Desert Frontier

Ecological and Economic Change Along the Western Sahel, 1600-1850

Author: James L.A. Webb, Jr

A study of the ecological and economic impact of desertification along the southern edge of the western Sahara. A climatological trend toward increasing aridity has forced the desert 300 kilometers to the south, transforming ethnic identities and ways of life along the Western Sahel.

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Summary

Description

Desert Frontier is a study of the ecological and economic impact of a long-term trend toward increasing aridity along the southern edge of the western Sahara. Beginning in the early seventeenth century, this climatological trend forced the desert approximately 200–300 kilometers to the south, transforming ethnic identities and ways of life along the length of the Sahel. Based on extensive archival research and on Saharan oral data, Desert Frontier argues that the principal historical dynamics of the precolonial Sahel were determined by this pervasive ecological crisis, rather than by the dynamics of a European-dominated world system.

About the Author

James L. A. Webb, Jr., is an associate professor of history at Colby College in Maine. He is the author of Desert Frontier: Ecological and Economic Change along the Western Sahel, 1600-1850.