Gao and the Almoravids Revisited: Ethnicity, Political Change and the Limits of Interpretation

Hunwick, John O.

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Title:	Gao and the Almoravids Revisited: Ethnicity, Political Change and the Limits of Interpretation
Author:	Hunwick, John O.
Year:	1994
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	35
Issue:	2
Pages:	251-273
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Mali
Subjects:	Almoravid polity Songhai polity history traditional polities History and Exploration Ethnic and Race Relations Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/183219
Abstract:	In a recent issue of 'Journal of African History' (vol. 32, no. 2 (1991), p. 251-275) Dierk Lange offers a new interpretation of the relationship of the royal tombstones of Gao-Sané (Mali) to Almoravid activity in the southern Sahara and to the so-called 'Z¯a' dynasty of Gao. He suggests that the rulers of Gao-Sané were local Berber traders who on the basis of Islam and in connection with the Almoravid movement had seized power in Gao. In his opinion, the new rulers were identical with the early Muslim kings of the Z¯a dynasty mentioned in the Gao kinglist. He further argues that the original Z¯a kings were Mande and that the rise of the new Berber rulers, the Z¯aghe¯, did not change the ethnic set-up of the Gao kingdom. This contrasts with the present author's hypothesis that the rulers whose names are inscribed on the tombstones would have been elements of the Mas¯ufa .Sanh¯aja imbued with Almoravid ideology who seized power at Gao-Sané, and who were subsequently either absorbed into the local community or moved on farther east. The author argues that many of Lange's conclusions are questionable, notably his suggestion that the medieval Gao kingdom was basically a Mande State, and that extreme care in interpreting the slender clues available for the unravelling of the history of the Middle Niger before the 15th century is imperative. Notes, ref.