Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Series
  3. Cambridge Library Collection - African Studies

This series focuses on Africa during the period of European colonial expansion. It includes anthropological studies, travel accounts from missionaries and explorers (including those searching for the sources of the Nile and the Congo) and works that shed light on colonial concerns such as gold mining, big game hunting, trade, education and political rivalries.

Refine search

Refine search

Content type:
Publication date:
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

103 results in Cambridge Library Collection - African Studies

Page 1 of 6

The Partition of Africa
  • John Scott Keltie
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    11 December 2014
  • In the latter part of the nineteenth century, as technological progress enabled the exploration of hitherto neglected territory, the powers of Western Europe embarked on a process of imperial expansion into the African continent. As a journalist for The Times, geographer John Scott Keltie (1840–1927) wrote articles on the 'scramble' at the time, and in 1893 published this authoritative text on the subject, here reissued in its revised and augmented second edition of 1895. Keltie's presentation of the topic was well received and remained of lasting relevance, being described in his obituary as 'the best text-book of that exploration and division of a forgotten continent'. Early chapters address certain aspects of African history, but the bulk of the book deals with European attempts at settlement, partition and commercial exploitation. The future of Africa, as a site of ongoing European contention and competition, is also considered.

A History of the Zulu Rebellion 1906
  • And of Dinuzulu's Arrest, Trial and Expatriation
  • James Stuart
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    26 September 2013
  • After many years of relatively peaceful coexistence, a dispute over taxation in 1906 stirred thousands of Zulus into bloody revolt against the British in Natal. Following the rebellion's defeat, James Stuart (1868–1942), an expert on Zulu customs and history, was commissioned to write the official history of military operations. It later became a private project of much broader scope. Providing a thoroughly researched account of the rebellion, Stuart wrote using the full breadth of his knowledge of Africa, drawing on the contacts and materials that became available to him during his time as an intelligence officer in the Natal Field Artillery. First published in 1913, the work also covers the administration of the Zulu territories and goes on to investigate the aftermath of the rebellion, including the arrest and imprisonment of the Zulu king, Dinuzulu.

A History of the Arabs in the Sudan
  • And Some Account of the People who Preceded them and of the Tribes Inhabiting Dárfūr
  • H. A. MacMichael
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    17 March 2011
    First published in:
    1922
  • H. A. MacMichael was a member of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan government between 1905 and 1933. This two-volume work, first published in 1922, is the culmination of almost twenty years' ethnological research conducted while MacMichael was stationed in various parts of Sudan. It provides detailed histories of the origins, movements and degrees of relation between indigenous groups in Sudan, based on oral histories gained from interviews with local people, and on Sudanese genealogical records known as 'nisbas'. These records provide a valuable insight into the construction and fluidity of ethnic identity at a local and regional level, and have been widely used as a basis for subsequent investigations concerning identity in Sudan. Volume 1 discusses pre-Islamic and contemporary indigenous groups. This book contains opinions on ethnicity which were acceptable at the time it was first published.

A History of the Arabs in the Sudan
  • And Some Account of the People who Preceded them and of the Tribes Inhabiting Dárfūr
  • H. A. MacMichael
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    17 March 2011
    First published in:
    1922
  • H. A. MacMichael was a member of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan government between 1905 and 1933. This two-volume work, first published in 1922, is the culmination of almost twenty years' ethnological research conducted while MacMichael was stationed in various parts of Sudan. This ethnography provides detailed histories of the origins, movements and degrees of relation between indigenous groups in Sudan based on oral histories gained from interviews with local people, and on Sudanese genealogical records known as 'nisbas'. These records provide a valuable insight into the construction and fluidity of ethnic identity at a local and regional level, and have been widely used as a basis for subsequent investigations concerning identity in Sudan. Volume 2 contains translations of nisbas with an analysis of their relation to ethnic identities. This book contains opinions on ethnicity which were acceptable at the time it was first published.

The History of the Yorubas
  • From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate
  • Samuel Johnson
  • Edited by Obadiah Johnson
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    30 September 2010
    First published in:
    1921
  • Samuel Johnson (1846–1901) was an Anglican minister and historian renowned for his magisterial history of the Yoruba people. Born in Freetown in Sierra Leone and educated by the Church Missionary Society, Johnson was sent with his family to Idaban in Nigeria in 1857. He was ordained in 1880 and by 1897 had finished the manuscript for The History of the Yorubas. However the original publisher mysteriously misplaced the manuscript. After Johnson's death his brother, Dr Obadiah Johnson, recompiled the text from Samuel's notes. This volume, first published in 1921, contains that reconstructed edition. This pioneering volume brought together various oral and recorded accounts of Yoruba history, describing not only political history but also social customs, language and laws. Although recent analysis of the text has revealed some inaccuracies, this volume remains the standard reference for the history of the Yoruba people.

History and Ethnography of Africa South of the Zambesi, from the Settlement of the Portuguese at Sofala in September 1505 to the Conquest of the Cape Colony by the British in September 1795
  • Volume 3, The Cape Colony to 1795, the Koranas, Bantu, and Portuguese in South Africa to 1800
  • George McCall Theal
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1910
  • George McCall Theal (1837–1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875–1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1907, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1505–1795. Theal discusses the formation of the colony from the first Portuguese conquests, exploring the Dutch colonial establishment and administration. Theal also describes the societies of the various indigenous peoples of South Africa and their relations with the colonists. These volumes provide valuable details on the administration of the Dutch colony, and reveal contemporary attitudes to the ideas of history and colonisation. These volumes are reissued from the expanded 1910 edition. Volume 3 covers the years 1745–1795.

History and Ethnography of Africa South of the Zambesi, from the Settlement of the Portuguese at Sofala in September 1505 to the Conquest of the Cape Colony by the British in September 1795
  • Volume 2, Foundation of the Cape Colony by the Dutch
  • George McCall Theal
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1909
  • George McCall Theal (1837–1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875–1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1907, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1505–1795. Theal discusses the formation of the colony from the first Portuguese conquests, exploring the Dutch colonial establishment and administration. Theal also describes the societies of the various indigenous peoples of South Africa and their relations with the colonists. These volumes provide valuable details on the administration of the Dutch colony, and reveal contemporary attitudes to the ideas of history and colonisation. These volumes are reissued from the expanded 1910 edition. Volume 2 covers the years 1652–1745.

The Autobiography of Sir Henry Morton Stanley, G.C.B
  • Henry Morton Stanley
  • Edited by Dorothy Stanley
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    25 August 2011
    First published in:
    1909
  • Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904), the Welsh-born explorer famous for his 1871 meeting with the missionary David Livingstone, published this intimate autobiography in 1909. Through his recollections we learn how his troubled early life - an impoverished childhood in a workhouse and some harrowing experiences as a young soldier - were what drove him to succeed as an explorer, and gave him the strength to deal with the sometimes vehement opposition he encountered. Although Stanley died before finishing this book, his wife Dorothy brought it to completion by compiling and editing the letters and memoirs he wrote during his travels, so that his avowed aim - to encourage impoverished young people to realise their ambitions - was met. This is the story of a man who, in the context of his own time, achieved 'greatness' against the odds, though his imperialist and allegedly racist views later caused the eclipse of his reputation.

History of South Africa since September 1795
  • Volume 5, The Cape Colony and Natal to 1872, Griqualand West to 1880, Great Namaqualand, Damaraland, Transkei, Tembuland, and Griqualand East to 1885, Pondoland and the Portuguese territory to 1894
  • George McCall Theal
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1908
  • George McCall Theal (1837–1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875–1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1908, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1795–1894. Focusing on the political history of the country, Theal explores the British control of Cape Colony and the reactions of the Dutch setters to increasing British immigration, discussing the political consequences of the establishment of the various Boer Republics and the growth of Zulu power in South Africa. These volumes provide valuable details on the political history of South Africa, and reveal contemporary attitudes towards the history and ideas of colonisation. Volume 5 covers the colonies between 1854–1894.

History of South Africa since September 1795
  • Volume 4, The Orange Free State, the South African Republic, Zululand, Basutoland, Betshuanaland, and Matabeleland from 1854 to 1872
  • George McCall Theal
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1908
  • George McCall Theal (1837–1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875–1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1908, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1795–1894. Focusing on the political history of the country, Theal explores the British control of Cape Colony and the reactions of the Dutch setters to increasing British immigration, discussing the political consequences of the establishment of the various Boer Republics and the growth of Zulu power in South Africa. These volumes provide valuable details on the political history of South Africa, and reveal contemporary attitudes towards the history and ideas of colonisation. Volume 4 covers Zululand and Matabeleland between 1854–1872.

History of South Africa since September 1795
  • Volume 2, The Cape Colony from 1828 to 1846, Natal from 1824 to 1845, and Proceedings of the Emigrant Farmers from 1836 to 1847.
  • George McCall Theal
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1908
  • George McCall Theal (1837–1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875–1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1908, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1795–1894. Focusing on the political history of the country, Theal explores the British control of Cape Colony and the reactions of the Dutch setters to increasing British immigration, discussing the political consequences of the establishment of the various Boer Republics and the growth of Zulu power in South Africa. These volumes provide valuable details on the political history of South Africa, and reveal contemporary attitudes towards the history and ideas of colonisation. Volume 2 covers Natal and Cape Colony between 1828–1846.

History of South Africa since September 1795
  • Volume 3, The Cape Colony from 1846 to 1860, Natal from 1847 to 1857, British Kaffraria from 1847 to 1860, and the Orange River Sovereignty and the Transvaal Republic from 1847 to 1854
  • George McCall Theal
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1908
  • George McCall Theal (1837–1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875–1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1908, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1795–1894. Focusing on the political history of the country, Theal explores the British control of Cape Colony and the reactions of the Dutch setters to increasing British immigration, discussing the political consequences of the establishment of the various Boer Republics and the growth of Zulu power in South Africa. These volumes provide valuable details on the political history of South Africa, and reveal contemporary attitudes towards the history and ideas of colonisation. Volume 3 covers the colonies between 1846–1860.

History of South Africa since September 1795
  • Volume 1, The Cape Colony from 1795 to 1828, the Zulu Wars of Devastation, and the Formation of New Bantu Communities
  • George McCall Theal
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1908
  • George McCall Theal (1837–1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875–1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1908, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1795–1894. Focusing on the political history of the country, Theal explores the British control of Cape Colony and the reactions of the Dutch setters to increasing British immigration, discussing the political consequences of the establishment of the various Boer Republics and the growth of Zulu power in South Africa. These volumes provide valuable details on the political history of South Africa, and reveal contemporary attitudes towards the history and ideas of colonisation. Volume 1 covers the history of Cape Colony 1795–1828.

A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea
  • Divided into the Gold, the Slave, and the Ivory Coasts
  • William Bosman
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1907
  • An early example of the travel-writing genre, William Bosman's collection of letters, originally written in Dutch and first published in English in 1705, describes the geography and political and natural history of the coast of Guinea. This 1907 edition is presented as a facsimile of the 1705 version, retaining the original typography. Bosman (born in 1672) went to Africa at the age of sixteen in the service of the Dutch West India Company, and spent fourteen years on the Gold Coast. This collection of twenty letters, written to his uncle in the Netherlands, remains an important source of information about this area of west Africa in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Bosman's accounts are highly descriptive, and his writings cover all aspects of the area, from its flora and fauna to its political, social and legal systems, its enterprising natives and its climate and diseases.

History and Ethnography of Africa South of the Zambesi, from the Settlement of the Portuguese at Sofala in September 1505 to the Conquest of the Cape Colony by the British in September 1795
  • Volume 1, The Portuguese in South Africa from 1505 to 1700
  • George McCall Theal
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    02 December 2010
    First published in:
    1907
  • George McCall Theal (1837–1919) was a prolific South African historian and civil servant. After working as a missionary between 1875–1880 he was appointed magistrate of Tamacha before taking a position as a clerk in the government and became Keeper of the Cape Colony Archives. He was appointed Colonial Historiographer in 1891. These volumes, first published in 1907, contain Theal's detailed history of South Africa between 1505–1795. Theal discusses the formation of the colony from the first Portuguese conquests, exploring the Dutch colonial establishment and administration. Theal also describes the societies of the various indigenous peoples of South Africa and their relations with the colonists. This volume provides valuable details on the administration of the Dutch colony, and reveals contemporary attitudes to the ideas of history and colonisation. These volumes are reissued from the expanded 1910 edition.

A Tropical Dependency
  • An Outline of the Ancient History of the Western Soudan with an Account of the Modern Settlement of Northern Nigeria
  • Flora Shaw
  • Published online:
    25 October 2011
    Print publication:
    23 December 2010
    First published in:
    1905
  • Flora Shaw, Lady Lugard (1852–1929) was the first female reporter for The Times, and colonial editor from 1893 to 1900. She travelled widely, and wrote hundreds of articles promoting the British Empire and in favour of its expansion as a world power. She became very involved in South African politics as a friend of Cecil Rhodes, and in 1897 coined the name 'Nigeria' for the colony under the administration of the Royal Niger Company. In 1902 she married Sir Frederick Lugard, then High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria. In 1905 she published A Tropical Dependency, her most extensive work. Although expressing views which assume European superiority, she stressed the fact that the vast majority of the British Empire was not white, and the book is valuable for its information on pre-colonial northern Africa. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=shawfl

The Nile Quest
  • A Record of the Exploration of the Nile and its Basin
  • Harry Johnston
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    17 November 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Sir Harry Johnston (1858–1927), was a British artist, explorer and colonial administrator. He was a key figure in the so-called 'Scramble for Africa', the invasion and colonisation of Africa by major European powers in the late nineteenth century. This book, first published in 1903, is Johnston's wide-ranging history of Nile exploration, beginning with the Ancient Egyptians and the Greeks and continuing into the Victorian period. As well as charting the development of ancient civilisations in the Nile region, Johnston also discusses its wider role in world history and its appeal to powerful leaders from Alexander the Great to Napoleon. As a contemporary of many significant participants in nineteenth-century Nile exploration, Johnston was perfectly situated to provide detailed insights into the personalities and achievements of explorers such as Burton, Stanley and Speke. His absorbing and accessible account provides a fascinating late Victorian perspective on the subject.

From Cyprus to Zanzibar by the Egyptian Delta
  • The Adventures of a Journalist in the Isle of Love, the Home of Miracles, and the Land of Cloves
  • Edward Henry Vizetelly
  • Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    26 April 2012
    First published in:
    1901
  • Edward Vizetelly (1847–1903) was the son of the publisher Henry Vizetelly and a perceptive war correspondent. He began his career for the Daily News and New York Times, covering the Franco-Prussian War, where he narrowly escaped being shot as a spy. This work, published in 1901, recounts the next period of his career, with vivid descriptions of people and places. In 1878, Cyprus was ceded to Britain by Turkey, and Vizetelly, then in Athens, was sent to report on the Island, where he remained for four years. In 1882, he moved to Egypt, where Arab unrest led to the massacre of Europeans in Cairo and the bombardment of Alexandria by British warships. On his return to Europe in 1889, he was commissioned by the owner of the New York Herald to find H. M. Stanley, using Zanzibar as his base. He concludes with a brief summary of subsequent events in Africa.

The Ashanti Campaign of 1900
  • Cecil Hamilton Armitage, Arthur Forbes Montanaro
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1901
  • In March 1900, Frederick Hodgson, the British Governor of the Gold Coast, demanded to sit on the Golden Stool of the Ashanti people in Ghana. The Golden Stool had great historical and symbolic significance for the Ashanti people and the Governor's demand was perceived as nothing short of a declaration of war: they responded by besieging the garrison in the city of Kumasi. British troops were sent in and recaptured the city in September 1900. C. H. Armitage (1869–1933), private secretary to Hodgson (and later himself to serve as Governor of Gambia) and A. F. Montanaro (1862–1914) were in the British retaliatory force, and as such perfectly positioned to give a first-hand account of the episode. The book was originally published in 1901 and is divided into two parts. The first part, by Armitage, describes the Ashanti siege of Kumasi, and in the second part Montanaro relates the British response.

William Cotton Oswell, Hunter and Explorer
  • The Story of his Life with Certain Correspondence and Extracts from the Private Journal of David Livingstone, Hitherto Unpublished
  • Volume 2
  • William Edward Oswell
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1900
  • The life of English explorer William Cotton Oswell (1818–93) was marked by adventures and discoveries. At nineteen, he left Essex for Madras, where he worked for the East India Company and became a renowned elephant catcher. Due to poor health, he was sent to South Africa, the 'empire of wild sport', where he specialised in hunting and exploration. He discovered the River Zouga and Lake Ngami during an expedition across the Kalahari desert, and travelled to the Zambezi River with Scottish missionary David Livingstone. Originally published in 1900, this two-volume biography was written by Oswell's eldest son. Since Oswell kept no diary, his life is here reconstructed through the many letters he sent to his family and friends. Volume 2 opens with Oswell's return to England in 1852, and includes an account of his journey to the Crimean front, where he worked in hospitals between 1854 and 1855.

Page 1 of 6