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W.A.Barbieri, ‘Citizenship and Group Rights:
“Guestworkers” in the Federal Republic of Germany’,
Unpublished Ph D. dissertation , Yale University 1992.
Ghana
Medieval West African kingdom heavily influenced by
Islam which flourished between the eighth and eleventh
centuries.
Like other medieval
West African kingdoms the
empire of Ghana was not so much a centralized
territorial entity as a network of different kinship
groups, castes and age sets owing allegiance to the
ruler of a powerful dynasty. Despite its rather diffuse
nature the empire was well known in North Africa
by the end of the eighth century and was marked on
a map made before 833. The fame of the city derived
from its role as the major supplier of gold which
during the eighth and ninth centuries was sent via
Sijilmasa and Tahert to North Africa. Although the
empire never became Muslim the ruler had a high
degree of respect for Islam and many of the more
important positions
of government were filled by
Muslims.
In 990 disruption of the trade routes led the ruler
of Ghana to launch an expedition to capture the oasis
city of Awdaghast from the Berbers and impose a
black governor. However, in 1077 the capital of
Ghana was attacked by the Berber Al-moravids who
massacred many of the inhabitants and forced the
West Africa showing the empire of Ghana in the ninth century CE
Ghana
99
remainder to convert to Islam. Whilst this conquest
destroyed Ghana as an empire, a reduced kingdom
of this name continued to survive into the twelfth
century; al-Idrisi writing in 1154
described the capital
as the most extensive and thickly populated town
of the blacks with the most widespread commerce.
However, in 1204 there was another disaster when
the town was sacked by the Sonnike ruler Sumaguru
Kante. This led to the dispersion of a large number
of Ghana’s inhabitants and the foundation of a new
settlement known as Oualata which replaced Ghana
as the main caravan terminal. However, Ghana
recovered and continued to function as an important
trade centre until 1240 when it was conquered and
incorporated into the empire of Mali. Nevertheless,
Ghana continued to function as a semi-independent
state within the Mali Empire and its ruler even
retained the title of king.
An eleventh-century
description by the
Andalusian writer al-Bakri describes the capital as
divided into two cities, a Muslim city and a royal
city. The Muslim city had twelve mosques including
a Friday mosque each with its own imam and
muezzin (one who announces the call to prayer). The
royal city was a pagan city containing the palace of
the king within a sacred grove or wood. The houses
in the city are described as being built with stone
and acacia wood. The exact location of the capital is
not known and there is some dispute about whether
the state had a fixed capital in the modern sense.
However, the site of Koumbi Saleh in Mauritania is
regarded as one of the principal
capitals if not the
main capital.
Excavations at Koumbi Saleh, begun in 1914, have
revealed a vast set of stone ruins which are still in
need of full interpretation although the evidence
suggests a period of occupation from the seventh to
the seventeenth century. One of the most interesting
discoveries is a square tomb chamber measuring just
over 5 m on each side with a column recessed into
each of the external corners. There were originally
four openings into the chamber but three of these
were subsequently blocked up leaving a single
entrance on the east side. Just inside the entrance
are a set of steps made of
fired brick which lead down
into a subterranean chamber containing spaces for
three sarcophagi. Parallels have been suggested with
Ibadi tombs in North Africa and the Bab Lalla
Rayhana entrance to the Great Mosque of Qairawan
which also employs engaged corner columns.
Elsewhere excavation has revealed a row of shops
connected to houses. The shops are open onto the
street front whilst every other unit opens at the back
onto an entrance vestibule lined with triangular
niches. These vestibules consist of long narrow
rooms with a bed platform at one end and stairs to
another floor at the opposite end. The rooms (7 to 8
m long and 1.5 to 2 m wide) are placed side by side
with two doorways in
each side either side of a
central pillar. The other Ghanaian city which has been
excavated is the oasis city of Awdaghast also in
Mauritania. The architecture here is similar to that
at Koumbi Saleh with triangular niches and long
narrow rooms. Although the evidence from
archaeology is limited it appears that Awdaghast was
inhabited from the seventh to the thirteenth century.
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