Chronicles from Gonja: A Tradition of West African Muslim Historiography

Abstract

The old kingdom of Gonja, founded by immigrant horsemen of Malian origins in the mid-sixteenth century, lies in the north of the Republic of Ghana. Historians of Gonja are fortunate in having access to chronicles of local authorship, written in Arabic. This book traces the development of that historiographical tradition and shows that by the early eighteenth century scholars in Gonja were not only maintaining annals but were also committing to writing the hitherto orally. transmitted accounts of the origins of the state and the wars of expansion. After introductory chapters outlining the early history of the kingdom and the development of the historiographical tradition, a number of historical writings are presented in the original Arabic texts and in English translation. Each work is followed by an extensive commentary explaining its content. The final chapter presents a series of letters exchanged in the early nineteenth century by Muslims resident in the northern towns and their co-religionists in Kumase, the capital of Asante.