The Kings of Africa photographed by Daniel Laine
by rod ~ May 25th, 2009. Filed under: Africa, Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa.
Joseph Langanfin -Benin
Oni (King) of Ife – Nigeria
Ngie Kamga Joseph – Fon of Bandjun – Cameroon
Halidou Sali – Lamido of Bibemi – Cameroon
Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III – King of Akropong – Akuapem – Ghana
Abubaka Sidiq – Sultan of Sokoto – Nigeria
Hapi – VI – King of Bana – Cameroon
Nyimi Kok Mmabiintosh III – King of Kuba – D. R. Congo
Igwe Kenneth Nnaji Onyemaeke Orizu III – Obie Of Nnewi – Nigeria
Isienwenro James Iyoha Inneh – Ekegbian of Benin – Nigeria
Agboli-Agbo Dedjlani – King of Abomey – Benin
goodwill Zwelethini – King of Zulu – South Africa
el Hadji Mamadou Kabir Usman – Emir of Katsina – Nigeria
Bouba Abdoulaye – Sultan of Rey-Bouba – Cameroon
Aliyu Mustapha – Lamido of Adamawa – Nigeria
Oba Joseph Adekola Ogunoye – Olowo of Owo – Nigeria
Between the years of 1988 and 1991, French photographer Daniel Laine spent about 12 months on the African continent tracking down and photographing figures of royalty, and leaders of kingdoms. During this time he managed to photograph 70 monarchs and descendants of the great African dynasties with his work on this series. Tiped by Design you can trust. Photos found via Lifelounge
June 21st, 2009 at 7:03 am
i love the collection you have here. Although, some of these rulers are no longer in “power”. It’ll be nice to this updated and with more pictures. Good job though.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:58 am
I’ll have a look if I can find some more pictures.
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:40 am
i’m pretty sure that if i was black, i would sell everything i own, buy lots of gold jewelry, and move to west africa.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Hi Rod, Fantastic pictures.
Fascinating to see how other kings have dressed in different countries in Africa. May be to throw people off, it might be funny to add Prince Charles in the pictures. 
All the best.
September 11th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Beautiful pictures indeed.
But also shameful ripping of someone else’s site!
September 13th, 2009 at 4:53 am
What a stunning and creative theme. With some background information this would make a great book.
September 13th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Wow…..do people really still question why Africa is so fucked up? Can they do anything? Why build a time machine when you can go back 8000 years to that crap-hole and see how we lived like monkeys, and do it today. Good Luck Africa…..you are going to need it!
September 24th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
THIS IS A MARVELOUS PHOTO ESSAY. HOWEVER, I DO NOT SEE ADJACENT A SIMILAR TO THE BRAZILIAN KINGS AND QUEENS (!) I FIND THIS TO BE A MUST AND INDISPENSABLE GUIDE TO BRAZILIAN GRAPHIC ETHNO-POLITICS. IF YOU WISH, PLZ, DO GET IN TOUCH FOR SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW TO GO ABOUT DOING IT.
September 25th, 2009 at 5:29 am
Great pics but it would of been nice if you added James Ealr Jones from Coming to America.
October 1st, 2009 at 9:09 am
I would love to know more about the process you used. Did the “kings” select the poses and the items to be photographed? How willing were they? (Were all of them still alive – some look dead!) Did you have any restrictions on what could be used as props, ie I notice an absence of guns.
Tell us more, please.
Terry
October 1st, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I second Terry Stone’s request. I’d love to know more about “behind the photographs”.
Just pretty pictures won’t do!
October 1st, 2009 at 9:55 pm
If you read the describing text, these photos where taken by Daniel Lainé. His book is available on http://www.amazon.com/ and contains more pretty pictures. CreativeRoots don’t do case studies.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Nice collection and an interesting idea to capture. I could swear I saw goodwill (goodwill Zwelethini – King of Zulu – South Africa) on the cover of a 70’s soul album! (LOL)
October 8th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
now a picture forms…no wonder Africa has so much crap to contend with!!!
January 28th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
pure beautiful!
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I like this collection of cultural representation.
Another nice addition would be to place some of the western world next to these, and see some similarities.