Category: Great Civilizations

A Heritage of great civilizations on the African soil

The Code Noir or the Objectification of the Black Race

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great MomentsLeave a comment
Le Code Noir (A frontispiece of the Code Noir, from the 1742 edition)

With the French Senate ‘repelling’ the Code Noir on Tuesday, we had a to dive a bit deeper into the Code Noir and what it meant. As we saw, the Code Noir, was issued in 1685 by King Louis XIV of France, as the rulebook that defined slavery in France’s Caribbean colonies and later the Louisiana territory as well. It laid out how enslaved Africans were to be treated, controlled, punished, fed, clothed, and even baptized. Under this law, enslaved people were considered property just as much as a chair or a horse, their family lives were tightly restricted, and their movements monitored. The Code Noir also forced Catholicism on everyone in the colonies.

In practice, it turned human beings into legal objects and gave slaveholders enormous power over every detail of their lives. Today, the Code Noir stands as a stark reminder that slavery wasn’t just an economic system: it was a fully engineered legal and religious structure designed to control Black life at every single level, and this went on for centuries.

Below is the text of the Code Noir… read for yourself! The full translation can be found on the National Park Services website.

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A full translation to English and transcription of the 1685 Code Noir is below. While some changes were made a few of the codes in subsequent years, the 1685 version captures the essense of how slavery was regulated and policied in the Louisiana Territory and, by extension, St. Louis, during French and Spanish rule in the eighteenth century.

Edict of the King:

On the subject of the Policy regarding the Islands of French America

March 1685

Recorded at the sovereign Council of Saint Domingue, 6 May 1687.

Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre: to all those here present and to those to come, GREETINGS. In that we must also care for all people that Divine Providence has put under our tutelage, we have agreed to have the reports of the officers we have sent to our American islands studied in our presence. These reports inform us of their need for our authority and our justice in order to maintain the discipline of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith in the islands. Our authority is also required to settle issues dealing with the condition and quality of the slaves in said islands. We desire to settle these issues and inform them that, even though they reside infinitely far from our normal abode, we are always present for them, not only through the reach of our power but also by the promptness of our help toward their needs. For these reasons, and on the advice of our council and of our certain knowledge, absolute power and royal authority, we have declared, ruled, and ordered, and declare, rule, and order, that the following pleases us:

Portrait of King Louis XIV of France, 1701

Article I. We desire and we expect that the Edict of 23 April 1615 of the late King, our most honored lord and father who remains glorious in our memory, be executed in our islands. This accomplished, we enjoin all of our officers to chase from our islands all the Jews who have established residence there. As with all declared enemies of Christianity, we command them to be gone within three months of the day of issuance of the present [order], at the risk of confiscation of their persons and their goods.

Article II. All slaves that shall be in our islands shall be baptized and instructed in the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith. We enjoin the inhabitants who shall purchase newly-arrived Negroes to inform the Governor and Intendant of said islands of this fact within no more that eight days, or risk being fined an arbitrary amount. They shall give the necessary orders to have them instructed and baptized within a suitable amount of time.

Article III. We forbid any religion other than the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith from being practiced in public. We desire that offenders be punished as rebels disobedient of our orders. We forbid any gathering to that end, which we declare to be conventicle, illegal, and seditious, and subject to the same punishment as would be applicable to the masters who permit it or accept it from their slaves.

Article IV. No persons assigned to positions of authority over Negroes shall be other than a member of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, and the master who assigned these persons shall risk having said Negroes confiscated, and arbitrary punishment levied against the persons who accepted said position of authority.

Article V. We forbid our subjects who belong to the so-called “reformed” religion from causing any trouble or unforeseen difficulties for our other subjects or even for their own slaves in the free exercise of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, at the risk of exemplary punishment.

Article VI. We enjoin all our subjects, of whatever religion and social status they may be, to observe Sundays and the holidays that are observed by our subjects of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith. We forbid them to work, nor make their slaves work, on said days, from midnight until the following midnight. They shall neither cultivate the earth, manufacture sugar, nor perform any other work, at the risk of a fine and an arbitrary punishment against the masters, and of confiscation by our officers of as much sugar worked by said slaves before being caught.

Article VII. We forbid them also to hold slave markets or any other market on said days at the risk of similar punishments and of confiscation of the merchandise that shall be discovered at the market, and an arbitrary fine against the sellers.

Inspection of a slave for sale

Article VIII. We declare that our subjects who are not of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, are incapable of contracting a valid marriage in the future. We declare any child born from such unions to be bastards, and we desire that said marriages be held and reputed, and to hold and repute, as actual concubinage.

Article IX. Free men who shall have one or more children during concubinage with their slaves, together with their masters who accepted it, shall each be fined two thousand pounds of sugar. If they are the masters of the slave who produced said children, we desire, in addition to the fine, that the slave and the children be removed and that she and they be sent to work at the hospital, never to gain their freedom. We do not expect however for the present article to be applied when the man was not married to another person during his concubinage with this slave, who he should then marry according to the accepted rites of the Church. In this way she shall then be freed, the children becoming free and legitimate. . . .

Article XI. We forbid priests from conducting weddings between slaves if it appears that they do not have their masters’ permission. We also forbid masters from using any constraints on their slaves to marry them without their wishes.

Article XII. Children born from marriages between slaves shall be slaves, and if the husband and wife have different masters, they shall belong to the masters of the female slave, not to the master of her husband.

Article XIII. We desire that if a male slave has married a free woman, their children, either male or female, shall be free as is their mother, regardless of their father’s condition of slavery. And if the father is free and the mother a slave, the children shall also be slaves. . . .

Article XV. We forbid slaves from carrying any offensive weapons or large sticks, at the risk of being whipped and having the weapons confiscated. The weapons shall then belong to he who confiscated them. The sole exception shall be made for those who have been sent by their masters to hunt and who are carrying either a letter from their masters or his known mark.

Article XVI. We also forbid slaves who belong to different masters from gathering, either during the day or at night, under the pretext of a wedding or other excuse, either at one of the master’s houses or elsewhere, and especially not in major roads or isolated locations. They shall risk corporal punishment that shall not be less than the whip and the fleur de lys, and for frequent recidivists and in other aggravating circumstances, they may be punished with death, a decision we leave to their judge. We enjoin all our subjects, even if they are not officers, to rush to the offenders, arrest them, and take them to prison, and that there be no decree against them. . . .

Article XVIII. We forbid slaves from selling sugar cane, for whatever reason or occasion, even with the permission of their master, at the risk of a whipping for the slaves and a fine of ten pounds for the masters who gave them permission, and an equal fine for the buyer.

Article XIX. We also forbid slaves from selling any type of commodities, even fruit, vegetables, firewood, herbs for cooking and animals either at the market, or at individual houses, without a letter or a known mark from their masters granting express permission. Slaves shall risk the confiscation of goods sold in this way, without their masters receiving restitution for the loss, and a fine of six pounds shall be levied against the buyers. . . .

The back of a slave

Article XXVII. Slaves who are infirm due to age, sickness or other reason, whether the sickness is curable or not, shall be nourished and cared for by their masters. In the case that they be abandoned, said slaves shall be awarded to the hospital, to which their master shall be required to pay six sols per day for the care and feeding of each slave. . . .

Article XXXI. Slaves shall not be a party, either in court or in a civil matter, either as a litigant or as a defendant, or as a civil party in a criminal matter. And compensation shall be pursued in criminal matters for insults and excesses that have been committed against slaves. . . .

Article XXXIII. The slave who has struck his master in the face or has drawn blood, or has similarly struck the wife of his master, his mistress, or their children, shall be punished by death. . . .

Article XXXVIII. The fugitive slave who has been on the run for one month from the day his master reported him to the police, shall have his ears cut off and shall be branded with a fleur de lys on one shoulder. If he commits the same infraction for another month, again counting from the day he is reported, he shall have his hamstring cut and be branded with a fleur de lys on the other shoulder. The third time, he shall be put to death.

Article XXXIX. The masters of freed slaves who have given refuge to fugitive slaves in their homes shall be punished by a fine of three hundred pounds of sugar for each day of refuge.

Article XL. The slave who has been punished with death based on denunciation by his master, and who is not a party to the crime for which he was condemned, shall be assessed prior to his execution by two of the principal citizens of the island named by a judge. The assessment price shall be paid by the master, and in order to satisfy this requirement, the Intendant shall impose said sum on the head of each Negro. The amount levied in the estimation shall be paid for each of the said Negroes and levied by the [Tax] Farmer of the Royal Western lands to avoid costs. . . .

Article XLII. The masters may also, when they believe that their slaves so deserve, chain them and have them beaten with rods or straps. They shall be forbidden however from torturing them or mutilating any limb, at the risk of having the slaves confiscated and having extraordinary charges brought against them.

Article XLIII. We enjoin our officers to criminally prosecute the masters, or their foremen, who have killed a slave under their auspices or control, and to punish the master according to the circumstances of the atrocity. In the case where there is absolution, we allow our officers to return the absolved master or foreman, without them needing our pardon.

Article XLIV. We declare slaves to be charges, and as such enter into community property. They are not to be mortgaged, and shall be shared equally between the co-inheritors without benefit to the wife or one particular inheritor, nor subject to the right of primogeniture, the usual customs duties, feudal or lineage charges, or feudal or seigneurial taxes. They shall not be affected by the details of decrees, nor from the imposition of the four-fifths, in case of disposal by death or bequeathing. . . .

Article XLVII. Husband, wife and prepubescent children, if they are all under the same master, may not be taken and sold separately. We declare the seizing and sales that shall be done as such to be void. For slaves who have been separated, we desire that the seller shall risk their loss, and that the slaves he kept shall be awarded to the buyer, without him having to pay any supplement. . . .

Article LV. Masters twenty years of age may free their slaves by any act toward the living or due to death, without their having to give just cause for their actions, nor do they require parental advice as long as they are minors of 25 years of age.

A copy of the 1743 edition of Code noir, now in New Orleans (Historic New Orleans Collection)

Article LVI. The children who are declared to be sole legatees by their masters, or named as executors of their wills, or tutors of their children, shall be held and considered as freed slaves. . . .

Article LVIII. We declare their freedom is granted in our islands if their place of birth was in our islands. We declare also that freed slaves shall not require our letters of naturalization to enjoy the advantages of our natural subjects in our kingdom, lands or country of obedience, even when they are born in foreign countries.

Article LIX. We grant to freed slaves the same rights, privileges and immunities that are enjoyed by freeborn persons. We desire that they are deserving of this acquired freedom, and that this freedom gives them, as much for their person as for their property, the same happiness that natural liberty has on our other subjects.

Versailles, March 1685, the forty second year of our reign.

Signed LOUIS,

and below the King.

Colbert, visa, Le Tellier.

Read, posted and recorded at the sovereign council of the coast of Saint Domingue, kept at Petit Goave, 6 May 1687, Signed Moriceau.

Citation: “The Code Noir (The Black Code),” LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY: EXPLORING THE FRENCH REVOUTION, accessed October 2, 2024, https://revolution.chnm.org/d/335.

Hakili Mousso : Traore’s Science Competition for Girls

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Moments, Great People, Great ScienceLeave a comment
President Capitaine
Ibrahim Traore (Source: sig.gov.bf)

As a norm, every October 15, we celebrate the life of President Thomas Sankara, and yesterday, President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso launched the Sovereignty Football league to raise the level of soccer (football) in the different regions of the country. Sure, this comes after the resounding defeat of the Burkinabe national team against Argentina in a friendly international game which ended 7 – 0; any correct president who loves his country would want a reform of its soccer leagues. Other sport disciplines will be added with time.

Similarly, in August, the president launched the Hakili Mousso science competition, a science competition built to encourage young girls to envision and pursue a career in science and technology, thus putting scientific knowledge and academic performance at the forefront of national aspirations. As a reminder, this came 2 months after the suspension of beauty pageants in the country, which are currently under review. Historically, these beauty pageants in our countries have always mirrored Western beauty norms with women competing based on Western beauty standard, with preference for straight hair vs. our natural afro and hairstyles, super skinny and curve-less (let’s face it, the African woman is curvy), and even in clothing choices instead of traditional textiles (History of African Fabrics and Textiles). This direction echoes This direction echoes President Thomas Sankara’s long-standing commitment to women’s participation in public life and girls’ education, summarized in his well‑known declaration,“Women hold up the other Half of the Sky”. Sankara appointed women to high government positions, encouraged their full participation in the workforce, opened military recruitment to women, and ensured that students received pregnancy leave. Similarly, President Traoré is continuing this vision by starting the Hakili Mousso science competition, by creating new pathways for girls to thrive in scientific fields and contribute to national development.

25FCFA coin

The inaugural contest brought in 84 young women who earned science baccalaureates in 2026 and tested their knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry. The first place winners received 2 million FCFA, a motorcycle, a laptop, and additional rewards. The five highest-performing participants in each subject received prizes. The cherry on top: days after the competition ended, Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traoré invited the winners to the presidential palace.The meeting lasted nearly an hour, with discussions covering science, ambition and the participants’ future career goals.

Our president is making us proud… proud to be Burkinabe from the land of honest people, proud to be African.

Reclaiming African History : Fortaleza de São Miguel – Angola’s Largest Slave Fort

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The Transatlantic slave trade

In March, the United Nations (UN) recognized the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the gravest crime against humanity. The fact that it took centuries to reach this acknowledgment speaks volumes about those who benefited from the trade, and about how deeply some countries and institutions resist accountability. Despite its scale, the Transatlantic Slave Trade is rarely discussed with the same global urgency as the Holocaust, even though it claimed over “15 millions” African lives (and we know the math is not math-ing) and reshaped continents. Many Africans can name European concentration camps, yet very few can name the African slave forts where millions were imprisoned before crossing the Atlantic.

Aerial view of Fortalesa de Sao Miguel ca 1950s

If you are like me, you may have heard of Elmina Castle, Cape Coast Castle, Ouidah, Gorée Island, the sites most commonly referenced in West African history. But far fewer people know about Fortaleza de São Miguel, the largest and most politically significant slave fort in Angola. Perched high above Luanda Bay, the Fortaleza de São Miguel or Fort Sao Miguel is one of Angola’s most important historical landmarks which has survived the test of times. It was built in 1576 by the first governor of Angola Paulo Dias de Novais, the grandson of the explorer Bartolomeu Dias; yes that explorer they used to burst our ear drums with in school, the one who rounded the Cape of Good Hope proving that there was a sea route from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. It was the first major Portuguese stronghold in Angola and Central Africa, and the beating heart of colonial power for nearly three hundred years.

Queen Nzingha of Angola
Queen Nzingha of Angola

From the late 1500s through the mid‑1800s, São Miguel became a central node in the transatlantic slave trade. Captives from the interior: Kongo, Ndongo, Mbundu, Ovimbundu, Lunda, Chokwe, and others, were funneled through a network of inland routes toward Luanda. Don’t be fooled by its whitewashed walls made of thick basalt and its cute polygonal design! These were tailored to the hilltop terrain as a defensive fort to guard against any rival foreign invaders, like the Dutch, or local African kings. Among those taken to the new world, it is said that the most traded ethnic groups were the Mbundu and Ndongo people, and we can understand why, when we remember that Queen Nzingha: Great Queen of Angola opposed a strong fight against the enslavement of her people and tirelessly fought the Portuguese for almost a century!

The Cuanza River corridor was the most infamous route: people were funneled through inland forts like Massangano and Muxima (Pope Leo XIV gave his Last Blessing in Angola at an Old Slave Trade Hub), chained in canoe convoys or forced along riverbanks toward the coast. At São Miguel, they were registered, taxed, and imprisoned before being loaded onto ships bound for Brazil, especially Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. São Miguel was thus the seat of Portuguese power, but also a place where human lives were reduced to cargo manifests for colonial profit. Governors lived within its walls; while soldiers and bureaucrats managed the colony from its ramparts. The Dutch seized the fort briefly in 1641, renaming it Fort Aardenburgh, but Portugal reclaimed it 7 years later in 1648, restoring its dominance in the area.

Fortaleza de Sao Miguel in Angola (Source: WelcometoAngola.co.ao)

When Angola gained independence in 1975, São Miguel was transformed into the Museum of the Armed Forces. Today, it houses exhibits on: colonial wars, the struggle for independence, the Angolan civil war, and national heroes and military history. If you are ever in Luanda, remember to visit this site which hosts so much history, history of our tears, pain, exploitation, determination, strength, and resilience.

Returned Ivorian Ancestral Drum Unveiled to the Public

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great MomentsLeave a comment
Tchaman (Atchan) Kings and dignitaries in front of the Djidji Ajokwe talking drum back in March (Source: Afrikmonde.com)

On this day, 7 August which marks Cote d’Ivoire’s 66th anniversary of its ‘independence’, on this national holiday, the ancestral talking drum, Djidji Ayôkwé was presented to the people. This is the first object returned by France to Côte d’Ivoire, the first of 148 artifacts. France returned the sacred drum looted from Côte d’Ivoire after 110 years. It was taken from the Tchaman (Atchan, Ebriés) people by the French people. The talking drum was exposed at the Musée du Quai Branly. The drum is 4 m (13 ft) long and 430 kg (948 lbs) heavy.

Excerpts below are from RFI.

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The ceremony of August 7, 2026 was very symbolic because it is the first time that the talking drum was revealed to the general Ivorian public since his return to the country last March. First there was the military parade. Then, the drum opened the civil parade. The latter was placed on a red truck, protected by a window. He was surrounded by two Ebrie traditional chiefs.

Next to this truck, there were people dressed in traditional attire singing solemnly singing solemnly “Djidji Ayôkwé” to celebrate its return. … After Yopougon, Djidji Ayôkwé headed to the commune of Adjamé, where a traditional ceremony was organized in the afternoon. 

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Sad Moments in Mali : Fallen Brothers and the Black Winter

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Map of Mali with its capital Bamako

Over the past week, there have been severe confrontations/battles in Mali between the government forces backed by the proud people of Mali and the jihadists forces funded by the West. These intense attacks culminated on April 25, 2026, with the deaths of the Malian Defense Minister, General Sadio Camara, members of his family, and countless soldiers and civilians. We have learned that the attacks were complex, coordinated, and simultaneous.

General Assimi Goita

As always, the Western media celebrated, and wondered where the Malian president was, and told us that the rebels were now in total control of Kidal. On Tuesday, President General Assimi Goïta, addressed the nation, and told us that, “A violent halt was put to the attackers who sought to establish a climate of violence.” These attacks, as President Assimi Goïta shared, were “coordinated [and] of an extreme gravity.”

ECOWAS Members – old map

The attacks were quite complex, as they were very sophisticated; the bandits were no longer thugs driving simple motorcycles, but advanced military vehicles instead, had high technology, missiles, and even satellite access for such coordination, and much more. As you can see, common bandits cannot have access to such high tech or intelligence: where do they get the money? It is clear that they are funded by the West, with France at the forefront, Ukraine, the E.U. and thus NATO, and the ECOWAS countries which are governed by puppets of France (Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, Algeria, Mauritania). Remember that American general who lied about Ibrahim Traoré last summer visited several of these countries to establish other centers for the AFRICOM (What are American Troops doing in Nigeria ?)? This time, the jihadists hit almost simultaneously the cities of Gao, Kidal, Mopti, and Kati. You can see that this is an army, and not just ‘rebels’ as labelled by the western media, directly financed by the West with France in the front. It is said that they are numbering several thousand men.

Flag of Mali
Flag of Mali

President Goïta said, “Thanks to the promptness and professionalism of the armed and security forces, the attackers – whose objectives was to instill a climate of widespread violence in the affected localities –were  dealt a decisive blow. Thanks to the calm of the personnel deployed and the maintenance of a cohesive chain of command, the enemy’s nefarious plot was thwarted, resulting in the neutralization of a significant number of attackers. As I speak to you now, security measures have been reinforced; the situation is under control, and operations involving combing, search, intelligence gathering, and security consolidation remain ongoing.”

 

AES Logo

This, as you can see, is the black winter (dark winter), President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso referred to at the beginning of the year. However, what the enemy has forgotten is that Assimi Goïta, Ibrahim Traoré, Abdourahamane Tchiani are all proud descendants of the great Mali Empire, Songhai Empire, Kanem-Bornu Empire, and offspring of the mighty Sundiata Keïta, Kankan Musa, Samori Touré, and so many others; these are men whose ancestors have been fighting for their freedom for generations (like Malians fighting the French forces at the battle of Sikasso). The fight for freedom did not start yesterday in 2020, but has been ongoing for centuries. As President Goïta said, “Our people have made the choice, the choice of sovereignty and dignity. The choice is the expression of a national will, fully embraced and boldly asserted. It comes at a price, and we are fully aware of it. This choice is the only path worth taking if we wish to offer our children a future that is free, just, and prosperous.” As president Goïta told us in 2022, No Sacrifice is too Big for this Country.

France Returns Ancestral Drum to Côte d’Ivoire

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations1 Comment

Tchaman (Atchan) Kings and dignitaries in front of the Djidji Ajokwe talking drum (Source: Afrikmonde.com)

On this day, France has returned a sacred drum looted from Côte d’Ivoire after 110 years. It was taken from the Tchaman (Atchan, Ebriés) people by the French people. The sacred, talking drum, is known as the Djidji Ayôkwé and was exposed at the Musée du Quai Branly. The drum is 4 m (13 ft) long and 430 kg (948 lbs) heavy. This is the first object returned by France to Côte d’Ivoire, the first of 148 artifacts.

Excerpts below are from Africanews.

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Tchaman (Ebrié) King, Nandjui Abrogoua and his court (1848 – 1938) – Foreground : “DJIDJI AYOKWE” the sacred talking drum of the Tchamans (Ebriés) of Goto Bidjan. (Source: Photo/IT / TheAfricanDream.net)

France returned a sacred drum that was taken from the Ivory Coast during colonial rule at a ceremony in Abidjan on Friday, marking the first official restitution of a cultural artefact from France to the West African country.

The Djidji Ayôkwé, described as the “talking drum,” is a massive carved wooden drum once used by the Atchan people of the Abidjan region to communicate between villages. It landed in the economic capital early Friday morning.

… It is expected to go on display in April at the newly renovated Museum of Civilizations in Abidjan.

“Your return is a message for our young people who have decided to take ownership of their history, for the communities that are rediscovering their Djidji Ayôkwé, a symbol of social cohesion, peace and dialogue,” Ivory Coast’s culture minister, Françoise Remarck, said during the ceremony.

Seized by French colonial authorities in 1916, the Djidji Ayôkwé had been among 148 objects formally requested by the Ivory Coast from France in 2018.

“This drum has been gone for centuries, so today, as a young man, I am overjoyed to receive it and to see it,” said Serge Akmel, who came to watch the arrival.

“When this drum was taken, it was difficult for us; they took something heavy from us. Today, we received the drum.”

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Libya under Muammar Gaddafi

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great MomentsLeave a comment

Muammar Gaddafi (Mouammar Kadhafi)

I would like to share some points about life in Libya under the Guide of the Libyan Revolution Muammar Gaddafi, from an African perspective, not the trash published by the Western media.  Western Media Lies in Libya, NATO’s debacle in Libya, Truth Dispatch: Update on Libya. He was not a saint, but he loved his country deeply and Africa as a whole, and was fighting for our freedom and dignity as human beings!

Libya had significant reserves of crude oil and the discovery of oil changed its socio-economic landscape. Before Gaddafi, Libya had less control on the oil industry as most of the companies involved in oil exploration activities were foreign, but a few years after Gaddafi took control of the government of Libya, his administration nationalized the oil Industry which had a marked impact on the economy and development. Under Gaddafi’s leadership, Libyans enjoyed an exceptional standard of living, financed by oil revenues that were equitably redistributed.

Map of Libya

Thanks to a bold management of oil wealth, Gaddafi transformed his desert country into a model of social and economic development, offering its citizens unparalleled benefits on the continent, and in the world (Norway is now applying his doctrines – just under a different name). While the West often portrays him as a dictator, we want to tell you about the life of Libyans under Gaddafi, and the benefits to the whole of Africa.

Below are the main benefits enjoyed by citizens (source Eurafrica, translated by Dr.Y, Afrolegends.com):

Free education for all: Access to education, from primary school to university, was entirely free. Before Gaddafi, only 20% of Libyans were literate; under his rule, this rate rose to 83%. A quarter of the population held a university degree, a record in Africa.

Free medical care: Hospitals provided free care, and the number of doctors quadrupled in a decade. Diseases like malaria were eradicated, and tuberculosis declined sharply.

Affordable electricity: Although sometimes described as free, electricity was so heavily subsidized that its cost was negligible for households.

Housing, a fundamental right: Gaddafi considered housing an inalienable human right. Massive programs were implemented to build affordable housing, and citizens could obtain interest-free loans to buy their homes. No homelessness like in the streets of some of American and European capitals!

Support for young couples: Newlyweds received financial assistance of approximately $50,000 to acquire a home and start their family life.

Support for mothers: Every woman giving birth received a bonus of $5,000 to support her family.

Car subsidies: The state covered 50% of the price of cars, making mobility accessible to all. Gasoline at a ridiculously low price: With a liter of gasoline costing only $0.14, Libyans enjoyed some of the cheapest fuel in the world.

Affordable basic necessities: Essential goods were subsidized to ensure access for all.

Support for agriculture: Aspiring farmers received land, equipment, seeds, and livestock free of charge to start their farms.

Assistance for unemployed graduates: Unemployed young graduates received an allowance equivalent to the average salary for their profession until they found a job.

Education and healthcare abroad: If local infrastructure was insufficient, the state financed studies or medical treatment abroad, providing a monthly allowance of $2,300 for housing and transportation.

Oil revenue redistribution: A portion of oil revenues was reinvested in social programs, ensuring rare economic stability.

Libya was a debt-free economy and Gaddafi had a pan-African vision. With reserves of $150 billion and no external debt, Gaddafi’s Libya was an anomaly: an African country free from the clutches of international financial institutions like the IMF. This economic independence allowed Gaddafi to dream big. His ambitious project, the Great Man-Made River, transported millions of cubic meters of water across the desert, transforming arid lands into fertile fields. Nicknamed the “eighth wonder of the world,” this irrigation network symbolized his ambition to make Libya self-sufficient.

Gaddafi went even further: he wanted to unite Africa. By proposing a gold dinar to replace the dollar in African trade, he sought to free the continent from Western powers. This project, combined with his support for the African Union, made him a threat to the global order.

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How Puppet Regimes are Built

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Statue of Behanzin in Abomey, Benin
Statue of Behanzin in Abomey, Benin

We have talked so many times about the numerous puppet regimes installed throughout Africa, but we have not talked about how these regimes came to be. It is no secret that these puppet governments, particularly in francophone Africa, are inherited from colonial era, and before that from slavery times. They just morphed over time. The authorities of kings of different African kingdoms and empires were slowly reduced to those of couriers or delivery boys, totally disconnected from their original power rooted in their ancestral traditions. Those who rebelled were simply killed or deposed, or forced to bow down like Behanzin, Prempeh I, Samori Toure, and more. Once we understand this, it is now clear why today we often see African presidents run abroad to France or wherever to take their orders: when they win elections, when new rules need to be established, or their currency devalued, etc.

Pr. Bwemba Bong explains it so well in his book “Quand l’Africain était l’or noir de l’Europe. L’Afrique: Actrice ou Victime de la Traite des Noirs? – Démontage des mensonges et de la falsification de l’histoire de l’hydre des razzias négrières transatlantiques” (When the African was the black gold of Europe. Africa: Actress or Victim of the Slave Trade ? – Dismantling the lies and falsification of the hydra history of the transatlantic Slave Raids),” MedouNeter 2022, p. 170 (translated to English by Dr. Y, Afrolegends.com). In his section titled “The transformation of the administrators of the so-called French-speaking colonial Black Africa into anti-African, ethnic ogres and terrorists”, he explains :

In the political sphere, traditional African institutions were completely destroyed to make way for the establishment of the slave system, for which the disappearance of African kingdoms and empires was a sine qua non prerequisite. When European and African criminals had not simply seized their thrones, African kings and emperors were now placed under the subordination of European slave traders. This violent intrusion, through the dismantling of legitimate powers replaced by subservient structures whose survival is today represented by African “chieftaincies,” but above all by the so-called African state, has created new, artificial, and illegal territorial structures. From now on, the authority of African “rulers” had and has its source only in the wicked European law and no longer in the institutions of their ancestors.

The act of recognition by the slave-owning power now constituting the sole legal basis for the exercise of power, any structure not expressly approved because it was established by the European invading authority—which alone granted and still grants today the title of “king,” “chief,” or “president” (depending on the appropriate tactic)—was and is automatically guilty of the crime of usurpation of title, and was and is irremediably subject to deposition, or even execution, through the system of coups d’état so prevalent today in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Importance of the Timbuktu’s Manuscripts and their Return

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Literature, Great Moments, Great People, Great Science2 Comments

Manuscripts a Tombouctou (Mali) montrant de l'astronomie et mathematique
Manuscripts a Tombouctou (Mali) montrant de l’astronomie et mathematique

The Timbuktu’s Manuscripts are Returning Home to their rightful owners, after over 10 years away. It is so beautiful that the families who own these multi-centennial parts of African history get to have them back as it is not only part of their heritage, but ours also, and we are thankful for them to have protected throughout the centuries.

At the Ahmed Baba Institute in Bamako, people have been actively working on digitalizing all the manuscripts for humanity’s sake. These challenge the eurocentric views that “Africans have not entered enough in history” as the former French president Sarkozy said, even though many scholars from around the world used to travel to Timbuktu to find the best teachers. Through these manuscripts, we discover brilliant scholars, doctors, lawmakers, astronomers, mathematicians, geologists, and much more. After all, Timbuktu, was one of the world’s first and oldest university.

Excerpts below are from Africanews, and check out the Google Arts & Culture (Timbuktu Manuscripts now Available Online, The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu).

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Timbuktu from a terrace by Heinrich Barth 1858

… Among the manuscripts are medical texts, legal rulings, letters, astronomical notes and chronicles of West African empires.

In some pages, scholars debate whether smoking tobacco was moral or forbidden.

In others, officials urge reducing dowries so poorer men could marry.

Marginal notes record earthquakes and local events long forgotten elsewhere.

Sane Chirfi Alpha is the founding member of SAVAMA DCI, which is a local nonprofit organisation dedicated to the safeguarding, preservation, and promotion of the ancient Timbuktu manuscripts. He says the collection reveals a depth of scholarship that challenges assumptions about the region’s past.

“According to old documents, there were doctors here in Timbuktu who performed surgery to treat cataracts. The same manuscript also says that a doctor from Timbuktu saved the French throne. The crown prince was sick, and French doctors could not cure him. It was the doctor from Timbuktu who cured him.”

…  One important tradition still documented in many manuscripts is the chain of teaching, where scholars recorded who taught whom through generations.

Dr Mohamed Diagayaté, general director of the Ahmed Baba Institute says: “When a student finishes studying with a scholar, that scholar gives him a certificate saying he has taught him a subject, which the student has mastered. The certificate also says that the student learned it from a certain scholar, and that this scholar learned it from another scholar, going right back to the person who wrote the original document.”

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Speech from Andrianampoinimerina, the First King of the Unified Merina Kingdom

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great PeopleLeave a comment
Andrianampoinimerina, portrait painted around 1905 by Ramanankirahina

As we learned, Andrianampoinimerina is known as the first Ruler of the Kingdom of Imerina in Madagascar, the one who unified the Merina people of Central Madagascar. His reign was marked by the reunification of the Imerina after 77 years of civil war, and he also led the subsequent expansion of his kingdom to nearby territories, thereby initiating the unification of Madagascar under Merina rule. His legacy was followed by his son Radama I who successfully continued it, unifying 2/3 of the great island under his rule.

Tantara ny Andriana

Below is an excerpt of Andrianampoinimerina’s speech, taken from the Tantára ny Andriána, edition 1968. It is an immense collection of the oral traditions of Madagascar collected by R.P. Callet, a Jesuit priest from 1868 to 1881. The book is in Malagasy. A French translation was published in 4 volumes by the Malagasy Academy from 1935 to 1958. The numbers at the head of each excerpt indicate the page numbers of the original. 

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One of King Andrianampoinimerina’s residences within the Rova of Antananarivo, Madagascar

Excerpts from Andrianampoinimerina’s Speech

708.« I see the different castes: all belong to me and all have my affection, he said, and I will unite you; I will make of Imerina a guinea fowl of a single color.»

728.« This is what I will tell you, O Merina: the country and the kingdom are mine; I will share the land with you… to allow you to live… I will give a rice field to each man; I will see to it that all the Ambaniandros1 have the same belly. »

731.« Here is the forest: I make it the great undivided heritage, the means of subsistence for orphans, for single women, for all the unfortunate… whoever goes there, do not prevent them: all will be able to take and act as they please. »

757.« The men guilty of these crimes, even if they were great figures, even if they were caste leaders, even if they were my relatives…, I will put them to death; I will reduce their women and children to slavery and I will confiscate their property… The Merina, my subjects, are like a lámba without inside or back, like the circular and uniform edges of a pot. »

Radama I (c. 1810 – 1828)

802.« There is no other enemy to my kingdom than famine, because one cannot, when hungry, think of the State: the great, then, seek to devour the small, and the small to steal… If there are people who do not work, I invite you, oh my subjects, to cultivate their lands… you will take the harvests, but will give them back their land when they are determined to work it. »

1054.(Excerpt from his recommendations before his death) « O my friends, let Radama be for you a young gosling to whom you will bring what you have conquered… Do not present him with unfaithful reports, do not deceive him. For the King has no parents; he has no brothers; those who obey his instructions and who trust in his laws are his parents… »

1056.«  … and I declare to you too, O Radama, that Imerina is now unified and that the sea will be the limit of your rice field. »

1 « People in the daylight », synonym of Merina