Trypanosome resistant Horses

So basically the west African sahel & Savannah kingdoms like Mali, Oyo, Fulani & Kanem-Bornu had to keep importing horses from North Africa, especially the Savannah kingdoms that bordered heavily forested areas due to trypanosoma disease carried by the tse-tse fly which renders the regions south of the Sahara deadly for animal husbandry. A little web search, I came across one horse species the Kirdi pony (http://www.second-opinion-doc.com/kirdi-pony-africa-horse.html) that has resistance to the disease.
Ponies aren't necessarily the best horses for combat (though it appears that they were used for combat in W/Africa), but if we had a horse species more suitable for combat that developed early in W/Africa's history say in the era of the Nok Culture (1000BC - 300AD, so say 1 AD), or the Ghana (700 AD - 1200 AD)

how would this affect the consolidation of polities/political entities in the region?

Would we see larger political entities earlier?

Trade & information exchange? Would more extensive trade networks develop? Hugging the forests as opposed to the camel dominated Saharan trade routes? Say a trade route hugging the forest to Ethiopia for salt (Khemisset, Morocco is still the closest source of salt overall)?
Less need to exchange goods for horses with North African and Arab traders, what other good would we expect to see take up that demand in West Africa? Could we see earlier adoption of firearms & gunpowder?

Assuming this somehow spreads to other animals like pigs, could we see greater population sizes with new alternative protein sources?

Other readings I came across
https://www.historytoday.com/do-morgan/horse-west-african-history (not really expansive)
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/domestic-horses-of-africa/ (more expansive)
Danakil desert (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danakil_Desert?wprov=sfla1)
 

TruthfulPanda

Gone Fishin'
Well, you re-write half of African history :)
Nomad cultures in the Sahel, East and South Africa.
Probably more Arab exploration and/or conquest.
A totally different place.
 
So basically the west African sahel & Savannah kingdoms like Mali, Oyo, Fulani & Kanem-Bornu had to keep importing horses from North Africa, especially the Savannah kingdoms that bordered heavily forested areas due to trypanosoma disease carried by the tse-tse fly which renders the regions south of the Sahara deadly for animal husbandry. A little web search, I came across one horse species the Kirdi pony (http://www.second-opinion-doc.com/kirdi-pony-africa-horse.html) that has resistance to the disease.
Ponies aren't necessarily the best horses for combat (though it appears that they were used for combat in W/Africa), but if we had a horse species more suitable for combat that developed early in W/Africa's history say in the era of the Nok Culture (1000BC - 300AD, so say 1 AD), or the Ghana (700 AD - 1200 AD)

how would this affect the consolidation of polities/political entities in the region?

Would we see larger political entities earlier?

Trade & information exchange? Would more extensive trade networks develop? Hugging the forests as opposed to the camel dominated Saharan trade routes? Say a trade route hugging the forest to Ethiopia for salt (Khemisset, Morocco is still the closest source of salt overall)?
Less need to exchange goods for horses with North African and Arab traders, what other good would we expect to see take up that demand in West Africa? Could we see earlier adoption of firearms & gunpowder?

Assuming this somehow spreads to other animals like pigs, could we see greater population sizes with new alternative protein sources?

Other readings I came across
https://www.historytoday.com/do-morgan/horse-west-african-history (not really expansive)
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/domestic-horses-of-africa/ (more expansive)
Danakil desert (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danakil_Desert?wprov=sfla1)

Political consolidation would begin earlier and would have a tighter grip on Sub-Saharan Africa. Save for the tsetse fly, much of Africa is perfect horse country with its open savannas so I can see a large nomad culture springing up in places with marginal soils and water that would raid more prosperous locations and river valleys. If Africans can get the horses to pull a plow and carts, that's huge in terms of agriculture and trade as a greater quantities of goods can be moved from place to place faster and with much greater ease. Africa's eternally suffered from a lack of people and the uncertainty of food supplies, so using the horse as a beast of burden would be very helpful to these communities and would give them a little more existential wiggle room to innovate. As you said, it's true that without the need to stay away from the forests, we could certainly see more large scale trade in the coastal forests.

Unless it's some sort of contagious bacteria that causes sleeping sickness resistance, I don't know why or how it would spread to other animals.

The sooner you get a sleeping sickness immune horse, the larger the effects will be, possibly butterflying much of history away. Is Africa more or less susceptible to foreign invasions with a horse breed? On the one hand, Africans have traditionally not had cavalry and so to have it would be very beneficial for military matters, but on the other hand, if invaders also use the horse breeds, they might be able to penetrate far farther into Sub-Saharan Africa.
 
No cow or horse was resistant, they were tolerant. In the central African forests on the pygmt goat remained and they even struggled to a great degree.

I don't think this could move beyond ASB because you'd have to change the biology of animals to make this ATL viable.

People forget horses were a major trade good in Trans-Saharan trade and we're valued far more than local landraces of ponies and horse for good reason.
 
It might be theoretically possible to cross horses and zebras and develop either a resistant horse or a tamable zebra.

Most of these hybrids are infertile, but some females aren't, so it's possible.

Easiest way would be to make a habit of breeding horses, like otl we use mules, and then have one of the rare fertile female breed with a stallion. Say.
 
No cow or horse was resistant, they were tolerant. In the central African forests on the pygmt goat remained and they even struggled to a great degree.

I don't think this could move beyond ASB because you'd have to change the biology of animals to make this ATL viable.

People forget horses were a major trade good in Trans-Saharan trade and we're valued far more than local landraces of ponies and horse for good reason.

Theoretically, a mutation could occur in a few lucky horses that make them tolerant to sleeping sickness, and as that kind of thing happens every now and then, I don't think that would qualify as an ASB.

Though the question becomes how much did west Africans try to breed horses? The diversity of cattle breeds with their diverse coats and horn shapes points to the husbandry skills of Sub-Saharan Africans, but the impression I get is that horses were much more used as status symbols and "show" animals so idk how much pressure there was on Africans to try and get an at least stable equatorial breed going in the same way they did for cows.
 
It might be theoretically possible to cross horses and zebras and develop either a resistant horse or a tamable zebra.

Most of these hybrids are infertile, but some females aren't, so it's possible.

Easiest way would be to make a habit of breeding horses, like otl we use mules, and then have one of the rare fertile female breed with a stallion. Say.

This would be a fascinating TL. If I didn't already have one of my own, I'd think about making it.

Let's say that the breeding attempts begin around 400 BC with the advent of widespread trade with the Mediterranean (including that of horses), and begin to produce successes a few generations thereafter: sometime around 250 BC. This is coincidentally just around the earliest dates for the construction of the Senegambian stone circles and the beginnings of the Yoruba city-state of Ile-Ife in modern-day Nigeria. Also, the Nok culture would still be around in the latter half of their period--essentially at their height. Thus, the effects really depend on where these breeds are developed. If the early Yoruba, especially at Ife, are the breeders, then I'd argue we see a rapid expansion of Yoruba military might for a brief period and a period of decline for the Nok as a result. The Yoruba likely become the strongest culture in the area until horses really begin to disseminate, at which point they'll likely be under pressure from nomadic groups and the like.
 
Theoretically, a mutation could occur in a few lucky horses that make them tolerant to sleeping sickness, and as that kind of thing happens every now and then, I don't think that would qualify as an ASB.

Though the question becomes how much did west Africans try to breed horses? The diversity of cattle breeds with their diverse coats and horn shapes points to the husbandry skills of Sub-Saharan Africans, but the impression I get is that horses were much more used as status symbols and "show" animals so idk how much pressure there was on Africans to try and get an at least stable equatorial breed going in the same way they did for cows.

I'd disagree with the assertion that they were "show" horses. For example,

'By the time Captain Hugh Clapperton visited Oyo-Ile in 1825 during the reign of Alaafin Majotu, the empire was already in a state of decline. Clapperton's party recorded passing numerous Oyo villages burned by the Fulani (Ilorin) while Majotu had also sought the help of the English king and the Oba of Benin in putting down the Ilorin rebellion. Clapperton also noticed a shortage of horses, even though the Oyo were renowned as a great cavalry force; this might have something to do with the fact that most of the empire's soldiers and hence cavalry were stationed at Ilorin under the command of Afonja and later on Alimi's successors.' Source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyo_Empire). For context Afonja - military commander would eventually take advantage of the political crisis in Oyo to declare independence and make himself ruler of the region (he was eventually betrayed).

This illustrates how key horses were it's military structure, such that the bulk of their forces and where the forces were based were in Ilorin and once devoid of the horses for their cavalry were able to fall victim to outside forces. Ilorin prior to the political intrigues that induced Oyo's decline would've been the major northernmost city under Oyo's control bordering the Borgu (to the west), Fulani Caliphate (to the north) and Nupe/Tapa (to the east). It's in the Savannah belt and still within the tse-tse fly's range, but it appears the specific sub-specific that inhabit this range are the least of the three sub-species (4 in the savannah species v 12 in the forest type & 9 in the riverine group), so it'd make sense that they'd keep their horses in the area under their control with probably the least amount of pathogens that'd kill (or rather spread the disease the kills) their horses. ( I do acknowledge that the # of a sub-species may not be the best way to estimate the population of the tse-tse fly)

The horses are for show now, especially during traditional festivals but were quite key to the authority and military power of the certain powers.

It could be possible that attempts to cross breed the tolerant ponies with the imported breeds, question is were the successful? I haven't had time to do a deep search but I thought I'd put the idea out there.
 
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