my article:

"Anti-slavery laws and Abolitionist thought in pre-colonial Africa"

the view from Benin, Kongo, Songhai, and Ethiopia.

africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery… In 1516, the King of Benin imposed a ban on the exportation of slaves from his kingdom, an embargo that was enforced for over two centuries during the height of the Atlantic slave trade
africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery…

The sheer complexity and diversity of Africa should make it the last place for generalists to write about,

but that has never stopped them,
because even the laziest, most essentialist research is rewarded by their audiences

https://twitter.com/rhaplord/status/1770381743259845079

Take the popular theory of 'wealth in people' as a means of accumulation in pre-colonial societies of west-central Africa

which, to oversimplify, means that 'people' (people/followers/labour) had more value over 'things' (Land, tradable goods etc)

icymi

"The colonial myth of 'Sub-Saharan Africa' in medieval Islamic geography: the view from Egypt and Bornu."
africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial… The historicity of the term sub-Saharan Africa is the most persistent misconception in discourses on Africa's past
Proponents of its use claim that it is derived from a historical reality, reflected in the nature of the interaction between Africa's regions
africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial…

my article:

"The colonial myth of 'Sub-Saharan Africa' in medieval Islamic geography: the view from Egypt and Bornu."

africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial… The historicity of the term sub-Saharan Africa is the most persistent misconception in discourses on Africa's past
Proponents of its use claim that it is derived from a historical reality, reflected in the nature of the interaction between Africa's regions
africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial…

(abit late to this)

Here's a megathread on African castles, fortresses, fortified cities and other monumental structures
🧵

https://twitter.com/josePoggers/status/1746062157509185633

-castle of Fasiladas, late 1630s, Gondar, Ethiopia

-Iyasu’s Palace, late 17th cent, Gondar, Ethiopia

The myth of Mansa Musa's enslaved entourage

"Stories about his [Mansa Musa's] journey have numerous anecdotes which are not true and which the mind refuses to admit".
africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-… The pilgrimage of Mansa Musa in 1324 is undoubtedly the most famous and most studied event in the history of the west-African middle ages.

africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-myth-of-…

its highly doubtful that there was any social reward for having a lighter skin tone,
even in the Sahel belt (Senegal to Eritrea)
even for women

eg:
al-Tunusi who visited Wadai in Chad/Sudan, said they preferred a medium skin tone; definitely not white, (and maybe not too dark?)

https://twitter.com/gregorylent/status/1671552924739072001

more surprising was Mungo Park's visit to the Ludamar kingdom of the Awlad Mubarak (A Hassani-Arab group) in southern Mauritania

even among these, the women reportedly considered him an "inferior being to themselves" and weren't particulary fond of the whiteness of his skin

icymi

"Self-representation in African art: the wall paintings of medieval Nubia. (ca. 700-1400)"

an African portrait of an African society... africanhistoryextra.com/p/self-represe…… Local artists in the kingdom of Makuria created one of Africa's largest corpus of wall paintings.
This unique collection of African self-representation provides us with an internal perspective of how Africans perceived their own society
africanhistoryextra.com/p/self-represe…

While many images of Africans in popular art history were made by non-Africans, the wall paintings of Makuria were created by African artists living in the kingdom, and they preserve a unique form of African self-representation
africanhistoryextra.com/p/self-represe… "Beginning in the 8th century, the kingdom of Makuria developed a dynamic art tradition in the form of vibrant murals that adorned the walls of ecclesiastical buildings."
africanhistoryextra.com/p/self-represe…

"Who built these "ksars", fortified villages built of salt stone whose remains haunt the oases of Kawar, a desert and isolated region in the northeast of Niger?

At what time ? And why were they abandoned?"
la-croix.com/Sahara-nigerie… "The inhabitants of Kawar consist mainly of the Tebu and the Kanuri
The Kanuri are the older part of the population that's associated with the earliest settlements"

icymi
An African civilization in the heart of the Sahara ⬇️
africanhistoryextra.com/p/an-african-c…

"After nearly a century of unchallenged political dominance in south-eastern Africa, the Portuguese colonial project in the Mutapa kingdom was ended by the formidable armies of Chagamire Dombo, the founder of the Rozvi kingdom"
africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of… The 'Changamire' title and Dombo himself were both associated with the Torwa lineages of south-western Zimbabwe who built the profusely decorated stone ruins of Khami, Naletale and Danangombe
africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of…

"Loango artists created intricately carved ivory sculptures which offer direct African perspectives from an era of social and political change on the eve of colonialism"

africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of… "The pattern of conquest and consolidation had given Loango a complex government, centered in a core province ruled directly by the king, while outlying provinces remained under their pre-conquest dynasties who were supervised by appointed officials"

africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of…

*icymi

"A history of the Loango kingdom (ca.1500-1883) : Power, Ivory and Art in west-central Africa"

Africa's past carved in ivory...

africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of… "For more than five centuries, the kingdom of Loango dominated the coastal region of west central Africa between the modern countries of Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville."

africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of…

Yet another miss by geographic determinists

-Islam arrived in east africa earlier than it did in west africa, but spread faster in the latter b'se of the actions of local agents -NOT geography!

-and (i cant repeat this enough) malaria never prevented European colonization

https://twitter.com/tomaspueyo/status/1659368987275280384

that blue circle on the east african coast is the region where muslims (eg swahili) had the oldest contacts with non-muslims (eg shona of great zimbabwe)
but they didnt convert them until the late 19th century b'se of the nature of interactions btn the two

https://twitter.com/tomaspueyo/status/1659368988973867008?s=20

My article:

"A complete history of Jenne: 250BC-1893AD"

Journal of African cities chapter 6
isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/a-complete-h… @africaupdates @GioB1974 @PaulMMCooper @MikeStuchbery_ @tommymiles @alykhansatchu The city of Jenne has for centuries been at the heart of west Africa's political and cultural landscape.

Enframed within earthen walls was a cosmopolitan urban settlement of wide allies and terraced mansions whose entrances were graced by majestic baobabs
isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/a-complete-h…

my article:

"The pyramids of ancient Nubia and Meroe: death on the Nile and the mortuary architecture of Kush"

a complete history of an African monument;
everything about the why, when and how the Nubian pyramids were built
isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/the-pyramids… @PaulMMCooper @SudaneseCulture @GioB1974 @ICCROM_King @africaupdates @TheAncientWorld the kingdom of Kush undertook one of the most ambitious building programs of the ancient world.

More than 200 pyramids spread over half a dozen cities were built by the rulers and officials of Kush over a period of 1,000 years.
isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/the-pyramids…

my Patreon article;

Gods of the Nile: ancient Nubia's pantheon and the role of religion in the kingdom of Kush from 2500BC-360AD

patreon.com/posts/78797811

"Amun makes a pharaoh according to what he desires, you caused me to discover this."

Taharqo, 674 BC Topics:

-Nubian religion during the bronze-age kingdoms of Kerma and C-group Nubia
-Religion in C-group Nubia (2300–1600 BC) : the Nubian deity of Dedwen
-The relationship between the Nubian god Dedwen, the ram-gods of Kerma and the Egyptian deity Khnum.
patreon.com/posts/78797811

My article:

"Mansa Musa and the royal pilgrimage tradition of west Africa: 11th-18th century"

Why Africa's caravans of gold stopped travelling to Arabia...
isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/mansa-musa-a… Travelling 3,000 kilometers with a retinue of thousands carrying a dozen tonnes of gold, the lavish pilgrimage of Mansa Musa was part of a uniquely west African institution that saw over 20 kings making the perilous journey to mecca while still in power
isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/mansa-musa-a…

After killing 10 million in the Congo, Belgium kept some of their skulls and has been auctioning them since for €1000

the worst part of this story is that the skulls came from a private collection, meaning a Belgian national was keeping them as a trophy
moustique.be/actu/belgique/… if they chose random people around the world to use a time-machine that took them back to the 1800s and they gave them a gun,
some will be looking for baby Hitler, but the average Congolese time-traveler would be looking for King Leopold

he's African history's most evil villain

my article:

The invention of writing in an African kingdom: a history of the Bamum script (1897-1931)

"Our memories are fallible. We need a way to keep the word, in a way that it will speak for us, even in our absence"
isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/the-inventio… Shortly before the dawn of colonialism in the late 19th century, the scholar-king Njoya of Bamum invented a unique syllabary script that transformed his kingdom into the home of one of west-Africa's most remarkable intellectual revolutions.
isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/the-inventio…

🧵
Review and commentary on #TheWomanKing
on Dahomey and the slave trade

*all rights belong to Sony As a movie, #TheWomanKing was good, its light on dialogue but has well-choreographed action scenes; both the costumes and general cinematography are stunning (they took some liberties with the fort) and watching it was worth every second