Main entry:

Davidson, Basil, 1914-2010, author.

Title & Author:

Africa in history : themes and outlines / Basil Davidson.

Edition:

Revised and expanded edition / First Simon & Schuster paperback edition 2005.

Publication:

New York : Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005.
©1991

Description:

xxiv, 425 pages, 23 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, charts ; 21 cm

Notes:
"A Touchstone book."
Includes bibliographical references (pages 373-384) and index.
Old myths: new truths. Africa's place in history ; Peopling of a continent ; In the heart of Africa ; "Iron Age" begins -- Ancient glories. Gift of the Nile ; Blameless Ethiopians ; Early North Africa -- Factors of growth. African solutions ; Trading cities ; Iron Age departures ; Ghana and Kanem-Bornu ; Mali and Songhay ; South of the Sudan ; Christian epic ; In the name of Allah -- Tropical achievement. Mature Iron Age ; Rift valley kingdoms ; Around great Zimbabwe ; In the Congo Basin ; West Africa in the sixteenth century -- New encounters. North African invasions ; East Coast disasters ; West African adventures ; Atlantic trade and slavery ; Slave trade consequences -- Towards the crisis of today. Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ; New states in Guinea ; Rise of Asante ; Peasants and prophets ; East Africa: after the Portuguese ; Southern Africa: the wars of dispossession ; South Africa is born ; Colonial invasions -- Conquest and colonial rule. Prelude: the explorers ; Invasion: 1880-1900 ; System installed: 1990-20 ; System at work: 1920-45 ; Gain or loss ; Crisis unresolved -- Towards liberation. Forerunners ; After 1945: the struggle against colonial crisis ; New nationalism ; In the white-settler colonies ; Racist bastion in South Africa ; Towards a liberated South ; Wider picture ; Examples and exceptions ; Challenge renewed.

Summary:

"Prior to the original publication of Africa in History, the history and development of Africa had been measured by the European concept of "civilization," applying a Eurocentric approach to African art and literature. Basil Davidson's landmark work presents the inner growth of Africa and its worldwide significance, the internal dynamic of its old civilizations and their links with Asia, Europe and America, as well as the development of specific areas, tribes and cultures. From accounts of the days of the green Sahara and the great iron age, the earliest Portuguese colonization, the coming of slavery and the subsequent legacy of violence and mistrust, the growth of Islam in the north and the cults of the Congo, the sophistication of art and architecture, and the pattern behind social and tribal mores, the entire picture of the continent emerges. This revised edition reflects the recent astonishing changes in South Africa, including the release of Nelson Mandela."--Jacket.

ISBN:

9780684826677 (paperback)
0684826674 (paperback)
9781439505090 (Paw Prints)
1439505098 (Paw Prints)

Subject:

Africa History.
Afrique Histoire.
Africa

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 316476
Call No.: 316476
Copy: 1
Status: Available