The Wild World Of African Divorce
40:01 Share

You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast.

♪♪

Hello, my friends. Sakuya here. And I'm Gabby. And welcome back to the podcast, my hoes. Welcome back to our continuation on the saga of historical divorce. I'm going to say this right now, my friends. I apologize for two things. One, we are recording in our living room right now, which has much higher ceilings than our old place, which means you might hear a slight echo, though my editor is going to do his absolute best in order to remove that. The second thing is that I anticipated going into this

whole divorce saga that we were going to do this in like one or two episodes. And then I should have realized when you were covering a concept that is not exactly universal, but at least an idea of it is present in just about every single culture on earth throughout all of history.

you're not going to be able to get through that in like one or two hour-long episodes. That is quite frankly not going to happen. So just like a very painful marriage that is unable to end, I'm sorry guys, you are kind of stuck with us as we go and explain this.

What do you think? Was that a better segue than what I've done in the past? No. No. I tried. I tried. I tried. I tried. Look, there are so many different things. In fact, I feel bad about the previous episode because even though it was so entertaining in my opinion, we only got to cover two specific examples of divorces and that was two examples with

within medieval Europe, which I know when people talk about history, especially in English, you're going to get a lot of Eurocentric things. Speaking of Eurocentric things, um,

This is not your subject. What are you segwaying into? Our trip to Thailand launched last Friday and we still have a few early bird spots left. So if you guys wanted to join us next January for Thailand, it is our cheapest trip yet because we heard everyone when you guys were like, every trip is so expensive. Do something cheaper. We did. This is the cheapest trip ever.

We have ever done. So make sure to sign up. You get $150 discount if you're one of the first eight. And a few of those spots, well, quite a few of those spots are already gone. So we'll probably have the link in the description. Yeah, the link will be in the description and everything will be set in there. And she's not kidding when she says in comparison with the usual trips that could range anywhere between 2600 to just over 3000. This one is like 1900. It is far cheaper than anything else that we have done.

So if you want to join us, if you want to have an adventure, maybe see some elephants by all means, go ahead and click the link that is down in the description.

Either way, my friends going on about divorce and she's right about the whole thing with Eurocentrism, because dear God, how many times have we talked about something? And it ends up focusing on either with the United States or Europe, because that's where a lot of the history that at least the sources that we can read come from. I felt bad when I did the male prostitution. I was just like the US, Europe and China and Japan.

Yeah. You know what the unfortunate thing is? I don't think it was China. I don't think the idea was even in China. I think it was just Japan. So it talked about Japan because a lot of the sources that come out of China and this I'm going to say this, this is not me making a dig at the Chinese Communist Party, but it is a reality that happened during Mao's Cultural Revolution. A lot of ancient historical documents on just about every kind of category within Chinese society were destroyed.

And this was part of a cleansing of Chinese history that was done. So unfortunately, there is a lot of information that I wish we have that has been able to be uncovered or resolved through at least archaeology now that was almost or partially destroyed back over the course of this cultural revolution in the middle of the 20th century. That did happen. I probably need to do an episode on the cultural revolution here in the future. But unfortunately,

I had to stop myself from going overboard with all these different things on divorce. And I wanted to look at other parts of the world because even with more limited or available readable documentation, surely there is all kinds of different customs in place like in Africa, right? Oh, dear Lord. Yes.

I had a lot of difficulty sorting through all of this. There were so many different things for so many different tribes, and many of them were similar, which in turn meant that I had to go and kind of separate the varying different ones to find ones that were at least more unique, in my opinion, that also...

were part of the culture and not necessarily something that was imposed after colonialism, because that is a huge factor as well as how societies change due to colonialism.

Africa, as it is, is the second most populous continent. It has a very lengthy, very complex history that began, you know, with the first humans. We came from there. But what makes it so really hard to put down into one episode that we're talking about is a continent here that is home to thousands of languages, thousands of cultures, and over 50 modern nations with all those different ethnicities, cultures, and languages divided between them.

Still, geographically and culturally, Africa consists of numerous overlapping regions, which we use to categorize it. But for the sake of presenting this information on divorce, I figured it would be better and more understandable if we focused on just a few groups and the way that their customs differed because it creates some fascinating stories. So now keep this in mind, we are going to be jumping around a

There isn't as much of a time period here like when we were talking about ancient history. And unfortunately, a lot of the information that we have on divorce comes from more recent times by virtue of just sources that were preserved or created in the first place. Because there were many places that quite literally didn't have a written language. Or if they did, they didn't have things that were preserved and written down about what it was as so many cultures instead prioritized oral tradition.

Unfortunately. Imagine remembering the oral tradition of that one time your grandparents got divorced. Dude, the oral tradition is why some marriages fall apart in the first place is that just it didn't have good oral tradition.

I'm not even going to acknowledge that. Oh, my God. You guys should see his face. He is so proud of himself. Okay. Right. I hope that me saying that right there didn't cause like three car crashes because I get comments sometimes that said, oh, yeah, everything was going smoothly. And then I almost lost control of my vehicle when you said this.

You what? Oh, my God. We had a lot of people who listened to the podcast on their way to work. So that's I only listen to podcasts while driving. So I get it. I get it. So first one. And we are going to talk a little about the history and cultural context of a lot of the ones that we are going to be addressing here. But the one that we're going to mention here first is arguably one of the most famous African cultural groups in history. Of course, we are going to have to talk about the Zulu.

Now, the Zulu, as many people are probably aware of with Shaka Zulu, are a very significant ethnic group in South Africa with a rich history and cultural heritage. Their origin can be traced back to the Bantu migrations, which occurred over a millennia ago, during which various different Nguni communities would settle in what is now South Africa.

The Zulu people themselves originated from these Nguni communities and initially were a minor clan founded around 1574 by Zulu, and I'm going to butcher the pronunciation of this in the first place, Kamalandela in what is now northern KwaZulu-Natal. Now, the Zulu kingdom's rise to prominence largely comes from the leadership of Shaka Zulu, the famous war leader, who transformed Zulu from a small clan into a powerful and unified kingdom.

Born around 1787, he was the illegitimate son of Senzon Gakona, the chief of the Zulus, and he and his mother, Nandi, were exiled and found refuge in the Tewa, where Shaka became a run-out warrior under Dingisweo, the Mentewa leader.

Shaka's military reforms, including battle techniques, tough discipline, the introduction of a short stabbing spear for brutal close quarters combat, these were crucial for expanding and consolidating the Zulu kingdom, and under him, they would take over pretty much everyone around them, expanding their control, consolidating clans, more and more.

However, in the case of the Zulu, they would experience their downfall when they would go up against the British. The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 would mark a turning point with the Zulu Kingdom, where despite initially gaining a victory at the Battle of Isandawana, the British would ultimately defeat the Zulus at the Battle of Lundi, which would lead to their complete disintegration. Now, what does this have to do with history?

Divorce. Yes, that's the point. I had to establish this. I felt like I have to establish a lot of stuff with context with varying different tribes because not nearly as many people are familiar with the history of stuff in Africa as they are say, oh, yeah, the Battle of Hastings in 1066 established the Kingdom of England. Like that's a way more common thing that people are aware of. But I bring this up because I kid you not.

The whole point we are talking about the Zulus is because we have a recent example of Zulu divorce, royal Zulu divorce. So we have modern drama to talk about now, Gabby. Ready? Are you ready for this? Yeah. This is like the exact kind of thing that if you were in African Twitter, oh, this is a thing that would have been talked about.

Because this is spicy. This is drama. This is this belongs in like a this belongs on its own kind of show. Like we were watching with the Mormon wives and all them. Oh, my God. I'm afraid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you may be confused in the first place because you're like, wait, hold on. The Zulu were conquered by the British, right? They shouldn't exist.

Yes, they still do. That's the thing. Despite being conquered, they were became subjects. And once they were incorporated into the overall colony of South Africa, they still maintained a degree of autonomy. And this is actually what ends up happening with a lot of tribes that are still part of many modern day African nations, which is one of the reasons why African nations have such difficulty managing their outer lying territories, because they tend to be more controlled by the tribal groups than by anything else.

So South Africa's political system is a bit weird, and I will be making another history geopolitics video on them soon. The royal family of the Zulus never died out. They, to this day, rule the Amazulu nation within South Africa, whose estimated 10 million people are the largest ethnic group in the country, primarily residing in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

The Amazulu royals include the king, his consorts, and their legitimate descendants. And as for how they get their money to run things in the first place, they are funded mainly through yearly allocations of around $4.2 million or 77.5 million rand from the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government.

This is almost matched by the income that they earn from the tenancy fees through their control of the Ingunyama Trust, which owns around 30% of all land in KwaZulu-Natal. Wow. This royal family owns like 30% of the entire province by itself, which is extensive. These guys are powerful.

Now, the reason I bring all that up so you understand the stakes of what we are talking about here is because we have a royal divorce. The current monarch, who is Misuzulu Kwanzelpini, which I'm, again, butchering the name of, he grew up in neighboring Eswatini. He studied in the United States and he took the throne in 2021. So in a sense, he is the new generation's king. Like he's a young guy.

The thing is, Misuzulu Kwazini has been in the headlines because he filed divorce papers against his first wife, Queen Ntoko Kamisela, in order to marry a fourth woman. This freaking year, in 2025. Wait, so he has been married three times? Yes.

He has wives. Wait, wait. No, no, no. So he currently has three wives. Yes. So then why would he divorce one to marry another one? Because there is a difference. Is there like a cap on how many wives you can have? Sort of, but no. There is a split political system. Or not political system. There is a split customary civil system within South Africa that is so fascinating. First off, I have to say.

The queen did not want this to happen. She approached the court to try and stop the wedding of the new wife, claiming that their civil marriage in 2021, shortly after he became king, forbids remarriage without divorce, that he couldn't just do this. And I mean, to be fair, forbidden is not exactly the right word here, but I have to explain that.

The king's move is unprecedented because with Zulu wives, they typically remain part of the royal household even if their relationship with the king is over. Generally, the indigenous laws of Amazulu discourage divorce like they don't want this to happen. And like why, you may wonder? I mean, is the point of divorce not to actually just be divorced?

Well, this is because the clan plays a major role in the marriage contract, its stability, and its disillusion. Due to the close-knit nature of pre-colonial society and the communal nature of income generation, which came from herds of cattle, bride wealth, called the bola or ilobolo, was raised by the groom's family mostly through livestock. They would get a bunch of cattle and give, and this was given to the bride's family.

Being heavily invested in the marriage, then both families of the couple usually would intervene when issues that threaten the marriage arose because it could result in everyone losing something as they were not, you know, as they wouldn't have the financial backing of the other. So no marriage counseling, just everybody being like, get your shit together. I want you to imagine this. If we wanted to compare this to anything, because this is how a lot of them are wealth, wealthy from pastoralism, right? They have herds of cattle. Imagine if when you got married,

Both households all moved in together into the same house. Like it was just one big house, right? That's all that it was. That sounds terrible. So when you got divorced, you had to split the assets. So now you didn't get one big house that was like really wealthy and powerful. It got split into two separate houses that were smaller. And it's really messy to sort that.

Imagine that, but with cows. Imagine that, but with cows. I'm not kidding. That's pretty messed up. That's what I'm talking about here. So as a result, it made divorce pretty rare.

So as unions were not between couples, they were between families. Sounds terrible. Exactly. That's the whole point. It was a family, not like, oh, this having this person's daughter married to our family brings us closer. I will say my biggest one of my well, my biggest criticism of like the U.S. social aspect is that it is not like a family unit. It's just like.

the immediate family and then everybody else is so spread out. So there's no like support systems. And that's like the biggest thing with all my friends is they're like, oh my gosh, you have so much freedom to do blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, yeah, because like my parents live with us. So like, you know what I mean? We have,

more support than most people ever have it's not like there are things that are bad there are things that are good but when it comes to especially things in the modern day and age where you need support in order to do things like take care of children yeah it's really crucial the thought of marrying the family oh dear god it's a lot yeah like even with us like we had to have like built we built a separate apartment for my parents because like

You know, you need your own space. You absolutely do. You absolutely do. And the cows. Think of the cows. Think of the cows. They need their own space. So the implication here, then, right, is that a divorced wife who is still in good standing with her husband's family could continue to live in his family's homestead. Right. If you were still in good standing, even though something happened, you all were still together.

But that situation is actually changing in South Africa and the Zulu for how they view marriage. Before European colonialism, divorce did not need necessarily the intervention of a court. Marriage could be nullified only on the grounds of things like witchcraft, adultery, or insanity.

Like, I kid you not, you could accuse your wife of being a witch and then get a divorce. What if you accused your husband of being a witch? That didn't matter. The husband wouldn't be able to... Yeah, the husband wasn't a witch. That doesn't matter. What are you talking about here? What about insanity? No, clearly the wife was insane for accusing her husband of being insane. God.

Unfortunately, here's the thing. Would you divorce me for insanity? No, because you're not insane. You've already said that when something happens that you consciously do that. That's not insanity. Insanity is a lack of control. Hmm. Hmm. Much to think about. I don't like how you're looking at me like that while I say this. Oh, no, no. So this is important to note, though, because of polygamy.

Zulus will typically have multiple wives, but they are recognized. But how they are recognized by the state differs. Typically, only one civil marriage is recognized, that being between the man and one of his wives for the state. That is his legal wife, like by virtue for the government.

But thanks to the recognition of customary marriages act, men are able to marry multiple women through tribal customs. So you can have multiple wives that by virtue of your tribe and acknowledged by the state, they are your wives, but they are not your civil wife. If that makes sense, they are your customary tribal wife.

As more Western ideas of divorce are becoming more common, this is creating a new type of friction in cultural groups that adhere to older ideas. And I'm not going to pass judgment on it. I just found the whole idea fascinating that we are literally seeing things of the modern idea of divorce is coming into play of, oh, it's destroying our cultural values of polygamy and racism.

Dividing herds. There's a lot more that goes into it, but it gets really messy really fast because we're not talking at this point about just dividing a herd. Oh, it wasn't messy with the pool. I don't know. I feel like multiple wives would be so tricky to manage. Like the thing is, multiple wives and you're going to see there's one part in here that we're going to get into later. Especially if you only have one

How do they handle that? So like one wife, how do they handle inheritances if it's just one civil wife? Okay, that's the important question. Because technically speaking, all children of the polygamous marriage are legal children. They are legal descendants. Right. However, when talking about things for court documentation, and I need to look into the specifics of this to understand it, because at this point we're getting to South African legal code.

But if I recall correctly, when it comes to like being able to make decisions on behalf of the husband, like let's say something happens, you know how you have power of attorney in case something happens to me. So like, you know how like, so if you were like in a coma, I can decide to pull the plug. Yeah. Who gets to pull the plug? Only the legal wife. Oh, that is. What if she hates him because he married all these other people after her? There you go. You know she's pulling the damn plug. There you go.

That's part of it. The state would only be able to recognize or adhere to the civil law marriage. That's it. Hence why you see a bit of friction that is going on there. So when he says that he is divorcing his wife so he can marry another, that's kind of part of it, right? Like that's, you know, it just gets so messy. I'm curious to see, do you know when that article, when I pulled this came out, March 2025. So it was just two months ago and everything else is still proceeding here at this time. I don't know what is actually going to end up happening.

I'm very curious about this. Anyway, next up, we have the Yoruba and the Igbo people. Now, people probably would be familiar with this just because these are two of the most populous and common ethnicities that people refer to when talking about different cultural groups in Africa, or at least one of the ones that most commonly come to mind in the English mind, if I believe so.

So these are the two largest and most influential ethnic groups in modern Nigeria. The Yoruba people are known for their sophisticated political and social structures, including a federation of city-states under the political ascendancy of the Oyo Empire back in the past, which had dominated the region from the 17th to the 19th century.

While the Igbo, with their decentralized clan system, were very influential in the southeastern region, and their history is marked by a decentralized political structure with various autonomous communities and clans. The Igbo culture is something that is rooted in a rich oral tradition, and their society is known for its democratic principles and a strong sense of community.

The reason I bring this up is to draw comparisons to where these are two fairly similar culture groups, but they are rivals with one another, especially if we were going to be talking about Nigerian history and the colonial mess that actually ends up happening in that. This is a classic example that was given of divide and conquer, where the British would go and support the Yoruba people because they lived primarily in cities or more urbanized settings, so it's easier to manage them and control things, whereas the Igbo people

Yeah, we're not going to support and help develop the farmers out in the middle of the sticks because there's no profit to be had there. You know, classic colonial efforts. Either way, marriage and divorce.

Yoruba marriages are known for very elaborate and vibrant ceremonies that are rooted in tradition and culture, and the process that they have for getting married involves several stages, including the introduction ceremony and the engagement, the igbayawo, and during the introduction, the groom's family will formally introduce themselves to the bride's family and seek their blessing for the union.

The family will then go and present gifts and money to the bride's family as a sign of respect and to seek their blessing, and this practice, known as a bride price, is a crucial part of the marriage negotiations. Igbo marriages are equally elaborate and culturally significant, and the process involves several steps, including the Ikuaka ceremony, where the groom's family would introduce themselves to the bride's family and negotiate the bride price there. You can see very similar things. Now, why do I bring this up?

As for divorce, they are fairly similar. Divorce among the Yoruba people in Nigeria is a very significant event that involves both legal and cultural considerations. The process of dissolving a marriage can vary depending upon whether the marriage was conducted either under customary law or statutory law, like civil law.

For customary marriages, the disillusion process is governed by traditional practices and customs of the Yoruba community. This includes being dissolved through the customary court, and this court has the authority to handle matters that are related to customary law marriage.

As for the grounds for divorce, in Yoruba customary law, grounds for divorce are generally less specific than in other systems, relying instead on the concept of the marriage breakdown that is, and I quote, repugnant to decency and decorum. Literally, literally, in fancy terminology, it is saying, if the marriage sucks, get out.

Which, I get it. I get it. Common grounds as recognized in Nigerian customary law include adultery, cruelty, desertion, and impotence or sterility. So if your husband is impotent, he can't get it up, or if your wife is sterile, then legally you are allowed to divorce because children are just that important.

Additionally, the marriage being contracted under falsehood or half-truth can also be grounds for divorce because if you lie about how wealthy you are because, you know, you dressed up your dog to look like a cow and then you said like, hey, look, I got like a whole cow, but it was really just your dog. Sorry. Divorce. You dressed up your dog to look like a cow? It could have been a Great Dane. We don't know. Uh-huh. Would you judge me for thinking that? Uh-huh.

Here's the thing. After a divorce is determined, the bride price is returned to the bride's family, which is supposed to symbolize the dissolution of the marriage. The process involves filing a petition with the customary court, and if there are no contingents in it, the divorce can be finalized relatively quickly, sometimes within a few months. So it's not that bad. What I must note here, though, is something really funny but sad. See,

Despite your wishes, you can get overruled by your family in the divorce. That's why they're included in this list. Generally speaking, it is the man that initiates a divorce, and in some Yoruba communities, families may intervene in divorce decisions,

overriding the husband's wishes, even if there are strong grounds for divorce. Like you could actually have a situation where it's like, my wife cheated on me. She stabbed me. She has been praying to demons in order to kill me. I want a divorce. And then your parents and her parents could come together and say, hey, look, no one else is going to take her. We're really rich. And if you get a divorce, we're going to lose all this. So no, you're going to stay married to her.

And that can happen. You could just get completely overridden. It doesn't matter. If your family says no, you have really very little way to get around it. So it's not court. It's not any of that. It's literally your family can stop it. So you didn't want to do this because obviously it had really bad economic and social implications. But in most cases, despite the extreme example I gave, you should have been able to get a divorce.

In fact, they even had a saying, know me and let me know you, which underscores the importance of mutual understanding and compatibility, that they have to know and agree to be with each other and accept each other. And if they don't, you're going to have to accept a divorce when these things are lacking. It's very similar to the whole thing with the Igbo in the first place. And that's why I kind of mentioned this, because both just end up getting screwed over. Now, here...

is the big one. And Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, you're going to hate this. Why? This one that I'm talking about here that I wanted to go over is another practice that is not divorce. Mind you, it's not divorce. So you may wonder why am I including in this list? Because when I was going over relations and marriage laws while looking at this, this was so unique that I felt like I had to include it in here because it was so specific. See, that is widow inheritance. Now,

Off the get-go, this isn't going to sound... Oh, I know what this is. Yes, this isn't going to sound so weird, but hear me out. It's going to get weirder. You think that you know this. You do not know this that I'm about to explain.

In some African cultures and places around the world, like those of the Lul people of Kenya, widow inheritance is a customary practice where a widow is married to a brother or relative of her deceased husband. This practice ensures that the widow and her children are provided for and that the family's property remains within the patrilineal family. And while this can be seen as a kind of divorce, I guess, in remarriage, it is rooted in cultural and economic necessities. Okay.

Why bring this up? After all, many different cultures around the world historically have a very similar practice. Well, that is because those cultures do not have a unique idea called, and I quote, widow cleansing. I know what that is. Do you? Wait, you do? Yeah. Hold on. How do you know about widow cleansing?

The internet. How do you know about widow? The internet, because I was specifically researching this. When did you learn about this? I don't know. I've just known about this for like years. Oh my God. Now I know. Sometimes I have knowledge. I just don't see the difference between me and you as I learn stuff, but I don't have to yap about it. I just go, huh? Cool. And then I move on. But you go, huh? Cool. I need to tell everyone.

And we're going to spend five hours talking about it. I have been called out now. All right. You look too shocked that I knew that. I was so proud of myself for finding this. And I was like, I cannot wait to see the look on her face. This is going to be just absolutely delicious. And now here I am just looking over and she's going, yeah, I know about this. Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Damn. I already have like your widow cleansing set up if I ever die. You're welcome.

Wow. It's the way you just looked. Yeah. Let me explain the concept of widow pet cleansing so you know what I'm talking about here. In the Nyanza province of Kenya, according to tradition, Luo widows are expected to engage in sexual intercourse with a

That being a person that is not related to the family without the use of a condom in order to remove the impurity ascribed to her after her husband's death. Basically, if you are married to a guy and he has a brother and the guy dies and you're supposed to marry the brother, you cannot just get married. You're supposed to get married to the guy's brother. You can't just marry your husband's brother without first screwing another dude and letting him just

Blow a load inside of you because that is supposed to clean you for your next husband. Where are they finding these cleanser? Proper screening? There's a prevalence of, you know, sexually related illnesses. Uh-huh.

Is there a higher rate? Yeah, there is. There is. Yeah. Once this is done, she's able to go and be with the news household. And it's like we should note that at the same time this is going on here. Right. It's not just a matter of widows. The couple's including widows are also expected to engage in sex preceding specific agricultural activities, building homes, funerals, weddings like there. There are culturally important, significant reasons to have sex before events.

That is something that is supposed to be done. And so because of this, widows who are inherited for the purpose of having the cultural obligation or cultural obligation of marrying the brother, they have a much higher prevalence of specific diseases like HIV than those who remain uninherited or are inherited for the purpose of command companionship.

Um, basically it's a practice that is one of the big contributing factors to STDs. And I, I don't really know how else to process that. Yeah. That's a pretty complicated one. The last one then that I'm going to bring up here due to time limitations is the Akamba people. Now the Akamba are also out of Kenya and they have a system that is fairly straightforward, at least for men, a bit more complex for women.

Men could divorce by simply stating their intention, while women had to go through a more formal process involving elders. And this system helped to reduce the number of divorce cases by making it easier for men to end unhappy marriages and thereby maintaining social stability. By also trapping women, generally speaking, too. That being said, we do have to explain the cultural expectations in our relationships so that we can understand why divorce would happen in the first place, because this is what I thought was such a unique and fascinating reason.

Traditional gender roles play a very significant part in a complex society. Men are socialized to value physical prowess, fighting, cattle raiding, taking care of the herds, while women were responsible for agricultural work. Literally, it was the men go off to fight so the women can farm.

That is what you were supposed to do. That was the way that society was set up. And these gender-specific expectations could lead to complications in divorce as they define the roles and responsibilities of each spouse. Among the akamba, it was traditionally then the wife's responsibility to provide food for the family from the cultivated land that she had.

If the plot of land was insufficient, if it just wasn't enough to grow the necessary amount of food, and the husband refused to negotiate for a larger piece of land from like a neighbor or something to buy it, the wife had grounds to ask for a divorce. Basically, you're going to get this land and help me feed our children or else I'm going to leave you. It was quite literally the definition of demanding a provider, except that's

she was also the one who grew the food to provide. It's a very interesting relationship that we'd have. This is made even more complex by the fact that polygamy is regularly practiced among the Akamba, and the frequency of divorce is higher in polygamous marriages compared to monogamous relationships. Of course, there are a variety of reasons for this, which we don't have to fully get into, as you can imagine the infighting that occurs in such a setting because of competition, but the big thing here is that the

The more wives one has, the more land one needs in order for them to farm, which in turn means more opportunities for dissatisfaction and divorce. Because think about this. You have a plot of land. You have one wife. That wife gets all that land to grow that food so that she can feed her family. You have three wives.

That land now gets divided amongst three women who all have to grow in their respective plots to feed their family. And if it's not enough, they're fighting each other and they're fighting you and demanding a divorce. And that's...

That is a messy legal conundrum to get involved in, I think. A lot of these sound extra complicated. Divorce still, though, was not taken lightly and was considered a very serious affair demanding high commitment. Men who engaged in dubious marital relationships, if they were, you know, really abusing their wife or sleeping around or something, they were oftentimes despised by the community, even if there wasn't any kind of legal recourse against them. Is it like the...

Are we dating the same guy Facebook page where every girl just like posts men? Kind of. Yeah. And then they're shunned. It's the definition of like, you know, it takes a village to raise a child except it takes a village to maintain a marriage. Literally, I'm not kidding from that. The involvement of family elders in the community and divorce proceedings made things even more messy. And in some cases have the next husband, like you even have the next husband of the divorced wife creating further problems.

Which you're going to wonder, okay, what? What the hell? Why would the next husband creating problems for a divorced wife? Why would the next husband create problems for a divorced wife? Well, get this. In the event of a divorce, if it actually goes through, the new husband of the divorced wife was obligated to refund the entire dowry paid to the former husband. Oh, so it's impossible to get remarried.

This financial aspect could be a very significant barrier to a woman getting remarried so that if, you know, she went into a marriage and she had a decent amount of wealth and her husband was really abusive and so she tried to leave him, she could leave him. But if she got remarried, all of that dowry that would have potentially then gone to the new husband goes to the old husband instead. Yeah, I...

As you can probably imagine, that is going to heavily discourage divorce and really would end up trapping women in positions that were not what we would call the best.

Either way, that is the end of what it is we're going to be covering here today. It's funny that I bring up a lot of these things because these are very recent in terms of history. These aren't ancient practices. They are ancient practices that continue all the way forward with today because unfortunately, there's just not really much good information on, oh, what was 11th century divorce like in Western Africa? Like that.

You don't really have good information on this at all in comparison to what you would have with other places. So with that, I hope you all enjoyed today's episode. Let me know right now if you have any suggestions of your own kind of things that you would like to hear. If there are cultures or practices in Africa or Asia or South America or anywhere that doesn't normally get talked about that you want to hear about more.

and you know something, feel free to let us know either here on like Spotify or Apple, like when you can comment or go and join Patreon and leave a comment on this episode as it goes up so that we can cover that more detail in the future. Because...

I'm telling you right now, there are so many things that we can explore. I just want to know when we're getting to no fault divorce. That was the original goal. That was so ambitious. I think you can cover that in one episode. Yeah, see, the thing is, if we were focusing on just Western relations, we could have done it very quickly. But then we would have left out everything with Asia, everything with Africa, and would have just beelined. Yeah. With that, my friends, we're going to end things here today. I appreciate you all for joining us. We'll see you next time. And goodbye. Bye.

Hello everyone, my name is Wesley Levesay from the History of the Second World War podcast.

Join me on a journey to the most destructive conflict in human history, a journey that will take us not just through the famous campaigns and cataclysmic battles, but also to the lesser well-known corners of the war that touched millions all over the world, as we try and answer not just the questions of what and where, but how and why. You can find History of the Second World War on all major podcast platforms or at historyofthesecondworldwar.com.