For over four centuries Africa was ravished by the slave trade. This has permanently distorted our view of the continent and its people. Basil Davidson goes back to Africa's origins to show that, far form having no great art or technology, Africa gave rise to some the world's greatest early civilisations.
Looking closely at three different communities, Davidson examines the way African peoples carve out an existence in an often hostile environment. A group of Pokot cattle herders in Kenya tell how they use the natural environment to their advantage. Two very different farming villages show how, in Africa, spiritual development goes hand in hand with technological advance.
Davidson traces the routes of the medieval gold trade, which reached from Africa to India and China in the east,and westward to the city states of Italy. African rulers grew rich and powerful-the King of Ghana was described by an Arab traveler in AD 951 as the wealthiest of all kings on earth. It was the coming of the Portuguese in 1498 which heralded the end of the great African trade.
To explore the ways in which the African kingdoms functioned, Davidson visits Kano in Nigeria, where a king still holds court in his 15th century palace, presiding with his council over ancient rituals which continue to command the respect of the people.
The slave trade in Africa decimated the population and rent apart the fabric of society. After the slave traders came new kinds of interlopers: first the explorers, among them Stanley and Livingstone; and the missionaries. Next came those not interested in souls but in wealth--gold and diamonds--men like Cecil Rhodes, who envisioned an empire stretching from "Cape to Cairo."
The 1880's saw the beginning of a 30 year "scramble for Africa" which dramatically changed the face of the continent. All of Africa, except for Liberia and Ethiopia, became subject to colonial rule, a condition unchanged until the outbreak of the second world war
Here the major struggles for African independence-in Ghana, Kenya, Algeria, the Belgian Congo-are all chartered. Davidson looks closely at the situation in Guinea Bissau and talks to the military leader in Mozambique. He also focuses on the final collapse of the white minority in Zimbabwe and then turns to South Africa to question how long this final bastion of white rule can survive.
Davidson looks at Africa in the aftermath of colonial rule, as the continent seeks ways to come to terms with its diverse inheritance. Interviews with statesmen, including Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Shagari in Nigeria, and Senghor in Senegal, illuminate the problems and successes of Africa today.