A THEOCRACY AMPS UP GROWTH...

MUSLIM LAW ENCOURAGES 
COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION 

So the Middle Niger's most dynamic traders welcome
al-hajj Umar's theocracy 
(the Tukulor confederation of Segu, 1861-1890)

The capital is the town of Segu, on the Middle Niger.

• It uses Muslim law to...

° Impose private landownership 

When Umar arrives, communal property is at the heart of Muslim as well as animist social structure. But Islamic law demands division among heirs, and the regime sends soldier-backed judges to enforce it.

By the 1890's all the land in the densely-populated Segu area is privately held, and produces millet for fifty local markets.

Communal organization is gone.

-- Dakar archives, 1895

° Obtain labor through "holy wars" --

(A page in the next chapter explains this)

• Enforcing such a change 
requires stronger power:

The theocratic kings are the opposite 

of the animist or syncretist rulers 
who maintain the status quo

 Al-hajj Umar Tall, drawing of the time

A robe and headdress that do not encumber, an aura increased by stairs instead of a barrier.

"He said he was a mere soldier of Mohammed, but that gave him inifinitely more power than that of the usual king."  

 -- Dakar archives, 1887, 
citing Amadou Tall, Umar's son and successor

° To encourage strong leaders,
succession practices change:
Rulers transmit their wealth to chosen heirs

Along the Senegal and Niger, succession that passed from brother to brother ensured short reigns and prevented a single dynasty from accumulating wealth. But now the leader alone possesses "baraka" (divine grace), to convey to his chosen heir.

Umar chooses his son Amadu, who too appoints his successor.

And keeps the treasure.

When his father's followers accuse him of "stinginess" -- the usual complaint when a king does not share  -- he hires soldiers of his own.

He takes 20 camel-loads of gold (500 kilos) on campaign and the French find gold jewels valued at 300,000 francs buried in the palace.

-- Aubin 476, ns. 161, 163, 164

• Doctrine is adapted to practical needs --

Segu becomes a pilgrimage destination
equal to Mecca

and Amadu has 800 wives

The pilgrimage reinforces the theocracy and the wives give all groups a chance that a descendant of theirs will come to power. 

-- Mecca: Paul Soleillet, 
Voyages et découvertes dans le Sahara et dans le Soudan, 1887, 233 

-- Wives: Lt. de vaisseau Mage,
 Voyage dans le Soudan occidental, 1868, 408

To understand the hold of mass philosophies,

set it them in their economic contexts

and observe the practical effects of applying them.

*     *     *

Next:

...then contains it