African kings didn’t choose their successors. Their mothers did.
The history of a matriarchal continent
We’ve been taught to believe that power in Africa flowed from men, kings, warriors, chiefs. That women stood behind them. Supported them. Gave birth to them.
But didn’t rule. That’s false.
In much of precolonial Africa, it wasn’t men who passed down power. It wasn’t fathers choosing sons.
It was the mothers.
Literally. The royal bloodline flowed through the maternal line, not the paternal.
If a king had a son, that boy didn’t inherit the throne. His sister’s son did.
This wasn’t rare. It was the norm across vast parts of the continent.
And once you understand this, a lot of things start to make sense.
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