African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West AfricaPick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book, the first on this period of the region's history in a generation, tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, including Arabic manuscripts, oral histories, and recent archaeological findings, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history more generally. Scholars have long held that such distinctions arose during the colonial period, but Gomez shows they developed much earlier. Focusing on the Savannah and Sahel region, Gomez traces the exchange of ideas and influences with North Africa and the Central Islamic Lands by way of merchants, scholars, and pilgrims. Islam's growth in West Africa, in tandem with intensifying commerce that included slaves, resulted in a series of political experiments unique to the region, culminating in the rise of empire. A major preoccupation was the question of who could be legally enslaved, which together with other factors led to the construction of new ideas about ethnicity, race, gender, and caste--long before colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. Telling a radically new story about early Africa in global history, African Dominion is set to be the standard work on the subject for many years to come. -- From dust jacket. |
Contents
The Middle Niger in PreAntiquity | 11 |
Early Gao | 19 |
Reform along | 30 |
Slavery and Race Imagined in Bilād AsSūdān | 43 |
The Meanings of Sunjata and the Dawn | 61 |
Mansā Mūsā and Global Mali | 92 |
Intrigue Islam and Ibn Baṭṭūṭa | 144 |
Sunni Alī and the Reinvention of Songhay | 169 |
The Age of Askia AlḤājj Muḥammad | 219 |
Of Clerics and Concubines | 258 |
The Nadir of Imperial | 315 |
The Era of Askia Dāwūd | 334 |
Dominions End | 355 |
epilogUe A Thousand Years | 369 |
469 | |
479 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abd Allāh African History Ahmad Aḥmad Bābā al-‘Umarī al-Mukhtār al-Sa’dī Alī’s Allāh Almoravids amīr Aqīt Arabic Askia al-ḥājj Muḥammad Askia Dāwūd Askia Muḥammad balma’a brother Bukar Cairo century Cissé and Kamissòko claim Corpus cultural Delafosse Diabaté enslaved Epic eunuchs Fakoli faqīh Fulbe Gao’s Ghana gold griots ḥajj Histoire historique Hunwick Ibid Ibn Baṭṭūṭa Ibn Khaldūn imām imperial Songhay Isḥāq Islam Ismā’īl Jenne Journal of African kanfāri Kaniaga l’empire land latter’s légende Maghan Maḥmūd Ka’ti Mali Mali’s Malian Mamluk Mande Manden Mandingue Mansā Mūsā manuscript Mema Middle Niger mithqāls Mōri Mori Koyra mosque Muḥammad Muḥammad Bonkana Kirya Mūsā Mūsā’s Muslim Niane oral Pilgrimage political refers region reign royal ruler Sahel Sankore scholars shaykh Sīdī slavery slaves Sogolon Songhay Empire Songhay’s Soninke sources Sūdān Sulaymān sultan Sumaoro Sundiata Sunjata Sunni Alī Ta’rīkh al-fattāsh Ta’rīkh as-sūdān Taghaza Takrur Tendirma Timbuktu traditions Tuareg ulamā Umar Uthmān Walata/Biru West Africa Yaḥyā