Empires and Kingdoms

“King Ndjoya’s favourite wife, with tattoos on her skin, head and shoulders, seen from the front.  King Njoya had 500 wives. King Ibrahim Njoya was the ruler of Bamum, the great ethnic group in what is now western Cameroon, in 17th Century from the years of 1860 to 1933. The history of the Bamum people was preserved before his reign …

Traditional African kings and queens are pushing for more recognition. What role, if any, do old kingdoms have in a modern continent? For thousands of years before to freedom, Africa was dominated by kings and traditional leaders who possessed immense power. However, they have now been supplanted as head of state across the continent as a result of revolutions, military …

At age two, most kids would be playing games or having fun with other kids, but Benjamin Ikenchukwu Keagborekuzi I wasn’t one of them. He had been crowned king or Dein of the Agbor Kingdom, a traditional Nigerian state in Delta State, Nigeria, at that young age. Keagborekuzi I, who was born on June 29, 1977, also established a record …

Tohazee, the Red Hunter, created the Kingdom of Dagbon in the 11th century. In modern Ghana, it is one of the largest and oldest kingdoms. The Kingdom of Dagbon is one of Ghana’s oldest and best-organized traditional kingdoms, having been created in the 11th century by the Dagomba people (Dagbamba). It encompassed the Northern, Upper West, Upper East, and North …

Kwaku Dua Panin (born Fredua Agyeman; c. 1797 – 27 April 1867) was the Ashanti Empire’s eighth Asantehene from 25 August 1834 until his death on 27 April 1867. From 1818 to 1819, Prince Kwaku Dua fought against the Gyaman, a state 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Kumasi, and distinguished himself in battle by commanding a division in the …

Around 1770, Abla Pokou led her people from modern-day Ghana to the Ivory Coast, where she formed the Baoule nation. According to legend, she sacrificed her son to the river in order for her people to cross. Abla Pokou was born in the early eighteenth century. She was the niece of King Osei Tutu, the co-founder of Ghana’s Ashanti Empire. …

More than a thousand years before the foundations of Greece and Rome, proud and industrious Black men and women known as the Dravidian erected a powerful civilization in the Indus Valley. From those origins, African Kings in India drove the region’s commerce, culture, and belief systems. Dr. Clyde Winters, author of Afrocentrism: Myth or Science? writes: “Ethiopians have had very …

According to historians, he was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia three times. While in exile, the first occurred in 1960, the second in 1975, and the third in 1989. Amha Selassie was born Asfaw Wossen Tafari in Harar, Ethiopia, in August 1916, to Dejazmach Tafari Makonnen (later Emperor Haile Selassie) and his wife, Menen Asfaw. He is regarded as Ethiopia’s final …

The great-grandson of King Gbudue, Atoroba Peni Rikito Gbudue was installed as the Kingdom’s hirer on Gbudue day. February 9 [Gbudue Day] is a cultural day agreed upon to be celebrated yearly by the Azande of South Sudan, inside and in Diaspora to remember, honour and celebrate the life of King Gbudue. According to the Rift Valley Institute, Gbudue was …

The Kingdom of Mauretania was founded in the third century BC, approximately 225 BC. According to modern ethnic taxonomies, its inhabitants are of Berber descent, and it is today located in the western region of Algeria and Northern Morocco. Formation Mauretania was a kingdom ruled by the Mauri Peoples, who would go on to become famous in history. The Phoenicians …