An essential overview of great kingdoms in African history and their legacies written by
world-leading experts. From the ancient Nile Valley to the savannas of medieval West Africa
the highlands of Ethiopia and on to the forests lakes and grasslands to the south African
civilizations have given rise to some of the world¿s most impressive kingdoms. Yet Africäs
history is often little known beyond the devastation wrought by the slave trade and European
colonial rule. In this groundbreaking new book nine leading historians of Africa take a fresh
look at these great kingdoms and empires over five thousand years of recorded history. How was
kingship forged in Africa and how did it operate? Was dynastic power maintained by consent or
by coercion? Did kings ¿ and queens ¿ display and project that power for all to see or did
they hide it away as beneath the fringed crowns that concealed the faces of sacred Yoruba
rulers? In what ways have African peoples themselves recorded celebrated and critiqued the
deeds of their kings? Great Kingdoms of Africa explores some of the most important questions in
the continent¿s deep past. As elsewhere in the world absolute monarchy in Africa has been on
the wane in the modern era. Yet kingship continues to thrive within many present-day African
nations preserving deep-rooted ideas about culture identity and sacred power. Presenting
exciting developments in the understanding of how states and societies have interacted with
each other across time this book shows how powerful and sophisticated kingdoms have shaped the
course of African history ¿ and continue to do so in the present day.
