In a tense battle over the fallen capital of the Ghana Empire, Sundiata's bow bends, the string twangs, and the arrow flies… or so the great epic of the Mandinka says. And from this battle, the Empire of Mali will be born. Support Extra History on Patreon and get perks! patreon.com/extracredits
Pretty much covered north bordering the Mediterranean. It’s the South, central interior that’s hardly covered. But wouldn’t be surprised that it’s no idyllic paradise either. Just pretty much, more of the same.
from swahili, mali ethiopia and ofc egypt where ppl often forgot located in africa not in arab .... So yeah i wish to hear more not the colonialist bias which at the time more focused to justify their atrocity denying the culture of the native land.
Then by all means also read about the Dahmomey empire and peraps the first few chapters of "Primitive War" By Turney-High. It is not a rag on the Africans at all...
This is one of those series where I know literally nothing about the topic. Thank you Extra Credits and their Patreon supporters for letting me learn about something completely strange to me :)
Personally, I think that the Admiral Yi series has the most beautiful artwork. But besides your point about this particular series, I think that Extra Credit's artists should be acknowledged for creating simple yet memorable and impactfull art.
WOOHOO! West African Empires!!! I hope this channel does more West African Empires such as Songhai, Mandinka, Kanem-Borno, Asante, Benin, Oyo and the various caliphates such as Sokoto and Segu. I'm a descendant of the Oyo Empire myself
How rich was Mali? So extremly rich that europeans drew Mansa Musa, the richest Mansa of Mali, on their maps. Mansa Musa also despbalised the economies of north Africa as he went to meck and back
@@therealchen I mean when your so rich your spending habits destabilise the economy of nations, I'd say you have a good claim to being the richest person ever lol
@WKC-Predator123s Oh damn, perspective for anyone interested. A $400bn net worth would put you in the 30th place for national GDP, ahead of countries like Isreal, Ireland and South Africa.
@@themadhammer3305 Augustus, Genghis Khan and a couple others were wealthier. These list only count raw materials instead of assets. Augustus personally owned all of Egypt which was worth four trillion dollars.
Why do I have the feeling Dan had a nightmare trying to pronounce Soumaoro Kante while recording this episode? XD But seriously though, when I saw this in my recommendations I literally screamed for joy. The Mali Empire is my favorite historical empire, and I'm so glad that you're finally covering it. Fantastic work EC!
Thank you all at the extra credits team. These videos are amazing to use in the classroom for my world history class. My sophomores live them with their narratives and fun artwork. I like them for the diverse range of topics you cover.... many of which add to my curriculum. Keep up the great work!
If only teachers like you would use these types of medium for a source of information showing detailed demographics of such certain events. Not being lectured in a verbal sense that would be efficient of retention of the said event.
I doubt world would be that different. Surely some civilization would emerge in the Americas, but Africans (aside from some examples like the one here) weren't exactly interested in settling continents far away. They certainly had no need too. At best, some expeditions would travel and settle, maybe boost the technologies of Native Americans a bit, but I don't see waves after waves of Africans pouring into the New World. They simply have no incentive.
I imagine that the prime difference would have been that instead of from Europe, the diseases that would devastate the native population would have come from Africa. And their conquest would had been a lot less sucessful, because the tecnological difference wouldn't be so high in comparison.
JohnnyElRed there wasn't much of a technological difference, at the being between really anywhere at that point, the difference was organization and the easy availability of workable metal. Had the aboriginal people of the new world, not be annihilated by disease then I would see a complete change in the world, Europe would still dominate, earliest to global trade with port cities everwhere, not to allow colonies, but the difference wouldn't be that great, so total domination would likely not happen
The technological difference wasn't that different with the europeans either though. The Aztecs actually DEFEATED the Spanish, native allies and all. The only reason they Spanish did make like the Norse (also Europeans bested by the natives they encountered) and pack it up was becuase Cortez burned the ships so his army couldn't run away. If smallpox hadn't done it's thing the Europeans would never have established a foothold. The only technological advantage Europeans really had was calvary but they lacked the numbers (at the start of colonization) for that to make a difference.
As a Black European (UK 🇬🇧) I have never heard of Black Africans being mentioned as explorers. In school it was slaves and colonisation. This is refreshing and the kind of Afro-centric African history that needs to be taught.
They left it out because Sunjata is King David in the Bible...12 tribes and all, his enemy was changed to Goliath. They corrupted the story. Mansa Musa is King Solomon and Abubakari II was Moses. The Great river took them to the other side. They changed it to God splitting the sea and them walking on dry land. What nonsense.
@@blkhistorydecoded what the hell are you talking about? David is a lot different. David had no connection to royal families, he was just some peasant kid.
This is the first episode of Extra History I've watched in a while, & it was absolutely fantastic. When I was going through university to get my bachelor's in history, my department didn't have a single professor who specialized in African history, so I had to learn everything I know from books & my own independent research. There's such a treasure trove of stories to be told in African & Middle Eastern history that most people in the West never get to hear. I'm so glad you all are working to change that.
You know when you break down how all these great empires start, it’s with a weak or poor man/woman who was an outcast or have very low status in their respective societies, then became powerful during his early adulthood, and then Uniting with smaller tribes/clans and then toppling the bigger tribe/clan.
You also have to remember that in many cases the history is written somewhat after the fact and even with primary sources we only have an indirect view of things; this results in sometimes having a history that emphasises the most fantastical portions of their life prior to their reign where official documents would be more plentiful.
Eh, official documents are notoriously known for being not exactly acurate. Diaries and indirect info about the person are a lot more believeable. But good luck finding those in these era's.
The thing is with official documents, like census reports and such, is that they are vastly easier to collaborate and confirm than things like journal entries. It's why for example we have such overwhelming evidence of the Holocaust and other war crimes by the Nazi's despite substantial efforts by the Nazi's to destroy and hide evidence; there's just too much of a paper trial. It is also why we are able to, once we are able to access Soviet archives in the 90's, able to get a vastly better picture of the Eastern front and realize that a lot of German reports are full of shit. Because while you could claim that Soviet reports are also bs; paper work that gets processed though like "We lost 5 tanks here, 2 tanks there, and 9 tanks there, so please send us replacements" is almost impossible to fabricate; there's too much evidence.
In Crusader Kings II, it's far easier to maintain an empire you built yourself, rather than one you start ruling over, and I imagine the reasons are somewhat comparable. When you start small and conquer your way up, you get to have a great deal more more say in who is directly serving under you, and those vassals are generally fiercely loyal because everything they have was given by you. You can also set in place favorable laws before there are is a powerful bureaucracy underneath you that would oppose them. Not having to deal the the aforementioned issues, you can focus on increasing prosperity, expanding outward, and generally bringing in a regular stream of boons that keep vassals loyal and everything running smooth. On the other hand, when you start ruling over a large nation, your vassals owe you nothing, and they typically have a great deal more autonomy and power, which in turn better allows them to fight against attempts to curb said power. The core of the problems you face are usually internal, and rooted in deep seated traditions that will face universal hatred if you try to change. All of your resources are usually just devoted to maintaining power. A lot of those factors seem pretty reasonable for why powerful figures in history more often seem to ascend from nothing, rather than start cushy and improve from there. Not to mention people seem to put more hope in something new, than building upon what they already have. They prefer the revolution to the reformation.
Its great to see such a "Mainstream" channel covering Africa history! I've been looking forwards to this series for over a month now - since you announced it on patreon, and I KNOW that you won't disappoint!
I can only think of two relatively popular ones that really focus on factual african history, those being FromNothing and HometeamHistory. Hometeam has a slight bias, but is generally good, while FromNothing manages to escape bias, but even these channels are small, with Hometeam having around 50,000 subscribers and FromNothing having a much smaller audience of 5,200 subscribers UA-camrs like Epimetheus, however, are starting to show interest in African history, so I wouldn't be surprised if it became more common soon.
My problem with hometeam history is that i get that feeling that they sometimes get carried away by the more fringe and sensationalistic parts of pan-africanist historywriting.
R3ika I am subscribe to the channel. Overall it really is a good channel. I just make a point to fact check anything that seems off using academic sources. I own 4 good academic volumes on medieval west African civilization. “ Beyond Timbuktu” “ African Dominion” “The Royal Empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai” “ History of the Yoruba People” UA-cam is a good introduction. But if you are really interested, I highly recommend checking out the academic material as well. Another thing worth mentioning is that the middle ages were when the empires rose. But there were large urban towns in west Africa as early as 500 BC. These towns had mudbrick architecture, iron metallurgy, domesticated animals and Big populations as high as 20,000 people. It was during the common era that these towns and cities began to coalesce into states and empires.
Not enough people appreciate the importance of Africa on the world stage. I hope at some point we see Great Zimbabwe too. Well done Extra History team. Very well done.
The mandinka people indeed deserve to be recognized for their creativity and courage. I am a Mandinka from Gambia 🇬🇲. The final destination of the mandinka warriors.
"A great river flowing through the ocean..." Looking at a map of the oceanic currents, my first guess would be the North Equatorial Current or the Equatorial Counter Current. Also, I'm quite pleased that Sundiata (my understanding is that spellings vary, as Mali lacked a written language during his lifetime) got some attention. The Epic of Sundiata is among my favorite pieces of folklore.
Great video! My daughter is learning about Mali in second grade right now. I think it's great because when I was a kid we just learned about traditional European/North American centric history. I didn't start learning about the Empire of Mali or any African nations until I played Europa Universalis 3 (a PC strategy game). After that I was hooked and I started googling all sorts of less well known nations. Your video covered so much great information and is in line with everything they're teaching at my daughter's school. I can't wait to watch part 2!
This is a great example of why I love your show! While TV channels, Hollywood, book publishers and sadly even gaming companies are giving us just more and more WWII stuff year after year after year you give us THIS. I love you guys and girls, girls and guys!
Ignacio A What? There are plenty of books on African history, mostly west African since it's more documented. I don't believe you've tried to find this information lol
Farah Yeah, until he dies. The Roman system of making Generals and Governors one and the same worked all the way up until Caesar crossed the Rubicon and set a precedent. Edit: Actually, up until Sulla seized the city.
Africa, one of my favorite subjects. May I suggest some other topics? The Yoruba and Hausa cities are fascinating as well as the Ashanti empire. Jolof and the Mossi are also good topics. And who can forget the Fulani Jihads. Other possible topics are how City structure and government structure in Africa were very different from what is typically thought.
When a source claims that their enemy kept severed heads as trophies, wore human skin sandals, and was a sorcerer, you might wanna take that source with just a hint o' salt.
MagnuMagnus tbf, according to the Mandinka everyone back in those days knew magic. Apparently Souramaro didn't die, he turns into a tornado then later a tree. The Epic of Soundjata is as much legend as it is a record of a mans life. Kept getting retconned whenever convenient, for example according to later Giouts (keepers of history/heralds) he was a muslim and related to Billal.
I feel the need to point out that keeping heads as trophies was not rare historically and for that mater nether was practicing magic. While it may not have actually worked people historically did believe in, study and practice magic, hell in many places they still do.
A friend recommended me this channel and I absolutely LOVE it! This is what I call UA-cam Videos With High Calories! :) I recently read a story about how Queen Nzinga of Angola fought and held off Portuguese control for over 30 years. I was thinking that it might be a story worth exploring.
I liked how in the start of the video,there was a tiny recap of other historical settings they'd done videos on. Gives the whole, history is connected, feel.
Okay, yet another series I am absolutely stoked for. This is stuff that not nearly enough people know about and really should learn, because ask the average European or American about African history and they'll shrug and just say "Slavery?" and that'll be all they know. Africa is so much more than that and I am super happy that EH is covering a little of that history.
Thank you Extra Credits and Patreon voters for this subject. West Africa has a rich history that is constantly ignored on the world stage. Wonderful that it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves. P.S: there are some accounts that Mansa Abubakari’s expedition actually made it to South America and that west African artifacts were found on the coast.
I love the "by the people, for the people" sandals joke.. a great nod of humor in contrast to the tales of cruel practice, that may or may not be real, but likely do reflect popular views of the time. Also a fleet of 2000 that sailed into the sunset to never be seen again is one heck of an end to a monarchy, and to an episode.
Mansa Musa, and yes, it was on his Hajj. He gave away so much gold on the way he had to take most of it back on his return trip to stabilize all the economies he'd accidentally destroyed.
i'm so grateful to this channel cos it has made my work so easy. i have a history paper in 3days time and Mali empire is one of the areas that will come. i was reading a book about Mali but it was lenghty and was worried i could not finish it before time. this video has simplified everything for me. the narration was simple and very interesting
It’s nice to see a video on the history of my people. May fathers side of the family were among the first Mandinka people from Mali to travel to what is now Gambia and settled on that land.
I love the history of Mali and how it evolved around Africa and its surroundings. And I love you guys even more for going into such an unappreciated aspect in history when compared to other things that people take precedence over it. I have no regrets for buying stuff from you guys now and I love you all even more.
Rational Roundhead Good point. Perceived threats, real or not, do have significant impact on people's behaviour. www.dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~schmader/Working%20Memory%20Capacity.pdf www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/agoraphobia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355987
You guys have been killing it with your history content lately. Not that it hasn't always been great but this increase in videos has been fantastic, thank you.
It's actually doubtful that the American developers and writers back in the mid nineties actually knew of this story. But at the same time, there's a sort of universal story that can develop from such human stories. The Lion King has been called Shakespearean, yes, but many other folk epics follow after it. I suggest to anyone watch Kyle Kallgren's review of the Lion King for his Month of Shakespeare series to see where so many stories seem to inter-lap to become one.
thank you Extra Credits... i am a student and always seen African as second rate good for nothing... but now i learn even African have magnificent history and from now one, i never underestimate them anymore and some how fall in love with African history, and i learn something new after browsing Africa history on google and from library, they have magnificent culture and some how i wonder if African now and there 2 different thing... perhaps colonialist make Africa become right now... anyway thank you so much. hope you great success and when i graduated and have work, i promised i gonna be Patreon for this amazing chanel :)
Can you imagine if they'd actually colonized North America? It'd potentially be a VERY different world today if the Americas had been colonized by Semi-Islamic West African people instead of Christian Europeans
Great to see African civilisations being covered! I wanna suggest Ethiopia from Nubians & Kushites to Aksum to Abyssinia. And also Kindom of the Kongo...I believe they even had envoys in Italy at one point when Italy wasn’t even a united country in the 14th century.
The congolese ? I don't think that's true. Do you have sources for it ? Maybe Ethiopian, Malian or Sudanese, but Congo was very far away with no trading roads.
never thought i would learn about the history of mali. curious if the things i will learn from this series will shed a different light on the current situation there.
Thank you so much! I worked with several African immigrants, and I love the history, and hope that it becomes better known and more mainstream to Western audiences!
Curious if this Ghana is different than the Ghana we know today? If it is different did the new Ghana we know use this older Ghana’s name as a tribute after the British were forced to abandon the Gold Coast?
Ghanaian here, According to Ghanaian oral tradition, one of the ethnicity's that lived in the ancient Ghana the akan migrated south due to the empire falling and pressure from Mali to convert to Islam. They settled in what is now Ghana formed another empire the Ashanti empire, British then took over and during Independence the government chose the name Ghana as a throwback to the ancestors.
Basically all the countries in West Africa, from Mauretania to Mali, Ghana and Benin, took its name from some other country that existed within that rough area at some point in history, although not necessarily within the borders of the modern country. Benin is particularly notable, as the Kingdom of Benin existed until surprisingly recently in what is now Nigeria, and there is still a city in Nigeria called "Benin City", which was the last capital of the kingdom.
This is an Extra History series I didn’t even know I wanted. The only thing I knew about Mali before now, was that it was a brutal starting position in Crusader Kings 2, but also one of my favourites because of its challenge. I’m quite interested to learn more about this Empire I’ve play but never really knew anything about. Can’t wait for more.
Is it possible for you guys to do a video on Wagadu also called Anicent Ghana(by visitors) before Mali rolled over them? Full accurate information is hard to get on the stories from this time but I think it would be an awesome story.
Now it's official, the animators from EC are going to rise up in revolution to topple the system that is forcing them to come up with a great new episode every single day.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
In a tense battle over the fallen capital of the Ghana Empire, Sundiata's bow bends, the string twangs, and the arrow flies… or so the great epic of the Mandinka says. And from this battle, the Empire of Mali will be born.
Support Extra History on Patreon and get perks! patreon.com/extracredits
It was Walpole.
Also, first of the people who get it in the normal timeframe.
Hi
🤣
Hey Extra history, Do you think its possible to get the non patrons vote for vids but their vote has little impact on the votes?
Is it just me or that you guys jump to too many different stories at once?
But other then that, amazing job on the video.
We definitely needed some African history. It's almost always overlooked.
Pretty much covered north bordering the Mediterranean. It’s the South, central interior that’s hardly covered. But wouldn’t be surprised that it’s no idyllic paradise either. Just pretty much, more of the same.
Abdirahman no that sounds about right
@@cameronbell6183 lol
from swahili, mali ethiopia and ofc egypt where ppl often forgot located in africa not in arab .... So yeah i wish to hear more not the colonialist bias which at the time more focused to justify their atrocity denying the culture of the native land.
@@aa2339 mid to southern Africa was pretty stable not that much war more trading than war.
I'm literally doing an essay on Monday about Ghana, Mali, and Songhai... Talk about perfect timing.
Its like Extra Credits was in your school...
Then by all means also read about the Dahmomey empire and peraps the first few chapters of "Primitive War" By Turney-High. It is not a rag on the Africans at all...
pecu alex Now that would've been amazing...
Were u from
This is one of those series where I know literally nothing about the topic. Thank you Extra Credits and their Patreon supporters for letting me learn about something completely strange to me :)
its where the real Timbuktu existed.
same with me
I know right
Maurice Baxter still exists
Maurice Baxter but it's more Islamist uprisings than golden sorcerer kings these days
Drowned or shot at a festival.
.
.
.
Sources vary.
History is fun like that.
and fell in a river.
So... dunk tank accident?
Yea
Or he got shot at a festival, fell into a river and drowned while asking for help but receiving none as everybody was drunk.
Drowned or "Accidentally" shot at a festival.
More like a CK2 plot to me.
Out of curiosity, has there been any expeditions to search for Mali's lost exploratory fleet, either back then or in modern times?
- just commenting to be notified when this gets an answer -
^^^^
Yeah I'm curious too
Here for any answers
I wanna know ^^^^^^^^
This episode had the most beautiful artwork to date in any of your videos! Huge props to the artists!
The most beautiful thing ever shown on this channel was a map with prussia on it
Personally, I think that the Admiral Yi series has the most beautiful artwork. But besides your point about this particular series, I think that Extra Credit's artists should be acknowledged for creating simple yet memorable and impactfull art.
I also greatly enjoyed the Yi Shun Shin series's art and historical portrayal, etc. Extra Credits just keeps getting better and better
WOOHOO! West African Empires!!!
I hope this channel does more West African Empires such as Songhai, Mandinka, Kanem-Borno, Asante, Benin, Oyo and the various caliphates such as Sokoto and Segu.
I'm a descendant of the Oyo Empire myself
Kuro_Hitokiri what no love for the Ashanti?
Do Ashanti next
Oh shit! I missed them. I thought I added them. My bad
And southern Africa, like Great Zimbabwe.
Kuro_Hitokiri the Ghana,Mali and the Songhai empire I think are the only really great West African empires that deserve videos
How rich was Mali? So extremly rich that europeans drew Mansa Musa, the richest Mansa of Mali, on their maps. Mansa Musa also despbalised the economies of north Africa as he went to meck and back
Hurray for inflation!
@@TheGameFilmGuruMan Mecca*
@@therealchen I mean when your so rich your spending habits destabilise the economy of nations, I'd say you have a good claim to being the richest person ever lol
@WKC-Predator123s Oh damn, perspective for anyone interested. A $400bn net worth would put you in the 30th place for national GDP, ahead of countries like Isreal, Ireland and South Africa.
@@themadhammer3305 Augustus, Genghis Khan and a couple others were wealthier. These list only count raw materials instead of assets. Augustus personally owned all of Egypt which was worth four trillion dollars.
Why do I have the feeling Dan had a nightmare trying to pronounce Soumaoro Kante while recording this episode? XD
But seriously though, when I saw this in my recommendations I literally screamed for joy. The Mali Empire is my favorite historical empire, and I'm so glad that you're finally covering it. Fantastic work EC!
Sue Maru can tae?
Well, could've been helped by knowledge of the pronunciation of the football player N'Golo Kante
interestingly golo also means goal in portuguese
N'Golo Kante clearly chose the right career. Wait, he's not a goalie, right? I guess we could squint and call him NoGolo.
I can't help but think that the _Kanté_ was not the difficult part the OP was referring to. :D
Thank you all at the extra credits team.
These videos are amazing to use in the classroom for my world history class. My sophomores live them with their narratives and fun artwork. I like them for the diverse range of topics you cover.... many of which add to my curriculum.
Keep up the great work!
David Marsh I wish my school would use them... but alas I'm German so no chance
If only teachers like you would use these types of medium for a source of information showing detailed demographics of such certain events. Not being lectured in a verbal sense that would be efficient of retention of the said event.
you do know these are just stories right?
7:20 "Two sons(ish) splitting the country in a civil war" is a pattern that seems to repeat a bit in history, doesn't it? :P
Still better than gavelkind.
General Luigi lol ck2 nightmares
Herodotus Von 8428 this is why i kill my younger heirs and my wife if i got a very good heir
DragoniteSpam Are you talking about CK2 or the Paul Brothers?
not Just in history but also in our very lives! I know because My grandfather had 6 kids and after he died well fights began for his house and fields
Omg could you belive how diferent the world would be if the mali empire had managed to settle in south america before the europeans?
I doubt world would be that different. Surely some civilization would emerge in the Americas, but Africans (aside from some examples like the one here) weren't exactly interested in settling continents far away. They certainly had no need too. At best, some expeditions would travel and settle, maybe boost the technologies of Native Americans a bit, but I don't see waves after waves of Africans pouring into the New World. They simply have no incentive.
I imagine that the prime difference would have been that instead of from Europe, the diseases that would devastate the native population would have come from Africa.
And their conquest would had been a lot less sucessful, because the tecnological difference wouldn't be so high in comparison.
You mean South America would be speaking Arabic instead of Spanish?
JohnnyElRed there wasn't much of a technological difference, at the being between really anywhere at that point, the difference was organization and the easy availability of workable metal. Had the aboriginal people of the new world, not be annihilated by disease then I would see a complete change in the world, Europe would still dominate, earliest to global trade with port cities everwhere, not to allow colonies, but the difference wouldn't be that great, so total domination would likely not happen
The technological difference wasn't that different with the europeans either though. The Aztecs actually DEFEATED the Spanish, native allies and all. The only reason they Spanish did make like the Norse (also Europeans bested by the natives they encountered) and pack it up was becuase Cortez burned the ships so his army couldn't run away. If smallpox hadn't done it's thing the Europeans would never have established a foothold. The only technological advantage Europeans really had was calvary but they lacked the numbers (at the start of colonization) for that to make a difference.
As a Black European (UK 🇬🇧) I have never heard of Black Africans being mentioned as explorers. In school it was slaves and colonisation. This is refreshing and the kind of Afro-centric African history that needs to be taught.
They left it out because Sunjata is King David in the Bible...12 tribes and all, his enemy was changed to Goliath. They corrupted the story. Mansa Musa is King Solomon and Abubakari II was Moses. The Great river took them to the other side. They changed it to God splitting the sea and them walking on dry land. What nonsense.
@Heru Behudety U believe what u r told by known liars and manipulators? Ok
@@blkhistorydecoded what the hell are you talking about? David is a lot different. David had no connection to royal families, he was just some peasant kid.
@@leef8433 Yeah and Adam and Eve were the first humans on the face of the Earth???
@@blkhistorydecoded I mean yeah I think God spawned more after but I'm pretty sure they were?
Total War: Thrones of Ghana
Game of Thrones: Song of Gold and Sand
A Game of Thrones spin-off story but on a prespective of the blacks.
African Total War should totally be a thing.
Sounds good
@@AccipiterSmith sotheryos exists...so its not that far fetched
@@PennyDreadful1 Im down for that too.
So the history of Africa is no different from that of Europe. War, rule, civil war, build an empire, war again.
Stefano Zucchelli Not just Europe and Africa, that is the history of the world.
Except for Antartica.
Benjamin Carlini oh no my friend, penguins go through the same struggle down there as well.
Why do you think they are called Emperor penguins?
Humans are gonna human.
That’s humans for ya
This is the first episode of Extra History I've watched in a while, & it was absolutely fantastic.
When I was going through university to get my bachelor's in history, my department didn't have a single professor who specialized in African history, so I had to learn everything I know from books & my own independent research. There's such a treasure trove of stories to be told in African & Middle Eastern history that most people in the West never get to hear. I'm so glad you all are working to change that.
You know when you break down how all these great empires start, it’s with a weak or poor man/woman who was an outcast or have very low status in their respective societies, then became powerful during his early adulthood, and then Uniting with smaller tribes/clans and then toppling the bigger tribe/clan.
Imo i think it's because most have seen all the walks of life from their country and thus know how t play in on that.
You also have to remember that in many cases the history is written somewhat after the fact and even with primary sources we only have an indirect view of things; this results in sometimes having a history that emphasises the most fantastical portions of their life prior to their reign where official documents would be more plentiful.
Eh, official documents are notoriously known for being not exactly acurate. Diaries and indirect info about the person are a lot more believeable. But good luck finding those in these era's.
The thing is with official documents, like census reports and such, is that they are vastly easier to collaborate and confirm than things like journal entries. It's why for example we have such overwhelming evidence of the Holocaust and other war crimes by the Nazi's despite substantial efforts by the Nazi's to destroy and hide evidence; there's just too much of a paper trial.
It is also why we are able to, once we are able to access Soviet archives in the 90's, able to get a vastly better picture of the Eastern front and realize that a lot of German reports are full of shit. Because while you could claim that Soviet reports are also bs; paper work that gets processed though like "We lost 5 tanks here, 2 tanks there, and 9 tanks there, so please send us replacements" is almost impossible to fabricate; there's too much evidence.
In Crusader Kings II, it's far easier to maintain an empire you built yourself, rather than one you start ruling over, and I imagine the reasons are somewhat comparable.
When you start small and conquer your way up, you get to have a great deal more more say in who is directly serving under you, and those vassals are generally fiercely loyal because everything they have was given by you. You can also set in place favorable laws before there are is a powerful bureaucracy underneath you that would oppose them. Not having to deal the the aforementioned issues, you can focus on increasing prosperity, expanding outward, and generally bringing in a regular stream of boons that keep vassals loyal and everything running smooth.
On the other hand, when you start ruling over a large nation, your vassals owe you nothing, and they typically have a great deal more autonomy and power, which in turn better allows them to fight against attempts to curb said power. The core of the problems you face are usually internal, and rooted in deep seated traditions that will face universal hatred if you try to change. All of your resources are usually just devoted to maintaining power.
A lot of those factors seem pretty reasonable for why powerful figures in history more often seem to ascend from nothing, rather than start cushy and improve from there. Not to mention people seem to put more hope in something new, than building upon what they already have. They prefer the revolution to the reformation.
Its great to see such a "Mainstream" channel covering Africa history! I've been looking forwards to this series for over a month now - since you announced it on patreon, and I KNOW that you won't disappoint!
HorribleHistory what are some non mainstream channels that cover African history?
I can only think of two relatively popular ones that really focus on factual african history, those being FromNothing and HometeamHistory.
Hometeam has a slight bias, but is generally good, while FromNothing manages to escape bias, but even these channels are small, with Hometeam having around 50,000 subscribers and FromNothing having a much smaller audience of 5,200 subscribers
UA-camrs like Epimetheus, however, are starting to show interest in African history, so I wouldn't be surprised if it became more common soon.
History with Hilbert might pick up some pre-colonial african history in the future i recall him mentioning in the comments of one of his videos.
My problem with hometeam history is that i get that feeling that they sometimes get carried away by the more fringe and sensationalistic parts of pan-africanist historywriting.
R3ika
I am subscribe to the channel. Overall it really is a good channel. I just make a point to fact check anything that seems off using academic sources. I own 4 good academic volumes on medieval west African civilization.
“ Beyond Timbuktu”
“ African Dominion”
“The Royal Empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai”
“ History of the Yoruba People”
UA-cam is a good introduction. But if you are really interested, I highly recommend checking out the academic material as well.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the middle ages were when the empires rose. But there were large urban towns in west Africa as early as 500 BC. These towns had mudbrick architecture, iron metallurgy, domesticated animals and Big populations as high as 20,000 people. It was during the common era that these towns and cities began to coalesce into states and empires.
I'm so glad you're doing a series in western Africa!
Not enough people appreciate the importance of Africa on the world stage. I hope at some point we see Great Zimbabwe too. Well done Extra History team. Very well done.
HOORAY!!! Mali is such a fascinating country and I wish more people knew about it.
The little red haired girl from across the street that’s the truth thank you
The mandinka people indeed deserve to be recognized for their creativity and courage. I am a Mandinka from Gambia 🇬🇲. The final destination of the mandinka warriors.
@@mamstray2624 Awesome bro, you should be proud
Finally, my favourite African Empire!
5:11 The federation of skittles.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Lmfao
So true
Taste the rainbow of democracy!
.......Can I join?
"A great river flowing through the ocean..." Looking at a map of the oceanic currents, my first guess would be the North Equatorial Current or the Equatorial Counter Current.
Also, I'm quite pleased that Sundiata (my understanding is that spellings vary, as Mali lacked a written language during his lifetime) got some attention. The Epic of Sundiata is among my favorite pieces of folklore.
Luis Aldamiz Agreed
I think the Amazon River makes more sense.
Near the today Marajó Island the river find the ocean and fit very well the way they desbribe.
Age of empires ii african kingdoms
You're a man of culture my friend
S3rp3nte hehehe well thank u man
S3rp3nte i actually played as malians in that game
hardest campaign missions, possibly
Ah, finally some material of cool advanced civilizations located outside of Europe or the middle east. Thank you!
Great video! My daughter is learning about Mali in second grade right now. I think it's great because when I was a kid we just learned about traditional European/North American centric history. I didn't start learning about the Empire of Mali or any African nations until I played Europa Universalis 3 (a PC strategy game). After that I was hooked and I started googling all sorts of less well known nations.
Your video covered so much great information and is in line with everything they're teaching at my daughter's school. I can't wait to watch part 2!
This is a great example of why I love your show!
While TV channels, Hollywood, book publishers and sadly even gaming companies are giving us just more and more WWII stuff year after year after year you give us THIS.
I love you guys and girls, girls and guys!
you're playing the wrong games mah dood
Ignacio A What? There are plenty of books on African history, mostly west African since it's more documented. I don't believe you've tried to find this information lol
Much PC, the poster was probably meaning books that are for entertainment not academic.
Yes! So glad we getting to West African history! It’s always ignored and underrated 👏🏿👏🏿
"And he adopted a bunch of his Generals' sons"
Insert heavy sigh here
actually not a bad idea
Farah Yeah, until he dies. The Roman system of making Generals and Governors one and the same worked all the way up until Caesar crossed the Rubicon and set a precedent.
Edit: Actually, up until Sulla seized the city.
Faust Lesson from history: Never name multiple heirs😂😀.
I've been wanting to learn more about pre-colonial African history for a long time, and this is by far my favorite resource!
0:21 🇮🇨 ❤️ most people forget at least one of the seven canary isles. But you got them all there. I appreciate such a high level of accuracy
I'm so happy you're covering this story. More people need to learn about the great histories of Africa. It is not a lesser civilization(s).
Africa, one of my favorite subjects. May I suggest some other topics? The Yoruba and Hausa cities are fascinating as well as the Ashanti empire. Jolof and the Mossi are also good topics. And who can forget the Fulani Jihads.
Other possible topics are how City structure and government structure in Africa were very different from what is typically thought.
Damn. They should make movies about this kind of stuff. I feel like we never get enough historical films about ancient Africa or the Americas.
When a source claims that their enemy kept severed heads as trophies, wore human skin sandals, and was a sorcerer, you might wanna take that source with just a hint o' salt.
MagnuMagnus tbf, according to the Mandinka everyone back in those days knew magic. Apparently Souramaro didn't die, he turns into a tornado then later a tree. The Epic of Soundjata is as much legend as it is a record of a mans life. Kept getting retconned whenever convenient, for example according to later Giouts (keepers of history/heralds) he was a muslim and related to Billal.
I feel the need to point out that keeping heads as trophies was not rare historically and for that mater nether was practicing magic. While it may not have actually worked people historically did believe in, study and practice magic, hell in many places they still do.
My main point is simply that when an enemy is demonized in historical records, you gotta wonder how evil they really were.
MagnuMagnus he was probably an enemy, but most of that sorcery stuff probably came later as a result of state propaganda
While sorcery and human skin shoes seem like exaggeration, keeping human heads was common enough historically that that specific bit could be real.
A friend recommended me this channel and I absolutely LOVE it! This is what I call UA-cam Videos With High Calories! :) I recently read a story about how Queen Nzinga of Angola fought and held off Portuguese control for over 30 years. I was thinking that it might be a story worth exploring.
Her full name was Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba. Could be an opportunity to feature a brilliant woman who had strong military tactics
FINALLY, another African Empire
Zulus no longer lonely anymore :D :D :D
The next story set in Africa should not be about an Empire though. But this is great.
Fredrik Dunge What would it be about then? Those are the interesting parts of African history at least it the time periods EH usually covers
They already covered Egypt, and the Carthaginian v Roman war. Both Africans as well.
+Robert Jarman
They're likely referring to "Black" Africans.
Fredrik Dunge Not really Rome is 2000 years older than Mali and the Greeks 3000.
I love how you are bringing mostly unknown Empires, Kingdoms and cultures from around the world into the light.
"B-but, Africans never built any-"
-Ghana, Mali and Edo giving the finger from the walls of Benin-
Find a source of this that isnt afrocentrist
@@algonzalez6853 afrocentrist because west africa had kingdoms?
@@algonzalez6853 end your internet subscription.
And they also destroyed what they built
@@artoruvidal2793 so did Europeans and Asians. What do you think war is?
I liked how in the start of the video,there was a tiny recap of other historical settings they'd done videos on. Gives the whole, history is connected, feel.
Moral of the story: Do not stand in the middle of a battlefield chanting sorcery. It will not help because sorcery is not real.
*tips Malian fedora*
Well as far as I know fedora wearers are the only people who still stand in battlefields chanting sorcery. I think it's called LARPing.
Ghanian Officers Don't Duck!
they goose. and sometimes chicken. but never duck
Who knows, he might able to wololo'ed some of the armies if the arrow didn't interrupt the chant
YESSS!! I've recently read about the Mali Empire and was really hoping for Extra History videos covering African empires! You guys are awesome.
I love how much you show African history here!! Thank you!!!
Okay, yet another series I am absolutely stoked for. This is stuff that not nearly enough people know about and really should learn, because ask the average European or American about African history and they'll shrug and just say "Slavery?" and that'll be all they know. Africa is so much more than that and I am super happy that EH is covering a little of that history.
Positively surprised by your choice. Nice to see going out of Asia-Europe area of study!
Thank you so much barely anyone ever goes in depth about the history of the mali empire in the narrative ways you do cant wait to see the rest
Feels great learning about my tribe.. Am a proud mandinka ☺️
I was always fascinated by the Malinese empire and was thrilled to see you do it justice. So much clearer than slogging through wikis...
Thank you Extra Credits and Patreon voters for this subject. West Africa has a rich history that is constantly ignored on the world stage. Wonderful that it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves.
P.S: there are some accounts that Mansa Abubakari’s expedition actually made it to South America and that west African artifacts were found on the coast.
I love the "by the people, for the people" sandals joke.. a great nod of humor in contrast to the tales of cruel practice, that may or may not be real, but likely do reflect popular views of the time. Also a fleet of 2000 that sailed into the sunset to never be seen again is one heck of an end to a monarchy, and to an episode.
didnt one of the mail kings ruin the gold price in one trip to the outside world or something
Alexander The Loremaster yes, he went on the haji(pilgrimage) and on the way he just threw gold at people, making it rather inflated for a while
Yes, Mansa Musa, who assume is coming up later.
Alexander The Loremaster You mean Mansa Musa and his pilgrimage?
The man that got the European's attention for better or for worse
Mansa Musa, and yes, it was on his Hajj. He gave away so much gold on the way he had to take most of it back on his return trip to stabilize all the economies he'd accidentally destroyed.
i'm so grateful to this channel cos it has made my work so easy. i have a history paper in 3days time and Mali empire is one of the areas that will come. i was reading a book about Mali but it was lenghty and was worried i could not finish it before time. this video has simplified everything for me. the narration was simple and very interesting
Really love to hear about the african nations that we did not cover in school ! Thanks extra history for lighting those up !
It’s nice to see a video on the history of my people. May fathers side of the family were among the first Mandinka people from Mali to travel to what is now Gambia and settled on that land.
Mali: * exists *
Morocco: *It's free real estate*
Songhai*
It's songhai.
Different empire by African too.
I love the history of Mali and how it evolved around Africa and its surroundings. And I love you guys even more for going into such an unappreciated aspect in history when compared to other things that people take precedence over it. I have no regrets for buying stuff from you guys now and I love you all even more.
SO MUCH EC. It’s glorious
"the revolt started in 1234" the guy knew when to do a revolt
thank god they managed to take down that sorcerer! Don't know how else they would have managed to survive
hahaha, good one
Idgi.
Probably moreso that he was their king.
I was worried he was going to turn into a giant snake like Thulsa Doom did
Rational Roundhead
Good point. Perceived threats, real or not, do have significant impact on people's behaviour.
www.dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~schmader/Working%20Memory%20Capacity.pdf
www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/agoraphobia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355987
You guys have been killing it with your history content lately. Not that it hasn't always been great but this increase in videos has been fantastic, thank you.
The traders of Morocco speak of a great kingdom to the south... EXTRA CREDIT LAND!!!1!1
YES! MALI! One of my favorite historical empires!
I can’t wait for Mansa Musa to come in!
Love this series, keep it up!
finally an African empire video :)
Thank you so much for this video! The Mali Empire is my favorite empire. Really appreciate it!
Sundiata: The Lion King of Mali.
AKA, one of the OTHER major sources of inspiration for that one Disney movie you may have heard of.
It's actually doubtful that the American developers and writers back in the mid nineties actually knew of this story. But at the same time, there's a sort of universal story that can develop from such human stories. The Lion King has been called Shakespearean, yes, but many other folk epics follow after it. I suggest to anyone watch Kyle Kallgren's review of the Lion King for his Month of Shakespeare series to see where so many stories seem to inter-lap to become one.
The history of the Mali Empire is a fascinating one. I hope this video will get a lot of people into West-African history!
"Who control the Trade control the Empire! The Trade must flow!"
I never study Africa history any where! It made really happy that you did this series!
GHANA watch this video!
Badumtits
Guthrum why did you fail at beating Alfred out also do you even always have a plan
Doesn’t Otto von Bismarck have a plan? Or did Walpole sabotage it?
OH HEY WHAT’S UP Y’ALL IT’S *GUTHRUUUUUUUUM*
Herbert von Bismarck I didn't beat him at Fortnite.
thank you Extra Credits... i am a student and always seen African as second rate good for nothing... but now i learn even African have magnificent history and from now one, i never underestimate them anymore and some how fall in love with African history, and i learn something new after browsing Africa history on google and from library, they have magnificent culture and some how i wonder if African now and there 2 different thing... perhaps colonialist make Africa become right now... anyway thank you so much. hope you great success and when i graduated and have work, i promised i gonna be Patreon for this amazing chanel :)
Sounds like the Mali explorers found America.
They did. Before columbus actually
Can you imagine if they'd actually colonized North America? It'd potentially be a VERY different world today if the Americas had been colonized by Semi-Islamic West African people instead of Christian Europeans
These non-sponsored videos feel much better to watch than the last 3 sponsored videos. Everything was smooth and understandable.
I can not like this video enough! Thank you for telling West Africa's story...
Always good stuff! Keep up the good work! .. am always looking forward to the next installment !!!
West African Empires are so cool and mysterious I hope to see more!
I was waiting for this after taking an Ancient Civilization course when we discussed this Empire.
Great to see African civilisations being covered! I wanna suggest Ethiopia from Nubians & Kushites to Aksum to Abyssinia. And also Kindom of the Kongo...I believe they even had envoys in Italy at one point when Italy wasn’t even a united country in the 14th century.
The congolese ? I don't think that's true. Do you have sources for it ?
Maybe Ethiopian, Malian or Sudanese, but Congo was very far away with no trading roads.
@@TheFiresloth The Kingdom of Kongo sent an ambassador in Rome to meet with the pope in the 16th century,
@@DaduaMaiga Yes, but by that time, the trade road was firmly established. The person I responded too was talking centuries before that.
Thank you for this. I have been curious about Western Africa recently and this is perfect timing.
I have actually finished a unit in school about West African empires.
YES! this is awesome we don't get enough African history I am so down for this series!
never thought i would learn about the history of mali. curious if the things i will learn from this series will shed a different light on the current situation there.
I love ExtraHistory so much. You guys do such an awesome job. All of you, right down to the coffee guy.
*Becomes a king*
*Magically grows a beard*
Thanks to Extra Credits. Kudos to their crew!
Fun fact: after Sundiata defeated Sarumoro he was ironically named the "lion king"
Oooh! I'm excited! I love learning more about history of African empires :)
The river in the ocean which they mentioned is actually the equatorial current that took them to America
Thank you so much! I worked with several African immigrants, and I love the history, and hope that it becomes better known and more mainstream to Western audiences!
Curious if this Ghana is different than the Ghana we know today? If it is different did the new Ghana we know use this older Ghana’s name as a tribute after the British were forced to abandon the Gold Coast?
Yeah, the country we know as Ghana today, was always known as Ashanti Empire. They had changed their name during/after colonization period.
Ghanaian here, According to Ghanaian oral tradition, one of the ethnicity's that lived in the ancient Ghana the akan migrated south due to the empire falling and pressure from Mali to convert to Islam. They settled in what is now Ghana formed another empire the Ashanti empire, British then took over and during Independence the government chose the name Ghana as a throwback to the ancestors.
It’s Anjou, is there a reason why Ashanti was not used?
Because the Ashanti still exists as a subnational monarchy in Ghana.
Basically all the countries in West Africa, from Mauretania to Mali, Ghana and Benin, took its name from some other country that existed within that rough area at some point in history, although not necessarily within the borders of the modern country. Benin is particularly notable, as the Kingdom of Benin existed until surprisingly recently in what is now Nigeria, and there is still a city in Nigeria called "Benin City", which was the last capital of the kingdom.
A movie about this would be great!
Can you guys make series on the seven year war, mughal empire or the 3 kingdoms in china?
Love your stuff, keep making great vids.
Hopefully they get sponsored fir 3 kingdoms of china with the new total war game coming up.
This is an Extra History series I didn’t even know I wanted. The only thing I knew about Mali before now, was that it was a brutal starting position in Crusader Kings 2, but also one of my favourites because of its challenge. I’m quite interested to learn more about this Empire I’ve play but never really knew anything about. Can’t wait for more.
at the end, that's the guy who probably discovered the americas before columbus, just like the vikings
Thank you guys for making all those videos, it makes world history ever so funny!
Is it possible for you guys to do a video on Wagadu also called Anicent Ghana(by visitors) before Mali rolled over them? Full accurate information is hard to get on the stories from this time but I think it would be an awesome story.
Now it's official, the animators from EC are going to rise up in revolution to topple the system that is forcing them to come up with a great new episode every single day.
All these 18 year olds establishing kingdoms meanwhile i'm cooking sausages
This is very fascinating! Can’t wait to see the rest of this series! 😊