"The negroes possess some admirable qualities. They are seldom unjust, and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveler nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence."
-Ibn Battuta
How did the stereotype change?
>Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)
>Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)
I don't know how or why it did change, but I dare to think it might have happened between 1369 and 1406
Is that quote implying the people south of the know west Africans? Like, the people south of Mali?
"As for the Zanj, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence."
"We know that the Zanj (blacks) are the least intelligent and the least discerning of mankind, and the least capable of understanding the consequences of actions." Jahiz (d. 868 AD), Kitab al-Bukhala'
"Like the crow among mankind are the Zanj for they are the worst of men and the most vicious of creatures in character and temperament." Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, vol. 2
"[inhabitants of sub-Saharan African countries] are people distant from the standards of humanity" "Their nature is that of wild animals...." Persian geography Hudud al-`alam, 982 AD
"They [the Shu`ubiyya] maintain that eloquence is prized by all people at all times -- even the Zanj, despite their dimness, their boundless stupidity, their obtuseness, their crude perceptions and their evil dispositions, make long speeches." Jahiz, Al-Bayan wa`l-tabyin, vol. 3
"Galen says that merriment dominates the black man because of his defective brain, whence also the weakness of his intelligence." Mas`udi (d. 956 AD), Muruj al-dhahab
"As regards southern countries, all their inhabitants are black on account of the heat of their climate... Most of them go naked... In all their lands and provinces, gold is found.... They are people distant from the standards of humanity." Hudud al-`Alam, Persian geography, 982 AD
"The Zanj are so uncivilized that they have no notion of a natural death. If a man dies a natural death, they think he was poisoned. Every death is suspicious with them, if a man has not been killed by a weapon." Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, India, 1030 AD
About the Zanj: "Their nature is that of wild animals. They are extremely black." About the Sudan: "Among themselves there are people who steal each other's children and sell them to the merchants when the latter arrive." Hudud al-`Alam, 982 AD
"If (all types of men) are taken, from the first, and one placed after another, like the Negro from Zanzibar, in the Southern-most countries, the Negro does not differ from an animal in anything except the fact that his hands have been lifted from the earth,--in no other peculiarity or property,--except for what God wished. Many have seen that the ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro, and more intelligent." Philosopher-theologian Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201-74), Tasawwurat
"Therefore, the Negro nation are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because [Negroes] have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated." Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, 14th century AD
Was Mali black or berber? I cant seem to tell. I know Songhai was definitely black and a major power that absorbed Timbukto which was Taureg. Feel like my timeline is jumbled up,
>Timbukto
*Timbuktu
Malia was black. Its also where a ton of salt, gold, and slaves came from so it was really rich. One time a King of Mali went on pilgrimage to Mecca and had so much wealth on him he crashed the Egyptian economy.
"Thus I reached the city of Malli [Mali], the capital of the king of the blacks. I stopped at the cemetery and went to the quarter occupied by the whites, where I asked for Muhammad ibn al-Faqih. I found that he had hired a house for me and went there. His son-in-law brought me candles and food, and next day Ibn al-Faqih himself came to visit me, with other prominent residents. I met the qadi of Malli, 'Abd ar-Rahman, who came to see me; he is a negro, a pilgrim, and a man of fine character. I met also the interpreter Dugha, who is one of the principal men among the blacks. All these persons sent me hospitality-gifts of food and treated me with the utmost generosity--may God reward them for their kindnesses!"
-Ibn Battuta
Mali was black like Ghana and Songhai
It was ruled by the Mandinka people based in their heartland of Manden, in particular the city of Niani
They do not confiscate the property of any white man who dies in their country, even if it be uncounted wealth. On the contrary, they give it into the charge of some trustworthy person among the whites, until the rightful heir takes possession of it. They are careful to observe the hours of prayer, and assiduous in attending them in congregations, and in bringing up their children to them.
-Ibn Battuta
>and went to the quarter occupied by the whites
Curious to know about the white people in Malia. Trading for salt I guess, any written records by them?
The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding countryside, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence that I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa.
-Mungo Park on Segou
Mali was a stable and prosperous empire, it was the China of West Africa, you wouldn't want to fuck with it as an Africa bushman.
The Zanj were non-muslim Africans who lived in the jungles West of the Swahili coast. They're generally assumed to be talking about the cannibal cultures that lived inland that occasionally raided into Zanzibar.
What a fuckin' baller
Zanj is derivative of Zanjeer, or chains, so yea they were seen as slaves.
so where does the arab slave trade fit in all of this with respect to these west african populations? I need to find a decent timeline for all this
Arabs got most of their slaves from East Africa iirc
he means arabs
a couple years passed between 1369 and 2017.
African slaves to arabs were east African, but Malians would probably trade West African (non Muslim) slaves to the arabs too, along with Gold, salt, etc.
fuck off /pol/
If only Mansa Musa was still around to expose all these pretenders
>"The Zanj are so uncivilized that they have no notion of a natural death. If a man dies a natural death, they think he was poisoned. Every death is suspicious with them, if a man has not been killed by a weapon." Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, India, 1030 AD
kek i knew a black kid like that in school
i told him my great grandmother died of old age then he spent 20 minutes arguing with me that natural death is not possible
>Arab historians are /pol/
Protip - to this day, arabic struggles to find a nice word for the blacks that doesn't have a second meaning of "slave"
Africans view witchcraft as the cause most evils in the world
Either witches, or neglected spirits
Not really
It's Aswad
The stereotype never changed. What you're seeing is the difference between a traveler noting his personal experiences meeting friendly people in a foreign land and someone who learned everything they know about other cultures and peoples from Classical Greek/Roman memes, uneducated and malnourished slaves ripped from their culture and forced to adapt to another, and popular rumors that survived thousands of miles exchanged between hundreds of people of which only the most shocking or exaggerated will have survived to reach him.
Not much has changed in that regard.
that's the colour black. I'm not sure what terms Arabic speakers use for Black people themselves.
>Arabs
>White
It's nice to know at least that people have been aspiring to be white for centuries
So considering people always overstate African achievements I can assume Segou wasn't that impressive, right?
>overstate
Fuck off and read something besides /pol/
Aswad, you silly goose. Only ignorant people use Abd.
Haha faggot you know just as well as I do people intentionally lower their expectations when looking at African """achievements""". Look at "Great" Zimbabwe, for instance. Completely pathetic, and not great at all. St. Mark's Basilica was built around the same time that miserable pile of African shit was built
Oh yeah, and you know I said OVERstate, right?
I think the word you were thinking of is UNDERstate. I don't think /pol/ would ever overstate any nigger shit
You just proved me right