African History Extra

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The forts and castles of Africa: a brief architectural history.
For much of African history, the construction of fortresses and fortified structures was a mostly urban phenomenon associated with large states.
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isaac Samuel
1
A complete history of the Sudano-Sahelian architecture of west Africa: from antiquity to the 20th century
The westernmost region of Africa which forms the watershed of the great rivers of the Senegal, the Volta and the Niger, is home to one of the world's…
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isaac Samuel
2
The pre-Islamic civilizations of west Africa
While West Africa has been part of the Muslim world since the late Middle Ages, as famously demonstrated by the golden pilgrimage of Mali's Mansa Musa…
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isaac Samuel
3

December 2024

The Meroitic script and the documents of ancient Kush (ca. 300BC-450CE)
The Meroitic writing system of the kingdom of Kush is one of the best-known, yet most enigmatic scripts of the ancient world.
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isaac Samuel
6
on the Nubian priests of Rome and the Moors of Spain
When the 12th-century West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanemi moved to the city of Seville in Spain and became one of the most celebrated Andalusian…
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isaac Samuel
2
The intellectual history of Ethiopia and Eritrea: Ge'ez manuscripts and scholars (ca. 200-1900CE)
The unique manuscript collections of Ethiopia and Eritrea written in the Ge'ez script are arguably the best-known works of literature produced in…
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isaac Samuel
Taming and domesticating the wild: the War-Elephants of ancient Aksum and Kush
In his 1668 description of the West African kingdom of Benin, the Dutch writer Olfert Dapper reported that “The king shows himself only once a year to…
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isaac Samuel
11
The intellectual history of East Africa (ca. 900-1950 CE): from the Swahili coast to Buganda to Eastern Congo.
The intellectual history of pre-colonial Africa is dominated by studies of the scholarly traditions of Ethiopia, West Africa, and Sudan, where a large…
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isaac Samuel
4

November 2024

The 'hidden founders' of African studies in Europe: African intellectuals in the Holy Roman Empire and the German Reich ca. 1652-1918.
In June 1652, the Ethiopian scholar Abba Gorgoryos reached the city of Nuremburg in what was then the Holy Roman Empire (modern Germany) where he met…
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isaac Samuel
2
A history of Horses in the southern half of Africa ca. 1498-1900.
Horses and humans have shared a long history in Africa since the emergence of equestrian societies across the continent during the bronze age.
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isaac Samuel
2
The textile trade of pre-colonial Africa
In December 1633, a Dutch ship reached the fort of Nassau on the ‘Gold Coast’ (modern Ghana), carrying more than 6,000 pieces of cloth which was to be…
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isaac Samuel
2
Acemoglu in Kongo: a critique of 'Why Nations Fail' and its wilful ignorance of African history.
There aren’t many Africans on the list of Nobel laureates, nor does research on African societies show up in the selection committees of Stockholm.
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isaac Samuel
27
© 2025 isaac Samuel
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