African History Extra

The myth of the Hamitic race in religious and pseudo-scientific literature: an African perspective

In 1845, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass observed that American slaveholders appealed to the biblical claim that ‘God cursed Ham’ as a theological…

Mar 1 • isaac Samuel

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February 2026

A Pictorial History of Africa: Insights from Ancient Figurative Art.

While travelling through West Africa between 1908 and 1910, the German ethnographer Leo Frobenius visited the city of Ife (in S.W Nigeria), where he had…

Feb 22 • isaac Samuel

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Megalithic Landscapes of Ethiopia from Prehistory to the Modern Era

Ethiopia is home to one of the largest concentrations of megalithic architecture globally.

Feb 15 • isaac Samuel

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On the Enduring Role of Forts and Fortifications in Pre-Colonial African Military history.

In November 1575, the army of Bornu encamped before the walled town of Amsaka, initiating what would become one of the best-documented episodes of siege…

Feb 8 • isaac Samuel

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Forgotten Cities of the Swahili coast: A history of Pemba in the Medieval Indian Ocean World (ca. 600-1822 CE)

Journal of African Cities: chapter 19

Feb 1 • isaac Samuel

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January 2026

The Surgeons and Physicians of pre-colonial Africa: a brief medical history

In 1908, a team of archaeologists surveying Lower Nubia uncovered a collection of remains from elite cemeteries that provided evidence of early medical…

Jan 25 • isaac Samuel

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Who Built Engaruka? (ca. 1400-1800): Stone Architecture and Historical Controversies in Eastern Africa

During the 15th century, a community of Iron Age farmers constructed an extensive landscape of stone-terraces, stone-lined fields, house platforms…

Jan 11 • isaac Samuel

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The Intellectual Foundations of African Proto-Nationalism and the “invention” of Nations in the 19th Century

“What led to this production was not a burning desire of the author to appear in print, but a purely patriotic motive, that the history of our…

Jan 4 • isaac Samuel

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December 2025

Guns, Germs and Steel in Africa: Jared Diamond and the limits of Geographic Determinism

“African prehistory is a puzzle on a grand scale, still only partly solved.”

Dec 28, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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A brief history of Christianity in Africa's Religious Traditions

Christianity was present in Africa long before the imposition of colonial rule; however, it remained only one of several religious traditions, and…

Dec 21, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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The African origins of Cola: Long distance Trade in pre-colonial West Africa (ca. 1000-1900 CE)

In classical and medieval Arabic sources, West African trade is most commonly associated with gold, which was exchanged along trans-Saharan routes that…

Dec 14, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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Texts from the Periphery: Manuscript cultures in West Africa's frontier regions.

At the turn of the 20th century, one of the most remarkable contributions to African ethnography was produced by Umaru al-Kanawi, a Hausa scholar born…

Dec 7, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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