Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa
Archaeological Perspectives

This volume examines the archaeology of precolonial West African societies in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

J. Cameron Monroe (Edited by), Akinwumi Ogundiran (Edited by)

9781108978309, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 December 2020

410 pages, 69 b/w illus. 33 maps
25.5 x 18 x 2.5 cm, 0.78 kg

'This is a good and useful collection presenting much innovative and important work on Atlantic era social and political transformations in a range of West African settings. The contributions clearly articulate the necessity of a perspective that looks beyond single sites and considers regional perspectives diachronically in order to derive appropriate (both culturally and politically) frameworks to explain the archaeological and historical trajectories of the various regions. The contributions shed light on new regions of study, as well as previously explored areas, and thus the volume will be useful to scholars of West Africa. By foregrounding the landscape perspective, the contributions in this book will also be of interest to a wider range of archaeologists and historians.' Journal of African Archaeology

This volume examines the archaeology of precolonial West African societies in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using historical and archaeological perspectives on landscape, this collection of essays sheds light on how involvement in the commercial revolutions of the early modern period dramatically reshaped the regional contours of political organization across West Africa. The essays examine how social and political transformations occurred at the regional level by exploring regional economic networks, population shifts, cultural values and ideologies. The book demonstrates the importance of anthropological insights not only to the broad political history of West Africa, but also to an understanding of political culture as a form of meaningful social practice.

Forward Merrick Posnansky
1. Introduction: the politics of landscape in Atlantic West Africa J. Cameron Monroe and Akinwumi Ogundiran
Part I. Fragmented Landscapes: 2. Atlantic impacts on inland Senegambia: French penetration and African initiatives in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Gajaaga and Bundu (Upper Senegal River) Ibrahima Thiaw
3. Political transformations and cultural landscapes in Senegambia during the Atlantic era: an alternative view from the Siin (Senegal)? François Richard
4. The Eguafo polity: between the traders and raiders Sam Spiers
5. From the shadow of an Atlantic citadel: an archaeology of the Huedan countryside Neil L. Norman
Part II. State-Generated Landscapes: 6. Segou, slavery, and sifinso Kevin C. MacDonald and Seydou Camara
7. Building the state in Dahomey: power and landscape on the Bight of Benin J. Cameron Monroe
8. The formation of an Oyo imperial colonial enclave during the Atlantic Age Akinwumi Ogundiran
Part III. Internal Frontier Landscapes: 9. The rise of the Bassar Chiefdom in the context of Africa's internal frontier Philip de Barros
10. Fortified towns of the Koinadugu Plateau: northern Sierra Leone in the pre-Atlantic and Atlantic worlds Christopher R. DeCorse
11. Rethinking the Mandara political landscape: cultural developments, climate, and an entry into history in the second millennium AD Scott MacEachern
Part IV. Conclusion: 12. The local and the global: historiographical reflections on West Africa and the Atlantic Age Ray A. Kea.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Landscape archaeology [HDL], Archaeology [HD], Slavery & abolition of slavery [HBTS], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], African history [HBJH]