alternatehistory.com

It is 961 AD, by you silly Christian calendars.

The second caliph of Cordoba, ruler of Spain, is Al-Hakam II. He lived in a time of great Iberian prosperity, securing peace with the wily northern Christians and developing the Caliphate’s economy. In this alt-history, the caliph becomes an exporer, desperate to see the world beyond Hispania. He uses his kingdom’s great treasury to build a great fleet, led by his own vessel, Glory to God. It was the most advanced of its day, built by some of the greatest builders of the Mediterranean.

A statue of the ruler, in honor of the many jobs his voyage created, made by the grateful residents of local towns. The people he taxed to make the voyage made less kind statues.

Leaving Spain for lands rumored to exist in the south, he set out along the coast of Africa, meeting new people and establishing trade routes. the Caliphate’s sailors established small settlements along the western coast of Africa, marrying the locals.

Deep in the south, he meets the king of Ghana, eager to see such a massive fleet friendly to his nation.

The king of Ghana at the time, Masgava.

Al-Hakam was not a stupid man: he knew that the Ghana Empire was a major trading partner of the Fatimids, a Muslim dynasty of North Africa. They would not help him in his exploratory efforts unless they knew the Fatimids were irrelevant. So, he made a deal with Masgava: Al-Hakam got free port and a trading post on the mouth of the Senegal River, and Masgava got massive trade with gold-gobbling Europe by bypassing the Sahara, along with a nice addition to his empire, defended by powerful Cordoban ships. To this day, in Ghana they say, “Don’t give me trouble, or I’ll bring Hakam!”

In the years that followed, Al-Hakam II made several more trips to Ghana and to a Maghreb that the Fatimids cared increasingly less about. The Cordoban settlement on the Senegal, Nube Cordube (as everyone called it) flourished mightily as almost all gold passed through it. As the cost of trade decreased, Masgava grew very rich indeed.

Masgava at his new court in Kumbai Saleh, still the traditional Ghana capital.

The massive trade boom created a new, powerful middle class that fused with the increasingly educated populace, as the landed aristocracy stood pathetically by. Gold flowed into Spain, and huge new mosques were built. Al-Hakam took for himself a Ghana wife, Akimba, following the examples of many thousands of Cordoba merchants and sailors who married local Africans. However, he never loved her, abandoning her in Nube Cordube as he went off to explore ever more new lands/sailors (Al-Hakam was probably homosexual).

Because of this, she ran the city in his place. After her death, some of Nube Cordube’s Africentrist residents called the city Akimbe.


The Caliphate of Cordoba and satellites near the time of Al-Hakam’s death.

Al-Hakam’s rule saw prosperity and trade in massive amounts for the Caliphate of Cordoba, but sooner or later, Al-Hakam II would have to die, and the fleet that held most of the empire together would be distracted and weak. This he did, in 962 AD, dead at sea from a disease he caught in Africa mixed with a long sailing trip. He died a visionary.

The aristocrats of Spain had long chafed at the increasing power of the merchants and middle class, and they quickly seized the opportunity to capture the old capital, setting up a new Muslim dynasty under Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo. Al-Hakim II’s son, Hisham II, was too busy fighting rebels to deal with the crisis in Spain, as Al-Andalusian merchants fought in the coastal urban areas against al-Rahman and his farmers.

The Ghanans seized this opportunity, and marched into Nube Cordube, making Akimbe its official name. The Ghanan Empire gained a huge economic boost from this, and the still-living emperor Masgava began a fleet to hold the sea lanes from pirates and Hisham II.

When Hisham II heard about how his de facto capital had been captured, he set out desperately for rumored islands to the west. He did not find them. Instead, Hisham II found something much, much bigger....

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