Page 21 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 20

History

urally, no-one wants to explain how “would stand comparison with any- 41. On a pilgrimage to Mecca in
this took place approximately 500 thing which Ancient Egypt, Classical 1324 AD, a Malian ruler, Mansa
years before the time of Christopher Greece and Rome, or Renaissance Musa, brought so much money with
Columbus! Europe had to offer.” him that his visit resulted in the
collapse of gold prices in Egypt and
31. West Africa had bling culture in 36. In the Malian city of Gao stands Arabia. It took twelve years for the
1067 AD. One source mentions that the Mausoleum of Askia the Great, economies of the region to nor-
when the Emperor of Ghana gives a weird sixteenth century edifice that malise.
audience to his people: “he sits in resembles a step pyramid.
a pavilion around which stand his 42. West African gold mining took
horses caparisoned in cloth of gold: 37. Thousands of mediaeval tumuli place on a vast scale. One modern
behind him stand ten pages holding have been found across West Africa. writer said that: “It is estimated that
shields and gold-mounted swords: Nearly 7,000 were discovered in the total amount of gold mined in
and on his right hand are the sons north-west Senegal alone spread West Africa up to 1500 was 3,500
of the princes of his empire, over nearly 1,500 sites. They were tons, worth more than $30 billion in
splendidly clad and with gold plaited probably built between 1000 and today’s market.”
into their hair . . . The gate of the 1300 AD.
chamber is guarded by dogs of an 43. The old Malian capital of Niani
excellent breed . . . they wear collars 38. Excavations at the Malian city of had a 14th century building called
of gold and silver.” Gao carried out by Cambridge Uni- the Hall of Audience. It was an
versity revealed glass windows. One surmounted by a dome, adorned
32. Glass windows existed at that of the finds was entitled: “Frag- with arabesques of striking colours.
time. The residence of the Ghana- ments of alabaster window sur- The windows of an upper floor
ian Emperor in 1116 AD was: “A rounds and a piece of pink window were plated with wood and framed
well-built castle, thoroughly forti- glass, Gao 10th – 14th century.” in silver; those of a lower floor were
fied, decorated inside with sculp- 39. In 1999 the BBC produced a plated with wood, framed in gold.
tures and pictures, and having glass television series entitled Millenni-
windows.” um. The programme devoted to the 44. Mali in the 14th century was
fourteenth century opens with the highly urbanised. Sergio Domian, an
33. The Grand Mosque in the Mali- following disclosure: “In the four- Italian art and architecture schol-
an city of Djenné, described as “the teenth century, the century of the ar, wrote the following about this
largest adobe [clay] building in the scythe, natural disasters threatened period: “Thus was laid the foun-
world”, was first raised in 1204 AD. civilisations with extinction. The dation of an urban civilisation. At
It was built on a square plan where Black Death kills more people in the height of its power, Mali had at
each side is 56 metres in length. Europe, Asia and North Africa than least 400 cities, and the interior of
It has three large towers on one any catastrophe has before. Civilisa- the Niger Delta was very densely
side, each with projecting wooden tions which avoid the plague thrive. populated”.
buttresses. In West Africa the Empire of Mali
becomes the richest in the world.” 45. The Malian city of Timbuktu
34. One of the great achievements had a 14th century population of
of the Yoruba was their urban cul- 40. Malian sailors got to America in 115,000 – 5 times larger than me-
ture. “By the year A.D. 1300,” says a 1311 AD, 181 years before Co- diaeval London. Mansa Musa, built
modern scholar, “the Yoruba people lumbus. An Egyptian scholar, Ibn the Djinguerebere Mosque in the
built numerous walled cities sur- Fadl Al-Umari, published on this fourteenth century. There was the
rounded by farms”. The cities were sometime around 1342. In the tenth University Mosque in which 25,000
Owu, Oyo, Ijebu, Ijesa, Ketu, Popo, chapter of his book, there is an ac- students studied and the Oratory
Egba, Sabe, Dassa, Egbado, Igbo- count of two large maritime voyages of Sidi Yayia. There were over 150
mina, the sixteen Ekiti principalities, ordered by the predecessor of Man- Koran schools in which 20,000
Owo and Ondo. sa Musa, a king who inherited the children were instructed. London,
Malian throne in 1312. This mariner by contrast, had a total 14th century
35. Yoruba metal art of the me- king is not named by Al-Umari, population of 20,000 people.
diaeval period was of world class. but modern writers identify him as
One scholar wrote that Yoruba art Mansa Abubakari II. 46. National Geographic recently

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