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History Corner: The Empire of Kaabu

Monday, June 16, 2008

Origins

The empire of Kaabu started as a west ward extension of the Manding empire. Its rulers were ordained into office by the king of Manding, but as the Manding Empire declined during the 15th century the Kaabu Empire became autonomous. Among the "estern Mandinka who inhabit Senegambia, the Kaabu empier was second only to Manding in glory and importance and its ruling dynasty, who bore the title of Nyanchos, were better known, more respected and more jealous of their heritage than any other of the western Mandinka dynasties.

In the days of the empire Mandinka civilisation reached a very high point. This period saw the introduction of the famous kora musical instrument and the perfection of older Manding instruments like the Balafon, Kontingo and the Bolombato still used by Senegambia griots, important masquerade dances like the Kankurang, the Maano and the Tintirinya are all said to have originated from Kaabu.

The heart land of Kaabu lay in the hinterland of modern Guinea-Bissau and the are of the Upper Casamance River in Modern Senegal. It stretched from the Gambia River in the north to the borders of Futa Jallon in the Repoublic of Guinea in the south. The Gambia River traced Kaabu’s eastern Boundary, though its influence extended across the river into the Mandinka ruled areas of Tenda and Niokolokoba. Kantora, Tumana and Jimara, across the river from Wuli in the Gambia were all part of the Kaabu Empire. Other Kaabu states were Sama, Sankola and Wuropina. Kaabu was once the centre of trade from the Senegambia interior to the south bank of the Gambia River, as Wuli had been for the North Bank.

The Kaabu Empire was founded as a result of Mandinka migrations from Manding during the reign of Mansa Sunjatta Keita. The leader of that migration was Tiramang Traore.

Tiramang Traore

Mandina oral tradition related that Tiramang Traore came "West" in order to exert reprisals against the Burba Jolof. Burba Jolof, it was said, had seized some horses belonging to Mansa Sunjatta Keita and had issued an insulting challenge to the king of Manding which could not be ignored. Tiramang Traore was chosen to lead the military mission against Jolof because Sunjatta admired his courage and loyalty. Tiramang was said to have regarded war as sport and was willing to fight "anywhere at anytime".

Tiramang conquered Jolof, sent the Burba Jolof’s head back to Mansa Sunjatta, crossed the Gambia River southwards as far as the kingdom of Damantang situated in what is now the regon of Casamance in Southern Senegal.

Prior to the coming of Tiramang a number of Mandinka migrants had already settled in the Kassa region and had intermarried with the original inhabitants such as the Konyajis, Mansuankas and Fulas. The Mandinka new comers first settled among the Konyajis, then gradually moved west conquering the indigenous groups and constantly pushing them back towards the Gambia and its Atlantic Coast.

The Manding immigrants still retained important aspects of their culture, such as language, but many of them adopted important indigenous cultural features such as the use of maternal rather than paternal surnames for their children and the inheritance of kingship through the female line. The descendants of these immigrants became known by local surnames such as Sane and Mane.

According to oral tradition, the Sanes were a prominent Mandinka famil who were either ruling in Damantang or were very influential there when Tiramang arrived. Tiramang is said to have settled at Damantang, where he married a daughter of the Sane family and had several children by her. Tiramang together with the Sanes drove back or subjugated the indigenous people and establish Mandinka ascendancy. At this point in the formation of the Kaabu Empire Tiramang was recalled to Manding by Mansa Sunjatta but died on his way home in the Upper River Division of The Gambia. However, he left behind him in Kaabu children claiming descent from him and the Sane family. These together with the Manes, a sub-branch of the same family were the maternal ancestors of the Nyancho ruling class.

The Kaabu Nyanchos

As the ruling classes of the empire of Kaabu, the Nyanchos claimed Tiramang as paternal ancestor but much more importantly they also claimed as supernatural maternal ancestry. According to oral tradition, the creation of the Nyanchos as a class of men and women with special qualities of power and bravery came through the marriage of a Sane with a mysterious woman named Balaba, whom the Sanes found by accident. It was Balabas descendants, reckoned along the maternal line, who came to be known as the elite warrior class of Kaabu, the Nyanchos and it was Balaba’s descendants only who were eligible to become legitimate rulers of Kaabu.

The story of Balaba in Kaabu history is akin to the story of Ndyadyane Ndyaye in the Wollof Empire. In both cases we find a powerful ruling class caliming descent from the world of the spirits and combining religious and political duties.

According to one main version of the traditions, Balaba was a mystery woman who lived in a cave in a forest near village Mampetion for far from Kunkandi in Fulladu who came out of her cave only at nights. One night a hunter found the cave and, thinking it was a porcupine den, lay in wait nearby until dawn, when he saw a woman appear and go into the cave Frightened, he went away but came back the next day to witness the same thing. He went to the ruler, a Sane and reported the incident. A witness was sent with the hunter who came back and told the same story to the ruler. A second witness was sent with the hunter who came back reporting the same story making the king believe the story of the mystery woman.

This time the king called on the smiths to consult their fetish in order to find a way to capture the cave dweller. The smiths advised the king to give out-charity and to play the drums near the cave on a Thursday night when on that day they played until dawn, the woman appeared, dressed in white, with a white pagne over her head and holding a calabash spoon in her band. She sat down outside the cave and allowed the griots to take her away to the Mansa.

The mystery woman, Balaba, was taken to Medina in Wuropina where she was placed in a house all by herself. A young Sane "manp-saringo" secretly went to sleep with Balaba at night until she became pregnant. Balaba’s union with Tiramang’s descent resulted in four daughters: Kootalama, Nyani, Birani, and Balaba. The mystery of Balaba’s origins evoked many legends about her. Some peolple said that she had been captured as a baby and brought up by a jinn who passed supernatural powers on her. These people believed that Balaba had passed those same supernatural powers on to her daughters and their descendants.

According to the traditions, Balaba’s first daughter was given to the Mandinka ruler of Jimara, a Sane, the second daughter went to the ruler of Sama, another Sane, and t he third went to the ruler of Pachana, a member of the Mane family. It was from these three original Nyancho houses that the rulership of the Kaabu Empire was rotated. The four daughter of Balaba was given to the Wollof ruler of Saloum at Kahone. All the sons and daughters born of these four women were called Nyanchos in Kaabu and Guelewar in Sine-Saloum. It was the children of Nyancho women, not Nyancho men, who became automatic Nyanchos. They were regarded as the only ones to inherit all the supernatural attributes of Balaba and they alone could become emperors of Kaabu.

Balaba was supposed to have bequeathed certain supernatural qualities to the Nyancho ruling families which no other Mandinka families were believed to possess. The Nyanchos were considered to be part spirit and part human who had nothing to do with Islam but practised their indegnous religions through the Jalang. Their hallmark was bravery and they fought continuously to prove their courage. Death to them in battle was better than defeat or the unthinkable label of ‘coward’. A Nyancho would often kill himself rather than face the prospect of slavery, torture, or any other form of humiliation, especially at the hands of those he considered his inferiors.

The Koringos

In addition to the Nyanchos, there was also a second type of ruling family in Kaabu. These families notably the Sanyangs and Sonkos bore the title Koringo and followed beneath the Nyanchos in the ruling hierarchy of Kaabu. Koringos were noble families who were eligible to rule in the individual states of Kaabu but not eligible to become emperor. The Koringo group came from two main sources. One group consisted of powerful Mandinka families who had been allied one way or another to the ruling families of Sane and Mane, mostly through marriage. The second group to fill the Koringo class was the children of Nyancho men by non-Nyancho women.

Even the descendants of the emperor became Koringo unless their mother was also a Nyuancho so that even some Sanes and Manes became Koringos.

A child born of a Nyancho mother only was considered just as much a Nyancho as the child born of a Nyancho mother and father. The only difference was that the double parentage gave one claim to a ‘purer’ line of birth

In Koringo families the title was hereditary for both male and female, with inheritance passing along the paternal line. A Koringo, of course, could never become a Nyancho. But like anyone else his child can aspire to become one if, by being an outstanding ruler or warrior, he can attract a Nyancho woman to himself.

Some Nyanchos who had no opportunity of becoming rulers as well as some Koringos who were not content with being mere sub-rulers, moved out of the empire and founded their own states. This desire to found new states was largely responsible for the growth of smaller Mandinka states in the Senegambia area most especially along the Gambia River.

Nyanchos and Fulas

Kabbu was surrounded by Fula states and kingdoms, the leading ones being Futa Toro, Bundu, Masina and Futa Jallon. Throughout the centuries the Kaabu states were infiltrated by Fulas who were nomadic pastoralists. The Kaabu region was fertile and well watered and many Fulas had migrated to the Kaabu region even before the Mandinka arrived.

The Fula concentrated in the Upper Casamance, Jimara, Firdu and in the states in the area of modern Guinea-Bissau. Fula population continued to increase in the area and by the mid 19th century it was estimated that they formed the largest single ethnic group in the area. Despite their numbers, however, the Nyancho remained the dominant ruling classes. The Fula who were nomadic lived in widely scattered settlements without any centralised political authority. In contrast the Mandinka were a settle agricultural people with a long tradition of strong political authority under a ruling warrior class.

From the time of Mandinka conquest the Fulas and the Kabunkas had begun with the understanding that as long as the Fulas paid a yearly tribute of one bull per head, they would be left alone. However, when the Nyanchos became strongly entrenched they began to make harsh exaction’s upon the Fulas. Instead of one bull the Nyanchos would now exact ten bulls per head a year. When Nyancho women ‘wanted to chew tobacco, they would sometimes cut the Fulas millet and burn it to get ashes used for chewing tobacco. Tradition has it that when a Nyancho wanted to punish a Fula one way was to tie straw around him and then set him on fire, and as he danced women and children would clap in time to his movements and sing "Trintirinya; Tirinya; Tintirinya; Tirinya", until he fell or until they poured water on him.

Meanwhile heavily populated Fula areas were getting restive under what they considered Nyancho oppression,. One such area of the empire was Firdu, Alpha Molloh’s state, which was almost entirely Fula with Nyancho ruling families. While Alpha Molloh was growing up, the people of Firdu suffered under Nyancho tyranny. No Fula, for example, could keep a fine horse because if any Mandinka wanted it, he simply took it. The Fula’s fattest cows were liable to seizure at any time. Yet conditioned by centuries of living in fear under Nyancho domination, the Fula perhaps needed external assistance if they were to free themselves from Mandinka oppression.

The people of Firdu under Alpha Baldeh were to find such assistance, and assurance, from the rising power of Islam in the area. Alpha Molloh first received assurance for help against Nyancho oppression from the famous Tukulor Muslim Jihadist Alhaji Omar Taal. Omar Taal was a jihadist who waged wars against pagan rule in the upper Niger and upper Senegal rivers. When he visited the Senegambia he encouraged prominent Muslims like Maba to wage holy wars against pagan rule.

When Alhaji Omar visited Alfa Molloh he was treated with great respect by the hunter and his family. Alhaji Omar listened sympathetically while Alpha Molloh complained about the Mandinkas oppressive rule. Alhaji Omar urged Alpha Molloh to begin a revolution promising victory for him and prophesying kingship for his son if he would wage a holy war against the Nyanchos.

Meanwhile the fula inhabitants of Kaabu watched with interest as raiding parties from Futa Jallon, a powerful Fula empire founded on the southern border of Kaabu in the early 18th century, began raiding in increasing numbers and frequency into the very heart of Kaabu. The Muslim leadership of Futa Jallon had developed the dual ambition of Islamising the Kaabu empire and of substituting Futa Jallon leadership for Kaabu leadership of the Senegambia valley.

In the early 1860’s Futa Jallon armies in a bloody but successful battle defeated the Kaabu armies at Sankolla at the fort of Berekolong. This success encouraged the Kaabu Fulas who, under the leadership of Alfa Molloh Baldeh, were now ready for a major campaign against the Nyancho rulers of Kaabu.

Apart from the Fulas of Kaabu, Alpha Molloh was also able to gain the support of the powerful Muslim District of Kabada on the southern border of Kiang and Jarra. The pious elders of Kabada had advised Alpha Molloh to ask the ruler of Futa Jallon, the Almamy of Timbo, for help. The Almamy of Timbo was said to contribute 25,000 men in the Fula army. These forces were also joined by those of Bokar Sada, Almamy of Bondu. These forces together with Serahule of Manda were to be led by Alpha Molloh Baldeh against the forces of Janke Wali, the reigning king of Kaabu, to the famous battle of Kansala, a battle still sung to this day by the griots of Senegambia.

Author: DO

Decline and fall of Songhai Internal causes

Monday, May 19, 2008

In 1528, Askia Mohammed had been on the throne for thirty-five years. He was now a grand old man of eighty-five years and for the last ten years he had become increasingly blind and infirm. His children took advantage of this and deposed him sending him to exile on a small island in the Niger called Kankaka.

The treatment of Askia the great caused dissension and rivalry which inevitably weakened the unity of the empire. What followed the overthrow of Askia Mohammed in Songhai was a series of dynastic intrigues and short and unsuccessful reigns by sometimes-incompetent rulers.

In a relatively short period of twenty-one years, between 1528 and 1549, as many as four kings occupied the Songhai throne, each one deposing his predecessor. Askia Musa, who came to the throne in 1528 after his father was deposed, was himself overthrown after only five years reign. Askia Musa was known to be cruel ruler and was assassinated in 1533. Askia Musa was succeeded to the throne by Askia the Great’s nephew, Askia Bankouri. Like his cousin, Musa, he ruled harshly and was himself deposed after an uneventful four-year rule.

Following Askia Bankouri’s overthrow, the throne went back to the direct line of Askia the great when his son Askia Ismail was made king of Songhai. One of his first acts was to bring his father home from exile. Unfortunately this very promising ruler died only two years after mounting the throne.

The next ruler, Askia Ishak I, reigned for ten years, from 1539 to 1549. He had a certain amount of success in reducing rebellious vassal states to submission and he rejected the Moroccan claims on the salt mines to the North of the empire. But when he came to the throne the series of short reigns before him had already weakened Songhai.

However, Songhai’s prestige was partially revived under the next ruler Askia Daud who had a very long reign lasting some thirty-three years. Askia Daud succeeded in regaining most of the territories lost since the time of his great grand father, Askia the great by suppressing all the turbulent peoples especially the Tuareg in the north. Askid Daud also established further posts in the Sahara to ensure the security of the trade routes. Even though in his long reign Askia Daud was able to restore much of Songhai’s power and prestige, he could not heal all the wounds which has been inflicted on Songhai during the previous twenty-one years.

To make matters worse, after Askia Daud’s death in 1582, the three Askias who followed, like many before them, were known to be very immoral and weak rulers. It was during the reign of the last of these three rulers, Askia Ishak II, that Songhai was invaded by Morocco.

Effects of the Conquest of Songhai

The Moroccan conquest of the empire of Songhai had several consequences on the history of the western Sudan. In the first place, the Moroccans failed to establish any system of government in place of the one they had destroyed. Thus with no effective central government to maintain peace and order,chaos and anarchy set in.

This state of instability naturally helped the process of distintegration in the Western Sudan. Different peoples such as the Tuareg, the Fulani and the Bambara fought against each other for the control of the region and these struggles continued till the nineteenth century. During these wars cities like Gao, Timbuctu and Jenne declined both as centres of trade and as seats of learning. As a result of the anarchy and insecutrity, trade was greatly disturbed and the Trans-Saharan trade became an annual affair.

By a coincidence Portuguese, Dutch and English trading activities on the Guinea Coast combined with the disturbed situation in the Western Sudan, meant that the centre of West African trade shifted from the North to the Western and southern coasts of west Africa. Finally as the Moroccan invaders paid no attention to religion and learning, Islam declined in these regions and animism began to flourish. It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the islamist revivalist movements were launched by the Fulani in the Western Sudan.

Futa Toro

When Arabic-writing historians first mentioned the Western Sudan in the tenth and eleventh centuries A.D, the also wrote of a series of African states along the river Senegal. On the coast North of the Senegal estuary was the town of Awlil, which exported salt to the states along the river. Near the estuary on both banks was the kingdom of Saghana. Further up river was the Kingdom of Futa Toro originally known as Tekrur.

Political History

The ancestors of the Tukulor founded Tekrur probably as early as the birth of Christ, By the time the first surviving records in Arabic were written, its rulers were over lords of all peoples on both banks of the lower and middle Senegal and their authority stretched towards the Gambia. Tekrur’s importance is demonstrated by the fact that early Arabic writers the western Sudan described the whole region as “the land of Tekrur”.

The greatest part of Tekrur imperial expansion may have taken place under the Dya’ogo dynasty, which came to power in about A.D. 850 and which became the first ruling family to earn a place in the history of Tekrur. The Dya’ogo rulers were overthrown in about A.D. 980 by the Mandinka manna dynasty which came from Diara and probably consolidated the wealth and power of Tekrur.

Little is known about individual rulers of the manna dynasty except that one of them war-Jabi, who died in about A.D. 1040 became one of the first muslin rulers in West Africa. War-Jabi compelled his leading subjects to become Muslims and also introduced’ Islamic Law into his empire. Thus it was that when a Muslim missionary Abdullah Ibn Yacin, fled from persection by the Sanhaja Berbers, he sought refuge in the Senegal Valley. From a base in the Senegal estuary, he taught the need for a jihad against non-Muslims and in preparation for this he built up a body of fanatical and devoted supporters, mainly from the Lamtuna tribe of the Sanhaja Berbers, with the intention of converting all the Sanhaja by force.

War-Jabi’s Son, Lebi, saw the political and economic advantages for Tekrur if Abdullah Ibn Yacin was given support in his mission against the Berbers. The Sanhaja Berbers, a Confederation of the Goddala, Lamtuna and Mesufa peoples, controlled the desert trade routes northwards from both Tekrur and her more powerful neighbour to the east, the Serahule empire of Ghana. By this time, Ghana, as we know was the most powerful state in the Western Sudan; it enjoyed the major share in the export of gold from the upper Senegal, and it had already forced Tekrur to become a semi- independent state of the Serahule empier.

Alliance with Ibn Yacin thus offered Lebi two important opportunities. In the first, place a joint effort by the Sanhaja Confederation and Tekrur to crush pagan Ghana’s power might enable Tekrur to regain its independence and to win ascendancy in the gold trade. In the second place, even if Ibn Yacin failed the Sanhaja might be sufficiently weakened for Tekrur to extend its political authority over the Goddala to the north.

Thus Ibn Yacin, with his followers converted into a militant Islamic force, known as the almoravids, and aided by the forces of Tekrur waged a long campaign that led to the conquest of Kumbi, Ghana’s capital in 1076. For a time, Tekrur enjoyed a period of independence but it could not replace Ghana as the imperial power of the Western Sudan. That status was of course filled by the rising star of Manding which annexed Tekrur as a vassal state.

Futa Toro and the Denianke

Soon after 1500 a group of Fulani cattle breeders ruled by a prince called Tenguella waged a revolt against the over lordship of Askia Mohammed of Songhai. These groups of fula were living at this time in the plains between Thermesand Nioro, lands that were once the homeland of ancient Ghana in the area between the Upper Niger and the Sahara. This area had passed from the control of Ghana to the control of Manding, and was now under the authority of the kings of Songhai.

Tenguella and his ‘band of fula warriors revolted against Askia Mohammed of Songhai mainly because they wanted freedom of movement for their cattle. Perhaps they also resented the taxes which they were supposed to pay their Songhai overlords.

Tenguella led his warriors across the plains against Diara. one of the old successor states of Ghana whose king was now a vassal of the Songhai emperor, perhaps encouraged by the reigning king of manding, who was now a declining rival of Askia Muhammed of Songhai. Askia Muhammed’s brother, Amar, led an army against the fulani raiders.

When the two armies met near Diara in 1512 Amar won and Tenguella was killed. This death of Tenguella only marked the beginning of further Fulani adventure.

Tenguella had a son named Koli by a wife who belonged the ruling family of Manding. Tenguella Koli led his fathers warriors South - Westward, crossed the upper Senegal river and arrived in Badiar, a regin which lie to the North-West of the Futa Jallon mountains. Here he was joined by many Mandinka warriors, who saw in him a bold leader as well as a relation of their own overlord, the king of Manding.

Seeking a new home, these Fulani and Mandinka allies marched roud the fringe of the Wollof states and attacked the ancient state of Tekrur. Tenguella Koli and his Fulani-Mandinka army overthrew the ruling chiefs and set up a new line of kings as well as changing the name Tekrur into Futa Toro. These new rulers in futa toro were called the Denianke and proving themselves to be strong and capable rulers, they remained in control of this country until A.D. 1776, more than two centuries.

Decline and Fall

The Fulani who conquered an settled in Futa Toro were a people ready to abandon their nomadic ways and build a state of their own. It would appear that this change was largely due to their long contact with Mandinka people who were themselves not nomads. The Fulani who had now adopted new ways of living together also accepted the political authority of chiefs and ruling families settled in one place.

There were, however, certain factors that militated against the further growth of Futa Toro to a higher imperial status in the Western Sudan. One of these factors was that Ghana’s former supremacy in the area had permanently diverted the bulk of the gold trade along routes east of the Senegal and this went to benefit the successor state of Manding which arose in the area between the upper Senegal and Niger.

New immigrants such as the wollof also at various times carved out their own kingdoms from Futa Toro so that the area of its former empire became divided into a number of insignificant states.

The Fulani-Mandinka state builders in Futa Toro were people who held fast to their own traditional religions and resisted Islam. Because the new ruling class resisted Islam, the Muslim trader class of Futa Toro began to quit the trading towns which had long existed there just like the Muslims traders did in old Ghana when the non-Muslim rulers of old Tekrur had attacked and taken Kumbi, Ghana’s ancient capital. There followed from this clash of religions and movement of traders, a real decline in the commerical importance of Futa Toro, a decline that eventually led to its disappearance from the stage of history.

The Wollof Empire

The Wollof Empire emerged soon after A.D. 300 in the Senegambia valley between the rivers Gambia and Senegal and covered most of modern Senegal. To the north it was bounded by the river Senegal across which were to be found the moors of present day Mauritania.

To the North East it was bounded by the semi desert ferlo, beyond which lay Futa Toro. To the East it was bounded by states which came under the rule of Manding. To the South it was bounded by the river Gambia. By the end of the fifteenth century, the Wollof states of Jolof, Kayor, Baol, and Walo had become united in a federation with Jolof as the metroplitan power. Sine and Saloum were later brought within the union.

As the story of Ndyadyane Ndyaye reveals, here again was a case where an important descent-line chief who had religious duties, as the leader of ceremonies by which one people linked themselves with their founding ancestors’ in the world of spirits, was given political duties as well. Exercising these religious and political duties together, the king became powerful.

Before they became involved in trading with Portuguese merchants on the coast, the Wollof people had enjoyed the fruits of long established trading and cultural ties with the western Sudanese empires and had also benefited from trading with Futa Toro and the Berbers from North Africa. Through their own resourcefulness and these early trading links, the Wollof states grew wealthy and powerful.

Author: DO

Sunni Ali’s achievement

Monday, May 12, 2008

Sunni Ali was still organising his conquests into an effective empire when on his way home from an expedition against the Fulani in 1492, he was drowned in some mysterious circumstances. By the time he died Sonhai was the most powerful state in the western and central Sudan.

Comprising many different peoples under an effective administration. In spite of his achievements, however, Sunni Ali was a subject of controversy among the Sudanese chroniclers. ne of these writers called him “an impious monarch and horrible tyrant.” Another described him as “ A sanguinary despot who slaughtered so many thousands of people that God alone knows their number; he was cruel to pious and wise, he humiliated them and put them to death”.

On the other hand at least one of the chrnoniclers was pro Sunni Ali. “He surpassed all the kings, his predecessors, in numbers and valour of his soldiers he wrote, “his conquest were many and his renowned extended from the rising to the setting of the sun, if it is the will of God, he will be long spoken of.” Sunni Ali was certainly long spoken of by the Sudanese scholars but, alas, in controversial terms.

It is known that Sunni Ali was so busy about the affairs of this world that he paid litter attention to Islam. Indeed it was believed that he was a pagan. Therefore to the Muslim chroniclers who saw the promotion of Islam as the greatest duty of any ruler, Sunni Ali was bound to appear impious and a Sanguinary despot.

In spite of the testimony of the chrnoniclers however, the Ghanaian scholar Adu Boahene has described Sunni Ali as “easily the greatest of the rulers who ever mounted the throne of Gao. He laid the solid foundation on which his immediate successor built.” His verdict was that Sunni AU was “a clever politician, a brave soldier and an able administrator.”

Perhaps it was so for after all Sunni Ali is, to this day, more revered by the Songhai people of the present day Republic of Niger than any of the ancient rulers of the Songhai Empire.

Songhai under Mohammed Askia The Great

When Sunni Ali died in 1492, he was succeeded by his son Abu Bakr Dao. He reigned for only a little over a year and was overthrown in a coup d’etat organised by Sunni Ali’s trusted Serahule general and prime minister, Mohammed Ture Ibn Ibi Bakr or Askia Mohammed who achieved so much in his long reign between 1493 and 1528 that he earned the title “Great”.

As one would expect, the first problem tackled by Askia Mohammed was that of legitimizing himself on the throne and ensuring that his children would rule in Songhai. He achieved this in two ways. First of all, he either killed or expelled from the Empire all the surviving members of the two previous ruling dynasties, the Za dynasty that had founded Gao and had ruled till 1275, and the Sunni dynasty that had ruled until 1493.

Askia Mohammed was so successful in this that the “Askia” dynasty he founded continued to rule in Songhai until the fall of the Empire.

After consolidating himself on the throne Askia Mohammed tried to win the support and allegiance of his people through the use of Islam which, he realised, could be strong unifying force. Immediately after his accession to the throne, he courted the friendship of the Muslims whom he and his former master Sunni Ali had persecuted.

He appointed many of them as court advisers: To crown these efforts Askia Muhammed went on the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1497. This pilgrimage to Mecca was organised on a scale that reminded one of that of Mansa Musa of Manding. For instance he was said to have been accompanied by 1,000 infantry, and 500 horsemen carrying huge amounts of gold. He spent huge amounts of gold on alms, presents and on a hostel which he bought in Cairo for the use of Sudanese pilgrims going to and returning from Mecca.

In recognition of his strict adherence to and promotion of Islam, Askia Muhammed was awarded the title “Caliph of the backs” by the Sharif of Mecca and he thus became the acknowledged Islamic leader of the Western Sudan. Like Mansa Musa before him, Askia Mohammed returned from the pilgrimage with a number of celebrated Islamic scholars. These served the Empire as educators, administrators, advisers, and judges. As more Muslims were attracted to Songhai, so relations with the Muslim world improved, and this meant more trade and prosperity for Songhai.

The next problem tackled by Askia Mohammed was that of consolidating and extending the conquests of Sunni Ali.

With a well-trained and fully equipped army, he began his conquests by marching south and attacking the Mossi. Though he failed to defeat the Mossi, like Sunni Ali before him, he was nevertheless able to strengthen he hold of Songhai on the southern regions.

From the south, he turned westwards and attacked and conquered what remained of the Kingdom of Manding after a war lasting thirteen years. From the west, he marched eastwards and reconquered Agadez and reduced the Hausa states of Kano, Katsina and Zamfara to tributary state of the Songhai empire. In the north, he also consolidated Ali’s conquest and extended Songhai political sway into the Sahara as far north as the salt mining centre of Taghaza.

Administration

To consolidate the territorial gains made himself and his predecessor, Askia Mohammed set up an electorate system of administration. He first abolished the existing political divisions and redivided his entire empire into four regions and at the head of each he placed a governor. Local rulers still had authority but they were responsible to the regional governors.

Askia Mohammed also placed judges in the main towns throughout the empire. In metropolitan Songhai itself, the king held direct control of the machinery of government. He appointed council of ministers that assisted him in ruling not only metropolitan Songhai but the entire empire. These ministers included the Balama or minister of defence, “the Fari Mundya” or Minister of Finance, the “Korey-farma” or Minister of Foreign Affairs and the “Bari Farma” or minister in charge or rivers, lakes and fisheries.

All these positions in the government were filled with people who were either from the kings’ own family or had married into it and he could depose any of them at any time.

Source of Imperial Revenue

To meet the cost of an administrative machinery of this magnitude and complexity as well as maintain a standing army, Askia Mohammed established reliable source of Income. The most important of these sources were the royal estates established throughout the empire and worked by slaves under a “Fanfa” or estate manager. Each estate had to produce a fixed quantity of a particular commodity per year.

For instance, his estate called Abda in the province of Dendi, which had 200 slaves under four managers had to produce a fixed amount of rice per year; some had to produce corn and others bales of dried fish. He also had certain groups of slaves who were craftsmen and had to produce a fixed number of say boats, arrows, or spears per year to maintain the army and navy. Some were sold to replenish the imperial treasury.

The second main source of income was tribute from vassal states as well as from taxes on farmers and above all from customs duties.

To ensure maximum income from tolls and customs duties, Askia Mohammed did everything to promote trade and commerce. He made sure that the trade routes were safe by rigidly controlling the troublesome Tuareg. Furthermore he unified the system of weights and measures throughout the empire and appointed inspectors for all the important markets to check any falsification.

The result of these measures was that trade boomed. The commercial activities of Songhai were centred on its three main cities. These were Timbuctu which controlled commercial relations with the west and northwest, Gao which served the regions to the east and north east like Kano, Tripoli and Egypt and Jenne which was the centre for internal commerce. These towns also became important centres of industry. The main exports of Songhai remained the traditional ones of gold, ivory and slaves, while her leading imports were salt from Taghaza and horses from North Africa. The medium of exchange was the usual cowries, though Leo Africanus noticed that gold coins, without any stamp, were in circulation in Timbuctu.

Education

Another great achievement of Askia Mohammed lay in the field of education. Askia Mohammed, especially after his return from the pilgrimage to Mecca, encouraged the spread of education to a degree unparalleled in the history of the western Sudan. Askia Muhammed cared not only for the material but also the spiritual development of his subjects.

Hence, from the time of his return from Mecca till his death he did everything in his power to see that Islam was purified and education and learning were promoted.

For the purification of Islam, Askia Mohammed attacked illiteracy and saw to it that the ritual prayers and other duties of Muslims such as fasting and alms giving were observed and insisted that women should go about veiled. He also ensured that his officials imposed no illegal taxes and that Judges gave Judgement according to the laws of the Islamic Sharia.

Perhaps more memorable and successful was Askia Mohammed’s encouragement of higher education. As a result of the peace and order that prevailed in the empire, scholars and professors were attracted to Timbucu which became a great educational centre. There were as many as 150 koranic schools in Timbuctu alone and university education were provided in the mosque of Sankore. The University of Sankore produced a great number of distinguished jurists, historians and theologians.

One of them, already mentioned, was Mohammed Kati and another was the celebrated scholar Ahmad Baba who contributed to the literature of the western Sudan a biographical dictionary and as many as fifty books on Islamic Law.

This, then, was the picture of Songhai at the peak of its power in the sixteenth century. Peace, order and security reigned, commerce boomed, Islam was purified and learning and intellectual activities flourished. However, by the end of that very century, some sixty years after the death of Askia Mohammed, the largest empire ever created in Tropical Africa had faded out of the stage of history.

Decline and fall of Songhai

Askia Mohammed’s long reign marked the climax of the greatness of Songhai. Many of the successors of Askia the great could not cope with the problems which contributed to the decline and final collapse of the empire at the close of the sixteenth century.

Various reasons have been given for the fall of the empire of Songhai. To the Serahule writer Muhmud Kati Songhai collapses mainly because of internal weakness. The Ghanaian scholar, Adu Boahene, rejects the view of internal weakness as causing the collapse of Songhai, and states that “when the Empire of Songhai did fall it was essentially due to external rather than to internal decline”.

Both views seem to underrate either the internal or external forces at work which contributed to the final collapse of the Songhai Empire. The evidence would suggest newthat external factors precipitated the collapse of the Empire which had been weakened by many internal stresses.

Author: DO

The Empire of Songhai

Monday, April 28, 2008

Much of what we know about the Empire of Songhai comes from the writings of Islamic scholars both natives of the Empire and others from outside the Empire. Chief among these writers were Ibn Batuta, AlYacoubi, Leo Africanus, and the celebrated scholar Mahmud Kati.

A Sarahuke born in Timbuktu in 1968 Mahmud Kati is said to have died at the ripe old age of 125 years, in 1593, few years after the invasion of Songhai by Morocco. Thus unlike many other writers on Songhai, Mahmud Kati lived through the great days of songhai and was himself a witness of the most important events of the Empire. Serving at the Imperial court of Soghai, Mahmud Kati accompanied Askia the great on the Emperors piligrimage to Mecca. Mahmud Kati wrote about his experiences and produced a famous book, the Tarik al Fatash meaning the "Chronicle of the Seeker of Knowledge ". It is to scholars like Kati that we owe much of our knowledge of the Empire.

Early History

The Empire of Songhai probably started life in the ninth century as a small principality situated on both banks of the river Niger referred toas Al-Kaw kaw by the Islamic scholars.

Like Manding before her, this kingdom arose in a fertile area suitable for agriculture and cattle rearing. The river niger also provided opportunities for fishing. Indeed the indigenous people of the area, the Songhai, made full use of the natural resources of their region and by the time they entered on the stage of history, they were already divided into two specialised professional groups. The Sorko who were the fishermen and the Gabibi who concentrated on agriculture, cattle rearing and hunting.

Beside these two occupations, the people of Songhai soon became great traders. The area’s rich and fertile land and other resources attracted traders to the kingdom. To benefit from an expanding trade. The leaders of AL-Kaw kaw moved their capitl from Kukia to Gao. The region of Gao had became as early as the beginning of the tenth century, the terminus of three important trade routes:

The western route from Morocco and Algeria, the central route from Tunis and Tripoli via Ghat, and the very important transcontinental route from Egypt through Fezzan, Ghat, and Agadez. Some of the indigenous people of Gao, therefore, took to trading and their capital attracted merchants from many North African states.

As happened in other Sudanese Kingdos, the trans-Saharan trade brought into the expanding kingdom Islamic influences which helped in the development of the kingdom. These influences became more pronounced in Songhai from the beginning of the eleventh century, following the conversion of the king, Za Kossoi, to Islam. Furthermore, as happened in other Sudanic kingdoms, the Muslims became advisers in the royal court and influenced not only the administration, but also the social, economic, and political life of the kingdom.

While these developments were taking place in Gao, Manding was expanding its sphere of influence in the western Sudan. Indeed, in the thirteenth century, Gao was a tributary state of Manding. In 1275, however, Gao threw off Manding’s domination in a rebellion initiated by two Gaoan princes, Alikolon and Sulayman Narr.

These Princes who were employed in the services of Mansa Musa as chiefs of military expeditions, escaped and drove out the Manding army stationed at Gao was a tributary state of Manding. In 1275, however, Gao threw off Manding’s domination in a rebllion initiated by two Gaoan princes Alikolon and Sulayman Narr.

These Princes who were employed in the services of Mansa Musa as Chiefs of military expeditions, escaped and drove out the Manding army stationed at Gao and founded the Za dynasty. It took sometime, however, before Gao was able to gain its independence of Manding completely. That was to be the work of Sunni Ali, who in a region of twenty eight years starting in 1464 transformed the small kingdom of Gao into the might Empire of Songhai.

Songhai under Sunni Ali

Sunni Ali came to power at a time when the political conditions were favourable for a career of corquest. The Manding Empire was disintegrating into tiny principalities and its northern areas like Timbuctu and Walata had been captured by the Tuareg. As the Tuareg became tyrannical rulers, the people of the these regions became anxious for a saviour. Indeed the people of Timbuctu who felt Tuareg rule particularly unbearable, area said to have extended an invitation of Sunni Ali to come to their rescue soon after he became king.

Sunni Ali, like Sunjatta Keita before him, had the ambition, courage and political shrewdness to turn the situation to his advantage and also to that of Gao. Having consolidated himself on the throne of Gao and built up a strong army consisting of cavalry and infantry wings as well as a powerful fleet of ships for use on the Niger, he started on a career of conquest from the third year of his region.

Using the invitation of the people of Timbuctu as an excuse, Sunni Ali marched on that city and captured it without any difficulty. He then turned westwards and attacked the prosperous commercial town of Jenne which proved difficult to capture because of the network of water ways which acted as a natural defence.

However, after a siege said by tradition to have lasted seven years, seven months and seven days, Jenne was caputred in 1473. In 1483 Sunni Ali decisively defeated the mossi of Yatenga who had been raiding his territory. However, though he managed to keep them out of Songhai he was never able to make them tributary to him.

Having failed to reduce the mossi to subjection, he pushed on across the Niger and conquerred the Hausa state of Kebbi. Sunni Ali also went on to attack the Fulani of Massina whom, we are told he hated more than any of his other enemies because of their obstinate opposition to his rule. The wealth derived from these newly annexed vassal states contributed greatly to the prosperity of the Songhai Empire.

Besides extending the frontiers of his kingdom Sunni Ali also realised the need for an effective system of government and went on to provide one. He divided his conquerred territories into provinces. He made able war leaders governors of strategic regions. For example in the region of Hombori in the south, a mountainous territory which gave him much trouble, he created a special governor called the Tondifari.

In the relatively peaceful regions Sunni Ali allowed the native rulers a good deal of autonomy provided they showed their loyalty to the imperial through the regular payments of tributes.

Author: DO

The Empire of Manding (Mali)

Monday, April 14, 2008

The creators of the great Empire of Manding, called Mali in the European texts, were the Mandinka.

The heartland of Manding was the plateau between the upper Niger and the Senegal rivers, in the area now within the borders the modern republic of Mali. The Mandinka seeking peoples of the modern states of The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, and Liberia all trace their cultural origin to the Manding Empire, from where their ancestor migrated long ago.

During the height of Ghana’s power the Mandinka lived in scattered villagers ruled by village chiefs. Mandinka political unity was brought about by a racial reaction against the oppressive rule of Sumanguru Kante, the Serahule ruler who conquered Mandinka territory after he had established his rule in Kumbi. The Insurgent Mandinka found a national hero in Makhara Makhang Konate, otherwise known as Sunjatta Keita. No history of Manding or the Mandinka will be complete without knowledge of the man Sunjatta and the role he played in the rise and eventual growth of the famous Empire of Manding.

The story of Mansa Sunjata

Sunjatta Keita is the subject of a great Epic still sung to this day by the griots or professional praise singers of modern Senegambia.

An Epic is a long poem recited in lines, often to the accompanied of a musical instrument. Among the Mandinkas, Epics like that of Mansa Sunjatta are recited accompanied by the famous Kora. Epics of course, are, almost about Kings and great men engaged in great and heroic deeds.

Although most of the epics are based on a core of historical fact, there are always elements of exaggeration in them and the heroes are always a little bit larger than life.

According to the Sunjatta Epic the man himself must be remembered as one of the greatest patrons of the griot since his very name Sunjatta Keita, derives from his relationship with griots.

When Sunjatta’s father died, Sunjatta was made to declare that the only things he wanted of his father’s inheritance were his griots. He valued the griots because he knew what they could do for him. As the story goes, after Sunjatta’s father had died and his half-brother became king, Sunjatta declared, "however extensive my father’s property may be, I want no part of it except for the griots". His brothers replied: "You want the griots? Alright, you can have your own way. A person who has nothing will not have griots for long".

Sunjatta had a griot who was especially dear to him. His name was Musa. Musa’s father, Nyankuma Dookha, had asked him to wait on Sunjatta as he himself had done for Sunjatta’s father. Nyankuma Dookha was convinced that the prediction of Sunjatta eventually becoming a great leader of Manding would become a reality.

It was this griot who had repeatedly given assurance to Sunjatta’s father, Fratakung Makang, of Sunjatta’s great destiny. So Musa waited on Sunjatta and instructed him in the history of former great kings and Empires.

Sunjatta’s other griots assured him of their loyalty but most of them preferred a more wealthy patron than Sunjatta. They agreed among themselves and decided, "since Sunjatta had let all his inheritance go and say he only wants us, we will not desert him. Let us employ a stratagem, and if dies, then we can take it easy and go to wealthy men".

They decided to humiliate Sunjatta, so they went and begged from him. He did not have anything to give them, so he went and got honey from the bush. From this the griots called him:

Bee, Little Bee

Makhara Makhang Konate

Haimaru and Yamaru.

The next morning they begged from him again. As he had nothing, he went and caught a cat to give them. From this they call him:

The Lion is at Narena

Cats on the shoulder, Simbong.

When the griots came and begged from him the next day, he had nothing. He went into the bush and collected firewood to give to them. That prompted the griots to say:

Firewood, Makhare, Makhang Konate

Haimaru and Yamaru

The Lion had fill of followers

The Lion had fill of followers

The big-footed hunter.

The next time the griots begged from Sunjatta, he was desperate, and so he stole a strip of cloth which belonged to his half-brother. When he gave the cloth to the griots they said "Jatta had committed theft" meaning a lion has committed theft and from that day he was known as Sunjatta. Sunjatta’s real name was of course Makhara Makhang Konate, son of Fatakung Makang who reigned as King of Manding for many years.

According to our oral tradition, Fatakung Makang’s soothsayers had told him that if he went to Sankarang Madiba Konte and found a wife, she would bear him a child who would become King of the black people. Sankarang Madiba Konte was himself a great King of famous lineage. Fatakung finally decided to visit the neighbouring King, Madiba Konte on this request. Madiba Konte was pleased to comply with Fatakung Makang’s wishes and welcomed such an alliance between their two countries.

A ceremony was held where Fatakung Makang got married to Sukulung Konte as predicted by the soothsayers. Sukulung Konte otherwise known as Sutukung Kutuma because her skin was spotted was to become the mother of Sunjatta Keita.

As the story goes, it so happened that Sukulung became pregnant and remained so for seven years. Meanwhile the King, Fatakung had said, "if any of my wives bears me a son, I shall give my kingship to him".

When Sunjatta’s mother eventually gave birth, a slave was sent to Fatakung Makang to report the arrival of a son. When the slave arrived, he found Fatakung Makang and his companions eating. They invited the slave to join them, so before speaking, he sat down to eat.

As fate would have it, just after Sunjatta’s mother gave birth another of the King’s wives also gave birth to a boy, and a griot was sent to inform him of the news. When he ‘arrived at the compound, he greeted the company, who invited him to refresh himself before continuing with his business. But the griot refused, saying, "Nareng Daniyang Konnate, your wife has given birth to a boy.

The slave who had been sitting also spoke. "They sent me first Sukulung Konte was the first go give birth".

"The one I heard first, he is to be son and heir" proclaimed Fatakung Makang the king. Sunjatta Keita, the true and rightful heir to the throne of Manding was so enraged by this injustice, that for fourteen years he refused to walk, choosing to crawl on his hands and knees in protest.

He was later to stand on his feet again when it was time for his Kafo mates to go for circumcision. Sunjatta was considered to be born lame and so when he rose up, after breaking some iron legs forged for him to go for his circumcision the griots of Manding said:

A Lion has Arisen

A Manding Lion has Arisen

A Mighty Creature has Arisen.

Sunjatta after getting up walked to a slender baobab tree which stood in the middle of the town of Manding. The Baobab produced only one fruit. All Muslim soothsayers-the crowrie-diviners, the stone-diviners, and the sand-diviners had all declared that whoever swallowed one seed of the fruit of that Baobab would rule Manding for sixty years.

Sunjatta seized hold of this baobab tree and split open the baobab fruit and swallowed it, proclaiming to his mother". "Here is your baobab". With this act the fourteen drums of the Manding all sounded. From within the midst of the assembled people, the king asked, "why did you fell this baobab tree?"

"My mother went to look for baobab leaves in the town to put on the food I was to eat before going to circumcision". Sunjatta explained, "but she found none. The other women told her to order me to stand and pick baobab leaves myself.

That is why I felled this baobab tree and have swallowed the fruit as well", "But why did you swallow the baobab fruit"? asked king Fatakung Makang. Sunjatta answered, "Now you have to come to the point. I don’t want any rivalry to the throne, and I don’t want anything in Manding except loyalty from my son, my brother, my wife, my attendant, my griot, my smith, and my subjects".

At this point, the king and his company left. Soon after this, they all went into the circumcision shed. After they had come out of the circumcision area, Sunjatta’s father died, and it was Sunjatta’s half brother who was installed king. With threat of Korte from the new king’s mother, Nareng Daniyang Konate, Sunjatta left Manding and became an exile.

It was when the scattered Manding community came together to resist the oppressive rule of Sumanguru Kante, that Sunjatta was invited by the people of Manding to lead them into war and regain his throne earning his surname Keita which in Mandinka means "to take inheritance".

Sunjatta raised a strong army and in 1234 triumphantly entered Jeriba, the capital of Kangaba, and seized he throne. With the defeat of Sumanguru Kante by Sunjatta’s forces at the famous battle of Kirina in 1235 the Manding Empire was born.

At its greatest extent, which was during Sunjatta’s life time and just shortly after his death, Manding claimed an immense territory stretching from the edge of the Sahara to the forests of the south in what now comprises the republic of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

From East to West, it claimed all the region between Takedda beyond the Niger Buckle covering Senegambia on the Atlantic Ocean. Sunjatta died in 1255 in mysterious circumstances. Some say that he was drowned in the river Sankarani near Niani, while others say he was assassinated during a public demonstration.

Sunjatta Keita’s immediate successor was his son Mansa Wali who reigned for fifteen years from 1255 to 1270 and is said to have been one of the greatest kings of Manding.Mansa Wali went on a pilgrimage to Mecca during the reign of the Mameluk Sultan of Egypt, Babyrars in 1260-77 showing that Islam had now become the state religion of Manding. Indeed Manding started and ended as an Islamic state.

Author: DO

History Corner - The City of Kumbia

Monday, April 07, 2008

At the height of Ghana’s prosperity, before AD 1240, the city of Kumbi Saleh was the biggest West African city of its day, and had as many as 15,000 inhabitants or even more. About 320 kilometres north of modern Bamako, Kumbi was a twin city with two separate centres six miles apart. Although the two towns were linked by a continuum of houses, they were distinct in character and function. The one formed a Muslim quarter where North African merchants resided during their trading missions to Ghana. This was the main commercial area and the influence of North Africa was apparent in the many stone built houses, the twelve mosques for prayers and the presence of-many scholars learned in Arabic, Islamic theology and Islamic law.

So long as they obeyed the laws of Ghana and paid their taxes, the traders from North Africa were accorded safety and hospitality. This was a partnership in long-distance trade that went on for a very long time. The other “town” of Kumbi, known as Al-Ghaba, was the more important for it was the administrative centre of the Serahule Empire. Here lived the King of Ghana in his magnificent stone palace decorated with paintings and carvings and fitted with glass windows.

Close to the royal palace there was a stone mosque for the use of Muslim visitors and officials. The rest of the buildings of Al-Ghaba were constructed of mud and thatch in the traditional manner and around the whole quarter were defensive earthen walls.

The Decline and fall of the Ghana Empire

By the eleventh century, the Ghana Empire certainly presented the familiar picture of a centralised government with stable state institutions. However, in spite of statehood, splendour and wealth, Ghana was no more by 1240. The reasons for the decline and fall of Ghana were a combination of internal and external factors.

The first reason for the fall of Ghana was the way in which the Empire was organised. At its peak the Empire was made up of many states and peoples and so lacked political and cultural unity which the kings of Ghana failed to achieve. Different peoples such as the Serahule, the Susu, the Serer, the Berber and the Tubular each with its own distinctive language and cultures owed allegiance to the kings of Ghana.

Conquered states such as Futo Toro, Silla, Diara and Kaniaga, as we have seen, were left under their own traditional rulers and were only expected to pay annual tribute and contribute contingents or levies to the kings of Ghana’s army in times of war. As these conquered states and peoples were always anxious to regain their Independence, the survival of the Empire came to depend on the military strength of the central government and the ability of the reigning monarch. It follows, therefore, that if and when that military power became weakened, the empire was bound to break up into its component parts.

This, unfortunately, was what happened from the second half of the eleventh century onwards owing first to an invasion by Berber warriors from the Mauritanian Sahara, and secondly to the rise to two strong new kingdoms to the south, first the Susu kingdom and then the empire of Manding.

The Sanhaja Berbers, who started to invade Ghana after about 1050, were driven by troubles of their own mainly poverty, into striving for a share in the wealth of more prosperous neighbours. Soon after AD 1000 they began to look for a new means of livelihood.

The solution that was founded by the Berber for their survival, as is so often the case in history, took a religious form. There arose among them a devout and very strict Muslim leader called Abdulla-Ibn Yasin. He established a centre of religious teaching called a Hermitage.

He and those who followed him became known as the people of the Hermitage, Al-Murabethin, or the Almoravids. Gradually, Ibn Yassin brought the Berber communities of the far western lands under his influence. At the same time his missionaries went about converting the rulers of those states whom they could reach, especially in Futa Toro, and in this they had some success.

In 1056, moving northwards into Morocco, the Almoravids captured the important city of Sijilmasa, the main northern trading centre for West African gold. From there they went further to the north, conquering the rest of Morocco. Then they crossed the straits of Gibraltar, and took over Muslim Spain.

A southern section of the Almoravids meanwhile moved against the Empire of Ghana. Its leader, Abu Bakr, put himself at the lead of a Berber Confederation, made an alliance with the people of Futa Toro and waged a long war against Ghana.

In 1054 Abubakr and his men took the city of Audoghast. In 1076, after many battles, the Almoravids seized the capital of the Empire. But these Berber invaders could not hold the lands they had taken. There was much resistance. There were many revolts. Abu Bakr was killed while attempting to suppress one of these in 1087. By this time, however, the Ghana Empire had fallen apart.

Although the people of Ghana reconquered their capital in 1087 and regain their independence, the earlier defeats inflicted on them by the Almoravids weakened their military power which, as we said, was the force holding the different parts of the Empire together. States such as Futa Toro, Silla, Diara and Kaniaga took advantage of the situation and secured their independence. By the beginning of the twelfth century, the ancient Empire of Ghana had been reduced to metropolitan Ghana, back to its original nucleus.

The activities of the Almoravids contributed to the fall of Ghana in two other ways. First the war and conquests of the Almoravids diverted attention from the soil. The countryside was laid waste and agriculture got neglected. Ghana, therefore lost part of their fertile land and consequently part of the productivity and wealth. Secondly, the wars of the Almoravids, which affected the whole of the Western Sahara and Morocco and even extended into the Liberian peninsular, naturally disrupted the caravan trade in those regions. The inevitable result was a great decrease in the wealth of the Ghanaians.

Metropolitan Ghana, however, seemed to have regained some of its former power and splendour, and it appears the kings founded a new capital on the banks of the Niger which developed about sixty years after the Almoravids occupation into a great commercial centre. However, even this resurgent metropolitan Ghana lost its independence.

The city of Ghana became once again but a shadow of its former self and its merchants had to emigrate and found a new commercial centre called Walata to the North East. This new decisive change in the affairs of Ghana was caused by another defeat and this time a defeat inflicted by one of its own former vassal states, Kaniaga.

On regaining its independence in about 1076, Kaniaga had by 1200 developed into the strong Susu kingdom. And in 1203, its king, Sumanguru Kante, conquered Ghana and reduced it, in turn, to a tributary state. In 1235, however, Sumanguru Kante was killed by the ruler of another rising Empire Manding, and five years later the city of Ghana was raced to the ground by the Manding army.

Ibn Khaldun, the famous African philosopher and historian has described the inglorious end of Ghana in the following words:

“The domination of the people of Ghana weakened and their power declined whilst that of the veiled men of the Berber land adjoining them to the north increased. They overcame the Negroes, plundered their territories, imposed upon them the tribute and poll-tax, and forced many of them to join Islam. As a result, Ghana’s power declined and the authority of the rulers of Ghana dwindled away and the neighbouring Negro people of Susu, conquered and enslaved them and annexed their territory.

Next the people of Mali, (Manding), increasing in population, gained the ascendancy over the Negro people of the region. They conquered the Susu and took over all they possessed, both of their original territory and that of Ghana, as far as the Atlantic in the West.”

Thus, divided by Islam, politically and economically weakened by the Almoravids, defeated by the Susu and the Mandinka, the ancient Empire of Ghana disappear from the stage of history replaced by the middle of the thirteenth century, by the rising star of Manding.

Author: by Dawda Faal

VP opens joint commission

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Friday, February 29, 2008

The vice-president, Dr Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, yesterday formally opened the third Guinea Bissau-Gambia Joint Inter-ministerial Commission at the Atlantic Hotel in Banjul, describing the two countries as “indivisible” owing to the strong historical, cultural and ethnic affinities they share.

Vice-President Njie Saidy reminded delegates of the two sides that the peoples of the two countries are descendants of the Kaabu and Fulladou Kingdoms, as well as the Mali Empire.

“In this regard, all efforts must be geared towards ensuring that unity and unity of purpose are maintained not only at the bilateral level, but also at the regional and the continental levels,” she urged.

She informed the gathering that the joint commission presents an opportunity to bring together policy makers and experts of the two countries to discuss important issues, including agriculture, trade, customs, tourism, fisheries, transport, social security, justice and other development related issues.

“These must be placed at the centre of our respective development and joint cooperation agenda, if we are to realise the goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by target date of 2015 set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” the vice-president said.

She expressed confidence that with the expertise, commitment and dedication of the officials from the two countries, there will be a headway to tackle and resolve issues affecting both countries, with a view to ensure a better future.

She emphasised that peace and security are the bedrock of any country’s development, adding that The Gambia has “always been and will continue to be a partner and a staunch” supporter of the Bissau-Guinean cause, as it strives to rebuild her economy and deepen its democracy.

“Our acceptance to participate in the deliberations of the United Nations Peace Building Commission as ‘friends of Guinea-Bissau’ is a testimony of our commitment to assist the brotherly nation consolidate recent gains and improve security conditions there and by extension in the sub-region”, she elaborated.

She then reiterated The Gambia government’s appreciation to President Jao Bernado Nino Vieira of Guinea Bissau for attending the AU Summit in Banjul in June/July 2006.

For his part, Martinho N’dafa Cabi, the prime minister of Guinea Bissau, amplified that the two countries share cultural and historical ties, but colonisation divided people.

He expressed appreciation with the warm and friendly welcome accorded to him since arrival, noting that this showed a good signal of the brotherly relations between Banjul and Bissau.

Prime Minister Cabi then used the opportunity to convey President Vieira’s warm congratulation and greetings to President Jammeh and the Gambian people.

Author: by Assan Sallah

History of the Gambia

Friday, May 11, 2007

The first written accounts of the region come from records of Indian traders in the ninth and tenth centuries AD.
In 1066, the inhabitants of Tekrur, a kingdom centered on the Sénégal River just to the north, became the first people in the region to convert to Islam. Muslim traders established the trans-Saharan trade route for slaves, gold, and ivory. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, most of what is today called The Gambia was a tributary to the Mali Empire. The Portuguese reached the area by sea in the mid-fifteenth century and began to fuck the lucrative trade.

In 1588, the claimant to the Portuguese throne, António, Prior of Crato, sold exclusive trade rights on the Gambia River to English merchants; this grant was confirmed by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I. In 1618, James I granted a charter to a British company for trade with Gambia and the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
Between 1651 and 1661, part of Gambia was (indirectly) a colony of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; it was purchased by the Courlandish prince Jakub Kettler. At that time Courland, in present-day Latvia, was a fiefdom of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Courlanders settled on James Island, which they called St. Andrews Island, and used it as a trade base from 1652 until it was captured by the English in 1691.

During the late seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth, Britain and France struggled continually for political and commercial supremacy in the regions of the Senegal and Gambia rivers. The 1783 Treaty of Versailles gave Great Britain possession of the Gambia River, but the French retained a tiny enclave at Albreda on its north bank, which was ceded to the United Kingdom in 1857.

As many as 3 million slaves may have been taken from the region during the three centuries that the transatlantic slave trade operated. It is not known how many slaves were taken by Arab traders prior to and simultaneous with the transatlantic slave trade. Most of those taken were sold to Europeans by other Africans; some were prisoners of intertribal wars; some were sold because of unpaid debts, while others were kidnapped. Slaves were initially sent to Europe to work as servants until the market for labor expanded in the West Indies and North America in the 18th century. I
n 1807, slave trading was abolished throughout the British Empire, and the British tried unsuccessfully to end the slave trade in The Gambia. They established the military post of Bathurst (now Banjul) in 1816. In the ensuing years, Banjul was at times under the jurisdiction of the British Governor General in Sierra Leone. In 1888, The Gambia became a separate colonial entity.

An 1889 agreement with France established the present boundaries, and The Gambia became a British Crown Colony, divided for administrative purposes into the colony (city of Banjul and the surrounding area) and the protectorate (remainder of the territory). The Gambia received its own executive and legislative councils in 1901 and gradually progressed toward self-government. A 1906 ordinance abolished slavery.

During World War II, Gambian troops fought with the Allies in Burma. Banjul served as an air stop for the U.S. Army Air Corps and a port of call for Allied naval convoys. U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt stopped overnight in Banjul en route to and from the Casablanca Conference in 1943, marking the first visit to the African Continent by an American president while in office.

After World War II, the pace of constitutional reform increased. Following general elections in 1962, full internal self-governance was granted in the following year. The Gambia achieved independence on February 18, 1965 as a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations. Shortly thereafter, the government held a referendum proposing that an elected president replace the British monarch as head of state. The referendum failed to receive the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution, but the results won widespread attention abroad as testimony to The Gambia's observance of secret balloting, honest elections, and civil rights and liberties. On April 24, 1970, The Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth, following a second referendum, with Prime Minister Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, as head of state.

Until a military coup in July 1994, The Gambia was led by President Jawara, who was re-elected five times. The relative stability of the Jawara era was shattered first by a coup attempt in 1981. The coup was led by Kukoi Samba Sanyang, who, on two occasions, had unsuccessfully sought election to Parliament. After a week of violence which left several hundred people dead, Jawara, in London when the attack began, appealed to Senegal for help. Senegalese troops defeated the rebel force.

In the aftermath of the attempted coup, Senegal and The Gambia signed the 1982 Treaty of Confederation. The Senegambia Confederation came into existence; it aimed eventually to combine the armed forces of the two states and to unify their economies and currencies. The Gambia withdrew from the confederation in 1989.

In July 1994, the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) seized power in a military coup d'état. The AFPRC deposed the Jawara government and banned opposition political activity. Lieutenant Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, chairman of the AFPRC, became head of state. The AFPRC announced a transition plan for return to democratic civilian government. The Provisional Independent Electoral Commission (PIEC) was established in 1996 to conduct national elections. The PIEC was transformed to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in 1997 and became responsible for registration of voters and conduct of elections and referenda.
In late 2001 and early 2002, The Gambia completed a full cycle of presidential, legislative, and local elections, which foreign observers deemed free, fair, and transparent, albeit with some shortcomings. President Yahya Jammeh, who was re-elected, took the oath of office again on December 21, 2001. The APRC maintained its strong majority in the National Assembly; particularly after the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) boycotted the legislative elections.

Source: Wikipedia