Themes / Events

By Alistair Boddy-Evans, About.com Guide to African History

Africa's recorded past, whether by document or oral tradition, stretches back over five millennia. How we present a history is often dependent upon our direction of approach, and for African history today, there are two main approaches: as a Social Science and as a Humanity. The Social Science approach more often than not considers history organized along themes - slavery, gender, politics - and looks to explore how people dealt with problems. Humanistic history is usually presented as a narrative, and often follows a chronological line - breaking history into eras or describing the evolution of a particular event.

1. Apartheid
2. Slavery
3. Human Origins in Africa

4. Scramble for Africa
5. Race for Independence
6. Conflict and War

Apartheid

Apartheid is an Afrikaans word that means 'separation', and is the name given to the particular racial-social ideology developed in South Africa during the twentieth century. Apartheid was all about racial segregation, and about political and economic discrimination which separated the Black South African (the Bantu), Coloured, Indians, and Whites.

• Apartheid Legislation in South Africa
• The Treason Trial
• Sharpeville Massacre
• June 16th Student Uprising
• Women's Anti-Pass Law Campaigns

• Apartheid FAQ
• Apartheid Documents
• Glossary of Apartheid Terms
• Glossary of Apartheid Laws

Slavery

Whether slavery existed within sub-Saharan African societies before the arrival of Europeans is a hotly contested point between Afrocentric and Eurocentric academics. What is certain is that Africans were subjected to several forms of slavery over the centuries, including chattel slavery under both the Muslims with the trans-Saharan slave trade, and Europeans through the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

• Types of Slavery in Africa
• The Role of Islam in African Slavery
• Origins of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
• São Tomé and the Slave Trade
• The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

• How Many Slaves Were Taken from Africa?
• Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Origins of Slaves
• Images of African Slavery and the Slave Trade
• Slave Laws in South Africa
• Slavery in the Cape Colony - Timeline

Human Origins in Africa

Is Africa truly the cradle of humankind? The oldest fossils of humankind's early ancestors have been found across the African continent and DNA evidence also supports Africa's significant role in human evolution.

• Humankind's African Origins
• Hominid Fossils in Kenya and Ethiopia
• Pre-Colonial cultures: San and Khoi

Scramble for Africa

During the colonial era, Africa was transformed through internal and external pressures. Famine and disease, as well as territorial conflicts such as the Mfecane, caused distinct changes in African society. The abolition of the slave trade, forcibly imposed on Europe's African interests by Britain, as well as the European Scramble for Africa, left traditional African cultures fractured and bleeding.

• General Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa
• Mandates in Africa
• Covenant of the League of Nations: Article 22
• Covenant of the League of Nations: Article 23

Race for Independence

The struggle for independence which followed the First World War had a serious effect on Europe's African empires. Both peaceful and bloody resistance to Colonial domination occurred as Africa reclaimed it's own identity.

• A Chronological List of Independence Dates
• A Gazetteer of African Independence
• Africa and the Commonwealth of Nations
• Alphabetical List of African Members of the Commonwealth of Nations
• Key Events in the Decolonization of Africa: Suez Crisis

• The Tripartite Invasion, 1956
• What was the "Wind of Change" speech?
• Text of Harold Macmillan's "Wind of Change" Speech
• Henrik Verwoerd's Response to Harold Macmillan's "Wind of Change" Speech

Conflict and War

Africa history has been turbulent, with many wars and conflicts: from ancient battles, to wars of independence, and today's civil wars.

• The Tripolitan War, 1801 - 1805
• Anglo-Zulu War 1879
• 1st Italo-Ethiopian war, 1896
• Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902

• The Bambatha Rebellion, 1906
• World War II in Africa, 1940-1943
• The Tripartite Invasion, 1956