The Growth of African Civilisation – A History of West Africa 1000-1800 –

“… For a very long time it was seriously held in certain quarters that Africa had no indigenous history; that her history started with the coming of Europeans to Africa. One unfortunate result of this was that what used to be designated int he textbooks as African history was nothing but accounts of European merchants and colonial activities in Africa.

During the past couple of decades or so revolutionary changes have been taking place in our knowledge of African history. Serious research is bearing healthy results which are finding their way into school text-books and other publications meant for the general reader. This book is in line with this development. It attempts to trace the growth of West Africa’s own indigenous civilisation up to about the beginning of colonialism in this part of Africa. It is essentially a book written in simple language about the steady growth of West Africa’s rich heritage.”/8*9