African Art

reign of the mansa Suleiman (1336-1359); the latter, wishing not
to be outdone in politeness, sent sumptuous presents to his
Moroccan colleague.

It was under the reign of this Suleiman that the celebrated Arab
traveller and geographer Ibn Batuta visited Manding, in 1352-1353,
from Walata to the capital of the Empire, returning by Timbuktu,
Gao, the Aïr Mountains, and Tuat. He left us a detailed and
apparently scrupulous account of his travels in which he is
pleased to testify to the fine administration of the State, its
prosperity, the courtesy and the discipline of its officials and
provincial governors, the excellent condition of public finance,
the luxury, and the rigorous and complicated ceremony of the
royal receptions, the respect accorded to the decisions of justice
and to the authority of the sovereign. In reading his account, one
has the impression that the Mandinka Empire was a real State,
whose organisation and civilisation could be compared to those
of the Islamic kingdoms or indeed to the Christian kingdoms of
the same epoch.

The great historian Ibn Kaldoun, being at Biskra in 1353, learned
from well informed persons that the power of the mansa of the Mali
extended over the entire Sahara, that the king of Wargla showed
deference to him and all the Tuareg paid him tribute. However,
Gao had recovered its independence between the death of
Gongo-Mussa and the arrival of Suleiman and, about a century
later, the Mandinka Empire began to decline under the blows of the
Songhoy, at the same time preserving enough of its power and
prestige so that its sovereign and the king of the Portuguese, then
at the height of his glory, treated one another as equals.

TThhee MMoossssii EEmmppiirreess

Around the same epoch at which the mansa Baramendana

embraced the Islamic faith, that is to say, nearing the middle of

the 11thcentury, other Negro States were being created, aside

from all foreign or Islamic influence, in the central part of the Bend

of the Niger where the density of population seems to have

always been considerable and where it exceeds, in our day, that

of all the other regions of Sudan: I mean the Mossi States. There

were in fact two of them and there are still two of them today.

One, whose sovereign resided at Wagadugu, was founded

towards 1050 by an adventurer named Ubri; the other, with

several successive capitals, including Wahiguya, was not defini-

tively organised until approximately 1170 by one named Ya, in

memory of whom it was called Yatenga (land of Ya). The fact that

the monarchs of the two kingdoms bore the same title morho-naba,

that is to say, “chief of the country of the Mossi” and that the

principal and dominant population of the one and the other is

composed of Mossi has caused them to be mistaken for the

same; however, these two States have always been distinct and

independent of each other.

Each one took a certain time to be formed and to attain its full

development, but it seems established that, towards the beginning

of the 14thcentury, they had nearly the same extent of territory and

the same organisation as today. Each consists of several

kingdoms, one of which exercises the hegemony over the others,

while each kingdom is divided into a certain number of provinces

at the head of each of which is placed a governor, who resides

sometimes in his own province and sometimes at the court of the

king or naba.

So it is that the Mossi Empire of Wagadugu comprises four vassal

kingdoms, besides the kingdom depending directly on the

emperor or morho-naba. The latter kingdom is composed of five

provinces whose governors at the same time make up the imperial

council, one in the capacity of comptroller, the second as chief of

the eunuchs, the third as chief of the infantry, the fourth as chief of

the cavalry, and the fifth as guardian of the royal sepultures. This

council is completed by eleven ministers or grand dignitaries: the

grand-master of the army, the commandant of the imperial guard,

the grand-priest of the local religion, the master of ceremonies, the

chief of the servants, his assistant, the chief of the musicians, the

chief of the butchers, the chief of the royal stables, the collector of

taxes and finally the trustee for the Muslims. Each of these offices,

as that of governor, is hereditary in a given family. Each governor

of a province has, like the morhonaba and like the vassal naba,

his court of dignitaries and ministers.

This organisation, which still functions in our day in Wagadugu

and in Yatenga, strangely resembles that which, according to

Head (Yoruba), 12th-15thcentury.
Ife, Nigeria.
Zinc-brass, 31 x 9.5 cm.
The National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Ife.

Cast from a wax original over a clay core, the top of the head was cut to make
it fit an existing crown. The holes in the neck were most likely added so it could
be attached to a column or, more likely, a wooden body. It is difficult to ascertain
the use of this type of head, though it may have been used to carry the crown
and emblems of a deceased ruler to show that despite his death, the office
continued. Heads like this may have also been used in the annual rites of
purification and renewal of the ruler and his people.