African Dominion

African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa
AuthorMichael A. Gomez
LanguageEnglish
GenreNon-fiction
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Publication date
2018
Publication placeUSA
Media typePrint (hardback)
ISBN9780691177427

African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa, by Michael A. Gomez, focuses on the regions surrounding the Middle Niger Valley. It can be thought of as tracing the rise and fall of empire as a form of local political organization in West Africa, culminating in the Songhay Empire; thus it primarily covers the millennium from the mid-sixth century to 1591 CE, when Songhay came under Moroccan rule. It has been particularly noted for using a wide range of non-European sources, particularly Arabic-language material, to develop a non-Eurocentric account of medieval West African history.

The book was the subject of the first "review round table" to be published by The American Historical Review,[1] in which four different reviews of the book were published in the same volume,[2][3][4][5] along with a response from the author.[6] Another round table discussing the book was held during the November 2019 African Studies Association conference, where discussants were Bruce Hall, Chouki El Hamel, Ousmane Kane and Jan Jansen; the Association awarded the book the ASA Best Book Prize in the same year.[7] The book also won the 2019 American Historical Association Martin A. Klein Prize in African History.[8]

  1. ^ "Review Roundtable: Introductory Note". The American Historical Review. 124 (2): 581. 2019. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhz372. ISSN 0002-8762.
  2. ^ Lydon, Ghislaine (2019). "Michael Gomez, African Dominion: a New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa". The American Historical Review. 124 (2): 581–585. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhz384. ISSN 0002-8762.
  3. ^ Kane, Ousmane (2019). "Michael Gomez, African Dominion: a New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa". The American Historical Review. 124 (2): 585–587. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhz386. ISSN 0002-8762.
  4. ^ Jeppie, Shamil (2019). "Michael Gomez, African Dominion: a New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa". The American Historical Review. 124 (2): 587–588. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhz260. ISSN 0002-8762.
  5. ^ de Moraes Farias, Paulo Fernando (2019). "Michael Gomez, African Dominion: a New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa". The American Historical Review. 124 (2): 588–591. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhz387. ISSN 0002-8762.
  6. ^ Gomez, Michael A. (2019). "Review Roundtable: Response by Michael A. Gomez". The American Historical Review. 124 (2): 591–594. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhz385. ISSN 0002-8762.
  7. ^ Collet, Hadrien (2020). "Michael Gomez, African Dominion: a New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa". Cahiers de civilisation médiévale (250–251): 172–176. doi:10.4000/ccm.5080. ISSN 0007-9731.
  8. ^ Gomez, Michael A. (2020). "Vitae" (PDF). Retrieved 1 January 2024.