Jaffe - A History of Africa

African History Archive

Over the past forty years, Zed has established a long and proud tradition of publishing critical work on African issues, offering unique insights into the continents politics, development, history and culture. The African History Archive draws on this rich backlist, consisting of carefully selected titles that even now have enduring relevance years after their initial publication. Lovingly repackaged, these are essential works for anyone interested in the political history of the continent.

Other titles in the archive:

No Fist Is Big Enough to Hide the Sky: The Liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, 196374

Basil Davidson

The Story of an African Working Class: Ghanaian Miners Struggles 18701980

Jeff Crisp

Yours for the Union: Class and Community Struggles in South Africa

Baruch Hirson

About the author

Hosea Jaffe was a distinguished historian, economist and radical activist. Born in South Africa in 1921, he was active in early anti-apartheid politics, until he was forced to flee the country in 1960. Over the course of his life he taught at universities throughout Africa and Europe and authored numerous works on African history, politics and global economics. He died in Italy in 2014.

Samir Amin is a renowned radical economist, the director of the Forum du Tiers Monde (Third World Forum) in Dakar, Senegal, and chair of the World Forum for Alternatives.

A History
of Africa

Hosea Jaffe

With a Foreword by Samir Amin

A History of Africa was first published in 1985 by Zed Books Ltd,
The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR, UK

This ebook edition was first published in 2017

www.zedbooks.net

Copyright Vittoria Ada Tutone Jaffe 1985

The right of Hosea Jaffe to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

Cover design: Kika Sroka-Miller

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-78699-065-5 hb
ISBN 978-1-78360-988-8 pb
ISBN 978-1-78360-987-1 pdf
ISBN 978-1-78360-985-7 epub
ISBN 978-1-78360-986-4 mobi

Contents

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Preface

by Samir Amin

Many people probably still think that the causes of the economic difficulties which African countries are currently facing, the tragedy of the Sahel Famine and the financial breakdowns, are all to be found in the contemporary local society (the class structure of the power) and/or in the current international world system. Being among those who strongly believe that the roots of much of the present go back to the three or four last centuries of our history, I cannot but welcome this History of Africa which our comrade Hosea Jaffe offers us.