African Heroes, Legends and Myths

There are so many legends surrounding the origin of Oduduwa.Oral tradition on creation says he is the favourite son of Olodumare. As such, he (or she, as the primordial Oduduwa is gender fluid) was sent from heaven to create the earth upon the waters, a mission he/she had usurped from his/her consort and sibling Obatala, who had been equipped with a snail shell filled with sand and a rooster to scatter the said sand inorder to create land. These beliefs are held by Yoruba traditionalists to be the cornerstone of their story of creation. Obatala and Oduduwa here are represented symbolically by a calabash, with Obatala taking the top and Oduduwa taking the bottom. In this narrative, Oduduwa is also known as Olofin Otete, the one who took the Basket of Existence from Olodumare Oral traditional historians believe he was an exiled prince of a foreign people who left his homeland with a retinue and journeyed south, subsequently settling amongst the aboriginal Yoruba at some point in th...

Queen Idia was the mother of Esigie, the Oba of Benin kingdom who ruled from 1504 to 1550. She played a very significant role in the rise and reign of her son. She has been described as a great warrior who fought relentlessly before and during her son's reign as emperor Queen Idia was a renowned warrior-queen, skilled administrator and the first Iyoba (Queen Mother) of the Kingdom of Bini (Benin) in the present-day Nigeria. Queen Idia's visage is the most widely known face of an African royal woman after the Egyptian Queen, Ahmose-Nefertari or Nefertiti. Her face has gazed on us from countless museums around the world A well documented instant where she came out victorious was when the emerging militia kingdom of Igala attempted to invade Benin, while her son was on the battle front, she raised her own military and took the invaders by surprise, crushing them into submission

In 1224 King Sumanguru led the Sosso in a devastating raid on the Malian capital of Djeriba. They razed the city and killed most of the ruling family. Eleven princes were put to death in the massacre, but Sumanguru spared one of them, the one he thought was no way a threat; a crippled boy called Sundiata. Six years later, Sundiata triumphed over his disability and became the ruler of the Malians. He surrounded himself with the most rugged people he could find, and began a guerrilla campaign against Sosso dominance. First he conquered Sangaran, a neighbouring kingdom and then he  started a campaign against Labe and the Niger Region. In 1235, w...

Whenever people hear the word Amazon, they are tempted to think about the mythical Amazons of ancient Anatolia probably because they didn't know real Amazons actually existed somewhere in Africa, in the kingdom of Dahomey This group of female warriors was referred to as Mino , meaning "Our Mothers" in the Fon language, by the male army of Dahomey. One of their more popular victories was the defeat of a neighbouring kingdom called "Savi" after the amazons conquered their all male army Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life (though they were legally married to the king). Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun. The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. They learnt survival skills and indifference to pain and death,...

Dogon mythology says that Nommo was the first living creature created by the sky god Amma. Shortly after his creation, Nommo underwent a transformation and multiplied into four pairs of twins. One of the twins rebelled against the universal order created by Amma. To restore order to his creation, Amma sacrificed another of the Nommo progeny, whose body was dismembered and scattered throughout the universe. This dispersal of body parts is seen by the Dogon as the source for the proliferation of Binu shrines throughout the Dogons’ traditional territory; wherever a body part fell, a shrine was erected. It is said that as the universe “had drunk of his body, the Nommo also made men drink. He gave all his life principles to human beings and taught them about the stars'' There are those who believe the Dogon tribe knows to much about the Sirius star system for this story to not be true

Today's pop culture celebrities claim they can make it rain, but only figuratively as none of them are truly RAIN QUEENS Welcome to the Lovedu culture where rain queens are not just leaders but masters of weather. Oral traditions have the Lovedu being formed by Dzugudini – the daughter of the chief of the Monomotapa (part of the Karanga Empire) who were based near Maulwi in Zimbabwe. Dzugudini fled south when she fell pregnant while still unmarried. Rather than face the wrath of her father the chief, Dzugudini and her followers started a trek which ultimately ended amongst the Sotho. She didn’t travel, however, unprepared – Dzugudini’s mother stole the chief’s rain charms and sacred beads, and taught her daughter their use. The first paramount chief of the Lovedu was Dzugudini’s son, Makaphimo, who according to oral tradition set up his court at Khumeloni. He was aided by his younger brothers: Mahash, who was the first to sow seeds and developed the Lovedu’s skill in...

Among the Akan people of modern day Ghana, Anansi is cleverest god there is. It's form is the spider and he is dreaded by both gods and men Anansi 'the god of of trickery, strategy and stories' is known to have fooled the gods a thousand times and humans were not exempt from his schemes. Here the tales that sets him apart Once upon a time, there were no stories in the world. The Sky-God, Nyame, kept them all to himself. Anansi did not like this, he went to Nyame and ask what it would take to make stories available for everyone, humans and gods Nyame set a high price: Anansi must bring back Onini the Python, Osebo the Leopard, and the Mboro Hornets. Anansi set about capturing these. First he went to where Python lived and debated out loud whether Python was really longer than the palm branch or not as his wife Aso says. Python overheard and, when Anansi explained the debate, agreed to lie along the palm branch. Because he cannot easily make himself completely s...

You have probably heard of large carnivorous plant like Nepenthes rajah whose traps are large enough to kill and devour rodents. Now imagine a plant 10,000 times larger with traps that can devour humans Welcome to the ancient monster of Madagascar, this tree will catch people with its branches and open its bark to swallow them whole. All that is left of it's victims is the sound of a dirge from inside the trunk. It is said that once you are the tree's victim, only the magic of the wood pecker can redeem you but a price must be paid before the mighty pecker offer it's service

Nyami Nyami, the Zambezi River God or Zambezi Snake spirit, is one of the most important gods of the Tonga people. Nyami Nyami is believed to protect the Tonga people and give them sustenance in difficult times. The River God which is usually portrayed as male is said to have the body of a snake and the head of a fish, a whirlpool or a river dragon, the Nyami Nyami is seen as the god of Zambezi Valley and the river before the creation of the Kariba Dam. The Nyami Nyami is regularly depicted as a snake-like being or dragon-like creature with a snake's torso and the head of a fish. It can be found as pendants on jewelry, usually carved out of wood, stone or bone, occasionally ivory, silver or gold both as a fashion accessory and as a good luck charm similar to the wearing of a St Christopher medallion. Elaborate traditionally carved walking sticks depicting the Nyami Nyami and its relationship with the valley's inhabitants were popular with tourists visiting Zambia and...

MAKEDA, The Queen of Sheba , referred to in the Bible books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, the New Testament, the Qur'an, Ethiopian history was the ruler of Sheba, an ancient kingdom which modern archaeology speculates was located in present-day Yemen or Eritrea, Ethiopia. Unnamed in the Biblical text, she is called Makeda (Ge'ez: ማክዳ mākidā ) in the Ethiopian tradition, and in Islamic tradition her name is Bilqis . In some books she is referred to as Belkis . Alternative names given for her have been Nikaule , Nicaula and Bilikisu Sungbon . She supposedly lived in the 10th century BC. She is better known to the world as the Queen of Sheba . The Queen of Sheba is said to have undertaken a long and difficult journey to Jerusalem, in order to learn of the wisdom of the great King Solomon. Makeda and King Solomon were equally impressed with each other. Out of their relationship was born a son, according to the Ethiopian Book of the Glory of Kings, Menelik I. This Queen ...

The seven original states of Hausaland: Katsina, Daura, Kano, Zazzau, Gobir, Rano, and Garun Gabas cover an area of approximately 1,300 square kilometres (500 sq mi) and comprise the heart of the Hausa realm. In the 16th century, Queen Bakwa Turunku built the capital of Zazzau at Zaria, named after her younger daughter. Eventually, the entire state of Zazzau was renamed Zaria, which is now a province and traditional kingdom in present-day Nigeria. However, it was her elder daughter, the legendary Amina (or Aminatu), who inherited her mother's warlike nature. Amina was 16 years old when her mother became queen and she was given the traditional title of Magajiya , an honorific borne by the daughters of monarchs. She honed her military skills and became famous for her bravery and military exploits, as she is celebrated in song as "Amina, daughter of Nikatau, a woman as capable as a man." Amina is credited as the architectural overseer who created the strong...

Shaka (sometimes spelled Tshaka , Tchaka or Chaka ; c. 1787 – c. 22 September 1828) was a Zulu leader. He is widely credited with transforming the Zulu tribe from a small clan into the beginnings of an empire that held sway over the large portion of Southern Africa that stretches between the Phongolo and Mzimkhulu rivers. His military prowess and destructiveness are continuously being studied by modern scholars. It is largely agreed that he was a military genius, even those who do not agree can't help but wonder how he was able to do so much with a relatively small clan. His statesmanship and vigour in assimilating some neighbours and ruling by proxy marks him as one of the greatest of the Zulu chieftains that ever walked the earth

Shango of the Oyo Empire Shango was the fourth king of the Oyo clan in Yorubaland and he brought a great deal of prosperity to the kingdom.. While the myths that surrounds him are enormous, there are many stories about him that can be validated through traditional practices and folklore. He stands as the cornerstone of many Afro-Caribbean religions. In the Yoruba religion, Shango is perhaps the most popular Orisha. He is the god of thunder and one of the principal ancestors of the Yoruba people. In the Santeria religion of the Caribbean, Shango is considered to be the focal point as he represents the Oyos of West Africa. The Oyo empire sold a lot of people to the Atlantic slave trade who then took them to the Caribbean and South America. It is primarily for this reason that every major Orisha initiation ceremony performed in the New World within the past few hundred years has been based on the traditional Shango ceremony of Ancient Oyo. Such ceremonies survived th...