The prize was great -- not just land, but the riches it held, in the form of diamonds and gold. What became a country called South Africa was, until 1910, a vast and untamed land where great fortunes could be made (and lost); where great battles were fought (and lost); and where great men had their reputations forged, or dashed, or sometimes both.

Martin Meredith's follow-up to his magisterial The State of Africais an equally epic new history of the making of South Africa. Covering the extraordinarily eventful four decades leading up to the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, it covers some of the most iconic tales of imperial history. The Zulus at Rorke's Drift; the Jameson Raid; the diamond and gold rushes at Kimberley and Witwatersrand; the Boer wars; the titanic struggle between the arch-imperialist Cecil Rhodes and his Boer rival, Paul Kruger -- DIAMONDS, GOLD AND WARbrings all of these and more together in a stunningly coherent and compelling narrative.

History, somehow, just isn't as colourful any more.

The late-medieval Portuguese who arrived in Africa were colonizers in the Roman style, gold merchants on an imperial scale, conquistadores in the Hispanic tradition. Although their empire struggled to survive centuries of Dutch and English competition, it revived in the 20th century on a tide of white migration. Settlers, however, brought racial conflict as well as economic modernization and Portuguese colonies went through spasms of violence which resembled those of Algeria and South Africa. Liberation eventually came but peoples of the old colonial cities clung tightly to their acquired traditions, eating Portuguese dishes, writing Portuguese poetry, and studying in Portuguese universities.

The king and his wives-letters and documents
History is full of notable figures, but far fewer in number are those who have become iconic. An indisputably iconic figure, even among the many great kings of England, is the towering figure of the Tudor monarch, King Henry VIII. He was, of course, the father of Queen Elizabeth I, Gloriana, an equally renowned monarch of her own golden age. She sought always to be and be seen as her father's daughter, but posterity preserves what it will of a life in the public consciousness and so aside from Henry's unmistakable and imposing personal appearance what is most remembered of him by many is that he was married on six occasions and habitually terminated his relationships with an axe at the executioner's block-though this occurred only twice perhaps indicating more moderation in Henry's character as a husband than he is usually credited with. There has always been something seductively attractive about this powerful man, capable of great tenderness and romance, an artist, poet and musician-and yet a ruthless and unscrupulous tyrant capable of incredible insensitivity and cruelty. This volume contains an engrossing selection of correspondence, reports and other documents concerning Henry and his wives. The central part of the book is a famous collection of love letters sent by the king to his second wife Anne Boleyn, one of his spouses who lost her head to be superceded by another beauty of the court Jane Seymour, one of Anne's ladies in waiting. In this special and unique Leonaur edition these letters are added to by the inclusion of correspondence and other documents concerning the fate of Henry's sometimes unfortunate women and the events that surrounded them.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

The comparison of early Italy's and Japan's colonialism is without precedence. The majority of studies on Italian and Japanese expansion refer to the 1930-1940s period (fascist/totalitarian era) when Japan annexed Manchuria (1931) and Italy Ethiopia (1936). The first formative and crucial steps that paved the way for this expansion have been neglected. This analysis covers a range of social, political and economic parameters illuminating the diversity but also the common ground of the nature and aspirations of Japan's and Italy's early colonial systems. The two states alongside the Great Powers of the era expanded in the name of humanism and civilization but in reality in a way typically imperialistic, they sought territorial compensations, financial privileges and prestige. A parallel and deeper understanding of the nineteenth century socio-cultural-psychological parameters, such as tradition, mentality, and religion that shaped and explain the later ideological framework of Rome's and Tokyo's expansionist disposition, has never been attempted before. This monograph offers a detailed examination of the phenomenon of colonialism by examining the issue from two different angles. The study contributes to the understanding of Italy's and Japan's early imperial expansion. In addition, it traces the origins of these states' similar and common historical evolution in late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history. Intended as an accessible, up-to-date introduction to African American history by its 1915 publisher, The Negro was much more to W. E. B. Du Bois. The chance to write on African American History for a wide audience became his chance to write a manifesto on African history worldwide. Du Bois focuses on the continent of Africa, giving justice to its oft-neglected positive history. Drawing on anthropological and linguistic literature of the time, Du Bois captures a succinct portrait of African and African American history ready for any reader no matter their prior knowledge. His argument enters the narrative fully, revealing his quest for the vindication of black history. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by John K. Thornton, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history. Considered a sequel to Du Bois's wildly popular The Souls of Black Folks, Darkwater revisits many of the same themes with a more militant edge, even revising previously published essays and poems to include in this newer volume. Published in 1920, Darkwater focuses on the political climate following World War I. In ten carefully crafted chapters, Du Bois explores the important issues of that period- labor, capital, politics, gender, education, and international relations-in tandem with an overarching theme of race. Blending lyrical autobiography with political thoughts and even poetry, Du Bois makes a powerful, forceful argument regarding race and the color line. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history.
Published in 1924 in response to growing racial tensions, W. E. B. Du Bois's The Gift of Black Folk explores the contributions African Americans have made to American society, detailing the importance of racial diversity to the United States. Writing for a general audience, Du Bois employs a sweeping scope for his argument, covering the European discovery of America to the twentieth century. In doing so he works to prove that through African Americans' struggle for freedom and equality, they have most fully realized the goal of democracy. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Glenda Carpio, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history. Written in very accessible prose, these two booklets, originally published in 1930, allowed W. E. B. Du Bois to reach a wide audience with an interest in Africa. What is so incredible about the two Africa booklets is their lasting relevance and value to the study of Africa today. Coupling Du Bois's breadth of scholarship with his passion for the subjects, the analyses in these booklets are integral to the study of Africa. Many of his arguments foreshadowed the issues and debates regarding Africa in the twentieth century. Expertly synthesized in an introduction by Emmanuel Akyeampong, this edition of the two Africa booklets is essential for anyone interested in African history.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history.
Published posthumously in 1968, The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois is his last and most complete autobiography. Covering his life over almost a century of living in America, it's the closest thing we have to a true autobiography of this important scholar and activist. The book, broken up into three parts, delves into the 90-year-old Du Bois's thoughts on everything from his relationship with sex to his storied association with the NAACP to his political persecution during the Cold War years to his many travels abroad. As Du Bois writes, he takes the reader on a journey to "view my life as frankly and fully as I can." With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Werner Sollors, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.

The evolution of the Moslem capital of Cairo is studied beginning with the Arab conquest, which led to the widespread intermingling of peoples on two continents, and ending with the discovery of the route around the Cape of Good Hope, which was to undermine Egypt's active international role. The book is written for people of various interests.

Political Rationale and International Consequences of the War in Libya focuses on the international intervention in Libya in 2011, and tries to answer two broad questions; (1) What was the political rationale for the various actors to proceed as they did in the lead-up and conduct of the military intervention in Libya?, (2) What are the consequences of the UN-authorized military intervention in Libya? R2P was the public raison d'etre of the war, and an important legitimizing factor of the intervention. Still, the humanitarian situation was a necessary, but not in and by itself an adequate precondition for intervention. A number of factors coalesced to enable the intervention. While the humanitarian situation triggered the intervention, in reality a variety of national interests governed the approach by the various international actors, and more often than not, these motives were not rooted in the particular circumstances in Libya. The book offers a combination of unique perspectives. While the perspectives of the US, France, and the UK on the Libyan Crisis/War have been well documented, the Arabic and Scandinavian political and military dynamics have been much less so. While the perspectives of NATO, the UN, and R2P have been debated, the view from the Arab League and African Union (AU) have been less in focus. The volume redresses that imbalance and offers the most broad-ranging analysis yet of a key moment in recent international relations.

The world of Sub-Saharan African music is immensely rich and diverse, containing a plethora of repertoires and traditions. In The African Imagination in Music, renowned music scholar Kofi Agawu offers an introduction to the major dimensions of this music and the values upon which it rests. Agawu leads his readers through an exploration of the traditions, structural elements, instruments, and performative techniques that characterize the music. In sections that focus upon rhythm, melody, form, and harmony, the essential parts of African music come into relief. While traditional music, the backbone of Africa's musical thinking, receives the most attention, Agawu also supplies insights into popular and art music in order to demonstrate the breadth of the African musical imagination. Close readings of a variety of songs, including an Ewe dirge, an Aka children's song, and Fela's 'Suffering and Smiling' supplement the broader discussion. The African Imagination in Music foregrounds a hitherto under-reported legacy of recordings and insists on the necessity of experiencing music as sound in order to appreciate and understand it fully. Accordingly, a Companion Website features important examples of the music discussed in detail in the book. Accessibly and engagingly written for a general audience, The African Imagination in Music is poised to renew interest in Black African music and to engender discussion of its creative underpinnings by Africanists, ethnomusicologists, music theorists and musicologists.

First published in 1977. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The indispensable account of the Ottoman Empire's Siege of Malta from the author of Hannibal and Gibraltar. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was thought to be invincible. Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan, had expanded his empire from western Asia to southeastern Europe and North Africa. To secure control of the Mediterranean between these territories and launch an offensive into western Europe, Suleiman needed the small but strategically crucial island of Malta. But Suleiman's attempt to take the island from the Holy Roman Empire's Knights of St. John would emerge as one of the most famous and brutal military defeats in history. Forty-two years earlier, Suleiman had been victorious against the Knights of St. John when he drove them out of their island fortress at Rhodes. Believing he would repeat this victory, the sultan sent an armada to Malta. When they captured Fort St. Elmo, the Ottoman forces ruthlessly took no prisoners. The Roman grand master La Vallette responded by having his Ottoman captives beheaded. Then the battle for Malta began in earnest: no quarter asked, none given. Ernle Bradford's compelling and thoroughly researched account of the Great Siege of Malta recalls not just an epic battle, but a clash of civilizations unlike anything since the time of Alexander the Great. It is "a superior, readable treatment of an important but little-discussed epic from the Renaissance past . . . An astonishing tale" (Kirkus Reviews).

Ralph J. Bunche (1904-1971), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, was a key U.S. diplomat in the planning and creation of the United Nations in 1945. In 1947 he was invited to join the permanent UN Secretariat as director of the new Trusteeship Department. In this position, Bunche played a key role in setting up the trusteeship system that provided important impetus for postwar decolonization ending European control of Africa as well as an international framework for the oversight of the decolonization process after the Second World War. Trustee for the Human Community is the first volume to examine the totality of Bunche's unrivalled role in the struggle for African independence both as a key intellectual and an international diplomat and to illuminate it from the broader African American perspective. These commissioned essays examine the full range of Ralph Bunche's involvement in Africa. The scholars explore sensitive political issues, such as Bunche's role in the Congo and his views on the struggle in South Africa. Trustee for the Human Community stands as a monument to the profoundly important role of one of the greatest Americans in one of the greatest political movements in the history of the twentieth century. Contributors: David Anthony, Ralph A. Austen, Abena P. A. Busia, Neta C. Crawford, Robert R. Edgar, Charles P. Henry, Robert A. Hill, Edmond J. Keller, Martin Kilson, Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, Jon Olver, Pearl T. Robinson, Elliott P. Skinner, Crawford Young

Contact and interaction between Greek and Egyptian culture can be traced in different forms over more than a millennium: from the sixth century BC, when Greeks visited Egypt for the sake of tourism or trade, through to the Hellenistic period, when Egypt was ruled by the Macedonian-Greek Ptolemaic dynasty who encouraged a mixed Greek and Egyptian culture, and even more intensely in the Roman Empire, when Egypt came to be increasingly seen as a place of wonder and a source of magic and mystery. This volume addresses the historical interaction between the ancient Greek and Egyptian civilizations in these periods, focusing in particular on literature and textual culture. Comprising fourteen chapters written by experts in the field, each contribution examines such cultural interaction in some form, whether influence between the two cultures, or the emergence of bicultural and mixed phenomena within Egypt. A number of the chapters draw on newly discovered Egyptian texts, such as the Book of Thoth and the Book of the Temple, and among the wide range of topics covered are religion (such as prophecy, hymns, and magic), philosophy, historiography, romance, and translation.

This book offers a genealogical critique of how food scarcity was governed in colonial Kenya. With an approach informed by the 'analysis of government', the study accounts for the emergence and persistence of dominant approaches to promoting food security in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa - policies and practices that prioritize increased agricultural production as the principal means of achieving food security. Drawing on a range of archival sources, the book investigates how those tasked with governing colonial Kenya confronted food as a particular kind of problem. It emphasizes the ways in which that problem shifted in conjunction with the emergence and consolidation of the colonial state and economic relations in the territory. The book applies a novel conceptual approach to the historical study of African food systems and famine, and provides the first longitudinal and in-depth analysis of the dynamics of food scarcity and its government in Kenya.

A panoramic narrative that places ancient Africa on the stage of world history.

This book brings together archaeological and linguistic evidence to provide a sweeping global history of ancient Africa, tracing how the continent played an important role in the technological, agricultural, and economic transitions of world civilization. Christopher Ehret takes readers from the close of the last Ice Age some ten thousand years ago, when a changing climate allowed for the transition from hunting and gathering to the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock, to the rise of kingdoms and empires in the first centuries of the common era.

Ehret takes up the problem of how we discuss Africa in the context of global history, combining results of multiple disciplines. He sheds light on the rich history of technological innovation by African societies—from advances in ceramics to cotton weaving and iron smelting—highlighting the important contributions of women as inventors and innovators. He shows how Africa helped to usher in an age of agricultural exchange, exporting essential crops as well as new agricultural methods into other regions, and how African traders and merchants led a commercial revolution spanning diverse regions and cultures. Ehret lays out the deeply African foundations of ancient Egyptian culture, beliefs, and institutions and discusses early Christianity in Africa.

A monumental achievement by one of today’s eminent scholars, Ancient Africa offers vital new perspectives on our shared past, explaining why we need to reshape our historical frameworks for understanding the ancient world as a whole.

William Balfour Baikie was a surgeon, naturalist, linguist, writer, explorer and government consul who played a key role in opening Africa to the Europeans. As an explorer he mapped and charted large sections of the Niger River system as well as the overland routes from Lagos and Lokoja to the major trading centres of Kano, Timbuctu and Sokoto. As a naturalist, major beneficiaries of his work included Kew Gardens and the British Museum for the rare and undiscovered plant and animal species and yet today he remains largely unknown. On 10th December, 1864 Baikie was on his way back to London and was living in his temporary quarters in Sierra Leone. There he worked to regain his health and to complete the various reports and publications expected by the Colonial and Foreign Offices. He had been away from England for seven years and living conditions in West Africa had caused his health to suffer. While his wife and children waited for his return 600 miles away in Lokoja, the city in Nige-ria he had founded, his father waited for his return to Kirkwall, Orkney. Baikie would never return to his wife, nor ever see his father again. In two days, he would be dead and buried at Sierra Leone before his fortieth birthday. In his short life Baikie became such a hero among the Nigerian people 150 years ago that white visitors to the region today are still greeted warmly as 'Baikie'. After studying at University of Edinburgh he was assigned to the Royal Hospital Haslar where he worked with the noted explorers Sir John Richardson and Sir Edward Perry. Baikie's reputation as a naturalist, and the sphere of influence provided by Richardson and Perry, allowed him to enter the elite British scientific community where he also worked alongside the most famous naturalist of the time, Charles Darwin. During his time at Haslar, Baikie made two voyages exploring the Niger and Benue Rivers to establish trading centres for the Liverpool merchant Macgregor Laird. The first was a resounding success. He conducted the first clinical trial using quinine as a preventative for malaria. For the first time in history, his initial exploration of these rivers was conducted without the loss of a single life to fever. Returning to London to a hero's welcome, he was nominated for one of the Royal Geographic Society's prestigious awards. His second voyage was a pure disaster. His ship was wrecked; members of the expedition died and he was stranded for over a year in the vast remote territory known as the Sokoto Caliphate. Following his rescue, he elected to remain alone in Africa for what would be his final years in order to complete his personal mission. Although he was born 4,000 miles away in Orkney, Baikie was designated the King of Lokoja by the ruler of the Sokoto Caliphate. This book defines the man and his accomplishments and reveals how he is so fondly remembered by the Nigerians and yet apparently so totally forgotten by the rest of the world.

The major focus of the book is an examination of the efforts being made by democratizing states in Africa to reconstitute the postcolonial state, so that it can become relevant to the needs and aspirations of the majority of the peoples of Africa. Using seven democratizing states in Africa as case studies, the book specifically examines three major interrelated issues: the multifaceted crises of state building in Africa; the efforts to democratically reconstitute the postcolonial state in Africa; and the proffering of suggestions to help address the challenges posed by the state reconstitution project.

First published in 1972. This volume includes a personal recounting of events during the Nigerian Civil War, by the author who was the Chief Secretary of the Government in Biafra 1967. The second edition includes a preface that answers questions about the author's warnings and lessons for the future Africa and his reflections on the disappearance of Nigeria from news and media since the war.