When the colonial agents of Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Belgium began infiltrating Africa’s interior in the 1850s, they started by making treaties with men they thought were the kings of the places they sought to take over. They were, in fact, simply investing village chiefs, vassals, heads of families or other pretenders with powers they did not possess, in order to extort protectorate agreements with them, conquer their territories and appropriate their rich resources. During the years 1890 to 1905 the Europeans divided up the spoils amongst themselves, organized so that a small group of administrators could govern with the help of African intermediaries. France developed what they termed an ‘indigenous command’ structure where the village chief, district chief and senior chief were given specific authorities. The object was to confiscate the powers of the kings and give them to the Republic through prefectures. Republican France had imperialistic plans for Dakar to Bangui.

Britain on the other hand operated on the theory that they were governing by guidance and counsel and not interfering in people’s daily lives. The ‘upper classes’ would continue to administer as usual, and have their traditional rights restored as soon as they acknowledged that Queen Victoria was their sovereign. What they all failed to understand is that the monarchs they gave political power to in truth had none with their own people. The occupation lasted until about 1960, but by then they left an Africa that bore little resemblance to their pre-colonial kingdoms. Or did they?

There were about five different classes of African societies. Describing them very simply: 1) Non-centralized societies without a chief, where political authority is vested in one large, powerful family. 2) Non-centralized with no chief, authority vested in secret initiation societies. 3) Non-centralized homogenous chiefdoms with distinct borders, which endowed clan chiefs with equal rights. 4) Centralized kingdoms where the authority is based either on the original clan’s domination or on cultural assimilation after conquest. 5) Central, ethnically heterogeneous empires with defined territories where authority rests with the conquering kingdom.

What they all had in common though was that the royal power was believed to be sacred and given by divine right. Whether the king was of the same blood as his people, or that of a conqueror’s, he was the incarnation of the god of his ancestors, or their’s. In his person was the embodiment of not only royalty but of the land itself. Although in many cases Islam was a common factor of social life in the hierarchy, he remained sacred in his own ethnic group.

So, as the king personified the kingdom the rites and ceremonies that attended him became religious rituals that differed from one society to the next, essentially identifying that society. There were some basic recurrences though. The physical and mental health of the king was monitored carefully as his strength and virility indicated the strength and power of the whole kingdom. His status kept him above mere mortals. Kings could not leave the palace unless they were carried, as their feet could not touch the ground. No one but those few designated to attend to his personal being could see him eat or sleep. He spoke only through intermediaries, never directly to anyone. Whenever approached by his subjects, the latter had to be barefoot, had to prostrate themselves or kneel, never address him directly or say his name.

His regalia was guarded and kept by elite guards who took care of it from reign to reign. In some cases, when one king died his regalia could be destroyed and his wives and servants executed. This group of officials was responsible for all the rituals and kept the king from getting out of line. They took care of the army, taxation, the court, etc., and so although the king ruled by divine right his powers were not absolute.

Today, wherever in the world African-born people may reside, the influence of their respective kings still has effect on their lives despite the powerful influences of modern life.

In 1979 Salomon Igbinoghodua was crowned the 38th Oba of Benin (Nigeria), a dynasty going back to the 13th century. Salomon had graduated from Cambridge in England, and when the Edo people living in Nigeria, England and the U.S. heard that ‘the great stick of chalk has been broken" they shaved their heads. When their hair grew back it would signal that the kingdom was reborn in Salomon, and harmony restored. When the Portuguese and Dutch first saw it the Benin palace was the size of a big town. The kings would go out surrounded by leopards and legions of warriors. In the 19th century the empire was crumbling and the god-kings ordered hundreds of human sacrifices. In 1897 the British decided to end Benin’s supremacy. They sent in the troops, exiled the Oba, pillaged his palace and confiscated his magnificent collection of art and bronzes.

Once restored the old ways were re-established. The oldest chief is still the Oba’s advisor. It is this chief’s duty to keep an eye on the local witches and make sure they use their powers for the good of the Oba. Once a year he exorcises the kingdom of all demons and protects the population from all forms of disaster, illness and other misfortunes.

According to legend the first king of Ife (Nigeria) was expelled from Mecca. His grandson, seeking revenge, started an expedition and ended up fighting with his brothers. He refused to return to Ife, leaving all his treasures with his faithful servant Adimu. Adimu became the king of Ife with the title of Oni. In 1953, the 49th Oni led the Nigerian delegation to Queen Elizabeth’s coronation and was the first African to own a Rolls Royce. The 50th Oni, a wealthy businessman, came to the throne in 1980. He owned homes in Nigeria and England. One of his wives had the sole task of designing and making his vast wardrobe. In 1988 he traveled to Trinidad, where he sat on a throne, over the heads of the Prime Minister and President, to preside over the ceremonies celebrating the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. He was considered by one African-American cult to be the incarnation of a Yoruba god. On his coronation he kissed the sword of justice and had to enter the palace seated on a cloth long ago stiffened by the dried blood of sacrifice victims.

There have even been some white kings recognized by their governments. For instance, Ghana's Jimmy Moxon, who became Nana Kofi Obonya. The name means "the chief born on Friday, who lives at the bottom of the cliff". Jimmy had just graduated from Cambridge and was 20-years-old when WWII broke out. He ended up as an administrative colonel on Ghana’s Gold Coast. Ghana was the first country to achieve independence in 1957. When Jimmy didn’t want to leave the king of Aburi made him a noble. He carried out his duties of settling disputes and sitting on the royal counsel with great respect. He was carried about on a litter and coached soccer. Because he worked out so well it became a custom for Ghana and Nigerian kings to appoint ‘white chiefs", for their neutrality in African quarrels. Even today there are several of them in Nigeria who take advantage of the financial opportunities to up their personal bottom lines.

Over in Zambia the Litunga of the Lozi was a sociologist and retired diplomat. He was chosen by the secret Grand College of Electors and appointed ‘guardian of the land’ in 1977. He is very powerful and owns the western province of Zambia. In the 17th century the Luyana people had conquered the peoples of the Upper Zambezi and founded the linguistic Lozi group, which takes in one quarter of the Zambian population. Their first real king was Lewanika who came to a protectorate agreement with the British in 1900, and when British royalty came to visit Lewanika was their host. He was presented with an admiral’s uniform, which has now become part of the Litunga’s official regalia. It is tailored for each new king, with real gold stitching.

The Misri Munongo, king of the Yeke people of the Congo, is an example of a monarch who came to power through violence. He was born in the copper and cobalt-rich province of Katanga. He targeted the "foreign’ (Luba-Kasai) workers in the mines and had them interned in camps or exterminated. Munongo wanted Katanga to secede from Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and came up against Patrice Lumumba who was trying to unite the Congo against the Belgians and stop secessionist movements like his. In 1961 Lumumba, very ill, was captured and taken to the airport in Katanga, He was never seen again and Munongo has never spoken of it. The Terror of Katanga came by his disgust of foreigners honestly. His grandfather’s caravans traveled regularly all the way to Zanzibar and he had made a fortune in ivory and copper. In 1850, he conquered the kingdoms of the Upper Katanga and had himself proclaimed king of the Yeke. Although faced with constant revolt he consolidated his territory over 40 years. But at the end of that century King Leopold II of Belgium gifted himself with the entire Congo Free State. The Misri resisted mightily but in the end was hunted down by an agent of Leopold, one Captain Dobson. They killed each other.

In Burkina Faso the Mogoho Naba is Emperor of the Mossi and King of the Universe. At one time the Mossi believed they were the only people on earth. Every Friday there is a ceremony in front of the palace to remember the 11th century incident when the King of Gambaga’s daughter lost control of her horse, plunged into the forest and met a hunter. Their four sons divided the Mossi nation between them and the eldest became the first Naba. One of his brothers ran off with his wife and his fetishes (objects said to have magical powers that his people worshipped). He wanted to go after them but his retinue talked him out of it. Today a horse is saddled outside the palace but the demigod Naba is stopped from going by the drums. His bare feet must never touch the ground. He is forbidden to shake hands with a stranger. In the 1980s the Republic’s President Sankara set up tribunals to bring members of the old regime to public trial. The colonial governments had supported the emperors, but Sankara threatened to bring the Naba to court for not paying his utility bills. All Mossi prefer death to humiliation, and so when he was sent a poison arrow and a rope by the Minister of the Interior, he immediately chose to prick his own thigh with the arrow (as opposed to being hung). His death was immediate.

On May 26, 1966 the then Prime Minister of Uganda ordered an attack on the palace of Buganda. General Idi Amin’s troops destroyed it. The Kabaka (king) of Buganda escaped to Barundi. Four years of a prestigious constitutional monarchy was over, as were those of Ankole, Bunyoro and Busoga. Four days ago Queen Sylvia Nagginda, wife of Buganda’s King Kabaka Ronald Muwena Mutebi II, 36th leader of a dynasty going back to the 1300s, visited a school in New England, part of a goodwill tour the Nnabagarekea is making of Australia, South Africa and the U.S. The monarchy was restored in 1995 and established in the Uganda constitution as a ‘cultural entity’.

It took more than a millennium to develop the societies, traditions, customs, borders and prestige of these kingdoms, and just a bit over a century for European occupation to destroy many of them. However by the end of the last century there were still hundreds of kings (and a Queen or two). Their power is spiritual, not political. Many are wealthy even by our standards and live far above their subjects. This is perfectly right and acceptable to all. Life outside the palaces is hard. Everything is substandard. The roads are bad. The phones never work. Illness is still caused by witchcraft. The concept of time is foreign to ours. But when author Daniel Laine worked for three years to take the photos of 70 African kings, by and large he met with great consideration and hospitality.

Kings let themselves be photographed in their formal regalia, including one who is carried around on a litter built to resemble a white Mercedes. The King of the Kuba’s (Congo) royal clothes weighs 185 pounds. Massively embroidered with cowrie shells, beads and feathers, it covers him literally from head to toe. It’s name ‘bwaantshy’ means, "devour the python". After two days of rituals to purify it before the king can wear it, it then takes two hours to put on. It is so hot that it cannot be worn for more than an hour at a time.

This book, called "African Kings", is a fascinating look into these monarchs’ lives and history. Anyone interested should get it from the library or check the internet. It is the main source of research for this column.

Today, many of these monarchs have either died or disappeared in the civil wars that continue to plague much of Africa. Guns are cheaper in many places than food. Although some kings have now been reduced to tourist attractions, to their people they are still powerful spiritual and traditional symbols that modern governments must acknowledge and work with.

Some of their dynasties have survived ten centuries, and they continue to influence in a seemingly parallel universe. Although some Africans consider them a shameful reminder of why these African kingdoms are blocked from becoming modern states, others see them as last bastions against the horrors of that world.