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The first west african kingdom

Programme:

·         The introduction to African history.

·         The existence of groups of kingdoms.

·         Arabs established a trade with the Africans.

·         Ghana the famous kingdom and land of gold.

Introduction

Historians used to depict African’s tribes that they were underdeveloped, and backward, and to get powerful, they depicted the colonizers as more developed. But in reality, and as mentioned in the  handout, the writer mentioned that Africans were not backward, and primitive, but they were developed.

Colonization was not far the purpose of civilization, but they were motivated for economic purposes (market).

The European colonizers considered Africans as inferior and backward because African man could have 15 kids, 10 wives. Also because Africans are agnostics, so they did not correspond to their behaviour, i.e. to European norms.

They behave differently, their traditions and economical and political style...etc, all that are inferior. The Europeans believe that they are better than Africans, so they are going to civilize them.

At that time, mainly historians were Europeans not Africans, and in order to justify the purposes, colonizers needed support from Historians who depict Africans as Inferior.

Notes starting from the first paragraph:

·         Ghana was the land of gold.

·         African came into the light of History in 8^th century, they discovered Africa through writing.

·         The Arab land referred to Africans according to their skin, and was called “Bilad al Sudan”.

·         Ghana at that time as a power territory was important, according to their power king, and because of gold and natural sources.

·         Ghanaian people had a nomadic way of life (fixed), they used to move and they didn’t build houses for settlements.

What attracted the merchants?

·         Merchants came from North Africa to Sudan for gold, there was an exchange.

·         The Arabs could not speak to the Sudanese because of different languages.

·         Trans-Sahara: to transport across Sahara. The writer described the values of trade

·         By the 8^th century, Europeans realised Africans kingdoms by writing.

·         The existence of the value of the exchange was very high. Africans were organised and they were practiced trade (40000 dinars = £100000 or $250000).

traditional west african state

The first aim of Arabs in West Africa was practicing trade.

The king (the absolute monarchy) became king through material line and also his subjects. Certain believe in ancient centuries which characterized those people.

The wealth of the king originated form trade by establishing taxes on the merchants, who could whenever raise taxes on traders.

The king believes in supreme authority (supra human being). He was represented as a symbol of divinity, whereas the king of Kawkaw was different because he was Muslim[1], and he was attracted by Islamic rules.

The Negroes imported salt from North Africa, especially from lacks in Sudan area.

There were many kingdoms which had relations with historians and traders form Arabian countries. The contact between Arabs with Africans triggered some changes in African society. e.g. the way of building houses.

The author mentioned also the sources of development in the African societies; there was an organization, and also there was a taxing system and a suitable civilization. The African developed themselves by themselves.

The author started with this explanation because it was advanced by colonial period and also it was done by Africans themselves.

The development of Africans is backed up to colonial period. Thanks to outside influence that came form colonial period.

They came to rule them because they needed the outside influence in order to acquire the light of civilization, but they didn’t develop themselves by themselves, and this according to European authors who considered and still consider Africans as inferior.

Those people were Hamitic because they merged with people came from North of and North East of Africa to bring civilization to these countries. The Africans needed outside influence in order to be developed.

According to the European authors, each white people could carry civilisation to help this Africans who were always backward.

The Hamitic hypothesis announces that there is a Hamitic influence on the West African kingdoms.

According to anthropologist C.G.Seligma, there was an interaction between Africans and Hamites mixing, the influence of Hamites who, because of their civilisation, imposed themselves on Africans.

The West Africans were agriculturalists but the Hamites were pastoralists. The writer wanted to show that the pastoralists were not always intelligent in comparison with agriculturalists.

The language of Hausa is Hamitic. According to pastoralists, the agriculturalists and the language of Hausa showed that the white advanced before is completely false, because the agriculturalists of Hausa spoke Hamitic language before the coming of pastoralists, so the theory of agriculturalists was stupid.

The idea that the Africans were stupid which was advanced by the archaeologists is totally false, these people were Hamites who spoke Hamitic language, which was closest to Arabic language, and they were living in nomadic way.

According to C.G.Seligma, they were more intelligent than Africans, but according to author the idea is false, because the Hamitic language was spoken by Hausa.

The first contact with West Africa was thanks to the Portuguese navigator Henry. When the European countries were living in darkness, there were strong states in African, e.g. the kingdom of Ghana. There were caravans of transport for the traders, who came from Middle East, after that, the Europeans come in the 18^th century where they found plantation (cotton, coffee, tobacco).

Europeans went to the interior states to draw the maps and for trades. They sold alcohol, arms, and tobacco... and they bought paper, salt, spices, and also arms...

It was the main reason for the collapse of the states, but the major aim for the European countries: Germany, Spain, GB... was the trade.

The Portuguese took 2 to 3 black people to Portugal as evidence that these people who were different form Portuguese and lived far away than them, could work in their lands and properties.

West Africa was the 1^st kingdom known by the Arabs, under the name of Ghana in the 8^th century, was called by Arabs: “Belad el Sudan”, which mean: the land of black men.

El Yakubi said that there were in 8th century others kingdoms under this kingdom, as Kawkaw, Mallel (Mali), and the Sanghana kingdom.

The Arabs became familiar with Ghanaian by trade. The trade was silent: when the merchants reach the frontier, they place wares on their cloths, and then depart, so the Negroes come after, bearing gold, and they leave the merchandise and then they depart. The owners of the merchandise then returns, and if they are satisfied with what they find, they take it. If not, they go away again, that the Negroes return and add to the price until the bargain (business, exchange) is concluded.

Ibn Hawkal said that Berbers had also a trade with the Arabs. Whereas El Bakri described the capital of Ghana which was a city, saying that the houses were built by mud and the palace of the king was surrounded by grows, and where dead kings are put, they practiced the animistic religious.

There were two towns: one of the king’s palaces which was made of mud, and the second of the Arabs Muslims which was of stones.

There was a respect form the Arabs to the African’s territories, perhaps because they don’t have common purposes.

Sanhaja came from Tafilelt in southern Morocco, to Awdaghost, which was a big centre of collecting and distributing products.

Factors led to development of kingdoms:

·         There were sparked off by political influences coming to the western and central Sudan form the outside, specifically form non-negro lands to the north and northeast (Algeria – Egyapt).

·         Hamitic influence: they said that those Africans were very late so they needed someone (white man) to lead them to civilization, those non-negro people coming from north and northeast Africa (the Berbers, and the Ancient Egyptians) called Hamitic people, they spoke the Hamitic language, they were not white, but they were considered as whites, and for that, they were considered as superior human type by the Europeans.

·         Hamitic influence had a great impact on Negroes, they leaded the African civilization. They were pastoralists whereas Africans were Agriculturalists, which gave to Hamitic people the impact on the way of using agriculture and living of Africans, especially the Ancient Egyptians who had an advance in that domain.

·         There was a competition between Tuareg and Negroes; Tuareg had an inner close relationship, so they would defeat Negroes.

·         Neolithic revolution: far from influence of other domains, Africans themselves began to establish their lives, instead of relying on hunting and eating wild foods, they reactivated lands and plants, and they construct domesticate animals’ buildings, and permanent villages. They adopted new ways of life; this change is known by Neolithic revolution.

·         Where did the Neolithic revolution started from? It started from the Northwest of the edge of the Sahara, in a suitable environment. The important centres were Senegal valley, upper Niger and its coasts, and Chad basin.

·         The Neolithic revolution consequence: the growth of population, organized governments and administrations, the fall of the ideas that considered the king as a God. Generally, they moved form hinting to cultivation.

·         Trans-Saharan trade: trade across the Sahara was a contact between Hamitic trades and Negroes via practicing moving southern in the winter, and northern in summer.

Portuguese exploration in West Africa: in the 8^th century Muslims settled in Iberia by the middle of 13th Century, Christian defeated Muslims, who?s confined to Granada; they established a number of kingdoms (Aragon, Castile...). Portugal had the chance to practice trade with Africa, Henry the navigator focused his work on the exploration of the west coast of Africa, by Portuguese ships till his death, than gradually this expedition (brought from Italian ones) their aim was to control trade and defeat Muslims and avoid middle Arabs, they explored the cape balance ? cape Verde.

Its exploration was slow but with great value, when they reached the green, land of Negroes, it was the beginning of slavery trade under games? contract. They discovered the county of gold (mina). Their aim was to establish the sea route around Africa trade. They built the castle of Saint George Da Mina as a work house. Portugal engaged in conflict ended by treaty of Alcaçakas in 1479, than the treaty of Tordescilas in 1499 (after the discovery of America). This treaty made France and England reacted, but Portugal stood the major monopolist of trade in Africa.

The West Africa was divided according to its commodities; Portuguese traders wanted to create a new society in Africa, the Gold coast was the main area of Portuguese commercial activities, thus they settled and developed first class sugar plantation, but by the end of 16^th century, the Portuguese were no more monopolist of trade in West Africa.

The hypotheses were set in order to give explanation to the origins of West African development.

The Neolithic revolution in West Africa:

·         There was no arrangement after the Muslims invasion, so the presence of Arabs gave some changes to the Africans.

·         The Stone Age was known by the Neolithic revolution which characterized the African society. This revolution brought them a better organisation to their life because they learnt how to cultivate themselves. Africans needed external help; they couldn’t develop themselves by themselves. Thus, according to historian who said: “they couldn’t”.

·         The second hypothesis is according to Hamitic people who said that they could develop themselves by themselves.

·         The author described the changes in the south, around 2000 B.C. the chances in these societies began to occur.

·         The idea of cultivation the land: more probable that they borrowed it from the Nile civilization. The idea of cultivation is the probably form Egypt because of the contact between the Africans and Egyptians; they borrowed the way of cultivation and not the way of crops.

·         Logically, they couldn’t cultivate themselves because of the lack of water supplies; therefore, they concentrated on the northern rivers and human beings.

·         There is an analogy between the considerable growths in West Africa and what occurred in Egyptian society. It described the similarities between the Negroes and the concepts concerning the Egyptians. There was a borrowing from Ancient Egyptians the concept of divinity of the king to African societies.

·         The exaggeration concerning the development in West African society, it might be influenced by outside influence (as Egyptian).

There were a relation between subjectivity and the way of thinking of the king and its divinity; the ancient Egyptian civilization is further before the African development, so that it might have a dual influence and an interaction between them.

What’s the relation between the king and subjects in Egyptian civilization, and how can influence in the development in the South African society?

The Egyptians had contacts with other peoples through trade and other fields. Those peoples were impressed by the Egyptians tradition, and tried to imitate them. So, that they were influenced by Egyptians and their belief.

The pastoralists had some qualities as militaries, they were organized. Tuareg had gone to these countries with organization and civilization. The Negroes gained profits from the presence of pastoralists and used those profits to develop their societies.

These two aspects support the idea that the Hamites contributed to the development of the West African society, so that the outside influence is present on this society.

The author moved next to the kings, He said that kings themselves had origins of white and red men, because their fourth grand fathers were not Negroes, but they were red skin form Yemen.

These kingdoms had links with Arabs ancestor, which led also to the influence of Islam on the West African society. 

Trans-Saharan and its influence

·         In the same time when it was the ice age in Europe, Sahara was a wet place for grassland. Therefore, that people used to live there, but when it dried, those people used to move towards their main centres of population in the North and in the Nile Valley.
The Pastoralists were well known of using means of transport through the desert like camels and horses. The Hamites were developed in mobility through using camels and horses.

·         There were some tribes who practiced trade through the North Africa to Atlantic Ocean. The trade was important for these societies, especially the exchange of gold.

·         There was a failure in adapting the sailing environment, and establishing a regular trade over sea with Africans. The causes were: deserts, northerly winds, and currents.

·         The evidence and the existence of chariots in West Africa: there were two majors routes towards West Africa, so routes afford traders and colonizers easiness to reach gold resources deposits which attracted them.

·         Because Ghana offered their needs and routes were available, traders and colonizers were obliged to setup states in order to practise and provide security for themselves. Ghana was more than a centre of trade.

 

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