A Short History of Islamic West Africa

ABOUT THE BOOK

From the first medieval conversions to the twighlight of the colonial era, this book unfilds over a thousand years of one of the most captivating sagas in African history. It traces the great milestones on the spread of Islam between the Sahara, the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Chad-across that vast region once known as the Sudan, a land whose Islamic tradition is as rich, dynamic and distinctive as it is ancient.

Through its pages emerge the remarkable figures and empires that shaped West Africa's Islamic civilization: the opulent Mali of Mansa Musa, the formidable Songhai, and the revolutionary Sokoto Sultanate of Uthman dan Fodio - alongside the bold conqueros, scholars and reformers who, in the 19th Century, transformed the spiritual landscape of the region forever.