Ghana Empire: "Kings of the Savanna: Tales from Ancient Ghana"
Ghana Empire
The Ghana Empire (Arabic: غانا), also known as simply Ghana,[1] Ghanata, or Wagadou, was a West African classical to post-classical era western-Sahelian empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali.
No native written records have been unearthed although decades of
archaeological study, even as a plethora of native
(local-Malian/adjacent West-African) and non-native (medieval Arabic)
accounts have substantiated and reinforced the empire's ancient
existence. It has been hypothesized to originate initially as a much
earlier proto-polity, plausibly a collection of ancient but unspecified
proto-Mande agro-pastoralist chiefdoms, a period of time roughly spanning before or around (1300 BCE –
300 BCE). Ultimately, over the millennium or so, the Mande peoples
gradually rose to demographic prominence in the region closely
surrounding the western-most portion of the Niger River basin,
galvanizing their ambitions of statecraft then eventually
empire-building from c. 1st century AD – 3rd century AD until c.
12th century. The fundamental empire-builders of the Ghana Empire
amongst the collective Mande peoples in particular, was the ethnic group
known as the Soninke, a sub-group of the larger Mande peoples who united all Mande tribes, with its capital based in the city of Koumbi Saleh.
History and accounts
Origin
Theorizing concerning the origins of Ghana has been dominated by disputes between ethnohistoric accounts and archaeological interpretations. The earliest discussions of its origins are found in the Sudanese chronicles of Mahmud Kati and Abd al-Rahman as-Sadi. According to Kati's Tarikh al-Fettash
in a section probably composed by the author around 1580, but citing
the authority of the chief judge of Messina, Ida al-Massini who lived
somewhat earlier, twenty kings ruled Ghana before the advent of the
prophet Muhammad, and the empire extended until the century after the
prophet.[8] In addressing the rulers' origin, the Tarikh al-Fettash provides three different opinions: that they were Soninke, Wangara (which are a Soninke/Mande group), or (least likely) Berbers.
Kati favored another interpretation in view of the fact that
their genealogies linked them to this group, adding "What is certain is
that they were not Soninke” (min al-Zawadi).[9]
While the 16th-century versions of genealogies might have linked Ghana
to the Sanhaja, earlier versions, for example as reported by the
11th-century writer al-Idrisi and the 13th-century writer Ibn Said, noted that rulers of Ghana in those days traced their descent from the clan of the Prophet Muhammad either through his protector Abi Talib, or through his son-in-law Ali.[10] He says that 22 kings ruled before the Hijra and 22 after.[11]
While these early views lead to many exotic interpretations of a
foreign origin of Wagadu, these views are generally disregarded by
scholars. Levtzion and Spaulding, for example, argue that al-Idrisi's
testimony should be looked at very critically due to demonstrably gross
miscalculations in geography and historical chronology, while they themselves associate Ghana with the local Soninke/Mande.[12]
In addition, the archaeologist and historian Raymond Mauny argues that
al-Kati's and al-Saadi's view of a foreign origin cannot be regarded as
reliable. He argues that the interpretations were based on the later
presence (after Ghana's demise) of nomadic Berberid interlopers from
Libya, on the assumption that they were the ruling caste, and that the
writers did not adequately consider contemporary accounts such as those
of Ya'qubi (872 CE), al-Masudi (c. 944 CE), Ibn Hawqal (977 CE), and al-Biruni (c. 1036 CE), as well as al-Bakri, all of whom describe the population and rulers of Ghana as "negroes".[13]
Trade routes of the Western Sahara c. 1000–1500. Goldfields are indicated by light brown shading: Bambuk, Bure, Lobi, and Akan.
In the late 19th century, as French forces occupied the region in
which ancient Ghana lay, colonial officials began collecting traditional
accounts, including some manuscripts written in Arabic
somewhat earlier in the century. Several such traditions were recorded
and published. While there are variants, these traditions called the
most ancient polity they knew of Wagadu, or the "place of the Wague" the
term current in the 19th century for the local nobility. The traditions described the kingdom as having been founded by a man named Dinga, who came "from the east" (e.g., Aswan, Egypt[14]),
after which he migrated to a variety of locations in western Sudan, in
each place leaving children by different wives. In order to achieve
power in his final location he had to kill a goblin,
and then marry his daughters, who became the ancestors of the clans
that were dominant in the region at the time of the recording of the
religion. Upon Dinga's death, his two sons Khine and Dyabe contested the
kingship, and Dyabe was victorious, founding the kingdom.[15]
Theories concerning the foundation of Ghana
French colonial officials, notably Maurice Delafosse, whose works on West African history has been criticised by scholars such Charles Monteil,
Robert Cornevin and others for being "unacceptable" and "too creative
to be useful to historians" in relation to his falsification of West
African genealogies,[16][17][18][19] erroneously concluded that Ghana had been founded by the Berbers, a nomadic group originating from the Benue River
and linked them to North African and Middle Eastern origins. While
Delafosse produced a convoluted theory of an invasion by
"Judeo-Syrians", which he haphazardly linked to the Fulbe (who actually co-founded the Takrur civilization), other "scholars" took the false accounts at face value and simply accepted that foreigners had ruled first.[20] Raymond Mauny, synthesizing
early archaeology, various traditions, and the Arabic materials in 1961
hastily concluded that foreign trade was vital to the empire's
foundation.[21] More recent work, for example by Nehemiah Levtzion,
in his classic work published in 1973, sought to harmonize archaeology,
descriptive geographical sources written between 830 and 1400 AD, the
older traditions of the Tarikhs, from the 16th and 17th centuries and at
last the traditions collected by French administrators. Levtzion
concluded that local developments, stimulated by trade from North
Africa, were crucial in the development of the state, and he tended to
favor the more recently collected traditions over the other traditions
in compiling his work.[22]
While there has not been much further study of either traditions or
documents, archaeologists have added considerable nuance. Christopher
Ehret observes that the proposed founding date of c. 100 – 300 AD fits very well with what is known about the Wagadu state's control of the trans-saharan gold trade.[23]
Contribution of archaeological research
Archaeological research was slow to enter the picture. While French archaeologists believed they had located the capital, Koumbi Saleh,
in the 1920s when they located extensive stone ruins in the general
area given in most sources for the capital, others argued that elaborate
burials in the Niger Bend area may have been linked to the empire. It
was not until 1969, when Patrick Munson excavated at Dhar Tichitt
(the site of a culture associated with the ancient ancestors of the
Soninke people) in modern-day Mauritania that the probability of an
entirely local origin was raised.[24]
The Dhar Tichitt site clearly reflected a complex culture present by
1600 BC and had architectural and material culture elements that seemed
to match the site at Koumbi Saleh. In more recent work in Dhar Tichitt,
and then in Dhar Nema and Dhar Walata,
it has become more and more clear that as the desert advanced, the Dhar
Tichitt culture (which had abandoned its earliest site around 300 BC,
possibly because of pressure from desert nomads, but also because of
increasing aridity) moved southward into the still well-watered areas of
northern Mali.[25] This now seems the likely history of the complex society that can be documented at Koumbi-Saleh.
Malinke rule
In his brief overview of Sudanese history, Ibn Khaldun related that "the people of Mali
outnumbered the peoples of the Sudan in their neighborhood and
dominated the whole region." He went on to relate that they "vanquished
the Susu and acquired all their possessions, both their ancient kingdom and that of Ghana."[26] According to a modern tradition, this resurgence of Mali was led by Sundiata Keita, the founder of Mali and ruler of its core area of Kangaba. Delafosse assigned an arbitrary but widely accepted date of 1230 to the event.[27] This tradition states that Ghana Soumaba Cisse, at the time a vassal of the Sosso, rebelled with Kangaba and became part of a loose federation of Mande-speaking states. After Soumaoro's defeat at the Battle of Kirina in 1235 (a date again assigned arbitrarily by Delafosse), the new rulers of Koumbi Saleh became permanent allies of the Mali Empire.
As Mali became more powerful, Koumbi Saleh's role as an ally declined
to that of a submissive state, and it became the client described in al-'Umari/al-Dukkali's account of 1340.[28]
Ibn Haukal, writing in 951 AD, informs us that the King of Ghana was “the richest king on the face of the earth".[citation needed]
Imperial decline
Given
the scattered nature of the Arabic sources and the ambiguity of the
existing archaeological record, it is difficult to determine when and
how Ghana declined and fell. The earliest descriptions of the empire are
vague as to its maximum extent, though according to al-Bakri, Ghana had
forced Awdaghost in the desert to accept its rule sometime between 970 and 1054.[29] By al-Bakri's own time, however, it was surrounded by powerful kingdoms, such as Sila.
A tradition in historiography maintains that Ghana fell when it was sacked by the Almoravid invasion in 1076–77, although Ghanaians resisted attacks for a decade,[30]
but this interpretation has been questioned. Conrad and Fisher (1982)
argued that the notion of any Almoravid military conquest at its core is
merely perpetuated folklore, derived from a misinterpretation or naive
reliance on Arabic sources.[31]
Dierke Lange agrees but argues that this does not preclude Almoravid
political agitation, claiming that Ghana's demise owed much to the
latter.[32]
Sheryl L. Burkhalter (1992) was skeptical of Conrad and Fisher's
arguments and suggested that there were reasons to believe that there
was conflict between the Almoravids and the empire of Ghana.[33][34]
Furthermore, the archaeology of ancient Ghana does not show the signs
of rapid change and destruction that would be associated with any
Almoravid-era military conquests.[35]
While there is no clear-cut account of a sack of Ghana in the
contemporary sources, the country certainly did convert to Islam, for
al-Idrisi, whose account was written in 1154, has the country fully
Muslim by that date. Al-Idrisi's report does not give any reason to
believe that the Empire was smaller or weaker than it had been in the
days of al-Bakri, 75 years earlier. In fact, he describes its capital as
"the greatest of all towns of the Sudan with respect to area, the most
populous, and with the most extensive trade."[36]
Ghana was annexed by the kingdom of Mali in 1240, marking the end of the Ghana Empire.[citation needed] It is clear, however, that Ghana was incorporated into the Mali Empire,
according to a detailed account of al-'Umari, written around 1340 but
based on testimony given to him by the "truthful and trustworthy" shaykh
Abu Uthman Sa'id al-Dukkali, a long term resident. In
al-'Umari/al-Dukkali's version, Ghana still retained its functions as a
sort of kingdom within the empire, its ruler being the only one allowed
to bear the title malik and "who is like a deputy unto him."[28]Ibn Khaldun,
a 14th-century North African historian who read and cited both al-Bakri
and al-Idrisi, reported an ambiguous account of the country's history
as related to him by 'Uthman, a faqih of Ghana who took a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1394, according to which the power of Ghana waned as that of the "veiled people" grew through the Almoravid movement.[37]
Sosso occupation and successor states
Map of successor states to the Ghana Empire
According to Ibn Khaldun, following Ghana's conversion, "the
authority of the rulers of Ghana dwindled away and they were overcome by
the Sosso...who subjugated and subdued them."[37] Some modern traditions identify the Susu as the Sosso, inhabitants of Kaniaga.
According to much later traditions, from the late nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, Diara Kante took control of Koumbi Saleh and
established the Diarisso dynasty. His son, Soumaoro Kante, succeeded him and forced the people to pay him tribute. The Sosso also managed to annex the neighboring Mandinka state of Kangaba to the south, where the important goldfields of Bure were located.
Economy
Most of the information about the economy of Ghana comes from al-Bakri. He noted that merchants had to pay a tax of one gold dinar
on imports of salt, and two on exports of salt. Other products had
fixed dues; al-Bakri mentioned both copper and "other goods." Imports
probably included products such as textiles, ornaments and other
materials. Many of the hand-crafted leather goods found in present-day
Morocco also had their origins in the empire.[38] al-Bakri also mentioned that Muslims played a central role in commerce and held court appointments.[39]
Ibn Hawqal quotes the use of a cheque worth 42,000 dinars.[40] The main centre of trade was Koumbi Saleh. The king claimed as his own all nuggets of gold, and allowed other people to have only 'gold dust'.[41] In addition to the influence exerted by the king in local regions, tribute was received from various tributary states and chiefdoms on the empire's periphery.[42] The introduction of the camel
played a key role in Soninke success as well, allowing products and
goods to be transported much more efficiently across the Sahara. These
contributing factors all helped the empire remain powerful for some
time, providing a rich and stable economy that was to last several
centuries. The empire was also known to be a major educational hub.
Ghana grew rich from the Trans-Saharan Trade by trading gold, iron, salt and slaves.
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