Civilizations of Africa

Over the past decade, The Civilizations of Africa has established itself as the most authoritative text on early African history. Addressing the glaring lack of texts concentrating on earlier African eras, Christopher Ehret’s trailblazing book has been combined with histories of Africa since 1800 to build a full and well-rounded understanding of the roles of Africa’s peoples in human history. Examining inventions and civilizations from 16,000 BCE to 1800 CE, Ehret explores the wide range of social and cultural as well as technological and economic change in Africa, relating all these facets of African history to developments in the rest of the world.This updated edition incorporates new research, as well as an extensive new selection of color images.

“Challenging and innovative...thorough and masterful... One hopes that Christopher Ehret has initiated a new trend in the writing of African history textbooks, one that challenges previously accepted chronologies and ideas and presents us with an interpretation that connects social, economic, political, and cultural history." - African Studies Review

Christopher Ehret is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, and the author of An African Classical Age: Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400 (Virginia).