1300 187 187
This volume examines the archaeology of precolonial West African societies in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using historical and archaeological perspectives on landscape, this collection of essays sheds light on how involvement in the commercial revolutions of the early modern period dramatically reshaped the regional contours of political organization across West Africa. The essays examine how social and political transformations occurred at the regional level by exploring regional economic networks, population shifts, cultural values, and ideologies. The book demonstrates the importance of anthropological insights not only to the broad political history of West Africa, but also to an understanding of political culture as a form of meaningful social practice.
| Foreword | p. ix |
| Preface | p. xv |
| Contributors | p. xix |
| Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa | p. 1 |
| Fragmented Landscapes | |
| Atlantic Impacts on Inland Senegambia: French Penetration and African Initiatives in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Gajaaga and Bundu (Upper Senegal River) | p. 49 |
| Political Transformations and Cultural Landscapes in Senegambia during the Atlantic Era: An Alternative View from the Siin (Senegal)? | p. 78 |
| The Eguafo Polity: Between the Traders and Raiders | p. 115 |
| From the Shadow of an Atlantic Citadel: An Archaeology of the Huedan Countryside | p. 142 |
| State-Generated Landscapes | |
| Segou, Slavery, and Sifmso | p. 169 |
| Building the State in Dahomey: Power and Landscape on the Bight of Benin | p. 191 |
| The Formation of an Oyo Imperial Colony during the Atlantic Age | p. 222 |
| Internal Frontier Landscapes | |
| The Rise of the Bassar Chiefdom in the Context of Africa's Internal Frontier | p. 255 |
| Fortified Towns of the Koinadugu Plateau: Northern Sierra Leone in the Pre-Atlantic and Atlantic Worlds | p. 278 |
| Rethinking the Mandara Political Landscape: Cultural Developments, Climate, and an Entry into History in the Second Millennium A.D. | p. 309 |
| Conclusion | |
| The Local and the Global: Historiographical Reflections on West Africa in the Atlantic Age | p. 339 |
| Index | p. 377 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9781107009394
ISBN-10: 1107009391
Audience:
Tertiary; University or College
Format:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 400
Published: 13th February 2012
Dimensions (cm): 25.3 x 18.7
x 3.2
Weight (kg): 0.851
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