The African continent has a fascinating history of rulers or kings, especially the great Pharaohs of Egypt, such as Ramesses the Great. However, there were other great African kings outside the Egyptian land. The Northern part of Africa has a mysterious history that several people have undervalued, particularly its rulers’ history. According to historical accounts, these desert rulers did similar or greater things than most Egyptian Kings. Some of the Kings that we will discuss are King Jugurtha, King Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, King Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif, Hannibal Barca, King Piye, Thutmose the 3rd, the Moorish leader Al-Mansur and Pharaoh Ahmose the 1st.
King Jugurtha
King Jugurtha is also called King Jugurthen. King Jugurtha was a king or ruler of Numidia. When the Numidian King Micipsa, who adopted Jugurtha, lost his life in 118 BC, Jugurthen or Jugurtha and his two adoptive siblings (Adherbal and Hiempsal) succeeded him. King Jugurtha planned to have his soldiers kill Hiempsal, and after a civil war, he defeated and killed his adoptive brother Adherbal in 112 BC. The demise or death of Adherbal, which was against Rome’s wishes, and the growing anger in Rome at Jugurthen’s success in bribing Roman senators, resulted in the Jugurthine War between Numidia and Rome, which led to Jugurtha’s capture in 106 BC. The Roman soldiers threw Jugurtha into the Tullianum prison, where he died of starvation or strangulation in 104 BC. His son, Oxyntas, survived him.
Yusuf ibn Tashfin
Yusuf ibn Tashfin was a leader of the Berber Almoravid Kingdom or Empire. He co-founded the beautiful city of Marrakesh and led the Muslim forces in the great Battle of Sagrajas. Yusuf ibn Tashfin came to Al-Andalus from the African region to aid the Muslims combat or fight against Alfonso the 6th, eventually getting the victory and promoting an Islamic system in the area. The wife of Yusuf ibn Tashfin was called Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyah. According to reports, Yusuf ibn Tashfin trusted his wife politically.
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Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif
Moulay Ismail Sharif was born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22nd March 1727 at Meknes. Moulay was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727 as the 2nd ruler of the Alaouite Dynasty. He was the 7th son of Moulay Sharif and was the Fez Kingdom governor and the North of Morocco from 1667 until his half-brother’s demise (Sultan Moulay Rashid) in 1672. He became a Sultan at Fez but spent years in conflict with his nephew (Moulay Ahmed), who also claimed the throne. Moulay Ismail’s five decade-reign is the longest of any Moroccan Sultan. The rule of Moulay Ismail marked a high watermark for Moroccan power. Records explain Moulay’s military successes by establishing a powerful army, initially depending on the Guichs and the Black Guard.
As a result, the central power could be less reliant on the ethnic groups that rebelled. Moulay Ismail successfully campaigned against the Ottomans and their vassals and expelled the foreigners from the ports they had occupied (Asilah, Tangiers, Mehdya, and Larache). He took several Christian prisoners and almost took Ceuta.
Moulay Ismail controlled a fleet of corsairs based at Sale-le-Neuf and Sale-le-Vieux, which supplied him with foreign Christian slaves and weapons via their raids in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Ismail formed diplomatic relationships with European powers, notably the Empire of France, Spain, and Great Britain.
The Europeans or foreigners labeled Moulay Ismail as the bloody King because he exacted summary justice upon his Christian slaves and his cruelty. People in his local state also acknowledge him as the Warrior king. He undertook the establishment or construction of a grand palace complex at Meknes, monumental gates, gardens, over 40 km of walls, and several mosques, which came to existence with the aid of slave labor from Christian prisoners. He died of a sickness, and after his demise, his supporters became so mighty or powerful that they controlled the state, dethroning and enthroning the Sultan.
Hannibal Barca
Hannibal Barca was a Carthaginian statesman and general who commanded Carthage’s main forces against the Roman Empire during the 2nd Punic War. History considers him as one of the greatest and most powerful military commanders in the world. Hamilcar Barca, his father, was a leading Carthaginian commander during the 1st Punic War. His younger siblings were Hasdrubal and Mago, and he was brother-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair, who also controlled or commanded the Carthaginian armies.
King Piye
Piye was an ancient Kushite ruler or King and founder of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled the Egyptian land from 744 BC to 714 BC. King Piye ruled from the city of Napata, located in Nubia, present-day Sudan. King Piye was the son of Kashta and Pebatima. History records that Piye might have had four or three wives. Abar was the mother of his successor, King Taharqa. Other wives were Peksater and Tabiry. History also accounts that King Piye had many children.
Thutmose the 3rd
Thutmose the 3rd was the 6th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. Thutmose the 3rd ruled Egypt for more than 50 years, and history dates his reign from 28th April, 1479BC to 11th March 1425 BC from 2 years until his death at 56. During the 1st 22 years of his rule or reign, he was coregent with his stepmother and aunt (Hatshepsut), who became the Pharaoh. Thutmose the 3rd served as the head of Hatshepsut’s armies. During the last two years of his rule, he appointed his son and successor (Amenhotep the 2nd) as his junior coregent. His firstborn child and heir to the throne (Amenemhat) predeceased Thutmose. When Thutmose 3 died, Egyptians buried him in the Valley of the Kings, as were the rest of the rulers from this era in Egypt.
Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur
Jacob Almanzor was the 3rd Almohad Caliph. Succeeding his dad, al-Mansur ruled from 1184 to 1199. The flourishing of architecture, trade, philosophy, and the sciences distinguished al-Mansur’s reign. Besides, victorious military campaigns in which he successfully repelled Christian Reconquista’s tide in the Iberian Peninsula distinguished his reign. Al-Mansur’s father died in Portugal on 29th July 1194. Upon arriving at Seville with his father’s body on 10th August, he became the new caliph. Al-Mansur promised to avenge his father’s demise, but combating with the Banu Ghaniya, delayed him in the African region. After imposing a new defeat on the Banu Ghaniya, he set out for the Iberian Peninsula to revenge his father’s demise.
His 13th July 1190 siege of Tomar failed to seize the fort. However, in the next year, he recaptured a significant fortress and the surrounding territory near Albufeira. Having imposed other defeats on the Christians and seized cities, he returned to the Moroccan state with over 2500 Christian captives. Upon Al-Mansur’s return to Africa, Christians in the Iberian Peninsula resumed the offensive, seizing most Moorish cities, including Vera, Silves, and Beja. When the King heard this news, he returned to the Iberian Peninsula and defeated the Christians again.
Later, when Al-Mansur was away from Africa, the Christians prepared the biggest army of that time, of more than 300000 men, to defeat Al-Mansur. However, upon hearing this, Al-Mansur returned to Iberia and defeated Castilian King Alfonso, the 8th Alfonso’s army, in the Battle of Alarcos on 18th July 1195. History records that Am-Mansur’s forces killed more than 100000 and took valuables, money, and other items. After this victory, he took the title of Al-Mansur Billah, which means ‘made victorious by God.’
During his reign, Al-Mansur undertook various construction projects. He added a monumental gate to the Kasbah of the Udayas in Rabat. He may have been accountable or responsible for completing the establishment of the Kutubiyya Mosque in Marrakesh. He also created a vast palace complex and the royal citadel in Marrakesh, which remained the seat of government in the city for years afterward. Al-Mansur embarked on constructing a bigger fortified capital, where he tried to build what would have been the globe’s largest Mosque. However, construction on the Mosque and the new citadel halted after his demise or death. He passed away on 23rd January 1199 in Marrakech.
Ahmose the I
Ahmose the 1st was a Pharaoh and founder of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, categorized as the 1st Dynasty of Egypt’s New Kingdom. Ahmose the 1st assumed the throne after the demise of his brother, and upon coronation, people acknowledged him as ‘The Lord of Strength is Ra’
During his rule, Ahmose the 1st completed the conquest and expulsion of the Hyksos from the Nile Delta, revived Theban rule over entire Egypt, and reasserted Egyptian power in its formerly subject areas Canaan and Nubia. He re-organized the administration of the state, reopened mines, quarries, and trading ways. Besides, he started construction projects of a kind that people had not undertaken since the Middle Kingdom era.
The reign or rule of Ahmose the 1st laid the foundations for the new Kingdom, under which the power of Egyptians reached its climax. Records date his reign to the mid-16th century BC.
