#jihad ebony

[belovedbluv]

Jihad Ebony Walking Butch Queen Body, year and ball unknown

Source: ballroom throwbacks

[disposableteenz]

[idemgmt]

9th ann. MayDay Mini Ball Candle Vigil: In remembrance to Gino Luv, Simply E, Rick CMB Bone Crusher, Kelly Ebony, Blotesha Black, Lady LaBelle, Lois Bates, Tiffany Monique, Jerry Lightfoot, Ginger Grant, Craig Cannonball, Lady Ashley, Tasha Thomas, Eraineya Stone, Sasha Valentino, Tony Milan, Reina Valentino, Jihad Ebony, GayTate Mizrahi, Edwin Chew-it Infiniti, Issys Escada, Paige Fendi Infiniti, Tracy Avant-Garde, Indigo Blue, Ross Infiniti, Angie Infiniti, Wally Infiniti, Packii Infiniti, Rozanne Infiniti, Ruby Infiniti, Puchungo Infiniti, Jannette Infiniti, Oreo Infiniti, Enestra Infiniti, Kristina Infiniti, Devine Infiniti, Alexis Infiniti, Kourtney Infiniti, and many more. We welcome Houses to prepare a list of loss ones in order together to say their names in solidarity lighting a candle and paying tribute to each and every one! For more info and to Rsvp ASAP as going to be included in our catering numbers please go to https://m.facebook.com/events/2163422293744049. Sincerely, Solomon and Jasmine of IDE (at Oakwood Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxuOX_zlXvO/?igshid=uf25xft68qey

[greggory--lee]

Great African Civilizations

There have been many misconceptions about the lives of Africans before the advent of European and American colonization. According to some historians, Africans were nothing more than savages whose only contributions to the world were farming and slaves. This is not true. The history of ancient Africa is just as interesting, complex, and sophisticated as any other ancient civilization, yet almost without exception; it is only Egypt that receives any consideration at all when writing history. Because of this mentality, European and American historians have long espoused that Africa and its inhabitants had no culture or history of their own, except what was given to them by outside factors.

However, long before the colonization of Europeans, Africans built kingdoms and monuments that rivaled any European monarchy. Nevertheless, because of racial prejudice, much of Black African history has been distorted and ignored to give justification to the enslavement of millions for financial profit. This paper will be discussing the ancient African kingdoms of Meroë, Ghana, and the Swahili and their rich contributions to the pages of history.

The kingdom of Meroë started around 1000 BC when Nubian rulers built up a politically independent state known to the Egyptians as Kush. Eventually, the rulers of Kush would move to Nubia and establish the kingdom of Meroë (Davis & Gates, p. 30). These rulers established their capital at Meroë around 300 B.C., and the kingdom lasted there for more than nine centuries. However, some historians feel that because Meroitic culture imitated the Egyptian culture so closely, the Meroitës brought no culture of their own to the pages of history. This is not true According to archaeological evidence discovered in North Sudan that is over 2,500 years old, there was an old civilization along the Nile River at lower and Upper Nubia (modern day Sudan) that was older than the civilizations in the North (Egypt). Also, there is evidence that proves that the known Old Egyptian Civilization was an advanced stage of an even older civilization located in the Sudan (Davis & Gates, p. 35).

This evidence proves that Meroë had a culture and history that was even older than of the Egyptians. If anything, Egypt was a carbon copy of Meroë. This kingdom also had its own language. Most historians however, attributed their language and alphabet system to the Egyptians. It was a common belief that ancient Black Africans could not and did not develop a written language. However, inscriptions in a distinct indigenous alphabet appear in Meroë as early as the 2nd century B.C, proving that these assumptions are not true (Davis & Gates, p. 110). This written Meroitic language was used into the 5th century, when Old Nubian eventually replaced it. Widespread use of Meroitic on monuments indicates that a significant percentage of the population was able to read it. However, the meanings of these inscriptions remain unknown, as this hieroglyphic-derived script is as yet untranslatable.

Another little know fact about the Meroitës is that they had a unusually high number of queens who ruled without male intervention. One queen, Queen Amanirenus led her army against a Roman invasion in 24 BC. She won the first battle, and despite losing a second battle, the Romans had enough, agreed to a truce and went back to Rome. Rome never did conquer Meroë, and this kingdom continued to thrive for another 200 years. Actually “queendom” would be more accurate, since the leader of Meroë was usually a warrior queen, called a “kandake” which means “queen mother” or more simply “gore”meaning “ruler”(Fairservis. p.60).

In terms of economics, Meroë was famed for its massive iron production, the first large-scale industry of its kind in the Nile Valley and had extensive trade with Greece and Rome. Because of the production of iron, the armies had better weapons to use during battle and the farmers had better axes and hoes to work their lands. Meroitë traders exported ivory, leopard skins, ostrich feathers, ebony, and gold and soon gained direct access to the expanding trade of the Red Sea (Shillington, p. 40).

The kingdom of Meroë eventually went into decline. Causes for the decline of the Meroitic Kingdom are still largely unknown. The Meroitic kingdom faced formidable competition because of the expansion of Axum, a powerful Abyssinian state in modern Ethiopia to the east. About A.D. 350, an Axumite army captured and destroyed Meroe city, ending the kingdom’s independent existence. The West African Empire of Ghana is another kingdom whose history was downplayed and attributed to outside factors. Although the Berbers originally founded Ghana in the fifth century, it was built on the southern edge of Berber populations. In time, the land became dominated by the Soninke, a Mande speaking people who lived in the region bordering the Sahara (McKissack & McKissack, p. 112). They built their capital city, Kumbi Saleh, right on the edge of the Sahara and the city quickly became the center of the Trans-Saharan trade routes.

Ghana accumulated great wealth because of the Trans-Saharan trade routes. This wealth made it possible for Ghana to conquer local chieftaincies and demand tribute from these subordinate states. This tribute, however, paled next to the wealth generated by the commerce of goods that passed from western Africa east to Egypt and the Middle East. This trade primarily involved gold, salt, and copper (Koslow, p. 70).

A hereditary king called the Ghana ruled Ghana. The kingship was matrilineal (as were all Sahelian monarchies to follow); the king’s sister provided the heir to the throne (McKissack & McKissack, p. 115). In addition to military power, the king appears to have been the supreme judge of the kingdom.

Although northern African had been dominated by the religion of Islam since the eighth century, the kingdom of Ghana never converted (McKissack & McKissack, p. 120). The Ghanaian court, however, allowed Muslims to settle in the cities and even encouraged Muslim specialists to help the royal court administer the government and advice on legal matters.

The original founders of Ghana ultimately proved to be its demise. Unlike the Ghanaians, the Berbers, now calling themselves Almoravids, fervently converted to Islam and in 1075, declared a holy war, or jihad, against the kingdom of Ghana. Little is known about what exactly happened but nonetheless, Ghana ceased to be a commercial or military power after 1100. The Almoravid revolution ultimately ended the reign of Ghana.

Europeans and Arabs alike have portrayed the history of the Swahili kingdom as one of Muslim-Arab domination, with the African people and its rulers playing a passive role in the process. However, recent archaeological evidence found shows that the Swahili people are descendants of the Bantu speaking people who settled along the East African coast in the first millennium (Horton & Middleton, p. 70). Although both Arabians and Persians intermarried with the Swahili, neither of these cultures had anything to do with the establishment of Swahili civilization. These cultures became absorbed into an already flourishing African civilization founded by ancient Bantu Africans.

The eastern coast of Africa changed profoundly around the close of the first millennium AD. During this time, Bantu-speaking Africans from the interior migrated and settled along the coast from Kenya to South Africa. Next, merchants and traders from the Muslim world realized the strategic importance of the east coast of Africa for commercial traffic and began to settle there (Horton & Middleton, p. 72). Marriage between the Bantu women and men of the Middle East created and cemented a rich Swahili culture, fusing religion, agricultural architecture, textiles, food, as well as purchasing power. From 900 A.D., the east coast of Africa saw an influx of Shirazi Arabs from the Persian Gulf and even small settlements of Indians. The Arabs called this region al-Zanj, “The Blacks,” and the coastal areas slowly came under the control of Muslim merchants from Arabia and Persia (Horton & Middleton, p. 75). By the 1300’s, the major east African ports from Mombaza in the north to Sofala in the south had become thoroughly Islamic cities and cultural centers.

The language that grew out of this civilization is one of the most common and widespread of the lingua franca: a lingua franca is a secondary language that is a combination of two or more languages. Swahili or Kiswahili comes from the Arabic word sawahil, which means, “coast.” Swahili belongs to the Sabaki subgroup of the Northeastern coast Bantu languages. It is closely related to the Miji Kenda group of languages, Pokomo and Ngazija (Horton & Middleton, p.110). Over at least a thousand years of intense and varied interaction with the Middle East has given Swahili a rich infusion of loanwords from a wide assortment of languages. Even with the substantial number of Arabic loanwords present in Swahili, the language is in fact, Bantu.

The Swahili civilization expanded southwards until they reached Kilwa in Zanzibar (from the Arabic word al-Zan). Later, its inhabitants carved out a small territory even further south around Sofala in Zimbabwe (Horton & Middleton, p. 140). While the northern cities remained localized and had little influence on African culture inland from the coast, the Sofalans actively went inland and spread Islam and Islamic culture deep in African territory (Horton & Middleton, p. 150). The major Swahili city-states were Mogadishu, Barawa, Mombasa (Kenya), Gedi, Pate, Malindi, Zanzibar, Kilwa, and Sofala in the far south (Horton & Middleton, p. 155). Kilwa was the most famous of these city-states and was particularly wealthy because it controlled the southern port of Sofala, which had access to the gold, produced in the interior (near “Great Zimbabwe”), and its location as the farthest point south at which ships from India could hope to sail and return in a single monsoon season.

These city-states were very cosmopolitan for their time and they were all politically independent of one another. In fact, they were more like competitive companies or corporations, each vying for the lion’s share of African trade. The chief export was ivory, sandalwood, ebony, and gold. Textiles from India and porcelain from China were also brought by Arab traders (Horton & Middleton, p. 175). While the Arabs and Persians played a role in the growth of the Swahili civilization, the nobility was of African descent and they ran the city-states (Horton & Middleton p.195). However, the nobility were Muslims and it was the Muslims who controlled the wealth. Below the nobility were the commoners and the resident foreigners who made up a large part of the citizenry.

However, Islam itself penetrated very little into the interior among the hunters, pastoralists, and farmers. Even the areas of the coast near the trading towns remained relatively unaffected (Horton & Middleton p.198). In the towns, the mud and thatch houses of the non-Muslim common people surrounded the stone and coral buildings of the Muslim elite, and it seems that most followers of Islam were wealthy, not poor.

Still, a culture developed for the Swahili that fused African and Islamic elements. Family lineage, for example, was traced both through the maternal line, which controlled property, an African practice, and through the paternal line, which was the Muslim tradition. Swahili culture had a strong Islamic influence but retained many of its African origins.

These city-states began to decline in the sixteenth century; the advent of Portuguese trade disrupted the old trade routes and made the Swahili commercial centers obsolete. The Portuguese wanted native Africans to have no share in African trade and busily set about conquering the Islamic city-states along the eastern coast (Horton & Middleton, p.225). In the late seventeenth century, the imam (religious leader) of Oman drove the Portuguese from the coast, and gradually established his authority over the coast.

The existence of these ancient Black African civilizations proves once and for all that Africa had a culture and a history of its own other than Egyptian that endured for centuries before the advent of outside factors. The kingdom of Meroë ruled for centuries before the Egyptians and deserves its rightful place as one of the premier ancient civilizations of the world. The kingdom of Ghana proved that Africans were capable of managing their own affairs without the intervention of Europeans. The Swahili and their language were around for centuries before Arabians and others “discovered” them.

These civilizations had their own culture, language and commerce before the advent of Europeans and Muslims in Africa and for the most part, the world does not know anything about them. That is a major crime against the study of history and hopefully, through more archaeological studies and writings, the rich and interesting history of these magnificent civilizations will be told and treasured for future generations.

Source by Kathy Henry

Source: http://bitcoinswiz.com/great-african-civilizations-2/

[belovedbluv]

Old mood board

[idemgmt]

IDE presents its Free, open to the Public, Community Day: 9th annual MayDay Mini-Ball Deluxe Friday, 5/24/19! $250 Grand Prize: House w/ the most tested for HIV! Testing offered 1-9pm only! Up to $250 in total for Gift Card Pop Quiz: Presentation Participation Contest 1-3pm at King Center 4314 S. Cottage Grove Av. Chi., IL 60653 in Canteen! Up to $250 in total for Cash Categories: selected at random only available for winners of Houses who participate in the IDE HIV Testing Drive at a minimum of 5 testing participants per House/Family/Group unless individually participated in Housing Assistance application process and/or Roundtable Discussion signed in by 3pm and fully participated until 5pm at King Center 4314 S. Cottage Grove Av. Chi., IL 60653 in Canteen! Up to $250 in total for Raffle Prizes: receive your raffle ticket at time of testing applicably tested by 7pm to qualify. Winners announced at Mini-Ball 7-9pm at Oakwood Center 3825 S. Vincennes Av. Chi., IL 60653! Order of Categories: 1. Open to All Best Dress Spectator: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gino Valentino or Simply E! 2. MF vs FF Realness: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Rick CMB Bone Crusher or Kelly Ebony! 3. Open Mic: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Blotisha Black or Lady LaBelle! 4. Lip-sync Battle: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Lois Bates or Tiffany Monique! 5. Virgin Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Jerry Lightfoot or Ginger Grant! 6. Virgin Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Craig Cannonball or Lady Ashley! 7. First Time put in Drag: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tasha Thomas or Eraineya Stone! 8. Open to All Face: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Sasha Valentino or Tony Milan! 9. Open to All Body: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Reyna Valentino or Jihad Ebony! 10. Open to All Up in Pumps: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gay Tate Mizrahi or Edwin Chew-it Infiniti! 11. Open to All Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Isis Escada or Paige Fendi Infiniti! 12. Open to All Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tracy Avant-Garde or Indigo Blue! (at Oakwood Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxhbPUIFDJ_/?igshid=1k9yoh94nqxc2

[idemgmt]

In Demand Entertainment Community Day Friday, May 24, 2019: 1pm-9pm! We will kick-off our 2-part free, open to the public community day with special presentations, a roundtable discussion, and HIV testing offering testing participants a VIP Reception, Raffle Prizes, and $500 in cash prizes! Part 1: King Center: 4314 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago, IL 60653 in Canteen. Program Agenda: Introductions: 1pm-1:15pm Opening Address: 1:15pm-1:30pm Planting Seeds Presentations: 130pm-3pm Tools for Success Roundtable Discussion: 3pm-5pm LGBTQ+ Tough Topics Free HIV testing available onsite 1-5pm For VIP at MayDay Mini-Ball to follow. Part 2: Oakwood Center 3825 S Vincennes Ave., Chicago, IL 60653. Early Arrival HIV Testing: 5pm Opening VIP Reception: 7pm LSS & 9th ann. MayDay Mini Ball to follow! MayDay Tribute Categories: Grand Prize: $250 House/Family/Group with the Most Tested for HIV! Bonus $250 in potential Cash Categories: Open to All Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Isis Escada or Paige Fendi Infiniti! Open to All Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tracy Avant-Garde or Indigo Blue! MF vs FF Realness: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Rick CMB Bone Crusher or Kelly Ebony! Open to All Best Dress Spectator: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gino Valentino or Simply E! Open to All Body: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Reyna Valentino or Jihad Ebony! Open to All Face: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Sasha Valentino or Tony Milan! First Time put in Drag: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tasha Thomas or Eraineya Stone! Open Mic: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Blotisha Black or Lady LaBelle! Open to All Up in Pumps: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gay Tate Mizrahi or Edwin Chew-it Infiniti! Lip-sync Battle: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Lois Bates or Tiffany Monique! Virgin Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Jerry Lightfoot or Ginger Grant! Virgin Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Kraig Cannonball or Lady Ashley! For more info and to Rsvp please go to https://m.facebook.com/events/2163422293744049. (at Oakwood Center) https://www.instagram.com/idemgmt/p/BxCK9LGF3g1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1i5txrwt2s2zm

[idemgmt]

In Demand Entertainment Community Day Friday, May 24, 2019 at the King Center 4314 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Chi., IL 60653 in Canteen and Park 10am-4pm. Program Agenda: Free, Open to the Public Introductions: 10am-1015am Meet the Executive Directors Opening Address: 1015am-1030am Planting Seeds Presentations: 1030am-12pm Tools of Success Lunch Break: 12pm-1230pm Concession Onsite Roundtable Discussion: 1230pm-2pm LGBTQ+ Tough Topics 9th annual MayDay Mini Ball: 2pm-4pm Tribute Categories 9th annual MayDay Mini-Ball Categories: Open to All Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Isis Escada or Paige Fendi Infiniti! Open to All Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tracy Avant-Garde or Indigo Blue! MF vs FF Realness: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Rick CMB Bone Crusher or Kelly Ebony! Open to All Best Dress Spectator: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gino Valentino or Simply E! Open to All Body: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Reyna Valentino or Jihad Ebony! Open to All Face: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Sasha Valentino or Tony Milan! First Time put in Drag: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tasha Thomas or Eraineya Stone! Open Mic: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Blotisha Black or Lady LaBelle! Open to All Up in Pumps: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gay Tate Mizrahi or Edwin Chew-it Infiniti! Lip-sync Battle: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Lois Bates or Tiffany Monique! Virgin Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Jerry Lightfoot or Ginger Grant! Virgin Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Kraig Cannonball or Lady Ashley! ### Free HIV testing available for incentives and raffle prizes offered. Sponsored in part by South Side Help Center, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Pharmacy, Coalition for Justice and Respect, The Psych Cafe, Giovanni Events, and Brave Space Alliance. Saturday, May 25, 2019 African Liberation Day at Chicago State University in Library 4th floor 9501 S . King Drive Chicago, IL 60628 (enter campus at St. Lawrence) 11am-5pm providing an event program and reception centered on Black unity and progress. Sp (at Martin Luther King Community Center) https://www.instagram.com/idemgmt/p/Bw8rnV4FraR/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=10l8cajc3hk0x

[idemgmt]

In Demand Entertainment Community Day Friday, May 24, 2019 at the King Center 4314 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Chi., IL 60653 in Canteen and Park 10am-4pm. Program Agenda: Free, Open to the Public Introductions: 10am-1015am Meet the Executive Directors Opening Address: 1015am-1030am Planting Seeds Presentations: 1030am-12pm Tools of Success Lunch Break: 12pm-1230pm Concession Onsite Roundtable Discussion: 1230pm-2pm LGBTQ+ Tough Topics 9th annual MayDay Mini Ball: 2pm-4pm Tribute Categories 9th annual MayDay Mini-Ball Categories: Open to All Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Isis Escada or Paige Fendi Infiniti! Open to All Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tracy Avant-Garde or Indigo Blue! MF vs FF Realness: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Rick CMB Bone Crusher or Kelly Ebony! Open to All Best Dress Spectator: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gino Valentino or Simply E! Open to All Body: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Reyna Valentino or Jihad Ebony! Open to All Face: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Sasha Valentino or Tony Milan! First Time put in Drag: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tasha Thomas or Eraineya Stone! Open Mic: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Blotisha Black or Lady LaBelle! Open to All Up in Pumps: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gay Tate Mizrahi or Edwin Chew-it Infiniti! Lip-sync Battle: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Lois Bates or Tiffany Monique! Virgin Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Jerry Lightfoot or Ginger Grant! Virgin Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Kraig Cannonball or Lady Ashley! ### Free HIV testing available for incentives and raffle prizes offered. Sponsored in part by South Side Help Center, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Pharmacy, Coalition for Justice and Respect, The Psych Cafe, Giovanni Events, and Brave Space Alliance. Saturday, May 25, 2019 African Liberation Day at Chicago State University in Library 4th floor 9501 S . King Drive Chicago, IL 60628 (enter campus at St. Lawrence) 11am-5pm providing an event program and reception centered on Black unity and progress. (at Martin Luther King Community Center) https://www.instagram.com/idemgmt/p/Bw8rfXclKIX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1u15sdei2jpoi

[idemgmt]

In Demand Entertainment MayDay Invitation: All events are free and open to the public- Friday, May 24, 2019 LGBTQ+ Community Day at King Center in Canteen 4314 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Chicago, IL 60653 10am-1pm for libations, presentations, and discussions focused on Sexual and Mental Health led by Marc Loveless, Solomon Arnold, and Donita Lake. Presenters welcome and requested to bring refreshments. Talk b4 U Walk Panel Discussion and MayDay Mini-Ball at the WestPoint B.C. 3566 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Chicago, IL 60653 focused on Trans issues and empowerment 3-6pm led by LaSaia Wade, Donita Lake, and Shasha Ferre. Special tribute categories and performances in memory of Ball and Drag performers with surprise cash categories and concessions offered in interim to CAHISC meeting 6-8pm. 9th annual MayDay Mini-Ball Categories: Open to All Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Isis Escada or Paige Fendi Infiniti! Open to All Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tracy Avant-Garde or Indigo Blue! MF vs FF Realness: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Rick CMB Bone Crusher or Kelly Ebony! Open to All Best Dress Spectator: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gino Valentino or Simply E! Open to All Body: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Reyna Valentino or Jihad Ebony! Open to All Face: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Sasha Valentino or Tony Milan! First Time put in Drag: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Tasha Thomas or Eraineya Stone! Open Mic: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Blotisha Black or Lady LaBelle! Open to All Up in Pumps: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Gay Tate Mizrahi or Edwin Chew-it Infiniti! Lip-sync Battle: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Lois Bates or Tiffany Monique! Virgin Runway: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Jerry Lightfoot or Ginger Grant! Virgin Vogue: Come as you are or bring it in memory of Kraig Cannonball or Lady Ashley! ### HIV testing available for incentives and raffle prizes offered at both events. For more information and to Rsvp ASAP as going please go to https://m.facebook.com/events/2163422293744049. (at Martin Luther King Community Center) https://www.instagram.com/idemgmt/p/Bw8FSB2FpNE/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1tnpya6pvwl4o

[greggory--lee]

Great African Civilizations

There have been many misconceptions about the lives of Africans before the advent of European and American colonization. According to some historians, Africans were nothing more than savages whose only contributions to the world were farming and slaves. This is not true. The history of ancient Africa is just as interesting, complex, and sophisticated as any other ancient civilization, yet almost without exception; it is only Egypt that receives any consideration at all when writing history. Because of this mentality, European and American historians have long espoused that Africa and its inhabitants had no culture or history of their own, except what was given to them by outside factors.

However, long before the colonization of Europeans, Africans built kingdoms and monuments that rivaled any European monarchy. Nevertheless, because of racial prejudice, much of Black African history has been distorted and ignored to give justification to the enslavement of millions for financial profit. This paper will be discussing the ancient African kingdoms of Meroë, Ghana, and the Swahili and their rich contributions to the pages of history.

The kingdom of Meroë started around 1000 BC when Nubian rulers built up a politically independent state known to the Egyptians as Kush. Eventually, the rulers of Kush would move to Nubia and establish the kingdom of Meroë (Davis & Gates, p. 30). These rulers established their capital at Meroë around 300 B.C., and the kingdom lasted there for more than nine centuries. However, some historians feel that because Meroitic culture imitated the Egyptian culture so closely, the Meroitës brought no culture of their own to the pages of history. This is not true According to archaeological evidence discovered in North Sudan that is over 2,500 years old, there was an old civilization along the Nile River at lower and Upper Nubia (modern day Sudan) that was older than the civilizations in the North (Egypt). Also, there is evidence that proves that the known Old Egyptian Civilization was an advanced stage of an even older civilization located in the Sudan (Davis & Gates, p. 35).

This evidence proves that Meroë had a culture and history that was even older than of the Egyptians. If anything, Egypt was a carbon copy of Meroë. This kingdom also had its own language. Most historians however, attributed their language and alphabet system to the Egyptians. It was a common belief that ancient Black Africans could not and did not develop a written language. However, inscriptions in a distinct indigenous alphabet appear in Meroë as early as the 2nd century B.C, proving that these assumptions are not true (Davis & Gates, p. 110). This written Meroitic language was used into the 5th century, when Old Nubian eventually replaced it. Widespread use of Meroitic on monuments indicates that a significant percentage of the population was able to read it. However, the meanings of these inscriptions remain unknown, as this hieroglyphic-derived script is as yet untranslatable.

Another little know fact about the Meroitës is that they had a unusually high number of queens who ruled without male intervention. One queen, Queen Amanirenus led her army against a Roman invasion in 24 BC. She won the first battle, and despite losing a second battle, the Romans had enough, agreed to a truce and went back to Rome. Rome never did conquer Meroë, and this kingdom continued to thrive for another 200 years. Actually “queendom” would be more accurate, since the leader of Meroë was usually a warrior queen, called a “kandake” which means “queen mother” or more simply “gore”meaning “ruler”(Fairservis. p.60).

In terms of economics, Meroë was famed for its massive iron production, the first large-scale industry of its kind in the Nile Valley and had extensive trade with Greece and Rome. Because of the production of iron, the armies had better weapons to use during battle and the farmers had better axes and hoes to work their lands. Meroitë traders exported ivory, leopard skins, ostrich feathers, ebony, and gold and soon gained direct access to the expanding trade of the Red Sea (Shillington, p. 40).

The kingdom of Meroë eventually went into decline. Causes for the decline of the Meroitic Kingdom are still largely unknown. The Meroitic kingdom faced formidable competition because of the expansion of Axum, a powerful Abyssinian state in modern Ethiopia to the east. About A.D. 350, an Axumite army captured and destroyed Meroe city, ending the kingdom’s independent existence. The West African Empire of Ghana is another kingdom whose history was downplayed and attributed to outside factors. Although the Berbers originally founded Ghana in the fifth century, it was built on the southern edge of Berber populations. In time, the land became dominated by the Soninke, a Mande speaking people who lived in the region bordering the Sahara (McKissack & McKissack, p. 112). They built their capital city, Kumbi Saleh, right on the edge of the Sahara and the city quickly became the center of the Trans-Saharan trade routes.

Ghana accumulated great wealth because of the Trans-Saharan trade routes. This wealth made it possible for Ghana to conquer local chieftaincies and demand tribute from these subordinate states. This tribute, however, paled next to the wealth generated by the commerce of goods that passed from western Africa east to Egypt and the Middle East. This trade primarily involved gold, salt, and copper (Koslow, p. 70).

A hereditary king called the Ghana ruled Ghana. The kingship was matrilineal (as were all Sahelian monarchies to follow); the king’s sister provided the heir to the throne (McKissack & McKissack, p. 115). In addition to military power, the king appears to have been the supreme judge of the kingdom.

Although northern African had been dominated by the religion of Islam since the eighth century, the kingdom of Ghana never converted (McKissack & McKissack, p. 120). The Ghanaian court, however, allowed Muslims to settle in the cities and even encouraged Muslim specialists to help the royal court administer the government and advice on legal matters.

The original founders of Ghana ultimately proved to be its demise. Unlike the Ghanaians, the Berbers, now calling themselves Almoravids, fervently converted to Islam and in 1075, declared a holy war, or jihad, against the kingdom of Ghana. Little is known about what exactly happened but nonetheless, Ghana ceased to be a commercial or military power after 1100. The Almoravid revolution ultimately ended the reign of Ghana.

Europeans and Arabs alike have portrayed the history of the Swahili kingdom as one of Muslim-Arab domination, with the African people and its rulers playing a passive role in the process. However, recent archaeological evidence found shows that the Swahili people are descendants of the Bantu speaking people who settled along the East African coast in the first millennium (Horton & Middleton, p. 70). Although both Arabians and Persians intermarried with the Swahili, neither of these cultures had anything to do with the establishment of Swahili civilization. These cultures became absorbed into an already flourishing African civilization founded by ancient Bantu Africans.

The eastern coast of Africa changed profoundly around the close of the first millennium AD. During this time, Bantu-speaking Africans from the interior migrated and settled along the coast from Kenya to South Africa. Next, merchants and traders from the Muslim world realized the strategic importance of the east coast of Africa for commercial traffic and began to settle there (Horton & Middleton, p. 72). Marriage between the Bantu women and men of the Middle East created and cemented a rich Swahili culture, fusing religion, agricultural architecture, textiles, food, as well as purchasing power. From 900 A.D., the east coast of Africa saw an influx of Shirazi Arabs from the Persian Gulf and even small settlements of Indians. The Arabs called this region al-Zanj, “The Blacks,” and the coastal areas slowly came under the control of Muslim merchants from Arabia and Persia (Horton & Middleton, p. 75). By the 1300’s, the major east African ports from Mombaza in the north to Sofala in the south had become thoroughly Islamic cities and cultural centers.

The language that grew out of this civilization is one of the most common and widespread of the lingua franca: a lingua franca is a secondary language that is a combination of two or more languages. Swahili or Kiswahili comes from the Arabic word sawahil, which means, “coast.” Swahili belongs to the Sabaki subgroup of the Northeastern coast Bantu languages. It is closely related to the Miji Kenda group of languages, Pokomo and Ngazija (Horton & Middleton, p.110). Over at least a thousand years of intense and varied interaction with the Middle East has given Swahili a rich infusion of loanwords from a wide assortment of languages. Even with the substantial number of Arabic loanwords present in Swahili, the language is in fact, Bantu.

The Swahili civilization expanded southwards until they reached Kilwa in Zanzibar (from the Arabic word al-Zan). Later, its inhabitants carved out a small territory even further south around Sofala in Zimbabwe (Horton & Middleton, p. 140). While the northern cities remained localized and had little influence on African culture inland from the coast, the Sofalans actively went inland and spread Islam and Islamic culture deep in African territory (Horton & Middleton, p. 150). The major Swahili city-states were Mogadishu, Barawa, Mombasa (Kenya), Gedi, Pate, Malindi, Zanzibar, Kilwa, and Sofala in the far south (Horton & Middleton, p. 155). Kilwa was the most famous of these city-states and was particularly wealthy because it controlled the southern port of Sofala, which had access to the gold, produced in the interior (near “Great Zimbabwe”), and its location as the farthest point south at which ships from India could hope to sail and return in a single monsoon season.

These city-states were very cosmopolitan for their time and they were all politically independent of one another. In fact, they were more like competitive companies or corporations, each vying for the lion’s share of African trade. The chief export was ivory, sandalwood, ebony, and gold. Textiles from India and porcelain from China were also brought by Arab traders (Horton & Middleton, p. 175). While the Arabs and Persians played a role in the growth of the Swahili civilization, the nobility was of African descent and they ran the city-states (Horton & Middleton p.195). However, the nobility were Muslims and it was the Muslims who controlled the wealth. Below the nobility were the commoners and the resident foreigners who made up a large part of the citizenry.

However, Islam itself penetrated very little into the interior among the hunters, pastoralists, and farmers. Even the areas of the coast near the trading towns remained relatively unaffected (Horton & Middleton p.198). In the towns, the mud and thatch houses of the non-Muslim common people surrounded the stone and coral buildings of the Muslim elite, and it seems that most followers of Islam were wealthy, not poor.

Still, a culture developed for the Swahili that fused African and Islamic elements. Family lineage, for example, was traced both through the maternal line, which controlled property, an African practice, and through the paternal line, which was the Muslim tradition. Swahili culture had a strong Islamic influence but retained many of its African origins.

These city-states began to decline in the sixteenth century; the advent of Portuguese trade disrupted the old trade routes and made the Swahili commercial centers obsolete. The Portuguese wanted native Africans to have no share in African trade and busily set about conquering the Islamic city-states along the eastern coast (Horton & Middleton, p.225). In the late seventeenth century, the imam (religious leader) of Oman drove the Portuguese from the coast, and gradually established his authority over the coast.

The existence of these ancient Black African civilizations proves once and for all that Africa had a culture and a history of its own other than Egyptian that endured for centuries before the advent of outside factors. The kingdom of Meroë ruled for centuries before the Egyptians and deserves its rightful place as one of the premier ancient civilizations of the world. The kingdom of Ghana proved that Africans were capable of managing their own affairs without the intervention of Europeans. The Swahili and their language were around for centuries before Arabians and others “discovered” them.

These civilizations had their own culture, language and commerce before the advent of Europeans and Muslims in Africa and for the most part, the world does not know anything about them. That is a major crime against the study of history and hopefully, through more archaeological studies and writings, the rich and interesting history of these magnificent civilizations will be told and treasured for future generations.

Source by Kathy Henry

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