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Book | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Bamana empire by the Niger: kingdom, jihad and colonization 1712-1920 |
Author: | Djata, Sundiata A. |
Year: | 1997 |
Pages: | 251 |
Language: | English |
City of publisher: | Princeton, N.J. |
Publisher: | Markus Wiener |
ISBN: | 1558761314; 1558761322 |
Geographic term: | Mali |
Subjects: | Bambara Segu polity history traditional polities |
Abstract: | This is a history of the Bamana or Bambara State of Segu, the powerful polity that emerged in 1712 and centred on the Middle Niger (Mali), where most inhabitants were Bamana with their own language and religion. It was a sophisticated society with nobles, casted groups, and slaves, where ideologies such as 'fanga' rather than imported religions constituted the binding element. The author describes how for centuries Bamana remained a solid commercial, military, and agricultural empire based on a strong professional army. He also explores the conquests and efforts of two alien powers to assert hegemony over the Bamana of Segu and thus gain control over its rich agricultural lands and the commercial routes in the Middle Niger: the first was an African 'jihad', led by Al-Hajj 'Umar Tal (1861) in the name of religious reform, and the second was the advance of French imperial expansion (1890). The author approaches history from the Bamana point of view when comparing these African and European modes of occupation of the same society. |