African history is the oldest human history in the World. From Kemet to the present great leaders have shapped Africa and world history. This page is dedicated to remembering their noble deeds, learning from their mistakes and continuing their legacy. These Photos are courtesy of Underthissun, copyright Halaqah Photobase, Photography Owen 'Alik Shahadah & Betelihem Zelealem
African quoteIt is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.African quote- Steve Beko
African quoteThe most pathetic thing is for a slave who doesn't know that he is a slaveAfrican quote- Malcolm X
African quoteThose who have no fence around their land have no enemies. African quote- Brundi Proverb
African quoteAshes fly back in the face of him that throws them.African quote- Yoruba Proverb
African quoteIts takes a village to raise a childAfrican quote- Yoruba Proverb
African quoteFor far too long, a majority of Africans have been indifferent to misrepresentations about who they are.African quote- Childo Nwangwu
African quoteWe cannot have the oppressors telling the oppressed how to rid themselves of the oppressor.African quote- Kwame Ture
African quoteA cat may go to a monastery, but she still remains a cat.African quote- Ethiopian Proverb
African quoteMany words do not fill a basketAfrican quote- African Proverb
African quoteIt is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will dieAfrican quote- Steve Biko
African quoteHow can I turn from Africa and live?African quote- Derek Walcott
African quoteDon't set out on a journey using someone else's donkey.African quote- Somali proverb
African quoteThe battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself—the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us—that's where it's at.African quote- Jesse Owens
African quoteWe are all gifted, but we have to discover the gift, uncover the gift, nurture and develop the gift and use it for...the liberation struggle of our people.African quote- Farrakhan
African quoteEach and every one of you has the power, the will and the capacity to make a difference in the world in which you liveAfrican quote- Harry Belafonte
African quoteChange does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bentAfrican quote- Dr. Martin Luther
African quoteWhat kind of world do we live in when the views of the oppressed are expressed at the convenience of the rich?African quote- Owen 'Alik Shahadah
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African history is the oldest human history in the World. From Kemet to the present great leaders have shapped Africa and world history. This page is dedicated to remembering their noble deeds, learning from their mistakes and continuing their legacy.

This site is about those African kings and Queens and is part of the MOTHERLAND PROJECT. Main Photos are courtesy of Underthissun. For linguistic notes on pejorative words such as black people, tribe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Click here.

This site is a work in progress and is being updated and fact checked. Names may appear unde first name or last name e.g. Askia Muhammad (look in A and M).

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SPECIAL SECTIONS


Imhotep ] [ Uthman Dan Fodio ] [  Hatshepsut  ] [  Ezana ] [ Thothmes III  ] [  Queen Tiye  ] [  Akhenaton  ] [ Mansa Musa ] [Queen of Sheba  ] [  Piankhi & Taharqa  ] [  Aesop  ] [  Hannibal ] [  Yakub Al-Mansur  ] [  King Mutato  ] [  Muhammed Bello  ] [  Menelik  ] [ Sunni Ali Ber ] [ Haile Selassie] [ Ahmadou Bamba] [  Askia The Great  ] [  Nzinga  ] [  Mulai Ismael  ] [  Chaka  ] [  Samory Toure  ] [  The King Shark  ] [  Dohemian Female Army  ] [  Yaa Asantewau  ][  Yohannes IV  ] [Cetewayo  ] [ Umar Taal  ] [ Sundiata ] [ Sarki Burja  ] [ Al Jahiz  ] [ Toussaint L'Ouverture ] [ Edward Wilmot Blyden ]


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Akhenaton (1375-1358 B.C.)

Amenhotep IV , better known as "Akhenaton, the Heretic King," is in some respects, the most remarkable of the Pharaohs. The account of Akhenaton is not complete without the story of his beautiful wife, Nefertiti. Some archaeologist have referred to Nefertiti as Akhenaton's sister, some have said they were cousins. What is known is that the relationship between Akhenaton and Nefertiti was one of history's first well-known love stories.

At the prompting of Akhenaton and Nefertiti, the sculptors and the artists began to recreate life in its natural state, instead of the rigid and lifeless forms of early Egyptian art.

Akhenaton

After the death of his father, he came into full power in Egypt and took the name Akhenaton. He produced a profound effect on Egypt and the entire world of his day. Thirteen hundred years before Christ, he preached and lived a gospel of perfect love, brotherhood, and truth. Two thousand years before Muhammed, he taught the doctrine of the "One God." Three thousand years before Darwin, he sensed the unity that runs through all living things.

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Askia The Great (1538)

 

 

Muhammad Toure (Mohammed Ben Abu Bekr) had a few variation of his name. He was governor as well as the favored general of Sunni Ali Ber. He believed that he was entitled to the throne after Sunni Ali's death, rather than Ali's son, Abu Kebr.

With aid from the Muslim Scholars, Muhammad Toure took power from Sunni Ali Ber son. Claiming that the power was his by right of achievement, Muhammad attacked the new ruler a year later and defeated him in a historically bloody battle. When one of Sunni Ali's daughters heard the news, she cried out "Askia," which means "forceful one." This title was taken by Muhammad as his new name.

Askia began by consolidating his vast empire and establishing harmony among the conflicting religions and political elements. Under the leadership of Askia, the Songhay Empire flourished until it became one of the richest empires of that period.

A devout Muslim, Askia Mohammed I made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1496. One thousand infantry and a cavalry detachment of 500 horsemen accompanied him. He also took 300,000 gold pieces. In Mecca, Askia met the Caliph of Egypt. Askia requested that the Caliph appoint him as his representative in West Africa. The Caliph agreed. Askia Mohammed returned to Gao in 1497, with a new title. He was now the Caliph of the Western Sudan, spiritual ruler of all the West African Muslims.

The empire Askia inherited from the Sonni Dynasty was already massive, yet he expanded north, east and west by conquest. Ultimately it would cover an area about the same size as all of Europe. By 1514 his armies captured the Hausa Confederation of northern Nigeria. Next to capitulate was the city of Agades in Niger, and finally the regions to the far west of the empire around the Atlantic. As the kingdom grew into an empire, Askia Mohammed I came up with new methods of government, establishing a strongly centralised administration. Among the most important posts were the Minister of Treasury, the Minister of Tax Collection, the Minister of the Army and Navy, and the Minister of Trade and Industry. In some territories, the Askia allowed the regional kings to rule as they had before, just as long as they paid tribute. With his empire firmly established, Askia resumed his attack on his enemies, carrying the rule of Islam into new lands. Askia the Great, made Timbuctoo one of the world's greatest centers of commerce and learning.

With the vassal nations Songhay was about the size of the continental United States.  He went blind and was disposed by one of his sons (Askia Musa) and exile to an island in the Niger River. He was restored by one of his later Sons later. (Askia Ishaq). There were about 8 Askia in this line of rulers.

In other territories, the Askia created a parallel post to the local governor called the mondyo (i.e. inspector), who formed the official link to the imperial Songhai government. Askia Mohammed I died in 1538 after falling off his horse and drowning in a river. Oddly the river was at its lowest level because it was not rainy season. He was buried in a Step Pyramid at Gao. He is fondly remembered as Askia the Great.

 

 

Ahmadou Bamba (1850-1927)

Ahmadou Bamba Ahmadou Bamba (1850-1927) (Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke in Wolof, Shaykh Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Habīb Allāh in Arabic, also known as Khadīmu 'l-Rasūl or "The Servant of the Prophet" in Arabic, and as Sëriñ Tuubaa or "Holy Man of Tuubaa" in Wolof), Muslim Sufi religious leader in Senegal, founder of the large Mouride Brotherhood (the Muridiyya).

He was born in the village of Mbacké (Mbàkke Bawol in Wolof) in the Kingdom of Baol, the son of a marabout from the Xaadir (Qadriyya) brotherhood (the oldest in Senegal).Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba was a mystic and ascetic marabout who produced a prodigious quantity of poems and tracts on meditation, rituals, work, and Qur'anic study, and made good-luck amulets for his followers. Although he did not support the French conquest, he did not wage outright war on them as several prominent Tijaan marabouts had done.

The mission of rehabilitation of Islam

Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba is considered one of the greatest spiritual leaders in Senegal. He founded Mouridism. Mouridism advocates an aspiration to Allah the Almighty in accordance with the prophet's (Muhammad) message. In a struggle against the colonizer he did use peaceful way to restore the value of an Islam no longer practiced in a good way due to the oppressor influence. In other words, in a period where resistance was made by weapons, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba revolutionized the struggle by using his spiritual strength against the oppressor. The Koran and the Hadith were his weapons. His mission reveals two aspects: the aspiration to the rank of Servant privilege of the Prophet but also the rehabilitation of Islam.

Aesop (560 B.C.)

 

The influence of Aesop on the Western thoughts and morals is profound. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, and other great thinkers found inspiration in his words of wisdom. His writings have been translated into almost every language of the civilized world.

Aesop's was a Phygrian, in Asia Minor, a African slave, flat-nosed, thick lips, Black skin from which his name was contracted (Esop being the same as Ethiop).

Aesop's first master was Xanthus, who saw him in a market where he was for sale with two other slaves, a musician and an orator. Xanthus asked the musician what could he do? He replied "Anything." The orator to the same question replied, "Everything." Turning next to Aesop, "And what can you do?" "Nothing," Aesop replied. "Nothing," repeated Xanthus, and Aesop replied, "One of my companions says he can do anything, and the other says that he can do everything. That leaves me nothing." This is an example of the wit of Aesop .


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Ahmed Baba (1556-1627)

Ahmad Baba al-Massufi al-Tinbukti, full name Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ahmad al-Takruri Al-Massufi al-Tinbukti .

The Songhai Empire ruled about two thirds of West Africa, including the lands now called Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Northern Nigeria and Niger. When the Empire collapsed, due to an Arab and European invasion in 1591 AD, its intelligentsia were arrested by the conquerors and dragged in chains across the Sahara. One of these scholars was Professor Ahmed Baba. The author of 60 books, Professor Baba enjoyed a very high reputation. Amongst the Songhai, he was known as "The Unique Pearl of his Time". In a Moroccan text from the period, the praise for him was even more gushing. He is described as "the imam, the erudite, the high-minded, the eminent among scholars, Abu l-Abbas Ahmed Baba."

In Morocco, the Arab scholars petitioned to have him released from jail. He was released a year after his arrival on 9 May 1596. Major Dubois, a French author, narrates that: "All the believers were greatly pleased with his release, and he was conducted in triumph from his prison to the principal mosque of Marrakech. A great many of the learned men urged him to open a course of instruction. His first thought was to refuse, but overcome by their persistence he accepted a post in the Mosque of the Kerifs and taught rhetoric, law, and theology. An extraordinary number of pupils attended his lectures, and questions of the gravest importance were submitted to him by the magristracy, his decision always being treated as final."

Despite this adulation, Baba was careful to credit his learning to the Almighty and thus maintained his modesty. A Moroccan source tells of an audience he obtained with Al Mansur. It appears that the scholar gave the sultan something of a dressing down. Baba complained about the sultan's lack of manners, his ill treatment received during his original arrest, the sacking of his private library of 1600 books, and the destruction of the Songhai Empire. We are told by the Moroccan author that Al Mansur "being unable to reply to [any of] this, put an end to the audience."

The professor was detained in Morocco for a total of 12 years. Eventually he received permission from Al Mansur's successor to return to Songhai. Just before his departure across the desert, he vowed in the presence of the leading scholars of Marrakesh who had gathered to give him a send off, "May God never bring me back to this meeting, nor make me return to this country!" He returned to a devastated Timbuktu and died there in 1627.


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Abu Bakr II (c 14 Century)

Abu Bakr II ( also Mansa Abu Bakari II, or Mansa Mohammed) was the ninth mansa of the Mali Empire. He succeeded his nephew Mansa Mohammed ibn Gao and preceded Kankou Musa I. Abubakari II appears to have abdicated his throne (1311) in order to explore "the limits of the ocean"; however, his expedition never returned.

Ibn Fadlullah al-Umari (1300-1348), in his encyclopaedic work Masalik Al-Absar, relates a story obtained from the Mamluk governor of Cairo, Ibn Amir Hajib. While Mansa Musa was visiting Cairo as part of his pilgramate to Mecca, Ibn Amir Hajib asked how he had succeeded to the throne, and this is what Ibn Amir Hajib reported he was told: The ruler who preceded me did not believe that it was impossible to reach the extremity of the ocean that encircles the earth: he wanted to reach that (end) and was determined to pursue his plan. So he equipped two hundred boats full of men, and many others full of gold, water and provisions sufficient for several years. He ordered the captain not to return until they had reached the other end of the ocean, or until he had exhausted the provisions and water. So they set out on their journey. They were absent for a long period, and, at last just one boat returned. When questioned the captain replied:

'O Prince, we navigated for a long period, until we saw in the midst of the ocean a great river which flowing massively. My boat was the last one; others were ahead of me, and they were drowned in the great whirlpool and never came out again. I sailed back to escape this current.' But the Sultan would not believe him. He ordered two thousand boats to be equipped for him and his men, and one thousand more for water and provisions. Then he conferred the regency on me for the term of his absence, and departed with his men, never to return nor to give a sign of life

 


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Behanzin Hossu Bowelle "The King Shark" (1841-1906)

Behanzin Bowelle "The King Shark", was the most powerful of the West African Kings in the last years of the 19th Century. Behanzin was the absolute master of his kingdom. A nod of his head meant life or death for his subjects. Not many were permitted to see him do even the most common things.

While marching, if he wanted a drink of water, a screen needed to be placed over his face until he finished drinking. When the water was passed to him, the soldiers would throw themselves on the ground and say "A-h-h-h", as though they were also drinking. The saliva from Behanzin's mouth was not allowed to touch the ground.

Behanzin's army, with rifles supplied by the Germans, were getting too strong for neighboring French colonies. In 1890, Behanzin had defeated a French expedition and made France pay for the use of Cotonou port. He declared a treaty made with France by his father, Gli-Gli in 1868 null and void, from this war began.

In 1894, Behanzin was defeated by Colonel A.A. Dodds, a Senegalese -European, who was sent to fight against him with powerful French armed forces. Behanzin was exiled to Martinique. Behanzin died in 1906 in Algeria. In 1928, his son had his body moved to Dahomey.


 

Edward Wilmot Blyden

(1832-1912)

Ahmadou Bamba Ahmadou Bamba (1850-1927) (Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke in Wolof, Shaykh Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Habīb Allāh in Arabic, also known as Khadīmu 'l-Rasūl or "The Servant of the Prophet" in Arabic, and as Sëriñ Tuubaa or "Holy Man of Tuubaa" in Wolof), Muslim Sufi religious leader in Senegal, founder of the large Mouride Brotherhood (the Muridiyya).

Edward Blyden was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, on Aug. 3, 1832, of free, literate parents. A precocious youth, he early decided to become a clergyman. He went to the United States in May 1850 and sought to enter a theological college but was turned down because of his race. In January 1851 he emigrated to Liberia, a African American colony which had become independent as a republic in 1847.Blyden was the Liberian Secretary of State (1862-1864) and Minister of the Interior (1880-1882).

He continued his formal education at Alexander High School, Monrovia, whose principal he was appointed in 1858. In 1862 he was appointed professor of classics at the newly opened Liberia College, a position he held until 1871. Although Blyden was self-taught beyond high school, he became an able and versatile linguist, classicist, theologian, historian, and sociologist. From 1864 to 1866, in addition to his professorial duties, Blyden acted as secretary of state of Liberia.

From 1871 to 1873 Blyden lived in Freetown, Sierra Leone. There he edited Negro, the first explicitly pan-African journal in West Africa. He also led two important expeditions to Fouta Djallon in the interior. Between 1874 and 1885 Blyden was again based in Liberia, holding various high academic and governmental offices. In 1885 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Liberian presidency.

After 1885 Blyden divided his time between Liberia and the British colonies of Sierra Leone and Lagos. He served Liberia again in the capacities of ambassador to Britain and France and as a professor and later president of Liberia College. In 1891 and 1894 he spent several months in Lagos and worked there in 1896-1897 as government agent for native affairs.

While in Lagos he wrote regularly for the Lagos Weekly Record, one of the earliest propagators of Nigerian and West African nationalism. In Freetown, Blyden helped to edit the Sierra Leone News, which he had assisted in founding in 1884 "to serve the interest of West Africa ... and the race generally." He also had helped found and edit the Freetown West African Reporter (1874-1882), whose declared aim was to forge a bond of unity among English-speaking West Africans. Between 1901 and 1906 Blyden was director of Moslem/Muslim education; he taught English and "Western subjects" to Muslim youths with the object of building a bridge of communication between the Muslim and Christian communities. He died in Freetown on Feb. 7, 1912.

Writings, Ideas, and Hopes

Although Blyden held many important positions, it is more as a man of ideas than as a man of action that he is historically significant. He saw himself as a champion and defender of his race and in this role produced more than two dozen pamphlets and books, the most important of which are A Voice from Bleeding Africa (1856); Liberia's Offering (1862); The Negro in Ancient History (1869); The West African University (1872); From West Africa to Palestine (1873); Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race (1887), his major work; The Jewish Question (1898); West Africa before Europe (1905); and Africa Life and Customs (1908). His writings displayed conversancy with the main current of ideas as well as originality, and he was often controversial. He was critical of African-Americans who did not associate with Africa.

Blyden sought to prove that Africa and Africans have a worthy history and culture. He rejected the prevailing notion of the inferiority of the African man but accepted the view that each major race has a special contribution to make to world civilization. He argued that Christianity has had a demoralizing effect on Africans, while Islam has had a unifying and elevating influence.

Blyden's political goals were the establishment of a major modern West African state which would protect and promote the interests of peoples of African descent everywhere. He initially saw Liberia as the nucleus of such a state and sought to extend its influence and jurisdiction by encouraging selective "repatriation" from the Americas. He hoped, also in vain, that Liberia and adjacent Sierra Leone would unite as one nation. He was ambivalent about the establishment of European colonial rule; he thought that it would eventually result in modern independent nations in tropical Africa but was concerned about its damaging psychological impact. As a cultural nationalist, he pointed out that modernization was not incompatible with respect for African customs and institutions. He favored African names and dress and championed the establishment of educational and cultural institutions specifically designed to meet African needs and circumstances.

 

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Muhammed Bello (1815-1837)

Muhammed Bello (reigned 1815 - 1837) (Arabic: محمد بيلو) was the son and aide of Usman dan Fodio. He became the second Sultan of Sokoto following his father's 1815 retirement from the throne. Bello faced early challenges from dissident leaders such as 'Abd al-Salam, and rivalries between the key families of his father's jihad. Bello soon consolidated his rule by granting land and power to these leading Fulani families.

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Cetewayo "Zulu King" (d. 1884)

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.

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Chaka "Zulu King and Warrior" (1786-1828)

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.

African Kings and Queens

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


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The Dohemian Female Army (1841)

 

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:

Former amazons - Click to enlarge "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).

 


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Ezana of Axum (330-356 C.E)
 

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 .


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Fasilides (Alam Sagad) (1632-1667 C.E)

 

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 .


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Queen Hatshepsut (1500 B.C.)
 

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.)

hannible 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.


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Imhotep (2980 B.C.)

 

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

Imhotep, called "God of Medicine," "Prince of Peace," and a "Type of Christ." Imhotep was worshipped as a god and healer from approximately 2850 B.C. to 525 B.C., and as a full deity from 525 B.C. to 550 A.D. Even kings and queens bowed at his throne. Imhotep lived during the Third Dynasty at the court of King Zoser. Imhotep was a known scribe, chief lector, priest, architect, astronomer and magician (medicine and magic were used together.) For 3000 years he was worshipped as a god in Greece and Rome. Early Christians worshipped him as the "Prince of Peace."

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.


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Mulai Ismael (1647-1727)

 

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.


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Al Jahiz ( 781 – 868 )

 

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)

 


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Makeda "The Queen of Sheba" (960 B.C.)

In 960 B.C., the nation that is now called Ethiopia, came back upon the center of the stage of history. Ethiopia was then represented by a queen, who in some books is referred to as "Makeda" or "Belkis." She is better known to the world as the Queen of Sheba. In his book, "World's Great Men of Color," J.A. Rogers , gives this description: "Out of the mists of three thousand years, emerges this beautiful story of a AfricanQueen, who attracted by the fame of a Judean monarch, made a long journey to see him."

The Queen of Sheba is said to have undertaken a long and difficult journey to Jerusalem, in order to learn of the wisdom of the great King Solomon. Makeda and King Solomon were equally impressed with each other. Out of their relationship was born a son, Menelik I. This Queen is said to have reigned over Sheba and Arabia as well as Ethiopia. The queen of Sheba's capital was Debra Makeda, which the Queen built for herself.

In Ethiopia's church of Axum, there is a copy of what is said to be one of the Tables of Law that Solomon gave to Menelik I. The story of the Queen of Sheba is deeply cherished in Ethiopia, as part of the national heritage. This African Queen is mentioned in two holy books, the Bible and the Koran.


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Muhammed Bello (1815-1837)

  Muhammed Bello (reigned 1815 - 1837) (Arabic: محمد بيلو) was the son and aide of Usman dan Fodio. He became the second Sultan of Sokoto following his father's 1815 retirement from the throne. Bello faced early challenges from dissident leaders such as 'Abd al-Salam, and rivalries between the key families of his father's jihad. Bello soon consolidated his rule by granting land and power to these leading Fulani families.

Mansa Musa

 

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).

mansa musa hajj 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.

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In 1883, Negus Menelik married Taytu Betul, a noblewoman of Imperial blood, and a member of the leading families of the regions of Semien, Yejju in modern Wollo, and Begemder. Her paternal uncle Dejazmatch Wube Haile Maryam of Semien had been the ruler of Tigray and much of northern Ethiopia. She had been married four times previously and exercised considerable influence. Menelik and Taytu would have no children. Menelik had, previous to this marriage, sired not only Zauditu (eventually Empress of Ethiopia), but also another daughter, Shoaregga (who married Ras Mikael of Wollo), and a son Prince Wossen Seged who died in childhood.

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After the suicide of Tewodros II in 1868 following his defeat at the hands of the British at Magdalla, Menelek continued to struggle against the various other claimants to the Imperial throne. The eventual successor, the Emperor Yohannes IV was able to better exert his claims with the large number of weapons left to him by the British, whom he had aided against Tewodros. Being again unsuccessful, Menelek resolved to await a more propitious occasion; so, acknowledging the supremacy of Yohannes. In 1886 Menelik married his daughter Zauditu to the Emperor’s son, the Ras Araya Selassie. Ras Araya Selassie died in May 1888 without any issue by Zauditu of Shewa, and the Emperor Yohannis IV was killed in a war against the dervishes at the battle of Gallabat (Matemma) on May 10, 1889. The succession now lay between the late emperor’s natural son, Ras Mengesha, and Menelik of Shewa, but the latter was able to obtain the allegiance of a large majority of the nobility on November 4, and consecrated and crowned as Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia shortly afterwards. Menelek argued that while the family of Yohannes IV claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba through females of the dynasty, his own claim was based on uninterrupted direct male lineage which made the claims of the House of Shewa equal to those of the elder Gondar line of the dynasty.

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His reign as emperor
In 1889, at the time when he was claiming the throne against Mengesha, Menelek signed at Wuchale in Wollo province (Uccialli in Italian), a treaty with Italy acknowledging the establishment of the new Italian Colony of Eritrea with its seat at Asmara. This colony had previously been part of the northern Tigrayan territories from which ras Mangasha had generated support, and the establishment of the Italian colony weakened the Ras. However, it was soon found that the Italian version of one of the articles of the treaty placed the Ethiopian Empire under an Italian protectorate, while the Amharic version did not. Menelek denounced it, and after negotiations failed, abrogated it, leading Italy to declare war and invade from Eritrea. After defeating the Italians at Amba Alagi and Mekele, he inflicted an even greater defeat on them, in the Battle of Adowa on March 1, 1896, forcing them to capitulate. A treaty was signed recognizing the absolute independence of Ethiopia.

Menelek II's French sympathies were shown in a reported official offer of treasure towards payment of the indemnity at the close of the Franco-Prussian War, and in February 1897 he concluded a commercial treaty with France on very favorable terms. He also gave assistance to French officers who sought to reach the upper Nile from Ethiopia, there to join forces with the Marchand Mission; and Ethiopian armies were sent towards the Nile, but withdrew when the Fashoda Crisis between France and the United Kingdom cooled off. A British mission under Sir Rennell Rodd in May 1897, however, was cordially received, and Menelek agreed to a settlement of the Somali boundaries, to keep open to British commerce the caravan route between Zaila and Harrar, and to prevent the transit of munitions of war to the Mahdists, whom he proclaimed enemies of Ethiopia.

In the following year the Sudan was reconquered by an Anglo-Egyptian army and thereafter cordial relations between Menelek and the British authorities were established. In 1889 and subsequent years, Menelek sent forces to co-operate with the British troops engaged against a Somali leader, Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.

Menelek had in 1898 crushed a rebellion by Ras Mangasha (who died in 1906) and he directed his efforts henceforth to the consolidation of his authority, and in a certain degree, to the opening up of his country to western civilization. Menelek’s clemency to Ras Mangasha, whom he compelled to submit and then made hereditary Prince of his native Tigray, was ill repaid by a long series of revolts by that prince. Menelek focused much of his energy on development and modernization of his country after this threat to his throne was firmly ended. He had granted in 1894 a concession for the building of a railway to his capital from the French port of Djibouti, but, alarmed by a claim made by France in 1902 to the control of the line in Ethiopian territory, he stopped for four years the extension of the railway beyond Dire Dawa. When in 1906 France, the United Kingdom and Italy came to an agreement on the subject, granting control to a joint venture corporation, Menelek officially reiterated his full sovereign rights over the whole of his empire.

In May 1909 the emperor’s grandson Lij Iyasu (later Iyasu V) by his late daughter Shoaregga, then a lad of thirteen, was married to Romanework Mangasha (b. 1902), granddaughter of the Emperor Yohannes IV by his natural son Ras Mangasha, and was also the niece of Empress Taytu. Two days later Iyasu was publicly proclaimed at Addis Ababa as Menelek’s successor. At that time the emperor was seriously ill and as his ill-health continued, a council of regency — from which the empress was excluded — was formed in March 1910. Lij Iyasu's marriage to Romanework Mangasha was dissolved, and he married Seble Wongel Hailu, daughter of Ras Hailu, and granddaughter of Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam. Emperor Menelik believed that he could cure sick people by eating pages from the bible. It was to prove his downfall. On December 12, 1913 Emperor Menelek II died of a stroke.

 


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Emperor Menelik II (1844 - 1913)

menelik 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.

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In 1883, Negus Menelik married Taytu Betul, a noblewoman of Imperial blood, and a member of the leading families of the regions of Semien, Yejju in modern Wollo, and Begemder. Her paternal uncle Dejazmatch Wube Haile Maryam of Semien had been the ruler of Tigray and much of northern Ethiopia. She had been married four times previously and exercised considerable influence. Menelik and Taytu would have no children. Menelik had, previous to this marriage, sired not only Zauditu (eventually Empress of Ethiopia), but also another daughter, Shoaregga (who married Ras Mikael of Wollo), and a son Prince Wossen Seged who died in childhood.

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After the suicide of Tewodros II in 1868 following his defeat at the hands of the British at Magdalla, Menelek continued to struggle against the various other claimants to the Imperial throne. The eventual successor, the Emperor Yohannes IV was able to better exert his claims with the large number of weapons left to him by the British, whom he had aided against Tewodros. Being again unsuccessful, Menelek resolved to await a more propitious occasion; so, acknowledging the supremacy of Yohannes. In 1886 Menelik married his daughter Zauditu to the Emperor’s son, the Ras Araya Selassie. Ras Araya Selassie died in May 1888 without any issue by Zauditu of Shewa, and the Emperor Yohannis IV was killed in a war against the dervishes at the battle of Gallabat (Matemma) on May 10, 1889. The succession now lay between the late emperor’s natural son, Ras Mengesha, and Menelik of Shewa, but the latter was able to obtain the allegiance of a large majority of the nobility on November 4, and consecrated and crowned as Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia shortly afterwards. Menelek argued that while the family of Yohannes IV claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba through females of the dynasty, his own claim was based on uninterrupted direct male lineage which made the claims of the House of Shewa equal to those of the elder Gondar line of the dynasty.

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His reign as emperor
In 1889, at the time when he was claiming the throne against Mengesha, Menelek signed at Wuchale in Wollo province (Uccialli in Italian), a treaty with Italy acknowledging the establishment of the new Italian Colony of Eritrea with its seat at Asmara. This colony had previously been part of the northern Tigrayan territories from which ras Mangasha had generated support, and the establishment of the Italian colony weakened the Ras. However, it was soon found that the Italian version of one of the articles of the treaty placed the Ethiopian Empire under an Italian protectorate, while the Amharic version did not. Menelek denounced it, and after negotiations failed, abrogated it, leading Italy to declare war and invade from Eritrea. After defeating the Italians at Amba Alagi and Mekele, he inflicted an even greater defeat on them, in the Battle of Adowa on March 1, 1896, forcing them to capitulate. A treaty was signed recognizing the absolute independence of Ethiopia.

Menelek II's French sympathies were shown in a reported official offer of treasure towards payment of the indemnity at the close of the Franco-Prussian War, and in February 1897 he concluded a commercial treaty with France on very favorable terms. He also gave assistance to French officers who sought to reach the upper Nile from Ethiopia, there to join forces with the Marchand Mission; and Ethiopian armies were sent towards the Nile, but withdrew when the Fashoda Crisis between France and the United Kingdom cooled off. A British mission under Sir Rennell Rodd in May 1897, however, was cordially received, and Menelek agreed to a settlement of the Somali boundaries, to keep open to British commerce the caravan route between Zaila and Harrar, and to prevent the transit of munitions of war to the Mahdists, whom he proclaimed enemies of Ethiopia.

In the following year the Sudan was reconquered by an Anglo-Egyptian army and thereafter cordial relations between Menelek and the British authorities were established. In 1889 and subsequent years, Menelek sent forces to co-operate with the British troops engaged against a Somali leader, Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.

Menelek had in 1898 crushed a rebellion by Ras Mangasha (who died in 1906) and he directed his efforts henceforth to the consolidation of his authority, and in a certain degree, to the opening up of his country to western civilization. Menelek’s clemency to Ras Mangasha, whom he compelled to submit and then made hereditary Prince of his native Tigray, was ill repaid by a long series of revolts by that prince. Menelek focused much of his energy on development and modernization of his country after this threat to his throne was firmly ended. He had granted in 1894 a concession for the building of a railway to his capital from the French port of Djibouti, but, alarmed by a claim made by France in 1902 to the control of the line in Ethiopian territory, he stopped for four years the extension of the railway beyond Dire Dawa. When in 1906 France, the United Kingdom and Italy came to an agreement on the subject, granting control to a joint venture corporation, Menelek officially reiterated his full sovereign rights over the whole of his empire.

In May 1909 the emperor’s grandson Lij Iyasu (later Iyasu V) by his late daughter Shoaregga, then a lad of thirteen, was married to Romanework Mangasha (b. 1902), granddaughter of the Emperor Yohannes IV by his natural son Ras Mangasha, and was also the niece of Empress Taytu. Two days later Iyasu was publicly proclaimed at Addis Ababa as Menelek’s successor. At that time the emperor was seriously ill and as his ill-health continued, a council of regency — from which the empress was excluded — was formed in March 1910. Lij Iyasu's marriage to Romanework Mangasha was dissolved, and he married Seble Wongel Hailu, daughter of Ras Hailu, and granddaughter of Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam. Emperor Menelik believed that he could cure sick people by eating pages from the bible. It was to prove his downfall. On December 12, 1913 Emperor Menelek II died of a stroke.

 


King Mutato (1440)

 

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.


 

 

King Mosheshwe (in progress)

King Mosheshwe of the Sotho who expanded the empire of the Sotho during the Mfucane wars in what is presently South Africa. King Sibutwane descedant of Mosheshwe, the wise benevolent King who also created a vast nation state of the Barotse. Sibutwane his brother established the vast Barotse kingdom - expanding the Sotho nation further north. King Lewanika - a descendant there of, another benevolent of this lineage. He was great - diplomat and negotiator, he managed to wrangle a deal to turn Barotse into a British Protectorate to avoid becoming a vassal of the Portuguese and Dutch. Among the deals he demanded from the British to ensure the education of population and created the first schools in the area.

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Nat Turner (1800 – 1831)

 

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.


Ann Nzinga "Queen of Ndongo" (1582-1663)

 

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.


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Piankhi and Taharqa (715-656 B.C.)

 

 

Piankhi and Taharqa, led Ethiopia in an effort to regain control of Upper Egypt. With Thebes and most of Egypt under Asian control, a plan was launched by Piankhi and the Ethiopian generals to recover Thebes and once again, establish it as the capital.

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."

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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.


 

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Sunni Ali Ber (1464-1492)
 

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.

 


 

Sundiata of Mali (ruled 1230-1255 AD)

 

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.

 


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Samory Toure "Napoleon of the Sudan" (1830-1900)

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.

 


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Haile Selassie (1892-1975)
haile sellassie 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.

 

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Governor of Harar
Tafari was given the titular governorship of Sellale, although he did not administer the district directly. In 1907, he was appointed governor over part of the province of Sidamo. Following the death of his brother Dejazmach Yilma, Harar was granted to Menelik's loyal general, Dejazmach Balcha Saffo. However, the Dejazmach's time in Harar was not successful, and so during the last illness of Menelik II, and the brief tenure in power of Empress Taitu Bitul, Tafari Makonnen was made governor of Harar, and entered the city 11 April 1911. On 3 August of that year, he married Menen Asfaw of Ambassel, the niece of the heir to the throne, Lij Iyasu.

Regent
Although Dejazmach Tafari played only a minor role in the movement that deposed Lij Iyasu on 27 September 1916, he was its ultimate beneficiary. The primary powers behind the move were the conservatives led by Fitawrari Habte Giorgis Dinagde, Menelik II's long time war minister. Dejazmach Tafari was included in order to get the progressive elements of the nobility behind the movement, as Lij Iyasu was no longer regarded as the progressives' best hope for change. However, Iyasu's increasing flirtation with Islam, his disrespectful attitude to the nobles of his grandfather Menelik II, as well as his scandalous behavior in general, not only outraged the conservative power-brokers of the Empire, but alienated the progressive elements as well. This led to the deposition of Iyasu on grounds of conversion to Islam, and the proclamation of Menelik II's daughter (Iyasu's aunt) as Empress Zewditu. Dejazmach Tafari Makonnen was elevated to the rank of Ras, and was made heir apparent. In the power arrangement that followed, Tafari accepted the role of Regent (Inderase), and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire.

As regent, the new Crown Prince developed the policy of careful modernisation initiated by Menelik II, securing Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923, abolishing slavery in the empire in 1924. He engaged in a tour of Europe that same year, inspecting schools, hospitals, factories, and churches; this left such an impression on the future emperor that he devoted over forty pages of his autobiography to the details of his European journey. Also on this trip, while visiting the Armenian monastery in Jerusalem, the Crown Prince met 40 Armenian orphans (አርባ ልጆች Arba Lijoch, "forty children") who had escaped from the Armenian genocide in Turkey. They impressed him so much that he received permission from the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem to adopt and bring them to Ethiopia, where he arranged for them to receive musical instruction, and they formed the Imperial brass band. The 40 teenagers arrived in Addis Ababa on September 6, 1924, and along with their bandleader Kevork Nalbandian became the first official orchestra of the nation. Nalbandian composed the music for the Imperial National Anthem, Marsh Teferi (words by Yoftahé Negusé), which was official in Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974.[1]

King and Emperor
Empress Zewditu crowned him as negus ("king", in Amharic) in 1928, under pressure from the progressive party, following a failed attempt to remove him from power by the conservative elements. The crowning of Tafari Makonnen was very controversial, as he occupied the same immediate territory as the Empress, rather than going off to one of the regional areas traditionally known as Kingdoms within the Empire. Two monarchs, even with one being the vassal and the other the Emperor (in this case Empress), had never occupied the same location as their seat in Ethiopian history. Attempts to redress this "insult" to the dignity of the Empress' crown were attempted by conservatives including Dejazmach Balcha and others. The rebellion of Ras Gugsa Wele, husband of the Empress, was also in this spirit. He marched from his governorate at Gondar towards Addis Ababa but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Anchiem on March 31, 1930. News of Ras Gugsa's defeat and death had hardly spread through Addis Ababa, when the Empress died suddenly on April 2, 1930. Although it was long rumored that the Empress was poisoned upon the defeat of her husband, or alternately, that she collapsed upon hearing of his death and died herself, it has since been documented that the Empress had succumbed to an intense flu-like fever and complications from diabetes.

Following the Empress Zewditu's sudden death, Tafari Makonnen was made Emperor and proclaimed Neguse Negest ze-'Ityopp'ya ("King of Kings of Ethiopia"). He was crowned on November 2 as Emperor Haile Selassie I at Addis Ababa's Cathedral of St. George, in front of representatives from 12 countries. (Haile Selassie had been the baptismal name given to Tafari at his christening as an infant meaning "Power of the Holy Trinity.") The representatives included Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (son of British King George V, and brother to Kings Edward VIII, and George VI), Marshal Franchet d'Esperey of France, and the Prince of Udine representing Italy.

Upon his coronation as emperor and in keeping with the traditions of the Solomonic dynasty that had reigned in highland Ethiopia since 1297, Haile Selassie's throne name and title were joined to the imperial motto, so that all court documents and seals bore the inscription: "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered! Haile Selassie I, Elect of God King of Kings of Ethiopia". The use of this formula dates to the dynasty's Solomonic origins, as well as to the Christianized throne from the period of Ezana; all monarchs being required to trace their lineage back to Menelik I, who in the Ethiopian tradition was the offspring of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

By Empress Menen, the Emperor had six children: Princess Tenagnework, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen, Princess Tsehai, Princess Zenebework, Prince Makonnen and Prince Sahle Selassie.

Emperor Haile Selassie I also had an older daughter, Princess Romanework Haile Selassie, who was born from an earlier alleged union to Woizero Altayech. Little is known about his relationship with Altayech beyond that it allegedly occurred when the Emperor was in his late teens. Because His Majesty never once mentioned any previous marriage, either in his Autobiography or in any other writings, the possibility has been raised that the Princess was adopted. The Princess is listed among the Emperor's children in the official Imperial Family Tree published after his coronation[citation needed], and in every version since[citation needed]. She was granted the title of Princess and given the dignity of "Imperial Highness" upon the Emperor's coronation along with his other children, not something that would have been granted an illegitimate child.

The Emperor introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution on July 16, 1931, providing for an appointed bicameral legislature. It was the first time that non-noble subjects had any role in official government policy. However, the League's failure to stop Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 led him to five years in exile. The constitution also limited the succession to the throne to the descendants of Emperor Haile Selassie -- a detail that caused considerable unhappiness with other dynastic princes, such as the princes of Tigrai, and even his loyal cousin Ras Kassa Hailu.

War
Haile Selassie in 1942Following the 1936 Italian invasion of Ethiopia from its colonies in Eritrea and Somalia, Emperor Haile Selassie I made an attempt at fighting back the invaders personally. He joined the northern front by setting up headquarters at Desse in Wollo province. The Italians had the advantage of much better and a larger number of modern weapons, including a large airforce. The Italians also extensively used chemical warfare and bombed Red Cross tent hospitals, in violation of the Geneva Convention. Following the defeat of the northern armies of Ras Seyoum Mengesha and Ras Imru Haile Selassie I in Tigray, the Emperor made a stand against them himself at Maychew in southern Tigray. Although giving Italian pilots quite a scare[citation needed], his army was defeated and retreated in disarray, and he found himself being attacked by rebellious Raya and Azebu peoplesmen as well.

The Emperor made a solitary pilgrimage to the churches at Lalibela, at considerable risk of capture, before returning to his capital. After a stormy session of the council of state, it was agreed that because Addis Ababa could not be defended, the government would relocate to the southern town of Gore, and that in the interests of preserving the Imperial house, the Empress and the Imperial family should leave immediately by train for Djibouti and from there to Jerusalem. After further debate over whether the Emperor would also go to Gore or he should take his family into exile, it was agreed that the Emperor should leave Ethiopia with his family, and present the case of Ethiopia to the League of Nations at Geneva. The decision was not unanimous, and several participants angrily objected to the idea that an Ethiopian monarch should flee before an invading force. Some, like the progressive noble, Blatta Takele, an erstwhile ally of the Emperor, were to permanently hold a grudge against him for agreeing to leave the country. The Emperor appointed his cousin Ras Imru Haile Selassie as Prince Regent in his absence, departing with his family for Djibouti on May 2, 1936.

Marshal Pietro Badoglio led the Italian troops into Addis Ababa on May 5, and Mussolini declared King Victor Emanuel III Emperor of Ethiopia and Ethiopia an Italian province. On this occasion Marshal Pietro Badoglio (declared the first Viceroy of Ethiopia and made "Duke of Addis Ababa") returned to Rome and took with him Haile Selassie's throne as a "war trophy", converting it as his dog's couch. At Djibouti the Emperor boarded a British ship bound for Palestine. The Imperial family disembarked at Haifa, and then went on to Jerusalem where the Emperor and his officials prepared their presentation at Geneva.

Emperor Haile Selassie I was the only head of state to address the General Assembly of the League of Nations. When he entered the hall, and the President of the Assembly announced "Sa Majesté Imperiale, l'Empereur d'Ethiopie," the large number of Italian journalists in the galleries erupted in loud shouts, whistles and catcalls, stamping their feet and clapping their hands. As it turned out, they had earlier been issued whistles by the Italian foreign minister (and Mussolini's son-in-law) Count Galeazzo Ciano. The Emperor stood in quiet dignity while the Romanian President of the League, Nicolae Titulescu, remarked to the President of the Assembly, M. van Zeeland: "For the sake of justice, silence these beasts!"

The Emperor waited quietly for security to clear the Italian press out of the gallery, before commencing his speech. Although fluent in French, the working language of the League, the Emperor chose to deliver his historic speech in his native Amharic. The Emperor asked the League to live up to its promise of collective security. He spoke eloquently of the need to protect weak nations against the strong. He detailed the death and destruction rained down upon his people by the use of chemical agents. He reminded the League that "God and History would remember (their) judgement." He pleaded for help and asked "What answer am I to take back to my people?" [2]. His eloquent address moved all who heard it, and turned him into an instant world celebrity. He became Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" and an icon for anti-Fascists around the world. He failed, however, in getting what he needed to help his people fight the invasion: the League agreed to only partial and ineffective sanctions on Italy, and several members recognized the Italian conquest.

See also: Second Italo-Abyssinian War

Exile
Emperor Haile Selassie I spent his five years of exile (1936–1941) mainly in Bath, United Kingdom, in Fairfield House, which he bought. After his return to Ethiopia, he donated it to the city of Bath as a residence for the aged, and it remains so to this day. There are numerous accounts of "Haile Selassie was my next-door neighbour" among people who were children in the Bath area during his residence, and he attended Holy Trinity Church in Malvern (with the same dedication as Trinity Cathedral back in Ethiopia). The Emperor also spent extended periods in Jerusalem.

During this period, Emperor Haile Selassie I suffered several personal tragedies. His two sons-in-law, Ras Desta Damtew and Dejazmach Beyene Merid, were both executed by the Italians. His daughter Princess Romanework, along with her children, was taken in captivity to Italy, where she died in 1941. His grandson Lij Amha Desta died in Britain just before the restoration, and his daughter Princess Tsehai died shortly after.

1940s and 1950s
Haile Selassie I returned to Ethiopia in 1941, after Italy's defeat in Ethiopia by United Kingdom and Ethiopian patriot forces (see East African Campaign). After the war, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations (UN). In 1951, after a lengthy fact-finding inquiry by the allied powers and then the UN, the former Italian colony of Eritrea was federated to Ethiopia as a compromise between the sizable factions that wanted complete Union with the Empire, and those who wanted complete independence from it.

Despite his centralization policies that had been made before WWII, he still found himself unable to push for all the programs he wanted. In 1942, Haile Selassie attempted to institute a progressive tax scheme, but this failed due to opposition from the nobility, and only a flat tax was passed; in 1951 he agreed to reduce this as well. In addition, the land tax was generally passed by the land owners to the peasants. Despite his wishes, the tax burden remained primarily on the peasants.

Between 1948 and 1956, Haile Selassie took steps to widen the influence of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This was accomplished by obtaining permission from the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria to appoint the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, instead of the traditional system, where the head could only be appointed by the patriarch of Alexandria. The Ethiopian Church remained affiliated with the Alexandrian Church, however. He also created enough new bishoprics so that Ethiopians could elect their own patriarch. In addition to this, he changed the Ethiopian church-state relationship by introducing taxation of church lands, and by taking away the privilege of clergy to be tried in their own courts for civil offences.

In keeping with his cherished principle of collective security, for which he was an outspoken proponent, he sent a contingent under General Bully, known as the Kagnew Battalion, to take part in the UN Conflict in Korea where they fought valiantly against Communist forces in the defence of democratic South Korea.[neutrality disputed]

During the celebrations of his Silver Jubilee in November 1955, Haile Selassie I introduced a revised constitution, [3] whereby he retained effective power, while extending political participation to the people by allowing the lower house of parliament to become an elected body. Party politics were not provided for. Modern educational methods were more widely spread throughout the Empire, and the country embarked on a development scheme and plans for modernization, tempered by Ethiopian traditions, and within the framework of the ancient monarchical structure of the state.

Haile Selassie compromised when practical with the traditionalists in the nobility and church. He also tried to improve relations between the state and ethnic groups, and granted autonomy to Afar lands that were difficult to control. Still, his reforms to end feudalism were slow and weakened by the compromises he made with the entrenched aristocracy. This would be a key factor in the downfall of his regime.

Later years
Haile Selassie on a state visit to Washington, 1963On December 13, 1960, while the emperor was on a state visit to Brazil, his Imperial Guard forces staged an unsuccessful coup attempt, briefly proclaiming Haile Selassie I's eldest son Asfa Wossen as the new Emperor. The coup d'etat was crushed by the regular Army and police forces. The coup attempt (although lacking wide popular support, denounced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and crushed by the Army, Air and Police forces), gained support among students of the University and elements of the young educated technocrats in the country. It marked the beginning of an increased radicalization of Ethiopia's student population, and the University was in an almost constant state of protest against the regime for the next decade.[citation needed]

After the coup, Haile Selassie attempted to increase reform, especially in the form of land grants to military and police officials, however there was little organization to this effort.

Following this, he continued to be a staunch ally of the West, while pursuing a firm policy of decolonisation in Africa, which was still largely under European colonial rule at this time.

In 1962, he placed Eritrea under the Ethiopian Constitution. He had already governed the former Italian colony since 1950 by mandate, under a separate Constitution that had been written by the UN. This act of complete Union aggravated a struggle with the Eritrean independence movement that would continue long past his reign. This seccession movement also would polarize the Muslim and Christian communities, as would the seccession movement in the Ogaden as well as war with Somalia over the region.

In 1963 the Emperor presided over the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity, with the new organisation setting up its headquarters in Addis Ababa. As more and more African states won their independence, he played a pivotal role as a Panafricanist, and along with Modibo Keïta of Mali, was successful in negotiating the Bamako Accords, which brought an end to a border conflict between Morocco and Algeria.

In 1966, the Emperor attempted to create a more modern progressive tax that included registration of land that would significantly weaken the nobility. Even with alterations this law led to a revolt in Gojam which was repressed although enforcement of the tax was abandoned. This encouraged other landowners to defy the emperor, though on a lesser scale.

As in other countries, the increasingly radical student movement took hold in Haile Selassie University and high school campuses in the late 60s and early 70s, and student unrest became a regular feature of Ethiopian life. Marxism took root in large segments of the Ethiopian intelligentsia, particularly among those who had studied abroad and had been exposed to radical and left-wing sentiments that were becoming fashionable in other parts of the globe. Resistance by conservative elements at the Imperial Court and Parliament, in addition to within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, made the Emperor's proposals of widespread land reform policies difficult to implement, and also damaged the standing of the government. This bred resentment among the peasant population. Efforts to weaken unions also hurt his image. As these issues began to pile up, Haile Selassie left much of domestic governance to his Prime Minister, Aklilu Habte Wold, and concentrated more on foreign affairs.

Outside of Ethiopia, however, the Emperor continued to enjoy enormous prestige and respect. As the longest serving Head of State then in power, the Emperor was usually given precedence over all other leaders at most international state events, such as the celebration of the 2500 years of the Persian Empire, the summits of the Non-aligned movement, and the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle. His frequent travels around the world raised Ethiopia's international image.

A devastating drought in the Province of Wollo in 1972–73 caused a large famine which was covered up by local officials and kept from Haile Selassie I, who was celebrating his 80th birthday amidst much pomp and ceremony. When a BBC documentary exposed the existence and scope of the famine, the government was seriously undermined, and the Emperor's once unassailable personal popularity fell. Simultaneously, economic hardship caused by high oil prices and widespread military mutinies in the country further weakened him. Enlisted men began to seize their senior officers and held them hostage, demanding higher pay, better living conditions, and investigation of alleged widespread corruption in the higher ranks of the military. The Derg, a committee of low ranking military officers and enlisted men, set up to investigate the military's demands, took advantage of the government's disarray to depose Emperor Haile Selassie I on September 12, 1974. The Emperor was placed under house arrest briefly at the 4th Army Division in Addis Ababa, while most of his family were detained at the late Duke of Harrar's residence in the north of the capital. The Emperor was then moved to a house on the grounds of the old Imperial Palace where the new government set up its headquarters. Later, most of the Imperial family were imprisoned in the Central prison in Addis Ababa known as "Alem Bekagn", or "I am finished with the world".

On August 28, 1975, the state media reported that the "ex-monarch" Haile Selassie I had died on August 27, following complications from a prostate operation. His doctor, Professor Asrat Woldeyes denied that complications had occurred and rejected the government version of his death. Some believe that he was suffocated in his sleep. Witnesses came forward after the fall of the Marxist government in 1991, to reveal that the Emperor's remains had been buried beneath the president's personal office. On November 5, 2000 Emperor Haile Selassie I was given an Imperial funeral by the Ethiopian Orthodox church. The current post-communist government refused to give it the status of a state funeral. Although such prominent Rastafari figures such as Rita Marley and others participated in the grand funeral, most Rastafari rejected the event, and refused to accept that the bones unearthed from under Mengistu Haile Mariam's office were the remains of the Emperor.

The Rastafari
Cover of Time Magazine, November 3, 1930Among many followers of the Rastafari movement, which emerged in Jamaica during the 1930s under the influence of Marcus Garvey's "Back to Africa" movement, Haile Selassie I is seen as God incarnate, the African Messiah who will lead the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora to freedom. His official titles, King of kings, Lord of lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and Root of David, are seen to be the titles of the returned Messiah in the New Testament Book of Revelation. The faith in the incarnate divinity of Emperor Haile Selassie I began after news reports of his coronation reached Jamaica, particularly via the two Time magazine articles about the coronation the week before and the week after the event. He is considered to be the King and God before whom no other shall stand. Selassie's own spiritual teachings permeate the philosophy of the movement.

When Haile Selassie I visited Jamaica on April 21, 1966, somewhere between one and two hundred thousand Rastafari from all over Jamaica descended on Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, having heard that the man whom they considered to be God was coming to visit them. Ganja was widely and openly smoked. When Haile Selassie I arrived at the airport he refused to get off the aeroplane for an hour until Mortimer Planner, a well known Rasta, persuaded him that it was safe to do so. From then on the visit was a success. Rita Marley, Bob Marley's wife, converted to the Rastafarian faith after seeing Haile Selassie I. She claimed, in interviews, that she saw scars on the palms of Selassie's hands (as he waved to the crowd) that resembled the envisioned markings on Christ's hands from being nailed to the cross- a claim that was never supported by other sources, but nonetheless, a claim that was used as evidence for her and other Rastafarians to suggest that Selassie I was indeed their Messiah.

Haile Selassie I's attitude to the Rastafarians
Haile Selassie I had no role in organising or promoting the Rastafari movement which for many Rastas is seen as proof of his divinity in that he was no false prophet claiming to be God in order to enjoy the benefits of being a cult leader. He was a devout member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, as demanded by his political role in Ethiopia, and it was his role as Emperor of Ethiopia that he devoted his life to. His publicly known views towards the Rastafarians varied from sympathy to polite interest.

Yet in his speeches and writings there is substantial material about the spiritual life, and he addressed his audience in the tone of a spiritual teacher. For instance, he wrote "Knowing that material and spiritual progress are essential to man, we must work ceaselessly for the attainment of both...No one should question the faith of others, for no human can judge the ways of God". During the Emperor's visit to Jamaica, he told Rastafari community leaders that they should not emigrate to Ethiopia until they had liberated the people of Jamaica. On another occasion Selassie said "We have been a child, a boy, a youth, an adult, and finally an old man. Like everyone else. Our Lord the Creator made us like everyone else," (in an interview with Oriana Fallaci, Chicago Tribune, June 24, 1973) and the Rastafarians do see Selassie as man incarnate. On numerous occasions Selassie expressed his belief in his faith, stating that one is doomed apart from faith in Christ, who in the Tewahido faith is considered both man and God: "A rudderless ship is at the mercy of the waves and the wind, drifts wherever they take it and if there arises a whirlwind it is smashed against the rocks and becomes as if it has never existed. It is our firm belief that a soul without Christ is bound to meet with no better fate." (One Race, One Gospel, One Task, address to the World Evangelical Congress, Berlin, October 28, 1966). He also encouraged religious freedom and tolerance. "Since nobody can interfere in the realm of God we should tolerate and live side by side with those of other faiths… We wish to recall here the spirit of tolerance shown by Our Lord Jesus Christ when He gave forgiveness to all including those that crucified Him." (op. cit.).

In order to help the Rastas and their aspirations of returning to Africa the Emperor donated a piece of land at Shashamane, 250 km south of Addis Ababa, for the use of Jamaican Rastafarians and there is a community there to this day.

 


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T

RETURN


 

Umar Tal (1864-1538)

Umar Tal, Umar Taal "Umar Futi", al-Hajj Umar ibn Sa'id Tal, or el-Hadj Omar ibn Sa'id Tal

The third major western African jihad of the 19th century was that of al-Hajj 'Umar Tal (c. 1797–1864), a Tukulor cleric from the Fouta-Toro. As a young man, 'Umar went on the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca (hence the honorific al-Hajj), and in all spent some 20 years away from his homeland. Twelve of these were spent at Sokoto, where he married a daughter of Bello's.

In 1848, El Hajj Umar Tall's Toucouleur army, equipped with European light arms, invaded several neighboring, non-Muslim, Malinké regions and met with immediate success. Umar Tall pressed on into what is today the region of Kayes in Mali, conquering a number of cities and building a tata (fortification) near the city of Kayes that is today a popular tourist destination.

In April of 1857, Umar Tall declared war on the Khasso kingdom and besieged the French colonial army at Medina Fort. The siege failed on July 18 of the same year when Louis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrived with relief forces.

Conqueror of the Bambara
After his failure to defeat the French, El Hadj Umar Tall launched a series of assaults on the Bambara kingdoms of Kaarta and Ségou. The Kaarta capital of Nioro du Sahel fell quickly to Umar Tall's mujahideen, followed by Ségou on March 10, 1861.

While Umar Tall's wars thus far had been against the animist Bambara or the Christian French, he now turned his attention to the smaller Islamic states of the region. Installing his son Ahmadu Tall as imam of Ségou, Umar Tall marched down the Niger, on the Massina imamate of Hamdullahi. More than 70,000 died in the three battles that followed until the final fall and destruction of Hamdullahi on March 16, 1862.

Death and legacy
Now controlling the entire Middle Niger, Umar Tall moved against Timbuktu, only to be repulsed in 1863 by combined forces of the Tuaregs, Moors, and Fulani peoples. Meanwhile, a rebellion broke out in Hamdullahi under Balobo, brother of executed Massina monarch Amadu Amadu; in 1864, Balobo's combined force of Peuls (Fulani) and Kountas drove Umar Tall's army from the city and into Bandiagara, where Umar Tall died in an explosion of his gunpowder reserves on February 12. His nephew Tidiani Tall succeeded him as the Toucouleur emperor, though his son Ahmadu Seku did much of the work to keep the empire intact from Ségou. However, the French continued to advance, finally entering Ségou itself in 1890.

El Hadj Umar Tall remains a legendary figure in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, though his legacy varies by country. Where the Senegalese tend to remember him as a hero of anti-French resistance, Malian sources tend to describe him as an invader who prepared the way for the French by weakening West Africa. Umar Tall also figures prominently in Maryse Condé's historical novel Segu.


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Thothmes III (1504-1450 B.C.)

 

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.


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Queen Tiye (1415-1340 B.C.)

  This celebrated Nubian queen was the beloved and honored wife of Amen-Hetep III , who was one of the world's mightiest Pharaohs and conquerors.

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.
tiye

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.


Toussaint L'Ouverture (20 May 1743 – 8 April 1803)

 

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!".

CLICK: EXPAND/CLOSE
Some say that the money that was taken from the National Bank in Port-au-Prince actually totaled between 20 - 60M dollars U.S.! These same Marines actually robbed the National Bank,walking in fully armed and demanding the funds!... See More
Another important fact is that this money was not paper dollars, it was gold bullion! 1914 was the same year that WWI started and many countries began to move toward a Gold Standard that became final for the U.S. in 1933,when gold coins were recalled from circulation by the U.S. government.In 1929, a series of strikes and uprisings (dubbed the Caco or Chaco Revolts) led the United States to begin withdrawal from Haiti. In 1930, U.S. officials began training Haitian officials "to take control of the government". In 1934, the United States, in concert with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy, officially withdrew from Haiti while retaining *economic connections* that are still in place today. THIS REMAINS THE LONGEST MILITARY ACTION IN U.S. HISTORY!!!”

The clear fact is, the imperialist West, built upon a system of white supremacy, NEVER forgave the Haitian people for having the gall to free themselves from bondage. Furthermore, the idea of a strong, economically stable, independent Afrikan republic in the Americas was more than they could stomach and they did and continue to do anything in their power to prevent that from happening, using debt, political meddling and isolation as the main weapon. The achievements of the Haitian people and the Maroon movements also inspired a number of slave rebellions across the Americas. Make no mistake about it, Afrikans weren’t emancipated by others, they emancipated themselves. The ‘abolitions’ were little more than a response to the mass rebellions that were sweeping across the ‘New World’. Haiti started all that, and the Haitian people have been made to pay for their bravery and courage ever since. Now the Proud Haitian people are more vulnerable to the Western vampires circling around the nation than they have ever been. Whilst all genuine assistance to Haiti should be appreciated, and as well as continuing to assist our people in Haiti, we must monitor the actions of the US government and its Trojan Horse leader very closely from now on, as well as the French and all the other Western governments, who have had a 200-year score to settle with the proud people of Haiti.


 


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U

Shehu Usman dan Fodio (Fodiwa)

 

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.


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Carter Woodson

 
carter WOODSON

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.

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From 1897 to 1900, Carter G. Woodson began teaching in Winona, Fayette County. In 1900, he returned to Huntington to become the principal of Douglass H.S.; he finally received his Bachelor of Literature degree from Berea College, Kentucky. From 1903 to 1907, he was a school supervisor in the Philippines. Later he traveled throughout Europe and Asia and studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris. In 1908, he received his M.A. from the University of Chicago, and in 1912, he received his Ph.D. in history from Harvard University.

Woodson's work endures in the institutions and activities he founded and promoted. In 1915, he and several friends in Chicago established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. The following year, the Journal of Negro History appeared, one of the oldest learned journals in the United States. In 1926, he developed Negro History Week and in 1937 published the first issue of the Negro History Bulletin.
Dr. Woodson often said that he hoped the time would come when Negro History Week would be unnecessary; when all Americans would willingly recognize the contributions of Black Americans as a legitimate and integral part of the history of this country. Dr. Woodson's outstanding historical research influenced others to carry on his work. Among these have been such noted historians as John Hope Franklin, Charles Wesley, and Benjamin Quarles. Whether it's called Black history, Negro history, Afro-American history, or African American history, his philosophy has made the study of Black history a legitimate and acceptable area of intellectual inquiry. Dr. Woodson's concept has given a profound sense of dignity to all Black Americans.

CHRONOLOGY of DR. WOODSON'S LIFE

DATE
EVENT
1875, Dec. 19
Birth, New Canton, Virginia
1892
Left home to work on the railroad and then in the mines
1893
Family moved to Huntington, West Virginia
1895-1896
Attended Douglass High School, Huntington, West Virginia
1896-1897
Attended Berea College, Kentucky
1897, Sept.-Dec
Attended Lincoln University, Pennsylvania
1898-1900
Taught, Winona, West Virginia
1900-1903
Principal, Douglass High School, Huntington, West Virginia
June 18, 1902-Dec. 1903
Attended University of Chicago
1903
Bachelor of Literature from Berea College
1903-1907
Taught in the Philippines
1907
Traveled in Europe and Asia; attended the Sorbonne, Paris, France
1907, Oct.-Dec.
Attended University of Chicago
1908, Jan.-Aug.
Attended Graduate School, University of Chicago; received B.A. in March; M.A. in August
1908-1909
Attended Harvard University
1909-1918
Taught, M Street (Dunbar) High School, Washington, D.C.
1912
Ph.D. in History from Harvard University
1913 or 1914-1921
Member of the American Negro Academy
1915, Apr.
The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 published
1915, Sept.
Established the Association for the Study of Negro Life & History
1917, Aug.29
First Biennial meeting of ASNLH
1918
A Century of Negro Migration published
1918-1919
Principal, Armstrong Manual Training School, Washington, D.C.
1919-1920
Dean, School of Liberal Arts, Howard University
1920-1922
Dean, West Virginia Collegiate Institute (West Virginia State College); Established Associated Publishers
1921
Received grant from the Carnegie Institution; The History of the Negro Church published
1922
The Negro in Our History published
1924
Free Negro Owners of Slaves in the U.S. in 1830: Together with Absentee Ownership of Slaves in the U.S. in 1830 published
1925
Free Negro Heads of Families in the United States in 1830 published
1926
Negro Orators and Their Orations published; The Mind of the Negro as Reflected in Letters Written During the Crisis, 1800-1860published; established Negro History Week; received Spingarn Medal
1927
Appointed to Advisory Committee, Interracial Relations Committee on Problems and Policy Social Science Research Council; appointed staff contributor Dictionary of American Biography
1928
Negro Makers of History published; African Myths: Together with Proverbs published
1928
Attended summer meeting of Social Science Research Council, Dartmouth College
1929
The Negro as a Businessman, with John H. Harmon, Jr. and Arnett G. Lindsay published
1929-1933, 1938
Established Woodson Collection at the Library of Congress
1930
The Negro Wage Earner, with Lorenzo Greene published; The Rural Negro published
1932
The encyclopedia controversy
1932-1935
Summers in Europe
1933
The Mis-Education of the Negro published
1934
The Negro Professional Man and the Community, with Special Emphasis on the Physician and the Lawyer published
1935
The Story of the Negro Retold published
1936
The African Background Outlined published
1937
Began publication of the Negro History Bulletin
1939
African Heroes and Heroinespublished
1941
Doctor of Laws from West Virginia State College
1950, April 3
Died suddenly
1958
Elected to the Ebony Hall of Fame

Books By Dr. Woodson

  • THE EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO PRIOR TO 1861: A HISTORY OF THE EDUCATION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE BEGINNING OF SLAVERY TO THE CIVIL WAR. New York: Putnam's, 1915. Repr. Ayer Co., 1968 LC2741.W7

  • A CENTURY OF NEGRO MIGRATION. Washington, D.C.: ASNLH., 1918. Repr. Russell, 1969. E185.9.W89

  • THE HISTORY OF THE NEGRO CHURCH. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1921. BR563.N9W6

  • THE NEGRO IN OUR HISTORY. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1922. E185.9 .W89 1970

  • FREE NEGRO OWNERS OF SLAVES IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1830: TOGETHER WITH ABSENTEE OWNERSHIP OF SLAVES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1830, ed. Washington: ASNLH., 1924; Repr. Negro Univ. Press. E185.W8873

  • FREE NEGRO HEADS OF FAMILIES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1830: TOGETHER WITH BRIEF TREATMENT OF THE FREE NEGRO. Washington: ASNLH., 1925. F185.W887125

  • NEGRO ORATORS AND THEIR ORATIONS, ed. Washington: Associated Publishers, 1926. Repr. Russell, 1969. PS663.N4.W6

  • THE MIND OF THE NEGRO AS REFLECTED IN LETTERS WRITTEN DURING THE CRISIS, 1800-1860, ed. Washington: ASNLH., 1926. Repr. E185.W8877 1969b

  • NEGRO MAKERS OF HISTORY. Washington: Associated Publishers, 1928. E185.W85

  • AFRICAN MYTHS TOGETHER WITH PROVERBS: A SUPPLEMENTARY READER COMPOSED OF FOLK TALES FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF AFRICA. Adapted to use of children in the public schools. Washington: Associated Publishers, 1928. PE1127.G4 W7

  • THE NEGRO AS A BUSINESSMAN, joint author with John H. Harmon, Jr. and Arnett G. Lindsay. Washington: Associated Publishers, 1929. E185.8.H251

  • THE NEGRO WAGE EARNER, joint author with Lorenzo J. Greene. Washington: ASNLH., 1930. Repr. AMS Press. E185.G79

  • THE RURAL NEGRO. Washington: ASNLH., 1930. Repr. Russell, 1969. E185.86.W896

  • THE MIS-EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO. Washington: Associated Publishers, 1933. Repr. AMS Press, 1972. LC2801.W6 1977

  • THE NEGRO PROFESSIONAL MAN AND THE COMMUNITY: WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE PHYSICIAN AND THE LAWYER. Washington: ASNLH., 1934 Repr. Negro University Press, 1969. Johnson Reprints E185.82.W88

  • THE STORY OF THE NEGRO RETOLD. Washington: Association Publishers, 1935. E185.W898

  • THE AFRICAN BACKGROUND OUTLINED. Washington: ASNLH., 1936. DT351.W89

  • AFRICAN HEROES AND HEROINES. Washington: Associated Publishers, 1939. DT3525.W66

 

 


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Yaa Asantewa "Queen Mother of Ejisu" (1900)
 

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.

African Queens and Kings 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.


Yakub Al-Mansur (1149-1199)

  Yakub Ibn Yusuk, better known as Al-Mansur, was the most powerful of the Moorish rulers who dominated Spain for five hundred years. His surname, Al-Mansur, means "The Invincible." He defeated all of his enemies, never having lost a battle.

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.


 

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Yohannes IV of Ethiopia (1831-1889)

yohannes 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.

yohannes1v 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
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In 1868, Wagshum Gobeze proclaimed himself Emperor Tekle Giyorgis II of Ethiopia at Soqota in his district of Wag. Due to the fact that the Abuna of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church had died shortly before, there was no one to crown the new Emperor. In an effort to get Kassai to recognize this title, Tekle Giyorgis gave his brother-in-law the title of Reese Masafint, "Re-ese Mekwanint", or "first among the nobles", premier duke. Dejazmach Kassai promptly started using the title, but still did not recognize Tekle Giyorgis' claim to the throne and refused to pay homage to him.

Tekle Giyorgis made the first move, crossing the Takazze River in 1871 in a campaign against Kassai. Relying on the training the British adventurer John Kirkham had given his troops, Dejazmach Kassai met the erst-while Emperor near Adwa on July 11 of that year, capturing and deposing his attacker; Tekle Giyorgis died in captivity the next year.

Kassai had long prepared for this day, and had gathered the funds to pay the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria to appoint a new Archbishop over the Ethiopian Church. However this time, instead of a single Archbishop, he requested that the Patriarch send 4 to serve the large number of Christians in Ethiopia and the far flung regions of the Empire. The new bishops arrived arrived in June 1869. They were led by Abune Atnatewos as Archbishop, Abune Matewos for Shewa, and Abune Petros for Gojjam and Abune Markos for Gondar (Abune Markos died shortly after arriving, so his diocese was included with that of Abune Atnatewos]]. It was the first time that the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria had appointed four Bishops for Ethiopia. Atnatewos then crowned Kassai emperor January 12, 1872 at Axum. He took the name and title of Emperor Yohannes IV, King of Zion and King of Kings of Ethiopia, becoming the first emperor crowned in that historic city since Fasilides in 1632. Ras Adal of Gojjam soon after submitted to Yohannes and recognized him as Emperor, and was rewarded with the title of Negus of Gojjam, and the new name of Tekle Haymanot.

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War with Egypt
Throughout his reign, Yohannes was embroiled in military struggles on his northern frontiers. First was from Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Egypt, who sought to bring the entire Nile River Basin under his rule. The Egyptians flirted with encouraging Menelik of Shewa against the Emperor, but earned Menelik's enmity by marching from the port of Zeila and occupied the city-state of Harrar on October 11, 1875. Both Menelik and Yohannes had regarded Harrar as a renegade province of Ethiopia, and Egyptian seizure of the Emirate was not welcome to either of them. The Egyptians then marched into northern Ethiopia from their coastal possessions around the port of Massawa. Yohannes pleaded with the British to stop their Egyptian allies, and even withdrew from his own territory in order to show the Europeans that he was the wronged party and that the Khedive was the aggressor. However, Yohannes soon realized that the Europeans would not stop the Khedive of Egypt and so he gathered up his armies and marched to meet the Egyptian force.

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Yohannis IV, Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Zion, with his son and heir, Ras Araya Selassie YohannisThe two armies met at Gundat (also called Guda-gude) on the morning of November 16, 1875. The Egyptians were tricked into marching into a narrow and steep valley and were wiped out by Ethiopian gunners surrounding the valley from the surrounding mountains. Virtually the entire Egyptian force, along with its many officers of European and North American background, was killed. News of this huge defeat was suppressed in Egypt for fear that it would undermine the government of the Khedive. A new Egyptian force was assembled and sent to avenge the defeat at Gundat. The Egyptians were defeated again at the battle of Gura (March 7-9, 1876), where the Ethiopians were led again by the Emperor, and his loyal general, the capable (future) Ras Alula. This victory was followed by Menelik's submission to Yohannes March 20, 1878, and in return Yohannes recognized Menelik's hereditary right to the title of king of Shewa, and re-crowned him on March 26. Yohannes took this opportunity to try to tie the Shewan King more closely to him by arranging for Menelik's daughter Zewditu (future Empress of Ethiopia in her own right), to his own son and heir, Ras Araya Selassie. He also arranged for a general council of the Ethiopian Church in which various heresies were stamped out in Gojjam and Shewa. Yohannes also ordered the Moslems of Wollo to convert to Christianity within six months or face forfeiture of their properties. Ras Ali of Wollo became Ras (later King) Michael of Wollo, and the Emperor stood as his Godfather at his baptism. He was given Menelik of Shewa's other daughter, Shewarega Menelik, as his wife.

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War with Sudan
When Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself the Mahdi, and incited Sudan into a long and violent revolt, his followers successfully either drove the Egyptian garrisons out of Sudan, or isolated them at Suakin and at various posts in the south. Yohannes agreed to British requests to allow these Egyptian soldiers to evacuate through his lands, with the understanding that the British Empire would then support his claims on important ports like Massawa on the Red Sea to import weapons and ammunition, in the event that Egypt was forced to withdraw from them. This was formalized in a treaty signed with the British at Adwa known as the Hewit treaty. The immediate result was that the wrath of the Mahdiyah fell upon Ethiopia: Ras Alula defeated an invading Mahdist army at the Battle of Kufit on September 23, 1885. About the same time, Italy took control of the port of Massawa, frustrating Ethiopian hopes and angering Yohannis. Yohannes attempted to work out some kind of understanding with the Italians, so he could turn his attention to the more pressing problem of the Mahdists, although Ras Alula took it upon himself to attack Italian units that were on both sides of the ill-defined frontier between the two powers. Domestic problems increased when the Kings of both Gojjam and Shewa rebelled against Yohannis, and the Emperor had to turn his attention from the encroaching Italians to deal with his rebellious vassal kings. Yohannes brutally crushed the Gojjame rebellion, but before he could turn his attention to Shewa news arrived that the Mahdist forces had sacked Gondar and burned its holy Churches. He marched north from Gojjam to confront the armies of the Mahdi.

Death and legacy
Yohannes' life came to an end while he was dealing with another invasion by the followers of Muhammad Ahmad's successor, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, at the Battle of Metemma on March 9, 1889. Mortally wounded by a sniper during the battle, he had been carried to his tent, where he announced that his nephew Ras Mengesha was actually his natural son, and named him his heir (his elder son Ras Araya Selassie had died a few years earlier). He died hours later. Although the Ethiopian army had almost annihilated their opponents in this battle, hearing that their ruler had been slain shattered their morale and allowed the Mahdists to counterattack, scattering their enemy and capturing the body of the emperor. It was brought back to their capital at Omdurman, where the head was put on a pike and displayed. (Muslims see this as justice for his injustices against the Islamic faith)

Although a group of Tigrean nobles led by Ras Alula attempted to promote the claim of Yohannes' son, Ras Mengesha Yohannes, as emperor, many of the dead monarch's other relatives on both the Enderta and Tembien sides of his family objected and went into open rebellion against Mengesha. Tigray was torn assunder by the rebellions of various members of the Emperor's family against Mengesha and each other. Menelik of Shewa took advantage of Tigrean disorder, and after allowing the Italians to occupy Hamasien, Serai and Akale Guzai, districts loyal to Yohannes IV, he was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia as Menelik II. Yohannes IV's death reduced the influence of Tigrayans in the Ethiopian government, and opened way to Italians to occupy more districts, a seizure that later resulted in the creation of the colony of Eritrea, and the later defeat of Italy at the Battle of Adowa at the hands of Emperor Menelik II. The Tigrean nobility retained influence at the Imperial court of Menelik and his successors, although not at the level they enjoyed under Yohannes IV. Yohannes' descendants ruled over Tigray as hereditary Princes until the Ethiopian Revolution and the fall of the monarchy in 1974 ended their rule. There are two lines of descent from Yohannes IV, one through his elder son Ras Araya Selassie by way of his son Ras Gugsa Araya, and the second through Ras Mengesha Yohannes. Yohannes IV is still remembered in Ethiopia mostly as a great patriot and martyr for his country and his faith. He is surprisingly also remembered in Eritrea, and as such, an airport Yohannes IV Airport was made in his name. He is regarded with less sympathy by Muslims who remember him as intolerant of their faith, and oppressive of their rights with his harsh requirements that they convert.

Note: sources give both 1821 and 1831 as his year of birth.

i.e the future Emperor Tekle Giyorgis II, and Sahle Maryam King of Shewa i.e the future Emperor Menelek II), each of whom vied to become sole ruler, and who could claim to be descended from the Solomonic kings. Dejazmach Kassai's rivalry with the Wagshum was further complicated by the fact that Dejazmatch Kassai's sister, Dinqinesh Mercha, was married to Wagshum Gobeze. Only five years earlier, Wagshum Gobeze had played the decisive military role in ensuring that Dejazmatch Kassai defeated his rivals as the pre-eminent figure in Tigray. Their new rivalry was therefore awkward for both of them on a personal level.

 

 


 

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