A tour of Benin City, a West African town and capital of the Edo Empire, located in present-day Nigeria.

A tour of Benin City, a West African town and capital of the Edo Empire, located in present-day Nigeria.

This book is comprehensive both in terms of time coverage, from before the Pharaohs to the present moment and in that it tries to consider cities from the entire continent, not just Sub-Saharan Africa. Apart from factual information and rich description material culled from many sources, it looks at many issues from why urban life emerged in the first place to how present-day African cities cope in difficult times. Instead of seeing towns and cities as somehow extraneous to the real Africa, it views them as an inherent part of developing Africa, indigenous, colonial, and post-colonial and emphasizes the extent to which the future of African society and African culture will likely be played out mostly in cities. The book is written to appeal to students of history but equally to geographers, planners, sociologists and development specialists interested in urban problems.

Discusses Egypt, Kush, Meroe, kingdoms of the Old Sudan, Ghana, Mali, Timbuktu, Songhay, the Sao and Kanem, Carthage, Benin, Zanj, Kalambo, Sheba, coastal trade, Axum, Ethiopia, Engaruka, Zimbabwe, Mapungubwe, Inyanga and Niekerk, medieval Rhodesia, the Azanians, the Phoenicians, Djenne, El Masudi, Gao, the Iron Age, Kenya, Kilwa, Khartoum, Malindi, Mombasa, Monomotapa, Mozambique, Ophir, Punt, the Portuguese and the slave trade, Sofala, and more.

Suitable for National Curriculum Key Stage 2, a practical guide in the METROPOLIS series which explores what life was like in an ancient African town. Includes information on where to stay, what to eat and drink, local customs and useful phrases. With colour illustrations (many of which are in cross section) by Gerald Wood.

A brilliant picture of a rich, exotic, complex and fascinating continent in the style of Bruce Chatwin. Verbal snapshots, images, anecdotes, legends, tales, gossip, illustrations, photographs, art and maps lend insight and depth to this multi-layered portrait of a continent. Into Africa uses the ancient empires and trading patterns of prehistory as the primary framework, to explain how Africa was and is today. The book does not ignore the calamities, the collapse of civil authority, the wars, the famines, the human misery, the environmental degradation. But it does record the triumphs, small and large. More important, Into Africa goes beyond politics and tourism, into history and legend, art and culture, both popular and profound.

This fourth edition of this best-selling core history textbook offers a richly illustrated, single volume, narrative introduction to African history, from a hugely respected authority in the field. The market-leading range of illustrated material from prior editions is now further improved, featuring not only additional and redrawn maps and a refreshed selection of photographs, but the addition of full colour to make these even more instructive, evocative and attractive. Already hugely popular on introductory African History courses, the book has been widely praised for its engaging and readable style, and is unrivalled in scope, both geographically and chronologically – while many competitors limit themselves to certain regions or eras, Shillington chronicles the entire continent, from prehistory right up to the present day. For this new edition, both content and layout have been thoroughly refreshed and restructured to make this wealth of material easily navigable, and even more appealing to students unfamiliar with the subject. New to this Edition: - Now in full colour with fresh new design - Part structure and part intros added to help navigation - New and improved online resources include a new testbank, interactive timelines, lecturer slides, debates In African history, essay questions and further readings - Revised and updated in light of recent research

The period between the 9th and the 19th centuries was a dark period in the history of West African Women. The effect of this dark period continues today, in part, in the form of persistent gender inequalities. Prior to this period, ancient West African women were empowered to the point that they effectively organised their own societies in ways that helped complement their interaction with men. In those instances, matriarchal inheritance systems ruled. The phenomenon of females ruling societies was based on the basic acknowledgement that all men and women, great or humble, emerged into this world from the womb of a woman. However, these matrilineal cultures were gradually destroyed by the arrival of, first, Islam, then the North Atlantic chattel slave trade, colonisation and, finally, Christianity. Slave trading was taking place across the world, but chattel slavery was first introduced in West Africa by a number of Western European countries. Ancient West African Women is a short, crisp book which systematically explains how women in ancient West African tribes migrated from the Nile Valley in Egypt westwards to an area south of the Sahara, which we now know as West Africa. The book also polemically explores the lasting impact of chattel slave trading, colonization, Christianization and Islamization on the standing of West African women. Book reviews online: PublishedBestsellers website.

Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.