Restoring the African Past: A Synoptic Edition and Translation of Two West African Arabic Chronicles (17th–19th Centuries)

FAIN: RQ-260807-18

Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Champaign, IL 61801-3620)
Mauro Nobili (Project Director: December 2017 to present)

Preparation for print publication of a synoptic edition and English translation of two West African Arabic chronicles that chart the end of the great West African empires in the 17th century and the emergence of Islamic theocracies in the 19th century. (24 months)

Our synoptic edition and English translation will provide critical knowledge about two influential phases of West African history. The Tarikh Ibn al-Mukhtar documents the 17th century at the demise of the great West African empires, partially as consequence of the expanding European presence on the Atlantic shores of the continent and the escalating trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Tarikh al-fattash bears witness on 19th-century West Africa, with the emergence of Islamic theocracies and the escalation of domestic slavery after the trans-Atlantic slave trade was abolished. The Tarikh Ibn al-Mukhtar and the Tarikh al-fattash are thoroughly entangled, and misinterpreted, in the 1913 edition La chronique du chercheur, one of the most widely referenced sources for the history of West Africa. Our work corrects the historical record and makes these documents available to scholars of African history–both Arabists and non-Arabists–in an accurate, accessible format for the first time.