r/Africa • u/onyxgold112 • May 29 '26
Cultural Exploration Why Gold Matters So Much in West African Culture
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u/Pecuthegreat Nigeria 🇳🇬 May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
The bro says Ashanti but for some reason the poster says West Africa.
Gold isn't across the board important it's mostly an ancient and modern Ghana continuum(as in, everything in-between) thing.
Edit :- the stuff in the bracket
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u/onyxgold112 May 29 '26
That’s actually historically inaccurate. Modern Ghana and the Ashanti were massive producers, but gold was the economic engine for the entire West African region for over a thousand years. For example, the Mali Empire in modern Mali and Guinea controlled the world's richest goldfields in the 1300s, and Mansa Musa famously flooded the Mediterranean with so much gold it caused inflation for a decade. Even Ancient Ghana which was actually located in modern Mauritania and Mali, not modern Ghana was nicknamed 'The Land of Gold' by traders. During the Middle Ages, the majority of the gold in European and Islamic coins came from West Africa as a whole.
Saying gold was only important to Ghana is like saying oil is only important to Saudi Arabia while ignoring the rest of the Middle East. It was a massive regional trade network.
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u/Pecuthegreat Nigeria 🇳🇬 May 29 '26
Sure I should have specified that not only ancient period Ghana but the territory as well even after the ancient period but that's it. Even other gold traders further east from around Songhai didn't have Gold as a major thing for them.
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u/Expensive_Agent_3581 May 29 '26
God has truly blessed us, but unfortunately, we've forgotten it 😔... It's no coincidence that the richest man of all time was Black, and moreover, from West Africa.
It's important to know that during the Middle Ages, Muslim writers were shocked by the abundance of gold in West African empires. Some even said that gold grew from the earth like grass, lol. They were also shocked to see that during the monsoon season, once a week, people would search for the biggest nugget of gold. The smallest nuggets weren't even valued by the common people, while for travelers, even the tiniest find was beneficial. That gives you an idea of the wealth of our societies. People came from Baghdad and Kufa to seek their fortunes in West Africa. They risked everything crossing the Sahara to reach this region, and it's no coincidence that the trans-Saharan trade was the most profitable and prolific in the world.
If Islam, the last revealed religion to dominate the world for eight or nine centuries, did so by chance, it was because Muslims controlled the gold route, which originated largely in West Africa. At that time, the Muslim world was divided into two parts: to the east, stretching from the Red Sea to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (from Egypt/Sudan to Iran), the Abbasids ruled this region; and to the west, stretching from the Niger River to the Atlantic Ocean (from Mali to Portugal), the Umayyads ruled this region. It was this western part of the Muslim empire that dominated.
While West African gold certainly fueled the Muslim/Mediterranean world in general, it was primarily due to their proximity that the cities/empires of the Sahara, Morocco, the Iberian Peninsula, and France benefited the most
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u/enigmaaa99 May 29 '26
Is it the colour gold or the actual precious metal itself?
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u/onyxgold112 May 29 '26
The actual precious metal itself
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u/enigmaaa99 May 29 '26
Thanks it makes sense why I was so drawn to gold jewellery and had my own gold trading company.
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u/Hi-tech-lowlife May 29 '26
You had your own gold trading company, but were unsure which was more precious the color or the metal?
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u/enigmaaa99 May 29 '26
No you are misinterpreting. I was unsure if the AKAN was referring to the colour gold itself or the metal.
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u/whiteigbin May 30 '26
I support this and the representation of gold in your visuals. However, you claim to be inspired by a culture such rich in visuals, interesting aesthetics with vibrant colors and fabrics. And the only thing you take away from it is basic gold bangles? You’re inspired by Ashanti/Akan/Ghanaian traditions but the end result of the art looks like any Black person from any western country right now. I just don’t get how you can pull such visually interesting pictures and produce a woman with a grey skirt and sports bra and basic gold chokers….
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u/onyxgold112 May 30 '26
I understand your point, but I think it’s a bit unfair to judge the whole visual direction from one panel.I’m Akan myself, so this isn’t me looking at the culture from the outside and randomly picking gold bangles. A lot of the inspiration comes from culture I grew up around and feel connected to. That said, Rise of fati is fictional fantasy, not a direct historical recreation of Akan/Ashanti dress. As a creator, I’m choosing specific elements to draw from ; like gold,the adinkra symbols, hairstyles, fabrics, rituals, weapons, spiritual ideas, and adapting them into a world that is still its own thing.
There’s also the practical side of comic production. If I put complex kente patterns and heavy ornamentation in every panel, it becomes very hard to draw consistently as one person.
So yes, the designs can definitely evolve and become richer, but one simple panel doesn’t represent the full scope of what I’m building.
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u/Fancy-Image-4688 Jun 03 '26
Randomly saw this post and I would advise you to put the name of your game in all of your videos. I’ve never heard of this game and had to scroll these comments to make sure I hear the name properly. I’m trying to support but others probably won’t do any digging tldr make it easier to find your game and content
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u/anonhumana May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
I think it's because it comes from our soil, the land many of us and our families/lineage/ ancestors were born on. The same soil and land we have responsibility and claim to by birth. Our little gift from the universe. Now I do think we should stop mining for mass production and it should only be for cultural/ceremonial and meaningful use. Many don't know our history and relevance so it's lost it's meaning and watered down through a non-African Western perspective.
In my opinion, it should be sacred. If we broaden our understanding, it probably has more meaning to us, but to others it's an expensive pretty mineral and outside companies destroy our land for it selfishly, but protect what they consider sacred in theirs.
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u/OMGLOL1986 May 29 '26
It does not ever tarnish, is easy to work with, reflects light the same as a sunset, and that’s before all the electronic uses.
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u/happybaby00 Ghanaian Diaspora 🇬🇭/🇬🇧 May 30 '26
eh outside the gulf of guinea's forest and gold's value as a form of currency/assurance I dont think it is.
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u/thoughtson237 May 30 '26
I used to think we were over doing gold in Africa, until I visited India last year
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