Pragmatism in the Age of Jihad
The Precolonial State of Bundu

A full history of Bundu, a Muslim state which developed a uniquely pragmatic outlook.

Michael A. Gomez (Author)

9780521528474, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 July 2002

272 pages, 4 maps
22.9 x 15.8 x 1.7 cm, 0.45 kg

"Michael Gomez has written what will probably be the reference history of Bundu for years to come....It is an important work for any scholar of Islamic West Africa and can be recommended as a supplementary case study text for advanced level courses on Islam in Africa." John Edward Philips, African Studies Review

Bundu was an anomaly among the precolonial Muslim states of West Africa. Founded during the jihads which swept the savannah in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it developed a pragmatic policy, unique in the midst of fundamentalist, theocratic Muslim states. Located in the Upper Senegal and with access to the Upper Gambia, Bundu played a critical role in regional commerce and production and reacted quickly to the stimulus of European trade. Drawing upon a wide range of sources both oral and documentary, Arabic, English and French, Dr Gomez provides the first full account of Bundu's history. He analyses the foundation and growth of an Islamic state at a crossroads between the Saharan and trans-Atlantic trade, paying particular attention to the relationship between Islamic thought and court policy, and to the state's response to militant Islam in the early nineteenth century.

List of maps
Abbreviations
Notes on spelling
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Malik Sy and the origins of a pragmatic polity
3. Consolidation and expansion in the eighteenth century
4. External reforms and internal consequences: Futa Toro and Bundu
5. The reassertion of Sissibe integrity
6. Structure of the Bundunke Almaamate
7. Struggle for the Upper Senegal Valley
8. Al-Hajj Umar in Bundu
9. The age of Bokar Saada
10. Mamadu Lamine and the demise of Bundu
11. Conclusion
Footnotes
Sources consulted
Appendices.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH]