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Kingdoms of West Africa: An Overview
A careful survey of West Africa's major states, from early cities and Ghana to Mali, Songhai, Benin and the Ashanti, and how oral tradition shapes the evidence.
Egypt and Africa
African Kingdoms
West African states such as the Ashanti and Nri.
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe's dry-stone enclosures in southern Africa, who built them between about the 11th and 15th centuries, and how its rulers joined Indian Ocean trade.
Jenne-Jeno and Early West African Cities
Jenne-Jeno on the inland Niger delta grew into a large trading town from about 250 BCE without a central state, challenging old ideas about how cities arise.
The Forgotten History of the Nri Kingdom
The Igbo Nri kingdom was led by priest-kings who relied on ritual rather than armies; early dates rest on oral tradition and limited work at Igbo-Ukwu.
The Ghana Empire and the Gold Trade
How the Soninke kingdom of Wagadu, known to Arab writers as Ghana, taxed the Saharan trade in gold and salt, and what the sources do and do not tell us.
The Kingdom of Aksum
Aksum, a trading kingdom in the Ethiopian highlands, minted its own coins and adopted Christianity in the 4th century CE; here is what the evidence shows.
The Nok Culture and Its Terracottas
The Nok culture of central Nigeria made some of Africa's earliest large sculptures in terracotta; this article covers what is known of its makers and what remains unclear.
The Rise of the Ashanti Empire: A Story of African Power and Politics
How Osei Tutu united the Akan states around 1700, why the Golden Stool became a political symbol, and how gold and Atlantic trade shaped the Ashanti kingdom.
The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela
Eleven medieval churches in highland Ethiopia were cut downward from solid volcanic rock; learn how they were carved, who is credited, and what remains debated.
The Stelae of Aksum
How the giant carved stone monuments of Aksum in Ethiopia were quarried and raised, what they marked, and the story of the stele returned from Rome.
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