Africa: A History
Sep 2016 · New Word City
4.0star
1 reviewreport
Ebook
665
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About this ebook
Most of us still know less about Africa's past and peoples than we do about the continent's wild animals. And what we do know is colored by romance - safaris and treks and camel caravans, Solomon's mine and Tutankhamun's curse, the shores of Tripoli and the snows of Kilimanjaro.
Yet the ancestor of all humankind may have lived in Africa. The world's longest-lived, literate civilization was African.
Through the ages, great civilizations rose and fell in what was once called "darkest" Africa, leaving behind mysterious fortresses and splendid art. Christianity and Islam battled age-old beliefs - and each other. Traders on camels were followed by explorers in caravels and by a plague of invaders, hungry for ivory and diamonds and the "black gold" of slavery. In just the last half century, independence has swept away the old maps and colonial ways to jar the balance of the world.
Here is Africa's story.
Yet the ancestor of all humankind may have lived in Africa. The world's longest-lived, literate civilization was African.
Through the ages, great civilizations rose and fell in what was once called "darkest" Africa, leaving behind mysterious fortresses and splendid art. Christianity and Islam battled age-old beliefs - and each other. Traders on camels were followed by explorers in caravels and by a plague of invaders, hungry for ivory and diamonds and the "black gold" of slavery. In just the last half century, independence has swept away the old maps and colonial ways to jar the balance of the world.
Here is Africa's story.
Ratings and reviews
4.0
1 review
Kevin O'Brien
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February 8, 2020
I was interested to read this book because I know so little of African history, and this was a good introduction to get an overview of that history. Each chapter is written by a different author, which is good for such an expansive topic since the authors each have their own area of expertise. The book starts in pre-history, looking at the archeological data for early humans settlements, and works through Egypt, Rome, the Arabs, and finally black Africa. It winds up in the colonialism of the nineteenth century and then the de-colonization movements of the twentieth century, finally ending around 1970.
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About the author
The eminent historian Alvin M. Josephy was a long-time editor at American Heritage and author of numerous books, including The Civil War through Indian Eyes.
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