Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review
Author(s): Timothy Insoll

Source: Journal of World Prehistory, Vol. 10, No. 4 (December 1996), pp. 439-504
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Journal of World Prehistory, Vol 10, No. 4, 1996
The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan

Africa: A Review
Timothy Insoll1
The impact of Islam within sub-Saharan Africa has been profound.

Archaeological evidence for contact with, and acceptance of, Islam is present
in most of the continent south of the Sahara, and ranges chronologically from
the eighth to the twentieth centuries A.D. Enormous diversity is apparent in
the archaeological remains encountered, direct evidence for Islam, mosques,
inscriptions, burials and funerary monuments, and complete settlements, and
indirect evidence for contacts with the Islamic World, such as imported goods
of many kinds, and this illustrates the diversity which characterizes
sub-Saharan African Islam. Yet uniformity is often apparent in the Islamization
processes themselves: trade, proselytization, and to a lesser extent, Jihad, or
holy-war, information which can be gained from archaeology and historical
sources, and which is discussed in detail.
KEY WORDS: Islam; sub-Saharan Africa; archaeology; trade; social process.
INTRODUCTION
Sub-Saharan Africa is a vast region, and the archaeology of Islam an

equally large subject. The impact of this religion has been of fundamental
importance in much of the continent, and has been felt on many fronts,
not only ideologically, but economically and socially. There was often a
shift from a pantheon of deities to a single God, local economies became
tied into the Islamic World economy, and changes can be seen in house
types, settlement patterns, diet, and funerary customs. With the adoption
of Arabic, literacy and new forms of administration resulted in political
change. Islam must be seen as more than a religion, it is a way of life,
lSt John's College, Cambridge, CB2 1TP, U.K.
439
0892-7537/96/120O-O439S09.50A) O 19% Plenum Publishing Corporation
440 Insoll
with a complex set of rules structuring many aspects of life. Historical

sources provide us with the basic chronological framework of Islam in sub
Saharan Africa, yet we must turn to archaeology to examine the diverse
social, political, and economic effects of conversion to Islam. At present,
numerous historical syntheses and surveys exist (see, e.g., Trimingham,
1949, 1952, 1959, 1962, 1964, 1968; Hiskett 1994), but a convenient sum
mary of the archaeological evidence has not yet been compiled. This paper
hopes to redress the balance, in advance of a larger monographic synthesis
(Insoll, 1997).
However, it would be restrictive to concentrate only upon archaeologi
cal evidence in the strictest sense of the term. For this reason, architectural
and ethnographic data and sources are also drawn upon, and the historical
surveys are used to provide contextual data where necessary. The archae
ological data itself varies, and includes both direct evidence for the pres
ence of Islam, for example, mosques and inscriptions, as well as indirect
evidence, such as trade goods known to have originated in the Islamic
World (glass, beads, glazed pottery, etc.). The adoption of a multidiscipli
nary approach is made more essential as the processes we are observing
in the archaeological record, the spread and acceptance of Islam, are very
much alive and ongoing today in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa.
The quantity of relevant archaeological research which has been con
ducted varies across the continent. Some areas can be said to have been
more privileged than others, the East African Coast, for example, while
other equally important regions have been almost wholly neglected, large
areas of the Central Sudan, for example (Fig. 1). The reasons for this im
balance in archaeological research are many and, from an overseas per
spective, include the perceived importance of the region, the visibility of
the archaeological remains, the ease of working in the region, and the pres
ence of research institutes, which can facilitate archaeological fieldwork in
many ways. For this reason, the apparent lack of archaeological remains
in one region need not necessarily mean it was not subject to Islamic in
fluences but, rather, may be a reflection of the lack of archaeological re
search.
For the purposes of discussion the continent south of the Sahara has
been divided into seven regions: Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, the east
ern or Nilotic Sudan (the modern republic of this name), the East African
Coast, the Western Sahel, the Central Sudan (Sudan here refers to the
vegetation belt), the West African Sudan (as before) and Forest, and finally,
east-central and southern Africa (Fig. 1). Undeniably, any such division is
in certain respects unsuitable, and its use does not mean that each region
was a self-contained and isolated entity for the archaeology testifies to the
long-distance trade and contacts which took place over vast distances. The
Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa 441
Ocean
REUNION
(To France)
JOOOmiles
KEY
East African Interior.
The Central Sudan
Central and Southern Africa
West African Sudan
Ethiopia and the Morn and Forest
Eastern or Nilotic Sudan
and Nubia Western Sahel
East A frican Coast
and offshore Islands
Fig. 1. The Islamic cultural zones in sub-Saharan Africa (adapted from Iliffe, 1995,
Fig. 13).
geographical progression chosen in approaching the material broadly fol

lows the chronological pattern in the initial spread and acceptance of Islam;
starting with the Red Sea Coast and Nubia, the earliest zone of contact in
the seventh century (Ethiopia and the Horn and the Nilotic Sudan), to the
East African Coast in the late eighth to ninth centuries (all dates are A.D.),
and almost contemporaneously to the Western Sahel in the tenth century,
442 Insoll
then in the eleventh century to the Central Sudan, to the West African
Sudan and Forest beginning in the twelfth century, and finally, on the other
side of the continent, to east-central and southern Africa in the nineteenth
century.
Islam
Having introduced sub-Saharan Africa, it is also necessary to briefly

outline the central obligations of Islam by way of introduction. These are
contained in the Koran, and include the credo or Shahada, "There is no
God but God and Muhammed is the Prophet of God", the expression of
absolute monotheism; ritual prayer five times a day in the direction of
Mecca (Salat); the fast (Saum) in the tenth month of the lunar year,
Ramadan; giving between 2.5 and 10% of one's wealth to the needy, Zakat;
and Hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca. Of especial importance to the archaeologist
is the obligation of prayer. Although a mosque is not strictly necessary for
prayer, it is considered meritorious to go to the mosque, especially for the
Friday prayers, hence the existence in most Muslim settlements of one or
more congregational mosques, sometimes misnamed Friday mosques, as
well as several smaller mosques.
Besides the prohibitions and recommendations for everyday life con
tained in the Koran, more detailed instructions are provided by Shari'a,
Islamic law, which draws upon as sources the Koran and the Hadith, the
sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammed. Different approaches in
drawing up the law led to the emergence of four legal schools?the Hanafi,
Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali, all of which are Sunni, the adherents of Sunna
(the way of the prophet). The other major group is the Shiites, followers
of Ali, the assassinated fourth Caliph, and his descendants, who arose in
the mid-seventh century, out of conflicts over the nature and the legitimate
identity of the Caliphate, the highest political authority in Islam and the
Prophet's successor as leader of the Muslims.
The Spread and Impact of Islam?
What, then, are the issues examined in this paper? One of the most
important is the relationship between trade and Islam. To what degree did
trade act as the stimulus for, and agent of, the spread of Islam throughout
much of the continent, and how did Islam in turn affect the development
of trading patterns? This trade took many forms; local, interregional and
long distance, traders ruthlessly seeking slaves, gold, and ivory for interna
tional markets, or peacefully acquiring commodities such as kola nuts for

local ones, and it was conducted by many different people, foreign mer
chants, and indigenous merchant groups. The sociopolitical impact of trade
must also be considered, for it may be accompanied by proselytization or
followed by holy war, jihad.
A second major issue is the appeal of Islam itself. Can apparent simi
larities be seen in the spread and acceptance of Islam in many areas of
the continent and among different socioeconomic groups? Initial converts
to Islam were often among the nomadic populations, for the ease of wor
ship which Islam enjoys (no formal clergy, etc.), and through their exposure
to trade (as guides, for example). Local merchants were also primary con
verts to Islam often for trade-related reasons; being a Muslim could confer
advantages in trade (lesser taxes in the Dar al-Islam, for example), and
bonds of trust with one's coreligionists could be built up. Town-dwellers
were also keen converts to Islam, as the religion appeals to the urban mind
being universalistic in outlook and, thus, having the power to bring together
the different ethnic groups which often make up the population of the town
(Trimingham, 1959). Local rulers also converted to Islam for the benefits
being a Muslim conferred, in administration (through the use of Arabic
script), in enhancing prestige and increasing magical power, and due to
genuine belief in the tenets of Islam.
In contrast, a group can be identified which was frequently slower in
converting to Islam, the sedentary agriculturists who comprise the bulk of
the population throughout much of the continent. Reasons for this are
many, and include a deliberate policy on the part of the ruling classes to
keep them ignorant of the new religion, until the threats it offered had
been assessed (of especial importance where divine kingship was con
cerned, which was in direct conflict with the notion of Allah, the one God).
The appeal of Islam to the sedentary agriculturist was also less strong, for
it does not sit so easily with the natural cycle of tending crops, livestock,
and children?animism and traditional religious cults are ideally suited for
furnishing the means of comprehending and resolving such issues (Trim
ingham, 1959; Bravmann, 1974). While rates of conversion to Islam differed
among different socioeconomic groups, a certain commonalty in the con
version process is apparent.
Having examined the evidence for these similarities, we then seek to
recognize and evaluate regional diversity. Islam in sub-Saharan Africa can
not be seen as a monolithic entity. The historical process covers a 1300-year
period, and no one area of the Islamic World has held a monopoly over
contacts with sub-Saharan Africa.
Finally, archaeology enables us to move beyond the historical issues
to examine those directly concerned with social process. Can we begin to
444 Insoll
see not only the impact of Islam upon indigenous architecture, but also
similar changes wrought on, for example, diet and dietary habits? Having
recognized that Islam is more than a religion, to what extent can the ar
chaeological evidence reveal the affect of religious conversion upon daily
life?
ETHIOPIA AND THE HORN OF AFRICA
Contacts across the Red Sea between the heartland of Islam, the Ara
bian Peninsula, and Ethiopia, predated the rise of Islam, as the pre-Axu
mite remains of the fifth-fourth centuries B.C. in the north Ethiopian
Highlands attest (Anfray, 1968, 1972). Trade was conducted in various
products, slaves, aromatic resins, and ivory, and evidence at Axum indi
cates that trade links (albeit indirect) as far as Malaysia were maintained
before the fifth century A.D. (Hiskett, 1994, p. 135). These subsequently
declined, but the rise of Islam in the early seventh century injected new
vitality. Contacts were continued, and it is recorded by the Prophet's bi
ographers that he sent a group of his followers to Axum in Ethiopia in
A.D. 615, following their persecution in Mecca (Ahmed, 1993, p. 207).
This event, the first Hijra (emigration), illustrates that connections be
tween the two regions existed from the very beginning of Islam. Evidence
pertinent to all the major issues under discussion is found in this region,
which sheds much light on the nature of Islam, the affects on social proc
ess, and the role of trade in spreading the religion. It is therefore all the
more unfortunate that so little is known of the archaeology of early Islam
in this region and that archaeological research has focused largely upon
other subjects, the development of Christianity in Ethiopia, for example,
to the detriment of research into Islam.
Included within this geographical region are the modern states of
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia (see Fig. 2; the Somali coast south
of Mogadishu is included in the next section for reasons described below).
This is not a naturally homogeneous unit, but is composed of a variety of
different environments, including semidesert and desert, home to nomadic
pastoralists such as the Muslim Somali and Afar and, in contrast, the lusher
Ethiopian highlands, an ancient seat of Christianity (Trimingham, 1952, p.
Trade was the vital factor in the spread of Islam in this region. The
first direct archaeological evidence we have for the presence of a Muslim
community within the Horn of Africa is a group of over 200 Arabic funerary
inscriptions on basalt, executed in the Kufic script (and later derivations),
which date from A.D. 911 to A.D. 1539. These were recovered from Dahlak
Fig. 2. Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.
el-Kebir, the principal island of the Dahlak Archipelago in the Gulf of

Massawa opposite the Red Sea port of Adulis (Trimingham, 1952, p. 170;
Cerulli, 1992, p. 280) (Fig. 2). This arid group of islands, which between
the tenth and the midthirteenth centuries was home to an independent
Muslim sultanate (Hiskett, 1994, p. 137), was used as a place of political
446 Insoll
exile from the early eighth century and was an important center of Red
Sea trade. They played a specific role in the slave trade, as indicated by
numerous rock-cut water cisterns, dug to provide water for a transient slave
population. Numerous graves, a stone town, two mosques, settlement
mounds, and a single Qubba (domed) tomb indicate the former importance
of Dahlak el-Kebir (Bassat, 1893, p. 81; Wet, 1951; Oman, 1974, p. 256).
The Dahlak Islands were at the beginning of a trade route leading
into the interior of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Muslim communities grew up
along these interior trade routes, which until the tenth century were tribu
tary to the Christian population (Hiskett, 1994, p. 137). Of interest is the
fact that Islam never held the appeal to the predominantly agriculturist
settled population of the highlands, which it did to the nomads of the low
lands, supporting the notion of different rates of conversion, depending on
the degree of upheaval involved. Allied with this is the existence of a deep
seated Orthodox Christian tradition in the Highlands, beginning with the
conversion of the Axumite King, Ezana, between A.D. 320 and A.D. 350
(Hiskett, 1994, p. 135). Archaeological evidence for an inland Muslim pres
ence has been found. In Tigray province (Ethiopia) further basalt stelae
bearing inscriptions in Arabic were recorded dating from the eleventh
twelfth centuries (Schneider, 1967; Anfray, 1990, pp. 156-157), and in the
Christian monastery of Dabra Damo (also in Tigray) several Egyptian tex
tile fragments from the ninth-eleventh centuries were discovered (Mordini,
1957), providing an instructive example that the presence of goods origi
nating from the Islamic world need not be indicative of the concomitant
acceptance of the religion.
To the south a trade route led from the port of Zeila into the
north/central Horn (Fig. 2). This route was of equal importance in the grad
ual process of disseminating Islam away from the coast, which, Hiskett
(1994, pp. 137-139) argues, was sufficiently Islamized by the tenth century
to be considered part of the Dar al-Islam. By the twelfth century, Islamic
conversion among the nomadic population in the hinterland surrounding
Zeila was well advanced, as in Somalia and on the east African littoral.
Archaeology attests to this gradual process of Islamization: substantial set
tlement remains have been recorded at Zeila, and on the neighboring island
of Saad-Din, and Curie (1937) describes Zeila as covered in the remains
of its former splendor (it was burned by the Portuguese in A.D. 1516),
sherds of Chinese Celadon wares and 'Arab" glazed pottery and glass. At
Saad-Din, further sherds of Chinese porcelain (twelfth-fifteenth centuries),
the remains of houses, and an associated cistern were recorded in the
southwestern corner of the island (Curie, 1937, pp. 316, 325; Mathew, 1956,
p. 51).
From Zeila and other Red Sea ports, camel caravans traversed the
desert to the highlands, traveling between a chain of permanent settle
ments, situated on the hills which studded the desert plains and along the
Arusi and Harar highlands (Kidane and Wilding, 1976, p. 16). Within
Ethiopia, several of these fortified but largely abandoned trading settle
ments have recently been investigated; in the southern Danakil and Ogaden
stone-built hilltop settlements attributed to a "settled Islamic community"
were recorded (providing a contrast to the nomadic Muslim population)
and tentatively dated to the fourteenth-fifteenth centuries by the presence
of sherds of Chinese celadon and Indian glass (Wilding, 1980, p. 379). Simi
lar sites on the Harar/Chercher ridge were also examined, where mosques
were recorded (number and date unspecified), and other settlements were
noted in the Haud and central Ogaden (Wilding, n.d., pp. 1-2). Some of
these settlements were perhaps linked with the Sultanate of Adal, which
developed in the late fourteenth century and was centered on the city of
Harar (Mathew, 1956, p. 51; Chittick, 1976, pp. 128-129).
Significant conversions to Islam in the Ethiopian interior had evidently
begun, and a historical source records that the Argobba people of the
Harar region converted in A.D. 1108 (Hiskett, 1994, pp. 138-139). Unfor
tunately Harar today is of no great antiquity (Wilding, 1976), although Hor
ton (1994a, p. 197) suggests that through their name or association, the
foundation date of five of the mosques in Harar (there were originally 86)
can be placed in the thirteenth century, and at least two in the sixteenth
century. By the first half of the fourteenth century, Al-Umari recorded that
there were seven Muslim Sultanates in Ethiopia. The growth in Muslim
power led to frictions and the relations between the Christian and Muslim
communities were not always cordial. Conflict occurred, as with the Sul
tanate of Ifat over the control of long distance trade routes, and is exem
plified by the Jihad led by Ahmad Gran against the Christian highlands in
the first quarter of the sixteenth century (Hiskett, 1994, p. 141).
In Somalia, where large numbers of people had converted to Islam by
A.D. 1300 (Hiskett, 1994, p. 139), further of these inland Muslim trading
settlements are reported by Curie (1937) and Chittick (1976, pp. 128-129),
and three were trial-excavated by Mathew (1956). They contained between
20 and 200 houses of roughly dressed stone bonded with termite earth,
with the mosques unique in being built with lime mortar. Several cemeter
ies, none yielding inscriptions, were found. Quantities of Chinese Porcelain
(twelfth-early sixteenth centuries), along with numerous glass trade beads
and several coins (late fourteenth-fifteenth centuries), were also recovered
(Curie, 1937, pp. 316-322; Mathew, 1956, p. 51). Tirade was again the agent
of Islamization, and this archaeological evidence indicates the extent of the
commerce which existed between the interior and the coast. At present
448 Insoll
similar information on settlements within Djibouti is lacking, and further

investigation of the protohistorical and historical archaeology is needed [see
Ferry et al, (1981) for a brief summary of existing research].
It was on the coast that Muslim power in the Horn of Africa was
concentrated, and indeed this presence spread both up the Red Sea Coast
and down the East African Coast. Thus on the coast of Somalia further
evidence for the presence of Muslim trading communities is found. These
communities were split into two nominal zones, with the area north of
Mogadishu known to the Arabic geographers as "Barbar" or "Berbera,"
which possibly equates with the land then inhabited by the Somali (Lewis,
1966), while south of Mogadishu was the land of "Zanj" (Chittick, 1971,
p. 112), a distinction which is followed here, the description of the Islamic
archaeology on the southern Somali coast being included in the East Af
rican Coast section (Figs. 2 and 4).
Our knowledge of the Islamic archaeology of the coast north of
Mogadishu is imprecise. Material originating from Indian Ocean trade has
been found, as at Ras Hafun, the easternmost point in Africa, where sherds
originally interpreted by Chittick (1976) as Sasanian-Islamic ware were sub
sequently correctly identified by Smith and Wright (1988) as earlier
Parthian and Sasanian wares. Otherwise, the Islamic archaeological remains
which have been recorded are late in date, with the mosque at Warsheikh,
for example, dating from the nineteenth century (Chittick, 1976, p. 122).
Mogadishu was visited by the famous Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta
in A.D. 1331, who described it as "a fully Islamic state": previously, in A.D.
1269 it was mentioned as an Islamic Sultanate (Hiskett, 1994, p. 139). Of
importance is the apparatus of state described by Battuta: the Muslim ruler,
Islamic court, and Muslim functionaries. Previous systems had disappeared,
to be replaced by effective Muslim administration, a direct example of the
social impact of Islam within sub-Saharan Africa. The origins and devel
opment of Mogadishu have been investigated in some detail by Chittick
(1971, 1976, 1982), who surveyed the town and the region along the coast
between Mogadishu and Zeila. Mogadishu appears to have been founded
in the late twelfth century and peaked in the thirteenth-fourteenth centu
ries. Test excavation in Hamar Weyne, part of the old town, provided Sgraf
fiato ware of twelfth-century date. A number of dated tombs
(thirteenth-fourteenth centuries) were also recorded, as were three mosque
inscriptions, including one of A.D. 1238 on the Jami, or congregational
mosque (Chittick, 1982, pp. 54-60). Several thousand coins have also been
"collected" from this area of the Somali coast, the majority from the vicinity
of Mogadishu (Freeman-Grenville, 1963). These date predominantly from
ca. A.D. 1300 to A.D. 1700 and though they largely lack contextual data,
they provide information on the local dynasties, and on interregional and

Indian Ocean trade.
Summary
Islam within the Horn of Africa has the earliest time depth, almost
synonymous with the development of the religion itself. Pre-Islamic trade
across the Red Sea f acilitated contacts, and hence this narrow body of water
should not be perceived, as is sometimes the case, as a physical barrier.
Equally importantly, the existence of another great "religion of the book,"
the ancient Christianity of Ethiopia, has contributed to the unique charac
ter of Islam in this region, where, in contrast to the Nilotic Sudan, it con
tinues to thrive today. The Islamic archaeological remains found in the
Horn of Africa are, like those of the Nilotic Sudan, diverse in character,
comprising coastal and highland, nomadic and sedentary remains. However,
although diversity can be recognized, the greater appeal of Islam to the
nomad is evident: in the interior, distant from the trading centers of the
coast, Islam has always been largely represented by the nomadic popula
tions, the Beja, Somali, and Afar (Hiskett, 1994, p. 142).
THE NILOTIC SUDAN AND NUBIA
The modern Republic of the Sudan is the largest country in Africa,

covering over 2,500,000 km2. The size of the country is reflected in the
mosaic of ethnic and cultural groups found; from nomadic Arab pastoralists
in the deserts of the north, through the extensive sahelian and savannah
zones, and into the predominantly animist and black south, a region of
swamps and equatorial forest. Many cultures have been shoe-horned into
inappropriate colonial boundaries. Yet, as with the Horn of Africa, it is
also a region of early Islamic contacts: in Nubia, where initial conflict be
tween Muslims and Christians in the seventh century eventually gave way
to several centuries of uneasy truce, before the disappearance of Christi
anity altogether, and on the Red Sea coast, where Muslim trading com
munities appear to have been resident from as early as the mideighth
century.
Throughout this vast country flow the tributaries of the Nile. It would
be reassuring to say that this lends an essential unity to the archaeology
of Islam within the region, but it does not. Many forms of Islam are evident,
from the deeply animist-influenced Islam of Darfur, Central Sudanic in
character, to the puritanical Islam of the Mahdist state in the nineteenth
450 InsoII
century. The geographical and ethnic diversity is thus reflected in the ar

chaeology of Islam, and discussion can be conveniently divided into three
sections: in the east, the Red Sea coast and Beja country; in the center,
Nubia and the Nile region, stretching from Egyptian Nubia south to the
Ugandan border and encompassing southern Sudan; and finally, Darfur in
the west (Fig. 3).
The Red Sea Coast and Beja Country
The earliest Islamic archaeological remains in the Nilotic Sudan are

found on the Red Sea Coast (Fig. 3). Tirade is again fundamental and the
primary reason for the presence of Muslims, but it is also correct to say
that in their initial phases of occupation, the trade centers and ports which
were established on the coast were divorced from the interior. These cen
ters served as feeder stations for Red Sea trade, transshipping products
from the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf on their way to Egypt, and vice
versa. Little direct influence was exerted on the interior. Only later, with
the growth in the Muslim community in the interior of the Nilotic Sudan,
and with the expansion in east-west connections across the Sudanic belt,
did they become more closely connected with the interior through the slave
trade and pilgrim traffic, across the Red Sea, via Jeddah, to Mecca.
The most northerly of these centers was Aidhab, which is situated close
to the modern Egyptian border. It prospered through general Red Sea
trade, through proximity to the Wadi Allaqi gold mines, and owing to its
position opposite Jeddah, through the aforementioned pilgrim traffic.
Three distinct settlement zones have been identified archaeologically; the
port itself, an area of coral houses linked with the port, and an area covered
with ceramic scatters which was interpreted as the former site of nomad
encampments. Possibly the most exciting fact is that Aidhab provides physi
cal testament for Hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca, and one of the five pillars of
Islam; specific evidence attesting to this included numerous cisterns and
wells, and extensive cemeteries, way beyond the needs of the local com
munity (see Paul, 1955; Elisseeff and El Hakim, 1981).
Suakin, also an important Red Sea port, is recorded historically as be
ing on the route the family of the murdered Caliph, Marwan, took on their
flight south from Egypt to Axum in A.D. 750 (Bloss, 1936, p. 279). This
would suggest the presence of either a Muslim community or a population
amenable to Muslims at an early date. It was subsequently to become an
important Ottoman settlement, rendered redundant in 1902 by Port Sudan,
but still partially standing (Matthews, 1953; Chittick, 1981; Greenlaw, 1995).
Fig. 3. The Nilotic Sudan and Nubia (adapted from Hinkel, 1977).
Further ports are to be found south of Suakin on the Red Sea Coast.
These include Badi-Airi on Er-Rih Island, which appears to have been used
452 Insoll
between the seventh and the eleventh centuries, and Old Akik on Bahdur
Island, where ruined houses and a fort, cistern, and mosque were recorded
(undated). Er-Rih flourished through the export of commodities obtained
both from the interior, such as ivory, and from the Red Sea, pearls and
tortoiseshell, for example. Various remains testify to its former prosperity,
including houses built of coral blocks set with mortar, numerous cisterns
used to collect rainwater and, north of the town, cemeteries where inscrip
tions of tenth- and eleventh-century dates were found (Crowfoot, 1911, pp.
543-455; Herbert, 1935; Paul, 1952, p. 56).
In direct contrast to the cosmopolitan inhabitants of the coastal trade
centers are the Beja: Hamitic-speaking, nomadic pastoralists who occupied
the country between the Nile and the Red Sea, from Aswan almost as far
as Massawa in Eritrea. These people traded with Nubia, Axum, and the
coast but were not under their cultural and political influence. Gradually,
through a combination of contact with Muslim traders and with migrating
Arab tribes moving south from Egypt in search of new grazing lands, the
Beja were Islamized between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries (Hasan,
1966, pp. 117-119; Hiskett, 1994, p. 67). Thus, the dual connection of trade
and Islam, and nomads and Islamic acceptance is again apparent. Archae
ological evidence for the presence of Muslims within Beja country is found
at Knor Nubt, 90 km inland from Suakin, where several early Islamic graves
were reported with an Arabic inscription dated to A.D. 861 (Bloss, 1936,
p. 279; Horton, 1994a, p. 195). Perhaps of greater interest is a variety of
other types of Islamic funerary monuments: undated single storey "tower"
tombs at Jebel Maman, north of Kassala, and near Khor Garrar Iswid,
north of Port Sudan (Crowfoot, 1922; Madigan, 1922), and triple storey
tower tombs at Assarema Derheib (Crowfoot, 1911; Paul, 1952). These
monuments, which remain little understood, offer an opportunity of exam
ining local adaptation of Islamic burial rites and the direct influence of
Islam upon local material culture and, thus, deserve, as yet unforthcoming,
detailed study.
Nubia, the Nile, and Southern Sudan
Again different in character from the Red Sea Coast and Beja country
is Nubia, where contacts with Muslim Arabs, both peaceful and aggressive,
began almost immediately after the conquest of Egypt by Arab armies in
A.D. 641. In Nubia statehood was well advanced long before the appear
ance of Islam. The Kingdom of Nubia was Christian by the sixth century,
and stretched from Aswan to Khartoum, the name of its central province,
Makuria, being applied by the Arabs to the whole of Nubia, al-Maqurra
(Hiskett, 1994, p. 67). This region offers an unparalleled opportunity for

the archaeological study of the material effects of the imposition of Islam
upon a culture subject to a pre-existing World religion, and the implications
for the archaeology of Islam are of great importance, not merely with direct
regard to the archaeological study of religion, but economically, militarily,
and politically. While this has not yet been attempted, the region, being
the best archaeologically documented areas of sub-Saharan Africa, provides
sufficient data to enable such a study to be undertaken in the future.
Essentially, Christianity acted as a block to Islamic penetration for sev
eral centuries, with the first "substantial Islamic political entity" (Hiskett,
1994, p.68), the Banu Kanz, not established south of Aswan until the elev
enth century. This act, it can be suggested, allied with the increasing mi
gration of nomadic Arab tribes into the region, provided the impetus for
Islam to spread at the expense of Christianity. The Islamic archaeology of
Nubia has been reviewed by W. Y. Adams (1987), who divided the region
into three Islamic cultural zones, each exhibiting their own character: the
now flooded Kenzi or Kenzu region in northern Nubia, an area of orthodox
deeply rooted Islam; south of this, between Kenzi and the Abri-Delgo
Reach, a zone with little archaeological evidence for Islam in an area in
which the penetration of Islam was late in date; and finally, south of Abri,
"the realm of traditional Sudanese Islam" (W. Y. Adams, 1987, p. 343)
after A.D. 1300.
All categories of site are represented, and within the stretch of the
Nile above the Batn el-Hajjar in Lower Nubia, the three main Ottoman
fortified urban centers of Faras, Jebel Adda, and Qasr Ibrim were located
(Fig. 3). Qasr Ibrim, which is situated in Egyptian Nubia, was occupied for
a total of nearly 3000 years, and served in its Muslim incarnation as an
Ottoman frontier post between ca. A.D. 1560 and A.D. 1811. Exceptional
preservation of organics, including numerous Turkish and Arabic docu
ments, has allowed detailed reconstruction of the life of the Ottoman "Bos
nian" garrison (see N. Adams, 1990; Alexander, 1994). Houses were rebuilt
according to Islamic tradition, focusing attention on the interior to preserve
privacy, and the Christian cathedral was converted into a mosque (Alex
ander, 1988, p. 86; Horton, 1994a, p. 198). This site provides an excellent
case-study of the imposition of Islam upon preexisting Christian tradition,
with many interesting implications for the study of changes in social proc
ess, though the final report is still awaited.
South of Qasr Ibrim in the second-third cataract area (Batn el-Hajjar,
Abri-Delgo), further fortified sites have been reported. At Kulubnarti, a
fortified house or "castle" (Kourfa) was recorded, and a sister garrison to
Qasr Ibrim existed on Say Island (Vercoutter, 1958; W. Y. Adams, 1987,
pp. 334-338). Further kourfa are found in the Dongola reach south of the
454 Insoll
third cataract, a region beyond Ottoman control (Crawford, 1951) and an

area of robber barons (Iliffe, 1995, p. 56). Christian Nubia suffered a major
setback following the defeat of its army by the Mamluks in A.D. 1276, and
by ca. A.D. 1500 it had completely disappeared (Hiskett, 1994, p. 69). At
Old Dongola, the former capital of the Nubian kingdom, a Muslim Nubian
King was installed in A.D. 1316, though the town had been unsuccessfully
besieged by an Arab force as early as A.D. 651-652 (Hasan, 1966, p. 114).
Further opportunities for research into the Islamic period remains exist in
Old Dongola, as they also do at Soba, the capital of the Christian kingdom
of Aiwa, where the existence of a Muslim quarter was recorded as early
as the tenth century. However, another example of the conversion of a
Christian church into a mosque, at Old Dongola, has been investigated,
producing an interesting plan with an unusual mihrab, or prayer niche
(Godlewski and Medeksza, 1987; Horton 1994a, p. 198).
A further dimension to the archaeology of Islam within Nubia and the
Nile is provided by the Funj, who controlled an area stretching from the
Red Sea Coast to Kordofan, and from Sennar to Dongola, between the
sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries (Hiskett, 1994, pp. 69-70). The Funj
are of particular interest, as they were only nominally Islamized yet influ
enced non-Muslim areas, such as the Shilluk territory (with all the resultant
material culture implications), and were African rather than Arab. Their
permanent capital, established after their conversion to Islam in the early
seventeenth century, was at Sennar, where an unusual five-storey fired-brick
palace has been recorded. Here, Islamization was via proselytization by na
tive Holy-men, working individually, who spread out through the country
side (Horton, 1994a, pp. 198-199). Thus we see an instance of what appears
to be a wholly indigenous process, with the adaptation of Islam to suit the
local situation.
Again in complete contrast, the Mahdist state of the late nineteenth
century must also be mentioned, as representative of yet another variant
of Islam, described as a "stark Islamic theocracy, modeled on early Pro
phetic precedents" (Hiskett, 1994, p. 72). Jihad was preached and Islamic
revival was initiated, as had occurred in west Africa (discussed below) ear
lier in the century. This, one of the final shows of Islamic opposition to
European (and Egyptian) rule, was abruptly terminated at the battle of
Omdurman in A.D. 1898. Of the Mahdist capital, Holt (1979, pp. 249-250)
mentions that one of the gateways of the wall surrounding Omdurman sur
vives.
Finally, in this geographical section, the southern Sudan presents an
other dimension in the relationship between Islam and the African conti
nent and, therefore, has implications for the archaeological record. The
border between the Muslim and animist peoples in the southern Sudan is
placed by Tnmingham (1949) at Banjang, near Renk, on the White Nile

(Fig. 3). But such a defined boundary is perhaps too constricting, and Is
lamization today is certainly an ongoing process, with a virtual Jihad taking
place in the form of the long-running conflict led by the northern Islamic
government forces against the south. Although it might seem that an evalu
ation of Islamization in the southern Sudan is the realm of the anthropolo
gist, or at best the ethnoarchaeologist, the reverse is true, as Islam has a
considerable time depth in many areas of the region. Among the Nuba,
for example, usually cited as strictly animist, Islamic influence has been
present for several centuries. Trade meant that Muslim merchants traveled
south from towns such as Dongola, and even established settlements in the
Nuba mountains, as at Sheibun in the late eighteenth century (Stevenson,
1963, p. 10). Hence even here the impact of Islam was felt, albeit to a
limited degree.
Darfur
Our third geographical unit, Darfur, presents yet another dimension

to the archaeology of Islam in the Nilotic Sudan. Ethnically divorced from
Nubians, Arabs, Beja, and the Southern Nilotes, it forms part of the great
sweep of savannah stretching westward as far as Mali (Fig. 3), a fact illus
trated not only environmentally but also demographically, as some of the
ethnic groups in Darfur (e.g., Zaghawa, Masalit) extend into neighboring
Chad. Thus it is difficult to divorce the archaeology of Islam in Darfur
from that of the Central Sudan, and it can in many respects be considered
as a continuation of the same. However, we are fortunate in that the ar
chaeology of Islam in Darfur is rather better known than that of adjacent
countries and, indeed, of many neighboring regions of the Nilotic Sudan
(e.g., Kordofan to the east).
When exactly the beginnings of Islamic influence in Darfur can be
said to start is not certain. Hiskett (1994, p. 70) describes the area as an
"indeterminate frontier," only faintly Islamized until the early nineteenth
century. Mohammed (1986) is more exact, he places the beginning of Is
lamic influence at Darfur in ca. A.D. 1000, with three phases of Islamiza
tion being apparent. The first, between A.D. 1100 and A.D. 1600, was a
period when Darfur was ruled by two dynasties, the Daju (tenth-late
twelfth centuries) and the Tunjur (ca. A.D. 1200-1590), a period when Is
lam was of little importance. Archaeological evidence supports this, non
existent for the presence of Islam under the Daju, but slightly more
informative for the Tunjur. At Uri, the first Tunjur capital, a stone mosque,
possibly dating from ca. A.D. 1200, was recorded which, it has been sug
456 Insoll
gested, may be an indicator of the adoption of Islam as the court religion

(Balfour Paul, 1955, p. 18; see Arkell, 1946; Balfour-Paul, 1954a). At Ain
Farah, the capital of the last Tunjur ruler, Shau Dorshid, a red-brick "pal
ace-citadel" and mosque were recorded (Arkell, 1936; De Neuville and
Houghton, 1965).
In the second phase of Islamization, from A.D. 1600 to A.D. 1800,
Darfur was ruled by the Keira (Fur) dynasty, which was certainly Muslim,
and Islam appears to have spread beyond the court circle (Mohammed
1986, p. 224). Trade flourished at this time, via the Darb el-Arbein to Egypt,
and across the savannahs of the Central Sudan to west Africa, following
the pilgrim route. Various Keira sultans' palaces, or fasher, have been re
corded. These vary in size but follow a common form: a cluster or row of
flat-roofed round stone huts surrounded by a wall containing two opposing
entrances (Arkell, 1937, pp. 96-97; Balfour-Paul, 1955, p. 21). The peripa
tetic nature of palace construction ceased in the late seventeenth century
when El-Fasher on Lake Tenderti was chosen as the political capital by
Sultan Rashid (Arkell, 1966, pp. 213-214), which also suggests changes in
political structure, perhaps under the increasing influence of Islam. An
other indicator of Islamic influence appears to be the use of fired-brick in
a rash of construction across the Central Sudan in the eighteenth-nine
teenth centuries, Darfur included, as in the mosque and palace at Shoba
(Balfour-Paul, 1954b; Reed, 1994).
Finally, in the nineteenth century JDarfur assumed the character of a
powerful and prosperous Islamic sultanate (Hiskett, 1994, p. 70). It was
also at this point in time, almost 600 years after the first contacts with
Islam, that the animist tint to Fur Islam was eradicated to be replaced by
more orthodox Islam, in a process replicated across the Sudanic zone dur
ing this century, from, as discussed later, Futa Tbro on the River Senegal
in the west, and through the Central Sudan.
Summary
Islam within the Sudan is extremely diverse in character, as is the ar

chaeology of Islam within the region. A mosaic of cultures and ethnic
groups is represented, and Islamization processes have taken many forms
and spanned many centuries?ranging from Christian Nubian skirmishes
with the first Arab armies to conquer Egypt in the midseventh century to
the Mahdist state of the late nineteenth century. Here, trade, jihad and
conquest, and peaceful proselytization have all contributed to the spread
of Islam. This is also a region where a preexisting World religion, Christi
anity, has disappeared altogether, never having had the geographical de
fenses offered by the Ethiopian Highlands, where, as we have seen, Chris

tianity continues to thrive. Furthermore, many variants of Islam are, or have
been evident. In Darfur Islam was animist influenced and Central Sudanic
in character, in the vast tracts of land bordering the Nile it was austere,
nomadic, Arab, and Beja, along the coast it was cosmopolitan, while in the
area formerly covered by Christian Nubia it developed its own unique char
acter. The diversity is rich and, in many areas, awaits detailed study.
THE EAST AFRICAN COAST AND OFFSHORE ISLANDS
Below the Horn of Africa lies the East African Coast, a region of
sub-Saharan Africa from which we have one of the best bodies of archae
ological evidence for the arrival, spread, and acceptance of Islam from as
early as the mideighth century. As a result of the relatively large quantities
of archaeological data we possess, only the most significant sites are con
sidered here. To give an idea of the amount of data involved, Horton (1987,
p. 290) states that 400 Islamic archaeological sites have been recorded in
this geographical region (for more detailed breakdown, see Allen, 1980, p.
361; Wilson, 1982; Horton and Clark, 1985). The East African Coast is
also a region where new research is leading to much questioning of older
models. The origins of the Swahili, the impact of Islam away from the coast
before the nineteenth century, and pre-Islamic trade are all being devalu
ated, with profound implications for the study of the archaeology of Islam
in the area. In approaching the material the region is divided into four
sections: firstly, a discussion of the archaeology of Islam within the whole
region prior to A.D. 1000 and, secondly, three geographical reviews?the
drier north coast, the lusher south coast, with the border placed approxi
mately on the modern Kenyan/Tanzanian frontier, and finally, the far is
lands of the Comoros and Madagascar (Fig. 4). Excepting the offshore
islands, the coastal division is in broad agreement with the geographical
description of the East African Coast provided by al-Idrisi, ca. A.D. 1154,
"Barbar" north of Mogadishu, and already described, "Zanj," south of
Mogadishu to Pemba Island, and "Sofala," the source of gold, south of this
(Hiskett, 1994, p. 153).
Contacts with the wider world predated the rise of Islam, and trading
voyages along the East African Coast were made, but these remain, as yet,
little understood. With the rise of Islam, trade contacts from the Red Sea,
India, Arabia, China, and the Persian Gulf increased significantly, as com
modities such as gold from southern Africa, ivory, timber, and slaves were
sought, and in return finished goods such as metalwork, glassware, beads,
glazed ceramics, and cloth were imported. It was also within this region
458 Insoll
o BQOkm
o SOOmiles
ARABIA
V SOMALIA
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7 Indian
^Bajun Islands
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TANZANIA J^dPEM
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Fig. 4. The East African Coast and offshore islands (adapted from Connah, 1987
Fig. 7.1; Dewar and Wright, 1993, Fig. 8).
that Swahili civilization developed, the origins of which are the subject of
much debate. A cultural complex possibly developed in some areas as early
as the eighth century (Juma, 1996), though other observers place the full
development of the Swahili much later, in the thirteenth century (Hiskett,
1994, p. 161).
Pre A.D. 1000
The impact of Islam within this period was not immense. Muslims ap
pear to have been small in number and confined to a few trading centers,
some of which they may also have had a hand in establishing. The delay
in Islam reaching the East African Coast, compared to the Horn of Africa,
has been explained by the fact that land routes were not operating, and it
was more problematical to go around the Horn and down the coast than
across the Red Sea (Hiskett, 1994, p. 151). Although this would appear to
be partly correct, late Roman pottery has recently been recovered from
the site of Unguja Ukuu on Zanzibar island (Juma, 1996), which appears
to indicate that such trading voyages were not always so problematical.
However, geographical distances from the central lands of Islam were
greater than those from the Nilotic Sudan and the Horn of Africa, and
thus contacts with Islam were initially intermittent. However, by A.D. 750,
al-Masudi records that Muslims (Arabs or Persians) were living at Qanbalu
(Hiskett, 1994, p. 152), a site which has yet to be located, but which could
be any one of a number of contenders.
The earliest archaeological evidence for Islam on the East African
Coast comes from Shanga in the Lamu archipelago in northern Kenya (Fig.
4), where Muslim burials dated to ca. A.D. 800, and a sequence of seven
timber and one stone mosques was found, with the earliest mosque dated
to ca. A.D. 750-780. This small rectangular timber structure could hold
only 25 or so worshippers, and illustrates that a small Muslim community
was living in a predominantly non-Muslim society (Horton, 1987, 1991, p.
105). Over the following 150 years the Muslim congregation grew in size,
and eventually a stone (porites coral) mosque was built, which in turn was
superseded by a larger congregational mosque still in use when the town
was abandoned ca. A.D. 1425 (Horton, 1991, p. 108). The early occupation
levels also contained evidence for timber structures, which the excavator
has argued were the predecessors of over 200 stone houses which were
also recorded (Horton, 1987, p. 300), thereby illustrating the essentially in
digenous development both of the Swahili stone house and of Swahili so
ciety in general (for an alternative interpretation, see Donley-Reid, 1990).
A variety of archaeological evidence indicated participation in long-distance
460 Insoll
commerce. Besides imported ceramics, these included locally minted silver

coins, several dating from pre A.D. 1000, and a bronze lion of possible
Indian, or "Indian Ocean," origin (Horton 1987; Horton and Blurton, 1988,
p. 22; Brown, 1992).
The aforementioned site of Unguja Ukuu is also of importance, and
perhaps the mythical Qanbalu. Here, occupation spanned the period be
tween the fifth and the late tenth centuries (Juma, 1996, p. 148). Farther
south, on the Tanzanian coast, the settlement at Kilwa, a major Swahili
trade center, was occupied at an early, but somewhat later date, beginning
in the ninth century (Chittick, 1974; Sutton, 1990). Even farther south, at
Chibuene in southern Mozambique, four burials, also of ninth-century date,
were found, one of which appeared to have been oriented according to
Islamic rites, which led the excavator to state that "if so it could be the
earliest known Islamic burial on the East African Coast" (Sinclair, 1983,
1987, p. 87). Nearby, at Ponta Dundo, three fragments of ninth-century
Sasanian Islamic ware were collected from the surface.
Offshore on the Comoros, the inhabitants of the four major islands
of Ngazidja (Grand Comoro), Mwali (Moheli), Ndzuwani (Anjouan), and
Maore (Mayotte) were certainly involved in long-distance Indian Ocean
trade during the ninth-tenth centuries, and were linked commercially with
the East African Coast and indirectly with the Persian Gulf (Fig. 4). The
recovery of imported ceramics, including Sasanian Islamic wares (ninth cen
tury) and splashed tin glaze, attests to this (Wright, 1984; Allibert et al,
1990; Chanudet, 1991). However, it would appear that the majority of Co
morians, if Muslims, were not strict Muslims at this time (Wright, 1984, p.
57); analysis of the faunal assemblage from ninth-century levels at Dembeni
showed that lemurs and tortoise, animals which are taboo to a Muslim,
were being consumed (Allibert et ai, 1990, p. 66), and non-Muslim burials
were found at the site of M'Beni (Ngazidja) (Wright, 1984, p. 23). However,
general factors of nonobservance should always be considered when looking
at such evidence.
These examples, though not exhaustive, are the most important, as
they provide evidence both for participation in long-distance trade and
for the presence of Muslims on the East African Coast before A.D.
1000. They support the historical sources, such as al-Masudi's mention
that gold was being obtained from the Zanj by the mid-tenth century
(Hiskett, 1994, p. 152). Trade was again acting as the agent of Islami
zation, "maritime trade favored by the seasonal monsoons" (Horton,
1994a, p. 199), and Islam was gradually making inroads into the region,
with undoubtedly small numbers of local conversions to the Muslim
faith also taking place.
Post A.D. 1000
The North Coast
Trade increased in importance after A.D. 1000, and Islamization of

the coast proceeded rapidly, with Islam becoming the majority religion ca.
A.D. 1100 among the Swahili (Horton, 1994a, p. 199). Numerous settlement
sites are found along the Somali, Kenyan, and Tanzanian coastal strip and
on the offshore islands. Commonly, evidence for long-distance trade is pre
sent, ceramics from China, Arabia, and the Persian Gulf and glass beads
of Indian Origin, all evidently accompanied by increasing prosperity. This
is reflected in the use of elaborate cut coral, stone architecture, with the
stone towns at their most prosperous in the fourteenth-fifteenth centuries.
Muslim congregations had increased in size, and each settlement had a
congregational mosque and, often, several smaller ward mosques. A local
Swahili mosque style evolved, utilizing a rectangular prayer hall, with either
an even number of columns and a central aisle giving a view of the mihrab
or an odd number of rows and no central aisle. These varied greatly in
decoration, but the basic plan was derived from small mosques dating from
the ninth-tenth centuries which have been found in the Persian Gulf, as
at the site of Siraf (Horton, 1994a, pp. 199-200). Stone houses, palaces,
and various other structures were also built (Garlake, 1966; Chittick, 1971).
Examples of these stone towns on the northern part of the coast in
clude Shanga, already mentioned, and which continued to be occupied,
other important Swahili sites in the Lamu Archipelago include Manda,
Pate, Lamu, and nearby, Ungwana (Kirkman, 1966; Ghaidan, 1976; Chit
tick, 1984; Horton, 1987). Farther to the north, into southern Somalia, a
continuation of the stone architectural tradition occurs: a mosque at
Munghia, various monuments on the Bajun Islands, and several Muslim
tombs at Bur Gao, dating from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries
(Chittick, 1969; Sanseverino, 1983). This, the upper end of the north coast,
is a very important region as regards Swahili origins, as it was from the
Lamu Archipelago and the modern Somali/Kenyan border that the Swahili
language may have first spread in the ninth century (see Sutton, 1991).
Farther south is Gedi (Kirkman, 1963, 1964), one of the best known of all
the stone towns, which represent the florescence of the Swahili civilization,
completely Islamized yet, at the same time, exhibiting their own distinctive
character. However, it should also be borne in mind that not all Muslims
lived in stone houses, and thus the archaeology of Islam on the East African
Coast is not only represented by stone architecture, though at times it might
appear as such.
462 Insoll
The indigenization of Islam, as we saw with the evolution of the Swa

hili mosque style, was a major factor on the East African Coast. Swahili
society is a mix of Muslim and indigenous elements, and this is reflected
in its material culture, which over the course of the centuries has developed
a unique character. Various examples could be cited to illustrate this, for
example, parallels have been drawn between the central communal enclo
sures of the non-Muslim Mijikenda, the Kaya, and those found in archae
ological sites on the coast, indicating a mix of non-Islamic and Islamic
elements in Swahili architecture (Horton, 1994b). In Lamu, an ethnoar
chaeological study of the stone houses found that similarly complex ritual
and ideological beliefs underlay their development (Donley-Reid, 1987,
1990). Yet perhaps the most striking example of the syncretic mix of Islamic
and indigenous features in Swahili society is provided by the so-called pillar
tombs of the East African Coast. These unique monuments, the majority
of which date from between the fourteenth and the seventeenth centuries,
draw their name from the fact that the deceased is commemorated by a
large coral stela, the "pillar," often inset with imported porcelain bowls,
and a variety of types are found from southern Somalia down into Tanzania
(see Wilson, 1979). This is not a mainstream Muslim practice but could
represent a development within local Islamic traditions.
The South Coast
On the south coast similar processes are apparent, and similar archae
ological remains encountered. The site of Kilwa (Fig. 4) has been men
tioned as an early trade center, yet this site also represents the process of
Islamic state development described by Hiskett (1994, p. 154), which oc
curred on the coast in the twelfth century and which contrasted with the
previous situation whereby Muslim merchant communities depended on the
hospitality of non-Muslim local rulers. The existence of Muslim states rep
resents a different phenomenon, and testifies to the degree of Islamization
on the coast. Traditions record the arrival of the Shirazi at this time, a
people perhaps of Persian origin, who through slave-concubinage gave rise
to the Afro-Shirazi. Kilwa was ruled firstly by a Shirazi dynasty, which in
turn was replaced by the Mahdali dynasty at the end of the thirteenth cen
tury, who still ruled when Ibn Battuta visited Kilwa in A.D. 1330 (Hiskett,
1994).
Trade in gold, copper, and ivory from southern Africa generated great
riches, and Kilwa testifies to this. It was the most important of the southern
Swahili trade centers between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries, at
which point its fortunes declined in favor of Pemba, Mogadishu, and Mom
basa. Two important Islamic architectural monuments, the great mosque

and the Husuni Kubwa palace complex, still exist at the site. The great
mosque founded in the twelfth century was subsequently added to over the
centuries, with even a new mihrab being added in the eighteenth century
(Horton, 1994a, p. 206), and nearby was Husuni Kubwa, built ca. A.D. 1300,
and the ostentatious palace of a rich ruler. Its complex of audience courts,
apartments, and a small bathing pool was built in a Near Eastern archi
tectural style, unique to the region, and further illustrates Islamic trading
connections (Chittick, 1974; Horton, 1994a, p. 205; Sutton, 1995, p. 10).
Not surprisingly, extensive evidence for both interregional and long
distance trade was found at Kilwa. This included Islamic and Far-Eastern
ceramics, glass vessels, and beads, chlorite schist vessels from Madagascar,
and both imported and locally minted gold and copper coins (Chittick,
1974; Brown, 1991). The locally minted coins provide information on the
genealogy of the sultans of Kilwa between ca. A.D. 1200 and A.D. 1374
and, thus, add to the historical sources, providing a snapshot view of the
development of an Islamic state on the East African Coast. This is further
supplemented by inscribed Muslim tombstones and carved coral inscrip
tions extolling the virtues of the Kilwa sultans. (Freeman-Grenville and
Martin, 1973).
Much of the gold obtained from the East African Coast came from
the Zambezi (discussed below), and although Kilwa was a trade center
whose prosperity depended upon trade in southern African commodities,
further Islamized Swahili settlements existed closer to the gold sources. Un
fortunately, the long-running civil war in Mozambique has precluded their
serious investigation, however, additional Swahili type stone ruins are
found; at Tungi on Cape Delgado, in the Kerimba Islands, and farther south
at Somana (Duarte, 1993) (Fig. 4). The important site of Chibuene has
also been mentioned, and it is possible that it might have served as the
entry point for Indian Ocean trade goods in the far south of the Sofala
coast, which were then traded onward into the interior in exchange for
commodities such as gold and ivory (Sinclair, 1982). Fragments of elev
enth-century Islamic glass and sherds of splashed tin-glazed ware of Persian
Gulf origin were recovered here, which when considered with the early
Islamic burials, make such an interpretation all the more feasible.
Offshore, on the islands of Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafia, Islam had
firmly taken hold, and many Muslim settlements developed. At Mtambwe
Mkuu, on the lush west coast of Pemba, one of these trading centers was
situated on a small islet. Mosques and houses were built out of coral, mir
roring the settlements on the mainland. Extensive evidence for participation
in Indian Ocean trade was again found; Chinese porcelains and Persian
Gulf wares indicating a boom in commerce in the twelfth-thirteenth cen
464 Insoll
turies (Horton, personal communication; Insoll, 1996b). A merchant's

hoard of 2060 locally minted silver coins was also found. These coins bore
the name of various early Swahili rulers and were discovered in association
with eight Fatimid gold dinars of mid-eleventh-century date (Horton et al.,
1986, p. 117). Unfortunately, little is yet known about the political systems
in place in these trade centers; though Islamized, as we saw with Kilwa
and Mogadishu, how they interacted with each other and the degrees of
autonomy they displayed remain little understood.
Excavations on Zanzibar, however, have shed some light on this issue
by suggesting that the island was connected in the late eleventh century
A.D. with Siraf and Shiraz in the Persian Gulf. A porites coral inscription
was discovered at Tumbatu, a small islet off the northwest coast, dating
from ca. A.D. 1100 and executed in Kufic script of the Siraf-Shirazi school
(Sutton, 1990, p. 79). A similar inscription (A.D. 1107) in Floreate Kufic
was also recorded in the mihrab of the extant Kizimkazi mosque on
Zanzibar (Horton, 1994a). South of Zanzibar on Mafia Island (strictly
speaking a group of islands, but commonly known as just Mafia), a place
which was closely connected with Kilwa, further evidence for Shirazi con
nections was found. At the site of Kisimani Mafia a hoard of over 600
copper coins of Ali bin al-Hasan (ca. A.D. 1070), the founder of the leg
endary Shirazi dynasty, was discovered in an imported Sgraffiato pot of
Persian Gulf origin (Sutton, 1990, p. 79), associated with remnants of our
now familiar stone towns, which were also recorded at Kua, and Jibondo
on Mafia (Baumann, 1957; Chittick, 1961, 1964).
This evidence is more than coincidental, and would appear to lend
support to the Shirazi tradition referred to earlier; it certainly attests to
strong Persian Gulf contacts with the southern part of the coast. It thus
illustrates, once again, that Islam in sub-Saharan Africa cannot be per
ceived as a monolithic entity; different areas of the Islamic World exerted
influences on the continent at different times, molding and adding to the
nature of Islam which developed in each region.
The Far Off"Shore Islands
The Comoros. Evidence for early Islam in the Comoros has already
been described, and it was in the eleventh-twelfth centuries that the first
mosques were built. The central mosques in Sima and Domoni (Ndzuwani)
were founded at this date, and were subsequently reconstructed in the thir
teenth century and, again, more elaborately in the fourteenth-fifteenth cen
turies, the "classic period" of Comorian culture (Wright, 1992, p. 126).
Trade-related evidence is again found, including an unusual type of Sgraf
fiato ware dated to the eleventh-thirteenth centuries. This was recovered

from the Islamic cemetery at Domoni, and is of interest as it was deliber
ately selected for funerary use, employing incised designs derived from Ara
bic calligraphy (Wright, 1992, p. 105). This provides a further instance of
local adaptation of Islamic material culture to suit a specific cultural con
text, which is similarly evident in the "magicoreligious" inscriptions dis
cussed by Blanchy and Said (1990) encountered on standing monuments,
such as the congregational mosque in the capital, Moroni, which was origi
nally founded in the fifteenth century.
Madagascar. Also of great interest is the archaeology of Islam on
Madagascar, whose inhabitants were involved in Indian Ocean trade
from a comparatively early date and, therefore, in contact with Muslim
traders and exposed to their religion. Essentially, the patterns of Islami
zation appear to be similar to those on the Comoros; direct evidence
for the presence of Muslims before the eleventh century has not yet
been reported, but imported ceramics have been found, including Near
Eastern white glazed wares at Nosy Mangabe, a small island off the
northeastern coast of Madagascar. Larger quantities of archaeological
evidence, attesting to participation in Indian Ocean trade and the ac
ceptance of Islam, are found at sites dating from between the eleventh
and the midfourteenth centuries. In the northwest of the island, at the
Islamized port of Mahilaka, 80 ha of settled area was enclosed within
a stone wall, including at least one mosque, a masonry palace, and vari
ous craft production areas. This vast territory attests to the significance
of trade, both long-distance and within Madagascar itself. Song white
wares and Sgraffiato were widely traded throughout the island, and have
even been recovered from the far south (Dewar and Wright, 1993, pp.
433-439).
This first generation of entrepots was largely abandoned by the mid
fourteenth century, to be replaced by another set also clustered on the
northwestern coast, as at Kingany. Muslim communities were not, however,
confined only to the northwest. In the northeast, the area in which chlo
rite-schist vessels were produced (Venn, 1976, 1986), Muslims were also to
be found. At the important site of Vohemar, over 600 tombs have been
investigated, which were found to contain a variety of grave goods of both
Madagascan and foreign origin. These items were accompanying corpses
oriented in the Muslim fashion (Dewar and Wright, 1993, pp. 443-445),
providing a further instance of the adaptation of Muslim practices within
the sub-Saharan African environment, in this case, to the extent that Mus
lim dogma regarding the prohibition on placing grave goods with a corpse
was being actively flouted.
466 Insoll
Summary
Islam on the East African Coast does not exhibit the diversity seen in
the Nilotic Sudan or the great time depth of Ethiopia and the Horn of
Africa. However, it should not be thought of as somehow less interesting
for these reasons. Starting in the eighth century an urban-based Muslim
civilization was to develop, which from the beginning was intimately con
nected with trade. Eventually a vast area of the coast and offshore islands
was to be scattered with very uniform Islamized settlement sites. Yet this
is not to say that they were all in continual harmony; polities came and
went, and competition must have been rife, as changing fortunes in the
wider Islamic world exerted their influence upon the East African Coast.
It should also be noted that the evident unity in much of the archaeology
of Islam on the East African Coast does not correlate with a blandness of
material culture, or in some form of mimicry of the Islam of Arabia or the
Persian Gulf. Local adaptation of Islam occurred, as we saw on the Co
moros and Madagascar, and Swahili Islam exhibits its own distinctive char
acter today.
The point was also made that the archaeology of the coast is currently
undergoing something of a reappraisal. This can only be for the good, as
older models too often saw Swahili civilization as purely outward looking
and coastal based. Although it is undeniable that little evidence has yet
been found for connections between the interior and the coast before the
nineteenth century, archaeological research has, until recently, neglected
such issues. A new generation of largely indigenous scholars is examining
this question, and extensive revision regarding the impact of coastal traders
on the interior throughout the second millennium A.D. will undoubtedly
soon need to be done.
THE WESTERN SAHEL
On the opposite side of the continent a similar group of entrepots was

located in the Sahel, the coast of the great Saharan sand sea, and in many
ways analogous to the Swahili coast (Fig. 5). There are also parallels be
tween the trade patterns operating broadly contemporaneously in both ar
eas, raw materials sourced from many areas of west Africa, collected in
the Sahelian trade centers, and sent north across the Sahara, with finished
goods coming south in return. Most important among the exports was gold,
obtained from a variety of workings: the Sirba Valley in Niger, Bure on
the Upper Niger, and Bambuk at the confluence of the Senegal and Faleme
Rivers, for example. Slaves and ivory were also shipped north, and in return
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468 Insoll
goods, by now familiar from the previous discussion, came south: cloth,
copper and brass ingots, paper, glazed pottery, glass, and beads. Trade was
once again the agent of Islamization.
Trade contacts across the Sahara predated the rise of Islam, but were
small-scale and indirect, traveling via various stages. With the rise of Islam,
as in many other areas of the continent, demand for the products of sub
Saharan Africa increased; and Islam provided a degree of unity among the
desert dwellers, previously lacking, which allowed passage of the Sahara to
become properly organized [amply attested by the spectacular "lost cara
van" site in the Ijafen dunes in Mauritania, where a large consignment of
several thousand cowry shells and copper rods was discovered dating from
the twelfth century (Monod, 1969)]. After crossing the Sahara the first area
entered was the Western Sahel, thus making it the first zone of Islamic
penetration in west Africa. Also of importance in the study of Islamization
processes in this region is the fact that the Western Sahel is inhabited by
a variety of ethnic groups, nomadic pastoralists and sedentary agriculturists,
white Tuareg and black Songhai. This ethnic and economic mosaic has con
tributed to the development of Islam in the region and to its diversity of
character, both factors reflected in the archaeological record.
First Contacts, Pre A.D. 900
The Arabic historical sources record that north African merchants be

gan to establish a presence within the Western Sahel for the purposes of
trans-Saharan trade in the late eighth-early ninth century (Levtzion and
Hopkins, 1981). These pioneering merchants were predominantly followers
of Ibadi doctrines, a democratic Kharidjite sect who were of some impor
tance in medieval north Africa and the Western Sahel (see Lewicki, 1960,
1971). The Ibadis were regarded as heretical by many other Muslim groups
and have since disappeared altogether in the Western Sahel, to be replaced
by orthodox Sunni Islam of the Maliki school.
Archaeological evidence for a Muslim presence in the region before
the tenth century is absent, as is any archaeological evidence for the Ibadis.
However, one trace of their former presence does appear to survive: certain
features in the so-called Sudanese style of architecture, which have parallels
with the architecture of the Mzab and other Ibadi areas of the Maghreb.
Distinct similarities can be seen between the staircase minarets and rec
tangular mihrabs found in the two regions (Schacht, 1954), as in the
mosque and tomb of Askia Muhammed at Gao (see Mauny, 1950). How
ever, it should also be borne in mind that these similarities may be partially
dictated by the same construction materials being used in both areas, banco
(liquid mud) and palmwood, an issue for further investigation.
Trade goods from the Islamic World and dating from before A.D. 900
are similarly rare. At Tegdaoust, an important caravan town situated in
southern Mauritania, Devisse (1992, p. 197) mentions that glazed pottery
from Ifriqiya (Tunisia) was recovered from levels dating "undoubtedly ear
lier than 900," together with precious and semiprecious stones. At other
centers such as Gao and Koumbi Saleh such evidence is so far lacking. Yet
it should be noted that this absence may be due partly to the fact that
attention has been focused in the wrong place; Essuk/Tadmekka in the Ad
rar des Iforas mountains was a very important early Berber or Tuareg-con
trolled trade center and still awaits detailed archaeological investigation,
which may yield evidence for contacts and Islamization before A.D. 900.
Islam, Empires, and Trade Centers Post A.D. 900
Traders and Early Trade Centers
Beginning in the tenth century there is an increase in archaeological

evidence attesting to contacts with the Islamic world, and the first direct
evidence for the presence of Muslims in the Western Sahel is found. The
initial converts to Islam appear to have been the north African merchants'
local partners in trade, perhaps facilitated by the better conditions of trade
afforded to co-religionists under Islamic law, a factor of importance in north
Africa. Local rulers might also have converted to Islam at this point in time,
but this remains somewhat unclear. What is apparent is that the trade cen
ters which developed in the Western Sahel were not foreign implants or
colonies, the activities within them were controlled by the local rulers, pos
sibly for reasons of prestige (and to protect the gold sources). Alongside
the spatial restriction of export and import trade there are references in the
Arabic historical sources which imply that the movement of Arab and Berber
merchants was restricted, thus further restricting the spread of Islam.
These restrictions appear to have only been in place in the "first con
tact" situation, an era when trade centers such as Tegdaoust (Awdaghost)
and Essuk/Tadmekka flourished. The interesting point has been made that
these more northerly trade centers were so placed as they were considered
to be within the Dar al-Islam, the Islamic World, and thus an important
distinction was being made, with centers farther south such as Koumbi
Saleh, the merchants' town attached to the Empire of Ghana, and Gao,
later to develop into the capital of the Songhai Empire, patently not con
sidered as such (Levtzion, 1978, p. 650).
470 Insoll
At Tegdaoust, as has already been mentioned, the earliest evidence

for trade contacts between the Western Sahel and north Africa dates from
the ninth century. The main period of occupation was between the late
ninth and the early fourteenth centuries, with the site composed of two
components: a town and a necropolis (D. Robert, 1970a,b; Vanacker, 1979;
Robert-Chaleix, 1989). The orientation of the bodies within the necropolis
and the different types of graves found, some with mihrabs, appear to in
dicate different phases of Islamization, yet to be investigated in detail, but
of some complexity (S. Robert, 1970, p. 275). A large stone-built mosque
was also uncovered, oriented south-southeast, possibly indicating Maghrebi
or Andalusian (Spanish) influences (D. Robert, 1970a, p. 66). Here,
drystone was utilized to create multistorey houses of Islamic plan, with an
emphasis upon privacy (Polet, 1985). Dry-stone is a material still utilized
today in many Mauritanian towns, for both mosque and house building, as
in the towns of Chinguetti, Tichitt, and Ouadane (Jacques-Meunie, 1957;
Mauny, 1955, 1961, p. 484). This provides a further example of the adap
tation of locally available materials within the repertoire of sub-Saharan
African Muslim architecture, which ranges from straw to stone, and even
blocks of salt, used to build houses and a mosque at the salt extraction
center of Teghaza (Monod, 1938, 1940).
Even in this early period differences are apparent between the western
trade centers, such as Tegdaoust, and those farther east, such as Essuk/Tad
mekka, reflecting differences in both their pre-Islamic heritage and the ar
eas of the Islamic World with which they were in contact. Muslim funerary
epigraphy is absent at the western sites but is common in the east, as at
EssukyTadmekka, where the earliest inscription in Arabic yet found in west
Africa was discovered (A.D. 1017 or 1019), associated with the remains of
a town, two undated mosques, and numerous cemeteries (De Gironcourt,
1920; Lhote, 1951). The absence of funerary epigraphy in the west is a
reflection of specific Muslim Maliki treatises, which say a tomb should not
have an inscription. In the east this restriction was flouted as the Tuareg
tradition of epigraphy in their own script, Tifinagh, had given a precedent
for inscriptions in Arabic (Farias, 1990, p. 69). The adaptation of Islam to
suit the local context, which is so visible elsewhere in the continent, is thus
also apparent in the Western Sahel from an early date.
Rulers, City-Dwellers, Empires, and Kingdoms
Islam was not long confined to the more northerly trade centers.
Throughout this early period Muslim merchants must have ventured south,
and as mentioned, conversions among their partners in trade would have
occurred. By the late tenth and early eleventh century the historical sources
record a new phenomenon, that conversions, not of traders, but of local
rulers, were beginning to take place. At Gao, al-Muhallabi (ca. A.D. 975
985) mentions that the king "pretends" to be a Muslim, a city where a
compromise between traditional religion and Islam existed. In contrast, Is
lamic adherence in Takrur, in modern Senegal, has been described as more
zealous in character, following the king's conversion in A.D. 1040-1041
(Levtzion, 1973, pp. 183-184; Levtzion and Hopkins, 1981, p. 174). Al
though evidence for involvement in trans-Saharan trade is found in both
areas dating from this period (S. K. and R. J. Mclntosh, 1993; S. K. Mcln
tosh, 1994, p. 179; Insoll, 1996a), direct evidence for Islam itself (mosques,
burials) is lacking, providing a far from unique example of the divergence
of the historical and archaeological evidence as it relates to Islamization
and conversion to Islam in sub-Saharan Africa.
The kingdom of Ghana (which flourished between the ninth and the
eleventh centuries and is not to be confused with the modern nation) pro
vides a further example of the divergence of archaeological and historical
evidence but, more importantly, of the Islamization of the apparatus of
state in the region, yet with Muslims living under the control of a pagan
ruler. The capital of Ghana was described in some detail by al-Bakri, and
it is apparent from his description that the king was not at this time (mid
eleventh century) a Muslim. Dual towns existed, al-Ghaba, the pagan king's
capital, and a second town, Islamized and inhabited by the Muslim popu
lation. The court ritual is also described in some detail, and though the
king was undoubtedly a pagan, many of the court appointments were held
by Muslims: interpreter, treasurer, and ministers (Levtzion and Hopkins,
1981, pp. 79-80). Here the local ruler was taking the fringe benefits of
Islam, improved administrative systems, accompanied by Arabic literacy,
without accepting the religion himself, in a process of juggling the old and
the new to maintain power (Levtzion, 1973; Insoll, 1996d).
Only one part of the capital of Ghana has so far been located and
excavated, Koumbi Saleh, the supposed merchants' town. Various structures
were recorded, including a large congregational mosque, measuring 46 m
east-west x 23 m north-south, which a succession of mihrabs revealed had
been rebuilt three times between the tenth and the fifteenth centuries.
Koumbi Saleh was, like Tegdaoust, organized on a reasonably regular plan,
and was made up of multistorey stone houses. Alongside these lay a suburb
of mud houses, two cemeteries containing numerous Muslim burials, and
a Qubba tomb (Thomassey and Mauny, 1951,1956; Berthier, 1983; Devisse,
1975, p. 123; Devisse and Diallo, 1993, p. 108). A variety of items sourced
from trans-Saharan trade was also recovered: Egyptian pottery used to filter
water, luster ceramics, and blue, green, and yellow glass beads. The im
472 Insoll
ported material recovered, however, was in smaller quantities than would

perhaps have been expected at so important a trade center, in contrast to
Tegdaoust, where much larger quantities of imported materials were found
(see Thomassey and Mauny, 1951, 1956; D. Robert, 1970a; Berthier, 1983;
Vanacker, 1979; Devisse et ai, 1983).
Previously it was thought that the final act of conversion of the king
and people of Ghana to Islam had occurred by force, through the agency
of the Almoravids, a fierce Berber movement, who reputedly conquered
Ghana in A.D. 1076-1077 (see, e.g., Trimingham, 1962). Recent critical re
evaluation of the archaeological and historical evidence has shown such
ideas to be flawed, with a more peaceful and gradual acceptance of Islam
taking place (Conrad and Fisher, 1982, 1983). This more gradual process
makes sense, especially in the urban environment, where its spread and
acceptance are facilitated, owing, as has been suggested (Trimingham,
1959), to the power of Islam to bring together the ethnic groups which
often make up the population of a town. Perhaps this is a factor of especial
importance in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, where the universalistic
aspect of Islam may have had particular appeal.
A third early center of Islam in the Western Sahel, which has already
been mentioned briefly, was Gao, a city where settlement has been dated
back to the sixth/seventh centuries, and where no connection between Islam
and urbanism can now be posited. Although the conversion of the ruler to
Islam is recorded as happening in the midtenth century, the first direct
archaeological evidence for the presence of a Muslim community consists
of Arabic inscribed tombstones, found in the cemetery at Gao-Saney, the
earliest dating from the late eleventh century (Mauny, 1951; Flight, 1975,
1978, 1979; Insoll, 1993). Trade was once again the agent of Islamic con
version in Gao, but this was by no means an immediate process. As in the
capital of Ghana, two settlements initially existed, with the Muslim mer
chants at Gao-Saney, 6 km east of the city, and indigenous royalty within
Gao (Gao Ancien) itself. By the late twelfth century a separation on re
ligious grounds had ceased to be of importance, and an Islamized quarter
had developed in Gao Ancien, illustrating the increasing acceptance of Is
lam by the ruling classes (Insoll, 1996a).
Extensive evidence for trade connections has been recovered from
Gao, indicating a boom period in the eleventh-twelfth centuries. Luster
ceramics and engraved tombstones from Islamic Spain, ceramics and glass
from Egypt, glass and carnelian beads from perhaps as far as India have
been found (Sauvaget, 1950; Vire, 1959; Insoll, 1994, 1995a,b). Gao was
evidently of great importance, a fact reflected in its development into the
capital of the Songhai empire, which covered a vast territorial extent, and
flourished between the midfifteenth and the late sixteenth centuries. Un
fortunately, little is yet known about Islamic archaeology in the region dur
ing this period.
South of Gao were other settlements linked into the trade networks,
which served to send commodities such as gold and ivory up the River
Niger to Gao. An example is provided by the sites of Bentiya (Kukiya) and
Egef-N-Tawaqqast, where Arabic funerary inscriptions (thirteenth-fifteenth
centuries) have been recorded (Farias, 1990, pp. 105-106). This can be re
garded as a further frontier of Islam (Hunwick, 1985), at least until the
late fifteenth century, when Islam began to gradually spread away from the
traders, urban population, and nomads to the bulk of the sedentary agri
culturist population (Insoll 1996d).
Farther to the west, another dimension in the development of Islam
in the Western Sahel is represented by Timbuktu, city of mystery in popular
imagination, which took over from Gao the role of premier entrepot. Ac
cording to the Arabic sources Timbuktu was a relatively late foundation
(eleventh century), which prospered through the trans-Saharan trade in salt
and gold, especially during its "high period" (ca. A.D. 1350-1600). It was
famous as a major center of Muslim scholarship, and was the center of
Moroccan rule, following their defeat of Songhai forces at the battle of
Tondibi in A.D. 1591 (Hunwick, 1985, pp. 17-19). This is of interest as it
is a rare (perhaps sole) example of the direct transference of north African
administrative systems into the Western Sahel, in this case through the use
of a Pasha and Amins as agencies of government (Hiskett, 1994, p. 96).
Surprisingly, little archaeological research has been conducted in Timbuktu.
The surrounding region has been surveyed (S. K. and R. J. Mclntosh, 1986),
and the standing monuments have been recorded (Mauny, 1952b). Three
important early mosques are preserved within the city, all of which have
been rebuilt several times, Djinguereber (possibly thirteenth century in ori
gin), Sankore (ca. fourteenth-fifteenth centuries), and the Sidi Yahya (A.D.
1440) (Mauny, 1952b, pp. 901-911).
Nomads, Sedentary Agriculturists, and Sufis
In general, conversion to Islam prior to the Jihads of the late eight

eenth-nineteenth centuries was restricted, and confined predominantly to
the townspeople and nomadic population. The possible appeal of Islam to
urban dwellers has been touched upon; that of nomads has not. Muslim
cemeteries containing dated inscriptions and individual interments are
found clustered along trade routes primarily in areas currently inhabited
by nomads, for example, along the Tilemsi Valley north of Gao, where De
Gironcourt (1920, p. 161) recorded numerous cemeteries, the chronology
474 Insoll
of which have yet to be fully established (see Farias, 1995). Further Muslim
cemeteries are found across the region, as in the Lake Faguibine area
(Raimbault, 1991, pp. 208-209), but funerary inscriptions are rare or absent
at these more westerly sites for reasons already described. Although the
patterning of the cemeteries remains little understood, the hypothesis can
be advanced that Islam was adopted more rapidly by nomadic groups.
These groups were exposed to the religion via trade at an early point in
time, as guides and interpreters, and it has been suggested that Islam par
ticularly appeals to nomads through the ease of worship it enjoys (THm
ingham, 1959; Lewis 1980). In contrast, conversion to Islam by the
sedentary agriculturist involves more of a fundamental wrench away from
older beliefs. As mentioned in the Introduction, animism and traditional
religious cults can furnish the means by which the pressing problems of
existence can be comprehended and resolved; tending crops, livestock, and
children, and Islam, it has been argued, has no natural substitute for this
integrated structure (Trimingham, 1959, p. 25; Bravmann, 1974, p. 31), (see
Western Sudan, below).
A final point of interest in the archaeology of Islam in the Western
Sahel is provided by the sites in the north of Niger, specifically the con
centration in the Air mountains and its margins. At In-Teduq (pre-sixteenth
century, but otherwise undated), stone-built tombs and houses or shops
were recorded grouped around a mosque, which appear to indicate that
the site was centered around the monumentalization of the Qibla, inter
preted by Cressier (1992, pp. 75-76) as indicative of Sufism (mystical Is
lam). Numerous other sites and monuments have been found, including
ruined town sites and a "great mosque" similar to the extant mosque in
Agadez (founded midfifteenth-early sixteenth century) in the center of the
Air Massif at Assode (Cressier and Bernus, 1984, p. 39; Cressier, 1989, p.
155). Unfortunately, evidence for early Islam was not found at Marendet
(medieval Maranda?) or Azelik (medieval Tkkedda?), both important cop
per working centers (Lhote, 1972), the more surprising considering they
figure in early Arabic historical sources and, hence, must have been ex
posed to Islamic influences from an early date.
Summary
The archaeology of Islam in the Western Sahel is again trade related

in origins and development. From the late eighth century intermittent con
tacts occurred, which took a couple of centuries to blossom into anything
sizable. Even then conversion to Islam was in a series of stages?traders,
nomads, rulers, urban-dwellers, agriculturists?which it is possible to trace
through archaeological and historical evidence, sources which are not al

ways in agreement. Finally, Islam was to spread throughout the Western
Sahel, and further into west Africa via a network of indigenously operated
trade routes stretching south from the entrepots of the Western Sahel
through the savanna and into the forest. Comparisons can be drawn with
the East African Coastal trade centers, but differences also exist, both in
the areas of the Islamic world with which they were in contact and in their
respective political and social development. Although the Western Sahel
witnessed the kingdoms and empires of Ghana and Songhai (Mali is dis
cussed later), no comparable phenomenon to the largely culturally unified
Swahili developed in the west, and the degree of penetration of Islam away
from the trade centers in the east was much less than in the Western Sahel.
Factors again illustrating that the continent cannot be viewed as a homoge
nous and monolithic entity.
THE CENTRAL SUDAN
The Central Sudan forms the link between the eastern or Nilotic Su
dan and the Western Sahel and Sudan (Fig. 6). It is a continuation of the
same environmental zones, below the Sahara, the Sahel shades into the
savannah, before the forest regions of central Africa are reached. However,
unlike the west, there is no defined geographical entity, the "central Sahel";
rather it is incorporated within the general term, the Central Sudan, and
is treated as such here. An equally diverse ethnic composition is evident;
Muslim Arab and Negro pastoralists in the north, mixed Muslim pastoral
and sedentary communities in the sahel-savannah borders, the great Is
lamized emirates and city-states slightly farther south (Hausa, Fulani), in
termingled with scattered pockets of animists, before the latter predominate
in the forest zone. It is, to paraphrase Cohen (1967, p. 1), a region of
sultanates, kingdoms and empires, with Songhai in the west giving way to
the Hausa kingdoms, Kanem-Bornu, Bagirmi, Wadai, and in the east, Dar
fur in the Nilotic Sudan. These polities were often in conflict with each
other, and this was the region par excellence for cavalry, both utilized in
military campaigns and slave raiding.
There is also a considerable time depth to Muslim contacts with the
Central Sudan. Trans-Saharan trade routes via the Fezzan to the Lake Chad
region predate Islam, and contacts may have resumed shortly after the
Muslim conquest of north Africa in the late seventh century, though we
lack archaeological evidence for this. However, Muslim authors certainly
knew of the region by the ninth century. Later the Central Sudan carried,
and to a certain extent still carries, a considerable pilgrim traffic east-west
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to the ports on the Red Sea coast of the Nilotic Sudan, and their ultimate
destination, Mecca. Yet the region, for all its importance, remains little
researched archaeologically, and is one of the great blank areas as regards
the archaeology of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa.
Kanem-Bornu
The initial entity with which we are concerned is the Kanuri Kingdom
of Kanem-Bornu, which covered a large area and shifted geographically
between Chad, eastern Niger, and northern Nigeria (Fig. 6). The first writ
ten record of Kanem is by al-Ya'kubi in A.D. 872, who mentions the
Zaghawa, a term probably referring to the inaugural indigenous ruling dy
nasty (Lange, 1992, p. 220). Kanem was at this time centered east of Lake
Chad (in modern Chad), and the existence of towns in the region is first
mentioned in the twelfth century, though Njimi, the first Kanuri capital,
has never been satisfactorily located (Connah, 1981), and only limited sur
veys of the original Kanem area in Chad have been conducted, with little
informative evidence found: a possible mosque at Tie and undated build
ings and enclosures between Mao, Moussoro, and the Chadian Bahr-el
Ghazal (Bivar and Shinnie, 1962; A. Lebeuf, 1962). The Zaghawa were
replaced by the Sayfawid (Saifawa) dynasty, who seized power ca. A.D.
1075, an action often equated with the simultaneous conversion of Kanem
Bornu to Islam. This would not appear to be correct, and as we have seen
elsewhere, conversion to Islam usually involves a more gradual process,
here entering the Central Sudan by the Fezzan region, possibly Ibadi in
nature in the first instance, later replaced by orthodox Sunni Islam (Hiskett,
1994, p. 105).
Following a combination of inadvantageous internal and external cir
cumstances, the Kanuri Mais (rulers) of the Saifawa dynasty abandoned
the area east of Lake Chad in the late fourteenth century, moving to Bornu
(Nigeria), west of the lake. Various settlements associated with this period
have been investigated. At Garoumele in eastern Niger, a variety of struc
tures built of well-fired red brick was recorded, set within an enclosing wall
(Bivar and Shinnie, 1962, p. 4; Zakari, 1985, pp. 46-47). Similar structures
were recorded at Garu Kime and at Birnin Gazargamo, the permanent
capital established in A.D. 1470, where the Mais' palace and a number of
smaller structures still stand (Connah, 1981). By the end of the fifteenth
century Islam was firmly established in the ruling circle, illustrated by the
fact that Mai Idris Aloma went on pilgrimage and initiated a program of
mosque building (which suggests Islam had also spread beyond the ruling
classes). More importantly for the rest of the Central Sudan, Kanem-Bornu
478 Insoll
acted as one of the conduits for the spread of Islam, in this case southwest
into Hausaland (Hiskett, 1994, p. 106).
The Hausa Kingdoms
Allied with Kanem-Bornu Islamic influence on Hausaland from the

east, Muslim Mande and Songhai traders brought Islam to the Hausa Bok
woi, the seven original city states (the formation of the Hausa towns was
not linked with Islam, they predate its arrival) from the west, as they trav
eled in connection with the Volta Region gold trade (Fig. 6). This was a
process which began in the midfourteenth century, with Islam then reaching
Kano, and Katsina and Zaria in the fifteenth century. Initially, conversion
was on a limited scale, and the influence of Islam was again restricted to
the court circle, with elements of Shari'a (Islamic law), and administration
using Arabic, being introduced, while the bulk of the population remained
animist and were thus barely affected (Hiskett, 1994, pp. 108-109).
Little archaeological research has been done in the Hausa Bokwoi, or
in the "Bastard Seven," a further group of related non-Hausa states, some
of which were Islamized, as at Nupe, where in A.D. 1770, the ruler con
verted to Islam. Certain standing monuments belong to the initial period
of Islamization in the Bokwoi; these are known as "Habe" and are few in
number. At Katsina, the core of the Gobirau "tower" or minaret is said to
be 300 years old (Dmochowski; 1990a, pp. 2.10, 5.17), a comparable tower
also survived at Bauchi (Moughtin, 1972, p. 155), and as with some of the
mosques of the Western Sahel, remnant Ibadi influences have been argued
for in this region (Schacht, 1954). Though founded in the late first millen
nium, Kano still awaits archaeological investigation, as nothing standing
predates A.D. 1750 (Logan, 1929; Moody, 1967). The location of the old
town, Tsofan Birni, at Daura, the "mother-Hausa kingdom," is also known
but has yet to be investigated archaeologically; this is unfortunate, as it
could provide a wealth of information on early Islam in Hausaland.
The Fulani Jihad
It should also be noted that much of the early Habe heritage was de
stroyed during, or following, the Fulani Jihads of the early nineteenth cen
tury. The "new broom" of Islamic revival, Jihad, was a result of a variety
of factors: endemic competition between the nomadic and the sedentary
populations over land, the lax Islam of the Hausa rulers, and the general
political state of the region. Good Muslims, largely nomadic Fulani, were
consequently affronted for various reasons. Initially a preaching Jihad was

initiated, which brought no results and was replaced by a military Jihad,
under the leadership of Uthman dan Fodio. This reform movement
achieved much, organized around a central Caliphate or Sultanate at Sok
oto in northwest Nigeria (never a Hausa kingdom), surrounded by largely
autonomous emirs at Kano, Katsina, etc. (Hiskett, 1994, pp. 109-111). It
also marked the turning point in greatly increasing Islamic conversion
among the Hausa, though without ever destroying the African veneer.
Various post-Jihad monuments in the region are described by Dmo
chowski (1990a, 1990b), including both Hausa and Fulani ones which differ
in character, with rectangular architecture being characteristic of the for
mer, and circular of the latter. The nineteenth-century mosque at Kafin
Madaki is described as "one of the greatest achievements of Hausa archi
tecture" (1990a, pp. 5.3, 5.52), while Sokoto has examples of both styles
of architecture and is the site of Uthman dan Fodio's tomb (Schacht, 1957;
Johnston, 1967; Dmochowski, 1990a, p. 6.3). Thus the Fulani Jihad adds
another dimension, both to the history of Islam in the Central Sudan and
to the material culture record of the religion in sub-Saharan Africa. It is
also interesting to note that this process of Islamic reform was initiated by,
and closely associated with, nomads, who we have repeatedly seen are in
timately connected with Islam throughout the continent.
Bagirmi
Numerous smaller states developed in the Central Sudan, which in

many cases have been studied ethnographically or historically, but still await
detailed archaeological investigation. One of these is the kingdom of
Bagirmi, founded in the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries and situated in central
Chad, which can be said to form a link between the Muslim nomads of
the north and the animist sedentary agriculturists of the south (J. P. Lebeuf
1962; A. Lebeuf, 1967; Paques, 1977). According to historical sources, Is
lamic institutions were introduced to Bagirmi by the ruler, the Mbang, Abd
Allah in the late sixteenth century, with the administrative and military sys
tems modeled on those of Bornu, which helped to unify the state (Trim
ingham, 1962, p. 137). This distinction regarding the introduction of Islamic
institutions as opposed to Islam itself would appear to be of importance,
as the bulk of the population remained untouched by Islam until the reign
of Mbang Muhammed al-Amin (A.D. 1751-1785), when they were required
to make a profession of Islam (Trimingham, 1962).
Even then, the practice of Islam among the bulk of the population in
Bagirmi was superficial in character. As is found in many areas of the Cen
480 Insoll
tral and Western Sudan, a form of syncretism existed between Islam and
traditional religious practices, and this is reflected in the capital of Bagirmi,
Bourn Massenia. Elaborate spatial symbolism underlay the plan and con
struction, not only of the city, but also of the ruler's palace. The walled
city was the seat of government and of the mbang, and was divided into
several quarters (made up mainly of impermanent structures), with the pal
ace complex, the ger, at its heart. Barma (Bagirmi) cosmology was reflected
in the town plan, which symbolized the head and four limbs of a sacrificial
animal (Paques, 1977, p. 22), with the ger (which included a mosque) being
equally highly structured spatially (A. Lebeuf, 1967, pp. 224-225), thus
blending both Muslim and animist (represented by the sacrificial symbol
ism) elements.
Wadai
To the northeast of Bagirmi was a further small kingdom, Wadai, which

was ruled by the Tunjur until driven out in a so-called Jihad by Abd el
Karim in the early seventeenth century. As discussed earlier, the Tunjur
also ruled Darfur, and though the rulers superficially professed Islam and
had Arabic names, no attempt was made to spread Islam, in either Darfur
or Wadai. This occurred in Wadai only after the campaigns of Abd el Karim
(Trimingham, 1962, p. 139). The capital founded by Karim ca. A.D. 1640,
has been investigated on a number of occasions and consists of a group of
fired-brick buildings within an enclosure which was abandoned ca. A.D.
1850. These include a large mosque with a hexagonal minaret, a palace
and four "towers," and to the northeast the royal cemetery (see Balfour
Paul, 1954b, p. 15; De Neufville and Houghton, 1965, p. 202; J. P. Lebeuf
and Kirsch, 1989, p. 23). The links with the Nilotic Sudan evident in the
Darfur connection are further reinforced at a later date through the prose
lytizing activities of Funj clerics and teachers in the late seventeenth and
early eighteenth centuries (Trimingham, 1962), illustrating how the Central
Sudan should not be perceived as an obstacle between east and west, but
a bridge between the two.
Dar al-Kuti
The Dar al-Kuti sultanate, established south of the Aouk River in the
nineteenth century, was truly the frontier between Islam and non-Muslims
in central Africa, and in discussing it the very heart of the continent is
reached (Fig. 6). It was to here that Arab slavers, traveling northwest from
Zanzibar, made inroads into the Uele-Ubangi basin in search of slaves in

the nineteenth century (see below), while slaving missions were also made
from the west by the Muslim Fulani of Ngaoundere, vassals of the Sultan
of Yola, and from Wadai, Bagirmi and the animist Chadian borderlands of
Dar Runga in the north (Cordell, 1985; Kalck, 1993). Slavery was endemic
in this region and has thus had a great influence upon the nature of Islam.
Trimingham (1962, p. 219) describes Dar al-Kuti as a vague religious bor
derland where "chiefs and trading villages received an Islamic orientation,"
with a Muslim veneer apparent among certain individuals, outwardly visible
through Muslim dress, Arabic names, and the use of appellations such as
sultan or sultanate, though the number of Muslims remained, and remains,
small.
The degree of Islamization might have varied, but the material remains
of the capital of Dar al-Kuti, Ndele, founded in A.D. 1891, are evidently
those of a strong polity. These consist of a central stone-built citadel, po
sitioned for defense on a terrace and comprising a pentagonal structural
complex, divided internally into audience areas, women's quarters (harem),
etc. Around the citadel the rest of the town spread onto the neighboring
plains (Cordell, 1985, pp. 6-9). Islamic archaeological remains elsewhere
in the region (in the modern Central African Republic) have not been stud
ied, but investigation of the slaver's Zaribas (fortified enclosures) would be
of interest in studying the affect of Islam upon surrounding peoples, with
the threat of slavery perhaps acting as a persuasive incentive to conversion,
or at least the adoption of a Muslim veneer, the characteristics of which
were discussed above.
Miscellany
Various other polities could be discussed, the Fulani principalities of

Cameroon and the Kotoko sultanates of the same region, but a lack of
archaeological and historical evidence largely precludes their inclusion. One
interesting exception is a study of the interaction between the nomadic
Shuwa Arabs and the sedentary Kotoko in the Houlouf area of northern
Cameroon, where the often uneasy nomad-sedentary relationship is again
played out. Though both groups are Muslim, ethnoarchaeological studies
found that the Shuwa, immigrants from the Nile Valley, attempt to maintain
a distinctive ethnic identity through the use of material culture (Holl and
Levy, 1993). In contrast, the syncretism between Islam and animism so evi
dent in the Bagirmi capital and ger is again noticeable in the Logon-Birni
palace, a Kotoko "village state" (A. Lebeuf 1969; A. and J. P. Lebeuf, 1973),
perhaps reflecting the later acceptance of Islam among the Kotoko (in the
482 Insoll
south at least), a process which began about A.D. 1800, with the conversion
of the Logon ruler (Tnmingham, 1962, p. 212).
Summary
The arrival of Islam in the Central Sudan would appear to be more

recent in date than in the other regions discussed so far. The first conver
sions to Islam seem to have taken place in Kanem-Bornu in the eleventh
century. Yet it is probable that this is not correct, hints of Ibadi contacts
and of a much greater time depth for Muslim contacts exist, but the lack
of archaeological research hinders our understanding of these processes.
What is apparent is that the Central Sudan is the bridge across the conti
nent, from Darfur in the east to Songhai in the west, both areas were con
nected with, and sometimes took a direct hand in, the affairs of the Central
Sudan. But it is also evident that the nature of Islam in the Central Sudan
differs, a fact reflected in the archaeological record, from heavily Islamized
Kanem-Bornu to the syncretism of Bagirmi. It is also apparent that the
initial converts to Islam across the Central Sudan were the rulers of the
many different polities which existed. The trade connection so evident else
where is lacking, imported goods from the wider Islamic World, inscribed
tombstones and the like, are absent, but could this again be a reflection
of the absence of archaeological research, or is it a true representation of
the different nature of Islam and conversion processes in the Central Su
dan? A decade hence, such issues may be clearer.
THE WEST AFRICAN SUDAN AND FOREST
The second zone of Islamic penetration in west Africa was the Western
Sudan (Fig. 7), a region made up of grassland and wooded savannah. Far
ther to the south lies the west African forest zone (Fig. 7), which is also
discussed here, as it was via traders from the Western Sudan that Islam
was transmitted to the Forest zone, hence forming a useful continuum. Is
lam within this region is diverse in character and encompasses many ele
ments, from one of the great "medieval" empires, Mali, to the numerous
small trade centers of the Mande and the Islamic revivalist movements of
the nineteenth century. Numerous ethnic groups are also represented, per
haps more than in any of the other regions discussed here, except central
Africa. Yet despite this diversity, it is still possible to isolate the broad proc
esses of Islamization as represented in the archaeological record and his
torical sources.
sr3 Grg 3a Is
3 YendiDabari '\l^Vy777/7/y
V. iV^^-^-^S* ^ ^cameroon'Sr?p.
t Daboya % ^^fe^Z^^VV^
2 Larabanga r<? 0^X///^////X/
Z?0A/? CMS?- tfAAM&yJ--**^ J </y^////^CA
Fig. 7. The west African Sudan and Forest.
u L \>-j^j .;nt!s-^^Djenne(Jenne-jenoy/ //////////Y////
5 Begho andNsawkaw ^uiy///y^//^/>
tfffi* Jihad Areas_0_500m
484 Insoil
The Empire of Mali
The third great west African empire, successor to Ghana and prede
cessor to Songhai, Mali reached its peak in the early fourteenth century
and was, unlike Ghana and Songhai, geographically centered in the Western
Sudan. Although traditions record that the Kings of Mali were early con
verts to Islam in the twelfth century (Levtzion, 1985, p. 162), prior to the
midthirteenth century Islam within Mali was weak. The pilgrimage of the
Malian ruler, Mansa Ulli, between A.D. 1260 and A.D. 1277 changed this
somewhat as in the process he legitimized himself as a Muslim ruler. As
Hiskett notes, pilgrimage served as a means of gaining recognition for the
state from external Muslim powers, something exploited not only by Mali
but also, as we have seen, by the leaders of Songhai and Bornu (1994, pp.
94, 99). Certainly by the reign of Mansa Musa, who made an even more
grand pilgrimage in the early fourteenth century, Mali was said to have
resembled a true Muslim empire (Levtzion, 1985).
Unfortunately our main sources of evidence are purely historical. Ar
chaeological investigations with the aim of locating the capital of the Em
pire of Mali, Niani, were conducted just inside the Republic of Guinea
(Filipowiak, 1979, 1981), but the results were far from conclusive, and it
appears that this was not in fact the capital of the empire of Mali (Conrad,
1994). The remains of earthen round-houses set upon stone foundations,
tombs, a mosque, an audience chamber, and part of a "palace" were re
corded. An enthusiastic, but not altogether successful, attempt was made
to match the archaeological finds with the historical description of the capi
tal of Mali provided by Ibn Battuta in the midfourteenth century, a source
to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for the information he provides on
many areas of the continent. What is apparent from Battuta's description
is that Islam within Mali, even at this point in time, was syncretic in char
acter and infused with elements of traditional religion and ceremonial
(Hiskett, 1994, p. 100).
The Inland Niger Delta and Syncretism
Elsewhere in the region archaeological evidence does provide infor

mation on Islamization which suggests that this was gradual, which is in
accord with the processes apparent in the other regions of sub-Saharan
Africa discussed so far. The site of Jenne-jeno, it has been suggested, was
abandoned in favor of Djenne (ca. A.D. 1400), as it was considered too
tainted by pagan practices by the newly Islamized population (S. K. and
R. J. Mclntosh, 1980; S. K. Mclntosh, 1995). Prior to this, and beginning
ca. A.D. 1000, Jenne-jeno had gone through a period of decline, which
coincided with the appearance of north African influences (rectilinear
house plans and spindle whorls), suggesting that conversion to Islam was
a gradual process culminating in the "triumph of Islam" (R. J. and S. K.
Mclntosh, 1988, p. 156) ca. A.D. 1400. But even at Djenne we are observing
Islamization within an urban context; what of the bulk of the population,
the sedentary agriculturists who were touched upon earlier? At the site of
Tbguere Doupwil near Mopti-Sevare, in the Inland Niger Delta, non-Is
lamic urn burial was found dating from the fifteenth century, which led
the excavator to conclude, quite correctly, that, "Islamic influence did not
penetrate far beyond the well-known centers" (Bedaux, 1979, p. 34). We
know that Islam was in the wider region, at Djenne for example, but its
universal acceptance was far from complete.
Syncretism or "mixing" (Hiskett, 1994, p. 101) of beliefs between Islam
and traditional religion was a possible solution to the problem of increasing
Islamic franchise. Whether this was always a conscious process is difficult
to define, but its appearance, as we have seen, is visible in both the his
torical sources and the archaeological record. A further example can be
provided from northeastern Sierra Leone (Fig. 7), today predominantly
Muslim, where, somewhat unusually, mosques are occasionally round in
form and found lying adjacent to traditional shrines, thereby "indicating
the syncretic nature of religious beliefs" (De Corse, 1989, p. 135).
The Mande Traders
Possibly the most successful agents in spreading Islam away from the
urban centers and throughout the West African Sudan and Forest zones
were the Mande (Dyula, Wangara) traders. They established links between
the termini of the trans-Saharan trade routes in the Sahel and the savannah
and Forest zones. They also settled in separate merchant quarters alongside
the peoples of the southern forest and savannah areas in the same way
that the Berber and Arab merchants had settled in centers such as Koumbi
Saleh and Gao-Saney 500 years earlier. These traders dealt in a variety of
commodities, gold and kola nuts being among the most important, exchang
ing, among other things, cloth, metalwork, and horses in return. Two main
routes were in operation: from the Niger bend via Begho on the forest
fringe in Ghana (see below) to the gold producing regions of Ashanti and
from Timbuktu along the Niger to the coast at Sierra Leone (Vansina et
aL, 1964, p. 92). Unfortunately, the archaeological evidence testifying to
the former presence of these pioneers of Islam varies in quantity and qual
ity, as research itself has varied.
486 Insoll
Within modern Ghana a variety of sites with Muslim associations has

been investigated, producing a diverse range of evidence for the Mande,
long-distance trade and Islam (Fig. 7). At Begho, where the main period
of occupation was between A.D. 1400 and A.D. 1700, two possible Muslim
burials along with Mande-type ceramic roof drainpipes were found, other
wise evidence for a Muslim community was lacking (Posnansky, 1973; An
quandah, 1993, p. 649). However, indications for participation in
long-distance trade were found, including several sherds of Chinese porce
lain and clay weights of Islamic standard Mithqal and Uqiya made out of
shaped potsherds (Garrard, 1975, p. 66; Stahl, 1994, p. 86). These Islamic
standard weights were copied and assimilated by both Muslim and non
Muslim local groups, with even the famous Akan gold weights being influ
enced by Islamic prototypes (see Garrard, 1972a,b, 1973a,b). Several
discoveries of metalwork from the Islamic World (north Africa, Egypt,
Syria) have been reported from Ghana (Posnansky, 1973), further testimony
to Muslim Mande enterprise. For example, six bowls of Syrio-Egyptian ori
gin (midfourteenth-midfifteenth centuries) are still in existence in the
Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions, which were originally used for ritual
ablution purposes by Muslim traders, but eventually they found their way
into non-Muslim Akan hands (Silverman, 1982, pp. 13-15).
Further Muslim settlements have been investigated at Bono-Manso
(Effah-Gyamyi, 1985, p. 27) and at Buipe, an important trade center in
the Gonja state, where an undated mosque was recorded (Shinnie, 1980,
p. 69). Excavations at New Buipe showed that architectural change accom
panied the introduction of Islam, the use of rectangular flat-roofed archi
tecture utilizing projecting drainpipes, "a concomitant of Islam," and
differing from preceding architectural styles, was established by the six
teenth century (York, 1973), with a similar change in architecture noted at
Old Wiae, with a shift from circular to rectangular house plans occurring
in the midsixteenth century (Agorsah, 1986, p. 29). Also of interest is a
structure recorded at Yendi Dabari, which might possibly be the remains
of a caravansary, a hostel for travelers common in the Islamic world but,
to the author's knowledge, unique in this region. The building complex was
160 m long, divided into a series of sets of rooms, some once two-storied,
which led the excavator to conclude that "since buildings other than of
circular plan are foreign to Dagomba, and houses of more than one storey
rare, it is likely that this was a strangers' complex of warehouses and pad
docks for pack animals" (Ozanne, 1971, pp. 55-56).
Mande (Yarse) villages were not confined solely to modern Ghana. In
the area covered by Burkina Faso, trade centers were established along the
major caravan trails thus further disseminating Islam from the late sixteenth
century. Settlements included Kaya, Rakaye, Patenga, and later in the
eighteenth century, Ouagadougou, where the Mande had their own quarter.
In general, the spread of Islam was dependent on the goodwill of the pagan
Mossi Kings, which was not always forthcoming (Audouin and Deniel, 1978;
Skinner, 1966; Bravmann, 1974). Similar settlements were located in the
Ivory Coast, with Kong in the north of the country, a particularly important
center (Bernus, 1960).
The Yoruba
Having concentrated primarily upon Muslim influence in the west of

the region, mention should also be made of the archaeology of early Islam
within southern Nigeria, in Yorubaland (Fig. 7). In general, little is known
about the first penetration of Muslims into the area except that they came
from the northwest of Nigeria and were in Yorubaland by the seventeenth
century. By the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries Muslim commu
nities of varying size were recorded in many of the large towns, including
Badagry and Ogbomoso (Gbadamosi, 1978; Parrinder, 1953). The activities
of the initial Muslim missionaries in Yorubaland would appear to have been
reasonably successful, as by the end of the eighteenth century the Yoruba
themselves were propagating Islam in neighboring Togo and Benin (ex-Da
homey). In both Benin and southern Nigeria unique mosques were built in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These are often mistaken
for churches owing to the use of a front elevation made up of a central
pediment flanked by two towers, in effect a European Baroque design, which
was transmitted through the Portuguese to Bahia in Brazil and then brought
back to west Africa by returning slaves (Khan, 1994, pp. 254-255).
Jihad and the Islamic Revivalist Movements
The Fulani Jihad of Uthman dan Fodio in the Central Sudan has al
ready been discussed; similar militant Islamic reform movements were in
itiated for various reasons, almost contemporaneously, in the Western
Sudan and Forest zones, their characteristic achievement being the creation
of "centralized Islamic polities forged either out of the autonomous prin
cipalities of half-hearted Muslim chiefs prone to mixing or out of the frag
mented pieces of the medieval empires of the Sahel" (Hiskett, 1994, p.
114). Notable among these was the Masina Jihad raised against the pagan
Fulani and Bambara by Sekou Hamadou in the early nineteenth century.
The capital, Hamdallahi, founded in A.D. 1819-1820 by Sekou Hamadou
and situated 21 km southeast of Mopti, has been partially excavated (Gallay
488 Insoll
et aL, 1990; Huysecom, 1991). The plan of the city revealed that it was
fortified with a wall of sun-dried brick and had at its heart the congrega
tional mosque and Hamadou's palace, side by side, illustrating the lack of
differentiation between the secular and sacred aspects of life in Islam.
In the second half of the 19th century A.D. even larger movements
were initiated, including that of Al-Hajj 'Umar in the Futa Toro region on
the River Senegal and the mountainous Futa Jallon (Guinea, Sierra
Leone). Islamic expansion at this time was achieved, to quote Trimingham
(1962, p. 155), "by means of the alliance of the sword and the book," and
conversions to Islam were on an unprecedented scale. Unfortunately, ar
chaeological sites associated with these movements and with the Jihadi pe
riod, in general, have still largely to be investigated. The Fulani mosque
architecture is of interest, however, as it too has developed its own unique
character, a dome of thatch over a square sanctuary (Leary, 1978, p. 277).
In the Futa Toro region the initial inspiration was drawn from the plan of
the earliest mosque, the Prophet's dwelling in Medina (Bourdier, 1993).
Summary
The penetration of Islam into the Western Sudan and Forest zones is
comparatively late in date, starting with the nominal Islamization of the
rulers of Mali in the twelfth century. Moving south, it gets progressively
later and can be said to be an ongoing process in some areas. A further
important feature of Islam in the region is the unity lent to much of the
Islamization process and the resultant material culture legacy through the
actions of the Mande, whose energetic and, it must be remembered, es
sentially peaceful, trading activities served to spread Islam far from their
savanna homelands to the forest fringe between the fifteenth and the eight
eenth centuries. A less peaceful dimension was added by the Jihads of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which swept through much of the re
gion and served to spread Islam much farther, deep into the forests, in
creasing conversions and, perhaps most importantly, in many areas either
drove the syncretic tradition underground or caused it to disappear alto
gether, to be replaced by a more orthodox brand of Islam.
THE AFRICAN INTERIOR, EAST, CENTRAL, AND

SOUTHERN AFRICA
This was the last region of Islamic penetration in sub-Saharan Africa

(Fig. 8), a vast area whose inhabitants, except in a few limited places (Zam
- H. A S
Fig. 8. The African interior, east, central, and southern Africa.
bezi area, the Cape), had almost no contact with Islam prior to the com
mencement of activities by Muslim Arab and Swahili traders who entered
the interior in the nineteenth century in search of ivory and slaves (Alpers,
1975). Thus we reach the other end of our time scale, far removed geo
490 Insoll
graphically and temporally from the early Muslim contacts with the Horn
of Africa.
Southern Africa
Pre-European Contacts with Islam
The existence of trade between the interior and the lower reaches of
the East African Coast has already been discussed, but this was not ac
companied by local conversions to Islam. The first area of southern Africa
integrated into the network of Indian Ocean trade was Mapungubwe in
the Limpopo basin, where glass trade beads, some of Egyptian origin, were
found dating from between the ninth and the twelfth centuries (Voigt, 1983;
Saitowitz et al, 1996). Ivory and animal skins were exported to the coast
until the late twelfth century, when circumstances appear to have changed,
precipitated by the rise in demand for gold which led to a shift in coastal
interior trade northward, centered on the Zimbabwe Plateau (Hall, 1987,
pp. 89-98). A hoard of trade goods, including sherds of thirteenth-century
Chinese celadon, a Persian bowl, and thousands of glass beads, was dis
covered at the site of Great Zimbabwe, attesting to the volume of the gold
trade with the coast (Garlake, 1973; Hall, 1987, p. 99). Similar trade goods
of Indian Ocean origin, such as glass beads, have been reported from else
where in the region, in Botswana, for example (Sinclair, 1987, pp. 150-151),
and at Ingombe Ilede in Southern Zambia, imported Indian textile frag
ments and glass beads of fifteenth-century date were found (Fagan, 1969;
Hall, 1987, p. 98). No direct archaeological evidence for the presence of
Muslims has yet been reported for this period, though Swahili Muslim com
munities are reported to have settled for commercial reasons in the Zam
bezi area by A.D. 1500, Muslim communities whose descendants were
wiped out in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Hiskett, 1994, pp.
157, 167).
The Dutch and Islam
Although perhaps a strange concept, the Dutch settlers who arrived

in A.D. 1652 were directly responsible for bringing Islam to the far south
of the continent, through the importation of Javanese and Malays from
the Dutch East Indies, people later somewhat offensively termed, "Cape
Coloreds" (Hiskett, 1994, p. 174). Initially converted houses were used for
prayers, with the first purpose built mosque in South Africa, the Auwal
mosque in Cape Town, built by the Muslim community, ca. A.D. 1811 (Du
Plessis, 1972; Bradlow and Cairns, 1978, pp. 88-90). Subsequently the Mus
lim community in southern Africa was enriched by the arrival of immigrants
from the Indian subcontinent (Chidester, 1992), who contributed to the
spread and character of Islam throughout the region, with substantial In
dian Muslim communities not only in South Africa, but in interior Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda, and Malawi, for example.
Eastern Interior and Central Africa
It was into this region that Muslim Swahili and Arab traders pene
trated in search of slaves and ivory in the nineteenth century. Routes
stretched from the Swahili coast, from towns such as Bagamoyo and Kilwa
Kivinje, via inland trade centers, Tkbora and Ujiji, for example, and then
around Lake Victoria to the interlacustrine kingdoms, or west deep into
the heart of Africa. Their religion obviously accompanied the traders, but
the effects of Islam were by no means uniform: in some areas Islam made
great inroads; in others the effect was negligible. Local circumstances had
much of an impact, but it is true to say that had not European involvement
in the region severely disrupted most areas of life, the numbers of Muslims
today would be substantially greater.
Kings and Soldiers
Within the region certain astute rulers saw the advantages Islam could
offer, in access to trade goods or for prestige perhaps. One of the most
influential of these was Kabaka Mutesa I (ca. A.D. 1856-1884) of Buganda,
who deftly played off the two competing religions on offer, Islam and Chris
tianity; Christianity being represented by both Catholicism and Protestant
ism, which were themselves in conflict. The material results of the Muslim
presence in Buganda (which largely await investigation) included the build
ing of mosques, the adoption of the robe and turban, and the introduction
of certain cereals, fruits, and vegetables (Oded, 1974, pp. 72-96; Soghay
roun, 1984, pp. 145-149; Insoll, 1996c). Islam also had an influence in other
kingdoms, including Bunyoro, in what is today Uganda.
A further dimension to the archaeology of Islam in interior east-cen
tral Africa is provided by the forts built by Emin Pasha, an Egyptian official,
in the southern Sudan and northern Uganda. These, such as the examples
at Wadelai and Dufile, were built in the late nineteenth century when Emin
Pasha's force was cut off from the rest of the Nilotic Sudan by the Mahdist
492 Insoll
rising (Posnansky and De Corse, 1986, p. 8). As well as again illustrating

the interconnections between the regions of the continent, they provide
another example of the diversity of Islamic material culture in sub-Saharan
Africa, as the garrisons of these outposts were often made up of Egyptian
troops, predominantly Muslims, occupying this southern and majority ani
mist region.
Traders
Although Swahili and Arab traders were again the agents for the
spread of Islam, it should be noted that they differed greatly from, for
example, the Mande, who were essentially peaceful in outlook, were more
violent in nature and linked with slave raiding. Trade posts were established,
as at Nyangwe and Kasongo on the Lualaba River, but unfortunately in
formation on the Arab settlements in both Tanzania and Zaire has not yet
been obtained from archaeological research, but from the accounts of
European explorers and soldiers. What is known is that the settlements
were often very comfortable, equipped with well-built houses and with ex
tensive plantations worked by slaves (Hinde, 1897, pp. 184-185). Eventually
the coastal raiders and traders came to control a large area, delimited by
the River Lukuga in the south, the River Lomami to the southwest, the
confluence of the Lopori and Bolombo Rivers in the northwest, and by
A.D. 1889, the vicinity of Lake Albert in the north (Ceulemans, 1966, p.
189) (Fig. 8).
Perhaps one of the best known of these Swahili traders was Tippu Tip,
whose "sultanate," Utetera, flourished in the late nineteenth century in the
vicinity of the Stanley Falls (De Thier, 1963; Hiskett, 1994, p. 173). Al
though conversion to Islam did take place among the local population, it
should be remembered that the primary reason for the traders' presence
far from their homelands was trade, and not prostelyization (Levtzion,
1985b, p. 190); coastal customs and the Swahili language spread, but large
scale conversion to Islam was not encouraged and did not take place (Is
lamic law is very precise on who could be enslaved, Muslims could not,
hence the apparent reticence in encouraging conversions).
However, among the Yao of Malawi, trade was accompanied by sub
stantial conversions to Islam, albeit slowly. The original homeland of the
Yao was in northern Mozambique and trade between here and the coast
in tobacco and skins, which were exchanged for salt, cloth, and beads, was
established by the seventeenth century (Mitchell, 1956, p. 23). Prestige was
of importance, and facilitated conversion to Islam, as travel to the coast
was considered prestigious, and thus aspects of Muslim coastal life were
adopted by the Yao. The first Swahili traders actually entered Yao country
in the eighteenth century, accompanied by Islamic teachers (Levtzion,
1985b, p. 190) (which may explain why Islamic conversions were on a larger
scale). In the nineteenth century the Yao migrated into southern Malawi,
and the first conversion to Islam among the ruling class occurred in A.D.
1870 (Hiskett, 1994, p. 172). Muslim influence was visible, and Livingstone
noticed the influence of the coast on architecture and dress at the Yao
capital, Mwembe, which was designed to resemble a coastal town, when
he visited in 1866 (Thorold, 1987, p. 22).
Summary
Islam reached the African interior last of all, but as can be seen, in
many areas the effects have been profound. This vast area also abuts many
of the other regions which have already been discussed and, in many cases,
interlinks with events occurring elsewhere; northern Uganda was thus con
nected with the Nilotic Sudan, Dar al-Kuti borders the termini of the east
African Swahili and Arab traders and slavers travels, and the East African
Coast was intimately connected with events in much of southern and east
central Africa. It was stated at the beginning of this section that events in
the east, central, and southern African interior were far removed geo
graphically and temporally from the first Muslim contacts across the Red
Sea; as regards direct parallels this can of course be said to be true, but
indirectly we have charted a continuous process around the continent, with
the relationship between Islam and the peoples of Africa at its core.
CONCLUSIONS
The Nature of Islam
The role of Islam in shaping the history and cultural development of

Africa south of the Sahara is profound. Almost every country within sub
Saharan Africa has some form of archaeological evidence attesting to this
(except the west coast from Namibia to Gabon), ranging in scale from the
isolated funerary monument to the complete settlement. The nature of Is
lam and Islamization can be seen to vary across the continent both in time
depth and in the material culture remains left behind. The Red Sea Coast,
the area of earliest contact, where contacts with Muslims began in the first
century of Islam, borders the Christian Ethiopian Highlands, the only re
gion in Africa where three World religions have been in continuous contact:
494 Insoll
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (represented by the Falasha). Elsewhere

in sub-Saharan Africa, Islam has supplanted Christianity, as in the Nilotic
Sudan, or fused with traditional religions to create a syncretic and uniquely
African Islam, perhaps best represented in the west African Sudan and
Forest zones.
In the Western Sahel and on the East African Coast, important en
trepots were situated, and broad parallels can be drawn. In the Western
Sahel local rulers tolerated the foreign Muslim merchants for the benefits
they brought: literacy and improved administration, law in the form of
Shari'a. Eventually these rulers converted, and the progression of Islam
through the region can be charted archaeologically and historically. On the
East African Coast, the impact of Islam outside the trade centers is less
visible, with an apparent focus outwards to the Indian Ocean, but here
African, foreign, and Muslim elements fused and the unique Swahili civi
lization was created. Indigenous agents of Islam, Swahili in the east and
the Mande in the west, were to spread Islam far into the interior of, re
spectively, eastern-central and western Africa.
In southern Africa processes again differ; trade goods originating in
the Islamic world are found, while Muslims themselves were largely absent
prior to the arrival of Europeans, who brought with them Indonesian Mus
lims, thereby adding to the rich tapestry of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the Central Sudan, the region which perhaps remains one of the least
known, important empires, kingdoms, and emirates were to flourish and
disappear. Islam gradually spread throughout the Central Sudan, part of
which, along with the West African Sudan and Forest zones, was to witness
and be the arena for a wave of Islamic revival and jihad. Jihad, through
conquest, was to spread Islam even farther and, in turn, generated its own
peculiar material culture legacy.
Uniformity and Diversity
Much uniformity in the processes of Islamic transmission is noticeable.

Nomads, merchants, and rulers were commonly primary converts, followed
soon after by town-dwellers and, finally, sedentary agriculturists. But this
was more often than not a long, drawn-out process over the course of sev
eral centuries, contrary to traditions that try and persuade us that conver
sions of a complete population were simultaneous. In contrast to the largely
uniform processes of Islamic transmission, there is great diversity in the
archaeological remains found (and, in certain cases, in the schools of Islam
followed). T3vo primary reasons for this can be isolated. Firstly, no one area
of the Islamic world held a monopoly over contacts with sub-Saharan Af
rica; different regions exerted influences on different areas, north Africa

upon the Western Sahel and the Persian Gulf upon the East African Coast,
for example. Secondly, although common categories of evidence are re
corded, both attesting directly to the acceptance of Islam (mosques and
Muslim burials, for example) and indirectly to contacts with the Muslim
World (trade goods), within each of these categories great variety is mani
fest. Other than trade goods, Islamic material culture was not directly trans
ferred per sey from the Muslim heartland's of Arabia, the Near East, and
the Persian Gulf. Rather, it has been adapted and has evolved within the
sub-Saharan African context to suit a variety of lifestyles and environments.
Numerous local traditions have developed, with, for example, the Islamic
architecture of the Horn of Africa differing from that of the Western Sahel,
which in turn differs from that found on the East African Coast.
Social Processes
Inevitably, many questions remain to be answered. For example, we

might know something of the architecture of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa,
and the impact it had upon indigenous styles and techniques, but we know
next to nothing about the similar changes wrought on diet and dietary hab
its by conversion to Islam, information which can also be provided by ar
chaeology (see Insoll, 1997). Perhaps of greater importance is the need to
move beyond merely cataloguing data and being concerned solely with de
scription (though as with most of this paper, it has to form the starting
point). We must begin to consider seriously in greater detail the actual
impact of Islam on the way people lived throughout the continent south
of the Sahara, and why they converted to Islam. As shown above, these
are questions for which at present we have only the sketchiest of answers,
but to achieve an understanding in any depth a conceptual shift is needed,
i.e. considering the social aspects of conversion to Islam and Islamization
in sub-Saharan Africa, which after all is concerned primarily with ideology
and religious processes which are firmly within the social domain. In this
respect, we may learn something from observing current processes behind
the spread and acceptance of Islam, which is still occurring in many areas
of the continent, and which might breathe life into our archaeological in
terpretations. Secondly, practical measures also need to be undertaken in
correcting the regional imbalance which is plainly apparent in archaeologi
cal research.
In conclusion, it is hoped that this paper will have succeeded in some
small way in generating interest in the subject, both in illustrating the many
496 Insoll
gaps in our knowledge and in providing the first tentative stepping-stone

for the way forward.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to John Alexander, David Phillipson, Thurstan Shaw,

and Rachel MacLean for reading and commenting on various sections of
the manuscript. All omissions and errors, are of course, my own.
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The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review

Author(s): Timothy Insoll

The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan

The impact of Islam within sub-Saharan Africa has been profound.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a vast region, and the archaeology of Islam an

lSt John's College, Cambridge, CB2 1TP, U.K.

0892-7537/96/120O-O439S09.50A) O 19% Plenum Publishing Corporation

with a complex set of rules structuring many aspects of life. Historical

geographical progression chosen in approaching the material broadly fol

Having introduced sub-Saharan Africa, it is also necessary to briefly

The Spread and Impact of Islam?

tional markets, or peacefully acquiring commodities such as kola nuts for

ETHIOPIA AND THE HORN OF AFRICA

Fig. 2. Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.

el-Kebir, the principal island of the Dahlak Archipelago in the Gulf of

similar information on settlements within Djibouti is lacking, and further

they provide information on the local dynasties, and on interregional and

THE NILOTIC SUDAN AND NUBIA

The modern Republic of the Sudan is the largest country in Africa,

century. The geographical and ethnic diversity is thus reflected in the ar

The Red Sea Coast and Beja Country

The earliest Islamic archaeological remains in the Nilotic Sudan are

Nubia, the Nile, and Southern Sudan

(Hiskett, 1994, p. 67). This region offers an unparalleled opportunity for

third cataract, a region beyond Ottoman control (Crawford, 1951) and an

placed by Tnmingham (1949) at Banjang, near Renk, on the White Nile

Our third geographical unit, Darfur, presents yet another dimension

gested, may be an indicator of the adoption of Islam as the court religion

Islam within the Sudan is extremely diverse in character, as is the ar

fenses offered by the Ethiopian Highlands, where, as we have seen, Chris

THE EAST AFRICAN COAST AND OFFSHORE ISLANDS

Pre A.D. 1000

commerce. Besides imported ceramics, these included locally minted silver

Post A.D. 1000

The North Coast

Trade increased in importance after A.D. 1000, and Islamization of

The indigenization of Islam, as we saw with the evolution of the Swa

The South Coast

basa. Two important Islamic architectural monuments, the great mosque

turies (Horton, personal communication; Insoll, 1996b). A merchant's

The Far Off"Shore Islands

fiato ware dated to the eleventh-thirteenth centuries. This was recovered

THE WESTERN SAHEL

On the opposite side of the continent a similar group of entrepots was

) \6ao iMarendet Agadez

L.FagutbiM Kidai i Fig. 5. The Western Sahel.

Ma den Ijafen OuaJata

First Contacts, Pre A.D. 900

The Arabic historical sources record that north African merchants be

Islam, Empires, and Trade Centers Post A.D. 900

Traders and Early Trade Centers

Beginning in the tenth century there is an increase in archaeological

At Tegdaoust, as has already been mentioned, the earliest evidence

Rulers, City-Dwellers, Empires, and Kingdoms

ported material recovered, however, was in smaller quantities than would

Nomads, Sedentary Agriculturists, and Sufis

In general, conversion to Islam prior to the Jihads of the late eight

The archaeology of Islam in the Western Sahel is again trade related

through archaeological and historical evidence, sources which are not al

THE CENTRAL SUDAN

V//AWAW^ ciNTRAL X/W//

y///%//^ -i AFRICAN REPUBLIC <(//

Fig. 6. The Central Sudan.