Review: National Atlas of Senegal

Summary

This review article critically assesses three publications that shed light on the precolonial history of the West African Sahel and Senegal. The proceedings of the SCOA colloquium present newly transcribed oral traditions of the Ghana, Mali, and Songhay empires, centered on the narratives of griot Wa Kamissoko and complemented by archaeological updates and methodological debates on combining Arabic, oral, and material sources. The reviewer lauds the interdisciplinary richness but laments the lack of an index that would make the data accessible to non-participants. The *Atlas national du Sénégal* is then examined, with a focus on five historical plates covering ancient Senegambian kingdoms, seventeenth-century cartography, resistance to colonial conquest, and nineteenth-century imperialism. While acknowledging the atlas’s collaborative and multidisciplinary value, the author identifies significant flaws: questionable ethnic classifications, hypothetical frontier delimitations (especially for Kaabu and Jolof), chronological errors, and a neglect of socio-economic dynamics and popular resistances. Finally, Adam Konaré Ba’s monograph on Sonni Ali Ber is reviewed, highlighting its use of Arabic chronicles and Sonhantyé oral memory to reconstruct the ruler’s religiously syncretic empire-building, yet noting unresolved questions about his relations with the ulama of Timbuktu and the circumstances of the Askia’s ascent. Throughout, the article underscores the necessity of critical source analysis and interdisciplinary dialogue for advancing African historical research.