Dissertation
SONGHAI’S FALL: THE ROLE OF SCHOLARS AND BLACKSMITHS IN THE ADOPTION, ADAPTATION, AND REJECTION OF GUN TECHNOLOGY IN WEST AFRICA, 1464-1612
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2020
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/117423
Abstract
West Africans were diverse in their expressions of military technologies. This dissertation examines the history of small arms introduction, repair and utility in West Africa and outsider interpretations and expressions of West African military armament technologies. Against the backdrop of the advent of firearms in more widely spread Eurasian military utility by the 16th century, this dissertation examines how West Africans adapted, adopted, and rejected firearms. It is argued that the process was primarily due to gendered concepts of masculinity and honor in warfare, environmental restrictions, and societal restrictions on the movement and creation of the technology by blacksmiths and scholars. As in the case of multiple ethnic groups such as 21st century Fulani, there was no simple acceptance of one particular military technology by West Africans. Unlike their European peers, who adopted firearms as a primary weapon of personal and military utility, West Africans did not restrict themselves to such a binary choice of either use or non-use of firearms. Instead, firearms came to represent multiplicities of meanings in West African cultures, with some having the knowledge of the technology, but rejecting its utility. I argue in this dissertation that this was the case with historical Songhai. The leaders of Songhai were familiar with firearm technology due to their diplomatic, trade, and religious interactions with Morocco and the Ottomans. Their predecessor state, Mali, had similar interactions and familiarity with current military developments in the Islamic communities of North Africa and Arabia. However, Mali and Songhai, who were familiar with firearm technologies, chose not to utilize these technologies due to inherent technical issues of their utility in the Niger basin geography. In the 1591 Battle of Tondibi, where Morocco led an invasion into Songhai with small arms along with artillery, the common assumption has been that this was the first time the leaders of Songhai came into contact with gun technology. This is questioned in Chapter 5, in a case study approach that shows an entirely differing reinterpretation of the events and understanding of the battle and Songhai’s technological knowledge.
Metrics
10 File views/ downloads
87 Record Views
Details
- Title
- SONGHAI’S FALL: THE ROLE OF SCHOLARS AND BLACKSMITHS IN THE ADOPTION, ADAPTATION, AND REJECTION OF GUN TECHNOLOGY IN WEST AFRICA, 1464-1612
- Creators
- Fredrick Delano Hardyway
- Contributors
- Candice L Gouvher (Advisor)Marina Tomacheva (Committee Member)Ashley Wright (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- History, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 299
- Identifiers
- 99900581500501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation