Africa is a vast continent, home to many millions of people. Its history stretches back millennia and encompasses some of the most ancient civilizations in the world. Modern Africa boasts a rich cultural heritage, the legacy of many diverse influences from all around the world, reflecting the central role African plays in world history.

Luka Jantjie is today a largely forgotten hero of resistance to British colonialism. His place in South African history has tended to be overshadowed by events elsewhere in the region. This book attempts to redress the balance by recording his remarkable story. In 1870, at the beginning of the Kimberley diamond mining boom that was to transform southern Africa, Luka Jantjie was the first independent African ruler to lose his land to the new colonialists, who promptly annexed the diamond fields. His outspoken stand against the hypocrisy of colonial justice earned him the epithet: a wild fellow...

Albert Rene is a towering figure of modern Seychelle, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, east of mainland Southeast Africa and northeast of the island of Madagascar. He arouses intense emotions in both admirers and opponents. This first full-length biography analyzes Rene's early years, his political awakening, and his struggle for full electoral support in the face of strong opposition. Frustrated by the slow pace of Seychelle's economic development and the extent of social division along racial lines, Albert Rene took the fateful decision to seize power by coup d'etat in 1977. It is a...