The "Roman Roads" in an African Kingdom

[@FromNothing]

For those of you who are members of the Discord server, you may have wondered why my moderators are called "Amradofo." Well now you know why.

[@SomasAcademy]

Was gonna comment about that lol

[@YoKhai1221]

There’s a discord!?

[@FromNothing]

@@YoKhai1221 Yes I display a link/ad to it at the end of every single video lol. It's also in my link tree in the description and on my website.

[@admirekashiri9879]

Taming nature in mama Africa is a tough mission. I didnt know they had a police force patrolling and watching thie roads very. And 😂 its good Mr Bigot and Dr Kangz are common characters now i loce how you debunk them both with the facts. You just now them trolls will say nonsense like this.

[@professoraregbesola3490]

I like that part too of Dr.Bigot and Kangz . Lol sadly I have seen people who think like that

[@chadtep7571]

In the process of reading "The Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred-Year War For Africa'S Gold Coast" and it mentions the roads that the Ashante built for trade.

[@owusu369]

Read that too good book however some racist fascist bs

[@chadtep7571]

@@owusu369 Oh yea, that was expected that but I taking some of the gems out that can't be found elsewhere.

[@owusu369]

@@chadtep7571 fr good gems but the cannibalism during battles in bs the asante had many laws 77 to bee exact as well as as laws to do with ware fare

[@chadtep7571]

@@owusu369 They were an extremely civilized people. They would have viewed cannibalism as disgusting.

[@mysticonthehill]

@@chadtep7571 I cannot speak of the Asante but cannibalism was practiced by some of the peoples of the Ivory Coast their neighbor. We need to be careful in not ascribing our current morals to peoples of past and different locals and out right rejecting things without investigation just because they are distasteful. For example the Aztec were materially among the most civilized peoples of the Americas but yet did practice human sacrifice and cannibalism. Civilization doesn't come with a set of values it is more about urbanization and material culture.

[@mysticonthehill]

This channel is such a wealth of knowledge in a world that increasingly doesn't care about accurate or truth.

[@KingJupiter]

I was just researching about Ghana and then I suddenly get a notification for this video. A good Omen

[@FromNothing]

Nice lol.

[@owusu369]

The asante roads were roads that was similar to roads today with maintenance as well as security and tax collectors for traders , horses as well as carriages were used on these roads and the roads connected to the main trading metropolises of the sudan and north africa , and European s and other arab states its was the life line of the empire in fact salaga a trading town controlled by the asante empire was known as the Timbuktu of the south and just add the roads were not dirty as well as the clean up workers local citizens were required to make sure there towns were cleaned. There’s historical documentation that confirms that the Asante believed dirty areas attracted ill spirits

[@TheFenixFallen]

Another interesting example why the Ashanti Empire was one of the most advanced states in Africa. 🇬🇭

[@marcello7781]

The more I know about different civilizations and cultures around the world the more similar patterns I find among them. Continue with this great work!

[@theafricantriforce8878]

Great video! Many people don't know this, but a lot of west African kingdoms mainly prioritized paving there innermost cities instead of their roads. For example, Ile Ife and Benin city, both had paved streets all around their city using potsherd pavement. I am puzzled why the Akan people didn't adopt this technique as well for use in Kumasi. I'm quite sure they had their reasons though.

[@FromNothing]

Thank you so much for the Super Thanks! Pretty sure that was my first one ever. As for your question about the Ashanti not adopting potsherd, I honestly think it's because potsherd was a more tedious method that took a very long time to do. Each tiny fragment had to be placed individually by hand and follow a pattern. The Ashanti used stone for pavement all though I assume there are no surviving examples unfortunately.

[@knotzed]

Pre Columbus America's had huge long roads connecting even bigger cities!

[@owusu369]

The Asante empire was built on 5 main city states which had there own client states but yeah america was extremely developed before Columbus who also had an Akan(ashanti navigator) whohelp led his ship to america

[@erikthomsen4768]

Are you referring to the Inca's Empire or the Aztec confederacy?

[@owusu369]

@@erikthomsen4768 inca

[@knotzed]

@Erik Thomsen they both did and they Maya and the Mississippi mound builders of North America check out the mound builders of North America it'll blow ur mind

[@knotzed]

@Erik Thomsen even the Chinese India and Arabs had the silk road!! That's one of the oldest roads "Adam's calendar" in Southern Africa had to have a road system to get to and around the HUGE Neolithic sight that spans miles!

[@zacharyclark3693]

Fascinating stuff. And awesome to learn more about the Ashanti. For any major building project, it takes a lot of resources (both to build an maintain). It makes sense that the Ashanti had political/military motives that led to road building. Even religious motivations also contribute towards permanent structures (consider the Cathedrals in Europe or the Mosques in West Africa). In places like the US we take for granted our road system, but even that had political motivations behind them. During the Cold War, the President (I believe it was Reagan) convinced Congress to put millions of dollars into building the freeway system that connects states (maybe even giving funding to states, I’m not 100% sure) in case the Soviets dropped Nukes on US cities and they needed to evacuate. Some critics say that what they proposed wouldn’t have made that much of a difference in the event of a nuclear attack, but it allowed the US government to have a reliable way to move between states, as well as contributing to state economies. Now we are used to it, but we didn’t always have such an interconnected and extensive road network.

[@LukeBunyip]

10:14 Elizabeth Street, in what is now Melbourne (Naarm) in Australia, had pot holes so deep that during a heavy storm, an entire bullock train drowned outside the post office. IIRC it was sometime between 1840 and 1850

[@Oj5655]

Are you going to talk about the city of ilé ifé and archaeological discovery as it is a paved road I also thought I understood that it had clay pipes but I did not find a photo on About this discovery

[@k.c1126]

Another very interesting insight into West African history.

[@BigCahokiaOfficial]

Another fire video as always.

[@ARTISTESH]

Another excellent work 👏🏽

[@afchehiro]

Dirt roads repair themselves after every rain here, I guess the same is everywhere!!! Thank you m8, that was awesome!!!!

[@FromNothing]

Nope that's definitely not the case everywhere.

[@Chigo-nr8jg]

Dirt roads can’t repair themselves, especially during rainy/monsoon season as its during this period grasses/weeds overgrow and need to be cleared.

[@BartimaeusAurelius]

Was watching one of Metatron's okd videos and he gave you a shout out and so here I am.

[@consulargeneral8136]

Roads are every where in subsaharan africa I'm from the south the kalanga, shona and venda have roads all made of stone in their cities extremely narrow for the ruling ellites and extremely large for the commoners seen as places for commerce, the bakoni had roads that would stretch connecting city to city made of stone the difference between the venda, shona and kalanga roads they never connected city to city the roads where only found within the city.

[@beepboop204]

[@doomkitty8386]

This video would really help any TTRP campaign based on the Wagadu Chronicles.

[@kevinwindley7872]

YOOOO, your videos have so much insight, when you tell a story, you can visualize what your saying, some what like Nas when he tell a story, DOPE 💯

[@carlomagno7092]

Loving this channel, greetings from Rome. :)

[@noguera30]

Excellent job!

[@slamben6742]

i love this video

[@M.M.83-U]

Thanks

[@andrerobinson5831]

14:31 is the guy with the feather plume hat wearing armour?

[@FromNothing]

Haha at first I thought I was being trolled but you meant 13:31. As for your question I'm pretty sure that was the Ashanti general attire which was basically a shirt covered in charms called gris gris. Basically a West African version of a talisman.

[@kimeraclan3135]

This is a universal practice in that of course not all African roads would have been paved in stone because that would have expensive. First you needed to pay someones to find the right stones, then a stone-cutter, patrols against ferocious animal attacks, masons for the actual building of the roads. Flattened dirt roads by oxen would have been cheaper to produce. African nations, such as in Mali, Ghana, Dahomey would have had it better financially to just have had the main city roads paved, considering that the various wars and mosque constructions would have been more important to focus on. Besides, as stated in the previous video on earth based houses, the infrastructures were already high grade quality, road infrastructure comes second.

[@johnnyearp52]

Thanks, this is an interesting video. I can imagine it would be difficult to maintain roads through a jungle. I live in a semi arid area and there aren't many large plants.

[@EPUEPUEPUEPU]

The oldest paved road was actually in Egypt.

[@matthewmann8969]

Yeah The Romans sure got around.

[@purpleplant9515]

❤

[@TreyPDB]

that freeman 1844 source, can i have the link to that

[@FromNothing]

Sources on my website 🙂

[@tommy-er6hh]

Are any of the Ashanti roads still in use like the Roman roads, maybe paved over, but still the same route used by cars instead of by foot?

[@FromNothing]

That I don't know.

[@mysticonthehill]

I would suspect yes. Usually roads are along the most coinvent throughfares. They might be paved over or modified but I bet they are being used.

[@Niani23455]

The one that runs from Kumasi to Anomabu and the Central Region is still in use, but just modernised.

[@FromNothing]

Do you have a source for this?

[@Niani23455]

@@FromNothing6th Great Road in Ivor Wilks , Asante in 19th century, page 12 and 13. He says the modern motor road follows the old great-road for virtually the whole of its course. He also says sections of the 5th Great Road were incorporated into later motor roads.

[@Vigoda.d]

Good evening I love the episode and your show and I would really like to know what do you think about the new Netflix the documentary TV show about Queen Cleopatra?

[@FromNothing]

I will be covering it

[@makeytgreatagain6256]

Jada is a fool for focusing the show on the one white pharaoh dynasty and using overrated Cleopatra which is ridiculous. She could had done neferatitti, or hashepsut both of which can be argued to be black but NOOOOO she wanted to do the overrated Cleopatra .

[@caioalmeida4139]

That's show is ridiculous, just pure Jada Smith ego's

[@Ergamenes79]

@@FromNothing Awesome mate, can't wait to see your take on it.

[@Ergamenes79]

@@makeytgreatagain6256 I would like to see an epic TV-Show documentary about the 25th dynasty rulers, similar to Barbarian Rising.

[@Lieu_Tenant_Gambit]

As much as i appreciate edification you talk as though you havent been to the continent. Book scholarship can only educate you so far

[@FromNothing]

You're right, there are some things that I can't know without being there but I never make any claims that I can't back up so I don't see the problem. I've met many people from Ghana and they are all very grateful, and impressed with the accuracy and knowledge that I present about their home country.

[@Lieu_Tenant_Gambit]

@FromNothing just hoping you take the time to visit when you can and hopefully document it for the viewership. Honestly would've assumed I added that part already

[@FromNothing]

@@Lieu_Tenant_Gambit It's not really about taking the "time" though. Of course I want to do that ultimately but it's not easy to just up and travel to Ghana whenever I want. I don't have that kind of money.

[@Lieu_Tenant_Gambit]

@@FromNothing that's pretty much what I meant.. time is money

[@alexandrejose8362]

After the shame that was Woman King, I hope someone talks with you before the next movie about pre-colonial Africa. You show both the bad and the good sides and keep the interesting things at the forefront.

[@caioalmeida4139]

Why don't you create a Telegram Channel??

[@FromNothing]

Because I already have a Discord community which is more intuitive than Telegram.

[@caioalmeida4139]

@@FromNothing I couldn't access the link for the discord lol

[@FromNothing]

@@caioalmeida4139 Why not?

[@caioalmeida4139]

@@FromNothing i don't know lol

[@FromNothing]

@@caioalmeida4139 Uhh... ok lol.

[@markaxworthy2508]

Roads necessarily exist wherever there is wheeled transport. They never predate it.

[@FromNothing]

Not true. The Inca for example had one of the most extensive road networks in world history but they never adopted the wheel. And don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure I remember reading that the Japanese banned wheeled transport because it destroyed roads.

[@markaxworthy2508]

@@FromNothing I guess it is a matter of definition. The definition of "road" I have is, "a wide way leading from one place to another, especially one with a specially prepared surface which vehicles can use." The Incas had no vehicles, just pack animals. According to Wikipedia, "The use of the Inca roads, in the colonial period, after the Spanish conquest of Peru was mostly discontinued. The Conquistadors used the Inca roads to approach the capital city of Cusco, but they used horses and ox carts, which were not usable on such a road, and soon most of the roads were abandoned."

[@FromNothing]

@@markaxworthy2508 The only reason that definition includes "vehicles" is because that's what most modern roads are for. The majority of the human population lacked vehicles until the 20th century. A road is simply just a cleared and widened pathway from one point to another. Basically just a trail that is made large enough to accommodate more than just single-file humans. I think it's a great injustice to dismiss an engineering marvel as impressive as the Inca Road system just because it wasn't conducive to vehicles.

[@markaxworthy2508]

@@FromNothing Nobody, certainly not me, is dismissing the Inca communication system's engineering feats. However, I would question whether they are truly roads. The Incas had no draft animals available and so did not develop wheeled transport and therefore had no need for roads as such. There are plenty of words to describe routes regularly travelled by and maintained for people and pack animals, such as trails, paths, routes, tracks, etc., The Inca Trail is not called the Inca Trail for nothing. There is a useful distinction to be drawn between roads, on which wheeled vehicles can travel, and pack animal routes, where wheeled vehicles can't. This is not to make a value judgement on the utility of either.

[@FromNothing]

@@markaxworthy2508 I've always heard the Inca Road System referred to as a "road." Not a trail. Also they did have pack animals. The llama and the alpaca.