Miniatures notes from West Africa Before the Colonial Era

[petrea_mitchell]

After I started accompanying the SO to the regional historical miniatures gaming con, it struck me that constructing a miniatures scenario would make a great excuse for researching some history I never learned in school. The problem is that with only the one con every year, I get very excited about the topic for a few months and then it falls by the wayside. This year, I'm going to see if talking about it in public helps me stay on track.

So, the goal is: have a miniatures scenario based on a real-world battle ready to go by next year's Enfilade!.

Step one: start looking for mentions of historical battles that I might be able to dig up more details on. Step two will probably involve a reference librarian.

I've decided to focus on pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa. There's been enough of a written tradition there going back to medieval times that there should be a number of sufficiently documented battles to pick from; and medieval and later Africa had arms and armor resembling what was used in Europe enough that I should be able to find some miniatures that look approximately right.

First book I'm going through to look for major or interesting battles: West Africa Before the Colonial Era, by Basil Davidson. Some possibilities, after online searching to see if dates and participants are confirmable:

• Battle of Kirina, ca. 1240. Sumanguru's ambition to revive the empire of Ghana ends when he is defeated by an army from Kangaba, the predecessor of the empire of Mali.
• Walata, 1480: "In 1480 the Mossi of Yatenga daringly sent cavalry to raid as far as Walata on the edge of the Sahara. [Sunni Ali, king of the Songhay] launched his cavalry after them, drove them back, pinned them down again in their own country in the south."
• Songhay vs. various peoples under Askia Muhammad: "In 1505, he even tackled Borgu (in what is north-western Nigeria today), though not with much success. In 1512 he mounted a big expedition against Diara. Successful there, he sent his troops still further westward, and attacked the Denianke king of Futa Toro in distant Senegal."
• More on Diara: "Askia Muhammad's brother, Amar, led an army against this Fulani raider. The two armies met near Diara in 1512. Amar won, and Tenguella was killed."
• Not something going on my list, but I feel a need to comment in passing: "In 1578, resisting an invasion by Portugal, the Moroccans had won a great victory at the battle of al-Ksar al-Kabir. Historians have called this one of the decisive battles of the world." Yet another thing I never heard about in world history classes.
• Battle of Tondibi, March 12, 1591. Morocco gives Songhay the beginning of a thrashing from which it will never recover.
• Naval battles, 1608: "In 1608, for example, the Dendi hi koy, or admiral of the Songhay fleet of war-canoes on the Niger, attacked Moroccan garrisons along the whole middle course of the river."
• Asante campaigns of the mid-1700s. The reader is referred to Asante in the Nineteenth Century and Forests of Gold by Ivor Wilks.

Comments

[delosharriman]

The Battle of the Three Kings, or Battle of Alcazar Quivir, occurred after Camoes published the Lusiads, & so is not mentioned therein. Its primary importance in world history (according to me) is that the death of the childless Portuguese king led to an uneasy union between the crowns of Spain & Portugal, which was an important factor in the loss of effective power by the Portuguese Empire.