Though the genocide of 1994 catapulted Rwanda onto the international stage, English-language historical accounts of the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africaandmdash;which encompasses Burundi, eastern Congo, Rwanda, western Tanzania, and Ugandaandmdash;are scarce. Drawing on colonial archives, oral tradition, archeological discoveries, anthropologic and linguistic studies, and his thirty years of scholarship, Jean-Pierre Chrandeacute;tien offers a major synthesis of the history of the region, one still plagued by extremely violent wars. This translation brings the work of a leading French historian to an English-speaking audience for the first time.

Chrandeacute;tien retraces the human settlement and the formation of kingdoms around the sources of the Nile, which were andquot;discoveredandquot; by European explorers around 1860. He describes these kingdoms' complex social and political organization and analyzes how German, British, and Belgian colonizers not only transformed and exploited the existing power structures, but also projected their own racial categories onto them. Finally, he shows how the independent states of the postcolonial era, in particular Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda, have been trapped by their colonial and precolonial legacies, especially by the racial rewriting of the latter by the former.

Today, argues Chrandeacute;tien, the Great Lakes of Africa is a crucial region for historical researchandmdash;not only because its history is fascinating but also because the tragedies of its present are very much a function of the political manipulations of its past.

andquot;This comprehensive history...fills an enormous gap in the historical record with elegance and dispassionate firmness.andquot;
andmdash; Publishers Weekly - The Year in Books 2003

andquot;Chretien brings three decades of scholarship and corresponding expertise to this comprehensive history...andquot;
andmdash; Publishers Weekly starred review

andquot;Chretien brings three decades of scholarship and corresponding expertise to this comprehensive history...andquot;
-- Publishers Weekly starred review

andquot;This comprehensive history...fills an enormous gap in the historical record with elegance and dispassionate firmness.andquot;
-- Publishers Weekly - The Year in Books 2003

andquot;Africa enthusiasts will appreciate the maps of the Great Lakes...andquot;
andmdash; Mary H. Meier, Boston Globe

andquot;Africa enthusiasts will appreciate the maps of the Great Lakes...andquot;
-- Mary H. Meier, Boston Globe

andquot;...anyone with an ancient interest in African affairs will benefit from this analysis.andquot;
andmdash; Kirkus Reviews

andquot;Chretien has undertaken the formidable task of tracing the roots of the region's violence...andquot;
andmdash; John Shattuck, The New York Times

andquot;A feast of information and analysis.andquot;
andmdash; Gail M. Gerhart, Foreign Affairs

Jean-Pierre Chrtien is Directeur de Recherches at the Centre Nationale de Recherches Scientifique and affiliated with the Centre de Recherches Africaines at the University of Paris.