A Tropical Dependency: An Outline of the Ancient History of the Western Sudan with an Account of the Modern Settlement of Northern Nigeria

by Flora L. Shaw

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Genres: History, Africa

530 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1995

About the author

Dame Flora Louise Shaw, Lady Lugard, DBE the daughter of an English father, Captain (later Major General) George Shaw and a French mother, Marie Desfontaines, was a British journalist and writer.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across references to "A tropical Dependency" whilst reading "Everyday Life in an early West African Empire" by Robin Walker et al. Written by the wife of a former British Colonial Governor of Nigeria, the 'language' in which it is written is very reminiscent of the colonial period (circa 1905), and in parts comes across as condescending and in some cases denigrating.

Relying much on the commentaries of early Islamic writers, it covers Ancient Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Kano and the Hausa states. There is a fairly detailed chapter on Ibn Batuta's visit to Mansa Musa's court in the Empire of Mali. The writer then takes the reader right up to European involvement in the region and the creation of Nigeria under British rule. While I was already familiar somewhat with the history of Ancient Ghana, Mali, Songhai and Kano, my main interest was to learn something about developments in the region with the arrival of the British.

Despite my comments above, this book does provide some useful information and insights into the development of the states of Western Sudan.

[Emekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came across this book on a platform and I recommend every black person most especially if you’re African, should have a read.