Writing in medieval West Africa

It's damn hard to find any reliable information online about pre-colonial writing systems in West Africa. And I don't have any books on the subject. But here's what I've been able to find so far. As has been brought up in other threads, the "true" writing systems of West Africa all date to the 19th and 20th centuries. Here's a list with the dates of origin:

A. Liberia and Sierra Leone: a. The Vai syllabary - 212 characters 1883 b. The Mende syllabary - 195 characters 1921 c. The Loma syllabary - 185 characters 1930 d. The Kpelle syllabary - 88 characters 1930 e. The Bassa 'Vah' alphabet - 30 characters, 5 diacritics 1920 f. The Gola alphabet - 30 characters 1930 B. Guinea, Senegal and Mali, a. The Mandingo alphabet - 25 characters, 8 diacritics 1950 b. Bambara "Ma-sa-ba" script 1930 c. The Wolof alphabet - 25 characters, 7 diacritics 1960 d. The Fula (Dita) alphabet - 39 characters 1958 e. The Fula (Ba) alphabet f. The Gerze script C. Cote d'Ivoire a. The Bete syllabary - 401 characters 1956 b. The Guro script D. Cameroon and Nigeria a. The Bamum syllabary - 80 characters 1895 b. The Bagam or Eghap syllabary - 100 plus characters 1917 c. The Ibibio-Efik alphabet - 34 characters 1930 d. The Yoruba holy alphabet e. Nsibidi f. A syllabary found among the Djuka of Suriname

source

But writing in some form predates the arrival of either the Latin alphabet or the Arabic. The Nsibidi symbols go back at least as far as the fifth century AD. Here's an article on Nsibidi ceramics. These early symbols weren't "writing" in the traditional sense. As near as I can tell each symbol or pictograph has a fluid meaning and is not a direct record of speech. But still, symbols can be strung together to send a message in visual form, even if this message is not a "sentence" per se. If nothing else you could call this a precursor to full writing systems. It certainly didn't take West Africans long to combine their own symbols with European ideas to develop alphabets as soon as the idea was presented to them. I think it's fair to say that Nsibidi or the Akan symbols are as much a writing system as Aztec writing or Incan. Maybe more so.

In fact, some of these symbols were brought to the Americas by slaves, who then used them to sew messages into quilts that their white masters didn't even recognize as writing. Some of these symbols are still in use today.

Those are Asante symbols. Look, I'm even using primary sources. I took that photo myself. :-P

All this stuff about the Harappan script or Mayan writing being African in origin is bunk as far as I'm concerned. Real African history is much more interesting.

That's all I've been able to find on the subject though. Surely someone else has more information to share? I'd love to know more.




Edited by jdalton - 23-Aug-2007 at 04:19

If you scroll down, this link has some examples of post-colonial alphabets. I haven't been able to find any comprehensive lists of the symbol writing systems.

EDIT: Though this site has a few examples of Akan / Asante symbols and their meaning.

EDIT AGAIN: On that last site you have to click on the black and white symbol on the right hand side to get the list of symbols with definitions.


Edited by jdalton - 23-Aug-2007 at 04:32

Originally posted by jdalton It's damn hard to find any reliable information online about pre-colonial writing systems in West Africa. ... But writing in some form predates the arrival of either the Latin alphabet or the Arabic. The Nsibidi symbols go back at least as far as the fifth century AD. Here's an article on Nsibidi ceramics. These early symbols weren't "writing" in the traditional sense. As near as I can tell each symbol or pictograph has a fluid meaning and is not a direct record of speech. But still, symbols can be strung together to send a message in visual form, even if this message is not a "sentence" per se. If nothing else you could call this a precursor to full writing systems. It certainly didn't take West Africans long to combine their own symbols with European ideas to develop alphabets as soon as the idea was presented to them. I think it's fair to say that Nsibidi or the Akan symbols are as much a writing system as Aztec writing or Incan. Maybe more so. ....

Pinguin- True enough that opening up the term "writing" to semi-written systems and symbols allows all sorts of other cultures into the mix, and you're welcome to use whatever definition of writing you like, but...

Can Aztec writing be considered such by your strict definition? The Mayans had not only logographic symbols but also strictly phonetic ones. They were able to write anything from historical accounts to accounting information to astronomy textbooks to epic novels. But I've only ever seen the Aztecs use symbols for names and dates. Where are the Aztec epics I've been missing?

This is very interesting. Although it should not be overly amazing to me that some form of visual communication must have been established in Africa... Even if it is a rudimentary form of communication, it is still amazing how peoples found ways to convey messages to one another without speaking or even seeing each other. Can you find us some more?

Originally posted by Aelfgifu Can you find us some more?

I wish I could, but this is not my field and the only resource I have at my disposal is Google. If I ever get my hands on a book on the subject, believe me, this forum will be the first to know.

I'm still hoping someone will come along who knows more about African writing than I do and share their knowledge.

Cool. Now I just have to figure out where I can find any of these books living in frikkin' Abbotsford. But I'll look.