3.1.2. IN AFRICA, "ABSURD" SUCCESSION PRACTICES

-- "Absurd:" Anne Raffenel, Voyage en Afrique occidentale, 1846, p. 280

THEY HAMPER THE RISE OF POWERFUL DYNASTIES BY PREVENTING THE ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH

Lack of recognized heirs encouraged African kinglets to distribute treasure rather than amass it. That changed after about 1800, when growing economies led to stronger rulers. 

But until then...

• On the Senegal and Middle Niger rivers, succession went from brother to brother and since a "vicious principle" extended the term to cousins, it was "impossible that he who governs not be of an advanced age." 

-- Anne Raffenel (mentioned above), p. 280.

• In Futa Toro (Senegal) reigns lasted only two years, limiting the accumulation of wealth.

-- Olfert Dapper, Description de l'Afrique, Amsterdam, 1686, p. 312 and Capitaine Landolphe, Mémoires du Capitaine Landolphe, 1823, p. 55. 

• In Borgu (Nigeria) and in many other regions, succession struggles dispersed treasure.

-- Jacques Lombard,  Structures de type féodale en Afrique noir, Paris, 1965, pp. 289-290, 318-340. 

• Among the Mossi (in Burkina Faso) when a chief died his wives, slaves and horses were sent to his superior.

-- Dakar archives, 1 G 145/10, 1890.

• In many regions, generalized pillaging followed a ruler's death:

-- For Benin (Nigeria) in the 17th and 18th centuries, Olfert Dapper, Description de l'Afrique, Amsterdam, 1686, p. 312 and Capitaine Landolphe, Mémoires du Capitaine Landolphe, 1823, p. 55.

-- For Bonduku and Anno (Ivory Coast), Emmanuel Terray, La Captivité dans le royaume abron in Claude Meillassoux, ed. Paris 1975, p. 408 and Gustave Binger, Du Niger au golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong, Paris, 1892, II, p. 30.

Burying their riches with the kings had the same effect:

-- Along the Senegal at the end of the 17th century, F.J.B. Gaby, Relation de la Nigritie, Paris, 1689, p. 71. 

 

-- In Atta (on the lower Niger), Richard & John Lander, Landers' Discovery of the Termination of the Niger, II, p. 170.

 

-- In Oyo (Nigeria) rulers' wives died when he did.  Lander mentions a wife who tried to survive (I, p. 112). 

-- More references: Aubin, pp. 473-4, n.148-156.

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Elsewhere? According to legend, an Assyrian king destroys all his property, including horses, wives and concubines, before committing suicide. 

The Death of Sardanopalus by Eugène Delacroix, 1827

To keep them from his enemies? Or to illustrate voluntary destructions of wealth at successions? Legends usually point to something deeper than the immediate drama.

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In Europe having a ruler's eldest child, especially a son, inherit the throne was part of the stronger authority that came with relatively advanced economies (more later). The exception, Poland, was a backwater far from the main centers of commerce.

The studies I know mention succession

only in the context of strife:

Narratives skip anthropology as well as economics.

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Next,

 3.1.3. 

African kings, prestige and constrait