Back to West African Zanj Again: A Document of Sale from Timbuktu

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Periodical article

Title:	Back to West African Zanj Again: A Document of Sale from Timbuktu
Author:	Hunwick, John O.
Year:	1996
Periodical:	Sudanic Africa
Volume:	7
Pages:	53-60
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Mali
Subjects:	Bozo slaves Songhai polity ethnological names History and Exploration
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/25653283
Abstract:	In an article published in 1968, the author examined the term 'zanj' as it was used by the authors of the Ta'r¯ikh al-fatt¯ash' (TF) and came to the conclusion that the term was applied to various groups of servile people who were under the direct control of the ruler, the 'askiya' of Songhay. More particularly, it was often used as an alternative designation for the Sorko, fishermen and hippopotamus hunters who live along the banks of the Niger between the inland delta and the Gulbin Kebbi, and on the banks of the lakes that lie upstream from Timbuktu (Mali). In the present paper, the author shows that a document preserved at the Centre Ahmad Baba in Timbuktu contains evidence which supports the claim that the term 'zanj' was used for the Sorko, and that in nineteenth-century Timbuktu, Zanj/Sorko were considered slaves. Notes, ref.