The Axum empire seems to have fallen as a result of the Jihad conquests that limited trade between her and her traditional trading partners.:
It is believed it began a long slow decline after the 7th century due partly to Islamic groups contesting trade routes. Eventually Aksum was cut off from its principal markets in Alexandria, Byzantium and Southern Europe and its trade share was captured by Arab traders of the era. The Kingdom of Aksum also quarreled with Islamic groups over religion. Eventually the people of Aksum were forced south and their civilization declined. As the kingdom's power declined so did the influence of the city, which is believed to have lost population in the decline similar to Rome and other cities thrust away from the flow of world events. The last known (nominal) king to reign was crowned ca. 10th century, but the kingdom's influence and power ended long before that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axum#Axum_and_IslamThe Ghana empire once again seems to have declined when conflict between her and the Almoravid empire erupted:
The empire began struggling after reaching its apex in the early 11th century. By 1059, the population density around the empire's leading cities was seriously overtaxing the region. The Sahara desert was expanding southward, threatening food supplies. While imported food was sufficient to support the population when income from trade was high, when trade faltered, this system also broke down. It has been often supposed that Ghana came under siege by the Almoravids in 1062 under the command of Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar in an attempt to gain control of the coveted Saharan trade routes. A war was waged, said to have been justified as an act of conversion through military arms (lesser jihad) in which they were eventually successful in subduing Ghana by 1067, despite resistance by Ghana Bassi and his successor Ghana Tunka Manin. This view however, has seen general scrutiny and is disputed by some scholars as a distortion of primary sources.[5] Conrad and Fisher (1982) suggested that the notion of any Almoravid military conquest at its core is merely perpetuated folklore, while others such as Dierk Lange attributed the decline of ancient Ghana to numerous unrelated factors, only one of which can be likely attributable to internal dynastic struggles that were instigated by Almoravid influence and Islamic pressures, but devoid of any military conversion and conquest.[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana_Empire#DeclineThe Mali empire is said to have declined after a king died and his three sons were left to quarrel over who should rule the empire. Additionally, (and once again) Jihadists seem to have attacked the Mali because they were not 'Islamic' enough?
Collapse
Mali Empire and surrounding states, c. 1625.
The mansa’s defeat actually won Manden the respect of Morocco and may have saved it from Songhai’s fate. It would be the Mandinka themselves that would cause the final destruction of the empire. Around 1610, Mahmud IV died. Oral tradition states that he had three sons who fought over Manden's remains. No single person ever ruled Manden after Mahmuud IV's death, resulting in the end of the Mali Empire.[56]
[edit] Manden Divided
The old core of the empire was divided into three spheres of influence. Kangaba, the de facto capital of Manden since the time of the last emperor, became the capital of the northern sphere. The Joma area, governed from Siguiri, controlled the central region, which encompassed Niani. Hamana or Amana, southwest of Joma, became the southern sphere with its capital at Kouroussa in modern Guinea.[56] Each ruler used the title of mansa, but their authority only extended as far as their own sphere of influence. Despite this disunity in the realm, the realm remained under Mandinka control into the mid 17th century. The three states warred on each other as much if not more than they did against outsiders, but rivalries generally stopped when faced with invasion. This trend would continue into colonial times against Tukulor enemies from the west.[57]
[edit] The Bamana Jihad
Then, in 1630, the Bamana of Djenné declared their version of holy war on all Muslim powers in present day Mali.[58] They targeted Moroccan Pashas still in Timbuktu and the mansas of Manden. In 1645, the Bamana attacked Manden seizing both banks of the Niger right up to Niani.[58] This campaign gutted Manden and destroyed any hope of the three mansas cooperating to free their land. The only Mandinka power spared from the campaign is Kangaba.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_Empire#CollapseThe Songhai empire seems to have fallen due to infighting and neighbors seeking to win territory:
Following Dauoud's death, a civil war of succession weakened the Empire, leading Saadi Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi of Morocco to dispatch an invasion force under the eunuch Judar Pasha. Judar Pasha was a Spaniard by birth, but had been captured as an infant and educated at the Saadi court. After a cross-Saharan march, Judar's forces razed the salt mines at Taghaza and moved on Gao; when Askia Ishaq II (r. 1588-1591) met Judar at the 1591 Battle of Tondibi, Songhai forces were routed by a cattle stampede triggered by the Saadi's gunpowder weapons despite vastly superior numbers. Judar proceeded to sack Gao, Timbuktu, and Djenné, destroying the Songhai as a regional power. Governing so vast an empire proved too much for the Saadi dynasty, and they soon relinquished control of the region, letting it splinter into dozens of smaller kingdoms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire#DeclineGreat Zimbabwe fell for reasons that are not entirely known, but it might have been due to the usual suspects, disruption in trade, famine and water shortages:
Decline
Causes for the decline and ultimate abandonment of the site have been suggested as due to a decline in trade compared to sites further north, political instability and famine and water shortages enduced by climatic change.[11][22] The Mutapa state arose in the fifteenth century from the northward expansion of the Great ZImbabwe tradition.[23] Great Zimbabwe also predates the Khami and Nyanga cultures.
The Kanem empire seems to have fallen for reasons that are not explicitly stated. Regardless, their fall occurred before the process of European colonization began.
The Bornu empire also fell due to Jihad as devout Muslims launched a Jihad against Muslims whom they viewed were irreligious - similar to the Jihads launched in regions such as Somalia and Iraq and Pakistan today against 'secular' governments or insufficiently Islamic rulers, etc:
Decline and Fall
The administrative reforms and military brilliance of Aluma sustained the empire until the mid-1600s, when its power began to fade. By the late 1700s, Bornu rule extended only westward, into the land of the Hausa of modern Nigeria. The empire was still ruled by the mai who was advised by his councilors (kokenawa) in the state council or "nokena".[2]
[edit] Fulani Jihad
Around that time, Fulani people, invading from the west, were able to make major inroads into Bornu. By the early 19th century, Kanem-Bornu was clearly an empire in decline, and in 1808 Fulani warriors conquered Ngazargamu. Usman dan Fodio led the Fulani thrust and proclaimed a holy war (the Fulani War) on the allegedly irreligious Muslims of the area. His campaign eventually affected Kanem-Bornu and inspired a trend toward Islamic orthodoxy, but a Muslim scholar turned statesman, Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi, contested the Fulani advance.
[edit] Muhammad al-Kanem
Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi was a Muslim scholar and non-Sayfawa commander who had put together an alliance of Shuwa Arabs, Kanembu, and other seminomadic peoples. He eventually built in 1814 a capital at Kukawa (in present-day Nigeria). Sayfawa mais remained titular monarchs until 1846. In that year, the last mai, in league with the Ouaddai Empire, precipitated a civil war. It was at that point that Kanemi's son, Umar, became king, thus ending one of the longest dynastic reigns in regional history.
[edit] Post Sayfawa
Although the dynasty ended, the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu survived. Umar eschewed the title mai for the simpler designation shehu (from the Arabic shaykh), could not match his father's vitality and gradually allowed the kingdom to be ruled by advisers (wazirs). Bornu began a further decline as a result of administrative disorganization, regional particularism, and attacks by the militant Ouaddai Empire to the east. The decline continued under Umar's sons. In 1893, Rabih az-Zubayr leading an invading army from eastern Sudan, conquered Bornu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bornu_Empi ... e_and_FallThe Kingdom of Kongo appears to have been the only sub-Saharan African civilization that was taken over by European powers - the article says the Portuguese took over the Kingdom and this, I am assuming, spelled the death for this African civilization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of ... ristianitySo, it looks like one in nine of Africa's sub-Saharan civilizations were erased by European powers and the rest fell because of Islamic Jihad warfare or infighting or for other reasons.
As for the rape of Africa, that's new to me. Are you referring to the slave trade that took place in East Africa that resulted in the enslavement of some 10 or so million individuals and was abolished by the Europeans (although slavery really continues in Muslim African nations to this day - where in one Muslim African nation, one quarter of the population is a slave)?
Or perhaps you're referring to the rape of European coasts by Muslim African (Berber, Arab) pirates that resulted in the enslavement of over one and half million Europeans? Or perhaps you're thinking of West Africa, where slavery was already rampant and slaves were simply sold to the Europeans by Muslims who enslaved pagan tribes people?
