History Of Central And Southern Africa

This book examines the history of southern Africa, including an overview of each of the countries that comprise that area of the continent.

The principal purpose of this book has been to provide material for students and teachers of history in the Rhodesias and Nyasaland. Until a few years ago it was difficult to teach local history at all owing to the lack of available works on the subject. Recently a large amount of literature, mostly specialized, has appeared.

This is a history of Africa south of the Congo Forest from about A.D. 1000 to the era of the establishment of independent modern states. Most textbooks on African history are dominated by modern political boundaries that, of course, have no ethnic or geographical validity. This book is unique in that it treats the whole of Southern Africa as a unit because important historical events such as the Bantu, San and Khoikhoi migrations, long distance trade routes, the Mfecane dispersal and the journeys of white adventurers among others, make a nonsense of categories such as 'South' and 'Central' Africa. The book presents much of the work of contemporary researchers in a simpler form than in other scholarly books thereby reflecting a complete picture of the early history of South and Central Africa. A variety of illustrations that include maps, photographs, drawings and diagrams have been used effectively throughout the book.