An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence
Zeinab Badawi, WH Allen, £25
 

ZEINAB BADAWI, reflecting today’s widely recognised view, begins this amazing story: “Everyone is originally from Africa and this book is therefore for everyone.”

She spent eight years touring Africa, researching this mammoth project. Her purpose was to write an “accessible and relatively comprehensive history of Africa” which, unlike that of most people’s experience which began with the arrival of Europeans, “reflected the continent’s rich history told by Africans themselves.”

The scene is set by a detailed exploration of several phases of man’s development on the African continent to arrive at today’s Homo sapiens-sapiens. This encompasses the first large-scale movements of populations of which there have been so many since.

The book goes on to explore the many early civilisations in Africa from the Nile, the development of Egypt and many other ancient kingdoms.

Once this groundwork is established, Badawi looks at how the development of nations and the conflicts between them changed the map and culture of Africa. Attention is given to the way in which Islam and Arabisation influenced north Africa. She doesn’t hesitate to address very sensitive subjects such as slavery, detailing the actions of Arabs who took many Africans into slavery with the collaboration of the early Swahili tribes. This movement of population eastwards provided agricultural labourers, domestic servants and soldiers.

Later, Badawi explores the Atlantic slave trade, carried out initially by European merchant slavers, which escalated during early French, British and Portuguese colonisation to provide the labour needed by plantations in America and the Caribbean. She places the blame for this terrible trade on the Europeans, but doesn’t duck from illustrating how local African tribes and leaders contributed to the process.

The book includes a number of discussions reflecting the tensions and conflicts between traditional African religions and beliefs and those of Christianity and Islam. Written works and conversations with scholars and museum curators amplify these. The consolidation of imperial control following the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 where European nations and the US agreed the total division of Africa between them is seen as a key moment.

Badawi discusses with Professor Doulaye Konate the significance of the “Mande Charter” of 1236, originating in the Malinese empire. He suggests that the charter’s motto of “liberty, dignity and equality” parallels that of the French Revolution: “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite.”

Resistance and liberation are covered briefly as the author acknowledges these are well recorded elsewhere. She does, however, look at some key figures in resistance from the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Mahdi in northern Sudan, the Asante in Ghana and King Shaka in KwaZulu-Natal. The horrors of Belgian colonialism in the Congo and French barbarism in north Africa and the Sahel are not overlooked.

Badawi, herself born in Sudan, considers the debate as to whether it is necessary to redraw the artificial borders in Africa in order to eliminate the impact of imperialism and colonialism. She suggests: “What is done is done and that Africans must look to the present and the future.” She goes further, quoting Dr Kodzo Gavua of the University of Ghana, who argues: “What does the preservation of identity, culture and traditions mean if it does not result in making people’s lives better.” She further claims that in the multicultural community of communities, differences “can be celebrated, not used to polarise and divide.”

Given recent exchanges in the Morning Star regarding the controversial subject of reparations, it is worth mentioning Badawi’s discussions on this. These cover three areas. Firstly, the wholesale looting of cultural and artistic objects with the increasing demand for their return along with monies sufficient to enable them to be adequately displayed. Second, compensation for the many descendants of the slaves so brutally torn from their lands and their families. Third, the conversation addresses the extensive impact on the development of African economies as a result of losing so many of their people to the slave trade.

Badawi, reflecting on the challenge for Africa in today’s world, stresses that this cannot be understood without considering the role of European imperialism and colonialism. Only through this lens is it possible to explain how so many countries with such a rich history and culture, possessing some of the largest deposits of key minerals, can remain among the poorest nations of the world.

Does Badawi succeed in the task she set herself of “providing an accessible and comprehensive alternative history of Africa to those generally available”? Undoubtedly, she has demonstrated the existence of a substantial African history, rich in culture, that contributed much to world development long before the dawn of European colonialism. She sets the framework for future publications exploring different aspects of her history in far greater detail.

However, I feel that Badawi tried to do too much and her extensive lists of leader following leader, conflict between brother and brother, father and son and numerous sisters and cousins make the book less accessible than she may have hoped. 

Nevertheless, this is a powerful and informative read.