The Juula and the Akan

First post here, because I've noticed a general lack of African timelines :p

The Muslim trading caste known as the Juula or Dyula emerged from the traders of the western Sahel, perhaps from the Wangara networks of the Soninke, and were, from the very beginning, involved in the gold trade. The spread of the Juula to the south to what we call the forest zone of West Africa - the non-Islamic part without cavalry - also coincided with the development of new gold mines (the Juula were also involved in kola nut trade, but that's secondary to the much more coveted gold). Following the gold, the Juula expanded their commercial clout down the Volta.

Probably in the early fifteenth century the Juula became involved in a fabulously lucrative trading relationship with the Akan people of modern Ghana (the Akan people would later found the Asante Empire). The Akan produced the gold, and the Juula network bought it and sold produce from the northern world. The gold was sold in the Sahel, and Akan gold thus entered the wider world. As the Juula settled among the southern kuffar - unbelievers - they often adopted secondary identities. You might be a Bobo-Juula if you lived among the Bobo, or a Senufo-Juula if you lived among the Senufo.

It should be said that not all Juula were traders. There were Juula scholars or Juula farmers, and Juula weavers were and are common. Then there were people who were not actually Juula but a lot like the Juula (if that makes sense) - the tun tigi who were generally descendants of warriors who spread south after the decline of the Mali Empire and sometimes helped found Juula chiefdoms.

For most of their existence among the Akan, the Juula traders were followers of the Suwarian school of Islam founded by the Soninke scholar Al-Hajj Salim Suwari, who lived around 1500. The Suwarian position on the kuffar is that God's design for the world is that some people remain pagans for longer than others, meaning to actively proselytize or to force pagans to convert is defying the will of God. (it might sound un-Islamic, but Suwarianism doesn't actually conflict with Maliki orthodoxy).

Suwarianism was a very convenient ideology for Juula traders. As early as Mansa Musa's rule, it was noted that attempts to Islamize the gold miners under the rule of Mali itself led to a drastic decline in gold production. The Juula network was very influential, but they were still just traders and had far less power over the Akan then Mansa Musa had over his miners. If Mansa Musa himself was unable to quickly Islamize the miners without compromising his economy, I don't see why proselytizing Juula traders would have any quick success with the Akan while simultaneously maintaining the trade.

However, there actually were Islamic conversions in the Volga region. Manwura, the king of Gonja, converted around 1600; legend goes that in a battle Gonja was nearly defeated, but then an imam walked towards the enemy and planted his staff on the ground, causing Manwura to win the battle and become a devoted Muslim. Even the Asante court had some Muslims - the British mention "Moorish necromancers" as the Asante king's advisers in the 1870s, and the Asante kings kept in correspondence with the imams of Gonja. But conversions were gradual and the Akan today are majority Christian thanks to the British Empire. The Juula do still exist - actually Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana Muslim Council's declaration in 1860 is incredibly Suwarian. But understandably they are no longer what they were i the past.

A fantastic and comprehensive source for Dyula/Juula history is Nehemia Levtzion's History of Islam in Africa. Chapter 4 "The Juula and the Expansion of Islam into the Forest" discusses the Juula, their history and their theology, in depth.

This was all OTL.




But how can we change this and make the Juula successfully Islamize the majority of the Akan, while also maintaining the Juula gold trade? I would think the POD has to be before the Asante Empire, because the Golden Stool beliefs were far too deeply ingrained into the legitimacy of the Asante. Earlier the POD, the more changes, so the better.

Thoughts? I initially thought it would be easy to have a Muslim Ghana and that the consequences in West Africa would be fun to draw up, but the more I look into the Akan and the Juula it seems more and more likely that if the Juula decide to actively proselytize they would eventually just get kicked out by angry Akan. After all, there's a reason Suwarian tolerance became so popular among them.
 
A fantastic and comprehensive source for Dyula/Juula history is Nehemia Levtzion's History of Islam in Africa. Chapter 4 "The Juula and the Expansion of Islam into the Forest" discusses the Juula, their history and their theology, in depth.

I need this book.

Anyway, you've already suggested one possible POD - an <i>in hoc signo vinces</i> conversion of an Akan king similar to what happened in Gonja. This would be a top-down conversion with a lot of surviving folk belief and syncretism at the peasant and townsman level, but if the king and his court become Muslim, then Islam could hardly avoid getting a foothold, more or less the way it happened in Indonesia.

Another possibility is for the Juula, or a subcaste of them, to become teachers rather than (or as well as) traders, which would raise the possibility of a bottom-up conversion, especially if it happens at a time when Akan politics are in transition.

BTW, welcome to ah.com, and there are a good few African timelines here if you look for them.
 

Deleted member 67076

Welcome to the Site!

Unfortunately I don't know much about Africa, but as an idea to meet this challenge, perhaps one can look at a parallel with regards to Islamization via trade in Indonesia?
 
I need this book.

Anyway, you've already suggested one possible POD - an in hoc signo vinces conversion of an Akan king similar to what happened in Gonja. This would be a top-down conversion with a lot of surviving folk belief and syncretism at the peasant and townsman level, but if the king and his court become Muslim, then Islam could hardly avoid getting a foothold, more or less the way it happened in Indonesia.

Thanks for the suggestion.

An interesting POD would be if Okomfo Anokye, the priest who co-founded Asante, was a Muslim (a Juula, or a convert) and used Islam instead of the Golden Stool to legitimize the rule of Osei Tutu I and his descendants. If Asante expands as in OTL, Islam will spread top-down to the general Akan population. But can Asante conquer as in OTL with Islam as its ideology instead of a derivation on traditional Akan religion? I'm not completely sure about that.

If we assume Islamic Asante is indeed capable of conquering as in OTL, they will almost definitely have writing - Arabic, and maybe an ajami form of Akan. After all, the Juula could and did write. Asante bureaucracy and centralization was probably among the most advanced in West Africa. The Great Roads prove it:
One of the important factors that allowed Asante to emerge eventually as the major power on the Gold Coast in the last half of the eighteenth century was the construction of the Great Roads, which altered the dynamics of forest warfare in their favour. Although the roads were mostly appreciated by Europeans because of their commercial implications, their military uses were also critical. These roads, which were publicly maintained, and connected capitals and other strategic points to each other, were considerably broader than the smaller paths, allowed the more rapid passage of armies, and deprived leaders like Ntsiful of the opportunity to use the forests to their advantage. Rømer, writing about experience before 1750, bewailed the lack of modern roads that forced traders to move precariously along the banks of streams where the forest was naturally clear. Travellers in the early nineteenth century, by contrast, praised the Asante road network, which they viewed as modern, just as Rømer regarded the previous channels as archaic. There was considerable opposition to the opening of these roads in the forested south, and it was seen as a direct manifestation of Asante power. Its completion represented the completion of the Asante empire.
From Warfare in Atlantic Africa: 1500-1800 by John Thorton, also a very good book. With writing, how more developed can Islamic Asante bureaucratic power and centralization get before the British eventually terminate the empire?

Another question is the influence of an Islamic Asante into the Sahel. The Songhay Empire declined because the Europeans began to divert the trade south, weakening Songhay's middlemen position. Will the Muslim Akan be willing to resume greater trade with their coreligionists to the north, or will they continue to sell more to the richer unbelievers?

How more will Islam spread? In 1764 an Asante army was defeated by the Oyo Empire of the Yoruba, which would ascertain the border between the two powers. But as Oyo begins to collapse in the early 19th century, might the unrest cause at least a partial Islamization of the Yoruba? (or not, because Dahomey is in the way)

How does an Islamic Ghana (and maybe Benin) and a more Islamic Nigeria affect British policy, and after their eventual independence, jihadist movements in Africa?

God there are so many possibilities.
 
For one thing, black soldiers that the Dutch would later send to Indonesia would blend into locality much more readily then was the case IOTL. Their descendants will probably become decently respectable social class. At least on part of Indonesians, they'll might develop more interest in distant Africans.
 
Thanks for the suggestion.

An interesting POD would be if Okomfo Anokye, the priest who co-founded Asante, was a Muslim (a Juula, or a convert) and used Islam instead of the Golden Stool to legitimize the rule of Osei Tutu I and his descendants. If Asante expands as in OTL, Islam will spread top-down to the general Akan population. But can Asante conquer as in OTL with Islam as its ideology instead of a derivation on traditional Akan religion? I'm not completely sure about that.

If we assume Islamic Asante is indeed capable of conquering as in OTL, they will almost definitely have writing - Arabic, and maybe an ajami form of Akan. After all, the Juula could and did write. Asante bureaucracy and centralization was probably among the most advanced in West Africa. The Great Roads prove it:

From Warfare in Atlantic Africa: 1500-1800 by John Thorton, also a very good book. With writing, how more developed can Islamic Asante bureaucratic power and centralization get before the British eventually terminate the empire?

Another question is the influence of an Islamic Asante into the Sahel. The Songhay Empire declined because the Europeans began to divert the trade south, weakening Songhay's middlemen position. Will the Muslim Akan be willing to resume greater trade with their coreligionists to the north, or will they continue to sell more to the richer unbelievers?

How more will Islam spread? In 1764 an Asante army was defeated by the Oyo Empire of the Yoruba, which would ascertain the border between the two powers. But as Oyo begins to collapse in the early 19th century, might the unrest cause at least a partial Islamization of the Yoruba? (or not, because Dahomey is in the way)

How does an Islamic Ghana (and maybe Benin) and a more Islamic Nigeria affect British policy, and after their eventual independence, jihadist movements in Africa?

God there are so many possibilities.

I need to read this book. In fact I need to read many more books about African history. I really like the idea of an Islamic Akan state though yes the POD would have to be before the Golden Stool. Maybe the Allah is credited with giving the Golden Stool to the first Asantehene?
 
An interesting POD would be if Okomfo Anokye, the priest who co-founded Asante, was a Muslim (a Juula, or a convert) and used Islam instead of the Golden Stool to legitimize the rule of Osei Tutu I and his descendants. If Asante expands as in OTL, Islam will spread top-down to the general Akan population. But can Asante conquer as in OTL with Islam as its ideology instead of a derivation on traditional Akan religion? I'm not completely sure about that.

It doesn't have to be an either-or proposition - if Okomfo Anokye is Muslim, he might reinterpret the Golden Stool in Islamic terms. African Islam before the 19th-century Fulani jihads incorporated a lot of folk belief, and this would probably be true of even elite Juula-Asante Muslims in the 17th century. And it's not as if the other West African Islamic empires didn't have royal symbols.

With writing, how more developed can Islamic Asante bureaucratic power and centralization get before the British eventually terminate the empire?

Quite a bit. For that matter, if the Asante empire establishes regional madrassas like Mali did and recruits bureaucrats from there, it could develop a madarinate, which would be another reason for commoners to seek Islamic education.

British conquest isn't foreordained, BTW; with the change occurring in the 16th and 17th centuries, you could end up with a different colonial policy altogether - the Asante might be vassalized on the Kongo model rather than conquered, or Europeans might content themselves with holdings along the coast. The ripple effect from a subtle change in West African history would be slow, but by the late 19th century, European political dynamics might be very different.

Another question is the influence of an Islamic Asante into the Sahel. The Songhay Empire declined because the Europeans began to divert the trade south, weakening Songhay's middlemen position. Will the Muslim Akan be willing to resume greater trade with their coreligionists to the north, or will they continue to sell more to the richer unbelievers?

I'd guess that, like merchants everywhere, they'll go where the money is easiest, which would mean cutting out the middlemen. A strongly centralized Asante empire might expand into the Sahel, though: Songhai or its successors could become their vassals.

The real question is the Fulani - will they still come to see themselves as a chosen people, and will they still develop a strict reformist theology leading to jihads against the relatively lax forms of Islam practiced by other West African peoples? If so, then trouble could certainly come from the Sahel in the 19th century or even earlier.

How more will Islam spread? In 1764 an Asante army was defeated by the Oyo Empire of the Yoruba, which would ascertain the border between the two powers. But as Oyo begins to collapse in the early 19th century, might the unrest cause at least a partial Islamization of the Yoruba? (or not, because Dahomey is in the way)

Some of the Yoruba were Islamized IOTL, although that happened later when the Sokoto Caliphate conquered Ilorin. Most of the Yoruba people I know have Muslim cousins (although they come from elite families with branches all over the country and this may not be as common with those who are non-elite and geographically concentrated). So Islamization of the Yoruba city-states is possible, whether via conquest or through the spread of trade and literacy as in Indonesia. Dahomey is in the way, yes, but a stronger and more closely-knit Asante empire might conquer it, or it might become tributary to the Asante rather than Oyo during the 18th century.

One question is whether, if the Asante empire develops a literate Muslim bureaucracy and a centralized state, Oyo would follow. IOTL, Oyo was very decentralized and also resistant to outside practices, which is part of the reason why it fell, but if there is an internal Muslim constituency that sees bureaucratic reform as both necessary to resist the Asante and favorable to its own interests, change could happen. And if there's a centralized Yoruba empire, what happens in Benin and the Niger Delta kingdoms?
 
It doesn't have to be an either-or proposition - if Okomfo Anokye is Muslim, he might reinterpret the Golden Stool in Islamic terms. African Islam before the 19th-century Fulani jihads incorporated a lot of folk belief, and this would probably be true of even elite Juula-Asante Muslims in the 17th century. And it's not as if the other West African Islamic empires didn't have royal symbols.

You're absolutely right about it not being an either-or proposition, but I would also think that the Golden Stool as we know it in OTL is incompatible with orthodox, even Suwarian, Islam. I think the Stool would be more like an idol to a Muslim, really; the Golden Stool embodies the collective soul of the nation, and it is considered the source of the Asante people's virility and strength. The Asantehene purifies the Golden Stool in the Odwira and Adae festivals, and he actually prays to it (quote from Indigenous Conflict Management Strategies in West Africa: Beyond Right and Wrong):
Stool of Kings, I sprinkle upon you, may your power return sharp and fierce [...] May the nation prosper, may the women bear children, may the hunters kill game. We who dig for gold, let us get gold, let us get gold to dig, and grant that I get some for the upkeep of my kingship.
Stools (in general, not the Golden Stool) were very important to Akan culture pre-Asante as a symbol of authority so I think it's very likely that a Muslim Asante would have a majestic stool underlining the might of the Asantehene. But in the end I think a Muslim Golden Stool would just be a symbolic stool without nearly the same amount of veneration or power that our Golden Stool had and has. (all this is assuming that the Golden Stool didn't actually descend from the heavens)

British conquest isn't foreordained, BTW; with the change occurring in the 16th and 17th centuries, you could end up with a different colonial policy altogether - the Asante might be vassalized on the Kongo model rather than conquered, or Europeans might content themselves with holdings along the coast. The ripple effect from a subtle change in West African history would be slow, but by the late 19th century, European political dynamics might be very different.

Akan politics and their relation to European politics in the Gold Coast are far too exceedingly complex for me :p But on a more serious note, in the early 18th century a number of European powers left the Gold Coast, leaving the English, the Dutch and the Danes to get involved in Akan politics. As we all know, the English/British eventually prevailed among the three, which is why Ghana's official language is now English. But would this really change with Islamic Asante? I'm not sure how much religion was important to any of those three, and even an Islamic Asante would have little reason to needlessly provoke the Europeans.

Also, I would note that the Asante were indeed vassalized (made a British protectorate) rather than forced under direct British rule, and the kingdom arguably continues to exist in conjunction with the Republic of Ghana. After all, Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II was enstooled only a dozen years ago, while there hasn't been a Mwenekongo for more than a century. Unless you meant something else?


One question is whether, if the Asante empire develops a literate Muslim bureaucracy and a centralized state, Oyo would follow. IOTL, Oyo was very decentralized and also resistant to outside practices, which is part of the reason why it fell, but if there is an internal Muslim constituency that sees bureaucratic reform as both necessary to resist the Asante and favorable to its own interests, change could happen. And if there's a centralized Yoruba empire, what happens in Benin and the Niger Delta kingdoms?

Well, on the Dahomey: the Oyo defeated the Fon kingdom in a large campaign in 1728, and by 1747 Dahomey was finally forced to pay tribute to Oyo. Most of this was still when Asante was consolidating and growing in Akan territory. And I don't think Islamic Asante would expand and consolidate among the Akan fast enough to stop Dahomey's subjugation to the Yoruba, or even for Islam from the Akan to gain enough influence among the Yoruba, before Oyo declines for good.

Rather, in OTL, a probing Asante army entered Oyo sphere of hegemony and was promptly beaten off in 1764. A more centralized and powerful Islamic Asante might win this, prompting Asante to adventure more extensively in the east against Oyo. Dahomey as an Asante vassal? An earlier collapse of Oyo? All this has enormous repercussions.
 
You're absolutely right about it not being an either-or proposition, but I would also think that the Golden Stool as we know it in OTL is incompatible with orthodox, even Suwarian, Islam... I think a Muslim Golden Stool would just be a symbolic stool without nearly the same amount of veneration or power that our Golden Stool had and has.

You're right, of course - God would be the source, the stool merely the symbol. But on the other hand, it could be more than an ordinary royal stool, in that it could symbolize the connection between the ruler and God. Divine-right kingship is an uncomfortable fit in Islam, but the concept has appeared now and then, especially in peripheral areas like Malaya and Indonesia. I suspect the Asantehene would be a divine-right king, and that the stool might be a gift from God to him, although of course not an object of worship in itself.

Hmmm, a five-legged stool?

But on a more serious note, in the early 18th century a number of European powers left the Gold Coast, leaving the English, the Dutch and the Danes to get involved in Akan politics. As we all know, the English/British eventually prevailed among the three, which is why Ghana's official language is now English. But would this really change with Islamic Asante? I'm not sure how much religion was important to any of those three, and even an Islamic Asante would have little reason to needlessly provoke the Europeans.

It might make some difference - by European standards of the time, Islam was a semi-savage religion rather than a fully savage one, and the 18th-century British and Dutch might think of it as higher up the civilization scale (even if only slightly) than they did IOTL.

More to the point, though, this Asante Empire will be literate, more centralized and more developed, which means it will be richer. That might give the Dutch or even the Danes more incentive to stay on after the end of the slave trade - if there's profit to be made trading with the Asante, then they might want to keep their forts. Any number of outcomes are possible - British conquest as IOTL, Dutch or Danish colonization, the Asante playing the European powers off against each other, or even intervention of another power.

Also, I would note that the Asante were indeed vassalized (made a British protectorate) rather than forced under direct British rule, and the kingdom arguably continues to exist in conjunction with the Republic of Ghana. After all, Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II was enstooled only a dozen years ago, while there hasn't been a Mwenekongo for more than a century.

There are kings all over the former British Africa - it's a legacy of the British policy of indirect rule - but none of them have sovereignty over their kingdoms. I was thinking that a more developed Asante empire might be treated like one of the larger Indian princely states - i.e., with internal autonomy - and possibly come out the other end of the colonial era as a country in its own right rather than part of another.

But this would be centuries after the change, so nearly anything could happen.

Well, on the Dahomey: the Oyo defeated the Fon kingdom in a large campaign in 1728, and by 1747 Dahomey was finally forced to pay tribute to Oyo. Most of this was still when Asante was consolidating and growing in Akan territory. And I don't think Islamic Asante would expand and consolidate among the Akan fast enough to stop Dahomey's subjugation to the Yoruba, or even for Islam from the Akan to gain enough influence among the Yoruba, before Oyo declines for good.

Probably so, unless the spread of Islam causes the Asante empire to coalesce earlier. On the other hand, if the Asante win their initial battles with Oyo, this might be what triggers reform within the Oyo empire, especially if Islam is starting to spread to the Yoruba. Alternatively, as you say, a defeat could accelerate the collapse of Oyo into warring city-states.

BTW, if you're interested in African timelines, leopard9's In the Shade of the Baobabs is a good one, and, well, if you search my name, I've made a few efforts in that regard myself.
 
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