On Trans-Saharan Trails

Islamic Law, Trade Networks, and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Nineteenth-Century Western Africa

Ghislaine Lydon (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

498 Seiten

2012
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-107-61178-8 (ISBN)

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This study is the first of its kind to examine the history and organization of trans-Saharan trade in western Africa using original source material. It documents the internal dynamics of a trade network system based on a case study of 'Berber' traders from the Wād Nūn region, who specialized in outfitting camel caravans in the nineteenth century. Through an examination of contracts, correspondence, fatwas and interviews with retired caravaners, Professor Lydon shows how traders used their literacy skills in Arabic and how they had recourse to experts of Islamic law to regulate their long-distance transactions. The book also examines the strategies devised by women to participate in caravan trade. By embracing a continental approach, this study bridges the divide between West African and North African studies. The work will be of interest to historians of Africa, the Middle East, and the world and to scholars of long-distance trade, Muslim societies and Islamic law.

Dr Ghislaine Lydon is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. The author of several articles on West Africa, she has done extensive fieldwork in both West and North Africa and archival work in France.

1. Making history across the African divide; 2. Trans-Saharan trade in the longue durée; 3. Markets and the movement of caravans: nineteenth-century developments; 4. Guelmīm and the Wād Nūn traders; 5. The organization of caravan trade; 6. Business practice and legal culture in a paper economy of faith; 7. Trade networks and the limits of cooperative behavior; 8. On trans-Saharan trails.

Zusatzinfo	12 Tables, unspecified
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Maße	151 x 228 mm
Gewicht	740 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Fahrzeuge / Flugzeuge / Schiffe
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
	Recht / Steuern ► Rechtsgeschichte
	Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre ► Makroökonomie
ISBN-10	1-107-61178-4 / 1107611784
ISBN-13	978-1-107-61178-8 / 9781107611788
Zustand	Neuware