Land, Power, And Dependency along the Gambia River, Late Eighteenth to Early Nineteenth Centuries

Assan Sarr

doi:10.1017/asr.2014.94

Land, Power, And Dependency along the Gambia River, Late Eighteenth to Early Nineteenth Centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2014

Assan Sarr

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Abstract:

The role of power over people and over land is an important issue in West Africa, with important implications for relationships between commoners and elites. Along with conquest, slave raiding, marriage, and procreation, control over land has enhanced the ability of chiefs and other elites to gain control over people, thus increasing their production and reinforcing social hierarchy and centralization of power. This article utilizes oral evidence and European documentary sources to examine the importance of the concept of “wealth-in-people” for understanding the significance of land in African societies. By focusing on the Gambia region, where both paddy and upland rice farming were practiced in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the article contributes empirical observations to support the argument that control over both land and people played a central role in the accumulation of wealth in many African societies.

Résumé:

Le rôle du pouvoir sur les gens et sur la terre est une question importante en Afrique de l’ouest, ayant des implications décisives pour les relations entre les roturiers et les élites. Avec la conquête coloniale, les raids d’esclaves, les traditions du mariage, la procréation, le contrôle des terres a renforcé la capacité des chefs et des autres élites à prendre le contrôle sur les gens, augmentant ainsi leur production et renforcant la hiérarchie sociale existante et la centralisation du pouvoir. Cet article utilise des preuves provenant de la tradition orale et des sources de documentaires européens pour examiner l’importance de la notion de “richesse en peuple” afin de comprendre la signification du rôle joué par le contrôle des terres dans les sociétés africaines. En se concentrant sur la région de la Gambie, où la culture du riz en paddy et en élévation était pratiquée à la fin du 18ième et au début du 19ième siècle, l’article contribue des observations empiriques pour soutenir l’argument selon lequel le contrôle des terres et des gens a joué un rôle central dans l’accumulation de la richesse dans de nombreuses sociétés africaines.

Keywords

Aristocratic rule dependency land control Muslim clerics wealth-in-people

Type: ARTICLES
Information: African Studies Review , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , December 2014 , pp. 101 - 121

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2014.94 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © African Studies Association 2014

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