TThhee EEmmppiirree ooff GGh haannaa
We do not know at what epoch or exactly by whom was
founded the kingdom which later gave birth to the Empire of
Ghana. Local traditions, confirmed by the works of scholars of
Timbuktu and of Arab historians, only let us conjecture that this
State goes back at least to the 4thcentury CE, that its first sover-
eigns belonged to the white race and that, a certain time after
the Hegira, the power passed into the hands of a family of the
black race belonging to the Sarakolle people. Arab authors,
moreover, inform us that the Empire of Ghana was flourishing in
the 9thand the 10thcenturies CE, that its decline began towards
the middle of the 11th century under the conquering and
destructive movement of the Almoravides, that its debris fell
under the yoke of the Mandinka and that its capital, last vestige
of its sunken glory, ceased to exist after about the middle of the
13 thcentury.
This capital, whose name is mentioned for the first time, it seems,
in the Golden Prairies of Masudi, who died in 956, was visited
in the second half of the 10th century by the celebrated Arab
geographer lbn-Haukal, and Bekri gives a fairly detailed de-
scription of it in the following century. It was called Ghana only by
the foreigners and notably the Arabs, who made it known by this
name in Europe and Asia. This was not its name but, as Bekri
expressly says and as Sudanese traditions confirm, one of the titles
borne by the sovereign, who was further designated by that of
kaya-maga or simply maga or magan (the master) or again by that
of tounka (the prince). The city itself was known to the inhabitants
under the name of Kumbi-Kumbi (the butte or tumulus), by which
even today its site is pointed out. It is situated between Goumbu
and Walata, about a hundred kilometres to the north-northeast of
the first of these localities, in a region of the Hodh which the
Moors call Howker or Howkar (a geographical term common to
many sub-Saharan regions), the Mandinka and the Bambara
calling it Bagana or Mara, the Kassonke Bakhunu, and the
Sarakolle Wagadu^7. It extends in a general fashion to the north
and to the northeast of Goumbu.
The explorer Bonnel de Mezieres, who visited and excavated
this locality in 1914, found there the vestiges of a great city
corresponding very exactly to that described by Bekri, with ruins
of hewn stone constructions, sometimes sculptured. The region
where Ghana or Kumbi was built is now very arid. In truth, it
rains there every year, but there are no rivers and, except at a
few points where pools or sheets of not very deep subterranean
water exist, the vegetation, although fairly thick in spots, is
reduced to thin pasturage, gum-trees, and other spiny bushes.
The region contains no village and is traversed only by nomadic
Moors and hunters of the Nemadi or Nimadi tribe. But very
numerous and extended traces of former habitations and burial
places which turn up at every instant, show that the country was
formerly inhabited, in part at least, by sedentary peoples, and
lead us to suppose that it was better watered than it is today and
more suitable for tillage. Besides, Bekri speaks of vast and
prosperous fields which extended to the east of Ghana and local
traditions are unanimous in attributing the decline of the kingdom
and the dispersion of its inhabitants to the drying up of the
Wagadu and consequent famine. It is probable that these
circumstances had much more influence on the end of the Empire
of Ghana than the successive pillages to which the city was
subjected by the Almoravides in 1076, by the king of Soso,
Sumanguru Kannte, in 1203, and finally by the king of theNegro Africa in the Middle Ages
Seated figure (Yoruba), 13th-14thcentury.
Tada, Nigeria.
Copper, 53.7 x 34.3 x 36 cm.
The National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Lagos.The naturalistic proportions and life like qualities of this figure make it a clear
masterpiece of Ife art, particularly when compared to other examples in which
the head comprises at least a quarter of the figure’s height. The right foot may
have once protruded below the base level, intending for it to sit atop a rounded
stone throne. This piece was cast in nearly pure copper, making it too heavy to
join the mould to the crucible, so it is likely that the mould was partially buried
underground and the metal melted in several sealed crucibles. The figure wears
a wrap which is overlain with a beaded net.
The smooth appearence can be attributed to the Friday ritual of taking the
figure to the river and scrubing it with gravel to ensure the fertility of their wives
as well as the fish they consumed.