March 2009 Newsletter Early Urban Centres In West Africa
نویسنده
چکیده
This article examines the diverse research views on the history of urban centres in West Africa. I focus on the characteristics of some of the past urban centres at the time of their peak populations as revealed from the archaeological record. This article concludes that the quantum of research in West Africa is insignificant relative to the vast potentials for research to be conducted there. There is a pressing need for more research to obtain a fuller understanding of the histories of these past urban centres in West Africa. Introduction The term urbanism has generated much furore amongst scholars over the years. Various scholars using their local experiences have used several criteria to define urbanism. For example, Dickson (1947 in Andah 1976) defined an urban centre as a compact settlement engaged in non-agricultural occupations. Louis Wirth (1938) posited that a city is a relatively dense and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals. Service (1962) regarded states as a highly stratified and internally diversified socio-political organizations characterized by a central government which is largely divorced from the bonds of kinship; residential patterns are also based mainly on occupational specialization and not necessarily on blood or affinal relationship. How do we equate these definitions to the evidence of past settlements in West Africa and should one conclude that there were no cities or urban centres in West Africa that met such definitions before the period of colonization. If such earlier urban centres existed, where were they located, and how do we draw the transition lines in space between a central city and the surrounding rural areas for particular locations within West Africa?
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