Africa In The Iron Age C 500 B C To A D 1400

A textbook providing the only comprehensive and up-to-date account of African history between 500 B.C. and 1400 A.D. Also useful to students of archaeology.

The five and a half centuries described in this volume were those in which Iron Age cultures passed from their early and experimental phases into stages of maturity characterized by long-distance trade and complex, many-tiered political systems. In Egypt and North Africa it was a period of religious and cultural consolidation when the Arabic language and the faith of Islam were adopted by the majority of the indigenous Copts and Berbers. In the sub-Saharan Savanna it was a period rather of penetration when Muslim merchants and clerics built up small but significant minorities of Negro African converts. Muslim migrants conquered the Nilotic Sudan, encircled Christian Ethiopia and settled the coastline of eastern Africa. But throughout the period African states, large and small, were strong enough, relatively, to control their visitors from the outside world. The main significance of the outsiders, whether Muslim or Christian, was as literate observers of the African scene.

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

Preclassical and indigenous nonwestern military institutions and methods of warfare are the chief subjects of this annotated bibliography of work published 1967–1997. Classical antiquity, post-Roman Europe, and the westernized armed forces of the 20th century, although covered, receive less systematic attention. Emphasis is on historical studies of military organization and the relationships between military and other social institutions, rather than wars and battles. Especially rich in references to the periodical literature, the bibliography is divided into eight parts: (1) general and comparative topics; (2) the ancient world; (3) Eurasia since antiquity; (4) sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania; (5) pre-Columbian America; (6) postcontact America; (7) the contemporary nonwestern world; and (8) philosophical, social scientific, natural scientific, and other works not primarily historical.

A History of Africa is a thorough narrative history of the continent from its beginnings to the twenty-first century. Long established at the forefront of African Studies, this book addresses the events of the 1990s and beyond. The issues discussed include: post-apartheid South Africa the prospects for democratization in Africa at the beginning of the new millennium developments in Muslim North Africa including the threat of Islamic fundamentalism economic and social developments including the devastating impact of Third World debt and the provision of debt relief cultural, environmental and gender issues in Modern Africa.

"This volume covers the period from the end of the Neolithic era to the beginning of the seventh century of our era. This lengthy period includes the civilization of Ancient Egypt, the history of Nubia, Ethiopia, North Africa and the Sahara, as well as of the other regions of the continent and its islands."--Publisher's description.

"The book first places Africa in the context of world history at the opening of the seventh century, before examining the general impact of Islamic penetration, the continuing expansion of the Bantu-speaking peoples, and the growth of civilizations in the Sudanic zones of West Africa"--Back cover.