The History of Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself is a key text for understanding the history of the great West African kingdom of Asante (now in Ghana). It is also an early--and perhaps the earliest--example of history writing in English by an African ruler and his amanuenses. It was begun in 1907 in the Seychelles on the instructions of the Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, who had been in British captivity with his family since 1896, during which time he had acquired proficiency in English.
The chief source of information was his mother the Asantehemaa Yaa Kyaa, who possessed an...

The Nuer people of South Sudan hold a special if unwanted place in imperial history as the object of Britain's last 'pacification' campaign in Africa. Territorial conquest was completed with the annexation of the independent sultanate of Darfur in 1916, but military pacification continued throughout the first thirty years of the twentieth century, culminating in 'the Nuer Settlement'.

These campaigns are important for another reason: they were the cause of the Sudan government redirecting the anthropologist, E.E. Evans-Pritchard (against his will) to study of the Nuer, which he did in a...

The Chilembwe (or Nyasaland) Rising of January 1915 is one of the most fascinating episodes in the history of resistance in southern Africa. A small-scale event, suppressed within a matter of days, the Rising has been described by leading historian John Iliffe as the only significant rebellion in the whole of Africa prior to the First World War to be inspired by Christianity. Its leader, John Chilembwe, a Baptist minister trained in the United States, is now lauded in official circles as Malawi's first nationalist; his image is depicted on the country's banknotes.

This book contains a...

The texts, both written and aural, provide valuable perspectives on the second half of the 19th century in particular.