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Africa is both the most clearly defined of continents - in its geography -   and the hardest to pin down in historical terms. Human beings originated in Africa and, as a result, there is more diversity of human types and societies than anywhere else. It is not possible, in any non-ideological way, to claim any one of these peoples or societies as more essentially "African" than others; nor is it possible to exclude a given society as "not really African".

On this site historical sources on the history of human societies in the continent of Africa are presented, when available, without making prejudgements about what is "African".

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This page is a subset of texts derived from the three major online Sourcebooks listed below. For more contextual information, for instance about the Islamic world, check out these web sites.

• Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook
• Internet Modern History Sourcebook

 

Notes:	In addition to direct links to documents, links are made to a number of other web resources.
2ND	Link to a secondary article, review or discussion on a given topic.
MEGA	Link to one of the megasites which track web resources.
WEB	Link to a website focused on a specific issue.. These are not links to every site on a given topic, but to sites of serious educational value.

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Contents

• African History: General
  • General
  • Debates
• Africa Origins
  • Human Origins
• Egypt
  • General
  • Old Kingdom
  • Middle Kingdom
  • New Kingdom
  • Akhnaten
  • Post Imperial Egypt
  • Religion
  • Art and Architecture
  • Literature
  • Music
  • Everyday Life
  • Mathematics
  • Gender and Sexuality
• Other Ancient African Societies
  • General
  • Nubia
  • Libya and Western North Africa/Mauretania
  • Nok Culture [N. Nigeria]
  • Gambia
• Greek and Roman Africa
  • General
  • Greek Colonies
  • Ptolemaic Egypt
  • Roman Africa
  • Byzantine Africa
• Africa and Islam
  • General
  • Egypt
  • Maghreb
  • States
  • Culture
• Ethiopia and Christianity
  • General
• African Societies
  • General
  • West Africa
  • East Africa
  • Zimbabwe
  • Bands and Segmentary Societies
  • Religion
• The Impact of Slavery
  • General
  • Enslaved People
  • The Ending of Slavery
• European Imperialism
  • General
  • Analyses and Criticism
  • Missionary Activities
  • Belgian Africa
  • British Africa
  • French Africa
  • German Africa
  • South Africa
  • Liberia
• The Fight for Independence
  • General
  • Ghana
  • South Africa
• Modern Africa
• General
• International Organizations
• Continuing Imperialism
• Algeria
• Angola
• Cameroons
• Congo [Brazzaville]
• Congo [Zaire]
• Ethiopia
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Kenya
• Liberia
• Madagascar
• Malawi
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Namibia
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Somalia
• South Africa
• Tanazania
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe
• Gender and Sexualities in Modern Africa
• Further Resources on African History

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African History: General

General

Debates

Note that these "debates" may have more to do with Modern United States society than African history.

• 2ND Ann Macy Roth: Building Bridges to Afrocentrism [At UPenn]
• 2ND Molefi Kete Asante: Multiculturalism and the Academy [At ASU]
• 2ND Ibrahim Sundiata: Afrocentrism: The Argument We're Really Having, Dissonance, 1996 [At Dissoance]

Black Athena Debate

• 2ND Bernal on Lefkowitz Review of Lefkowitz, ed. Not Out of Africa [At BMCR]
• 2ND Lefkowitz on Bernal on Lefkowitz  [At BMCR]
  • Presented in parts [At africanhistory.com]:
    Part I, Part II
• 2ND Dr. Charles S. Finch III, M.D., Response to Mary Lefkowitz's Not Out of Africa   [At MAAT News]
  Begins with an ad hominem attack on Lefkowitz, and goes downhill from there.
• Greek Quotes on Egypt/Africa [At Internet Archive, from Skyeagle]

Cheikh Anta Diop

• Cheikh Anta Diop: The Pharoan of Knowledge [At Camara's Homepage]
  Laudatory obituary  of Diop, with summary of his work.

Stolen Legacy

• Femi Akomolafe: Review of George G. M. James, Stolen Legacy [At WHA]
  Not so much a review as a celebration.
• Mary Lefkowitz : The Myth of a 'Stolen Legacy', Review of  George G.M. James's revisionist book about Greek and African history, Stolen Legacy 1954, Society, March-April 1994 v31 n3 p27(7)  [At Conscious Evolution]

"Afrocentric" Websites

• WEB The Afrocentric Debate Resource Homepage
• WEB Km.T Liberation Front [At Geocities]
  "Stolen culture" theorists.

 

African Origins

Human Origins

• WEB Geology and Geologic Time [At Berkeley]
• WEB Evolution: Theory and History [At Berkeley]
• WEB How Humans Evolved [At WW Norton]
• WEB Human Origins and Evolution in Africa [At Indiana]
• WEB University of California Museum of Anthropology [At Berkeley]
• WEB Origins of Mankind Page [At Talk.Orgins]
• WEB Creationism FAQ [At Talk.Origins]
• 2ND Introduction to Evolutionary Biology [At Talk.Origins]
  

Egypt

General

• MEGA Abzu: Guide to Resources for the Study of the Ancient Near East Available on the Internet [Website-OI]
• MEGA Egyptology Resources [Website-Cambridge]
• WEB History of Ancient Egypt Page [Website-College of Charleston]
• WEB Neferchichi's ClipArt
  Images of divinities, and much more.
• Maps
  • WEB Egypt Maps [At Mankato]
  • Nile Delta from Space [At NASA]
• Chronologies
  There are myriad competing "high, middle, and low" chronologies for Egyptian history. See under Mesopotamia above for some links on these issues.
  • Chronology of Egyptian History [At College of Charleston]
    This is the chronology used here.
  • Timeline of Egyptian History [At CMNH]
  • List of Egyptian Dynasties [At Ukonline]
    Includes names for each ruler.
• Modern Egyptology
  • 2ND Jean François Champollion [At KMT][Modern Account]

The Old Kingdom (2705-2213 BCE) [Dynasties 3-8]

• The Palette of Narmer 3200BC [At Then Again]
• The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep, 6th Dynasty [This Site]
• The Instruction of Ptah Hotep 6th Dynasty (2300-2150 BCE)[in Egyptian][on AOL]
  Contains Middle Kingdom copies of an Old Kingdom text.
• Hymn to the Nile, (c. 2100 BCE) [This Site]
• Instruction on Writing [At iwebland]
• WEB The Pyramids [PBS Website]
• WEB Pyramid Construction [At TourEgypt]
  Discusses and illustrates various possible methods.
• WEB Step Pyramid of Doser c.2800 BCE [At UPenn][Clickable Image][

The Middle Kingdom (1991-1668 BCE) [Dynasties 12-13]

• Hyskos Invasion, c.1750-1550 BCE

The New Kingdom (1570-1070 BCE) [Dynasties 18-20]

• Birth of Hatshepsut 18th Dynasty [At Internet Archive, from Creighton]
• The Battle of Meggido, Egyptian Account, c. 1469 BCE [At Hillsdale]
• The Battle of Kadesh, Egyptian Account, c. 1294 BCE [At Hillsdale]
• WEB Valley of the Kings [At PLU]
  The royal cemetery of Egypt's New Kingdom.
• 2ND Sayed Z. El-SayedL Hatshepsut's Mission to Punt [At TAMU]

Akhnaten [Amenhotep IV](r. 1363-1347 BCE)

• Akhnaten (r. 1363-1347 BCE): Hymn to Aten [At Internet Archive, from Creighton]
• Akhnaten (r. 1363-1347 BCE): Hymn to Aten [At Eliade]

Post Imperial Egypt (1070-332 BCE) [Dynasties 21-31]

• Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): Egypt after the Persian Invasion, Book 2 of The Histories, [At Tufts]
• WEB The Rosetta Stone [British Library] and translation

Religion

• WEB Egyptian Religion [Website-At Internet Archive, from Mankato]
• 2ND Two Approaches to an Egyptian Pantheon [At Internet Archive, from UNT]
• Origin Myths
  • Creation by Atum [At Internet Archive, from Creighton]
  • Atum: A Bisexual God [At Enteract.com]
  • The High God in the Age of the Coffin Texts [At Eliade]
  • Egyptian Creation Story [Harmonized Version][At Theology WebSite]
  • Hathor's Rage and the Destruction of Mankind [At Theology WebSite]
  • The Book of Overthrowing Apophis: Egyptian Cosmogony and Theogony [At Eliade]
• The Memphite Theology
  • The Memphite Theology [At Internet Archive, from Creighton]
    Ptah as creator god.
• Isis and Osiris
  • Isis Receives the True and Hidden Name of Re [At Internet Archive, from AOL-Wiccan Site]
  • The Osirian Cycle [At Theology Website]
  • Debate Between Osiris and the High God Book of the Dead 176 [At Eliade]
  • A Spell for the Revival of Osiris Coffin Texts 74 [At Eliade]
  • Contention of Horus and Seth [At Theology WebSite]
• Death and Resurrection
  • The Dead Pharaoh Ascends to Heaven from Pyramid Texts (Ca. 2425-2300 B.C.) [At Eliade]
    Among the oldest Egyptian religious texts. At this stage survival is for the pharoah.
  • The Dead Pharaoh Becomes Osiris   from Pyramid Texts [At Eliade]
  • Osiris - the Prototype of Every Soul Who Hopes to Conquer Death Coffin Texts, I, 197 [At Eliade]
    The Coffin Texts from the interior of coffins, belong to the Middle Kingdom (2250-1580 BCE) and indicate 'democratization' of the ancient funerary ritual - each soul now hoped to achieve a ritual assimilation to the god. [At Eliade]
  • Man's Soul Identified with Osiris and Nature Coffin Texts 330 [At Eliade]
  • Survival as Ba, Survival in the Tomb are Complementary  [At Eliade]
  • The Egyptian Land of Silence and Darkness  [At Eliade]
  • The Book of Ani, or the Egyptian Book of the Dead [At Upenn][Full text in E. Wallis Budge's translation.]
  • Hymn to Ra, from the Book of Ani, [At this site]
  • Judgement of the Dead Book of the Dead, Chapter 25 [At WSU]
  • The Egyptian Negative Confession Book of the Dead, Chapter 125 [At Eliade]
  • Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): Description of Mummification [At UVA]
    With a CT scan of a mummy.
  • WEB Death in Ancient Egypt [At ABZU]
    Includes an illustrated guide to various topics, including Ba and Ka.

Art and Architecture

• WEB Mark Millmore's Ancient Egypt [At eyelid.co.uk]
  Spectacular images of pyramids and temples.
• WEB Museo Gregoriano Egiziano [At Christusrex]
  Images from the Vatican's Egyptian Museum.
• WEB Egypt Image Index [At EAWC]

Literature

• Tale of Two Brothers [At Perankh Group]
• Lover Songs of ChesterBeatty Papyrus I [At Egyptology.com]
  A homosexual love poem?

Music

• WEB Egyptian Music [La musica nell'antico Egitto][Website]
  The site is in Italian. The Instruments Page and the Papyrus Illustrations Page are especially interesting.

Everyday Life

• 2ND Hieroglyphic Writing [At eyelid.co.uk]
• 2ND Plumbing in Egypt [At theplumber.com]
• 2ND Carol Meyer: Bir Umm Fawakhir: Insights into Ancient Egyptian Mining JOM 9:3 (1997), 64-68. [At JOM]
  Mining in 5-6th Century CE Egypt.
• WEB Life in Ancient Egypt [Website]
  At the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Modern text with ample illustrations on everyday life and religious beliefs and practices.
• WEB Everyday Life in Egypt [Website-MNSU]
  Includes short texts.
• WEB Egyptian Medicine [Internet Archive]
  Some short texts and illustrations

Mathematics

• 2ND Egyptian Mathematics [At eyelid.co.uk]
• 2ND Egyptian Mat-tics [At Buffalo]
  With translations of problems.
• WEB Egyptian Fractions [At UCI][Website]
  A website which discusses Egyptian fractions, and which has links to other sites on Egyptian mathematics.

Gender and Sexuality

• For Women: see WEB Diotima
  • Status of Women in Egyptian Society, by Peter Piccione [At Internet Archive, from NWU]
• For gender variants: See WEB People With a History: Near East and Egypt
  • Contention of Horus and Seth [At Theology WebSite]
    Ends with Seth penetrating Horus.

Modern Perspectives on Egypt

• 2ND A Conspiracy Theory [At Melanet]
  

Other Ancient African Societies

General

• Accounts of Meröe, Kush, and Axum, c. 430 BCE - 550 CE
  From Herodotus, Strabo, Dio Cassius, the King of Axum, and Procopius of Caesarea
• WEB Mr. Dowling's Virtual Classroom: Ancient Africa
  Well done. Aimed at a grade school readership.

Nubia

• Accounts of Ancient Nubia & Ethiopia, c. 430 BCE - 550 CE
  From Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, the King of Axum, and Procopius of Caesarea.
• 2ND Tara Kneller: Neither Goddesses Nor Doormats: The Role of Women in Nubia [At Historical Text Archive]
• WEB Nubia: The Land Upriver [At Internet Archive, from NWU]
  Extensive guide by Peter A. Piccione
• WEB Nubia [At touregypt.net]
• WEB Nubia [At OI-Chicago]
• WEB Vanished Kingdoms of the Nile: The Rediscovery of Ancient Nubia  [At OI-Chicago]

Libya and Western North Africa/Mauretania

• Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): On Libya, from The Histories, c. 430 BCE [At this Site]
• Accounts of Ancient Mauretania, c. 430 BCE - 550 CE
  From Herodotus, Strabo, and Procopius of Caesarea.

Nok Culture

• 2ND African Art: Nok Culture [At Internet Archive, from USF]
  A culture in Northern Nigeria, c. 2500 years ago.

Gambia

• WEB The stone circles of The Gambia [At Camara's Homepage]
  

Greek and Roman Africa

General

• Accounts of Ancient Nubia & Ethiopia, c. 430 BCE - 550 CE
  From Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, the King of Axum, and Procopius of Caesarea.
• Accounts of Ancient Mauretania, c. 430 BCE- 550 CE
  From Herodotus, Strabo, and Procopius of Caesarea
• The Periplus [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
  Written by a Greek resident of Alexandria in Egypt during the first century BCE, this text is one of the oldest surviving accounts of the countries on Africa's east coast. A map gives some idea of the size and scope of Africa and of the author's journey.

Greek Colonies

• Documents of the Founding of Cyrene, c. 630 BCE
  A Greek colony on the North African coast.

Ptolemaic Egypt (323-30 BCE)

• Athanaeus (fl. c. 200 CE): The Great Spectacle and  Procession of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, 285 BCE
• List of Ptolemies [At House of Ptolemy]
• Plutarch  (c.46-c.120 CE): Cleopatra, from Life of Mark Anthony, [At Diotima]
  The Last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt.
• WEB House of Ptolemy [Website]
• WEB Treasures of the Sunken City [Website]
  A NOVA site on marine archeological explorations at Alexandria. The images and video call for a fast web connection.

Roman Africa

• Julius Caesar: The African Wars [At MIT]
• Pliny the Elder (23/4-79 CE): On Africa, [At Internet Archive, from Clinch College]
• Egypt under the Roman Empire, excerpts from Strabo, Geography and Oxyrhynchus papyri. [At This Site]
• 2ND African Armour on the Eve of the 2nd Punic War [at Internet Archive]
• 2ND James O'Donnell: Augustine the African [At UPenn]
• 2ND The African Synods of the Church [At Catholic Encyclopedia]

Byzantine Africa

• Procopius: The Reconquest of Africa, 534, from On the Wars IV:9
  A description of Belisarius' triumph, with Gelimer, King of the Vandal's in tow.
  

Ethiopia and Christianity

General

• WEB Library of Ethiopian Texts [At Charles University, Prague]
  The texts of classical Ethiopian Christianity, presented in Geez (both transliterated and in the Geez alphabet), and in English.
• 2ND The Book of Enoch [At Catholic Encyclopedia]
• MEGA Ethiopia Page [At The Abyssinia Gateway]
  A comprehensive listing of Ethiopian links, ancient and modern..
• 2ND Rita Pankhurst: Women of Power in Ethiopian Legend and History [At One World]
• WEB Richard Pankhurst: Collection of Essays [At The Abyssinia Gateway]
  Covers all aspects of Ethipian history from ancient times to the present.

Africa and Islam

General

• WEB Islam and Indigenous African Culture [At Internet Archive, from Harvard]
  A clear narrative, and excellent maps on the penetration of Islam across the Sahara and in East Africa.
• 2ND John Hunwick: Africa and Islamic Revival: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives [At UGA]
• Abû Ûthmân al-Jahiz: The Essays, excerpts, c. 860 CE
  On the Zanj (Black Africans). Arab Muslim opinions.

Egypt

• Firman of Appointment of Muhammad Ali as Pasha of Egypt, issued by the Ottoman Sultan, 1840 [At Historical Text Archive]
• Muhammad Ali's Tax Inspectors 1809 [At Historical Text Archive] from Chronicles of al-Jabarti - cAbd al-Rahman al-Jabarti cajaib al-athar f-il-tarajim w-al-akhbar, Cairo 1297/1879 IV, 93-94,141-142, 154, 183, 208-209).

States

• MAP Maps Relating to the Historical Development of Islam [At U. Penn]
• Africanus: The History and Description of Africa: Borno [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]

Culture

• Ibn Battuta (1307-1377 CE): Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354
• Ibn Battuta (1307-1377 CE): Malian Women, [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
• Leo Africanus Description of Timbuktu [At WSU]
• Unfolding the Mystery of Timbuktu [At Internet Archive, from FSU]
• Tabala Wolof: Sufi Drumming of Senegal [At Village Pulse]
  Music samples
  

African Societies

General

• MAP Trade Map of Africa [At U. Mich.]
• MAP Africa: Political Entities Before the Scramble [At Washington U., St. Louis]
  Map and text showing the variety of African state formations.
• 2ND Richard Effland: The Rest of the Story About Africa [At Maricopa]
  A discussion of African state formations.
• 2ND Richard Effland: The Cultural Evolution of Civilizations [At Maricopa]
  A discussion of different theories of state formation.

West Africa

• WEB Saharan Trade: A Link Between Europe and Africa
  With maps of Ghana, Mali and Songhay.
• Gronniosaw, James Albert Ukawsaw: A narrative of the most remarkable particulars in the life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African prince, written by himself. [At Virginia], published Newport, RI, 1774
• Ghana [A non-Muslim Kingdom, lasts until c. 1235 CE]
  • Glimpses of the Kingdom of Ghana, 1067 [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
  • Al Bakri: Description of Ghana [At Boston]
  • 2ND Richard Hooker: Ghana [At WSU]
• Mali [A Muslim Empire, from c. 1235 CE. Declines 15th Cent.]
  • 2ND The Legend of Sundiata [At Princeton Online]
  • MAP Map of Mansa Musa's Northern Africa
    From Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
    Map of North Africa in which figures the Atlas Mountains, the king of Mali (Mansa Musa), the king of Organa, the king of Nubia, the king of Bablyon, and the Red Sea. (BNF, ESP 30) Atlas catalan, Spain, Majorca, c, 14th Century
  • 2ND Richard Hooker: Mali [At WSU]
• Songhay [Exists from 11th Cent. Challenges Mali from c. 1400 CE.   Ends early 17th Cent.]
  • 2ND Richard Hooker: Songhay [At WSU]
• Benin
  • Richard Eden: Decades of the new World, 1555 [At WSU]
    European traders at the royal court of Benin.
• The Forest Kingdoms  

Zimbabwe

• WEB Zimbabwe Slide Show [At Maricopa]
  A 23 image slide show on Great Zimbabwe with text.
• Great Zimbabwe [At Then Again]
• Great Zimbabwe Ruins
  Modern dating techniques indicate that the city was started around 1200 CE and occupied for about four centuries. For decades western researchers tried to deny that it was built by Africans. [It was!]

Bands and Segementary Societies

• David Wiley: Using "Tribe" to Misunderstand Africa , [At Wisconsin] [A modern account]

Cultures

• African Proverbs [At WSU]
• African Recipes [At Upenn]
• Africa Recipes from Ghana [At Upenn]
• WEB Meanings of Symbols in Adinkara Cloth [At Internet Archive, from Kemet]
• WEB History and Significance of Ghana's Kente Cloth
  Both the Adinkara and Kente pages are well illustrated.
• WEB African Art: Aesthetics and Meaning [At Virginia]
• WEB Many Faces of Africa [At Harlemm.com]
  Information about African masks.

Religion

• African High Gods [At Mircea Eliade Page]
  • Nzambi, the High God of the Bakongo
  • The Supreme Being of the Isoko (Southern Nigeria)
  • Ngai, the High God of the Kikiyu
  • Leza, the High God of the Ba-ila of Northern Rhodesia
  • The Supreme Being of the Herero
  • Raluvhimba, the High God of the Venda
• Creation Stories [At Mircea Eliade Page]
  • An African Cosmogony
  • An African Story of the Creation of Man
• Relations with the Divine [At Mircea Eliade Page]
  • Nuer Sacrifice
  • A Bushman Demands the Help of His God
  • Hymn to Mwari, the God of the Mashona [S. Zimbabwe]
• Religious Specialists [At Mircea Eliade Page]
  • An African High King [Malawi]
    

The Impact of Slavery

General

• Pope Paul III: Sublimus Dei [On Slavery], 1537 [At New Advent]
  A Papal Bull attacking the slave trade. The first pope to condemn slavery as "intrinsically evil" was John Paul II.
• WEB Studies in the World History of Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation [At H-Net]
• 2ND Where in Africa did African American's Originate? [At Internet Archive, from Panix]

The Slave Trade

• John Wesley: Thoughts Upon Slavery, 1774 [At UMC]
  Wesley was opposed to slavery, but this is interesting as it includes explict descriptions of the way in which people were enslaved and treated. A great example of the moral force of Evangelical Christianity.
• Slave Trade Statistics [At Dayton]
• 2ND The Transatlantic Slave Trade 1450-1750 [At Advanced.org]
• 2ND Anika Francis: The Economics of the African Slave Trade [At Internet Archive, from Upenn]
• 2ND Bernard Lewis. Race and Slavery in the Middle East, (New York: Oxford Univ Press 1994) Chap 1. "Slavery".
• WEB Yahoo!: Atlantic Slave Trade History

Enslaved People

• Oladuah Equiano: The Life of Gustavus Vassa
• Oladuah Equiano: The Life of Gustavus Vassa [At Internet Archive, from Northpark]
• Oladuah Equiano: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, London, 1789 [At Brycchan Carey]
• Oladuah Equiano: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, London, 1789 [At newsreel.com]
• WEB Excerpts from Slave Narratives [At UHouston]
  Edited by Steven Mintz. Includes accounts from enslavement to the end of slavery in the US. All texts below are links to the Houston site]
  • A European slave trader, John Barbot, describes the African slave trade (1682)
  • A Muslim merchant, Ayubah Suleiman Diallo, recalls his capture and enslavement (1733)
  • Olaudah Equiano, an 11-year old Ibo from Nigeria remembers his kidnapping into slavery (1789)
  • Venture Smith relates the story of his kidnapping at the age of six (1798)
  • A European slave trader, James Bardot, Jr., describes a shipboard revolt by enslaved Africans (1700)
  • Olaudah Equiano describes the horrors of the Middle Passage (1789)
  • A doctor, Alexander Falconbridge, describes conditions on an English slaver (1788)
  • Olaudah Equiano describes his arrival in the New World (1789)
  • An English physician, Alexander Falconbridge, describes the treatment of newly arrived slaves in the West Indies (1788)
  • Olaudah Equiano describes West African religious beliefs and practices (1789)
  • Charles Ball remembers a slave funeral, which incorporated traditional African customs (1837)
  • Peter Randolph describes the religious gathers slaves held outside of their master's supervision (1893)
  • Henry Bibb discusses "conjuration" (1849)
    

The Ending of Slavery

• WEB Statutes of the United States Concerning Slavery, 1794-1850 [At Yale]
• Treaty Between United States and Great Britain for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, April 7, 1862, and Additional Article to the Treaty for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade, February 17, 1863 [At Yale]
• Pope Leo XIII: Encyclical: In Plurimus (On the Abolition of Slavery in Brazil),  1888. [At the Vatican]
  The pope gives a history of slavery in the modern period, condemns Muslim slavery and condones anti-slavery activity by popes. He neglects to mention the permission for the onset of the African slave trade provide by Pope Nicholas V.
• Pope Leo XIII: Encyclical: Catholicae Ecclesiae (On Slavery in The Missions),  1890. [At the Vatican]

European Imperialism

General

• See  Islamic History Sourcebook for Western Imperialism in North Africa.
• Vasco da Gama: Round Africa to India, 1497-1498 CE
• Cafraria:  A Patre Michaele Boym Polono Missa Mozambico, 1644 Ianuar. 11, In Latin, [At Latin Library]
• Rudyard Kipling: The White Man's Burden, 1899
  About the US conquest of the Phillipines, but with a much wider significance.
  • WEB Jim Zwick: The White Man's Burden and Its Critics [At Boondocks Net]
    A really excellent guide to responses at the time.
• James Henry Breasted: The Conquest of Civilization (selections), 1926 [At WHA]
• Extent of European Colonialism in Statistical Terms [At Mt. Holyoke]
• WEB Scramble for Africa
  A project looking at the events of the European land grab after 1881.

Analyses and Criticism of Imperialism

• John A. Hobson (1858-1940): Imperialism, 1902, excerpts
• John A. Hobson (1858-1940): The Economic Bases of Imperialism [At Marxists.org]
• Vladimir Illyich Lenin (1870-1924): Imperialism and the Split in Socialism, 1916 [At Marxists.org][Full Text]
• Vladimir Illyich Lenin (1870-1924): Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism, 1916 [At Marxists.org][Full Text]
• Edward Morel: The Black Man's Burden, 1903, excerpts,[At this Site]
• Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness, 1902, extracts [At WSU]
• Joseph A. Schumpeter: The Sociology of Imperialism, 1918  [At this Site]
• George Orwell: Shooting an Elephant [At George Orwell.org][Full Text]
• 2ND Gerald Remphal: The New Imperialism [At Internet Archive, from WNEC]

Exploration/Missionary Activities

• David Livingstone (1813-1873): Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, 1857 [Project Gutenberg] [Full Text]
• Edmondo de Amicis: One Day in Morocco, c. 1870 [At this Site]
• Paul du Chaillu: Travels in Africa, 1868-1870 [At this Site]
• Sir Henry M. Stanley: How I Found Livingstone, 1871 [At this Site]
• Charles Dudley Warner: Up the Cataracts of the Nile, 1875

British Africa

• The Earl of Cromer: Why Britain Acquired Egypt in 1882, 1908 [At this Site]
• Major-General Charles Gordon: The Siege of Khartoum, 1884 [At Hillsdale]
• Alfred Egmont Hake: The Death of General Gordon at Khartoum, 1885 [At this Site]
• 2NDArye Oded: An History of the Abuyudaya Jews of Uganda
  The Historical and Social Background of the Abayudaya Community, a group of Ugandans who converted to Judaism in the late 19th century.  
• Capt. F. D. Lugard: The Rise of Our East African Empire, 1893 [At this Site]
• WEB Land Forces of Britain, The Empire and Commonwealth

Belgian Africa

• Léopold II: Lettre de  au Ministre Beernaert au sujet de l'Etat indépendant du Congo, 3 juillet 1890. In French
• Henry Morton Stanley: "Is he not in Congo-land?", Excerpts from the writings of the nineteenth-century explorer From Through the Dark Continent (1878) and The Founding of the Congo Free State (1885), [At The Atlantic Magazine, by subscription only]
• Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness, 1902, full text  [At Project Gutenberg]
• WEB The Congo [At Internet Archive, from Cayuga CC]

French Africa

• Proposal for the Establishment of a Native Army in Algeria, 1839 [At Historical Text Archive]
  Translation of a letter from an unidentified senior French Army Officer to the French Minister for the Navy. 
• Combat près du lac Tchad - Afrique 1901, in French, [At Livre des sources médiévales]
• Declaration Between the United Kingdom and France Respecting Egypt and Morocco, together with secret articles signed at the same time. Signed at London, April 8, 1904. [At Historical Text Archive]
• 2ND Stephen Wooten: The French in West Africa [At U. Penn] 

German Africa

• Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Place in the Sun, 1901
  A speech calling for Germany to have an overseas empire. Africa was the target.
• Gustave Freensen: In The German South African Army, 1903-1904 [At this Site]
• WEB German Colonialism in Africa [At Internet Archive, from ASU]

South Africa

• Chief Moshweshewe: Letter to Sir George Grey, 1858 [On the establishment of /land]
• Anthony Trollope: The Diamond Fields of South Africa, 1870 [At this Site]
• Lucie Duff Gordon: Letters from the Cape [Project Gutenberg] [Full Text]
• Josephine Elizabeth Grey Butler (1828-1906): Native Races and the War, 1900 [At Indian: Victorian Women Writers]
• Sol Plaatje: Native Life in South Africa, Before and Since the European War and the Boer Rebellion [At Project Gutenberg] [Full Text]
• 2ND John Young: Dramatic Zulu Reversal at Khambula, 1879, Military History, March '98 [At Internet Archive, from Military History]
• WEB South African War Virtual Library

Liberia

• WEB African-American Mosaic: Colonization of Liberia [At LOC]
  

The Fight for Independence

General

• WEB Africa [At Mt. Holyoke]

Algeria

• WEB Algeria [At Mt. Holyoke]
• Proclamation of Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), November 1, 1954 [At Historical Text Archive]
• Charles de Gaulle, French Premier: Speech at Constantine, Algeria, October 3, 1958 [At this Site]

Ghana

• Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972): I Speak of Freedom, 1961, excerpts [At this Site]

South Africa

• WEB African National Congress: Historical Documents [At ANC.org]
  Contains a substantial selection of ANC documents, as well book length studies of the issues over the past century.
• The National Party's Colour Policy, 1948  [At this Site]
• A.L. Geyer: The Case for Apartheid, 1953, excerpts [At this Site]
• Umkhonto we Sizwe (Military wing of the African National Congress): We are at War!, December 16, 1961 [At WSU]
• UN Resolution 1598: On Race Conflict in South Africa, 1961  [At this Site]
• Bishop Demond Tutu (1931-): The Question of South Africa, 1984, excerpts [At this Site]
  

Modern Africa

General

• Syllabus: Ethnicity, Class and Power in Twentieth-Century Africa [At Internet Archive, from H-Net]
• WEB Ancestors in Africa: [At University of Kent]
  Selected readings and Mambila case material prepared by David Zeitlyn as part of the Experience Rich Anthropology Project
• WEB Africa Speaks: West African University Students Write About Their Lives
  "The texts were written in 1990-92 at the University of Niamey, Niger Republic, in classes taught by Patricia Stoll. They provide unique and authentic insights into the lives of young Africans."
• Robert D. Kaplan: The Coming Anarchy February 1996, and Proportionalism August 1996, The Atlantic Monthly, [At The Atlantic, requires subscription]
  Addresses Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, and the US response.
• WEB African Lives [At Washington Post]
  • Part I: The Dinka in Sudan
  • Part II: Young Urban Kenyans
  • Part III: Midwives in Ethiopia
  • Part IV: Fishermen of Senegal
  • Part V: AIDS in Kenya
  • Part VI: Families of Abidjan
  • Part VII: Child Brides in Ivory Coast
  • Part VIII: Death in Ghana
• Africa: Country Studies
  Prepared for Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the Department of the Army. These are full descriptions of the countries concerned, in terms of history, geography, economy, etc. There are also useful bibliographies. [At LOC]
  • Algeria
  • Angola
  • Chad
  • Egypt
  • Ethiopia
  • Ghana
  • Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)
  • Madagascar
  • Maldives
  • Mauritania
  • Nigeria
  • Somalia
  • Sudan
  • Uganda
  • Zaire (Congo)

International Organizations

• WEB Documents from the Organization of African Unity [At Internet Archive, from Diana]
• All-African People's Conference: Resolution on Imperialism and Colonialism, Accra, December 5-13, 1958  [At this Site]
• United Nations: Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, 1960  [At this Site]
• Charter of the Organisation of African Unity, May 25 1963  [At this Site]

Continuing Imperialism

• France: The "Loi-Cadre" of June 23, 1956  [At this Site]
• Senator Fulbright: Appraisal of US Policy in the Dominican Crisis, September 15, 1965  [At this Site]
  A wide-ranging critique of US foreign policy.

Angola

• Angola Constitution, 1992 [At Bern]

Algeria

• The Islamic Salvation Front National Provisional Executive Bureau:
  Communique No. 42, Algiers, November 14 1993 [At Cornell]

Cameroons

• WEB Mama for story
  Texts from David Zeitlyn and Ian Fowler on Cameroons.

Congo [Brazzaville]

• Congo (Brazzaville) Constitution, 1992 [At Bern]

Congo [Zaire]

• U Thant: The Congo Problem, 1962  [At this Site]
• Zaire: UN Human Rights Report 1995 [At H-Net]
• Bill Berkeley: Zaire: An African Horror Story, The Atlantic Monthly, August 1993, [At The Atlantic, requires subscription]
• 2ND Jeffrey Tayler: Vessel of Last Resort, The Atlantic, Sept 1996, [At The Atlantic, requires subscription]
  Account of a trip up the Congo river.

Egypt

• For Modern Egypt see Islamic History Sourcebook

Eritrea

• Eritrea Constitution (draft), 1996 [At Bern]

Ethiopia

• WEB Richard Pankhurst: Collection of Essays [At Abyssinia Cyber Gateway]
  Covers all aspects of Ethiopian history from ancient times to the present.
• Map of Ethiopia [At Upenn]
• WEB Images from Ethiopia
• MEGA Ethiopia Page [At Abbysinia Gateway]
  A comprehensive listing of Ethiopia links, ancient and modern..

Gambia

• WEB Nijii [Momodou Camara's Homepage]

Kenya

• WEB Kenyaweb: History of Kenya
  Secondary account from pre-history to the present.
• Jomo Kenyatta: The Kenya Africa Union is Not the Mau Mau, 1952  [At this Site]
• 2ND Bill Berkeley: An Encore for Chaos? Feb, 1996 [At The Atlantic, requires subscription]
  "The embattled despot Daniel arap Moi,  of Kenya, has sought to preserve his regime by exploiting ethnic divisions. So why is  Kenya still intact?

Liberia

• Liberia: UN Report (excerpts) Security Council S/1996/47, 23 January 1996 Fifteenth Progress Report. [At Africa Action]

Madagascar

• Madagascar Constitution, 1992 [At Bern]
• David Graeber: The Disastrous Ordeal of 1987: an historical ethnography about a village called Betafo in central Madagascar. [At H-Net].

Malawi

• H. Kamuzu Banda (former President of Malawi): Apology to People of Malawi, Jan 4th 1996 [At Geocities]

Mauritania

• Mauritania Constitution, 1992 [At Bern]

Morocco

• Morocco Constitution, 1992 [At Bern]

Namibia

• 2ND Elizabeth Marshall Thomas: The Desert [At One World]
• 2ND Elizabeth Marshall Thomas: The Birth [At One World]
• Namibia Constitution, 1990 [At Bern]

Nigeria

• UN Fact-Finding Mission to Nigeria: Report to Secretary General, 1996 [At H-Net]
• Wole Soyinka: Towards a Sustainable Vision of Nigeria, 1996  [At H-Net]
• WEB BBC News: Special Report: Nigeria in Crisis
• WEB The Virtual Institute of Mambila Studies
  VIMS seeks to collate and connect the different research and researchers with an interest in the Mambila people of the Nigeria - Cameroon borderland and their neighbours; their languages and the area in which they live

Rwanda

• Rwanda Constitution, 1991 [At Bern]
• Violence and Unrest in Central Africa, The Atlantic Monthly, November 1996, [At The Atlantic, subscription required]
• The Atlantic Report: Rwanda, The Atlantic Monthly, June 1964, [At The Atlantic, subscription required]
• Stanley Meisler: Rwanda and Burundi, The Atlantic Monthly, September 1973, [At The Atlantic, subscription required]

South Africa

• Nelson Mandela : Speech on Release From Jail, 1990 [At this Site]
• Nelson Mandela : Inaugural Address, May 10, 1994 [At WSU]
• WEB South African Constitutional Assembly Page [At Constitution.org, SA]
• South Africa Constitution, 1997 [At Bern]
• WEB H-SAfrica Homepage [At H-Net]
  With an Internet Links section.
• WEB South African History Archive Trust (SAHA)
  Collections  "cover the period of the 1980s to the 1990s."
• WEB University of Witwatersrand: Department of Historial Papers
  

Tanzania

• Tanzania: The Arusha Declaration, 1967  [At this Site]

Zambia

• President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia: African Development and Foreign Aid, Speech of March 18, 1966  [At this Site]
• Zambia Constitution, 1991 [At Bern]

Zimbabwe

• Rhodesia: Unilateral Declaration of Independence Documents, 1965  [At this Site]
  • Prime Minister Ian Smith: Announcement of Unilateral Declaration of Independence, November 11, 1965
  • Prime Minister Harold Wilson: The Position of the British Government on the Unilateral Declaration of Independenec by Rhodesia, Speech to Parliament, November 11,1965
  • Soviet Government Statement: The Situation in Southern Rhodesia, November 15, 1965

Gender and Sexualities in Modern Africa

• Female Circumcision/Female Genital Mutilation
  • The Issue of Female Circumcision [At H-Net]
  • Female Genital Mutilation on Trial [At The Atlantic, requires subscription]
  • Linda Burstyn: Female Genital Mutilation Comes to America, The Atlantic October 1995 [At The Atlantic, requires subscription]
  • WEB Female Genital Mutilation Education and Networking Project
    Lots of interesting stuff, and discussion within the context of Islam. Also discusses "male genital mutilation" - such discussions in the past have ended up with distinct anti-Semitic overtones.
• Homosexuality
  • Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship
  • South African Constitution [At Bern]
    Section 9.(3) is the first constitutional guarantee of protection for LGBs in the world
  • Zimbabwe Anti-Gay Witchhunt 1996 [At Internet Archive, from Xmission.com]
  • Eugene Patron: Heart of Lavender: In Search of Gay Africa, from Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review, Fall 1995.
  • Electronic Mail and Guardian: Gay couple tie the knot, Johannesburg, South Africa. September 9, 1997 [At Mail and Guardian]
  • Molefi Asante: Interview on Homosexuality, on THIS WAY OUT [At QRD]
    Asante, a leading proponent of Afrocentrism, had long called homosexuality a western deviation. He has now publically changed his mind, as more information about African gender/sexuality has come to light.
  • Matthew Quest : Afrocentricity vs. Homosexuality: The Isis Papers [At Spunk.org]
    A critique of Frances Cress Welsing's The Isis Papers.
  • 2ND Stephen O. Murray and Will Roskam: Boy Wives and Female Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities © 1998 [At Internet Archive, from Louie Crewe's Pages]
    An early draft of the book manuscript due from St. Martins in October 1998
  • WEB Gay and Lesbian Archives for South Africa [At University of Witwatersrand]
    

Further Resources on African History

• WEB GUIDES
  • MEGA Africa South of the Sahara [At Stanford]
  • MEGA Africa-History [Part of the Stanford Site]
    A very well done guide.
  • MEGA Africa Web Links: an Annotated Resource List [At UPenn]
    With specific pages for each country.
  • MEGA Black/African Related Resources  [At UPenn]
  • MEGA An A-Z of of African Studies on the Internet [At MSU]
  • Keele Guide to African Government and Politics on the Internet [At Keele University]
  • MEGA Yahoo! African History
  • MEGA Africa Connector [At Columbia]
  • MEGA H-Africa [At H-Net]
  • MEGA African Philosophy Resources
    A very useful links site - links to syllabi and online secondary discussions.
• AFRICA INFORMATION SOURCES
  • MEGA African News Sources Online [At Kidon Media]
    An extensive guide to African newspapers, radio stations, etc. online.
  • TIMELINE Timeline [At Central Oregon CC]
    Splendid multi part chronology, with links to texts, images, discussions. The best of the timelines online.
  • TIMELINE WebChron: Africa [At Then Again]
    Useful chronology.
  • WEB Africa on the Internet: Starting Points for Policy Information
• ACADEMIC PAGES
  • MEGA Historical Text Archive: Africa
  • WEB Civilizations in Africa [At WSU]
    Online course and text resources by Richard Hooker. Includes a net resources guide. Splendid.
  • WEB Prof. Timothy Scarnecchia: African History Syllabi [At Georgetown]
  • WEB The Afroasiastic Index Project [At Oriental Institute/Chicago]
    "a scholarly initiative that aims at creating an etymological database of Afroasiatic languages."
  • WEB African Heritage Cultural Center
  • WEB Connections: A Culturally Historical Prospective of West African to African American [At Internet Archive]
  • WEB Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
    A leading New York institution.
  • WEB World History Archives: Africa in General
    Less useful than its name suggests.
• OTHER AFRICAN STUDIES RESOURCES
  • WEB Clyde Winter's Page
    Beyond "Afrocentrism"! Winter's posts article on the African origin of *every* culture - China, Olmecs, Maya, Harrapa, etc.
  • WEB Christine's Genealogy Site
    A really good site on African and African-American genealogy.
  • WEB Mircea Eliade: From Primitives to Zen [at enteract.com]
    Complete texts of Eliade's religion anthology online.

Other Resources

• WEB Exploring Africa [At USC]
  An Exhibit of Maps and Travel Narratives from Leo Africanus to Chinua Achebe
• 2ND Henry Martey Codjoe: Why We Need Black History Month - All Year Around, From " Vol 1. No. 6, Friday 27 January 1995
• 2ND George E. Lichtblau: Jewish Roots in Africa  [At U Kalanu.org]
  

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© Paul Halsall, June. Last Updated February 20, 2007
halsall@fordham.edu