Historical novels set in Africa

[archaeologist]

Thought I should make a thread about historical fiction set in Africa

I will start with two books about the same historical person, Piankhy the Kushite king who in the 8th century BC conquered Egypt. One can read about his achievements on the victory stela of Piankhy which was found in Jebel Barkal and which now is housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The two books are:

Piankhy the Great by E Harper Johnson, an African American artist and author born in the 1920s and dead in 2016. He both wrote the book about Piankhy and made the illustrations. Piankhy the Great was published in 1962.




The Black Pharaoh by Christian Jacq. Jacq is a French author and Egyptologist (born in 1947) who has written several books, both fact and fiction, about ancient Egypt. The Black Pharaoh was published in 1999.



The Victory Stela of Piankhy

[anansi]

Your pics are not popping up.

[archaeologist]

Sept 23, 2024 21:55:36 GMT -5 anansi said:

Your pics are not popping up.

So strange, I can see them clearly.

But I posted them again. Hope they are visible now.

[archaeologist]

Rafael Scotts novel Beyond Mali is set in the kingdom of Mali in the early 1300s. The novel focuses on the relation between the two brothers Musa and Abubakari. It tells about their rivalry but also about Abubakaris wish to explore the great Ocean and what is beyond it. Well written novel where we learn to know the protagonists rather well and their ambitions. It also speculates about what happened to the lost expedition of Mansa Abubakari II.

Rafael Scott is an African American author. His first novel, The Lion's Brood: The Story of Hannibal, was published in April 2004 (re-released in November 2010). His second novel, Beyond Mali, was published in 2006 (re-released in August 2013).

"I will tell you a story of two oceans. One lies towards the lands of Nubia, the other where the sun falls from the sky: the known and the unknown. Within their waters raged the blood of two brothers."-Djeliba Mamadou Kouyaté The year is 1307. The Great Mansa of Mali has unexpectedly died, and the vast empire wavers with instability. It is Abubakari II who inherits the rule of Mali from his beloved father. As his Mandingo warriors storm the citadel of Djenné, the last obstacle in the Keita clans complete rule of the region, Abubakari reveals his childhood ambition of exploring the "Great Sea of Darkness" to the west. Viewed as madness by some, his dream severs the unity of the empire and sends the young ruler clashing with his least expected adversary his brother. Based on a true story.

Beyond Mali

[anansi]

Going on my to read list, thanks.

[archaeologist]

Exciting and captivating is the novel The Great Ponds by the Nigerian author Elechi Amadi. Here you can follow two villages in eastern Nigeria sometime after the turn of the last century. The two villages come into conflict over some ponds rich in fish. The conflict soon escalates into full-scale war and other villages also risk being drawn into the war.

The book is at the same time deeply connected to the local tradition but also a general study of the dynamics of war. Here you can follow the different phases of the conflict, how it starts with enthusiastic bragging, but soon turns into seriousness and despair. After a while the loss of lives and general devastation begins to take its toll on the people. At the same time, a great plague breaks loose. The people then turn to the gods for help in their difficult situation. And they also ask other villages to mediate.

Elechi Amadi, born 12 May 1934 in Aluu in Rivers, died 29 June 2016 in Port Harcourt, was a Nigerian writer, best known for his historical trilogy about life in a Nigerian village: The Concubine (1966), The Great Ponds (1969) and The Slave (1978).

Amadi studied physics and mathematics at the University of Ibadan. He later participated on the Nigerian side in the Biafra War as a soldier and civil administrator. About his experiences in the war, he wrote an important personal story entitled 'Sunset in Biafra (1973). In the novel Estrangement (1986) he addresses the consequences of war both for societal and personal conditions.

He has also written a historical-philosophical work, Ethics in Nigerian Culture (1982), and several plays, including The Road to Ibadan (1977).

Elechi Amadi

[archaeologist]

One time I found a small book in an antiques book shop. I bought it out of curiosity. The book consisted of tales from the kingdom of Kiziba in todays Tanzania. The tales were selected and translated from the Haya language by Swedish author Philippa Wiking. It was published in 1982. Here is a translation of the text on the back side of the cover:

The small kingdom of Kiziba was located between the Kagera River and the Lake in the northwest corner of Tanzania. Seven kingdoms existed in what is now Bukoba District. In every kingdom, the stories of the kings were passed down from generation to generation, but it was in Kiziba that they were collected and recorded by Franciscus Lwamgira, a man related to the king.

From the end of the 19th century, the narrator recounts his own memories, but how much of the stories are historical truth is an open question. Some of the names in the earliest stories are found in the traditions of other areas, but the traditions diverge on many points, even in Kiziba itself.

These stories tell of the history that Africans had before the whites discovered the interior of Africa. It is a story that in many respects is similar to our own - a story of violence and power, cunning and cruelty but also of courage and faithfulness, wisdom and tenderness. The parallel with the Icelandic sagas is close at hand.

Philippippa Wiking has made the selection and translation from the Haya language.

A more extensive translation of the original is available in English:

The History of Kiziba and Its Kings: A Translation of Amakuru Ga Kiziba na Abamkama Bamu

The History of Kiziba and Its Kings: A Translation of Amakuru Ga Kiziba na Abakama Bamu is a major contribution to the indigenous historical literature of East Africa and Tanzania. Research by King Mutahangarwa (ruled 1903–1916) of Kiziba Kingdom in the early 20th century brought together oral tradition experts from both royal and non-royal clans, with their testimonies recorded by literate scribes, including F. X. Lwamgira. Four decades later the research was published in Kihaya as a 490 page volume that has remained obscure, despite its significance.

This authoritative translation makes available for the first time an accessible account of northwestern Tanzanian and southwestern Ugandan history during the pre-colonial and early colonial periods.

The History of Kiziba and Its Kings