Historical Readings
Historical readings on African events from African scholars and experts.
DR Congo marks 25 years since fall of Mobutu’s rule
The Democratic Republic of Congo will on Tuesday mark 25 years since the collapse of the authoritarian rule of Mobutu...
Read moreDetailsAfricans and African-Americans would honour Martin Luther King by rekindling their bonds
By Julius A. Amin* During an official visit to Washington DC in 1962, Cameroon’s founding President Ahmadou Ahidjo informed President...
Read moreDetailsSmall seashells: A big story of slavery and transoceanic trade
By Justine Wintjes* In the archaeology storerooms of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, lie two boxes filled with seashells. The shells...
Read moreDetailsA long view sheds fresh light on the history of the Yoruba people in West Africa
By Akinwumi Ogundiran* The Yoruba are among the most storied groups in Africa. Their ancestral homeland cuts across present-day southwest Nigeria, Benin Republic and Togo...
Read moreDetailsArchaeology in West Africa could rewrite the textbooks on human evolution
By Eleanor Scerri* Our species, Homo sapiens, rose in Africa some 300,000 years ago. The objects that early humans made and used, known as...
Read moreDetailsSurvey shows ignorance about big moments in South Africa’s history
By Benjamin Roberts*, Gregory Houston*, Jare Struwig*, & Steven Gordon* The yearly Human Rights Day public holiday in South Africa in late March commemorates...
Read moreDetailsReclaiming Africa’s Early Post-Independence History
By Adebayo Olukoshi, Tetteh Hormeku-Ajei, Aishu Balaji & Anita Nayar In 1965, Kwame Nkrumah described the paradox of neocolonialism in Africa,...
Read moreDetailsNew find reveals grim truth of colonial Belgium’s ‘human zoos’
By Daniel Boffey Two names stand out from the yellowing cemetery register: Sabo and Bitio, 24 and 20 years old, Described...
Read moreDetailsWhy history matters in understanding conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
By Gillian Mathys*, & Judith Verweijen* An intense debate about the rural commune, or district, of Minembwe in South Kivu province in the...
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