The Cambridge History of Africa

After the prehistory of Volume I, Volume II deals with the beginnings of history from 500 B.C. to A.D. 1050.

J. D. Fage (Edited by)

9780521215923, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 February 1979

886 pages, 74 b/w illus. 29 maps
23.1 x 15.7 x 5.8 cm, 1.27 kg

'… a work of elegant scholarship and an invaluable research tool.' The American Historical Review

After the prehistory of Volume I, Volume II of The Cambridge History of Africa deals with the beginnings of history. It is about 500 BC that historical sources begin to embrace all Africa north of the Sahara and, by the end of the period, documentation is also beginning to appear for parts of sub-Saharan Africa. North of the Sahara, this situation arises since Africans were sharing in the major civilizations of the Mediterranean world. It is shown that these northern Africans were not simply passive recipients of Phoenician, Greek, Roman and Arab influences, or of the great religions and cultures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam coming from the Semitic world. They adapted these things to their own particular needs and purposes, and sometimes too contributed to their general development. But the North African civilization failed to make headway south of the Sahara.

Introduction J. D. Face
1. The legacy of prehistory J. Desmond Clark
2. North Africa in the period of Phoenician and greek colonization R. C. C. Law
3. North Africa in the Hellenistic and Roman periods R. C. C. Law
4. The Nilotic Sudan and Ethiopia P. L. Shinnie
5. Trans-Saharan contacts and the Iron Age in West Africa Raymond Mauny
6. The emergence of Bantu Africa Roland Oliver and Brian M. Fagan
7. The Christian period in Mediterranean Africa W. H. C. Frend
8. The Arab conquest and the rise of Islam to North Africa Michael Brett
9. Christian Nubia P. L. Shinnie
10. The Fatimid revolution and its aftermath in North Africa Michael Brett
11. The Sahara and the Sudan from the Arab conquest of the Maghrib to the rise of the Almoravids Nehemia Levtzion
Bibliographical essays
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], African history [HBJH]