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Lecture

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
The African Caliphates: Mali and Timbuktu Rise to Primacy

Tuesday 3.02.2026

How to watch

This lecture starts on 3 February at 5:00pm (UK).

Summary

The Rise of King Mansa Musa of Mali (d.1337), considered the richest man in the world during the 14th century. We also examine the state of African Islam today.

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite

An image of Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite teaches Chinese History, Middle Eastern and Islamic history, and sometimes Jewish history, at New York University. He is author of The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China (Harvard, 2005); The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (Oxford, 2009); co-editor of Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Culture, and Politics (Brandeis, 2013); The Scaffolding of Sovereignty: Global and Aesthetic Perspectives on the History of a Concept (Columbia University Press, 2017); and Time and Language: New Sinology and Chinese History (Hawaii University Press, 2023).