Description
In Africa, the past goes to the very origins of humanity. It continues until just before the scramble for Africa in the late 19th Century. The scramble – a kind of land grab – marks the onset of the colonial era, a time when European-derived forces asserted themselves over Africa ones, and as these forces intensified, an alien and often rigid order enveloped most of the continents inhabitants. But Africa and Africans deserve to be known by their own terms, and to achieve this goal, we need to improve our understanding of what took place before colonialism re-wrote many of life’s rules. We can do this best by studying how Africa was peopled; how the over 1,400 languages spoken in Africa evolved; why occupation has been an important aspect of African perceptions of identify; why certain places were attractive and how trade routes altered the comparative value of places; and how in turn, trade fostered the development of more complex societies.
In this book on the history of the Luo-speaking peoples of Eastern Africa, the author has created a complex and rich narrative from the above factors.
