Post by @madmires

Franck Zanu claims Africa never had empires because African kingdoms supposedly never met the definition of an empire. But does his definition actually hold up? 🤔 According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, an empire is “a group of countries or states that are controlled by one leader or government.” Notice that the definition doesn’t require an empire to control territory on another continent. Take the Kushite Empire, whose rulers governed Egypt as the 25th Dynasty, and the Aksumite Empire, which extended its power into Meroitic territory in Sudan, as well as southern Arabia and conquered the kingdom of Himyar. African history tells a very different story. 📚👑 Both empires exercised power beyond their original heartlands, with their histories documented through archaeology, inscriptions and accounts from other civilisations. An empire doesn’t have to conquer another continent to qualify as one. And even if we apply Franck’s own criteria, African history provides more examples that challenge his claim such as the Almoravid Empire, Songhai empire and the Mali Empire. #Africanhistory #Africantiktok #historytok #empires #BlackTikTok