CRG seminar: Histories of AfroGlobal Politics of Conflict: Ottoman Expansion, the Lake Chad Borno Empire and the Trans-Saharan Trade in enslaved Africans in the 19th Century

 

The expansion of the Ottoman Empire into the Central Sahara and the Lake Chad regions during the second half of the nineteenth century intersected with the global ambitions of merchants and rulers from the area, creating a space of AfroGlobal political interactions.

This seminar examines the traces of those interactions between the Ottoman and Borno Empires as recorded in Libyan and Turkish archives. These sources illustrate the global nature of Afro-Ottoman relations, indicating the importance and the longue-durée effects of the trans-Saharan trade in enslaved Africans in the late 19th century.

 

The seminar is chaired by: Prof. Rijk van Dijk and organised by the Collaborative Research Groups (CRGs) ‘Conflict Continuities’ and ‘Africa in the World: Rethinking Africa’s Global Connections’.

 

 This event will take place in person in Leiden. For registrants who cannot travel to Leiden, a link to an online platform will be sent before the start of the event. 

Image source: Ottoman newspaper Servet-i Fünun, issue no. 377, published in 1898.