For a long time, the Sahel has been a harsh environment where human survival has relied on courage, forbearance, ingenuity, and faith. For some, faith came through Islam; for others, it came from ancestral spirits and unseen supernatural beings and forces. Three great empires—Ghana (300–1200), Mali (1230–1600), and Songhay (1460–1590)—and several other kingdoms thrived in this world of sand and thorn trees. This was due to the people themselves and to the Niger River that gave them access to riverine agriculture and animal husbandry.
The exhibition Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara comprehensively captured not only the long history of this great geographic sweep of Africa, but also the marvelous material cultures that thrived there over the centuries (Fig. 1). The exhibition included some 200 works that represented the cultures of the three great empires as well as those of the diverse peoples who...