Lecture 2 Jan 12, 2012

Theme: Africa Was Not Dark The presence of the sphinx, pyramids, etc. prove that Africa wasnt dark b4, & lead the world in education Moses & Egyptian Pharos are presented as blue eyed white people even though Egyptians were predominantly black at the time Ancient Pharaohs of Egypt were black Egyptian civilization is much talked about Without African gold, Europe wouldnt have been able to progress as it did Guinea Gold= 1 pound, 1 shilling. Came from Africa Koush= Asian Egyptians name for the land south of it. Included modern day Sudan & Ethiopia Kous used to be ruled by Egypt. But the Egyptians had their own problems; sometimes attacked by Libya & other countries, so they would have to withdraw from Koush stay in their own land Egypt continuously became weakened, so there was a time when the ruled became the rulers There was a Koushan king named Kashta. Sensing that Egypt had become weaker, he decided to move on his own masers. 700 BC, invaded & conquered Egypt Declared himself the Pharoh of Egypt. He had the whole country; Upper AND Lower After his death, his son, Piansky, decided to complete what his dad began, so he proceeded to occupy the whole of Egypt Then he set forth the 25th Dynasty of Egypt When Piansky died HIS SON, Taharqa preceeded him. When he became the Pharaoh of Egypt, there was good harvest, therefore his subjects thought of him as a good ruler Asirians had an advantage over Egyptians b/c they had iron swords while Egyptians had bronze ones. So they invaded the country, and Taharqa fought back Despite the good omen of Taharqa, Egypt began to fall to the Asirians When he finally died, he was succeeded by another Pharaoh called Tanwetamani (his nephew) When he succeeded, he decided to fight the Asirians back, and managed to drive them to Lower Egypt. But the Asirians decided to continue fighting, so they attacked & drove Egypt down again Napata is down by the Nile River (where they were driven). Across from it was a new city dedicated to the Egyptian God Amori Meroe is an important city of Kuhush. The language Kushites spoke was Meroitic, one of the Bantu languages (Bantu languages are now dead) Meroe was a center of trade. It became a rich agricultural area due to luck of location Kush became very rich, which caused resentment from the Igzumites, therefore they attacked Kush They conquered the Kushites, with great slaughter

If you go to the Wolof of Senegal, the name they have for their king is Fari. Thats very similar to Pharaoh Botswanas language is Setsuana. Their word for father is Ra, & Amora was the word for Father God There are traces from back in history still carried out today Meroe later became a place for trading iron Egypt was at a bad geopolitical location Libyans attacked, Greeks conquered and became the rulers They came after the Asirians drove out the Kushites Its not right to say Africa was dark b/c of all this, and they even had their own writing, built lots of wealth through trading Medieval Times Africa was bright; land of empires rich in Gold including Ghana, Mali, & Songhay They existed in almost the same general area The first to come to power was Ghana, then Mali, then Songhay When Mali followed Ghana, it expanded its territory & became bigger than Ghana Songhay did the same Things in common: Extracted tributes from those they conquered, allowed those they conquered to have autonomy (proves advancements) to tribute them and follow their laws. Part of the tribute included joining their armies Because they granted autonomy, the conquered were willing to add to their efforts Africans believed in writing on the mind so their knowledge couldnt be stolen. This lead to oral tradition, Europeans didnt appreciate this at first, thinking that oral traditions were garbage stories but later realized they were very accurate One of the sources of Ghanaian info was oral tradition, the other was Arab travels to the Empire & what they recorded Ghana was known as the land of the gold. But it wasnt found where modern day Ghana is. People of Asian (or ancient?) Ghana were called Sonike. No one there now is Sonike Ghana was formerly called the gold coast (they are still rich in gold) Sijilmasa was an important place in Ghana b/c it was the place where Arican & Arab traders went to trade The gold wasnt within Ghana, even though they were rich in it. The gold was actually from Wangara, where the people were excellent gold miners, but wouldnt tell anybody where their gold mines were But at the same time they wanted salt, and ancient Ghana had salt mines (in Taghaza) The Sonikes acted as middle men, bringing salt to the Wangaras in exchange for gold, and then they brought both to Sijilmasa, and traded for goods they couldnt obtain within Ghana Called silent trade at the time Ghanas capital city where the emperor lived was called El Ghaba (administrative), the commercial capital was Kumbi Saleh (most of Ghanas Muslim population was here) Muslims tried to convert non-Muslims

As the Muslim population grew, there was radicalization both within & out of Ghana Extreimist Muslims were called El Murabintin. Thought Pagans should be converted & shitty Muslims should be condemned They cut off your head if you say you dont want to be Muslim (Almoravids) The Muslim groups fought Ghana until GH became weak, then they split uphalf went to Morocco, half to Spain. Ruled Spain for 400 yrs Ghana was left weak. Sossos King (Sumanguru) decided to invade Ghana and loot it for gold because it was now weak He conquered Ghana, brutalizing the people He seized Mali, and killed 11 of the Mali Kings brothers, but spared the 12th (Sundiata) because he was sickly. Miraculousy, Sundiata recovered & became a very strong man. When he saw how his brothers were slaughtered, he created an army & Sumanguru was killed Began building the Mali Empire Sundiata now has Ghana, Mali & Sosso..molded it together to make {MEGA} Mali Was the first to think of a standing army to be paid for by the empire. Developed taxation to move plan forward By the time he died, he brought the Wangara regions that had gold to his nation. Mali became richer than Ghana in gold The Almoravids had changed Malis to muslim, to Sundiata himself Muslim Was succeeded by his son, Massamousa, who carried forth his plan Gold continued to flow from the West African region & more to lubricate trade with Europe & Asia Gold was most favoured thing to trade, and Africa had plenty Under Massamousa, Timbuktu became the central of education. People from around the world came to study there There was a song for all this Come to Timbuktu Massamoussa went to the middle East carrying a lot of gold which he generously gave on his way through Egypt & Mecca..& money for the poor He carried the gold of Africa to the middle east, to Mecca, but today it is the people of Saudia Arabia (where Mecca) who have the black gold Mali now needs gold, and Saudia Arabi hasnt returned the favour by giving some of the black gold they got from them, back Saudia Arabia used to be poor, without gold & Massamoussa had gone & generously given them black gold**** On his return from the pilgrimage, he heard that one of his generals had conquered Songhay, so he went to the capital city to personally get forms of submission from their king but he was clever & that cleverness became the doom of Mali He said how tdo I know you will follow the terms? To make sure you will, I will take ur 2 sons 2make sure He took the 2sons to his residence & when they were here, they became very friendly with his own son, and in 1332 Massamousa died & was succeeded by his son Meghan

The sons of the Sosso king were living in the same palace with him, so he grew up to think of them as his brothers & trusted them Burkina Fasso captured Timbuktu from Mali & burned it down & when the two sons saw that Mali had become weaker under Meghan, they betrayed him by going to Songhays capital city to mobilize the people to get rid of Mandingas Under Meghan, Mali began to decay b/c he didnt have what his Father had Meghan died & was succeed by his uncle (Massamousahs bro) he did his best to restore Mali but couldnt return it to its former glory It was seized again, including Timbuktu When Ghana failed, the Muslims moved to settle in Wallata Sundiata was such a good warrior that he was given the name Mari Jata (Jata means Lion) Sony Ali began ruling Songhay. Surrender was not in his vocabulary. Would never stop a fight until he won He moved against the Tawraig (who were vs. Timbuktu) & beat them He went on to expand Songhays boundaries to include Mali, Ghana, & beyond His motto was no mercy to anybody. He was ruthless to his people, EVERYBODY feared him When he died, his son came to the throne, but the people rose against him b/c his dad was too cruel, so they didnt want him in being as cruel They got a general names Mohammed Tur , who was one of Sonys most popular general When Mohammed became Songhays emperor, the title he was given was Askia Mohammed (He was a man who was ahead of his time, b/c he divided his empire into provinces, and appointed governors to each. Fam & trusted friends. Created a means of transition & everything. First Modern day government) He also expanded learning. Had places where people studied medicine & law Had tax collectors & _____________(hospitals?) He was controlling the wealth of former Mali & Ghana together w/ his own. Expanded the Empire in all directions, even to the Atlantic Empire Having become so rich in gold, he did as Massamousa did & went on a pilgrimage to Mecca with a lot of gold & provided the funding for hospitals to the people of Western Sudan He donated a lot of money to the poor Moroccan King wanted the gold he had, so he put together an army of 4,000+ and went after the Mali people His people warned him that Askia was very powerful, and it wasnt smart to go after them He called Judar and told him if they gold to Songhay, they will get a lot of gold A lot of fighters died along the way, but he didnt care b/c he was using the Europeans his pirates captured & Euro missionaries Songhay had become weaker b/c when Askia got old, he became blind. When he became blind, his son called Moussa (?) & planned something against him Because he was disabled, the person who followed him as Emperor was Askia Ishaq. Used Songhays gold to get weapons to fight the Moroccans

During the battle, the Moroccans had more powerful weapons like guns, so they were defeated & man of the people who survived the battle fled & never returned to Songhay Instead of the glory of Songhay, came despair Gradually, Songhay decayed out of of existence like Mali