The Development of Kingdoms in Negro Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	The Development of Kingdoms in Negro Africa
Author:	Armstrong, Robert G.
Year:	1960
Periodical:	Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria
Volume:	2
Issue:	1
Period:	December
Pages:	27-39
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:	history traditional polities State History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:	Criticizes the 'Hamitic Hypothesis'. Discusses the origins of African states in the light of fundamental, new information that has become available. Describes the comparative method as another possible approach to the problem of the origins of the states of Negro Africa. Considers the structure of six African kingdoms: Ashanti, Dahomey, Nupe, Barotse, Lovedu, Shilluk. These kingdoms, except Shilluk, have a common 'Negro African' style, with: 1) a passion for legality and order, 2) a passion for indirection in social relationships, 3) the lineage basis of most political structures, 4) the ability to spin great political structures out of kinship and lineage systems, 5) a vivid and sophisticated imagination for constitutional arrangements. Different as these kingdoms are from each other, they have sprung from a common way of thinking. Bibl., ref.