Descended from ancient Central
Saharan people, akin to the
Bafour or
Imraguen of Mauritania, the Mandé are an identifiable group of peoples spread throughout the
West Africa. They are known as having been among the first on the continent to produce woven textiles (by a process known as
strip-weaving), and as the founders of the
Ghana Empire and
Mali Empire, as well as being responsible for the expansion of the
Songhai Empire across West Africa. However, archaeological testimony also supports that they were among the first peoples on the continent to produce stone settlement civilizations. These were initially built on the rocky promontories of
Tichit-
Walata and the Tagant cliffs of Southern
Mauritania between 2500 BC and 2000 BC by the sub-group known as the
Soninke, where hundreds of stone masonry settlements with clear street layouts have been found. Some settlements had massive surrounding walls while others were less fortified.
In a now arid environment where arable land and pasturage were once at a premium, the population grew and relatively large-scale political organizations which led to the ultimate military hierarchical aristocracies emerged. With a mixed farming economy—millet production combined with the rearing of livestock—this copper-based agro-pastoral society traded in jewelry and semi-precious stones from distant parts of the Sahara and Sahel. They are also believed to be the first to domesticate African rice. In the words of one archaeologist, these abandoned sites represent "a great wealth of rather spectacular prehistoric ruins" and "perhaps the most remarkable group of Neolithic settlements in the world" (Mauny 1971: 70).
Between 200 BC and 100 AD, the entire Sudan experienced significant dry episodes, which were part of the general drying trend that had been seriously underway since before 2000 BC. As the desert began to expand, the population headed South.
The north europeans didn't know how to read or write until the Romans taught them (1AD), and Greece was europes first civilization (300BC) with the help of semite neighboring countries who obtained their knowledge from the egyptians. Egypt and Nubia had already been rolling since 3,000BC
