Rise, Organisation and Decline Compared: African Agency – Kingdoms and Empires in West, Central and South Africa (Senior 4 History) | Ganzaa

Kingdoms and Empires in West, Central and South Africa

Lessons

Senior 4 · History

Kingdoms and Empires in West, Central and South Africa

5 lessons

Lesson 5 of 5

Rise, Organisation and Decline Compared: African Agency

25 min

Two sources, six centuries apart

Source A. In 1352 the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta crossed the Sahara and reached the capital of Mali, where he met Mansa Suleyman, king since 1341. In his account he wrote of the people of Mali:

"They are seldom unjust, and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. Their sultan shows no mercy to anyone who is guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence."
Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325–1354, translated by H. A. R. Gibb (1929).

Source B. In the 20th century the English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914 to 2003), Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, claimed that Africa had no history before European exploration and colonisation: "there is only the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness".

Compare them. Source A comes from an eyewitness, a Muslim judge who travelled the whole Islamic world; he praises Mali's justice and security, though elsewhere in the same account he disapproved of court customs and made prejudiced remarks about the people he met. Source B comes from a famous scholar who had never studied Africa. Everything in this unit, from Koumbi Saleh to Kirina, Lalibela, Ngazargamu, the Rwandan court and Isandlwana, is evidence against Source B. Historians have since argued that myths like Trevor-Roper's must be actively countered by studying what they ignored.

Definition

African agency: the capacity of Africans to make their own choices and shape their own history: to build states, trade, negotiate, adapt new ideas, resist or collaborate, rather than simply being acted upon by outsiders.

Eurocentrism: viewing world history through European eyes, as if Europe were the centre and measure of all societies. Trevor-Roper's statement is an extreme example.

The comparison at a glance

Factors for the rise of kingdoms and empires

Trade. Control of long-distance trade made Ghana, Mali, Songhai and Kanem-Bornu rich: gold, salt, ivory and, tragically, enslaved people crossed the Sahara. Mutapa's gold and ivory went to the Indian Ocean coast.
Leadership. Founders and reformers: Sundiata, Mansa Musa, Sunni Ali, Askia Muhammad, Idris Alooma, Ruganzu II Ndori, Kigeli IV Rwabugiri, Mutota, Shaka.
Military power. Cavalry in the Sahel, muskets in Bornu, itorero-trained armies in Rwanda, amabutho in Zululand.
Religion and ideology. Islam linked West African courts to scholars and traders across the Muslim world; in Rwanda, royal ritual (ubwiru) held the kingdom together.
Environment and economy. The Niger valley, Lake Chad's shores, the Zimbabwean plateau and Rwanda's fertile hills fed growing populations.

Patterns of organisation

Pattern	Examples
A sacred or powerful ruler at the centre	Mansa, Askia, Mai, Mwami, Mwenemutapa, Zulu king
Rule through local rulers who kept their power	Mali's farbas; Ghana's vassal kings; Mutapa's governors
Appointed officials reaching every district	Rwanda's chiefs of land, pastures and army; Songhai under Askia Muhammad
Islamic law and scholars	Timbuktu's Sankore; Bornu's qadi courts under Idris Alooma
A standing army	Rwabugiri's permanent units; Shaka's amabutho

Patterns of decline

Almost every state suffered succession disputes (Mali after Suleyman, Songhai after 1528, Mutapa around 1490, Rwanda at Rucunshu in 1896, the Zulu after 1828). African rivals brought down Ghana, Mali and Songhai, whose conqueror, Morocco, was itself an African state. Shifts in trade or climate undermined Ghana. Europeans were decisive only from the 16th century in Mutapa and in the 19th century elsewhere.

African agency in action

Ghana's kings profited from gold they did not mine by controlling the trade routes.
Kanem-Bornu, driven from Kanem around 1380, moved west to Bornu and survived another five centuries.
Idris Alooma played Morocco and the Ottoman Empire against each other.
The Sultan of Malindi chose to help Vasco da Gama against his rival Mombasa (Unit 2).
The Rwandan court accepted German protection in 1897 for its own reasons: to secure a contested throne and to resist the Congo Free State.
At Isandlwana in 1879 a Zulu army defeated a modern British force.

Agency does not mean Africans always won or always chose well. It means their choices, not only outsiders' actions, explain what happened.

Warning

Two opposite mistakes. Do not write African history as if Africans only reacted to outsiders (Trevor-Roper's error). Equally, do not romanticise: these states also raided their neighbours, traded enslaved people and fought brutal succession wars. Agency includes harmful choices.

Tip

Comparative essays: one factor per paragraph, three states per factor. For example: "Leadership was decisive in Mali (Sundiata at Kirina, c. 1235), Bornu (Idris Alooma's reforms) and the Zulu kingdom (Shaka's amabutho), but less so in Ghana, whose wealth came from its position on the trade routes." Then end with a judgement on which factor mattered most.

Important

Discuss. Ibn Battuta admired Mali's justice but disapproved of some of its customs. Trevor-Roper dismissed all of Africa's past. Which kind of outside observer is more dangerous for historians, and why? How do Rwandan historians today guard against outsiders' distortions of Rwanda's history?

BBC News Africa, "Desert Empires - History Of Africa with Zeinab Badawi [Episode 10]". The presenter visits historic sites and ruins in Mali and Mauritania. Watch for the evidence used to reconstruct the history of Ghana and Mali, and note which sources are oral, written or archaeological.

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Practice

Define African agency and give two examples from this unit.
Using the grid, name the two factors most often stressed in the rise of these states, and the most common internal cause of decline.
How reliable is Ibn Battuta's account of Mali as evidence? Give one strength and one limitation.
Kanem-Bornu lasted about 1,200 years and Songhai about 127 years as an empire. Calculate how many times longer Kanem-Bornu lasted, to one decimal place.
Explain why Trevor-Roper's claim that Africa had no history before Europeans is wrong, using three examples.
"Trade was the most important factor in the rise of African kingdoms and empires." Assess this view with evidence from at least four states.

Show answersHide answers

The capacity of Africans to make their own choices and shape their history. Examples: Bornu moving to the west of Lake Chad around 1380; Idris Alooma's diplomacy between Morocco and the Ottomans; the Sultan of Malindi's choice to help da Gama; the Rwandan court's decision in 1897; victory at Isandlwana.
Leadership and the army are stressed for almost every state; succession disputes are the most common internal cause of decline.
Strength: an eyewitness who stayed in Mali in 1352–53 and had seen many other states to compare. Limitation: he judged by his own standards and prejudices, made contemptuous remarks elsewhere, and his account was written down later.
1,193 ÷ 127 ≈ 9.4 (using 1893 − 700 = 1,193 and 1591 − 1464 = 127). Kanem-Bornu lasted about 9.4 times as long.
Any three, e.g.: Ghana's capital described by al-Bakri around 1068 and excavated at Koumbi Saleh; Mali's Kouroukan Fouga and Mansa Musa's empire; the Tomb of Askia built in the 1490s; Kanem-Bornu's 1,200 years; Great Zimbabwe built from the 11th century; the Kingdom of Rwanda's oral traditions and institutions. All existed before European colonisation.
For: trade made Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu and Mutapa rich and connected them to the Islamic world or the Indian Ocean. Against: Rwanda grew on farming, cattle, ritual and military organisation without long-distance trade; the Zulu rose through Shaka's army; leadership mattered everywhere. Judgement: e.g. trade was the most important factor for the Sahelian empires, but not a universal key.

Quick check

Which example best shows African agency?

Key points

Kingdoms and empires rose through trade, leadership, armies, religion or ideology and productive environments; the mix differed from state to state.
They were organised around a powerful ruler, governing through local rulers, appointed officials, Islamic institutions or standing armies.
They declined mainly through succession disputes and African rivals; Europeans became decisive mostly from the 19th century.
African agency, Africans shaping their own history, answers Eurocentric claims such as Trevor-Roper's that Africa had no history.

1Two sources, six centuries apart

2The comparison at a glance

3Factors for the rise of kingdoms and empires

4Patterns of organisation

5Patterns of decline

6African agency in action