HISTORY OF WEST AFRICA
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONAND REGIONAL VARIATION
History expresses mans struggle to master his environment. History is the
relationship between man and his environment.
Therefore,
history without environment would be like a dead thing. Physical environment
that influence production include:
·
Soil
·
Climate
·
Vegetation
·
Mode of production
Much of West Africa depends on the
physical environment. West Africa is located
between 5-25* due to this location there are two geographical zones; (i) Forest
zone (ii) Grassland zone.
A. FOREST ZONE AND ITS FEATURES
Before the contact with whites
the people of West Africa were predominantly agriculturalists. They cultivated
rice, wheat, and tubers. There was presence of numerous grains like millet, and
sorghum which supported the Yoruba, Ibo and Ashanti people.
Forests discouraged agricultural settlements; hence people could not stay
in the forests. Their social political organization was rooted in kingship
organization. There were some kind of trade relations between the forest people
and the savannah people.
B. GRASSLAND OF
SAVANNAH ZONE AND ITS FEATURES
The area covered
more than three quarters of West Africa in Guinea ,
Sudan and near Sahara desert. The Savannah
area was not preferred hence it was not populated.
They kept
animals in this area and some parts were highly populated compared to the
forest areas.
There were some
emergence of towns due to trade between West African societies, North Africa
and the Mediterranean world, example Ghana ,
Mali , and Songhai
empires.
These areas were
developed economically and the people found in there were pastoralist.
SOURCES OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE IN WEST AFRICA
The sources of
historical information include the following:
- Written sources
- Anthropological sources
- Archaeology
- Historical sites
- Oral Tradition
In case of West Africa , there are three major sources of historical
knowledge.
Archaeology
This is a study
of artifacts that have been dug from the earth. Artifacts are the remains of
the material culture made by people in the past. In addition to the artifacts,
engraving and paintings found on the caves help in the study of human
activities in the past.
The word
archaeology came from Greek origin meaning the study old things but also it
means a carefully investigation of the material remains of the past include
tombs, graves, ancient cities, settlements, tools and past weapons that were
used by the past people.
It is done by
using common sense approach, advanced laboratory techniques, e.g radio carbon
dating techniques.
Archaeology is
very useful in obtaining the information of distant past and they do this by
excavation. E.g in the Olduvai Gorge (E.A), Kumbi Saleh in ancient Ghana
Oral Tradition
Involve the
passing of information by word of mouth through talking and listening to people
especially elders who transmit the information from one generation to another.
Oral tradition
has been described as a testimony transmitted from one generation to another.
The messages were transmitted orally and preserved by memory.
Mbiti J.S (2003) asserts that
because most of the African peoples did not invent an alphabet for the art of
reading or writing, therefore they could not keep written records of their
history, instead; they passed on information from one generation to another by
word of mouth. In some societies there have been special keepers of oral
tradition, whose duty was to memorize and recite historical and other relevant
information up to when that history would be collected, written down and
published.
According to
Ogutu and Kenyanchui (2007), there are five basic forms of oral tradition which
are: Formulae (titles, slogans, and ritual), Poetry, Lists, Tales and
Commentary.
Limitation of Oral Traditions
All oral traditions
are influenced by culture of the society that produces them. Thus the type of
tradition will depend on the political organization of that particular society.
Some of the weaknesses of oral tradition include the following:-
- Lack of accuracy
Some
information could be dropped as time passes deliberately or accidentally hence distorting
the historical knowledge.
- Periodization was somehow approximation not exactly
- It cannot show transformation or changes. It was static and sometimes it was exaggerated.
- It is difficulty to recover if the narrators die.
However, one can
verify the information in oral traditions by analyzing the related contribution
from written sources. Since the history of African societies is embodied
in oral traditions, it is therefore wise for African scholars and historians to
write their own history to repudiate the reports of foreign taletellers. It had
therefore been important to study all aspects of human life-social, cultural,
political as well as economic events so as to come out with a concrete history
of Africans.
Written Sources
The common
source of history to day is the written records of the past. These sorts of
records go as far back to the periods of the Greeks and the Romans and they
became more popular with the European penetration in the 19th
century.
Category of Written Sources
(i) The Greek
and Roman written sources
Provided scarcity of information of West Africa before the Christian era, though there are private
documents and family such as the one written by PTOLEMY the Greek writer who
wrote a book, The Periplus of HAMO.
(ii) Islamic
Sources
The historical
information of West Africa got from Islamic
documents. The Arabs appear to have been better informed than their classical
predecessors. The introduction of camel across the Sahara facilitated commerce,
urban settlement and trade between North Africa and Western
Sudan . Some of Arab scholars whose written records are used in the
writing of West African history include:
- El Masudi about 912 AD visited the
- El Bakri wrote around 1062 describing the wealth and trade of Ghana Empire.
- During the reign of Mansa Musa, the famous Arab writer Ibn Batuta visited and wrote an account of what he saw.(14th century)
- Leo Africanus
(al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi) A Moorish born at
Tarikhs and Chronicles
A Tarikh consists of a complete
written text of oral traditions. A Chronicle consists of direct records of
traditions which previously were preserved orally. Tarikhs and Chronicles primarily
concentrate on the role of rulers. Example, Tarikh
al- Sudan, Tarikh al- Fattash (of Mali );
the Kano Chronicles, and Gonja
Chronicles (central Ghana )
Questions
-
Discuss the different sources that can help in the
process of writing the history of West Africa .
-
Examine the various forms of oral tradition and their
importance in reconstruction of West African history.
-
Discuss the major functions of oral tradition in
non-literate society.
HISTORIOGRAPHY OF WEST AFRICA
Historiography is the study of a process at which historical knowledge is
obtained and transmitted. It examines the writing of history and the way it
changes in time. It is a study and writing of history. Historiography also
deals with recording and interpretation of past events.
In this case, every historian uses information according to his/her view
but events remain the same.
Types of Historiography in West Africa
(i) Colonial Historiography
(ii) Nationalist
School
(iii) Marxist School of Historiography
Colonial Historiography
The type of history which was written by colonial anthropologists and
colonial historians, it dominated from the time of colonial conquest up to
1940s. Colonial historiography believed in racial superiority of their race.
They considered the white race to be superior and the African race inferior.
This type
of historiography was developed by conservative and racist historians. It came
about with the force of capitalism in the 19th century. Prominent scholars in this
historiography include Mungo
Park
Richard
Burton, for example wrote Mission to Ghana , King of Dahomey
C.G
Seligman published a book in 1930 Races
of Africa and claimed that civilizations of Africa
were not indigenous but it was a work of the Hamites. He regarded the Negroes
and Bushmen as people of inferior race.
Views;
- West Africa had no history before the coming of
Europeans, Jews, Arabs and Phoenician
- Africans were passive to colonial
expansion and control; History of
Colonization of the
African
Races (1899) by Harry Johnson
-
Africans were victims of nature, could not control
nature.
-
Africans had no culture; they were barbaric e.g
engaging into human sacrifices, and secret
societies.
-
Many of the African societies were prone to senseless
wars, diseases and enslavements.
Colonial
scholars wrote such a history so as to undermine Africans. Justify colonialism
and express European superiority to Africans. The reality of this is outlined
by Mungazi (1996) when he writes, “One of the great tragedies of colonialism in
Africa is that the white man never understood
the potential of the African mind because Europeans were preoccupied with
justifying the reasons for colonizing the continent.” Nevertheless, the African
mind proved capable of surviving and retaining its distinctive quality in an
oppressive and dehumanizing situation.
Nationalist Historiography
A type of
Historiography that was introduced so as to oppose colonial historiography,
scholars of this historiography supported African nationalism and glorified
pre-colonial African societies. It was popular in 1960s when many African
states were struggling for independence.
Scholars in this
historiography included Ade Ajay, David Fage, and some others who have written
extensively on West African history.
Views;
-
Nationalists argue that Africa
had its history and civilization even before the coming of Europeans.
-
They support their arguments by giving examples by
giving examples of the existence of strong kingdoms such as Ghana , Mali ,
Songhai
-
Existence of writings such as rock painting
-
Africans had developed handcraft industries- basketry,
carving, cloth industries among the Yoruba and the Fulani.
-
Colonialism was exploitative and not developmental to
Africans.
Concern;
-
This historiography gained a great support from the
newly independent African leaders who wanted to justify their ability for self
rule.
-
Nationalist historiography emerged as a response to
colonial historiography,
therefore its major concern was to show that Africans can develop
independently out of capitalist grip.
Marxist Historiography
Marxist
historiography became popular in 1970s.
Marxist
Historiography comprised of the writing of history in the ideas of Karl Marx
and Frederick Engels. In the writing of history Marx and Engels insist on four
major issues:-
-
Social relations within the society. How people
interact when they act on nature. i.e
social relation in the process of production.
-
Who owns the major means of production, and who
controls the profits/ surpluses.
-
They want to know the dynamics within the society.
Marxist historians analyze events in relation or interconnection with the
other.
-
Give emphasis on internal forces and contradictions
within the society. Class struggle between the have and the have-nots, the
capitalists and the proletariats
(Social contradictions)
-
Resources are not scarce but the capitalist are the
ones who make them scarce for their
interests.
Marxist
Historiography is based on the writing of proletarian history that develops at
a specific time in the history.
QUESTIONS
-To what extent Colonial historiography was conservative and segregative?
- Differentiate Nationalist historiography to Colonial historiography.
- Discuss the main tenets of the Marxist historiography.
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