20th Century Boys

A certain manga series got us into this song, even though rock is a genre we usually avoid.

An Abridged History of Tripoli

Because Anne-Charles Froment de Champlagarde's loose translation of a Libyan chronicle was in French rather than the German summary of Krause, we were able to read the full text more easily and gleam certain details on the history of Tripoli and Tripoli-Fezzan relations. However, Alain Blondy's introduction is actually more useful for an introduction or overview of the history of Tripolitania and the Fezzan from the period of c.1500-1800. Blondy's lengthy introduction, for instance, helped situate the conflicts over Tripoli in the 1500s between European Christians and, eventually, the Ottomans while providing a Tripoli-based perspective on the Fezzan and trans-Saharan trade. Much of the actual chronicle tracks the often difficult state of relations between Tripoli and Murzuq while the later sections cover the rise of the Qaramanli and the brutal conditions under which Yusuf seized power after slaying his brother. 

Unfortunately, we still don't learn much about the local "negro sovereigns" of the Fezzan except for their various revolts and refusals to pay tribute to Tripoli. But some interesting details emerge in Blondy's introduction and the original text on the Fezzan's relations with Katsina and Borno. For instance, the idea of the Awlad Muhammad dynasty as vassals or quasi-vassals of the Sayfawa dynasty as demonstrated by mai Umar b. Idris executing al-Tahir. Or the importance of "black" merchants in Murzuq, the capital of the Awlad Muhammad rulers. Given that Kanuri was once widely spoken in the region, it might be safe to assume most of these "black" merchants were from Borno, although Hausa traders from Katsina were likely present. Thus, the Fezzan was intimately linked to the larger economy of the Borno and Hausaland, and may have derived much of its textiles, leather goods, and grain from the "Central Sudan" neighbors to the south. 

Indeed, according to Claude Lemaire, about 500-600 slaves passed through the Fezzan from Borno annually, suggestive of the scale of the slave trade in the late 17th century between Tripoli and Borno. That number, though seemingly small, doesn't take into account high mortality rates or the role of Tripoli as a distribution center for African captives to other locations in the Mediterranean. As argued by other historians, Tripoli seems to have relied more heavily on this African slave trade through their tributary Fezzani neighbor than Borno, which raises questions on the role of the slave trade in Borno's economy. Yet influence or control of the Fezzan obviously mattered to the Sayfawa dynasty, since it allowed them to secure the trade routes to the Mediterranean and perhaps protect their own merchants active in the central Sahara or beyond. We would like to learn more about Idris Alooma's interests in the Fezzan during the 1570s and 1580s, as well as the mystery of an anonymous Spanish source from the 16th century mentioning direct military conflict between Borno and the Ottoman Empire in the Fezzan region.

Nunca vas a comprender

Mood music for the week has been Rita Payés and Elisabeth Romero. Their album has been dreamlike music for contemplation and accompaniment for reading. 

Ahmad Baba of Timbuktu

We truly wish Mahmoud A. Zouber's Ahmad Baba de Tombouctou (1556-1627), sa vie et son oeuvre was available in English translation. Zouber's work appears to be the best general overview of one of the best-known West African Islamic scholars of the precolonial era, based on his own works, the references from his disciples and contemporaries and the established modern scholarship. Although one wishes there was a deeper analysis of more than 8 of what Zouber considers Baba's most important, representative works, he undoubtedly succeeds in portraying the life of a Timbuktu scholar whose family were a key part of the Timbuktu intellectual scene. 

And yes, to a certain extent, the hyperbole surrounding the scholastic achievements and reputation of Timbuktu compared to the rest of the Muslim World finds some justification in the respected position of Baba during his Moroccan exile. That he was able to teach prominent Moroccan scholars and be taken as an equal attests to, at least in his case, the exemplary level of Islamic instruction achieved by some at Timbuktu and probably Jenne and other cities in the Western Sudan. Certainly, Ahmad Baba's principal teachers in Timbuktu, such as Muhammad Baghayogho, would have likely been perceived as excellent scholars if they had lived in Morocco. In light of this, Zouber suggests Timbuktu's comparable standing to other centers of Islamic learning like North Africa and Egypt but carefully avoids any firm conclusion on the question. After all, it was during his period in Morocco that Baba was most prolific, perhaps attesting to the greater availability of books in Marrakech and, though we cannot prove it, a more stimulating environment for intellectual production than the declining Songhay Empire?

In addition, Zouber's study dispels some of the myths and assumptions about Baba. For instance, the assumption that he was "black" or identified as such (despite one of his students in Morocco asserting he was not "black"), although Zouber pushes a strong patriotic or "national" identity based in the region of the Western Sudan on the part of Baba against the Moroccan invasion. Moreover, though only focusing specifically on 8 of the 56 works attributed to Baba, Zouber establishes the main areas of study he specialized in: grammar, fiqh, biography, morality, theology, history, and fatwas. Clearly, the Islamic sciences occupied most of his attention and to truly understand him or the intellectual scene in Timbuktu under Songhay rule requires some comprehension of Islamic learning and the connections with Egypt, the Maghreb, and earlier Islamic literature. 

But to know that several of Baba's works survived and his education in Timbuktu might shed light on comparable methods of education and curriculum for those of us interested in Hausaland and Borno during the same period. Perhaps, to a certain extent, Ahmad Baba's "Sudanese" upbringing and education can tell us something about Muslim writers from the same era in other parts of West, possibly revealing some of their shared concerns (like questions from Touat and North Africans about emerging discourses of "racialized" West Africans and the widespread illegal enslavement of Muslim West Africans). Perhaps, though Baba was critical of Idris Alooma, one can see possible influences of Timbuktu in the Birni Gazargamo of Ahmad b. Furtu in Borno and vice versa through the confluence of Songhay and Borno influence in Hausaland and Air.

Kola Nuts and the Central Sudan

Lovejoy's Caravans of Kola has been on this blog's reading list for quite some time. It seems to be a perfect companion to Lovejoy's even more detailed study of salt production and trade in the Central Sudan region during roughly the same period. Unfortunately for those interested in production, this study focuses more on exchange as the zone of kola growing was in the Volta basin under the rule of the Asante in the 18th and 19th centuries. Nonetheless, the two studies complement each other by illustrating how the market forces were related in the exchange of salt, natron, textiles, leather goods, and other products across a huge swathe of West Africa. Thus, as convincingly demonstrated by Lovejoy's study, the kola trade was one of the ways in which precolonial West African societies were shaped by market forces as well as linkages to the Atlantic and trans-Saharan systems. 

Even more intriguing is the analysis of the corporate kola traders of Hausaland in the 19th century, the Kambarin Beriberi, Tokarawa and Agalawa. These three groups, of Kanuri origin and "servile" backgrounds from the Tuareg lands to the north, took advantage of preexisting Islamic Hausa commercial diasporas in the Volta basin and the economic dynamism of Kano to become some of the wealthiest local traders in the Sokoto caliphate and northern Nigeria. Several chapters break down this development through the use of asali, Islam, Hausa language, large-scale caravan organization and networks established by previous Muslim traders who linked the Central Sudan with areas that later fell under the dominion of Asante. The ascent of these 3 groups points to the role of markets in upward social mobility in the Central Sudan for people of "servile" origin or those of Kanuri origin (Kambarin Beriberi) who emigrated to Hausaland in the late 18th century and early 19th century.

While we are more particularly interested in the earliest forms of this trade in kola between this region and Borno, the sources are richer for the period of 1700-1900. Consequently, our interest in how Borno's hegemonic position in the pre-jihad economy of the Central Sudan may have been linked to the kola trade before, say, 1759, remains somewhat obscure. Undoubtedly, the brief autobiographical texts of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq of Jamaica indicate a link between Jenne traders and those of Katsina and Borno by the late 18th century. Moreover, the problematic narrative of James Albert hints at links between Borno and the "Gold Coast" in the 18th century while the Fezzani trader cited by Lucas directly traveled to the region in question on behalf of the Awlad Muhammad dynasty. The Kano Chronicle likewise alludes trade in kola from Gonja to Borno through Hausaland by the 1400s or 1500s, and it is hard to imagine Borno traders not being involved with the trade in kola nuts at such early dates. This would be especially so if Borno was the dominant producer of textiles and leather products (or at least the main distribution center) for the Central Sudan before the Fulani jihad. 

Introduction à une histoire du vaudou

Although Introduction à une histoire du vaudou is very much an introduction and somewhat outdated, it's additional proof of the ongoing relevance of Hénock Trouillot to the study of Haitian history. Trouillot's historical approach cites some sources we are not personally familiar with on Vodou as well as offering some provocative analysis of the significance of the plantation economy, slavery, Catholicism, the Haitian Revolution, anti-Vodou laws, and the development of the lakou in shaping Vodou as we know it. Obviously, Vodou is not some fount of "pure" Africanity. Nor is it immune from transformations and new developments that require historically-grounded ethnographic research on the rise of it's particular rites, familial base, or Catholic-Vodou syncretism. 

Trouillot's study is an early exemplary model of what historians can contribute to Haitian ethnology by highlighting the likely impact of social, economic, political, and cultural changes over time that appear to have transformed Vodou from the colonial-era cult of the snake to the religion we know today with a pantheon of spirits and private, public, and secular dimensions. As an early sketch or introduction to the history of such a complex topic, Trouillot's book is worthwhile, though one cannot ignore its outdated projections and terminology (evolved versus archaic religions). Nor can one omit mention of the weak treatment of possible impact of Kongolese Catholics on Haitian Catholicism or the cursory allusion to Muslim West Africans possibly shaping the monotheistic aspects of Vodou. A further limitation is the omission of certain key texts which do shed light on Vodou in the 1800 and early 1900s, such as Mollien. Perhaps Trouillot simply lacked access to some of these sources so he heavily relies on L'Union, St. John, Mackenzie, Hill, Aubin, Price, Janvier, Firmin, Manigat, d'Alaux, Texier, and Church-affiliated figures. Nowadays, scholars have access to more robust sources that could eventually lead to a fuller history.

Perhaps more disturbing and placing himself in a long trajectory of Haitian ethnologists and even 19th century intellectuals, Trouillot also seems to equate Vodou with the forces that retard progress for the Haitian masses. He even goes so far to criticize the ethnological school for its apologetics on Haitian Vodou and rural customs which hold back the Haitian people and become a form of intellectual  masturbation. He wasn't entirely wrong, and his harsh criticism on the lack of scientific vigor or on the ground research from the ethnologists was fair. But one can see today's practitioners and scholars taking issue with the development-oriented framework of Trouillot's study. However, Trouillot saw the ineffectiveness of the UNESCO Marbial project and believed development had to come through applied anthropology that took into account local perspectives, beliefs, and conditions to support opportunities for development based on those factors. All things considered, this makes for a complex and nuanced attempt at a history of a misunderstood and often maligned religion.

Bornu Sahara and Sudan

Papyrus Boats on Lake Chad as depicted in Bornu Sahara and Sudan

Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan was fun at first but quickly turned into a depressing chore. Unlike Sudanese Memoirs, which mostly consists of primary sources, this volume pounds on the reader on the head with the various unsubstantiated theories of Palmer on the origins of Kanem-Borno and African civilizations. As one would suspect, everything is connected to ancient Middle Eastern, Berber, Nubian, and Abyssinian migration or influences. Palmer, per usual, relies on questionable linguistic theories to connect these various influences which eventually led to the formation of Kanem and neighboring kingdoms in the precolonial era. 

After reading half the book, we decided to skim the remainder for interesting sources, information or changes in Palmer's translations of some local materials. For example, some of the mahrams appear to be translated differently in this work than Sudanese Memoirs, and one gets the impression that some of the Kanuri songs and girgams quoted in Bornu Sahara and Sudan were not included in the previous work. However, for Palmer's version of the Diwan and some of the speculative theories on particular mais in the Sayfawa dynasty, one should still consult this work. 

Just keep in mind that it's not always clear where Palmer derived his information and some of the translations could be shoddy and misleading, especially when tied to his penchant for random linguistic connections. For instance, his theory connecting the name "Organa" for Kanem in medieval European maps is almost certainly incorrect, just as most of his work reflects the Hamitic Hypothesis and its hyperdiffusionist perspective. 

Palmer's Sudanese Memoirs

Herbert Richmond Palmer 

Although Herbert Richmond Palmer's scholarship on the history of Kanem-Borno and West Africa is horribly outdated and reflects a colonialist bias, one cannot avoid him. Just for his collection of primary sources (oral and textual) and the various translations of Arabic texts he published, his legacy in the study of the "Central Sudan" region of West Africa is strong. Unfortunately, his scholarship owes much to the Hamitic Hypothesis and fundamentally incorrect theories of ancient Elamite and Middle Eastern migration into West Africa that led to the formation of kingdoms like Kanem-Borno. 

His penchant for random linguistic connections based on unproven conclusions also weakens the analysis since he builds a grand theory of Berber or Tuareg origins for all the states of the Sudanic belt (but borrowing from Ibn Khaldun, Muhammad Bello and local West African sources to trace the origins of the "Tuareg" to the Blue Nile, Kordofan, Nubia) that relies on unproven links between Tuareg Tamashek and various words from Kanuri, Teda, Hausa, and other languages. Thus, Palmer sees the various states of precolonial West Africa as the creation of "Barbars" of "white" or "less negroid" origin. Indeed, in some cases entire ethnic groups are reduced to "servile" castes of their Berber conquerors or overlords.

In his defense, however, some of the local chronicles, mahrams, girgams, and oral traditions provided to Palmer by local elites in Borno or elsewhere in Nigeria made similar claims of ancient Near Eastern or Eastern origins in Yemen, the Nile Valley, Baghdad, or beyond. These local sources usually reflect an Islamic genealogy that stresses alleged descent from the kings of Himyar or prominent figures or places in the history of Islam, but one can see how tempting it was for colonial-era scholars like Palmer or Urvoy to interpret these local sources in their own highly racialized way. Where Palmer distinguishes himself from Yves Urvoy, however, is in his attempt at a more "nuanced" interpretation of the various waves of "Barbars" into the "Sudan" through Yemen, Ethiopia, and the Nile Valley. Palmer's Sudanese Memoirs suggests that ancient "Elamites" as well as Phoenicians penetrated the Sahara and Sudan in pre-Islamic times while the later wave of  Tuareg-like rulers from the East represented something with ties to the Nile Valley. 

Despite the lack of evidence for a "Barbar" origin of the Zaghawa, Teda, Kanembu or Kanuri, Palmer problematically borrows what he needs from Ibn Khaldun or 19th century  West African scholars like Muhammad Bello to find the basic "proof" he needs for his theories. Nonetheless, Sudanese Memoirs is mostly local sources and is of great value for some of the mahrams, girgams, chronicles, and traditions that shed light on intricate or provocative points of inquiry. Furthermore, Palmer's rendition of the Kano Chronicle was republished in this collection, always a worthwhile read for those interested in Hausa history.

But for anyone interested in the history of Kanem-Borno and the Sayfawa dynasty, Sudanese Memoirs contains several useful sources and thought-provoking interpretations. For instance, some of the chapters provide a breakdown of Kanembu and Borno tribes and clans, such as the Magumi, N'gal, Mani Kangu, Kuburi, and Kajidi. The various mahrams present a mix of traditions and historical personages that give some details on power relations and land tenure in Kanem-Borno, such as the Mahram of Umme Jilmi from the late 11th century (but probably written down centuries after the events it described). The Tura Mahrams for the Beni Mukhtar for example, allude to the sometimes violent nature of relations between Kawar and Air (The Dirku Tubu and Tuareg of Air) during the time of mai Bikir (c.1184, according to Palmer's chronology), who was almost certainly the mai Abdallah Bakuru of Lange's chronology. If accurate, these Tura mahrams and the Mahram of Umme Jilmi for the descendants of Muhammad b. Mani and the Tura Tuzan suggest the Kawar region and traders of Tubu (and Arab?) origin were very important for Kanem by the late 11th century, and Kanem's rulers were mediators in conflicts among the Saharan populations nearby. This can be corroborated by the Diwan giving several examples of early mais whose mothers came from Kay (Koyam) and Tubu clans. 

A few of the later selections in Sudanese Memoirs also contain some interesting if not verifiable information on the Sayfawa dynasty's political history. Some of the girgams, such as the Saifawa Girgam in possession of Galadima Kashim Biri, provide names that do not appear in the formal Diwan. According to this document, Kashim Biri, who acted as regent during one of the pilgrimages of Ali b. Umar (r.1639-1679), tried to seize the throne but was defeated when Ali returned. His fate was to be blinded and exiled. It is highly likely that this Kashim Biri, son of Umar (perhaps Umar b. Idris, the father of Ali) was the figure behind the revolt in 1667 that resulted in Agadez attacking Borno and unknowingly selling Ali b. Umar's nephew into slavery in the Maghrib. 

The Masbarma family of wazirs and Islamic scholars also merit discussion. The chronological details are unclear in the text,, but wazir Umar Masbarma ibn Uthman ibn Ibrahim's influence on mai Ali b. Muhammad Dunama (Ali Ghaji, the builder of Gazargamo) was said to be so strong that it sparked opposition from other prominent members of the court. This very same Umar Masbarma would later go on to chronicle the exploits of Idris Katagarmabe. The source, unfortunately, gets some things wrong but offers one of our few detailed looks at the Masbarma and their close relationship with the Sayfawa dynasty, which included marriage to Mariam Hafsa, a daughter of Ali b. Muhammad Dunama. What stands out to us is the mention of Mariam Hafsa as well read, raising the question of women and education in precolonial Borno. 

Sadly, the Kindle edition of this text features excessive typos and should be avoided. Of course, if that is the only accessible edition of this important book, then we suggest purchasing it anyway just to have access to the text. Despite all the ideological problems of Palmer and the lack of the original Arabic documents, Sudanese Memoirs is required for the history of Kanem-Borno and Nigeria. 

Koranic Readings

Borno Shetima Kawo Qur'an

We regret not posting here for some time. We have been carried away with consumption of various manga, anime (Monster was quite suspenseful and entertaining until it's meandering conclusion), and, for a more serious endeavor, the reading of the Koran. We used Dawood's poetic translation for a smooth reading but foolishly did not attempt to read the text in chronological order. Alas, had we done so, perhaps it would have been a more pleasant read. Instead, we forced ourselves to read the various longer surahs of the first half of the Koran before the shorter chapters in the later section, having to read Allah basically say the same things over and over and over to Muhammad. But we still enjoyed it at the pace of a few surahs per day, read at a leisurely pace and with an interest in understanding how this text has been a cornerstone for Islamic societies which interest us historically. We will have to continue our readings in Islamic texts while pursuing our study of West Africa and the Sahel.