Other books about Africa by Basil Davidson HISTORY The Lost Cities of Africa Black Mother: The Atlantic Slave Trade The African Past: Chronicles from Anciquicy to Modem Times The African Genius: An Introduction to Social and Cultural History African Kingdoms: with the Editors of Time-Life

A History of West Africa AD 1000- 1800: with F. K. Buah and j . F. Ade Ajayi A History of East and Central Africa to the Late 19th Century: with J. E. Mhina African Civilization Revisited

CONTEMPORARY AFFAIRS Report on Southern Africa The New West Africa: edited with A. Ademola The African Awakening Let Freedom Come: Africa in Modem History

The Liberation of Guin~ : Aspects of an African Revolution In the Eye (}f the Storm: Angola's People Black Star: The Life and Times of Kwame Nkrumah Modem Africa The Fortunate Isles

FICTION The Rapids AFRICA IN HISTORY

Themes and Outlines

REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION

Basil Davidson

COLLIER BOOKS MACMILLAN PUBLISHING COMPANY New York MAXWELL MACMILLAN INTERNATIONAL New York Oxford Singapore Sydney First published in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd under the title Africa: History of a Continent (1966).

Copyright Cl 1966, 1968, 1974, 1984, 1991 by Basil Davidson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Davidson, Basil, date. Africa in history : themes and outlines I Basil Davidson. p. cm. "New revised edition • .. the folllrth"-Pref. includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-02-042791-3 I. Africa-History. I. Title. DT20.D28 1991 960--

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First Revised Collier Books Edition 1991

10987654

Printed in the United States of America Contents

List of Illustrations xi List of Text Figures xv List of Maps xvii Acknowledgements xix Preface to this Revised and Expanded Edition Africa Rediscovered xxi

1 Old Myths: New Truths 1 An introduction to the study of African history from the earliest times-Africa's importance for the development of early types of hominid and of homo sapiens-The 'green Sahara', 5000-2000 BC, as a cradle of early cultures-Some consequences of Saharan desiccation-Beginnings of the African Iron Age north and south of the Sahara Africa's Place in History 1 The Peopling of a Continent 7 In the Heart of Africa 13 An 'Iron Age' Begins 18 vi CONTENTS

2 Ancient Glories 25 Origins of Ancient Egypt, its growth and achievement­ Links of Pharaonic Egyptians with neighbouring peoples­ Emergence and history of the kingdoms of Kush on the Middle Nile, Napata and Meroe; and of Axum in Ethiopia -The old civilization of the Berbers- Punic and Roman North Africa and early links with West Africa Gift of the Nile 25 The Blameless Ethiopians 34 Early North Africa 49

3 The Factors of Growth 61 Development and diversity of community life in ancient times south of the Sahara-Growth and importance of trading centres-Further evolution of Iron Age political systems-Outline of some of the largest of these systems in western and central-southern Africa up to the sixteenth century-The Christian kingdoms of Nubia and Ethiopia­ Rise and early consequences of Islam African Solutions 61 Trading Cities 71 Iron Age Departures 82 Ghana and Kanem-Bornu 87 Mali and Songhay 97 South of the Sudan 107 The Christian Epic 116 In the Name of Allah 125

4 Tropical Achievement 141 The great 'middle period' of the African Iron Age and its many cultures and political systems throughout Africa south of the Sudan-The kingdoms of the Rift Valley, of the CONTENTS v i ~ stone-building peoples of the central-southern plateau, of the Luba-Lunda and other Congo states and of the peoples of West Africa in the sixteenth century A Mature Iron Age 141 Rift Valley Kingdoms 147 Around Great Zimbabwe 152 In the Congo Basin 156 West Africa in the Sixteenth Century 167

5 New Encounters 185

North Africa from AD 1100 until the European raids of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the somewhat later Ottoman conquests-East Africa and its city-states along the coast during the early years of Portuguese discovery- West Africa and the coming of the European sea-traders- Growth and consequences of the Atlantic slave trade North African Invasions 185 East Coast Disasters 190 West African Adventures 198 The Atlantic Trade and Slavery 205 Slave Trade Consequences 216

6 Towards the Crisis of Today 225 General outline of the history of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries-Emergence of new states in the forest and coastal lands of West Africa; in the Niger Delta; in Oyo, Dahomey and Asante-The Western Sudan after 1600 -The Bambara states-The Muslim revival movement both in Western and Eastern Sudan up to the 1890s-East Africa, including Madagascar, after the Portuguese ravages - South Africa and the Zulu empire-The condition of Africa in the nineteenth century viii CONTENTS

The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 225 New States in Guinea 227 Rise of Asante 236 Peasants and Prophets 242 East Africa: After the Portuguese 255 Southern Africa: The Wars of Dispossession 261 South Africa Is Born 265 The Colonial Invasions 275

7 Conquest and Colonial Rule 281 Geographical exploration of inner Africa-New missionary endeavours-Rise of European imperialism and its meaning for Africa-Rivalries for African possessions; from coastal encroachment to the continental 'scramble' and full-scale invasion-Brief review of the colonial period in the first two of its three main phases: 1900-20 and 1920-45 Prelude: The Explorers 281 Invasion: 1880- 1900 283 The System Installed: 1900-20 287 The System at Work: 1920- 45 301 Gain or Loss 307 A Crisis Unresolved 317

8 Towards Liberation 325 The forerunners of modem African independence movements, north and south of the Sahara, before 1945-0utline of the third main phase of the colonial period after 1945-Growth of nationalism and the emergence of independent states­ Anti-colonial struggles of the 1970s-The legacy of the past and new problems of economic and social transition­ Southem Africa and South Africa-Conclusion CONTENTS ix

The Forerunners 325 After 1945: The Struggle Against Colonial Crisis 329 A New Nationalism 330 In the White-Settler Colonies 3 37 The Racist Bastion in South Africa 341 Towards a Liberated South 346 The Wider Picture 351 Examples and Exceptions 357 The Challenge Renewed 368

Brief Guide to Further Reading 373 Chronologues 385 Index 409