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The Resource Trans-Saharan Africa in world history, Ralph A. Austen, (electronic resource)

Trans-Saharan Africa in world history, Ralph A. Austen, (electronic resource)

Creator
Summary
  • "During the heyday of camel caravan traffic--from the eighth century CE arrival of Islam in North Africa to the early twentieth-century building of European colonial railroads that linked the Sudan with the Atlantic--the Sahara was one of the world's great commercial highways, bringing gold, slaves, and other commodities northward and sending both manufactured goods and Mediterranean culture southward into the Sudan. Historian Ralph A. Austen here tells the remarkable story of an African world that grew out of more than one thousand years of trans-Saharan trading. Perhaps the most enduring impact of this trade and the common cultural reference point of trans-Saharan Africa was Islam. Austen traces this faith in its various forms--as a legal system for regulating trade, an inspiration for reformist movements, and a vehicle of literacy and cosmopolitan knowledge. He also analyzes the impact of European overseas expansion, which marginalized trans-Saharan commerce in global terms but stimulated its local growth. Indeed, trans-Saharan culture not only adapted to colonial changes, but often thrived upon them, remaining a potent force into the twenty-first century"--Provided by publisher
  • "This book tells the story of an African world that grew out of more than one thousand years of trans-Saharan trade linking the Mediterranean lands of North Africa with the internal Sudanic grasslands stretching from the Nile River to the Atlantic Ocean. It traces the early role of the Sahara, the globe's largest desert, as a divider that separated these two regions into very different worlds. During the heyday of camel caravan traffic--from the eighth-century CE Arab invasions of North Africa to the early-twentieth-century building of European colonial railroads that linked the Sudan with the Atlantic--the Sahara became one of the world's great commercial highways. The most enduring impact of this trade and the common cultural reference point of trans-Saharan Africa was Islam. This faith played various roles throughout the region, as a legal system for regulating trade, an inspiration for reformist religious-political movements, and a vehicle of literacy and cosmopolitan knowledge that inspired creativity--often of a very unorthodox kind--within the various ethno-linguistic communities of the region. From the mid-1400s, European voyages to the coast of West and Central Africa provided an alternative international trade route that marginalized trans-Saharan commerce in global terms but stimulated its accelerated local growth. Inland territorial conquest by France and Britain in the 1800s and early 1900s brought more serious disruptions. Trans-Saharan culture, however, not only adapted to these colonial and postcolonial changes but often thrived upon them to remain a living force well into the twenty-first century"--Provided by publisher
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (x, 157 p.)
Contents
  • 1. Introduction to the Sahara: From Desert Barrier to Global Highway
  • 2. Caravan Commerce and African Economies
  • 3. Ruling the Sahara and Its "Shores"
  • 4. Islam
  • 5. Islamicate Culture
  • 6. European Colonialism: Disruption and Continuity of Trans-Saharan Links
Isbn
9780195157314
Instance
Label
Trans-Saharan Africa in world history
Title
Trans-Saharan Africa in world history
Statement of responsibility
Ralph A. Austen
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
  • "During the heyday of camel caravan traffic--from the eighth century CE arrival of Islam in North Africa to the early twentieth-century building of European colonial railroads that linked the Sudan with the Atlantic--the Sahara was one of the world's great commercial highways, bringing gold, slaves, and other commodities northward and sending both manufactured goods and Mediterranean culture southward into the Sudan. Historian Ralph A. Austen here tells the remarkable story of an African world that grew out of more than one thousand years of trans-Saharan trading. Perhaps the most enduring impact of this trade and the common cultural reference point of trans-Saharan Africa was Islam. Austen traces this faith in its various forms--as a legal system for regulating trade, an inspiration for reformist movements, and a vehicle of literacy and cosmopolitan knowledge. He also analyzes the impact of European overseas expansion, which marginalized trans-Saharan commerce in global terms but stimulated its local growth. Indeed, trans-Saharan culture not only adapted to colonial changes, but often thrived upon them, remaining a potent force into the twenty-first century"--Provided by publisher
  • "This book tells the story of an African world that grew out of more than one thousand years of trans-Saharan trade linking the Mediterranean lands of North Africa with the internal Sudanic grasslands stretching from the Nile River to the Atlantic Ocean. It traces the early role of the Sahara, the globe's largest desert, as a divider that separated these two regions into very different worlds. During the heyday of camel caravan traffic--from the eighth-century CE Arab invasions of North Africa to the early-twentieth-century building of European colonial railroads that linked the Sudan with the Atlantic--the Sahara became one of the world's great commercial highways. The most enduring impact of this trade and the common cultural reference point of trans-Saharan Africa was Islam. This faith played various roles throughout the region, as a legal system for regulating trade, an inspiration for reformist religious-political movements, and a vehicle of literacy and cosmopolitan knowledge that inspired creativity--often of a very unorthodox kind--within the various ethno-linguistic communities of the region. From the mid-1400s, European voyages to the coast of West and Central Africa provided an alternative international trade route that marginalized trans-Saharan commerce in global terms but stimulated its accelerated local growth. Inland territorial conquest by France and Britain in the 1800s and early 1900s brought more serious disruptions. Trans-Saharan culture, however, not only adapted to these colonial and postcolonial changes but often thrived upon them to remain a living force well into the twenty-first century"--Provided by publisher
Member of
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Austen, Ralph A
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • maps
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
Series statement
The new Oxford world history
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Trade routes
  • Sahara
  • Islam
  • Sahara
  • Sahara
Label
Trans-Saharan Africa in world history, Ralph A. Austen, (electronic resource)
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Contents
1. Introduction to the Sahara: From Desert Barrier to Global Highway -- 2. Caravan Commerce and African Economies -- 3. Ruling the Sahara and Its "Shores" -- 4. Islam -- 5. Islamicate Culture -- 6. European Colonialism: Disruption and Continuity of Trans-Saharan Links
Control code
ssj0001039217
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (x, 157 p.)
Form of item
online
Governing access note
Access restricted to subscribing institutions
Isbn
9780195157314
Isbn Type
(hc.)
Lccn
2009034133
Other physical details
ill., maps
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(WaSeSS)ssj0001039217
Label
Trans-Saharan Africa in world history, Ralph A. Austen, (electronic resource)
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Contents
1. Introduction to the Sahara: From Desert Barrier to Global Highway -- 2. Caravan Commerce and African Economies -- 3. Ruling the Sahara and Its "Shores" -- 4. Islam -- 5. Islamicate Culture -- 6. European Colonialism: Disruption and Continuity of Trans-Saharan Links
Control code
ssj0001039217
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (x, 157 p.)
Form of item
online
Governing access note
Access restricted to subscribing institutions
Isbn
9780195157314
Isbn Type
(hc.)
Lccn
2009034133
Other physical details
ill., maps
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(WaSeSS)ssj0001039217

Subject

Member of

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