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Trans-Saharan Africa in World History

By Austen, Ralph A.

Trans-Saharan Africa in World History Social Sciences

Trans-Saharan Africa in World History

0 - Default Title
Description
The central theme of this book is the double role of the Sahara: as both a link between tropical Africa and the Mediterranean Islamic world; and as a restrictive/protective barrier that allowed considerable autonomy and originality to the southern Sahel ('shore') of the desert and its immediate hinterland. Thus Austen discusses the structural constraints upon caravan (as opposed to oceanic) long-distance trade but also show how this allowed considerable economic development to occur in the Sudan. Statecraft, urbanization, and literacy also remained limited by world standards of the medieval and early-modern eras, but a society and culture emerged that reflects a creative dialogue between the Mediterranean (global) and the African (local). Linkages to the Atlantic world during the first era of European expansion (extending up to the end of the 19th century for this region) intensified rather than undermined this process, but formal colonial rule, which substituted mechanized transport to the oceanic coast for caravan routes, finally marginalized the Sahara and the Sudan.
Product details
Edition:
illustrated
Number of Pages:
176
Release Date:
2010-04-19
Publication Date:
2010-04-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
0195157311
ISBN13:
9780195157314
Weight:
435 g
Height:
161 cm
Width:
240 cm
Thickness:
14 cm
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