Africa and the Africans in the Nineteenth Century: A Turbulent History

by Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, Mary Baker

Most histories seek to understand modern Africa as a troubled outcome of nineteenth century European colonialism, but that is only a small part of the story. In this celebrated book, beautifully translated from the French edition, the history of Africa in the nineteenth century unfolds from the perspective of Africans themselves rather than the European powers.It was above all a time of tremendous internal change on the African continent. Great jihads of Muslim conquest and conversion swept over West Africa. In the interior, warlords competed to control the internal slave trade. In the east, the sultanate of Zanzibar extended its reach via coastal and interior trade routes. In the north, Egypt began to modernize while Algeria was colonized. In the south, a series of forced migrations accelerated, spurred by the progression of white settlement.Through much of the century African societies assimilated and adapted to the changes generated by these diverse forces. In the end, the West's technological advantage prevailed and most of Africa fell under European control and lost its independence. Yet only by taking into account the rich complexity of this tumultuous past can we fully understand modern Africa from the colonial period to independence and the difficulties of today.

Genres: History

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 1999

Reviews

[Lumumba Shakur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a textbook, probably because it is one... Extremely dry and factual. There are some contentions with some of the information here and there, but the author attempted to be as unbiased as she could while recognizing that she is in fact an outside observer. I read the book to get a grasp on the effects of the global and internal slave trade upon Africa during the time period, along with the forms that slavery took internally amongst the Muslim and animist populations. She did do an excellent job with the subject overall. She also does an good job with the effects of the climate (which is extremely relevant given the affects of climate change on the poorer nations of the world), as well as Christian and Muslim movements upon the populace.

I struggled through the first half of the book, putting it down several times and nearly gave up on it. The second half read a little easier, mostly because I paced myself and read only a few pages at a time. It hence took me four months to complete it. It isn't something that you can just read in a few sittings: it literally put me to sleep several times and I had to stop reading it before driving any considerable distance. This is a decent college textbook, but I would not recommend it as a casual read.