A Black Byzantium: The Kingdom of Nupe in Nigeria

by S.F. Nadel

A Black Byzantium is a study of the Nupe of Northern Nigeria, based on intensive field research carried out by Nadel in 1934 and 1935-6 as a Research Fellow of the International African Institute. The economic and political complexity of their kingdom evoked comparison with the civilization of Byzantium. The book is an exhaustive and meticulous picture of the life of an African community which has maintained its individuality through many cycles of change. This vivid description and close analysis of Nupe social life and political institutions was the first detailed study of a Muslim Emirate in Nigeria and as such is still an indispensable work.

420 pages, Hardcover

First published June 10, 1997