Kings and Empires
Mansa Kankan Musa, richest man that ever lived, once took over 60000 servants on his pilgrimage to Mecca, with a sizable chunk of gold that he shared to beggars on his way, as a fulfillment of one of the 5 pillars of Islam: almsgiving. Mansa Musa only became ruler of the biggest Empire of Western Sudan after the legitimate ruler went out to discover the seas and didn’t come back. If they told Mansa that his strong 14th century empire would one day be colonized by white skin humans, he would’ve laughed at the audacity of such thought. Whereas, in the late 1800s, all of the Empires of the Western Sudan were colonized. One of the things that ensued from this colonization was new rules and new laws. But the standard remained — a king, servants and laws.
In 1848, the French Royal Guards, sent to quell the revolters joined them on hearing their chants of liberty, equality and fraternity. They were under the orders or Louis Phillippe, the last but one French monarch. This same France saw the decapitation of their last monarch, Louis VI at the guillotine. Same France that has been invaded, fallen and has had more than 4 republics. But everytime France fell, it rose and one question was asked — who will lead us? In the last collapse during the Second World War, it was General De Gaulle’s duty to lead the new French republic. For every “king” that was gone, a new one emerged or was appointed.
Over history, it can be observed that 3 of the greatest colonizers were the Romans, the Mongolians and the British. These people and their leaders set out to conquer(control?) new territories and even did so very well for a long period of time. In every society past or present, there has been some sort of king or monarch. Some called him emir or sultan, others called him king, and others called him emperor, all in ancient times. Today’s leaders have taken less authoritarian names like chancellor, president, premier. But is there any difference between the leaders of the past and those of today The labels might have changed, but the functions and powers still remain. The body cannot function without the head and that is why everytime the head is cut off, the body finds away to replace the old head with a new one.
It has been historically proven that humans can’t live without some sort of leadership. During the years leading to the German annexation of Cameroon, Duala Chiefs wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth, begging her to annex Cameroon… The famous letter has been often referred to as the “Dearest madam” This might look like an isolated case but all over space and time, people have built societies and chosen a leader. They have all felt the need to have a “king” Even when the king misbehaved, they’d dethrone him, kill or exile him and still find a new king.
From the oldest civilizations to the most modern and recent ones, everything has been put in place to have a king and subjects. The times have changed and the names have changed, but the practice remains. We need kings and we love being subjects.
