Thank you. This is the History of Africa with me, Zainab Badawi. It's based on a unique project overseen by UNESCO called the General History of Africa.
That's Africa's history written, interpreted and told by Africans themselves. In this episode, we see how kingdoms became established in West Africa that eventually gave rise to three of the greatest on the continent. The Ghana Empire. The Mali Empire, with its heart in the legendary city of Timbuktu. And the Songhai Empire.
The Songhai Empire. We start in Mauritania in northwest Africa, which is inextricably linked with several of the historic empires based in and around the Sahara Desert. It's only when you come to the Sahara Desert and you look in front of you, behind you, to the right and left, and all you see is sand, and then you get a sense of just how unforgiving this terrain was and indeed is for those who make the trek for kilometre after kilometre across the desert. But unforgiving terrain or not, trans-Saharan trade meant those who controlled these desert highways and crossroads grew rich beyond measure and could establish powerful and wealthy empires.
The first big empire was Ghana, which confusingly did not include the country Ghana which today bears its name. This began as a kingdom around the year 600 and stretched across several countries in modern Africa Mauritania, Mali, Senegal and Guinea. This is Nuakchott, the Mauritanian capital and it lies along the Atlantic coast. But 900 kilometres inland, south of here, is Kumbisalih the old capital of the ancient Kingdom of Ghana.
This was founded by the Soninke people, who still live in Mauritania. The Soninke were the main inhabitants of the Ghana Empire. They called it the Empire of Wagadou in their language. Their descendants today maintain their vibrant culture and see themselves as custodians of their history.
As I discover when I drop by the Soninke Community Centre in the Mauritanian capital, Nuwakchott. They take a break from their dancing so I can speak with the head of the Soninke Association. So tell us, who were the Soninke people exactly?
The Soninke people have an extraordinary history in West Africa. They were first of all cultivators, but they also had... There were many other craftsmen, they were farmers, but the Soniqués were also warriors. There was the king of Ghana, who was called the Tunka, who had his army. There was around him a whole...
population of warriors, of traditional chefs, etc. Simaka Sika is descended from an oral historian and performs a praise song about her people's noble origins. empire allowed local chiefs to keep their position but they had to be loyal to the king and sent him food and other goods the king kept their sons as hostages in his royal court to maintain their allegiance The Soninke people were keen fishermen then as they are today.
Here they collect their evening catch. The selling of the fish falls to the women and some set up oceanside cafes for those who enjoy fish at its very freshest. Along with fishing communities, the Tsuninke were herders and farmers.
They used iron technology for swords, spears, farming equipment, and they also made decorative ceramics. Some of these objects from the Ghana Empire have been found and put on display at the National Museum in Nuakchot. I make my way there to meet its director. When they created this empire, the essence of the economy of this empire was trade.
It was an empire that organized trade between the north and the south. The organization of the empire was a federal organization. There were more than ten states that were federated to the empire.
The federation was also very flexible. They recognized the king as king and gave taxes to the king. But each one of them took care of his state, if you can say, and organized it as he wanted. It's the first empire recognized in West Africa. Here we have a showcase composed of the ceramics that come from Kumbh Sala.
Dr. Karnay tells me these exhibits date mostly from between the 9th and 11th centuries. and were excavated by archaeologists in the early 1900s. It shows the status of women, that is, the shape of women in the Empire of Ghana. And we have something else here, it's copper brandy that was used as currency in the Empire of Ghana. Why copper?
Because copper had more value than gold. For example, this copper that you have here, one gram of copper was exchanged for three grams of gold. So it really had value.
The rulers of Ghana occupied a strategic position, halfway between the desert of North Africa and the gold fields of West Africa. This gave them a big advantage in controlling Trans-Saharan trade, which helped them become immensely wealthy. Staging posts were established in and around the empire, like Walata and Wadan, in about the 11th century in northern Mauritania. Wadarn, which is 600 kilometres from today's capital, Nuakchott, is a place little seen by outsiders.
But as I see for myself, it's well worth the visit. Wadarn was an important camel caravan centre and oasis. Today, its collection of stone buildings stand in ruin on a cliff overlooking the oasis. It is likely that the town prospered from the gold trade during the Ghana Empire because this route through the Sahara in northern Mauritania was probably used for the transport of gold during the time of the Ghana Kingdom.
And this Trans-Sahara trade was absolutely critical in underpinning the wealth of the rulers of Ghana because they traded with... Arab merchants with North Africans and Berber nomads or Amazigh as they prefer to be called. The Ghana Empire exported iron and copper but it was famed for its gold far and wide as this description in the 11th century by the Arab geographer Al-Bakri illustrates when he visited Kumbisale.
The king adorns himself with ornaments around the neck and arms. On his head he wears gold embroidered caps covered with turbans of finest cotton. He gives audience to the people for the redressing of grievances in a hut around which are placed ten horses covered in golden cloth. On guard at the door are dogs of fine pedigree wearing...
collars adorned with gold and silver. Gold was a commodity that Ghana used to buy salt. This was so valuable to them that they traded it almost weight for weight with gold.
In fact, salt was at times used as a currency there. The salt was obtained in the form of rock salt bars from desert mines that fell outside the control of the Ghana Empire. This salt has a different quality than the other ones we know. This is the salt we call gem salt. It's different from the one we use today.
It was very, very appreciated in the Ghanaian Empire and in the south in general because there were a lot of diseases, it was the salt that could heal them. So the two main products for trade that existed during the Ghanaian Empire were salt and gold. But Wadan's days of glory are long gone. It ceased to be a trading post. Local resident Mariam Lepyad has lived in the newly built post part of Wadan for most of her life.
There are about 5,000 people here. She tells me she just manages to stay in business selling basic amenities and the odd souvenir to the rare visitor. I can't hold the camera because some people are listening. I can hear Wadan well.
By about the 11th century, the rulers of Ghana, through exposure to trade with Muslim Berbers and Arabs, adopted Islam. This helped to spread literacy in Arabic, the language of the Koran. A number of these Arabs and Berbers remained in Ghana or territory adjacent to it, some of it rich from the water of an oasis.
Trade between all these groups was greatly facilitated by one major factor. The introduction of a beast of burden that was particularly well suited to the desert and had an unprecedented impact on Sahara trade. The camel revolutionised Trans-Saharan trade because it could keep enough water in its gut for 10 days, plus the fat in its hump provided it with nourishment for a considerable period of time. Now, the crossbreeding of the two-humped camel of Central Asia with the one-humped camel of Arabia produced a completely different type. One that was very slow in its movement but was capable of carrying heavy loads.
This one was used for Trans-Saharan trade. And the other was lighter on its feet and could travel very fast. And this kind of camel was used to carry news and as a bearer of messages.
Dr Abdul Wadood Abdullah is one of Mauritania's leading historians. Before the camel, there was a talk about silent trade. It was a limited trade.
But with the camel, there are big camels that cross the desert. Sometimes they are thousands of camels. It is like the emergence of ships for trade across seas and continents.
What we know with history is that this family exists, the Chinese ruling family that I am talking about. the nomads, the Arab geographers and historians. So, it was a peaceful commercial kingdom.
It did not seek to enter into many battles, but it sought to develop trade and trade exchanges. And there was a great prosperity with the spread of Islam. The Soninke people of the Ghana kingdom enjoyed good relations with the Arabs and Berbers, whose descendants make up a large part of Mauritania's population today. The Berbers or Amazigh, like Ahmad Deer, were and still are the camel herders. All the men in his family take it in turns to look after the camels.
Early in the morning, Ahmad gathers the animals. and takes them to graze, returning late in the afternoon. He lives near Shingiti, an old historic town in northern Mauritania, not far from Wadan.
It was also a key trading centre in the era of West Africa's great empires. Mohamed Dia is the head of the family. He has eight children and around ten grandchildren. Today he's receiving a visit from the mayor of Shingiti, Suhi. puts on his best white robe.
I arrive soon after. We used to live in the fields, in the fields of the Jiz. We used to walk from here to the Jiz in the morning.
We used to bring the salt. We used to cut it with a knife. I don't know.
I wonder how the younger members of Mohammed's family integrate these traditions with modern lifestyles. When you think of the new generation, how do you think of the new generation? Will the new generation, your children, your grandchildren, will they preserve the Bedouin traditions?
No, they won't. They won't understand. They won't understand.
They won't understand the traditions. The animals are not inspired by the people. It is very important for us nomads because they are part of our cultural identity. We live in the same conditions as they preserve our habits, but they are improving. I leave to take a look at the historic town of Shengiti, and in true nomad hospitality, Muhammad Ali.
offers me a parting gift which I gratefully but politely decline. I set off in my car and Mohammed departs for urgent business in a more environmentally friendly manner. I make it to Shingiti, a crossroads in the desert where goods, ideas, language and religion were exchanged.
Its historic buildings, including the mosque, date back to the 13th or 14th century. The old quarter of Shingiti is not quite the bustling metropolis it once was. Now, notable buildings here include the ancient mosque behind me, which has got a square minaret.
with five finials made of ostrich eggs. And in ancient times, traders would come here to do their business, just to gossip or, of course, to pray. And in fact, Shingiti was a popular gathering spot for pilgrims on their way to Mecca. And so it became a holy city in its own right.
And Shingiti was... therefore a magnet for Muslim scholars. They would come here to receive training in religious studies, but also mathematics, science, astronomy and law.
Thousands of ancient documents have been preserved in Shingiti. Thai teacher Saif al-Islam has for several decades been director of his family foundation that maintains some of these documents written in Arabic. Chiquit wasn't just a city of souls. ...the city of the city of the All this is still witnessed by Al-Shanqeet. It is still fine and will continue, God willing.
Al-Shanqeet's libraries are also remains of Al-Shanqeet. Remains of the cultural heritage, the manuscripts that were with the families. Of course, not all families have manuscripts.
They are scientific families, educated. The educated scientific families had manuscripts. They used to take them from many places in the world. Or they wrote them locally. The result is that it happened.
The influence of Arabic and Islam extended across the Ghana Empire. But the rulers of Ghana began to lose control of trade to more powerful rival groups such as the Mandi people. who were sometimes known as the Mandinka.
There were also environmental reasons behind Ghana's decline. Much of its farmland was worn out, partly through overgrazing. The Mandi launched a major offensive in 1235 under the leadership of Sunjata Keita. Sunjata Keita took control of the Soninke people and much of the former kingdom of Ghana and began building a vast new empire for himself, that of Mali.
After the break, we visit the most famous of the cities of the Mali empire, the legendary Timbuktu. This is Bamako, the present-day capital of the country Mali. The Empire of Mali, established by Sunjata Keita in 1235, was bigger than that of Ghana. It extended across many more countries in modern West Africa. Sunjata Keita established his capital in Niani, on the border today between Mali and Guinea.
He ruled the Mali Empire as a federation of kingdoms and chiefdoms. and significantly established social and political norms laid down in a landmark Charter of Rights in 1236. This formed the basis for how he would govern his subjects. These principles have become known as the Mandi Charter, which upheld the liberty, dignity and equality of all the citizens of Mali. Professor Kanate is one of the editors of UNESCO's General History of Africans, says we know what the Charter set out through oral history.
You talked about the Charter of Kurukanfuka. It is extremely important. We have often painted Africa, as you know very well, the way in which colonial historiography has painted Africa, as a space without laws, without faith.
But in reality, we realize that what was important and that allowed the formation of these great ensembles, were the standards, the question of standards that allowed people to live together. The Charter that... was dictated by Sunyata Keita, and the one who, in a way, establishes the foundations of the Empire of Mali. And this document recently gave rise to a shape-shifting, we must say, the things as they are, because the charter is first of all oral. The know-how, the know-how, is as important as the monuments.
Sunjata Keita assumed the title Mansa or Kanker, which means king, and he taxed all goods going through his territory. The most famous of the cities in the Mali Empire is Timbuktu, which Sunjata Keita had captured from the Tuareg or Berber nomads. He made it a centre for traders and scholars. Getting to Timbuktu is pretty hard.
At the time of filming, I could only visit with an armed guard. The airport is closed to commercial flights and the area is deemed unsafe because of the activities of extremists. So finally made it to Timbuktu. First impressions?
Well, it's hard to see how this dry, rather unprepossessing city, the new part at least, was at the centre of one of the greatest empires of Africa. But I haven't got to the old part yet. But as I've been driving through, you do see evidence of some of the destruction when the city was overrun by the extremists in 2012. And of course, they destroyed much of the historical heritage of Timbuktu.
It's attained almost mythical, fabled status. You know, in English we say, you'd think she was going to Timbuktu as a kind of metaphor for somebody who's going to the back of beyond. Well, here I am. I meet up with Salim Udalhaj, a culture and heritage expert born and bred in Timbuktu. Tomboktu is the most famous city in the entire Mali because it is very far from the center of conflict.
All those who are persecuted because of their religion. or because of the war of the intestines, they come to refugee in Tombouctou. In addition, Tombouctou is the trade of the south and the north. The south comes in periods, not the river, the products of Africa.
and the Sahara and the Mediterranean come to the Sahara with the goods of the Sahara and the Mediterranean. Here it is a center of exchange. Thus, people become very rich and they have created medersas to write, to make correspondence, to make letters.
These medersas have transformed themselves into language. Sunjata Keita was succeeded by his son, Mansa Ulin, who expanded the empire. But the best known of Mali's rulers is Mansa Musa I, great-nephew of Sunjata Keita.
He was so famous he was depicted in this map of the world by a Spanish cartographer in the 14th century. In 1324 Mansa Musa began a lavish pilgrimage to Mecca, reportedly with a very large entourage of 60,000 porters and 500 servants decked in gold, each carrying a golden staff. En route he stopped in Cairo. He was received with great reverence by the ruler of Egypt.
This is a description of Mansa Musa by an Arab scholar and writer Al-Makrizi from the 14th century. He was a young man with a brown skin, a pleasant face and a good figure. His gifts amazed the eye with their beauty and splendour.
And the legend says that when he arrived in Tombouctou with his camel caravan, his head was in Tombouctou while he was still not finished with his nyan. the capital of Mali. He crossed the Sahara and he went to Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
He distributed so much gold, a lot of gold, that the price of gold fell and he became legendary. I asked Professor Kanate if we have any idea of just how rich Mansa Musa was. Some accounts hold that he was carrying as much as 150 kilograms of gold and that... If you take his wealth in total by today's value, he could be worth as much as $400 billion, which would make him the richest individual in history, period.
Do you think that could be the case? Yes, I think it's possible. But what is certain is that the amount of gold he brought during his pilgrimage was an impressive enough amount.
Mansa Moussa learned to write Arabic and he even left an Arabic treaty on benevolence. This means that Mansa Moussa was very interested in knowledge. And his return to Mecca led him to Many of these books are so fragile they cannot be picked up and studied.
It's a whole African literature written in Arabic on a range of subjects like science, mathematics and law. Though most of the documents are copies of the Koran and biographies of the Prophet Muhammad. Writers include prominent scholars such as Ahmed Baba, who was born in Timbuktu in the 16th century. In one manuscript he writes against the practice.
of slavery. Are we not all descendants of Adam? For just the fact of becoming the owner of another person bruises the heart, because servitude is inseparable from the idea of violence and domination, especially when it relates to a slave taken away from his country. As well as Timbuktu, there were other big centres of learning and commerce in the Mali Empire, like Djenne in northern Mali, which is a long car journey from Bamako, followed by a ferry crossing over the Niger River, and again, I need a heavily armed guard. Unlike Timbuktu and its faded splendour, Djenne still retains much of the hurly-burly of everyday life.
In fact, Djane almost certainly predates Timbuktu because it developed from one of the earliest known settlements in Africa. There's archaeological evidence that the settlement around Djené was occupied from about 300 years before the Common Era. And that is because archaeological discoveries have been made here at the nearby site.
site of Djenne Djenno. Iron tools and jewellery have been found here, suggesting that this was once an iron-making area. And the archaeological remains would show that this is one of the oldest towns in West Africa.
But it seems that Djenne Djenno was gradually abandoned from about the 8th century as people moved to Djenne. Another legacy of the Mali Empire, apart from its buildings, is the kora. Its sounds are enjoyed by many music lovers.
It was invented by the Mandi people at least three centuries ago. Tiki is the son of the world-renowned Kora player, Tumani, and he performs under his father's watchful eye. Tumani is not just a musician, he's also a griot, the term used to describe a person who passes... down oral history and traditions from one generation to the next. I'm a Jali, I'm a griot people.
You have to be born in griot, but you cannot become a griot. The griot people, they just keep the history going. And you know, music is one of the best way to communicate, for communication. Music is there to help us to do this griot job.
So the kora is essentially the instrument of the Mali empire. Yeah, yeah. Never happened before, never seen that. before and you cannot find that.
If you see the kora in Sydney or you find the kora in London, ask him where those instruments come from. It will tell you usually one of the country of Manding Empire. But after the death of Mansa Musa II in 1387, the Mali Empire started losing power because of a succession of weak rulers, short reigns and dynastic rivalries.
Timbuktu was captured by the Tuareg nomads in 1433 and Mali was an empire no more. People today in the country Mali celebrate the great empire whose name the nation bears. This is an art centre in Bamako where one young man tells me the ancient cities of Timbuktu and Djenne give him much inspiration. I tried to imagine this city, which is a beautiful place, with its architecture.
It is part of the cultural heritage. The decline of the Mali Empire, however, did not signal the end of this part of West Africa's glory. A new power emerged, that of the Songhai Empire. Its rulers established a new capital in Gao in the east of Mali.
The empire extended as far as modern-day Nigeria and Niger. Flying into Gao, you can see this is strategically positioned along the Niger River. Today is a city that's been mired in the conflict with extremists and so I can't spend much time here. There's a heavy army presence and there's little to see of its ancient past.
But Gao has deep historic roots. It's been inhabited since about the 7th century. Its people were mostly fishermen who used large canoes.
They soon realized this gave them a military edge because they could sail along the Niger River, setting up trading villages which allowed them to dominate and unite peasant communities in the region. The best-known ruler of the Songhai Empire was Sonny Ali the Great, whose reign began in 1464. He recaptured Timbuktu in 1468. and pushed the city to the pinnacle of its fame. In Songhai oral tradition, Sonny Ali is a hero. Sonny Alibert is presented by the Arab authors as a man, even physically, very strong. A complete warrior and a man of great will.
And who also used witchcraft a lot, which did not please the Marabouts of Tombouctou. Sonia Ali had a lot of problems with the Marabouts of Tombouctou. who describe him as a bad Muslim, who didn't pray regularly, who did magic.
I think this is one of the reasons why Sonny Ali Ber is not very present in the representation of the great empires. Fatimata Maiga is a member of the former ruling dynasty of the Songhai Empire. Her daughter explains more about her family's famous ancestry. He is a descendant of the Sangwe Empire, of Soni Ali Ber, who founded Gao, the mysterious city.
We are proud, the Gao population is proud to belong to the history of Mali, Soni Ali Ber, and to be a descendant of this great man who is a reference in the history of Gao and the world in general. However, Sonny Ali is not the only famous figure associated with the Songhai Empire. I make my way, before the light fails, to the main historic attraction of Gao, the tomb of Muhammad Ture, an army commander.
After the death of Soni Ali, his successor was ousted by one of his generals, Muhammad Ture, who established the Askiya dynasty. He consolidated the empire and extended its territory. And this mud...
tomb behind me is that of the Askiya dynasty and it was built in 1495 and it's a testament to the power and riches of the Songhai empire. And you can see that the mud tomb has wooden spikes sticking out of it and it's also got a mosque on the site and a cemetery. You can see some of the tombstones and it's beautifully preserved.
Under Muhammad Ture's Askiya dynasty, the Songhai Empire grew ever more rich and powerful. Timbuktu basked in its glory, but Ture was deposed by his son as he grew older, triggering a gradual decline in the empire. Drought, disease, civil war and invasion meant that by 1591, the Songhai Empire had collapsed.
It was broken up into independent kingdoms. One of these kingdoms was the Bambara, based in the pretty riverside town of Segu. It's a popular venue for cultural festivals in Mali. Kingdoms like Bambara enjoyed prosperity and sovereignty until the arrival of the Europeans in the 1800s.
The period covered in this episode tells us is that Africa made a huge mark on the world through trans-Sahara trade. It also displayed the whole range of political formations, from clans to kingdoms to empires, which demonstrate a history of tremendous richness. Some academics state that it was the Arab and Muslim influence that brought sub-Saharan Africa out of isolation. and linked it with the rest of the world.
But as UNESCO's General History of Africa tells us, Africans never lived in isolation. Its peoples were constantly on the move. Plus, the volume of Trans-Saharan trade meant that there were deep relations between the north and south of the Sahara.
I end in Bamako, the capital of Mali, with superstar husband and wife... Amadou and Mariam, whose most famous composition, Je pense à toi, provides the theme music for this series. They decided to release it in French to broaden its international appeal.
It's about us first, then everyone else. Everyone finds themselves in it. Our songs, in general, were a cover for African music.
Because we were able to put the dose between African music and free music. So it's this side that people chose the songs. Because every time we play, the Africans, the Americans... Well, perhaps I could ask you both if you would be so kind as to perform Je Pense à Toi for us now.
Thank you. in the next episode we see how city states and kingdoms further west in africa gave rise to rich and diverse civilizations including some of the best known works of art in the whole of