Kandace Presents . . . An Outline of West African History

[kandace]

In the chaos of the post Wagaduan West Sudan, there emerged a tyrant named Sumanguru who dominated the weak successor states of the fallen empire. However, the Mandingo prince Sundiata keita led a coalition of forces against him, defeating him the battle of Kirina circa 1235. With his opponent defeated, Sudiata was crowned Mari Djati I. Ultimately, Mari Djati’s empire would stretch 1,000 miles from the Atlantic to the Niger Delta region. Mali, unlike Wagadu, incorporated within its territory the gold mines which were outside of Wagadu’s borders.
The wealth of Mali was immense in gold, salt, agricultural goods, ivory, and slaves. The emperors of Mali were Muslim and devoted much wealth to the propogation on the Islamic religion within their borders. In 1325, the Malian Emperor Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca. His vast caravan under the imperial banner of red and gold consisted of 60,000 men, 12,000 slaves, and 80 camels. As Musa travelled, he distributed gold to the poor. Unfortunately, this had the effect of drastically reducing the value of gold and otther precious metals in local markets, setting off a massive cascade of hyperinflation that threatened to devastate the economy of North Africa. The hyperinflationary maelstrom was finally halted when Mansa Musa reach Cairo, realized his error, and borrowed all the gold he could afford, at high interest, to restore balance to the market. In effect, Emperor Mansa Musa cornered the entire Mediterranean gold market. However, Musa’s most precious commodity that he purchased on his pilgrimage was knowledge. Muslim scholars from throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe (mostly Spain) flocked to the expanding Madrassas of Mali. In addition, Musa’s gold also indirectly helped finance the beginnings of the European Renaissance.

[kandace]

However, by the latter half of the 15th century, Mali was in decline. Its territory was overrun and conquered by Sonni Ali Ber, who forged the Songhai Empire, which was larger than Mali and stretched from the Atlantic to modern Niger. However, the nominally Muslim Sonni Ali was unpopular with the Islamicized urban classes, and upon his (somewhat mysterious) death, a devout Muslim general named Askia Muhammed seize control of the empire in 1493. In 1592, the Sonhai Empire was wracked by a civil war of succession and also invaded by Moroccans using Spanish mercenaries. The strains of invasion and civil war resulted in the splintering of the empire into numerous smaller kingdoms. Into this void, waves of warlike Fulani nomads (African analogs of the German barbarians who overran Rome) washed over central and western Sudan, further contributing to the disintegration of the region.

[kandace]

Unfortunately, we will not have time to go into detail to the other areas of the West African region, other than the West Sudan. However, it should be noted that the West Sudan functioned as the core of West African mega civilization, and its development profoundly shaped the history of West Africa as a whole.

The West Sudan's unique geographical and social facors resulted in it being subjected to a cycle of consolidation and disintegration. With each cycle, from Old and Neo Wagadu/Ghana, to Mali and utimately Songhai, the Western Sudan became more developed in terms or urbanity, economic, intellectual and political complexity. However, by the latter statge, that of Songhai, the West Sudan was simultaneously fragile and immense such that its final implosion brought about a "dark age" that in effect left the West African region vulnerable. The Western Sudan lacked what Western Europe experienced from the 12th through 15th centuries: the absence of major invasions and mass migrations. Had the Western Sudan experinced 2 to 3 centuries of peace and an ability to consolidate into a stronger empire with influence extending into the Wesst African savannah and forest regions, West African civilization would have been immendly strengthened.

The Central Sudan, near Lake Chad, was too environmentally and geographically vulnerable to take of the proverbial slack. Moreover, the European discovery of the Western hemisphere in effect shifted control of the gold market from Africa to Europe,triggering a massive economic downgrading of West Africa's wealth. Essentially, the most valuable commodity in West Africa shifted from being precious metals/commodities to people (slaves). The smaller savannah and forest states lacked the ability to conttrol the slave trade. In the absence of a strong central autthority, a Hobessian war of all against all reigned. The Slave Trade became the dominant economic force is West Africa.

[kudzu]

Kandace Presents . . .

The Least Common Denominator.

LOL