Cetewayo, King of the Zulu's, was a hero in a war with the British, causing the most crushing defeat the English ever experienced from any Africans in modern history. His victory at Isandlhwana was one of the most terrifying slaughters in history. In 1879, the British invaded Zululand. Cetewayo defeated the British, and killed Prince Napoleon, heir to the French throne.

A missionary, trying to frighten Cetewayo into accepting Christianity, told him of hell fire. "Hell fire?" Cetewayo laughed. Do you think I'm afraid of hell fire? My soldiers would put it out. He commanded his officers to have his warriors to eat a grass fire burning on a nearby hillside. His men immediately began to eat up the fire, not regarding their personal injuries. Cetewayo replied "I eat hell fire." He was a strict military disciplinarian. The army knew they must conquer or die. Certain death always awaited a defeated army.

Cetewayo banished the missionaries from the Zulu territory for plotting against him and meddling in his national affairs. It was then suggested to the governor of the Cape that the Zulu nation should be annihilated in order to secure South Africa.

Having conquered many more British, Cetewayo was soon captured and imprisoned. Three years later, Cetewayo was granted a request to present his case to Queen Victoria. The British found him to be a courteous, friendly, gentleman, not the man-eating savage depicted. He was honored as a hero and promised restoration of his power.

The whites of South Africa never kept the promise of the Queen. When Cetewayo returned home, he again went to war with the enemy. Cetewayo died in February, 1844. Never having surrendered his principles for freedom for his people, the Zulus.

Chaka, "Great Zulu Warrior" , "The Black Napoleon", "Absolute ruler and tyrant." These were the titles and characteristics used when describing Chaka. He was a strong leader and military innovator. Chaka is noted for revolutionizing l9th Century Bantu warfare. He was a man with great power and the heart of a tiger. Chaka had no rifles, and different from Napoleon, used hand-to-hand war tactics.

Chaka was born in 1786, the son of Senzangakona, Zulu Chief and his mother Nandi. Chaka's parents were blood relatives which was a crime, punishable by death. However, Chaka's father was not killed because he was a Chief. As a young boy, Chaka was a very difficult child. On many occasions, he had confrontations with people in his village. He was also the victim of terrible cruelties. One time, hot porridge was poured on his hands, and burning hot meat forced down his throat. Those who inflicted evil on Chaka would live to regret it.

When Chaka was twenty-six, his father died and left the throne to a son, Sijuana. Chaka ambushed and killed Sijuana, taking leadership of the Zulus. He came to power around 1820. Chaka revolutionized military tactics. He chose the most superior and graceful soldiers. Chaka was the first to group regiments by age, and to train his men to use modern weapons and special tactics. He developed a short stabbing spear. He marched his regiments in tight formation using large shields to fend off the enemy. Chaka's troops were feared by enemies, they would flee at the sight of them. Chaka caused over two million people to die. Chaka's motto was "Death or Victory."

Chaka built the Zulu people into a powerful nation of more than one million, and united all peoples in South Africa against colonial

Dohomey was a wealthy West African empire. The elements of Dohomey's success were its trade and its powerful army, whose soldiers were considered invincible.

The fierce and mighty Behanzin Bowelle was the king of this great empire. His army contained 25,000 warriors, 5,000 of which were women. The women were the most respected and feared part of Behanzin's army. These women were thoroughly trained and kept trim by a system of gymnastics developed by the Dohomians themselves. Recruited from among the healthiest and strongest virgins in Dohomey, these females were sworn to chastity.

The king sometimes picked his wives from among them or gave them to his bravest warriors. The training of these women was very rigorous. One of their drills was charging three times barefoot into a construction of thorns, nude to their waist.

Perfect was the discipline of these female warriors. They fought with extreme bravery. Excited by their own courage and undying energy, the women, like the men were thought to be invincible.

The Amazon army corps, made up of female warriors, is said to have been established by King Agadja (1708-1740). His father, King Houégbadja, had already created a detachment of "elephant huntresses" who were also bodyguards. But Agadja made them into real warriors.

E. Chaudoin in "Three months in captivity in Dahomey" describes them as follows in 1891:

"There they are, 4,000 warriors, the 4,000 virgins of Dahomey, the monarch's bodyguard, motionless in their war garments, with gun and knife in hand, ready to leap forward at the master's signal.

Old or young, ugly or beautiful, they are wonderful to look at. They are as well built as the male warriors and their attitude is just as disciplined and correct, lined up as though against a rope".

According to A. Djivo, in "Guézo, the renovation of Dahomey", some of the women enrolled voluntarily whilst others who had difficult marriages and whose husbands had complained to the king were enrolled forcibly. Military service disciplined them and the strength of character they had shown in marriage could be expressed through military action.

They protected the king on the battlefield and took an active part in the fighting, giving up their life if necessary. Guézo said to them: "When you go to war and if you are taken prisoner you will be sacrificed and your bodies will become food for vultures and hyenas".

They, could neither marry nor have children as long as they were in the army. They were trained for war and, in principle, were dedicated to it for life. 

"We are men not women. Those coming back from war without having conquered must die. If we beat a retreat our life is at the king's mercy. Whatever town is to be attacked we must overcome it or we bury ourselves in its ruins. Guézo is the king of kings. As long as he lives we have nothing to fear".

"Guézo has given birth to us again. We are his wives, his daughters, his soldiers. War is our pastime, it clothes and feeds us".

This seasoned army, often drunk with gin, accustomed to suffering and ready to kill without fear for their own lives always fought bravely at the battle-front and urged the troops forward.

In 1894, at the beginning of the war between the troops of General Dodds and the kingdom of Abomey, the army contained about 4,000 amazons divided into three brigades."They are armed with double-bladed knives and Winchester rifles. These amazons perform wonders of bravery; they come to within 50 feet of our positions to be killed..."(Captain Jouvelet, 1894).

Ezana of Axum (also spelled Aezana ), was ruler of the Axumite Kingdom (c. 330 - c. 356 ) located in present-day Eritrea , northern Ethiopia and Yemen ; he himself employed the style "king of Saba and Salhen , Himyar and Dhu-Raydan ." 1 . Tradition states that Ezana succeeded his father Ella Amida while still a child and his mother, Sofya served as regent.

He was the first monarch of Axum to embrace Christianity , and the first after Zoskales to be mentioned by contemporary historians, a situation that led S. C. Munro-Hay to comment that he was "the most famous of the Aksumite kings before Kaleb." 2 He appointed his childhood tutor, the Syrian Christian Frumentius , head of the Ethiopian Church . A surviving letter from the Arian Roman Emperor Constantius II is addressed to Ezana and his brother Sazanas, and requests that Frumentius be sent to Alexandria to be examined for doctrinal errors; Munro-Hay assumes that Ezana either refused or ignored this request.

Ezana also launched several military campaigns, which he recorded in his inscriptions. A pair of inscriptions in Ge'ez have been found at Meroe , which is understood as evidence of a campaign in the fourth century, either during Ezana's reign, or by a predecessor like Ousanas . While some authorities interpret these inscriptions as proof that the Axumites destroyed the Kingdom of Kush , others note that archeological evidence points to an economic and political decline in Meroe around 300 .

On some of the coins minted in his reign appear the motto in Greek TOYTOAPECHTHXWPA -- "May this please the people". Munro-Hay comments that this motto is "a rather attractive peculiarity of Aksumite coinage, giving a feeling of royal concern and responsibility towards the people's wishes and contentment". 5 A number of coins minted bearing his name were found in the late 1990s at archeological sites in India , indicating trade contacts in that country. 6 A remarkable feature of the coins is a shift from a pagan motif with disc and crescent to a design with a cross. Ezana is also credited for erecting several structures and obelisks .

Ezana of Axum (also spelled Aezana ), was ruler of the Axumite Kingdom (c. 330 - c. 356 ) located in present-day Eritrea , northern Ethiopia and Yemen ; he himself employed the style "king of Saba and Salhen , Himyar and Dhu-Raydan ." 1 . Tradition states that Ezana succeeded his father Ella Amida while still a child and his mother, Sofya served as regent.

He was the first monarch of Axum to embrace Christianity , and the first after Zoskales to be mentioned by contemporary historians, a situation that led S. C. Munro-Hay to comment that he was "the most famous of the Aksumite kings before Kaleb." 2 He appointed his childhood tutor, the Syrian Christian Frumentius , head of the Ethiopian Church . A surviving letter from the Arian Roman Emperor Constantius II is addressed to Ezana and his brother Sazanas, and requests that Frumentius be sent to Alexandria to be examined for doctrinal errors; Munro-Hay assumes that Ezana either refused or ignored this request.

Ezana also launched several military campaigns, which he recorded in his inscriptions. A pair of inscriptions in Ge'ez have been found at Meroe , which is understood as evidence of a campaign in the fourth century, either during Ezana's reign, or by a predecessor like Ousanas . While some authorities interpret these inscriptions as proof that the Axumites destroyed the Kingdom of Kush , others note that archeological evidence points to an economic and political decline in Meroe around 300 .

On some of the coins minted in his reign appear the motto in Greek TOYTOAPECHTHXWPA -- "May this please the people". Munro-Hay comments that this motto is "a rather attractive peculiarity of Aksumite coinage, giving a feeling of royal concern and responsibility towards the people's wishes and contentment". 5 A number of coins minted bearing his name were found in the late 1990s at archeological sites in India , indicating trade contacts in that country. 6 A remarkable feature of the coins is a shift from a pagan motif with disc and crescent to a design with a cross. Ezana is also credited for erecting several structures and obelisks .

About 1500 years before the birth of Christ, one finds the beginning of Hatshepsut's reign as one of the brightest in Egyptian history, proving that a woman can be a strong and effective ruler. She was according to Egyptologist, James Henry Breasted, "The first great woman in history of whom we are informed."

Her father, Thothmes I, was highly impressed with the efficiency of his daughter, and appointed her manager, and co-ruler of his kingdom.

Before the King died, he married Hatshepsut to her half-brother, Thothmes II. His reign lasted only thirteen years. After his death, Hatshepsut was to rule only in the name of Thothmes III, until he was old enough to rule alone. Hatshepsut was not satisfied to rule in the name of Thothmes III.

Hatshepsut dressed herself in the most sacred of the Pharaoh's clothing, mounted the throne, and proclaimed herself Pharaoh of Egypt. She ruled Egypt for twenty-one years. She also moved to strengthen the position of Egypt within Africa by making peace with the peoples of Kush (or Nubia) and sending missions to the nations along the East African coast, as far south as Punt (present day Somalia). One of Hatshepsut's crowning achievements was dispatching a mission to a kingdom in Asia (now India).

Hatshepsut died suddenly and mysteriously. Some historians say that Thothmes III, had her murdered. After her death, Thothmes III, tried unsuccessfully to destroy all memory of Hatshepsut in Egypt. Her temple still remains in the Valley of the Kings, once the ancient city of Thebes, known today as Deir el Bahri, and Hatshepsut comes down to us as one of the most outstanding women of all time.

Hannibal of Carthage (247-183 B.C.)

Hannibal is said to be the greatest military leader and strategist of all time. Hannibal was born in 247 B.C., when Carthage, then the maritime power, was beginning to decline. The Carthaginians civilisation was a mix of African and Phoenicians, who were great merchants. They traded with India and the people of the Mediterranean, and the Scilly Isles.

When very young, Hannibal accompanied Hamilclar, his father in a battle with the Romans. Seventeen years later, he succeeded his father and became supreme commander of the peninsula. Hannibal had 80,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and 40 African war elephants. He conquered major portions of Spain and France, and all of Italy, except for Rome.

Hannibal marched his army and war elephants through the Alps to surprise and conquer his enemies. In one battle, the Romans put 80,000 men on the field to defeat Hannibal, led by Scipio. When Scipio attacked with his entire army, Hannibal had so studied the grounds and arranged his men so that they surrounded the Romans. He then turned his armored war elephants loose and trampled them. Behind them, he sent his African swordsmen to complete the slaughter.

In another battle, Rome sent 90,000 men led by Varro and Emilius. With only 50,000 men, knowing he could not win by using his main force, Hannibal placed the weakest part of his army in the center, contrary to the best military rules. With his veterans and cavalry on both wings, the Romans struck them in full center as Hannibal had anticipated. When they were sure of victory by overcoming the center, Hannibal's flank closed in and killed 70,000 men, 80 senators and Emilius.

Hannibal later went on to become a statesman of Carthage, and later took his own life, rather than surrender to Rome.

Imhotep "Father of Medicine" (2980 B.C.)

Imhotep was also a poet and philosopher. He urged contentment and preached cheerfulness. His proverbs contained a "philosophy of life." Imhotep coined the saying "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die."

When the Egyptians crossed the Mediterranean, becoming the foundation of the Greek culture, Imhotep's teachings were absorbed there. Yet, as the Greeks were determined to assert that they were the originators of everything, Imhotep was forgotten for thousands of years and a legendary figure, Hippocrates, who came 2000 years after him became known as the Father of Medicine.

It is Imhotep says Sir William Osler, who was the real Father of Medicine. "The first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity." Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases, 15 diseases of the abdomen, 11 of the bladder, 10 of the rectum, 29 of the eyes, and 18 of the skin, hair, nails and tongue. Imhotep treated tuberculosis, gallstones, appendicitis, gout and arthritis. He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry. Imhotep extracted medicine from plants. He also knew the position and function of the vital organs and circulation of the blood system. The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "The evidence afforded by Egyptian and Greek texts support the view that Imhotep's reputation was very respected in early times...His prestige increased with the lapse of centuries and his temples in Greek times were the centers of medical teachings."

James Henry Breasted says of Imhotep: In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs; in medicine and architecture; this remarkable figure of Zoser's reign left so notable a reputation that his name was never forgotten. He was the patron spirit of the later scribes, to whom they regularly poured out a libation from the water-jug of their writing outfit before beginning their work. The people sang of his proverbs centuries later, and 2500 years after his death, he had become a god of medicine in whom Greeks, who call him Imouthes, recognized their own Asklepios. A temple was erected to him near the Serapeum at Memphis, and at the present day, every museum possesses a bronze statue or two of the apotheosized wise man, the proverb maker, physician, and architect of Zoser.

Mulai Ismael is considered the most remarkable ruler of the 18th CenturyMulai's father was Mulai Sherif, King of Tafilalet, who was captured by Omar, King of Sillec, and thrown into prison. While Mulai Sherif was in prison, he requested feminine company. He was sent the ugliest slave found. From this, Mulai Ismael and his brother Rachid were born.

Mulai Ismael's road to the throne was not easy. He was forced to fight many family members, including his brother Rachid and his nephew Achmet.

Defeating enemy after enemy, Mulai devoted himself to internal affairs.

He started by increasing the number of the Bokhura, a corp of fighting men which he founded earlier in his reign, made up of Africans from the Sudan. These Africans, 150,000 strong lived with their wives in gorgeous villages built by Mulai Ismael. Later 10,000 European Christian warriors were added to the force.

Mulai Ismael dreamed of restoring the ancient glories of Morocco. She had once been the world's leading empire and had dominated Southwestern Europe. Moroccan art, science, architecture, literature, and leather-work's were famous. Because of Mulai Ismael's activity in building projects, and his long reign of fifty years, he is frequently called the "Moroccan Louis XIV."

Mulai had many wives and children of all races, no less than 500 wives and as many as 4,000 and 867 children. Mulai Ismael died in 1727, at the age of eighty. His dynasty still occupies the throne of Morocco.

Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Fuqaimi al-Basri was a He was an Arabic prose writer and author of works on Arabic literature, biology, zoology, history, early Islamic philosophy, Islamic psychology, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics. Al-Jahiz continued his studies, and over a span twenty-five years, he had acquired great knowledge about Arabic poetry, Arabic philology, history of the Arabs and Persians before Islam, and he studied the Qur'an and the Hadith. He also read translated books on Greek and Hellenistic philosophy, especially that of Greek philosopher Aristotle.

Al-Jahiz attended Basra's schools, studying under some of the most eminent scholars of Islam. One of the most important aspects about the period of Al-Jahiz's intellectual development and his life was that books were readily accessible. Though paper had been introduced into the Islamic world only shortly before al-Jahiz's birth, it had, by the time he was in his 30's, virtually replaced parchment, and launched an intellectual revolution.

"We (Ethiopians in this case) have conquered the country of the Arabs as far as Mecca and have governed them. We defeated Dhu Nowas (Jewish King ofYemen) and killed all the Himyarite princes, but you, White people, have never conquered our country. Our people, the Zenghs (Blacks of Africa's East Coast) revolted forty times in the Euphrates, driving the inhabitants from their homes and making Oballah a bath of blood. [...] Blacks are physically stronger than no matter what other people. A single one of them can lift stones of greater weight and carry burdens such as several Whites could not lift nor carry between them. [...] They are brave, strong, and generous as witness their nobility and general lack of wickedness. [...] The Blacks say to the Arabs, 'A sign of your barbarity is that when you were pagans you considered us your equals as regards the women of your race. After your conversion to Islam, however, you thought otherwise. Despite this the deserts swarm with the number of our men who married your women and who became chiefs and defended you against your enemies'."

The availability of a cheap writing material was accompanied by another social phenomenon --the rise of a reading public. For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire, the cities of the Middle East contained a large number of literate people - many of humble origins.

Al-Jahiz and his parents, for example, were poor themselves; as a young man of 20 he sold fish along one of the Basran canals. Nevertheless, al-Jahiz learned to read and write at an early age, indicating the opportunities for "upward mobility" in eighth-century Iraq. Al-Jahiz tells the story of how his mother presented him with a tray of paper notebooks, and told him that it would be by means of these that he would earn his living.

Al-Jahiz began his career as a writer - a precarious profession both then and now- while still in Basra. He wrote an essay on the institution of the caliphate - which met with approval from the court in Baghdad - and from then on seems to have supported himself entirely by his pen, if we except a single three-day stint as a government clerk. The fact that he never held an official position allowed him an intellectual freedom impossible to someone connected to the court - though he did dedicate a number of his works to viziers and other powerful functionaries. In turn, he often received gifts of appreciation for these "dedications". He received 5,000 gold dinars from the official to whom he dedicated his Book of Animals. 

Al-Jahiz wrote over two hundred works, of which only thirty have survived. His work included zoology, Arabic grammar, poetry, rhetoric and lexicography. He is considered one of the few Muslim scientists who wrote on scientific and complex subjects for the layman and commoner. His writings contain many anecdotes, regardless of the subject he is discussing, that make his point and bring out both sides of the argument. Some of his books are: The Art of Keeping One's Mouth Shut, Against Civil Servants, Arab Food, In Praise of Merchants, and Levity and Seriousness. On the style of writing, al-Jahiz stated that:

The best style is the clearest, the style that needs no explication and no notes, that conforms to the subject expressed, neither exceeding it nor falling short.

The most important of Al-Jahiz's works, however, is the Book of Animals - Kitab al-Hayawan - which, even incomplete, totals seven fat volumes in the printed edition. It contains important scientific information and anticipates a number of concepts that were not fully developed until the first half of the twentieth century. In the book, al-Jahiz discusses animal mimicry - noting that certain parasites adapt to the color of their host - and writes at length on the influences of climate and diet on men, and plants and animals of different geographical regions. He discusses animal communication, psychology and the degree of intelligence of insect and animal species. He also gives a detailed account of the social organization of ants, including from his own observation, a description of how they store grain in their nests so that it does not spoil during the rainy season. He even knew that some insects are responsive to light - and used this information to suggest a clever way of ridding a room of mosquitoes and flies.

Centuries before Darwin Al-Jahiz wrote:

"Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for resources, to avoid being eaten and to breed. Environmental factors influence organisms to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring."

An early exponent of the zoological and anthropological sciences, al-Jahiz discovered and recognized the effect of environmental factors on animal life; and he also observed the transformation of animal species under different factors. Furthermore, in several passages of his book, he also described the concept, usually attributed to Charles Darwin, of natural selection.

Al-Jahiz's concept of natural selection was something new in the history of science. Although Greek philosophers like Empedocles and Aristotle spoke of change in plants and animals, they never made the first steps towards developing a comprehensive theory. To them change, was only a concept of simple change and motion and nothing more than that. 

Eighty-seven folios of the Book of Animals (about one-tenth of the original text by al-Jahiz) are preserved in the Ambrosiana Library in Milan. This collection (a copy of the original) dates from the 14th century and bears the name of the last owner, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi, and the year 1615. These folios of the Book of Animalscontain more than 30 illustrations in miniature.

Al-Jahiz returned to Basra after spending more than fifty years in Baghdad. He died in Basra in 868 as a result of an accident in which he was crushed to death by a collapsing pile of books in his private library. A fitting death for a writer. (source Islamonline.net)

Mansa Musa was an important Malian king from 1312 to 1337 expanding the Mali influence over the Niger city-states of Timbuktu, Gao, and Djenne. Mansa Musa ( Mansa meaning emperor or sultan and Musa meaning Moses), the grandson of one of Sundiata's sisters, is often referred to as "The Black Moses" (Jeffries & Moss 1997). Timbuktu became one of the major cultural centers not just of Africa but of the world. Vast libraries, madrasas (Islamic universities) and magnificent mosques were built. Timbuktu became a meeting place of poets, scholars and artists of Africa and the Middle East. Even after Mali declined, Timbuktu remained the major Islamic center of Africa (Hooker 1996). Mansa Musa maintained a huge army that kept peace and policed the trade routes. His armies pushed the borders of Mali from the Atlantic coast in the west beyond the cities of Timbuktu and Gao in the east -- and from the salt mines of Taghaza in the north to the gold mines of Wangar in the south (Jeffries & Moss 1997).

By the fourteenth century, Muslim traders were established in the town of Djenne, located in the inland delta of the Niger. The most impressive monument of intercultural borrowing is the Friday Mosque at Djenne. There, salt from the Sahara, goods from northern Africa and fine silks were exchanged for gold, and ivory. The monumental mosque was constructed around 1320 (the present building was reconstructed on the foundation of the original mosque in 1907).

The rectangular, flat roofed building had walls supported by plaster-like buttresses topped by finials. The massive rectangular towers reflect the Islamic model while the building materials echo an older Mande architectural style. The toron (horns) projections from the walls are a feature of local architecture serving as scaffolding when the facade is periodically replastered with clay. The African societies shaped and molded the religion with traditional beliefs, values and sensibilities, as well.

The Islamization of the Malian Court, in the late thirteenth century, is recorded both in oral traditions of the Mande people and written accounts by Arab historians and travelers. Ibn Khaldun described the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) of Mansa Musa in 1324.

Emperor Menelik II (1844 - 1913)

Emperor Menelik II (Ge'ez ምኒልክ)baptized as Sahle Maryam (August 17, 1844 – December 12, 1913), was nəgusä nägäst of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death.His life as ruler of Shewa The son of Negus Haile Melekot of Shewa, prince Sahle Maryam was born in Ankober, Shewa. On the death of his father in 1855 he, just named as his successor as king of Shewa by his father, was taken prisoner by Emperor Tewodros II, a former minor noble originally named Kassa of Qwara, who had usurped the Imperial throne from the last Emperor of the elder Gondar branch of the Solomonic dynasty, Emperor Yohannes III or from emperor Sahle Dengel.

Young Sahle Maryam of Shewa was imprisoned on Tewodros' mountain stronghold of Magdala, but was treated well by the Emperor, even marrying Tewodros's daughter Alitash. Upon his imprisonment, his uncle, Haile Mikael had been made ruler of Shewa by Emperor Tewodros II with the title of Merid Azmatch. However, Merid Asmatch Haile Mikael rebelled against Tewodros, resulting in his being replaced by the non-royal Ato Bezabih as governor of Shewa. Ato Bezabih also promptly rebelled against the Emperor and proclaimed himself King of Shewa. Although the Shewan royals imprisoned at Magdalla by Emperor Tewodros had been largely complacent as long as a member of their family ruled over Shewa, this usurpation by a comoner was not palatable to them. They ploted the escape of Sahle Maryam from Magdala, and he eventually succeeded at escaping from Magdala and abandoned his wife, returning to Shewa. Upon his return Bezabih's attempt to raise an army against the Prince failed miserably when thousands of Shewans rallied to the flag of the son of Haile Melekot and even Bezabih's own soldiers deserted him for the returning Prince. Sahle Maryam entered Ankober and proclaimed himself Nigus (King) with the name of Menelek.

Not only did he reclaim his ancestral crown, but at once claimed the Imperial throne for himself as well as a direct male line descendant of Emperor Libne Dengil. He launched several attacks against Emperor Tewodros II, particularly against the citadel of Magdala. These campaigns were unsuccessful, and he turned his arms to the west, east and south, and annexed much territory to his kingdom, still, however, maintaining his claims to the Imperial Crown of Ethiopia in addition to the royal one of Shewa.

In 1440, the empire of Monomotapa was under the leadership of the fierce and awesome King Mutato, or "Mutato the Great." His vast empire had been developed by Vakarang immigrants who were invaders. The Monomotapa Empire covered what is known today as Rhodesia, Kalahara, Mozambique, and into Transvaal in South Africa.

King Mutato established effective political rule, and promoted economic development and prosperity. The Monomotapa used iron technology and allied crafts, long before the Christian era. With over 4000 active mines, and gold being the leading export commodity, iron work was still highly regarded. The drive for excellence in everything produced was reflected in the artistic work throughout the empire.

The building of the temples and beautiful stone structures, rivaled the construction associated with the great pyramids in Egypt. The Monomotapa were great stonemasons and architects. According to records in stone, a highly developed civilization existed in South Africa, at the same time of the great Egyptian and Ethiopian era, in the North.

King Mutato mastered a plan to unite the Africans throughout the entire Monomotapa Empire. Their enemies knew that if they could keep the Africans fighting amongst themselves, they would be a divided people, lacking in power, and the enemy would have access to their wealth.

Mutato moved quickly to recruit, develop, and train armies, under the supervision of capable generals. Additional strategic leadership by Matope, Mutato's son, who came into power after Mutato's death, strengthened and unified Monomotapa. However, after Matope's death, Monomotapa swiftly declined, and the empire began to break up.

Nathaniel Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831), commonly referred to as Nat Turner, was born in Southampton County, Virginia, and was an American Slave. He is described as being singularly intelligent in that he learned to read and write at a young age. As a young child he was overheard describing events that happened before he was born, and throughout his life he frequently received visions which he interpreted as messages from God. Turner often conducted Baptist services, and preached the Bible to his fellow slaves. This, along with his keen intelligence, and other signs marked him in the eyes of his people as a prophet "intended for some great purpose." He was often seen praying and fasting and deeply engaged in reading stories from the bible.

Turners’ visions greatly influenced his life. For example, one vision in particular convinced him that God had given him the task of slaying all of his enemies with their own weapons. This vision prompted the Slave Rebellion which took place in Southampton County, VA during August 1831.  Nat called on his group (the rebels ultimately included more than 50 enslaved and free Africans) to “kill all whites”. As a result, slaves in the rebellion killed approximately 60 white people before the rebellion was put down a few days later, but leader Nat Turner remained in hiding for several months afterwards.

On October 30, 1831 Turner was discovered hiding in a hole covered with fence rails and then taken to court. On November 5, 1831, Nat was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was hung on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia, now known as Courtland, Virginia. His body was then flayed, beheaded and quartered.

In the sixteenth century, the Portuguese stake in the slave trade was threatened by England and France. This caused the Portuguese to transfer their slave-trading activities southward to the Congo and South West Africa. Their most stubborn opposition, as they entered the final phase of the conquest of Angola, came from a queen who was a great head of state, and a military leader with few peers in her time.

The important facts about her life are outlined by Professor Glasgow of Bowie, Maryland:

"Her extraordinary story begins about 1582, the year of her birth. She is referred to as Nzingha, or Jinga, but is better known as Ann Nzingha. She was the sister of the then-reigning King of Ndongo, Ngoli Bbondi, whose country was later called Angola. Nzingha was from an ethnic group called the Jagas. The Jagas were an extremely militant group who formed a human shield against the Portuguese slave traders. Nzingha never accepted the Portuguese conquest of Angola, and was always on the military offensive. As part of her strategy against the invaders, she formed an alliance with the Dutch, who she intended to use to defeat the Portuguese slave traders."

In 1623, at the age of forty-one, Nzingha became Queen of Ndongo. She forbade her subjects to call her Queen, She preferred to be called King, and when leading an army in battle, dressed in men's clothing.

In 1659, at the age of seventy-five, she signed a treaty with the Portuguese, bringing her no feeling of triumph. Nzingha had resisted the Portuguese most of her adult life. African bravery, however, was no match for gun powder. This great African woman died in 1663, which was followed by the massive expansion of the Portuguese slave trade.

Twenty-three centuries before Piankhi and Taharqa, King Menes founded the first Egyptian dynasty, becoming the first Pharaoh of the world, uniting Upper and Lower Egypt under his leadership, and establishing Memphis as the first all-African capital city, Thebes being the capital city of the North, or Upper Egypt.

The time period is 715 B.C., Piankhi and Taharqa have made strategic plans, quite similar to those used by Menes in 3100 B.C., to defeat the enemy. This Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, should be of special importance to the African world, since it marked the end of an all-out effort by Blacks to reclaim Egypt.

After reclaiming Egypt, Taharqa led his armies against the intruding Assyrians, defending Israel who was his ally. He is therefore in the Bible in two places, 2 Kings 19:9, and Isaiah 37:9.

Taharqa reigned for approximately 25 years. He dominated the largest empire in African Antiquity, covering more than 1500 miles, including all of the Sudan.

Even though Taharqa was in an endless battle, he started construction projects, so grand, and with such splendor and magnificence, none of which could be matched.

Piankhi and Taharqa left a legacy for the African world, "to recapture that which has been wrongfully taken away."

Sarki Abdullah Burja of Kano (ruled 1438-1452 AD)

Abdullah Burja, the eighteenth ruler of the Hausa city-state of Kano, was the architect of great prosperity in the northern Nigeria region. In 1438 AD he was crowned Sarki (i.e. King) of Kano. Within a few years, he became the most powerful sarkuna (i.e. king-but plural) within in the Hausa Confederation. His general led military campaigns for seven years in the regions to the south. The campaigns attempted to open the trade route to Gwanja on the edge of the forest belt. The Kano cavalry, typical of the time, were equipped with plumed iron helmets and chainmail. Their horses were protected with lifidi - a thick quilted armour made of cloth. Burja's raids proved successful.

Twenty one thousand prisoners were captured. The General dispatched the captives to twenty-one settlements in Kano City. From Gwanja, through this newly opened trade route, kola nuts and gold dust flowed into Kano.Meanwhile, serious diplomatic problems had emerged with the neighbouring state of Borno to the east (roughly modern Chad and Niger). The Kano Chronicle, the chief Hausa history, attempts to put a brave face on it but admits that after the conflict "many towns were given to Borno." This indicates that Burja was defeated in whatever-it-was the authors of the Chronicle were trying to conceal. The city of Kano remained independent and surprisingly, direct trade was established with Borno despite the conflict. Moreover, the Sarki sent gifts to the ruler of Borno, acknowledging the Bono King's supremacy as an Islamic leader. This started a tradition that continued late into the eighteenth century.

Of the Hausa rulers, Abdullah Burja was the first to encourage the use of camels as beasts of burden. Previously, Kano businessmen and traders waited on camel caravans controlled by the Tuaregs to arrive from the north. Under Burja's new policy, Kano merchants could transport their own goods across the desert. In the footsteps of these merchants followed the Hausa language and culture. Hausa became the biggest indigenous language spoken in Africa after Swahili. In reputation, Hausa merchants came to rival the legendary Wangaran merchants of Guinea, the economic powerhouse behind Mali. It is worth remembering that the BBC in the Millennium series described Mali as the richest empire in the fourteenth century world. In Kano Burja established the Kurmi Market. A veritable magnet, it attracted goods from all over the world.

Sunni Ali, whose real name was Ali Kolon, began as a common soldier in the army of KanKan Musa, Mandingo ruler of the Mellistine Empire, into which he had been forcibly enlisted, after the defeat and  enslavement of his people, the Songhays.

Forced even to fight his own people, Sunni Ali was overcome with rage at the cruelties of the Mellestine emperor and swore that one day, he would take up arms to free his people. As for the empire of KanKan Musa, it exceeded in wealth and magnificence, anything he had ever imagined, and yet, common soldier that we was, Sunni Ali dared to believe that some day it should be his.

Sunni Ali, together with his brother Selmar Nar, laid careful plans for escape. Rallying his people around him, Sunni Ali attacked Jenne, and captured it by storm on January 30, 1468. He took city after city, until the forces of KanKan Musa had been entirely driven out of Songhay territory.

His first notable achievement was the capture of the Malian city of Timbuktu in 1469, with its world famous University of Sankore Mosque. Djenné was the next city to fall after a siege lasting over seven years. An even bigger prize, it had international trading links, a university, and also the most brilliant architecture in the region. He took it in around 1473. To the south, lay the kingdoms of the Mossi, an enemy of the Songhai. In 1480 they launched a raid on the Songhai city of Walata. They besieged the city for a month leading Walata to capitulate. The victorious Mossi seized people and booty. In 1483 Sonni Ali's army successfully drove this menace from the kingdom. Sonni Ali established the Songhai state as the third great West African Empire in this region, after Ancient Ghana and Mali.

It appears that Sunni Ali, ruled his entire kingdom from horseback. Felix Dubois made the following statement about Sunni Ali: "He was a soldier only, and a true African soldier who marches from conquest to conquest, absorbing all the population by war without thinking to organize and create durable work....his lance travels from east to west, tracing the grandeur of the Songhay, unknown to him, it is true. But the task is being prepared for an organizer that is to come very rapidly, to lead the Songhays to the heights of splendor, power and prosperity."

On November 6, 1493, Sunni Ali's horse slipped and fell into the Koni River, Ali and his horse were swept over the falls and drowned. The legacy of his greatness still exist today.

In 1224 King Sumanguru led the Sosso in a devastating raid on the Malian capital of Djeriba. They razed the city and killed most of the ruling family. Eleven princes were put to death in the massacre, but Sumanguru spared one of them, a crippled boy called Sundiata. Six years later, Sundiata triumphed over his disability and became the ruler of the Malians. He surrounded himself with a private guard made up of the thuggish element of the kingdom, and began a guerrilla campaign against Sosso dominance. Sundiata's first strike, however, was against Sangaran, a neighbouring kingdom. After this conquest, he campaigned against Labe and also the Niger Region. During these conquests he gathered an army recruited from among the defeated peoples to fight the Sosso. In 1235 he challenged the power of the Sosso at the Battle of Kirina. His armies defeated Sumanguru and destroyed the fortified and well-garrisoned capital of the Sosso. Five years later, Sundiata seized the city of Ghana and destroyed it. After these military actions, he returned to the ruins of his capital city, Djeriba, and received the sworn loyalty of the rulers of the conquered people at a triumphant and impressive ceremony. He allowed the Emperor of Ghana to retain the title of king. All the other former rulers were given new titles.

Sundiata never again took to the battlefield. Devoting his time to economic and social development of the empire, he turned his armies into farmers and encouraged a programme of agricultural expansion. The soldiers grew cotton, peanuts and grains, and were also encouraged to raise poultry and cattle. He founded a new capital city called Niani. It was located on the confluence of the Upper Niger and Sankarini rivers. There were other military actions, however, but Sundiata's generals led them. They marched as far as the Atlantic, seized lands way to the east, subjugated the southern forest belt, and overpowered the desert regions of the north. These actions led to Malian control of the gold-fields of Wangara and created the trade route from there to the new capital of Niani.

Samory Toure, who was a conqueror from West Africa, fought the French from taking possession of his homeland for over 18 years. He fought with such mastery, that the French military leaders referred to him as "The Black Napoleon." He frustrated the Europeans to the degree that they suffered large losses of manpower and money. Samory's expert military strategy and tactics caused even greater insecurity for the French. Samory was born of humble means, the son of a poor merchant and a Senegalese female slave.

Samory had become an idol of the other soldiers. Being provoked by jealousy, the king demanded Samory be removed from the army and sent back to his homeland, Bissandugu, where he became king.Samory's homeland was attacked by the neighboring King Sori Bourama. His mother was captured during this raid. Samory was unable to pay his mother's ransom, so he freed her by taking her place. Samory, always desiring to be a free man, became a favorite of the king because of his splendid physique, his ability to throw a spear, and his knowledge of the Arabic language.

Soon he became a bodyguard for the king, and later advanced to counselor of the people.Samory defied all of his opponents and even conquered his former capturer, King Sori Bourama. Samory expanded his empire to an area of over 100,000 sq. miles or more, making him the most powerful native ruler in West Africa. On September 29, 1898, while Samory was on his knees, outside of his tent praying. A French sergeant, and a French scout, crept upon him from behind, captured and exiled him to an island for life.

Emperor Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ, "Power of the Trinity," full title "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings and Elect of God," Ge'ez ግርማዊ፡ ቀዳማዊ፡ አፄ፡ ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ፡ ሞዓ፡ አንበሳ፡ ዘእምነገደ፡ ይሁዳ፡ ንጉሠ፡ ነገሥት፡ ዘኢትዮጵያ፡ ሰዩመ፡ እግዚአብሔር girmāwī ḳadāmāwī 'aṣē ḫāyllē śillāsē, mō'ā 'anbassā za'imnaggada yīhūda nigūsa nagast za'ītyōṗṗyā, siyūma 'igzī'a'bihēr) (born Lij Tafari Makonnen Ge'ez ልጅ፡ ተፈሪ፡ መኮንን, Amh. pronunciation lij teferī mekōnnin, and also Jahnoy July 23, 1892 – August 27, 1975) was de jure Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974 and de facto from 1916 to 1936 and 1941 to 1974 and is known as the religious symbol for God incarnate among the Rastafari movement.

Early life
Haile Selassie I was born Tafari Makonnen on July 23, 1892, in the village of Ejersa Goro, in the Harar province of Ethiopia, as Lij (literally "child", usually bestowed upon nobility). His father was Ras Makonnen Woldemikael Gudessa, the governor of Harar, and his mother was Weyziro (Lady) Yeshimebet Ali Abajifar. He inherited his imperial blood through his paternal grandmother, Princess Tenagnework Sahle Selassie, who was an aunt of Emperor Menelik II, and as such, claimed to be a direct descendant of Makeda, the queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of ancient Israel. Emperor Haile Selassie had an elder half-brother, Dejazmach Yilma Makonnen, who preceded him as governor of Harar, but died not long after taking office.

Tafari became Dejazmach at age thirteen. Shortly thereafter, his father Ras Makonnen died at Kulibi. Although it seems that his father had wanted him to inherit his position of governor of Harar, Emperor Menelik found it imprudent to appoint such a young boy to such an important position. Dejazmach Tafari's older half-brother, Dejazmach Yilma Makonnen was made governor of Harar instead.

King Thothmes III, mightiest conqueror of Far Antiquity. He was the son of Thothmes I, and a slave woman named Isis. Nevertheless, he forged ahead of those nobler born and won supreme power not only in Egypt, but in all the known world.

Thothmes III's, early quest for power failed in the long struggle for the throne with his sister, Hatshepsut, for whom he was no match. After her death, he emerged from the background to reign in an even more dazzling manner than her.

Once seated on the throne, he continued the conquests begun by his mighty ancestor, Aahmes. Thothmes III, brought back to Egypt, the Kings of other nations to grace his triumphs, and such wealth of golden thrones, royal chariots, gold, jewels, and cattle as had never fallen to Egypt. Utterly fearless, he once attacked an elephant in battle, single-handed.

Unlike most conquerors of antiquity, Thothmes III, it seems was merciful, and spared the conquered instead of putting the old and decrepit to the sword.

Thothmes III, built many temples. He died at the age of eighty-two, after a magnificent reign.

King Amen-Hetep III, had a very deep and unusual affection for Queen Tiye. In addition to the usual titles of a King's wife, Tiye is described as "Royal" daughter and "Royal" sister, when she was neither the daughter or the sister of a king, but of parents who were not of royal lineage.

The full queenly titles which Tiye held in common with the great heiress princesses of Egypt, were bestowed on her by Amen-Hetep III, and were honorary.

Although Tiye was a girl of common birth, she was a person of very strong character. Evident from records, she was a beautiful young African queen. A woman of great intellect, ability, and a powerful influence. She shared the crown with her husband as though she had been its lineal heiress. Queen Tiye had such an important part in the affairs of Egypt, that foreign diplomats often appealed directly to her in matters affecting certain international relations.

Queen Tiye was a full-blooded African. Her son, Akhenaton and his wife, Nefertiti are the parents of King Tutankhamen , who is also known as "King Tut."

As a symbol of the love Amen-Hetep III, had for Queen Tiye, he declared that so she was treated in life as his equal, she would be depicted in death. At the time of her death, she was given a full "Royal" burial.

The Slave Who Defeated Napoleon

Napoleon was one of the greatest generals who ever lived. But at the end of the 18th century a self-educated slave with no military training drove Napoleon out of Haiti and led his country to independence.

The remarkable leader of this slave revolt was Toussaint Breda (later called Toussaint L'Ouverture, and sometimes the “black Napoleon”). Slave revolts from this time normally ended in executions and failure – this story is the exception.

It began in 1791 in the French colony of Saint Dominique (later Haiti). Though born a slave in Saint Dominique, Toussaint learned of Africa from his father, who had been born a free man there. He learned that he was more than a slave, that he was a man with brains and dignity. He was fortunate in having a liberal master who had him trained as a house servant and allowed him to learn to read and write. Toussaint took full advantage of this, reading every book he could get his hands on. He particularly admired the writings of the French Enlightenment philosophers, who spoke of individual rights and equality.

In 1789 the French Revolution rocked France. The sugar plantations of Saint Dominique, though far away, would never be the same. Spurred on by such Enlightenment thinkers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the early moderate revolutionaries considered seriously the question of slavery. Those moderate revolutionaries were not willing to end slavery but they did apply the "Rights of Man" to all Frenchmen, including free blacks and mulattoes (those of mixed race). Plantation owners in the colonies were furious and fought the measure. Finally the revolutionaries gave in and retracted the measure in 1791.

The news of this betrayal triggered mass slave revolts in Saint Dominique, and Toussaint became the leader of the slave rebellion. He became known as Toussaint L'Ouverture (the one who finds an opening) and brilliantly led his rag-tag slave army. He successfully fought the French (who helped by succumbing to yellow fever in large numbers) as well as invading Spanish and British.

By 1793, the revolution in France was in the hands of the Jacobins, the most radical of the revolutionary groups. This group, led by Maximilian Robespierre, was responsible for the Reign of Terror, a campaign to rid France of “enemies of the revolution.” Though the Jacobins brought indiscriminate death to France, they were also idealists who wanted to take the revolution as far as it could go. So they again considered the issue of “equality” and voted to end slavery in the French colonies, including what was now known as Haiti.

There was jubilation among the blacks in Haiti, and Toussaint agreed to help the French army eject the British and Spanish. Toussaint proved to be a brilliant general, winning 7 battles in 7 days. He became a defacto governor of the colony.

In France the Jacobins lost power. People finally tired of blood flowing in the streets and sent Maximilian Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, to the guillotine, ending the Reign of Terror. A reaction set in. The French people wanted to get back to business. More moderate leaders came and went, eventually replaced by Napoleon, who ruled France with dictatorial powers. He responded to the pleas of the plantation owners by reinstating slavery in the French colonies, once again plunging Haiti into war.

By 1803 Napoleon was ready to get Haiti off his back: he and Toussaint agreed to terms of peace. Napoleon agreed to recognize Haitian independence and Toussaint agreed to retire from public life. A few months later, the French invited Toussaint to come to a negotiating meeting will full safe conduct. When he arrived, the French (at Napoleon's orders) betrayed the safe conduct and arrested him, putting him on a ship headed for France. Napoleon ordered that Toussaint be placed in a prison dungeon in the mountains, and murdered by means of cold, starvation, and neglect. Toussaint died in prison, but others carried on the fight for freedom.

Six months later, Napoleon decided to give up his possessions in the New World. He was busy in Europe and these far-away possessions were more trouble than they were worth. He abandoned Haiti to independence and sold the French territory in North America to the United States (the Louisiana purchase).

Years later, in exile at St. Helena, when asked about his dishonorable treatment of Toussaint, Napoleon merely remarked, "What could the death of one wretched Negro mean to me?"

See Black Jacobians -- C.L.R. James

HOW HAITI GOT POOR

Between 1911 and 1915, seven presidents were assassinated or overthrown in Haiti, increasing U.S. policymakers fear of "foreign intervention".In 1914, the Wilson Administration sent marines into Haiti who removed $500,000 from the Haitian National Bank in December of 1914 for safe-keeping in New York, thus giving the U.S. *control of the bank*(and country!). In 1915, Haitian president Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was assassinated and the situation in Haiti quickly became "unstable". In response, President Wilson sent the U.S. Marines to Haiti, claiming the invasion was an attempt to prevent" anarchy". In reality the Wilson administration was protecting U.S. assets in the area and preventing a possible" German invasion". The U.S saw Germany as its prime "competition" in the Carribbean at that time.~~~~~
The Marines that were dispatched to Haiti came from Camp Lejeune,N.Carolina. Pres. Woodrow Wilson's statement to the press for being so "specific" in his request for this particular group was,"Southern white men will know how to deal with those Negroes!".

Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye set up the Yantaru educational system for women was the most advanced educational system for women in the whole if the African continent. And because it still exists it remains the oldest! Jean Boyd and Beverly Mack have done seminal research in that area. There were two men who brought about social reform when it comes to women their education and rights - they were Uthman Dan Fuduye and Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi. In Northern Nigeria and in Sudan there are women institutions which go back to there era in an unbroken line of transmission!

Shaihu Usman dan Fodio (Arabic: عثمان بن فودي ، عثمان دان فوديو‎) (also referred to as Shaikh Usman Ibn Fodio or Shehu Usman dan Fodio, 1754 - 1817) was a writer and Islamic reformer. Dan Fodio was one of a class of urbanized ethnic Fulani living in the Hausa city-states in what is today northern Nigeria. He lived in the city-state of Gobir. He is considered an Islamic revivalist; he encouraged the education of women in religious matters, and several of his daughters emerged as scholars and writers.(African And Islamic Revival, John Hundwick)

Training

Dan Fodio was well-educated in classical Islamic science, philosophy and theology and became a revered religious thinker. His teacher, Jibril ibn 'Umar argued that it was the duty and within the power of religious movements to establish the ideal society, free from oppression and vice. Dan Fodio used his influence to secure approval to create a religious community in his hometown of Degel that would, dan Fodio hoped, be a model town.

Spreading Islam

However, in 1802, the ruler of Gobir and one of dan Fodio's students, Yunfa turned against him, revoking Degel's autonomy and attempting to assassinate dan Fodio. Dan Fodio and his followers fled into the western grasslands where they turned to help from the local Fulani nomads. Yunfa turned for aid to the other leaders of the Hausa states, warning them that dan Fodio could trigger a widespread Jihad.

Yunfa proved right and dan Fodio was proclaimed Amir al-Muminin or Leader of the Faithful.[1] This, in effect made him political as well as religious leader, giving him the authority to declare and pursue a Jihad, raising an army and becoming its commander. A widespread uprising began in Hausaland. This uprising was largely composed of the Fulani, who held a powerful military advantage with their cavalry. It was also widely supported by the Hausa peasantry who felt over-taxed and oppressed by their rulers.

After only a few short years of the Fulani War, dan Fodio found himself in command of the largest state in Africa, the Fulani Empire. Dan Fodio worked to establish an efficient government, one grounded in Islamic law. Already aged at the beginning of the war, dan Fodio retired in 1815 passing the title of Sultan of Sokoto to his son Muhammed Bello.

Sheikh Uthman dan Fodio was a follower of the Maliki school in law and the Qadiri order in Sufism.

Dan Fodio's uprising inspired a number of later West African jihads, including those of Massina Empire founder Seku Amadu, Toucouleur Empire founder El Hadj Umar Tall (who married one of dan Fodio's granddaughters), Wassoulou Empire founder Samori Ture, and Adamawa Emirate founder Modibo Adama.

Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.These are the words of Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, distinguished Black author, editor, publisher, and historian (December 1875 - April 1950). Carter G. Woodson believed that Blacks should know their past in order to participate intelligently in the affairs in our country. He strongly believed that Black history - which others have tried so diligently to erase - is a firm foundation for young African Americans to build on in order to become productive citizens of our society.

Known as the "Father of Black History," Carter G. Woodson holds an outstanding position in early 20th century American history. Woodson authored numerous scholarly books on the positive contributions of Blacks to the development of America. He also published many magazine articles analyzing the contributions and role of African Americans. He reached out to schools and the general public through the establishment of several key organizations and founded Negro History Week (precursor to Black History Month). His message was that Africans should be proud of their heritage and that other Americans should also understand it.
Carter G. Woodson was born in New Canton, Buckingham County, Virginia, to former slaves Anne Eliza (Riddle) and James Henry Woodson. Although his parents could neither read nor write, Carter G. Woodson credits his father for influencing the course of his life. His father, he later wrote, insisted that "learning to accept insult, to compromise on principle, to mislead your fellow man, or to betray your people, is to lose your soul."
His father supported the family on his earnings as a carpenter. As one of a large and poor family, young Carter G. Woodson was brought up without the "ordinary comforts of life." He was not able to attend school during much of its five-month term because helping on the farm took priority over a formal education. Determined not to be defeated by this setback, Carter was able "largely by self-instruction to master the fundamentals of common school subjects by the time he was seventeen." Ambitious for more education, Carter and his brother Robert Henry moved to Huntington, West Virginia, where they hoped to attend the Douglass High School. However, Carter was forced to earn his living as a miner in Fayette County coal fields and was able to devote only a few months each year to his schooling. In 1895, a twenty-year-old Carter entered Douglass High School, where he received his diploma in less than two years.

Near the end of the 19th century, the British exiled King Prempeh from the hinterlands of the gold coast (present day Ghana), in an attempt to take over. By 1900, still not gaining control, the British sent a governor to the city of Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti, to demand the Golden Stool, the Ark of the covenant of the Ashanti people.

The Golden Stool was the supreme symbol of the sovereignty and the independence of the Ashanti, a fierce and warlike people who inhabit dense rain forests of what is now the Central portion of Ghana. The Governor in no way understood the sacred significance of the Stool, which according to tradition, contained the soul of the Ashanti.

Yaa Asantewa was present at the meeting with the governor and chiefs. When the meeting ended, and she was alone with the Ashanti Chiefs, she said, "Now I have seen that some of you fear to fight for our King. If it were in the brave days of old, the days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anoyke and Opulu Ware, Ashanti Chiefs would not sit down to see their King taken away without firing a shot. No white man could have dared speak to Ashanti Chiefs in the way the Governor spoke to you chiefs this morning."

Yaa Asantewa's speech stirred up the men, she said "If you men will not go forward, then we the women will. I will call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men until the last of us falls in the battlefields. The Ashantis, led by Yaa Asantewa, fought very bravely.

The British sent 1400 soldiers with guns to Kumasi, capturing Yaa Asantewa and other leaders and sent them into exile. The war with the British started in 1805 and ended some 100 years later. Yaa Asantewa's War was the last major war led by an African woman.

Al-Mansur's father was African and Arab, but his mother was a pure African slave, believed to have been from Timbuctoo or Senegal.

Al-Mansur, came to the throne after his father was killed in Portugal in 1184. He promised revenge for his father's death, but fighting with the Almohads, who were ousted from the throne, delayed him in Africa. After defeating the Almohads again, he sent out for Spain to avenge his father's death. Landing in Spain, defeating and capturing all major cities, Al-Mansur, returned to Africa with three thousand Christian captives, young women and children.

When the Christians in Spain, most of whom were white, and of German descent, heard of Al-Mansur's absence to Africa, revolted, capturing many of the Moorish cities, including Silves, Vera, and Beja. When Al-Mansur heard this news, he returned to Spain, and defeated the Christians again. This time, many were taken in chained groups of fifty each, and later sold in Africa as slaves.

Again, while Al-Mansur was away in Africa, the Christians mounted the largest army of that time period of over 300,000 men to defeat Al- Mansur. Immediately upon hearing this, Mansur returned to Spain and defeated Alphonso's army, killing 150,000, taking money, valuables and other goods beyond calculation.

In addition to being one of the greatest military leaders in history. Al-Mansur was a lover of the arts. His reign is responsible for the building of the famous Mosque at Granada and Cordova, which still stands today.

Yohannes IV of Ethiopia (1831-1889)

Emperor Yohannes IV (or Yohannis IV Ge'ez ዮሓንስ Yōḥānnis, Amh. Yōhānnis, "John," c.1831 - March 10, 1889), also known as "Johannes IV" or "John IV," born Dejazmach Kassay (ካሳይ "my restitution") or Ras Kassa, was Nəgusä Nägäst of Ethiopia (1872 - 1889).

Early Life
Born the son of Mercha the Shum of Tembien, and his wife Woizero Silass Dimtsu (Amata Selassie) of Inderta, Dejazmatch Kassai could claim Solomonic blood through the line of his paternal grandmother Woizero Workewoha KaleKristoss of the Adwa family, herself the granddaughter of Ras Mikael Sehul of Adwa, a Prince of Tigray, and his wife Aster Eyasu, daughter of Empress Mantuab and her lover Melmal Eyasu. Melmal Eyasu was a Solomonic prince, and nephew of the widowed Empress Mentuab's husband Emperor Bakaffa. Kassai could also claim Solomonic descent more distantly through his father's Tembien family, also through a female link to the dynasty. Amata Selassie's father Dimtsu of Endarta belonged to the family which in late 1700s and early 1800s had held overlordship of Tigray, and her mother descended from dynasty of Shum of Agame. Mercha's mother the lady consort of Tembien was also a granddaughter of Suhul Mikael, whose family held Tigray's overlordship in throughout 18th century. Tigray in those days included most of what is today the modern state of Eritrea in addition to the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Rise to power A European sketch of Yohannes IVDejazmach Kassai was a sworn enemy of Emperor Tewodros II, and gave logistical and political support to the British forces who arrived to defeat Emperor Tewodros in 1868. In gratitude, the British gave Dejazmatch Kassai a large number of modern firearms as they withdrew following their victory at Magdala. This helped him to control the province of Tigray, and he became one of the three most powerful princes in Ethiopia (the others being Wagshum Gobeze of Lasta and Wag