Compte-rendu: Atlas national du Sénégal

Summary

This document comprises three French-language academic book reviews, collectively assessing scholarly works published in the late 1970s and early 1980s on the history of the medieval West African empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhay). The first review highly praises the proceedings of the third international colloquium organized by the S.C.O.A. Association, which utilized the oral traditions of the griot Wa Kamissoko, combined with archaeological findings and Arabic sources, for a multidisciplinary investigation into the history of the Mali Empire and others, while noting shortcomings such as the lack of an index. The second review offers a detailed critique of the historical plates in the 'National Atlas of Senegal', acknowledging their multidisciplinary value and originality but also pointing out factual errors, chronological inconsistencies, and an oversimplification or exaggeration of certain historical phenomena like resistance movements and population distribution. The third review introduces Adam Konaré's monograph on Sonni Ali Ber, the Songhay emperor, commending its use of Arabic sources and oral tradition to explore his religious policies, conquests, and conflicts with Islamic scholars and the Fulbe, while also raising new questions for future research.