Beschreibung
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.