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the Nile valley. His well-being was necessary for the continued prosperity of the land. Throughout Egypt's ascendancy, a ruling class of priests and nobles with an absolute monarchy of god-kings who were the final authority dominated the hierarchy in the country.

Thousands of years later in West Africa, the practice of the secular leader also being the religious leader continued. The traditional religion of the Malinke people in the ancient kingdom of Mali in the western Sudan was similar to that of many West African agricultural peoples. The core of their belief was that it was the "spirits of the land" who ensured the success of their crops. The earliest farmers to have settled in a particular region were believed to have made a deal with the spirits to ensure the successful production of their crops. The Malinke of Mali believed that it was through spiritual contact with their ancestors that the people of the present were able to keep in touch with the original settlers, and thus with the "spirits of the land."

Ancestors held a special place in African societyand in many African traditional religions. Ancestors were recalled in stories and songs that explained how people were related to one another through the generations. They were revered and respected for their experiences and their wisdom. Ancestors were both family members who had recently died and those who died in the distant past. Many traditional African religions believed that when people died, they became spirits with powers greater than the living. When relatives died, their spirits continued to be involved in the life of the community. Ancestors connected the Supreme Being with their relatives still alive. Ancestors understood the problems that humans faced and could protect their descendants from harm or bad decisions, or could warn them they were doing wrong or making a mistake.

In Mali, it was the village head or chief, the mansa of the Malinke people, who was the person most directly descended from the earliest farmers. He was the most direct link with the "spirits of the land" upon whom continued production of their crops depended. The mansa, as guardian of the ancestors, was both religious and secular leader of his people. As the power of the mansa increased, so did his religious significance. The mansa's central religious role within the empire was absolutely crucial to the people's survival, and he was thus treated with exaggerated respect. He lived apart from his subjects, who approached him on their knees. He was surrounded by displays of wealth and ceremonial regalia. This emphasized his power and dignity and helped instill respect and obedience to his rule. But he was not a divine king in the ancient Egyptian sense.

Senegambia, located between the Senegal and Gambia rivers, was a forest state of the Guinea coast that had been at the westward extreme of the great ancient Sudanic states of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. Wolof society was divided into three main segments: freeborn, low caste, and slaves. The freeborn consisted of royal lineages, nobility, and peasants. Nobles not of royal blood had different rights and privileges depending on their families and their duties in the state.

The political system of the Wolof states was, in theory, a monarchy. Certain important nobles participated in the selection of Wolof kings, although they were not eligible to be chosen themselves. Once chosen, the king's person was considered sacred. He was surrounded by taboos and certain attributes of divinity. Petitioners were required to uncover the upper parts of their bodies and approach him on their knees while placing dust on their heads. The ruler was always surrounded by large numbers of nobles, servants, and men at arms.

There were special rituals required of a Wolof king and certain prohibitions he had to observe. These were designed to preserve his exclusiveness and mysterious power. But despite the respect and symbols of divine kingship, no Wolof king was ever really secure on the throne. The nobles who chose the rulers and other high officials could and did depose kings who tried to exert too much authority.

Before their conversion to Islam, the mais or kings of Kanem-Bornu, like the pharaohs in Egypt, were regarded as divine. Kanem-Bornu was located in the central Sudan around Lake Chad. The Saifawa dynasty, which survived for a thousand years, founded the state of Kanem in the ninth century. Late in the fourteenth century, the court was moved to occupy its Bornu province. As a god, the mais of Kanem-Bornu remained aloof from the gaze of the people, speaking from behind a screen. These mystic and secluded kings rarely appeared in public and alwaystook their meals in solitude. Such a withdrawal from the daily responsibilities of rule was frequently characteristic of African monarchies. The mais' authority was maintained through an elaborate bureaucracy with the mai at the top, and with the assistance of the aristocracy.

State formation among the Yoruba of modern Nigeria in western Africa seems to have begun in the eleventh and twelfth centuies. As with many other west African societies, sources of state authority were related to religion. According to the myth of creation in Yoruba religion, the "God of the Sky," Olorun, lowered his son, the Yoruba founding ancestor, Oduduwa, down to earth at Ife. There, he founded the several Yoruba principalities as well as the state of Benin. His sons were dispersed and served as kings of these Yoruba kingdoms. The shrine city of Ife remained in influential, the center of Yoruba royalty and a source of spiritual inspiration and cultural expression. The ruler, or oni, of Ife based his claim to kingship on his reputed direct descent from the founding

ancestor, Oduduwa.

The Yomba comprised small and mutually independent states, including Oyo which would become a large and powerful empire. Unity among the Yoruba was expressed through cultural singularity, a central religion, and common religious beliefs. Not even the name, "Yomba," was a shared identity. The term Yoruba originated during the nineteenth century and was created by outsiders to designate the Oyo people.

In ancient Benin, in the West African forest of modern Nigeria, the Edo people, share close cultural and religious contacts with the Yoruba, their eastern neighbors. According to tradition, an early Benin state which lacked effective royal leadership invited Oduduwa, the king of Ife, to send a prince to rule. Oranmiyan was sent and ruled for some time. When he left, his son, Eweka, founded the future state of Benin. As was the case in so many large states, the oba or king of Benm was the center of political and religious life. The oba, was apparent and singular in his wealth, his domination over commercial transactions, his large and lavish court, and his divinity. But the one check on the complete autocracy of the obas was the great nobles, who in the fifteenth century had acted in the role of kingmakers.

Religious doctrine and practice were important to the Bantu speakers who would occupy central and east Africa before 1500. Religion, state, and society were deeply involved. The firm belief in a supernatural world, the importance of sorcery and magic, the need for ritual to win the support of the spirits, and the existence of a metaphysical continuum between the living and the ancestors all contributed to important sanctions that reinforced basic social values. Hence the institution of divine kingship drew authority from the belief in the royal power's ability to control fertility, while the prominence given to the ancestors helped strengthen the essential unity of the group in the perilous world.

In central Africa, the concept of chieftaincy or kingship was closely linked with religion. The chiefs and kings that rose to power in the savannah woodlands south of the Zaire forest could usually trace the origins of their authority to some religious practices. They may have been in a position to gain power through their control of trade. Or they may have possessed some superior metal-working or hunting knowledge or skill, which set them apart from the masses of people. But whatever their material source of secular power, they usually justified their right to rule through their role as mediators in traditional religion or their ancestral links with the spirit world.

The original rulers of the Mbundu people of modern Angola in western central Africa were guardians of the religious "rainmaking" shrines. Among the Mbundu-speaking peoples, chieftaincy and kingship developed along religious lines similar to other areas. By the 1300's the guardians of the rainmaking shrines were assuming the positions of chiefs, and exacting tribute for their services as both political and religious leaders. In a number of villages, the protectors of the rainmaking shrines were also known to possess important metal working skills. It was probably this group that first introduced new Later Iron Age

technology into this region of Central Africa. Whatever their source of power, they used it to weld the Ndongo states of the area together into a single, united state. These metal working chiefs began to use the title of ngola. By 1500, there was one single ngola ruling over all the Ndongo states. When the Portuguese arrived in the Ndongo kingdom in the sixteenth century, they called the region Angola.

In the Lake Malawi and Shire highland areas in eastern central Africa, the idea of chieftaincy again came from the religious cults that were the guardians of the "spirits of the land," especially those spirits responsible for rain and soil fertility. Around 1400, by marrying into a local group, the Phiri peoples gained control over the chiefs living south of Lake Malawi. The Phiri took the royal title of Kalonga, which also became the name of their dynasty. According to oral tradition, their concept of religious kingship came from the Luba in the Lake Kisale region south of the Zaire forest in central Africa.

During the sixteenth century, several states broke off from the Kalonga dynasty, including the Lundu kingdom and the Undi kingdom. Subsequently, the Phiri chiefdoms in that region were organized under these three principal ruling dynasties. Fire played an important role in the religious rituals of these Phiri people. Thus, it was not a surprise that collectively, the inhabitants of the Kalonga, Lundu, and Undi kingdoms were known as the "Maravi" or "peoples of the fire." Modern Malawi derives its name from these Maravi people. Like many of their contemporaries, the Phiri believed in religious kingship that linked religion with political leadership and state power. The chief's power was reinforced

through religious and social customs, including his protection of the religious "rainmaking" shrines.

The state of Bunyoro, located between Lake Albert and Lake Victoria in the Great Lakesregion of east central Africa, was founded in the late fifteenth century. The Nilotic Luos established the Bito dynasty and formed the kingdom of Bunyoro. Numerous tactics were introduced which strengthened the idea and fact of a central authority. The institution of the monarchy was related as closely as possible to the people as a whole, but the mukama or king was divorced from any real relationship with the Bito

people. The divinity of the ruler was stressed and he was identified with the prosperity of the nation. He became the source of a vast political patronage surrounding the palace. A large share of the national economy was concentrated in the form of an exchange of gifts between the king and his subjects.

In the watershed area between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers in south central Africa, in what is today the country of Zimbabwe, the Shona monarchs were revered as gods and lived on a lavish scale. Audiences were held in public, but the king remained aloof. He was removed by elaborate ritual from his followers who came creeping and clapping their hands to show proper homage. When the king died, his queens and some of his ministers also were dispatched to keep him company in the spirit world. All the fires in the land were extinguished, for fire was associated with the royal authority and new fires could be kindled only with the flame of the new king.

Yet this seemingly omnipresent personality was also the creature of powerful customary limitations. As a god, the king had to be flawless, hence if he became seriously ill or disabled, he was expected to commit suicide. The royal compound, situated behind a high fence, tended to isolate the monarch and make him dependent upon his deputies, the legion of officials into whose hands much actual power was transferred. The royal office was therefore powerful, but its power lay as much in its symbolic strength as in the authority wielded by the royal incumbent.

In southern Africa, south of the Limpopo River there was an expansion of cattle-keeping as woodland was cleared and more upland grassland was brought into regular use. Later Stone Age developments between 1000 and 1400 saw the gradual emergence of smaller chiefdoms in this region. Cattle often provided the material basis of chieftaincy. Certain groups wealthy in cattle established ruling dynasties over large numbers of dependents. The spiritual power of chieftaincy was based upon the chief's links with the ancestors. This stemmed largely from his reputed descent from the sometimes mythical founding hero of the group. In practical terms, however, his claim to chieftaincy was often assessed in terms of his rainmaking powers.

As we have seen, in some African societies before the sixteenth century, there was little distinction made between the political and religious roles of their leaders. This was probably not always a decision made by all the people of the group, but one imposed upon them. Chiefs and kings could gain political control of a state or kingdom because of their religious powers. They further legitimized their religious role as mediators in the traditional religion or as guardians of the "spirits of the land." Therefore, in some traditional African states before the sixteenth century, chieftaincy or kingship was closely linked with religion. Even after the sixteenth century, leaders in Africa continued to use religion as the source of political power, such as the religious wars or Islamic jihads in West Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is not always clear as to

whether these ideas of religious or divine kingship independently originated in each group or were transferred from one group to another through migrations. It is likely that it was a combination of both.

Religion and Kingship in Africa

Before the Sixteenth Century

For Further Reading

Bascom, W. R. and Melville Herskovits, eds. Continuity and Change in African Cultures: Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959.

Bohannan, Paul and Philip Curtin. Africa and Africans. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1988.

Curtin, Philip, Steven Feierman, Leonard Thompson, and Jan Vansina. African History. New York: Longman, 1984.

Davidson, Basil. African In History. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991.

Diop, Cheikh Anta. The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. Chicago: Lawrence Hill, 1974.

Falola Toyin, ed. Volume 1, African History Before 1885. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2000.

ed. Volume 2, African Cultures and Societies Before 1885. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2000.

Harris, Joseph E. Africans and Their History. New York: New American Library, 1988.

Idowu E. African Traditional Religion. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1975.

Jackson, John G. Introduction to African History. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1990.

RELIGION AND KINGSHIP IN AFRICA BEFORE

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

By Sylvia M. Jacobs, Ph. D.