Undated
Beyond the country known to Arab geographers; proposed association with the Malinke country south of the Upper Senegal
Lamlam was an Arabic geographical designation for peoples portrayed by Arab writers as stateless and politically loose, living beyond the regions familiar to them. The passage describes raids into Lamlam, the capture and sale of its inhabitants, and the existence of two small towns, Malal and Do. It identifies the described area with the Malinke country south of the Upper Senegal, while emphasizing that the label reflected an external classification rather than a clearly defined polity.
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The Story
Lamlam was one of the names used by Arab geographers for peoples whom they regarded as politically and socially distant from the organized states known to them. The passage explains that these communities were stateless and possessed a loose political organization. They lived beyond the country familiar to Arab authors, making Lamlam an external geographical and ethnographic category rather than a clearly bounded kingdom.
The inhabitants of Lamlam were vulnerable to slave raiding from organized states. Barisa, Silla, Takrur, and Ghana were said to raid the country, capture its inhabitants, transport them to their own lands, and sell them to merchants. Those merchants then exported the captives to other countries, revealing the connection between political fragmentation, raiding, and regional commerce.
The description of Lamlam includes only two small towns, Malal and Do, separated by four days of travel. The passage interprets the geography of Lamlam, Malal, and Do as referring to the Malinke country south of the Upper Senegal. This identification is useful for understanding the emergence of early Malinke chiefdoms, but it remains an interpretation rather than a precisely mapped territory.
Undated
Beyond the country known to Arab geographers; proposed association with the Malinke country south of the Upper Senegal
Lamlam was an Arabic geographical designation for peoples portrayed by Arab writers as stateless and politically loose, living beyond the regions familiar to them. The passage describes raids into Lamlam, the capture and sale of its inhabitants, and the existence of two small towns, Malal and Do. It identifies the described area with the Malinke country south of the Upper Senegal, while emphasizing that the label reflected an external classification rather than a clearly defined polity.
Continue exploring
The Story
Lamlam was one of the names used by Arab geographers for peoples whom they regarded as politically and socially distant from the organized states known to them. The passage explains that these communities were stateless and possessed a loose political organization. They lived beyond the country familiar to Arab authors, making Lamlam an external geographical and ethnographic category rather than a clearly bounded kingdom.
The inhabitants of Lamlam were vulnerable to slave raiding from organized states. Barisa, Silla, Takrur, and Ghana were said to raid the country, capture its inhabitants, transport them to their own lands, and sell them to merchants. Those merchants then exported the captives to other countries, revealing the connection between political fragmentation, raiding, and regional commerce.
The description of Lamlam includes only two small towns, Malal and Do, separated by four days of travel. The passage interprets the geography of Lamlam, Malal, and Do as referring to the Malinke country south of the Upper Senegal. This identification is useful for understanding the emergence of early Malinke chiefdoms, but it remains an interpretation rather than a precisely mapped territory.
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