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Full-Text Articles in History
Timbuktu: A Lesson In Underdevelopment, Riccardo Pelizzo
Timbuktu: A Lesson In Underdevelopment, Riccardo Pelizzo
riccardo pelizzo
Th e purpose of the present paper is to investigate Timbuktu’s economic decline in the three centuries elapsed between 1526, when Leo Africanus reached the Mysterious City, and 1830, when the fi rst European explorers arrived in Timbuktu. It is argued that Timbuktu’s decline was neither an accident nor the result of inevitable natural conditions. Timbuktu’s decay was the product of historical and social forces. Specifi cally, it is argued that Timbuktu lost power and prestige because its market decayed. However, it is also suggested that no single factor can account individually for this event. Th e crisis of Timbuktu’s …
Nabateans And Nubians: The Case For Ancient Connections Between Africa And Asia, Jesse Benjamin
Nabateans And Nubians: The Case For Ancient Connections Between Africa And Asia, Jesse Benjamin
Jesse Benjamin
The exploration of relations between the Nubians and the Nabateans opens new possibilities concerning the historical and historiographic linkages between ancient East Africa and the ancient Middle East. In large part, such an analysis speaks to the re-mapping of Ancient World relations and the role of anti-colonial historiography in the execution of such a task. Anti-colonial historiography has challenged the presuppositions of the modern political construction of these regions and their interaction. It has done so by posing critical questions concerning the re-reading of existing data and, therefore, the reconstruction of the historical record. The new direction into Nubian/Nabatean relations …