Oral Tradition and Chronology

Author(s): David P. Henige

Source: The Journal of African History, Vol. 12, No. 3 (1971), pp. 371-389
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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Journal of African History, xii, 3 (1971), pp. 37I-389

Printed in Great Britain

ORAL TRADITION
BY DAVID

AND

371

CHRONOLOGY

P. HENIGE

'Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which beget

controversies. .. '
i Timothy I:4
FROM the very beginning, ethnographers and historians of Africa have
been interested in the historical time-depths of the societies with which
they dealt. All too often, however, this interest has confined itself to
accepting the historical traditions of the society without recourse to more
rigid analysis. In the past decade, with the quickening interest in all
aspects of African history, more serious attention has been paid to efforts
to establish a reliable, if necessarily inexact, framework for pre-colonial
Africa. This was exemplified by the Conference on African Chronology
held in I966 under the aegis of the School of Oriental and African Studies
of the University of London. Several of the more important papers,
together with an introductory essay illustrating the aims and results of
this Conference, have recently occupied an entire number of this Journal.j
Although the Conference developed several techniques and approaches
to the problem of African chronology, the perspective was almost entirely
African, and very little data from other areas of the world was utilized
to illuminate the African problem. This paper argues that the subject
falls empirically and analytically within the comparative mould.2 To
attempt to separate the chronological gold from the pyrite, no matter
how carefully a researcher assesses a given tradition in terms of content
and transmission, or analyses its relationship to its environment, will not
be successful, because this method is too restricted in its application.
Bringing a large amount of comparative data to this task will provide
clearer perspectives. A series of documented cases with similar patterns
and practices to the one at hand can provide statistical analyses which in
turn can suggest levels of probability. Here it is only hoped to indicate
some of the chronological problems which have occurred throughout
the world and to discuss, if only in the briefest manner, some of the
literature devoted to them, with only an occasional reference to African
data for purposes of comparison or elucidation. In this way it is hoped
to suggest some patterns which have occurred in well-documented
societies as well as in those whose history, like nearly all of sub-Saharan
1J. Afr. Hist., xi, no. 2 (I970). The author wishes to thank Jan Vansina of the University
of Wisconsin for his usual incisive and stimulating comments on this article in its early
stages and for his encouragement in general, and D. H. Jones for his helpful interest
at a later stage.
2 For one
example of the efficacy of the comparative approach see Introduction
to Jack Goody Succession to High Office (Cambridge, I966), 1-56.
25

AH XII

372

DAVID

P. HENIGE

Africa, has been preserved primarily through oral tradition. The different
forms these patterns take will hopefully be instructive when evaluating
the chronological content of any oral tradition.
This approach must be made on two levels. On the one hand some
absolute dating can be achieved through eclipse data, numismatic and
epigraphic evidence, and Muslim and European records. The value of
these data is clearly recognized, and only brief attention will be given to
them at the end of this paper. But obviously the most important source of
chronological information is oral tradition, and it is to an assessment
of this source that primary attention will be given. There are several
ways to mine a body of tradition for its chronological content. The use
of synchronisms for African history has been discussed in the special
number of this Journal already cited, but a study of the uses of this technique elsewhere may yet be instructive.
The outstanding example of the synchronistic approach, both in terms
of the quantity of material available and in the sophistication of its use,
is the Ancient Near East. The historical records of the area, which was
relatively small and composed of several literate and closely related
societies, are riddled with synchronistic references. The Venus Tablets
of Ammi-saduqa of the First Dynasty of Babylon contain astronomical
data which could represent only five dates between 800oand I500 B.C.
On this basis Hammurabi, the most famous ruler of the Dynasty, could be
dated to B.C. 1947-I905,

1848-1806, I792-I750,

1728-I686,

or I704-I662.

This range of almost two and a half centuries could only be reduced
by extensive application of synchronisms. These have been tabulated
on the basis of their relative certainty and, as this process was developed,
it became apparent that only the dates of I792-I750 and I728-1668
were acceptable in so far as they were not flatly contradicted by any
other body of evidence. These two are known as the 'middle' and 'low'
chronology, and the champions of each delight in marshalling their
evidence and ingeniously arguing their particular points of view. However, unless further evidence becomes available, a final resolution of this
problem is impossible, although, on the principle of Occam's Razor, a
date of 1792-I750 for Hammurabi seems the more acceptable.3
Although this is the classic example of the benefits of the use of synchronisms to supplement and clarify other data, other examples are not
lacking. Unfortunately, those examples which rely most heavily on oral
data are the ones which present the most perplexing problems. Efforts to
arrive at notional datings for early Maori history are bedevilled by the
task of reconciling synchronistic references in traditions with wildly
variant genealogical data. For example, one body of traditions containing
3 The literature on this is immense, but see especially M. B. Rowton, 'The Date of
Hammurabi', J. Near Eastern Studies, xvII (1958), 97-III, and the latest recapitulation
of the problem in W. C. Hayes, M. B. Rowton and F. H. Stubbings (eds.), 'Chronology:
Egypt, Western Asia, Aegean Bronze Age', a fascicle in the revised edition of vols. I
and ii of the Cambridge Ancient History. This includes an extensive bibliography.

ORAL TRADITION

AND CHRONOLOGY

373

several genealogies shows the coming of the Great Fleet, a cardinal

point in Maori history, as occurring anywhere from fourteen to twentysix generations before I900.4 References to genealogies from other parts
of New Zealand only complicate the problem. The 'staggering' of generations over time cannot adequately account for such divergencies.5 For
Africa the synchronistic approach has been most extensively applied
to the interlacustrine area, but the results, especially for the earlier period,
are scarcely satisfactory.6 To make substantial progress there it may be
necessary to recognize that the genealogical data given in the traditions
is questionable.7 Despite its weaknesses, the use of synchronisms can
provide much useful data, although any conclusions should be recognized
as subject to modifications imposed by other data.
Further discussion of the chronological aspects of oral tradition is best
related to the weaknesses, distortions and limitations endemic to oral
tradition everywhere, although we are interested here only in those aspects
which influence their chronological content. Since this content is most
often expressed through kinglists, the first question to ask of any kinglist is: How accurate is it in terms of the number and genealogical filiations of the rulers contained in it? That is, has it been telescoped or
artificially lengthened? Telescoping as a technique needs no explanation.
The reasons for its occurrence may be several. Official kinglists often,
perhaps usually, omit the names of 'usurpers'. The concept of usurper
is a relative and fluid one. A man often becomes a usurper, not because
of his lineal illegitimacy, but because of his ultimate failure to retain the
throne.8 Success becomes the measure of illegitimacy, or non-lineality
justification for oblivion.9 For Bunyoro, John Nyakatura explained that
4 D. R. Simmons, 'A New Zealand Myth: Kupe, Toi and the "fleet" ', New Zealand
J. Hist. in, no. i (Apr. I969), 28.
5 As noted by R. W. Halbert in J. B. Roberton and R. W. Halbert, 'Chronology of
Maori Tradition', Hist. Rev. (Whakatane), no. Ii (Dec. I963), 194. This series of short
articles in the Hist. Rev., no. ii (Dec. 1963), I93-8; no. I2 (Sept. 1964), I39-43; (Dec.
x964), I82-4, together with R. W. Halbert, 'Genealogies as a means of Maori prehistory',
idem, no. o (Dec. 1962), 105-I4, constitute an illuminating debate concerning the validity
of relying heavily on genealogical evidence for chronological purposes.
8 W. D. Cohen, 'A survey of interlacustrine chronology', J. Afr. Hist., xi no. 2 (1970),
chart opp. p. I90 and pp. 192-4.
7
Cohen, 'Survey', I90-I, shows twenty-two of the twenty-seven dynastic units with
father/son succession. Significantly those where this pattern is compromised, e.g. Buganda and Rwanda, have been the states most studied.
8 Under the succession practices in force among the Celtic states, Macbeth was not a
usurper but, on the contrary, the rightful heir to the Scottish throne. Malcolm, as son of
Duncan, would have been considered the least eligible contender for immediate succession to his father. However, it was at this time that the principle of filial succession was
beginning to make inroads into the Celtic realms. Macbeth's successor failed to retain the
throne, and Malcolm and filial succession as a principle ultimately triumphed. And so
Macbeth was consigned to history as a usurper when in fact he was not.
9 The Pharaohs of Egypt often attempted to chisel the cartouches of their predecessors
from public monuments but unaccountably ignored other records. Alan Gardiner,
Egypt of the Pharaohs (Oxford, I96i), I82. Korean annalists 'took the position of flatly
denying the reigns' of rulers who had been deposed. Yasukasu Suematsu, 'Introduction

374

DAVID

P. HENIGE

'the number of Abakama who were fighting was not counted and also an
Omubito who was killed before 9 years passed was not counted as king'.l0
Nyakatura scoffed at the practice in Buganda, 'where they count anyone
who sat on the throne of the kingdom and also Abaragwa Ngoma such
as Mwanga I, who spent only nine days as Kabaka'.1
Likewise, rulers imposed by a foreign suzerain have often been expunged from the record. It is likely that several rulers of Assyria, when
the land was subject to Ur and later to Babylon, were not included in
the official kinglist.12 In other cases, rulers whose reigns were disastrous
or unusually tyrannical may find their way out of the transmitted kinglists.
In this way oral traditions, in their function of preserving the semblance
of stability and continuity, frequently resort to the technique of telescoping.
The case of Ashanti comes immediately to mind.13
There is no way of accurately gauging the effects of 'usurpers', interregna, periods of chaos or foreign rule, and changes of dynasty on the
perceived time depth of a particular polity, and independent evidence
is not often available for analytical purposes.14 But at least a survey of
societies throughout the world amply demonstrates the extent of this
propensity, and an awareness of this is essential when analysing a tradition.
For instance, changes in dynasty, which can have chronological implications, may well be masked as stories of 'lost', 'hidden', or 'exiled' heirs who
reappear when necessary to carry on the dynasty. In this regard it is
noteworthy that there are few recorded changes of dynasty in pre-colonial
Africa, although this is scarcely uncommon elsewhere. This Moses-in-thebulrushes theme is very widespread and of venerable antiquity. According
to Herodotus, Cyrus, first Achemenid king, was a grandson of the last
Median king who, abandoned as an infant, was rescued and secretly
raised, and ultimately reclaimed his patrimony.15
to the Ri Dynasty Annals', Memoirs of the Research Department of Toyo Bunko, xvII
(1958), 148. For similar practices in early Assyria, see Hildegard Lewy, 'On Some Problems of Kassite and Assyrian Chronology', Melanges Isidore Levy (Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves, xIII (953)), 265.
10 John A. Nyakatura, Abakama ba Bunyoro-Kitara (The Bakama of Bunyoro-Kitara),
tr. by John Rowe, in manuscript form at Midwest Center for Research Libraries, Chicago,
11 Ibid.
Illinois, 55.
12 William Hallo, 'Zariqum', J. Near Eastern Studies, xv (1956), 219-20; Hildegard
Lewy, 'Assyria, c. 26oo-i8i6 B.C.', fascicle in revised edition of vols. I and II of Cambridge Ancient History, 20, 24; idem, 'On Some Problems', 265, 282.
13 Margaret Priestley and Ivor Wilks, 'The Ashanti kings of the eighteenth century:
a revised chronology', J. Afr. Hist. I, no. i (I960), 89-90.
14 Under certain circumstances
interregna can occupy a significant segment of a society's
time-depth. Among the Imbangala of Kasanje, only twenty-seven years of true kingship
are recognized as existing between c. I6io and 1911, because a progression of ceremonies
was required before complete installation was effected and in most cases this never
occurred. Information provided by Joseph C. Miller, who conducted research among the
Imbangala in I969/70.
15 Herodotus, The Persian Wars. Bk. I, 108-30. Other examples from this period
would include Romulus, 'grandson' of the penultimate ruler of Alba Longa and hence a
direct descendant of the rulers of Troy by the accepted genealogy. The cases of Oedipus

ORAL TRADITION

AND CHRONOLOGY

375

The theme may also serve to connect a first, historical ruler with a
long line of legendary ancestors, thereby giving the dynasty a much longer
existence.'6 This lost-heir theme can thus be an important indicator of a
dynastic break, a period of foreign domination, or even as a signpost of
historicity.17

Another, less conscious and therefore less obvious, form of telescoping

is to compress an entire epoch into a generation or a reign of a single
ruler. Often this can be easily detected, as in predynastic China, where
the earliest rulers were given reigns of prodigious length and each is
associated with the introduction of one or more cultural elements.18
On the other hand this process may be more carefully hidden in the
tradition. Thus John Boston sees the first few Igala rulers as 'symbols
of the nation', and argues that Igala traditions 'cover only a fraction of
the total time-span of Igala history'.19 He believes this occurred because
of the functions oral tradition played in Igala politics. Although these
functions more often result in increasing the time depth, it is important
to remember that the opposite may also be true.
Finally, and more prosaically, telescoping may occur through the
faulty collective memories of the transmitters of the list. This is especially
true in societies where such transmission is not an official function, and
where sanctions are not imposed for errors.
In centralized societies artificial lengthening is more common than
telescoping. Antiquity is evidently venerated almost everywhere, and a
desire to create a priority in this regard seems to be an overwhelming
temptation. The Korean peninsula was, in the first millennium, composed
of three major kingdoms. By the ninth century Silla, one of them, had
conquered the others. At a later date, when the chronology of the three
kingdoms was composed, Silla was provided with a foundation date of
57 B.C.; Koguryo, the last kingdom conquered by Silla, with a date of 37
and Theseus may also be cited. The practice was also common in medieval Norway.
For one case see G. M. Gathorne-Hardy, A Royal Impostor: King Sverre of Norway
(London, I956).
16 An example of this motif as a bridge between legend and history is that of Piryu,
first historical king of Paekche, who, according to the later chronicles, 'lived long amongst
the people' before ascending the throne seventy years after the death of his father. K. H.
J. Gardiner, 'Some problems concerning the founding of Paekche', Archiv Orientdlni,
xxxvII (1969), 584 n.
17 In Africa the lost or exiled heir returning to claim his rightful place and continue
the dynasty is found twice in early Buganda and twice in Rwanda. Apolo Kagwa, Basekabaka ba Buganda (History of the Kabakas of Buganda), tr. by John Rowe, in typescript
at Midwest Center for Research Libraries, Chicago, 10-12;
Jan Vansina, L'evolution
du royaume Rwanda des origines i 9oo00 (Brussels, 1962), 49, 51, 52.
18
J. Macgowan, A History of China from the earliest times to the present (London,
1897), 4-I7.
19 J. S. Boston, 'Oral Tradition and the History of the Igala', J. Afr. Hist., x no. I
(1969), 29, 35. Similarly A. L. Basham, 'Prince Vijaya and the Aryanization of Ceylon',
Ceylon Hist. J., I (1952), 171, regards Vijaya, allegedly first ruler of the island, 'not as an
individual but a type-the bold, ruthless Aryan pioneer who was one of the elements
responsible for the spread of Aryan culture all over India and beyond'.

DAVID

376
B.C.;

P. HENIGE

and Paekche, first to lose its independence, with a suitably later

date of i8 B.C. The linchpin date of 57 B.C. was furthermore

based on

cyclical considerations.20 The Irish chroniclers created literally hundreds

of monarchs out of whole cloth in order to bring the date of the foundation
of the so-called High Kingship to a date suitably anterior to the alleged
foundation of Rome.21 The Pictish kinglists added about forty rulers at
their beginning, including thirty consecutive rulers named Brude, each
pair with rhyming cognomens.22 In a study of one of the Rajput bardic
castes, the authors point out that the genealogist is 'both the preserver
and creator of myths'.23 As many as 200 generations are added at the
beginning of Rajput genealogies in order to please the genealogist's patron.
These genealogies were written down, and originally these interpolations
could be detected. However, as each vahi, or book of genealogies, became
filled, a new one was written, all in the same hand, and the earlier vahi
discarded. As a result it no longer became possible to ascertain what
constituted the genuine part of the genealogy and what were accretions.24
In the Irish case, as with the Korean kingdoms, genealogies were
manipulated and created to fit the political realities at the time they were
constructed. Hence a great deal of transplantation occurred which was
specifically designed to associate presently powerful dynasties with
those, real or otherwise, of venerated antiquity. In both these cases,
textual criticism has been able to bring much of this to light.25 In purely
oral transmission, such analysis may help to determine the provenience
and approximate dating of the kinglist and possibly to provide some
indications of its reliability.
It is usually not difficult to detect the grosser forms of genealogical
barnacles, such as, for example, the Pictish case. In some cases early
rulers are frequently eponyms, patronyms, toponyms, or otherwise
symbolically named. Or they might be given regnal lengths befitting
Biblical patriarchs.26The use of this mechanism is common to all parts
of the world, although it does not often assume such egregious forms.27
20 Gardiner, 'Some
problems', 573-6. See also idem. 'The beginnings of Korean history'
J. Orient. Soc. Australia, iv no. I (June I966), 82, 83, 87, 89.
21T. F.
O'Rahilly, Early Irish History and Mythology (Dublin, 1957), 260-85, 409-18,
and John V. Kelleher, 'Early Irish History and Pseudo-History', Studia Hibernica, in
(1963),

113-27.

Marjorie 0. Anderson, 'The Lists of Kings', Scot. Hist. Rev., xxvIII (I949),
I0914; H. M. Chadwick, Early Scotland: the Scots and Welsh of Southern Scotland (Cambridge, 1949), I-I7; Elaine Henderson, The Picts (London, I967), 162-5.
23 A. M. Shah, and R. G. Shroff, 'The Vahivanca Barots of Gujarat: a caste of
genealogists and mythographers' in Milton Singer (ed.), Traditional India: Structure and Change
(Philadelphia, 1959), 51.
24 Ibid. 46, 47, 51, 56, 64.
26 Kelleher, 'Early Irish History', 125-6.
26 The rulers of Kanem, to establish a
genealogical connexion with pre-Islamic Arabia,
adopted the simple, if transparent, device of providing their earliest rulers with reigns
up to 250, 'some say 300', years. H. R. Palmer, Bornu, Sahara and Sudan (London,
1936), 90.
27 The five 'Good Emperors' of China were credited with a total reign period of over
60o years, doubtless reflecting the consciously epochal nature of their rule.
22

ORAL TRADITION

AND CHRONOLOGY

377

For instance the first seventeen emperors of Japan are credited with a
total reign period of i,059 years, or an average of 62.3 years each, while
the subsequent rulers averaged only I4.7 years each.28 In the Malay
Sultanate of Kedah the first eleven rulers totalled 465 years, while the
last fifteen totalled 367 years.29 For Bono-Manso, Mrs Meyerowitz shows
the first nine rulers with an average of 33.3 years each, while the last
twelve averaged a mere I2.I years each.30 For Paekche, the first twelve,
non-historical, rulers were presumed to have ruled 363 years, while the
next seventeen, historical, rulers totalled only 205 years.31Reigns of rulers
of the various Native States of India before c. 1700 are usually much
longer than those of the later period, even though adoption of very young
heirs was evidently more common during the past two centuries.32 However, although instances of this method of artificial lengthening are
common, their interest to African chronology can be considered only
marginal, since few African king lists provide regnal lengths.
Yet another way to lengthen a kinglist is to show several contemporaneous contenders as successive rulers. This particular form has a long, if
not honourable, history. The Sumerian King List, dating from c. 2100 B.C.,
considered all the rulers of Mesopotamia before that time to have been
consecutive, just the capital moving about the countryside. In fact the
concept of the moving capital reflected the fact that the rulers mentioned
in the King List were generally real enough, but were rulers of many
separate and often contemporaneous city-states.33 But the classic example
of this form is Manetho's structuring of Egyptian history into thirty
allegedly consecutive dynasties. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century
Egyptologists were misled by this schema into dating the beginning of
Egyptian dynastic history as far back as before 5000 B.C.34 In fact more
recent archaeological research has shown that the first ruler of the First
Abstracted from The Okagami (London, I967), 442-5.
R. O. Winstedt, 'Notes on the History of Kedah', J. Malay Branch, Roy. Asiatic
Soc., xIv, no. 3 (Dec. 1936), I86-7; J. S. Bastin and R. Roolvink (eds.), Malayan and
Indonesian Studies (Oxford, I964), Appendix B.
30 Eva L. R. Meyerowitz, Akan Traditions of Origin (London, I952),
32. The anomalies
of this list and some statistical inferences are discussed in Colin Flight, 'The chronology of
the Kings and Queenmothers of Bono-Manso: a revaluation of the evidence', J. Afr.
28

29

Hist., xi, no. 2 (1970),

259-67.

Gardiner, 'Some problems', 573-4. For similar problems in Koguryo, another

Korean kingdom of the period see idem, 'The Origin and Rise of the Korean Kingdom
of Kogury6 from the first century B.C. to A.D. 313', Ph.D. dissertation, University of
London, 1964, pp. 210, 330, 332a, 492a, 430a. For Koguryo the problems are posed by
the genealogical matter in the chronicles.
32 On Chattisgarh, where the chronicles show thirty-three
consecutive father/son
successions between c. 250 and 1770 and then eight more generations to 1948, see S.
Sinha, 'State formation and Rajput myth in tribal central India', Man in India, XLII
(1962), 40. This is an extreme example but hardly a rare one.
33 Thorkild Jacobsen, The Sumerian
King List (Chicago, 1966), passim, esp. tables I and
II.
a4 Petrie, as late as 1923, showed a date of 5546 B.C. for the first ruler of united Egypt.
W. M. Flinders Petrie, A History of Egypt from the earliest kings to the XVI Dynasty
31

(London,

1923),

0o.

DAVID

378

P. HENIGE

Dynasty lived c. 3Ioo B.c.20oo

years, and that many of Manetho's
dynasties were only localized and were contemporaneous with other of
his dynasties. Nevertheless, his scheme had been so long accepted that
it had become historiographically indispensable, and we are left with
such anomalies as the XVII Dynasty ending before the XIV
Dynasty.35
That contemporaneous rulers are listed as consecutive in African
oral tradition cannot be doubted. For instance, the French records from
Senegal show that certain rulers shown in the Walo chronicles as consecutive were in fact competing contenders for the throne for a period
of 'at least five years'.36 In the absence of contemporary but independent
records, it may be impossible to detect this kind of occurrence in oral
tradition, although certain cliches may provide indicative clues.
Special attention should be paid to what is doubtless the most insidious and widespread technique directly contributing to the deliberate
lengthening of a royal genealogy. This is the father/son succession pattern.
I would strongly argue that the first rule in this matter is that any genealogy
that exhibits more than eight or nine consecutive father/son successions
should a priori be considered suspect. For the well-documented occurrence of ten or more such successions is very rare indeed. Thus, an analysis
of 5,574 successions in 328 dynasties of at least ten rulers each shows only
the following eight instances of indisputable (so far as the term may be
used) father/son succession extending over a period of at least ten generations:
Lippe-Detmold
15 successions
II96-1650
successions
II
1486-1786
Brandenburg/Prussia
France

II successions

Ahom dynasty of Assam Io successions

First Dynasty of Babylon Io successions
io successions
Brienne
o successions
Denmark
Foix

Io successions

996-I316

I407-1644

c.

1894-1595
I020-I356

i534-i839
I07I-I39I37

Of these eight, the Ahom case might be considered doubtful, both because
of the nature of the sources and because the average regnal/generation
length is significantly lower than the others, always a sign that a collateral
succession may have occurred at some point.38
All of these successions were drawn from societies where filial success35 Hayes et al. 'Chronology', 15-I7.

L.-P. Raybaud 'L'administration du Senegal de I78I a 1784', Annales Africaines

(1968), I68-70.
37 I have excluded from the
listing the thirteen Ottoman Sultans who ruled from c.
1290 to I603. This father/son succession pattern was disturbed by two abdications and
reaccessions and a period (1402-I413) of collegial rule. A. D. Alderson, The Structure
of the Ottoman Dynasty (Oxford, I956).
38 N. N. Acharyya, The History of Medieval Assam (Gauhati, I966), 82-109;
E. A. Gait,
A History of Assam (3rd rev. ed., Calcutta, 1963), 85-I25. Gait, 105-7, speaks of the
conflicting accounts in the chronicles for part of this period.
36

ORAL TRADITION

AND CHRONOLOGY

379

ion was the ideal if not always the norm. 3,992 successions in 223 dynasties
were drawn from western Europe and certain other areas where monogamy, or at least serial polygamy, was practised. The remaining successions
were drawn from Indian and Muslim dynasties where polygamy was
more often practised.39
But far too large a proportion of royal genealogies received through
oral tradition will show very long series of father/son successions and
then, significantly, branch out into more typical collateral forms of
succession as the genealogy approaches the time of ultimate transmission.40
This pattern is so widespread that it may fairly be called stereotypical.41
Probably the classic African example of this practice is that of Rwanda
as expounded by Abbe Alexis Kagame. Rwanda, says Kagame, 'formerly
adhered to a rule, religiously observed, which established that God
created only one King for each generation'.42 In fact there have been
39 However, none of the dynasties of ancient and early medieval India has been included. Many of these, e.g. the Hoysalas, display extended father/son succession patterns.
For a convenient listing of these dynasties see T. R. Trautmann, 'Length of Reign and
Generation in Ancient India', J. Am. Orient. Soc. LXXXIX, no. 3 (I969), 574-7. The
evidence for most of these dynasties consists of inscriptions showing ascendant genealogies
for several generations. Many dynasties have been reconstructed almost solely on the
basis of these kinds of inscriptions, and the genealogy has usually been interpreted as a
some of
kinglist. Doubtless many such inscriptions remain undiscovered-probably
hitherto unknown rulers. In any event collaterals who may have had short reigns would
be less likely to leave epigraphic evidence of their reigns. I would therefore argue that
Trautmann's regnal average (20.5) is too high, although his generation average (27.0)
would be less affected. On this problem generally, see B. C. Sen, 'Early Indian approach
to history and some problems of its reconstruction', J. Bihar Res. Soc., LIV (I968), 13,
and G. Raychaudhuri, 'The Early History of the Kachwahas of Amber' in D. R. Bhandarkar (ed.), B.C. Law Volume, Pt. I (Calcutta, 1945), 684.
40 An example of this may be seen in a description of the succession in the Punjab
state of Bashahr: 'It is said that for 6I generations the Raja never had more than one son.
For the succeeding 60 generations the Raja has had two or even three sons but as a rule
only the eldest son had sons of his own. But, the direct line is likely to become extinct, for
the present Raja is seventy years of age and his only son died leaving an infant son who
died eleven months later.' Punjab State Gazetteers: Simla Hill States, sub Bashahr, 5.
Thus we are to believe that after 121 generations of unfailing father/son succession, two
successive generations became extinct within eleven months without ruling. For an
almost identical description of the succession in an early Thai state, delivered with the
same lack of incredulity, see Kachorn Sukhabanij, 'Proposed dating of the YonokChiengsaen Dynasty', J. Burma Res. Soc. XLIII (I960), 6i-2.
41 How
stereotypical may be seen from a comparison of the succession in the Mossi
state of Bussuma in Georges Cheron, 'Contribution a l'histoire du Mossi. Traditions
relatives au cercle de Kaya (Haute-Volta)', Bulletin de la Comite d'Etudes Historiques et
662-79, and in Junzo Kawada,
Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Franfaise (I924),
'Chronologie des Bussuma Naba', Notes et Documents Voltaiques, II, no. 2 (I969), 42-54.
Cheron shows twenty-six rulers for twenty-three generations over 400 years. Kawada
shows only eight generations and only five father/son successions. Michel Izard, Introduction a l'histoire des royaumes Mossi (2 vols., Paris, I970), II, 240-3, accepts neither,
feeling Kawada shows too few generations to accommodate a foundation date of c. I600
for the state, but a forty year generational average where fraternal succession is common
does not seem excessive.
42
Kagamd, La notion de la gene'rationappliquee a la genealogie dynastique et de l'histoire
du Rwanda des Xe-XIe siecles a nos jours (Brussels, 1959), passim, esp. p. 45 (emphasis
added).

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several more rulers than generations in Rwandan history.43 The concept

of a single ruler for each generation is attractive, especially from the
royal perspective. Assiduously propagated, it has the advantage of enhancing the authority of the reigning monarch by serving to suppress
both collateral contention for the throne and popular revolt. It is therefore
not without significance that more often than not those remembered in
oral tradition as usurpers were near collaterals rather than non-royals.
The case of Jaipur, a Rajput principality of northern India, may serve to
underscore this point. Inscriptions and Mughal records attest to the
existence of three Rajas not mentioned anywhere in the Jaipur state
chronicles. Each of these rulers was the brother of his successor or predecessor who died prematurely or was expelled from the throne by a
brother or nephew. As a result of these deletions, the Jaipur chronicles
show a much more regular father/son succession pattern than actually
existed.44
We see Abbe Kagame's words echoed by Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa),
who declared that 'the law of male primogeniture operating through
successive generations made the first born of the first born in each generation the head of the extended family and successor to the title of ariki' in
Polynesia.45 And in fact Polynesia, whose past, even more than that of
Africa, is dependent on oral tradition, repays further consideration in
terms of the approaches historians have taken regarding the genealogies
of the area. Tonga provides a useful microcosm for such a study. There
eventually developed in Tonga four lines of chiefs who shared various
powers among themselves: the Tu'i Togas, by far the most ancient of the
lines, were the most sacred, and the other lines respectively less so, in
relation to their relative antiquity. In terms of secular and military power
the reverse was true. According to the traditions there were about forty
Tu'i Togas before the abolition of the title in I865. In building a chronology for Tonga, anthropologists and historians have usually multiplied
the number of Tu'i Togas in a given tradition by twenty-five years,
representing what was considered a reasonable generation length, and
thereby arrived at a tenth-century date for the establishment of the
43 See
J. Vansina, 'The Use of Oral Tradition in African Cultural History' in C.
Gabel and N. R. Bennett (eds.), Reconstructing African Cultural History (Boston, 1967),

62.
44 For the chronicle version see
Rajputana and Ajmer, List of Ruling Princes, Notables

and Other Personages (Delhi, I938), 78-87. For the collateral successions see Raychaudhuri, 'Early History', 683-94 and V. S. Bhargava, 'The Successor of Raja Bharmall of
Amber (Jaipur)', J. Andhra Hist. Res. Soc. xxxi (1965/6), 5I-4. For similar practices in
the Puranic genealogies, see A. L. Basham, 'The Average Length of the Generation and
the Reign in Ancient India' in idem, Studies in Indian History and Culture (Calcutta,
1964), 8i. Basham speculates that the Puranic kinglists omit one in seven rulers 'owing
to their being younger sons or mere upstarts'.
45 Buck, Ethnology of Mangareva (Honolulu, 1938), 157. For a discussion of the concept
of ariki as first-born see Aarno A. Koskinen, Ariki the First-Born: an analysis of a Polynesian chiefly title (Helsinki, x960), See also F. L. S. Bell, 'A Functional Interpretation
of Inheritance and Succession in Central Polynesia', Oceania, III (x932), I85-94.

ORAL TRADITION

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38I

Tu'i Toga line.46 It is particularly interesting to note, then, that the reigns
of the various Tongan chiefs after c. I775 are much shorter, and there
are several cases of usurpation and other examples of non-lineal succession.47 Unquestionably this later period was an unsettled one in all of
Oceania, but wars were also frequent in earlier periods and authority often
devolved on military leaders.48 Did none of these aspire to the form as
well as the substance, and appropriate to themselves the Tu'i Toga title?
From the traditions alone one would judge not, but rather that succession
passed peacefully from father to son as generation succeeded generation.49
It is therefore all the more interesting that Raymond Firth, in analysing
the succession in the four chiefdoms of Tikopia, found that only twentyseven of forty-nine successions were father/son. The remainder were by
sons' sons, brothers, brothers' sons, and 'other agnates'.50
An imaginative and possibly common method of maintaining the
semblance of father/son succession was through the process which might
be termed 'symbolic filiation'. This may take various forms. In discussion
the traditions of Kiamtwara, a Haya state, Cory relates that the second
ruler of the dynasty succeeded by bisisi, which 'allows for the relation
between sexual intercourse and childbirth but leaves the time factor out
of consideration, ruling that the first child born to a wife several years
after her husband's death or after divorce is his son'.51 In like fashion
Wood describes an early succession in Tonga:
Talatama died without children, and, as descent in the Tu'i Toga line was
from father to son, his brotherTalaiha'ahahedid not wish to succeed at once.
Accordinglya block of wood from the toutree was called the son of Talatamaand
installed as Tu'i Toga, and a woman was appointed to be its wife; later it was
said that the block of wood was dead, and it was buried in a terracedtomb. The
crafty Talaiha'ahahethen became king, not as Talatama'sbrotherbut as the 'son'
of the blockof wood.52
Here may be the confused vestiges of a usurpation, probably not the
only one in Tongan history. But it is important to note that in these
two cases the chronological implications are quite different. In Kiamtwira, the 'son' might have been the age of a grandson. Hence
46A-C-E Caillot, Mythes, legendes et traditions des Polynesiens
(Paris, 1914), 306-7;
E. E. V. Collocott, 'An Experiment in Tongan History', J. Polynesian Soc. xxxIII (1924),
166-70; A. H. Wood, A History and Geography of Tonga (Nuku'alofa, 1932), 65 et passim;
H. J. M. Claessen, 'A survey of the history of Tonga: some new views', Bijdragen tot de
Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde, cxxiv (I968), 506; R. W. Williamson, The Social and
Political System of Central Polynesia (3 vols., Cambridge, 1924), I, I35-5I.
47
Claessen, 'Survey', 516.
48 Koskinen, Ariki, I2-13.
49 Of course, in this regard it is unclear how the traditions may have handled any
usurpations. They may have omitted them, or they may have retroactively clothed any
usurpers with the raiment of lineal legitimacy.
50 Raymond Firth, 'Succession to Chieftainship in Tikopia', Oceania, xxx
(1960), i68.
Significantly, most of these successions fall within the historical period.
'5 Hans Cory, A History of Bukoba District (Dar-es-Salaam, 1962), 53.
52 Wood, History, 8, with emphasis added.

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a generation is gained. Conversely, in Tonga, the 'grandson' was the

brother of his predecessor. Hence the loss of two generations. It is surely
not unreasonable to suspect the existence of such practices, particularly
in societies where levirate marriage or allied institutions are present.
Again, the best way to test the validity of the extended father/son
succession pattern is to analyse patterns in well-documented areas.
In addition to the broad survey of lengthy father/son successions described above, an analysis was made of the succession patterns in fifty
of the German principalities. In these there was an average of 1.27 rulers
per generation; eldest sons often predeceased their fathers; and there
were several instances of lines becoming extinct due to the lack of a male
heir of any kind.53 It could be argued that in a polygynous society, or at
least where polygyny is a royal prerogative, such matters as the extinction
of the royal line or even the lack of filial heirs-subject of course to
terms of eligibility-is much less likely to occur. The above analysis
appears to indicate that this may not be so.54 It is obvious that a plethora
of sons, even if all are eligible, does not in itself preclude ambitious
uncles or other agnates. After all, polygyny implies more brothers as
well as more sons, and few dynasties practised the methods employed
by the Ottoman or Ethiopian rulers to inhibit fraternal rivalries. Furthermore, circumstantial exigencies, such as those in Buganda as analysed
by Southwold, may require collateral successions for the good of the state.55
But even in the total absence of such factors, polygyny itself can never
ensure that each ruler will live long enough to sire a son who will in turn
live long enough to sire a son.... Nor, in fact, can polygyny ensure male
progeny at all, since it is the male who determines the sex of the child.56
Extended consideration has been given to the problem of father/son
successions for two reasons. First, it has direct and potentially profound
chronological implications, especially in lengthy genealogies such as
those of the interlacustrine area or of the south-eastern Bantu. Second,
viewed idiosyncratically, the pattern may not be seen by the investigator
as abnormal. But when a large sample is accumulated and analysed, it
can readily be seen that in fact extended father/son succession is most
atypical and is most often encountered in periods that are little known
53 All data abstracted from Wilhelm
Karl, Prinz von Isenburg, Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europaischen Staaten (2 vols., Marburg, I960), I, passim.
54 The Native States should provide a suitable laboratory for testing this hypothesis.
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there were a large number of adoptions
to the gadi among these principalities-a number so large that it needs more extended
analysis to determine whether specific local factors accounted for it.
55Martin Southwold, 'Succession to the Throne in Buganda' in J. R. Goody (ed.),
Succession, 104-6; idem, 'The History of a History: Royal Succession in Buganda' in
I. M. Lewis (ed.), History and Social Anthropology (London, I968), 140-7.
66 'The Nipani ruler, though he had six wives, had no son', wrote the compiler of an
Indian Gazetteer. Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency, I, no. 2, History of Konkan, Dekhan
and the Southern Maratha Country (Bombay, I88o), 670. Similar statements have been
made elsewhere regarding lack of male heirs to polygynous rulers, and it is apparent that
polygyny per se is no guarantor of male progeny.

ORAL TRADITION

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383

except through oral tradition or chronicles transcribed from such tradition.

It is therefore imperative that such patterns be recognized as in some cases
'the use of a pedigree to provide a kinglist', and in others the use of a
kinglist to establish a pedigree.57
There are several other weaknesses of oral traditions which have mixed
chronological import. The first of these is the almost total lack of multiple
reigns remembered in oral tradition. For example, a survey of 311 reigns
in twenty-one interlacustrine kingdoms shows only one instance of a
multiple reign.58 Compare this with an incidence of I:56 in the 328
dynasties tabulated above. This incidence becomes even greater in
areas composed, like the interlacustrine area, of several small units under
the hegemony of a larger unit.59 Here the paramount power, attempting
to maintain its control through systematic chaos, used to these ends the
device of frequent deposition and reinstatement. It would be almost
impossible to trace instances of multiple reigns in oral traditions, but we
should suspect its, possibly frequent, occurrence. Here, as in the father/
son succession pattern, the oversimplification of reality is cause for
concern.
A final incongruity of orally transmitted kinglists is the excessively long
reigns often attributed to founders of dynasties. Thus the first Emperor
of Japan is said to have reigned seventy-five years, the first ruler of Kano
sixty-four years, the first ruler of Arakan sixty-two years, the first Aztec
ruler fifty-four years, etc. State-building or even dynasty founding is not
normally a pursuit of infancy or childhood, and logically the founders
of states, especially conquest states, should have reigns of average length
at best.60
Most of the discussion here has been related to patrilineal succession
systems. Another problem is more serious in matrilineal systems, and
that is the question of generation length. This has been the concern of
many who have dealt with royal genealogies, but the results have not
always been satisfactory. This situation sometimes results from an equation
of reign with generation, or from lack of due consideration for succession
practices, or from undue emphasis on the concept of 'average'. For instance some students of Polynesian history have tended to use generational
averages which are both unacceptable and incomprehensible in an effort
67E6in Macneill, 'Pre-Christian Kings of Tara', J. Roy. Soc. Antiquaries of Ireland,
LVII (1924),
58

I54.

That of Kigala, fifth and seventh kabaka of Buganda. Even here it is the result of
abdication and reaccession. Kagwa, Basekabaka, 23.
59 Two analogous cases would be the Russian principalities under Mongol rule and
the Shan states in Burma during the nineteenth century. Nikolas Serge de Baumgarten,
Genealogies des branches regnantes des Rurikides du XIIIe au XVe siecles (Paris, 1927),
passim; James G. Scott and J. P. Hardiman (comps.), Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the
Shan States (2 vols., Rangoon, I900-I), s.v. individual states.
60 In contrast the founders of Chinese
dynasties had the following reigns: Chou 19
years; Ts'in, 12 years; Han, 9 years; E. Tsin, 5 years; Sui, 23 years; T'ang, 8 years;
Sung, I6 years; Yiian, 34 years; Ming, 30 years; Ts'ing, 17 years.

384

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to correlate synchronisms without damaging the genealogical filiations at

their disposal.61
But more to the point, since it is argued that the number of reigns
almost never equals the number of generations in the long run, is an
analysis of the factors governing regnal length. Regnal lengths are most
closely tied to succession practices. A large variety of succession practices
can be found in Africa, but few of them can be regarded as so unique
that they would not be amenable to comparison. Primogeniture, porphyrogeniture, or ultimogeniture, as in Burundi and effectively in many of
the Native States of India under British paramountcy, result in progressively increasing regnal lengths. Fraternal succession is common in Africa,
and it is legitimate to ask what the probable or possible limits of a regnal
generation might be when two, three, four, etc., brothers rule in succession. The use of comparative data is essential to exercises of this kind.62
Rotational systems are likewise common in Africa, where kinship
rather than bureaucracy is the cement of unity.63 A rotational system has
the obvious effect of shortening regnal lengths, since individuals tend to
be mature when elected, both because the lineage has had to wait its
turn, and because most such systems required rapid turnovers in succession to maintain harmony and equilibrium through continually satisfied
hopes. Probably the best non-African example of rotational succession is
to be found in Celtic Ireland. Here the eligibility was broad but still
restricted by the institution of derbfhine,to those whose father, grandfather
or great-grandfather had reigned. Commonly the succession in an Irish
kingdom rotated among lines typically descended from the first ruler of the
state, and father/son successions were rare. The large number of states
which flourished in Ireland between c. 500 and IIoo provide a useful
laboratory for analysing the effects of rotational succession. The first
thing that becomes apparent is that, in Ireland at least, rotational success61J. B. W. Roberton, 'Genealogies as a basis for Maori chronology', J. Polynesian
Soc. LXV (1956), 50, accepts eighteen years as 'a very reasonable generation length, Robert
C. Suggs, 'Historical Traditions and Archaeology in Polynesia', Am. Anthropologist, LXII
(1960), 767, postulates a twenty-year average. J. F. G. Stokes, 'New bases for Hawaiian
chronology', Ann. Report Hawaiian Hist. Soc. XLI (1933), 52-62, begins with a minimum
generation length and adds 'corrections' for such factors as sterility, unrecorded death
of eldest son, interregna, homosexuality, etc. But his minimum figure (15) is too low, and
the allowance made for these factors is so small that his final figure, too, is twenty years.
62
Among the Southern Hiung-nu, six brothers ruled consecutively from 31 B.C. to
A.D. 46. Wilhelm Eberhard, 'Chronologische Uebersicht iber die Geschichte der Hunnen
in der spateren Han Zeit (25 n. Chr.-220 n. Chr.)', Turk Tarih Bulleten, IV (1940), 433.
Among the cAbd-al-Wadids of Tilimsan, eight brothers ruled, but not consecutively,
from 1389 to 1461. E. de Zambaur, Manuel de genealogie et de chronologie pour l'histoire
de l'Islam (Hannover, 1927), 77. Among the Mossi kingdoms there are several examples of
six to eight brothers ruling, if one accepts the genealogies offered. See Izard, Introduction,
passim. There is an example in the German principalities of three brothers ruling over a
period of eighty-eight years. The extreme possibilities here are probably too great to
provide reasonably limiting bases.
63 For African rotational systems see J. R. Goody, 'Circulating Succession among the
Gonja' in idem, Succession, 157-69, and M. G. Smith, 'The Dynastic Chronology of the
Fulani Zaria', J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, II, no. 2 (1961), 277-85.

ORAL TRADITION

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ion engendered endemic feuds and warfare. Reigns tended to be short

and regicide a frequent occurrence. Long reigns were exceptional, while
very short ones were common.
Another feature of the Irish case is that, however stable in theory, in
practice the rotation proved to be irregular.64This is scarcely unexpected,
since the delicate equilibrium envisaged by such systems was too fragile
to withstand the exigencies of power politics at all times. A rotational
system which is represented as perfectly regular should certainly be regarded with extreme scepticism. There are many examples of manipulation
designed to provide symmetry to systems of rotational officeholding.65
An African system which exhibits such symmetry may be exactly what
it purports to be-a system which performed in practice exactly as it
was designed in theory. More likely it was manipulated in one way or
another. Perhaps additional members of under-represented lineages have
been inserted. Or perhaps those who succeeded out of rotation have come
to be regarded as 'usurpers' and dropped from the list. In either case
chronological distortions would result. The succession patterns in Zaria
and Walo, both irregular, more accurately reflect what is likely to be the
norm for rotational succession systems.66
The preceding discussion has been based on hypothetically pristine
traditions, moulded solely within the context of their own societies.
Regrettably, however, most such traditions have been corrupted, overtly
or otherwise, by Western or colonial impact. The possibility therefore
exists that a tradition is no longer an independent one, but rather one
based on material collected and synthesized from earlier transmissions.
Bornu and Karagwe provide examples of this problem. In each case
recent investigators seeking to place the dynastic chronology on firmer
ground have been referred by their informants to published works of
earlier observers as being 'the final authoritative word' on the subject.67
For the Maori, parallel circumstances exist.68
64 Goody, Succession,
47, correctly observed that the version of the succession in
Laigin that he used was 'suspiciously perfect in form'. It should be replaced by that in
John Ryan, 'The ancestry of St. Laurence O'Toole', Reportorium Novum, I (1955), table
opp. p. 75. Some other studies of Irish succession systems include Paul Walsh, 'Leinster
states and kings', Irish Ecclesiastical Record, LIII (I939), 57-6I;
F. J. Byrne, ' "Clann
Ollaman Uaisle Emna" ', Studia Hibernica, iv (1964), 55-6I; Donncha 6 Corriin, 'Studies
in West Munster History, I, The Regnal Succession in Ciarraighe Luachra, 741-I 65',
Y. Kerry Archaeological and Hist. Soc., I (I968), 46-55; James Hogan, 'The Irish Law of
Kingship, with special reference to Ailech and Cenel Eoghain', Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. XL,
sect. C, no. 3 (I932), I88-93, 247-9.
65E.g. P. M. Fraser, 'The Tribal-Cycles of Eponymous Priests at Lindos and
Kamiros',
Eranos, LI (I 953), 32-5.
66Amadou Wade, 'Chronique du Walo
BIFAN, xxvI (1964),
senegalais (ix86?-i855)',
465-6; M. G. Smith, Government in Zazzau (London, I960), charts at end.
67 Ronald Cohen, 'The Bornu King Lists' in
J. Butler (ed.), Boston University Papers
on Africa. II. African History (Boston, x966), 47; Ruth Berger, 'Oral Traditions in Karagwe', paper given at East African Institute of Social Research (June I963), 6. Fieldwork
currently being conducted in the Fanti and Alem states has shown the alarming propensity
of tradition to absorb printed sources, of whatever quality, as soon as they become
available. The traditions are then remoulded to fit this 'new' information.
68 Simmons, 'A New Zealand Myth', 28,
30.

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The implementation of indirect rule by the colonial powers apparently

proved irresistibly tempting to many indigenous rulers, and long genealogies suddenly became prized. The rulers of various Native States of India,
perhaps detecting a veneration for antiquity in their new overlords, found
it expedient to practise deceptions of this kind on the British administrators,
many of whom were eager to find that the 'noble Rajputs' were descended
from ruling lines of great age. Consequently, when reading Tod or
Wilberforce-Bell, or the various Gazetteers, one is inevitably impressed
with the antiquity claimed by nearly all the native rulers in India whose
states were not of provably recent provenience.69 African rulers, particularly in British governed areas, were no less quick to perceive the value
of presenting themselves as scions of venerable stock, and long but valueless genealogies were constructed, often under rather amusing circumstances.70
Another indication of the influence of the West on the oral traditions
of traditional societies may be seen in recent studies conducted on the
traditions of Hawaii and other Pacific islands. In these cases the influence
of Christianity has made itself felt, but the resulting distortions only
became apparent after careful collation of variant texts. In the creation
myths and early genealogies, Christian elements have been interpolated,
and one finds, for instance, Polynesian gods named Nuu.71 These particular traditions are clearly regarded as legendary, but this may not always
be so.
A major task of research is to determine why some orally transmitted
kinglists are remarkably accurate while others are much less so. Mnemonic
devices, as purportedly used in Bono-Mansu, are in themselves insufficient,
although there are a few instances of their successful use.72 Perhaps additional light can be thrown on the matter by trying to find some correlations
between accuracy of transmission and the general circumstances governing the transmission, but here the comparative task will prove difficult.
Oceania is the most obvious case to use for comparison, but there is
69
James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthdn (2 vols. in i: London, 1950), and
Harold Wilberforce-Bell, The History of Kathiawad from the earliest times (London,
I916), passim, esp. genealogical tables at end.
70 M. D. W. Jeffreys, 'Some Historical Notes on the Ntem',
J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, II,
no. 2 (I96I), 260-76; [?], 'The Central Corridor Area [of Tanzania]', paper given at
SOAS Conference on African Chronology, p. 6.
71 Dorothy B. Barrere, 'Cosmogenic Genealogies from Hawaii', J. Polynesian Soc.
LXX(1961), 419-28; idem, 'Revisions and Adulterations in Polynesian Creation Myths'
in Genevieve A. Highland et al. (eds.), Polynesian Culture History (Honolulu, 1967), 103I7.
72 The Salum kinglist, based on rainy seasons, is supported in every instance where
European records are available. Jean Boulegue, 'Contribution a la chronologie du royaume
de Saloum', BIFAN, xxvIII (1966), 657-62. The Mandan Indians of North America counted by winters and made drawings on buffalo hides each year for mnemonic purposes. A
forty-three-year sample of their recorded history has shown this method to be basically
accurate. J. H. Howard, 'Butterfly's Mandan Winter Count, I833-I876',
Ethnohistory,
vii (I960), 28-43; M. W. Smith, 'Mandan "history" as reflected in Butterfly's winter
count', idem. 199-205.

ORAL TRADITION

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387

insufficient external evidence there for checking the validity of the traditions, while the isolation of the islands, one from another, precludes the
extensive use of synchronisms which, in any case, as noted above, has
proved to create more problems that it solves.73 Probably the best area
for our purposes would be the Rajput states of northern and central
India, where there is extensive epigraphic evidence as well as material
from Muslim sources to supplement the chronicles.
One final matter of interpretation relevant to the problem of chronology
remains to be mentioned. That is the interpretation by the investigator
of time spans within a society. What is 'long' or 'short', or 'seldom' or
'often', to the investigator may be something quite different to the society
itself. Katate characterizes many of the Ankole rulers' reigns as 'long'
or 'very long'. To a Western observer this might mean periods of thirtyfive to forty years or more. If so, one would be taken aback to learn that
mugabe Macwa 'lived a very long time and even saw his grandson'.74
Thus 'very long' in eighteenth-century (?) Ankole may not have been very
long at all.
The utility of astronomical data, particularly eclipse data, is known
to every reader of this Journal and need not be developed here.75 It
should only be noted that oral recollections of eclipses are scarcely scientifically exact and often not even adequately descriptive, and thus a collation
of references from various parts of the world, already begun by The
Spectrum of Time, can be helpful in establishing patterns of description
for various types of eclipses.
The major source for absolute dating is the written record of literate
societies which have come into contact with traditional societies and
recorded information about them. For Africa these include Muslim
sources for the western Sudan and east coast, and various European
records for much of the coastal areas. Muslim sources combine with
Portuguese evidence to cast into grave doubt the chronology of Senegal
as set forth in the traditional histories of the Wolof states there.76 Efforts
to use the Portuguese records to support the evidence of oral data have
been unconvincing.77 Succession practices in Kongo and Ankole were
73 See above,
74 A. G.

pp. 3 I2-3.
Katate, Abagabe wa Ankole (Abagabe of Ankole), tr. by John Rowe, in typescript at Midwest Center for Research Libraries, Chicago, p. 80, with emphasis added.
76 See Richard Gray, 'Eclipse Maps', J. Afr. Hist., VI (1965), 251-62;
idem. 'Annular
Eclipse Maps', J. Afr. Hist., Ix (1968), 147-57.
76 For references to the
'Budomel', that is, the Damel of Kayor, between I455 and
I529, well before the traditional date for the creation of the title, see Alvise Ca da Mosto,
Viagens (Lisbon, I950), 34-9, and Jean Boulegue and Benjamin Pinto-Bull, 'Les relations
de Cayor avec la Portugal dans la premiere moiti6 du XVIe siecle d' apres deux documents
nouveaux', BIFAN, xxvIIi (I966), 663-4. Compare with Felix Brigaud, Histoire traditionnelle du Senegal (Saint-Louis, 1962), 85, 93 n. For Muslim references to the dissolution
of the Wolof empire, see CAbd-al-Rahman as-Sacdi (tr. Ch. Houdas), Tarikh es-Soudan
(Paris, 1964), 127.
77S6ken Mody Cissoko, 'Civilisation Wolof-Serere', Presence Africaine (I967),
121-44.
26

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P. HENIGE

not so dissimilar as the kinglists of the two would indicate.78 Much of the
difference is due to the availability of European sources for the Kongo.
It is not wholly idle to speculate what shape a kinglist from the Kongo
based solely on oral tradition would take.
It should not, however, be argued that any independent Western
source automatically supersedes data from oral traditions, for the former
can itself be distorted and misleading because of the ignorance of the
observer. Faced with societies having structures entirely unlike their own,
foreign observers might well mistake a high official for a ruler, a title for
a proper name or, if it occurred often enough, a proper name for a title.79
Furthermore, general political conditions were often misread by casual
visitors and even by those who paid extended visits. Francis Xavier,
although he had been in Japan for two years, had to travel to Kyoto
itself to learn that 'the Daisi [Emperor] was a monarch only in name'.80
Similarly, the Portuguese, when they established themselves in Ceylon
early in the sixteenth century, deluded themselves into accepting the
claims of the friendly neighbouring ruler of Kotte that he was suzerain of
the entire island, when in fact his control was limited to the south-western
corner and even there it was deteriorating.81 Even worse, from a purely
chronological viewpoint, the Portuguese failed to understand the Sinhalese collegial form of rule, and their confusing references to this or that
monarch as 'Emperor' have, if nothing else, provided scholars with a
puzzle worthy of their efforts.82 In short, documented, written, external
evidence should be viewed with as much scepticism as any piece of oral
tradition. The reasons for error and distortion may be different, but this
fact should not cause this evidence to be uncritically accepted.
It can be seen that there are many ways to approach the problem of
chronology from oral tradition. Save for the information which can be
gleaned from sources capable of providing absolute dating, all of these
approaches will perforce provide only indirect data. Nonetheless, relative
chronologies can be postulated through the careful use of synchronisms,
and levels of probability can be established through the use of statistical
methods. But to be effective, these methods must draw as widely as
possible on the comparative material so richly available. The purpose
of this paper has been to draw attention in a very general way to the nature
78 For the
Kongo, Jan Vansina, Kingdoms of the Savanna (Madison, I966); for Ankole,
K. Oberg, 'The Kingdom of Ankole in Uganda' in M. Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard
(eds.), African Political Systems (London, I940), 47.
79 E.g. Priestley and Wilks, 'Ashanti kings', 87.
80 Quoted in
II, 56.
James Murdoch, A History of Japan (3 vols. London, 1903-26),
81 For examples see Donald Ferguson (ed.), 'The History of Ceylon from the earliest
times to A.D. 600oas related by Joao de Barros and Diogo do Couto', J. Roy. Asiatic Soc.
Ceylon Branch, xx (I908), 24, 29, 38, 43.
82 S. Paranavitana, 'The Emperor of Ceylon at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese
in 1505', Univ. Ceylon Rev. xIx (1961), 18-30. For another interpretation see G. P. V.
Ph.D. thesis,
Somaratna, 'Political History of the Kingdom of Kotte (c. I400-1521)',
University of London, 1969, p. 461.

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389

and scope of these resources. Within this limited framework, it can only
hope to hint at their vastness and urge that they be fully exploited.
SUMMARY

Perhaps the weakest aspect of oral tradition is its inability to establish and
maintain an accurateassessment of the length of the past it purports to relate.
As time passes, societies without calendrical systems tend to become either
very vague about this time depth or to relate it to present, changing circumstances. The most common method of measuringthe past in many societies is
in terms of king lists or genealogies. A comparisonof orally transmittedking
lists and genealogiesin variousplaces and times, for example, the early Mediterranean world and the Ancient Near East, the native states of India, Africa and
Oceania, indicates that certain patterns of chronological distortion seem to
emerge, sometimes telescoping but more often lengthening the past.
The former may occur through omission of usurpers, however defined,
periods of chaos or foreign domination, or by the personificationof an entire
epoch by a founding folk-hero. If the reasons for artificial lengthening are
obvious, the mechanisms are less so. In this respect a survey of both welldocumentedcases and of orallytransmittedlists can be instructive.Lengthening
is often the result of euhemerism; more often subtler themes emerge. These
include longer reigns in the earlier, less known period, the arrangingof contemporaryrulers as successive ones and, most importantly,extended father/son
succession throughoutthe list or genealogy. This last is of direct and profound
chronological importance, and its occurrence is widespread enough to be
termed stereotypical. Yet it is not often recognized as aberrant, even though
its documented occurrence is exceedingly rare. The consequent equation of
reigns with generationswill almost always result in an exaggeratedconception
of the antiquity of the beginning of the genealogy. Other weaknessesof orally
transmittedking lists include lack of multiple reigns and dynastic changes, and
suspiciously perfect rotationalsuccession systems.
Within its scope this article only attempts to hint at the origin, shape and
effects of these distortions. Its main thesis is that much light can be cast on
African cases of this nature through a comparativeanalysis drawing from a
whole range of societies and sources.