2.6: West African Land Based Empires

Cultural, Economic, and Political Transformation

The emergence of powerful empires in western sub-Saharan Africa began before the advent of Islam in the region, but its adoption first among the merchants and then by the political elites was crucial in providing these states with a set of useful skills and connections with which to expand their power. Islam first arrived in the region with Muslim merchants who took part in the trans-Saharan trade. They were willing to brave the crossing of the world’s largest desert in order to access the copious gold that was produced in the region and was so vital to the perennially cash-strapped Mediterranean trade. Although not yet dominant, Islam was clearly exerting significant influence at the elite levels of politics and commerce even before the conversion of the ruling class.

Historically, Africa has been less patriarchic than Europe and Asia. Among Mande-speaking groups of West Africa (which included the Mandinka of Mali) there does not seem to have been any previous assumption that women should be excluded from politics. Women maintained their rights and power as governments adopted Islam. For example, Islam became prominent in the region of the Gambia River west of Mali, yet female rulers seemed common along the river, with the Niumi kingdom having twelve consecutive women claiming the title of Mansa (ruler).

Slavery

From the 8th century, external demand for African slaves would grow as mostly Arab merchants began crossing the Sahara in search of labor sources. As that demand grew so did the incentive for West and Central African elites to engage in more slave raiding to supply that demand. The total number of enslaved people brought out of Africa through the Arab slave trade almost certainly pales in comparison to the scale of the transatlantic trade. For most west and central African societies the slave trade remained a relatively small part of their overall economies throughout this period.

The prevalence of chattel slavery in the modern Atlantic World means that today people mostly associate the institution with plantation-style labor. This, however, was not the most common form of slavery nor did being enslaved always signify low status. In the Ottoman Empire, for example, “slaves of the gate” were people of high status with access to considerable wealth and privilege. Similarly, enslaved people constituted a military elite in many Muslim societies across Eurasia. In Africa, like the rest of the world, there were diverse experiences associated with being enslaved.

The enslaved were mostly captured during conflicts between and among various west and central African states and societies. Scholars have suggested that in parts of Africa where land was widely available and notions of private property basically did not exist, it was ownership of labor rather than ownership of land that determined wealth. Unlike the form of slavery that would develop in the Americas, in west Africa an enslaved person had a much greater chance of being freed within their lifetime and, possibly since slavery was not racialized, it was also not assumed that status as an enslaved person would pass from one generation to the next. An enslaved person could also be integrated into the slave owner’s kinship group over time, and it was even relatively common for slaves to marry into the family.

The Empires of Mali and Songhai

In the 14th century, the Empire of Mali established a more expansive and transcontinental set of ambitions at roughly the same time that such far-flung states as Ming China and the Kingdom of Portugal were attempting to do the same. Mali was founded by a dynasty that had already embraced Islam and this empire became incredibly wealthy from the trans-Saharan gold trade.

However, the greatest threat to the Mali Empire came from its eastern neighbor Songhai. Starting in 1502, Songhai took control of Mali's eastern commercial sites. The domestic problems faced by the various mansas who oversaw the administration of the empire included threats from opposing tribes and growing territories, who frequently performed raids into the imperial lands on the outskirts of Mali. During the fifteenth century, there was a brief respite from these various smaller incursions, but they would continue to contribute to unrest and shaky government within Mali, as well as to their eventual collapse, which culminated in the Battle of Jenne between Mali and Arma, a smaller tribal territory. Although they were somewhat cowed by the size of the mansa’s army, Arma ended up with the victory, and the empire split into five different kingdoms by the beginning of the 1600s.

The Songhai Empire was established in the 1400s after Mali entered a decline from internal divisions. The ruling dynasty was the Sonni family. This government had a powerful military including a large cavalry and war canoes. As a result, there was expansion to the Atlantic coast with the capture of Senegal. By 1500, Songhai became one of the largest land-based empires. The Songhai was prosperous as it traded gold to the north and later west to the Portuguese. For the most part, the trade orientation was shifting from the north to the western coast. Cowries were imported and used as currency.

Although the rulers were Muslim, they still worshiped other gods and recognized the power of polytheistic priests. In fact, the kings claimed the get their power from local gods. At the same time, the Songhai rulers made pilgrimages to Mecca and claimed to be the leaders of Islam in their kingdom. The Songhai nobility was more polytheistic than the king, and the government believed only in voluntary conversions. According to the elites, Muslims must nurture their own learning and piety and thereby furnish good examples to the non-Muslims who lived around them. Figure 2.6.1 shows the Great Mosque of Djenne. It is a multistoried impressive structure with imposing towers. Rodier sticks come out of the the walls of this mosque. These sticks are used for decoration as well as scaffolding for annual repairs.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): The Great Mosque at Djenné, “Great Mosque of Djenné” by JM/Flickr, CC BY

A major cultural center was Timbuktu which was the largest and most prosperous city in the empire. There were over 150 schools in the 1500s including colleges that taught law, logic, rhetoric, and religion. Timbuktu had thousands of teachers and students who mastered a wide range of subjects, including Islamic law, astronomy, math, and philosophy. Students who earned degrees could then teach at one of the schools. Many of the scholars also studied in the Middle East especially Egypt.

Nevertheless, the Songhai entered a decline during the early 1500s. There were internal divisions among princes and military defeats. For the most part, elites from Muslim western half in Timbuktu faced more and more conflicts from the more polytheistic half in Goa. There was also a decline in the gold trade as more gold was sold off of areas of the Atlantic Coast not controlled by the Songhai. The government was also weakened by a war with Morocco over control of the trans-Saharan trade in the 1580s. After the Songhai Empire fell to Moroccan forces, it disintegrated into a number of small states and cities.

Review Questions

• How did the spread of Islam impact state-building in West Africa?
• In what ways were the civilizations and empires of Asia and Western Africa similar?