API tools faq
paste
Advertisement
jonstond2

Precolonial Warfare in Africa (Military History)

jonstond2
Mar 19th, 2017
2,562
0
Never
Add comment
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
text 107.63 KB | None | 0 0
raw download clone embed print report
  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. As John Lamphear writes in the introduction to his fine edited volume of journal articles in African military history, many historians have tended “to downplay the importance of military history and the role of conflict in the African historical experience.” He then claims that this “has been especially true for pre-colonial military history” (p. xi). While this has too often been the case, this bibliography shows that other historians have been busy creating a surprising quantity of scholarship on precolonial African history that covers all significant periods of time and all major regions, though not necessarily evenly. At least three terms need to be defined to establish the boundaries of this bibliographic article—at what point do we end the period of “precolonial” warfare, how narrowly will we define “warfare,” and how much of “Africa” will be included. This article defines precolonial warfare as any military activity occurring within and between African societies and peoples before the onset of European political and military control. In keeping with the now-well-understood definition of military history, this article will include pieces that discuss the broad range of political, economic, social, and cultural influences that military organizations, ideas, and activities have on societies. This approach includes the detailed study of wars and warfare, but it goes far beyond it. Finally, this article will include works that cover all of Africa except those parts of North Africa that are more properly considered to be part of the Mediterranean or Arab worlds, i.e., modern-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. Even within these more narrow parameters, scholarship in the field of precolonial African warfare is not as sparse as is often supposed and recently has been growing substantially in both quantity and quality.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews of Precolonial African Military History
  6.  
  7. Perhaps the smallest category of work on precolonial African warfare is that of the general survey and overview. In fact, while we now have at least one good survey covering all of African military history, a few covering the period of “colonial warfare,” and a handful focused on the postcolonial period, only one book-length general survey of precolonial African warfare exists at this time—the first book in Timothy Stapleton’s three-volume work A Military History of Africa. Stapleton 2013 discusses military history in each of five geographic regions (North, West, East, Central, and Southern) in turn. For those looking for a full monograph dedicated to precolonial military history, this is the essential work. However, a few superb works on broader or adjacent periods include general overviews of the precolonial period, and Lamphear 2007 is a superb edited volume of previously published articles discussing a wide variety of specific subjects covering various regions, time periods, and topics. Reid 2012 quickly covers all of African military history in one thin volume but discusses the precolonial period extensively. Those looking for a very short, clear overview of precolonial military forces, with good comparisons between some of the more significant military organizations of the mid-19th century (Asante, Zulu, Sokoto, and Ethiopia), should examine Vandervort 1998, and especially the introduction and first chapter to that excellent work on imperial warfare in Africa. Mazrui 1977 includes repeated references to the precolonial era and its legacies. For an understanding of the ways precolonial African warfare and military systems compared to others around the globe, see Gat 2006.
  8.  
  9. Gat, Azar. War in Human Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
  10. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  11. Gat incorporates repeated references to and descriptions of African precolonial warfare in his massive historical survey of warfare, and does so in a way that integrates African military history into the rest of the story of global military history. See especially his chapter “Tribal Warfare in Agraria and Pastoralia.”
  12. Find this resource:
  13. Lamphear, John, ed. African Military History. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  14. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  15. Part of Ashgate’s International Library of Essays on Military History series, this excellent collection of previously published articles includes a variety of chapters on a wide range of topics. Citations and annotations for the individual chapters are listed in the appropriate section of this article.
  16. Find this resource:
  17. Mazrui, Ali A., ed. The Warrior Tradition in Modern Africa. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1977.
  18. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  19. A collection of essays on the intersection of war, culture, and politics in modern Africa. Although a few essays deal exclusively with modern events such as civil wars in Nigeria and Sudan, most incorporate the precolonial legacy into their topical discussions, and some authors focus on precolonial subjects.
  20. Find this resource:
  21. Reid, Richard J. Warfare in African History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  22. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139043090Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  23. Although this superb overview covers the full sweep of African history from Antiquity to the present in just 183 pages, over half the book deals almost exclusively with the precolonial period. Reid gives an excellent survey of military systems and warfare throughout the precolonial period and across the entire continent.
  24. Find this resource:
  25. Stapleton, Timothy J. A Military History of Africa. Vol. 1, The Precolonial Period: From Ancient Egypt to the Zulu Kingdom (Earliest Times to cs. 1870). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013.
  26. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  27. For anyone looking for a single monograph on the general subject of precolonial African military history, this is the place to begin. Stapleton has neatly organized the work into five regional chapters, with one each on North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa.
  28. Find this resource:
  29. Vandervort, Bruce. Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830–1914. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.
  30. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  31. Although this book focuses on colonial warfare, Vandervort does an excellent job in his introductory chapters of providing good general summaries of precolonial African military organizations on the eve of significant contact with hostile European forces. Pays special attention to the Asante, the Zulu, the Sokoto Caliphate, and 19th-century Ethiopia.
  32. Find this resource:
  33. Short General Overviews (Chapters, Articles, and Encyclopedia Entries)
  34.  
  35. A number of short overviews of precolonial African warfare exist and serve as introductions to key events, topics, and themes. Edgerton 2002 is general and targets a more popular audience. Lamphear 2003 and Reid 2012 are more scholarly and complex, discussing important themes in precolonial African history and historiography. Kopytoff 1987 discusses the role military forces played in the expansion of African polities. Laband 2007 focuses on war’s impact on civilians across the continent. The article Uzoigwe 1977 examines the roles played by warriors in various African societies as well as their integration in those societies, while Ukpabi 1974 gives a general overview of precolonial organizational types and their effects on their own societies. Lemarchand 1976 discusses the different approaches taken by political scientists and historians as they seek to understand the past and its impact on the present.
  36.  
  37. Edgerton, Robert B. “Traditional Africa before the Colonial Era.” In Africa’s Armies: From Honor to Infamy: A History from 1791 to the Present. By Robert B. Edgerton, 1–19. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2002.
  38. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  39. In this first chapter to his general military history, Edgerton attempts to disconnect the military violence of postcolonial Africa from continuity with the precolonial era. After a general description of precolonial societies, the author gives short descriptions of both the Dahomey Kingdom and the Kamba people of Kenya, with special emphasis on their military systems.
  40. Find this resource:
  41. Kopytoff, Igor. “The Internal African Frontier: The Making of African Political Culture.” In The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies. By Igor Kopytoff, 3–84. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  42. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  43. Kopytoff’s lengthy introduction to a book of case studies on inter-African migration and state formation explains the ways warfare and violence have dispersed people across the continent and created new polities. Includes five and a half pages of bibliographic references.
  44. Find this resource:
  45. Laband, John. “Introduction: African Civilians in Wartime.” In Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Africa: From Slavery Days to Rwandan Genocide. Edited by John Laband, 1–16. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007.
  46. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  47. Laband’s introductory chapter incorporates elements of precolonial practices and traditions in a brief discussion of the way warfare in Africa has affected civilians across the ages.
  48. Find this resource:
  49. Lamphear, John. “Sub-Saharan African Warfare.” In War in the Modern World since 1815. Edited by Jeremy Black, 169–191. London: Routledge, 2003.
  50. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  51. Lamphear organizes this chapter into two main subsections—one covering precolonial warfare and another discussing colonial warfare. The former allocates about ten pages to a brief but critical analysis of the relevant historiography, the problems associated with writing precolonial history, the identification of “key factors” that shaped “traditional African warfare,” and finally a description of the significant military changes that occurred in Africa throughout the 19th century.
  52. Find this resource:
  53. Lemarchand, René. “African Armies in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives: The Search for Connections.” Journal of Political & Military Sociology 4.2 (1976): 261–275.
  54. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  55. Lemarchand, a political scientist, discusses the different approaches taken by social scientists and historians as they seek to understand military organizations and military issues in Africa.
  56. Find this resource:
  57. Reid, Richard. “Warfare in Pre-colonial Africa.” In The Encyclopedia of War. Edited by Gordon Martel, 478–489. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
  58. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  59. Reid’s general encyclopedia article runs to well over ten pages and discusses environmental, economic, material, and political factors, as well as the special changes that developed in the 19th century. It concludes with a list of references and a short recommended list of books for further reading.
  60. Find this resource:
  61. Ukpabi, S. C. “The Military in Traditional African Societies.” Africa Spectrum 9.2 (1974): 200–217.
  62. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  63. Ukpabi discusses the different types of military organizations in precolonial societies; the effects of those organizations on the societies in general; the roles of women, slaves, and mercenaries in various societies’ military organizations and efforts; and political-military affairs.
  64. Find this resource:
  65. Uzoigwe, G. N. “The Warrior and the State in Pre-colonial Africa: Comparative Perspectives.” In The Warrior Tradition in Modern Africa. Edited by Ali A. Mazrui, 20–47. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1977.
  66. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  67. Relying heavily on oral tradition, travel lore, and ethnographic data, Uzoigwe compares precolonial Zulu, Bunyoro Kitara, Buganda, Oyo, Yoruba, and Kikuyu societies to highlight similarities and differences in the degree of social and political integration of warriors.
  68. Find this resource:
  69. General Overviews of Precolonial Africa
  70.  
  71. Many fine works provide the necessary general context for the study of military history in the precolonial era. Fage and Oliver 1975 offers a number of complete volumes dedicated to the precolonial era, and Falola 2000 gives excellent context, as well as some important specifics related to military organizations and events, in a single-volume general survey of the period. Diop 1987 explicitly examines precolonial African societies and compares them with European societies of the same period. The Kopytoff 1987 case-study volume discusses the migration of African peoples and the growth of African societies throughout period. Coquery-Vidrovitch 2009 focuses its study of precolonial Africa on the last century of its existence and covers majors themes of that epoch. Iliffe 2005 examines the role of honor in many precolonial societies.
  72.  
  73. Coquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine. Africa and the Africans in the Nineteenth Century: A Turbulent History. Translated by Marh Baker. New York: Armonk, 2009.
  74. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  75. This introduction to the century in which most of Africa transitioned from the precolonial to the colonial era includes significant discussion of military events and organizations in the precolonial era, particularly the following chapters: “Political and Warlike Islam: The Maghreb and West Africa before the Colonial Conquest”; “The Meeting of Cultures: Southern Africa,” which discusses the mfecane and the controversy surrounding it; and a subsection entitled “At the Crossroads of Worlds: Ethiopia.”
  76. Find this resource:
  77. Diop, Cheikh A. Precolonial Black Africa: A Comparative Study of the Political and Social Systems of Europe and Black Africa, from Antiquity to the Formation of Modern States. Westport, CT: L. Hill, 1987.
  78. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  79. A pointed history by one of Africa’s leading, and most controversial, scholars. Offers comparisons between African and European societies, and description of the great empires of West Africa, to include a discussion of their military organizations.
  80. Find this resource:
  81. Fage, J. D., and Roland Anthony Oliver. The Cambridge History of Africa. 8 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
  82. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  83. Volumes 1 through 5 cover all of precolonial African history. Not in any way a traditional military history, but includes discussion of various military events, organizations, weapons, and other topics.
  84. Find this resource:
  85. Falola, Toyin, ed. Africa. Vol. 1, African History Before 1885. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2000.
  86. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  87. This general history of precolonial Africa includes general discussions of the military systems used by various African kingdoms and empires, to include Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Kanem-Borno, the Hausa States, Benin, Oyo, Asante, Luba, Gbaya, Ndongo, Kongo, and Ethiopia. Includes entire chapters on “The Jihads in West Africa” and “The Mfecane and South Africa.”
  88. Find this resource:
  89. Iliffe, John. Honour in African History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
  90. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  91. While discussing many facets of honor in African history from the 14th century to the present, Iliffe explains the connection between honor and warfare across much of precolonial Africa, from the West African savannah to Ethiopia, and from the equatorial forests and Great Lakes to southern Africa. For example, see the section “Honour, Rank and Warfare among the Yoruba.”
  92. Find this resource:
  93. Kopytoff, Igor, ed. The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  94. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  95. This volume of essays—an introduction and nine case studies—discusses the ways various African groups (Ekie, Goba, Kpelle, BaShu, Rwandans, among others) interacted with the frontier to produce new societies. Warfare and violence played a role in some of these histories, as groups either made war or moved to avoid it. Of particular note is Kopytoff’s introductory chapter.
  96. Find this resource:
  97. General Reference Works on Precolonial History
  98.  
  99. Those looking for reference works on precolonial history should consult Collins 2010 or Vogel 1997. Both include many references of interest to students of African military history. Collins 2001 is a collection of documents that includes a number specifically related to military events around the continent, and Collins 2005 touches on the subject more indirectly. Falola 2002 hits a smaller number of important topics but deals with them in greater depth.
  100.  
  101. Collins, Robert O., ed. Documents from the African Past. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2001.
  102. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  103. This volume includes many interesting documents related to Africa’s precolonial military history, such as Andrew Battell’s description of the Jaga in 1568, Abd-al-Rahman al-Sadi’s report of the Moroccan invasion of Songhay in 1591, Imam Ahmad ibn Fartuwa’s depiction of the Kanem Wars in 1602, and William Bosman’s account of warfare at Axum in 1700.
  104. Find this resource:
  105. Collins, Robert O., ed. Problems in African History: The Precolonial Centuries. 3d ed. Princeton, NJ: Marcus Wiener, 2005.
  106. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  107. Although none of the six “problems” around which this volume is organized are strictly military in nature, many of the short essays incorporate discussions of precolonial military history—especially those sections on African trade and state formation, Islam in Africa, and slavery in Africa.
  108. Find this resource:
  109. Collins, Robert O. The A to Z of Pre-colonial Africa (The A to Z Guide Series). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2010.
  110. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  111. The helpful reference includes a chronology from 814 BCE to 1898, a lengthy introduction to precolonial African history, nearly 450 pages of references, over 150 pages of bibliographic information, and a listing of precolonial African dynasties, kingdoms, and empires. Significant military events, persons, weapons, and polities are included.
  112. Find this resource:
  113. Falola, Toyin. Key Events in African History: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002.
  114. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  115. Contains thirty-six short chapters, each on a significant event or movement in African history. Approximately half the chapters discuss precolonial events, and some of them are dedicated to military topics, such as “The Outbreak of Islamic Jihad, 1804,” “Wars and Revolution among the Yoruba, 1817–1893,” and “The Mfecane: Shaka and the Zulu Kingdom, 1816–40.”
  116. Find this resource:
  117. Vogel, Joseph O. Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa: Archaeology, History, Languages, Cultures, and Environments. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 1997.
  118. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  119. This large single-volume reference work employs a multidisciplinary approach to present a variety of important information on precolonial Africa, to include discussions of the environment, technology, peoples, and cultures, as well as politics and polities.
  120. Find this resource:
  121. Bibliographies
  122.  
  123. A traditional, stand-alone bibliography for precolonial African military history has not been published at this time. However, a few key books, chapters, and articles listed elsewhere in this compendium include extensive general bibliographies. Especially, see Lamphear 2007, which concludes with a thorough bibliography of scholarly books and articles in multiple languages. Collins 2010 also includes an impressive bibliography on precolonial history which, while not specifically focused on military history, includes references to works of importance to its study.
  124.  
  125. Collins, Robert O. The A to Z of Pre-colonial Africa (The A to Z Guide Series). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2010.
  126. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  127. This helpful reference includes over 150 pages of bibliographic information.
  128. Find this resource:
  129. Lamphear, John. “Introduction.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, xi–xli. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  130. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  131. Includes an extensive bibliography of more than 300 sources touching on all aspects of precolonial African military history.
  132. Find this resource:
  133. Slavery, the Atlantic World, and African Warfare
  134.  
  135. The relationship between slavery and warfare constitutes a major theme of precolonial African military history; this is true from the Sahel to the Cape, but is particularly so regarding the many regions impacted by the Atlantic slave trade. The essential and most thorough examination of this subject is Thornton 1999a. Law 1991 is also excellent, though its coverage of warfare and military organizations is more diffuse. For good, short overviews of this subject see Thornton 1999b and chapter 4 of Thornton 1998, a study of Africans in the Atlantic world. Thornton 2006 discusses the use of slaves as soldiers throughout Africa. Lovejoy 2007 discusses the way civilians were affected by the warfare and violence related to the slave trade. Reid 2007 offers an excellent introduction to warfare and slave-taking far from the Atlantic world. The many separate chapters in Diouf 2003 are essential to understanding how various African groups defended themselves from attacks and slave raids. Numerous studies of various precolonial societies that aggressively fought wars and raided neighbors to take slaves are covered in the appropriate geographic subsection of this article.
  136.  
  137. Diouf, Sylviane A., ed. Fighting the Slave Trade: West African Strategies. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2003.
  138. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  139. An essential work on the topic of African warfare and violence in the era of the slave trade. Includes twelve essays presented at a conference held at Rutgers University in 2001. Of special note are chapters on making and resisting slave raids in the region south of Lake Chad, in Central Africa, in Senegambia, in southern Mali, in Igboland, in the upper Guinea coast, and in Guinea-Bissau.
  140. Find this resource:
  141. Law, Robin. The Slave Coast of West Africa, 1550–1750. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
  142. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  143. A thorough treatment of the impact of the slave trade among the African societies on and near the Slave Coast. Military events and issues are not examined in one discrete section but spread throughout, especially in the descriptions of the way the slave trade encouraged warfare and raiding in Allada, Whydah, and Dahomey.
  144. Find this resource:
  145. Lovejoy, Paul E. “Civilian Casualties in the Context of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.” In Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Africa: From Slavery Days to Rwandan Genocide. Edited by John Laband, 17–49. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007.
  146. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  147. This chapter, focused on precolonial Nigeria and especially the slaving wars of the Oyo and Sokoto states, discusses the incorporation of civilians, especially women and children, into warfare as targets of enslavement.
  148. Find this resource:
  149. Reid, Richard. “Human Booty in Buganda: Some Observations on the Seizure of People in War, c. 1700–1890.” In Slavery in the Great Lakes Region of East Africa. Edited by Henri Medard and Shane Doyle, 145–160. Oxford: James Currey, 2007.
  150. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  151. Shows that although slavery and warfare were “indelibly intertwined” in the Ganda Kingdom, slave-taking was not generally the primary purpose of warfare. Rather, as elsewhere in the world, war was a means of expanding the kingdom’s political, economic, and perhaps even ethnic power over its neighbors.
  152. Find this resource:
  153. Thornton, John. Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  154. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511800276Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  155. This work, and especially chapter 4, “The Process of Enslavement and the Slave Trade,” places African warfare at the center of the story of the Atlantic slave trade by discussing the connections between warfare and slavery and the ways European technology affected African warfare.
  156. Find this resource:
  157. Thornton, John. Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500–1800. London: UCL Press, 1999a.
  158. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  159. Begins with a brief essay discussing the historiography of African military history, then describes the cavalries of the West African savannah, the fighting in the riverine region of Senegambia and Sierra Leone, the military systems along the Gold Coast, and finally warfare on the savannah of west central Africa. An excellent, scholarly introduction to precolonial warfare in this region.
  160. Find this resource:
  161. Thornton, John. “Warfare, Slave Trading and European Influence: Atlantic Africa 1450–1800.” In War in the Early Modern World 1450–1800. Edited by Jeremy Black, 129–146. London: Routledge, 1999b.
  162. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  163. A fine general overview of the geographic, chronological, and political divisions of African warfare along the Atlantic coast in this era. Thornton shows the ways in which African warfare met local as well as international needs and was conducted in accordance with environmental, political, geographic, and economic factors.
  164. Find this resource:
  165. Thornton, John. “Armed Slaves and Political Authority in Africa in the Era of the Slave Trade, 1450–1800.” In Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Modern Age. Edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Philip D. Morgan, 79–94. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.
  166. DOI: 10.12987/yale/9780300109009.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  167. Examines the pervasive use of armed slaves as military forces from Timbuktu to Kongo, concluding that fighting was as much the routine work of slaves as any other form of labor. And yet, this practice entailed significant risks, which the author fully discusses.
  168. Find this resource:
  169. Technology and Weaponry
  170.  
  171. The waging of war, and the equipping and organizing of people for that purpose, are almost always, at least to some degree, technologically driven processes. Austen and Headrick 1983 gives a short introduction to the role of technology, in general, in precolonial Africa. Goody 1971 provides an influential explanation of the way technology, and especially military technology, has affected the shape and style of African states. Hacker 1994 gives an excellent introduction to the scholarship on the role of technology in warfare around the world, to include Africa. Spring 1993 offers superb illustrations and depictions of specific weapons technologies used throughout precolonial Africa. Leakey 1926 does the same, but with a much narrower focus on just bows and arrows, and only in West Africa. The impact on warfare, armies, and societies of the introduction of firearms is a major theme in African warfare, as it is in Europe, and White 1971 provides one interpretation of the evidence. Pilossof 2010 addresses this theme in his review of two important volumes. This article discusses those specific volumes, along with a number of other works examining the role of technology and warfare in specific regions or regimes, in the appropriate geographic subsection.
  172.  
  173. Austen, Ralph A., and Daniel Headrick. “The Role of Technology in the African Past.” African Studies Review 26.3–4 (1983): 163–184.
  174. DOI: 10.2307/524168Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  175. In precolonial Africa, as elsewhere throughout the world, in all times and places, the waging of war has been a technological enterprise. This volume discusses the role of technology in African history, generally.
  176. Find this resource:
  177. Goody, Jack. Technology, Tradition and the State in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
  178. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  179. The chapter “Polity and the Means of Destruction” compares different polities of West Africa and asserts that the military technology upon which they were based offers the best explanation for their differences in type and power.
  180. Find this resource:
  181. Hacker, Barton C. “Military Institutions, Weapons, and Social Change: Toward a New History of Military Technology.” Technology and Culture 35.4 (1994): 768–834.
  182. DOI: 10.2307/3106506Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  183. This massive, global historiographical essay on military technology includes references to Africa, and occasionally specific regions of Africa, in its discussion of how the study of military technology can improve our understanding of economics, politics, and other facets of society.
  184. Find this resource:
  185. Leakey, L. S. B. “A New Classification of the Bow and Arrow in Africa.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 56 (1926): 259–299.
  186. DOI: 10.2307/2843613Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  187. After visits to various museums throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, Leakey became convinced that the classification system in use often led to mistaken understandings regarding the development, use, and transfer of this important category of military technology. Includes excellent illustrations of the weapons and maps of origins.
  188. Find this resource:
  189. Pilossof, Rory. “‘Guns Don’t Colonise People . . .’: The Role and Use of Firearms in Pre-colonial and Colonial Africa.” Kronos 36 (2010): 266–277.
  190. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  191. Pilossof reviews four books—two on colonial uprisings and two on precolonial warfare that are listed in this article (Lamphear’s African Military History [Lamphear 2007, cited under General Overviews of Precolonial African Military History] and Smaldone’s Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate [Smaldone 1989, cited under Fulani Jihad and Sokoto])—and analyzes what they suggest about the role of firearms in precolonial and colonial Africa.
  192. Find this resource:
  193. Spring, Christopher. African Arms and Armor. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1993.
  194. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  195. This superbly illustrated volume displays and discusses the traditional weapons of warfare used in all African regions. Individual chapters cover the Sahara, the Sahel, West Africa, the Horn, the Congo Basin, East Africa, and Southern Africa.
  196. Find this resource:
  197. White, Gavin. “Firearms in Africa: An Introduction.” The Journal of African History 12.2 (1971): 173–184.
  198. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700010628Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  199. Asserts that firearms did not have as decisive an impact on African warfare as previously suspected, that an initial benefit from firearms was followed by a rapid decline in decisiveness, and that the use of firearms required not merely training of certain individuals, but at times even the restructuring of society. Also discusses manufacture of weapons and powder.
  200. Find this resource:
  201. West Africa
  202.  
  203. Historians have written quite a bit of military history on precolonial West Africa, so much so that certain sub-regions (e.g., the Western Sudan, Yorubaland) and polities (e.g., Asante, Dahomey, Sokoto) deserve their own subcategories and are examined below. The only general survey of warfare and military history throughout the entire region is Smith 1976. Kea 1971 gives a narrower survey of the ways different groups in the region absorbed firearms, while Law 2007 does the same while adding in the additional factor of the role of the horse. Legassick 1966 views Samori’s army through this technological lens, while Roberts 2007 suggests that social and economic factors are at least as important for warfare. Regarding less-well-covered societies, Abraham 2003 discusses Mende warfare in precolonial Sierra Leone, as does Brown 1984 for the Klowe of Liberia, and Launay 1988 for the Kong chiefdom of Côte d’Ivoire. Viti 2004 offers a collection of anthropological perspectives that place warfare within the cultural and political contexts of various West African societies.
  204.  
  205. Abraham, Arthur. An Introduction to the Pre-colonial History of the Mende of Sierra Leone. Lewiston, NY: Mellen, 2003.
  206. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  207. This general history of the Mende incorporates extensive discussion of military affairs, organizations, and events, to include subsections on “War, Power and State in the Nineteenth Century,” “Causes of War,” “Character of Warfare,” and “Rise of Mercenaries,” as well as descriptions of war settlements, military tactics, and customs of warfare.
  208. Find this resource:
  209. Brown, David. “Warfare, Oracles and Iron: A Case Study of Production among the Pre-colonial Klowe, in the Light of Some Recent Marxist Analyses.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 54.2 (1984): 29–47.
  210. DOI: 10.2307/1159909Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  211. Brown discusses the role of warfare among the Klowe, a Liberian ethnic group, as part of his case study examining Marxist analysis of traditional stateless societies.
  212. Find this resource:
  213. Kea, R. A. “Firearms and Warfare on the Gold and Slave Coasts from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries.” The Journal of African History 12.2 (1971): 185–213.
  214. DOI: 10.1017/S002185370001063XSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  215. Discusses acquisition and employment of firearms by various groups on the coasts of West Africa, including Dahomey, Asante, Fante, Benin, etc. Explains which European groups were trading guns and powder with various African groups at specific periods, and the way those African groups incorporated firearms into their formations and employed them in battle.
  216. Find this resource:
  217. Launay, Robert. “Warriors and Traders: The Political Organization of a West African Chiefdom.” Cahiers d’études africaines 28.111 (1988): 355–373.
  218. DOI: 10.3406/cea.1988.1657Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  219. Launay describes the role of warfare in the expansion of the Kong chiefdom (in north central Côte d’Ivoire), as well as the use of the poro society to prepare young men for military service. It also explains the distinctions made between warriors and traders in this, and many other, West African societies.
  220. Find this resource:
  221. Law, Robin. “Horses, Firearms, and Political Power in Pre-colonial West Africa.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 177–197. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  222. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  223. Law examines the connections between “different systems of military technology and different patterns of political organization” throughout precolonial West Africa. Law claims that warfare was an “especially important” economic activity in the region, and that it was institutionalized largely due to the importance of securing slaves for internal and export purposes.
  224. Find this resource:
  225. Legassick, Martin. “Firearms, Horses and Samorian Army Organization 1870–1898.” The Journal of African History 7.1 (1966): 95–115.
  226. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700006101Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  227. Legassick describes the composition of Samori’s army (recognizing changes over time), its sources of recruitment, its armament and supply routes, and especially its strategic and logistical flexibility.
  228. Find this resource:
  229. Roberts, Richard L. “Production and Reproduction of Warrior States: Segu Bambara and Segu Tokolor, c. 1712–1890.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 349–379. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  230. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  231. Analyzes a few key works on precolonial African military history, then argues that the connections between warfare and the state in Segu Bambara and Segu Tokolor cannot be understood primarily in technological terms, as advocated by Jack Goody and Joseph Smaldone. Roberts stresses the ways warfare was economically and socially productive, both to individuals and to the state.
  232. Find this resource:
  233. Smith, Robert S. Warfare and Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa. Norwich, UK: Methuen, 1976.
  234. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  235. A survey of the role of warfare and diplomacy throughout nearly five centuries of West African history, ending with the close of the 19th century. Includes discussion of numerous polities, including Mali, Songhay, Kanem, Borno, Asante, Fante, Dahomey, Benin, various Yoruba kingdoms, and the Sokoto Caliphate.
  236. Find this resource:
  237. Viti, Fabio, ed. Guerra e violenza in Africa Occidentale. Milan: Franco Angeli, 2004.
  238. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  239. This Italian-language volume includes a number of chapters from anthropologists who rely largely on oral tradition to examine the ways warfare and other forms of violence affected politics and authority across a number of societies in precolonial West Africa.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Asante
  242.  
  243. Precolonial Ghana has received quite a bit of attention from historians of warfare and military organization, largely because of the interest on the Asante Empire, but other peoples and polities, such as the Fante, Ewe, and Ga, are covered as well. McCaskie 2003 provides excellent context on Asante government, society, and culture. Edgerton 1995 offers the best overview of precolonial Asante military power in this first half of his work. Arhin 1967 explains the place and role of warfare in Asante governmental policy. Terray 1976 sheds light on the military competence of the Asante and the ideology that stressed such courage and discipline. Sanders 1979 and Tenkorang 1968 both discuss the interaction, competition, and outright combat between Asante and their coastal neighbors, especially the Fante. The asafo system used by many of these coastal people, such as the Ga, is discussed by Akyeampong 2002 and Datta and Porter 1971. Verdon 1980 describes the military system used by Ewe communities.
  244.  
  245. Akyeampong, Emmanuel. “Bukom and the Social History of Boxing in Accra: Warfare and Citizenship in Precolonial Ga Society.” In Special Issue: Leisure in African History. Edited by Emmanuel Akyeampong and Charles Ambler. The International Journal of African Historical Studies 35.1 (2002): 39–60.
  246. DOI: 10.2307/3097365Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  247. This article links the modern-day interest in boxing in Accra, Ghana, to various military practices and policies of precolonial Ga society, especially its willingness to open participation in the asafo to anyone willing to serve—slave or free, native or immigrant.
  248. Find this resource:
  249. Arhin, Kwame. “The Structure of Greater Ashanti (1700–1824).” The Journal of African History 8.1 (1967): 65–85.
  250. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700006836Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  251. Places the Ashanti wars of conquest at the center of the story of Ashanti history, and argues that these wars were not waged exclusively to improve the state’s trading position with the coast. Rather, other forces and factors were at play, and these are more clearly seen when one examines the way Ashanti incorporated conquered regions into its system of government.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Datta, Ansu K., and R. Porter. “The Asafo System in Historical Perspective.” The Journal of African History 12.02 (1971): 279–297.
  254. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700010689Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  255. Discusses the competing theories regarding the origins of the asafo system in precolonial coastal Ghana, and concludes that the origin is “probably indigenous” and not a result of interaction with Europeans, though that interaction did influence the development of the system.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Edgerton, Robert B. The Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred Year War for Africa’s Gold Coast. New York: Free Press, 1995.
  258. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  259. Although primarily concerned with the colonial warfare waged by the British against the Asante, much of the first half of the book discusses the Asante Empire at its precolonial height and describes the Asante army in detail.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. McCaskie, T. C. State and Society in Pre-colonial Asante. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
  262. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  263. This impressive but conceptually challenging description of precolonial Asante society includes a brief description of military organization within the state and occasional references to warfare. Originally published in 1995.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. Sanders, James. “The Expansion of the Fante and the Emergence of Asante in the Eighteenth Century.” The Journal of African History 20.3 (1979): 349–364.
  266. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700017357Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  267. Examines the role of trade in the process of state formation and growth for both the Fante and Asante. Concludes that Fante conquest of surrounding polities in the early 18th century was driven by the desire to control the trade with the British, a goal that placed relations with Asante on an unsettled foundation.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Tenkorang, S. “The Importance of Firearms in the Struggle between Ashanti and the Coastal States, 1708–1807.” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 9 (1968): 1–16.
  270. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  271. Gives a generally chronological overview of the century of warfare between the Ashanti and the coastal states of Fante, Wassaw, and Twifo, and concludes that the control of firearms was “the main consideration” throughout.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. Terray, Emmanuel. “Contribution àune étude de l’armée asante.” Cahiers d’études africaines 16.61–62 (1976): 297–356.
  274. DOI: 10.3406/cea.1976.2905Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275. This French-language article describes the powerful capabilities of the Asante military system, which defeated not only the less-well-armed neighbors to its north, but its better-equipped and -supplied enemies along the coast. It suggests that the Asante commitment to courage and discipline was purchased at the cost of a broader economic and intellectual basis.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Verdon, Michel. “Re-defining Pre-colonial Ewe Polities: The Case of Abutia.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 50.3 (1980): 280–292.
  278. DOI: 10.2307/1159119Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. Though primarily concerned with explaining the system of sovereignty within this Ewe community of southern Ghana and Togo, Verdon describes the military organization used by these societies.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Dahomey
  282.  
  283. The Kingdom of Dahomey has received extensive coverage, undoubtedly because of the fascination related to its unique use of female soldiers. For excellent context on the rise of the kingdom itself, see Akinjogbin 1967. Law 1992 offers a superb discussion of the rise of Dahomey, along with other polities in the region, focusing on the possibility that interaction with Europeans led to a military revolution. Alpern 1998a and Alpern 1998b both focus on Dahomey’s so-called “Amazons.” His monograph gives a more complete description of the role they played in the kingdom’s military system, while the journal article investigates the origins of the elite unit. Edgerton 2000 does all of that as well, but in a way that more fully integrates the unit into the history of women soldiers throughout human history.
  284.  
  285. Akinjogbin, I. A. Dahomey and Its Neighbors, 1708–1818. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1967.
  286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  287. This monograph covers the rise of the “revolutionary” Dahomey Kingdom. Discusses the forces that drove it to become a centralized political and military power.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. Alpern, Stanley B. Amazons of Black Africa: The Women Warriors of Dahomey. New York: New York University Press, 1998a.
  290. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  291. Beginning with a brief discussion of the origin of Dahomey, Alpern examines the rise of the unique collection of women bodyguards who became an elite group of combat soldiers. Describes their role in the context of Dahomey’s way of war.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Alpern, Stanley B. “On the Origins of the Amazons of Dahomey.” History in Africa 25 (1998b): 9–25.
  294. DOI: 10.2307/3172178Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  295. Attempts to get answer the basic “when, how, and why” questions that still remain regarding the initial establishment of unique corps of elite women warriors. Alpern is more successful at discussing the alternative theories than at providing firm conclusions.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Edgerton, Robert B. Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2000.
  298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  299. A slim, well-written general history of the elite female corps set in the context of the relative uniqueness of the phenomenon of professional female soldiers throughout world history.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Law, Robin. “Warfare on the West African Slave Coast, 1650–1850.” In War in the Tribal Zone: Expanding States and Indigenous Warfare. Edited by R. Brian Ferguson and Neil L. Whitehead, 103–126. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press, 1992.
  302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  303. This chapter examines the rise and fall of polities along the Slave Coast, especially Dahomey, and considers the extent to which interactions with European traders and technology led to a “military revolution.”
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Nigeria
  306.  
  307. Of all the sub-regions of Africa, the precolonial areas in and around modern-day Nigeria have been the focus of the greatest quantity of scholarship. Falola, et al. 2013 is an important volume of essays on a wide variety of Nigerian military topics. More specifically, many distinct linguistic, cultural, and political groups of precolonial Nigeria have been studied. Achi 1988 discusses the use of technology among the Hausa. Akpen 2013 examines the importance of metals technology among the Tiv. Ben-Amos Girshick and Thornton 2001 explains the role of civil war within the Kingdom of Benin, while Usuanlele 2013 focuses on the role of women in the polity’s military activities. Isichei 1976 and Jeffreys 1956 describe warfare and weaponry among the Igbo. Falola and Law 1992 includes more than two dozen essays examining a range of military history subject across precolonial Nigeria.
  308.  
  309. Achi, Bala. “Arms and Armour in the Warfare of Pre-colonial Hausaland.” African Study Monographs 8 (1988): 145–157.
  310. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  311. This article examines the weaponry used in precolonial Hausaland, and focuses on the ways military technology was acquired and adjusted over time. Also discusses the use of military specialists in Hausa formations.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Akpen, Philip. “Makers and Builders of Weaponry in Pre-colonial Tivland of Central Nigeria.” In War, Ethnicity, and National Identity in Nigeria. Edited by Toyin Falola, Roy Doron, and Okpej P. Okpeh, 19–39. Trenton, NJ: Africa World, 2013.
  314. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  315. This essay discusses the crucial role of fire, charcoal, and blacksmiths in the revolutionizing of warfare within Tiv society during the 19th century.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Ben-Amos Girshick, Paula, and John Thornton. “Civil War in the Kingdom of Benin, 1689–1721: Continuity or Political Change?” The Journal of African History 42.3 (2001): 353–376.
  318. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  319. The authors discuss the Benin Empire’s lengthy civil war and show the dramatic transformation the event had on its form of government.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Falola, Toyin, Roy Doron, and Okpej P. Okpeh. War, Ethnicity, and National Identity in Nigeria. Trenton, NJ: Africa World, 2013.
  322. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  323. This collection of papers from a 2008 conference on “War and Conflict in Africa” is broken into four sections, the first of which includes five essays on precolonial Nigerian military history.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Falola, Toyin, and Robin Law, eds. Warfare and Diplomacy in Precolonial Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Robert Smith. Madison: African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1992.
  326. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  327. This festschrift includes twenty-six essays on a wide variety of topics. Twelve address subjects in “Western Nigeria” such as warfare waged by Oyo, Ibadan, Ilorin, the Ijebu, and the Nupe. The remainder discuss topics related to the other regions, such as warfare on the Jos plateau, in the Niger Delta, in Yauri, Gobir, Sokoto, Bauchi, Ibibio, and fighting among the Gbagyi, the Igbo, and the Owerri.
  328. Find this resource:
  329. Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of the Igbo People. New York: St. Martin’s, 1976.
  330. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331. This general survey of Igbo history includes a detailed discussion of military organization, weapons, style of fighting, and campaigns, especially in the chapter, “Igbo Warfare in the Nineteenth Century.”
  332. Find this resource:
  333. Jeffreys, M. D. W. “Ibo Warfare.” Man 56 (1956): 77–79.
  334. DOI: 10.2307/2795608Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  335. This short but well-illustrated piece shows and discusses traditional Ibo weapons and armor, though it offers only the most cursory suggestions about what precolonial Ibo combat might have been like.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Usuanlele, Uyilawa. “‘Women Don’t Go to War, Except Idia Mother of Oba Esigie’: Women and War in the Culture and History of Benin Kingdom.” In War, Ethnicity, and National Identity in Nigeria. Edited by Toyin Falola, Roy Doron, and Okpej P. Okpeh, 63–76. Trenton, NJ: Africa World, 2013.
  338. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  339. The essay discusses the role of women in the political and military affairs of the Benin Kingdom. It concedes that their involvement in the society’s military organization was “marginal,” but asserts that women “still performed critical roles”—especially in the spiritual components of military operations (p. 74).
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Fulani Jihad and Sokoto
  342.  
  343. One of the most significant military events of precolonial Nigeria was the military jihad led by Usuman dan Fodio against the Hausa States, which created the Sokoto Caliphate. Hiskett 1973 offers a biographic account of the jihad’s leading figure. Waldman 1965 discusses the causes for jihad. Smaldone 1989 is the essential work on the military history of Sokoto, while Patton 1987 focuses on one effort to resist forcible incorporation into the new Islamic state.
  344.  
  345. Hiskett, Mervyn. The Sword of Truth: The Life and Times of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.
  346. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  347. A biography of the leader of the jihad that created the Sokoto Caliphate. Of special note are the chapters “Prelude to War” and “Holy War in the Way of God.” The latter describes the opposing armies, their campaigns and battles, and the Usuman’s contribution to victory.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Patton, Adell, Jr. “An Islamic Frontier Polity: The Ningi Mountains of Northern Nigeria, 1846–1902.” In The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies. Edited by Igor Kopytoff, 195–213. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  350. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  351. A fascinating chapter that describes an immigrant group of Muslim Hausa who fled from the Kano Emirate and partnered with the non-Muslim local inhabitants of the Ningi Mountains to resist forcible reincorporation into the Sokoto Caliphate. Warfare plays a significant role in this story.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Smaldone, J. P. Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate: Historical and Sociological Perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
  354. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  355. The essential source for understanding this topic. Begins with a description of Sudanic warfare during the centuries prior to the jihad period (c. 1790–1817); examines the military organization, strategies, and tactics of the jihad era; describes the military system in the Caliphate, to include strategic organization, theory and practice of warfare, force structure, armament—to include an extensive discussion of the role of firearms.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Waldman, Marilyn Robinson. “The Fulani Jihad: A Reassessment.” The Journal of African History 6.3 (1965): 333–355.
  358. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700005843Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  359. Waldman examines different explanations for the cause of the jihad, discusses Usuman dan Fodio’s transition from peaceful religious teacher to military leader, and compares the stated goals of the campaign to the nature of its actual execution.
  360. Find this resource:
  361. Nigeria-Yoruba
  362.  
  363. Of all the peoples of Nigeria, the Yoruba have far and away received the most scholarly attention. The most comprehensive assessment of warfare in precolonial Yorubaland is Ajayi and Smith 1964. Falola and Oguntomisin 1984 examines the involvement of military leaders in the political sphere, and then in Falola and Oguntomisin 2001 the authors describe the lives and careers of the most significant generals of the period. Ajayi 2007 focuses on the growth of military professionalism in the 19th century, while Awe 1973 suggests that this rise in professionalism had both positive and negative effects on the broader society and its economic health. Smith 1967 describes local weapons and armament throughout the region. Ifamose 2013 focuses on warfare in a specific geographic area of Yorubaland—Akokoland. For a thorough history of one of precolonial Yorubaland’s most powerful empires, the Oyo, see Law 1977.
  364.  
  365. Ajayi, J. F. A. “Professional Warriors in Nineteenth-Century Yoruba Politics.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 339–379. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  366. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  367. Describes the military organizations of the Yoruba states prior to the 19th century and the factors that led to a growth of professionalism among warriors in the 19th century—especially the length and frequency of wars that occurred during the chaotic period after the collapse of the Old Oyo Empire.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Ajayi, J. F., and Robert Smith. Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
  370. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  371. This slim volume is broken into two distinct parts. In Part 1, Smith offers a general introduction to the Yoruba Wars, c. 1820–1893, describing military forces, weaponry, fortification, strategy, tactics, specific wars and battles, casualties, and prisoners of war. Special attention is given to the use of firearms. In Part 2, Ajayi offers a detailed discussion of the Ijaye War of 1860–1865.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Awe, Bolanle. “Militarism and Economic Development in Nineteenth Century Yoruba Country: The Ibadan Example.” The Journal of African History 14.1 (1973): 65–77.
  374. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700012172Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  375. Awe examines the rise of militarism in Ibadan and assesses the impact of that militarism on both physical security and economic development within the polity. The article concludes that the militarism was a double-edged sword—occasionally driving trade, agricultural production, and craft development, but also leading to struggles for power that brought challenges to economic development.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Falola, Toyin, and G. O. Oguntomisin. The Military in Nineteenth Century Yoruba Politics. Ile-Ife, Nigeria: University of Ife Press, 1984.
  378. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  379. This slim volume examines the role of the military in Yoruba society and politics during a century of significant change. Discusses the forms of government put in place by military leaders when they gained political control (e.g., Ibadan, Ijaye, Abeokuta, and Oke-Odan), as well as the ways military figures engaged in political activities in those states that maintained civilian rule.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Falola, Toyin, and G. O. Oguntomisin. Yoruba Warlords of the Nineteenth Century. Trenton, NJ: Africa World, 2001.
  382. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  383. Openly described by the authors as a “follow-up” to their previous book, The Military in Nineteenth Century Yoruba Politics (Falola and Oguntomisin 1984), this work by two distinguished scholars of Nigeria examines the lives and influences of the most prominent generals of precolonial Yoruba society.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. Ifamose, Folasade O. “Akoko Yoruba in the Nineteenth Century: Warfare in a Frontier Region.” In War, Ethnicity, and National Identity in Nigeria. Edited by Toyin Falola, Roy Doron, and Okpej P. Okpeh, 77–89. Trenton, NJ: Africa World, 2013.
  386. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  387. This chapter describes the ways warfare affected the Akoko mini-states, in northeast Yorubaland, during the 19th century. Wars between the Akoko and Benin, the Owo/Ekiti, and most significantly, the Nupe left a lasting legacy on Akokoland, well into the colonial era.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Law, Robin. The Oyo Empire, c. 1600–c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Oxford: Clarendon, 1977.
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391. This volume describes the rise, expansion, and decline of the Oyo Empire. Although military affairs are discussed throughout the book, chapter 9, “The Army,” is of particular importance to because, as Law admits, Oyo state power “depended in the last resort upon its military forces” (p. 183).
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Smith, Robert. “Yoruba Armament.” The Journal of African History 8.1 (1967): 87–106.
  394. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700006848Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395. Intended as a “supplement” to his book on Yoruba warfare, this article examine the traditional weapons that preceded the use of firearms in Yorubaland (swords, knives, spears, clubs, and bows), some of which were retained even after the widespread use of guns.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Western Sudan
  398.  
  399. The roles of technology, religion, and the environment have driven discussion of military events in the history of the Western Sudan. Curtin 1971 compares religious and non-religious motives for the various Islamic jihads in the region. Robinson 1985 offers what is still the most thorough examination of any one of them. Fisher 1971 examines the role of prayer in these, and other, campaigns. Echenberg 1971 shifts the focus from religion to technology, comparing societies that accepted modern weaponry with those that did not. Kaba 2007 discusses the role of technology, among other factors in any early, and ultimately failed, inter-African imperialist effort. Bah 1985 focuses on the specific technologies of fortification. McDougall 2007 suggests that in this region the environment itself might be as great a factor in military events as technology or religion.
  400.  
  401. Bah, Thierno Mouctar. “L’impact de la guerre sur l’habitat dans l’Afrique noire precoloniale.” Cultures et dévelopment: Revue internationale des sciences du développement 16.3–4 (1984): 485–501.
  402. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  403. Bah uses a study of abandoned shelter sites, military fortifications, and fortified villages to explore the connections between warfare and the types of housing and human settlement, as well as their dispersion through geographic space.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Bah, Thierno Mouctar. Architecture militaire traditionnelle et poliorcétique dans le Soudan occidental du XVIIè au XIXè siècle. Yaoundé, Cameroon: Editions CLE, 1985.
  406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407. This French-language volume discusses the role of fortification and siegecraft in West Africa between the 17th and 19th centuries. It includes not only the methods used to construct fortified villages, but also the social and political contexts surrounding their construction and employment.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Curtin, Philip D. “Jihad in West Africa: Early Phases and Inter-relations in Mauritania and Senegal.” The Journal of African History 12.1 (1971): 11–24.
  410. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700000049Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  411. Curtain focuses on the causes of the various West African jihads, assessing internal and external as well as religious and secular motives.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Echenberg, Myron J. “Late Nineteenth-Century Military Technology in Upper Volta.” The Journal of African History 12.2 (1971): 241–254.
  414. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700010653Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  415. Compares forms of military organization and use of military armament in four different societies. Examines the traditional systems used by both the Mossi Kingdoms and the Samo village communities, along with the newly organized forces of Al-Hajj Al Kari’s Marka army and the Zaberma army of Babato, which both employed more modern weapons.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Fisher, Humphrey J. “Prayer and Military Activity in the History of Muslim Africa South of the Sahara.” The Journal of African History 12.3 (1971): 391–406.
  418. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700010847Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  419. Examines the use and role of prayer in Muslim armies in West Africa, and compares the practice with similar traditions in the Christian world.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Kaba, Lansiné. “Archers, Musketeers and Mosquitoes: The Moroccan Invasion of the Sudan and the Songhay Resistance (1591–1612).” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 101–119. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  422. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  423. Kaba’s examination of the Moroccan invasion of the Songhay Empire assesses motivations for the campaign, the reasons for its initial success, and the causes for its ultimate failure, intending to do so “mainly from a West African perspective.”
  424. Find this resource:
  425. McDougall, E. Ann. “The View from Awdaghust: War, Trade and Social Change in the Southwestern Sahara, from the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 69–99. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427. After introducing the historical environmental context of Awdaghust, the great oasis of the southern Sahara in Mauritania, McDougall explains the ways in which war was such a prominent part of routine life throughout the era examined—perhaps even being essential to pastoral existence in such a challenging environment.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Robinson, David. The Holy War of Umar Tal: The Western Sudan in the Mid-Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1985.
  430. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  431. This is one of the finest studies of jihad in precolonial Africa, providing excellent social, political, and religious context for Umar Tal’s wars, as well as a detailed description of the various campaigns in and around Senegambia.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. East Africa
  434.  
  435. The region of East Africa is covered by a rich collection of historical work that offers both a superb overview of the region’s military history and excellent studies of individual societies, military leaders, regimes, and sub-regions—some of which, such as, the Horn, Ethiopia, and Uganda, have enough material to warrant their own subcategories in this article. Reid 2007 is the essential work on warfare in precolonial east Africa and a model for the kind of scholarly overview that is needed for other regions of the continent. Peers 2005 provides a less scholarly but better-illustrated introduction to various militaristic groups in the region’s history—Maasai, Ngoni, Hehe, Nandi, Turkana, and the Ruga-ruga. Shorter 1968 discusses Nyungu’s use of the Ruga-ruga to build his empire, while Redmayne 1968 examines the Hehe in the era of Mkwawa. Fadiman 1976 discusses the Meru’s cattle-raiding “wars” in precolonial Kenya. Kenny 2007 relies on oral histories to reconstruct the events of the Basuba’s Wasaki War on Lake Victoria. Koponen 2007 assesses the role of warfare in the demographics of precolonial Kenya. Reid 2001 compares the styles and accomplishments of two different East African political-military leaders.
  436.  
  437. Fadiman, Jeffrey. Mountain Warriors: The Pre-colonial Meru of Mt. Kenya. Papers in International Studies, Africa Series 27. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press for the Center for International Studies, 1976.
  438. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  439. This thin volume describes warfare among the pastoral Meru in Kenya, which almost exclusively was comprised of cattle raiding for the purpose of gaining wealth and reputation for the warriors.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Kenny, Michael G. “The Wasaki War: An Oral Narrative of Southwestern Kenya.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 441–457. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  442. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  443. The chapter synthesizes eight separate but “remarkably consistent” oral accounts (practically one from each involved group) of an undated struggle for control of two islands in Lake Victoria.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Koponen, Juhani. “War, Famine, and Pestilence in Late Precolonial Tanzania: A Case for a Heightened Mortality.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 459–498. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. In this demographic study of 19th-century Tanzania, Koponen assesses the impact of war and its handmaidens, disease and starvation. Dealing with each phenomenon in turn and then addressing their combined effects, Koponen asserts that organized violence was very common in this era, especially to conduct raids for cattle and slaves.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Peers, Chris. Warrior Peoples of East Africa 1840–1900. Oxford: Osprey, 2005.
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451. This slim but lavishly illustrated volume examines five different “warrior peoples” of East Africa, the Maasai, Ngoni, Hehe, Nandi, and Turkana, as well as what Peers calls “a warrior caste”—the Ruga-ruga. The focus is squarely on military organization, ethos, dress, and armament.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Redmayne, Alison. “Mkwawa and the Hehe Wars.” The Journal of African History 9.3 (1968): 409–436.
  454. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700008653Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  455. A narrative history of Mkwawa’s rule of the Hehe, focused on his offensive and defensive wars with the Ngoni, Bena, Mbunga, before continuing on to discuss the colonial warfare associated with German expansion into Hehe lands. Discusses Mkwawa’s leadership, as well as political structures, military strategies and tactics, armament, logistics, and fortification.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Reid, Richard. “Mutesa and Mirambo: Thoughts on East African Warfare and Diplomacy in the Nineteenth Century.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 31.1 (2001): 73–89.
  458. DOI: 10.2307/220885Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459. Discusses the diplomatic and military interactions of two great East African political-military leaders, Mutesa from Buganda, and Mirambo, the warlord leader of Urambo. The article describes the interplay of political, diplomatic, economic, commercial, and military factors that leaders needed to manage in precolonial East Africa.
  460. Find this resource:
  461. Reid, Richard. War in Pre-colonial Eastern Africa: The Patterns and Meanings of State-Level Conflict in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: James Currey, 2007.
  462. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  463. The introduction provides a superb theoretical and historiographical foundation for the entire field of study. Reid examines the place of war in eastern Africa; military organizations and armament; strategy and tactics; social and economic motives, limitations, and effects; and the role of conflict resolution. Includes extensive notes and a superb bibliography.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Shorter, Aylward. “Nyungu-ya-Mawe and the ‘Empire of the Ruga-rugas.’” The Journal of African History 9.2 (1968): 235–259.
  466. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700008859Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  467. Discusses Nyungu’s creation and employment of the force of professional warriors known as Ruga-ruga, used to conquer over 20,000 square miles of East Africa and dominate trade in the region.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Horn of Africa
  470.  
  471. The Horn of Africa is a region known for its violence in the modern era, and the scholarship of the region makes clear that this is not a recent aberration. As with East Africa in general, Reid 2011 is the authoritative work on the place of warfare and violence in this troubled sub-region, focusing on the importance of frontiers. In its examination of Bantu-Somali conflict, Cassanelli 1987 shows that the frontiers have not always been located in the same places. Lewis 1960 makes the same point in his discussion of the initial wave of Somali expansion throughout the horn. Reid 2006 reminds readers that in the Horn, as elsewhere, the writing and telling of “official” military history has rarely been an apolitical act.
  472.  
  473. Cassanelli, Lee V. “Social Construction on the Somali Frontier: Bantu Former Slave Communities in the Nineteenth Century.” In The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies. Edited by Igor Kopytoff, 216–238. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  474. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475. This chapter gives a brief description of the role military power played in the establishment and maintenance of Nasib Bunda’s authority in Goshaland in the 19th century.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Lewis, I. M. “The Somali Conquest of the Horn of Africa.” The Journal of African History 1.2 (1960): 213–230.
  478. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700001808Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  479. Lewis uses written records as well as oral accounts to reconstruct the history of the Somali migration throughout the Horn region. While much of the discussion describes apparently peaceful migration, Lewis includes battles and wars in his account.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Reid, Richard. “War and Remembrance: Orality, Literacy and Conflict in the Horn.” Journal of African Cultural Studies 18.1 (2006): 89–103.
  482. DOI: 10.1080/13696850600750335Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  483. This essay describes and compares written and oral accounts of warfare in Ethiopia and Eritrea between the 18th and 20th centuries. Includes an excellent discussion of the nature and purpose of the military chronicles of highland Ethiopia.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Reid, Richard J. Frontiers of Violence in North-east Africa: Genealogies of Conflict since c. 1800. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
  486. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199211883.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487. Reid examines the role of conflict and warfare in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and their surrounding frontiers with Sudan and Somalia. The work is split into four parts, with the first two focused on the setting, environment, and historical trends of the precolonial era through the 19th century, and the latter two on the 20th century.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Ethiopia
  490.  
  491. The very concept of “precolonial Ethiopia” is a particularly problematic one for a region and a regime that successfully fought off colonial invasion until 1935. However, Ethiopia has such a rich military history that it warrants inclusion in this article. Abir 1968, Marcus 1975, and Jalata 2005 all discuss the significant military events of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, when Ethiopian political and cultural power was being consolidated and expanded, largely by military means. They do so via political, biographical, and imperialistic lenses, respectively. Caulk 1978 shows that Ethiopian state forces were hard on their own subjects, as well as their enemies. Crummy 1972 agrees, using the campaigns of Tewodros as a case study in brutality. But Ethiopian armies did prove particularly competent in battle, especially compared to those of other African polities, with the victory over Italian forces at Adowa as its greatest proof. Caulk 2007 and Dunn 2007 both discuss the improvements made by specific leaders in the 19th century that led to those successes.
  492.  
  493. Abir, Mordechai. Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes: The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire, 1769–1855. New York: Praeger, 1968.
  494. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  495. Discusses the complicated web of political, diplomatic, ethnic, religious, economic, and military forces that comprised this troubled era in Ethiopian history. Includes extensive discussion of military campaigns and battles.
  496. Find this resource:
  497. Caulk, R. A. “Armies as Predators: Soldiers and Peasants in Ethiopia c. 1850–1935.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 11.3 (1978): 457–493.
  498. DOI: 10.2307/217313Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  499. Examines the regularity of soldiers’ predations of peasants—rebel and loyal alike—during Ethiopian military campaigns, and even during routine travel of escorted government officials.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Caulk, R. “Firearms and Princely Power in Ethiopia in the Nineteenth Century.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 381–402. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  502. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  503. Describes the significant changes in Ethiopian military power that occurred in the mid- to late 19th century, especially the transition from a reliance on traditional cavalry to modern firepower, which became essential to success in combat.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Crummy, Donald. “The Violence of Tewodros.” In War and Society in Africa. Edited by Bethwell A. Ogot, 65–84. London: Frank Cass, 1972.
  506. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. This chapter examines the civil wars waged by Tewodros in the 1860s, a series of campaigns so brutal Crummy refers to them as “terrorism” against his own people.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Dunn, John. “‘For God, Emperor, and the Country!’ The Evolution of Ethiopia’s Nineteenth-Century Army.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 403–424. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511. Dunn explains the significant military improvements made by Tewodros II, Yohannis IV, and Menelik II that turned Ethiopia into a regional power with a “remarkably effective army” in the second half of the 19th century.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Jalata, Asafa. Oromia and Ethiopia: State Formation and Ethnonational Conflict 1868–2004. Trenton, NJ: Red Sea, 2005.
  514. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  515. This sweeping and far from dispassionate examination of the political, military, economic, and ethnic struggle to incorporate the Oromo into Ethiopia includes two early chapters that describe Ethiopian military expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Marcus, Harold G. The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844–1913. Oxford: Clarendon, 1975.
  518. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  519. The standard biography of this key Ethiopian emperor, who understood the critical importance of modern weaponry to control his own people, dominate and occasionally conquer his neighbors, and resist would-be European imperialists. In many ways this work serves as a military history of Ethiopia from 1844 to 1916.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Uganda and Rwanda
  522.  
  523. The Great Lakes region has a robust military history, ably examined by a number of fine scholars. As with East Africa in general, and other sub-regions such as the Horn in particular, Richard Reid has written the authoritative text on an East African military power—Buganda—in Reid 2002. Reid 2007 and Reid 1998 examine militarism, and uniquely, navalism, respectively, among the Buganda. Lamphear 1976 discusses military organization and war-making in another Ugandan society, the Jie, while Karugire 1972 and Webster 1972 look at civil wars in other Ugandan regions, Nkore and Usuku, respectively. Newberry 1987 examines the military system of another Great Lakes power, Rwanda, while Weinstein 1977 shows the continuities of Rwanda’s precolonial military organization and activity with the colonial and postcolonial eras.
  524.  
  525. Karugire, S. “Succession Wars in the Pre-colonial Kingdom of Nkore.” In War and Society in Africa. Edited by Bethwell A. Ogot, 9–33. London: Frank Cass, 1972.
  526. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  527. This chapter discusses the various political conventions that guided royal succession in the region of precolonial Uganda, and the warfare that so often played a role in Nkore (Ankole).
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Lamphear, John. The Traditional History of the Jie of Uganda. Oxford: Clarendon, 1976.
  530. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  531. This general history of the Jie includes extensive discussion of Jie military organization, especially in the chapter “The Era of Warfare, Disaster, and Strangers,” which discusses a new wave of increased warfare that began in the second half of the 19th century.
  532. Find this resource:
  533. Newberry, David. “‘Bunyabungo’: The Western Rwandan Frontier, c. 1750–1850.” In The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies. Edited by Igor Kopytoff, 164–192. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  534. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  535. The article describes precolonial Rwandan military organizations and events and explains how the political and social cultures of the precolonial Rwandan state were not only products of various military threats, opportunities, and campaigns but also the driver for future expansion.
  536. Find this resource:
  537. Reid, Richard J. “The Ganda on Lake Victoria: A Nineteenth-Century East African Imperialism.” The Journal of African History 39.3 (1998): 349–363.
  538. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853798007270Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  539. An interesting discussion of a unique topic in precolonial African military history—the creation and employment of naval power, via a lake-going canoe fleet, by the Ganda in the mid-19th century.
  540. Find this resource:
  541. Reid, Richard J. Political Power in Pre-colonial Buganda: Economy, Society, and Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: James Currey, 2002.
  542. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  543. A thorough examination of Ganda sociopolitical culture with special emphasis on its military history. After discussing Ganda economics, trade, and politics and governance, Reid covers military capability, organization, armament, tactics, and campaigns on land and sea (Lake Victoria).
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Reid, Richard J. “War and Militarism in Pre-colonial Buganda.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 425–440. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  546. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  547. Examines the extraordinary level of militarism, as well as the rise and decline of military power, in precolonial Buganda, the most powerful state in the Great Lakes region in the early 19th century. Shows that Buganda’s militarism was fueled, at least in part, by the challenges posed by one or more threatening neighbors.
  548. Find this resource:
  549. Webster, J. B. “The Civil War in Usuku.” In War and Society in Africa. Edited by Bethwell A. Ogot, 35–64. London: Frank Cass, 1972.
  550. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  551. This chapter examines the civil war in Usuku (Uganda) in the 1890s, and shows how the war was influenced by the specific patterns of migration and settlement that preceded the decade.
  552. Find this resource:
  553. Weinstein, Warren. “Military Continuities in the Rwanda State.” In The Warrior Tradition in Modern Africa. Edited by Ali A. Mazrui, 48–66. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1977.
  554. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  555. This chapter begins with a brief summary of precolonial military command arrangements, organization, and operational activities, before discussing the changes and continuities of the colonial and postcolonial eras.
  556. Find this resource:
  557. Central Africa
  558.  
  559. The enormous region of Central Africa was comprised of hundreds of groups and polities in the precolonial era, and no scholar has written a comprehensive study that examines precolonial warfare throughout the region. Vansina 1966 comes closest with its excellent survey of various kingdoms in the savanna sub-region over a broad span of time. All other studies focus on one or two groups in a more narrow time and place. Epstein 2007 sheds light on the Bemba of precolonial Zambia. Evans-Pritchard 1957 does the same for the Zande, a people in northern stretches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Fairley 1987 examines the Ekie and Harms 2007 discusses the Nunu, groups from the southern portion of the region. While Schoffeleers 1980 and Miller 1970 look at the Cokwe and Lundu in the east.
  560.  
  561. Epstein, A. L. “Military Organization and the Pre-colonial Polity of the Bemba of Zambia.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 319–337. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  562. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  563. Describes warfare and military organization of the Bemba (one of the largest groups of precolonial Zambia), which had waged a series of wars enabling them to gain hegemony over the Great Plateau between 1830 and 1880. Epstein claims Bemba success was caused more by superior organization than by firearms.
  564. Find this resource:
  565. Evans-Pritchard, E. E. “Zande Warfare.” Anthropos 52.1–2 (1957): 239–262.
  566. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  567. Asserting that Zande history is little more than a story of combat and warfare, Evans-Pritchard describes Zande military organization and methods of warfare, to include the goals of Zande fighting, which is divided into the categories of rather individualized raids and more centrally directed campaigns.
  568. Find this resource:
  569. Fairley, Nancy J. “Ideology and State Formation: The Ekie of Southern Zaire.” In The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies. Edited by Igor Kopytoff, 91–100. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  570. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  571. Although this piece shows that conquest was not the primary means of creating the initial Ekie state, it does admit that military force became a factor in its later expansion.
  572. Find this resource:
  573. Harms, Robert W. “The Wars of August: Diagonal Narrative in African History.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 1–26. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  574. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  575. Harms explains the crucial role of warfare among precolonial Nunu along the southern edge of modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially the violent seasonal campaigning during the annual August dry period. He asserts that the underlying cause of the fighting was the need to secure fishing rights.
  576. Find this resource:
  577. Miller, Joseph C. “The Cokwe Trade and Conquest in the Nineteenth Century.” In Pre-colonial African Trade: Essays on Trade in Central and Eastern Africa before 1900. Edited by Richard Gray and David Birmingham, 175–201. London: Oxford University Press, 1970.
  578. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  579. Describes and analyzes the growth of Cokwe political, economic, and military power in the mid-19th century. Especially examines the role of firearms and the tactic of raiding parties.
  580. Find this resource:
  581. Schoffeleers, Matthew. “Trade, Warfare and Social Inequality: The Case of the Lower Shire Valley of Malawi, 1590–1622 A.D.” The Society of Malawi Journal 33.2 (1980): 6–24.
  582. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  583. Discusses the role of warfare the expansion and centralization of the Lundu paramountcy, as well as the ensuing changes in Lundu religion.
  584. Find this resource:
  585. Vansina, Jan. Kingdoms of the Savannah. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966.
  586. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  587. The seminal work on the Kongo, Luba, and Lunda polities, as well as other regimes in Katanga and Angola from the 15th to the 20th century. Discusses military systems and organizations, along with politics, economics, and religion.
  588. Find this resource:
  589. Central Sudan
  590.  
  591. Scholarship on military organization and warfare in the Central Sudan has focused largely on two themes—the environment and technology. No single monograph provides a thorough overview of the entire region, but Azevedo 1998 includes excellent material in that portion of the Sudan now incorporated into Chad, while Reyna 1990 focuses on Bagirmi Kingdom. Haour 2007 offers an interesting approach, comparing the warriors and warfare of the region to those of Northwest Europe throughout a 700-year period. Regarding military technology, Fisher 2007 focuses on the importance of the horse as a weapon system, while Fisher and Rowland 1971 looks at the role of firearms. Smaldone 1972 concludes that firearms were more important than others have suggested.
  592.  
  593. Azevedo, Mario J. Roots of Violence: A History of War in Chad. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach, 1998.
  594. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  595. A military history of Chad from the precolonial period to the era of Chad’s independence. The first three chapters focus on the precolonial period, discussing the role of environment, ethnicity, politics and statecraft, technology, tactics, and strategy. Chapter 3, “The Army as an Instrument of Organized Violence in Central Africa,” is particularly informative.
  596. Find this resource:
  597. Fisher, Humphrey J. “‘He Swalloweth the Ground with Fierceness and Rage’: The Horse in the Central Sudan.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 27–51. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  598. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  599. Re-examines questions surrounding the introduction and use of the horse in the Sudan, focusing on the crucial military role of the horse in the region. Fisher describes the role that horse size, equipment (e.g., saddles, stirrups, and shoes), and other logistical issues played in their utilization.
  600. Find this resource:
  601. Fisher, Humphrey J., and Virginia Rowland. “Firearms in the Central Sudan.” The Journal of African History 12.2 (1971): 215–239.
  602. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700010641Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  603. This article discusses important questions about the presence and use of firearms in the Central Sudan, and specifically in Bornu, such as how the firearms came to Bornu and how effective they really were. Asserts that firearms had an initially significant impact, but that this effect quickly diminished to the point that the weapons fell out of use, at least temporarily.
  604. Find this resource:
  605. Haour, Anne. Rulers, Warriors, Traders, and Clerics: The Central Sahel and the North Sea 800–1500. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  606. DOI: 10.5871/bacad/9780197264119.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  607. An archeologist’s comparative analysis of two very different regions during a similar but lengthy era. Chapter 4, “Warriors,” focuses on the place of military violence in both the Central Sudan and Northwest Europe, and gives special attention to fortification, slave-raiding, the role of military power in local politics, and the importance of loyalty.
  608. Find this resource:
  609. Reyna, S. P. Wars without End: The Political Economy of a Precolonial African State. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1990.
  610. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  611. Although this book claims to focus on politics and economics, it is filled with descriptions and analysis of the new perpetual military campaigns of the Bagirmi Kingdom of the east-central Sudan. Of note, chapter 8, “Warfare,” is entirely dedicated to military ethos, means, and methods of Bagirmi warfare.
  612. Find this resource:
  613. Smaldone, Joseph P. “Firearms in the Central Sudan: A Revaluation.” The Journal of African History 13.4 (1972): 591–607.
  614. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700011956Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  615. Re-examines the questions raised by Fisher and Rowland 1971, especially the impact of firearms in the region. Smaldone asserts that guns did have a revolutionary effect on warfare and military organization in the region.
  616. Find this resource:
  617. Kongo/Angola
  618.  
  619. What Richard Reid has done for the military history of East Africa and Toyin Falola for Nigeria, John Thornton has done for the Kongo Kingdom. Thornton 2007 gives a baseline for understanding warfare in the society prior to any European arrival. Thornton 2011 describes two different military systems in the region, though as part of a story involving Portuguese conquest. Thornton 1983 is a thorough examination the political, social, and military factors of civil war within the kingdom.
  620.  
  621. Birmingham, David. Trade and Conflict in Angola: The Mbundu and Their Neighbours under the Influence of the Portuguese, 1483–1790. Oxford: Clarendon, 1966.
  622. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  623. An examination of the commercial and military factors affecting the rise and fall of various states in west-central Africa during the period.
  624. Find this resource:
  625. Thornton, John K. The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641–1718. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983.
  626. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  627. Thornton combines Marxist and Annales schools of analysis in this examination of the changes within the Kongo Kingdom during a lengthy period of civil war. See especially the chapters “The Civil Wars Begin” and “Kongo in the Civil Wars.”
  628. Find this resource:
  629. Thornton, John K. “The Art of War in Angola, 1575–1680.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 125–143. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  630. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  631. Thornton discusses the basic facts and features of precolonial warfare in central Africa, evaluating the relative professional nature of the armed forces in the region; their size, organization, and composition; their weapons and tactics; and constraints on logistical capabilities, engineering efforts, and strategic effects.
  632. Find this resource:
  633. Thornton, John K. “Firearms, Diplomacy, and Conquest in Angola: Cooperation and Alliance in West Central Africa, 1491–1671.” In Empires and Indigenes: Intercultural Alliance, Imperial Expansion, and Warfare in the Early Modern World. Edited by Wayne R. Lee, 167–191. New York: New York University Press, 2011.
  634. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  635. Describes the essential role of African allies in the Portuguese conquest of the Ndongo Kingdom in Angola. Describes different styles of warfare then used by Africans in the region—the Kongo system in the north and the “Mbundu” style in the south.
  636. Find this resource:
  637. Southern Africa
  638.  
  639. As a region, Southern Africa has received quite a bit of attention from scholars of warfare in the precolonial warfare, often directly or indirectly due to the prominence of the Zulu military system and debate over the mfecane, which are addressed separately in this article. But the Zulu were not the only militaristic group in Southern Africa. Beach 1974 and Beach 1986 both discuss warfare between the Ndebele and the Shona, while Chanaiwa 1976 examines the rise and role of militarism in Ndebele civil-military affairs. Levine examines the interaction of environmental and military factors in both Zulu and Xhosa warfare and society. Isaacman and Peterson 2006 discusses the way military slavery gave rise to a new social group along the Zambezi. Marks and Atmore 1971 and then Atmore, et al. 2007 examine the supposedly transformative effect of firearms among various groups in the region.
  640.  
  641. Atmore, Anthony, J. M. Chirene, and S. I. Mudenge. “Firearms in South Central Africa.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 307–318. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  642. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  643. Discusses the role of firearms in south central Africa, especially in such groups as the Griqua, Tswana, and Shona. It concludes that firearms had the greatest impact on those groups with the simplest and least official forms of military organization.
  644. Find this resource:
  645. Beach, D. N. “Ndebele Raiders and Shona Power.” The Journal of African History 15.4 (1974): 633–651.
  646. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700013918Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  647. Reassesses the quantity and severity of Ndebele raids of Shona groups in the late precolonial era (especially the 1850s and 1860s), concluding that their impact has been greatly exaggerated by contemporaries and historians, the former to justify British conquest of the Ndebele.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Beach, D. N. War and Politics in Zimbabwe, 1840–1900. Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo, 1986.
  650. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  651. Although the majority of this volume addresses the interaction of the Shona and Ndebele peoples with Afrikaner or European expansion, the first chapter, “The Shona, and Ndebele Power, 1840–1893,” includes extensive discussion of competition, raiding, and outright conquest in the precolonial era.
  652. Find this resource:
  653. Chanaiwa, David. “The Army and Politics in Pre-industrial Africa: The Ndebele Nation, 1822–1893.” African Studies Review 19.2 (1976): 49–67.
  654. DOI: 10.2307/523563Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  655. In this narrative history of civil-military relations and military organization within Ndebele society throughout the precolonial era, Chanaiwa concludes that Ndebele militarism, and especially its expression in the regimental system, was a critical component to the creation and survival of the state.
  656. Find this resource:
  657. Isaacman, Allen, and Derek Peterson. “Making the Chikunda: Military Slavery and Ethnicity in Southern Africa, 1750–1900.” In Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Modern Age. Edited by Christopher Leslie Brown and Philip D. Morgan, 95–119. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.
  658. DOI: 10.12987/yale/9780300109009.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  659. This chapter examines the ways military slaves were used by the Portuguese on their estates near the Zambezi River, and especially the ways those slaves incorporated themselves into a new class of persons, Chikunda (i.e., “the Conquerors”).
  660. Find this resource:
  661. Levine, Roger S. “African Warfare in All Its Ferocity: Changing Military Landscapes and Precolonial and Colonial Conflict in Southern Africa.” In Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward an Environmental History of Warfare. Edited by Richard P. Tucker and Edmund Russell, 65–92. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2004.
  662. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  663. The first section of this chapter examines precolonial military organization of both Xhosa and Zulu groups, and suggests ways that environmental factors drove military policies.
  664. Find this resource:
  665. Marks, Shula, and Anthony Atmore. “Firearms in Southern Africa: A Survey.” The Journal of African History 12.4 (1971): 517–530.
  666. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700011117Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  667. Discusses the prevalence and use of firearms throughout Southern Africa from the precolonial era through the era of colonial warfare, in both African and European communities, and reexamines the extent of their transformative effect on warfare and the nature of society.
  668. Find this resource:
  669. Sotho and Moshoeshoe
  670.  
  671. Other than the Zulu, no other group from precolonial Southern Africa has received as much attention as the Sotho, largely because of the extraordinary life and experiences of Moshweshwe, their strong, flexible, and comparatively successful leader. His life is examined in two thorough biographies, Sanders 1975 and Thompson 1975, both of which, like Moshweshwe’s life, cover the precolonial era and the transition into the period of colonial warfare. Sanders 1969 compares Moshweshwe with another leading chief whom he ultimately eclipsed, Sekonyela. Atmore and Sanders 1971 discusses the weapons and equipment that made the Sotho such formidable fighters.
  672.  
  673. Atmore, Anthony, and Peter Sanders. “Sotho Arms and Ammunition in the Nineteenth Century.” The Journal of African History 12.4 (1971): 535–544.
  674. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700011130Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  675. Discusses the importance of firearms and ammunition (and horses, though the title does not reference them) to Sotho military success throughout the 19th century, against other African groups as well as Europeans.
  676. Find this resource:
  677. Sanders, P. B. “Sekonyela and Moshweshwe: Failure and Success in the Aftermath of the Difaqane.” The Journal of African History 10.3 (1969): 439–455.
  678. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700036379Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  679. Sanders compares and contrasts the two leading Sotho chiefs during and after the period of the mfecane to explain why Moshweshwe rose to the pinnacle of power and devotion among the Sotho while Sekonyela’s influence and reputation declined.
  680. Find this resource:
  681. Sanders, Peter. Moshoeshoe: Chief of the Sotho. London: Heinemann, 1975.
  682. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  683. This full biography portrays Moshoeshoe as the indispensable man of the Sotho, emerging as their leading chief during the period of Zulu expansion.
  684. Find this resource:
  685. Thompson, Leonard M. Survival in Two Worlds: Moshoeshoe of Lesotho, 1786–1870. Oxford: Clarendon, 1975.
  686. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  687. This thorough biography of one of Africa’s greatest political and military leaders tells the story of one African group’s efforts to resist being overpowered, first by other Africans in the Zulu expansion, then by Europeans. Chapter 2 examines the former effort in detail.
  688. Find this resource:
  689. Zulu
  690.  
  691. No militaristic society or military force has received more attention—by scholars and popular writers—than the Zulu. In Laband 1997, the leading military historian of the Zulu in the precolonial and colonial eras has produced the essential reference work on the subject, as well as the most scholarly narrative treatment of the rise (and fall) of the Zulu Empire. For an older, popular, but well-written account of the Zulu, read Morris 1965. Deflem 1999 examines the role of war and leadership in the creation of the Zulu state and assesses the theoretical implications of this case study. Otterbein 1994 is a short work that discusses why Zulu customs and techniques changed, and how they affected casualty rates. Krige 1973 gives short, simple descriptions of Zulu military culture and organization, while Knight 1995 and Knight and McBride 1995 are the most straightforward and best-illustrated descriptions of Zulu military forces.
  692.  
  693. Deflem, Mathieu. “Warfare, Political Leadership, and State Formation: The Case of the Zulu Kingdom, 1808–1879.” Ethnology 38.4 (Autumn 1999): 371–391.
  694. DOI: 10.2307/3773913Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  695. This article uses the historical record of the Zulu Kingdom’s formation as a state to reconcile two different theories of precolonial African state formation.
  696. Find this resource:
  697. Knight, Ian. The Anatomy of the Zulu Army from Shaka to Cetshwayo 1818–1879. London: Greenhill, 1995.
  698. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  699. A well-illustrated volume focused on the military organization, weaponry, tactics, and operations of the Zulu army.
  700. Find this resource:
  701. Knight, Ian, and Angus McBride. Zulu 1816–1906. London: Osprey, 1995.
  702. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  703. Part of Osprey’s Warrior Series, this thin (64-page) but superbly illustrated volume shows and describes Zulu weaponry, armor, uniforms/clothing, and tactics.
  704. Find this resource:
  705. Krige, E. J. “The Military Organization of the Zulus.” In Peoples and Cultures of Africa: An Anthropological Reader. Edited by Elliott P. Skinner, 483–502. Garden City, NY: Natural History Press, 1973.
  706. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  707. A straightforward general overview of Zulu military organization, discussing the regiments and their dress, logistics, internal culture and customs, preparations for campaign, tactics, treatment of wounded, and role of women.
  708. Find this resource:
  709. Laband, John. The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation. London: Arms and Armour, 1997.
  710. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  711. Superb narrative history covering the full sweep of the Zulu Kingdom, written by its leading scholar. Includes excellent, fully contextualized descriptions of the Zulu military system and the wars (precolonial and colonial) in which it was used.
  712. Find this resource:
  713. Laband, John. Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars. Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest 37. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2009.
  714. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  715. This nearly 400-page resource covers almost every aspect of the fighting between the Zulu and their neighbors over the period from 1838 to 1888. Includes a chronology running from 1816 to 1910, an introduction discussing the rise of the Zulu Kingdom, a lengthy dictionary section, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography, which includes a separate subsection on the “Zulu Military System.”
  716. Find this resource:
  717. Morris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.
  718. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  719. Popular, non-scholarly account of the rise and fall of the Zulu Kingdom. Includes a bibliography, but no notes.
  720. Find this resource:
  721. Otterbein, Keith F. “The Evolution of Zulu Warfare.” In Feuding and Warfare: Selected Works of Keith F. Otterbein. By Keith F. Otterbein, 25–32. Langhorne, PA: Gordon and Breach, 1994.
  722. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  723. The short essay examines the causes for the changes in the way the Zulu waged war, and especially the results on casualty rates, prior to and during Shaka’s rule.
  724. Find this resource:
  725. The Mfecane Debate
  726.  
  727. Scholars of precolonial Southern Africa have engaged in a vibrant debate surrounding the nature and extent of the so-called “mfecane”—a period of warfare, migration, and general upheaval throughout the entire region, and perhaps even beyond. Omer-Cooper 1966 helped popularize the standard understanding of the “mfecane,” that it was a creation of a blood-thirsty Shaka and his brutal military machine. Lye 1967 describes the nature of the violence as it extended into the Sotho region and corrects the order of battle there but does not challenge the basic premise of the violence’s size, scope, or causation. The traditional account was first challenged by Cobbing 1988, which asserted that European forces and depredations were the real cause of whatever violence rolled through the region. Eldredge 2007 rejects Cobbing’s efforts to place all of the blame on European slave-traders, missionaries, and settlers, asserting that a multitude of factors were involved. Hamilton 1995 offers the most thorough presentation and analysis of the debate and is the essential resource on the topic at this time. Perhaps the best short, clear explanation of this debate is in Laband 2007, which offers the author’s own studied conclusions. Additional information on this issue can be gained by examining many of the works in the two other Zulu sections of this article: Zulu and Shaka.
  728.  
  729. Cobbing, Julian. “The Mfecane as Alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo.” The Journal of African History 29 (1988): 487–519.
  730. DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700030590Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  731. Cobbing examines two “battles” related to the so-called “mfecane” and asserts that these battles show that descriptions of a brutal African-led “mfecane” was a (white) South African construction to justify the apartheid state.
  732. Find this resource:
  733. Eldredge, Elizabeth A. “Sources of Conflict in Southern Africa, c. 1800–30: The ‘Mfecane’ Reconsidered.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 243–277. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  734. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  735. Asserting that the “mfecane” has not been adequately explained, Eldredge sets out to identify the causes of the “tremendous demographic upheaval and revolutionary social and political change” that affected “the entire region of southern Africa” in the 1820s (p. 243). The greatest contribution is her effort to synthesize various monocausal explanations.
  736. Find this resource:
  737. Hamilton, Carolyn, ed. The Mfecane Aftermath: Reconstructive Debates in Southern African History. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1995.
  738. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  739. This large volume includes nineteen essays from almost as many authors on various aspects of the “mfecane.” It stands as the most complete compendium of views on the debate and is essential to understanding the full range of scholarship and opinion on the topic.
  740. Find this resource:
  741. Laband, John. “Zulu Civilians during the Rise and the Fall of the Zulu Kingdom, c. 1817–1879.” In Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Africa: From Slavery Days to Rwandan Genocide. Edited by John Laband, 51–84. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007.
  742. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  743. Examines precolonial Zulu society, to include its military system, and shows the ways that it changed over time. Includes a brief introduction to the debate about the severity of the “mfecane,” concluding that although the Zulu Kingdom did not itself set off as much widespread violence as previously believed, it did generate significant warfare.
  744. Find this resource:
  745. Lye, William F. “The Difaqane: The Mfecane in the Southern Sotho Area, 1822–24.” The Journal of African History 8.1 (1967): 107–131.
  746. DOI: 10.1017/S002185370000685XSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  747. Lye critiques and revises the traditional accounts of the “mfecane” in the stated region (as of 1967) to create a more accurate campaign chronology and revised identification of the actual battle participants.
  748. Find this resource:
  749. Omer-Cooper, J. D. The Zulu Aftermath: A Nineteenth Century Revolution in Bantu Africa. London: Longman, 1966.
  750. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  751. This important book popularized the idea of a brutal and widespread African-initiated “mfecane” that altered nearly all of Southern Africa. Others, especially Julian Cobbing, have raised significant questions about the accuracy of this interpretation.
  752. Find this resource:
  753. Shaka
  754.  
  755. The person and character of Shaka are dealt with in a few specific works. The most complete biography is Wylie 2006, a massive, myth-shattering account. Shaka’s role in initiating the “mfecane” and his reputation among his contemporaries in Southern Africa are addressed in Hamilton 2007. Hamilton 1998 discusses and analyzes Shaka’s legacy across the years.
  756.  
  757. Hamilton, Carolyn. Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention. Cape Town: David Philip, 1998.
  758. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  759. This book examines the ways Shaka has been represented by others, from contemporary traders and missionaries to recent political and cultural leaders.
  760. Find this resource:
  761. Hamilton, Carolyn Anne. “‘The Character and Objects of Chaka’: A Reconsideration of the Making of Shaka as ‘Mfecane’ Motor.” In African Military History. Edited by John Lamphear, 279–305. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.
  762. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  763. A direct response to Julian Cobbing’s “radical interpretation” of the mfecane, specifically his assertion that Shaka’s reputation as a brutal tyrant was a “European invention.” Hamilton provides an analysis of various European and African (especially Zulu) perspectives of Shaka during the 1820s.
  764. Find this resource:
  765. Wylie, Dan. Myth of Iron: Shaka in History. Oxford: James Currey, 2006.
  766. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  767. A massive (600-page), comprehensive biography of the historical Shaka, focused on destroying myths and identifying what can be known with confidence. Extensively documented.
Advertisement
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Advertisement
Public Pastes
Advertisement
We use cookies for various purposes including analytics. By continuing to use Pastebin, you agree to our use of cookies as described in the Cookies Policy.  OK, I Understand
Not a member of Pastebin yet?
Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!