This book, through a politico-historical analysis, aims to provide a more balanced perspective regarding the nature of Africa’s relations with other global regions. It emphasizes the sophisticated nature of pre-colonial African politico-historical commentaries often overlooked or simplified. As such, the narrative avoids the usual misrepresentations which impress that African-European interactions are a history of European actions in an Africa generally devoid of anything similar to the cultures, institutions and abilities of Europe. Further, it contests the historical narrative that indigenous Africans have had no real active role vis-à-vis an assertive, dominating Europe in historical times. Within this book, the contestation of such narratives with evidence-based counter perspectives is of particular benefit for our current educational, social and political contexts.

This book, through a politico-historical analysis, aims to provide a more balanced perspective regarding the nature of Africa’s relations with other global regions. It emphasizes the sophisticated nature of pre-colonial African politico-historical commentaries often overlooked or simplified. As such, the narrative avoids the usual misrepresentations which impress that African-European interactions are a history of European actions in an Africa generally devoid of anything similar to the cultures, institutions and abilities of Europe. Further, it contests the historical narrative that indigenous Africans have had no real active role vis-à-vis an assertive, dominating Europe in historical times. Within this book, the contestation of such narratives with evidence-based counter perspectives is of particular benefit for our current educational, social and political contexts.