Malê Rising

[yokkang]

When I saw that not only were there updates, there were two updates, I lost my train of thought immediately - stopped mid-stride on my way back into work, even! Definitely was not disappointed when I got the chance the sit down and read them.

Before this timeline rides off into the sunset, I just wanted to say: I happened upon this timeline by sheer chance. I'd found one of the earliest maps by accident on deviantart, and then googled the name after seeing referenced in passing a second time on someone's blog. For what it's worth, that reference called it one of the most beloved timelines on AH.com, and I've agreed from the first scene.

Thanks for sharing this labor of love with us.

Any other thoughts? Conversation is the coin in which I'm paid.

Oh, man. I'm indebted to this timeline, then.

I guess one thing that surprised me was how quickly Laila was able to act as a tipping point for Union - but then it struck me: the cooperative economy must be an unalloyed blessing for a sophisticated, active civil society, even in places where it doesn't dominate. I'm sure TTL's thinktanks are still worried about post-industrial stagnation ("Economists ask, where is the Last Frontier? They should be asking, what happens after we find it?"), and I bet the debate manifests itself in surprising places - but between Abacarism and Belloism, I'd also bet that it takes place in those planned, dedicated community spaces that keep arising, from Sienna-model suburbs to peri-urban villages to actual Belloist communities and beyond.

I was also happy to finally learn the names of the two "eyes" of the Lagos-Oyo "cat" - although I wonder why Iseyin and Akure didn't follow the Nupe Kingdom and Wukari's lead into second-tier Union status. Though if I remember correctly, it was their ruling nobility that refrained from joining Oyo, so perhaps the idea of independence within the Malê never took hold amongst the general electorate?

I also notice that the Union of Nigeria is currently lacking a third tier - hopefully Nigeria isn't finished growing. Actually, the social sciences are peppered with alliteration, but I can't think of what political scientists would call the three-tier, post-Westphalian structure. Association, Autonomy, and... Integral? Not enough alliteration! lol

I loved reading about the League of the Tree of Ténéré's efforts giving the Shelterer's a place within the broader society around them. Here's to hoping environmentalist efforts gift the same happy surprise to the Great Powers wrestling with Deobandi politics or with building a shared civil society with the Southeast Asian highlands.

And, if it's not too late to put in a request, I've always wondered what happened to the branch of the Abacar family that left France for Indochina. For shame, I can't remember the names involved, but I know it referenced debate amongst the Vietnamese-speaking states about what it meant to be Vietnamese, and what states and what peoples got to decide. On a purely personal level, my experience has been that East Asia might be one of the most nationalist places on the planet - so the idea that the Vietnamese language might be a pathway to a shared, multinational ethnic identity was one of the most ATL aspects of this timeline for me.

A final thought, stemming from that previous one: it's been a pleasure to read as language ITTL has become a unifying force, rather than a fragmenting one. If I can remember them all, the Malê have Sudanic, South Africa has Afrikaans, the Afro-Atlantic peoples have Afro-Atlantic (do they call it Creole or Kreyol or Krio? Or just Afro-Atlantic? lol), Nusantara has Bahasa Nusantara, the Philippines has its more inclusive Tagalog, East Africa has Swahili... that's of course completely leaving out the English-, Spanish-, French-, and Arabic-speaking peoples that exist in this timeline and ours alike!

Anyway, a beautiful conclusion. It's an honest privilege to post to this thread and be a part of the epilogue.

 

[Youngmarshall]

You know, While I have a desire to spread this TL around, I think I need to be careful where I show this thing. You see, while you HAVE created a hopeful, well-made, exiting timeline, you have also committed what is probably the mother of all ideological heresies in many leftist and social-justice circles: Having much of Africa genuinely benefit from European Colonialism.

While it is very true that there is a lot of Male and native Islamic influence in what happened here, the idea that Europeans could do something good for the Africans is an idea so tainted with revisionist ideology that the mere mention of the idea might violently turn quite a few people off this timeline. Stupid if you ask me, it would be nearly impossible for Africa to have overall better living conditions than in TTL without a pod before the 15th century.

(inevitably some idiot is gonna rant about how tribal societies were supposedly Utopian and so much better than us silly westerners)

Y'know what, lets settle this comrade Edelstein, Tell me: What is the overall retrospective on colonialism in TTL? With what the Male pulled "colonialism" may not even have exactly the same meaning as OTL... What I am really curious if what ideas a TTL and OTL person might end up exchanging.

Tbf, I think a lot of that is the authors hand on the scales.

Not that the negative effects of colonialism aren't shown in this tl but to pick two examples the desctruction of native industries by colonial powers doesn't happen because a war breaks out and they're needed and the hetero genocide doesn't happen because they happened to luck out on their governor.

I agree entirely with you that if you're going to write a post 1800 african timeline the only way to wank them is to make colonialism better because colonialism is going to happen regardless.

But this is a timeline where colonialism went better because in most cases whenever it was a 50/50 choice between oppression and non oppression the africans got lucky. And I think while imperalism will have a better rep in this timeline, I think a lot of people in ttl would be aware that to some extent they were fortunate and that if the people in charge, napoleon ii for example had made slightly different choices, you'd see more ttl congos and less ttl senegals.

 

[Deleted member 67076]

A wonderful closing chapter. Very excited to see the epilogue.

 

[yboxman]

Tbf, I think a lot of that is the authors hand on the scales.

Not that the negative effects of colonialism aren't shown in this tl but to pick two examples the desctruction of native industries by colonial powers doesn't happen because a war breaks out and they're needed and the hetero genocide doesn't happen because they happened to luck out on their governor.

I agree entirely with you that if you're going to write a post 1800 african timeline the only way to wank them is to make colonialism better because colonialism is going to happen regardless.

But this is a timeline where colonialism went better because in most cases whenever it was a 50/50 choice between oppression and non oppression the africans got lucky. And I think while imperalism will have a better rep in this timeline, I think a lot of people in ttl would be aware that to some extent they were fortunate and that if the people in charge, napoleon ii for example had made slightly different choices, you'd see more ttl congos and less ttl senegals.

I think the difference ITTL is that Colonialism, as we understand the term, hasn't really occurred- it's more like pre age of discovery, or even classical imperialism, even though it takes place over the oceans and the technology, culture and "racial" gap are huge.

Basically, the racialism which created an unbridegable gap between colonial subjects and the "master race" from the 19th century onwards in most colonial empires (and even for France and Portugal to some extent) OTL is nerfed away.

Subject people and dependancies are still occasionally viewed and treated as exploitable resources but also as potential citizens- and they, in turn influence the definition of what makes a citizen.

It actually makes a bit of sense that if this becomes the pattern for one colonial power it must become the pattern for the rest- they are all competing with the others and those who can't integrate colonial subjects into their culture and power structure are the one who lose out in the "struggle for mastery in Europe".

 

[Sulemain]

Raise a glass to freedom!

 

[Oracle of Sobek 𓆋]

You know, While I have a desire to spread this TL around, I think I need to be careful where I show this thing. You see, while you HAVE created a hopeful, well-made, exiting timeline, you have also committed what is probably the mother of all ideological heresies in many leftist and social-justice circles: Having much of Africa genuinely benefit from European Colonialism.

While it is very true that there is a lot of Male and native Islamic influence in what happened here, the idea that Europeans could do something good for the Africans is an idea so tainted with revisionist ideology that the mere mention of the idea might violently turn quite a few people off this timeline. Stupid if you ask me, it would be nearly impossible for Africa to have overall better living conditions than in TTL without a pod before the 15th century.

(inevitably some idiot is gonna rant about how tribal societies were supposedly Utopian and so much better than us silly westerners)

Y'know what, lets settle this comrade Edelstein, Tell me: What is the overall retrospective on colonialism in TTL? With what the Male pulled "colonialism" may not even have exactly the same meaning as OTL... What I am really curious if what ideas a TTL and OTL person might end up exchanging.

There is a fundamental difference in the nature of colonialism between TTL and OTL, though. OTL was nakedly exploitative (with mission civilisatrice and white man's burden thrown in to obfuscate it); in TTL the whole enterprise is much more collaborative.
In OTL, African nations had "modernity" thrust upon them at great human and cultural cost - they saw their dignity degraded, their cultures and histories denied, and their economic and political agency stripped away. In TTL, far more African nations are able to deal with their colonizers and engage with modernity on their own terms. The rapacious aspects of European colonialism very much exist in TTL (see: the Imperial Party, the International Congo, etc.), but they are tempered, and the colonized world is far better equipped to fight against them.

So, I don't really see European colonialism as the cause of TTL Africa's successes; credit for that goes to the Africans alone. It was more a means to an end - and possibly the only means given the PoD - it just had to be twisted into something that OTL's colonialism was decidedly not.

Am I thrilled about all the European territories remaining in Africa and beyond? In principle, not really - but in practice, they exist for far different reasons than OTL; the relationship between, say, Senegal and France exists because both the Senegalese and the French want it that way and it brings mutual benefit to both. That is a perfectly acceptable arrangement.

 

[Enigmajones]

Will you be posting a Finished Timelines version of this TL?

 

[SuperFrog]

Will you be posting a Finished Timelines version of this TL?

I hope so.

 

[Sulemain]

There is a fundamental difference in the nature of colonialism between TTL and OTL, though. OTL was nakedly exploitative (with mission civilisatrice and white man's burden thrown in to obfuscate it); in TTL the whole enterprise is much more collaborative.
In OTL, African nations had "modernity" thrust upon them at great human and cultural cost - they saw their dignity degraded, their cultures and histories denied, and their economic and political agency stripped away. In TTL, far more African nations are able to deal with their colonizers and engage with modernity on their own terms. The rapacious aspects of European colonialism very much exist in TTL (see: the Imperial Party, the International Congo, etc.), but they are tempered, and the colonized world is far better equipped to fight against them.

So, I don't really see European colonialism as the cause of TTL Africa's successes; credit for that goes to the Africans alone. It was more a means to an end - and possibly the only means given the PoD - it just had to be twisted into something that OTL's colonialism was decidedly not.

Am I thrilled about all the European territories remaining in Africa and beyond? In principle, not really - but in practice, they exist for far different reasons than OTL; the relationship between, say, Senegal and France exists because both the Senegalese and the French want it that way and it brings mutual benefit to both. That is a perfectly acceptable arrangement.

If anything, the lesson is that cooperation is far superior to colonialism.

 

[Jonathan Edelstein]

But compared to OTL the unification is by the choice of the inhabitants and their elites, and for reasons they view as good. It is not imposed from above on mutually hostile populations who lack political experience working together and compromising.

I guess one thing that surprised me was how quickly Laila was able to act as a tipping point for Union - but then it struck me: the cooperative economy must be an unalloyed blessing for a sophisticated, active civil society, even in places where it doesn't dominate.

Laila was the right person at the right time. As yboxman says, there were existing elite and popular movements that favored union; also, forerunner institutions had existed for a generation and the benefits were becoming more apparent. Laila was the one who figured out how to overcome the last of the barriers and spent a decade working day and night to do so, but if the barriers hadn't already been eroded by decades of growing integration, she would have failed.

And yes, civil society will flourish where so much of the economy is self-managed, and in the Abacarist states, there's also a long tradition of direct public participation in political debate. Where a politically engaged population is receptive to a message, then things can change very fast.

You know, While I have a desire to spread this TL around, I think I need to be careful where I show this thing. You see, while you HAVE created a hopeful, well-made, exiting timeline, you have also committed what is probably the mother of all ideological heresies in many leftist and social-justice circles: Having much of Africa genuinely benefit from European Colonialism. [...] Y'know what, lets settle this comrade Edelstein, Tell me: What is the overall retrospective on colonialism in TTL? With what the Male pulled "colonialism" may not even have exactly the same meaning as OTL... What I am really curious if what ideas a TTL and OTL person might end up exchanging.

Tbf, I think a lot of that is the authors hand on the scales... But this is a timeline where colonialism went better because in most cases whenever it was a 50/50 choice between oppression and non oppression the africans got lucky.

I think the difference ITTL is that Colonialism, as we understand the term, hasn't really occurred... Basically, the racialism which created an unbridegable gap between colonial subjects and the "master race" from the 19th century onwards in most colonial empires (and even for France and Portugal to some extent) OTL is nerfed away.

Subject people and dependancies are still occasionally viewed and treated as exploitable resources but also as potential citizens- and they, in turn influence the definition of what makes a citizen.

It actually makes a bit of sense that if this becomes the pattern for one colonial power it must become the pattern for the rest- they are all competing with the others and those who can't integrate colonial subjects into their culture and power structure are the one who lose out in the "struggle for mastery in Europe".

There is a fundamental difference in the nature of colonialism between TTL and OTL, though. OTL was nakedly exploitative (with mission civilisatrice and white man's burden thrown in to obfuscate it); in TTL the whole enterprise is much more collaborative.
In OTL, African nations had "modernity" thrust upon them at great human and cultural cost - they saw their dignity degraded, their cultures and histories denied, and their economic and political agency stripped away. In TTL, far more African nations are able to deal with their colonizers and engage with modernity on their own terms... So, I don't really see European colonialism as the cause of TTL Africa's successes; credit for that goes to the Africans alone.

Youngmarshall, yboxman and NikoZnate are all correct, but especially NikoZnate. There were elements of luck involved, such as the timing of the Great War and the attitudes of Napoléon III and (especially) IV. But more important was the fact that the colonized peoples were better organized politically, better able to take advantage of what luck came their way, and better able to resist when they weren't lucky. Colonialism in Africa was more equitable in many places because the Africans forced it to be that way. The theme that most of TTL's historians draw from the colonial era isn't Mighty Whitey uplifting the natives but the Africans negotiating colonialism to get as much as they can out of it - even Dietmar Köhler only got where he did because he was able to attract and hold the loyalty of African leaders.

The racialist element wasn't so much nerfed away as differently directed. The British encounter with the Malê in the early 1840s was a fundamental turning point, because it brought them into contact with an African state that was not only useful to them but modern and progressive (maybe even too progressive) in its outlook. This meant that the British, and ultimately other 19th-century Europeans, came to see state-level African societies as something like Indian princely states - not equal to them, certainly, but not savages either. And this, in turn, along with the fact that many African states were more developed and better armed than OTL, meant that these states were given more respect and autonomy, had more freedom to develop local industries (as, for instance, Mysore did IOTL), and had more ability to negotiate the terms of their relationship with Europe.

As youngmarshall said, colonialism wasn't going to not happen with an 1840 POD, so the key was for Africans to develop the tools they needed to resist and overcome. And to the extent that this led to more positive relationships, that went both ways - TTL France may still have African departments, but a tenth of the population of metropolitan France is African.

Where this fell apart, and where nineteenth-century racism was seen in full force, was with the pre-state peoples, particularly in Central Africa. They didn't get the same respect, nor did they have the political and military organization to win respect by force, so colonialism there looked a lot more like OTL. You won't find many people in the Congo (either of them), Ubangi-Shari, or the former Portuguese Central Africa singing the praises of the colonial era, nor do the Igbo have fond memories of the Royal Niger Company or the Imperial Party.

In terms of what a historian from TTL might say to one from OTL, and vice versa: I expect that TTL will be more inclined to treat colonialism as a continuum, and to see princely-state or protectorate status as a different category from direct colonial rule. The latter will be seen as an unalloyed imposition; the former more as a temporarily unequal relationship that Africans worked to change and ultimately did change. And the difference between the OTL and TTL norm will be seen primarily in terms of African agency, with the crushing and co-opting of precolonial African states IOTL viewed as a major, or possibly the major, turning point.

I'm not sure if that clears me of the charge of heresy; if not, I throw myself on the mercy of the inquisition.

If anything, the lesson is that cooperation is far superior to colonialism.

If I had to put it in one sentence, that would be a very good one.

I was also happy to finally learn the names of the two "eyes" of the Lagos-Oyo "cat" - although I wonder why Iseyin and Akure didn't follow the Nupe Kingdom and Wukari's lead into second-tier Union status. Though if I remember correctly, it was their ruling nobility that refrained from joining Oyo, so perhaps the idea of independence within the Malê never took hold amongst the general electorate?

At the time Oyo formed (or, more accurately, re-formed), Iseyin and Akure had mostly-Christian ruling classes and mostly-Muslim populations, which made the nobles wary of joining a Muslim-dominated federation. By the 1920s or so, that was no longer an issue - the ruling class was still Christian, but tensions between the religions had cooled and constitutional government had come into being. After the Imperial era, both city-states stayed independent but became economically and culturally integrated into the Malê corridor, and in 2011, both voted for first-tier Union membership by overwhelming margins.

I also notice that the Union of Nigeria is currently lacking a third tier - hopefully Nigeria isn't finished growing. Actually, the social sciences are peppered with alliteration, but I can't think of what political scientists would call the three-tier, post-Westphalian structure. Association, Autonomy, and... Integral? Not enough alliteration! lol

Association, Autonomy and Assimilation, or maybe Amalgamation.

Not all unions are three-tiered, although that's the dominant model: Nigeria may or may not develop a third level of membership. It probably isn't done growing, though, not with the Mossi still half-in and half-out.

And, if it's not too late to put in a request, I've always wondered what happened to the branch of the Abacar family that left France for Indochina. For shame, I can't remember the names involved, but I know it referenced debate amongst the Vietnamese-speaking states about what it meant to be Vietnamese, and what states and what peoples got to decide.

You're reading my mind, I think: I'm planning to set one of the scenes in Saigon.

The characters involved were Madeleine, Funmi's half-Vietnamese daughter, and Noureddine, her quarter-Vietnamese and three-quarters-Algerian husband.

A final thought, stemming from that previous one: it's been a pleasure to read as language ITTL has become a unifying force, rather than a fragmenting one. If I can remember them all, the Malê have Sudanic, South Africa has Afrikaans, the Afro-Atlantic peoples have Afro-Atlantic (do they call it Creole or Kreyol or Krio? Or just Afro-Atlantic? lol), Nusantara has Bahasa Nusantara, the Philippines has its more inclusive Tagalog, East Africa has Swahili...

Turkestan has neo-Chagatai. And the official name for the Afro-Atlantic common language is Standard Afro-Atlantic, though most speakers still call it some variation on "creole."

I hope so.

Will you be posting a Finished Timelines version of this TL?

I doubt it; that would be a pretty extraordinary amount of work, given that I'd have to clean up typos, find all the continuity glitches that were pointed out and corrected in principle as a result of comments, and make substantive changes to a few of the updates due to points that were raised in the ensuing discussion.

There's an index of posts that's been brought fully up to date, and which can be used to navigate the timeline (thanks, Sketchdoodle).

Raise a glass to freedom!

A wonderful closing chapter. Very excited to see the epilogue.

Thanks! I'll be away for Thanksgiving weekend, but plan to post the epilogue updates on the following three weekends. If everything goes according to plan, this timeline will wrap up on December 19.

 

[Benevolent]

snip

I'm aware but seeing how this thread even devolved into simplistic notions of your TL shows most people on this website just don't seem to get it.

 

[fanthemadman]

Jonathon,

Just superb work on this. Bravo and bravo!

 

[generalurist]

Jonathan, I get what you're saying and do not in any way doubt your writing ability. I understand that the main reason colonialism worked better here was because the Europeans actually interacted with the Africans in complex (even if sometimes very unfair) ways (as opposed to the OTL model of steamrolling everything), which ultimately gave the Africans some leverage of their own to improve their situation and having some agency.

What I am concerned about is how to market this timelines to other people without my description of the premise pushing one of the political-correctness crowd's major berserk buttons. In the modern era, you have to tread VERY lightly when discussing work dealing with colonialism that has any aesop other than "look at how evil those Europeans are!". My concern is not getting burnt while discussing my AH interests with other.

So, another question to Edelstein: If you had to describe to a total newbie the premise of your timeline quickly in only a few sentences, how would you do it?

 

[Benevolent]

European colonialism as it played out in the actual history of Africa was and is horrendous, there is no denying the very racist, barbaric and disgusting actions and views of the colonial powers as one that justly and swiftly gets called out, questioned and dissect in contemporary discourse on the subject.

To deny otherwise is to perpetuate a mollified and insincere view of the extractive, destructive exploitative colonial/western market regimes I and many others are borne from and thus simply "marketing" this is not important

This is a fairytale at the end of the day, a beautiful one but one that can be given as a good read by many sorts. It's not perfect to any extent but it's certainly the only well studied and played out ATL on Africa I or any of my friends have ever read which is the only agreement we've shared in its development.

Show it to others with out an agenda to change the truest understanding of colonialism; one of exploitation, white supremacy and white man's burden/desire of "civilizing" because anything else will rightly be slapped down by those who know better.

Nothing politically correct about it.

 

[generalurist]

I have no intentions to change anyone's understanding of colonialism. what I fear is something like this happening:

Me:There's this real cool ATL I've read..

Other guy: tell me more!

Me: Well the premise is that this Brazilian slave revolt goes better than OTl, and the slaves get passage to Africa as an intact army. There they usurp the sultan of Sokoto and start spreading their philosophy, as well as some industrial technology. this has the side affect of changing the colonial relations between Europeans and Africans, ultimately resulting in a less destructive colonial era and large parts of Africa being much more developed and stable than OTL after decolonization.

OG: So you're saying that in this TL colonialism actually ends up improving the lives of Africans? Dude WTF are you smoking. It better not be from Stormfront's rubbish bin!

Me: (quickly runs away before the "19th century Europeans were EVULZ" circlejerk starts up)


granted this would only happen with a certain brand of impulsive close-minded fools, but you never know who you'll run into. I like to tread lightly. Thinking it over a little more, it's probably true that this kind of misunderstanding is't likely. Anyone who takes the time to actually read this TL will realize that the reasons that the Europeans were less exploitative was because the Male's ideological and technological influence ultimately made the Europeans decide that "STEAMROLL EVERYTHING!" was not the most cost-effective way of taking control of Africa in TTL. (With a few side cases of the Euros having to "join forces" with the Africans to save their own hides, e.g. France gave a bunch of concession to the Senegalese because it was either that or lose Senegal completely.) In other words, the Africans FORCED them to play nice(er).

Maybe I'm overestimating the modern political correctness climate. Hell, maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Oh, BTW...

This is a fairytale at the end of the day, a beautiful one but one that can be given as a good read by many sorts. It's not perfect to any extent but it's certainly the only well studied and played out ATL on Africa I or any of my friends have ever read which is the only agreement we've shared in its development.

I'm a little confused... Fairy tale? I don't follow your terminology. Unless you consider all AltHist works mere "fairytales" , it sounds like that you're calling ASB on the timeline. Maybe you means something different, I'm curious what.

Also, you say that this TL being uniquely well researched and focused on Africa is the only thing you and your friends agree on. Interesting, I never though that this TL could be THAT divisive. If it's not too private, Perhaps you could tell us some of the contrasting thought of your or your friends about TTL? It would probably give everyone in this thread something interesting to think about.

 

[Jonathan Edelstein]

This is a fairytale at the end of the day, a beautiful one but one that can be given as a good read by many sorts. It's not perfect to any extent but it's certainly the only well studied and played out ATL on Africa I or any of my friends have ever read which is the only agreement we've shared in its development.

I'm a little confused... Fairy tale? I don't follow your terminology. Unless you consider all AltHist works mere "fairytales" , it sounds like that you're calling ASB on the timeline. Maybe you means something different, I'm curious what.

At the end of the day, all AH stories are fairytales. They aren't science fiction - there's no way to prove them experimentally, and there are no scientific rules from which the unfolding of alternate timelines may be predicted. Indeed, chaos theory suggests that there can be no such rules: we can make educated guesses based on what we know of the cultures and political actors at the time of the POD, the resources available to them, and their intentions (stated or otherwise), but the further from the POD we go, the less accurate the forecast becomes. Within a few years after the POD, maybe less, AH is essentially fantasy. This story ends more than 170 years after the POD, so you do the math.

Anyway, I'm not sure I want this thread to become a discussion about colonialism, especially with loaded words such as "politically correct" (which I'm not criticizing you for using but which can lead to emotional reactions). I think we all agree that colonialism was bad, and the kind of discussion we now seem to be heading toward is a kind that usually generates more heat than light. I obviously have no power to tell anyone here what to talk about and what not to talk about, but I can ask that everyone be careful and keep it civil.

With that said, I would also be interested in the thoughts of Benevolent's friends: they're welcome to post those thoughts here, and Benevolent is welcome to relay them. I also think there are ways to describe this timeline that wouldn't lead even the most sensitive to believe that it is an apologia for colonialism. For instance, the theme might be stated as "rebel Brazilian slaves who believe in a revolutionary form of Islam establish a state in West Africa, kicking off an early modernization and enabling the Africans to force European powers to treat them better" - which, at least IMO, is a pretty accurate capsule summary.

 

[Badshah]

On the question of "fairy tales" Mr. Edelstein is right. At best Malê Rising is a provocative thought exercise, and interesting at that because it ties sociological, anthropological and colonial trends together with a broader history. Bu AH at its heart is still fairy tale, because it is a subversion of the trends that come to result in historical events- the POD is an interruption of that flow, upon which the author creates a fantastical world, and one that is his own.

Many of the comments here have taken the wholesale view of OTL colonialism as a monolithic beast, but have forgotten that the mechanics of colonialism are so different; so varied from place to place. It is easy to say 'African colonialism' when in reality it was so different in so many parts; it had to be. For those who've been really piqued by Malê Rising, I would recommend not history books, but anthropological and sociological works based on history; they show just how varied the phenomenon of colonialism was, and in a way, still is.

 

[Benevolent]

With that said, I would also be interested in the thoughts of Benevolent's friends: they're welcome to post those thoughts here, and Benevolent is welcome to relay them. I also think there are ways to describe this timeline that wouldn't lead even the most sensitive to believe that it is an apologia for colonialism. For instance, the theme might be stated as "rebel Brazilian slaves who believe in a revolutionary form of Islam establish a state in West Africa, kicking off an early modernization and enabling the Africans to force European powers to treat them better" - which, at least IMO, is a pretty accurate capsule summary.

That theme is based off of historical fact, the lusoafrican returnees were instrumental in bringing technologies into West Africa.

They became the Saro, Tabom and others who were intermediaries of Western innovation in their own terms. They became merchants, missionaries, vocal leaders in the face of European colonialism and actively used the tools forced upon them in slavery to their own discretion to even be the president of a Free African nation.

That's why I find your fictional work an enjoyable read, it is grounded within the realm of possibility but it's expanded upon to a very large extent into fantasy, not ASB but unliklies you know?

I'm trying to find an Aguda girl from Lagos I used to talk to about the Black Atlantic because I'd love her thoughts but she all but disappeared, still it's getting passed around.

All that being said trying to separate emotion from such a topic like the trans Atlantic slave trade, imperialism and anti-colonial resistance is futile for many you know? The issues of today are grounded very much in the aforementioned struggles. I guess that is how I contextualize this story with my and my people's history.

It makes the story move beyond some "fap" as some may put it and more like a thought experiment.

 

[Jonathan Edelstein]

That theme is based off of historical fact, the lusoafrican returnees were instrumental in bringing technologies into West Africa. They became the Saro, Tabom and others who were intermediaries of Western innovation in their own terms. They became merchants, missionaries, vocal leaders in the face of European colonialism and actively used the tools forced upon them in slavery to their own discretion to even be the president of a Free African nation.

That was actually one of the inspirations for this timeline - in late 2011, I read several books and articles on the various Afro-Brazilian communities in West Africa, as well as a short biography of Sylvanus Olympio (who is the president to which you are referring). One of the authors - I forget who, at this point - suggested that, if all other things had been equal and if European colonialism hadn't engulfed the West African coast, the Afro-Brazilians might have formed a cohesive state. That gave me the idea of bringing the Malê, who had both a strong sense of nationhood and a revolutionary ideology, to West Africa as an intact force and having them set up a state in the interior where they'd have more time to prepare for the Europeans. As it happened, they were a very good fit with Usman dan Fodio's reforms in Sokoto, and the idea spiraled from there.

Anyway, the Agudas, the Afro-Brazilians of Ouidah, and the other historical communities tended to be mercantile rather than political, and they didn't develop a distinct ideology (although individual Afro-Brazilians did become politically influential). The Malê were real revolutionaries, and that was why I thought they might have a chance to do more than the historical Afro-Brazilian communities did.

It probably isn't very likely that the events of this story would have happened - hell, getting the Malê to Ouidah as an army rather than individual deportees was a stretch in itself, and required a somewhat worse Brazilian time of troubles during the late 1830s - but much stranger and less probable things have happened IOTL, and the story has made an enjoyable thought experiment in many ways.

All that being said trying to separate emotion from such a topic like the trans Atlantic slave trade, imperialism and anti-colonial resistance is futile for many you know? The issues of today are grounded very much in the aforementioned struggles. I guess that is how I contextualize this story with my and my people's history.

I'm very aware that the subjects I'm writing about are living history for many people, which is why I've always tried to treat the material with respect and to research the cultures of which I don't have personal experience. I've been learning about Africa for a quarter of a century and I'm always amazed by how much more there is to learn.

If you hear from your Aguda friend, I'd be interested to know what she thinks - I've consulted with a number of African people (most of them Nigerian) about this timeline, but I don't know any West Africans with actual Afro-Brazilian heritage. I'll buy her a beer the next time I'm in Lagos.

 

[Upvoteanthology]

As requested by the writer himself, I've made a quite detailed map of the Union of Nigeria. Here's a thumbnail, you can see the full version by clicking on the thumbnail itself: