Author: J.P. Martin
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490777997
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 114
Book Description
African Empires presents a comprehensive and in depth analysis of the major empires of the African continent over thousands of years. This book penetrates into the various kingdoms and and rich cultures of Africa including East Africa, West Africa, North Africa, South Africa and Central Africa. African Empires brings to life a colorful cast of historical characters including African kings, queens, scholars, religious leaders, artists, warriors and merchants which helped to shape the direction of these great African civilizations. The epic landmark events of Africa are captured and explained in detail to provide a full understanding of this dynamic continent and it's contribution to world history.
African Empires: Volume 1
Author: J.P. Martin
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490777997
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 114
Book Description
African Empires presents a comprehensive and in depth analysis of the major empires of the African continent over thousands of years. This book penetrates into the various kingdoms and and rich cultures of Africa including East Africa, West Africa, North Africa, South Africa and Central Africa. African Empires brings to life a colorful cast of historical characters including African kings, queens, scholars, religious leaders, artists, warriors and merchants which helped to shape the direction of these great African civilizations. The epic landmark events of Africa are captured and explained in detail to provide a full understanding of this dynamic continent and it's contribution to world history.
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490777997
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 114
Book Description
African Empires presents a comprehensive and in depth analysis of the major empires of the African continent over thousands of years. This book penetrates into the various kingdoms and and rich cultures of Africa including East Africa, West Africa, North Africa, South Africa and Central Africa. African Empires brings to life a colorful cast of historical characters including African kings, queens, scholars, religious leaders, artists, warriors and merchants which helped to shape the direction of these great African civilizations. The epic landmark events of Africa are captured and explained in detail to provide a full understanding of this dynamic continent and it's contribution to world history.
African Dominion
Author: Michael A. Gomez
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400888166
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 521
Book Description
A groundbreaking history that puts early and medieval West Africa in a global context Pick 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.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400888166
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 521
Book Description
A groundbreaking history that puts early and medieval West Africa in a global context Pick 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.
Empire, Global Coloniality and African Subjectivity
Author: Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 085745952X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Global imperial designs, which have been in place since conquest by western powers, did not suddenly evaporate after decolonization. Global coloniality as a leitmotif of the empire became the order of the day, with its invisible technologies of subjugation continuing to reproduce Africa’s subaltern position, a position characterized by perceived deficits ranging from a lack of civilization, a lack of writing and a lack of history to a lack of development, a lack of human rights and a lack of democracy. The author’s sharply critical perspective reveals how this epistemology of alterity has kept Africa ensnared within colonial matrices of power, serving to justify external interventions in African affairs, including the interference with liberation struggles and disregard for African positions. Evaluating the quality of African responses and available options, the author opens up a new horizon that includes cognitive justice and new humanism.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 085745952X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Global imperial designs, which have been in place since conquest by western powers, did not suddenly evaporate after decolonization. Global coloniality as a leitmotif of the empire became the order of the day, with its invisible technologies of subjugation continuing to reproduce Africa’s subaltern position, a position characterized by perceived deficits ranging from a lack of civilization, a lack of writing and a lack of history to a lack of development, a lack of human rights and a lack of democracy. The author’s sharply critical perspective reveals how this epistemology of alterity has kept Africa ensnared within colonial matrices of power, serving to justify external interventions in African affairs, including the interference with liberation struggles and disregard for African positions. Evaluating the quality of African responses and available options, the author opens up a new horizon that includes cognitive justice and new humanism.
Ancient Africa
Author: Captivating History
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781647488710
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 122
Book Description
If you want to discover the captivating history of ancient Africa, then keep reading... Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers, such as the Nile and Niger. Some of the earliest great civilizations were born there, and they give us an insight into the smaller kingdoms of ancient Africa. Egypt is the main source of knowledge of many neighboring kingdoms that were just as rich and developed. Unfortunately, they were forgotten in time, as other civilizations and kingdoms replaced them as the continent's power bases. Only recently are we rediscovering the might of the Kingdom of Aksum, the political prowess of Kush, and the richness of the mysterious Punt. The early medieval kingdoms of Ghana and Mali are still being researched due to their unique pre-Muslim culture and their own outlook on Islam. As the home of the many pharaohs, Queen Sheba, Hannibal Barca, and Mansa Musa, Africa deserves our full attention. It has stories to tell us and cultural riches to share with us. Africa is where paganism, Christianity, and Islam left their trails and created a cultural fusion that is unique to the continent. Some modern countries are popular tourist destinations, while others are war-torn lands still unable to industrialize. This polarity of Africa can be traced to ancient times, and the world-shaping events that occurred here need to be studied and understood. In Ancient Africa: A Captivating Guide to Ancient African Civilizations, Such as the Kingdom of Kush, the Land of Punt, Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, and the Mali Empire with its Timbuktu, you will discover topics such as The Kingdom of Kush The Land of Punt Carthage The Kingdom of Aksum The Ghana Empire The Mali Empire And much, much more! So if you want to learn more about ancient Africa, scroll up and click the "add to cart" button!
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781647488710
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 122
Book Description
If you want to discover the captivating history of ancient Africa, then keep reading... Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers, such as the Nile and Niger. Some of the earliest great civilizations were born there, and they give us an insight into the smaller kingdoms of ancient Africa. Egypt is the main source of knowledge of many neighboring kingdoms that were just as rich and developed. Unfortunately, they were forgotten in time, as other civilizations and kingdoms replaced them as the continent's power bases. Only recently are we rediscovering the might of the Kingdom of Aksum, the political prowess of Kush, and the richness of the mysterious Punt. The early medieval kingdoms of Ghana and Mali are still being researched due to their unique pre-Muslim culture and their own outlook on Islam. As the home of the many pharaohs, Queen Sheba, Hannibal Barca, and Mansa Musa, Africa deserves our full attention. It has stories to tell us and cultural riches to share with us. Africa is where paganism, Christianity, and Islam left their trails and created a cultural fusion that is unique to the continent. Some modern countries are popular tourist destinations, while others are war-torn lands still unable to industrialize. This polarity of Africa can be traced to ancient times, and the world-shaping events that occurred here need to be studied and understood. In Ancient Africa: A Captivating Guide to Ancient African Civilizations, Such as the Kingdom of Kush, the Land of Punt, Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, and the Mali Empire with its Timbuktu, you will discover topics such as The Kingdom of Kush The Land of Punt Carthage The Kingdom of Aksum The Ghana Empire The Mali Empire And much, much more! So if you want to learn more about ancient Africa, scroll up and click the "add to cart" button!
The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay
Author: Patricia McKissack
Publisher: Square Fish
ISBN: 1250113512
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Book Description
For more than a thousand years, from A.D. 500 to 1700, the medieval kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay grew rich on the gold, salt, and slave trade that stretched across Africa. Scraping away hundreds of years of ignorance, prejudice, and mythology, award-winnnig authors Patricia and Fredrick McKissack reveal the glory of these forgotten empires while inviting us to share in the inspiring process of historical recovery that is taking place today.
Publisher: Square Fish
ISBN: 1250113512
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Book Description
For more than a thousand years, from A.D. 500 to 1700, the medieval kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay grew rich on the gold, salt, and slave trade that stretched across Africa. Scraping away hundreds of years of ignorance, prejudice, and mythology, award-winnnig authors Patricia and Fredrick McKissack reveal the glory of these forgotten empires while inviting us to share in the inspiring process of historical recovery that is taking place today.
Empires in the Sun
Author: Lawrence James
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681774992
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
The one hundred year history of how Europe coerced the African continent into its various empires—and the resulting story of how Africa succeeded in decolonization. In this dramatic (and often tragic) story of an era that radically changed the course of world history, Lawrence James investigates how, within one hundred years, Europeans persuaded and coerced Africa into becoming a subordinate part of the modern world. His narrative is laced with the experiences of participants and onlookers and introduces the men and women who, for better or worse, stamped their wills on Africa. The continent was a magnet for the high-minded, the adventurous, the philanthropic, the unscrupulous. Visionary pro-consuls rubbed shoulders with missionaries, explorers, soldiers, big-game hunters, entrepreneurs, and physicians. Between 1830 and 1945, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy and the United States exported their languages, laws, culture, religions, scientific and technical knowledge and economic systems to Africa. The colonial powers imposed administrations designed to bring stability and peace to a continent that appeared to lack both. The justification for occupation was emancipation from slavery—and the common assumption that late nineteenth-century Europe was the summit of civilization. By 1945 a transformed continent was preparing to take charge of its own affairs, a process of decolonization that took a quick twenty years. This magnificent history also pauses to ask: what did not happen and why?
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681774992
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
The one hundred year history of how Europe coerced the African continent into its various empires—and the resulting story of how Africa succeeded in decolonization. In this dramatic (and often tragic) story of an era that radically changed the course of world history, Lawrence James investigates how, within one hundred years, Europeans persuaded and coerced Africa into becoming a subordinate part of the modern world. His narrative is laced with the experiences of participants and onlookers and introduces the men and women who, for better or worse, stamped their wills on Africa. The continent was a magnet for the high-minded, the adventurous, the philanthropic, the unscrupulous. Visionary pro-consuls rubbed shoulders with missionaries, explorers, soldiers, big-game hunters, entrepreneurs, and physicians. Between 1830 and 1945, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy and the United States exported their languages, laws, culture, religions, scientific and technical knowledge and economic systems to Africa. The colonial powers imposed administrations designed to bring stability and peace to a continent that appeared to lack both. The justification for occupation was emancipation from slavery—and the common assumption that late nineteenth-century Europe was the summit of civilization. By 1945 a transformed continent was preparing to take charge of its own affairs, a process of decolonization that took a quick twenty years. This magnificent history also pauses to ask: what did not happen and why?
First Edition: 100 Great African Kings and Queens (Vol 1)
Author: Pusch Komiete Commey
Publisher: Real African Books
ISBN: 0987034723
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 84
Book Description
A chronicle of ten great African monarchs; from Makeda the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba to the richest man who ever lived, Emperor Mansa Musa of Mali. This easy-read original edition narrates the journey of these magnificent monarchs through the sands of time of time, and will amaze, delight, and make the world stand up to celebrate a shared humanity without borders.
Publisher: Real African Books
ISBN: 0987034723
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 84
Book Description
A chronicle of ten great African monarchs; from Makeda the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba to the richest man who ever lived, Emperor Mansa Musa of Mali. This easy-read original edition narrates the journey of these magnificent monarchs through the sands of time of time, and will amaze, delight, and make the world stand up to celebrate a shared humanity without borders.
Africa, Empire and Globalization
Author: Toyin Falola
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594609152
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Africa, Empire and Globalization is a set of original essays in honor of the distinguished historian, Professor A. G. Hopkins, whose career of over fifty years covers three main areas that are global in reach, but connect to ideas that are generated in such major cities as Lagos and London. The volume celebrates the key principles that have emerged from the cumulative body of Hopkins'' work: searching for originality; extending the frontier of knowledge through new data and interpretations; questioning received assumptions and wisdom; promoting conversations between multiple, often divergent, sets of ideas from different disciplines; presenting ideas such that those within and outside of the academy can benefit; and applying theories drawn from various disciplines to organize the evidence and to present it in digestible form. The first section covers Africa, with essays on the economic history of Lagos and West Africa, the connections between economic change and imperialism, and the role of Africa in the world economy, including the trans-Saharan, trans-Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean World. The role of Africans in creating wealth and responding to new economic opportunities receives prominent attention in some chapters. In the second section, new topics on imperialism are explored, such as the British expansion to India, the role of trade in the Gambia, and the overall impact of the empire. Hopkins'' idea of "gentlemanly capitalism" generates considerable debate in various chapters, and is also applied to various contexts and places. The current issues around the theme of globalization are developed in the third section in terms of the relevance of the concept, the contributions that historians can make to the subject, the arguments for and against, and its impact on capitalism and democracy. From peace to war, from economic prosperity to economic decline, from the use of power to nationalist resurgence, the section looks at the dominant concerns of our time. Hopkins'' career, as the volume amply demonstrates, is rich, held together by interest in the connections between the local and the national, the national and the regional, and the regional and the global. In thus interconnecting the world, a philosophy of history emerges--how economic forces shape political realities. His work, while being quite broad-ranging spatially, has remained topically focused on economic history, for the most part. This emphasis will be a large part of what he passes on to future scholarly generations. As we pay various tributes through the original essays collected here, we believe that, for our shared benefit, Professor A. G. Hopkins has demonstrated how to remain candidly involved in the debates over one''s work, to defend oneself when appropriate, to reconsider one''s work when necessary, and continually to build upon one''s own body of work in compelling and relevant version. This book is part of the African World Series, edited by Toyin Falola, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin. "This weighty and impressive book is a thoroughly appropriate scholarly festschrift for Tony Hopkins....Wherever one cares to dip into the volume, one finds finely crafted, densely textured pieces of historical research." -- Journal of African History "[A]n important volume and a fitting tribute to the work of A.G. Hopkins....[T]he anthology may look and feel like a tome, but it is a delight to read. The breadth of topics and careful scholarship should ensure this collection receives a broad readership and stimulates further debates over Africa, empire, and globalization." -- H-Net Reviews "...this is not a deferential miscellanea, but a volume of the widest interest to all those who practise in the fields in which Tony Hopkins has worked. It is the best possible tribute." -- The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594609152
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Africa, Empire and Globalization is a set of original essays in honor of the distinguished historian, Professor A. G. Hopkins, whose career of over fifty years covers three main areas that are global in reach, but connect to ideas that are generated in such major cities as Lagos and London. The volume celebrates the key principles that have emerged from the cumulative body of Hopkins'' work: searching for originality; extending the frontier of knowledge through new data and interpretations; questioning received assumptions and wisdom; promoting conversations between multiple, often divergent, sets of ideas from different disciplines; presenting ideas such that those within and outside of the academy can benefit; and applying theories drawn from various disciplines to organize the evidence and to present it in digestible form. The first section covers Africa, with essays on the economic history of Lagos and West Africa, the connections between economic change and imperialism, and the role of Africa in the world economy, including the trans-Saharan, trans-Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean World. The role of Africans in creating wealth and responding to new economic opportunities receives prominent attention in some chapters. In the second section, new topics on imperialism are explored, such as the British expansion to India, the role of trade in the Gambia, and the overall impact of the empire. Hopkins'' idea of "gentlemanly capitalism" generates considerable debate in various chapters, and is also applied to various contexts and places. The current issues around the theme of globalization are developed in the third section in terms of the relevance of the concept, the contributions that historians can make to the subject, the arguments for and against, and its impact on capitalism and democracy. From peace to war, from economic prosperity to economic decline, from the use of power to nationalist resurgence, the section looks at the dominant concerns of our time. Hopkins'' career, as the volume amply demonstrates, is rich, held together by interest in the connections between the local and the national, the national and the regional, and the regional and the global. In thus interconnecting the world, a philosophy of history emerges--how economic forces shape political realities. His work, while being quite broad-ranging spatially, has remained topically focused on economic history, for the most part. This emphasis will be a large part of what he passes on to future scholarly generations. As we pay various tributes through the original essays collected here, we believe that, for our shared benefit, Professor A. G. Hopkins has demonstrated how to remain candidly involved in the debates over one''s work, to defend oneself when appropriate, to reconsider one''s work when necessary, and continually to build upon one''s own body of work in compelling and relevant version. This book is part of the African World Series, edited by Toyin Falola, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin. "This weighty and impressive book is a thoroughly appropriate scholarly festschrift for Tony Hopkins....Wherever one cares to dip into the volume, one finds finely crafted, densely textured pieces of historical research." -- Journal of African History "[A]n important volume and a fitting tribute to the work of A.G. Hopkins....[T]he anthology may look and feel like a tome, but it is a delight to read. The breadth of topics and careful scholarship should ensure this collection receives a broad readership and stimulates further debates over Africa, empire, and globalization." -- H-Net Reviews "...this is not a deferential miscellanea, but a volume of the widest interest to all those who practise in the fields in which Tony Hopkins has worked. It is the best possible tribute." -- The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
A Fistful of Shells
Author: Toby Green
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022664474X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 651
Book Description
By the time the “Scramble for Africa” among European colonial powers began in the late nineteenth century, Africa had already been globally connected for centuries. Its gold had fueled the economies of Europe and the Islamic world for nearly a millennium, and the sophisticated kingdoms spanning its west coast had traded with Europeans since the fifteenth century. Until at least 1650, this was a trade of equals, using a variety of currencies—most importantly, cowrie shells imported from the Maldives and nzimbu shells imported from Brazil. But, as the slave trade grew, African kingdoms began to lose prominence in the growing global economy. We have been living with the effects of this shift ever since. With A Fistful of Shells, Toby Green transforms our view of West and West-Central Africa by reconstructing the world of these kingdoms, which revolved around trade, diplomacy, complex religious beliefs, and the production of art. Green shows how the slave trade led to economic disparities that caused African kingdoms to lose relative political and economic power. The concentration of money in the hands of Atlantic elites in and outside these kingdoms brought about a revolutionary nineteenth century in Africa, parallel to the upheavals then taking place in Europe and America. Yet political fragmentation following the fall of African aristocracies produced radically different results as European colonization took hold. Drawing not just on written histories, but on archival research in nine countries, art, oral history, archaeology, and letters, Green lays bare the transformations that have shaped world politics and the global economy since the fifteenth century and paints a new and masterful portrait of West Africa, past and present.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022664474X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 651
Book Description
By the time the “Scramble for Africa” among European colonial powers began in the late nineteenth century, Africa had already been globally connected for centuries. Its gold had fueled the economies of Europe and the Islamic world for nearly a millennium, and the sophisticated kingdoms spanning its west coast had traded with Europeans since the fifteenth century. Until at least 1650, this was a trade of equals, using a variety of currencies—most importantly, cowrie shells imported from the Maldives and nzimbu shells imported from Brazil. But, as the slave trade grew, African kingdoms began to lose prominence in the growing global economy. We have been living with the effects of this shift ever since. With A Fistful of Shells, Toby Green transforms our view of West and West-Central Africa by reconstructing the world of these kingdoms, which revolved around trade, diplomacy, complex religious beliefs, and the production of art. Green shows how the slave trade led to economic disparities that caused African kingdoms to lose relative political and economic power. The concentration of money in the hands of Atlantic elites in and outside these kingdoms brought about a revolutionary nineteenth century in Africa, parallel to the upheavals then taking place in Europe and America. Yet political fragmentation following the fall of African aristocracies produced radically different results as European colonization took hold. Drawing not just on written histories, but on archival research in nine countries, art, oral history, archaeology, and letters, Green lays bare the transformations that have shaped world politics and the global economy since the fifteenth century and paints a new and masterful portrait of West Africa, past and present.
Segu
Author: Maryse Conde
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 014025949X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 513
Book Description
“Condé’s story is rich and colorful and glorious. It sprawls over continents and centuries to find its way into the reader’s heart.” —Maya Angelou “A wondrous novel” (The New York Times) by the winner of the 2018 New Academy Prize (The Alternative Nobel prize in literature) and author of The Gospel According to the New World The year is 1797, and the kingdom of Segu is flourishing, fed by the wealth of its noblemen and the power of its warriors. The people of Segu, the Bambara, are guided by their griots and priests; their lives are ruled by the elements. But even their soothsayers can only hint at the changes to come, for the battle of the soul of Africa has begun. From the east comes a new religion, Islam, and from the West, the slave trade. Segu follows the life of Dousika Traore, the king’s most trusted advisor, and his four sons, whose fates embody the forces tearing at the fabric of the nation. There is Tiekoro, who renounces his people’s religion and embraces Islam; Siga, who defends tradition, but becomes a merchant; Naba, who is kidnapped by slave traders; and Malobali, who becomes a mercenary and halfhearted Christian. Based on actual events, Segu transports the reader to a fascinating time in history, capturing the earthy spirituality, religious fervor, and violent nature of a people and a growing nation trying to cope with jihads, national rivalries, racism, amid the vagaries of commerce.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 014025949X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 513
Book Description
“Condé’s story is rich and colorful and glorious. It sprawls over continents and centuries to find its way into the reader’s heart.” —Maya Angelou “A wondrous novel” (The New York Times) by the winner of the 2018 New Academy Prize (The Alternative Nobel prize in literature) and author of The Gospel According to the New World The year is 1797, and the kingdom of Segu is flourishing, fed by the wealth of its noblemen and the power of its warriors. The people of Segu, the Bambara, are guided by their griots and priests; their lives are ruled by the elements. But even their soothsayers can only hint at the changes to come, for the battle of the soul of Africa has begun. From the east comes a new religion, Islam, and from the West, the slave trade. Segu follows the life of Dousika Traore, the king’s most trusted advisor, and his four sons, whose fates embody the forces tearing at the fabric of the nation. There is Tiekoro, who renounces his people’s religion and embraces Islam; Siga, who defends tradition, but becomes a merchant; Naba, who is kidnapped by slave traders; and Malobali, who becomes a mercenary and halfhearted Christian. Based on actual events, Segu transports the reader to a fascinating time in history, capturing the earthy spirituality, religious fervor, and violent nature of a people and a growing nation trying to cope with jihads, national rivalries, racism, amid the vagaries of commerce.