The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay Quotes

“Taghaza’s only permanent residents were slaves. Slavery existed in many West-African cultures, and contact with the Islamic world made slaves more valuable as a source of wealth. Like gold and salt, slaves were traded across the desert in exchange for valuable goods.

The slaves at Taghaza were either captives from other groups or criminals who were forced to work in the mines. Life in the salt mines was so dismal that overseers were assigned only two-month terms, then transferred. The soil was spoiled and supported no crops or natural vegetation. Water was scarce. Even the wells were briny. Everything had to be brought in or the workers died. These slaves lived terrible lives, a combination of human cruelty and harsh conditions.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“Slavery was so brutal and devastating, Europeans looked for ways to justify themselves. For a while they used the argument that the Africans were pagans, savages, heathens in need of salvation.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“It was customary for the uncle of the groom to hide a bowl of sheep’s blood in the marriage hut. If the bride was not a virgin, the groom could stain her white body-garment and show it to the wedding party. In this way he saved face and spared his wife’s life.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“By the time Mansa Musa left the Middle East, he had put so much gold into circulation, its value fell sharply. A reporter in the service of the Egyptian sultan reported that the Cairo gold market had been so saturated that it still had not fully recovered twelve years after Mansa Musa’s fabulous hajj.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“While visiting Mali’s capital, Ibn Battuta was received by the king, who was at that time Mansa Musa’s son. Ibn Battuta was offended by the king’s lack of generosity. The traveler complained that the king was miserly and instead of giving him “robes of honor and money,” he offered Ibn Battuta … three cakes of bread, a piece of beef fried in native oil, and a calabash of sour curds.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“During his travels in the Malian empire, Ibn Battuta wrote about his observations of the people, their ruler, their customs and beliefs. He gave one of the highest compliments to a nation of people about justice: Of all peoples the Negroes are those who most abhor injustice. The Sultan pardons no one who is guilty of it. There is complete and general safety throughout the land. The traveler here has no more reason than the man who stays at home to fear brigands, thieves or ravishers … The blacks do not confiscate the goods of any North Africans who may die in their country, not even when these consist of large treasures. On the contrary, they deposit these goods with a man of confidence … until those who have a right to the goods present themselves and take possession.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“During his reign, which began in 1307 and lasted twenty-five years, he doubled the land area of Mali. Known as the khan of Africa, Musa governed an empire as large as all of Europe, second in size only to the territory at the time ruled by Genghis Khan in Asia.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“Several lackluster rulers followed Mansa Wali, including Khalifa, another one of Sundiata’s sons, who unfortunately went insane and shot arrows at his subjects.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“A convicted thief was sentenced to have his hand cut off. A liar lost his tongue. Repeated offenders were killed. Banishment was also a common sentence. In spite of these severe laws, songs praised Sundiata for his fairness in dealings with the privileged as well as the poor, the strong as well as the weak.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“Mali means “the hippopotamus,” which is often used in association with Sundiata, as are the lion, the symbol of the Keita clan, and the buffalo of his mother’s clan.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“Sumanguru was shaken by Sundiata’s self-confidence, although he was sure his magic would protect him. But Sundiata’s blacksmith was also a well-known wizard.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“[The people of Mali] are seldom unjust, and have a greater horror of injustices than other people. Their sultan shows no mercy to anyone who is guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence. —Ibn Battuta, fourteenth-century traveler”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“Song of the Turtle” is a poem that dates back to the Ghanaian period: We lived in freedom Before man appeared: Our world was undisturbed, One day followed the other joyfully. Dissent was never heard. Then man broke into our forest, With cunning and belligerence. He pursued us With greed and envy: Our freedom vanished.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“All the different Soninke clans—the Sisse, Kante, Sylla, and others—trace their ancestry to Dinga’s sons and daughters.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“an excerpt from The Dausi: Four times Wagadu rose. A great city, gleaming in the light of day. Four times Wagadu fell and disappeared from human sight. Once through vanity. Once through dishonesty. Once through greed. Once through discord. Four times Wagadu changed her name. First she was Dierra, then Agada, then Ghana, then Silla.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“Ghana, which means “warrior-king,” was one of the many titles of the Soninke rulers. Over time, outsiders began to refer to the king and the land as Ghana. Before that, the Soninke called their homeland Wagadu, which means “place of herds.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“Today green pastureland has dried up and turned to sandy plains, and the land provides little support to the herders, who can barely scratch out an existence in the semi-arid climate. Each day is a test of their survival.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“A dry belt located along the fringes of the Sahara is called Sahel (Sahil) by the Mande people who live there. Sahel means “shore” in Arabic, and the region is like the shoreline of the desert sea.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“But there were great kingdoms in the Western Sudan waiting to be discovered. Once knowledge of these old empires resurfaced, some claimed that Jews, who had rebelled against the Romans in Cyrenaica (Libya), had migrated to the Western Sudan around A.D. 115 and built these civilizations. Another group pushed the theory that Sudanese achievements were the results of Arab invasions and the coming of Islam. Some even suggested that African accomplishments were the result of visitors from outer space. Any wild idea was more acceptable than to admit that Africans had the intellect and ingenuity to develop and control well-ordered empires. The purpose of all these erroneous theories was simply to justify slavery and attitudes of racial superiority.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa

“For well over a thousand years, from about A.D. 500 to 1700, the civilizations of western Africa flourished. Most of us know nothing about them. During the same period, Europe suffered from constant warfare and only slowly recovered its lost glory. The history of the “Dark Ages” and the Renaissance is taught in every school. Most of Africa’s history, except for that of Egypt, remains unknown to general readers.”
― Patricia C. McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa