Tag Archives: ancient history

Blog 6: Beauty of Africa (Sudan)

Posted on December 14, 2014 by | 3 comments

Although a majority of the media’s focus on Sudan revolves around the war between the north and south, there still remains a large amount of hidden, unappreciated beauty to the country of Africa.

Amongst the northeast region of Africa, Sudan is commonly characterized as the largest country of the continent, measuring 2,505,813 sq km, 853 km of it being composed of the Red Sea. Even with the Nile river running through the country, Sudan’s deserts are destined to periodic droughts and dust storms. The mountains of the north promise enjoyable weather, getting even better by traveling south to beautiful tropical climates. Sudan has almost any type of region one may want to visit. In the north lays the desert, trailed by mountains and valleys in the center areas. Swamps and rainforests compose the south, offering any type of desire setting of terrain. Traveling to Khartoum, the National Museum takes visitors to the monumental history of ancient Egypt.

Aside from it’s natural beauty, Sudan’s oil production promised large supply, becoming a direct source of oil to a majority of bordering countries. This helps maintain a healthy economy and increasing exchange rate. Other natural resources found in Sudan consist of copper, chromium ore, petroleum, zinc, iron, silver, and gold.

Unfortunately, the amount of visitors Sudan has had in the last few decades has decreased in relation to the war between the north and south. In contrast to the conflict between the people of the north and south of Sudan to one another, the people of Sudan are very well known as being extremely warm and hospitable to any and all visitors. Residents will often invite others into their homes for food and offer plenty of food, shelter, and kindness to any visiting.

Sudan impressingly has its very own currency. The Sudanese pound replaces the pound at an exchange rate of 1 dinar for 10 pounds. Aside from the separated south, the new Sudanese pound became the official currency of the country.

Since sports isn’t a huge part of Sudanese culture, no one is aware of several successful athletes to come out of the country. Manute Bol, who in his era was the tallest basketball player in the NBA, made a huge name for himself in basketball, along Deng Gai and Luol Deng. Gai went to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, while Deng joined the Chicago Bulls.

Amongst movements, between 1960 and 1970, Sudanese woman had one of the first and most active women’s movements in Arabic and African history. The first female parliamentarian took rise in 1965, followed by the first female minister of health in 1974, the Middle East’s first female judge, cinematographer, football referee, army, and police officer.

My initial assumption about Sudan came from the very obvious knowledge that they are in war and separated from south Sudan. I constantly came across articles, current events, and history records of wars and strife from Sudan. After researching the history and facts of the country, I’ve learned how beautiful and unique the country truly is, and how much it has to offer. Although Sudan faces many negative assumptions, it is a country that still offers itself to Africa and contributes as a huge historical source for themselves.

Images (Again):

http://www.newspatrolling.com/wp-content/uploads/Sudan-Darfur2008-_piramidi-_contesto-_COSV_7.jpg

http://www.ccbnational.net/KotW/img/scenic_photos/Sudan/Sudan%20-%20towers%20of%20sudan.jpg

http://gmsudan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Tourism-in-Sudan-1.jpg

 

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Blog 5: Revolutionary Figures

Posted on December 14, 2014 by | 1 comment

Although not many positive leaders have been apart of the history of Sudan, Abdullah Ibn-Mohammed, a Sudanese Ansae ruler, obtained a large following and took over a more or less powerful movement, although his motives remain questionable amongst the history of Sudan. Abdullah was always meant to be a leader and people person, being raised and practicing his reign as a preacher in his early years. He was named a chief lieutenant under the following of Mohammed Ahmed in 1880, and in charge of the Mahdist army. As a mahdist leader following the death of Mahdi in 1885, Abdullah arose as a single leader in 1891. He maintained a traditional administration, going against the courts that strongly enforced Sharia law.

As a part of his leadership, he wanted to expand any issues occurring within Sudan to Ethiopia and Egypt, refusing any attempt anyone may have made to keep peace between Abdullah and the bordering countries. With 60,000 Ansar troops at his side, his attempt to invade Ethiopia worked, killing Ethiopian emperor Yohannes IV. Abdullah spent four years making the military strategies and financial growth of Sudan grow, simultaneously attempting to put an end to the crop failures and economic issues he was facing. The Italians, French, and British forces surrounded Sudan in 1896 under Anglo-Egyptian general Herbert Kitchener, retrieving the rights of stability for Sudan. Abdullah’s army was defeated on April 8 of 1898, leading to his going MIA in the south of Sudan. An Egyptian column under Sir Reginald Wingate found and killed Abdullah in November of 1899. His army was forced to hand over responsibilities to Egyptian administrators and technicians to restore to failed attempt to unify Sudan.

The effect this had on the country, although not positive, did influence African literature in a positive way. His written literature still influences the Arabic population. His attempt to purify Islam caused people of Sudan to fight their Egyptian rulers for almost a decade, freeing Sudan from foreign rule.

(Picture upload again 🙁 )

Abdullah:

http://api.ning.com/files/0TyPLysMYmbh0nJx3b0naYAB*J7u2jf6kkT8-9q27K8Fz*yaPxy8RA0JbbNwdWF1YOF5a*VOK8gP7oySXIShbYFBuME3hZgu/TheMahdi1.jpg

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Blog 4: Colonization of Sudan vs. American

Posted on December 14, 2014 by | Leave a comment

The colonial history of Sudan began with the Turk-Egyptian rule. The ruling lasted from 1820 until about 1885. This began when Muhammad Ali arranged for two military expeditions, one to the south and the other into the western section of Sudan. The main motivation for invasion was an attempt to obtain black men for his army and to find gold. From the start, the government was already set up for failure. Those in charge were terrible in public communication whether it be delivering speech, or simply reaching out to potential followers. Wherever they went, no one showed interest in associating with them and ultimately just wanted the armies to leave. A rebellion against the government by religious leader Mohamed Ahmed El Mahdi took place in 1881, for both religious and political reasons. His triumph was successful, although he passed away shortly following his reign a year later.

After the Turk-Egyptian ruling, the British-Egyptian Rule took place when General Kitchener invaded Sudan from 1896 to 1898. The British are one of the original reasons for the current Southern and Northern Sudan separation, from when they began requiring a passport to travel between the two countries and setting a ban on the slave trade. From 1951-1953, the British and Egyptians finally evacuated Sudan. Unfortunately, in November of 1955, Sudan redeclared total independence from southern Sudan, initiating a Civil War between the north and south.

During the colonial time period of America, Europeans were arriving in America to become wealthier and spread their influences across the world. The Spanish arrived first among the Europeans. Colonies began to establish amongst the northeast, contracting approximately 2 million colonists by 1770. Towards the end of the colonial American era, most profit was arriving through food products, stores amongst the ships, rum, and slaves. A common misunderstanding is the origin of these slaves during the colonial period. A majority were coming from the Caribbean, not Africa.

(The post would not let me upload pictures so I will attach the websites I found the pictures off of that I would have liked to use, sorry!)

Colonial Sudan:
http://southernsudan.prm.ox.ac.uk/images/midsize/1998.204.11.20_O.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb176fDtbe1rqkjy0o2_1280.gif

Colonial America:

http://my-ecoach.com/online/resources/6767/colonists.jpg

 

 

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Sierra Leone’s Roots

Posted on November 17, 2014 by | 1 comment

Many consider Africa to be the motherland, the place where all human beings evolved. Scientists have concluded that at one point the earth was one land mass with water surrounding it. Eventually, because of earth shifts and Mother Nature this huge land mass parted into smaller sectors (or continents) and from Africa came the first form of humanity.  Undoubtedly, Africa has history that is rooted and connected to the rest of the world in some way. Centuries later, Africa geographically became the second largest continent comprised of many smaller countries and different peoples. One of these countries is known as Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone’s location directly facing the Western world, made it a prime departure point for many enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade. European settlers managed to manipulate many of the African people to believe that their mission was to help. However, “help” turned into one of the worst inhumane practices of the century. Eventually, thoughts of attaining material things and favors convinced some African people to turn on their own people. They were convinced into the capturing of many African people and trading or selling them to their European counterparts. The transatlantic slave trade became a huge business, trading people for inanimate things and a bulk of it happened right on the borders of Sierra Leone.

The first inhabitants of Sierra Leone were known as the Bulom people. Soon the Portuguese ambitious for new discoveries reached the coasts of this unknown territory and named it “lion mountains” or its present name of Sierra Leone. Ancient history also tells a biography of Kings that emerged from this widely misinterpreted continent.  Democracy was not common or even a thought many years ago in all parts of the earth.  Kingdoms and its rulers or kings were looked upon as the one to make all the decisions. Often Kings were even perceived as Gods. Certainly, there were virtuous rulers and then there were malicious ones. Sierra Leone on its west coast of Africa was home to kings during some period.  According to the Sierra Leone Web, in 1540 Great Mane Conqueror, Farma Tami, ruled Sierra Leone. Under Farma Tami’s rule, came his innovative ideas such as the concept of government “and improved methods of weaving and manufacture (Sierra Leone Web).” Interestingly, Tami was also known for teaching his people “the art of war.” These teachings and praising of war can imply that violence in Sierra Leone present day could have trickled down from the great minds of its conquistadors.

From many of the sources used it seemed as though there was a jump in Sierra Leone’s history that was not accounted for. This could be due to wars and resources being destroyed that provides some insight on the country’s history.  Above it all, Sierra Leone finally gained their independence in 1961. Since then the country has struggled finding a balance in politics that can benefit a greater portion of its people. Today, diamonds are one of the greatest revenue sources of the country. What is truly telling about the diamond industry and organization of politics in Sierra Leone, is that diamonds keep the outside buyers beautifully accessorized while they keep Sierra Leone living- barely.

 

 

 

 

http://www.sierra-leone.org/Heroes/heroes1.html

http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/sierra-leone

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Ancient Influence on Botswana

Posted on September 24, 2014 by | 3 comments

It is a well-known fact that history has molded us into what we are today. We often neglect the past, and do not appreciate the influence it has in our modern world. Sometimes, we view ancient history as fables and fail to realize the greatness of our ancestors. Although I am African, I have very little knowledge of my ancient history as many of us do. It is fascinating to learn of the great kingdoms that ruled ancient Africa, and their continued influence on many countries Such as Botswana. The infamous Bantu people were a very prominent tribe in precolonial Africa and had a great influence on central to southern Africa especially Botswana as their expansion thought sub-Saharan Africa grew. However, Botswana was not only settled by the Bantu people but also by the San and Khoi people.

bantuvillage3.1a

The Bantu, San and Khoi group all initially migrated from northern Africa to the south looking for uninhibited land. The website KnowBotswana states that, the Bantu were the “first settlers in the Cape area in South Africa in 300A.D.” The Bantu groups were later followed by the San people into the Cape area but were driven out and were the first to settle in Botswana. Eventually, the Khoi and Bantu people followed the San’s into Botswana. As previously stated, ancient history has a huge influence in present civilization or society. Today San people are predominantly found in Botswana after  continuously being pushed out by other tribes from the Cape area.

To understand the influence that these tribes have had on Botswana today, it is important to truly know who they were and what they did. The San groups were also known as the Bushmen or the Khoisan, they were hunter gathers.  The Khoi who are also known as Hottentots or KhoiKhoi were herders. Why is this important? Aside from the fact that these groups are still relevant today their evolved trades play a role in Botswana’s economy. Aside from their mass production or mining of diamonds Botswana is also a seller of beef to European countries. This stems from their roots of herders which is still very prevalent today in Botswana.

bushmen-paining-sanbushmen

However, the Bushmen (San and Khoi people) were sadly overthrown by a more superior group called the Tswana speakers. The Tswana speakers moved north of the Cape area in the 14th century into Botswana. They were skilled in agriculture, iron working practices, and had various dialects. This intimidated the San and Khoi people who at this time felt inferior to the Tswana people. The superiority of the Tswana people eventually caused the Bushmen to retreat into the Kalahari which is basically desert land.

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There is so much more ancient history about African nations such as Botswana that is accessible to us on websites such as thuto.org, knowbotswana.com, and so on. The most fascinating thing that I learned as I researched the history of Botswana is the fact that it can be traced by inscriptions and paintings of the ancient people. The migration of the San people into Botswana was traced by similar inscription and paintings by the San people in northern Africa found in caves and beautiful stone structures in southern Africa. Sometimes we look at how advanced we have become and belittle the intelligence and greatness of those who came before us but without them where would we be.

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The Interesting History of Liberia

Posted on September 24, 2014 by | 1 comment

To be honest, I found this assignment rather difficult. In my opinion, it is much easier to find the recent history of countries because often times people think it’s more relevant to life today. I really didn’t know anything about the ancient history of Liberia and was quite enlightened and impressed with the information I was able to unearth. Simply googling “the history of ancient Liberia” brought up numerous different websites, each with a valuable look into this mystifying country. I was however, a little surprised with the lack of differing information. There were a lot of sites to choose from but I really had to dig around in order to find unique and intriguing work. I have chosen three different websites to reference in this blog that have done slightly varying research on the history of Liberia. Now let us begin our journey into the life of the Liberian people who lived centuries ago.

The history of Liberia began during the 12th and 16th centuries. During this time there was a huge influx of various tribal members who were escaping their downtrodden regions. Much like the immigrants who have made their way into the United States, these tribal members brought numerous skills, social ideas and diversity with their arrival. These included “iron smelting, weaving, spinning, and the cultivation of rice and other staple crops in addition to political and social skills and traditions.” (iexplore) These new ideas quickly led to the rapid increase in trading goods with other West Africa regions during the 15th century.

Liberia lies on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, which meant a great potential for trade and exploration. Specifically, since Sierra Leon, Guinea and the Ivory Coast border Liberia, the natives and people from tribes were able to travel throughout this region, which put them in the position to interact with not only other Africans but also with European explorers and ultimately slave traders. For Liberia, traveling and having access to other African countries had both a positive and negative affect on their society both then and carried into now.

During this pre-colonial time, Liberia was mostly split-up into sixteen different tribal groups who would occasionally come together to discuss matters of mutual importance. They included: Bassa, Belle, Dahn, Dei, Gola, Grebo, Kissi, Kpelle, Krahn, Kru, Morma, Mandingo, Mono, Mende, and Vai. Due to the sheer number of tribes, no central government was able to take root and form. There was however, some level of control within these communities. Chiefs, elders and religious priests were most widely regarded as the leaders in charge. This style of leadership some say resemble a “Compound” which was commonly comprised of a large, interacting family clan. In many of these communities, “mechanisms for social control were characterized by military, religious and social sanctions in which secret societies…played key roles in managing social and political strife through the provision of secular and sacred functions.” (issafrica.) To summarize, while the chiefs and other elders of these tribes were first in command, it was various sanctions centered on military, religious and social means that influenced social control.

Here are the websites that I was able to learn from for this blog!

http://www.iexplore.com/travel-guides/africa/liberia/history-and-culture

http://www.issafrica.org/af/profiles/Liberia/LIBERIA1.HTML

http://www.law.yale.edu/rcw/rcw/jurisdictions/afw/liberia/Lib_CRC.htm

 

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History of Eritrea

Posted on September 24, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Eritrea’s history can be tracked all the way to the 25th century BC. The Ancient Egyptians knew Eritrea as land of “Punt”. Punt was a trading partner with the Egyptians and specialized in livestock, gold, and other commodities. Agaw people, who would then migrate from Eritrea to other parts of Africa, occupied the country for hundreds of years. The next kingdom to arise in Eritrea was “D’mt” in the 8th century BC and lasted until the 5th century BC. Smaller kingdoms had control of the land until the Kingdom of Aksum took control in the 1st century. The Kingdom of Aksum reigned for many years. Zoskales was one of the famous rulers to govern the kingdom. After their reign, the Persian Empire took over and turned Eritrea into an Islamic state. Eritrea then declined, becoming a remote Islamic community until the Ottoman Empire took control of the land in the 16th century.

 

Aksum was the greatest Kingdom to occupy Eritrea. However the D’mt kingdom was also very powerful. The D’mt kingdom developed complex irrigation schemes, created harvesting tools, and mass-produced weapons. It was an efficient and strong kingdom but lacked longevity; it only stood for about 3 centuries. The Kingdom of Aksum was the real powerhouse that occupied the country. They created the capital of Mazaber, which was a big market place for Ivory. They also constructed large stone monuments for religious purposes.

 

One great ruler in Eritea was Zoskales. Although he controlled his kingdom for a good deal of time, there isn’t a terrible amount of information on him. However, he was known to be a petty ruler, whose reign never exceeded Adulis, the main port of which he was in charge of. Under the reign of Ezana, the kingdom of Aksum adopted Christianity as their faith. The introduction of Christianity led to changes in the kingdom’s design including buildings and monuments. This occurred between year 320 and 360. As the Persian Empire took control, Eritrea became a state if Islam.

 

Eritrea innovated ancient trading techniques when the Land Of Punt was up and running as a thriving trading partner with the Ancient Egyptians. After that, the Kingdom of Aksum thrived into of the greatest civilizations of all time. They created new dialects and inscribed historical events and documented them. They also created great stone column structures for religious purposes.

 

I believe there are a decent amount of sources for the history of Eritrea. A big portion of Eritrean history lies in the Kingdom of Aksum and its reign. There are plenty of sources available for that. When it comes to sources for other parts of Eritrean history, there aren’t too many that go in depth in the times after the Aksum Kingdom. However, there was still enough to be informed about the country’s history. I believe another problem with this, is that Eritrea was always in the shadow of Ethiopia, which is drenched in ancient history. Although close in proximity, they are very different in terms of history and the amount documented.

 

 

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Rwanda’s History of People

Posted on September 24, 2014 by | Leave a comment

King Kigeri IV Rwabugili was the ruler of the Kingdom of Rwanda from 1853 to 1895. He was of Tutsi descent, and is known for being the most powerful king to rule during this time period. He was also the first King in Rwanda’s history to come into contact with Europeans. His interests lied heavily in the military, and chose to establish an army equipped with guns in order to forbid foreigners from entering his kingdom.

The people that settled in this region were a mixture of the Tutsi and Hutu clans. The relationships between them was not of perfect equality, but were also not particularly problematic either. The Hutu occupied the majority of the population, covering around 82-85%. They were mostly poor peasants who were thought to possess healing power and agricultural skills. On the other hand, the Tutsi were known to reign over the Hutu- being mainly compromised of upper class individuals or those of noble standing. Intermarriage played a part in bringing the two groups together. Through intermarriage, it was possible to change from a Hutu into a Tutsi and vise versa. Intermarriage also allowed both groups to be able to sometimes come to a mutually beneficial agreement through trade and hold power in the other clan’s decision making. Within the royal court, there were ceremonial roles for both the Hutu and Tutsi clans. Strangely enough, peoples at the time believed that the main distinction between the Hutu and Tutsi was only ethnicity, rather than their obvious differences in their populations socioeconomic standing.

Throughout time, the Tutsi King Mwami Rwaburgiri made the decision to centralize power by distributing land among individuals rather than allowing it to be passed down through lineage groups. This proved as a disadvantage to the Hutu chiefs because much of their land was passed down through lineage, and individually they were not chosen to occupy land. King Rwaburgiri then imposed the patronage system, which allowed Tutsi chiefs to demand manual labor in return for the right for Hutus to occupy their land.

Rwaburgiri played a huge part in transforming Rwanda into an expansionist state. He did not believe that ethnic identifies held any importance, and instead decided to label all conquered people as “Hutu.” This abolished the Hutus socially and politically, and helped to create the idea that the names Hutu and Tutsi were a socioeconomic distinction rather than ethnic. Rwaburgiri believed that one could kwihutura, or “shed Hutuness” by accumulating wealth and rising through the social hierarchy.

To be honest, I felt extremely strained while writing this entire blog. There was not much information about pre-colonial Rwanda available, and the information that I found was contradicting and vague. I am still uncertain as to how a kingdom was borne to Rwanda, or around what time a hierarchy emerged. Whenever I would try to piece together a timeline, I would find information that proved my previous invalid. I tried to find articles that mentioned religion or language, but had no luck. I suppose this could be due to an extreme lack of documentation- for oral was the chief medium in that era.

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Insight Into the Most Mysterious People in the Ancient World

Posted on September 24, 2014 by | 2 comments

The Great Sphinx in Front of The Great Pyramid

        Ancient Egypt is probably one of the most interesting and mysterious places on planet Earth.  From the Great Pyramids to mummification, the ancient Egyptians had some pretty interesting practices. To this day we still have to wonder if the ancient pyramids were actually built by the Egyptians or if they were built by “Aliens”. The Great Pyramid is so large and mysterious that it is hard to believe humans could build such a thing with such little technology. The Egyptians were one of a kind for several reasons.

        King Menes was the first person to have a unified kingdom of Egyptians. He created one of the most successful empires in history by uniting upper and lower Egypt. This pharaoh was the first person to ever have complete control of the entire Nile. As you may assume, the Egyptian empire was much bigger than the country of Egypt is now. Memphis was the capital of this empire for most of the time the empire existed. Six hundred years later, the Old Kingdom comes to existence. The Great Pyramid was built for a ruler by the name of Khufu. His son Khafre built the second pyramid and the Great Sphinx, and his son Menkure built the third. These pyramids are amazing. The Great Pyramid is made up of 2,300,000 limestone blocks and some of those blocks could weigh up to 6 tons.  Many people think the pyramids were built by slaves, but these people were actually paid. Most of them were farmers and when the Nile would flood for three months, they couldn’t farm so the king would offer them jobs working on the pyramids. It took twenty years to finish the Great Pyramid and hundreds of thousands of people. During some time during the Middle Kingdom, a ruler decided to colonize Nubia. This move will end up being of great importance, because Nubia becomes Egypt’s biggest suppliers of gold. Nubia is filled with mines full of gold.  The New Kingdom came around during 1540 – 1080 BC. During this time period Egypt’s greatest works of art and agriculture feats were accomplished. During this time, the Egyptians starting making tombs, not pyramids, and the artwork drastically changed. People now drew with more feminine features like eyebrows, and softer edges. During this time the Egyptians embraced the floods instead of running from them by inventing dykes which control the flow of the river with a system of levees or dams. They also made a system of waterways in which the water would flow from one basin to another taking advantage of downhill depressions. This system could transport water to places that were miles away. A shaduf was invented which helped move water. It was basically a crane with a bucket and counterweight that could be controlled by hand. The Egyptians were really something else. They had multiple eras, but in every era they flourished and managed to amaze scientists and researchers today!

 

Everybody has heard of Ancient Egypt! Of course there are millions of websites that talk about the Great Pyramid, the Great Sphinx, mummies, and other things that the Egyptians did, but a website with loads of information about Ancient Egypt is TheHistoryChannel.com. They are reliable and have researchers that actually do the investigating so a lot of the information is first hand. Because The Great Pyramid is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and it was built by the Ancient Egyptians, there are millions of people all over the world doing research on them and trying to figure out who they really were, and when all these people’s research is put together and common factors are found, you can get a pretty good idea of who the Ancient Egyptians were.

-Austin Groff

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Pre-colonial Cameroon

Posted on September 24, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Cameroon has always had ethnic diversity; dating back to about 8000 BC when the Baka people migrated to the modern-day borders of the country. By 200 BC, there was an arrival of Bantu-speaking people into the southern and eastern areas of the country. The Bantu-speaking people drove the Bakas off fertile land and into the nearby forests. In the 1500s, the Mandara kingdom inhabited the Mandara Mountains. During this time, Arabic and Hamitic migrants began to settle in the northern regions of the country. Several notable civilizations grew in the north surrounding the Chad basin, including the Karem, Bournou, and Sou people. At the beginning of the 15th century, the northern ethic groups were joined by the pastoral nomadic Islamist Fulani group who, by the 18th century, had established a strong presence in the region. The Fulani took over the northern region until about the 19th century. Europeans first arrive in Cameroon in the 15th century, when Fernando Po, a Portuguese explorer, led a voyage of explorers up the Wouri River. There was an abundance of shrimp in the Wouri River, because of this Po named the river Rio dos Camaroes (River of the Prawns). ‘Camaroes’ forms the base of the name Cameroon.

Trade was a great advancement which the used to everybody’s advantage. Po’s arrival in Cameroon was the beginning of a 400-year trading relationship between the Portuguese and local African chiefs, who were primarily from Douala, Limbé, and Bonaberi. The Portuguese and African’s trade consisted of slaves, food, and goods. Eventually, the trade came to include the British, French, Dutch, and German. Malaria and other tropical diseases restricted European presence in the coastal regions until the late 1870s, when large supplies of the malaria suppressant, quinine, became available. The African-Euro trade increased the prominence of the coastal kingdoms, until the pre-existing Bornou Empire was taken over. The powerful kingdoms were the coastal regions and the Fulani stronghold in the north. By the end of the 18th century, the Fulani had grown so powerful by merging and conquering or ejecting the non-Muslim population. The Fulani proceeded to establish a slave trade that allowed them to hold their power. While the end of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade caused the southern ethnic groups to trade gold and ivory in return for the European’s guns, metals, alcohol, and cloth. The ethnic groups in the south made rewarding profits from their trade with the Europeans, mostly because of their role as the “middleman” in the exchanges. Christian mission groups began to establish a presence in the late 19th century and still play a role in the country.

I found this information about ancient history of Cameroon on the Internet. There was not sufficient information found on any one site, so I had to cross reference all my sources. I also contacted some of my cousins in Cameroon to ask them about what aspects of Cameroonian history they knew and learned in school. I do not think there is sufficient documentation throughout history.

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