Following the Anglo-Boer War of 1879, Zululand was divided into 13 'kingdoms'. The region was made a British Crown Colony in 1887 under the authority of Natal and run accordingly ... Read More

Houari Boumedienne had been a leader in the Algerian fight for independence from France. In July 1965 he led a military coup which ousted Muhammad Ahmed Ben Bella from Power. ... Read More

Dian Fossey was an American zoologist known world wide for her championing the cause of Mountain Gorillas. Fossey caught her first glimpse of Mountain Gorillas in 1963 on a field ... Read More

After the North African campaign of World War II Britain had assured the local Sanusi population that they would be free from Italian rule. Four years of negotiation resulted in ... Read More

Unless you are after a simplistic retelling of African Myths for young children, there are not a lot of choices when if comes to traditional African tales. Harold Scheub's ... Read More

The more than 70 traditional stories in African Myths of Origins deal with how the world was shaped and cultures established. The myths were chosen for their cultural importance and ... Read More

Cetshwayo was the last king of an independent Zulu nation. His forces defeated the British at Isandlwana (22 January 1879), but lost the war -- with Cetshwayo being taken captive ... Read More

A biography of the French explorer René-Auguste Caillié, the first European to visit and return from Timbuktu, once believed by Europeans to be a semi-mythical 'city-of-gold'. Additional Resources Quotes: René-Auguste Caillié A selection ... Read More

Mungo Park, a Scottish surgeon and explorer, was sent out by the 'Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior of Africa' to discover the course of the River Niger. ... Read More

The Commonwealth of Nations was created by the Statute of Westminster in 1931 – it was seen as a way of maintaining a close association with those countries which were ... Read More

In December 1956, in response to the adoption of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People, the Apartheid government in South Africa arrested a total 156 people for ... Read More

Home to indigenous Bantu and Nilo-Saharan speaking peoples, the region was colonized by Arab traders from the 10th century and by the British in 1895. The route to independence was ... Read More

In his speech after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize for 1960 (it was held over for a year) Chief Albert Luthuli called for racial equality in South Africa. He said ... Read More

The mainland of Tanzania became a German colony called Tanganyika in 1884 whilst the Sultanate of Zanzibar became a British Protectorate in 1890. Tanganyika became a British mandated territory in ... Read More

Much of Africa's history has been passed on through the generations orally. One consequence of this is that traditional wisdom has been crystallized in the form of proverbs. Here is ... Read More

Félix Houphouët-Boigny was the first president of Côte d'Ivoire, from 6 August 1960 until his death in office. He was a relatively paternal ruler who helped bring a sound economy ... Read More

If you were to buy only one book about Ancient Egypt, its society, and how our understanding and interpretation of those ancient times has developed, this should be the one.Barry ... Read More

There are 24 different sounds used in the hieroglyphic written form of ancient Egyptian, somewhat like the sounds of the English alphabet. However, like Hebrew, hieroglyphs are not used to ... Read More

Hieroglyphs, the writing system of ancient Egypt, were used only by an elite – it is estimated that only 0.4 % of the population could read and write during the ... Read More