• Sociology
• The Destruction Of Black Civilization

Kevin Shillington. Histor y of AfricaLaurence GrambowRecommended Citation-WolfArticle 10Follow this and additional works at: is a comprehensive introduction to African historyfor an audience of nonprofessionals, sharing this field with themuch shorter A Short History of Africa by R. Oliver and J.D.Fage (Penguin, 1988, first edition 1962) and Basil Davidson'sAfrica in History (Collier, 1974, first edition 1962). These alsoappeal to the nonspecialist, although Shillington claimsuniqueness in this respect.

His book is better mapped and illustratedthan the other two, more up to date, and more comprehensivelydescriptive. One can feel inundated with unfamiliar names andplaces at some points, but that is the nature of historical workswhich are descriptive rather than analytical and theoretical.There are almost 90 maps, if I have counted correctly, allpertinent and well-designed. There is also a plentiful supply ofphotographs of sites and personalities.Shillington has organized the material into 29 chapters.The first two cover prehistory and are followed by eight whichget the reader up to the 1600s.

Then come nine covering the1700s and 1800s, followed by five on the era of Europeandomination, and five on World War II, independence and subsequentevents. The chapters are more regional than topical in focus:North and Northeast Africa to 1000 AD, or Southern Africa to the18th century, for instance.Afrocentrists will, I suspect, not welcome this book.Shillington acknowledges humanity's African origins, butconsiders the early folks were probably brown (not the de rigueurblack); that ironworking was probably introduced via theMaghrib (rather than diffusing from black Meroe); considersNapata and Meroe to have been civilized from Egypt (rather thanthe other way around); and does not insist that the ancientEgyptians were all dark Africoids. Indeed, he hardly ever refersto race at all, omitting the point dear to Afrocentrists that Egyptand North Africa, by deliberation or habit have been consideredPublished by BYU ScholarsArchive, 2001134COMPARATIVECIVILIZATIONSCaucasoid. It should be obvious that these populations will bedarker than most Europeans, but it does not follow that becausethey were Africa-born, they must have been as Africoid asGhanaians or Congolese. He also does not trace all civilizationsin Africa to Egyptian origins, another Afrocentrist idee fixe. Andthen, of course, Shillington is an Irish-born scholar educated inIreland and England, which makes him persona-non-grataamong Afrocentrists, although it must he noted that some of hisacademic experience was at African universities.This is a well-written work and a good introduction toAfrica both for the nonprofessional and for a newly interestedacademic. Unicausal explanations are eschewed.

Sociology

The authorattends to important environmental factors which I am alwayspleased to note as the historians I first read more than half acentury ago knew nothing of the environment.There is a startlingly simple geographical progressionamong the Sudanic 'empires', from Takrur on the Atlantic coastto Bornu'h near Lake Chad. Apparently this is in some wayconsequent to shifts in transsaharan trade routes, but nowhere is itexplicitly explained by Davidson, Oliver and Eager or byShillington. Were the Afrocentrist hypothesis correct about theseminal role of ancient Egypt (Kemet), one would have expectedthis succession of civilizations to have proceeded f r o m east towest instead of from west to east, as it actually did.The states which developed at various times and placesin Africa are variously referred to as 'kingdoms' or 'empires,'with no rationale given to explain these terms. How is an Africankingdom distinguished from an empire?

The Destruction Of Black Civilization

Is this merely a matter ofarbitrary tradition?My critical remarks should not serve to detract potentialreaders from History of Africa. If one is in need of an up-to-date,comprehensive, descriptive introduction to the history of thisreally still little known continent, use Shillington's book as ajumping-off point. Rapidshare library files search. His ample bibliography can lead you on ifyou so wish, quite well.L A U R E N C E G R A M B O WW O L F.