ID - 147874757 TI - The Golden Rhinoceros : Histories of the African Middle Ages PY - 2018 SN - 9780691183947 9780691181264 9780691217147 0691181268 0691217149 PB - Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press DB - UniCat KW - History KW - Africa KW - Civilization. KW - Discovery and exploration. KW - Africa. KW - Middle Ages. KW - history. KW - Discoveries in geography. KW - Afrika. KW - Middeleeuwen. KW - To 1498 KW - Afrique KW - History. KW - Histoire KW - DeĢcouverte et exploration. KW - History of Africa KW - anno 500-1499 KW - Sub-Saharan Africa UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:147874757 AB - "From the birth of Islam in the seventh century to the voyages of European exploration in the fifteenth, Africa was at the center of a vibrant exchange of goods and ideas. It was an African golden age in which places like Ghana, Nubia, and Zimbabwe became the crossroads of civilizations, and where African royals, thinkers, and artists played celebrated roles in the globalized world of the Middle Ages. The Golden Rhinoceros brings this unsung era marvelously to life, taking readers from the Sahara and the Nile River Valley to the Ethiopian highlands and southern Africa. Drawing on fragmented written sources as well as his many years of experience as an archaeologist, Fran ois-Xavier Fauvelle painstakingly reconstructs an African past that is too often denied its place in history--but no longer. He looks at ruined cities found in the mangrove, exquisite pieces of art, rare artifacts like the golden rhinoceros of Mapungubwe, ancient maps, and accounts left by geographers and travelers--remarkable discoveries that shed critical light on political and architectural achievements, trade, religious beliefs, diplomatic episodes, and individual lives. A book that finally recognizes Africa's important role in the Middle Ages, The Golden Rhinoceros also provides a window into the historian's craft. Fauvelle carefully pieces together the written and archaeological evidence to tell an unforgettable story that is at once sensitive to Africa's rich social diversity and alert to the trajectories that connected Africa with the wider Muslim and Christian worlds"--Jacket. ER -