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A significant re-examination of the Tārīkh al-fattāsh, revealing it to be a crucial nineteenth-century source for history in West Africa.
List of contents
Introduction; Part I. A Nineteenth Century Chronicle in Support of the Caliphate of Hamdall¿hi: N¿¿ B. Al-¿¿hir's T¿r¿kh al-fatt¿sh: 1. A century of scholarship; 2. The T¿r¿kh al-fatt¿sh: a nineteenth-century chronicle; Part II. A Contested Space of Compating Claims: the Middle Niger, 1810s-1840s; 3. The emergence of clerical rule in the Middle Niger; 4. A¿mad Lobbo, Timbuktu, and the Kunta; 5. Fluctuating diplomacy: ¿amdall¿hi and Sokoto; Part III. The Circulation and Reception of the T¿r¿kh al-fatt¿sh, 1840s-2010s: 6. The T¿r¿kh al-fatt¿sh at work; Conclusion.
About the author
Mauro Nobili is Assistant Professor at the Department of History and the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois. A historian of pre-colonial and early-colonial West Africa, he has published on West African chronicles and Arabic calligraphies including in the journal History of Africa. He has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, including a National Endowment for Humanities grant.
Summary
Representing a significant re-examination of the Tarikh al-fattash, proved to be one the most important nineteenth-century sources for the history of West Africa, this study makes use of previously unpublished Arabic manuscripts to reveal the true author of the chronicle and its place in the evolution of West African civilization.
