¹ Delafosse, M., Haut-Sénégal-Niger (Soudan français), 3 vols. (Paris, 1st ed. 1912, reprinted 1972 with a preface by Cornevin, R.).Google ScholarIdem, ‘Le Ghana et le Mali et l'emplacement de Ieurs capitales’, Bulletin du Comité d'Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française, VII (1924), 479–542.

² Monteil, Ch., ‘Les Empires du Mali. étude d'histoire et de sociologie soudanaise’, Bulletin du Comité d'études Historiques et Scientfiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française, XII (1929), 291–477;Google Scholar reprinted as a book with an Avertissement by Monteil, V. (Paris, 1968).Google ScholarIdem. ‘Les “Ghana” des géographes arabes et des européens’, Hespéris, XXXVIII, 3–4 (1951), 441–52. Idem, ‘La légende du Ouagadou et l'origine des Soninké’, in Mélanges Ethnologiques, Mémoire I.F.A.N. no. 23, Dakar, 1953, pp. 359–408.Google Scholar

³ Dr Levtzion has done extremely important pioneering work in the criticism of some of the most consulted Arabic sources for the history of West Africa. See Levtzion, N., ‘The thirteenth and fourteenth-century kings of Mali’, J. Afr. Hist. IV, 3 (1963), 341–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarIdem, ‘Ibn Ḥawqal, the cheque and Awdaghust’, J. Afr. Hist. IX, 2 (1968), 223–33. Idem, ‘A seventeenth-century chronicle by Ibn al-Mukht¯r: a critical study of Ta'rikh al-fattāsh’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XXXIV, 3 (1971), 571–93.Google Scholar

⁴ We are here referring mostly to R. Mauny's indispensable work, Tableau Géographique de l'Ouest Africain au Moyen ėge d'après les sources écrites, la tradition et l'archéologie, Mémoire I.F.A.N. no. 61 (Dakar, 1961; reprinted Amsterdam, 1967).Google Scholar See also Les, SièclesObscurs de l'Afrique Noire (Paris, 1970), by the same author.Google Scholar

⁵ Trimingham, J. Spencer, Islam in West Africa (Oxford, 1959).Google ScholarIdem, A History of Islam in West Africa (Ist ed., London, 1962). Trimingham's work continues to be essential to all those interested in like subjects.

⁶ Of course Dr Levtzion was not able to take into account some important papers which appeared recently. See, for instance, Meillassoux, Cl., ‘L’itinéraire d'Ibn Battuta de Walata è Mali’, J. Afr. Hist. XIII, 3 (1972), 389–95;CrossRefGoogle ScholarHunwick, J. O., ‘The mid-fourteenth century capital of Mali’, J. Afr. Hist. XIV, 2195–208.Google Scholar

⁷ Lewicki, T., ‘Un état soudanais médiéval inconnu: le royaume de Zāfūn(u)’, Cahiers d'études Africaines, XI, 44 (4) (1971), 501–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁸ Norris, H. T., Saharan Myth and Saga (Oxford, 1972).Google Scholar

⁹ This is shown most clearly by Meilassoux, Cl., ‘Le Commerce pré-colonial et le développement de l'esclavage à Gūbu du Sahel (Mali)’, in Meillassoux, Cl. (ed.), The Development of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa (London, 1971), 182–95 (see pp. 183–5).Google Scholar

¹⁰ Devisse, J., ‘La Question d'Audagust’, in Robert, D., Robert, S. and Devisse, J. (eds.), Tegdaoust I: Recherches sur Aoudaghost (Paris), 1970, 109–56 (especially p. 130, n. 7). Devisse challenges the interpretation of the relations between Berber and Sudanese groups made ‘en termes d'affrontements raciaux et religieux’.Google Scholar

¹¹ Yāqūt, , Mu'jam al-Buldãn, 5 vols. (Beirut, 1374 A.H./1955 A.D.–1376 A.H./1957 A.D.); see vol. III, p. 127,Google Scholar Sv. Zāfūn. Also de Moraes Farias, P. F., ‘The Almoravids: some questions concerning the character of the movement during its periods of closest contact with the Westezi Sudan’, Bulletin de 1'I.F.A.N., XXXIX, B,3–4 (1967), 794–878 (see p. 848);Google Scholar and Lewicki, , ‘Un état soudanais…’, passim.Google Scholar

¹² Al-Zuhri, , Kitāb al-Ja'rāfiyya (ed. by Maḥammad Hadj-Sadok), Bulletin d'études Orientales, XXI (1968), sections 336, 338 of the Arabic text.Google Scholar

¹³ Al-ZuhrĪ, ibid.

¹⁴ Jean, Rouch, ‘Contribution à l'Histoire des Songhay’, in Mémoire I.F.A.N. no. 29 (Dakar, 1953), 137–259 plus 7 p1. (especially p. 209 and p. 235:Google Scholar ‘Ainsi l'Islam conduisit le Songhay à la défaite et à la honte’). Our criticism of this stereotype of course does not invalidate the view that, as far as gold mining was concerned, it was bad policy to push Islam beyond certain limits; see Fage, J. D., ‘Some thoughts on state-formation in the Wcstcrn Sudan before the seventeenth century’, Boston University Papers in African History, I (ed. by Butler, J.) (1964), 19–34 (especially pp. 33–4).Google Scholar

¹⁵ See also Levtzion, N., Muslims and chiefs in West Africa: a study of Islam in the Middle Volta basin in the Pre-Colonial period (Oxford, 1968), 164.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Al-BakrĪ, , Al-Masālik, wa'l-Mamālik, partial, ed. and French transl. by De Slane under the title Description de l'Afrique Septentrionale (reprinted Paris, 1965), 174–7 (Arabic text), 327–31 (transl.).Google Scholar Also Monteil, V. (transl.), ‘Al-BakrĪ (Cordoue, 1086), Routier de l'Afrique blanche et noire du Nord-Ouest’, Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N., xxx, B, I (1968), 39–116 (see pp. 70–3,Google Scholar and Monteil's, V. notes on pp. 209–22).Google Scholar

¹⁷ Al-BakrĪ, , Al-Mas¯lik…, De Slane ed./transl., 168 (text), 327 (transl.); Monteil's, V. transl., 62–3, 104.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Al-BakrĪ, , Al-MasĪlik…, De Slane's ed./transl., 175–6 (text), 329–30 (transl.);Google ScholarMonteil's, V. transl., 72, III, 112.Google ScholarLevtzion, , Ancient Ghana and Mali, 187.Google Scholar

¹⁹ See the interesting comparison between Old Ghana and the Mossi: Levtzion, , Muslims and Chiefs…, 164.Google Scholar

²⁰ On this see the pioneering findings of Yves, Person, Samori: une révolution Dyula, Mémoire I.F.A.N.no. 80, I (Dakar, 1968), 234.Google Scholar

²¹ On these dates see Al-ZuhrĪ, Ja'rāfiyya, section 336, n. 7; Moraes, Farias, ‘The Almoravids…’, 848–9.Google Scholar

²² The twelfth century evidence used by Dr Levtzion himself (pp. 46–7) does not appear to fit in with the ‘Islaxnization = Disintegration’ model. The Ibn Khald7umacr;n passage quoted by him (p. 52) has been the mainstay of this model. But Ibn Khaldūn is a late source and a little too fond of the ‘scissors and paste’ method of writing history. Though he was comparatively well informed about the Sudan from written and oral sources, his account of Ghāna reads at times like a rather baffling mosaic of bits of evidence taken from con-trthctory sources, to which are added Ibn Khaldūn's own interpolations (or rather the extrapolations he saw fit to make on the strength of the evidence available to him). On this see the comments made by Monteil, Ch., ‘Les “Ghana”…’, 445.Google Scholar This reviewer is much indebted to Dr Humphrey J. Fisher, of S.O.A.S., for a stimulating discussion (Dakar, 09 1967) about the necessity of extreme caution in handling the notion of Almoravid ‘conquest’ of Ghana.Google Scholar

²³ Catherine, Coquéry-Vidrovitch, ‘Recherches sur un mode de production africain’, La Pensée, no. 1 (04 1969), 61–78 (see p. 73).Google Scholar

²⁴ Al-BakrĪ, , Al-Masālik…, De Slane's ed./transl., 179 (text), 335 (transl.); Monteil's, V. transl., 75.Google Scholar

²⁵ Rouch, , ‘Contribution…’, 217. The work was published in 1953 and would seem to have been more than a little influenced by vivid memories of the contrast between la France libre and the collabos of the Vichy government; pp. 238–9 of the ‘Contribution…’ perhaps allow the reader to gain some insight into this question.Google Scholar

²⁶ [Abdullahi] Smith, H. F. C., ‘The early states of the Central Sudan’, in Ajayi, J. F. A. and Crowder, M. (eds.), History of West Africa, I (London, 1971), 158–201 (see p. 173, n. 41).Google Scholar

²⁷ The Bida myth would seem rather to belong to the category of what used to be called, in the old anthropological language, the ‘totemic’ myths. The sequential arrangement of its themes can hardly be taken as an historical chronological axis.

²⁸ On this question, see the discussions of the ideas of Giambattista Vico, Principi di Scienza Nuova d'intorno alla comune natura delle nazioni (3rd ed. revised by the author, Naples, 1744, critically re-edited by Fausto, Nicolini, 2 vols., Bari, 1928,Google Scholar sections 51, 377, 379) by Benedetto, Croce, La Filosofia di Giambattista Vico (Bari, 1911), 63–72 (an English transl.Google Scholar of this work by Collingwood, R. G., revised by the author, was published under the title The Philosophy of Giambattista Vico (London, 1913), see 63–72);Google Scholar and by Bidney, D., ‘Vico's New Science of Myth’, in Tagliacozzo, G. and White, H. V. (eds.), Giambattista Vico: an international symposium (Baltimore, 1969), 259–77.Google Scholar

²⁹ Croce, B., La Filosofia …, p. 65; The Philosophy…, p. 64.Google Scholar

³⁰ Monteil, Cf. Vincent, L'Islam Noir (Paris, 1st ed. 1964), 58–62 (2nd ed. 1972), 65–70,Google Scholar with Levtzion, , 17–22 of the book under review. Research into the Wagadu traditions is now in progress at the Centre of West African Studies of the University of Birmingham. The Senegalese scholar Abdoulaye Bathily, himself a Soninke, has been working on oral texts he collected, in addition to the versions available in print. While working in Senegal, at the I.F.A.N., University of Dakar, Mr Bathily published ‘La “legende du Wagadou”, texte Soninké de Malamine Tandyan, retranscrit, traduit et annoté par Abdoulaye Bathily (d'après Charles Monteil)’, Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N., XXXIX, B, 1−2 (1967), 134–49 (preface by Vincent Monteil).Google Scholar

³¹ Monteil, Ch., ‘La légende…’, p. 380. But on the same page (n. I) Ch. Monteil refers to the existence of several variants concerning the areas where the head or heads of the Bida are said to have fallen.Google Scholar

³² See the version paraphrased by Djibril, Tarnsir Niane and Canale, J. Suret, Histoire de l'Afrique Occideaale (Paris, 1968), 29.Google Scholar

³³ See Mamby, Sidibé, ‘Soundiata Keita, héros historique et légendaire, empereur du Manding’, Notes Africaines, no. 82 (04 1959), 41–51 (the relevant passage is on p. 51).Google Scholar Also Pierre, Smith, ‘Les Diakhanké. Histoire d'une dispersion’, Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Anthropologiques, no. 4, in Bulletins et Mémoire.s di Ia Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, VIII (11th series), 3–4 (1965), 238–62 (see p. 241 for the reference to a version stating that the Bida's head and tail fell on the Bambouk and the Falémé, which became then gold-producing.)Google Scholar

³⁴ Charles Monteil's prudence is worthy of imitation: ‘De tout le récit, il n'est rien que l'an puisse situer, avec certitude, dans le temps ou dans l'espace …’ (italics, Ch. Monteil's); see ‘La légcnde…’, 366.Google Scholar

³⁵ See Hazard, H. W., The Numismatic History of Late Medieval North Africa (New York, 1952), 42, 61, 96–143, 143–58;Google ScholarMoraes, Farias, ‘The Almoravids…’, 848, 857, n. 8.Google Scholar

³⁶ The date of the supposed conquest of Ghāna is given as 1076 or 1102–3.

³⁷ Hazard, , The Numismatic History…, p. 61. The gold coinage struck by the Almohads (the dynasty that supplanted and succeeded the Almoravids) also maintained good standards.Google Scholar

³⁸ Mauny, , Tableau…, p. 300. Levtzion, 132, 156 of the book under review.Google Scholar

³⁹ Mauny, , Tableau…, p. 300.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Al-'UmarĪ, , Masālik al-Abṣār (written between 1342 and 1349). The Arabic text of the relevant passage is in ṢAlèḥ al-DĪn Al-Munajjid (comp.), L'Empire du Mali vu par les géographes musulmans: Textes, I (Beirut, 1963)Google Scholar, See also Gaudefroy-Demombynes partial transl., under the title L'Afrique moins l'Egypte (Paris, 1927), 54, 59. Al'UmarĪ did not attempt to transcribe the titles of the MālĪ and Ghāna rulers as they were pronounced in the Sudanese languages. Instead he uses Arabic titles. The sovereign of MālĪ is given the titles of Sulṭān and Sulṭān al-MuslimĪn and is said to have preferred among all his titles that of Sāḥib MālĪ (‘Sovereign’—or ‘Overlord’—’of MālĪ’). In the text he is also referred to as Malik (‘King’). The ruler of Ghāna is mentioned as Malik, and as Ghāna, in addition to being described as a Nā'ib (‘viceroy’). The Malian title Mansa appears, however, in the text as part of the name Mūsā Mansa.

⁴¹ Al-'UmarĪ, , Al-Ta'rif bi-'l-MuṣṭalaḤ al-SharĪf (Cairo, 1312 A.H./1894 A.D.), 27;Google Scholar the Arabic text of the relevant passage is quoted by Marquart, J., Die Benin-Sammlung des Reichsmuseums für Vö;lkerkunde in Leiden (Leiden, 1913), ccxliv; a French transl. of it is to be found in Gaudefroy-Demombynes partial transl. of Al-'Umari's other work, the Masālik al-Abṣār, p. 71, n. 2, and a transl. into German in Marquart, Die Benin-Sammlung…, p. ccxlv. The passage, which was not used by Dr Levtzion, reads as follows: ‘As far as Ghāna is concerned, he ‘the sovereign of Māli’ does not rule over it. It is as if he had given up his authority over Ghāna in spite of having the power to enforce it. And this is so because in Ghāna itself and to the south of it are located the regions where gold grows.’ (Al- ‘UmarĪ is one of the Arab authors who talk about ‘gold plants’). Cf. Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Tuḥfat al-Nuẓẓār (ed. and transi. into French by C. Defrémery and B. R. Sanguinetti under the title Voyages d'Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, 4 vols., reprinted Paris, 1968), who refers to visits of representatives of gold-producing populations to the kings of MālĪ (see Iv, 428–9).Google Scholar

⁴² Al-IdrĪsĪ, , Nuzhat al-Mushtāq, partial ed. and transi. into French by Dozy, R. P. A. and Goeje, M. J. De under the title Description de l'Afrique et l'Espagne (Leiden, 1866, reprinted Amsterdam, 1969), 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Arabic text), 3, 7, 9, 10 (transl.).Google Scholar

⁴³ See Monteil, Ch., ‘Les ‘Ghana’…’, passim; ‘Umar al-Naqar, ‘Takrūr: the history of a name’, J. Afr. Hist. x, 3 (1969), 365–74.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Lars, Sundströ;m, The Trade of Guinea (Studia Ethnographica Upsaliensia XXIV) (Lund, 1965), 22–37.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Mauny, , Tableau…, p. 363.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Mauny, , Tableau…, p. 365.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ See footnote 3 above.

⁴⁸ Sundströ;m, , The Trade of Guinea, 31;Google Scholar see also 22, 27, 68. In addition see Hopkins, A. G., An Economic History of West Africa (London, 1973), 67.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Levtzion, ‘The thirteenth- and fourteenth-century kings…’.