Ivory, Copper, and the Island of Gold: Medieval trade between France and West Africa
Discussing the development of trade networks linking medieval Europe and western Africa, exploring the important role played by Africa in the medieval world system of Europe.
Did an epidemic cause a population collapse in Central Africa in the Early Middle Ages?
A new study published in the journal Science Advances shows that Bantu-speaking communities in the Congo rainforest underwent a major population collapse during the 5th and 6th centuries CE, probably due to a prolonged disease epidemic, and that significant resettlement did not restart until around 1000 years ago.
Study tracks elephant tusks from 16th century shipwreck
The team extracted DNA from 44 tusks. By analyzing genetic sequences known to differ between African forest and savanna elephants, the scientists determined that all of the tusks they analyzed belonged to forest elephants.
Medieval beads reveal trade routes to West Africa
New research on beads discovered in Western Africa has revealed their origins came from thousands of kilometres away, and helps to show what goods were moving along medieval trade routes.
Online course on Medieval Africa to begin next year
It will run from January 11 to February 26, 2021, and is aimed at K-12 educators.
Medieval African monastery reconstructed virtually
How did medieval monasteries in Africa look? A new project from the University of Warsaw has been able to digitally reconstruct a monastery from Nubia.
Trade Networks and Empires: African Art’s Many Golden Ages
We know we know about Nubia. We know about Egypt. We know about Carthage in the classical era. But the Berber, the Almohads, the Almoravids, and the kingdoms of Ghana and Songhai, and the great many other cultures that rose up and thrived on the western edges of the Sahara in the period of the medieval
‘Caravans of Gold’ app allows global audience to learn about medieval Africa
The groundbreaking touring exhibition “Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time” can now be accessed through a new free app.
The Gold Route to Timbuktu: Tracing Medieval Camel Caravan Networks from Morocco to Mali
Sam Nixon explores the development of the medieval-era camel caravan trade across the Sahara which gave rise to Timbuktu
Research reveals diverse diet in medieval Ethiopian communities
Early Muslim communities in Africa ate a cosmopolitan diet as the region became a trading centre for luxury goods, the discovery of thousands of medieval animal bones has shown.
The Berber Queen who defied the Caliphate: Al-Kahina and the Islamic Conquest of North Africa
Seventh-century North Africa would see the rise of a warrior queen named al-Kahina. Who was she and how was she able to wage a war against the Umayyad Caliphate?
The Ethiopian Age of Exploration: Prester John’s Discovery of Europe, 1306-1458
This article examines the dynamics of interaction between Italian elites and Ethiopian travelers throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
A Coptic Center in Medieval West Africa: Reframing Prester John and Early Global Trade
This paper explores the importance of new technologies in the art historical study of Medieval West Africa and how related methodologies both help us understand the important art and architectural landscape here in this period, and how Africa and the eastern Coptic Christian world helped to reshape Africa in this era.
The Lion Of Mali: The Hajj of Mansa Musa
A recounting of the fabled Hajj of Mali emperor Mansa Musa in 1324.
Medieval Africa at the Aga Khan Museum
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada has unveiled a new exhibition: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa. Danièle took in the exhibition and spoke with Michael Chagnon, the Curator of the museum. They talk about medieval Africa, its connections with the wider world, and what you can see at the Aga Khan Museum.
Medieval Africa spotlighted in new exhibition at the Aga Khan Museum
An often unheralded part of the medieval world will be the focus of a new exhibition at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada. Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time opens on September 21st, and will showcase dozens of fascinating pieces highlighting the African continent during the Middle Ages.
How to Read Old Nubian?
This question may be more difficult to answer than initially appears. How is it possible to revive knowledge of a language than hasn’t been spoken over centuries, and to write its grammar today?
Trans-Saharan gold trade and Byzantine coinage
This article suggests that minting at Carthage of the Byzantine gold coins known as globular solidi was related to the acquisition of metal through developing trans-Saharan contacts.
Straight from the Pot: Cuisine and Power in West Africa and in the Epic of Sunjata
The Sunjata epic describes the founding of the Mande Empire of the thirteenth century and bears the name of its founder.
Symposium to share latest discoveries about medieval Saharan Africa
The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University will host a week-long gathering of six archaeologists from Mali, Morocco, the U.K. and the U.S., working at the cutting-edge of research on medieval Africa.
In Search of Medieval Africa: Sources, Methods, and Traps
Since my talk today is the first in a series I’m going to begin by placing the study of medieval Africa in the larger context of the writing of African history since the 1960s
How the borders within Africa changed in the Middle Ages
Here are six videos that track the rise and fall of kingdoms and states within Africa during the Middle Ages.
Ahead of His Time: Mansa Mūsā and the Poli-Poetics of Dynastic Memory
The actual history of West Africa however could not be more divergent from occidental myths in fact West Africa was a region in motion politically, socially, culturally and perpetually so during the Common Era, if not before.
Sumanguru Kante: The King with two Mothers
The recently translated account of The Epic of Sumanguru Kante offers some fascinating stories, including a description of how this West African ruler was born to two mothers.