List of Maps xiii
List of Plates xv
Acknowledgments xviii
Acknowledgments for the Second Edition xix
Acknowledgments for the First Edition xx
1 Introduction: Understanding the Contours of Africa’s Past 1
Part I A Brief History of the Study of Africa 5
Land 8
People 12
Polity, Society, and Economy: Ingenuity and Violence in the Nineteenth Century 19
2 Western Transitions: Slave Trade and “Legitimate” Commerce in Atlantic Africa 25
States and Societies during the Atlantic Slave Trade 26
“Illegal” Traffic: The Nineteenth?Century Slave Trade 30
Mineral and Vegetable: “Legitimate” Commerce 34
Change and Continuity in Forest and Savannah 37
3 Eastern Intrusions: Slaves and Ivory in Eastern Africa 47
Commercial Horizons: Slaves and Ivory 48
Maritime Empire: Zanzibar 53
Statehood, Conflict, and Trade (1): The Lacustrine Zone 57
Statehood, Conflict, and Trade (2): Northeastern Africa 64
4 Southern Frontiers: Colony and Revolution in Southern Africa 71
African State and Society to around 1800 71
War, Revolution, and the Zulu Impact 73
Cape Colonialism: White Settlement and the “Native Question” 78
Balances of Power to around 1870 81
Part II Africa and Islam: Revival and Reform in the Nineteenth Century 85
5 Revival and Reaction: North African Islam 89
Old and New Identities: Brotherhoods of the Desert 89
Trade and Conflict in the Mediterranean World: Ottoman and European Frontiers 90
Changing Society (1): The Maghreb 94
Changing Society (2): Egypt 97
6 Jihad: Revolutions in Western Africa 103
Islam in Western Africa to the Eighteenth Century 103
The Wandering Fulani 105
Prophets and Warriors 106
7 The Eastern Crescent: The Islamic Frontier in Eastern Africa 112
Swahili Islam: Coastal Frontiers in the Nineteenth Century 112
Islam in the Central East African Interior 114
Cross and Crescent in Northeast Africa 115
Islam on the Nile 117
Part III Africa and Europe: Commerce, Conflict and Co-option, to C.1920 121
8 The Compass and the Cross 127
Interested Gentlemen and Learned Bodies: Explorers and Exploration 128
Creeping Hegemony and the Invention of Africa 131
European Missionary Activity in Africa to around 1800 133
Evangelical Humanitarians: Missionary Revival 135
The Christian Impact on Culture, State, and Society 137
Mission and Empire 142
9 “Whatever Happens …”: Towards the Scramble 148
Africa and Theories of Imperialism 149
Race and Culture 152
Disorder and Civilizing Violence: Political and Economic Justifications 154
10 Africans Adapting: Conquest and Partition 159
Explaining the “Conquest” 159
Spears and Water: Violent Resistance 164
Histories Old and New: Colonialism and Historical “Knowledge” 174
Realities Old and New: Colonialism and Political “Knowledge” 177
Bush Wars and Distant Shadows: Africa in Global War 184
Part IV Colonialisms 193
11 “Pax Colonia”?: Empires of Soil and Service 199
Monopolies on Violence 200
Slaves and Labor 203
Cash Crops 204
White Settlement 209
Industry 211
Social Change and Emergent Crisis 214
Hearts and Minds 217
Environment and Medicine 220
12 Hard Times: Protest, Identity, and Depression 230
Making Tribes 230
Emergent Protest in the Islamic World 233
Salvation and Resistance: The African Church 235
Class and Tribe: The Industrial Complex 236
Cash Crops, Rural Crises, and Peasant Protest 239
Other Voices 242
13 Battles Home and Away: Africa in Global War (Again) 248
The War in the Continent 248
Shifts in Politics and Society 253
Part V The Dissolution of Empire 259
14 The Beached Whale: Colonial Strategies in the Postwar World 265
Postwar Africa and the International Climate 266
Economic Policies and Visions, c. 1945–50 267
Political Plans, c. 1945–50 270
15 Conceiving and Producing Nations 273
The Widening Horizons of Belonging 274
Tensions and Transitions: From Political Consciousness to Political Parties 275
Irresistible Force and Immovable Object: Nationalists and Settlers 282
A Time of Contrasts 287
16 Compromising Conflict: Routes to Independence 290
Debate and Debacle: “Constitutional” Transfers of Power 290
Violence: Growth, Form, and Impact 299
From Suez to Sharpeville, and Beyond: The End of High Imperialism 305
Part VI Legacies, New Beginnings, and Unfinished Business 311
17 Unsafe Foundations: Challenges of Independence 317
Building the Nation (1): Economy and Society 317
Building the Nation (2): Polity 324
Political Stability and Islam 330
Crowded House: Africa and the Cold War 335
18 Violence and the Militarization of Political Culture 343
The Military in African Politics 343
The Politics and Cultures of Insurgency 347
New Wars, Old Problems, and Expanding Military Horizons 354
19 Rectification, Redemption, and Reality: Issues and Trends in Contemporary Africa 359
Africa and the Contemporary World 359
Democracy and Authoritarianism: Trends in Governance 363
Body and Mind 369
Contemporary Economics: Assessing “Development” and “Growth” 372
Further Reading 381
Index 384
