"Heroes": Principles of African Greatness 2: Legends—Replaying Africa’s Past/Future

Do not cross this woman warrior. 

The rider wears a hat similar to those worn by important persons in the Mande world, including hunters, ritual specialists, and the praise singers and historians known as griots. 

The portrayal of a female rider recalls those women who acquired power and earned respect through force of character, or through their ability as sorcerers. The finial’s imagery is associated with hunters’ associations.

The horse suggests the historical memory of the powerful cavalry that dominated Mali for centuries. 

Like the great queen Sogolon Condé, mother of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire, she is ready to ride into conflict on behalf of those she protects.

The father of my children was the king Naré Maghan, who, a few years ago sent a good-will embassy to Ghana. My husband is dead but the council has not respected his wishes and my eldest son has been excluded from the throne. The son of my co-wife was preferred before him. I have known exile. The hate of my co-wife has hounded me out of every town and I have trudged along every road with my children . . .

. . . “Do not deceive yourself,” she said to her son. “Your destiny lies not here but in Mali. The moment has come. I have finished my task and it is yours that is going to begin, my son. But you must be able to wait. Everything in its own good time.” . . . 

—Sogolon Condé, in Djibril Tamsir Niane et al, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali

· Sogolon was born with kyphosis, giving her a hunched back. Mocked for her appearance, she was known as the “buffalo woman.” 

 · In response to a prophecy that an “ugly woman” would one day bear him a son who would be a great king, Naré Maghann Konaté married Sogolon when she was presented to the court, though he already had a son by his first marriage. 

· Sogolon earned a reputation for fiercely speaking her mind and claiming her rights, and for defending her son, Sundiata, who was was born unable to walk. Through her care—and, in some versions of the epic, through her access to magical powers—she coached her son to walk.


· When the king died and the son by his first marriage took the throne, against the king’s wishes, Sogolon fled with Sundiata to neighboring kingdoms. She secured his education and training, assuring him that he must one day return and claim his rights.  

They fought against the ravages of time—and won.

· According to Mande oral traditions, Sundiata, who was born with a disability, learned to walk with the help of his mother, Sogolon, and a blacksmith. 

 · Mocked and forced into exile due to his disability, Sundiata nevertheless returned to unite the Mande-speaking clans to overthrow Sumanguru Kante, the wicked ruler of Sosso who took over the remnants of the Ghana Empire and used dark magic to subject his people.

· Sundiata built a centralized monarchy—the Mali Empire—which, through its control of trans-Saharan trade and gold fields, became one of the wealthiest states of the Muslim world.

Troubles may yet ride away.

Imagine the soothing surface and heft of holding these monumental miniatures in your hand. How might they feel?

Kotoko artists, living in the vicinity of Lake Chad, cast small figures in copper alloy through the lost-wax technique in order to produce personal amulets.

Functioning as protective talismans, they may have once been worn around an owner’s neck or carried by hand or in a small pouch.

Held close to the body, they safeguarded their owners against threats outward, and physical, or inward, in the form of anxiety and mental illness. 

The image of the equestrian and archer recalls a broader history of mounted warfare and exchange throughout the greater Western Sudan...

...an oft-disruptive history to which Kotoko communities were frequently subjected.

· Aloma became mai (king) of Bornu during a period of famine and internal strife. 

 · A devout Muslim, Aloma returned from the hajj to Mecca with Turkish muskets and soldiers who helped him build his cavalry. He also built diplomatic alliances with Ottoman and Moroccan rulers.

· Aloma is remembered as a sensible ruler and administrative reformer who—through alliances and adherence to Islamic justice—made Bornu protected, prominent, and prosperous.