Elites Religion List
A viewset for viewing and editing Elites Religions.
GET /api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=2
{ "count": 448, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=3", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api", "results": [ { "id": 51, "polity": { "id": 657, "name": "ni_formative_yoruba", "long_name": "Late Formative Yoruba", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 1049 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 54, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Ruler Cult", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Another significant development that took place during the LF [Late Formative] era was the transformation in religious worship and ideology, with the accompanying emergence of minimalist figurative human sculptures. The Oramfe cult/deity that had held together the loose socio political confederacy of the Early Formative polities in Ile-Ife ceased to be the nexus of political ideology and religious worship. Rather an elaborate and hierarchical ritual structure developed and the royal personality rather than the physical landscape became the focus of religious activities at the community level. Although natural phenomena such as hills and rivers continued to play important roles in religious worship, not only did royal rituals become the core of public participation but also the institutions of these rituals became a major source of patronage of arts and of religious and social values.” […] “This association suggests that the artistic innovations of the LFP [Late Formative Period] were derived in part from the structural contexts of the preceding EFP [Early Formative Period] and in part from the factional conflicts that pervaded the LFP. In fact, the figurative human stone sculptures from Ile-Ife are associated in the oral traditions and religious worship with the political leaders that belonged to the Obatala factional group: Obatala, Oreluere, and Ijugbe. It seems that the emergence of humanism-realism in stone sculptures especially in rendition of political figures of the Late Formative Period, was an innovation that developed in the context of the shifts in political cleavages that narrowed the apparatus of decision-making to few personalities. The pervading conflicts of the period most likely accentuated the visibility of leaders with charismatic and strong personalities. The leadership skills and talents of those individuals, as administrators and warriors, earned them ascribed supernatural qualities that formerly applied to only the non-human entities such as Oramfe hill. These deified personalities therefore became the focus of religious worship and artistic representation.” §REF§ (Ogundiran 2003: 45) Ogundiran, Akinwumi. 2003. ‘Chronology, Material Culture, and Pathways to the Cultural History of Yoruba-Edo Region, 500 B.C. – A.D. 1800. In Sources and Methods in African History: Spoken, Written, Unearthed. Edited by Toyin Falola and Christian Jennings. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. Seshat URL:<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HXUJMWBD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HXUJMWBD </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 52, "polity": { "id": 686, "name": "tz_karagwe_k", "long_name": "Karagwe", "start_year": 1500, "end_year": 1916 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There is little doubt that immigrant Babito kings relied heavily on their supposed dynastic relationship to the Cwezi in their quest for ideological legitimacy. Kings made public pilgrimages and gave generous gifts to the shrines of Cwezi deities on behalf of their people. That Cwezi deities all had their own Nilotic mpako (pet) names, which were used by the initiated in their supplications, supports the argument that the incoming Nilotic Babito attempted to domesticate a pre-existing religious system (Beattie 1961a: 13).5 Yet this relationship between kings and Cwezi spirits was ever-evolving, shaped, it seems, by the complexities of alliance building and favour seeking. That the priestly elite maintained some autonomy and influence was best illustrated during royal succession struggles, when shrine heads sometimes accepted the risks involved in partisanship.\" §REF§(Doyle 2007: 563) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 53, "polity": { "id": 671, "name": "ni_dahomey_k", "long_name": "Foys", "start_year": 1715, "end_year": 1894 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 55, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Vodun", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“At Annual Customs, kings assembled the entire population, offered sacrifices, conducted Vodun ceremonies, gave gifts, reviewed the previous year, and planned future activities.” §REF§ (Shillington 2005: 333) Shillington, Kevin, ed. Encyclopedia of African History. 1st Ed., Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005; 333. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/AWA9ZT5B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: AWA9ZT5B </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 54, "polity": { "id": 693, "name": "tz_milansi_k", "long_name": "Fipa", "start_year": 1600, "end_year": 1890 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 91, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "unknown", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "No information found in the literature consulted." }, { "id": 55, "polity": { "id": 673, "name": "ni_wukari_fed", "long_name": "Wukari Federation", "start_year": 1820, "end_year": 1899 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 58, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Jukun Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Inferred from the fact that no other religion is mentioned in the literature consulted." }, { "id": 56, "polity": { "id": 626, "name": "zi_mutapa", "long_name": "Mutapa", "start_year": 1450, "end_year": 1880 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 59, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mwali Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Karanga chief serves as both political and religious leader…. His power was believed to derive from the link between the land and his ancestral spirits…, thereby making the chief’s ancestors of vital importance to the entire population…When a chief died, power passed to his male heir. The chief then became an important ancestor who had joined the rank [sic] of spirits offering guardianship and aid to the people…. As is the case among the Karanga today, recognition and propitiation of ancestor spirits at Great Zimbabwe seem to have been a central part of the belief system…. Karanga oral tradition suggests that the Mwari cult began at Great Zimbabwe.” §REF§ (Steadman 2009, 264-266) Sharon R. Steadman, The Archaeology of Religion: Cultures and Their Beliefs in Worldwide Context (London: Routledge, 2009). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N4R4GHNJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: N4R4GHNJ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 57, "polity": { "id": 642, "name": "so_geledi_sultanate", "long_name": "Sultanate of Geledi", "start_year": 1750, "end_year": 1911 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 10, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sufi Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“With a long tradition of trading connections to the Arabian Peninsula, the Somalis were converted to Islam at an early date[...].” §REF§ (Lewis 2008, 1-2) Lewis, Ioan M. 2008. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. New York, Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7J425GTZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7J425GTZ </b></a> §REF§ \"African Islam, at least south of the Sahara, has been strongly influenced by Sufism. This has made it much more eclectic, flexible, and less vulnerable, if not wholly immune, to external stridency than might otherwise have been the case.\" §REF§ (Reid 2011, 59) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CZB48WKQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CZB48WKQ </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 58, "polity": { "id": 669, "name": "ni_hausa_k", "long_name": "Hausa bakwai", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1808 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 4, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Islam first appeared between the 11th and 14th centuries, while Christianity arrived in the 19th century. Initially, Islam attracted only the elite desirous of power and trade. The emergence of the Sokoto Caliphate in the 19th century spurred the spread of Islam from royalty to the common people.” §REF§Falola, Toyin, and Ann Genova. Historical Dictionary of Nigeria. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009: xxxiii. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SJAIVKDW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SJAIVKDW </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 59, "polity": { "id": 774, "name": "mw_early_maravi", "long_name": "Early Maravi", "start_year": 1400, "end_year": 1499 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 45, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Maravi Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There can be no doubt that the Maravi rulers saw the existing territorial shrines as a hindrance to their ambitions, and those who controlled the shrines viewed the state cults as a threat to their position[...]. [T]he only workable solution may have been some adaptation of the autochthonous religion in combination with their own cult. [...] It seems clear from traditions collected in several parts of Maravi country that the Mbewe clan put up a most vigorous resistance, which is understandable in view of their central role in the cult system. On several occasions the Maravi resorted to the use of arms to bring about the desired innovations. At a very early stage one of the Kalongas sent war parties up to Kaphirintiwa [traditionally believed to the oldest shrine], but these were successfully repulsed by the Mbewe. \"The next stage may have been a Maravi attempt to set up a rival system. This is suggested by a body of tradition which is found among both the northern and southern Maravi and which in our case is represented by the biographies in the Mbona II and III traditions. In Texts II/A and II/B the rulers of the early states try to establish their own rain-calling agencies.\" §REF§(Schoeffeleers 1992: 47-48) Schoeffeleers, J.M. 1992. River of Blood: The Genesis of a Martyr Cult in Southern Malawi, c. A.D. 1600. The University of Wisconsin Press: 33-34. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A88E23E4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: A88E23E4 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 60, "polity": { "id": 694, "name": "rw_bugesera_k", "long_name": "Bugesera", "start_year": 1700, "end_year": 1799 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There is little doubt that immigrant Babito kings relied heavily on their supposed dynastic relationship to the Cwezi in their quest for ideological legitimacy. Kings made public pilgrimages and gave generous gifts to the shrines of Cwezi deities on behalf of their people. That Cwezi deities all had their own Nilotic mpako (pet) names, which were used by the initiated in their supplications, supports the argument that the incoming Nilotic Babito attempted to domesticate a pre-existing religious system (Beattie 1961a: 13).5 Yet this relationship between kings and Cwezi spirits was ever-evolving, shaped, it seems, by the complexities of alliance building and favour seeking. That the priestly elite maintained some autonomy and influence was best illustrated during royal succession struggles, when shrine heads sometimes accepted the risks involved in partisanship.\" §REF§(Doyle 2007: 563) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 61, "polity": { "id": 624, "name": "zi_great_zimbabwe", "long_name": "Great Zimbabwe", "start_year": 1270, "end_year": 1550 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 59, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mwali Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Karanga chief serves as both political and religious leader…. His power was believed to derive from the link between the land and his ancestral spirits…, thereby making the chief’s ancestors of vital importance to the entire population…When a chief died, power passed to his male heir. The chief then became an important ancestor who had joined the rank [sic] of spirits offering guardianship and aid to the people…. As is the case among the Karanga today, recognition and propitiation of ancestor spirits at Great Zimbabwe seem to have been a central part of the belief system…. Karanga oral tradition suggests that the Mwari cult began at Great Zimbabwe.” §REF§ (Steadman 2009, 264-266) Sharon R. Steadman, The Archaeology of Religion: Cultures and Their Beliefs in Worldwide Context (London: Routledge, 2009). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N4R4GHNJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: N4R4GHNJ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 62, "polity": { "id": 684, "name": "ug_toro_k", "long_name": "Toro", "start_year": 1830, "end_year": 1896 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There is little doubt that immigrant Babito kings relied heavily on their supposed dynastic relationship to the Cwezi in their quest for ideological legitimacy. Kings made public pilgrimages and gave generous gifts to the shrines of Cwezi deities on behalf of their people. That Cwezi deities all had their own Nilotic mpako (pet) names, which were used by the initiated in their supplications, supports the argument that the incoming Nilotic Babito attempted to domesticate a pre-existing religious system (Beattie 1961a: 13).5 Yet this relationship between kings and Cwezi spirits was ever-evolving, shaped, it seems, by the complexities of alliance building and favour seeking. That the priestly elite maintained some autonomy and influence was best illustrated during royal succession struggles, when shrine heads sometimes accepted the risks involved in partisanship.\" §REF§(Doyle 2007: 563) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 63, "polity": { "id": 683, "name": "ug_buganda_k_2", "long_name": "Buganda II", "start_year": 1717, "end_year": 1894 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 63, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buganda Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"[A] singular Bugandan religion was common to all Baganda, with a variety of deities called lubaale to whom temples and priests were devoted. While lubaale were considered former clan members, they could be and were worshipped by all Baganda, since “it was the question of locality, not of kinship, that decided to which of the prophets an inquirer should go.” Indeed, according to Mair this is one of several “peculiarities” that “distinguish it from the religious ceremonies of Bantu Africa” along with the lack of any regular obligatory ceremonies.\"§REF§ (Green 2010) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/248264BS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 248264BS </b></a>§REF§ Note that Islam and Christianity were introduced towards the end of the period in consideration. \"[I]t is clear that the coming of the Arabs and Europeans and the establishment of British colonial rule in the late 19th century did much to destroy a good deal of whatever national solidarity existed in Bugandan society. Foremost was the introduction of Islam in the 1860s and Christianity in the 1870s, which left Buganda – and Uganda – divided among Catholics (who now comprise some 42% of the current population of Uganda), Anglicans (39%) and Muslims (5-11%). No longer did a single religion unite Buganda, and these divisions would come to play a very large role in colonial and post-colonial politics in Buganda.\"§REF§(Green 2010) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/248264BS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 248264BS </b></a> §REF§ “Among those present were the chief officers and courtiers and a selection of the provincial chiefs in attendance; also certain people who would find no place in the colonial system – fantastically garbed ‘sorceresses’, really mediums of the spiritual powers, and probably other counsellors known as ‘doctors’ or ‘diviners’.” §REF§ (Wrigley 1996: 59) Wrigley, Christopher. 1996. Kingship and State: The Buganda Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQX3NDP9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XQX3NDP9 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 64, "polity": { "id": 709, "name": "pt_portuguese_emp_2", "long_name": "Portuguese Empire - Early Modern", "start_year": 1640, "end_year": 1806 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Papal Bulls tended to confirm this divided Iberian sovereignty over the non-Christian world by assigning the revenues and patronage of the overseas Church to the kings of Portugal and Castile, respectively.” §REF§ (Berkwitz 2017: 37) Berkwitz, Stephen C. 2017. ‘The Portuguese Discovery of Buddhism: Locating Religion in Early Modern Asia. In Locating Religions: Contacts, Diversity, Translocality. Edited by Nikolas Jaspart et.al. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/87HIGJKH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 87HIGJKH </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 65, "polity": { "id": 612, "name": "ni_nok_1", "long_name": "Middle and Late Nok", "start_year": -1500, "end_year": -901 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 67, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Nok Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Apparent uniformity of belief, but data is scarce. \"As demonstrated by the uniformity of their material culture and their presumed belief system, most prominently reflected by the terracotta sculptures, external contacts within their culture must have existed. However, [...] It has to be considered that the preservation of features in Nok sites is generally poor and that the amount of data is not too large and regionally restricted to a rather small key study area. [...] Bound on what is indisputable, we may safely assert that the standalone peculiarity of the Nok Culture concerns its terracotta sculptures. Excavations have revealed contextual data emphasising their ritual significance - using the term \"ritual\" in a spiritual* context - and their role as materialised expression of a religion. Should it not be possible that the remarkable transregional uniformity of the complex, particularly mirrored by the omnipresence of the sculptures, was caused by the power of rituals and a complex system of beliefs? To accentuate this perspective, the Nok Culture deserves further investigation before the remaining evidence is irreversibly lost by looting which still takes place at many sites in Nigeria every day.\" §REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 251-3) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ES4TRU7R\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ES4TRU7R </b></a>.§REF§" }, { "id": 66, "polity": { "id": 662, "name": "ni_whydah_k", "long_name": "Whydah", "start_year": 1671, "end_year": 1727 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 55, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Vodun", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“After his ca. 1680 visit to Hueda, French trader Jean Barbot noted that ‘The prince [Agbangla?] is very superstitious and a slave of his fetishes, of which the palace is full.’ Given the political tension in the region as well as within the polity of Hueda, it is not surprising that the Huedan king was earnestly communicating with cosmological actors who were considered to bring both wealth and balance.” […] “For example, little is known of terracotta figurines paraded by the Huedan Kings’ wives as part of the processions to the temple of the python. Based on its depositional context and form, it is likely, however, that Huedans used the figurines described earlier as well as the archaeologically recovered ones in a manner similar to ‘empowered cadavers’ of bo and bocio.” §REF§ (Norman 2009, 200, 207-208) Norman, Neil L. 2009. ‘Powerful Pots, Humbling Holes, and Regional Ritual Processes: Towards an Archaeology of Huedan Vodun, ca. 1650-1727. The African Archaeological Review. Vol. 26:3. Pp 187-218. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KF3F2N46\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KF3F2N46 </b></a> §REF§ “In the house compounds of regional Huedan community leaders there was struggle for balance and protection; only cosmological [Vodun] actors could bring such steadiness.” §REF§ (Norman 2009, 409) Norman, Neil L. 2009. ‘Hueda (Whydah) Country and Town: Archaeological Perspectives on the Rise and Collapse of an African Atlantic Kingdom’. The International Journal of Historical Studies. Vol 42:3. Pp 287-410. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SCFCIFKI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SCFCIFKI </b></a> §REF§ “’The Kings of Fida [Hueda] were formerly accustomed to Annual Pilgrimages to the Snake House, which was Celebrated with great Magnificence, and concluded with yet greater Presents: For the King not only made very rich Offerings, but also bestowed very large Presents on the great Men that accompanied him […].’” […] “Europeans recorded with awe the material wealth Huedan kings organised for procession between the Huedan palace complex at Savi and the temple of the kingdom’s tutelary deity, the python Dangbe.” §REF§ (Norman 2010, 239, 240) Norman, Neil L. 2010. ‘Feasts in Motion: Archaeological Views of Parades, Ancestral Pageants, and Socio-Political Process in the Hueda Kingdom, 1650-1727 AD. Journal of World Prehistory. Vol. 23:4. Pp 239-254. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/F5BAAZWW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: F5BAAZWW </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 67, "polity": { "id": 650, "name": "et_kaffa_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Kaffa", "start_year": 1390, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 70, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Kaffa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Traditionally the king of Kafa was the secular and ritual head of the nation, ruling also through the spirit of doche, known as the ‘good king.’ He was in effect an alamo, or medium.” […] “The Kafa kings used to believe in doche. Once a year they would go to the house of the alamo to bring sacrifices. They would go beating the nagreto [drums]. And before corssing the river the alamo’s men would be waiting to receive them. They would take the procession to the home of the alamo who had the king of all the spirits.” §REF§ (Orent 1970, 280) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2A389XGK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2A389XGK </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 68, "polity": { "id": 776, "name": "mw_maravi_emp", "long_name": "Maravi Empire", "start_year": 1622, "end_year": 1870 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 45, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Maravi Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There can be no doubt that the Maravi rulers saw the existing territorial shrines as a hindrance to their ambitions, and those who controlled the shrines viewed the state cults as a threat to their position[...]. [T]he only workable solution may have been some adaptation of the autochthonous religion in combination with their own cult. [...] It seems clear from traditions collected in several parts of Maravi country that the Mbewe clan put up a most vigorous resistance, which is understandable in view of their central role in the cult system. On several occasions the Maravi resorted to the use of arms to bring about the desired innovations. At a very early stage one of the Kalongas sent war parties up to Kaphirintiwa [traditionally believed to the oldest shrine], but these were successfully repulsed by the Mbewe. \"The next stage may have been a Maravi attempt to set up a rival system. This is suggested by a body of tradition which is found among both the northern and southern Maravi and which in our case is represented by the biographies in the Mbona II and III traditions. In Texts II/A and II/B the rulers of the early states try to establish their own rain-calling agencies.\" §REF§(Schoeffeleers 1992: 47-48) Schoeffeleers, J.M. 1992. River of Blood: The Genesis of a Martyr Cult in Southern Malawi, c. A.D. 1600. The University of Wisconsin Press: 33-34. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A88E23E4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: A88E23E4 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 69, "polity": { "id": 535, "name": "ug_bunyoro_k_2", "long_name": "Bito Dynasty", "start_year": 1700, "end_year": 1894 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Cwezi-kubandwa religious complex covered most of Great Lakes Africa by the nineteenth century, being found in modern-day Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, north-west Tanzania and eastern Congo, a region united by closely related Bantu languages as well as traditions of kingship and other cultural similarities.”§REF§(Doyle 2007: 559) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§ \"It is clear that the Babito sought ritual legitimation for their authority by inventing kinship ties with the Cwezi pantheon. They also appeased the leaders of the Cwezi cults by not only allowing them considerable independence in the vicinity of the shrine sites but also involving them in their own rituals of authority. Thus, for example, Nyoro coronation rituals were held at the Cwezi shrine at Mubende Hill (Lanning 1966) and the mukama of Bunyoro sent occasional gifts to the head of the Yaga clan who had inherited the regalia of the Cwezi hero, Mulindwa (Kamuhangire and Robertshaw interview with Zakao Kyanku, August 9, 1994).\" §REF§(Robertshaw 2009: 127) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BF9G7AJ6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BF9G7AJ6 </b></a>§REF§ \"Therefore, the distribution of power in nineteenth century Bunyoro was complex. The Nyoro state laid claim to both creative and instrumental power, the latter being power that secures outcomes through the control of people’s actions (Schoenbrun 1999, p. 139 citing Blanton et al. 1996, pp. 2–3 and Roscoe 1993, pp. 112–114). The state simultaneously acknowledged, or at least permitted, other nodes of creative power within its borders. For those of us with Western, materialist preconceptions, it is difficult to conceive of the independence, political as well as ritual, permitted to the guardians of the Cwezi shrines.\" §REF§(Robertshaw 2010: 263) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IP7IPA6J\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: IP7IPA6J </b></a>.§REF§" }, { "id": 70, "polity": { "id": 668, "name": "ni_nri_k", "long_name": "Ọ̀ràézè Ǹrì", "start_year": 1043, "end_year": 1911 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 72, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Igbo Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“So Igbo beliefs about pollutions are closely bound up with the cosmic order. Here I will present a brief description of this order as the Igbo see it, and show the link of its different structures with pollution. The world-view described here is the model shared by Igbo communities found mainly in the northern and western parts of Igboland which are under the ritual authority of Eze Nri (king of Nri), whose authority rests solely on his ability to institute, abrogate, and cleanse pollutions.” §REF§ Ikenga-Metuh, E. (1985). Ritual Dirt and Purification Rites among the Igbo. Journal of Religion in Africa, 15(1), 3–24: 6, 7-8. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SFADDVVX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SFADDVVX </b></a> §REF§ “Beyond this veil of divergence in tradition and ecology lies a basic Igbo culture characterized by similarities in language, institutions and religious and cosmological beliefs. Religion played a major unifying role in the area of Igbo culture. An aspect of this is the hitherto unquestioned priestly role of the Nri and, on their eclipse, some major oracles. Nri is a small town in the Northern Igbo area whose king, Eze Nri, according to tradition, secured considerable concessions from God (Chukwu) for providing mankind with food, especially yam. The widespread desire for Nri religious services led to the development of a hegemony based on ritualism as opposed to militarism. Nri priestly lineages emerged in most of Igboland, and some exist to this day.” §REF§ Ejidike, O. M. (1999). Human Rights in the Cultural Traditions and Social Practice of the Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria. Journal of African Law, 43(1), 71–98: 74, 75. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7CMJSBJH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7CMJSBJH </b></a> §REF§ “The Nri sphere of ritual influence was probably at its greatest between 1100 and 1400. Nri ritual specialists, distinguished by their facial scars (which are shown in several Igbo-Ukwu sculptures) and by their ritual staffs of peace, travelled far afield, purifying the earth from human crimes and introducing a variety of ritual practices, including the ozo title system, and ikenga, the cult of the right hand, ‘with which a person works out a successful living in this difficult world’.” §REF§ Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press, 1997: 247. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z4GK27CI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Z4GK27CI </b></a> §REF§ “The Igbo Kingdom of Nri in the far south was administered by a priest-king with religious rather than political power. It eschewed state violence and was a haven for escaped slaves.” §REF§ (Cambell and Page 2018, 20) Cambell, John and Page, Matthew T. 2018. Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BEZMPDKS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BEZMPDKS </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 71, "polity": { "id": 708, "name": "pt_portuguese_emp_1", "long_name": "Portuguese Empire - Renaissance Period", "start_year": 1495, "end_year": 1579 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Beginning with a first tentative sally into North Africa in 1415, Portugal was to accumulate in the three centuries that followed, an empire as improbable as any the world has seen. Far-flung and varied, this empire was accumulated with remarkable individual enterprise- and then held together by notable loyalty to certain basic institutions, particularly the crown and a specifically Portuguese brand of Catholicism.” §REF§ (Disney: 2009) Disney, A.R. 2009. A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PCA7PV64\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: PCA7PV64 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 72, "polity": { "id": 615, "name": "ni_nok_2", "long_name": "Middle and Late Nok", "start_year": -900, "end_year": 0 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 67, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Nok Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Apparent uniformity of belief, but data is scarce. \"As demonstrated by the uniformity of their material culture and their presumed belief system, most prominently reflected by the terracotta sculptures, external contacts within their culture must have existed. However, [...] It has to be considered that the preservation of features in Nok sites is generally poor and that the amount of data is not too large and regionally restricted to a rather small key study area. [...] Bound on what is indisputable, we may safely assert that the standalone peculiarity of the Nok Culture concerns its terracotta sculptures. Excavations have revealed contextual data emphasising their ritual significance - using the term \"ritual\" in a spiritual* context - and their role as materialised expression of a religion. Should it not be possible that the remarkable transregional uniformity of the complex, particularly mirrored by the omnipresence of the sculptures, was caused by the power of rituals and a complex system of beliefs? To accentuate this perspective, the Nok Culture deserves further investigation before the remaining evidence is irreversibly lost by looting which still takes place at many sites in Nigeria every day.\" §REF§(Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 251-3) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ES4TRU7R\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ES4TRU7R </b></a>.§REF§" }, { "id": 73, "polity": { "id": 653, "name": "et_aussa_sultanate", "long_name": "Early Sultanate of Aussa", "start_year": 1734, "end_year": 1895 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“In 1576 the Adalis tried to invade Ethiopia from the south, but were defeated by the Ethiopians and the Sultan of Adal was killed. Following a period of confusion a member of Gragn’s family, Muhammad b. Ibrahim Gassa, came to power and took the title of imam. By then the situation in and around Harar was so precarious that in 1577 the new Imam transferred the seat of his government from Harar to the oasis of Awsa.” §REF§ (Abir 2008, 541) Abir, Mordecai. 2008. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c. 1600 – c. 1790. Edited by Richard Gray. Vol 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 537-577. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JHH9VH96\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JHH9VH96 </b></a> §REF§ “Aussa degenerated into a barbaric state controlled by the nomadic Afar, and its dynasty finally disappeared sometime after 1672. Nomadism had completely reclaimed the once powerful Muslim kingdom.” §REF§ (Trimingham 2013, 97) Trimingham, J. Spencer. 2013. Islam in Ethiopia. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RB7C87QZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: RB7C87QZ </b></a> §REF§ The Imamate of Aussa was first formed in Harar, thus it can be inferred that this was a Sunni Muslim polity: “Nearly all Hareri are Sunni Muslim.” §REF§ (Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 208) Shinn, David and Thomas Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/29MS79PA\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 29MS79PA </b></a> §REF§ “Harar was also a centre of Islamic learning. As such it was sometimes colloquially referred to as the ‘Timbuktu of Ethiopia’ because of this status and Harar was, and still is, a major centre of Muslim pilgrimage. It was also a locus of proselytization and a nucleus of Islamisation from an unconfirmed date, perhaps from the twelfth century and the migration of the Muslim Argobba into the region, or perhaps later in the fifteenth to sixteenth century, a more likely date for its foundation based on the currently available archaeological data.” §REF§ (Insoll 2017, 251) Insoll, Timothy. 2017. ‘The Archaeology of Islamisation in Sub-Saharan Africa.’ In Islamisation: Comparative Perspectives from History. Edited by A.C.S. Peacock. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IPASBU9Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: IPASBU9Z </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 74, "polity": { "id": 677, "name": "se_sine_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Sine", "start_year": 1350, "end_year": 1887 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 75, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sereer Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“What singles out the Sereer from their neighbours is that they only embraced Islam very recently in their history. Their religion is characterized by the cult of Pangol. Broadly speaking, Pangol are spirits or ancestros that mediate between humans and God, known among the Sereer as Roog. As first settlers, members of the same lineage were also linked by religion and performed rituals together to honour the same ancestor, founder, or spirit (Fangol).” §REF§(Thiaw 2013,100) Thiaw, Ibrahima. 2013. ‘From the Senegal River to Siin: The Archaeology of Sereer Migrations in North-Western Senegambia. In Migration and Membership Regimes in Global and Historical Perspectives. Edited by Ulbe Bosma. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q2ZFJKTJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q2ZFJKTJ </b></a> §REF§ “In their heyday as royal capitals [Kahone (Saloum), Diakhao (Sine), and Lambaye (Baol)] these towns were not predominantly Muslim. Muslims at court would have lived, and built their mosque, in a peripheral neighbourhood, not on the central square.” §REF§ (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MM67I638\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: MM67I638 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 75, "polity": { "id": 659, "name": "ni_allada_k", "long_name": "Allada", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1724 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 55, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Vodun", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“In [the kingdom] of Allada (Ardra), the vodun cult was inseparably integrated into the sociopolitical organization and sanctioned the legal and moral authority of the king and the family chiefs.” §REF§ (Parés 2013: 70) Parés, Luis Nicolau, 2013. The Formation of Candomblé: Vodun History and Ritual in Brazil. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/AATGNIB6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: AATGNIB6 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 76, "polity": { "id": 637, "name": "so_adal_sultanate", "long_name": "Adal Sultanate", "start_year": 1375, "end_year": 1543 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, known as Ahmad Gurey, ‘the left-handed,’ or Ahmad al-Ghazi, ‘the conqueror’. From Zayla , the headquarters of the Awdal Sultanate, Imam Ahmad was able to rally the ethnically diverse Muslims of the Horn, mostly Afars and Somalis, in a jihad to break the Abyssinian Christian control of the region.” §REF§ (Mukhtar 2003, 33) Mukhtar, Mohamed Haji. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JVCCIE57\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JVCCIE57 </b></a> §REF§ “Precisely at the time when the Ethiopian throne was occupied by a series of under-aged princes, Adal was in the most capable hands of a powerful general called Mahfuz, who had dominated the political scene in Adal since the 1480s and who is variously given the title of imam, amir and garad.” §REF§ (Tamrat 2008, 166) Tamrat, Teddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn.’ In The Cambridge History of Africa Volume 3. C. 1050 to C. 1600. Edited by Roland Oliver. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL:<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/E3JKMPG2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: E3JKMPG2 </b></a> §REF§ “With a long tradition of trading connections to the Arabian Peninsula, the Somalis were converted to Islam at an early date and remain staunch Muslims (Sunnis, of the Sha’afi School of Law). This is reflected in the traditional practice of tracing descent from illustrious Arab ancestors connected with the family of the Prophet Muhamad.” §REF§ (Lewis 2008, 1-2) Lewis, Ioan, M. 2008. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7J425GTZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7J425GTZ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 77, "polity": { "id": 681, "name": "se_great_fulo_emp", "long_name": "Denyanke Kingdom", "start_year": 1490, "end_year": 1776 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 76, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Fulani Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Torodbe accounts of events in the Futa Toro have influenced us to regard their denianke predecessors as pagan.” §REF§ (Klein 1972, 429, footnote 18) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZJRN8UJ8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZJRN8UJ8 </b></a> §REF§ However, NB the following, from the same source: “The traditional elites and the traditionalist peasants were not necessarily pagan. La Maire commented in 1682 that the Siratik, the ruler of the Fouta Toro, did not drink wine and brandy and followed ‘the law of Mahomet more religiously than other blacks.’” §REF§ (Klein 1972, 427) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZJRN8UJ8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZJRN8UJ8 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 78, "polity": { "id": 641, "name": "et_gomma_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Gomma", "start_year": 1780, "end_year": 1886 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“There, between 1800 and 1830, at the terminus of many trade routes from the coast, five Muslim Oromo states emerged: Jimma, Gumma, Limmu Enarya, Gomma, and Geru. Influence by Muslim merchants and Sufi teachers, the first to embrace Islam were Kings, and nobility, legitimizing their rule in its name, but by the 1860s, Islam had also become part of the lives of the common people.” […] “In the Gibe region, the religious orders played a role both in the adoption of Islam as an ideology of state by the local rulers and in the deepening and mainstreaming of Islamic belief and practice among the common people. […] “The Qadiriyya was the oldest and most popular order, but the Tijaniyya and Ahmdiyya also had a presence. Rulers appear to have view with each other in their patronage of men of religion, who often received grants of land to establish religious centers.” §REF§ (Kapteijns 2000, 232-234) Kapteijns, Lidwien. 2000. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.’ In The History of Islam in Africa. Edited by Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels. Athens: Ohio University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9UB7CXC7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9UB7CXC7 </b></a> §REF§ “The first stage of Islam in … all the Gibe states exhibited a duel character. The majority of the common people retained their traditional religion, the belief in waqa, the sky god, while the wealthy class became Muslims and championed Islam. The nobility’s contact with the better informed and more active Muslim merchants not only created a favourable climate among this class for the spread of Islam, but also demonstrated to the ruling class that the traditional Oromo religion was inadequate.” §REF§ (Hassen 1994, 151) Hassen, Mohammed. 1994. The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History 1570-1860. Trenton: Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/78DSMTUK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 78DSMTUK </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 79, "polity": { "id": 640, "name": "so_habr_yunis", "long_name": "Habr Yunis", "start_year": 1300, "end_year": 1886 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 10, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sufi Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“With a long tradition of trading connections to the Arabian Peninsula, the Somalis were converted to Islam at an early date[...].” §REF§ (Lewis 2008, 1-2) Lewis, Ioan M. 2008. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. New York, Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7J425GTZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7J425GTZ </b></a> §REF§ \"African Islam, at least south of the Sahara, has been strongly influenced by Sufism. This has made it much more eclectic, flexible, and less vulnerable, if not wholly immune, to external stridency than might otherwise have been the case.\" §REF§ (Reid 2011, 59) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CZB48WKQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CZB48WKQ </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 80, "polity": { "id": 656, "name": "ni_yoruba_classic", "long_name": "Classical Ife", "start_year": 1000, "end_year": 1400 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 53, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Orisha Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Although Ilé-Ifè was not by any means the sole inventor of the òrìsà pantheon, it played a dominant role in standardizing and promoting a version of it. It was the place where the ancestral deities that had evolved out of Ifè’s own local political experience were integrated into the existing pan-regional deities. The city’s intellectuals also gave most of those existing pan-regional deities their own flavor by domesticating them as local deities. One of those methods of domestication was the insistence that those deities had their origins in Ilé-Ifè.\" §REF§(Ogundiran 2020: 129) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ADQMAKPW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ADQMAKPW </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 81, "polity": { "id": 711, "name": "om_busaidi_imamate_1", "long_name": "Imamate of Oman and Muscat", "start_year": 1749, "end_year": 1895 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 77, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Ibadi Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"It was in Basra, a city which soon became one of the main centres of Islamic political power, that the distinctive strand of Islamic thought and practice that would come to be associated most strongly with Oman – Ibadism – came into being. [...] Ibadism was brought to Oman in 747 CE, and a first attempt was made to establish an Imamate on the basis of Ibadi religious, political and legal principles, with an Arab tribal leader elected as the first Imam. Foremost among these principles were the equality of all Muslims and the opposition to tyrannical power, both of which were to be sustained through the leader of the Muslim community being chosen through a process of consultation (shura). The specific Ibadi emphasis on shura [...] is one of the principal ways in which Ibadis are conventionally distinguished from Sunnis and Shias. There are a number of differences in religious doctrine and interpretation, too, as well as in everyday religious practice, by which Ibadis may be distinguished from other Muslims, but Ibadis themselves tend to avoid discussion of sectarian difference, sometimes referring to Ibadism as a madhab without a madhab (sect without a sect).\"§REF§Jones, J. and N. P. Ridout. 2015. A History of Modern Oman. Cambridge University Press: 10. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/EHPCHGDM\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: EHPCHGDM </b></a>.§REF§" }, { "id": 82, "polity": { "id": 787, "name": "ic_wattara_emp", "long_name": "Wattara Empire", "start_year": 1710, "end_year": 1895 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 4, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“In contrast to the important role played by economic motives and considerations in the formation and policies of Kong, the Islamic basis of the state was very shaky. The state was nominally Muslim. Its rulers claimed to be Muslim though they were very bad observers of Islamic practices. Mosques were built in principal towns and Muslim clerics concentrated near the rulers' courts. But neither the formation nor the policies and actions of the state could be attributed to Islamic or in fact any religious reasons or legitimation. The state did not result from a jihad, and it did not aim at establishing the rule of Islam; Islamic law was not enforced. The rulers did not make great efforts to develop Islamic institutions or propagate the Islamic faith. The concentration of Muslim clerics in the towns was in fact a reflection of Dyula settlement, since the Muslim clerics (in great contrast to the Fulbe clerics but like the clerics of the towns along the Niger) were frequently also part-time traders or at least belonged to trading families. In Levtzion's terms, \"Kong was regarded as a Muslim kingdom because it had a prosperous Dyula community, which made the town an important centre of Islamic learning. But even there the Islamic character of the Wattara chief was dubious.\" The development of Kong as an Islamic center was only an indirect consequence of its development as a commercial center, and in fact religious observance was lax in the city.” §REF§Azarya, Victor. “Traders and the Center in Massina, Kong, and Samori’s State.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 13, no. 3, 1980, pp. 420–456: 434-435. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KKBXESK6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KKBXESK6 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 83, "polity": { "id": 645, "name": "et_hadiya_sultanate", "long_name": "Hadiya Sultanate", "start_year": 1300, "end_year": 1680 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The most westerly of the Muslim principalities was that of Hadya which covered a very large extent of territory between the rivers of Hawash and Gibe. Its ruling class were Muslim but their subjects who were Sidama and included the semitized Gurage and the Chabo, a fusion of Gurage and Sidama, were pagan.” […] “He says of the Islam of these kingdoms [including Hadya], ‘they have cathedral mosques and ordinary mosques, where they perform the khutba, the Friday prayer, and congregational prayer. They observe the precepts of religion, but they have neither madrasa, khanaqah, ribat, nor zawiya.’ The king of Ifat and most of his subjects were shafi’I, the other kingdoms were all Hanafi.” §REF§ (Trimingham [1952] 2006, 66-73) Trimingham, Spencer J. [1952] 2006. Islam in Ethiopia. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/G35FTPI3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: G35FTPI3 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 84, "polity": { "id": 678, "name": "se_waalo_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Waalo", "start_year": 1287, "end_year": 1855 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 79, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Wolof", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Accounts from the late-fifteenth to early-nineteenth centuries generally agree that the strictest practitioners of Islam among the Wolof were the clergy or marabouts (serin in Wolof), and that most of the nobility and commoners were lax in, if not indifferent to, Islamic practices.\" §REF§(Charles 1977: 18-19) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NRGZDV3Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NRGZDV3Z </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 85, "polity": { "id": 690, "name": "bu_burundi_k", "long_name": "Burundi", "start_year": 1680, "end_year": 1903 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There is little doubt that immigrant Babito kings relied heavily on their supposed dynastic relationship to the Cwezi in their quest for ideological legitimacy. Kings made public pilgrimages and gave generous gifts to the shrines of Cwezi deities on behalf of their people. That Cwezi deities all had their own Nilotic mpako (pet) names, which were used by the initiated in their supplications, supports the argument that the incoming Nilotic Babito attempted to domesticate a pre-existing religious system (Beattie 1961a: 13).5 Yet this relationship between kings and Cwezi spirits was ever-evolving, shaped, it seems, by the complexities of alliance building and favour seeking. That the priestly elite maintained some autonomy and influence was best illustrated during royal succession struggles, when shrine heads sometimes accepted the risks involved in partisanship.\" §REF§(Doyle 2007: 563) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 86, "polity": { "id": 695, "name": "ug_nkore_k_2", "long_name": "Nkore", "start_year": 1750, "end_year": 1901 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There is little doubt that immigrant Babito kings relied heavily on their supposed dynastic relationship to the Cwezi in their quest for ideological legitimacy. Kings made public pilgrimages and gave generous gifts to the shrines of Cwezi deities on behalf of their people. That Cwezi deities all had their own Nilotic mpako (pet) names, which were used by the initiated in their supplications, supports the argument that the incoming Nilotic Babito attempted to domesticate a pre-existing religious system (Beattie 1961a: 13).5 Yet this relationship between kings and Cwezi spirits was ever-evolving, shaped, it seems, by the complexities of alliance building and favour seeking. That the priestly elite maintained some autonomy and influence was best illustrated during royal succession struggles, when shrine heads sometimes accepted the risks involved in partisanship.\" §REF§(Doyle 2007: 563) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 87, "polity": { "id": 665, "name": "ni_aro", "long_name": "Aro", "start_year": 1690, "end_year": 1902 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 72, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Igbo Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The southwestern kingdom of Aro was significant in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, renowned for being the only location of a shrine devoted exclusively to Chukwu. As a southeastern Igbo kingdom closest to the southern coast, it became an important commercial intermediary, but, more important, it functioned as an oracle that offered judgement about the guilt or innocence of those suspected of committing crimes. Although each tribe of Igboland instantiated its own form of social organization and procedures for ensuring social order and administering justice, and each deity was acknowledged as having its own specific laws, the Aro-Chukwu oracle was a respected source of guidance and religious inspiration. One finds, then a connection between Igbo religion (Aro-Chukwu) and Igbo morality in the use of an oracle to make decisions and also the development of economic forms of social exchange.” §REF§ (Schweiker and Clairmont 2020: 128-129) Schweiker, William and Clairmont, David A. 2020. Religious Ethics: Meaning and Method. Chichester: Wiley. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GBSNG3WM\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GBSNG3WM </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 88, "polity": { "id": 652, "name": "et_harar_emirate", "long_name": "Emirate of Harar", "start_year": 1650, "end_year": 1875 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“He [Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Azhar al-din] thus founded the dynasty of the emirs of Harar, who for three centuries held power in the Muslim state which from that time onwards was called the emirate of Harar.” §REF§ (Cerulli 1992, 284) Cerulli, Enrico. 1992. ‘Ethiopia’s Relations with the Muslim World.’ In General History of Africa Volume III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Edited by I. Hrbek. Berkeley: University of California Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2RUKUNG4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2RUKUNG4 </b></a> §REF§ “Nearly all Hareri are Sunni Muslim.” […] “Islam took root early in Harar and the city remains a center for Islamic learning.” §REF§ (Shinn and Ofcansky 2013, 208) Shinn, David and Thomas Ofcansky. 2013. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/29MS79PA\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 29MS79PA </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 89, "polity": { "id": 691, "name": "rw_mubari_k", "long_name": "Mubari", "start_year": 1700, "end_year": 1896 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There is little doubt that immigrant Babito kings relied heavily on their supposed dynastic relationship to the Cwezi in their quest for ideological legitimacy. Kings made public pilgrimages and gave generous gifts to the shrines of Cwezi deities on behalf of their people. That Cwezi deities all had their own Nilotic mpako (pet) names, which were used by the initiated in their supplications, supports the argument that the incoming Nilotic Babito attempted to domesticate a pre-existing religious system (Beattie 1961a: 13).5 Yet this relationship between kings and Cwezi spirits was ever-evolving, shaped, it seems, by the complexities of alliance building and favour seeking. That the priestly elite maintained some autonomy and influence was best illustrated during royal succession struggles, when shrine heads sometimes accepted the risks involved in partisanship.\" §REF§(Doyle 2007: 563) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 90, "polity": { "id": 611, "name": "si_mane_emp", "long_name": "Mane", "start_year": 1550, "end_year": 1650 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 83, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sape Mane Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Among the Manes, women played a special role in the preparation of war ‘medicines’, and as a result the Mane invasion may well have strengthened existing female societies among the Sapes, and may perhaps have led to the formation of new ones […] For instance, the Manes established a large village exclusively for women, who could only be visited by men under certain circumstances. Their main function was the manufacture of ‘medicines’, especially for war, and every king had one of these ‘priestesses’ in his service, allowing her wide privileges.” […] “In one case of the male secret societies, the evidence also suggest that the Manes gave great impetus to institutions that were already established. Only the most obvious externals were described in the sixteenth century. Women could not enter the lodge of the male societies, nor were they permitted to pass nearby when the deliberations or prayers were going on. The plebeians were told that on certain days a powerful spirit walked abroad requiring that they should shut their doors and keep off the streets. What happened at this time was that the king and the nobles ran naked in the streets, making a great commotion. If any outsider came across their path, he was either killed or made a member.” §REF§ (Rodney 1967: 242-246) Rodney, Walter. 1967. ‘A Reconsideration of the Mane Invasion of Sierra Leone.’ The Journal of African History. Vol 8:2. Pp 219-246. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SZMF4UPT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SZMF4UPT </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 91, "polity": { "id": 651, "name": "et_gumma_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Gumma", "start_year": 1800, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“There, between 1800 and 1830, at the terminus of many trade routes from the coast, five Muslim Oromo states emerged: Jimma, Gumma, Limmu Enarya, Gomma, and Geru. Influence by Muslim merchants and Sufi teachers, the first to embrace Islam were Kings, and nobility, legitimizing their rule in its name, but by the 1860s, Islam had also become part of the lives of the common people.” […] “In the Gibe region, the religious orders played a role both in the adoption of Islam as an ideology of state by the local rulers and in the deepening and mainstreaming of Islamic belief and practice among the common people. […] “The Qadiriyya was the oldest and most popular order, but the Tijaniyya and Ahmdiyya also had a presence. Rulers appear to have view with each other in their patronage of men of religion, who often received grants of land to establish religious centers. From the late 1860s onwards, Gumma in particular experienced a strong religious fervor; its kings conducted a jihad first against non-Muslims neighbors who belonged to stateless societies and, after 1882, against the occupation armies of the Ethiopian emperor Menilek.” §REF§ (Kapteijns 2000, 232-234) Kapteijns, Lidwien. 2000. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.’ In The History of Islam in Africa. Edited by Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels. Athens: Ohio University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9UB7CXC7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9UB7CXC7 </b></a> §REF§ “The first stage of Islam in … all the Gibe states exhibited a duel character. The majority of the common people retained their traditional religion, the belief in waqa, the sky god, while the wealthy class became Muslims and championed Islam. The nobility’s contact with the better informed and more active Muslim merchants not only created a favourable climate among this class for the spread of Islam, but also demonstrated to the ruling class that the traditional Oromo religion was inadequate.” §REF§ (Hassen 1994, 151) Hassen, Mohammed. 1994. The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History 1570-1860. Trenton: Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/78DSMTUK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 78DSMTUK </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 92, "polity": { "id": 660, "name": "ni_igodomingodo", "long_name": "Igodomingodo", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1450 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 91, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "unknown", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The time of the so-called “1st (Ogiso) Dynasty” probably the early 10th first half of 12th centuries, is one of the most mysterious pages of the Benin history. The sources on this period are not abundant. Furthermore, it is obvious that archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence, rather scarce, should be supplemented by an analysis of different records of the oral historical tradition while it is well known that this kind of source is not very much reliable. However, on the other hand, it is generally recognized that it is unreasonable to discredit it completely. Though Benin students have confirmed this conclusion and demonstrated some possibilities of verifying and correcting its evidence, a reconstruction of the early Benin history will inevitably contain many hypothetical suggestions and not so many firm conclusions.” §REF§ (Bondarenko and Roese 2001: 185-186) Bondarenko, Dmitri M. and Peter M. Roese, 2001. “Ancient Benin: Where did the First Monarchs Come from?”, Asian and African Studies, 10 (1), pp.185-198. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P4DQ36NB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P4DQ36NB </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 93, "polity": { "id": 674, "name": "se_cayor_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Cayor", "start_year": 1549, "end_year": 1864 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 79, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Wolof", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Accounts from the late-fifteenth to early-nineteenth centuries generally agree that the strictest practitioners of Islam among the Wolof were the clergy or marabouts (serin in Wolof), and that most of the nobility and commoners were lax in, if not indifferent to, Islamic practices.\" §REF§(Charles 1977: 18-19) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NRGZDV3Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NRGZDV3Z </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 94, "polity": { "id": 675, "name": "se_saloum_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Saloum", "start_year": 1490, "end_year": 1863 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 75, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sereer Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“What singles out the Sereer from their neighbours is that they only embraced Islam very recently in their history. Their religion is characterized by the cult of Pangol. Broadly speaking, Pangol are spirits or ancestros that mediate between humans and God, known among the Sereer as Roog. As first settlers, members of the same lineage were also linked by religion and performed rituals together to honour the same ancestor, founder, or spirit (Fangol).” §REF§(Thiaw 2013,100) Thiaw, Ibrahima. 2013. ‘From the Senegal River to Siin: The Archaeology of Sereer Migrations in North-Western Senegambia. In Migration and Membership Regimes in Global and Historical Perspectives. Edited by Ulbe Bosma. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q2ZFJKTJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q2ZFJKTJ </b></a> §REF§ “In their heyday as royal capitals [Kahone (Saloum), Diakhao (Sine), and Lambaye (Baol)] these towns were not predominantly Muslim. Muslims at court would have lived, and built their mosque, in a peripheral neighbourhood, not on the central square.” §REF§ (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MM67I638\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: MM67I638 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 95, "polity": { "id": 672, "name": "ni_benin_emp", "long_name": "Benin Empire", "start_year": 1140, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 86, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Benin Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“[The] initial attempts to introduce Christianity to Benin failed. Between the periods of 16th to 19th centuries only little success was registered. Ryder maintains that the Benin rulers and peoples were not prepared to flirt at all with Christian missionaries (Ryder, 1961).” §REF§ (Aremu and Ediagbonya 2018: 85-86) Johnson Olaosebikan Aremu; Michael Ediagbonya(2018). “Trade and Religion in British-Benin Relations, 1553-1897”, Global Journal of Social Sciences Studies, 4(2), pp.78-90. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BZ3FI3NU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BZ3FI3NU </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 96, "polity": { "id": 676, "name": "se_baol_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Baol", "start_year": 1550, "end_year": 1890 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 79, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Wolof", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Accounts from the late-fifteenth to early-nineteenth centuries generally agree that the strictest practitioners of Islam among the Wolof were the clergy or marabouts (serin in Wolof), and that most of the nobility and commoners were lax in, if not indifferent to, Islamic practices.\" §REF§(Charles 1977: 18-19) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NRGZDV3Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NRGZDV3Z </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 97, "polity": { "id": 620, "name": "bf_mossi_k_1", "long_name": "Mossi", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 87, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mossi Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "The following suggests that, however much the influence of Islam may have grown over the centuries, indigenous beliefs remained closest to being the official religion practiced by the majority of the elites. \"The first recorded contact between the Mossi and Moslems took place around 1328 when the Yatenga Mossi attacked, burned, and sacked Timbuktu, then held by the Dia dynasty of the Songhoi (Dubois 1896:251). [...] The pagan Mossi and the Moslem Songhoi fought several other battles until Songhoi power was broken by the Moroccans, who conquered Timbuktu in 1590. \"The Moslems made no further attempt to convert the Mossi by force, but Moslem pressure did not stop; it now came in the peaceful guise of Moslem merchants and Yarsé Moslem refugees from the Mandingo cities such as Timbuktu and Djenne, who received permission from the Mossi rulers to settle in the country. However, judging from the reports of the first Europeans to reach the Mossi, the Moslems lived under many restrictions and were forbidden by the Moro Nabas to recite their prayers in public places (Tauxier 1912:585 586). Despite these restrictions, the Moslems were able to extend their influence through conversion of the cadet sons of the rulers and conversion of at least one ruler of the Ouagadougou Mossi dynasty. \"About 1780 Naba Kom, the son of Zombré and a Yarsé Moslem woman, permitted the Yarsé to live in the villages and sent one of them to the Gold Coast for religious instruction. His son, Naba Sagha, was involved in a civil war and replaced some dissident pagan district chiefs with his Moslem sons. The present ruling lineage of Noberé (where I worked) is descended from Ngado, one of these sons. But although the rulers permitted their younger sons to adopt Islam, they themselves and the heirs to the thrones remained pagan in order to maintain the bonds with the ancestors. The exception to this rule was Doulougou, the grandson of Sagha, who was elected Moro Naba despite being a Moslem. Now the spread of Islam was given new impetus: Yarsé proselyting increased, mosques were built in Ouagadougou and in the villages, and many Koranic schools were founded. But with Doulougou's death the rulers reverted to paganism and Moslem influence declined. Nevertheless, the learned Moslem Imams continued to serve at court and used their knowledge of the outside world for the benefit of the rulers.\" §REF§(Skinner 1958: 1105) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FXVG26H7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FXVG26H7 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 98, "polity": { "id": 696, "name": "tz_buhayo_k", "long_name": "Buhaya", "start_year": 1700, "end_year": 1890 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There is little doubt that immigrant Babito kings relied heavily on their supposed dynastic relationship to the Cwezi in their quest for ideological legitimacy. Kings made public pilgrimages and gave generous gifts to the shrines of Cwezi deities on behalf of their people. That Cwezi deities all had their own Nilotic mpako (pet) names, which were used by the initiated in their supplications, supports the argument that the incoming Nilotic Babito attempted to domesticate a pre-existing religious system (Beattie 1961a: 13).5 Yet this relationship between kings and Cwezi spirits was ever-evolving, shaped, it seems, by the complexities of alliance building and favour seeking. That the priestly elite maintained some autonomy and influence was best illustrated during royal succession struggles, when shrine heads sometimes accepted the risks involved in partisanship.\" §REF§(Doyle 2007: 563) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 99, "polity": { "id": 692, "name": "rw_gisaka_k", "long_name": "Gisaka", "start_year": 1700, "end_year": 1867 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 46, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Cwezi-Kubandwa Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"There is little doubt that immigrant Babito kings relied heavily on their supposed dynastic relationship to the Cwezi in their quest for ideological legitimacy. Kings made public pilgrimages and gave generous gifts to the shrines of Cwezi deities on behalf of their people. That Cwezi deities all had their own Nilotic mpako (pet) names, which were used by the initiated in their supplications, supports the argument that the incoming Nilotic Babito attempted to domesticate a pre-existing religious system (Beattie 1961a: 13).5 Yet this relationship between kings and Cwezi spirits was ever-evolving, shaped, it seems, by the complexities of alliance building and favour seeking. That the priestly elite maintained some autonomy and influence was best illustrated during royal succession struggles, when shrine heads sometimes accepted the risks involved in partisanship.\" §REF§(Doyle 2007: 563) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9EXDF5UP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9EXDF5UP </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 100, "polity": { "id": 773, "name": "mw_pre_maravi", "long_name": "Pre-Maravi", "start_year": 1151, "end_year": 1399 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 44, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Pre-Maravi Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"[A]uthority among the Pre-Maravi was vested in priests or priestesses (Langworthy 1973, 14; Ntara 1973, 11; Schoffeleers 1973, 48). Their theocratic power structure is reflected in the presence" } ] }