Great Kingdoms of Africa

The Continent of Kingdoms

Africa is the second-largest continent on Earth, a vast land of deserts, rainforests, grasslands, mountains and mighty rivers. For thousands of years, it has been home to powerful kingdoms and empires whose stories are too often left out of history books. Yet these were lands of glittering gold, great cities, famous universities, daring traders and rulers whose fame spread across the world.

In this book we will travel across the continent and back through time to meet some of the greatest of these kingdoms. We will visit Aksum, a trading empire by the Red Sea; the rich West African empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai; the stone city of Great Zimbabwe in the south; and the kingdom of Benin with its astonishing metalwork. Each tells us something different, but together they show that Africa's history is filled with wealth, learning and achievement.

Aksum: Empire by the Red Sea

Long ago, around 2,000 years ago, a powerful kingdom rose in the highlands of what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea, near the Red Sea. This was the kingdom of Aksum, and it grew rich and famous through trade.

Aksum sat at a perfect crossroads. Ships sailed to its ports carrying goods from places as far away as Rome, Egypt, Arabia and India. Aksumite merchants traded ivory, gold, spices and other treasures. The kingdom became so important that it minted its own coins in gold, silver and bronze — one of the few ancient African states to do so — which have been found across the region.

The people of Aksum were master builders. They raised towering carved stone pillars called stelae, some taller than a house, to mark royal graves. Around 1,700 years ago, the kingdom became one of the first in the world to adopt Christianity, and Ethiopia has had a rich Christian tradition ever since. Aksum reminds us that great African empires were trading with the wider world long, long ago.

Ghana and the Gold and Salt Trade

Far to the west, across the huge Sahara Desert, a different kind of wealth lay waiting. West Africa held some of the richest gold fields in the world. But there was something the region badly needed and could not easily find: salt. Salt was vital for keeping food from spoiling and for staying healthy in a hot climate, and the desert had it in abundance.

So a great trade grew up. Camels loaded with blocks of salt crossed the Sahara from the north, while gold travelled the other way. Whoever controlled this trade could grow very rich indeed — and that is exactly what happened to the Empire of Ghana (not the same place as today's country of Ghana, but further north).

From around 1,200 years ago, Ghana's rulers taxed the gold and salt passing through their lands and built a powerful empire. Visitors wrote in amazement about the king's court, his guards, and the great quantities of gold. Ghana showed the way, and when it declined, an even greater empire rose to take its place.

Mali and the Famous Mansa Musa

The Empire of Mali grew to be one of the largest and richest empires in the world. According to its histories, it was founded around 800 years ago by a hero-king named Sundiata Keita, whose story is still told today. Mali controlled the gold trade and grew enormously wealthy and powerful, spreading across a huge stretch of West Africa.

Mali's most famous ruler was the emperor, or mansa, named Mansa Musa, who ruled in the 1300s. He is often described as one of the richest people who ever lived. In 1324 he made a long and dazzling journey, or pilgrimage, across the Sahara to Mecca. Stories tell that he travelled with thousands of people and so much gold that, as he passed through Egypt, he gave away enough to affect the price of gold in the region for years. News of his fabulous wealth spread all the way to Europe, where map-makers later drew him holding a gleaming nugget of gold.

But Mali was about far more than riches. Under Mansa Musa, the city of Timbuktu became a famous centre of learning. Scholars, teachers and students gathered there, mosques and libraries were built, and thousands of handwritten books were copied and treasured — on subjects from religion and law to astronomy and medicine. Timbuktu became known across the world as a place of knowledge.

Songhai: The Largest Empire of All

When Mali weakened, a new power rose along the great Niger River: the Songhai Empire. By the 1400s and 1500s it had grown into one of the largest empires in African history, even bigger than Mali at its height.

Songhai's rulers, such as Sunni Ali and later Askia Muhammad, built a strong, well-organised state with an army, a navy of war canoes on the river, and officials to govern its many lands. Trade flourished, and the cities of Timbuktu, Djenné and Gao thrived. Under Askia Muhammad, Timbuktu's reputation for learning soared even higher, with busy universities and a famous trade in books.

For a time, Songhai was one of the most powerful states in the world. It eventually fell after an invasion from across the desert in the late 1500s, but for over a century it had been a giant of African and world history.

Great Zimbabwe: A City of Stone

Far to the south, in the grasslands of what is now the country of Zimbabwe, lies one of the most astonishing sights in all of Africa: the ruins of a great stone city we call Great Zimbabwe. (The country took its name from these ruins.)

Built between about 800 and 600 years ago, Great Zimbabwe was the heart of a wealthy kingdom that traded gold, cattle and goods reaching all the way to the coast and beyond, where merchants connected to the Indian Ocean trade. Its most famous feature is the Great Enclosure, a huge curved wall built from carefully shaped granite blocks — and, remarkably, fitted together without any cement or mortar at all. Some walls stand many metres high. Thousands of people once lived in and around the city.

For a long time, some outsiders refused to believe Africans had built such a place. But archaeology has shown clearly that Great Zimbabwe was designed and built by local African peoples, the ancestors of those living in the region today. It stands as proud evidence of African skill and power.

Benin and the Bronzes

Our last stop is the Kingdom of Benin, in the forests of what is now southern Nigeria (not the same as today's country of Benin). From around 700 years ago, Benin grew into a powerful and well-organised kingdom ruled by a king called the Oba, with a great walled capital city.

Benin is especially famous for its breathtaking art. Its craftworkers were masters of working metal, creating thousands of detailed plaques and sculptures, often called the Benin Bronzes (though many are actually brass). These artworks showed kings, warriors, animals and scenes of court life in stunning detail, and they astonished European visitors who saw them. Today they are recognised as some of the finest art ever made anywhere in the world.

Sadly, in 1897 a British army attacked Benin City and carried off thousands of these treasures, which ended up in museums far from home. Many people now believe they should be returned, and the Benin Bronzes have become a powerful symbol of African artistry and of righting the wrongs of the past.

What We Learned

We have journeyed across a whole continent and many centuries of history.

We met Aksum, trading by the Red Sea and minting its own coins; the West African empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, made rich by the gold and salt that crossed the Sahara; and the legendary Mansa Musa, whose wealth amazed the world while Timbuktu filled with scholars and books. We marvelled at the mighty stone walls of Great Zimbabwe in the south, and the magnificent bronzes of the Kingdom of Benin.

Together, these kingdoms show that Africa's past is full of wealth, power, learning and beauty. They are a vital part of the story of the whole world — and they deserve to be far better known.

Want to keep exploring history? Sail back to the age of bold sailors in The Vikings, or step into another world of empires and ideas in The Ancient Greeks.