Have you heard of Mansa Musa?Fact: The Africans knew about the lunar cycle and its shadows long before any European thought about it.

If you don't believe it. ask the BBC's Michaei Palin.

HISTORYMOMONTHI

n a recenr book, Cynthia Crossen,senior editor ot the New York-basedfinancial daily. The Wall Street journal,wrote: "You've heard of the exrraor-

dinary wealth of BUI Cates, J. P Morgan,and the sultan ot Brunei, have you heardof Mansa Musa, one ofihe richest men who everlived?"

Crossen, sitting in thecentre of the foremost capi-talist nation in the world,was not being sarcastic whenshe toilowed up her questionwith rhis comment: "Neitherproducer nor inventor, MansiiMusa was an early broker,greasing the wheels of intercul-tural trade. He created wealthby making it possible for othersto buy and sell."

The great British historianon Africa. Dr Basil Davidson,suggested that the rulers of Maliwere "rumoured to have been thewealthiest men on the face of theearth".

Mansa Musa I (or KingMusa) ascended the throne of theMali Empire in 1312. He was,perhaps, the most colourful per-sonality in West Atrican history. Oirhis monarch, Dr DeGraft Johnsonwrote thar:

"It was in 1324 ... that theworld awoke to the splendour and grandeurof Mall. Thete across the African desert, andmaking Irs way to Mecca, was a caravan of

a size which had never before been seen, acaravan consisting of 60,000 men. They wereMansa Musa's men, and Mansa Musa waswith them. He was not going to war: he wasmerely going to worship ar Mecca.

"The large caravan included a personalretinue of 12.000 slaves, all dtessed in bro-cade and Persian silk. Mansa Mtisa himselfrode on horseback, and directly precedinghim were 500 slaves, each carrying a staffof gold dust. This imposing caravan madeits way from Niani on the Upper Niger toWalata. then toTuat, and then ro Cairo.

"Mansa Musas piety and open-handedgenerosity, the fine clothes and good behav-iottr of his followers, all

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Mauritania; An old astronomical manuscript fromthe medieval desert collections shows the lunarcycle and its shadows. The Africans were expertsin astronomy centuries before Galileo and Coper-nicus would ever think about the subject

quickly made a good impression. One mighthave thought that a pilgrimage to Meccaundertaken with such pomp and ceremonywould have ulterior motives, but no suchmotives have ever been adduced."

In Egypt. Ma-ia spent so much money itigold rhat he devasrated that nation's economy."For years after Mansa Musas visit," wroteProf DeGraft Johnson, "ordinary people inrhe streets of Cairo, Mecca, and Baghdadtalked about this wonderful pilgrimage - apilgrimage which led to the devaluation ofgold in the Middle East for several years."

Mansa Mtisa embarked on a large build-ing programme of mosques and universities

in Timbtiktu and Gao. In Niani. thecapital, he built rhe Hall of Audience,a building communicared by an inre-rior door ro the royal palace, k was a[i"admirable monument" surroundedby a dome, adorned with arabesquesof striking colours.

At the height of irs power, Malihad at least 400 cities, and rhe inte-rior ot the Niger Delta was verydensely populated. One of the dr-ies, Timbuktu rose from obscuriryto great commercial and culturalimportance. It became a centreof learning, one of the foremosrcentres of Islamic scholarship inthe world.

The mosque of the Uni-versity of Sankore was highlydistinguished for the teachingot Koranic theology and law,besides other subjecrs such asastronomy and mathematics.

In the I4th century,Timbukru had an estimatedpopulation of 115,000 peo-ple. Typically, 25,000 wereat university and 20,000were at school. London, by

contrast, had a total 14rh century popula-tion of 20,000 people.

Similarly, Old Djenne. one of theearly cities that date back to 250 BC (thecity was part of the old Ghana Empire

M • NEW AFRICAN October 2006

"In the 15th centuryinTimbuktUfthemathematicians knewabout the rotation of theplanets, details of theeclipse, things which wehad to wait for almost 200years to know in Europe."

and passed on to the Mali Empire whenGhana fell), had a population of 20,000people. London, again, would wait another700 years to reach this figure.

Also, old astronomical manuscripts tromrhe medieval desert collections in Mali andMauritania show rhat the Africans knewabout the lunar cycle and its shadows longbefore any European thought about it.

In 2002, Michael Palin, a «/iC pro-gramme maker, returned from Timbuktu toreport that the Great Mosque ot Timbuktu"hasacolleaion of scientific texts that clearlyshow the planets circling the sun. They dateback hundreds of years ... Ir is convincingevidence that the scholars of Timbukruknew a lot more than their counterparts inEurope".

Palin added: "In the I 5th century inTimbuktu, the mathematicians knew aboutthe rotation of the planets, knew about the

details ot the eclipse,knew things which wehad to wait for 150,almost 200 years to knowin Europe when Galileoand Copernictis came upwith these same calcula-tions and were given avery hard time for it."

Imam MohammedHabott, a black Maurita-nian, has inherited 1,300medieval books as familyheirlooms. The Maurita-nian cities of Chinguettland Oudane have a totalof 3,450 medieval books.There may be another6,000 books still survivingin the other city ot Walata.Some date back to the 8thcentury AD. There are also11,000 books in private col-lections in Niger.

The star of the collec-tions, of course, is in Tim-buktu where there are about700,000 surviving books.And yet, books are said tohave come to Africa tromEurope. No such thing hap-pened. Africa had irs bookslong before any book everarrived trom Europe. IKA

These books did not come fromEurope. They were published inAfrica centuries before anyEuropean books arrived

Ta-Seti the oldest

Ancient Egypt is the first majorcivilisation in Africa for which recordsare abundant. It was not, however,Africa's first kingdom. On 1 March1979, The New York Titnes canied anarticle on its front page, written byBoyce Rensberger, with the headline:Nubian Monarchy called Oldest. In thearticle, Rensberger told the world that;"Evidence of the oldest recognisablemonarchy in human history, precedingthe rise of the earliest Egyptian kingsby several generations, has beendiscovered in artifacts from ancientNubia... The discovery is expectedto stimulate a new appraisal of theorigins of civilisations in Africa, raisingthe question of to what extent laterEgyptian culture derived its advancedpolitical structure from the Nubians?'."

This ancient kingdom, generallycalled Ta-Seti, encompassed theterritory of the northern Sudan andthe southern portion of Egypt. It hassometimes been referred to as AncientEthiopia in son^e of the literature, andas Cush (or Kush) in other literature.The first kings of Ta-Seti may well haveruled about 5900 BC. During the timeof the fifth generation of their rulers.Upper (ie, southern) Egypt may haveunited and became a greater threat toTa-Seti.

In Kush (or Ta-Seti), a numberof women had the title Kentake,which means Queen Mother, andwas recorded in Roman sources asCandace. Some of the women wereheads of state. Kentake Qalhata {c.639BC) had her own pyramid built at AlKurru, as other Kushite kings didiabove photo). Pseudo-Callisthenesmentions that Alexander the Greatvisited "Candace, the black Queen ofMeroe" in the 4**̂ century. She wasapparently a "wondrous beauty".