Africa is often portrayed as the “dark continent”, a place of poverty, disease and war. Yet, this is far from the historical reality. This course will show that Africa and Africans had an important role to play in global history. We begin with the journey of the first hominids out of Africa and then look at the centralization of power and building of powerful Iron Age trading kingdoms. The course also looks at the social, cultural and religious beliefs of African people and later investigate the development of new pluralistic societies which integrated newcomers and local people into global trading networks. We then consider one of the central debates of Southern African history, the Mfecane: the period in which Shaka waged wars across the Southern African interior and the “empty land myth”. We end by looking at the slave trade both internally and the trading of slaves out of Africa. Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hoursPrerequisite(s): 3 credit units HIST at Note: Students with credit for HIST 245.6 may not take this course for credit.
Africa is often portrayed as the “dark continent”, a place of poverty, disease and war. Yet, this is far from the historical reality. This course will show that Africa and Africans had an important role to play in global history. We begin with the journey of the first hominids out of Africa and then look at the centralization of power and building of powerful Iron Age trading kingdoms. The course also looks at the social, cultural and religious beliefs of African people and later investigate the development of new pluralistic societies which integrated newcomers and local people into global trading networks. We then consider one of the central debates of Southern African history, the Mfecane: the period in which Shaka waged wars across the Southern African interior and the “empty land myth”. We end by looking at the slave trade both internally and the trading of slaves out of Africa. Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hoursPrerequisite(s): 3 credit units HIST at Note: Students with credit for HIST 245.6 may not take this course for credit.
