Landlords and strangers: ecology, society, and trade in western Africa, 1000-1630

Brooks, George E.

Book

Landlords and strangers: ecology, society, and trade in western Africa, 1000-1630

Westview Press • Boulder • Published In 1993 • Pages: xvi, 360

By: Brooks, George E..

Abstract
This is a comprehensive history of West Africa from the Cape Verde archipelago to the bend in the Niger River and from the Senegal River south to the Cape Mount area of Liberia, mainly covering the period from 1100 to 1630 AD (the Regional Development period is from ca 1000-1500 AD). It was a dynamic time, when many economic, social, and cultural patterns emerged that continue to the present. The discussion covers climate, changing flora, languages, migrations, trade and how it promoted migration, commercial networks, commodities traded, smiths, leather workers, bards, power associations, social structure, slavery, real property and land tenure, invasions, warfare, the spread of Islam, the treatment of outsiders, the various state societies, and interactions with Europeans.

Climate

Internal migration

External migration

Acculturation and culture contact

Linguistic identification

Smiths and their crafts

Internal trade

External trade

Routes

Status, role, and prestige

Slavery

Sodalities