10 parts · 10 chapters
West African Kingdoms
Two thousand years of states, cities and trade across West Africa, told from Arabic chronicles, European records, archaeology and oral tradition, each named as such. Maps use real coordinates; dates before about 1000 CE come from archaeology and are approximate.
Ten parts: Nok and the early Iron Age; Ghana (Wagadu) and the trans-Saharan trade; Mali from Sundiata to Mansa Musa and Timbuktu; Songhai; Kanem-Bornu; the Hausa city-states and the Sokoto Caliphate; Benin, its obas and bronzes and the 1897 expedition; Nri and the Igbo world; Dahomey and Asante; and the Atlantic slave trade and its effects.
earlyNok terracottas and iron working, Igbo-Ukwu bronzes.
Sahel empiresGhana, Mali and Songhai on gold and salt.
the eastKanem-Bornu, the Hausa states and Sokoto.
the forestBenin, Nri, Oyo, Dahomey and Asante.
sourcesAl-Bakri, Ibn Battuta, the Timbuktu chronicles, griots.
the AtlanticThe slave trade, its scale and its effects.
00
Nok and the Early Iron Age
Terracotta and iron
1 ch · ~8 min01Ghana (Wagadu) and the Trans-Saharan Trade
Gold, salt and a twin city
1 ch · ~8 min02Mali: Sundiata, Mansa Musa, Timbuktu
An empire known through song and chronicle
1 ch · ~8 min03Songhai: Sunni Ali, Askia Muhammad
The largest Sahel empire
1 ch · ~8 min04Kanem-Bornu
A thousand years at Lake Chad
1 ch · ~8 min05The Hausa City-States and the Sokoto Caliphate
City-states to caliphate
1 ch · ~8 min06Benin: Obas, Bronzes and the 1897 Expedition
A city of walls and bronze
1 ch · ~8 min07Nri and the Igbo World
Bronzes, priests and assemblies
1 ch · ~8 min08Dahomey and Asante
Two states on the edge of the Atlantic
1 ch · ~8 min09The Atlantic Slave Trade and Its Effects
Scale, routes and consequences
1 ch · ~8 minSources and methodBuilt on Nehemia Levtzion, J.F. Ade Ajayi and Michael Crowder (eds.), the UNESCO General History of Africa, Thurstan Shaw, Paul Lovejoy and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, cited per chapter.