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Into Africa: A journey through the ancient empires
A brilliant picture of a rich, exotic, complex and fascinating continent in the style of Bruce Chatwin. photographs, art and maps lend insight and depth to empires and trading patterns of prehistory as the primary framework, to explain how Africa was and is today. The book does not ignore the calamities, the collapse of civil authority, the wars, the famines, the human misery, the environmental degradation. But it does record the triumphs, small and large. More legend, art and culture, both popular and profound.
400 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
About the author
Marq de Villiers
29 books16 followersBorn in South Africa, Marq de Villiers is a veteran Canadian journalist and the author of thirteen books on exploration, history, politics, and travel, including Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource (winner of the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction). He has worked as a foreign correspondent in Moscow and through Eastern Europe and spent many years as editor and then publisher of Toronto Life magazine. More recently he was editorial director of WHERE Magazines International. He lives in Port Medway, Nova Scotia. [Penguin Canada]
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 7, 2022
"Into Africa" is a wonderful, almost breathless, whirlwind tour of the African continent. The travels described in the book may have begun as a search for what remains of the ancient empires that once existed, but became as much a discovery of what Africa is today, and what it will become.
Authors Marq De Villiers and Sheila Hirtle divide the book (and the continent) into nine sections, each with its own distinct character and history. Part one looks at southeast Africa, highlights of which include a visit to the impressive stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe, ruins which produce a sound when one's ear is pressed against them, the source unknown. We are introduced to the Makuni or the "Living Stones" of Zambia, named not after the famous explorer and missionary but rather for the fact that a chief begins his duties by swallowing a small stone, which lodges in his gut and becomes an embodiment of his people. This region is also home to the colorful Maasai warriors, often noted by tourists in colorful red garb (so that people will want to photograph them), nomadic pastoralists that have been pushed out of the increasingly artificial wildlife sanctuaries of Ngorongoro and the Serengeti despite having lived there for many hundreds of years.
Part two looks at the east coast of Africa, the lands of the Swahili speakers. Fabled east Africa, long a tropical coast skirted by (increasingly threatened) coral reefs and (disappearing) dhows, one can still find along it Lamu, near the Somali border, still an island of coral brick buildings and mosques dating back to the 14 century. Even more famous is exotic Zanzibar, fabled island known to the ancients and part of Tanzania in name only, once a famous source of spices.
The third section looks at southern Africa, a land largely shaped by the Zulus and the migrations they caused in the 1800s thanks to the tyrant Shaka Zulu. We read about mountainous Lesotho, well known for its conical hats, vigorous ponies, and blankets (called Victorians), a distinct national character that is only 150 years old, invented by arguably Africa's wiliest diplomat, Moshoeshoe the Great; and Swaziland, one of the last of the traditional African monarchies, famous for the Umhlanga or Reed Dance, where barely clad young maidens symbolically offer themselves to the king as brides. The enigmatic San or Bushmen of the Kalahari also receive attention.
Part four looks at the ancient rain forest lands of the Kongo, long a source of slaves for the world and even well into the 20th century under the yoke of forced labor by France (in the Congo) and Belgium (in Zaire). It is a troubled region, but one of great contrasts; separated by the Stanley Pool of the mighty Congo River are two very different capital cities; Brazzaville of Congo the authors describe a sleepy and pleasant town, in vivid contrast to Kinshasa, capital of Zaire, a much larger, angrier, and dangerous city. Some of the most interesting passages in the book are in this section, particularly of his travels up the Congo River, in war torn Angola, and among the pygmies of Cameroon.
The fifth section looks at the Gulf of Guinea, long fabled as the Gold Coast and dominated by the fierce Ashanti, bold enough to challenge the British Empire and almost win. Of particular interest are violent and overpopulated Nigeria; the country of Benin (growing more into a model of how Africa could be), whose ancient kingdom of Dahomey was once noted for "Amazon" warriors; Togo, where vodun (the African incarnation of Haitian voodoo) still reigns; Ghana, perhaps the most "Christian" of the west African nations and a robust democracy; and Liberia and Sierra Leone, whose prospects are gloomy indeed.
Section six was quite interesting, examining the peoples and old empires of the Sahel, the grasslands bordering the southern Sahara, as well as the Sahara itself. Once dominated by a series of mighty empires, first Ghana for over 800 years, then Mali, the greatest perhaps of Sub-Saharan African empires, then nearly 400 years later the Songhai. Fabled Timbuktu is covered in this section, the desert city a center of Islamic learning from the 14th century on. The authors' coverage of Mali is especially interesting, notable for Mansa Musa, an African king so extravagantly wealthy he was well known in 14th century Europe after his pilgrimage to Mecca, and his predecessor, Abu Bakari II, the Voyager King, who actually sought to reach lands he believed to exist on the other side of the Atlantic, disappearing from history when he accompanied personally 2000 vessels for a perilous journey into the unknown. Also fascinating was coverage of the Tuareg or "Blue Men" of the Sahara, a fair-skinned desert nomad group where the men go veiled, not the women, and the Dogon tribe, cliff-dwellers in southern Mali that are neither Christian nor Muslim but have instead their own complex religion.
The later sections of the book are somewhat shorter, but no less interesting. Part seven looks at the Maghreb and the Barbary Coast of North Africa, an area once controlled by the now extinct Carthage, the land of the Berbers, the Bedouin, and the Moors, once dominated by the Almoravid and the Almohad civilizations, in part infused from the Andalucian culture of Islamic Spain. Part eight devotes some time to Egypt, which the authors maintain it is definitively a part of African civilization, and Ethiopia, a fascinating land of rock-hewn churches and according to some the home of the Ark of the Covenant, and once dominated by the powerful Axumite Empire. The book closes with the Great Rift, believed by paleontologists to be the true cradle of mankind, home to the enigmatic Chwezi or BaChwezi empire, the fabled Mountains of the Moon, and the horror that was Idi Amin in Uganda and is the conflict between the Tutsi and the Hutu in Rwanda and Burundi.
A fantastic book!
Authors Marq De Villiers and Sheila Hirtle divide the book (and the continent) into nine sections, each with its own distinct character and history. Part one looks at southeast Africa, highlights of which include a visit to the impressive stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe, ruins which produce a sound when one's ear is pressed against them, the source unknown. We are introduced to the Makuni or the "Living Stones" of Zambia, named not after the famous explorer and missionary but rather for the fact that a chief begins his duties by swallowing a small stone, which lodges in his gut and becomes an embodiment of his people. This region is also home to the colorful Maasai warriors, often noted by tourists in colorful red garb (so that people will want to photograph them), nomadic pastoralists that have been pushed out of the increasingly artificial wildlife sanctuaries of Ngorongoro and the Serengeti despite having lived there for many hundreds of years.
Part two looks at the east coast of Africa, the lands of the Swahili speakers. Fabled east Africa, long a tropical coast skirted by (increasingly threatened) coral reefs and (disappearing) dhows, one can still find along it Lamu, near the Somali border, still an island of coral brick buildings and mosques dating back to the 14 century. Even more famous is exotic Zanzibar, fabled island known to the ancients and part of Tanzania in name only, once a famous source of spices.
The third section looks at southern Africa, a land largely shaped by the Zulus and the migrations they caused in the 1800s thanks to the tyrant Shaka Zulu. We read about mountainous Lesotho, well known for its conical hats, vigorous ponies, and blankets (called Victorians), a distinct national character that is only 150 years old, invented by arguably Africa's wiliest diplomat, Moshoeshoe the Great; and Swaziland, one of the last of the traditional African monarchies, famous for the Umhlanga or Reed Dance, where barely clad young maidens symbolically offer themselves to the king as brides. The enigmatic San or Bushmen of the Kalahari also receive attention.
Part four looks at the ancient rain forest lands of the Kongo, long a source of slaves for the world and even well into the 20th century under the yoke of forced labor by France (in the Congo) and Belgium (in Zaire). It is a troubled region, but one of great contrasts; separated by the Stanley Pool of the mighty Congo River are two very different capital cities; Brazzaville of Congo the authors describe a sleepy and pleasant town, in vivid contrast to Kinshasa, capital of Zaire, a much larger, angrier, and dangerous city. Some of the most interesting passages in the book are in this section, particularly of his travels up the Congo River, in war torn Angola, and among the pygmies of Cameroon.
The fifth section looks at the Gulf of Guinea, long fabled as the Gold Coast and dominated by the fierce Ashanti, bold enough to challenge the British Empire and almost win. Of particular interest are violent and overpopulated Nigeria; the country of Benin (growing more into a model of how Africa could be), whose ancient kingdom of Dahomey was once noted for "Amazon" warriors; Togo, where vodun (the African incarnation of Haitian voodoo) still reigns; Ghana, perhaps the most "Christian" of the west African nations and a robust democracy; and Liberia and Sierra Leone, whose prospects are gloomy indeed.
Section six was quite interesting, examining the peoples and old empires of the Sahel, the grasslands bordering the southern Sahara, as well as the Sahara itself. Once dominated by a series of mighty empires, first Ghana for over 800 years, then Mali, the greatest perhaps of Sub-Saharan African empires, then nearly 400 years later the Songhai. Fabled Timbuktu is covered in this section, the desert city a center of Islamic learning from the 14th century on. The authors' coverage of Mali is especially interesting, notable for Mansa Musa, an African king so extravagantly wealthy he was well known in 14th century Europe after his pilgrimage to Mecca, and his predecessor, Abu Bakari II, the Voyager King, who actually sought to reach lands he believed to exist on the other side of the Atlantic, disappearing from history when he accompanied personally 2000 vessels for a perilous journey into the unknown. Also fascinating was coverage of the Tuareg or "Blue Men" of the Sahara, a fair-skinned desert nomad group where the men go veiled, not the women, and the Dogon tribe, cliff-dwellers in southern Mali that are neither Christian nor Muslim but have instead their own complex religion.
The later sections of the book are somewhat shorter, but no less interesting. Part seven looks at the Maghreb and the Barbary Coast of North Africa, an area once controlled by the now extinct Carthage, the land of the Berbers, the Bedouin, and the Moors, once dominated by the Almoravid and the Almohad civilizations, in part infused from the Andalucian culture of Islamic Spain. Part eight devotes some time to Egypt, which the authors maintain it is definitively a part of African civilization, and Ethiopia, a fascinating land of rock-hewn churches and according to some the home of the Ark of the Covenant, and once dominated by the powerful Axumite Empire. The book closes with the Great Rift, believed by paleontologists to be the true cradle of mankind, home to the enigmatic Chwezi or BaChwezi empire, the fabled Mountains of the Moon, and the horror that was Idi Amin in Uganda and is the conflict between the Tutsi and the Hutu in Rwanda and Burundi.
A fantastic book!
September 29, 2017
Just didn't like the format. I was looking for more about the ancient civilizations. Wasn't getting there quickly enough for me.
September 23, 2023
It was ok. I felt bogged down by so many details on so many many countries. There is some pertinent information though and this book could definitely be used as a guide.
January 18, 2014
For a series of vignettes on pre-colonial African history in the guise of a travelogue, this is an excellent book. Hirtle and Villiers (as his surname is actually spelled, Goodreads got it wrong) are well acquainted with most of the subjects that they tackle, the writing is fast paced and the observations interesting. Unfortunately, there were some editing lapses that managed to hurt the book as a whole. The chapter on Dahomey was particularly bad, repeatedly conflating Togo for its neighbor Benin to such an extent that it is best to skip the chapter entirely.
March 26, 2017
a bit dry
long and took ages to finish.
interesting and informative.
long and took ages to finish.
interesting and informative.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews