African Empires Volume 1

African Empires presents a comprehensive and in depth analysis of the major empires of the African continent over thousands of years. This book penetrates into the various kingdoms and and rich cultures of Africa including East Africa, West Africa, North Africa, South Africa and Central Africa. African Empires brings to life a colorful cast of historical characters including African kings, queens, scholars, religious leaders, artists, warriors and merchants which helped to shape the direction of these great African civilizations. The epic landmark events of Africa are captured and explained in detail to provide a full understanding of this dynamic continent and it's contribution to world history.

African Empires presents a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the major empires of the African continent over thousands of years. This book penetrates into the various kingdoms and rich cultures of Africa including East Africa, West Africa, North Africa, South Africa, and Central Africa. African Empires brings to life a colorful cast of historical characters including African kings, queens, scholars, religious leaders, artists, warriors, and merchants which helped to shape the direction of these great African civilizations. The epic landmark events of Africa are captured and explained in detail to provide a full understanding of this dynamic continent and its contribution to world history.

Global imperial designs, which have been in place since conquest by western powers, did not suddenly evaporate after decolonization. Global coloniality as a leitmotif of the empire became the order of the day, with its invisible technologies of subjugation continuing to reproduce Africa's subaltern position, a position characterized by perceived deficits ranging from a lack of civilization, a lack of writing and a lack of history to a lack of development, a lack of human rights and a lack of democracy. The author's sharply critical perspective reveals how this epistemology of alterity has kept Africa ensnared within colonial matrices of power, serving to justify external interventions in African affairs, including the interference with liberation struggles and disregard for African positions. Evaluating the quality of African responses and available options, the author opens up a new horizon that includes cognitive justice and new humanism.

African Empires presents a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the major empires of the African continent over thousands of years. This book penetrates into the various kingdoms and rich cultures of Africa including East Africa, West Africa, North Africa, South Africa, and Central Africa. African Empires brings to life a colorful cast of historical characters including African kings, queens, scholars, religious leaders, artists, warriors, and merchants which helped to shape the direction of these great African civilizations. The epic landmark events of Africa are captured and explained in detail to provide a full understanding of this dynamic continent and its contribution to world history.

The one hundred year history of how Europe coerced the African continent into its various empires—and the resulting story of how Africa succeeded in decolonization. In this dramatic (and often tragic) story of an era that radically changed the course of world history, Lawrence James investigates how, within one hundred years, Europeans persuaded and coerced Africa into becoming a subordinate part of the modern world. His narrative is laced with the experiences of participants and onlookers and introduces the men and women who, for better or worse, stamped their wills on Africa. The continent was a magnet for the high-minded, the adventurous, the philanthropic, the unscrupulous. Visionary pro-consuls rubbed shoulders with missionaries, explorers, soldiers, big-game hunters, entrepreneurs, and physicians. Between 1830 and 1945, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy and the United States exported their languages, laws, culture, religions, scientific and technical knowledge and economic systems to Africa. The colonial powers imposed administrations designed to bring stability and peace to a continent that appeared to lack both. The justification for occupation was emancipation from slavery—and the common assumption that late nineteenth-century Europe was the summit of civilization. By 1945 a transformed continent was preparing to take charge of its own affairs, a process of decolonization that took a quick twenty years. This magnificent history also pauses to ask: what did not happen and why?

For more than a thousand years, from A.D. 500 to 1700, the medieval kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay grew rich on the gold, salt, and slave trade that stretched across Africa. Scraping away hundreds of years of ignorance, prejudice, and mythology, award-winnnig authors Patricia and Fredrick McKissack reveal the glory of these forgotten empires while inviting us to share in the inspiring process of historical recovery that is taking place today.

This history-rich volume details the sociopolitical, economic, and artistic aspects of African kingdoms from the earliest times to the second half of the 19th century. Africa has a long and fascinating history and is a place of growing importance in the world history curriculum. This detailed encyclopedia covers the history of African kingdoms from antiquity through the mid-19th century, tracing the dynasties' ties to modern globalization and influences on world culture before, during, and after the demise of the slave trade. Along with an exploration of African heritage, this reference is rich with firsthand accounts of Africa through the oral traditions of its people and the written journals of European explorers, missionaries, and travelers who visited Africa from the 15th century and onward. Alphabetically arranged entries cover a particular kingdom and feature information on the economic, cultural, religious, political, social, and environmental history of the regime. The content references popular culture, movies, and art that present contemporary reenactments of kingdoms, emphasizing the importance of history in shaping modern ideas. Other features include primary source documents, a selected bibliography of print and electronic resources, and dozens of sidebars containing key facts and interesting trivia.