Historical African leaders

[Charlie Bass]

Sundiata Keita



www.ibrahimadrame.com/sundiata-keita.html

[Charlie Bass]

Sonni Ali Ber



africanhistory.about.com/library/biographies/blbio-SonniAli.htm


Samori Toure



www.blackpast.org/?q=gah/toure-samori-1830-1900

[zarahan]

The personage of Shaka is well known, but does anyone have more detailed web links on the following:

--Zulu commanders at the famous Zulu victory at Isandwhlwana per the diagram below:




--Shoshangane - Broke away from Shaka's orbit to found the Gaza empire in Mozambique


--Makawawa - fighting leader of the Hehe that fought German colonization in Tanzania for years

[anansi]

King Shamba Bolongongo

Shamba Bolongongo was a peaceful sovereign. He prohibited the use of the shongo, a throwing knife, the traditional weapon of the Bushongo. This wise African king used to say: "Kill neither man, woman nor child. Are they not the children of Chembe (God), and have they not the right to live?" Shamba likewise brought to his people some of the agreeable pastimes that alleviate the tediousness of life. The reign of Shamba Bolongongo was really the "Golden Age" of the Bushongo people of the Southern Congo. After abolishing the cruder aspects of African warfare, Shamba Bolongongo introduced raffia weaving and other arts of peace. According to the legends of the Bushongo people, their history as a state goes back fifteen centuries. Legends notwithstanding, their magnificent sculpture and other artistic accomplishments are unmistakable, the embodiment of a long and fruitful social experience reflecting the life of a people who have been associated with a higher form of culture for more than a thousand years.

Early in the twentieth century when the European writer, Emil Torday, was traveling through the Congo collecting material for his book On the Trail of the Bushongo, he found the Bakuba elders still singing the praises of Shamba Bolongongo. They also repeated the list of their kings, a list of one hundred twenty names, going back to the godlike king who founded their nation. From these Bakuba elders, Emil Torday learned of Bo Kama Bomanchala, the great king who reigned after Shamba Bolongongo. The elders recalled the most memorable event that had occurred during his reign. On March 30, 1680, there was a total eclipse of the sun, passing exactly over Bushongo.
www.africawithin.com/clarke/LumumbaCongo.html

Imagine the Kongo today a by word for instability,violence and corruption(once the called heart of darkness) once had a civilization of arts and dignity and a ruler of peaceful wisdom.