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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Early State and mature State in the history of the East-Central Europe and the Western Sudan: a comparison of State formation and barriers to its development |
Author: | Tymowski, Michal |
Year: | 1994 |
Periodical: | Africana Bulletin |
Issue: | 42 |
Pages: | 21-38 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | West Africa |
Subjects: | State traditional polities |
Abstract: | The sociopolitical structures of Central and Eastern Europe from the 9th to the 11th century and those of the Western Sudan from the 9th to the 16th century are comparable. In this period of early State formation the two areas shared many similarities, as well as exhibiting a number of significant differences. In the course of further evolution, the differences increased. In Central and Eastern Europe external influences prompted development. External contacts initially acted as a strong stimulus to the formation of Western Sudanese States as well, but later they created an insurmountable barrier to their further growth. Other barriers to the development of social and political structures in the Western Sudan were the persistence of traditional communities and social obstacles hindering the assimilation of external patterns. The process of change was slow and in consequence the Western Sudanese States were too weak to survive in the period of intense economic and military confrontation with the external world ushered in by the Moroccan invasion of Songhay in 1591. Bibliogr., note. |