Synopses & Reviews
This is a detailed exploration of the African past, from prehistory to about 1870. Covering all facets of the continent's history with erudition, Professor Isichei displays immense learning and an exhaustive command of the literature. The study reflects several emphases in recent scholarship, focusing on "history seen from below", on changing modes of production, on gender relations and on ecology. A second volume, now in preparation, will cover the period from 1870 to 1995.
Review
"...this book is an important addition to the ongoing reconstruction of the early African history." The Historian
Synopsis
An exploration of the African past, from prehistory to about 1870.
Synopsis
This detailed exploration of the African past, from prehistory to about 1870, covers all facets of the continent's history. An up-to-date textbook, it offers an impressive survey of the current literature and reflects trends in recent scholarship. It focuses in particular on 'history seen from below', on changing modes of production, gender relations and on ecology. A second volume, now in preparation, will cover the period from 1870 to the present day.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; Part I. Continental Perspectives: Perimeters: 1. Prelude: Africa and the historians; 2. Out of Africa: the precursors; 3. Environment, language and art c. 10,000-c. 500 BCE; 4. Producing more food c. 10,000-c. 500 BCE 5. Copper and iron c. 600 BCE-c. 1000 CE; 6. Models: Production, Power and Gender; Part II. Regional Histories to the Sixteenth Century: 7. Central Africa; 8. East Africa; 9. Africa south of the Limpopo; 10. Northern Africa in antiquity; 11. Northern Africa from the seventh century CE; 12. The North-East; 13; The Western Sudan; 14. West Africa: from the savanna to the sea; Part III. Regional Historis to c. 1870: 15. Northern Africa; 16. The Western Sudan; 17. The Central Sudan; 18. The Atlantic slave trade; 19. West Africa to 1870; 21. Central Africa; 22. Southern Africa; 23. East and East Central Africa Maps: 1. Human evolution: archaeological sites; 2. African language families; 3. Bantu Languages; 4. Cradles of domestication; 5. Central Africa; 6. Eastern Africa; 7. South Africa; 8. Northern Africa in antiquity; 9. Northern Africa (seventh to twelfth centuries); 10. Egypt and the Near East: Fatimids and Mamluks; 11. The North-East; 12. The Western Sudan (to c. 1600); 13. Lower Guinea; 14. The Western and Central Sudan: the nineteenth century; 15. Southern Africa: the nineteenth century 16. East and Central Africa: the nineteenth century. Diagrams: 1. Human evolution; 2. Long-term climate change; 3. African language families: Afroasiatic; 4. African language families: Nilo-Saharan; 5. African language families: Kordofanian and Niger-Congo.