Kathy says:

There have been many misconceptions about the lives of Africans before the advent of European and American colonization. According to some historians, Africans were nothing more than savages whose only contributions to the world were farming and slaves. This is not true. The history of ancient Africa is just as interesting, complex, and sophisticated as any other ancient civilization, yet almost without exception; it is only Egypt that receives any consideration at all when writing history. Because of this mentality, European and American historians have long espoused that Africa and its inhabitants had no culture or history of their own, except what was given to them by outside factors.

However, long before the colonization of Europeans, Africans built kingdoms and monuments that rivaled any European monarchy. Nevertheless, because of racial prejudice, much of Black African history has been distorted and ignored to give justification to the enslavement of millions for financial profit. This paper will be discussing the ancient African kingdoms of Meroë, Ghana, and the Swahili and their rich contributions to the pages of history.

The kingdom of Meroë started around 1000 BC when Nubian rulers built up a politically independent state known to the Egyptians as Kush. Eventually, the rulers of Kush would move to Nubia and establish the kingdom of Meroë (Davis & Gates, p. 30). These rulers established their capital at Meroë around 300 B.C., and the kingdom lasted there for more than nine centuries.
However, some historians feel that because Meroitic culture imitated the Egyptian culture so closely, the Meroitës brought no culture of their own to the pages of history. This is not true According to archaeological evidence discovered in North Sudan that is over 2,500 years old, there was an old civilization along the Nile River at lower and Upper Nubia (modern day Sudan) that was older than the civilizations in the North (Egypt). Also, there is evidence that proves that the known Old Egyptian Civilization was an advanced stage of an even older civilization located in the Sudan (Davis & Gates, p. 35).

This evidence proves that Meroë had a culture and history that was even older than of the Egyptians. If anything, Egypt was a carbon copy of Meroë. This kingdom also had its own language. Most historians however, attributed their language and alphabet system to the Egyptians. It was a common belief that ancient Black Africans could not and did not develop a written language. However, inscriptions in a distinct indigenous alphabet appear in Meroë as early as the 2nd century B.C, proving that these assumptions are not true (Davis & Gates, p. 110).
This written Meroitic language was used into the 5th century, when Old Nubian eventually replaced it. Widespread use of Meroitic on monuments indicates that a significant percentage of the population was able to read it. However, the meanings of these inscriptions remain unknown, as this hieroglyphic-derived script is as yet untranslatable.

Another little know fact about the Meroitës is that they had a unusually high number of
queens who ruled without male intervention. One queen, Queen Amanirenus led her army against a Roman invasion in 24 BC. She won the first battle, and despite losing a second battle, the Romans had enough, agreed to a truce and went back to Rome. Rome never did conquer Meroë, and this kingdom continued to thrive for another 200 years. Actually “queendom” would be more accurate, since the leader of Meroë was usually a warrior queen, called a “kandake” which means “queen mother” or more simply “gore”meaning “ruler”(Fairservis. p.60).

In terms of economics, Meroë was famed for its massive iron production, the first large-scale industry of its kind in the Nile Valley and had extensive trade with Greece and Rome. Because of the production of iron, the armies had better weapons to use during battle and the farmers had better axes and hoes to work their lands. Meroitë traders exported ivory, leopard skins, ostrich feathers, ebony, and gold and soon gained direct access to the expanding trade of the Red Sea (Shillington, p. 40).

The kingdom of Meroë eventually went into decline. Causes for the decline of the Meroitic Kingdom are still largely unknown. The Meroitic kingdom faced formidable competition because of the expansion of Axum, a powerful Abyssinian state in modern Ethiopia to the east. About A.D. 350, an Axumite army captured and destroyed Meroe city, ending the kingdom’s independent existence.
The West African Empire of Ghana is another kingdom whose history was downplayed and attributed to outside factors. Although the Berbers originally founded Ghana in the fifth century, it was built on the southern edge of Berber populations. In time, the land became dominated by the Soninke, a Mande speaking people who lived in the region bordering the Sahara (McKissack & McKissack, p. 112). They built their capital city, Kumbi Saleh, right on the edge of the Sahara and the city quickly became the center of the Trans-Saharan trade routes.

Ghana accumulated great wealth because of the Trans-Saharan trade routes. This wealth made it possible for Ghana to conquer local chieftaincies and demand tribute from these subordinate states. This tribute, however, paled next to the wealth generated by the commerce of goods that passed from western Africa east to Egypt and the Middle East. This trade primarily involved gold, salt, and copper (Koslow, p. 70).

A hereditary king called the Ghana ruled Ghana. The kingship was matrilineal (as were all Sahelian monarchies to follow); the king’s sister provided the heir to the throne (McKissack & McKissack, p. 115). In addition to military power, the king appears to have been the supreme judge of the kingdom.

Although northern African had been dominated by the religion of Islam since the eighth century, the kingdom of Ghana never converted (McKissack & McKissack, p. 120). The Ghanaian court, however, allowed Muslims to settle in the cities and even encouraged Muslim specialists to help the royal court administer the government and advice on legal matters.

The original founders of Ghana ultimately proved to be its demise. Unlike the Ghanaians, the Berbers, now calling themselves Almoravids, fervently converted to Islam and in 1075, declared a holy war, or jihad, against the kingdom of Ghana. Little is known about what exactly happened but nonetheless, Ghana ceased to be a commercial or military power after 1100. The Almoravid revolution ultimately ended the reign of Ghana.

Europeans and Arabs alike have portrayed the history of the Swahili kingdom as one of Muslim-Arab domination, with the African people and its rulers playing a passive role in the process. However, recent archaeological evidence found shows that the Swahili people are descendants of the Bantu speaking people who settled along the East African coast in the first millennium (Horton & Middleton, p. 70). Although both Arabians and Persians intermarried with the Swahili, neither of these cultures had anything to do with the establishment of Swahili civilization. These cultures became absorbed into an already flourishing African civilization founded by ancient Bantu Africans.

The eastern coast of Africa changed profoundly around the close of the first millennium AD. During this time, Bantu-speaking Africans from the interior migrated and settled along the coast from Kenya to South Africa. Next, merchants and traders from the Muslim world realized the strategic importance of the east coast of Africa for commercial traffic and began to settle there (Horton & Middleton, p. 72). Marriage between the Bantu women and men of the Middle East created and cemented a rich Swahili culture, fusing religion, agricultural architecture, textiles, food, as well as purchasing power. From 900 A.D., the east coast of Africa saw an influx of Shirazi Arabs from the Persian Gulf and even small settlements of Indians. The Arabs called this region al-Zanj, “The Blacks,” and the coastal areas slowly came under the control of Muslim merchants from Arabia and Persia (Horton & Middleton, p. 75). By the 1300′s, the major east African ports from Mombaza in the north to Sofala in the south had become thoroughly Islamic cities and cultural centers.

The language that grew out of this civilization is one of the most common and widespread of the lingua franca: a lingua franca is a secondary language that is a combination of two or more languages. Swahili or Kiswahili comes from the Arabic word sawahil, which means, “coast.” Swahili belongs to the Sabaki subgroup of the Northeastern coast Bantu languages. It is closely related to the Miji Kenda group of languages, Pokomo and Ngazija (Horton & Middleton, p.110). Over at least a thousand years of intense and varied interaction with the Middle East has given Swahili a rich infusion of loanwords from a wide assortment of languages. Even with the substantial number of Arabic loanwords present in Swahili, the language is in fact, Bantu.

The Swahili civilization expanded southwards until they reached Kilwa in Zanzibar (from the Arabic word al-Zan). Later, its inhabitants carved out a small territory even further south around Sofala in Zimbabwe (Horton & Middleton, p. 140). While the northern cities remained localized and had little influence on African culture inland from the coast, the Sofalans actively went inland and spread Islam and Islamic culture deep in African territory (Horton & Middleton, p. 150).
The major Swahili city-states were Mogadishu, Barawa, Mombasa (Kenya), Gedi, Pate, Malindi, Zanzibar, Kilwa, and Sofala in the far south (Horton & Middleton, p. 155). Kilwa was the most famous of these city-states and was particularly wealthy because it controlled the southern port of Sofala, which had access to the gold, produced in the interior (near “Great Zimbabwe”), and its location as the farthest point south at which ships from India could hope to sail and return in a single monsoon season.

These city-states were very cosmopolitan for their time and they were all politically independent of one another. In fact, they were more like competitive companies or corporations, each vying for the lion’s share of African trade. The chief export was ivory, sandalwood, ebony, and gold. Textiles from India and porcelain from China were also brought by Arab traders (Horton & Middleton, p. 175). While the Arabs and Persians played a role in the growth of the Swahili civilization, the nobility was of African descent and they ran the city-states (Horton & Middleton p.195). However, the nobility were Muslims and it was the Muslims who controlled the wealth. Below the nobility were the commoners and the resident foreigners who made up a large part of the citizenry.

However, Islam itself penetrated very little into the interior among the hunters, pastoralists, and farmers. Even the areas of the coast near the trading towns remained relatively unaffected (Horton & Middleton p.198). In the towns, the mud and thatch houses of the non-Muslim common people surrounded the stone and coral buildings of the Muslim elite, and it seems that most followers of Islam were wealthy, not poor.

Still, a culture developed for the Swahili that fused African and Islamic elements. Family lineage, for example, was traced both through the maternal line, which controlled property, an African practice, and through the paternal line, which was the Muslim tradition. Swahili culture had a strong Islamic influence but retained many of its African origins.

These city-states began to decline in the sixteenth century; the advent of Portuguese trade disrupted the old trade routes and made the Swahili commercial centers obsolete. The Portuguese wanted native Africans to have no share in African trade and busily set about conquering the Islamic city-states along the eastern coast (Horton & Middleton, p.225). In the late seventeenth century, the imam (religious leader) of Oman drove the Portuguese from the coast, and gradually established his authority over the coast.

The existence of these ancient Black African civilizations proves once and for all that Africa had a culture and a history of its own other than Egyptian that endured for centuries before the advent of outside factors. The kingdom of Meroë ruled for centuries before the Egyptians and deserves its rightful place as one of the premier ancient civilizations of the world. The kingdom of Ghana proved that Africans were capable of managing their own affairs without the intervention of Europeans. The Swahili and their language were around for centuries before Arabians and others “discovered” them.

These civilizations had their own culture, language and commerce before the advent of Europeans and Muslims in Africa and for the most part, the world does not know anything about them. That is a major crime against the study of history and hopefully, through more archaeological studies and writings, the rich and interesting history of these magnificent civilizations will be told and treasured for future generations.

Bibliography Fairservis, Jr., Walter A. The Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1962.

Davis, Lynn. Gates, Jr. Henry Louis. Wonders of the African World. New York: Random House Publishing, 1999.

Horton, Mark & Middleton, John. The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society (Peoples of Africa). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. 2001.

Koslow, Philip. Centuries of Greatness – The West African Kingdoms: 750-1900. London: Chelsea House Publishers, 1995.

McKissack, Patricia & Fredrick Mckissack. The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay – Life in Medieval Africa. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1994.

Shillington, Kevin. History of Africa. Oxford: Macmillan Education, 1995.

Kathy says:

There Are No Daddies Here – The Consequences of Growing Up Fatherless in America

American fathers are more removed from family life today than in any other time in American history. There are two approximate reasons for this recent outbreak of fatherless families: recent research suggests that a sharp increase in the divorce rate and the fact that it is more socially acceptable for women to conceive children outside of marriage are the reasons why fathers are not in the lives of their children. Fathers leave for many reasons. These reasons can range from repeating the cycle of their own fatherless childhoods, to low self-esteem, and the desire to start a new life with another woman who does not desire his “baggage”. Whatever the reason may be, the effects of not having another father leave a scar on a child for the remainder of his or her life.

Families without fathers in their household suffer in many ways. One of the universal effects on children when a father abandons his family is a decreased standard of living. Children with a missing father are five times more likely to be poor (Goulter & Minniger, pg. 140). Statistics show that the household incomes of divorced or separated families instantly decline by about twenty-one percent on average and will remain in a steady decline afterwards. The main breadwinner is now the mother who usually earns considerably less than the father did. The courts can award child support but it is usually not enough to maintain the same standard of living. In the case of unmarried mothers, the financial picture is usually worse. Single mothers start out with only one income, usually low paid and if the father is not working or if he is working and decides to quit his job because he does not want to pay child support, the mother is stuck in a difficult situation. If the mother is receiving public assistance and turns the father in for child support, it is a good chance that the child will become an adult before he or she gets any type of financial support.

Fathers who live in a separate household tend to become economically selfish in caring for the children and distrustful of how the money they give is being spent. A decreased standard of living affects the child in many aspects. In some cases, families are forced to move to low income housing. The quality of education declines and the money for after school activities and childcare are almost nonexistent. Children in these case suffer a kind of “culture shock” and most are two young to understand what is happening.

Children with a missing father are two times more likely to drop out of high school or obtain a higher education. A college education can be problematic for two reasons. The first is the inability of the mother to afford the costs of a college education. In addition, it also common for absent fathers to refuse to pay for a child’s higher education, even if they have been paying regular child support (Popenoe, pg. 268). The second reason is relevant to daughters than to sons. In search of a lost sense of security, women tend to forgo college and enter the workforces. Earning money of their own gives them a feeling of independence from men. Young women who have watched their mothers beg for money in court for child support vow to never be put in that situation. They view neediness with disgust and see a paycheck as freedom from those chains (Wakerman, pg. 158). Unfortunately, most of these young women do not realize that in today’s society, a higher education is necessary to achieve career success and monetary compensation.

When a child’s father abandons him or her at whatever age, he sends the message loud and clear that the child is not worthy and if he makes little or no attempt to continue the relationship, these children will find the road to adulthood hard. Young boys tend to get involved in gang activity and young girls tend to become sexually active at a younger age. Many become teenage mothers and raise their children alone without fathers, continuing the cycle. They have a greater than average for male attention and tend to seek out men who will ultimately disappoint them. When these women do find a mate, the often need to reciprocate the unmet needs of closeness and communication they did not get from their fathers. When these needs are not met, they either retreat or demonstrate irrational behavior. The term for this repetition compulsion; the need to get out our unconscious conflicts, to keep replaying the unfinished business of our lives until we work it out or destroys us ( Goulter & Minninger pg. 185).

A child can lose their parent by abandonment or by death. Of the two, death is considered healthier for children. Death, unlike abandonment, is not seen a failure of love (Gallagher, pg. 69). A child knows their parent did not want to die, but will know that a parent who leaves out his or her life did not want to be bothered and will be affect by this act forever. Fatherlessness is social problem brought on by the breakdown of traditional family values. The victims are innocent children who did not ask to be born. David Blakenhorn (1995) studied the epidemic of fatherless families and concluded that it is one of America’s most urgent social problems. He states that it weakens the family unit, harms children, causes or aggravates some of society’s worst problems, and makes individual adult happiness harder to achieve.

As a little girl, I never had the pleasure of having a father in my life. I grew up without having the most special man in young girl’s life, the one who would love you unconditionally, even if you got pimples and fat. I had to struggle alone without a father and make my way through life with having this type of security. I never knew what it was to feel safe and secure in a father’s love. Tonight, almost forty percent of children in America will go to bed without their fathers in their lives, just as I did. I hope that their fathers will come back to them unlike mine.

Kathy says:

28 percent of white women gave birth out of wedlock in 2007, nearly 72 percent of black women and more than 51 percent of Latinas did.

Young Angry White Male says:

Kathy, I must say that I greatly admire your level of research and conviction. Few people put that much effort into a post for a blog. I do believe that all races and civilizations have made contributions and enjoyed “golden ages” at some point in time. There have been great kingdoms in Nubia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, and other African states. I find Ethiopia particularly interesting due to the fact that it was one of the first Christian states in history. Along with the Nubians, the Ethiopians debunk the myth that Christianity was only a white religion. Also, though I am very pro-white, my knowledge of history makes me acknowledge that there were times when Africa was far more successful in Europe. While Northern Europe was languishing in the dark ages following the collapse of the Roman Empire and even before in more ancient times, Africa was a much more prosperous and “civilized” continent. Of course, today Europe is much more prosperous and “civilized” while Africa is languishing in poverty and backwardness. However, Kathy, what you need to realize is that history is written by the winners. Since this nation was founded by whites (note, I distinguish between nation and land. This land did belong to the Native Americans, but whites were the founders of the United States), there is going to be more emphasis on the contributions of the Greeks, Romans, and other Europeans than Mesopotamians, Africans, Asians, etc. In Japan, their textbooks don’t even acknowledge that the Rape of Nanking occurred. In Turkey, they just established the very first Kurdish Studies class, which is only taught to Kurds. In China, the Uighurs and China’s 55 other minorities continue to face discrimination at the hands of the Han Chinese. EVERY group is ethnocentric and biased. Unfortunately, for blacks in America, they are relatively (compared to non-black groups. They’re still much better off than many people around the globe.) powerless economically and politically speaking, which makes it difficult for them to enjoy the same kind of ethnocentrism. As someone with a passion for history, I must say that a successful nation is forged by those of similar origin and values. Therefore, racially diverse states are bound to fail, due to the great level of conflict fostered by diversity. One of the reasons why Japan, China, and South Korea have progressed so rapidly is because they live in homogenous societies where they don’t have to deal with the same issues of racism and equity. Therefore, while this may confound and upset many, I do believe that there needs to be a racial partitioning of the United States. Unless some workable solution to issues of race and racism are achieved, we will forever be hampered by racial differences, which will prevent us from progressing in other areas. Speaking of race, I think that the only way blacks will progress is through their own means. I am not saying this to suggest that racism no longer exists or that society is now innocent, but to point out realities. The reality is that whites are simply fed up with blacks and have no interest in helping them. With the economy in the tank, white numbers declining, and whites continuing to lose influence, most of us are in no mood to bend over backwards in order to help blacks or other groups. If blacks just sit back and expect us to take care of them, then they are in for a rude awakening. Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X understood that you cannot rely on your enemies ensure your well being, and that the only way to succeed is through self-help, pride, and unity. While I am not denying the Martin Luther King had a major impact on American society, his tactics are a bit outdated. The only reason why King’s moral appeals worked was because blacks were being lynched, burned, excluded from public facilities, and blatantly discriminated against in other ways that made their second class status crystal clear. History has shown us that blacks supportive of the Civil Rights Movement were foolish to bind all of their hopes and aspirations in one individual. What I find ironic about the Civil Rights Movement is that it actually made poor blacks in the inner city even more wretched. During the heyday of segregation, middle class and working class blacks lived alongside with the poor, which fostered a sense of self-reliance and community. In many ways, extreme white racism actually had some positive benefits relatively speaking in the sense that it forced blacks to rely on themselves. Today, blacks are more dependent than ever on white society for help. Unless blacks take back their communities and reclaim the traditions that allowed them to persevere through centuries of oppression, then they will continue to be left behind. You might as well forget about reparations, because the only way blacks are getting reparations is over my dead body. I am sure that other whites feel the same way. Many of us are becoming more nationalistic (myself included, as I’ve stated that I’m very pro-white) as a backlash to the dwindling of white influence. Though I know I’m not offering much comfort, all blacks must know that they will either sink or swim on their own. Nobody is coming to the rescue on their behalf.

Young Angry White Male says:

On another note, I pointed out while debating Young African Male in Africa that Sub-Saharan Africa has produced very little civilization relative to the rest of the world. By pointing out that there have been great African kingdoms when speaking to Kathy, he will probably pounce on me by branding me as a hypocrite. Just to clarify, it has never been my contention that Africans in Sub-Saharan Africa throughout history have always been backward and lacking in civilization. Rather, relative to other continents and races, this particular region has produced less civilization and did not play a large role in the grand scheme of things. Just because their contributions have been small compared to other groups doesn’t mean that they were all living as savages or incapable of creating “civilized” kingdoms. Just thought I would clarify that.