Ransoming Prisoners In Precolonial Muslim Western Africa

Examines African debates on captivity, legal and illegal enslavement, and religious and ethnic identity in the era of West African jihads. In this pioneering study--the first to cover ransoming, or the release of a prisoner prior to enslavement for cash or kind, in African regions south of the Sahara--Jennifer Lofkrantz focuses on a broad temporal and geographical area raning from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries and including present-day Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Morocco. The work concentrates particularly on the nineteenth-century jihad era and on the Sokoto Caliphate and the Umarian States. The overall period was a time of intense intellectual debate over the questions of who was and who was not a Muslim, how Islamic law could and should be implemented, what rights and protections recognized freeborn Muslims should have, and what role governments should play in ensuring those rights especially during a time when slavery was legal. Ransoming discourses and procedures expose Muslim West African answers to these questions as well as providing a lens on broader issues and ideas on slavery, freedom, and religious and ethnic identity. Based on research conducted mostly in Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and France and on Arabic-, French-, and English-language archival sources, treatises, personal correspondence, oral sources and testimony, biographical data, travel reports, and early colonial documents, this study approaches the question of ransoming of captives through an examination, first, of intellectual debates among pre-nineteenth-century West African scholars on issues of ransoming; second, of nineteenth-century policies based on understandings of those intellectual debates in the context of the jihads; and, finally, of West African practices of ransoming in the nineteenth century.

A comprehensive historical, geographic, and thematic analysis of the multidimensional and dynamic migration experience of Ethiopians within and beyond Africa. Ethiopia is one of the largest African sources of transnational migrants, with an estimated two to three million Ethiopians living outside of the home country. This edited collection provides a critical examination of the temporal, spatial, and thematic dimensions of Ethiopian migration, mapping out its scale, scope, and destinations. The thirteen essays here (plus an introduction and conclusion by the volume's editors) offer a discussion of the state of knowledge and current debates on the diaspora and suggest alternative frameworks for interrogating and understanding the Ethiopian migration and diasporic experiences. Key time periods and literatures are identified to study Ethiopian transnational migration, moving from a survey of patterns in pre-twentieth century Ethiopia and on to changing trajectories in the imperial period and under succeeding postrevolutionary regimes. Geographically, the contour of the Ethiopian diaspora is outlined, identifying key destinations and patterns of return. In particular, the volume seeks to correct the traditional tendency to conflate the Ethiopian diaspora with North America and Europe by including areas that have long been marginalized, such as inter-Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The objective is not to construct a simple cartography of migration but a critical analysis of national and global issues, policies, trends, and processes that shape the roots and routes of the migration dynamic. Thematically, this book aims to challenge the existing boundaries of Ethiopian migration and diaspora studies and raise important concerns about representation, ghettoization, and perpetuation of inequalities. Edited by Shimelis Bonsa Gulema, Hewan Girma, and Mulugeta F. Dinbabo. Contributors: Alpha Abebe; Amsale Alemu; Tekalign Ayalew; Kassaye Berhanu-MacDonald; Elizabeth Chacko; Marina de Re> Mulugeta F. Dinbabo; Peter H. Gebre; Hewan Girma; Mary Goitom; Shimelis Bonsa Gulema; Tesfaye Semela; Nassise Solomon; and Fitsum R. Tedla.

Examines Dakar's transformation from a small colonial capital to a dynamic city, highlighting how its resourceful residents challenged French control by forging adaptive economic relationships. During a transformative era in the first half of the twentieth century, Dakar--former capital of French West Africa and present-day capital of Senegal--evolved from a small colonial capital meant to serve the French administration to a dynamic city shaped not solely by colonial planners but by its resourceful inhabitants. In this important book, author Rachel Petrocelli introduces the concept of transactional culture, a set of norms and practices forged by Dakar's residents to navigate life under colonial rule. A central element of this culture was transience, a defining feature permeating various facets of life in Dakar, from commerce and employment to housing and interactions with the state. The book uncovers a central dynamic: economic relationships in Dakar were continually molded by the ebb and flow of diverse individuals, each pursuing their own objectives, despite relentless efforts of the French state to exert control. Both Europeans and Africans embraced adaptability in Dakar over fixed residence, while immigrant communities implanted themselves and became integral to the city's transactional culture. In a compelling narrative based on court records and other primary sources, author Rachel Petrocelli shows that as the French colonial state sought to shape and control Dakar, it enacted policies to intentionally limit city dwellers' financial resources. Practices like pawning possessions and taking out credit emerged as financial strategies as a result, integrating Dakarois of every background. These practices persisted long after French rule ended, underscoring the enduring impact of Dakar's colonial history.

This new edition of the well-known innovative study of the relations of the peoples of West Africa in the precolonial period covers a period of some four or five hundred years, up to the last decades of the nineteenth century. Smith takes account of outside influences but focuses primarily on what happened between African states before the partition of the area and the establishment of colonies.

This open access handbook takes a comparative and global approach to analyse the practice of slavery throughout history. To understand slavery - why it developed, and how it functioned in various societies – is to understand an important and widespread practice in world civilisations. With research traditionally being dominated by the Atlantic world, this collection aims to illuminate slavery that existed in not only the Americas but also ancient, medieval, North and sub-Saharan African, Near Eastern, and Asian societies. Connecting civilisations through migration, warfare, trade routes and economic expansion, the practice of slavery integrated countries and regions through power-based relationships, whilst simultaneously dividing societies by class, race, ethnicity and cultural group. Uncovering slavery as a globalising phenomenon, the authors highlight the slave-trading routes that crisscrossed Africa, helped integrate the Mediterranean world, connected Indian Ocean societies and fused the Atlantic world. Split into five parts, the handbook portrays the evolution of slavery from antiquity to the contemporary era and encourages readers to realise similarities and differences between various manifestations of slavery throughout history. Providing a truly global coverage of slavery, and including thematic injections within each chronological part, this handbook is a comprehensive and transnational resource for all researchers interested in slavery, the history of labour, and anthropology.

Originally published in 1976, this book combines detailed technical studies of the diplomacy of the land and waterborne warfare of pre-colonial West Africa. It draws attention to the connexion between these topics as dual aspects of international relations and refers to those parts of West African indigenous diplomacy, showing how these resembled and diverged from practice elsewhere. The causes and consequences of West African wars are analysed and the wide range of weaponry, armour and transport used by armies is also discussed. Strategy and tactics of the wars in relation to defensive operations are also examined. Throughout the book a considerable body of evidence from many sources is deployed to justify both the factual content and the conclusions which are drawn.

A work of synthesis on plantation slavery in nineteenth century Sokoto caliphate, engaging with major debates on internal African slavery, on the meaning of the term "plantation," and on comparative slavery

The history of Ghana attracts popular interest out of proportion to its small size and marginal importance to the global economy. Ghana is the land of Kwame Nkrumah and the Pan-Africanist movement of the 1960s; it has been a temporary home to famous African Americans like W. E. B. DuBois and Maya Angelou; and its Asante Kingdom and signature kente cloth-global symbols of African culture and pride-are well known. Ghana also attracts a continuous flow of international tourists because of two historical sites that are among the most notorious monuments of the transatlantic slave trade: Cape Coast and Elmina Castles. These looming structures are a vivid reminder of the horrific trade that gave birth to the black population of the Americas. The Fante and the Transatlantic Slave Trade explores the fascinating history of the transatlantic slave trade on Ghana's coast between 1700 and 1807. Here author Rebecca Shumway brings to life the survival experiences of southern Ghanaians as they became both victims of continuous violence and successful brokers of enslaved human beings. The era of the slave trade gave birth to a new culture in this part of West Africa, just as it was giving birth to new cultures across the Americas. The Fante and the Transatlantic Slave Trade pushes Asante scholarship to the forefront of African diaspora and Atlantic World studies by showing the integral role of Fante middlemen and transatlantic trade in the development of the Asante economy prior to 1807. Rebecca Shumway is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh.