Subject: Colonial Africa

Africa: A Short History
Collins, Robert O.

Subject: Africa, Textbook

This is a concise but sweeping account of the African past, its peoples, and their institutions. The book attempts to provide an overview of African history without getting bogged down in details and data. This approach is very useful for …

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African Geopolitics
Hugon, Philippe (translated by Steve Randall)

Subject: Africa, Colonial, World History

For over a thousand years, foreign powers, including the Arabs, Portuguese, Spanish, British, French, and now Chinese, interfered in African affairs to pursue economic and political gains. In a similar way, African rulers exploited this foreign presence for their own …

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Documents from the African Past
Collins, Robert O., editor

Subject: Africa

This fascinating collection spans two millennia, beginning with a first-century merchant’s guide to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean ports. Primary sources describe ancient and medieval trade routes, China’s discovery of Africa, the slave trade, kingdoms and court life in …

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East Africa and the Indian Ocean
Alpers, Edward A.

Subject: Africa, World History

For centuries, East Africa has played a central role within the Indian Ocean world. The Arabs built the first trade networks there; these were laid siege to by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, followed by British colonialists in the …

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Historical Problems of Imperial Africa (Expanded and Updated Edition)
Burnes, James and Robert O. Collins

Subject: African History Textbook

“Carefully edited . . . represents a great variety of points of view.” — Choice

This book is designed to inform, engage, and stimulate discussions among its readers. Collins and his collaborators have included authoritative statements and analysis by renowned …

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The Agony of Asar: A Thesis on Slavery by the Former Slave—Jacobus Elisa Johannes Capitein, 1717–1747
Capitein, Jacobus (translated by Grant Parker)

Subject: Africa, History of Slavery, World History

“Scholars and readers the world over thank Grant Parker for giving us both the first English translation of Capitein’s manuscript and a brilliant analysis of its significance.” — Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The Agony of Asar is the first …

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The Bitter Legacy: African Slavery Past and Present
Klein, Martin, Alice Bellagamba, Sandra Greene, Editors

Subject: Africa, Slavery

This collection of essays explores the ways that memories of African slavery and the slave trade persist into the present, as well as the effect those memories have in shaping political, social, economic, and religious behavior today. The …

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The Life and Times of General China: Mau Mau and the End of Empire in Kenya
Osborne, Myles (editor)

Subject: Colonial Africa, Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean

An important addition to the corpus on Mau Mau, this book will be a wonderful asset in the classroom, and will be welcomed by all those interested in Africa’s modern history.” — David M. Anderson, Professor of African History, University …

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The Siege of Magdala: The British Empire Against the Emperor of Ethiopia
Matthies, Volker (foreword by Richard Pankhurst; translated by Steven Rendall)

Subject: Africa, Europe, World History

In 1867-68, a petty diplomatic dispute between Ethiopian emperor Tewodros II and Queen Victoria led to one of the strangest and most dramatic military campaigns in history. The British Indian Army, with 60,000 men, 30,000 elephants, mules and horses, and …

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The Waters of the Nile: Hydropolitics and the Jonglei Canal, 1900-1988
Collins, Robert O.

Subject: African History

This is a history of the hydropolitics of the Nile Valley from 1900 to 1988. Attempts to develop the Nile and control its waters are of vital significance to the future of the inhabitants of Egypt, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and …

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