Introduction.- SECTION ONE: EARLY AND LATER PRE-HISTORY .- 1 Early prehistory of Africa.- 2 Later prehistory: farming and pastoralism in tropical Africa and Ancient Egypt.- SECTION TWO: EARLY IRON AGE .- 3 The impact of iron in north and west Africa.- 4 The Early Iron Age in central, eastern and southern Africa.- SECTION THREE: RELIGION AND EMPIRE IN NORTHERN AND WESTERN AFRICA .
- 5 North Africa to 1000 CE.- 6 Trans-Saharan trade and the kingdom of ancient Ghana.- 7 Islam and the Sudanic states of west Africa.- SECTION FOUR: RELIGION, TRADE AND CHIEFTAINCY IN EASTERN, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA .- 8 Eastern Africa to the sixteenth century.- 9 Later Iron Age states and societies of central and southern Africa to the sixteenth century.- 10 Trading towns of the east African coast to the sixteenth century.- SECTION FIVE: WEST AFRICA IN THE ERA OF THE SLAVE TRADE .
- 11 The Atlantic slave trade, sixteenth to eighteenth century.- 12 West African states and societies, to the eighteenth century.- SECTION SIX: STATE RENEWAL AND FORMATION IN NORTH, EAST, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA .- 13 North and north-east Africa to the eighteenth century.- 14 Central and eastern Africa to the eighteenth century.- 15 Southern Africa to the eighteenth century.- SECTION SEVEN: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BEFORE THE EUROPEAN 'SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA' .- 16 West Africa in the nineteenth century.
- 17 The ending of the Atlantic slave trade.- 18 Christian Missions, new States and pre-colonial 'nationalism'.- 19 Central and east Africa in the nineteenth century.- 20 Pre-industrial southern Africa in the nineteenth century.- 21 North and north-east Africa in the nineteenth century.- SECTION EIGHT: THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL AND POLITICAL IMPERIALISM, LATE-NINETEENTH CENTURY .- 22 Colonial conquest and African resistance in east, north-central and west Africa.- 23 Industrialisation, colonial conquest and African resistance in south-central and southern Africa.
- SECTION NINE: THE IMPACT AND NATURE OF COLONIAL RULE, 1890-1945 .- 24 Consolidation of empire: the early period of colonial rule.- 25 Africa between the wars: the high tide of colonial rule.- 26 The Second World War and Africa.- SECTION TEN: THE OVERTHROW OF COLONIALISM .- 27 The winning of independence (1).- 28 The winning of independence (2).- 29 The winning of independence (3).
- SECTION ELEVEN: AFRICA SINCE INDEPENDENCE .- 30 African responses to the colonial legacy.- 31 The challenges and dilemmas of development: debt and international aid.- 32 Contemporary Africa.- Further Reading.- Index.