H. F. C. Smith
H. F. C. Smith (later Abdullahi Smith) was a scholar of West African history and culture. He was particularly interested in Arab influence in Nigeria. Professor Smith was the first Director of Arewa House personally picked by its founder Ahamdu Bello.[1]
Abdullahi Smith | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Henry Fredrick Charles Smith 5th May 1920 |
| Died | 1984 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Academic work | |
| Notable students | Yusufu Bala Usman Murray Last Mahmud Modibbo Tukur Abdullahi Mahadi |
Smith was one of the first historians to document the complex history of conflict between Europeans and Arabs in Nigeria.[2] He introduced to the west the existence of massive archives of Arabic literature and historical records in Nigeria, which he had anticipated as the natural result of "a powerful tradition of Arabic learning (which indeed persists to the present day)."[3] Smith argued consistently that scholarship had neglected the Arabic history of West Africa, in part because of the complexity of the historical situation and in part because of anxiety over Europe's role.[4] Smith taught at the University of Ibadan. He was Professor of History at Ahmadu Bello University and ran the Northern History Research Centre.
References
- Beyond Timbuktu An Intellectual History Of Muslim West Africa. p. 35.
- Saharan Studies Newsletter. Vol. 9, no. 2. 2003. p. 6.
{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - Smith, H.F.C. (1962). "Nineteenth-Century Arabic Archives of West Africa". The Journal of African History. 3 (2): 333–336.
- Smith, H.F.C. (1961). "A Neglected Theme of West-African History: The Islamic Revolutions of the Nineteenth Century". Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria. 2 (1): 169–185.