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History of Islam in West Africa

The forgotten history of Islam in West Africa

41 articles

West Africa Before Islam

  1. Part 1

    The River That Fed a Civilization

    8 min read
  2. Part 2

    The City That Connected the Sahara to the World

    8 min read
  3. Part 3

    Gold Mines and the Foundation of the Trade Routes

    10 min read
  4. Part 4

    The Soninke

    8 min read
  5. Part 5

    The Salt Trade of the Amazigh: The White Gold of the Sahara

    10 min read

The Arrival of Islam and Early Islamization

  1. Part 6

    The First Encounter with Islam

    5 min read
  2. Part 7

    Intensification of Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

    14 min read
  3. Part 8

    Islamic Takrur

    8 min read
  4. Part 9

    Islamic Influence at the Royal Court

    8 min read
  5. Part 10

    Influence of the Almoravids

    10 min read
  6. Part 11

    The Sosso Period

    14 min read
  7. Part 12

    The Battle of Kirina and the Founding of the Mali Empire

    14 min read

The Mali Empire

  1. Part 13

    The Formation of the Mali Empire

    31 min read
  2. Part 14

    Mali under Sundiata Keita

    14 min read
  3. Part 15

    A Period of Difficult Succession

    14 min read
  4. Part 16

    Al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa bin Abi Bakr

    14 min read
  5. Part 17

    The Legendary Hajj of Mansa Musa

    14 min read
  6. Part 18

    The Legacy of Mansa Musa

    14 min read
  7. Part 19

    The Mali Empire in Decline

    14 min read

The Songhai Empire

  1. Part 20

    Sunni Ali Ber: The Controversial Warrior-King

    14 min read
  2. Part 21

    The Rise of Songhai: From Vassal State to Regional Power

    13 min read
  3. Part 22

    The Seizure of Power by Askia Muhammad

    14 min read
  4. Part 23

    Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr; Askia the Great

    16 min read
  5. Part 24

    Muhammad al-Maghili Advises the Askia and the Hausa Rulers

    18 min read
  6. Part 25

    The Neighbouring Peoples of Songhay: Hausaland, Aïr and Bornu

    10 min read
  7. Part 26

    The Decline of Songhai: From Patricide to Fragmentation

    13 min read
  8. Part 27

    The Death Blow to Songhai

    14 min read

The Atlantic Interruption

  1. Part 28

    The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

    17 min read
  2. Part 29

    The Arab Slave Trade: Misconceptions and Truths

    8 min read
  3. Part 30

    The Muslims Among the Enslaved

    23 min read

The Sokoto Caliphate

  1. Part 31

    Usman dan Fodio — Biography, Scholarship, Frustration

    22 min read
  2. Part 32

    The Fulani Jihad (1804)

    21 min read
  3. Part 33

    Founding of the Sokoto Caliphate

    20 min read
  4. Part 34

    Abdullahi dan Fodio — The Scholarly Brother, Emirate of Gwandu

    16 min read
  5. Part 35

    Muhammad Bello and the Administrative Consolidation

    18 min read
  6. Part 36

    The Caliphate of Hamdullahi

    18 min read

The Atlantic Interruption

  1. Part 37

    Omar ibn Said — The Emotional Heart

    17 min read
  2. Part 38

    What Was Lost, What Remains

    17 min read

The Sokoto Caliphate

  1. Part 39

    Sokoto at Its Zenith — Territory, Structure, Economy (~1850)

    22 min read
  2. Part 40

    The Jihad of Umar Tall

    17 min read
  3. Part 41

    The British Conquest of Sokoto and the French Conquests

    20 min read