What was Africa like before colonialism? any documentaries or books you can recommend

[Samori Toure]

A chief isn't a king, oga isn't a king,

Yorubas had a title similar to "king" but if you ask the average yoruba in modern day Nigeria to name a yoruba king they cannot. The average yoruba in Nigeria doesn't know anything about yoruba history. The same way the average Igbo in Igboland does not care about Igbo history, hell you'll get looked at weird for trying to talk to them about the Kingdom of Nri, they haven't fully grasped the idea of writing down and repeating knowledge. Being able to read and write effectively is still a privilege in Nigeria.

You have such limited knowledge, but you are writing like you are knowledgeable about some shyt.

Mansas are Kings/Emperors.

Mansa

Mansa is a Mandinka word meaning "king of kings" or "emperor". It is particularly associated with the Keita Dynasty of the Mali Empire, which dominated West Africa from the thirteenth to the fifthteenth century. Powers of the mansa included the right to dispense justice and to monopolize trade, particularly in gold. Mansa Sundiata was the first to assume the title of mansa, which was passed down through the Keita line with few interruptions well into the 15th century. Other notable mansas include his son Wali Keita and the powerful Mansa Musa, whose hajj helped define a new direction for the Empire. The succession of the Mali Empire is primarily known through Tunisian historian ibn Khaldun's History of the Berbers.

What does Mansa mean?


Chiefs are not kings. Chiefs are actually more like noblemen.. Chiefs report to Kings/Mansas/Emperors. An African Chief is the same as an English Earl or a Marquis..

Earl - Wikipedia

By the way I am pretty sure that an average Yoruba Nigerian would know that their word for King was Oba.

Oba is the word for King in the Yoruba | Sola Rey

 

[⠝⠕⠏⠑]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sciencealert.com/archaelogists-re-discover-an-ancient-city-in-south-africa-lost-for-hundreds-of-years/a‘Black Panther’ and the Real, Lost Wakandas

Btw @Samori Toure Tichitt Walata has been virtually ignored by Western scholarship for years. It doesn’t fit the “Dey was savages in mud huts” narrative.

 

[ignorethis]

You have such limited knowledge, but you are writing like you are knowledgeable about some shyt.

Mansas are Kings/Emperors.

Mansa

Mansa is a Mandinka word meaning "king of kings" or "emperor". It is particularly associated with the Keita Dynasty of the Mali Empire, which dominated West Africa from the thirteenth to the fifthteenth century. Powers of the mansa included the right to dispense justice and to monopolize trade, particularly in gold. Mansa Sundiata was the first to assume the title of mansa, which was passed down through the Keita line with few interruptions well into the 15th century. Other notable mansas include his son Wali Keita and the powerful Mansa Musa, whose hajj helped define a new direction for the Empire. The succession of the Mali Empire is primarily known through Tunisian historian ibn Khaldun's History of the Berbers.

What does Mansa mean?


Chiefs are not kings. Chiefs are actually more like noblemen.. Chiefs report to Kings/Mansas/Emperors. An African Chief is the same as an English Earl or a French Marquis..

Earl - Wikipedia

There were no mansa in igboland, so who where the Igbos reporting to?

You real life have a cartoon idea of Africa, you can't fathom that life developed different from how Europeans developed. You take these European style hierarchies and just draw false links between groups and rulers.

And you almost get the point, a chief is closer to a nobleman, but in his village they look at him like a "mayor/king", can't say king because they weren't always ordained. They usually just worked their way to that position.

Those are the guys you were calling kings, in majority of west Africa.

 

[ignorethis]

You have such limited knowledge, but you are writing like you are knowledgeable about some shyt.

Mansas are Kings/Emperors.

Mansa

Mansa is a Mandinka word meaning "king of kings" or "emperor". It is particularly associated with the Keita Dynasty of the Mali Empire, which dominated West Africa from the thirteenth to the fifthteenth century. Powers of the mansa included the right to dispense justice and to monopolize trade, particularly in gold. Mansa Sundiata was the first to assume the title of mansa, which was passed down through the Keita line with few interruptions well into the 15th century. Other notable mansas include his son Wali Keita and the powerful Mansa Musa, whose hajj helped define a new direction for the Empire. The succession of the Mali Empire is primarily known through Tunisian historian ibn Khaldun's History of the Berbers.

What does Mansa mean?


Chiefs are not kings. Chiefs are actually more like noblemen.. Chiefs report to Kings/Mansas/Emperors. An African Chief is the same as an English Earl or a Marquis..

Earl - Wikipedia

By the way I am pretty sure that an average Yoruba Nigerian would know that their word for King was Oba.

Oba is the word for King in the Yoruba | Sola Rey

Yea but they don't know any kings by name.

That's how important these kings were.

You have dudes that come from "kings" in yoruba land, but are middle class here in America. Is that the legacy of a king?

Always suspected yorubas just translated oba to king because of increased European influence.

 

[Samori Toure]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sciencealert.com/archaelogists-re-discover-an-ancient-city-in-south-africa-lost-for-hundreds-of-years/a‘Black Panther’ and the Real, Lost Wakandas

Btw @Samori Toure Tichitt Walata has been virtually ignored by Western scholarship for years. It doesn’t fit the “Dey was savages in mud huts” narrative.

Why would White people scholarship acknowledge Black people kingdoms? They have no interest in that. They want Black people to think that they are less than and Black people seem more than happy to accommodate them in acting less than.

Black people need to worry about their own history before White people claim it as theirs. Walata was a Mande kingdom founded by the Soninke people. My own ancestry is Mande on both sides of my family so I have did a lot of research on Mande people and their societies. The average Black person doesn't even realize that the Mande people founded hundreds of Islamic schools (elementary schools) for children three (3) major universities, namely Timbuktu, Sankore and Jingerey Ber Masjid. The Mande had a written language, libraries, etc.

 

[MischievousMonkey]

Royalty, ordained by a higher power, whatever weird shyt Europeans thought made someone a king. But in reality they were just the richest and most politically successful family in the region.

So, by your own definition, do you admit that what's traditionally considered kings & emperors in pre-colonial Africa were indeed kings & emperors? Do they not fit your definition?

We had chiefs, ogas, obis who were more like big dogs in their area, maybe like a mayor at times. You don't think there was a gap in power between a medieval king and a mayor of a small village?

There is indeed a gap in power between a medieval king and a mayor. This gap comes from the fact that the mayor has several layers of hierarchy he has to answer to, whose powers not only surpass and exceed his, but also institute and legitimate his, making it so his actual governance is limited by the remit his superiors defined for him.
Not the king.

Who Mansa Musa had to answer to? Was he not an Emperor?

 

[ignorethis]

Why would White people scholarship acknowledge Black people kingdoms? They have no interest in that. They want Black people to think that they are less than and Black people seem more than happy to accommodate them in acting less than.

Black people need to worry about their own history before White people claim it as theirs. Walata was a Mande kingdom founded by the Soninke people. My own ancestry is Mande on both sides of my family so I have did a lot of research on Mande people and their societies. The average Black person doesn't even realize that the Mande people founded hundreds of Islamic schools (elementary schools) for children three (3) major universities, namely Timbuktu, Sankore and Jingerey Ber Masjid. The Mande had a written language, libraries, etc.

You're a black person, who can read and write, properly use technology, and you're pulling your self-esteem from a group of people that lived like the Hausas... Illiteracy and sharia law.

 

[get these nets]

We always hear about how dirty and shytty medieval Europe was but I want to know how Africa was, mainly the parts where the slaves came from, before colonization. So I guess before the year 1500.

I'm not good with history at ALL but I guess today would be the day to start learning

Start with books that give a general overview / outline of history.

Spoiler

We might as well start at the top with John Henrik Clarke. pages 50-73 have general overview of the subject

Then you have enough of a base to read detailed book about the topic you want to know more about.

Spoiler

 

[Samori Toure]

Yea but they don't know any kings by name.

That's how important these kings were.

You have dudes that come from "kings" in yoruba land, but are middle class here in America. Is that the legacy of a king?

What is this level of nonsense that you are writing? There are people in the USA and Europe that are descended from royal families of Spain, Portugal, China, Japan, Rome, Israel, Russia, India, Sweden, etc., that don't know that they are from kings in those places. So what does that mean in the grand scheme of things?

 

[MischievousMonkey]

Yea but they don't know any kings by name.

That's how important these kings were.

You have dudes that come from "kings" in yoruba land, but are middle class here in America. Is that the legacy of a king?

Always suspected yorubas just translated oba to king because of increased European influence.

Just like plenty descendants of European rulers are Middle or upper middle class. But you seem to consider them kings oddly enough.

I really don't understand what's your issue with that term.

 

[ignorethis]

So, by your own definition, do you admit that what's traditionally considered kings & emperors in pre-colonial Africa were indeed kings & emperors? Do they not fit your definition?


There is indeed a gap in power between a medieval king and a mayor. This gap comes from the fact that the mayor has several layers of hierarchy he has to answer to, whose powers not only surpass and exceed his, but also institute and legitimate his, making it so his actual governance is limited by the remit his superiors defined for him.
Not the king.

Who Mansa Musa had to answer to? Was he not an Emperor?

I'm the oga village/compound he was like a king, but only in that area. He could go 20-30 miles to the west and nobody would know who he is. That's what mean when I compared him to a mayor, the area he has influence over. Versus kings in Europe who controlled entire countries through hierarchy and military might.

 

[Samori Toure]

You're a black person, who can read and write, properly use technology, and you're pulling your self-esteem from a group of people that lived like the Hausas... Illiteracy and sharia law.

My ancestors are Mande people. They had universities go back almost a thousand years. Reading and writing has always been a part of their societies. Oh yea and they are Muslim too, which clearly shows that you don't understand the history of education in the Muslim World and the fact that it was Muslims (Moors) that brought modern education to White people. It sounds like you hate Nigerians, which is your problem.

 

[ignorethis]

Just like plenty descendants of European rulers are Middle or upper middle class. But you seem to consider them kings oddly enough.

I really don't understand what's your issue with that term.

Kings have power, these people didn't have real power.

Nobody had real power compared to the European countries which is why they were able to easily conquer it.

Africa was extremely fragmented politically, religiously, socially; it still is, but it's a little better now.

 

[ignorethis]

My ancestors are Mande people. They had universities go back almost a thousand years. Reading and writing has always been a part of their societies. Oh yea and they are Muslim too, which clearly shows that you don't understand the history of education in the Muslim World and the fact that it was Muslims (Moors) that brought modern education to White people. It sounds like you hate Nigerians, which is your problem.

I am a "Nigerian", I'm just telling how it really is.

The idea of how you think African society worked is not how it worked in reality.

People for the most part don't devolve, so look at the way they're living now and chance are that's how they were living 500 years ago if not worse(probably worse). If they don't exist anymore then they weren't very good at living.

 

[get these nets]

Kings have power, these people didn't have real power.

Nobody had real power compared to the European countries which is why they were able to easily conquer it.

Africa was extremely fragmented politically, religiously, socially; it still is, but it's a little better now.

easily conquer?
The colonization of territory in Africa was CENTURIES in the making, and was facilitated by the wealth and technological advances made possible because of the trans. slave trade.

These euro countries are johnny come latelys in the history of the world, and weren't shyt before 1500.
Europe was also fragmented in previous centuries, and "came together" because of the Roman Catholic Church.