From http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/nkrumah.html
AFRICANISM AND CULTURE
(EXCERPT OF SPEECH GIVEN AT THE CONGRESS OF AFRICANISTS)
By KWAME NKRUMAH
(ACCRA, GHANA--DECEMBER 1962)
Posted by RUNOKO RASHIDI
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"We have made our contribution to the fund of human knowledge by extending the frontiers of art, culture and spiritual values."
-- Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
If we have lost touch with what our forefathers discovered and knew, this has been due to the system of education to which we were introduced. This system of education prepared us for a subservient role to Europe and things European. It was directed at estranging us from our own cultures in order the more effectively to serve a new and alien interest.
The central myth in the mythology surrounding Africa is that of the denial that we are a historical people. It is said that whereas other continents have shaped history and determined its course, Africa has stood still, held down by inertia. Africa, it is said, entered history only as a result of European contact. Its history, therefore, is widely felt to be an extension of European history. Hegel's authority was lent to this a-historical hypothesis concerning Africa. And apologists of colonialism and imperialism lost little time in seizing upon it and writing wildly about it to their heart's content.
To those who say that there is no documentary source for that period of African history which pre-dates the European contact, modern research has a crushing answer. We know that we were not without a tradition of historiography, and, that this is so, is now the verdict of true Africanists. African historians, by the end of the 15th century, had a tradition of recorded history, and certainly by the time when Mohamud al-Kati wrote Tarikh al-Fattash. This tradition was incidentally much, much wider than that of the Timbuktu school of historians, and our own Institute of African Studies here at this University, is bringing to light several chronicles relating to the history of Northern Ghana.
The Chinese, too, during the T'ang dynasty (AD. 618-907), published their earliest major records of Africa. In the 18th century, scholarship connected Egypt with China; but Chinese acquaintance with Africa was not only confined to knowledge of Egypt. They had detailed knowledge of Somaliland, Madagascar and Zanzibar and made extensive visits to other parts of Africa.
The European exploration of Africa reached its height in the 19th century. What is unfortunate, however, is the fact that much of the discovery was given a subjective instead of an objective interpretation. In the regeneration of learning which is taking place in our universities and in other institutions of higher learning, we are treated as subjects and not objects. They forget that we are a historic people responsible for our unique forms of language, culture and society. It is therefore proper and fitting that a Congress of Africanists should take place in Africa and that the concept of Africanism should devolve from and be animated by that Congress.
Between ancient times and the 16th century, some European scholars forgot what their predecessors in African Studies had known. This amnesia, this regrettable loss of interest in the power of the African mind, deepened with growth of interest in the economic exploitation of Africa. It is no wonder that the Portuguese were erroneously credited with having erected the stone fortress of Mashonaland which, even when Barbossa, cousin of Magellan, first visited them, were ruins of long standing.
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From http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/songhai.html
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SONGHAI EMPIRE
By Juanda Honore*
Posted by RUNOKO RASHIDI
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Following the fall of Dynastic Egypt, Carthage, and Numidia, the pride of Africa centered on the outstanding West African empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. At the core of the empires were the great cities of Gao, Timbuktu, and Jenne. Gao, founded in the seventh century, was a major terminus for the great caravans crossing the Sahara. Timbuktu was the great intellectual nucleus of West Africa. Jenne was a vital commercial hub as well as an important learning center. Each of these three cities enjoyed an exceptionally high status and wielded considerable influence.
The Songhai Empire (sometimes spelled Songhay) is regarded by scholars and laymen alike as one of Africa's greatest empires. The Songhai Empire rose to particularly lofty heights in the late 1400s during the magnificent rule of Sunni Ali. During the reign of Sunni Ali most of what was formerly the Ghanaian and Mali Empires were incorporated into the Songhai Empire.
Sunni Ali marched on Timbuktu and captured it along with its great University of Sankore, which had thousands of students from many parts of the world. During the waging of a seven year war Sunni Ali captured the great city of Jenne. Sunni Ali would marry the queen of Jenne, Queen Dara, and they would reign together splendidly. Sunni Ali eventually gained control over the entire middle Niger region.
Sunni Ali, in addition to restoring order to the Sudan (the Arabic expression for West Africa), was also a brilliant administrator. He divided the Songhai Empire into separate provinces and placed each province under the control of its own governor. Much to his credit Sunni Ali developed new methods of farming and created for Songhai a professional navy. Sunni Ali embraced and respected the Islamic faith of his trading partners, which accounted for much of his success as a ruler. By the time of his death in 1492 the Songhai Empire under Sunni Ali had surpassed the greatness of the other West African empires (including Ghana and Mali) that preceded it and became the greatest empire in West Africa.
Following the death of Sunni Ali, his son, Sunni Baru, ascended to the throne for a short time before he was in turn overthrown by the person who would lead the Songhai Empire to the pinnacle of its greatness, Askia Muhammad Toure. Askia Muhammad Toure had been a general under Sunni Ali and was successful as a ruler largely as the result of his acceptance of Islam. He appointed Islamic leaders to the larger districts of his empire and applied Islamic law in place of Songhai's traditional laws.
Askia Muhammad Toure greatly improved the learning centers of the Songhai by encouraging scholars to come from other parts of Africa (as well as Europe and Asia) to settle in Timbuktu and Jenne, and built as many as 180 Koranic schools in Timbuktu alone. Indeed, the Sankore University in Timbuktu developed a reputation for scholarship in rhetoric, logic, Islamic law, grammar, astronomy, history, and geography.
During Askia Muhammad Toure's brilliant reign, the Songhai Empire was characterized by order, stability, and prosperity. His most important innovation was to open up the ranks of government service. Previously, the status of the leaders of the empire was determined upon the basis of birth. Under Askia Muhammad Toure, however, men could achieve high office based upon their scholarship and intellect regardless of their social position. Askia Muhammad Toure also organized and established a permanent professional army which enabled him to expand the territory of Songhai and turn the Songhai Empire into the largest empire every known in the Western and Central Sudan.
*Juanda Honore is a long time member of the Global African Presence and a strong and ardent believer in African economic self-empowerment. She is an active member of MATAH and the founder of the Songhai International's Virtual Trade Center. For further information Juanda can be reached via the Internet at jhonore@songhaiempire.com
SOURCES:
African Glory, by J.C. Degraft-Johnson
Timbucktoo the Mysterious, by Felix DuBois
Introduction to African Civilizations, by John G. Jackson
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