Mckenna - The history of Central and Eastern Africa

E vidence indicates that Central and eastern Africa have been inhabited since prehistoric time. Therefore, it is not surprising that the histories of both regions have seen much change and development.

The oldest population of Central Africa is known almost exclusively from the evidence of its tools, while the populations of the last 10,000 years or so are known for spurring the development of the societies that are familiar in modern times. These societies arose from a blend of old populations well suited to surviving in their environment and new immigrants with different sets of skills to share. Prior to the beginning of European colonial intrusion, Central Africa was home to several strong states, such as the Luba empire and the kingdoms of Kongo and Kuba. Eventually, the Central African states fell to each other or collapsed under the pressure from colonial powers.

Human history in East Africa dates back millions of years, evident in the fossilized remains of hominids that have been discovered in the region. Since that time, humans developed and evolved. The history of the Horn of Africa has largely been dominated by Ethiopiaone of the worlds oldest countries, its territorial extent having varied over the millennia of its existenceand has been characterized by struggles between Muslim and other herdsmen and Christian farmers for resources and living space. East Africa has seen centuries of interaction among indigenous African groups, Arabs, and Europeans. Arab influence was most prevalent along the East African coast and on the island of Zanzibar and is still evident today in the Swahili culture prominent in the region. African kingdoms such as Bunyoro and Buganda flourished prior to being absorbed into European colonial administration in the late 19th century.

Eastern and Central Africa are home to hundreds of various ethnic groups. As with other regions in Africa, most of the modern countries in Central and eastern Africa were not determined by logical ethnic groupings but were a reflection of arbitrary administrative divisions developed during the colonial era. Notable exceptions include Ethiopia, Burundi, and Rwanda. These factors have contributed to both the conflict that has occurred within individual countries and that which has spilled across borders.

In the postcolonial era, both regions have had their share of economic troubles and conflict across ethnic, religious, and political lines, much of which continues today. Nonetheless, several of the countries in Central and eastern Africa have demonstrated their ability to emerge from conflict and crisis to move forward, providing hope for the future.

David Birmingham and Phyllis M. Martin, History of Central Africa (1983, reprinted 1994), provide a comprehensive overview of the regions history from prehistoric time into the colonial era. Sidney Langford Hinde, The Fall of the Congo Arabs (1897, reprinted 2008), offers an eyewitness account of the colonial conquest of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1890s. Adam Hochschild, King Leopolds Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (1998), discusses the exploitation of African labour in what became the Belgian Congo. Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa: White Mans Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 (2003), examines European expansion on the continent of Africa. Patrick Manning, Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, 18801995 2nd ed (1998), discusses the colonization and then decolonization of parts of Central Africa. David Birmingham and Phyllis M. Martin (eds.), History of Central Africa: The Contemporary Years Since 1960 (1998), examines countries in the region to elucidate their postcolonial experience. Tamara Giles-Vernick, Cutting the Vines of the Past: Environmental Histories of the Central African Rain Forest (2002), focuses on the differing views that Africans and Europeans have of Africas environment. Of the many books on the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, two of the best are Grard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide, expanded (1998); and Ren Lemarchand, Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide (1996). Europa Regional Surveys of the World, Africa South of the Sahara (annual), is a useful source that contains historical overviews of each Central African country and updated essays on political, social, and economic developments.

A useful single-volume survey of the history of East Africa is Robert M. Maxon, East Africa: An Introductory History, 3rd ed. (2009). Roland A. Oliver et al. (eds.), History of East Africa, 3 vol. (196376), still constitutes the most ambitious account so far. Mark Horton and John Middleton, The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society (2000) is a very full study on that topic. Frederick Cooper, Plantation Slavery on the East Coast of Africa (1977, reprinted 2002), provides an excellent socioeconomic study of Zanzibar and Kenya in the 19th century.

One of the first books to deal with the history of the Horn of Africa is John Markakis, National and Class Conflict in the Horn of Africa (1987). Also useful is Leenco Lata, The Horn of Africa as Common Homeland: The State and Self-Determination in the Era of Heightened Globalization (2004). With a limited historiography, the history of the entire Horn must also be examined through such works devoted to Somalia and Ethiopia as Harold G. Marcus, A History of Ethiopia, rev. ed. (2002), a general history of Ethiopia from Australopithecus afarensis to 21st century; and I.M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa, 4th ed. (2002), a comprehensive treatment of the political history of affairs in all the Somali territories.

Historical overviews of each eastern African country and updated essays on political, social, and economic developments can be found in Europa Regional Surveys of the World, Africa South of the Sahara (annual).

C entral Africa is the region of Africa that straddles the Equator and is drained largely by the Congo River system. It contains, according to common definitions, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Gabon is usually included along with the Central African Republic because of their common historical ties, both of these countries having once been part of French Equatorial Africa. Rwanda and Burundi, although they are located east of the East African Rift System, which forms the eastern divide of the Congo basin, are also often considered part of the region because of their long administrative connections with the former Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The island republic of Sao Tome and Principe, off the Atlantic coast of Gabon, is also included in the region.

The population of Central Africa has evolved in three broad time zones. During the earliest, which covered a million years, early humans sought food and shelter throughout the savanna regions and probably in the forest as well, though the forest may have been much thinner in the great dry phases of Africas climatic history. In the second phase Homo sapiens, modern man and woman, appeared in the region and absorbed or eclipsed the thinly scattered original inhabitants over a 100,000-year stretch. The third phase covered less than 10,000 years and brought the development of the societies that have become familiar to modern history. These societies arose from a blend of old populations familiar with the environment and new immigrants with fresh skills to impart.