Hope this is the right sub and please guide me forth if there's a post about this.
I was watching the first episode of the remake of 'Roots' last night, and was wondering about some historical facts about the conditions around Kunta Kinte's tribe, the Mandinkas, in Gambia at the time (i think the series is set to early 1800s?)
From what I've understood horses originally come from the flatlands of Asia, and while doing a class called "global history" in university I learned about Jared Diamonds theories about why some states are succesful and others are not, and I've had a particular interest in pre-colonized Africa and the civilizations that grew out of there, especially the precursors of Ethiopia. So west africa is kind of a blind spot and I never really understood how succesful the kingdoms there were, how connected they were to each other and the states north of Sahara.
I've always thought of the west african people of being wide spread and not very connected with anyone, so I was wondering how they got to have horses in Kunta Kinte's tribe. The father of Kunta Kinte talks about horses as if they've had them for generations, that their line of heritage is from the "great herds of the Sahara" and "the stallions of the old kings of Mali".
While knowing Mali was a great kingdom, using Islam to connect it's people, I did not find it trustworthy that horses was such and important element of Mandinka culture.
So if the horses did not come from the europeans, how did they got to have horses? Was the relationships between african peoples and states stable enough to get horses so far west in south of Sahara?
And in the series, Kunta Kinte says he wants to study in Timbuktu: What are the chances that he would even have heard of Timbuktu?
Sorry if I'm being pessimistic about pre-colonized Africas abilities, I just thought these cultures were too dizorganized and widespread to have contact with each other, since they were so little succesful in developing sustainable states.
Tl;dr: Did they have horses in West Africa at the time Roots is set too, how did they get to have it; were they muslims there at the time; and would Kunta Kinte even have heard of the possibility of studying in Timbuktu?
Yes, there absolutely were horses in West Africa. Domesticated horses were brought across the Sahara desert from North Africa, and arrived in the West African savanna by 500 bc. I talked about how this is known, and give sources in this comment.
While knowing Mali was a great kingdom, using Islam to connect it's people, I did not find it trustworthy that horses was such and important element of Mandinka culture.
Cavalry forces were an important part of warfare in West Africa. Mali's ability to expand beyond the Mandinka homeland and build an expansive empire was enabled by an army with a powerful cavalry wing.
This was not unique to Mali, as many West African kingdoms like the Songhai^1 (who overthrew and replaced Mali), Oyo^2, Kanem-Bornu and the Sokoto sultanate all had cavalry units consisting of their kingdom's elites.
Let's turn our attention back to Mandinka people and their relationship with horses. In the Epic of Sundiata, an oral history of the founding of the Mali empire, contains many mentions of horses. Just before a climatic battle, Sundiata goes to parlay with his foe who is mounted on a horse. Later on, that same foe is undone when his horse could not jump a ravine and he is trapped at the bottom. After the battle, there is even mention of buying horses to replace those that died in the battle.
So, given those multiple references to horses in a surviving Mandinka legend, as well as the prominent role of cavalry in West African warfare, I think Roots' presentation is pretty accurate, from what you describe (I haven't seen the episode myself).
And in the series, Kunta Kinte says he wants to study in Timbuktu: What are the chances that he would even have heard of Timbuktu?
Hmm, this one is harder to answer. I know that the Moroccan invasion of 1590 did lead several prominent scholarly families to flee. However, there was still some scholarly activity going on in the mid 1600s, specifically Mahmud Kati writing a history of the city.
But, I don't know for sure what the stature of Timbuktu was in the late 1700s as a center of learning. Let me dig through some articles and see if I can't give you a more informed answer in a little bit.
1- For a good overview of West African cavarly warfare, John Thornton's Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800 is worthwhile. I know he specifically covers Songhai cavalry as it first interacted with Moroccan firearms at the battle of Tondbi.
2- Robin Law is the go-to scholar for Oyo history, and he has written extensively on the influence of access to cavalry on the Oyo empire-building project. His book The Oyo Empire, 1600-1836 is a good, comparatively recent (1991) treatment of the subject.
Edit- Looks like my links in Sunjata: A West African Epic don't bring you to the relevant passages. They are on pages 179, 185 and 187, respectively.