African History Extra

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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November 2025

Slavery in African History: New Perspectives on Its Dynamics, Legacy, and Historical Memory.

Voices of slavery in Africa: the 19th-century autobiographies of Nicholas Said and Dorugu.

Nov 30, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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African-Ottoman borderlands during the early modern period: stories from the frontier.

In 1574, the first of two embassies from the kingdom of Bornu in the Lake Chad basin arrived at the Ottoman sultan’s court in Istanbul, seeking, among…

Nov 23, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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The historic architecture of Ethiopia and Eritrea: a complete overview

The modern countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea are home to some of the best-known historic architectural monuments in Africa.

Nov 16, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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Medieval cities in the northern Horn of Africa (1200-1600 CE)

The northern horn of Africa is home to one of the largest concentrations of urban settlements on the continent, many of which are of significant…

Nov 9, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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State building in pre-colonial Somalia: the Sultanate of Geledi (ca. 1750-1908)

For much of Somalia’s pre-colonial history, political organization was structured along clan and lineage divisions within largely acephalous societies.

Nov 2, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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October 2025

TheʿAjamī script of Africa and the Sorabé manuscripts of Madagascar.

The most widely used writing system in pre-colonial Africa was the ʿAjamī script.

Oct 26, 2025 • isaac Samuel

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