Page 75 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 13

MY AFRIKA

without any appreciation for planning and carried an entry in the 1974 edition
design.) that described the city as: “The largest
earthworks in the world carried out prior
We begin with Benin City. At the to the mechanical era.” – Excerpt from
end of the 13th century, a Europe- “The Invisible Empire”, PD Lawton,
an traveler encountered the great Source-YouTube, uploader-dogon- Depiction of emperor Mansa Musa
metropolis in West Africa (present s2k12 `African Historical Ruins`
Nigeria, Edo State), writing: in the world?
“Benin art of the Middle Ages was of the
“The town seems to be very great. When highest quality. An official of the Berlin Today, Timbuktu is 236 times small-
you enter into it, you go into a great broad Museum für Völkerkunde once stated er than London. It has little to show
street, not paved, which seems to be seven that: “These works from Benin are equal of a modern city. Its population is
or eight times broader than the Warmoes to the very finest examples of European two times less than 5 centuries ago,
street in Amsterdam…The Kings palace casting technique. Benvenuto Cellini could impoverished with beggars and dirty
is a collection of buildings which occupy as not have cast them better, nor could anyone street sellers. The town itself is inca-
much space as the town of Harlem, and else before or after him . . . Technically, pable of conserving its past ruined
which is enclosed with walls. There are nu- these bronzes represent the very highest monuments and archives.
merous apartments for the Prince`s minis- possible achievement.” Back in the 14 century, the 3 richest
ters and fine galleries, most of which are as places on earth was China, Iran/
big as those on the Exchange at Amster- Sadly, in 1897, Benin City was Irak, and the Mali empire in West
dam. They are supported by wooden pillars destroyed by British forces under Africa. From all 3 the only one
encased with copper, where their victories Admiral Harry Rawson. The city which was still independent and
are depicted, and which are carefully kept was looted, blown up and burnt to prosperous was the Mali Empire.
very clean. The town is composed of thirty the ground. A collection of the fa- Eventually China and the whole of
main streets, very straight and 120 feet mous Benin Bronzes are now in the the Middle East were conquered
wide, apart from an infinity of small British Museum in London. Part of by Genghis Kan Mongol troops
intersecting streets. The houses are close to the 700 stolen bronzes by the British which ravaged, pillaged, and raped
one another, arranged in good order. These troops were sold back to Nigeria in the places. The Mali empire lived on
people are in no way inferior to the Dutch 1972. under the rule of the richest man
as regards cleanliness; they wash and scrub ever in the history of humanity,
their houses so well that they are polished Here is another account of the great Mansa Musa, emperor of the 14th
and shining like a looking glass.” (Source: Benin City regarding the city walls century Mali Empire which covered
Walter Rodney, ‘How Europe Underde- “They extend for some 16 000 kilometres modern day Mali, Senegal, Gambia,
veloped Africa, pg. 69) in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 and Guinea.
interconnected settlement boundaries. They At the time of his death in 1331,
cover 6500 square kilometres and were Mansa Musa was worth the equiv-
all dug by the Edo people. In all, they are alent of 400 billion dollars. At that
four times longer than the Great Wall of time Mali Empire was producing
China, and consumed a hundred times more than half the world’s supply
more material than the Great Pyramid of salt and gold.
of Cheops. They took an estimated 150
million hours of digging to construct, and When Mansa Musa went on a
are perhaps the largest single archaeolog- pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, he car-
A view of Benin city in 1891 before the British conquest ical phenomenon on the planet.” Source: ried so much gold, and spent them
Wikipedia, Architecture of Africa.” Fred so lavishly that the price of gold fell
The mediaeval Nigerian city of Pearce the New Scientist 11/09/99. for ten years. 60 000 people accom-
Benin was built to “a scale comparable panied him.
with the Great Wall of China”. There Did you know that in the 14th He founded the library of Tim-
was a vast system of defensive century the city of Timbuktu buktu, and the famous manuscripts
walling totalling 10,000 miles in all. in West Africa was five times of Timbuktu which cover all areas
Even before the full extent of the bigger than the city of Lon- of world knowledge were written
city walling had become apparent don, and was the richest city during his reign.
the Guinness Book of Records Witnesses of the greatness of the

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