CalmandStrong

Yoruba (Ife): Lost & Found in America

“Remembering your ancestors and their legacy is another way to honor them. When you speak well of your ancestors in your day-to-day conversations or make mention of their accomplishments, this is pleasing to them.” – Dr. Asanee Brogan, author of Connecting with Your Ancestors: A Practical Guide for Living a Destiny-Driven Life (The African Spirit Collection)

The Ife (i.e., Love) people are the first Yoruba people who are ancient, highly advanced artistically and creatively, originally, and highly spiritual, and master agriculturalists. The Ife Kingdom is “the source of the spreading,” “the place where all nations of the earth have sprung from,” and “The Ifes… were the fathers of all and all people came from Ife.”

The Yoruba people believe they are the first race of humans, and that all human life and civilization originated from Yorubaland. The Yoruba people have been living in their West African homeland as far back as 8,000 years ago.

“The Yoruba also pride themselves on being very good-looking people and believe that beauty is important in life.”

– Evelyn Marie Fournette, author of Orishas: The Ultimate Guide to Yoruba Tradition, Sacred Rituals, the Divine Feminine, and Spiritual Enlightenment of African Culture and Wisdom- The Ancient Orishas

New Blog. The Gems of West African & South Asian Medieval Civilizations: The Great Oyo Empire of Yorubaland (West Africa) and The Honorable Sikh Empire (South Asia)

Explore the many similarities of the Great Oyo (Yoruba) Empire and The Honorable Sikh Empire before both nations were conquered and colonized by the British Empire.

“The city of Oyo-Ile, capital of the Old Oyo Empire, was, in the 18th century, the largest, the most heavily populated, the politically most powerful and most influential, the commercially richest and most widely influential, and altogether the most prestigious city in all of Black Africa.”

– Dr. Stephen Adebanji Akintoye, author of The Good News

“In 1739, Nadar Shah, who has been likened to the Napoleon of Asia, invaded India from Persia and sacked Delhi. His army enslaved countless Indian women, and a band of Sikhs ambushed the Afghans and freed them. This was motivated by their religious views on equality, but they also saw themselves as defenders of the oppressed and of the Punjab in particular.”

– Captivating History, author of History of the Sikhs: A Captivating Guide to the Origins of Sikhism in India, the Sikh Empire, Colonialism, and Modern Times (Exploring India’s Past)

New Blog. The Atlantis and Yorubaland Connection

Was the Mystical and Technologically Advanced Pre-Ancient Civilization of Atlantis in West Africa?

New Blog. Welcome to the CalmandStrong Kingdom

If God gave you the supernatural ability to create your own country, what would be the name? What would it look like? Where would it be located on this Earth?

Throwback Blog. A Journey to my Motherland: Part I: Yorubaland and The Great Benin Empire

“All evidence from the traditions of most of these Yoruba kingdoms emphasize the attractiveness of Benin. Benin was, to them (the Yoruba people), a Yoruba kingdom whose common citizens happened to speak a non-Yoruba language.” – Dr. Stephen Adebanji Akintoye, author of A History of the Yoruba People

New Blog. What Would Be Your Dream Music Album?

Nas and Blu & Exile are some of my favorite music artists’, and my dream album would be these two master lyricists (Nas and Blu) with mostly Exile production to create a collaborative album entitled, “Sound in Colo(u)r.”

“Like Rome came into Kemet (i.e., ancient Egypt) and they stole the essence before they watered it down and taught us bogus lessons. Written in stone, write whatever in your history books, me and ancient Egyptian skin tone had similar looks.” – Nas

To find out more about the concept and who I would like to be involved with my dream collaborative album, “Sound in Colo(u)r” by Nas and Blu & Exile, click here: https://shorturl.at/FmnHM

Throwback Blog. The Songhai: The Last Great Empire of West Africa before the Transatlantic Slave Trade

"Narration describes the lives of lost tribes in the ghetto tryin' to survive." – Nas

The Songhai people are one of those unique and special peoples of the African race who can be characterized as intelligent, industrious, and aggressively invincible as both traders and warriors.

“Songhay’s (Songhai's) greatness was due to something more than the remarkable expansion of its empire over a larger territory than the continent of Europe. That was great, but greater by far was the grand scale on which the revival of learning spread among the Blacks of West Africa―The Western Sudan, or ‘Land if the Blacks.’ Three principal centers of learning were at Jenne, Gao, and Timbuktu.” – Dr. Chancellor Williams

To find out more about the incredible Songhai people, and how the Songhai Empire (about 93% of the present-day African Americans came from the Songhai Empire before being enslaved peoples in the United States of America) became one of Africa’s greatest civilizations before the European Transatlantic slave trade era, click here: The Songhai: The Last Great Empire of West Africa before the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Did You Know?

New Blog. The “Real” Lion King is from the Golden Mali Empire (Medieval West Africa)

Mansa Sundiata Keita, the king of Mali defeated King Sumanguru of ancient Ghana in 1235 AD. Sundiata means “Hungering Lion” and “The Lion King.” He was afflicted as a child, and his indomitable courage to overcome his affliction earned him that name.

According to British Journalist and Historian Dr. Basil Davidson, the rulers of Mali were “rumored to have been the wealthiest m[e]n on the face of the earth.”

To find out how Mansa Sundiata Keita overcame his physical disability as a child and became “The Lion King” of Mali and medieval West Africa, click here: https://shorturl.at/GFeRZ

New Blog. The Yoruba: A New History: Collective vs. Individualist Approach to Life (Yoruba Life Lessons from West Africa) 

"What Can Become of Kings?" - Blu & Exile 

During the 17th and 18th centuries in Yorubaland (present-day Southwest Nigeria, and parts of Benin and Togo Republics, West Africa), the Yoruba intellectuals composed the ọ́bárá kosún narrative as a moral critique of merchant capital during the Transatlantic slave trade era. 

The Great Oyo Empire and the rest of the kingdoms of Yorubaland, unfortunately, was in a region where intensive slave trading occurred, and the Yoruba people’s fate between 1500 and 1885 is of considerable significance. 

To find out more about how the Yoruba people of West Africa navigated the dire and unforgiving Transatlantic slave trade era through their spirituality, storytelling, and life lessons, click here: https://shorturl.at/NglTm

New Blog. Welcome to the Wonderful & Tumultuous World of Dolphins

Over the centuries, dolphins and whales have sent knowledge to human beings via dreams.

“The whales told us all about God. The dolphins told us about wisdom and art and other forms of creativity. We black people believe that dolphins are not fish. They are amafingeeto, or saviors. They have kingdoms under the sea. They have stories they tell their children. They have hopes for the future. The killing of these holy creatures must stop.” – Spiritual Leader Credo Mutwa

A Special Dedication to the Peaceful Warriors & Civilizations of the Medieval & Ancient World

“It is impossible to describe here all the riches of the civilization of Ife.” – Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop

“The original inhabitants of India were dark-skinned and closely resembled the Africans in physical features. They founded the Indus Valley Civilization which, according to historians, was one of the world’s first and most glorious.” – Journalist V.T. Rajshekar

New Blog. A Special Dedication to the Majestic African Wild Dogs

The African Wild Dogs, or painted wolves are smart and sociable hunters, who are also charismatic, enterprising and impressive animals that deserve their place in the pantheon as some of the greatest predators Africa has ever produced. 

New Blog. The Great Tukulor Empire (West Africa)

What Does it Mean to be an African King?

“Since magic in Africa was simply another religious means of invoking the aid of a deity, to call their intercessor with God a magician meant that he was actually securing benefits for the people, and that he was indeed the ‘Lieutenant of God on Earth.’ In short, ‘magic’ was another form of prayer, song or dance in the appeals to supernatural powers for help.” - Dr. Chancellor Williams, author of The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 200 A.D.

Ahmadu Tall (Segu, Mali, ca 1833 – Sokoto, Nigeria, 1898), Tukulor ruler and anti-colonial leader of the Tukulor Empire. During the 19th century, the Tukulor Empire became the largest and most powerful state in the Western Sudan.

“As leader he (Ahmadu Tall) consistently displayed considerable courage, energy and military as well as diplomatic resourcefulness in tackling what eventually proved intractable internal social and political problems which were complicated by the ever-threatening presence of French imperialism.” - Dr. B.O. Ọlọruntimẹhin, author of The Segu Tukulor Empire

Throwback Blog. Origins of African Democracy and Spirituality

“The land (i.e., the continent of Africa) belongs to no one. It is God’s gift to mankind for use and as a sacred heritage, transmitted by our forefathers as a bond between the living and the dead, to be held in trust by each generation for the unborn who will follow, and thus to the last generation.” - Dr. Chancellor Williams, author of The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.

New Blog. The Congo: The Green Heart of Africa & the Garden of Eden?

“But these were human beings! I told myself, these men of the Great Congo, this land that was said to be so fabulous.” - Congolese Activist Andrée Blouin, author of My country, Africa: Autobiography of the black pasionaria

To find out more about the Ancient and Majestic Congo in Southwest and Central Africa, click here: https://shorturl.at/Du7c1

New Blog. Yorubaland and The Indus Valley Civilization: The Cradle of Civilization?

“The chicken captured by the hawk knows the hawk will kill it, but it still cries out – not to be saved, but so that everyone knows what happened to it.” – Igbo (Yoruba) Proverb

The civilizations of Yorubaland (Image I: Left: King Oduduwa of the Ife Kingdom, West Africa) and the Indus Valley Civilization (Image II: “Priest King” of the Indus Valley Civilization, South Asia) are older than previously thought, according to scholars and all evidence from archaeological and allied research in Africa and Asia. There was reason to believe that Yorubaland and the Indus Valley Civilization may be at least 8,000 years old. This means that Yorubaland and the Indus Valley Civilization predate other civilizations that have been mentioned as the cradle of civilization.

This Yoruba proverb references a being that, realizing its pending death, speaks out not to alter its fate but rather to publicize the tragic event that has happened.

“In his literary masterpiece The Wonder That Was India, A.L. Basham poses the question: ‘Who were the people who built this great civilization? (the Indus Valley Civilization).” - African American Historian Wayne B. Chandler

New Blog. The Birth & Creation of African Americans

To find out how African ethnic groups or tribes from West and Central Africa such as the Songhai, Yoruba, Tukulors (West Africa), etc., Kongolese, Herero, Mbundu (Central and Southwest Africa), etc. became African Americans via the European Transatlantic slave trade, click here: The Birth & Creation of African Americans