Dedan (Part 6/6)
Wrapping up this insane discussion with Torah
As early as the 3rd or 4th century BCE the Dhar pastoralists began residing in areas around the Niger in Mali, the current site of the modern Mande people.1 Sites such as Macina, Mema, Dia, and Jenne all began their settlement associating with the rapid influx of Tichitt peoples. Based on this it is likely the Tichitt were a proto-Mande people. Around this same time frame the rapid aridization of Lake Mega Chad forced increased migration of Central Saharans towards the Niger, likely forming the ethnogenesis of many of West Africa's modern populations. The sites in Mali take over the previous Dhar sites in terms of importance.
The earliest settlement mound at Dia is ‘Dia-Shoma’ dating to the 9th century BCE, prior to either Djenne or Timbuktu’s foundation.2 Dia was incorporated into the Ghana Empire, likely founded by some type of Mande people. There is also the Macina Cercle located in the Segou region that contains mostly Mande peoples including Bambara, Soninke, and Mandinka. Little is known about the history of these sites in earlier periods but they were certainly centers of activity for Mande and later Mali. Near the site of Macina is a region called “Mema” which served a Soninke state prior to its incorporation in the Ghana Empire, affirming this entire area becomes “Mande”.
The most important location is the city of Djenne-Djenno, only two miles from modern Djenne, arguably the center of West African culture. While similar in substance to the earlier site of Dia-Shoma, Djenne-Djenno’s occupation dates to a slightly later 250 BCE. Striking about Djenne is that it is the first instance where we find terracotta figurines similar to those depicting in the Nok culture, potentially attesting to a shared link between these civilizations, but the modern academic field of West African terracotta is filled with a variety of black market fakes and sketchy provenance making this difficult to identify.3 Helping show an extremely long distance trade network are a series of glass beads found at the site dated to the third century BCE that appear to originate from the Near East, putting Djenne on the foreign policy map.4
What is most probable is that Jenne was established by Mande progenitors of the Bozo people - a Soninke sub group - that was incorporated in the Ghana Empire until the 10th century AD. The Bozo are the most closely related group to the Soninke, who are a much larger tribe about 20x the size of the Bozo. Both of these groups likely left the Ghana Empire upon its collapse settling in communities along the Niger. While Soninke traditions state a founder named “Dinga” came from Asawn, Egypt, settling in Ghana and becoming the ruling class of the empire around 700 AD. However, this dating is much later, and notably after the existence of Islam, making it an unlikely oral tradition. While there may have been a leader named Dinga, he is not the progenitor of all Soninke, or the Mande. More than likely as the story implies he formed a royal elite of the Ghana Empire, and not the classes they ruled over.
During this period the capital was likely at Koumbi Saleh not far from Djenne.5 The Soninke operated as a sort of merchant class in the empire, owing their growth to their monopoly of the Saharan trade in slaves and luxuries, possibly explaining traditions of foreign origin for some members. The Soninke were leaders of the Empire, but the Mandinka were definitely a force in the country. It is not clear when the Mandinka/Malinke exactly formed their identity, but it’s possible most Mande formed a fairly unified culture under Ghana.
What is clear is that by 1230 AD the Ghana Empire was eclipsed, vassalized, and incorporated into the ascendant Malian Empire of Sundiata Keita. Sundiata Keita was a Mandinka whose exact origins are unclear due to Islamic claims of Muhammad relation. However, this is not important for our purposes as the Mandinka are certainly a subset of the Ghana Empire. Mali’s capital is disputed as many believe they had no fixed location, but Djenne was a center of the empire. Many readers are familiar with the Malian King Mansa Musa - reportedly the richest man in history - who led the empire roughly one hundred years after its founding. Mali, unlike Ghana, was not run by Soninke but rather the Malinke, or Mandinka as they are known.
Amongst the Mali Empire were other Mande peoples, such as the previously mentioned Bambara, Susu, Ligbi, Vai, and Bissa. People such as the Susu practice polygamy and slavery, making it challenging to identify a singular “ethnic” background for many of these groups, but all of them come from the disparate Mande refugees of the Ghana Empire. The most curious cultural element of these people might be found in the Bissa, who divide their tribes into several clans referred to as “Dedaa”, now frequently found as a surname in Burkina Faso. This shows an obvious parallel to our Dedan, but it’s again entirely unclear how these two might link together.
Earlier we used the name “Djenne-Djenno” when referring to the old city of Djenne, as opposed to the modern cities location.This term translates to “Ancient Djenne” but curiously contains the “D-D-N” sounds. Is it possible “Dj-n-Dj-n” became something like Dedan? Or, alternatively, was Djenne-Djenne somehow derived from the same source as Dedan? They may not be related to each other, but share an older common founder. Lacking written, oral, or archeological records makes this theory - like nearly all theories regarding West Africa - difficult to prove, or disprove.
Mali itself is eclipsed by the great Empire of Askia Songhai, which controlled nearly the entire Niger River and was West Africa’s largest Empire in the 15th century. Many of the region's people share cultural traditions from this period, but the ethnic mixing in the area was a consistent feature of the region for thousands of years. At this point we have fully unraveled the West African picture, and identified all of the major powers throughout history.
Looking at textual references to Dedan is mostly unhelpful due to the Arabian Dedan confusion, but we should still attempt to find clues in the text. Some translations of Dedanim do translate the term as “cousins”, which could be an interesting lead. Found in Isaiah 21:13, we see this in reference to a group related to Arabs, so it’s more likely this Dedan is a son of Jokshan. However, it would be interesting here if the meaning of “Dedanim” was something like “cousins”. The term cousins implies something awfully similar to the term “Western Ethiopians”, but also might even reaffirm previous theories about the Dodanim, sons of Javan, being “cousins” of the rest of the Greeks. The strange way the Dorians merged with the Greeks would place them more like ‘cousins’ in such a context, even if they were genetically quite similar to the Greeks.
A reference in Ezekiel 27:15 says “The children of Dedan were your peddlers; the dwellers of many islands [brought] the merchandise of your place; horns, ivory, and peacocks they brought you as a gift.” Notable about this line is that these are not “Dedan”, but children of Dedan who “were your peddlers”. This line implies they were merely intermediaries in this trade. Horns and Ivory could have come from anywhere though, but the Peacock does help certify this trade is likely referencing the Indian, Sri Lankan, and South East Asian islands where Peacocks find their range. There is the Congo Peafowl, but it doesn’t have the vibrant plumage of the Pavo.
Likely these are the Arabian Oasis merchants who often peddled in this trade, and would have been the children of Jokshan’s son Dedan. Helping certify this identification with the Arab Dedan would be the earlier reference in Ezekiel 25:13 that directly references Dedan following Edom, an Arabian state. The entire chapter mostly refers to Israelite neighbors such as the Canaanites or Arabs, implying this is not an African Dedan.
Complicating this picture is further in the chapter in Ezekiel line 20 where it says “Dedan was your trafficker; in precious raiment for chariots.” Could an African Dedan make chariot saddles? It’s not likely, although there is some evidence for chariots in the Sahara, and we do know they were skilled artisans with fabric, with various West African groups having a tradition of holy cloth. While one might expect these are the Arabian Dedan it is quite odd that they would mention the children of Dedan if Dedan was still around. This heavily implies that these “children of Dedan” are just that, children of Dedan and not the Dedanite nation proper. This other Dedan is Dedan proper.
While the following line 21 does mention Arabia and Kedar, line 22 follows up with the “traffickers of Sheba and Raamah-they were your traffickers;” double certifying and repeating this line of “traffickers.” Then in line 23, it again mentions Sheba traffickers, but this time mostly in conjunction with Near Eastern nations and Semites, rather than Africans, potentially implying these are both the separate designations of Sheba. Notably while some have identified Raamah with other locations on the Arabian peninsula, Persia or even in India, it would be difficult for those groups to trade directly with the Israelites. Any trade coming to Israel had to go through the Bab El Mandeb strait, which in various periods were controlled by Arabian and Ethiopian “Sabaeans” making these further identifications unlikely.
If we are keeping count, we have so far had 2 Sheba, one Semitic the other along with Raamah, the father of Sheba. We have also had 2 Dedans, one mentioned alongside Sheba and Raamah as “traffickers” and the other merely “children of Dedan” mysteriously leaving out a second proper “Dedan”. My own theory is that Jokshan’s Dedan was never meant as a people group, thus Ezekiel wouldn’t list them as a people group, but rather “children of Dedan”. “The Dedan”, aka the brothers of Sheba and son of Raamah, still exist as a nation in this period.
What is critical to bring up is how both Dedan and Sheba of Raamah are often related to Dedan and Sheba of Jokshan. A potential cause for this is their operation of the two sides of the red sea trade, the primary artery for Israelite foreign trade. Stories such as the Queen of Sheba certify the value of this relationship to the south for the Israelites, with Phoencia and Hiram in the North operating as the counterpart in this structure. Many references to Phoenecia are merely meant as “ships of Tarshish”, and oftentimes these references come with vague city states, and likewise references to obscure Arabian trading city states such as Sheba.
Ultimately a lack of proper textual references to Dedan and Raamah makes it difficult to associate them with any specific historical people group, but it is very likely that Josephus’s identification with “Western Ethiopia” is the best argument. The “brother of Sheba” and “son of Raamah” theory force an identification related to Ethiopia and potentially the Aksumites, and it’s obvious they are not associated with the nations we checked off the list. Without further archeology and better translation of African oral traditions it would be fruitless to push this theory any further. Therefore the strongest location for Dedan is a generalized “West Africa”; in this period shifted more north into the Sahel where the various Niger-Congo language families, traditions, and ethnicities all splinter off into their own people.
Link to the next post
Thank you for joining me on what will be the longest section on Noah’s children. Much of that is because this region is a complete black box, and for most readers, if not all of them, they will have little background information on the people, or the region. Even the notable, and populous Igbo and Yoruba are mostly unknown to the West, but even within those groups their traditions are shrouded in mysteries. Through this analysis we can better place them on Noah’s family tree, understanding how they developed and evolved.
Next time we will look at Sabtecah, the final son of Cush, before we move onto the monster, or linguistic nightmare, that is Nimrod. Hopefully that section won’t be nearly as long, but might be far more complex!
McDougall, E. Ann (2019). "Saharan Peoples and Societies". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Oxford Research Encyclopedias.
Arazi, Noemie. "Tracing History in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali -Archaeology, Oral Traditions and Written Sources" (PDF). University College London. Institute of Archaeology.
Cotter, Holland (2 Aug 2012). "Imperiled Legacy for African Art". New York Times.
Mcintosh, Susan Keech; Mcintosh, Roderick J. (1981). "The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: Evidence from Jenne-Jeno". The Journal of African History. 22 (1): 1–22.
Levtzion, Nehemia (1973), pp. 22–26. Ancient Ghana and Mali, London: Methuen
Very interesting and factual