It is past time for the world to be reminded of the rich history of mathematics in Africa, which has been written out of history books
Susu is the term used in Trinidad and Ghana to refer to it. Tontines are the traditional dance form in Senegal and Benin. Esusu is the term used in Nigeria, where it first appeared in the 1700s. Whatever you want to call it, this system of large-scale money pooling for the benefit of all participants demonstrates that Africa has never had a problem with math.
Generally speaking, when we study the history of mathematics, we are taught about the accomplishments of the Greek, Hindu, Chinese, and Arabic civilizations. If there is anything we can learn about African mathematics from Egypt, it is almost entirely about Egypt. It is possible that the world’s museums can help bring Sub-Saharan Africa’s rich mathematical history back to life, but it is unlikely that this will happen.
A large part of the history of mathematics has been written out of Sub-Saharan Africa because many of its traditions were passed down by word of mouth and then lost as a result of disruptive events such as the slave trade. It also suited Europeans to propagate the notion that the peoples whom they had captured and enslaved lacked any discernible intelligence in any meaningful sense. Complex mathematics was always at the heart of the activities of African civilizations, just as it has always been at the heart of the activities of civilizations in other parts of the world, according to the records we have – some written, some bound up in historical artifacts that provide a glimpse into everyday life.
People who came into contact with slaves and slavers provided some of the evidence. Slave-trading ship captains from Europe, for example, were awestruck by the mathematical abilities of the African traders they encountered. sailors who negotiated with African slave dealers described them as “sharp arithmeticians” who were able to convert currencies and exchange rates in their heads quickly and accurately in their heads. Suppose a broker has ten slaves to sell, and he demands ten different articles for each of them, according to one account. He reduces them immediately by the head into bars, coppers, and ounces, according to the medium of exchange that is in use in the part of the country where he resides, and immediately strikes the balance.”
When we look at the number system used in the Yoruba language, which is spoken in what is now Nigeria, we shouldn’t be surprised by this. The phrase “take five and ten from three twenties” translates as “take five and ten from three twenties.” It may appear to be time-consuming, but it is a sign of a culture that is comfortable with subtraction and multiplication. Esusu was also practiced by the Yoruba. It appears that dealing with complicated accounts, loans, credits, and debits was just part of everyday life in pre-colonial Nigeria, based on the records of complex financial systems in the country – banks and mutual societies, effectively – These were not individuals who were apprehensive about mathematical concepts.
In addition to making it all the more impressive, the fact that the instructions for these systems of calculation were passed down by word of mouth meant that they were completely eradicated as a result of the slave trade. For example, we know that at least one brilliant African arithmetic genius ended up enslaved in the United States of America. After being kidnapped and taken away from Africa when he was 14 years old, he was given the English name Thomas Fuller. However, because of his extraordinary arithmetical abilities, he was also referred to as the Virginia Calculator by his peers. It is impossible to estimate how many more great mathematical minds were stolen away to Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas, leaving their skills and tutelage in the hands of those who remained in the United States.
Moreover, it is impossible to quantify the extent to which these losses harmed the reputation of African mathematics and contributed to nineteenth- and twentieth-century perceptions of Africans as intellectually inferior to their European counterparts. We are, however, gradually regaining a more balanced perspective.
For example, a French researcher recently discovered that the Akan people, who lived in the region that is now known as Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, developed their own number system rather than borrowing from Arab and Persian systems, as had previously been assumed. When Jean-Jacques Crappier examined the Akan gold-weights that were used to weigh gold powder – the dominant currency of what is now Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire – during trade with the Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch, and English from the 15th to the late 19th centuries, he discovered evidence of the existence of a gold-weight weighing gold powder.
The study, which was published last year, was carried out by a group of collectors and mathematicians assembled by Crappier. They collaborated to determine the masses of as many gold-weights as they could get their hands on, and then some. It took the team nine months to compile a database of 9,301 weights from museums and private collections all over the world. It was clear from the distribution of their masses that the system was based on the weights of West African seeds rather than Arab measures, and that they were used in sophisticated ways to convert between the various currencies of the Akan’s trading partners’ currencies.
Not surprisingly, complex mathematics was developed and practiced in West Africa, which should come as no surprise. Many mathematicians worked at the Sankore University in Timbuktu, Mali, where they applied their knowledge in fields such as astronomy and accounting. During the 14th-century reign of Malian king Mansa Musa, who was at the time the richest man on the planet, the university rose to international prominence. With the help of his vast gold reserves, Mansa Musa was able to attract the best scholars, establish libraries, and educate hundreds of thousands of students in a short period of time.
In some of the games that are still played across the continent, we can see the legacy of centuries of African mathematics at work. It’s called Ayo, Mankala, or Lela in different parts of the world. Although it appears to western eyes to be similar to backgammon, the game requires the use of lightning-fast arithmetic skills that have long daunted inexperienced spectators.
There is almost certainly much more information that needs to be revealed. As a result of his team’s discovery of the Akan gold-weights, Crappier is now looking to collaborate with African scholars in order to delve deeper into the implications of their discovery. According to him, there are numerous unanswered questions, such as how the Akan people developed their sophisticated trading system. What methods did they use to manufacture the necessary weights and balances, and how sensitive and accurate were they in their performance? It is certain that the answers to these and other questions, which may still be found scattered throughout the world’s museum collections, will aid us in rediscovering the impressive but long-forgotten truth about African mathematical innovation.
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