Islam and the Rise of Islamic States in Sub-Saharan Africa

Authors

  • Dr. Ensa Touray University of Gambia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47604/jpcr.1963

Keywords:

Atlantic Bundu, Futa Jallon, Futa Toro, Fulani, Islam, Medieval, Mandinka, Sahara

Abstract

Purpose: This paper highlights the contribution of trans-Saharan trade as a major medieval trading system which created vibrant commercial link between the people of West and North Africa. It further examines the mode of penetration of Islam into West Africa and the rise of Islamic movements. It demonstrates the significance and the consequence of change depicted by  the rise of European capitalist expansion which incorporated the entire West Africa into the capitalist Atlantic maritime trading system in the 16th to 18th centuries. It finally reveals the role of medieval trans-Saharan and the Atlantic maritime trade in catalyzing Muslim uprising   and the creation of the theocratic states of Bundu, Futa Toro in the Senegalese Middle valley, and Futa Imamate in Futa Jalon in Guinea Conakry.

Methodology: The study employed both primary and secondary sources of data collection. The primary data which comprised Oral interviews which were conducted with 18 selected elderly local historians in West Africa. The oral interviews were obtained with tape recorders, which contained traditional Mandinka and Fula versions of the history of Futa and wars in West Africa. Some interviews which were recorded in 2012 during the research conducted by the University of The Gambia's Socio-Historical Fact Finders in the Republic of Guinea were also used.

Findings: The study found out that West as a regional entity evolved in a broader historical context as a result of the influence from Medieval Western Sudanic Empires symbolized by the establishment of trans-Saharan Trade until the modern period that marked the rise of the influence from Atlantic system symbolized by the arrival European capitalist nations.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Braudel, Fernand. Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems and Civilizations.

Bredwa-Mensah,(1999) Yaw. Archaeology of Slavery in West Africa. Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana.

Brooks, George E. (1975) Peanuts and Colonialism: Consequences of the Commercialization of Peanuts in West Africa, 1830-1870, The Journal of African History.

Buhnen, Stephan. (1992) "Place Names as an Historical Source: An Introduction with Examples from Southern Senegambia and Germany." History in Africa, A Journal of Method.

Caporaso, James A.(1978) "Dependence, Dependency, and Power in the Global System: A Structural and Behavioral Analysis". International Organization.

Caulker, Patrick S. (1981) Legitimate Commerce and Statecraft: A Study of the Hinterland Adjacent to Nineteenth Century Sierra Leone, Journal of Black Studies.

Chamberlin, Christopher. (1979) Bulk Exports, Trade Tiers, Regulation, and Development: An Economic Approach to the Study of West Africa's "Legitimate Trade", The Journal of Economic History.

Clark, Andrew F. (1996) The Fulbe of Bundu (Senegambia): From Theocracy to Secularization. The International Journal of African Historical Studies.

Clayyton, Thomas.(1996) "Conceptions of Globalisation' Revisited: Relocating the Tension Between World-System Analysis and Globalisation Analysis. University of Chicago Press.

Curtin, Philip D. (1971) "Jihad in West Africa: early phases and Inter-relationship with Mauritania and Senegal," Journal of African History.

Goldfrank," Goldfrank, Walter L. (2000) "Paradigm Regained? The Rules of Wallerstein's WorldSystem Method." Journal of World-Systems Research.

Gomez, Michael A. (1985) The Problem with Malik Sy and the Foundation of Bundu. Cahiers d' Etudes Africaines, 25, Cahiers.

Hanson, John H. (2000) Islam and Imperialism: Martin Klein's Contributions to an Understanding of the History of the Senegambian Muslim Communities, Canadian Journal of African Studies.illiam and Mary Quarterly.

Hargreaves, J D. (1960).Towards a History of the Partition of Africa, the Journal of African History.

Hawthorne, Walter. (2013). States and Stateless: The Oxford Handbook of Modern African History, Edited by John Parker and Richard Reid.London Oxford University Press.

Ijagbemi, E. A.(1970) The Freetown Colony and the Development of "Legitimate" Commerce in Adjoining Territories: Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria.

Johnson, Turner James. (2015) The Tradition on Jihad of the Sword, Counter-Narratives, and Policy: Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal.

Klein, Martin A.(1972) "Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in the Senegambia," Journal of Africa.

Klein, Martin A. Slaves, "Gum, and Peanuts: Adaptation to the End of the Slave Trade in Senegal, 1817-48", The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 66, (October, 2009)

Lovejoy, Paul E. Islam, Slavery, and Political Transformation in West Africa: constraints on the trans-Atlantic Slave trade: Outre-mers, tome 89 2002.

Mark, Peter. Reviewed works: The World and a Very Small place in Africa by Donald,R. Wright. African Studies Review, 2 September, 1998.

McGowan, Winston. The Establishment of Long-Distance Trade between Sierra Leone and Its Hinterland, 1787-1821, The Journal of African History, 31, 1990.

Mouser, Bruce L. Continuing British Interest in Coastal Guinea-Conakry and Fuuta Jaloo Highlands (1750 to 1850) Cahiers D'Études Africaines 172, 2003.

Mouser, Bruce L. Guinea-Conakry During the Sierra Leone Phase, 1800-1821 Washington: Washington University Press of America, January, 2009.

Quinn, Charlotte A. "A Nineteen Century Fulbe State."Journal of African History, 12, 1971

Robinson, David. "Abdul Qadir and Shaykh Umar: A Continuing Tradition of Islamic Leadership in Futa Toro", International Journal of African Historical Studies, 2. 1973

Robinson, David. Islamic Revolution of Futa Toro, International Journal of African Historical Studies, 8. 1973

Downloads

Published

2023-05-06

How to Cite

Touray, E. (2023). Islam and the Rise of Islamic States in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Philosophy, Culture and Religion, 6(2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.47604/jpcr.1963

Issue

Section

Articles