List of maps; Acknowledgements; Preface; Part I. Origins of African Societies, 1000–1800: 1. Iron age states (1): the Luba and Lunda empires; 2. Iron age states (2): West Coast states; 3. Iron age states (3): Eastern Central Africa; 4. Iron age states (4): empires and kingdoms between the Limpopo and the Zambezi; 5. Peoples south of the Limpopo; 6. The growth of long-distance trade; Part II. African Societies, 1800–80: 7. New pressures (1): the Mfecane; 8. New pressures (2): the spread of white settlement in the South; 9. New pressures (3): the Afrikaner invasion; 10. New pressures (4): the impact of the Mfecane north of the Limpopo; 11. New pressures (5): commercial expansion in Central Africa; Part III. African and European Societies under Colonial Rule, 1880–1939: 12. The growth of European interest in Africa; 13. Partition and reaction (1): collapse of the great Bantu kingdoms; 14. Partition and reaction (2): the conflict north of the Zambezi; 15. Partition and reaction (3): the Western Region; 16. The British and the Boers: the final reckoning; 17. The period of colonial rule (1): the British sphere; 18. The period of colonial rule (2): the Portuguese sphere; 19. The period of colonial rule (3): the Belgian and German spheres; Part IV. The Re-Emergence of African Societies, 1940–65: 20. Independence (1): the Congo; 21. Independence (2): Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia; 22. The white-dominated South; Index.