AFRICAN DOMINION: A NEW HISTORY OF EMPIRE IN EARLY AND MEDIEVAL WEST AFRICA- MICHAEL A. GOMEZ

          I got this book as a present for Christmas last year and it’s one of three physical books I brought with me here, to actual West Africa. As I’m sure you well know, if you’ve attended school at any level, from elementary to college, African history is basically completely untaught. People can’t locate the countries, or feel that the whole thing is a country, they can’t name any African historical figures, they can’t name any major events or episodes, besides being the victims of the slave trade and the whole continent is basically saddled with the Hegelian declaration that, “Africa has no history.” Obviously, this is racist and untrue, it’s a fairy tale that Westerners tell themselves to feel less bad about the horrible shit they did but knowing this doesn’t solve the problem of not having been taught anything about actual African history. So, for the last few years, I’ve been trying to fill in the blanks in my own knowledge and get a better handle on the continent that humanity evolved on. This book is a welcomed addition. It follows various West African empires and kingdoms from, roughly, around 1000 CE to the late 1500’s. Actually all the books dates are written with the traditional roman calendar dates, ie 2022 CE, as well as their Islamic equivalents, ie 1443 AH, given how much that Islamization is a theme. The book largely focuses on the Mali and Songhai empires and their surrounding allies and enemies. We get the big figures, like Mansa Musa and Sunni Ali, but also lots of unknown-to-me political and religious players. Gomez bites off a lot. He not only tries to tell a coherent history of West Africa, he also takes long asides to explain the roles of social institutions like slavery, or the role of women, or the nature of historical research when the main records we have are either oral traditions (which have, until recently been discounted by “serious” historians. A Fist Full of Shell does a good job wrestling with this question as well) and how they change and transform over time. Obviously, being in West Africa as I read this added another layer. Most of the events of this book took place North of where I’m living but multiple ethnic groups that make up the town I live in are mentioned in this volume often, which gives me more context for everyday life in this town. Especially since I live in a 100% Islamic area and the spread and Influence of Islam, as well as the way it changes society, is a major thread Gomez traces. My only complaint would be that the prose in this book is pretty flat. He’s an academic and is trying to cover a long, largely unknown stretch of history but he really fails to sauce up his writing and engage the reader. Even when really fascinating stuff is going on, the writing is pretty dull and you have to work hard to keep yourself focused and engaged, a missed opportunity since this stuff is so little known. However, if you fancy yourself as someone who knows about history, I’d bet you have an African History lacuna and this one of the premiere books to help you fix that. 1325 pilgrimages to Mecca