Africans: The History of a Continent (African Studies, Series Number 108) - Softcover

Iliffe, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521682975 ISBN 13: 9780521682978

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2007

Synopsis

In a vast and all-embracing study of Africa, from the origins of mankind to the AIDS epidemic, John Iliffe refocuses its history on the peopling of an environmentally hostile continent. Africans have been pioneers struggling against disease and nature, and their social, economic and political institutions have been designed to ensure their survival. In the context of medical progress and other twentieth-century innovations, however, the same institutions have bred the most rapid population growth the world has ever seen. The history of the continent is thus a single story binding living Africans to their earliest human ancestors. John Iliffe was Professor of African History at the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of St. John's College. He is the author of several books on Africa, including A modern history of Tanganyika and The African poor: A history, which was awarded the Herskovits Prize of the African Studies Association of the United States. Both books were published by Cambridge University Press.

About this title

Book Description

This is a general history of Africa, from the origins of mankind to the AIDS epidemic, current to 2006. It combines a broad picture of Africa's history with more detailed analysis of recent developments in a manner that other accounts of the continent do not attempt.

From the Back Cover

In a vast and all-embracing study of Africa, from the origins of mankind to the South African general election of 1994, John Iliffe refocuses African history on the peopling of an environmentally hostile continent. Africans have been pioneers struggling against disease and nature, and their social, economic and political institutions have been designed to ensure survival and maximise numbers. These institutions enabled them to survive the slave trade and colonial invasion, but in the context of medical progress and other twentieth-century innovations the same institutions have bred the most rapid population growth the world has ever seen. This demographic growth has lain behind the collapse of colonial rule, the disintegration of Apartheid, and the instability of contemporary nations. The history of the continent is thus a single story binding living Africans to their earliest human ancestors.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0521682975
• ISBN 13: 9780521682978
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 388