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18 Oct 20, 45 tweets, 15 min read
Mega thread for manuscripts, inscriptions, documents and other pieces of writing from africa (ex-north)

The oldest from WestAfrica come from cities associated with ancient ghana b'tn 950-1150AD
-plaques from its capital kumbi saleh & tedgoust
-epitaphs from gao, essuk & bentyia
1st cent. BC royal stela of Queen amanirenas of kush inscribed in meroitic

The Meroitic script is one of africa's oldest (mid-third century BC)
Kush's meroitic language (since the kingdom of kerma in 2500BC) had long been written in egyptian hieroglyphics
15th century epitaph of a swahili elite from mombasa: Mwana wa bwana binti mwindani

some of the oldest preserved swahili pieces of writing come from shanga (9th cent. silver coins) and zanzibar ( 1107 mosque inscription)

An Old-nubian apocryphal manuscript written in the 10th century at the Qsar el-Wizz monastery in Sudan

The oldest Old nubian writings date from the 8th century, three centuries after kharamadoye's meroitic inscription written in 420AD

One of several stelae of emperor ezana of aksum inscribed in ge'ez in the 4th cent. describing -among others- his war in kush against the noba (nubians)

Ezana's war in kush (after 340) followed up on his father Ousanas' defeat of kush (btn 310-320AD)

the Tarikh al-sudan chronicle first written by soninke scholar al-mukhtar in 1664 at Timbuktu then edited by fulani scholar (a massina propagandist) Nuh al-tahir in the mid 19th cent. at Hamdallaye

It's one of west africa's oldest preserved chronicles
A mathematical manuscript written in 1733 by Al-fullani al-Kishnawi ; a scholar from katsina -a hausa citystate in nigeria

Inscribed tombstones of the sultans of dahlak

The port-city was a stronghold of an ethiopian mamluk dynasty that conquered yemen in the early 11th cent. and ruled it and much of south arabia for two centuries at their capital zabid

copy of al-ashmawi, a
16th century manuscript in old kanembu written by abubakar bn almahir in bornu

The kanem-bornu kingdom was home to some of the earliest centres of westafrican scholarship
notably the 12th cent. kanuri poet ibrahim al-kanemi

Utendi wa tambuka -a swahili poem written in the swahili citystate of pate by bwana mwengo athmani in 1728

No manuscripts survive from the classic swahili era btn 800-1500AD (except on stone & coinage) b'se of the tropical climate and the portuguese wars
Illuminated 14th cent. bible containing the four gospels from Ethiopia

ethiopians had mastered the art of manuscript illumination by the 5th cent. with the garima gospels (the world's oldest illuminated bible) produced during the aksumite era
Bound and illuminated prayerbook from nothern Ghana: Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt' made in 1850AD

The region was long home to several early scholary centres like begho a 12th cent. city contemporaneous with djenne and timbuktu
Funerary stela of lady Ataqelula; a wealthy woman in the meroitic kingdom of kush made in the 2nd cent. AD at sedeinga, an elite necropolis

1731 AD
astronomical manuscript: "Kitâb fî al-Falak" written in gao (former capital of songhai)

Astronomy was one of several subjects taught in west african schools
many of such manuscripts survive from djenne, timbuktu, gao, walata and the hausalands

Tarikh sokoto: a chronicle on the history of the sokoto empire and the surrounding regions in the 18th and 19th centuries written by al-Hajj Sa'id in sokoto, nigeria

Illuminated qurans from the swahili city state of siyu produced in the 18th and 19th cent. by a local scribe

17th century illuminated prayerbook; Arganonä Maryam (The Organ of Mary) by the "ground hornbill painter" Baselyos -ethiopia

A noted religious zealot; emperor Zar'a Ya'qob "formally" introduced the Marian cult into the ethiopian church in 1441AD

18th/19th cent. medicinal manuscripts by Sultan Bello

There was a resurgence in West african scholarship in the 18th and 19th cent. heralded in large part by the Dan fodio family (Usman, abdulahi, bello and nana) in the sokoto, massina and tukulor empires
Offering table and stele of Prince tekeden of the meroitic Kingdom of kush; inscribed in the meroitic script around 200BC

Bornu Quran, made in 1750AD at kodunga :kanem-bornu empire -nigeria

1733 AD manuscript ;
The Important Stars Among the Multitude of the Heavens by astronomer Nasir al-Ghalawi in timbuktu, mali

The fabled city of Timbuktu was "western sudan" premier scholarly capital b'tn1450-1591AD (songhai era) after walata and djenne

Manuscripts from kumasi capital of the asante empire; ghana written in
1800-1820AD by local scribes

The asante kings (and elites) owned libraries stocked with many books from west africa europe, influenced by the muslim tributary states it conquered

Section of rvelations in Old nubian from qasr ibrim - makuria kingdom

The nubian kingdoms of noubadia, makuria and alodia were converted to christianity in the 6th cent.

They, along with Ethiopia, we're the only non-european christian states until 1500
Richly illustrated books from ethiopia: miracles of Mary and psalms of David written in the 19th cent.

One of several works titled "miracles of mary" Mary was an important figure in ethiopia's tewahedo church esp. after the 15th cent.
King Nastasen's royal stela inscribed in egyptian hieroglyphics in the 4th cent. BC

This was the last royal document in egyptian hieroglyphics and Alara's dynasty (which Nastasen belonged) was deposed by a new dynasty that invented the meroitic script
Al-sadi's tarikh al-sudan written in timbuktu in 1665
It and the al-fattash provide an invaluable resource in reconstructing West African history

Full translations
al-sudan : Hunwick's "timbuktu and the songhay"
al-fattash : Nobili's "Sultan, caliph..."
Illuminated bible containing the four gospels written by the 17th century ethiopian scribe Mahanta Mikael

The gondarine era (1632-1769) witnessed a resurgence in ethiopian literacy after the devastating wars with adal especially at the capital -gondar

Abdullahi Dan Fodio's "Miftāh li-l Tafsīr" -northern nigeria, 1794AD

Abdullahi was one of the most versatile scholars in the 18th cent writing on a wide range of topics from statecraft to the sciences to theology; he was well learned and well travelled
18th cent. talismanic healing scrolls from ethiopia

Illuminated Quran made in Harar in 1749, it was later taken to zanzibar in 1839

east and west african scholars travelled widely esp. in the early modern era (1500s-1800s) both on pilgrimages and for education
eg kanuri scholar al-barnawi

An ethiopian manuscript written in 1700AD about the 13th cent. ethiopian monk Takla Haymanot: a widely venerated figure both in the ethiopian church and outside plus one who played an important role in the so called "solomonic restoration"

Alfa Nuh b. al-Tahir al Fullani's Treatise on prosody written in 1803

al-Fulani made the most ambitious attempt to rewrite westafrican history by elevating and legitimising the status of massina emperor Ahmad lobbo to the level of 12th caliph of islam

Two of Nana Asma'u's manuscripts on notable sufi women in history and on the sokoto-gobir-tuareg conflict

The most notable scholars she listed among her peers were Habiba and Joda Kowuuri

She was also a political commentator and war historian

A 19th century manuscript on astronomy from lamu

Fragments of two illustrated manuscripts from the 10th century
Written in the kingdom of makuria, Christian nubia

Illuminated koranic manuscripts from West Africa

Commercial agreement on trading in several West African cities priced in gold, and the costs of constructing a house in massinah
Illustrated manuscripts from ilorin

Addition of illustrations in West African manuscripts wasn't very common but there were a number from jenne, timbuktu, bornu and the sokoto regions with such geometric illustrations

copy of the kebra nagast from the 15th century

18th century Manuscript on astronomy from the city of djenne

6th century stela of Abraha, the Ethiopian king of yemen and general of the aksumite empire

one of the longest pieces of writing by an african outside the continent

19th century talismanic manuscript from guinea

book on philosophy from 17th century Ethiopia

Queen M.s.r's epitaph from the city of Gao-saney, capital of Gao kingdom (kawkaw in external sources)

the 11th cent. epitaphs of gao, essuk, bentiya, and inscribed plaques of kumbi saleh, tegdaoust comprise the earliest pieces of writing in west africa

16th cent. letters from the kingdom of Kongo

Kongo had one of the earliest literary cultures in sub-equatorial Africa (beginning in the late 15th cent.)
unfortunately, few documents survived locally but most are preserved in various European institutions

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isaac Samuel Profile picture
30 Apr
early 14th cent. AD

Ife terracotta and copper-alloy artworks

-Head of a king with an 'akoko' crown
-arm of a ruler/priest with leaf motif
-beaded figure of a king with an oro cap
-bronze bowl with intricate cord patterning
#randomxt

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-NCMM, nigeria ImageImageImageImage
"Ife was an African civilization whose art, inventiveness and ritual primacy developed with little foreign influence: contrary to the misconception where Muslim empires of West-Africa like Mali were transmitters of high culture into the southerly regions"
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isaac Samuel Profile picture
23 Apr
#Triviaxt

Thread on economic dynamics of slave trade: why most west african states exported enslaved ppl and why some states didn't export them despite the overwhelming economic incentives (by extension political incentives) to do so

screeshots used are taken from these 4 books
initially, there was no "stock" of slaves in africa, waiting for European buyers. Instead, the expansion of the trade was b'se there was a price differential between retaining slaves locally vs exporting them in which the latter's high price rationalized slave exportation
for the majority of (coastal) african states that did export slaves the question of complicity and agency is best answered in Robin law's introduction to ouidah -which was west africa's biggest slave "port"

on the rationale during the trade and ultimately the legacy of the trade
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isaac Samuel Profile picture
27 Mar
Megathread on the "trivial" details in African history

-notable figures
-economic history
-African warfare
-politics & diplomacy
-miscellaneous

on the 19th century west African philosopher Abd Al-Qadir al-Mustafa al-Turudi and his works
the scale of gold trade in medieval southern africa

logistics of benin textile trade along the west african coast

from the mid-15th to late 17th century, benin's textiles were in high demand along the coast partially b'se of their use as currency

Read 12 tweets
isaac Samuel Profile picture
12 Feb
Acemoglu on Africa in "why nations fail" -a commentary thread on his analysis of the political and economic institutions of pre-colonial Africa
Detailed sources and references at bottom of the thread
<for Sources for screenshots and further reading at bottom of the thread>

1/37
2/
 His argument is that prosperity of wealthy nations was preceded by political pluralism that started a positive feedback loop of inclusive political institutions, increasing the cost of staying in power while broadening the segments of society where political elites are taken
3/
 He thus categorizes all pre-modern states' political systems as extractive and those after the glorious revolution in England, the French revolution and their western colonies as inclusive
on pre-colonial Africa, he focuses on Kongo (plus abit on Aksum, Kuba and Ethiopia)
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isaac Samuel Profile picture
31 Aug 19
@1ncognito___ lets continue the thread with ancient cities, there's over 100 in this thread @1ncognito___

@1ncognito___ over a dozen "zimbabwe culture" sites 1ncognito___

zimbabwe minithread
@1ncognito___ more from ethiopia @1ncognito___

Read 12 tweets
isaac Samuel Profile picture
13 Jul 19
1150AD
gede/gedi -kenya <expanded>

settled by the bantu-speaking swahili btn the 12th and 16th cent.
gede was the innermost of the swahili cities (but weaker than its neighbors malindi and mombasa), the ruins include a five mosques, multi-roomed houses and a city wall
#historyxt
gedi, like its neighbour malindi most likely exported iron, gold and ivory among others but mostly iron which was in high demand in india

Ancient Trade Between China and East Africa
kusimba
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Beyond Commoner and Elite in Swahili Society
M Pawlowicz
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others;
The Swahili World
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The Rise and Fall of Swahili States
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