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REVIEW BY ANDREW SELKIRK
What fields are left for Barry Cunliffe to conquer? After the Celts and the Bretons, Europe between the oceans, the Atlantic Ocean, the Scythians, and the Steppe, he has now turned his attention to Africa, and has decided to explore the mysteries of the Sahara Desert and the lands that surround it. He centres his book on the Sahara, but how far does it hold together? In Facing the Sea of Sand, he gives a masterful account of the desert and the peoples both to the north and to the south.
Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford, takes a broad view. He starts with plate tectonics, looking at the geological formation of Africa and the rift valleys that form a gash through eastern Africa, where early humans first emerged.
However, the most remarkable episode in the history of the Sahara is the period following the end of the Ice Ages, when a change in climate caused the Atlantic monsoons to switch direction. This allowed the Sahara to bloom and the desert to be replaced by a steppe and savannah ecology. Remarkable rock art has been discovered, in the early phase showing wild animals, some of them extinct, though after around 6000 BC domesticated animals, sometimes with their herders, are depicted. Similarly, domesticated plants make their appearance, with wheat and barley coming in from Mesopotamia.
But, some time before 3000 BC, the Sahara starts to dry up and some of the people move down into the fertile Nile Valley and Egypt begins its remarkable rise. This is mainly outside the scope of his book, but nevertheless Barry gives a masterful account of the Egyptian story from an archaeological point of view – no pharaohs!
After 1000 BC, a new story begins, with the Phoenicians spreading out along the north coast of Africa in search of the copper of Spain. But the Greeks and then the Romans seek to dominate the Mediterranean, and the big change comes when Rome finally conquers Carthage. For the next 800 years, Roman power dominates the Sahara.
Peace in the desert
Africa is one of the great success stories of the Roman Empire. At first there were problems, but then the Roman peace brought Roman prosperity. The story is told from the point of view of the Berbers, the native population. On the whole, the Romans treated them with consummate skill, preventing warfare, but basically leaving the tribal structure mostly in place. The land proved immensely productive: it is said that there were more than 600 cities in North Africa and the land produced immense quantities of grain and olive oil, which enabled the bread and circuses of Rome. The secret was to leave well alone, and Barry compares the city of Timgad, founded as a colony by Trajan and laid out on a strict grid system, with the city of Dougga, which was by origin a Numidian town, where the Roman buildings were laid out along the winding streets of the underlying Numidian settlement. I always thought that Gaul was the best example of the success of Roman peace and prosperity, but Barry persuades me that North Africa was perhaps an even greater triumph. Trade across the Sahara also increased, aided by one of the greatest inventions – if that is the right word for the domestication of the camel.
Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Sahara begins to play a more interesting role, and we see the emergence of the first major polities south of the desert, particularly around the Niger River, which plays a similar role to that of the Nile as a centre of cultivation. The big story of the time is the spread of Islam, which reaches down the east coast and, by AD 1400, has spread throughout the whole of the Sahara and central Africa. This provided a unifying force that promoted trade, by bringing stability, while the institution of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim should perform in their lifetime, encouraged travel, including well-known pilgrimages such as that of Mansa Musa.
By around AD 1100, substantial polities began to be formed. A notable one was the Almoravids in Morocco and Algeria, spreading out into southern Spain where they produced the finest architecture in the country. The counterpart south of the Sahara was the Empire of Ghana, which flourished in the upper part of the Niger River and exported gold, ivory, and slaves to the north.
The next couple of centuries were the golden age of central Africa, when a number of powerful empires were established. In Egypt, the Mamluks provided a long period of stability, while in the north-west, modern Morocco and Algeria, the Almoravids were replaced by three smaller polities that provided a base for the trade routes to the south. Meanwhile in the south, the Empire of Ghana was replaced by the great Mali Empire, which grew rich on the trade with the north across the Sahara, and, down the east coast, Arab traders spread Islam and civilisation through Zanzibar down to Kilwa.
From around AD 1400 onwards, Portugal made its appearance, with new forms of ships that enabled Henry the Navigator and Vasco da Gama to explore down the west coast and round the Cape of Good Hope, thus beginning the European exploration that soon went round the world.
The book, as a whole, is beautifully produced by Oxford University Press in its most prestigious style. I am rather jealous of the number of beautifully drawn maps, with detailed captions, which enormously enhance the text. Indeed, the maps themselves are the result of immense scholarship, making concrete what is otherwise vague. The story relies a lot on the written texts, even though this is history seen through the eyes of an archaeologist. But I would have liked to have more of the archaeology, particularly concerning subjects like the way that Roman culture gives way to Islamic culture – more archaeology, please, less conventional history (and I never thought I would write this of Barry Cunliffe!). Perhaps not all of the archaeological literature is available yet, but he has hoovered up an enormous amount of information and sorted it all out for us, offering a compelling account of a part of the world that is all too often ignored. At the age of 83, Barry is better than ever. What next?
Facing the Sea of Sand: the Sahara and the peoples of Northern Africa
Barry Cunliffe
Oxford University Press, £30
ISBN 978-0192858887
