African History Extra

African History Extra

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The invention of Agriculture in Africa: plant domestication and the spread of African crops to Asia and the Americas.
The shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and herding was among the most profound economic changes that occurred in human history.
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isaac Samuel
Africans in the Indian Ocean world and the autobiography of a Somali Globetrotter.
In 1944, a soldier on Australia’s most remote northern coastline discovered a handful of copper coins that were originally minted in the medieval…
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isaac Samuel
4
Origins and Development of Swahili Architecture (ca. 500-1900 CE)
The East African coast, also known as the Swahili coast, is well known for its picturesque ruins of stone houses, mosques, tombs, and town walls, which…
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isaac Samuel
5
Perspectives and outcomes of Africa's age of exploration
Nearly a century after the Kushite envoys of Queen Amanirenas visited the court of Augustus in 22-20BC, a pair of Roman centurions was sent on a…
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isaac Samuel
2

July 2025

The Luba kingdom and the divergent fortunes of pre-colonial Central Africa (1750-1870).
The connections between pre-colonial Central African kingdoms and the expansion of international trade during the 19th century feature prominently in…
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isaac Samuel
1
Early industrialization and modernization in 19th century Africa
During their first encounter at the end of the Middle Ages, the political and social structures of European and African kingdoms were broadly similar…
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isaac Samuel
4
Mysteries of the Green Sahara and the foundations of Africa’s ancient kingdoms (ca. 10,000-3,500BC)
Around 5,000 years ago, the Sahara was a lush, humid landscape with a chain of lakes and waterways linking West, East, and North Africa in what is known…
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isaac Samuel
7
The indigenous versus foreign origins of West Africa’s pre-colonial architecture.
Architecture is an aspect of culture that mediates between man and his environment, and it has been one of the first of the arts to adopt new materials…
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isaac Samuel
2

June 2025

State, Society and Ethnicity in 19th century Adamawa
Most of the largest states in pre-colonial Africa were made up of culturally heterogeneous communities that were products of historical processes rather…
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isaac Samuel
7
Historic links between the Maghreb and West Africa: On the Sanusiyya and anti-colonialism.
The modern separation of Africa into a “Mediterranean” North and a “Sub-Saharan” South had little basis in the historical geographies and political…
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isaac Samuel
3
The medieval Knights of Ethiopia: a history of the Horse in the northern Horn of Africa (1000-1900CE)
Pre-colonial Africa was home to some of the oldest and most diverse equestrian societies in the world.
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isaac Samuel
7
Historic industries of pre-colonial Africa and the glassworkers of ancient Nubia
Significant strides have been made over the last decades in the study of the pre-colonial industries of Africa, especially regarding their emergence and…
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isaac Samuel
8
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