History of Africa

Kevin Shillington trained history teachers at the University of Botswana in the 1980s. His years of teaching experience in Africa include leading courses in African History at both school and university level. He holds an MA and PhD in African History from the University of London, is the author of many books on the subject and is a renowned authority in this field.

• PrefaceIntroductionSection 1: Early and Later Prehistory1. Early prehistory of AfricaHuman evolution2. Later prehistory: from hunting and gathering to farming and pastoralismHomo sapiens, the hunter-gathererFurther climate change, adaptation and the ancestry of African languagesCrop cultivation, domestication and the origins of farmingThe origins of farming and pastoralism in tropical Africa3. Ancient Egypt and NubiaOrigins of Ancient EgyptUnificationThe KingdomsNubia and the Kingdom of KushSection 2: Early Iron Age4. The impact of iron in north east and north west AfricaThe spread and impact of early metalworkingOrigins and spread of ironworkingThe Iron Age Kingdom of Meroe The origins and rise of AksumIron Age north Africa and early trans-Saharan trade5. The Early Iron Age in west AfricaThe Early Iron Age in west AfricaThe origins and early development of the Kingdom of GhanaOther early west African states and societies 6. The Early Iron Age in central, eastern and southern AfricaEvidence for the spread of ironworkingOrigins of the Early Iron Age in sub-equatorial AfricaThe spread of the Early Iron AgeThe development and organisation of Early Iron Age societySection 3: Religion and Empire in Northern and Western Africa7. North Africa to 1000 ceNorthern Africa in the Graeco-Roman periodEarly Christianity in northern AfricaThe Arab invasions: the Nile valley and the Maghrib8. Trans-Saharan trade and the Kingdom of Ancient GhanaTrans-Saharan trade and the peoples of the desertThe Kingdom of Ghana at the height of its power9. Islam and the Sudanic states of west AfricaThe AlmoravidsThe Muslim states of north Africa, 1100–1500 The Empire of MaliThe decline of MaliThe origins and rise of SonghaySection 4: Religion, Trade and Chieftaincy in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa10. Eastern Africa to the sixteenth centuryThe Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, 850–1550Muslim penetration of Ethiopia and Somalia, 850–1550Pastoralists and farmers of the east African interior11. Later Iron Age states and societies of central and southern Africa to the sixteenth centuryState formation north of the ZambeziCattle keeping and state formation south of the ZambeziThe origins and character of the Great Zimbabwe traditionCattle-keeping peoples south of the Limpopo12. Trading towns of the east African coast to the sixteenth centuryThe origins of east African coastal trading societyThe growth of Swahili trading townsThe Portuguese on the east African coast, 1498–1600 MadagascarSection 5: West Africa in the Era of the Slave Trade13. The Atlantic slave trade, sixteenth to eighteenth centurySlavery in Africa before the Atlantic trade The origins of European maritime trade with west AfricaThe nature of the slave tradeProfit from the slave trade: the European dimension14. West African states and societies, to the eighteenth century The fall of the Songhay EmpireThe Sultanate of Borno-KanemThe Hausa city-statesWolof kingdoms of SenegambiaKingdoms of the forest: Ife and BeninOyo and Dahomey, savannah states of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesThe Kingdom of AsanteSection 6: State Renewal and Formation in North, East, Central and Southern Africa 15. North and northeast Africa to the eighteenth centuryThe ‘Arabisation’ of northern AfricaStates of the Maghrib, sixteenth to eighteenth centuryFrom Fatimid to Mamluk: Egypt before the Ottoman conquestEgypt under Ottoman ruleNubia and the Funj SultanateOromo migrations and the kingdom of Ethiopia16. Central and eastern Africa to the eighteenth centuryThe east African interior west of the Victoria NyanzaThe east African interior east of the Victoria NyanzaFarmers, fishers and hunters of the Congo forestWest-central Africa in the era of the slave tradeCentral African empires and the growth of trade17. Southern Africa to the eighteenth centurySouthern Africa before 1650The early Cape Colony: white settlement and Khoesan resistance, 1650–1770States and societies of the southern African interior, 1600–1800Section 7: The European intrusion: from slave trade to commerce, missionaries and ‘Pan-Africanism’18. The ending of the Atlantic slave tradeAbolition of the Atlantic slave tradeWest African commerce in the nineteenth century19. Christian missions, new states and precolonial ‘Pan-Africanism’European Christian missionaries in precolonial AfricaSierra Leone and LiberiaAfrican Christians and precolonial ‘Pan-Africanism’Christian missions in southern AfricaMissionaries as agents of imperialismSection 8: The nineteenth century before the European ‘Scramble for Africa’20. West Africa in the nineteenth centuryIslamic jihads in the western Sudan21. Central and east Africa in the nineteenth centuryWestern-central Africa in the nineteenth centuryKingdom of the flood plainLong-distance trade in eastern-central AfricaInvasion from the south: the NgoniThe east African slave tradeThe trade in ivory and slaves in the interior of central AfricaMadagascar: the rise of the Merina Kingdom22. Preindustrial southern Africa in the nineteenth centuryState-building and conflict, early nineteenth centuryThe British at the CapeThe Boer trek and African resistanceSouthern Africa in 187023. North and north-east Africa in the nineteenth centuryThe French in north Africa and Algerian resistanceEgypt and SudanThe reunification of EthiopiaSection 9: The challenge of cultural and political imperialism, late nineteenth century24. Colonial conquest and African resistance in east, north-central and west AfricaEuropean ‘explorers’: the mapping of Africa as a ‘prelude’ to empireThe ‘Scramble for Africa’Conquest and resistance25. Industrialisation, colonial conquest and African resistance in south-central and southern AfricaThe southern African mineral revolutionThe British ‘scramble’ for south-central AfricaWars of conquest and resistance in MozambiqueConquest and resistance in NamibiaThe South African War, 1899–1902 Section 10: The impact and nature of colonial rule, 1890–1945 26. Consolidation of empire: the early period of colonial ruleRaw materials and marketsPeasant producers, railways and white settlement in British east AfricaRebellion in the German coloniesMissionaries, Christianity and early expressions of ‘nationalism’The First World War and Africa, 1914–1827. Africa between the wars: the high tide of colonial ruleThe economic impact of colonial ruleThe nature and impact of colonial administrationThe spread of Islam in tropical west AfricaEducation: from precolonial tradition to colonial realityAfrican nationalism and protest movements in the inter-war yearsSegregation, nationalism and protest in South Africa28. The Second World War and AfricaFascism and the world at warFascist aggression and the Second World War in north and northeast AfricaThe impact of the war on Africa and AfricansSection 11: The overthrow of colonialism29. The winning of independence (1)Colonial development strategiesThe winning of independence in British west AfricaThe winning of independence in French West and Equatorial AfricaThe struggle for independence in the MaghribEgypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia30. The winning of independence (2)British east AfricaIndependence in Belgium-ruled central AfricaIndependence on the islands31. The winning of independence (3)Federation and independence in British Central AfricaThe winning of independence in Portuguese-ruled AfricaThe struggle for freedom in southern AfricaSection 12: Africa since Independence32. African responses to the colonial legacyThe political legacy The economic legacy: underdevelopment and dependencyThe early drive for economic developmentThe role of the military in African politicsThe socialist alternative33. The challenges and dilemmas of development: debt and international aidDebtStructural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs)The CFA franc zoneGlobalisationInternational aidAfrican international cooperation34. Contemporary AfricaDemocratic resurgence in the 1990sConflict and resolutionHealth and environmentPolitical stability and contemporary AfricaFurther ReadingIndex