384) writes: _**“The begining of his kingdom on the Egyptian side is a town called Zala and its limit in longitude is a town called Kaka. There is a distance between them of about three months' travelling.”**_[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-16-161674209) Zala/Zella is located in Libya while Kaka was one of the cities west of lake chad mentioned by Ibn Said and al-Umari, and would later become the first capital of Bornu.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-17-161674209)
Furthermore, Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) declares that Kānem maintained friendly relations with the Hafsid dynasty of Tunis, writing that: _**“In the year 655 [1257] there arrived [at Tunis, the Hafsid capital] gifts from the king of Kanim, one of the kings of the Sudan, ruler of Bornu, whose domains lie to the south of Tripoli. Among them was a giraffe, an animal of strange form and incongruous characteristics.”**_[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-18-161674209)
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_**Remains of old Taraghin in Libya, where the Kanem rulers established their capital by the end of the twelfth century**_. image and caption by J. Passon and M. Meerpohl[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-19-161674209)
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_**Zawila**_. _Photographs from the C.M. Daniels archive of the tombs of the Banū Khatṭạ̄ b at Zuwīla (ZUL003) in 1968 prior to restoration_. image and captions by D. Mattingly et al.
The eastward expansion of Kānem which is mentioned in a few accounts has since been partially corroborated by the archaeological evidence of trade goods found at Tie that were derived from the Red sea region unlike contemporaneous west African cities like Gao that used the northern route to Libya and Morocco.
The Tadjuwa who are mentioned by Ibn Said as subjects of Kānem in its eastern most province, are recognized as the people that provided the first dynastic line of [the Darfur sultanate.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history) Later writers such as Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) and al-Maqrizi (d. 1442) mention the Tajura/Taju/Tunjur as part of the a branch of the Zaghawa, adding a brief comment on their work in stone and warlike proclivities. Their capital of Uri first appears in the 16th century, although there were older capitals in the region.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-20-161674209)Some historians suggest that the eastern expansion towards Nubia was linked to Kānem’s quest for an alternate trade route, although this remains speculative.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-21-161674209)
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_**Proposed area of influence and trade relationships of Kanem-Borno in the thirteenth century.**_ map by C. Magnavita et al.
The westward expansion of medieval Kānem into Bornu was likely accomplished as early as the 13th century, since the kingdom first appears in external accounts as one of the territories subject to the rulers of Kānem, although it retained most of its autonomy before the Sefuwa turned it into their base during the late 14th century.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-22-161674209)
However, the expansion of medieval Kānem beyond Bornu is more dubious. Ibn Said’s account contains a passing reference to the town of Takedda (Tadmekka in modern Mali), which _**“owed obedience to Kanim.”**_ While archeological excavations at the site of Essouk-Tadmekka have uncovered some evidence pointing to an influx of material culture from the south, the continuinity of local inscriptions and the distance between Kānem and Tadmekka make it unlikely that the empire excercised any significant authority there.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-23-161674209)
There were strong commercial ties between Tadmekka and Kanem’s province of Bornu, as evidenced by the account of the famous globe-trotter Ibn Battuta, who visited the town in 1352. Its from Tadmekka that he gathered infromation about the ruler Kānem, who he identified as mai Idris: _**“who does not appear to the people and does not adress them except behind a curtain.”**_ Ibn battuta makes no mention of Tadmekka’s suzeranity to Kanem, which by this time was at the onset of what would become a protracted dynastic conflict. [24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-24-161674209)
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_**Ruins of Essouk-Tadmekka, Mali**_. image by Sam Nixon.
**State and politics in medieval Kānem.**
Descriptions of Kānem’s dynastic and political history at its height during the 13th and early 14th centuries come from Ibn Said, al-Umari, and Ibn Batutta who all mention that the ruler of Kānem was a ‘divine king’ who was _**“veiled from his people.”**_ Ibn Said in 1269 mentions that the king is a descendant of Sayf son of Dhi Yazan, a pre-islamic Yemeni folk hero, but also mentions that his ancestors were pagans before a scholar converted his ‘great-great-great-grandfather’ to islam which indicates Kanem’s adoption of Islam in the 11th century. An anonymously written account from 1191 dates this conversion to some time after 500 [1106–1107 CE] [25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-25-161674209)
According to a local chronicle known as the _Diwan_ which was based on oral kinglists from the 16th century that were transcribed in the 19th century, Kānem’s first dynasty of the Zaghawa was in the 11th century displaced by a second dynasty known as the Sefuwa, before the latter were expelled from Kanem in the late 14th century.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-26-161674209)
As part of the rulers’ evolving fabrications of descent from prestigious lineages, the chronicle links them to both the Quraysh tribe of the Prophet and the Yemeni hero Sayf. However, these claims, which first appear in a letter from Kānem’ sultan ‘Uthman to the Mamluk sultan Barquq in 1391 CE, were rejected by the Egyptian chronicler Al-Qalqashandi. Additionally, the 13th century account of Ibn Said instead directly links the Sefuwa to the Zaghawa, mentioning that _Mai_ Dunama Dibalami (r. 1210-48) resided in Manan, _**“the capital of his pagan ancestors.”**_ Seemingly reconciling these conflicting claims, the Diwan also mentions that the Sefuwa rulers were ‘black’ by the reign of _Mai_ Salmama (r. 1182-1210). The historian Augustin Holl argues that these claims were ideological rather than accurate historical geneaologies.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-27-161674209)
According to al-Maqrizi (d. 1442) the armies of Kānem _**“including cavalry, infantry, and porters, number 100,000.”**_ The ruler of Kānem had many kings under his authority, and the influence of the empire was such that the political organisation of almost all the states in the lake Chad basin was directly or indirectly borrowed from it. While little is known of its internal organisation during this period, the development a fief-holding aristocracy, an extensive class of princes (_**Maina**_), appointed village headmen (_**Bulama**_), and a secular and religious bureaucracy with _**Wazir, Khazin, Talib**_, and _**Qadis**_ that are known from Bornu and neighbouring states were likely established during the Kanem period.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-28-161674209)
Kānem controlled the Fazzan through a subordinate king or a viceroy, known as the Banū Nasr, whose capital was at Tarajin/Traghen near Murzuq. The few accounts of medieval Kānem’s suzeranity over the Fezzan come from much later in the 19th century writings of the German traveller Gustav Nachtigal who mentions that traditions of Kanem's rule were still recalled in the region, and that there were landmarks associated with Kānem, including _**“many gardens, open areas and wells, which today [1879] still bear names in the Kanuri language, i.e. the tongue of Kanem and Bornu.”**_[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-29-161674209)
Both external and internal accounts indicate that Kānem was a multi-ethnic empire. The Diwan in particular mentions that in the early period of Kānem between the 10th and 13th centuries, the queen mothers were derived from the Kay/Koyama, Tubu/Tebu, Dabir and Magomi, before the last group had grown large enough to become the royal lineage of the Sefuwa. All of these groups are speakers of the Nilo-Saharan languages and lived in pre-dominantly agro-pastoralist societies, with a some engaged in trade, mining, and crafts such as the production of textiles.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-30-161674209)
**Trade and economy in medieval Kānem**
Despite the often-emphasized importance of long-distance trans-Saharan slave trade between medieval Kānem and Fezzan in the modern historiography of the region, contemporary accounts say little about trade between the two regions.
The 12th century account of al-Idrisi for example, makes no mention of carravan trade from Kānem to Fezzan through Kawar, despite the last region being the sole staging post between the two, and the Fezzan capital of Zawila being at its height. He mentions that the former Kānem capital of Manan as _**“a small town with industry of any sort and little commerce”**_ and of the new capital of Njimi, he writes: _**“They have little little trade and manufacture objects with which they trade among themselves”.**_ His silence on Kānem’s trade is perhaps indicative of the relative importance of regional trade in local commodities like salt and alum.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-31-161674209)
In the same text, al-Idrisi’s description of Kawar the oases of Djado, Kalala, Bilma links their fortunes to the exploitation of alum and salt, while Al-Qaṣaba was the only town whose fame is solely due to trade. Alum is used for dyeing and tanning, the importance of these two commodities to Kawar would continue well into the modern era*****. He also mentions that alum traders from Kalala travelled as far west as Wargla and as far east as Egypt, but is also silent regarding the southbound salt trade from Kawar to Kanem, which is better documented during the Bornu period.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-32-161674209)
[* On kawar’s political and economic history: [the Kawar oasis-towns from 850-1913](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-civilization-in-the-heart) ]
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_**Saltpans of Bilma**_
Regarding the Kānem heartland itself, the 14th century account of Al-Umari notes that _**“Their currency is a cloth that they weave, called dandi. Every piece is ten cubits long. They make purchases with it from a quarter of a cubit upwards. They also use cowries, beads, copper in round pieces and coined silver as currency, but all valued in terms of that cloth.”**_ He adds that _**“they mostly live on rice, wheat and sorghum”**_ and mentions, with a bit of exagerration, that _**“rice grows in their country without any seed.”**_ An earlier account by al-Muhallabi (d. 990CE), also emphasizes that Kanem had a predominatly agro-pastoral economy, writing that the wealth of the king of the Kānem consists of _**“livestock such as sheep, cattle, camels, and horses.”**_[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-33-161674209)
The account of the globetrotter Ibn Batutta brifely mentions regional trade between Bornu [a Kānem province] and Takedda on the eastern border of medieval Mali, inwhich slaves and _**“cloth dyed with saffron”**_ from the former were exchanged for copper from the latter.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-34-161674209) The contemporary evidence thus indicates that the economy of medieval Kānem owed its prosperity more to its thriving cereal agriculture, stock-raising, textile manufacture and regional trade than to long-trade across the Sahara, which may have expanded much later.
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_**Copper-alloy and silver coins from medieval Essouk-Tadmekka**_, images by Sam Nixon. copper from Tadmekka was traded in Kanem and silver coins were also used as currency in the empire. Both could have been obtained from this town.
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_**The glass beads from Tié**_. image by C. Magnavita et al. the largest blue beads; 22 & 34, were manufactured in [the medieval city of Ile-ife in Nigeria](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/ancient-ife-and-its-masterpieces?utm_source=publication-search), providing further evidence for regional trade that isn’t documented in external accounts.
**An intellectual history of medieval Kanem.**
Kānem was one of the earliest and most significant centers of islamic scholarship in west Africa. Its rulers are known to have undertaken pilgrimage since the 11th century, and produced west Africa's first known scholar; Ibrāhīm al-Kānimī (d. 1212) who travelled as far as Seville in muslim spain (Andalusia). Al-Umari mentions that the people of Kānem _**“have built at Fustat, in Cairo, a Malikite madrasa where their companies of travelers lodge.”**_ The same madrasa is also mentioned by al-Maqrīzī (d. 1442) who calls it Ibn Rashīq, and dates its construction to the 13th century during the reign of Dunama Dabalemi.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-35-161674209)
The intellectual tradition of Kānem flourished under its expansionist ruler Dunama Dabalemi, who is considered a great reformer, with an entourage that included jurists. Al-Umari mentions that _**“Justice reigns in their country; they follow the rite of imam Malik.”**_ Evidence for Mai Dunama’s legacy is echoed in later internal chronicles such as the Diwan and the Bornu chronicle of Ibn Furtu, which accuse the sultan of having destroyed a sacred object called ‘_**mune’**_ which may have been a focal element of a royal cult from pre-Islamic times. While he was an imam, Ibn Furtu sees this ‘sacrilegious act’ as the cause of later dynastic conflicts that plagued Kānem.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-36-161674209)
The abovementioned letter sent by the Sefuwa sultan ʿUthmān b.Idrīs to Mamluk Egypt in 1391 also demonstrates the presence of sophisticated scribes and a chancery in medieval Kānem. This is further evidenced by a the development of the **barnāwī** script in Kānem and Bornu —a unique form of Arabic script that is only found in the lake Chad region. The script is of significant antiquity, being derived from Kufic, and was contemporaneous with the development of the more popular maghribī script after the 11th/12th centuries that is found in the rest of west Africa.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-37-161674209)
While the oldest preserved manuscript from Bornu is dated to 1669, the glosses found in the manuscript and others from the 17th-18th century were written in Old Kanembu. The latter is an archaic variety of Kanuri that was spoken in medieval Kānem that become a specialised scribal language after the 15th century. A modernized variety of Old Kanembu has been preserved in modern-day Bornu in a form of language known locally as Tarjumo which functions as an exegetical language for Kanuri-speaking scholars.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-38-161674209)
The rulers of Kānem generously supported scholars by issuing _**mahram**_ s that encouraged the integration intellectual diasporas from west africa and beyond. A mahram was a charter of privilege and exemption from taxation and other obligations to the rulers of Kanem and Bornu that were granted as rewards for services considered vital to the state, such as managing the chancery, teaching royals, serving at the court. They were meant for the first beneficiary and his descendants, and were thus preserved by the recepient family which periodically sought their renewal on the accession of a new ruler. The earliest of these were issued in the 12th century, indicating that this unique institution which prolifilerated in the Bornu period, was established duing the middle ages.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-39-161674209)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yk2N!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc640e26-5af0-4970-9adb-2786666e14c6_1348x648.png)
_**17th century Quran with Kanembu glosses, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS.Arabe 402, 17th-18th century, Qur’an copied in Konduga, Bornu, private collection, MS.5 Konduga, 18th-19th century Bornu Quran, With marginal commentaries from al-Qurṭubī's tasfir.**_ images by Dmitry Bondarev
**Collapse of the old kingdom.**
Towards the end of the 14th century, dynastic conflicts emerged between the reigning sultan Dawud b. Ibrahim Nikale (r. 1366-76) and the sons of his predecessor, Idrīs, who formed rival branches of the same dynasty. This weakened the empire’s control of its outlying provinces and subjects, especially the Bulala whose armies defeated and killed Dawud and his three sucessors. The fourth, ‘Umar b. Idrīs (r. 1382-7) left the capital Njimi and abandoned Kānem. The 1391 letter by his later sucessor, sultan ʿUthmān b. Idrīs (r. 1389–1421) to the Mamluk sultan mentions that _Mai_ ‘Umar was killed by the judhām whom he refers to as ‘polytheist arabs.’ Between 1376 and 1389, seven successive kings of Kānem fell fighting the Búlala before the latter’s rebellion was crushed by sultan ‘Uthman.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-40-161674209)
During this period of decline the rulers of Kānem and most of their allies gradually shifted their base of power to the region of Bornu, west of lake Chad. Al-Maqrizi's account indicates that once in Bornu, the Sefuwa rulers directed their armies against the Bulala who now occupied Kānem. They would eventually recapture the former capital Njimi during the reign of Idris Katakarmabi (c 1497-1519). By this time however, the capital of the new empire of Bornu had been established at Ngazargamu by his father _Mai_ ‘Ali Ghadji in 1472.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-41-161674209)
In the century following the founding of Ngazargamu, Bornu reconquered most of the territories of medieval Kānem. The new empire expanded rapidly during the reign of _Mai_ Idris Alooma (r.1564-1596) who recaptured Kawar as far north as Djado and the borders of the Fezzan. His predecessors continued the diplomatic tradition of medieval Kānem by sending embassies to Tunis and Tripoli. After the Ottoman conquest of Tripoli, Bornu sent further embassies to Tripoli in 1551, and directly to Istanbul in 1574, shortly before the Bornu chronicler Aḥmad ibn Furṭū completed his monumental work of the empire’s history titled _kitāb ġazawāt Kānim_ (Book of the Conquests of Kanem) in 1578.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-42-161674209)
Its in this same chronicle that the legacy of medieval Kānem was recalled by its sucessors:
_**“Everyone was under the authority and protection of the Mais of Kanem.**_
_**We have heard from learned Sheikhs that the utmost extent of their power in the east was to the land of Daw**_[Dotawo/Nubia]_**and to the Nile in the region called Rif; in the west their boundary reached the river called Baramusa**_[Niger]_**.**_
_**Thus we have heard from our elders who have gone before. What greatness can equal their greatness, or what power equal their power, or what kingdom equal their kingdom?**_
_**None, indeed, none. . .”**_[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-43-161674209)
However, in the modern historiography of west Africa, the fame of medieval Kānem was overshadowed by imperial Ghana, Mali and Songhai, making Kānem the forgotten empire of the region.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GYrS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F40a29f76-1fd5-4e51-b618-3d6865833774_1051x340.png)
_**Dabassa, Kawar, Niger**_. Tillet Thierry
**My latest post on Patreon is a comprehensive collection of links to over 3,000 Books and Articles on African history, covering over five thousand years of history from across the continent.**
**Please subscribe to read access it here:**
[3,000 BOOKS ON AFRICAN HISTORY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/deleted-post-126635489)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qAZC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f4aa797-4a1c-4b2f-949a-41ace57fc539_642x623.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-1-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 2
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-2-161674209)
The Lake Chad region as a crossroads: an archaeological and oral historical research project on early Kanem-Borno and its intra-African connections by Carlos Magnavita Zakinet Dangbet and Tchago Bouimon prg 9-10
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-3-161674209)
From House Societies to States: Early Political Organisation, From Antiquity to the Middle Ages edited by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia pg 227, Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 35-36)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-4-161674209)
From House Societies to States: Early Political Organisation, From Antiquity to the Middle Ages edited by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia pg 220-224
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-5-161674209)
From House Societies to States: Early Political Organisation, From Antiquity to the Middle Ages edited by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia pg 224-226
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-6-161674209)
Holocene Saharans: An Anthropological Perspective by Augustin Holl pg 189-191
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-7-161674209)
From House Societies to States: Early Political Organisation, From Antiquity to the Middle Ages edited by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia pg 228, Archaeological research at Tié (Kanem, Chad): excavations on Mound 1 by Carlos Magnavita and Tchago Bouimon prg 24
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-8-161674209)
LA-ICP-MS analysis of glass beads from Tié (12th–14th centuries), Kanem, Chad: Evidence of trans-Sudanic exchanges by Sonja Magnavita pg 3-15
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-9-161674209)
The Lake Chad region as a crossroads: an archaeological and oral historical research project on early Kanem-Borno and its intra-African connections Carlos Magnavita, Zakinet Dangbet and Tchago Bouimon prg Prg 22
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-10-161674209)
Archaeological research at Tié (Kanem, Chad): excavations on Mound 1 by Carlos Magnavita and Tchago Bouimon prg 35-36
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-11-161674209)
Al-Qasaba et d'autres villes de la route centrale du Sahara by Dierk Lange and Silvio Berthoud pg 22, 37
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-12-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 44, 46
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-13-161674209)
Évolutions paléoclimatique et culturelle Le massif de l’Aïr, le désert du Ténéré, la dépression du Kawar et les plateaux du Djado by Tillet Thierry
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-14-161674209)
Kanem, Bornu, and the Fazzān: Notes on the political history of a Trade Route by B. G. Martin pg 19
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-15-161674209)
Kanem, Bornu, and the Fazzān: Notes on the political history of a Trade Route by B. G. Martin pg 19
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-16-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 51,
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-17-161674209)
UNESCO General History of Africa Vol. 4 pg 260 n 79
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-18-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 98
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-19-161674209)
Across the Sahara: Tracks, Trade and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Libya edited by Klaus Braun, Jacqueline Passon
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-20-161674209)
Darfur (Sudan) in the Age of Stone Architecture C. AD 1000-1750: Problems in Historical Reconstruction by Andrew James McGregor 22-24
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-21-161674209)
The Lake Chad region as a crossroads: an archaeological and oral historical research project on early Kanem-Borno and its intra-African connections by Carlos Magnavita, Zakinet Dangbet and Tchago Bouimon prg 11-14
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-22-161674209)
Holocene Saharans: An Anthropological Perspective by Augustin Holl pg 212)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-23-161674209)
Essouk - Tadmekka: An Early Islamic Trans-Saharan Market Town pg 265
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-24-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 87-88
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-25-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 44
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-26-161674209)
The Diwan Revisited: Literacy, State Formation and the Rise of Kanuri Domination (AD 1200-1600) by Augustin Holl, Holocene Saharans: An Anthropological Perspective by Augustin Holl pg 202-208
_As is the case with the 19th century Kano Chronicle and the [Tarikh al-fattash](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/how-africans-wrote-their-own-history), earlier claims of the Diwan's antiquity can be dismissed as groundless_
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-27-161674209)
Holocene Saharans: An Anthropological Perspective by Augustin Holl pg 209, UNESCO General History of Africa Vol. 4 pg 239-243, Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies: Studies on Diplomacy and Diplomatics edited by Frédéric Bauden, Malika Dekkiche pg 671-672
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-28-161674209)
UNESCO General History of Africa Vol. 4 pg 248, Holocene Saharans: An Anthropological Perspective by Augustin Holl pg 187
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-29-161674209)
Kanem, Bornu, and the Fazzān: Notes on the political history of a Trade Route by B. G. Martin pg 21, The origins and development of Zuwīla, Libyan Sahara: an archaeological and historical overview of an ancient oasis town and caravan centre by David J. Mattingly pg 35-36
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-30-161674209)
UNESCO General History of Africa Vol. 4 pg 244-247)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-31-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 35-36, UNESCO General History of Africa Vol. 4 pg 249)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-32-161674209)
Al-Qasaba et d'autres villes de la route centrale du Sahara by Dierk Lange and Silvio Berthoud pg 32-33
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-33-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 52, 7
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-34-161674209)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 87-88)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-35-161674209)
Du lac Tchad à la Mecque by Rémi Dewière pg 247-248,252, Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 52,
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-36-161674209)
UNESCO General History of Africa Vol. 4 pg 254, The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 80
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-37-161674209)
Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies: Studies on Diplomacy and Diplomatics edited by Frédéric Bauden, Malika Dekkiche pg 661-665, Central Sudanic Arabic Scripts (Part 2): Barnāwī By Andrea Brigaglia, Multiglossia in West African manuscripts: The case of Borno, Nigeria By Dmitry Bondarev pg 137-143
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-38-161674209)
Old Kanembu and Kanuri in Arabic script: Phonology through the graphic system by Dmitry Bondarev pg 109-111
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-39-161674209)
The Place of Mahrams in the History of Kanem-Borno by M Aminu, A Bornu Mahram and the Pre-Tunjur rulers of Wadai by by HR PALMER
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-40-161674209)
UNESCO General History of Africa Vol. 4 pg 258, 263, Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 102-106)
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-41-161674209)
NESCO General History of Africa Vol. 4 256, 258-260, 265)
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-42-161674209)
Mai Idris of Bornu and the Ottoman Turks by BG Martin pg 472-473, Du lac Tchad à la Mecque: Le sultanat du Borno by Rémi Dewière pg 29-30
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history#footnote-anchor-43-161674209)
_Historians regard this passage as a reminiscence of a perceived glorious imperial past, rather than an accurate reconstruction of its exact territorial boundaries, the limits mentioned are at best being related to areas subject to raids._
Sudanese Memoirs: Being Mainly Translations of a Number of Arabic Manuscripts Relating to the Central and Western Sudan, Volume 1 by Herbert Richmond Palmer, pg 16, The Lake Chad region as a crossroads: an archaeological and oral historical research project on early Kanem-Borno and its intra-African connections by Carlos Magnavita, Zakinet Dangbet and Tchago Bouimon, pg 97-110, prg 13
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-forgotten-african-empire-the-history
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Up to 90% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural legacy is kept outside of the continent, according to a French government-commissioned 2018 report by Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr and French historian Bénédicte Savoy.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/online-resources-for-african-history#footnote-1-161232151)
Amongst the top-ranking Museums in Europe, the **Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale** in Belgium comes first, with an estimated 180,000 African artifacts in its possession. This is followed by **Humboldt Forum** in Germany with 75,000 artifacts; the **Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac** in France with 70,000; the **British Museum** with 69,000; and the **Weltmuseum of Vienna** in Austria, which holds about 37,000 African artifacts.
These collections dwarf the inventories of virtually all African museums. The report cites Alain Godonou, a specialist in African museums, who observed that _**“with certain rare exceptions, the inventories of the national museums in Africa itself hardly ever exceeded 3,000 cultural heritage objects and most of them had little importance or significance.”**_
According to Gus Casely-Hayford, the former director of the Smithsonian Museum of African Art and current director of the V&A East museum:
_**“If you look at a collection, whether Quai Branly or whether it’s the British Museum or whether it’s the Smithsonian, any single one of those institutions has more in terms of significant objects than the whole of the collection of museums across sub-Saharan Africa combined – any single one of them.”**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/online-resources-for-african-history#footnote-2-161232151)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HWSG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc3c71c03-b371-4a84-b546-73471206c163_1920x1080.jpeg)
_**The Benin Bronzes at the British Museum in London**_, Getty Images.
A disproportionate amount of resources for African history are therefore warehoused in Western institutions, which makes them inaccessible to most researchers, especially those from the continent of their origin. Fortunately, a few Western and African institutions have digitized a small proportion of their vast collections, which include not just African artifacts, but also manuscripts, Photographs, and natural history specimens.
The following is a brief outline of links to the location of specific collections at each major institution.
The African collection at the British Museum comprises objects from diverse sources, primarily from Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Egypt. This includes some of the most historically significant collections, such as the Artworks from the kingdoms of Benin and Asante, paintings from Ethiopia, and artifacts from Ancient Nubia and Egypt. Over 70,000 artifacts, old photographs, and manuscripts have been digitized from virtually all parts of the continent.
**Links to:**[African artifacts](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?place=Africa&image=true&dateTo=1940&eraTo=ad&view=grid&sort=production_place__asc&page=1) at the British Museum; [old African photographs](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?place=Africa&object=photography&image=true&dateTo=1940&eraTo=ad&view=grid&sort=production_place__asc&page=1); and [Manuscripts](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?place=Africa&object=manuscript&image=true&dateTo=1940&eraTo=ad&view=grid&sort=production_place__asc&page=1).
The vast African collection at the Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac was obtained from French West Africa and Madagascar, primarily from the former colonies of Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Guinea, with smaller collections from the rest of the continent.
Links to [African Artifacts](https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore-collections/base/Work/action/list?orderby=numinventaire&order=desc&category=oeuvres&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Btype%5D=&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Bclassification%5D=&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Bexemplaire%5D=1&filters[]=Afrique%7C0%7C&filters[]=Objet%7C2%7Cet) at Quai Branly, [old Photographs](https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore-collections/base/Work/action/list?orderby=numinventaire&order=desc&category=oeuvres&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Btype%5D=&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Bclassification%5D=&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Bexemplaire%5D=1&filters[]=Afrique%7C0%7C&filters[]=Photographie%7C2%7Cet), and [Manuscripts](https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore-collections/base/Work/action/list?orderby=default&order=desc&category=oeuvres&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Btype%5D=&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Bclassification%5D=&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Bexemplaire%5D=1&filters[]=Afrique%7C0%7C&filters[]=Manuscrit%7C2%7Cet).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gUGM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8eaf3ef-a95a-4494-99e0-b2c4db4e6619_770x529.png)
_**Drawings of Houses and House plans with description of their construction written in the Bamum script**_, attributed to Ibrahim Tita Mbohou, early 20th century, Quai Branly. Inventory number: 70.2008.70.13
_On Patreon: ‘[Themes in West African Art.’](https://www.patreon.com/posts/108431007)_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yy0G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf40f55-5b46-4aa2-bda0-43c0ec7ad844_784x573.png)
_**walled gate to a house in Nyamina, Mali. ca. 1880-1889**_, Quai branly. No. PV0003930.
The African collection at the Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale (Belgium) was primarily taken from the D.R.Congo, Angola, and the republic of Congo. It consists an estimated 40,000 Artifacts and Photographs.
**Link to**: [African artifacts and Photos](https://webarch.africamuseum.be/collections/browsecollections/humansciences/simple_results?search_button=Search&b_start:int=90&freetext=congo) at the Musée Royale.
Another large African collection is found at [the Penn Museum (US)](https://www.penn.museum/collections/search.php?term=africa&images[]=yes&submit_term=Submit%2BQuery), including artworks from Egypt, Nubia, Asante, the Roman and Islamic Maghreb, Kuba, Swahili, and the Yoruba. It also contains a significant collection of [rare Meroitic inscriptions](https://www.penn.museum/collections/search.php?term=africa&submit_term=Submit&images%5B0%5D=yes&inscription%5B%5D=meroitic+language) and painted pottery.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rAQ5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd2a673f-1ffe-4e5a-b65d-8be0b61b369f_1185x616.png)
_**Jar decorated with a frieze of foraging giraffes and undulating snakes spitting ankh signs**_. ca. 100-1 BCE Karanog, Meroitic period. Penn Museum. Object Number E8183. _**Jar decorated with two wreaths at the top; below which are swans, trees, bugs, and "tables of the sun"**_. ca. 100-1 BCE Karanog, Meroitic period. Penn Museum. Object Number E8157.
A large collection of African artworks is also held by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (US), primarily consisting of artifacts from ancient Nubia including historically significant works from [the kingdom of Kerma and Kush.](https://collections.mfa.org/search/Objects/*/sudan/images?filter=imageExistence%3Atrue&page=3)
The [Africa collection at the Geneva Museum of Ethnography](https://collections.geneve.ch/meg/catalogue/musinfo00.php?dpt=ETHAF) (Switzerland) contains an estimated 12,000 objects. It includes historically significant artworks from Ethiopia, Danhomè (Benin), and figurative sculpture from most parts of South, West, and Central Africa.
The African collection at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Germany) was obtained from the former German colonies of Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Togo and Cameroon, but also contains material from Nigeria and Sudan. It consist an estimated [12,000 Artifacts, Photographs and maps](https://smb.museum-digital.de/objects?s=+fulltext%3Aafrika§ion=results_list&mode=grid&startwert=0).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YPxE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6cfbd110-e224-415f-b65e-17917b42d0a3_813x589.png)
_**pair of wooden sandals, covered with an ornamented silver sheet with borders made of attached silver drops, and a golden knob for support**_. Swahili, 19th century, Tanzania, SMB museum. No. III E 4685 a,b.
The African collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art (US). Those that have been digitised consist of [about 12,000 artifacts and old photographs from across the continent](https://www.si.edu/search/collection-images?page=16&edan_q=africa&edan_fq%5B0%5D=data_source%3A%22Eliot%20Elisofon%20Photographic%20Archives%2C%20National%20Museum%20of%20African%20Art%22%20OR%20data_source%3A%22National%20Museum%20of%20African%20Art%22%20OR%20data_source%3A%22National%20Museum%20of%20American%20History%22%20OR%20data_source%3A%22Smithsonian%20American%20Art%20Museum%22&edan_fq%5B1%5D=date%3A%221000s%22%20OR%20date%3A%22100s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221100s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221200s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221300s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221400s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221500s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221510s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221530s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221550s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221590s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221600s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221610s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221620s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221630s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221640s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221650s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221660s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221670s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221680s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221690s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221700s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221710s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221720s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221730s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221740s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221750s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221760s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221770s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221780s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221790s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221800s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221810s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221820s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221830s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221840s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221850s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221860s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221870s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221880s%22%20OR%20date%3A%221890s%22). It includes some historically significant archives such as the carved tusks of Loango, and old colonial photographs.
The African collection available online at the Metropolitan Museum (US) comprises [nearly 3000 works from most parts of the continent](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=africa&sortBy=Relevance&geolocation=Africa&showOnly=withImage), including artifacts from ancient Egypt and Nubia, medieval Ethiopia and Mali, and figurative sculpture from West and Central Africa.
The African collection at the Brooklyn Museum (US) includes works from West Africa and Central Africa, with a few holdings from Eastern and southern Africa.[It has digitized a little over 3,000 African artifacts](https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/search/collection?sort=start_year_asc&collection=Arts+of+Africa&has_image=true).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FhwQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f0746ab-c6a6-4b24-a512-c820e10d0389_857x590.png)
_**anthropomorphic wine cup in the form of a kneeling man holding his chin**_. 19th century, Kuba kingdom, D.R.Congo. Brooklyn Museum. No. 56.6.37.
The African collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts (US) includes artworks from most parts of the continent, especially from the Kuba kingdom, as well as the Asante and Benin kingdoms. [An estimated 2,100 artifacts have been digitized](https://dia.org/search/collection?keys=africa&with_image=1&sort_by=date_asc&f%5B0%5D=culture_nationality%3A200&page=0).
The African collection at the Yale University Art Gallery (US), which is available online, includes [an estimated 2,9000 historical artworks](https://artgallery.yale.edu/collection?f%5B0%5D=department%3AAfrican%20Art&page=0) from various societies such as the ancient Nok Neolithic culture of Nigeria, the Kuba kingdom, Ethiopia, and the Loango ivories.
The African collection at the Art Institute of Chicago (US) includes artworks from ancient Egypt, Benin City, Ethiopia, and the Swahili coast. [About 1,500 of these Artifacts have been digitized.](https://www.artic.edu/collection?department_ids=Arts%20of%20Africa)
The African collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (US) includes an [estimated 1,800 digitized artworks](https://vmfa.museum/collections/search-collections/?collection=African%20Art), such as the terracotta and bronzes of Djenne-Jenno, Asante sculptures, and Ethiopian icons
The [African collection at the New Orleans Museum of Art](https://noma.org/collection/category/african-art/page/10/) (US) is a relatively small but significant inventory that includes artworks from medieval Mali, the Dogon, and the Yoruba kingdoms.
The [Houston Museum of Fine Arts (US)](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=9ff74c5290ebcbfe&sxsrf=AHTn8zp2bRNsdWZ2csUnm-oMKLkPhqJBXg:1744543187305&q=asante+site:https://emuseum.mfah.org/&udm=2&fbs=ABzOT_CWdhQLP1FcmU5B0fn3xuWpA-dk4wpBWOGsoR7DG5zJBjLjqIC1CYKD9D-DQAQS3Z44LBK6yTXN_5587Z3ya9D7YaZgR7wOcelL7QO8tGqeqPg3wL_up5PM6gpd3X51iM6Q7fCAtobNuZUADBnmu13PpdOSdJwJmAJnrPgYbes49hy9XvRxbT5XyCKCprBbyWQ3Cqme2nK5QsreGW6wMjoRbVODOQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiu3uXn8dSMAxVlQ_EDHZlGHwwQtKgLegQIEhAB&biw=1366&bih=641&dpr=1)also holds a relatively small but significant inventory of African artwork, including gold objects from the Gold Coast (Ghana) and Senegal.
Other African collections include those at: the [Cincinnati Art Museum (US)](https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/explore-the-collection?keyword=&classification=&department=African%20Art&specialCollection=&startYear=&endYear=&imagesOnly=), which also includes carved ivories from Loango; the [Royal Ontario Museum (Canada)](https://collections.rom.on.ca/search/africa/objects/images?page=5), the [Houston Museum of Fine Arts (US)](https://emuseum.mfah.org/search/*/objects?filter=department%3AAfrican%20Art), the [National Museum of Denmark](https://samlinger.natmus.dk/objectbrowse?media=image,rotation&keyword=afrika), The [Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Netherlands)](https://collectie.wereldmuseum.nl/?query=search=Deeplink%20identifier=[obj_532822]&showtype=record#/query/bd767ca7-41ff-4b27-8a66-deb33615d23b), the Kuba artworks at the [Princeton University Art Museum (US)](https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/search/collections?hasImageFilter=%5B%22Has+Image%22%5D&resultssortOption=%22Best+Match%22&mainSearch=%22kuba%22), and the [Ethiopian](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?id_place=x35090&images_exist=true&page=3&page_size=15&q=) and [Asante](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?id_place=x30041&images_exist=true&page=1&page_size=15&q=) artworks at the Victoria & Albert Museum (UK).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!s7BZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1aca7f3-dbe7-41bf-bf53-a945cc494544_899x717.png)
_**Gold necklace and pair of bracelets**_, ca. 1845-1855, Akan artist, Ghana. Houston Museum of Fine Arts. No. 97.1519.1-.3.
**African Manuscript collections.**
The largest collection of digitized African manuscripts is held at the Endangered Archives Programme, which contains images of numerous old manuscripts and photographs from hundreds of institutions and private collections across virtually all parts of the continent.
The largest and most historically significant of the collections from the pre-colonial period were obtained in; [Mali](https://eap.bl.uk/search?f%5B0%5D=places%3AMali%2C%20Africa) ; [Nigeria](https://eap.bl.uk/search?f%5B0%5D=places%3ANigeria%2C%20Africa) ; [Ethiopia](https://eap.bl.uk/search?query=ethiopia&f%5B0%5D=places%3AEthiopia%2C%20Africa) ; [Senegal](https://eap.bl.uk/search?query=Senegal&f%5B0%5D=content_type%3AManuscript) ; [Lamu (Kenya)](https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP466) ; and the [kingdom of Bamum](https://eap.bl.uk/search?query=bamum) (Cameroon). The majority of these manuscripts are kept in local institutions and private collections in these countries.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OJnp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4c226623-e767-42c8-8145-d6fa77eef76e_820x388.png)
_**Chronicle of the Bamum kingdom**_, Archives du Palais des Rois Bamum, Fumban, Cameroon. Endangered Archives Programme No. EAP051/1/1/1/3.
The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (US) has a large collection of digitized African manuscripts from Mali and the largest collection of electronic and microfilmed Ethiopian/Eritrean manuscripts in the world. As is the case with the endangered archives programme, most of these manuscripts are kept in local institutions and private collections in both countries.
Links to: [Ethiopia Repositories](https://hmml.org/collections/repositories/ethiopia/) at HMML, [Mali Repositories](https://hmml.org/collections/repositories/mali/).
The Digital collections at the SOAS (UK) include a relatively large archive of African manuscripts from [Bornu and the Hausaland](https://digital.soas.ac.uk/contains/thumbs/?t=%22Nigeria%22,%22archival%20materials%22&f=CO,GE); and [the Swahili Coast](https://digital.soas.ac.uk/r_ken). They include historically significant works such as the writings of the famous woman scholar Nana Asmau, and the utendi poetry of the Swahili.
Another large manuscript collection is held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (France). It includes many of the most historically significant [West African manuscripts](https://gallica.bnf.fr/services/engine/search/sru?operation=searchRetrieve&version=1.2&query=%28gallica%20all%20%22Manuscrits%20d%27Afrique%20sub-saharienne%22%29&lang=fr&suggest=0), and [Ethiopian manuscripts](https://gallica.bnf.fr/services/engine/search/sru?operation=searchRetrieve&version=1.2&startRecord=0&maximumRecords=15&page=1&query=%28gallica%20all%20%22manuscrits%20%C3%A9thiopiens%22%29&filter=dc.type%20all%20%22manuscrit%22) such as the famous Timbuktu Chronicles and the Hatata Philosophical treatise, both written in the 17th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zJkh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3246cedd-da24-4210-86b0-ac64a810678a_820x513.png)
_**Bwana Mwengo's Utendi wa Herekali**_, copied by Muhamadi Kijuma. 19th century, Lamu. SOAS manuscript number MS 45022.
**Old African photograph collections.**
The collection of old [African photographs at the Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer](http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/ulysse/sommaire) (France) is the largest of its kind. It primarily consists of colonial era photos from Madagascar, Cameroon, Senegal, Algeria, Guinea, Congo, Ivory Coast, Benin, and Comoros. It includes some of the most historically significant photos from these regions, especially some of the oldest architectural monuments that were destroyed.
Another large [collection of old African photographs is held at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (UK)](https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/photographs/?query=africa&filters=image_available&page=54). Most of the photos were taken in the former British colonies in East and Southern Africa, and include some of the earliest images of the stone ruins of southern Africa and the East African coast.
A relatively small but significant collection of old African photos (and a handful of manuscripts) is held at Northwestern University (US). The most historically significant of these are; [The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs: 1860-1960](https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/collections/6f58c85f-f1fc-43c1-be52-678867659ff6), the [E. H. Duckworth Photograph Collection (1894 -1972)](https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/collections/effec0ab-5ef8-4031-a721-2d9c7eb56ac4), and about [64 Arabic Manuscripts from West Africa](https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/collections/59ec43f9-a96c-4314-9b44-9923790b371c) including works by scholars like Muhammad Bello, Umaru al-Kanawi and Ahmad Baba.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!x40j!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6969e57-62e8-477c-8c52-499b017b5eac_639x486.jpeg)
_**Street scene in Kano, Nigeria. ca. 1930-1972**_. E. H. Duckworth Photograph Collection. Northwestern University.
The [Library of Congress (US) holds about 40 West African manuscripts](https://www.loc.gov/collections/islamic-manuscripts-from-mali/), primarily from Timbuktu, as well as [over 1000 photos from its Africana Historic Postcard Collection](https://www.loc.gov/collections/africana-historic-postcard-collection/?st=grid).
The Photographic archive of the Italian Geographic Society includes a fairly significant [collection of African photographs](http://www.archiviofotografico.societageografica.it/index.php?it/152/archivio-fotografie), mostly from the countries of Ethiopia and Somalia.
Other significant photo collections include those held at the [University of California (US)](https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1DQOU75), and [the Koloniales Bildarchiv](https://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/kolonialesbildarchiv/search?&query=dc.subject%3D%22DOA%20Tansania%22%20and%20vl.domain%3Ddomain%20sortBy%20dc.title%2Fasc&operation=searchRetrieve&facets=keyword%3D%22German%20East%20Africa%22), University Library Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KlBk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90bb3e59-146b-4198-9a0f-4e648fbd71d2_700x467.png)
_**Fasiladas Bath; c16th, Gondar, Ethiopia.**_ c. 1950. Africana Historic Postcard Collection. Library of Congress.
The above outline of African collections in Western institutions is far from exhaustive, but should provide enough resources for research on African history online that may otherwise be physically inaccessible.
**My latest post on Patreon is a comprehensive collection of links to over 3,000 Books and Articles on African history, covering over five thousand years of history from across the continent.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[3000 BOOKS ON AFRICAN HISTORY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/3-000-books-and-126522930)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qAZC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f4aa797-4a1c-4b2f-949a-41ace57fc539_642x623.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/online-resources-for-african-history#footnote-anchor-1-161232151)
The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage: Toward a New Relational Ethics, by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy
http://restitutionreport2018.com/
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/online-resources-for-african-history#footnote-anchor-2-161232151)
Africa’s looted heritage needs to come home, by Rachel Hamada. https://thisisafrica.me/politics-and-society/africas-looted-heritage-needs-to-come-home/
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HWSG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc3c71c03-b371-4a84-b546-73471206c163_1920x1080.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gUGM!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8eaf3ef-a95a-4494-99e0-b2c4db4e6619_770x529.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/online-resources-for-african-history
|
No single body of primary sources in the literary heritage of West Africa has attracted as much attention and attained as much celebrity as the fabled manuscripts of Timbuktu.
An estimated 350,000 manuscripts[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-1-160647671) have been inventoried from the dozens of old libraries of the city of Timbuktu, whose reputation for education and its medieval monuments have been favourably compared to universities. This trove of literary treasures is testimony to the great intellectual achievements of the scholars of the city, which distinguished itself as a center of study, attracting students from West Africa, the Maghreb, and beyond.
This article explores the intellectual history of Timbuktu since the late Middle Ages, and provides an overview of the writings of its scholars, focusing on the original works composed by local intellectuals.
**Map showing the city of Timbuktu and the largest empires of medieval West Africa.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kU77!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fba5eba91-ea9e-4030-8575-68385d927952_710x916.png)
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**A brief background on the history of Timbuktu**
_**‘Timbuktu had no equal among the cities of the Sūdān ...and was known for its solid institutions, political liberties, purity of morals, security of its people and their goods, compassion towards the poor and strangers, as well as courtesy and generosity towards students and scholars.’**_
_Tarikh al-fattash, 1665_.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-2-160647671)
Like most of the old cities of West Africa, the urban settlement at Timbuktu emerged much earlier than its first appearance in textual accounts as a seasonal camp for nomadic groups in the 11th century. There’s evidence for Neolithic settlements near and around the old town dating back to the mid-1st millennium BC, with intermittent settlements continuing through the 1st millennium CE. [3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-3-160647671)
Timbuktu remained a minor town for much of its early history before the 14th century, when it was conquered by [the Mali empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history?utm_source=publication-search). After his famous pilgrimage to Mecca, the Mali emperor Mansa Musa constructed Timbuktu’s first mosque in 1325 CE, known as the Jingereber/DjingareyBer. The city’s two other iconic mosques of Sankore and Sidi Yahya were constructed more than a century later during the brief rule of the Tuareg chief Akil (1433-1468) before the city was conquered by the Songhai empire.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-4-160647671)
Timbuktu attained its celebrated status as the intellectual capital of West Africa during the Songhai period in the 16th century. This ‘golden age’ as recounted in the Timbuktu Chronicles was evidenced by the more than 150 Koranic schools with between 5,000-9,000 students and dozens of prominent scholarly families, all of whom owned extensive libraries.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-5-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E2jK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55c8423b-ee14-43e9-831a-0cdf4edde873_800x523.png)
_**View of Timbuktu from the mosque of Sankore**_, ca. 1906, Edmond Fortier.
Several of the prominent families mentioned in the 17th-century chronicles were established during the Songhai period and remain prominent in Timbuktu today. Among the most prominent are the Baghayughus/Baghayoghos (a soninke family from Kabara and Jenne and are associated with the Sidi Yahya Mosque ), the Aqits (a Berber family from which Ahmad Baba and the chronicler Al’Sa’di was born and are associated with the mosque of sankore during the 16th century), the Gidados and Gurdus (fulani families associated with the Jingereber since the 16th century as well as the Sankore mosque during and after the 18th century).
[For more on these, please read my previous article [on the social and political history of Timbuktu.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/timbuktu-history-71077233) ]
Medieval Timbuktu was part of a broader intellectual network of West African scholarly centers extending from [the towns of Walata and Chinguetti in Mauritania](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan) to Jenne and Arawan in Mali. These scholarly networks extended across the Sahara to their peers in the Maghreb, such as the cities of Fez and Marrakesh in Morocco, as well as the cities of Egypt and the Hejaz, especially Cairo and Medina, which were visited by scholars from West Africa in the context of pilgrimage.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-6-160647671)
Importantly, the establishment of Timbuktu’s intellectual tradition was strongly linked to the migration of scholars from the southern towns of Kābara and Diakha near [the city of Djenne](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-jenne-250bc?utm_source=publication-search) in the inland delta region of Mali, which made up the nucleus of [the Wangara scholarly diaspora of medieval West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education?utm_source=publication-search). In his biography of the Wangara scholar Modibbo Muhammad al-Kabari, who settled in Timbuktu in 1446, the 17th-century Timbuktu chronicler al-Saʿdi mentions that:_**“At that time the town was thronged by Sūdāni students, people of the west [ie, the inland delta region] who excelled in scholarship and righteousness. People even say that, interred with him in his mausoleum (rawda), there are thirty men of Kābara, all of whom were righteous scholars.”**_[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-7-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!at84!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0508cd26-ead1-4bb6-851c-34b07134d6e0_2185x1376.jpeg)
_**Street scene, Djenne, Mali.**_ ca. 1906. Edmond Fortier.
Modibbo was a qadi of Timbuktu and an important scholar of the Sankore mosque, and his students included ‘Umar b. Muhammad Aqit, a Sanhaja scholar of the Massufa Berbers, whose Aqit family later provided most of the imams of the Sankore mosque during the 16th century. Another notable Wangara scholar was Muhammad Baghayogho (d. 1593), whose students included the famous Timbuktu scholar Ahmad Baba al-Tinbukti (d. 1627), who was the grandson of the aforementioned Umar Aqit, and was regarded as the most prolific and the most celebrated of Timbuktu scholars. Ahmad Baba considered Baghayogho the greatest scholar and renewer (_mujaddid)_ of Timbuktu for the 16th century.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-8-160647671)
**The education system in Timbuktu during the classic period.**
Timbuktu was thus integrated with the scholarly trends in West Africa and the wider Islamic world. Its scholars composed and copied various works and commentaries throughout the history of the city’s growth as a site of scholarship. Standard texts on law, theology, grammar, and what might be called the “Islamic humanities” were fully developed in Timbuktu. The “great books” of this vibrant intellectual tradition were studied extensively, and local scholars composed original works to teach students, who were required to have an intimate familiarity with these texts.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-9-160647671)
The “core curriculum” of education in 16th/17th-century Timbuktu and the wider West African region was reconstructed by the historians Bruce Hall and Charles Stewart, based on their analysis of 21,000 extant manuscripts from 80 West African manuscript libraries. This core curriculum comprised**“texts available to advanced scholars and described in their own writings”**as well as**“the core didactic texts studied by all aspiring students.”** A more recent study of 31 library inventories in Timbuktu alone by Charles Stewart showed that at least three-quarters of known authors in the inventories also appear in the “Core Curriculum,” thus corroborating the earlier research.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-10-160647671)
Their evidence led them to divide the curriculum into a few major subjects: Quranic studies, Arabic language, Belief/theology (tawhid), mysticism (tassawuf), Hadith, Literature/Poetry, Jurisprudence and law, Ethics, Sciences, and History, among other subjects. This West African curriculum closely resembles the ideal type developed across the Islamic world during the classical period from Fez to Cairo.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-11-160647671)
Elementary education in Timbuktu, as in all its peers, began with writing, grammar, and memorizing the Quran and some devotional poetry. Some of the students would proceed through to the higher levels, which entailed the learning of Arabic grammar —the language in which most texts were written; memorization of classical poetry because of their literary quality; studies on the life of the Prophet, and studies on theology.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-12-160647671)
The biographies of Timbuktu scholars such as Ahmad Baba (d. 1627) and al-Saʿdī’ (d. 1656) regarding their eductation indicate that other disciplines were available for advanced study in 16/17th-century Timbuktu including rhetoric, logic, astronomy, as well as works on mathematics (calculus, geometry), geography, philosophy, botany, medicine (pharmacopeia, medicinal plants), astronomy, astrology, mysticism, dogma, esoteric sciences, geomancy and music.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-13-160647671)
Teachers issued individual licences or _ijaza_ authorizing students in turn to teach particular texts. Only those who mastered all the texts would be recognized as genuinely learned; those who started the course of reading but did not finish might have become good teachers in the elementary classes but could not be called learned (‘alim or faqih).[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-14-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kYuM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbe15f11f-1552-4864-86e8-5f4e94e6c9c7_1108x588.png)
**Ijāzah from Abū Bakr Fofana to al-Ḥājj Sālim Suwaré**. 18th-20th century. [Aboubacar Ben Said Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/157112). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV ABS 04246.
_‘An ijāzah of Qur'anic study that runs through the Saganogo family.’ al-Ḥājj Sālim Suwaré was a central figure in the scholarly traditions of the Wangara. Fofana and Saganogo are both soninke patronymics of northern Mande-speaking groups._
The mosques of Djingereber, Sankore, and Sidi Yahia could used as locations for classes, but much of the day-to-day teaching process took place in scholars’ houses in special rooms set apart, where the scholar had his own private library which he could consult when knotty points arose. The semi-itinerant social organization in parts of the broader region influenced the way learning and teaching took place. The tutor would be compensated by the student with money, goods, or services depending on their means.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-15-160647671)
The teaching tradition of 16th-century Timbuktu is best summarised in the biography of the scholar Muhammad Baghayogho that was written by his pupil Ahmad Baba. It begins with a description of the character of his teacher and the length of time he studied under him, the various works he was taught, and the conclusion of Ahmad Baba’s studies when he acquired a certificate from Baghayogho to teach.
_**“Muḥammad b. Maḥmūd b. Abi Bakr al-Wangari al-Tinbukti, known as Baghayogho…Our shaykh and our [source of] blessing, the jurist, and accomplished scholar… he was constantly attending to people's needs, even at cost to himself … his lending of his most rare and precious books in all fields without asking for them back again, no matter what discipline they were in…Sometimes a student would come to his door asking for a book, and he would give it to him without even knowing who the student was. In this matter he was truly astonishing, doing this for the sake of God Most High, despite his love for books and [his zeal in] acquiring them, whether by purchase or copying.**_
_**Besides all this, he devoted himself to teaching until finally he became the unparalleled shaykh of his age in the various branches of learning. I remained attached to him for more than ten years, and completed with him the Mukhtaṣar of Khalil… the Muwatta … the Tas’hil of Ibn Malik… the Uṣūl of al-Subki with al-Maḥallī's commentary… the Alfiyya of al-Iraqi.. the Talkhiṣ al-miftāḥ with the abridged [commentary] of al-Sa ̊d… the Sughrā of al-Sanūsī and the latter's commentary on the Jaza'iriyya, and the Ḥikam of Ibn Aṭā Allāh with the commentary of Zarruq, the poem of Abu Muqrio, and the Hāshimiyya on astronomy together with its commentary, and the Muqaddima of al-Tājūrī on the same subject, the Rajaz of al-Maghīlī on Logic, the Khazrajiyya on Prosody, with the commentary of al-Sharif al-Sabti, much of the Tuhfat al-ḥukkām of Ibn Aṣim and the commentary on it by his son… the Fari of Ibn al-Ḥājib.. the Tawḍīḥ.. the Muntaqă of al-Bājī.. the Mudawwana with the commentary of Abū 'l-Ḥasan al-Zarwīlī, and the Shifa of Iyāḍ… the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī.. the Ṣaḥiḥ of Muslim.. the Madkhal of Ibn al-Ḥājj, and lessons from the Risāla and the Alfiyya and other works. I undertook exegesis of the Mighty Qur'ān with him to part way through Surat al-A'raf … the entire Jāmi al-mi’yār of al-Wansharīsī.**_
_**In sum, he is my shaykh and teacher; from no one else did I derive so much benefit as I did from him and from his books. He gave me a licence in his own hand for everything for which he had a licence and for those works for which he gave his own.”**_[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-16-160647671)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The intellectual production of Timbuktu.**
From the extant texts in the libraries of the region, it is clear that the body of scholarly works studied and taught in Timbuktu followed established patterns of higher education in the more famous centers of the Maghreb and the Middle East. These works included those written by local scholars, which reflects a deep engagement and confidence in their own scholarship.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-17-160647671)
By the 15th century, Timbuktu’s scholars were producing original works as well as compiling new derivations and commentaries on established texts.
Original writings by Timbuktu scholars include the historical chronicles (_tarikh_), correspondence, poems, theological writings, legal opinions (_fatwas_), works on medicine, astronomy, astrology, commerce, as well as commentaries and annotations of works by both local and external scholars. There were also ajami manuscripts, which were written in local languages such as Songhay, Bambara, Fulfulde, and Tamasheq.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-18-160647671)
The _Tarikh_ genre of chronicles is arguably the best-known collection of original works of history produced in Timbuktu. These chronicles are: _the Tarikh al-Sudan_ (Chronicle of the Sudan) of al-Sa’di (ca. 1656); the _Tarikh al-Mukhtar_ (ca. 1664), previously known as the _Tarikh al-Fattash_; and the _Notice historique_ (ca. 1669), all of which were written by scholars whose families came from Timbuktu.
The _Tarikhs_, which were partly inspired by chronicles on early Islamic history that circulated in the region, also influenced later writings of local history in and around Timbuktu, such as the 18th century chronicles of the Timbuktu Pashalik like the _Tadhkirat al-Sudan_ (ca. 1751), Mawlay Sulayman’s _Diwan al-Sudan_, and the _Dhikr al-izam_ (ca. 1801), and various smaller chronicles from the 19th and early 20th century about scholarly families and genealogy, as well as copies of chronicles about neighbouring empires like Massina and Sokoto.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-19-160647671)
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copy of the _**Tārīkh al-Sūdān of al-Sa’di**_. 18th-20th century, [Mamma Haidara Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/172365). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV BMH 34122.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gIhM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0c3e4d76-718d-4eb1-b4f9-b78beb7922ce_820x394.png)
_**Taḏkirat al-Sūdān**_, 19th century, [BNF, Paris](https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9065725r).
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_**Account of an earthquake by Aḥmad ibn Bindād Māsinī**_, ca. 1755. [Bibliothèque de Manuscrits al-Imam Essayouti](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/160831). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. ELIT ESS 03799.
_‘the main text concerns an event the author dates to Sunday 29 (27) Muḥarram 1169 AH or October 22 in the Julian calendar, corresponding to the Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755 CE.’ the name ‘Māsinī’ was commonly used by scholars from the Masina region of Mali._
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E41-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10ff4c18-d6dc-4ecd-ad37-9fca569e4466_850x613.png)
_**Historical note on Ahmad Lobbo and the founding of Hamdallahi**_(ie, [the Massina empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-massina-empire-1818?utm_source=publication-search)), 19th-20th century, [Bibliothèque de Manuscrits al-Imam Essayouti](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/160973). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. ELIT ESS 02177.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ronJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb11e64e4-fd11-4a1b-9777-fc669521e711_846x635.png)
_**Tazyīn al-waraqāt by Abdullahi dan Fodio**_ (d. 1829). [Mamma Haidara Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/167556). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV BMH 27112.
_An account of the Sokoto wars of 1804. Sokoto was an empire in northern Nigeria whose rulers were in close contact with the Massina empire that claimed suzerainty over Timbuktu during the 19th century._
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EwNx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F555f408b-2869-4b07-a3d7-3227722f3231_1292x633.png)
_**Military expeditions of the Prophet and the first caliphs**_. 18th-20th century, [Mamma Haidara Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/175278). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV BMH 13387.
Local scholars also wrote treatises, legal texts and opinions (fatwa) relating to issues such as politics and legitimacy of rulers, trade and inheritance, marriages and divorce, manumission and enslavement, etc. An example of these is the famous anti-slavery treatise by Ahmad Baba al-Tinbukti (d. 1627) titled _Mi‘raj al-Su‘ud_, which is a critique of the enslavement of free-born Muslims from West Africa, and the _Tanbīh al-wāqif,_ which was an explanation of the Mukhtasar of Khalil, an important work on Maliki law.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-20-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4_tS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F98e843e0-2236-447b-a156-7f0f5185177d_1340x600.png)
_**Mi'rāj al-Ṣu'ūd ilá nayl Majlūb al-Sūdān**_ (The ladder of ascent in obtaining the procurements of the Sudan: Ahmad Baba answers a Moroccan's questions about slavery) ca. 1615, [Mamma Haidara Library](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667249/).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KKvf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F69e3a67c-e623-476a-994f-b0b7ff3ce102_1209x597.png)
_**Tanbīh al-wāqif ʻalá taḥqīq Wa-khaṣṣaṣat niyyat al-ḥālif**_ by Ahmad Baba, 18th-20th century. [Bibliothèque de Manuscrits al-Imam Essayouti](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/160887). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. ELIT ESS 00104.
West African scholars, including some from Timbuktu and its neighbouring town of Arawan, appear frequently in works regarding medicine, esoteric sciences, and Sufism (tasawwuf ), which were part of the texts studied by students in the region.
What is arguably the earliest extant manuscript from Timbuktu is a treatise on theology and esoteric sciences by Muhammad al-Kābarī (c. 1450) titled _Bustān al-fawā’id wa-l-manāfi_ ʿ (“The Garden of Excellences and Benefits”). Al-Kabari, who was among the celebrated sudani (ie, ‘black’) Soninke scholars from Kabara mentioned in the introduction, was one of the most significant scholars of the period, having taught several prominent families of the Mali and Songhai era.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-21-160647671)
A more scientific work on medicine was written by Ahmad al-Raqqadi al-Kunti (d. 1684), an important scholar who directed a Zawiya (sufi lodge) in Arawan, just north of Timbuktu. Al-Kunti authored a 600-page medical treatise titled ‘_**Kitāb Shifāʾ al-asqām’**_ (The Book on curing the external and internal illnesses to which the body is exposed.) It is an encyclopedic compendium of medicine that offers a general audience a holistic approach to physical, mental, and spiritual afflictions. It combines Galenic humoral medicine, prophetic medicine, and traditional medicine, citing Hippocrates and Galen, as well as the Arab physician Al-Harith ibn Kalada (d. 634), Ibn Sina, among others.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-22-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sH6j!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25615929-8be1-4135-8828-6087077884e4_1362x589.png)
_**'Garden of Excellences and Benefits in the Science of Medicine and Secrets' by Modibbo Muhammad al-Kābarī**_ ca. 1450, Timbuktu. [Northwestern University](https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/items/455393f4-853d-4932-98ae-c6d0d5f22d3d).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ep_w!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9542534d-e9b8-4127-8221-4c5da9005ebe_1353x584.png)
copy of the**Shifāʼ al-asqām al-ʻāriḍah fī al-ẓāhir wa al-bāṭin min al-ajsām by Ahmad al-Raqqadi al-Kunti,**18th-20th century**,**[Mamma Haidara Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/534502). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV BMH 00116.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
Writings on Sufism (_tasawwuf_) include various writings from scholars of the Kunta family, such as Aḥmad al-Bakkāy al-Kuntī’s (d. 1865) _Qasida fi tawassul_, as well as those written by Sıdi Muhammad al-Kuntı and Sıdi al-Mukhtār al-Kuntı. Other West Africans whose works on esoteric sciences and devotional texts were found in the Timbuktu manuscript collections include Muhammad al-Wālı's _Manhal al-raab_ and Bad al-Fulāni's _Manzuma fı al-mawā'iz_: and _Qasıda Banat su’ād_, which were also used in the context of education as part of the curriculum of Timbuktu’s schools.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-23-160647671)
An example of a work on Sufi mysticism from the Timbuktu manuscript collections was one written by an 18th-century scholar named Yusuf Ibn Said al Filani, whose nisba indicates an origin from the Fulbe groups of West Africa. The work is titled:_‘Adurar al munazamah fi tadmim addunya al muqabaha’_ ( ‘The prosody of pearls that limit the deleterious effects of the abhorrent world’). The various footnotes, margin notes, and notations found in the manuscript indicate that it was used as an educational reference for topical discussions within educational settings.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-24-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BI3m!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F119d452d-499e-450f-8b53-d8ce756cbcae_1351x615.png)
_**The Prosody of Pearls that Limit the Deleterious Effects of the Abhorrent World by Yusuf ibn Sa'id Fulani**_, 18th century, [Mamma Haidara Library](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667268/).
The Timbuktu manuscript collections also contain some original works on theology written by West African scholars such as the Mauritanian scholar al-Yadali (d. 1753), and the Sokoto scholar Abdullahi dan Fodio (d. 1829), whose writings on Exegesis (tafsīr) were studied alongside those of al-Baghdadi (d. 1340), and al Suyuti (d. 1505). Another commonly cited local scholar was Umar b. Abi Bakr al-Kanawi, whose work on correspondence and letter-writing appears across many Timbuktu libraries.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-25-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EFd_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F809ed8ce-8524-44fb-8cdd-682a67c4f7d9_1236x638.png)
**Ḍiyāʾ al-taʾwīl fī maʿānīʾl-tanzīl,**a work on Tafsīr **by Abdallahi dan Fodio**. 19th century, [Bibliothèque al-Cady al-Aqib](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/171101). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. ELIT AQB 01511.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qr_w!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2fa35618-46ab-4040-9731-61214455c2a6_965x646.png)
**Dālīyat al-Sughrá**, ca. 1786. [Mamma Haidara Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/153415). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV BMH 20787.
_‘Poem in praise of the Prophet. Preceded by a citation from Tabṣirat al-Fattāsh, a history of the scholars of Djenne, page 1. This is likely to be the chronicle entitled Tārīkh al-Fattāsh or Tārīkh ibn al-Mukhtār.’_
Other works found in the collections include writings on astronomy, arithmetic, trade, agriculture and handicrafts, travel writing (rihla), and a large corpus of ajami manuscripts written in local languages as well as Arabic manuscripts with glosses in ajami. The ajami manuscripts extend to all fields of scholarship, and include traditional medicine, plants and their properties, esoteric sciences, and diplomatic correspondence.
One of the astronomical manuscripts of Timbuktu that has been studied was the work of was a commentary written by the Timbuktu scholar Abul Abbas al-Ghalawi, about the work of Mohammed bin Ya-aza. The treatise, which was used as a teaching manual for students in 1723, explains the purposes of studying astronomy: guiding people on and off the sea, determining calendars, and determining prayer times. A similar manuscript from Timbuktu that was written around the same time by an anonymous author shows the diagrams of planetary orbits. [26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-26-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!S4nX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc574232e-3e30-4c36-889f-68ad3c63090a_1331x613.png)
(left, first two images) _**Kashf al-Ghummah fi Nafa al-Ummah**_ (The Important Stars Among the Multitude of the Heavens) by Abu al-Abbas al-Tawathi al-Ghalawi, ca. 1733. [Mamma Haidara Library](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667561/). (right)_**manuscript showing the rotation of the planets**_. images by Rodney Thebe Medupe et al. _The nisba of al-Ghalawi appears in the names of few West African scholars, eg Abu Bakr al-Ghalawi, a student of the 18th century Timbuktu scholar Muhammad al-Zaidi, who was taught by the 17th century scholar Muhammad Baghayogho, the son of Ahmad Baba’s teacher of the same name._[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-27-160647671)_A later work from the 19th century Kunta scholar Sidi al-Bakkai titled ‘Risalat al-Ghalawiyat’, which was written as an address to ‘the turbulent and practically pagan Ghalawi tribe’, indicates that the Ghalawi were a section of the Tuareg._[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-28-160647671)
[ related essay: [Star-gazing from the cliffs of Bandiagara; truths and mysteries of Dogon astronomy in the west African context](https://www.patreon.com/posts/star-gazing-from-73897317).]
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EDwD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff4395b58-5469-4e29-ba1e-ebf245880ae3_820x397.png)
_**Work on astronomy by Ibn Saeed el-Kibari**_, 14th-19th century _, [Mamma Haidara Library.](https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/0gGC\_6ZbjHbmrA?childassetid=CgEswmoKmuKeOQ) His nisba is more accurately written as ‘al-Kābari’, and it was associated with Wangara scholars from Kabara near Djenne, who made up the earliest group of scholars in Timbuktu, such as the aforementioned 15th-century scholar Muhammad al-Kabari._
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JAfL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2af62c48-fca6-4ddc-86bc-8a3e4637aa53_1222x654.png)
_**The travels of al-Ḥājj ʻUmar Tal**_. 19th century. [Aboubacar Ben Said Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/155554). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV ABS 01761.
_The text details the life of ʻUmar Tal, founder of the Tukulor empire, including his passage through Masina and Sokoto on his pilgrimage to Mecca._
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mFCg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1d361288-88f9-4454-aa33-c957c8fa0691_1304x612.png)
_**Sullam al-Aṭfāl fī Buyū' al-Ājāl**_ (The beginner's guide to commercial transactions) by Aḥmad ibn Bawḍ ibn Muḥammad al-Fulānī. 19th century. [Mamma Haidara Library](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667248/). _‘This volume delineates the obligations of parties to commercial exchanges and contracts, concentrating on sales and how individuals loaning money are to be protected in commercial transactions.’_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JDk-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fad14725d-eea2-4f04-8450-ae94f0e40b6b_1328x620.png)
_**Book of the Blessed Merits of Crafts and Agriculture**_. 15th-19th century, [Mamma Haidara Library](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667257/). _‘The social benefits of trades, crafts, and agricultural pursuits are discussed in this book. The anonymous author describes the contributions to society of various vocations and expresses the fundamental dignity that individuals acquire by working in socially useful jobs.’_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0a8n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2f5652ab-934e-4258-8532-ee5ac774d56f_1002x670.png)
_**Kasb al-faqīr**_ by Umar Tal, 19th century. [Mamma Haidara Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/165594). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV BMH 30037.
_Includes gloss in Arabic and Bambara ʻajamī._
**Book copying in Timbuktu.**
A veritable copying industry flourished in Timbuktu by the 16th century, with copyists, proofreaders, and editors well known for their skills.
The copying industry in Timbuktu appears to have been extensive and well organized. The quality of the paper material used in Timbuktu and the nature of storage meant that all manuscripts, whether originally composed locally or imported from beyond Timbuktu, required re-copying at 150–200 year intervals if they were to remain extant.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-29-160647671)
The vibrant copying industry of the city is evidenced by the colophons at the end of the manuscripts, which cite not only the title and author, but also the date of the manuscript copy and the names of the scribes who produced it. They at times included the names of the proofreader and the fees paid to the copyists.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-30-160647671)
Two volumes of the Muhkam by Ibn Sidah, which were commissioned by the scholar Anmad b. Anda ag Muhammad, contains remarkable evidence of the copying industry in late-16th-century Timbuktu. They each feature a second colophon, in which the proofreader records that he verified the accuracy of the copying and records what he was paid. The copyist received 1 mithqal of gold per volume, and the proofreader half that amount. Manuscript copying was a professionalized business, and compensation was paid by legal contract, with the copyist and proofreader working full time to complete their contracted tasks.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-31-160647671)
The most important works copied locally include: lexicons (dictionaries of the Arabic language), such as those written by Fayruzabadi (d. 1415) and Ibn Sida (d. 1066), prayer books such as the of Dalāʼil al-khayrāt by Muhammad al-Jazuli (d. 1465), works on sunni theology such as those by al-Sanūsī (d. 1489), and various copies of works on Maliki law, such as the Mukhtaṣar of Khalīl among others.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-32-160647671)
Related to these were commentaries by local scholars on grammar, theology, and law, such as a commentary on al-Ṣuyūṭī's grammar by the scholar Muḥammad Bābā (d. 1606) titled: _al-Minaḥ_, and a versification of al-Sanusi’s work on tawḥīd (belief) by the scholar Muhammad b. Abi Bakr Baghayogho al-Tınbuktı (d. 1655) titled _Nazm saghırı_.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-33-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L9f4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa5b139df-f941-4d2d-ad48-3f16eed3e46f_907x637.png)
copy of the _**dictionary of Fayruzabadi**_ (d. 1415), 18th century, [Aboubacar Ben Said Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/523378). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV ABS 03132.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rL2w!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F78fe2b40-9e81-415b-9735-ab40b38883f2_1257x614.png)
_**A commentary of Umm al-Barāhīn of Muḥammad Ibn Yūsuf al-Sanūsī**_, 18th-20th century, [Mamma Haidara Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/169555). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV BMH 35986.
_This is a work on Sunni dogmatics._
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZY-2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82720d2d-f1a8-415b-986d-1ee193320c36_1239x596.png)
_**al-Minaḥ al-ḥamīdah fī sharḥ al-Farīdah**_ by Muḥammad Bābā Tinbuktī (d. 1606), 18th-20th century. [Bibliothèque de Manuscrits al-Imam Essayouti](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/160550). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. ELIT ESS 00305.
_This is a commentary on the Alfiyya of al-Suyuti._ _Hunwick lists Muhammad Baba among the Baghayogho scholarly family of Timbuktu._[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-34-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yHuJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F003a41f3-6785-466c-b096-b101169cc2ba_1274x648.png)
_**Tafsīr al-Jalālayn**_, 18th century. [Bibliothèque de Manuscrits al-Imam Essayouti](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/159959). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. ELIT ESS 04951.
_This work on Sunni belief that was written by al-Suyuti was copied by an anonymous West African scholar who added ajami glosses and a 2-page decoration. It’s written in the Suqi script of Timbuktu that was introduced by the Kel Es-Suq._[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-35-160647671)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EUkG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a0d0046-0ce1-4fa2-bc90-106ee1c2c8f2_1302x617.png)
The prayerbook _**Dalāʼil al-khayrāt**_, copied by Abu Bakr ibn Sayyid, 18th-20th century, [Aboubacar Ben Said Library](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/150167). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. SAV ABS 03145.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4wHa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa283ce1f-4926-4a48-81e5-ddbd2f6055ef_1323x594.png)
The prayerbook _**Dalāʼil al-khayrāt,**_ copied by _**Abdul Rahman bin Imam Zaghiti,**_ 13th November, 1855 CE**.**[Bibliothèque al-Cady al-Aqib](https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/625286). images from HMML Reading Room with the permission of SAVAMA-DCI, Num. ELIT AQB 00013.
_The Zaghiti/Zaghaiti nisba is associated with [the Wangara diaspora of West African scholars](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education); one such family is attested at Kano in the 15th century and Timbuktu and Gao during the 16th/17th century._[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-36-160647671)
**Conclusion: Demystifying Timbuktu**
‘For too long, Timbuktu has been a place everyone has heard of but cannot find on the map; a place which has been described as more a myth or a word than a living city. Through conservation, cataloguing, and study of its manuscripts, Timbuktu is now being revealed as a city with a rich written history. In the process, our notion of Timbuktu is shifting from it being the ‘end of the world’ to an important historic centre of Islamic scholarship and culture.’
J. Hunwick
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2QKS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9d1ca7f7-a39b-4855-929a-c2bdda5f5d10_600x456.png)
_**View of Timbuktu, with Mansa Musa's Djinguereber madrassa in the background**_. ca. 1895, Mali. Archives nationales d'outre-mer
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-1-160647671)
_This figure is taken from a consortium of private libraries called the Sauvegarde et Valoris ation des Manuscrits pour la Défense de la Culture Islamique, ([SAVAMA-DCI](https://waamd.lib.berkeley.edu/about/collections/SAVAMADCI)) which is involved in the digitization of all the manuscripts in collaboration with The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg (CSMC), and the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML), St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. SAVAMA-DCI, manuscripts do not include the national collection at IHERIAB, and two other important private libraries, the Fondo Kati and the Imam Assuyuti Library. Stewarts provides a total estimate of 348,531 manuscripts for the SAVAMA-DCI collections._
see: What’s In the Manuscripts of Timbuktu? A Survey of the Contents of 31 Private Libraries by Charles C. Stewart pg 4-6
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-2-160647671)
The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture by John Owen Hunwick, Alida Jay Boye pg 10
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-3-160647671)
Prehistoric Timbuktu and its hinterland by Douglas Park
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-4-160647671)
The great mosque of Timbuktu by Bertrand Poissonnier, Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick and ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAbd Allāh Saʻdī, pg 32, 69, 88, 94
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-5-160647671)
African Dominion by Michael A. Gomez pg 280-285, Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables 1400-1900 by Elias N. Saad pg 89-90,
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-6-160647671)
The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture by John Owen Hunwick, Alida Jay Boye pg 86-87
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-7-160647671)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg 69, xxviii-xxix, lvii-lviii
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-8-160647671)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg lvii-lviii, 62-68, Arabic Literature of Africa, Volume 4: The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa edited by John O. Hunwick, R. Rex S. O'Fahey pg 31
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-9-160647671)
Timbuktu Scholarship: But What Did They Read? by Shamil Jeppie pg 216
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-10-160647671)
The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and ... edited by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon pg 113, What’s In the Manuscripts of Timbuktu? A Survey of the Contents of 31 Private Libraries by Charles C. Stewart pg 7-10)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-11-160647671)
What’s In the Manuscripts of Timbuktu? A Survey of the Contents of 31 Private Libraries by Charles C. Stewart pg 11, Timbuktu Scholarship: But What Did They Read? by Shamil Jeppie pg 218-219
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-12-160647671)
But What Did They Read? by Shamil Jeppie pg 220-221
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-13-160647671)
The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture by John Owen Hunwick, Alida Jay Boye pg 89-90
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-14-160647671)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg lix, But What Did They Read? by Shamil Jeppie pg 218
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-15-160647671)
West Africa, Islam, and the Arab World: Studies in Honor of Basil Davidson by John O. Hunwick pg 40-41, The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture by John Owen Hunwick, Alida Jay Boye pg 88
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-16-160647671)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg 62-67
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-17-160647671)
The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon pg 149
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-18-160647671)
The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture by John Owen Hunwick, Alida Jay Boye pg 89, 94-97
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-19-160647671)
The Meanings of Timbuktu by Shamil Jeppie, Souleymane Bachir Diagne pg 95-97
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-20-160647671)
The Meanings of Timbuktu by Shamil Jeppie, Souleymane Bachir Diagne pg pg 184-189, Ahmad Baba on slavery by John Hunwick, Arabic Literature of Africa, Volume 4: The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa edited by John O. Hunwick, R. Rex S. O'Fahey pg 17-31
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-21-160647671)
Invoking the invisible in the Sahara by Erin Pettigrew pg 55-57
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-22-160647671)
Livre de la guérison des maladies internes et externes affectant le corps by Floréal Sanagustin, Kitāb Shifāʾ al-asqām, review by Cristina Álvarez Millán, An intriguing medical compendium by Justin Stearns
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-23-160647671)
What’s In the Manuscripts of Timbuktu? A Survey of the Contents of 31 Private Libraries by Charles C. Stewart pg 25, The Meanings of Timbuktu by Shamil Jeppie, Souleymane Bachir Diagne pg 197-208, The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon pg 141-142
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-24-160647671)
A Timbuktu Manuscript Expressing the Mystical Thoughts of Yusuf-ibn-Said by Maniraj Sukdaven et. al
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-25-160647671)
The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon pg 119, But What Did They Read? by Shamil Jeppie pg 222, What’s In the Manuscripts of Timbuktu? A Survey of the Contents of 31 Private Libraries by Charles C. Stewart pg 13, 16)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-26-160647671)
African cultural astronomy by Jarita C. Holbrook et al pg 183-187.
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-27-160647671)
Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables 1400-1900 By Elias N. Saad pg 249
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-28-160647671)
The Caliphate of Hamdullahi Ca. 1818-1860 [i.e. Circa Eighteen Eighteen - Eighteen Sixty by William Allen Brown pg 224
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-29-160647671)
The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon pg 149
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-30-160647671)
The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture by John Owen Hunwick, Alida Jay Boye pg 93-94
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-31-160647671)
West Africa, Islam, and the Arab World: Studies in Honor of Basil Davidson by John O. Hunwick pg 42
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-32-160647671)
But What Did They Read? by Shamil Jeppie, pg 223-225, The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon, pg 120-139
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-33-160647671)
What’s In the Manuscripts of Timbuktu? A Survey of the Contents of 31 Private Libraries by Charles C. Stewart, pg 12, n.22, 23, The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon, pg 137, Arabic Literature of Africa, Volume 4: The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa edited by John O. Hunwick, R. Rex S. O'Fahey pg 34
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-34-160647671)
Arabic Literature of Africa, Volume 4: The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa edited by John O. Hunwick, R. Rex S. O'Fahey pg 34
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-35-160647671)
Arabic Scripts in West African Manuscripts: A Tentative Classification from the de Gironcourt CollectionBy Mauro Nobili pg 125-131
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual#footnote-anchor-36-160647671)
Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables 1400-1900 By Elias N. Saad pg 58-59
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-did-they-write-about-an-intellectual
|
Africans were already present on the European mainland by the time Herodotus —the so called _father of history_— wrote his monumental work, _The Histories_.
Herodotus' account mentions the presence of _Aithiopian_ and Egyptian auxiliaries in the armies of the Persian emperor Xerxes at Doriscus and Plataea in 480 BC. Herodotus also provides a description of the land of Egypt and _Aithiopi_ a where these auxiliaries originated, and the includes the first external account of the _aithiopian_ capital [Meroe](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital) in what is today Sudan.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-1-160178657)
_Aithiopia_ was a classical term for the land south of Egypt, corresponding to the ancient kingdom of Kush, but the term was in later periods also applied more generally to Africans living beyond the southern Mediterranean coast.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-2-160178657) Greek myths and literature give a prominent place to _aithiopians_, and their frequent representation in artwork from the 5th century BC onwards was doubtlessly influenced by direct contacts with Africans, both in Africa and in Greece.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-3-160178657)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oN6K!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7a8b2d69-8667-4d9b-ae20-6f193e1c1ede_1101x629.png)
_**Terracotta statuette of a seated African holding a scroll**_. ca. 300-200 BC, Apulian (Greek) No 1856,1226.312, British Museum. _**Terracotta figure of an African actor or priest**_. 2nd-1st century BC, Smyrna, Turkey. No. 1993,1211.1, British Museum. _**Bronze vessel in the form of the head of a young African woman**_. 2nd-1st century BC. Hellenistic. No. 1955,1008.1 British Museum.
While my previous essays on [African explorers who travelled across the old world from Rome to China](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers) focused on those Africans whose origin and careers were sufficiently known and documented, they excluded the more abundant iconographical evidence and fragmentary textual accounts which suggest a much larger community of diasporic Africans than is commonly averred.
_Aithiopians_ appear for the first time in Greek literature in the Homeric poems of the 8th century BC, albeit with semi-mythological attributes. They are more accurately described in the accounts of Xenophanes (d. 478 BC), Herodotus (d. 425 BC), and the Athenian dramatists of the time who included them among the subjects of their plays and poems about the semi-legendary figures Memnon and Busiris. _Aithiopians_ are also reported among the disciples of the philosophers Aristippus (d. 356 BC) and Epicurus (d. 270 BC).[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-4-160178657)
Images of Aithiopian figures appear much earlier in the northern Mediterranean, first on the island of Cyprus in the early 2nd millennium BC, and later on mainland Greece by the 6th century BC. Classical artists depicted _aithiopian_ figures on virtually every medium, including marble, bronze, and terracotta sculptures; Janiform vases that juxtaposed _aithiopians_ with Thracians and Scythians; black-figure vases; as well as masks and other items which point to the presence of _aithiopians_ in ancient Greece.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-5-160178657)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sTKA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2db2ebff-7f61-4900-bdbc-2a491ef68008_999x765.png)
_**aithiopian soldiers**_, detail from a Black Figure table amphora by painter Exekias depicting Achilles fighting Penthesileia and Memnon with _aithiopians_, c. 535 BCE. No. 1849,0518.10. British Museum.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-6-160178657)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!floc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe98850f3-b232-404f-a394-75843755d41a_799x521.png)
_**aithiopian soldiers coming to the assistance of King Busiris of Egypt**_, detail from the Caeretan hydria by the Busiris Painter depicting Herakles fighting Egyptian priests and soldiers of Busiris. c. 550 BCE. Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna 3576. Flickr image by Dan Diffendale. _‘The vase deliberately aims to capture Egypt’s human diversity: the priests range in skin color, hair color, and face shape, while the soldiers are all depicted using a register very similar to Exekias’ portrayals’._[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-7-160178657)_(see the vase above)_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-1dJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F852c8251-20b9-4220-92be-dc192af9c26f_666x594.png)
_**Alabastron depicting an aithiopian man and a Scythian (amazon) woman**_. ca. 490-480 BC. No. 3382. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-8-160178657)
The _aithiopian_ figures from Cyprus represent the earliest iconographical evidence of Africans in the diaspora. The island of Cyprus was associated with _aithiopians_ during the classical period, and _aithiopians_ were counted among the ‘founding tribes’ of Cyprus in Herodotus’ account.
The presence of Africans in Cyprus is better documented during the late Middle Ages, when its cities of Nicosia and Famagusta became home to a community of scholars and pilgrims from medieval Nubia and Ethiopia, who produced influential figures in Rome during the Counter-Reformation.
**The history of the African diaspora in Cyprus from the bronze age to the late medieval period is the subject of my latest Patreon article.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[AFRICANS IN ANCIENT CYPRUS](https://www.patreon.com/posts/125467202)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8E!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56d393ed-c36f-4d35-b4d0-f0760829f6a4_1174x664.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-anchor-1-160178657)
Herodotus' Histories, 7.69-70, 9.32, 2.29
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-anchor-2-160178657)
Herodotus in Nubia By László Török, Greeks and Ethiopians by Frank M. Snowden in J. E. Coleman and C. A. Walz (eds.), Greeks and Barbarians: Essays on the Interactions between Greeks and Non-Greeks in Antiquity and the Consequences for Eurocentrism
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-anchor-3-160178657)
Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience By Frank M. Snowden pg 1-14, 123-129, 184-185
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-anchor-4-160178657)
Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks By Frank M. Snowden pg 46-49, 93-94
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-anchor-5-160178657)
Blacks in Ancient Cypriot Art by Vassos Karageorghis, Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience By Frank M. Snowden. _For a more nuanced interpretation of pre-6th century aithiopians in Greek and Cypriot artwork_, see; Racialized Commodities: Long-Distance Trade, Mobility, and the Making of Race in Ancient Greece, C. 700-300 BCE by Christopher Stedman Parmenter pg 89-122
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-anchor-6-160178657)
Racialized Commodities: Long-Distance Trade, Mobility, and the Making of Race in Ancient Greece by Christopher Stedman Parmenter pg 96-97
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-anchor-7-160178657)
Racialized Commodities: Long-Distance Trade, Mobility, and the Making of Race in Ancient Greece by Christopher Stedman Parmenter pg 95-96
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus#footnote-anchor-8-160178657)
Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience By Frank M. Snowden pg 25
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oN6K!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7a8b2d69-8667-4d9b-ae20-6f193e1c1ede_1101x629.png",
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africans-in-ancient-greece-and-cyprus
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Among the groups of foreigners present in the Assyrian capital of Nimrud in 732 BC, was a community of horse experts from the kingdom of Kush led by an official who supplied horses to the armies of Tiglath-Pileser III.
These African expatriates, who were arguably the first diasporic community from beyond Egypt to travel outside their continent, underscore the importance of equestrianism in the history of the ancient kingdom of Kush.
Kushite charioteers and horsemen created one of the ancient world's largest land empires extending from the eastern Mediterranean to the central region of Sudan. The 25th dynasty Kushite Pharaohs cultivated an equestrian tradition that has attracted favourable comparisons with the chivalrous knights of medieval lore.
This article explores the history of the 'Knights' of the kingdom Kush, and the historical significance of horses in the ancient Nile valley.
_**Map of the Kushite empire during the 8th century BC.**_
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**Sudan’s heritage is currently threatened by the ongoing conflict. Please support Sudanese organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country by Donating to the ‘Khartoum Aid Kitchen’ gofundme page.**
[DONATE TO KHARTOUM AID KITCHEN](https://www.gofundme.com/f/fight-hunger-in-sudan-the-khartoum-kitchen-appeal?utm_campaign=p_cp+fundraiser-sidebar&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer)
**Historical Background**
Horses were introduced into the Nile valley during the Hyksos dynasty of Egypt and were primarily used for pulling chariots. The sites of Tell el-Dab’a and Tell el-Dab’a in lower Egypt, dated between 1750 and 1500 BC, contain the earliest horse burials in the Nile valley.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-1-159638092)
During this period, representations of horse-drawn chariots also appeared in lower Nubia, which was then controlled by the Kingdom of Kerma, which was known in Egyptian texts as the land of Kush. The rulers of Kerma were in close contact with the Hyksos against the Thebean kingdom of Egypt in their middle, and official couriers from both kingdoms traveled via the western desert route likely relying on horse-drawn chariots.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-2-159638092)
At least one of the several Nubian rock drawings in this region depicts a Kerma victory in the area of Nag Kolorodna in lower Nubia. The drawing, which is dated to the classic Kerma period, shows a male figure on a frame chariot, shown from above with both wheels and axle visible, has one foot on the axle and kneels on the tree between the horses. The Kushite wheeled vehicle is depicted with eight-spoke wheels (unlike earlier Egyptian and Aegean chariots which have four to six) combined with a unique axe held by the charioteer. The image indicates a probable separate development of a heavy chariot in Kush.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-3-159638092)
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_**A Kushite victory from Lower Nubia at Nag Kolorodna**_. image and caption by Bruce Williams.
Four more drawings of chariots from lower Nubia come from the sites of Khor Malik, Kosha, and Geddi-Sabu. These are all simple representations that depict the chariot as viewed from above, two wheels with no spokes or 4 spokes, two animals, and a rider between or in front of them. Unlike the well-executed Nag Kolorodna drawing that can be dated on stylistic grounds given its similarity to Kerma art, these remain undated but were likely also made during the classic Kerma period (ca. 1650-1550BC) when the kingdom expanded into lower Nubia.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-4-159638092)
After the fall of Kerma and the Hyksos to New Kingdom Egypt, the chariot continued to be prominently associated with Nubia, with the Egyptian viceroy of Kush often serving as the _**“driver of the king’s chariot.”**_ Procession and tribute scenes of Nubians delivering tribute to the Egyptians and victory scenes of Egyptian campaigns into Nubia frequently include horses and royal figures riding chariots.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-5-159638092) Horses were also interred with their owners in a few of the elite burials in the New Kingdom period, eg at Sai, Buhen, and Thebes from around the 16th century BC. This was a continuation of a practice that began during the Hyksos era.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-6-159638092)
Following the gradual withdraw of the New kingdom from Upper Nubia. Horses continued to feature in the mortuary practices of elite Nubians at the sites of Tombos, Hillat al-Arab, and el-Kurru, pointing to their continued cultural significance.
The exceptionally well-preserved horse burial at Tombos, dated to 1005–893 BC during the early Napatan period of Kush, was found with the remains of an iron bridle and a scarab within a larger pyramid burial. The combination of the burial context and grave goods, including what is arguably the first securely dated examples of iron in Nubia, suggests that horses had acquired symbolic meaning in the early Napatan state whose rulers would later incorporate horse burials into their pyramids at el-Kurru.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-7-159638092)
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_**The foundations of Siamun’s pyramid; one of ten in the elite Tombos cemetery.**_
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_**Tombos horse and Iron cheekpiece**_. images by Sarah A. Schrader et. al.
**The knights of Kush: chivalrous horsemen of the 25th dynasty.**
In 727 BC, King Piankhi of Kush conquered an Egypt divided by rival kinglets. He founded the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, which consolidated a vast territory that extended from the 5th cataract in central Sudan to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean in Palestine. The royal cemetery of the 25th dynasty was at [the el-Kurru pyramid complex in Sudan](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pyramids-of-ancient-nubia-and), where Nubian elites had been buried since the 10th century BC, before the burial of Kashta (ca. 760–747 BC), the first known king of what would become [the empire of Kush.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-legacy-of-kushs-empire-in-global)
The remains of 24 horses in four graves were found at el-Kurru, with each group consisting of a team for a four-horse chariot. These horses were adorned with decorative and ornate trappings, such as silver plume holders, amulets, and multiple strands of beads. These horses were associated with the four Twenty-Fifth Dynasty Napatan kings: Piankhi (r. 743–712 BC), Shabaka (r. 712–698 BC), Shebitka (r.698–690 BC) and Tanwetamani (r.664–653 BC).[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-8-159638092)
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_**Pyramids of el-Kurru, Sudan**_. Flickr image by Ka Wing C.
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_**The northeastern part of the royal cemetery of el-Kurru with a close-up of the horse cemetery**_. image reproduced by Claudia Näser
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_**Cartouche beads from horse trappings**_, el-Kurru, Horse grave 211.1919, reign of Shebitka ca. 712–698 B.C. _**Bead net for a horse**_, horse grave, Ku 201.1919, reign of Shabaka ca. 698–690 B.C. _**Plume holder for a horse's bridle**_, horse grave 219, reign of Piankhy ca. 743–712 B.C. images and captions from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts
According to the archaeologist Sándor Bökönyi, the horses buried at el-Kurru were quite large even by modern standards, with withers heights of 152.29 cm and 155.33 cm (about 15 hands). They were larger than other horses found in the ancient Nile valley, for example, an Egyptian horse from Saqara dated to about 1200BC measured 14 hands. Bökönyi thus argues that the horses of el-Kurru were too large for a light chariot and could be considered riding horses.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-9-159638092)
The Historian Laszlo Torok argues that textual and iconographical evidence regarding the use of horses in Kushite warfare shows that the finest horses used in contemporary Egypt and Assyria were bred in, and exported from Nubia. He adds that the development of the large, high-quality horse breed began in Kush before the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty period, and was complimented by the introduction of a heavier chariot carrying three men, and the development of cavalry tactics — which he suggests contributed to Kush’s success in conquering Egypt.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-10-159638092)
Piankhi's conquest of Egypt coincided with a shift in ancient warfare to the use of heavy chariots and mounted warrior units, which developed into a powerful weapon of war that was especially utilized by the neo-Assyrian empire as well as the armies of Kush.
Victory scenes from Piankhi's temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal in Sudan include several depictions of equestrian figures as well as two-man chariots pulled by horses. These scenes include depictions of a warrior wearing a chest band and riding a large horse without a saddle, and two men in chariots who are wearing chest bands. At least one of the charioteers is wearing a helmet, but most are wearing caps, while two of the enemies who are being pierced with arrows are wearing Assyrian-type knobbed helmets.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-11-159638092)
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_**Ruins of the Amun temple at Gebel Barkal, Sudan.**_
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_**battle scene on the Great Temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal dated to Piankhi’s reign**_. drawing by W.J.Bankes, ca. 1822.
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_**J. G. Wilkinson’s drawing of the same scene at the Great Temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal**_. images reproduced by Jeremy Pope
The historian Anthony Spalinger argues that the military scenes and textural evidence reveal an evolution in the art of war in the Nile valley, evidenced by the adoption of the heavy war chariot (of 8 spokes to a wheel), and separate units of cavalry, archery, and chariotry, among other innovations. The absence of heavy armour that was more commonly found among their Assyrian rivals such as helmets and plates, indicates that the armies of the 25th Dynasty were focused principally upon quickly moving units better able to harass and geared to a swift victory rather than to a prolonged battle wherein a large deployment of troops was required.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-12-159638092)
Kush's cavalry and chariots mostly fought against foes who shared with them the principles and techniques of a chivalrous, "medieval", warfare, with the accents laid on the validity of the individual warrior in close combat.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-13-159638092)
Literary memory of the 25th dynasty period warfare is preserved in the ‘Pedubast Cycle’, a collection of tales that contain _**“remarkable reminiscences of (roughly Nubian period) historical personages.”**_ They describe exploits of a personal nature, which medievalists would call the heroic deeds of noble knights. And like their chivalrous medieval counterparts, the warriors in the Pedubast cycle rode their horses and chariots to battle but mostly fought while dismounted; their battles were announced beforehand, their arenas were clearly defined, and both sides regarded themselves with respect as equals.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-14-159638092)
The link between the 25th dynasty King's love for horses and their chivalry in battle appears in Piankhi’s royal stela in which he admonishes a defeated kinglet for mistreating his horses, as well as in his instructions to his army:
_**“If he (the enemy) says (to you): ‘Wait for the infantry and the chariotry of another town,’ may you sit (idle) until his army will come. You will fight when he says…**_
_**Harness the best horses of your stable, form your battle line, (but) know! Amun is the god who sends us.”**_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-15-159638092)
This link is also evidenced by the stela erected around Year 6 of Taharqo’s reign (ca. 685 BC) on the desert road leading from Memphis that was used for military exercises, which presents a report on the order the ruler gave his army to carry out daily training in long-distance running. According to the inscription, Taharqo followed the race of the soldiers on horseback by running the course of some 50 kilometers in five hours.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-16-159638092)
The Assyrians, who shared with the Kushites a love for horses, also wrote about the superiority of the Kushite horse handlers/equestrian experts (_**musarkisu**_) and horses (_**kūsaya**_) as early as 732 during the reign of Tiglath-pileser III. One of the Neo Assyrian texts mentions a Kushite holding the high military office of _**“chariot driver of the Prefect of the Land.”**_ Assyrian kings would continue to import large numbers of Kushite horses along with their handlers as late as the reign of Esarhaddon (r. 681 BC-669 BC), even after his armies had prevailed over the Kushite army in Egypt.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-17-159638092)
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_**Approximate extent of the Kushite and Assyrian empires**_. map by Lewis Peake[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-18-159638092)
[note that since the saddle with the stirrup hadn’t been invented, both Assyrian and Kushite charioteers and horsemen fought primarily with spears and arrows.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-19-159638092)]
While the lightly-armoured horsemen of Kush were successful at halting the Assyrian advance outside Jerusalem in their initial encounter around 701BC[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-20-159638092), they couldn't withstand the heavy cavalry and siege tactics of the Assyrians whose lengthy invasion of Egypt from 673 to 663 BC ultimately compelled the former to withdraw to Kush. Despite this setback, the prominence of mounted warriors in Kush continued during the late Napatan and Meroitic periods, which were especially important for expanding the kingdom’s sphere of influence.
The stela of King Harsiyotef (ca. 406-369 BC) mentions three campaigns in which he sent his _**“army and cavalry”**_ against the Metete in Kush's eastern desert region, well beyond the kingdom's heartland in the Nile valley.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-21-159638092) According to his royal chronicle, the Napatan King Nastasen (r. 335-315 BC) _**“mounted a Great Horse”**_ to take him from his residence in Meroe to the Amun temple at Gebel Barkal for his coronation. This journey was covered in two days through the Bayuda desert, indicating Meroitic control of its western desert region.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-22-159638092)
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_**Stele of King Nastasen, ca. 327 BC.**_ Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Berlin, Germany.
Iconographic evidence of cavalrymen during the Meroitic period comes from Temple 250 at Meroe, which contains various war scenes that include depictions of a harness chariot with 8-spoked wheels, as well as a scene with galloping horsemen and running soldiers. The galloping horses were modeled on Twenty-Fifth Dynasty war scenes: they are messengers bringing the news of a victory, while the soldiers running towards the station chapel and celebrating their victory stand for the returning army.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-23-159638092)
Temple 250 was built in the 1st century BC by Prince Akinidad on top of the remains of an earlier building erected by the Napatan King Aspelta. The decoration of its facade had a ‘historically’ formulated triumphal aspect and represents Kush's victory over groups of enemies faced by the Meroitic kingdom. It is also arguably the last depiction of horsemen in battle in the territory of Meroitic Kush, until the inscription of Noubadian King Silko in the 5th century, and its accompanying illustration.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-24-159638092)
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Temple M250 at Meroe, Sudan. University of Liverpool. ca. 1911.
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_colourised._
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_**image from Temple M250, Meroe, Sudan, depicting a battle scene showing marching figures and a chariot pulled by a horse**_. University of Liverpool, ca. 1911.
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‘_**Chariots from Nubia and the Sudan. 3: Meroe, temple of the Sun.’**_ drawing and caption by L, Allard-Huard.
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_Colourised_
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_**Image from Temple M250, depicting a kiosk with four columns with figures on foot and horses moving towards it**_. University of Liverpool ca. 1911.
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_**Meroe, Sun temple, Relief on lower podium, Western side. Third quarter of the 1st century BC.**_ drawn by M. Baldi.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-25-159638092)
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_Colourised_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The cultural significance of the horse in Kush**
As a powerful instrument of warfare on the one hand and a symbol of victory and prestige on the other, horses and their riders feature prominently in the art of Kush.
Horses are a prominent feature of Piankhi’s victory stela, and decorate the walls of his temple at Gebel Barkal; some of the horses are depicted with mounted cavalry, which were only rarely shown in the New Kingdom. At the top of the stela is the submissive king of Hermopolis, Nimlot, who is depicted approaching Piye leading a horse with his left hand and carrying a sistrum in his right hand. In this context, the sistrum was probably destined to calm the fury of His Majesty.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-26-159638092)
Relief decorations in the Amun Temple at Jebel Barkal, which depict Piankhi’s military campaign against Egypt, focus on representations of horses, including a scene in which the victorious king receives a tribute of horses, rather than prisoners of the Egyptian iconographic tradition.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-27-159638092)
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_**Detail of King Piankhi’s stela at the Cairo Museum, showing Nimlot bringing his horse to the Kushite ruler (center)**_. Image from Alamy.
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_**Close-up of Piankhi’s stela showing the submission of the Egyptian kinglets.**_
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_**Relief from the Amun temple at Gebel Barkal showing men leading horses to King Piankhy**_. image from Alamy
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_**Relief decoration in the courtyard of the Amun Temple at Jebel Barkal showing defeated Egyptian rulers in prostrate positions and a procession of horses led towards Piankhi**_. Image by Tim Kendall
This equestrian iconography of victory can also be seen at the Amun Temple of Taharqo in Sanam and at Kawa, where a relief block depicts a rider on a horse wearing a sun-hat. The excavator of the site of Sanam speculated that a series of rooms comprising the so-called “Treasury” could have been stalls for the stabling of horses.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-28-159638092) Victory scenes from Taharqa's at Sanam and Kawa depict one-man chariots pulled by both horses and mules, and processions of mounted cavalrymen each carrying a short spear and lightly armored. They are seated on cloths displaying rosettes which, seem to support high pommels of saddles in profile.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-29-159638092)
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_**Tarhaqa’s temple at Sanam, Sudan.**_
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_**Sandstone block showing a rider and a horse with a hat**_. Kawa, Reign of Tahraqa, 7th century BC. Top image from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, bottom illustration by Macadam 1955, pg Plate Ib.
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Top left: _**‘Sudanese Nubia. Reliefs from the temple of Sanam. Mounted mules.**_ Top right: _**‘Reliefs from the temple of Sanam. Vehicles drawn by mules.’**_ Bottom: _**‘Chariots from Nubia and the Sudan. 1. relief from Sanam.’**_ images and captions by L. Allard-Huard.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-30-159638092)
King Piankhy seems to have had a great admiration for horses. According to the victory stela from Napata when Piankhy entered Hermopolis in triumph and inspected both the palace of Namlot and his stables, where the condition of the horses appalled the king. When he saw that they had suffered hunger, he (Piankhy) said, _**“...it is more grievous in my heart that my horses have suffered hunger than any evil deed thou has done.”**_[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-31-159638092)
Besides this most famous passage, the text of the stela speaks repeatedly about horses: the King mentions the yoking of war horses, _**“the best of the stable,”**_ in his instructions to his army. Horses are mentioned in connection with the submission of the Egyptian and Libyan kinglets who concluded a peace treaty with the Kushite King. After the ratification of the oath, the chiefs are dismissed in order, as they say, to _**“open our treasuries, that we may choose as much as thy (i.e. Piankhi’s) heart desires, that we may bring to thee the best of our stables, the first of our horses.”**_[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-32-159638092)
The remarkable burials of the royal chariot horses in standing position, occasionally wearing their plumed head decoration, covered with bead nets, and provided with funerary amulets are testimonies to the Kushite love of horses.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-33-159638092)
This tradition of rich horse burials continued during the Meroitic and post-Meroitic periods. In Meroitic royal burials, horses also wore bells decorated with images of vanquished enemies. In the post-Meroitic period, the tombs at Ballana, Qustul, and al-Hobaji included the burials of the owners’ horses, complete with trappings and rich grave goods.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-34-159638092)
There are a number of artworks dating to the Meroitic period that demonstrate the continued cultural importance of the horse in Kush. These include several locally manufactured horse trappings and plumes, as well as an imported oil lamp with a horse-shaped handle.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-35-159638092) Graffito from the temple of Mussawarat also includes depictions of horses and their riders. Stylistically, the images date to the transition between the Meroitic and post-Meroitic eras between the 3rd to 5th century CE.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-36-159638092)
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_**Fragment of a Meroitic-era bowl depicting a horseman**_, Liverpool World Museum. Image by L. Torok.
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_**Bronze plume holder in the form of papyrus flower surmounted by a falcon wearing the double crown**_, Pyramid Beg. W. 24, Meroe. _**Silver horse trappings in the form of a lion's head representing Apedemak**_, Pyramid Beg. N. 16, Meroe. _**Silver horse trappings in the form of a charging lion**_, reign of Aryesbokhe, ca. 215–225. All images from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
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_**Lamp with a handle in the form of a horse**_, Pyramid N 18, Meroe. 1st century CE. Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
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_**Temple of Musawwarat es-Sufra**_, Sudan.
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_**Graffiti depicting a lone horse at the temple of Musawwarat, the horse is wearing a halter and is sadled.**_ Image by Cornelia Kleinitz. Man Riding _**Horse and rider at the temple of Musawwarat.**_ image by Eric Lafforgue
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_**Horses and Horsemen at Mussawarat**_, Images by Ursula Hintze
A 4th-century Roman account describing the arrival of envoys from Kush, alongside the Blemmyes and the Aksumites, mentions horses among the list of gifts brought to the emperor Constantine (r. 306-337). These envoys also brought with them _**“shields and long spears and arrows and bows, indicating thereby that they offered their service and alliance to the Emperor if he saw fit.”**_[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-37-159638092)
In the middle of the 4th century, the region of lower Nubia, whose control had been divided between Meroitic Kush and the Blemmyan chiefdom, gradually passed into the hands of the Noubadian rulers after Aksum’s invasion of Meroe.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-38-159638092) Some of the horsemen of Nubia eventually allied with the Eastern Roman Empire. The 5th-century illustration of the Noubadian King Silko depicts him wearing a Roman military garb consisting of a short mail tunic and a cape, while riding a caparisoned horse.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-39-159638092)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zjf2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f18cda7-4bfb-4a55-b619-d2347aadd4a9_1335x581.png)
_**5th-century inscription of King Silko and his depiction on the Mandulis temple at Kalabsha.**_
The centrality of horses in the middle Nile valley region would continue long after the fall of ancient Kush, with the rise of the [medieval Christian Nubia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/christian-nubia-muslim-egypt-and) and the Muslim [sultanate of Darfur](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history). The region would become one of the main horse-breeding centers in Africa, supplying [the cavalries of West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/knights-of-the-sahara-a-history-of) and northeast Africa for the rest of the pre-colonial period, creating one of the longest-enduring equestrian cultures on the continent.
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_**Nubian Horseman at the Gallop**_, Alfred Dedreux (d. 1860)
**African history is awash with stories of powerful women like Queen Amanirenas of Kush, who is briefly referenced in the New Testament book of Acts which mentions the eunuch of the ‘Candance’ traveling in a chariot to meet Philip the evangelist.**
**My latest Patreon article chronicles the history of another equally famous African Queen; Eleni of Ethiopia, from her obscure origins as a Muslim princess to her rise as one of Africa's most powerful women.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[A 16TH-CENTURY AFRICAN QUEEN](https://www.patreon.com/posts/124451963)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mqVf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9d03850-688c-4a7e-a9c0-35b1ee5e79ea_484x1215.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-1-159638092)
Of Kings and Horses: Two New Horse Skeletons from the Royal Cemetery at el-Kurru, Sudan by Claudia Näser and Giulia Mazzetti pg 124
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-2-159638092)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 186
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-3-159638092)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 191, 196 n.41)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-4-159638092)
Nile-Sahara: Dialogue of the Rocks. III. Innovative Peoples: The Horse, Iron and the Camel by Allard-Huard, L. pg 29-32)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-5-159638092)
Between Two Worlds: The Frontier Region Between Ancient Nubia and Egypt By László Török pg 173-179, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 333, 378, Nile-Sahara: Dialogue of the Rocks. III. Innovative Peoples: The Horse, Iron and the Camel by Allard-Huard, L. pg 25-26,
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-6-159638092)
Of Kings and Horses: Two New Horse Skeletons from the Royal Cemetery at el-Kurru, Sudan by Claudia Näser and Giulia Mazzetti pg 124, Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos by Sarah A. Schrader pg 386, 388)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-7-159638092)
Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos by Sarah A. Schrader pg 386-395
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-8-159638092)
Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos by Sarah A. Schrader pg 387
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-9-159638092)
Of Kings and Horses: Two New Horse Skeletons from the Royal Cemetery at el-Kurru, Sudan by Claudia Näser and Giulia Mazzetti pg 128, on the size of New Kingdom Egyptian horses, see: Nile-Sahara: Dialogue of the Rocks. III. Innovative Peoples: The Horse, Iron and the Camel by Allard-Huard, L. pg 13
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-10-159638092)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 158
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-11-159638092)
Notes on the Military in Egypt during the XXVth Dynasty by A.J. Spalinger pg 46-52,
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-12-159638092)
Notes on the Military in Egypt during the XXVth Dynasty by A.J. Spalinger pg 53-57
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-13-159638092)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 158-159)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-14-159638092)
Notes on the Military in Egypt during the XXVth Dynasty by A.J. Spalinger pg 58, Beyond the Broken Reed: Kushite intervention and the limits of l'histoire événementielle by J. Pope pg 113 Legends of Iny and “les brumes d’une chronologie qu’il est prudent de savoir flottante” by Jeremy Goldberg pg 6,
_“The word chivalry is cognate with the French words cheval (horse) and chevalier (horseman), and while a horse elevated a warrior socially as well as physically, actual fighting by Knights in this period was often conducted on foot… On battlefields of the twelfth century, decisive mass cavalry charges were unusual, and in set-peice battles of the period Knights habitually fought dismounted.”_ Medieval Warhorse: Equestrian Landscapes, Material Culture and Zooarchaeology in Britain, AD 800–1550 By Oliver H. Creighton, Pg 25-27
_“It is therefore not surprising to find that the full-scale cavalry charge was not used as extensively as might be expected.”_ Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience by Michael Prestwich pg 311-326
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-15-159638092)
Piankhy’s Instructions to his Army in Kush and their Execution by Dan’el Kahn Pg 125-126)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-16-159638092)
Daily Life of the Nubians by Robert Steven Bianchi pg 168, The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 173-174)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-17-159638092)
The Horses of Kush by Lisa A. Heidorn pg 107-110, Beyond the Broken Reed: Kushite Intervention and the Limits of l’histoire événementielle by Jeremy Pope pg 155-156)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-18-159638092)
The invisible superpower. Review of the geopolitical status of Kushite (Twenty-fifth Dynasty) Egypt at the height of its power and a historiographic analysis of the regime’s legacy by Lewis Peake pg 451
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-19-159638092)
The Rescue of Jerusalem: The Alliance Between Hebrews and Africans in 701 BC by Henry T. Aubin pg 53, Notes on the Military in Egypt during the XXVth Dynasty by A.J. Spalinger pg 49
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-20-159638092)
The Rescue of Jerusalem: The Alliance Between Hebrews and Africans in 701 BC by Henry T. Aubin, Jerusalem's Survival, Sennacherib's Departure, and the Kushite Role in 701 BCE: An Examination of Henry Aubin's Rescue of Jerusalem by Alice Bellis
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-21-159638092)
Fontes Historiae Nubiorum: From the mid-fifth to the first century BC by Tormod Eide pg 449, 451, 602, Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa by George Hatke pg 81-82
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-22-159638092)
From Food to Furniture: animals in Ancient Nubia by Salima Ikram pg 214, Enemy brothers. Kinship and relationship between Meroites and Nubians (Noba)" by Claude Rilly pg 215
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-23-159638092)
Nile-Sahara: Dialogue of the Rocks. III. Innovative Peoples: The Horse, Iron and the Camel by Allard-Huard, L. pg 29, The Image of the Ordered World in Ancient Nubian Art By László Török pg 221, 233
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-24-159638092)
The Image of the Ordered World in Ancient Nubian Art By László Török pg 212-215, 222
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-25-159638092)
The king Amanikhareqerem and the Meroitic world: an account after the last discoveries by M. Baldi, pg 159
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-26-159638092)
Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos by Sarah A. Schrader pg 387, Meroe: Six Studies on the Cultural Identity of an Ancient African State by László Török pg 196
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-27-159638092)
Of Kings and Horses: Two New Horse Skeletons from the Royal Cemetery at el-Kurru, Sudan by Claudia Näser and Giulia Mazzetti pg 130
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-28-159638092)
The Horses of Kush by Lisa A. Heidorn pg 106
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-29-159638092)
Nile-Sahara: Dialogue of the Rocks. III. Innovative Peoples: The Horse, Iron and the Camel by Allard-Huard, L. pg 21, 28-29.
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-30-159638092)
Nile-Sahara: Dialogue of the Rocks. III. Innovative Peoples: The Horse, Iron and the Camel by Allard-Huard, L. pg 20, 28, 29.
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-31-159638092)
Daily Life of the Nubians by Robert Steven Bianchi pg 160
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-32-159638092)
Meroe: Six Studies on the Cultural Identity of an Ancient African State by László Török pg 195-196)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-33-159638092)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 158)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-34-159638092)
From Food to Furniture: animals in Ancient Nubia by Salima Ikram pg 215, The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of the Sudan by David N. Edwards pg 191, 194, 207)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-35-159638092)
The Origins of Three Meroitic Bronze Oil Lamps in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by Stephanie Joan Sakoutis pg 66, 69
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-36-159638092)
Proceedings of the 14th International Conference for Nubian Studies, edited by Marie Millet, Frederic Payraudeau, Vincent Rondot, Pierre Tallet pg 986-987, Africa in Antiquity. The Arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan Proceedings of the Symposium Held in Conjunction with the Exhibition, Brooklyn, September 29 – October 1, 1978, Illustrated by Fritz Hintze pg 140-143
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-37-159638092)
Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. Textual Sources for the History of the Middle Nile Region Between the Eighth Century BC and the Sixth Century AD Vol III pg 1081
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-38-159638092)
Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa by George Hatke
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen#footnote-anchor-39-159638092)
Africa in Antiquity: The Arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan Vol. I by Steffen Wenig pg 117
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-knights-of-ancient-nubia-horsemen
|
Less than six years following their victory over the armies of Queen Cleopatra in Egypt in 31 BC, the Romans marched their forces south to conquer the kingdom of Kush, which was also ruled by a Queen, known to her subjects as Amanirenas and to the Romans as the ‘Candace’.
Amanirenas was the consort of King Teriteqas who died shortly before the Roman invasion. The Queen assumed full control of the kingdom instead of her son, Prince Akinidad, under unusual circumstances just as the kingdom faced its darkest hour. Both Roman accounts and a recently translated Meroitic chronicle confirm that around 24BC, Kush's former capital of Napata was sacked by the Romans (known as the _**Tǝmeya**_ in local accounts), who were nevertheless forced to retreat north to Qasr Ibrim in Lower Nubia (southern Egypt), having failed to conquer Kush.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-1-159182033)
In early 22 BC Meroitic forces re-appeared in Lower Nubia under the command of Amanirenas, who _**“marched against the garrison [Qasr Ibrim] with many thousands of men.”**_ The Queen sent her envoys to the fort who were then escorted to the emperor Augustus, who had set up camp on the Greek Island of Samos. Augustus submitted to all the demands made by Queen Amanirenas’ envoys and withdrew the Roman border further north to Maharraqa. The Queen, on the other hand, gave the Romans nothing in exchange, choosing to retain the statues (and presumably, captives) taken during earlier raids on Roman territories.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-2-159182033)
Amanirenas returned to her capital Meroe, and commissioned the construction of a temple that was painted with images of bound Roman captives kneeling at her feet.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-3-159182033) The Queen, or one of her successors, buried the bronze head of Augustus in its staircase, representing Kush’s victory over a formidable foe. [At least six women sovereigns (](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas)_[Kandake](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas)_[) would ascend to the throne of Kush after her](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas).
Meroitic texts and artwork commissioned by her successors; Queen Armanishakheto and Queen Amanikhatashan, borrowed heavily from the iconography of Queen Amanirenas, including depictions of bound Roman captives stabbed with knives or pierced with arrows —pointing to the enduring legacy of Queen Amanirenas on the succession of royal women in the kingdom of Kush.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-4-159182033)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLFW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c1223e0-2830-4a47-a825-7311c508b14c_1366x569.png)
_**watercolor illustrations of captive paintings found in building 292 at Meroe, depicting bound Roman and Egyptian soldiers on the footstool of a Queen and a Meroitic deity**_. _The originals on the right show the detail of the right footstool (top) and left footstool (bottom), and the larger painting of the left footstool._ Photos from the University of Liverpool, ca. 1911.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EmyU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e62ef1e-4527-4ce4-8071-0db668c58cb2_671x837.png)
_**Roman/’Northern’ captives depicted on bronze bells found in the royal pyramids; N.12 and N.18 (belonging to King Aryesebokhe and Queen Amanikhatashan who ruled in the late 1st/early 2nd century AD).**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-5-159182033)
Roman texts, on the other hand, are replete with assumptions about a woman's inability to rule, and literary impressions of foreign queens like Cleopatra and Amanirenas are almost uniformly negative. In Roman accounts, Amanerinas finds her equivalent in Boudica (d. 61 CE), the warrior queen of Roman Britain, whose armies also fought bravely against the Romans —albeit, with less success, and were equally vilified in Roman accounts. The fact that Boudica's revolt was led by a woman was, according to Cassius Dio, _**“the greatest cause of shame for the Romans.”**_[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-6-159182033)
In the centuries after the fall of Rome, only a handful of women were able to exercise their political agency in medieval Europe. The prevailing cultural assumptions during the Middle Ages and the early modern period held that women in Europe were divorced from the sphere of politics and incapable of military action.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-7-159182033)
For this reason, European travelers who visited the west-central African kingdom of Ndongo during the 16th century encountered an unfamiliar political culture, where women were not only active at the royal court and during major public events, but were also present in the military and could occupy the highest office as Queen-Regnants. The most famous of these was Queen Njinga (r. 1624-1663), who in several battles defeated the Portuguese colonial armies. Queen Njinga is fittingly described by the Portuguese as the _**“cunning Queen, our capital enemy who never tires of looking for ways to ruin us.”**_[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-8-159182033)
Like her ancient counterpart in Kush, the famous warrior queen of Ndongo established a precedent in her kingdom that would enable the succession of other royal women to the throne. [Queen Njinga would be succeeded by at least 6 Queens, who reigned with full authority](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-ndongo-and-the-portuguese) while also successfully fending off several invasions by the Portuguese colonial armies of Angola well into the 18th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6IeV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4e5e6c5b-ab01-4a5e-a28e-20d2db20a36e_852x610.png)
_**Queen Njinga with captured missionaries**_, late 17th-century illustration, Virgili Collection (Bilioteca Estense Universitaria).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ecOC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1f40c04-c145-4f36-9aaa-5dff9506865f_471x631.png)
_**Queen Nzinga Mbande (Anna de Sousa Nzinga)**_, hand-coloured lithograph, 1830s, National Portrait Gallery U.K.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
African history is awash with stories of powerful women like Amanirenas and Njinga. However, popular writing about women's history in Africa often relies on blanket assertions that either vilify pre-colonial societies as “repressive” or romanticize them as “egalitarian.” But the historical evidence does not sustain the universal validity of either of these claims. Even when the analysis of women's agency is restricted to the political sphere, the sheer diversity and complexity of African societies undermines any universalist approach to pre-colonial African women's history.
The two examples of Kush and Ndongo outlined above, for example, are among the few societies in African history —and indeed in World history— where numerous women are known to have occupied the highest political office and continued to retain their authority over a long period.
In other societies, such as the kingdom of Kongo, women only assumed a direct role in politics following the decline of central authority during the 17th and 18th centuries —contrary to the often-repeated claim that [Kongo transitioned from a matrilineal society to a patrilineal society](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power).
In the city-states of the East African coast, [the political power of Swahili women declined](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/persian-myths-and-realities-on-the#footnote-anchor-39-123316806) after the 16th century as the cities transitioned from republics controlled by the heads of powerful lineages —some of whom could be women, to kingdoms or sultanates with hereditary dynasties or lineages.
In the West African kingdom of Benin and the Hausa city-state of Kano, women's direct participation in politics increased after the expansion of central power during the 15th and 16th centuries, following the rise of the powerful Queens Idia and Hauwa, whose legacy resulted in the creation of the permanent office of Queen mother, known as; _**Iyoba**_ in Benin, and _**Maidaki**_ in Kano.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-9-159182033)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0Xon!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74b68399-3612-4bf0-88fb-7abc0529586d_777x554.png)
_**stylized representations of Queen Idia of Benin; Cast bronze head with openwork coral bead net and a Carved ivory mask-shaped pendant, inlaid with iron and bronze, decorated with Portuguese heads**_. 16th century, Benin City, Nigeria. British Museum.
The participation of women in pre-colonial African politics was therefore determined by several historical processes that were often unique to a given society
This is best exemplified by medieval Ethiopia where Queen Eleni (ca. 1431-1524) became the de facto ruler of the empire and the first woman to hold such a high office. Described by the historian Verena Krebs as _**“the single most outstanding female political figure of medieval Solomonic Ethiopia,”**_ Eleni presided over a period of revolutionary change in Ethiopia's international standing.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-10-159182033)
Not long after the Queen had assumed formal control of the empire in 1508, the Portuguese sent an embassy requesting Ethiopia for military aid in an alliance that would prove consequential to the history of the northern Horn of Africa.
**My latest Patreon article chronicles the history of Queen Eleni, from her obscure origins to her rise as one of Africa's most powerful women.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[A 16TH-CENTURY AFRICAN QUEEN](https://www.patreon.com/posts/124451963)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mqVf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9d03850-688c-4a7e-a9c0-35b1ee5e79ea_484x1215.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-1-159182033)
Les interprétations historiques des stèles méroïtiques d’Akinidad à la lumière des récentes découvertes by Claude Rilly
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-2-159182033)
The Kingdom of Kush by L. Torok pg 451-455, Headhunting on the Roman Frontier by Uroš Matić pg 128-9
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-4-159182033)
_on the representations of Roman captive in Meroitic art after Amanirenas, see_; The Representation of Captives and Enemies in Meroitic Art by Janice Yellin pg 585-592, _on the election iconography of Queen Amanirenas and her immedite successors, see_; The image of ordered world in ancient nubian Art by Laszlo Torok pg 217-219.
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-5-159182033)
first photo and illustration: The Royal Cemeteries of Kush by Dows Dunham Vol. IV, pg 138, Plate LV, fig 90, the second photo and illustration (same book); pg 150, Plate LVI, fig 90
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-6-159182033)
Boudica: Warrior Woman of Roman Britain By Caitlin C. Gillespie pg 36-37, 70-71, _see also_; Tacitus and Women's Usurpation of Power by Francesca Santoro L'Hoir
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-7-159182033)
The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800 By William Monter, Women, Diplomacy and International Politics since 1500 edited by Glenda Sluga, Carolyn James, A Companion to Women's Military History edited by Barton C. Hacker, Margaret Vining, Women in the Lusophone World in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period edited by Darlene Abreu-Ferreira, Ivana Elbl
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-8-159182033)
Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen By Linda M. Heywood pg 11-17, 59-60
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-9-159182033)
Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art By Kate Ezra, pg 14, 41, Government In Kano, 1350-1950 M.G. Smith pg 50-51
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful#footnote-anchor-10-159182033)
Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe by Verena Krebs pg 143
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EmyU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e62ef1e-4527-4ce4-8071-0db668c58cb2_671x837.png",
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/chronicles-of-africas-most-powerful
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Medieval Mogadishu was the northernmost city in the chain of urban settlements which extended about 2,000 miles along the East African coast from Somalia to Madagascar.
Centuries before it became the capital of modern Somalia, the old city of Mogadishu was a thriving entrepôt and a cosmopolitan emporium inhabited by a diversity of trade diasporas whose complex social history reflects its importance in the ancient links between Africa and the Indian Ocean world.
This article outlines the history of Mogadishu, exploring the main historical events and social groups that shaped its history.
_**Mogadishu in the Indian Ocean world**_, map by S. Pradines.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gos_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7e6769f-6758-4e46-b386-ce052b050b42_646x705.png)
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**Mogadishu during the Middle Ages: (12th to 15th century)**
The early history of Mogadishu is associated with the emergence of numerous urban settlements along the coast of East Africa extending from [the city of Barawa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca?utm_source=publication-search) about 200km south of Mogadishu, to [the coast of Sofala](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal?utm_source=publication-search) in Mozambique and [the Antalaotra coast](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-of-stone-77497948) of northern Madagascar. While much older entrepots emerged along the northern and central coast of Somalia in antiquity, the archaeological record of Mogadishu indicates that the settlement was established during the 12th century, not long before it first appeared in external sources.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-1-158655393)
Mogadishu is briefly mentioned by a few authors in the 12th century, including Omar b. 'Ali b. Samura of Yemen, who mentions the arrival in Ibb of a scholar named _**“Ahmad ibn Al-Mazakban from the island of Maqdisu**_(Mogadishu)_**in the land of the Blacks.”**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-2-158655393)
The city was more extensively described by Yaqut (d. 1220) in the early 13th century, although the interpretation of his account is disputed since he didn’t visit it:
_**“Maqdishi is a city at the beginning of the country of the Zanj to the south of Yemen on the mainland of the Barbar in the midst of their country. These Barbar are not the Barbar who live in the Maghrib for these are blacks resembling the Zunij, a type intermediary between the Habash and the Zunij. It (Maqdishi) is a city on the seacoast. Its inhabitants are all foreigners (ghuraba’), not blacks. They have no king but their affairs are regulated by elders (mutagaddimin) according to their customs. When a merchant goes to them he must stay with one of them who will sponsor him in his dealings. From there is exported sandalwood, ebony, ambergris, and ivory—these forming the bulk of their merchandise—which they exchange for other kinds of imports.”**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-3-158655393)
The account of Al-Dimashqi in the second half of the 13th century also comes from an author who did not visit the city but was based on information collected from merchants. In his section on the _**“Zanj people,”**_ he writes: _**“Their capital is Maqdashou**_[Mogadishu]_**where the merchants of different regions come together, and it belongs to the coast called of Zanzibar.”**_ Al-Dimashqi also mentions _**“Muqdishū of the Zanj”**_ in connection with trade via the Diba (Laccadive and Maldive) islands; it is the only place on the East African coast so mentioned. The ‘land of the Zanj’ in medieval Arab geographyy located south of the land of the Barbar, and most scholars regard it to be synonymous with the Swahili coast of East Africa.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-4-158655393)
A more detailed account comes from Ibn Battuta who visited the city around 1331 and described it as _**“a large town.”**_ Battuta notes that the _**“Sultan of Mogadishu is called Shaikh by his subjects. His name is Abu Bakr ibn Shaikh Omar, and by race he is a Barbar. He talks in the dialect of Maqdishī, but knows Arabic.”**_ The historians Trimingham and Freeman-Grenville argue that the Barbar were Somali-speaking groups while _**Maqdishī**_ was a proto-Swahili Bantu language, likely related to the Chimmini-Swahili dialect spoken in the southern city of Barawa.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-5-158655393)
Combining these three main sources, historians argue that medieval Mogadishu was a cosmopolitan city inhabited not just by foreigners, but also by Somali-speaking and Swahili-speaking groups, similar to most of the coastal settlements that emerged along the coast, especially between the Juuba and Tana rivers. According to Lee Cassanelli, Randall Pouwels, and James de Vere Allen, the region between these two rivers was, during the Middle Ages, home to diverse communities of farmers, pastoralists, and traders with varied social and economic relationships. Their interactions resulted in the creation of complex societies with different political structures, including hierarchical systems of clientage with both autochthons and immigrants that linked the interior of southern Somalia with the Indian Ocean world.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-6-158655393)
The above interpretation is corroborated by archaeological research on the early history of medieval Mogadishu. The old city consists of two distinct sections known locally as Shangani and Hamar-Weyne; the former of which is thought to be the older section. The excavations reveal that the extent of the medieval town was likely much larger than these two sections as indicated by the presence of the abandoned site known as Hama Jajab, as well as the location of the oldest mosques at the edges of both settlements.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-7-158655393)
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_**Mogadishu: surviving portions of the old town**_. Drawing by N. Chittick.
Excavations near the Shangani mosque revealed a long occupation sequence since the 11th/12th century and large quantities of local pottery were found including a mosque built in three phases beginning around 1200 CE. [8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-8-158655393) The oldest levels (layers 7 to 8) contained pottery styles, labeled ‘_category 5_’ which are similar to those found in the 13th-century levels of the Swahili cities of Kilwa and Manda, while the later levels (layers 1-6) contained two distinct pottery styles; one of which was unique to the city, labeled ‘_category 4_’ and the other of which was similar to that found in other Swahili sites, labeled ‘_category 6_.’Excavations at both HamarWeyne and at Shangani also recovered small quantities of imported wares, with the earliest levels containing _sgraffiato_ made in Aden and dated to the 13th century, while later levels contained Chinese porcelain.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-9-158655393)
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_“Mogadiscio – Panorama del Quartiere di Amarnini”_ in the HamarWeyne section, early 20th century postcard.
The above archaeological record indicates that the early town of Mogadishu was mostly comprised of a predominantly local population with links to the cities of the rest of the East African coast, as well as southern Yemen.
Evidence for the presence of communities from the wider Indian Ocean world is indicated by the names provided on the inscriptions recovered from across the early town, mostly in Shangani. Of the 23 inscriptions dated between 1200 and 1365 CE, at least 13 can be read fully, and most of their _nisbas_ (an adjective indicating the person's place of origin) indicate origins from Arabia in 10 of them, eg; al-Khazraji (from the Hejaz), al-Hadrami (from Hadramaut), and al-Madani (from Medina), with only 2 originating from the Persian Gulf. The most notable of the latter is the inscription in the mihrab of the mosque of Arba'a Rukun, commemorating its erection and naming Khusraw b. Muhammad al-Shirazi, ca. 1268-9 CE.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-10-158655393)
The abovementioned inscription is the only epigraphic evidence of the Shirazi on the medieval East African coast,[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-11-158655393) despite their prominence in the historical traditions of the region that has since been corroborated by Archaeogenetic research. The apparent rarity of these Persian inscriptions compared to the more numerous Arabic inscriptions, and the overwhelmingly local pottery recovered from Mogadishu and in virtually all Swahili cities undermines any literalist interpretations about the city's founding by immigrants.
[**See my previous article on ‘[Persian myths and realities on the Swahili coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/persian-myths-and-realities-on-the)’**]
13th century Mogadishu was home to three main mosques, the oldest of which is the Jami' Friday mosque at Hamar Weyne, whose construction began in 1238 CE according to an inscription in its mihrab that also mentions Kalulah b. Muhammad b. 'Abd el-Aziz. Much of the present mosque only dates back to the 1930s when it was rebuilt and its size was significantly reduced, leaving the minaret cylindrical minaret and the inscription as the only original parts of the old mosque. Its construction was followed not long after by Muhammad al-Shiraz's mosque of Arba' Rukn in 1269, and the mosque of Fakhr al-Din in Hamar Weyne, also built in the same year by Hajji b. Muhamed b. 'Abdallah.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-12-158655393)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Rwb4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36ad5600-f43f-4217-8b02-eddb13c443c0_976x628.png)
_**The Mosque of Abdul Aziz and the Mnara tower in Mogadishu,**_ ca. 1882.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-13-158655393)_‘The tower of Abdul-Aziz must be the minaret of an ancient mosque, on the ruins of which stands today another small mosque of more recent date and completely abandoned.’_[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-14-158655393)
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_**Jami Mosque of Kalulah in ḤamarWeyne**_, circa 1882. _‘the lighthouse towers of Barawa and Mogadishu are the most striking evidence of the civilization of these earlier centuries. From their situation and design there seems to be no doubt that these towers, which are about 12-25 metres high, did actually serve as navigational marks.’_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-15-158655393)
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_**mosque of Fakhr al-Din**_, ca. 1822. _Stéphane Pradines describes its plan and covering as rather atypical of East African mosque architecture including those in Mogadishu itself, linking it to Seljuk mosques_.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-16-158655393)
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_**(left) Inscription at the entrance to the Fakhr al-Din mosque (right) entrance to a mosque in Mogadishu, Somalia,**_ 1933, Library of Congress.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
The three 13th-century mosques were associated with specific scholars, which corroborates the descriptions of Mogadishu as an important intellectual center in external accounts. The account of Ibn Battuta for example mentions the presence of ‘qadis, lawyers, Sharifs, holy men, shaikhs and Hajjis’ in the city. In his travels across western India, he visited the town of Hila where he encountered _**“a pious jurist from Maqdashaw [Mogadishu] called Sa‘īd,”**_ who had studied at Mecca and Madina, and had traveled in India and China.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-17-158655393)
During the early 14th century, Mogadishu transitioned from a republic ruled by an assembly of patricians to a sultanate/kingdom ruled by a sultan. This transition was already underway by the time Ibn Battuta visited the city, and found a ruler (called a ‘sheikh’ rather than a ‘sultan’), who was assisted by a constitutional council of wazirs, amirs, and court officials.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-18-158655393) In 1322, the rulers of Mogadishu began issuing copper-alloy coins starting with Abū Bakr ibn Muhammad, who didn’t use the title of sultan. He was then followed by a series of rulers whose inscriptions contain the title of sultan, with honorifics referring to waging war. A few foreign coins, including those from the 15th-century Swahili city of Kilwa, and Ming-dynasty China were also found.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-19-158655393)
Mogadishu emerged as a major commercial power on the East African coast during the 13th and 14th centuries. Ibn Battuta's account mentions the city's vibrant cloth-making industry, he notes that _**“In this place are manufactured the woven fabrics called after it, which are unequalled and exported from it to Egypt and elsewhere.”**_[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-20-158655393) Corroborating Al-Dimashqi earlier account, he also mentions links between Mogadishu and the Maldives archipelago: _**“After ten days I reached the Maldive islands and landed in Kannalus. Its governor, Abd al-’Aziz of Maqdashaw, treated me with honour.”**_[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-21-158655393) An earlier account from the 13th century lists ‘Mogadishans’ among the inhabitants of the city of Aden (Yemen) alongside those from Ethiopia, East Africa, and the city of Zeila.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-22-158655393)
The 16th-century Chronicle of [the Swahili city of Kilwa in Tanzania](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological?utm_source=publication-search) also mentions that Mogadishu controlled the gold trade of the Sofala coast before it was supplanted by Kilwa during the early 14th century.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-23-158655393) The chronicle also refers to the arrival of groups from al-Ahsa who came to Mogadishu during its early history, and that Kilwa’s purported founder avoided the city because he was of African and Persian ancestry.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-24-158655393) The city is also mentioned in the _Mashafa Milad_, a work by the Ethiopian ruler Zara Ya’kob (r. 1434–1468), who refers to a battle fought against him at Gomut, or Gomit, Dawaro by the Muslims on December 25, 1445.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-25-158655393)
Accounts from Rasūlid-Yemen written in the 13th and 14th centuries mention the presence of vessels from Mogadishu visiting the southern port cities of Yemen. ‘According to al-Ašraf 'Umar, the ships of the Maqdišī left in the month of June/_ḥazirān_ for Aden and left during the autumn. The ships of Maqdišū also went annually to al-Šiḥr and to the two small neighboring ports, Raydat al-Mišqāṣ and Ḥīyrīğ.’ They exported cotton fabrics with ornamented edges (_ğawāzī quṭn muḥaššā_) called _**“Maqdišū”**_; they also exported captives that were different from those obtained from the Zanj coast; and they sold commodities such as ebony (_abanūs_), amber (_'anbar_) and ivory (_'āğ_) that were actually re-exported from the southern Swahili cities through the port of Barawa where _**“There is an anchorage (marsā) sought after by the boats (ḫawāṭif ) from India and from every small city of the Sawāḥil.”**_[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-26-158655393)
Curiously, while these Rasulid accounts include parts of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Ḥiğāz (Western Arabia) and the Gulf in the list of all those who had pledged allegiance to the Yemeni sultan al-Muẓaffar Yūsuf (r. 1249–1295), Mogadishu and the rest of the East African coastal cities never entered the orbit of Rasūlid ambitions and interests. None of the accounts mentions any travel to the ‘_Bilād al-Zanğ_’ save for a few movements of scholars to this region. This indicates that contrary to the local claims of ties to Yemen by [the dynasties of 13th century Kilwa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological?utm_source=publication-search#footnote-anchor-12-70620060) and post-1500 Mogadishu (see below), this region was considered peripheral to Yemeni chroniclers.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-27-158655393)
Mogadishu was one of the East African cities visited by the Chinese admiral Zheng He during his fourth (1413-1415) and fifth expedition (c. 1417–1419). Envoys sent from the city travelled with gifts which included zebras and lions that were taken to the Ming-dynasty capital in 1416 and returned home on the 5th expedition. The chronicler Fei Xin, who accompanied the third, fifth, and seventh expeditions of Zheng He as a soldier described the stone houses of Mogadishu, which were four or five stories high. _**“The native products are frankincense, gold coins, leopards, and ambergris. The goods used in trading**_[by the Chinese]_**are gold, silver, coloured satins, sandal-wood, rice, china-ware, and colored taffetas. The rich people turn to seafaring and trading with distant places.”**_ Mogadishu had been mentioned in a number of Chinese texts since the 12th century, using information from secondary sources, and after Zheng He’s trip, it subsequently appeared more accurately on later Chinese maps.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-28-158655393)
[ see my previous essay on [‘Historical contacts between Africa and China from 100AD to 1877’](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80113224?pr=true)]
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_**Pre-colonial port remains**_, ca. 1882. ‘_In Mogadishu there is a remarkable memorial of work, which must have been undertaken for the public good, to be seen in the remains of an old harbour installation, almost a dry dock. Behind a small promontory, against which the surf constantly pounds, a basin about 30 metres square has been dug out of the solid coral; at the sides the rock has been hollowed out to allow small vessels to be drawn up; from these hollowed-out caves, a spiral staircase about eight metres deep has been bored through the rock, connecting the installation with the upper level. At ebb tide the whole basin is almost dry, but it appears that there was originally provision for sealing it off from the sea altogether, for the flood enters only through one narrow channel. On the other hand the difficulty of entry from the sea side makes it somewhat doubtful whether this dock could have been in constant and general use. Possibly it served as a refuge for a fortress on the rocky promontory, and as an emergency channel for ships in time of war. Whatever its uses it remains astonishing evidence of the creative activity of these earlier times.’_[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-29-158655393)_[a slightly similar form of [maritime architecture was constructed at Kilwa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological?utm\_source=publication-search#footnote-anchor-26-70620060) in the 13th-16th century]_
**Mogadishu during the 16th and 17th centuries: The Muzaffarid dynasty, the Portuguese, and the Ajuran empire.**
The 16th century in Mogadishu was a period of political upheaval and economic growth, marked by the ascendancy of the Muzaffarid dynasty in the city, the [Portuguese colonization of the Swahili coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from?utm_source=publication-search), and the expansion of [the Ajuran empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/centralizing-power-in-an-african) from the mainland of Southern Somalia.
Vasco Da Gama reached the city in 1499, and his description of Mogadishu mentions its muti-storey buildings and ‘lighthouse towers’ (actually minarets of mosques).[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-30-158655393) On his return from his first voyage to India, Vasco da Gama bombarded the town, and despite repeated Portuguese claims that Mogadishu was amongst its vassals, this vassalage was never conceded. Attempts by the Portuguese to sack the city failed repeatedly in 1506, 1509, and 1541; the city at times mustered a cavalry force in some of these engagements.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-31-158655393) Mogadishu later appears in the list of East African cities whose merchants were encountered in Malacca by the Portuguese envoy Tome Pires in 1505.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-32-158655393)
The description of the East African coast by the chronicler Joao De Barros in 1517 also includes a brief account of the city and its inhabitants:
_**“Proceeding coastwise towards the Red Sea there is a very great Moorish town called Magadoxo; it has a king over it; the place has much trade in divers kinds, by reason where of many ships come hither from the great kingdom of Cambaya, bringing great plenty of cloths of many sorts, and divers other wares, also spices; and in the same way they come from Aden. And they carry away much gold, ivory, wax and many other things, whereby they make exceedingly great profits in their dealings. In this country is found flesh-meat in great plenty, wheat, barley, horses and fruit of divers kinds so that it is a place of great wealth. They speak Arabic. The men are for the most part brown and black, but a few are fair. They have but few weapons, yet they use herbs on their arrows to defend themselves against their enemies.”**_[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-33-158655393)
Copper coins issued by the first ruler of the Muzaffarid dynasty of Mogadishu are thought to have been first struck around the year 1500, with the inscription: “_**The Sultan 'Umar, the King of the Muzaffar**_.” At least 7 of his successors would issue their own coins until the fall of the dynasty during the late 17th century. While many of these coins, which are undated, were found in the vicinity of Mogadishu where they circulated, a few were found in Barawa and as far south as Kisimani Mafia in Tanzania. The large number of coins issued by at least one of the Muzzafarid rulers —5,965 pieces belonging to Sultan Ali ibn Yusuf— point to a period of economic prosperity in Mogadishu driven by trade between its hinterland and the Indian Ocean world.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-34-158655393)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KfJX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9632ad2d-7977-4cc4-aeb3-567a1c9f422d_829x580.png)
_**copper-alloy coins of Ali Ibn Yusuf**_. Mogadishu, Somalia, British Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6U7o!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a9f888f-892b-45de-97bd-5ba1f36258cf_805x516.png)
photo captioned: _**‘Ruins known as “Mudhaffar Palace, with cross vault (13th century), during the excavation campaign’**_[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-35-158655393) ca. 1926-1928,
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UJ85!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3ff4e8f4-438b-47ed-8d6e-00c071cda423_904x322.jpeg)
caption: _**‘Picture from the early 1900s: the “Palace on the beach” is still buried and the area around it seems to have been an assembly point for the shipping of livestock’**_[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-36-158655393) The old ruins are no longer visible.
Historical traditions regarding [the Ajuran empire of southern Somalia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/centralizing-power-in-an-african) indicate that Mogadishu fell within its political orbit, although it largely remained under the control of the Muzaffarids.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-37-158655393) The empire controlled much of the hinterland of Mogadishu as well as the interior trade routes and meeting points such as Afgooye. It was thus able to control considerable amounts of agricultural and pastoral wealth that were exported through Mogadishu, hence the appearance of interior commodities such as ivory, wax, and grain in 16th-century Portuguese descriptions of Mogadishu’s exports, as well as the presence of horsemen in the description of its armies, quite unlike [the southern cities where horses were rare](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern?utm_source=publication-search).[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-38-158655393)
In the late 16th century, Mogadishu became embroiled in the Ottoman-Portuguese conflict over the control of the western Indian Ocean, when the city welcomed the Turkish corsair Amir 'Ali Bey twice in 1585-6 and 1588. According to Portuguese accounts, Ali Bey would have pretended to impose himself that a great fleet dispatched by the Sultan himself would succeed him to subjugate the whole of the coast, rewarding the cities having made an act of allegiance and punishing the others. For fear that the city would be looted, Mogadishu's leaders submitted by offering tribute, and then accompanied Ali Bey in local boats, motivated by the promise of loot from the Portuguese colonies.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-39-158655393)
After the defeat of Ali Bey's forces near Mombasa, the Ottomans quickly abandoned their interests in the region. Traditions from the southern cities such as Faza mention the continued presence of dynastic clans known as Stambul (or Stambuli ie: ‘from Istanbul’) who were said to be of Turkish origin and were originally settled in Mogadishu, from which they were expelled before settling in Barawa and then on the Bajun Islands. One such ‘Stambuli’ had been installed at Faza shortly after Ali Bey’s first expedition but he was killed during the massacre of the city’s inhabitants by the Portuguese.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-40-158655393)
While the Portuguese re-established their control over the southern half of the East African coast, most of the northern half extending from Pate to Mogadishu remained under local authority. Mogadishu occasionally paid tribute to quieten the Portuguese but the town enjoyed virtual self-government. An account from 1624 notes that while the two northmost cities of Barawa and Mogadishu were at peace with the Portuguese, they did not accept their ships.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-41-158655393)
The city of Pate was the largest along the northern half of the coast and was the center of a major commercial and intellectual renascence that was driven in part by the invitation of [scholarly families from southern Yemen](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-social-history-of-the-lamu-city#footnote-anchor-21-99448062).
[see my previous article on [‘An intellectual revolution on the East African coast (17th-20th century)’](https://www.patreon.com/posts/74519541)]
These migrant families also appear in the epigraphic record at Mogadishu, represented by an epitaph from a tomb in the HamarWeyne quarter with the name Abu al-Din al-Qahtani, dated November 1607, and another on a wooden door with inlaid decoration from a house in Mogadishu, which names a one Sayyid Alawi and his family dated June 1736.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-42-158655393) According to traditions, the Qahtani Wa’il of Mogadishu were experts in judicial and religious matters and became the qadis of Mogadishu and khatibs of the mosque.[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-43-158655393)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!f1JI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d45d665-4b62-435f-9a88-b3bf7f29aee2_755x395.png)
_**Masjid Fakhr al-Din, ca. 1927-1929. ‘the twin ogival and pyramidal vaulted roof is its distinctive feature.’**_[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-44-158655393)
**Mogadishu between the mid-17th century and late 18th century.**
Beginning in the first half of the 17th century, the Muzaffarid dynasty of Mogadishu was gradually ousted by a new line of imams from the Abgaal sub-clan of the Hawiye clan family. The Abgaal imams and their allies mostly resided in the Shangani quarter of Mogadishu, but their power base remained in the interior. Members of the imam's lineage, which was known as Yaaquub, intermarried with the merchant families of the _BaFadel_ and _Abdi Semed_ and soon became renowned as _abbaans_ (brokers) in the trade between the coast and interior. The Abgaal didn’t overrun the city but shared governance with the town’s ruling families.[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-45-158655393)
Later chronicles from Mogadishu occasionally reflect the intrusion into town life of various groups of Hawiye pastoralists who inhabited the hinterland. Gradually, the clans of the town changed their Arabic names for Somali appellatives. The ‘Akabi became rer-Shekh, the Djid’ati the Shanshiya, the ‘Afifi the Gudmana, and even the Mukri (Qhahtani) changed their name to rer-Fakih. [46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-46-158655393)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lQhU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9f313a0e-2700-4e35-b60a-42f7a957a539_859x597.png)
_**‘La grand Lab de Moguedouchou’**_ ca. 1885, image from ‘Mogadishu: Images from the Past’
Accounts from the mid-17th century mention that Mogadishu and the neighbouring towns of Merka and Barawa traded independently with small vessels from Yemen and India.[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-47-158655393) Mogadishu traded with the shortlived sultanate of Suqutra in Yemen between 1600 to 1630, mainly exporting rice, mire (perfume), and captives from Madagascar., some of which were reexported to India, specifically to Dabhol and Surat. But this trade did not last long, as while Surat frequently received ships from Mogadishu in the 1650s, this direct shipping completely disappeared by 1680, and trade with the Swahili coast was confined to a few ships coming from Pate annually.[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-48-158655393)
In the later period, however, Mogadishu lost its commercial importance and fell into decline. There are a few fragmentary accounts about the now reduced town during this period, such as one by a French captain based at Kilwa in 1750-1760 who reported that Mogadishu and the rest of the coast were still visited by a few Arab vessels.[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-49-158655393) Portuguese accounts that refer to the coast between Mogadishu and Berbera as _“a costa de Mocha”_ (named after the Yemeni city) mention that the towns were visited by 4-5 ships annually from the Indian cities of Goga and Purbandar.[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-50-158655393)
A Dutch vessel arriving at Barawa from Zanzibar in 1776 refers to a message from Mogadishu to the King of Pate that informs the latter of a European shipwreck near Mogadishu, adding that the Swahili pilots of the Dutch ship recommended that they should avoid the town:
_**“Two vessels with white people had come to the shore but the water was so rough by the beach that both the barge and the boat were wrecked. All the whites were captured by the natives and murdered, with the exception of a black slave who had been with them and whose life was granted by the barbarians. Then they had pulled the vessels up and burned them, after taking out the cash, flintlocks, and other goods which were to be found in them, and then fled. Therefore we asked the natives and our pilots whether such evil and murderous peoples lived in Mogadiscu or further along the coast, and how the anchorages and water were in this wind! To this they unanimously answered that Mogadiscu was now inhabited by Arabs and a gathering of evil natives, and that no Moorish, let alone European, ships came there."**_[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-51-158655393)
According to the historian Edward Alpers, the Abgaal domination of Shangani left the older elite of HamarWeyne without significant allies in the interior. In the late 18th century, a man of the _reer Faaqi_ (rer-Fakih) family in the HamarWeyne section established the interior town of Luuq inorder to link Mogadishu directly with the trade routes that extended into southern Ethiopia. This initiative may also reflect the general growth of trade at Zanzibar, which dates to the domination of the Busa’idi dynasty of Oman from 1785.[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-52-158655393)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!f5OH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6159d6c8-18c3-45bb-8124-5d609d4b5aa0_858x601.png)
_**‘Our dhow in the harbor of Moguedouchou’**_ ca. 1885. image from ‘Mogadishu: Images from the Past’
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SH0f!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91ce5921-2040-465f-aaf1-58e7a587bf6f_763x600.png)
_**Mosque in the HamarWeyne section of Mogadishu**_, Somalia, ca. 1909, Archivio fotografico Società Geografica, Italy.
**Mogadishu in the 19th century.**
By the early 19th century Mogadishu and the two other principal towns of the Benaadir coast, Merka and Barawa, were trading small quantities of ivory, cattle, captives, and ambergris with boats plying the maritime routes between India, Arabia, Lamu, and Zanzibar. According to the account of Captain Thomas Smee obtained from two Somali informants in 1811, the town of Mogadishu _**“is not very considerable, may contain 150 to 200 [stone] houses, and has but little trade.”**_ He was also informed that it was governed by '“a Soomaulee Chief named Mahomed Bacahmeen” who was probably the reigning Abgaal imam.[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-53-158655393)
The account of the British captain W. F. W. Owen about a decade later describes Mogadishu as an abandoned city well past its heyday:
_**“Mukdeesha, the only town of any importance upon the coast is the mistress of a considerable territory. . . At a distance the town has rather an imposing appearance, the buildings being of some magnitude and composed of stone. The eye is at first attracted by four minarets of considerable height, towering above the town, and giving it an air of stilly grandeur, but a nearer approach soon convinces the spectator that these massive buildings are principally the residences of the dead, while the living inhabit the low thatched huts by which these costly sepulchres are surrounded. It is divided into two distinct towns, one called Umarween, and the other Chamgany, the latter of which may with justice be called 'the city of the dead', being entirely composed of tombs. Umarween has nearly one hundred and fifty stone houses, built in the Spanish style, so as to enclose a large area. Most of the Arab dows visit this place in their coast navigation, to exchange sugar, molasses, dates, salt fish, arms, and slaves, for ivory, gums, and a particular cloth of their own manufacture, which is much valued by the people of the interior.”**_[54](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-54-158655393)
Owen's account provides the most detailed description of Mogadishu's two moieties, its local cloth industry, and the internal demand for imported captives which anteceded the rapid expansion of its commodities trade during the later half of the 19th century.
[see my previous article on [‘Economic growth and social transformation in 19th century Somalia’](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/economic-growth-and-social-transformation) ]
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7DcM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32d7e5ea-8e52-47ae-b313-bd616f90079f_638x484.png)
_**The Market Place in Mogadishu**_, ca. 1882
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oD4m!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F802f2322-7ab1-4341-9280-2b5a62f03866_720x505.png)
_**‘Spinning, sizing, and unwinding cotton at Moguedouchou’**_. ca. 1882.
Mogadishu soon attracted the attention of the Busaidi sultan of Zanzibar, Said, who bombarded the city into submission in 1828. This was followed by a period of social upheaval marked by a series of natural disasters and the rise of the _Baardheere jamaaca_ movement in the interior which disrupted trade to the coast from 1836 until its defeat by the combined forces of the Geledi sultanate and its allies in mid-1843.[55](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-55-158655393)
A succession crisis in Mogadishu that pitted the Shangani and HamarWeyne moeties was briefly resolved by the Geledi sultan who controlled the hinterland. The sultan appointed a leader of the town and compelled the other to move inland, but the delicate truce quickly fell apart as the two moeties separated themselves physically by constructing a wall and gate, and building separate mosques. In the same year, Sultan Seyyid Said of Zanzibar appointed a local Somali governor over the town but tensions in the city forced him to quickly abandon his duties and flee for the interior.[56](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-56-158655393)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cSRB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4340417b-0848-4b7d-bdd5-67df00508845_1215x584.png)
_**‘The fort (Garessa) of Mogadishu, with Fakr ad-Din Mosque and HamarWeyne on the left and Shangani on the right.**_’ image and caption by ‘Mogadishu: Images from the Past’
Visitors in 1843 described Mogadishu as a modest town of 3,000-5,000 inhabitants which was in a state of ruin. Its fortunes would soon be revived in the later decades driven by the growth of agricultural exports, and the Benaadir coast was referred to as ‘the grain coast of Southern Arabia.’
In the mid-1840s Seyyid Said replaced his first, ineffectual governor with a customs officer who was under the Indian merchant-house of Jairam Sewji. Later Zanzibari governors established themselves at a small fort built in the 1870s near the HamarWeyne section at the expense of the Shangani section, and formed an alliance with the Geledi sultan, allowing the Zanzibar sultan to exercise significant commercial influence on Mogadishu. This resulted in the expansion of credit into the ivory trade of the interior during the late 19th century, as well as the displacement of smaller local merchants with larger merchant houses from Zanzibar.[57](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-57-158655393)
At the close of the century, the competition between HamarWeyne and Shangani was further intensified during the colonial scramble. Zanzibar's sultan Khalifa had "ceded" the coastal towns to Italy in 1892, even though they were hardly his to cede. The Italians found little support in HamarWeyne but were less distrusted in Shangani, where a residence was built for the Italian governor in 1897. The coastal towns thereafter remained under the administration of a series of ‘Benaadir Company’ officials supported by a small contingent of Italian military officers, before the whole region was formally brought under effective control in 1905, marking the end of Mogadishu’s pre-colonial history and the beginning of its status as the capital of modern Somalia.[58](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-58-158655393)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zk8J!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55bdcbfa-9348-4f54-87d2-7b9df8907007_820x562.jpeg)
_**The Jama’a mosque in 1910**_, image from Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte
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_**Looking from Shangani to HamarWeyne**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Cqe9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F46120960-e618-4bb1-9485-36c250cf968b_715x488.png)
Like Mogadishu, the 19th century city of Zanzibar was a multicultural meltingpot, whose population was colorfully described by one visitor as “a teeming throng of life, industry, and idleness.”
**The social history of Zanzibar and the origins of its diverse population are the subject of my latest Patreon article, please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[A SOCIAL HISTORY OF ZANZIBAR](https://www.patreon.com/posts/123415402)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-1-158655393)
_“ceramic collections from the excavations at the Shangani mosque do not challenge the central assertion by Chittick that there is no evidence for the existence of a town at Mogadishu before the late 12th century. On the contrary, the Shangani sequence as it now stands appears to extend back only to the 13th century.”_ The Origins and Development of Mogadishu AD 1000 to 1850: A Study of the Urban Growth Along the Benadir Coast of Southern Somalia by AD Jama pg 136
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-2-158655393)
Medieval Authors about East Africa: Mogadishu, By Pieter Derideaux
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-3-158655393)
Islam in East Africa by John Spencer Trimingham pg 5-6
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-4-158655393)
Medieval Mogadishu by H.N. Chittick pg 50. _‘To the tribes of the Negroes belong also the Zendj or the Zaghouah, called after Zagou, son of Qofth b. Micr b. Kham; they are divided in two tribes, the Qabliet and the Kendjewiat, the first name means ants, the second dogs. Their capital is Maqdashou, where the merchants of all countries go. It owns the coast called Zenjebar, which has several kingdoms._’ _quote from_: Medieval Authors about East Africa: Al-Dimashqi, By Pieter Derideaux:
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-5-158655393)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century by Greville Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 28, Islam in East Africa by John Spencer Trimingham pg 6)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-6-158655393)
The Benaadir Past: Essays in Southern Somali History by Lee Cassanelli pg 1-7, Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam on the East African Coast, 800-1900 by Randall L. Pouwels, pg 7-15, Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture & the Shungwaya Phenomenon By James De Vere Allen pg 44-52)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-7-158655393)
_Excavations at Hamar Jajab unfortunately yielded little material culture that could be dated_: The Origins and Development of Mogadishu AD 1000 to 1850: A Study of the Urban Growth Along the Benadir Coast of Southern Somalia by AD Jama pg 71-73, Medieval Mogadishu by H.N. Chittick pg 48-49
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-8-158655393)
_‘The ceramics found show, in some cases a very wide chronological span . A dating of the different rebuilding phases will be based on the youngest dateable sherds in the filling under the floor level. This means that the (oldest Shagani) mosque was erected …. after the year 1200 A.D. At the same time it can be noted that the oldest sherds of imported Arabic / Persian goods from (the Shagani) Mosque site seem to be dated to the eleventh century , and that these mainly appear in the fillings of the oldest layers.’_
_Taken from_: Pottery from the 1986 Rescue Excavations at the Shangani Mosque in Mogadishu By Paul J. J, Sinclair. _quote from_: Medieval Authors about East Africa: Mogadishu, By Pieter Derideaux
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-9-158655393)
The Origins and Development of Mogadishu AD 1000 to 1850: A Study of the Urban Growth Along the Benadir Coast of Southern Somalia by AD Jama pg 62- 120-137, Medieval Mogadishu by H.N. Chittick pg 54-60)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-10-158655393)
A Preliminary Handlist of the Arabic Inscriptions of the East African Coast by GSP Freeman-Grenville pg 102-104
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-11-158655393)
The "Shirazi" problem in East African coastal history by James De Vere Allen pg 9-10)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-12-158655393)
Medieval Mogadishu by H.N. Chittick pg 53-54
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-13-158655393)
_This and other illustrations from 1882 are taken from_ “Voyage Chez Les Benadirs, Les Comalis et les Bayouns, par M.G. Revoil en 1882 et 1883”
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-14-158655393)
M.G. Revoil, 1882, _quote from_: Medieval Authors about East Africa: Mogadishu, By Pieter Derideaux
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-15-158655393)
The Portuguese Period in East Africa by Justus Strandes, edited by James S.. Kirkman, pg 78.
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-16-158655393)
Historic Mosques in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar By Stéphane Pradines pg 233-234
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-17-158655393)
The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D. 1325-1354: Volume II, trans./ed . by H.A.R. Gibb, pg 378, The Travels of Ibn Battuta, AD 1325-1354, Volume IV, trans./ed. by H.A.R. Gibb and C. F. Beckingham, pg 809
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-18-158655393)
The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society by Mark Horton, John Middleton pg 172)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-19-158655393)
Coins From Mogadishu, c.1300 to c. 1700 By GSP Freeman-Grenville
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-20-158655393)
The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D. 1325-1354: Volume II, trans./ed . by H.A.R. Gibb, pg 374,
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-21-158655393)
The Travels of Ibn Battuta, AD 1325-1354, Volume IV, trans./ed. by H.A.R. Gibb and C. F. Beckingham pg 865
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-22-158655393)
A Traveller in Thirteenth-century Arabia: Ibn Al-Mujāwir's Tārīkh Al-mustabṣir by Yūsuf ibn Yaʻqūb Ibn al-Mujāwir
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-23-158655393)
The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society by Mark Horton, John Middleton pg 81-82
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-24-158655393)
The Portuguese Period in East Africa by Justus Strandes, edited by James S. Kirkman, pg 73
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-25-158655393)
The Scramble in the Horn of Africa; History of Somalia (1827-1977). by Mohamed Osman Omar pg 17-18
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-26-158655393)
L'Arabie marchande: État et commerce sous les sultans rasulides du Yémen (626-858/1229-1454). By Éric Vallet, Chapitre 9, p. 541-623, Prg 28-31.
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-27-158655393)
L'Arabie marchande: État et commerce sous les sultans rasulides du Yémen (626-858/1229-1454). By Éric Vallet, Chapitre 9, p. 541-623, Prg 33, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: Volume 2, From the Seventh Century to the Fifteenth Century CE: A Global History by Philippe Beaujard pg 352-353
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-28-158655393)
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: Volume 2, From the Seventh Century to the Fifteenth Century CE: A Global History by Philippe Beaujard pg 462-467, China and East Africa by Chapurukha M. Kusimba pg 53-54, 109)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-29-158655393)
The Portuguese Period in East Africa by Justus Strandes, edited by James S. Kirkman, pg 73
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-30-158655393)
The Portuguese Period in East Africa by Justus Strandes, edited by James S. Kirkman, pg 299
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-31-158655393)
The Portuguese Period in East Africa by Justus Strandes, edited by James S. Kirkman, pg 27, 69, 98-99, 111-112
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-32-158655393)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century by Greville Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 126)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-33-158655393)
The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the Countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and Their Inhabitants, Issue 49, by Duarte Barbosa, Fernão de Magalhães, pg 31
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-34-158655393)
Coins From Mogadishu, c.1300 to c. 1700 By GSP Freeman-Grenville pg 180-183, 186-195
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-35-158655393)
Mogadishu and its urban development through history by Khalid Mao Abdulkadir, Gabriella Restaino, Maria Spina pg 33
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-36-158655393)
Exploring the Old Stone Town of Mogadishu by Nuredin Hagi Scikei pg 47
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-37-158655393)
The Shaping of Somali Society By Lee V. Cassanelli pg 104
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-38-158655393)
The Shaping of Somali Society By Lee V. Cassanelli pg 112-113, The Origins and Development of Mogadishu AD 1000 to 1850 by Ahmed Dualeh Jama pg 88-89, The Benaadir Past By Lee V. Cassanelli pg 27-8
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-39-158655393)
The Portuguese Period in East Africa by Justus Strandes, edited by James S. Kirkman, pg 128-134. Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 99, 108)
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-40-158655393)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 101, n. 19, The Portuguese Period in East Africa by Justus Strandes, edited by James S. Kirkman, pg 131-132
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-41-158655393)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 122, n. 107, Coins From Mogadishu, c.1300 to c. 1700 By GSP Freeman-Grenville pg 182)
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-42-158655393)
A Preliminary Handlist of the Arabic Inscriptions of the East African Coast by GSP Freeman-Grenville pg 105
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-43-158655393)
The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society by Mark Horton, John Middleton pg 69)
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-44-158655393)
Mogadishu and its urban development through history by Khalid Mao Abdulkadir, Gabriella Restaino, Maria Spina pg 44
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-45-158655393)
The Shaping of Somali Society By Lee V. Cassanelli pg 73-74, 93,
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-46-158655393)
The Shaping of Somali Society By Lee V. Cassanelli pg 100-101, The Scramble in the Horn of Africa; History of Somalia (1827-1977). by Mohamed Osman Omar pg 19
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-47-158655393)
Muqdisho in the Nineteenth Century: A Regional Perspective by EA Alpers pg 442)
[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-48-158655393)
Arabian Seas: the Indian Ocean world of the seventeenth century By R. J. Barendse pg 34-35, 58, 215, 259
[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-49-158655393)
The French at Kilwa Island: An Episode in Eighteenth-century East African History by Greville Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 142
[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-50-158655393)
Arabian Seas, 1700-1763 by R. J. Barendse pg 325
[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-51-158655393)
The Dutch on the Swahili Coast, 1776-1778: Two Slaving Journals. by R Ross pg 344)
[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-52-158655393)
Muqdisho in the Nineteenth Century: A Regional Perspective by EA Alpers 442)
[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-53-158655393)
Muqdisho in the Nineteenth Century: A Regional Perspective by EA Alpers pg 444)
[54](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-54-158655393)
Muqdisho in the Nineteenth Century: A Regional Perspective by EA Alpers pg 444-445)
[55](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-55-158655393)
The Shaping of Somali Society By Lee V. Cassanelli pg 137-146
[56](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-56-158655393)
Muqdisho in the Nineteenth Century: A Regional Perspective by EA Alpers 445)
[57](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-57-158655393)
Muqdisho in the Nineteenth Century: A Regional Perspective by EA Alpers pg 446-454, The Shaping of Somali Society By Lee V. Cassanelli pg 175-176
[58](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca#footnote-anchor-58-158655393)
Muqdisho in the Nineteenth Century: A Regional Perspective by EA Alpers pg 456, The Shaping of Somali Society By Lee V. Cassanelli pg 198-199, 201-205, The Scramble in the Horn of Africa; History of Somalia (1827-1977). by Mohamed Osman Omar pg 20, 246-247
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mogadishu-ca
|
When the German adventurer Gerhard Rohlfs visited the city of Ibadan in 1867, he described it as _**“one of the greatest cities of the interior of Africa”**_ with _**“endlessly long and wide streets made up of trading stalls.”**_ However, unlike many of the West African cities he had encountered which were centuries old, Ibadan was only about as old as the 36-year-old explorer, yet it quickly surpassed its peers to be counted among the largest cities on the continent by the end of the century.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-1-158228303)
Originally founded as an army camp in 1829, what was initially a small town grew rapidly into a sprawling city with an estimated 100,000 inhabitants[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-2-158228303) living in large enclosed rectangular courtyards organized on principles of common descent rather than centralized kingship. Every community from across the Yoruba-speaking world and beyond converged on the cosmopolitan city, including the Hausa and Nupe from the north, the Igbo from the east, the Edo from the old city of Benin to the west, as well as Afro-Brazilians from the coast and European missionaries.
To most visitors, the city of Ibadan represented a complex phenomenon, with its labyrinthine physical layout and a large heterogeneous population comprised of traders, craftsmen, and farmers. During the colonial period, Ibadan attracted epithets such as the _‘Black Metropolis’_ and _‘the largest city in Black Africa,’_ and was considered the largest city in Nigeria until the late 1950s when it was ultimately surpassed by the country’s capital.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-3-158228303)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jNt-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F493ce4e7-6d2d-488e-b5d1-79c4639b5b8a_1361x509.png)
_**Illustrations of a Yoruba Compound and the city of Ibadan as seen from the mission house**_, ca. 1877, Anna Hinderer.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!REvu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dfc2c14-4ee4-404a-babb-56f41302f9c2_782x590.png)
_**People walking down the streets,**_ Ibadan, Nigeria, early 20th century. Shutterstock.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
At the close of the 19th century, there were more than a dozen cities in Africa whose population exceeded 100,000 inhabitants.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-4-158228303) While the majority of these large cities such as Cairo, Tunis, Fez, and Kano were of significant antiquity, some of them were of relatively recent foundation but they quickly surpassed their ancient counterparts in both size and importance.
At the confluence of the Blue and White Nile in Sudan, the urban settlement at Omdurman rapidly grew from a collection of hamlets to a large city during the last decade of the 19th century. Founded as the capital of the Mahdist state around 1885, the city housed an estimated 120-150,000 people who included many of the social groups of Sudan, living alongside different groups from West Africa, the Maghreb, and the Mediterranean world.
According to a description of the city by a visitor in 1887, _**“The inhabitants of Omdurman are a conglomeration of every race and nationality in the Sudan: Fellata, Takruris, natives of Bornu, Wadai, Borgo, and Darfur ; Sudanese from the Sawakin districts, and from Massawah; Bazeh, Dinka, Shilluk, Kara, Janghe, Nuba, Berta, and Masalit; Arabs of every tribe; inhabitants of Beni Shangul, and of Gezireh; Egyptians, Abyssinians, Turks, Mecca Arabs, Syrians, Indians, Europeans, and Jews.”**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-5-158228303)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8Sv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F134fb579-5f47-496e-a298-e788055395e6_904x569.png)
_**Khalifa's house and mosque square**_, ca. 1930, Omdurman. MAA, Cambridge.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o1jk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff030444c-ee82-4e20-aa22-eede93b45200_863x554.webp)
_**View of Omdurman market**_. early 20th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XS8C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffe99254a-bea0-4b86-b914-c494c36d380f_909x561.png)
_**Market in Omdurman**_, ca. 1930. MAA, Cambridge.
The heterogeneous concourse of people who flocked to the cities of Ibadan and Omdurman was characteristic of many of the large cities that emerged in 19th century Africa, such as Abeokuta, Sokoto, and the East African city of Zanzibar.
Initially a small town in the shadow of its more prosperous neighbors, Zanzibar in the 19th century became a cosmopolitan locus of economic and cultural interchanges, stitching together Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The city was synonymous with the ‘exotic’ in world imagination —the sound of the word Zanzibar itself seemed to epitomize mysterious otherness.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NB1n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc79b92d5-0102-4535-9338-dcc85174ade9_1362x439.png)
_**“Ethnic panorama” of Zanzibar**_. (Left to Right), _**Sultan Khalifa and Prince Abdullah**_, ca. 1936, Getty Images; _**Swahili Hadjis from Zanzibar in Jedda**_, ca, 1884, NMWV; _**Arabs and a dhow in Zanzibar**_, ca. 1950, Zanzibar Museum; _**Indian women in sarees**_, ca. 1930, Quai Branly.
Regarded by later colonial officials as the _“Paris of East Africa,”_ Zanzibar was a melting pot of multiple cultures from across the Indian Ocean world, as described in this account from 1905:
_**“The bulk of the Zanzibar population (apart from the ruling Arabs) consists of representatives of all the tribes of East Africa, intermingled with an Asiatic element. The native classes are spoken of as Swahilis, and the descendants of the early settlers of the Island of Zanzibar are called Wahadimu. Banyans, Khojahs, Borahs, Hindoos, Parsees, Goanese, possess the trade of the island, while Goanese run the European stores and provide the cooks and clerks in European houses. The town swarms with beachcombers, guide-boys, carriers, and camel drivers from Beluchistan**_[Pakistan]_**, gold and silver workers from Ceylon; Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, Levantines, Japanese, Somalis, Creoles, Indians, and Arabs of all descriptions, making a teeming throng of life, industry, and idleness.”**_[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-6-158228303)
**The social history of Zanzibar and the origins of its diverse population are the subject of my latest Patreon article, please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[A SOCIAL HISTORY OF ZANZIBAR](https://www.patreon.com/posts/123415402)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5lsV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fee75791b-1d58-4ead-b086-3ba48f72714f_464x1278.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lx8q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48e20556-a81a-45cc-b7ac-db818b1488ce_866x520.png)
_**Zanzibar in the early 20th century.**_
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-anchor-1-158228303)
Gerhard Rohlfs in Yorubaland by Elisabeth de Veer and Ann O'Hear
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-anchor-2-158228303)
Seventeen years in the Yoruba country. Memorials of Anna Hinderer by Anna Hinderer pg 20
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-anchor-3-158228303)
The city of Ibadan by P. C. Lloyd
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-anchor-4-158228303)
_for older estimates of global urban population sizes throughout history, see_: 3000 Years of Urban Growth by Tertius Chandler, Gerald Fox, pg 196-216, _**for Kano, see**_: Hausaland Or Fifteen Hundred Miles Through the Central Soudan by Charles Henry Robinson pg 113.
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-anchor-5-158228303)
The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State by Kim Searcy pg 95- 118, A Sketch of the Early History of Omdurman by F Rehfisch. Ten years' captivity in the Mahdi's camp, 1882-1892 pg 283
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century#footnote-anchor-6-158228303)
Zanzibar in Contemporary Times: A Short History of the Southern East in the Nineteenth Century by Robert Nunez Lyne
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o1jk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff030444c-ee82-4e20-aa22-eede93b45200_863x554.webp",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XS8C!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffe99254a-bea0-4b86-b914-c494c36d380f_909x561.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NB1n!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc79b92d5-0102-4535-9338-dcc85174ade9_1362x439.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5lsV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fee75791b-1d58-4ead-b086-3ba48f72714f_464x1278.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lx8q!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48e20556-a81a-45cc-b7ac-db818b1488ce_866x520.png"
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-cities-in-the-19th-century
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The East African coast is home to the longest contiguous chain of urban settlements on the continent. The nearly 2,000 miles of coastline which extends from southern Somalia through Kenya and Tanzania to Mozambique is dotted with several hundred Swahili cities and towns which flourished during the Middle Ages.
While the history of the northern half of [the ‘Swahili coast’](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-political-history-of-the-swahili?utm_source=publication-search) has been sufficiently explored, relatively little is known about the southern half of the coast whose export trade in gold was the basis of the wealth of the Swahili coast and supplied most of the bullion sold across the Indian Ocean world.
From the town of Tungi in the north to Inhambane in the southern end, the coastline of Mozambique is home to dozens of trade towns that appeared in several works on world geography during the Islamic golden age and would continue to thrive throughout the Portuguese irruption during the early modern period.
This article outlines the history of the medieval coastal towns of Mozambique and their contribution to the ancient trade of the Indian Ocean world.
_**Map of Mozambique highlighting the medieval towns mentioned below[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-1-157684668)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I3se!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe9b85403-e1ba-49b6-ad7b-a4ae4ff2cb13_602x1031.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Foundations of a Coastal Civilization in Mozambique: ca. 500-1000CE.**
Beginning in the 6th century, several coeval shifts took place along the East African coast and its immediate hinterland. Archaeological evidence indicates that numerous iron-age farming and fishing settlements emerged across the region, whose inhabitants were making and using a new suite of ceramics known as the ‘Triangular Incised Ware’ (TIW), and were engaged in trade between the Indian Ocean world and the African mainland. These settlements were the precursors of the Swahili urban agglomerations of the Middle Ages that appear in external accounts as _**‘the land of the Zanj.’**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-2-157684668)
The greater part of the territory that today includes the coastline and hinterland of Mozambique was in the Middle Ages known as _**‘the land of Sofala**_.’ Located south of the Zanj region, it first appears as the country of al-Sufālah in the 9th-century account of the famous Afro-arab poet Al-Jāḥiẓ.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-3-157684668)
The coast of Sofala was later described in more detail in the geographical work of Al Masudi in 916: _**“The sea of the Zanj (Swahili coast) ends with the land of Sofala and the Waq-Waq, which produces gold and many other wonderful things”**_ The account of the Persian merchant Buzurg ibn Shahriyar in 945, describes how the WaqWaq (presumed to be Austronesians) sailed for a year across the ocean to reach the Sofala coast where they sought ivory, tortoiseshell, leopard skins, ambergris and slaves. In 1030 CE, al-Bîrûnî writes that the port of Gujarat (in western India)_**“has become so successful because it is a stopping point for people traveling between Sofala and the Zanj country and China”.**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-4-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CRN2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f90baaf-2730-48c9-bc9a-43938f24b74b_1182x567.png)
(left) _**A simplified copy of Al-Idrisi’s map made by Ottoman scholar Ali ibn Hasan al-Ajami in 1469, from the so-called “Istanbul Manuscript”, a copy of Al-Idrisi’s ‘Book of Roger.’**_ (right) _Translation of the toponyms found on the simplified copy of al-Idrisi’s world map, showing Sofala between the Zanj and the Waq-Waq._
However, excavations at various sites in northern Mozambique revealed that its coastal towns significantly predated these external accounts. The oldest of such settlements was the archaeological site of Chibuene where excavations have revealed two occupational phases; an early phase from 560 to 1300 CE, and a later phase from 1300–1700 CE. Another site is Angoche, where archaeological surveys date its earliest settlement phases to the 6th century CE.
The material culture recovered from Chibuene included ceramics belonging to the ‘TIW tradition’ of the coastal sites and the ‘Gokomere-Ziwa tradition’ found across many iron-age sites in the interior of southeast Africa. It also contained evidence of lime-burning similar to the Swahili sites (albeit with no visible ruins); a crucible with a lump of gold likely obtained from the Zimbabwe mainland; as well as large quantities of imported material such as glass vessels and beads, green-glazed ware and sgraffito from Arabia and Siraf.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-5-157684668)
Chibuene gradually lost its prominence after 1000CE, as trade and/or settlement shifted to Manyikeni, a ‘[Zimbabwe tradition](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great)’ stone-walled settlement situated 50 km inland, and possibly further south near Inhambane, where a site with earthenwares similar to those at Chibuene but without any imports, has been dated to the 8th century.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-6-157684668) Chibuene likely became tributary to Manyikeni, as indicated by later written documents which suggest that the lineage of Sono of Manyikeni controlled its coastal area, and the presence of pottery in the later occupation in Chibuene that is similar to the ceramics found at Manyikeni.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-7-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!brta!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc712286b-9fe2-4795-9561-b964ea9dd500_798x542.png)
_**Manyikeni ruins in the mid-20th century**_. image reproduced by Eugénia Rodrigues
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_**Manyikeni ruins**_, images from Facebook.
To the north of Chibuene was the early settlement at Angoche, which consists of a cluster of sites on several islands that contain ceramics of the ‘TIW tradition’ dated to the second half of the 1st millennium CE, as well as imported pottery from Arabia and the Gulf. In the period from 1000-1500CE, settlement expanded with new sites that contained local ceramics of the ‘Lumbo tradition’ (similar to Swahili pottery from Kilwa) and imported wares from the Islamic world and China. Around 1485-90 CE, Angoche was occupied by royals from Kilwa who settled at the sites of Quilua and Muchelele, according to the Kilwa chronicle and local traditions. There's evidence for coral limestone construction and increased external trade at several sites that now comprised the ‘Angoche Sultanate’ just prior to the arrival of the Portuguese.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-8-157684668)
Further north of Angoche are the settlements of the Quirimbas archipelago, which stretches about 300 km parallel to the coast of northern Mozambique.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PuQz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0db9952f-970a-47b3-8814-b5bbf3d7fe6c_595x566.png)
_**Map of the Quirimbas islands**_ by Marisa Ruiz-Galvez et. al.
One early settlement found in this region was the site C-400 at Ibo, which contained local pottery similar to the ‘Lumbo tradition’, it also contained; bronze coins similar to those found at Kilwa; imported sherds from the gulf dated to between the 8th and the 13th centuries; glass-beads from India; and many local spindle-whorls, which confirms the existence of textile activity described by the Portuguese in their first reports of the Quirimbas archipelago. A locally manufactured gold bead found at Ibo also points to its links with the Zambezi interior and the Swahili coast. The assemblage of materials indicates a date of the 11th and 12th centuries CE.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-9-157684668)
Further north in Mozambique's northernmost district of Palma, the sites of Tungui/Tungi, Kiwiya and Mbuizi also provided evidence for early settlement. Archaeological surveys recovered pottery belonging to different traditions, beginning with Early Iron Age wares (3rd-6th century CE), 'upper Kilwa' wares, and ‘Lumbo Tradition’ wares (after the 13th century) and recent Makonde pottery (15th-19th century). The three sites also contained imported ceramics from the Islamic world and China, glass beads, and remains of coral-stone structures from later periods.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-10-157684668)
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_**Ruins of a mosque at Tungi, northern Mozambique**_. image by Leonardo Adamowicz.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The historical period in Mozambique: on the coast of Sofala (1000-1500CE)**
The archaeological evidence outlined above therefore indicates that the urban coastal settlements of late medieval Mozambique gradually emerged out of pre-existing farming and fishing villages that were marginally engaged in regional and long-distance trade, much like their Swahili peers in the north. It also indicates that there were multiple settlements along the coast —rather than a single important town of Sofala as is often presumed, and that the region later became an important part of the Indian Ocean trade.
The aforementioned account of Al-Idrīsī for example, described the voyages of people from the Comoros and Madagascar to the Sofala coast in order to acquire iron and gold:_**“The country of Sofāla contains many iron mines and the people of the islands of Jāvaga [Comorians] and other islanders around them come here to acquire iron, and then export it throughout India and the surrounding islands. They make large profit with this trade, since iron is a very valued object of trade, and although it exists in the islands of India and the mines of this country, it does not equal the iron of Sofala, which is more abundant, purer and more malleable.”**_ The account of Ibn al-Wardī in 1240 reiterates this in his section on the Sofala coast: _**“The Indians visit this region and buy iron for large sums of silver, although they have iron mines in India, but the mines in the Sofala country are of better quality, [the ore being] purer and softer. The Indians make it purer and it becomes lumps of steel.”**_[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-11-157684668)
According to the account of Abu Al-Fida (d. 1331), who relied on earlier sources, the capital of Sofala was Seruna where the king resided. _**“Sofala is in the land of the Zanj. According to the author of the Canon, the inhabitants are Muslims. Ibn Said says that their chief means of existence are mining gold and iron.”**_ He also mentions other towns such as Bantya, which is the northernmost town; Leirana, which he describes as _**“a seaport where ships put and whence they set out, the inhabitants profess Islam,”**_ and Daghuta which is _**“the last one of the country of Sofala and the furthest of the inhabited part of the continent towards the south.”**_[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-12-157684668)
The globe-trotter Ibn Battuta, who visited Kilwa in 1331, also briefly mentioned the land of Sofala in his description of [the city of Kilwa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological?utm_source=publication-search): _**“We set sail for Kilwa, the principal town on the coast, the greater part of whose inhabitants are Zanj of very black complexion. Their faces are scarred, like the Limiin at Janada. A merchant told me that Sofala is halfa month’s march from Kilwa, and that between Sofala and Yufi in the country of the Limiin is a month’s march. Powdered gold is brought from Yufi to Sofala.”**_[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-13-157684668) Yufi was a site in the interior, identified by historians to be Great Zimbabwe, where gold was collected and dispatched to the coast. The coast/town of Sofala which Ibn Battuta mentioned must have been within Kilwa’s political orbit.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-14-157684668)
The Kilwa chronicle, which was written around 1550, mentions that Kilwa's sultans had in the late 13th century managed to assume loose hegemony over large sections of its southern coast, likely encompassing the region of Sofala. The chronicle describes the sultan Ḥasan bin Sulaymān as _**“lord of the commerce of Sofala and of the islands of Pemba, Mafia, Zanzibar and of a great part of the shore of the mainland”**_ The 14th century Sultan al-Hasan bin Sulaiman is known to have issued coins with a trimetallic system (gold, silver, and copper), one of these coins was found at Great Zimbabwe, which, in addition to the coins found near Ibo, provide evidence of direct contact between the Swahili coast, the coast of Sofala and interior kingdoms of the Zambezi river.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-15-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FS3-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99100ca4-c548-4f1c-8c52-2f4c1d4ff6e0_1600x900.jpeg)
_**Ruins of the Husuni Kubwa Palace of the 14th-century ruler of Kilwa Ḥasan bin Sulaymān.**_ image by National Geographic
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_**gold coins of the Kilwa Sultan Hassan bin Sulayman from the 14th centur**_**y.**image by Jason D. Hawkes and Stephanie Wynne-Jones
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_**The location of Kilwa and the southern towns of Angoche and Sofala**_
According to oral traditions and written accounts, the emergence of the sultanate of Angoche is associated with the arrival of coastal settlers from Kilwa in 1490, and the expansion of the Indian Ocean trade with the coast of Sofala. The 15th-century account of sailor Ibn Majid mentions that _**“The best season from Kilwa to Sufāla is from November 14 to January 2, but if you set out from Sufāla, you should do it on May 11.”**_ Sufala means shoal in Arabic, most likely because its reefs and islands were reported as a navigational hazard by sailors.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-16-157684668)
On the other hand, Angoche is derived from ‘_**Ngoji**_,’ the local name for the city as known by its Koti-Swahili inhabitants which means ‘to wait’. Historians suggest Angoche was a port of call where merchants ‘waited’ until goods coming from the Zambezi interior via the region of Sofala arrived or they awaited permission to proceed further south. Angoche’s use as a port of call can be seen in a 1508 account, when the Portuguese captain Duarte de Lemos anchored by _**“an island that lies at the mouth of the river Angoxe [Angoche] and gathered freshwater supplies from a welcoming village.”**_[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-17-157684668)
The region of Sofala was thus the main hub of trade along the coastline of Mozambique during the late Middle Ages acting as the middleman in the trade linking the interior kingdoms like Great Zimbabwe and Swahili cities like Kilwa. Its reputation as a major outlet of gold is corroborated by the account of Ibn al-Wardi (d.1349) who wrote that the land of Sofala possessed remarkable quantities of the precious metal: _**“one of the wonders of the land of Sofala is that there are found under the soil, nuggets of gold in great numbers.”**_[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-18-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HPzf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4a211273-e8e3-473b-b145-7d747f2e637e_1285x603.png)
Gold objects from different ‘Zimbabwe tradition sites’: (first image) _**golden rhinoceros (A) and gold anklet coils (B) from Mapungubwe, South Africa, ca 13th century**_[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-19-157684668); (second image) _**gold beads and gold wire armlet, ca. 14th-15th century, Ingombe Ilede, Zambia**_.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-20-157684668) (last image) _**Gold and carnelian beads from Ibo in the Quirimbas islands, ca. 10th-12th century CE**_. _Archeometallurgical analysis showed a remarkable similarity between the gold bead of Ibo and the ones found at Mapungubwe._[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-21-157684668)
However, unlike the large cities of the Swahili coast, the towns on the coastline of Mozambique remained relatively small until the late Middle Ages, they were also less permanent, less nucleated and the largest boasted only a few thousand inhabitants.
It was during this period that a town known as Sofala emerged in the 15th century. Excavations at four sites around the town recovered material culture that includes local pottery still used in the coastal regions today, regional pottery styles similar to those found in southern Zambezia, and imported pottery from China dated to between the 15th and 18th centuries. Finds of elite tombs for Muslims, spindle whorls for spinning cotton, and small sherds of Indian pottery point to its cosmopolitan status similar to other Swahili towns, but with a significant local character, that's accentuated by finds of an ivory horn that bears some resemblance with those made on the Swahili coast and at Great Zimbabwe.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-22-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-OXp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabc8289f-7a12-4dcc-a4fe-b9eb892eda31_751x561.png)
_**15th/16th-century Ivory horn from the Swahili settlement at Sofala, and a similar horn from the Swahili city of Pate in Kenya**_.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-23-157684668)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The Mozambique coast and the Portuguese during the 16th to 18th centuries**
At the time of the Portuguese arrival in the Indian Ocean, the coastline of Mozambique was at the terminus of the main trade routes in the western half of the Indian Ocean world.
The Portuguese sailors led by Vasco Da Gama sailed past Sofala and landed on Mozambique island in January 1498, whose town was also established in the 15th century and was ruled by sultan Musa bin Bique (after whom the town was named). A contemporary chronicler described the city as such:_**“The men of this land are russet in colour (ie: African/Swahili) and of good physique. They are of the Islamic faith and speak like Moors. Their clothes are of very thin linen and cotton, of many-coloured stripes, and richly embroidered. All wear caps on their heads hemmed with silk and embroidered with gold thread. They are merchants and they trade with the white Moors (ie: Arab), four of whose vessels were here at this place, carrying gold, silver and cloth, cloves, pepper and ginger, rings of silver with many pearls, seed pearls and rubies and the like.”**_[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-24-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!eEpQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e861114-8d9d-4c14-aa2f-f0d032c0842c_815x541.png)
_**Ruined structure on the Swahili settlement at Mozambique island**_, _dated to the 15th-16th centuries_, image by Diogo V. Oliveira
After receiving information about golden Sofala from his first voyage, Vasco DaGama landed at the port town in 1502, followed shortly after by Pero Afonso in 1504. Both sent back laudatory reports on its wealth and its legendary status as King Solomon's Ophir, which prompted Portugal to send a military expedition to colonize it and Kilwa. In 1505, Captain Pero de Anhaia made landfall at Sofala and was generously received by its ruler, Sheikh Yusuf, who granted them permission to build a stockade (fortress of wood), probably because they had learned the fate of their peers in other Swahili cities like Kilwa that had been sacked for resisting the Portuguese.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-25-157684668)
Like most of the towns described on the coast (including Sofala and Angoche), Sheikh Yusuf's Sofala was a modest town of a few thousand living in houses of wood, whose population included about 800 Swahili merchants who wore silk and cotton robes, carried scimitars with gold-decorated ivory handles in their belts, and sat in council/assembly that governed the town (like on the Swahili coast, the so-called “sultans” in this region were often appointed by these councils). The rest of the population consisted of non-Muslim groups who formed the bulk of the army, they wore cotton garments and copper anklets made in the interior.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-26-157684668)
The Portuguese soon fell into conflict with the Sheikh after their failed attempts to monopolize Sofala's gold trade. These conflicts forced local merchants to divert the gold trade overland through the newly established town of Quelimane at the mouth of the Zambezi. This gold was then carried to Angoche in the north, ultimately passing through the Quirimbas islands, and onwards to Kilwa. Political and commercial links across these cities were sustained through kinship ties and intermarriages between their ruling dynasties, such as those between the sultans of Angoche and Kilwa. Additionally, in 1514 the Portuguese geographer Barbosa wrote that Mozambique island was frequented by the _**“Moors who traded to Sofala and Cuama [the Zambesi] [. . .] who are of the same tongue as those of Angoya [Angoche]**_,” and he later wrote about the local Muslims of Quelimane that _**“these Moors are of the same language and customs as those of Angoya [Angoche].”**_[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-27-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!adyU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7fc1777a-2d81-435d-89af-0e2229fb9216_1500x1220.jpeg)
_**Dhows in Harbour, ca. 1896, Mozambique**_, private collection.
According to a Portuguese account from 1506, at least 1.3 million mithqals of gold were exported each year from Sofala, and 50,000 came from Angoche, which translates to about 5,744 kg of gold a year. Other more detailed accounts estimate that from an initial 8,500kg a year before the Portuguese arrival, exports from the Sofala coast fell to an estimated 573kg in 1585; before gradually rising to 716kg in 1591; 850kg in 1610; 1487kg in 1667. Another account provides an estimate of 850kg in 1600, and 1,000kg in 1614. These figures fluctuated wildly at times due to “smuggling,” eg in 1512 when the Portuguese exported no gold from Sofala, but illegal trade amounted to over 30,000 mithqals (128kg) passing through northern towns like Angoche.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-28-157684668)
**[For a more detailed account of the gold trade between Great Zimbabwe, Sofala and Kilwa, please read [this essay on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/posts/dynamics-of-gold-111163742)]**
The wild fluctuations in the gold trade were partially a result of the Portuguese wars against the coastal cities of Mozambique and Swahili. Sofala had been sacked in 1506, Angoche was sacked in 1511, and the towns of the Quirimbas islands were sacked in 1523. Each time, the local merchants returned to rebuild their cities and continued to defy the Portuguese. While large Portuguese forts were constructed at Sofala in 1507 and at Mozambique island in 1583, the two Swahili towns remained autonomous but were commercially dependent on the Portuguese trade.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-29-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Jh-p!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F371e380e-5194-4774-a3fa-44fc93d1530c_788x566.png)
_**Ruins of the Portuguese fort at Sofala, late 19th-early 20th century**_, Yale University Library.
Mozambique island became an important port of call, at least 108 of the 131 Portuguese ships that visited the East African coast wintered at its port. By the early 17th century, the Portuguese settlement next to the fort had a population of about 2,000, only about 400 of whom were Portuguese. However, the fort was weakly defended with just 6 soldiers when the Dutch sacked the town in 1604 and 1607. While the Swahili rulers of Mozambique had been forced to move their capital to the mainland town of Sancul in the early 16th century, about half the island was still inhabited by the local Muslim population until at least the 18th century, and was referred to as _‘zona de makuti’_. Both the Portuguese settlement and the mainland town of Sancul depended on the Makua rulers of the African mainland, from whom they obtained supplies of ivory and food, security, and captives who worked in their households.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-30-157684668)
Angoche, Quilemane, and the Quirimbas were initially largely independent of the Portuguese. According to an account by Antonio de Saldanha in 1511, Angoche had an estimated population of 12,000, with atleast 10,000 merchants active in the interior. While these figures are exaggerated, they reflect the importance of the city and place it among the largest Swahili cities of the 16th century.
Around 1544, the sultan of Angoche leased the port of Quelimane to the Portuguese. Internal dissensions among the ruling families led to the Portuguese obtaining control of the sultanate in the late 16th century, coinciding with the founding of colonial ‘_**prazos**_’ (land concessions) along the Zambezi River and [the Portuguese colonization of the kingdom of Mutapa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-mutapa-and-the-portuguese). Angoche's population fell to about 1,500 in the early 17th century, and the Portuguese formally abandoned Angoche in 1709 when its trade dwindled to insignificance. By 1753, part of the city was rebuilt and its trade had slightly recovered, mostly due to trade with the Imbamella chiefs of the Makua along the coast.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-31-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FtdD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f711bae-07b4-4371-9a53-ef6ef79c01a2_912x379.png)
_**The East African coast showing the location of Angoche and the colonial prazos of the Portuguese.**_ Map by Edward Pollard et al.
The era of Portuguese control in Sofala from the late 16th to the mid-18th century was also a period of decline, like in Angoche.
The fort was in disrepair and its trade consisted of small exports of ivory, and gold. A report from 1634 notes that the Sofala community resided near the fort by the indulgence of the ruler of Kiteve, whose kingdom surrounded the settlement and controlled its trade. In 1722, the Portuguese population at Sofala had fallen to just 26 settlers, a few hundred Luso-Africans, and other locals, the fort was threatened by inundation and the church was even being utilized as a cattle kraal. By 1762, Sofala was nearly underwater, and the garrison at the fort numbered just 6 soldiers. Estimates of Gold exports from Sofala, which averaged 300-400kg a year between 1750 and 1790, plummeted to just 10kg by 1820. In October 1836, Sofala was sacked by the armies of the Gaza empire from the interior, and by 1865 its inhabitants ultimately abandoned it for the town of Chiloane, 50 miles south.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-32-157684668)
Further north in the Quirimbas islands, 16th-century Portuguese mention its thriving textile industry that produced large quantities of local cotton and silk cloth. These fabrics were coveted in Sofala and as far north as Mombasa and Zanzibar, whose merchants sailed southwards to purchase them. Accounts from 1523 and 1593 indicate that the rival rulers of Stone Town (on Zanzibar island) and Mombasa claimed suzerainty over parts of the archipelago. The Portuguese later established _**prazos**_ on the islands, especially in the thriving towns of Ibo and Matemo, by the 17th century and began exporting grain, livestock, and ivory purchased from the interior to sell to Mozambique island.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-33-157684668)
In his description of Mozambique written in 1592, Joao dos Santos makes reference to a large Swahili settlement on the island of Matemo with many houses with their windows and doors decorated with columns, that was destroyed by the Portuguese during the conquest of the archipelago. The present ruins of the mosque and other structures found at the site date to this period.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-34-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tYEh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F72c60c76-e589-4dd9-a04a-7f54fd153d48_851x564.png)
_**Remains of a miḥrāb in the ruined mosque of Matemo**_, Quirimbas islands. image by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez et al. _“Goods appear to have been left in the miḥrāb niche in a reverential manner. The local significance imparted on the mosque was possibly why the miḥrāb was targeted and partially destroyed in early 2018 by Islamists who likely viewed such actions as ‘shirk’ ie: idolatry.”_[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-35-157684668)
In the 18th century, the islands served as a refuge for elites from Kilwa and Malindi who were opposed to the Omani-Arab occupation of the East African coast. By the late 18th century, the Quirimbas and Mozambique islands were at the terminus of trade routes from the interior controlled by Yao and Makua traders who brought ivory, grain, and captives, the former two of which were exported to the Swahili coast and the Portuguese, while the later were taken to the French colonies of the Mascarenes island. However, this trade remained modest before the 19th century when it expanded at Ibo, because Portuguese control of the islands was repeatedly threatened by attacks from the Makua during the 1750s and 60s, whose forces were active from Angoche in the south to Tungi in the north.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-36-157684668)
From 1800 to 1817, the towns of Ibo, Sancul, and Tungui/Tungi were repeatedly attacked by the navies of the Sakalava from Madagascar, who were raiding the East African coast. I covered this [episode of African naval warfare in greater detail here](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-episode-of-naval-warfare-on-the?utm_source=publication-search).
Tungi was the northernmost town along the coast, whose foundation was contemporaneous with the other ancient settlements as described in the introduction, but little is known about its early history save for a brief mention of its northern neighbor of Vamizi in the 15th-century account of Ibn Majid, and in conflicts with the Portuguese during the 1760s.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-37-157684668)
Local chronicles and traditions attribute the “founding” of its sultanate to three **princesses*** from Kilwa who established ruling lineages that retained the ‘_**shirazi**_’ _nisba_ used by the rulers of Kilwa during the Middle Ages and the 18th century. Known rulers begin with Ahmadi Hassani in the late 18th century, who was succeeded by five rulers between 1800-1830, followed by one long-serving ruler named Muhammadi (1837-1860), who was then succeeded by Aburari, whose dispute with his uncle Abdelaziz led to the Portuguese colonization of the island in 1877.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-38-157684668)
[***** Just like in [the medieval cities of Comoros](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-6-140646735), the traditions about _shirazi_ princesses as founding ancestresses of Tungi were an attempt to reconcile the matrilineal succession of the local groups with the patrilineal succession of the Islamized Swahili]
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EDLm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7d786a3-7f1a-4d2f-aa05-301270329aa7_637x398.png)
_**Location of the northernmost towns of Tungi, Mbuizi, and Kiwiya**_. Map by Nathan Joel Anderson.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DsJa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb406bda-e8e0-4d8f-8f4f-3e9325c53af7_920x615.png)
_**Ruins of the Tungi palace**_. image by Nathan Joel Anderson. _The palace consists of nine narrow rooms, connected via an axial hallway and a combination of arched and squared doorways, with one exit, and an upper story._[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-39-157684668)
In external accounts, Tungi briefly appears during the Sakalava naval invasions of the East African coast that began in 1800, the different titles used for its leader represent the varying relationship it had with the Portuguese, as it considered itself independent of their authority.
A Portuguese account from Ibo, which mentions the arrival of a flotilla from Mayotte (in Comoros) that intended to attack an unnamed king, also mentions that the Tungi ‘chief’ had expelled a group of boatmen from Madagascar, who were waiting for the monsoon winds to sail back to their land. The historian Edward Alpers suggests these two events were related, especially since Tungi was later the target of a massive Sakalava invasion that devastated the island in 1808-9. However, a later Sakalava invasion in 1815 was soundly defeated by Bwana Hasan, the ‘governor’ of Tungi, and another invasion in 1816 was defeated by the Portuguese at Ibo. An invasion in 1817 devastated Tungi, then ruled by a ‘King’ Hassan, before the navy of Zanzibar ultimately put an end to the Sakalava threat in 1818.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-40-157684668)
Archaeological surveys indicate that most of the old town of Tungi was built in the 18th and 19th centuries, based on the age of the type of Chinese pottery found across the site. This includes the ruins of the old mosque, the sultan's palace, the town wall, most of the tombs, and the structures found in many of the outlying towns in the coastal region of the Palma district such as Kiwiya and Mbuizi.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-41-157684668) Tungi’s political links with Kilwa and the Swahili coast, and its dispersed nature of settlement (the site is 2km long), likely indicate that the town may have served as a port of call for the merchants of Kilwa during the 18th and 19th centuries, similar to Angoche during the 16th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7Q7m!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b50a331-c979-4725-9255-9e1cf2f7d2f3_1224x483.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!z0Bh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0163d3af-c622-4054-afa6-6adb532ab07c_1279x428.png)
(top) _**ruins of the Tungi mosque**_; (bottom) _**ruins of the town wall and sultan’s palace**_. images by Leonardo Adamowicz
**The coastal towns of Mozambique during the 19th century**
Trade and settlement along the northern coast of Mozambique during the 18th and 19th centuries were mostly concentrated at Tungi, Mozambique island, and at Ibo in the Quirimbas islands. The southern towns of Angoche and Sofala were gradually recovering from the decline of the previous period and had since been displaced by the rise of the towns of Quelimane and Inhambane much further south.
The 15th-century town of Quelimane, whose fortunes had risen and fallen with the gold trade from Angoche, was home to a small Portuguese fort and settlement since the 1530s. However, the town did not immediately assume great importance for the Portuguese and had less than three Portuguese families in the town by the 1570s. Its hinterland was home to many Makua chieftains and its interior was controlled by the Maravi kingdom of Lundu, whose armies often attempted to conquer the town during the early 17th century. This compelled local Makua chieftains and Muslim merchants to ally with the Portuguese, resulting in the latter creating _**prazos**_ owned by the few settlers who lived there. These were in turn surrounded by a larger settlement populated by the Makua and Muslim traders.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-42-157684668)
By the late 18th century, about 20 Portuguese lived at Quelimane with several hundred Africans surrounded by farms worked by both free peasants and captives from the interior, although most of the latter were exported. The town began to enjoy unprecedented prosperity based on the development of rice agriculture to supply passing ships. In 1806 an estimated 193,200 liters of rice (about 250 tonnes) and 82,800 liters of wheat (about 100 tonnes) were exported. After the banning of the slave trade in the Atlantic in 1817-1830, a clandestine trade in captives was directed through Quelimane; rising from 1,700 in 1836 to 4,900 in 1839, before declining to 2,000 in 1841 and later collapsing by the 1860s. It was replaced by 'legitimate trade' in commodities like sesame (about 500 tonnes in 1872) and groundnuts (about 900 tonnes in 1871).[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-43-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VRCL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd422ca3f-7beb-4275-b491-5a5df80ed49a_820x555.png)
_**section of the Old Town of Quelimane, Mozambique, ca. 1914**_, DigitaltMuseum.
South of Quelimane was the town of Inhambane, which was the southernmost trade settlement encountered by the Portuguese during the early 16th century, although a latter account from 1589 mentions another settlement further south at Inhapula. The settlement at Inhambane was inhabited by Tonga-speakers, possibly as far back as the heyday of Chibuene (see introduction). It had a local cotton spinning and weaving industry for which it became well-known and was engaged in small-scale trade with passing ships. This trade remained insignificant until around 1727, when trade between local Tonga chiefs and the Dutch prompted the Portuguese to sack the settlement and establish a small fort. In the mid-18th century, the expansion of Tsonga-speaking groups from the interior, followed by the Nguni-speakers pushed more Tonga into the settlement and led to the opening of a lucrative trade in ivory and other commodities.[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-44-157684668)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZjRO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f3f4867-6a30-4f5a-b876-0fbc91bc5c0c_329x561.png)
_**Migrations of the Nguni and the Gaza ‘empire’**_. Map by M.D.D. Newitt.
During the 19th century, much of the southern interior of Mozambique was dominated by the Gaza Kingdom/‘empire,’ a large polity established by King Soshangane and his Nguni-speaking followers. The empire expanded trade with the coast, but the towns of Sofala and Inhambane remained outside its control, even after the former was sacked by Gaza's armies in 1836 and the latter in 1863. The empire later fragmented during the late 1860s after a succession dispute, around the same time the colonial scramble for Africa compelled the Portuguese to “effectively” colonize the coastal settlements.[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-45-157684668)
By the middle of the 1880s, the Portuguese had assumed formal control of the coastal towns from Inhambane to Tungi, and much of their prazos in the interior up to Tete. They then sent a colonial resident to the capital of the last Gaza king Gungunhana in 1886, who represented the last major African power in the region. The king initially attempted to play off the rivaling British and Portuguese against each other, and even sent envoys to London in April 1891. However, in June 1891 Britain and Portugal finally concluded a treaty recognizing that most of Gaza territory lay within the Portuguese frontiers.[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-46-157684668)
After 4 years of resistance, the empire fell to the Portuguese becoming part of the colony of Mozambique, along with the ancient coastal towns. The last independent sultan of the coastal towns died at Tungi in 1890, formally marking the end of their pre-colonial history.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BZd8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb91b5912-583c-4baf-b397-d05f3f168cbb_341x510.png)
_**Inscribed plaque of Sultan Muhammad ca. 1890**_, Tungi. Image by Nathan Joel Anderson
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_**Mozambique island, ca. 1880**_, image by Dr. John Clark.
Among the most widely dispersed internal diasporas in Africa is the Rwandan-speaking diaspora of East Africa, whose communities can be found across a vast region from the eastern shores of Lake Victoria to the Kivu region of D.R.Congo. Their dramatic expansion during the 19th century was driven by opportunities for economic advancement and the displacement of local elites by the expansion of the Rwanda kingdom.
**The history of the Rwandan diaspora in East Africa from 1800-1960 is the subject of my latest Patreon article, please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[THE RWANDAN DIASPORA 1800-1960](https://www.patreon.com/posts/rwandan-diaspora-122369900)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-1-157684668)
Map by Leonardo Adamowicz
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-2-157684668)
The Swahili World by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria Jean LaViolette pg 8
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-3-157684668)
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: Volume 2, From the Seventh Century to the Fifteenth Century CE: A Global History by Philippe Beaujard pg 379
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-4-157684668)
The Swahili World by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria Jean LaViolette pg 370, 181, 372)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-5-157684668)
Trade and society on the south-east African coast in the later first millennium AD: the case of Chibuene by Paul Sinclair, Anneli Ekblom and Marilee Wood
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-6-157684668)
The Swahili World by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria Jean LaViolette pg 176-181, The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns by Bassey Andah, Alex Okpoko, Thurstan Shaw pg 419, 431.
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-7-157684668)
Land use history and resource utilisation from A.D. 400 to the present, at Chibuene, southern Mozambique by Anneli Ekblom et al., pg 18
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-8-157684668)
Settlement and Trade from AD 500 to 1800 at Angoche, Mozambique by E Pollard. The Early History of the Sultanate of Angoche by MDD Newitt pg 398)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-9-157684668)
The Swahili occupation of the Quirimbas (northern Mozambique): the 2016 and 2017 field campaigns. by Marisa Ruiz-Gálvez, Archaeometric characterization of glass and a carnelian bead to study trade networks of two Swahili sites from the Ibo Island (Northern Mozambique) by Manuel García-Heras et al, Quirimbas islands (Northern Mozambique) and the Swahili gold trade By Maria Luisa Ruiz-Gálvez and alicia perea
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-10-157684668)
Archaeological impact assessment conducted for the proposed Liquefied Natural Gas project in Afunji and Cabo Delgado peninsulas, Palma district By Leonardo Adamowicz pg 27-37
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-11-157684668)
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: Volume 2, From the Seventh Century to the Fifteenth Century CE: A Global History by Philippe Beaujard pg 354, 368)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-12-157684668)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century by Greville Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 23-24)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-13-157684668)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century by Greville Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 31)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-14-157684668)
The African Lords of the Intercontinental Gold Trade Before the Black Death: al-Hasan bin Sulaiman of Kilwa and Mansa Musa of Mali by J. E. G. Sutton pg 232-233)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-15-157684668)
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: Volume 2, From the Seventh Century to the Fifteenth Century CE: A Global History by Philippe Beaujard Vol2 pg 359-360, A Material Culture: Consumption and Materiality on the Coast of Precolonial East Africa by Stephanie Wynne-Jones pg 59-68,
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-16-157684668)
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: Volume 2, From the Seventh Century to the Fifteenth Century CE: A Global History by Philippe Beaujard Vol2 pg 12, Settlement and Trade from AD 500 to 1800 at Angoche, Mozambique by E Pollard. The Early History of the Sultanate of Angoche by MDD Newitt pg 446
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-17-157684668)
The Early History of the Sultanate of Angoche by MDD Newitt pg 445
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-18-157684668)
The Quest for an African Eldorado: Sofala, Southern Zambezia, and the Portuguese, 1500-1865 by Terry H. Elkiss pg 7-8
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-19-157684668)
Dating the Mapungubwe Hill Gold by S. Woodborne, M. Pienaar & S. Tiley-Nel
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-20-157684668)
Gold in the Southern African Iron Age by Andrew Oddy
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-21-157684668)
Quirimbas islands (Northern Mozambique) and the Swahili gold trade by Marisa Ruiz-Galvez
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-22-157684668)
The Archaeology of the Sofala coast by RW Dickinson pg 93-103, An Ivory trumpet from Sofala, Mozambique by BM Fagan
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-23-157684668)
An Ivory Trumpet from Sofala, Mozambique by BM Fagan
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-24-157684668)
Empires of the Monsoon by Richard Seymour Hall pg 161-164, Mozambique Island, Cabaceira Pequena and the Wider Swahili World: An Archaeological Perspective by Diogo V. Oliveira pg 7-12, Mozambique Island: The Rise and Decline of an East African Coastal City, 1500-1700 by M Newitt pg 23-24
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-25-157684668)
The Quest for an African Eldorado: Sofala, Southern Zambezia, and the Portuguese, 1500-1865 by Terry H. Elkiss pg 14-17, A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 18
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-26-157684668)
The Archaeology of the Sofala coast by RW Dickinson pg 93-103, An Ivory trumpet from Sofala, Mozambique by BM Fagan pg 84-85
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-27-157684668)
A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 10-20, Mozambique Island: The Rise and Decline of an East African Coastal City, 1500-1700 by M Newitt pg 23)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-28-157684668)
Port Cities and Intruders: The Swahili Coast, India, and Portugal in the Early Modern Era by Michael N. Pearson pg 49-51
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-29-157684668)
The Early History of the Sultanate of Angoche By M. D. D. Newitt pg 401-402, Mozambique Island: The Rise and Decline of an East African Coastal City, 1500-1700 by M Newitt 25, 29-30)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-30-157684668)
Mozambique Island: The Rise and Decline of an East African Coastal City, 1500-1700 by M Newitt 26-27, 30-34)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-31-157684668)
The Early History of the Sultanate of Angoche by MDD Newitt pg 402-406)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-32-157684668)
The Quest for an African Eldorado: Sofala, Southern Zambezia, and the Portuguese, 1500-1865 by Terry H. Elkiss pg 46-50, 54-55, 58, 63-67, _See gold estimates in_ : Drivers of decline in pre‐colonial southern African states to 1830 by Matthew J Hannaford
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-33-157684668)
Quirimbas islands (Northern Mozambique) and the Swahili gold trade by Marisa Ruiz-Galvezpg 2-4, A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 189-191)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-34-157684668)
The Quirimbas Islands Project (Cabo Delgado, Mozambique): Report of the 2015 Campaign by Jorge de Torres Rodríguez et al. pg 61-62.
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-35-157684668)
The Materiality of Islamisation as Observed in Archaeological Remains in the Mozambique Channel by Anderson, Nathan Joel pg 123-125
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-36-157684668)
Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa: Changing Pattern of International Trade in East Central Africa to the Later Nineteenth Century by Edward A. Alpers pg 73-74, 94-96, 129, 131-133, 179-180, A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 192-192)
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-37-157684668)
Origins of the Tungi sultanate (Northern Mozambique) in the light of local traditions’ by Eugeniusz Rzewuski, pg 195, Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa: Changing Pattern of International Trade in East Central Africa to the Later Nineteenth Century by Edward A. Alpers pg 128-129
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-38-157684668)
Archaeological impact assessment conducted for the proposed Liquefied Natural Gas project in Afunji and Cabo Delgado peninsulas, Palma district By Leonardo Adamowicz pg 15-27, _for the revival of the al-shirazi dynasty in 18th century Kilwa, see_: A Revised Chronology of the Sultans of Kilwa in the 18th and 19th Centuries by Edward A. Alpers
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-39-157684668)
The Materiality of Islamisation as Observed in Archaeological Remains in the Mozambique Channel by Anderson, Nathan Joel pg 127-132
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-40-157684668)
East Africa and the Indian Ocean by Edward A. Alpers pg 132-138
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-41-157684668)
Archaeological impact assessment conducted for the proposed Liquefied Natural Gas project in Afunji and Cabo Delgado peninsulas, Palma district By Leonardo Adamowicz pg 28-29, 35-38
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-42-157684668)
A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 54, 64, 72, 75-76, 91, 139-140)
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-43-157684668)
A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 140-141, 240-241, 268-270, 320
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-44-157684668)
A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 41, 55, 151-152, 156, 160-166)
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-45-157684668)
A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt 261-262, 287-289-292, 296-297, 348)
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal#footnote-anchor-46-157684668)
A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 349-355, _for the formal colonization of northern Mozambique and the manuscripts this period generated, see_: Swahili manuscripts from northern Mozambique by Chapane Mutiua, pg 43-49
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-medieval-coastal
|
The Wangara chronicle, one of West Africa's oldest surviving historical texts composed around 1650, contains an interesting account explaining the migration of a group of scholars from medieval Malī against the wishes of its ruler:
_**“When he and his community wanted to leave Malī, the Sultan of Malī implored them in the name of God to stay. But Shaikh Zagaiti said we must go because our intention is to perform the pilgrimage to the sacred House of God in the year 835 A.H [1431 CE]. He emigrated together with the descendants of the tribes that were connected with his great-grand-father.”**_
The chronicle describes the company of the Wangara pilgrims as 3,636 erudite scholars and mentions that Shaikh Zagaiti was accompanied by his wives; Sise and Kebe, his seven children, and three brothers. He took up residence in the Hausa city-state of Kano (in northern Nigeria), then ruled by Muhammad Rumfa (r. 1463–1499). King Rumfa interceded with the shaikh to abandon his pilgrimage vows and stay in Kano under royal patronage, which the latter agreed to do, thus becoming the progenitor of [the Wangara diaspora](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education) of Kano.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-1-157246351)
According to the historian Lamin Sanneh, the scale of the mobilization, the scholarly nature of the migrating party, and the fact that they tarried in Kano indicate that the Mecca pilgrimage was a ruse. The ruler of Mali likely saw through this ruse, as the chronicle mentions that he arranged for a barrier at the river crossing to prevent the group from proceeding, even though he was ultimately unsuccessful.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-2-157246351)
The historians Andreas Massing and Paul Lovejoy argue that this Wangara community was displaced from their homeland during a time of great insecurity due to Mossi incursions, and they moved to greater Songhay protection in what is today eastern Mali. (the Mossi attacked the cities of Timbuktu and Walata in 1343, 1430, 1477, and 1480, where many Wangara lived[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-3-157246351)). The Wangara thereafter adopted the Songhay language and intensified the commercial contacts between Songhay empire and the Hausa cities.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-4-157246351)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!g_CT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb3b297e-489c-4183-8a16-4f1d1dacb8fe_963x570.jpeg)
_**Street scene in Kano, Nigeria, ca. 1900**_. Library of Congress
In my previous essays on [African explorers of the Old World and their associated diasporas](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers), I outlined how the international activities of pre-colonial African travelers were often facilitated by the expansion of African states’ diplomatic and commercial interests.
This was especially true for the envoys and scholars who traveled from; ancient and medieval Nubia; Aksum and Ethiopia; the empires of West Africa; and the [kingdoms of Kongo and Ndongo](https://www.patreon.com/posts/99646036), whose diasporas could be found anywhere between [western Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/89363872?pr=true) and [China](https://www.patreon.com/posts/historical-and-80113224). Similarly, [the merchant-sailors and princes of the Swahili cities and the Mutapa kingdom](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese?utm_source=publication-search) who traveled across the Indian Ocean world often acted as political and commercial agents of their countries.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tEDe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5acd6e77-df23-4b5d-85fc-8b11628d339c_723x1000.jpeg)
_**Portrait of Antonius Emanuel, Kongo’s ambassador to Rome, ca. 1608**_. engraving at the British Museum.
While these intrepid African explorers were supported by their states, the history of the continent is replete with examples of African diasporic communities whose journeys and migration were independent of their states and were at times undertaken in opposition to royal interests or during times of social upheaval, as indicated by the abovementioned case of the Wangara from Mali.
The initial expansion of the Swahili diaspora across East-Central Africa for example, was driven as much by the displacement of pre-existing Swahili elites by incoming Omani-Arab rulers at Zanzibar, as it was by the opportunities for [economic growth from the burgeoning ivory trade](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/economic-growth-and-cultural-synchretism?utm_source=publication-search).
After their conquest in the early 19th century, the former rulers of the Swahili city-states of Pate (Nabahany), Mombasa (Mazrui), and Pemba (Tangana) moved to the Kenyan mainland with their allies and subjects. They established rural settlements in the hinterland, eg at Takaungu, populated by diasporic communities of Swahili merchants who were extensively engaged in short-distance trade in grain, gum-copal, and ivory, resulting in the acculturation of neighboring communities such as the Mijikenda and Pokomo.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-5-157246351)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wo8i!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb85cc9de-8671-45b2-ab17-fe3cb1f69dc9_786x580.png)
_**Ruined structure in the 19th-century town of Takaungu, Kenya.**_ the town was established by exiled Mazrui elites and their Swahili allies from [Mombasa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca?utm_source=publication-search).
Similarly, the expansion of the Hausa diaspora from their homeland in northern Nigeria during the 19th century was also partially driven by the ascendancy of the Fulbe-led Sokoto state which displaced most of the Hausa elites, including rulers and scholars, some of whom moved beyond the borders of the new state, where they formed diasporic communities. While the long-distance travel and [migration of Hausa merchant-scholars across West Africa is fairly well documented](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-creation-of-an-african-lingua?utm_source=publication-search), few accounts explain the motivations that drove these initial migrations, beyond the commercial factors.
One exceptional account of the Hausa migrations is provided by the Hausa scholar Imam Umaru in a 19th-century text titled _‘Kano Wars and Emigration’_ which describes the journey of a group of Malams (scholars) who were protesting the harsh tax regime of the Kano Emirate —then a province of Sokoto. The Hausa malams, their families, and their followers moved southward to the Ningi hills (in Bauchi, Nigeria), where they established a kingdom and created a formidable cavalry force that repelled several incursions from Kano's armies for nearly half a century, creating a large diasporic community of Hausa Muslims within a predominantly non-Muslim society.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-6-157246351)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kHA4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd0ef5ad3-0e32-4632-9afa-965d799b9b17_760x469.jpeg)
_**‘The Emir of Kano on the march.’**_ ca. 1911, Kano, Nigeria. NYPL
The above accounts on the migration of Wangara, Swahili, and Hausa elites indicate that the growth of ‘internal diasporas’ across Africa wasn't solely driven by the political and commercial interests of their states, but also by opposition to state expansion especially when it occurred at the expense of pre-existing elites.
The complex processes in which Africa's internal diasporas were created are best exemplified by the expansion of the 'Rwandan' diaspora across east-Africa during the pre-colonial and early colonial periods.
Extending from the shores of Lake Victoria in Tanzania and Uganda to the eastern D.R.Congo, the Rwandan diaspora was one of the most widely dispersed communities in the region and left a deep cultural imprint across many societies. Their migration was driven by multiple factors including opportunities for economic advancement in pre-colonial Unyamwezi and colonial Buganda, as well as displacement of local elites by the expansion of the Rwanda kingdom.
While the traditional historiography of the region emphasizes sedentarism and autochthony, a more detailed analysis reveals that East Africans in the 19th century were often more mobile than standard histories suggest and that their movements were complex and multidirectional.
**The history of the Rwandan diaspora in East Africa from 1800-1960 is the subject of my latest Patreon article, please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[THE RWANDAN DIASPORA 1800-1960](https://www.patreon.com/posts/rwandan-diaspora-122369900)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NSe8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F062baa88-0876-487c-8a17-9df7bf9854cf_491x1227.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-anchor-1-157246351)
Beyond Jihad: The Pacifist Tradition in West African Islam by Lamin Sanneh pg 103-106)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-anchor-2-157246351)
Beyond Jihad: The Pacifist Tradition in West African Islam by Lamin Sanneh pg 104)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-anchor-3-157246351)
Timbuktu and the Songhay empire by John Hunwick and ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAbd Allāh Saʻdī pg 11-12, 38 n.4, 39, 97-99, 106-107, 146,
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-anchor-4-157246351)
The Wangara, an Old Soninke Diaspora in West Africa? by by AW Massing pg 293-294)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-anchor-5-157246351)
The History of Islam in Africa by Nehemia Levtzion pg 277-280)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state#footnote-anchor-6-157246351)
A Geography of Jihad: Sokoto Jihadism and the Islamic Frontier in West Africa by Stephanie Zehnle pg 343-346)
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!g_CT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb3b297e-489c-4183-8a16-4f1d1dacb8fe_963x570.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tEDe!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5acd6e77-df23-4b5d-85fc-8b11628d339c_723x1000.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wo8i!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb85cc9de-8671-45b2-ab17-fe3cb1f69dc9_786x580.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kHA4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd0ef5ad3-0e32-4632-9afa-965d799b9b17_760x469.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NSe8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F062baa88-0876-487c-8a17-9df7bf9854cf_491x1227.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-diasporas-and-the-state
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The southern half of the African continent is populated by speakers of about 550 closely related languages that are referred to as the Bantu languages.
The spread of the Bantu-languages across central, eastern, and southern Africa had a momentous impact on the continent’s linguistic, demographic, and cultural landscape. Bantu speech communities not only introduced new languages in the areas where they moved but also new lifestyles, including farming, metallurgy, and large states that shaped the cultural and political history of the region.
The estimated 550 Bantu languages spoken by over a third of the continent’s population today constitute Africa’s largest language family with an estimated 350 million speakers in 2019.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-1-156762745) Their distribution over a vast part of the continent is striking, and their origin, history, and interconnections have generated considerable discussion as well as several misconceptions.
This article explores the expansion of the Bantu-languages from a historical perspective, outlining the evolution of both the languages and their societies using the latest archeological and philological research from the pre-historic period to the start of the early modern era.
_**Map showing the distribution of the Bantu languages and their hypothetical dispersion routes.**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-2-156762745)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tZQd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faaea6948-0d3b-4e3d-87ea-ec96736ce9c4_1291x629.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more on African history and to keep this blog free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**A brief background.**
The “Bantu Expansion” is the term commonly used to refer to the initial spread of the Bantu languages and communities over large parts of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa. The Bantu language family crosscuts at least 23 countries, stretching from south-western Cameroon in the North-West, to southern Somalia’s Barawe (Brava) area in the North-East, and down to the continent’s southernmost tip.
“Bantu” is an artificial term based on the plural form for ‘people’ in most of the languages that fall under this umbrella. Its genealogical unity was established by the linguist Wilhelm Bleek in the 19th century and is today regarded by most linguists as belonging to the Niger-Congo language phylum, which is itself one of Africa's four major language phyla, including; Afro-Asiatic; Nilo-Saharan; and Khoe-San.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-3-156762745)
Despite its vast geographic reach, the Bantu language family is only a sub-branch of a sub-branch of a sub-branch of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo phylum. Within Benue-Congo, Bantu is part of the wider Bantoid family, which belongs to the East-Benue Congo branch. Bantoid itself splits up into South-Bantoid and a number of other branches. The Bantu language family itself then splits into four major subgroups; the “Central-Western,” “West-Coastal,” “South-Western,” and “Eastern” branches, of which the last branch was the largest.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-4-156762745)
The phylogenetic position of Bantu within Niger-Congo corresponds to that of West-Germanic languages within the Indo-European phylum. The disproportionately large spread of Bantu-languages relative to their position in their phylum was therefore recognized by early scholars as having been enabled by other factors in the extra-linguistic world.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-5-156762745)
Since this expansion of Bantu-languages occurred before the adoption of writing in the region and is beyond the limits of oral history, bodies of evidence from different sciences need to be studied, such as; archaeology; linguistics; evolutionary genetics; and paleoenvironmental evidence.
**The earliest Bantu-speaking groups in Central Africa were not farmers.**
Linguistic evidence indicates that the Niger-Congo Phylum emerged around 12,000-10,000 BP, and that Bantu languages diverged from it around 5-4,000 BP. The divergence of the Bantu branch from its closest relatives; the Bantoid subgroup of Niger-Congo’s Benue-Congo branch, provides the location of the language family's original “homeland” in the border region between S.E Nigeria and S.W Cameroon where it’s heterogeneous.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-6-156762745)
Archeological and linguistic evidence suggests that a climate-induced destruction of the rainforest around 2,500 BP would have given a strong impetus to the Bantu expansion through West-Central Africa. Studies of the phylogeny of Bantu languages show that early Bantu-speaking populations did not randomly move through the equatorial rainforest but rather through emerging savannah corridors with dense rainforest environments imposing temporal barriers to expansion.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-7-156762745)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yQgv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0f86847-973e-43f3-8d73-76cd0004bac3_565x657.png)
_**Map of Central Africa showing sites of the ‘Stone to Metal Age’ and their main traditions**_. (1) is Shum Laka. image by Pierre de Maret.
The gradual southward spread of initially Neolithic and subsequently Early Iron Age assemblages, clearly distinct from pre-existing Stone-Age industries, has since long been seen as the archaeological signature of Bantu speakers migrating through Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa. The archaeological site of Shum Laka, which is located within the Bantu ‘homeland’ and dates back to 7,000 BP, provides the earliest evidence for pottery making and advanced stone tools, followed later by sites in Central Cameroon and Gabon dated to 2600 BP.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-8-156762745)
The material culture of these early sites included large blades and bifacial tools of basalt, as well as large polished stone tools, such as axes and adzes. These tools were likely used for intensified exploitation and protection of wild plants, such as trees ( oil palm) and tubers (yams), that were very prominent in the way of life of ancestral Bantu speakers, as the reconstruction of Proto-Bantu vocabulary has pointed out. While such tools suggest important changes in subsistence strategies, they cannot be taken as direct evidence for the farming of domesticated plants, which arrived after the initial Bantu expansion.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-9-156762745)
Agriculture is often presumed to have been part of the so-called 'cultural package' that accompanied the dispersal of the Bantu-speakers, mirroring the spread of Austronesian or Indo-European languages. However, direct archeological evidence for early plant domestication in Central Africa is scarce during the initial period of Bantu expansion.
Pearl millet, which was first domesticated in the Sahel, appears in southern Cameroon (350 BC) and the Lulonga River in D.R.Congo (200 BC). According to the linguist Koen Bostoen, the only crops for which vocabulary can be reconstructed in ‘Proto-Bantu’ are; yams, the cowpea (_Vigna unguiculata_), and the Bambara groundnut (_Vigna subterranea_), the latter of which was found at an archaeological site in southern Cameroon dated to 250CE.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-10-156762745)
It’s therefore anachronistic and mostly inaccurate to refer to these early communities of Bantu speakers as ‘farmers’, or attribute their expansion to activities associated with agriculture as many scholars had previously surmised.
**The Urewe Neolithic tradition and the putative role of Iron technology in the Bantu expansion.**
In East Africa, the earliest archaeological assemblages commonly associated with the Bantu Expansion (of the 'Eastern Branch) are referred to as the Urewe Wares; an iron-Age Neolithic tradition that began around 600 BC and extended across a vast territory from Kivu in the Eastern D.R.Congo to the eastern shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya and down to Burundi in the South. Direct evidence for agriculture associated with the communities of the Urewe tradition is so far limited to the pollen of finger millet and sorghum at sites in Rwanda.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-11-156762745)
Besides ironworking and cereal agriculture, the Early Iron Age complex of the Urewe tradition consisted of several other traits, such as settled villages (houses, grain bins, and storage pits) with large and small domestic stock. The ceramic traditions most closely related to Urewe wares are the Lelesu and Limbo ceramics from sites in Tanzania, dated 100BC-100CE, and the Kwale and Matola ceramics of the east African coast to southern Africa, dated to the 2nd century CE. These Early Iron Age traditions along the coast are the material signature of the earliest Eastern Bantu speech communities which drifted from the Great Lakes to South Africa in less than a millennium as corroborated by recent genetic research.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-12-156762745)
The [earliest archaeological evidence for iron working in Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology) comes from the sites of Oboui (2300-1900BCE), Gbatoro (2368–2200 BCE), and Gbabiri (900–750 BCE), along the border region straddling eastern Cameroon and Central Africa, about 400km east of the Bantu homeland.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-13-156762745) Within the Bantu-speaking area, ironworking appears across multiple sites during the period between 800-400BC across a vast geographic area extending from Otoumbi and Moanda in Gabon, to Katuruka in Tanzania indicating early adoption of the technology.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-14-156762745)
While ironworking is thought to have enabled the early Bantu expansion and has been characterized in some popular literature eg by Jared Diamond as the core of the “Bantu military-industrial” package which enabled them to clear forests and push foragers to the periphery[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-15-156762745), most scholars, led by the eminent historian and linguist Jan Vansina, argue that there is little evidence for this “Bantu package” and even less evidence for the exaggerated role of ironworking during the early period of expansion.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-16-156762745)
A recent study of archaeological sites in the Congo rainforest and adjacent areas by a group of scholars led by the archaeologist Dirk Seidensticker showed that early Bantu farming activity was at a scale so small that it was unlikely to have caused simultaneous changes in falling lake levels, drained swamps and thinning vegetation.
They instead suggest that the latter process of the drying forest is more likely what enabled the initial Bantu expansion, rather than the reverse. They also provide evidence for a wide-scale population collapse around 400-600CE that decimated the first iron-Age communities, before a latter wave(s) of Bantu expansion and new settlements emerged by the late 1st millennium CE. They also argue that the languages of the early communities likely went extinct and that present-day Bantu languages in the region may descend from those (re)introduced during the second wave of expansion.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-17-156762745)
Ironworking was therefore not a significant factor in the initial movement of Bantu-speaking communities through the Congo basin, nor is it likely to have offered their small communities any overwhelming “military advantage”
**On the Archaeogenetic history of the Bantu-expansion in relation to the Khoe-San populations.**
New insights from the field of evolutionary genetics show that the Bantu Expansion was not just a spread of languages and technology through cultural contact, as was once thought, but involved the actual movement of people.
Studies in population genetics of Bantu-speaking communities have provided further evidence for their expansion, as indicated by their relatively low Y-chromosome diversity. Y-chromosomes are sex chromosomes inherited from fathers to sons, recent analysis of genetic data suggests the occurrence of successive expansion phases of Bantu speakers, indicating that the present distribution of Bantu languages does not necessarily reflect their original expansion. Genetic and Linguistic studies have also significantly contributed to the documentation of admixture between Bantu speakers and neighboring groups, such as the Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, and Khoe-San speakers.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-18-156762745)
The presence of mtDNA haplogroups associated with Khoe-San speakers in some Bantu-speaking groups provides evidence for Female-mediated admixture between both groups since mtDNA chromosomes are passed from mother to daughter. While these sex-biased admixtures were driven by sociocultural practices, such as patrilocality and polygyny, the presence of Y-chromosomal haplogroups from the Khoe-san in some Bantu-speaking communities such as the Kgalagadi and Herero indicates that the gene flow was not exclusively female.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-19-156762745)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gmSN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdae03f1d-d05f-4687-b700-93e98f06ef0a_557x525.png)
_**Khoe-San admixture in some Bantu-speaking populations of southern Africa and the functional load of clicks in the languages they speak**_. Table by Pakendork et.al.
Contact between Bantu speech communities and autochthonous forager groups is also reflected in the Bantu languages themselves; such as in the widespread Bantu root *-twa, which is often used to designate 'pygmies’ populations in Central Africa and Khoe-san communities in Southern Africa. Additionally, the presence of click-phonemes derived from Khoe-san languages provides evidence for a more intense contact with Bantu-speaking groups, especially among those whose maternal ancestry includes a significant percentage of Khoisan-specific mtDNA haplogroups, such as the Xhosa and the Zulu. However, some Bantu-speaking groups with a relatively high proportion of Khoe-San mtDNA such as the Kgalagadi and Tswana have no click sounds, which points to the importance of other social-cultural factors.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-20-156762745)
The early relationship between the Bantu-speaking groups and the hunter-gatherers of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa has been a topic of intense debate often influenced by modern political concerns.
An example of a popular narrative among non-specialists like Jared Diamond is the claim that the present distribution of the; “pygmy” foragers of the Congo Forest region, the Hadza and Sandawe foragers of Tanzania, and the Khoisan of south-western Africa, were all once part of a large geographic distribution of related groups speaking click-based languages that were “engulfed” by the Bantu-speaking farmers through conquest, expulsion, interbreeding, leaving only the linguistic legacy of their former presence.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-21-156762745)
This view is however contradicted by most specialist research on the linguistic and genetic history of the Khoe-San groups and Central African foragers.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Hin0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb5d3cf01-859d-47a4-aec6-34678760fb7f_435x568.png)
_**Archeological sites in southern Africa associated with Bantu-speaking and KhoeSan-speaking populations.**_ Map by Peter Mitchell
A recent analysis of several studies on the genetic ancestry of modern Hadza and Sandawe foragers by the geneticists Viktor Černý and Luísa Pereira revealed that both groups showed a high genetic distance from the Khoe-San. _**“Both the Hadza and Sandawe showed a high genetic distance from the San, being as similar to the Khoi as they are to any other Bantu group or to each other**_._**Thus, this evidence did not support a common ancestry for the Khoisan and East African foragers sharing the click sounds.”**_ mtDNA studies of the Khoe-San groups pointed to the deep phylogeny and strong isolation of both San (mainly the !Kung) and Khoi (or Khwe) populations. The authors conclude that _**“Therefore, the divergence of all contemporary groups of analyzed foragers was completed long before the arrival of Bantu farmers”.**_[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-22-156762745)
A similar study done by several geneticists led by Krishna R. Veeramah, compared the KhoeSan-speaking groups, the Central African “pygmies” and speakers of Niger-Congo languages, showing that the lineage that gave rise to the Khoisan split off about 110,000 BP, much earlier than the lineages that eventually gave rise to the western “pygmies” around 32,000 BP and the Niger-Congo speakers around 10,000BP. The authors conclude that _**“there was a long period of independent evolution for the lineages leading to extant hunter gatherers and a longer period of shared history between Pygmy and Niger-Congo groups than between either of these groups and KhoeSan.”**_[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-23-156762745)
In all studies, the different groups of Foragers (“pygmy,” Hadza, Sandawe, and Khoisan) show greater genetic affinity with their immediate Bantu-speaking neighbors than with each other.
Linguists specializing in the Khoe-San languages argue that the presence of click sounds in their languages is by itself not a marker of a closely related group/continuum of languages like Diamond suggests, and is wholly unlike the linguistically and genetically related Bantu-speech communities. The Bantu languages are much younger and less heterogeneous than the Khoe-San languages, which consist of five independent units. According to the linguists Christa König and Rainer Vossen, the Khoesan language phylum has no ‘genetic unity’ and isn’t considered by most linguists to be a language phylum but is more of a convenience term.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-24-156762745)
This is especially true for the Hadzane language of Tanzania which is often included in the ‘Khoe-San phylum’ but is in fact so dissimilar to other Khoe-San languages, that it’s considered a language isolate. The same is observed for the Sandawe language, which may have had some contact with the Proto-Khoe languages from which the languages spread over southern Africa emerged, but this contact falls short of establishing a genetic relationship between the two language units.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-25-156762745)
The claim that the Khoe-San population of sub-equatorial Africa was fragmented by the Bantu expansion has been discredited by several scholars. As summarized by the archeologist John Kemp's monograph on the pre-Bantu history of southern Africa; the modern Khoe-San represent populations that were geographically distinct and highly differentiated, both among themselves and compared with other African populations, that have been isolated from other groups for tens of thousands of years, but which nevertheless share an ancestral cluster. This ‘ancestral cluster’ split up long before the Bantu expansion; estimated at 55-35,000 BP in the case of the splitting of the proto-Sandawe and the proto-Hadza from the rest of the proto-Khoe-San; and 20-15,000 BP for the split between the Sandawe and Hadza.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-26-156762745)
**On the emergence of early states across the Bantu-speaking cultural area.**
In central Africa, the intensification of settlements during the 1st millennium BCE with evidence of cultivation, husbandry, metallurgy, pottery, and large refuse pits reflects the development of a more sedentary lifestyle contrasting with that of earlier foraging groups. However, this initial process of social complexification was likely halted by the population collapse of the mid-1st millennium CE mentioned above.
Its in southeast Africa and the east-African coast that the earliest forms of complex societies emerged in the Bantu-speaking area during the second half of the 1st millennium CE. The foundations of these societies were established at the turn of the common era, not long after the arrival of Eastern-Bantu speaking populations in the region.
Excavations at various sites near and along the coast of Tanzania by several archeologists such as Felix Chami have revealed evidence for the arrival of the Early Iron Age culture on the Tanzanian coast between the Rufiji delta and the Ruvu River at the close of the 1st millennium BCE, indicating the presence of Bantu-speaking farmers.
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_**Sketch approximation of Ptolemy's map of east Africa, and the archeological sites of the Rufiji delta region, Mafia Island, and Zanzibar Island.**_
Excavations at the sites of Mkukutu-Kibiti and Kivinja (ca. 100BC-300CE) yielded local ‘Early Iron Working’ pottery (EIW) also known as Kwale wares (a branch of the Urewe tradition dated to 200BCE-500CE) as well as four Roman glass beads, they also revealed that a small river was diverted, likely for irrigation. The largest archaeological site from this period was found at Limbo, which is located in the hinterland just north of the Rufiji delta, and measured about 3000 sqm. Other excavation sites include the Machanga cave site on Zanzibar Island which contained local ceramics plus imported materials such as Roman and Parthian wares dated to the early 1st millennium CE.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-27-156762745)
The Rufiji delta region is of particular interest to archaeologists since its identification as the probable location of [the enigmatic emporium of Rhapta, an ancient city mentioned in Roman texts from the 1st century CE](https://www.patreon.com/posts/105868178) as one of three African metropolises known to them (the other two being Meroe in Sudan and Aksum in Ethiopia).
Excavations at the Ukunju limestone cave in Mafia Archipelago, just opposite the Rufiji delta revealed ‘Early Iron Working’ settlements with local pottery sherds of the Kwale/EIW tradition and the TIW tradition (100-500CE); glass beads from India and the eastern Mediterranean and inscribed Roman amphorae. The nearby site of Mwamba Ukuta contained the remains of a sea wall made of rectangular cement blocks enclosing an area of around 2.4km2.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-28-156762745)
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_**Map of Mafia Archipelago showing the location of the Ukunju Cave.**_
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_**The ruined sea wall at Mwamba Ukuta, Mafia Island, Tanzania**_. images by Hannah Jane and Allan Sutton.
The gradual emergence of early complex societies along the East African coast can be seen in the settlement history of the Kuumbi cave near Zanzibar, where excavations have revealed a long stratigraphy with intermittent occupation periods since 20,000BP. Its last continuous occupation sequence begins in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, with material culture that includes some imported glassware, beads, and pottery from Rome and/or India, as well as local pottery of the TIW tradition. This local pottery tradition is considered to be the material signature of the North-east coast Bantu languages spoken near and along the East African coast from the 6th century. It has been found at early Swahili sites such as Unguja Ukuu (Zanzibar), Tumbe (Tanzania) and Shanga (Kenya).[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-29-156762745)
In South-eastern Africa, the earliest complex societies emerged near the confluence of the Shashi and Limpopo rivers in the late 1st millennium CE.
According to the archaeologist Thomas Huffman, the earliest material evidence for the presence of Bantu-speaking communities in this region is represented by the appearance of Kwale traditional wares at various archeological sites in the KwaZulu-Natal province (south Africa) dated to between 200 to 300 CE. This was followed by the Nkope branch in parts of eastern Botswana and the Kalundu Tradition in South Africa found at the site of 'Happy Rest' and Mapungubwe by 400CE. The Nkope branch ultimately evolved into the Toutswe facies, while the Kalundu communities collapsed in the drier climate and were succeeded by the Zhizho tradition at Schroda and the Leopard's Kopje tradition at K2/Bambandyanalo.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-30-156762745)
Early polities, often referred to as chiefdoms, were centered at sites such as Toutswe and Bosutswe (700-1700CE) and Tholo (1184CE) in Botswana; as well as at Shroda (890-970 CE) and K2/Bambandyanalo (1000-1220CE) in South Africa, and Mapela Hill in Zimbabwe (11th century). The central sections of these Zhizo settlements encompassed cattle byres, grain storages, smithing areas, an assembly area, and a royal court/elite residence, in a unique spatial layout commonly referred to as the 'Central Cattle Pattern'.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-31-156762745)
Its from this cultural tradition that the first kingdoms of the region emerged such as [Mapungubwe (13th century) and Thulamela in South Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a), as well as [Great Zimbabwe (13th-17th century)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great) and [Khami (14th-17th century)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-terraces-62065998) in southern Zimbabwe and [eastern Botswana.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone)
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_**The Great Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe.**_
Relatively little archaeological research has been undertaken in the western and northern parts of the Bantu-speaking area concerning the period between the initial expansion and the emergence of early kingdoms around the end of the Middle Ages.
A few exceptions include the archaeological sites of the Upemba depression in southeastern D.R.Congo which provides a cultural sequence from the 5th century CE to the early 19th century and indicates the emergence of a hierarchical society by the end of the 1st millennium CE.
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(left) _**Archaeological sites in the Upemba Depression, D.R. Congo**_. (right) _**Early Kisalian burial at Kamilamba, D.R. Congo**_. _Note the ceremonial iron axe at the left center and the iron anvil to the left of the skull_. images and captions by Graham Connah
According to the archaeologist Pierre de Maret, this cultural sequence commenced in the 5th century with the Kamilambian tradition, followed by the Kisalian tradition from the 8th to 14th century; followed by the Kabambian tradition whose last phases are comparable with the material culture of modern Luba communities. Thus, as de Maret claimed: _**“It becomes apparent that in establishing an Iron Age sequence in the Upemba rift one is actually studying the emergence of the Luba Kingdom.”**_[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-32-156762745)
A number of archaeological studies have also been conducted at several Iron Age sites in western Uganda which preceded the emergence of early states such as the Kitara kingdom. This region contains a series of archaeological sites associated with nucleated settlements and monumental earthworks between the Katonga River and Lake Albert.
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_**Map showing the iron-age sites of the early 2nd millennium and the later kingdoms.**_ Map by Peter Robertshaw.
The oldest of these is the site of Munsa, whose material culture includes local Urewe pottery, as well as metal jewelry and imported glass beads. The earthworks of Munsa, like those of other sites, consist of systems of ditches dug to a depth of about four meters and encircling a hill. Radiocarbon dates from the site indicate that it has a relatively complex history that spans a period from 900-1650CE, while construction of the earthworks lasted from 1450-1650CE.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-33-156762745)
Other early archaeological sites include; Ntusi dated to the 11th century; Kibiro and Mubende which are dated to the 13th century; and the 15th-century site of Bigo, which is the largest of them and consists of a system of ditches and several earthen mounds. Construction of the earthworks required very substantial inputs of labour, which may have been organized by a state-level society. The archaeologist Peter Robertshaw argues each earthwork represented the center of a polity competing with its neighbors.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-34-156762745)
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_**Plan of earthworks at Bigo, Uganda.**_ image by Graham Connah.
The nucleated settlement site of Ntusi has been described by some archaeologists as ‘an ancient capital site’. Excavations conducted by Andrew Reid identified archaeological material spread across 100 ha and dated its occupation to between the 11th and 15th centuries CE. The surrounding hinterlands of both Ntusi and Munsa contained over a hundred outlying sites of smaller sizes that were likely related. Robertshaw suggested that these sites represented early chiefdoms in a competitive political landscape and that their collapse by the 16th/17th century led to the rise of the Bunyoro Kingdom and other interlacustrine states such as Nkore and Buganda.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-35-156762745)
In west-central Africa, the archeological site of Feti in Angola, which is described by Jan Vansina as _**“one of the largest known ancient sites anywhere in West Central Africa,”**_ consists of several mounds, surrounding ditches, stone walls, and a royal tumulus’ dated to between the 9th and 13th century CE. The tumulus yielded iron hoes, knives, arrowheads, spearheads, anvils, and hammers. The site, which is part of a cluster of settlements with stone ruins covers an area of 7.5 ha. Vansina suggests that Feti, which lies in the heartland of Umbundu and Kimbundu speakers, was _**“the capital of a very large kingdom.”**_[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-36-156762745)
Excavations at other sites associated with the Umbundu and Kimbundu speakers have focused on similar stone burials such as the Kapanda necropolis in the Malanje Province. The necropolis consists of 23 circular tombs, the largest of which measures 4m at the base, is 1.8m tall, and has three internal chambers, windows, and a vaulted roof surmounted with stones.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-37-156762745)
These funeral monuments are mentioned in multiple accounts, eg the capuchin priest Giovanni Cavazzi who visited the region during the 1660s. He described the tombs as typical of the “ancient” funerary tradition of the kingdom of Matamba ([then ruled by the famous Queen Njinga](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-ndongo-and-the-portuguese)) and were often reserved for royals/princes whose corpses were placed in a seating position, and their mouths were fitted with a pipe that allowed the prince to “communicate” with the outside world through the window.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-38-156762745)
This latter account, and the archeological site of Feti, provide a clear historical link for the emergence of the Kimbundu and Ovimbundu kingdoms of central Angola
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(top) “Graves of the Libôlos «magnates»”. ca. 1908, Angola. Arquivo Histórico Militar, Portugal. (bottom) “Aspects of the Pungo region - Graves”. ca. 1909, Angola. Arquivo Histórico Militar, Portugal.
**The historic period in the Bantu-speaking area: Swahili manuscripts and other writings of Bantu languages.**
The first written accounts that mention the societies established by Bantu-speaking groups were contained in the 1st-century Roman writings describing the east African coast (known to them as Azania), such as the Periplus and the geographical works of Strabo (d. 24 CE) Pliny (d. 79 CE) and Ptolemy (d. 170CE).
Strabo referred to them as the _**‘Zangenae’**_ population and Pliny called them the _**“Zangenae”**_. Ptolemy mentioned a cape of the **“Zinggis”** while the 5th-century text of Cosmas Indicopleustes mentions a region _**“Zingyon”**_. This term would then reappear centuries later in the first Arab accounts of the East African coast by Al-Masudi (d. 945 CE), who describes it as the _**“land of the Zanj.”**_ He also notes that the Zanj have _**“an elegant language,”**_ a God called “**mklnjlu**” and are led by a king called **Mfalme/Wafalme** which meant _**“son of the Great Lord.”**_[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-39-156762745)
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(left) _**map of Swahili cities of the late Middle Ages**_ (right) _**Swahili ‘dialects’ in the 19th century**_. Map by D. Nurse and T. Spear.
[*important to note that the so-called ‘standard Swahili’ is just the dialect spoken in Zanzibar known as KiUnguja.]
Most linguists, beginning with the work of Derek Nurse and Thomas Spear, identify these ‘Zanj’ populations of the late 1st millennium CE as primarily comprising modern Swahili speakers, whose language belongs to the Sabaki subgroup of the North-Eastern Bantu branch, alongside the Comorian, Mijikenda, and Pokomo languages.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-40-156762745)
Sections of these coastal populations, especially [the Swahili, adopted writing by the 8th century CE and composed manuscripts in their own languages](https://www.patreon.com/posts/74519541). As late as the 19th century, several Swahili manuscripts continued to refer to rulers as Mfalme and many rulers in 18th century Kilwa included it in their names, pointing to the accuracy of al-masudi's account.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-41-156762745) The non-Muslim name for God rendered in unvocalized form by Al-Masudi as _**mklnjlu**_ (subsequently altered by different copists) compares to _**‘u-nkulu-nkulu**_’, a Bantu term for God, best attested among the more southern Bantu languages like Zulu, Ndebele, and Nguni.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-42-156762745)
Swahili writers adopted the use of the Ajami script to write their language with Arabic characters, providing the earliest inscriptions of Bantu names/words.
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_**Epitaph of Sayyida Aisha bint Mawlana Amir Ali b. Mawlana Sultan Sulayman, c. 1360, Kilwa, Epitaph of 'Mwana wa Bwana binti mwidani' , c. 1462, Kilindini, Mombasa.**_
These include the name **‘Mfahamu’** on an inscription found in the Kizimkazi mosque of Zanzibar dated 1107CE, which according to the historian Abdul Sheriff is probably _**“among the earliest evidence of a Swahili term for ruler, mfaume/mfalme”**_ and _**“may be the first inscription of a Swahili word on stone.”**_ Numerous epitaphs include Swahili honorific titles, names, and other Swahili terms of Bantu derivation such as “Sayyida 'A'isha bint **Mawlana**” on a 1360 or 1550 tomb in Kilwa, **“Mwana wa Bwana”** on a tomb dated to 1462 near Kilindini, and **“Mwinyi** Shummua b. **Mwinyi** Shomari” on a 1664 tomb in Kwale, and **“Mwinyi Mtumaini”** on a tomb dated 1670.[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-43-156762745)
In these examples, the word ‘Mwana’ meaning child in Swahili is also commonly found among other Bantu languages, while Mwinyi or Mwenye ' is a Bantu root that means ‘sovereign’ or ‘owner,’[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-44-156762745) and was the title of [the traditional Swahili rulers of Zanzibar during the 19th century](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-zanzibar-before-the). (both ‘Mwana’ and ‘Mwene’ also appear in 16th-17th century documents from [the kingdom of Kongo](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-kongo-and-the-portuguese) much further west in Angola with the same usage and meaning,[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-45-156762745) and the title of ‘Mwene Mutapa’ for [the king of Mutapa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-mutapa-and-the-portuguese) much further south at Zimbabwe.)
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_**The Mwinyi Mkuu’s palace at Dunga**_, ca. 1920. Zanzibar, Tanzania.
**The Kikongo language and the comparative spread of African and European languages from the 16th to 20th centuries.**
On the western side of the Bantu-speaking area, the first written descriptions of the region's kingdoms began with the arrival of the Portuguese on the coast of the kingdom of Kongo in 1483.
The elites of Kongo subsequently adopted writing and produced their own written accounts, the bulk of which were written in the Portuguese language. However, many of them contain words, names, ethnonyms, and toponyms in the **‘Kikongo language Cluster’** —a group of 50 closely related languages that belong to the West-Coastal branch of the Bantu language family.[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-46-156762745)
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_**The Kikongo Language Cluster (KLC), with its sub-groups**_ mapped By Gilles-Maurice de Schryver et al.
By the 17th century, a number of bilingual manuscripts in both Kikongo and Portuguese were composed such as the Portuguese– Kikongo catechism from 1624, a trilingual wordlist from 1652, and a grammar of Kikongo published in 1659. While these manuscripts are not old enough to yield significant insights into deep-time Bantu language history, they are of key importance for gaining a better historical understanding of the Kikongo Language Cluster.[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-47-156762745)
According to the linguists Koen Bostoen and Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, the Kongo documents show that the kingdom of Kongo wasn't a monolingual polity of Kikongo speakers as often presumed but was comprised of many different languages. They show how these different languages are now subsumed as ‘dialects’ under the modern classification of the ‘Kikongo language cluster,’ despite their lexical similarity being lower than that between Standard Dutch and Modern Standard German (76.8%) yet the latter two aren't considered dialects but ‘full languages’ _**(*see table below)**_. They found that the 17th-century documents were all written in the language spoken at the capital; Mbanza Kongo and its immediate vicinity.[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-48-156762745)
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_**Basic vocabulary similarity rates between modern ‘dialects’ of the Kikongo language**_. table by Koen Bostoen
The authors thus reiterate the argument of the historian Wyatt MacGaffey that the modern Kikongo language _**“is a relatively recent political construct that emerged within the very specific context of early-twentieth century European colonialism characterized by both rising discontent with foreign rule and awareness of incipient competition within the colonial framework between the Bakongo and other “tribes” identified as such by the administration.”**_[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-49-156762745)
In this regard, the spread of the Kikongo language from the capital to the outlying regions at the expense of regional dialects is similar to the spread of Parisian French in 19th-century France and the spread of Italian in 20th-century Italy.
According to the linguist Anthony Lodge, barely 11% of the French population could speak Parisian French (so-called 'standard French) in 1794 since most spoke local “dialects”. This figure rose to 69% by 1867, as _**“dialects were until quite recently persecuted with great ruthlessness”**_ by the state.[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-50-156762745) In the latter case, the Italian linguist Tullio De Mauro estimated that less than 30-20% of Italy's population spoke Italian on a daily basis as recently as 1950 before its popularization in the country by mass media which led to the decline/death of other “dialects”.[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-51-156762745)
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(left) _**A modern map of the languages and dialects of France**_ (right) _**Map by Anthony Lodge showing the proportion of ‘French-speaking’ peoples in France in 1863.**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**16th century Portuguese accounts of the Bantu-languages of South Africa.**
In the southernmost part of the continent, Bantu-speech communities first appear in documentary accounts of the shipwrecked Portuguese sailors who reached the southern tip in 1488 and visited the region in the early 16th century.
Description of societies in south-eastern Africa by shipwrecked Portuguese sailors in 1552, 1558, 1593-1594 and 1622, leave little doubt that the state-level agro-pastoralist communities they encountered were the precursors of the same Bantu-speaking communities currently found in the region. While these Portuguese accounts are useful as historical sources since they predate the more detailed Dutch accounts by over a century,[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-52-156762745) they don't contain much useful information for the study of the region's linguistic history.
Only a few words were reproduced by the Portuguese writers in their original Bantu form. They include; nouns (eg: assegais/azagayas, ie: spears); endonyms, and toponyms (eg: Makomates, Viragune, Mokalapapa, Vambe, the Maputo/Maputa River) titles and names (eg: Inhaca/Inyaka for King and Inkosis/Inkosi for chief).
In the case of the shipwreck of Santo Alberto along the Transkei-Natal coast (modern Eastern Cape province) **in 1593**, the Portuguese were able to communicate with the local ruler because one of their slaves “spoke his language” which the historian Elizabeth Eldredge suggested to be **isiXhosa**or **isiZulu,**thus indicating the presence of these languages long before the emergence of the Xhosa and Zulu kingdoms.[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-53-156762745)
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_**Map showing the kingdoms and empires of the southern half of Africa in 1880.**_ Map by Sam Bishop.
**Conclusion: the complex history of the ‘Bantu expansion’.**
As shown in the example of the analysis of the Kikongo cluster, modern Bantu languages are a product of centuries of evolution like all other languages. Genetic studies of modern Bantu-speaking populations indicate that their Y-chromosome variation did not shrink with distance from the putative homeland, thus indicating that the original founder event was erased by later waves of forward and backward migrations.[54](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-54-156762745)
This theory, which was initially proposed by linguists, has since been corroborated by the abovementioned archaeological research in the rainforest region, as well as by known historical events such as in [the Lozi kingdom of Zambia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca), where the ‘Siluyana’ language disappeared in the 19th century after being displaced by the ‘Sikololo’ language of their southern conquerors.[55](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-55-156762745)
The linguist Koen Bostoen argues that such recurring migration/dispersion events would have led to internal language shift and language death, concluding that present-day Bantu languages may not reflect the distribution of their ancient precursors:
**“As it still happens today, possibly on a larger scale than in the past due to mass media and schooling, individual Bantu speakers or larger communities gave up their first language in favor of another Bantu language, which may have guaranteed more economic or social success.”**[56](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-56-156762745)
The History of the Bantu-languages and their expansion is therefore just as complex, multifaceted, and fluid as the history of the societies they established across the southern half of the continent. Hopefully, the recent interest in the study of manuscripts from pre-colonial Bantu-speaking societies across the region will help close the gaps in our knowledge of this vast language family and its contributions to Africa’s rich linguistic history.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kqUm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed74b26d-f1ca-4c2c-b8bf-631cfb9d8c36_961x605.jpeg)
_**Palace of the Lozi king at Lealui, ca. 1916, Zambia**_. USC Libraries.
During the pre-colonial times, some traditional African religions were spread by their adherents over a much wider geographic region than their present geographic reach suggests.
**My latest Patreon article explores the spread of the west African traditional belief systems associated with the gods Dan and Dangbe, whose religious traditions were spread across west Africa and the Atlantic world to Brazil, Haiti and Louisiana.**
**please subscribe to read about them here:**
[THE SERPENT DEITIES OF THE ATLANTIC](https://www.patreon.com/posts/121284939)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CtrP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2e30464a-848f-4865-bc27-81baaa3dc831_792x681.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-1-156762745)
The Bantu Languages by Mark Van de Velde pg 3
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-2-156762745)
first map from Wikimedia commons, second map reproduced by Pierre de Maret
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-3-156762745)
The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology edited by Peter Mitchell, Paul Lane pg 628-629,
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-4-156762745)
Moving Histories: Bantu Language Expansions, Eclectic Economies, and Mobilities by Rebecca Grollemund et al, pg 2-4.The Bantu Expansion: Some Facts and Fiction by Koen Bostoen pg 227
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-5-156762745)
The Bantu Expansion by Koen Bostoen (2018) pg 4-5, The Bantu Expansion: Some Facts and Fiction by Koen Bostoen pg 228)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-6-156762745)
The Bantu Languages by Mark Van de Velde pg 4-5
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-7-156762745)
Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals by Rebecca Grollemund et al.
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-8-156762745)
The Bantu Expansion by Koen Bostoen (2018) pg 6, The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology edited by Peter Mitchell, Paul Lane pg 631-635
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-9-156762745)
The Bantu Expansion by Koen Bostoen (2018) pg 6-7
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-10-156762745)
The Bantu Expansion by Koen Bostoen (2018) pg 4-5, The Bantu Expansion: Some Facts and Fiction by Koen Bostoen pg 230-232)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-11-156762745)
The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology edited by Peter Mitchell, Paul Lane pg 635-636,
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-12-156762745)
Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology by Peter Ridgway Schmidt pg 16-18, Along the Indian Ocean Coast: Genomic Variation in Mozambique Provides New Insights into the Bantu Expansion by Armando Semo
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-13-156762745)
The Origins of African Metallurgies by A.F.C. Holl pg 7-8, 12-13, 21-31
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-14-156762745)
From a Plain Appointment to a Full Blown Relationship" by Bernard Clist, A Critical Reappraisal of the Chronological Framework of the early Urewe Iron Age Industry by Bernard Clist.
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-15-156762745)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond pg 394-397
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-16-156762745)
New Linguistic Evidence and 'Bantu Expansion' by Jan Vansina
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-17-156762745)
Population collapse in Congo rainforest from 400 CE urges reassessment of the Bantu Expansion by Dirk Seidensticker et al.
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-18-156762745)
The Bantu Expansion by Koen Bostoen (2018) pg 10)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-19-156762745)
Prehistoric Bantu-Khoisan language contact A cross-disciplinary approach by Brigitte Pakendorf et. al pg 15, Genetic substructure and complex demographic history of South African Bantu speakers by Dhriti Sengupta et al.
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-20-156762745)
Prehistoric Bantu-Khoisan language contact A cross-disciplinary approach by Brigitte Pakendorf et. al, pg 14-17 The Bantu Expansion Some facts and fiction Koen Bostoen pg 283)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-21-156762745)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond pg pg 383-384, 385-86)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-22-156762745)
Archaeogenetics of Africa and of the African Hunter Gatherers by Viktor Černý and Luísa Pereira pg 9-10)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-23-156762745)
An Early Divergence of KhoeSan Ancestors from Those of Other Modern Humans Is Supported by an ABC-Based Analysis of Autosomal Resequencing Data by Krishna R. Veeramah et a.l 626
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-24-156762745)
Khoisan Languages by Christa König, The Khoesan Languages edited by Rainer Vossen pg 14-23, Genetics and Southern African prehistory: an archaeological view by Peter Mitchell pg 74-75)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-25-156762745)
The Khoesan Languages edited by Rainer Vossen pg 20-22, 33-36, The Hadza: Hunter-gatherers of Tanzania By Frank Marlowe pg 15-17
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-26-156762745)
Malawi and eastern Zambia before the Bantu W.H.J. Rangeley’s “Earliest Inhabitants” revisited 50 years on by John Kemp Part 2 pg 2-3)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-27-156762745)
Ancient seafaring in Eastern African Indian Ocean waters by Felix Chami pg 531-532, East African Archaeology: Foragers, Potters, Smiths, and Traders edited by Chapurukha M. Kusimba, Sibel B. Kusimba pg 89-97, Subsistence mosaics, forager-farmer interactions, and the transition to food production in eastern Africa by Alison Crowther et al. pg 101-120, Neolithic Pottery Traditions from the Islands, the Coast and the Interior of East Africa by Felix A. Chami pg 66-78)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-28-156762745)
Preliminary Report of the Re-excavation of Ukunju Limestone Cave in Juani, Mafia Archipelago, Tanzania by Abel D. Shikoni et al. pg 29-38, Sociocultural and economic aspects of the ancient Roman reported metropolis of Rhapta on the coast of Tanzania: Some Archaeological and historical perspectives by Caesar Bita et al.
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-29-156762745)
Unguja Ukuu on Zanzibar: An archaeological study of Early Urbanism by Abdurahman Juma pg 28, Reinvestigation of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, reveals Later Stone Age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and Iron Age reoccupation by Ceri Shipton et al. pg 220-227)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-30-156762745)
Huffman, T.N. 2007. Handbook to the Iron Age: the archaeology of pre-colonial farming societies in southern Africa pg 335-359, Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture by Thomas N. Huffman pg 15-16, Zimbabwe Culture before Mapungubwe: New Evidence from Mapela Hill, South-Western Zimbabwe by Shadreck Chirikure et al.
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-31-156762745)
Archaeological excavations at Bosutswe, Botswana: cultural chronology, paleo-ecology and economy by James Denbow et al., The Iron Age sequence around a Limpopo River floodplain on Basinghall Farm, Tuli Block, Botswana, during the second millennium AD by Biemond Wim Moritz pg 6-7, 65, 234, The Origin of the Zimbabwe Tradition walling by Catrien Van Waarden pg 59-69
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-32-156762745)
African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective By Graham Connah pg 306-309)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-33-156762745)
Munsa Earthworks by Peter Robertshaw, pg 1-16, A furnace and associated ironworking remains at Munsa, Uganda by Louise Iles et al.
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-34-156762745)
African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective By Graham Connah pg 313-314, Munsa Earthworks by Peter Robertshaw pg 18)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-35-156762745)
African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective By Graham Connah pg 315-318)
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-36-156762745)
African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective By Graham Connah pg 320)
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-37-156762745)
Archéologie et anthropologie des tumulus de Kapanda (Angola) by M Gutierrez pg 148-150)
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-38-156762745)
Archéologie et anthropologie des tumulus de Kapanda (Angola) by M Gutierrez
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-39-156762745)
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: A Global History Volume 1 by Philippe Beaujard pg 589, The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century by Greville Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 1-7)
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-40-156762745)
The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society By Derek Nurse, Thomas Spear, Swahili and Sabaki: A Linguistic History By Derek Nurse, Thomas J. Hinnebusch
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-41-156762745)
Safari za Wasuaheli By Carl Velten pg 81-99, The Pate Chronicle edited by Marina Tolmacheva, A Revised Chronology of the Sultans of Kilwa in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries by Edward Alpers pg 154-160
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-42-156762745)
Shanga: The Archaeology of a Muslim Trading Community on the Coast of East Africa pg 410, From Zinj to Zanzibar: Studies in History, Trade, and Society on the Eastern Coast of Africa in Honuor of James Kirkman on the Occasion of His Seventy-fifth Birthday by James S. Kirkman pg 136
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-43-156762745)
Writing in Swahili on Stone and on Paper by Ann Biersteker pg 15-17
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-44-156762745)
The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society By Derek Nurse, Thomas Spear pg 93-94, Swahili and Sabaki: A Linguistic History By Derek Nurse, Thomas J. Hinnebusch, Gérard Philipson pg 617, East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda, Volume 2 of The Afro-Asian nations: history and culture by Jan Knappert pg 262,
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-45-156762745)
Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo: His Life and Correspondence By John K. Thornton pg 59, 235
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-46-156762745)
Introducing a state-of-the-art phylogenetic classification of the Kikongo Language Cluster by Gilles-Maurice de Schryver et al. _For kikongo words in 16th century manuscripts_, see; Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo: His Life and Correspondence By John K. Thornton
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-47-156762745)
The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pg 60-61
[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-48-156762745)
The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pgs 62-69, 98-99)
[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-49-156762745)
The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pg 63)
[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-50-156762745)
French: From Dialect to Standard By R. Anthony Lodge pg 198-205
[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-51-156762745)
Language and Society in a Changing Italy By Arturo Tosi pg 5-14, In Italics: In Defense of Ethnicity By Antonio D'Alfonso pg 188
[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-52-156762745)
Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of Southeastern Africa: Oral Traditions and History, 1400-1830 by Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 55-65
[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-53-156762745)
Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of Southeastern Africa: Oral Traditions and History, 1400-1830 by Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 67-72)
[54](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-54-156762745)
The Bantu Expansion by Koen Bostoen (2018) pg 9
[55](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-55-156762745)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 5, 10-15
[56](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion#footnote-anchor-56-156762745)
The Bantu Expansion by Koen Bostoen (2018) pg 9
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kqUm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed74b26d-f1ca-4c2c-b8bf-631cfb9d8c36_961x605.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CtrP!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2e30464a-848f-4865-bc27-81baaa3dc831_792x681.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-history-of-the-bantu-expansion
|
Among the corpus of terracotta figurines discovered in the Greco-Egyptian city of Alexandria dating back to the 2nd century BC is a fine clay vessel in the form of a Nubian priestess of _**Isis**_ of Philae, who is depicted in a kneeling position while performing a Greek-type mortuary wine libation.
This ancient vessel, which perfectly combines three cultural aspects of the cosmopolitan city, provides some of the earliest evidence for the participation of Nubian priests in the spread of _**Isiac**_ religion across the Greek-speaking world.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-spread-of-traditional-african#footnote-1-156296760)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BiyQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65c75c46-b2b2-42fa-8d98-66c80ed9fc57_399x525.png)
_**Vessel Shaped as a Nubian Priestess**_, first half of the 2nd century B.C. [Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.](https://www.mfab.hu/artworks/5215/)
The Isis temple at Philae in southern Egypt where the priestess originated was located at the border region of ancient Kush and Ptolemaic Egypt, where rulers from both kingdoms constructed temples dedicated to the goddess —who was considered one of [the principal gods of the pantheon of Kush](https://www.patreon.com/posts/78797811) and closely associated with royal power.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bJ0z!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce85e35f-b9a4-4cf2-8081-b93a29274eed_820x530.png)
_**entryway to the temple of Isis at Philae in Lower Nubia (southern Egypt)**_ image by Waj on Shutterstock
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ffBy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F40cf5b33-89ba-4d59-ac65-7b74b3710d78_710x330.jpeg)
(left)_**A 26-line inscription on the Gate of Hadrian records the Nubian envoy Sasan’s participation in rites held on the island in A.D. 253.**_(right)_**A figure near the inscription may be intended to represent Sasan, Kush’s envoy to Rome**_. Image by Solange Ashby
In the centuries after the priestess figure was sculptured, Kushite envoys on their way to Rome stopped by the Isis temple at Philae where they engaged in religious ceremonies and left numerous inscriptions to the goddess, praying for success in [their diplomatic missions to Rome](https://www.patreon.com/posts/75714077).
The inclusion of several Nubian priests in Roman frescos depicting Isiac ceremonies in the Roman town of Herculaneum in Italy suggests that these [African missionaries of Isis successfully reached the Roman heartland](https://www.patreon.com/posts/118446319), and transplanted an African religious tradition to distant places beyond the continent.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xgvi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff40c1d8c-bb7e-4d62-8994-44554540d09f_1362x585.png)
(left) _**Panel painting from Herculaneum. ca. 1st century CE, Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. no. 8924, depicting aithiopian (Nubian) priests as central figures in an Isiac ceremony.**_ (right) **19th-century engraving by Robert von Spalart, reproducing the painting from Herculaneum depicting an Isiac ceremony.**
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-spread-of-traditional-african?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
While most Africans today primarily identify with the Abrahamic religions of Christianity and Islam, several pockets of 'traditional religions' remain on the margins of the two dominant belief systems. Historical evidence indicates that although most of these traditional religions were confined to specific communities, some were successfully spread across multiple societies within the continent and beyond.
An example of this is the Bori religion of the Maguzawa Hausa; a social-political group that played a salient role in the development of the Hausa city-state of Kano in northern Nigeria since the late Middle Ages. Bori encompasses several polytheistic belief systems that combined older pre-Islamic Hausa religions with other practices such as spirit possession and masked dances.
In the early 19th century, [Bori missionaries and adherents, both free and enslaved, carried their religious traditions to Burkina Faso, and northwards to the Ottoman province of Tunis](https://www.patreon.com/posts/traditional-in-82189267). Despite its suppression by the Muslim elites and later by the Christian colonial authorities, the Bori religion continued to be practiced by some communities in Tunis during the 1950s and in northern Nigeria until the 21st century.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-spread-of-traditional-african#footnote-2-156296760)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vVoz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F42abce84-86e0-4d69-bf63-7a26933cec0e_760x570.png)
_**The Maguzawa of Tunis performing a Bori religious ceremony**_, ca. 1914. image by Tremearne, A. J. N.
The geographic extent of some traditional African religions was therefore much larger during the pre-colonial period than their present geographic reach suggests.
This is best exemplified by the dynamic belief systems of West Africa's Atlantic coastal kingdoms, many of which recognized powerful serpent-deities that were shared across multiple societies since the late Middle Ages, before their religious traditions were spread across the Atlantic to Brazil, Haiti, and North America.
**The history of these African deities and their spread across the Atlantic world is the subject of my latest Patreon article,**
**please subscribe to read about them here:**
[THE SERPENT DEITIES OF THE ATLANTIC](https://www.patreon.com/posts/121284939)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CtrP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2e30464a-848f-4865-bc27-81baaa3dc831_792x681.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-spread-of-traditional-african#footnote-anchor-1-156296760)
Hellenizing Art in Ancient Nubia 300 B.C. - AD 250 and its Egyptian Models by László Török pg 58-59
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-spread-of-traditional-african#footnote-anchor-2-156296760)
Factors Contributing to the Survival of the Bori Cult in Northern Nigeria by Umar Habila Dadem Danfulani pg 416-417, Bori Religion in West Africa by Kari B. Henquinet
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BiyQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65c75c46-b2b2-42fa-8d98-66c80ed9fc57_399x525.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bJ0z!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce85e35f-b9a4-4cf2-8081-b93a29274eed_820x530.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ffBy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F40cf5b33-89ba-4d59-ac65-7b74b3710d78_710x330.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xgvi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff40c1d8c-bb7e-4d62-8994-44554540d09f_1362x585.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vVoz!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F42abce84-86e0-4d69-bf63-7a26933cec0e_760x570.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CtrP!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2e30464a-848f-4865-bc27-81baaa3dc831_792x681.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-spread-of-traditional-african
|
Nsibidi is one of Africa's oldest independently invented writing systems. It's a semasiographic script comprised of ideograms and pictograms that were used in southeastern Nigeria among the Ejagham, Efik, Igbo, and Ibibio societies.
Nsibidi records, transmits, and conceals various kinds of information using a fluid vocabulary of geometric and naturalistic signs depicted on a wide range of mediums; from pottery dated to the 6th-11th century; to manuscripts; textiles; and inscribed artwork from the 19th century.
The formal world of Nsibidi writing encompassed both simple and complex signs of communication that expressed abstract ideas which carried functional, aesthetic, and esoteric meanings for its users.
This article outlines the history of Nsibidi from the earliest archeological evidence for its invention in the mid-first millennium CE to its development in the 19th century across multiple societies from Nigeria to Cuba.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qFkb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb004620b-405c-4724-b144-59168e6f5dd9_820x404.png)
_**Late 19th century Brass tray from Calabar, Nigeria depicting a local mermaid figure surrounded by numerous Nsibidi pictograms. now at the Pitt Rivers Museum.**_
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more on African history and to keep this blog free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The ethnography of Nsibidi: societies of south-eastern Nigeria.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!H2ZQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2db9bb38-298d-4f72-8125-60de832093d3_735x648.jpeg)
_**map of the cross-river region on the Nigeria-Cameroon border showing the ethnic groups mentioned in this article who use Nsibidi.**_
Archeological findings and historical traditions from south-eastern Nigeria's “cross-river” region indicate that the symbolic reservoir from which Nsibidi derived its glyphs was not the product of a single social group, but of many societies. While the _Ekpe_ (Leopard Society) of the Efik people has been the most prominent institution associated with Nsibidi since the early 20th century when the script was first studied, it is not the only one, but most likely superseded the other societies fairly recently.
Traditions of the Ejagham people of south-eastern Nigeria mention the existence of an _Nsibidi_(or _Nchibbidi_) Society, which predated the Efik's _Ekpe_ society. A king of Oban in southern Ejagham relates that nsibidi was taught to them by water deities ( mermaids) and that it emerged in the dreams of certain men who thus received its secrets and later presented them to the outside.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-1-155679850)
According to the pioneering study of the script by the anthropologist P.A. Talbot, its name was derived from the Ejagham word nchibbi, which he defined as _**“to turn’, and this has taken to itself the meaning of agility of mind, and therefore of cunning or double meaning”.**_ He adds that it is possible that the Nsibidi writing was developed among the members of the Ejagham’s Ekoi society _**“as a method of communication or, perhaps with greater likelihood, its use was kept up by them long after it had been forgotten outside their circle”**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-2-155679850)
Other groups in the cross-rivers region that are now known for writing in Nsibidi include the Bende subgroup of the Igbo speakers; the Ekeya clan of the Okobo subgroup of the Ibibio speakers;[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-3-155679850) and the the Ekois who live along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Nsibidi is therefore common to various populations of the Cross River region in south-eastern Nigeria, through centuries of successive borrowings and exchanges with other societies.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-4-155679850)
The main users of the Nsibidi are individuals of the Ekpe (or "leopard men") institution which allows social regularization within the Efik group. Composed of an elitist group of male individuals, the esoteric institution imposed the socio-economic rules of the Calabar Region. Through their use of nsibidi, the Ekpe institution gave its signs a strong social and political function by concealing the meaning of certain signs to its affiliates but displaying them in public to show the power of Ekpe.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-5-155679850)
While the secret societies were primarily Male fraternal groups, Women were closely associated with the use —and perhaps the invention— of the Nsibidi symbols. The meeting places of women from both the Ejagham and Efik groups were centers for the arts, where women were taught the art of Nsibidi writing, often by other women. Ekpe societies north of the Cross River also encouraged more participation of women in its affairs, indicating that their role in the secret society varied greatly.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-6-155679850)
As noted by the British consul Hutchinson while he was in Old Calabar during the 1850s, _**“the women of Old Kalabar are not only the surgical operators, but are also artists in other matters. Carving hieroglyphs on large dish calabashes and on the seats of stools; painting figures of poeticized animals on the walls of the houses; weaving and dyeing mats, —all are done by them.”**_[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-7-155679850)
According to the art historian R. F. Thompson: _**“it was the Ejagham female who was traditionally considered the original bearer of civilizing gifts. Ejagham women also engaged in plays and artistic matters. Their “fatting-houses” (nkim) were centers for the arts, where women were taught, by tutors of their own sex, body-painting, coiʃure, singing, dancing, ordinary and ceremonial cooking, and, especially, the art of nsibidi writing in several media, including pyrogravure and appliqué.”**_[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-8-155679850)
The various mediums of writing on which Nsibidi symbols are preserved, such as calabashes, wall paintings, and dyed mats/cloths were primarily made by women.
**The archeology of Nsibidi: Calabar pottery with proto-Nsibidi glyphs from 6th-14th century CE**
The precursors of Nsibidi symbols are attested across the archeological record of Calabar, with the earliest traces of proto-Nsibidi picto-ideograms appearing on pottery dated to the 6th-9th century CE.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-9-155679850)
Many of the ceramics found in this region, such as bowls, anthropomorphic vessels, and figurines, are decorated with combinations of carefully rendered geometric designs consisting of similar “families” of patterns that show up repeatedly. These include concentric circles, spirals, arcs, chevrons, lozenges, crosses, stars, grids, and interlaces, which are all motifs that are prominent in later Nsibidi writing.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-10-155679850)
While the overall designs often consist of variations of similar motifs, the makers of the ceramics displayed an obvious preference for creating unique works rather than multiple duplicates and maintained a fairly consistent style of impressed decoration. The symbolic function of these Calabar ceramics especially as grave goods and shrine furnishings as well as their elaborate decoration with familiar patterns of symbols and distinctive motifs, is directed related to historical practices and symbolism associated with Nsibidi writing and related artwork.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-11-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gxCt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb4664574-8f0a-459f-a3b2-8102cc73cbbb_658x519.png)
_**Anthropomorphic vessel from the Okang Mbang site**_, Calabar, ca. 11th-14th century, NCMM Nigeria. The vessel is decorated with a complex cruciform design with 8 corners. images by Christopher Slogar.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Z-ae!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b3e1fa7-e1e7-470b-83da-0cf1b718e374_820x141.png)
_**Cruciform designs inscribed with Nsibidi glyphs,**_ taken from a brass tray and wooden crest at the Pitt Rivers Museum. collected ca. 1914-1919. Images by Morgane Pierson.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ia2d!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2473e5f6-58e7-41de-8c91-8f0a1bbde0da_1342x466.png)
_**(L-R) Underside view of a bowl fragment showing the base, Obot Okoho site; Detached base from a bowl, Obot Okoho site; Profile and underside views of a bowl, Okang Mbang site. Calabar,**_ ca. 11-14th century NCMM Nigeria. images by Christopher Slogar.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!veos!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66b746c2-6b3f-4f36-8b74-b211f2a7beea_820x123.png)
_**Nsibidi arc signs on the brass dish and wooden crest at the Pitt rivers museum.**_ these arcs generally represent a person doing various activities. Images by Morgane Pierson.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Xymi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc51eb742-3641-4340-a1d6-4e4dce648a3b_820x374.png)
_**Wooden crest mask in the form of a bird's head and beak, inscribed with Nsibidi writing.**_ Ejagham artist,Collected between 1904-1914, [Pitt Rivers Museum](https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/headdress-nigeria).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vH-M!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1c5a4cc-9e7e-4ded-ae1a-f6dfafe1503e_820x823.png)
Brass dish made locally from a recycled sheet of brass salvaged from a shipwreck. Efik artist. collected between 1915 and 1919 from Old Calabar, Nigeria, for the [Pitt Rivers Museum, U.K](https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/brass-mermaid-dish-nigeria).[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-12-155679850)
The dish is decorated with hammered designs and depicts a mermaid in the center with a forked scaly tail and wearing a crown, encircled by nsibidi symbols. The mermaid is adorned with intricate body-painting or wears an elaborate long-sleeved bodice decorated with geometric patterns. She holds a comb in her right hand and a mirror in her left hand. In the space above her right shoulder there is a bottle and a glass on a table, and above her left shoulder there is what appears to be a flower in a pot or vase. She is accompanied by a fish and a lizard.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Dx61!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc953966c-1cf3-46b7-b446-76a39fa7266b_632x572.png)
_**Drawing of the brass dish highlighting the Nsibidi symbols**_. image by Morgane Pierson
The rim of the dish is divided into eight sections, four decorated with images of birds on foliage, the four longer ones with other nsibidi pictograms. The Nsibidi symbol next to the mermaid’s left fishtail that is in the form of a ball with the feathers on top (C10) represents the Nkanda calabash. Nkanda is the highest class in Ekpe society to which all Ekik men aspired. The oval with a double outline and several circles inside (located on the C11 rim and in the C12 inner circle), represents the primordial sign of the Nsibidi corpus and is found in many media in association with Ekpe rituals.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-13-155679850)
There is a similar object at the Glasgow Museum that depicts fish leopards with checkerboard skin next to a mermaid with a chewing stick. The appearance of mermaids on brass dishes with Nsibidi writings corroborates the traditions associating the script with supernatural aquatic metamorphoses.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-14-155679850)
Objects with Nsibidi inscriptions are not simply decorative items, but mediums in which powerful forces can be perceived by those with the necessary cultural knowledge.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SSSr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1c24691-c3d4-42ca-ac83-413465b7b6e1_820x307.png)
_**Calabash with Nsibidi inscriptions,**_ ca. 1910, Calabar, Nigeria. British Museum
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!a9lz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd46b4bf3-a9c6-480f-9e46-705c2ef3cb17_930x443.png)
_**an elaborately decorated bowl from the Old Marian Road site,**_ ca. 6th-8th century, Calabar, NCMM Nigeria. _**Anthropomorphic vessel from Okang Mbang site.**_ ca. 11th-14th century, Calabar, NCMM Nigeria. images by Christopher Slogar.
The archeological findings outlined above point to the significance of the city of Old Calabar in the development of the Nsibidi writing system. The cosmopolitan city is home to three major ethnic groups—the Efik, Qua, and Efut—who are in turn each closely related to other groups located throughout the basin, from the Ibibio and Oron in the south to the Ejagham in the north. However, the pottery presented here predates the arrival/formation of these groups, who don’t claim to be autochthonous to the region, despite utilizing the Nsibidi script in the later periods. Nevertheless, the Calabar archaeological material presents an important opportunity to consider the possible ancient roots of the widely used communication system called nsibidi.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-15-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LRlP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabe3e0a2-95ea-42b6-a566-04680a921807_643x494.png)
_**Fragment of a decorated bowl with proto-Nsibidi glyphs**_, Okang Mbang site. Near Calabar, Nigeria. ca. 11th–14th century. NCMM Nigeria. image by Christopher Slogar
**Deciphering the Nsibidi writing system.**
Nsibidi at the time of its discovery was likely undergoing a process of standardization.
Its semasiographic (or; pictorial) characters denote meaning and logic like the Maya glyphs and other Mesoamerican writing systems, rather than the more common glottographic scripts which denote the exact notation of sound and speech such as the Arabic and Latin scripts. That is to say that while the letters used in the alphabetic scripts only have meaning through correlation with another letter, the pictograms only refer to a single object that they represent.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-16-155679850)
Nsibidi is a fluid system containing more than 1,000 signs that can be divided between the basic glyphs including pictographic signs (such as; a manilla, leopard and mirror) and abstract signs (such as; an arc, cross, grid, circle, and spiral). The signs can be traced with the finger, tinted, carved into the wood, hammered into metal, and the diversity of mediums explains why the length of the lines, their width or their orientation are adjustable.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-17-155679850)
Nsibidi primarily represents communication on several hierarchies. The same sign can have multiple interpretations, and thus context plays an essential differentiating role.
First, there were signs most people knew, regardless of initiation or of rank in a given secret society, signs representing human relationships, communication, and household objects.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-18-155679850) For example, an arc symbol in Nsibidi generally indicates a person, so a combination of arcs describes different sorts of personal relationships and activities. Hence, the sign of two intertwined arcs signifies conjunction, love, or marriage.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-19-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K9xm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff45a6c0e-5bee-45e8-877e-1249ffd70249_820x895.png)
_**Nsibidi glyphs and their approximate translations**_
Other symbols such as double gongs and feathers are attributes of leadership, and manillas represent currency, while signs circumscribing radial accents indicate the complexity of initiation into the secret societies. Some of the symbols are purely abstract and refer to a given secret society's ideology. For example, The “dark signs,” were symbols of danger and extremity in the Abakuá society of Afro-Cubans mentioned below.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-20-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ajBA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47d37d3e-a21f-44db-ab0d-e72611b52bba_820x338.png)
Small repeating triangles refer to the leopard’s claws and therefore signify the group’s power, while concentric rectangles may refer to the society meeting house.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-21-155679850)
The fluidity of Nsibidi writing made it a very economical writing system compared to alphabetical scripts. This can be demonstrated by the translation of a trial proceeding shown below, which utilized just 14 blocks of Nsibidi signs compared to the over 158 words, or 800 signs required for its English/French translation.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-22-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0Ci_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa2d3b6ef-2ee8-4e8b-869c-98a28556c3d6_1019x458.png)
According to the linguist Simon Battestini, it seems that some signs correspond to lexemes, that is to say a unit of meaning and sound fixed in a language (for example in French, the words ‘mangent’ and ‘mangeront’ are forms of the same lexeme "manger"). While others would only be read with the help of more or less numerous groups of signs corresponding to our noun phrases, as a more or less complex thought group.
This textual organization is characterized in reading first of all by a preliminary search for the main blocks of meaning and then a detailed reading according to the logical succession of ideas. This is where the differences in size of certain glyphs can be important as the variations in scale between the glyphs allow the reader to identify, even before starting an in-depth reading, the context of certain important words and/or sentences.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-23-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Xm3E!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F08bdecc3-298d-45cd-85bd-83023bf017e3_820x1212.png)
_**Corpus of Nsibidi signs and symbols.**_ image by Elphinstone Dayrell, 1911
**Mediums for representing Nsibidi writing.**
**Nsibidi Cloth and wood:**
The _ukara_ cloth is among the more prominent examples of Nsibidi used by groups such as the Leopard society on formal occasions. The composition of _ukara_ is usually in the form of a grid that makes a wrapper, with each section containing a symbol in white set against an indigo background. The symbols depicted include images of Leopard Society masquerades and powerful creatures associated with the group, such as the leopards and crocodiles, as well as easily recognizable symbols like Arcs, arrows, circles, and crosses, which are often in combination.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-24-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!swK3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd256ccf1-c54b-4f38-a0b0-d229105f1931_820x593.png)
_**20th century, Ukara cotton cloth of the Ekpe society with Nsibidi symbols,**_ Brooklyn museum
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ab-M!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe15125af-942d-4503-8e6d-75b6b26908e9_540x451.png)
_**20th century, ukara cloth of the ekpe society with Nsibidi symbols,**_ Houston museum of fine arts
_**Nsibidi Wooden Fans.**_
Ritual fans bearing pyrograved Nsibidi called _effrigi_, were used in contexts involving initiation into secret societies. These signs are often neatly rendered with the heated end of a metal.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-25-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Nlyi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fbbf0e6-c103-4412-90f2-e16e6f041382_820x1033.png)
_**Igbo or ibibo fan dated to 1859, Now at the national Museums Scotland**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NiEi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc3fa315f-b3f9-402c-943b-dabf2e61f866_254x500.jpeg)
_**Cross River/Ejagham, Effrigi ritual initiation fan displaying Nsibidi signs, NCMM Nigeria, dated 1950.**_
**Nsibidi Manuscripts;**
While Nsibidi signs in south-eastern Nigeria weren't written on paper until the early 20th century, descendants of enslaved people who carried the knowledge Nsibidi and Ekpe society rites to the Island of Cuba, utilized paper to render its glyphs in writing.
Nsibidi signs emerged in Cuba as early as 1812, used by a free black militia leader jose Antonio Aponte, whose manuscripts were seized after his arrest. Another incident in 1839 resulted in the confiscation of Nsibidi manuscripts from Margarito Blanco, a black dock worker whose premises had been raided by the Havana police. These manuscripts were emblazoned with Nsibidi ideographs and signatures of high-ranking priests of the "Abakuá" secret society which is largely derived from the Ekpe society.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-26-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!le_C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F50c1ee84-6aae-4697-8a58-d4e396155ae4_740x398.png)
_**Nsibidi Manuscript written in 1877 by an Abakua society member in Cuba,**_ private collection. It’s about a written declaration of war between Efik rulers of Calabar
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_wH3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76c52465-e532-46c7-8b1e-38367e68bfea_639x427.png)
_**19th century Nsibidi Manuscript written by an Abakua member in Cuba, private collection.**_
**Nsibidi wall inscriptions and Body tattoos**
Painted Nsibidi patterns decorated Leopard Society meeting houses and homes of Leopard Society members. A description by Tomas Hutchinson, who was in Old Calabar in the 1850s, provides one of the earliest descriptions of Nsibidi wall inscriptions inside the house of Efik trader and leopard society member Antika Cobham _**;**_
_**“Whilst seated on one of these (Sofas) my eyes wandered over the place. The walls all round the court are adorned with a variety of extravagant designs of apocryphal animals; impossible crocodiles, possessing a flexibility in their outlines as is never seen in the living specimens; leopards with six feet; birds with horns from their tails. Diamond, and crescent, and cruciform shapes of varicolored hues abound wherever there is a spot to paint them on”**_[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-27-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!06_f!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F169abff7-ddb3-4e39-b894-199e249e9bb1_820x326.png)
_**Depiction of Nsibidi inscriptions on the walls of an Igbo hut by P. A Talbot in 1917**_
**Nsibidi Tattoos:**
Leopard Society members paint their bodies with Nsibidi glyphs in preparation for important occasions. They decorate their bodies with Nsibidi for other transitional events, such as the initiations and funerals of fellow members and the installation of new paramount rulers, who are often chosen from the ranks of Leopard Society members, especially in Calabar.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-28-155679850)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JhNE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa12533fa-42ee-4b5d-afb7-c32445ae20ea_820x482.png)
_**Nsibidi body tattoos and Ukara cloth with Nsibidi glyphs, both shown in a procession of Ekpe Leopard Society members of the igbo group; during the burial of an initiate in Arondizuogu town 1988, and in Arochukwu region in 1989**_
**Nsibidi Esotericism: Secret societies in south-eastern Nigeria**
Knowledge of some Nsibidi signs may be restricted to members of certain groups. For example, members of the pan-regional Leopard Society are proscribed from discussing with outsiders the full meanings of particular Nsibidi signs.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-29-155679850)
The oldest among the secret societies associated with Nsibidi were the _Nnimm_ society of women among the Ejagham people. This society is said to have received the signs from mythical beings ( water deities/mermaids) and shared them with the Ngbe (leopard) society of Ejagham men. From the Ejagham, the knowledge of Nsibidi was spread to the Efut people, who adapted and disseminated Ejagham art and culture and sold its secrets to the Efik of Calabar around the mid-18th century, the latter of whom renamed it Ekpe.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-30-155679850)
In Calabar, Nsibidi is generally associated with the Efik men’s Leopard Societies which wielded great legislative, judicial, and executive power In the precolonial era. The power of the Leopard Societies was maintained in part through the esoteric use of Nsibidi, which members learned more deeply as they advanced in rank within the society.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-31-155679850)
According to historians and anthropologists Ivor Miller and Matthew Ojong, ekpe played four major roles in pre-colonial life. First, it was the institution that granted or denied citizenship status and thus the right to make important decisions in society. It also represented executive authority and therefore the power of punishment. For example, if a member disobeyed the law, the institution could choose to confiscate his property. Ekpe members also took care of entertainment such as dancing, music or organizing masquerades. Finally, the ekpe institution was an esoteric school where members gave teachings on the meaning of life and the cyclical process of regeneration and therefore reincarnation of the being.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-32-155679850)
A transcript of a court proceeding written in Nsibidi inscriptions was preserved by one of the Ekpe members, copied and translated for the missionary J.K Macgregor who was active in Calabar during the early 20th century and wrote a monograph on the Nsibidi script in 1909.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-33-155679850)
His translations are now used in the process of deciphering the script.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vzb7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6058f806-2bcd-4749-81c1-5ec33c162a31_1049x496.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!N6E_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa241145e-edf1-4364-90f8-4024d6680dfd_1313x669.png)
Nsibidi glyphs and their translation by J.K Macgregor.
By their use of the Nsibidi, the Ekpe society gave the script a strong social and political function, and while some signs are only known to its members, the uninitiated recognized them as the insignia of the institution and respected the people or places that were covered with them.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-34-155679850)
As noted by J.K Macgregor : _**“A wide-spread use is to give public notice or private warning of anything,-to forbid people to go on a certain road, an nsibidi sign, far more powerful than any constable, is made on the ground: to warn a friend that he is to be seized, the sign of a rope is chalked where he cannot fail to see it, and he at once flees: to convey the wishes of a chief to all who may come to visit him, signs are set on the walls of his house.”**_[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-35-155679850)
**Conclusion: the Nsibidi script as a new frontier in studies of Africa’s intellectual history.**
While the Nsibidi writing system has recently attracted significant scholarly interest as one of Africa's oldest independently invented scripts, the script remains poorly understood and is only partially deciphered, partly because of the secrecy surrounding pictorial-ideograms, and its contextual form of interpretation.
The discovery of old ceramics with proto-Nsibidi glyphs in the Calabar region, and recent studies of manuscripts written by Afro-Cubans who originated from south-eastern Nigeria have pushed back the age of the Nsibidi script, revealing a rich African intellectual heritage whose significance has only begun to be appreciated.
The above essay on the Nsibidi script was first posted on Patreon,
**My latest Patreon article explores the function of West Africa’s rural castles and fortress-houses that were recently elevated to UNESCO World Heritage status, and the history of the communities which built them.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[THE RURAL CASTLES OF WEST AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/120281542?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gYyv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fca08a1d2-7893-483a-80f9-cb40f559554f_676x1226.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-1-155679850)
Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson pg 298, Compass - Comparative Literature in Africa edited by Maduka, Chidi T., Ekpo, Denis, pg 229
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-2-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 21
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-3-155679850)
Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson pg 301
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-4-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 7
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-5-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson 11
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-6-155679850)
Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson pg 280, Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 13
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-7-155679850)
Impressions of western Africa, 1858: With Remarks on the Diseases of the Climate and a Report on the Peculiarities of Trade Up the Rivers in the Bight of Biafra, by T.J Hutchinson, pg 160
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-8-155679850)
Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson pg 230
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-9-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 23, Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 7
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-10-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 23)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-11-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 24
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-12-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson 29-31
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-13-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson 31.
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-14-155679850)
Compass - Comparative Literature in Africa edited by Maduka, Chidi T., Ekpo, Denis 229-230,
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-15-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 28
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-16-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 19
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-17-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 21
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-18-155679850)
Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson pg 299)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-19-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 19)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-20-155679850)
Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson pg 300-302
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-21-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 20)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-22-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 23
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-23-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 23
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-24-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 20)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-25-155679850)
Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson pg 300)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-26-155679850)
The Relationship between Early Forms of Literacy in Old Calabar and Inherited Manuscripts of the Cuban Abakuá Society by Ivor L. Miller pg 169)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-27-155679850)
Impressions of western Africa, 1858: With Remarks on the Diseases of the Climate and a Report on the Peculiarities of Trade Up the Rivers in the Bight of Biafra, by T.J Hutchinson pg 124)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-28-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 120)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-29-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 19)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-30-155679850)
Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson pg 293)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-31-155679850)
Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi by Christopher Slogar pg 20)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-32-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 11
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-33-155679850)
Some Notes on Nsibidi by J. K. Macgregor pg 212)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-34-155679850)
Étude typographique du système d’écriture nsibidi, des pictos-idéogrammes du Nigeria by Morgane Pierson pg 11)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce#footnote-anchor-35-155679850)
Some Notes on Nsibidi by J. K. Macgregor pg 212
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-nsibidi-script-ca-600-1909-ce
|
For much of African history, the construction of fortresses and fortified structures was a mostly urban phenomenon associated with large states.
Excavations in Sudan at the site of Kerma —Africa's oldest city outside Egypt, uncovered the ruins of a square fortress measuring 80 meters on each side with connected bastions 16 meters in length, that was constructed around 2500-2400BC. Entire sections of [the city of Kerma](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ancient-state-of-59674298) during its Middle period (2050-1750 BC) and Classic period (1750-1480BC) included an elaborate complex of fortifications and fortresses of varying sizes and typologies, that served multiple functions.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-1-155124042)
The construction of fortifications and fortresses in ancient Nubia continued during the Napatan and Meroitic periods of Kush (750BC-360CE), as well as in [the medieval period](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-kingdom-on-the-edge-of#footnote-anchor-9-71660665). The entire length of the Nubian Nile valley is dotted with the ruins of walled cities and fortresses, most notably; the walled capitals of [Meroe](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital) and Old Dongola, as well as the fortresses at Qasr Ibrim, Hisn al-Bab, Gala Abu Ahmed, Umm Marrahi, Shofein and Umm Ruweim.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-2-155124042)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zxCf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00f20a8f-b340-46bd-9153-fd72bd1cf16e_973x550.png)
(left) _**Plan of the Early Kerma city highlighting the square fortress**_ (right) _**the northern area of the secondary urban complex during Classic Kerma that was transformed into a virtual fortress**_. Images and captions by C. Bonnet.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PfPX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cf93b40-2c24-4224-8a80-dea4d00fefb2_781x574.png)
_**The late meroitic/post meroitic fort of Umm Ruweim 1**_ in Sudan. image by M. Szmit.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-3-155124042)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NvYF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb15d6e46-0f94-4fd3-8382-be18ec26698b_1600x773.jpeg)
_**the ruins of the Nubian fortress at Hisn al-Bab in Lower Nubia, Egypt.**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-4-155124042)
Beyond the Nile valley, Fortifications and fortresses were also constructed across most parts of the continent.
In the northern Horn of Africa, the walled cities of Gondar, Harar, and [Zeila](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla) were typical of the region's urban settlements, [especially Harar, whose massive walls, towers, and ramparts survive to the present day](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-harar-the-city?utm_source=publication-search). Large fortresses were also constructed across the region, most notably at Taleh in Somaliland and the numerous forts of [the Majerteen kingdom at Bender Gasim, Alula, and Hafun](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-majeerteen-sultanate).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!C0Kv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43cfdce6-f99f-4be1-83a6-50648993ad84_1246x507.png)
_**Majeerteen fort at Bender Gasim (Bandar Cassim)**_, ca. 1891, Somaliland. Archivio fotografico, Italy.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoz2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcdeac610-09f5-44fe-b742-e4df1ead1dc2_1163x611.png)
_**Fortress at Silsilad, Taleh, Somaliland**_. The National Archives UK
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fOgW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0da991ac-41bf-4c36-920e-14c3e3354f22_1200x720.jpeg)
_**Section of the old city wall**_, Harar, Ethiopia.
Further south along the East African coast, the typical Swahili and Comorian settlement was a city or town enclosed by a perimeter wall with towers. These include; the city of Qanbalu (Pemba in Tanzania), which according to a 10th-century account, was surrounded by a city wall that gave it the appearance of a castle.
Other walled cities include [Kilwa (Tanzania)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological), Gede, Malindi, Pate, and Siyu (Kenya), as well as at [Mahilaka and Mazalagem](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-of-stone-77497948) (Mozambique); [and at Itsandramdjini, Ntsaweni and Fumbuni (Grande Comore)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-23-140646735). Fortresses were also constructed at Husuni Ndogo (in Kilwa and Sanjé ya Kati (Tanzania) and at Siyu, as well as at Itsandra (Grande Comore) and Mutsamudu (Nzwani).[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-5-155124042)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wflh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffb16ae1e-1437-4853-901c-6c1409eea080_744x557.png)
_**Plan of Gede, showing shape of enclosure walls to northeast.**_ image by S. Pradines.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UWJL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc006ed04-b1f5-4723-a2b7-195b375532c6_824x432.png)
_**West Rampart, Ntsaweni, Grande Comore.**_ image by Charles Viaut et al.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J2l0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febf50c1f-4f64-432a-8e36-08e1fd6f59e3_896x512.png)
_**The fortress at Mutsamudu, Nzwani**_ (Anjouan)
Central and southern Africa is also dotted with numerous walled cities and towns. The best known among these are the [hundreds of walled settlements of the Zimbabwe tradition such as Great Zimbabwe](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great), Matendera, and [Naletale](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-rozvi-kingdom-1680) (in Zimbabwe); as well as similar [stone ruins in South Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a) and [eastern Botswana](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone).
In central Africa, the best known of the walled capitals was the city of Mbanza Kongo (in Angola), which in the 16th century, was surrounded by a stone wall, but the more common type of walled capital was surrounded by a stockade, similar to field fortresses first documented in 16th century Ndongo.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-6-155124042) These stockades were common across the region, from Angola to Zambia, Congo, Uganda, and Tanzania where they were known as '_bomas_'.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-7-155124042) The largest and strongest of these could enclose thousands of homes eg Msiri's _boma_ at Bunkeya (D.R.Congo). Hillforts were also constructed in south-east Africa[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-8-155124042), eg at Chawomera and Nyangwe in Zimbabwe.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!X3ep!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4126824b-93dc-46f6-ad68-db2d7d2137eb_1339x512.png)
_**the Ruins of Naletale, Zimbabwe with its square battlements and profusely decorated walls.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F89c!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f3ef9ba-fc96-4258-a61e-57c4a7bbb1bf_873x578.png)
_**the walled capital of Mbanza Kongo, Angola**_. engraving by Olfert Dapper ca. 1668.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0gQ6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F155a3b82-d8bc-4fac-9fbb-6389b9f5a13b_761x474.jpeg)
_**A boma in the Katanga region, D.R.Congo**_. ca. 1892 engraving by Édouard Charton
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uIAZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05705871-a87c-4992-bc0c-2733ef0fc1e2_666x451.jpeg)
_**The hilltop fort of Chawomera in Zimbabwe.**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
In West Africa, walled cities can be found across the region from the Sahel to the Coast, including [the Hausa cities of Kano](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-kano-999?utm_source=publication-search) and Zaria (Nigeria), [the Kotoko towns of Logone and Gulfey](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-political-history-of-the-kotoko) (in Cameroon and Chad), [the cities of Djenne](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-jenne-250bc)and Sikasso (Mali), [the old towns Tichitt and Wadan](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan) (Mauritania), as well as the cities of; [Abomey](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital?utm_source=publication-search) (Benin), [Oyo-ile](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/empire-building-and-government-in?utm_source=publication-search) and Benin city (Nigeria).
West Africa is also dotted with numerous fortresses, commonly called _'Tata'_ in the westernmost regions and _'Qasr'_ or _**'**Ribat'_ in the central regions. These include [the forts associated with the empires of Segu and Tukulor](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-45-154639584), the ribats of the Sokoto caliphate in northern Nigeria, and the medieval qasrs of [the Kawar oases of Niger](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-civilization-in-the-heart).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5A5B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59561199-471f-4cff-a170-9c053d6c606e_999x683.jpeg)
_**Walls of Kano**_, Nigeria.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mxHS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4bb87dc6-cb6e-4c11-a131-de6f380065d9_1497x819.jpeg)
_**Umar Tal’s Stone fortress of Koniakari.**_ ca 1890, Mali. Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!B-uZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6d87d98-defd-4be8-8277-267346290560_1920x1200.jpeg)
_**The Qasr of Djado**_, Niger.
These various forms of African fortifications had multiple functions, that weren't limited to defense.
The walls of Meroe and the ruined cities of the Zimbabwe tradition had no military function, but more likely functioned as symbolic displays of power, or in the case of Meroe, to separate the elite section of the city.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-9-155124042) The walls of Djenne, Kilwa, and Manda were primarily built to keep out flood waters from the river and sea[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-10-155124042), while some of the larger fortifications in West Africa were constructed for ideological/political reasons.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-11-155124042)
Its in this context that such ‘defensive’ architecture influenced the construction of monuments for the elites such as fortified houses or castles in parts of the continent.
These include; the castle-houses and _‘diffis’_ of the middle Nile valley from the era of Meroitic Kush to the Islamic period; the fortified palaces of west Africa which were derived from its defensive architecture[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-12-155124042); the fortified palaces and houses of the Swahili (eg at Kilwa and Kua, and the Tembe houses of the interior); and [the famous castles of Gondar in Ethiopia.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-gondar-africas)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Lq9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3e7a3ee3-9a4a-468b-aa55-bd6a1cd38d91_1024x768.jpeg)
_**fortified palace of Makutani**_, Kilwa, Tanzania
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8Uff!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3651927d-217f-4f3e-89c9-8aeb961b0b54_573x400.png)
_**castle of Kush's governor at Natole (Karanog)**_, lower Nubia, Egypt.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jS93!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b18c783-7f46-46f1-b379-d837fd5b9c21_800x532.jpeg)
_castle of Fasiladas in Gondar, Ethiopia._
While this brief overview of African fortifications covers those constructed by the continent's larger and better-known historical cities and kingdoms, similar architectural monuments were constructed by small-scale, rural societies on the peripheries of the large states.
**Beginning in the 16th century, communities straddling the borders of Benin, Togo, and Ghana constructed large fortress-houses, some of which are adorned with towering turrets and look like small castles.**
**My latest Patreon article explores the function of these rural castles that were recently elevated to UNESCO World Heritage status, and the history of the communities which built them.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[THE RURAL CASTLES OF WEST AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/120281542?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gYyv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fca08a1d2-7893-483a-80f9-cb40f559554f_676x1226.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-1-155124042)
The Black Kingdom of the Nile By Charles Bonnet pg 11-50
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-2-155124042)
Mighty Kingdoms and their Forts: The Role of Fortified Sites in the Fall of Meroe and Rise of Medieval Realms in Upper Nubia by Mariusz Drzewiecki, The power of walls. Fortifications in ancient Northeastern Africa edited by Friederike Jesse, Carola Vogel
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-3-155124042)
Mighty Kingdoms and their Forts: The Role of Fortified Sites in the Fall of Meroe and Rise of Medieval Realms in Upper Nubia by Mariusz Drzewiecki pg 116.
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-4-155124042)
Hisn al-Bab. A new project of the Austrian Archaeological Institute/Cairo Branch by Pamela Rose, The power of walls. Fortifications in ancient Northeastern Africa edited by Friederike Jesse, Carola Vogel pg 251-266
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-5-155124042)
The Swahili World edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 195-196, 211-212, 287-288, Swahili pre-modern warfare and violence in the Indian Ocean by Stephane Pradines pg 261-270, The Comoro Islands: Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean by M. D. D. Newitt pg 22,
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-6-155124042)
Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800 By John Kelly Thornton pg 110-112.
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-7-155124042)
The Lake Regions of Central Equatorial Africa, with Notices of the Lunar Mountains and the Sources of the White Nile by Richard F. Burton (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1859) pg 181, Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile by John Hanning Speke (Harper & brothers, 1868) pg 114, 124, 131-145, Through the Dark Continent: Or, The Sources of the Nile Around the Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa, and Down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean, by Henry Morton Stanley (Harper, 1879) pg 104-105, 202, 222, 286.
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-8-155124042)
The Zimbabwe Culture: Origins and Decline of Southern Zambezian States By Innocent Pikirayi pg 187-191, 231
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-9-155124042)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 516-517.
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-10-155124042)
The least of their inhabited villages are fortified”: the walled settlements of Segou by Kevin C. MacDonald pg 365-366, The Swahili World edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 287-288.
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-11-155124042)
The least of their inhabited villages are fortified”: the walled settlements of Segou by Kevin C. MacDonald pg 347-348, 356-360
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a#footnote-anchor-12-155124042)
Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal By Cleo Cantone pg 63-65)
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forts-and-castles-of-africa-a
|
The westernmost region of Africa which forms the watershed of the great rivers of the Senegal, the Volta and the Niger, is home to one of the world's oldest surviving building traditions, called the ‘Sudano-Sahelian’ architecture.
Characterised by the use of bricks and timber, the Sudano-Sahelian architecture encompasses a wide range of building typologies. It features the use of buttressing, pinnacles and attached pillars, with a distinctive façade that is punctuated by wooden spikes and is often heavily ornamented with intricate carvings.
Many of the monuments constructed in this style, including Palaces, Mosques, and Fortresses, are vibrant works of art with their own distinct aesthetics. These structures captured the imagination of visitors to the region during the pre-colonial period, and became the hallmark of west-African architecture during the colonial and post-independence periods.
This article outlines the history of Sudano-Sahelian architecture from its foundations in antiquity, and includes many examples of some of the most notable historical monuments of west Africa.
_**Map showing the empires of pre-colonial west Africa**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hL3W!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F435c1c94-e5a5-48ae-8b31-359fcce703a6_709x539.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more on African history and to keep this blog free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The earliest west African building traditions: from Neolithic Tichitt to Jenne-jeno.**
The earliest forms of West African architecture are to be found in the sandstone escarpments of Tichitt-Oualata in southeastern Mauritania, where a neolithic tradition emerged around 2200BC, marked by proto-urban drystone masonry settlements associated with burial monuments. During the classic Tichitt period, sites expanded westwards towards Dhar Tagant, southwards towards the Méma region of Mali, and further east to the Lakes region of Mali, where compounds constructed of drystone masonry and funeral pillars dating from this period have also been documented.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-1-154639584)
In the core of the Tichitt Tradition monumental funerary landscapes, the site of Dakhlet el Atrouss I (80 ha) became the main regional center of a multi-tiered settlement hierarchy. This proto-urban settlement is centered around two massive funerary monuments and features 540 stone-walled compounds with stone pillars, several homes, and cattle enclosures separated by pathways and massive walls. It is arranged in 26 compound clusters, perhaps relating to lineage quarters, with some large outlying walled areas. Its material culture indicates that it was occupied by proto-Soninke speakers.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-2-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-OcK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe8e5c0d9-deac-4e52-9a24-e18ee965d8f5_957x587.png)
_**A section of the Akreijit ruins**_, a Tichitt regional center in Mauritania. image by Giulio Aprin.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tiFy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e194512-e929-47ff-8478-63f9fef7ccef_768x512.jpeg)
_**Walled compounds of Akreijit**_, a Tichitt regional center in Mauritania.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wWIL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faf67caf5-f540-4a4a-9a4d-84466526b319_567x376.jpeg)
_**Views of three parts of the agglomeration of Dakhlet el Atrouss I**_. image by R. Vernet.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XlmA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F06043855-3085-48cd-80dc-df1deb26eaf7_709x469.jpeg)
_**One of the two funerary monuments of Dakhlet el Atrouss 1, east of Akreijit**_. Image by R. Vernet.
Around 900 BC, a broad settlement transformation took place in the Mema region of Mali, as the pre-existing ephemeral camps were displaced by more permanent settlements with cereal agriculture.
These settlements begun at 10 ha site of Kolima Sud-Est, the 18ha site of Dia Shoma between 900-400BC, and the later site of Jenne-Jeno in the 3rd century BC. They all contain Tichitt-style pottery (called the Faıta Facies) in their earliest settlement phases, indicating a direct transfer/expansion of the Tichitt population to Mema. However, these settlements feature earthen architecture rather than dry-stone _*_, since the Mema region was (and remains) a floodplain, without native stone resources comparable to those of the Tichitt escarpment.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-3-154639584)
(*_dry-stone architecture continued in southern Mauritania [during the medieval period](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan)_)
This earthen architecture became especially prevalent during the Jenné-jeno Phase III (400–900 CE), when houses were built with distinctive cylindrical sundried mud-bricks called djeney-ferey, as well as its city wall. A recently discovered site of Tongo Maaré Diabal in Mali, a small nucleated settlement first occupied around 500CE and located about 250km northeast of Jenne-Jeno, contained the remains of curvilinear and rectilinear mud-brick structures built with ‘loaf-shaped’ rectangular bricks in its Horizon 2 phase (650-750CE).[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-4-154639584)
Rectilinear structures with drain pipes indicating a flat roof, possibly with an upper story, were constructed by the 11th century at both Jenne-jeno Phase IV (900-1400 CE) and Dia Horizon IV (1000 -1600 CE) where a city wall also appears during this period. Rectangular fired bricks used for reinforcement or for decorative effects appear in this phase at Jenne-jeno, while rectangular sun-dried bricks also appear at Dia during the same period.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-5-154639584)
Houses from both Jenne-Jeno and Dia during this period also include bedrests, attached ovens, as well as indoor bathing areas and latrines drained by long ceramic pipes. These houses at Jenne-jeno in particular contained many of Djenne’s iconic terracotta statuettes in wall niches, floors and shrines; the latter of which had pottery with serpentine imagery. More presence of domestic activity is indicated by spindle whorls and other material culture from earlier phases such as pottery and iron objects.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-6-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IPet!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F086491b7-dfe2-4486-87fe-72b5b8a76245_723x453.png)
_**Excavated house at Unit C, Dia-Shoma (Horizon IV), showing rectilinear rooms and loaf shaped mud bricks visible in the wall section**_. image by N. Arazi.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cN8t!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd318cf4e-d0b4-49db-a5bd-9c8732140456_1251x577.png)
(Left) _**Mudbrick walls and drainage pipe at Unit C, Dia-Shoma, (Horizon IV)**_, (right) _**Narrow streets of Dia flanked by compound walls and rectilinear mudbrick houses associated with drainage pipes.**_ images by N. Arazi
**Multiple pathways to west Africa’s architectural history.**
While the evolution of West African architecture from Tichitt to Jenne-Jeno and Dia can be traced with some certainty, the emergence of several nucleated settlements across West Africa from similarly old neolithic traditions complicates this seemingly linear sequence, as the example of Tongo Maaré Diabal shows. This singular chronological trajectory presupposes an exhaustive census of all the archeological sites and architectural monuments of the region in order to relate their various construction styles and inscribe each monument in time and space. However, such theoretical formulations are contradicted by other archeological discoveries.
For example, the Neolithic tradition that emerged near the Bandiagra cliffs of Mali at the site of Ounjougou, was also based on the cultivation of pearl millet like Tichitt and contains the ruins of walled compounds of drystone masonry dated 1900-1800 BC.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-7-154639584) Similary, the remains of rectangular houses measuring 7x3m and constructed with stone and daub, were discovered at multiple sites of the Kintampo neolithic culture (ca. 1900-1200BC) in northern Ghana, at the sites of Ntereso, Boyasi, Bonoase, and Mumute.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-8-154639584)
These two traditions are both contemporary with Tichitt and thus point to multiple origins of West Africa's architectural styles from vastly different ecological zones.
By the early 2nd millennium CE, mud-brick architecture is attested at several sites in [the Bandiagara escarpments](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-dogon-country) and surrounding valley during the so-called ‘Tellem period’, alongside much older structures made with coiled clay, some of which had orthogonal layouts and flat roofs and were part of an agglomerated compound.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-9-154639584) To the east of the Bandiagara cliffs, the recent excavations in the Niger Bend region at Kissi, Gao and Oursi, have also revealed a distinctive cultural tradition that was only tangentially linked to the sites of Jenne and Dia, with elite monuments that slightly predated those found at the latter sites.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RefN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74396607-203b-454c-a146-55d725c83804_960x640.jpeg)
_**‘Tellem’ constructions of coiled clay and stone at Yougo Dogorou**_, Bandiagara, Mali.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!03v4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e3578a5-ce58-4321-8e02-1bb69ab5c249_1100x774.png)
_**Dogon constructions in the escarpment and surrounding plains of Bandiagara.**_
**The monumental architecture of the pre-Islamic west Africa:**
**Gao**
The settlement at Gao emerged during the second half of the 1st millennium CE, with occupation at the largest sites at Gao-Saney and Gao Ancien dated to 700-1050CE.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-10-154639584)Like at jenne-jeno and Dia, the main building material at Gao were mud-bricks, but most were rectangular* unlike those at the former sites. Gao Ancien contains the remains of numerous building constructions (foundations, columns and floors) built in dry-stone walling, mud brick and fired brick from the 9th-13th cent, with rectlinear houses from around 700CE.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-11-154639584)
(_*Gao isn’t the oldest site with rectangular mudbricks or rectilinear structures, but Tongo Maaré Diabal_)
Its at Gao Saney that we find two of the earliest identifiable Palaces in west Africa. These two structures, refered to as the 'Long House' and the 'Pillar House' were constructed around 900CE century and abandoned by 1100CE, based on radiocarbon dates obtained from both sites. The Long house is built in laterite and schist dry stone-walling, fired brick and mud brick, it has long narrow rectangular paved rooms and a monumental decorative gateway, indicating that it was an elite residence. The Pillar house was constructed using the same material, it features a central room with eight circular stone pillars, and its house floor was painted in red ochre and white lime powder.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-12-154639584)
The material culture of Gao indicates that it was occupied by a mostly local population of sedentary farmers, and all dated material indicates that it was abandoned by 1050CE, well before the appearence of the first Muslim ruler whose name is inscribed on the stele found in the cemetary of Gao-saney ca. 1088 CE. The polychrome pottery found at Gao is associated with the Songhai-speaking populations of the Niger Bend extending from Timbuktu to Bentiya. The pottery of the 1st millenium CE site of Oursi in particular, presents clear possibilities for regional antecedants of the Gao Saney assemblage.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-13-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!17wb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F727afc51-0312-402e-a271-200c2ca33cf3_1313x496.png)
_**Ruins of the ‘Pillar House’ and the ‘Long House’ at Gao Ancien**_, constructed around 900 CE. Images by M. Cisse.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!B30N!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc02a0b4-f1e8-4593-9523-b34555626611_695x456.png)
_**Bathroom of the small building in the pillar house at Gao-saney**_. image by Takezawa and Cisse
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uYEG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e59fc2c-703f-47d1-9213-b57cfe2645c4_782x503.png)
_**Plan of the buildings at Gao-Ancien.**_ Takezawa and Cisse.
**Oursi**
The archaeological site of Oursi in north-eastern Burkina Faso is one of several pre-Islamic sites in the Niger-Bend region that contains early evidence for nucleated settlements in west Africa, with permanent occupation dating back to the late 1st millenium BC.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-14-154639584)
The site is dominated by the remains of a massive house complex called Oursi Hu-Beero, which was constructed between 1020 and 1070CE, according to dated material recovered from its interior. The house complex consists of 28 clustered rooms constructed in four phases with sun-dried rectangular mudbricks with a building size about 300m2. The units are not free-standing but are built adjacent to one another, sharing enclosing walls and separated by intermediate walls, and include both curvilinear and rectangular rooms.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-15-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TOxw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F595d2a91-144d-4e0c-aef8-cfc05ff6ae33_820x303.png)
_**The ruins of Oursi Hu-beero and the shelter built to protect them**_.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3BEK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd4d00f5-772f-4308-bd48-e9c601bef370_543x414.png)
_**the massive square pillars of room 18, measuring about 1m on each side**_. images by Lucas Pieter Petit et al.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kQAG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F38252bf3-faaa-44bd-9b7a-90393a986f72_610x507.png)
_**Layout of the Oursi House**_ showing the walls and pillars (red) and the rooms (black). Room 20 is rectangular, its delimited by a wall (16) and three pillars (51, 52, 53).
The house had an upper storey supported by seventeen rectangular mudbrick pillars, sitting ontop of a roof made of wooden timbers. The upper floor was covered by a clay roof, and it was used for most domestic activities as indicated by the roof debris, which included weapons, copper bracelets, beads, and other jewellery, and grinding stones. The building complex and surrounding sites made up a village that was occupied by a few hundred people, estimates vary from 200 to 800 persons.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-13)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Iwc9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36cffe4e-64f6-478c-b35c-6c6335336bca_820x597.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vRKl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64bf257f-877d-4ec1-a3a5-9dd8c4b9ea9e_820x331.png)
_**Reconstruction of Oursi Hu-beero**_ by Lucas Pieter Petit et al.
**Loropeni and the Lobi ruins.**
As mentioned above, the region of northern Ghana was for long home to multiple sedentary societies with nucleated settlements and distinctive architectural styles since the 2nd millenium BC, many of which included the remains of rectangular houses of stone and daub.
Much larger elite monuments with orthogonal (rectangular) layouts have also been at discovered in the 'Lobi ruins'; a 120-mile-by-60-mile cultural landscape spanning lands that cross the modern borders of Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana. It contains hundreds of sites, [the largest of which are about a dozen walled settlements, mostly in Burkina Faso such as Loropeni](https://www.patreon.com/posts/119309609?pr=true&forSale=true), Obire, Karankasso, and Lakar. Their walls and the houses they enclosed were built with laterite stone and earth, with the earliest dates ranging from; 1040-1420CE.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-16-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ywD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffe3af3f8-5652-467e-95a3-5f46654f9cf4_1319x516.png)
(left) _**Plans of enclosures at same approximate scale. Loropéni, Karankasso, 1km west of Obiré, Obiré village, Obiré ouest, Lakar, Olongo, Yérifoula and Loghi.**_ Image by Henry Hurst _**.**_ (right) _**Aerial view of Loropeni**_, east side.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SnXC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d076540-1391-4256-975e-a0e55decbd08_820x616.png)
_**Partial view of a structure (Lor-sat 27) of Loropéni exposed in its northern and southern parts**_. Image by H. Farma.
**Old Buipe.**
Excavations at the 15th century site of Old Buipe in northern Ghana, have uncovered the ruins of several large multiroomed courtyard houses with an orthogonal design, and flat roofs —some of which had an upper storey. The largest structures were located in Fields; A, C and D, with a complex plan of juxtaposed rectangular rooms and courtyards, plastered cob walls (these are built with hardened silt, clay and gravel rather than brick), laterite floors, and a flat terrace-roof.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-17-154639584)
These finds indicate that the site was relatively large urban settlement of significant political importance prior to the emergence of [the kingdom of Gonja](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-gonja-kingdom-1550), which was purpotedly founded by immigrants from Mali around 1550, ie: more than a century after these buildings were constructed.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0neN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe6ef516a-d895-4da1-8654-010d1de1bc29_804x543.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bUU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa6910057-92dc-4386-9b01-f7d631cdd177_713x575.png)
_**Partially excavated ruins of a 15th century building complex at Field A, Old Buipe, Ghana**_ (photo by Denis Genequand, drawing Marion Berti)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Shee!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7864eff-644b-494b-9460-fa8d7cbc7d55_944x631.png)
_**ruins of a 15th century building complex at Field C, Old Buipe, Ghana**_ (photo by Denis Genequand)
**The Palaces of the Sudano-Sahelian style.**
Documentary evidence indicates that several palaces were constructed by the rulers of Medieval Mali and Songhai in the sudano-sahelian architectural tradition, although archaeologists have yet to identify their location, save for a large _banco_ structure at Niani (Mali) dated to the 14th century, that may have been an elite residence or a mosque.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-18-154639584)
The rulers of Mali resided in a large, walled palace complex at the capital, described by Ibn Batutta in 1352, and the Askiyas of Songhai constructed their palaces in Gao as described by Leo Africanus in 1526. The 17th century Timbuktu chronicles also mention that the Sultan Kunburu, the ruler of Djenne in the 13th century (the medieval city near Jenne-Jeno), pulled down his old palace to build the large mosque of Djenne. He then constructed his new palace next to the mosque.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-19-154639584)
The rulers of Mali and Songhay also had palaces in outlying towns like Diala, and Mansa constructed a palace in Timbuktu after his return from pilgrimage in 1324. Descriptions by Ibn Battuta and Leo Africanus indicate that these palaces were walled complexes, with large courtyards, audience chambers and multiple rooms, enough to house the royals, their attendants, palace guards, and many palace officials (secretaries, counsellors, captains, and stewards).[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-20-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L1BM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b0a681f-2e9b-4f7d-a072-154ed01d55e8_600x434.png)
_**Tomb and mosque of Askiya Muhammad of Songhai (r. 1493–1528),**_ Gao, Mali, ca. 1920. ANOM.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!u6C7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62b07d88-a708-4f72-bf63-4374630378a2_756x484.png)
_**Gao, Mali. ca. 1935**_, ANOM.
Similar, albeit smaller palaces from the later periods are better preserved much further south in northern Ghana, such as the Palace of the Wa-Na, which was built in the 19th century, following the distinctive architectural tradition that emerged in the region during the late middle ages, as seen in the elite houses of Buipe and the mosque of Larabanga.
A visitor to Wa in 1894 mentions that the _**“flat roofed buildings and date palms present it with an eastern appearance,”**_ and another in 1895 notes the presence of the palace, described as a _**“rambling flat-roofed building.”**_[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-21-154639584) The present structure is 'veritable labyrinth of courtyards' enclosed within white washed walls reinforced by thick buttresses with pinnacled tops and triangular perfolations.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-22-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Nk9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae0279c-6d9c-403b-ad96-e944035e77d8_1000x667.jpeg)
_**The palace of Wa in northern Ghana**_
There are also multiple descriptions and images of the old palaces of Segou in Mali, which were constructed by the rulers of the Bambara empire and their sucessors —the rulers of the Tukulor empire.
The account of Mungo Park, who visited the city around 1796 but wasn't allowed to meet the King, describes its general architecture as such: _**“Sego, the capital of Bambarra, consists of four distinct towns ; two on the northern bank of the Niger, called Sego Korro, and Sego Boo ; and two on the southern bank, called Sego Soo Korro, and Sego See Korro. They are all surrounded with high mud walls ; the houses are built of clay, of a square form, with flat roofs ; some of them have two stories, and many of them are white-washed. Besides these buildings, Moorish mosques are Seen in every quarter ; and the streets, though narrow, are broad enough for every useful purpose.”**_[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-23-154639584)
The account of the French traveler Eugene Mage, who visited Segou around 1866 when it was ruled by the Tukulor leader Ahmadou Tal, contains a description of his palace, which he described as an _**“ornate house”**_ enclosed within _**“a real fortification six meters high, with towers at the corners and fronts in the middle, and in which two thousand defenders can be confined.”**_ He also visited Ségou-Koro (old Ségou), and described _**“the remains of a highly ornamented earthen palace, the ruined facades of which are still standing, first strike the eye amidst the half-collapsed and deserted walls”.**_[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-24-154639584)
While these monuments didn’t survive long enough to be photographed, there are a number of images of the palace of Mademba Sèye, who was the fama (ruler) of Sansanding (in Mali) who took control of the town after the collapse of Ahmadou Tal’s empire to the French in 1890. The palace of Mademba, called the _Diomfutu_, was a fortified residence composed of a series of grand courtyards which are divided by numerous buildings, all of which were enclosed by walls that were decorated with pilasters, sculptures and ornaments. The whole measured 150 by 100 meters and its walls were five meters high. It was constructed around 1891 by local masons recruited by Mademba, who also rebuilt the walls of the town.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-25-154639584)
The palace’s external appearence resembles the houses in the illustrations made by Eugene Mage, it also looks like the walled entrances to the compounds of elite houses in Nyamina and Segou, as well as the surviving buildings constructed by the Tukulor ruler Ahmadou (r. 1864-1893) at Segou such as the fortress and the ‘house of the sofas’, which were abandoned after the French invasion, and were photographed during the late 19th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1BVW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b431a1a-6dfb-4715-8dbd-d1ef7be6fe71_1024x647.jpeg)
_**entrance to Ahmadou’s Palace in Segou**_. ca. 1868, illustration by Eugene Mage.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wptc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e134fe4-e5ac-46cf-b0f1-0f6f2fead942_603x373.jpeg)
_**House of the daughter of Mansong Diarra (ruler of the Bambara Empire 1795 to 1808) in Yamina, Mali**_. ca. 1868, Engraving by Eugene Mage.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NMuJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd11b4c5-afce-48a0-9f6e-d6b12a5508cd_598x371.jpeg)
_**The common house of the somonos of Ségou**_. ca. 1868, Engraving by Eugene Mage. the Somonos were part of the Bambara.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!311z!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb480b455-0cd7-4530-8ab9-fc369652e637_692x513.png)
_**walled entrance to the palace of Mademba, Sansanding**_, Mali ca. 1900, BnF, Paris
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gnRn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65941b77-ce9e-440a-ae1b-c7da93808693_1000x631.jpeg)
_**House of the griot Soukoutou, in Ségou**_. ca. 1868, ilustration by M. Mage.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KB95!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34153057-8235-4184-be1f-41dfa8baa73b_759x573.png)
_**Photo of a house in Segou, ca. 1880-1889**_. Quai Branly. (_this could be the same house with a slightly altered facade_)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yy0G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf40f55-5b46-4aa2-bda0-43c0ec7ad844_784x573.png)
_**walled gate to a house in Nyamina, Mali. ca. 1880-1889**_, Quai branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5JWT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fd52fd2-d11c-4dfc-889d-2160994dc851_780x573.jpeg)
_**Segou, the house of the Sofas (warriors)**_. ca. 1880-1889. Quai Branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VxcH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F46686847-8718-4a47-b77b-0ae1f0b235f5_789x573.jpeg)
_**View of Ahmadou's Tata (fort) in Segou**_. ca. 1880-1889. Quai Branly. (this structure maybe the same as the one above)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WYwz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F978111d2-2c63-49bb-9385-d0557c5ae6f7_1024x636.jpeg)
_**View of Ségou, taken from a terrace**_. ca. 1868, illustration by M. Mage.
Segou was invaded by the French in April of 1890, who converted the former palace of Ahmadou into a colonial station/residence. The extent to which this later structure retained the architectural style of the old building is a subject of debate, because its colonial residents were involved in its reconstruction, unlike the other contemporaneous monuments (like the Djenne mosque and Aguibu's palace at Bandiagara) where local masons were in charge of the entire construction.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-26-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Swsn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F607bbf4f-7cd5-47bd-9548-709a3919b31b_768x573.png)
_**French station at Segou, Mali.**_ ca. 1880-1889. Quai Branly
The palace at Bandiagara was constructed around 1893 by the ‘renowned masons from Djenne’ for the Tukulor ruler Agibou Tal according to a near-contemporary account by Henri Gaden. The three story structure, whose facade is topped by serrated pointed columns, was built in the traditional style, respecting local methods of construction.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-27-154639584) A slightly similar, but smaller palace was also constructed in the same region and appears in a few photographs from the early 20th century.
The Djenne masons are credited with the construction of a number of elite structures such as the palace of the Kélétigui Kourouma in Sikasso (Mali), while their southern counterparts, the Dyula, constructed several monuments in the region, especially at Bondoukou and Bouna (in Cote d‘ivoire), as well as the palace of the Senoufu King Gbon Coulibaly (1860-1963) at Korhogo during the early 20th century.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-28-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6FUp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56326649-8536-49dd-b49b-4fdb575d89a3_1001x631.jpeg)
Agibu’s palace at Bandiagara, Mali. image by Edmond Fortier, ca. 1906.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0jN0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F94c61ca4-5c3a-4347-85e5-1e945eaada9d_895x637.png)
_**Chief’s house, Bandiagara, Mali**_. ca. 1911. Ethnological Museum of Berlin.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BH_W!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7f131b87-5b89-4d53-886c-0ecc99691427_1030x490.png)
_**Palace of the Senufu king Gbon Coulibaly at Korhogo**_, Cote d‘ivoire, ca. 1926, Quai Branly. The roof of the palace had been destroyed by the time this photo was taken, Gbon told a later visitor in 1932 that the cause of this destruction was a storm.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-29-154639584)
**Some of the architects of the Sudano-Sahelian style**
The specialist guild of masons of [the medieval city of Djenne](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-jenne-250bc) are renowned for constructing some of the most iconic palaces and mosques in the region. The mason guild was reportedly constituted during the heyday of imperial Mali and Songhai.
The 16th century Askiyas of Songhai employed 500 masons from Djenne at their provincial capital of Tendirma, the rulers of 19th century rulers of Segu and Massina employed masons from Djenne to construct their palaces and houses, long before they built the palace at Bandiagara and the iconic mosque of Djenne. The architectural style of Djenne city is characterized by tall, double or multi-story, terraced buildings, with massive pilasters flanking portals that rise vertically along the height of the façade.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-30-154639584)
Their style of construction is best demonstrated at the Maiga House of Djenne, which was the residence of the chief of the songhay quarter, an office in the Massina empire that was held by Hasseye Amadou Maïga in the 19th century and would continue under his descendants during the tukolor empire.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-31-154639584) The large structure includes the typical features of Djenne architecture including thick buttresses (sarafa), conical pinnacles decorated with projecting beams (toron), and the so-called _Façade Toucouleur_ (identified by its sheltered portal in contrast to the open portal of the more recent _Façade Marocaine_).[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-32-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uRe7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feb9e97f0-8088-4651-bf49-4f2f0336a54d_779x622.png)
_**the ‘Maiga House’**_ of Djenne.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9su3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a10cb8e-3922-468d-a7f4-6b0356cb5b02_800x503.jpeg)
_**An elite residence at Djenne with the Façade Toucouleur,**_ ca. 1906. image by Edmond Fortier.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!at84!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0508cd26-ead1-4bb6-851c-34b07134d6e0_2185x1376.jpeg)
_**street scene showing terraced houses with the Façade Toucouleur**_, Djenne, Mali. ca. 1906, image by Edmond Fortier.
The Djenne masons are drawn from multiple groups in the city’s cosmopolitan population, that includes not just the Muslim population (Soninke, Songhay, Fulani) but also predominatly non-Muslim groups like the Bozo and Bambara. The architecture of the Bambara for example, also features buttresses and panel facades that are decorated with deep niches and low reliefs. The parapet of the flat roof is capped by pinnacles. In Bozo architecture, the ubiquitous _saho_ were community houses for the youth, built with elements typical of the region's architecture including buttresses, pinnacles, corner pillars, portruding stakes (toron). All of these features can be seen at the Great Mosque of Djenne and other monuments.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-33-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Jb4v!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e085e53-fd8d-4e8f-b64a-1538551fc6f2_761x599.jpeg)
_**Types of Bambara houses**_, ca. 1892, illustration by Louis Binger.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vdGH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fade02d75-b257-4bba-b254-fa43efc7b3cc_734x573.jpeg)
_**decorated facade of a 'Saho' (youth house) ca. 1907-1908**_, Nohou, Mopti, Mali. Quai Branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!g8bg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f082ec3-0e36-40ef-b476-c725a9d0b4e1_792x573.jpeg)
_**decorated facade of a 'Saho' (youth house)**_ ca. 1907-1908, Diafarabé, Mopti, Mali. Quai Branly
Also related to these is the Dogon architecture of the Bandiagara region, which incorporates multiple regional styles, and also preserved some of the regions' oldest structures as mentioned above. Its distinctive façades are often composed of niches with checkerboard patterns, the walls buttressed by pilasters leading upto flat roofs surmounted by multiple rounded pinnacles.
The elder of an extended family lives in a large house (ginna) that is surrounded by the house of family members. The ginna is a two storied building with a façade showing rows of superimposed niches, while the ancestor altar (Wagem) is in a sheltered structure that leads onto the roof terrace surmounted by ritual bowls.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-34-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7085!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b8bef46-53b3-4ac3-894c-917ace4c4de7_1168x585.png)
House of the Hogon of Arou, Bandiagara, Mali.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iM6x!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4f949539-908d-49cc-893b-c947fa0ab0ea_957x568.png)
_**Façade of different ginna houses in Sanga**_, Bandiagara, Mali.
Another important community associated with the a distinctive regional architectural style are the Dyula/Juula. These were [a diasporic community of traders and scholars associated with the old cities of Djenne and Dia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education), who expanded southwards into the regions of Burkina Faso, northern Ghana and Cote D'ivoire in the 14th and 15th centuries.
The Juula are associated with the founding of the old towns of Begho, Bouna and Bondoukou during the late middle ages. Later waves of Juula migrants such as the Saganogo clan, are credited with the construction of the distinctive style of mosque architecture found throughout the region especially at Kong and Bouna, which also influenced later palace architecture as seen at the Palace of Wa mentioned above. Their ordinary houses consisted of rectangular flat-roofed houses organised around an open, internal courtyard.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-35-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4mD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F07fce605-a99e-4eb8-8de0-ac6267f09b3b_724x479.png)
_**section of Bondoukou near one of samory’s residences**_, photo from the early 1900s
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rPcr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32196dfe-4b81-4826-bd29-20e7e5486a90_990x562.png)
_**View of the Dyula town of Bondoukuo with one of its mosques.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XU7L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e16778a-aba6-49c8-85cd-bb8968a48e9c_600x485.jpeg)
_**Street scene in the Marabassou quarter of Kong**_, ca. 1892, ANOM.
**The Mosque architecture**
The Great Mosque of Djenne is easily the most recognisable architectural monument of the Sudano-Sahelian style.
The original mosque was a colonnaded structure constructed in the 13th century by sultan Konboro according to documentary accounts, and remained in use until the conquest of the city by the Massina empire in 1819 and 1821. [The Massina founder Seku Ahmadu](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-massina-empire-1818#footnote-anchor-2-133913518) ordered its destruction because he considered its _**“excessive height”**_ to be an example of the _**“blameworthy practices”**_ of Djenne's scholary community mentioned in his polemical treatise _Kitab al-Idtirar_.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-36-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Omvh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F37871b33-b828-490f-9b9b-336ee3594cfc_781x595.png)
_**The Old mosque of Djenne**_, ca. 1895. image by A. Lainé, Quai Branly
By the time the French traveller Rene Caillie visited it in 1828, the mosque had spent more than a decade without being plastered and its mudbrick walls had been melted by the rain, leaving “a large structure” with “two massive towers.” Later photographs from the 1890s and 1900s showed that its walls had been eroded, but the outline of the original structure and parts of the colonnaded structure can still be seen. Another traveller, Felix Dubois, who visited Djenne in 1897, made a sketch of the mosque, consisting of a square enclosure punctuated by buttresses. In 1907, the Djenne masons guild, led by Ismaila Traoré, reconstructed the mosque in traditional style, with large buttresses (sarafa) and pinnacles that were typical of Djenne's elite houses of the 18th and 19th centuries.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-37-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fQ0z!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc26c55d-8c89-4210-836d-0ebcec92edea_982x618.png)
Ruins of the old Mosque of Djenne, ca. 1906, image by Edmond Fortier.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zW5M!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faf0814b2-729e-42a8-ad63-d2e530b57e6b_1024x657.jpeg)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ROmz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7766ae90-82d3-463c-b46c-a7ce910d927b_675x1061.png)
_**East elevation and floor plan of the Djenné Mosque by Pierre Maas and Geert Mommersteeg.**_
Related to these are two mosques in the Bandiagara region at Nando and Makou that are traditionally dated to the 14th century, and more recent mosques such as the one at kani kombole, which is dated to the late 19th and early 20th century.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-38-154639584) Similar, abeit low lying mosques from the 19th century are known from the cities and towns of Segou and Sansanding, that were built in the late 19th century. Their curtain walls are marked by buttressing, similar to the Djenne mosque but their mihrab tower is pyramidal in shape, similar to the Timbuktu mosques.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-39-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-72U!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6fdb5176-12cf-46f2-9f9c-3b3bbc016ac5_794x878.png)
_**The Dogon mosque of Nando, Mali.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NCqC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd31a4651-7fee-464c-81a2-9a096ce665eb_2400x1600.jpeg)
_**The Dogon mosque of kani kombole, near Mopti, Mali.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OXZv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc17aad5-bb4a-4aed-a678-77f56314d9ce_842x591.png)
_**Sansanding mosque**_, Mali, ca. 1907. Frobenius Institute
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!p8Rd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4f4cfcf8-f3d4-4fad-8c01-82cf458ef60c_999x528.png)
_**Mosque of Segou**_, Mali. ca. 1906. Edmond Fortier.
The second oldest extant mosque is the Jingereber mosque of Timbuktu which was built by Mansa Musa in 1325, a date that has recently been corroborated by radio-carbon dated material from the site. Archaeological excavations near the mosque and subsequent surveys of its architecture have shown that its building material and construction features were all characteristic ‘sudano-sahelian’ style of architecture of Djenne and other older sites, ruling out the purported influence of the Andalusian poet Abu Ishaq Es-Saheli.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-40-154639584)
The original structure was later reconstructed in the 1560s during the Songhay period, extending to its current size of 70m by 40m, with a flat roof replacing the original vaulted roof. Two mudbrick mosques were added to the city in the first half of the 15th century; the Sankore mosque and the Sidi Yahya mosque, while the mosque next to Askiya's tomb at Gao was built in the 16th century.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-41-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vNZ0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bad3917-acb6-470d-bf6f-8db2d5c864c9_800x533.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4nS3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F701d45d0-2432-4b26-b811-ddf2b2798c63_1041x631.png)
_**The Jingereber mosque of timbuktu**_, mosque plan by Bertrand Poissonnier.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wMyL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8d4af0c8-4c44-4213-a231-24ce1676d445_636x423.png)
_**The Sankore Mosque.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Qd1!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa56975f1-22dd-488e-8cf2-28b6b304b5e0_820x534.png)
_**Sidi yahya mosque**_
Another iconic mosque built in the sudano-sahelian style is the great mosque of Agadez, which was originally constructed in the second half of the 15th century, and has gone through multiple reconstructions. The original mosque was built without its 28-meter tall minaret, which was only added ca 1515-1530, with additional reconstructions occurring in 1844 or 1847.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-42-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mWge!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4a881ac-aa02-4f50-a1e9-af97e68e5e96_955x636.png)
Much further south, a number of old mosques were constructed in the 17th century at Larabanga (Ghana), in 1785 at Kong (Burkina Faso), in 1795 at Buna (Cote D'ivoire), in 1797 at Bondoukou (Cote D’Ivoire), in 1801 at Wa (Ghana) and in the late 19th century at Banda Nkwata (Ghana) and Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso).[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-43-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9LVN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8336e9d-ac92-4e00-a9e1-395a33949bb1_1011x576.png)
_**Friday Mosque of Kong**_, ca. 1920, Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tYZ-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fcd240f-6fb8-4334-8bcb-54ea505bd423_815x533.png)
_**Bobo Dioulasso’s Friday Mosque**_, ca. 1904, Quai Branly.
Most of these mosques share a number of common elements and architectural features identified with the 'Dyula' style of Sudano-Sahelian architecture such as façades that are structured by thick buttresses surmounted by pinnacles and linked together by horizontal wooden poles, a pillared prayer hall, a conical mihrab tower pierced by stakes and a roof terrace. The thick walls ensure the stability of the structure in the region's wetter climate, while the wooden poles serve as scaffolding and decoration. Larabanga mosque was built with cob (like other elite structures of Gonja's capital, Old Buipe) while the rest were built with clay and mud-brick.[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-44-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L_xV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F435cd0f2-2ae0-4ced-8f4b-3125e0de412a_1024x680.jpeg)
Larabanga mosque
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Wa central mosque, early 20th century. image by I. Wilks.
**Forts and city walls in the Sudano-Sahelian style.**
The city walls and fortresses of the Sudano-Sahelian tradition are arguably the least studied of its monuments.
The oldest known city wall in the region was a 4m thick wall built around jenne-jeno during the 8th century, but this was likely constructed to hold back the floodwaters of the surrounding rivers. Similar enclosure walls surrounding the royal cities of Ghana and Mali are mentioned in accounts from the 11th and 13th centuries. The earliest defensive city wall was uncovered at the old city of Dia, where a crenellated wall built with mud-bricks was dated to the 14th century during the epoch of the Empire of Mali.[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-45-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R4p7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6815735-087a-44fa-95b8-f365e4b45e12_1259x408.png)
(left) _**view of Dia-Shoma’s zigzag shaped city wall before excavation.**_ (right) _**Shoma’s city wall after excavations, showing zigzag shaped wall with loaf-shaped mud bricks**_. images by N. Arazi.
Purely defensive fortifications proliferated across the region during the 18th and 19th centuries and are mentioned in multiple contemporary accounts. These fortifications commonly known as _'Tata'_, were not built with mudbrick like at Dia, but were instead mostly made of rammed earth (sana) that was piled into courses and tempered with lateritic gravel stones. Larger towns such as Ton Masala were enclosed by three concentric crenellated walls upto 4m thick and 5m tall, mostly for ideological reasons, while smaller towns and even villages were surrounded by walls over 2m tall, mostly for defense.[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-46-154639584)
Illustrations of these are contained in the travel accounts of several explorers, notably Louis Gustave Binger, who travelled from Senegal, to southern Mali and northern Ivory coast, and noted the presence of multiple walled settlements such as at Tiongui, Dioumaténé and Sikasso in Mali.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NyUR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5447455e-4c26-43a3-bf64-238857503467_913x634.png)
_**Tata of Tiong-i, Mali**_. ca. 1892. illustration by L. Binger. _“Tiong or Tiong-i has the appearance of a city: its large clay walls of ash gray clay with coarse flanking towers spaced 25 to 30 meters apart”_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WYb0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9a36e0b-fba7-4b12-bab3-4200c8ef4117_800x554.jpeg)
_**The Tata of Sikasso**_, Mali. ca. 1892, illustration by Louis-Gustave Binger. The walls of sikasso enclosed the entire town, with a diameter of 9km, width of 6 m at the base, and a height of over 6 meters.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!a2qK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7d28fe55-5775-4b07-a5a2-caea44e9d88c_800x516.jpeg)
_**View of Diounanténé**_, ca. 1892, Mali. illustration by L. Binger.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FeHT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faf479cf6-3201-4b82-a9e2-79f4c58c9fa1_760x514.png)
_**The walled town of Douabougou**_, Mali. ca. 1885, Mali. NYPL.
Much larger fortresses of stone and rammed earth, were built under the Tukulor ruler Umar Tal by his famed architect, Samba N’Diaye at Segu, Bakel, Nioro, and Koundian, etc. Eugune Mage's account from 1866, describes the fort at Nioro as a _**“vast square, measuring 250 feet each side built regularly in stones daced with earth... The walls are about 2.5m thick, on the four corners there are round towers and the whole is between 10 and 12 meters high... It is absolutely impenetrable without artillery.”**_[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-47-154639584)
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House of El Hadj, in Dianghirté. ca. 1868, Illustration by Eugène Mage. the latter described it as a _**“tata or palace of El Hadj. built with rammed earth like the other buildings in the village, and decorated with two square towers in good condition, and crowned like other parts, with a serrated or festooned ornament in the Moorish style.”**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!H2iN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F463aad39-d845-486f-98d5-9d4402916944_1056x578.png)
_**Umar Tal’s Stone fortress of Koniakari shortly after it was breached.**_ ca 1890, Quai Branly.
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_**Tata of Umar Tal between Nioro and Segou**_, Mali. ca. 1898, ANOM.
Similar monumental walls surrounded the Massina capital Hamdallaye during the mid 19th century, and the Senufo city of Sikasso in the late 19th century. The Sikasso walls enclose the 90 ha capital entirely, they were crenellated in form and measured 6 m in height with a thickness of between 1.5 and 2 m at its base. Other walled towns can be found across southern Burkina Faso near Kong and Say.[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-48-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!l5Nq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdbb6e507-1521-4b40-9a45-03d4c82375fe_600x435.jpeg)
_**the tata (fortification) of Sikasso after the two-week French artillery barrage breached it**_. ca. 1898, ANOM.
There are also multiple descriptions of walled towns and fortifications in the senegambia region during the 18th and 19th centuries, which were also built with rammed earth.
A description of Bulebane, the capital of Bundu (Senegal) by British traveler, William Gray in 1825, mentions that: _**“The town is surrounded by a strong clay wall, ten feet high and eighteen inches thick; this is pierced with loopholes, and is so constructed that, at short intervals, projecting angles are thrown out, which enable the besieged to defend the front of the wall by a flanking fire.”**_ a later description of the same town in 1846 notes that its walls were _**“interrupted quite frequently by square or round towers and bastions and it is closed by several solid doors.”**_[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-49-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!e42J!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8f100d1-042c-45c4-8c72-e62f1c24be12_953x464.png)
_**Mosque and Fortress at Podor**_, Senegal. ca. 1917. images reproduced by Cleo Cantone.
Studies of the region’s architectural history reveal that these fortifications influenced the palace and mosque architecture of the Senegambia. The 19th century descriptions of the town of Guede for example, mention the presence of; a tall bastioned enclosure whose interior is divided into compartments by different walls; the king's audience hall which was a square building of 10 meters that was about 7meters tall; as well as a mosque and ordinary homes.[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-50-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FZ3k!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F61c39a5d-a33d-4069-810d-7ee99d4fc4d1_1274x462.png)
_**Mosque of guede in Senegal**_. images by Cleo Cantone. First constructed in the late 17th century, it was renovated in the 18th and 19th centuries in the sudano-sahelian style with tapering pillars.[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-51-154639584)
**Sudano-Sahelian architecture during the colonial and post-independence period.**
As mentioned above, the construction of monuments in the Sudano-Sahelian style continued during the colonial period, some of which retained their older aesthetics while some evolved in the new social and cultural milieu.
Throughout the early 20th century, a series of public buildings were constructed which combined Sudano-Sahelian, Hausa and colonial architecture. This neo-Sudanese style is described by one ethnographer as a _**“monumental style [that] has even been adopted with gratitude by the French entrepreneurs in the French Sudan and employed with certain alterations on public buildings, under the name neo-Sudanese Style.”**_ It was especially common in market buildings and a few colonial residences.[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-52-154639584)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FgSo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1a7be5b-81ab-4e81-8be5-f7e45137edf0_1625x1077.jpeg)
_**Market in Bamako**_, Mali. early 20th century.
Numerous mosques and palaces were also constructed across west Africa, often by wealthy Africans, such as the mosque at San and Mopti.
The Sudano-Sahelian architectural style continued during the post-colonial period, as seen at the Bani mosques of Burkina Faso (built in 1978), and the iconic BCEAO Tower in Mali, (built in 1985). This style of construction is today considered one of Africa’s Indigenous Architectural styles, and has spread beyond its heartland to other parts of the continent and the world.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GCai!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90c6b23e-57f5-4a29-8555-fe939375cf88_958x587.png)
_**Mosque**_ _**in Bani**_, Burkina Faso, the biggest of the seven mosques that were built by Mohamed el Hajj. interestingly, none are directed toward mecca, they instead face the largest mosque at the center.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IF4U!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0b7ab9dd-2a5a-4c5b-9289-adedc08844af_1019x603.png)
_**The BCEAO Tower**_, Bamako, Mali.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xVdR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0a505a67-e98f-46d6-943c-bbb091f6dd56_813x608.png)
_**African Museum in Jeju Island**_, South Korea
West Africa’s architectural tradition predates the arrival of Islam, as i have shown in the above essay. **My latest Patreon Article explores the three pre-Islamic sites of Loropeni, Oursi, and Kissi in greater detail**. These large nucleated settlements featured massive stone walls enclosing elite houses, a double-storey building complex, and an elite cemetery with grave goods **imported from the Roman provinces of North Africa and Spain.**
**please subscribe to read about them here**
[WEST AFRICA BETWEEN ROME AND MALI](https://www.patreon.com/posts/west-africa-rome-119309609)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vL5r!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e49154b-b79d-4fd1-ae50-382ed1e279b3_481x1238.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-1-154639584)
Spatial Organization and Socio-Economic Differentiation at the Dhar Tichitt Center of Dakhlet el Atrouss I (Southeastern Mauritania) by Gonzalo J. Linares-Matás, The Tichitt Culture and the Malian Lakes Region by Robert Vernet et al.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-2-154639584)
The Tichitt tradition in the West African Sahel by K.C. MacDonald, late neolithic cultural landscape, Late Neolithic Cultural landscape in southeastern Mauritania: An Essay in spatiometry by Augustin Ferdinand Charles Holl, Tichitt-Walata and the Middle Niger: Evidence for Cultural Contact in the Second Millennium BC by K.C. MacDonald
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-3-154639584)
Betwixt Tichitt and the IND: the pottery of the Faïta Facies, Tichitt Tradition by K.C. MacDonald pg 58-67
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-4-154639584)
On the Margins of Ghana and Kawkaw: Four Seasons of Excavation at Tongo Maaré Diabal (AD 500-1150), Mali by Nikolas Gestrich, Kevin C. MacDonald pg 7-8.
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-5-154639584)
Excavations at Jenné-Jeno, Hambarketolo, and Kaniana, edited by Susan Keech McIntosh, pg 64-65, 215-216, Tracing history in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali : archaeology, oral traditions and written sources by N. Arazi, pg 125-126
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-6-154639584)
Excavations at Jenné-Jeno, Hambarketolo, and Kaniana, edited by Susan Keech McIntosh, pg 44-45, 48, 51-53, 433-447, 367-369, Tracing history in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali : archaeology, oral traditions and written sources by N. Arazi pg 135-146
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-7-154639584)
Une chronologie pour le peuplement et le climat du pays dogon by Sylvain Ozainne et al. pg 42)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-8-154639584)
The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns edited by Bassey Andah, Alex Okpoko, Thurstan Shaw, Paul Sinclair pg 256-257, The Kintampo Complex: The Late Holocene on the Gambaga Escarpment, Northern Ghana by Joanna Casey pg 119-121.
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-9-154639584)
Agricultural diversification in West Africa by Louis Champion et al pg 15-16, Early social complexity in the Dogon Country by Anne Mayor, Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara by Alisa LaGamma pg 162)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-10-154639584)
Excavations at Gao Saney: New Evidence for Settlement Growth, Trade, and Interaction on the Niger Bend in the First Millennium CE by M Cissé pg 25, 30)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-11-154639584)
Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse 123, 133, 256-268.
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-12-154639584)
Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse pg 269-270, Discovery of the earliest royal palace in Gao and its implications for the history of West Africa by Shoichiro Takezawa pg 10-11, 15-16.
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-13-154639584)
Excavations at Gao Saney: New Evidence for Settlement Growth, Trade, and Interaction on the Niger Bend in the First Millennium CE by M Cissé pg 30-31)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-14-154639584)
Oursi Hu-beero: A Medieval House Complex in Burkina Faso, West Africa edited by Lucas Pieter Petit, Maya von Czerniewicz, Christoph Pelzer pg 39-41
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-15-154639584)
Oursi Hu-beero: A Medieval House Complex in Burkina Faso, West Africa edited by Lucas Pieter Petit, Maya von Czerniewicz, Christoph Pelzer pg 43-76.
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-16-154639584)
Les Ruines de Loropéni au Burkina Faso by Lassina Simporé pg 260, Fouilles archéologiques dans le compartiment by Lassina Kote pg 97-98, 102-103, 109
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-17-154639584)
Preliminary Report on the 2019 Season of the Gonja Project, Ghana by Denis Genequand et al. pg 287, Excavations in Old Buipe and Study of the Mosque of Bole (Ghana, Northern Region) by Denis Genequand et al. pg 26
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-18-154639584)
Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past ... Pg 53-56, Le complexe du palais royal du Mali by W. Filipowiak
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-19-154639584)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John Hunwick pg 10, 19.
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-20-154639584)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John Hunwick pg 109, 283)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-21-154639584)
Wa and the Wala: Islam and Polity in Northwestern Ghana By Ivor Wilks pg 6-7
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-22-154639584)
The Conservation of Smaller Historic Towns in Africa South of the Sahara. With Case Studies of Two Ghanaian Examples, Elmina and Wa",by M. A.D.C. Hyland.
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-23-154639584)
Travels in the interior districts of Africa by Mungo Park
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-24-154639584)
Le tour du monde: nouveau journal des voyages, Volumes 17-18 edited by Edouard Charton, pg 71-73
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-25-154639584)
Conflicts of Colonialism: The Rule of Law, French Soudan, and Faama Mademba Sèye By Richard L. Roberts 89, 97, 99, 103, 130-131
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-26-154639584)
Double Impact: France and Africa in the Age of Imperialism by G. Wesley Johnson pg 226)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-27-154639584)
Nearly Native, Barely Civilized: Henri Gaden’s Journey through Colonial French West Africa (1894-1939) By Roy Dilley pg 50-51,
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-28-154639584)
_Gbon was his Dyula name, his senufu name was Peleforo Soro, although the influence of the Dyula was such that he was mostly known for his Dyula name_. see: State Formation and Political Legitimacy edited by Ronald Cohen, Judith D. Toland pg 46-47.Political Topographies of the African State By Catherine Boone pg 247-261
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-29-154639584)
L'Enfer des noirs. Cannibalisme et fétichisme dans la brousse ; Author, Jean Perrigault pg 122
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-30-154639584)
Historic mosques in Sub saharan by Stéphane Pradines pg 101, Butabu: Adobe Architecture of West Africa By James Morris, Suzanne Preston Blier pg 194-196, Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal By Cleo Cantonepg 68
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-31-154639584)
African Arts, Volume 30, University of California, pg 93
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-32-154639584)
Historic mosques in Sub saharan by Stéphane Pradines pg 101, The Masons of Djenné by Trevor Hugh James Marchand pg 88
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-33-154639584)
Historic Mosques in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar By Stéphane Pradines pg 104.
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-34-154639584)
L'architecture dogon: Constructions enterre au Mali, edited by Wolfgang Lauber, Dogon: Images & Traditions by Huib Blom pg 228-238
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-35-154639584)
The History of Islam in Africa by Nehemia Levtzion pg 101, Making and Remaking pg 41-45, 47
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-36-154639584)
Sultan, Caliph, and the Renewer of the Faith by Mauro Nobili pg 137-141
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-37-154639584)
The History of the Great Mosques of Djenné by Jean-Louis Bourgeois, Making and remaking msoques pg 184
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-38-154639584)
Dogon: Images & Traditions by Huib Blom pg 282, 286, 291, Historic Mosques in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar by Stéphane Pradines pg 102-103
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-39-154639584)
Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal By Cleo Cantone pg 40)
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-40-154639584)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire edited by John O. Hunwick pg 30 n.8, The great mosque of timbuktu by Bertrand Poissonnier pg 26-34, 69)
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-41-154639584)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire edited by John O. Hunwick pg 30 n.8, The great mosque of timbuktu by Bertrand Poissonnier pg 81-82,
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-42-154639584)
La grande mosquée d'Agadez : Architecture et histoire by Patrice Cressier & Suzanne Bernus.
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-43-154639584)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 101)
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-44-154639584)
Making and remaking pg 40-41, Preliminary Report on the 2016 Season of the Gonja Project by Denis Genequand pg 96-108
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-45-154639584)
The least of their inhabited villages are fortified”: the walled settlements of Segou by Kevin C. MacDonald pg 365-366)
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-46-154639584)
The least of their inhabited villages are fortified”: the walled settlements of Segou by Kevin C. MacDonald pg 347-348, 356-360)
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-47-154639584)
Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal By Cleo Cantone pg 65-67
[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-48-154639584)
The least of their inhabited villages are fortified”: the walled settlements of Segou by Kevin C. MacDonald pg 345
[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-49-154639584)
Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal By Cleo Cantone pg 55-57)
[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-50-154639584)
Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal By Cleo Cantone pg 59-62, Voyage à Ségou, 1878-1879 by Paul Soleillet pg 38.
[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-51-154639584)
The Rural Mosques of Futa Toro by Jean-Paul Bourdier
[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano#footnote-anchor-52-154639584)
Making and Remaking Mosques in Senegal By Cleo Cantone pg 186-187)
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-sudano
|
While West Africa has been part of the Muslim world since the late Middle Ages, as famously demonstrated by the golden pilgrimage of Mali's Mansa Musa in 1324, Islam had only arrived in the region at the close of the 1st millennium. The first Muslim ruler in the region appears in an account from 990 CE which reports that the King of Gao _**“pretends before his subjects to be a Muslim and most of them pretend to be Muslims too.”[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-1-154157410)**_
The emergence of West African civilizations thus significantly predates the arrival of Islam, as shown by recent archaeological discoveries of pre-Islamic cities like Jenne-Jano in Mali, the ancient neolithic complex of Dhar Tichitt in Mauritania, and the earliest phases of the city of Gao.
Perhaps more than any other process of social complexity, the emergence of cities in West Africa presents the clearest argument against the diffusionist theories of early state formation in Africa.
Beginning in the 1970s, excavations of the mound of Jenne-Jeno about 2km from [the medieval city of Djenne](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-jenne-250bc) uncovered the remains of a large permanent settlement that expanded from a size of 7.4 ha in 300 B.C to 25ha by 400CE, surrounded by another 170ha of some 69 satellite sites in a dense, tightly integrated cluster within a 4-kilometer radius.
Beyond satisfying the archaeological definition of a city —a large and heterogeneous unit of settlement that provides a variety of services and manufactures to a larger Hinterland— the clustered organization of urbanism here stands in stark contrast to the unitary, agglomerated cities of the Mesopotamian floodplain, where immediately outside the city walls one finds only a depopulated hinterland.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-2-154157410)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lgEi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe92780f3-d15e-4244-ab70-0282a80777a6_1196x531.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Aa4I!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F655c4320-56d5-42b2-a5f4-cdd3e2b4865d_1200x757.jpeg)
(top)_**excavations at Jenne-Jeno.**_(bottom) _**the medieval city of Djenne, Mali.**_
Discoveries at Jenne-Jeno opened the idea that interregional and long-distance trade in West Africa predated the better-known trade with the Maghreb that was associated with Muslim merchants. This was further confirmed in the 1980s by similar discoveries at the [Neolithic site of Dhar Tichitt which was occupied from 2200BC to 200BC, and directly preceded the emergence of the Ghana empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa).
The Tichitt Neolithic culture possesses a four-tier hierarchy of stone-built settlements interspersed over 200,000 km2 —which includes a proto-urban capital at Dakhlet el Atrouss-I— and has strong material connections to the foundation of other ancient settlements in the neighboring region at Dia, Mema and Jenne-Jano during the first-millennium BC. As such, Tichitt could be viewed as the western counterpart of [ancient Kerma in the Nubian Nile Valley](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ancient-state-of-59674298), but it remains much less celebrated and discussed in world archaeology.
Prior to the discovery of Tichitt, scholars had for long argued for the influence of pre-Islamic North African architectural forms on the Sahel. For example; there were claims made as recently as the 1980s that the Romans influenced the Berber ‘courtyard house’ which was then transmitted to West Africa.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-3-154157410)
According to the archaeologist Kevin MacDonald, _**“Were it not for the ample and early architecture of the Tichitt Tradition an argument could have been advanced for a primarily North African role in the creation of the West African compound."**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-4-154157410)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yyhj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3ec9c99-30f2-4014-bcbe-889b7bffa9ea_708x466.png)
_**One of the two funerary monuments of Dakhlet el Atrouss 1, east of Akreijit**_. Image by R. Vernet.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tiFy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e194512-e929-47ff-8478-63f9fef7ccef_768x512.jpeg)
_**walled compounds in the Akreijit Regional Center in the Dhar Tichitt ruins.**_ Getty Images.
Additionally, the earliest documentary references to the empire of Ghana and the city of Gao predate their adoption of Islam by about two centuries. The wealthy, gold-trading kings of Ghana appear in various external accounts from the 8th to 11th century as non-Muslims, long before [their adoption of the religion around 1076CE.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa#footnote-anchor-29-51075574)
Similarly, the [excavations at the city of Gao](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city) during the 1990s and early 2000s have shown that its monumental palaces predated the conversion of its King mentioned in the introduction above. The material recovered from the site has also revealed that the city’s inhabitants were predominantly local Songhay speakers who were at the time non-Muslim.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!17wb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F727afc51-0312-402e-a271-200c2ca33cf3_1313x496.png)
_**Ruins of the ‘Pillar House’ and the ‘Long House’ at Gao Ancien**_,_**constructed around 900 CE**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-5-154157410). Images by M. Cisse.
Recent archaeological and historical research in West Africa has therefore provided evidence for the independent emergence of large nucleated settlements, complex societies, and interregional trade that was independent of external influences and created the foundation of later kingdoms and empires.
This is best exemplified by the discoveries of pre-Islamic sites in Burkina Faso at; **Loropeni, Oursi,**and **Kissi**, which were occupied from the start of the common era to the mid-second millennium. These three sites consist of large nucleated settlements that feature massive stone walls enclosing elite houses, a double-storey building complex, and an elite cemetery with grave goods imported from the Roman provinces of North Africa and Spain.
**The history of the pre-Islamic sites of Burkina Faso is the subject of my latest Patreon Article, please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[WEST AFRICA BETWEEN ROME AND MALI](https://www.patreon.com/posts/west-africa-rome-119309609)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vL5r!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e49154b-b79d-4fd1-ae50-382ed1e279b3_481x1238.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jN7G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10ac6315-070a-40c9-b462-d9db7898d5e5_820x616.png)
_**Partial view of a structure (Lor-sat 27) at Loropéni, Burkina Faso.**_ Image by H. Farma.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CCzQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32c240a7-ace9-4eb5-acda-17aa89de0ddf_820x414.png)
_**View of the interior of the Loropeni enclosure, North compartment.**_ Image by Henry Hurst.
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-anchor-1-154157410)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 8
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-anchor-2-154157410)
Ancient Middle Niger: Urbanism and the Self-organizing Landscape By Roderick J. McIntosh pg 17
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-anchor-3-154157410)
Hatumere: Islamic Design in West Africa by Labelle Prussin pg 105-108
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-anchor-4-154157410)
Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by Martin Sterry, David J. Mattingly pg 500
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of#footnote-anchor-5-154157410)
Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse pg 140, 270-271.
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lgEi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe92780f3-d15e-4244-ab70-0282a80777a6_1196x531.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Aa4I!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F655c4320-56d5-42b2-a5f4-cdd3e2b4865d_1200x757.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yyhj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3ec9c99-30f2-4014-bcbe-889b7bffa9ea_708x466.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tiFy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e194512-e929-47ff-8478-63f9fef7ccef_768x512.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!17wb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F727afc51-0312-402e-a271-200c2ca33cf3_1313x496.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vL5r!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e49154b-b79d-4fd1-ae50-382ed1e279b3_481x1238.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jN7G!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10ac6315-070a-40c9-b462-d9db7898d5e5_820x616.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CCzQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32c240a7-ace9-4eb5-acda-17aa89de0ddf_820x414.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pre-islamic-civilizations-of
|
The Meroitic writing system of the kingdom of Kush is one of the best-known, yet most enigmatic scripts of the ancient world.
Invented around the 3rd century BC by the scribes of Kush, the script was used in everything from Royal chronicles to funerary texts and temple graffiti; a few thousand of which survive to the present day.
While the script itself was deciphered over a century ago, the language behind it has only recently been understood to be part of the group of languages spoken in the eastern Sahel belt of Africa, enabling modern scholars to translate the enigmatic writings of the ancient scribes.
This article outlines the history of the Meroitic script of Kush and includes some of the documents that have been studied.
_**Map showing the ancient kingdom of Kush.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_BAa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cd8d837-f8e7-4313-896d-83592eb7da7a_423x632.png)
**Sudan’s heritage is currently threatened by the ongoing conflict. Please support Sudanese organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country by Donating to the ‘Khartoum Aid Kitchen’ gofundme page.**
[DONATE TO KHARTOUM AID KITCHEN](https://www.gofundme.com/f/fight-hunger-in-sudan-the-khartoum-kitchen-appeal?utm_campaign=p_cp+fundraiser-sidebar&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer)
**A brief background on writing in ancient Kush.**
The Meroitic language, which is named after the ancient city of Meroe, was the predominant language spoken in the kingdom of Kush since the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Studies of the list of envoys/delegates from Kerma sent to the Hyksos rulers of Egypt around 1580/1550 BC show that the list includes names that are clearly Proto-Meroitic. These were also similar to the names of the founders of the Napatan kingdom of Kush, who ruled Egypt as the 25th dynasty.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-1-153710930)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qbmx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b312aa4-49c9-462f-8a69-2c20b465dbde_710x230.png)
_**List of foreign names including of Meroitic envoys, on the Papyrus Golenischeff, 15th Dynasty (1640 – 1532 BCE)**_. image by C. Rilly
However, while the language of Kush was Meroitic, the earliest inscriptions from the kingdom were written using Egyptian hieroglyphs, beginning with the inscriptions of King Terereh and Nedjeh of [the kingdom of Kerma during the classic period (1650-1550BC)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ancient-state-of-59674298).[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-2-153710930) After the collapse of Kerma to New Kingdom Egypt and the latter's decline around 1100 BC, the Napatan rulers of Kush re-established the kingdom of Kush and consciously adopted Egyptian writing, as one among many symbols that legitimized [their conquest of Egypt in the 8th century BC](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-legacy-of-kushs-empire-in-global#footnote-anchor-22-45333970).
The Napatan kings and scribes of Kush continued to use Egyptian writing until the 4th century, but the quality of their inscriptions was affected by the influence of their main language; Meroitic. When a specific writing system was invented for the Meroitic language in the 3rd century BC, the use of Egyptian for royal inscriptions declined dramatically.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-3-153710930)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nVyA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fede4c00f-729d-4c4f-bdcb-561a039188a3_1209x433.png)
(left) _**Inscription of King Terereh of Kerma in the eastern desert region of Sudan at Umm Nabari**_, ca. 1600-1500BC. Image by Julien Cooper.
(right) _**monumental inscription of Kush’s king Piye**_ (r. 755BC-714BC, 25th dynasty founder). It shows him receiving the submission of Egyptian chiefs and is considered the longest royal inscription written in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
**The Meroitic writings system of Kush.**
The earliest form of Meroitic writing was the cursive script which emerged in the early 3rd century BC. The script appeared fully developed by the time the first datable inscription was engraved with Meroitic characters and the name of King Arnekhamani in 220BC. On the other hand, the earliest Meroitic hieroglyphic inscriptions date back to the reign of Taneyidamani (ca. 150 BC), it was likely created by high-ranking scribes during his reign to render into Meroitic the royal documents that were previously written in Egyptian.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-4-153710930)
The Meroitic script was thus one of the cultural innovations in Kush that was associated with the emergence of a southern dynasty that overthrew the Napatan dynasty.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-5-153710930) This ‘Meroitic’ dynasty elevated [the worship of southern gods like Apedemak and Sebiumeker](https://www.patreon.com/posts/78797811); established [its capital in the extreme south at Meroe](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital) with surrounding centers at Naga, and Musawwarat; and formulated a new ideology of power that resulted in [the ascendence of several Queen-regnants: the famous Kandakes of Kush.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4xZ4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45688e69-aeb9-4cbd-a5c1-fa8229cf9020_882x636.png)
_**stele of prince Tedeqene displaying both scripts; Merotic hieroglyphs of the invocation of Osiris and cursive writing for the invocation of Isis**_[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-6-153710930). ca. 200–100 B.C, Beg W, pyramid 19, Meroe, Sudan. [Boston Museum of Fine Arts](https://collections.mfa.org/objects/145169/stele-of-prince-tedeken?ctx=75e3cd8d-6fe3-4101-9a96-4dafa63f7f00&idx=19).
The hieroglyphic script of Meroitic didn't directly emerge from the Egyptian hieroglyphs, nor was the cursive Meroitic script similar to that of the Demotic script of late period Egypt. Both the Demotic script and Egyptian hieroglyphs used a mixed system that was partly consonantal and partly logographic, whereas the Meroitic script is an alpha-syllabary with purely phonetic signs. The Meroitic hieroglyphic signs in turn originated from the cursive script based on their phonetic values, and despite resembling Egyptian hieroglyphs, they were written in the opposite direction.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-7-153710930)
Importantly, unlike in Egypt where the hieroglyphic script was used for royal and temple texts while cursive was for administration and other non-royal use, this sharp dividing line didn't exist for Meroitic scripts where all monumental royal inscriptions were written in cursive from the onset.
According to the Nubiologist László Török, the use of the cursive script**“reveals that the creation of Meoritic literacy was motivated by the necessity of an easily accessible monumental royal communication and display. Evidently, this monumental communication had to be in a language that was spoken and understood by the particular group of the population to which the communication was primarily addressed… i.e., the particular elite from which also the new dynasty itself must have originated.”**[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-8-153710930)
The Meroitic writing system is an alphasyllabary similar to [the Ge'ez script of Ethiopia and Eritrea](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia) and the Indian scripts like Brahmi and Devanagari.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-9-153710930)
The Meroitic script comprised only signs with phonetic values, 23 in each set, cursive and hieroglyphic. The cursive script is written from right to left, while the hieroglyphic script can be written in both directions. Each basic sign represented a syllable including a consonant plus inherent vowel /a/. For instance, 𐦲 in cursive, 𓅭 in the hieroglyphic script was read /ka/, even though it is traditionally transliterated _k_ in the Latin script (because it was initially thought to be an alphabetical script). An example of this is a word like 𐦫𐦳𐦧 for “prince”[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-10-153710930) that is transliterated as ‘_pqr’_ and not _‘pa-qa-ra’_, which would be closer to the actual pronunciation.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-11-153710930)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yX9E!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff5b9729e-49ae-4ed8-9d16-ea3bcbd5c786_1110x607.png)
_**Meroitic signs and numerals**_. image by C. Rilly.
**Meroitic documents and translation: the funerary texts.**
Approximately 2,000 Meroitic texts have been found so far in excavations and surveys conducted in Sudan and in Egyptian Nubia, from which 1,600 have been published. About half of the written documents are funerary texts, at least 24 of them are royal chronicles, and the rest are ostracon on potsherds, graffiti engraved on temple walls, and a handful of papyrus writings. They are all classified with a number in the Répertoire d’Épigraphie Méroïtique, or REM.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-12-153710930)
While the vast majority of the extant writings were inscribed on stone, this is only due to the durability of stone. The form of cursive signs used in Meroitic writing, with their curves and long tails for signs that are very similar (eg **Hha 𐦮, Sa 𐦯, and Ka 𐦲**) show that they were chiefly traced with ink on papyrus paper and potsherds. The papyrus documents were, however, too fragile to survive Sudan's climate, and only a few have so far been recovered, primarily from Qsar Ibrim in Lower Nubia.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-13-153710930)
The Meroitic language is only superficially known, although **both scripts were deciphered about a century ago by the archeologist Francis Llewellyn Griffith**.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-14-153710930) This is mostly due to a lack of 'bilingual texts' (in Meroitic and a better-known language) as well as the erroneous claim by earlier scholars that Meroitic was isolated from other African languages (hence no comparable translations).[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-15-153710930)
However recent research, primarily by the linguist Claude Rilly, has shown that Meroitic is part of a linguistic family known as ‘Nilo-Saharan’, a very broad family which includes languages like Maasai of Kenya and the Toubou of Chad. Within this family are the "Northern Eastern Sudanic" languages to which Meroitic belongs, as well as; the Nubian languages of Sudan; the Nara languages of Eritrea[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-16-153710930); the Taman languages in Chad/Sudan; and the Nyima group of Suda’s Nuba Mountains. Comparing these languages enables linguists to reconstruct a common ancestor, proto-Northern Eastern Sudanic, whose proximity to Meroitic is often impressive, and has thus enabled the translation of some of the texts.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-17-153710930)
The first of these are the funerary texts, which follow a standard formula and are thus relatively easy to compare; invocation to Isis and Osiris, name of the deceased and their parents, official titles of the deceased and of their most famous relatives, final benedictions requiring the gods to provide water, bread, and a good meal to them. These stereotyped formulae and the great number of texts explain why they are the best-understood Meroitic documents. Meroitic funerary inscriptions can be divided into two broad categories; those made for the members of the royal family and those written for members of the non-royal elite. [18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-18-153710930)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!deoC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ecbd074-4789-41e5-b7e0-b2542acd913b_1056x623.png)
_**Funerary stela with Meroitic inscriptions and a painting of a Meroitic lady and her son**_, ca. 100-200 CE, Karanog, Nubia, [Cairo Museum JE40229](https://journals.openedition.org/ethnoecologie/4501?lang=en). _**Painted funerary stela with Meroitic inscriptions and a male figure**_. 1st-3rd century CE. Karanog, Nubia. [Penn Museum](https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/166560).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KtNx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ff80aff-0d06-40d0-8533-9ac66c342470_1353x598.png)
_**Funerary stele with Meroitic inscriptions**_, ca. 1st cent. BC-3rd century CE. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Penn Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ojfy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ad1a43a-b105-4a15-9c20-1903d13ca5d1_872x636.png)
_**Funerary stelai of the Lady Ataqelula and Lady Maliwarase**_, ca. 3rd century CE, Sedeinga, Sudan. images by C. Rilly.
In the last two stelai shown above, the lady Ataqelula was the daughter of a priest from Pnubs (Kerma), her ancestral lineage included a royal prince (_pqr qorise_), a first prophet of Amun (_womnise-lh_) and a female temple musician (wrtxn). One of her brothers was an _ateqi_-priest, attached to the Isis center at Sedeinga and another brother was a ‘great of Horus’ (_lh Ar-se-_ l).
Lady Maliwarase was a daughter of ‘a high governor’ (_xrpxne lx-li_), her maternal uncle was an _ateqi_-priest, connected to the Isis center in Sedeinga. Two of her brothers were ‘two high priests in Primis’ (either Qasr Ibrim or Amara). Her son was a priest of Masha, god of the Sun (_ate Ms-o_) and another son was ‘governor of Faras’ (_xrpxene Phrse-te-l_). These inscriptions reveal the close links between the elites of Sedeinga and indicate that the rest of the kingdom as far north as Kerma and Faras were administered by closely related elites. [10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-10)
Among the funerary texts were also offering tables, upon which food and drink offerings were placed for sustaining the afterlife. The Meroites reshaped the meaning, decoration, and texts on offering tables by combining them with indigenous elements to create an expression of their own beliefs and practices. Decorations and writings on such offering tables, recorded and magically re-created an actual offering rite. These showed Anubis and a companion goddess like Nephthys making offerings resembling real rites conducted at the burial by mask-wearing priests, and were unparalleled in Egypt or the Napata period.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-19-153710930)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BpTo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4ff96940-76db-4529-9645-048de33bb031_1128x624.png)
_**Offering table of Prince Tedeken**_, ca. 200–100 B.C.Beg W, pyramid 19, Meroe. [Boston Museum of Fine Arts](https://collections.mfa.org/objects/146085/offering-table-of-prince-tedeken?ctx=411d0d48-e3f6-4069-9690-2dccb31b27e9&idx=10). _**Offering table of King Amanitaraquide**_, ca. 40–50 CE. N 16, Meroe. Sudan. [Boston Museum of Fine Arts](https://collections.mfa.org/objects/144882/offering-table-of-king-amanitaraquide?ctx=411d0d48-e3f6-4069-9690-2dccb31b27e9&idx=5).
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_**Offering tables with inscriptions in cursive Meroitic**_, ca. 270 BC– 320 CE, Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Meroitic documents: the Royal Chronicles.**
The longest royal chronicle (REM 1044) measures 1.60 meters in height and 161 lines of text on the four sides of the stone surface engraved by King Taneyidamani and erected at the temple of Jebel Barkal. Other well-known Meroitic royal chronicles include the great stelae of Prince Akinidad and the Candace (ruling queen) Amanirenas (REM 1003), the stele of the Candace Amanishakheto (REM 1041/1361), and the late inscription of the Blemmyan king Kharamadoye (REM 0094).[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-20-153710930)
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_**Victory stele of King Tanyidemani with Meroitic inscription on both faces and edge. ca. 180–140 B.C**_, Gebel Barkal, Sudan. [Boston Museum of Fine Arts](https://collections.mfa.org/objects/145123/stele-of-king-tanyidamani?ctx=75e3cd8d-6fe3-4101-9a96-4dafa63f7f00&idx=21).
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_**Royal stela of Queen Amanirenas and King Akinidad**_, ca. 1st century BC, Hamdab, Sudan. [British Museum](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA1650).
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_**Stele fragments (possibly royal) with cursive Meroitic inscriptions, one showing bound captives**_. ca. 270BC-320CE, Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
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(L-R) _**Stela of Queen Amanishakheto from the Temple of Amun at Naga**_, late 1st century BC; Detail of the _**second stele of Hamadab**_ (REM 1039) of Candace Amanirenas and Prince Akinidad, early 1st century CE; _**Detail of the Naga stele of Queen Amanishakheto showing a bound Roman captive with the ethnic label of ‘Tameya’**_. last two images by C.Rilly.
The royal chronicles begin with a protocol that gives the royal names and titles, and they continue mostly with what appear to be religious phrases followed by reports of military campaigns. The texts of the Royal Chronicles and Decrees contain a richer vocabulary and morphology than the funerary texts, they are thus only partially understood with only a few lines having been translated by studying recurring phrases.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-21-153710930)
Among the few that have attracted significant interest are the two stela from Hamadab that were commissioned by Queen Amanirenas (famous for her defeat of Rome), and the stele of her sucessor; Queen Amanishakheto.
These were primarily studied in order to find a Meroitic version of the Roman invasion of Kush that was described by Strabo’s account, regarding an invasion that only managed to sack Kush’s former capital: Napata. While most of the text remains untranslated, the recurrence of words relating to warfare (eg: raiding, taking booty, captives, etc), locations (like Napata), and the ethnonym Tameya indicates that **the second stela of Hamadab** describes a war with the ‘Tameya,’ the latter of whom also appear in later Meroitic accounts as a generic ethnonym for Romans in Egypt (see Kharamadoye’s inscription below). They are thus presented at the top of the stela, with the inscription: _**“These are the Tameya captives.”**_[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-22-153710930)
[Images of bound Roman captives would thereafter frequently appear in Meroitic art commissioned by the successors of Queen Amanirenas](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-evolving-image-of-the-european-0de#footnote-anchor-2-51958456).
Related to these are the official inscriptions written in hieroglyphic script, often accompanying the figures of gods and rulers. The hieroglyphs were a sacred script, reserved for ceremony and royalty, that possessed impressive magical value and was subject to taboos. The majority of these are found at the temples of Naga, such as the lion temple and the temple of Amun, which are better preserved than the other Meroitic sites.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-23-153710930)
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_**Meroitic hieroglyphic inscriptions on a column and a sanctuary altar from the Amun Temple at Naga, mentioning King Natakamani and Queen Amanitore**_. 1st century CE. Images by C. Rilly, and Muzeum Archeologiczne w Poznaniu.
Hundreds of Meroitic graffiti engraved by pilgrims on the walls of the temples at Philae, Kawa, Musawwarat, etc. have been found, and some partially translated based on comparisons with similar inscriptions made on the same temples in Greek and Demotic.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-24-153710930)
Other Meroitic writings include; ostraca recording administrative accounts; commemorations of funerary offerings, spells against enemy leaders to be ritually vanquished; and protective amulets. A numerical ostracon from Qasr Ibrim indicates that the highest number of Meroitic numerals was 900,000. The ostracon was likely an exercise for students, it gives for each rank (fractions, units, tens, etc.) a variable number of instances (from five to ten). The fractions were represented by sets of dots resembling pips on dice, their system was not decimal, but duodecimal (like inches in the Imperial system).[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-25-153710930)
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_**Sheath for a staff with Meroitic inscriptions**_, ca. 110–90 BC, Gebel Barkal, Sudan. [Boston Museum of Fine Arts](https://collections.mfa.org/objects/145559/sheath-for-a-staff?ctx=3666acbe-b59d-4c0f-852e-4bcf93eca9b5&idx=6). _**Copper-alloy ritual figure of bound captive, with meroitic inscriptions**_. ca. 1st century CE, Meroe, Sudan. [British Museum](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA65222). **the inscription reads:**_**qo : qore nobo-l-o**_**“this one, it is the Nubian (Noba) king.”**[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-26-153710930)
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_**Ostracon inscribed with Meroitic characters**_, ca. 100BC-300CE, Karanog and Qasr Ibrim, Lower Nubia. Penn Museum, and British Museum.
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_**Pilgrim’s feet and Meroitic inscription from the Temple of Isis at Philae**_. image by C. Rilly
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_**Image of graffiti on the wall of site 964. on the left is are two astronomers using an instrument while on the right are astronomical observations of equations written with Meroitic numerals.**_ University of Liverpool. **Read more about the Meroe observatory here:**
[THE WORLD'S OLDEST OBSERVATORY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/discovery-of-in-56930547)
**The Meroitic script after the fall of Kush. ca. 360-452 CE**
The Meroitic kingdom of Kush collapsed not long after its invasion by [King Ousanas of Aksum in the first half of the 4th century CE](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-aksumite-empire-between-rome#footnote-anchor-35-46048127). The last inscription among the known Meroitic rulers was commissioned by King Talakhideamani (reign: late 3rd century to early 4th century CE), at the Amun Temple complex in Meroe, the temple of Musawwarat, and in the Meroitic chamber at Philae (in Roman Egypt) where he sent his envoys, and where previous generations of Kush’s envoys to Rome had left many inscriptions. [27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-27-153710930)
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(left) _**a Meroitic Delegation and their corresponding inscriptions depicted in the Temple of Isis at Philae**_ (right). _**Detail of an offering table likely made by a Meroitic ambassador to Rome**_, (REM 0129) from Faras, Lower Nubia. British Museum. **The words ‘**_**apote’**_**and ‘**_**Arome’**_**(ie: envoy to Rome) appear together in line 4**. images and captions by Jeremy Pope. For more on Nubians in Rome, see: **[‘Africans in Rome and Romans in Africa.’](https://www.patreon.com/posts/africans-in-rome-75714077)**
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_**Meroitic hieroglyphic inscription on a bronze bowl from el-Hobagi**_. image by C. Rilly.
The Meroitic script survived only a few decades after the collapse of the kingdom, some of the post-Meroitic inscriptions were made within the former kingdom’s heartland, but most were from the region of lower Nubia (what is today southern Egypt) where non-Meroitic elites, such as the Noba and the Blemmyes, had in the early 4th century competed with Kush for control of the region.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-28-153710930)
For example, the last known Meroitic hieroglyphic inscription (REM 1222) was engraved on a bronze bowl found in a burial mound at el-Hobagi (just south of Meroe) dated 350CE that was made for a ruler of the Noba, and the last royal inscription in cursive is a wall inscription commissioned by of the Blemmyan king Kharamadoye in the temple of Kalabsha (REM 0094), dated to ca. 420 CE.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-29-153710930)
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_**Meroitic inscription of the Blemmyan king Kharamadoye in the temple of Kalabsha, lower Nubia**_. 4th century CE.
The above inscription remains mostly incomprehensible, despite several attempts by multiple scholars, as only a few words have been translated. It identifies the _qore_ (King) Kharamadoye who commissioned it, and includes the name of a _qore lh_ (great king) named Yisemeniye, who appears as Isemne in his own Greek inscription from the same temple. These two kings were both Blemmeyan rulers, who took over the region of lower Nubia from the Meroites and [the Noubades (Nubians), before the last group ultimately defeated them](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-kingdom-on-the-edge-of). The text also mentions _qore 8 hre-se_ (eight kings of the north) between Philae and Adere, who, like Kharamadoye, may have been subordinate to the ‘Great King’ Isemne (earlier interpretations suggested they were rivals). The rest of the text likely deals with the distribution of the territory of Lower Nubia at the end of several military campaigns, and mentions the _Mẖo_(Makhu/Magi =Noubades) and the _Temey_ (ie: Romans, see the translation of the royal chronicles mentioned above).[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-30-153710930)
According to the linguist Claude Rilly, this text was written by a scribe familiar with Meroitic royal inscriptions as it follows older models. He argues that **“it is quite likely that the choice of the old language of Kush, in preference to Greek, the lingua franca of the Eastern Roman Empire and adjacent countries, stems from a desire to present the Blemmye domination over Kalabcha as a continuation of the defunct kingdom of Meroe to a local population that must still have been mostly composed of Meroites. But we do not know what weight the latter, who were no longer masters of their destiny, could have had in the rivalry that opposed the new lords of Nubia, Blemmyes and Nubades.”**[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-31-153710930)
The very last Meroitic texts were a few lines of graffiti engraved in the temple at Philae by the Isis priests of the Smet family (in Meroitic: _Semeti_), who also left in the same place the last Demotic inscription, dated to 452 CE.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-32-153710930) This temple was the last bastion of [the Isiac religion that once spread over the ancient Roman world](https://www.patreon.com/posts/118446319) but was gradually displaced by Christianity, which was adopted by the Noubadian/Noba/Nubian kings who founded [the Medieval Nubian Kingdoms](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/christian-nubia-muslim-egypt-and).
These final inscriptions formally mark the end of Meroitic writing, as the Nubian rulers who succeeded them devised their own script, but retained only three signs from Meroitic cursive.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-33-153710930)
In this way, a small part of the ancient Meroitic script survived through the Middle Ages until the eventual collapse of Medieval Nubia in the 15th century.
**At the height of Rome in the first century of the common era, the Egyptian goddess Isis became one of the most popular deities across the empire, thanks in part to the activities of Nubian missionaries who are attested as far as Herculaneum in Italy. The worship of Isis was thus the most widely practiced religion originating from the African continent.**
**Please subscribe to read about the Nubian priests of Isis in the ancient Roman world:**
[THE NUBIAN PRIESTS OF ROME](https://www.patreon.com/posts/118446319)
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nnn
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-1-153710930)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 300, 655-656, The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 5-6, 177-179)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-2-153710930)
Kushites expressing 'Egyptian' kingship: Nubian dynasties in hieroglyphic texts and a phantom Kushite king by Julien Cooper pg 144, Between Two Worlds: The Frontier Region Between Ancient Nubia and Egypt By László Török pg 103-106
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-3-153710930)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 654
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-4-153710930)
Rilly, Claude, 2022, Meroitic Writing. In Andréas Stauder and Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, pg 5
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-5-153710930)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 420-424, Hellenizing Art in Ancient Nubia 300 B.C. - AD 250 and Its Egyptian Models ... By László Török pg 13-21, 209-213.
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-6-153710930)
The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 11
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-7-153710930)
The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 7-9, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 662
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-8-153710930)
Between Two Worlds: The Frontier Region Between Ancient Nubia and Egypt, 3700 BC-AD 500 by László Török pg 415-417
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-9-153710930)
_For this last comparison, see_: The Meroitic Script and the Understanding of alpha-syllabic writing by Alexander J. de Voogt
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-10-153710930)
_**These Meroitic signs are actually arranged in reverse, but substack won’t let me post them that way for some reason**_
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-11-153710930)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 663, Rilly, Claude, 2022, Meroitic Writing. In Andréas Stauder and Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, pg 8-9. _for other studies of Meroitic signs_, see: A phonological investigation into the Meroitic ‘syllable’ signs – ne and se and their implications on the e sign* by Kirsty Rowan (SOAS)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-12-153710930)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 665, The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 10
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-13-153710930)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 665
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-14-153710930)
Karanòg : the Meroitic inscriptions of Shablul and Karanòg by Francis Llewellyn Griffith.
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-15-153710930)
Recent Research on Meroitic, the Ancient Language of Sudan by Claude Rilly pg 14
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-16-153710930)
_for this specific comparison between Nara and Meroitic, see_: The possible link between Meroitic and Nara by by G Ferrandino
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-17-153710930)
Recent Research on Meroitic, the Ancient Language of Sudan by Claude Rilly 15-23
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-18-153710930)
The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 11-30
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-19-153710930)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 634-635.
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-20-153710930)
The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 30
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-21-153710930)
The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 31-33
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-23-153710930)
The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 51
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-24-153710930)
The Meroitic Language and Writing System By Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt pg 33-34
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-25-153710930)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 664
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-26-153710930)
'Enemy Brothers. Kinship and Relationship between Meroites and Nubians (Noba)' by Claude Rilly, pg 216.
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-27-153710930)
‘Appendix: New Light on the Royal Lineage in the Last Decades of the Meroitic Kingdom’ in : The Amun Temple at Meroe Revisited by Krzysztof Grzymski pg 144-146
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-28-153710930)
Between Two Worlds: The Frontier Region Between Ancient Nubia and Egypt, 3700 BC-AD 500 by László Török pg 469-473.
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-29-153710930)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia edited by Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 664)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-30-153710930)
Batailles sur les ruines de Méroé by Claude Rilly, pg 384
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-31-153710930)
Batailles sur les ruines de Méroé by Claude Rilly, pg 385
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-32-153710930)
Batailles sur les ruines de Méroé by Claude Rilly, pg 392
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents#footnote-anchor-33-153710930)
Rilly, Claude, 2022, Meroitic Writing. In Andréas Stauder and Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, pg 7
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-script-and-the-documents
|
When the 12th-century West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanemi moved to the city of Seville in Spain and became one of the most celebrated Andalusian poets, he wasn't the first from his region to visit the Moorish kingdom.
According to two separate accounts by Muslim and Christian chroniclers from the 13th century, West-African contingents allied with the Almoravid empire of Morocco played a decisive role in its conquest of Andalusia. The first account is provided by the historian Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282), whose description of the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086 between the Almoravid armies and the forces of the Castilian king Afonso VI, mentions that the former were initially losing the battle until the _**sūdān**_ (west-African) horsemen joined the fray.
_**“This series of attacks and defeats did not terminate till the Emir of the Muslims**_**[the Almoravid ruler]**_**ordered the sūdān who formed his domestic troops to dismount. Four thousand of them got off their horses and penetrated into the midst of the fight. They stabbed the enemy's horses and made them rear under the riders, so that each steed separated from its fellow. Alfonso overtook a sūdān whose stock of javelins had been spent by darting them off, and meant to cut him down with his sword. The sūdān closed with him, seized on the bridle of his horse, drew a dagger from his belt and struck it into his thigh.”**_
After this, the tide of war turned against the Castilian armies and they were annihilated. The general chronicle of Spain (_Estoria de España_), which was commissioned by the Castilian king Alfonso X (1252-1284), understandably chooses to skip over the details of this battle.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-1-153471878) The chronicle instead focuses on other battles where the Castilians were relatively successful, such as the Almoravid siege of the Spanish city of Valencia in 1093-4:
_**“King Bucar**_**[**_**the Almoravid general**_**]**_**arrived from Tunis and disembarked at the port of Valencia with an extraordinarily large force of thirty-six Moorish kings; and he brought with him a black Moorish woman**_**[mora negra]**_**, who had 300 black Moorish women with her, and they all of them had their heads shaved, apart from a tuft which each of them had on the top of her head. This was because they came as if on a pilgrimage and to seek pardon. They were well armed with cuirasses and with Turkish bows.”**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-2-153471878)
Despite putting up a spirited fight, the defenders managed to push back the Almoravid force, and Valencia wouldn't fall until a decade later in 1102.
In the decades following these battles, the diasporic community of West Africans in Andalusia had grown significantly, such that by 1154, the Andalusian Geographer al-Zuhri reported that some of the **“chief leaders”** in the Ghana empire traveled to Andalusia, a few decades before Ibrahim al-Kanimi would move to Seville.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-3-153471878) The presence of these West Africans in Muslim Spain would leave its mark in the 13th-century artwork of the kingdom of Castille that depicted the cosmopolitan society of the Moorish kingdom, showing dark-complexioned Africans playing chess and fighting alongside the Almoravids.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-4-153471878)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3eqx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff3842e2e-0f9e-47b6-9d35-8949c99194ca_820x465.png)
_**Moorish noblemen and servants playing chess**_, Chessbook of Alfonso X the Wise, fol. 22r. Spain (1283).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iUnZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ad21e08-0f9a-46a4-8386-13c5fde39812_622x332.png)
_**Battle between the Castilian armies and the armies of Muslim Spain**_, miniature from the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X the Wise,13th Century, Spain. Getty Images.
The history of Africa's exploration and knowledge of the Old World is much better known today than a half-century ago when the continent was erroneously thought to have been isolated from global history. There is now [a growing body of evidence for the presence of Africans across much of the old world since antiquity](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers), and an emerging field of literature focusing on the activities of these intrepid African travelers in the distant places they chose to visit and settle.
The lengthy [career of the 16th-century Kongo diplomat Antonio Vieira](https://www.patreon.com/posts/99646036) for example, illustrates the dynamic nature of Africa's diasporic community. Born in Kongo in 1506, Antonio was one of the students sent by King Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga to the convent of St. Eloy in Lisbon in the 1520s. He later became the ambassador of King Pedro Nkanga a Mvemba [r. 1543-1545], and settled in Lisbon as the 'royal factor' of King Diogo I Nkumbi a Mpudi [r. 1545-1561].
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NiB3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8ad655f8-6696-4738-aac3-aa91bcf1eecb_818x573.png)
**Letter by Antonio Vieira about copper mining and trade in Kongo, 1566,**PT/TT/CART/878/219. Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo.
According to a charter issued by the secretary of King Diogo, as well as other contemporary correspondence, Antonio was responsible for collecting and receiving debts, exchanging currencies for embassies from Kongo, and legitimizing the children of Kongo's elites abroad. These activities required the presence of a resident factor to prove the credentials of the persons involved. Antonio also composed a number of documents about Kongo’s politics and a brief autobiography, which are all included in the corpus of extant manuscripts from the central African kingdom.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-5-153471878)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!q7BK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7c36d68-36a6-4cb9-8e9f-ab9479b2762e_820x468.png)
_**Letter by Diogo’s envoy to Lisbon 1543, mentioning a creditor whom Antonio Vieira had been instructed to collect money from**_. PT/TT/CC/1/73/41. Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo.
The international activities of such African travellers across the old world were therefore more extensive than the brief mentions of their presence in external accounts would suggest. Some of the diasporic Africans were engaged in intellectual exchanges, such as [the Ethiopians of Rome](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051) and [the West Africans of Medina](https://www.patreon.com/posts/from-guinea-to-b-61683129), others were preoccupied with trade such as [the Swahili of India](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese?utm_source=publication-search), while others were highly regarded as priests who played a central role in the spread of one of the ancient world's most widespread religions.
At the height of Rome in the first century of the common era, the Egyptian goddess Isis became one of the most popular deities across the empire. Among the most important centers of the Isiac religion were the towns of Philae (Egypt) and Herculaneum (Italy), where Nubian/_aithiopian_ priests and pilgrims feature prominently in the documentary and archaeological record.
The worship of Isis was arguably the most widely practiced religion originating from Africa, having been carried by itinerant merchants and other travelers from the Nile valley to places as far as Spain and the Black Sea region. The evidence from Philae and Herculaneum indicates that some of these missionaries of Isis were Nubians who had for centuries worshipped the deity in the kingdom Kush, and recognized her as one of the most powerful deities of their Pantheon.
The history of Nubian priests of Isis in the Roman world is the subject of my latest Patreon article,
Please subscribe to read about it here:
[THE NUBIAN PRIESTS OF ROME](https://www.patreon.com/posts/118446319)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!An_B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3141fdba-bec5-49b4-8944-60537f2295df_471x1180.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BiTw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fecad08e3-447e-44c9-8c17-fe47b91a6b99_571x600.jpeg)
_**Panel painting from Herculaneum depicting an Isiac ceremony. The congregation includes aithiopian priests, attendants, dancers, and worshippers.**_ inv. no. 8919, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy.
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-anchor-1-153471878)
Primera crónica general de España que mandó componer Alfonso el Sabio y se continuaba bajo Sancho IV en 1289, Alfonso X (King of Castile and Leon), edited by Ramón Menéndez Pidal, pg 557-558.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-anchor-2-153471878)
Black Women Warriors in the Muslim Army Besieging Valencia and the Cid's Victory: A Problem of Interpretation by E Lourie
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-anchor-3-153471878)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 25
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-anchor-4-153471878)
Image of the black in western Art, Volume 2, issue 1, pg 78
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and#footnote-anchor-5-153471878)
Monumenta missionaria africana II by Brásio António, pg 149-150, 240-241, 330, 543-546, Africa: Tradition and Change by Evelyn Jones Rich, Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein pg 200, Early Kongo-Portuguese relations by John K. Thornton pg 187, 191, n.49
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3eqx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff3842e2e-0f9e-47b6-9d35-8949c99194ca_820x465.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iUnZ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ad21e08-0f9a-46a4-8386-13c5fde39812_622x332.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NiB3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8ad655f8-6696-4738-aac3-aa91bcf1eecb_818x573.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!An_B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3141fdba-bec5-49b4-8944-60537f2295df_471x1180.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BiTw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fecad08e3-447e-44c9-8c17-fe47b91a6b99_571x600.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-the-nubian-priests-of-rome-and
|
The unique manuscript collections of Ethiopia and Eritrea written in the Ge'ez script are arguably the best-known works of literature produced in pre-colonial Africa.
While the manuscript cultures of [West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-network-of-african-scholarship), [East Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east), and [central Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-archives-and-scribal-practices?utm_source=publication-search) are much better known today than a half-century ago, the Ge'ez manuscripts remain the most extensively studied of the continent's historical archives and they have for long been used to reconstruct the political and social history of the northern Horn of Africa.
This article outlines the intellectual history of Ethiopia and Eritrea focusing on the Ge'ez manuscript collections, the scholars who wrote them, and the learning centers they established across the region.
_**Map of the northern Horn of Africa during the late Middle Ages.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9r_6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffe36b5d8-3091-45e0-aedd-6cab45f7283c_1141x567.png)
**Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Ge’ez literature during the Aksumite and Zagwe period (ca. 200-1270 CE)**
The foundations of Ge'ez literature were established during the [pre-Aksumite period (1st millennium BC)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/pre-aksumite-of-112946798?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) and [Aksumite eras (50-700CE)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-aksumite-empire-between-rome) when Ge'ez was a spoken language. Proto-Ge’ez names are attested in the inscriptions of the pre-Aksumite period, where they constituted the majority of the names of royals and other elites written in the south-arabian script that was adopted by local elites in the kingdom of D’MT, centered at Yeha in northern Ethiopia[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-1-153130565). By the 2nd-3rd century CE, the Ge’ez script had been developed by local scribes to be used in the majority of the earliest Aksumite royal inscriptions, alongside other scripts such as Greek.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-2-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DBL0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe4a97f3d-055d-4846-bf14-e5b187bedeb8_658x526.png)
_**Votive inscription of King Wa’ran son of RD’M and Queen Shakkatum, dedicating the shrine to Almaqah and referring to Yeha**_. found at Meqaber GaΚewa near Wurqo, Ethiopia. _The mention of the king's mother beside his father's name is very unusual in contemporary inscriptions in the south-Arabian script, likely reflecting a local concept of political power._[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-3-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!q9ag!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb6ee9b7-7611-4693-8719-3d9aa4bcccbd_711x599.png)
_**The inscription of King Ezana at Aksum in Ge’ez, Greek, and an archaic form of the south-arabian script.**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-4-153130565)
Besides the inscriptions, a handful of historical and theological writings were preserved from the Aksumite period, the best known of these are the Garima Gospels, which are dated to between 330–650 and 530–660 CE.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-5-153130565) Another recently discovered Aksumite-era manuscript is the _**Aksumite collection**_, a 13th-century text from the church of ʿUrā Masqal (in Tigray) that contains compilations of much older works dated to between the 5th and 7th century, that include _**a History of the Episcopate of Alexandria**_, and a collection of early theological works translated into Ge'ez from Greek.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-6-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1HU4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F78b211ad-fcdd-4e73-af76-c4bd2f5ca66a_1366x456.png)
_**the Abbā Garimā Gospels**_, digitized by [the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library](https://www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/132897).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JM8F!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd5559191-30e6-43df-afda-0a4d3840a921_1336x452.png)
_13th-century manuscript copy of the **Aksumite Collection**_, images by Denis Nosnitsin, Ethio-SPaRe.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYYr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85e8f9d6-3c2b-453a-bea7-f91389483652_479x515.png)
_**Abba Garima writing the Garima Gospels**_. Life and Miracles of Abba Garima, fol. 8v.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-7-153130565)
A significant gap exists between the late Aksumite period and the beginning of the [Zagwe period](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/constructing-a-global-monument-in?utm_source=publication-search) where the oldest manuscripts appear around the 12th-14th centuries. They include a land grant to the church of Ura Masqal (Eritrea) donated by the Zagwe king King Ṭänṭäwǝdǝm in the 12th century[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-8-153130565), the _**Four Gospels**_ at Betä MädḫaneʿAläm in Lalibäla and Däbrä Ḥayq Ǝsṭifanos that also contain land grants, both dated to the 13th century, the Apocryphal _**Acts of the Apostles of Zä-Iyäsus**_ at Däbrä Ḥayq (dated 1292–9), a collection of homilies from Ṭana Qirqos, and other manuscripts from Gundä Gunde and Ǧämmädu Maryam.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-9-153130565)
Its likely during the ‘transition’ period between the late Aksumite and Zagwe periods that a number of texts were adopted from the wider Christian world and translated into Ge’ez. These include the Fisalgos, (a classical work of natural philosophy that was translated into Ge’ez from Greek possibly as early as the 7th century[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-10-153130565)); the Qerellos (a collection of texts written by the early Fathers eg Cyril of Alexandria); and the Book of Enoch, among other texts.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-11-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Skd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00f1509b-d3d6-48f1-a58d-4ca2498d9283_1233x535.png)
(left) _**King Lalibela’s 13th-century donation to the Bēta Madòānē ‘Alam à Lālibalā**_, image by Marie-Laure Derat. (right) _**pre-14th century copy of the Gädlä Sämaˁǝtat (“Vitae of the Martyrs”) at the church of Ura Mäsqäl**_, image by ethio-spare.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RMk8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19bce426-8aa0-4ecd-af4b-8aa42cc83f28_1308x428.png)
_**The Book of Enoch, ca. 1600-1699**_, [Monastery of Marawe Krestos](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-2-5#).
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Ge’ez literature during the early Solomonic period (1270-1520)**
The era following the ascendancy of the 'Solomonic’ rulers marked a significant watershed in the development of Ge'ez literature, especially during the early period (1270-1520)
During this era, the first royal chronicles were produced by scribes who were specially appointed for this task and whose identity is often recorded in the text. These chronicles were mainly concerned with court life, campaigns, political appointments, endowment of churches, settling religious disputes, and other matters. The earliest of the royal chronicles was commissioned by Amda Tseyon (r. 1314-1344), and was followed by the chronicles of the early Solomonid rulers; Zara Yaqob (r. 1434-1468) Baeda Maryam (r. 1468-1478) and Lebna Dengel (r. 1508-1540), as well as a semi-legendary chronicle of Lalibela that was written in the 15th century.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-12-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lMyK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fef946370-5abe-4652-a5bf-59c07a6a66e2_1304x437.png)
_**18th-19th century copy of King Amda Tseyon’s chronicle**_, [d’Abbadie MS. 118, BNF, Paris.](https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10073838q/f5.item.r=Ethiopian%20d'Abbadie%20118#)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9Jb2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F17fc93b2-ce93-402c-9e66-8f7fd7f4bfbf_1255x680.png)
_**The gospels by Mäṭre Krastos, early 14th century**_, Church of Saint George in Debre Mark'os, Ethiopia. [Library of Congress.](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667957/)
Another important work of Ge'ez literature produced during the early Solomonic era was [the](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-power-of-the-pen-in-african-history)_**[Kebrä nägäst](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-power-of-the-pen-in-african-history)**_ (The Glory of the Kings), a national epic written by the scribe Yeshaq of Aksum in 1322 for his patron Ya’ibika Egzi a governor of Intarta (in Tigray), before Amda Tseyon later adopted it to legitimize his power. It’s based on information translated from Coptic-Arabic sources and other accounts and is centered around the meeting of the Queen of Sheba with King Solomon, the birth of their son Menelik I, the transfer of power from ancient Israel to Ethiopia (represented by the moving of the ark), and thus the beginning of the 'Solomonic dynasty'.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVL2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff5993be5-67fa-44ec-92db-b97430070bd5_1208x497.png)
_**the Kebrä nägäst (The Glory of Kings), ca. 1495-1505**_, Monastery of Marawe Krestos, Ethiopia.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6VE9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3f191b7-d4a3-4d94-ab79-e0668daf4116_1345x436.png)
_**Kebrä nägäst (The Glory of Kings),**_ 17th century, [Dabra Koreb We Qeraneyo Medhanealem Monastery](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP432-1-54#)
Kings and other elites played a central role in the production of Ge'ez literature as patrons. Scribes associated with the court of Ya’ibika Egzi for example, composed works such as the _**Mashafa MeStira Samay wamedr**_ (The Book of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth) and the _**Zéna Eskender**_ (The History of Alexander the Great), while the generals associated with Amda Tesyon and his successors; [Dawit I (r. 1380-1409), Yeshaq (r. 1412-27), Zar’a Ya‘qob (r. 1433-68), Ba’eda Maryam (r. 1468-78), and Galawdéwos (r. 1540-59)] composed works written in the Amharic language referred to as “soldier's songs” whose contents corroborate the chronicles.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-13-153130565)
The translation into Ge’ez of various external writings from the Coptic, Syrian, and Sinai churches was also undertaken during the early Solomonid period, especially in the era of the metropolitan Sälama (1348–1388). These included liturgical books like the _**Filkesyos**_ and the _**Coptic Synaxary**_, the _**lives of Ethiopian saints**_ (Senkessar), the _**Senodos**_ (a collection of ecclesiastical canons), the _**Didascalia**_, and the _**Täʾammǝrä Maryam**_ (Miracles of Mary), the _**Gädlä Kaleb**_ (Acts of Kaleb), etc.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-14-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GjxN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F38d0e659-2d58-4805-8982-46956f20920c_1338x589.png)
_**Senkesar (Lives of saints), ca. 1600-1799**_, [Monastery of Dabra Abbey.](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-1-3#)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nxKc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F152c5f21-3cf4-45d2-881c-935ce95ed9c4_1536x1068.jpeg)
_**Psalter: Psalms of David and Miracles of Mary in Gee'z, 19th century copy**_, [Brooklyn Museum.](https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/158165)
The 15th-century reign of Zärʾa Yaʿǝqob (r. 1434–68) is considered one of the golden ages of Ge'ez literature, with important works being attributed to this period, such as the _**Fetha nägäst**_ (Law of the Kings), as well as numerous Ge'ez hymns (_**mälkes**_) and works of poetry (_**qenes**_) and important theological and philosophical texts like the _**Mäşhafä fälasfa**_ (The Book of the Wise Philosophers)[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-15-153130565). Scholars of this period include the king himself, who in collaboration with certain court scribes wrote a number of theological works such as the _**Mäṣḥafa berhan**_ (the Book of Light), the _**Mäṣḥafa milad**_(on nativity), the _**Mäṣḥafa sellase**_ (book of Trinity), and the _**Mäṣḥafa Bahrey**_(Book of the Pearl).[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-16-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ag-E!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d193601-01ea-4a2e-beda-21cd68f2dcf8_1340x483.png)
_**15th-century copy of the [Fetha nägäst](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP432-1-32#) (Law of the Kings), with a [17th-century commentary](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP336-3-1#) on the text**_**.** Dabra Koreb We Qeraneyo Medhanealem Monastery. Motta Giyorgis's private collection.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yy8O!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32ecd3d9-8360-4552-84bb-15035d9219db_1266x443.png)
King Zärʾa Yaʿǝqob’s _**Mäṣḥafa berhan**_ (the Book of Light), ca. 1495-1505, [Monastery of Marawe Krestos](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-2-7#).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!haXV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3de293a-4194-4782-b3ad-f19d968e8d8a_1256x470.png)
_**Fälasäfä (Book of Philosophers), ca 1600-1699**_, [Monastery of Marawe Krestos.](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-2-58#)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UHyt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F863ad45b-3f91-44f9-9dca-c89fab63b01f_1249x539.png)
_**Nägärä Maryam (The Story of Mary), ca. 1360-1399**_, [Monastery of Marawe Krestos](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-2-16#).
Various texts of Apocrypha, church administration, and hagiographic works were also written in the period following his reign such as; _**Gädlä sämaʿǝtat**_ (“Lives of the martyrs”), _**Gädlä qǝddusan**_ (“Lives of the saints”); the 15th-century hagiographies of Täklä Haymanot (d. 1313), and his successors at Debre Libanos eg Elsa‘a and Filǝṗṗos (ca. 1274–1348); the 16th-century hagiographies of Iyäsus Moʾa of Däbrä Ḥayq Ǝsṭifanos, and Samuʾel of the Waldǝbba monastery. Notable scholars of this period include; Giyorgis of Sägla, who wrote the _**Mäṣḥafa mestir**_ (Book of the Mystery) and Yǝsḥaq, who wrote the _**Mäṣḥafä mǝśṭirä sämay wämǝdr**_ (the Book of the mystery of heaven and earth).[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-17-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jdBO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28ad7781-8f4a-4ba9-ab52-cc454cc779d2_1171x469.png)
the _**Mäṣḥafä mǝśṭirä sämay wämǝdr**_ (the Book of the mystery of heaven and earth), 1600-1799, [Monastery of Marawe Krestos](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-2-11#).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AxD8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F18a1e691-b6e5-439b-9169-5ab6e0ff7cc9_1261x525.png)
_**‘the act of St. Takla Haymanot’**_, copy dated 1700, British Library
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Ge’ez literature from the 16th century to the 19th century**.
Despite the disruption caused by Ahmad Gran's invasion in the 1520s, Ge'ez literature continued to flourish in the second half of the 16th century. Scholars from this period include; Abba Bahrey (b. 1535) who wrote a rare ethnographic text known as the _**Zenahu Iägalla**_ (History of the Oromo); and Enbaqom (c. 1470-1560), the _etchäge_ of Däbrä Libanos who in 1540 wrote a theological text titled _**Anqäsä amin**_ (The Gate of Faith).[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-18-153130565)
King Gälawdewos (r. 1540–59) also composed theological works defending the Church against the Portuguese Catholics. The most famous of his works was the Confessions, an important text that marked the beginning of a unique genre of related works explaining the Tewahedo dogma such as Queen Säblä Wängel's _**Fäws Mänfäsawi**_ and works like the _**Mäzgäbä haymanot**_ (The Treasure House of the Faith), the _**Mäṣeḥetä lebbuna**_ (The Mirror of the Intellect), the _**Fekkare mäläkot**_ (The Explanation of the Divinity), among others.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-19-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZPu1!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac279171-9dde-4fb9-bc03-d5b9e4e30912_1107x652.png)
_**‘Harp of Praise’, 16th century**_, [Berlin State Library](https://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht/?PPN=PPN87292579X)
In the field of historical writing, more royal chronicles were produced during the Gondarine period, such as the chronicles of Gälawdewos (1540–59), Särsa Dengel (1563–97), Susyenos I (1607–32), Yohannes I (1667-1682), Iyasu I (1682–1706), Iyasu II (1730–55), Iyo’as I (1755–69), [20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-20-153130565) As well as translations of Coptic works into Ge'ez such as AbuShakir's treatise and the chronicle of Giyorgis Walda Amid.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-21-153130565)
Other important genres of Ge’ez literature produced during the Gondarine period include [the famous philosophical writings of Zara Yacob and Walda Heywat completed between1668-1693](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata), as well as the numerous land charters and sales, the bulk of which were produced during the “era of Empress Mentewab” (between 1730-1769) and were stored in her church of Qwesqwam, near Gondar. [22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-22-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AuYI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae0a6559-9944-4c97-8490-053778e29933_821x590.png)
Copy of _**Zara Yacob’s ‘Hatata’**_ at the [Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://gallica.bnf.fr/view3if/ga/ark:/12148/btv1b52518435d/f8)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mgq-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F056154c8-5bd8-4f18-ac24-c93cbbc21d14_962x535.png)
_**Land charter of Ashänkera granted by emperor Sarsa Dengel**_ (r. 1563–1597), British library Or. 650 ff 16v. _**Folio from the 18th century land register at the church of Qwesqwam**_ founded by Empress Mentewab. image by Habtamu Mengistie Tegegne.
History writing would continue during the era of Masanfit after the fragmentation of the Gondarine kingdom, such as the chronicles of the various kings that reigned between 1769 and 1840. [23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-23-153130565) more chronicles were written after the restoration of the state by Tewodros II (1855–68), Yohannes IV (1871-1889), and Menelik II (1889-1913), as well as ‘universal histories’ such as that written by Tayyá Gabra Maryam (1860-1924) titled _**Ya-Ityopaya hazb tarik**_ (‘History of the Ethiopian People”).[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-24-153130565)
The chronicles of Tewodros II and his successors were written in Amharic rather than Ge’ez, marking a significant shift in the production of Amharic literature which expanded during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in official correspondence and history writing.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-25-153130565) Other written works from this period include theological texts as well as writings on medicine and talismanic/magic scrolls.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-26-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n-Qq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8545caf5-8970-4213-89ae-fc072dfb0163_1321x586.png)
_**Amharic manuscript on medicine with a list of diseases and treatments**_, 19th century, library of Ras Wassan Sagad of Shoa (r. 1808-1813), British Library.
**The education system in Ge’ez.**
The system of teaching comprises several different stages where students go through a series of specific bēt (‘house’/‘school"). The first was the reading school (_nebab bet_); followed by the school of music (_zema bet_) and poetry (_qene bet_), where students learnt Ge’ez grammar, liturgy (_qeddase_), and read works such as the 17th century _**Mäzgäbä Qene**_(Treasure of Qenes), etc. Those who enroll in the school of music, read from chantbooks (_**Deggwa**_) and learn [the unique Ethiopian musical notation system known as](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-music-92740278)_**[melekett](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-music-92740278)**_; after which they continue to the _**‘aqwaqwam bēt**_(school for liturgical dance and musical instruments).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-ZFT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffecf5c94-d26d-41a7-a63d-4e3dac9affd5_1344x486.png)
the _**[Deggwa](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-1-36#)**_(Hymnbook) and the _**[Qeddase](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-1-40#)**_ (Liturgy), ca. 1600-1799, Monastery of Dabra Abbey.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KX1z!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa828f2a5-66e9-4309-a538-8656ca22a5b9_816x499.png)
_**19th-century musical manuscript containing school chants**_. [University of Addis Ababa](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP286-1-1-17)
Students who continue for higher studies go to the ‘school of books’ (_mäṣḥaf bet_) where they are taught theology, exegesis, commentaries (_andemta_), using texts such as the _**liqawent**_ (writings of the Church Fathers), and the _**mäṣḥeftä mänäkosat**_ (Books of Monks). Other subjects include [the calculation of the Ethiopian calendar and its related texts such as the Mäṣḥäfä Abušakǝr (Computus)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/origin-and-of-of-73293170) and the Mäşhafä - Sä'atat (Horologium), as well as Ge'ez calligraphy, manuscript painting and history writing[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-27-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!poXR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fedc59178-2a3c-4ab5-a272-9204f3bd8e18_1284x464.png)
the _**mäṣḥeftä mänäkosat**_ (Books of Monks), 1600-1799, [Monastery of Marawe Krestos](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-2-10#).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_dCv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F30584a03-0550-406a-9a5a-5197fc65b0e2_821x514.png)
the _**Mäṣḥäfä Abušakǝr**_ (Computus), 17th century, British Library.
On arrival at the school, which may be a monastery, the home of a scholar, or an outdoor class, the student presents themselves to the master to be accepted as a pupil. The student is then assigned an assistant master or a _**zärafi**_ (candidate future professor) who gathers other students and is in charge of teaching them and correcting their work. Students made writing ink from charcoal/soot; painting dyes from natural plant material; and used reed pens to write and draw on wooden slates and parchment.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-28-153130565)
Teachers likely utilized their personal libraries/collections since the majority of Ge'ez manuscripts were owned and stored by ecclesiastic institutions, and only a fraction of them were available for a limited number of readers. After completing their studies, a period which may take them anywhere between 25 and 50 years, the students receive a certificate that permits them to teach as a däbtära, as well as to serve in churches and schools.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-29-153130565)
While some scholars received royal patronage to compose the manuscripts associated with courtly life, the dispersed nature of the intellectual/monastic centers ensured that a significant section of the scholarly community was largely independent of the rulers and at times clashed with them. Notable clashes between the monarchs and the scholars include the 14th-century ideological conflict between Ewosṭatewos (1237-1352) and the clergy that preceded [his exile and travel to Armenia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and?utm_source=publication-search), and the 15th-century ideological conflict between the students of Abba Ǝsṭifanos (1397–1444) and the court clergy of King Zärʾa Yaʿəqob.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-30-153130565)
**The intellectual centers of Ge’ez literature across Ethiopia and Eritrea.**
The oldest learning center in the northern horn was the monastery of Däbrä Damo in Tigray, whose establishment dates back to the Aksumite era, and contains material culture of significant antiquity.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-31-153130565) A number of famous monks and abbots were educated at this monastery, such as the 13th-century scholar Iyäsus Mo’a, who later founded the monastery of Däbrä Ḥayq Ǝsṭifanos at Lake Hayq, and Täklä Haymanot (d. 1313), who founded the monastery of Däbrä Libanos.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-32-153130565)
Around the same time in what is today Eritrea, several large monasteries and schools were founded in the 14th century. These include Däbrä Bizän, (25 km east of Asmara) which was founded in 1373 by the scholar named Fileppos; and the monastery of Däbrä Demah (or Däbrä Märqorewos, province of Säraye) which was founded by the scholar Märqorewos.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-33-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kciW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2522da59-6b8e-4e82-97ca-22140f117f0e_800x600.jpeg)
_**Monastery of Debre Damo**_, Ethiopia.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!g44i!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55221428-078f-49bb-b9fe-428f4b4dcfa7_909x597.jpeg)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CXYz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe41cf161-464e-412b-8fda-7f5b0810d88a_1175x412.png)
_**Monastery and monks’ houses at Däbrä Bizän**_, Eritrea.
The monastery of Däbrä Ḥayq Ǝsṭifanos also a celebrated learning centre where the scholars associated with Iyäsus Mo’a (1214-1293) such as Giyorgis of Sägla, Täkla Haymanot (1214-1313), and Hirutä Amlak pursued their studies. Täkla Haymanot's monastery of Däbrä Libanos, which competed with Däbrä Ḥayq Ǝsṭifanos, was also an important learning center strongly associated with the court, and its abbot received the title of _**eççägé**_, which is considered the primate of the Ethiopian monasteries. Two other important monasteries were founded in east Gojjam during this period by the scholars; Särsä Petros at Däbrä Wärq; and Abba Bäkimos at Dima Giyorgis, the latter of whom was formerly a student at Däbrä Libanos.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-34-153130565)
Other important centers include the monasteries established by the students of Ewosṭatewos in the regions of Ḥamasen, Säraʾe, and Akkälä Guzay (In Eritrea); the monastery of Gundä Gunde associated with the students of Ǝsṭifanos,[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-35-153130565) the monasteries of; Woggera (north of Gondar) which was home to the _deggwa_ scholar aläqa Mesfin; Semada (in the region of Qambember), which was home to the scholar mämher Alämu; Dima Giyorgis and Elyas, known for their teaching of the commentaries, the _qene_ school at Walda attributed to the 15th-century scholar Yohannes Gäblawi, his students; Wäldä Gäbre’el, and Śämrä, and their students; Täwanäy at Gonğ and Dedq Wäldä Maryam at Wadla.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-36-153130565)
Some of the most important centers of learning are associated with the royal court. These include; the town of Mahdärä Maryam (Begemder), where a church founded around 1577 by Queen Maryam Sena (wife of Särsä Dengel) became the locus for the teaching of _andemta, deggwa and aqwaqwam_, with resident scholars such as Abeto Abägaz, known for his historical compilation of 1785–6; and [the city of Gondar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-gondar-africas) which became the Ethiopian capital in 1635, under King Fasilädäs, the city also became an intellectual and artistic center, and was renowned for its schools of _zema and aqwaqwam_, and a unique style of manuscript illumination.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-37-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nzuK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F245cff18-4396-4fb7-b17c-d1de7ab9278f_1076x516.png)
_**Chancery and Library of Yohannes I**_(1667–82) at Gondar, Ethiopia.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pnVY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F26f50910-0454-44b0-bd43-873ad31a8e5e_1295x464.png)
_**Gädlä Wälättä P̣eṭros (Life-Struggles of Walatta-Petros) (b.1593-d.1643) written in 1672-1673 by Galawdewos**_ at Qwarata, Ethiopia.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-38-153130565)
Within the royal complex at Gondar, King Yohannes I (1667–82) had a special building constructed for his royal library (see images above), and the city was home to numerous scribes and copyists who preserved older texts, such that even after the Béta Mangest (city treasury) was destroyed by Ras Mika’él in the late 18th century, the Dajazmac Haylu managed to gather several scribes to collect from various monasteries material for a new redaction to replace the lost archives such as books of law and chronicles dating back to the reign of Amda Tseyon.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-39-153130565)
Other important scholarly centers associated with royal patronage include; the monastery of Qoma Fasilädäs (south of Begemder) founded in 1620 by Queen Wäld Sä’ala, wife of King Susenyos; the 18th-century monastery of Mota Giyorgis (Eastern Gojam) founded by princess Wälättä Esrael, daughter of Queen Mentewwab; the town of Däbrä Marqos (300 km north-west of Addis Ababa), founded in 1853, and the town of Däbrä Tabor (Begemder) the capital of many rulers of the Oromo dynasty of the Yäggu in the 17th century and later of the emperor Tewodros II (1855–68).[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-40-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!smdJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd3b8b54d-1303-41ee-bbb2-a81500a1d2a9_845x599.png)
_**Church of Dabra Berhān Sellāsē at Gondar**_, built by Iyasu in 1694
**Life and Works of Giyorgis of Sägla (ca. 1364-1425**[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-41-153130565))
Giyorgis of Sägla was one of the best-known Ge’ez scholars of the late Middle Ages, who lived during the reigns of King Dawit II (1380–1413) and King Yǝsḥaq (1414–1430). He was born into a family of court clerics: his father was one of the däbtära attached to the royal court, a function which he would later assume as a tutor to the sons of reigning Kings. Giyorgis was educated in the monastery of Ḥayq Ǝsṭifanos but also visited many monasteries to consult different manuscripts and teachers.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-42-153130565)
He was later appointed as _nǝburä ǝd_ (prefect/abbot) of the monastery of Däbrä Dammo during the reign of Dawit, and the two collaborated before they fell out and Giyorgis was imprisoned. He was later released after Dawit’s death and appointed as the head of the community of Abba Bäşälotä-Mika'él in Amhara during the reign of Yǝsḥaq.[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-43-153130565)
Giyorgis was a prolific writer who is known to have written many original Ge’ez compositions. Atleast seven of his works are extant, such as; the _**Arganonä Maryam/Weddase (**_ The Organ of Mary) —King Dawit was reportedly so pleased with this text that he had it copied with a special gold ink[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-44-153130565); the _**Mäṣḥäfä Sa'atat**_ (Book of Hours); the _**Fekkaré Haymanot**_(Explanation of Faith), and his theological masterpiece, the _**Mäṣḥafä mǝśṭi**_ r (Book of the mystery) in 1424 CE, finished shortly before his death.[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-45-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9q-q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F166abc8f-df6f-40b5-8785-93641868ec46_1349x468.png)
the _**Arganonä Maryam**_(The Organ of Mary), ca. 1545-1555, [Monastery of Marawe Krestos](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP704-2-29#).
The _**Mäṣḥafä mǝśṭir**_ is a theological work whose themes underscore the indigeneity of Ge'ez intellectual traditions during a period when external texts were being translated and the doctrines of the church were being debated. Its contents include disputes on the authorship, canonicity, and number of the apostolic books, such as in this section of a passage where Giyorgis reports on a conversation he had with an Armenian priest:
_“As for that book (full) of their lies, Peter never uttered it nor did Clement write it down, but it was Yǝsḥaq Tǝgray, a usurper of the episcopate like Melitius. His ordination, too, came from the Melchites. For this reason his teaching is alien to our teaching, and his books, too, to our books, because he brought it from a treasure of lies and translated it with lying words”_[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-46-153130565)
Giyorgis criticizes Yǝsḥaq's literary bias towards the Melchite theology of the Byzantines (which was rejected by the Aksumites and thus by the Tewahedo theologists), preferring instead to rely on older texts such as those contained in the abovementioned Aksumite collection inorder to determine the authenticity of some of the later books being translated into Ge’ez. Giyorgis also discusses several complex dogmatic queries to refute various heretical doctrines and argues for the antiquity of the Tewahedo church, noting that Aksum/Ethiopia embraced Christianity even in the absence of direct apostolic preaching or the martyrdom of believers.[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-47-153130565)
Giyorgis’ writings were influential not only within the royal court, where they determined the policies of Dawit and Zär'ä Ya'eqob in reconciling the church and the state, but also among his students and successors, as he is known to have founded the monastery of Giyorgis of Gaseçça in Wollo and his works were widely circulated across the kingdom, influencing later generations of scholars and the literary production in Ge’ez.[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-48-153130565)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V0n-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66f635c4-0f6d-4369-9d72-2f244a099f96_1061x585.png)
_**Arganonä Maryam (The Organ of Mary)**_, _**17th-century,**_[Met Museum](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/733038). Written by the scribe Baselyos, the text was illuminated by the ‘ground hornbill painter’ who included a portrait of its original author; Abba Giyorgis of Sägla.
**Conclusion.**
The above outline of Ge’ez literature is far from exhaustive but should serve as a useful introduction to the rich intellectual history of Ethiopia and Eritrea which spans nearly 2,000 years and contains a complex variety of literary genres and schools, with scholars who played a salient role in the historical processes that shaped the northern Horn of Africa.
Recent projects to digitize and translate the vast corpus of Ge’ez manuscripts carefully preserved in many monasteries and private collections across Ethiopia and Eritrea, such as the Endangered Archives Project[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-49-153130565) and ETHIO-SPARE,[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-50-153130565) as well as the discoveries of old manuscripts from the Aksumite period, have greatly expanded our understanding of the region’s written traditions and the significance of Ge’ez literature in the intellectual history of Africa.
**In antiquity, the armies of the ancient Aksumite empire and the kingdom of Kush used war elephants in ceremonial and military contexts, most famously during the invasion of Mecca by the Aksumite general Abraha.**
**Please subscribe to read about the war elephants of Aksum and Kush in my latest Patreon article:**
[WAR ELEPHANTS OF AKSUM & KUSH](https://www.patreon.com/posts/117557195)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F42z!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe95772aa-7173-4320-89a3-dd7a8340eab5_939x591.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-1-153130565)
The First Millennium BC in the Highlands of Northern Ethiopia and South-Central Eritrea: A Reassessment of Cultural and Political Development by David W. Phillipson pg 265-270
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-2-153130565)
Foundations of an African Civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn By D. W. Phillipson pg 51-65
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-3-153130565)
The northern Horn of Africa in the first millennium BCE: local traditions and external connections by R. Fattovich pg 13, 26-28, 37.
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-4-153130565)
Foundations of an African Civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn By D. W. Phillipson pg 53,
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-5-153130565)
The Garima Gospels: Early Illuminated Gospel Books from Ethiopia By Judith S. McKenzie, Francis Watson
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-6-153130565)
The Aksumite Collection or Codex Σ by Alessandro Bausi et al.
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-7-153130565)
The Garima Gospels: Early Illuminated Gospel Books from Ethiopia By Judith S. McKenzie, Francis Watson pg 18
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-8-153130565)
The Zāgwē dynasty (11-13th centuries) and King Yemreḥanna Krestos by Marie-Laure Derat pg 164-165
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-9-153130565)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 32-33, 35, 38, 285-287
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-10-153130565)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 2 by Claude Sumner pg 119-120
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-11-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 90
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-12-153130565)
The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles by Richard Pankhurst pg xii-xvii
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-13-153130565)
The Glorious Victories of 'Āmda S̥eyon, King of Ethiopia by George Wynn Brereton Huntingford pg 13-14, 38-39, 129-134, Studia Aethiopica edited by Verena Böll pg 157-163, 406-412
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-14-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 91, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 228-239)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-15-153130565)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 2 by Claude Sumner pg 119-120
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-16-153130565)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 255-256)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-17-153130565)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 265-276, 241)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-18-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 93
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-19-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 94
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-20-153130565)
The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles by R. Pankhurst pg 70-132
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-21-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 94, Coptic and Ethiopic historical writing by Witold Witakowski pg 150
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-22-153130565)
Land and Society in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia By Donald Crummey, Gondär Land Documents: Multiple Copies, Multiple Recensions by Donald Crummey, Recordmaking, Recordkeeping and Landholding – Chanceries and Archives in Ethiopia (1700–1974) by Habtamu Mengistie Tegegne
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-23-153130565)
The Royal Chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769-1840, Translated by Herbert Weld Blundell.
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-24-153130565)
The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles by R. Pankhurst pg 145-166, Studia Aethiopica edited by Verena Böll pg 153, 247-248)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-25-153130565)
The Oxford Handbook of Ethiopian Languages edited by Ronny Meyer, Bedilu Wakjira, Zelealem Leyew, pg 65-67. Amharic Sources for Modern Ethiopian History, 1889-1935 by Peter P. Garretson and Richard Pankhurst
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-26-153130565)
Ethiopian Magic Scrolls by Jacques Mercier
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-27-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 32-35, 71-77, 95, 115-116)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-28-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 78-79, 115, 119-121, 153-156, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 291-293
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-29-153130565)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 319-320, The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 32
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-30-153130565)
The Monastic Holy Man and the Christianization of Early Solomonic Ethiopia by Steven Kaplan pg 38-44.
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-31-153130565)
Foundations of an African Civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn By D. W. Phillipson pg 132, 181
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-32-153130565)
Afrikas Horn by Walter Raunig, Steffen Wenig, pg 154-156
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-33-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 141
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-34-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 138-139, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 206-209
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-35-153130565)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 213-215,
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-36-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 133, 80-82
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-37-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 140, 133, Major Themes in Ethiopian Painting by Stanislaw Chojnacki pg 489–494.
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-38-153130565)
De la mort à la fabrique du saint dans l’Éthiopie médiévale et moderne by Claire Bosc-Tiessé and Marie-Laure Derat.
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-39-153130565)
The Glorious Victories of 'Āmda S̥eyon, King of Ethiopia by George Wynn Brereton Huntingford pg 26-27
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-40-153130565)
The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 138-141
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-41-153130565)
The English Translation of Giyorgis of Saglā’s (Gaśǝč̣č̣a’s) Mäṣḥ afä Mǝśṭir, foreword by Alessandro Bausi, introduction by Abba Hiruie Ermias, pg x
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-42-153130565)
Church and State in Ethiopia: 1270 - 1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 222-223
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-43-153130565)
Church and State in Ethiopia: 1270 - 1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 223, Notes Towards a History of Ase Dawit I by Steven Kaplan pg 82
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-44-153130565)
Notes Towards a History of Ase Dawit I by Steven Kaplan pg 81
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-45-153130565)
Le domaine des rois éthiopiens, 1270-1527: espace, pouvoir et monarchisme By Marie-Laure Derat, pg 173-206
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-46-153130565)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 242-243
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-47-153130565)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 244-250,
[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-48-153130565)
Le domaine des rois éthiopiens, 1270-1527: espace, pouvoir et monarchisme By Marie-Laure Derat, pg 173-206, The Traditional Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church By Christine Chaillot pg 139
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-ethiopia
|
In his 1668 description of the West African kingdom of Benin, the Dutch writer Olfert Dapper reported that _**“The king shows himself only once a year to his people, going out of his court on horseback, accompanied by three or four hundred noblemen on horseback.”**_ He also mentions that _**“the king causes some tame leopards that he keeps for his pleasure to be led out in chains”**_ a scene which Dapper includes in his famous engraving of Benin city.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-1-152799455)
While Dapper’s description of Benin may initially appear to be a typical embellished account about a distant African kingdom that is intended to thrill armchair adventurers back in Europe, there is sufficient historical evidence for the taming of wild animals like leopards, lions, and elephants in several African societies, including in Benin, where tame leopards were kept alongside domesticated animals like horses, because they were considered to be symbols of the king’s authority.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-2-152799455)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Z7c5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b610e65-eb74-46e2-bced-24ed1a68b919_1010x627.png)
_**Detail of the 17th century engraving depicting the leopards of the king of Benin.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wzI5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F290b6120-0bfb-4756-bb31-743086c10e9b_1217x597.png)
_**16th-century relief plaques depicting the Oba holding two leopards by the tail, and a leopard feeding her cubs**_. Af1898,0115.31 British Museum, III C 27486, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin.
Two centuries before Dapper's description of Benin, an embassy from Ethiopia reached the Italian city of Venice in 1402, where they cruised the city's canals accompanied by four live leopards.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-3-152799455) Later visitors to Ethiopia in 1515 and 1765 mention the presence of chained lions that accompanied the emperor's entourage,[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-4-152799455) and that a number of the richer citizens of its capital, Gondar, were in _**“the habit of keeping tame lions which were on occasion taken out for walks in the streets.**_”[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-5-152799455) By 1770, a lion's cage was constructed among the castellated palaces of the city that would house tame lions until 1965.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-6-152799455)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r51r!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fceb64e68-1695-42fa-9f57-8b242ffb8cd0_1001x535.png)
_**‘Anbesa Bet’ (Lion cages) in Gondar, Ethiopia**_, image by H. Sinica.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QUbJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffa3b6502-f3f6-4f27-bbc5-e96166224ca0_999x576.png)
_**The Ethiopian monarch Menelik II, and Ethiopian nobles with tame lions**_. Photos from the early 20th century.
While Africa's famous animals such as Zebras, Lions, and Rhinos were impossible to domesticate —something that geographic determinists have been wont to emphasize. This wasn't due to lack of trying by Africans [nor by European settlers in South Africa who also failed to domesticate them, declaring that _**“the zebra is said to be wholly beyond the government of man”**_.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-7-152799455)] After all, Africans did successfully domesticate cattle and donkeys,[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-8-152799455) alongside ‘foreign’ domesticates like horses, which were quickly adopted across the continent from [West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/knights-of-the-sahara-a-history-of?utm_source=publication-search) to [East and Southern Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern), where they diverged into multiple local breeds.
The African horses and donkeys which carried soldiers to battle, trade-goods to distant cities, and Kings in royal processions became veritable symbols of military and political power across multiple societies.
Contrary to the claims of Jared Diamond and his ilk, Africans didn't need _**“Rhino-mounted shock troops”**_ to cut through the ranks of Roman horsemen, because the horse-mounted troops of [Kush's Queen Amanirenas](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas#footnote-anchor-24-46488154) did just fine when they defeated the Roman invasion in 20BC, and even those that lacked horses, such as the kingdom of Ndongo, repeatedly [defeated Portuguese horsemen in battle](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-12-151756517).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MII6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F33721339-c971-4091-8438-40cc91dffc2e_677x900.png)
_**a rider rearing his horse in Dikwa, Nigeria**_. early 20th century Photo.
Besides these domesticates, Africans also tamed wild animals and included them in their iconographic corpus of royal artwork, representing the centrality of particular animals to their cosmological systems and concepts of political power.
The eland, for example, is central to the cosmology of the San in southwest Africa and appears extensively in their rock art. Rock paintings of human figures stroking, leading, or enticing the animals with plant ‘charms,’ which were partly based on real actions of the San, all powerfully evoke superlative spiritual control of these creatures; while renditions of animals lying down or standing calmly among human figures strongly recall the ‘tamed’ state of resources influenced by ritual specialists.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-9-152799455)
The taming of wild animals was also prevalent in the ideology of power in the East African kingdom of Buganda where animals such as the lion and buffalo were considered symbols of Kingly authority. In the 1850s for example, the Ganda King Ssuuna II (r. 1832-1856) kept a _**“menagerie of lions, elephants, leopards and similar beasts of disport”**_ which were captured during royal hunts.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-10-152799455)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jp9j!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F41e1ba19-74dc-4b8e-b383-e62b03025d7d_921x455.png)
_**Drawing of a cave-painting from the eastern Cape province in South Africa, depicting a human figure reaching out his hand toward a ‘calm’ eland.**_[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-11-152799455)
In many of these examples, tame animals were kept for symbolic functions, they weren’t ridden into battle like horses, nor did they carry trade goods like donkeys. Its from the ancient kingdoms of Aksum and Kush that we obtain documentary and artistic evidence for the taming and utilization of the elephant, which not only had a symbolic function but also carried warriors to battle.
Virtually all classical accounts give prominence to elephants from the kingdoms of Aksum and Kush, which supplied the famous war elephants of the Ptolemies during the 3rd century BC, and continued to feature in the military systems and artistic traditions of Kush and Aksum. War elephants appear extensively in the royal iconography of Kush, especially at the temple of Mussawarat, and in Aksum, where elephant corps were included in the regiments of King Ezana and were famously used by the Aksumite general Abraha during his campaigns in Arabia.
**The history of the war elephants of Aksum and Kush is the subject of my latest Patreon article,**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[WAR ELEPHANTS OF AKSUM & KUSH](https://www.patreon.com/posts/117557195)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F42z!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe95772aa-7173-4320-89a3-dd7a8340eab5_939x591.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GL3k!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22093402-9d36-405b-bf83-9702b4e4871b_793x592.png)
_**Wall terminal in the shape of an elephant at Musawwarat es Sufra, Sudan.**_
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-1-152799455)
Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art By Kate Ezra pg 117
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-2-152799455)
Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art By Kate Ezra pg 156.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-3-152799455)
The African Prester John and the Birth of Ethiopian-European Relations By Matteo Salvadore pg 24-25
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-4-152799455)
The Prester John of the Indies: A True Relation of the Lands of the Prester John, Being the Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Ethiopia in 1520 by Francisco Alvares pg 324, 337, 442)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-5-152799455)
History of Ethiopian Towns from the Middle Ages to the Early Nineteenth Century, Volume 1, Richard Pankhurst pg 170
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-6-152799455)
_(tame lions were also present in the Funj kingdom of Sennar according to James Bruce)_ Travels between the Years 1765 and 1773 by James Bruce pg 235, Ethiopia: History, Culture and Challenges edited by Siegbert Uhlig pg 325
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-7-152799455)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 24-26,_examples of Europeans taming, but not domesticating quaggas_: The Life, Extinction, and Rebreeding of Quagga Zebras By Peter Heywood pg 68-79
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-8-152799455)
Domesticating Animals in Africa: Implications of Genetic and Archaeological Findings by Diane Gifford-Gonzalez
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-9-152799455)
Reconfiguring Hunting Magic: Southern Bushman (San) Perspectives on Taming and Their Implications for Understanding Rock Art, Rock paintings which may depict live eland being used in San rites by Pieter Jolly.
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-10-152799455)
Political power in Pre-colonial Buganda by Richard J. Reid pg 55-57
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild#footnote-anchor-11-152799455)
Reconfiguring Hunting Magic: Southern Bushman (San) Perspectives on Taming and Their Implications for Understanding Rock Art 585.
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Z7c5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b610e65-eb74-46e2-bced-24ed1a68b919_1010x627.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wzI5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F290b6120-0bfb-4756-bb31-743086c10e9b_1217x597.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r51r!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fceb64e68-1695-42fa-9f57-8b242ffb8cd0_1001x535.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QUbJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffa3b6502-f3f6-4f27-bbc5-e96166224ca0_999x576.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MII6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F33721339-c971-4091-8438-40cc91dffc2e_677x900.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jp9j!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F41e1ba19-74dc-4b8e-b383-e62b03025d7d_921x455.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F42z!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe95772aa-7173-4320-89a3-dd7a8340eab5_939x591.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GL3k!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22093402-9d36-405b-bf83-9702b4e4871b_793x592.png"
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/taming-and-domesticating-the-wild
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The intellectual history of pre-colonial Africa is dominated by studies of the scholarly traditions of Ethiopia, [West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-network-of-african-scholarship), and Sudan, where a large corpus of extant manuscripts have been collected from the old scholarly centers of Timbuktu, Djenne, Gondar, and Harar.
However, recent discoveries of manuscript collections across East Africa have attracted significant interest in the region’s intellectual traditions, and the scholarly networks that produced these remarkable works of pre-colonial African literature, that extended from the Swahili coast to the interior kingdoms of Buganda and the eastern D.R.Congo.
This article explores the intellectual history of East Africa, focusing on the region’s education systems and scholarly networks during the pre-colonial and early colonial periods.
**The intellectual history of the East African coast.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hV2D!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6aeb37e9-7aa3-45d3-92a5-e2d7431ec73b_959x713.png)
_**Map of the Swahili city-states**_
The intellectual history of East Africa began with the region’s gradual integration into the cultural and commercial exchanges of the Indian Ocean world that occurred in the cosmopolitan cities of the coast. In the Swahili-speaking populations of these urban communities, Islam was adopted and internalized into the cultural and political traditions of the coast, resulting in the creation of distinctively local practices and material culture.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-1-152373430)
Inscribed coins and architectural fragments dated to between the 9th and 12th centuries appear at Shanga, Zanzibar, and Barawa, which were likely commissioned by local elites. Swahili names written in the Arabic script (ie; Ajami) appear as early as the 14th century on inscriptions recovered from the cities of Kilwa and Mombasa. Their stylistic similarities to later manuscript designs and calligraphy, provide early and continuous evidence for writing along the East African coast.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-2-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8qmz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fde412a9f-f41a-4037-91c7-b2fdb69a0c85_820x591.png)
_**Epitaph of Sayyida Aisha bint Mawlana Amir Ali b. Mawlana Sultan Sulayman, c. 1360, Kilwa, Epitaph of 'Mwana wa Bwana binti mwidani' , c. 1462, Kilindini, Mombasa.**_
According to the account of Ibn Battuta, who visited the region in 1331, the court entourage of the rulers of Mogadishu and Kilwa included qadis, wazirs, lawyers, secretaries, sharifs, shaikhs _**"and those who have made the pilgrimage"**_. He adds that the ruler of Kilwa, who traveled to Mecca according to the 16th-century Kilwa chronicle, was known for his veneration of ‘holy men’ who frequented his court from as far away as the Hijaz and Iraq. Mogadishu achieved an early reputation as a center of learning, and Ibn Battuta reported that many "lawyers" resided there, where disputes were settled by qadis.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-3-152373430)
It is likely that significant numbers of Swahili scholars were already traveling across the western Indian Ocean before the pilgrimage of the King of Kilwa, as evidenced by [references to sailors and merchants from Kilwa, Barawa, and Mogadishu who traveled to the ports of Yemen](https://www.patreon.com/posts/96900062) during the 13th and 14th centuries. [4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-4-152373430) The 15th-century Mamluk-Egyptian chronicler Al-Maqrizi for example, met with an unnamed qadi from the city of Lamu. According to al-Maqrizi, the qadi was _**“a man of great erudition in the law according to the Shafi i rite.”**_ By the 14th-15th century, most Swahili scholars adhered to the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-5-152373430)
By the end of the Middle Ages, a vibrant intellectual tradition had emerged across many of the large Swahili cities and towns. Recent discoveries of old Qur'anic manuscripts from Lamu dated to the 15th century and the written correspondence between Swahili rulers and Portuguese interlopers in the 16th century, corroborate textual and archaeological evidence for the early emergence of the Swahili manuscript traditions, which were significantly older than the previously known manuscripts from the 17th century.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-6-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7W-e!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1242d098-af82-482d-b554-6e1394edc6cf_820x410.png)
_**A recently discovered Quran with a date of 1410 AD (813 A.H), from Pate, Lamu archipelago, private collection**_(image from [Nation media](https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/lamu/ancient-quran-manuscript-found-in-lamu-3846706))
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Zlf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbacf8f5f-db38-4f87-b60f-f3e70ce11392_820x442.png)
_**letters written by Swahili rulers addressed to the Portuguese ruler Dom Manuel (r. 1495-1521), from; Sultan Ibrahim of Kilwa in 1505, Sultan Ali bin Ali of Malindi in 1520,**_ Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon
Beginning in the 17th century on [the Lamu archipelago](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-social-history-of-the-lamu-city?utm_source=publication-search), an intellectual revolution across the East African coast resulted in the production of a significant volume of literature by local scholars. In particular, the city-state of Pate became a major scholarly center attracting scholarly diasporas such as the Alawi _tariqa_ of the Hadhramaut. Swahili and other East African scholars created the oldest known documents during this period, most of which belonged to a unique genre of poetry known as Utendi/Utenzi.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-7-152373430)
These scholars include; Aydarus b. Uthman, who wrote the _**Utendi wa Hamziyya**_ in 1749; his kinsman Sayyid Abd Allah (c. 1720–1820) who composed the philosophical work titled _**Al-Inkishafi**_ in 1800; the 18th century Pate scholar Bwana Mwengo, who wrote the _**Utendi wa Herekali**_, his son Abubakar Mwengo, who wrote the _**Utendi wa Katirifu**_ and _**Utendi wa Fatuma**_ in the early 19th century, and the Siyu queen Mwana Kupona bint Msham (d.1860) who wrote the _**Utendi wa Mwana Kupona**_.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-8-152373430)
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_**Al-Inkishafi (MS 373), likely copied in the 19th century,**_ images by _**[SOAS library](https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA000079/00001/citation)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!anMo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97c03b2c-5c16-488c-bb8d-480799d24fa4_820x513.png)
_**Bwana Mwengo's Utendi wa Herekali, copied by Muhamadi Kijuma,**_ images by _**[SOAS London](https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000390/00001/citation)**_
While a few of these scholars also held political power, for most of Swahili history, scholars only served in advisory capacities while adjudication was left to the rulers. This changed when the East African coast gradually came under the control of the Oman Sultans; Sayyids Said (1832-56), Majid (1856-70), and Barghash (1870-88) who established their capital at Zanzibar. These sultans delegated adjudication to court-appointed qadis by appointing two official court qadis, one Ibadi, for their Omani subjects, and one Shafi'i, for the Swahili majority.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-9-152373430)
During the 19th century, Zanzibar became the new focal point of intellectual life along the coast, partly [fuelled by the rapid expansion of commodities trade with the mainland, especially ivory, whose prices rose as the frontier expanded inland](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/economic-growth-and-cultural-synchretism?utm_source=publication-search). The city attracted some of the best scholars of Mombasa, Lamu, Comoros, and Barawe, who brought with them sufi _tariqas_ (orders) such as the _**Qadiriyya**_ and the _Shadhiliyya_. Unlike the established scholarly community of the Swahili coast which reserved education for elite families, the scholars trained by these orders came from across the entire society.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-10-152373430)
The most noteworthy include; the Barawa scholar Shaykh Uways al-Qadiri, the Bagamoyo scholar Shaykh Yahya b. Abdallah, the Siyu scholar Sayyid 'Abdur-Rahman b. Ahmad al-Saqqaf, and the Lamu scholar Habib Salih b.Alawi Jamal al-Layl. _S_ cholars like Shaykh Uways, through their efforts to spread the teachings of their _tariqa_, directly contributed to the emergence of several intellectual traditions on the East African mainland during the second half of the 19th century, which were brought by the ivory caravans and itinerant teachers to places as distant as Buganda and the Eastern D.R.Congo.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-11-152373430)
**The intellectual history of the kingdom of Buganda.**
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_**Map showing the kingdoms of East Africa’s Great Lakes region and the 19th century caravan routes.**_
Coastal traders reached the [kingdom of Buganda](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-buganda-kingdom) near the end of the reign of its King (Kabaka) Suna (r. 1832-56), who reportedly held discussions with the caravan leader Ahmad bin Ibrahim (_Medi Ibulaimu_) on theology and law.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-12-152373430) Suna kept a small library that he gave to his successor, Kabaka Muteesa, which included a _**“voluminous Arab manuscript worn and discoloured by age”**_ that was seen by later visitors to the kingdom in 1876[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-13-152373430). Later coastal traders who reached Buganda in 1867, such as the Swahili and Comorian merchants Choli and Idi served as teachers of Muteesa. The latter quickly learned Arabic and Swahili, translated sections of the Quran into Luganda, and encouraged the construction of mosques and schools throughout his kingdom.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-14-152373430)
By the 1870s, Muteesa was able to send Ganda envoys who were literate in Arabic and Swahili, to Zanzibar, to the Khedive's government in Khartoum (Sudan), and to England. A visitor to Buganda in 1875 wrote of Mtesa’s court: _**“Nearly all the principal attendants at the court can write the Arabic letters. The Emperor and many of the chiefs both read and write that character with facility, and frequently employ it to send messages to another, or to strangers at a distance.”**_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-15-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XUek!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b13764d-3fc7-4c57-9af0-e60293b2c56e_820x547.jpeg)
_**Buganda’s embassy to Queen Victoria in London**_, ca. 1880. Illustration taken from ‘_The Church Missionary Gleaner, Volume II, 1880_.’ The envoys presented a letter written by Muteesa.
While most of the coastal traders in Buganda were not interested in teaching, a significant learned community (_Ulama_) of baGanda Muslims had emerged by the end of Mtesa's reign and the early reign of his successor, Kabaka Mwanga (r. 1884-1888). The simultaneous emergence of baGanda Christian courtiers trained in mission schools, and Mwanga’s inability to control the centrifugal forces of the kingdom, led to his overthrow by both parties in September 1888. He was replaced by the short-lived kings; Kiweewa and Kalema, who ruled until Mwanga was restored by the Christian faction in 1889.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-16-152373430)
Mwanga’s return led to the loss of influence of the kingdom's _Ulama_, and their emigration to neighboring areas such as the kingdom of Ankole. Mosques and schools were taken over by the Christian faction, and powerful courtiers like Ham Mukasa (1870-1956) and Stanislaus Mugwanya whose early education was in Swahili and Arabic, switched to writing in the Latin script,[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-17-152373430) such as [Ham Mukasa’s 1902 publication documenting his journey to England](https://www.patreon.com/posts/106728570). While Muteesa and his courtiers were known to have composed letters in Swahili and Arabic, and kept Arabic manuscripts,[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-18-152373430) none of the early writings by Buganda’s _Ulama_ from the late 19th century have been recovered.
Many of the emigres became the first _Ulama_ in those regions and some took up administrative positions during the early colonial period. However, their numbers remained small compared to Buganda, whose _Ulama_ had recovered by early 20th century, and adopted East African-derived traditions such as the _Maulid_ celebrations. Some scholars, such as Hajji Sekimwanyi, also undertook the pilgrimage to mecca, and published a travel account of his journey to the Hijaz in 1920.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-19-152373430)
The oldest surviving documents written by Buganda’s _Ulama_ were books published by local printing presses in the early 20th century.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-20-152373430) Many of the published accounts are concerned with historiography, they include; Sheikh Abdul Karim Nyanzi's _‘Ebyafayo Bye Ntalo Ze Ddini Mu Buganda_’ (History of the Wars of Religion); Bakale Mukasa bin Mayanja’s _‘Akatabo k’Ebyafayo Ebyantalo’_ in 1932, (An Introduction to the History of the Wars)[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-21-152373430), Hajji Sekimwanyi's ‘_Ebyafayo B'yobuisiramu mu Buganda_’ in 1947 (History of Islam in Buganda). and several others, some of which are in manuscript form.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-22-152373430)
A handful of external scholars also began to arrive in Buganda during the early 20th century. These include the Bornu* scholar Shaykh Hajji Muhammad Abdallah, who in the 1890s, traveled from Nigeria to Mecca, before traveling through Egypt, Ethiopia, Somaliland, and Kenya, after which he moved to Bombo, near Kampala, in 1905. He played a role in establishing a school and mosque at Bombo, and mostly stayed in Uganda until his death in 1943.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-23-152373430) Others include Khlafan Ibn Mubaraka and Abd al-Samad ibn Najimi who also trained many _bawalimu_ (teachers) in Buganda.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-24-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w4RP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf364023-e915-44e3-b732-dcc364f23f85_586x596.png)
_**The Masjid Noor and the tombs of Shaykh Hajji Muhammad and others at Bombo**_, _**Luwero, Uganda**_. Image by Author. _The original mosque was constructed in 1920_[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-25-152373430)_and expanded in the 1970s._
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The intellectual history of the eastern D.R.Congo.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kYYy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F214a0938-b96b-4c7d-9ece-7414744d19da_524x494.png)
_**Map of the Democratic Republic of Congo, showing Maniema Province and the location of Kasongo, Nyangwe and Boyoma Falls.**_ image by Noemie Arazi et al.
Coastal traders reached the region of Eastern D.R. Congo during the mid-19th century. While they were referred to as the 'Waungwana' (Swahili term for patrician), they were a diverse group that included Omani, Comorian and Swahili merchants.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-26-152373430) They were driven into the interior by the expanding ivory frontier and the commodities trade, establishing towns and trading stations such as Kasongo, Kabambare, and Nyangwe.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-27-152373430)
A few of them, such as Tippo Tip (Ḥamad al-Murjabī), Rumaliza, and the Comorian merchant Kibonge, gradually acquired more power through their commercial networks and political alliances. The capitals of their new states became important centers of learning for the region's small but growing Muslim community. Schools were established at Kasongo and Nywangwe, scribes literate in both Swahili and Arabic were employed by most local rulers to correspond with each other (and later with the Belgian colonists), and the _bawalimu_ (teachers/scholars) also wrote copies of Islamic works as well as amulets that were in high demand among neighboring groups.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-28-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Vja7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd73b2d-1d21-4eca-8d14-cdde548fc23f_1195x494.png)
_**19th-century Swahili documents from the eastern D.R.Congo**_ at the Africa Museum in Tervuren, Belgium. Images from Wikimedia Commons.
The earliest among the known Congolese documents in Arabic script, available in various museums and archives in Belgium, all date from the late 19th century and consist, among others, of Swahili treatises, astrological manuscripts, letters in Arabic and Swahili, prayer books, and inscribed objects. All were written by local scribes, the known authors of whom include; Shanzī bin Jum‘a, the Comorian clerk of Rashid bin Muhammed, who was Tippu Tip’s nephew; Sa‘īd bin ‘Īsa, a relative of Rumaliza, and Fundi Lubangi, a Swahili clerk who later worked for European officers.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-29-152373430)
Like in Buganda, the significance of the scholarly communities of eastern D.R.Congo established during the pre-colonial era becomes evident during the colonial period, when they expanded and took on added importance. By the time of the First World War, the _Ulama_ of East Africa existed in or near most colonial administrative centers. Most of these communities inherited the dominant attributes of Swahili intellectual and religious traditions (such as the Shafi'i school of law), and they came to exhibit common underlying characteristics derived from Swahili coastal culture, such as mosque architecture.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-30-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kofj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1580621f-0dac-41a3-8467-7c3ccf2d2c8e_650x488.png)
_**Ruins of a mosque in Isangi, eastern D.R.Congo, ca. 1894.**_ NMVW.
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**The education system and curriculum of pre-colonial East Africa.**
The schools established on the East African coast and the mainland during the pre-colonial period offered basic education to anyone who desired it, and most _Ulama_ offered advanced learning in some specialized science. The quality of advanced education also benefitted from itinerant scholars like Ali b. 'Abdallah Mazru'i and Sh. 'Abdallah Bakathir, who traveled to the Hijaz. The texts that were taught were mostly standard Shafi'i legal and theological works that formed part of the “Indian Ocean corpus,” some of which were composed by local scholars. For example; Muhyi ad-Din composed works on theology and morphology, as well as a commentary on Nawawi's Minhaj al-Talibin. while the writings of Abdul-Aziz b. Abdul-Ghani, dealt with a variety of subjects, including theology, grammar, and rhetoric.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-31-152373430)
Like in West Africa, the education system of East Africa was centered around individual scholars rather than institutions. According to Mtoro Bakari’s detailed ethnographic account of the Swahili written in 1903, _**“Some sheikhs teach in their houses and some in the mosques,”**_ a teacher (_**mwalimu**_) chooses which subject to teach their students and for how long, the student’s family pays the teacher while the student brings the materials such as writing boards and ink. Advanced learning (_**Elimu**_ = Knowledge) begins around the age of 20 when students are taught; legal works such as the _**Min haj**_ [ Min Haj at-Talibin, of An-Nawawt (d. 1277), a well-known textbook of Shafi'i law]; laws on commerce, marriage and divorce; works on grammar and commentaries.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-32-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZSOa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7a6130e6-3286-4747-aced-7f0374689b9b_884x585.png)
_**the Sharh tarbiyyat al-atfal (expounding on the Instruction for children) written in 1842 in Zanzibar by the Barawa-born scholar Muhyi al-Qahtani (ca. 1790-1869)**_, [Riyadha Mosque](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP466-1-38#), Lamu, Kenya.
An account from 1909 describing the books taught in the schools of Kisangani in eastern D.R.Congo, notes that _**“all the written customs, specific to the Banguana, are called Uaguana and are divided in four books: the Morahabahti, the Shamtilimanfi, the Kitabutchanusai and the Kazel Kule. They write them in the Swahili language with the help of the Arabic letters.”**_ adding that there are also works of juridical nature, refered to as _**“copies of successive Kanuni”**_ and that _**“The only way to get to know them is to have gained the absolute confidence of a learned leader”**_[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-33-152373430)
Like in most parts of the Islamic world, students in East Africa were instructed from the personal libraries of individual teachers and after completing their studies, were elevated to the status of _‘Shaykh’_ and issued an _**ijazah**_ (whether oral or written) authorizing them to teach a given subject. This system is attested in Buganda[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-34-152373430) and in Eastern D.R.Congo.
According to the 1909 description of schools in eastern D.R. Congo: _**“In Kisangani, the ‘village arabisé’ of Stanleyville, lives a great mwalimu. This mwalimu is […] the one who’s in charge of teaching the children how to write. He is accompanied by a man almost as learned as he is […]. The two men are assisted by 18 teachers who depend on them and follow their instructions […]. They write them in the Swahili language with the Arabic alphabet**_.”[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-35-152373430)
While the shaykhs of elite coastal families only offered advanced learning to other elites, students who received their education from the _tariqas_ such as those who were taught by the Barawa Shaykh Uways and his students managed to get some degree of advanced education. A description of the extent of writing in Kisangani from the 1909 account notes that, _**“We can affirm that all the Africans who follow the [mwalimu’s] teaching and have adopted Islam are able to write and read Swahili, often very purely”**_[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-36-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DLsm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ed5439d-1f77-4f0e-823d-de3cac95d0f7_782x585.png)
the _**Alfyya [The One Thousand, verse of 1000 lines] copied in Lamu by Shārū al-Sūmālī in 1858**_, [Riyadha Mosque](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP466-1-15), Lamu, Kenya.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-37-152373430)
**Trans-regional intellectual networks in East Africa: the biography of Uways al-Barawi. (1847-1909)**
Uways b. Mohamed, better known as Sheikh/Shaykh Uways al-Qādirī was born in [the old town of Barawa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca) in 1847. Unlike most established scholars of the old city, he belonged to a family of humble origins of the Goigal lineage who were clients of the Tunni-Somali clan, and the family earned their livelihood primarily as weavers.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-38-152373430)
Shaykh Uways’s first teachers were the local scholars in Barawa such as Shaykh Muḥammad Jannah al-Bahlūlī, Shaykh Aḥmad Jabhad, and Shaykh Muḥammad Ṭaʾyīnī, the latter of whom encouraged Uways to join the Qādiriyyah order and travel abroad to learn under its scholars in Iraq. In 1870 Shaykh Uways travelled to Baghdad where he studied under Sayyid al-Kilānī, a descendant of Shaykh ʿAbdulqādir al-Jīlānī, the founder of the Qādiriyyah, and eventually obtained his full authorization (_**ijāzah**_) to teach. He also performed his first pilgrimage to Mecca in 1873 and later traveled back to Baghdad, only returning to Barawa in 1882, where he attracted a large following.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-39-152373430)
Shaykh Uways mainly led a peripatetic life, moving with his entourage from Somalia to Arabia to Zanzibar; where the sultans; Bargash, Khalifa and Hamid offered him financial assistance and residencies for his followers.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-40-152373430) He composed several didactic poems in Somali, Arabic and in Chimiini-Swahili, thus spreading his branch of the Qadiriyyah (called the _**Qadiriyyah Uwaysiyyah**_) across Somalia; Zanzibar; Comoros; Tanzania; eastern D.R.Congo, and as far as Yemen and Java.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-41-152373430)
According to a hagiography of him written by the Barawa scholar Qassim al-Barawī’ in 1917, Shaykh Uways had more than 150 deputies (_**khalīfas**_) of many different backgrounds including the Zanzibar sultans Barghash and Khalīfa. Unlike his coastal peers, Uways and his followers taught everyone; _**"men, women, and children, slave and free."**_[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-42-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lDzt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b476b6-7ca1-4425-8a7b-91f5ecd29202_554x615.png)
_**A poem by Shaykh Uways,**_ image from banadirwiki.
The Qādiriyya thus quickly spread through the khalīfas appointed by him, beginning with his fellow Brawa-born scholars in Zanzibar such as ShaykhʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Amawī (1838–1896) and Sayyid ʿUmar Qullatayn (d. 1926), to Comorians like Mkelle b. Adam (b. 1855) and ʿĪsā b. Aḥmad al-Injazījī who spread it to Mozambique, and then to mainlanders like Shaykh Mjana kheri (b. 1870) who spread it across Tanzania, Malawi, and even Congo. These scholars all established _**zawiyas**_ (sufi institutions) and schools for educational purposes, they awarded _ijazahs_ (certificates), whose _isnads_ (chains of transmission) went back directly to Shaykh Uways.[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-43-152373430)
Historians argue that Shaykh Uways’ unlikely collaboration with the Zanzibar Sultan Bargash (who was a strict Ibadi) was primarily political; as both wanted to expel the Europeans from the East African mainland by leveraging their extensive scholarly network in the interior. This is evidenced by the active participation of the Zanzibar scholar Sulayman bin Zahir al-Jabir al-Barawi in the overthrow of the Buganda king Mwanga in 1888. Sulayman al-Barawi was a close fried and likely emissary of Sultan Bargash. He was also a leading member of the Qadiriyya in Buganda and aided the ascendancy of Buganda’s _Ulama_ in the kingdom’s court politics until his departure in late 1888.[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-44-152373430)
In the succeeding decades, the Qadiriyya of East Africa was at the forefront of the anti-colonial movement in many societies opposed to the German presence in Tanzania. This movement culminated in the rebellions of 1905-1908 when various anti-colonial letters authored by Qadiriyya _Khalifas_ like Zahir al-Barawi in Tabora and Rumaliza in Zanzibar (after moving from eastern D.R.congo), were spread across southern and central Tanzania, urging the _Ulama_ and their followers to rise up against the Germans. Occurring shortly after the Maji Maji uprising, this rebellion alarmed the Germans who moved swiftly against it, arresting several of its leaders and forcing some into exile.[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-45-152373430)
Despite his political sympathies for this anti-colonial movement, Shaykh Uways never clashed directly with colonial authorities in Zanzibar or Somalia, unlike his later opponent; Muḥammad ibn Abdallah Ḥasan of Somalia (Mad Mullah), who waged a 20-year-long anti-colonial war against the British, Italians and Ethiopians. Affiliated with the Wahhabis of Arabia, Sayyid Muḥammad was opposed to the Qādirīyyah order of Shaykh Uways. After a series of virulent exchanges in verse between the heads of the two movements, the dispute escalated to actual fighting, ending with the assassination of Shaykh Uways in 1909 by a group of Sayyid Muḥammad’s followers at Biolay, 150 miles north of Barawa.[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-46-152373430)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VsA4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febe43e53-96bf-47d0-bd00-a2eb3907dd0a_595x490.png)
_**The old town of Barawa, Somalia. in the mid-20th century.**_
Shaykh Uways’ popularity increased after his death, both in the colonial and post-independence periods. In Rwanda and Burundi, and throughout the Congo-Tanzanian border region, the Qadiriyya is referred to as the 'Mulidi' or 'Muridi'. In Kisangani, it was introduced by the Comorian scholar Ḥabīb bin Aḥmad who reached the town in 1904, while in Burundi, it was introduced by ‘Abd al-Raḥman at the lake-shore town of Rumonge, albeit relatively late in the 1950s. The connections of these Qadiriyya scholars to Uways are indicated by their chains of transmission, attesting to the extended reach of the intellectual traditions of East Africa.[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-47-152373430)
While studies of the intellectual history of East Africa are still in their infancy, the available research on the scholarly traditions of the Swahili coast, and the mainland regions of Buganda and eastern D.R.Congo attest to the rapid spread of writing across the region during the late 19th century. The scholars who composed these little-known manuscripts played a significant role in the historical developments of the region and can greatly expand our understanding of Africa’s rich but often overlooked intellectual history.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SBMo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea234837-dbbe-4b50-a701-e2a97f07945c_1270x591.png)
_19th-century Astronomical manuscript from Lamu, Kenya_.[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-48-152373430)
**The Swahili scholar Mtoro Bakari (1869-1927) who is cited in the above essay was one of the founders of African Studies in Europe, and one of the first Africans to publish their academic research on African societies. Unfortunately, Mtoro’s groundbreaking research was overshadowed by his peers in Germany, where he taught as a lecturer at the universities of Berlin and Hamburg from 1900-1913.**
**Read more about the fascinating life and works of Mtoro Bakari in my latest Patreon article here:**
[LIFE AND WORKS OF MTORO BAKARI](https://www.patreon.com/posts/116614018?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1MJa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65b2cbdf-6363-4037-a283-2be0806b1bac_907x661.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-1-152373430)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 254-256
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-2-152373430)
Writing in Swahili on Stone and on Paper by Ann Biersteker pg 15-25
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-3-152373430)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century. by Greville S. P. Freeman-Grenville pg 29-32, 38-39
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-4-152373430)
_13th century Persian sources:_ A Traveller in Thirteenth-century Arabia: Ibn Al-Mujāwir's Tārīkh Al-mustabṣir by Yūsuf ibn Yaʻqūb Ibn al-Mujāwir pg 151, 165 _. 14th century Rasulid-Yemen sources_: L’Arabie marchande, : État et commerce sous les sultans rasūlides du Yémen (626-858/1229-1454) by Éric Vallet, Chapter9, par. 29-31.
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-5-152373430)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century. by Greville S. P. Freeman-Grenville pg 33)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-6-152373430)
Writing in Swahili on Stone and on Paper by Ann Biersteker pg 13-14)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-7-152373430)
Swahili Literature and History in the Post-Structuralist Era by Randall L. Pouwels pg 272-283, On the poetics of the Utendi by Clarissa Vierke pg 19-21
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-8-152373430)
Sufis and scholars of the sea by Anne K. Bang pg 30-31,Islam and the Heroic Image by John Renard pg 246-247, Epic Poetry in Swahili by Jan Knappert pg 51-52, On the Poetics of the Utendi by Clarissa Vierke pg 440
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-9-152373430)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 262)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-10-152373430)
Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa By B. G. Martin pg 152-177, The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 263)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-11-152373430)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 264-265)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-12-152373430)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 291-292) Colonial Buganda and the End of Empire: Political Thought and Historical Imagination in Africa by Jonathon L. Earle pg 143
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-13-152373430)
Central Africa: Naked Truths of Naked People: An Account of Expeditions to the Lake Victoria Nyanza and the Makraka Niam-Niam, West of the Bahr-el-Abiad (White Nile). by Charles Chaillé-Long, pg 121
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-14-152373430)
The Arab and Islamic Impact on Buganda during the Reign of Kabaka Mutesa by Oded Arye pg 119-223
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-15-152373430)
The Arab and Islamic Impact on Buganda during the Reign of Kabaka Mutesa by Oded Arye pg 220, 224, Through the Dark Continent, Or, The Sources of the Nile Around the Great Lakes of Equatorial Africa and Down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean, Volume 1 by Henry Morton Stanley 322
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-16-152373430)
Fabrication of Empire by Anthony Low pg 52-53, 65-66
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-17-152373430)
_Ham Mukasa’s autobiography_; The Wonderful Story of Uganda by Joseph Dennis Mullins, Ham Mukasa pg 176-178, 182-183, The Uganda Journal, Volumes 33-35: Luganda Historical writing by John Lowe 1893-1969, pg 19
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-18-152373430)
Colonial Buganda and the End of Empire: Political Thought and Historical Imagination in Africa by Jonathon L. Earle pg 144-146
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-19-152373430)
The Spread of Islam in Uganda by A. B. K. Kasozi pg 152, 175-178, 187-227, 241-251, 254, The Sudanese Muslim Factor in Uganda by Ibrahim El-Zein Soghayroun pg 49
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-20-152373430)
_All early surviving writings from Buganda by local scholars are printed books since field surveys for collecting old manuscripts have yet to be conducted. Besides written autobiographies from the late 19th century published by the missionary societies, Ham Mukasa and Apolo Kagwa brought back a printing press after their visit to England in 1902, which they immediately put to good use, and more private presses were acquired by Christian Ganda elites in the succeeding decades. Although publications by Muslim elites appeared relatively late in the 1930s and used the Latin script, some were based on older hand-written manuscripts written with the Arabic and Ajami scripts such as the 1920 travel account of Hajj Sekimwanyi._ see: The Uganda Journal, Volumes 33-35: Luganda Historical writing by John Lowe 1893-1969, pg 19-25.
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-21-152373430)
Colonial Buganda and the End of Empire: Political Thought and Historical Imagination in Africa by Jonathon L. Earle pg 155
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-22-152373430)
Luganda Historical writing by John Lowe 1893-1969, Uganda Journal Vol. 33, pg 25-26)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-23-152373430)
*A. B. K. Kasozi writes that the Muslims at Bombo identify his home country as “Burunon”. This may be a Luganda translation of Bornu/Borno. The Spread of Islam in Uganda by A. B. K. Kasozi pg 252-254, The Sudanese Muslim Factor in Uganda by Ibrahim El-Zein Soghayroun pg 47
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-24-152373430)
The Arab and Islamic Impact on Buganda during the Reign of Kabaka Mutesa by Oded Arye pg 217)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-25-152373430)
Country by Country Outline Survey of Muslim Minorities of the World, by Islamic Congress, Published 1977, pg 46.
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-26-152373430)
The Comorian Presence in Precolonial and Early Colonial Congo by Xavier Luffin pg 6-9
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-27-152373430)
Arabic and Swahili Documents from the Pre-Colonial Congo and the EIC (Congo Free State, 1885–1908): Who were the Scribes? by Xavier Luffin pg 281-283, History, archaeology and memory of the Swahili-Arab in the Maniema, Democratic Republic of Congo by Noemie Arazi et. al.
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-28-152373430)
Arabic and Swahili Documents from the Pre-Colonial Congo and the EIC (Congo Free State, 1885–1908): Who were the Scribes? by Xavier Luffin pg 287-293,
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-29-152373430)
On the Swahili documents in Arabic script from the Congo by Xavier Luffin, pg 21-22.
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-30-152373430)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 295-296.
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-31-152373430)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 264)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-32-152373430)
The Customs of the Swahili People by Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari (Trans. By J. W. T. Allen) pg 27-34.
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-33-152373430)
À Stanleyville by A. Detry Published by La Meuse 1912, pg 7.
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-34-152373430)
The Spread of Islam in Uganda by A. B. K. Kasozi pg 256-257)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-35-152373430)
À Stanleyville by A. Detry Published by La Meuse 1912, pg 8
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-36-152373430)
À Stanleyville by A. Detry Published by La Meuse 1912, pg 9
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-37-152373430)
For studies of the Riyadah Mosque manuscripts of Lamu, see _Localising Islamic knowledge by Anne K. Bang_, in ‘_From Dust to Digital: Ten Years of the Endangered Archives Programme’_ edited by Maja Kominko
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-38-152373430)
Renewers of the Age: Holy Men and Social Discourse in Colonial Benaadir By Scott Reese pg 71-72, 145, 158-161, Stringing Coral Beads': The Religious Poetry of Brava (c. 1890-1975): A Source Publication of Chimiini Texts and English Translations pg 87.
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-39-152373430)
Renewers of the Age: Holy Men and Social Discourse in Colonial Benaadir By Scott Reese pg 112-113, Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa By B. G. Martin pg 160-161
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-40-152373430)
Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa By B. G. Martin pg 164-165
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-41-152373430)
Muslim Politics and Resistance to Colonial Rule: Shaykh Uways B. Muhammad Al-Barawi and the Qadiriya Brotherhood in East Africa by B. G. Martin pg 473
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-42-152373430)
Renewers of the Age: Holy Men and Social Discourse in Colonial Benaadir By Scott Reese p 121, 223-228, Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa By B. G. Martin pg 163)
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-43-152373430)
Islamic Sufi Networks in the Western Indian Ocean (c.1880-1940) By Anne K. Bang pg 34-35, 50-66)
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-44-152373430)
Muslim Politics and Resistance to Colonial Rule: Shaykh Uways B. Muhammad Al-Barawi and the Qadiriya Brotherhood in East Africa by B. G. Martin pg 475-476, The Spread of Islam in Uganda by A. B. K. Kasozi pg 43
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-45-152373430)
Muslim Politics and Resistance to Colonial Rule: Shaykh Uways B. Muhammad Al-Barawi and the Qadiriya Brotherhood in East Africa by B. G. Martin pg 477-485)
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-46-152373430)
Muslim Politics and Resistance to Colonial Rule: Shaykh Uways B. Muhammad Al-Barawi and the Qadiriya Brotherhood in East Africa by B. G. Martin pg 472, Stringing Coral Beads': The Religious Poetry of Brava (c. 1890-1975): A Source Publication of Chimiini Texts and English Translations pg 88)
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east#footnote-anchor-47-152373430)
The Comorian Presence in Precolonial and Early Colonial Congo by Xavier Luffin pg 11-12, Muslim Politics and Resistance to Colonial Rule: Shaykh Uways B. Muhammad Al-Barawi and the Qadiriya Brotherhood in East Africa by B. G. Martin pg 485)
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hV2D!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6aeb37e9-7aa3-45d3-92a5-e2d7431ec73b_959x713.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-intellectual-history-of-east
|
In June 1652, the Ethiopian scholar Abba Gorgoryos reached the city of Nuremburg in what was then the Holy Roman Empire (modern Germany) where he met Hiob Ludolf, an envoy and linguist whom later generations of ‘Ethiopists’ would regard as the founder of Ethiopian studies in Europe.
Ludolf had first met Gorgoryos in Rome, [where a long-established diasporic community of Ethiopian scholars](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051) had sparked his interest in Ethiopian studies. Following an invitation from the Duke of Saxe Gotha (part of the Holy Roman Empire), Gorgoryos was joined by Ludolf and invited to stay at the Duke's Friedenstein Castle. For several weeks, the Ethiopian scholar was involved in extensive discussions on Ethiopian history and culture, while correcting the little available literature they had.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-1-152093943)
In his 1681 publication titled 'Historia Aethiopica', Ludolf devoted most of the book's preface to the Ethiopian scholar in recognition of his contribution, referring to him as a _**“person of great credit, and on whose authority anyone may securely rely.”**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-2-152093943)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6CyU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F828ad012-eaab-4d66-a337-88c7841c176f_382x600.jpeg)
_**Portrait of Abba Gorgoryos**_ in the ‘Historia Aethiopica’ by Hiob Ludolf
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JRoZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F57e3b46d-24bc-4f9b-9d67-f474363e0d70_1400x839.jpeg)
_**Ruins of Susenyos’s Palace at Dänqäz, near Gondar, Ethiopia**_. Photo by Metalocus. _Gorgoryos was a high-ranking aristocrat and a close adviser to emperor Susenyos and fled the country after the emperor’s abdication in 1632._[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-3-152093943)
A little over two centuries later in 1896, the Hausa scholar Imam Umaru established a school in the small town of Kete-Krachi in what would become the German colony of Togo in west-Africa. One of his students was the German linguist Adam Mischlich, who is counted among the earliest scholars of Hausa studies in Europe.
Umaru composed several manuscripts for his students, including a monumental anthropological work on Hausa society titled _'Tarihin Kasar Hausa'_(History of Hausaland). Mischlich translated this and several other works of Umaru which he published in several journal articles in 1909, and in his 1947 book _Über die Kulturen im Mittel-Sudan_(About the Cultures of Central Sudan).[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-4-152093943)
However, unlike Ludolf, Mischlich tells us nothing about Umaru in his articles, and devotes less than two pages to him in his book. [Imam Umaru wrote more than 130 works on many different topics](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-network-of-african-scholarship). Many were preserved in private libraries by his students in West Africa, and at least 40 of them were later transferred to institutions such as the University of Ghana and Nigeria’s National Archives, in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
It wasn't until 1977 when Umaru's original manuscripts used in Mischlich's publications were re-translated, that his contributions to modern Hausa historiography and African studies in general would be fully appreciated by a new generation of scholars.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-5-152093943)
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_**Photo of Al-Hajj Umaru al-Kanawi (1858-1934) in Togo and his birthplace of Kano in Nigeria during the early 20th century.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fThs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3433cf80-771d-45b9-ad9a-0d7364458ef3_1320x611.png)
_**Umaru’s first work in 1877 (at the age of 20); a 20-page letter writing manual; now at Kaduna National Archives, Nigeria (no. L/AR20/1)**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
The broad field of African studies, which includes anthropology, linguistics, and history, has often recognized a number of ‘founding figures’ who are virtually all European scholars of the colonial era, and whose work is considered central to the establishment of the modern study of African societies and cultures. However, later generations of scholars have uncovered the work of African scholars and informants whose invaluable research formed the basis of much of the work published by their European colleagues.
While the efforts of these African intellectuals were at times noted, they were not thought of as co-authors and did not receive much praise for their labor. Until recently, little was known about their contributions to the ethnographic and linguistic scholarship of Africa, and their work remained hidden in the footnotes of their more famous European peers who published under their own names what was effectively the work of African intellectuals.
Focusing on Germany in particular, a notable example is the linguist Carl Meinhof (1857–1944), who is widely regarded as the founder of African studies***** in German universities (_**Afrikanistik**_), beginning in 1887 with the ‘Seminar of Oriental Languages’ (**SOL**) at the University of Berlin and the Hamburg Colonial Institute in 1908, where he took up the first professorial positions in both institutions. Meinhof is renowned for his comprehensive classification scheme for African languages and for his highly influential publications on Bantu languages.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-6-152093943)
[*_**note that such ‘African studies’ were expressly concerned with serving European colonial interests rather than being purely “scientific” pursuits**_[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-7-152093943)]
The African studies pioneered by Meinhof and his colleagues in Germany, such as the linguists; Carl Gotthilf Büttner (d. 1893) and Carl Velten (d. 1935), were very dependent on several African scholars and informants who provided first-hand information on their own societies. Some of these Africans traveled to Germany to serve as lecturers at the SOL and in Hamburg, but their contribution to the founding of African studies remained largely unknown.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-8-152093943)
A list of these hidden African founders includes the Duala prince Njo Dibone, who traveled from Cameroon to Germany in 1885 to teach the then-pastor Carl Meinhof about the Duala language and other related languages. Dibone also taught Meinhof aspects of Duala anthropology and mythology, some of which were compiled by Dibone in his 1889 publication; _Märchen aus Kamerun_ (Fairy Tales from Cameroon).[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-9-152093943)
Dibone’s teaching marked the beginning of Meinhof's career as a linguist and ‘ethnographer’ of Africa resulting in Meinhof's publication of such foundational works like “_Preliminary Remarks to a Comparative Dictionary of Bantu_” (1895), and _Bantu Phonology_ (1899), which were the first among the numerous articles and books he published. However, the relationship between Meinhof and Dibone later deteriorated after the latter requested financial compensation for his services.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-10-152093943)
Around the same time that Dibone was teaching Meinhof, the latter's peers at the SOL, such as Carl Büttner, were learning the Swahili language from the East African lecturers; Sulaiman bin Said and Amur al-Omeri, who travelled from Zanzibar to Berlin in 1889 and 1891 respectively. The two Swahili lecturers had many famous students at the SOL including the abovementioned Carl Velten, and they also published several works on East African societies, customs, and languages, as well as [a travel account and description of Berlin by Amur al-Omeri](https://www.patreon.com/posts/112049775).[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-11-152093943)
Büttner was originally a missionary in what is today Namibia and a strong advocate for German colonialism, after which he became the first “teacher” of Swahili at the SOL in 1887 despite having little knowledge of the language prior to the arrival of the two lecturers.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-12-152093943) While Büttner included the manuscripts contributed by Sulaiman and Amur in his 2-volume work on Swahili literature titled; _Anthologie aus der Suaheli-litteratur_ (1894), the rest of the manuscripts he included from other African authors remained uncredited.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-13-152093943) His successor; Carl Velten, also reproduced works written by Swahili authors, only some of which he credited to their African authors.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-14-152093943)
The abovementioned African founders had a lasting impact on the emergence and development of African studies in late 19th century Germany, which was at the time the leading center of African studies in Europe (France’s ‘Bureau of Colonial Ethnography’ opened in 1907 while the UK’s SOAS University opened in 1916). In the succeeding years, dozens of African lecturers would travel to Berlin and Hamburg, where they contributed greatly to the creation of the so-called ‘colonial library’ —which was in truth a body of knowledge produced by Africans but subsumed by imperial interests[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-15-152093943).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BqLm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ac69dfc-6ce1-4da4-a756-83d30129a84f_820x532.png)
_**Swahili lecturer at the SOL in Berlin, ca. 1911**_, collection of Carl Velten & Alice _**Carnwath. Rooftop view of Zanzibar, Tanzania, ca. 1936**_, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.
Many of the experiences of African lecturers in early 20th century Germany resembled those of their predecessors. Examples include the Duala scholar Peter Mukuri Makembe, who arrived in Germany from Cameroon in 1910 and later traveled to Hamburg in 1913 to collaborate with Carl Meinhof. However, after about four years, the relationship between the two soured when Makembe felt that he was not given recognition in Meinhof’s book on the Duala language. This resulted in Makembe leaving the institute in 1917 to pursue his own interests.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-16-152093943)
The tenuous relationship between the African intellectuals and their European colleagues explains why most of the pioneering studies written by African scholars about their own societies remained largely unknown. Fortunately, recent efforts to decolonize African studies have begun to uncover the contributions of hidden African founders such as Imam Umaru, as well as a lesser-known East African scholar named Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari (1869-1927).
Mtoro traveled from the city of Bagamoyo (in Tanzania) to Berlin in June 1900, and served as a lecturer at the SOL until 1905 and at Hamburg from 1909-1913, after which he returned to Berlin where he settled, married, and lived the rest of his life. In 1903, Mtoro completed an anthropological work on the Swahili, Zaramo, and Nyamwezi of central Tanzania titled _**‘Desturi za Wasuaheli’**_. This work was written in Swahili using the Arabic script, before it was translated into German by Carl Velten and published.
In its very short preface, Velten presents the book as a compilation of reports, for which Mtoro only served to ‘point him in the right direction’.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-17-152093943)
However, a more recent reexamination and translation of the original Swahili manuscript in 1981 has shown that the bulk of the 210-page book was written by Mtoro himself, and that rather than being a mere collection of reports, the Swahili author **“worked over the whole book and gave to it homogeneity and distinction of style.”**[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-18-152093943)
My latest Patreon article explores the life and works of Mtoro Bakari, including excerpts from his study of East African societies.
please subscribe to read about it here:
[LIFE AND WORKS OF MTORO BAKARI](https://www.patreon.com/posts/116614018?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1MJa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65b2cbdf-6363-4037-a283-2be0806b1bac_907x661.png)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-1-152093943)
Gorgoryos and Ludolf : The Ethiopian and German Fore-Fathers of Ethiopian Studies An Ethiopian scholar’s 1652 visit to Thuringia* by Wolbert G.C. Smidt
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-2-152093943)
A New History of Ethiopia: Being a Full and Accurate Description of the Kingdom of Abessinia. by Hiob Ludolf, 2nd edition published by Samuel Smith, 1684.
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-4-152093943)
Nineteenth Century Hausaland Being a Description by Imam Imoru of the Land, Economy, and Society of His People by Douglas Edwin Ferguson pg 1-2.
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-5-152093943)
Nineteenth Century Hausaland Being a Description by Imam Imoru of the Land, Economy, and Society of His People by Douglas Edwin Ferguson pg 3-4.
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-6-152093943)
Ordering Africa: Anthropology, European Imperialism and the Politics of Knowledge by Helen L. Tilley, Robert J. Gordon pg 71-78
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-7-152093943)
this is the primary theme of the book; Ordering Africa: Anthropology, European Imperialism and the Politics of Knowledge by Helen L. Tilley, Robert J. Gordon.
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-8-152093943)
Ordering Africa: Anthropology, European Imperialism and the Politics of Knowledge by Helen L. Tilley, Robert J. Gordon. pg 119-130
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-9-152093943)
Africa in Translation: A History of Colonial Linguistics in Germany and Beyond, 1814-1945 by Sara Pugach pg 74-86, 141-142
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-10-152093943)
Africa in Translation: A History of Colonial Linguistics in Germany and Beyond, 1814-1945 by Sara Pugach pg 153-154
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-11-152093943)
Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari: Swahili Lecturer and Author in Germany By Ludger Wimmelbücker pg 31-33
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-12-152093943)
Islam in German East Africa, 1885–1918: A Genealogy of Colonial Religion By Jörg Haustein pg 78-79.
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-13-152093943)
Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari: Swahili Lecturer and Author in Germany By Ludger Wimmelbücker pg 33-34
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-14-152093943)
The Customs of the Swahili People by Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari (Trans. By J. W. T. Allen) pg x-xi.
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-15-152093943)
Sultan, Caliph and the Renewer of the Faith: Ahmad Lobbo, the Tarikh al-fattash and the Making of an Islamic State in West Africa by Mauro Nobili pg 25-27
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-16-152093943)
Black Germany: The Making and Unmaking of a Diaspora Community, 1884-1960 By Robbie Aitken, Eve Rosenhaft pg 134
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-17-152093943)
Desturi za Wasuaḥeli na khabari za desturi za sheriʻa za Wasuaḥeli, [gesammelt] By Carl Velten, published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1903, pg v.
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies#footnote-anchor-18-152093943)
The Customs of the Swahili People by Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari (Trans. By J. W. T. Allen) pg vii
|
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-hidden-founders-of-african-studies
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Horses and humans have shared a long history in Africa since the emergence of equestrian societies across the continent during the bronze age.
For over 3,000 years, [Horses were central to the formation and expansion of states in West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/knights-of-the-sahara-a-history-of?utm_source=publication-search), the Maghreb, and the Horn of Africa, leading to the creation of some of the world's largest land empires such as Kush, Songhai, and Bornu, whose formidable cavalries extended across multiple ecological zones.
While the use of horses is often thought to have been confined to the northern half of the continent, Horses were present in parts of the southern half of the continent and equestrian traditions emerged among some of the kingdoms of southern Africa where the horse became central to the region’s political and cultural history.
This article explores the history of the Horse in the southern half of Africa, including its spread in warfare, its adoption by pre-colonial African societies, and the emergence of horse-breeds that are unique to the region.
_**Map showing the spread of horses in the southern half of Africa.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JQBN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb77b82a9-a4d0-45da-8ad8-2b6216360d07_739x602.png)
**Horses and other pack animals in the southern half of Africa before the 17th century.**
One of the earliest mentions of Horses on the mainland of southern Africa comes from a Portuguese account in 1554, describing the journey of a group of shipwrecked sailors north of the Mthatha River (Eastern Cape province). The Portuguese mention that they saw _**“a large herd of buffaloes, zebras, and horses, which we only saw in this place during the whole of our journey”[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-1-151756517)**_
This isolated reference to horses in southern Africa is rather exceptional since the rest of the earliest Portuguese accounts only mention horses in the Swahili cities of the East African coast.
Horses spread to the African continent during the second millennium BC, and were adopted by many societies across the Maghreb, West Africa, and the Horn of Africa by the early centuries of the common era. However, the spread of Horses south of the equator was restricted by trypanosomiasis, which explains the apparent absence of the Horse among the mainland societies of that region, and their use of oxen as the preferred pack animal.
Al-Masudi’s 10th-century description of Sofala (on the southern coast of Mozambique) for example, mentions that the _Zanj_ of that region _**“use the ox as a beast of burden, for they have no horses, mules or camels in their land”**_ adding that _**“These oxen are harnessed like a horse and run as fast.”**_ A 12th-century account by Al-Idrisi describing the island of Mombasa in modern Kenya mentions that the King's guards _**“go on foot because they have no mounts: horses cannot live there.”**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-2-151756517)
While neither of these writers visited Sofala (al-Masudi may have reached Pemba), their descriptions were likely influenced by the extensive use of oxen as pack animals among many mainland societies in the southern half of the continent.
The Khoe-san speakers of south-western Africa for example are known to have used cattle in transport and in warfare.
Accounts of their first encounter with the Portuguese in 1497, mention that the oxen of the Khoe-san were _**“very marvellously fat, and very tame”**_ adding that _**“the blacks fit the fattest of them with pack-saddles made of reeds ...and on top of these some sticks to serve as litters, and on these they ride.”**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-3-151756517) The Khoe-san famously deployed these oxen during the battle of Table Bay in 1510. The warriors skilfully used their herd of cattle as moving shields and successfully defeated the Portuguese forces of Dom Francisco d'Almeida.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-4-151756517)
Other societies in south-west Africa, such as the Bantu-speaking Xhosa also rode on cattle as attested in the earliest documentary record about their communities in the 17th century. Trained oxen of the Khoe-san, Xhosa, and the Sotho were ridden with saddles made of sheepskin fastened by a rope girth. They usually had a hole drilled through the cartilage of their noses and a wooden stick with a rope fastened to either end to enable the rider to direct the animal.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-5-151756517)
Further north in the regions between modern Angola and Zambia, riding oxen were utilized by various African societies, especially in the drier savannah regions where large herds of cattle could be kept.
The 1798 account of the Portuguese governor of Mozambique-Island, Francisco José de Lacerda, mentions that riding oxen (bois cavallos) were the primary means of transport in the Lunda province of Kazembe, besides the more ubiquitous head porterage. While Lacerda recommended that the Portuguese should import camels or domesticate zebras, multiple attempts to introduce camels ended in failure, and the zebra remains undomesticated.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-6-151756517)
Later accounts from the 19th century document the extensive use of riding oxen in Angola by both local and foreign traders traveling as far as Congo and parts of Zambia. A particular breed of cattle from Barosteland (the Lozi kingdom) called the ‘Yenges’ were used as riding oxen in Angola[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-7-151756517). According to an account from 1875, oxen were trained for riding at Moçâmedes in southwestern Angola; _**“the cartilage of the nose is perforated, and through the opening, a thin, short piece of round iron is passed, at the end of which are attached the reigns and the animal is guided by them in the same manner as a horse.”**_[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-8-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!aw6B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6e53e13-11a0-44fb-9a9d-47c80594fb62_692x591.png)
_**a Sanza (thumb piano) with an equestrian figure riding a highly stylized bull**_, 19th century, Chokwe artist, Angola/D.R.Congo, Cleveland Museum
Horses appear more frequently in the earliest accounts of Portuguese visitors to the East African coast.
When Vasco Da Gama first arrived in the city of Malindi in 1498, he observed two horsemen engaged in a mock fight. The Portuguese thus sent gifts to the king of Malindi, which included a saddle, bridles, and stirrups, all of which the king utilized during a brief ceremony where he rode on horseback. In 1505, after the Portuguese invasion of Kilwa by Dom Francisco d’Almeida (before he was killed by the Khoe-San), the rival kings he installed also rode on horseback to proclaim their ascendancy, likely inspired by the ceremony witnessed at Malindi, or part of a pre-existing tradition.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-9-151756517)
An account from 1511 by Tom Pires indicates that the horses of the East African coast were imported from Yemen. He mentions that; _**“Goods are brought from Kilwa, Malindi Brava, Mogadishu, and Mombassa in exchange for the good horses in this Arabia.”**_[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-10-151756517) However, later accounts of Swahili trade and military systems indicate that these horses were used sparingly, likely only serving a ceremonial function, while donkeys and camels remained the main pack animals, and can still be seen in the modern streets of Lamu and Mombasa.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Tphe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22f605e0-1d14-4321-90ed-3a8eed2ed5ac_1600x1001.jpeg)
_**Donkeys carrying building material, early 20th century**_, Mombasa, Kenya.
**The defeat of European cavalries in subequatorial Africa: Portuguese Horsemen in Angola and Zimbabwe.**
The earliest encounter with European horses in the southern half of the continent began during the first wave of invasions of the mainland during the late 16th century.
In 1570-71, the Portuguese conquistador Francisco Barreto traveled up the Zambezi River at Sena (in Mozambique) with about **“twenty three horses and five hundred and sixty musqueteers”** in his [failed invasion of the kingdom of Mutapa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-mutapa-and-the-portuguese) (in Zimbabwe), where some of the horses were poisoned by rival Swahili merchants while others died due to disease.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-11-151756517)
Along the Atlantic coast in what is today modern Angola, a few horses were reportedly introduced in the kingdom of Kongo, along with Portuguese mercenaries to serve the Kongo king Afonso I as early as 1514, but both proved to be rather unsatisfactory, and the horses did not survive for long.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-12-151756517)
Significant numbers of war horses only arrived in west-central Africa during the [Portuguese invasion of the kingdom of Ndongo](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-ndongo-and-the-portuguese) in the late 16th century which led to the creation of the coastal colony of Angola with its capital at Luanda.
In 1592, Francisco de Almeida (unrelated to the one mentioned above) arrived in Luanda with 400 soldiers and 50 horsemen who led a failed invasion into the Kisama province of Ndongo in order to reverse an earlier defeat inflicted on the Portuguese forces by Ndongo's army. The initial attack using the cavalry disorganized the armies of Kisama, although the latter countered the effect of cavalry by using the surrounding cover of the woods to draw and defeat the Portuguese force, forcing them to retreat.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-13-151756517)
A later invasion of the kingdom of Ndongo & Matamba in 1626 led by Bento Banha Cardoso against the famous queen Njinga was relatively successful. The Portuguese installed an allied king opposed to Njinga, whose retreating forces were unsuccessfully pursued by _**“eighty cavalry and foot soldiers.”**_ Cavalry frequently appeared in Portuguese battles with Njinga's army, but their numbers remained modest, with only 16 cavalry among the 400 Portuguese officers and 30,000 auxiliaries at the battle of Kavanga in 1646.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-14-151756517)
The small cavalry force of the Portuguese was maintained by constantly importing remounts from Brazil and other places, but these troops were never a significant factor in warfare. They typically fought dismounted, as they did at Kavanga, and even in reconnaissance or pursuit never went faster than the quick-footed pedestrian scouts.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-15-151756517)
The Portuguese who had come to central Africa hoping to repeat the feats of the Spanish horsemen in Mexico were quickly disappointed. Their early claims that one horseman was equal to a thousand infantrymen were rendered obsolete by the realities of warfare in central Africa.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-16-151756517) The last of the largest Portuguese invasions which included a cavalry unit of 50 horsemen was soundly defeated by the armies of Matamba in 1681; more than 100 Portuguese men were killed along with many of their 40,000 African auxiliaries.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-17-151756517)
It should be noted that the ineffectiveness of cavalry warfare didn’t present a significant impediment to Portuguese colonization of the southern half of the continent, as they nevertheless managed to establish vast colonies in the interior of central Africa, south-east Africa, and [the Swahili coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from?utm_source=publication-search), which at their height in the early 17th century, occupied a much larger territory than the Dutch Cape colony of south-west Africa, where the environment was more conducive to horses and cavalry warfare.
**From the Cape to the kingdoms of Southern Africa: the spread of an equestrian tradition to the Khoe-San, Xhosa, Tswana, Mpondo, Sotho, and Zulu societies.**
Horses arrived in the Dutch Cape colony in 1653, about a century after they were first sighted in the eastern Cape region by the Portuguese.
The importation of horses, which began with four Javanese horses brought by the colony’s founder Van Riebeeck in 1653, was a perilous process and their numbers remained low for most of the 17th century. African horse-sickness initially constrained horse breeding, forcing settlers to use idiosyncratic mixtures of local knowledge of disease management. They learned from the Khoe herders how to use smoky fires to discourage flies, grazing at higher elevations, and where to move horses between seasons inorder to keep the stock alive.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-18-151756517)
After gradually building up their stock of horses, settler authorities used them to display settler ascendancy to the subject population of the cape. By 1670, they established horse-based ‘commando’ units for policing the frontier; these traveled as cavalry but attacked as typical infantry units that dismounted to shoot. The number of Horses steadily rose from 197 in 1681 to 2,325 in 1715 to 5,749 by 1744. Horse riding and warfare became an important symbol of social identity and military power for the Boer population of the cape, which prompted neighbouring African societies to adopt this equestrian tradition.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-19-151756517)
Beginning in the 1780s, creolized groups of Khoe-san speakers such as the Griqua and Kora, mounted on horses, moved to the Orange River area and beyond as part of the eastward migration from the Cape colony. The small Griqua and Kora societies were primarily engaged in cattle raiding and horse trade with and against sedentary communities like the Xhosa and Sotho. Griqua and Kora warriors used horses to supply mobility but primarily fought on foot.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-20-151756517)
Other creolized groups such as the AmaTola, assimilated horses into the raiding economies, and their belief systems. They brought horses to the Drakensberg from the eastern Cape frontier and became acculturated into the neighboring sedentary societies, especially the Xhosa from whom their ethnonym is likely derived and whose equestrian tradition they initially influenced.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-21-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GJp3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdda4d717-fb54-4497-8e9f-18eb8106ba1e_753x557.png)
_**Spear-wielding men**_**[**San foragers**]**_**, some probably dismounted from the nearby horses, ‘hunt’ a hippopotamus**_. Traced by Patricia Vinnicombe from a rock-painting in the East Griqualand area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-22-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!h6cV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85a1968d-bc95-4049-bfc0-2140d3b3a143_558x515.png)
_**Korana horseman, ca. 1836**_, illustration by Thomas Arbousset and François Daumas.
In the modern eastern cape region, the Xhosa gradually adopted the use of horses and firearms during their century-long wars against the Boers, British and neighboring African groups. The armies Xhosa king Sarhili (r. 1835-1892) won several battles against the neighbouring Thembu and Mpondo due to their skillful use of horses and firearms. By 1846, Xhosa factions were able to mobilize as many as 7,000 armed mounted men, and they soon became excellent horsemen, although horses weren't commonly used in actual combat due to the terrain.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-23-151756517)
In contrast to the Sarhili’s Xhosa kingdom, the neighboring kingdom of Mpondo under King Faku (r. 1818 -1867) did not create cavalry units. King Faku often preferred to avoid hostilities with the Boers and the British, and instead played the two groups against each other. The Mpondo nevertheless acquired horses from the neighbouring Khoe-san groups through trade and raiding, and the horses were used in transport and minor conflicts in Mpondoland.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-24-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WqT4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b03da1d-6959-473f-87a5-bf78d17ad809_997x536.png)
_**procession of men on horse-back in Pondoland, ca. 1936, eastern cape region, South Africa**_. British Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ALiI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2aed6c3f-eede-42f3-b1ef-d3efe988f1c0_991x581.png)
_**two men riding on horse-back in Pondoland**_, ca. 1936, British Museum.
Raids by the Kora against the baSotho made a significant impression on the latter, whose king Moshoeshoe (r. 1822-1870) acquired his first horse in 1829 while he was consolidating his power to create the kingdom of Lesotho. Moshoeshoe's subjects quickly became more than a match for the Kora and other San groups as they acquired their own horses and guns. Some were captured from the Kora, while others were procured by individuals who had gone to work on farms in the Cape Colony, and many more were obtained through trade.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-25-151756517)
Moshoeshoe began to build up a small cavalry as he gained more followers. He attacked the predatory bands of the Kora and Griqua from the early 1830s, and traded with some who were allies. By 1839 the price of horses had increased to ten guineas (or six oxen for one horse) at Griqua Town because there was a ready buyer’s market in the neighbouring baSotho chiefs. Between 1833 and 1838 Moshoeshoe imported 200 horses and by 1842 he had 500 armed horsemen who were _**“constantly prepared for war.”**_[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-26-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HUN1!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fde957fc1-9d92-40a9-ba38-c315d75a6784_720x425.png)
_**baSotho horsemen in the early 20th century**_, photo likely from the 1925 visit of the prince of wales.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sy4L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F40b6892d-ba89-415a-b585-1e151d8da8f3_1311x535.png)
_**‘A Basuto Scout’**_, engraving by Unbekannt, ca. 1880. _**‘A Mosotho Horseman’**_, undated photo at the National Archives, UK. _**Horseman from from Basutoland**_, ca. 1936, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, UK.
Horses were used to transport mounted infantry or for cavalry action with the knobkierie and assegai (spear). By 1852 the Basotho forces stood at about 6,000, _**“almost all clothed in European costumes and with saddles.”**_ These horsemen managed to put up a successful defense against a British colonial army at the Battle of Berea.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-27-151756517)
Increased conflicts between the kingdom and the Boer Orange Free State culminated in the first First Basotho–Boer War in 1858, and a second war in 1868, which involved between 10,000 and 20,000 Basotho cavalry and infantrymen. Losses from both conflicts compelled Moshoeshoe to seek British protection in 1869, and Lesotho became part of the Cape colony by the time of his death in 1870.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-28-151756517)
Internally, the kingdom mostly remained under local authority, and horses continued to play a central role in its political administration and cultural traditions. Horses facilitated the governance of greater areas and provided a more effective communication system. The Horse population of the kingdom doubled from just under 40,000 in 1875 to over 80,000 in 1890 compared to a human population of about 120,000. Horses played a key role in the 1880-81 'Gun-war' against the Cape colony's attempt to disarm the baSotho, which ended with the latter retaining their guns and horses, even as their kingdom was placed directly under British in 1884.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-29-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ESh4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1237147e-dc26-469b-9ab9-b0e2ade8d91d_994x615.png)
_**Horsemen in the Quthing District of Basutoland**_, ca. 1936, British Museum.
Further north in the modern province of Kwazulu Natal, the arrival of Horses is associated with the rise of the AmaThethwa king Dingiswayo, who reportedly traveled to the eastern cape region and returned on horseback with a firearm[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-30-151756517). However, horses would not be widely adopted in the military systems of the Mthethwa and Zulu kingdoms, with the late exception of the Zulu king Dinuzulu (r. 1884-1913) who included a small contingent of 30 horsemen to assist his infantry force of 4,000 during the rebellion of 1888.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-31-151756517)
Horses arrived late in the northmost provinces and were less decisive in warfare. In June 1831 a coalition of 300 Griqua horsemen and several hundred Tswana spearmen was roundly defeated by the Ndebele king Mzilikazi near present-day Sun City in the north-west province. The Ndebele captured large numbers of firearms and horses but did not make much use of them and most of the captured horses eventually died of disease.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-32-151756517)
The mixed infantry and cavalry forces of the Boers fared better against the armies of the Ndebele and the Zulu between 1836-1838, and against the horse-riding Tswana chiefdoms of Gasebonwe and Mahura in 1858. However, horses were rarely used in actual combat and horse-sickness restricted the length of some campaigns, such as in the wars with the baPedi ruler Sekhukhune in 1878. In these regions, both the Boers and the British used horses to transport troops to battle; in skirmishes to break enemy formations; and to pursue defeated foes.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-33-151756517)
These tactics were then applied to devastating effect during the second Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902, which was the last major cavalry war in southern Africa, resulting in the deaths of at least 326,000 horses alongside nearly 200,000 human casualties.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-34-151756517)
**Horse Breeding and Trade**
The vast majority of horses in the pre-colonial societies of southern Africa originated from the ‘Cape Horse’ breed, which measured about 14.3 hands. The ‘Cape Horse’ was itself the result of a globalised fusion of the following breeds; the South-east Asian or ‘Javanese’ pony (itself arguably of Arab–Persian stock); imported Persians (1689); South American stock (1778); North American stock (1792); English Thoroughbreds (1792); and later Spanish Barbs (1807); with a particularly significant Arabian genetic influence.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-35-151756517)
The export of horses from the Cape colony began in 1769 but this trade remained very modest and erratic save for between 1857 and 1861 when thousands of Horses were exported to India. The Horse trade with neighboring African societies (often clandestine) was more significant, especially after the British conquest of the cape in 1806 which compelled some of its population to migrate beyond its borders.
Despite the recurring epidemic of horse-disease which killed anywhere between 20-30% of the horse population every two decades, the number of Horses in the cape exploded from 47,436 at the time of the British conquest to 145,000 in 1855 to 446,000 in 1899 on the eve of the Anglo-Boer war. However, this was largely the result of increased imports, as most of the remaining Cape Horses were killed by disease and in the Anglo-Boer war. By the end of the 19th century, the once redoubtable Cape horse was pronounced as being as ‘extinct as the quagga’, having been replaced by the English Thoroughbred.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-36-151756517)
The Kora, Griqua, Xhosa, and Sotho, began breeding horses as soon as they were acquired. By the early 19th century, the Griqua established a settlement in Philippolis, and were becoming increasingly equestrianised and ‘breeding good horses.’[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-37-151756517) As late as 1908, a colonial report notes that “in the fine territory of East Griqualand” (just south of Lesotho), _**“the principal industries are sheep farming, horse breeding and agriculture on a small scale, horse sickness, which is so destructive in many parts of Cape Colony, being unknown.”**_[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-38-151756517)
Trade between the British-controlled Cape colony and the Xhosa in the 1820s ensured that horses and guns were acquired by the latter, albeit illegally as it was forbidden. The Xhosa later started breeding horses themselves and by the end of the 1830s, one cape official noted: _**“Not many years ago the Africans … looked upon a horse as a strange animal which few of them would venture to mount. Now they are becoming bold horsemen, are possessed of large numbers of horses.”**_[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-39-151756517)
In Lesotho, a local horse breed known as the ‘Basuto pony’ which measures about 13.2-14.2 hands[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-40-151756517), was created from a heterogeneous stock acquired from various sources, whose diverse origins are reflected in the breed’s changing nomenclature. The earliest Sesotho phrase for the horse was _**khomo-ea-haka**_, literally translated as ‘cattle called haka’ (hacqua being the Khoisan name for a horse). Haka was then replaced by the word ‘pere’ from the Dutch/Afrikaans ‘perd’ likely obtained from the Kora. From 1830 to 1850 imported stock was mostly ‘Cape horses’ of ‘South-east Asian’ origin, that were later mixed with the English Thoroughbred horses in the second half of the 19th century.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-41-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!J4Cu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd40cf197-e5cf-415e-bfa4-1998377d625e_1000x817)
_**a Basuto pony**_, oil on canvas painting by William Josiah Redworth, ca. 1904.
By the early 1870s, Basutoland was a major supplier of grain and horses to the Kimberly diamond fields, rivaling the Boer Free State Boers. This export trade grew rapidly on the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer wars in 1899, as the baSotho sold their horses to both sides and dictated the terms of the market. In 1900 alone the Basotho exported 4,419 horses worth £64,031 (£6,087,000 today). Basotho ponies were particularly desired, because they were famously hardy and were already acclimatized to local conditions and diseases. Their quality was praised by the imperial authorities and British press: _**“They are all very square-built active animals, just the thing for campaigning, but the Basutos would not sell their own riding horses for love or money. All they would sell were the spare horses.”**_[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-42-151756517)
As late as 1923, the “principal occupations” of Lesotho were “agriculture, horse-breeding and stock-farming” according to a detailed account of the kingdom whose author also praises the Basuto pony, describing it as a ‘fine beast’ that will _**“carry his rider in safety along the most precipitous paths in the rugged mountains amongst which he has been bred.”**_[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-43-151756517)
In the north-western region of South Africa bordering Namibia and Botswana, a type of horse breed similar to the Basuto Pony was developed and was referred to as the Namaqua pony, named after the Nama-speaking Khoe-san groups of the region. The Namaqua pony was spread to Botswana and Namibia where it was mixed with German horse breeds, although it is said to be currently extinct.[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-44-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QZAl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83111a5a-ce77-46b7-9df5-dbbb7d656ca3_641x577.png)
_**Basotho Pony, ca. 1902**_, Harold Sessions.
**The Horse in the cultural history of pre-colonial Southern Africa.**
Among the Khoe-san speaking groups like the Korana and AmaTola, horse-riding became central to social identity and the economies of their frontier societies.[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-45-151756517) This is best reflected in the surviving artwork of both groups, which often includes stylized depictions of human figures on horseback, alongside other animals associated with local belief systems such as baboons. The motif of the horse and baboon was harnessed by shamans who assumed their protective power to keep the AmaTola safe on their mounted forays.[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-46-151756517)
The emphasis on horses in their art reflects the value that these animals had as one of the chief means by which desirable goods could be obtained, traded, and defended. Riders are frequently shown controlling their steeds using reins and sometimes have a thin horizontal line emanating from their shoulders, likely depicting a gun, and in one artwork riders are shown close to an elephant, likely signaling the importance that hunting ivory had for Korana, Griqua, and other frontier groups.[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-47-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CQk3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F712433c1-2307-4491-aaea-ec33d8d92e44_920x648.png)
_**Human figure with a baboon head and tail dances with dancing sticks while horsemen exhibiting mixed material culture (brimmed hats with feathers, spears, muskets) ride together.**_ Rock art from the headwaters of the Mankazana River in the Eastern Cape region, Image by Sam Challis and Brent Sinclair-Thomson.[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-48-151756517)
In Lesotho, the military horse was seamlessly incorporated into male domestic life. According to an account from 1875: _**“the traditional wish with every young Basuto to possess a horse and gun, without which he does not consider himself "a man", and is liable to be jeered at by his more fortunate fellows.”**_[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-49-151756517)
The longevity of this militarised masculinity is illustrated by the oral testimony of an old man, born in 1896, who spoke of riding a horse and bearing arms in the early decades of the twentieth century even when it was not strictly speaking necessary, simply to exhibit a permanent preparedness for war.[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-50-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KMBz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F06065da2-c316-4aec-b531-1eab45a27fa8_992x614.png)
_**Group of horseriders in Lesotho**_, ca. 1936, British Museum.
While cattle remained the main symbols of wealth, horses could be used in social transactions like _**bohali**_ (bridewealth). Men usually received their first horse from their fathers which could be given as part of _bohali_, especially the ‘Molisana’ horse. By the end of the 19th century, virtually every male adult in Lesotho had a horse.
Horse riding among baSotho women was relatively rare. According to a late account from 1923, **“**_**The women ride seldom, but young herds**(youths)**ride anything and everything that can boast four legs, from a goat to a bullock, tumbling off and then on again till the unhappy animal gives in and becomes quite a respectable mount.”**_ In contrast, elite women in Mpondoland typically rode horses.[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-51-151756517)
Beyond their military function, horses were also used in domestic contexts, not just in rural transport, but also in various activities including; hunting (typically among the San foragers but also among the Boers and the African groups); in ploughing and threshing (complementing oxen for the Boers and the Sotho); and in the transport of trade goods (everything from horse-drawn cabs of the 19th-century cape colony, to the simple loading of goods on horseback in the rest of the country).[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-52-151756517)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IGvK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe44046ca-04ec-4c1f-ac17-b5f394881153_804x620.png)
_**Horsewomen in Lesotho and Pondoland**_, ca. 1936, South Africa, British Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zGV3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99f6cfad-7b92-4131-85ec-eb0642638121_590x440.png)
_**‘Basuto ponies threshing grain’**_ ca. 1924, by E. A. T. Dutton.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lxUM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F177ca9b6-0d6e-44d4-a616-0c4526733788_723x621.png)
_**Transporting goods on horseback in Pondoland**_, ca. 1936, British Museum.
Horse riding and breeding went into rapid decline during the post-war period in South Africa. Despite multiple attempts to revive the use of horses during the 1920s and 40s, horses were increasingly becoming obsolete on large-scale commercial farms, in public transport, and in the military, the few remaining uses of horses became symbolic, and their breeding became intertwined with the emerging politics of the apartheid era.[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-53-151756517)
In Lesotho, Horses retained their significance in the local economy and are still widely used for general transport over the dramatic topography of the country. The Horse remains an important symbol of Sotho cultural identity and appears in the Basotho coat of arms. The cultural significance of the Horse in Lesotho and the survival of the ‘Basuto pony’ to the present day makes the country one of the most remarkable equestrian societies on the continent.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kKmg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0b031471-d944-434b-9f2d-bff79a4e0194_800x477.png)
_**Horsemen in Lesotho**_, photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images.
**In the 17th century, cloth exports from the eastern province of the Kongo Kingdom rivaled some of the most productive textile industries of Europe. Most of this cloth was derived from further inland in the great Textile Belt of Central Africa;**
**Please subscribe to read about the history of the cloth trade in the ‘Central African Textile Belt’ here;**
[CLOTH TRADE IN CENTRAL AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/115726507?pr=true&forSale=true)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-1-151756517)
Records of South-Eastern Africa: Collected in Various Libraries, Volume 1, edited by George McCall Theal pg 258
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-2-151756517)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century by Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 15-16, 20
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-3-151756517)
The Cape Herders: A History of the Khoikhoi of Southern Africa by Emile Boonzaier pg 55)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-4-151756517)
Remembering the Khoikhoi victory over Dom Francisco de Almeida at the Cape in 1510 by David Johnson
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-5-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 20)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-6-151756517)
Lacerda's Journey to Cazembe in 1798 pg 19-20, A Short History of Modern Angola by David Birmingham pg 30-32
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-7-151756517)
The Use of Oxen as Pack and Riding Animals in Africa By Gerhard Lindblom pg 45-49
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-8-151756517)
Angola and the River Congo, Volume 2 By Joachim John Monteiro pg 218-219
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-9-151756517)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century by Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 54, 62-63, 95, 107
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-10-151756517)
The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century by Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 125
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-11-151756517)
Records of South-Eastern Africa: Collected in Various Libraries, Volume 1 edited by George McCall Theal pg 26, A History of Mozambique by M. Newitt pg 57-58
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-12-151756517)
Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800 By John Kelly Thornton pg 108
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-13-151756517)
Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen By Linda M. Heywood pg 28, A History of West Central Africa to 1850 By John K. Thornton pg 101
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-14-151756517)
Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen By Linda M. Heywood pg 87, 101, 104, 106, 144, 146
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-15-151756517)
The Art of War in Angola, 1575-1680 by John Kelly Thornton pg 367, 375)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-16-151756517)
The Art of War in Angola, 1575-1680 by John Kelly Thornton pg 375
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-17-151756517)
the Mbundu and their neighbours under the influence of the Portuguese 1483-1700 by D Birmingham pg 231-232
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-18-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 22-24
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-19-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 27-31
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-20-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 81-82, A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid by Timothy J. Stapleton pg 15-18
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-21-151756517)
The Impact of the Horse on the AmaTola 'Bushmen'” New Identity in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of Southern Africa by W Challis pg 21, 121-131.
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-22-151756517)
Horse Nations: The Worldwide Impact of the Horse on Indigenous Societies Post-1492 by Peter Mitchell pg xxxi
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-23-151756517)
The House of Phalo: A History of the Xhosa People in the Days of Their Independence by Jeffrey B. Peires pg 116-117, 155-156, Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 79
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-24-151756517)
Faku: Rulership and Colonialism in the Mpondo Kingdom (c. 1780-1867) By Timothy J. Stapleton pg 125-127, 77, 82, 99, 102, 112-119.
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-25-151756517)
Sotho Arms and Ammunition in the Nineteenth century by A Atmore pg 536-537, Interaction between South-Eastern San and Southern Nguni and Sotho Communities c.1400 to c.1880 by Pieter Jolly pg 47, 51
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-26-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 83-84)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-27-151756517)
A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid by Timothy J. Stapleton pg 39-40, Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 87)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-28-151756517)
A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid by Timothy J. Stapleton pg 41-46)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-29-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 84, 88-91, 94)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-30-151756517)
Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of Southeastern Africa By Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 167-170
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-31-151756517)
A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid by Timothy J. Stapleton pg 108)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-32-151756517)
A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid by Timothy J. Stapleton pg 19-20)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-33-151756517)
A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid by Timothy J. Stapleton pg 27-30, 49,55-56, 66-69)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-34-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 104)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-35-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 32-33, The Arabian Horse and Its Influence in South Africa by Charmaine Grobbelaar.
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-36-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 44, 68-75
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-37-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 81)
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-38-151756517)
Handbook No. 11, South African Colonies, Transvaal Hanbook with Map, edited by Walter Paton, Emigrants' Information Office, July 1908.
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-39-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 43-44)
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-40-151756517)
The basuto of Basutoland by Eric Aldhelm Torlough Dutton pg 65, Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 87
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-41-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 85)
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-42-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 93, 96)
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-43-151756517)
The basuto of Basutoland by Eric Aldhelm Torlough Dutton pg 65
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-44-151756517)
The Indigenous Livestock of Eastern and Southern Africa by Ian Lauder Mason, John Patrick Maule pg 13.
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-45-151756517)
The Impact of Contact and Colonization on Indigenous Worldviews, Rock Art, and the History of Southern Africa “The Disconnect” by Sam Challis and Brent Sinclair-Thomson pg 101-104, Cattle, Sheep and Horses: A Review of Domestic Animals in the Rock Art of Southern Africa by A. H. Manhire et al. pg 27)
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-46-151756517)
The Impact of the Horse on the AmaTola 'Bushmen'” New Identity in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of Southern Africa by W Challis
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-47-151756517)
Horse Nations: The Worldwide Impact of the Horse on Indigenous Societies Post-1492 by Peter Mitchell pg 306-307
[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-48-151756517)
The Impact of Contact and Colonization on Indigenous Worldviews, Rock Art, and the History of Southern Africa “The Disconnect” by Sam Challis and Brent Sinclair-Thomson pg 104
[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-49-151756517)
Sotho Arms and Ammunition in the Nineteenth Century by Anthony Atmore and Peter Sanders pg 541
[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-50-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 84, 92)
[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-51-151756517)
The basuto of Basutoland by Eric Aldhelm Torlough Dutton pg 73, Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 93-94, 159)
[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-52-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 42, 62 143,
[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern#footnote-anchor-53-151756517)
Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa by Sandra Scott Swart pg 164-170
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[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-horses-in-the-southern
|
In December 1633, a Dutch ship reached the fort of Nassau on the ‘Gold Coast’ (modern Ghana), carrying more than 6,000 pieces of cloth which was to be exchanged for gold. However, unlike most cloth imported to the West African coast at the time, this cloth didn't come from India or Europe, but from the West African kingdom of Benin.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-1-151462502)
By the middle of the century, trade in Benin cloth expanded rapidly to over 16,000 pieces annually even as its price quadrupled.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-2-151462502) The European buyers learned that the cloth came from the town of Koffo, _**"which lies one day's journey from Great Benin, but no white man may go there".**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-3-151462502)Near the close of the century, this cloth was reported to have come from much further inland, and only part of the trade was controlled by Benin.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-4-151462502) The cloth trade became so lucrative that it drew in [African mariners, who sailed from the Gold coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the?utm_source=publication-search) in order to cut out the European middlemen and purchase the cloth directly from Benin and its neighbors.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!T043!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e4dd167-18bf-443d-904a-e369ffc02afa_1200x907.jpeg)
_**17th-century Dutch engraving depicting the city of Benin**_.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!C_i5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff255be31-e2db-45b1-8394-bd69007a2178_1303x582.jpeg)
_**18th-century engraving of El-mina on the Gold coast, depicting local sail-boats.**_
The trade of textiles was one of the most important aspects of Africa's economic history. The growth of textile manufacturing across the continent was underpinned by domestic and external demand, facilitated by long-distance trade which linked producers to local and regional markets. The volume and complexity of the trade induced innovations in its organization, making African cloth competitive not just in local markets but in foreign markets within the continent and beyond.
Along the Swahili coast, the increase in demand for trade cloth led to the emergence of textile-producing centers on the islands of Mombasa and Pate in modern Kenya. 16th century accounts mention that the weavers of the island of Pate are particularly famous along the coast, for making silk and cotton cloth embroidered with gold and silver. These 'Pate cloths' found a ready market among the Swahili and in the interior kingdoms along the Zambezi, where they were used in the gold and ivory trade, and were considered more valuable than Gujarati cloths from India. In 1762, skippers from Pate and Mombasa were exporting about 10,000 pieces of cloth to the Kerimba Islands of Mozambique.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-5-151462502)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sjCg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F064cf81e-3dc5-41eb-ad76-24ce2dc3cb1a_778x539.png)
_**Mombasa beachfront, ca. 1934**_, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek
As early as the 14th century, the city of Mogadishu in Somalia was renowned for its trade in local textiles, which, according to Ibn Battuta, were _**“unequaled and exported from it to Egypt and elsewhere.”**_ By the 19th century, a fifth of Mogadishu's population of 5,000 worked in its textile industry to make an estimated 50,000 pieces of cloth annually, most of which were exported by local traders to the interior and across the coast as far as Zanzibar, with about 10% of the total being sent overseas. [6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-6-151462502)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bMaG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e241d7a-8584-4d9c-bc13-b201205e0920_773x596.png)
_**Mogadishu, Somalia ca. 1909**_, Société géographique italienne.
In the Hausaland region of West Africa, the city of Kano emerged as the leading center of [the Sokoto empire’s textile industry](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry) during the 19th century. In 1851, the city of 60,000 inhabitants produced an estimated 100,000 pieces of cloth annually, a fifth of which were exported to Timbuktu. Kano cloth could be found anywhere between the Atlantic and southern Mediterranean coasts, where it was carried by local merchants to places as distant as Tripoli and Lagos.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yXWg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4c9fd3c-03b5-4654-a88d-a5fc01afe5fb_1019x519.png)
_**The city of Kano**_, Nigeria, ca 1931, Walter Mittelholzer.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!81LN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5db1325b-33e6-4adb-a77b-5fcc3682ea73_684x482.png)
_**a Hausa cloth-trader in Ghana**_, ca. 1925. Basel Mission Archives.
The dynamism of cloth-production and trade in Africa contributed to the growth of multiple textile traditions across the continent. The vibrant and diverse textile economies of pre-colonial Africa were not displaced by imports of foreign cloths, but rather expanded to meet increased demand from other parts of the continent and beyond.
This is especially evident in the great 'textile belt' of central Africa, where large volumes of cloth have been produced and exported since the 16th century.
While much of the region's documentary record is concerned with Kongo's extensive export trade in cloth —**which during the 17th century outmatched all the places mentioned above**— most of this cloth wasn't made in Kongo itself but came from the interior. Long-distance trade routes in central Africa connected disparate cloth-producing regions as far inland as the shores of Lake Tanganyika, bringing the celebrated textiles of societies such as the Kuba and Luba to coastal markets in Kongo and Loango.
**The history of cloth trade in the ‘Central African Textile Belt’ is the subject of my latest Patreon article; please subscribe to read about it here:**
[CLOTH TRADE IN CENTRAL AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/115726507?pr=true&forSale=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qLrG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8087fe07-58d6-472b-9257-668821434999_451x1207.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-1-151462502)
Benin and the Europeans, 1485-1897 by Alan Frederick Charles Ryder pg 93-94
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-2-151462502)
Cloth in West African History by Colleen E. Kriger, pg 42, Benin and the Europeans, 1485-1897 by Alan Frederick Charles Ryder pg 95, 97.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-3-151462502)
Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology By Thomas Hodgkin pg 167
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-4-151462502)
How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500-1850 pg 97-99
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-5-151462502)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu By T. vernet pg 73-76, Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa By Edward A. Alpers pg 131-132. (_50,000 cruzados worth of cloth, each cloth in Mozambique cost about 5-6 cruzados according to an earlier account by Francisco Barreto_)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial#footnote-anchor-6-151462502)
East Africa and the Indian Ocean by Edward Alpers pg 79-91)
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-trade-of-pre-colonial
|
There aren’t many Africans on the list of Nobel laureates, nor does research on African societies show up in the selection committees of Stockholm. It was therefore a refreshing change when the trio of American economists; Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson, whose work includes research on pre-colonial and modern African societies, won the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics.
The trio has published several articles which argue that the type of institutions established by European colonialists resulted in the poorer parts of the world before the 1500s becoming some of the richest economies of today; while transforming some of the more prosperous parts of the non-European world of the 1500s into the poorest economies today. Their central argument is that colonies with “inclusive institutions” protected the property rights of European settlers while those with “extractive institutions” prevented investment and the adoption of technology while extracting rents from the indigenous populations.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-1-151079120)
While their work was mostly concerned with explaining why the wealthier regions of pre-Columbian America and South Asia became poorer than adjacent regions in North America and Australia after European colonialism,[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-2-151079120) two of the authors; Acemoglu and Robinson, would later include research on pre-colonial and modern African societies in their 2012 book titled: _**'How Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty'**_, using the kingdom of Kongo as their primary case study for how pre-existing extractive institutions were reinforced by European colonialism.
Acemoglu and Robinson have faced heavy criticism from scholars who believe their work oversimplifies complex historical and economic processes.
A 2008 article by the historian Gareth Austin for example points out that their data wasn't dependent on the inclusion of African countries, suggesting that the evidence from Africa contradicts their general hypothesis and is inapplicable to the continent. He questioned the quality of the evidence they used which was often anecdotal rather than qualitative, he challenged their exaggeration of the influence of Europeans in pre-colonial African history which is unsupported by modern African historiography and minimizes African agency. He concludes with a compelling critique that Acemoglu and Robinson ‘compress history’ in their attempt to create an all-embracing theory[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-3-151079120).
One of the most widely shared critiques of Acemoglu and Robinson’s book is a recent opinion piece in the Financial Times by the columnist Brendan Greeley, who noted that while Acemoglu and Robinson are right to see the importance of institutions, they are unable to understand the political and cultural forces that drive institutions. _**"Acemoglu and Robinson read a book called American Slavery, American Freedom, used the bits about American freedom and tossed the bits about American slavery. The new economic institutionalists treat work on institutions by a celebrated historian not as a coherent argument, but as a source of anecdotes."**_ Brendan advises young economists to stop by the history department, grab a book, and _**"read the whole thing"**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-4-151079120).
This essay examines Acemoglu and Robinson's analysis of pre-colonial African societies, with a particular focus on the kingdom of Kongo, showing how the two authors only studied Kongo's history to extract evidence that supported their pre-conceived hypothesis but disregarded and misrepresented all evidence which contradicted it.
_**Map showing the 17th century kingdoms of Africa’s Atlantic coast including the kingdom of Kongo.**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-5-151079120)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7VUd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28809f31-c00b-48b0-94e9-676279844ca2_1020x712.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Contradictions in the sources?**
In ‘Why Nations Fail’, Acemoglu and Robinson begin their analysis of pre-colonial African societies by claiming that none of them had developed writing (except Ethiopia and Somalia), the plow, or the wheel, despite contacts with European and Asian merchants. They explain Africans’ refusal to adopt these technologies using the example of the kingdom of Kongo, arguing that the Portuguese introduced these three technologies to Kongo but they were rejected, except firearms.
Acemoglu and Robinson argue that the people of Kongo rejected these technologies because state taxes were high and arbitrary; that the people’s very existence was threatened by slavery so they moved away from markets; and that the kings, whose power was absolutist, had no incentive to adopt the plow because exporting slaves was more profitable.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-6-151079120)
The book’s footnotes reveal the sources of these claims to be Anne Hilton's '_**The Kingdom of Kongo**_' (published in 1985) and John Thornton's '_**The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641–1718**_' (published in 1983). Hilton and Thornton are both specialists on the history of the kingdom of Kongo, especially the latter who has published eight books and over twenty articles about the history of Kongo, Africa, and the Atlantic world.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-7-151079120)
John Thornton's works, such as the well-cited and aptly titled '_**Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World**_', often explore themes that highlight African agency in its people's interactions with Europeans. Using the exceptionally plentiful documentary record about the kingdom of Kongo,[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-8-151079120) Thornton's work has dispelled myths about the supposed weakness of the pre-colonial African states and economies.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-9-151079120) He is also a vocal critic of 'dependency theorists' who argue that European merchants had an overwhelming influence on pre-colonial African societies, all of which makes him a rather surprising choice for Acemoglu and Robinson, whose entire argument rests on this exact premise.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-10-151079120)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-bRa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F78e7c9a2-0461-4cae-bb24-218f308b51aa_776x599.jpeg)
_Engraving in Olfer Dapper’s description of Africa, 1668, showing a Dutch delegation at the court of the King of Kongo, in 1641_. This was the cover for Thornton’s _‘Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World’_. The context of this engraving is about how [Kongo exploited Portuguese and Dutch rivalries during the 30-years war](https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-kongo-and-85683552).
**Rivaling Europe: Agriculture and Textile production in pre-colonial Kongo.**
Thornton is one of the few Africanists who have focused on the question of technology and industry in pre-colonial Africa, which Acemoglu and Robinson are preoccupied with. He warns his peers against _**"using a simple piece of technology like the presence or absence of the hoe, as a proxy measure for productivity"**_. He prefers to rely on contemporary accounts, such as those written by European visitors to; Kongo (Giovanni Francesco da Roma in 1645); the Gold Coast (Pieter de Marees and Wilhelm Johann Mulle in 1668); Senegal (Alvise da Mosto in 1455), and several others who observed that African farmers were more productive than European farmers of that period where those authors came from.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-11-151079120)
For the kingdom of Kongo in particular, Giovanni Francesco da Roma observed that _**"They do not plow, but only scratch up the soil with a little hoe to cover the seed. In return for this little effort, they reap most abundantly"**_[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-12-151079120). Quantitative records for yields per hectare from colonial Angola corroborate these observations. Agricultural yields in Angola’s central highlands declined drastically after the imposition of the colonial government; from 1,600 kg/ha in 1887 to just 400 kg/ha in the 1920s, ironically, **AFTER the plow was introduced** by the Portuguese.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-13-151079120)
A similar observation of the efficiency of Africa's "simple" technology was demonstrated in the textile industry of Kongo, whose eastern province of Momboares exported 100,000 meters of cloth in 1611 to Luanda, according to a Portuguese customs official. Using fixed looms and village-based subsistence labour, Momboares, which was only a small part of central Africa's great ‘textile belt', had a production capacity that rivaled that of Holland's province of Leiden, which was one of Europe's leading cloth producers.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-14-151079120)
The quality of Kongo's luxury cloth was also frequently compared to Italian luxury cloth —itself the best in Europe — including by Italian visitors like Antonio Zucchelli in 1705. The [cloth produced by Kongo’s textile industry](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/textile-trade-and-industry-in-the) served as currency (called _mabongo/ libongo_), it was used in burial shrouds and as wall hangings, making it the main store of wealth for the peasants. Most of the exported cloth was sold along the coast by European traders whose **profits from the cloth trade were four times greater than from the slave trade** according to figures provided by Hilton.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-15-151079120) Some of the Kongo textiles were also exported to Europe to make cushion covers, and the surviving examples leave little doubt regarding their high quality.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1uXu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf7192c2-0dc9-43ed-8495-dd4de2fa4e57_738x545.png)
_**Kongo luxury cloth: cushion cover, 17th-18th century**_, Polo Museale del Lazio, Museo Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini Roma.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zgKY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd81357e0-f7ba-4552-8b07-68d8cd5410af_944x620.png)
_**18th century engraving showing the funeral process of Andris Poucouta, a Mafouk of Cabinda on the Loango coast, made by Louis de Grandpre**_. The coffin that carried him was at least 20 feet long by 14 feet high and 8 feet thick, the whole was transported by a wheeled wagon pulled by at least 500 people over a road built for the purpose.
Kongo's textile production was also not exceptional, similar quantities of cloth export are noted by 17th-century Dutch traders in the neighboring kingdom of Loango, which exported about 80,000 meters of cloth.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-16-151079120) The West African kingdom of Benin was also a major textile producer **whose quality of cloth was also compared to that found in Leiden and Harlem by the Dutch traders,**who purchased 38,000 meters of it in 1644-46, which they mentioned was less than what the English had bought from Benin**.**[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-17-151079120) 17th-century Portuguese traders on the East African coast praised the quality of cloth produced on the island of Pate (in Kenya), which they used in their ivory trade with the mainland, routinely seized in battle, and some settlers bought it for themselves.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-18-151079120)
The relatively high productivity of African agriculture and cloth production contradicts the dependency theories proposed by Acemoglu and Robinson, which are mostly based on conjecture rather than historical evidence. It also strengthens the argument that Africans dictated the terms of their exchanges with coastal merchants. Thornton thus cautions against relying on simple theoretical arguments rather than available documentary sources, observing that _**"all too often comparisons between Africa and Europe in this time period both understate the strength of the African economy and overstate the modernity and productivity of the European economy."**_[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-19-151079120)
**Misrepresenting pre-colonial Africa’s political systems: Acemoglu and Robinson’s myth of absolutism in Kongo.**
The above outline is relevant in examining Acemoglu and Robinson’s erroneous description of Kongo's political organization as absolutist.
Neither Hilton nor Thornton claim that the King of Kongo had unconstrained power, they instead emphasize that a**council of officials elected him**, and they in fact frequently refer to the king's enthronement as an _**'election'**_. According to Hilton and Thornton, these electors were part of an elite who constituted a corporate group that 'owned' the state's land, with the King only filling a representative role and acting as a senior executive whose office could appoint officials and collect income on their behalf, but was expected to redistribute this income.
As stated by Hilton; _**"wars could not be declared, officials named or deprived, roads opened or closed without the consent of the council."**_ She also describes _**"several institutions"**_ that _**"balance the power of the king at the centre"**_, while Thornton provides other examples of similar councils in other parts of Africa which demonstrate that Kongo's political structure wasn't unique[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-20-151079120).
Acemoglu and Robinson's description of the absolutist authority of the king of Kongo is therefore contradicted by their own sources.
This is also evident in their claim that Kongo's taxes were arbitrary and heavy, which was apparently taken from Thornton's account of the kingdom during the mid-17th century in the years preceding the Civil War. Thornton was describing the kingdom of Kongo during its ‘late period’ when its kings were centralizing their power at the expense of the council, and one of the many ways they did this was to expand their sources of income, especially in the capital.
However, Thornton also notes that "_**The head tax of two mabongo in Nsoyo was in any case not a crushing burden ; it is safe to say that even poor families would have been able to raise it, since they would have needed anywhere from 80 to 120 mabongo to marry."**_ [this 80 to 120 _mabongo_ cloth-currency was given to the priest who officiated the wedding, not to the state]. Thornton adds that during this period, many peasants were engaged in specialized labour like textile production because of taxes, among other reasons, which contradicts Acemoglu and Robinson's claims that taxes forced the peasants to flee from the markets and curtailed production.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-21-151079120)
**Slavery in Africa and early-modern Europe.**
Having wilfully misrepresented their sources on Kongo's political structure and taxation, it’s unsurprising that Acemoglu and Robinson misunderstand the nature and dynamics of slavery and slave trade in the kingdom of Kongo. While they claim that Kongo's subjects were at risk of enslavement by their Kings, both Hilton and Thornton repeatedly stress that for most of the kingdom’s history, slaves exported from Kongo were often bought from further inland or acquired as war captives.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-22-151079120)
Thornton's other articles on the Kongo-Portugal wars, also highlight two major episodes during the 1580s and the 1620s where Kongo's kings demanded that Portugal repatriate its illegally enslaved citizens from Brazil, with more than a thousand baKongo being successfully tracked down and returned to Kongo after these requests.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-23-151079120) This, and other evidence such as the numerous letters of King Afonso Nzinga (r. 1509-1542) concerning the regulation of slavery in Kongo, prove that there were laws against the enslavement of 'free-born' citizens in the kingdom and that these laws were strictly enforced,[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-24-151079120) contrary to Acemoglu and Robinson's claims.
Acemoglu and Robinson's reductive analysis of the dynamics of slavery and 'free labour' in Kongo is also demonstrated in other sections of the book, where they argue that the rise of feudalism and serfdom in medieval Europe led to the decline of slavery, and that similar processes occurred in medieval Ethiopia with the _gult_ system of land tenure extracting the agricultural surpluses produced by serfs rather than slaves, which the authors claim was exceptional in sub-Saharan Africa where only slave institutions prevailed.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-25-151079120)
However, this binary between slave labour and free labour (serfs and wage labourers) was very uncommon in world history and was mostly confined to a handful of countries in Western Europe and the Americas specifically during the early modern period. Scholars of internal slavery in late medieval Europe such as Hannah Barker, argue that no such binary existed in the Latin world, where more than nine different social and legal groups of ‘unfreedom’ existed, which were all translated as ‘slaves’ in English literature.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-26-151079120)
She discusses the varying theories proposed by different groups of scholars for the apparent decline of slavery in post-Roman Europe, which she says is contradicted by the prevalence and importance of slave trade to the societies of the wealthy cities of southern Europe such as Venice and Genoa where thousands of slaves from northern, eastern and central Europe were sold to Ottoman merchants during the late middle ages.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-27-151079120)
Figures for European slavery in the succeeding period from 1500-1700 are provided by the historian Dariusz Kołodziejczyk, who writes that the _**"slave population imported into Ottoman lands from Poland-Lithuania, Muscovy and Circassia, amounted to over 10,000 a year in the period 1500-1650."**_ He estimates that total slave exports from this region alone amounted to about 2,000,000 between 1500-1700, compared to 1,800,000 for the Atlantic slave trade from the entire coastline of West Africa and Central Africa*.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-28-151079120) [*Note that Kongo's main coastal port of Mpinda exported a total of just under 3,100 slaves for the entire period between 1526–1641 according to David Eltis[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-29-151079120)]
**The dynamics of slavery and slave trade across most of Europe were therefore not too different from those in Africa**, at least, as far as feudalism is thought to have led to their decline. It’s for this reason that some forms of slavery persisted in medieval and early modern Ethiopia despite its _gult_ system of land tenure, just as slavery persisted in those European regions that captured and sold European slaves to the Ottomans. Slavery was after all, not incompatible with feudalism as Acemoglu and Robinson believe.
**Breaking the myth of Ethiopian exceptionalism: Land tenure and Literacy in pre-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa.**
The theme of Ethiopia's supposed exceptionalism in "sub-Saharan" Africa that is touted by Acemoglu and Robinson and many Western writers, has little basis in African historiography. In truth, the _gult_ system that allowed land to be alienated, inherited or sold by private owners wasn't only found in Ethiopia but was similar to the [land tenure of systems of medieval Nubia, the Sudanic kingdoms of Darfur and Funj, the west African empires of Bornu, Sokoto and Masina](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/land-and-property-in-pre-colonial?utm_source=publication-search), as well as in the city of Brava[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-30-151079120) on the southern coast of Somalia.
There are many written accounts about land tenure from at least four of these societies (Nubia, Darfur, Sokoto, Bornu) concerning the state's administration of land tenure and rent, land sale documents, and land grants, some of which have been studied by historians such as Donald Crummey in his 2005 book; _‘Land, Literacy and the State in Sudanic Africa’_. According to the land documents of the pre-colonial kingdom of Darfur analyzed by the historian R. S. O'Fahey, a comprehensive listing of a grantees’ rights in his estate is given on one of the documents as such: _**“...as an allodial estate, with full rights of possession and his confirmed property... namely rights of cultivation, causing to be cultivated, sale, donation, purchase, demolition and clearance.”**_[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-31-151079120)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nIx8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9274c5a-513b-479b-b56d-9a4a387a821b_494x744.png)
_land charter of Nur al-Din, a nobleman from the zaghawa group originally issued by Darfur king Abd al-Rahman in 1801 and renewed in 1803._[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-32-151079120)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
Acemoglu and Robinson’s claims on the apparent rarity of writing in Kongo and in sub-Saharan Africa also reveal their unfamiliarity with the history of writing in Africa, and in world history. The claim that Africans didn’t develop writing (save for Ethiopia and Somalia) is contradicted by the overwhelming evidence of manuscript cultures across the continent, the studies of which were laboriously cataloged for the _‘[Arabic Literature of Africa’](https://brill.com/display/serial/HO1-13ALA?language=en)_[project, led by the historian John Hunwick, which now boasts five volumes](https://brill.com/display/serial/HO1-13ALA?language=en).
Any serious scholar of African history is expected to at least have basic knowledge of the inscriptions of ancient Kush and medieval Nubia, and [the manuscript collections of Timbuktu and Bornu](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history?utm_source=publication-search), [Sokoto and the East African coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history-314?utm_source=publication-search), because its these documents which provide the primary sources for**[reconstructing the history of Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-general-history-of-africa)**. They should also be familiar with [the scholarly traditions of the Wangara of medieval Mali and Songhai](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education?utm_source=publication-search) who are credited with establishing numerous intellectual centers across West Africa, the Fulbe scholars who played a central role in the revolution movements of 19th-century west-Africa, and [the Jabarti scholarly diaspora from Zeila in northern Somalia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla?utm_source=publication-search) which appears in the biographies of Mamluk Egypt.
Its unfortunate that the authors of such a popular book on pre-colonial Africa overlooked this crucial information and refused to do their homework, despite dedicating entire sections providing seemingly authoritative explanations on why Africans apparently lacked writing or didn't use it even when they had access to it.
Acemoglu and Robinson’s wilful ignorance of basic information on African history was doubtlessly influenced by their need to buttress the claim that Kongo's “extractive institutions” militated against the spread of writing despite Kongo's elites adopting the Latin script.
Acemoglu and Robinson expound on this apparent rarity of African writing in another section of the book about Somalia's lack of centralized polities, which they surmised was because its clan institutions rejected technologies such as writing. They explain Somalia’s apparent lack of writing using the example of the kingdom of Taqali, a small polity in Sudan, where writing in Arabic was apparently only used by royals because the rest of the subjects feared it would be used to control their land and impose heavy taxes on them.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-33-151079120)
[Its a strange choice to use this relatively obscure kingdom in a country like Sudan that boasts over 4,000 years of recorded history]
However, none of Acemoglu and Robinson’s speculations regarding writing in pre-colonial Somalia and Kongo are supported by historical evidence. Their claim that the _**"king of Kongo made no attempt to spread literacy to the great mass of the population"**_ is contradicted by evidence presented by Hilton and Thornton that spreading literacy across the kingdom was exactly what King Nzinga Afonso strove to accomplish with the establishment of schools not just in the capital but also in the provinces, with later kings continuing in this tradition, such that literacy became central to administration and to Kongo's international diplomacy.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-34-151079120)
Writing was not confined to the elites but was also spread to the rest of the population who held literacy in high regard, especially in the religious sphere where it was considered necessary by the lay members of Kongo's church. As one 17th-century account describing Kongo's Christian commoners noted: _**“Nearly all of them learn how to read so as to know how to recite the Divine Office; they would sell all they have to buy a manuscript or a book.”**_ Another account from the 1650s, which also describes Kongo’s commoners also mentions that they “_**have a great desire to learn and they are very ambitious to appear literate; in the processions those who have learnt all the letters of the alphabet stick a piece of paper in the form of a card on their forehead so as to be recognized as a student.”**_[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-35-151079120)
These positive descriptions of Kongo’s literacy by European visitors of the 17th century should be placed in the context of early-modern Europe, whose literacy rates were relatively low compared to the present day, just like in every region of the world before the Industrial Revolution. A mere 30% of English men* were able to read and write in the 1640s —which was the highest literacy rate in Europe— compared to countries like Spain where as recently as 1841, only 17% of adult men* could read and write[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-36-151079120). [*note that these figures are drastically reduced if women and children are included]
Its therefore unsurprising that descriptions of Kongo's literary culture by European visitors in the 16th and 17th century were mostly positive **because literacy rates in Kongo were not too dissimilar to literacy rates in their home countries**.
European descriptions of literacy rates in other parts of pre-colonial Africa also indicate that they considered the African societies which they encountered to be just as if not more literate than those in their home countries.
For example, Baron Roger, the governor of St. Louis, wrote that there were in Senegal _**“more negroes who could read and write in Arabic in 1828 than French peasants who could read and write French.”**_ The English trader Francis Moore who also visited the Sene-gambia region in 1730-1735 wrote that in _**“every Kingdom and Country on each side of the River of Gambia,”**_ Pulaar-speakers were _**“generally more learned in the Arabick, than the people of Europe are in Latin."**_ The explorer René Caillié, who visited Timbuktu in 1828, also observed that _**“all the negroes of Timbuktu are able to read the Qur’an and even know it by heart.”**_[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-37-151079120)
The spread of literacy in Africa followed several different trajectories. While literacy in Kongo was a top to down affair which spread from the royals to the nobility and commoners (similar to Kush, medieval Nubia, Aksum, [the kingdom of Bamum](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-invention-of-writing-in-an-african), and the [Vai of Liberia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/creating-an-african-writing-system)), literacy in the rest of Africa was spread by itinerant merchant scholars who created education networks that connected different centers of learning, and spearheaded reform movements that challenged the authority of the rulers. Most of these scholars weren't dependent on royal patronage, as the scholars of Timbuktu, Djenne, Ngazargamu, and Salaga were quite eager to prove by challenging Mansa Musa's Arab expatriates,[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-38-151079120) the repression of Askiya Ishaq (r. 1539-1549),[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-39-151079120) and [the injustices caused by the rulers of Bornu and Gonja](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-network-of-african-scholarship?utm_source=publication-search).[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-40-151079120)
A similar dynamic between the scholarly communities and the political elite existed in Somalia. Contrary to the claims of Acemoglu and Robinson, Somalia was home to several states including the empires of Adal and [Ajuran](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/centralizing-power-in-an-african), the sultanates of Mogadishu, Geledi, [Majerteen](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-majeerteen-sultanate), all of which are amply described in the same sources that Acemoglu and Robinson included in their footnotes, such as I. M. Lewis' ‘_**A Modern History of the Somali**_’. (4th ed, 2002, pgs 45-54).
Lewis' book was mostly concerned with the mainland of southern Somalia and thus made little mention of the scholarly communities of the coastal cities like Barawa and Zeila where a vibrant literary tradition flourished since the middle ages and spread into the interior[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-41-151079120). He nevertheless published a ground-breaking study of the religious communities of pre-colonial Somalia titled _'Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society'_ (1998), in which he explores the significance of influential sufi orders among whom were prominent scholars like Sheikh Abdirahman Ahmad az-Zayla'i (d. 1882) from Zeila whose was influential across northern Somalia, and Sheikh Uways al-Barawi (d. 1909), a prolific author from Barawa whose influence extended across East Africa.
Acemoglu and Robinson's section on Somali history is unusually fixated on the Osmanya alphabet ('Somali script') that was invented by Osman Yusuf Kenadid well into the colonial period in 1920, despite it not being the writing system of pre-colonial Somalia, nor an exceptional invention.
There are many other scripts from ‘sub-saharan’ Africa from the pre-colonial era besides the Ge'ez script of Ethiopia and Eritrea, these include the [Meroitic script (ca. 150 BC)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas?utm_source=publication-search#footnote-anchor-40-46488154), the [Nsibidi script (11th-18th century)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/69082971), the [Vai script (ca. 1830)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/creating-an-african-writing-system), and [Njoya's script (1897)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-invention-of-writing-in-an-african). Dozens of scripts were also invented during the colonial and post-independence periods, with at least twenty-two being identified in West Africa alone.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZuwJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd3659401-7811-4a47-b609-366ece7ced29_736x487.png)
_**West African script invention, ca. 1832-2011**_. Map by Piers Kelly[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-42-151079120).
With a few exceptions, most of the colonial-era scripts were invented for nationalist reasons, but their spread was restricted because pre-existing scripts like Arabic and Ajami were well suited for the literary traditions of Africa, in the same way that the English and most Europeans didn't need to invent a new script after they had adopted the Latin script.
Acemoglu and Robinson were either unaware that writing was fairly widespread in pre-colonial Africa, or more likely, they considered the Ge'ez and Osmanya scripts as the only legitimate forms of African writing systems while dismissing the Arabic and Ajami scripts possibly because they were adopted. However, this raises important questions regarding England's lack of an independently invented script, and whether Acemoglu and Robinson think this aided the emergence of the country's supposedly “inclusive institutions” compared to Italy —where the Latin script and its related writing traditions originated.
**The ‘effeminate machine’: On the absence of wheeled transportation in Africa and Europe.**
The deficiencies in Acemoglu and Robinson’s comparative analysis of African and European history are best illustrated by their claim that the _**"Kongolese learned about the wheel"**_ from the Portuguese but refused to adopt it. This is demonstrably false, as neither Hilton nor Thornton mention anything about wheeled technology being introduced to Kongo by the Portuguese. Hilton specifically mentions that the Portuguese introduced hammocks (basically just fancy beds lifted by people), during the 16th century.[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-43-151079120)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Olyh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf7c5ae5-0e83-48be-8801-c9ded769e437_1127x373.png)
_**Method of travel in the Kingdom of Kongo**_, taken from Giulio Ferrario's _‘Il costume antico e moderno’_ (1843)
The fact that Europeans introduced this curious ‘technology’ instead of wheeled vehicles, should come as no surprise to any reader familiar with the history of wheeled transportation in Europe and the rest of the old world. The historian Richard W. Bulliet published two of the most cited books on this topic; _‘The Camel and the Wheel_’ (1975) and ‘_The Wheel: Inventions and Reinventions_’ (2016).
Bulliet argues that wheeled vehicles were widely adopted across the ancient world, mostly in the form of war chariots, before they were gradually displaced by the mounted warrior in battle around the 8th century BC, and by the camel in trade in the early centuries of the common era, leaving only limited use of wagons in farmwork for short hauls.[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-44-151079120)
The wheel thus disappeared across much of the old world during the Middle Ages, including in Europe, where royals, nobles, and ordinary merchants used pack animals, and where _**"Kings and knights considered all kinds of carriages as effeminate machines, and scorned to be seen within them . . . As late as the reign of Francis I [r. 1515–1547], there were only three coaches in Paris."**_[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-45-151079120)
However, cultural attitudes towards wheeled carriages and coaches eventually shifted during the 16th to 17th century. This wasn't because coaches were suddenly considered a more functional means of travel than the horse, but simply because they were later seen as more prestigious [and they dropped the ‘effeminate’ label]. The use of coaches remained restricted to the royals and elites, mostly for ceremonial functions, because ordinary transport using such vehicles was heavily constrained by the poor quality of the roads which were only improved in the 18th and 19th centuries just as rail transport was being invented.[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-46-151079120)
Bulliet also provides other examples across the rest of the world, such as from Persia, where an English visitor in 1883 noted _**“the roads then becoming impracticable to wheelcarriages, we were obliged to perform the rest of the journey on horseback in Persian saddles. . . . I saw no wheel-carriages of any kind in Persia”**_ and Japan in 1870s, where two European visitors noted; _**"Everything is transported from and into the interior by horses and bullocks. I have seen no wheeled vehicles except the [hand-pulled] jinrikisha and there are very few of these."**_[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-47-151079120)
Bulliet’s analysis of the wheel in world history is generally supported by other scholars of medieval and early-modern travel in Europe including; Julian Munby on the transition from carriages used by royal women in the late Middle Ages to coaches of elite men in the early modern period,[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-48-151079120) Erik Eckermann on the disappearance of wheeled carriages in post-Roman Europe until the 16th century,[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-49-151079120) And Peter Roger Edwards's on the coach's re-introduction in mid-16th century England and its slow spread among the nobility because it was considered “effeminate”.[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-50-151079120)
Despite the modern obsession with wheeled transport, the wheel’s insignificance in the early-modern period had long been recognized by professional economic historians like William T. Jackman as early as 1916, in his book ‘_The Development of Transportation in Modern England_, where he notes that in the 18th century England, _**“Contemporary evidence points very strongly to the conclusion that by far the larger proportion of the carrying was done by pack-horse. Long trains of these faithful animals, furnished with a great variety of equipment … wended their way along the narrow roads of the time, and provided the chief means by which the exchange of commodities could be carried on.”**_[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-51-151079120)
Its relevant to note that both [road building and wheel technology were attested in a number of African societies](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa?utm_source=publication-search) during antiquity and the early modern period. Wheel technology appears extensively in the military, transport, and irrigation systems of ancient Kush, while ceremonial carriages and wagons for mobile field pieces also appear in ceremonial and military contexts in the kingdoms of Dahomey and Loango.
In Kongo, the army of its province of Soyo deployed four field pieces mounted on wagons to annihilate the Portuguese army at the battle of Kitombo in 1670[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-52-151079120) which successfully expelled them from the kingdom for the next two centuries before they would return in 1914 to depose the last king of Kongo, Manuel III.
**conclusion: Why Theories Fail.**
The historical evidence outlined above undermines Acemoglu and Robinson's central argument on pre-colonial African institutions and their presumptions regarding pre-colonial Africa's apparent lack of efficient technologies. Their theories are inapplicable to Africa primarily because Acemoglu and Robinson fundamentally misunderstand basic aspects of pre-colonial African history, and they at times wilfully misrepresent their own sources in order to support their pre-conceived hypothesis.
Ironically, the authors dedicate a few paragraphs in their book to discrediting Jared Diamond's theories of geographic determinism, only to fall into the same trap of relying on deficient theoretical formulations.
Acemogulu and Robinson therefore follow in the long tradition of [Hegelian writers of Africa, whose wilful ignorance of Africa didn’t stop them from writing authoritatively about the continent](https://roape.net/2023/07/20/how-hegels-deliberate-ignorance-of-african-history-legitimated-the-colonisation-of-africa/). It’s very unfortunate that for most readers of this best-selling book, its erroneous description of Kongo and Somalia will be their first and only encounter with pre-colonial African history.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWHC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddd76c57-d18a-488c-a532-8c04a3fff2c5_1920x1080.jpeg)
_**The throne of Kong**_ o. Olfert Dapper, 1668.
The kingdom of Benin was one of the first African societies to adopt the use of firearms in 1514, However, guns contributed very little to Benin’s military systems during the kingdom’s early history before the 18th century. **My latest patreon article explores the cultural and military functions of firearms in the kingdom of Benin**
**please subscribe to read about it here:**
[THE GUNS OF BENIN](https://www.patreon.com/posts/114754735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3Atg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8bb92fa1-33cd-4590-90e5-6d5426fae26b_651x1226.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-1-151079120)
Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson, pg 1265-1269.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-2-151079120)
The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation, by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson, Reply to the Revised (May 2006) version of David Albouy’s “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Investigation of the Settler Mortality Data.” by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-3-151079120)
The ‘Reversal of Fortune’ Thesis and the Compression of History: Perspectives from African and Comparative Economic History by Gareth Austin.
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-5-151079120)
Map by J.K.Thornton, taken from; Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800.
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-6-151079120)
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty By Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson pg 58-59, 87-90
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-7-151079120)
Besides the already listed book, Thornton has also published the following;
-Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800 (1998)
-The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706 (1998)
-Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800 (1999)
-Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660 by Linda M. Heywood, John K. Thornton (2007)
-A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250–1820 (2012)
-A History of West Central Africa to 1850 (2020)
-Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo: His Life and Correspondence (2023)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-8-151079120)
The correspondence of the Kongo kings, 1614-35 : problems of internal written evidence on a Central African kingdom by JK Thornton, New Light on Cavazzi's Seventeenth-Century Description of Kongo by John K. Thornton, The Origins and Early History of the Kingdom of Kongo, c. 1350-1550 by John Thornton.
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-9-151079120)
Early Kongo-Portuguese Relations: A New Interpretation by John Thornton, The Art of War in Angola, 1575-1680 by John K. Thornton, A Re-Interpretation of the Kongo-Portuguese War of 1622 According to New Documentary Evidence by John K. Thornton
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-10-151079120)
Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800 By John Thornton pg 3-6
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-11-151079120)
Precolonial African Industry and the Atlantic Trade, 1500-1800 by John Thornton, pg 6-7 The Historian and the Precolonial African Economy: John Thornton Responds, by John Thornton pg 45-49.
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-12-151079120)
Precolonial African Industry and the Atlantic Trade, 1500-1800 by John Thornton pg 7,
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-13-151079120)
The Growth and Decline of African Agriculture in Central Angola, 1890-1950 by Linda M. Heywood pg 359-366.
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-14-151079120)
Precolonial African Industry and the Atlantic Trade, 1500-1800 by John Thornton pg 11-14.
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-15-151079120)
The Kingdom of Kongo by Anne Hilton pg 77
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-16-151079120)
A History of West Central Africa to 1850 By John K. Thornton pg 13
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-17-151079120)
Benin and the Europeans, 1485-1897 by Alan Frederick Charles Ryder pg 93-98, 129-143.
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-18-151079120)
As Artistry Permits and Custom May Ordain: The Social Fabric of Material Consumption in the Swahili World, Circa 1450-1600 by Jeremy G. Prestholdt pg 12-16
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-19-151079120)
The Historian and the Precolonial African Economy: John Thornton Responds, by John Thornton pg 50
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-20-151079120)
The Kingdom of Kongo by Anne Hilton pg 35-40, The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641-1718 by John Kelly Thornton, pg xi-xii, 43-45, 92, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800 By John Thornton pg 82-83.
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-21-151079120)
The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641-1718 by John Kelly Thornton, pg 24-25, Acemoglu and Robin’s fixation of the “miserable poverty” of Kongo is actually taken from the description of the villages, and even there, Thornton notes that _**“this appearance of poverty was an illusion.”**_ (pg 35-36) reflecting different cultural values rather than the sort of economic metrics we use to measure poverty today.
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-22-151079120)
The Kingdom of Kongo by Anne Hilton pg 55, 57-66, 70-73, The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641-1718 by John Kelly Thornton, pg 19-20
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-23-151079120)
A reinterpretation of the Kongo-Portuguese war of 1622 according to new documentary evidence by J.K.Thornton, pg 241-243
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-24-151079120)
Slavery and its Transformation in the Kingdom of Kongo by L.M.Heywood, A History of West Central Africa to 1850 by J. K. Thornton pg 54-55.
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-25-151079120)
Why Nations Fail : The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson pg 175-178.
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-26-151079120)
That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500 by Hannah Barker pg 14-15. _Note that even historians of the **early** middle ages argue that the terminology for slavery in Europe was very diverse, see_; Slavery After Rome, 500-1100 By Alice Rio.
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-27-151079120)
That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500 by Hannah Barker.
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-28-151079120)
Slave hunting and slave redemption as a business enterprise by Dariusz Kołodziejczyk. pg 151-152.
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-29-151079120)
Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by David Eltis pg 137-138.
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-30-151079120)
Servants of the Sharia: The Civil Register of the Qadis' Court of Brava 1893-1900, Volume I by Alessandra Vianello, Mohamed M. Kassim, pg 32-43, 56-65, 99-151.
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-31-151079120)
Land in Dar Fur: Charters and Related Documents from the Dar Fur Sultanate edited by R. S. O'Fahey, M. I. Abu Salim pg 19.
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-32-151079120)
Land in Dar Fur: Charters and Related Documents from the Dar Fur Sultanate edited by R. S. O'Fahey, M. I. Abu Salim pg 83.
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-33-151079120)
Why Nations Fail : The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson pg 238-243.
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-34-151079120)
The Kingdom of Kongo by Anne Hilton pg 64-65, 79-84, The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641-1718 by John Kelly Thornton, 65-67.
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-35-151079120)
The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pg 218-224.
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-36-151079120)
Literacy and Education in England 1640-1900 by L Stone pg 100-101, The History of Literacy in Spain by Antonio Viñao Frago pg 578.
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-37-151079120)
Beyond Timbuktu: An Intellectual History of Muslim West Africa By Ousmane Kane pg 7-8.
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-38-151079120)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg 73-74
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-39-151079120)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 274-275.
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-40-151079120)
_examples include the Kunta scholar’s challenge of the Massina state, the village Fuble scholars whose reform movements overthrew the pre-existing kingdoms of Hausaland, Masina and Futa Jallon, and other scholarly communities whose influence on statecraft in precolonial Africa is explored in Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels’ book;_‘The History of Islam in Africa’ (2000)_._
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-41-151079120)
_The scholarly traditions of Barawa have been extensively researched by the historian Alessandra Vianello in his 2018 book_; 'Stringing Coral Beads': The Religious Poetry of Brava (c. 1890-1975).
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-42-151079120)
The Invention, Transmission and Evolution of Writing: Insights from the New Scripts of West Africa by Piers Kelly.
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-43-151079120)
The Kingdom of Kongo by Anne Hilton pg 84
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-44-151079120)
The Wheel: inventions and reinventions by Richard W. Bulliet pg 113-132, The camel and the wheel by Richard W. Bulliet pg 16-21
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-45-151079120)
The Wheel: inventions and reinventions by Richard W. Bulliet pg 148
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-46-151079120)
The wheel: inventions and reinventions by Richard W. Bulliet pg 24-25, 96-110, 127- 160
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-47-151079120)
The wheel: inventions and reinventions by Richard W. Bulliet 43-48
[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-48-151079120)
The Art, Science, and Technology of Medieval Travel edited by Robert Odell Bork, Andrea Kann, pg 41-53
[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-49-151079120)
World History of the Automobile by Erik Eckermann pg 7-10
[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-50-151079120)
Horses and the Aristocratic Lifestyle in Early Modern England pg 5,
[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-51-151079120)
The Development of Transportation in Modern England, Volume 1 By William T. Jackman, pg 141.
[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why#footnote-anchor-52-151079120)
The Art of War in Angola, 1575-1680 by John K. Thornton pg 375, on other examples of field artillery in Kongo, see; Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800 By John K. Thornton pg 109-110.
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7VUd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28809f31-c00b-48b0-94e9-676279844ca2_1020x712.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TWHC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddd76c57-d18a-488c-a532-8c04a3fff2c5_1920x1080.jpeg",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why
|
_**"The Zulus appeared almost to grow out of the earth. From rock and bush on the heights above started scores of men armed, some with rifles others with shields and spears. Gradually their main body; an immense column: opened out in splendid order upon each rank and firmly encircled the camp from their heights above."**_
The significance of firearms in the military systems of pre-colonial African societies has been the subject of much scholarly interest since the emergence of modern African historiography. From the collapse of medieval Songhai to the rise of the kingdoms of the Atlantic coast to the Ethiopian defeat of the Italians, firearms have acquired an outsized importance in mainstream discourse on African military history. In most popular narratives of African military history, the apparent lack (or abundance) of firearms is thought to have been decisive in the outcome of any historical battle.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bvvC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd5b68314-1ab2-44df-adbd-4dae48ee24cd_867x614.png)
_**The Battle of Adwa (1896), oil on canvas painting by an Ethiopian artist, ca. 1940-1949**_. British Museum.
However, the history of firearms in African military history is a lot more complex than this superficial but popular view of pre-colonial war. As indicated by the above quote about the Zulu victory over the British at Insandlwana in 1879, firearms were added to the pre-existing arsenal of weapons and fighting formations whose evolution in [the military history of the Zulu kingdom](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history) was determined by multiple cultural and political factors.
At Maputo Bay about 300km north of Isandlwana in 1554[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military#footnote-1-150803123), another African army had defeated a band of shipwrecked Portuguese sailors in the open by _**“throwing so many spears that the air was darkened by a cloud of them."**_ A similar fighting formation was utilized further north by the Rozvi army of Changamire Dombo at the pitched battle of Mahungwe in 1684, where the Rozvi bowmen defeated the Portuguese by showering arrows at them.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military#footnote-2-150803123)
By the 19th century, it wasn't a hail of arrows nor a set-piece battle that the British would encounter, but a large Zulu force armed with tens of thousands of guns and spears, taking advantage of the bush cover to creep up the hill at Isandlwana before a final charge.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UJbJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0eb70fdf-b869-4883-b78a-83a175bd337a_997x311.png)
_**Flintlock smooth bore long-barrelled gun captured in South Africa in 1878**_. British Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_cA-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74912f97-370f-495a-bde2-9c170c5ac0f0_837x513.png)
_**Man on horseback with a gun, Lesotho, ca. 1936**_. British Museum.
While firearms could sometimes decide the fate of battles, they were insufficient to win a campaign by themselves, nor were they solely decisive in influencing the evolution of African military systems.
The 16th-century account of the chronicler Ibn Furtu for example, includes descriptions of several [campaigns by armies of the Bornu sultan Idris Alooma against the walled towns of the Lake Chad region in which firearms played an important role](https://www.patreon.com/posts/first-guns-and-84319870).
For example, during Bornu's siege of the town of Amsaka, the latter's forces _**"fired arrows and darts like heavy rain"**_ and poured _**"pots of boiling ordure"**_ on Bornu’s army until the latter constructed a siege platform on the town’s walls and its gunmen shot Amsaka's archers such that the latter ran out of arrows just as Bornu's forces were breaking through their walls. However, only four out of the dozens of battles in Ibn Furtu's account were decided by firearms, leading one historian to conclude that Bornu’s military success _**“owed more to other devices than to guns."**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military#footnote-3-150803123)
This observation is corroborated in a much later account from the mid-19th century by the explorer Heinrich Barth, about Bornu soldiers opening fire against a group of island-dwelling Musgo warriors with almost no success. _**"It was astonishing to see that none of this small band of heroes was wounded, notwithstanding the repeated firing of a number of Kanuri people. Either the balls missed their aim entirely, or else, striking upon the shields of these poor pagans, which consisted of nothing but wicker-work, were unable to pierce this slight defence."**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military#footnote-4-150803123)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TUAm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6b5fd08-5108-4b15-bee6-dac83e9107b0_743x517.png)
_**Walled town in the Lake Chad region**_, ca. 1936, Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R9SK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff025ada-b286-419e-8557-b88af274b95d_1241x349.png)
_**Rifle from Bornu, Nigeria, collected in 1905**_. American Museum of Natural History.
A brief overview of pre-colonial African warfare provides several other examples of 16th-century African armies with no firearms defeating gun-wielding Portuguese armies —from large kingdoms like [Mutapa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-mutapa-and-the-portuguese) to smaller societies like the [Khoe-san warriors](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-ancient-herders?utm_source=publication-search). At the same time, the musketeers of [Bornu, Morocco](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/morocco-songhai-bornu-and-the-quest?utm_source=publication-search), and the Portuguese were conducting successful campaigns in [other parts of the continent](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from?utm_source=publication-search).
Even after firearms were more widely adopted by the 19th century, with kingdoms such as [Zinder making their own cannons](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-damagaram-sultanate), and [Samory's empire which manufactured modern rifles](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the?utm_source=publication-search), successful campaigns were determined by multiple factors of which gun technology was only one among many, for example in [the century-long Anglo-Asante wars](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africas-100-years-war-at-the-dawn?utm_source=publication-search).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LzSe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F50a429ba-c664-4449-a7a3-a1c8df862eca_676x596.png)
_**The 1874 Battle of Amoaful between the British and the Asante kingdom**, British Library._
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dX1S!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64799faf-7aca-447a-84cb-eab486b73d12_996x577.png)
_**Statuette of a man aiming a musket**_, _**ca. 1909**_, Dahomey, Benin. Smithsonian. _**Flintlock pistol covered with local copper alloy plates. ca. 1892**_ .Dahomey, Benin, Quai Branly.
The incorporation of firearms into African military systems was therefore a protracted process whose impact on the evolution of African military technologies, fighting formations, and warfare varied greatly between different societies in different time periods. Additionally, the function of firearms was at times ceremonial, they were considered a symbol of power and were displayed during important festivals, included in diplomatic exchanges, and depicted in royal iconography.
This dual function of firearms in the military and cultural spheres is best demonstrated in the West African kingdom of Benin whose armies were among the first on the continent to adopt firearms. From the manufacture of bronze cannons to the creation of artworks depicting armed soldiers to the trade in rifles, the Benin kingdom provides one of the best case studies for the evolution of firearms in pre-colonial Africa.
**The history of firearms in the Benin kingdom is the subject of my latest Patreon article, please subscribe to read about it here:**
[THE GUNS OF BENIN](https://www.patreon.com/posts/114754735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3Atg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8bb92fa1-33cd-4590-90e5-6d5426fae26b_651x1226.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SwqB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F215369b6-5d7a-4535-bd4e-9db2218ed93a_599x655.png)
_**Smocking pipe in the form of a rifle covered with brass studs with a leather strap**_, late 19th century, Chokwe artist, Angola/D.R.Congo, Met Museum.
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military#footnote-anchor-1-150803123)
_post-publication correction, this encounter actually took place 65 miles northeast of the Mthatha River, which is 450 miles south of Maputo Bay._
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military#footnote-anchor-2-150803123)
Portuguese Musketeers on the Zambezi by Richard Gray pg 533.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military#footnote-anchor-3-150803123)
History of the First Twelve Years of the Reign of Mai Idris Alooma of Bornu by Ahmed Ibn Fartua and H. R. Palmer, Warfare and Diplomacy in Pre-Colonial West Africa By Robert S. Smith pg 82
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military#footnote-anchor-4-150803123)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition, Undertaken under the Auspices of H. B. M'.s Government, in the Years 1849 - 1855. By Henry Barth. Volume 2.
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bvvC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd5b68314-1ab2-44df-adbd-4dae48ee24cd_867x614.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UJbJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0eb70fdf-b869-4883-b78a-83a175bd337a_997x311.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_cA-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F74912f97-370f-495a-bde2-9c170c5ac0f0_837x513.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TUAm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6b5fd08-5108-4b15-bee6-dac83e9107b0_743x517.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R9SK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff025ada-b286-419e-8557-b88af274b95d_1241x349.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LzSe!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F50a429ba-c664-4449-a7a3-a1c8df862eca_676x596.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dX1S!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64799faf-7aca-447a-84cb-eab486b73d12_996x577.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3Atg!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8bb92fa1-33cd-4590-90e5-6d5426fae26b_651x1226.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SwqB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F215369b6-5d7a-4535-bd4e-9db2218ed93a_599x655.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-role-of-firearms-in-african-military
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The Hausaland region of northern Nigeria was home to one of the largest textile industries in pre-colonial Africa, whose scale and scope were unparalleled throughout most of the continent.
As one German explorer who visited the region in 1854 noted, there was ‘something grand’ about this textile industry whose signature robes could be found as far as Tripoli, Alexandria, Mauritania, and the Atlantic coast. Centers of textile production like Kano were home to thousands of tailors and dyers producing an estimated 100,000 dyed-robes a year in 1854, and more than two million rolls of cloth per year by 1911.
Much of the industry’s growth was associated with the establishment of the empire of Sokoto in the 19th century, which created West Africa’s largest state after the fall of Songhai, and expanded pre-existing patterns of trade and production that facilitated the emergence of one of the few examples of proto-industrialization on the continent.
This article explores the textile industry of the Sokoto empire during the 19th century, focusing on the production and trade of cotton textiles across the Hauslands and beyond.
_**Map of the Sokoto Caliphate and neighboring states. ca. 1850, by P. Lovejoy.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!osBP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F064fa669-fee3-44ec-8a70-ede71cb0f8e0_1200x909.jpeg)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more on African history and to keep this blog free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**A brief background on the history and political economy of the empire of Sokoto.**
In the early decades of the 19th century, a political-religious movement led by Sheikh Usman dan Fodio across the Hausaland region subsumed many of the old Hausa states into the Sokoto Caliphate, creating west Africa’s largest empire after the fall of Songhay. Headed by a ‘Sultan’ or ‘Caliph’ who resided in the capital, also named Sokoto, the empire was made up of several emirates, which were quasi-vassal political units built on top of pre-existing Hausa institutions, such as the emirates of Kano, Katsina, Zaria, and Adamawa.
The vast size of the Caliphate erased pre-existing political barriers, which created a large internal market and influenced major demographic changes that facilitated the expansion of the region's economy. The rapid growth of textile manufacturing in the empire emerged within this context, bringing together various textile traditions in an efficient distribution network that included a greater share of the ordinary population than was possible in the preceding period[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-1-150446951).
The material basis of Sokoto's economy was provided by the political and ideological control of land through a state dominated by an officeholding class. In a society where the majority of producers maintained possession of land and experienced a low level of economic subsumption, surpluses were primarily accrued through rents. That is ‘a politically based exaction for the right to cultivate… whose level will depend upon the coercive means available through the State’. This resulted in the creation of a ‘mixed economy’ where the State played a central role in economic production and regulating institutions, albeit only as one among many different economic agents.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-2-150446951)
The economic policies adopted by Usman's successors served to consolidate the territories acquired during the movement as well as to restore and integrate their economies. Most of these policies were undertaken by Muhammad Bello who is credited with establishing ribats (garrison towns) in peripheral regions, eg between Kano and Adamawa, that were settled by skilled artisans and merchants who developed local economies, and urbanized the hinterlands.
Bello's writings to his emirs include instructions to
_**"foster the artisans, and be concerned with tradesmen who are indispensable to the people, such as farmers and smiths, tailors and dyers, physicians and grocers, butchers and carpenters and all sorts of traders who contribute to [stabilising] the proper order of this world. The ruler must allocate these tradesmen to every village and every locality."**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-3-150446951)
The urbanisation of rural areas, as well as the improved accessibility, allowed for greater administrative control through the appointment of officials (_**jakadu**_) who controled trade and collected taxes (on dye pits, hoes used in farming, and trade cloth).[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-4-150446951) This influenced the activities of long-distance traders, farmers, and craftsmen, by reinvigorating pre-existing patterns of trade and population movements that had been initiated by the [Hausa kingdoms centuries earlier to create numerous diasporic communities across West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-creation-of-an-african-lingua).
The manufacture and trade of textiles in Hausaland predated the industry's expansion in the 19th century.
The earliest written accounts describing the Hausaland region in the 14th century mention the presence of [Wangara merchants (from medieval Mali)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education), who settled in its cities and wore sewn garments. These Wangara merchants also appear in earlier accounts from the 12th century, when they are described as wearing chemises and mantles. They were thus likely involved in the development of the Hausa textile and leather industry, which would receive further impetus from the westward shift of the Bornu empire in the 15th century, which also possessed a thriving textile industry and used cloth strips as currency.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-5-150446951)
By the 16th century, local textile industries had emerged across Hausaland, especially in the cities of Kano, Zamfara, and Gobir. According to Leo Africanus' account, grain and cotton were cultivated in large quantities in the Kano countryside and Kano's cloth was bought by Tuareg traders from then north. Other contemporary accounts mention the arrival of Kanuri artisans from Bornu, the trade in dyed cloth from Kano, as well as the import of foreign cloth from the Maghreb. After the 17th century, the white gown (_**riga fari**_) became popular among the ordinary population, while the elites wore the large gown**(**_**babbar riga)**_, which in later periods would be adopted by the former.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-6-150446951)
This pre-existing textile industry and trade continued to expand over the centuries and would grow exponentially during the 19th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V6Pu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7557dfd3-b4f9-4d3a-9b91-728db4b9a880_1023x735.jpeg)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1TYa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa6019f9a-5472-42b0-8448-a24811bb32d8_2000x1448.jpeg)
Kano in 1931, Walter Mittelholzer.
**Cotton cultivation in the Sokoto empire.**
Most of the cloth produced in Hausaland was made from cotton and silk, which was cultivated locally by farmers together with their staple crops. Cotton cultivation, which had been undertaken in the region for centuries, is however, highly sensitive to rainfall, requires significant land and labour, and is subject to price fluctuations caused by taxation and market speculation, all of which could result in hefty economic losses for a farmer if not carefully managed[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-7-150446951).
Initially, the emirates of Zaria and Zamfara specialized in growing cotton while those of Sokoto and Kano specialized in manufacturing textiles. This would gradually change by the late 19th century, as textile manufacturing expanded rapidly across most emirates and the demand for raw cotton was so high that considerable quantities of yarn were even imported from Tripoli.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-8-150446951)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yiue!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fccc9a0c0-2a3e-4eb4-aba9-f3242ca94db5_998x563.png)
_**Embroidered cotton gown (shabka) made in Zaria, Nigeria. ca. 1950**_. British Museum.
The comparative advantage of Zaria and Zamfara in cotton growing was enabled by its middle-density population, its clayey soil rich in nitrates, and the relative abundance of land for swidden agriculture. Besides the pre-existing population of farmers who grew their own cotton on a small scale, large agricultural estates were also established by wealthy elites and were populated with clients and slaves, the latter of whom were war captives or purchased from the peripheral regions[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-9-150446951).
The explorer Hugh Clapperton, who visited Sokoto in 1826 and provides some of the most detailed descriptions of its society, including on slavery, writes: _**“The domestic slaves are generally well treated. The males who have arrived at the age of eighteen or nineteen are given a wife, and sent to live at their villages and farms in the country, where they build a hut, and until the harvest are fed by their owners. The hours of labour, for his master, are from daylight till mid-day; the remainder of the day is employed on his own. At the time of harvest, when they cut and tie up the grain, each slave gets a bundle of the different sorts of grain for himself. The grain on his own ground is entirely left for his own use, and he may dispose of it as he thinks proper. At the vacant seasons of the year he must attend to the calls of his master, whether to accompany him on a journey, or go to war, if so ordered**_.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-10-150446951)_**”**_
This was repeated later by Heinrich Barth who visited Sokoto from 1851-1854, noting that _**“The quiet course of domestic slavery has very little to offend the mind of the traveller ; the slave is generally well treated , is not over worked , and is very often considered as a member of the family”**_ but he differs slightly from Clapperton with regards to marriages among ‘slaves’, suggesting that they weren’t encouraged to marry, which he surmises was the cause of the institutions’ continuation.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-11-150446951)
Scholarly debates on the nature of slavery in Sokoto, as in most discussions of ‘internal slavery’ in Africa, reveal the limitations of relying on conceptual frameworks derived from the historiography of slavery in the Americas [12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-12-150446951) (this includes Clapperton and Barth’s quotes above, who refer to ‘slaves’ on agricultural estates as ‘domestic slaves’).
For the sake of brevity, it is instructive to use a comparative approach here to illustrate the differences between the ‘slaves’ in west Africa versus those in the Americas; the most important difference is the lack of a binary of ‘slaves’ and ‘free’ persons, as all social groups occupied a continuum of social relations from elites and kin-group members, to clients and pawns, to dependants and captives. Aside from the royals/ruling elites, none of these groups occupied a rigid hierarchy but instead derived their status from their relationship with other kin-groups or patrons, hence why slaves could be found on all levels of society from governors and scribes, to soldiers and merchants, to household concubines and plantation workers[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-13-150446951).
Most ‘slaves’ in Sokoto could work on their own account through the _murgu_ system thus accumulating wealth to establish their own families, gain their own dependants,and in some cases, earn their freedom. Still, their labor, social mobility, and rate of assimilation were negotiated by the needs of political authorities, making slavery in Sokoto a political institution as much as it was a social institution. This created highly heterogenous systems of slavery, with some powerful ‘slave-officials’ exercising authority over ‘free’ persons and ‘slaves,’ with some client farmers and ‘slaves’ working on the same estates owned by state officials, aristocrats or wealthy merchants, some of whom could also be ‘slaves’.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-14-150446951)
Despite the complexities of ‘slavery’ in Sokoto, the significance of slave use in its textile industry and the economy was inflated in earlier scholarship according to more recent examination. The empire of Sokoto was a pre-industrial society, largely agrarian and rural. The bulk of economic production was undertaken by individual households on a subsistence basis, with the surplus produce (grain, crafts, labour, etc) being traded for other items in temporary markets, or remitted as tribute/tax to authorities whose capacity for coercion was significantly less than that of modern states, and whose economy was ultimately less influenced by demand from international trade.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-15-150446951)
It’s for this reason that while 'slaves' would have been involved in the cultivation process alongside 'free' workers who constituted the bulk of the empire’s population, ‘slaves’ were less involved in the textile manufacturing process itself which required specialized skills, and was considered respectable for ‘freeborn’ persons including the scholarly elite.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-16-150446951)
The political economic and ideological tendency in the empire was mainly toward the production of peasants who could be taxed, as well as in their participation in the regional economy where more rents could be extracted.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-17-150446951) Additionally, the textile industry also relied on the mobility of 'free' labour, including not just ordinary subjects, but also skilled craftsmen and traders from among the Tuareg, Kanuri, Fulani, Nupe, and Gobir. These were involved in all stages of cloth production from spinning to dyeing, they became acculturated into the predominantly Hausa society and settled in the major textile centers[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-18-150446951).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ueZI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236bf70a-4d10-4d5c-9798-d704fbf8d5bb_893x635.png)
_**'Robe and cap of the King of Dahomey given to Vice-Admiral Eardley Wilmot,’ ca. 1863-1866**_. British Museum. _Art historian Alisa LaGamma suggests that this robe, which was part of a diplomatic gift from Dahomey (in modern Benin) to Britain, ultimately came from the Sokoto empire and was likely made by Nupe and Hausa weavers and embroiderers._
**The textile production process.**
The manufacture of textiles was not just the prerogative of a few specialized artisans but involved the bulk of the population in both urban and rural areas. While clothing was a symbol of religious and social identity, its manufacture and exchange in Hausaland was the expression of a culture that tended to integrate different strata of the population regardless of social identity.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-19-150446951)
The empire's textile industry underwent significant changes over the course of the 19th century, especially in major centers like Kano where specialization increased as different cities and towns took over specific parts of the production processes, resulting in significant economies of scale. Increased demand and competition led to a rapid improvement in standards of workmanship and the quality of cloth produced. This in turn, created an internal market for highly skilled labour whose training period could last as long as 6 years.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-20-150446951)
Textile workers differed in the kinds and levels of skills attained, the types of products they made, and the stage in the process: the garments changed hands at different stages in the process of spinning, weaving, sewing, beating and dyeing. The empire's diverse textile industry combined two pre-existing production systems; one north of the Niger-Benue region where most spinners were women, while men did the weaving, dyeing, and embroidering; and one south of the Niger-Benue region where both women and men were involved in all processes.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-21-150446951)
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_**Talismanic cotton tunic (riga) made by a hausa weaver in northern Nigeria**_, late 19th century, British museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w9bL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96a7686f-14eb-4dd8-9287-e44034a5b89d_994x535.png)
_**Cotton and silk robe embroidered with checkered patterns and the 8-knife motif. late 19th century**_, British Museum.
Spinning was the slowest and most laborious activity in the process, it was done in domestic settings often by women who were supplied with local cotton and silk as well as imported yarn from the Maghreb. On the other hand, weaving was undertaken by the greater part of the population as a secondary occupation when farming activities were suspended. Weavers, both men, and women, used a transportable horizontal double-heddle loom as well as a vertical loom to produce narrow strips of cloth which were later sewn together.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-22-150446951)
The two main subgroups of looms used in Hausaland were defined by two ranges of standard cloth width, indicating two types of production in the export sector: cloth consisting of very narrow strips (1.25–6 cm) was transported in the salt and natron trade to Bornu and Air, whereas wider strips (8–12 cm) were prominent in trade to the western Sudan region. The latter type of loom was likely associated with the rise of the kola trade to Gonja in the late 18th century, but would have existed in the Gonja region centuries earlier.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-23-150446951)
In cities like Kano, local weavers were at times joined by skilled immigrants from the Bornu empire and the Nupe region, with many diverse groups contributing to the production of luxury and ordinary cloth as the garments changed hands multiple times. Craftsmen often had no special workshops but instead worked in or near the markets according to local demand, although specialist quarters like the Soron D’Inki ward of Kano were developed by skilled tailors and dyers.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-24-150446951)
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_**Man's gown composed of 250 narrow strips of hand-spun and hand-woven cotton, hand-sewn together along the selvage and thee ‘two knives’ embroidered design. early 20th cent.**_ Nigeria. British Museum.
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_**Trousers (Wando), 19th–20th century, Nigeria**_. Met Museum, Han Museum of Art.
The co-current expansion of domestic and external demand for dyed textiles stimulated the production of dyed textiles and the construction of dyeing pits. From 1815, outside the city boundaries of Sokoto, around 285 dyeing pits were built, while Kano in 1855 had more than 2,000 dyeing pits, which would increase to between 15,000 to 20,000 by the end of the 19th century with a corresponding number of dyers.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-25-150446951)
Cloth-dyeing in Kano was a centuries-old practice that pre-existed the establishment of Sokoto. Dyers used huge fired-clay pots (_**Kwatanniya**_), that were waterproofed by burying them in beds of dyebath residue (_**katsi**_) and then lining them with laso cement (made from burned indo-dye residue mixed with viscous vegetable matter). By the 19th century, dyers in Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, and Zaria created much larger dyeing vats of laso cement, which reduced the unit cost of finished cloth.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-26-150446951)
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_**dyeing textiles with indigo in Kano**_, ca. 1938. Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3GGW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F87ba1052-95d6-4855-9d66-fdee1a7ef936_778x593.png)
_**Cloth dyers in Kano, ca. 1938**_, Quai Branly.
Dyers used locally cultivated indigo dye (_**Indigofera**_) and utilized specific methods to prepare the indigo dye vat. Like all parts of the textile manufacturing process, cloth dyeing was influenced by the activities of traders who took cloth strips from one textile center to another for stitching, dyeing, and embroidering. In the case of Kano, the town of Kura, about 20 miles to its south, was one of the city's major dyeing centers by the time of Barth's visit in 1851. In 1909, an estimated 2,000 dyers resided in the town out of a population of 8,000, and it was renowned for producing some of the finest and most expensive indigo-dyed cloths in Kano[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-27-150446951).
Skillfully tailored and embroidered garments were the most expensive textile products made in the empire, and they were worn and distributed as gifts by the elite. Tailors and embroiderers used small needles to work specialized cloth that was designed particularly for the tailoring process. They were embellished with geometric designs and motifs drawn from a Muslim visual vocabulary that was international in scope and comprehensible to individuals in different strata of society.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-28-150446951)
Cities like Sokoto initially specialized in producing white cloth (riga fari) because it was the religious center of Dan Fodio's movement with strict attitudes against the embellishment of clothes. But in other cities such as Kano, and in most emirates during the later periods, more embellished garments such as the _**rigan giwan**_, a robe embroidered with eight-knife imagery, became very important among the elites and wealthy.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-29-150446951)
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_**Cotton Robe with the 8-knife motif, and embroidered trousers with interlace patterns, early 20th cent,**_ British museum. These were worn together with a long-sleeved shirt.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!x8xp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9faa9d14-000c-447f-9059-eadbd1549032_1298x624.png)
_**woman's cotton robe embroidered in purple, green, and yellow silk thread in geometric patterns. ca. 1920-1935**_, British Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qXJZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd4026a5a-e6c4-45c2-8dfd-b2d614da2ef4_739x591.png)
**cotton robe with silk embroidery, made in Ilorin, Nigeria ca. 1875**, Art Institute of Chicago
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The textile trade in the 19th century Hausalands: proto-industries, merchants, and the state.**
The expansion of domestic demand and the emergence of new markets opened new avenues for the accumulation of wealth, especially among traders and artisans from the larger cities who moved to more peripheral regions to compensate for the increasing taxes, or to benefit from colluding with established authorities.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-30-150446951)
During the 19th century, Kano’s textile industry reached extraordinary production levels. In 1851 the city of sixty-thousand produced an estimated 300 million cowries worth of textiles ( which was £30,000 then or £5,2m today), with atleast 60 million cowries worth of textiles being exported to Timbuktu. At a time when Barth noted that a family in Kano could live off 50-60,000 cowries a year _**"with ease, including every expense, even that of their clothing"**_, he also mentions that one of the more popular dyed robes cost 2,500-3,000 cowries. He notes that Kano cloth was sold _**“as far as Murzuk, Ghat, and even Tripoli; to the west, not only to Timbucktu, but in some degree even as far as the shores of the Atlantic, the very inhabitants of Arguin (**in Mauritania**) dressing in the cloth woven and dyed in Kano”.**_[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-31-150446951)
Kano’s popularity as a market was due to a series of commercial incentives and the greater regulation of market transactions. As reported by Clapperton, the Kano market was regulated with great fairness; if a garment purchased in Kano was discovered to be of inferior quality it was sent back, and the seller was obliged to refund the purchase money.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-32-150446951)
The demand for Kano textiles throughout this vast region persisted after Barth’s visit. Writing in 1896, Charles Henry Robinson, who visited the city of Kano and estimated that its population had grown to about 100,000, mentions that, _**“it would be well within the mark to say that Kano clothes more than half the population of the central Sudan, and any European traveler who will take the trouble to ask for it, will find no difficulty in purchasing Kano-made cloth at towns on the coast as widely separated from one another as Alexandria, Tripoli, Tunis or Lagos.”**_[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-33-150446951) Similar contemporary accounts stress that consumers made fine distinctions between cloths on the basis of quality which contributed to the tremendous range in price for what appeared to be similar textiles.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-34-150446951)
Local and imported textiles became one of the main items used as a store of wealth in the empire’s public treasury at the city of Sokoto and constituted a considerable part of the annual tribute pouring in from the other emirates to the capital. Kano, for example, sent to Sokoto a tribute of 15,000 garments per year in the second half of the 19th century.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-35-150446951)
Many rich merchants (_**attajiraj**_) settled across the empire’s main cities and exported textiles to distant areas where they at times extended credit to smaller traders. Merchant managers were able to achieve economies of scale by storing undyed cloth in bulk and by establishing large indigo dyeing centers, some showing features of a factory system, with itinerant cloth dyers hired to work for wages. The capital for these enterprises came from the high-profit margins of long-distance trade, with large land and labor holdings acquired through political and military service[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-36-150446951).
The traders in the finished products and the landlords (_**fatoma**_) frequently accommodated visiting buyers and arranged sales. In the second half of the 19th century, these rich merchants began to acquire greater influence in Kano business circles. The power of these merchants was such that when the price of textiles fell, the merchants were able to buy most of them and wait for prices to rise again[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-37-150446951).
Some of the wealthiest merchants created complex manufacturing enterprises dealing with the import and export trade across long distances by controlling a significant proportion of the production process. They acquired large agricultural estates, expanded labour (which included kinsmen, 'free' workers, and clients as well as 'slaves'), and established agents in distant markets abroad.
One such trader in the 1850s was Tulu Babba, whose Kano-based enterprise operated across four emirates. It consisted of; a family estate and 15 private estates worked by kinsmen, clients, and ‘slaves’; several contracted dyers and master tailors in Kano; and a factor agent in Gonja. Medium-sized enterprises run by wealthy women merchants also utilized the same form or organization, with family estates where the entire household was involved in the manufacturing process, and their labour was supplemented by client relationships formed with '_female-husbands_' whose households were also involved in the spinning and weaving processes.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-38-150446951)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ihpF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79a048df-c0e2-458b-bdd1-fa7f6f68bdd9_1031x596.png)
_**Manufacturing of indigo in Kano. ca. 1938**_, Quai Branly. The entire household would have been involved in the production process.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pUAw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f9bfd80-ec14-42e7-b685-278ed314c640_999x560.png)
_**Man’s gown (riga), acquired in the Asante kingdom (modern Ghana)**_, ca. 1887-1891. British Museum. _The collector called it an “extremely handsome garment” and ‘the characteristic garment of the Mohammedan men”. Hausa traders were the main Muslim merchants in 19th-century Asante, from the town of Salaga in Gonja to the coastal regions._
Other merchants oversaw more modest operations that were nevertheless as significant to the textile economy as the larger enterprises, while also involving many other commodities according to circumstance.
One such trader was Madugu Mohamman Mai Gashin Baƙi, a carravan leader who was born in Kano in the late 1820s, and undertook his first trip to Ledde in the Nupe kingdom when he was 16, where they “sold horses to the king in exchange for Nupe cloth”, and returned to Kano after six months. The caravan then traveled to Adamawa region, where they purchased ivory on a second trip, while on a third trip, he went to the Bauchi area and then on to Kuka (the capital of Adamawa at that time), where he bought galena (a mineral used for eye makeup), which he took back to Kuka. He then returned to Bauchi with five large oxen that he had purchased and had loaded with natron, which he subsequently sold[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-39-150446951).
This level of trade likely represented the bulk of the textile trade across the empire, with small caravans of Hausa traders traveling in the dry season using donkeys to bring goods from Kano and other cities that they could trade along the way, exchanging cloth for other commodities in places as far as Fumban (capital of Bamum kingdom in Cameroon) and the Asante capital Kumasi in ghana.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-40-150446951)
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_**Cotton trousers embroidered with patterns of diamonds, stripes, knots, circles, and yellow in herringbone stitch. Hausa tailor, acquired in Cameron**_, ca. 1920, British Museum. _The Hausa and other groups associated with Sokoto expanded their activities to Cameroon during the second half of the 19th century, trading cloth and proselytizing as far as the Bamum kingdom._
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KDwB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0efe9b67-65b5-4dad-ab01-47cd77f0619e_836x573.jpeg)
_**Hausa riga from modern Benin, collected in 1899**_, Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7plY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fda170032-0bb3-44f6-9423-6d31987c8766_1082x534.png)
_**Hausa musician in Fumban, Hausa teacher in Fumban**( c. 1911, 1943, Basel Mission Archives)_
Wealthy merchants benefited from the city authorities of Kano who facilitated the export of textiles from this city to distant areas like Adamawa. Unlike North African traders who were forced to pay taxes on their commercial transactions, the rich local merchants accumulated enough wealth and influence to monopolize most of the empire's long-distance trade alongside middlemen located in distant areas like Lagos, who increasingly demanded higher percentages of commercial transactions[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-41-150446951).
The monopoly on trade by these merchants and the increase in taxes on all commerce shows that the Empire's politics became more oligarchic in the late 19th century, with authorities drawing their legitimacy more from the wealthy elites and less from the common population. This collusion between rulers and traders likely contributed to the empire's political fragmentation, among other factors, as each emirate increasingly became autonomous and could thus offer no significant resistance before it fell to the British in 1903.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-42-150446951)
Despite the disruption of the early colonial period, the textile industry of the Hauslands continued to flourish well into the middle of the 20th century when a combination of competition from cheaper, machine-made imports, reorganisation of labour, and changes in policies, contributed to its gradual decline. Cloth dyeing and hand-woven textiles still represent a significant economic activity in the Hausalands in the modern day, with cities like Kano preserving the remnants of this old industry.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hnEV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae11547b-e6b9-40a1-9001-d4c70986a88a_979x500.png)
_**A view of a section of the 500 years old Kofar Mata dye pits in Kano.**_
**The 19th century world explorer Muhammed Ali ben Said of Bornu, traveled across over twenty countries in the four continents from 1849 to 1860 before serving in the Union Army during the American civil war and settling in the US where he published his travel account.**
**Please subscribe to Patreon to read about Said’s fascinating journey across Europe, western Asia and the Carribean,****here;**
[AN AFRICAN EXPLORER OF FOUR CONTINENTS](https://www.patreon.com/posts/19th-century-and-113868704)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-wl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcad29ed5-2769-43bd-856a-72d954b05df6_675x1232.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-1-150446951)
Big Is Sometimes Best: The Sokoto Caliphate and Economic Advantages of Size in the Textile Industry by Philip J. Shea pg 5-7)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-2-150446951)
Silent Violence: Food, Famine, and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria By Michael J. Watts pg 78-81.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-3-150446951)
Veils, Turbans, and Islamic Reform in Northern Nigeria By Elisha P. Renne pg 30-32
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-4-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 196-199, 204-205)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-5-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 188-191)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-6-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 192-194)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-7-150446951)
Cotton Growing and Textile Production in Northern Nigeria from Caliphate to Protectorate c. 1804-1914’: A Preliminary Examination by Marisa Candotti pg 4)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-8-150446951)
Cotton Growing and Textile Production in Northern Nigeria from Caliphate to Protectorate c. 1804-1914’: A Preliminary Examination by Marisa Candotti pg 5)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-9-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 196-197)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-10-150446951)
Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo. By. Clapperton, Hugh
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-11-150446951)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa Volume 1 By Heinrich Barth
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-12-150446951)
Slavery in Africa: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives by Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff pg 77-78.
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-13-150446951)
Slavery in Africa: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives by Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff pg 15-39, 45-47.
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-14-150446951)
Plantation Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate: A Historical and Comparative Study By Mohammed Bashir Salau pg 47-90, Jihād in West Africa During the Age of Revolutions by Paul E. Lovejoy.
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-15-150446951)
Silent Violence: Food, Famine, and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria By Michael J. Watts pg 60-77.
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-16-150446951)
Big Is Sometimes Best: The Sokoto Caliphate and Economic Advantages of Size in the Textile Industry by Philip J. Shea pg 13-14)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-17-150446951)
Silent Violence: Food, Famine, and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria By Michael J. Watts pg 77-78)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-18-150446951)
Big Is Sometimes Best: The Sokoto Caliphate and Economic Advantages of Size in the Textile Industry by Philip J. Shea pg 15)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-19-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 187)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-20-150446951)
Cotton Growing and Textile Production in Northern Nigeria from Caliphate to Protectorate c. 1804-1914’ by Marisa Candotti pg 6, Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 375-376.)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-21-150446951)
Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 368-372, Cotton Growing and Textile Production in Northern Nigeria from Caliphate to Protectorate c. 1804-1914’ by Marisa Candotti pg 5
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-22-150446951)
Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 377-385
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-23-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 195)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-24-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 202)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-25-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 200, Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 391)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-26-150446951)
Big Is Sometimes Best: The Sokoto Caliphate and Economic Advantages of Size in the Textile Industry by Philip J. Shea pg 7-9)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-27-150446951)
Big Is Sometimes Best: The Sokoto Caliphate and Economic Advantages of Size in the Textile Industry by Philip J. Shea pg 9-12, Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 387-389)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-28-150446951)
Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 389-391)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-29-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 200)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-30-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 205)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-31-150446951)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition Undertaken Under the Auspices of H. B. M.'s Government, in the Years 1849-1855, Volume 1 by Heinrich Barth.
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-32-150446951)
Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa by D.Denham and H. Clapperton, 653
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-33-150446951)
Hausaland Or Fifteen Hundred Miles Through the Central Soudan by Charles Henry Robinson pg 113
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-34-150446951)
Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 365)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-35-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 201)
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-36-150446951)
Nineteenth Century Hausaland Being a Description by Imam Imoru of the Land , Economy , and Society of His People by Douglas Edwin Ferguson, 374–8, Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 391)
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-37-150446951)
Cotton Growing and Textile Production in Northern Nigeria from Caliphate to Protectorate c. 1804-1914’ by Marisa Candotti pg 6)
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-38-150446951)
Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate by Colleen Kriger pg 392-396)
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-39-150446951)
Veils, Turbans, and Islamic Reform in Northern Nigeria By Elisha P. Renne pg 32-35
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-40-150446951)
African Crossroads: Intersections Between History and Anthropology in Cameroon edited by Ian Fowler, David Zeitlyn pg 176-178, From Slave Trade to 'Legitimate' Commerce edited by Robin Law pg 97-98
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-41-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 204)
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry#footnote-anchor-42-150446951)
Being and Becoming Hausa: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Anne Haour, Benedetta Rossi pg 205-206)
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-empire-of-cloth-the-textile-industry
|
This article provides a brief outline of over sixty African explorers who traveled across the ‘Old World’ from the classical period to the turn of the 20th century. The linked articles and the footnotes include sources on individual travelers for further reading.
In antiquity, African travelers and diasporic communities began appearing across several societies in the eastern Mediterranean world and beyond. From the 8th century BC, classical accounts from ancient Assyria to ancient Greece mention the presence of Africans referred to as 'Kusaya'/'Aithiopians' who appeared in various capacities, as rulers, diplomats, charioteers, mercenaries, and horse-trainers, and were often associated with the [Kingdom of Kush](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-legacy-of-kushs-empire-in-global) which had expanded into parts of modern Palestine and Syria.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-1-150176734)
By the 5th century BC, [Aithiopian auxiliaries from Carthage](https://www.patreon.com/posts/between-carthage-94409122)were involved in the Battle of Himera on the Island of Sicily, and would later appear as mahouts in the ancient Punic wars between Carthage and Rome. However, most of these _Aithiopians_ would have come from the Maghreb rather than from Kush or from West Africa.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-2-150176734)
_E_ nvoys, priests, and pilgrims from Kush and _Aithiopian_ travelers from other parts of Africa would begin to [travel across the Roman world](https://www.patreon.com/posts/africans-in-rome-75714077) beginning in the 1st century BC and continuing into the early centuries of the common era. While most of their activities would be concentrated in Roman Egypt, such as the Meroite envoys; **Pasan son of Paese**, and **Abaratoye** in 253 CE and 260 CE, a handful of them would travel to the Greek Island of Samos, and the cities of Rome and Constantinople, along with envoys from the neighboring kingdoms of the Blemmyes and the Aksumites.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-3-150176734)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wijt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6a23c66-ac0a-4836-9ae5-5aee7082e96d_820x447.png)
_**Roman mural from Herculaneum (Italy) showing african figures among the priests and worshippers of the deity Isis. 1st century, National Archaeological Museum of Naples**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-4-150176734)
From the 3rd century of the common era, Aksum's armies, merchants, and settlers were active across much of the western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea coast. [Aksumite people, coinage, and inscription](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-aksumite-empire-between-rome)s, appear in multiple places from western India and the island of Sri Lanka, to Yemen and western Arabia, to the Jordanian port city of Aila and the Eastern Roman capital Constantinople. Aksumite envoys would also visit the Chinese capital of Luoyang in the 1st century.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-5-150176734)
By the 6th century, a large Aksumite army conquered the kingdom of Himyar in the western Arabian peninsula, ostensibly to protect the diasporic communities of Aksumite Christians and their allies. Under [the Aksumite general Abraha and his successors](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ethiopian-ruler-78169632), the province of Himyar would extend its control over most of western, southern, and central Arabia, although the diasporic communities of Aksumite elites and soldiers would be concentrated in Yemen.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-6-150176734)
Envoys from the kingdom of Aksum and the medieval Nubian kingdom of Makuria appeared in Constantinople in 532, 549 and 572 CE, while [Nubian and Aksumite pilgrims begun to travel to the 'Holy lands' in Palestine](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80883718?pr=true), beginning in the 8th century. By the late Middle Ages, royals, scholars, and other pilgrims from the kingdoms of Nubia and the successor states of Aksum would establish diasporic communities in Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, and Cyprus.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-7-150176734)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FL6k!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc2425146-4232-4340-b110-e2f0348b173f_820x545.jpeg)
_**The Ethiopian church of Kidane Mehret in Jerusalem, part of the Dabra Ganat monastery complex built in the late 19th century.**_
The itineraries of travelers like the 12th-century Nubian king **Moses George**, the Ethiopian scholar **Ewostatewos** (d. 1352), and other pilgrims would take them [as far as Armenia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and), Constantinople, and the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
In the centuries following the rise of Islam, west African Muslims from the kingdom of Takrur and the empires of Ghana and Kanem would appear across the Muslim world from Andalusia (Spain) to the Hejaz (western Saudi Arabia) and to Palestine in various capacities.
Some were scholars like **Ibrahim Al-Kanemi (d. 1211)** and auxiliaries from Takrur and Ghana who [visited Andalusia due to their alliance with the Moorish empires](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-diaspora-82902179) of the Almoravids and Almohads during the 11th to 13th century, [Others were pilgrims who journeyed across Egypt, western Arabia and Palestine](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-west-african-diaspora), including [royals like the Kanem king Mai Hume and the Malian king Mansa Musa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/mansa-musa-and-the-royal-pilgrimage), and ordinary travelers like the Timbuktu scholar and Medina resident **Abu Bakr Aqit (d. 1583)**, while others were military leaders like **[Sawdan](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-kingdom-87931499)**[who ruled the kingdom of Bari in southern Italy](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-kingdom-87931499)during the 9th century. [8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-8-150176734)
[African travelers from the Muslim societies of the northern Horn of Africa](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282) were also attested across multiple places from the Eastern Mediterranean and western Indian Ocean. The Jabarti and Zaylai scholars from the kingdom of Ifat, Adal, and the city of Zeila formed diasporic communities from Damascus to Egypt, the Hejaz, and Yemen.
[Historical accounts associated with the coastal city of Zeila (in Somalia)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla) mention itinerant scholars such as **Sharaf al-din Isma'il al-Jabarti (d. 1403)** became administrators in Zabid in the Rasulid kingdom of Yemen, others like **Ahmad b. 'Umar al-Zayla'ī** established the port town of al-Luhayya in Yemen in 1304, while ordinary merchants from the city of Zeila sailed to Aden where they joined diasporic communities that included Africans from Mogadishu and the rest of the East African coast.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IE3L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8d1468df-684b-47d9-977c-39f0b0df04a7_820x544.jpeg)
_**Old mosque in the town of Luhayya, Yemen, 19th century engraving.**_
There is archaeological and documentary evidence for the presence of [diasporic communities of Africans from the cities of the East African coast in Arabia, the Persian Gulf](https://www.patreon.com/posts/96900062), and China during the late Middle Ages. This is attested in the towns of Sharma (Yemen), al-Hamr al-Sharqiya (Oman), and Julfār (U.A.E), and accounts of East African traders and pilgrims from Barawa, Mogadishu, Kilwa, Zanzibar, Pate and Lamu and Comoros in Mecca, al-Shihr, Mocha, Hormuz, Muscat, Socotra and Sri Lanka.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-9-150176734)
Known travelers from the [East African coast during the late Middle Ages appear frequently in Chinese accounts](https://www.patreon.com/posts/historical-and-80113224), especially during the Song and Ming dynasties. They include the [Zanzibari envoy](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-zanzibar-before-the?utm_source=publication-search)**[Amîr-i-amîrân Zengjiani](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-zanzibar-before-the?utm_source=publication-search)**who traveled to China twice in 1071 and 1083, the envoy Puluo Shen (**Abu-al-Hasan**) from Yuluhedi (Manda, Kenya) who reached who arrived in Bianliang on December of 1073. These were later followed by many unnamed envoys from; Mogadishu (1101 CE); 'Gudanu' and 'Yaji' in Ethiopia (1283 CE, 1328 CE); and the envoys sent to meet the 15th-century Chinese admiral Zheng He, who traveled from the cities of Zhubu, Mogadishu, Barawa in Somalia, and Malindi in Kenya.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-10-150176734)
Other early East African travelers include the 14th-century Mogadishu scholar Sa'id who visited the Hejaz, India, and China, and the 15th-century Qadi of Lamu who traveled to Mecca and Egypt where he met the scholar al-maqrizi.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-11-150176734)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bo-P!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcb9201f6-bfae-4fcf-86ea-e294bc733919_533x429.png)
_**Pilgrims from Zanzibar in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, ca. 1888,**Qatar National Library digital repository_
Beginning in the 15th century, several African kingdoms sent embassies to the kingdoms of southern Europe.
These include the Ethiopian embassies to Venice (1404), Rome (1403,1404, 1450, 1481, 1533), Aragon (1427, 1450), and Portugal (1452, 1527), led by [envoys and scholars such as](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051)**[Sägga Zäᵓab and Yohannes of Cyprus](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051)**, who visited and briefly resided in Lisbon in 1527, and Rome in 1533, where the latter scholar would also be received by an established community of pilgrims led by **Tomas Wāldā Samuʾel (1515-1529)** and **Yoѐannǝs of Qänṭorare (1529- ca. 1550)** and forty-one other resident scholars that included **Täsfa Sәyon (d. 1553)**.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-12-150176734)
They were soon joined by African embassies from the kingdoms of the Atlantic Coast to the Portuguese capital Lisbon. These came from the Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria) in 1486-87, led by **Ohen-Okun**, the Kingdom of Kongo (in Angola) in 1487-88, led by **Kala ka Mfusu**, and the Kingdom of Jolof (in Senegal) in 1488, led by **Prince Jelen**.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-13-150176734)
Over the 16th and 17th centuries, the Christian Kingdom of [Kongo and the neighboring kingdom of Ndongo would send several embassies, royals, and students to Portugal, Spain, Rome, and the Netherlands.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/99646036)
These included **Prince Henrique Ndoadidiki Ne-Kinu a Mumemba** who was a resident of Lisbon and became the first black Catholic Bishop in 1518, king Afonso Nzinga's cousin; **Pedro de Sousa**, who traveled as an envoy to Lisbon in 1512 where he was knighted in the ‘Order of Saint James of the sword’, the Kongo nobleman **Antonio Vieira** who was an envoy and resident of Lisbon where he was married in the 1540s; the envoy of the Kongo King Diogo ( r. 1545-1561) to Lisbon named **Jacome de fonseca**; the Ndongo envoy **D. Pedro da Silva** who traveled to Lisbon in 1579 where he was also knighted in the ‘Order of Saint James of the sword’[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-14-150176734). Others include; [the Kongo envoys to Rome](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-kongo-and-the-portuguese) such as; **Antonio Vieira (1595) and António Manuel Nsaku ne Vunda** (1604); and the envoy**[Dom Miguel de Castro](https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-kongo-and-85683552)**[from the Kongo province of Soyo who traveled to the Dutch Republic in 1643](https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-kongo-and-85683552).[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-15-150176734)
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_**African knight of the order of Saint James of the Sword, in Chafariz d’el Rey (The King’s Fountain) painting in the Alfama District,**Anonymous painter, ca. 1560-1580, Lisbon._
African travel across the Old World grew exponentially between the late 16th to mid-19th centuries, with multiple African explorers from different parts of the continent traveling as far as [Western Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/89363872?pr=true) and [Japan during the Sengoku period](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-presence-90958238), as well as more proximate places like western India and Istanbul.
Known travelers from this period include; the Ethiopian traveler **Abba Gorgoryos** who traveled to Rome in 1649 where he briefly resided before journeying to Nuremberg in Germany around 1652; the Ethiopian prince **Zaga Christ**, who traveled to Europe in 1634 and documented his journey across Italy and France where he was hosted by various nobles; The ambassador of the kingdom of Allada (in Benin), **Don Matteo Lopez**, who traveled to Paris in 1670, and the Assine princes **Aniaba and Banga** from Cote D'ivoire, who traveled to Paris in 1687, the envoy of Annamaboe (in Ghana), **Louis Bassi, Prince de Corrantryn** who traveled to and briefly resided in Paris during in the 1740s, while his brother **William Ansah Sessarakoo** also traveled to London in 1749 as an envoy; **Philip Kwaku** from Cape coast (Ghana) who traveled to England in the late 1750s where he studied and married before returning in 1765. Later travelers included the 'Ga' Prince **Frederick Noi Dowunnah** who traveled to Copenhagen (Denmark) from Ghana in the 1820s; the 'Temne' Prince **John Frederic**who traveled to England in 1729, the two pairs of young Asante princes**Owusu Ansa and Owusu Nkwantabisa,**and **Kwame Poku and Kwasi Boakye**, who were sent to England and the Netherlands in 1836 and 1837; and the Xhosa prince **Tiyo Songa** who traveled from South Africa to Scotland in 1846.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-16-150176734)
Known [travelers from Africa to Istanbul](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman) during this period include; the Bornu envoy **El-Hajj Yusuf**who reached the Ottoman capital in 1574; scholars from the Funj kingdom (Sudan) like, **Ahmad Idrìs al-Sinnàrì (b. 1746)** who traveled from the Funj Kingdom (Sudan) across Yemen, Hejaz, and Istanbul before settling down in Syria; and **Ali al-Qus (b. 1788)** who traveled across Syria, Crete, the Hijaz Yemen and Istanbul, before returning to settle at Dongola; and the scholar **Muhammad Salma al-Zurruq (b. 1845)** from Djenne who traveled across Ottoman territories and Morocco in the 1880s.
Known [travelers from Africa to western India](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese?utm_source=publication-search) during this period include; Swahili Prince **Yusuf ibn al-Hasan** of Mombasa (Kenya) who traveled from Kenya to Goa in 1614 where he briefly resided, the Mombasa envoys **Mwinyi Zago and Faki Ali wa Mwinyi Matano**who traveled to Goa in 1661 and 1694 respectively; the Swahili merchants; **Bwana Dau bin Bwana Shaka** of Faza (Kenya) who settled in Goa after 1698; **Mwinyi Ahmed Hasani Kipai**who traveled to Surat and Goa in 1724 and**Bwana Madi bin Mwalimu Bakar** from Pate, who regularly traveled to Surat in the 1720s. Others include the Kalanga princes from Mutapa (zimbabwe) who were sent to Goa such as **Dom Diogo** in 1617, **Miguel da Presentacao** in 1629 (and Lisbon in 1630), and the princes **Mapeze and Dom Joao** who were sent to Goa in 1699.
By the mid-19th century, African travelers began to document their extensive travels across the Old World. These include; [the travel accounts of the Hausa travelers](https://www.patreon.com/posts/hausa-travelers-98642300)**[Dorugu and Abbega](https://www.patreon.com/posts/hausa-travelers-98642300)**who visited England and Prussia (Germany) in 1856[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-17-150176734), The Swahili traveler**[Amur al-Omeri](https://www.patreon.com/posts/112049775)**[who journeyed across Germany in 1891](https://www.patreon.com/posts/112049775)[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-18-150176734), the Comorian traveler**[Selim Abakari](https://www.patreon.com/posts/journey-to-19th-66837157)**[who explored Russia in 1896, and Ethiopian traveler,](https://www.patreon.com/posts/journey-to-19th-66837157)**[Dabtara Fesseha Giyorgis](https://www.patreon.com/posts/journey-to-19th-66837157)**[who explored Italy in 1895](https://www.patreon.com/posts/journey-to-19th-66837157)[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-19-150176734), and [the book-length travelogue](https://www.patreon.com/posts/106728570)**[Ham Mukasa and Apolo Kagwa](https://www.patreon.com/posts/106728570)**[from Buganda (Uganda) who visited England in 1902](https://www.patreon.com/posts/106728570),[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-20-150176734) where they encountered a delegation led by King Lewanika of the Lozi kingdom, and another delegation led by Ethiopia's Ras Mokannen, who also produced an account of his travel to England.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-21-150176734)
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(L-R) _**Ras Mäkonnen and his entourage in 1902, Apolo Kagwa, Katikiro of Buganda and Ham Mukasa, King Lewanika in court dress.**_
While the above outline of African travelers is far from exhaustive, as it excludes the numerous scholars from across the continent who traveled to western Arabia and Palestine for pilgrimage and trade, it demonstrates that the history of Africa's exploration of the Old World is sufficiently known, including the individual African travelers and some of their own accounts of the exploratory journeys.
My Latest Patreon article unites the history of African exploration of the ‘Old World’ with the ‘**New World’** through the travel account of the Bornu explorer Muhammed Ali ben Said who traveled across over twenty countries in the four continents of; Africa, Asia, Europe and America between 1849 and 1860.
After serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War, Said settled in the state of Alabama and published a fascinating account of his life and travels. Employed as a ‘_Valets de chambre’_ by two Russian aristocrats and a Dutch abolitionist, Said presents an insider's perspective of the aristocratic families of the Ottoman, Russian, and Austrian empires, a first-hand account of the politics of the Italian reunification, the customs of Victorian England, the complex history of Haiti, and the racialized society of the southern United States.
**Please subscribe to read about the remarkable journey of the world explorer Muhammed Ali ben Said here;**
[AN AFRICAN EXPLORER OF FOUR CONTINENTS](https://www.patreon.com/posts/19th-century-and-113868704)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-1-150176734)
_check footnotes of the article on Kush, additional sources include_; The Horses of Kush by Lisa A. Heidorn, Cushites in the Hebrew Bible: Negotiating Ethnic Identity in the Past, and by Kevin Burrell
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-2-150176734)
Blacks in Antiquity by Frank M. Snowden pg 4, 130-131, 142 Before Color Prejudice by Frank M. Snowden pg 31-32
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-3-150176734)
Between two worlds by L. Torok pg 467-468, 523, Blacks in Antiquity by Frank M. Snowden pg 20, 193-195, 187-189, 167 Before Color Prejudice by Frank M. Snowden pg 97-99, 55, 78 An analysis of Aethiopians in Roman art pg 54
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-4-150176734)
Before Color Prejudice by Frank M. Snowden, images No. 60 and 61
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-5-150176734)
Cultural Flow between china and Outside World Throughout History by Shen Fuwei pg 50
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-6-150176734)
Arabs and Empires Before Islam by Greg Fisher, Soixante dix ans avant l'islam by C. J. Robin, Abraha et la reconquete de l’Arabie d´eserte by C. J. Robin
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-7-150176734)
A Note towards Quantifying the Medieval Nubian Diaspora by Adam Simmons, Nubia, Ethiopia, and the Crusading World, 1095-1402 by Adam Simmons
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-8-150176734)
Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, Volume 4 pg 459-460, Black women warriors Renaissance Europe by Thomas Foster Earle, K. J. P. Lowe pg 182-184, The conquest that never was by David Conrad and Humphrey Fisher pg 31-32, Black morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam By Chouki El Hamel pg 123-124, _on al-Kanemi, see_; Arabic Literature of Africa: The writings of Central Sudanic Africa. Vol. 2 by John Hunwick, pg 17-18, _on Abu Bakr Aqit, see;_ Arabic Literature of Africa, Volume 4: The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa edited by John O. Hunwick, R. Rex S. O'Fahey pg 15, _On Swadan, see_; The Muslims of medieval Italy By Alex Metcalfe pg 21, L'emirato di Bari By Giosuè Musca
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-9-150176734)
When did the Swahili become maritime by J Fleisher pg 106, L’Arabie marchande: État et commerce sous les sultans rasūlides du Yémen (626-858/1229-1454) by Éric Vallet, Chapter9, East African travelers and traders in the Indian ocean by Thomas Vernet pg 182-183, Julfār, an Arabian Port by John Hansman pg 49-51
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-10-150176734)
Cultural Flow Between China and Outside World Throughout History by Shen Fuwei pg 278, A History of Overseas Chinese in Africa to 1911 by Anshan Lipg 37-47)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-11-150176734)
The travels of Ibn Battuta vol. IV pg 809, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 71)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-12-150176734)
Encounters Between Ethiopia and Europe, 1400–1660 by Matteo Salvadore, An Ethiopian Scholar in Tridentine Rome by Matteo Salvadore, The Two Yohannәses of Santo Stefano degli Abissini by Samantha Kelly, African cosmopolitanism in the early modern Mediterranean by Matteo Salvadore
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-13-150176734)
Africa's Discovery of Europe: 1450-1850 by David Northrup pg 25-40
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-14-150176734)
Atlantic world and Virginia by Peter C. Mancall pg 202-206, Representing Africa : Ambassadors and Princes from Christian Africa to Renaissance Italy and Portugal, 1402-1608 by Kate Lowe pg 107, 112-114, Black Africans in Renaissance Europe by Thomas Foster Earle, K. J. P. Lowe pg 294-296
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-15-150176734)
The Kingdom of Kongo and the thirty years' War by John K. Thornton pg 212-213
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-16-150176734)
Gorgoryos and Ludolf : The Ethiopian and German Fore-Fathers of Ethiopian Studies by Wolbert Smidt, The narrative of Zaga Christ by Matteo Salvadore, The Negro in France by Shelby Thomas McCloy pg 16-18, To be the key for two coffers pg 1-25, Where the Negroes are masters by Randy J. Sparks pg 35-51, Africa's discovery of Europe by David Northrup pg 143-144, 120, 121, 147-148
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-17-150176734)
West African Travels and Adventures. Two Autobiographical Narratives from Nigeria., by Anthony Kirk-Greene and Paul Newman
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-18-150176734)
Anthologie aus der Suaheli-Litteratur by Carl Gotthilf Büttner, pg 156-170
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-19-150176734)
"De la Côte aux confins" by Nathalie Carré, The Voyage of Däbtära Fesseha Giyorgis to Italy at the end of the 19th Century
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-20-150176734)
Uganda's Katikiro in England: Being the Offical Account of His Visit to the Coronation of His Majesty King Edward VII by Ham Mukasa.
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers#footnote-anchor-21-150176734)
Black Edwardians: Black People in Britain 1901-1914 By Jeffrey Green, see Chapter on ‘Imperial Visitors’.
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-african-explorers
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Located in the desert sands near the Nile in modern Sudan is the ancient city of Meroe, which ranks among the world's oldest cities and is home to [iconic Nubian pyramids](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pyramids-of-ancient-nubia-and).
Established as early as the 10th century BC, Meroe was the political and cultural center of the great African Kingdom of Kush until its collapse in the 4th century of the common era. The powerful rulers who resided at Meroe constructed massive palaces, temples, and monuments, and their subjects transformed the city into a major religious and industrial center, once referred to as the 'Birmingham of Africa'.
This article outlines the history and monuments of the ancient city of Meroe, utilizing images from the first excavations which uncovered the buildings more than 1,500 years after the ancient capital was abandoned.
_**Map showing the location of Meroe.**_
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**Sudan’s heritage is currently threatened by the ongoing conflict. Please support Sudanese organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country by Donating to the ‘Khartoum Aid Kitchen’ gofundme page.**
[DONATE TO KHARTOUM AID KITCHEN](https://www.gofundme.com/f/fight-hunger-in-sudan-the-khartoum-kitchen-appeal?utm_campaign=p_cp+fundraiser-sidebar&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer)
**A brief background on the history of Meroe.**
The city of Meroe first appears in the historical records on the inscription of King Amannote-erike who ruled Kush during the second half of the 5th century BC in [the Napatan period](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-legacy-of-kushs-empire-in-global) (named after Kush’s old Royal city of Napata).
The inscription mentions that Amannote-erike was _**“among the royal kinsmen”**_ when his predecessor King Talakhamani died _**“in his palace of Meroë”.**_ The city later appears in the inscription of his sucessor King Harsiyotef in reference to an Osiris procession, and on the 4th century BC inscription of King Nastasen who writes: _**“When I was the good youth in Meroë, Amun of Napata, my good father, summoned me, saying, ‘Come!’. I had the royal kinsmen who were throughout Meroë summoned…He will be a king who dwells successfully in Meroë…”**_[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-1-149841150)
Meroe also appears as the capital of the ‘_Aithiopians_’ in Herodotus' account from the 5th century BC. Based on information he received while in Egypt, Herodotus provides a semi-legendary account of the city, mentioning the fountain of youth whose “thin” water supposedly enabled the “long-lived” _**aithiopians**_ (Meroites of Kush, not to be confused with modern Ethiopia) to live up to 120 years. Herodotus also refers to a prison where the prisoners were bound in fetters of gold because copper was deemed more valuable, and to a building outside the city called “Table of the Sun.” where animal offerings were left.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-2-149841150)
Meroe was later visited by travelers from Ptolemaic Egypt such as Simonides the Younger and Philon who wrote a now-lost account of the city and the kingdom in the 3rd century BC. These provided some of the information in the later accounts of Alexandrian geographer Eratosthenes of Cyrene (c. 246-194 BC) and the ethnographer Agatharchides of Cnidus (b. 200 BC). It’s from the latter that we get a semi-legendary account of King Ergamenes (Arkamaniqo), who is credited with establishing a new dynasty ([often referred to as the ‘Meroitic’ dynasty](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas?utm_source=publication-search)) after overthrowing the Napatan dynasty by shifting the royal cemetery from Napata to Meroe.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-3-149841150)
The original name of Meroe was likely written as either Bedewi or Medewi, which is preserved in the name of the modern village of Begrawiya located next to the ancient site. In the texts of Kush’s Napatan-period, the name of Meroe is rendered Brwt, while in the Ptolemaic texts, it is rendered as Mirw3i and in demotic inscriptions as Mrwt. The Greeks rendered the name as Μερόη, which was transliterated as Meroe in Latin and modern languages.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-4-149841150)
**Description of the monuments of Meroe**
The ancient city of Meroe is situated on the east bank of the Nile on a slightly elevated ground between two small seasonal rivers which branched out during the rainy season, making Meroe a seasonal island. The ruins of the ancient site cover an area of approximately 10km2, and include; the royal section enclosed by a wall; the north and south mounds which included domestic quarters; the outlying temples of Apedemak, Isis, the ‘Temple of the Sun’; and [the three pyramid complexes east of the city.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pyramids-of-ancient-nubia-and)[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-5-149841150)
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_**A panoramic photograph of Meroë created from images taken from the north of the enclosure wall of the Royal City at the end of the excavation in 1914**_. University of Liverpool.
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_**Reconstruction of the city of Meroë**_, taken from Rebecca J Bradley.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-6-149841150)
The site of Meroe was settled as early as the 7th millennium BC as indicated by finds of early pottery belonging to the ‘Khartoum Mesolithic’ tradition. Other materials dated to 1730–1410 BC, 1400–1000 BC, and 1270–940 BC indicate a continued albeit semi-permanent human activity in the area. The foundation levels of the oldest structures found at the site, such as the palace M 750S and building M 292, provide dates ranging from 1010–800 BC to 961–841 BC. The distance between these structures and their construction in the 10th-9th century BC, suggests that the early town of Meroe was already occupying a substantial area by then.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-7-149841150)
Meroe came under the political orbit of the Napatan kingdom of Kush early in its history, although the exact nature of Kush's control remains a subject of debate[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-8-149841150). Excavations at the Palace M 750S revealed an older building with a large quantity of the Early Napatan pottery. The West Cemetery at Meroe contained graves of high officials and relatives of the early Kushite kings from Piankhy to Taharqo, dating to 750–664. Epigraphic evidence from within the city goes back to the 7th-century Bc rulers Senkamanisken and Anlamani, whose names were inscribed on objects found near Palace M 294 within the Royal City.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-9-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!woaH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F820cdec2-a915-4fc4-8eb6-bdc8da205022_836x433.png)
_**Napatan-era calcite vessel in the form of an oryx, bound for sacrifice, found at Meroe**_. Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
The Napatan royals likely resided in Meroe long before the city explicitly appears in the internal documents of the 5th-century BC mentioned above. This is indicated by the construction of a palace or temple dated to the 7th century BC in what would later become the royal compound; as well as King Aspelta’s construction of temple M 250 in the 6th century BC and the burial of a King’s wife in the Begrawiya South cemetery. The references to Meroe in the stela of Irike-Amanote, Harsiyotef, and Aspelta in the context of internal strife and war likely indicate that the control of the city (or its hinterland), was likely contested even before King Arkamaniqo ultimately overthrew the Napatan dynasty around 275BC and moved the King’s burial site to the Begrawiya South cemetery.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-10-149841150)
The appearance of the first burial of a King at the South Cemetery of Meroe also coincided with the creation of a separate royal district enclosed within a monumental wall.
The masonry wall is about 5m thick, it originally stood several meters high and formed an irregular rectangle of 200x400m. Its construction is dated to between the early to mid 3rd century BC and encloses an area considered to be the “Royal City,” because of the numerous monumental buildings within it. It likely had no defensive function but rather served a monumental function separating the elite section of the city. The wall is pierced by five gates, whose asymmetrical location may reflect the position of the most important structures located in the city prior to its erection, and the course of the Nile channel.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-11-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-CRV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd6969c4-7aeb-4fdf-afd8-fd1193b737f7_923x677.png)
_**Aerial view of the Amun temple M 260 and and the enclosure wall**_, photo by B. Żurawski.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R2_L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c08d8a9-a89a-43c6-b065-2d227aa3faf4_970x586.png)
_**Meroe City, “Royal Enclosure”, west wall behind the late Amun temple.**_ image by L. Torok.
The Amun Temple at Meroe, also known as M 260, is the second-largest Kushite temple after the Napatan temple B 500 at Jebel Barkal.
It consists of; a courtyard with 3.8 m tall pylons (now collapsed) and a Kiosk containing Meroitic inscriptions of King Natakamani and Queen Amanitore; a hypostyle forecourt that had a unique embedded stone basin and many Meroitic inscriptions eg the stela of Amanishaketo; and a Temple core with a series of hypostyle halls and side rooms, some with Meroitic inscriptions such as the stela of Amanikhabale, others with decorated and painted scenes with figures of royals and deities, and one with stone throne base measuring 1.93 x 1.8m .
The temple was constructed in two main phases, with the first phase completed in the 1st century BC, which is corroborated by the dating of the material found at the site, while the second phase saw the addition of other structures between the 1st and 3rd century CE by various rulers.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-12-149841150)
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_**The Amun Temple (M260) after excavation, looking east from the enclosure wall across the centre of the temple**._ ca. 1912, University of Liverpool.
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_**Temple of Amun M 260, Meroë Royal City**_, Flickr photo by TobeyTravels
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TaMX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff03719d6-c259-4013-8500-58dd026d2220_735x500.jpeg)
_**The interior of the Amun temple at Meroë, looking west. The central sanctuary containing the high altar can be seen in the background. The enclosure wall of the royal city can be seen in the far background.**_
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_**The main altar in the temple of Amun at Meroë, after clearing. The altar is decorated with images of the Egyptian Nile god Hapi.**_
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_**Remains of one of the hypostyle halls of the Amun temple in Meroë.**_
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_**Stairs leading up to an altar at the Amun temple at Meroë. A small offering table can be seen in the foreground**_
Among the most unique buildings in the Royal compound is one of the oldest structures in the city called M 292. This was an important religious building, likely a chapel of a deity, that was continually rebuilt from the 10th century BC to the very end of the kingdom. It consists of two superimposed buildings, the lower one of whose columns (seen below) served as the bases for columns of a secondary structure. Its walls were extensively painted and decorated with victory scenes including Roman captives taken after Queen Amanirenas’ defeat of a Roman invasion, and it was here that the famous head of emperor Augustus was found.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-13-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dlq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2274acce-44d9-4a8d-be5d-9c7e6ce3d45a_1027x678.png)
_**Section of building M 292 after excavation showing remains of a peristyle and columns**_. ca. 1911, University of Liverpool.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLFW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c1223e0-2830-4a47-a825-7311c508b14c_1366x569.png)
_**watercolor illustrations of captive paintings found in building 292 at Meroe, depicting bound Roman and Egyptian soldiers on the footstool of a Queen and a Meroitic deity**_. The originals on the right show the detail of the right footstool (top) and left footstool (bottom), and the larger painting of the left footstool. ca. 1911, University of Liverpool.
There are several monumental structures within the Royal compound identified as palaces, including, M 950, M 990, and M 998, dating to between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century CE.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-14-149841150)
Besides these is an old palace M 750, located outside the Royal city, south-east of the Amun temple. It consisted of two structures separated by a garden, and its interior contained inscribed and decorated blocks depicting procession scenes, as well as material dated to between the 8th century BC to 3rd century CE. Its construction method was similar to other Meroitic monuments: the stone foundations supported a plastered redbrick building covered with a brick roof resting on wood and palm fronds. Finds of pottery sherds lined on the west side of the palace indicate that some of the streets were paved to form a hard surface.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-15-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Szja!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43fa5854-a8fb-4a89-a235-c30abcbd4c79_1366x463.png)
_**Comparative floor plans and elevation of some of the Meroitic palaces at Muweis, Wad Ben Naqa, Napata and Meroë (M251-253)**_. Illustrations by Marc Maillot[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-16-149841150)
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_**Meroë palace M 750, ca. 1911**_, University of Liverpool.
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_**Palace (M 750) ,Meroë Royal City,**_ Flickr Photo by TobeyTravels.
An astronomical observatory, M 964, was found within, and below, Palace M 950. Its function was determined by the graffiti incised on the wall showing two individuals with a wheeled astronomical instrument observing the sky and making calculations that were then inscribed on the wall in cursive meroitic. Added to this was the square and triangular stone pillars in the entrance, graffiti of instruments on the walls, and the stone basin in the subterranean room 954 for measuring Nile water, all of which were used by local priests to time specific Meroitic festivals.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!V3C_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83365c8a-3361-458c-8236-99aba8ca630a_776x520.png)
_**Image of graffiti on the wall of site 964, showing an astronomer using an instrument, and astronomical observations of equations written in cursive Meroitic.**_ University of Liverpool.
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_**Meroë site 964: 'observing' stones and steps to tank, Meroë site 954: 'Bath in observatory buildings'**_. University of Liverpool.
**« Read more about the Meroe observatory here:**
[THE WORLD'S OLDEST OBSERVATORY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/discovery-of-in-56930547)
Another unique structure of the later period is the so-called Royal Bath complex, M 194-5 is a 30x70m structure from the 3rd century BC, located on the western edge of the Royal City between the Enclosure Wall and Palace M 295.
Its main feature is a brick-lined and plaster-covered pool 7.25 ×7.15 m and 2.50 m deep, surrounded by an ambulatory filled with locally made statuary, and supplied with water which flowed through water inlets cleverly concealed by the painted wall. A pipe fitted into a column stood in the center of the pool so that the water would flow into the basin from the spouts in the south wall and sprinkle fountain-like in the center. This fountain feature recalls Herodotus’s observation of the “fountain of youth” at Meroe, which secured the longevity of the Meroites, an interpretation that is further complemented by paintings associated with the cults of Dionysus and Apedemak, who are linked with re-birth, well-being, and fertility.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-17-149841150)
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_**Image of site 195 ('Royal Baths'), from the east, showing the tank and nearby chambers during excavation. Image of the excavation of the tank at site 195 ('Royal Baths').**ca. 1911,_ University of Liverpool
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_**Image of site 194 ('Royal Baths') during excavation, showing what Garstang believed was a tepidarium, with seats decorated with griffins and various pieces of sculpture**_. University of Liverpool.
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_**Detail of the interior of the tank in the Royal baths.**_
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_**Image of an aqueduct or water channel discovered at site 194/195 'Royal Baths', south west corner of the tank discovered at site 195 ('Royal Baths'), with decorative carvings, sculptures and pipes.**_ University of Liverpool.
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_**statute of a reclining figure and a reclining couple discovered in the tank at site 195 ('Royal Baths'), 3rd century BC**_. Glyptothek Museum, University of Liverpool. On the right is a statue of Aphrodite, Münich ÄS 1334.
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_**Palace M295 next to the ‘Royal baths’, showing an aqueduct and water tank. ca. 1911**_, University of Liverpool.
Most of the buildings excavated in the northeast part of the Royal City seem to be domestic quarters, magazines, and storage houses. East of the main Amun temple M260 were a series of small temples on both sides of a wide, open avenue that formed the processional way. These small, multi-roomed temples show quite a diversity of layouts: including a simple three-roomed edifice (M720), a building erected on a high podium (KC 101), and a double temple (KC 104).[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-18-149841150)
The formal Processional Way to the Amun Temple separated two domestic areas known as the North Mound and the South Mound. The North mound excavations revealed extensive domestic occupations, iron furnaces along with heaps of iron slag, pottery kilns, and a large temple dedicated to Isis. Excavations in the south Mound revealed other important buildings besides the palace M 750, these included domestic remains such as; M 712, which contained a bakery; and the structure at SM 100 whose material was dated to between the 8th and 4th century BC.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-19-149841150)
To the east of the city is building M 6, identified as the 'Lion Temple' of the Meroitic god Apedemak. It consists of two small rooms within an enclosing stone wall which is decorated with reliefs. It contained statues of lions, an inscribed stela with the name of the Lion-headed deity Apedemak, and inscriptions belonging to the 3rd century CE Kings; Teqorideamani and Yesebokheamani.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-20-149841150)
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_**Remains of columns and a Lion statue at the temple M6 in Meroe**_, ca. 1911, University of Liverpool.
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_**Inscribed stela and a wooden sundial in the shape of the ‘Sun Temple’ discovered at temple M6 (Lion Temple)**_. ca. 1911, University of Liverpool.
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_**Votive Plaque of a King Found in the lion temple at Meroë.**_ Walters Art Museum.
Further east of the ‘Lion Temple’ is building M 250, which is often wrongly called ‘Sun Temple’ after Herodotus’ fanciful account (there’s little evidence of sun worship at the temple). It was built in the 1st century BC by Prince Akinidad ontop of the remains of an earlier building erected by the Napatan King Aspelta. The edifice consists of a cella standing on a podium placed in the center of a peristyle court on top of a large artificial terrace approached by a ramp. It features highly decorated walls with relief registers depicting victory scenes.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-21-149841150)
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_**General view of building M250 from the northeast after excavation showing the temple entrance,**_ ca. 1911, University of Liverpool.
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_**center of the south front of the building M250. Victory scenes on the south side of site 250**_, University of Liverpool.
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_**Reconstruction of building M 250.**_
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_**Victory scenes on the south side of the lower podium of building M250**_, University of Liverpool.
To the north of the city is M 600, identified as the temple of Isis, which was later reused in the medieval period as a church. It consisted of two columned halls leading to a shrine, where the altar stood on a floor of faience tiles. It contains a stela of King Teriteqas, two large columnar statues of the gods Sebiumeker and Arensnuphis protecting its entrance, and two figures of the goddess Isis.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-22-149841150)
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_**chambers discovered at Meroe temple M600 (Isis Temple).**_, University of Liverpool.
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_**statue of Sebiumeker and Arensnuphis, 1st century BC, discovered at temple M600 (Isis Temple),**_ now at Carlsberg Glyptotek museum, National Museum of Scotland.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Life in the ancient city of Meroe**
An estimated 9,000 inhabitants lived in the royal city, including members of the Royal family and ordinary people. The bulk of the latter population lived in the smaller houses of mud-brick walls found across the archeological site, and were engaged in a variety of crafts industries, from iron working, to gold smelting, textile manufacture, pottery making, the construction of monumental palaces, temples, and tombs found in the city, and the various sculptures and artworks that decorated their interior.
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_**Section of building M 296 showing a complete ‘Taharqa’ style column and column bases, and a decorated doorway**_. ca. 1911, University of Liverpool.
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_**Meroë site 98: Bath in a private house, Meroë site 621: Tank. ca. 1911,**_ University of Liverpool.
According to Strabo’s description of Kush;
_**“They live on millet and barley, from which they also make a beverage. Butter and suet serve as their olive oil. Nor do they have fruit trees except for a few date palms in the royal gardens. . . . They make use of meat, blood, milk, and cheese. . . . Their greatest royal seat is Meroe, the city with the same name as the island”.**_ He adds that the land was populated by nomads, hunters, and farmers and that the Meroites were mining copper, gold, iron, and precious minerals.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-23-149841150)
Discoveries of massive slag heaps, kilns, and forges in the outskirts of Meroe and the neighboring town of Hamadab, along with the remains of iron and copper tools, and gold and bronze jewelry, attest to the city’s importance as an important center of local industries (the iron-slag mounds in particular earned it its nickname of the ‘Birmingham of Africa’). Commodities such as salt, gold, and other minerals, along with ebony, ivory, and other exotica were major trade items exported from Meroe to the Mediterranean world.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-24-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4SCf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7054ec2e-d5f2-4350-b4c0-d32da91e96d4_1295x489.png)
_**Images of site 298, showing kiln-like structures that Garstang believed were coppersmith's hearths.**_ University of Liverpool.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gopS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a7eaac8-95ff-48a2-a90f-ae7954153cb7_1037x668.png)
_**kilns discovered at site 620 after excavation**_. University of Liverpool.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hFoU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0da558cf-7505-4143-9994-a8e276e4fb1d_741x495.png)
_**Large iron slag mound at Meroe, Sudan.**_ photo by Jane Humpris.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MNQX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e4c67a8-0eff-47d0-8381-80cceb962cc6_996x460.png)
_**Napatan and Meroitic gold jewelry.**_(mostly at the Boston Museum)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hvLi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F862f3454-2134-403e-a74d-10d45cb4df0e_1315x568.png)
_**Painted pottery from Meroe, ca. 1st century BC- 1st century CE**_, SMB Berlin & Louvre
Meroe is located within the monsoon rain belt region of Central Sudan in a savannah environment dotted with acacia trees, making it suitable for agro-pastoralism which was the basis of Kush's economy in antiquity. The cultivation of cereals like sorghum was sustained by seasonal rains and the construction of water storages known as Hafirs. Finds of cattle bones and other animals (sheep, goats, pigs) in archaeological contexts corroborate written accounts about the importance of herding in Meroe.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-25-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vk0q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a2823d4-890a-4a4d-b13c-02dd895e79f2_1026x674.png)
_**Image of a wall relief depicting a procession of oxen found at site 70 (Ox shrine)**_. University of Liverpool.
**The end of Meroe**
Meroe remained a powerful capital well into the middle of the third century when the kingdom had to face serious political and economic difficulties, including the decline of Roman Egypt, the appearance of nomadic groups called the Blemmyes and the ‘Noba’ in its northern and eastern margins, and the rise of the Aksumite empire in the northern highlands of Ethiopia.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-26-149841150)
The last inscription among the known Meroitic rulers, Talakhideamani, was found within the Amun Temple complex as well as in the Meroitic chamber at Philae (in Roman Egypt) where his envoys also left an inscription that contained the king's name, and at the temple of Musawwarat. His reign in the late 3rd century indicates that the kingdom, its capital and its main temple were still flourishing just decades before the Kush was invaded by the Aksumite kingdom.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-27-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jn8S!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1735a415-368b-47bc-98a5-036b8809c365_1090x362.png)
_**Talakhideamani's inscription on the south side of M 276, Amun temple**_, photo by K. Grzymski
The royal city was sacked by the Aksumite armies in the early 4th century CE, evidenced by two Greek inscriptions found on the site, belonging to King Ousanas. They bear the typical Aksumite title of; "King of the Aksumites and Himyarites …" and they describe his capture of Kush's royal families, the erection of a throne and bronze statue, and the subjection of tribute on Kush. Ousanas’ campaign was later followed by his successor Ezana in 360 CE, who directed his armies against the Noba that were by then occupying much of Kush’s territory.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-28-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4CGm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4875a1bf-b418-4c21-9e20-deb207b6a123_1039x489.png)
_**Emperor Ousanas’ victory inscriptions at Meroe**_. Sudan national museum
The very end of habitation at Meroe City is represented by squatter occupation in the abandoned temples and by poor burials cut into the walls of deserted palatial buildings and in the inner rooms of the late Amun temple, as well as the complete disappearance of wheel-turned pottery. The Meroitic dynasty likely ended with Queen Amanipilade, buried in Beg. N. 25, although the kingdom itself continued in some form until around 420 CE when the royals of [the first medieval Nubian kingdom](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-kingdom-on-the-edge-of) established their royal necropolis at Ballana, formally marking the end of ancient Kush and its historic capital.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-29-149841150)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zq29!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62403bd6-c9b0-4a3a-8572-05130e877e30_957x634.png)
_**Meroë (Bagrawiyah) Pyramids North Cemetery**_, Flickr Photo by Bruce Allardice.
**Please support Sudanese organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country by Donating to the ‘Khartoum Aid Kitchen’ gofundme page.**
[DONATE TO KHARTOUM AID KITCHEN](https://www.gofundme.com/f/fight-hunger-in-sudan-the-khartoum-kitchen-appeal?utm_campaign=p_cp+fundraiser-sidebar&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer)
**Centuries before the rise of Aksum, the northern Horn of Africa was home to several complex societies referred to as the 'Pre-Aksumite' civilization.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here;**
[THE PRE-AKSUMITE CIVILIZATION](https://www.patreon.com/posts/pre-aksumite-of-112946798?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m9nz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb489d3f2-d8b5-4d84-9e24-8eac99577a06_661x1113.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-1-149841150)
The Double Kingdom Under Taharqo: Studies in the History of Kush and Egypt, c. 690 – 664 BC by Jeremy W. Pope pg 12-13.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-2-149841150)
Herodotus in Nubia By László Török
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-3-149841150)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg pg 72-73, Hellenizing Art in Ancient Nubia 300 B.C. - AD 250 and Its Egyptian Models: A Study in "Acculturation" by László Török, Laszlo Torok pg 13-19.
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-4-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 545
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-5-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 456, 549.
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-7-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 551-552
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-8-149841150)
‘Meroë as a Problem of Twenty-Fifth Dynasty History’ in The Double Kingdom Under Taharqo: Studies in the History of Kush and Egypt, c. 690 – 664 BC by Jeremy W. Pope.
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-9-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 551-552, Meroe, the capital of Kush, old problems and new discoveries, by Krzysztof Grzymski pg 56-58
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-10-149841150)
The Double Kingdom Under Taharqo: Studies in the History of Kush and Egypt, c. 690 – 664 BC by Jeremy W. Pope pg 31-33
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-11-149841150)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 516-517.
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-12-149841150)
The Amun Temple at Meroe Revisited by Krzysztof Grzymski pg 142
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-13-149841150)
Meroe: A Civilization of the Sudan by P. L. Shinnie pg 78-79, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 553
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-14-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 554)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-15-149841150)
Meroe, the capital of Kush, old problems and new discoveries, by Krzysztof Grzymski pg 52-54, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 556.
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-16-149841150)
The Meroitic Palace and Royal City by Marc Maillot
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-17-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 554, Hellenizing Art in Ancient Nubia 300 B.C. - AD 250 and Its Egyptian Models: A Study in "Acculturation" by László Török pg 139-188.
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-18-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 556)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-19-149841150)
Meroe, the capital of Kush, old problems and new discoveries, by Krzysztof Grzymski pg 47-51, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 557
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-20-149841150)
Meroe: A Civilization of the Sudan by P. L. Shinnie pg 83-84, The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 477-479
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-21-149841150)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török 367-270, 458, 520)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-22-149841150)
Meroe: A Civilization of the Sudan by P. L. Shinnie pg 84.
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-23-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 547, 557
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-24-149841150)
Meroe: A Civilization of the Sudan by P. L. Shinnie pg 160-165, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 547
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-25-149841150)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Bruce Williams pg 456, 557)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-26-149841150)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 476-478.
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-27-149841150)
‘Appendix: New Light on the Royal Lineage in the Last Decades of the Meroitic Kingdom’ in : The Amun Temple at Meroe Revisited by Krzysztof Grzymski pg 144-146
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-28-149841150)
Aksum and nubia by G. Hatke pg 67-80, 95-121, 135.
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital#footnote-anchor-29-149841150)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 481-484
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gopS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a7eaac8-95ff-48a2-a90f-ae7954153cb7_1037x668.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hFoU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0da558cf-7505-4143-9994-a8e276e4fb1d_741x495.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MNQX!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e4c67a8-0eff-47d0-8381-80cceb962cc6_996x460.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vk0q!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a2823d4-890a-4a4d-b13c-02dd895e79f2_1026x674.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m9nz!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb489d3f2-d8b5-4d84-9e24-8eac99577a06_661x1113.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ancient-city-of-meroe-the-capital
|
In the closing decades of the 20th century, archaeologists working to uncover the foundations of urbanism and complex societies in West Africa discovered a vast cluster of stone ruins in southern Mauritania.
Among these ruins was an urban settlement more than 80 ha large, with an elite necropolis at its centre surrounded by over 540 stone-walled compounds and hundreds of funerary tumuli. The intricate layout of the settlement of Dakhlet el Atrouss I, its monumental tombs, and its estimated population of about 10,000 indicate that it was the capital of the [Dhar Tichitt neolithic culture](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa) during its 'classic phase' between 1600BC-1000BC, and is arguably West Africa’s first town.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GwSr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3f90f51a-9189-4cda-899f-1fa54f4434a7_709x469.jpeg)
_**funerary monument at the center of Dakhlet el Atrouss 1, 2nd millennium BC.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tiFy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e194512-e929-47ff-8478-63f9fef7ccef_768x512.jpeg)
_**the Akreijit Regional Center in the Dhar Tichitt ruins, 2nd millennium BC.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SQiO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F487a7714-aa5a-4092-8627-63a012258f8f_910x512.jpeg)
_**Ruins of Wadan north of Tichitt, one of the [south-western Saharan towns](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan) established by the Azer in the early 2nd millennium CE.**_
Studies of African civilizations outside the Nile valley often start in the centuries after the common era, creating a false impression that social complexity in Africa only began during the Middle Ages. However, archeological investigations into the foundations of many of these medieval African societies have shown that they represent a culmination of centuries of cultural developments that extend back to antiquity.
The Lake Chad basin, for example, has been at the center of many of Africa's largest pre-colonial states since the Middle Ages including the empire of Kanem-Bornu, and [the Kotoko city-states](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-political-history-of-the-kotoko), which established large cities and towns protected by an extensive system of walls and ditches several meters tall and deep.
While the construction of these walled towns was initially thought to have been influenced by exogenous factors, [the discovery of over a dozen ancient walled towns along the western shores of Lake Chad](https://www.patreon.com/posts/between-carthage-94409122) dating back to the early 1st millennium BC has shown that this form of urbanism was an autochthonous invention.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5T6Q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F853062de-c169-44ce-8292-193964e20664_622x637.png)
_**Magnetogram showing the outlines of some sub-surface features as well as the location of an old ditch segment at Zilum, Nigeria, 1st millennium BC.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WCX0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff34c83dd-308d-4946-8a61-d1ff2a39d61c_820x489.jpeg)
_**Aerial photo of Gulfey, a fortified Kotoko town near Lake Chad established in the mid-2nd millennium CE.**_
Another example is the celebrated art traditions of [Igbo-Ukwu](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-enigmatic-west-african-art-tradition), Ife, Benin, and other societies in southwestern Nigeria, which are known to have begun in the 9th century of the common era, seemingly without precedent.
However, studies of [the Nok neolithic culture (ca. 1500-1BC)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/91819837), whose sculptural artworks featured similar motifs, carving styles, and expressions of belief systems, reveal the existence of an ancient precursor that links many of the region's art traditions, albeit indirectly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HEz3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F451266ce-7c57-43d9-b89f-62ef2ad22796_1067x412.png)
_**Equestrian Nok terracotta figure, 1st millennium BC**_, private collection. _**Equestrian Igbo-Ukwu figure on a bronze hilt, 9th century CE**_, NCMM, _**Equestrian Ife figure on a copper-alloy scepter, 12th-13th century CE**_, Musée Barbier-Mueller. _**Equestrian copper-alloy figure from Benin city, 16th-17th century CE**_, British Museum.
Ancient Africa therefore contained several complex societies whose cultural developments laid the foundations for the emergence of the better-known kingdoms of empires during the Middle Ages.
This gradual development is best exemplified in the northern Horn of Africa.
Centuries before the Aksumite empire became one of _**"the four great kingdoms of the world"**_, several complex societies emerged in the region between modern Eritrea and Ethiopia's Tigray state. Referred to as the **'Pre-Aksumite'**or **'Ona culture'**sites, these settlements of agro-pastoral communities constructed monumental stone temples and palaces, established towns, and cultivated links with south-Arabia and the Nubian Nile valley.
**The history of the Pre-Aksumite civilization is the subject of my latest Patreon article, please subscribe to read about it here;**
[THE PRE-AKSUMITE CIVILIZATION](https://www.patreon.com/posts/pre-aksumite-of-112946798?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m9nz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb489d3f2-d8b5-4d84-9e24-8eac99577a06_661x1113.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xMOo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feac80c6e-1afa-403a-8bbb-167fa0595340_800x531.jpeg)
_**pre-Aksumite temple at Yeha, Ethiopia.**_
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GwSr!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3f90f51a-9189-4cda-899f-1fa54f4434a7_709x469.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tiFy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e194512-e929-47ff-8478-63f9fef7ccef_768x512.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SQiO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F487a7714-aa5a-4092-8627-63a012258f8f_910x512.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5T6Q!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F853062de-c169-44ce-8292-193964e20664_622x637.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WCX0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff34c83dd-308d-4946-8a61-d1ff2a39d61c_820x489.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HEz3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F451266ce-7c57-43d9-b89f-62ef2ad22796_1067x412.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m9nz!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb489d3f2-d8b5-4d84-9e24-8eac99577a06_661x1113.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xMOo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feac80c6e-1afa-403a-8bbb-167fa0595340_800x531.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/early-civilizations-of-ancient-africa
|
The Gulf of Aden which links the Red Sea region to the Indian Ocean world was (and remains) one of the busiest maritime passages in the world. Tucked along its southern shores in the modern country of Somaliland was the medieval port city of Zeila which commanded much of the trade between the northern Horn of Africa and the western Indian Ocean.
The city of Zeila was the origin of some of the most influential scholarly communities of the Red Sea region that were renowned in Egypt, Yemen, and Syria. Its cosmopolitan society cultivated trade links with societies as far as India, while maintaining its political autonomy against the powerful empires surrounding it.
This article explores the history of Zeila, outlining key historical events and figures that shaped the development of the city from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
_**Maps showing the location of Zeila[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-1-149206314)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Hnqs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb252fdf4-9619-440c-8f44-48e5fab72fc1_1337x459.png)
**Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The early history of Zeila from the 9th century to the 14th century**
The northern coastline of Somaliland is dotted with many ancient settlements that flourished in the early centuries of the common era. These settlements included temporary markets and permanent towns, some of which were described in the _Periplus_, a 1st-century travel guide-book, that mentions the enigmatic town of Aualitês, a small locality close to the African side of the narrow strait of Bab al-Mandab. Some scholars initially identified Aualitês as Zeila, although material culture dating to this period has yet to be identified at the site.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-2-149206314)
Zeila first appears in historical records in the 9th-century account of the Geographer al-Yaʿqūbī, who describes it as an independent port from which commodities such as leather, incense, and amber were exported to the Red Sea region. Later accounts from the 10th century by Al-Iṣṭakḫrī, Al-Masʽūdī, and Ibn Ḥawqal describe Zeila as a small port linked to the Hejaz and Yemen, although it’s not described as a Muslim town.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-3-149206314)
Zeila remained a relatively modest port between the 10th and 11th centuries on the periphery of the late Aksumite state whose export trade was primarily conducted through [the islands of Dahlak](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-dahlak-islands-and-the-african).
It wasn't until the early 13th century that Zeila reappeared in the accounts of geographers and chroniclers such as Yāqūt, Ibn Saʿīd and Abū l-Fidā' who describe it as a Muslim city governed by local sheikhs.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-4-149206314) Zeila was regarded as an important stopping place for Muslim pilgrims en route to the Hejaz, as well as for the circulation of merchants, scholars, pilgrims, and mercenaries between Yemen and the sultanates of the northern Horn of Africa.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-5-149206314)
A 15th-century Ethiopian chronicle describing the wars of King Amda Seyon in 1332 mentions the presence of a ‘King’ at Zeila (_negusä Zélʽa_). The famous globe-trotter Ibn Battuta, who briefly visited the city in 1331, describes it as _**"the capital of the Berberah**_[Somali]_**, a people of the blacks who follow the doctrine of Shāfiʽy"**_, adding that it was a large city with a big market whose butcheries of camels and the smell of fish stalls made it rather unwelcoming.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-6-149206314)
The Egyptian chronicler Al-ʿUmarī, writing in the 1330s from information provided by scholars from the region, mentions that the [Walasma sultan of Ifat (Awfāt)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian) was _**“reigning over Zaylaʿ, the port where the merchants who go to this kingdom approach … the import is more considerable,”**_ especially with _**“silk and linen fabrics imported from Egypt, Yemen and Iraq."**_ He notes that external writers refer to the entire region as _**“the country of Zaylaʿ”**_ which _**“is however only one of their cities on the sea whose name has extended to the whole."**_[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-7-149206314)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HzgB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F41b3c1e0-9f99-47e4-9200-10c7846e0d90_1351x570.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ukhB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1d1b51ed-9e4f-4b43-96c9-0f479249bc94_919x598.png)
_**Tomb of Sheikh Ibrahim of Zeila (Ibrahim Saylici) who is said to have lived in the 13th century**_. _While not much is known about him, Francis Burton’s account on the domed structure of ‘Shaykh Ibrahim Abu Zarbay’ makes mention of an inscription that dates its construction to A.H 1155 (1741 CE), Burton adds that the saint flourished during the 14th/15th century_.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-8-149206314)
Al-Umari’s account and contemporary accounts from 14th-15th century Mamluk Egypt frequently mention the presence of scholars and students coming from the Horn of Africa, who were generally known by the _nisba_ of _‘al-Zayla'ī’_ . They were influential enough to reserve spaces for their community at the Umayyad mosque in Damascus (Syria) and at al-Azhar in Cairo (Egypt).[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-9-149206314)
One of these scholars was al-ʿUmarī’s informant; the Ḥanafī jurist ʿAbdallāh al-Zaylaʿī (d. 1360), who was in Cairo at the head of an embassy from the Ifat kingdom to ask the Mamluk Sultan to intervene with the Ethiopian King on their behalf. [10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-10-149206314) Others include the Ḥanafī jurist Uthman al-Zayla'ī (d. 1342), who was the teacher of the aforementioned scholar, and a prominent scholar in Egypt.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-11-149206314)
Another family of learned men carrying the nisba al-Zaylaʿī is well-known in Yemen: their ancestor Aḥmad b. ʿUmar al-Zaylaʿī (d. 1304) is said to have come to Arabia together with his father ʿUmar and his uncle Muḥammad “from al-Habaša.” The family settled first in Maḥmūl, and Aḥmad ended his days in Luḥayya, a small port town on the coast of the Red Sea.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-12-149206314)
_**« For more on the Zayla'ī scholars in the diaspora and the intellectual history of the northern Horn of Africa; please read this article »**_
[INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF THE N.E AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282)
Corroborating these accounts of medieval Zeila’s intellectual prominence is the account of the 13th-century Persian writer Ibn al-Muǧāwir, which described the foreign population of Yemen’s main port, Aden, as principally comprising eight groups, including the **Zayāliʿa**, Abyssinians, Somalis, Mogadishans, and East Africans, among other groups. Customs collected from the ships of the Zayāliʿa accounted for a significant share of Aden's revenues and Zeila city was an important source of provisions for Aden.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-13-149206314)
Scholars from the northern Horn of Africa who traveled to the Hejaz, Yemen and Egypt brought back their knowledge and books, as described in several local hagiographies. These scholars were instrumental in the establishment and spread of different schools of interpretation and application of Islamic law in the country, such as the Ḥanafī, Šāfiʿī, schools, and the Qadariyya Sufi order.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-14-149206314) The Qadari order was so popular in the northern Horn of Africa that one of its scholars; Sharaf al-din Isma'il al-Jabarti (d. 1403), became a close confidant of the Rasulid sultan Al Ashraf Ismail (r. 1377-1401) and an administrator in the city of Zabid.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-15-149206314)
Rasulid-Yemen sources from the 14th-15th century describe Zayla as the largest of the Muslim cities along the coast, its mariners transported provisions (everything from grain to construction material to fresh water) as far as Aden on local ships, and the city’s port handled most of the trade from the mainland. The Rasulid sultan reportedly attempted to take over the city by constructing a mosque and having the Friday prayers said in his name, but the people of Zeila rejected his claims of suzerainty and threw the construction material he brought into the sea, prompting the Rasulids to ban trade between Aden and Zeila for a year.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-16-149206314)
Recent archeological surveys have revealed that the site occupied an estimated 50 hectares during the Middle Ages. At least three old mosques were identified, as well as two old tombs built of coral limestone, including the Masjid al-Qiblatayn ("two miḥrāb" mosque) next to the tomb of Sheikh Babu Dena, the Shahari mosque with its towering minaret, the Mahmud Asiri [Casiri] mosque, the mausoleum of Sheikh Eba Abdala and the mausoleum of Sheikh Ibrahim.
The material finds included local pottery, fragments of glass paste, as well as imported Islamic and Chinese wares from the 13th-18th centuries, which were used to date phases of the construction of the "two miḥrāb" mosque (The second mihrab wasn’t found, suggesting that the mosque’s name refers instead to its successive phases of construction which may have involved a remodeling to correct the original orientation). About 8km from the shore is the island of Saad Din, which contains the ruins of several domestic structures made of coral limestone as well as several tombs including one attributed to Sultan Saʽad al-dīn.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-17-149206314)
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_**The Shahari mosque (top) and the Masjid al-Qiblatayn (bottom)**_, photo by Eric Lafforgue, François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar and Ibrahim Khadar Saed.
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_**The layout of the remains of the old two mosques**_ by François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar.
**Zeila during the 15th and 16th centuries: alliances and conflicts with the kingdoms of Ifat, Adal and Christian-Ethiopia.**
In the late 14th century, a dynastic split among the Walasma rulers of Ifat resulted in a series of battles between them and their suzerains; the Solomonids of Ethiopia, ending with the defeat of the Walasma sultan Saʿd al-Dīn near Zeila between 1409-1415, and the occupation of the Ifat territories by the Solomonid armies. In the decades following Saʿd al-Dīn’s death, his descendants established a new kingdom known as Barr Saʿd al-Dīn (or the Sultanate of Adal in Ge’ez texts), and quickly imposed their power over many other formerly independent Islamic territories including Zeila.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-18-149206314)
While there’s no evidence that it came under the direct control of the Solomonids, Zeila remained the terminus of most of the overland trade routes from the mainland, linking the states of Ifat and Ethiopia to the Red Sea region.
An early 16th-century account by the Ethiopian Brother Antonio of Urvuar (Lalibela) describes Zeila as an _**"excellent port"**_ visited by Moorish fleets from Cambay in India which brought many articles, including cloth of gold and silk. Another early 16th-century account by the Florentine trader Andrea Corsali reported that it was visited by many ships laden with _**"much merchandise"**_.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-19-149206314) The 1516 account of Duarte Barbosa describes Zeila’s _**“houses of stone and white-wash, and good streets, the houses are covered with terraces, the dwellers in them are black.”**_[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-20-149206314)
The account by an Italian merchant in 1510 describes Zeila as a _**“place of immense traffic, especially in gold and elephant’s teeth**_ (Ivory)_**”**_. He adds that it was ruled by a Muslim king and justice was _**“excellently administered”**_, it had an _**“abundance of provisions”**_ in grain and livestock as well as oil, honey and wax which were exported. He also notes that many captives who came from the lands of ‘prestor John’ (Christian Ethiopia) went through it, which hints at the wars between Zeila and the Solomonids at the time.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-21-149206314)
Internal accounts from the 16th century mention that governors of Zeila such as Lada'i 'Uthman in the 1470s, and Imam Maḥfūẓ b. Muḥammad (d. 1517) conducted incursions against Ethiopia sometimes independently of the Adal sultan's wishes.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-22-149206314) This was likely a consequence of pre-existing conflicts with the Solomonids of Ethiopia, especially since Zeila was required to send its ‘King’ to the Solomonid court during the 15th century, making it almost equal to the early Adal kingdom at the time which also initially sent a king and several governors to the Solomonids.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-23-149206314)
Zeila’s relative autonomy would continue to be reflected in the later periods as it retained its local rulers well into the 16th and 17th centuries.
After Mahfuz’s defeat by the Solomonid monarch Ləbnä Dəngəl around the time the Portuguese were sacking the port of Zeila[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-24-149206314), his daughter Bati Dəl Wänbära married the famous Adal General Imam Aḥmad Gran, who in the 1520s defeated the Solomonid army and occupied much of Ethiopia, partly aided by firearms purchased at Zeila and obtained by its local governor Warajar Abun, who was his ally.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-25-149206314)
Between 1557 and 1559, the Ottoman pasha Özdemir took control of several port towns in the southern Red Sea like Massawa, Ḥarqiqo, and the Dahlak islands, which became part of their colony; _Habesha Eyalet_, but Zeila was likely still under local control. According to an internal document from the 16th century, the city was ruled by a gärad (governor) named ǧarād Lādū, who commissioned a wealthy figure named ʿAtiya b. Muhammad al-Qurashı to construct the city walls between 1572 and 1577 to protect the town against nomads, while the Adal ruler Muhammad b. sultan Nasır was then in al-Habasha [i.e. Christian Ethiopia].[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-26-149206314)
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_**Old mosque in Zeila**_, photos by Eric Lafforgue, Somalilandtravel
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_**Engraving of Zeila**_, late 19th century.
**Zeila from the 17th century to the mid-19th century: Between the Ottoman pashas and the Qasimi Imams.**
Zeila likely remained under local control until the second half of the 17th century, when the city came under the control of the Ottoman’s _Habesha Eyalet_ led by pasha Kara Naʾib, by the time it was visited by the Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi in 1672. Celebi provides a lengthy description of the city, which he describes as a ‘citadel’, with a ‘castle’ that housed a garrison of 700 troops and 70 cannos under the governor Mehemmed Agha who collected customs from the 10-20 Indian and Portuguese ships that visited the port each year to purchase livestock, oil and honey.
He describes its inhabitants as ‘blacks’ who followed the Qadariyyah school[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-27-149206314) and were wealthy merchants who traded extensively with the Banyans of Cambay (India) and with Yemen. He adds that they elect a Sunni representative who shares power with the Ottoman governor, along with "envoys" from Yemen, Portugal, India and England, and that the city was surrounded by 70-80,000 non-Muslims whose practices he compares to those of the Banyans[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-28-149206314).
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remains of an Old building in Zeila, photos from Wikimedia and Somalilandtravel.
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_**Old structures in Zeila**_, photos by Eric Lafforgue. The second building is often attributed to the Ottoman period.
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_**Carte de la Baie de Zeyla, ca. 1816.**_
Zeila later came under the control of the Qasimi dynasty of the Yemeni city of Mocha around 1695. The latter had expelled the Ottoman a few decades earlier and expanded trade with the African coast, encouraging the arrival of many _Jalbas_ (local vessels) to sail from the Somaliland coast to Yemen, often carrying provisions. The city was also used to imprison dissidents from Mocha in the early 18th century.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-29-149206314)
Zeila in the 18th and 19th centuries was governed by an appointed Amir/sheikh, who was supported by a small garrison, but his authority was rather limited outside its walls. Zeila had significantly declined from the great city of the late Middle Ages to a modest town with a minor port. It was still supplied by caravans often coming from Harar whose goods were exchanged with imports bought from Indian and Arab ships.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-30-149206314)
In 1854, it was visited by the British traveler Francis Burton, who described it as such; _**"Zayla is the normal African port — a strip of sulphur-yellow sand, with a deep blue dome above, and a foreground of the darkest indigo. The buildings, raised by refraction, rose high, and apparently from the bosom of the deep. After hearing the worst accounts of it, I was pleasantly disappointed by the spectacle of whitewashed houses and minarets, peering above a long, low line of brown wall, flanked with round towers."**_
The town of 3-4,000 possessed six mosques and its walls were pierced by five gates, it was the main terminus for trade from the mainland, bringing ivory, hides, gum and captives to the 20 dhows in habour, some of which had Indian pilots. _**<<**_**Burton also learned from Zeila's inhabitants that mosquito bites resulted in malaria, but dismissed this theory as superstition**_**>>**_[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-31-149206314)
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_**The old city of Zeila, ca. 1896.**_
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_**Zeila Street scene and house where Gordon stayed, ca. 1921**_, by H. Rayne.
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_**Zeila, ca. 1885, by Phillipe Paulitschke**_, BnF Paris.
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_**Drawing of Zeila's waterfront, ca. 1877**_. by G. M. Giulietti.
**Zeila in the late 19th century.**
At the time of Burton’s visit, the town was ruled by Ali Sharmarkay, a Somali merchant who had been in power since 1848. He collected customs from caravans and ships, but continued to recognize the ruler of Mocha as his suzerain, especially after the latter city was retaken by the Ottomans a few years prior, using the support of their semi-autonomous province; the Khedivate of Egypt. The Ottoman pasha of the region, then based at Al-Hudaydah, confirmed his authority and sent to Zeila a small garrison of about 40 matchlockmen from Yemen.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-32-149206314)
Ali Sharmarkay attempted to redirect and control the interior trade from Harar, as well as the rival coastal towns of Berbera and Tajura, but was ultimately deposed in 1855 by the pasha at Al-Hudaydah, who then appointed the Afar merchant Abu Bakar in his place. The latter would continue to rule the town after it was occupied by the armies of the Khedive of Egypt, which were on their way to [the old city of Harar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-harar-the-city) in the 1870s. [33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-33-149206314)
The town's trade recovered after the route to Harar was restored, and it was visited by General Gordon, who stayed temporarily in one of its largest houses. Abubakar attempted to balance multiple foreign interests of the Khedive government —which was itself coming under the influence of the French and British— by signing treaties with the French. However, after the mass evacuation of the Khedive government from the region in 1884, the British took direct control of Zeila, and briefly detained Abubakar for allying with the French, before releasing him and restoring him but with little authority. The ailing governor of Zeila died in 1885, the same year that the British formally occupied the Somaliland coast as their colonial protectorate.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-34-149206314)
In the early colonial period, the rise of Djibouti and the railway line from Djibouti to Addis Ababa greatly reduced the little trade coming to Zeila from the mainland.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-35-149206314)
The old city was reduced to its current state of a small settlement cluttered with the ruins of its ancient grandeur
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**In 1891, the Swahili traveler Amur al-Omeri composed a fascinating travelogue of his trip to Germany, describing the unfamiliar landscape and curiosities he witnessed; from the strange circuses and beerhalls of Berlin, to the museums with captured artifacts, to the licentious inhabitants of Amsterdam.**
**Please subscribe to Patreon and read about an East African’s description of 19th-century Europe here:**
[THE SWAHILI EXPLORER OF GERMANY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/112049775)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-1-149206314)
Maps by Stephane Pradines and Jorge de Torres
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-2-149206314)
An Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Horn: The British-Somali Expedition, 1975 by Neville Chittick pg 125, Local exchange networks in the Horn of Africa: a view from the Mediterranean world (third century B.C. -sixth century A.D.) by Pierre Schneider pg 15.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-3-149206314)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 96, Le port de Zeyla et son arrière-pays au Moyen Âge by François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar et al. prg 55-64)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-4-149206314)
Le port de Zeyla et son arrière-pays au Moyen Âge by François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar et al. prg 78-86)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-5-149206314)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 97)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-6-149206314)
Le port de Zeyla et son arrière-pays au Moyen Âge by François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar et al. prg 92-94)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-7-149206314)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 108, 99)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-8-149206314)
First Footsteps in East Africa: Or, An Explanation of Harar By Sir Richard Francis Burton with introduction by Henry W. Nevinson, pg 66.
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-9-149206314)
Islam in Ethiopia By J. Spencer Trimingham pg 62)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-10-149206314)
Islam in Ethiopia By J. Spencer Trimingham pg 72)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-11-149206314)
ALoA Vol 3, The writings of the Muslim peoples of northeastern Africa by John O. Hunwick, Rex Seán O'Fahey pg 19)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-12-149206314)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 152)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-13-149206314)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 442, A Traveller in Thirteenth-century Arabia: Ibn Al-Mujāwir's Tārīkh Al-mustabṣir by Yūsuf ibn Yaʻqūb Ibn al-Mujāwir pg 151, 123, 138.
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-14-149206314)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 152)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-15-149206314)
Ibn 'Arabi in the Later Islamic Tradition by Alexander D. Knysh pg 241-269)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-16-149206314)
L’Arabie marchande: État et commerce sous les sultans rasūlides du Yémen by Éric Vallet, Chapter 6, pg 381-424, prg 44-49, 78.
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-17-149206314)
Le port de Zeyla et son arrière-pays au Moyen Âge by François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar et al. prg 13-20, Urban Mosques in the Horn of Africa during the Medieval Period pg 51-52
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-18-149206314)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 101-3)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-19-149206314)
A Social History of Ethiopia: The Northern and Central Highlands from Early Medieval Times to the Rise of Emperor Téwodros II by Richard Pankhurst pg 55)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-20-149206314)
A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century, Volume 35 by Duarte Barbosa, Fernão de Magalhães, pg 17
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-21-149206314)
The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema By Ludovico di Varthema pg 86-87
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-22-149206314)
Islam in Ethiopia By J. Spencer Trimingham pg 82-86
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-23-149206314)
Harar as the capital city of the Barr Saʿd ad-Dıˉn by Amélie Chekroun pg 27
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-24-149206314)
Harar as the capital city of the Barr Saʿd ad-Dıˉn by Amélie Chekroun pg 31-32
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-25-149206314)
, Ottomans, Yemenis and the “Conquest of Abyssinia” (1531-1543) by Amélie Chekroun, The Conquest of Abyssinia: 16th Century by Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir ʻArabfaqīh, Richard Pankhurst pg 104, 112, 344.
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-26-149206314)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 469, Harar as the capital city of the Barr Saʿd ad-Dıˉn by Amélie Chekroun pg 37, Entre Arabie et Éthiopie chrétienne Le sultan walasmaʿ Saʿd al-Dīn et ses fils (début xve siècle) by Amélie Chekroun pg 238
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-27-149206314)
Celebi refers to Zeila’s inhabitants as _**“the Qadari tribe.. black Zangis.. they have Tatar faces and disheveled locks of hair”**_. the translator of his text adds that _‘Based on the tribal name, Evliya associates them with the Qadari theological school, believers in free will, which he frequently joins with other heretical groups’._ _******_ The ethnonym of _‘black Zangis’_ is a generic term he frequently uses in describing ‘black’ African groups he encounters. The ‘Tatar faces (Turkish faces) _‘disheveled locks of hair’_ indicate that they were native inhabitants, most likely Somali _******_.
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-28-149206314)
Ottoman Explorations of the Nile: Evliya Çelebi’s Map of the Nile and The Nile Journeys in the Book of Travels (Seyahatname) by Robert Dankoff, pg 324-328)
_Celebi’s comparisons of the non-Muslim groups in Zayla’s hinterland to the “fire-worshiping” Banyans were likely influenced by the significant trade it had with India, which could have been the source of some traditions at the time that the city was in ancient times founded by Indians before the Islamic era._
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-29-149206314)
The Merchant Houses of Mocha: Trade and Architecture in an Indian Ocean Port by Nancy Um pg 26, 32, 114-115.
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-30-149206314)
Ethiopia: the Era of the Princes: The Challenge of Islam and Re-unification of the Christian Empire, 1769-1855 by Mordechai Abir pg 14-16, Precis of Papers Regarding Aden, 1838-1872 by N. Elias. pg 21-26)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-31-149206314)
First Footsteps in East Africa: Or, An Explanation of Harar By Sir Richard Francis Burton with introduction by Henry W. Nevinson, pg 27-33)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-32-149206314)
Precis of Papers Regarding Aden, 1838-1872 by N. Elias. pg 22-23, 26, The First Footsteps in East Africa by Francis Burton pg 28-39, 63)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-33-149206314)
Ethiopia: the Era of the Princes by Mordechai Abir pg 19, Sun, Sand and Somals By Henry A. Rayne, pg 16-17)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-34-149206314)
Sun, Sand and Somals By Henry A. Rayne, pg 18-20, Abou-Bakr Ibrahim. Pacha de Zeyla. Marchand d’esclaves, commerce et diplomatie dans le golfe de Tadjoura 1840-1885. review by Alain Gascon.
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla#footnote-anchor-35-149206314)
British Somaliland By Ralph Evelyn Drake-Brockman pg 17
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-zeila-zayla
|
The late modern period that began in the early 19th century was the height of mutual exploration on a global scale in which African travelers were active agents.
In the preceding period, Africans had been traveling and occasionally settling across much of the old world since antiquity; from [China](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80113224?pr=true) and [Japan](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-presence-90958238) to [India](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese?utm_source=publication-search), [Arabia, and the Persian Gulf](https://www.patreon.com/posts/96900062), from [Palestine](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-west-african-diaspora?utm_source=publication-search) and [Armenia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and?utm_source=publication-search), to [Istanbul](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman?utm_source=publication-search) and the [Roman world](https://newlinesmag.com/essays/did-europeans-discover-africa-or-the-other-way-around/), and from [Iberia](https://www.patreon.com/posts/82902179) to [Western Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/89363872?pr=true). Their activities contributed to the patterns of global integration that eventually led to the production of travel literature during the late modern period.
The travel literature produced by these intrepid African explorers provides a rich medium to study different perceptions of foreign cultures and exotic lands. The African authors consistently compare the unfamiliar landscapes, people and fauna they encountered to those in their own societies. They describe foreign curiosities, eccentricities, and beliefs that inspire personal reflections on humanity and religion, using the language of wonder to express the strangeness of foreign customs.
[The 1856 account of the Hausa traveler Dorugu](https://www.patreon.com/posts/hausa-travelers-98642300) for example, contains many comparisons between the culture, places, and rituals of the people of England and Germany, with those of his own community near the city of Zinder in modern Niger. Dorugu included many interesting anecdotes about his hosts such as the Germans' penchant for smoking, and the curious dining traditions of the English, whose meals he considered as good as Hausa cuisine.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6oPO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff557203f-7672-48b6-8513-04fbbe470d40_732x508.png)
_The tobacco college of King Friedrich Wilhelm I, [German engraving ca. 1878](https://smb.museum-digital.de/object/94971).**"I have never seen a country where people like to smoke as much as they do in Germany. You can even meet a young boy about twelve years old with a tobacco pipe stuck in his mouth."**_ Dorugu, 1856.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africa-and-europe-in-the-age-of-mutual?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
[The 1896 account of the Comorian traveler Selim Abakari through the Russian Empire](https://www.patreon.com/posts/66837157) provides an even more detailed account of the many different places and cultures he encountered. Selim meticulously reproduces his observations of the unfamiliar landscapes, peoples and fauna for which he struggled to find equivalents in the Swahili language. He was pleasantly surprised upon meeting "white Muslims" in such a 'remote' region and was fascinated by the nomadic practices of the Kalmyks whom he compares to the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2aeE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6efb3dfe-bf1b-4c94-bf40-47e95fd76a45_640x403.png)
_Kalmyk camp near Astrakhan_, southern Russia. early 20th century. _**“They sleep in small tents made of thick fabric and do not stay in the same place for more than two days, they are like Maasai, they follow their herds —goats, sheep, and horses— in search of pastures.”**_ Selim Abakari, 1896.
[The book-length travelogue of the Ganda traveller Ham Mukasa who visited England in 1902](https://www.patreon.com/posts/106728570) provides what is arguably the most detailed account of foreign lands written by an African traveler from this period. Like the other travelers, Mukasa relied on a familiar vocabulary and set of concepts from his own society of Buganda, in Uganda, as a transcendental point of reference to describe the unfamiliar landscapes and objects of England, as well as in the way he characterized the different groups he met along the way; such as the Germans, Jews and Italians.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6oWm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e002bea-1537-4ca0-aa84-354b401d82a9_873x536.png)
_A model of a torture rack in the Tower of London and a 19th-century engraving of a Torture Rack**.**_**“**_**... he took us to the fort of the kings of England from old days, which is called the ‘Tower’, and when we arrived there we saw many relics of all kinds from the time of their ancestors… We were also shown how they fastened their women to strong trees and stretched them like a cowskin is stretched, and the trees tore them in half.”**_ Ham Mukasa, 1902.
Many of these travelogues were written on the eve of colonialism and can thus be read as inverse ethnographies, utilising a form of narrative inversion in which the African travellers reframe and subvert the dominant political order. They travel along well-known routes, rely on local guides and interpreters, and comment on cultural differences using their own conceptual vocabularies.
An excellent example of this is a little known travel document written by an East African traveller Amur al-Omeri who visited Germany in 1891. Written in Swahili, the document relates his puzzlement about the unfamiliar landscape and curiosities he witnessed that he consistently compares with his home city of Zanzibar; from the strange circuses and beerhalls of Berlin, to the museums with captured artefacts, to the licentious inhabitants of Amsterdam.
**The 19th century travelogue of Amur al-Omeri is the subject of my latest Patreon article, please subscribe to read about it here;**
[THE SWAHILI EXPLORER OF GERMANY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/112049775)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nP-c!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99795407-3a87-4b04-a9c3-8c251d8ec3d1_653x942.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9lPs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3aa6899d-6f8e-4c2c-adf6-fdb080e0f30b_1114x539.png)
_Storming of the Bastille Prison and the ‘July Column’ which replaced it. **“… We reached Paris, the capital of France… We saw also a tall pillar they had put up, with the figure of a man on the top standing on one leg, with wings and with a sword in his hand… This pillar was put there as a memorial to remind people of the prison into which their king used to put them (Bastille); when they removed the prison they put this pillar up, and wrote on it all about what happened at that time, as a memorial”**_. Ham Mukasa, 1902.
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9lPs!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3aa6899d-6f8e-4c2c-adf6-fdb080e0f30b_1114x539.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africa-and-europe-in-the-age-of-mutual
|
The island of Mombasa is home to one of the oldest cities on the East African coast and is today the largest seaport in the region.
Mombasa’s strategic position on the Swahili Coast and its excellent harbours were key factors in its emergence as a prosperous city-state linking the East African mainland to the Indian Ocean world.
Its cosmopolitan community of interrelated social groups played a significant role in the region's history from the classical period of Swahili history to the era of the Portuguese and Oman suzerainty, contributing to the intellectual and cultural heritage of the East African coast.
This article outlines the history of Mombasa, exploring the main historical events and social groups that shaped its history.
_**Map of Mombasa and the Swahili coast.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8dOE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4588e6bb-242c-4f3a-b945-cff55fd44aa8_894x591.png)
**Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The early history of Mombasa: 6th-16th century.**
The island of Mombasa was home to one of the oldest Swahili settlements on the East African coast. Excavations on Mombasa Island reveal that it was settled as early as the 6th-9th century by ironworking groups who used ‘TT’/’TIW’ ceramics characteristic of other Swahili settlements. An extensive settlement dating from 1000CE to the early 16th century was uncovered at Ras Kiberamni and the Hospital site to its south, with the latter site containing more imported pottery and the earliest coral-stone constructions dated to the early 13th century.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-1-148613286)
The first documentary reference to Mombasa comes from the 12th-century geographer Al-Idrisi, who notes that it was located two days sailing from Malindi, and adds that _**“It is a small town of the Zanj and its inhabitants are engaged in the extraction of iron from their mines… in this town is the residence of the king of the Zanj.”**_ The globe-trotter Ibn Battuta, who visited Mombasa in 1332, described it as a large island inhabited by Muslim Zanj, among whom were pious Sunni Muslims who built well-constructed mosques, and that it obtained much of its grain from the mainland.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-2-148613286)
The 19th-century chronicle of Mombasa and other contemporary accounts divide its early history into two periods associated with two dynasties and old towns. It notes that the original site known as Kongowea was a pre-Islamic town ruled by Queen Mwana Mkisi. She/her dynasty was succeeded by Shehe Mvita, a Muslim ‘shirazi’ at the town of Mvita which overlapped with Kongowea and was more engaged in the Indian Ocean trade. Such traditions compress a complex history of political evolution, alliances, and conflicts between the various social groups of Mombasa which mirrors similar accounts of the [evolution of the Swahili's social history](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/persian-myths-and-realities-on-the?utm_source=publication-search).[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-3-148613286)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!on8n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1c3d2ade-b2a5-45ef-902c-42b13ea6e296_600x516.webp)
_**street in Mombasa Kenya showing the 16th-century Mandhry Mosque**_, ca. 1940, Mary Evans Picture Library.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!eLhc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b84443b-18a8-49a3-976e-532e34bae306_1134x579.png)
_**types of ‘Souahheili’ from Zanzibar, Lamu, Mombasa, Pate**_; ca. 1846-48, Lithograph by A. Bayot & Charles Guillain. “_**Highbred Swahili” in Mombasa**_, Kenya, ca.1900-1914, USC Libraries. _**Street in Mombasa**_, Kenya, ca.1900-1914.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0iOD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F585831e0-4cdc-4e27-9411-5a5a23f05b2e_1345x596.png)
_**Sections of Old town Mombasa and other streets**_, ca. 1927-1940, Mary Evans Picture Library.
Like most Swahili cities, Mombasa was governed like a "republic" led by a tamim (erroneously translated as King or Sultan) chosen by a council of sheikhs and elders (wazee). Between the 15th and 17th century, Mombasa’s residents gradually began forming into two confederations (_**Miji**_), consisting of twelve clans/tribes (_**Taifa**_) that included pre-existing social groups and others from the Swahili coast and mainland. One of the confederations that came to be known as _**Tissia Taifa**_ (nine clans[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-4-148613286)) occupied the site of Mvita, and were affiliated with groups from [the Lamu archipelago.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-social-history-of-the-lamu-city) The second confederation had three clans[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-5-148613286), _**Thelatha Taifa**_, and is associated with the sites of Kilindini and Tuaca.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-6-148613286)
Archeological surveys at the site of Tuaca revealed remains of coral walls with two phases of construction, as well as local pottery and imported wares from the Islamic world and China. A gravestone possibly associated with a ruined mosque in the town bore the inscription ‘1462’. Other features of Tuaca include a demolished ruin of the Kilindini mosque, also known as _Mskiti wa Thelatha Taita_ (Mosque of the Three Tribes); the remains of the town wall and a concentration of baobab trees.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-7-148613286)
Later accounts and maps from the 17th century identify ‘Tuaca’ as a large forested settlement with a harbor known as _‘Barra de Tuaca’_, next to a pillar locally known as Mbaraki. Excavations at the mosque next to the Mbaraki pillar indicate that the mosque was built in the 15th century before it was turned into a site for veneration in the 16th century, with the pillar being constructed by 1700.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-8-148613286) A much older pillar which is noted in the earliest Portuguese account of Mombasa may have been the minaret of the Basheikh mosque.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-9-148613286)
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_**The Basheikh Mosque and Minaret**_, ca. 1910, _**The Mbaraki Pillar**_, ca. 1909-1921, Mary Evans Picture Library.
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Mombasa, ca. 1572 by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg
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_**1462 epitaph of 'Mwana wa Bwana binti mwidani', from the Tuaca town in Mombasa**_, Kenya, Fort Jesus Museum[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-10-148613286)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Mombasa during the 16th century: Conflict with Portugal and the ascendancy of Malindi.**
In April 1498 Vasco da Gama arrived at Mombasa but the encounter quickly turned violent once Mombasa’s rulers became aware of his actions on Mozambique island, so his crew were forced to sail to Malindi. This encounter soured relations between Mombasa and the Portuguese, and the latter’s alliance with Malindi would result in three major invasions of the city in 1505, 1526, 1589, and define much of the early [Luso-Swahili history](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from?utm_source=publication-search).
At the time of the Portuguese encounter, Mombasa was described as the biggest of the three main Swahili city-states; the other two being Kilwa and Malindi. It had an estimated population of 10,000 who lived in stone houses some up to three stories high with balconies and flat roofs, interspaced between these were houses of wood and narrow streets with stone seats (_baraza_). Mombasa was considered to be the finest Swahili town, importing silk and gold from Cambay and Sofala.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-11-148613286)
According to Duarte Barbosa the king of Mombasa was _**"the richest and most powerful"**_ of the entire coast, with rights over the coastal towns between Kilifi and Mutondwe. A later account from the 1580s notes that the chief of Kilifi was a "relative" of the king of Mombasa. Barbosa also mentions that _**"Mombasa is a place of great traffic and a good harbour where small crafts and great ships were moored, bound to Sofala, Cambay, Malindi and other ports."**_[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-12-148613286)
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_**the 15th-century ruins of Mnarani, one of the three towns that formed the city of Kilifi**_.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-13-148613286)
An account from 1507 notes the presence of merchants from Mombasa as far south as the Kerimba archipelago off the coast of Mozambique. They formed a large community that was supported by the local population and even had a kind of factory where ivory was stored. Another account from 1515 mentions Mombasa among the list of Swahili cities whose ships were sighted in the Malaysian port city of Malacca, along with ships from Mogadishu, Malindi, and Kilwa.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-14-148613286)
The rulers of Mombasa and [the city-state of Kilwa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological?utm_source=publication-search) maintained links through intermarriage and the former may have been recognized as the suzerain of Zanzibar (stone-town). The power of Mombasa and the city-state's conflict with Malindi over the region of Kilifi compelled the Malindi sultan to ally with the Portuguese and break the power of Mombasa and its southern allies. Malindi thus contributed forces to the sack of Mombasa in 1505, and again in 1528-1529 when a coalition of forces that included Pemba and Zanzibar attacked Mombasa and its allies in the Kerimba islands.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-15-148613286)
Despite the extent of the damage suffered during the two assaults, the city retained its power as most of its population often retreated during the invasions. It was rebuilt in a few years and even further fortified enough to withstand a failed attack in 1541. Tensions between Mombasa and the Portuguese subsided as the latter became commercial allies, but the appearance of Ottomans in the southern read sea during this period provided the Swahili a powerful ally against the Portuguese.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-16-148613286)
Around 1585, the Ottoman captain Ali Bey sailed down the coast from Aden and managed to obtain an alliance with many Swahili cities, with Mombasa and Kilifi sending their envoys in 1586 just before he went back to Aden. Informed by Malindi on the actions of Ali Bey, the Portuguese retaliated by attacking Mombasa in 1587 and forcing its ruler to submit. When Ali Bey's second fleet returned in 1589, it occupied Mombasa and fortified it.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-17-148613286)
Shortly after Ali Bey's occupation of Mombasa, the Zimba, an enigmatic group from the mainland that had fought the Portuguese at Tete in Mozambique, arrived at Mombasa and besieged the city. In the ensuing chaos, the Zimba killed the Mombasa sultan and Ottomans surrendered to the Portuguese, before the Zimba proceeded to attack Malindi but were repelled by the Segeju, a mainland group allied to Malindi. In 1589 the Segeju attacked both Kilifi and Mombasa, and handed over the latter to the Sultan Mohammed of Malindi. The Portuguese then made Mombasa the seat of the East African possessions in 1593, completed Fort Jesus in 1597, and granted the Malindi sultan 1/3rd of its customs.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-18-148613286)
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_**Fort Jesus & Mombasa Harbour**_, Northwestern University Libraries, ca. 1890-1939.
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_**The Horse-shoe fort and the ruin of the Portuguese Chapel at the left**_, ca. 1910.
**Mombasa during the Portuguese period: 1593-1698.**
The Portuguese established a settler colony populated with about 100 Portuguese adults and their families at the site known as Gavana. These colonists included a few officers, priests who ran mission churches, soldiers garrisoned in the fort, and _**casados**_ (men with families). The Swahili and Portuguese of Mombasa were engaged in ivory and rice trade with the mainland communities of the Mijikenda (who appear in Portuguese documents as the "Nyika" or as the "mozungulos"), which they exchanged for textiles with Indian merchants from Gujarat and Goa, with some wealthy Swahili from Mombasa such as Mwinyi Zago even visiting Goa in 1661.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-19-148613286)
Relations between the Malindi sultans and the Portuguese became strained in the early 17th century due to succession disputes and regulation of trade and taxes, in a complex pattern of events that involved the Mijikenda who acted as military allies of some factions and the primary supplier of ivory from the mainland.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-20-148613286) This state of affairs culminated in the rebellion of Prince Yusuf Hasan (formerly Dom Jeronimo Chingulia) who assassinated the captain of Mombasa and decimated the entire colony by 1631. His reign was shortlived, as the Portuguese returned to the city by 1632, forcing Yusuf to flee to the red sea region, marking the end of the Malindi dynasty at Mombasa.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-21-148613286)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZSya!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70d5af8c-6483-4de8-8793-6909923932af_1000x635.png)
_**Old Mombasa Harbour**_, ca. 1890-1939, Northwestern University.
Near the close of the 17th century however, the Portuguese mismanagement of the ivory trade from the mainland forced a section of the Swahili of Mombasa to request military aid from Oman. Contemporary accounts identify a wealthy Swahili merchant named Bwana Gogo of the _**Tisa Taifa**_ faction associated with Lamu, and his Mijikenda suppliers led by 'king' Mwana Dzombo, as the leaders of the uprising, while most of the _**Thelatha Taifa**_ and other groups from Faza and Zanzibar allied with the Portuguese.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-22-148613286)
A coalition of Swahili and Omani forces who'd been attacking Portuguese stations along the coast eventually besieged Mombasa in 1696. After 33 months, the Fort was breached and the Portuguese were expelled. The Omani sultans placed garrisons in Mombasa, appointing the Mazrui as local administrators.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-23-148613286)
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_**Plan of the fort of Monbaco**_, _**ca. 1646, [British Library.](https://imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/5734/) showing Tuaca (above Fort Jesus), the forested section of Kilindi in the middle, the Portuguese colony (Gavana) next to Fort jesus, and Mvita/‘Old Town’ next to it.**_
**Mombasa during the Mazrui era (1735-1837)**
Conflicts between the Swahili and Omanis in Pate and Mombasa eventually compelled the former to request Portuguese aid in 1727 to expel the Omanis. By March of 1729, the Portuguese had reoccupied Fort Jesus with support from Mwinyi Ahmed of Mombasa and the Mijikenda. However, the Portuguese clashed with their erstwhile allies over the ivory and textile trade, prompting Mwinyi Ahmed and the Mijikenda to expel them by November 1729. He then sent a delegation to Muscat with the Mijikenda leader Mwana Jombo to invite the Yarubi sultan of Oman back to Mombasa. The Yarubi Omanis thereafter appointed Mohammed bin Othman al-Mazrui as governor (_**liwali**_) in 1730, but a civil war in Oman brought the Busaidi into power and the Mazrui refused to recognize their new suzerains and continued to rule Mombasa autonomously.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-24-148613286)
During the Mazrui period, most of the population was concentrated at Mvita and Kilindini while Gavana and Tuaca were largely abandoned. The Mazrui family integrated into Swahili society but, aside from arbitrating disputes, their power was quite limited and they governed with the consent of the main Swahili lineages. For example in 1745 after the Busaidi and their allies among the _**Tisa Taifa**_ assassinated and replaced the Mazrui governor of Mombasa, sections of the _**Thelatha Taifa**_ and a section of the Mijikenda executed the briefly-installed Busaidi governor and restored the Mazrui.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-25-148613286)
Persistent rivalries between the governing Mazrui and the _**Tisa Taifa**_ forced the Mazrui to get into alot of debt to honour the multiple gifts required by their status. Some of the Mazrui governors competed with the sultans of Pate, who thus allied with the _**Tisa Taifa**_ against the _**Thelatha Taifa**_. Both sides installed and deposed favorable rulers in Mombasa and Pate, fought for control over the island of Pemba, and leveraged alliances with the diverse communities of the Mijikenda.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-26-148613286)
Mombasa continued to expand its links with the Mijikenda, who provided grain to the city in exchange for textiles and an annual custom/tribute that in the 1630s constituted a third of the revenue from the customs of Fort Jesus. The Mijikenda also provided the bulk of Mombasa's army, and the city's rulers were often heavily dependent on them, allowing the Mijikenda to exert significant influence over Mombasa's politics and social life, especially during the 18th century when they played kingmaker between rival governors and also haboured belligerents. Some of them, eg the Duruma, settled in Pemba where they acted as clients of the Mazrui.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-27-148613286)
Some of the earliest Swahili-origin traditions were recorded in Mombasa in 1847 and 1848, they refer to the migration of the Swahili from the city/region of Shungwaya (which appears in 16th-17th century Portuguese accounts and corresponds to the site of Bur Gao on the Kenya/Somalia border) after it was overrun by Oromo-speaking herders allied with Pate. These Swahili then moved to Malindi, Kilifi, and finally to Mombasa, revealing the extent of interactions between the mainland and the island and the fluidity of Mombasa’s social groups. At least four of the clans of Mombasa, especially among the _**Thelatha Taifa**_ claim to have been settled on the Kenyan mainland before moving to the island.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-28-148613286)
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_**Mombasa and environs in the 19th century**_. **Mvita**: TisaTaifa settlement. **Kilindini**: Thelatha Taifa settlement. **Likoni**: Kilindini clan of Thelatha Taifa; **Mtongwe**: Tangana clan of Thelatha Taifa; **Ngare**: Changamwe clan of Thelatha Taifa;**Jomvu kwa Shehe, Maunguja,**and **Junda**: Jomvu clan of Tisa Taifa.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-29-148613286)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uG6x!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99f056d2-bcda-4950-9960-10cced490658_933x611.png)
Mombasa, ca. 1903, OldEastAfricaPostcards.
Mombasa under the Mazrui expanded its control from Tanga to the Bajun islands and increased its agricultural tribute from Pemba, which in the 16th-17th century period amounted to over 600 _**makanda**_ of rice, among other items, (compared to just 20 _makanda_ from the Mijikenda).[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-30-148613286) This led to a period of economic prosperity that was expressed in contemporary works by Mombasa’s scholars. Internal trade utilized silver coins (thalers) as well as bronze coins that were minted during the governorship of Salim ibn Ahmad al-Mazrui (1826–1835).[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-31-148613286)
In the late 18th century, Mombasa's external trade continued to be dominated by ivory and other commodities like rice, that were exported to south Arabian ports. However, Mombasa's outbound trade was less than that carried out by Kilwa, Pemba, and Zanzibar, whose trade was directed to the Omans of Muscat, who were hostile to the Mazrui. Mombasa also prohibited trade with the French who wanted captives for their colony in the Mascarenes, as they were allied with the Portuguese, leaving only the English who purchased most of Mombasa's ivory for their possessions in India.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-32-148613286)
The city was part of the intellectual currents and wealth of the 18th century and early 19th century, which contributed to a [Swahili ‘renaissance,’ that marked the apex of classical Swahili poetry](https://www.patreon.com/posts/74519541) with scholars from Pate and Mombasa such as Seyyid Ali bin Nassir (1720–1820), Mwana Kupona (d. 1865) and Muyaka bin Haji (1776–1840), some of whose writings preserve elements of Mombasa’s early history[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-33-148613286)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7j2D!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0d1d711-b0c7-49f8-99fd-7a1ccd90b97e_1146x529.png)
_**Hamziyya, copied by Abī Bakr bin Sulṭān Aḥmad in 1894 CE**_, with annotations in Swahili and Arabic. Private collection of Sayyid Ahmad Badawy al-Hussainy (1932-2012) and Bi Tume Shee, Mombasa. _**The Mombasa chronicle, written by Khamis al-Mambasi in the 19th century**_. SOAS library.
**Mombasa in the 19th century: from Mazrui to the Busaid era (1837-1895)**
At the start of the 19th century, internal and regional rivalries between the elites of Mombasa, Pate, and Lamu, supported by various groups on the mainland culminated in a series of battles between 1807 and 1813, in which Lamu emerged as the victor, and invited the Busaidi sultan of Oman, Seyyid Said as their protector, who later moved his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-34-148613286)
Internecine conflicts among the Mazrui resulted in a breakup of their alliance with the _**Thelatha Taifa**_, some of whom shifted their alliance to the Zanzibar sultan Sayyid Said, culminating in the latter’s invasion of Mombasa in 1837, and the burning of Kilindini town. The _**Thelatha Taifa**_ then established their own area in _Mvita_ known as Kibokoni, adjacent to the Mjua Kale of the _**Tissa Taifa**_ to form what is now the ‘Old Town’ section of the city.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-35-148613286)
Under the rule of the Zanzibar sultans, the Swahili of Mombasa retained most of their political autonomy. They elected their own leaders, had their own courts that settled most disputes within the section, and they only paid some of the port taxes and tariffs to Zanzibar.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-36-148613286)
By the late 19th century, the expansion of British colonialism on the East African coast eroded the Zanzibar sultan’s authority, with Mombasa eventually becoming part of the British protectorate in 1895. Economic and political changes as well as the arrival of new groups from India, Yemen, and the Kenyan mainland during the colonial period would profoundly alter the social mosaic of the cosmopolitan city, transforming it into modern Kenya’s second-largest city.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-37-148613286)
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Mombasa, Kenya, ca. 1890, Northwestern University
**Mombasa derived part of its wealth from re-exporting the gold of Sofala, which was ultimately obtained from Great Zimbabwe and the other stone-walled capitals of Southeast Africa**
**Please subscribe to read about the history of the Gold trade of Sofala and the internal dynamics of gold demand within Southeast Africa and the Swahili coast here:**
[THE GOLD TRADE OF SOFALA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/dynamics-of-gold-111163742?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SaNC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6a52d61-fe50-4be0-a461-be4f733af8ce_675x1090.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-1-148613286)
The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 621, Excavations at the Site of Early Mombasa by Hamo Sassoon.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-2-148613286)
Excavations at the Site of Early Mombasa by Hamo Sassoon pg 3-5
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-3-148613286)
Oral Historiography and the Shirazi of the East African Coast by Randall L. Pouwels pg 252-253, The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 52)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-4-148613286)
These are the; Mvita, Jomvu, Kilifi, Mtwapa, Pate, Shaka, Paza, Bajun, and Katwa.
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-5-148613286)
These are the Kilindini, Changamwe, and Tangana.
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-6-148613286)
The Way the World Is: Cultural Processes and Social Relations Among the Mombasa Swahili by Marc J. Swartz pg 30-33, The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 621, 76)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-7-148613286)
The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 621-622)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-8-148613286)
The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 622, Mbaraki Pillar & Related Ruins of Mombasa Island by Hamo Sassoon
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-9-148613286)
Excavations at the Site of Early Mombasa by Hamo Sassoon pg 7
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-10-148613286)
Mombasa Island: A Maritime Perspective by Rosemary McConkey and Thomas McErlean pg 109
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-11-148613286)
Excavations at the Site of Early Mombasa by Hamo Sassoon pg 7
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-12-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 60-61, 331, The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 620)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-13-148613286)
Mnarani of Kilifi: The Mosques and Tombs by James Kirkman
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-14-148613286)
East Africa and the Indian Ocean by Edward A. Alpers pg 9, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamuby Thomas Vernet pg 75, 83)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-15-148613286)
The Medieval Foundations of East African Islam by Randall L. Pouwels pg 404-406, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 64-65, 83-84)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-16-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 85-86, 89, 97)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-17-148613286)
Global politics of the 1580s by G Casale pg 269-273, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 100-108)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-18-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 109- 125)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-19-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 127-140, 150, 152, 225-227, Mombasa Island: A Maritime Perspective by Rosemary McConkey and Thomas McErlean pg 111-113.
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-20-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 414-416)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-21-148613286)
Empires of the Monsoon by Richard Seymour Hall pg 266-274.
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-22-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 365-373)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-23-148613286)
The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 522-523)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-24-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 434-460)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-25-148613286)
Mombasa, the Swahili, and the making of the Mijikenda by Justin Willis pg 59-60, The Swahili community of Mombasa by J. Berg pg 50-52
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-26-148613286)
Oral Historiography and the Shirazi of the East African Coast by Randall L. Pouwels pg 253, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 266, 469-472, The Way the World Is: Cultural Processes and Social Relations Among the Mombasa Swahili by Marc J. Swartz pg 34.
_**by the 20th century, the Mijikenda were divided into nine groups; Giriama, Digo, Rabai, Chonyi, Jibana, Ribe, Kambe, Kauma and Duruma, some of whom, such as the Duruma and Rabai appear in much earlier sources.**_
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-27-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 261-264, 413-415, 528-529)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-28-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 229-231, 231-235, 315-316, The Swahili community of Mombasa by J. Berg pg 46-49.
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-29-148613286)
The Swahili community of Mombasa by J. Berg pg 49
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-30-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 336-338)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-31-148613286)
The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 454-455, The Swahili community of Mombasa by J. Berg 52
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-32-148613286)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810 by Thomas Vernet pg 476-481, The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 386)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-33-148613286)
The Swahili World, edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria LaViolette pg 524)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-34-148613286)
The battle of Shela by RL Pouwels
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-35-148613286)
The Swahili community of Mombasa by J. Berg pg 52-53, The Way the World Is: Cultural Processes and Social Relations Among the Mombasa Swahili by Marc J. Swartz pg 35.
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-36-148613286)
The Swahili community of Mombasa by J. Berg pg 53-55
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca#footnote-anchor-37-148613286)
The Way the World Is: Cultural Processes and Social Relations Among the Mombasa Swahili by Marc J. Swartz pg 36-40.
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-mombasa-ca
|
It was copper, not Gold, that was considered the most important metal in most African societies, according to an authoritative study by Eugenia Herbert. Employing archaeological evidence as well as historical documentation, Herbert concluded that copper had more intrinsic value than Gold and that the few exceptions reflected a borrowed system of values from the Muslim or Christian worlds.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-1-148365888)
However, more recent historical investigations into the relative values of Gold and Copper across different African societies undermine this broad generalization. While there's plenty of evidence that Copper and its alloys were indeed the most valued metal in many African societies, there has also been increasing evidence for the importance of Gold in several societies across the continent that cannot solely be attributed to external influence.
In ancient Nubia where some of the continent's oldest gold mines are found, Gold objects appear extensively in the archaeological record of the kingdoms of Kerma and Kush. Remains of workshops of goldsmiths at the capital of classic Kerma and Meroe, ruins of architectural features and statues covered in gold leaf, inscriptions about social ceremonies involving the use of gold dust and objects, as well as finds of gold jewelry across multiple sites along the Middle Nile, provide evidence that ancient Nubia wasn't just an exporter of Gold, but also a major consumer of the precious metal.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-2-148365888)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ond8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a98e751-c4a5-4204-8607-6b3c006c0258_1182x578.png)
_**Gold objects from ancient Nubia at the Boston Museum**_; Bronze dagger from Kerma with gilded hilt, 18th century. BC, Isis gold pectoral from Napata, 6th century BC, earrings and ear studs from Meroe, 1st century BC-3rd century CE.
In the Senegambia region of west Africa, where societies of [mobile herders constructed megaliths and tumuli graves dating back to the 2nd millennium BC](https://www.patreon.com/posts/unlocking-of-of-68055326), a trove of gold objects was included in the array of finery deposited to accompany their owners into the afterlife. The resplendent gold pectoral of Rao, dated to the 8th century CE is only the best known among the collection of gold objects from the Senegambia region that include gold chains and gold beads from the Wanar and Kael Tumulus, dated to the 6th century CE, which predate the Islamic period.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-3-148365888)
Equally significant is the better-known region of the Gold Coast in modern Ghana, where many societies, especially among the Akan-speaking groups, were renowned for gold mining and smithing. The rulers of the earliest states which emerged around the 13th century at Bono-Manso and later at Denkyira and Asante in the 17th and 18th centuries, placed significant value on gold, which was extracted from deep ancient mines, worked into their royal regalia, stored in the form of gold dust, and sold to the [Wangara merchants from Mali](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education).[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-4-148365888)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fFE_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5c426345-3ade-4bdc-a402-e497062dd9f4_1100x536.png)
_**Rao pectoral**_, 8th century CE, Senegal, Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop._**Pendant dish, Asante kingdom**_, 19th century, Ghana, British Museum.
While Africa's gold exports increased during the Islamic era and the early modern period, the significance of these external contacts to Africa's internal demand for gold was limited to regions where there was pre-existing local demand.
For example, despite the numerous accounts of the golden caravans from Medieval Mali such as the over 12 tonnes of gold carried by Mansa Musa in 1324, no significant collection of gold objects has been recovered from the region (compared to the many bronze objects found across Mali’s old cities and towns). A rare exception is the 19th-century treasure of Umar Tal that was **stolen**by the French from Segou, which included 75kg of gold and over 160 tons of silver.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-5-148365888)
Compare this to the Gold Coast which exported about 1 tonne of gold annually[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-6-148365888), and where hundreds of gold objects were **stolen** by the British from the Asante capital Kumasi, during the campaigns of 1826, 1874, and 1896[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-7-148365888), with at least 239 items housed at the British Museum, not counting the dozens of other institutions and the rest of the objects which were either melted or surrendered as part of the indemnity worth 1.4 tonnes of gold. Just one of these objects, eg the gold head at London’s Wallace collection, weighs 1.36 kg.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KcQg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eb84e45-9e72-4155-a275-98c36c025768_964x411.png)
_**‘Trophy head’ from Asante, Ghana. 18th-19th century**_, Wallace Collection.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Op0q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe4350574-daa6-4d74-bf64-f017bf0b5a66_1234x539.png)
_**Gold jewelry, Wolof artist, late 19th-early 20th century**_, Senegal & Mauritania. Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Museum.
Domestic demand for gold in Africa was thus largely influenced by local value systems, with external trade being grafted onto older networks and patterns of exchange. Examples of these patterns of internal gold trade and consumption abound from Medieval Nubia to the Fulbe and Wolof kingdoms of the Senegambia, to the northern Horn of Africa.
This interplay between internal and external demand for gold is well attested in the region of south-east Africa where pre-existing demand for gold —evidenced by the various collections of gold objects from the many stone ruins scattered across the region— received further impetus from the Swahili city-states of the East African coast through the port town of Sofala in modern Mozambique.
At its height in the 15th century, an estimated 8.5 tonnes of gold went through Sofala each year, making it one of the world's biggest gold exporters of the precious metal.
**The history of the Gold trade of Sofala and the internal dynamics of gold demand within Southeast Africa and the Swahili coast is the subject of my latest Patreon article,**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[THE GOLD TRADE OF SOFALA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/dynamics-of-gold-111163742?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SaNC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6a52d61-fe50-4be0-a461-be4f733af8ce_675x1090.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qqKZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32dfd7c9-0de4-40ea-9db2-bb4f88b1698f_811x583.png)
_**Pair of wooden sandals, covered with an ornamented silver sheet with borders made of attached silver drops, and a golden knob for support**_. Swahili artist, 19th century, Tanzania. SMB museum.
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-anchor-1-148365888)
Red Gold of Africa: Copper in Precolonial History and Culture by Eugenia W. Herbert
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-anchor-2-148365888)
Black Kingdom of the Nile by Charles Bonnet pg 29, 49, 62, 65, 169-173, The Image of the Ordered World in Ancient Nubian Art By László Török pg 82,85, 315, 472-473, The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization By László Török pg 112-121, 457, 460, 528)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-anchor-3-148365888)
Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara By Alisa LaGamma pg 51-54, Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa by Kathleen Bickford Berzock pg 181.
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-anchor-4-148365888)
The State of the Akan and the Akan States by I. Wilks pg 240-246, The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa By Timothy Insoll pg 340-342,
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-anchor-5-148365888)
_**emphasis on ‘stolen’ here is to highlight how colonial warfare and looting may be responsible for the lack of significant archeological finds of gold objects from this region, considering how the majority of gold would have been kept in treasuries rather than buried. Excavations in Ghana for example have yet to recover any significant gold objects, despite the well-known collections of such objects in many Western institutions.**_ Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa by Kathleen Bickford Berzock pg 179-180.
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-anchor-6-148365888)
From Slave Trade to 'Legitimate' Commerce: The Commercial Transition in Nineteenth-Century West Africa by Robin Law pg 97
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa#footnote-anchor-7-148365888)
_the 1826 loot included £2m worth of gold and a nugget weighing 20,000 ounces, the 1874 loot included dozens of gold objects including several masks, with one weighing 41 ounces, part of the 1874 indemnity of 50,000 ounces was paid in gold objects shortly after, and again in 1896._ see; The Fall of the Asante Empire by Robert B. Edgerton, Asante in the Nineteenth Century By Ivor Wilks
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-history-of-gold-in-africa
|
The _**dzimbabwe**_ ruins of south-eastern Africa are often described as the largest collection of stone monuments in Africa south of Nubia. While the vast majority of the stone ruins are concentrated in the modern countries of Zimbabwe and Botswana, a significant number of them are found in South Africa, especially in its northernmost province of Limpopo.
Ruined towns such as Mapungubwe, Thulamela, and Dzata have attracted significant scholarly attention as the centers of complex societies that were engaged in long-distance trade in gold and ivory with the East African coast. Recent research has shed more light on the history of these towns and their links to the better-known kingdoms of the region, enabling us to situate them in the broader history of South Africa.
This article outlines the history of the stone ruins of South Africa and their relationship to similar monuments across the region.
_**Map of south-eastern Africa highlighting the ruined towns mentioned below.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-1-148075295)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!61iW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F131125fd-ab75-4c14-bd18-6bcbe469e584_546x645.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
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**State formation and the ruined towns of Limpopo: a history of Mapungubwe.**
During the late 1st millennium of the common era, the iron-age societies of southern Africa mostly consisted of dispersed settlements of agro-pastoralists that were minimally engaged in long-distance trade and were associated with a widely distributed type of pottery known as the _Zhizho_ wares. The central sections of these Zhizo settlements, such as at the site of Shroda (dated 890-970 CE) encompassed cattle byres, grain storages, smithing areas, an assembly area, and a royal court/elite residence, in a unique spatial layout commonly referred to as the 'Central Cattle Pattern'[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-2-148075295).
By 1000 CE, Shroda and similar sites were abandoned, and the Zhizo ceramic style largely disappeared from southwest Zimbabwe and northern South Africa. Around the same time, a new capital was established at the site known as ‘K2’, whose pottery tradition was known as the 'Leopard’s Kopje' style, and is attested at several contemporaneous sites. The size of the K2 settlement and changes in its spatial organization with an expanded court area indicate that it was the center of a rank-based society.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-3-148075295)
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_**Map showing some of the earliest ‘Zimbabwe culture’ sites including Shroda, K2 and Mapungubwe in south Africa.**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-4-148075295)
Around 1220CE, the settlement at K2 was abandoned and a new capital was established around and on top of the Mapungubwe hill, less than a kilometer away. The settlement at Mapungubwe contains several spatial components, the most prominent being the sandstone hill itself, with a flat summit 30m high and 300 m long, with vertical cliffs that can only be accessed through specific routes. The hill is surrounded by a flat valley that includes discrete spatial areas, a few of which are enclosed with low stone walling.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-5-148075295)
Mapungubwe's spatial organization continued to evolve into a new elite pattern that included a stonewalled enclosure which provided ritual seclusion for the king. Other stonewalling demarcated entrances to elite areas, noble housing, and boundaries of the town centre. The hilltop became a restricted elite area with lower-status followers occupying the surrounding valley and neighboring settlements, thus emphasizing the spatial and ritual seclusion of the leader and signifying their sacred leadership.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-6-148075295)
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_**Mapungubwe Hill, the treeless area in front housed commoners**_. photo by Roger de la Harpe.
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_**terrace stone walls at Mapungubwe**_, photos by L Fouché.
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_**collapsed stone walls in the Mapungubwe area**_, ca. 1928, Frobenius Institute. It should be noted that the site was known before the more famous ‘discovery’ by L. Fouché in 1933[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-7-148075295).
Mapungubwe had grown to a large capital of about 10 ha, inhabited by a population of around 2-5000 people, sustained by floodplain agriculture of mixed cereals (millet and sorghum) and pastoralism. Comparing its settlement size and hierarchy to the capitals of historically known kingdoms, such as the Zulu, suggests that Mapungubwe probably controlled about 30,000 km2 of territory, about the same as the Zulu kingdom in the early 19th century.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-8-148075295)
There are a number of outlying settlements with Mapungubwe pottery in the Limpopo area which however lack prestige walling and instead occupy open situations. Those that have been investigated, such as Mutamba, Vhunyela, Skutwater and Princes Hill were organized according to the Central Cattle Pattern, indicating that they were mostly inhabited by commoners. However, the recovery of over 187 spindle whorls from Mutamba, about 80 km southeast of Mapungubwe, indicates that textile manufacture and trade weren’t restricted to elite settlements.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-9-148075295)
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_**Map showing some of the ruins contemporary with Mapungubwe**_.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-10-148075295)
**Gold mining and trade before and during the age of Mapungubwe.**
Wealth from local tributes and long-distance trade likely contributed to the increase in political power of the Mapungubwe rulers. The material culture recovered from the capital and other outlying settlements, which includes Chinese celadon shards, dozens of spindle-whorls for spinning cotton textiles, and thousands of glass beads, point to the integration of Mapungubwe into the wider trade network of the Indian Ocean world via East Africa's Swahili coast.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-11-148075295)
Prior to the rise of Mapungubwe, the 9th-10th century site of Schroda was the first settlement in the interior to yield a large number of ivory objects and exotic glass beads, indicating a marked increase in long-distance trade from the Swahili coast, whose traders had established a coastal entrepot at Sofala to export gold from the region. These patterns of external trade continued during the K2 period when local craftsmen produced their own glass beads by reworking imported ones and then selling their local beads to other regional capitals.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-12-148075295)
It is the surplus wealth from this trade, and its associated multicultural interaction, that presented new opportunities to people in the Mapungubwe landscape. A marked increase in international demand contributed to an upsurge in gold production that began in the 13th century and is paralleled by an economic boom at [the Swahili city of Kilwa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological) on the East African coast. The distribution of Mapungubwe pottery in ancient workings and mines such as at Aboyne (1170 CE ± 95) and Geelong (1230CE ± 80) in southern Zimbabwe, indicates that the Mapungubwe kingdom may have expanded north to control some of the gold fields.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-13-148075295)
A large cache of gold artifacts was found in the royal cemetery of Mapungubwe, dated to the second half of the 13th century. The grave goods included a golden rhino, bowl, scepter, a gold headdress, gold anklets and bracelets, 100 gold anklets and 12,000 gold beads, and 26,000 glass beads. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the gold objects were all made in the early 13th century, at the height of the town’s occupation.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-14-148075295)
Analysis of the gold objects suggests that they were manufactured locally. Metal was beaten into sheets of the required thickness and then cut into narrow strips, or the strips were made from wire that was hammered and smoothed using an abrasive technique. The strips were then wound around plant fibers to form either beads or helical structures for anklets and bracelets, or around a wooden core for the rhino and bovine figurines.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-15-148075295)
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_**golden rhinoceros, bovine and feline figures, scepter, headdress, and gold jewelry from Mapungubwe**_, University of Pretoria Museums, Museum of Gems and Jewellery, Cape Town.
Its however important to emphasize that long-distance trade in gold from Mapungubwe and similar ‘_Zimbabwe culture_’ sites (the collective name for the stone ruins of southern Africa) was only the culmination of processes generated within traditional economies and internal political structures that were able to exploit external trade as one component of emergent hierarchical formations already supervising regional resources on a large scale.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-16-148075295)
The trade of gold in particular appears to have also been driven by internal demand for ornamentation by elites, alongside other valued items like cattle, copper and iron objects, glass beads, and the countless ostrich eggshell beads found at Mapungubwe and similar sites that appear to have been exclusively acquired through trade with neighboring settlements.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-17-148075295)
Gold has been recovered from numerous '_Zimbabwe culture_' sites, but few of these have been excavated professionally by archaeologists and subjected to scientific analysis, with the exception of Mapungubwe and the site of Thulamela (explored below). Incidentally, Gold fingerprinting analysis shows that the Thulamela gold and part of the Mapungubwe collection came from the same source, indicating that miners from Mapungubwe exploited it before miners from Thulamela took it over.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-18-148075295)
Around 1300 CE, the valley and hilltop of Mapungubwe were abandoned, and the kingdom vanished after a relatively brief period of 80 years. The reasons for its decline remain unclear but are likely an interplay of socio-political and environmental factors.
In most of the ‘_Zimbabwe culture_’ societies, sacred leadership was linked to agricultural productivity, rainmaking, ancestral belief systems, and a ‘high God’, all of which served to confirm the legitimacy of a King/royal lineage. Climatic changes and the resulting agricultural failure would have undermined the legitimacy of the rulers and their diviners while emboldening rival claimants to accumulate more followers and shift the capital of the kingdom.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-19-148075295)
It’s likely that the sections of Mapungubwe’s population shifted to other settlements that dotted the region, since Mapungubwe-derived ceramics have been found in association with a stonewalled palace in the saddle of Lose Hill of Botswana[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-20-148075295). Others may have moved east towards the town of Thulamela whose earliest occupation dates to the period of Mapungubwe’s ascendancy, and whose elites derived their gold from the same mines as the rulers of Mapungubwe.
**The ruined town of Thulamela from the 13th to the 17th century.**
Thulamela is a 9-hectare site about 200km east of Mapungubwe. It consists of several stone-walled complexes and enclosures on the hilltop overlooking the Luvuvhu River which forms a branch of the Limpopo River. The stone-walled enclosures cluster according to rank in size and position, with the majority being grouped around a central court area situated at the highest and most isolated part of the site. The status of the inhabitants is reflected in the volume of stone used, all of which are inturn surrounded by non-walled areas of habitation in the adjacent valley.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-21-148075295)
Archeological evidence from the site indicates that a stratified community lived at Thulamela, with elites likely residing on the top of the hill while the rest of the populace occupied the adjacent areas below. A main access route intersects the central area of the hill complex leading to an assembly area, which in turn leads to a private access staircase to the court area. construction features including stone monoliths, small platforms, and intricate wall designs are similar to those found in other ‘Zimbabwe culture’ sites likely denoting specific spaces for titled figures or activities.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-22-148075295)
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_**Thulamela ruins, aerial view.**_
The site has seen three distinct periods of occupation, with phase I beginning in the 13th century, Phase II lasting from the 14th to mid-15th century, and Phase III lasting upto the 17th century. The earliest settlements had no stone walling but there were finds of ostrich eggshell beads similar to those from Mapungubwe. Stone-walled construction appeared in the second phase, as well as long-distance trade goods such as glass beads, ivory, and gold.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-23-148075295)
Occupation of the site peaked in the last phase, with extensive evidence of metal smithing of iron, copper, and gold, Khami-type pottery ([from the Torwa kingdom capital in Zimbabwe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-terraces-62065998)), and a double-gong associated with royal lineages. Other finds included Chinese porcelain from the late 17th/early 18th century associated with the [Rozvi kingdom capital of DhloDhlo in Zimbabwe](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-rozvi-kingdom-1680), spindle-whorls for spinning cotton, ivory bangles, and iron slag from metal production.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-24-148075295)
Two graves were discovered at the site, with one dated to 1497, containing a woman buried with a gold bracelet and 290 gold beads, while the other was a male with gold bracelets, gold beads, and iron bracelets with gold staple, dated to 1434. The location of the graves and the grave goods they contained indicate that the individuals buried were elites of high rank at Thulamela, and further emphasize the site's similarity with other ‘Zimbabwe culture’ sites like Mapungubwe.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-25-148075295)
The recovery of other gold beads, nodules, wire, and fragments of helically wound wire bangles, along with several fragments of local pottery with adhering lumps of glassy slag with entrapped droplets of gold, provided direct evidence of gold working in the hilltop settlement. The fabrication technology employed in Thulamela's metalworking was similar to that found at Mapungubwe.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-26-148075295)
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_**Thulamela ruins**_, photos by Chris Dunbar
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_**Gold bracelets, iron and gold bangles, and ostrich eggshell beads from Thulamela.**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Thulamela and the kingdoms of Khami and Rozvi during the 15th to 17th century.**
The presence of gold and iron grave goods, along with Chinese porcelain and glass from the Indian Ocean world indicates that trade and metallurgy were salient factors in urbanization, social structuring, and state formation across the region. The site of Thulamela was the largest in a cluster of three settlements near the Luvuvhu River, the other two being Makahane and Matjigwili. The three sites exhibit similar features including extensive stone walling and stone-built enclosures, and the division of the settlement into residential areas.
Archeological surveys identified the central court area of Makahane on the hilltop, enclosed in a U-shaped wall, with the slopes being occupied by commoners. A gold globule found at Makahane indicates that it was also a gold smelting site. The site is traditionally thought to have been occupied in the 17th-18th centuries according to accounts by the adjacent communities of the Lembethu, a Venda-speaking group who still visited the site in the mid-20th century to offer sacrifices and pray at the graves of the kings buried there.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-27-148075295)
The sites of Thulamela and Makahane occupy an important historical period in south-eastern Africa marked by the expansion of the kingdoms of Torwa at Khami and the Rozvi state at DhloDhlo in Zimbabwe, whose material culture and historical traditions intersect with those of the sites. It’s likely that the two sites represent the southernmost extension of the Torwa and Rozvi traditions (similar to [the ruined stone-towns of eastern Botswana](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone)), without necessarily implying direct political control[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-28-148075295).
The Rozvi kingdom is said to have split near the close of the 17th century after the death of its founder Changamire Dombo who had [in the 1680s expelled the Portuguese from the kingdom of Mutapa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-mutapa-and-the-portuguese) after a series of battles. According to Rozvi traditions, some of the rival claimants to Changamire’s throne chose to migrate with their followers into outlying regions, with one moving the the Hwange region of Zimbabwe, while another moved south and crossed the Limpopo river to establish the kingdom of Thovhela among the Venda-speakers with its capital at Dzata, which appears in external accounts from 1730.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-29-148075295)
Besides Thulamela and Makahane, there are similar ruins in the Limpopo region with material culture associated with both the Torwa and Rozvi periods. The largest of these is the site of Machemma, which is located a few dozen kilometers south of Mapungubwe. It was a large stone-walled site with highly decorated walls, whose court area yielded Khami band-and-panel ware, ivory, gold ornaments, and imported 15th-century Chinese blue-on-white porcelain.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-30-148075295)
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_**section of the ruins of Machemma and Makahane Ruins**_, photos by Chris Dunbar, ACT Heritage.
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_**Outline of the Makahane ruins,**_ by T. Huffman.
**A brief social history of south-east Africa and the transition from Thulamela to Dzata.**
The fact that both Thulamela and Makahane were well known in local tradition indicates their relatively recent occupation compared to Mapungubwe and other early ‘_Zimbabwe culture_’ sites which were abandoned many centuries prior.
The construction of the ‘_Zimbabwe culture_’ sites is attributed to the Shona-speaking groups of south-eastern Africa.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-31-148075295) The site of Makahane is however associated with the Nyai branch of the Lembethu, a Venda-speaking group. Venda is a language isolate that shows lexical similarities with the Shona language, which linguists and historians mostly attribute to the southern expansion of an elite lineage group known as the Singo from Zimbabwe during the 18th century.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-32-148075295) Although it should be noted that the Singo would have encountered pre-existing groups that likely included other Venda speakers indicating that the Shona elements in the Venda language were acquired much earlier than this.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-33-148075295)
Venda traditions on the southern migration of the Singo describe the latter’s conquest of pre-existing societies to establish a vast state centered at the site of Dzata, which later collapsed in the mid-18th century. They identify the first Singo rulers as Ndyambeu and Mambo, who are both associated with the Rozvi kingdom (Mambo is itself a Rozvi aristocratic title). It’s likely that the traditions of the Singo’s southern migration and conquest of pre-existing clans refer to this expansion associated with the split between Changamire's sons after his demise.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-34-148075295)
The same traditions mention that when the Singo emigrated from south-central Zimbabwe, they first settled in the Nzhelele Valley and established themselves at Dzata. The latter was a stone-walled settlement that was initially equal in size to the pre-existing capitals of the Lembethu at Makahane Ruin, and the Mbedzi at the Tshaluvhimbi Ruin, before the Singo rulers expanded their kingdom and attracted a larger following by the turn of the 18th century.
**The Singo kingdom of Dzata in the 18th century.**
Dzata is a 50-hectare settlement located on the northern side of the Nzhelele River, a branch of the Limpopo River. The core of the settled area is a cluster of neatly coursed low-lying stone walls, with a court area about 4,500 sqm large, surrounded by a huge ring of surface scatters with some rough terraced walling. Dzata is the only level-5 ‘Zimbabwe culture’ site south of the Limpopo River, indicating it was the center of a large kingdom with a population equal to that found at Khami and Great Zimbabwe.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-35-148075295)
A Dutch account obtained from a Tsonga traveler Mahumane, who was visiting the Delagoa Bay in 1730, mentions the dark blue stone walls of Dzata, in the kingdom, called ‘Thovhela’ (possibly a title or name of a king), where he had been a few years earlier. The account identifies the capital as ‘Insatti’ (a translation of Dzata) which was _**"wholly built with dark blue stones —the residences as well as a kind of wall which encloses the whole",**_ adding that _**"The place where the chief sits is raised and also [made] from the mentioned kind of stone..."**_[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-36-148075295)
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_**the ruins of Dzata, with low-lying walls of dark-blue stones**_. photos by Musa Matchume, Faith Dowelani.
Ethnohistoric Information from other Venda sites indicates that the central cluster of stone walls at Dzata demarcated the royal area, whereas the big surrounding ring housed the commoners. According to some traditions, Dzata experienced more than one construction phase, associated with two kings. The town grew during the reign of Dimbanyika, the fourth king at Dzata, after he had finished consolidating his authority over the Venda. It was later expanded by King Masindi after the death of King Dimbanyika.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-37-148075295)
Changes in the styles of walling and other features likely reflected political shifts at Dzata. The settlement was intersected by a central road through the commoner area to the stone walled royal section, which was separated by cattle byres. On the opposite side of the byres was the assembly area with a small circular platform and stone monoliths. Excavations of this area yielded four radiocarbon dates, all calibrated to around 1700 CE,[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-38-148075295) while other sites near and around Dzata provided multiple dates ranging from the 16th century to the early 19th century.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-39-148075295)
The material culture recovered from Dzata includes iron weapons and tools, coiled copper wire interlaced with small copper beads, spindle whorls, ivory fragments, bone pendants, and blue glass beads. The numerous remains of iron furnaces and copper mines in its hinterland corroborate 18th-century accounts of intensive metal working and trading from the region, which was controlled by the ruler of Dzata. Gold, copper, and ivory from Dzata were exported to the East African coast through Delagoa Bay, where a lucrative trade was conducted with the hinterland societies.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-40-148075295)
Trade between Dzata and the coast declined drastically around 1750, around the time when the Singo Venda abandoned Dzata. Following the collapse of the Singo kingdom, other stone-walled sites were built across the region, with interlocking enclosures separating elite and commoner areas[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-41-148075295). Limited trade between the coast and the Limpopo region continued, as indicated by an account from 1836, mentioning trade routes and mining activities in the region, as well as competition between Venda rulers for access to trade goods.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-42-148075295)
By the mid-19th century, however, the construction of stone-walled towns had ceased, after social and political changes associated with the kingdoms of the so-called _[mfecane](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/revolution-and-upheaval-in-pre-colonial)_[period](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/revolution-and-upheaval-in-pre-colonial)[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-43-148075295).
The old ruins of Thulamela, Makahane, and Dzata nevertheless retained their significance in local histories as important sites of veneration, or in the case of Dzata, as the capital of a once great kingdom that is still visited for annual dedication ceremonies called _Thevhula_ (thanksgiving).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!077C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F443bcd44-71fd-4ad7-906e-2039abc49d62_1920x1229.jpeg)
_**Thulamela.**_
**Traditional African religions often co-existed with “foreign” religions for much of African history, including in places such as the kingdom of Kongo, which was considered a Christian state in the 16th century but was also home to a powerful traditional religious society known as Kimpasi.**
**Please subscribe to read about the history of the Kimpasi religious society of Kongo on our Patreon:**
[THE KIMPASI SOCIETY OF KONGO](https://www.patreon.com/posts/110322080)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Iyy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffea369af-82cd-485e-b888-436da1e25ec9_670x1146.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-1-148075295)
Map by Shadreck Chirikure et al, from “No Big Brother Here: Heterarchy, Shona Political Succession and the Relationship between Great Zimbabwe and Khami, Southern Africa.”
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-2-148075295)
Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture by Thomas N. Huffman pg 15-17)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-3-148075295)
Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The Origin and Spread of social complexity in Southern Africa by Thomas N. Huffman pg 42)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-4-148075295)
Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The Origin and Spread of social complexity in Southern Africa by Thomas N. Huffman
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-5-148075295)
Shell disc beads and the development of class‑based society at the K2‑Mapungubwe settlement complex (South Africa) by Michelle Mouton pg 3-4)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-6-148075295)
Shell disc beads and the development of class‑based society at the K2‑Mapungubwe settlement complex (South Africa) by Michelle Mouton pg 5)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-7-148075295)
The lottering connection: revisiting the 'discovery' of Mapungubwe. by by Justine Wintjes and Sian Tiley-Nel.
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-8-148075295)
Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture by Thomas N. Huffman pg 25-26, Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The Origin and Spread of social complexity in Southern Africa by Thomas N. Huffman pg 44, )
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-9-148075295)
Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture by Thomas N. Huffman pg 22, Fiber Spinning During the Mapungubwe Period of Southern Africa: Regional Specialism in the Hinterland by Alexander Antonite pg 106)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-10-148075295)
Fiber Spinning During the Mapungubwe Period of Southern Africa: Regional Specialism in the Hinterland by Alexander Antonites
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-11-148075295)
Fiber Spinning During the Mapungubwe Period of Southern Africa: Regional Specialism in the Hinterland by Alexander Antonite pg 110-115, Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture by Thomas N. Huffman pg 21
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-12-148075295)
Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture by Thomas N. Huffman pg 19-20)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-13-148075295)
Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The Origin and Spread of social complexity in Southern Africa by Thomas N. Huffman pg 50, Ungendering Civilization edited by K. Anne Pyburn pg 63.
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-14-148075295)
Dating the Mapungubwe Hill Gold by Stephan Woodborne
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-15-148075295)
Dating the Mapungubwe Hill Gold by Stephan Woodborne et al.
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-16-148075295)
The Zimbabwe Culture: Origins and Decline of Southern Zambezian States by Innocent Pikirayi pg 21)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-17-148075295)
Shell disc beads and the development of class‑based society at the K2‑Mapungubwe settlement complex (South Africa) by Michelle Mouton pg 16-17
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-18-148075295)
Trace-element study of gold from southern African archaeological sites by D. Miller et al.
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-19-148075295)
Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture by Thomas N. Huffman pg 15, Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The Origin and Spread of social complexity in Southern Africa by Thomas N. Huffman pg 51)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-20-148075295)
Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The Origin and Spread of social complexity in Southern Africa by Thomas N. Huffman pg 51)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-21-148075295)
Late Iron Age Gold Burials from Thulamela (Pafuri Region, Kruger National Park by Maryna Steyn pg 74)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-22-148075295)
A preliminary report on settlement layout and gold melting at Thula Mela by M.M Kusel pg 58-60)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-23-148075295)
Late Iron Age Gold Burials from Thulamela (Pafuri Region, Kruger National Park by Maryna Steyn pg 75-76,
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-24-148075295)
A preliminary report on settlement layout and gold melting at Thula Mela by M.M Kusel pg 60-61)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-25-148075295)
Late Iron Age Gold Burials from Thulamela (Pafuri Region, Kruger National Park by Maryna Steyn pg 76-84)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-26-148075295)
Trace-element study of gold from southern African archaeological sites by D. Miller et al. pg 298, The fabrication technology of southern African archeological gold by Duncan Miller and Nirdev Desai
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-27-148075295)
Settlement hierarchies Northern Transvaal by T. Huffman, pg 16-17, A preliminary report on settlement layout and gold melting at Thula Mela by M.M Kusel pg 56, 63)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-28-148075295)
A preliminary report on settlement layout and gold melting at Thula Mela by M.M Kusel pg 63
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-29-148075295)
The Zimbabwe Culture by Innocent Pikirayi pg 215
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-30-148075295)
Settlement hierarchies Northern Transvaal by T. Huffman pg 14-15)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-31-148075295)
Snakes & Crocodiles : Power and Symbolism in Ancient Zimbabwe by Thomas N. Huffman pg 1-5, The Zimbabwe Culture: Origins and Decline of Southern Zambezian States by Innocent Pikirayi pg 15-18
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-32-148075295)
Language in South Africa edited by Rajend Mesthrie pg 71-72, Language and Social History: Studies in South African Sociolinguistics edited by Rajend Mesthrie pg 45-46)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-33-148075295)
Settlement hierarchies Northern Transvaal by T. Huffman pg 23, The Ethnoarchaeology of Venda-speakers in Southern Africa by J. H.N Loubser pg 398-399.
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-34-148075295)
Settlement hierarchies Northern Transvaal by T. Huffman pg 21-22, The Ethnoarchaeology of Venda-speakers in Southern Africa by J. H.N Loubser pg 391
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-35-148075295)
Settlement hierarchies Northern Transvaal by T. Huffman pg 19)
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-36-148075295)
The Ethnoarchaeology of Venda-speakers in Southern Africa by J. H.N Loubser pg 293, Settlement hierarchies Northern Transvaal by T. Huffman pg 21.
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-37-148075295)
Settlement hierarchies Northern Transvaal by T. Huffman pg 19)
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-38-148075295)
The model of Dzata at the National Museum by J. H.N Loubser pg 24
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-39-148075295)
The Ethnoarchaeology of Venda-speakers in Southern Africa by J. H.N Loubser pg 290, 307-308.
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-40-148075295)
The model of Dzata at the National Museum by J. H.N Loubser pg 25
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-41-148075295)
The Archaeology of Southern Africa By Peter Mitchell pg 340
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-42-148075295)
The model of Dzata at the National Museum by J. H.N Loubser pg 25
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a#footnote-anchor-43-148075295)
The Archaeology of Southern Africa By Peter Mitchell pg 340-341.
|
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-south-africa-a
|
The majority of Africans today primarily identify as Christians and Muslims of various denominations, with a relatively small fraction adhering to other belief systems often referred to as 'indigenous' or 'traditional' religions.
The history of religion in Africa is as old and invariably complex as the history of its societies, of which religion was an integral component. It was determined by multiple internal developments in Africa’s belief systems and social institutions, and the continent’s interaction with the rest of the Old World.
As African societies increasingly interacted with each other and the rest of the old world, they created, adopted, and syncretized different belief systems in a process familiar to scholars of religion from across the world.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-indigenous#footnote-1-147846354)
For this reason, so-called "indigenous" and "foreign" religions have co-existed and influenced each other across the history of many different societies, so much as to render both terms superfluous.
The [belief systems of ancient Kush](https://www.patreon.com/posts/78797811), for example, included a rich pantheon of deities, religious practices, and myths that were derived from the diverse populations of the different kingdoms that dominated the region.
From the solar deities and ram cults of ancient Kerma to the shared deities in the temple towns of New-Kingdom Egypt and Nubia, to the southern deities introduced by the Meroitic dynasty, the religion of ancient Kush was a product of centuries of syncretism/hybridism and plurality, influenced by political and social changes across its long history.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Jvk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7ec53a8-e193-4238-8b39-3b7710476b3e_820x485.png)
_**Temple reliefs on the South wall of the Lion Temple**_ at Naqa, Sudan _**.**Kush’s King Natakamani, Queen Amanitore, and Prince Arikankharor facing the gods; Apedemak (a **Meroitic deity**), Horus (an **Egyptian deity**), Amun of Napata (a **Nubian-Egyptian deity**), Aqedise (a **Meroitic deity**), and Amun of Kerma (a **Nubian-Egyptian deity**)._
Similar developments occurred in West Africa, such as in the kingdom of Dahomey, where the promotion of religious plurality led to the creation and adoption of multiple belief systems, religious practices, and deities from across the region.
Dahomey's "traditional" belief systems and practices, called Vodun, were syncretized with "foreign" belief systems, especially [at its capital Abomey](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital?utm_source=publication-search), which contained numerous temples dedicated to local and foreign deities. The people of Dahomey adopted deities from its vassal kingdom of Ouidah (eg the python god Dangbe), as well as other deities and practices from its suzerain —the empire of [Oyo](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/empire-building-and-government-in?utm_source=publication-search), where the Ifa religion was dominant, and from where the Vodun/Orisha of Gu/Ogun originated.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-indigenous#footnote-2-147846354)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SxHd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc69820b6-88f0-4f45-b52c-2d77df1608c6_1024x555.png)
_**Practicioners of Gu and Tohusu**_ _**in Abomey**_, ca. 1950, Quai branly. The former is in the courtyard of the temple of Gu (ie: Ogun) the god of iron and war, to whom the massive sword is dedicated.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ePt4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24a8507a-d5b2-4d05-ad10-aaa63972bbf4_1302x472.png)
_**Reliefs on an old Temple in Abomey**_, ca. 1940, Quai branly. This wall may have been part of a section of the temple of Dangbe, the python deity from Ouidah.
In the Hausalands of northern Nigeria, the adherents of "traditional" belief systems recognized and adopted different kinds of deities that evolved along with the "foreign" belief systems of their Muslim peers.
In the kingdom of Kano, internal accounts by local Muslim scholars document the [evolution of the ‘traditionalist’ religions over the centuries from “Tsumburbura”, to “Chibiri”, to “Bori”](https://www.patreon.com/posts/traditional-in-82189267) —the last of which is only the latest iteration in the polytheistic religion of the Maguzawa Hausa, whose deities also included ‘Mallams’ (ie: Muslim clerics). These traditionalists are presented as active agents in Kano's history whose status was analogous to the dhimmis (protected groups) in the Muslim heartlands such as Christians and Jews.
This brief outline demonstrates that the terms 'traditional' and 'foreign' are mostly anachronisms that modern writers extrapolate backward to a period when such binary concepts would have been unfamiliar to the actual people living at the time. Religions could emerge, spread, decline, and evolve in different societies in a process that was influenced by multiple factors.
Since 'religions' weren't separate institutions but were considered an integral part of many societies' social and political structures, the history of Religion in Africa was inextricably tied to broader changes and developments in Africa's societies.
The Kingdom of Kongo presents one of the best case studies for the evolution of 'traditional' religions in Africa. While much of the kingdom adopted Christianity on its own terms at the end of the 15th century, the kingdom’s eastern provinces were home to a powerful polytheistic religious society known as the Kimpasi whose members played an influential role in Kongo's politics during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The kimpasi society co-existed with the rest of Kongo's Christian society well into the 20th century and was considered by the latter as a lawful institution, despite being denounced by visiting priests.
**The history of the Kimpasi religious society and the 'traditional' religions of Kongo is the subject of my latest Patreon Article.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[THE KIMPASI SOCIETY OF KONGO](https://www.patreon.com/posts/110322080)
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_**Photos from a Hausa community in Tunis, ca. 1914.**_
_Top: "Spirits of the Great Mallams". (ie: Muslim teachers)_
_Bottom: "Uwal Yara, or Magajiya, the spirit which gives croup and other ailments to children."_
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-indigenous#footnote-anchor-1-147846354)
Religious Studies: A Global View by Gregory D. Alles, Syncretism in Religion: A Reader edited by Anita Maria Leopold, Jeppe Sinding Jensen
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-indigenous#footnote-anchor-2-147846354)
Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey by Edna G. Bay pg 60-63, 189, 255-257.
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-indigenous
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The smelting and working of iron is arguably the best known among the pre-colonial technologies of Africa, and the continent is home to some of the world's oldest sites of ironworking.
Iron metallurgy was an integral component of socioeconomic life across the continent, and has played a significant role in the sociocultural, economic, and environmental spheres of many African societies, past and present, not only for utilitarian items, but also in the creation of symbolic, artistic, and ornamental objects.
The production, control, and distribution of Iron was pivotal in the rise and fall of African kingdoms and empires, the expansion of trade and cultural exchange, and the growth of military systems which ensured Africa’s autonomy until the close of the 19th century.
This article outlines the General History of Iron technologies in Africa, from the construction of the continent's oldest furnaces in antiquity to the 19th century, exploring the role of Iron in African trade, agriculture, warfare, politics, and Art traditions.
**Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**On the invention of Iron technology in Africa.**
Most studies of the history of Ironworking begin with the evolution of metallurgy in the Near Eastern societies and the transition from copper, to bronze and finally to iron. The use and spread of these metals across the eastern Mediterranean was a complex and protracted process, that was politically and culturally mediated rather than being solely determined by the physical properties of the metals.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-1-147556627)
Since the transition from copper to iron across most of the societies in the Near East was broadly similar, and the region was initially thought to be home to the oldest known iron-working sites, researchers surmised that iron technology had a single origin from which it subsequently spread across the old world from Asia to Europe, to Africa.
In North Africa, ironworking was only known from historical documents, it was only recently that archeological investigations have provided firmer evidence for early iron smelting in the region. This includes sites such as Bir Massouda at Carthage in Tunisia between 760-480 BCE[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-2-147556627), at Naucratis and Hamama in Egypt between 580-30BCE[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-3-147556627), at Meroe and Hamadab in Sudan around 514 BCE[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-4-147556627) and in the Fezzan region of Libya around 500BCE[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-5-147556627).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hFoU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0da558cf-7505-4143-9994-a8e276e4fb1d_741x495.png)
_**Large iron slag mound at Meroe, Sudan.**_ photo by Jane Humpris.
However, as it will become evident in the following paragraphs, the development of iron technology in the rest of Africa was independent of North African ironworking and is likely to have been a much older phenomenon. In contrast to the Maghreb, metallurgy in the rest of Africa kick-started with the simultaneous working of iron and copper between the late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BC, to be later followed by bronze, gold and other metals.
A number of radiocarbon dates within the range of 2200 to 800 BCE have since been accumulated across multiple sites. This includes sites such as; Oboui and Gbatoro in Cameroon and Central Africa, where iron furnaces, bloom fragments, slag pieces, and at least 174 iron tools were found dated to c. 2200–1965 BCE; at Ngayene in the Senegambian megaliths, where iron tools were found dated to 1362–1195 BCE; and at Gbabiri (north of Oboui) where similar iron objects and forges were found dated to 900–750 BCE.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-6-147556627)
More extensive evidence for iron working in West Africa is dated to the period between 800-400 BCE, where the combined evidence for iron tools, furnaces, slag, and tuyeres was found at various places. These include the sites of Taruga and Baidesuru in the Nok culture of central Nigeria, In the northern Mandara region of Cameroon, at Dhar Nema in the Tichitt Neolithic culture of southern Mauritania, at Dia In the Inland Niger delta of Mali[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-7-147556627), at Walalde in Senegal[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-8-147556627), at Dekpassanware, in Togo[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-9-147556627) at the Nsukka sites of Nigeria,[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-10-147556627) and at Tora Sira Tomo in Burkina Faso[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-11-147556627), among other sites.
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_**Slag blocks at Otobo-Dunuoka village square, Lejja, Nsukka area, Nigeria**_.
The subsequent spread of ironworking technology to central, East and South Africa was linked to the expansion of Bantu-speaking groups, a few centuries after they had settled in the region.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-12-147556627) For the period between 800-400BC Iron working sites, are found at Otoumbi and Moanda in Gabon, at the Urewe sites of; Mutwarubona in Rwanda, Mirama III in Burundi, at Katuruka in Tanzania.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-13-147556627)
By the turn of the common era, Ironworking had spread to the southeastern tip of the continent, with sites such as Matola in Mozambique and ‘Silver Leaves’ in South Africa being dated to between the 1st-2nd century CE.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-14-147556627) While few studies have been conducted in the northern Horn of Africa, there’s evidence for extensive use of iron tools at Bieta Giyorgis and Aksum in Ethiopia, between the late 1st millennium BC and the early centuries of the common era. [15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-15-147556627)
While proponents of an independent origin of iron technology in Africa rely on archeological evidence, the diffusionist camp is driven by the hypothesis that ironworking required pre-existing knowledge of copper smelting, they therefore surmise that it originated from Carthage or Meroe. However, there's still no material evidence for any transmission of ironworking technology based on the furnace types from either region[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-16-147556627), and the recently confirmed dates from Cameroon, Central Africa, and Senegal significantly predate those from Meroe, the Fezzan, and Carthage.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-17-147556627)
Furthermore, there was no contact between the earliest West African Iron Age sites of the Nok Culture with North Africa; nor was there contact between Nok and its northern neighbor; the Gajiganna culture of Lake Chad (1800-400BCE) which had no iron at its main proto-urban capital of Zilum;[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-18-147556627) nor were there [links between Carthage and Zilum](https://www.patreon.com/posts/between-carthage-94409122) during this period. Even links between more proximate regions like the Fezzan in Libya (which had Iron by 500 BCE) and the Lake Chad basin before the common era remain unproven.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-19-147556627)
The site of Oboui in the Central African republic has been the subject of intense interest by archeometallurgists since it provides the **earliest known iron-working facility anywhere in the world**.
So while it may _"never be possible to write a history of African metallurgy that truly satisfies the historian's inordinate greed for both generalization and specificity,"_ the most recent research weighs heavily in favor of an independent origin of Ironworking in Africa.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jq34!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F06100a59-37df-4f14-a767-3395466183e3_779x483.png)
_**1st millennium BC Nok furnace site at Janjala, Nigeria.**_
**The process of Smelting and Smithing Iron in African furnaces.**
The process of ironworking starts with the search and acquisition of iron ores through mining and collecting, followed by the preparation of raw materials including charcoal, followed by the building of the smelting installations, furnaces, tuyeres and crucibles, followed by the smelting itself which reduces the ores to metal, followed by bloom cleaning, smithing, and the forging of the finished product[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-20-147556627). This was extremely labour-intensive and time-consuming, especially collecting the ore and fuel, which could at times last several weeks or months.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-21-147556627)
In nature, iron may be found in five different compounds: oxide, hydroxide, carbide, sulfide, and silicate, of which there are many different types of iron ores in Africa (lateritic, oolitic, magnetite-ilmenite, etc) which invariably influenced the smelting technology used. Ancient African bloomery furnaces exhibit remarkable diversity, suggesting constant improvisation and innovations. As one metallurgist observed, _**"every conceivable method of iron production seems to have been employed in Africa, some of it quite unbelievable."**_ African ironworkers adapted bloomery furnaces to an extraordinary range of iron ores, some of which cannot be used by modern blast furnaces and weren’t found anywhere else in the Old World.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-22-147556627)
African iron-smelting processes are all variants of the bloomery process, in which the air blast must be stopped periodically to remove the masses of metal (blooms), while the waste product (slag) may be tapped from the furnaces as a liquid, or may solidify within it. Most of the oldest African furnaces were shaft furnaces that ranged from small pit furnaces to massive Natural-draft smelting furnaces with tall shafts upto 7 meters high.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-23-147556627)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5KEt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaf61d13-c34a-4aac-a928-042414336906_837x584.png)
_**Natural draft furnaces in the Seno plain below Segue, Burkina Faso**_, 1957, Quai Branly. _**Earthen smelting furnaces in Ouahigouya, near the capital of Yatenga kingdom, Burkina Faso**_, 1911, Quai Branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qW9M!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc1940984-a7a2-46a5-aff5-42f362c2cb40_807x550.png)
_**Examples of African bloomery furnace types**_ (by F. Bandama), _**Approximate distribution of bowl, shaft, and natural draught furnace types in Africa**_. (by S. Chirikure).
Bloomery smelting operates around 1200°C; ie at a temperature below the melting point of iron (1540°C), which is high enough only to melt the gangue minerals in the ore and separate them from the unmolten iron oxides. Air is introduced to the furnace either through forced draft using bellows and tuyères (ceramic pipes), or by natural draft taking advantage of prevailing winds or utilizing the chimney effect. This enables the fuel (usually charcoal) to burn, producing carbon monoxide, which reacts with the iron oxide, ultimately reducing it to form metallic iron.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-24-147556627)
These furnaces could produce cast iron and wrought iron, as well as steel, the latter of which there is sufficient evidence in several societies, most notably in the 18th-century kingdom of Yatenga between Mali and Burkina Faso, where blacksmiths built massive furnaces upto 8m high to produce steel bars and composite tools with steel-cutting edges[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-25-147556627).
Steel is iron alloyed with between 0.2% and 2% carbon, and it has been found in archaeometallurgical studies of furnaces and slag from Buhaya in northern Tanzania,[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-26-147556627) and in northern Mandara region of Cameroon among other sites.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-27-147556627) Most high-carbon steel could be produced directly in the bloomery furnace by increasing the carbon content of the bloom, rather than by subsequent smithing as in most parts of the Old World.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-28-147556627)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4Ibp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd41c1974-fbff-40c2-80e3-7cbc99aa6082_580x451.png)
_**Iron smelting at Oumalokho near the border of Mali & Cote d’ivoire**_, illustration by Louis Binger, ca. 1892.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-ep!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff21a345b-a894-4669-862b-8269cf8ff019_847x356.png)
_**steel sword with gold hilt, blade decorated with incised geometric and floral decoration, ca. 1900**_, Asante, Ghana, V&A museum
Once smelting was complete, the bloom settled to the bottom of the furnace and was removed for further refinement through repeated heating and hammering into bars using large hammerstones. After which, the iron bars produced from this process were forged at high temperatures, and the blacksmith will use various hammers, tongs, quenching bowls, and anvils to work the iron into a desired shape. In a few cases, methods like lost wax casting and the use of molds which were common in the working of gold and copper alloys were also used for iron to produce different objects, ornaments, and ingots.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-29-147556627)
Like all forms of technology, the working of Iron in Africa was socially mediated. The role of blacksmiths was considered important but their social position was rather ambiguous and varied. Depending on the society and era, they were both respected or feared, powerful or marginalized, because they wielded social power derived from access to knowledge of metallurgy, divination, peacemaking, and other salient social practices[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-30-147556627).
The smith’s craft extended from the production of the most basic of domestic tools to the creation of a corpus of inventive, diverse, and technically sophisticated vehicles of social and spiritual power The various taboos and rituals associated with the craft were a technology of practice that enabled smelters to take control of the process through learned behavior.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-31-147556627)
One key feature of African metallurgy is that it resists homogenization, yet anthropologists who study the subject are more inclined to homogenize than to seek variations. In contrast to the making of pottery and sculptures, the apprenticeship of iron smelting has not been the focus of ethnological studies. While such studies can only provide us with information from the 20th century, the persistence of pre-industrial methods of iron production in some parts of the continent suggests that some of this information can be extrapolated back to earlier periods.
A number of researchers have left ethnographic descriptions of smelting sessions that they attended, observing that there is a head smelter or an elder’s council, as well as young people or apprentices. Under the leadership of a master, the metallurgists seem to take part collectively in the smelting, and the associated rituals involved in the process. Each member of a smelting session detects the physical and chemical changes of the material being processed inside the furnace.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-32-147556627)
Ethnographic descriptions show the major importance of smith castes and ritual practice, as well as political control over resources like iron ore, wood, land, and labour.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-33-147556627) In many parts of the continent, there's extensive evidence that iron smelting was considered ritually akin to the act of procreation and therefore was carried out away from or in seclusion from women and domestic contexts[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-34-147556627). Yet there were numerous exceptions in southern and East Africa where women were allowed in the smelting area, procuring iron ores, and constructing furnaces.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-35-147556627)
Evidently, all available labour was utilized for iron working when necessary, depending on the cultural practices of a given society.
**The role of Iron in early African Agriculture and Trade.**
Ironworking played a pivotal role in the advent and evolution of agriculture and long-distance trade across the African continent, as the widespread use of iron tools helped to increase food production and the exchanges of surpluses between different groups. In many societies, the various types of iron tools (such as plows and hoes) the design of furnaces, and the organization of labor, influenced and were influenced by developments in agriculture, trade, and cultural exchanges.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-36-147556627)
For example, the use of natural draught furnaces and the creation of a caste of blacksmiths frees up labour for working the raw iron to make iron objects and develop long-distance trade and exchange. Such high- fuel low-labour furnaces were particularly common in the West African Sudanic woodland zone from Senegal to Nigeria and in the miombo woodlands of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, where labour requirements for swidden agriculture may have reduced available labour for smithing.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-37-147556627)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0DWY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8cd218f1-11fc-4f75-9fba-b7deb18b7d10_1122x583.png)
Natural draft furnaces; _**Yeke, D.R.Congo, early 20th century**_, Royal Museum for Central Africa. _**‘A Bafipa natural draft furnace in Tanzania’**_, photo by S.T.Childs. _**Aushi, Zambia, early 20th century,**_ British Museum.
In other regions, the demand for Iron objects beyond the immediate society in which specialist smiths lived facilitated the production of large quantities of Iron for export. For example, at least 15 sites used by Dogon smiths in south-central Mali produced a about 400,000 tonnes of slag – or 40,000 tonnes of iron objects over a period of 1,400 years, which is about 26 tones of iron objects per year; while the site of Korsimoro (Burkina Faso) yielded 200,000 tonnes of slag - or 20,000 tonnes of iron objects between 1000-1500 CE, which is about 32 tonnes of iron per year.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-38-147556627)
This scale of production doubtlessly suggests that the iron was intended for export to neighboring societies, albeit not at a scale associated with large states. For example, the dramatic rise in iron production from a small site of Bandjeli in Togo, from less than a tonne in the 18th century to over 14 tones per year by 1900 may have been associated with demand from sections of the kingdoms of Dagomba, Gonja, Mamprusi, although it was far from the only site[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-39-147556627).
It therefore appears that in most parts of Africa, specialization was based on pooling together surplus from various relatively small-scale industries which cumulatively produced bigger output, and may not have been concentrated even in the case of large states.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-40-147556627)
Several types of iron objects served as convenient stores of wealth and were at times used as secondary currencies in some contexts, primarily because of the ever-present demand for domestic and agricultural iron implements like hoes, knives, machetes, harpoons, as well as the general use of metals for tribute, social ceremonies, and trade.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-41-147556627)
In West Africa, iron blooms were traded and kept as heirlooms, while knives and iron hoes were both a trade item and a medium of exchange in parts of Southern Africa and west-central Africa[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-42-147556627). In East Africa, where long-distance traders like the 19th century [Swahili traveler Mwenyi Chande](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104845425?pr=true) were required by local rulers to give iron hoes as a form of tax on their return journeys from the interior as a substitute for cowries and cloth. Similary In Ethiopia, iron plowshares were valued items of trade.[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-43-147556627)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fHo3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e79ed9e-bee4-42e8-a81f-c0e9e4e5bdf0_929x620.png)
_**Illustration depicting an ‘Abyssinian Plough’. ca. 1868**_, Library of Congress.
**Iron in the History of Warfare and Politics in Pre-colonial Africa.**
Given its centrality in agriculture and trade, the spread of iron working in Africa was closely associated with the emergence and growth of complex societies across the continent.
The rise of African states resulted in an increased demand for symbols of prestige and power, among which iron, copper, and gold were prominent. Increase in metal production and changes in furnace construction in the Great Lakes region for example, were associated with the emergence of the kingdoms of Bunyoro, Buganda, and Nyiginya (Rwanda),[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-44-147556627) and similar developments in southern Africa and the East African coast were associated with the rise of the kingdoms at Great Zimbabwe and Kilwa.[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-45-147556627)
A significant number of iron tools found at the oldest sites of ironworking across the continent included knives and arrowheads. Additionally, a number of historical traditions of societies in central Africa like the kingdom of Ndongo and Luba, either attribute or closely associate the founding of kingdoms to iron-wielding warrior-kings and blacksmiths[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-46-147556627). Iron was often conceptually integrated within the organizing structures of these states, with iron symbolism frequently incorporated within iconography, mythology, and systems of tribute payment, all of which underscores the importance of iron weapons to the emergence and expansion of African kingdoms and empires, especially in warfare.[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-47-147556627)
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_**Sword made by a Ngala smith from Congo**_, Copper alloy handle with iron struts attached to iron blade, Late 19th century, Saint Louis art museum
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_**Iron Sword, 19th century,**_ Asante Kingdom, Ghana, British Museum
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
[The history of African military systems has been sufficiently explored](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/war-and-peace-in-ancient-and-medieval) and is too diverse to summarise here, but it suffices to say that the majority of weapons were made locally and most of them were made of Iron. The provision of weapons and the distribution of power were often strongly correlated, especially in larger complex societies where rulers retained large arsenals of weapons to distribute to their armies during times of war, and maintained a workforce of blacksmiths to provide these weapons.[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-48-147556627)
In most parts of the continent, blacksmiths were numerous and usually worked in closely organized kin guilds associated with centers of political power, where rulers acted as their patrons, receiving protection and supplies in exchange for providing armies with swords, lance heads, chainmail, helmets, arrow points and throwing knives. In some exceptional cases, a few of these items were imported by wealthy rulers and subsequently reworked by local smiths to be kept as prestige items.[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-49-147556627)
Among the most common iron objects in African ethnographic collections are the two-edged straight or gently tapering sword, which was common in West Africa[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-50-147556627), as well as in most parts of central Africa, North-East Africa and the East African coast. Other collections include curved blades and throwing weapons with multiple ends, as well as axes, arrowheads, and javelin points.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Z0br!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F817748fb-6243-45a1-a28b-e26a0d9c7dc0_1298x582.png)
_**sword with Iron blade, sheath decorated with plant and zoomorphic motifs, 19th century, Dahomey, Benin.**_ Musée d'ethnographie, Genève. _**Iron and Ivory sword, undated**_, Kongo, Angola/D.R.Congo, Brooklyn Museum, _**Curved Iron sword, Mangbetu,**_ D.R.Congo, British Museum. _**Iron blades made by Ekonda smiths**_, late 19th century, D.R.C, Smithsonian museum
By the 18th century, swords and lances had largely fallen out of use in the regions close to the Atlantic coast and were replaced by muskets.[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-51-147556627) The repair of guns and cannons, as well as the manufacture of iron bullets was also undertaken across many societies[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-52-147556627), from [Asante](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africas-100-years-war-at-the-dawn) and [Dahomey](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-dahomey-and-the-atlantic?utm_source=publication-search), to [Zulu](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history?utm_source=publication-search) and [Buganda](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-buganda-kingdom?utm_source=publication-search). The casting of brass and iron cannons, in particular, was attested in many parts of West Africa, most notably in the 16th-century kingdoms of Benin and Bornu, [where such gunpowder technology in Africa was first attested](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century), as well as in the 19th-century [sultanate of Damagaram](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-damagaram-sultanate?utm_source=publication-search). Benin in particular is known to have made a number of firearms, some of which appear in western museum collections.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LjM7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F68d8a854-723f-4f25-b620-3cf3d7308e64_597x551.png)
_**Firearm made of Brass and Iron, ca. 18th century**_, Benin City, Nigeria, National Museum, Benin. _**Firearm made of Iron and Wood, ca. 18th century**_, Benin City, Nigeria, National Museum, Benin.
The complete manufacture of firearms was accomplished in some societies during the 19th century such as the [empire of Samori Ture](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the), the [Merina kingdom of Madagascar](https://www.patreon.com/posts/87234164?pr=true) and the Ethiopian Empire under Tewodros[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-53-147556627). In the 1880s Samori concentrated 300-400 ironworkers in the village of Tete where they succeeded in manufacturing flintlocks at a cost lower than the price paid for those bought from Freetown. Tete was evacuated in 1892 and its armament workers were reassembled at Dabakol under the direction of an artificer who had spent several months in a French arsenal. They succeeded in making effective copies of Kropatschek repeating rifles at a rate of two of these guns per day.[54](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-54-147556627)
**Iron in the making of African Art and Culture.**
According to Cyril Stanley Smith, a founding father of archaeometallurgy, "aesthetic curiosity" was the original driving force of technological development everywhere, and the human desire for pretty things like jewelry and sculpture, rather than for "useful" objects such as tools and weapons, first led enterprising individuals to discover new materials, processes, and structures.[55](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-55-147556627)
While many of the oldest iron tools found in the ancient metallurgical centers of Africa were agricultural implements and weapons, a number of them also included small caches of jewelry in the form of bracelets and anklets. Later sites include Iron ornaments such as earrings, earplugs, and nose rings. African jewelry made from metal primarily consisted of gold, copper alloys, and silver, with iron being relatively uncommon. However, there are a few notable exceptions such as the kingdom of Dahomey, where skilled blacksmiths produced a remarkable corpus of sculptural artworks made of Iron called _**asen**_.
Historically, _**asen**_ were also closely identified with the belief systems of the Vodun religion and practices. Following the rise of the Dahomey kingdom, their function shifted toward a more specifically royal memorial use as each king was identified with a distinct asen. These royal asen were brought out during annual “custom” rites, placed near the _**djeho**_ (spirit house of the king), and given libations while fixed in the ground using long iron stems. The _**asen**_ s feature figurative scenes depicting processions of titled persons in excellent detail, at the end of which are placed _**togbe**_ pendants around the edge of the platform.[56](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-56-147556627)
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_**Various Asen representing the Yovogan of Dahomey, from the mid-late 19th century**_, Benin,. New Orleans museum, Barbier Mueller museum, Museum of Fine arts.
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Iron sculptures from Dahomey; _**figure of the Fon deity Gu holding up a sword, late 19th century,**_ private collection. _**Asen altar with birds on a tree, early 20th century,**_ Fowler Museum.
Iron sculptures and other artifacts made of composite materials that include iron are attested across multiple African art traditions, from West African figures made by the Yoruba of south-western Nigeria, as well as the Dogon and Mande of Mali, to the composite wood-and-iron sculptures of West central Africa, to the musical instruments of central and southern Africa, such as thumb pianos and rattles of the Chokwe artists of Angola and D.R.Congo.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ucms!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a990264-0da6-4bbf-94b2-fbc86f2cc477_753x539.png)
Iron sculptures of Yoruba artists,_**Opa Osanyín staff, 19th century**_, private collection. _**Rainmaking vessel, mid-20th century**_, Fowler Museum.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vocm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a7b0783-187b-4a0e-a68e-aa2d141442ab_745x588.png)
composite iron and wood artefacts by the Chokwe; _**Lamellophone (chisanji), ca. 1890**_, Angola/D.R.Congo, Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix. _**Thumb piano with an equestrian figure, 19th century**_, Angola/D.R.Congo, Cleveland Museum
The smelting of Iron in Africa gradually declined in the 20th century as local demand was increasingly met by industrial iron and steel, but smithing continues across most parts of the continent. This shift from smelting to smithing began in some coastal regions significantly earlier than on the African mainland, where smelting persisted well into the post-colonial era.[57](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-57-147556627)
In response to shifts in local economies during the colonial and post-colonial era, African blacksmiths began incorporating salvaged materials into their work through creative recycling. Blacksmiths continue to serve as technology brokers who transform one object into another— truck wheels become bells and gongs; leaf springs from cars become axes and asen in Benin; and bicycle spokes become thumb pianos in western Zambia. Today, smiths forge work to accommodate new contexts and purposes. For example in southern Nigeria, where the Yorùbá deity of iron, Ògún, has become the patron of automobiles, laptops, and cell phones.[58](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-58-147556627)
Iron continues to play a central role in the development of African societies, a product of centuries of innovations and developments in one of the continent’s oldest technologies.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I0vG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F140069bf-e88c-4d78-abd0-c9d388f3732a_548x638.png)
man carrying a massive sword dedicated to Gu; the god of iron and war. ca. 1950 Abomey, Benin, Quai Branly.
Recent archeological research has uncovered a series of stone complexes in the Mandara mountains of Cameroon which historical documents from the region associate with the expansion of complex societies and empires at the end of the Middle Ages.
**Please subscribe to read about the DGB ruins and the Mandara kingdom here:**
[STONE RUINS OF CAMEROON](https://www.patreon.com/posts/109389947)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-1-147556627)
Metals in Past Societies: A Global Perspective on Indigenous African Metallurgy By Shadreck Chirikure pg 20-23)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-2-147556627)
Ferrous metallurgy from the Bir Massouda metallurgical precinct at Phoenician and Punic Carthage and the beginning of the North African Iron Age by Brett Kaufman et al.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-3-147556627)
Ancient Mining and Smelting Activities in the Wadi Abu Gerida Area, Central Eastern Desert, Egypt: Preliminary Results by Mai Rifai, Yasser Abd El-Rahman, Metals in Past Societies: A Global Perspective on Indigenous African Metallurgy By Shadreck Chirikure pg 71,
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-4-147556627)
Investigating the ironworking remains in the Royal City of Meroe , Sudan by Chris Carey, The ancient iron mines of Meroe by Jane Humphris et al., A New Radiocarbon Chronology for Ancient Iron Production in the Meroe Region of Sudan by Jane Humphris, Metals in Past Societies: A Global Perspective on Indigenous African Metallurgy By Shadreck Chirikure pg 72
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-5-147556627)
Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by C. N. Duckworth, A. Cuénod, D. J. Mattingly pg 239)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-6-147556627)
Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy in Africa by F Bandama pg 6, The Origins of African Metallurgies by A.F.C. Holl pg 7-8, 12-13, 21-31)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-7-147556627)
Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by C. N. Duckworth, A. Cuénod, D. J. Mattingly pg 238)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-8-147556627)
Excavations at Walalde: New Light on the Settlement of the Middle Senegal Valley by Iron-Using People by A Deme
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-9-147556627)
The Early Iron Metallurgy of Bassar, Togo: furnaces, metallurgical remains and iron objects by PL de Barros
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-10-147556627)
Lejja archaeological site, Southeastern Nigeria and its potential for archaeological science research by Pamela Ifeoma Eze-Uzomaka et. al.
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-11-147556627)
Iron metallurgy in West Africa: An Early Iron smelting site in the Mouhoun Bend, Burkina Faso by Augustin Ferdinand Charles Holl
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-12-147556627)
Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and Culture by S. Terry Childs pg 321-322
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-13-147556627)
The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns edited by Bassey Andah, Alex Okpoko, Thurstan Shaw, Paul Sinclair pg 302-306, Our Iron Smelting 14C Dates from Central Africa: From a Plain Appointment to a Full Blown Relationship" by Bernard Clist, A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of the early Urewe Iron Age industry by Bernard Clist.
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-14-147556627)
Metals in Past Societies: A Global Perspective on Indigenous African Metallurgy By Shadreck Chirikure pg 22.
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-15-147556627)
Foundations of an African Civilisation by D. Philipson pg 142, 166-167.
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-16-147556627)
Book review essay: What do we know about African iron working? by D. Killick pg 107
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-17-147556627)
The Origins of African Metallurgies by A.F.C. Holl pg 4, Metals in Past Societies: A Global Perspective on Indigenous African Metallurgy By Shadreck Chirikure pg 25
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-18-147556627)
Zilum: a mid-first millennium BC fortified settlement by C Magnavita pg 166-167
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-19-147556627)
Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond by Martin Sterry, David J. Mattingly pg 516, Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past: Essays in Honour of Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias pg 25-32)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-20-147556627)
The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns pg 333-334
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-21-147556627)
The Social Context of Iron Forging on the Kenya Coast by Chapurukha M. Kusimba pg 401-402)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-22-147556627)
Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa by Stanley B. Alpern pg 85, Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by C. N. Duckworth, A. Cuénod, D. J. Mattingly pg 292-294)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-23-147556627)
Invention and Innovation in African Iron-smelting Technologies by David J Killick pg 312-313)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-24-147556627)
African Iron Production and Iron-Working Technologies pg 2-3
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-25-147556627)
Book review essay: What do we know about African iron working? by D. Killick pg 108
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-26-147556627)
Cairo to Cape: The Spread of Metallurgy Through Eastern and Southern Africa by D. Killick pg 408
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-27-147556627)
Metals in Mandara Mountains Society and Culture edited by Nicholas David pg 12-13, 174.
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-28-147556627)
Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa by Stanley B. Alpern pg 87, Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy in Africa by F Bandama pg 11)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-29-147556627)
Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy in Africa by F Bandama pg 12, African Iron Production and Iron-Working Technologies pg 4-5.
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-30-147556627)
The Social Context of Iron Forging on the Kenya Coast by Chapurukha M. Kusimba, 386, Style, Technology, and Iron Smelting Furnaces in Bantu-Speaking Africa by S. Terry Childs pg 343-345
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-31-147556627)
Metals in Past Societies: A Global Perspective on Indigenous African Metallurgy By Shadreck Chirikure pg 10, Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and Culture by S. Terry Childs pg 325-326, Warfare in Pre-Colonial Africa by C. G. Chidume et al pg 75-76
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-32-147556627)
Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by C. N. Duckworth, A. Cuénod, D. J. Mattingly 303-304, The Social Context of Iron Forging on the Kenya Coast by Chapurukha M. Kusimba, pg 390-393)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-33-147556627)
Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by C. N. Duckworth, A. Cuénod, D. J. Mattingly pg 295-302)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-34-147556627)
Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and Culture by S. Terry Childs pg 327-328
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-35-147556627)
Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy in Africa by F Bandama pg 13-14, When the smith is a woman: innovation, improvisation and ambiguity in the organisation of African iron metallurgy by Ezekiel Mtetwa et. al.
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-36-147556627)
How Societies Are Born by Jan Vansina pg 65-66, 79-81.
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-37-147556627)
Invention and Innovation in African Iron-smelting Technologies by David J Killick pg 314-316)
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-38-147556627)
Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by C. N. Duckworth, A. Cuénod, D. J. Mattingly pg 302, 305)
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-39-147556627)
A Comparison of Early and Later Iron Age Societies in the Bassar Region of Togo Philip de Barros pg 10-11
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-40-147556627)
A technological and anthropological study of iron production in Venda, Limpopo Province, South Africa by Eric Ndivhuwo Mathoho pg 18, Early metallurgy and surplus without states in Africa south of the Sahara by Shadreck Chirikure
[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-41-147556627)
Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and Culture by S. Terry Childs pg 332-333
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-42-147556627)
Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy in Africa Foreman Bandama pg 12, How Societies Are Born by Jan Vansina pg 126-127, 154-155
[43](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-43-147556627)
People of the Plow: An Agricultural History of Ethiopia, 1800–1990 By James McCann pg 130
[44](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-44-147556627)
Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and Culture by S. Terry Childs pg 330-331, Pre-colonial iron production in Great Lakes Africa by Louise Iles pg 60-63
[45](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-45-147556627)
Innovation, Tradition and Metals at Kilwa Kisiwani by Stephanie Wynne-Jones
[46](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-46-147556627)
Blacksmiths of Ilamba: A Social History of Labor at the Nova Oeiras Iron Foundry (Angola, 18th Century) by Crislayne Alfagali
[47](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-47-147556627)
Pre-colonial iron production in Great Lakes Africa by Louise Iles pg 58-60, Paths in the rainforests by Jan Vansina pg 60-61,
[48](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-48-147556627)
Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa by Robert Sidney Smith pg 92, 101, Warfare in Pre-Colonial Africa by C. G. Chidume et al pg 78-79.
[49](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-49-147556627)
Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa by Robert Sidney Smith pg 90-91, 103-105)
[50](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-50-147556627)
Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa by Robert Sidney Smith pg 93-94)
[51](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-51-147556627)
Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa by Robert Sidney Smith pg 107-108)
[52](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-52-147556627)
Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa by Robert Sidney Smith pg 116)
[53](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-53-147556627)
Africa and the Indian Ocean World from Early Times to Circa 1900 by Gwyn Campbell pg 202-208
[54](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-54-147556627)
Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa by Robert Sidney Smith pg 116
[55](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-55-147556627)
Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa by Stanley B. Alpern pg 87)
[56](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-56-147556627)
Asen: Dahomey history, and Forged memories of Iron by S. Blier, Asen: Identifying Form, Style and Artists by S. Blier.
[57](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-57-147556627)
The Social Context of Iron Forging on the Kenya Coast by Chapurukha M. Kusimba pg 400-401
[58](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology#footnote-anchor-58-147556627)
Striking Iron The Art of African Blacksmiths by Allen F. Roberts and Marla C. Berns
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-history-of-iron-technology
|
Among the first ancient Egyptian accounts on its southern neighbors is an old kingdom inscription that describes a trading expedition to an unspecified region called [the land of Punt](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/demystifying-the-ancient-land-of). Egyptologists had long debated about the location of this mysterious territory before recent archeological discoveries at Mahal Teglinos in eastern Sudan and the Red Sea port of Mersa eventually solved the riddle of Punt’s precise location.
Archeology plays a central role in reconstructing Africa's history, despite the rather complicated relationship between the two disciplines. On a continent where the limitations of written and oral histories have been acknowledged, archeologists and historians often work together to develop an interdisciplinary study of Africa's past.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-new-discoveries-in#footnote-1-147337357)
Most of the latest research into the history of different African societies has been the product of interdisciplinary cooperation between archaeologists and historians. The locations of many African historical sites that were amply described by historians have since been identified and rediscovered by archeologists, helping to expand our understanding of Africa's past.
For example in northern Ethiopia, where there are several historical accounts describing the highly urbanized [kingdom of Ifat](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian), recent archeological excavations have uncovered many ruined cities and towns which include the kingdom’s capital, whose cemetery contained inscribed tombs of the kingdom's rulers.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!igDL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F971ab563-b468-4a24-b65b-49e72c2999c5_1000x664.jpeg)
_**ruins of a mosque at Beri-Ifat**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9470!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04b6f909-f81f-4b53-a10c-78f12f3ab9c4_709x477.png)
_**Partially excavated ruins of a 15th century building complex at Field A, Old Buipe, Ghana**_
In northern Ghana, there are multiple internal and external accounts describing the [kingdom of Gonja](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-gonja-kingdom-1550) which was founded by migrant elites from the Mali empire. Recent archeological work has identified the old capital of the kingdom as well as several complex structures whose construction resembles the architectural style of medieval Mali.
In South Africa, oral and written accounts about heterogeneous groups of Sotho-Tswana and Nguni-speakers referred to as "Koni" have helped historians and archeologists to identify the builders of [the Bokoni ruins](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-bokoni-egalitarian), a widely distributed complex of terraced stone-walled sites in the escarpments of the Mpumalanga province.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o7nX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F67cfe62f-133a-44c2-a548-938efb3d2f2c_980x591.png)
_**Bokoni ruins near near Machadodorp, South Africa.**_
Similar discoveries abound across most of the continent, from the [kingdom of Ife](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/ancient-ife-and-its-masterpieces), to the painted churches of [medieval Nubia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/self-representation-in-african-art), all of which demonstrate the usefulness of interdisciplinary studies.
Recent archeological work in the mountains of northern Cameroon has uncovered more than sixteen complexes of stone ruins whose construction between the 14th and 17th centuries coincided with the expansion of the Bornu empire and the lesser-known kingdom of Mandara, during an era when the region’s history was well documented.
**My latest Patreon article explores the history of the stone ruins of Cameroon within the context of the documented history of the Mandara kingdom during the 16th century.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[STONE RUINS OF CAMEROON](https://www.patreon.com/posts/109389947)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UX6y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F61395630-59bc-4a88-a96a-86f283e7488b_487x1082.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-p4j!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fad571a0d-2798-494f-9b97-214280f8e2d7_1082x690.png)
_**[Cathedral of Dongola](https://pcma.uw.edu.pl/en/2021/05/26/cathedral-of-dongola-new-discoveries-in-sudan/), Medieval Nubia, Sudan**_. This is one of the most recent discoveries in African archeology.
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-new-discoveries-in#footnote-anchor-1-147337357)
Trouble with Siblings: Archaeological and Historical Interpretation of the West African Past, By Christopher DeCorse and Gerard Chouin, The intersection of archaeology, oral tradition and history in the South African interior by Jan CA Boeyens.
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!igDL!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F971ab563-b468-4a24-b65b-49e72c2999c5_1000x664.jpeg",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UX6y!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F61395630-59bc-4a88-a96a-86f283e7488b_487x1082.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-p4j!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fad571a0d-2798-494f-9b97-214280f8e2d7_1082x690.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-new-discoveries-in
|
At the close of the 18th century, the West African hosts of the Scottish traveler Mungo Park informed him of a range of mountains situated in _**"a large and powerful kingdom called Kong".**_
These legendary mountains of Kong subsequently appeared on maps of Africa and became the subject of all kinds of fanciful stories that wouldn't be disproved until a century later when another traveler reached Kong, only to find bustling cities instead of snow-covered ranges[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-1-147064187). The mythical land of Kong would later be relocated to Indonesia for the setting of the story of the famous fictional character King Kong[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-2-147064187).
The history of the real kingdom of Kong is no less fascinating than the story of its legendary mountains. For most of the 18th and 19th centuries, the city of Kong was the capital of a vast inland empire populated by the cultural heirs of medieval Mali, who introduced a unique architectural and scholarly tradition in the regions between modern Cote D'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
This article explores the history of the Kong empire, focusing on the social groups that contributed to its distinctive cultural heritage.
_**approximate extent of the ‘Kong empire’ in 1740.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!La9g!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6aaf171a-ac39-44c8-862e-1e2a5b68d723_1303x582.png)
**Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The early history of Kong and Dyula expansion from medieval Mali.**
The region around Kong was at the crossroads of long-distance routes established by the Dyula/Juula traders who were part of the [Wangara commercial diaspora associated with medieval Mali](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education) during the late Middle Ages. These trade routes, which connected the [old city of Jenne](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-jenne-250bc) and Begho to later cities like Kong, Bobo-Dioulasso, and Bonduku, were conduits for lucrative commerce in gold, textiles, salt, and kola for societies between the river basins of the Niger and the Volta (see map above).[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-3-147064187)
The hinterland of Kong was predominantly settled by speakers of the Senufu languages who likely established a small kingdom centered on what would later become the town of Kong. According to later accounts, there were several small Senufu polities in the region extending from Kong to Korhogo in the west, and northward to Bobo-Dioulasso, between the Bandama and Volta rivers. These polities interacted closely, and some, such as the chiefdom of Korohogo, would continue to flourish despite the profound cultural changes of the later periods.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-4-147064187)
These non-Muslim agriculturalists welcomed the Mande-speaking Dyula traders primarily because of the latter's access to external trade items like textiles (mostly used as burial shrouds) and acculturated the Dyula as ritual specialists (Muslim teachers) who made protective amulets. It was in this context that the city of Kong emerged as a large cosmopolitan center attracting warrior groups such as the Mande-speaking **Sonongui**, and diverse groups of craftsmen including the Hausa, who joined the pre-existing Senufu and Dyula population.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-5-147064187)
Throughout the 16th century, the growing influence of external trade and internal competition between different social groups among the warrior classes greatly shaped political developments in Kong. By 1710, a wealthy Sonongui merchant named Seku Umar who bore the Mande patronymic of "**Watara**" took power in Kong with support from the Dyula, and would reign until 1744. Seku Umar Watara’s new state came to be known as **Kpon** or K'pon in internal accounts, which would later be rendered as “Kong” in Western literature. After pacifying the hinterland of Kong, Seku's forces campaigned along the route to Bobo-Dioulassao, whose local Dyula merchants welcomed his rule.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-6-147064187)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UeeU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96b27ba9-a9a8-46d9-8b02-4f6807761f5b_760x559.jpeg)
_**view of Kong, ca. 1892**_, by Louis Binger.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1-oB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa2f094b6-d55a-4748-8688-821bd792c9af_1225x521.png)
_**a section of Kong**_, ca. 1889, Binger & Molteni.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BH_W!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7f131b87-5b89-4d53-886c-0ecc99691427_1030x490.png)
_**Palace of the Senufu king Gbon Coulibaly at Korhogo**_, ca. 1920, Quia Branly. Despite the Dyula presence in Korhogo and the town’s proximity to Kong, it was outside the latter’s direct control.
**The states of Kong during the 18th century and the houses of Watara.**
Seku Watara expanded his power rapidly across the region, thanks to his powerful army made up of local allies serving under Sonongui officers. Seku Watara and his commanders, such as his brother Famagan, his son Kere-Moi, and his general Bamba, conquered the regions between the Bandama and Volta rivers (northern Cote d’Ivoire) in the south, to Minyaka and Macina (southern Mali) in the north. They even got as far as the hinterland of Jenne in November 1739 according to a local chronicle. Sections of the army under Seku Umar and Kere Moi then campaigned west to the Bambara capital of Segu and the region of Sikasso (also in southern Mali), before retiring to Kong while Famagan settled near Bobo.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-7-147064187)
The expansion of the Kong empire was partly driven by the need to protect trade routes, but no centralized administration was installed in conquered territories despite Famagan and Kere Moi recognizing Seku Umar as the head of the state. After the deaths of Seku (1744) and Famagan (1749) the breach between the two collateral branches issuing from each royal house grew deeper, resulting in the formation of semi-autonomous kingdoms primarily at Kong and Bobo-Dioulasso (originally known as Sya), but also in many smaller towns like Nzan, all of which had rulers with the title of _**Fagama**_.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-8-147064187)
The empire of Kong, which is more accurately referred to as _“the states of Kong”_, consisted of a collection of polities centered in walled capitals that were ruled by dynastic _‘war houses’_ which had overlapping zones of influence. These houses consisted of their _**Fagama**_'s kin and dependents, who controlled a labyrinthine patchwork of allied settlements and towns from whom they received tribute and men for their armies.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-9-147064187) The heads of different houses at times recognized a paramount ruler, but remained mostly independent, each conducting their campaigns and preserving their own dynastic histories.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-10-147064187)
In this complex social mosaic, many elites adopted the **Watara** patronymic through descent, alliance, or dependency, and there were thus numerous “Watara houses” scattered across the entire region between the northern Ivory Coast, southern Mali, and western Burkina Faso. At least four houses in the core regions of Kong claimed descent from Seku Umar; there were several houses in the Mouhoun plateau (western Burkina Faso) that claimed descent from both Famagan and Kere Moi. Other houses were located in the region of Bobo-Dioulasso, in Tiefo near the North-western border of Ghana, and as far east as the old town of Loropeni in southern Burkina Faso.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-11-147064187)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9LVN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8336e9d-ac92-4e00-a9e1-395a33949bb1_1011x576.png)
_**Friday Mosque of Kong**_, ca. 1920, Quai Branly. The mosque was built in the late 18th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XU7L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e16778a-aba6-49c8-85cd-bb8968a48e9c_600x485.jpeg)
_**Street scene in the Marabassou quarter of Kong**_, ca. 1892, ANOM.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tYZ-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fcd240f-6fb8-4334-8bcb-54ea505bd423_815x533.png)
_**Bobo Dioulasso’s Friday Mosque**_, ca. 1904, Quai Branly. The mosque was built in the late 19th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-gYx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0b25031b-0eac-41ac-8eba-2139fd3c77f1_897x471.png)
_**section of Bobo-Dioulasso**_, ca. 1904, Quai Branly.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The influence of Dyula on architecture and scholarship in the states of Kong.**
The dispersed Watara houses often competed for political and commercial influence, relying on external mediators such as the Dyula traders to negotiate alliances[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-12-147064187). Although nominally Muslim, the Watara elites stood in contrast to the Dyula, as the former were known to have retained many pre-Islamic practices. They nevertheless acknowledged the importance of Dyula clerics as providers of protective amulets, integrated them into the kingdom's administration, and invited them to construct mosques and schools.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-13-147064187)
The cities of Kong and Bobo became major centers of scholarship whose influence extended as far as the upper Volta to the Mande heartlands in the upper Niger region. The movement of students and teachers between towns created a scholarship 'network' that corresponded in large part to their trading network.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-14-147064187)
Influential Dyula lineages such as the Saganogo (or Saganugu) acquired a far-ranging reputation for scholarship by the late 18th century. They introduced the distinctive style of architecture found in the region[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-15-147064187), and are credited with constructing the main mosque at Kong in 1785, as well as in cities not under direct Watara control such as at Buna in 1795, at Bonduku in 1797, and at Wa in 1801. Their members were imams of Kong, Bobo-Dioulasso, and many surrounding towns. The Dyula shunned warfare and lived in urban settlements away from the warrior elite’s capitals, but provided horses, textiles, and amulets to the latter in exchange for protecting trade routes.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-16-147064187)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oMGM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fbe3693-a5e9-44ad-b85b-cdb5922326cd_1130x489.png)
_**mosque in Kong**_, by Louis Binger, ca. 1892.
The Saganogo scholars of Kong (also known as _**karamokos**_ : men of knowledge) are among the most renowned figures in the region’s intellectual history, being part of a chain of learning that extends back to the famous 15th-century scholar al-Hajj Salim Suware of medieval Mali.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-17-147064187)
The most prominent of these was Mustafa Saganogo (d. 1776) and his son Abbas b. Muhammad al-Mustafa (d. 1801), who appear in the autobiographies of virtually all the region’s scholars[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-18-147064187). The former promoted historical writing, and, in 1765, built a mosque bearing his name, which attracted many students. His son became the imam of Kong and, according to later accounts, _**"brought his brothers to stay there, and then the 'ulama gathered around him to learn from him, and the news spread to other places, and the people of Bonduku and Wala came to him, and the people of the land of Ghayagha and also Banda came to study with him."**_[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-19-147064187)
Descendants of Mustafa Saganogo, who included Seydou and Ibrahim Saganogo, were invited to Bobo-Dioulasso by its Watara rulers to serve as advisors. They arrived in 1764 and established themselves in the oldest quarters of the city where they constructed mosques, of which they were the first imams. Around 1840, a section of scholars from Bobo-Dioulasso led by Bassaraba Saganogo, the grandson of the abovementioned brothers, established another town 15 km south at Darsalamy (Dār as-Salām).[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-20-147064187)
The Saganogo teachers were also associated with several well-connected merchant-scholars with the patronymic of Watara who gained prominence across the region, between the cities of Kong, Bonduku, and Buna.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-21-147064187)
Among these were the gold-trading family of five brothers, including; Karamo Sa Watara, who was the eldest of the brothers and did business in the Hausaland and Bornu; Abd aI-Rahman, who was married to the daughter of Soma Ali Watara of Nzan; Idris, who lived at Ja in Massina; Mahmud who lived in Buna and was married to a local ruler. Karamo's son, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, who provided a record of his family’s activities, later became a prominent scholar in Buna where he studied with his cousin Kotoko Watara who later became ruler of Nzan. The head of the Buna school was Abdallah b. al-Hajj Muhammad Watara, himself a student of Mustafa Saganogo. Buna was a renowned center of learning attracting students from as far as Futa Jallon (in modern Guinea), and the explorer Heinrich Barth heard of it as _**"a place of great celebrity for its learning and its schools."**_[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-22-147064187)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sP6Y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdce8f2a7-68f1-442e-99c9-0ec969bb45c4_982x480.png)
_**An important marabout (teacher/scholar) in Kong, ca. 1920, Quai Branly. Neighborhood mosque in Kong**_, ca. 1892, ANOM.
**The states of Kong during the 19th century**
In the later period, the Dyula scholars would come to play an even more central political role in both Kong and Bobo, at the expense of the warrior elites.
When the traveler Louis Binger visited Kong in 1888, he noted that the ‘king’ of the city was Soukoulou Mori, but that real power lay with Karamoko Oule, a prominent merchant-scholar, as well as the imam Mustafa Saganogo, who he likened to a minister of public education because he managed many schools. He estimated the city’s population at around 15,000, and referred to its inhabitants’ religious tolerance —characteristic of the Dyula— especially highlighting their _**"instinctive horror of war, which they consider dishonorable unless in defense of their territorial integrity."**_ He described how merchant scholars proselytized by forming alliances with local rulers after which they'd open schools and invite students to study.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-23-147064187)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E4iw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F38d9ea57-a867-44f3-aa8e-902d80869c13_760x533.jpeg)
_**Arrival in Kong**_ by Louis-Gustave Binger, ca. 1892
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yJ4n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc9cb7c7-297c-4007-84e3-2da91060aa2b_349x428.png)
_**copy of the safe conduct issued to Binger by the notables of Kong**_, ca. 1892, British Library.
The main Watara houses largely kept to themselves, but would occasionally form alliances which later broke up during periods of extended conflict. The most dramatic instance of the shattering of old alliances occurred in the last decade of the 19th century when [the expansion of Samori Ture’s empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the) coincided with the advance of the French colonial forces.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-24-147064187) Samori Ture reached this region in 1885 and was initially welcomed by the Dyula of Kong who also sent letters to their peers in Buna and Bonduku, informing them that Samori didn't wish to attack them. However, relations between the Dyula and Samori later deteriorated and he sacked Buna in late 1896.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-25-147064187)
In May of 1897, the armies of Samori marched against Kong, which he suspected of entering into collusion with his enemy; Babemba of Sikasso, by supplying the latter with horses and trade goods. Samori sacked Kong and pursued its rulers upto Bobo, with many of Kong's inhabitants fleeing to the town of Kotedugu whose Watara ruler was Pentyeba.
Hoping to stall Samori's advance, Pentyeba allied with the French, who then seized Bobo from one of Samori's garrisons. They later occupied Kong in 1898, and after briefly restoring the Watara rulers, they ultimately abolished the kingdom by 1915, marking the end of its history.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-26-147064187)
The historical legacy of Kong is preserved in the distinctive architectural style and intellectual traditions of modern Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire, whose diverse communities of Watara elites and Dyula merchants represent the southernmost cultural expansion of Medieval Mali.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EGJG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F50ee0416-f4ce-4fbf-80bb-3b401759a828_1000x646.jpeg)
_Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso._
**The kingdom of Bamum created West Africa’s largest corpus of Graphics Art during the early 20th century, which included detailed maps of the kingdom and capital, drawings of historical events and fables, images of the kingdom's architecture, and illustrations depicting artisans, royals, and daily life in the kingdom.**
**Please subscribe to read about the Art of Bamum in this article where I explore more than 30 drawings preserved in various museums and private collections.**
[THEMES IN WEST AFRICAN ART OF BAMUM](https://www.patreon.com/posts/108431007)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y6M4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F994a859c-4aea-4dc0-a328-98607403b9e3_678x836.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-1-147064187)
'From the Best Authorities': The Mountains of Kong in the Cartography of West Africa by Thomas J. Bassett, Philip W. Porter
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-2-147064187)
The character's creator read many European travel accounts of Africa, traveled to the region around Gabon, was fascinated with African wildlife, and drew on 19th-century Western images of Africa and colonial-era films set in Belgian Congo to create the character. Biographers suggest that the name 'Kong' may have been derived from the kingdom of Kongo, although it is more likely that the legendary mountains of Kong which were arguably better known, and were said to have snow-covered peaks, forested slopes, and gold-rich valleys, provide a better allegory for King Kong's 'skull island' than the low lying coastal kingdom of Kongo.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-3-147064187)
Rural and Urban Islam in West Africa by Nehemia Levtzion, Humphrey J. Fisher pg 98-99, Islam on both Sides: Religion and Locality in Western Burkina Faso by Katja Werthmann pg 129)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-4-147064187)
Les états de Kong (Côte d'Ivoire) By Louis Tauxier, Edmond Bernus pg 23-27)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-5-147064187)
Rural and Urban Islam in West Africa by Nehemia Levtzion, Humphrey J. Fisher pg 104-106, The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa by Mahir Şaul pg 545)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-6-147064187)
Les états de Kong (Côte d'Ivoire) By Louis Tauxier, Edmond Bernus pg22, 39-41)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-7-147064187)
Unesco general history of Africa vol 5 pg 358, The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa by Mahir Şaul pg 549-551)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-8-147064187)
The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa by Mahir Şaul pg 550-551
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-9-147064187)
The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa by Mahir Şaul pg 557-561, 566)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-10-147064187)
Les états de Kong (Côte d'Ivoire) By Louis Tauxier, Edmond Bernus pg 64-69)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-11-147064187)
The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa by Mahir Şaul pg 562-564)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-12-147064187)
The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa by Mahir Şaul pg 565)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-13-147064187)
Rural and Urban Islam in West Africa by Nehemia Levtzion, Humphrey J. Fisher pg 106-8)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-14-147064187)
Arabic Literature of Africa: The writings of Western Sudanic Africa, Volume 4; by John O.. Hunwick pg 539-541
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-15-147064187)
Architecture, Islam, and Identity in West Africa: Lessons from Larabanga By Michelle Apotsos pg 75-78
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-16-147064187)
Rural and Urban Islam in West Africa by Nehemia Levtzion, Humphrey J. Fisher pg 109-115, The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 101)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-17-147064187)
Arabic Literature of Africa: The writings of Western Sudanic Africa, Volume 4; by John O.. Hunwick pg 550-551.
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-18-147064187)
Wa and the Wala: Islam and Polity in Northwestern Ghana by Ivor Wilks pg 97-100.
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-19-147064187)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 102)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-20-147064187)
Islam on both Sides: Religion and Locality in Western Burkina Faso by Katja Werthmann pg 128-136
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-21-147064187)
Arabic Literature of Africa: The writings of Western Sudanic Africa, Volume 4; by John O.. Hunwick pg 570-571
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-22-147064187)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 103-104)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-23-147064187)
Literacy in Traditional Societies edited by Jack Goody pg 190-193, The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 107)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-24-147064187)
The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa by Mahir Şaul pg 564)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-25-147064187)
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Nehemia Levtzion, Randall L. Pouwels pg 107-108, Les états de Kong (Côte d'Ivoire) By Louis Tauxier, Edmond Bernus pg 73-74)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a#footnote-anchor-26-147064187)
Les états de Kong (Côte d'Ivoire) By Louis Tauxier, Edmond Bernus pg 75-83, The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa by Mahir Şaul pg 569-570)
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!La9g!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6aaf171a-ac39-44c8-862e-1e2a5b68d723_1303x582.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tYZ-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fcd240f-6fb8-4334-8bcb-54ea505bd423_815x533.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-kong-ca-1710-1915-a
|
a brief note on themes in African art. - by isaac Samuel
===============
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a brief note on themes in African art.
======================================
### Cartography, Culture and History in the artwork of the Bamum kingdom.
[](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Jul 21, 2024
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Sometime in the early 14th century, a skilled smith in the West African kingdom of Ife sculpted an image of a King's face into a mask of pure copper.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-themes-in-african#footnote-1-146842774) With its idealized features and naturalistic proportions, the copper mask of King Obalufon of Ife is considered one of the finest pieces of African art and is today one of many examples of African self-representation that informs our image of the continent's past.
The rich heritage of African art represents a comprehensive visual document of the history of its many societies, each with its unique aesthetics and deep-rooted symbolism. The various art traditions that emerged across the continent —such as the famous [brass plaques of Benin](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/from-an-african-artistic-monument), the [sculptural art of the Kuba kingdom](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-art-of-power-in-central-africa), and the [intricately carved ivories of Loango](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-loango-kingdom-ca1500)— include specific themes that expressed African concepts of power and religion, as well as depicting daily life in African societies.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ecm0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a86ee6b-16ce-4318-a4b0-5f1fcef1185d_1351x639.png)
_**copper mask of King Obalufon Alaiyemore and crowned heads from the Wunmonije site of Ife. early 14th century. NCMM, Lagos, and British Museum.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qPpn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F598d4084-42d7-431c-ad6d-c093871a21a0_1306x345.png)
_**carved ivory tusk depicting scenes of daily life, late 19th century, Loango Kingdom, Gabon. British Museum**_
While sculptural art features prominently in most African art traditions, several societies also produced painted artworks and drawings on different mediums including on walls, cloth, paper, wood, and pottery. [African paintings and drawings](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-paintings-manuscript-illuminations) primarily consist of mural paintings in buildings and tombs, paintings on canvas and panels, as well as illuminated manuscripts decorated with miniature illustrations and intricate designs.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uGZm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb9828d0a-a42c-4aad-abc2-49176ad997a1_1200x862.png)
_**Ethiopian painting of "The Last Supper", tempera on linen, 18th century, Virginia museum of Fine Arts.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!db3g!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7473f9ae-0c54-430c-a6a9-49ff9a503520_1222x537.png)
_**Swahili Qur’an, late 18th to early 19th century, Siyu, Kenya. Fowler Museum.**_
Many of the oldest forms of African paintings and drawings come from the regions of [ancient Nubia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/self-representation-in-african-art) and Ethiopia, which produced a vast corpus of murals, canvas and panel paintings, and miniature artwork in manuscripts. However, the production of illuminated manuscripts was more widespread with several examples from East Africa's Swahili coast and most parts of West Africa.
In the West African kingdom of Bamum, the reign of its progressive king Njoya (1887-1933) was the height of the kingdom’s artistic production and innovation that resulted in the creation of some of Africa's most celebrated artworks. The highly skilled artists of Bamum produced maps of their kingdom and capital, drawings of historical events and fables, images of the kingdom's architecture, and illustrations depicting artisans, royals, and daily life in the kingdom.
**The artworks of the kingdom of Bamum are the subject of my latest Patreon article,**
**Please subscribe to read about them in this article where I explore more than 30 drawings preserved in various museums and private collections.**
[THEMES IN WEST AFRICAN ART OF BAMUM](https://www.patreon.com/posts/108431007)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y6M4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F994a859c-4aea-4dc0-a328-98607403b9e3_678x836.png)
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[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1zwq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a8940ae-8ca3-47ec-b321-24fc1d66eef9_787x573.jpeg)
_**The Flight into Egypt, Bamileke artist, early 20th century, Quai Branly Museum.**_
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[Ancient Ife and its masterpieces of African art: transforming glass, copper and terracotta into sculptural symbols of power and ritual --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/ancient-ife-and-its-masterpieces)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/profile/44604452-isaac-samuel)
·
January 16, 2022
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/ancient-ife-and-its-masterpieces)
The art of the ancient city of Ife has since its "discovery" in the 19th century, occupied a special position in the corpus of African and global artworks; the sublime beauty, remarkable expressiveness, elegant portraiture, life-size proportions, sheer volume and sophistication of the Ife collection which included many naturalist (realistic) works was…
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[Jul 21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-themes-in-african/comment/62769250 "Jul 21, 2024, 2:15 PM")
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The Ethiopian depiction of Jesus is very interesting. Probably not far from what he really looked like
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-themes-in-african
|
Located in northeastern Mali along the bend of the Niger River, the old city of Gao was the first urban settlement in West Africa to appear in external accounts as the capital of a large kingdom which rivaled the Ghana empire.
For many centuries, the city of Gao commanded a strategic position within the complex political and cultural landscape of West Africa, as a cosmopolitan center populated by a diverse collection of merchants, scholars, and warrior-elites from across the region. The city served as the capital of the medieval kingdom of Gao from the 9th to the 13th century and re-emerged as the imperial capital of Songhay during the 16th century, before its later decline.
This article explores the history of Gao from the 8th to the 19th century, focusing on the political history of the ancient West african capital.
_**Map of west Africa’s empires showing the location of Gao[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-1-146576105)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7b-e!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffd9c3a07-5184-436b-944d-f3801131b2ed_683x536.png)
**The early history of Gao and its kingdom: 8th century to 13th century.**
The eastern arc of the Niger River in modern Mali, which extends from Timbuktu to Gao to Bentiya (see map above), has been home to many sedentary iron age communities since the start of the Common Era. The material culture of the early settlements found at Tombouze near Timbuktu and Koima near Gao indicate that the region was settled by small communities of agro-pastoralists between 100-650CE, while surveys at the sites around Bentiya have revealed a similar settlement sequence.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-2-146576105)
Settlements at Gao appear in the documentary and archeological record about the same time in the 8th century. The first external writer to provide some information on Gao was the Abbasid geographer Al-Yaqubi in 872, who described the kingdom of Gao as the _**"greatest of the reals of the Sudan**_[west Africa]_**, the most important and powerful. All the kingdoms obey their king. Kawkaw**_[Gao] _**is the name of the town. Besides this there are a number of kingdoms whose rulers pay allegiance to him and acknowledge his sovereignty, although they are kings in their own lands**_.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-3-146576105)
About a century later, Gao appears in the work of the Fatimid Geographer Al-Muhallabi (d. 990) who writes:_**“KawKaw is the name of a people and country in the Sudan …**_ _**their king pretends before his subjects to be a Muslim and most of them pretend to be Muslims too."**_ He adds that the King's royal town was located on the western bank of the river, while the merchant town called Sarnāh was on the eastern bank. He also mentions that the King's subjects were Muslims, had horses and their wealth included livestock and salt.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-4-146576105)
Excavations undertaken within and near the modern city of Gao by the archeologists Timothy Insoll[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-5-146576105) and Mamadou Cissé at the sites of Gao Ancien and Gao Saney during the 1990s and early 2000s uncovered the remains of many structures including two large buildings and several residential structures at both sites built with brick and stone, as well as elite cemeteries containing over a hundred inscribed stele dating from the late 11th to the mid-14th century. Additionally, a substantial quantity of materials including pottery, and iron, objects of copper and gold with their associated crucibles, and a cache of ivory.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-6-146576105)
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_**remains of the ‘Long house’ and the ‘Pillar house’ Gao Ancien**_. The latter was initially thought to be a mosque, but it has no _mirhab_, which may indicate that it was an elite residence/palace like the former.
The bulk of the pottery recovered from excavations at Gao is part of a broader stylistic tradition called the _Niger Bend Eastern Polychrome zone_, which extends from Timbuktu to Gao to Bentiya, and is associated with Songhay speakers.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-7-146576105) Radiocarbon dates obtained from Gao-Saney and Gao Ancien indicate that the sites were occupied between 700-1100 CE with the largest building complexes being constructed between the 9th and 10th centuries, especially the ‘pillar house’ Gao-Ancien that is dated to between 900-1000 CE.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-8-146576105)
The relative abundance of imported items at Gao (mostly glass beads, a few earthen lamps, fragments of glass vessels, and window-glass) as well as export items like gold and ivory, indicates that the city had established long-distance trade contacts with the Saharan town of Essouk-Tadmekka in the north[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-9-146576105), which was itself connected to the city of Tahert in Algeria which was dominated by Ibadi merchants[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-10-146576105). Many inscribed stele were also discovered at Gao Saney and Gao Ancien, most of which are dated to between the late 11th and mid-14th century and mention the names of several Kings and Queen-regnants who ruled the kingdom.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CcfS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F921ab51e-d10c-4452-a295-26455bd29358_1129x553.png)
12th-century funerary stela from Gao-Saney[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-11-146576105), a Commemorative stele for a Queen ‘M.s.r’ dated 1119[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-12-146576105), and a funerary inscription from Bentiya.
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_Stele from Gao of a woman named W.y.b.y. daughter of K.y.b.w, and another of a woman named K.rä daughter Adam_. Moraes Farias suggests that her name was Waybiya (or Weybuy) daughter of Kaybu, and the second was Kara or Kiray, all of which are associated with Songhai names, titles, and honorifs, including those used by the daughters of the Askiyas who appear in the 17th century Timbuktu chronicles (Tarikh al-Sudan, and Tarikh al-Fattash).[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-13-146576105)
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Before the recent archeological digs provided accurate radiocarbon dates for the establishment of Gao Saney and Ancien, earlier estimates were derived from the inscribed stele of both sites. Based on these, the historians Dierk Lange and John Hunwick proposed two separate origins for the rulers of Gao, by matching the names appearing on the stele with the kinglist of the enigmatic 'Za'/'Zuwa' dynasty that appears in the 17th century Timbuktu chronicles. Lange argued Gao’s rulers were Mande-speakers before they were displaced by the Songhay in the 15th century, while Hunwick argued that they were predominantly Songhay-speakers from the Bentiya-Kukiya region who founded Gao to control trade with the north and, save for a brief irruption of Ibadi-berbers allied with the Almoravids at Gao-Saney in the late 11th century, continued to rule until the end of the Songhai empire.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-14-146576105)
However, most of these claims are largely conjectural and have since been contradicted by recent research. The names of the rulers (titled: _Muluk_ for Kings or _Malika_ for Queens) inscribed on the stele don't include easily recognizable ethnonyms (such as _nisba_ s) that can be ascribed to particular groups, and their continued production across four centuries across multiple sites (_Gao-Saney from 1042 to 1299; Gao Ancien from 1130 to 1364; Bentiya from 1182 to 1489_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-15-146576105)) suggests that such attributions may be simplistic. The historian Moraes Farias, who has analyzed all of the stele of the Gao and the Niger Bend region in greater detail[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-16-146576105), argues the rulers of the kingdom inaugurated a new system of government where kingship was circulated among several powerful groups in the area, and that the capital of Gao may have shifted multiple times.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-17-146576105)
Furthermore, the archeological record from Gao-Saney in particular contradicts the claim of a Berber irruption during the late 11th century, as the site significantly predates the Almoravid period (ca. 1062–1150), having flourished in the 9th-10th century. Additionally, the pottery found at Gao Saney was different from the Berber site of Essouk-Tadmekka and North African sites, (and also the Mande site of Jenne-Jeno) but was similar to that found in the predominantly Songhay regions of the Niger Bend from Bentiya to Timbuktu, and is stylistically homogenous throughout the entire occupation period of both Gao Saney and Gao Ancien, thus providing strong evidence that the city's inhabitants were mostly local in origin.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-18-146576105)
While the archeological record at the twin settlements of Gao ends at the turn of the 11th century, the city of Gao and its surrounding kingdom continue to appear in the historical record, perhaps indicating that there are other sites yet to be discovered within its vicinity (as suggested by many archeologists). The Andalusian geographer Al-Bakri, writing in 1068, describes Gao as consisting of two towns ruled by a Muslim king whose subjects weren't Muslim. He adds that _**"the people of the region of Kawkaw trade with Salt which serves as their currency"**_ which he mentions is obtained from Tadmekka.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-19-146576105)
A later account by al-Zuhri (d. 1154) indicates that the Ghana empire had extended as far as Tadmekka, in an apparent alliance with the Almoravids, but he says little about Gao[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-20-146576105). The account of al-Idrisi from 1154 notes that the _**"town of Kawkaw is large and is widely famed in the land of the Sudan"**_. Adding that its king is _**"an independent ruler, who has the sermon at the Friday communal prayers delivered in his own name. He has many servants and a large retinue, captains, soldiers, excellent apparel and beautiful ornaments." His warriors ride horses and camels; they are brave and superior in might to all the nations who are their neighbours around their land.**_[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-21-146576105)
**Gao under the Mali empire: 14th to 15th century**
During the mid-13th century, the kingdoms of Gao (as well as Ghana and Tadmekka) were gradually subsumed under the Mali empire. According to Ibn Khaldun, Mansa Sakura (who went on pilgrimage between 1299-1309) _**"conquered the land of Kawkaw and brought it within the rule of the people of Mali."**_[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-22-146576105)
This process likely involved the retention of local rulers under a Mali governor, as was the case for most provinces across the empire. According to the Timbuktu chronicles, the rulers of Gao revolted under the leadership of Ali Kulun around the 14th century. Ali Kulun is credited in some accounts with founding the Sunni dynasty of Songhay, while others indicate that the Sunni dynasty were deputies of Mali at Bentiya.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-23-146576105) Interestingly, the title of Askiya appeared at Gao as early as 1234 CE, instead of the title of Sunni, showing that some information about early Gao wasn’t readily available to the chroniclers of the Tarikhs.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-24-146576105)
However, the hegemony of the empire of Mali in the Gao Region would continue well into the 1430s, as indicated by Mansa Musa's sojourning in the city upon his return from his famous pilgrimage of 1324. The Tarikh al-Sudan adds that Mansa Musa built a mosque in Gao, _**"which is still there to this day"**_[ie: in 1655], something that is frequently recalled in Gao’s oral traditions and was once wrongly thought to be the ruined building found at Gao-Ancien.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-25-146576105)
When the globetrotter Ibn Batuta visited Gao in 1353, he mentioned that it was _**"one of the most beautiful, biggest and richest towns of Sudan, and the best supplied with provisions. Its inhabitants transact business, buying and selling, with cowries, as do the people of Mali"**_ He adds that Mali’s hegemony extended a certain distance downstream from Gao, to a place called Mūlī, which may have been the name for Bentiya and a diasporic settlement of Mande elites and merchants. [26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-26-146576105)
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_**Gao on the long-distance trade routes**_, map by Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias
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_**astronomical manuscript titled "Kitâb fî al-Falak" (on the knowledge of the stars)**_, ca. 1731, Gao, Mamma Haidara Library, Mali.
**Gao as the imperial capital of Songhai from the 15th-16th century**
Mali withdrew from the Niger Bend around 1434, and by the mid-15th century, the Suuni dynasty under Sulaymān Dāma had established its independence, his armies occupied Gao and campaigned as far as the Mali heartland of Mema by 1464. His successor, Sunni Ali Ber (r. 1464-1492) established Gao as the capital of his new empire of Songhai but maintained palaces across the region. Sunni Ali was succeeded by Askiya Muhammad, who founded the Askiya dynasty of Songhay and retained the city of Gao as his capital and the location of the most important palace. The city’s population grew as a consequence of its importance to the Askiyas, and it became one of the most important commercial, administrative, and scholarly capitals of 16th-century West Africa.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-27-146576105)
The 1526 account of the maghrebian traveler Leo Africanus, who visited Gao during Askiya Muhammad’s reign noted that it was a _**“very large town"**_ and _**"very civilized compared to Timbuktu"**_, and that the houses of the king and his courtiers were of _**"very fine appearance"**_ in contrast to the rest. He mentions that _**"The king has a special palace”**_ and _**“a sizeable guard of horsemen and foot soldiers**_”, adding that _**"between the public and private gates of his palace there is a large courtyard surrounded by a wall. On each side of this courtyard a loggia serves as an audience chamber. Although the king personally handles all his affairs, he is assisted by numerous functionaries, such as secretaries, counsellors, captains, and stewards.”**_[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-28-146576105)
The various Songhay officers at Gao mentioned by Leo Africanus also appear extensively in the Tarikh al-Sudan, which also mentions that the Askiyas established "special quarters" in the city for specialist craftsmen of Mossi and Fulbe origin, that supplied the palace.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-29-146576105) According to the Tarikh al-Fattash, a ‘census’ of the compound houses in Gao during the reign of Askiya al-Hajj revealed a total of 7,626 such structures and numerous smaller houses. Given that each of these compound houses had about five to ten people, the population of the city's core was between 38,000 and 76,000, not including those living on the outskirts and the itinerant population of merchants, canoemen, soldiers, and other visitors.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-30-146576105)
The city's large population was supplied by an elaborate system of royal estates established by the Askiyas along the Niger River from Dendi (in northern Benin) to Lake Debo (near Timbuktu). The rice and other grains that were cultivated on these estates were transported on large river barges along the Niger to Gao. The Timbuktu chronicles note that as many as 4,000 _sunnu_ (600-750 tons) of grain were sent annually during the 16th century, carried by barges with a capacity of 20 tonnes.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-31-146576105)
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Gao, ca. 1935, ANOM.
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Gao, late 20th century, Quai Branly
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_**Map of Gao in 1951, showing Gao Ancien (broken outline), the old town, and the region of modern settlements (shaded).**_ Map by T. Insoll.
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_**The tomb of the Askiya**_, ca. 1920, ANOM.
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**Gao after the collapse of Songhay: 17th-19th century.**
After the Moroccan invasion of 1591, many of the residents of Gao fled the city by river, taking the over 2,000 barges docked at its river port of Goima to move south to the region of Dendi. _**"none of its [Gao's] inhabitants remained there except the khatib Mahmud Darami, and the scholars, and those merchants who were unable to flee."**_ This group opted to submit to the invaders, who subsequently appointed a puppet sultan named Sulayman son of Askiya Dawud, to ruler over Gao, while they chose Timbuktu as the capital of their Pashalik.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-32-146576105)
Unable to defeat the Askiyas of Dendi as well as the Bambara and Fulbe rulers in the hinterlands of Djenne, the remaining Moroccan soldiers, who were known as the Arma, garrisoned themselves in Djenne, Timbuktu, and Gao and appointed their own Pashas. According to multiple internal accounts, the cities of Timbuktu and Gao went into steep decline during the late 17th to mid-18th century, largely due to the continued attacks by the Tuareg confederations of Tadmekkat and Iwillimidden in the hinterlands of the cities, which drove away merchant traffic and scholars. After several raids, Gao was occupied by the Iwillimidden in 1770, who later occupied Timbuktu in 1787, deposed the Arma, and abolished the Pashalik.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-33-146576105)
Multiple accounts from the early 19th century indicate that Timbuktu and its surrounding hinterland were conquered by the Bambara empire of Segu around 1800, before the power was passed on to the Massina empire of Hamdullahi.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-34-146576105) However, few of the accounts describe the situation in Gao, which seems to have been largely neglected and doesn’t appear in internal accounts of the period.
It wasn't until the visit of the explorer Heinrich Barth in 1853 that Gao reappeared in historical records. However, the city was by then only a _**"desolate abode"**_ with a small population, a situation which he often contrasted to its much grander status as the _**“ancient capital of Songhay”**_. Barth makes note of the mosque and mausoleum of the Askiya, where he set up his camp next to some tent houses, he also describes Gao's old ruins and estimates that the old city had a circumference of 6 miles but its section was by then largely overgrown save for the homes of the estimated 7,000 inhabitants including the tent-houses of the Tuareg.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-35-146576105)
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Barth’s illustration of the Askiya’s tomb on the outskirts of Gao in 1854 as viewed from his camp next to the Tuareg tent-houses, and a photo from 1934 (ETH Zurich) showing the same tomb as seen from the Tuareg tents.
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_**Section of Gao showing the Tuareg tents within walled compounds.**_ ETH Zurich, 1934.
Barth notes that the Songhay residents of Gao and its hinterlands comprised a _**“district”**_ (ie: small kingdom) called “_**Abuba”,**_ that had _**"lost almost all their national independence, and are constantly exposed to all sorts of contributions"**_. According to local traditions collected a century later, the reigning _arma_ of Gao (title: _**Gao Alkaydo**_) at the time was Abuba son of Alkaydo Amatu, who gave the kingdom its name. This indicates that Gao was still under the rule of the local Arma, who were independent of the then-defunct pashalik of Timbuktu, and were culturally indistinguishable from their subjects after centuries of intermarriage. These few Arma elites continued to collect taxes from the Songhay and itinerant merchants throughout the late 19th century, despite the presence of the more numerous Iwellemmedan-Tuareg on the city's outskirts.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-36-146576105)
Gao was later occupied by the French in 1898, marking the start of its modern history[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-37-146576105), and it is today one of Mali’s largest cities.
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_Gao in 1920, ANOM; 1934, ETH-Zurich._
**Beginning in the 12th century, diplomatic links established between the kingdoms of West Africa and the Maghreb created a shared cultural space that facilitated the travel of West African envoys, merchants, and scholars to the cities of the Maghreb Marrakesh to Tripoli.**
**READ more about West Africa's links with the Maghreb on the AfricanHistoryExtra Patreon account:**
[LINKS BETWEEN WEST AFRICA & MAGHREB](https://www.patreon.com/posts/107625792)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cxNO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffef5df1d-15d6-4063-99c7-002f75be5d87_676x1186.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-1-146576105)
Taken from Alisa LaGamma "Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-2-146576105)
Excavations at Gao Saney: New Evidence for Settlement Growth, Trade, and Interaction on the Niger Bend in the First Millennium CE by Mamadou Cissé, Susan Keech McIntosh pg 31, Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse pg 43-44, Bentyia (Kukyia): a Songhay–Mande meeting point, and a “missing link” in the archaeology of the West African diasporas of traders, warriors, praise-singers, and clerics by Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias prg 32-34
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-3-146576105)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 2)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-4-146576105)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 8)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-5-146576105)
Islam, Archaeology and History: Gao Region (Mali) ca. AD 900 - 1250 by Timothy Insoll
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-6-146576105)
Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse pg 47-57, 108, 120-138, 268-269)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-7-146576105)
Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse pg 63-265-267)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-8-146576105)
Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse pg 140, 270-271, Discovery of the earliest royal palace in Gao and its implications for the history of West Africa by Shoichiro Takezawa pg 10-11, 15-16)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-9-146576105)
Essouk - Tadmekka: An Early Islamic Trans-Saharan Market Town pg 273-280
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-10-146576105)
Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse pg 22, 276-277)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-11-146576105)
Exposition al-Sahili by Musée National du Mali, 15-20 th March 2023.
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-12-146576105)
Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara by Alisa. LaGamma pg 122
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-13-146576105)
Urbanism, Archaeology and Trade: Further Observations on the Gao Region (Mali), the 1996 Fieldseason Results by Timothy Insoll, Dorian Q. Fuller pg 156-159)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-14-146576105)
Excavations at Gao Saney: New Evidence for Settlement Growth, Trade, and Interaction on the Niger Bend in the First Millennium CE by Mamadou Cissé, Susan Keech McIntosh pg 12,
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-15-146576105)
Essouk - Tadmekka: An Early Islamic Trans-Saharan Market Town pg 42, n.2
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-16-146576105)
Arabic Medieval Inscriptions from the Republic of Mali: Epigraphy, Chronicles and Songhay-Tuareg History by P. F. de Moraes Farias
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-17-146576105)
Excavations at Gao Saney: New Evidence for Settlement Growth, Trade, and Interaction on the Niger Bend in the First Millennium CE by Mamadou Cissé, Susan Keech McIntosh pg 12)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-18-146576105)
Archaeological Investigations of Early Trade and Urbanism at Gao Saney by M. Cisse pg 31, 41, 265, Islam, Archaeology and History: Gao Region (Mali) ca. AD 900 - 1250 by Timothy Insoll pg 46-47, Excavations at Gao Saney: New Evidence for Settlement Growth, Trade, and Interaction on the Niger Bend in the First Millennium CE by Mamadou Cissé, Susan Keech McIntosh pg 19-24, 30-32, for pottery from Essuk, see: Essouk - Tadmekka: An Early Islamic Trans-Saharan Market Town pg 144-148
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-19-146576105)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 22)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-20-146576105)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 25-26
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-21-146576105)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 35)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-22-146576105)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 94)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-23-146576105)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg xxxvii, Bentyia (Kukyia): a Songhay–Mande meeting point, and a “missing link” in the archaeology of the West African diasporas of traders, warriors, praise-singers, and clerics by Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias prg 84-87
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-24-146576105)
The Meanings of Timbuktu by Shamil Jeppie,pg 101-102
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-25-146576105)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg 10)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-26-146576105)
The Travels of Ibn Battuta, AD 1325–1354: Volume IV by H.A.R. Gibb, C.F. Beckingham pg 971, Bentyia (Kukyia): a Songhay–Mande meeting point, and a “missing link” in the archaeology of the West African diasporas of traders, warriors, praise-singers, and clerics by Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias prg 69-70
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-27-146576105)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg xxxviii
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-28-146576105)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg 283 )
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-29-146576105)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg 147-148)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-30-146576105)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg xlix)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-31-146576105)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg pg l-li)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-32-146576105)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents by John O. Hunwick pg 190-191, 202)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-33-146576105)
The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 4 pg 168-170)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-34-146576105)
The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 4 pg 178)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-35-146576105)
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa By Heinrich Barth, Vol. 5, London: 1858, pg 215-223)
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-36-146576105)
Les Touaregs Iwellemmedan, 1647-1896 : un ensemble politique de la boucle du Niger · C. Grémont pg 337-346)
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city#footnote-anchor-37-146576105)
Saharan Frontiers: Space and Mobility in Northwest Africa edited by James McDougall, Judith Scheele pg 137
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-the-old-city
|
In 1415, an embassy from the Swahili city of Malindi on the coast of Kenya carried with them a giraffe as a present to the Chinese emperor Yongle. The majestic creature, which was transported along with the Malindi envoys on the ships of admiral Zheng He, caused a sensation at the imperial capital Nanjing where it was thought to be a unicorn.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-long-history#footnote-1-146364510)
About a decade prior in 1402, an Ethiopian embassy arrived at the floating city of Venice after a lengthy journey overland through Egypt and across the Mediterranean. Dressed in monastic attire and accompanied by live leopards, the small party gracefully cruised the city's canals as onlookers wondered whether they had come from the land of the semi-legendary king Prester John.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-long-history#footnote-2-146364510)
The history of Africa's engagement with the rest of the world is often framed in the context of imperial expansion and warfare, rather than the much older and more long-standing tradition of international diplomacy. While the practice of bringing exotic animals on diplomatic tours was quite rare, the dispatch of envoys by African states was a fairly common practice across the continent’s long history.
Many of my previous articles on Africa's historical links to the rest of the old world often include the activities of African envoys in distant lands. Such as the embassies from ancient [Kush and Aksum in the Roman world](https://newlinesmag.com/essays/did-europeans-discover-africa-or-the-other-way-around/), the [embassies of the Swahili city-states to China](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80113224?pr=true) during the late Middle Ages, and the [embassies of the kingdoms of Kongo and Ndongo to Spain and the Netherlands](https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-kongo-and-85683552) during the early modern period.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gAYx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56d580ea-7e27-4cf9-9d18-52f9e19f4a6d_998x584.png)
_**Portrait of Dom Miguel de Castro, Emissary of the Kongo kingdom**_, 1643, National Gallery of Denmark. _**Tribute giraffe with attendant**_,_**Ming Dynasty, Yongle Period**_ (1403-1424), Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The institution of diplomacy in Africa was a product of centuries of internal developments in its kingdoms and other complex societies. [The case study of the kingdom of Asante's diplomatic activities within West Africa and abroad](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/constructing-peace-in-a-pre-colonial) shows how its rulers' extensive foreign interests were incorporated into the complex bureaucracy of the kingdom with official diplomats, messengers, and non-official envoys. Asante’s ambassadors were provided with official attire and insignia, and were often accompanied by a large retinue whose gifts and expenses were paid for by the state.
The frequency of Africa's diplomatic activities reveals the antiquity and scale of the development of the continent's institutions, which enabled many of its societies to establish and maintain peaceful relations in order to facilitate the movement of ideas, goods, and travelers in various capacities.
This is most evident in the historical links between the kingdoms of West Africa and the Maghreb (north Africa), whose capitals were frequented by West African envoys since the 13th century. The intra-African diplomatic activities of these envoys provide further proof against the colonial myth of the separation of "sub-Saharan" Africa, by situating the political history of West Africa and the Maghreb within the same geographic and cultural space.
**The history of West Africa's links with the Maghreb is the subject of my latest Patreon article, please subscribe to read about it here:**
[LINKS BETWEEN WEST AFRICA & MAGHREB](https://www.patreon.com/posts/107625792)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cxNO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffef5df1d-15d6-4063-99c7-002f75be5d87_676x1186.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YS0d!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6df9264-523c-4a24-8cf6-256f8afe5b53_1127x542.jpeg)
_**bas-relief showing the arrival of the Ethiopian and (Coptic) Egyptian delegations in Rome in October 1441**_, ("Porta del Filarete" at the St. Peter's Basilica, Italy c.1445)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Eib6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0c01d5b4-5e5a-4330-9f9e-80f00ab982f1_767x1000.png)
**Portrait of Matheo Lopez, Ambassador of the kingdom of Allada to France in 1670.**
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-long-history#footnote-anchor-1-146364510)
A History of Overseas Chinese in Africa to 1911 by Anshan Li pg 43-46, China and East Africa by Chapurukha M. Kusimba pg 53-54.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-long-history#footnote-anchor-2-146364510)
The African Prester John and the Birth of Ethiopian-European Relations, 1402-1555 by Matteo Salvadore pg 24-33.
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gAYx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56d580ea-7e27-4cf9-9d18-52f9e19f4a6d_998x584.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Eib6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0c01d5b4-5e5a-4330-9f9e-80f00ab982f1_767x1000.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-long-history
|
The political marginalization of the Darfur region since the creation of colonial Sudan has resulted in one of the continent's longest-standing conflicts, which threatens to destroy the country's social fabric and its historical heritage.
Just as the plight of modern Darfur continues to receive little attention, its historical significance in shaping the political landscape of pre-colonial Sudan is equally overlooked. The modern region of Darfur derives its name from the pre-colonial kingdom/sultanate of Darfur, a vast multi-ethic state nearly twice the size of France that flourished for over four centuries between the end of medieval Nubia and the establishment of modern Sudan.
As a central authority in the region since the end of the Middle Ages, the kingdom had a direct influence on all facets of life in Darfur's diverse society through the establishment of governance tools and structures, administrative institutions, customs, and traditions that sustained the region's autonomy for centuries.
This article explores the history of the Darfur kingdom, its institutions, and its society before its marginalization during the colonial and post-colonial era.
_**Map of Sudan during the 16th and 18th centuries**_, _**showing the kingdom of Darfur.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-1-146114512)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LSUz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd1da6e34-c0f6-4908-be3c-42a643ea90de_587x511.png)
**Support Sudanese organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country by donating to the community kitchen in Omdurman here:**
[GofundMe Omdurman](https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-sudan-help-us-feed-families-in-omdurman?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer)
**or reach out to [Khartoum Aid Kitchen](https://x.com/KhartoumKitchen), and follow [Mohanad Elbalal](https://x.com/MohanadElbalal) for updates.**
**Background to the rise of Darfur: the kingdoms of Daju and Tunjur**
Between the 10th and 15th centuries, new political formations emerged among the various Nubian-speaking groups in the semi-arid regions to the west of the Christian-Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia, which preceded the formation of the kingdoms of Daju and Tunjur.
The rulers of the Daju were credited with establishing the first dynasty in the region that later became Darfur, according to most traditional accounts transcribed in later periods. Historians suggest that the Daju are likely to be the 'Tajuwa' in the 12th-century account of al-Idrisi, who located their capital of 'Tajawa' between the kingdoms of Nubia and Kanem. Later accounts from the 13th and 15th centuries by Ibn Sai’d and Al-Maqrizi mention that the ‘Tajuwa/Taju were absorbed by the Kanem empire, and identify them as part of the Zaghawa of Kanem ‘who work with stone’. There are a number of ruined sites with stone structures, palaces, and graves eg Dar Wona and Jebel Kilwa, which are attributed to the Daju, but remain undated.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-2-146114512)
At the end of the Middle Ages, societies in the region of modern Darfur became part of a broader cultural and political renaissance under Islamic auspices that extended from the Nile valley to the eastern shores of Lake Chad.
Much of the available documentary and archeological record of this period comes from the Nubian Nile valley which was controlled by the Funj kingdom after the fall of Christian Nubia. a few fragmentary accounts and traditions relate to the Tunjur kingdom that succeeded the Daju, and laid the foundation for the emergence of the early Darfur state. A religious endowment in Medina by the Tunjur monarchs that's dated to 1576 indicates that the Tunjur rulers were Muslims. However, the institution of Islam coexisted with other pre-existing religious traditions, often associated with sacred hilltop sites and agricultural rites.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-3-146114512)
The history of the Tunjur is mostly known from traditions and written accounts about its collapse and the formation of the new kingdoms of the 17th century that replaced it, especially Darfur and Wadai, which claim that the Tunjur reportedly forced their subjects to remove the tops of mountains so that their castles could be constructed there.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-4-146114512)
While this likely exaggerates the Tunjur's coercive power, archeological surveys at the ruined sites of Uri , ‘Ayn Farāh and Dowda have uncovered the remains of these impressive red-brick structures, including palaces, paved roads, cemeteries, and two buildings that could be mosques, that were architecturally similar to elite residences in the Bornu empire, and in the Nile valley. The material culture recovered from these sites was predominantly local in origin, indicating that they were constructed by autochthons, but some of it shares some similarities with that found in the Nubian Nile valley, suggesting contacts between these regions during this period.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-5-146114512)
The 1582 account of the geographer Lorenzo d’Anania indicates that Tunjur was a large state, noting that _**"Uri, a very important city, whose prince is called Nina, or emperor, and who is obeyed by neighbouring countries, namely the kingdom of Aule, Zurla, Sagava [Zaghāwa], Memmi [Mīma], Musulat [Masālīt], Morga, Saccae and Dagio [Daju]. This prince, who is allied to the Turks, is very powerful and is supplied with arms by merchants from Cairo"**_.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-6-146114512)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_wn4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9230e9e9-ca02-4280-9ad7-448fee977287_1212x616.png)
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_**ruins of the 16th century Tunjur capital Ain Fara in DarFur, Sudan, including sections of the mosque, palace, and a reception hall**_. Photos by A. J. Arkell, Peter Verney.
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**The kingdom of Darfur from the 17th to 18th century.**
The era of the Tunjur was shortlived, as traditions recorded in the 19th century describe a shift in power from the Tunjur royals to the Keira royals of the Fur-speaking groups through intermarriage that produced the first Darfur king Daali and involved the activities of a _**fuqara**_ (holy-man/scholar) from the Nubian Nile valley. This description of the change of power from the Tunjur to the Keira condenses a complex history that indicates the existence of a Keira kingdom in Darfur contemporary with the Tunjur between the semi-legendary king Daali and the first historical Darfur sultan Sulayman.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-7-146114512)
The Keira royal lineage originated from the Kunjara section of the Fur people, who controlled a kingdom in the Jabal Marra that recognized the suzerainty of the Tunjur monarchs and was likely linked to it through intermarriage. There are several ruins at the site of Turra, associated by local tradition with a long line of Keira rulers from Daali upto the sultan Muḥammad Tayrāb (d. 1785), including palaces, tombs and mosques. A dynastic split forced some of the Keira royals eastwards to the region of Kordofan where they formed the kingdom of Musabba‘āt. Others fled to the southern kingdom of Masālīt, before one of them, Sulaymān returned to Jabal Marra.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-8-146114512)
Sultan Sulaymān is remembered in the traditions as a warrior and conqueror; in one version he is said to have led thirty-three campaigns, subsuming various neighboring kingdoms including the Masālīt, Oro and Marārīt to the west, the Zaghāwa to the north and the Birged, Beigo and Tunjur to the south and east. While most of the campaigns attributed to him were undertaken by his later successors, there is some documentary evidence for an expansionist Darfur in the late 17th century, particularly in the Kordofan region between Darfur and Funj, where a section of the army was reportedly captured by followers of a faqīh Ḥammad b. Umm Maryūm (1646-1729) before he sent them back as missionaries.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-9-146114512)
Sulayman and his successors reinvigorated the external trade developed by the Tunjur as well as the Islamization of the kingdom's institutions by constructing mosques and inviting scholary families from the Nubian Nile valley and west Africa that were given grants of land and exempted from paying tribute. It’s during this period that Darfur appears in external accounts from 1668 and 1689, with the former account describing _**'the land of the Fohr'**_ (Fur), as the terminus of an important trade route to Egypt, from where ivory, tamarind, captives, and ostrich feathers were obtained. These commodities would continue to feature in the kingdom’s external trade, although they represented a minor fraction of the domestic trade in agro-pastoral economy.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-10-146114512)
Firmer documentary evidence for the kingdom's expansion comes from the reign of Aḥmad Bukr (r. 1682-1722), who, according to accounts transcribed in the 19th century, moved his capital (_**fashir**_) as he campaigned outside Jabal Marra. Aḥmad Bukr conquered the kingdom of Dār Qimr, and formed marital alliances with the various Zaghāwa polities between Darfur and Wadai. This invited retaliation from Sultan Ya‘qūb of Wadai, who invaded Darfur but was later driven back by Aḥmad Bukr's army, which then turned east to campaign in Kordofan where he would later die.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-11-146114512) By the time of Bukr’s death about 1730, the Darfur kingdom extended over 360,000 sqkm, bringing its borders closer to equally powerful kingdoms of Funj and Wadai, whose competition with Darfur would dominate the region's political landscape for the next two centuries.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-12-146114512)
Internal and regional contests for power characterized the reign of Ahmad Bukr’s successors, especially Umar Lel (r. 1732-1739), whose authority was challenged by disgruntled keira royals like his uncle Sulaymān alAbyad. The latter had fled to Kordofan which prompted an attack by Umar Lel, who forced Sulaymān to form an alliance with a group of herders on the Darfur frontier known as the Rizayqāt, who promptly invaded Darfur but were defeated. Umar Lel then attacked Wadai, whose king supported Sulaymān, but the sultan was defeated and imprisoned at the Wadai capital. He was succeeded by Abu’l-Qāsim (r. 1739-1752) who continued the war with Wadai but was abandoned by the nobles and deposed in favor of Muḥammad Tayrāb (r. 1752-1785) who established a fixed capital at El-Fashir, concluded a peace treaty with Wadai and delineated a border between the two kingdoms marked by stone cairns and walls, known as the _**tirja**_ (barrier).[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-13-146114512)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bgDQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F35e963de-6fe8-45cd-9973-18d6d4b536fc_629x449.png)
_**interior of the Jadeed al sail mosque built by Sultan Tayrab in 1760 at Shoba, north of El-Fashir**_[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-14-146114512), photo by Intisar Soghayroun el Zein
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EQoV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99ccb30a-000b-4e11-ac2f-4303087ba71f_1044x432.png)
_**ruins of the Shoba mosque and Sultan Tayrab’s Palace**_. photos by Andrew McGregor
**The administrative structure of Darfur: Politics, Land tenure, Military and Society.**
The political organization of the sultanate evolved as it expanded and as the different sultans and the royal lineage gradually centralized their power at the expense of pre-existing title-holders and lineage heads.
At the head of the kingdom's administration was the Sultan (_**aba kuuri**_) who only came from the Keira royal lineage, and whose installation was often confirmed by the most powerful nobles/titleholders at the capital. Besides the numerous titleholders, the Sultan was also assisted by other royals, most importantly the royal women such as the Queen (_**iiya kuuri**_), the king's sister (_**iiya baasi**_) and traditional religious heads, as well as the chosen heir (khalifa), that were later joined by non-royal dependants who populated the king’s capital at El-Fashir.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-15-146114512)
The sultans were surrounded by a complex and elaborate hierarchy of title-holders numbering several hundred, some of whom were appointed, some hereditary, some territorial, and others were religious figures. These offices, whose titles often included the term _**‘abbo’**_ or _**‘aba’**_, (eg the _**ába ǎw mang**_ and _**ába dima’ng**_) are too many to list here, but some of the most important among the appointed offices included the _**wazīr**_, the _**maqdūms**_ (commissioners), the _**jabbayīn**_ (tribute collectors), the _**takanyāwī**_ (the provincial governor in the north), etc[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-16-146114512).
The basis of administration was the quadrant division into provinces (_**dar al-takanawi**_ in the north, _**dar dali**_ in the east, _**dar urno**_ in the south, and dar diima in the southwest), each under a provincial governor (_**aba diimaŋ**_), sub-governors (_**shartay**_), local chiefs (_**dimlijs**_), and village heads (_**eliŋ wakīl**_), the first three of whom had their own administrative systems, raised armies for the sultan and sent taxes and tribute at the annual _**jalūd al-naḥās**_ festival,[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-17-146114512) According to one 19th century visitor, Gustav Nachitgal, records of taxes and tributes were kept at the Sultan’s palace, along with other government records, and books of laws containing the basic principles of administration[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-18-146114512).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E_L0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf6f9eef-0a50-49bf-bce0-4dec87095f5f_872x594.png)
_**Map of the Darfur kingdom’s administrative divisions**_ by al-Tunusi, redrawn by Rex O’Fahey.
The maghrebian traveler Al-Tūnisī, who lived in Darfur from 1804-1814, and whose account provides much of the documentary record about the kingdom until that date, mentions various small kingdoms on Darfur's frontier, including Mīdawb, Bartī, Birqid, Barqū, Tunjūr, and Mīmah, noting that _**“Each of these kingdoms had a ruler called a sultan appointed by the Fur sultan".**_[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-19-146114512) He also describes how the title-holders were granted, in lieu of salary, estates, out of whose revenues they maintained their soldiers and followers. These estates (ḥākūra) developed out of local systems of land tenure, and would later be expressed in the terminology used in the Islamic heartlands when land charters began to be issued by the Darfur sultans in the 17th century.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-20-146114512)
The control of Land and regulation of its transfer and sale was central to the administration of the kingdom, the rewarding of loyal titleholders, and the integration of foreign scholars. [[This contradicts the often-repeated claims that land was generally considered unimportant in pre-colonial Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/land-and-property-in-pre-colonial)] The ḥākūra system became essential to the maintenance of a privileged class of title-holders, especially at the capital, and the land charters it produced provided the bulk of the surviving documents from pre-colonial Darfur which contain precious information on the kingdom’s official chancery, its legal system and its land tenure. [21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-21-146114512)
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_**land charter of Darfur king Muhammad al-Fadl to a Zaghawa nobleman's family in Darfur**_, [dated 1801](https://x.com/rhaplord/status/1455871301294432256), _**Court transcript of a land dispute**_, [dated 1805](https://x.com/rhaplord/status/1440617999837192204).
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
The basis of Darfur's military strength were the levies (_**jureŋa**_) mobilized by the provincial governors and local chiefs, each under a war leader (_**ɔrnaŋ**_), who provided soldiers with fighting equipment. However, as the kingdom expanded, the Sultans also raised personal armies to reduce their dependence on the title holders, they thus equipped small units of horsemen and infantrymen with imported arms and armor. An account from 1862, reported that the kingdom’s army consisted of about 3,000 cavalry, of whom 600 to 1,000 were heavily armed, and some 70,000 infantry armed with swords, laces and javelins.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-22-146114512)
Besides the many sedentary groups that recognized the sultan's authority, the kingdom was surrounded from the east and south by many groups of mobile herders, including the Fulbe, and the Arab-speaking[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-23-146114512) Messiriya and Rizaigat groups, who were tributaries of the Sultan but not subjects of the kingdom, and often fled south to avoid the armies of Darfur. Tayrāb registered better success in the east, where he defeated the Musabba‘āt king Hashim and brought much of Kordofan under Darfur's control, campaigning as far as Ormdurman.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-24-146114512)
The kingdom reached its apogee during the reign of Abd Abd al-Raḥmān (r1785-1801) and his son, Muḥammad al-Faḍl (r. 1801-1838). These kings ruled over a vast state which now covered approximately 860,000 sqkm, they consolidated their predecessor's gains, and appointed qadis (_**judges**_) and scholars (_**Fuqara**_) as advisors. The kingdom’s domestic economy was largely based on exchanges of agro-pastoral products, textiles, and other crafts between regional markets, as well as larger towns and cities like el-Fashir and Nyala, while its relatively small external trade remained mostly the same as it had been described in the account of 1668 mentioned above.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-25-146114512)
The kingdom hosted many scholarly families from the Funj region and west Africa and became an important stop point along the pilgrimage route from the west African kingdoms of Bornu and Birgimi. As an inducement to settle, the sultans could offer the _**fuqara**_ land through the ḥākūra system or tax exemptions, and some of them, eg Alī al-Fūtūwī eventually became involved in the political contents at the capital.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-26-146114512) While Darfur is a predominantly Muslim society, the adoption of Islam was gradual and varied, as practitioners of the religion continued to co-exist with other traditional belief systems and practices. In his description of Darfur’s society, Al-tunsi often contrasted it with his home country, especially regarding the role of women, noting that _**“the men of Darfur undertake no business without the participation of the women,”**_ and that _**“In all other matters**_[besides war]_**, men and women are equal”**_[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-27-146114512)
The kingdom's external contacts increased, likely as a consequence of its geographic importance in the pilgrimage route from West Africa and the growth of its local scholarly communities that were linked with Egypt. In 1792, the Darfur Sultan ‘Abd al-Raḥmān sent an embassy to the Ottoman sultan, who replied by awarding him the honorific title _al-rashīd_ (‘the just’) which duly appeared on his royal seals. Abd al-Raḥmān also corresponded with the French general Napoleon during the latter’s brief occupation of Egypt.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-28-146114512)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gFIA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53384158-e4a2-40e9-a1d4-02770302bf8c_840x614.png)
_**Letter from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān of Darfur to Selim III,.**_ Cumhurbaşkanliği Osmanli Arşivi, Istanbul _**, Letter from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān of Darfur to the ‘sultan of France’ Napoleon Bonaparte**_. Service historique de la Défense (Vincennes), gr B6 60, cl. M. Tuchscherer.
**Darfur in the 19th century**
During the later half of Muḥammad al-Faḍl's reign, the kingdom lost the province of Kordofan in 1821 to the armies of Muḥammad ‘Alī, the Ottoman governor of Egypt who also invaded the Funj kingdom but failed to expand to Darfur. To the west of the Kingdom, Muḥammad al-Faḍl took advantage of the succession crisis in Wadai by installing one of the rival claimants, Muḥammad al-Sharīf, to claim the throne in exchange for recognizing the suzerainty of Darfur, which was later repudiated. Campaigns against the mobile herders in the north such as the Arab-speaking Maḥāmīd, Mahrīya, ‘Irayqāt, and Zayādīya brought the region under Darfur's control, but campaigns against the herder groups in the south saw limited success.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-29-146114512)
During the second half of the 19th century, the extension of direct trade routes between the Nile valley and the southern frontier of Darfur during the reign of Muhammad al-Husayn (r. 1838–1873), as well as the restriction of firearm sales from Egypt, gradually undercut some of the sources of the long-distance trade to the kingdom, and forced the sultans to raise taxes on their subjects, which proved unpopular. In the 1860s, militant traders like al-Zubayr Raḥma carved out their own empires in the region by building local alliances and raising armies, often acting independently of their overlords in Egypt.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-30-146114512)
The reigning sultan Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn (d. 1873) tried to weaken al-Zubayr's confederation by breaking up some of his alliances, prompting a diplomatic conflict with the latter that devolved into war. After the installation of Sultan al-Husayn's son Ibrāhīm, the armies of al-Zubayr advanced into Darfur and fought several battles with the Sultan's armies between November 1873 and October 1874, before the latter capitulated. Al-Zubayr then entered the capital, where he was joined a few days afterward by Ismā‘īl Pasha, who formally incorporated Darfur into the Khedive empire against al-Zubayr's wishes.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-31-146114512)
Al-Zubayr went to Cairo to protest but was detained by the Khedive’s officers, while the deposed sultans of Darfur retreated into Jabal Marra, where they sought to maintain the Kingdom, with some degree of success. The Ottoman-Egyptians were later expelled by the Mahdist movement in 1881 whose rulers took over much of the Khedive’s territories in modern Sudan, but the Keira sultan ‘Alī Dīnār b. Zakarīya, a son of Sultan Muḥammad al-Faḍl supported the anti-Mahdist forces before he surrendered in 1891 and spent 7 years detained at the court of the Mahdist rulers. After the British invasion of the Mahdist state in September 1898, ‘Alī Dīnār returned to el-Fashir with a group of Fur and other chiefs to Dār Fūr and declared himself sultan.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-32-146114512)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QKLd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0564976a-d479-42f5-9c67-6bf4c78e4fcb_720x419.png)
_**Palace of Ali Dinar at El-Fashir**_, Sudan.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jFB6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c50e16d-38f8-476e-b44d-c363aab069a7_891x573.png)
_**An embassy from Sultan Ali Dinar in Khartoum, capital of British Sudan**_, ca 1907, Quai branly.
The newly established colonial government in Sudan had no immediate wish to annex Dār Fūr, and from 1898 to 1916 ‘Alī Dīnār ruled the sultanate, reviving the old administrative system, constructed a palace, regranted the old titles and ḥākūras, and drove back the Arab nomads who had encroached on the settled land during the chaos of the preceding period. Ali Dinar’s relations with the colonial government deteriorated, mainly over the threat of the French colonial expansion from modern Chad, and in 1916, influenced by the Pan-Islamic propaganda of the Turks and the Sanūsīya in Libya, he declared war on the British. Dār Fūr was invaded by the colonial armies which defeated ‘Ali Dīnār’s army at Birinjīya near al-Fāshir and formally incorporated the kingdom into colonial Sudan.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-33-146114512)
Darfur was largely neglected during the colonial period unlike the riverine regions of Sudan where many of the people of Darfur were compelled to travel for employment and education. This continued into the post-colonial period when the riverine elites inherited the colonial administration and the region’s neglect led to the rise of armed rebellions in the early 2000s.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-34-146114512) The government responded to these rebellions by arming local militias (_janjaweed_) drawn from the Arab-speaking nomads, marking the start of a gruesome war that eventually led to the current conflict.
<< as of writing this article, the old city of [El-Fashir remains the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the region of Darfur](https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/sudan/b198-halting-catastrophic-battle-sudans-el-fasher), despite the brutal siege by the Janjaweed-RSF militia, its defenders consider it too strategically significant to abandon >>
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cOyq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf5394e3-1485-45bc-b790-8148b2aad7aa_1024x768.png)
Ali Dinar’s palace. Like many of Sudan’s historic monuments in populated centers, the old palace is unlikely to have survived the war.
**Support Sudanese organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country by donating to the community kitchen in Omdurman here:**
[GofundMe Omdurman](https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-sudan-help-us-feed-families-in-omdurman?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer)
or reach out to [Khartoum Aid Kitchen](https://x.com/KhartoumKitchen), and follow [Mohanad Elbalal](https://x.com/MohanadElbalal) for updates.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-2-146114512)
The archaeology of Central Darfur (Sudan) in the 1st millennium A.D by Ibrahim Musa Mohammed pg 3-6, The Stone Monuments and Antiquities of the Jebel Marra Region, Darfur, Sudan by Andrew James McGregor pg 34-57
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-3-146114512)
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia By Geoff Emberling, Bruce Williams pg 900-901)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-4-146114512)
The Stone Monuments and Antiquities of the Jebel Marra Region, Darfur, Sudan by Andrew James McGregor pg 67-71, 85-87
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-5-146114512)
The Stone Monuments and Antiquities of the Jebel Marra Region, Darfur, Sudan by Andrew James McGregor pg 95-121, The archaeology of Central Darfur (Sudan) in the 1st millennium A.D by Ibrahim Musa Mohammed pg 199-202
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-6-146114512)
The Stone Monuments and Antiquities of the Jebel Marra Region, Darfur, Sudan by Andrew James McGregor pg 101
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-7-146114512)
Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 275-277, Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg *100-104
[_* these are not the exact page numbers_]
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-8-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 105-107, In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg 73-74
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-9-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 110)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-10-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 109)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-11-146114512)
Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 280-282
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-12-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 113-115)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-13-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 116-120, Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 283-289
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-14-146114512)
The archaeology of Central Darfur (Sudan) in the 1st millennium A.D by Ibrahim Musa Mohammed pg 218
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-15-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 117, 121, 125-127, 133-134, In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg 151, Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 328-329.
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-16-146114512)
In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg 143-145
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-17-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 135-137, 140-141, In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg 120-121, Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 324-345.
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-18-146114512)
Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 272-273
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-19-146114512)
In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg 118
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-20-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 138-139)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-21-146114512)
Land in Dar Fur Charters and related documents from the Dar Fur Sultanate, Translated with an introduction by R. S. O'Fahey, Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 139-140, Land documents in Dār Fūr sultanate (Sudan, 1785–1875): Between memory and archives
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-22-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 115-117, 158)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-23-146114512)
The ethnonym of ‘Arabs’ in Sudan (and indeed most of Africa below the Sahara) shouldn’t be confused with our modern/western concept of race. for example, Al-Tunisi mentions the people of Darfur “had never seen an Arab before” him, they were curious at his “ruddy” skin color, and thought he was “unripe”, similar to how their neighbors in the kingdom of [Funj reacted to the Turkish traveler Celebi](https://x.com/rhaplord/status/1780904707424207332) ._see pg 126, In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī_.
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-24-146114512)
In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg 118-119, Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 121-122)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-25-146114512)
In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg xix-xx, 100-101, 108, Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 290-304.
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-26-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 148-151)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-27-146114512)
The archaeology of Central Darfur (Sudan) in the 1st millennium A.D by Ibrahim Musa Mohammed pg 227-228, In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg 167-172
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-28-146114512)
An Embassy from the Sultan of Darfur to the Sublime Porte in 1791 by A.C.S. Peacock,
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-29-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 153-157)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-30-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 158-159, Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 306-318.
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-31-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 160-161, Sahara and Sudan. Volume Four: Wadai and Darfur Volume: 4 by Gustav Nachtigal; Allan G. B. Fisher, Humphrey J. Fisher, Rex S. O'Fahey pg 321-323.
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-32-146114512)
In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī; R.S. O'Fahey; Humphrey Davies; Kwame Anthony Appiah pg xxii
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-33-146114512)
Kingdoms of the Sudan by R. S. O'Fahey, J. L. Spaulding pg 164)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history#footnote-anchor-34-146114512)
Darfur: Struggle of Power and Resources, 1650-2002, An Institutional Perspective by Yousif Suliman Saeed Takana
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-heroic-age-in-darfur-a-history
|
Among the most significant works of African literature produced during the pre-colonial era were the autobiographies of itinerant scholars which included descriptions of important social institutions and recorded key events in the continent’s history.
The autobiography of the Hausa ethnographer [Umaru al-Kanawi contains one of the most detailed first-hand accounts of the education system of Islamic West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-network-of-african-scholarship)during the 19th century. al-Kanawi’s detailed account includes the amount of tuition paid to teachers, the length of time spent at each level of learning, as well as the core curriculum and textbooks used by students across the region.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fThs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3433cf80-771d-45b9-ad9a-0d7364458ef3_1320x611.png)
_**"al-Sarha al-wariqa fi'ilm al-wathiqa"**_ (_The thornless leafy tree concerning the knowledge of letter writing_), by Umaru al-Kanawi. ca. 1877, Kaduna National Archives, Nigeria.
The autobiography of the [17th-century Ethiopian philosopher Zara Yacob](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata) provides a first-hand account of the social upheaval in the kingdom brought about by the presence of Portuguese priests and their Catholic converts at the capital. Zara Yacob describes the ideological conflicts between the various political and religious factions, which influenced his radical philosophy that rejected received wisdom in favor of rational proofs.
The autobiography of [the 18th-century Katsina Mathematician Muhammad al-Kashnāwī](https://www.patreon.com/posts/102321250?pr=true) includes important information on the scholars who taught him in West Africa before his career as a teacher at the Egyptian College of al-Azhar. The Mathematician lists at least five of his West African teachers whose level of scholarship and intellectual influence contradicts [the colonial myth of sub-Saharan Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Tw9A!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F684782ec-ab09-4bbd-b247-62ef1f471db4_820x376.png)
_Folios from a copy of Muhammad al-Kashnāwī's mathematical treatise, titled**'Bahjat al- āfāq',**completed on 29th, January 1733_. Bibliothèque nationale de France .
The careers of many African scholars often involved traveling between different cities and regions in their capacity as teachers, merchants, or diplomatic liaisons.
Umaru al-Kanawi's account documents the conduct of trade along the complex commercial networks that linked the Asante kingdom (in modern Ghana) to the Sokoto empire (in northern Nigeria). Zara Yacob’s description of his flight from Aksum through various localities until the town of Emfraz is a precious first-hand account of asceticism in Gondarine Ethiopia. The travelogue of Muhammad al-Kashnāwī provides one of the earliest internal accounts documenting the journey of West African pilgrims to the cities of the Hejaz.
The autobiographies of Africa's itinerant scholars therefore constitute important sources of Africa's past.
In the second half of the 19th century, the emergence of scholarly communities in the East African kingdom of Buganda led to the production of some of the most remarkable accounts documenting the voices of Africa's past.
In the late 19th century, one of the kingdom's most prolific scholars, Ham Mukasa, wrote an autobiography that documents many key events in the kingdom's history. He also wrote a lengthy travelogue of his journey to England in 1902, describing the various societies and peoples he met along the way in meticulous detail: from the Somali boatmen of Yemen, to the mistreatment of Jewish traders, to the "shameful" dances of the Europeans, to the coronation of king Edward, to medieval torture devices. He met with the Ethiopian envoy Ras Mokonnen, the Chinese prince Chun Zaifeng, the Lozi king Lewanika from Zambia, and Prince Ali of Zanzibar.
**The autobiography of Ham Mukasa and his travelogue describing turn-of-the-century Europe are the subject of my latest Patreon article.**
**please subscribe to read about it here:**
[AN AFRICAN DESCRIPTION OF EUROPE IN 1902](https://www.patreon.com/posts/106728570)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UXPL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4b1cd8d4-9ddf-4f10-ad97-250242adf41a_680x1032.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BYtr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c545789-a066-4b91-9850-c7757eca066d_600x456.png)
_**Timbuktu, Mali, ca. 1895**_, Archives nationales d'outre-mer.
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fThs!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3433cf80-771d-45b9-ad9a-0d7364458ef3_1320x611.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/voices-of-africas-past-a-brief-note
|
During the late Middle Ages, the northern Horn of Africa was home to some of the continent's most powerful dynasties, whose history significantly shaped the region's social landscape.
The history of one of these dynasties, often referred to as the Solomonids, has been sufficiently explored in many works of African history. However, the history of their biggest political rivals, known as the Walasma dynasty of Ifat, has received less scholarly and public attention, despite their contribution to the region’s cultural heritage.
This article outlines the history of the Walasma kingdoms of Ifat and Adal, which influenced the emergence and growth of many Muslim societies in the northern Horn of Africa.
_**Map of the northern Horn of Africa during the early 16th century.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-1-145667530)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TQtk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F145af03f-2d38-4807-b120-ad8bec20f787_491x553.png)
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**Background to the Ifat kingdom: the enigmatic polity of Šawah.**
Near the end of the 13th century, an anonymous scholar in the northern Horn of Africa composed a short chronicle titled _**Ḏikr at-tawārīḫ**_ (ie: “the Annals”), that primarily dealt with the rise and demise of a polity called ‘Šawah’ which flourished from 1063 to 1290 CE. The text describes the sultanate of Šawah as comprised of several urban settlements, with the capital at Walalah, and outlying towns like Kālḥwr, and Ḥādbayah, that were controlled by semi-autonomous rulers of a dynasty called the Maḫzūmī.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-2-145667530)
The author of the _**Ḏikr at-tawārīḫ's**_ notes the presence of a scholarly elite in Šawah, was aware of the sack of Baghdad in 1258 by the _**‘Tatars’**_ (Mongols) , and mentions that the state’s judicial system was headed by a _**‘qāḍī al-quḍā’**_ (ie: “cadi of the cadis”). The text also mentions a few neighboring Muslim societies like Mūrah, ʿAdal, and Hūbat. The information provided in the chronicle is corroborated by a Mumluk-Egyptian text describing an Ethiopian embassy in 1292, which notes that _**“Among the kings of Abyssinia is Yūsuf b. Arsmāya, master of the territory of Ḥadāya, Šawā, Kalǧur, and their districts, which are dominated by Muslim kings.”**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-3-145667530)
The composition of the chronicle of Šawah represents an important period in the emergence of Muslim societies in north-eastern regions of modern Ethiopia, which also appears extensively across the region’s archeological record, where many inscribed tombs, mosques, and imported goods were found dated between the 11th and 15th century, particularly [in the region of Harlaa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-harar-the-city).
While the towns of Šawah are yet to be found, the remains of contemporaneous Muslim societies were generally urbanized and were associated with long-distance trade that terminated at the coastal city of Zayla. It’s in this context that the kingdom of Ifāt (ኢፋት) emerged under its founder Wālī ʾAsmaʿ (1285–1289), whose state eclipsed and subsumed most of the Muslim polities across the region including Šawā.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-4-145667530)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vOac!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F923da5d0-ca0c-4d1b-a6b2-704cb7d91fab_608x557.png)
_**Important polities in the northern Horn during the late middle ages, including the Muslim states of Ifat, Adal, Hadya and Sawah.**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-5-145667530)
**The Walasma kingdom of Ifat during the 14th century.**
In the late 13th century, Wālī Asma established an alliance with Yǝkunno Amlak —founder of the Solomonic dynasty of the medieval Christian kingdom of Ethiopia— acknowledging the suzerainty of the latter in exchange for military support. Wālī ʾAsma’s growing power threatened the last ruler of Šawah; Sultan Dilmārrah, who attempted to appease the former through a marital alliance in 1271. Ultimately, the armies of Wālī Asma attacked Šawah in 1277, deposed its Maḫzūmī rulers, and imposed their power on the whole region, including the polities at Mūrah, ʿAdal, and Hūbat, which were conquered by 1288.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-6-145667530)
The establishment of the Ifat kingdom coincided with the expansion of the power of the Solomonids, who subsumed many neighboring states including Christian kingdoms like Zagwe, as well as Muslim and 'pagan' kingdoms. By the 14th century, the balance of power between the Solomonids and the Walasma favored the former. The rulers of Ifat were listed among the several tributaries mentioned in the chronicle of the ʿAmdä Ṣǝyon (r. 1314-1344), whose armies greatly expanded the Solomonid state. The Walasma sultan then sent an embassy to Mamluk Egypt’s sultan al-Nasir in 1322 to intercede with Amdä Ṣǝyon on behalf of the Muslims.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-7-145667530)
It’s during this period that detailed descriptions of Ifat appear in external texts, primarily written by the Mamluks, such as the accounts of Abū al-Fidā' (1273-1331) and later al-Umari in the 1330s. According to al-Fidā' the capital of Ifat was _**"one of the largest cities in the Ḥabašā [Ethiopia]. There are about twenty stages between this town and Zayla. The buildings of Wafāt are scattered. The abode of royalty is on one hill and the citadel is on another hill"**_. Al-Umari writes that Ifat was the most important of the _**"seven kingdoms of Muslim Abyssinia.**_" He adds that _**"Awfāt is closest to Egyptian territory and the shores facing Yemen and has the largest territory. Its king reigns over Zaylaʿ; it is the name of the port where merchants going to this kingdom approach."**_[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-8-145667530)
The Sultanate of Ifat is the best documented among the Muslim societies of the northern Horn during the Middle Ages, and its archeological sites are the best studied. The account of the 14th-century account of al-Umari and the 15th-century chronicle of Amdä Ṣeyon (r. 1314-1344) both describe several cities in the territory of Ifat that refer to the provincial capitals of the kingdom. These textural accounts are corroborated by the archeological record, with at least five ruined cities —Asbari, Masal, Rassa Guba, Nora, and Beri-Ifat— having been identified in its former territory and firmly dated to the 14th century.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-9-145667530)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!igDL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F971ab563-b468-4a24-b65b-49e72c2999c5_1000x664.jpeg)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XVzQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4bb6de08-618e-49a1-a8ca-8595ed4a4267_1000x664.jpeg)
_**ruins of the mosques at Beri-Ifat and Nora.**_[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-10-145667530)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wweL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae1778ba-3537-4207-99b3-28ca4c9bd0af_806x607.png)
_**Location of the archeological sites of Ifat and the kingdom’s center.**_
The largest archeological sites at Nora, Beri-Ifat, and Asbari had city walls, remains of residential buildings preserved to a height of over 2-3 meters, and an urban layout with streets and cemeteries, set within a terraced landscape. The material culture of the sites includes some imported wares from the Islamic world, but was predominantly local, and included iron rods that were used as currency. Each of the cities and towns possessed a main mosque in addition to neighborhood mosques (or oratories) in larger cities like Nora, built in a distinctive architectural style that characterized most of the settlements in Ifat.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-11-145667530)
The above archeological discoveries corroborate al-ʿUmarī’s account, which notes that _**“there are, in these seven kingdoms, cathedral mosques, ordinary mosques and oratories.”,**_ and the city layout of Beri-Ifat is similar to the account provided by al-Fidā', who notes that the capital’s buildings were scattered. The discovery of inscribed tombs of a _**“sheikh of the Walasmaʿ”**_ of Šāfiʿite school who died in 1364, also corroborates al-Umari's accounts of this school's importance in Ifat, as well as the providing evidence for the origin of the [diasporic scholarly community known as the](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282)_**[Zaylāiʿ](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282)**_[at the important Shāfiʿī college of al-Azhar in Cairo](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282).[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-12-145667530)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HVP9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59804888-1c64-46ba-9c3e-c1eb5b68e0bf_1000x664.jpeg)
_**Mosque of Ferewanda, part of the city of Beri-Ifat.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nBmc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F730f8a72-7660-4950-8229-0cbbd69552b0_1000x667.jpeg)
_**Square house with a wall niche at the site of Nora**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2K30!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11ce4133-3605-4967-98e2-7e79ae7be3bb_580x439.png)
_**Tomb T8 near the sultan’s residence close to the mosque of Beri-Ifat. It belongs to sultan al-Naṣrī b. ʿAlī [Naṣr] b. Ṣabr al-Dīn b. Wālāsma, and is dated Saturday 15 ṣafar 775 h., [i.e. August 6, 1373]**_
**Trade, warfare, and the decline of Ifat.**
According to Al-ʿUmarī, the kingdom of Ifat dominated trade because of its geographical position near the coast and its control of Zayla, from where imports of _**“silk and linen fabrics"**_ were obtained. Later accounts describe trading cities like “Manadeley” where one could _**"find every kind of merchandise that there is in the world, and merchants of all nations, also all the languages of the Moors, from Giada, from Morocco, Fez, Bugia, Tunis, Turks, Roumes from Greece, Moors of India, Ormuz and Cairo"**_.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-13-145667530)
Another important trading city of Ifat was Gendevelu, which appears in internal accounts as Gendabelo since the 14th century and likely corresponds to the archeological site of Asbari. External descriptions of the city mention _**"caravans of camels unload their merchandise"**_ and _**"the currency is Hungarian and Venetian ducats, and the silver coins of the Moors."**_ While the rulers of Ifat didn’t mint their own coins, most sources note the use of imported silver coins, as well as commodity currencies like cloth and iron rods.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-14-145667530)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_RMO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7342bf6a-67de-41a1-afd1-5deb517e3cd4_1408x594.jpeg)
_**The main mosque of Asbari.**_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-15-145667530)
Much of the political history of Ifat was provided in an internal chronicle titled _**'Taʾrīḫ al-Walasmaʿ**_ written in the 16th century, as well as an external account by the Mamluk historian al-Maqrīzī in 1438. Both texts describe a major dynastic split in the Walasma family of Ifat that occurred in the late 14th century, between those who wanted to continue recognizing the suzerainty of the Solomonids, and those who rejected it. According to al-Maqrizi, the Solomonids could install and depose the Walasma rulers at will, retain some of the Ifat royals at their court, and often provided military aid to those allied with them.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-16-145667530)
In the 1370s, sultan Ali of Ifat was aided by the armies of the Ethiopian emperor in fighting a rebellion led by Ali's rival Ḥaqq al-Dīn (r. 1376–1386), who established a separate kingdom away from the capital. After the destruction of the Ifat capital during the dynastic conflict, and the death of Ḥaqq al-Dīn in a war with the Solomonids, his brother Saʿd al-Dīn continued the rebellion but was defeated near Zayla around 1409[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-17-145667530). In response to the continuous conflict, the Solomonids formerly incorporated the territories of Ifat, appointed Christian governors who adopted the name Walasmaʿ (in Gǝʿǝz, _wäläšma_), deployed garrisons of their own soldiers, and established royal capitals in Ifat territory.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-18-145667530)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!leaP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f9bdf20-2176-4412-b314-d34868c88023_1051x587.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Dxfz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbacdbb7c-e896-4335-9a4c-d5de0a949ff3_1053x590.png)
_**The mosque of Jéʾértu**_.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-19-145667530)
**The re-establishment of Walasma power in the 15th century until their demise in 1520.**
After the death of Saʿd al-Dīn, his family took refuge in Yemen, at the court of the Rasūlid sultan Aḥmad b. al-Ašraf Ismāʿil (r. 1400–1424). Saʿd al-Dīn's oldest son, Ṣabr al-Dīn (r. 1415–1422), later came back to Ethiopia, to a place called al-Sayāra, in the eastern frontier of the province of Ifat, where the soldiers who had served under his father joined him. They established a new sultanate, called Barr Saʿd al-Dīn (“Land of Saʿd al-Dīn”) which appears as Adal in the chronicles of the Solomonid rulers, who were by then in control of the territory of Ifat.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-20-145667530)
Beginning in 1433, the Walasma rulers of Barr Saʿd al-Dīn established their capital at Dakar, which likely corresponds to the ruined sites of Derbiga and Nur Abdoche located near the old city of Harar. They imposed their power over many pre-existing Muslim polities including Hūbat, the city of Zaylaʿ, the Ḥārla region surrounding Harar, and parts of northern Somalia. An emir was appointed by the sultan to head each territory, with the prerogative of levying taxes (ḫarāǧ and zakāt) on the population.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-21-145667530)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OrWw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feecb3ed4-62e3-415d-91e5-22c5027c4c9c_580x404.png)
_**The Derbiga mosque in 1922**_[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-22-145667530)
The Walasma rulers at Dakar reportedly maintained fairly cordial relations with the Solomonids in order to facilitate trade, but wars between their two states continued especially during the reigns of the sultans Ṣabr al-Dīn (r. 1415–1422), Manṣūr (r. 1422–1424), Ǧamāl al-Dīn (r. 1424–1433) and Badlāy (r. 1433–1445). Repeated incursions into 'Adal' by the armies of the Solomonid monarchs compelled some of the former's dependents to pay tribute to the latter, and in 1480, Dakar itself was sacked by the armies of Eskender (r. 1478-1494).[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-23-145667530)
However, by the early 16th century, the armies of the Walasma begun conducting their own incursions into the Solomonid state. The sultan Muḥammad b. Saʿd ad-Dıˉn, who had the longest reign from 1488 to around 1517, is known to have undertaken annual expeditions against the territories controlled by the Solomonids. After the death of Sultan Muḥammad, the kingdom experienced a period of instability during which several illegitimate rulers followed each other in close succession and a figure named Imām Aḥmad rose to prominence.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-24-145667530)
The tumultuous politics of this period are described in detail by two internal chronicles written during this period. The first one, titled _**Taʾrıkh al-Walasmaʿ**_, was in favor of Sultan Muḥammad’s only legitimate successor, Sultan Abū Bakr (r. 1518-1526), while the other chronicle, _**Taʾrıkh al-muluk**_, favored Imām Aḥmad’s camp. Both agree on the shift of the sultanate’s capital from Dakar to the city of Harar in July 1520, but the former text ends with this event while the latter begins with it. This shift marked the decline of Sultan Abū Bakr’s power and was followed by his death at the hands of Imām Aḥmad who effectively became the real authority in the sultanate, while the Walasma lost their authority[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-25-145667530).
Imām Aḥmad would then undertake a series of campaigns that eventually brought most of the territory controlled by the Solomonids under his control, briefly creating one of Africa’s largest empires at the time, and beginning a new era in the region’s history.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5l_K!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49401fa3-c82f-4e06-bcd2-aa7f5056b011_1348x559.png)
_Panorama of Harar and its hinterland in 1944, quai branly_
**The ancient coast of East Africa was part of an old trading system linking the Roman world to the Indian Ocean world, with the metropolis of Rhapta in Tanzania being one of the major African cities known to classical geographers.**
**Read more about the ancient East African coast and its links to the Roman world here:**
[ANCIENT EAST AFRICA AND THE ROMANS](https://www.patreon.com/posts/105868178)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QMPv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa02dc2b6-500a-4e26-bafe-28947296eeef_1102x623.png)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-2-145667530)
Le Dikr at-tawārīḫ (dite Chronique du Šawā) : nouvelle édition et traduction du Vatican arabe 1792, f. 12v-13r by Damien Labadie, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 93-94)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-3-145667530)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 94-95)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-4-145667530)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 95-96)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-6-145667530)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 94, 99)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-7-145667530)
Ethiopia and the Red Sea The Rise and Decline of the Solomonic Dynasty and Muslim European Rivalry in the Region by Mordechai Abir pg 22-24, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 99-100)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-8-145667530)
Le sultanat de l’Awfāt, sa capitale et la nécropole des Walasma by François-Xavier Fauvelle, Bertrand Hirsch et Amélie Chekroun, prg 6, 61-62)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-9-145667530)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 106, Le sultanat de l’Awfāt, sa capitale et la nécropole des Walasma by François-Xavier Fauvelle, Bertrand Hirsch et Amélie Chekroun prg 26-28)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-10-145667530)
**this and all other photos (except where stated) are from the French Archaeological Mission, 2008, 2009, 2010 led by François-Xavier Fauvelle**
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-11-145667530)
Le sultanat de l’Awfāt, sa capitale et la nécropole des Walasma by François-Xavier Fauvelle, Bertrand Hirsch et Amélie Chekroun prg 29-40, 55-59)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-12-145667530)
Le sultanat de l’Awfāt, sa capitale et la nécropole des Walasma by François-Xavier Fauvelle, Bertrand Hirsch et Amélie Chekroun prg 63, 77, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 106-107.
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-13-145667530)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 108-109, 110-111)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-14-145667530)
In Search of Gendabelo, the Ethiopian “Market of the World” of the 15th and 16th Centuries by Amélie Chekroun, Ahmed Hassen Omer and Bertrand Hirsch
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-15-145667530)
photo from the Nora/Gendebelo Program 2009
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-16-145667530)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 100)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-17-145667530)
Entre Arabie et Éthiopie chrétienne : le sultan walasma‘ Sa‘d al-Dīn et ses fils by Amélie Chekroun
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-18-145667530)
Le sultanat de l’Awfāt, sa capitale et la nécropole des Walasma by François-Xavier Fauvelle, Bertrand Hirsch et Amélie Chekroun prg 66-73, Ethiopia and the Red Sea The Rise and Decline of the Solomonic Dynasty and Muslim European Rivalry in the Region by Mordechai Abir pg 26-27.
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-19-145667530)
Notes on the survey of Islamic Archaeological sites in South-Eastern Wallo (Ethiopia) by Deresse Ayenachew and Assrat Assefa
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-20-145667530)
A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 102
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-21-145667530)
Dakar, capitale du sultanat éthiopien du Barr Sa‘d addīn by Amélie Chekroun, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly 108, Harar as the capital city of the Barr Saʿd ad-Dıˉn by Amélie Chekroun pg 27-28
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-22-145667530)
photo by Azaïs & Chambard 1931
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-23-145667530)
Ethiopia and the Red Sea The Rise and Decline of the Solomonic Dynasty and Muslim European Rivalry in the Region by Mordechai Abir pg 31-32, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea, edited by Samantha Kelly pg 104, Dakar, capitale du sultanat éthiopien du Barr Sa‘d addīn by Amélie Chekroun prg 8)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-24-145667530)
Harar as the capital city of the Barr Saʿd ad-Dıˉn by Amélie Chekroun pg 32-33
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian#footnote-anchor-25-145667530)
Harar as the capital city of the Barr Saʿd ad-Dıˉn by Amélie Chekroun pg 34-34, Dakar, capitale du sultanat éthiopien du Barr Sa‘d addīn by Amélie Chekroun
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Dxfz!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbacdbb7c-e896-4335-9a4c-d5de0a949ff3_1053x590.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OrWw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feecb3ed4-62e3-415d-91e5-22c5027c4c9c_580x404.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5l_K!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49401fa3-c82f-4e06-bcd2-aa7f5056b011_1348x559.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QMPv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa02dc2b6-500a-4e26-bafe-28947296eeef_1102x623.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-muslim-kingdom-in-the-ethiopian
|
Few classical civilizations were as impactful to the foreign contacts of ancient African states and societies like the Roman Empire.
Shortly after Augustus became emperor of Rome, his armies undertook a series of campaigns into the African mainland south of the Mediterranean coast. The first of the Roman campaigns was directed into Nubia around 25BC, [but was defeated by the armies of Kush in 22BC](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas). While the Roman defeat in Nubia permanently ended its ambitions in this region and was concluded with a treaty between Kush's envoys and the emperor on the Greek island Samos in 21BC, Roman campaigns into central Libya beginning in 20BC were relatively successful and the region was gradually incorporated into the empire.
The succeeding era, which is often referred to as '_Pax Romana_', was a dynamic period of trade and cultural exchanges between Rome and the rest of the world, including north-eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean world.
The increase in commercial and diplomatic exchanges between Kush and Roman Egypt contributed to the expansion of the economy of Meroitic Kush, which was one of the sources of gold and ivory exported to Meditteranean markets.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between#footnote-1-145467894) By the 1st century CE, Meroe had entered a period of prosperity, with monumental building activity across the cities of the kingdom, as well as a high level of intellectual and artistic production. [The appearance of envoys from Meroe and Roman Egypt in the documentary record of both regions](https://www.patreon.com/posts/africans-in-rome-75714077) demonstrates the close relationship between the two state’s diplomatic and economic interests.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sobd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffeff442e-413c-48ef-9ce1-434a670fece3_705x517.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sbMQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc02237f-7fef-439d-9587-0ecb3514de08_640x433.png)
_**the shrine of Hathor (also called the 'Roman kiosk') at Naqa, Sudan. ca. 1st century CE**_.
_It was constructed by the Meroitic co-rulers Natakamani and Amanitore and served as a ‘transitory’ shrine in front of the larger temple of the Nubian god Apedemak (seen in the background). Its nickname is derived from its mix of Meroitic architecture (like the style used for the Apedemak temple) with Classical elements (like the decoration of the shrine’s columns and arched windows). The Meroitic inscriptions found on the walls of the shrine indicate that it was built by local masons who were likely familiar with aspects of the construction styles of Roman-Egypt or assisted by a few masons from the latter._[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between#footnote-2-145467894)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
The patterns of exchange and trade that characterized _Pax Romana_ would also contribute to the expansion of Aksumite commercial and political activities in the Red Sea region, which was a conduit for the lucrative trade in silk and spices from the Indian Ocean world as well as ivory from the Aksumite hinterland. At the close of the 2nd century, the armies of Aksum were campaigning on the Arabian peninsula and the kingdom’s port city of Adulis had become an important anchorage for merchant ships traveling from Roman-Egypt to the Indian Ocean littoral. These activities would lay the foundation for the success of [Aksumite merchants as intermediaries in the trade between India and Rome](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-aksumite-empire-between-rome).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cMzo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8bf2919f-6977-4011-a801-9fcc425c13be_794x447.gif)
_**Dungur Palace, Aksum, Ethiopia - Reconstruction, by World History Encyclopedia.**_
_This large, multi-story complex was one of several structures that dominated the Aksumite capital and regional towns across the kingdom, and its architectural style was a product of centuries of local developments. The material culture of these elite houses indicates that their occupants had access to luxury goods imported from Rome, including glassware, amphorae, and Roman coins._[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between#footnote-3-145467894)
The significance of the relationship between Rome and the kingdoms of Kush and Aksum can be gleaned from Roman accounts of world geography in which the cities of Meroe and Aksum are each considered to be a '_**Metropolis**_' —a term reserved for large political and commercial capitals. This term had been used for Meroe since the 5th century BC and Aksum since the 1st century CE, since they were the largest African cities known to the classical writers[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between#footnote-4-145467894).
However, by the time Ptolemy composed his monumental work on world geography in 150 CE, another African city had been elevated to the status of a Metropolis. This new African metropolis was the **city of Rhapta,**located on the coast of East Africa known as _‘Azania’_, and it was the southernmost center of trade in a chain of port towns that stretched from the eastern coast of Somalia to the northern coast of Mozambique.
**The history of the ancient East African coast and its links to the Roman world are the subject of my latest Patreon article.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[ANCIENT EAST AFRICA AND THE ROMANS](https://www.patreon.com/posts/105868178)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QMPv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa02dc2b6-500a-4e26-bafe-28947296eeef_1102x623.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-WFj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F361130f0-63cc-4739-ba0e-841ca6726865_820x704.png)
_**Fresco with an aithiopian woman presenting ivory to a seated figure (Dido of Carthage) as a personified Africa overlooks**_, from House of Meleager at Pompeii, MAN Napoli 8898, Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between#footnote-anchor-1-145467894)
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization pg 461-465, 398), The Image of the Ordered World in Ancient Nubian Art pg 466-467
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between#footnote-anchor-2-145467894)
Hellenizing Art in Ancient Nubia 300 BC–AD 250 and its Egyptian Models: A Study in “Acculturation” by László Török pg 301-308
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between#footnote-anchor-3-145467894)
Foundations of an African Civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn By D. W. Phillipson pg 121-125, 197-200
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between#footnote-anchor-4-145467894)
Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa By George Hatke pg 29, Foundations of an African Civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn By D. W. Phillipson pg 121
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sobd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffeff442e-413c-48ef-9ce1-434a670fece3_705x517.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sbMQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc02237f-7fef-439d-9587-0ecb3514de08_640x433.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cMzo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8bf2919f-6977-4011-a801-9fcc425c13be_794x447.gif",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QMPv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa02dc2b6-500a-4e26-bafe-28947296eeef_1102x623.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-WFj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F361130f0-63cc-4739-ba0e-841ca6726865_820x704.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-contacts-between
|
At its height in the 17th century, the stone towns of the ‘_zimbabwe culture_’ encompassed an area the size of France[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-1-145195977). The hundreds of ruins spread across three countries in south-eastern Africa are among the continent’s best-preserved historical monuments and have been the subject of great scholarly and public interest.
While the ruins in Zimbabwe and South Africa have been extensively studied and partially restored, similar ruins in the north-eastern region of Botswana haven’t attracted much interest despite their importance in elucidating the history of the _zimbabwe culture,_ especially concerning the enigmatic gold-trading kingdom of Butua, and why the towns were later abandoned.
This article explores the history of the stone ruins in northeastern Botswana, their relationship to similar monuments across south-eastern Africa, and why they later faded into obscurity.
_**Map of south-eastern Africa showing some of the largest known monuments of the ‘zimbabwe culture’**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-2-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OWxJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F511cf145-87e0-46c3-aaf6-db1147ea570e_641x753.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The emergence of complex societies in north-eastern Botswana and the kingdom of Butua.**
Among the first complex societies to emerge in south-eastern Africa was a polity centered at the archeological site of Bosutswe at the edge of the Kalahari desert in north-eastern Botswana. The ‘cultural sequence’ at Bosutswe spans the period from 700-1700CE, and the settlement was one of several archeological sites in the region that flourished during the late 1st to early 2nd millennium CE. These sites, which include Toutswe (in Botswana), Mapela Hill (in Zimbabwe), ‘K2’, and Mapungubwe (in South Africa), among several others, are collectively associated with the incipient states/chiefdoms of Toutswe in Botswana and Leopard's Kopje in Zimbabwe&Botswana, named after their ceramic traditions and largest settlements.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-3-145195977)
These early settlements often consisted of central cattle kraals surrounded by houses and grain storages and their material culture is associated with Shona-speaking groups, especially the Kalanga.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-4-145195977) The emergence of states in this region is thus associated with the growth of the internal agro-pastoral economy as well as regional and external trade in gold[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-5-145195977), and ivory, the latter of which is represented by a 10th-century ivory cache found at the site of Mosu in northern Botswana.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-6-145195977)
By the early second millennium, several states had emerged in southeast Africa, [characterized by monumental walled capitals (](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great)_**[dzimbabwes](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great)**_[), the largest of which was at Great Zimbabwe](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great). While the walled tradition of Great Zimbabwe is often thought to have begun at Mapungubwe and Mapela Hill, recent archeological studies have found equally suitable precursors in north-eastern Botswana, where several older sites with both free-standing walls and terraced platforms were discovered in the gold-producing-Tati river basin. These include the sites of Tholo, Dinonkwe, and Mupanini, which are dated to the late 12th and early 13th century.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-7-145195977)
Many of the above settlements were gradually abandoned during the 14th century, coinciding with the decline of the polities of Mapungubwe and Toutswe during a period marked by a drier climate between 1290 and 1475. It is likely that part of the population moved to the wetter Zimbabwe plateau and contributed to the rise of Great Zimbabwe, as well as the Butua kingdom centered at Khami and the kingdom of Mutapa to the north, with the Butua kingdom having a significant influence on societies in north-eastern Botswana.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-8-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LBym!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6cbeab92-92af-48cd-a729-a4d8ee95dff0_731x539.png)
_**Sketch of the political landscape in south-east Africa before the 15th century.**_
Unlike the extensive documentation of the Mutapa state, there were relatively few contemporary records of the [Butua kingdom at Khami](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-terraces-62065998) to its south. An account from 1512 by the Portuguese merchant Antonio Fernandez who had traveled extensively on the mainland to Mutapa mentions that: _**"between the country of Monomotapa and Sofala, all the kings obey Monomotapa, but further to the interior was another king, who had rebelled and with whom he was at war, the king of Butua. The latter was as powerful as the Monomotapa, and his country contained much gold."**_[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-9-145195977)
However, since the [Portuguese activities in Mutapa’s south were restricted by anti-Portuguese rebellions](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-mutapa-and-the-portuguese), there were only a few references to Butua society between the 1512 account above, and the sack of the kingdom’s capital in 1644, in which one of the rival claimants to the throne utilized the services of a Portuguese mercenary named Sisnando Dias Bayao.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-10-145195977)
On the other hand, there’s extensive archeological evidence for the construction of Khami-style ruins dated to the ‘Butua period’ in the 15th-17th century with over 80 known sites in Zimbabwe and over 40 in Botswana.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-11-145195977) As well as secondary evidence for gold trade from Butua that was exported to the Swahili coastal town of Angoche, which was described in 16th-century documents as bypassing the Portuguese-controlled Sofala.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-12-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bWYJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1efcbaf8-12f4-4a14-8ab3-f2fa0c85f36d_600x400.jpeg)
_**the hill complex at Khami**_ in Zimbabwe, capital of the Butua kingdom.
**The Butua period in north-eastern Botswana: 15th-17th century.**
The largest of these Butua-period sites in Botswana that have been studied include the ruins of; Sampowane, Vukwe, Domboshaba, Motloutse, Sojwane, Thune, Shape, and Majande, Lotsane whose free-standing walls are still preserved to the height of at least two meters.
The walled settlements of the Butua period were built to be monumental rather than defensive, often in places with granite outcrops from which the stone blocks used in construction were obtained. The interior of the stone settlements often contained elevated platforms and terraces, both natural and artificial, that exposed rather than concealed the leader, in contrast to the screening walls of the Great Zimbabwe sites. And like many stone settlements in southeast Africa, the different settlement sizes often corresponded to different levels in the state hierarchy, and the amount of walling was often a reflection of the number of vassals who provided labor for their construction.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-13-145195977)
Archeologists identified four size categories for the Butua period settlements, representing a five-tiered settlement hierarchy. level 1, consists of unwalled commoner sites, level 2 sites consist of a stone wall with a platform for at least one elite house, level 3 sites (like Vukwe) have longer larger platforms for several elite houses as well as multiple tiers and entrances, level 4 sites (like Motloutse, Majande, Domboshaba, etc) have large platforms and long walling, this is where the highest of the Botswana sites fall. Levels 5 and 6, have all of these features on a monumental scale and are found in Zimbabwe (eg Khami and Zinjanja).[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-14-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!eCIm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffd8e9efe-fe1e-4904-a0b9-67ff30750c7e_951x691.png)
_**Butua-period walled settlements in Zimbabwe**_, Map and Table by Catharina Van Waarden
Starting from the north, the largest among the best-preserved ruins is at Domboshaba, which consists of two complexes, with an almost fully enclosed hilltop ruin, and a lower section that is partially walled. Both complexes enclose platforms for elite houses, and their walls have rounded entrances and check designs in the upper courses. The site was radio-carbon dated to between the 15th-18th century making it contemporaneous with the Butua capital of Khami, with which it shares some architectural similarities, as well as a material culture like coiled gold wire and the bronze wire worn by the elites. To its south was the ruin of Vukwe which comprised a series of walled platforms, enclosing an elite complex in which iron tools and bronze jewelry were found.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-15-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!01FV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6ad342a0-cc4d-4b33-a472-8ae5fedd6231_960x720.jpeg)
_**collapsed perimeter walls of the Domboshaba ruin.**_[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-16-145195977)
[![Image 6: https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore-collections/base/Work/action/list/mode/thumb?orderby=null&order=desc&category=oeuvres&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Btype%5D=&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Bclassification%5D=&tx_mqbcollection_explorer%5Bquery%5D%5Bexemplaire%5D=&filters[]=Jacqueline%20Roumegu%C3%A8re-Eberhardt%7C1%7C&filters[]=vukwe%7C2&refreshFilters=true&refreshModePreview=true](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!shcq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85cc08da-4479-4690-9362-911b8dcc6e36_839x573.png)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!shcq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F85cc08da-4479-4690-9362-911b8dcc6e36_839x573.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CLW_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4ab9058b-60dd-4abe-8c76-19143fd20cf1_846x573.png)
_**Vukwe ruin,**_ photo at Quai Branly
South of the Domboshaba and Vukwe cluster are the ruins at Shape, which consist of several terrace platforms as well as a free-standing wall that bears a broken monolith and blocked doorway. Near these are the ruins of Majande which comprise two settlements known as Upper and Lower Majande. The two ruins have profusely decorated front walls with stone monoliths and raised platforms for elite houses. A short distance northwest of Majande is the Sampowane ruin, which comprises a complex of platforms and free-standing walls profusely decorated with herringbone, cord and check designs, and is likely contemporaneous with Majande.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-17-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FPGc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffbab7aec-a06e-4cd3-b10a-cad9b46b7a3d_1000x665.jpeg)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-x_2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa5dcfde1-7779-408e-ace3-40c16de6d8a0_960x642.jpeg)
_**Majande ruin.**_ photo by Mabuse Heritage Group
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0Q8d!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4922b1f4-92a9-4c1c-b9e6-b009506658aa_1187x429.png)
_**Sampowane ruin,**_ photo by T. Huffman
To the south of these is the ruin of Motloutse, which consist of a double-tiered platform complex with walls of check decoration built on and around a small granite kopje, which overlooks a walled enclosure that lies below the hill. Near this is the ruin of Sojwane, which consists of free-standing walls erected between the natural boulders of the granite batholith. Its small size and lack of occupation indicate that it was likely a burial place of the senior leaders in the Motloutse valley.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-18-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ebLi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F285cc0e4-7962-4c1b-ba7a-46fb89aa84d9_749x547.png)
_**Motloutse ruin**_, photo by C. Van Waarden
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!aHpM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F873c21de-cc96-4714-9666-1b9504150e11_749x499.png)
_**Sojwane Ruin,**_ photo by T. Huffman
South of these settlements is the ruin of Thune, which consists of a double enclosure with several terraced platforms surrounding the summit, and a curved wall about 14 m long.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-19-145195977) Much further south are the ruins of Lotsane, which were one of the earliest _dzimbabwes_ to be described. They comprise two sets of settlement complexes, both of which have a long curved wall with rounded ends and doorways.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-20-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TfAB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc833559-fc1e-48dd-8e6e-b3d9af7e7b79_750x500.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BEsT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55a84bfb-9923-4bd3-9322-77699126e3fb_960x540.jpeg)
_**sections of the Lotsane ruins**_[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-21-145195977)
**The transition period between the Butua and Rozvi kingdoms in North-eastern Botswana: late 17th-early 18th century.**
The use of check designs, and the presence of retaining walls that formed house platforms similar to the Khami-style sites of Danangombe and Naletale, indicates that Majande, Lotsane and Sampowane were occupied during the later Khami period. This is further confirmed by radiocarbon dates from Majande that estimate its occupation period to be between 1644 and 1681, making it a much later site than Domboshaba.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-22-145195977)
The significance of the architectural similarities with other Khami settlements is connected with political developments associated with the fall of the Butua kingdom. After the sack of the Butua capital of Khami during the dynastic conflict of 1644, the victor likely moved his capital to Zinjanja, where a large settlement was built with walls covered in elaborate designs expressing various aspects of sacred leadership.
Archeological evidence indicates that settlement at Zinjanja was shortlived, as the ascendancy of the Rozvi state (1680-1840) with its capital at Danangombe and Naletale eclipsed the former's power by the turn of the 17th century. Several of the ruins in N.E Botswana were built during this Interregnum Phase (AD 1650–1680) between the fall of Butua and the rise of the Rozvi, a period marked by dynastic competition, unchecked by the relatively weak rulers at Zinjanja. The striking wall decorations at Sampowane and Majande ruins are similar to those used by the rulers of Zinjanja, rather than the Butua rulers of Khami. They predominantly feature herring board and cord designs, rather than the profuse check designs seen at Khami and later at Danangombe.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-23-145195977)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XS3S!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4aa085a5-7587-4c9d-9bd6-3843292f48d9_844x573.png)
_**check designs at the ruins of Danangombe in Zimbabwe,**_ photo at Quai Branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNup!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F367edb41-5467-4da5-8a88-6fd91db3e89d_766x571.png)
_**detail of a collapsed wall of the Zinjaja ruin in Zimbabwe, showing herringbone designs**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QbE8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6814505d-1dbd-46ba-ad3c-1440556aab37_901x542.png)
_**herringbone designs on the Majande ruin in Botswana,**_ photos by T. Huffman
**Origins of the golden trade of the Butua kingdom**
The majority of the ruined settlements in north-eastern Botswana were established near gold and copper mines. There are over 45 goldmines in north-eastern Botswana between the Vumba and Tati Greenstone Belts, each consisting of a number of prehistoric and historic mine shafts and trenches, flanked by milling sites containing cup-shaped depressions where the gold was extracted from the ore.
Evidence for Copper mining and smithing is even more abundant, including mines, smelting furnaces, crucibles, tuyeres, and slag, that were found near several ruined towns including Vukwe, Matsitama, Majande, Shape. While most gold mines were found near level 1 (commoner) sites, some of the larger ruins such as Vukwe, Domboshaba, and Nyangani were all located near the edge of the gold belt. In this predominantly agro-pastoral economy, mining would have been carried out on a seasonal basis, just as it was documented in Mutapa.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-24-145195977)
Ivory and Ironworking, as well as the manufacture of cotton textiles, are all attested at several sites based on the presence of ivory artifacts, numerous iron furnaces and material, spindle whirls used in weaving cotton, and documentation of the use and trade of ivory, iron and local cloth, exchanged for imported glass and cloth. The lack of elite control over these specialist activities like ironworking and prestige/trading items like copper, gold, and ivory, suggests that power was obtained through a combination of religious authority, accumulating wealth and followers, as well as the construction of monumental palaces.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-25-145195977)
The political structure of societies in north-eastern Botswana thus resembled that in the Butua kingdom of Khami, which combined interpolity heterarchies and intra-polity hierarchies.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-26-145195977) Additionally, the organization of trade, whether in domestic markets for agro-pastoral products or to external markets for commodities like gold and copper, would not have been centrally controlled but undertaken by independent traders, like those documented in 17th century Mutapa.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!z2v2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01130e96-20e7-460b-9173-e37a747e1637_1136x621.png)
Map of the gold-producing regions in north-eastern Botswana, and the rest of southeast Africa.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-27-145195977)
**Collapse of the stone towns of north-eastern Botswana.**
By the early 19th century, [political and social transformations associated with the so-called](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/revolution-and-upheaval-in-pre-colonial)_[mfecane](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/revolution-and-upheaval-in-pre-colonial)_ profoundly altered the cultural landscape of north-eastern Botswana. Rozvi traditions describe the decline of the Changamire state due to dynastic conflicts, which exacerbated its collapse after it was overrun by several groups including the Tswana-speaking Ngwato, and several Nguni-speaking groups like the Ndebele and Ngoni, all of whom subsumed the Kalanga-speaking societies.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-28-145195977)
The period of Ndebele ascendancy in North-Eastern Botswana in the mid-19th century was especially disruptive to the local polities. As recounted in Ndebele traditions and contemporary documents, some of the defeated Kalanga leaders often fled with their followers to hilltop fortresses, or outside the reach of the Ndebele to regions controlled by the Ngwato, while some were retained as vassals. The region remained a disputed frontier zone caught between two powerful states, many of the old towns were abandoned, and the authority of those who remained was greatly diminished.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-29-145195977)
There's documentary and archeological evidence for the rapid abandonment of these ruins, and the later re-occupation of a few of them. An account from 1870 mentions the abandonment of the Vukwe ruin by its Kalanga ruler following a Ndebele campaign into the region, and there’s archeological evidence for the partial re-settlement of Domboshaba during the mid-19th century, with the new settlement being established in a more elevated and defensible region of the hill, where further walling was added.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-30-145195977)
Additionally, many of the ruined settlements have blocked doorways that were sealed with stone monoliths, especially at Majande and Shape, which was a common practice attested at many _dzimbabwes_ across the region (eg at Matendere in Zimbabwe). These blocked doorways denied access to sacred spaces, especially when rulers moved their capital upon their installation, marking the end of the enclosed palace’s administrative use, and the abandonment of part or all of the site.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-31-145195977)
It is important to note that the construction of stone settlements in the region had mostly ended by the early 18th century, since no new settlements post-date this period, representing a cultural shift that was likely caused by internal processes. Nevertheless, the connection between the stone towns and their former occupants was largely severed. With the exception of Domboshaba, few of the Kalanga traditions collected in the 20th century could directly link the sites to specific lineages and rulers, as most of their counts were instead focused on the upheavals of the 19th century.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-32-145195977)
Unlike the monumental capitals in Zimbabwe where such traditions were preserved, memories of the stone towns of north-eastern Botswana were forgotten, as their ruins were gradually engulfed by the surrounding desert-shrub.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Nzaq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21d0b1de-c86a-4b0f-b492-b72450c8b3cc_916x693.png)
section of the Lotsane ruin when it was first photographed in 1891.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-33-145195977)
While there are few written accounts for pre-colonial south-east Africa, the expansion of trade contacts between south-central Africa and the Swahili coast led to the production of detailed documentation of the region's societies by other Africans.
**subscribe to Patreon to read about the account of one of these visitors who traveled to Congo and Zambia in 1891:**
[A DESCRIPTION OF SOUTH-CENTRAL AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104845425?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5vdX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F03906fb9-0e31-4d02-8404-125137f49f4d_1183x728.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-1-145195977)
taken from the introduction of “Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana: Settlement Hierarchies, Political Boundaries and Symbolic Statements” by Thomas N. Huffman & Mike Main
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-2-145195977)
Map by Shadreck Chirikure et al, from “No Big Brother Here: Heterarchy, Shona Political Succession and the Relationship between Great Zimbabwe and Khami, Southern Africa.”
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-3-145195977)
Archaeological excavations at Bosutswe, Botswana: cultural chronology, paleo-ecology and economy by James Denbow et al., The Iron Age sequence around a Limpopo River floodplain on Basinghall Farm, Tuli Block, Botswana, during the second millennium AD by Biemond Wim Moritz pg 6-7, 65, 234)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-4-145195977)
The Iron Age sequence around a Limpopo River floodplain by Biemond Wim Moritz pg 66, 125, 152, 162, Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 25-27
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-5-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 32-33,
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-6-145195977)
An ivory cache from Botswana by Andrew Reid and Alinah K Segobye
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-7-145195977)
The Origin of the Zimbabwe Tradition walling by Catrien Van Waarden pg 59-69)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-8-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 50, 356
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-9-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 49)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-10-145195977)
An archaeological study of the zimbabwe culture capital of khami by T. Mukwende pg 15
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-11-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 79-81)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-12-145195977)
A History of Mozambique By M. D. D. Newitt pg 10-12, 22 An archaeological study of the zimbabwe culture capital of khami by T. Mukwende pg 38
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-13-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 82, 179-180)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-14-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 84)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-15-145195977)
Recent Research at Domboshaba Ruin, North East District, Botswana by Nick Walker, Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 91, 231)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-17-145195977)
Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana: Settlement Hierarchies, Political Boundaries and Symbolic Statements by Thomas N. Huffman & Mike Main pg 372, Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 90)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-18-145195977)
Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana: Settlement Hierarchies, Political Boundaries and Symbolic Statements by Thomas N. Huffman & Mike Main pg 373-4)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-19-145195977)
Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana: Settlement Hierarchies, Political Boundaries and Symbolic Statements by Thomas N. Huffman & Mike Main pg 373, Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 89
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-20-145195977)
The Archaeology of the Metolong Dam, Lesotho, by Peter Mitchell, pg 15-18, Settlement Hierarchies in the Northern Transvaal : Zimbabwe Ruins and Venda History by T. Huffman pg 8-10
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-21-145195977)
Reddit photo by /u/Hannor7 and Facebook photo by Mike Techet
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-22-145195977)
Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana: Settlement Hierarchies, Political Boundaries and Symbolic Statements by Thomas N. Huffman & Mike Main pg 371-372, 376)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-23-145195977)
Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana: Settlement Hierarchies, Political Boundaries and Symbolic Statements by Thomas N. Huffman & Mike Main pg 379-384, Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 252)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-24-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 230)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-25-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 234-235
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-26-145195977)
No Big Brother Here: Heterarchy, Shona Political Succession and the Relationship between Great Zimbabwe and Khami, Southern Africa by Shadreck Chirikure et. al.
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-27-145195977)
Maps by Catrien van Waarden, and Shadreck Chirikure
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-28-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 243-245, 353-354)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-29-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 251-267)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-30-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 267, 277-281, 334-335, 341)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-31-145195977)
Zimbabwe Ruins in Botswana: Settlement Hierarchies, Political Boundaries and Symbolic Statements by Thomas N. Huffman & Mike Main pg 376-377)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-32-145195977)
Butua and the End of an Era: The Effect of the Collapse of the Kalanga State on Ordinary Citizens by Catrien Van Waarden pg 354, 357
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone#footnote-anchor-33-145195977)
‘Ruins at junction of Lotsina with Crocodile River’ by William Ellerton Fry, reproduced by Rob S Burrett and Mark Berry
|
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5vdX!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F03906fb9-0e31-4d02-8404-125137f49f4d_1183x728.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-forgotten-ruins-of-botswana-stone
|
a brief note on African travel literature in history
===============
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a brief note on African travel literature in history
====================================================
### a Swahili document on south-central Africa.
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[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
May 26, 2024
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Travel writing constitutes a major primary source for reconstructing African history, and is especially important in supplementing internal accounts.
While much of the African travel literature that historians have access to was written by external visitors, a significant volume of travel literature was composed by African themselves, who were discovering and documenting different parts of their vast continent.
In 1338, [the Ethiopian monk Ēwosṭātēwos' traveled through the Nubian kingdom of Makuria](https://www.patreon.com/posts/africans-africa-83663994) in Sudan with his followers, where they assisted the Nubian king Siti in defeating a rival king. This account of the political rivalries in Nubia which is included in Ēwosṭātēwos' hagiography, matches with internal Nubian records from the same decade, which mention a pretender at its capital of Old Dongola named Kanz al-Dawla and another rebel named Anenaka, both of whom challenged King Siti's authority.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wJmF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4187323-a986-4b0c-866e-b19bcaea3dff_865x617.png)
_**13th-century painting in the church of Debra Maryam Qorqor in Ethiopia depicting a Nubian dignitary wearing the horned crown of Makuria.**_
In 1432, a family of [Wangara scholars led by Abd al-Rahmán Jakhite left their home in the West African empire of Mali](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education) against the wishes of its emperor and reached the Hausa city of Kano in the late 15th century. The arrival of the Wangara in Kano and their influence on the city's scholarly community was documented by one of their descendants in the Wangara Chronicle written in 1650. The chronicle mentions that the Wangara were given patronage by the Kano king Muhammad Rumfa (r. 1463-1499), and that Jakhite won an intellectual duel with a visiting Egyptian scholar.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OHAg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7819788-05ae-4c8d-ba8e-c4a08fb0facc_784x528.png)
_**street scene in Kano, Nigeria, ca. 1925**_, Bristol Archives
In 1806, [two Ovimbundu traders from the kingdom of Kasanje in west-central Africa traveled across the territories of the Lunda empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/trans-continental-trade-in-central) in order to establish a direct route to the Indian Ocean coast at Mozambique. Like many of their neighbors in the kingdom of Kongo, Ndongo, and [Kahenda which had established written traditions](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-archives-and-scribal-practices), these traders were literate, and they left a detailed description of their journey to the court of the Lunda King Yavu (r. 1800-1820), and his subordinate king of Kazembe in modern Zambia.
The above examples come from African regions which had a long history of large centralized states, well-established travel routes, and an old tradition of writing. These three factors were central to the emergence of travel writing in Africa since antiquity, and provide crucial evidence for how Africans explored their continent.
In the 19th century, the emergence of large states, trade routes, and literate travelers across south-central Africa led to the production of detailed documentation of the region's societies by other African visitors. The description of south-central Africa written by a traveler from the Swahili coast is the subject of my latest Patreon article,
**please subscribe to read about it here:**
[A DESCRIPTION OF SOUTH-CENTRAL AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104845425?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5vdX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F03906fb9-0e31-4d02-8404-125137f49f4d_1183x728.png)
* * *
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nbuV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bfed6be-f3af-457b-88bf-20e77a5066f3_458x573.png)
_**Folio from the Gadl (hagiography) of saint Ēwosṭātēwos**_, monastery of Qorqor Māryām
* * *
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[Acemoglu in Kongo: a critique of 'Why Nations Fail' and its wilful ignorance of African history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
[There aren’t many Africans on the list of Nobel laureates, nor does research on African societies show up in the selection committees of Stockholm.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
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[WHEN AFRICANS WROTE THEIR OWN HISTORY; A CATALOGUE OF AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY AFRICAN SCRIBES FROM ANTIQUITY UNTIL THE EVE OF…](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history)
[Far from being a continent without history, Africa is simply a continent whose written history has not been studied](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history)
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[  African History Extra WHEN AFRICANS WROTE THEIR OWN HISTORY; A CATALOGUE OF AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY AFRICAN SCRIBES FROM ANTIQUITY UNTIL THE EVE OF COLONIALSIM](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-african-travel-literature#)
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[The General History of Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-general-history-of-africa)
[a comprehensive look at states and societies across the continent's entire history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-general-history-of-africa)
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-african-travel-literature
|
The northern region of central Africa between the modern countries of D.R.Congo and South Sudan has a long and complex history shaped by its internal cultural developments and its unique ecology between the savannah and the forest.
Among the most remarkable states that emerged in this region was the kingdom of Mangbetu, whose distinctive architectural and art traditions captured the imagination of many visitors to the region, and continue to influence our modern perceptions of the region's societies and cultures.
This article explores the history of the Mangbetu kingdom and its cultural development from the 18th to the early 20th century.
_**Map of D.R. Congo showing the Mangbetu homeland[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-1-144722842).**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d8CR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8402b7d0-0e78-443d-9b0b-5ddecff257fc_703x517.png)
**Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
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**The early history of Mangbetu: social complexity in the Uele river basin**
The heartland of the Mangbetu kingdom is dominated by the Uele and Nepoko rivers, which cut across the northern region of the D.R.Congo. In this intermediate region between the savannah and the rainforest, diverse communities of farmers belonging to three of Africa's main language families settled and forged a new cultural tradition that coalesced into several polities.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-2-144722842)
Linguistic evidence indicates that the region was gradually populated by heterogeneous groups of iron-age societies whose populations belonged to the language families of Ubangi, western Bantu, and southern-central Sudanic. Each of these groups came to be acculturated by their neighbors, developing decentralized yet large-scale social economies and institutions that differed from their neighbors in the Great Lakes region and west-central Africa.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-3-144722842)
Among the groups associated with speakers of the southern-central Sudanic languages were the Mangbetu. The population drift of their ancestral groups southwards of the upper Uele basin began in the early 2nd millennium, and their communities were significantly influenced by their western Bantu-speaking neighbors such as the Mabodo and Buan. By the middle of the 18th century, incipient state institutions and military systems had developed among the Mangbetu and their neighbors as organizations structured around lineages became chiefdoms and kingdoms.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-4-144722842)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yGA2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcc869ba8-0c98-4163-88d6-e58b3317caa5_691x436.png)
_**map showing the expansion of Mangbetu-speaking groups.**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-5-144722842)
**The Mangbetu Kingdom under King Nabiembali (r. 1800-1859) and King Tuba (r. 1859-1867)**
Traditions and later written accounts associate the founding of the early Mangbetu polity with King Manziga, who is credited with overrunning several small polities along the Nepoko River during the late 18th century. His son and successor Nabiembali, undertook further conquests after 1800, expanding the kingdom northwards until the Uele River where he defeated the rival kingdom of Azande. Nabiembali's campaigns also extended east and west of the Magbentu heartlands, incorporating people from many different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds into the new state.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-6-144722842)
However, Nabiembali's rapidly expanded kingdom retained many of its early institutions of the pre-existing lineage groups. Royal ideology and legitimacy were highly personalized and were largely dependent on the success of the individual ruler in balancing military force with diplomacy rather than making dynastic claims or divine right. Political relationships continued to be defined in terms of kinship with the ruler's lineage (known as the ‘_**mabiti**_’) as well as his clients, forming the core of the court, and alliances were maintained through intermarriages between the leaders of subject groups.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-7-144722842)
The core of Nabiembali's military was the royal bodyguard comprising professional mercenaries, kinsmen, and dependents of the king, and it was sustained by revenues from the produce of its immediate clients and dependents. Lacking a centralized political system to maintain the loyalty of his newly conquered subjects, Nabiembali was overthrown by his sons in 1859, who established semi-independent Mangbetu kingdoms, the most powerful of which was led by Tuba who controlled the core regions of the kingdom.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-8-144722842)
As king of the Mangbetu heartland, Tuba was forced to fight the rebellious princes around him, who were inturn compelled to forge alliances with the neighboring Azande kingdom. A series of battles between Tuba and his rivals —who included Nabiembali's military commander Dakpala— culminated with his death in 1867, and he was succeeded by his son Mbunza. The latter was able to hold off his rivals, succeeded in defeating and killing Dakpala, and briefly forged commercial ties with ivory traders from the Sudanese Nile valley.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-9-144722842)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DyoI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb38fb4a4-f9b7-4aae-ada1-79dc3c3562d0_719x424.jpeg)
_**Mangebtu settlement at Nangazizi**_, ca. 1870, illustration by Schweinfurth
**Mangbetu kingdom under King Mbunza (r. 1867-1873): external contacts and descriptions of Mangbetu society.**
King Mbunza established his capital at Nangazizi, where he resided in a large palace built entirely out of wood, an architectural tradition common in the region, whose royal/public halls rivaled some of the world's largest wooden structures[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-10-144722842). In 1870, the Swiss traveler Georg Schweinfurth was briefly hosted in Mbunza's palace, whose grandeur and elegance captured the visitor's imagination. Schweinfurth's description of the Mangbetu politics, culture, and artworks would inform the writings of most of his successors.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-11-144722842)
The capital was bisected by a broad central plaza surrounded by the houses of the queens and courtiers, two large public halls, with the bigger one measuring 150ftx50ft and 50 feet high, and a large royal enclosure where the king had storehouses of ivory and weapons. The arches of the public halls' vaulted roofs were supported by five and three _**"long rows of pillars formed from perfectly straight tree-stems,"**_ its rafters and roofing were made from leafstalks of the palm-tree, its floor was plastered with red clay _**"as smooth as asphalt,"**_ and its sides were _**"enclosed by a low breastwork"**_ that allowed light to enter the building.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-12-144722842)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vc8h!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F30e5e09f-6475-49ac-a003-1812f8db63bf_1281x804.jpeg)
_**King Munza and the Mangbetu queens in the public hall**_, ca. 1870, illustration by Schweinfurth
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O__x!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd762fef-c26d-4a00-acbf-389245af6200_1200x859.jpeg)
_**exterior of a large Mangbetu hall**_, ca. 1909, AMNH. this is a later structure built by the Mangbetu king Okondo (r.1902-1915), it has a gable roof instead of the arched roof of Mbunza’s hall but is otherwise structurally similar to the latter.
The kingdom's craft industries were highly productive, and its artists were renowned for their sophisticated forging technology, particularly the making of ornaments and weapons in copper, iron, ivory, and wood. The manufacture of the weapons in particular was described glowingly by Schweinfurth, especially the scimitars (carved blades) of various types, as well as daggers, knives, and steel chains, which he calls _**"masterpieces"**_ and claims that Mangbetu's smiths _**"surpass even the Mohammedans of Northern Africa."**_ and rivals _**"the productions of our European craftsmen."**_[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-13-144722842)
The Mangbetu king and his courtiers developed symbols of royal insignia[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-14-144722842), including ornaments made of copper and ivory, as well as ceremonial weapons and vessels[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-15-144722842), musical instruments (trumpets, bells, timbrels, gongs, kettle-drums, and five-stringed 'mandolins'/harps[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-16-144722842)). These items, which are mentioned in several 19th century accounts and appear in many museums today, were part of the primary figurative tradition of the various societies of the Uele basin and were not confined to the royalty nor even to the Mangbetu.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-17-144722842)
Schweinfurth regarded Mbunza as a powerful absolute monarch, whose statecraft was influenced by the [Lunda empire to the south](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/trans-continental-trade-in-central). He claims that the king ruled by divine kingship, commanded hundreds of courtiers and subordinate governors, required regular tribute, and imposed commercial monopolies on long-distance trade in ivory and copper.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-18-144722842)
Historians regard most of Schweinfurth's interpretations and descriptions of Mangbetu politics and kingship as embellished, being influenced as much by his preconceptions and personal motivations as by the observations he was able to make during his very brief 13-day stay at the capital where he hardly had any interpreters. However, with the exception of the usual myths and stereotypes about central Africa found in European travelogues of the time[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-19-144722842), most of his accounts and illustrations of Mangbetu society were relatively accurate and conformed to similar descriptions from later traveler accounts and in traditional histories documented in the early 20th century.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-20-144722842)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k1VE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3774fca3-c4b0-46e0-9690-7fd0f1ca65f7_1366x564.png)
_**Side-blown Trumpets from Mangbetu**_, 19th-20th century, Met museum, AMNH. the anthropomorphic figures with long heads adorned with elaborative hairstyles reflect Mangbetu cultural practices of the Mabiti royal lineage.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2cTs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe97980b5-4988-4067-8ca3-e9416797cc2d_1366x484.png)
_**Figurative Harps from Mangbetu**_, 19th-20th century, Met Museum, AMNH.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HOyi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9f832850-0043-40c0-8686-d8632209b917_1141x561.png)
_**brass and iron swords from Mangbetu**_, 19th-20th century, AMNH, British Museum.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Mangbetu under King Yangala (r. 1873-1895): decline and fall.**
King Mbunza's rivals and their Azande allies continued to pose a threat in the northern frontier of the kingdom. By the early 1870s, these rivals —who included Dakpala's son; Yangala— allied with the Azande and a group of Nile traders whom Mbunza had expelled to form a coalition that defeated Mbunza in 1873. Yangala was installed as the king at Nangazizi but retained all of his predecessor's institutions in order to portray himself as a legitimate heir. He also married Mbunza's sister Nenzima, who acted as the 'prime minister' during his reign and his successor’s reigns.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-21-144722842)
Yangala largely succeeded in protecting Mangbetu from the brief but intense period of turmoil in which the societies of the Uele basin were embroiled in the expansionism of the Khedivate of Egypt and the Nile traders. Yangala's kingdom was now only one of several Mangbetu states, some of which were ruled by Mbunza's kinsmen like Mangbanga and Azanga who were equally successful in fending off external threats. All hosted later visitors like Wilhelm Junker and Gaetano Casiti who were also received in the large public hall described by Schweinfurth, and were equally enamored with Mangbetu art.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-22-144722842)
After the collapse of the Khedivate in Sudan, the Mangbetu king Yangala would only enjoy a decade of respite before a large military column of King Leopold's Congo State arrived at his capital in 1892. The internecine rivalries between the Mangbetu rulers and lineages compelled Yangala to submit to the Belgians inorder to retain some limited authority. But after his death in 1895, his successors such as king Mambanga (r. 1895-1902) and Okondo (r. 1902-1915) were chosen by the Belgians who transformed the role of the rulers in relation to their subjects and effectively ended the kingdom’s autonomy.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-23-144722842)
Around 1910, Mangentu’s artists produced more than 4,000 artworks which were among the 49 tons of cultural material collected by the American Museum of Natural History in northern D.R. Congo, whose curators had been drawn to Mangebtu’s art tradition, thanks to the artworks collected during the 19th century. These artworks and the evolution of their interpretation continue to influence how the history of Mangbetu and the northern D.R.C is reconstructed.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-24-144722842)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VjqO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb5e00bdf-5e1f-4e37-b4ac-b6fa144fc6f9_712x544.png)
_**carved ivory spoons and forks**_, Okondo’s residence, Mangbetu, Congo, ca. 1913, AMNH.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hlHi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01c6889e-5d92-4e4c-821b-a9a06a4c7c5d_802x426.png)
The history of central African societies and kingdoms has been profoundly influenced by the evolution of social divisions such as the Tutsi and Hutu. **Read about the dynamic history of this Tutsi / Hutu dichotomy in the kingdoms of Rwanda and Nkore here:**
[Evolution of the Tutsi/Hutu dichotomy](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104058904)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QV0B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F30c9fc82-47df-4b20-b01b-42d0a1a0be47_663x1193.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-1-144722842)
map by the ‘joshua project’
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-2-144722842)
Paths in the Rainforests: Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa by Jan M. Vansina pg 169)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-3-144722842)
Paths in the Rainforests: Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa by Jan M. Vansina pg 5-6, 171-172)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-4-144722842)
Paths in the Rainforests: Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa by Jan M. Vansina pg 173-175, UNESCO history of Africa vol 5 pg 520-523)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-6-144722842)
Paths in the Rainforests: Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa by Jan M. Vansina pg 176, Ten Years in Equatoria and the Return with Emin Pasha, Volume 1 By Gaetano Casati pg 115-117)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-7-144722842)
Paths in the Rainforests: Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa by Jan M. Vansina pg 176-177, Long-Distance Trade and the Mangbetu by Curtis A. Keim pg 5)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-8-144722842)
Long-Distance Trade and the Mangbetu by Curtis A. Keim pg 5)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-9-144722842)
Long-Distance Trade and the Mangbetu by Curtis A. Keim pg 6-8)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-10-144722842)
Precolonial African Material Culture. By V. Tarikhu Farrar, pg 219-222., junker’s account also mentions ‘assembly halls’ among the Zande as well; Travels in Africa during the years 1875[-1886] by Junker, Wilhelm, Vol. 3, pg 7, 18, 26, 47, 88.
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-11-144722842)
The Scramble for Art in Central Africa edited by Enid Schildkrout, pg 137-147)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-12-144722842)
The Heart of Africa: Three Years' Travels and Adventures in the Unexplored Regions of Central Africa from 1868 to 1871, Volume 2 by Georg August Schweinfurth pg 37-43, 65, 76-77, 97-99)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-13-144722842)
The Scramble for Art in Central Africa edited by Enid Schildkrout, pg 111-112, The Heart of Africa by Georg August Schweinfurth pg 107-110)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-14-144722842)
Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds edited by Ruth B. Phillips, Christopher B. Steiner pg 197, 202-203.
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-15-144722842)
The Heart of Africa by Georg August Schweinfurth pg 41, 75, 117)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-16-144722842)
Ten Years in Equatoria and the Return with Emin Pasha, Volume 1 By Gaetano Casati pg pg 188, 194-195, 244
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-17-144722842)
The Scramble for Art in Central Africa edited by Enid Schildkrout pg 109-111, 121-124, Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds edited by Ruth B. Phillips, Christopher B. Steiner pg 200-203
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-18-144722842)
The Heart of Africa by Georg August Schweinfurth pg 95-96, 99)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-19-144722842)
_The historian Curtis keim calls the discursive tradition pioneered by Schweinfurth the "Mangbetu myth"; which consists of a set of stereotypical elements such as the nobility of the royals and the splendor of courtly life that is then juxtaposed with erroneous references to their 'savagery' and 'cannibalism'. The latter of which ironically was an accusation the Mangbetu also leveled against Schweinfurth who was, after all, accumulating a vast collection of human skulls from across the world for his pseudoscientific studies of eugenics, and thus compelled the Mangbetu to sell him human skulls, something the Africans found bizarre, and insisted was proof of Schweinfurth's insatiable cannibalism, an accusation he ironically dismissed as stupid_. see: The Scramble for Art in Central Africa edited by Enid Schildkrout, Curtis A. Keim pg 137, The Heart of Africa by Georg August Schweinfurth pg 54-55, Mistaking Africa: Misconceptions and Inventions By Curtis Keim pg 107-111.
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-20-144722842)
Long-Distance Trade and the Mangbetu by Curtis A. Keim pg 2-3, The Scramble for Art in Central Africa edited by Enid Schildkrout, pg 136-138)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-21-144722842)
Long-Distance Trade and the Mangbetu by Curtis A. Keim pg 9-10, 12, Ten Years in Equatoria and the Return with Emin Pasha, Volume 1 By Gaetano Casati pg 118, 146-147 The Scramble for Art in Central Africa edited by Enid Schildkrout pg 125)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-22-144722842)
Long-Distance Trade and the Mangbetu by Curtis A. Keim pg 12-13, 17-21, Ten Years in Equatoria and the Return with Emin Pasha, Volume 1 By Gaetano Casati pg 82, The Scramble for Art in Central Africa edited by Enid Schildkrout pg 116
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-23-144722842)
(_an aspect of the Mangebtu response to the Belgian atrocities can be glimpsed in the satirical figure of a saluting Belgian soldier on the third harp -shown above- who is naked all but his cap_) see:
Methodology, Ideology and Pedagogy of African Art: Primitive to Metamodern edited by Moyo Okediji pg 83-85, Mangbetu Tales of Leopard and Azapane: Trickster as Resistance Hero by Robert Mckee
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history#footnote-anchor-24-144722842)
The Scramble for Art in Central Africa edited by Enid Schildkrout pg 119, 125, Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds edited by Ruth B. Phillips, Christopher B. Steiner pg 199-204.
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kingdoms-at-the-forests-edge-a-history
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Africa is often considered the most culturally diverse continent, a fact that is thought to significantly influence state development.
However, the identification and study of cultures and social complexity in pre-colonial African societies has hardly been known for its conceptual clarity and scientific rigour. In the early 20th century, colonial authorities confronted with the diversity of their subject population set about the task of classifying them inorder to determine the 'true rulers' of the past so they could add the legitimacy of tradition to the colony's 'Native Authority.'[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-1-144553052)
Urged on by the colonial authorities, early anthropologists and linguists described cultures, languages, and ethnicities as discrete, bounded groups, whose distribution could be captured on an 'ethnic map' such as George Murdock's now infamous 1959 map of African "tribes". Similarly, early historians of Africa were preoccupied with finding the 'true origins' of these groups, their migration to their present territories, and the innovations they supposedly carried with them.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-2-144553052)
The disciplines of anthropology, linguistics, and history in Africa have since come a long way from their problematic foundations. Cultures and ethnicities[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-3-144553052) are now understood to be more fluid and variable social constructs that shape and are shaped by historical processes of social change and evolution. This new approach to Africa's social history has also revealed that languages are not the sole indicators of culture, since linguistic differences alone can’t determine social interactions.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-4-144553052)
Most African states and societies were recognizably heterogeneous —from small [kingdoms like Kuba](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-art-of-power-in-central-africa) to [large empires like Mali](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history)— and interactions between different social groups could occur across multiple cultural zones. The existence of 'diasporic communities' across a vast region such as the [Hausa diaspora](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-creation-of-an-african-lingua) and the [Wangara diaspora](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education) in West Africa, and the [Swahili diaspora](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/economic-growth-and-cultural-synchretism) in East Africa, also indicates that cultural convergence between different African societies wasn't infrequent, and could be facilitated by trade, religion and the state.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Dg-a!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F953c901a-de3b-4db8-9d26-3d8984826452_633x839.png)
‘ethnic’ groups in the Mali empire (approx. 1 million sqkm) and the Kuba kingdom (approx. 27,000 sqkm).[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-5-144553052)
As one historian succinctly puts it; _**"Political and ethnic boundaries rarely coincided in pre-colonial Africa. Human ambitions were too pressing to allow people to remain static over long periods. States expanded when they were sufficiently powerful to do so. Communities competed with one another to attract settlers and thereby gain supporters."**_[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-6-144553052)
Ethnicities and cultures are therefore historical and not primordial phenomena. One of the most profound examples of the historical evolution of social identities in Africa comes from the Great Lakes region of East Africa, where the social divisions of Tutsi/Hima and Hutu/Iru have been particularly significant in shaping the history of states and societies from the colonial period to the present day, especially in the kingdoms of Rwanda and Nkore.
**The history of the Tutsi/Hima and Hutu/Iru dichotomy is the subject of my latest Patreon article.**
**please subscribe to read about it here:**
[Evolution of the Tutsi/Hutu dichotomy](https://www.patreon.com/posts/104058904)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QV0B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F30c9fc82-47df-4b20-b01b-42d0a1a0be47_663x1193.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b5ZF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52169126-e1cc-4af1-9535-6001250b2595_756x484.png)
_**street scene in Gao, Mali**_, ca. 1935, ANOM.
The city’s population was linguistically diverse, including speakers of the languages of Songhay, Fula, and Tamashek.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!s7kb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdeeaa579-4b59-4f6f-b3d6-37492ac466f5_684x921.jpeg)
a group of Comorians settled in the trading city of Majunga, Madagascar, ca. 1904, Quai Branly Museum.
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-anchor-1-144553052)
Ethnic Groups and the State edited by Paul R. Brass pg 65-83
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-anchor-2-144553052)
Genetics and the Unsettled Past: The Collision of DNA, Race, and History edited by Keith Wailoo, Alondra Nelson, Catherine Lee pg 68-78, What Do You Mean There Were No Tribes in Africa?: Thoughts on Boundaries and Related Matters In Precolonial Africa by DR Wright pg 419-426, The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns edited by Bassey Andah, Alex Okpoko, Thurstan Shaw, Paul Sinclair pg 1-10.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-anchor-3-144553052)
at its most basic definition; **ethnicity** is a social group, **culture** is a way of life, and **states**/kingdoms/empires are a form of organized society. These concepts can overlap or diverge depending on the context.
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-anchor-4-144553052)
Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 By John Kelly Thornton pg 184-189
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-anchor-5-144553052)
Maps by Nehemiah Levtzion and Jan Vansina
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the#footnote-anchor-6-144553052)
Precolonial Legacies in Postcolonial Politics By Martha Wilfahrt pg 50
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Dg-a!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F953c901a-de3b-4db8-9d26-3d8984826452_633x839.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QV0B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F30c9fc82-47df-4b20-b01b-42d0a1a0be47_663x1193.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b5ZF!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52169126-e1cc-4af1-9535-6001250b2595_756x484.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!s7kb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdeeaa579-4b59-4f6f-b3d6-37492ac466f5_684x921.jpeg"
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-ethnicity-and-the
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Throughout its history, Africa has produced many notable women scholars who contributed greatly to its intellectual heritage.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-1-144303681) But few are as prominent as the 19th-century scholar Nana Asmau from the Sokoto empire in what is today northern Nigeria.
Nana Asmau was one of Africa's most prolific writers, with over eighty extant works to her name and many still being discovered. She was a popular teacher, a multilingual author, and an eloquent ideologue, able to speak informedly on a wide range of topics including religion, medicine, politics, history, and issues of social concern. Her legacy as a community leader for the women of Sokoto survives in the institutions created out of her social activism, and the voluminous works of poetry still circulated by students.
This article explores the life and works of Nana Asmau, highlighting some of her most important written works in the context of the political and social history of west Africa.
_**Map of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1850, by Paul Lovejoy**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!osBP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F064fa669-fee3-44ec-8a70-ede71cb0f8e0_1200x909.jpeg)
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**Early life of Nana Asmau and the foundation of the Sokoto state.**
Born Nana Asma'u bint Usman 'dan Fodio in 1793 into a family of scholars in the town of Degel within the Hausa city-state of Gobir, she composed the first of her approximately eighty known works in 1820. Many of these works have been translated and studied in the recent publications of Jean Boyd and other historians. The fact that Nana Asmau needed no male pseudonym, unlike most of her Western peers, says a lot about the intellectual and social milieu in which she operated.
While Asmau was extraordinary in her prolific poetic output and activism, she was not an exception but was instead one in a long line of women scholars that came before and continued after her. Asmau was typical of her time and place with regard to the degree to which women pursued knowledge, and could trace eight generations of female scholars both before and after her lifetime. At least twenty of these women scholars can be identified from her family alone between the 18th and 19th centuries based on works written during this period, seven of whom were mentioned in Asmau’s compilation of women scholars, and at least four of whose works survive.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-2-144303681)
These women were often related to men who were also accomplished scholars, the most prominent of whom was Asmau's father Uthman dan Fodio who founded the Sokoto state. One of the major preoccupations of Uthman and his successors was the abolition of "innovation" and a return to Islamic "orthodoxy". Among the main criticisms that he leveled against the established rulers (and his own community) was their marginalization of women in Education. Disregarding centuries of hadiths and scholarly commentaries on the message of the Prophet, the shaykh emphasized the need to recognize the fact that Islam, in its pristine form, didn’t tolerate for any minimalization of women’s civic rights.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-3-144303681)
He writes that _**“Most of our educated men leave their wives, their daughters and their female relatives ... to vegetate, like beasts, without teaching them what Allah prescribes they should be taught and without instructing them in the articles of Law that concern them. This is a loathsome crime. How can they allow their wives, daughters, and female dependents to remain prisoners of ignorance, while they share their knowledge with students every day? In truth, they are acting out of self-interest”**_.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-4-144303681)
He adds; _**“One of the root causes of the misfortunes of this country is the attitude taken by Malams who neglect the welfare of the women. they [Women] are not taught what they ought to know about trading transactions; this is quite wrong and a forbidden innovation. It is obligatory to teach wives, daughters, and female dependants: the teaching of [male] pupils is optional and what is obligatory has priority over what is optional.”**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-5-144303681) And in another text critical of some of the 'pagan' practices he saw among some of his own community, he writes that _**"They do not teach their wives nor do they allow them to be educated, All these things stem from ignorance. They are not the Way of the Prophet"**_.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-6-144303681)
Asmau’s creative talents were cultivated in the [school system of Islamic West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-network-of-african-scholarship), in which learning was individualized under a specific teacher for an individual subject, relying on reference material from their vast personal libraries. Asmau was taught by multiple teachers throughout her life even as she taught other students, and was especially fortunate as her own family included highly accomplished scholars who were teachers in Degel. These teachers included her sister, Khadija, her father, Shaykh Uthman, and her half-brother, Muhammad Bello, all of whom wrote several hundred works combined, many of which survived to the present day.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-7-144303681)
Nana Asma'u mastered the key Islamic sciences, acquired fluency in writing the languages of Hausa, Arabic, and Tamasheq, in addition to her native language Fulfulde, and became well-versed in legal matters, fiqh (which regulates religious conduct), and tawhid(dogma). Following in the footsteps of her father, she became deeply immersed in the dominant Qadriyya order of Sufi mysticism. The first ten years of her life were devoted to scholarly study, before the beginning of Uthman’s movement to establish the Sokoto state. There followed a decade of itinerancy and warfare, through which Asma’u continued her studies, married, and wrote poetic works.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-8-144303681)
Around 1807, Asmau married Gidado dan Laima (1776-1850 ), a friend of Muhammad Bello who later served as wazir (‘prime minister’) of Sokoto during the latter's reign. Gidado encouraged Asmau’s intellectual endeavors and, as Bello’s closest companion, was able to foster the convergence of his wife’s interests with her brother’s. In Asmaus elegy for Gidado titled; _Sonnore Gid'ad'o_ (1848), she lists his personal qualities and duties to the state, mentioning that he _**"protected the rights of everyone regardless of their rank or status… stopped corruption and wrongdoing in the city and … honoured the Shehu's womenfolk."**_[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-9-144303681)
**Asmau’s role in documenting the history and personalities of Sokoto**
Asmau was a major historian of Sokoto, and an important witness of many of the accounts she described, some of which she may have participated in as she is known to have ridden her horse publically while traveling between the cities of Sokoto, Kano, and Wurno[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-10-144303681).
Asmau wrote many historical works about the early years of Uthman Fodio's movement and battles, the various campaigns of Muhammad Bello (r. 1817-1837) eg his defeat of the Tuaregs at Gawakuke in 1836, and the campaigns of Aliyu (r. 1842-1859) eg his defeat of the combined forces of Gobir and Kebbi. She also wrote about the reign and character of Muhammad Bello, and composed various elegies for many of her peers, including at least four women scholars; Fadima (d. 1838), Halima (d. 1844), Zaharatu (d. 1857), Fadima (d. 1863) and Hawa’u (1858) —the last of whom was one of her appointed women leaders[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-11-144303681). All of these were of significant historical value for reconstructing not just the political and military history of Sokoto, but also its society, especially on the role of women in shaping its religious and social institutions[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-12-144303681).
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folio from the fulfulde manuscript _**Fa'inna ma'al Asur Yasuran**_ (So Verily), 1822, SOAS
One notable battle described by Asmau was the fall of the Gobir capital Alƙalawa in 1808, which was arguably the most decisive event in the foundation of Sokoto. Folklore attributes to Asmau a leading role in the taking of the capital. She is said to have thrown a burning brand to Bello who used the torch to set fire to the capital, and this became the most famous story about her. However, this wasn’t included in her own account, and the only likely mention of her participation in the early wars comes from the Battle of Alwasa in 1805 when the armies of Uthman defeated the forces of the Tuareg chief Chief of Adar, Tambari Agunbulu, "_**And the women added to it by stoning [enemies] - and leaving them exposed to the sun."**_[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-13-144303681)
After the first campaigns, the newly established state still faced major threats, not just from the deposed rulers who had fled north but also from the latter's Tuareg allies. One of the first works written by Asmau was an acrostic poem titled, _**Fa'inna ma'a al-'usrin yusra**_ (1822), which she composed in response to a similar poem written by Bello who was faced with an invasion by the combined forces of the Tuareg Chief Ibrahim of Adar, and the Gobir sultan Ali.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-14-144303681)
This work was the first in the literary collaboration between Asma'u and Muhammad Bello, highlighting their equal status as intellectual peers. The Scottish traveler Hugh Clapperton, who visited Sokoto in 1827, noted that women were _**“allowed more liberty than the generality of Muslim women”**_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-15-144303681). The above observation doubtlessly reveals itself in the collaborative work of Asmau and Bello titled; Kitab al-Nasihah (book of women) written in 1835 and translated to Fulfulde and Hausa by Asmau 1836. It lists thirty seven sufi women from across the Muslim world until the 13th century, as well as seven from Sokoto who were eminent scholars.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-16-144303681)
Asmau provided brief descriptions of the Sokoto women she listed, who included; Joda Kowuuri, _**"a Qur'anic scholar who used her scholarship everywhere,"**_ Habiba, the most revered _**"teacher of women,"**_ Yahinde Limam, who was _**"diligent at solving disputes"**_, and others including Inna Garka, Aisha, lyya Garka and Aminatu bint Ade, in addition to "as many as a hundred" who she did not list for the sake of brevity.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-17-144303681) The poem on Sufi Women emphasizes that pious women are to be seen in the mainstream of Islam, and could be memorized by teachers for instructional purposes.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-18-144303681)
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folios from the _**‘kitab al-nasiha’**_ (Book of Women), 1835/6, SOAS Library
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Asmau’s role in women’s education and social activism.**
The above work on sufi women wasn’t intended to be read as a mere work of literature, but as a mnemonic device, a formula to help her students remember these important names. It was meant to be interpreted by a teacher (jaji) who would have received her instructions from Asmau directly. Asmau devoted herself to extensive work with the teachers, as it was their job to learn from Asma'u what was necessary to teach to other teachers of women, whose work involved the interpretations of very difficult and lengthy material about Islamic theology and practices.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-19-144303681)
Asma'u was particularly distinguished as the mentor and tutor of a community of jajis through whom the key tenets of Sufi teachings about spirituality, ethics, and morality in the handling of social responsibilities spread across all sections of the society.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-20-144303681) The importance of providing the appropriate Islamic education for both elite and non-elite women and girls was reinforced by the growing popularity[non-Islamic Bori religion](https://www.patreon.com/posts/82189267?pr=true), which competed for their allegiance.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-21-144303681) One of Asmau’s writings addressed to her coreligionists who were appealing to Bori diviners during a period of drought, reveals the extent of this ideological competition.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-22-144303681)
Groups of women, who became known as the ‘Yan Taru (the Associates) began to visit Asma’u under the leadership of representatives appointed by her. The Yan Taru became the most important instrument for the social mobilization, these _**"bands of women students"**_ were given a large malfa hat that's usually worn by men and the _Inna (_ chief of women in Gobir) who led the bori religion in Gobir. By giving each jaji such a hat, Asmau transformed it into an emblem of Islamic learning, and a symbol of the wearer’s authority.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-23-144303681)
Asmau’s aim in creating the ‘Yan Taru was to educate and socialize women. Asmau's writings also encouraged women's free movement in public, and were addressed to both her students and their male relatives, writing that: _**"In Islam, it is a religious duty to seek knowledge Women may leave their homes freely for this."**_[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-24-144303681) The education network of the ‘Yan Taru was already widespread as early as the 1840s, as evidenced in some of her writings such as the elegy for one of her students, Hauwa which read;
_**"[I] remember Hauwa who loved me, a fact well known to everybody. During the hot season, the rains, harvest time, when the harmattan blows, And the beginning of the rains, she was on the road bringing people to me… The women students and their children are well known for their good works and peaceful behaviour in the community."**_[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-25-144303681)
Many of Asmau's writings appear to have been intended for her students[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-26-144303681), with many being written in Fulfulde and Hausa specifically for the majority of Sokoto’s population that was unfamiliar with Arabic. These include her trilingual work titled _‘Sunago’_, which was a nmemonic device used for teaching beginners the names of the suras of the Qur'an.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-27-144303681) Other works such as the _Tabshir al-Ikhwan_ (1839) was meant to be read and acted upon by the malarns who specialized in the ‘medicine of the prophet’[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-28-144303681), while the Hausa poem _Dalilin Samuwar Allah_ (1861) is another work intended for use as a teaching device.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-29-144303681)
Asmau also wrote over eighteen elegies, at least six of which were about important women in Sokoto. Each is praised in remembrance of the positive contributions she made to the community, with emphasis on how her actions defined the depth of her character.
These elegies reveal the qualities that were valued among both elite and non-elite women in Sokoto. In the elegy for her sister Fadima (1838), Asmau writes; _**“Relatives and strangers alike, she showed no discrimination. she gave generously; she urged people to study. She produced provisions when an expedition was mounted, she had many responsibilities. She sorted conflicts, urged people to live peacefully, and forbade squabbling. She had studied a great deal and had deep understanding of what she had read.”**_[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-30-144303681)
Asma’u did not just confine her praise to women such as Fadima who performed prodigious tasks, but, also those who did more ordinary tasks. In her elegy for Zaharatu (d. 1857), Asmau writes: _**“She gave religious instruction to the ignorant and helped everyone in their daily affairs. Whenever called upon to help, she came, responding to layout the dead without hesitation. With the same willingness she attended women in childbirth. All kinds of good works were performed by Zaharatu. She was pious and most persevering: she delighted in giving and was patient and forbearing.”**_[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-31-144303681)
A list of her students in specific localities, which was likely written not long after her death, mentions nearly a hundred homes.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-32-144303681)
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Folio from the fulfulde manuscript _‘Sunago’_ 1829, [BNF Paris](https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9065795d/f49.item.r=Arabe%206112.zoom).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HK_Q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd79a887e-9bed-4ea3-b6f7-92a82e8fefbd_929x575.png)
folios from the Hausa manuscript '_**Qasidar na Rokon Allah**_', early 19th century, SOAS Library
**Asmau’s role in the political and intellectual exchanges of West Africa.**
After the death of Muhammad Bello, Asmau’s husband Gidado met with the senior councilors of Sokoto in his capacity as the wazir, and they elected Atiku to the office of Caliph. Gidado then relinquished the office of Wazir but stayed in the capital. Asmau and her husband then begun to write historical accounts of the lives of the Shehu and Bello for posterity, including the places they had lived in, their relatives and dependants, the judges they had appointed, the principal imams of the mosques, the scholars who had supported them, and the various offices they created.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-33-144303681)
Besides writing extensively about the history of Sokoto's foundation, the reign of Bello, and 'text-books' for her students, Asmau was from time to time invited to advise some emirs and sultans on emergent matters of state and rules of conduct. One of her works titled '_Tabbat Hakiya_' (1831), is a text about politics, informs people at all levels of government about their duties and responsibilities. She writes that;
_**"Rulers must persevere to improve affairs, Do you hear? And you who are ruled, do not stray: Do not be too anxious to get what you want. Those who oppress the people in the name of authority Will be crushed in their graves… Instruct your people to seek redress in the law, Whether you are a minor official or the Imam himself. Even if you are learned, do not stop them."**_[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-34-144303681)
Asmau, like many West African scholars who could voice their criticism of politicians, also authored critiques of corrupt leaders. An example of this was the regional governor called ɗan Yalli, who was dismissed from office for misconduct, and about whom she wrote;
_**"Thanks be to God who empowered us to overthrow ɗan Yalli. Who has caused so much trouble. He behaved unlawfully, he did wanton harm.. We can ourselves testify to the Robberies and extortion in the markets, on the Highways and at the city gateways".**_[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-35-144303681)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!__Af!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb34d58b8-7381-4645-b733-94ad8b854a62_985x699.png)
folios from the Fulfulde poem _**‘Gikku Bello’**_ 1838/9. [BNF Paris](https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9065795d/f54.item.r=Arabe%206112.zoom)
As an established scholar, Asmau corresponded widely with her peers across West Africa. She had built up a reputation as an intellectual leader in Sokoto and was recognized as such by many of her peers such as the Sokoto scholar Sheikh Sa'ad who wrote this of her; _**"Greetings to you, O woman of excellence and fine traits! In every century there appears one who excels. The proof of her merit has become well known, east and west, near and far. She is marked by wisdom and kind deeds; her knowledge is like the wide sea."**_[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-36-144303681)
Asmau’s fame extended beyond Sokoto, for example, the scholar Ali Ibrahim from Masina (in modern Mali) wrote: _**"She [Asma’u] is famous for her erudition and saintliness which are as a bubbling spring to scholars. Her knowledge, patience, and sagacity she puts to good use as did her forebears"**_ and she replied: **"It would be fitting to reward you: you are worthy of recognition. Your work is not inferior and is similar in all respects to the poetry you mention."**[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-37-144303681)
She also exchanged letters with a scholar from [Chinguetti (Shinqit in Mauritania)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan) named Alhaji Ahmad bin Muhammad al-Shinqiti, and welcomed him to Sokoto during his pilgrimage to Mecca, writing: _**"Honour to the erudite scholar who has left his home To journey to Medina. Our noble, handsome brother, the hem of whose scholarship others cannot hope to touch. He came bearing evidence of his learning, and the universality of his knowledge.**_[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-38-144303681)_**"**_
Asm’u died in 1864 at the age of 73, and was laid to rest next to the tomb of the Shehu. Her brother and students composed elegies for her, one of which read that
_**"At the end of the year 1280 Nana left us, Having received the call of the Lord of Truth.**_
_**When I went to the open space in front of Giɗaɗo’s house I found it too crowded to pass through Men were crying, everyone without exception Even animals uttered cries of grief they say.**_
_**Let us fling aside the useless deceptive world, We will not abide in it forever; we must die. The benevolent one, Nana was a peacemaker. She healed almost all hurt."**_[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-39-144303681)
After Nana Asma’u’s death, her student and sister Maryam Uwar Deji succeeded her as the leader of the ‘Yan Taru, and became an important figure in the politics of Kano, an emirate in Sokoto.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-40-144303681) Asmau’s students, followers, and descendants carried on her education work among the women of Sokoto which continued into the colonial and post-colonial era of northern Nigeria.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!erKT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bb3cba9-747d-45fb-affb-f50bb6001af0_873x573.png)
Folios from the Hausa poem titled ‘Begore’ and a poem in Fulfulde titled ‘Allah Jaalnam’.[41](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-41-144303681)
**Conclusion: Asmau’s career and Muslim women in African history.**
Nana Asmau was a highly versatile and polymathic writer who played a salient role in the history of West Africa. She actively shaped the political structures and intellectual communities across Sokoto and was accepted into positions of power in both the secular and religious contexts by many of her peers without attention to her gender.
The career of Asmau and her peers challenge Western preconceptions about Muslim women in Africa (such as those held by Hugh Clapperton and later colonialists) that presume them to be less active in society and more cloistered than non-Muslim women.[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-42-144303681) The corpus of Asmau provides firsthand testimony to the active participation of women in Sokoto's society that wasn't dissimilar to the [experiences of women in other African societies](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power).
Asmau's life and works are yet another example of the complexity of African history, and how it was constantly reshaped by its agents --both men and women.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2oBA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F94d24b11-6e2b-4f3a-877d-b3344ee26cea_800x492.jpeg)
_**View of Sokoto from its outskirts**_., ca. 1890
To the south of Sokoto was **the old kingdom of Benin, which had for centuries been in close contact with European traders from the coast. These foreigners were carefully and accurately represented in Benin’s art across five centuries as their relationship with Benin evolved.**
**read more about the evolution of Europeans in Benin’s art here:**
[THE INDIGENOUS AND FOREIGN IN BENIN ART](https://www.patreon.com/posts/103165109)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oc7o!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8edfc6f-59d4-485d-ab2a-9cd496bf3cb1_664x803.png)
Thank you for reading African History Extra. This post is public so feel free to share it.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-2-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 174-179)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-3-144303681)
Feminist or Simply Feminine ? Reflection on the Works of Nana Asma'u by Chukwuma Azuonye pg 67, Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 29)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-4-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 29-30
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-5-144303681)
The Fulani Women Poets by Jean Boyd pg 128)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-6-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 31)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-7-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 26-27)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-8-144303681)
One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 7-10, 12-13.
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-9-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 198-202, Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 34-35)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-10-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 85, 87)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-11-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 18-20
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-12-144303681)
One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 63-75
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-13-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 147, n. 344, Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 46)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-14-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 28-31)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-15-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd 69-70)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-16-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 81-84, Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 68-72)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-17-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 81-82, One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 48-49
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-18-144303681)
One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 83-85-88
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-19-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 70)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-20-144303681)
One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 76-79
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-21-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 94)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-22-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 246, One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 40-43
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-23-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 90-100, One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 36-37, 89
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-24-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg pg 245)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-25-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 101)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-26-144303681)
One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 79-83
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-27-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 38, One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe By Beverly B. Mack, Jean Boyd pg 23-25
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-28-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 97)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-29-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 264)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-30-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 95-96
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-31-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 250
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-32-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 375-377)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-33-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 88-95)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-34-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 43, 49-50)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-35-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd 107-108, 123, 130-131, Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 276)
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-36-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 285
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-37-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 289)
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-38-144303681)
Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, Daughter of Usman Dan Fodiyo pg 283
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-39-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 137-138)
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-40-144303681)
Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864 By Beverley Mack, Jean Boyd pg 148)
[42](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous#footnote-anchor-42-144303681)
Feminist or Simply Feminine ? Reflection on the Works of Nana Asma'u by Chukwuma Azuonye pg 72-73
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!osBP!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F064fa669-fee3-44ec-8a70-ede71cb0f8e0_1200x909.jpeg",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!66A5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4f07babc-aa01-451d-83f1-5d053e83af5d_915x589.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HK_Q!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd79a887e-9bed-4ea3-b6f7-92a82e8fefbd_929x575.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!__Af!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb34d58b8-7381-4645-b733-94ad8b854a62_985x699.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!erKT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bb3cba9-747d-45fb-affb-f50bb6001af0_873x573.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2oBA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F94d24b11-6e2b-4f3a-877d-b3344ee26cea_800x492.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oc7o!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8edfc6f-59d4-485d-ab2a-9cd496bf3cb1_664x803.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/life-and-works-of-africas-most-famous
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Contacts between people of different societies and cultures are one the most important subjects of research undertaken by historians and anthropologists.
But in African historiography, most studies of cultural contacts and discovery used to be concerned with the study of foreign perceptions of Africa and Africans, with relatively few studies being devoted to the African view of non-African people and societies, and how they evolved over time, especially during the era of mutual discovery beginning in the late 15th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U36i!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F242acc5e-2f03-4034-881d-f1370176d302_1196x567.png)
_**Carved ivory salt cellars made by Sapi artists in early 16th century Sierra Leone, showing indigenous and foreign motifs.**_
This asymmetrical focus on the perspectives of non-Africans has created a false division between active and passive participants in cultural contacts, not just in research about the individual figures who participated in these exchanges, but also in the analysis of the "hybridized" objects, structures, and styles produced as a result of the contacts between African and non-Africans.
Fortunately, the recent shift to studying the perspectives of Africans in their cultural contacts with the rest of the world has revised previous ideas about Africa's role in the era of mutual discovery. As more research re-evaluates the impact of Africa's international relations on global history in general and African history in particular, a more coherent perspective on the initiative of Africans and their artistic creativity has emerged.
Recent publications such as David Northrup's '_**Africa's Discovery of Europe’**_ and Michał Tymowski's _**'Europeans and Africans'**_ have positioned Africans as fully articulated historical agents in the era of mutual discovery. While studies focused on the material impact of such interactions like Verena Krebs' _**‘Medieval Ethiopian Kingship’**_ and Manuel Joao Ramos' _**‘The Indigenous and the Foreign in Christian Ethiopian Art'**_ have reframed previous ideas about African agency in the creation of the 'hybridized' artwork and architecture of the period.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WqqS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffd8f1cc4-be98-498f-a7ff-e662c65319c1_721x446.png)
_**18th century Ethiopian manuscript miniature depicting a long battlemented building similar to the Gondarine palace of Empress Mentewwab.**_ Mss Or. 791, British Library.
My articles about the African diaspora in [India](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese), [China](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80113224?pr=true), [Arabia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-west-african-diaspora), [Yemen and the Persian Gulf](https://www.patreon.com/posts/96900062), [Palestine](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80883718?pr=true), [ancient to modern Europe](https://newlinesmag.com/essays/did-europeans-discover-africa-or-the-other-way-around/#:~:text=In%20what%20would%20become%20a,European%20explorers%20of%20Victorian%20lore.), the [Iberian peninsula](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-diaspora-82902179), and [Western Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-and-of-89363872), have continued this theme of highlighting African agency in its contacts with the rest of the world. Similar articles such as the [Aksumites in Yemen](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ethiopian-ruler-78169632), the West Africans in [Medina](https://www.patreon.com/posts/from-guinea-to-b-61683129) and [Cairo](https://www.patreon.com/posts/102321250?pr=true), and the [Ethiopians in southern Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051), explore the contribution of these diasporic Africans to the diverse cultural and intellectual traditions of their host societies.
The impact of Africa's contacts with the rest of the world and the African perception of non-Africans appear in the art traditions of the kingdoms of [Kush, Benin, and Loango](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-evolving-image-of-the-european-0de), as well as in the artworks of the [Sapi](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-art-of-early-atlantic-contacts), all of which demonstrate the evolution in the image of the European in African art.
Among these four African societies, the kingdom of Benin provides the most comprehensive visual document representing foreign objects and peoples in African art across five centuries of contact. The nature of cultural exchanges between the indigenous and the foreign in Benin’s art is the subject of my latest Patreon article.
Please subscribe to read about it here:
[THE INDIGENOUS AND FOREIGN IN BENIN ART](https://www.patreon.com/posts/103165109)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oc7o!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8edfc6f-59d4-485d-ab2a-9cd496bf3cb1_664x803.png)
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(left) Crowned head from Ife, Nigeria, ca. 14th century (right) Head of Augustus found buried in Meroe, Sudan ca. 25BC.
the [naturalistic artworks of Ife](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/ancient-ife-and-its-masterpieces) were erroneously thought to be the product of an ancient society influenced by Greco-Roman tradition, but besides the similarity in sophistication, the kingdom of Ife had no contact with the ancient Mediterranean.
Thank you for reading African History Extra. This post is public so feel free to share it.
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-african-agency-in
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The 'Hatata' treatise of the 17th-century Ethiopian scholar Zärä Yaqob and his student Wäldä Heywät is one of the best-known and most celebrated works of African philosophy.
The radical ideas espoused by its authors have been especially useful in the study of pre-colonial African philosophy, and are often favorably compared to contemporary Enlightenment thinkers in the Western world like René Descartes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
However, the lively debate sparked by such comparisons has inadvertently obscured the historical context in which the Hatata was written, and the significance of its contribution to Africa's epistemic traditions.
This article explores the Hatata in its historic context as a product of its authors' intellectual background and the competitive cultural landscape of Ethiopia during the '_Gondarine period_', and its similarities with other works of African philosophy.
_**Map of Ethiopia a century before the time of Zara Yacob[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-1-143785682)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TQtk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F145af03f-2d38-4807-b120-ad8bec20f787_491x553.png)
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**The Historical Context of the Hatata.**
Zara Yacob was an Ethiopian scribe born in August 1600 near the ancient city of Aksum[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-2-143785682) where he lived and studied for most of his early life and where he taught for at least four years. He fled from Aksum when Emperor Susenyos (r. 1607-1632) made Catholicism the state religion in 1626 and persecuted those still loyal to the Ethiopian church, before returning later to live in the town of Enfranz when the emperor abdicated in 1632. In the same year, he gained a patron named Lord Habtu who was the father to Walda Gabryel and Walda Heywat, the latter of whom became his student.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-3-143785682)
In 1668, Zara Yacob completed his Hatata ('inquiry'), at the request of his student Walda Heywat. Sometime after 1693, Walda Heywat wrote his own Hatata, exploring the same themes as his teacher but in greater detail. He later wrote an epilogue to Zara Yacob's Hatata during the early 1700s, and copies of both manuscripts were obtained in 1854 by an Italian visitor to Ethiopia and sent to his patron, who then passed them on to the ‘Bibliothèque Nationale de France’ where they’d be later translated.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-4-143785682)
The Hatata explores multiple interwoven themes using a method of philosophical inquiry that were deeply rooted in the Ethiopian cultural context of their authors.
Zara Yacob and Walda Heywat lived during the ['Gondarine period,' of Ethiopia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/global-encounters-and-a-century-of) a dynamic era in Ethiopian history marked by; the restoration of the state and church after its near annihilation; the ideological conflicts between the Ethiopian clergy and the Susenyos’ Portuguese (Jesuit) allies; and the civil war between Susenyos' supporters and those loyal to the Ethiopian church, which ended when his son Fasilidas become emperor in 1632 and expelled the Jesuits. Many of these events are mentioned in Zara Yacob’s biography.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FWdN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd4fdb06-ac0d-4051-a565-1c90b71a0e24_808x468.png)
_**the 17th century castle of Guzara, built by Emperor Fasilidas overlooking the town of Enfranz where Zara Yacob and Walda Heywat completed the Hatata. These monuments were characteristic of the Gondarine period (see [my article on Gondar’s architecture](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-gondar-africas)), and are briefly mentioned in the Hatata.**_
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Like all Ethiopian scribes, Zara Yacob received his education from the traditional schools of Ethiopia, with all its major stages of study, as well as the more advanced levels like the _Nebab Bet_, (house of reading), the _Zema Bet_ (house of music), the _Qeddase Bet_, (house of liturgy), the _Qene Bet_ (house of poetry). The various subjects taught in these stages, which include theology, law, poetry, grammar, history, and philosophy, and the extensive works memorized by the students; which include ‘the gospels’, commentaries, psalters, law, history, and other subjects, are all reflected in the Hatata which explicitly references some of them.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-5-143785682)
Influences from the broader corpus of Ethiopian literature are reflected in the Hatata, not just the more familiar works listed above on which students are trained in school, but also works circulating among the different monasteries. These include the _Mäşhafä fälasfa_ (The Book of the Wise Philosophers) a collection of classical philosophical texts translated into Ge’ez in the 16th century, the _Fisalgos_, which is a much older work of classical philosophy translated into Ge’ez in the 6th-7th century, and the ‘_Life and Maxims of Skəndəs_’, a lesser known work translated to Ge’ez around the 15th century.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-6-143785682)
Zara Yacob and Walda Heywat also comment on the ideological conflicts of the era between the different political and religious factions, including the Ethiopian-Christians, the Catholics (Portuguese), the Muslims (both Ethiopian and non-Ethiopian), the Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jews), and even the Indians (craftsmen and artisans who accompanied the Portuguese[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-7-143785682)) and the ancient religion of the ‘Sabaeans and Homerites’ (an anachronistic reference to the Aksumite vassals in Arabia). They also comment on the pre-existing social hierarchy and tensions between this diverse and cosmopolitan society of 17th-century Ethiopia.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-8-143785682)
So while Zara Yacob and Walda Heywat were radicals and free-thinkers whose writings were skeptical of established theology and philosophy in Ethiopia and beyond, they drew from a conceptual vocabulary and critical approach steeped in Ethiopian tradition.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-9-143785682)
The philosophy of Zara Yacob has been described by many scholars as ‘rational,’ ‘humanist,’ and ‘liberal,’ inviting comparisons (and contrasts) with Descartes and Rousseu,[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-10-143785682) as well as arguments that Zara Yacob in some ways pre-empted Enlightenment thought on the existence of God, rationalism, and natural rights.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-11-143785682) While there are certainly many passages in the Hatata that warrant such comparisons, attempts to fit the treatise into Western philosophical categories risk obscuring the cultural and historical context in which its authors were writing, and may invite (uninformed) criticism from detractors, all of which ultimately overlook the remarkably radical contribution of Zara Yacob to Ethiopian and African thought.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-12-143785682)
Zara Yaqob's Hatata argues for putting one’s own rational thoughts and investigations at the center of one’s life and actions rather than uncritically following established wisdom, while the Hatata of Walda Heywat is a more didactic text on how we should live. For the sake of brevity, I will quote two chapters from the Hatata of Zara Yacob and the Hatata of Walda Heywat which I think stand out the most:
**Zara Yacob's Hatata; Chapter 7: "My Inquiry Regarding the Truth of Different Religions"**
> And later, I thought, ‘Is all that is written in the sacred books true?’ I thought a lot, but [in spite of this thinking,] I didn’t understand anything.
>
>
> So, I said [to myself], ‘I will go, and I will ask learned people and those who question deeply, and they will tell me the truth’.
>
>
> And after this, I thought, ‘What answer will people give me except that which is already present in their hearts?’
>
>
> In fact, everyone says, ‘My religion is correct, and those who believe in another religion believe in something false, and they are enemies of God’.
>
>
> Now, the färänǧ [ European Catholics ] say to us, ‘Our creed is good, and your creed is evil’. But we [Ethiopians] answer them, ‘It is not evil; rather your creed is evil and our creed is good’.
>
>
> Now, suppose we asked Muslims and Jews [about their belief]? They would say the same thing to us.
>
>
> Also, if they argued the case in this debate, who would be the judge? No human being [could judge] because all human beings have become judgemental, and they condemn each other.
>
>
> First, I asked a färänǧ scholar about many things concerning our [Ethiopian] creed and he decided everything [was right or wrong] according to his own creed.
>
>
> Afterwards, I asked a great Ethiopian teacher, and he [likewise] decided everything according to his creed.
>
>
> If we asked Muslims and Jews about the same things, they would also decide according to their own religion.
>
>
> Where will I find someone who will decide [on the religions and creeds] truthfully? Because [just as] my religion seems true to me, so does another’s religion seem true to them. But, there is only one truth.
>
>
> As I turned these things over in my mind, I thought, ‘O wisest and most righteous Creator, who created me with the faculty of reason, give me understanding’.
>
>
> For wisdom and truth are not found among human beings, but as David said [in Psalms], ‘‘indeed, everyone is a liar’
>
>
> I thought and said [to myself], ‘Why do human beings lie about these vital matters [of religion], such that they destroy themselves?’
>
>
> It seemed to me that they lie because they know nothing at all, although they think they are knowledgeable. Therefore, because they think they are knowledgeable, they don’t search to find out the truth”...[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-13-143785682)
**Walda Heywat's Hatata, Chapter 5: "My Inquiry regarding Religious Faith"**
> Concerning what remains—human teachings and books—we should not believe them hastily, without inquiry. Rather we should [only] accept these teachings intentionally, after extensive investigation, as long as we see them as being in harmony with our intelligence. That is to say, our intelligence will be the measure of whether we should believe in them, and what our intelligence affirms as untrue we should not believe. Neither should we hastily say, ‘It’s a lie!’—for we don’t know whether it’s true or false. Instead, because of this [ignorance] let’s say, ‘We won’t believe it because we don’t understand it’.
>
>
> If people say to me, ‘Why don’t you believe everything that is written in books, as those before us did?’
>
>
> I would reply to them, ‘Because books are written by human beings who are capable of writing lies’.
>
>
> If people further say to me, ‘Why don’t you believe?’ I would reply to them, ‘Tell me why you believe? After all, no reason is needed for not believing, but it is needed for believing. What reason do you have to believe in everything that is written? You have no reason except this alone: that you have heard from human mouths that what’s written is true. But don’t you understand? [Just] because they tell you, “What’s written is true”, doesn’t mean they [actually] know whether it’s true or false. Rather, just as you heard this from them, they too heard it from those before them. In the same way, all those ancestors believed in human words, even though they might have been lies, and not in God’s words. [And regarding that speech,] God does not speak to you except through the voice of your intelligence’.
>
>
> If people say to me, ‘It’s not like that! Rather, God has spoken to human beings and revealed his truth to them!’
>
>
> I would reply to them, ‘How do you know that God has spoken with human beings and revealed his truth to them? Isn’t it rather that you heard it from human mouths, who testified that they heard it from [other] human mouths? Must you always believe human words, even though they could be lies? Whether it’s true or false, you believe [it] unthinkingly’.
>
>
> So, inquire! Don’t say in your hearts, ‘We are steadfast in our religion, which cannot be false!’ Pay attention! For human beings lie about religious matters, because religions are utterly inconsistent. Human beings don’t give reasonable explanations about what’s right for us to believe. So, they put an inquiring heart into a total quandary.
>
>
> Look, one tells us, ‘Believe in the religion of Alexandria!’
>
>
> Another tells us, ‘Believe in the religion of Rome!’
>
>
> And a third tells us, ‘Believe in the religion of Moses!’
>
>
> And a fourth tells us, ‘Believe in Mohammed’s religion, Islam!’
>
>
> Further, Indians have a different religion!
>
>
> So do Himyarites and Sabeans, and [many] other peoples.
>
>
> They all say, ‘Our religion is from God!’
>
>
> But how can God, who is righteous in all his actions, reveal one religion to one group, and another to another group? And how can all these different religions be from God? Which of them is true, requiring us to believe in it?
>
>
> Tell me, if you know, because I don’t know! I will only believe what God has revealed to me [if it comes] through the light of my intelligence. That way I won’t be misled in my religious faith.
>
>
> If someone should say to me, ‘Unless you believe, God’s judgement will fall on you!’
>
>
> I will say to them, ‘God can’t order me to believe in lies. And he can’t judge me for a religious faith that I have rejected because it doesn’t seem true to me. For he gave me the light of my intelligence to distinguish good from evil, and truth from lies. This intelligent light reveals absolutely nothing as to whether all human religions are true, but it does clarify for me that all religions arise from human error and not from God. Thus, for this reason I have rejected them [all]’
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AuYI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae0a6559-9944-4c97-8490-053778e29933_821x590.png)
Copy of the Hatata at the [Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://gallica.bnf.fr/view3if/ga/ark:/12148/btv1b52518435d/f8)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The philosophy of the Hatata**
Zara Yacob's chapter (and most of his Hatata) is presented in an autobiographical style of a writer recording the meaningful events of his life and the result of his meditations. Zara Yacob’s method can be called a discursive subjugation of faith to intelligence or natural reason[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-15-143785682). The Hatata was a product of Zara Yacob's personal reflection upon events that affected his life, with each introspective moment being a ‘penetrating intuition into the sense of history as it conditions his life’.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-16-143785682)
On the other hand, Walda Heywat's chapter (and his Hatata) follows a dialectical 'box' pattern in which he develops a thesis; on how we ought to follow only what agrees with our reason, which he then follows up with a question-and-answer pattern; arguing that all faiths proceed from man's error, and he thus concludes by affirming his original thesis that he only believes what God demonstrated to him by the light of reason.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-17-143785682)
While there are parallels between the writing of Walda Heywat and his tutor, the former was more influenced by the pedagogical method of traditional Ethiopian teaching, as well as wisdom literature such as the _Mashafa falsafa_, from which he borrowed at least five short stories that are included in other chapters of his treatise. He reproduces the traditional oral style of a sage instructing his pupils, or a parent with their child, addressing his readers like they were his disciples without assuming a superior attitude.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-18-143785682)
I believe that these two chapters, out of a combined fifty-seven chapters of both Hatatas, provide the best summary of the philosophical arguments presented in the treatise, and inform us about the authors' perspectives on the themes they explore.
For example; Zara Yacob describes his personal interpretation of religion as such: _**"As for me, I lived with human beings, seeming like a Christian to them. But, in my heart, I did not believe—except in God the creator of everything and the protector of everything, as he had given me to know",**_ adding that _**"I lived with people as if I was like them, and I dwelled with God in the way that he had given me to know”.**_[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-19-143785682)
He later argues that although religious laws contain _**"lies mingled together with truth"**_ and _**"detestable wisdoms"**_, the basic commandments (nine in the Old Testament and six in the New Testament[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-20-143785682)) agree with the intelligence/reasoning of every human being. He therefore argues that religion _**"is desirable because it gets good things done, for it terrifies the wicked into not doing evil things and it consoles the good for their patient endurance"**_[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-21-143785682).
According to Zara Yacob, religion is a bilateral rapport between the individual and God, without any ecclesiastical restrictions in between[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-22-143785682) or, in his words, without the “pointless” commandments that man has added.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-23-143785682) It’s in this context that Zara Yacob constructs his critique of all forms of religious laws by differentiating between what he considers 'God's law' and 'Man's law', with the latter being of limited use, while the former is ‘original’ and ‘illuminated by a total intelligence’.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-24-143785682)
He criticizes ascetic Christian monks who shun marriage, writing that _**"the Christians’ law says, ‘the ascetic monastic life is better than marriage’, it’s telling a lie and it’s not from God. For, how can the Christian law that violates the Creator’s law be better than his wisdom?"**_. He then turns to criticize Islamic law on polygamy, arguing that since there are equal numbers of men and women, marrying many women violates God's law[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-25-143785682).
He also criticizes the law of Moses on menstruation being impure, arguing that _**"This ‘law of Moses’ makes marriage and a woman’s entire life difficult because it annuls [the principle of] mutual help, impedes child rearing, and destroys love. Therefore, this ‘law of Moses’ cannot be from the Creator of women."**_ He then turns to criticize Islamic law on the slave trade, arguing that this law _**"cannot come from the Creator of human beings, the one who created us equal."**_[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-26-143785682)
Zara Yacob's pattern of inquiry and criticism of established wisdom is followed in most chapters of his Hatata. It is also reflected in his personal philosophy regarding; the equality of men and women in marriage[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-27-143785682); the internecine and retributive violence between rival factions during Fasilidas' reign[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-28-143785682); and his role as the tutor of Walda Heywat for whom he wrote the Hatata[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-29-143785682).
In his Hatata, Walda Heywat faithfully follows Zara Yacob's teachings: _**"I don’t write what I have heard others say. Indeed, I have never accepted others’ teaching without inquiring into it and understanding whether it is good. I only write what appears true to me after inquiring into it and understanding it**_ … _**never believe what is written in books except that content which you have scrutinized and found to be truthful.**_[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-30-143785682)_**"**_
This is similar to Zara Yacob's criticism of those who follow established wisdom and religious law, to whom he addresses that: _**"They don’t believe in all these because they investigated them and found them to be true, rather they believe in them because they heard about them from their ancestors**_[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-31-143785682)_**"**_
The two philosophical works presuppose the power of comprehending and inferring, which is necessary for the reader to differentiate between the lies perpetuated by those who uncritically accept received wisdom and the truths acquired from independent thinking.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-32-143785682)
Walda Heywat continues Zara Yacob’s method of philosophical inquiry across the rest of the chapters of his book, covering a broad range of topics including; Human nature, religion, marriage, work, education, justice, equality of all people, acceptance of other cultures, and advice for leaders.
For example, he writes; _**“Don’t be impressed with the teaching of those inferior in wisdom, who say [things like], ‘I don’t know who to call “neighbour”, except our relatives, our neighbours, our friends, and our fellow believers’. Don’t say what they say, since all human beings are our ‘neighbours’, whether they are good or evil; whether Christians, Muslims, Jews, or pagans. All of them are our equals and all of them are our siblings because we are all children of one Father, and we are all one creator’s creatures.**_[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-33-143785682)_**”**_
This was a very radical view for an Ethiopian scribe living in the 17th century when the tensions between the Ethiopian-Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and pagans were such that some settlements had begun to be segregated by faith, with official edicts enforcing these restrictions that would only be loosened at the end of the Gondarine period.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-34-143785682)
On tolerance of other cultures; _**“if you ‘desire to see good days’, be in harmony with everyone, in love and peace. To achieve this goal, the wisdom of the ancients is beneficial: ‘When you live among your own [people], live according to the customs of your homeland, but should you go to a foreign land, be like them’… Don’t do anything which is not good according to that [country’s] custom. Don’t say, ‘this action [of mine] is not offensive’! Rather, on the contrary, praise the customs of the country that you are living in. Be united with the people of that country, and pray that God will be gracious to everyone according to their character, customs, and actions”**_.
And in his advice to rulers; _**“If you are put in charge of others, don’t treat them with a heavy hand, or mistreat them with your power. Instead, be fair to everyone, high or low, rich, or poor, and without being timid in others’ presence, but administering justice with righteousness and impartiality. Don’t subjugate others with bitter servitude or enslavement. Instead, protect them as if they were your own children.**_[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-35-143785682)_**”**_
In response to his critics who rejected his questioning of established wisdom, Walda Heywat writes; _**"I won’t write anything which is inconsistent with our intelligence, but only what is present in the heart of all human beings. I write to turn the wise and intelligent toward inquiry, through which they may ‘seek and find’ truth. For inquiring into everything is beautiful wisdom.**_[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-36-143785682)_**"**_
**Conclusion: the ‘Hatata’ in African philosophy.**
Zara Yacob and Walda Heywat occupy an important place in the development of African philosophy. According to both philosophers, _Hatata_ (Inquiry) is the supreme criterion of philosophy, the only way to differentiate between the lies of established dogma and the self-evident truths revealed through the exercise of reason and independent thought.
I find in Walda Heywat’s Hatata some parallels with the work of the 19th-century West-African philosopher Dan Tafa, who argued for the use of rational proofs in determining the existence of God and religious laws. [Dan Tafa was also criticized by his peers for his radical ideas and was compelled to write an ‘apologia’ in which he defended his study of philosophy](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-19th-century-african-philosopher), but retracted some of his radical arguments and promised not to teach philosophy to his students anymore.
The fact that both African philosophers included a defense of their ideas against criticism underscores the competitive intellectual environment in which such ideas emerged, which allowed room for some scholars to challenge established wisdom, and in other cases even to [challenge established authorit](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-network-of-african-scholarship)y.
However, it also points to resistance by established elites against such radical thinking, which was a common experience of many philosophers around the world before their ideas were gradually adopted. Criticism of Walda Heywat and Dan Tafa can be contrasted with the relatively “conformist” philosophical treatise of the [18th-century East-African scholar Sayyid Abdallah of Pate](https://www.patreon.com/posts/poetry-and-in-on-74519541), which was well-received in the intellectual communities of the East African coast, appearing in the works of later scholars.
The Hatata is an excellent example of modern practical philosophy, and a monumental work of African philosophy that adds to the wealth of Africa’s intellectual heritage
The intellectual heritage of Africa includes not just philosophy, but also scientific works such as **the mathematical treatise of the 18th century West African scholar Muhammad al-Kashnāwī, which also drew comparisons with contemporary mathematicians in the Western world.**
please subscribe to read about it here:
[LIFE & WORKS OF AL-KASHNAWI](https://www.patreon.com/posts/102321250?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vuiD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F86bfddab-6173-43fe-9816-718701f3540a_674x993.png)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-2-143785682)
[The complete history of Aksum: an ancient African metropolis (50-1900AD) ------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-aksum-an)
·
October 2, 2022
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-aksum-an)
For nearly 2000 years, the city of Aksum has occupied an important place in African history; first as the illustrious capital of its eponymously named global power; the Aksumite empire, and later as a major religious center and pilgrimage site whose cathedral reportedly houses one of the world's most revered sacred objects; the Ark of the covenant.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-3-143785682)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 3 by Claude Sumner pg 6-7, 20-25
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-4-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 1-16)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-5-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 5-7, Traditional Institutions and Traditional Elites by Paulos Milkias pg 81-82
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-6-143785682)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 2 by Claude Sumner pg 119-127, Perspectives in African Philosophy: Teaching and research in philosophy: Africa by UNESCO pg 160-163
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-7-143785682)
The Archaeology of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia (1557–1632) by Andreu Martínez d'Alòs-Moner and Victor M. Fernández, pg 470-472
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-8-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 37-38
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-9-143785682)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 3 by Claude Sumner pg 56-63, 72, 217, Tirguaamme: An Ethiopian Methodological Contribution for Post-Socialist Knowledge Traditions in Africa by Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes pg 275
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-11-143785682)
Ethiopian philosophy pg 56-63, 69, 72, 74-79, 93-94, 309-310,
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-12-143785682)
Ethiopian contention on the issue of Rationality by Belayneh Girma
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-13-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 70-73)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-14-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 117-119)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-15-143785682)
Explorations in African Political Thought: Identity, Community, Ethics edited by Teodros Kiros pg 70
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-16-143785682)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 3 by Claude Sumner pg 31, 49)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-17-143785682)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 3 by Claude Sumner pg 41-42)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-18-143785682)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 3 by Claude Sumner pg 37-40, 46)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-19-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 107,
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-20-143785682)
ie; the Ten Commandments minus the Sabbath, which was a very contentious issue in Ethiopia and Zara Yacob also admits that “our intelligence does not confirm or deny it”. The 6 commandments of the New Testament are those mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 25:35–36, and are considered even more important than the Ten, see n. 6,9, pg 87 of the ‘The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob’
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-21-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 75, 82, 87
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-22-143785682)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 3 by Claude Sumner pg 67, 81-83)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-23-143785682)
Explorations in African Political Thought: Identity, Community, Ethics edited by Teodros Kiros pg 72
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-24-143785682)
Explorations in African Political Thought: Identity, Community, Ethics edited by Teodros Kiros pg 74 Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 3 by Claude Sumner pg 102-104)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-25-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 75-77
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-26-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 78-79)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-27-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 100)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-28-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 103)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-29-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 105-106)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-30-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 112-113)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-31-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 74)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-32-143785682)
Ethiopian Philosophy, Volume 3 by Claude Sumner pg 105)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-33-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 131
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-34-143785682)
A Social History of Ethiopia by Richard Pankhurst pg 207-247, Muslim Partners, Catholic Foes by Matteo Salvadore pg 62, Early Portuguese Emigration to the Ethiopian Highlands by Andreu Martínez d'Alòs-Moner pg 24-29.
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-35-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 156
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-anchor-36-143785682)
The Hatata Inquiries by Zara Yaqob, Walda Heywat, translated by Ralph Lee with Mehari Worku and Wendy Laura Belcher pg 119)
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TQtk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F145af03f-2d38-4807-b120-ad8bec20f787_491x553.png",
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"https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata#footnote-14-143785682",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jF6A!,w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F35d23ee3-5dab-4ee9-9d35-011dd6393295_1022x620.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-radical-philosophy-of-the-hatata
|
Around the year 1198, the West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanimi from the town of Bilma (in Niger) traveled to the Almohad capital Marakesh (in Morocco), and gained the audience of its sultan, before moving to Seville (in Spain) where he settled and became a celebrated grammarian and poet that appeared in many Andalusian biographies of the time.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-1-143571510)
Al-Kanimi’s career exemplifies the patterns of the global intellectual exchanges in which several African scholars in the diaspora played an important role.
Historical inquiries into the African diaspora across the old world often pay less attention to the intellectual contributions of those Africans to the societies that hosted them, thus leaving us with an incomplete picture of the role of Africans in global history.
Yet many diasporic Africans whose biographies are known were important scholars who left a significant intellectual legacy across the world.
In the 16th century, [the dozens of Ethiopian scholars who came to reside in Rome](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051) turned their monastery of Santo Stefano degli Abissini (near the Vatican Basilica) into a center of Africanist knowledge, where theological, geographic, and political information regarding Ethiopia and the Eastern Christian world could be obtained from scholars like Täsfa Seyon —who had an influence on Pope Marcellus II and Jesuit founder Ignatius of Loyola.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-2-143571510)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8Dhl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5efe236b-e878-407b-ba2e-e052a9f6b3f4_605x539.png)
_**Painting depicting Pope Paul III, the Jesuit founder Ignatius of Loyola (kneeling), and the Ethiopian scholar and cleric Tasfā Ṣeyon (standing behind the Pope with another priest)**_, 27th September 1540, anonymous painter, Chiesa del Gesu, Rome.
Similarly, in Portugal's capital Lisbon, the Ethiopian envoy Sägga Zäᵓab wrote a critique of the dogmatic Catholic counter-reformation in his 'faith of the Ethiopians' in 1534, writing that _**"It would be much wiser to welcome in charity and Christian love all Christians, be they Greeks, Armenians, Ethiopians…because we are all sons of baptism and share the true faith."**_ The book was well received by European scholars in the regions opposed to the counter-reformation, most notably the Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus, and his student; the Portuguese philosopher Damião de Góis, who eventually published 'The Faith' in 1540.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-3-143571510)
In the 18th century, some of the West African scholars who had been visiting the pilgrimage cities of Mecca and Medina eventually settled in the region and became influential teachers in the scholarly community (_ulama_) of Medina. [The most prolific West African scholar in Medina was Salih al-Fullani (d. 1803) from Futa Jallon in Guinea](https://www.patreon.com/posts/from-guinea-to-b-61683129), an influential hadith teacher whose students include many prominent figures of the era, such as; the qadi of Mecca, Abd al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿUjaymī (d. 1820); the Moroccan Tijānī scholar Ḥamdūn al-Ḥājj (d. 1857); and the Indian scholar Muḥammad al-ʿAbīd al-Sindī (d. 1841) who became the qadi and shaykh of the _ulama_ of medina.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-4-143571510)
Among the most prominent diasporic communities of African scholars was the ['Jabarti' diaspora from the region around Zeila in northern Somalia](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282), whose presence extended from Yemen to Medina to Cairo, and who included prominent figures such as the historian Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti (d. 1825) who was one of the most prominent scholars in Ottoman Egypt. Al-jabarti was also acquainted with many of his peers, including the Timbuktu scholar Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd al-Tunbuktī, whom he refers to as an eminent teacher in Medina.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-5-143571510)
Al-Jabarti's father, Hasan al-Jabarti penned a glowing tribute to the Kastina mathematician Muhammad al-Kashnāwī, who was also his teacher, describing him as _**"the cynosure, the theologian, the ocean of learning, the sea of knowledge, the unparalleled, the garden of science and disciplines, the treasury of secret and witticisms”**_[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-6-143571510)
The biography and works of Muhammad al-Kashnāwī are the subject of my latest Patreon article, focusing on the West African scholar's contributions to the scientific writings of Egypt.
please subscribe to read about it here:
[LIFE & WORKS OF AL-KASHNAWI](https://www.patreon.com/posts/102321250?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vuiD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F86bfddab-6173-43fe-9816-718701f3540a_674x993.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hD0O!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F489511e6-6cd2-42ff-b990-bafc99844aed_820x465.png)
_**Chessbook of Alfonso X the Wise, fol. 22r. Spain (1283).**"The paintings in a manuscript dating from 1283 show us how realistically the people of this mixed world of Spain were depicted after the conquest. Certain Muslim noblemen are sometimes depicted dark-skinned … among the servants is one playing a harp, another is engaged in a game of chess"._ Image of the black in Western Art, Volume 2, issue 1, pg 78.
**[see my previous [article on the African diaspora in Spain for the biography of Al-Kanimi, the so-called Moors, and the Kongolese diaspora in Iberia](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-diaspora-82902179)**]
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-anchor-1-143571510)
Ibrahim al-Kanimi figure illustre dans les relations culturelles entre le Maroc et Bilad as-Sudan by Mohammed Ben Cherifa pp. 131-132, Arabic Literature of Africa: The writings of central Sudanic Africa Vol.2) by John Hunwick pg 17-18.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-anchor-2-143571510)
An Ethiopian Scholar in Tridentine Rome by Matteo Salvadore pg 29-30, A Companion to religious minorities in Early Modern Rome by Matthew Coneys Wainwright pg 154-155
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-anchor-3-143571510)
Damião de Gois by Elisabeth Feist Hirsch, pg 58, 74, 121, 148-151, 153
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-anchor-4-143571510)
Islamic Scholarship in Africa: New Directions and Global Contexts edited by Ousmane Kane pg 33
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-anchor-5-143571510)
A Guide to ʻAbd Al-Raḥmān Al-Jabartī's History of Egypt: ʻAjāʼib Al-āthār Fī ʼl-tarājim Waʼl-akhbār, by Abd al-Raḥmān Jabartī, Thomas Philipp, Guido Schwald pg 342-343
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d#footnote-anchor-6-143571510)
The Arabic Literature of Nigeria to 1804 by ADH Bivar pg 136
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual-e2d
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African historiography has come a long way since the old days of colonial adventure writing.
Following the re-discovery of countless [manuscripts and inscriptions](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history) across [most parts of the continent](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual), many of which [have been digitized](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history-314) and several of which have been studied, including [documents from central Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-archives-and-scribal-practices), and lesser-known documents such as those written in the [Bamum script](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-invention-of-writing-in-an-african), the [Vai script](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/creating-an-african-writing-system), and[Nsibidi](https://www.patreon.com/posts/invention-and-of-69082971);
We are now sufficiently informed on [how Africans wrote their own history](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/how-africans-wrote-their-own-history), and can combine these historical documents with the developments in African archeology and linguistics, to discredit the willful ignorance of [Hegelian thinking](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/on-hegels-ignorance-of-african-history) and [Eurocentrism.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/eurocentrism-afrocentrism-and-the)
This article outlines a general history of Africa. It utilizes hundreds of case studies of African states and societies from nearly every part of the continent that I have previously covered in about two hundred articles over the last three years, inorder to paint a more complete picture of the entire continent’s past.
[click on the links for sources]
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**Africa from the ancient times to the classical era.**
Chronologically, the story of [Africa's first complex societies](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-origin-of-african) begins in the Nile valley (see map below) where multiple [Neolithic societies emerged between Khartoum and Cairo](https://www.patreon.com/posts/were-ancient-in-75102957)as part of a fairly uniform cultural spectrum which in the 3rd millennium BC produced the earliest complex societies such as the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the Nubian A-Group culture and the kingdom of Kerma.
At its height in 1650 BC, the kings who resided in the capital of Kerma controlled a vast swathe of territory that is described as [“the largest political entity in Africa at the time."](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ancient-state-of-59674298) The rulers of Kerma also forged military and commercial alliances with the civilization of Punt, which [archeologists have recently located in the neolithic societies of the northern Horn of Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/demystifying-the-ancient-land-of).
In West Africa, the neolithic culture of [Dhar Tichitt emerged at the end of the 3rd millennium BC](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa) as Africa’s oldest complex society outside the Nile valley, and would lay the foundations for the rise of the Ghana empire. To its south were groups of semi-sedentary populations that constructed the [megalith complex of the Senegambia](https://www.patreon.com/posts/unlocking-of-of-68055326) beginning around 1350 BC.
The central region of west Africa in modern Nigeria was home to the [Nok neolithic society which emerged around 1500 BC](https://www.patreon.com/posts/origins-of-west-91819837) and is renowned for its vast corpus of terracotta artworks, as well as some of the oldest evidence for the independent invention of iron smelting in Africa.
In the Lake Chad basin, the Gajigana Neolithic complex emerged around 1800BC in a landscape characterized by large and nucleated fortified settlements, the biggest of which was the [town of Zilum which was initially thought to have had contacts with the Garamantes of Libya](https://www.patreon.com/posts/between-carthage-94409122) and perhaps the aethiopian auxiliaries of Carthage that invaded Sicily and Roman Italy.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RKzE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F230d3127-753e-4cf1-b49c-79e7f38f5db2_1048x548.png)
_**Africa’s oldest Neolithic cultures as well as sites with early archaeobotanical evidence for the spread of major African crops**_. Map by Dorian Fuller & Elisabeth Hildebrand.
In the Nile valley, the geographic and [cultural proximity between Nubia and Egypt facilitated population movements](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ancient-egypt-in-93554322), with Nubian mercenaries and priestesses settling in Naqada, Hierakonpolis, and Luxor, all of whom were later joined Nubian elites from Kush who settled in Thebes, Abydos, and Memphis.
By the [8th century BC, the rulers of Kush expanded their control into Egypt](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-legacy-of-kushs-empire-in-global) and the eastern Mediterranean and left a remarkable legacy in many ancient societies from the ancient Assyrians, Hebrews, and Greeks who referred to them as _**'blameless aethiopians.'**_
After Kush's withdrawal from Egypt, the kingdom continued to flourish and eventually established its capital at Meroe, which became one of the largest cities of the ancient world, [appearing in various classical texts as the political center of the Candances (Queens) of Kush](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-meroitic-empire-queen-amanirenas), and the birthplace of one of Africa's oldest writing systems; the Meroitic script.
The Meroitic kingdom of [Kush constructed the world's largest number of pyramids](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-pyramids-of-ancient-nubia-and), which were a product of Nubian mortuary architecture as it evolved since the Kerma period, and are attested across various Meroitic towns and cities in both royal and non-royal cemeteries.
The kingdom of [Kush initiated and maintained diplomatic relations with Rome](https://www.patreon.com/posts/africans-in-rome-75714077) after successfully repelling a Roman invasion, thus beginning an extensive period of [Africa's discovery of Europe in which African travelers from Kush, Nubia, Aksum, and the Ghana empire visited many parts of southern Europe.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africa-discovered-europe)
To the east of Kush was the Aksumite empire, which occupied an important place in the history of late antiquity when [Aksum was regarded as one of the four great kingdoms of the world](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-aksumite-empire-between-rome) due to its control of the lucrative trade between Rome and India, and its formidable armies which conquered parts of Arabia, Yemen and the kingdom of Kush.
[Aksum's control over much of Arabia and Yemen a century before the emergence of Islam created the largest African state outside the continent](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ethiopian-ruler-78169632), ruled by the illustrious king Abraha who organized what is arguably the first international diplomatic conference with delegates from Rome, Persia, Aksum and their Arab vassals.
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_**Queen Shanakadakheto’s pyramid**_, Beg. N 11, 1st century CE, Meroe, Sudan.
**The African Middle Ages (500-1500 CE)**
After the fall of Kush in the 4th century, the Nubian kingdom of Noubadia emerged in Lower Nubia and was [powerful enough to inflict a major defeat on the invading Arab armies](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-kingdom-on-the-edge-of) which had seized control of Egypt and expelled the Byzantines in the 7th century.
Noubadia later merged with its southern neighbor, the Nubian kingdom of Makuria, and both armies defeated another Arab invasion in 651. The [kings of Makuria then undertook a series of campaigns that extended their control into southern Egypt](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/christian-nubia-muslim-egypt-and) and planned an alliance with the Crusaders.
The [Arab ascendance in the Magreb](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-role-of-africans) expanded the pre-existing patterns of[trade and travel in the central Sahara](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-trade-and-travel), such that West African auxiliaries participated in the Muslim expansion into southern Europe and the [establishment of the kingdom of Bari in Italy.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-kingdom-87931499)
By the 12th century, oasis towns such as [Djado, Bilma, and Gasabi emerged in the central Saharan region of Kawar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-civilization-in-the-heart) that were engaged in localized trade with the southern kingdom of Kanem which eventually conquered them.
The empire of [Kanem then expanded into the Fezzan region of central Libya](https://www.patreon.com/posts/when-west-sahara-59096311), creating one of Africa's largest polities in the Middle Ages, extending southwards as far as [the Kotoko city-states of the Lake Chad basin](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-political-history-of-the-kotoko), and eastwards to the western border of the kingdom of Makuria.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!B-uZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6d87d98-defd-4be8-8277-267346290560_1920x1200.jpeg)
_**ruins of Djado in the Kawar Oasis of Niger.**_
At its height between the 10th to 13th centuries, the kingdom of [Makuria established ties with the Zagwe kingdom of Ethiopia](https://www.patreon.com/posts/africans-africa-83663994), facilitating the movement of pilgrims and religious elites between the two regions. The Zagwe kingdom emerged in the 11th century after the decline of Aksum and is [best known for its iconic rock-cut churches of Lalibela.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/constructing-a-global-monument-in)
East of the Zagwe kingdom was the sultanate of [Dahlak in the red sea islands of Eritrea whose 'Abyssinian' rulers ruled parts of Yemen for over a century](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-dahlak-islands-and-the-african). The Zagwe kingdom later fell to the ‘Solomonids’ of Ethiopia in the late 13th century who inherited the antagonist relationship between the Christian and Muslim states of North-East Africa, with one Ethiopian king sending a warning to the Egyptian sultan that; _**["I will take from Egypt the floodwaters of the Nile, so that you and your people will perish by the sword, hunger and thirst at the same time."](https://www.patreon.com/posts/relations-and-of-63874585)**_
African Christian pilgrims from [Nubia and Ethiopia regularly traveled to the pilgrimage cities in Palestine, especially in Jerusalem](https://www.patreon.com/posts/historical-links-80883718), where some eventually resided, while others also visited the Byzantine capital Constantinople and the [Cilician kingdom of Armenia.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R3wi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0dddef1c-503b-460d-a370-848617692e2c_1384x1199.jpeg)
_**Church of Beta Giyorgis in Lalibela**_
In the same period, [west African pilgrims, scholars, and merchants also began to travel to the holy lands, particularly the cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-west-african-diaspora), often after a temporary stay in Egypt where West African rulers such as the kings of Kanem had secured for them hostels as early as the 13th century.
In many cases, these West African pilgrims were also accompanied by their kings who used the royal pilgrimage as a legitimating device and a conduit for facilitating cultural and intellectual exchanges, with the best documented [royal pilgrimage being made by Mansa Musa of Mali](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/mansa-musa-and-the-royal-pilgrimage) and [his entourage](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved) in 1324.
[The empire of Mali is arguably the best-known West African state](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history) of the Middle Ages, thanks not just to the famous pilgrimage of Mansa Musa, but also to one of its rulers’ [daring pre-Colombian voyage into the Atlantic](https://www.patreon.com/posts/mansa-muhammads-69700074), as well as Mali’s political and cultural influence on the neighboring societies.
To the East of Mali in what is today northern Nigeria [were the Hausa city-states, which emerged in the early 2nd millennium](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-history-of-the-hausa-city-states). Most notable among these were the cities of Kano, Katsina, Zaria, and Gobir, [whose merchants and diasporic communities across West Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-creation-of-an-african-lingua) significantly contributed to the region's cultural landscape, and the [external knowledge about the Hausalands](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/revealing-african-spatial-concepts).
In the distant south-east of Mali in what is today southern Nigeria was [the kingdom of Ife, which was famous for its naturalistic sculptural art](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/ancient-ife-and-its-masterpieces), its religious primacy over the Yorubaland region of southern Nigeria, and its status as one of the earliest non-Muslim societies in west Africa to appear in external accounts of the middle ages, thanks to its interactions with the Mali empire that included the trade in glass manufactured at Ife.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AKVw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc71f614b-fe2c-417c-afe4-762a27cb3e88_1348x541.jpeg)
_**Crowned heads of bronze and terracotta**_, ca. 12th-15th century, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
The sculptural art of Ife had its antecedents in the enigmatic kingdom of Nri, which flourished in the 9th century and produced a [remarkable corpus of sophisticated life-size bronze sculptures in naturalistic style found at Igbo-Ukwu](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-enigmatic-west-african-art-tradition). The sculptural art tradition of the region would attain its height under the Benin kingdom whose artist guilds created some of [Africa's best-known artworks, including a large collection of brass plaques that adorned the palaces of Benin's kings during the 16th century](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/from-an-african-artistic-monument).
In the immediate periphery of Mali to its west were the old [Soninke towns of Tichitt, Walata, and Wadan](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan), some of which were under the control of Mali’s rulers. On the empire’s southern border was the [kingdom of Gonja whose rulers claimed to be descended from the royalty of Mali](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-gonja-kingdom-1550) and influenced the spread of the distinctive architecture found in the Volta basin region of modern Ghana and Ivory Coast. Straddling Mali’s eastern border was the [Bandiagara escarpments of the Dogon, whose ancient and diverse societies](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-dogon-country) were within the political and cultural orbit of Mali and its successors like Songhai.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9GR_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb9fde94a-8ca7-4278-b59d-72fb51aba60d_820x615.jpeg)
_**Ruins of Wadan**_, South eastern Mauritania
On the eastern side of the continent, [a long chain of city-states emerged along the coastal regions during the late 1st millennium of the common era](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-political-history-of-the-swahili) that were largely populated by diverse groups of Bantu-speakers such as the Swahili and Comorians. Cosmopolitan cities like Shanga, Kilwa, Mombasa, and Malindi mediated exchanges between the mainland and the Indian Ocean world, including the [migration and acculturation of different groups of people across the region](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/persian-myths-and-realities-on-the).
The early development of a dynamic maritime culture on the East African coast enabled further expansion into the offshore islands such as the[Comoro archipelago where similar developments occurred](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja). This [expansion continued further south into Madagascar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-madagascars-position), where city-states like [Mahilika and Mazlagem were established by the Antalaotra-Swahili](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-of-stone-77497948) along its northern coastline.
The movement of people and exchanges of goods along the East African coast was enabled by the [sea-fairing traditions of East African societies which date back to antiquity, beginning with the Aksumite merchants, and peaking with the Swahili](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/maritime-trade-shipbuilding-and-african) whose _**mtepe**_ ships carried gold and other commodities as far as India and Malaysia.
The gold which enriched the Swahili city-states was obtained from the kingdoms of south-eastern Arica which developed around [monumental dry-stone capitals such as Great Zimbabwe, and hundreds of similar sites across the region that emerged as early as the 9th century](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/stone-palaces-in-the-mountains-great).One of the largest of the Zimbabwe-style capitals was the [city of Khami, which was the center of the Butua kingdom, a heterarchical society](https://www.patreon.com/posts/stone-terraces-62065998) that characterized the political landscape of South-Eastern Africa during this period.
Further north of this region in what is now southern Somalia, [the expansion of the Ajuran empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/centralizing-power-in-an-african) during the 16th century reinvigorated cultural and commercial exchanges between the coastal cities such as Mogadishu, and the mainland, in a pattern of exchanges that would integrate the region into the western Indian Ocean world.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9Qib!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc42de73d-d4b6-47e7-b644-7e7064cda3ef_2560x1696.png)
_**the Valley enclosure of Great Zimbabwe**_, Zimbabwe
**Africa and the World during the Middle Ages.**
Africans continued their exploration of the old world during the Middle Ages, traveling as far as [China, which had received envoys from Aksum as early as the 1st century and would receive nearly a dozen embassies from various East African states](https://www.patreon.com/posts/historical-and-80113224) between the 7th and 14th centuries.
Another region of interest was the [Arabian peninsula and the Persian Gulf](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/reversing-the-sail-a-brief-note-on), where there's extensive evidence for the [presence of East African settlers from the 11th to the 19th century](https://www.patreon.com/posts/east-african-in-96900062), when Swahili merchants, scholars, craftsmen, pilgrims, and other travelers appeared in both archeological and documentary records.
[Africans also traveled to the Indian subcontinent](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/between-africa-and-india-a-millennia)where they often initiated patterns of exchange and migration between the two regions that were facilitated by merchants from various African societies including Aksum, Ethiopia, and the Swahili coast, creating a diaspora that included prominent rulers of some Indian kingdoms.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HuSn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffaf4315a-0de4-4827-b9ac-a53760b9754c_384x599.png)
_**Foreign merchants (including Aksumites in the bottom half) giving presents to the Satavahana king Bandhuma, depicted on a sculpture from Amaravati, India**_
**African society during the Middle Ages: Religion, Writing, Science, Economy, Architecture, and Art.**
Political and cultural developments in Africa were shaped by the evolution of its religious institutions, its innovations in science and technology, its intellectual traditions, and the growth of its economies.
The [religious system of Kush and the Nubian Pantheon is among the best studied from an ancient African society](https://www.patreon.com/posts/gods-of-nile-and-78797811), being a product of a gradual evolution in religious practices of societies along the middle Nile, from the cult temples and sites of ancient Kerma to the mixed Egyptian and Nubian deities of the Napatan era to the gods of the Meroitic period.
The more common religion across the African Middle Ages was Islam, especially in West Africa where it was adopted in the 11th century, and [spread by West African merchants-scholars such as the Wangara](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education) who are associated with some of the region's oldest centers of learning like Dia and Djenne, long-distance trade in gold, and the spread of unique architectural styles.
‘Traditional’ religions continued to thrive, most notably the [Hausa religion of bori, which was a combination of several belief systems in the Hausalands](https://www.patreon.com/posts/traditional-in-82189267) that developed in close interaction with the religious practices of neighboring societies and eventually expanded as far as Tunisia and Burkina Faso.
Similar to this was the Yoruba religion of Ifa, which is among Africa's most widely attested traditional religions, and provides a window into the Yoruba’s['intellectual traditions'](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africas-intellectual) and the [learning systems of an oral African society.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/education-in-of-88655364)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RR5Z!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F40c2e634-d984-4351-b9ad-8d21327dae60_820x485.png)
_**Temple reliefs on the South wall of the Lion temple at Naqa in Sudan, showing King Natakamani, Queen Amanitore and Prince Arikankharor adoring the gods; Apedemak, Horus, Amun of Napata, Aqedise, and Amun of Kerma.**_
The intellectual networks that developed across Africa during the Middle Ages and later periods were a product of its [systems of education, some of which were supported by rulers such as in the empire of Bornu](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-centered-intellectual), while others were established as self-sustaining communities of scholars across multiple states producing [intellectuals who were attimes critical of their rulers like the Hausa scholar Umaru al-Kanawi.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-network-of-african-scholarship)
The biographies of several African scholars from later periods have been reconstructed along with their most notable works. Some of the most prolific African scholars include [the Sokoto philosopher Dan Tafa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-19th-century-african-philosopher), and [several women scholars like Nana Asmau from Sokoto and Dada Masiti from Barawa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/women-writing-africa-a-catalogue).
On the other side of the continent, the intellectual networks in the northern Horn of Africa connected many of the region’s scholarly capitals such as Zeila, Ifat, Harar, Berbera with other scholarly communities in the Hejaz, Yemen, and Egypt, where [African scholarly communities such as the Jabarti diaspora appear prominently in colleges such al-Azhar](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282). Along the east African coast, [scholars composed works on poetry, theology, astronomy, and philosophy](https://www.patreon.com/posts/poetry-and-in-on-74519541), almost all of which were written in the Swahili language rather than Arabic.
Some of Africa’s most prominent scholars had a significant influence beyond the continent. Ethiopian scholars such as Sägga Zäᵓab and Täsfa Sәyon who visited and settled in the cities of Lisbon and Rome during the 16th century engaged in intellectual exchanges, and [Sägga Zäᵓab published a book titled ‘The Faith of the Ethiopians’ which criticized the dogmatic counter-reformation movement of the period.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051) The writings of West African scholars such as the 18th-century theologian, [Salih al-Fullani from Guinea, were read by scholarly communities in India](https://www.patreon.com/posts/from-guinea-to-b-61683129).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GsKK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1be6e50e-dde6-4db6-a494-b37c724f6df0_820x513.png)
_**copy of the 19th century ‘Utendi wa Herekali’, of Bwana Mwengo of Pate, Kenya,**_ now at [SOAS London](https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000390/00001/citation).
The growth of African states and economies was sustained by [innovations in science and technology, which included](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/science-and-technology-in-african) everything from metallurgy and glass manufacture to roadbuilding and shipbuilding, to intensive farming and water management, to construction, waste management, and textile making, to the composition of scientific manuscripts on medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and Geography.
Africa was home to what is arguably [the world's oldest astronomical observatory located in the ancient city of Meroe, the capital of Kush](https://www.patreon.com/posts/discovery-of-in-56930547). It contains mathematical equations inscribed in cursive Meroitic and drawings of astronomers using equipment to observe the movement of celestial bodies, which was important in timing festivals in Nubia.
While popular mysteries of Dogon astronomy relating to the Sirius binary star system were based on a misreading of [Dogon cosmology, the discovery of many astronomical manuscripts in the cities of Timbuktu, Gao, and Jenne attest to West Africa's contribution to scientific astronomy](https://www.patreon.com/posts/star-gazing-from-73897317).
A significant proportion of the scientific manuscripts from Africa were[concerned with the field of medicine](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africas-scientific), especially in [West Africa where some of the oldest extant manuscripts by African physicians from Songhai (Timbuktu), Bornu, and the Sokoto empire are attested.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-in-on-90073735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nq2x!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8e82ab28-362a-4117-b2c5-e5bfc2dac8ab_820x485.png)
_**18th-century astronomical manuscript from Timbuktu showing the rotation of the planets**_
Besides manuscripts on the sciences, religion, philosophy, and poetry, Africans also wrote about music and produced painted art. [Ethiopia in particular is home to one of the world’s oldest musical notation systems](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-music-92740278) and instruments that [contributed to Africa’s musical heritage](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-music). Additionally, they also created an [Ethiopian calendar, which is one of the world's oldest calendars](https://www.patreon.com/posts/origin-and-of-of-73293170), being utilized in everything from royal inscriptions to medieval chronicles to the calculation of the Easter computus.
African art was rendered in various mediums, some of the most notable include [the wall paintings of medieval Nubia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/self-representation-in-african-art),as well as the [frescos and manuscript illustrations of Ethiopia, ancient Kerma and the Swahili coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/african-paintings-manuscript-illuminations).
Contrary to common misconception, the history of wheeled transport and road building in Africa reflected broader trends across the rest of the world, with [some societies such as ancient Kush and Dahomey adopting the wheel](https://www.patreon.com/posts/wheel-in-african-95169362), while others such as [Aksum and Asante built roads but chose not to use wheeled transport likely because it offered no significant advantages.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa)
Regional and long-distance trade flourished during the African Middle Ages and later periods. In West Africa, trade was enabled by the [navigability of the Niger River which enabled the use of large flat-bottomed barges with the capacity of a medium-sized ship](https://www.patreon.com/posts/navigation-trade-79454230), that could ferry goods and passengers across 90% of the river's length
Some of the best documented industries in Africa's economic history concern [the manufacture and sale of textiles which appear in various designs and quantities across the entire timeline of the continent's history](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/cloth-in-african-history-the-manufacture), and played a decisive role in the emergence of early industries on the continent.
One of the regions best known for the production of high-quality textiles was the [kingdom of Kongo which was part of Central Africa's 'textile belt' and would later export significant quantities of cloth to European traders](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/textile-trade-and-industry-in-the), some of which ended up in prestigious collections across the western world.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1uXu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf7192c2-0dc9-43ed-8495-dd4de2fa4e57_738x545.png)
_**Kongo luxury cloth: cushion cover, 17th-18th century**_, Polo Museale del Lazio, Museo Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini Roma
The expansion of states and trade across most parts of the continent during the Middle Ages enabled the [growth of large cosmopolitan cities home to vibrant crafts industries, monumental architecture, and busy markets that traded everything from textiles to land and property.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africas-urban-past-and-economy-currencies)
Some of the African cities whose history is well documented include the [ancient capital of Aksum](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-aksum-an), the [holy city of Harar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-harar-the-city), the [scholarly city of Timbuktu](https://www.patreon.com/posts/timbuktu-history-71077233), the [ancient city of Jenne](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-jenne-250bc), the Hausa [metropolis of Kano](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-kano-999), the [Dahomey capital of Abomey](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital), the Swahili cities of; [Kilwa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological), [Barawa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca), [Lamu](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-social-history-of-the-lamu-city), and [Zanzibar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-zanzibar-before-the), and lastly, the Ethiopian capital of [Gondar, the city of castles.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-gondar-africas)
The growth of cities, trade, and the expansion of states was enabled not just by the organization and control of people but also by the control of land, as various [African states developed different forms of land tenure, including land charters and grants, as well as a vibrant land market in Nubia, Ethiopia, Sokoto, Darfur, and Asante.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/land-and-property-in-pre-colonial)
The cities and hinterlands of Africa feature a [diverse range of African architectural styles](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/monumentality-power-and-functionality), some of the best-known of which include the castles of Gondar, the Nubian temples of Kerma and Meroe, the Swahili palaces and fortresses, the West African mosques and houses, as well as the stone palaces of Great Zimbabwe.
Some of the best-studied [African architecture styles are found in the Hausalands](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/hausa-urban-architecture-construction), whose constructions include; large palace complexes, walled compounds, double-story structures with vaulted roofs, and intricately decorated facades.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FS3-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99100ca4-c548-4f1c-8c52-2f4c1d4ff6e0_1600x900.jpeg)
_**Ruins of the Husuni Kubwa Palace**_, Kilwa, Tanzania
**Africa during the early modern era (1500-1800)**
The early modern period in African history continues many of the developments of the Middle Ages, as older states expanded and newer states appear in the documentary record both in internal sources and in external accounts. While Africa had for long initiated contact with the rest of the Old World, the arrival of Europeans along its coast began a period of mutual discovery, exchanges, and occasional conflicts.
Early invasions by the [Portuguese who attacked Mali’s dependencies along the coast of Gambia in the 1450s were defeated and the Europeans were compelled to choose diplomacy, by sending embassies to the Mali capital](https://www.patreon.com/posts/when-mali-empire-76281818). Over the succeeding period, African military strength managed to hold the Europeans at bay and dictate the terms of interactions,[a process has been gravely misunderstood by popular writers such as Jared Diamond](https://www.patreon.com/posts/jared-diamond-of-70430765).
The [history of African military systems and warfare explains why African armies were able to defeat and hold off external invaders like the Arabs, the Europeans, and Ottomans](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/war-and-peace-in-ancient-and-medieval). This strength was attained through combining several innovations including the rapid adoption of new weapons, and [the development of powerful cavalries which dominated warfare from Senegal to Ethiopia.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/knights-of-the-sahara-a-history-of)
[Contacts between African states and the Ottomans and the Portuguese](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century) also played an important role in the evolution of the military system in parts of the continent during the early modern era, including the [introduction of firearms in the empire of Bornu, which also imported several European slave-soldiers](https://www.patreon.com/posts/first-guns-and-84319870) to handle them.
Bornu's diplomatic overtures to Istanbul and Morroco, and its powerful army enabled it to avoid the fate of [Songhai, which collapsed in 1591 following the Moroccan invasion.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/morocco-songhai-bornu-and-the-quest) But the Moroccans failed to take over Songhai's vassals, thus enabling [smaller states in the empire’s peripheries such as the city-state of Kano, to free themselves and dominate West Africa's political landscape during this period](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/negotiating-power-in-medieval-west).
In the northern Horn of Africa, Ethiopia was briefly conquered by the neighboring empire of Adal which was supported by the Ottomans, but the [Ethiopian rulers later expelled the Adal invaders partly due to Portuguese assistance, although the Portuguese were themselves later expelled.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/global-encounters-and-a-century-of)
In Central Africa the coastal [kingdoms of Kongo and Ndongo combined military strength with diplomacy, managing to advance their own interests by taking advantage of European rivalries](https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-kongo-and-85683552).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I3q5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F27675cc9-0a50-430b-b535-6304b7625f2c_776x599.jpeg)
_Dutch delegation at the court of the King of Kongo_, 1641, in Olfert Dapper, Naukeurige beschrijvinge van den Afrikaensche gewesten (Amsterdam, 1668)
The [Kongo kingdom was one of Africa's most powerful states during this period, but its history and its interactions with Europeans are often greatly misunderstood](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-kongo-and-the-portuguese). The [diplomatic activities of Kongo resulted in the production of a vast corpus of manuscripts](https://www.patreon.com/posts/kingdom-of-and-99646036), which allows us to reconstruct the kingdom's history as told by its own people.
While Kongo crushed a major Portuguese invasion in 1622 and 1670, the kingdom became fragmented but was later [re-united thanks to the actions of the prophetess Beatriz Kimpa Vita](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/one-womans-mission-to-unite-a-divided), in [a society where women had come to wield significant authority](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power).
Another kingdom whose [history is often misunderstood is Dahomey](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-dahomey-and-the-atlantic), which, despite its reputation as a 'black Sparta', was neither singularly important in the Atlantic world nor dependent on it.
It’s important to note that the [effects of the Atlantic trade on the population of Africa, the political history of its kingdoms, and the economies of African societies were rather marginal](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/what-were-the-effects-of-the-atlantic). However, the corpus of [artworks produced by some coastal societies such as the Sapi](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-art-of-early-atlantic-contacts) indicates a localized influence in some regions during specific periods. It is also important to note that [anti-slavery laws existed in precolonial African kingdoms](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist), including in [Ethiopia, where royal edicts and philosophical writings reveal African perspectives on abolition](https://www.patreon.com/posts/anti-slavery-and-101416410).
To the east of Dahomey was the [powerful empire of Oyo which came to control most of the Yorubalands during the 17th century](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/empire-building-and-government-in) and was for some time the suzerain of Dahomey. West of these was the Gold Coast region of modern Ghana, that was dominated by the kingdom of Asante, which reached its height in the 18th and 19th centuries, [owing not just to its formidable military but also its diplomatic institutions](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/constructing-peace-in-a-pre-colonial).
On the eastern side of the continent, the [Portuguese ascendancy on the Swahili coast heralded a shift in political alliances and rivalries](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from), as well as a reorientation of trade and travel, before the Portuguese were expelled by 1698. In south-east Africa, the kingdom of [Mutapa emerged north of Great Zimbabwe and was a major supplier of gold to the Swahili coast, and later came under Portuguese control before it too expelled them by 1695.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-mutapa-and-the-portuguese)
In south-western Africa, the ancient communities of[Khoe-San speakers inflicted one of the most disastrous defeats the Portuguese suffered on the continent in 1510](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-ancient-herders), but the repeated threat of Dutch expansion prompted shifts in [Khoe-San societies including the creation of fairly large states](https://www.patreon.com/posts/social-history-96031188), as well as towns such as [the remarkable ruined settlement of Khauxanas in Namibia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-desert-town-of-southern-africa).
In central Africa, the rise of the [Lunda empire in the late 17th century connected the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/trans-continental-trade-in-central), and the lucrative trade in copper and ivory the Lunda controlled attracted Ovimbundu and Swahili traders who undertook the first recorded journeys across the region.
Increased connectivity in Central Africa did not offer any advantages to the European colonists of the time, as the [Portuguese were expelled from Mutapa by the armies of the Rozvi founder Changamire in the 1680s, who then went on to create one of the region's largest states.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-rozvi-kingdom-1680)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!X3ep!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4126824b-93dc-46f6-ad68-db2d7d2137eb_1339x512.png)
_**ruins of Naletale,**_ Zimbabwe
In the far west of Rozvi was the kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba whose famous [queen Njinga Mbande also proved to be a formidable military leader, as her armies defeated the Portuguese during the 1640s before she went on to establish an exceptional dynasty of women sovereigns](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-ndongo-and-the-portuguese).
**Africa and the World during the early modern period.**
[Africans continued their exploration of the Old World](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-african-exploration) during the early modern period. [The Iberian peninsula which had been visited by so-called ‘Moors’ from Takrur and the Ghana empire would later host travelers from the kingdom of Kongo](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-diaspora-82902179), some of whose envoys also visited Rome.
By the 17th century, African travelers had extended their exploration to the region of western Europe, with several [African envoys, scholars, and students from Ethiopia, Kongo, Allada, Fante, Asante, and the Xhosa kingdom visiting the low countries, the kingdoms of England and France and the Holy Roman empire](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-and-of-89363872).
Africans from the Sudanic [states of Bornu, Funj, Darfur, and Massina traveled to the Ottoman capital Istanbul](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman) often as envoys and scholars. While in eastern Africa, merchants, envoys, sailors, and royals [from the Swahili coast and the kingdom of Mutapa traveled to India, especially in the regions under Portuguese control](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese), expanding on pre-existing links mentioned earlier, with some settling and attaining powerful positions as priests.
The [African diaspora in India which was active in maritime trade](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-african-exploration-a90) eventually [traveled to Japan where they appeared in various capacities, from the famous samurai Yasuke, to soldiers, artisans, and musicians, and are included in the 'Nanban' art of the period.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-presence-90958238)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fWkK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3336a595-3d5f-4623-ac1d-1faa529fdea8_700x530.png)
_**detail of a 17th-century Japanese painting, showing an African figure watching a group of Europeans, south-Asians and Africans unloading merchandise**_. [Cleveland Museum](https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.193#)
Internal exploration across the continent continued, [especially across West Africa and North-East Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-africans) where the [regular intellectual exchanges created a level of cultural proximity between societies such as Bornu and Egypt that discredits the colonial myth of Sub-Saharan Africa.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan)
The emergence of the [desert kingdom of Wadai in modern Chad](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-desert-kingdom-of-africa-a-complete) as well as the kingdoms of Darfur and Funj in modern Sudan enabled the creation of new routes from West Africa, which facilitated regular [travel and migration of scholars and pilgrims, such as the Bornu saint whose founded the town of Ya'a in Ethiopia](https://www.patreon.com/posts/africans-africa-81510350).
Along the Atlantic coast,[West African mariners from the Gold Coast sailed as far as central Africa, where other groups of sailors also engaged in long-distance travel and migration, creating diasporic communities in the coastal societies of the African Atlantic.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the)
**Africa in the late modern period (18th to 19th centuries)**
Safe from the threat of external invasion, the states and societies of Africa continued to flourish.
In the Comoro Archipelago along the East African coast, [the city of Mutsamudu in the kingdom of Nzwani became the busiest port-of-call in the western Indian Ocean, especially for English ships during the 17th and 18th centuries](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-island-at-the-nexus-of).
While [the golden age of piracy](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates) didn't lead to the establishment of the mythical egalitarian [paradise of Libertalia in Madagascar, the pirates played a role in the emergence of the Betsimisaraka kingdom](https://www.patreon.com/posts/kingdom-of-and-100529348), whose ruler's shifting alliances with the rulers of Nzwani initiated [a period of naval warfare that engulfed the east African coast](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-episode-of-naval-warfare-on-the), before the [expansion of the Merina empire across Madagascar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar) subsumed it.
In Central Africa, the 17th and 18th centuries were the height of the [kingdom of Loango which is famous for its ivory artworks](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-loango-kingdom-ca1500). In the far east of Loango was [the Kuba kingdom whose elaborate sculptural art was a product of the kingdom's political complexity](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-art-of-power-in-central-africa), and south of Kuba was the Luba kingdom, where sculptural artworks like the [Lukasa memory boards served a more utilitarian function of recording history and were exclusively used by a secret society of court historians](https://www.patreon.com/posts/recording-in-and-86482144).
In the eastern part of Central Africa, the Great Lakes region was home to several old kingdoms such as Bunyoro, Rwanda, and Nkore, in a highly competitive political landscape which in the 19th century was dominated by [the kingdom of Buganda in modern Uganda](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-buganda-kingdom), that would play an important role in the region’s contacts and exchanges with the East African coast.
In southern Africa, the old heterarchical societies such as [Bokoni with its complex maze of stone terraces and roads](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-bokoni-egalitarian) built as early as the 16th century were gradually subsumed under [more centralized polities like Kaditshwene in a pattern of political evolution](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/revolution-and-upheaval-in-pre-colonial)that culminated in the so-called mfecane which gave rise to [powerful polities such as the Swazi kingdom.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-swazi-kingdom-and-its-neighbours)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o7nX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F67cfe62f-133a-44c2-a548-938efb3d2f2c_980x591.png)
_**Bokoni ruins. a dense settlement near machadodorp, South Africa showing circular homes, interconnecting roads, and terracing.**_
In West Africa, the period between 1770 and 1840 was also a time of revolution, that led to the formation of large 'reformist' states such as [the Massina Empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-massina-empire-1818) and the [Sokoto Empire, which subsumed pre-existing kingdoms like Kano](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-last-king-of-kano-alwali-ii-at), although other states survived such as the [Damagram kingdom of Zinder whose ruler equipped his army with artillery that was manufactured locally](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-damagaram-sultanate).
The 'reformist' rulers drew their legitimacy in part from reconstructing local histories such as [Massina intellectual Nuh al Tahir who claimed his patron descended from the emperors of Songhai](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-power-of-the-pen-in-african-history). Similarly in Sokoto, the empire’s founders and rulers such as Abdullahi Dan Fodio and Muhammad Bello [debated whether they originated from a union of Byzantines and Arabs, or from West Africa.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/interpreting-of-72671802) contributing to the so-called ‘foreign origin’ hypothesis that would be exaggerated by European colonialsts.
The 19th century in particular was one of the best documented periods of Africa’s economic history, especially for societies along the coast which participated in the commodities boom.
In the Merina kingdom of Madagascar, an ambitious attempt at [proto-industrialization was made by the Merina rulers, which led to the establishment of factories producing everything from modern rifles to sugar and glass.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-in-merina-87234164)
In Southern Somalia, the [old cities of Mogadishu and Barawa exported large quantities of grain to southern Arabia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/economic-growth-and-social-transformation), just as the old kingdom of [Majeerteen in northern Somalia had also emerged as a major exporter of commodities](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-majeerteen-sultanate) to the Red Sea region and India, while the [Oromo kingdom of Jimma in modern Ethiopia became a major exporter of coffee](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia) to the red sea region.
In East Africa, the emergence of Zanzibar as a major commercial entrepot greatly expanded pre-existing trade routes fueled by the [boom in ivory exports, which saw the emergence of classes of wage-laborers such as the Nyamwezi carriers and exchanges of cultures such as the spread of Swahili language](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/economic-growth-and-cultural-synchretism) as far as modern D.R.Congo
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6_DL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc50ec38e-0c73-427e-aef2-da1390526c0f_1057x658.jpeg)
_**Mombasa**_, Kenya, ca. 1890, Northwestern University
In West-Central Africa, [the rubber trade of 19th century Angola, which was still controlled by the still-independent kingdoms of Kongo and the Ovimbundu, brought a lot of wealth to local African producers and traders](https://www.patreon.com/posts/beyond-king-and-76874237) in contrast to the neighboring regions which were coming under colonial rule.
In West Africa, participants in the commodities boom of the period included [liberated slaves returning from Brazil and Sierra Leone, who established communities in Lagos, Porto-Novo and Ouidah, and influenced local architectural styles and cultures](https://www.patreon.com/posts/contributions-of-85011401).
**Africa and the World during the late modern period.**
The 19th century was the height of [Africa's exploration of the old world that in many ways mirrored European exploration of Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-and-african).
African travelers produced detailed first-hand accounts of their journeys, such as the travel account of the [Hausa travelers Dorugu and Abbega who visited England and Prussia (Germany) in 1856](https://www.patreon.com/posts/hausa-travelers-98642300), As well as [the Comorian traveler Selim Abakari who explored Russia in 1896, and Ethiopian traveler, Dabtara Fesseha Giyorgis who explored Italy in 1895.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/journey-to-19th-66837157)
The 19th century was also the age of imperialism, and the dramatic change in Africa's perception of Europeans can be seen in [the evolution of African depictions of Europeans in their art, from the Roman captives in the art of Kush, to the Portuguese merchants in Benin art to the Belgian colonists in the art of Loango](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-evolving-image-of-the-european-0de).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmK9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4733aab6-248f-494f-9274-7754efc7d9d8_895x553.png)
_**Ivory box with two Portuguese figures fighting beside a tethered pangolin, Benin city**_, 19th century, Penn museum
**From Colonialism to Independence.**
African states often responded to colonial threats by putting up stiff resistance, just like they had in the past.
Powerful kingdoms such as the [Asante fought the British for nearly a century](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africas-100-years-war-at-the-dawn), the Wasulu empire of [Samori fought the French for several decades](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the),the [Zulu kingdom gave the British one of their worst defeats](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history), while the [Bunyoro kingdom fought a long and bitter war with the British](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-kingdoms-existential-war).
Some states such as the [Lozi kingdom of Zambia chose a more conciliatory approach that saw the king traveling to London to negotiate](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca), while others such as the [Mahdist state in Sudan and the Ethiopians entered an alliance of convenience against the British](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-anti-colonial-alliance). But ultimately, only Ethiopia and Liberia succeeded in retaining their autonomy.
After half a century of colonial rule that was marked by fierce resistance in many colonies and brutal independence wars in at least six countries (Angola, Algeria, Mozambique, Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Namibia), African states regained their independence and marked the start of a new period in the continent's modern history.
**Conclusion**
Those looking for shortcuts and generalist models to explain the history of Africa will be disappointed to find that the are no one-size-fits-all theories that can comprehensively cover the sheer diversity of African societies. The only way to critically study the history of the continent is the embrace its complexity, only then can one paint a complete picture of the General History of Africa.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bctl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc55c93b8-c86b-4f52-b849-326972242ffa_1000x669.jpeg)
_**Musawwarat es-sufra temple complex**_ near Meroe, Sudan.
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-general-history-of-africa
|
In 1516, the King of Benin imposed a ban on the exportation of slaves from his kingdom. While little is known about the original purpose of this embargo, its continued enforcement for over two centuries during the height of the Atlantic slave trade reveals the extent of anti-slavery laws in Africa.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-1-143128851)
A lot has been written about the European abolitionist movement in the 19th century, but there's relatively less literature outlining the gradual process in which anti-slavery laws evolved in response to new forms of slavery between the Middle Ages and the early modern period.
For example, while many European states had anti-slavery laws during the Middle Ages[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-2-143128851), the use and trade in slaves (mostly non-Christian slaves but also Orthodox Christian slaves[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-3-143128851)) continued to flourish, and the later influx of enslaved Africans in Europe after the 1500s[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-4-143128851) reveals that the protections provided under such laws didn't extend to all groups of people.
The first modern philosopher to argue for the complete abolition of slavery in Europe was Wilheim Amo —born in the Gold Coast (Ghana)— who in 1729 defended his law thesis _**‘On the Rights of Moors in Europe’**_ using pre-existing Roman anti-slavery laws to argue that protections against enslavement also extended to Africans[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-5-143128851). Amo's thesis, which can be considered the first of its kind in modern abolitionist thought, would be followed up by better-known abolitionist writers such as Ignatius Sancho, Olaudah Equiano, and William Wilberforce.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-6-143128851)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8WuY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91e16cd3-8ad6-429e-8caa-05f75231c81b_504x602.png)
**Portrait of Sancho, ca. 1768.**The fact that the first and most prominent abolitionist thinkers in Europe were Africans should not be surprising given that it was they who were excluded from the anti-slavery laws of the time.
However, such abolitionist thought would largely remain on paper unless enforced by the state. Official abolition of all forms of slavery that was begun by Haiti in 1807, followed by Britain in 1833 and other states decades later, often didn't mark the end of the institution's existence. Despite abolition serving as a powerful pretext to justify the colonial invasion of Africa, slavery continued in many colonies well into the 20th century.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-7-143128851)
Abolition should therefore be seen as a gradual process in which anti-slavery laws that were initially confined to the subjects/citizens of a society/state were extended to everyone. Additionally, the efficacy of the anti-slavery laws was dependent on the capacity of the state to enforce them. And just as anti-slavery laws in European states were mostly concerned with their citizens, the anti-slavery laws in African states were made to protect their citizens.
In the well-documented case of the kingdom of Kongo, [the enslavement of Kongo's citizens was strictly forbidden and the kings of Kongo went to great lengths to enforce the law even during periods of conflict](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-kongo-and-the-portuguese). During the 1580s and the 1620s, thousands of illegally enslaved Kongo citizens were carefully tracked down and repatriated from Brazil in response to demands by the Kongo King Alvaro I (r. 1568-1587) and King Pedro II (r. 1622-1624). Kongo's anti-slavery laws were well-known by most citizens, in one case, a Kongo envoy who had stopped by Brazil on his way to Rome managed to free a person from Kongo who had been illegally enslaved.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-8-143128851)
Anti-slavery laws at times extended beyond states to include co-religionists. In Europe, anti-slavery laws protected Christians from enslavement by co-religionists and export to non-Christians, despite such laws not always being followed in practice.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-9-143128851) Similarly in Africa, Muslim states often instituted anti-slavery laws against the enslavement of Muslims. [10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-10-143128851) (again, despite such laws not always being followed in practice.)
The protection of African Muslims against enslavement was best articulated in the 17th-century treatise of the Timbuktu scholar Ahmad Baba titled _Miraj al-Suud ila nayl Majlub al-Sudan_ (The Ladder of Ascent in Obtaining the Procurements of the Sudan). Court records from Ottoman Egypt during the 19th century include accounts of several illegally enslaved African Muslims who successfully sued for their freedom, often with the help of other African Muslims who were visiting Cairo.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-11-143128851)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jQcp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fde1a5bd3-00ff-4cb6-87b3-6b619884476c_668x454.png)
Copy of _**Ahmad Baba’s treatise on slavery**_, Library of Congress[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-12-143128851)
African Muslim sovereigns such as the kings of Bornu not only went to great lengths to ensure that their citizens were not illegally enslaved, but also demanded that their neighbors repatriate any enslaved citizens of Bornu[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-13-143128851). Additionally, the political revolutions that swept 19th-century West Africa justified their overthrow of the pre-existing authorities based on the pretext that the latter sold freeborn Muslims to (European) Christians. After the ‘revolutionaries’ seized power, there was a marked decrease in slave exports from the regions they controlled.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-14-143128851)
The evolution of anti-slavery laws and abolitionist thought in Africa was therefore determined by the state and the religion, just like in pre-19th century Europe before such protections were later extended to all.
In Ethiopia, anti-slavery laws and abolitionist thought followed a similar trajectory, especially during the 16th and 17th centuries. Pre-existing laws banning the enslavement and trade of Ethiopian citizens were expanded, and philosophers called for the recognition of all people as equal regardless of their origin.
The anti-slavery laws and abolitionist philosophy of Ethiopia during the 16th and 17th centuries are the subject of my latest Patreon article;
Please **subscribe to read more about it here**:
[ANTI-SLAVERY LAWS IN ETHIOPIA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/101416410?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3Tj3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0135d8a4-8ff5-46fb-bf4f-570ada514945_620x1030.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-1-143128851)
Benin and the Europeans, 1485-1897 by A. F. C. Ryde pg 45, 65, 67, The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History by James D. Graham, A Critique Of The Contributions Of Old Benin Empire To The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade by Ebiuwa Aisien pg 10-12
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-2-143128851)
The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 2 pg 30-35)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-3-143128851)
That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500 by Hannah Barker pg 12-38, The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 2 pg 433-438, 466-470, 482-506)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-4-143128851)
A Social History of Black Slaves and Freedmen in Portugal, 1441-1555 By A. Saunders pg 35-45
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-5-143128851)
Belonging in Europe - The African Diaspora and Work edited by Caroline Bressey, Hakim Adi pg 40-41, Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body pg 10-12
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-6-143128851)
The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition By Manisha Sinha pg 25-26, 123-126, Slavery and Race: Philosophical Debates in the Eighteenth Century By Julia Jorati 187-192, 267.
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-7-143128851)
The End of Slavery in Africa By Suzanne Miers 7-25
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-8-143128851)
Abolitionism and Imperialism in Britain, Africa, and the Atlantic edited by Derek R. Peterson pg 38-53, Slavery and its transformation in the kingdom of kongo by L.M.Heywood, pg 7, A reinterpretation of the kongo-potuguese war of 1622 according to new documentary evidence by J.K.Thornton, pg 241-243
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-9-143128851)
That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500 by Hannah Barker pg 39-55
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-10-143128851)
Slaves and Slavery in Africa Volume 1 edited by John Ralph Willis pg 3-7)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-11-143128851)
Slaves and Slavery in Africa Volume 1 edited by John Ralph Willis pg 125-137, Slaves and Slavery in Africa: Volume Two: The Servile Estate By John Ralph Willis pg 146-149)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-13-143128851)
The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 3 pg 66-67)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist#footnote-anchor-14-143128851)
Jihād in West Africa During the Age of Revolutions by Paul E. Lovejoy
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8WuY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91e16cd3-8ad6-429e-8caa-05f75231c81b_504x602.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jQcp!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fde1a5bd3-00ff-4cb6-87b3-6b619884476c_668x454.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery-laws-and-abolitionist
|
Tucked along the southern coast of Somalia, the old city of Brava preserves the remains of a once bustling cosmopolitan enclave whose influence features prominently in the history of the East African coast.
Located more than 500 km north of the Swahili heartland, Brava retained a unique urban society whose language, architecture and culture distinguished it from its immediate hinterland. Its inhabitants spoke a dialect of Swahili called Chimiini, and organised themselves in an oligarchic republic typical of other Swahili cities. They cultivated commercial and political ties with societies across the Indian ocean world and the African mainland, mediating exchanges between disparate communities along the Swahili coast.
This article explores the history of Brava and examines its place in the Swahili world between the 11th and 19th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k49x!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53caea79-0adc-4827-b771-19a4c9d24e62_700x560.png)
**Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The early history of Brava until the 15th century.**
Archeological and Linguistic evidence for the early history of Brava indicates that it was part of the broader cultural developments occurring in the iron-age communities of the East African coast during the 1st millennium. These coastal settlements developed a distinct culture marked by mixed farming, commercial ties with the Indian Ocean and African interior, a gradual conversion to Islam, and a common material culture epitomized by local ceramics.
Discoveries of '_kwale_'-type wares in the ruins of a rubble and lime house just outside Brava, indicate links with settlements further south in East Africa that are dated to the 3rd-5th century. More archeological surveys in Brava uncovered imported glazed pottery from the 9th century as well as a funerary inscription dated to 1104 and a mosque inscription dated to 1398, making Brava contemporaneous with the early settlements at Pate, Kilwa, Shanga, and Unguja Ukuu.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-1-142884632)
Such material culture characterizes the oldest settlements of the Sabaki-speakers of the Bantu-language family such as the Swahili, kiBajuni, and Comorian languages, thus indicating their presence in Brava and southern Somalia at the turn of the 2nd millennium. But as a consequence of its relative isolation from other Swahili centers, the Chimiini language also contains “archaic” Swahili vocabulary that was lost in other dialects, and it also includes some loan words from the Tunni-Somali language. [2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-2-142884632)
Documentary evidence of Brava begins in the 12th century, with Al-Idrisi's description of the east African coast that includes a brief mention of the town of ‘Barua’ or ‘Maruwa’ which is usually identified as Barawa.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-3-142884632) He describes it as _**“the last in the land of the infidels, who have no religious creed but take standing stones, anoint them with fish oil and bow down before them.”**_ Considering the discovery of Islamic inscriptions from a mosque at Brava that are dated to 1105, and the fact that Al-Idrisi never visited the city, this description likely refers to the mixed society characteristic of Swahili cities in which traditional religions and practices continued to exist alongside Islam[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-4-142884632).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Spqq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F857e409a-90a8-4803-8633-a5e8edb77c33_873x587.png)
_**Mosque with well outside the walls in Brava**_, ca. 1889, archivio fotografico -Italy.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6D7g!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4a0337ac-cfed-4097-95da-0812049f589e_849x583.png)
_**Mosque in the interior of Brava**_, ca. 1889, archivio fotografico
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
A more detailed description of Brava is provided in Yemeni sources of the Rasulid era in the 14th century, where one Qadi describes Barāwa (Brava) as a "small locality" near Mogadishu, adding that _**“There is an anchorage sought by boats from India and from each small city of Sawāḥil,”**_ making Brava an important stop-point for the Swahili's transshipment trade directed towards Yemeni city of Aden.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-5-142884632) The importance of Brava in the Swahili world is corroborated by its mention in the 16th century Chronicle of Kilwa as one of the first cities to emerge along the coast, as well as its later ‘conquest’ by the city of Pate in the 14th century, which is mentioned in the Pate chronicle.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-6-142884632)
While Brava wasn’t one of the [Swahili cities and other East African kingdoms that sent envoys to Song-dynasty China](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80113224?pr=true), the city was visited during three of the voyages of Zheng He, a 15th century Ming-dynasty official. The two exchanged envoys during the time between his third and seventh voyages (1409-1433), with Zheng He being offered camels and ostriches as ‘tribute’. The latter’s companion, Fei Xin, described the people of Brava as honest.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-7-142884632)
A later Portuguese account from the mid-16th century describes Brava as _**"well walled, and built of good houses of stone and whitewash"**_. Adding that Brava didn't have a king but was instead ruled as an Oligarchic republic, _**"governed by its elders, they being honoured and respectable persons."**_ This is a similar structure to other Swahili cities like Lamu, Mombasa, Tumbatu, and the island of Ngazidja that were governed by a council of patricians (_waungwana_). Brava had been sacked by the Portuguese in 1506, and those who escaped _**"fled into the country"**_ only returning after the Portuguese had left.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-8-142884632)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZuQ3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3f30b707-33b7-45d9-b773-d40aa5a89909_876x580.png)
_**Terraces in Brava**_, ca. 1891, archivio fotografico
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_**end of Brava’s city wall at the beach**_, ca. 1891, archivio fotografico
**Brava from the 16th to the 18th century**
From their base in Malindi, and later at Mombasa, the Portuguese gradually brought parts of the Swahili coast under their control, but Brava remained mostly independent, despite briefly pledging allegiance in 1529.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-9-142884632) Near the end of the century, Oromo-speakers arrived in parts of Southern Somalia and northern Kenya, compelling some of Brava's hinterland partners such as the Majikenda, to move southwards. This disruption didn’t alter pre-existing patterns of trade, but reinvigorated the ivory trade between the mainland and the coast.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-10-142884632)
At the turn of the 17th century, the city of Pate in the Lamu archipelago emerged as a most powerful Swahili city, rivaling the Portuguese at Mombasa and bringing Brava into its political orbit. This was partly enabled by Pate's development of trade routes into Yemen and the Hejaz, as well as the arrival and acculturation of individual families of Hadrami-Sharifs, and Hatimi, these were merchant-scholars who counterbalanced Portuguese influence.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-11-142884632)
Portuguese accounts of the 17th and 18th centuries often differentiated between the "Mouros da terra" (the native Muslims, ie; Swahili) and the "Mouros de Arabia" (Arab Muslims), often identifying them by the differences in language but attimes by skin color.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-12-142884632) Dutch and French accounts of the 18th century used the word ‘Moor’ to refer to speakers of the language of the coast (Swahili) as well as the recently arrived immigrants from southern Arabia and the Hejaz, in contrast to the 'Arabs' who were from Oman.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-13-142884632)
However, local constructions of identities in Brava were likely far more complex, as in the urban settlements on the Swahili coast. All immigrant groups —whether they were from the sea, the coast, or the mainland— were often acculturated into the more dominant Swahili-speaking society through matrimonial alliances, knowledge of the Chimiini dialect, and identifying themselves with individual localities, lineages, and cities, even as they retained prestigious claims of foreign ancestry.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-14-142884632)
For example, the chronicle of Pate chronicle mentions a section of Brava's residents called waBarawa (people from Barawa) some of whom traced their origins to the Hatimi, who apparently originated from Andalusia (Spain), before they settled in Pate during the reign of its king Bwana Mkuu (1586-1601) and are said to have “brought many goods” with them.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-15-142884632)
In Brava, These Hatimi married into established local families and began to speak Chimiini as their first language, and some sections of this mixed Bravanese population (attimes called Haramani/Aramani) then migrated further south to the city of Kunduchi, to Mafia Island and to the Mrima coast opposite Zanzibar where they left inscriptions with the _nisba_ (a name indicating a place of origin) of _**al-Barawi**_. Some also adopted the _**al-Shirazi**_ nisba common among the elite families of the region at Kilwa and Zanzibar in a pattern of population movements and intermarriage characteristic of the Swahili world.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-16-142884632)
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_**Inscribed grave and pillar tomb in the ruined city of Kunduchi, Tanzania**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
A report by the Pate sultan to the Portuguese viceroy in 1729 mentions that merchants from Pate sold most of the white and black _dhoti_ (a type of Indian and Local cloth) in Brava in exchange for ivory brought over from the interior by the Oromo. Adding that ships sailed directly from Surat (India) to Brava to avoid Omani-Arab interference further south.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-17-142884632) During the same period, envoys from Barawa arrived in Pate to offer the vassalage of their town, hoping for protection from the Oromo.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-18-142884632)
Pate had developed a substantial trade with the Indian cities under Portuguese control such as Surat, and the _**"shipowners of Barawe"**_ reportedly financed each army with a local ship loaded with ivory for Surat.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-19-142884632) In 1744 Brava and other Swahili cities refused to recognize the sultan of Oman, Ahmed bin Said, who claimed to be suzerain of the Swahili cities after his predecessors had expelled the Portuguese. His brother, Saif, later traveled to the Swahili coast to collect the support of Brava, among other cities, which _**"appear to have submitted to him"**_ although this was temporary.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-20-142884632)In 1770, Brava hosted a deposed Pate sultan named Umar who led a rebellion against the reigning Queen Mwana Khadija.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-21-142884632)
In 1776, a Dutch visitor accompanied by his Comorian interpreter and other Swahili pilots stayed two months in Brava. The Comorian described Brava as _**"the last safe anchorage"**_ before Mecca and that all the ships that went from Zanzibar and Pate to Mecca and Surat anchored at Brava.
Brava was "ruled" by a 'duke' named Tjehamadi who exchanged gifts with the Dutch, and said that he was on _**"friendly footing**_ _**with the King of Pate”**_. Tjehamadi also warned the Dutch that Pate’s king had received information from Mogadishu about a European shipwreck off the coast of Mogadishu, whose entire crew was killed and its goods were taken. The Swahili pilots had also warned the Dutch to avoid Mogadishu, which they said was inhabited by _**"Arabs and a gathering of evil natives"**_ and that no Moorish or European ships went there.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-22-142884632)
In the later years, Barawa is mentioned in the account of a French trader Morice, along with other Swahili cities, as an independent kingdom governed by Moors (native Muslims) who had expelled the Arabs (Omanis).
During his stay on the Swahili coast from 1776-1784, he observed that there were four small anchorages for small ships along the coastline between Pate and Brava, which were controlled by a group who _**"do not allow even the Moors or the Arabs to go to them, although they themselves come to Zanzibar."**_ He describes this group as different from the Swahili, Arabs, and the people of the East African mainland, indicating that they were Somali.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-23-142884632)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YNqE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbaf90cec-ba89-4185-bd83-d2c330f6a56a_846x595.png)
_**Old structure near the beach at Brava**_, ca. 1899, archivio fotografico. This could be a mosque, studies at Kilwa and Songo Mnara indicate that such Mosques near the coast would have aided navigation.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-24-142884632)
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_**an isolated tower near Brava**_, ca. 1899, archivio fotografico. This tower was built about 3km from the shore, possibly by the Portuguese, most European visitors complained about Brava’s surf-battered beaches which prevented large ships from approaching it directly
**Brava in the 19th century**
The above descriptions of Brava's hinterland by the Dutch and French traders likely refer to the ascendancy of the Tunni clan of the Somali-speaking groups who became important in the Brava’s social landscape and politics during the 19th century, further accentuating Brava's cosmopolitan character.
The different communities in Brava, which appear in the city's internal records between 1893-1900, included not just the Baravanese-Swahili (known as the Bida/Barawi) and the Hatimi, (these first two groups called themselves ‘_**waungwana’**_ and _**“Waantu wa Miini”**_ ie: people of Brava), but also the Tunni-Somali (about 2,000 of the total city population of 4-5,000). Added to this were a few families of Sharifs and later immigrants such as Hadramis and Baluchis, as well as itinerant European and Indian merchants. All groups gradually achieved a remarkable balance of power and a community of interests that led to a sustained peaceful coexistence.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-25-142884632)
While the city is of considerable antiquity, many of its surviving buildings in the old town appear to have been constructed during the early 19th century ontop of older ruins. The older town, often comprising two-story houses built with coral stone and rag, with lime-plastered walls, decorated niches, and carved doors, is bounded by the Jaama mosque on the sea, the Sarmaadi mosque to the southeast, and the Abu Bah Sissiq mosque to the northeast.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-26-142884632)
An early 19th-century account by a visiting British naval officer indicates that Brava remained in the political orbit of Pate despite the latter’s decline.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-27-142884632) However, the city itself was still governed by a council of elders who in the late 19th century numbered 7 councilors, of whom five were now Tunni, while the other two were Barawi and Hatimi, reflecting the city's military dependence on the Tunni-Somali for defense against neighboring groups.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-28-142884632)
Brava was one of the major outlets for ivory, aromatic woods, gum, and myrrh and was a destination for captives that were brought overland from Luqq/Lugh and across the sea from the Mrima coast.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-29-142884632) The city exported hides to American and German traders at sea, and had a lively real-estate market with the _**waungwana**_ selling and buying land and houses in the city. The city's business was mostly handled by the Barawi, Hatimi, and the Sharifs, while the sailors who carried Brava’s goods to Zanzibar and elsewhere were mostly Bajuni (another Bantu-speaking group related to the Swahili) and Omani-Arabs. [30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-30-142884632)
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_**Exterior and interior of two houses belonging to wealthy figures in Brava**_. photos from 1891, and 1985.
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Brava, like many of the East African coastal cities, later came to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Oman sultan at Muscat and Zanzibar, and the sultan sent a governor to the city in 1837. However, his authority was mostly nominal, especially in southern Somalia, where the Geledi sultan Yusuf was said to be in control over much of the hinterland just ten years later. In practice, effective authority within the city remained with the elders of Brava who switched their vassalage depending on the region’s political landscape.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-31-142884632)
In 1846, a French visitor found that the Zanzibar-appointed governor of Brava was a Tunni named Haji Awisa, who was wearing _**“le costume des Souahhéli de distinction”**_(the costume of a Swahili of distinction). His son Sheikh Faqi was chosen by the council to be the spokesperson of Brava in Zanzibar, while the leader of the Tunni confederation; Haji Abdio bin Shego Hassan played an important role in the city's politics, and his sons purchased houses in the city, although some of Brava’s Tunni elites sold these properties during the local economic depression of the late 19th-century caused by the rinderpest epidemic that was introduced by the Italians.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-32-142884632)
Brava became a major center of Sufi scholarship in southern Somalia, closely linked with the scholarly community of Zanzibar, the Hejaz and Yemen. It produced prominent scholars like Muhyi ad-Din (1794-1869), Uways al-Barawi (1806-1909), Qassim al-Barawi (1878–1922) , Abdu’l-Aziz al-Amawy (1834-96), Nur Haji Abdulkadir (1881–1959), and the renowned woman-scholar Dada Masiti (c.1820–1919). Many of Brava’s scholars traveled widely and were influential across East Africa, some became prominent qadis in Lamu, Mombasa and Zanzibar, where they continued to write works in Chimiini, and the local Swahili dialects as well as Arabic.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-33-142884632)
Many of Brava's manuscripts (mostly poems) were written in both Arabic and the Bantu-language of Chimiini, not just by the Bravanese-Swahili who spoke it as their first language, but also by resident Tunni scholars who used it as their second language. Such include; Uways al-Barawi —who besides composing poems in Chimiini and Arabic, also devised a system of writing the Somali language in Arabic script— and Nur Haji Abdulkadir —who was one of the most prolific writers of religious poetry in Chimiini.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-34-142884632)
In the late 19th century, Barava's scholars who followed the Qadiriyya _tariqa_ produced didactic and didascalic poetry in Chimiini, in response to the intrusion of more fundamentalist schools from Arabia and European colonialists. The poetry was part of an intellectual movement and served as an anti-colonial strategy in Brava, contrasting with the inhabitants of Merca who chose to fight the Italians, and those of Mogadishu, who chose to leave the city. It also reaffirmed Qadiriyya religious practices, encouraged the rapid spread of Islam among the non-_**waungwana**_ and linked Brava's scholarly community closer with Zanzibar's scholars.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-35-142884632)
While external visitors often remarked that Swahili scholars preferred to write in Swahili rather than Arabic, which they read but didn't often write, Brava’s scholars were noted for their proficiency in writing both languages. The Brava-born scholar (and later Mombasa qadi) Muhyi al-Din was in the 1840s commissioned by the German visitor Johann Ludwig Krapf to translate the first book of Moses from Arabic to Swahili. He also served at the courts of the Omani sultan of Zanzibar as a mediator between the established elites and the Omanis.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-36-142884632)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3EmF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F911f9df7-16e5-492f-a6e6-4a522d44311a_914x662.png)
folios from two 19th century manuscripts written in Chimiini by Qassim b. Muhyi al-Din al-Barawi (1878–1922). First is _**Nakaanza khṯuunga marjaani**_ (I start stringing coral beads). second is _**Hamziyyah, Jisi gani khpaandra mitume anbiya**_ (Hamziyyah or How could the other prophets rise)[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-37-142884632)
In response to an attempted invasion by a Majerteen force from Kismayo in 1868, the people of Brava allied with the sultan of Geledi Ahmed Yusuf and pushed back the invaders. In 1875, Brava briefly submitted to the Khedive of Egypt when the latter's troops landed in the region but reverted to local control the following year after the Egyptians left. The Zanzibar sultan regained control and constructed a fort in the city, but would ultimately cede his suzerainty to an Italian company in 1893, which maintained a small presence in the city until 1908 when Brava formally became part of the colony of Somalia Italiana.[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-38-142884632)
Over the first decades of the twentieth century, political changes in Somalia resulted in the increased importance of Mogadishu and Merka while Brava consequently declined. By 1950 most of Barawa's older houses, close to the shore, had fallen into disrepair and many of them had been vacated by the families that owned them. With just 10-20,000 speakers of Chimiini left in the 1990s, the language is in serious decline, so too is the knowledge of Brava's contribution to African history.
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Brava from beach, ca. 1899, Luigi Robecchi
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The secluded harbors of Madagascar’s northeastern coast were a refuge for European pirates whose interactions with their Malagasy hosts influenced the emergence of the kingdom of Betsimisaraka.
**read more about this fascinating chapter of African states and European pirates here:**
[BETSIMISARAKA AND THE EUROPEAN PIRATES](https://www.patreon.com/posts/100529348)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3Zda!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4547c903-0247-4f77-aa15-27eb9accbb3f_634x1200.jpeg)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-1-142884632)
An Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Horn by N Chittick pg 120-122, Settlement Patterns of the Coast of Southern Somalia and Kenya by T.H. Wilson pg 103, The Swahili world edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones pg 366
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-2-142884632)
The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society By Derek Nurse, Thomas Spear pg 54, 58, Swahili and Sabaki: A Linguistic History By Derek Nurse, Thomas J. Hinnebusch, Gérard Philipson pg 725, Kenya's Past: An Introduction to Historical Method in Africa by Thomas T. Spear pg 56)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-3-142884632)
Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture & the Shungwaya Phenomenon By James De Vere Allen pg 71)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-4-142884632)
Primitive Islam and Architecture in East Africa by Mark Horton pg 103, n.7, Historic Mosques in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar By Stéphane Pradines pg 152
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-5-142884632)
L’Arabie marchande: État et commerce sous les sultans rasūlides du Yémen, chapter9, prg 31.
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-6-142884632)
Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture & the Shungwaya Phenomenon By James De Vere Allen pg 117, Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam on the East African coast By Randall L. Pouwels pg 36, The Pate Chronicle edited by Marina Tolmacheva pg 48
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-7-142884632)
A History of Overseas Chinese in Africa to 1911 By Anshan Li pg 39-48, Zheng He: China’s Greatest Explorer, Mariner, and Navigator By Corona Brezina pg 71
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-8-142884632)
A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar, Hakluyt Society, 1866, pg 15, The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society By Derek Nurse, Thomas Spear pg 85
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-9-142884632)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 84)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-10-142884632)
Swahili and Sabaki: A Linguistic History By Derek Nurse, Thomas J. Hinnebusch, Gérard Philipson pg 492, 496, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 140, n. 184)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-11-142884632)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 159-160)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-12-142884632)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 196, 168, n.44, 177, n.80)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-13-142884632)
The Dutch on the Swahili Coast, 1776-1778 by R. Ross, pg 322-323, 333, The French at Kilwa Island: An Episode in Eighteenth-century East African History by Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 11-12
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-14-142884632)
Translocal Connections across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg 54-65
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-15-142884632)
The Pate Chronicle edited by Marina Tolmacheva pg 64-65, 259)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-16-142884632)
Translocal Connections across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg 18, 55 n.24, The Swahili Coast, 2nd to 19th Centuries: Islam, Christianity and Commerce in Eastern Africa by Greville Stewart Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 147, East Africa and the Orient: Cultural Syntheses in Pre-colonial Times pg 41.Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture & the Shungwaya Phenomenon By James De Vere Allen pg 216, 218, 233. Writing in Swahili on Stone and on Paper by Ann Biersteker
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-17-142884632)
Arabian Seas By Rene J. Barendse 1700-1763, pg 187, Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa By Edward A. Alpers pg 91, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 146)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-18-142884632)
Barawa, the coastal town in southern Somalia by Hilary Costa Sanseverino pg 18)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-19-142884632)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu, 1585-1810: dynamiques endogènes, dynamiques exogènes by Thomas Vernet pg 153)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-20-142884632)
Tanganyika Notes and Records, Issues 1-5, pg 77, The French at Kilwa Island: An Episode in Eighteenth-century East African History by Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 216)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-21-142884632)
The Pate Chronicle edited by Marina Tolmacheva pg 76-77)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-22-142884632)
The Dutch on the Swahili Coast, 1776-1778 by R. Ross pg 343-346)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-23-142884632)
The French at Kilwa Island: An Episode in Eighteenth-century East African History by Parker Freeman-Grenville pg 11-12, 122, 141, )
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-24-142884632)
Inter-Tidal Causeways and Platforms of the 13th- to 16th-Century City-State of Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania Edward Pollard pg 109, Beyond the Stone Town: Maritime Architecture at Fourteenth–Fifteenth Century Songo Mnara, Tanzania by Edward Pollard pg 52,
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-25-142884632)
Translocal Connections Across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg 53-57)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-26-142884632)
Barawa, the coastal town in southern Somalia by Hilary Costa Sanseverino pg 18-22.
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-27-142884632)
Lamu in the Nineteenth Century: Land, Trade, and Politics by Marguerite Ylvisaker pg 38-39)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-28-142884632)
Translocal Connections Across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg 58)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-29-142884632)
Translocal Connections Across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg 94-105)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-30-142884632)
Barawa, the coastal town in southern Somalia by Hilary Costa Sanseverino pg 18, The Swahili Coast: Politics, Diplomacy and Trade on the East African Littoral, 1798-1856 by Christine Stephanie Nicholls pg 366, Translocal Connections Across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg 66, )
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-31-142884632)
The Swahili Coast: Politics, Diplomacy and Trade on the East African Littoral, 1798-1856 by Christine Stephanie Nicholls pg 188, 297-230,
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-32-142884632)
Translocal Connections Across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg 59-60, 66-67)
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-33-142884632)
Translocal Connections Across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg pg 78-79, 83-89, Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam on the East African coast By Randall L. Pouwels pg 141-143, Islamic scholarship in Africa: new directions and global contexts Edited by Ousmane Oumar Kane 326-334
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-34-142884632)
Translocal Connections Across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich 64, 'Stringing Coral Beads': The Religious Poetry of Brava by Alessandra Vianello
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-35-142884632)
Translocal Connections Across the Indian Ocean: Swahili Speaking Networks on the Move by Francesca Declich pg 72-78, 81-83)
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-36-142884632)
The Swahili Coast: Politics, Diplomacy and Trade on the East African Littoral, 1798-1856 by Christine Stephanie Nicholls pg 71, Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam on the East African coast By Randall L. Pouwels pg 142
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-37-142884632)
photos by Alessandra Vianello
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca#footnote-anchor-38-142884632)
Lamu in the Nineteenth Century: Land, Trade, and Politics by Marguerite Ylvisaker pg 97-101, Barawa, the coastal town in southern Somalia by Hilary Costa Sanseverino pg 18, 'Stringing Coral Beads': The Religious Poetry of Brava by Alessandra Vianello pg 9
|
[
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!25Rk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbcff03d1-e985-44d0-8153-78b692a5dbf1_942x483.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VsA4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febe43e53-96bf-47d0-bd00-a2eb3907dd0a_595x490.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-brava-ca
|
For most of its history, maritime trade in the Indian and Atlantic ocean world was characterized by ‘**competitive chaos’**.
Europeans visiting both regions had to contend with preexisting trade networks and cooperate with local rulers. The labeling of individuals as pirates was a means of advancing the economic and political goals of the European states operating in the oceans, and piracy was thus a manifestation of the rivalry and disorder that periodically impacted commerce in these dynamic zones of exchange.
Along the African coast, repeated attempts by the Portuguese, and later by the Dutch, and English to monopolize maritime commerce failed, as the mainland regions remained under African control, with each state choosing their trading partners.
During this age of mercantilism, European skippers were often encouraged by their home governments to raid the shipping of enemy powers indiscriminately. Many of these pirate raids occurred in the southern Atlantic and were against Iberian ships. For example, Between 1522 and 1539, over 300 Portuguese ships were captured by French privateers (read: pirates) who had been given letters of _marque_ which granted them permission to attack enemy vessels.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-1-142690271)
On the African coast, local rulers were under no obligation to respect Portugal's monopoly over external trade and could trade with anyone who served their interests. In the coastal region of Senegal facing the island of Cabo Verde, the Wolof people of the region regularly traded with pirates on the island rather than the Portuguese who controlled most of it, and had learned to **"speak French as if it was their native language"**. In the early 17th century, the two groups reportedly made off with as much as 200,000 _cruzados_ of goods a year, at the expense of the Portuguese.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-2-142690271)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kroe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2a6bbad5-0049-4227-96a8-9d99c13f90a5_811x541.png)
_**19th-century engraving of a French shipwreck near Rufisque, Senegal.**_
On the coastline of African states, all foreigners, pirates or otherwise, were compelled to respect African laws and the strict policy of neutrality. Failure to respect these laws resulted in negative and often disastrous consequences for the visiting traders, including a ban from trade, and even the risk of enslavement of the European sailors by Africans who'd take them as prisoners on the mainland until they were ransomed.
In 1525, a French privateer reached the coast of the kingdom Kongo to trade for copper and redwood, an action that was in violation of the Portuguese monopoly. After failing to follow the standard procedures of trade, King Afonso of Kongo sent two of his ships to fight with the French ship. The battle ended with several French sailors being captured and taken to Kongo where most were _**"taken down in irons"**_ and _**"put in prison,"**_ some of them died, while others were retained as artisans.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-3-142690271)
Conversely, a similar fate befell the Portuguese traders who reached the Bijagos islands in modern Guinea, whose inhabitants sheltered pirates (presumably French) and allowed them to set up a _**"lair and coastal strongpoint"**_ inorder to seize loot from passing ships. The Africans of the Bijagos islands regularly confiscated the goods of the Portuguese sailors, they were also known to _**"take the white crew as their prisoners, and they sell them in those places where they normally trade for cows, goats, dogs, iron bars."**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-4-142690271)
Even in exceptional cases when Europeans became involved in coastal conflicts involving pirates and African states, the results were pyrrhic at best.
In 1724, about two years after the defeat of the notorious pirate 'Black Bart' near Cape Lopez (in Modern Gabon), a combined Dutch and British force turned its attention against the most powerful supporter of pirates on the Gold Coast (in modern Ghana), an Akan ruler named Jan Konny (John Conny/John Canoe) who controlled the region of Axim and resided in the Prussian-built fort Fredericksburg. While they were successful in defeating John Conny, trade to the fort from the interior declined as the mainland kingdom of Asante avoided the merchants who had driven away their ally.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-5-142690271)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!znjP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55bcd542-169e-4fc3-8c17-11365214764d_1500x1111.jpeg)
_**The pirate ‘Black Bart’ (Bartholomew Roberts) at Ouidah in modern Benin, with his ship and other captured ships in the background.**_
The impact of European piracy on Africa's coastal societies was therefore negligible and wasn't different from the 'official' trade.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-6-142690271)
However, one notable exception was the region of north-eastern Madagascar where several hundred pirates found refuge in the late 17th century. In the secluded harbors of the island's northeastern coast, these pirates formed communities whose interactions with their Malagasy hosts influenced the emergence of the kingdom of Betsimisaraka.
**The history of the Betsimisaraka kingdom and the European pirates of Madagascar is the subject of my latest Patreon article.**
**Please subscribe to read about it here:**
[BETSIMISARAKA AND THE EUROPEAN PIRATES](https://www.patreon.com/posts/100529348)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jOPf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe0cd1a90-f319-42e4-bb72-5685d9ea24b4_634x1200.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fKbN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F152fdf03-a231-49be-882e-6141e99f72ba_875x600.jpeg)
_**View of the coast of the Bijagos islands showing local mariners in large boats receiving European ships. ca. 1885.**_
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-anchor-1-142690271)
Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo: His Life and Correspondence By John K. Thornton pg 113, A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820 By John K. Thornton pg 52
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-anchor-2-142690271)
The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415–1670: A Documentary History edited by Malyn Newitt pg 83
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-anchor-3-142690271)
Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo: His Life and Correspondenc By John K. Thornton pg 112-115, 204-205)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-anchor-4-142690271)
The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415–1670: A Documentary History edited by Malyn Newitt pg 216-217)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates#footnote-anchor-5-142690271)
Pirates of the Slave Trade: The Battle of Cape Lopez and the Birth of an an American Institution By Angela C. Sutton
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kroe!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2a6bbad5-0049-4227-96a8-9d99c13f90a5_811x541.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!znjP!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55bcd542-169e-4fc3-8c17-11365214764d_1500x1111.jpeg",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-pirates
|
In the first decade of the 20th century, only a few regions on the African continent were still controlled by sovereign kingdoms. One of these was the Lozi kingdom, a vast state in south-central Africa covering nearly 250,000 sqkm that was led by a shrewd king who had until then, managed to retain his autonomy.
The Lozi kingdom was a powerful centralized state whose history traverses many key events in the region, including; the break up of the Lunda empire, the _Mfecane_ migrations, and the colonial scramble. In 1902, the Lozi King Lewanika Lubosi traveled to London to meet the newly-crowned King Edward VII in order to negotiate a favorable protectorate status. He was met by another African delegate from the kingdom of Buganda who described him as **"a King, black like we are, he was not Christian and he did what he liked"**[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-1-142449070)
This article explores the history of the Lozi kingdom from the 18th century to 1916, and the evolution of the Lozi state and society throughout this period.
_**Map of Africa in 1880 highlighting the location of the Lozi kingdom (Barosteland)**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-2-142449070)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!N1rN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc4ecf0d-3eb9-468d-b18d-bfd87d127bec_993x595.png)
**Support AfricanHistoryExtra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Early history of the Lozi kingdom**
The landscape of the Lozi heartland is dominated by the Zambezi River which cuts a bed of the rich alluvial Flood Plain between the _Kalahari_ sands and the _miombo_ woodlands in modern Zambia.
The region is dotted with several ancient Iron Age sites of agro-pastoralist communities dating from the 1st/5th century AD to the 12th/16th century, in which populations were segmented into several settlement sites organized within lineage groups.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-3-142449070) It was these segmented communities that were joined by other lineage groups arriving in the upper Zambezi valley from the northern regions under the Lunda empire, and gradually initiated the process of state formation which preceded the establishment of the Lozi kingdom.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-4-142449070)
The earliest records and traditions about the kingdom's founding are indirectly associated with the expansion and later break-up of the Lunda empire, in which the first Lozi king named Rilundo married a Lunda woman named Chaboji. Rulindo was succeeded by Sanduro and Hipopo, who in turn were followed by King Cacoma Milonga, with each king having lived long enough for their former capitals to become important religious sites.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-5-142449070)
The above tradition about the earliest kings, which was recorded by a visitor between 1845-1853, refers to a period when the ruling dynasty and its subjects were known as the Aluyana and spoke a language known as siluyana. In the later half of the 19th century, the collective ethnonym for the kingdom's subjects came to be known as the lozi (rotse), an exonym that emerged when the ruling dynasty had been overthrown by the Makololo, a Sotho-speaking group from southern Africa. [6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-6-142449070)
King Cacoma Milonga also appears in a different account from 1797, which describes him as _**“a great souva called Cacoma Milonga situated on a great island and the people in another.”**_ He is said to have briefly extended his authority northwards into Lunda’s vassals before he was forced to withdraw.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-7-142449070) He was later succeeded by King Mulambwa (d. 1830) who consolidated most of his predecessors' territorial gains and reformed the kingdom's institutions inorder to centralize power under the kingship at the expense of the bureaucracy.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-8-142449070)
Mulambwa is considered by Lozi to have been their greatest king, and it was during his very long reign that the kingdom’s political, economic, and judicial systems reached that degree of sophistication noted by later visitors.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-9-142449070)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-z0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc647eb47-4090-4519-9f8c-6e30ab288345_842x769.png)
_**the core territories of the Lozi kingdom**_[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-10-142449070)
**The Government in 19th century buLozi**
At the heart of the Lozi State is the institution of kingship, with the Lozi king as the head of the social, economic and administrative structures of the whole State. After the king's death, they're interred in a site of their choosing that is guarded by an official known as _**Nomboti**_ who serves as an intermediary between the deceased king and his successors and is thus the head of the king's ancestral cult.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-11-142449070)
The Lozi bureaucracy at the capital, which comprised the most senior councilors (_**Indunas**_) formed the principal consultative, administrative, legislative, and judicial bodies of the nation. A single central body the councilors formed the National Council (_**Mulongwanji)**_ which was headed by a senior councilor (_**Ngambela)**_ as well as a principal judge (_**Natamoyo)**_. A later visitor in 1875 describes the Lozi administration as a hierarchy of “officers of state” and “a general Council” comprising “state officials, chiefs, and subordinate governors,” whose foundation he attributed to “a constitutional ruler now long deceased”.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-12-142449070)
The councilors were heads of units of kinship known as the _**Makolo**_, and headed a provincial council (_**kuta**_) which had authority over individual groups of village units (_**silalo**_) that were tied to specific tracts of territories/land. These communities also provided the bulk of the labour and army of the kingdom, and in the later years, the Makolo were gradually centralized under the king who appointed non-hereditary Makolo heads. This system of administration was extended to newly conquered regions, with the southern capital at Nalolo (often occupied by the King’s sister _**Mulena Mukwai**_), while the center of power remained in the north with the roving capital at Lealui.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-13-142449070)
The valley's inhabitants established their settlements on artificially built mounds (_**liuba**_) tending farms irrigated by canals, activities that required large-scale organized labor. Some of the surplus produced was sent to the capital as tribute, but most of the agro-pastoral and fishing products were exchanged internally and regionally as part of the trade that included craft manufactures and exports like ivory, copper, cloth, and iron. Long-distance traders from the east African coast (Swahili and Arab), as well as the west-central African coast (Africans and Portuguese), regularly converged in Lozi’s towns.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-14-142449070)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kqUm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed74b26d-f1ca-4c2c-b8bf-631cfb9d8c36_961x605.jpeg)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WFXu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F61917170-c6f0-4090-8934-51404bb1ad2b_844x637.png)
_**Palace of the King**_ (at Lealui) ca. 1916, Zambia. USC Libraries.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lnxh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8899306-6527-49e1-8e75-66751a62026c_719x625.png)
_**Palace of the Mulena Mukwai/Mokwae**_ (at Nalolo), 1914, Zambia. USC Libraries.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The Lozi kingdom under the Kololo dynasty.**
After the death of Mulambwa, a succession dispute broke out between his sons; Silumelume in the main capital of Lealui and Mubukwanu at the southern capital of Nalolo, with the latter emerging as the victor. But by 1845, Mubukwanu's forces were defeated in two engagements by a Sotho-speaking force led by Sebetwane whose followers (_**baKololo**_) had migrated from southern Africa in the 1820s as part of the so-called _**mfecane**_. Mubukwanu's allies fled to exile and control of the kingdom would remain in the hands of the baKololo until 1864.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-15-142449070)
Sebetwane (r. 1845-1851) retained most of the pre-existing institutions and complacent royals like Mubukwanu's son Sipopa, but gave the most important offices to his kinsmen. The king resided in the Caprivi Strip (in modern Namibia) while the kingdom was ruled by his brother Mpololo in the north, and daughter Mamochisane at Nololo, along with other kinsmen who became important councilors. The internal agro-pastoral economy continued to flourish and Lozi’s external trade was expanded especially in Ivory around the time the kingdom was visited by David Livingstone in 1851-1855, during the reign of Sebetwane's successor, King Sekeletu (r. 1851-1864).[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-16-142449070)
The youthful king Sekeletu was met with strong opposition from all sections of the kingdom, spending the greater part of his reign fighting a rival candidate named Mpembe who controlled most of the Lozi heartland. After Sekeletu's death in 1864, further succession crisis pitted various royals against each other, weakening the control of the throne by the baKololo. The latter were then defeated by their Luyana subjects who (re)installed Sipopa as the Lozi king. While the society was partially altered under baKololo rule, with the Luyana-speaking subjects adopting the Kololo language to create the modern Lozi language, most of the kingdom’s social institutions remained unchanged.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-17-142449070)
The (re) installation of King Sipopa (r. 1864-1876) involved many Lozi factions, the most powerful of which was led by a nobleman named Njekwa who became his senior councilor and was married to Sipopa's daughter and co-ruler Kaiko at Nalolo. But the two allies eventually fell out and shortly after the time of Njekwa's death in 1874, the new senior councilor Mamili led a rebellion against the king in 1876, replacing him with his son Mwanawina. The latter ruled briefly until 1878 when factional struggles with his councilors drove him off the throne and installed another royal named Lubosi Lewanika (r.1878-84, 1885-1916) while his sister and co-ruler Mukwae Matauka was set up at Nalolo.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-18-142449070)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Cqrr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe7081c2e-cd8b-42a5-b114-bbddac45ee15_1334x482.png)
_**The Royal Barge on the Zambezi river**_, ca. 1910, USC Library
**King Lewanika’s Lozi state**
During King Lubosi Lewanika's long reign, the Lozi state underwent significant changes both internally as the King's power became more centralized, and externally, with the appearance of missionaries, and later colonialists.
After King Lubosi was briefly deposed by his powerful councilor named Mataa in favor of King Tatila Akufuna (r. 1884-1885), the deposed king returned and defeated Mataa's forces, retook the throne with the name Lewanika, and appointed loyalists. To forestall external rebellions, he established regional alliances with King Khama of Ngwato (in modern Botswana), regularly sending and receiving embassies for a possible alliance against the Ndebele king Lobengula. He instituted several reforms in land tenure, created a police force, revived the ancestral royal religion, and created new offices in the national council and military.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-19-142449070)
King Lewanika expanded the Lozi kingdom to its greatest extent by 1890, exercising varying degrees of authority over a region covering over 250,000 sqkm[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-20-142449070). This period of Lozi expansion coincided with the advance of the European missionary groups into the region, followed by concessioners (looking for minerals), and the colonialists. Of these groups, Lewanika chose the missionaries for economic and diplomatic benefits, to delay formal colonization of the kingdom, and to counterbalance the concessionaries, the latter of whom he granted limited rights in 1890 to prospect for minerals (mostly gold) in exchange for protection against foreign threats (notably the powerful Ndebele kingdom in the south and the Portuguese of Angola in the west).[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-21-142449070)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WQct!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8ca62ecb-d5b9-41ec-bf6a-256d965d7bbb_998x642.png)
_**The Lozi kingdom at its greatest extent in the late 19th century**_
Lewanika oversaw a gradual and controlled adoption of Christianity (and literacy) confined to loyal councilors and princes, whom he later used to replace rebellious elites. He utilized written correspondence extensively with the various missionary groups and neighboring colonial authorities, and the Queen in London, inorder to curb the power of the concessionaires (led by Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa company which had taken over the 1890 concession but only on paper), and retain control of the kingdom. He also kept updated on concessionary activities in southern Africa through diplomatic correspondence with King Khama.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-22-142449070)
The king’s Christian pretensions were enabled by internal factionalism that provided an opportunity to strengthen his authority. Besides the royal ancestral religion, lozi's political-religious sphere had been dominated by a system of divination brought by the aMbundu (from modern Angola) whose practitioners became important players in state politics in the 19th century, but after reducing the power of Lewanika's loyalists and the king himself, the later purged the diviners and curbed their authority.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-23-142449070)
This purge of the Mbundu diviners was in truth a largely political affair but the missionaries misread it as a sign that the King was becoming Christian and banning “witchcraft”, even though they were admittedly confused as to why the King did not convert to Christianity. Lewanika had other objectives and often chided the missionaries saying; _**"What are you good for then? What benefits do you bring us? What have I to do with a bible which gives me neither rifles nor powder, sugar, tea nor coffee, nor artisans to work for me."**_[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-24-142449070)
The newly educated Lozi Christian elite was also used to replace the missionaries, and while this was a shrewd policy internally as they built African-run schools and trained Lozi artisans in various skills, it removed the Lozi’s only leverage against the concessionaires-turned-colonists.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-25-142449070)
**The Lozi kingdom in the early 20th century: From autonomy to colonialism.**
The King tried to maintain a delicate balance between his autonomy and the concessionaries’ interests, the latter of whom had no formal presence in the kingdom until a resident arrived in 1897, ostensibly to prevent the western parts of the kingdom (west of the Zambezi) from falling under Portuguese Angola. While the Kingdom was momentarily at its most powerful and in its most secure position, further revisions to the 1890 concessionary agreement between 1898 and 1911 steadily eroded Lewanika's internal authority. [26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-26-142449070)
Internal opposition by Lozi elites was quelled by knowledge of both the Anglo-Ndebele war of 1893 and the Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902. But it was the Anglo-Boer war that influenced the Lozi’s policies of accommodation in relation to the British, with Lozi councilors expressing _**“shock at the thought of two groups of white Christians slaughtering each other”.**_[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-27-142449070) The war illustrated that the Colonialists were committed to destroying anyone that stood in their way, whether they were African or European, and a planned expulsion of the few European settlers in Lozi was put on hold.
Always hoping to undermine the local colonial governors by appealing directly to the Queen in London, King Lewanika prepared to travel directly to London at the event of King Edward’s coronation in 1902, hoping to obtain a favorable agreement like his ally, King Khama had obtained on his own London visit in 1895. When asked what he would discuss when he met King Edward in London, the Lozi king replied: **“When kings are seated together, there is never a lack of things to discuss.”**[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-28-142449070)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ygo_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3a239501-8f87-4ad5-977a-eabd8b3ab64b_500x385.jpeg)
_**King Lewanika (front seat on the left) and his entourage visiting Deeside, Wales, ca. 1901**_, Aberdeen archives
It is likely that the protection of western Lozi territory from the Portuguese was also on the agenda, but the latter matter was considered so important that it was submitted by the Portuguese and British to the Italian king in 1905, who decided on a compromise of dividing the western region equally between Portuguese-Angola and the Lozi. While Lewanika had made more grandiose claims to territory in the east and north that had been accepted, this one wasn’t, and he protested against it to no avail[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-29-142449070)
After growing internal opposition to the colonial hut tax and the King’s ineffectiveness had sparked a rebellion among the councilors in 1905, the colonial governor sent an armed patrol to crush the rebellion, This effectively meant that Lewanika remained the king only nominally, and was forced to surrender the traditional authority of Kingship for the remainder of his reign. By 1911, the kingdom was incorporated into the colony of northern Rhodesia, formally marking the end of the kingdom as a sovereign state.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-30-142449070)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tLDl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9888960e-f958-433b-95ab-0594224e915c_500x726.jpeg)
_**the Lozi king lewanika ca. 1901.**_ Aberdeen archives
A few hundred miles west of the Lozi territory was **the old kingdom of Kongo, which created an extensive international network sending its envoys across much of southern Europe and developed a local intellectual tradition that includes some of central Africa’s oldest manuscripts.**
Read more about it here:
[KONGO'S FOREIGN RELATIONS & MANUSCRIPTS](https://www.patreon.com/posts/99646036)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ri8t!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7935d194-6756-43b8-8e1e-532551f30444_648x1186.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-1-142449070)
Black Edwardians: Black People in Britain 1901-1914 By Jeffrey Green pg 22
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-2-142449070)
Map by Sam Bishop at ‘theafricanroyalfamilies’
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-3-142449070)
Iron Age Farmers in Southwestern Zambia: Some Aspects of Spatial Organization by Joseph O. Vogel
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-4-142449070)
Iron Age History and Archaeology in Zambia by D. W. Phillipson
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-5-142449070)
A History of West Central Africa to 1850 By John K. Thornton pg 310, Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 18-20)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-6-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 5, 10-15)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-7-142449070)
A History of West Central Africa to 1850 By John K. Thornton pg 310)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-8-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 57-59)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-9-142449070)
The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 2
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-11-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 30)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-12-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 38-41, The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 3-5
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-13-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 33-36, 44-47, 50-54)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-14-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 32, 130-131)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-15-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 61-71)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-16-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 74-82, The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 9-11
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-17-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 87-92, The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 11-12
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-18-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 103-113, The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 13-15
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-19-142449070)
The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 19- 34 Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 115- 136)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-20-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia pg 150-161)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-21-142449070)
The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 38-56, Barotseland's Scramble for Protection by Gerald L. Caplan pg 280-285
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-22-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 174-175)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-23-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 137-138)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-24-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 179-182)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-25-142449070)
The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 76-81
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-26-142449070)
The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 63-68, 74-75
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-27-142449070)
The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 76
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-28-142449070)
Bulozi under the Luyana Kings: Political Evolution and State Formation in Pre-colonial Zambia by Mutumba Mainga pg 192)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-29-142449070)
The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 88-89.
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca#footnote-anchor-30-142449070)
The Elites of Barotseland 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province by Gerald L. Caplan pg 90-103
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!N1rN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc4ecf0d-3eb9-468d-b18d-bfd87d127bec_993x595.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d-z0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc647eb47-4090-4519-9f8c-6e30ab288345_842x769.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lnxh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8899306-6527-49e1-8e75-66751a62026c_719x625.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Cqrr!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe7081c2e-cd8b-42a5-b114-bbddac45ee15_1334x482.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WQct!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8ca62ecb-d5b9-41ec-bf6a-256d965d7bbb_998x642.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ygo_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3a239501-8f87-4ad5-977a-eabd8b3ab64b_500x385.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tLDl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9888960e-f958-433b-95ab-0594224e915c_500x726.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ri8t!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7935d194-6756-43b8-8e1e-532551f30444_648x1186.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-lozi-kingdom-ca
|
a brief note on Africa in 16th century global history.
===============
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/)
[African History Extra](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/)
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a brief note on Africa in 16th century global history.
======================================================
### the international relations and manuscripts of Kongo
[](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Mar 03, 2024
23
#### Share this post
[  African History Extra a brief note on Africa in 16th century global history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#)
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The 16th century was one the most profound periods of change in Africa's international relations.
Africans had led the initiative in establishing international contact across Eurasia[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-1-142265250), and the expansion of the Ottoman and Portuguese empires in the 16th century further accelerated Africa's engagement with the rest of the world, reshaping pre-existing patterns of regional alliances and rivalries.
In the northern Horn of Africa, the armies of the Adal sultanate defeated the Ethiopian forces in 1529 as their leader, Imam Ahmad al-Ghazi, launched a series of successful campaigns that briefly subsumed most of Ethiopia. Al-Ghazi's campaigns eventually acquired an international dimension and became increasingly enmeshed in the global conflict between the Portuguese and the Ottomans. The Turks supplied al-Ghazi with firearms and soldiers, while the Portuguese provided the same to the Ethiopian ruler Gelawdewos, who eventually won the war in 1543.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9_IF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf939165-cea3-488a-adb1-0d27b64ed7ae_820x599.png)
**‘Futuh al-Habasa’** (_Conquest of Abyssinia_) written by Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin Abd al-Qader in 1559, copy at the King Saud University.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-2-142265250)
Around the same time, the rulers of the Swahili city-states along the East African coast who were opposed to the Portuguese presence sent envoys to the Ottoman provinces in Arabia beginning in 1542, looking for allies to aid them in expelling the Portuguese. After several more embassies in the 1550s and 60s, Ottoman corsair Ali Beg brought his forces to the East African coast in 1585 and 1589, but was eventually forced to withdraw after an army from the mainland drove his forces from the coast.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-3-142265250)
On the other side of the continent the simultaneous expansion of the Portuguese and Ottomans into north-western Africa threatened the regional balance of power between the empires of Morocco and Bornu. After a series of diplomatic initiatives by Bornu’s envoys to Marrakech and Istanbul, the Moroccans defeated the Portuguese in 1578, just as Bornu's ruler Mai Idris Alooma was halting the Ottoman advance into Bornu’s dependancies in southern Libya.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-4-142265250)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nsuc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe40c72d1-dcff-44cf-a7ef-eee34186e979_820x615.jpeg)
_**the 16th century fortress of Murzuq in southern Libya’s Fezzan region, associated with the Awlad dynasty, a client state of Bornu**_. The fezzan remained the border between Bornu and the Ottomans and it was from this region that **[Bornu acquired european slave soldiers and firearms from the Ottomans](https://www.patreon.com/posts/first-guns-and-84319870)**.
In all three regions, the globalized rivalries between the regional powers are mentioned in some of Africa's best known works of historical literature. The chronicle on Adal’s ‘_Conquest of Abyssinia’_ was completed in 1559, in the same decade that the chronicle of the Swahili city of Kilwa was written, and not long before the Bornu scholar Aḥmad Furṭū would complete the first chronicle of Mai Idris' reign in 1576. While all three chronicles are primarily concerned with domestic politics, they also include an international dimension regarding the diplomatic activities of their kingdoms.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-5-142265250)
Much further south in the region of west-central Africa, another African society entered the international arena, without engaging in the global rivaries of the period. The sudden entry of the kingdom of Kongo into global politics and the emergence of its intellectual tradition was one of the most significant yet often misunderstood developments in 16th-century Africa.
**The international activities of the kingdom of Kongo and its intellectual traditions are the subject of my latest Patreon article.**
**please subscribe to read about it here:**
[KONGO'S FOREIGN RELATIONS & MANUSCRIPTS](https://www.patreon.com/posts/99646036)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ri8t!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7935d194-6756-43b8-8e1e-532551f30444_648x1186.png)
* * *
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JG-n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F437706fb-81d4-4c72-bfd6-bae06e7bbcf8_688x604.png)
_**The ambassador Antonio Emanuele Ne Vunda of the Kingdom of Kongo and the embassy of Hasekura Tsunenaga of Japan**_. Painting by Agostino Taschi. ca. 1616 in the Sala dei Corazzieri, Palazzo del Quirinale., Rome
* * *
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-anchor-1-142265250)
**[Did Europeans Discover Africa? Or Was It the Other Way Around?](https://newlinesmag.com/essays/did-europeans-discover-africa-or-the-other-way-around/)**
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-anchor-2-142265250)
[Link](https://makhtota.ksu.edu.sa/makhtota/2400/56)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-anchor-3-142265250)
[The Portuguese and the Swahili, from foes to unlikely partners: Afro-European interface in the early modern era ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/profile/44604452-isaac-samuel)
·
March 13, 2022
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from)
Studies of early Afro-European history are at times plagued by anachronistic theories used by some scholars, who begin their understanding of the era from the perspective of colonial Africa and project it backwards to the 16th and 17th centuries when first contacts were made; such as those between the Swahili and the Portuguese. They construct an image …
[Read full story](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-anchor-4-142265250)
[Morocco, Songhai, Bornu and the quest to create an African empire to rival the Ottomans. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/morocco-songhai-bornu-and-the-quest)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/profile/44604452-isaac-samuel)
·
January 30, 2022
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/morocco-songhai-bornu-and-the-quest)
The Sahara has for long been perceived as an impenetrable barrier separating “north africa” from “sub-saharan Africa”. The barren shifting sands of the 1,000-mile desert were thought to have constrained commerce between the two regions and restrained any political ambitions of states on either side to interact. This “desert barrier” theory was populariz…
[Read full story](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/morocco-songhai-bornu-and-the-quest)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century#footnote-anchor-5-142265250)
[An African-centered intellectual world; the scholarly traditions and literary production of the Bornu empire (11th-19th century) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-centered-intellectual)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/profile/44604452-isaac-samuel)
·
September 11, 2022
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-centered-intellectual)
Studies of African scholarship in general, and west African scholarship in particular, are often framed within diffusionist discourses, in which African intellectual traditions are "received” from outside and are positioned on the periphery of a greater system beyond the continent
[Read full story](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-centered-intellectual)
[](https://substack.com/profile/159530813-emily-fedon)
[](https://substack.com/profile/98635331-alton-mark-allen)
[](https://substack.com/profile/29353584-samoan62)
[](https://substack.com/profile/141844764-blossom-akpojisheri)
[](https://substack.com/profile/10684878-david-perlmutter)
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[Mar 3, 2024](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century/comment/50837178 "Mar 3, 2024, 4:47 PM")
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[Acemoglu in Kongo: a critique of 'Why Nations Fail' and its wilful ignorance of African history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
[There aren’t many Africans on the list of Nobel laureates, nor does research on African societies show up in the selection committees of Stockholm.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africa-in-16th-century
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At its height in the 14th century, the Mali empire was one of Africa's largest states, extending over an estimated 1.2 million square kilometers in West Africa. Encompassing at least five modern African states, the empire produced some of the continent's most renowned historical figures like Mansa Musa and enabled the growth and expansion of many of the region's oldest cities like Timbuktu.
From the 13th century to the 17th century, the rulers, armies, and scholars of Mali shaped the political and social history of West Africa, leaving an indelible mark on internal and external accounts about the region, and greatly influenced the emergence of successor states and dynasties which claimed its mantle.
This article outlines the history of Mali from its founding in the early 13th century to its decline in the late 17th century, highlighting key events and personalities who played important roles in the rise and demise of Mali.
_**Map of Imperial Mali in the 14th century**_.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-1-141995491)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nFu7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe58bd3d7-f053-40f4-99aa-545487092712_698x558.png)
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**Background to the emergence of Mali: west Africa during the early 2nd millennium and the Sudiata epic.**
The region where the Mali empire would emerge appears in some of the earliest accounts about West Africa, which locate it along the southern fringes of the Ghana empire. The 11th-century account of Al-Bakri mentions the **“great kingdom”** of Daw/Do along the southern banks of the Niger River, and another kingdom further to its south named Malal. He adds that the king of Malal adopted Islam from a local teacher, took on the name of al-Muslimânî and renounced the beliefs of his subjects, who **“remained polytheists”**.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-2-141995491)
This short account provides a brief background on the diverse social landscape in which Mali emerged, between the emerging Muslim communities in the cities such as Jenne, and the largely non-Muslim societies in its hinterland. Archeological discoveries of terracotta sculptures from Jenne-Jeno and textiles from the Bandiagara plateau dated to between the 11th-15th centuries, in an area dotted with mosques and inscribed stele, attest to the cultural diversity of the region[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-3-141995491). The complementary and at times conflicting accounts about Mali's early history were shaped by the divergent world views of both communities and their role in the emergence of Mali.
Written accounts penned by local West African scribes (especially in Timbuktu) and external writers offer abundant information on the kingdom’s Muslim provinces in its north and east but ignore the largely non-Muslim regions. Conversely, the oral accounts preserved by the non-Muslim _**jeli**_ (griots), who were the spokespersons for the heads of aristocratic lineages and transmitted their histories in a consistent form, have very little to say about Muslim society of Mali, but more to say about its southern provinces. Both accounts however emphasize their importance to the royal court and the Mansas, leaving little doubt about their equal roles in Mali's political life.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-4-141995491)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!suMZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ac378b1-f1d9-42ed-94f9-956026adf02e_1321x515.png)
_**Equestrian figures of elite horsemen from Jenne-Jeno, ca 12th-14th century**_, _Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Werner Forman_, _**Reclining figure from Jenne-Jeno, ca. 12th–14th century**, Musée National du Mali_
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_**Tunic and Textile fragments from the "Tellem", 11th-12th century**_, Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen, and Musée National du Mali, Bamako
The foundational epic of Mali as recounted by the griots mentions several popular characters and places in the traditions of Mande-speaking groups, with a special focus on Sudianta, who was born to a king of Manden (a region straddling the border between modern Mali and Guniea) and a woman from the state of Do (Daw) named Sogolon. The succession of a different son of the king forced Sogolon and Sudianta to move from Manden to the region of Mema (in the central region of modern Mali), just as Manden was conquered by a king named Sumanguru. Sudianta later travels back to Manden, allies with neighboring chieftains, defeats Sumanguru, and assumes the throne as the first _Mansa_ ( Sultan/King ) of Mali. Sunjata and his allies then undertake a series of campaigns that expand the embryonic empire.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-5-141995491)
The cultural landscape of the epic is indisputably that of traditional Mandinka society which, for seven centuries, has developed, worked on, and transmitted to the present day a story relating to events of the 13th century. Despite the authoritative estimates provided in many recent accounts about Mali's history, the dates associated with the events in Sudianta's epic are heavily disputed and are at best vaguely assigned to the first half of the 13th century. However, the association of Sudianta with the creation of the empire's institutions such as the ‘Grand council’ of allied lineage heads, represents a historical reality of early Mali’s political history.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-6-141995491)
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_**Some of the archeological zones of the west African ‘sudan’ between the mid-3rd millennium BC and mid 2nd millennium AD.**_[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-7-141995491)
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_**Map of early Mali in the 13th century**_
**Mali in the 14th century: from Sudiata to Mansa Musa**
That the founding and history of Mâli were remembered in what became its southwestern province of Manden was likely due to the province’s close relationship with the ruling dynasty, both in its early rise and its later demise. Outside the core of Manden, the ruler of Mâli was recognized as an overlord/suzerain of diverse societies that were incorporated into the empire but retained some of their pre-existing power. These traditional rulers found their authority closely checked by Mali officers called _farba/farma/fari_ (governors), who regulated trade, security, and taxation. Because sovereignty was exercised at multiple scales, Mali is best described as an empire, with core regions such as Mande and Mema, and outlying provinces that included the former Ghana empire.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-8-141995491)
It was from the region of the former Ghana empire that a scholar named Shaykh Uthman, who was on a pilgrimage to Cairo, met with and provided a detailed account of the _Mansas_ to the historian Ibn Khaldun about a century and a half later. Uthman’s account credits the founding of the empire to Mârî Djâta, who, according to the description of his reign and his name, is to be identified with Sundiata.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-9-141995491)
Sudianta was succeeded by Mansa Walī (Ali), who is described as _**"one of the greatest of their Kings"**_, as he made the pilgrimage during the time of al-Zâhir Baybars (r. 1260-1277). Mansa Walī was later succeeded by his brothers Wâtî and Khalîfa, but the latter was deposed and succeeded by their nephew Mansa Abû Bakr. After him came Mansa Sakura, a freed slave who seized power and greatly extended the empire's borders from the ocean to the city of Gao. He also embarked on a pilgrimage between 1299-1309 but died on his way back. He was succeeded by Mansa Qû who was in turn succeeded by his son Mansa Muhammad b. Qû, before the throne was assumed by Mansa Musa (r. 1312–37), whose reign is better documented as a result of his famous pilgrimage to Mecca.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-10-141995491)
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_**Detail of the Catalan Atlas ca. 1375, showing King Mûsâ of Mâli represented in majesty carrying a golden ball in his hand. The legend in Catalan describes him as “the richest and noblest lord of all these regions”.**_
The royal pilgrimage has always been considered a vector of integration and legitimization of power in the Islamic world, fulfilling multiple objectives for both the pilgrims and their hosts. In West Africa, it was simultaneously a tool of internal and external legitimation as well as a tool for expanding commercial and intellectual links with the rest of the Muslim world. In Mali, the royal pilgrimage had its ascendants in the pre-existing traditions of legitimation and the creation of political alliances through traveling across a ‘sacred geography’.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-11-141995491)
The famous account of Mansa Musa's predecessor failing at his own expedition across the Atlantic is to be contrasted with Mansa Musa's successful expedition to Mecca which was equally extravagant but was also deemed pious. More importantly, Mansa Musa's story of his predecessor's demise explains a major dynastic change that allowed his 'house' —descended from Sudianta's brother Abû Bakr— to take the throne.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-12-141995491)
Mansa Musa returned to Mali through the city of Gao which had been conquered by Mali during Mansa Sakura’s reign, but is nonetheless presented in later internal sources as having submitted peacefully. Mansa Musa constructed the Jingereber mosque of Timbuktu as well as a palace at the still unidentified capital of the empire. His entourage included scholars and merchants from Egypt and the Hejaz who settled in the intellectual capitals of Mali.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-13-141995491) Some of the Malian companions of Musa on his pilgrimage returned to occupy important offices in Mali, and at least four prominent ‘Hajjs’ were met by the globe-trotter Ibn Battuta during his visit to Mali about 30 years later .[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-14-141995491)
According to an account provided to al-‘Umarī by a merchant who lived in Mali during the reign of Mansa Musa and his successors, the empire was organized into fourteen provinces that included Ghana, Zafun (Diafunu), Kawkaw (Gao), Dia (Diakha), Kābara, and Mali among others. Adding that in the northern provinces of Mali **“are tribes of ‘white’ Berbers under the rule of its sultan, namely: the Yantaṣar, Tīn Gharās, Madūsa, and Lamtūna”** and that **“The province of Mali is where the king’s capital, ‘Byty’, is situated. All these provinces are subordinate to it and the same name Mālī, that of the chief province of this kingdom, is given to them collectively.**[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-15-141995491)**”** Later internal accounts from Timbuktu corroborate this account, describing provinces and towns as the basis of Mali's administration under the control of different officers, with a particular focus on cities such as Walata, Jenne, Timbuktu, and Gao.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-16-141995491)
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_**The Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu, the original structure was commissioned by Mansa Musa in 1325**_[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-17-141995491)
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_**The city of Gao, ca. 1920, archives nationales d'outre mer.**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Mali under Mansa Musa and Mansa Sulayman**
It’s from Gao that another Malian informant of Ibn Khaldun named Abû AbdAllah, a qadi of the city, provided an account of the 14th-century rulers of Mali that ended with the 'restoration' of the old house and the deposition of Abu Bakr's house. The rivalry between the two dynastic houses may explain the relative 'silence' in oral accounts regarding the reigns of the Abu Bakr house, especially Mansa Musa and his later successor Mansa Sulayman (r. 1341–60), who was visited by Ibn Battuta in 1352.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-18-141995491)
Ibn Battuta’s account includes a description of Mansa Sulayman's court and an outline of the administrative structure of the empire, mentioning offices and institutions that appear in the later Timbuktu chronicles about Mali's successor, the Songhai empire. He mentions the role of the Queen, who is ranked equal to the emperor, the _**nâ'ib**_, who is a deputy of the emperor, a royal guard that included mamluks (slaves bought from Egypt), the griots who recounted the history of his predecessors, the _**farba**_ (governors), the _**farâriyy**_ a, a term for both civil administrators and military officers, as well as a litany of offices such as the _**qadis**_ (judges), the _**mushrif/manshājū**_ who regulated markets, and the _**faqihs**_ (juriconsult) who represented the different constituencies.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-19-141995491)
Ibn Battuta's account also highlights the duality of Mali's social-political structure when the King who had earlier been celebrating the Eid festival as both a political and religious event in the presence of his Muslim subjects and courtiers, but was later a central figure of another important festival by Mali's non-Muslim griots and other subjects, the former of whom wore facemasks in honor of the ancestral kings and their associated histories. The seemingly contradictory facets of Mali's political spaces were in fact complementary.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-20-141995491)
Mansa Musa initiated diplomatic relations with the Marinid sultanate of Fez (Morocco) during the reign of Abū ’l-Ḥasan (r. 1331–1348) that would be continued by his successors. During Mansa Musa’s reign, _**“high ranking statesmen of the two kingdoms were exchanged as ambassadors”**_. and Abū ‘l-Ḥasan sent back _**“novelties of his kingdom as people spoke of for long after”**_. The latter’s embassy was received by Mansa Sulayman, who reciprocated by sending a delegation in 1349, shortly before Ibn Battuta departed from Fez to arrive at his court in 1852.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-21-141995491)
Ibn Battuta remarked about an internal conflict between Sulaymân and his wife, Queen Qâsâ, who attempted to depose Sulayman and install a rival named Djâtil, who unlike Mansa Musa and Sulayman, was a direct descendant of Sudianta. The Queen's plot may have failed to depose the house of Abu Bakr whose candidates remained on the throne until 1390, but this dynastic conflict prefigured the succession crises that would plague later rulers.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-22-141995491)
After his death in 1360, Sulayman was briefly succeeded by Qāsā b. Sulaymān, who was possibly the king's son or the queen herself acting as a regent. Qasa was succeeded by Mārī Jāṭā b. Mansā Maghā (r. 1360-1373), who sent an embassy to the Marinid sultan in 1360 with gifts that included a **“huge creature which provoked astonishment in the Magrib, known as the giraffe”**[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-23-141995491). He reportedly ruined the empire before his son and successor Mansa Mūsā II (r. 1373-1387) restored it. Musa II’s _**wazir**_ (high-ranking minister) named Mārī Jāṭā campaigned extensively in the eastern regions of Gao and Takedda. After he died in 1387, Mūsā II was briefly succeeded by Mansā Maghā before the latter was deposed by his wazir named Sandakī. The latter was later deposed by Mansa Maḥmūd who restored the house of Sudiata with support from Mali’s non-Muslim provinces in the south.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-24-141995491)
**The intellectual landscape of Mali.**
Regarding the early 15th century, most accounts about Mali focus on the activities of its merchants and scholars across Mali's territories, especially the Juula/Dyuula who'd remain prominent in West Africa's intellectual traditions
The Mali empire had emerged within an already established intellectual network evidenced by the inscribed stele found across the region from Ghana's capital Kumbi Saleh to the city of Gao beginning in the 12th century. Mali's elites and subjects could produce written documents, some of which were preserved in the region's private libraries, such as Djenne's oldest manuscript dated to 1394.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-25-141995491) Additionally, the Juula/Jakhanke/Wangara scholars whose intellectual centers of Diakha and Kabara were located within the Mali empire’s heartland spread their scholarly traditions to Timbuktu, producing prominent scholars like Modibo Muḥammad al-Kābarī, whose oldest work is dated to 1450[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-26-141995491).
While writing wasn’t extensively used in administrative correspondence within Mali, the rulers of Mali were familiar with the standard practices of written correspondence between royals which required a chancery with a secretary. For example, al-‘Umarī mentions a letter from Mansa Mūsā to the Mamluk ruler of Cairo, that was **“written in the Maghribī style… it follows****its own rules of composition although observing the demands of propriety”**.**It was written by the hand of one of his courtiers who had come of the pilgrimage. Its contents comprised of greetings and a recommendation for the bearer,”** and a gift of five thousand mithqāls of gold.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-27-141995491)
About a century later, another ruler of Mali sent an ambassador to Cairo in order to inform the latter’s ruler of his intention to travel to Mecca via Egypt. After the ambassador had completed his pilgrimage, he returned to Cairo in July 1440 to receive a written response from the Mamluk sultan. The Mamluk letter to Mali, which has recently been studied, indicates that the sultan granted Mansa Yusuf's requests, writing: **"For all his requests, we have responded to his Excellency and we have issued him a noble decree for this purpose."**According to the manual of al-Saḥmāwī, who wrote in 1442, the ruler of Mali at the time was Mansa Yūsuf b. Mūsā b. ʿAlī b. Ibrahim**.**[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-28-141995491)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QT2q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc36d1070-5867-4040-b35f-ca7c98517108_844x557.png)
_**'Garden of Excellences and Benefits in the Science of Medicine and Secrets' by Modibbo Muhammad al-Kābarī, ca. 1450, Timbuktu, [Northwestern University](https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/items/455393f4-853d-4932-98ae-c6d0d5f22d3d)**_
**An empire in decline: Mali during the rise of Songhai in the 16th century.**
It’s unclear whether Mansa Yusuf succeeded in undertaking the pilgrimage since the last of the royal pilgrimages from Takrur (either Mali or Bornu) during the 15th century occurred in 1431[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-29-141995491). Mali had lost control of Timbuktu to the Maghsharan Tuareg around 1433 according to _Ta’rīkh as-sūdān_, a 17th century Timbuktu chronicle. Most local authorities from the Mali era were nevertheless retained such as the qadis and imams. The Tuareg control of Timbuktu ended with the expansion of the Songhai empire under Sunni Ali (r. 1464-1492), who rapidly conquered the eastern and northern provinces of Mali, including Gao, Timbuktu, Jenne, and Walata.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-30-141995491)
The account of the Genoese traveler Antonio Malfante who was in Tuwat (southern Algeria) around 1447 indicates that Gao, Timbuktu, and Jenne were separate polities from Mali which was **“said to have nine towns.”**A Portuguese account from 1455-56 indicates that the **“Emperor of Melli”** still controlled parts of the region along the Atlantic coast, but mentions reports of war in Mali's eastern provinces involving the rulers of Gao and Jenne.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-31-141995491)
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_**Mali in the 16th century**_
Between 1481 and 1495, King John II of Portugal sent embassies to the king of Timbuktu (presumably Songhai), and the king of Takrur (Mali). The first embassy departed from the Gambia region but failed to reach Timbuktu, with only one among the 8-member team surviving the journey. A second embassy was sent from the Portuguese fort at El-Mina (in modern Ghana), destined for Mali, after the [gold exports from Mali’s Juula traders at El-mina had alerted the Portuguese to the empire’s importance.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/when-mali-empire-76281818)
The sovereign who received the Portuguese delegation was Mansa Maḥmūd b. Walī b. Mūsā, the grandson of the Mansa Musa II (r. I373/4 to I387). According to the Portuguese account; **"This Moorish king, in reply to our King's message, amazed at this novelty** [of the embassy]**said that none of the four thousand four hundred and four kings from whom he descended, had received a message or had seen a messenger of a Christian king, nor had he heard of more powerful kings than these four: the King of Alimaem** [Yemen]**, the King of Baldac**[Baghdad]**, the King of Cairo, and the King of Tucurol**[Takrur, ie; Mali itself]"[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-32-141995491)
While no account of the envoys' negotiations at the capital of Mali was recorded, it seems that later Malian rulers weren’t too receptive to the overtures of the Portuguese, as no further delegations were sent by the crown, but instead, one embassy was sent by the El-mina captain Joao Da Barros in 1534 to the grandson of the abovementioned Mansa. By then, the gold trade of the Juula to el-Mina had declined from 22,500 ounces a year in 1494, to 6,000 ounces a year by 1550, as much of it was redirected northwards.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-33-141995491)
Between the late 15th and mid 16th century, the emergence of independent dynasties such as the Askiya of Songhai and the Tengella of Futa Toro challenged Mali's control of its northern provinces, and several battles were fought in the region between the three powers. Between 1501 and 1507, Mali lost its northern provinces of Baghana, Dialan, and Kalanbut to Songhai, just as the regions of Masina and Futa Toro in the northwest fell to the Tengella rulers and other local potentates.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-34-141995491)
Mali became a refuge for rebellious Songhai royals such as Askiya Muḥammad Bonkana Kirya who was deposed in 1537. He moved to Mali’s domains where his son was later married. But the deposed Aksiya and his family were reportedly treated poorly in Mali, forcing some of his companions to depart for Walata (which was under Songhai control) while the Bonkana himself remained within Mali’s confines in the region of Kala, west of Jenne[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-35-141995491). It’s shortly after this that in 1534 Mansa Mahmud III received a mission from the Elmina captain Joâo de Barros, to negotiate with the Mali ruler on various questions concerning trade on the River Gambia.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-36-141995491)
Mali remained a major threat to Songhai and often undertook campaigns against it in the region west of Jenne. In 1544 the Songhai general (and later Askiya) Dawud, led an expedition against Mali but found the capital deserted, so his armies occupied it for a week. Dawud's armies would clash with Mali's forces repeatedly in 1558 and 1570, resulting in a significant weakening of Mali and ending its threat to Songhai. The ruler of Mali married off his princess to the Askiya in acknowledgment of Songhai’s suzerainty over Mali[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-37-141995491)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!at84!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0508cd26-ead1-4bb6-851c-34b07134d6e0_2185x1376.jpeg)
_**Jenne street scene, ca. 1906.**_
**From empire to kingdom: the fall of Mali in the 17th century.**
Songhai’s brief suzerainty over Mali ended after the collapse of Songhai in 1591, to the Moroccan forces of al-Mansur. The latter attempted to pacify Jenne and its hinterland, but their attacks were repelled by the rulers of Kala (a Bambara state) and Massina, who had thrown off Mali’s suzerainty. The Mali ruler Mahmud IV invaded Jenne in 1599 with a coalition that included the rulers of Masina and Kala, but Mali's forces were driven back by a coalition of forces led by the Arma and the Jenne-koi as well as a ruler of Kala, the last of whom betrayed Mahmud but spared his life..[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-38-141995491)
While Mali had long held onto its western provinces along the Gambia River, the emergence of the growth of the kingdom of Salum as a semi-autonomous polity in the 16th century eroded Mali's control over the region and led to the emergence of other independent polities. By 1620, a visiting merchant reported that the Malian province had been replaced by the kingdoms of Salum, Wuli, and Cayor.[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-39-141995491)
Over the course of the early 17th century, Mali lost its suzerainty over the remaining provinces and was reduced to a small kingdom made up of five provinces that were largely autonomous. Mali’s power was eventually eclipsed by the Bambara empire of Segu which subsumed the region of Manden in the late 17th century, marking the end of the empire.[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-40-141995491)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XLh4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd169a75e-7dcb-46e6-8212-f91091d242ab_1024x681.png)
_**The Palace of Amadu Tal in Segou, late 19th century illustration after it was taken by the French**_
**In the Hausaland region (east of Mali) two ambitious Hausa travelers explored Western Europe from 1852-1856, journeying through Malta, France, England, and Prussia (Germany). Read about their fascinating account of European society here**
[The Hausa explorer of western Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/hausa-travelers-98642300)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MlgY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fda222985-3fda-4ee6-b56a-f61be1fc91a2_848x687.png)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-2-141995491)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 18-19
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-3-141995491)
Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara by Alisa LaGamma pg 48-78
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-4-141995491)
The imperial capital of Mâli François-Xavier Fauvelle prg 7, Les masques et la mosquée - L'empire du Mâli by François-Xavier Fauvelle pg 53
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-5-141995491)
In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature and Performance edited by Ralph A. Austen
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-6-141995491)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 62-63, Les masques et la mosquée - L'empire du Mâli by François-Xavier Fauvelle pg *51, *30-34
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-7-141995491)
Map by Roderick McIntosh
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-8-141995491)
The imperial capital of Mâli François-Xavier Fauvelle prg 8)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-9-141995491)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 69, 82, 84, 87. In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature and Performance edited by Ralph A. Austen pg 48
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-10-141995491)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 93-94 African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 96-99)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-11-141995491)
[Mansa Musa and the royal pilgrimage tradition of west Africa: 11th-18th century -------------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/mansa-musa-and-the-royal-pilgrimage)
·
January 1, 2023
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/mansa-musa-and-the-royal-pilgrimage)
The golden pilgrimage of Mansa Musa was a landmark event in west African history. Travelling 3,000 kilometers across Egypt and Arabia with a retinue of thousands carrying over a dozen tonnes of gold, the wealth of Mansa Musa left an indelible impression on many Arab and European writers who witnessed it and increased their knowledge about west Africa be…
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-12-141995491)
Le Mali et la mer (XIVe siècle) by François-Xavier Fauvelle
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-13-141995491)
Les masques et la mosquée - L'empire du Mâli by François-Xavier Fauvelle pg *64-65, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 124-125)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-14-141995491)
Travels of Ibn Battuta Vol4 pg 951-952, 956, 967, 970-971
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-15-141995491)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 53-54
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-16-141995491)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 126-129
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-17-141995491)
The great mosque of Timbuktu by Bertrand Poissonnier pg 31-34
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-18-141995491)
Les masques et la mosquée - L'empire du Mâli by François-Xavier Fauvelle pg *140-145)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-19-141995491)
Les masques et la mosquée - L'empire du Mâli by François-Xavier Fauvelle pg *145-156, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 139-141)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-20-141995491)
Les masques et la mosquée - L'empire du Mâli by François-Xavier Fauvelle pp. 211-225)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-21-141995491)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 95, 100
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-22-141995491)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 148-149)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-23-141995491)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 96
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-24-141995491)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 150-151, Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 97-98
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-25-141995491)
From Dust to Digital: Ten Years of the Endangered Archives Programme, 2015, pg 173-188
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-26-141995491)
[Foundations of Trade and Education in medieval west Africa: the Wangara diaspora. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education)
·
September 18, 2022
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education)
As the earliest documented group of west African scholars and merchants, the Wangara occupy a unique position in African historiography, from the of accounts of medieval geographers in Muslim Spain to the archives of historians in Mamluk Egypt, the name Wangara was synonymous with gold trade from west Africa, the merchants who brought the gold, and the …
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-27-141995491)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 63-64
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-28-141995491)
Ressusciter l’archive. Reconstruction et histoire d’une lettre mamelouke pour le sultan du Takrūr (1440) by Rémi Dewière
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-29-141995491)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants by Nehemia Levtzion, Jay Spaulding pg 118
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-30-141995491)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick pg 30-31, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 183-185)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-31-141995491)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez pg 151-153.)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-32-141995491)
Wangara, Akan and Portuguese I by Ivor Wilks pg 338-339, D’ Asia by João de Barros pg 260-261.
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-33-141995491)
Wangara, Akan and Portuguese II by Ivor Wilks, pg 465-6
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-34-141995491)
General History of Africa Volume IV by UNESCO pg 180-182, Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick pg 108-110, 113
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-35-141995491)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick pg 134-135
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-36-141995491)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael A. Gomez, pg 207
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-37-141995491)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick pg 140, 148, 153-154,
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-38-141995491)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick pg 234-236)
[39](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-39-141995491)
General History of Africa Volume IV by UNESCO pg 183-184)
[40](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history#footnote-anchor-40-141995491)
General History of Africa Volume IV by UNESCO pg 184, The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 4 pg 171-174
(*_are not the exact page numbers_)
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-mali-empire-a-complete-history
|
The study of written history is in many ways, a study of perspectives.
In the parts of Africa where the most accessible accounts about the region’s past used to be the travel literature of European visitors, the study of African history was a study of European perspectives of Africa. The Eurocentric perspective of travelers such as James Bruce in 18th century Ethiopia, and Heinrich Barth in 19th century West Africa, informed much of their understanding of African societies.
However, there are a few sections in these European travelogues in which the African perspective of their guests is reproduced, revealing how the Europeans were seen by their hosts.
The Scottish traveler James Bruce, who visited Ethiopia in order to find the source of the Nile, was hospitably received by the ruling Empress Mentewwab at her palace in QwesQwam near Gondar. But the empress found Bruce's reasons for travel to be rather odd; remarking to Bruce that **"life furnishes us with the perverseness and contradiction of human nature!, You have come from Jerusalem, through vile Turkish governments, and hot, unwholesome climates, to see a river and a bog, no part of which you can carry away."**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bEoB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb9b1790c-cff2-4287-a939-cf67c50b6ecc_887x496.png)
_**Ruins of Empress Mentewab's QwesQwam complex near Gondar, Ethiopia.**_
It’s interesting that Mentewwab's critique of the main objective of James Bruce's entire adventure was retained. The queen wished to visit Jerusalem, which Bruce and many Ethiopian pilgrims had been to, but the Scottish traveler only wished to see the source of the Nile, which from Mentewwab's perspective was a frivolous goal. While the opinions of the African hosts about the European travelers were mostly positive, such as Heinrich Barth's stay in the west African states of Bornu and Sokoto, some instances of conflict blighted African perceptions of the European visitors, and by extension, of European society.
During his stay in Timbuktu around 1851, Heinrich Barth was not so hospitably received by the Fulbe authorities of the [Massina empire](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-massina-empire-1818), whose control over the city was contested by the Tuaregs. One Massina officer repeatedly pestered the German traveler with "insulting language". Barth writes that this Massina officer **"Spoke of the Christians**[Europeans]**in the most contemptuous manner, describing them as sitting like women in the bottom of their steamboats, and doing nothing but eating raw eggs; concluding with the paradoxical statement, which is not very flattering to Europeans, that the idolatrous Bambara**[of Segu]**were far better people and much farther advanced in civilization than the Christians."**
The conflict between Massina and the Tuaregs near Timbuktu who protected Barth, likely influenced the Massina officer's negative opinion of European society, which he ranked lower than his 'pagan' rivals, the Bambara of Segu. Barth also blamed Mungo Park for propagating the stereotype that Europeans were fond of raw eggs, something that was disliked by their West African guests.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rsru!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026216ee-6472-417e-8b14-cbe19064752d_874x552.png)
_**Colorized engraving of Heinrich Barth's arrival at Timbuktu in 1853**_
Just like most European writers had formulated their perspective of Africa without actually traveling to the continent, similar perceptions about European society were mostly made by Africans who hadn't been there. Fortunately, a number of African travelers who had been visiting Europe began documenting their accounts in the 19th century, forming a more accurate perspective of European society.
One such remarkable account was left by the [Comorian traveler Selim Abakari who visited Germany and Russia in 1896](https://www.patreon.com/posts/66837157), providing both an African perspective of Europe, and his European hosts' perspective of their African guest.
For example, Selim notes that after refusing to order wine and pork, the servants of the Hotel where he was staying in st. Petersburg revealed that they were also Muslims to the astonishment of Selim, who wrote of the encounter; **"I remained silent! So in the countries of the whites, there were such Muslims!."**
Traveling across the Russian countryside, he encountered people in Kalmykia who revered him as one of their spirits **"who had landed from his mountain,"** He met people in Samara who fled from him **"thinking he was the devil,"** and people in Semipalatinsk who **"acclaimed him as a King"** and thought he was the leader of his white companions.
Selim's account is one of a handful of travelogues by Africans who visited Europe, but it’s mostly concerned with northern Europe. A few decades before Selim embarked on his journey, an adventurous African visitor from the Hausalands traveled to England and Germany, providing a rare description of Western European society by an African.
The account of this Hausa traveler in Western Europe and his observations of European society are the subject of my latest Patreon article,
Please subscribe to read about it here:
[The Hausa explorer of western Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/hausa-travelers-98642300)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MlgY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fda222985-3fda-4ee6-b56a-f61be1fc91a2_848x687.png)
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bEoB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb9b1790c-cff2-4287-a939-cf67c50b6ecc_887x496.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rsru!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026216ee-6472-417e-8b14-cbe19064752d_874x552.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MlgY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fda222985-3fda-4ee6-b56a-f61be1fc91a2_848x687.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-european-and-african
|
Few intellectual figures of the Muslim world were as prolific as the 15th-century Egyptian scholar Jalal al-Suyuti. A polymath with nearly a thousand books to his name and a larger-than-life personality who once claimed to be the most important scholar of his century, Jalal al-Suyuti is considered the most controversial figure of his time.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-1-141551376)
One of the more remarkable events in al-Suyuti's life was when he acted as an intermediary between the ruler of the west-African kingdom of Bornu, and the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil II —an important figure descended from the Abbasid rulers whose empire fell in 1258 , but was reconstituted at Cairo without their temporal power.
Recounting his encounter with the ruler of Bornu, al-Suyuti writes that;
_**"In the year 889**_**[**1484 A.D**]**_**, the pilgrim caravan of Takrur [west-Africa] arrived, and in it were the sultan, the qadi, and a group of students. The sultan of Takrur asked me to speak to the Commander of the Faithful**_[Al-Mutawakkil]_**about his delegating to him authority over the affairs of his country so that his rule would be legitimate according to the Holy Law. I sent to the Commander of the Faithful about this, and he did it."**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-2-141551376)
The Bornu sultan accompanying these pilgrims was Ali Dunama (r. 1465-1497), his kingdom controlled a broad swathe of territory stretching from southern Libya to northern Nigeria and central Chad. Bornu's rulers and students had been traveling to Egypt since the 11th century in the context of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, making stopovers at Cairo's institutions to teach and study. Their numbers had grown so large that by 1242, they had built a school in Cairo and were regularly attending the college of al-Azhar.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-3-141551376)
Al-Azhar hosted students from many nationalities, each of whom lived in their own hostel headed by a teacher chosen from their community, who was in turn under a rector of the college with the title of _Shaykh_ al-Azhar.
In 1834, the _shaykh_ al-Azhar was Hasan al-Quwaysini, an influential Egyptian scholar whose students included Mustafa al-Bulaqi, the latter of whom was a prominent jurist and teacher at the college. Through his contacts with Bornu’s students, al-Quwaysini acquired a didactic work of legal theory written by the 17th-century Bornu scholar Muhammad al-Barnawi and was so impressed by the text that he copied it and asked al-Bulaqi to write a commentary on it. Mustafa's commentary circulated in al-Azhar's scholarly community and was later taken to Bornu in a cyclic exchange that characterized the intellectual links between Egypt and Bornu.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PMmy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdd834765-3781-49be-80f0-cabb8dc310d6_1346x646.png)
_**'Shurb al-zulal' (Drinking pure water) by Muhammad al-Barnawi, ca. 1689-1707.**_[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-4-141551376)
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There's no misconception more persistent in discourses about Africa's past than the historicity of the term sub-Saharan Africa; a geo-political term which ostensibly separates the African regions bordering the Mediterranean from the rest of the continent. Many proponents of the term's usage claim that it is derived from a historical reality, in which the ruling Arab elite of the southern Mediterranean created geographic terms separating the African territories they ruled from those outside their control.
They also claim that the 'racial' and 'civilizational' connotations that this separation carries were reflected in the nature of the interaction between the two regions, purporting a unidirectional exchange in which cultural innovations only flowed southwards from "North" Africa but never in reverse. However, a closer analysis of the dynamic nature of exchanges between Egypt and Bornu shows that the separation of "North Africa" from 'Sub-Saharan' Africa was never a historical reality for the people living in either region, but is instead a more recent colonial construct with a fabricated history.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JJVx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1e9a9a0-eb6b-4da7-8624-c987cb37bf55_796x567.png)
_**Sketch of the Bornu Empire**_
About a century before al-Suyuti had brokered a meeting between the Bornu sultan and the Abbassid Caliph, an important diplomatic mission sent by the Sultan of Bornu ʿUthmān bin Idrīs to the Mamluk sultan al-Ẓāhir Barqūq had arrived in Cairo in 1391. The Bornu ambassador carried a letter written by their sultan's secretary as well as a 'fine' gift for the Mamluk sultan according to the court historian and encyclopedist al-Qalqashandī (d. 1418).
The letter related a time of troubles in Bornu when its rulers were expelled from its eastern province of Kanem after a bitter succession crisis. In it, the Bornu sultan mentions that a group of wayward tribes of “pagan” Arabs called the _judham_, who roamed the region between Egypt and Bornu had taken advantage of the internal conflict to attack the kingdom. He thus requested that the Mamluk sultan, whom he accords the title of _Malik_ (king), should _**"restrain the Arabs from their debauchery"**_ and release any Bornu Muslims in his territory who had been illegally captured in the wars.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-5-141551376)
In their response to the Bornu sultan, the titles used by the Mamluk chancery indicated that the Bornu sultan, whom they also referred to as _Malik_, was as highly regarded as the sultanates of Morocco, Tlemcen or Ifrīqiya and deserved the same etiquette as them. This remarkable diplomatic exchange between Bornu and Mamluk Egypt, in which both rulers thought of each other as equal in rank and their subjects as pious Muslims, underscores the level of cultural proximity between Egyptian and Bornuan society in the Middle Ages.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-6-141551376)
Bornu eventually restored its authority over much of Kanem, pacified the wayward Arabs who were reduced to tributary status, and established its new capital at Ngazargamu which had become a major center of scholarship by the time its sultan Ali Dunama met Al-Suyuti in 1484. The Egyptian scholar mentions that the pilgrims who accompanied Sultan Ali Dunama included a _qadi_ (judge) and _**"a group of students"**_ who took with them a collection of more than twenty of al-Suyuti's works to study in Bornu.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-7-141551376)
Al-Suyuti also mentions that he brokered another meeting between the Abbasid Caliph and another sultan of Takrur; identified as the Askiya Muhammad of Songhai (r. 1493-1528), when the latter came to Cairo on pilgrimage in 1498. Al-Suyuti was thus the most prominent Egyptian scholar among West African scholars, especially regarding the subject of theology and tafsīr studies (Quranic commentary). His influence is attested in some of the old Quranic manuscripts found in Bornu, which explicitly quote his works.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-8-141551376)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GAtQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec8b3a23-45bf-476a-93a9-07244478b201_621x816.png)
_**undated Borno Qur’an page showing the commentary on Q. 2:34 (lines 8–10) which was taken from Tafsīr al-Jalālayn of al-Suyuti. (translation and image by Dmitry Bondarev), SOAS University of London**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
The vibrant intellectual traditions of Bornu were therefore an important way through which its society was linked to Mamluk Egypt and the rest of the Islamic world, both politically and geographically.
Works on geography by Muslim cartographers such as the _Nuzhat_ of al-Idrisi (d. 1165) and the _Kharīdat_ of Ibn al-Wardī (d. 1349) were available in Bornu where its ruler Muhammad al-Kanemi (r.1809-1837) showed a map to his European guest that was described by the latter as a _**“map of the world according to Arab nations”**_. Such geographic works were also available in Bornu’s southwestern neighbor; the empire of Sokoto, where they were utilized by the 19th-century scholar Dan Tafa for his work on world geography titled _‘Qataif al-jinan’_ (The Fruits of the Heart in Reflection about the Sudanese Earth (world)".[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-9-141551376)
Both Dan Tafa and the classical Muslim geographers defined different parts of the African continent and the people living in them using distinct regional terms. The term _**Ifriqiyya**_ —from which the modern name of the continent of Africa is derived— was only used to refer to the coastal region that includes parts of Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, which used to be the Roman province of Africa. The term _**Maghreb**_ (West) was used to refer to the region extending from Ifriqiyya to Morocco. The region below the _Maghreb_ was known as _**"Bilad al-Sudan"**_ (land of the blacks), extending from the kingdom of Takrur in modern Senegal to the kingdom of Kanem [Bornu].[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-10-141551376)
Providing additional commentary on the origin of the term Bilad al-Sudan, Dan Tafa writes that _**"Sudan means the southern regions of the earth and the word is the plural for ‘black’ stemming from the ‘blackness’ of their majority.”**_[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-11-141551376)
The term _'Sudan'_ is indeed derived from the Arabic word for the color 'black'. Its singular masculine form is _Aswad_ and its feminine form is _Sawda_; for example, the black stone of Mecca is called the _'al-Ḥajaru al-Aswad'_. However, the use of the term _Sudan_ in reference to the geographic regions and the people living there wasn't consonant with 'black' (or 'Negro') as the latter terms are used in modern Europe and America.
Some early Muslim **writers** such as the prolific Afro-Arab writer Al-Jahiz (d. 869) in his work ‘_Fakhr al-Sudan 'ala al-Bidan’_ (The Boasts of the Dark-Skinned Ones Over The Light-Skinned Ones) utilised the term 'Sudan' as a broad term for many African and Arab peoples, as well as Coptic Egyptians, Indians, and Chinese.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-12-141551376) However, the context in which al-Jahiz was writing his work, which was marked by intense competition and intellectual rivalry between poets and satirists in the Abbasid capital Bagdad[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-13-141551376), likely prompted his rather liberal use of the term _Sudan_ for all of Africa and most parts of Asia.
A similarly broad usage of the term _Sudan_ can be found in the writings of Ibn Qutayba (d. 889) whose account of the ancient myth of Noah’s sons populating the earth, considered Ham to be the father of Kush who in turn produced the peoples of the ‘Sudan’; that he lists as the ‘Nuba’, Zanj, Zaghawa, Habasha, the Egyptian Copts and the Berbers.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-14-141551376) which again, don’t fit the Euro-American racial concept of ‘Black’.
On the other hand, virtually all of the Muslim **Geographers** restricted their use of '_Bilad al-Sudan_' to the region of modern West Africa extending from Senegal to the Lake Chad Basin, and employed different terms for the rest of Africa. Unlike the abovementioned writers, these Geographer’s use of specific toponyms and ethnonyms could be pinpointed to an exact location on a map. It was their choice of geographic terms that would influence knowledge of the African continent among later Muslim scholars.
The middle Nile valley region was referred to as _**Bilad al-Nuba**_ (land of the Nubians) in modern Sudan. The region east of Nubia was referred to as _**"Bilad al-Habasha"**_ (land of the Habasha/Abyssinians) in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea, while the east African coast was referred to as _**"Bilad al-Zanj"**_ (land of the Zanj). The region/people between al-Sudan and al-Nuba were called _Zaghawa_, and between al-Nuba and al-Habasha were called _Buja_. On the other hand, the peoples living between al-Habasha and al-Zanj were called _Barbar,_ the same as the peoples who lived between the Magreb and Bilad al-Sudan.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-15-141551376)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fq89!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1ef587f-4ea8-4a13-8387-67139c426773_588x571.png)
_**A simplified copy of Al-Idrisi’s map made by Ottoman scholar Ali ibn Hasan al-Ajami in 1469, from the so-called “Istanbul Manuscript”, a copy of the Book of Roger.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Nvbv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7750d84-0ed0-4509-9654-753e943997ac_1229x562.png)
_**A redrawing of al-Idrisi’s map of the world by German cartographer [Konrad Miller](https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3200.ct001903/?r=-0.138,-0.025,1.275,0.507,0) in 1923, is considered more accurate than the more simplified Ottoman map above.**_
*both maps are originally oriented south but the images here are turned to face north*
These terms were utilized by all three geographers mentioned above to refer to the different regions of the African continent known to Muslim writers at the time. Most of the names for these regions were derived from pre-existing geographic terms, such as the classical terms for Nubia and Habasha which appear in ancient Egyptian and Nubian documents[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-16-141551376), as well as the term 'Zanj' that appears in Roman and Persian works with various spellings that are cognate with the Swahili word ‘Unguja’, still used for the Zanzibar Island.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-17-141551376)
While Muslim geographers made use of pre-existing Greco-Roman knowledge, such as al-Idrisi’s reference to Ptolemy’s Geographia in the introduction to his written geography, the majority of their information was derived from contemporary sources. The old greco-roman terms such as ‘_**aethiopians**_’ of Africa that were vaguely defined and located anywhere between Morocco, Libya, Sudan, and Ethiopia, were discarded for more precise terms based on the most current information by travelers.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-18-141551376) But their information was understandably limited, as they thought the Nile and Niger Rivers were connected; believing that the regions south of the Niger River were uninhabited, and that all three continents were surrounded by a vast ocean.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-19-141551376)
There was therefore no broad term for the entire African continent in the geographic works of Egypt and the rest of the Muslim world, nor was there a collective term for “black” Africans. The Arab sociologist Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) who lived most of his later life in Cairo, was careful to caution readers about the specificity of these geographic terms and ethnonyms, noting in his _al-Muqaddimah_ that _**"The inhabitants of the first and second zones in the south are called Abyssinians, the Zanj and the Sudan. The name Abyssinia however is restricted to those who live opposite Mecca and Yemen, and the name Zanj is restricted to those who live along the Indian Ocean."**_[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-20-141551376)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8QHN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F33d85da1-fb28-4825-a706-19e904e19c4c_583x594.png)
_**Translation of the toponyms found on the simplified copy of al-Idrisi’s world map by Joachim Lelewel.**_
The names of the different peoples from each African region were also similar to the broad geographic terms for the places where they came from, such as the _'Sudan'_ from West Africa, the _‘Nuba_’ from Sudan, the ‘_Habasha’_ from Ethiopia, and the _Zanj_ from East Africa. While some writers used these terms inconsistently, such as the term ‘_Barbar_’ which could be used for Berber, Somali, and Nubian Muslims, or Zanj which could be used for some non-Muslim groups in 19th-century west-Africa; the majority of writers used them as names of specific peoples in precise locations on a map.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-21-141551376)
On the other hand, the Muslims who came from these regions were often named after the most prominent state, such as the Takruri of West Africa who were named after the kingdom of Takrur, and the Jabarti of the northern Horn of Africa who were named after the region of Jabart in the Ifat and Adal sultanate[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-22-141551376). It’s for this reason that the hostels of Al-Azhar in the 18th century were named after each community; the _Riwāq al-**Dakārinah**_ for scholars from Takrūr, the _Riwāq Dakārnah Sāliḥ_ for scholars from Kanem, and the _Riwāq al-**Burnīya**_ for scholars from Bornu.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-23-141551376) Others recorded in the 19th century include the _Riwāq al-**Djabartiya**_ for scholars from the Somali coast,_Riwāq al-**Barabira**_ for Nubian scholars (from modern Sudan).[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-24-141551376)
While each community concentrated around their hostels and their respective shayks, the different scholars of al-Ahzar frequently intermingled as the roles of ''teacher' and 'student' changed depending on an individual scholar's expertise on a subject.
For example, prominent West African scholars such as Muhammad al-Kashinawi (d. 1741) from the city of Katsina, southwest of Bornu, were among the teachers of Hasan al-Jabarti (d. 1774), the father of the famous historian ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jabartī (d. 1825) whose family was originally from the region around Zeila in northern Somalia. Abd al-Raḥmān al-Jabartī included Muhammad al-Kashinawi in his biography of important scholars and listed many of the latter’s works. Another prominent West African scholar at Al-Azhar was the 18th-century Shaykh al-Burnāwī from Bornu whose students and contemporaries included prominent Egyptian and Moroccan scholars such as Abd al-Wahhab al-Tāzī (d. 1791) .[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-25-141551376)
Both Muhammad al-Kashinawi and Shaykh al-Burnāwī acquired their education in West Africa, specifically in Bornu where most of their teachers were attested before they traveled to Cairo to teach. It’s in this context that the writings of scholars from Bornu such as the 17th-century jurist Muhammad al-Barnawi, mentioned in the introduction, became known in Egypt among the leading administrators of al-Azhar like Mustafa al-Bulaqi (d. 1847) who was the chief _Mufti_ (jurisconsult) of the Maliki legal school of Egypt and Hasan al-Quwaysini, who was the rector of the college itself.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-26-141551376)
The Bornu scholar Al-Barnawi, also known as Hajirami in West Africa, was the imam of one of the mosques in the Bornu capital Ngazargamu, and was a prominent teacher before he died in 1746. He is known to have authored several works, the best known of which was his didactic work of legal theory titled _**'Shurb al-zulal**_' (Drinking pure water) written between 1689 and 1707. The work follows the established Maliki tradition of Bornu, citing older and contemporary scholars from across the Muslim world including Granada, Fez, Cairo, and Timbuktu. In the early 19th century, the Maliki mufti al-Bulaqi wrote a commentary on al-Barnawi's which he titled _**Qaşidat al - Manhal al-Sayyāl li - man arāda Shurb al-Zulal**_. Many copies of the latter found their way back to the manuscript collections of northern Nigeria.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-27-141551376)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-v03!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F93b21218-6cf4-4415-a449-0e09f423a5bf_589x393.png)
_**Copy of al-Mustafa al-Bulaqi’s commentary, [Bibliotheque Nationale Paris, Arabe 5708, fol 104-115.](https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9065707t/f108.item.r=5708.zoom#)**_
After the Portuguese sailed around the southern tip of Africa in 1488, the classical geography of al-Idrisi was updated in European maps, along with many of the geographic terms of Muslim cartography. Over the centuries, additional information about the continent was acquired, initially from [African travelers from Ethiopia](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051) and Kongo who visited [southern Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-diaspora-82902179) and [western Europe](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-and-of-89363872), and later by European travelers such as James Bruce and Mungo Park who visited East and West Africa in the eighteenth century.
As more information about Africa became available to European writers, it was included in the dominant discourses of Western colonialism —a political and social order that purported a racial and cultural superiority of the West over non-Western societies. Such colonial discourses were first developed in the Americas by writers such as John Locke[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-28-141551376) and were furthered by Immanuel Kant[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-29-141551376) and Georg Hegel in their philosophies of world history. Hegel in particular popularized the conceptual divide between "North Africa" (which he called “European Africa”), and the rest of Africa (which he called "Africa proper"), claiming the former owes its development to foreigners while condemning the latter as "unhistorical".[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-30-141551376)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Bly!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffab36125-7347-4346-8879-77b49dc8ec76_984x600.png)
_**[An 18th century European map of Africa](https://library.princeton.edu/visual\_materials/maps/websites/africa/maps-continent/continent.html) in which ‘Negroland’, ‘Nubia’ and ‘Abissinia’ are separated from ‘Barbaria’, ‘Biledugerid’, and ‘Egypt’ by the ‘Zaara desert’ and the ‘desert of Barca’.**_
These writers provided a rationale for colonial expansion and their “racial-geographical” hierarchies would inform patterns of colonial administration and education, especially in the French-controlled regions of the Maghreb and West Africa, as well as in British-controlled Egypt and Sudan. The French and British advanced a Western epistemological understanding of their colonies, classifying races, cultures, and geographies, while disregarding local knowledge. Pre-existing concepts of ethnicity were racialized, and new identities were created that defined what was “indigenous” against what was considered “foreign”.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-31-141551376)
The institutionalization of disciplines of knowledge production in the nineteenth century transformed concepts of History and Geography into purely scientific disciplines, thus producing particular Geo-historical subjectivities such as the "Arab-Islamic" on the one hand, and "African" on the other. In this new conceptual framework, the spatial designations like ‘North Africa’ and ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’ were imaged as separate geographical entities. Any shared traditions they have are assumed to be the product of unidirectional links in which the South is subordinate to the North.[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-32-141551376)
The modern historiography of the Islamic world also emerged in the context of European colonialism and largely retained its Euro-American categorization of geographic entities and peoples. The Sahara was thus re-imagined as a great dividing gulf between distinct societies separating North from South, the “Black/African” from “White/Arab”.[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-33-141551376) The old ethnonyms such as _'Sudan'_, _'Habash',_ and ‘Zanj’ were translated as 'Black' —a term developed in the Americas and transferred to Africa—, and the vast geographic regions of _Bilad al-Sudan, Bilad al-Habasha,_ and _Bilad-al-Zanj_ were collapsed into 'Sub-Saharan' Africa.
Gone are the complexities of terms such as the _Takruri_ of Sudan, or the _Jabarti_ of Habash, and in come rigid terms such as 'Sub-Saharan Muslims' from 'Black Africa'. The intellectual and cultural exchanges between societies such as Egypt and Bornu, where rulers recognized each other as equals and scholars such as al-Suyuti and al-Barnawi were known in either region, are re-imagined as unidirectional exchanges that subordinate one region to the other. Contacts between the two regions are approached through essentialized narratives that were re-interpreted to fit with Eurocentric concepts of 'Race.'[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-34-141551376)
While recent scholarship has discarded the more rigid colonial terminologies, the influence of modern nationalist movements still weighs heavy on the conceptual grammar and categories used to define Africa’s geographic spaces. Despite their origin as anti-colonial movements, some of the nationalist movements on the continent tended to emphasize colonial concepts of "indigeneity" and"national identity" and assign them anachronistically to different peoples and places in history.
For this reason, the use of the terms ‘North Africa’ and ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’ is today considered politically and culturally expedient, both negatively and positively —by those who want to reinforce colonial narratives of Africa's separation and those who wish to subvert them.
Whether it was a product of the contradiction between the Arab nationalism championed by Egypt’s Abdel Nasser that sought to 'unite' the predominantly Arab-speaking communities, that clashed with —but at times supported— Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah whose Pan-Africansm movement included the North.[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-35-141551376) Or it is a product of the continued instance of UN agencies on the creation of new and poorly-defined geopolitical concepts like MENA ("The Middle East and North Africa")[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-36-141551376) and the other fanciful acronyms like WANA, MENASA, or even MARS[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-37-141551376). The result was the same, as communities on both sides of the divide internalized these new identities, created new patterns of exclusion, and imbued them with historical significance.
**But for whatever reason the term 'Sub Saharan' Africa exists today, it did not exist in the pre-colonial world in which the societies of Mamluk Egypt and Bornu flourished.**
It wasn't found on the maps of Muslim geographers, who thought the West African kingdoms were located within the Sahara itself and nothing lived further south. It wasn't present in the geo-political ordering of the Muslim world where Bornu's ruler Ali Dunama, even in the throes of civil war, addressed his Egyptian peer as his equal and retained the more prestigious titles for himself. In the same vein, his successor Idris Alooma would only address the Ottoman sultan as 'King' but rank himself higher as _Caliph_[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-38-141551376), similar to how Mansa Musa refused to bow to the Mamluk sultan, but was nevertheless generously hosted in Cairo.
The world in which al-Suyuti and al-Barnawi were living had no concept of modern national identities with clearly defined boundaries, It had its own ways of ordering spaces and societies that had little in common with the colonial world that came after. It was a world in which scholars from what are today the modern countries of Nigeria, Somalia, and Morocco could meet in Egypt to teach and learn from each other, without defining themselves using these modern geo-political concepts.
**It was a world in which Sub-Saharan Africa was an anachronism, a myth, projected backward in colonial imaginary.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FW5d!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F09326447-5cf0-4757-91aa-21f7bb0e6af5_550x412.jpeg)
_**students at the Al-azhar University in Cairo, early 20th-century postcard.**_
The northern Horn of Africa produced some of Africa’s oldest intellectual traditions that include the famous historian Abdul Rahman al-Jabarti of Ottoman-Egypt. Read more about the intellectual history of the Northern Horn on Patreon:
[INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF THE N.E AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-NIw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe923c769-b41b-4d62-902b-25b79662674d_495x1189.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-1-141551376)
Al-Suyūṭī, a polymath of the Mamlūk period edited by Antonella Ghersetti
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-2-141551376)
Jalal ad-Din As-Suyuti's Relations with the People of Takrur by E.M. Sartain pg pg 195
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-3-141551376)
Du lac Tchad à la Mecque by Rémi Dewière pg 223, 249.
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-5-141551376)
Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants pg 106, Ethnoarchaeology of Shuwa-Arab Settlements By Augustin Holl pg 12-13
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-6-141551376)
Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies: Studies on Diplomacy and Diplomatics edited by Frédéric Bauden, Malika Dekkiche pg 674-678)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-7-141551376)
Jalal ad-Din As-Suyuti's Relations with the People of Takrur by E.M. Sartain pg 195)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-8-141551376)
Tafsīr Sources in Annotated Qur’anic Manuscripts from Early Borno by Dmitry Bondarev pg 25-57
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-9-141551376)
A Geography of Jihad. Jihadist Concepts of Space and Sokoto Warfare by Stephanie Zehnle pg 79, 85-101.
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-10-141551376)
A Geography of Jihad. Jihadist Concepts of Space and Sokoto Warfare by Stephanie Zehnle pg 89)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-11-141551376)
A Geography of Jihad. Jihadist Concepts of Space and Sokoto Warfare by Stephanie Zehnle pg 94)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-12-141551376)
The Image of Africans in Arabic Literature : Some Unpublished Manuscripts by by Akbar Muhammad 47-51
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-13-141551376)
Reader in al-Jahiz: The Epistolary Rhetoric of an Arabic Prose Master By Thomas Hefter
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-14-141551376)
The Sahara: Past, Present and Future edited by Jeremy Keenan pg 96
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-15-141551376)
Arabic External Sources for the History of Africa to the South of Sahara Tadeusz Lewicki
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-16-141551376)
Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by Taddesse Tamrat pg 12
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-17-141551376)
New Encyclopedia of Africa, Volume 1, edited by John Middleton pg 208)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-18-141551376)
A Geography of Jihad. Jihadist Concepts of Space and Sokoto Warfare by Stephanie Zehnle pg 80-84, Cartography between Christian Europe and the Arabic-Islamic World pg 74-87
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-19-141551376)
A Region of the Mind: Medieval Arab Views of African Geography and Ethnography and Their Legacy by John O. Hunwick pg 106-120
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-20-141551376)
Ibn Khaldun, the maqadimma: an introduction to history, by Franz Rosenthal, pg 60-61)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-21-141551376)
Models of the World and Categorical Models: The 'Enslavable Barbarian' as a Mobile Classificatory Label" by Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias.
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-22-141551376)
Takrur the History of a Name by 'Umar Al-Naqar pg 365-370, Islamic principalities in southeast Ethiopia pg 31
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-23-141551376)
Islamic Scholarship in Africa by Ousmane Oumar Kane pg 8)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-24-141551376)
E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936. A - Bābā Beg, Volume 1 by E. J. Brill pg 533-534
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-25-141551376)
Islamic Scholarship in Africa: New Directions and Global Contexts pg 30-32, PhD thesis) Al-Azhar and the Orders of Knowledge by Dahlia El-Tayeb Gubara pg 213.
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-26-141551376)
Islamic Reform and Conservatism: Al-Azhar and the Evolution of Modern Sunni Islam by Indira Falk Gesink pg 90, 28
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-27-141551376)
The Arabic Literature of Nigeria to 1804 by A.D.H. Bivar pg 130-131, Arabic Literature of Africa Vol.2 edited by John O. Hunwick, Rex Séan O'Fahey pg 41)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-28-141551376)
John Locke and America: The Defence of English Colonialism By Barbara Arneil
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-29-141551376)
Black Rights/white Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism By Charles Wade Mills
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-30-141551376)
Hegel and the Third World by Teshale Tibebu pg 224)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-31-141551376)
The Invention of the Maghreb: Between Africa and the Middle East By Abdelmajid Hannoum, The Walking Qurʼan: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa by Rudolph T. Ware, Living with Colonialism: Nationalism and Culture in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan By Heather J. Sharkey.
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-32-141551376)
(PhD thesis) Al-Azhar and the Orders of Knowledge by Dahlia El-Tayeb Gubara, pg 189-192
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-33-141551376)
On Trans-Saharan Trails: Islamic Law, Trade Networks, and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Nineteenth-Century Western Africa by Ghislaine Lydon pg 36-46
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-34-141551376)
The Walking Qurʼan: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa by Rudolph T. Ware pg 21-36
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-35-141551376)
Nkrumaism and African Nationalism by Matteo Grilli, The Arabs and Africa edited by Khair El-Din Haseeb)
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-36-141551376)
The Multidimensionality of Regions in World Politics by Paul J. Kohlenberg,
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-37-141551376)
Another Cartography is Possible: Relocating the Middle East and North Africa by Harun Rasiah
[38](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan#footnote-anchor-38-141551376)
[Historical links between the Ottoman empire and Sudanic Africa (1574-1880) --------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman)
·
August 27, 2023
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman)
In 1574, an embassy from the empire of Bornu arrived at the Ottoman capital of Istanbul after having travelled more than 4,000 km from Ngazargamu in north-eastern Nigeria. This exceptional visit by an African kingdom to the Ottoman capital was the first of several diplomatic and intellectual exchanges between Istanbul and the kingdoms of Sudanic Africa …
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial-myth-of-sub-saharan
|
The African continent has historically been home to dozens of writing systems including some of the world’s oldest such as the Meroitic script of Kush, the Ge'ez script of Aksum, and the Old Nubian script of medieval Nubia, as well as some of the more recent scripts such as [Nsibidi](https://www.patreon.com/posts/69082971), Vai and Njoya's syllabary.
Each of these writing systems produced its own literary traditions and contributed to the continent’s intellectual history. While many of these writing systems were created within the continent, their usage was often confined to the societies that invented them. The vast majority of writing in most African societies was done using the Arabic script which was also rendered into various African languages as the Ajami script.
This was in large part due to the gradual adoption of Islam as a common religion across many African societies, which facilitated cross-cultural exchanges and the usage of the Arabic script without the need for extending political authority as was the case for Kush’s Meroitic script, Ethiopia’s Ge’ez script, or King Njoya’s script, that were all associated with royal power. Documents written in the Arabic script are thus attested in more than eighty languages across the continent from the Atlantic coast of Senegal to the East African coast in Tanzania to the forested regions of Eastern Congo.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZxIe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F692080c4-3576-4b48-8d83-43522338005a_533x553.png)
_**Map showing the languages in which the Arabic script is attested,**_ map by Meikal Mumin
In virtually all these societies, the tradition of literacy and the use of the script was propagated by African scholars through complex intellectual networks that cut across varied social interactions and political boundaries. Over centuries, this African literary tradition has left a priceless heritage in manuscript collections from Timbuktu to Kano, to Lamu, which underscore the salient role played by Africa's scholarly diasporas in the spread of learning across the continent.
In West Africa, the most dynamic of these scholarly diasporas were the Wangara of the Inland delta of central Mali. Appearing among the earliest documentary records about West Africa, [the name Wangara became synonymous with learning and gold trade](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education). These merchant scholars are associated with many of the region's earliest centers of learning and the emergence of intellectual movements that continue to shape the region's social landscape.
In East Africa, the Swahili were the region's equivalent of the Wangara. Initially confining their activities to the coast and its immediate hinterland, [Swahili merchant-scholars spread out into the mainland](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/economic-growth-and-cultural-synchretism), crossing into Uganda, Zambia, and Congo, until they reached the Atlantic coast of Angola. They were integrated into the region's societies, and contributed to the region's intellectual culture, producing a large collection of manuscripts across many locations from Kenya to Mozambique to the D.R.C.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!92lw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28fcdba8-f5bf-4806-b1f0-d1262b0c7c38_650x488.png)
_**Ruins of a mosque in Isangi, eastern D.R.Congo, ca. 1894, NMVW**_
While the intellectual history of West Africa and East Africa has attracted the bulk of attention from modern researchers, the northern horn of Africa was home to an equally vibrant literary tradition in Arabic and Ajami that is at times overshadowed by the focus on the Ge'ez literature of Ethiopia. The intellectual traditions of the northern Horn of Africa produced some of the continent’s oldest centers of learning such as Harar and Zeila, as well as many prominent scholars, most notably the Ottoman-Egyptian historian Abdul Rahman al-Jabarti.
**The intellectual networks and scholars of the northern Horn of Africa are the subject of my latest Patreon article**
**Please subscribe to read more about it here:**
[INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF THE N.E AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/intellectual-and-97830282)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-NIw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe923c769-b41b-4d62-902b-25b79662674d_495x1189.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!66DY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F42869bea-f2f1-4642-a14e-706cae363a04_800x439.jpeg)
_**ruins of an old mosque in Zeila, northern Somalia**_
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZxIe!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F692080c4-3576-4b48-8d83-43522338005a_533x553.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-intellectual
|
Modern Ethiopia is a diverse country comprised of many communities and languages, each with its history and contribution to the country's cultural heritage. While Ethiopian historiography is often focused on the historical developments in the northern regions of the country, some of the most significant events that shaped the emergence of the modern country during the 19th century occurred in its southern regions.
In a decisive break from the past, several monarchical states emerged among the Oromo-speaking societies in the Gibe region of southwestern Ethiopia, the most powerful of which was the kingdom of Jimma. Reputed to be one of the wealthiest regions in Ethiopia, the kingdom's political history traverses several key events in the country's history.
This article explores the history of the kingdom of Jimma from its emergence in 1830 to its end in 1932, reframing the complex story of modern Ethiopia from an Oromo perspective.
_**Map of Jimma in southwestern Ethiopia**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c9oX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45aea984-0e8d-476e-98ff-beae17e6b5f2_1047x539.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Background on the political landscape of southern Ethiopia between the 16th and early 19th century.**
Around the 16th century, the Gibe region of south-western Ethiopia was dominated by Oromo-speaking groups, who, through a protracted process of migration and military expansion, created diverse societies and political structures over some pre-existing societies such as the Sidama-speaking polities of Kaffa and Enarea. By the mid-18th century, increased competition for land, livestock, markets, and trade routes, between these Oromo societies led to the emergence of several states in the region.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-1-141096534)
At the turn of the 19th century, there were at least five polities in the upper Gibe region that were known by contemporary visitors as the kingdoms of Limmu-Enarea; Gomma; Guma; Gera; and Jimma. The emergence of these kingdoms was influenced as much by internal processes in Oromo society; such as the emergence of successful military leaders, as it was by external influences; such as the revival of Red Sea trade and the expansion of trade routes into southern Ethiopia.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-2-141096534)
Initially, the most powerful among these states was the kingdom of Limmu-Enarea founded by Bofo after a successful defense of the kingdom against an invasion by the kingdom of Guma. Limmu-Enarea reached its height during the reign of Bofu's son Ibsa Abba Bagibo (1825-61), a powerful monarch with a well-organized hierarchy of officials. Its main town of Sakka was an important commercial center on the trade route between Kaffa and the kingdoms of Shewa and Gojjam (part of the Ethiopian empire). It attracted Muslim merchants from the northern regions, who greatly influenced the adoption of Islam in the kingdom and its neighbors including the kingdom of Jimma.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-3-141096534)
The polity of Jimma was established in the early 19th century by Abba Magal, a renowned Oromo warrior who expanded the kingdom from his center at Hirmata. By 1830, the kingdom of Jimma emerged as a powerful rival of Enarea, just as the latter was losing its northern frontier to the kingdom of Shewa. Jimma's king, Sanna Abba Jifar, had succeeded in uniting several smaller states under his control and conquered the important centers along the trade route linking Kaffa to the northern states of Gojjam and Shewa. In several clashes during the late 1830s and 1840s, Jimma defeated its neighbors on all sides, including Enarea. Abba Jifar transformed the kingdom from a congeries of small warring factions to a centralized state of growing economic and political power.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-4-141096534)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YZzz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faf0f19e1-2212-4586-9814-dab872f097a5_804x551.png)
_**Map of the Jimma kingdom in the late 19th century, showing the principal towns and settlements.**_[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-5-141096534)
**The government in Jimma**
Abba Jifar created many administrative and political innovations based on pre-existing institutions as well as external influences from Muslim traders. Innovations from the latter in particular were likely guided by the cleric and merchant named Abdul Hakim who settled near the king's palace at Jiren. However, traditional institutions co-existed with Islamic institutions, and the latter were only gradually adopted as more clerics settled in Jima during the late 19th century.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-6-141096534)
Administration in Jimma was centralized and controlled by the king through a gradually developed bureaucracy.
The capital of Jimma was at Jiren where the palace compound of the King was established in the mid-19th century on a hill overlooking Hirmata, around which were hundreds of soldiers, servants and artisans.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-7-141096534) The building would later be reconstructed in 1870 by Abba Jifar II after a fire.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-8-141096534) Near the palace lived court officials, such as the prime minister, war minister, chief judge, scribes, court interpreters, lawyers, musicians, and other entertainers. There were stables, storehouses, treasuries, workshops, reception halls, houses for the royal family and visitors, servants, soldiers and a mosque.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-9-141096534)
The kingdom was divided into sixty provinces, called _**k'oro**_, each under the jurisdiction of a governor, called an _**abba k'oro**_, whose province was further divided into five to ten districts (ganda), each under a district head known as the _**abba ganda**_. These governors supplied soldiers for the military and mobilized corvee labor for public works, but retained neither an army nor the right to collect taxes.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-10-141096534)
Appointed officials staffed the administrative offices of Jimma, and none of the offices were hereditary save for the royal office itself. Officials such as tax collectors, judges, couriers, and military generals were drawn from several different categories including royals and non-royals, wealthy figures and men who distinguished themselves in war, as well as foreigners with special skills, including mercenaries, merchants, and Muslim teachers. These were supported directly by the king and through their private estates rather than by retaining a share of the taxes sent to the capital.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-11-141096534)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LVo_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1128792e-5fa6-4e00-bfc9-00dc161b5ac8_640x462.webp)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o3f_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F527e7561-c508-4e4f-b49f-211a4ef4f8d6_808x417.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8UPM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4d93dc1b-04a4-4081-9bf9-1d59914f0edb_1072x597.png)
_**Aba Jifar’s palace in the early 20th century, and today.**_
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**Expansion and consolidation of Jimma in the second half of the 19th century**
Abba Jifar was succeeded by his son Abba Rebu in 1855 after the former's death. He led several campaigns against the neighboring kingdom of Gomma during his brief 4-year reign but was defeated by a coalition of forces from the kingdoms of Limmu, Gera, and Goma. His successor, Abba Bo'Ka (r. 1858-1864), also reigned for a relatively brief period during which Jimma society was Islamized, mosques were constructed near Jiren and land was granted to Muslim scholars. He also ordered his officials to build mosques in their respective provinces and to support local Sheikhs, making Jimma an important center of Islamic learning in southern Ethiopia.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-12-141096534)
Abba Bo'ka was succeeded by Abba Gommol (r.1864-1878), under whose long reign the kingdom's borders were expanded eastwards to conquer the kingdom of Garo in 1875. The latter's rulers were integrated into Jimma society through intermarriage and appointment as officials at Jiren, and wealthy figures from Jimma settled in Garo. After he died in 1878, Gommol was succeeded by his 17-year-old son Abba Jifar II, who was soon confronted with the southward expansion of the kingdoms of; Gojjam under Takla Haymanot; and Shewa under Menelik II.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-13-141096534)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CmfV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0ffb5421-162a-4a85-82d3-b7cc5de2adcd_1062x567.png)
_**mid-19th century manuscript of Sheikh Abdul Hakim, currently at the cleric’s mosque in Jimma**_.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-14-141096534)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c6eD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f0e6cb9-a25c-4792-9b5f-e7e7af64b245_1249x514.png)
_**Late-19th-century manuscripts of Imam Sidiqiyo (d. 1892) at the Sadeka Mosque**_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-15-141096534)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qjXW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcb403864-1a0a-41e9-8622-8cf2fb877130_740x477.png)
_**The old mosque of Afurtamaa (mosque of forty Ulama) was originally built as a timber structure by Abba Bo'ka, but was later reconstructed in stone by Abba Jifar II.**_[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-16-141096534)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Jimma during the reign of Abba Jifar II**
At the time of Abba Jifar II's ascension, many who visited Jimma accorded him little hope of retaining his kingdom for long in the face of the expansionist armies of Shewa and Gojjam. But the shrewd king avoided openly confronting the armies of Gojjam, which were themselves defeated by the Shewa armies of Menelik in 1882. Abba Jifar then opted to placate Menelik's ambitions by paying annual tribute in cash and ivory, while Jimma's neighboring kingdoms would later become the target of Shewa's expansionist armies. Aside from a brief incident coinciding with Menelik’s enthronement as the Ethiopian emperor in 1889, Jimma remained firmly under the control of Abba Jifar II who would ultimately outlive his suzerain.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-17-141096534)
During Abba Jifar II's long reign, trade flourished, agriculture and coffee growing expanded, and Jimma and its king gained a reputation for wealth and greatness. It is described by one visitor in 1901 as **"almost the richest land of Abyssinia"** and its capital Jiren was visited by 20-30,000 merchants where **"all the products of southern Ethiopia are sold there, in many double rows of stalls about a third of a mile long**.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-18-141096534) A later visitor in 1911 remarks that Abba Jafir was an intelligent ruler who**“takes great pride in the prosperity of his country.”**especially road-making[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-19-141096534) Another visitor in 1920 observed that **“Jimma owes its riches, not to any great natural superiority over the rest of the country, but to the liberal policy which encourages instead of cramping the industry of its inhabitants.”**[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-20-141096534)
The markets of Jimma attracted long-distance caravans and were home to craft industries whose artisans furnished the palace and the army with their products. Hirmata, the trade center of Jimma's capital, was the greatest market of southwestern Ethiopia, attracting tens of thousands of people to it from all directions. Tolls were levied on caravans passing through the tollgates of the kingdom, while markets were under the control of a palace official.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-21-141096534)
The basis of the domestic economy in Jimma, like in the neighboring states, was agro-pastoralism, concentrating on grains such as barley, sorghum, and maize, as well as raising cattle for the household economy. The main exports from Jimma to the regional markets included ivory and gold that were resupplied from the south, and coffee that was grown locally.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-22-141096534)
While Coffee hardly featured in the agricultural products of Jimma in the 1850s[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-23-141096534), it had become the dominant export by the late 19th century. In 1897, another visitor to Jimma observed **"very extensive"** farming of Coffee with "almost no fallow land", adding that the farmers produced **"not only to meet local needs and pay taxes but also for export of bread**[grain]**"** The economic prosperity of Jimma brought about by its better-managed coffee production relative to neighboring Ethiopian provinces attracted migrant farmers, and would later become a major source of conflict between the kingdom, its neighboring provincial governors, and its suzerains at Addis.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-24-141096534)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7aHN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91a36ffd-ca5e-42fa-a484-945e0aeb7af4_482x655.png)
_**High-class Oromo farmers in south-western Ethiopia**_, ca. 1920[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-25-141096534)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IpxK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6510f838-80ce-4d67-be2b-baf910acc9a7_842x635.png)
_**section of the Jiren market in 1901, with baskets containing agricultural produce**_
**The fall of Jimma in the early 20th century**
In the later years, Abba Jifar's kingdom was surrounded on all sides by Ethiopian provinces directly administered by Menelik's appointees who intended to add Jimma to their provinces by taking advantage of Menelik's withdrawal from active government. Abba Jifar thus strengthened his army by purchasing more firearms and recruiting Ethiopian soldiers. The era of Menelik's successor Lij Iyasu (r. 1913-16) offered temporary respite. Still, relations became tense under Iyasu’s successor Empress Zewditu, as Haile Sellassie gradually took control of the government and eventually succeeded her in 1930. He then began centralizing control over the empire, especially its rich coffee-producing south.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-26-141096534)
By 1930, the aging king retired from active rule and left the government in the hands of his grandson Abba Jobir, who was faced with a combination of increased demand of tribute to Addis, the appointment of an Imperial tax collector, and falling coffee prices. Abba Jobir’s attempts to assert his autonomy by directly confronting the Imperial armies were stalled when he was imprisoned by Haile Selassie and a rebellion broke out in Jimma that was only suppressed in 1832. After this rebellion, a governor was directly appointed over Jimma, ending the kingdom's autonomy.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-27-141096534)
During the Italian occupation, Abba Jobir was freed and appointed sultan of the province of Galla-sidamo albeit without full autonomy. He was later re-imprisoned after the return of Haile Selassie who would later free him. By then, the kingdom of Jimma had been subsumed under the Ethiopian province of Kaffa, and is today part of the Oromia region.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Ndb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4856639f-079d-4fff-9d01-06601b87b973_748x594.png)
_**Portrait of [Aba Jifar II](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abba\_Jifar\_II.jpg), and his [wife](https://www.flickr.com/photos/rugscape/8053101078/)**_, early 20th-century photo
Many cultural developments along the East African coast are often thought to have been introduced by foreigners from southwestern Asia who migrated to the region, but recent research has revealed that **East Africans regularly traveled to and settled in Arabia and the Persian Gulf**where they established diasporic communities
Read more about this **history of East African travel to Arabia here:**
[EAST AFRICANS IN ARABIA AND PERSIA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/96900062)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xjUh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff790103-f823-43b7-863e-c2097a151004_847x615.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-1-141096534)
The Galla State of Jimma Abba Jifar by Herbert S. Lewis pg 323-322)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-2-141096534)
The Emergence and Consolidation of the Monarchies of Enarea and Jimma in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century by Mordechai Abir pg 206-208, The Islamization of the Gibe Region, Southwestern Ethiopia from c. 1830s to the Early Twentieth Century by G Gemeda pg 68-70)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-3-141096534)
The Cambridge History of Africa vol 5 pg 85, The Emergence and Consolidation of the Monarchies of Enarea and Jimma in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century by Mordechai Abir pg 208-210)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-4-141096534)
The Emergence and Consolidation of the Monarchies of Enarea and Jimma in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century by Mordechai Abir pg 217-218, Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932 By Herbert S. Lewis pg 41 )
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-6-141096534)
Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932 By Herbert S. Lewis pg 41-42, The Islamization of the Gibe Region, Southwestern Ethiopia from c. 1830s to the Early Twentieth Century by G Gemeda pg 69-71)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-7-141096534)
The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society: JRGS, Volume 25 By Royal Geographical Society pg 212
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-8-141096534)
Heritages and their conservation in the gibe region (Southwest Ethiopia): a history, ca. 1800-1980 by Nejib Raya pg 73-77
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-9-141096534)
Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932 By Herbert S. Lewis pg 68-76, The Galla State of Jimma Abba Jifar by Herbert S. Lewis pg 238)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-10-141096534)
The Galla State of Jimma Abba Jifar by Herbert S. Lewis pg 331-332)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-11-141096534)
The Galla State of Jimma Abba Jifar by Herbert S. Lewis pg 329-330)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-12-141096534)
Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932 By Herbert S. Lewis pg 43, The Islamization of the Gibe Region, Southwestern Ethiopia from c. 1830s to the Early Twentieth Century by G Gemeda pg 72)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-13-141096534)
Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932 By Herbert S. Lewis pg 43-44)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-14-141096534)
photo by Nejib Raya, reading: Heritages and their conservation in the gibe region (Southwest Ethiopia): a history, ca. 1800-1980
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-16-141096534)
Photo by ‘Jiren’ on Facebook, further reading: History of Islamic education in Jimma from 1830 to 2007 by Abdo Abazinab
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-17-141096534)
The Rise of Coffee and the Demise of Colonial Autonomy by Guluma Gemeda pg 53-54, Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932 By Herbert S. Lewis pg 45, Between the Jaws of Hyenas - A Diplomatic History of Ethiopia (1876-1896) By Richard Caulk pg 166
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-18-141096534)
From the Somali Coast Through Southern Ethiopia to the Sudan By Oscar Neumann pg 390
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-19-141096534)
A Journey in Southern Abyssinia by C. W. Gwynn, pg 133
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-20-141096534)
Through South-Western Abyssinia to the Nile by L. F. I. Athill pg 355
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-21-141096534)
The Galla State of Jimma Abba Jifar by Herbert S. Lewis pg 333-334)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-22-141096534)
The Galla State of Jimma Abba Jifar by Herbert S. Lewis 325-326)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-23-141096534)
On the Countries South of Abyssinia by CT Beke pg 260
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-24-141096534)
The Rise of Coffee and the Demise of Colonial Autonomy: The Oromo Kingdom of Jimma and Political Centralization in Ethiopia by Guluma Gemeda pg 60-61)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-25-141096534)
Photo by L. F. I. Athill
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-26-141096534)
The Rise of Coffee and the Demise of Colonial Autonomy: The Oromo Kingdom of Jimma and Political Centralization in Ethiopia by Guluma Gemeda pg 55-57)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia#footnote-anchor-27-141096534)
The Rise of Coffee and the Demise of Colonial Autonomy: The Oromo Kingdom of Jimma and Political Centralization in Ethiopia by Guluma Gemeda pg 62-66)
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IpxK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6510f838-80ce-4d67-be2b-baf910acc9a7_842x635.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-and-society-in-southern-ethiopia
|
In December of 2000, a team of researchers exploring the island of Socotra off the coast of Yemen made a startling discovery. Hidden in the limestone caves of the island was a massive corpus of inscriptions and drawings left by ancient visitors from India, Africa, and the Middle East. At least eight of the inscriptions they found were written in the Ge'ez script associated with the kingdom of Aksum in the northern horn of Africa.
The remarkable discovery of the epigraphic material from Socotra is of extraordinary significance for elucidating the extent and scale of the Indo-Roman trade of late antiquity, which linked the Indian Ocean world to the Meditterean world. Unfortunately, most historiography regarding this period overlooks the role played by intermediaries such as the [Aksumites who greatly facilitated this trade](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-aksumite-empire-between-rome), as evidenced by Aksumite material culture spread across the region from the Jordanian city of Aqaba to the city of Karur in south-Eastern India.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GkIZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80e75c7d-7988-4304-9990-58379ffd4773_874x612.png)
The Aksumite Empire and the island of Socotra
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YB5U!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9f4f5e84-a848-42f0-a364-4f442853a065_677x488.png)
_**one of the stalagmites bearing Aksumite, Brāhmī, and Arabian inscriptions.**_
The limited interest in the role of African societies in ancient exchanges reifies the misconception of the continent as one that was isolated in global processes. As one historian remarks; _**"Narratives of Africa’s relation to global processes have yet to take full account of mutuality in Africa’s global exchanges. One of the most complicated questions analysts of African pasts have faced is how African interests figure into an equation of global interfaces historiographically weighted toward the effects of outsiders’ actions."[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/reversing-the-sail-a-brief-note-on#footnote-1-140887587)**_
For the northern Horn of Africa in particular, ancient societies such as the Aksumites were actively involved in the political processes of the western Indian Ocean. Aksumite armies sent several expeditions into western Arabia from the 3rd to 6th century to support local allies and later to subsume the region as part of the Aksumite state. [For nearly a century before the birth of the prophet Muhammad, much of modern Saudi Arabia was under the control of the Aksumite general Abraha and his successors](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ethiopian-ruler-78169632). The recent discovery of royal inscriptions in Ge'ez commissioned by Abraha across central, eastern, northern, and western Arabia indicates that Aksumite control of Arabia was more extensive than previously imagined.
A few centuries later, the red-sea archipelago of Dahlak off the coast of Eritrea served as the base for the [Mamluk dynasty of Yemen that was of 'Abyssinian' origin](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-dahlak-islands-and-the-african). From 1022 to 1159, this dynasty founded by an Abyssinian administrator named Najah controlled one of the most lucrative trade routes between the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean. The Najahid rulers established their capital at Zabid in Yemen, struck their own coinage, and received the recognition of the Abbasid Caliph.
Around the same time the Abyssinians controlled western Yemen, another African community established itself along the southern coast of Yemen. These were the Swahili of the East African coast, a cosmopolitan community whose activities in the Indian Ocean world were extensive. The Swahili presence in Portuguese India in particular is well-documented, but relatively little is known about their presence in south-western Asia.
Cultural exchanges between East Africa and southwestern Asia are thought to have played a significant role in the development of Swahili culture, and resident East Africans in Arabia and the Persian Gulf were likely the agents of these cultural developments.
**My latest Patreon article focuses on the Swahili presence in Arabia and the Persian Gulf from 1000 CE to 1900.**
**subscribe and read about it here:**
[EAST AFRICANS IN ARABIA AND PERSIA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/96900062)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xjUh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff790103-f823-43b7-863e-c2097a151004_847x615.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PIrK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe924fffb-a8a9-4dc5-9fec-8251265dd2f4_700x892.jpeg)
Illustration of a ship engaged in the East African trade in the Persian Gulf. 1237, Maqamat al-Hariri, The passengers are Arab, and the crew and pilot are East African and/or Indian. while the illustration doesn’t represent a specific type of ship, it is broadly similar to the sewn ships of the western Indian Ocean such as the mtepe of the Swahili.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/reversing-the-sail-a-brief-note-on#footnote-2-140887587)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/reversing-the-sail-a-brief-note-on#footnote-anchor-1-140887587)
Domesticating the World: African Consumerism and the Genealogies of Globalization by Jeremy Prestholdt, pg5
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/reversing-the-sail-a-brief-note-on#footnote-anchor-2-140887587)
Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by D. J. Mattingly pg 147
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GkIZ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F80e75c7d-7988-4304-9990-58379ffd4773_874x612.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YB5U!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9f4f5e84-a848-42f0-a364-4f442853a065_677x488.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xjUh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff790103-f823-43b7-863e-c2097a151004_847x615.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PIrK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe924fffb-a8a9-4dc5-9fec-8251265dd2f4_700x892.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/reversing-the-sail-a-brief-note-on
|
Situated a few hundred miles off the East African coast are a chain of volcanic islands whose history, society, and urban settlements are strikingly similar to the coastal cities of the mainland.
The Comoro archipelago forms a link between the East African coast to the island of Madagascar like a series of stepping stones on which people, domesticates, and goods travelled across the western Indian Ocean.
The history of Comoros was shaped by the movement and settlement of different groups of people and the exchange of cultures, which created a cosmopolitan society where seemingly contradictory practices like matriliny and Islam co-existed.
While the states that emerged on the three smaller islands of Nzwani, Mwali, and Mayotte controlled most of their territories, the largest island of Ngazidja was home to a dozen states competing for control over the entire island.
This article explores the history of Ngazidja from the late 1st millennium to the 19th century.
_**Location of Grande Comore on the East African Coast.**_[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-1-140646735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dDjh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed012c09-84a4-40d0-a23a-ccd6eb34552d_958x599.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Early history of Grande Comore from the 7th-14th century.**
The Comoro Archipelago was settled in the late 1st millennium by speakers of the Sabaki subgroup of Bantu languages from the East African coast. From these early populations evolved the Comorian languages of Shingazidja, Shimwali, Shindzuani, and Shimaore spoken on the islands of Ngazidja, Mwali, Nzwani, and Mayotte respectively. In the later centuries, different parts of the archipelago would receive smaller groups of immigrants including Austroneasian-speakers and Arabs, as well as a continued influx from the Swahili coast.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-2-140646735)
Archeological evidence suggests that Comoros' early settlement period is similar to that found along the East African coast. Small settlements of wattle and daub houses were built by farming and fishing communities that were marginally engaged in regional trade but showed no signs of social hierarchies. At Ngazidja, the 9th-12th century settlement at Mbachilé had few imported ceramics (about 6%), while another old village contained an Islamic burial but little evidence of external contact.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-3-140646735)
The ruins of later settlements on Ngazidja in the 13th-14th century include traces of masonry buildings of coral lime and more imported pottery, especially in the town of Mazwini. According to local tradition, this early settlement at Mazwini was abandoned and its inhabitants founded the city of Moroni. It was during this period that the Comoros islands first appeared in textural accounts often associated with the Swahili coast. The earliest of these accounts may have been al-idrisis’ probable reference to Nzwani (Anjouan), but the more certain reference comes from the 15th-century navigator Ibn Majid who mentions Ngazidja by its Swahili name.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-4-140646735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sZ8y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fca19f096-237e-4047-95a5-80a09fe04332_848x554.png)
_**Moroni, early 20th century.**_
**The emergence of states on Grande Comore (15th-17th century)**
The Comoro Islands were part of the 'Swahili world' of the East African coastal cities and their ruling families were often related both agnatically and affinally. Beginning in the 13th century, the southernmost section of the Swahili coast was dominated by the city of Kilwa, whose chronicle mentions early ties between its dynasty and the rulers of Nzwani. By the 15th century, the route linking Kilwa to Comoros and Madagascar was well established, and the cities lying along this route would serve as a refuge for the Kilwa elite who fled the city after it was [sacked by the Portuguese armies of Francisco de Almeida and his successors](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/kilwa-the-complete-chronological). It was during this period between the 15th and 16th centuries that the oldest states on Ngazidja were founded.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-5-140646735)
Traditional histories of Ngazidja associate the oldest dynasties on the Island with the so-called 'Shirazi', a common ethnonym that appears in the early history of the Swahili coast —In which a handful of brothers from Shiraz sailed to the east African coast, married into local elite families, and their unions produced the first rulers of the Swahili cities—. Ngazidja’s oral tradition is both dependent upon and radically different from Swahili tradition, reflecting claims to a shared heritage with the Swahili that were adapted to Ngazidja’s social context.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-6-140646735)
Ngazidja’s Shirazi tradition focuses on the states that emerged at Itsandra and Bambao on the western half of the island. In the latter, a ‘Shirazi’ **princess** from the Swahili coast arrived on the island and was married to Ngoma Mrahafu, the pre-existing ruler (bedja) of the land/state (_**Ntsi**_) of southern Bambao, the daughter born to these parents was then married to Fe pirusa, ruler of northern Bambao. These in turn produced a son, Mwasi Pirusa, who inherited all of Bambao. A later shipwreck brought more 'Shirazis' from the Swahili city of Kilwa, whose **princesses** were married to Maharazi, the ruler of a small town called Hamanvu. This union produced a daughter who was then married to the ruler of Mbadani, and their daughter married the ruler of Itsandra, later producing a son, Djumwamba Pirusa, who inherited the united state of Itsandra, Mbadani and Hamanvu.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-7-140646735)
This founding myth doubtlessly compresses a long and complex series of interrelationships between the various dynastic houses in Comoros and the Swahili coast. It demonstrates the contradictions inherent in establishing prestigious origins for local lineages that were culturally matrilineal; where the sons of a male founder would have belonged to the mother's lineage and undermined the whole legitimation project. [Instead of Shirazi](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/persian-myths-and-realities-on-the)_**[princes](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/persian-myths-and-realities-on-the)**_[as was the case for the Swahili](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/persian-myths-and-realities-on-the), the Ngazidja traditions claim that it was Shirazi **princesses** who were married off to local rulers (mabedja), and were then succeeded by the product of these unions, whether sons or daughters, that would take on the title of sultan ( mfaume/mflame).[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-8-140646735)
These traditions also reflect the genetic mosaic of Comoros, as recent studies of the genetic heritage of modern Comorians show contributions predominantly from Africa, (85% mtDNA, 60% Y-DNA) with lesser amounts from the Middle East and South-East Asia.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-9-140646735) But as is the case with the Swahili coast, the process of integrating new arrivals from East Africa and the rest of the Indian Ocean world into Comorian society was invariably complex, with different groups arriving at different periods and accorded different levels of social importance.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9HuM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc13af235-285b-4b82-ba9e-2ee70f52695f_750x522.png)
_**Ruins of an old mosque on Grande Comore, 1884, ANOM**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6ViO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43ecdba5-12a5-4b42-b97d-708ae5e9a8be_928x518.png)
_**‘miracle mosque’ north of Mitsamiouli, Grande Comore**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
Traditional accounts of Comorian history, both written and oral, stress the near-constant rivalry between the different states on Ngazidja, as well as the existence of powerful rulers in the island's interior. Portuguese accounts from the early 16th-century note that there were around twenty independent states on Ngazidja, they also remark on the island’s agricultural exports to the Swahili coast, which included "millet, cows, goats, and hens" that supply Kilwa and Mombasa.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-10-140646735)
The Comoro ports became an important stopping point for European ships that needed provisions for their crew, and their regular visits had a considerable political and economic impact on the islands, especially Nzwani. While the islands didn't fall under [Portuguese control like their Swahili peers](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-portuguese-and-the-swahili-from), several Portuguese traders lived on the island, carrying on a considerable trade in livestock and grain, as well as Malagasy captives. By the middle of the 16th century, Ngazidja was said to be ruled by Muslim dynasties "from Malindi"[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-11-140646735) —a catchall term for the Swahili coast.
Later arrivals by other European ships at the turn of the 17th century had mixed encounters with the rulers of Ngazidja. In 1591 an English crew was killed in battle after a dispute, another English ship in 1608 was warmly received at Iconi, while a Portuguese crew in 1616 reported that many of their peers were killed. Ngazidja's ambiguous reputation, and its lack of natural harbors, eventually prompted [European ships to frequent the island of Nzwani instead.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-island-at-the-nexus-of)[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-12-140646735) However, the pre-existing regional trade with the Swahili coast, Madagascar and Arabia continued to flourish.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tBR8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d739179-73dd-47b3-9e33-5e6dd64ca8e1_960x576.png)
_**The island of Anjouan (Nzwani)**_
**State and society on Grande Comore: 17th-19th century.**
By the 17th century, the sultanates of Ngazidja had been firmly established, with eleven separate states, the most powerful of which were Itsandra and Bambao. Each sultanate was centered around a political capital, which generally included a palace where the sultan (_**Mfaume wa Nsti**_) resided next to his councilors. Sometimes, a powerful sultan would succeed in imposing his hegemony over all the sultanates of the island and thus gain the title of _**Sultan Ntinbe.**_ Power was organized according to a complex hierarchy that extended from the city to the village, with each local leader (_**mfaume wa mdji**_) providing its armies, raising taxes, and settling disputes, while religious scholars carried out social functions and also advised the various rulers.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-13-140646735)
The choice of the sultan was elective, with candidates being drawn from the ruling matrilineage. The sultan was assisted by a council comprised of heads of lineages and other patricians, which restricted his powers through assemblies. The various local sultans nominally recognized the authority of the _**sultan ntibe**_, an honorific office that was alternatively claimed by the two great clans; the Hinya Fwambaya of Itsandra (allied with Washili and Hamahame), and the Hinya Matswa Pirusa, of Bambao (allied with Mitsamiouli, Hambou, Boudé and Boinkou).[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-14-140646735) while other clans included the M'Dombozi of Badgini (allied with Domba and Dimani)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!S3qw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe528a7b0-0aa3-4c6b-9c0d-d31e55d65895_939x738.png)
_**the states (Ntsi) of Grande Comore in the late 19th century**_[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-15-140646735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VhWg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e4510b7-007c-4b4c-9ae3-d452371cda72_960x720.jpeg)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!maN8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcaefe2a7-de33-4f1f-a634-e29b20d54cdb_827x543.png)
_**Kavhiridjewo palace ruins in Iconi, dated to the 16th-17th century**_[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-16-140646735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AoEv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6d25c9d4-b0e3-48a1-aae2-e20ad9eb7270_800x576.jpeg)
_**Sultan Ali’s army parading in front of the great mosque of Moroni, ca. 1884, MNHN**_
The second half of the 17th century was a period of prosperity for Ngazidja, particularly the state of Itsandra, which, under the rule of Sultan Mahame Said and his successor Fumu Mvundzambanga, saw the construction of the Friday mosques in Itsandramdjini and Ntsudjini. Sultan Fumu was succeeded by his niece, Queen Wabedja (ca. 1700-1743) who is particularly remembered in local traditions for her lengthy rule both as regent for her three short-lived sons and as a Queen regnant for nearly half a century.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-17-140646735)
A skillful diplomat, Queen Wabedja married off her daughters to the ruling families of the rival clan of Hinya Matswa Pirusa, which controlled the cities of Mitsamihuli, Ikoni, and Moroni. Trade with the Swahili coast boomed with Itsandramdjini as the island’s premier commercial centre. Itsandra became a center of learning whose scholars included Princess Mmadjamu, a celebrated poet and expert in theology and law.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-18-140646735)
The period of Wabedja's rule in the early 18th century is remembered as a golden age of Ngazidja's history. Like most of the Swahili coast, the island of Ndazidja received several [Hadrami-Alwai families in the 18th century, originally from the Swahili city of Pate (in Kenya’s Lamu archipelago)](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-social-history-of-the-lamu-city). They married locally and were acculturated into the dominant Comorian culture, particularly its matriclans. These families reinvigorated the society's Islamic culture and learning, mostly based in their village in Tsujini, but also in the city of Iconi. However, unlike the Swahili dynasties and the rulers of Nzwani, the Alawi of Ngazidja never attained political power but were only part of the Ulama.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-19-140646735)
Most cities (_**mdji**_) and towns in Ngazidja are structured around a public square: a bangwe, with monumental gates (mnara) and benches (upando) where customary activities take place and public meetings are held. The palaces, mosques, houses, and tombs were built around these, all enclosed within a series of fortifications that consisted of ramparts (ngome), towers (bunarisi), and doors (goba).[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-20-140646735)
In Ngazidja, each city is made up of matrilineages ordered according to a principle of precedence called kazi or mila[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-21-140646735). The Comorian marital home belongs to the wife, but the husband who enters it becomes its master. It is on this initial tension that broader gender relationships are built, and the house's gendered spaces are constructed to reflect Comorian cultural norms of matrilocality. Larger houses include several rooms serving different functions, with some that include the typical _zidaka_ wall niches of Swahili architecture and other decorative elements, all covered by a mix of flat roofs and double-pitched thatched roofs with open gables to allow ventilation.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-22-140646735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MWTJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe4884985-6cf1-4aa5-a35e-59d8e61455b1_898x572.png)
_**Bangwe of Mitsudje, and Funi Aziri Bangwe of Iconi**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PDdm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf2dccc5-3663-4228-830b-554f502d871a_750x515.png)
_**View of Moroni, ca. 1900, ANOM. with the bangwe in the middle ground**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!roys!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3561dcc4-e592-4375-8532-e88ab1465d44_890x587.png)
_**Mitsamiouli street scene, early 20th century**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
At the end of her reign, Wabedja handed over power to her grandson Fumnau (r. 1743-1800), a decision that was opposed by Nema Feda, the queen of the north-eastern state of Hamahame. Nema Feda marched her army south against Fumnau’s capital Ntsudjini, but was defeated by the combined forces of Bambao and Itsandra. The old alliance between the two great clans crumbled further over the succession to the throne of Washili. This conflict led to an outbreak of war in which the armies of Itsandra's king Fumnau and Bambao's king Mlanau seized control over most of the island's major centers before Fumnau turned against Mlanau's successor and remained sole ruler of Ngazidja with the title of _**sultan ntibe**_.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-23-140646735)
During this period, [naval attacks from northern Madagascar beginning in 1798 wreaked havoc on Ngazidja](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-episode-of-naval-warfare-on-the), prompting sultan Fumnau to construct the fortifications of Itsandramdjini, a move which was copied by other cities.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-24-140646735) The island remained an important center of trade on the East African coast. According to a visitor in 1819, who observed that the Ngazidja had more trade than the other islands, exporting coconuts to Zanzibar, cowries to India, and grain to Nzwani.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-25-140646735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UWJL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc006ed04-b1f5-4723-a2b7-195b375532c6_824x432.png)
_**West rampart, Ntsaweni, Grande Comore**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yKyn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff0adb565-5bf8-4311-90f7-aab1df6c6fbd_826x462.png)
_**Northern rampant of Fumbuni, Grande Comore**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0z-l!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b42b45e-7aa4-4891-a686-371489356223_682x509.png)
_**Gerezani Citadel, Itsandra, Grande Comore**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Grande Comore in the 19th century**
The sultans of Ngazidja maintained close ties with Nzwani and Zanzibar, and the island's ulama was respected along the Swahili coast. While both Nzwani and Zanzibar at times claimed suzerainty over the island, neither was recognized by any of Ngazidja's sultans. The island's political fragmentation rendered it impossible for Nzwani's rulers to claim control despite being related to some of the ruling families, while Zanzibar's Omani sultans followed a different sect of Islam that rendered even nominal allegiance untenable.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-26-140646735)
The 19th century in Ngazidja was a period of civil conflict instigated in large part by the long reign of the Bambao sultan Ahmed (r. 1813-1875), and his ruinous war against the sultans of Itsandra. In the ensuing decades, shifting political alliances and wars between all the major states on the island also came to involve external powers such as the Portuguese, French, and Zanzibar (under the British) whose military support was courted by the different factions.
In the major wars of the mid-19th century, sultan Ahmed defeated sultan Fumbavu of Itsandra, before he was deposed by his court in Bambao for allying with Fumbavu's successor Msafumu. Ahmed rallied his allies and with French support, regained his throne, but was later deposed by Msafumu. The throne of Bambao was taken by Ahmed's grandson Said Ali who rallied his allies and the French, to defeat Msafumu's coalition that was supported by Zanzibar. Said Ali took on the title of _**sultan ntibe**_, but like his predecessors, had little authority over the other sultans. This compelled him to expand his alliance with the French by inviting the colonial company of the french botanist Leon Humblot, to whom he leased much of the island (that he didn't control).[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-27-140646735)
In January 1886, against all the traditions of the established political system, Said Ali signed a treaty with France that recognized him as sultan of the entire island and established a French protectorate over Ngazidja. This deeply unpopular treaty was met with stiff opposition from the rest of the island, forcing Said Ali to flee in 1890 and the French to bring in troops to depose the Sultans. By 1892, the island was fully under French control and the sultanate was later abolished in 1904, marking the end of its autonomy.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-28-140646735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GDM_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7e6c4c1a-61ac-4b15-866b-88f15fd854c3_592x800.jpeg)
_**Potrait of Saïd Ali, the last sultan of Grande Comore, ca. 1884**_, MNHN
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_utk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6dbfe31f-5f71-45de-a579-0070c0adb3a8_856x594.png)
_**Moroni beachfront**_
**The Portuguese invader of Kilwa, Francisco de Almeida, met his death at the hands of the Khoi-San of South Africa,**
**Read more about the history of one of Africa’s oldest communities here:**
[SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE KHOIKHOI](https://www.patreon.com/posts/social-history-96031188)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NSah!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ed5c2bd-8f56-4409-b272-101ff4ce2e9c_669x1203.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-1-140646735)
Map by Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Ian Walker
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-2-140646735)
The Swahili World by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria Jean LaViolette pg 267-268, Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 36)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-3-140646735)
The Swahili World by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria Jean LaViolette pg 271, 273-274
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-4-140646735)
The Swahili World by Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Adria Jean LaViolette pg 281-282, The Comoro Islands in Indian Ocean Trade before the 19th Century by Malyn Newitt pg 144)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-5-140646735)
The Comoro Islands in Indian Ocean Trade before the 19th Century by Malyn Newitt pg 142-144)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-6-140646735)
The Comoro Islands: Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean by M. D. D. Newitt pg 16, The Making of the Swahili: A View from the Southern End of the East African Coast by Gill Shepherd pg 140
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-7-140646735)
Becoming the Other, Being Oneself: Constructing Identities in a Connected World By Iain Walker pg 60-61, Cités, citoyenneté et territorialité dans l’île de Ngazidja by Sophie Blanchy
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-8-140646735)
Becoming the Other, Being Oneself: Constructing Identities in a Connected World By Iain Walker pg pg 59-64)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-9-140646735)
Genetic diversity on the Comoros Islands shows early seafaring as a major determinant of human bicultural evolution in the Western Indian Ocean by Said Msaidie
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-10-140646735)
The Comoro Islands: Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean by M. D. D. Newitt pg 16)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-11-140646735)
The Comoro Islands: Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean by M. D. D. Newitt pg 146-151, Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 53)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-12-140646735)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 54-55)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-13-140646735)
Cités, citoyenneté et territorialité dans l’île de Ngazidja by Sophie Blanchy
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-14-140646735)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 68, 44)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-15-140646735)
Map by Charles Viaut et al, these states constantly fluctuated in number from anywhere between 8 to 12
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-16-140646735)
This and similar photos by Charles Viaut et al
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-17-140646735)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 71)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-18-140646735)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 71)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-19-140646735)
Sufis and Scholars of the Sea: Family Networks in East Africa, 1860-1925 by Anne K. Bang pg 27-31, 47-53)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-20-140646735)
Le patrimoine bâti d’époque classique de Ngazidja (Grande Comore, Union des Comores). Rapport de synthèse de prospection et d’étude de bâti by Charles Viaut et al., pg 40-41)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-21-140646735)
Cités, citoyenneté et territorialité dans l’île de Ngazidja by Sophie Blanchy
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-22-140646735)
La maison urbaine, cadre de production du statut et du genre à Anjouan (Comores), XVIIe-XIXe siècles by Sophie Blanchy
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-23-140646735)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 72-73)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-24-140646735)
The Comoro Islands: Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean by M. D. D. Newitt pg 22)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-25-140646735)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 73, 102)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-26-140646735)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 102)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-27-140646735)
Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros By Iain Walker pg 103-104, The Comoro Islands: Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean by M. D. D. Newitt pg 32)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja#footnote-anchor-28-140646735)
Comoro Islands: Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean by M. D. D. Newitt pg 32)
|
[
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-grande-comore-ngazidja
|
At the start of the common era, much of southwestern Africa was populated by an ancient group of foragers and herders collectively known as the Khoe-San; a diverse community that is often divided into the hunter-gatherers (San) and herder (Khoekhoe) populations. The Khoe-San have a complex and enigmatic history that spans thousands of years and isn’t well recorded, but recent advances in archeological, linguistic, and genetic research have begun to clarify their history.
Popular historiography of southern Africa is often biased in favor of the more complex societies established by sedentary farmers, as is often the case for most of the world. In this region, such states are often associated with the sedentary Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists in south-eastern Africa, such as [the Zulu kingdom](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history) and [the Swazi Kingdom](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-swazi-kingdom-and-its-neighbours). While the history of the later periods largely focuses on these kingdoms’ interactions with the colonial states founded by the Dutch and British settlers, which were also predominantly farming societies.
Scholars who perpetuate this bias unknowingly legitimize the myth of the 'empty land' which served as the main rationale for colonial expansion. In this historically inaccurate but politically convenient myth, the nomadic Khoe-san communities supposedly did not utilize the land they lived on, and it was thus left vacant for European expansion and settlement.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3H-F!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F772b8ad3-6297-410d-a8c2-9d81eee6cf60_752x551.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HAJE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fde0e86ad-18ea-4106-b044-19196071be90_1234x463.png)
_**Narudas ruins in Namibia, built by the Nama-speaking Khoe-San.**_
Parallel to this myth was the claim that the kingdoms dominated by the Bantu-speaking sedentarists (whom the Europeans considered to be utilizing their land) were supposedly recent arrivals in the 18th and 19th centuries. The colonialists thus legitimized their expansion by claiming to be protecting the rights of the ‘indigenous’ Khoe-San communities—the very same groups whom they were displacing.
At the heart of this myth is the notion that only large, sedentary communities organized as kingdoms possessed the capacity to utilize the land they lived on, and that the nomadic Khoe-San populations were too small to utilize their land, nor form complex societies that could defend their claims. But like all colonial myths, this falsity isn't grounded in the historical realities of the Khoe-San.
When European ships landed on the South African coast in November 1497, their leader, Vasco Da Gama, found the Khoe-San living along the shores of the Atlantic. He quickly learned that the Khoe-San didn't take kindly to strangers who took their resources without permission when an initially peaceful encounter turned violent and he was chased back to his ship by the Khoe-San. In 1510, his successor, Francisco de Almeida was killed in battle with the Khoe warriors, along with 50 of his crew, after they had invaded a coastal community of the Khoe-San and kidnapped some of their children.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zh6o!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5070d310-08bc-4fb7-99be-cc0afa16c173_622x446.jpeg)
_**Death of Francisco d’Almeida, engraving by Pieter van der Aa, ca 1700.**_ In the background is a Khoe-San settlement.
In the succeeding centuries, Khoe-San communities fought a seemingly never-ending series of wars against waves of colonial invasions by the Dutch and later by the British. Some of the Khoe-San succeeded in establishing much larger and more complex societies across southern Africa, including [Namibia's oldest town at khauxanas](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-desert-town-of-southern-africa), and several constitutional monarchies in South Africa that would last until the 1870s.
My latest Patreon article focuses on the history of the Khoe community of South Africa, from its earliest appearance in the archeological record around 2,000 years ago to the collapse of the last independent Khoe kingdom in 1880.
**Please subscribe and read more about it here:**
[SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE KHOIKHOI](https://www.patreon.com/posts/social-history-96031188)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NSah!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ed5c2bd-8f56-4409-b272-101ff4ce2e9c_669x1203.png)
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_**18th-century drawing of a village in the Khoe Kingdom of Gonaqua,**_ by François le Vaillant
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3H-F!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F772b8ad3-6297-410d-a8c2-9d81eee6cf60_752x551.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zh6o!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5070d310-08bc-4fb7-99be-cc0afa16c173_622x446.jpeg",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2SE0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a1da911-e734-4d1a-8d08-8fedd8a3bc30_600x343.png"
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-ancient-herders
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Like all maritime societies, mastery of the ocean, was important for the societies of Africa's Atlantic coast, as was the mastery of the rest of their environment.
For many centuries, maritime activity along Africa's Atlantic coast played a major role in the region's political and economic life. While popular discourses of Africa's Atlantic history are concerned with the forced migration of enslaved Africans to the Americas, less attention is paid to the historical links and voluntary travel between Africa's Atlantic societies.
From the coast of Senegal to the coast of Angola, African seafarers traversed the ocean in their own vessels, exchanging goods, ideas, and cultures, as they established diasporic communities in the various port cities of the African Atlantic.
This article explores the history of Atlantic Africa's maritime activity, focusing on African seafaring, trade, and migration along the Atlantic coast.
_**Political map of Atlantic Africa in the 17th century[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-1-140196826)**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pfqh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F586dec3b-5699-4004-a4c0-44fba624dab1_1009x721.png)
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**State and society along the African Atlantic.**
The African Atlantic was both a fishery and a highway that nurtured trade, travel, and migration which predated and later complemented overseas trade. Africans developed maritime cultures necessary to traverse and exploit their world. Coastal and interior waters enabled traders, armies, and other travelers to rapidly transport goods, people, and information across different regions, as well as to seamlessly switch between overland, riverine, and sea-borne trade to suit their interests.
Mainland West Africa is framed beneath the river Niger’s arch and bound together by an array of watercourses, including the calm mangrove swamps of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The Bights of Benin and Biafra’s lagoon complex extends from the Volta River, in what is now Ghana, to the Nigerian–Cameroonian border. Similarly, West-Central Africa was oriented by its rivers, especially the Congo and Kwanza rivers, in a vast hydrographic system that extended into the interior of central Africa. [2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-2-140196826)
In many parts of West and Central Africa, different kinds of vessels were used to navigate the waters of the Atlantic, mainly to fish, but also for war and trade. When the Portuguese first reached the coast of Malagueta (modern Liberia) in the early 1460s they were approached by _**"some small canoes"**_ which came alongside the Portuguese ships. On the Gold Coast (modern Ghana), it was noted of Elmina in 1529, that _**"the blacks of the village have many canoes in which they go fishing and spend much time at sea."**_ While on the Loango coast, a visitor in 1608 noted that locals _**“go out in the morning with as many as three hundred canoes into the open sea”.**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-3-140196826)
Canoes were Atlantic Africans’ solution for navigating diverse waterways between the ocean, lagoons, and rivers. Many of these canoes were large and sea-worthy, measuring anywhere between 50-100ft in length, 5ft wide, and with a capacity of up to 10 tonnes. The size and design of these vessels evolved as Africans interacted with each other and with foreign traders. In the Senegambia and the Gold Coast, large watercraft were fitted with square sails, masts, and rudders that enabled them to sail out to sea and up the rivers.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-4-140196826)
For most of its early history, the Atlantic coast of West Africa was dominated by relatively small polities on the frontiers of the large inland states like the Mali empire, and the kingdoms of Benin and Kongo, which were less dependent on maritime resources and trade than on the more developed resources and trade on the mainland.
The relatively low maritime activity by these larger west and central African states —which conducted long-distance trade on the mainland— was mostly due to the Atlantic Ocean’s consistent ocean currents, which, unlike the seasonal currents of the Indian Ocean, only flowed in one direction all year round. This could enable sailing in one direction eg using the Canary Current (down the coast from Morocco to Senegal), the Guinea Current (eastwards from Liberia to Ghana), and the Benguela Current (northwards from Namibia to Angola), but often made return journeys difficult[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-5-140196826).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F24s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F61b95621-4302-4343-bdb9-5ffd5ad8cad8_988x549.png)
_**Map of Africa’s ocean currents**_[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-6-140196826)
The African Atlantic was thus the domain of the smaller coastal states and societies whose maritime activities, especially fishing, date back a millennia before the common era.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-7-140196826) While many of their coastal urban settlements are commonly referred to as “ports,” this appellation is a misnomer, as the Atlantic coast of Africa possesses few natural harbors and most “ports” were actually “surf-ports,” or landings situated on surf-battered beaches that offered little protection from the sea, and often forced large ships to anchor 1-5 miles offshore. Canoemen were thus necessary for the transportation of goods across the surf and lagoons.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-8-140196826)
**An overview of African maritime activity in the Atlantic**
The maritime activities of African mariners appear in the earliest documentation of West African coastal societies. As early as the 15th century coastal communities in Atlantic Africa were documented using surf-canoes to transport goods to sea. Portuguese sailors off the coast of Liberia during the 1470s reported: _**“The negroes of all this coast bring pepper for barter to the ships in the canoes in which they go out fishing.”**_ While another trader active in the Ivory Coast during the 1680s, noted that _**“Negroes in three Canoa’s laden with Elephant’s Teeth came on Board”**_ his ship.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-9-140196826)
Senegambian mariners transported kola nuts down the Gambia river, into the ocean, and along the coast to **“the neighborhood of Great and Little Scarcies rivers,**[in Sierra Leone]**a distance of three hundred miles.”**Similarly**,**as early as the 12th century, watercraft from the mouth of the Senegal River could journey up the Mauritanian coast (presumably to Arguin) from where they loaded salt brought overland from Ijil[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-10-140196826). Overlapping networks of maritime and inland navigation sustained coastwise traffic from Cape Verde (in Senegal) to Cape Mount (in Liberia), bringing mainly kola nuts and pepper northwards.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-11-140196826)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kMo-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8ec1f390-b699-4f69-8483-99a960271a52_806x456.png)
_**View of Rufisque, the capital of Cayor kingdom, Senegambia region, in 1746, showing various types of local watercraft.**_
Similarly in west-central Africa, traders from as far as Angola journeyed northwards to Mayumba on the Loango coast, a distance of about 400 miles, to buy salt and redwood (tukula) that was ground into powder and mixed with palm oil to make dyes.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-12-140196826) The Mpongwe of Gabon carried out a substantial coastal trade as far north as Cameroon according to an 18th century trader. Mpongwe canoes were large, up to 60ft long, and were fitted with masts and sails. With a capacity of over 10 tonnes, they regularly traveled 300-400 miles, and according to a 19th-century observer, the Mpongwe’s boats were so well built that they**"would land them, under favorable circumstances, in South America"**.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-13-140196826)
However, it was the mariners of the Gold Coast region who excelled at long-distance maritime activity and would greatly contribute to the linking of Atlantic Africa’s regional maritime systems and the founding of diasporic communities that extended as far as west-central Africa. Accounts indicate that many of these mariners, especially the Akan (of modern Ghana and S.E Ivory Coast), and Kru speakers (of modern Liberia), worked hundreds of miles of coastline between modern Liberia and Nigeria. [14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-14-140196826)
**The seafarers of the Gold Coast.**
The practice of recruiting Gold Coast canoemen for service in the Bight of Benin appears to have begun with the Dutch in the 17th century. The difficult conditions on the Bight of Benin (between modern Togo and S.W Nigeria) made landing impossible for European ships, and the local people lacked the tradition of long-distance maritime navigation. The Europeans were thus reliant on canoemen from the Gold Coast for managing the passage of goods and people from ship to shore and back through the surf.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-15-140196826)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6W2w!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc3f4200-aa16-4746-b07d-66d6126f7d1e_770x532.png)
_**“Surf-Canoes. Capturing the difficulty of launching and landing surf-canoes in storm-swept breakers, scenes like this convinced ship captains not to attempt such passages in their slower, less responsive shipboats, or longboats, but to instead hire African canoemen.”**_[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-16-140196826)
Gold coast mariners journeying beyond their homeland were first documented in an anonymous Dutch manuscript from the mid-17th century, in a document giving instructions for trade at Grand Popo (in modern Benin): _**"If you wish to trade here, you must bring a new strong canoe with you from the Gold Coast with oarsmen, because one cannot get through the surf in any boat".**_[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-17-140196826)
In the 18th century, the trader Robert Norris also observed Fante canoemen at Ouidah (in modern Benin), writing that _**“Landing is always difficult and dangerous, and can only be effected in canoes, which the ships take with them from the Gold Coast: they are manned with fifteen or seventeen Fantees each, hired from Cape Coast or El Mina; hardy, active men, who undertake this business, and return in their canoe to their own country, when the captain has finished his trade.”**_[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-18-140196826)
Another 18th-century trader, John Adams who was active at Eghoro along the Benin river in south-western Nigeria, wrote that _**"A few Fante sailors, hired on the Gold coast, and who can return home in the canoe when the ship's loading is completed, will be found of infinite service in navigating the large boast, and be the means of saving the lives of many of the ship's crew."**_[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-19-140196826)
These canoemen who traversed the region between south-eastern Ivory Coast and south-western Nigeria, were mostly Akan-speaking people from the gold coast and would be hired by the different European traders at their settlements. Most came from the Dutch fort at El-mina, but some also came from the vicinity of the English fort at Anomabo. At the last port of call, the canoemen would be released to make their way back to the Gold Coast, after they had received their pay often in gold, goods, and canoes.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-20-140196826)
Gold Coast mariners were also hired to convey messages between the different European forts along the coast. Their services were particularly important for communications between the Dutch headquarters at El-Mina and the various out-forts in the Gold Coast and beyond. This was due to the prevailing currents which made it difficult for European vessels to sail from east to west, and in instances where there were no European vessels. Communication between Elmina and the outforts at Ouidah and Offra during the late 17th century was often conducted by canoemen returning home to the gold coast in their vessels[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-21-140196826).
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_**18th century engraving of El-mina with local sail-boats.**_
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_**Regular route of the Gold coast Mariners**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**African Trade and Travel between the Gold Coast and the Bight of Benin.**
The long-distance travel between the Gold Coast and the Bight of Benin stimulated (or perhaps reinvigorated) trade between the two regions.
This trade is first documented in 1659 when it was reported that ‘for some years’ the trade in ‘akori’ beads (glass beads manufactured in Ife), which had earlier been purchased by the Europeans from the kingdoms of Allada and Benin, for re-sale on the Gold Coast in exchange for gold, had been monopolized by African traders from the Gold Coast, who were going in canoes to Little Popo and as far as Allada to buy them. Another French observer noted in 1688 that Gold Coast traders had tapped the trade in cloth at Ouidah: _**‘the Negroes even come with canoes to trade them, and carry them off ceaselessly.’**_[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-22-140196826)
Mariners from the Gold Coast were operating as far as the Benin port of Ughoton and possibly beyond into west-central Africa. In the 1680s, the trader Jean Barbot noted that Gold Coast mariners navigated _**“cargo canoes”**_ using _**“them to transport their cattle and merchandise from one place to another, taking them over the breakers loaded as they are. This sort can be found at Juda [Ouidah] and Ardra [Allada], and at many places on the Gold Coast. Such canoes are so safe that they travel from Gold Coast to all parts of the Gulf of Ethiopia [Guinea], and beyond that to Angola.”**_[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-23-140196826)
Some of these mariners eventually settled in the coastal towns of the Bight of Benin. A document from the 1650s mentions a ‘Captain Honga’ among the noblemen of the king of Allada, serving as the local official who was the _**“captain of the boat which goes in and out.”**_ By the 1690s Ouidah too boasted a community of canoemen from Elmina that called themselves 'Mine-men'. Traditions of immigrant canoemen from El-mina abound in Little Popo (Aneho in modern Togo) which indicates that the town played an important role in the lateral movement of canoemen along the coast. The settlement at Aneho received further immigrants from the Gold Coast in the 18th century, who created the different quarters of the town, and in other towns such as Grand Popo and Ouidah.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-24-140196826)
As a transshipment point and a way station where canoemen waited for the right season to proceed to the Gold Coast, the town of Aneho was the most important diasporic settlement of people from the Gold Coast. External writers noted that the delays of the canoemen at Aneho were due to the seasonal changes, particularly the canoemen’s unwillingness to sail at any other time except the Harmattan season. During the harmattan season from about December to February, winds blow north-east and ocean currents flow from east to west, contrary to the Guinea current’s normal direction.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-25-140196826)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gaR2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc1f9c338-040f-40a6-b92d-7f6478b2a02a_871x477.png)
_**Sailboat on Lake Nokoue, near the coast of Benin, ca. 1911, Quai branly**_
**African seafaring from the Gold Coast to Angola.**
The abovementioned patterns of wind and ocean currents may have facilitated travel eastwards along the Atlantic coast, but often rendered the return journey westwards difficult before the Gold Coast mariners adopted the sail. That the Gold Coast mariners could reach the Bight of Benin in their vessels is well documented, but evidence for direct travel further to the Loango and Angola coast is fragmentary, as the return journey would have required sailing out into the sea along the equator and then turning north to the Gold coast as the European vessels were doing.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-26-140196826)
The use of canoemen to convey messages from the Dutch headquarters at El-mina to their west-central African forts at Kakongo and Loango, is documented in the 17th century. According to the diary of Louis Dammaet, a Dutch factor on the Gold Coast, in 1654, small boats could sail from the Gold Coast to Loango, exchange cargo, and return in two months. Additionally, internal African trade between West Africa and west-central Africa flourished during the 17th century. Palm oil and Benin cloth were taken from Sao Tome to Luanda, where it would be imported into the local markets. Benin cloth was also imported by Loango from Elmina, while copper from Mpemba was taken to Luanda and further to Calabar and Rio Del Rey.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-27-140196826)
While much of this trade was handled by Europeans, a significant proportion was likely undertaken by African merchants, and it’s not implausible that local mariners like the Mpongwe were trading internally along the central African coast, just like the Gold Coast mariners were doing in the Bight of Benin, and that these different groups of sailors and regional systems of trade overlapped.
For example, there is evidence of mariners from Lagos sailing in their vessels westwards as far as Allada during the 18th century where they were regular traders[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-28-140196826). These would have met with established mariners like the Itsekiri and immigrants such as those from the Gold Coast. And there's also evidence of mariners from Old Calabar sailing regularly to the island of Fernando Po (Bioko), in a pattern of trade and migration that continued well into the early 20th century. It is therefore not unlikely that this regional maritime system extended further south to connect the Bight of Benin to the Loango Coast.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-29-140196826)
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_**Map of the Loango coast in the 17th century,**_ By Alisa LaGamma
**Travel and Migration to Central Africa by African mariners: from fishermen to administrators.**
There is some early evidence of contacts between the kingdoms of Benin and Kongo in the 16th century, which appear to have been conducted through Sao Tome. In 1499, the Oba of Benin gifted a royal slave to the Kongo chief Dom Francisco. A letter written by the Kongo king Alfonso I complained of people from Cacheu and Benin who were causing trouble in his land. In 1541 came another complaint from Kongo that Benin freemen and slaves were participating in disturbances in Kongo provoked by a Portuguese adventurer. [30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-30-140196826)
But the more firm evidence comes from the 19th century, during the era of 'legitimate trade' in commodities (palm oil, ivory, rubber) after the ban on slave exports. The steady growth in commodities trade during this period and the introduction of the steamship expanded the need for smaller watercraft (often surfboats) for ship-to-shore supplies and to navigate the surf.
Immigrant mariners from Aneho came to play a crucial role in the regional maritime transport system which developed in parallel to the open sea transport. By the late 19th century, an estimated 10,000 men were involved in this business in the whole of the Bight of Benin as part much broader regional system. Immigrant mariners from Aneho settled at the bustling port towns of Lome and Lagos during the late 19th century and would eventually settle at Pointe-Noire in Congo a few decades later, where a community remains today that maintains contact with their homeland in Ghana and Togo.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-31-140196826)
Parallel to these developments was the better-documented expansion of established maritime communities from the Gold Coast, Liberia, and the Bight of Benin, into the Loango coast during the late 19th century, often associated with European trading companies. Many of these were the Kru' of the Liberian coast[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-32-140196826), but the bulk of the immigrant mariners came from Aneho and Grand Popo (known locally as 'Popos’), El-Mina (known locally as Elminas), and southwestern Nigeria (mostly from Lagos). A number of them were traders and craftsmen who had been educated in mission schools and were all generally referred to by central Africans as _**coastmen**_("les hommes de la côte").[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-33-140196826)
Most of these _**coastmen**_ came with the steamers which frequented the regions’ commodity trading stations, where the West Africans established fishing communities at various settlements in Cabinda, Boma, and Matadi.[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-34-140196826) Others were employed locally by concessionary companies and in the nascent colonial administration of French Brazaville[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-35-140196826) and Belgian Congo.
One of the most prominent West African _**coastmen**_ residing in Belgian Congo was the Lagos-born Herzekiah Andrew Shanu (1858-1905) who arrived in Boma in 1884 and soon became a prominent entrepreneur, photographer, and later, administrator. He became active in the anti-Leopold campaign of the Congo Reform movement, providing information about the labour abuses and mass atrocities committed by King Leopold’s regime in Congo. When his activism was discovered, the colonial government banned its employees from doing business with him, which ruined him financially and forced him to take his life in 1905.[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-36-140196826)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IOeD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4ff80b30-affa-4b3f-b0e8-2feb1c0949c4_772x570.png)
_**[Herzekiah André Shanu](https://webarch.africamuseum.be/collections/browsecollections/humansciences/display\_object?objectid=31073) (1858-1905) and [Gerald Izëdro Marie Samuel](https://webarch.africamuseum.be/collections/browsecollections/humansciences/display\_object?objectid=31074) (1858-1913). Both were Yoruba speakers from Lagos and they moved to Boma in Congo, during the 1880s, the second photo was taken by Herzekiah.**_
The immigrants from West Africa who lived in the emerging cities of colonial Congo such as Matadi, Boma, and Leopodville (later Kinshasha) also influenced the region’s cultures. They worked as teachers, dock-hands, and staff of the trading firms that were active in the region. These _**coastmen**_ also carried with them an array of musical instruments introduced their musical styles, and created the first dance ochestra called 'the excelsior'. Their musical styles were quickly syncretized with local musical traditions such as maringa, eventually producing the iconic musical genres of Congo such as the Rumba.[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-37-140196826)
While the population of West African expatriates in central Africa declined during the second half of the 20th century, a sizeable community of West Africans remained in Pointe Noire in Congo. The members of this small but successful fishing community procure their watercraft from Ghana and regularly travel back to their hometowns in Benin, just like their ancestors had done centuries prior, only this time, by air rather than by ocean.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Mo3M!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5229ed2c-6586-4134-aa3d-a2fdd12d6713_1000x600.jpeg)
_**Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo**_
**Did Mansa Musa’s predecessor sail across the Atlantic and reach the Americas before Columbus**? Read about Mansa Muhammad's journey across the Atlantic in the 14th century, and an exploration of West Africa's maritime culture on Patreon
[Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/posts/69700074?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PEIY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcaaceb1e-e871-4e89-a634-dfbc5db86cea_1190x567.png)
Why was the wheel present in some African societies but not others? **Read more about the history of the wheel in Africa here:**
[THE WHEEL IN AFRICAN HISTORY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/95169362)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uiXq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff10e429f-777d-4bc3-b2e4-5644f792c775_696x909.png)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-2-140196826)
Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 by John Thornton pg 17-20
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-3-140196826)
West Africa's Discovery of the Atlantic by Robin Law pg 3, Africa and the Sea by Jeffrey C. Stone pg 79
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-4-140196826)
West Africa's Discovery of the Atlantic by Robin Law pg 4-5)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-5-140196826)
A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820 By John K. Thornton pg 11-14, Remote Sensing of the African Seas edited by Vittorio Barale, Martin Gade, pg 6-9,
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-6-140196826)
Map by Vittorio Barale and Martin Gade
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-7-140196826)
A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820 By John K. Thornton pg 13
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-8-140196826)
Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson pg 101)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-9-140196826)
Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson pg 121-122)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-10-140196826)
A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820 By John K. Thornton pg 12)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-11-140196826)
West Africa's Discovery of the Atlantic by Robin Law pg 7, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson 125, Eurafricans in Western Africa By George E. Brooks pg 166
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-12-140196826)
Kongo power and majesty by Alisa LaGamma pg 47-48)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-13-140196826)
Red Gold of Africa: Copper in Precolonial History and Culture By Eugenia W. Herbert, pg 216, Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo,: Volume 1 By Sir Richard Francis Burton, pg 83, Precolonial African Material Culture By V Tarikhu Farrar, pg 243
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-14-140196826)
Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson pg 126)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-15-140196826)
Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic World by Silke Strickrodt pg 68, Africans and Europeans in West Africa By Harvey M. Feinberg pg 67)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-16-140196826)
Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson pg 112
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-17-140196826)
Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic World by Silke Strickrodt pg 69)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-18-140196826)
Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson pg 126-127)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-19-140196826)
Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo By John Adams pg 243)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-20-140196826)
Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic World by Silke Strickrodt pg 69-70, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson pg 127)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-21-140196826)
Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic World by Silke Strickrodt pg 70, Africans and Europeans in West Africa By Harvey M. Feinberg pg 68-70)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-22-140196826)
Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic World by Silke Strickrodt pg 71, West Africa's Discovery of the Atlantic by Robin Law pg 23)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-23-140196826)
Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic World by Silke Strickrodt pg 147, 158, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson pg 126)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-24-140196826)
Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic World by Silke Strickrodt pg 70-74, 78-88, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson pg 132)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-25-140196826)
Afro-European Trade in the Atlantic World by Silke Strickrodt pg 74)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-26-140196826)
West Africa's Discovery of the Atlantic by Robin Law pg 6, 7-9)
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-27-140196826)
The External Trade of the Loango Coast and Its Effects on the Vili, 1576-1870 by Phyllis M. Martin (Doctoral Thesis) pg 111-115
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-28-140196826)
Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo By John Adams, pg 96
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-29-140196826)
Studies in Southern Nigerian History by Boniface I. Obichere pg 209, The Calabar Historical Journal, Volume 3, Issue 1 pg 48-50
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-30-140196826)
Benin and the Europeans, 1485-1897 by Alan Frederick Charles Ryder pg 36, n.1)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-31-140196826)
Migrant Fishermen in Pointe-Noire by E Jul-Larsen pg 15-16)
[32](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-32-140196826)
Navigating African Maritime History pg 117-138, Travel and Adventures in the Congo Free State pg 44
[33](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-33-140196826)
In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960 by Christraud M. Geary pg 103-104)
[34](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-34-140196826)
Les pêcheries et les poissons du Congo by Alfred Goffin pg 16, 181, 208)
[35](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-35-140196826)
Leisure and Society in Colonial Brazzaville By Phyllis Martin pg 27
[36](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-36-140196826)
In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960 By Christraud M. Geary pg 104-106)
[37](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the#footnote-anchor-37-140196826)
Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos By Gary Stewart, 'Being modern does not mean being western': Congolese Popular Music, 1945 to 2000 by Tom Salter Pg 2-3)
|
[
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PEIY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcaaceb1e-e871-4e89-a634-dfbc5db86cea_1190x567.png",
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/seafaring-trade-and-travel-in-the
|
The wheel is often regarded as one of humanity's greatest inventions, yet its historical significance remains a subject of considerable debate. Vehicles with wheels require good roads, but in most parts of the world, road construction could only be undertaken by large hegemonic states whose primary interest in building those roads was improving the mobility of their armies, rather than increasing civilian transport.
Road building and maintainence in Africa appears to have been more extensive than has been previously understood. The list of Africa's road-building states wasn't just confined to the 'great road system' of Asante and the paved roads of the Aksumite kingdom and Gondarine Ethiopia, it also includes the [roads of the Bokoni in southern Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-stone-ruins-of-bokoni-egalitarian)used for transporting people and their cattle, the [road system of Buganda](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-buganda-kingdom) which has drawn parallels with Asante, as well as the less extensive road networks in Dahomey.
Yet in all these African road-building societies, there was a noted absence of wheeled transport. The stone blocks used in constructing the great obelisks of Aksum were not moved in wagons, nor were Aksumite armies campaigning along the kingdom's paved roads in chariots, even though Aksum was familiar with societies that had both wagons and chariots such as the kingdom of Kush. Similary, the Asante did not utilize wheeled transport, despite being in contact with Dahomey where wheeled vehicles were relatively common, and with the Europeans at the coast, for whom wheel technology was becoming increasingly important.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9B6R!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe79d556d-5c78-4782-bd72-3fc28d93f3d0_1296x579.png)
_**an ancient paved road at Aksum and a gondarine-era bridge on the blue Nile, built by emperor Fsilides in 1660 but blown up during the Italian invasion of 1935.**_
The history of wheeled transport in the African kingdoms of Kush and Dahomey, as well as the absence of wheels in the road-building kingdom of Asante shows that the historical significance of the wheel in pre-industrial transport and technology is far more complex than is often averred.
In this **two-part article**, I outline the history of the wheel in Kush and Dahomey by placing it in the global context of wheeled transport from its invention around 4,000BC to the industrial era. Using recent research that shows how the wheel was first spread across the ancient world, before it was abandoned for over a millennia, only to later re-emerge in the 17th century, **I argue that Africa wasn't exempt to these trends**. The kingdom of Kush adopted wheeled transport just like the rest of the ancient world, and that its sucessors (such as the Aksumites, the Arabs, and even post-Roman Europe) largely abandoned the wheel just as it was disappearing everywhere else, before early modern kingdoms like Dahomey re-discovered wheeled transport as a consequence of the wheel’s re-popularization in western Europe.
**The second half the article, which is included below**, explains why the Asante kingdom did not adopt wheeled transport despite posessing an extensive road system. Using comparisons with the road system of the kingdom of Burma which had wheeled transport in the 19th century, its shown that **Asante's road users would not have seen any significant improvements in travel speed had they adopted wheeled transport**. I also include a section of the colonial governor Lord Lugard's failed ox-cart project in nothern Nigeria, showing that the non-adoption of wheeled transport wasn't due to Africans’ ignorance of its benefits —as colonialists often claimed— but because the cost of wheeled transport greatly outweighed the returns.
**PART I; on wheeled transport in Kush and Dahomey:**
[THE WHEEL IN AFRICAN HISTORY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/95169362)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uiXq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff10e429f-777d-4bc3-b2e4-5644f792c775_696x909.png)
**PART II**
**Built roads but absent wheels: why wheeled transport wasn't fully adopted in precolonial Asante, comparisons with Burma and lord Lugard's failed ox-cart project in northern Nigeria**
The absence of wheeled transportation in sub-Saharan Africa is a topic most Africanists tend to avoid despite it being frequently mentioned as an example of Africa's technological backwardness. This has created an asymmetry between non-specialists on African history who exaggerate the wheel's centrality In pre-modern technology (especially in transport), versus Africanists who either; avoid it the "wheel question" altogether or downplay the wheel's importance without offering convincing explanations.
It's important to note that the wheel was present in sub-saharan Africa, especially in ancient Nubia; from the Kerma era's representations of wheeled chariots in lower Nubia; to the extensive use and depictions of chariots in Kushite warfare; to the medieval era where the _saqia_ water-wheel was used in agriculture. However, this extensive use of the wheel was mostly confined to the region of Sudan, even though many parts of Africa were familiar with the wheel since antiquity.
One particulary notable society that was familiar with the wheel was the kingdom of Asante in what is now Ghana. Considering Asante's extensive road network and the kingdom's contacts with europeans in coastal forts, it may on first sight appear to be rather surprising that Asante didn't adopt the use of wheeled transport. However, a comparison of Asante with the 18th century kingdom of Burma (Myanmar) which also had a road system but used wheeled transport, reveals that using wheels offered no significant advantages in logistics.
This article explores the history of transportation in Asante, comparing it with the Konbaung dynasty of Burma to explain why wheeled transportation was absent in most of Africa, and why colonialists like lord Lugard failed to implement wheeled transport in northern Nigeria.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XJcu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd15c01c3-b800-49d6-97a9-5fcfd4ec1862_820x510.png)
_**19th century Asante treasure box made of brass mounted on a 4-wheeled stand, Pitt rivers museum**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**A summary of Antony Hopkins' and Robin Law's arguments on the absence of wheeled transport in precolonial Africa:**
Atleast two west Africanists have studied the history of wheel in west Africa; the first was a brief comment on the wheeled transport in Antony G. Hopkins’ _Economic history of west Africa_, the second is a monograph on _wheeled transport in pre-colonial west Africa_ by Robin Law.
Hopkins argues that besides the tsetse infested areas where the value of wheeled vehicles was reduced by the high mortality of draught animals, even in places where draught animals were available and used in transportation, wheeled vehicles were considered uneconomic because its greater cost was not justified by the proportionately greater returns because the poor quality of the roads would have greatly reduced the efficiency of wheeled vehicles and the cost of improving the system would have been prohibitive, he concludes that pack animals predominated because they were cheap to buy, inexpensive to operate and well suited for the terrain.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-1-140040604)
Robin law on the other hand, argued that wheeled transport could not be adopted without improved roads, but the roads would not be improved as long as there was no wheeled transport to use them, he observed that improving roads solely to accommodate wheeled vehicles would be a speculative gamble on the future profits to be realized from such improvements, the kind of gamble the Asante were in no position to make, but one that colonial governments with a more aggressive ideology of economic progress (or exploitation) could undertake.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-2-140040604)
He goes over the history of the wheel in Africa, particularly the disappearance of the horse drawn chariot in the Sahara that was replaced by the camel, and thus ushering in the caravan trade which rendered wheeled transportation all but obsolete, he then covers the ceremonial wheeled carriages in the coastal kingdoms of Asante and Dahomey from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and the practice of rolling barrels down roads rather than using carts which one west African trader found would be too expensive to maintain due to the poor quality of the roads that were built for foot travel rather than wheeled carriages, he also covers the use of the wheeled gun carriages in much of west Africa.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-3-140040604)
This article follows both Antony Hopkins and Robin law's argument that the Asante government appreciated the necessity of good roads and undertook their construction to such an extent that they were central to its administration, but the cost of building roads good enough for wheeled transport was prohibitive because of the speculative nature of such an infrastructure investment. Using a recent study by Michael Charney comparing the kingdom of Asante with the kingdom of Burma, I advance the argument that the adoption of the wheel by itself wouldn't greatly improve the speed or robustness of Asante's road system since its presence in the fairly similar kingdom of Burma didn't result in a better or faster overland transportation system there, and that discourses on the history of wheeled transportation overestimate its importance in pre-modern transport, instead, the real transportation revolution happened with the internal combustion engine of trains and cars, both of which would be adopted much faster under the colonial and post-independence era governments.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2doF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2569ae6b-8961-4615-a703-8d21d05eaddc_842x479.png)
_**Locations of the Asante kingdom in Ghana and the kingdom of Burma (Myanmar)**_
**The Asante kingdom's great roads system**
The Asante kingdom was a precolonial state near the southern Atlantic coast of west Africa that was established in 1701 until its fall to the British in 1900 after which its territory was ruled under the gold coast colony, and at independence became the modern country of Ghana.
The great roads of the Asante were "conduits of authority" beginning at the capital and ending at the frontier, the road system radiated out of Kumasi - the Asante capital, and was central to Asante expansion, the empire followed the road rather than the road system following the empire's expansion, but also importantly, these roads augmented the old established trade routes connecting the Asante capital Kumasi to the commercial cities of the west Africa, ie: Bonduku, Daboya, Yendi to its north -which would then meet the caravan routes to Jenne, Timbuktu and Katsina; and to its south, the great roads linked Kumasi to the coastal ports such as Accra and Elmina thus joining the maritime routes terminating in Europe and the Americas.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-4-140040604)
Before this road system was built in the early 18th century, travel in the interior of the gold coast was virtually impossible, the road systems were thus built to make overland travel less arduous, the road building process followed the imperial expansion of the Asante, and their salience in Asante's administration was such that opposition to road building in conquered states (eg the closure of existing roads) was the earliest indication of rebellion
Asante roads were constructed by clearing the vegetation, leveling the soil, lining the sides with trees and for a few in the metropolitan Kumasi, the roads were paved with stones. Bridges were also built along the major highways, using posts that are sunk into the centers of the river, on these posts are placed strong beams that are fasted onto the posts, poles are then placed on top of the beams and covered with earth 6 inches thick.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-5-140040604)
The road building process involved negotiations of agreements between local chiefs where these roads passed and control posts manned by highway police were set up at strategic points along these roads, usually at the halting places , these halting places, were central to the administration of the empire, not only serving to provision and accommodate passing travelers but also as centers for local authority to which reference could be made whenever cases of banditry were reported on these highways. The majority of these halting places would then grew into sizable towns and it was the authorities in these towns that were tasked with repair work along the highways; all were paid a significant sum in gold to carry out these works.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-6-140040604)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!aZ0c!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F98823af1-96ea-4246-908f-858804ee6266_527x618.png)
_**Map of Asante’s great roads system by Ivor Wilks**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!10IH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa6c1e4ef-6a21-4c52-a9ba-ee12603d1165_675x438.png)
_**Illustration of Road Travel in Ashanti published in the 'Illustrated London News', 28 February 1874**_, photo from M. Charney’s collection
The state official in charge of maintaining highways was the akwanmofohene, this roads "minister" was authorized to make payments to laborers who cleared the roads and to fine those committing nuisances (such as highway robberies) revenues from such amounted to 6,750 ounces of gold. Another state official was the nkwansrafo, who headed the highway police, garrisoned control points on the routes close to the frontiers of the kingdom, monitored the flow of commodities and taking custom duties.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-7-140040604)
One such repair of a highway was undertaken by Asante king Osei Bonsu in 1816, the roads were straightened, cut to a standard width of 30-40 feet and roots dug up, this repair work was complete by 1817 , one traveler named Huydecoper who used this road said of it _**"the highway is fairly good, despite the roots and tree stumps that still remain"**_ As a result of these improvements, the roughly 210 km long journey between cape coast and kumasi was reported to have been accomplished by William Hutton in 6 days, at an average speed of 35 km per day in 1820.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-8-140040604) However, records from the 1840s indicate that travel speeds had greatly improved.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k3CM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0e3acc0-8770-4df9-b461-a9e7d020b64d_651x271.png)
_**Summary of two detailed itineraries for Asante, recorded in the 1840s, the journey speeds shown here vary anywhere between 107km per day to for the Manso-Foso road to 45km per day for the Moase-Ankase road.**_[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-9-140040604)
The rate of repairing these roads however couldn't be maintained to the same degree of the modern state as environmental factors made the cost of maintain them quite heavy, Ghana experiences heavy seasonal rains such that the cost benefit of regularly clearing such roads was untenable (save for the annual repair of the highways) an example of this limitation can be seen in Bowdich's account of one of the Kumase-Bosompora river road one of the main highways in the system; Bowdich had found the road to be well cleared and it was in many places about 8 feet wide, this he observed in May of 1817, but on his return journey using the same road in September of that year, the rainy season had set in violently and the pristine road had been reduced to "a continued bog" so much that Bowdich's Asante escort was reluctant to travel on it.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-10-140040604)
Throughout their interactions with European travelers and missionaries, the Asante got to learn of ways of improving their transportation, the four wheeled carriage that had been gifted to him and transported by the missionary Freeman in 1840s was just one of the items that aroused the Asante king's curiosity , even more so when he was told of the transportation system that was in England **"the rapidity with which travelling is performed by railroads and steam-packets, very much interested and astonished him"**[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-11-140040604)
As Wilks writes **"the Asante government begun to explore the possibilities of utilizing European capital ad skills to create a railroad system in Asante"**. But the defeat of 1874 and the disintegration of the kingdom in the 1890s forced them to abandon these plans. Fortunately, the Asante's road building legacy continued into the colonial and independent era; two thirds of the Asante road network would become motor roads under the later governments.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-12-140040604)
**Asante vs Burma : wheeled transportation in a tropical kingdom**
Michael Charney's study offers an excellent comparison of transportation systems the Asante and the Konbaung kingdom of Burma. While Burma lies on a much higher latitude than Asante (at 21° N vs 7° N), and is us capable of supporting draught animals, it has a fairly similar climate with heavy seasonal rainfall. Burma adopted wheeled transportation and had a similar road system as the Asante although it was markedly less robust since the Burmese state was more focused on restricting the mobility of its agriculturalist population than the on exporting gold, kola and slaves like the Asante, for whom good mobility was paramount.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-13-140040604)
Perhaps the most enabling feature of Burma's adoption of wheeled transportation was the terrain, thin vegetation and the dry climate of much of its northern heartland
As charney writes **"Much of the Burmese heartland was flat and dry and easily traversable on buffalo carts, even off of the tracks and roads. In wetter areas of the kingdom, such as the Lower Burma delta, the overgrowth was not nearly as impenetrable as the West African jungle and any road controls in the former would have been easily circumvented"**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6m3B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb19d56ad-9429-48d1-a539-6e345d3391da_679x459.png)
_**Pre-colonial Burmese cart with one type of slab-wheel, published in the 'Illustrated London News', 22 June 1889**_, photo from M. Charney’s collection.
These conditions also existed in Asante's northern tributaries but were absent in much of its central and southern regions, which only 200 years before Asante's ascendance were covered in dense tropical rainforests that required the **importation** of slave labor from west-central Africa to clear the forests and transform the land into terrain more suitable for agriculture.
But more importantly, Burma had extensive contacts with the Chinese empires and various western Asian empires among whom, wheeled transportation was known unlike the Asante who northern contacts were the Hausa and _Juula_ traders from the Sahel who only used pack animals.
Charney writes that highway robbery in Burma was a significant problem for overland transport unlike in Asante, in part because the Burmese government was less focused on policing and maintaining its road system primarily because the traffic couldn't be restricted to these roads unlike in Asante, this meant less customs revenues could be collected by the Burmese state from roads thus obviating the need to maintain them. with no central infrastructure for road repair nor any highway police focus was instead placed on the irrawaddy river whose traffic was much easier to control and thus collect customs from traders.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-14-140040604)
While Charney doesn't provide figures for the speed of road transportation in precolonial Burma, the speed of its road travel can be derived from the neighboring Chinese province of Yunnan where ox-drawn carts are used, in the 19th century the distance between the cities of Xundian and Weining averaged 17km and 12.3km per day, which is roughly half the travelling speed in Asante of 35 km a day.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-15-140040604)
In both states , transportation and communication systems can be seen to be fairly sufficient relative to each state's capacity to control trade traffic. The adoption and use of wheeled transport in Burma didn't by itself result in a more robust or even faster overland transportation system than in Asante, and its therefore unlikely that Asante's transportation would be significantly improved by a wide scale adoption of animal powered or human-powered wheeled vehicles.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!f3bQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdccf54b4-a39b-4b0b-b520-5714c364e98e_973x466.png)
_**Location of the Xundian to Weining route relative to the Burma kingdom capital.**_ while relatively more mountainous, the region’s road system shared many similarities with Burma’s and even allowing for thrice the speed would still barely match the best of Asante’s travel time. It should be noted that the travel time estimates provided use ‘day-stages’ similar to the Asante itineraries, they are not the exact distance that could be travelled without stopping for a day.
**Lugard's failed ox-cart project in northern Nigeria: a counter-factual on the adoption of the wheel in pre-colonial Africa**
While the significance of the internal combustion engine in revolutionizing transport in western Europe during the industrial period is beyond the scope of this article, it's important to note that before its introduction in west Africa, early colonial administrators complained about the prohibitive cost required to maintain roads in the gold coast colony. as Robin law writes; **"Even the British colonial government in the Gold Coast baulked at the gamble in 1870, concluding that roads suitable for wheeled traffic would be too expensive to build and were in any case undesirable since 'even if good roads were built, there would be no vehicles to travel on them",**or as As the Reverend C. C. Reindorf succinctly put it in the 1880s:**“We have the wheel-wrights but where are the roads?"**.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-16-140040604)
Additionally, the Europeans in their various forts and small coastal protectorates made little use of wheeled transportation either, and made little effort in building roads in their nascent colonies. It should be noted that it was the Asante who built the best roads in the gold coast region, not the British colony of the Fante.
An example of what would have happen if wheeled transport in the form of ox-drawn or human-drawn carts had been introduced in Asante could be seen in lord Lugard's failed attempt to use such vehicles in northern Nigeria where transport was dominated by mules and other pack animals. Frustrated with the labor costs for pack animals and head porterage, which the colonial government and state monopolies such as the Niger company primarily relied upon in transport, Lugard purchased 1538 oxen and 100 carts in 1904-05 and brought drivers and mechanics from India to operate a transport service, the acting commissioner Wallace also promoted Lugard's transport scheme by quoting rates of 1/9d per ton mile for ox carts vs double for carriers.
However, the Niger company deemed the scheme unworkable knowing that the oxcarts could only operate for 9 months being useless in the wet season, something which Lugard had ignored. In reality, the Ox-cart transport in fact ended up costing slightly more per ton mile than other carriers, the cart road being operational only 5 months a year afterwhich the carts wore out and the animals died of pleuropneumonia. By the end of the decade , the scheme was abandoned, and the government reverted back to using pack animals and head porterage by 1908, having failed at using a quick fix of wheeled carts.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-17-140040604)
It's important to note that Lugard's scheme involved no significant investment in road infrastructure particularly bridges which would have vindicated Wallace's estimates, but the advantages Wallace claimed in his estimates hinged on improving the methods of transport without significant improvement in roads; the later improvements would no doubt cancel out whatever advantages would have been realized.
**conclusion: the (in) effeciency of wheeled transport.**
It was therefore not the absence of the wheel that placed a constraint on transportation in Asante, nor the lack of draught animals or wheeled vehicles themselves (as we have seen that the regions which had these still fared no better in robustness of transportation) but as with all pre-industrial technologies, it was the discovery of new sources of power (in this case, the fuel used in the internal combustion engine) that would result in significant improvement in transportation.
As Hopkins concluded: before the industrial revolution, the use of wheeled vehicles in western Europe was just as constrained as it was in Africa, and often due to the same causes. (**[I go into greater detail on how wheeled transport was rare in pre-17th century Europe in the first part of my article](https://www.patreon.com/posts/95169362)**)
Hopkins provides the example of 18th century Spain, where pack animals like donkeys were the most important means of transport, and that even though oxcarts were widely available, they were used in short haul work. He adds that the same century in England, a writer commented on the use of pack animals in the country: **"Long trains of these faithful animals, furnished with a great variety of equipment … wended their way along the narrow roads of the time, and provided the chief means by which the exchange of commodities could be carried on’."**[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-18-140040604)
It can therefore be concluded that Africa's transportation systems were fairly robust and were best suited for African conditions, and that the wheel's non-adoption was solely because it wouldn't offer significant advantages to offset its costs, it was due to this inefficiency that other means of transportation such as pack animals and head porterage proved more efficient for both pre-colonial and colonial governments before the widespread use of the trains and cars.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Wf2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76e69d2d-9b30-4fc3-8f6a-ddef779b1d76_800x600.jpeg)
_**Nubians bringing tribute, Tomb of Huy, Viceroy of Kush under Tutankhamen (ca 1341- 1323 BC)**_
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-1-140040604)
An Economic History of West Africa By A. G. Hopkins pg 117-120 )
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-2-140040604)
Wheeled Transport in Pre-Colonial West Africa by Robin Law pg 258)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-3-140040604)
Wheeled Transport in Pre-Colonial West Africa by Robin Law pg 255)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-4-140040604)
Asante in the Nineteenth Century by Ivor Wilks, pg 1-3)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-5-140040604)
Journal of Various Visits to the Kingdoms of Ashanti, Aku, and Dahomi, in Western Africa by Freeman pg 57, pg 118
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-6-140040604)
Asante in the Nineteenth Century by Ivor Wilks pg 34)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-7-140040604)
Asante in the Nineteenth Century by Ivor Wilks pg 35)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-8-140040604)
Asante in the Nineteenth Century by Ivor Wilks pg 37)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-9-140040604)
Asante in the Nineteenth Century: By Ivor Wilks pg 9
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-10-140040604)
Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee by T. Bowdich, pgs 29, 30, 152 and 150-5)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-11-140040604)
Journal of Various Visits to the Kingdoms of Ashanti, Aku, and Dahomi, in Western Africa by Freeman pg 132)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-12-140040604)
Asante in the Nineteenth Century by Ivor Wilks pg 41, 13)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-13-140040604)
Before and after the wheel : Precolonial and colonial states and transportation in West Africa and mainland Southeast Asia by Michael W. Charney 2016, pg 14-16)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-14-140040604)
Before and after the wheel : Precolonial and colonial states and transportation in West Africa and mainland Southeast Asia by Michael W. Charney pg 16)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-15-140040604)
Mountain Rivers, Mountain Roads: Transport in Southwest China, 1700‐1850 By Nanny Kim pg 379)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-16-140040604)
Wheeled Transport in Pre-Colonial West Africa by Robin Law pg 257)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-17-140040604)
The Struggle for Transport Labor in Northern Nigeria, 1900-1912 by Ken Swindell pg 149-152)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa#footnote-anchor-18-140040604)
An Economic History of West Africa By A. G. Hopkins pg pg 121)
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[
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6m3B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb19d56ad-9429-48d1-a539-6e345d3391da_679x459.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!f3bQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdccf54b4-a39b-4b0b-b520-5714c364e98e_973x466.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Wf2!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76e69d2d-9b30-4fc3-8f6a-ddef779b1d76_800x600.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/roads-and-wheel-transport-in-africa
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For many centuries, political systems in the societies of the west-African savannah were sustained by a delicate but stable relationship between the influencial merchant class and the ruling nobility. But in the last decades of the 19th century, a revolution among the merchant class overthrew the nobility and created one of the largest empires in the region.
The empire of Samori Ture, which at its height covered an area about the size of France, was the first of its kind in the region between eastern Guinea and northern Ghana. Unlike the old empires of west Africa, Samori's vast state was still in the ascendant when it battled with the colonial armies, and found itself constantly at war both within and outside its borders.
This article explores the history of Samori's Ture's empire from its emergence as a militant revolution to its collpase after the longest anti-colonial wars in French west-Africa.
_**Map of west Africa in the 19th century highlighting the empire of Samori Ture**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bEUL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fad921c6a-e199-4c9e-bb9a-a00a59d50572_813x468.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more about African history, download free books, and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Genesis of a merchant revolution.**
At the time of Samory's birth in 1830, his Mande-speaking birthplace of Konya (in southern Guinea) was controlled by a symbiotic alliance between the _**Juula**_ Muslim elites and the traditional nobility which was mostly non-Muslim. The relationship between the Juula families —to whom Samori belonged— and the nobility was symptomatic of the former’s Suwarian tradition, which placed emphasis on pacifist commitment, education and teaching as tools of proselytizing, but rejected conversion through warfare (jihad).[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-1-139836541)
The Juula of Konya, who were part of west Africa’s wangara diaspora, practiced an Islam that was no different from their co-religionists across west and north Africa: they built mosques for their community and established schools for their kinsmen, but they also advised the nobility in political matters and entered marital alliances with them.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Jg1s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47379540-b055-43b0-b21f-824168996710_1014x608.png)
_**dispersion of the wangara diaspora across west Africa.**_
But the emerging reform movements of 18th-19th century west Africa inspired new political ideologies which upended the established relationship between Muslim elites and the ruling nobility across the region. These reform movements and ideologies prompted sections of the Juula merchants to agitate for the formation of their own state independent of the traditional dynasties. The Juula reform movements thus produced their own local leaders such as the Juula family of Moli Ule Sise, which defeated the pre-existing dynasties and took over much of Konya by 1835.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-2-139836541)
While Samori received some rudiments of Islam in his youth from other Juula teachers, his early career was mostly concerned with long-distance Kola trade, which the Juula merchants excelled at. This trade, often in kola-nut from the southern forest regions, gold from the Bure gold-fields, local cloth and other items, was carried on between the various cities such as Kankan and the Niger valley where horses were bought, and also the coast where firearms and other items were bought. The Juula were thus often pre-occupied with trade than with proselytization, while the political and military hegemony remained with the traditional aristocrats and later with their Sise suzerains.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-3-139836541)
Samori initially fought with the Sise armies as a mercenary from 1853-1859, later fighting for a rival Juula dynasty of the Berete in 1861 until 1861 when they expelled him, forcing him to turn to his non-Muslim maternal family, the Kamara, from whom he raised an army that fought with the Sise to defeat the Berete in 1865. Samori later took on the aristocratic title of _**fama**_ (sword bearer) rather than _**mansa**_ (ruler) to symbolize his political ambitions independent of the Kamara who had given him his army. He then established his capital at Bisandugu in 1873 and begun a series of campaigns across the region, ostensibly aimed at opening trade routes, and relieving the Juula from the traditional aristocracy.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-4-139836541)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U6Y-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7a81923e-09c3-4974-9994-6d386acb5d11_732x558.png)
_**Illustration of Samori made after his capture in 1898.**_
From 1875-1879, Samori's armies had advanced as far as the upper Niger valley (southern Mali) from where he extended his control over Futa Jallon to the west, the Bure goldfields to the north, and the Wasulu region to the east. He then launched two major campaigns that defeated the Sise suzerains of Konya as well as the Kaba dynasty of Kankan between 1880 and 1881. Samori had arrived at the borders of the declining Tukulor empire of Umar Tal's successors which was being taken over by the French forces.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-5-139836541)
In February of 1882, the French ordered Samori to withdraw his armies from the trading town of Kenyeran where one of Samori’s defeated foes was hiding, but Samori refused and sacked the town. This led to a surprise attack on his army by a French force which was however forced to retreat after Samori defeated it. Samori's brother, Kémé-Brema, then advanced against the French at Wenyako near Bamako in April, winning a major battle on 2 April, before he lost another in 12 April.
After Samori took control of Falaba in Sierra Leone in 1884, he dispatched emissaries to British-controlled Freetown in the following year, to propose to the governor that he place his country under British protection inorder to stave off the French advance. This initiative failed however, as the French seized Bure in 1885, prompting Samory raise a massive army led by himself, as well as his brothers Kémé-Brema and Masara-Mamadi. Samori's formidable forces forced the French to withdraw from Bure, but later concluded a treaty with them in March 1886. The two parties later signed another treaty in March 1887 that laid down the border between the French colonies and his empire.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-6-139836541)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4JB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7c50e70d-f9c2-4a6d-bd43-6f36b6a099ff_802x458.png)
_**Map of Samori’s first empire in 1885**_
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**State and society in Samory’s first empire.**
Having come from a non-royal background, Samori's legitimacy initially rested on his military success and personal qualities, before he claimed to be a divinely elected ruler charged with brining order to the region. Lacking the traditional prerogatives of a ruler, Samori chose to institute a theocratic regime led by himself as the Almamy (imam), a title he took on in 1884 after years of study.
The state was administered by a council from the capital (Bisandugu) consisting of top military leaders, and pre-existing chiefs, but later included muslim elites from Kankan. This largely military adminsitration was adopted across the territories from 1879, but differed significantly from place to place as traditional customary law as well as Juula and Islamic law were applied dissimilarly.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-7-139836541)
The empire was divided into ten districts under civilian governors, while the two in the center and the capital itself being under Samory's control. The latter were home to the army’s elite corps of about 500 soldiers, which served as the source of most of the officers for the rest of the army. This army was divided into the infantry wing (_sofa_) which by 1887 of about 30,000 and a cavalry wing of 3,000 in the 1880s. During peacetime, the soldiers and other workers were engaged on plantations, especially around the capital, with some farms reportedly as large as 200sqkm.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-8-139836541)
An annual tax was levied on all subjects, following a traditional practice utilized by his predecessors. Samori also instructed his subjects to pay their local Shaykhs an annual stipend, enabling him to establish teachers in each community as auxiliaries to his political agents. The latter exercised surveillance over the population while the former provided primary education for children in Koranic schools. Internal trade rested on the usual commodities of gold, kola, ivory, agricultural produce, and captives, used to purchase horses from the Upper Niger valley region and guns from British sierra leone.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-9-139836541)
However, Samori’s experimentation with a theocratic government did not last long, as it ran counter to his Juula subject's symbiotic partnership with their non-Muslim allies. Samori thus faced a major internal conflict when his own father (who had since become non-Muslim) and traditional nobility of the Kamara expressed their opposition to Samori's plans of removing the customary law, and making Islam the state religion. These plans involved the end of the traditional nobility’s festivals (from which they drew their social power) and the designation of Samori's sons as his sucessors instead of his brothers. A comprise was later found where some non-Muslim festivals would continue as long as the nobility joined Samori and his peers in Friday prayers, but tensions would remain and be further exacerbated as Samori recruited more men for his seige of Sikasso.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-10-139836541)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KCQ5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1752f51a-5c92-40f2-88da-cf24d7a15740_722x452.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!l5Nq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdbb6e507-1521-4b40-9a45-03d4c82375fe_600x435.jpeg)
_**the tata (fortification) of Sikasso before and after the two-week French artillery barrage breached it.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BOdh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F940d57ee-8f6f-4f58-960a-0c82ac3b4e85_600x428.jpeg)
_**ruins of the Fortified residence of Tieba and his sucessor Babemba, in Sikasso, ca. 1897**_, archives nationales d'outre mer
**Fall of Samori’s first empire and the move to the east.**
In 1887, Samori mustered all his forces to attack Sikasso, the capital of king Tieba's Kenedugu kingdom. Failing to force Tieba's army out of the fortified city for open battle, Samori besieged the city for over a year. The walls of Sikasso, like most fortified cities across west Africa, enclosed a lot of farmland, which allowed the defenders to withstand a siege much longer than the lightly provisioned attackers could sustain it. So when local rebellions broke out in Wasulu, Samori lifted the siege, and the ensuing wars forced him to end his theocratic experiment.
Samori had afterall recruited non-Muslims in his armies who he used against Muslim strongholds such as Kankan, and in 1883 he defended the non-Muslim Bambara of Bana against the Tukulor armies. So following the mass rebellions of 1888, and Samori's observation of the Muslims' betrayal, he abandoned his northward push to Sikasso, and reverted to his more pragmatic policies for his eastern expansion into the predominatly Muslim societies of Gyaman and Gonja.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-11-139836541)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OsER!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b30a7ba-a48d-4a36-9e92-608d2083c501_504x689.png)
**‘**_**Alhabari Samuri daga Mutanen wa**_**’ (the story of samori and the people of wa), an account of Samori’s eastern conquests written by the Wa scholar Ishaq b Uthman in 1922.**[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-12-139836541)
Samori reorganized the army, concluded a treaty with the British in May 1890 which enabled him to buy modern weapons. In April 1891, the French forces attacked Kankan and sacked Bisandugu, but were defeated by Samory at the battle of Dabadugu on 3 September 1891. The French invaded the core regions of Wasulu and managed to defeat Samory in January 1892 and capture Bisandugu, gradually forcing Samory to move his empire eastwards.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-13-139836541)
In the last decade of the 19th century, Samory's forces campaigned over a vast swathe of territory extending upto to the upper Volta basin of Ghana.
Samori's eastern advance begun with the establishment of a forward base in the Jimini region of north-eastern Ivory Coast. After protracted negotiations, Samori obtained the support of the kingdom of Kong in April 1895. He then thus turned his attention to the Juula town of Bunduku in the kingdom of Gyaman. However, the Gyaman ruler rejected Samori's calls for alliance, beginning a series of battles that ended with the fall of Gyaman's army and the abandonment of Bunduku. But once Samori assured the Juula of Bonduku of his wish for peace, they returned and surrender to him in July 1895.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-14-139836541)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KsPV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6079b0e8-c4d9-427a-86c3-4990d2d7bda5_478x520.png)
_**Marabout (Islamic teacher) in Bonduku, 1892,**_ archives nationales d'outre mer
Shortly after his occupation of Bonduku, Samori dispatched envoys to the Asante king Prempeh to explain that he invaded Gyaman because of its ruler's refusal to allow him to open a trade path in that territory, and offered to assist the Asante king to pacify his fragmented kingdom. The [Asante king sent a large embassy to Samory in Bonduku in October 1895](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/africas-100-years-war-at-the-dawn), with 300 officials and gifts of gold inorder to negotiate a mutual defense pact. Alarmed by the possible resurgence of Asante power, the British hastened plans to invade Asante, and duly informed Samori to not intervene. After their occupation of Asante's capital Kumase, Samori sent an assuring message to the British that he only wished for peaceful trade, but the British remained wary of his intentions and French expansion from the north.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-15-139836541)
Samori retuned to Jimini at the end of the year, leaving the newly conquered regions of Gyaman under the care of his son Sarankye Mori who later established himself at Buna. Sarankye Mori entrusted the invasion of Gonja to his subordinate, Fanyinama of Korhogo. The state of Gonja was a confederation of rivaring chiefdoms, one of these was the chiefdom of Kong whose ruler requested Kanyinama's support to defeat its rival, the chiefdom of Bole. Fanyinama's forces quickly occupied Bole by early 1896, and entered a complex pattern of relationships with neighboring states such as the kingdom of Wa which briefly recognized Samori's suzeranity.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-16-139836541)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4mD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F07fce605-a99e-4eb8-8de0-ac6267f09b3b_724x479.png)
_**section of Bonduku near one of samory’s residences, photo from the early 1900s**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rPcr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32196dfe-4b81-4826-bd29-20e7e5486a90_990x562.png)
**View of Bonduku with one of its mosques.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Nk9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae0279c-6d9c-403b-ad96-e944035e77d8_1000x667.jpeg)
_**residence of the ruler of Wa in northern Ghana**_
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**State and society in Samory’s second empire until its collapse in 1898.**
Like in Wasulu, Samori's new empire in the Upper Volta was mostly administered by a military government and derived its strength from its formidable army. Samori's armies were reputed to be the most disciplined, the best trained and the best armed in west Africa. Samori was able to equip his army with repeating rifles and ammunition.
His officers were armed with Kropatschek rifles (in use by the French army in 1878) and other Gras rifles, (in use by the French army in 1874) while the bulk of the army carried breechloaders, some of which were manufactured locally. The gunsmiths of Samori manufactured single-shot breechloading rifles from scratch at a rate of about a dozen per week. The demand for locally made weapons became more acute as Samori was cut off from Sierra leone. The only other African armies that manufactured guns locally were the Merina kingdom and Tewodros' Ethiopia, although both utilised foreign craftsmen while Samori used local smiths who had worked undercover in St. Louis. Samori’s gunsmiths also made gunpowder, cartridges and spare parts.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-17-139836541)
Samori's strength lay not simply in his efficient military but also in his intention to use it as an instrument of radical social reform. Mosques and schools were opened even in small villages where Islamic law introduced, and new converts were recruited into the army. Its also likely that Samory intended to reform agricultural production, replacing the old system of lineage farming with large plantations. But these reforms were poorly received by Samori’s Juula subjects, who rebelled against his rule, prompting him to sack Buna in 1896, executing both its non-Muslim ruler and his Muslim allies.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-18-139836541)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JHcf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6c7b30ff-96dd-46e3-ab9e-9083a5c4776c_800x457.png)
_**Map of Samori’s second empire**_
Samori's new state also embroiled itself in the internal rivaries of the region's various kingdoms, which inevitably attracted the attention of the French in the north and the British in the south.
Central to this rivary were fears on Samori's side that the ruler of Wa was attempting to form an alliance with the French against him, only for the ruler of Wa to host the British in January 1897. Added to this were rebellions by the Juula of Kong who rejected Samori's legitimacy and were allying with the French. In March 1897 Sarankye Mori defeated a British column under the command of Henderson at Dokita, near Wa, and the threat of Samory's retribution forced Wa to turn to the British. At the same time, Samori sacked the city of Kong in May 1897, executed its senior Ulama, and pushed on to Bobo-Dioulasso where he encountered a French column and retreated.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-19-139836541)
Caught between the French and the British, and having vainly attempted to sow discord between the British and the French by returning to the latter the territory of Buna coveted by the former, Samori fled to his allies in Liberia. On the way, he was captured in a surprise attack by the French on 29 September 1898 and deported to Gabon where he died in 1900.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-20-139836541)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tQWv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90bb265f-017a-438f-a51b-25d1e5f6493e_600x485.jpeg)
_**street scene in Kong, 1892, archives nationales d'outre mer**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9LVN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8336e9d-ac92-4e00-a9e1-395a33949bb1_1011x576.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lPOX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F147391bc-1be9-4b99-866a-ed9c13930cd0_1200x608.jpeg)
_**the 18th century mosque of Kong**_
**Samori’s legacy: a struggle for legitimacy.**
After the collapse of Samory's state, several dissonant narratives emerged which attempted to characterize its nature, Some of his French foes considered him a 'black Napoleon,' and the archetypal enemy of their "civilizing mission", while the subjects of the formally independent kingdoms he conquered recalled his punitive campaigns in the upper Volta as a period of calamity.
However, none of these perspectives bring us any closer to the internal nature of the state Samori had built. Samori had no sucessors and left no chroniclers or griots to disseminate his propaganda, all that remained after his army was broken were the Juula merchants he was supposedly fighting for, who were at best ambivalent towards his low standing as a scholar and at worst opposed to his use of arms.
It is very difficult to characterize the organization of Samori's state since its structure was in continuous modification. What initially begun as a bourgeoisie revolution evolved into a theocratic empire that later became an anti-colonial state. The common thread uniting these distinctions appears to have been Samori’s struggle for legitimacy.
Despite being a great military strategist, Samori’s rule was never fully accepted as legitimate, unlike the nobility he deposed, he thus found himself constantly at war not just with the colonialists but also with his own subjects, leaving behind a contested legacy of triumph and tragedy.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73U4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa53eb027-77ff-4883-9d07-daf0469aa89a_391x602.png)
_**Samory Ture in Saint Louis, Senegal, January 1899,**_ Edmond Fortier
In the 5th century BC, the armies of Carthage invaded the Italian island of Sicily with an army that included _**aethiopian**_ contigents, around the same time that a proto-urban settlement was flourishing in northern Nigeria, and the Garamantian civilization in the central Sahara.
**Read more about the probable links between these three societies and the origins of Carthage’s ‘black African’ armies**, on our Patreon:
[BETWEEN CARTHAGE AND ZILUM](https://www.patreon.com/posts/between-carthage-94409122)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XT5O!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1d8e356-d837-44f4-989b-cd70d0778097_671x1208.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-1-139836541)
[Foundations of Trade and Education in medieval west Africa: the Wangara diaspora. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education)
·
September 18, 2022
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education)
As the earliest documented group of west African scholars and merchants, the Wangara occupy a unique position in African historiography, from the of accounts of medieval geographers in Muslim Spain to the archives of historians in Mamluk Egypt, the name Wangara was synonymous with gold trade from west Africa, the merchants who brought the gold, and the …
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-2-139836541)
Traders and the Center in Massina, Kong, and Samori's State by Victor Azarya pg 427-428, Studies in West African Islamic History: Volume 1 By John Ralph Willis pg 263-264)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-3-139836541)
Studies in West African Islamic History: Volume 1 By John Ralph Willis pg 262-263, 265)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-4-139836541)
Studies in West African Islamic History: Volume 1 By John Ralph Willis pg 265-266, Traders and the Center in Massina, Kong, and Samori's State by Victor Azarya pg 436-437)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-5-139836541)
Studies in West African Islamic History: Volume 1 By John Ralph Willis pg 266)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-6-139836541)
UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume VII pg 125)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-7-139836541)
Studies in West African Islamic History: Volume 1 By John Ralph Willis pg 268-271)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-8-139836541)
UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume VII pg 123, Wars of imperial conquest in Africa by Bruce Vandervort pg 130
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-9-139836541)
Studies in West African Islamic History: Volume 1 By John Ralph Willis pg 268, 270-271, UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume VII pg 124)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-10-139836541)
Traders and the Center in Massina, Kong, and Samori's State by Victor Azarya 438-439, Studies in West African Islamic History: Volume 1 By John Ralph Willis pg 272)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-11-139836541)
Studies in West African Islamic History: Volume 1 By John Ralph Willis pg 269, 273)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-12-139836541)
Wa and the Wala: Islam and Polity in Northwestern Ghana By Ivor Wilks pg 121
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-13-139836541)
UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume VII pg 126)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-14-139836541)
Wa and the Wala: Islam and Polity in Northwestern Ghana By Ivor Wilks pg 120)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-15-139836541)
Asante in the Nineteenth Century By Ivor Wilks pg 302-304, Making History in Banda: Anthropological Visions of Africa's Past By Ann Brower Stahl pg 98)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-16-139836541)
Wa and the Wala: Islam and Polity in Northwestern Ghana pg 121-122)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-17-139836541)
Wars of imperial conquest in Africa by Bruce Vandervort pg 132-133, UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume VII pg 123)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-18-139836541)
History Of Islam In Africa by N Levtzion pg 107-108)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-19-139836541)
Wa and the Wala: Islam and Polity in Northwestern Ghana pg 128-140, History Of Islam In Africa by N Levtzion pg 108, West African Challenge to Empire By Mahir Şaul pg 71-72
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the#footnote-anchor-20-139836541)
UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume VII pg 127)
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OsER!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b30a7ba-a48d-4a36-9e92-608d2083c501_504x689.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KsPV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6079b0e8-c4d9-427a-86c3-4990d2d7bda5_478x520.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4mD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F07fce605-a99e-4eb8-8de0-ac6267f09b3b_724x479.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Nk9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae0279c-6d9c-403b-ad96-e944035e77d8_1000x667.jpeg",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tQWv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90bb265f-017a-438f-a51b-25d1e5f6493e_600x485.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9LVN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8336e9d-ac92-4e00-a9e1-395a33949bb1_1011x576.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lPOX!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F147391bc-1be9-4b99-866a-ed9c13930cd0_1200x608.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73U4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa53eb027-77ff-4883-9d07-daf0469aa89a_391x602.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XT5O!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1d8e356-d837-44f4-989b-cd70d0778097_671x1208.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MwmL!,w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22d0693a-6ef9-400d-87a8-58823a0af06c_960x640.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire-of-samori-ture-on-the
|
Covering nearly a third of the African continent, the Sahara Desert conjures visions of torrid heat waves rising over an endless sea of burning sand dunes where only the bravest nomads dared to tread.
Discourses on the Sahara throughout history have been dominated by the persistent belief that the desert was largely uninhabited and uninhabitable. Closely related to these discourses was the diffusionist hypothesis that African societies depended on exogenous contact in order to achieve social evolution.
Combining these two presumptions about the Sahara and African societies, early scholarship introduced the concept of a habitable 'corridor', that was understood to be a narrow stretch of land across the desert and the only route through which Mediterranean influences could reach "inner Africa".
It was in this context that Nubia was imagined to be a corridor through which technological and cultural innovations were "transmitted" from the Mediterranean world to Africa. The same concept of a corridor through the desert was applied to the Fezzan and Kawar oases of the central Sahara. All these corridors were thought of as routes through which everything from iron technology to statecraft were transmitted from Egypt and Carthage to the rest of Africa.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!B-uZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6d87d98-defd-4be8-8277-267346290560_1920x1200.jpeg)
_**Ruins of Djado in the [Kawar oasis of North-Eastern Niger](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-civilization-in-the-heart)**_. this medieval town is located at the very center of the Sahara.
As later research uncovered the ancient foundations of social complexity in Africa, the diffusionist paradigm was largely discarded by most scholars. The ancient [furnaces of the Nok culture](https://www.patreon.com/posts/91819837) in central Nigeria had no connections to Carthage, nor were the forms of Nubian statecraft similar to Egypt. As one scholar summarized: **"Surely corridors usually lead to a few rooms, but the Nubian corridor, in which so much happened, does not seem to have led anywhere."[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-trade-and-travel#footnote-1-139666479)**
Yet the concept of a corridor cutting through the barren desert persisted, no longer as a conduit for transmitting "civilization" from North to south, the Saharan oases were now imagined to be highway stations along ancient routes which supposedly begun on the mediteranean coast and terminated in the old towns of west Africa and Sudan. Maps of medieval Africa are today populated with lines crisscrossing the desert, that are meant to represent fixed routes taken by carravans in the centuries past.
However, like its diffusionist precursor, this notion of oases as fixed highway stations along direct lines in the desert has not stood up to closer scrutiny. As one historian of the Sahara cautions; **"It is thus hazardous and inexact to depict Saharan trails on maps as though they were established as major highways. The historical geography of Saharan trails is in fact very complicated, with numerous variants on routes followed depending on the shifting geopolitical realities as well as the natural limitations of travel across a hyper-arid zone."**[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-trade-and-travel#footnote-2-139666479)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DpJF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9baa468-4016-4a8b-a059-1da0461c61f6_1027x561.jpeg)
_**The world of the Sahara**_, map by D. J. Mattingly
Trans-Saharan travel and exchanges proceeded by regional stages, with the eventual long-distance transport being accomplished by numerous local exchanges. The societies and economies of Saharan communities were largely sustained by local resources and regional trade, rather than depending on tolls from long-distance trade. Such was the case for the Kawar Oasis towns, as well as the [desert kingdom of Wadai](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-desert-kingdom-of-africa-a-complete), both of whose domestic economies did not significantly rely on long-distance trade with north-Africa, but from regional trade with neighboring states.
However, travel and trade did occur across the Sahara, often utilizing well-known itineraries through which goods and technologies were exchanged. How far back Trans-Saharan travel and exchanges begun is a matter of heated debate, with most scholars asserting that it started with the introduction of the camel at the start of the middle ages, while others claim that wheeled chariots were crossing the Sahara during the age of the Romans and the Carthaginians.
The ancient links between Carthage and West Africa is the subject of **my latest Patreon article, in which I explore the evidence for ancient exchanges in the central Sahara, inorder to uncover the origins of the aethiopian auxiliaries of Carthage’s armies.**
**read more about it here:**
[BETWEEN CARTHAGE AND ZILUM](https://www.patreon.com/posts/between-carthage-94409122)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XT5O!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1d8e356-d837-44f4-989b-cd70d0778097_671x1208.png)
**Join the African history Patreon community and support this website**
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-trade-and-travel?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K8uo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bc504b-64e6-46d7-8770-98e75c7ffb01_600x400.jpeg)
_**Ruins of Carthage in Tunisia.**_
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-trade-and-travel#footnote-anchor-1-139666479)
African Civilizations: Precolonial Cities and States in Tropical Africa: An Archaeological Perspective by Graham Connah, pg 65
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-trade-and-travel#footnote-anchor-2-139666479)
Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond edited by D. J. Mattingly, pg 8
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!B-uZ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6d87d98-defd-4be8-8277-267346290560_1920x1200.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DpJF!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9baa468-4016-4a8b-a059-1da0461c61f6_1027x561.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XT5O!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1d8e356-d837-44f4-989b-cd70d0778097_671x1208.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K8uo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bc504b-64e6-46d7-8770-98e75c7ffb01_600x400.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-trade-and-travel
|
The pilgrimage of Mansa Musa in 1324 is undoubtedly the most famous and most studied event in the history of the west-African middle ages. The ruler of the Mali empire has recently become a recognized figure in global history, in large part due to recent estimates that was the wealthiest man in history. Thanks to the abundance of accounts regarding his reign, Musa has become a symbol of a prosperous and independent Africa actively participating in world affairs, leaving an indelible mark not just on European atlases, but also in the memories and writings of West Africa.
But as is often common with any interest in Africa’s past, there's a growing chorus of claims that Mansa Musa was escorted by thousands of enslaved people to Egypt, which would make him one of the largest slave owners of his time. While many who make these claims don't ground them in medieval accounts of Musa's pilgrimage, they have found some support in the book '_African dominion_' written by the west-Africanist Michael Gomez, who asserts that the Mansa travelled with an entourage of 60,000 mostly enslaved persons.
However, other specialists in west African history such as John Hunwick find these numbers to be rather absurd, arguing that they were inflated in different accounts and were based on unreliable sources. Indeed, the multiplicity of historical accounts regarding Musa's pilgrimage seem to have favored the emergence of dissonant versions of the same event, which were eventually standardized over time.
This article outlines the various accounts on Mansa Musa's entourage, inorder to uncover whether the Malian ruler was the largest slave owner of his time or he was simply the subject of an elaborately fabricated story.
_**Detail from the 14th century Catalan Atlas showing Mansa Musa**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-SBb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F957ca8f0-8ac9-40f7-a599-720c5ea4205b_1024x730.jpeg)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more on African history and keep this newsletter free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**The Limits of west-African sources on Mansa Musa.**
Most claims that Mansa Musa was followed by a large entourage of slaves rely on the west African chronicle titled _Tarikh al-Sudan_, written by a scholar named Abd al-Rahman Al-sa'di in 1655. Al-Sa'di's chronicle was one of three important 17th century west African manuscripts —the others being; the _Tarikh al-Fattash_ and the _Notice Historique_— which modern historians call the Timbuktu chronicles.
The Timbuktu chronicles were written not long after the fall of Mali’s sucessor; the Songhai empire, by scholars whose families were prominent during its heyday. In their desire to construct a coherent and legitimating narrative of the ‘western Sudan’ (an area encompassing modern Mali to Senegal), the chroniclers offer a special place to the Mali empire. They include details on both the former empire which had fallen to the Askiya dynasty of Songhai, as well as the contemporaneous state which was at almost constant war with Songhai before the latter’s collapse. [1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-1-139364603)
As some of the oldest internal sources written by west Africans about their own history, modern historians had long considered them to be more reliable reconstructions of the region’s past compared to external accounts written outside the region.
However, specialists on west African history have recently acknowledged the limitations of the Timbuktu chronicles and their authors regarding the earlier periods of the region's history. The historian Paulo de Moraes Farias, who uncovered a number of inscribed stelae from the medieval city of Gao from which the Askiya title and the first Muslim west-African rulers are first attested, has shown that Al-Sa'di was not aware of Gao significance but dismissed it as a center of 'undiluted paganism'. Cautioning modern historians, Paulo de Moraes writes that:
_**"They**_(the Timbuktu chroniclers)_**were not mere informants but historians like ourselves, and they had their own difficulties in retrieving evidence and reconstructing the past from the point of view of their novel intellectual and political stance".**_[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-2-139364603)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FWJM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd20f9795-c786-43d0-a1a6-211fd54ca4b9_979x584.png)
_**Commemorative Stela of a King and Queen from Gao, Mali, dated to the 12th century, first one is at the Musée national du Mali, second one is at Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ngTn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e75c70a-ef11-4c5b-8eb5-c02aa3a22a2d_756x484.png)
_**The old city of Gao in 1920, archives nationales d'outre mer**_
Similary, the historian Mauro Nobili has shown that the Tarikh al-Fattash was mostly a 19th century chronicle that utilised information from two 17th century chronicles; _Tarikh Ibn al-Mukhtar_ of the west African chronicler Ibn al-Mukhtar and the _Tarikh al-Sudan_ of Al-Sa’di . He also argues that the Timbuktu chronicles were not mere repositories of hard facts waiting to be mined by modern historians, but were, like all historical documents, [carefully crafted reconstructions of the past that were heavily influenced by their authors' social and political context](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/how-africans-wrote-their-own-history).[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-3-139364603)
The Timbuktu chroniclers, like all historians past and present, were themselves aware of the limitations of their sources, with one Timbuktu chronicler for example, mentioning that there were no internal documents on the Kayamagha dynasty of the Ghana empire.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-4-139364603)
This limitation of textural sources wasn't alleviated by the oral sources available to the Timbutku historians. For example, Ibn al-Mukhtar's chronicle, which was written in 1664, includes many anecdotes about Mansa Musa derived from oral accounts, but he also relayed the fact that there were a significant number of stories said about Mansa Musa's pilgrimage that seemed fabricated, warning his readers that;
**"Stories about his [Mansa Musa's] journey have numerous anecdotes which are not true and which the mind refuses to admit".**
He adds that **"Among these, the fact that every time he was in a town on Friday on his way here towards Egypt, he did not fail to build a mosque there the same day"** Others include having his servants dig a pool for his wife in the middle of the desert, and one of his scouts descended into a well to capture a highway robber who was cutting the buckets from the ropes that they were lowering into the well, so that Musa’s carravan couldn’t draw water.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-5-139364603)
Even though such stories were evidently exaggerated and fabricated, the anecdotes about Mansa Musa's pilgrimage show that the era of the Mali empire was a turning point in the Islamic and imperial identity of the western Sudan —an identity which the Timbuktu writers were furthering despite their objections to the unreliability of their sources.
Besides internal accounts, the Timbuktu chroniclers also utilized external sources from the “East”, especially those coming from Mamluk Egypt and Morocco. In his account of Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage for example, al-Sa'di specifically mentions his source to be Ibn Battuta's _Riḥla_ (Travels) which contains a section on the famous globe-trotter's stay in Mali from 1352-1353. However, al-Sa'di only used Ibn Battuta as a source regarding a short anecdote on the place Musa stayed while he was in Cairo, but other details about Musa's entourage were clearly derived from another unamed source since Ibn Battuta makes no mention of Musa's companions besides naming several 'black Hajjis' who accompanied their sovereign to Mecca.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-6-139364603)
We therefore turn to the so-called 'Eastern' sources to uncover the documents which the Timbuktu chroniclers used for their information on Musa's entourage.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The earliest accounts of Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage and entourage from Egypt, Syria and Mecca.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M3gV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F58b3d3e8-bc3f-4c72-8724-46862b53bc6e_1800x1101.png)
_**Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage route in 1324, Map by Juan Hernandez**_
The oldest Egyptian account of Mansa Musa's pilgrimage comes from a text by the Mamluk official Šihāb al-Nuwayrī in his Nihāyat al-arab that was written around 1331. A high administrator and controller of the financial office during the reign of Mamluk sultan Al-Malik al-Nāṣir (r. 1293 to 1341), al-Nuwayri had access to state documents and provides us with what is so far the earliest account of Musa’s arrival in Egypt and his entourage. Al-Nuwayri writes that;
**"During this year [1324] King Musa, ruler of the country of Takrur, arrived in the Egyptian lands with the aim of making the pilgrimage. He went to the noble Hejaz. He returned to his country in the year 25 [1325]. His company had brought in a considerable sum of gold. Thus he had spent it all, had scattered it, had exchanged part of it for fabrics so that he needed to go into debt for a large sum to merchants and others before his journey [towards Mecca].**[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-7-139364603)
This account doesn't identify the status of Musa's entourage, which he calls his ‘company’, but simply mentions that they came with a lot of gold and spent it lavishly in Egypt.
Another, much longer account about Musa's time in Egypt was written by a son of a Mamluk official named, Ibn al-Dawādārī, in his _kanz al-durar_, that was written around the year 1335.
**"During this year [1324] the king of Takrur arrived, aspiring to the illustrious Hejaz. His name, Abū Bakr b. Mūsā. He appeared before the noble stations of the holy places of Mecca and kissed the ground. He stayed for a year in the Egyptian regions before going to Hejaz. He had with him a lot of gold, and his country is the country that grows gold … Then the king of Takrur and his companions bought all sorts of things in Cairo and Egypt. We thought their money was inexhaustible"**
His account —which I have shortened for the sake of brevity, as i will most accounts mentioned below— is similar to the one of al-Nuwayri, but adds more details about Mali’s gold sources and Musa’s meeting with the Mamluk sultan. However, Al-Dawadari also doesn't describe the status of Musa's entourage, but simply refers to them as 'companions'.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-8-139364603)
Another early account on Musa’s pilgrimage was written by the Syrian historian Šams al-Dīn al-Ḏahabī in his _Duwal al-Islām_, completed before 1339, but it only describes Musa's entourage in Cairo as a **"large crowd"**. Al-Dahabi's section on Musa's pilgrimage was repeated verbatim by the Mamluk official Šihāb al-ʿUmarī in the first version of his _Masālik al-Absâr_, before he later wrote a more detailed account using his own sourcs in the second version of the same work that is now famous in the historiography of Musa's pilgrimage.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-9-139364603)
In the second version of al-ʿUmarī's _Masālik al-Absâr_, the Mamluk official provides a more detailed account of Musa's stay in Cairo, based on interviews with officials who hosted the Malian ruler. In a very lengthy account which includes details of Musa arriving with **"a hundred camel-loads of gold"**, and his meeting with the Mamluk sultan where both parties exchanged gifts, al-Umari writes that
**"He [the Mamluk sultan] continued to send him [Mansa Musa] Turkish slaves and abundant provisions throughout his stay"**and that**"He had a quantity of provisions purchased for his [Mansa Musa's] companions and his suite."**
Like the previous authors, al-Umari simply describes Musa's entourage as companions, and the only mention of 'slaves' in the context of Musa's pilgrimage were the **"Turkish slaves”** gifted to Musa by the Egyptian sultan. The first reference to slaves in Musa’s entourage appears to be the Turkish slaves gifted to him by the Egyptian ruler. Al-Umari’s account on Mansa Musa would be repeated almost verbatim by other Egyptian scholars, including Aḥmad al-Muqrī (fl. 1365) who also refered to them simply as 'companions'.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-10-139364603)
Our next source on Mansa Musa's pilgrimage comes from the 'Holy city' of Mecca, where an exceptional eyewitness account is provided by the Meccan scholar Abd Allāh al-Yāfiʿī (d. 1367) in his _Mirʾāt al-ǧinān_ completed some time before his death. The people of Mali arrived in the Hejaz at a time following years of unrest in Mecca, and against a backdrop of strengthening Mamluk-Egyptian control over the holy cities. There had been several conflicts over the control of the city between the Rasulid dynasty of Yemen, the Mamluks of Egypt and a few independent figures who all claimed protection over the city. Mansa Musa's carravan arrived under the protection of the Mamluks, and this is the description of his time in the Holy city that al-Yāfiʿī witnessed:
"**During this year, the king of Takrūr Mūsā b. Abī Bakr b. Abī al-Aswad presented himself for the pilgrimage with thousands of his soldiers**(ʿaskar)**…**
**I add, concerning his spirit of common sense and wisdom, that I saw him while he was at the latticed window rising above the Ka'ba of the building from ribāṭ al-Ḫūzī. He had calmed his restless companions following a discord (**fitna**) which had arisen between them and the Turks. They had brandished, during this discord, the swords in the Sacred Mosque (**al-masǧid al-ḥarām**), while Musa, being in an overhanging position, had seen upon them. He had ordered them to reconsider their intention to fight showing an intense anger towards them because of this fitna. It is a sign of the superiority of his [Musa’s] intelligence because he had no place of retreat or helper apart from those of his fatherland and his people, if the broad strength of his cavalry and his infantry had come to be reduced. The king of Takrūr Mūsā returned to Egypt. The sultan clothed him in a royal robe of honor, a circular turban, a black ǧubba, and a golden sword."**[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-11-139364603)
The Meccan author specifically uses "I add" and “I saw” to mark this passage out as his own eye-witness account, making his account the only primary source that retells specific events which were seen by the author.
Importantly, the description of the fitna (quarrel/discord) which he recounts provides the first rough estimate of Mansa Musa's companions, and their status. Such violent quarrels were relatively common in the _Ḥaram_ of Mecca in the context of pilgrimages, as they often reflected political struggles over the control of the Holy cities, but this one in particular was an internal dispute between the Malians and the Mamluks (Turks). This account indicates that Mansa Musa's entourage numbering in the thousands was heavily armed, and were it not for Musa's wise intervention, this would have been added to the 7 fitnas in Mecca that were recorded in the 14th century. Al-Yāfiʿī's account would be copied verbatim by later Meccan scholars such as Taqī al-Dīn al-Fāsī (d. 1429) .[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-12-139364603)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7V-A!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4a29b06-bcb1-4c66-8f85-efb1e05b7d60_696x553.png)
_**the Ka’aba at Mecca during the early 20th century**_
**Later accounts of Musa’s pilgrimage and the first estimates of his entourage: from ‘Companions’ to ‘Maids’.**
Our next source on Mansa Musa's entourage in Egypt comes from the Syrian qadi Zayn Ibn al-Wardī in his _Tatimmat al-muḫtaṣar_ which was completed in the late 1340s. He writes that:
**"King Šaraf al-Dīn Mūsā b. Abī Bakr, king of Takrūr, arrived for the pilgrimage. His company numbered more than 10,000 Takrūrī."**
While he also doesn't specify the status of Musa's companions, he identifies them as Takruri, a term often used to refer to pilgrims from west-Africa when they were in Egypt and the Hejaz. It is derived from the medieval kingdom of Takrur (in modern Senegal), which was allied to the Almoravid conquerors of Andalusia (Spain). This term, which specifically marks out Musa’s entourage as pious free-born Muslims, fits well with the prestigious title of Šaraf al-Dīn (“Eminence of the faith”) that the author gave to Mansa Musa. This text also marks the first time Musa's entourage is estimated to be 10,000, an absurdly high figure that would be repeated further exaggerated in later accounts.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-13-139364603)
Just like Al-Ḏahabī —the other Syrian historian mentioned before— Al-Wardi never met Musa and his entourage, nor did he have access to Mamluk officials or archives, but instead based his story on oral accounts and hearsay circulating in the region. This approach to collecting information on Musa’s pilgrimage was similary taken by another Syrian historian, named Ibn Kaṯīr in his 1366 work _al-Bidāya wa alnihāya_. The Syrian writes that
**"the king of Takrur arrived in Cairo on account of the pilgrimage on the 25th of Ragab. He established his camp at Qarafa. He had with him Maghribīs**(North Africans?)**and servants**(khadam)**numbering around 20,000."**[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-14-139364603)
This is the only mention of 'North Africans' in Musa's entourage which is now said to number 20,000, and it’s also the first mention of the presence of 'servants' using the specific term _Kadam_ that usually refered to male attendants.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-15-139364603) However, this particular deviation is only encountered in this account, as other writers, especially those in Egypt, continue to refer to Musa's entourage as 'companions' or 'large crowds'.
These include; Zayn al-Dīn ʿUmar Ibn al-Wardī (d. 1349) who calls them a **"company of 10,000 Takruri"**, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ṣafadī (d. 1363) who refers to them as a **“large crowd”**, Badr al-Dīn (d. 1377) who refers to them as a company made up of 10,000 of his**“subjects”**, and the Meccan historian Taqī al-Dīn al-Fāsī (d. 1429) who refers to them as **"15,000 Takārura"**.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-16-139364603)
Later accounts focus more on Musa's meeting with the Mamluk sultan, without mentioning anything about his 'companions', with the exception of the Mamluk-Egyptian encyclopedist Al-Qalqašandī who in his 1412 book Ṣubḥ al-aʿšā, wrote that:
**“It is said that 12,000 maids**(waṣāʾif)**dressed in brocade tunics carried his effects."**
This specific sentence, which again begins with the characteristic 'it is said' to indicate that its based on hearsay, provides a figure not based on any previous estimate but on an attempt to reconcile different estimates of Musa's entourage. The author claims to have taken this particular estimate from the _Kitab al-ʿIbar_ of the historian Ibn Ḫaldūn (1406), but the latter did not in fact provide any figures on Mansa Musa's companions in his section on the Malian king's pilgrimage.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-17-139364603)
The use of the term waṣāʾif which was used for female servants in domestic contexts in Mamluk-Egypt (instead of jawārī for female slaves)[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-18-139364603), is yet more evidence that this anecdote was simply a fabrication by Al-Qalqašandī, whose sources refered to Mansa Musa’s entourage as his “companions" who were by all indications entirely male and well-armed, and not some roving harem of medieval fantasy.
However, the brief detail on Musa acquiring servants/slaves in Egypt is again brought up by the Mamluk-Egyptian historian Al-Maqrīzī (d. 1442) in his al-Sulūk li-maʿrifat duwal almulūk, which he completed later in his life. He writes that
**"He [Mansa Musa] stayed in Cairo and spent a lot of gold on the purchase of servants, clothes and other products to such an extent that the dinar fell by six dirhams"**[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-19-139364603)
This passage is evidently copied directly from earlier accounts on Musa's initial stay in Cairo, specifically al-ʿUmarī’s mention of Turkish slaves sent by the Mamluk sultan, although its not implausible that Musa and his companions acquired other slaves in Egypt on their own account (as will be mentioned below).
Al-Maqrīzī later provides a more detailed account of Mansa Musa's entourage in his monograph on the pilgrimages made by Muslim sovereigns, titled _al-Ḏahab al-masbūk_. He writes that;
**"It is said that he [Mansa Musa] came with 14,000 maids for his personal service. His companions showed consideration by purchasing Turkish and Ethiopian servants, singers and clothing."**
Writing more than a century after Musa's arrival in Cairo, Al-Maqrizi seems to have taken a lot of liberties with his description of Musa's entourage. The expression "it is said that" which is followed by an inflated number of Musa's maids indicates that this passage was based on hearsay that had been exaggerated. However, this exceptional account on Musa's supposedly all-female entourage, who now included ‘Ethiopians’ wouldn't appear in later Egyptian accounts of the 15th and 16th century, such as the description of Musa's pilgrimage by al-Maqrizi's rival Badr al-Dīn al-ʿAynī (d. 1451), nor did they appear in the work of Ibn Ḥaǧar (d. 1449), nor in the work of Ibn Iyās (d. 1524).[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-20-139364603)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The disputed estimates of Musa’s entourage and their status in pre-colonial and modern western African historiography.**
It was this estimate of over 10,000 companions of Mansa Musa that would be uncritically copied in later accounts, and further exaggerated to absurd proportions, that were eventually reproduced in the Timbuktu chronicles.
The Ta’rīkh al-fattāsh claims that the Mansa embarked **“with great pomp and vast wealth [borne by] a huge army”** numbering **8,000 people**. While Ta’rīkh as-sūdān uses a much larger estimate, claiming that Musa**“set off in great pomp with a large party, including 60,000 soldiers and 500 slaves, who ran in front of him as he rode. Each of the slaves bore in his hand a wand fashioned from 500 mq. of gold.”**[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-21-139364603) Its important to note that the _Tarikh al-Sudan_ of Al-Sa’di mentions that there were only 500 slaves in the entire entourage numbering 60,000.
Some specialists on west African history who take these figures at face value, such as Michael Gomez, claim the 'disparity' between the two Timbuktu chronicles is due to Mansa Musa having begun his journey with many more followers than actually arrived with him in Cairo. Other specialists, such as John Hunwick, rightly dismiss both estimates as **"grossly inflated"**, explaining that "**logistical problems of feeding and providing water during the crossing of the Sahara rule out numbers of this order"**[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-22-139364603)
Indeed the outline of external sources on Musa's entourage provided above supports Hunwick's argument that these numbers were deliberately fabricated, and this was mostly like done by different authors inorder to paint a laudatory portrait of Mansa Musa’s remarkable pilgrimage.
None of the early sources provide estimates of Musa's entourage or their exact status, with the exception of the eye-witness account from Mecca which describes them as 'thousands' of well-armed men. All accounts that include exact estimates of Musa's entourage mention that it was based on hearsay, and later accounts would add more absurd fabrications, claiming that Musa's entourage was an all-female troop of servants.
While Musa's companions did acquire 'Turkish' slaves that were brought back to Mali (and were met by Ibn Battuta), we can be certain based on the available evidence that Musa's entourage consisted almost entirely of free west African Muslims who accompanied their emperor on a journey that many of them were very familiar with. This undermines the Michael Gomez's claim that "the vast majority of the royal retinue was enslaved", an assertion that relies on him ignoring the multiple sources that specifically identify Musa's companions as west-African muslims (Takruri), to instead focus on the few sources that claim Musa entourage was made up of servants termed; _waṣāʾif_ and _khadam_, both of which Gomez also mistranslates as ‘slaves’, not to mention his willful misrepresentation of Al-Sa’di’s passage which explicitly mentions that there were only 500 slaves in the 60,000 strong entourage.
Also relevant to these accounts of Musa’s entourage are the estimates of '100 camel-loads' of gold (about 12 tonnes) on which Musa's title for history's wealthiest man rests, some of which were supposedly carried by his retinue. The amount of gold itself doesn’t seem out of the ordinary if we consider that not all the gold was his, and with the exception of Al-Sa’di’s chronicle, there is no mention of people carrying this gold but only camels. [Similar accounts of west African pilgrims in Egypt for example show that they were fabulously wealthy](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-west-african-diaspora), and they often left their properties in the form of gold, luxury cloth and camels under the care of Egyptian officials for their return journey after visiting Mecca. With one pilgrim leaving behind 200 mithqals of gold and camels in 1562, while another group of six west Africans left 500 mithqals gold, cloth and several personal effects.
During his visit to Mali, Ibn Battuta met atleast four Hajjis, some of whom had accompanied Mansa Musa to Mecca, these include; Hajj Abd al-Rahman who was the royal Qadi and lived in the capital of Mali; Hajj Farba Margha who was a powerful official that lived near Mema; Hajj Farba Sulaiman who was another official that lived near Timbuktu (he also owned an Arab slave girl from Damascus presumably acquired while on pilgrimage), and Hajj Muhammad al-Wajdi who was a resident of Gao and had visited Yemen.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-23-139364603)
Its therefore likely that many of Mansa Musa's companions were free west African Muslims, and that a significant share of the ruler’s golden treasure belonged to them.
The above outline shows that despite the abundance of accounts regarding Musa’s pilgrimage, the event was not recorded from authoritative informants but from a combination of only partially reliable sources that were inturn altered by the different interpretations of multiple writers with their own authorial intentions. A more objective account of Musa’s pilgrimage can thus only be obtained after untangling the web of fabrications and biases which colour the works of past historians as well as modern ones.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zzdE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff4b6ce1-ef7a-4f8a-9de6-a674ec7c630b_1200x622.jpeg)
_**A fanciful illustration of Musa’s pilgrimage, complete with an implausibly large entourage that includes maids carrying sacks of gold**_
Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage was one of several occasions where Africans explored their own continent and some accounts claim he passed by the great pyramids of Giza. More than 3,000 years before Musa, **people from the North-East African kingdoms of Kush and Punt also regulary travelled to and settled in ancient Egypt.**
**Read more about this on our Patreon:**
[ANCIENT EGYPT IN AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/93554322?pr=true)
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[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-1-139364603)
Meanings of Timbuktu by Shamil Jeppie pg 95-98
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-2-139364603)
Meanings of Timbuktu by Shamil Jeppie 98-105)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-3-139364603)
Sultan, Caliph, and the Renewer of the Faith : Aḥmad Lobbo, the Tārīkh al-fattāsh and the Making of an Islamic State in West Africa by Mauro Nobili
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-4-139364603)
Meanings of Timbuktu by Shamil Jeppie pg 96)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-5-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 195-196)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-6-139364603)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick pg 10 The Travels of Ibn Battuta Vol. 4 pg 967, 969)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-7-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 215-216)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-8-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 217)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-9-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 219-220)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-10-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 221-222, 226)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-11-139364603)
Échos d’Arabie. Le Pèlerinage à La Mecque de Mansa Musa by Hadrien Collet pg 115-116
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-12-139364603)
Échos d’Arabie. Le Pèlerinage à La Mecque de Mansa Musa by Hadrien Collet pg pg 117-119)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-13-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 224-225)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-14-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 225-226
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-15-139364603)
A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic By Hans Wehr pg 267, The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia edited by Oliver Leaman pg 579, Race and Slavery in the Middle East by Terence Walz pg 58, _**Gomez himself occasionally translates the word khadam as servant in Ibn Battuta’s description of Mali’s court**_, African dominion by M. Gomez, pg 160
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-16-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 224-5, 227, 229, Échos d’Arabie. Le Pèlerinage à La Mecque de Mansa Musa by Hadrien Collet pg 120)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-17-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 232-245) _**«Post-publication note: Ibn Khaldūn’s mention of 12,000 maids comes from another section of the Muqaddima, from a source which he thought not to include in his section relating to the pilgrimages of the kings of Takrur in which he makes no mention of Musa’s entourage»**_
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-18-139364603)
Slave Trade Dynamics in Abbasid Egypt by Jelle Bruning
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-19-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 236)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-20-139364603)
Le sultanat du Mali - Histoire régressive d'un empire médiéval XXIe-XIVe siècle by Hadrien Collet pg 236-237, 240)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-21-139364603)
Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick pg 11
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-22-139364603)
African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa By Michael Gomez pg 106, Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire by John Hunwick pg 11, n.3
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved#footnote-anchor-23-139364603)
Travels of Ibn Battuta Vol4 pg 951-952, 956, 967, 970-971
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-SBb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F957ca8f0-8ac9-40f7-a599-720c5ea4205b_1024x730.jpeg",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zzdE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff4b6ce1-ef7a-4f8a-9de6-a674ec7c630b_1200x622.jpeg",
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-mansa-musas-enslaved
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a brief note on the history of Africans exploring their own continent
=====================================================================
### plus: Ancient Egypt in Africa.
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[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Nov 26, 2023
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Africa is world's second largest continent and arguably the most difficult to traverse.
Historically, many parts of the continent that were conducive to human settlement and activity were home to large, complex societies which rank among some of the world's oldest civilizations. These include ancient kingdoms of the Nile valley and the northern Horn of Africa, the empires along the Niger river, the kingdoms of west-central Africa and the lakes region, as well as the city-states of the East African coast and kingdoms of south-eastern Africa.
In between these densely populated regions were pockets of relatively inhospitable land covered with thick forests and barren deserts. Yet despite this seemingly insurmountable barrier, Africans suceeded in creating vast networks of communication that cut across the deserts and forests between them, facilitating cross-cultural exchanges and expanding Africans' knowledge of their own continent.
In west-Africa, [the 'golden network' of the Wangara commercial diaspora](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education) extended from the shores of the Atlantic in Senegal to the forest region of central Ghana and across the shifting sands of the Sahara into North-Africa. By the early 2nd millennium, Wangara traders and scholars had established urban settlements along different nodes of this complex network, easily switching goods between various cities as they interacted with other commercial diasporas.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Jg1s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F47379540-b055-43b0-b21f-824168996710_1014x608.png)
_**dispersion of the Wangara diaspora across west Africa.**_
In central Africa the Ovimbundu traders of central Angola pioneered cross-continental routes that moved goods between the city of [Luanda on Angola's Atlantic coast to the town of Tete in Mozambique](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/trans-continental-trade-in-central). Here, they encountered the established network of the Yao and Nywamwezi, whose own trading routes connected the Swahili cities of the East African coast to the kingdoms of the Lakes region. Eventually, the Swahili would expand these trade routes with the first recorded cross-continental journey in the region that begun at Bagamoyo in Tanzania and arrived at Luanda in 1852.
Long-distance trade was not the only activity undertaken along these routes. Envoys, scholars, pilgrims and other travelers also utilized the same routes to visit and settle different parts of the continent and beyond. The Djenne-born scholar Muhammad Salma al-Zurruq (b. 1845) for example, travelled across west Africa and the Ottoman domains before returning to Mali, only to embark on another trip that saw him ending up in Sudan. But arguably the most fascinating case was that of the Bornu scholar al-Faki Ahmad Umar who [travelled from north-eastern Nigeria to western Ethiopia](https://www.patreon.com/posts/81510350?pr=true) following long-established pilgrimage and trade routes.
But long before these west African and Central African networks emerged, the region of North-eastern Africa was arguably the most interconnected part of the continent. The rise of ancient states of Egypt, Kush and Punt was largely enabled by the robust exchange of ideas, technologies and goods across the region, brought by the people who visited and settled within the different communities.
**The history of ancient Egypt in its north-east African context is the subject of my latest Patreon article, in which I explore the regional interaction and population movement between Egypt and its neighbors; Kush and Punt, from the perspective of the latter.**
Read more about it here;
[ANCIENT EGYPT IN AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/93554322?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FTTY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a0872bd-0022-4b1b-ba13-afe33e295765_641x1094.png)
* * *
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sp9m!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4e80b836-4e5a-4cc6-9d5e-70d31d2de6be_1600x1000.jpeg)
_**Ibn Khaldūn asserts that prior to entering Cairo, Mansa Musa of Mali “came out near the Pyramids in Egypt,” while al-Maqrīzī states “Mansā Mūsā, king of Takrūr . . . stayed for three days beneath the Pyramids as an official guest.”**_
If Mansa Musa did pass by Giza, _**“it suggests medieval Mali was well aware of Pharaonic Egypt’s illustrious past, with the mansā purposely seeking to connect with it”**_
-Michael Gomez
* * *
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[Acemoglu in Kongo: a critique of 'Why Nations Fail' and its wilful ignorance of African history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
[There aren’t many Africans on the list of Nobel laureates, nor does research on African societies show up in the selection committees of Stockholm.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
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[  African History Extra Acemoglu in Kongo: a critique of 'Why Nations Fail' and its wilful ignorance of African history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-africans#)
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[WHEN AFRICANS WROTE THEIR OWN HISTORY; A CATALOGUE OF AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY AFRICAN SCRIBES FROM ANTIQUITY UNTIL THE EVE OF…](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history)
[Far from being a continent without history, Africa is simply a continent whose written history has not been studied](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history)
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[  African History Extra WHEN AFRICANS WROTE THEIR OWN HISTORY; A CATALOGUE OF AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY AFRICAN SCRIBES FROM ANTIQUITY UNTIL THE EVE OF COLONIALSIM](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-africans#)
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[The General History of Africa](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-general-history-of-africa)
[a comprehensive look at states and societies across the continent's entire history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-general-history-of-africa)
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-africans
|
Africans travelled across most parts of the Old world prior to the modern era, from the cities of Islamic Spain to the Imperial courts of China, and many places between. Among the lesser-known regions visited by Africans was the southern Caucasus, a region between the Caspian and Black sea that was under the control of various empires and kingdoms.
In the early centuries of the common era, this region was controlled by the kingdom of Armenia, which was itself part of several ‘Eastern’ Christian societies that extended to the Nubian kingdoms of the Nile valley and the Aksumite kingdom in the Horn of Africa. Pilgrims, scholars and traders travelled across this region, fostering cultural exchanges that can be gleaned from the influences of the Ethiopic script in the Armenian script as well as the influences of Armenian art in Ethiopian art.
The kingdom of Armenia was later gradually subsumed under the Roman (Byzantine) and Persian (Sassanian) empires by the 5th century, remaining under the control of suceeding Islamic empires, with the exception of the independent kingdoms of Bagratuni (885-1045) and Cilicia (1198-1375). Armenian speakers would thereafter constitute an influencial community in the eastern Mediterranean, where they would interact with their African co-religionists and eventually establish cultural ties that led to Africans visiting the southern Caucasus and Armenians visiting and settling in Ethiopia.
This article explores the history of cultural exchanges between the southern Caucasus and North-east Africa focusing on the historical links between Armenia, and the kingdoms of Makuria and Ethiopia.
_**Map showing the kingdoms of Armenia, Makuria and Ethiopia as well as the probable route taken by Ewostatewos from Ethiopia to Armenia.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_HBt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0468f163-d56c-45e9-89a2-b2685c2b5555_1052x554.png)
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**Early Contacts between the Nubian, Ethiopian and Armenian diasporas the eastern Mediterranean.**
Diasporic communities of Africans from the Nubian kingdoms and Aksum, were first established in Egypt which was home to many important sites of Christian asceticism since antiquity, and from here spread out into the eastern Mediterranean and eventually into the southern Caucasus.
One of the earliest mentions of 'Ethiopians' in Egypt (an ethnonym that was at the time used for both Nubians and Aksumites) is first made in a 7th century text by the Armenian scholar Anania Shirakatsi, who mentions that an 'Ethiopian' named Abdiē contributed to the joint project of the Alexandrian scholar Aeas in establishing the 532-year cycle. Anania also mentions Ethiopians (presumably Aksumites) in other works concerned with the calendar as well as providing an accurate Armenian transcription of Gǝʿǝz month names which he faithfully reproduced from his Ethiopian informants. This remarkably early encounter between Armenian and Aksumite scholars indicates that the links between the two regions were much older than the few available sources can reveal.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-1-138963728)
Both Aksum/Ethiopia and Nubia had a long history of connections with the 'Holy lands' where Nubian pilgrims are identified as early as the 8th century. One of the earliest mentions of African Christians in the eastern Mediterranean comes from the Syriac patriarch Michael Rabo (r. 1166–99) who suggests the presence of Nubians and Ethiopians in Syria, Palestine, Armenia, and Egypt during the late 1120s. Descriptions of the diasporic community of both Nubians and Ethiopians reach their peak during the 13th to 15th century, where they are identified by many Latin (crusader) accounts who mention an 'infinite multitude' of these African Christians in the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem), Nazareth, Bethlehem, as well as in Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-2-138963728)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!aWe1!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa14be65-f633-40bc-9224-c5c8b8cf9d7e_660x830.png)
_**copy of a Psalter written in multiple scripts, 12th-14th century, monastery of saint macarius, wadi al-Natrun, Egypt**_[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-3-138963728)_**.**_**Beginning with ethiopic/ge’ez on the extreme left column, followed by Syriac, Coptic in the center, Arabic on the right and ending with Armenian.**
_These polygot texts facilitated comparative study of the bible by different groups as well as common reading in the liturgy, since Nubians used Greek and Coptic (alongside Old Nubian) in liturgical contexts, such texts attest to the presence of Ethiopians, Nubians and Armenians in Egyptian monasteries._
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Nubians and Ethiopians in the Cilician kingdom of Armenia.**
It was during their stay in the 'Holy lands' that the Nubian and Ethiopians interacted with their Armenian peers as part of the shifting alliances and conflicts over the control of holy sites and places of worship between the various Christian factions, as well as the intellectual and cultural exchanges which prefigured such interactions.
There is some fragmentary evidence of Nubians in Cilician Armenia during the 13th century. This can be gleaned from a statement by the Armenian prince Hayton of Corycus, who, whilst in France, wrote in his Crusade treatise that Armenians could be used as messengers between the Latin Papacy and the Nubians. It may be presumed that some Nubians travelled to Armenia as messengers at various times in order for Hayton, who was also a prince of Armenia, to advertise seemingly strong communication networks between Nubia and Armenia. There is afterall, evidence of a Nubian king travelling with his entourage to the Byzantine capital Constantinople in 1203 from Jerusalem, likely using an overland route through Armenia.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-4-138963728)
Stronger evidence for Africans in Armenia however, comes from Ethiopia. In the early 14th century, the Ethiopian scholar named Ewosṭatewos created a powerful, yet dissenting, movement in northern Ethiopia about the observance of the Christian and Jewish sabbath, which eventually led to his banishment. In 1337-8, he left Ethiopia with some of his followers, beginning a long journey that led them through the kingdom of Makuria (in Sudan), Egypt, Palestine, and Cyprus before he finally arrived in Cilician Armenia.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-5-138963728)
Ewostatewos had left Ethiopia with a significant entourage of other monks and scholars, who briefly assisted the king of Makuria in a battle against an enemy, before they proceeded to Egypt. While staying in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, Ewostatewos met the Armenian Patriarch Katolikos Jacob II of Cilicia, who had been exiled by his king for his refusal to submit to the Roman Catholic Papacy. Ewostatewos thus decided to visit Armenia without fail, the monk and his followers made a stopover at Cyprus before reaching mainland Armenia. The Ethiopian monk settled and eventually died in the 'Armenian lands' in 1352 and was reportedly buried by the Patriarch himself. His followers, who included the scholars Bäkimos, Märqoréwos and Gäbrä Iyasus later returned to Ethiopia with an Armenian companion and contributed to the composition of their leader's hagiography titled gadla Ēwosṭātēwos (Contending of Ēwosṭātēwos).[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-6-138963728)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YSJP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00f914ef-ae76-4689-9c2d-7669db59a141_753x552.png)
_**Painted Icon, Double Triptych, 19th century, No. 76.132, Brooklyn museum**_. inset is Ewostatewos
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vemY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F51cd69b9-cd41-4e54-a8ea-ee93410629e4_419x542.png)
_**Icon Triptych: Ewostatewos and Eight of His Disciples, 17th century No. 2006.98, Met museum.**_ Stylized depiction of the Ethiopian monk and his followers
In the suceeding centuries, Ewostatewos' followers became influencial in the Ethiopian church, and would ultimately comprise a significant proportion of the Ethiopian scholars who travelled to the Eastern and Northern Mediterranean in the 15th and 16th century, where they established themselves at the Santo Stefano monastery in Rome. During this time, the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia had fallen to the Mamluks of Egypt, whose expansion south had also led to the collapse of Makuria, leaving Ethiopia as the only remaining Christian kingdom between the eastern mediteranean and the red sea region. Travel by pilgrims, envoys and scholars neverthless continued and contacts between Armenians and Ethiopians remained.
One of the well-travelled Ethiopian scholars at Santo Stefano was Yāʿeqob, a 16th century scholar whose journey took him to the tomb of Ewostatewos in what was then Ottoman Armenia. In his travelogue, which he composed while at Santo Stefano, Yaeqob wrote that;
_**"I went to Jerusalem, the Holy City, me son of abuna Ēwosṭātēwos and son of Anānyā, who came to the city of Kwalonyā, tomb of the holy ʾabuna Ēwosṭātēwos, me, Yāʿeqob, pilgrim (nagādi), who came down**_[from the highlands]_**and when I converted**_[to monastic life]_**, my name became Takla Māryām, I, dānyā of Dabra Ṣarābi, who wrote trusting in the name of Mary"**_.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-7-138963728)
This city of Kwalonya that is mentioned by Yaeqob, which contained the tomb of Ewostatewos, has been identified by some scholars to be the city of Şebinkarahisar in Turkey. However, this location is far from certain and seems to have been on the frontier of the Cilician kingdom. Neverthless, it indicates that the followers of Ewostatewos were atleast familiar with Armenia where their founder was buried, despite the entire region being under the control of the Ottomans by the 16th century. Ewostatewos' tomb would remain a crucial link between Armenians and Ethiopians over the suceeding centuries.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zktA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3247dad5-4aae-4527-aefb-e6c64102a8d9_707x591.png)
**from my article on the history and legacy of Ethiopian scholars in pre-modern Europe, read more about it here:**
[ETHIOPIAN SCHOLARS IN EUROPE](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-and-of-72011051)
**The beginnings of Armenian travel to Ethiopia.**
While the diplomatic contacts between Ethiopia and Cilicia were rendered untenable after the fall of the latter, cultural and commercial contacts between the two regions flourished thanks to interactions between their diasporic communities. Beginning in the 16th century, there were a number of Armenians in Ethiopia who, because of their shared religion, gained the confidence of the Ethiopian elites, and served as the latter's trade agents. Several Armenians in particular served a succession of monarchs as businessmen, and by extension as ambassadors.
The best known of them in this period was Mateus, who in 1541, travelled alongside the Ethiopian envoy Yaʿǝqob to India and Portugal on behalf of Ethiopian Empress Eleni. Mateus had conducted business between Cairo and Ethiopia for many years as a trader and informant for the Ethiopian court, which had co-opted him like many foreigners before and after him.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-8-138963728)
Between the 1646 and 1696, the Armenian merchant Khodja Murad served as emissary and broker to three successive Ethiopian emperors, on whose behalf he traveled several times to Yemen, India and as far as Batavia, Insulindia, while his nephew Murad Ibn Mazlum, was delegated to head the embassy designated to the court of the French king Louis XIV. He was later followed by the Armenian bishop Hovannès Tutundji, who travelled from Cairo to Gondär in 1679, where he **brought back a relic of the Ethiopian saint Ewostatewos**. Another Armenian visitor to Ethiopia from this period was the monk Avédik Paghtasarian, who reached Gondar in 1690. and wrote a work titled “This is the way to travel to Abyssinia” [9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-9-138963728)
Some of the Armenian travelers to Ethiopia left detailed descriptions of their journey across the kingdom which increased external knowledge about the region.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!s33A!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2f3a0e24-7242-42c4-9ab4-ca93da5ff9f6_823x945.png)
_**Medieval Armenian T-O map, 13th-15th century, Yerevan, Matenadaran, MS 1242. Ethiopia is shown on the extreme east as ‘hapash’**_[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-10-138963728)
The most detailed of these accounts was written by the Armenian traveler Yohannes Tovmacean. He was born in Constantinople but mostly resided in the Armenian monastery in Venice, afterwhich he became a merchant in his later life and travelled widely. He reached Massawa in 1764 and proceeded via Aksum and Adwa to Gondär Where he was appointed as one of the treasurers to Empress Mentewwab before making his way back to the coast in 1766. His travelogue describes many aspects of Ethiopian society that he observed and also mentions several Armenians he found in Gondar such as Stephan, a jeweler from Constanipole and another treasurer named Usta Selef.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-11-138963728)
The journey of T'ovmacean took place a few decades before the better known visit of Ethiopia by James Bruce, who also encountered some Armenians at the Ethiopian capital Gondar, writing that;
_**"These men are chiefly Greeks, or Armenians, but the preference is always given to the latter. Both nations pay caratch, or capitation, to the Grand Signior**_[i.e. the Ottoman sultan]_**whose subjects they are, and both have, in consequence, passports, protections, and liberty to trade wherever they please throughout the empire, without being liable to those insults and extortions from the Turkish officers that other strangers are."**_[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-12-138963728)
**The creation of an Armenian diaspora in Ethiopia**
Armenians had been, along with the Greeks and the Arabs, among the only foreigners allowed to travel or stay regularly, and with relative freedom, in Ethiopia during the 17th and 18th centuries when the Gondarine rulers severed relationships with the Latin Christians of southern Europe. The Armenian presence in Ethiopia eventually took on a diasporic dimension with the arrival and establishment of the first real immigrants followed by their families, from the last quarter of the 19th century, especially in northern regions such as Tigray.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-13-138963728)
The town of Adwa in Tigray, which was a major center for crafts production, was home to a number of Armenian jewelers and armorers who served the Ethiopian court and church elites. One such Armenian jeweler in the mid 19th century was Haji Yohannes, who was said to have formerly been an illegal coiner, another was an armorer named Yohannes. Armenian craftsmen could be found in other towns such as in Antalo, the capital of Ras Walda Sellase, where there was an Armenian leatherworker named Nazaret, and in Ankobar, where there was an Armenian silversmith named Stefanos. While these goldsmiths and silversmiths did not command a high social position in Ethiopia, they were vital to its urban economy.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-14-138963728)
The Armenian community in 19th century Ethiopia weren't only craftsmen but also included influencial figures that played a role in the Ethiopian church. In the 1830s, for example, the provincial ruler of Tigray, Sebagadis, and his successor, had involved an Armenian in a mission to urge the Coptic patriarch of Egypt to appoint an _**abuna**_ (Patriach of the Ethiopian church).[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-15-138963728)
The doctrinal relationship between the Armenian and Ethiopian Churches, as well as the antiquity of their exchanges, ensured that regular contacts were maintained between Ethiopian and Armenian diasporas in the Holy lands. This was especially true for Jerusalem, which remained one of the few foreign destinations of interest to Ethiopians after in the 17th century, and where the local Ethiopian community was placed under the protection of the Armenian community by the Ottoman sultan. The relationship between the Armenian, Ethiopian and Coptic communities in Jerusalem was however, less than cordial, with all claiming control over important sites of worship while leveraging their connections with international powers to support their claim or mediate their disputes.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-16-138963728)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qGkA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b4effde-b46e-4cba-83e4-db4d3829fb79_650x863.png)
**From my article on the history of Ethiopians and Nubians in Jerusalem, read more about it here:**
[LINKS BETWEEN AFRICA AND PALESTINE](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80883718)
One such mediator in the 19th century were the British, who mostly leaned towards the Ethiopian community's side in Jerusalem even as their relationship with Tewodros, the Ethiopian ruler at the time, was in decline. The British thus worked with the Armenian patriarch in Jerusalem who organized a mission to Ethiopia in 1867 that was led by two Armenian clergymen; Dimothéos Sapritchian and Isaac. The two visitors left a detailed description of Ethiopia and were briefly involved in the issue of finding a new abuna, with Isaac almost assuming the role, but the appointment was ultimately made in the time-honored way, following nomination by the Alexandrian Patriarch. The two Armenian clergymen eventually left Ethiopia in 1869.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-17-138963728)
The Armenian community in Ethiopia would continue to flourish under Tewodros' sucessors, especially during the reign of Menelik II (1889-1913) when they numbered around 200 and later exceeded 1,000 by the 1920s, following the genocide of Ottoman-Armenians and a major wave of migration of Armenians to Ethiopia. Just like their predecessors, many of the Armenians served in various capacities both elite and non-elite, often as craftsmen, traders and courtiers. Under the patronage of Menelik and his sucessors, the Armenian community in Ethiopia was naturalized and eventually came to regard Ethiopia as a ‘diasporic homeland’, a sentiment which continues to the present day. [18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-18-138963728)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-vEC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F98af3291-1e55-4d9f-ae1d-0226c3c7b4a9_960x760.jpeg)
_**Members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, holding the Ethiopian flag in 1910**_. (Photo courtesy of Alain Marcerou)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qeQK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff552e5b1-3e44-4fbb-ae34-7a57a296d2f4_760x559.jpeg)
_**the 'Arba Lijoch', imperial brass band of Haile Selassie**_, early 20th cent. The Arba Lijoch were 40 Armenian orphans who escaped the Armenian genocide and were adopted by Selassie while he was in Jerusalem in 1924.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NkHL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febbac1a6-a910-452d-8184-be3f1be824c0_800x508.jpeg)
_**Historic postcard of the Kevorkoff Building in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.**_ associated with the Armenian businessman Matig Kevorkoff
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!25DZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe4bd10-d422-40b9-a035-f197a540c5b0_829x591.png)
_**Saint George Armenian Apostolic church, Addis Ababa**_, built in 1935
**Ethiopia is one of the few places in the world that developed its own notation system, and is home to an one of the world’s oldest musical traditions.**
read more about it in my latest Patreon essay;
[HISTORY OF MUSIC IN ETHIOPIA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-music-92740278)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3J2h!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe6044f50-dbd8-4659-bca7-80abd44ef424_662x1100.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-1-138963728)
Armeno-Aethiopica in the Middle Ages by Zaroui Pogossian pg 117-119)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-2-138963728)
Nubia, Ethiopia, and the Crusading World by Adam Simmons, A Note towards Quantifying the Medieval Nubian Diaspora by Adam Simmons pg 27-29, A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea by Samantha Kelly pg 434)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-3-138963728)
Africa and Byzantium By Andrea Myers Achi pg 157, 165
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-4-138963728)
A Note towards Quantifying the Medieval Nubian Diaspora by Adam Simmons pg 29)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-5-138963728)
Écriture et réécriture hagiographiques du gadla Ēwosṭātēwos Olivia Adankpo
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-6-138963728)
Dictionary of African Biography, Volumes 1-6 pg 320, The History of Ethiopian-Armenian Relations by R. Pankhurst,
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-7-138963728)
A companion to religious minorities in Rome by Matthew Coneys Wainwright pg 177-185)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-8-138963728)
Les Arméniens dans le commerce asiatique au début de l'ère moderne: Armenians in asian trade in the early modern era by Sushil Chaudhury, pg 121-127
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-9-138963728)
Foreign relations with Ethiopia: human and diplomatic history (from its origins to present) by Lukian Prijac pg 14, Les Arméniens dans le commerce asiatique au début de l'ère moderne: Armenians in asian trade in the early modern era by Sushil Chaudhury pg 128-145
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-10-138963728)
A Medieval Armenian T-O Map by Rouben Galichian
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-11-138963728)
The Visit to Ethiopia of Yohannes T'ovmacean: An Armenian Jeweller in 1764-66 by V. Nersessian and Richard Pankhurst
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-12-138963728)
A Social History of Ethiopia by Richard Pankhurst pg 103)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-13-138963728)
Les Arméniens en Éthiopie, une entorse à la « raison diasporique » ? by Boris Adjemian pg 108-113)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-14-138963728)
A Social History of Ethiopia by Richard Pankhurst pg 235-238)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-15-138963728)
An Armenian Involvement in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ethiopia by David W. Phillipson pg 142)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-16-138963728)
The Monk on the Roof: The Story of an Ethiopian Manuscript Found in Jerusalem (1904) by Stéphane Ancel
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-17-138963728)
An armenian involvement Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ethiopia by David W. Phillipson pg 137-143)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and#footnote-anchor-18-138963728)
Immigrants and Kings Foreignness in Ethiopia, through the Eye of Armenian Diaspora by Boris Adjemian
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-africa-and
|
The continent of Africa is home to some of the oldest and most diverse range of musical traditions, instruments and performances in world history
Evidence of music in Africa appears long before the emergence of complex societies and states. The stone age paintings of tassili n'Ajjer in southern Algeria, which was occupied during the green-Sahara period, include depictions of figures dancing and playing musical instruments that are dated to around 6,000-4,000 BC. In Eastern Africa, the earliest evidence of music appears in the rock art paintings from Kondoa in Tanzania dated to around 4,000-1,000BC, which include depictions of figures playing musical instruments.
By the time the first states emerged in the Nile Valley, the northern Horn of Africa, and the West African Sahel, Music had become a salient feature of political and social in Africa. A combination of archeological evidence, oral traditions, and written sources attest to the broad range of instruments, dances and performances of music across much of the African continent, demonstrating the connection between music and other aspects of daily life.
Representations of musicians and musical instruments abound in many African artworks, from the wall paintings of Ancient Kush and medieval Nubia, to the illustrated manuscripts of Ethiopia, to the sculptural art of the west African kingdoms of Ife and Benin. Processions of musicians and dancers populate the painted scenes on the temple walls in Kush and the monasteries of medieval Nubia, representations of musical instruments appear frequently in the vast corpus of sculptural art produced by the artists of Benin and ife, while manuscripts written by Ethiopian scribes include illustrations of biblical figures playing local musical instruments.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KNeI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49b0a35f-d87e-4a77-a3f9-4a4decb1a061_953x607.png)
_**Painting depicting a dance scene, Kom H monastery, ca. 12th-14th century, Old Dongola, Sudan.**_
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_**18th century Illustration showing Mandinka dancers at a festival in Dramanet, Kingdom of Galam (upper Senegal River)**_
Written documents of poetry and songs in African societies date back to the earliest internal and external accounts about the continent since antiquity. From the musical manuscripts of Ethiopia to the written poetry of the Swahili coast and Islamic west Africa, these internal accounts document how music was conceived and transmitted by Africans in various contexts. External accounts written by classical writers such as Hanno, medieval Arab travelers like Ibn Battuta and later European explorers, leave little doubt about the centrality of Music to various African cultures.
Increased interactions between various African regions and external societies brought together a diverse range of cultures and traditions, which were then dispersed by the African diaspora across parts of the Old world and the Americas. New music forms, instruments, and dances emerged as different societies interacted with one another, influencing their practices of religion, political institutions, cultural festivals and identities.
Nowhere is this dynamism in Africa’s musical history more evident than in the musical traditions of Ethiopia. The 'Solomonic' state of Ethiopia which flourished from 1270-1974 was home to some of Africa's oldest music traditions and a unique notation system for recording music that is one of a few of its kind in the world.
The musical history of Ethiopia is the subject of my latest Patreon article,
**Please read more about it here:**
[HISTORY OF MUSIC IN ETHIOPIA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-music-92740278)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3J2h!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe6044f50-dbd8-4659-bca7-80abd44ef424_662x1100.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qgVY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8821c4d-ce9d-4344-95b5-641a23feaeb4_612x390.jpeg)
King Munza of the Mangbetu kingdom (in North-eastern D.R.C) dancing before his wives and courtiers in the royal hall.
_**"every musical accompaniment to which the resources of the court could reach had all been summoned and here was a melee of gongs and kettle drums, timbres and trumpets, horns and bells, Dancing there in the midst of all, a wondrous sight was the king himself"**_
Georg August Schweinfurth, 1874
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[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KNeI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49b0a35f-d87e-4a77-a3f9-4a4decb1a061_953x607.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rHl8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9e9cc185-c6fc-469f-9c8f-00328f4cef28_600x407.webp",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3J2h!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe6044f50-dbd8-4659-bca7-80abd44ef424_662x1100.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qgVY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8821c4d-ce9d-4344-95b5-641a23feaeb4_612x390.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-history-of-music
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The Indian sub-continent has historically been home to one of Africa's best documented diasporic communities in Asia. For many centuries, Africans from different parts of eastern Africa travelled to and settled in the various kingdoms and communities across India. Some rose to prominent positions, becoming rulers and administrators, while others were generals, soldiers and royal attendants.
The arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian ocean world in 1498 was a major turning point in the history of the African diaspora in India. Political and commercial alliances were re-oriented, initiating a dynamic period of cultural exchanges, trade and travel by Africans. Sailors and merchants from the Swahili coast, royals from the Mutapa kingdom, and crewmen from Ethiopia established communities across the various cities of the western Indian coast who joined the pre-existing African diaspora on the subcontinent.
This article explores the history of the African diaspora in Portuguese India from the 16th to the 18th century, focusing on Africans who travelled to India out of their own volition, and eventually resided there permanently.
_**Map showing the cities and kingdoms of the western Indian Ocean mentioned below[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-1-138576378)**_
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**Background on the Swahili city-states, the Portuguese and the western India coast at the turn of the 16th century.**
The earliest African diaspora in Portuguese India was closely associated with the Portuguese arrival in the western Indian ocean. When the ships of Vasco Dagama rounded the cape and landed on Mozambique-island in 1498, the rivaling Swahili city-states were alerted to the presence of a new player in the coast’s factious political environment.
Malindi quickly took advantage of the Portuguese presence to overpower its rival, Mombasa. Malindi’s sultan hosted Vasco Da gama, whose hostile encounter at Mozambique-island and Mombasa had earned him a bad reputation among many of the Swahili elites. Malindi boasted a cosmopolitan population that included not just the Swahili and other African groups, but also itinerant Indian and Arab merchants. Among these was an experienced sea-captain named Malema Cana who agreed to direct the Portuguese crew to the Indian city of Calicut. Later Portuguese expeditions would eventually battle with the rulers of Calicut and Goa, seizing both by 1510 and making Goa the capital of their possessions in the Indian ocean. In the suceeding decades, a number of Indian cities would fall under Portuguese control including Diu, Daman, Surat, Bassein, Bombay, and Mangalore.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-2-138576378)
On the East African coast, a similar pattern of warfare led to the capitulation of Mombasa, Kilwa, Zanzibar, Mozambique island, and Sofala to the Portuguese over the course of the 16th century. Malindi leveraged its alliance with the Portuguese to become the capital of the Portuguese posessions on the east African coast and thus the seat of the “captain of the coast of Malindi”. Like many of the large Swahili cities, the merchants of Malindi were engaged in trade with the Indian ocean world, primarily in ivory and gold —a lucrative trade which continued after the Portuguese occupation of Goa.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-3-138576378)
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_**ruins of Old town, Malindi**_
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**Swahili voyages to Portuguese India: trading expeditions of Sultans and Merchants.**
Prior to the Portuguese arrival, Swahili traders had been carrying goods on locally-built mtepe ships and on foreign ships to the coasts of Arabia, India and south-east Asia as far as the city of Malacca[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-4-138576378). This trade continued after the Portuguese ascendancy but was re-oriented. The Malindi sultan thus pressed his advantage, as early as 1517, by sending a letter to his suzerain, the king of Portugal, requesting a letter of protection to allow him free travel in his own ship throughout the Portuguese possessions from al-Hind (India) to Sofala (Mozambique). This was the first of several requests of safe passage made on behalf of Swahili sailors who were active in Portuguese India.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-5-138576378)
There are similar letters from the late 16th century of a Malindi sultan, king Muhammad, sending a ship to the Portuguese settlement of Bassein (India) in 1586, as well as to Goa during the same year to warn the Portuguese about the Ottoman incursion of Abi Bey who had allied with some Swahili towns led by Mombasa and Pate. And around the year 1596, the same Malindi sultan wrote to Philip II of Spain, asking that his ships should sail freely throughout the Iberian possessions in India without paying taxes, He also asked for the free passage for a Malindi trading mission to China (likely, to Macau), to improve his finances. These requests were granted, the latter in particular may have been a consequence of the decline in Malindi's trade during the late 16th century and the eventual shift of the Portuguese administration of east Africa to Mombasa in 1593.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-6-138576378)
Such requests of safe passage and duty free trade also taken up by private merchants who sailed on their own ships to India. For example the Mozambique-island resident named Sharif Muhammad Al-Alawi, who passed on the 1517 Malindi letter to the Portuguese, also requested a letter of safe passage for his own ship. Several later accounts mention East African merchants sailing regulary to India. An account from 1615 mentions a Mogadishu born Mwalimu Ibrahim who is described as an expert in navigation from “Mogadishu to the Gulf of Cambay”, his brother was involved in Portuguese naval wars off the coast of Daman. While another 1619 account mentions itinerant traders from the Malindi coast visiting Goa regulary, including a trader from Pate named Muhammad Mshuti Mapengo who was _**“well-known in Goa, where he often goes.”**_[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-7-138576378)
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_**Letters by the Malindi sultan and the Mozambique merchant Muhammad Al-Alawi, adressed to the Portuguese king Manuel**_, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo
**Swahili voyages to Portuguese India: Envoys and Political alliances.**
The activities of the Swahili elites in Portuguese India were partly dependent on their city's political relationship with local Portuguese authorities. When the Portuguese captured Mombasa in 1593, a more complex relationship was developed with the Swahili cities both within their direct control such as Mombasa, Pemba and Malindi, and those outside it such as Pate. Regular travel by Swahili elites to India were undertaken in the early 17th century as the nature of Portuguese control was continously re-negotiated. This was especially the case for the few rulers who adopted Catholism and entered matrimonial alliances with the Portuguese such as the brother of the king of Pemba who in the 1590s travelled to Goa but refused the offer to be installed as king of Pemba.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-8-138576378)
A better known example was the sending of the Mombasa Prince Yusuf ibn al-Hasan to Goa in 1614 after a power struggle with the Portuguese governor at Mombasa had ended the assassination of his father. The prince was raised by the ‘Augustinian order’ in Goa where he was baptized as Don Jeronimo Chingulia. While in Goa, he married locally (albeit to a Portuguese woman) and was active in the Portuguese navy, before he was later crowned king of Mombasa in 1626 in preparation for his travel back to his home the same year. He would be the first of many African royals who temporarily or permanently resided in Goa, among whom included his cousin from Malindi named Dom Antonio.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-9-138576378)
Swahili factions allied with the Portuguese often travelled to Goa and some lived there permanently. These include Bwana Dau bin Bwana Shaka of Faza, a fervent supporter of the Portuguese who settled in Goa after 1698 and kept close ties with the administration. In 1724, Mwinyi Ahmed Hasani Kipai, an ambitious character from Pate, took a ship in Barawa to meet the Portuguese in Surat and later on in Goa.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-10-138576378)
In 1606, two Franciscan friars met a _mwalimu_ (ship pilot) from Pemba whom they described as a Swahili "old Muslim negro", that in 1597 had guided the ship of Francisco da Gama, the future viceroy of India, from Mombasa to Goa. Others included emissaries who travelled to Goa on behalf of their sultans, such include the Mombasa envoys Mwinyi Zago and Faki Ali wa Mwinyi Matano, that reached Goa in 1661 and 1694 respectively.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-11-138576378)
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_**Mombasa beachfront, ca. 1890**_, Northwestern University
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**Mutapa priests in India: royal Africans of the Dominican order.**
Contemporaneous with the Portuguese presence on the east African coast was their expansion into the interior of south east Africa, especially in the kingdom of Mutapa in what is now Zimbabwe. From the early 17th century when the Portuguese were extending their control into parts of this region, members of the royal courts who allied with the Portuguese and adopted Catholicism often travelled to Goa and Lisbon for religious studies. These travels were primarily facilitated by the ‘Dominican order of preachers’, a catholic order that was active in the Mutapa capital and the region's trading towns, establishing religious schools whose students also included Mutapa princes. Unlike the itinerant nature of the Swahili presence in India, the presence of elites from Mutapa in India was a relatively permanent phenomenon.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-12-138576378).
Among the first of Mutapa princes to be sent to India was Dom Diogo, son of the Mutapa king Gatsi Rucere, he was sent to Goa in 1617 for further education by the Dominican prior, with the hope that he might suceed his ageing father. However, Dom Diogo died a few years after his arrival in Goa, becoming the first of the Mutapa elites who remained in Portuguese India. He had likely been accompanied to Goa by a little-known prince who later converted and became a priest named Luiz de Esprito Santo. This priest would later return to Mutapa to proselytize but died in the sucession wars after king Gatsi’s death.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-13-138576378)
He was soon followed by other Mutapa princes including Miguel da Presentacao, son of Gatsi's sucessor, king Kapararidze. Miguel spent most of his life in Goa from May 1629, where he would be educated and later earn a degree in theology. The young prince also travelled to Lisbon in 1630, where he received a Dominican habit and accepted into the order as a frair. The unusual circumstances in which this young old African prince was accepted into the order was likely due to royal intervention.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-14-138576378)
Miguel returned to Goa in 1633 and was ordained as a priest, serving in the Santa Barbara priory in Goa, teaching theology and acting as a vicar of the Santa Barbara parish. In 1650, the Portuguese king requested that he return to Mutapa to suceed king Mahvura but Miguel chose to stay in Goa, where he would later be awarded the title master of theology in 1670 shortly before his death.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-15-138576378)
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_**engraving titled; ‘Le grand Roy Mono-Motapa’ by Nicolas de Larmessin I (1655-1680) depicting a catholic king of Mutapa**_
Two other Mutapa princes were also sent to India at the turn of the 18th century by the Mutapa king Mhande (Dom Pedro). The first of these was Mapeze, who was baptized as Dom Constantino in 1699 and sent to the Santa Barbara priory in Goa the following year. Shortly after, Constantino was joined in Goa by his brother Dom Joao. Both of the princes' studies and stay in India were financed by the Portuguese crown, which influenced the local Dominican order to accept them, with Constantino receiving a Dominican habit. After reportedly committing an indiscretion, Constantino was briefly banished to Macao (in China) by the vicar general of Goa, before the Portuguese king ordered that the prince be returned to Goa in 1709.
When the Mutapa throne was taken by a king opposed to the Portuguese in 1711, the Portuguese king asked Constantino to return to Mutapa and take up the throne, but the later refused, claiming that he had renounced all worldly ambitions, an excuse that the Portuguese accepted. Constatino received a pension from the crown but was in conflict with his local religious superiors, which forced him to request safe passage to Lisbon for him and his brother. Constantino died en route but his brother opted to go to Brazil where he was eventually buried in the cathedral of Bahia.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-16-138576378)
More African elites and students were sent to Goa during the 18th century, despite the great decline of the Portuguese presence in Mutapa, Eastern Africa and India. Atleast one Mutapa prince is known to have been sent to Goa around 1737 to enter the Dominican order, but he died shortly after his arrival. In the late 18th century, there were a number of Africans from Mozambique who received training in the Dominican priory at Goa, many of whom remained in India. Unlike the princes, these were youths whose families lived next to the mission stations in Mozambique, atleast 6 of them are known to have been admitted in 1770, but its unknown if they completed their training.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-17-138576378)
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**Establishing an African diaspora in India: the East Africans and Ethiopian community in India.**
Besides the itinerant merchants, royals, and priests, the African population of Portuguese India also included the families of merchants, sailors, crewmen, dockworkers and other personalities, all of whom worked in various capacities in the various port cities. Alongside the relatively small numbers of African elites who resided permanently in India, these Africans comprised the bulk of the African diaspora in Portuguese India.
The abovementioned requests for letters of safe passage by Swahili sultans, hint at the predominantly African crew of the ships which sailed to India. Internal Swahili accounts such as the Pate chronicle mention atleast two sultans who organized trading expeditions to India, especially along the Gujarat coast, during the 16th and 17th century. In 1631, a sultan of Pate sent a ship to Goa whose crew mostly consisted of his wazee (councilors/elders of Pate), and in 1729, another sultan of Pate asked of the Portuguese the right to send “one of his ships” loaded with ivory to Diu.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-18-138576378)
The African merchants who sailed to India were not all itinerant traders, but included some who stayed for long periods and married locally. In 1726, a letter from the king of Pate cited one Bwana Madi bin Mwalimu Bakar from Pate _**“who goes each year to Surat where he is married.”**_[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-19-138576378) Matrimonial alliances were a common feature of commercial relationships in the Indian ocean world -including among the Swahili, and it would not have been uncommon for Swahili merchants who travelled to India to have engaged in them and raised families locally.
But the Swahili were not the only African group which permanently resided in Portuguese India. According to Jan Huygen van Linschoten, who lived in Goa in the 1580s, _**“free Muslim Abyssinians**_ _**are employed in all India as sailors and crew aboard the trading ships which sail from Goa to China, Japan, Bengal, Malacca, Hormuz and all the corners of the Orient.”**_
These sailors and often took their family aboard and comprised the bulk of the crew, such that the Portuguese who owned and/or captained the ship were often the minority. Some these African sailors also held high offices, such as in the India city of Dabhol in 1616, where the captain of a large ship was a Muslim “black native” from “Abyssinia”, and a pilot of a Mughal trading ship docked in Goa’s habour in 1586 was an Abyssinian who chided a Portuguese captain for losing to the Ottoman corsair Ali Bey on the Swahili coast.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-20-138576378)
The use of the ethnonym “Abyssinians” here is a generic reference to various African groups from the northern Horn of Africa, who had long been active in India ocean trade. While the above references are concerned with Muslim Abyssinians, there are atleast two well known Christian Ethiopians who travelled to India in the early 15th century. They include a well-travelled scholar named Yohannes, who journeyed across much of southern Europe and reached Goa on his return journey in 1526, where he met with another Ethiopian named Sägga Zäab, who was the Ethiopian ambassador to Portugal[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-21-138576378).
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_**Yohannes' travels to Europe and India**_. Map by Matteo Salvadore
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_**Right Street in the City of Goa, Portuguese India, between 1579 and 1592. by Jan Huygen van Linschoten.**_ The painting includes African figures.
Many Christian Ethiopians also reached Portuguese India during the period when the two nations were closely allied against the Ottomans. These Ethiopians not only travelled for trade but for permanent settlement, the latter of which was often sponsored by the Portuguese. For example in the 1550s, the viceroy Dom Constantino de Braganca granted villages in the Daman district to Christian Abyssinians. This community proved quite sucessful and produced prominent benefactors for the local Jesuit missions such as one named catholic Ethiopian named Ambrosio Lopes, who left a significant fortune for the Jesuit church in Bassein[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-22-138576378). Another is the ‘Abyssinian Christian matron’ named Catharina de Frao, who proselytized among local Muslim and Hindu women.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-23-138576378)
As a testament to the dynamic nature of the African diaspora in Portuguese India, the resident ‘Abyssinian’ community of India, called the _Siddis_, who had arrived to the subcontinent some centuries before the Portuguese, was attimes involved in conflict with the latter, who were themsleves supported by other Ethiopians. Before the abovementioned viceroy Constantino De Braganca acquired Daman in 1558, he had to battle with the forces of a _siddi_ named Bofeta, who was incharge of the city’s garrison comprised of mixed Turkish and Ethiopian soldiers. And the city of Diu was itself guarded by a force comprised mostly of _Siddis_ before it was taken by the Portuguese in 1530 [24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-24-138576378)
The African community in Portuguese India therefore occupied all levels of the social hierachy; from transient envoys and merchants to resident royals, priests, soldiers, sailors and crewmen. This community was borne out of the complex political and commercial exchanges between Africa and India during the era of Portuguese ascendance in the Indian ocean, and was part of the broader patterns of cultural exchange that eventually saw Africans arriving on the shores of Japan in 1543.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!q4br!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F86afb2dd-afd0-4cb0-8989-2fbea22e40e5_700x530.png)
_**detail of a 17th century Japanese painting, showing an African figure watching a group of Europeans, south-Asians and Africans unloading merchandise.**_
**READ more about the African diaspora in 16th century Japan here:**
[AFRICAN PRESENCE IN JAPAN](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-presence-90958238)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Flmy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F533e2e7c-7f07-45d6-bfcc-ed00d8f9b487_640x966.png)
**Around 3,5000 years ago, a complex culture emerged in the region of central Nigeria that produced Africa’s second largest collection of sculptural art during antiquity, as well as the earliest evidence for iron smelting in west Africa**
**READ about it here:**
[THE ANCIENT NOK CIVILIZATION](https://www.patreon.com/posts/91819837)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!85yK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe954ab68-a8c4-49f5-bc03-11a364f32b94_595x1255.png)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-2-138576378)
Empires of the monsoon: A history of the Indian Ocean and its invaders by Richard Seymour pg 163-178)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-3-138576378)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu by Thomas Vernet pg 81-82)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-5-138576378)
The Suma oriental of Tome Pires by Tomé Pires pg 46, A Handful of Swahili Coast Letters, 1500–1520 by Sanjay Subrahmanyam pg 270
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-6-138576378)
East African Travelers and Traders in the Indian Ocean by Thomas Vernet 169-170 pg 167-169, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu by Thomas Vernet pg 101
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-7-138576378)
East African Travelers and Traders in the Indian Ocean by Thomas Vernet pg 180, 184-185, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu by Thomas Vernet pg 143)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-8-138576378)
Identidade pessoal, reconhecimento social e assimilação: a inclusão de membros de famílias reais africanas e asiáticas na nobreza portuguesa by Manuel Lobato pg 123-124, Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu by Thomas Vernet pg 194
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-9-138576378)
The Swahili Coast, 2nd to 19th Centuries, by G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville pg 94, The Church in Africa 1450-1950 by Adrian Hastings pg 128, Identidade pessoal, reconhecimento social e assimilação by Manuel Lobato pg 125-126
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-10-138576378)
East African Travelers and Traders in the Indian Ocean by Thomas Vernet pg 189)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-11-138576378)
East African Travelers and Traders in the Indian Ocean by Thomas Vernet pg 184)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-12-138576378)
The Church in Africa 1450-1950 by Adrian Hastings, 120-121)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-13-138576378)
The Dominican Friars in Southern Africa: A Social History (1577-1990) By Philippe Denis pg 19-20, Iberians and African Clergy in Southern Africa by Paul H. Gundani pg 183-184
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-14-138576378)
Iberians and African Clergy in Southern Africa by Paul H. Gundani pg 180-181
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-15-138576378)
The Dominican Friars in Southern Africa: A Social History (1577-1990) By Philippe Denis pg 31-33)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-16-138576378)
The Dominican Friars in Southern Africa: A Social History (1577-1990) By Philippe Denis 42-44)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-17-138576378)
The Dominican Friars in Southern Africa: A Social History (1577-1990) By Philippe Denis pg 49, 61)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-18-138576378)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu by Thomas Vernet pg 151, 153)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-19-138576378)
Les cités-États swahili de l'archipel de Lamu by Thomas Vernet pg 152)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-20-138576378)
East African Travelers and Traders in the Indian Ocean by Thomas Vernet pg 185, The Ottoman Age of Exploration By Giancarlo Casale pg 167
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-21-138576378)
African cosmopolitanism in the early modern Mediterranean by M. Salvadore pg 68-69
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-22-138576378)
The Portuguese in India and Other Studies, 1500-1700 By A.R. Disney, The History of the Diocese of Damaun by Manoel Francis X. D'Sa pg 46
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-23-138576378)
History of Christianity in India: From the middle of the sixteenth to the end of the seventeenth century, 1542-1700 by Church History Association of India, pg 321
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese#footnote-anchor-24-138576378)
Indian Ocean and Cultural Interaction, A.D. 1400-1800 by Kuzhippalli Skaria Mathew pg 37
|
[
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cYtH!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F248ecd99-836a-43b1-865d-a05edcc4302c_1057x658.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NoiT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0c469099-f94f-46f3-9652-dc66f6aa84b5_304x400.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SZkW!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff3778452-eabd-42f1-bd7c-863cbc388dc3_546x485.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!k5R2!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbb6ac5a-f885-4637-b121-4c3a9fbef789_673x402.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75jq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F335b9b36-43de-42a9-a86b-08bf67564e2c_820x321.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!q4br!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F86afb2dd-afd0-4cb0-8989-2fbea22e40e5_700x530.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Flmy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F533e2e7c-7f07-45d6-bfcc-ed00d8f9b487_640x966.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!85yK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe954ab68-a8c4-49f5-bc03-11a364f32b94_595x1255.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-african-diaspora-in-portuguese
|
Beginning around 12,000 years ago, a wide-ranging set of developments emerged independently in several societies across the world. Plants and animals were domesticated, pottery and advanced tools appeared, and settlements were established. This archeological period, often refered to as the 'Neolithic' or 'Late stone Age', was protracted and diverse, with different features appearing in different regions at different time periods —and no region exhibits this diversity more than Africa.
The earliest domesticates, advanced tools and permanent settlements in Africa first appear in the Upper and Middle Nile Valley in what is today Egypt and Sudan between 9,000-5,000 BC. This region was home to [several ancient cultures that were part of a shared Neolithic tradition](https://www.patreon.com/posts/75102957?pr=true) that eventually gave rise to the first states, with dynastic Egypt around 3,000BC and the Kerma kingdom around 2,500BC. A similar process in the Northern Horn of Africa saw [Neolithic cultures emerging around 2,700BC](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/demystifying-the-ancient-land-of), prior to the rise of the D'MT polity around 900BC and the Aksumite kingdom by the turn of the common era.
In West Africa, Neolithic cultures emerged between the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. This was a dynamic period with substantial changes of settlement systems, economy, technology, and land use. Due to increasing aridity, human occupation gradually shifted from the drying Sahara into the more humid areas of West Africa. There was considerable variability in these developments, with pottery, livestock and cereal agriculture appearing as early as the 6th millennium BC, thus preceeding permanent settlements and iron tools by several millennia. The period was later suceeded by the emergence of large sedentary communities, the first cities (eg; Jenne-Jeno) and early states (eg; the Ghana empire) during the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium CE.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RKzE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F230d3127-753e-4cf1-b49c-79e7f38f5db2_1048x548.png)
_**Map showing Africa’s oldest Neolithic cultures as well as sites with early archaeobotanical evidence for the spread of major African crops. (**_ original map by Dorian Fuller & Elisabeth Hildebrand _**)**_
Only a few West African Neolithic cultures with complete archaeological traditions, including material culture, settlement and socio-economic systems, have been studied for this period. The most distinctive are the [Tichitt tradition of southern Mauritania](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa) (2200-400 BC), the Kintampo culture of Ghana (2100–1400 BC), the Gajiganna culture of North-east Nigeria (1800–800 BC), and the Nok culture of central Nigeria (1500–1 BC). The Nok culture is unique and renowned because of its elaborate terracotta sculptures, as well as providing the earliest evidence of iron smelting in west Africa.
My latest Patreon article explores the history and significance of the Nok culture in the origins of African kingdoms, institutions and inventions:
[THE ANCIENT NOK CIVILIZATION](https://www.patreon.com/posts/91819837)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!85yK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe954ab68-a8c4-49f5-bc03-11a364f32b94_595x1255.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kXWg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdac928fe-1629-4c7e-878f-2f5e5392e92d_709x469.jpeg)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-H9e!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f264bba-fe2e-47fe-8b33-647bb5fdd787_567x376.jpeg)
Ruins of the ancient town of Dakhlet el Atrouss-I in south-eastern Mauritania, that was built during the classic Tichitt phase (1600BC-1000BC). Measuring over 300ha and with an estimated population of 10,000 at its height, the town is one of Africa’s oldest urban settlements.
(photos by Robert Vernet)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-origin-of-african?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
Thank you for reading African History Extra. This post is public so feel free to share it.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-origin-of-african?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RKzE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F230d3127-753e-4cf1-b49c-79e7f38f5db2_1048x548.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!85yK!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe954ab68-a8c4-49f5-bc03-11a364f32b94_595x1255.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kXWg!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdac928fe-1629-4c7e-878f-2f5e5392e92d_709x469.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-H9e!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f264bba-fe2e-47fe-8b33-647bb5fdd787_567x376.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-origin-of-african
|
Popular history of Africa before the colonial era often divides the continent’s military systems into two broad categories —the relatively modern armies along the Atlantic coast which used firearms, versus the 'traditional' armies in the interior that fought with arrows and spears. And it was the latter in particular, whose chivalrous soldiers armed with antiquated weapons, are imagined to have quickly succumbed to colonial invasion.
Nowhere is this imagery more prevalent than in mainstream perceptions of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. Descriptions of Zulu armies armed with short spears and shields, bravely rushing over open ground in the face of heavy fire in an attempt to get to grips with the redcoats, has come to dominate our understanding of colonial warfare. It casts this 'traditional' African army as an atavistic warrior people in their twilight, whose supposed failure to innovate doomed them to their seemingly inevitable fall.
Like all simplified narratives, the popular division between traditional and modern military systems is more apparent than real. The guns of Queen Njinga’s army in Matamba (Angola) were just as effective at defeating the Portuguese colonial armies in the 17th century[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-1-138168101), as the arrows of Chagamire Dombo were at crushing the colonialists forces in Mutapa (Zimbabwe).[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-2-138168101) And as the the 19th century colonial expansionism intensified, the Zulu armies defeated the British in the field on no less than three occasions.
This article explores the history of Zulu military innovations within their local context in south-east Africa, and the overlooked role of firearms in Zulu warfare.
_**Map of southern Africa in the early 19th century showing the Zulu kingdom.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1VCR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F468cf231-d3ed-482a-b730-a31700d75933_828x527.png)
**Support African History Extra by becoming a member of our Patreon community, subscribe here to read more on African history and keep this blog free for all:**
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
**Genesis of the Zulu military system: Southern African armies and weapons from the 16th to the 18th century.**
The Zulu kingdom emerged in the early 19th century, growing from a minor chiefdom in Mthethwa confederation, to become the most powerful state in south-east Africa. Expanding through conquest, diplomacy and patronage, the kingdom subsumed several smaller states over a large territory measuring about 156,000 sqkm.
The Zulu state owed much of its expansion to its formidable army during the reign of King Shaka (1812-1828), the kingdom's first independent ruler. The Zulu military developed during Shaka's reign utilized a distinctive form of organization, fighting formations and weapons, that were popularized in later literature about colonial warfare in Africa. Chief among these was the regiment system, and the short-spears known as assegai that were utilized in the famous cow-horn formation of close-combat fighting.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-3-138168101)
Like most historical traditions which attribute important cultural innovations to the kingdom's founder, these innovations are thought to have been introduced by king Shaka. However, they all predate the reign of the famous Zulu king, and most of them were fairly common among the neighboring states of south-east Africa. Among such states was the Thuli chiefdom, which, during its expansion south of the Thukela River in the late 18th century, employed the short-spear in close combat. Another tradition relating the the Mtehthwa king Dingiswayo also attributes the use of short stabbing spears to his armies, replacing the throwing spear. The line of transmition then follows both of these innovations from Dingiswayo's son to a then prince Shaka, when the Zulu were still under Mtehthwa's suzerainty.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-4-138168101)
The short spear often associated with king Shaka was itself a relatively ancient weapon among the polities of south-east Africa. The earliest descriptions of armies in the region from the mid 16th century include mentions of warriors armed with wooden pikes _**"and some assegais [spears] with iron points.”**_ These descriptions came from shipwrecked Portuguese sailors whose desperation attimes drove them to cannibalism against the Africans who they found near the coast, and thus invited severe retaliation from the African armies. One such incident of cannibalism by the Portuguese crew near Delagoa bay[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-5-138168101) (Maputo Bay) resulted in the shipwrecked crew being attacked by an African army _**“throwing so many assegais**_[azagayas, or spears]_**that the air was darkened by a cloud of them, though they seemed afterwards to be as well provided with them as before.”**_ A similar attack is described by another shipwrecked crew in 1622 whose camp was showered with more than 530 assegais and countless wooden spears.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-6-138168101)
The type of assegais used in the region where the Zulu kingdom would later emerge would have been fairly similar to the ones associated with Shaka. One account from 1799 mentions that the armies in Delagoa bay region were _**"armed with a small spear"**_ which they _**"throw with great exactness thirty or forty yards**_". The account also describes their armies' war dress, their large shields and their form of organization with guard units for the King. These were all popularized in later accounts of the Zulu army but were doubtlessly part of the broader military systems of the region. [7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-7-138168101)
The above fragmentary accounts of military systems in south-east Africa indicate that traditions attributing the introduction/invention of the Zulu’s military formations and weapons to Shaka were attimes more symbolic than historical, although they would be greatly improved upon by the Zulu.
**Development and innovation of the Zulu military system from Shaka to Dingane: Assegais and Firearms.**
According to the Zulu traditions recorded in the late 19th century, Shaka trained his warriors to advance rapidly in tight formations and engage hand-to-hand, battering the enemy with larger war-shields, then skewering their foes with the short spear. Shaka's favorite attack formation was an encircling movement known as the _impondo zankomo_ (beast's horns), in which the the _isifuba_, or chest, advanced towards the enemy’s front, while two flanking parties, called _izimpondo_, or horns, surrounded either side.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-8-138168101)
There were many types of assegais in 19th century Zululand, including the _isijula_, the larger _iklwa_ and _unhlekwane_, the _izinhlendhla_ (barbed assegais), and the _unhlekwana_ (broad-bladed assegai) among others. Assegais were manufactured by a number of specialized smiths, who enjoyed a position of some status, and were made on the orders of, and delivered to, the king, who would distribute them as he saw fit. The assegai transcended its narrow military applications as it epitomized political power and social unity of the state. It also played an important part in wedding and doctoring ceremonies, as well as in hunting. It acquired an outsized position in Zulu warfare and concepts of honor that emphasized close combat battle.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-9-138168101)
The Zulu army originally formed during the reign of Shaka's predecessor, Senzangakhona (d. 1812), was an age-based regimental force that developed out of pre-existing region-based forces called _amaButho_. These regiments were instructed to build a regional barracks (_Ikhanda_) where they would undergo training. The barracks served as a locus for royal authority as temporary residences of the King and a means to centralize power. Shaka greatly expanded this regimental system, enrolling about 15 regiments, with the estimated size of his army being around 14,000 in the early 19th century, which he sent on campaigns/expeditions (_impi_) across the region.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-10-138168101)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!P7N2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb588bf3b-da12-4f63-868c-3e55eeb1c51a_413x476.png)
_**Zulu Soldiers of King Panda's Army, 1847.**_[Library of Congress.](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670160/)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pjk5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe435ec9c-ddfe-4c1c-bf5d-d8ace11f53e0_1071x601.png)
_**‘Zulu Braves’ in ceremonial battle dress**_, [National Archives UK](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_National_Archives_UK_-_CO_1069-224-48.jpg), late 19th/early 20th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ykf8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F17744c08-1ce4-48b7-b079-4774be3710d7_800x511.jpeg)
_**the Zulu in ceremonial war dress**_, early 20th century photo, [smithsonian museum](https://www.si.edu/object/archives/components/sova-naa-photolot-97-ref14637)
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The exact size of the regiment, the location of their barracks and the number of regiments varied under sucessive rulers. When a new regiment was formed, the king appointed officers, or _izinduna_ to command it. These were part of the state officials, specifically chosen by the king to fulfil particular roles within the administrative system. Regiments consisted of companies (_amaviyo_) under the command of appointed officers, which together formed larger divisions (_izigaba_) also commanded by appointed officers, who were in turn under the senior commanders of the Zulu army.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-11-138168101)
The creation of the different regiments was largely determined by the King, while the military training of the cadets who joined them was mostly an informal process. Some of the regiments dating back to Shaka's time were still present at the time of the Anglo-Zulu war, others had been created during the intervening period, while others were absorbed. The regiments were distinguished by their war dress and shields, although these two changed with time. These regiments were armed with both the short spear and large shield, but they also carried guns —an often overlooked weapon in Zulu historiography. One particular regiment associated with this weapon in the Anglo-Zulu war were the _abaQulusi_, a group which eventually came to consider themselves to be directly responsible to the King.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-12-138168101)
The Zulu had been exposed to firearms early during kingdom's creation in the 1820s. Shaka was keenly intrested in the guns carried by the first European visitors to his court and acquired musketry contigents to bolster his army.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-13-138168101) He also sent Zulu spies to the cape colony and intended to send envoys to England inorder to learn how to manufacture guns locally. His sucessors, Dingane (r. 1828-1840) and Mpande (r. 1840-1872), acquired several guns from the European traders as a form of tribute in exchange for allowing them to operate within the kingdom.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-14-138168101)
**<<the journey from Zululand to England wouldn't have been an unusual undertaking, since African explorers —including from southern Africa— had been [travelling to western Europe since the 17th century.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/89363872?pr=true)>>**
While firearms acquired by the Zulu during Dingane’s reign were not extensively used in battle before the war between the Boers and the Zulu between 1837-1840, they quickly became part of the diverse array of weaponry used by his army. The Zulu had innovated their fighting since Shaka’s day, bringing back the javelin (_isiJula_) for throwing at longer distances, as well as knobkerries (a type of mace or club). Dingane also armed some of his soldiers with firearms, the majority of which seem to have been captured from the Boers after some Zulu victories. The Zulu army of Dingane also rarely fought using the cow-horn formation but frequently took advantage of the terrain to create more dispersed formations, often seeking to surprise the enemy and prevent them from making any effective defense.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-15-138168101)
The Zulu developed an extensive vocabulary reflecting their familiarity with the new technology, with atleast 10 different words for types of firearm, each with its own history and origin, as well as a description of its use. These included a five-foot long gun called the _ibala_, a large barreled gun known as the _imbobiyana_, a double barreled shotgun known as the _umakalana_ which was reserved for the elite, two other shotguns known as _isinqwana_ and _ifili_ (the first of which was used in close range fighting), and the "elephant gun" known as the _idhelebe_ which unlike the rest of the other guns was acquired from the Boers rather than the Portuguese. Other guns include the _iginanda_, _umhlabakude, igodhla,_ and _isiBamu_.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-16-138168101)
The bulk of firearms in the kingdom arrived from the British colony of Natal and the Portuguese station at Delagoa Bay, especially during the reign of Cetshwayo (r. 1872-1879/1884). The king utilized the services of a European trader named John Dunn whose agents transshipped the weapons from the Cape and Natal to Delagoa Bay and into Zululand. In the 1860s and 70s, the exchange price of a good quality double-barrel muzzle loader dropped from 4 cows or £20 to just one, while an Enfield rifle that was standard issue for the British military in the 1850s cost even less. This trade was often prohibited by the British in the Cape and Natal who feared the growing strength of the Zulu, but the "illegal" sales of guns carried on until the Portuguese were eventually forced to prohibit the trade in 1878.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-17-138168101)
Portuguese accounts indicate that between 1875 and 1877, 20,000 guns, including 500 breech-loaders, and 10,000 barrels of gunpowder were imported annually, the greater proportion of which went to the Zulu kingdom. This indicates a total estimate of 45,000 guns including 1,125 breech loaders and 22,500 barrels of gun powder. Another account from 1878 mentions the arrival of 400 Zulu traders at Delagoa who purchased 2,000 breech loaders. Zulu smiths learned how to make gunpowder under the supervision of the king's armorer, Somopho kaZikhala with one cache containing about 1,100 lb of gunpowder in 178 barrels.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-18-138168101)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vSQk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F252d9d74-34dd-477e-bb91-001c742b1479_607x440.png)
_**Flintlock Brown Bess musket bearing the Tower mark, typical of the firearms carried by the Zulu in 1879**_, Zululand Historical Museum, Ondini
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dngd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F15887722-253b-41e7-a4e6-b6cda65d4c11_1044x381.png)
(left) _**illustration of a Zulu attack formation at Isandlwana, with shields, guns and short spears**_ . (right) '_**Followers of the Zulu king, Cetshwayo, including his brother, Dabulamanzi, all carrying long rifles**_. photo taken in 1879 after the war, [National Army Museum](https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1954-06-5-2-13)
**Firearms and Assegais in the Zulu victory over the British.**
By the time of the Anglo-Zulu war in 1878, the majority of Zulu fighters were equipped with firearms, although they were unevenly distributed, with some of the military elites purchasing the best guns while the rest of the army had older models or hardly any. King Cetshwayo became aware of this when a routine inspection of members of one of the regiments revealed that they had few guns, and he ordered them to purchase guns from John Dunn. While the number of guns was fairly adequate, ammunition and training presented a challenge as they often had to use improvised bullets, and not many of them were drilled in good marksmanship.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-19-138168101)
From the Zulu army's perspective however, the kingdom was at its strongest despite some of the constraints. The British estimated King Cetshwayo’s army at a maximum strength of 34 regiments of which 7 weren't active service, thus giving an estimate of 41,900, although this was likely an over-stated. The force gathered at the start of the Anglo-Zulu War, which probably numbered about 25,000 men, was the largest concentration of troops in Zulu history.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-20-138168101) With about as many guns as the Asante army (in Ghana) when they faced off with the British in 1874.
The perception of the Zulu army by their British enemies often changed depending on prevailing imperial objectives and the little information about the Zulu which their frontier spies had collected. One dispatch in November 1878 noted that the _**“introduction of firearms”**_ wrought _**“great changes, both in movements and dress”**_, upon the _**“ordinary customs of the Zulu army”**_. Another dispatch by a British officer in January 1879 observed that Zulu armies _**“are neither more bloodthirsty in disposition nor more powerful in frame than the other tribes of the Coast region”.**_ The slew of seemingly contradictory dispatches increased close to the eve of the battle, with another officer noting that the Zulu army's "_**method of marching, attack formation, remains the same as before the introduction of fire arms.".**_[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-21-138168101)
The above assessments, and the other first-hand accounts provided below must all be treated with caution given the context in which they were made and the audience for which they were intended.
Throughout January 1879, a low-intensity war raged in the northwestern marches of the kingdom, culminating with a major clash at Hlobane. One account of the first battle of Hlobane on 21st January details the abaQulusi regiment's careful charges to minimize losses and their extensive use of firearms. The officer noted that his force was _**"engaged with about 1,000 Zulus, the larger proportion of whom had guns, many very good ones; they appeared under regular command, and in fixed bodies. The most noticeable part of their tactics is that every man after firing a shot drops as if dead, and remains motionless for nearly a minute. In case of a night attack an interval of time should be allowed before a return shot is fired at a flash".**_ He also noted that they fired guns when the British advanced but utilized the assegai when the enemy was in retreat.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-22-138168101)
While the first engagement at Hlobane ended in a British victory, this minor defeat for the Zulu was reversed the next day once they engaged with the bulk of the colonial forces at Isandlwana. Instead of a wild charge down the hill and across the wide plain, the Zulu regiments filed down the gullies of the escarpment and made a series of short dashes from one ridge to another toward the British position, only rising up to charge at the enemy once they were within a very short distance of the camp. The battle of Isandlwana, on 22 January 1879, was an imperial catastrophe, and a monumental victory for the Zulu, resulting in the loss of over 1,300 soldiers, including 52 officers and 739 Colonial and British men, 67 white non-commissioned officers and more than 471 of the Natal Native Contingent.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-23-138168101)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hKx_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F86c7a878-19cf-4a18-8ff1-1da0e22e2f92_600x425.webp)
_**a fairly accurate Illustration of a Zulu charge, made by Charles E. Fripp in 1879, showing the complete array of weapons.**_
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**Firearms in Zulu military strategy.**
The role of firearms in the Zulu victory was understated in later accounts for reasons related to the changing purposes to which depictions of the Zulu were put by the British over the course of the war. The dispatch by the colonial commissioner who had ordered the invasion, Henry Frere, suggested that the defeat resulted from the British having faced _**“10 or even 20 times their own force, and [having been] exposed to the rush of such enormous bodies of active athletes, perfectly reckless of their own losses, and armed with the short stabbing assegai"**_. Another dispatch noted that _**"every Zulu is a soldier, and as a nation they are brave, fond of fighting, and full of confidence in themselves … There can be no doubt of the warlike character of the Zulu race. Their present military organization would also show that they are capable of submitting to a severe discipline."**_[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-24-138168101)
Yet there are reports of the same battle which accurately describe the Zulu advance using firearms, before the last charge with assegais. One officer notes that the Zulu army advanced carefully, noting that _**"it was a matter of much difficulty to do really good execution among the ranks of the enemy, owing to the fact that with marvelous ingenuity they kept themselves scattered as they came along"**_, another observed that _**"From rock and bush on the heights above started scores of men; some with rifles, others with shields and assegais. Gradually their main body; an immense column opened out in splendid order upon each rank and firmly encircled the camp”**_.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-25-138168101) This contradicts the notion that the Zulu were simply throwing hordes of spearmen into the battle, something that would've been extremely costly given the kingdom's relatively low population (of just 100-150,000 subjects[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-26-138168101)) and very limited manpower compared to what the British could muster from the neighboring colonies.
This tactic was also witnessed at a later battle at Gingindlovu, on 2 April. The officer observed that once the Zulu were within 800 yards of the British camp, _**"they began to open fire. In spite of the excitement of the moment we could not but admire the perfect manner in which these Zulus skirmished. A knot of five or six would rise and dart through the long grass, dodging from side to side with heads down, rifles and shields kept low and out of sight. They would then suddenly sink into the long grass, and nothing but puffs of curling smoke would show their whereabouts."**_[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-27-138168101)
A later interview with Zulu war veterans in 1882 summarizes their preferred tactics as thus; _**"They went through various manoeuvres for my entertainment, showing me how they made the charges which proved so fatal to our troops. They would rush forward about fifty yards, and imitating the sound of a volley, drop flat amidst the grass; then when firing was supposed to have slackened, up they sprung, and assegai and shield in hand charged like lightning upon the imaginary foe, shouting ‘Usutu’."**_ Its likely that Henry Frere's account of charging athletes with assegais was an oversimplification of this final advance, when the initial slow advance with firearms gave way to a swift charge with assegais.[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-28-138168101)
The choice to utilize both firearms and assegais was influenced as much by cultural significance of the assegai as it was by the relatively low quality of the firearms and marksmanship. Zulu guns were of diverse origins, including German, British and American muskets, but some were old models having been made in 1835, in contrast to the British's Martini-Henry which was made just 8 years before the war. While these Zulu guns had been relatively effective in the earlier wars, they constrained the range at which Zulu marksmen could accurately fire their weapons and increase enemy causalities. The Zulu captured 1000 Martini-Henrys and 500,000 rounds of ammunition at Isandlwana which they put to good use in later battle of Hlobane which they won on 28th March 1879 and as well as the defeat at Khambula the next day. As one British officer at Khambula observed, the Zulu he encountered were _**"good shots"**_ who _**"understood the use of the Martini-Henry rifles taken at Isandlwana"**_. However, the captured weapons weren't sufficient for the whole army to use in later engagements and were distributed asymmetrically among the soldiers.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-29-138168101)
King Cetshwayo had hoped his victory at Isandlwana would persuade the British to reconsider their policies, but it only provoked a bitter backlash, as more British reinforcements poured into the region. Isandlwana had been a costly victory, a type of fighting which the Zulu army had not before experienced, and the terrible consequences of the horrific casualties they suffered became more apparent with each new battle, with the successive defeats at Gingindlovu and Ulundi eventually breaking the army.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-30-138168101)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rJKi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F41f20d58-a7a6-4b8e-808e-5bfcb5758985_540x700.jpeg)
_**The King Cetshwayo in exile,**_ London, 1882.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Conclusion.**
The Zulu army was a product of centuries in developments in the military systems of south-east Africa. The Zulu’s amaButho system and fighting formations were well-adapted to the South African environment in which they emerged, and were continuously innovated in the face of new enemy forces and with the introduction of new weapons, including guns.
While the Zulu did not kill most of their enemy with firearms, references to the Zulu’s mode of attack suggest that their tactical integration of firearms reflected a greater familiarity and skill in their use than is often acknowledged. The Zulu frequently demonstrated adaptive skills in their tactical deployment of a diverse array of weapons and fighting styles that defy simplistic notions of traditional military organization.
The gun-wielding regiments that quietly crept behind the hill of Isandlawana, with their shields concealed behind the bushes, were nothing like the charging hordes of imperial adventure that blindly rushed into open fields to be mowed down by bullets. The Zulu army was a highly innovative force, acutely aware of the advantages of modern weaponry, the need for tactical flexibility in warfare, and the limits of the kingdom’s resources. In this regard, the Zulu were a modern pre-colonial African army par excellence.
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_**Isandlwana and graves of the fallen of 1879.**_
**In the 16th century, Africans arrived on the shores of Japan, many of them originally came from south-east Africa and eastern Africa, and had been living in India**. read more about this African discovery of Japan here:
[AFRICAN PRESENCE IN JAPAN](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-presence-90958238)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Flmy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F533e2e7c-7f07-45d6-bfcc-ed00d8f9b487_640x966.png)
nn
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-3-138168101)
The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828 By Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 76
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-4-138168101)
The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828 By Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 27, 31, 61-62)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-5-138168101)
_post-publication correction, this encounter actually took place 65 miles northeast of the Mthatha River, which is 450 miles south of Maputo Bay._
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-6-138168101)
Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of Southeastern Africa by Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 62, 81)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-7-138168101)
Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of Southeastern Africa by Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 145-146)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-8-138168101)
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg 32, 192-209)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-9-138168101)
A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire pg 144, 147)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-10-138168101)
The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828 By Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 35-41, The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg 33-34, 51-54)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-11-138168101)
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg 60, 64, 82)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-12-138168101)
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg 61, 84, 105-107, A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire by Karen Jones pg 146,)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-13-138168101)
A Note on Firearms in the Zulu Kingdom with Special Reference to the Anglo-Zulu War, by J. J. Guy pg 557-558
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-14-138168101)
The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828 By Elizabeth A. Eldredge pg 152, 166, 243, 256, Companion to the Anglo-Zulu War By Ian Knight pg 183)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-15-138168101)
The Zulu-Boer War 1837–1840 By Michał Leśniewski pg 97-100
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-16-138168101)
The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples pg 63, Zulu–English Dictionary Alfred T. Bryant pg 20
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-17-138168101)
Kingdom in crisis By John Laband pg 62-63, A Note on Firearms in the Zulu Kingdom with Special Reference to the Anglo-Zulu War, by J. J. Guy pg 560
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-18-138168101)
A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire by Karen Jones pg 131, Kingdom in crisis By John Laband pg 63)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-19-138168101)
Companion to the Anglo-Zulu War By Ian Knight pg 184
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-20-138168101)
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg 35)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-21-138168101)
A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire by by Karen Jones pg 132)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-22-138168101)
A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire by by Karen Jones pg 136-137, The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg 210)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-23-138168101)
Companion to the Anglo-Zulu War By Ian Knight pg 118
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-24-138168101)
A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire by by Karen Jones pg 132)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-25-138168101)
Witnesses at Isandlwana by Neil Thornton, Michael Denigan, A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire by by Karen Jones pg 139)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-26-138168101)
The Zulu-Boer War 1837–1840 By Michał Leśniewski pg 97
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-27-138168101)
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg 212)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-28-138168101)
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg 213)
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-29-138168101)
Kingdom in crisis By John Laband pg 64-65, Companion to the Anglo-Zulu War By Ian Knight pg 185)
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history#footnote-anchor-30-138168101)
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army by Ian Knight pg pg 42)
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Flmy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F533e2e7c-7f07-45d6-bfcc-ed00d8f9b487_640x966.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/guns-and-spears-a-military-history
|
a brief note on the African exploration of Asia
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a brief note on the African exploration of Asia
===============================================
### plus; the African presence in Japan (1543-1639)
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[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Oct 14, 2023
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For much of Africa’s history, many of its travelers who ventured outside the continent often went to western and southern Asia.
In antiquity, the North-East African kingdoms of Kush and Aksum which were closest to Asia, extended their control over parts of western Asia and Arabia. African rulers, soldiers, merchants, pilgrims and other settlers established communities across the region —from Nineveh in Iraq to [Sanʿāʾ in Yemen](https://www.patreon.com/posts/ethiopian-ruler-78169632?l=fr)— and engaged in cultural exchanges which linked societies on either shores of the red sea.
Over the middle ages, envoys and merchants from Aksum travelled further into south Asia,[sailing regulary to the island of Sri Lanka](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-aksumite-empire-between-rome) and the south-western parts of India. Their exploratory initiative was later taken over by the Swahili who plied the routes between the Persian gulf and India, eventually travelling to the south-east Asian islands of Malaysia, and reaching the east-Asian state of China.
What initially begun as sporadic contacts between China and the kingdoms of Aksum and Makuria, rapidly grew into regular diplomatic exchanges involving several African envoys from many different Swahili, Somali and Ethiopian states travelling to China during the Song dynasty. In the 10th-14th century period alone, [more than 8 envoys are documented to have travelled to China from 5 different African kingdoms](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80113224?pr=true). Chinese travelers reciprocated these visits, sending two major exploratory missions that reached eastern Africa in the early 14th and early 15th century, a few decades prior to the European irruption in the Indian ocean.
The African exploration of Asia wasn't halted by the arrival of Portuguese interlopers, but was instead re-oriented to exploit the changes in the political and commercial landscape of the Indian ocean world. As political alliances shifted between different regional and global powers, African kingdoms alternated their external interests between western Asia and south Asia, depending on their relationship with the Portuguese. Africans converged in the Portuguese city of Goa in India, creating a diasporic community that included visiting royals and envoys, catholic priests, mercenaries, and servants.
It was from this African community in south-Asia that the first Africans who travelled to Japan originated, arriving on the island nation in the 1540s.
**The history of African travel to Japan is the subject of my latest Patreon post,**
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[AFRICAN PRESENCE IN JAPAN](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-presence-90958238)
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-african-exploration-a90
|
In the 19th century, anthropologists were fascinated by the concept of matrilineal descent in which kinship is traced through the female line. Matriliny was often confounded with matriarchy as a supposedly earlier stage of social evolution than patriarchy. Matriliny thus became a discrete object of exaggerated importance, particulary in central Africa, where scholars claimed to have identified a "matrilineal belt" of societies from the D.R. Congo to Mozambique, and wondered how they came into being.
This importance of matriliny appeared to be supported by the relatively elevated position of women in the societies of central Africa compared to western Europe, with one 17th century visitor to the Kongo kingdom remarking that _"the government was held by the women and the man is at her side only to help her"_. In many of the central African kingdoms, women could be heads of elite lineages, participate directly in political life, and occasionally served in positions of independent political authority. And in the early 20th century, many speakers of the Kongo language claimed to be members of matrilineal clans known as ‘Kanda’.
Its not difficult to see why a number of scholars would assume that Kongo may have originally been a matrilineal —or even matriarchal— society, that over time became male dominated. And how this matrilineal African society seems to vindicate the colonial-era theories of social evolution in which “less complex” matriarchal societies grow into “more complex” patriarchal states. As is often the case with most social histories of Africa however, the contribution of women to Kongo’s history was far from this simplistic colonial imaginary.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YjMP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8598fe1d-9f97-49e7-8a9b-20249dcc18a2_666x566.png)
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Scholars have often approached the concept of matriliny in central Africa from an athropological rather than historical perspective. Focusing on how societies are presently structured rather than how these structures changed through time.
One such prominent scholar of west-central Africa, Jan Vansina, observed that matrilineal groups were rare among the foragers of south-west Angola but common among the neighboring agro-pastoralists, indicating an influence of the latter on the former. Vansina postulated that as the agro-pastoral economy became more established in the late 1st millennium, the items and tools associated with it became highly valued property —a means to accumulate wealth and pass it on through inheritance. Matrilineal groups were then formed in response to the increased importance of goods, claims, and statuses, and hence of their inheritance or succession. As leadership and sucession were formalised, social alliances based on claims to common clanship, and stratified social groups of different status were created.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-1-137752120)
According to Vansina, only descent through the mother’s line was used to establish corporate lineages headed by the oldest man of the group, but that wives lived patrilocally (ie: in their husband's residence). He argues that the sheer diversity of kinship systems in the region indicates that matriliny may have developed in different centers along other systems. For example among the Ambundu, the Kongo and the Tio —whose populations dominated the old kingdoms of the region— matrilineages competed with bilateral descent groups. This diverse framework, he suggests, was constantly remodeled by changes in demographics and political development.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-2-137752120)
Yet despite their apparent ubiquity, matrilineal societies were not the majority of societies in the so-called matrilineal belt. Studies by other scholars looking at societies in the Lower Congo basin show that most of them are basically bilateral; they are never unequivocally patrilineal or matrilineal and may “oscillate” between the two.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-3-137752120) More recent studies by other specialists such as Wyatt MacGaffey, argue that there were never really any matrilineal or patrilineal societies in the region, but there were instead several complex and overlapping forms of social organization (regarding inheritance and residency) that were consistently changed depending on what seemed advantageous to a give social group.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-4-137752120)
Moving past contemporary debates on the existance of Matriliny, most scholars agree that the kinship systems in the so-called matrilineal belt was a product of a long and complex history. Focusing on the lower congo river basin, systems of mobilizing people often relied on fictive kinship or non-kinship organizations. In the Kongo kingdom, these groups first appear in internal documents of the 16th-17th century as political factions associated with powerful figures, and they expanded not just through kinship but also by clientage and other dependents. In this period, political loyalty took precedence over kinship in the emerging factions, thus leading to situations where rivaling groups could include people closely related by descent.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-5-137752120)
Kongo's social organization at the turn of the 16th-17th century did not include any known matrilineal descent groups, and that the word _**'kanda**_' —which first appears in the late 19th/early 20th century, is a generic word for any group or category of people or things[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-6-137752120). The longstanding illusion that _**'kanda'**_ solely meant matrilineage was based on the linguistic error of supposing that, because in the 20th century the word kanda could mean “matriclan” its occurrence in early Kongo was evidence of matrilineal descent.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-7-137752120) In documents written by Kongo elites, the various political and social groupings were rendered in Portuguese as _**geracao**_, signifying ‘lineage’ or ‘clan’ as early as 1550. But the context in which it was used, shows that it wasn’t simply an umbrella term but a social grouping that was associated with a powerful person, and which could be a rival of another group despite both containing closely related persons.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-8-137752120)
In Kongo, kinship was re-organized to accommodate centralized authority and offices of administration were often elective or appointive rather than hereditary. Kings were elected by a royal council comprised of provincial nobles, many of whom were themselves appointed by the elected Kings, alongside other officials. The kingdom's centralized political system —where even the King was elected— left a great deal of discretion for the placement of people in positions of power, thus leaving relatively more room for women to hold offices than if sucession to office was purely hereditary. But it also might weaken some women's power when it was determined by their position in kinship systems.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-9-137752120)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JyNH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1bafc76-fb25-49ac-a484-0d66584ecab5_696x557.png)
_**Aristocratic women of Kongo, ca. 1663, [the Parma Watercolors](https://mavcor.yale.edu/mavcor-journal/nature-culture-and-faith-seventeenth-century-kongo-and-angola).**_
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
Kongo's elite women could thus access and exercise power through two channels. The first of these is appointment into office by the king to grow their core group of supporters, the second is playing the strategic role of power brokers, mediating disputes between rivalling kanda or rivaling royals.
Elite women appear early in Kongo's documented history in the late 15th century when the adoption of Christianity by King Nzinga Joao's court was opposed by some of his wives but openly embraced by others, most notably the Queen Leonor Nzinga a Nlaza. Leonor became an important patron for the nascent Kongo church, and was closely involved in ensuring the sucession of her son Nzinga Afonso to the throne, as well as Afonso's defeat of his rival brother Mpanzu a Nzinga.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-10-137752120)
Leonor held an important role in Kongo’s politics, not only as a person who controlled wealth through rendas (revenue assignments) held in her own right, but also as a “daughter and mother of a king”, a position that according to a 1530 document such a woman _**“by that custom commands everything in Kongo”**_. Her prominent position in Kongo's politics indicates that she wielded significant political power, and was attimes left in charge of the kingdom while Afonso was campaigning.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-11-137752120)
Not long after Leonor Nzinga’s demise appeared another prominent woman named dona Caterina, who also bore the title of '_**mwene Lukeni**_' as the head of the royal _**kanda**_/lineage of the Kongo kingdom's founder Lukeni lua Nimi (ca. 1380). This Caterina was related to Afonso's son and sucessor Pedro, who was installed in 1542 but later deposed and arrested by his nephew Garcia in 1545. Unlike Leonor however, Caterina was unsuccessful in mediating the factious rivary between the two kings and their supporters, being detained along with Pedro.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-12-137752120)
In the suceeding years, kings drawn from different factions of the _lukeni_ lineage continued to rule Kongo until the emergence of another powerful woman named Izabel Lukeni lua Mvemba, managed to get her son Alvaro I (r. 1568-1587) elected to the throne. Alvaro was the son of Izabel and a Kongo nobleman before Izabel later married Alvaro's predecessor, king Henrique, who was at the time still a prince. But after king Henrique died trying to crush a _jaga_ rebellion in the east, Alvaro was installed, but was briefly forced to flee the capital which was invaded by the _jaga_ s before a Kongo-Portugal army drove them off. Facing stiff opposition internally, Alvaro relied greatly on his mother; Izabel and his daughter; Leonor Afonso, to placate the rivaling factions. The three thereafter represented the founders of the new royal _**kanda**_/house of _kwilu_, which would rule Kongo until 1624.[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-13-137752120)
Following in the tradition of Kongo's royal women, Leonor Afonso was a patron of the church. But since only men could be involved in clerical capacities, Leonor tried to form an order of nuns in Kongo, following the model of the Carmelite nuns of Spain. She thus sent letters to the prioress of the Carmelites to that end. While the leader of the Carmelite mission in Kongo and other important members of the order did their best to establish the nunnery in Kongo, the attempt was ultimately fruitless. Leonor neverthless remained active in Kongo's Church, funding the construction of churches, and assisting the various missions active in the kingdom. Additionally, the Kongo elite created female lay associations alongside those of men that formed a significant locus of religiosity and social prestige for women in Kongo.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-14-137752120)
As late as 1648, Leonor continued to play an important role in Kongo's politics, she represented the House of _kwilu_ started by king Alvaro and was thus a bridge, ally or plotter to the many descendants of Alvaro still in Kongo. One visiting missionary described her as _**“a woman**_ _**of very few words, but much judgment and government, and because of her sage experience and prudent counsel the king Garcia and his predecessor Alvaro always venerate and greatly esteem her and consult her for the best outcome of affairs"**_. This was despite both kings being drawn from a different lineage, as more factions had appeared in the intervening period.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-15-137752120)
The early 17th century was one of the best documented periods in Kongo's history, and in highlighting the role of women in the kingdom's politics and society. Alvaro's sucessors, especially Alvaro II and III, appointed women in positions of administration and relied on them as brokers between the various factions. When Alvaro III died without an heir, a different faction managed to get their candidate elected as King Pedro II (1622-1624). Active at Pedro's royal council were a number of powerful women who also included women of the _Kwilu_ house such as Leonor Afonso, and Alvaro II's wife Escolastica. Both of them played an important role in mediating the transition from Alvaro III and Pedro II, at a critical time when Portugual invaded Kongo but was defeated at Mbanda Kasi.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-16-137752120)
Besides these was Pedro II's wife Luiza, who was now a daughter and mother of a King upon the election of her son Garcia I to suceed the short-lived Pedro. However, Garcia I fell out of favour with the other royal women of the coucil (presumably Leonor and Escolastica), who were evidently now weary of the compromise of electing Pedro that had effectively removed the house of Kwilu from power. The royal women, who were known as “the matrons”, sat on the royal council and participated in decision making. They thus used the forces of an official appointed by Alvaro III, to depose Garcia I and install the former's nephew Ambrosio as king of Kongo.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-17-137752120)
However, the _kwilu_ restoration was short-lived as kings from new houses suceeded them, These included Alvaro V of the _'kimpanzu'_ house, who was then deposed by another house; the ‘_kinlaza’_, represented by kings Alvaro VI (r. 1636-1641) and Garcia II (r. 1641-1661) . Yet throughout this period, the royal women retained a prominent position on Kongo's coucil, with Leonor in particular continuing to appear in Garcia II's court. Besides Leonor Afonso was Garcia II's sister Isabel who was an important patron of Kongo's church and funded the construction of a number of mission churches. Another was a second Leonor da Silva who was the sister of the count of Soyo (a rebellious province in the north), and was involved in an attempt to depose Garcia II.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-18-137752120)
In some cases, women ruled provinces in Kongo during the 17th century and possessed armies which they directed. The province of Mpemba Kasi, just north of the capital, was ruled by a woman with the title of _'mother of the King of Kongo'_, while the province of Nsundi was jointly ruled by a duchess named Dona Lucia and her husband Pedro, the latter of whom at one point directed her armies against her husband due to his infidelity. According to a visiting priest in 1664, the power exercised by women wasn't just symbolic, _**"the government was held by the women and the man is at her side only to help her"**_. However, the conflict between Garcia II and the count of Soyo which led to the arrest of the two Leonors in 1652 and undermined their role as mediators, was part of the internal processes which eventually weakened the kingdom that descended into civil war after 1665.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-19-137752120)
In the post-civil war period, women assumed a more direct role in Kongo's politics as kingmakers and as rulers of semi-autonomous provinces. After the capital was abandoned, effective power lay in regional capitals such as Mbanza Nkondo which was controlled by Ana Afonso de Leao, and Luvota which was controlled by Suzanna de Nobrega. The former was the sister of Garcia II and head of his royal house of _kinlaza_, while the latter was head of the _kimpanzu_ house, both of these houses would produce the majority of Kongo's kings during their lifetimes, and continuing until 1914. Both women exercised executive power in their respective realms, they were recognized as independent authorities during negotiations to end the civil war, and their kinsmen were appointed into important offices.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-20-137752120)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fg-A!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc1dab79-44d0-4827-8b85-8d012dcad5e5_497x566.png)
_**Map of Kongo around 1700.**_
The significance of Kongo's women in the church increased in the late 17th to early 18th century. Queen Ana had a reputation for piety, and even obtained the right to wear the habit of a Capuchin monk, and an unamed Queen who suceeded Suzanna at Luvota was also noted for her devotion. It was in this context that the religious movement led by a [princess Beatriz Kimpa Vita](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/one-womans-mission-to-unite-a-divided), which ultimately led to the restoration of the kingdom in 1709. Her movement further "indigenized" the Kongo church and elevated the role of women in Kongo's society much like the royal women had been doing. [21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-21-137752120)
For the rest of the 18th century, many women dominated the political landscape of Kongo. Some of them, such as Violante Mwene Samba Nlaza, ruled as Queen regnant of the 'kingdom' of Wadu. The latter was one of the four provinces of Kongo but its ruler, Queen Violante, was virtually autonomous. She appointed dukes, commanded armies which in 1764 attempted to install a favorable king on Kongo's throne and in 1765 invaded Portuguese Angola. Violante was later suceeded as Queen of Wadu by Brites Afonso da Silva, another royal woman who continued the line of women sovereigns in the kingdom.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-22-137752120)
Women in Kongo continued to appear in positions of power during the 19th century, albeit less directly involved in the kingdom's politics as consorts of powerful merchants, but many of them were prominent traders in their own right[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-23-137752120). Excavations of burials from sites like Kindoki indicate that close social groups of elites were interred in the same cemetery complex alongside rich grave goods as well as Christian insignia of royalty. Among these elites were women who were likely consorts or matriarchs of the male relatives buried alongside them. The presence of initiatory items of _kimpasi_ society as well as long distance trade goods next to the women indicates their relatively high status.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-24-137752120)
It’s during this period that the matrilineal ‘kandas’ first emerged near the coastal regions, and were most likely associated with the commercial revolutions of the period as well as contests of legitimacy and land rights in the early colonial era.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-25-137752120) The social histories of these clans were then synthesized in traditional accounts of the kingdom’s history at the turn of the 20th century, and uncritically reused by later scholars as accurate reconstructions of Kongo’s early history. While a few of the clans were descended from the old royal houses (which were infact patrilineal), the majority of the modern clans were relatively recent inventions.[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-26-137752120)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XfZn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6d8348c2-d9fe-4495-82fe-074416d02150_712x505.png)
_**17th century illustration of Kongo titled “[Palm tree that gives wine”](https://mavcor.yale.edu/slice/palm-tree-gives-wine-october-may)**_, showing a woman with a gourd of palm wine. During the later centuries, women dominated the domestic trade in palm wine especially along important carravan routes in the kingdom.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-27-137752120)
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
The above overview of women in Kongo's history shows that elite women were deeply and decisively involved in the political and social organization of the Kongo kingdom. In a phenomenon that is quite exceptional for the era, the political careers of several women can be readily identified; ranging from shadowy but powerful figures in the early period, to independent authorities during the later period.
This outline also reveals that the organization of social relationships in Kongo were significantly influenced by the kingdom's political history. The kingdom’s loose political factions and social groups which; could be headed by powerful women or men; could be created upon the ascension of a new king; and didn't necessary contain close relatives, fail to meet the criteria of a historically 'matrilineal society'.
Ultimately, the various contributions of women to Kongo's history were the accomplishments of individual actors working against the limitations of male-dominated political and religious spaces to create one of Africa’s most powerful kingdoms.
The ancient libraries of Africa contain many scientific manuscripts written by African scholars. **Among the most significant collections of Africa’s scientific literature are medical manuscripts written by west African physicians** between the 15th and 19th century.
**Read more about them here:**
[HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-in-on-90073735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lngQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3148824-fad8-40e5-9044-16ed62cc4c6d_654x1001.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mh5V!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc5ee477e-1306-46af-857b-0c593e75c4d2_964x964.jpeg)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-1-137752120)
How Societies Are Born by Jan Vansina pg 92-95, 99
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-2-137752120)
How Societies Are Born by Jan Vansina pg 88-97)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-3-137752120)
The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pg 50)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-4-137752120)
Changing Representations in Central African History by Wyatt Macgaffey pg 197-201)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-5-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 440)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-6-137752120)
Changing Representations in Central African History by Wyatt Macgaffey pg 200
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-7-137752120)
The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pg 50, A note on Vansina’s invention of matrilinearity by Wyatt Macgaffey pg 270-271
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-8-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 439-440
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-9-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg pg 439)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-10-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 442-443)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-11-137752120)
A History of West Central Africa to 1850 by John Thornton pg 40
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-12-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 444-445)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-13-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 446)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-14-137752120)
A Kongo Princess, the Kongo Ambassadors and the Papacy by Richard Gray, Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 447, The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pg 155-156)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-15-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 452-453)
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-16-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 449)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-17-137752120)
A History of West Central Africa to 1850 by John Thornton pg 148-149
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-18-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 452-453)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-19-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 454)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-20-137752120)
The Kongolese Saint Anthony by John Thornton pg 24-39, Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 455-456
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-21-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 457, The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pg 153)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-22-137752120)
Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo by J.K.Thornton pg 459-460)
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-23-137752120)
Kongo in the age of empire by Jelmer Vos pg 47, 53
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-24-137752120)
The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman pg 157-158)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-25-137752120)
A note on Vansina’s invention of matrilinearity by Wyatt Macgaffey pg 279, Kongo Political Culture: The Conceptual Challenge of the Particular By Wyatt MacGaffey pg 62-63
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-26-137752120)
Origins and early history of Kongo by J. K Thornton. pg 93-98.
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power#footnote-anchor-27-137752120)
Kongo in the age of empire by Jelmer Vos pg 43, 53.
|
[
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YjMP!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8598fe1d-9f97-49e7-8a9b-20249dcc18a2_666x566.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JyNH!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1bafc76-fb25-49ac-a484-0d66584ecab5_696x557.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Fg-A!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc1dab79-44d0-4827-8b85-8d012dcad5e5_497x566.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XfZn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6d8348c2-d9fe-4495-82fe-074416d02150_712x505.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lngQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3148824-fad8-40e5-9044-16ed62cc4c6d_654x1001.png",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mh5V!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc5ee477e-1306-46af-857b-0c593e75c4d2_964x964.jpeg"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-womens-political-power
|
a brief note on Africa's Scientific Manuscripts
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a brief note on Africa's Scientific Manuscripts
===============================================
### plus; the history of Medicine in Africa.
[](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Sep 30, 2023
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Among the oldest manuscripts and inscriptions written by Africans are documents relating to the study of science. The writing and application of scientific knowledge on the continent begun soon after the emergence of complex societies across the continent, from the ancient kingdoms of the middle Nile and the Ethiopian highlands, to the west African empires and East African city-states of the middle ages.
The continent is home to what is arguably the world's oldest astronomical observatory at the ancient Nubian capital of Meroe —the first building of its kind exclusively dedicated to the study of the cosmos. [Meroe's astronomer-priests used a very technical approach to](https://www.patreon.com/posts/discovery-of-in-56930547)_[decan](https://www.patreon.com/posts/discovery-of-in-56930547)_[astronomy](https://www.patreon.com/posts/discovery-of-in-56930547) inorder to time events and predict meteorological phenomena. Their observatory complex was complete with inscriptions of astronomical equations and illustrations of people handling astronomical equipment.
Besides this fascinating piece of ancient technology, many of the continent's societies were home to intellectual communities whose scholars wrote on a broad range of scientific topics. From the Mathematical manuscripts of the 18th century scholar Muhammad al-Kishnawi, to the Geographical manuscripts of the 19th century polymath Dan Tafa, to the Astronomical manuscripts found in various private libraries across the cities of Timbuktu, Jenne, and Lamu. The history of science in Africa was shaped by the [interplay between invention and innovation](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/science-and-technology-in-african), as ideas spread between different regions and external knowledge was adopted and improved upon in local contexts.
This interplay between innovation and invention is best exemplified in the development of medical science in Africa. **The history of medical writing in Africa encompasses the interaction of multiple streams of therapeutic tradition**, these include 'classical' medicine based on the humoral theory, 'theological' medicine based on religious precedent, and the pre-existing medical traditions of the different African societies.
West Africa has for long been home to some of the continent's most vibrant intellectual traditions, and was considered part of the Islamic world which is credited with many of the world's most profound scientific innovations. The well established and highly organized regional and external commercial links which linked the different ecological zones of the region, encouraged the creation of highly complex societies, but also brought the diseases associated with nucleated settlements and external contacts.
West African societies responded to these health challenges in a variety of ways, utilizing their knowledge of _materia medica_ and pharmacopeia to treat and prevent various diseases which affected their populations. Many of these treatments were procured locally, but others were acquired through trade between regional markets and across the Sahara. These supplemented the intellectual exchanges between the two regions, as scholars composed medical manuscripts documenting all kinds of medical knowledge available to them.
The Medical manuscripts written by west African scholars are the subject of my latest Patreon article, In which I **look beyond the simple acknowledgement of the existence of scientific manuscripts in Africa to instead study the information contained in these historical documents.**
**Read more about it here:**
[HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AFRICA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-in-on-90073735)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lngQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa3148824-fad8-40e5-9044-16ed62cc4c6d_654x1001.png)
* * *
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!06Dk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc6165e8-6495-4d93-9801-a1094c7e025c_706x501.png)
_**a 16th century copy of Ibn Sina’s canon of medicine originally written in 1025.**_ Ibn Sina’s work appears frequently in the medical manuscripts of west Africa (as it does in the rest of the Muslim world as well as in Europe as _Avicenna_), He is one of several physicians cited by atleast two of the four west African scholars in my essay.
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[WHEN AFRICANS WROTE THEIR OWN HISTORY; A CATALOGUE OF AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY AFRICAN SCRIBES FROM ANTIQUITY UNTIL THE EVE OF…](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history)
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[a comprehensive look at states and societies across the continent's entire history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-general-history-of-africa)
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africas-scientific
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The nineteenth-century in West Africa was a time of revolution and intellectual renaissance. A political movement that had begun a century before in the region of modern Senegal fanned out along the banks of the Niger river to the shores of lake Chad, overthrowing old governments and replacing them with clerical authorities of high intellectual caliber.
The movement expanded rapidly east into the region of northern Nigeria, conquering the pre-existing kingdoms and subsuming them under the empire of Sokoto in 1804. But the newly formed Sokoto empire soon met its match further east when its advance was halted by the old empire of Bornu on the shores of lake Chad. Having failed to expand east, a splinter movement advanced west into central Mali, it quickly overwhelmed the divided aristocracies of the region and subsumed them under the empire of Massina in 1818. Having run out of new lands to conquer, the three empires of Massina, Sokoto and Bornu became embroiled in an ideological conflict; one that produced some of Africa's most remarkable accounts of written history.
_**Map showing the empires of Massina, Sokoto and Bornu in the 19th century.**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JJVx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa1e9a9a0-eb6b-4da7-8624-c987cb37bf55_796x567.png)
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The Massina empire was founded by Ahmad Lobbo, a charismatic leader who rose from relative obscurity in the intellectual community of Jenne, an ancient city in Mali. Extending from Jenne to the old city of Timbuktu, the Massina state was one of the largest empires in West Africa since the collapse of Songhai in 1591, and its establishment reversed the political fragmentation of the preceding centuries. [The government in Massina](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-massina-empire-1818) was led by a parliament known as the 'Great council', which consisted of about a hundred scholar-administrators who assisted Ahmad Lobbo. The most prominent figure on the 'Great council' was Nuh al-Tahir, a prolific man of letters who is one of Africa's most influencial historians.
The year is 1838 in the walled city of Hamdullahi, capital of the Massina Empire in central Mali. One of the city's founding residents and administrators is writing a short text whose opening paragraph reads _**"This is the chronicle of the needful one, Nuh ibn al-Tahir ibn Musa”**_ Once he was finished writing it, he gave it the title _'Tarikh al-Fattash'_ (_The chronicle of the inquisitive researcher_). As a scholar, Nuh al-Tahir was a prominent figure who is credited as a teacher of several important scholars in the intellectual communities of Jenne and Hamdullahi. Among his students was a particulary excellent scholar named Uthman dan Fodio who'd later became the founder of the Sokoto Empire in what is now nothern Nigeria. Nuh al-Tahir specialized in history and grammar, the latter of which earned him the honorific title 'master of literacy'.
As an administrator, Nuh al-Tahir was a top member of Massina's 'Great council' for much of its early history. The Great council of a hundred scholars was divided into two houses, the more powerful of which comprised about forty permanent members and was in turn led by two councilors of whom Nuh al-Tahir was one. His office at the head of Massina's government placed him in charge of mediating disputes between the council and the military, electing provincial governors for the empire's various districts, and leading the school system of Hamdullahi. Nuh al-Tahir's position made him one of the foremost scholar-administrators in revolutionary West Africa, and incidentally, the unofficial spokesperson of the Massina Empire and its ruler Amhad Lobbo. Nuh al-Tahir’s partisan career is echoed throughout his extant writings, including the '_Tarikh al-Fattash_'.
Initially, Nuh al-Tahir wrote the _Tarikh al-Fattash_ as a [short chronicle](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/sultan-caliph-and-the-renewer-of-the-faith/tarikh-alfattash-a-nineteenthcentury-chronicle/BE7269772AA5496CCCAF298A6AC96852) focusing on the life of the Songhai emperor Askiya Muhammad who reigned from 1493 to 1528. First, he presents the Askiya as a 'Caliph' —a powerful title only claimed by rulers of the largest Muslim empires in history who styled themselves as the political and religious sucessors of the prophet. He then writes about the prominent Muslim figures of the 16th century who recognized the Askiya as a caliph while he was on pilgrimage to mecca. In the semi-fictional account that follows, Nuh al-Tahir describes many prophetic and miraculous events that the Askiya witnessed on his pilgrimage journey through Mamluk Egypt and Mecca.
The most significant of these prophetic encounters was one which the Askiya had with the sixteenth century Egyptian scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti. According to the chronicle, Al-Suyuti is said to have told Askiya Muhammad that one of the latter's distant descendants named ‘Ahmad of Massina’ will inherit the title of Caliph. Evidently, this inexplicably prophesied figure of 'Ahmad of Massina' was none other than Nuh al-Tahir's patron, Amhad Lobbo. According to Nuh al-Tahir's short chronicle, all events surrounding Askiya Muhammad's pilgrimage and reign shared one thing in common; that the Askiya was the eleventh Caliph in the list of Muslim emperors who suceeded the prophet Muhammad, and that there would be a twelfth caliph named ‘Ahmad of Massina’ who will come after him.
Nuh al-Tahir would then greatly expand the chronicle, to provide more context of the political and social life in Songhai during Askiya's reign. Fortunately for his bold project, the vibrant intellectual community of Songhai had produced several remarkable scholars who composed detailed chronicles about its history. After Songhai's fall to forces from the Saadi dynasty of Morocco in 1591, the deposed Songhai emperors who retained the title of Askiya, established themselves in Dendi in what is now northern Benin. The Askiyas then begun a decades-long reconquest of Songhai territories, pushing the Moroccans out of many provinces and confining them to the large cities such as Jenne and Timbuktu.
After losing thousands of men but failing to pacify the fallen empire's provinces, the Moroccans pulled out of the region, abandoning the remaining soldiers to their fate. These remaining soldiers were known as the Arma, and they began a long series of peaceful negotiations with the Askiyas in Dendi that were mediated by Songhai's scholary families. Among these peace-making Songhai scholars living in the seventeenth century was one named Ibn al-Mukhtar, who was based in Dendi, and another named Al-Sa'di who was based in Jenne. [These two scholars composed some of the oldest chronicles in West Africa's history](https://dataspace.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp01bc386n02r).
Al-Sa'di completed his chronicle on Songhai's history in 1656 while Ibn al-Mukhtar finished his in 1664, the two documents were original compositions which relied on different sources to reconstruct a similar story. Al-Sa'di's chronicle was widely circulated in nineteenth century West Africa and survived in complete form with its title as _Tarikh al-Sudan_ (_The chronicle on West Africa_). On the other hand Ibn al-Mukhtar's chronicle wasn't widely circulated, it only survived in a fragmentary form that had no title.
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_**Copies of the [Tarikh al-Sudan](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/760066) of Al-Sa’adi, and the untitled [Tarikh of Ibn al-Mukhtar](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/760065), both at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. images from the met museum**_.
Nuh al-Tahir utilized information from the two seventeenth century chronicles to reconstruct the history of Songhai, which he then embellished with his own semi-fictional account about Askiya Muhammad. One particular historical figure he focused on was Mahmud Ka‘ti, a sixteenth century scholar who was close to the Askiya Muhammad, and who also happened to be the grandfather of Ibn al-Mukhtar. Then, taking advantage of Ibn al-Mukhtar's untitled chronicle, Nuh al-Tahir gave his own chronicle the title Tarikh al-Fattash and intentionally misattributed its authorship to Mahmud Ka‘ti.
The final version of the Tarikh al-Fattash chronicle was a very lengthy document, covering over a hundred leaves. Nuh al-Tahir therefore wrote a short summary of the chronicle for wider circulation which he titled _'Letter on the Appearance of the Twelfth Caliph'_ (or _'Risala'_). This summary document outlined the main claims contained in the Tarikh al-Fattash which it attributed not to Nuh al-Tahir, but to the sixteenth century scholar Mahmud Ka‘ti. The original short chronicle which Nuh al-Tahir wrote with his name in the title was hidden away in his personal library, while the _'Risala'_ was circulated widely circulated throughout West Africa and North Africa. This ingenious process of textural manipulation has long eluded modern researchers who worked on the _Tarikh al-Fattash_, but has since been meticulously uncovered by the historian [Mauro Nobili](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sultan-caliph-and-the-renewer-of-the-faith/F8EE443BBA7D86C99983E5BAE6799C74).
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0RDC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff28e8f48-7898-4cd4-ba7e-b25a241325fe_710x467.png)
Folios from a copy of Nuh al-Tahir’s _**Tarikh al-Fattash**_ (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images).
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In the study of Africa's past, modern historians bewailed the paucity of internal accounts written by Africans, and they were often forced to rely on biased and inadequate external sources written by non-Africans who were unfamiliar with the internal dynamics of the continent. But the recent discovery of countless African manuscripts from thousands of archives and private libraries across the continent has created an invaluable wealth of information on Africa's past. The cities of Timbuktu and Jenne are among the dozens of intellectual capitals across the continent whose corpus of old manuscripts have been catalogued and digitized by several institutions over the last few decades. However, as scholars rushed to translate these precious documents and mine them for hard evidence on Africa’s past, they soon discovered another challenge —Africa's internal sources contained their own unique biases and perspectives.
The existence of biases in primary sources isn't unique to African history, it is a [fundamental commonality of all history accounts](https://www.jstor.org/stable/270041) by all societies across the world. Writers of history in many regions of the world since antiquity, were cognizant of their own biases and a few of them strived to appear non-partisan in their works. As such, part of the work done by modern historians and philologists is to critically examine historical works for such biases inorder to reconstruct a more objective account of history. What makes the internal biases in African accounts relatively unique was that since African documents had only recently been discovered, the process of translating and analyzing them to resolve the biases is still in its early stages. Such was the case with the _Tarikh al-Fattash_, which contains a contested account about the life of a historical personality that was hotly debated by West African intellectuals of the nineteenth century.
In debating the accuracy of the _Tarikh al-Fattash_'s interpretation of Songhai's history, Nuh al-Tahir's fiercest critic was Dan Tafa, a scholar from the Sokoto Empire in what is now northern Nigeria. Dan Tafa, who is formally known as Abd al-Qādir al-Turūdī, was a prolific intellectual who ranks among Africa's polymaths. His literary production includes over seventy two extant books covering a broad range of subjects from [Philosophy, to Geography to History](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-19th-century-african-philosopher). Unlike Nuh al-Tahir who was an administrator, Dan Tafa didn't serve in the Sokoto government and he briefly alludes to this lack of a government office his 1855 philosophical apologia titled _'Covenants and Treaties'_.
While Dan Tafa wasn't an administrator, he was in all respects Nuh al-Tahir's intellectual peer when it came to being an accomplished scholar. Dan Tafa was the most prominent member of Sokoto's intellectual community, he run an important school, and was the unofficial advisor of several provincial governors in Sokoto. Dan Tafa's reputation proceeded him, such that by the time the German explorer Heinrich Barth visited Sokoto in 1853, Dan Tafa was considered by his peers and by Barth as _**"the most learned of the present generations of the inhabitants of Sokoto… The man was Abde Kader dan Tafa, on whose stores of knowledge I drew eagerly"**_. In short, Dan Tafa wasn't the type of person to easily give into Nuh al-Tahir's craftily written claims.
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_**Map of Sokoto by Paul E. Lovejoy**_
Dan Tafa had received a copy of the _'Risala'_ in 1842, after a series of diplomatic exchanges between Ahmad Lobbo and the rulers of the Sokoto Empire. The political history of Massina and Sokoto were closely intertwined. Early in his career, Ahmad Lobbo had accepted the nominal suzeranity of Sokoto's founder Uthman dan Fodio, but Ahmad Lobbo later decided to create the Massina state by his own effort. In Massina, Ahmad Lobbo's authority rested on a complex network of political and religious claims that didn't require any connection with the more respected founder of Sokoto.
After Uthman's death in 1817, there was a brief sucession crisis in Sokoto that pitted Uthman’s brother Abdullahi dan Fodio against his son Muhammad Bello. Eventually, Muhammad Bello suceeded his father and forced his uncle, Abdullahi, to submit after a series of negotiations between the two. [Ahmad Lobbo followed the events of this interregnum closely](https://www.jstor.org/stable/180736) but didn’t intervene. So when Bello challenged Ahmad Lobbo's authority in a series of letters that demanded he resubmits to Sokoto, the latter argued that Bello’s sucession crisis had rendered Massina independent of Sokoto. After failed attempts to foment rebellions in Massina and a heated exchange of letters, Bello eventually reached a settlement with Ahmad Lobbo and withdrew his claims.
Bello was suceeded by AbuBakr Atiku in 1838 after a brief interregnum during which AbuBakr Atiku's brother, named Muhammad al-Bakhari, had initially been elected by Sokoto's state council before he was later deposed. This Muhammad al-Bakhari also happened to be a friend of Ahmad Lobbo. Exploiting the brief unrest, Lobbo requested that the Sokoto elite recognize him as the leader of both Massina and Sokoto, sending two written requests to that end between the years 1838 and 1841. Understandably, the Sokoto elite rejected Lobbo's overtures in writing, and it was on the second occasion in particular that Dan Tafa explicitly cuts into the heart of Lobbo's legitimacy by critiquing the Tarikh al-Fattash and its author, Nuh al-Tahir.
Addressing Nuh al-Tahir directly, Dan Tafa writes that _**"We read what you wrote in it concerning the issue of the twelve caliphs mentioned in the hadith and that you claim al-Shaykh Ahmad Lobbo is the twelfth of them according to what is written in the Tarikh al-Fattash".**_ Dan Tafa then proceeds to provide a point-by-point refutation of Nuh al-Tahir's in a treatise he titled _‘Abd al-Qādir al-Turūdī's response to Nuh al-Tahir'_. Using the works of many respected Islamic scholars, Dan Tafa flatly rejects the claim that Ahmad Lobbo was the last of the twelve prophesied caliphs. More importantly, Dan Tafa denies any connection between Askiya Muhammad and Ahmad Lobbo, writing that even if the title of Caliph was bestowed onto the Askiya, _**"Where did you get the idea that what applied to him could apply to someone else?"**_.
Dan Tafa's sharp critique of the _Tarikh-al Fattash_ shows that while Nuh al-Tahir's chronicle was intended to equip Ahmad Lobbo with unassailable legitimacy as a Caliph based on the prophecy about Askiya Muhammad purportedly recorded by Mahmud Ka‘ti, it was roundly rejected in Sokoto. However, the chronicle was well received within Massina itself and in other parts of West Africa, and most of its claims were accepted. The _Tarikh al-Fattash_ was therefore as much a work of historical literature as it was a partisan text intended by its author to advance the political agenda of his royal patron. It’s thus very similar to its predecessors such as al-Sa'di's Tarikh al-Sudan whose political objective was to reconcile the Askiya and Arma elites.
**The**_**Tarikh al-Fattash**_**shows that West African chronicles were not mere agglutinative repositories of information waiting to be mined by modern researchers for hard facts, but were instead products of complex intellectual traditions that were heavily influenced by their authors' social and political context.** The chronicles contain carefully crafted discourses interweaving past realities with contemporary concerns, and were products of a dynamic scholary culture where concepts of power and legitimacy were imposed, engaged and contested. Approaching them from this perspective allows us to construct a more comprehensive picture of African history as presented in the chronicles, not just as a series of events, but as the author's interpretation of the events.
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Some years before his critique of Nuh al-Tahir's interpretation of Songhai's history, Dan Tafa had in 1824 completed a work on the history titled [‘](http://siiasi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/English-Rawd-al-Afkaar.pdf)_[Rawdat al-afkar](http://siiasi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/English-Rawd-al-Afkaar.pdf)_[’](http://siiasi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/English-Rawd-al-Afkaar.pdf)_(The Sweet Meadows of Contemplation)_. This text contains a general history of West Africa, but was especially focused on the Hausaland -a region in nothern Nigeria dominated by Hausa speakers whose kingdoms were subsumed by Sokoto when the empire was founded in 1808. Dan Tafa opens with the explanation for his writing the chronicle that: _**"I decided then to collect together here some of the historical narratives of these lands of the Sudan in general and the lands of the Hausa in particular"**_. He then adds that _**"the science of historiography serves to sharpen one's intellect and awaken in some the resolution to conduct historical research"**_. To compile his account on the kingdoms of the Hausa before Sokoto, Dan Tafa utilized pre-existing accounts, both oral and written, which included semi-legendary tales of immigrant kings who founded the Hausa states.
According to Dan Tafa, the immigrant founders of the Hausa states were sons of an obscure figure named Bawu, about whom he says was a slave official appointed by the ruler of Bornu. The empire of Bornu was a large state in the Lake Chad basin along the eastern frontier of the Hausalands, and was also the suzerain of most of the Hausa kingdoms. After he provides a brief account of West African history including an account of the Songhai Empire, Dan Tafa then narrows down his focus to the founding of the Hausa states such as the kingdoms of Kano and Gobir. Writing that _**"All of the rulers of these lands**(ie : the Hausalands)**were originally the political captives of the ruler of Bornu"**_ and that they used to pay tribute to Bornu _**"until the establishment of our present government".**_
Curiously, Dan Tafa excludes the kingdom of Gobir from the Hausa dynasties which he claimed were founded by political captives from Bornu. He explains that Gobir's ruler refused to pay tribute to Bornu and remained independent of it, reportedly because his dynasty was of noble origin and had no ties to Bawu. Dan Tafa then narrows down his account to focus on the history of the Gobir kingdom; from its founding until it fell in war with the forces of Uthman dan Fodio in 1804. The decisive defeat of Gobir was the central event in the founding of the Sokoto Empire and a precursor to the fall of the remaining Hausa states. Dan Tafa's interpretation of early Hausa history was evidently partisan, and the reason why had a lot to do with the contemporary political relationship between Bornu and Sokoto.
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_**Folio from Dan Tafa’s ‘Rawdat al-afkar’, from a private collection in Maiurno, Sudan. Similar copy found here at the [Kaduna National Archives.](https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP535-1-4-8-1)**_
In the decades prior to Dan Tafa's writing of his chronicle, the old empire of Bornu had concluded several major battles with newly founded Sokoto, after the forces of Uthman dan Fodio attacked it in three failed invasions from 1808 to 1810. To justify its war with Bornu, Sokoto had used the pretext that the former was supporting the deposed Hausa rulers and that its society was polytheistic. While the physical battle had been lost, the ideological battle continued between the rulers of Bornu and Sokoto. In 1812, Uthman's sucessor Muhammad Bello, who was also an accomplished scholar, completed a chronicle on West African history titled _[‘Infaq al-Maysur’](https://siiasi.org/digital-archive/sultan-muhammad-bello/infaql-maysuur/)_ _(Easy Expenditure on the History of the Lands of Takrur)_. This lengthy chronicle had a broad geographical scope that included the history of most of West Africa as well as the Hausalands. It was in this chronicle that Bello first advanced the theory that the legendary Hausa founder; Bawu, was a royal slave of Bornu rulers. An assertion that Dan Tafa would later copy.
Over in Bornu, the empire's defacto ruler at the time was a highly accomplished scholar named Muhammad al-Kanemi who had gathered a large following prior to his rise in Bornu's government. Al-Kanemi's followers had saved Bornu from Sokoto's attacks in 1809 and 1810, and he later authored several works defending Bornu from the accusations levelled by both Uthman Dan Fodio and Muhammad Bello. Al-Kanemi charged the Sokoto government with the same accusations it had leveled against Bornu, revealing the flaws in the legitimacy of Sokoto's invasion. Al-Kanemi and Bello would then continue to exchange counter-accusations, basing their arguments on the written histories of their states. This [ideological war between Bornu and Sokoto](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41971160) reinvigorated the ongoing intellectual renaissance in Sokoto, especially regarding the re-discovery and translation of the written history of the region. Among the most notable intellectual products of the ideological war between Bornu and Sokoto was the abovementioned chronicle written by Bello.
In his chronicle, Bello mentioned that he received his information on the Hausa kingdoms' origins from a non-Hausa scholar named Muhammad al-Baqiri, the latter of whom was ethnically Songhai —the dominant ethnic group in what is today eastern Mali and after whom the empire of Songhai was named. Muhammad al-Baqiri would later become the ruler of the neighboring sultanate of Asben which lay along the nothern border of Sokoto, just north of where the Gobir kingdom had been located. [It was this non-Hausa informant](https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/livre-l_islam_au_soudan_central_histoire_de_l_islam_au_niger_du_viie_au_xixe_siecle_hamani_djibo-9782296029712-23637.html) who claimed that Bawu, the legendary Hausa founding figure, was a slave official of Bornu, and that the Gobir kingdom was ruled by a dynasty of noble origin.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IzHk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F69d5f388-fe1c-4965-81ca-749828548fe4_819x600.png)
_**Map showing the Hausa kingdoms, as well as the kingdoms of Gobir and Asben**_
The figure of Bawu was likely a mischaracterized version of the legendary Hausa founder Bajayidda. However, Bajayidda was widely recalled in Hausa traditions to be of noble origin rather than a slave official in Bornu. The suspiciously Gobir-centric elements in both Dan Tafa and Bello’s chronicles may have been current within Gobir itself, since the kingdom had been at war with the other Hausa states before it was defeated by Sokoto. However, the choice made by Muhammad Bello to use this specific interpretation in his chronicle was doubtlessly also informed by contemporary politics.
By assuming the mantle of Gobir's noble dynasty after defeating them in battle, and "liberating" the rest of Hausa's supposedly slave dynasties from Bornu's oppression, the [Sokoto government of Bello could present itself as a legitimate authority](https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110675276/html?lang=en) in the region. Dan Tafa's chronicle was therefore historicizing contemporary political dynamics inorder to legitimize the continued presence of the Sokoto government in Hausaland. Despite Dan Tafa’s sharp critique of Nuh al-Tahir, even he agreed that the interpretation of historical events took precedence over a simple outline of historical ‘facts’.
However, Hausa scholars in Sokoto rejected Dan Tafa’s version of their history that was centered on their subservience to Bornu. The Hausa chronicler Malam Bakar, who served as an official in the Sokoto province of Kano during the 1880s, composed a monumental work on [the history of the Kano](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-complete-history-of-kano-999) state known as the _'Kano chronicle'_. In this chronicle, Malam Bakar centered the origins of Kano's founders within Hausaland rather than Bornu, adding that they were all of noble origins and ruled their states independently of any external power. He highlighted the role of the autochtonous groups in Kano's early history, and attributed the Islamic institutions of the Hausa to migrant scholars from the Songhai Empire rather than from Bornu. He also clarified that Kano's tributary relationship with Bornu begun around 1450, which was many centuries after the city-state had been established, adding that it ended around 1550, when Kano's defiant king refused to bow to Bornu's demands.
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_**Folio from a copy of Malam Barka’s Kano chronicle**_
[PATREON](https://www.patreon.com/isaacsamuel64)
In writing his chronicle, Malam Bakar relied on [information provided by the royal Hausa genealogists and praise singers](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171883) living at the time. These genealogists and praise singers occupied important offices in the Hausa kingdoms and were retained under the Sokoto government. They were tasked with carefully preserving the kingdom’s oral history, often in the form of poetry, which was later transcribed into writing during the Sokoto era. Malam Bakar's chronicle therefore records an account of Kano's history in an unbroken fashion from the Hausa era to the Sokoto era. It treats each ruler of Kano as equally legitimate, even if Kano under Sokoto was only a province governed by an appointed official rather than an independent state ruled by a King as it had been about a half a century prior to the chronicle’s composition.
As an active official in the Kano administration, Malam Bakar's reasons for compiling the chronicle were likely[influenced by contemporary politics in Kano](https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004380189/BP000025.xml), since its governor was at the time seeking further autonomy from Sokoto. Bakar's interpretation of early Hausa history therefore strives to represent both the Hausa and Sokoto accounts of Kano's history in equal measure inorder to reconcile the two eras, just like the seventeenth century scholar al-Sa'di had done in reconciling the Askiya dynasty and the Arma. This choice was also likely informed by the fact that unlike Dan Tafa and Nuh al-Tahir who represented the new elite, Malam Bakar was part of the established elite, and was thus more supportive of the deposed rulers than the “revolutionaries”.
In Malam Bakar's chronicle, the kingdom of Kano during the pre-Sokoto era is depicted as a defiant upstart [wedged between the empires of Bornu and Songhai](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/negotiating-power-in-medieval-west). Although briefly tributary to Bornu, the chronicle mentions that a king of Kano named Kisoki who reigned from 1509 to 1565, defiantly refused to pay tribute to Bornu. When Bornu's ruler asked him _**"What do you mean by making war"**_ Kisoki replied: _**"I do not know, but the cause of war is the ordinance of Allah."**_ Bornu's army then attacked Kano but failed to take it, thus assenting to Kano's independence. This victory over Bornu allowed Kisoki to take on the boastful title _**"physic of Bornu"**_, and no further king of Kano is mentioned giving tribute to Bornu after Kisoki.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OP1m!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffefc75c6-a7a3-4bd2-be7a-74e27025b44d_1000x663.jpeg)
_**Kano in the early 20th century, with the inselberg of Dalla in the background.**_
While the above account was carefully preserved in oral traditions at Kano, it was only recorded in the nineteenth century and says little about Bornu's perspective of the same events. Over in Bornu, the empire had nurtured a [large intellectual community that produced some of Africa's most remarkable scholars](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-centered-intellectual). One of these was the court historian Aḥmad ibn Furṭu who in 1576 wrote a chronicle titled _‘Ghazawāt Barnū’_ _(The Bornu conquests)_, nearly a century before the Songhai chroniclers got to work on theirs. Ibn Furtu's chronicle was one of two monumental works which documented the military campaigns of his patron; the Bornu emperor Mai Idris Alooma who reigned from 1564 to 1596.
Idris Alooma, formally known as Idris ibn Ali, was one of Africa’s most accomplished empire builders. His armies campaigned extensively over a vast region extending from the Fezzan region of southern Libya, to the Kawar region of northern Niger to the Kanem region of eastern Chad, to the Mandara region of nothern Cameroon, and to the Hausalands in nothern Nigeria, where they went as far as Kano. Ibn Furtu personally accompanied his patron on several of these campaigns, providing a first-hand account of the relationship between Kano and Bornu from the perspective of the latter.
Idris Alooma was undertaking a restoration of Bornu's power over the territories it had lost during a lengthy dynastic conflict, but had been regaining since the reign of his grandfather Mai Ali who reigned from 1497 to 1519. Idris Alooma was by all accounts a shrewd figure, he began his career by blocking the southern advance of the Ottomans in the Fezzan, sending his embassies to the Ottoman capital Istanbul and courting regional powers. Alooma also acquired thousands of [guns and European slave-soldiers for his own army](https://www.patreon.com/posts/first-guns-and-84319870), and initiated diplomatic contacts with the Saadis of Morocco to form an alliance of convenience against the Ottomans, a few decades before the Saadis would march their forces south against Songhai.
Inorder to document Idris Alooma's conquests, Ibn Furtu borrowed themes from the chronicle of Mai Ali's court historian Masfarma Umar titled _‘The conquests of Njimi'_. Ibn Furtu explains the reason for writing his chronicle; that _**“the cause of our engaging in this work at this time, is the perusal of the compilation of Masfarma Umar concerning the epoch of his Sultan”**_. Adding that _**“When we studied that work concerning the war in Njimi describing its battles and phases, we determined to compose a similar work on the age of our Sultan”**_ and that he _**“employed the materials from the past, working on and imitating models of the past”**_. Importantly, Ibn Furtu mentions that _**“We have ceased to doubt that our Sultan al Haj Idris ibn Ali accomplished much more than his grandfather”**_.
[Ibn Furtu had therefore composed a chronicle that legitimized Mai Idris' reign](https://www.amazon.fr/Du-lac-Tchad-Mecque-XVIe-XVIIe/dp/B072ZLG4R6) and conquests, and portrayed him as the rightful heir to Mai Ali's legacy in the eyes of Bornu's divided elite. He portrayed Bornu as the cultural and political center of West Africa where all regions, including Kano, were at the periphery.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7YcQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F447a7b4d-ea6f-4b8b-9b55-ef505f6b1f34_1052x682.png)
_**Copies of Ibn Furtu’s Ghazawāt Barnū at the [SOAS](https://digital.soas.ac.uk/AA00000742/00001)**_
Ibn Furtu's chronicle says little about Kano's subservience to Bornu but instead describes the former as one of only two neighboring states whose political structure was similar to Bornu's. He describes Kano as a kingdom within which were many walled towns, adding that the forces of Kano utilized these fortified towns to attack Bornu, but would then quickly retreat behind the safety of their walls. He then proceeds to recount the various campaigns that Idris Alooma's armies undertook against Kano and its surrounding walled towns in retaliation for Kano's attacks on Bornu. He concludes the account of Bornu's victorious campaigns over Kano, that _**"the people of Kano became downcast in the present and fearful of the future"**_. Ibn Furtu then moves on to the next campaign without elaborating on the political ramifications of Bornu's victories over Kano besides mentioning that its walled towns were reduced to _**"clouds of dust"**_ save for the fortification of ‘_Dalla_’ (in Kano itself) which remained standing.
In Ibn Furtu's chronicle, Kano wasn't included among the vassals of Bornu unlike the other enemies that had been defeated by Alooma's armies, but was instead recognized as an independent state occupying a clearly defined territory. Alooma's campaign against Kano wasn't perceived as a restoration of Bornu's power over Kano but as a response to Kano's aggression. Once Bornu's army had suceeded in destroying the walled towns of Kano, its army marched on victoriously to fight against other foes, many of whom eventually submitted to Bornu, unlike Kano. Despite Furtu having lived closer to the purported date of Kano's founding than both Dan Tafa and Malam Bakar, the Bornu chronicler felt not need to expound on Kano's early history. And while Furtu may have been aware of Kano's earlier tributary relationship that had only ended a few decades prior to the writing of his chronicle, he chose not to include it.
Adding the chronicles of Bornu to the corpus of documents on Africa's past reveals yet another aspect in African works of history; some of them say more about the times they were produced than about earlier dynamics. Unlike most of the abovementioned chronicles which were more concerned with the past than with the present inorder to reconcile the former with the latter, Ibn Furtu's chronicle is evidently concerned with contemporary events. Ibn Furtu was pre-occupied with elevating the stature of his patron, the "Caliph" [Idris Alooma, whom he ranked higher than the Ottoman sultan](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman), while reducing the latter to a mere 'King'.
He was thus less concerned with expounding on the history of Kano, which he considered a periphery state _**"at the borders of Islam"**_, than he was with Bornu which he considered to be the center of the world, and its ruler, to be the only _**"commander of the faithful"**_. Ibn Furtu’s account therefore only includes the victorious actions of Idris Alooma against Kano, and downplays the realities of Kano's autonomy which would have undermined his authorial intentions. And like all chronicles explored above, his document was evidently a partisan account with a clear political objective.
The four west African chroniclers; **Nuh al-Tahir, Dan Tafa, Malam Bakar**and **Ibn Furtu,** offer us important insights into how Africans wrote their own history. Their chronicles are revealed to be more than just an archival collection of past events recorded by literate witnesses. [Examining these written works of African history](https://brill.com/display/book/9789004380189/BP000001.xml) requires the usual care which scholars are expected to exercise to ensure that the chronicler's political biases and perspectives are considered before the documents can be accurately utilized.
**Scholars looking for ‘hard facts’ about early West African history in these chronicles have attimes failed to recognize the authorial biases that had modified narratives and interpretations of the past.** The writing of history is after all, closely associated with the need to legitimize political power, and the imperative need for each community to weave links towards its past.
**West African chroniclers were engaged in creative and artful reconstructions of their past. Their works of history were sophisticated products of African intellectuals with precise rhetorical plans and authorial intentions. Approaching them as such allows up to appreciate the complex intellectual pasts and historical engagements of members of the African intelligentsia who have shaped current historiographical overviews of the African past.**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OpG_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F106155c2-2f3b-486b-9f98-9cbba3e12470_931x600.jpeg)
_**19th century engraving titled ‘The Interior of the Chief Malem's House’ showing the ruler of the Opanda kingdom (just south of the Zaria kingdom) with his ‘Malems’ (Islamic scholars)**_
Africans have been travelling and exploring the world beyond their continent since antiquity; from the more proximate regions of western Asia and Southern Europe, to the far-off lands of India and China. **Beginning in the 17th century, African travelers crossed the Alps to discover the lands of western Europe.**
**Read more about this fascinating age of African exploration on my Patreon**:
[AFRICAN EXPLORATION OF N.W EUROPE](https://www.patreon.com/posts/89363872?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OMWN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F57a5510b-e64d-4fe9-ba1d-a9ca25821b01_613x1202.png)
|
[
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NqT_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F042e84ca-567a-47f5-a823-567c3f0f0f13_403x618.png",
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"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OpG_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F106155c2-2f3b-486b-9f98-9cbba3e12470_931x600.jpeg",
"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OMWN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F57a5510b-e64d-4fe9-ba1d-a9ca25821b01_613x1202.png"
] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/how-africans-wrote-their-own-history
|
a brief note on the African exploration of the Old world
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a brief note on the African exploration of the Old world
========================================================
### plus: the African discovery of north-western Europe.
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[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Sep 16, 2023
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Africans have been travelling and exploring the world beyond their continent since antiquity. Documentation of the African presence outside the continent begun as soon as the kingdom of Kush expanded into western Asia in the 7th century BC, and would continue into the early centuries of the common era when Kushite envoys were a regular presence in eastern Rome.
In the suceeding period, African travelers from across many parts of the continent reached the [Arabian penisula](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-west-african-diaspora), explored the [Indian subcontinent](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/between-africa-and-india-a-millennia), and [travelled to as far as China](https://www.patreon.com/posts/80113224?pr=true). The rulers of Aksum and Ethiopia sent their embassies and merchants across the western Indian ocean, the city-states of the Swahili coast established contacts with India and China, and West African royals and scholars created disporic communities in Arabia and Jerusalem.
While the African presence in Asia is better documented, African journeys into Europe also occurred fairly regulary since the early 1st millennium. African royals, students and pilgrims from the kingdoms of Nubia and Ethiopia explored the capitals and pilgrimage sites of Eastern and Southern Europe. [West African scholars and mercenaries visited Islamic Spain](https://www.patreon.com/posts/82902179), and a few joined their North-African peers to create [an African kingdom in southern Italy](https://www.patreon.com/posts/87931499). After the fall of the Byzantines, African embassies and scholars from as far as Mali to Bornu and Chad begun making an appearance at the Ottoman capital Istanbul. By the early modern era, the presence of African travelers in southern Europe was far from a novelty.
Gradually, the journeys of African travelers took them beyond the more familiar regions of southern Europe and into the lesser known societies of north-western Europe. Travelling across the Alps and the northern Atlantic, Africans of varying statuses, including envoys, scholars and students, arrived in the capitals of north-western European kingdoms of Britain, France, the Holy Roman Empire and the low countries.
**The history of African exploration and discovery of North-western Europe is the subject of my latest Patreon article**;
Read about it here:
[AFRICAN EXPLORATION OF N.W EUROPE](https://www.patreon.com/posts/89363872?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OMWN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F57a5510b-e64d-4fe9-ba1d-a9ca25821b01_613x1202.png)
* * *
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!T-Pl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36fd6d36-0984-4c06-bdaf-c748814bf7a5_729x486.png)
Detail of a Westminster Tournament Roll from 1511, showing an African trumpeter named John Blanke, who was active at the court of King Henry VIII in Tudor England.
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[Sep 27, 2023](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-african-exploration/comment/40752086 "Sep 27, 2023, 7:59 AM")
Liked by isaac Samuel
This is one of my favorite topics love that you covered this, feels like not many people know of this rich history or maybe they don't care but still it's great that people like you out there who do keep it up.
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[Sep 22, 2023](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-african-exploration/comment/40522493 "Sep 22, 2023, 8:14 PM")
Liked by isaac Samuel
Someday I might teach my course Africa Travels, Travels to Africa again; I think the point was too esoteric for my undergraduates, but I was trying to emphasize this great new historiographical work on Africans outside the continent in contexts other than enslavement, and particularly to look at late medieval and early modern Iberia and the Mediterranean as a contact zone full of shipwrecked sailors, travellers, wanderers, itinerants, pilgrims, and just plain lost people that absolutely included Africans from the eastern coast, the Horn of Africa and the savannah belt south of the Sahara.
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-african-exploration
|
Abomey was one of the largest cities in the "forest region" of west-Africa; a broad belt of kingdoms extending from Ivory coast to southern Nigeria. Like many of the urban settlements in the region whose settlement was associated with royal power, the city of Abomey served as the capital of the kingdom of Dahomey.
Home to an estimated 30,000 inhabitants at its height in the mid-19th century, the walled city of Abomey was the political and religious center of the kingdom. Inside its walls was a vast royal palace complex, dozens of temples and residential quarters occupied by specialist craftsmen who made the kingdom's iconic artworks.
This article outlines the history of Abomey from its founding in the 17th century to the fall of Dahomey in 1894.
**Map of modern benin showing Abomey and other cities in the kingdom of Dahomey.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-1-136876141)**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!x-Bm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F15e9b90d-c29e-44ee-9d7e-ee851cd2300c_846x481.png)
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**The early history of Abomey: from the ancient town of Sodohome to the founding of Dahomey’s capital.**
The plateau region of southern Benin was home to a number of small-scale complex societies prior to the founding of Dahomey and its capital. Like in other parts of west-Africa, urbanism in this region was part of the diverse settlement patterns which predated the emergence of centralized states. The Abomey plateau was home to several nucleated iron-age settlements since the 1st millennium BC, many of which flourished during the early 2nd millennium. The largest of these early urban settlements was Sodohome, an ancient iron age dated to the 6th century BC which at its peak in the 11th century, housed an estimated 5,700 inhabitants. Sodohome was part of a regional cluster of towns in southern Benin that were centers of iron production and trade, making an estimated 20 tonnes of iron each year in the 15th/16th century.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-2-136876141)
The early settlement at Abomey was likely established at the very founding of Dahomey and the construction of the first Kings' residences. Traditions recorded in the 18th century attribute the city's creation to the Dahomey founder chief Dakodonu (d. 1645) who reportedly captured the area that became the city of Abomey after defeating a local chieftain named Dan using a _Kpatin_ tree. Other accounts attribute Abomey's founding to Houegbadja the "first" king of Dahomey (r. 1645-1685) who suceeded Dakodonu. Houegbadja's palace at Abomey, which is called _Kpatissa_, (under the kpatin tree), is the oldest surviving royal residence in the complex and was built following preexisting architectural styles.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-3-136876141)
(read more about [Dahomey’s history in my previous article on the kingdom](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-dahomey-and-the-atlantic))
The pre-existing royal residences of the rulers who preceeded Dahomey’s kings likely included a _hounwa_(entrance hall) and an _ajalala_ (reception hall), flanked by an _adoxo_ (tomb) of the deceased ruler. The palace of Dan (called _Dan-Home_) which his sucessor, King Houegbadja (or his son) took over, likely followed this basic architectural plan. Houegbadja was suceeded by Akaba (r. 1685-1708) who constructed his palace slightly outside what would later become the palace complex. In addition to the primary features, it included two large courtyards; the _kpododji_ (initial courtyard), an _ajalalahennu_ (inner/second courtyard), a _djeho_ (soul-house) and a large two-story building built by Akaba's sucessor; Agaja.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-4-136876141)
Agaja greatly expanded the kingdom's borders beyond the vicinity of the capital. After nearly a century of expansion and consolidation by his predecessors across the Abomey Plateau, Agaja's armies marched south and captured the kingdoms of Allada in 1724 and Hueda in 1727. In this complex series of interstate battles, Abomey was sacked by Oyo's armies in 1726, and Agaja begun a reconstruction program to restore the old palaces, formalize the city's layout (palaces, roads, public spaces, markets, quarters) and build a defensive system of walls and moats. The capital of Dahomey thus acquired its name of Agbomey (Abomey = inside the moat) during Agaja's reign.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-5-136876141)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Okpd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feeb6450f-b9df-4165-a9de-1a2a4f1d71eb_898x431.png)
Ruins of an unidentified palace in Abomey, ca. 1894-1902. Quai branly most likely to be the simbodji palace of Gezo.
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_**Section of the Abomey Palace complex in 1895**_, Quai branly.
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The royal palace complex at Abomey, map by J. C. Monroe
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_**Section of the ruined palace of Agaja**_ in 1911. The double-storey structure was built next to the palace of Akaba
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_**Section of Agaja’s palace**_ in 1925, Quai branly.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The royal capital of Abomey during the early 18th century**
The administration of Dahomey occurred within and around a series of royal palace sites that materialized the various domestic, ritual, political, and economic activities of the royal elite at Abomey. The Abomey palace complex alone comprised about a dozen royal residences as well as many auxiliary buildings. Such palace complexes were also built in other the regional capitals across the kingdom, with as many as 18 palaces across 12 towns being built between the 17th and 19th century of which Abomey was the largest. By the late 19th century, Abomey's palace complex covered over a hundred acres, surrounded by a massive city wall about 30ft tall extending over 2.5 miles.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-6-136876141)
These structures served as residences for the king and his dependents, who numbered 2-8,000 at Abomey alone. Their interior courtyards served as stages on which powerful courtiers vied to tip the balance of royal favor in their direction. Agaja's two story palace near the palace of Akba, and his own two-story palace within the royal complex next to Houegbadja's, exemplified the centrality of Abomey and its palaces in royal continuity and legitimation. Sections of the palaces were decorated with paintings and bas-reliefs, which were transformed by each suceeding king into an elaborate system of royal "communication" along with other visual arts.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-7-136876141)
Abomey grew outwardly from the palace complex into the outlying areas, and was organized into quarters delimited by the square city-wall.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-8-136876141) Some of the quarters grew around the private palaces of the kings, which were the residences of each crown-prince before they took the throne. Added to these were the quarters occupied by the guilds/familes such as; blacksmiths (Houtondji), artists (Yemadji), weavers, masons, soldiers, merchants, etc. These palace quarters include Agaja's at Zassa, Tegbesu’s at Adandokpodji, Kpengla’s at Hodja, Agonglo’s at Gbècon Hwégbo, Gezo’s at Gbècon Hunli, Glele's at Djègbè and Behanzin's at Djime.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-9-136876141)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ChYB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf46c7f9-85a3-4e65-ad6b-581dca1d772c_550x369.jpeg)
_**illustration of Abomey in the 19th century**_.
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_**illustration of Abomey’s city gates and walls**_, ca. 1851
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_**interior section in the ‘private palace’ of Prince Aho Gléglé (grandson of Glele)**_, Abomey, ca. 1930, Archives nationales d'outre-mer
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_**Tomb of Behanzin in Abomey**_, early 20th century, Imagesdefence, built with the characteristic low hanging steep roof.
**Abomey in the late 18th century: Religion, industry and art.**
Between the end of Agaja's reign and the beginning of Tegbesu's, Dahomey became a tributary of the Oyo empire (in south-western Nigeria), paying annual tribute at the city of Cana. In the seven decades of Oyo's suzeranity over Dahomey, Abomey gradually lost its function as the main administrative capital, but retained its importance as a major urban center in the kingdom. The kings of this period; Tegbesu (r. 1740-1774), Kpengla (r. 1774-1789) and Agonglo (r. 1789-1797) resided in Agadja’s palace in Abomey, while constructing individual palaces at Cana. But each added their own entrance and reception halls, as well as their own honga (third courtyard).[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-10-136876141)
Abomey continued to flourish as a major center of religion, arts and crafts production. The city's population grew by a combination of natural increase from established families, as well as the resettlement of dependents and skilled artisans that served the royal court. Significant among these non-royal inhabitants of Dahomey were the communities of priests/diviners, smiths, and artists whose work depended on royal patronage.
The religion of Dahomey centered on the worship of thousands of vodun (deities) who inhabited the Kutome (land of the dead) which mirrored and influenced the world of the living. Some of these deities were localized (including deified ancestors belonging to the lineages), some were national (including deified royal ancestors) and others were transnational; (shared/foreign deities like creator vodun, Mawu and Lisa, the iron and war god Gu, the trickster god Legba, the python god Dangbe, the earth and health deity Sakpata, etc).[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-11-136876141)
Each congregation of vodun was directed by a pair of priests, the most influencial of whom were found in Abomey and Cana. These included practitioners of the cult of tohosu that was introduced in Tegbesu's reign. Closely associated with the royal family and active participants in court politics, Tohosu priests built temples in Abomey alongside prexisting temples like those of Mawu and Lisa, as well as the shrines dedicated to divination systems such as the Fa (Ifa of Yoruba country). The various temples of Abomey, with their elaborated decorated facades and elegantly clad tohosu priests were thus a visible feature of the city's architecture and its function as a religious center.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-12-136876141)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hy1L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fffc11894-eae0-4c16-8c34-456ba34fb482_878x586.jpeg)
_**Temple courtyard dedicated to Gu in the palace ground of king Gezo**_, ca. 1900, library of congress
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_**entrance to the temple of Dangbe**_, Abomey, ca. 1945, Quai branly (the original roofing was replaced)
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_**Practicioners of Gu and Tohusu**_ _**in Abomey**_, ca. 1950, Quai branly
Besides the communities of priests were the groups of craftsmen such as the Hountondji families of smiths. These were originally settled at Cana in the 18th century and expanded into Abomey in the early 19th century, setting in the city quarter named after them. They were expert silversmiths, goldsmiths and blacksmiths who supplied the royal court with the abundance of ornaments and jewelery described in external accounts about Abomey. Such was their demand that their family head, Kpahissou was given a prestigious royal title due to his followers' ability to make any item both local and foreign including; guns, swords and a wheeled carriage described as a "square with four glass windows on wheels".[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-13-136876141)
The settlement of specialist groups such as the Hountondji was a feature of Abomey's urban layout. Such craftsmen and artists were commisioned to create the various objects of royal regalia including the iconic thrones, carved doors, zoomorphic statues, 'Asen' sculptures, musical instruments and figures of deities. Occupying a similar hierachy as the smiths were the weavers and embroiderers who made Dahomey's iconic textiles.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r-Ta!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7f302bff-c74c-4030-9f3c-959d5f837438_836x573.jpeg)
Carved blade from 19th century Abomey, Quai branly. made by the Hountondji smiths.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R3-h!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7dd017eb-29d0-4942-bb64-3aecd428e931_764x573.jpeg)
_**Pistol modified with copper-alloy plates**_, 1892, made by the Hountondji smiths.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pxka!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f803d6b-48dd-4fe5-baab-d11df08780a6_1029x618.png)
_**Asen staff from Ouidah**_, mid-19th cent., Musée Barbier-Mueller, _**Hunter and Dog with man spearing a leopard**_, ca. 1934, Abomey museum. _**Brass sculpture of a royal procession**_, ca 1931, Fowler museum
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!g8x4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe83c8cb2-0a79-47da-99f4-b452b320a3c2_1134x499.png)
Collection of old jewelery and Asen staffs in the Abomey museum, photos from 1944.
Cloth making in Abomey was part of the broader textile producing region and is likely to have predated the kingdom's founding. But applique textiles of which Abomey is famous was a uniquely Dahomean invention dated to around the early 18th century reign of Agadja, who is said to have borrowed the idea from vodun practitioners. Specialist families of embroiders, primarily the Yemaje, the Hantan and the Zinflu, entered the service of various kings, notably Gezo and Glele, and resided in the Azali quarter, while most cloth weavers reside in the gbekon houegbo.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-14-136876141)
The picto-ideograms depicted on the applique cloths that portray figures of animals, objects and humans, are cut of plain weave cotton and sewn to a cotton fabric background. They depict particular kings, their "strong names" (royal name), their great achievements, and notable historical events. The appliques were primary used as wall hangings decorating the interior of elite buildings but also featured on other cloth items and hammocks. Applique motifs were part of a shared media of Dahomey's visual arts that are featured on wall paintings, makpo (scepters), carved gourds and the palace bas-reliefs.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-15-136876141) Red and crimson were the preferred colour of self-representation by Dahomey's elite (and thus its subjects), while enemies were depicted as white, pink, or dark-blue (all often with scarifications associated with Dahomey’s foe: the Yoruba of Oyo).[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-16-136876141)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8-4I!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1029ab69-2981-496f-bd97-139949fece38_760x554.jpeg)
_**Illustration showing a weaver at their loom in Abomey**_, ca. 1851
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_**Cotton tunics from Abomey, 19th century**_, Quai branly. The second includes a red figure in profile.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0uER!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F613e0ca3-cc26-4ec8-9d29-ea0362fb0649_1027x507.png)
_**Applique cloths from Abomey depicting war scenes**_, _**Quai branly**_. Both show Dahomey soldiers (in crimson with guns) attacking and capturing enemy soldiers (in dark blue/pink with facial scarification). The first is dated to 1856, and the second is from the mid-20th cent.
The bas-reliefs of Dahomey are ornamental low-relief sculptures on sections of the palaces with figurative scenes that recounted legends, commemorated historic battles and enhanced the power of the rulers. Many were narrative representations of specific historical events, motifs of "strong-names" representing the character of individual kings, and as mnemonic devices that allude to different traditions.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-17-136876141)
The royal bas-relief tradition in its complete form likely dates to the 18th century during the reign of Agonglo and would have been derived from similar representations on temples, although most of the oldest surviving reliefs were made by the 19th century kings Gezo and Glele. Like the extensions of old palaces, and building of tombs and new soul-houses, many of the older reliefs were modified and/or added during the reigns of successive kings. Most were added to the two entry halls and protected from the elements by the high-pitched low hanging thatch roof which characterized Abomey's architecture.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-18-136876141)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RBhK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf2607e1-b67c-4c11-a9a1-2338fb71cc6b_1302x472.png)
_**Reliefs on an old Temple in Abomey**_, ca. 1940, Quai branly.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IgRj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F680ec5a3-a516-457f-be34-e8caa2198ed5_912x564.png)
_**Bas-reliefs on the reception hall of king Gezo**_, ca. 1900. Metropolitan Museum of Art,
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b_hu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf8c5cd7-6a55-4791-8a95-0e3975b88ef7_818x573.jpeg)
_**Reconstruction of the reception hall**_, ca. 1925, Quai branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!s4fu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77659f46-8054-436c-aaf7-0f59240ab3fe_668x573.jpeg)
_**Bas-reliefs from the palace of King Behanzin**_, ca. 1894-1909, Quai branly
**Abomey in the 19th century from Gezo to Behanzin.**
Royal construction activity at Abomey was revived by Adandozan, who constructed his palace south of Agonglo's extension of Agaja's palace. However, this palace was taken over by his sucessor; King Gezo, who, in his erasure of Adandozan's from the king list, removed all physical traces of his reign. The reigns of the 19th century kings Gezo (r. 1818-1858) and Glele (r.1858-1889) are remembered as a golden age of Dahomey. Gezo was also a prolific builder, constructing multiple palaces and temples across Dahomey. However, he chose to retain Adandozan's palace at Abomey as his primary residence, but enlarged it by adding a two-story entrance hall and soul-houses for each of his predecessors.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-19-136876141)
Gezo used his crowned prince’s palace and the area surrounding it to make architectural assertions of power and ingenuity. In 1828 he constructed the Hounjlo market which became the main market center for Abomey, positioned adjacent and to the west of his crowned prince’s palace and directly south of the royal palace. Around this market he built two multi-storied buildings, which occasionally served as receptions for foreign visitors.[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-20-136876141)
Gezo’s sucessor, King Glele (r. 1858-1889) constructed a large palace just south of Gezo's palace; the _Ouehondji_ (palace of glass windows). This was inturn flanked by several buildings he added later, such as the _adejeho_ (house of courage) -a where weapons were stored, a hall for the _ahosi_ (amazons), and a separate reception room where foreigners were received. His sucessor, Behanzin (r. 1889-1894) resided in Glele's palace as his short 3-year reign at Abomey couldn’t permit him to build one of his own before the French marched on the city in 1893/4.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-21-136876141)
As the French army marched on the capital city of Abomey, Behanzin, realizing that continued military resistance was futile, escaped to set up his capital north. Before he left, he ordered the razing of the palace complex, which was preferred to having the sacred tombs and soul-houses falling into enemy hands. Save for the roof thatching, most of the palace buildings remained relatively undamaged. Behanzin's brother Agoli-Agbo (1894-1900) assumed the throne and was later recognized by the French who hoped to retain popular support through indirect rule. Subsquently, Agoli-Agbo partially restored some of the palaces for their symbolic and political significance to him and the new colonial occupiers, who raised a French flag over them, making the end of Abomey autonomy.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-22-136876141)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kZl5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5108f71d-93f4-4a87-8194-fa0c048ffd9f_760x464.png)
Section of Gezo’s Simbodji Palace, illustration from 1851.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E_ST!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20e7daa2-062b-4154-b7fa-15a598778bfc_848x565.png)
Simbodji in 1894
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1x26!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe82f83d5-c043-45b5-b82f-9c9fa401aa83_970x477.jpeg)
Simbodji in 1894-1909
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Uj05!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a57af92-675b-4534-8801-916cea83eb37_1039x376.png)
_**Palace complex**_ in 1896, BNF.
East of the kingdom of Dahomey was the Yoruba country of Oyo and Ife, two kingdoms that were **home to a vibrant intellectual culture where cultural innovations were recorded and transmitted orally**;
read more about it here in my latest Patreon article;
[EDUCATION IN AN ORAL SOCIETY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/88655364?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FGk8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79abab6d-dc4e-4f86-ab4a-8d00c5911415_637x1086.png)
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-2-136876141)
The Precolonial State in West Africa: Building Power in Dahomey by J. Cameron Monroe pg 36-41)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-3-136876141)
Razing the roof : the imperative of building destruction in dahomè by S. P. Blier pg 165-174, The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth Larsen pg 11, 21-24, Wives of leopard by Edna Bay pg 50)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-4-136876141)
The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth pg 28-30)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-5-136876141)
Razing the roof : the imperative of building destruction in dahomè by S. P. Blier pg 174-175)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-6-136876141)
Wives of leopard by Edna Bay pg 9, The Precolonial State in West Africa by J. Cameron Monroe pg 24-25)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-7-136876141)
The Precolonial State in West Africa by J. Cameron Monroe pg 21, The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth pg 37,43-44)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-8-136876141)
Razing the roof : the imperative of building destruction in dahomè by S. P. Blier pg 173-175)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-9-136876141)
The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth pg 164-172)
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-10-136876141)
The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth pg 47-53)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-11-136876141)
Wives of leopard by Edna Bay pg 21-24, 62)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-12-136876141)
Wives of leopard by Edna Bay pg 91-96)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-13-136876141)
Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun By Edna G. Bay pg 55- 66
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-14-136876141)
Museums & History in West Africa By West African Museums Programme, pg 78-81)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-15-136876141)
The art of dahomey Melville J. Herskovits pg 70-74
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-16-136876141)
African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power by S. P. Blier pg 323-326)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-17-136876141)
Palace Sculptures of Abomey by Francesca Piqué pg 49-75, Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun By Edna G. Bay pg 96-98, )
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-18-136876141)
The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth pg 12-14, 28, 37, 56-61, 69)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-19-136876141)
The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth pg 61-62, 66-69)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-20-136876141)
The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth pg 173)
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-21-136876141)
The Royal Palace of Dahomey: symbol of a transforming nation by Lynne Ann Ellsworth pg 72-74, 82)
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital#footnote-anchor-22-136876141)
"Le Musée Histoire d'Abomey" by S. P. Blier pg 143-144)
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-abomey-capital
|
**a Brief note on Africa's intellectual history
===============
[](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/)
[African History Extra](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/)
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**a Brief note on Africa's intellectual history
===============================================
### plus; the Yoruba intellectual culture ca. 1000-1900.
[](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Sep 02, 2023
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Writing has been a fundamental part of African history since antiquity. The continent is home to some of the world's [oldest and most diverse writing traditions](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history); from the ancient scripts of Egypt, Kush and Aksum, to the medieval literature of Nubia, Ethiopia, 'Sudanic’ Africa and the east-African coast.
Scholars in many African societies created vibrant intellectual cultures, producing a vast corpus of literary works including historical chronicles, scientific compositions, theological writings, philosophical treatises and poetry. The intellectual exchanges they fostered resulted in the creation of a closely-knit web of scholary capitals which housed many of the continents most renowned education centers.
It was in these centers of education like [Timbuktu](https://www.patreon.com/posts/timbuktu-history-71077233), Jenne, Sokoto, Sennar, [Gondar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/global-encounters-and-a-century-of) and Zanzibar, that many of the continent's political and cultural innovations were developed. As scholars exchanged ideas on concepts of theology, politics and social organization, they spawned [new intellectual movements](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/foundations-of-trade-and-education) that were distinctly African in origin. The significance of these African intellectual cultures has only recently begun to receive attention in modern scholarship, which has dispelled the misconception of the "Oral continent par excellence".
And just as the scope of pre-colonial Africa's literary output is now increasingly appreciated, so too has the focus on African societies whose intellectual culture was predominantly oral. While it had long been acknowledged by anthropologists and linguists that the utility of African oral traditions went beyond their use in historiography, its only recently that research has shed more light onto the complexity of African orality.
The oral traditions of African societies are the products of the rich intellectual culture created by diverse communities of 'oral scholars' whose importance cut across all facets of African society. From the royal genealogists who 'recorded' their kingdom's history, to the priests who encoded vast amounts of 'oral literature' about African theologies, to the poets who preserved and transmitted the society's philosophy, the intellectual cultures of oral societies is a fascinating but still poorly understood chapter of African history.
The intellectual history of oral societies is the subject of my latest Patreon article, using the case study of the Yoruba in south-western Nigeria.
read more about it here:
[YORUBA INTELLECTUAL HISTORY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/88655364?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FGk8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79abab6d-dc4e-4f86-ab4a-8d00c5911415_637x1086.png)
* * *
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MDLC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb4aa58bd-7d32-4c57-adb9-735f58bb6176_3108x2250.jpeg)
Illustration of a ‘Palaver’ (public meeting) not far from Badagry (Nigeria), by William Allen, ca. 1841
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[Acemoglu in Kongo: a critique of 'Why Nations Fail' and its wilful ignorance of African history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
[There aren’t many Africans on the list of Nobel laureates, nor does research on African societies show up in the selection committees of Stockholm.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
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[Far from being a continent without history, Africa is simply a continent whose written history has not been studied](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history)
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-africas-intellectual
|
In 1574, an embassy from the empire of Bornu arrived at the Ottoman capital of Istanbul after having travelled more than 4,000 km from Ngazargamu in north-eastern Nigeria. This exceptional visit by an African kingdom to the Ottoman capital was the first of several diplomatic and intellectual exchanges between Istanbul and the kingdoms of Sudanic Africa -a broad belt of states extending from modern Senegal to Sudan.
In the three centuries after the Bornu visit of Istanbul; travelers and scholars from the Sudanic kingdoms and the Ottoman capital criss-crossed the meditteranean in a pattern of political and intellectual exchanges that lasted well into the colonial era.
This article explores the historic links between the Ottoman empire and Sudanic Africa, focusing on the travel of diplomats and scholars between Istanbul and the kingdoms of Bornu, Funj, Darfur and Massina.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5AX2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5aa8e468-b5a6-41c8-8528-23d3bf93a386_938x583.png)
_**Map showing the kingdoms of Sudanic Africa and the Ottoman empire**_.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-1-136432887)
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**Diplomatic links between the Bornu empire and the Ottomans: envoys from Mai Idris Alooma in 16th century Istanbul**
The Ottoman empire was founded at the turn of the 13th century, growing into a large Mediterranean power by the early 16th century following a series of sucessful campaigns into eastern Europe, western Asia and North-Africa. Like other large empires which had come before it, Ottoman campaigns into Sudanic Africa were largely unsuccessful. The earliest of these campaigns were undertaken against the Funj kingdom in modern Sudan, more consequential however, were the proxy wars between the Ottomans and the Bornu empire in the region of southern Libya.
The empire of Bornu was founded during the late 11th century in the lake chad basin. The rulers of Bornu maintained an active presence in southern Libya since the 12th century, and regulary sent diplomats to Tripoli and Egypt from the 14th century onwards. Bornu's rulers, scholars and pilgrims frequently travelled through the regions of Tripoli, Egypt, the Hejaz (Mecca & Medina) and Jerusalem. These places would later be taken over by the Ottomans in the early 16th century, and Bornu would have been aware of these new authorities.
In 1534, the Bornu ruler sent an embassy to the Ottoman outpost of Tajura near Tripoli, the latter of which was at the time under the Knights of Malta before it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1551. In the same year of the Ottoman conquest of Tripoli, the Bornu ruler sent an embassy to the new occupants, with another in 1560 which established cordial relations between Tripoli and Bornu. But by the early 1570s, relations between Bornu and Ottoman-Tripoli broke down when several campaigns from Tripoli were directed into the Fezzan region of southern Libya which was controlled by Bornu’s dependents.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-2-136432887)
In the year 1574, the Bornu ruler Mai Idris Alooma sent a diplomatic delegation of five to Istanbul in response to the Ottoman advance into Bornu's territories in southern Libya. This embassy was headed by a Bornu scholar named El-Hajj Yusuf, and it remained in Istanbul for four years before returning to Bornu around 1577. In response to this embassy, the Ottoman sultan sent an embassy to the Bornu capital Ngazargamu (in North-eastern Nigeria) which arrived in 1578.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-3-136432887)
More than 10 archival documents survive of this embassy, the bulk of which are official letters by the Ottoman sultan Murad III adressed to the Bornu ruler and the Ottoman governor of Tripoli. The Ottomans agreed to most of the requests of the Bornu ruler except handing over the Fezzan region, something that Idris Alooma would solve on his own when the Ottoman garrison in the Fezzan was killed around 1585[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-4-136432887). Yet despite this brief period of conflict, relations between the Ottomans and Bornu flourished, with [Ottoman firearms and European slave-soldiers](https://www.patreon.com/posts/first-guns-and-84319870) being sent to Bornu to bolster its military.
The exchange of embassies between the Ottomans and the Bornu rulers is mentioned in the 1578 Bornu chronicle titled _kitāb ġazawāt Kānim_ (Book of the Conquests of Kanem), whose author Aḥmad ibn Furṭū wrote that;
_**"Did you ever see a king equal to our sultan or close to it, when the lord of Dabulah**[Istanbul]**sent his emissaries from his country with sweet words, sincere and requested affection and for a desired union? Alas, in truth, all sultans are inferior to the Bornu sultan."**_
Ibn Furtu gives the Ottoman sultan a diminutive title of _malik_ (King); compared to the title 'Sultan' which was used for Bornu's neighbors: Kanem and Mandara, while the Bornu ruler was given the prestigious title 'Caliph'. This reflected the political tensions between the Ottomans and Bornu, as much as it served to legitimate the authority of the Bornu rulers relative to their regional peers.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-5-136432887)
Contacts between Bornu and the Ottomans were thereafter confined to Tripoli, Egypt and the Hejaz, without direct visits between Istanbul and Ngazargamu. An exceptional decree issued by the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul during the early 17th century was copied in Bornu at an uncertain date[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-6-136432887), but aside from this, the intellectual cultures of Bornu contain no scholars from Istanbul, nor did Bornu's scholars visit the Ottoman capital, opting to confine their activities to scholary communities in Tripoli and Egypt.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MVvT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb781370a-ea1d-497c-a539-4f9eaa833415_919x492.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JUUT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdf7e418-c9a3-4fc9-8575-7f122d5f7cfb_973x608.png)
_**ruined sections of Idris Alooma’s 16th century palace at Gamboru**_, Nigeria
**The Ottoman-Funj war and an Ottoman visitor in 17th century Sennar.**
The Funj kingdom was founded around 1504 shortly before the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Expanding northwards from its capital Sennar, the Funj would encounter the Ottomans at the red-sea port of Suakin as well as the town of Qasr Ibrim in lower Nubia.
A report by a Ottoman naval officer in 1525, which contains a dismissive description of the Funj and Ethiopian states as well as recommendations to conquer them with an army of just 1,000 soldiers, indicates that the Ottomans drastically underestimated their opponent. The ottoman general Özdemir Pasha had suceeded in creating the small red-sea province of Habesh in 1554 (which was essentially just a group of islands and towns between Suakin and Massawa), but his campaign into Funj territory from Suakin was met with resistance from his own troops.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-7-136432887)
In 1560s the Ottomans occupied the fort of Qasr Ibrim and by 1577, had moved their armies south intending to conquer the Funj kingdom. According to an account written around 1589, the Ottoman army advanced against the city of old Dongola on the Nile with many boats, and the Funj army met them nearby at Hannik where a battle ensued that ended with an Ottoman defeat and withdraw (with just one boat surviving). The Ottoman-Funj border was from then on established at Sai island, although it would be gradually moved north to Ibrim.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-8-136432887)
In the suceeding century following the Ottoman defeat, relations between the Funj kingdom and their northern neighbor were normalized as trade and travel increased between the two regions. In 1672/3, the Funj kingdom was visited by the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi on his journey through north-east Africa. Starting at Ibrim in late 1672, Evliya set off with a party of 20 within a merchant carravan of about 800 traders mostly from _Funjistan_ (ie: Funj), carrying letters from the Ottoman governor of Egypt addressed to the Funj ruler to ensure Evliya's safety.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-9-136432887)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mRZg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221d6365-03ea-4501-b506-c56d118fb84c_904x597.png)
_**Evliya Celebi’s journey through the Funj kingdom and North-east Africa**_, map by Michael D. Sheridan
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Lxu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feef6cc89-eae5-4193-926b-2cff28a3e926_916x457.jpeg)
_**Late medieval ruins on Sai Island**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO1Y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdcf462fc-7568-41c0-b584-75d8e1dac046_691x790.jpeg)
_**Detail of a 17th century illustration depicting Evliya Celebi**_
Evliya arrived in the region of 'Berberistan'; the northern tributary province of Berber in the Funj kingdom, which begun at Sai Island. He passed through several fortified towns before arriving at the provincial capital of Dongola. The province was ruled by a certain king 'Huseyin Beg' who recognized the Funj ruler at Sennar as his suzerain. Evliya stayed in Berber for several weeks before proceeding to old Dongola (the former capital of Makuria) where the Funj territories formally begun.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-10-136432887)
From old Dongola, Evliya passes through several castellated towns before he reaches the city of Arbaji within the core Funj territories. He stopped over for a few days where he had a rather uncomfortable meeting with the local ruler before proceeding to the Funj capital sennar where he stayed for over a month. Sennar was described as a large city with several quarters surrounded by a 3-km long wall, pierced by three large gates and defended by 50 cannons. The Funj king (Badi II r. 1644-1681) controlled a vast territory, reportedly with as many as 645 cities and 1,500 fortresses. King Badi received the official letters from the Egyptian governor that Evliya had brought with him, and wrote his own letters addressed to the sender. The Funj king accompanied Evliya on a tour of the kingdom's southern territories, afterwhich they both returned to Sennar where the King gave Evliya provisions for his return journey. But upon reaching Arbaji where he encountered _Jabarti_ merchants (Ethiopian Muslims), Evliya decided to head east through the northern frontier of the Ethiopian state to the red sea coast.[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-11-136432887)
The last leg of Evliya's trip took him through northern _Dembiya_ (ie: Gondarine-Ethiopia), proceeding to the red sea coastal city of suakin before turning south to the coastal cities of the horn including Massawa and Zeila, and later retracing his route back to Egypt. Evliya arrived in Cairo in April 1673 accompanied by three Funj envoys, presenting the gifts from the Funj king and his letters to the governor of Egypt.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-12-136432887)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jDhq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1ef3078-f4c7-4d2c-bded-2c338e01484f_2048x1170.jpeg)
_**Ruins of a Christian monastery complex at old Dongola**_, similar ruins are described in Evliya’s account
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!g_Cs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ed23966-7aef-4576-830b-407b80f679f2_512x384.jpeg)
_**ruins of a ‘Diffi’ fortified castle-house on Jawgul island**_, the kind that appears frequently in Evliya’s account of the Funj kingdom
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5k32!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac8dda93-3212-4ceb-8d84-e303778b3b91_3958x2178.jpeg)
_**Ruins of a mosque in Sennar**_[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-13-136432887), the Funj capital fell into decline in the early 19th century when it was abandoned.
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**Diplomatic and Intellectual links between the kingdoms of Funj and Darfur, and the Ottomans: traveling scholars and envoys from the eastern Sudan in Istanbul**
While most diplomatic and intellectual exchanges between the Ottomans and the Funj were confined to Egypt, some Funj scholars travelled across the Ottoman domains as far as the empire's capital at Istanbul. The earliest documented Funj scholar to reach Istanbul was Ahmad Idrìs al-Sinnàrì (b. 1746). He travelled from Funj to Yemen for further studies, moving through the Hejaz and from there to Egypt. He later travelled to Istanbul and to Aleppo where he would live out the rest of his life. Another traveler from the Funj region was Ali al-Qus (b. 1788), he studied at al-Azhar, before setting out on his extensive travels, during which he visited Syria, Crete, the Hijaz Yemen and Istanbul, before returning to settle at Dongola shortly after the fall of the Funj kingdom.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-14-136432887)
While the Funj kingdom didn't send envoys directly to Istanbul, its western neighbor, the kingdom of Darfur, sent an embassy directly to the Ottoman sultan after conflicts with the governor of Ottoman-Egypt. On April 7th, 1792, the Darfur king Abd al-Rahman (r. 1787–1801). sent an envoy to Istanbul with gifts for Selim III and letters describing the former's campaigns in the frontiers[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-15-136432887). The Darfur envoy informed the Ottoman sultan that the latter's officials in Egypt were doing injustice to merchants of Darfur and demanded that the sultan sends an imperial edict against their actions. The sultan likely agreed to the requests of the Darfur king, who was also given the honorific title al-Rashid (the just), a title that would frequently appear on the royal seals of Darfur.[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-16-136432887)
Intellectual and diplomatic exchanges between the Ottomans and the eastern Sudanic kingdoms continued throughout the 19th century, even after the brief French conquest of Egypt (the Darfur king also sent an embassy to Napoleon in 1800), and the Egyptian conquest of Sennar in the 1821.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F_F7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffcd987a2-d890-4df2-adc5-7288cca7503f_681x1022.jpeg)
_**Letter from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān of Darfur to Selim III,. Cumhurbaşkanliği Osmanli Arşivi, Istanbul**_
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cCYJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F768a49e5-3b3f-477a-bb7f-7402a8af0650_647x900.webp)
_**painting of Ibrahim, a Sudanese muslim from Sennar in Istanbul**_ ca. 1856, V&A museum
**Ottoman links with the western-Sudanic kingdoms: A traveling scholar from Massina in Istanbul**
Unlike the central and eastern Sudan which bordered Ottoman provinces, the western Sudanic states had little diplomatic contact with the Ottomans outside Egypt and the Hejaz, nor was the empire recognized as a major Muslim power before the 18th century. When a [Portuguese embassy to Mali reached the court of Mansa Mahmud II](https://www.patreon.com/posts/when-mali-empire-76281818) in 1480s, the Mali ruler mentioned that he hadn't received a Christian envoy before, and the only major powers he recognized were the King of Yemen, the king of Baghdad, the King of Cairo and the King of Mali. Similary, the Ottomans don't appear in the 17th century Timbuktu chronicles despite the empire having seized control of Egypt and the Hejaz more than a century before and many west-African scholars having travelled through Ottoman domains.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-17-136432887)
While the Ottomans didn't frequently appear in early west-African writings, they are increasingly mentioned in the 18th and 19th century centuries. The 19th century chronicle _Ta'rikh al-fattash_, which is mostly based on the 17th century Timbuktu chronicles, mentions that: _**"We have heard the common people of our time say that there are four sultans in the world, not counting the supreme sultan, and they are the Sultan of Baghdad, the Sultan of Egypt, the Sultan of Bornu, and the Sultan of Mali."**_ The chronicler added a gloss which reads '_**this is the sultan of Istanbul**_' in place of the 'supreme sultan'.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-18-136432887)
The chronicler of the _Ta'rikh al-fattash_ was writing from the [empire of Massina](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-massina-empire-1818), and its from here that atleast one western Sudanic scholar is known to have travelled to Istanbul in the mid 19th century. The scholar Muhammad Salma al-Zurruq (b. 1845) was born in the city of Djenne (Mali) into a chiefly family. He set off for pilgrimage early in his youth afterwhich he visited Istanbul, where he stayed for some time and met Muhammad Zhafir al-Madani, son of the founder of the Madaniyya order, Zhafir al-Madani, who acted as an agent of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876-1909), with the Sufi orders in Ottoman north-Africa. Muhammad Salma was able to establish an excellent rapport with the sultan who supplied him with documents guaranteeing his safe travel through Ottoman territories. Muhammad Salma travelled extensively in Ottoman territories and finally arrived in the Moroccan capital of Fez in 1888, later returning to Mali in 1890 on the eve of the French conquest.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-19-136432887)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!at84!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0508cd26-ead1-4bb6-851c-34b07134d6e0_2185x1376.jpeg)
_**Djenne street scene**_, ca. 1906
Sultan Abdul Hamid greatly transformed ottoman relations with Sudanic Africa, set in the context of the colonial scramble. But lacking the capacity to undertake distant military campaigns into the region, the Ottomans relied on religious orders to assert its political claims over parts of Africa which it never formally controlled. Relying on its alliances with the Sanusi order that was active in the Fezzan and the kingdoms of Wadai and Bornu, Ottoman agents travelled to parts of the region to initiate a new (albeit brief) era of diplomatic exchange with the central Sudan. [20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-20-136432887)
Ottoman agents also travelled beyond the Sudanic regions to Lagos (Nigeria), Cape colony, Zanzibar, Ethiopia and even to the African Muslim community in Brazil[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-21-136432887). Similary, African kingdoms sent envoys and scholars to the Ottoman capital to forge anti-colonial alliances. The diplomatic ties between the Ottomans and African kingdoms such as Darfur under Ali Dinar, lasted until the collapse of the Ottoman empire after the first world war.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-22-136432887)
This late phase of African-Ottoman links is a fascinating topic that will be explored later, covering the international diplomatic strategies African states used to resist the colonial expansion.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!stMJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa106544-df91-46d4-a642-fcfcca234dfb_600x380.png)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3Uxd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0a8fa5c0-60ae-472a-abeb-af7156196cb1_660x440.jpeg)
_**The Shitta-Bey Mosque in Lagos**_, built in 1891 by Mohammed Shitta Bey (ca. 1824-1895) a son of a freed-slave from Freetown who originally came from Brazil. The most important figure at the mosque’s opening was the Ottoman sultan’s representative _**Abdullah Quilliam**_ (1856-1932), not long after another ottoman agent, Abd ar-Rahman al-Baghdadi, had visited the African Muslims of Brazil.
In the 9th century, **Italy was home to the only independent Muslim state in Europe that was ruled by Berbers and West-Africans**, read more about the kingdom of Bari on my latest Patreon post:
[AN AFRICAN KINGDOM IN ITALY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/87931499)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cL24!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a7788d7-c663-4594-a6ee-175ba6411ced_630x992.png)
**Mohammed Shitta Bey was one of several descendants of freed-slaves who settled on the west-African coast and made a significant contribution to the region’s economic development and modernization during the 19th century**. Read more about it here;
[THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF LIBERATED AFRICANS](https://www.patreon.com/posts/85011401?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MhZY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe0dca157-5444-4ff9-a508-0b27d727fac3_616x1219.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-1-136432887)
adopted from Rémi Dewière
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-2-136432887)
Mai Idris of Bornu and the Ottoman Turks by BG Martin pg 472-473, Du lac Tchad à la Mecque: Le sultanat du Borno by Rémi Dewière pg 29-30)
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-3-136432887)
The relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Kanem-Bornu During the reign of Sultan Murad III by Sebastian Flynn pg 113-118
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-4-136432887)
Du lac Tchad à la Mecque: Le sultanat du Borno by Rémi Dewière pg 34-35, 159
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-5-136432887)
The Slave and the Scholar: Representing Africa in the World from Early Modern Tripoli to Borno by Rémi Dewière pg 52-53)
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-6-136432887)
Doubt, Scholarship and Society in 17th-Century Central Sudanic Africa By Dorrit van Dalen pg 36
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-7-136432887)
The Ottomans and the Funj sultanate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by A.C.S. Peacock pg 92-94
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-8-136432887)
Kingdoms of the Sudan By R.S. O'Fahey, J.L. Spaulding pg 35)
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-9-136432887)
Nil Yolculuğu: Mısır, Sudan, Habeşistan by Nuran Tezcan
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-10-136432887)
Ottoman Explorations of the Nile by Robert Dankoff pg 251-256)
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-11-136432887)
Ottoman Explorations of the Nile by Robert Dankoff pg 257-301)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-12-136432887)
Ottoman Explorations of the Nile by Robert Dankoff pg 361)
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-13-136432887)
image by sudanheritageproject
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-14-136432887)
The Transmission of Learning in Islamic Africa by Scott Reese pg 146, Arabic Literature of Africa Vol1 by John O. Hunwick pg 146,
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-15-136432887)
An Embassy from the Sultan of Darfur to the Sublime Porte in 1791 by A.C.S. Peacock
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-16-136432887)
, Black Pearl and White Tulip: A History of Ottoman Africa by Şakir Batmaz pg 42, Kingdoms of the Sudan By R.S. O'Fahey, J.L. Spaulding pg 162)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-17-136432887)
Wangara, Akan and Portuguese 1 by Ivor Wilks pg 339)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-18-136432887)
Wangara, Akan and Portuguese 1 by Ivor Wilks pg 339 n. 36)
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-19-136432887)
La Tijâniyya. Une confrérie musulmane à la conquête de l'Afrique by Jean-Louis Triaud pg 397-398)
[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-20-136432887)
The Ottoman Scramble for Africa By Mostafa Minawi
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-21-136432887)
Osmanlı-Afrika İlişkileri by Ahmet Kavas, The Politicization of Islam: Reconstructing Identity, State, Faith, and Community in the Late Ottoman State by Kemal H. Karpat, Illuminating the Blackness: Blacks and African Muslims in Brazil By Habeeb Akande
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman#footnote-anchor-22-136432887)
An Islamic Alliance: Ali Dinar and the Sanusiyya, 1906-1916 By Jay Spaulding
|
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https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historical-links-between-the-ottoman
|
a brief note on the role of Africans in the early Islamic expansion
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a brief note on the role of Africans in the early Islamic expansion
===================================================================
### an African kingdom in southern Italy.
[](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Aug 19, 2023
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The early period of Islamic expansion resulted in the creation of what was until then the largest empire in human history. In less than a century, the Rashidun caliphate and the suceeding Umayyad caliphate created a large empire that stretched from Spain to Central Asia, covering a vast territory from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China.
Yet despite their rapid success, the Islamic advance was halted in [Nubia](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/christian-nubia-muslim-egypt-and) and Ethiopia where their armies suffered rare defeats and were forced to withdraw. A similar advance into west Africa through the oases of the Fezzan and [Kawar](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-civilization-in-the-heart) was equally unsuccessful as local polities remained largely in control of the region.
Overextended and outnumbered, the Ummayad Arabs begun recruiting north-African Berbers to bolster their scattered armies. The addition of both free and enslaved Berber soldiers in the Ummayad forces proved decisive in the conquest and control of the empire's most distant provinces, especially in Spain.
As the pace of expansion begun to decline in the 8th and 9th century, more soldiers were recruited from outlying regions like west-Africa and Europe. With these armies, the Ummayads and their sucessors expanded their campaigns into southern Europe, beginning with the islands of Crete and Sicily, and eventually making landfall on southern Italy.
The Muslim kingdom in southern Italy was the furthest expansion of the early Islamic empires in mainland Europe outside Spain. In the 9th century, Italy was home to the only independent Muslim state in Europe that was ruled not by Arabs but by the contigents of Berbers and west-Africans whom they had recruited.
The kingdom of Bari is the subject of my latest Patreon article, exploring the history of this African kingdom in Italy, and its complex relationship with the neighboring Christian states.
Read about it here:
[AN AFRICAN KINGDOM IN ITALY](https://www.patreon.com/posts/87931499)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cL24!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a7788d7-c663-4594-a6ee-175ba6411ced_630x992.png)
* * *
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iUnZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ad21e08-0f9a-46a4-8386-13c5fde39812_622x332.png)
_**Battle between the Castilian armies and the armies of Muslim Spain**_, miniature from the _Cantigas de Santa Maria_ of Alfonso X the Wise,13th Century, Spain. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)
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<**Next week’s article will explore the historic links between Ottoman empire and Africa from the 16th century to the 19th century, focusing on diplomatic ties and intellectual exchanges of Africans in Ottoman Europe and Ottomans in Africa outside north-Africa**.>
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-brief-note-on-the-role-of-africans
|
Lying about 400km off the coast of east Africa, the island of Madagascar has a remarkable history of human settlement and state formation. A few centuries after the beginning of the common era, a syncretized Afro-Asian society emerged on Madagascar, populating the island with plants and animals from both east Africa and south-east Asia, and creating its first centralized states.
From a cluster of small chiefdoms centered on hilltop fortresses, the powerful kingdom of Merina emerged at the end of the 18th century after developing and strengthening its social and political institutions. The Merina state succeeded in establishing its hegemony over the neighboring states, creating a vast empire which united most of the island.
This article outlines the history of Madagascar and the Merina kingdom, from the island's earliest settlement to the fall of the Merina kingdom in the late 19th century.
_**the nineteenth century Merina empire**_, map by G. Campbell.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!petQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd79a7aba-f6c6-4952-97f1-601fc19327f7_480x633.png)
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**Background on the human settlement of Madagascar.**
The island of Madagascar is likely to have been first settled intermittently by groups of foragers from the African mainland who reached the northern coast during the 2nd to 1st millennium BC.[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-1-135963873) Permanent settlement on Madagascar first appears in archeological record during the second half of the 1st millennium, and was associated with the simultaneous expansion of the Bantu-speaking groups from the mainland east Africa and its offshore islands, as well as the arrival of Austonesian-speaking groups from south-east Asia.[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-2-135963873)
Linguistic evidence suggests that nearly all domesticates on Madagascar were primarily introduced from the African mainland, while crops came from both Africa and south-east Asia.[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-3-135963873) There were significant exchanges between the northern coastal settlements of Madagascar and the Comoros archipelago, with chlorite schist vessels and rice from the former being exchanged for imported ceramics and glass-beads from the latter. These exchanges were associated with the expansion of the Swahili world along the east African coast and the Comoros islands, of which northern Madagascar was included, especially the city-state of Mahilaka in the 9th-16th century. Other significant towns emerged all along the island's coast at Vohemar, Talaky, Ambodisiny, and in the Anosy region, although these were not as engaged in maritime trade as Mahilaka.[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-4-135963873)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yvv9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55f7cfc7-1a32-4dd3-9c18-6b1c09278af5_826x491.png)
_**the peopling of Madagascar,**_ map by P Beaujard
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SAEM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9cccf223-0627-4ecd-b4f8-15a44543c991_820x613.jpeg)
_**Ruins of the city wall of Mahilaka in north-western Madagascar**_, the Swahili town had a population of over 10,000 at its height in the early 2nd millennium
It was during this early period of permanent settlement that the Malagasy culture emerged with its combined Austronesian and Bantu influences. The Malagasy language belongs to the South-East Barito subgroup of Austronesian languages in Borneo but its vocabulary contains a significant percentage of loanwords from the Sabaki subgroup of Bantu languages (primarily Comorian and Swahili) as well as other languages such as other Austronesian languages like Malay and Javanese.[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-5-135963873) Genetically, the modern coastal populations of Madagascar have about about 65% east-African ancestry with the rest coming from groups closely related to modern Cambodians, while the highland populations have about 47% east-African ancestry with a similar ancestral source in south-east Asia as the coastal groups.[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-6-135963873)
More significantly however, is that this Bantu-Austronesian admixture occurred more the 600-960 years ago at its most recent, and most scholars suggest that the admixture occurred much earlier during the 1st millennium, with some postulating that it occurred on the Comoros archipelago before the already admixed group migrated to Madagascar.[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-7-135963873) This combined evidence indicates that the population of Madagascar was thoroughly admixed well before the emergence of the earliest states in the interior and the dispersion of the dialects which make up the modern Malagasy language such as the Merina, Sakalava, Betsileo, etc.[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-8-135963873) The creation of ethnonyms such as “Merina” is itself a very recent phenomenon associated with their kingdom’s 18th-19th century expansion.[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-9-135963873)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FD4q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19008c56-b675-4e49-b08f-489fdf7d363b_776x573.jpeg)
_**rice cultivation**_, 1896, madagascar , quai branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pqcs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec3b523-7469-4789-b57e-74ec15d48387_836x573.jpeg)
_**Sculpture of a Zebu cow**_. 1935, Antananarivo, quai branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IaFO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F42f8301b-9973-4f4f-b96d-083fa8783a9e_568x848.png)
_**Madagascar in the late 1st millennium, ancient sites and ‘ethnic’ groups.**_ Map by G. Campbell
[Share](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share)
**The emergence of kingdoms in Madagascar and the early Merina state from the 16th to the 18th century.**
The first settlements in the interior highlands appear in the 12th-13th century at the archeological sites of Ambohimanga and Ankadivory. Similar sites appear across the island, they are characterized by fortified hilltop settlements of stone enclosures, within which were wooden houses and tombs, with inhabitants practicing rice farming and stock-breeding. Their material culture is predominantly local and unique to the island but also included a significant share of imported wares similar to those imported on the Swahili coast and the Comoros archipelago. These early settlements flourished thanks to the emergence of social hierarchies, continued migration and the island's increasing insertion into regional and international maritime trade.[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-10-135963873)
The history of the early Merina polity first appears in external accounts from the 17th century, that are later supplemented by internal traditions recorded later. Prominent among these traditions is Raminia, a person of purportedly Islamized/Indianized Austronesian origin with connections to Arabia and the Swahili coast, whose descendants (the _**Zafiraminia**_) settled at the eastern coast of the island. Among these was a woman named Andriandrakova who moved inland and married an autochtonous _**vazimba**_ chief to produce the royal lineage of merina (_**Andriana**_).[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-11-135963873) These traditions were initially interpreted by colonial scholars to have been literal migrations of distinct groups, but such interpretations have since been discredited in research which instead regards the traditions to be personifications of elite interactions between various hybridized groups with syncretic cultures, some of whom had been established on the island while others were recent immigrants.[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-12-135963873)
From the 16th century to the early 17th century, Madagascar was a political honeycomb of small polities. The central part of the highlands comprised several chiefdoms divided between the Merina and Betsileo groups, all centered at fortified hilltop sites. Intermittent conflicts between the small polities were resolved with warfare, alliances and diplomacy mediated by local lineage heads and ritual specialists. One of the more significant hilltop centers was Ampandrana, village southwest of the later capital Antananarivo. The elite of at Ampandrana gradually assumed a position of leadership from which came the future dynasty of _Andriana_, with its first (semi-legendary) rulers being; king Andriamanelo and his sucessor; king Ralambo. These rulers are credited with several political and cultural institutions of the early Merina state and establishing their authority over the clan heads through warfare and marital alliances. Ralambo's sucessor Andrianjaka would later found Antananarivo as the capital of the Merina state in the early 17th century. [13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-13-135963873)
Merina then appears in external accounts as the kingdom (s) of the Hova/Hoves/Uva/Vua, and was closely related to the export trade in commodities (mostly cattle and rice) and captives passing through the northwestern port of Mazalagem Nova that ultimately led to the Comoros archipelago, the Swahili coast and Arabian peninsula.[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-14-135963873) The term ‘Hova’ is however not restricted to the Merina and is unlikely to have represented a single state as it was a social rank for the majority of highland Malagasy.[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-15-135963873) Neverthless, its appearance sheds some light on the existence of hierachical polities in the interior.
One Portuguese account from 1613 mentions that **“Some Buki [**Malagasy**] slaves are led from the kingdom of Uva, which is located in the interior of the island, and they are sold at Mazalagem to Moors from the Malindi coast [**Swahili**]”**. It later describes these captives from Uva as resembling the **"the palest half-breeds"**, but adds that some had curly hair, some straight hair, and some had dark skin. Mazalagem depended on the Merina state more than the reverse, as one account from 1620 **"When I asked a negro from Mazalagem if his fellow-countrymen used to go and trade at Vua, he replied that the people from Mazalagem no longer go there since the people of Vua, who are very wicked, had stripped them of their wares and their silver and had killed a great number of their people"**. Neverthless, trade continued as one account from the late 17th century describes 'Hoves' coming to Mazalagem Nova with **"10,000 head of cattle and 2 or 3,000 slaves”.**[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-16-135963873)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-qcS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9022c5b9-ad83-40fc-aa6e-cb52c778eb77_820x547.jpeg)
_**Ruins of Mazalagem Nova**_, the 17th century town displaced the earlier town of Lagany as the main entreport for overland trade. While Mazalagem’s prosperity was largely tied to its virtual monopoly over the trade from the interior, it was only one of about 40 towns along the northern coast, most of which weren’t economically dependent on trade from the interior.
**Read more about the history of the Swahili city-states of Madagascar here**:
[STONE CITIES OF MADAGASCAR](https://www.patreon.com/posts/african-of-stone-77497948)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QRxR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3acb9b43-41aa-49c9-aa97-09c87c71a382_791x573.jpeg)
_**street scene in Mahajanga (Majunga) in 1945**_, quai branly. This town suceeded Mazalagem in the 18th century and remained Merina’s principal port in the west until the kingdom’s collapse.
These accounts don't reveal much about the internal processes of the Merina state, save for corroborating internal traditions about the processes of the kingdom's expansion, its agro-pastoral economy and its gradual integration into maritime trade in the 17th and 18th century. The population growth in central Merina compelled its rulers to expand the irrigated areas, which were mostly farmed by common subjects, while the royal estates were worked by a combination of corvee labour and captives from neighboring states. The most significant ruler of this period was king Andriamasinavalona (ca. 1675-1710) who expanded the borders of the kingdom, created more political institutions and increased both regional and coastal trade. He later divided his realm into four parts under the control of one of his sons, but the kingdom fragmented after his death, descending into a ruinous civil war that lasted until the late 18th century.[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-17-135963873)
In 1783, the ruler of the most powerful among the four divided kingdoms was Andrianampoinimerina . He negotiated a brief truce of with the other kings, fortified his dependencies, purchased more firearms from the coastal cities, and created more offices of counsellors in his government.[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-18-135963873) In 1796 he recaptured Antananarivo, and after several campaigns, he had seized control of rest of the divided kingdoms, creating a sizeable unified state about 8,000 sqkm in size. It was under the reign of his sucessor Radama (r. 1810-1828) that the kingdom greatly expanded to cover nearly 2/3rds of the island (about 350,000-400,000 sqkm) through a complex process of diplomacy and warfare, conquering the Betsileo states by 1822, the Antsihanaka states in 1823, the sakalava kingdom of Iboina in 1823, and the coastal town of Majunga in 1824.[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-19-135963873)
Radama's rapid expansion brought Merina into close contact with the imperial powers of the western Indian ocean, primarily the French in the Mascarene islands (Mauritius & Reunion), and the British who ships often stopped by Nzwani island[20](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-20-135963873). The intersection of Radama's expansionist interests and British commercial and abolitionist intrests led to the two signing treaties banning the export of slaves from regions under Merina control in exchange for British military and commercial support. Slaves from Madagascar comprised the bulk of captives sent to the Mascarene plantations in the 18th and early 19th century, some of whom would have come from Merina along with the kingdom's staple exports of cattle, rice and other commodities.[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-21-135963873)
However, competing imperial interests between the Merina, British and French compelled Radama to adopt autarkic policies meant to decrease his empire's reliance on imported weaponry and shore up his domestic economy. His policies were greatly expanded under his sucessor, Queen Ranavalona (1828-1861) and it was during their respective reigns that Merina was at the height of its power.[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-22-135963873)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1LxO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6754f61a-6302-4cf9-baf8-901138a66a82_413x573.jpeg)
_**one of the residences of King Andrianampoinimerina within the Rova of Antananarivo, built in the traditional style.**_ photo ca. 1895, quai branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zyyv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96bb5e4d-46fc-412e-b6d7-600d76672eaa_799x573.jpeg)
_**The seven tombs where the remains of king AndrianJaka and his descendants lie**_, Antananarivo, Madagascar. photo ca. 1945, quai branly. Originally built in the 17th/18th century, reconstruction was undertaken in the mid 19th century.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sFcY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2c991dec-95c0-47cf-a97f-87a68ed483d8_820x595.png)
_**Expansion of the Merina kingdom in the early 19th century.**_ Maps by G. Campbell
**State and Society in early 19th century Merina: Politics, Military and the industrial economy.**
The government in Merina was headed by the king/Queen, who was assisted by a council of seventy which represented every collective within the kingdom, the most powerful councilor being the prime minister. Merina's social hierachy was built over the cultural institutions that pre-existed the kingdom such as castes and clan groups, with the noble castes (_**andriana**_) ruling over the commoner clans (_**foko**_) and their composite subjects (_**Hova**_), as well as the slaves (_**andevo**_). The kinsmen of the King received fiefs (_**menakely**_) from which was derived tribute for the capital and labour attached to the court. The subjects often came together in assemblies (_**fokonolona**_) to enact regulations, and effect works in common such as embankments and other public constructions, and to mediate disputes.[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-23-135963873)
Both the Merina nobility and the subjects attached great importance to their ancestral lands (_**tanindrazana**_) controlled by clan founders (_**tompontany**_). Links between the ancestral lands and clan are maintained by continued burial within the solidly constructed tombs that are centrally located in the ancestral villages and towns, including the royal capital where the Merina court and King's tombs have a permanent fixture since the 17th century. Additionally, the clan founders and/or elders were appointed as local representatives of the Merina monarchy, in charge of remitting tribute and organizing corvee labour (_**fanompoana**_) for public works as well as for the military.[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-24-135963873)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ht1m!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf51ad23-b154-4713-89e3-0e63a783b9d4_790x573.jpeg)
the Tranovola of Radama I, built in the hybridized architectural style that gradually influenced the royal architecture of Merina. photo ca. 1945, quai branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yRBY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F368ba68d-b5e7-4bc3-aef4-de4ddfed686f_409x573.jpeg)
_**the Manjakamiadana palace of Ranavalona built by Jean Laborde in 1840, and encased in stone by Ranavalona II.**_ photo ca. 1895, quai branly.
Merina armies initially consisted of large units drawn from ancestral land groups and commanded by the clan elders. when assembled, they were led by a commander in chief appointed by the king. After 1820 Radama succeeded in forming a standing army using the _**fanompoana**_ system, who were supplied with the latest weaponry and stationed in garrisons across the kingdom. Radama's standing force and the traditional army units controlled by elders were both allowed to be engaged in the export trade, sharing their profits with the imperial court and enforcing Merina control over newly conquered regions. Radama's syncretism of Merina and European cultural institutions encouraged the settlement of Christian missionaries and the establishment of a school system whose students were initially drawn from the nobility and military, but later included artisans and other subjects.[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-25-135963873)
Merina's economy was predominantly based on intensive riziculture and pastoralism, supplemented by the various handicraft industries such as cloth manufacture, and metal smithing. Merina was at the center of a long-distance trade network of exchanges that fostered regional specialization, each province had regulated markets, and exchanges utilized imported silver, and commodity currencies. After the breakdown in relations between Merina and the Europeans, which included several wars where the French were expelled from Fort Daughin in 1824, and Tamatave in 1829, king Radama embarked on an ambitious program of industrialization that was subsquently expanded by Queen Ranavalona. Merina's local factories which were staffed by skilled artisans and funded by both the state and foreign entrepenuers (such as Jean Laborde), they produced a broad range of local manufactures including firearms, swords, ammunition, glass, cloth, tiles, processed sugar, soap and tanned leather.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NPhF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcc69d76f-22c5-4f66-a8fc-cc1184b4365f_820x526.png)
_**Factory building in Mantasoa, Madagascar ca. 1900**_, the town of Mantasoa was the largest of several industrial settlements and plantations set up during the first half of the 19th century in one of the most ambitious attempts at industrialization in the non-western world.
**read more about it here:**
[EARLY INDUSTRIALIZATION IN MERINA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/87234164?pr=true)
**The Merina state in the late 19th century: stagnation, transformation and collapse.**
During Queen Ranavalona's reign, increasing conflicts between the court and the religious factions in the capital led to the expulsion of the few remaining missionaries and the expansion of the _**tangena**_ judicial system to check political and religious rivaries. Ranavalona's reign was characterized by increased Merina campiagns into outlying regions, the corvee labour system which supplied the industrial workforce and military, and the transformation of domestic labour with war captives from neighboring states, as well as imported captives from the Mozambique channel[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-26-135963873). Merina retained its position as the most powerful state on the island thanks in part to the growing power of the prime minister Rainiharo, its armies managed to repel a major Franco-British attack on Tamatave in 1845, and to expel French agents from Ambavatobe in 1855. Rebellions in outlying provinces were crushed, but significant resistance persisted and Merina expansion effectively ground to a halt.[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-27-135963873)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JMZl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe7837eb5-0dee-4437-81e1-1b8ee9098c1c_827x573.jpeg)
_**Tomb of Rainiharo constructed by Jean Laborde,**_ photo ca. 1945 quai branly
After Ranavalona's death in 1861, she was suceeded by Radama II, her chosen heir who undid many of her autarkic policies and re-established contacts with the Europeans and missionaries who regained their positions in the capital. But internal power struggles between the Merina nobility undermined Radama's ability to maintain his authority, and he was killed in a rebellion led by his prime minister Rainivoninahitriniony in 1863. The later had Radama's widow, Rasoherina (r. 1863-1868), proclaimed as Queen, who inturn replaced him with the commander in chief Rainilaiarivony as prime minister in 1864. From then, effective government passed on to Rainilaiarivony, who occupied two powerful offices at once, reduced the Queen's executive authority and succeeded in ruling Merina until 1895, in the name of three queens that suceeded Rasoherina as figureheads; Ranavalona II (1868-1883), and Ranavalona III (1883-1897). [28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-28-135963873)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!a4m2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e4c39a2-3086-4690-b16c-f8a2ea2b48fb_541x617.png)
_**View of Antsahatsiroa,**_ Antananarivo,Madagascar, 1862-1865
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y7-K!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1806228c-1812-45dd-b2c7-cab90d2d9857_796x573.jpeg)
_**Tombs of King Radama I and Queen Rasoherina at the Rova of Antananarivo,**_ photo ca. 1945, quai branly
Rainilaiarivony radically transformed Merina's political and cultural institutions, accelerating the innovations of the preceeding sovereigns. Merina's administration was restructured with more ministers/councilors under the office of the prime minister rather than the Queen, a code of laws was introduced to reform the Judicial system in 1868 and later in 1881, the military was rapidly modernized, and the collection of tribute became more formalized. Christianity became the court religion, mission schools were centralized, with more than 30,000 students in protestant mission schools alone by 1875.[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-29-135963873)
The increasing syncretism of Merina and European culture could be seen in the adoption of brick architecture in place of timber and stone houses, the uniformed military and the replacement of the sorabe script (an Arabo-Malagasy writing system) with the latin script as printing presses became ubiquitous. However, the evolution of Merina society was largely determined by internal processes, the court remained at Antananarivo which was the largest city with about 75,000 inhabitants, but besides a few coastal towns like Majunga and Tamatave, most Merina subjects lived in relatively small agricultural settlements under the authority of the clans and feudatories.[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-30-135963873)
Regionally, some of the political changes in Merina occurred in the background of the Anglo-French rivary in the western Indian ocean, which in Merina also played out between the rival Protestant and Catholic missions. As Rainilaiarivony leaned towards the British against the French, the latter were compelled to invade Merina and formally declare it a protectorate. In 1883, an French expedition force attacked Majunga and occupied Tamatave but its advance was checked in the interior forcing it to withdraw. A lengthy period of negotiations between the Merina and the French followed, but would prove futile as the French invaded again in December 1894. Their advance into the interior was stalled by the expedition's poor planning, only one major engagement was fought with the Merina army as the kingdom had erupted in rebellion. The Merina capital was taken by French forces in September 1895 and the kingdom formally ceased to exist as an independent state in the following month.[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-31-135963873)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D-gV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8d4a3e4b-7160-4b2e-8fa0-f82dbce24607_777x573.jpeg)
_**Palace of prime minister Rainilaiarivony**_, photo ca. 1895, quai branly
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3X2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3f075aeb-0941-4736-b3d9-c7178b274158_834x573.jpeg)
_**Antananarivo**_, ca. 1900, quai branly
In the early 19th century when the **Merina state was home to one of the most remarkable examples of proto-industrialization in Africa.**
read more about it on Patreon:
[EARLY INDUSTRIALIZATION IN MERINA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/87234164?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MyAi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb781c61-2c51-400d-8b1f-e4003fd3534b_624x1078.png)
[1](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-1-135963873)
Early Exchange Between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World by G Campbell pg 195-204, A critical review of radiocarbon dates clarifies the human settlement of Madagascar by Kristina Douglass et al.
[2](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-2-135963873)
Early Exchange Between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World by G Campbell pg 206-214, Settling Madagascar: When Did People First Colonize the World’s Largest Island? by Peter Mitchell- and response: Evidence for Early Human Arrival in Madagascar is Robust: A Response to Mitchell by James P. Hansford et al.
[3](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-3-135963873)
The Austronesians in Madagascar and Their Interaction with the Bantu of the East African Coast by Roger Blench, The first migrants to Madagascar and their introduction of plants by Philippe Beaujard pg 174-185)
[4](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-4-135963873)
Early Exchange Between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World by G Campbell pg 213-220, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean Vol. 2 by Philippe Beaujard pg 374-378)
[5](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-5-135963873)
loanwords in Malagasy by Alexander Adelaar.
[6](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-6-135963873)
Early Exchange Between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World by G Campbell pg 244-250)
[7](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-7-135963873)
The Mobility Imperative: A Global Evolutionary Perspective of Human Migration By Augustin Holl pg 83-85, On the Origins and Admixture of Malagasy by Sergio Tofanelli et al pg 2120-2121, Malagasy Phonological History and Bantu Influence by Alexander Adelaar pg 145-146)
[8](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-8-135963873)
The first migrants to Madagascar and their introduction of plants by Philippe Beaujard pg 172-174, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean Vol. 2 by Philippe Beaujard pg 372-373
[9](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-9-135963873)
Desperately Seeking 'the Merina' (Central Madagascar) by Pier M. Larson pg 547-560
[10](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-10-135963873)
Early State Formation in Central Madagascar by Henry T. Wright et al pg 104-111, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean Vol. 2 by Philippe Beaujard pg 385-391
[11](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-11-135963873)
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean Vol. 2 by Philippe Beaujard pg 402-412)
[12](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-12-135963873)
The Myth of Racial Strife and Merina Kinglists: The Transformation of Texts by Gerald M. Berg pg 1-30, The Worlds of the Indian Ocean Vol. 2 by Philippe Beaujard pg 414-421
[13](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-13-135963873)
Unesco General history of Africa vol 5 pg 875-876, Early State Formation in Central Madagascar by Henry T. Wright et al pg 3)
[14](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-14-135963873)
Unesco General history of Africa vol 5 pg 862-866)
[15](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-15-135963873)
Desperately Seeking 'the Merina' (Central Madagascar) by Pier M. Larson pg 522-554
[16](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-16-135963873)
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean Vol. 2 by Philippe Beaujard of 560-561,615)
[17](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-17-135963873)
Unesco General history of Africa vol 5 877)
[18](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-18-135963873)
Sacred Acquisition: Andrianampoinimerina at Ambohimanga, 1777-1790 by Gerald M. Berg pg 191-211
[19](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-19-135963873)
Africa and the Indian Ocean World from Early Times to Circa 1900 by G. Campbell, pg 215 Unesco General history of Africa vol 5 pg 878
[21](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-21-135963873)
Slave trade and slavery on the Swahili coast by T Vernet , Madagascar and the Slave Trade by G Campbell
[22](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-22-135963873)
The Adoption of Autarky in Imperial Madagascar by G Campbell
[23](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-23-135963873)
The Cambridge History of Africa - Volume 5 pg 397)
[24](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-24-135963873)
Early State Formation in Central Madagascar by Henry T. Wright et al pg 12-14, Ancestors, Power, and History in Madagascar edited by Karen Middleton pg 259-265)
[25](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-25-135963873)
Radama's Smile: Domestic Challenges to Royal Ideology in Early Nineteenth-Century Imerina by Gerald M. Berg pg 86-91)
[26](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-26-135963873)
Of the 500,000 slaves on the eve of colonialism in Madagascar in 1896, more than 90% were Malagasy, while about 48,000 were Makuas from Mozambique; see: The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean edited by Shihan de S. Jayasuriya, pg 96
[27](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-27-135963873)
The Cambridge History of Africa - Volume 5 pg 407-412, Africa and the Indian Ocean World from Early Times to Circa 1900 by G. Campbell pg 215-216)
[28](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-28-135963873)
The Cambridge History of Africa - Volume 5 pg 413-414
[29](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-29-135963873)
The Cambridge History of Africa - Volume 5 pg 413-417
[30](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-30-135963873)
Unesco general history of africa- Volume 6 pg 436-441)
[31](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar#footnote-anchor-31-135963873)
An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar by G. Campbell pg 322-339)
|
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] |
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-complete-history-of-madagascar
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a brief note on Madagascar's position in African history
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a brief note on Madagascar's position in African history
========================================================
### plus, early industrialization in the Merina kingdom.
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[isaac Samuel](https://substack.com/@isaacsamuel)
Aug 05, 2023
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The island of Madagascar has for long languished on the periphery of African historiography. The reluctance of some Africanists to look beyond the east African coast stems partly from the perception of Madagascar as insular and more 'culturally' south-Asian than African, despite such terms being modern constructs with little historical basis in Madagascar's society. Recent research on the island's history has bridged the chasm between the island and the mainland, revealing their shared political, economic and genetic history that defies simplistic constructs of colonial ethnography.
The long chain of islands extending outwards from the east African coast through the Comoros archipelago to northwestern Madagascar comprised a series of stepping stones that formed a dynamic zone of interaction between the African mainland and Madagascar. Its on these stepping stones that African settlers continously travelled to Madagascar, establishing settlements along the northern and western coasts of the island and in parts of the interior, where they were joined by south-Asian settlers from the eastern coast to create what became the modern Malagasy society.
The north-western coast of Madagascar was part of the 'Swahili world', with its characteristic city-states, regional maritime trade, and extensive interaction with the hinterland. From these interactions emerged an economic and political alliance which drew the Malagasy and Swahili worlds closer: [warring Swahili and Comorian elites recruited Malagasy allies to conduct long-distance naval attacks](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-episode-of-naval-warfare-on-the), Malagasy elites were integrated in Swahili society, and the movement of free and servile Malagasy into the east African coast was mirrored by a similar albeit smaller movement of both free and servile east Africans onto the island.
The evolution of states on the island and their complex interactions with their east African neighbors and the later colonial empires, closely resembles that of the kingdoms on the mainland. At the onset of European imperial expansion on the east African coast, the largest power on the island was the kingdom of Merina, which controlled nearly 2/3rds of the Island during the reign of king Radama (r.1810-28) and Queen Ranavalona (1828-1861). Often characterized as a profoundly sage monarch, king Radama recognized the unique threats and opportunities of the European presence at his doorstep, and [like Afonso of Kongo](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-kongo-and-the-portuguese), he invited foreign innovations on his own terms, and directed them to his own advantage. After the relationship between Merina and its European neighbors soured, Radama and his successors created local industries to reduce the kingdom's reliance on imported technology, and like Tewodros of Ethiopia, Radama retained foreign artisans inorder to establish an armaments industry.
**<**_Next week's substack article will explore the history of the Merina kingdom from the 16th century to the late 19th century._**>**
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AiNg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2f7d582e-29e7-4d4a-b60e-a57cfa51c868_421x573.jpeg)
The **early industry of Merina** is the subject of my latest Patreon post in which I explore the kingdom's economic history during the early 19th century when the **Merina state, foreign capital and local labour, converged to create one of the most remarkable examples of proto-industrialization in Africa.**
read more about it here:
[EARLY INDUSTRIALIZATION IN MERINA](https://www.patreon.com/posts/87234164?pr=true)
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MyAi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb781c61-2c51-400d-8b1f-e4003fd3534b_624x1078.png)
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[Acemoglu in Kongo: a critique of 'Why Nations Fail' and its wilful ignorance of African history.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
[There aren’t many Africans on the list of Nobel laureates, nor does research on African societies show up in the selection committees of Stockholm.](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-kongo-a-critique-of-why)
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[Far from being a continent without history, Africa is simply a continent whose written history has not been studied](https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/when-africans-wrote-their-own-history)
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] |
Subsets and Splits
Diaspora Articles Preview
Retrieves a small sample of entries where the URL contains 'diaspora', providing limited context and insight into similar data points.
War Articles Preview
Returns 10 entries from the dataset where the URL contains the word "war", providing basic filtering and a small sample subset related to the topic.
Ancient History Articles
Returns 10 rows from the train dataset where the URL contains the word 'ancient', providing basic filtering but limited analytical value.
Kongo Articles Preview
This query retrieves 10 rows from the train dataset where the URL contains the word 'kongo', offering basic filtering but limited additional insight.
African History Articles
The query retrieves up to 10 entries from the training set that include 'african-history' in their URL, offering basic insight into specific historical content.