A History of African Societies to 1870

An exploration of the African past, from prehistory to about 1870.

Elizabeth Isichei (Author)

9780521455992, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 April 1997

592 pages, 16 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm, 0.82 kg

'A Reading of A History of African Societies to 1870 impresses one with the fact that it is written by a 'teacher' of African history, not, merely an academic. Certainly, there are many good scholarly histories of Africa, but few that have been written with the average undergraduate student in mind. In Isichei's pages one can almost hear the questions asked by students over the years, and her careful working out of the answers: current, nuanced, and comprehensible, but not at all simplistic.' Charles W. McLellan, Radford University

This comprehensive and detailed exploration of the African past, from prehistory to approximately 1870, is intended to provide a fully up-to-date complement to the Cambridge History of Africa. Reflecting several emphases in recent scholarship, it focusses on the changing modes of production, on gender relations and on ecology, laying particular stress on viewing 'history from below'. A distinctive theme is to be found in its analyses of cognitive history. The work falls into three sections. The first comprises a historiographic analysis, and covers the period from the dawn of prehistory to the end of the Early Iron Age. The second and third sections are, for the most part, organised on regional lines; the second section ends in the sixteenth century; the third carries the story on to 1870. A second volume, now in preparation, will cover the period from 1870 to 1995. This book attempts a more rounded view of African history than most of the other textbooks on the subject addressed to a (largely) undergraduate level student. Earlier histories have tended to ignore some of the current foci in the scholarly literature on Africa, generally not reflected in the textbooks: these include discussions of topical issues like ecology and gender. Isichei's book is also more radical.

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.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH]