Wednesday, January 23, 2019

African Dominion, by Michael A. Gomez (review)



African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa
  by Michael A. Gomez (Princeton)

      This ground breaking study of early and medieval West Africa focuses on the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Ghana and the empires of Mali and Songhay. Reports by Arab and European travelers often contradict one another, so Gomez ingeniously synthesizes them with archaeological evidence, manuscripts in Timbuktu libraries, and local tradition, to give a granular view of life in the region. The most fascinating figure is Mali's fourteenth-century ruler Mansā Mūsā, whose fame reached Europe; a Catalan illuminated map depicts him holding a massive gold nugget. Making the hajj to Mecca, he gave away such huge quantities of gold along the way that he in inadvertently depressed its value for a considerable time.

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