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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Toward a Definition of the Term Zanj
Author:Tolmacheva, M.A.
Year:1986
Periodical:Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa
Volume:21
Pages:105-113
Language:English
Geographic term:East Africa
Subjects:Africans
ethnological names
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00672708609511371
Abstract:The word 'Zanj' (sometimes 'Zinj') is a collective noun which frequently occurs in mediaeval Arabic texts with reference to Africans. Occasionally it is used as a toponym, more frequently as an ethnonym. In the Caliphate, the word Zanj usually referred to slaves. In West Africa, too, the word denoted a category of serf population. In the East African context, however, the reference was usually to free inhabitants of the area, implicitly recognized as a majority, if not the sole population group. The author examines the use of the word Zanj in this respect, i.e. in relation to black people of East Africa in their domicile. She discusses the criteria used by Arab authors to distinguish the Zanj from the other, non-Zanj peoples, the internal composition of the Zanj, the changing affective content of the term, and its etymology. Notes, ref.
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