The study of African history came of age in the 1960s, coinciding with the emergence of many newly-independent modern African states. Professional historians working in the universities and archives of Africa, Europe and north America have over the past thirty years, produced millions of words and hundreds of volumes on various aspects of the history of Africa. Consequently, most African countries are now able to sport their own 'national' histories. And many of these are used as a basis for the study of history in local schools and colleges. Similarly, regional introductory histories of east, west, central or southern Africa have been written with the needs of school and college syllabuses in mind General histories of the whole continent, especially those going back to earliest times, have tended to be written to a rather more complex level of language and ideas. As a result, the non-specialist general reader, or the senior school or college student newly embarking on the wider history of the continent, has ofe found them somewhat daunting and difficult to comprehend.
The purpose of this new History of Africa is to overcome the latter problem by providing a simple, basic and well-illustrated text, and so bring to the widest possible audience an introduction to Africa's long and fascinating past which is both easily understood and based on the results of some of the most recent and up-to-date research. The book pays particular attention to social, economic, political and religious developments and the way in which these affect the lives of ordinary people.