Ancient Africa : a global history, to 300 CE

Ancient Africa A global history, to 300 CE

Christopher Ehret

Book - 2023

"A deep history of Africa, from 70,000 BCE to 300 CE, that synthesizes the archaeological and historical linguistic evidence to tell an integrated global history of the continent. A framing chapter introduces the historical goals and issues of the book, recounting the terrible histories of recent centuries that led to Africa being wrongly treated as a peripheral other in the history of us all. Chapter two, "African Firsts in the History Technology," brings to light the histories of the independent inventions by Africans, living in different regions in the heart of the continent, of ceramic technology, more than 11,000 years ago; of the earliest cotton weaving technology in World History, 7,000-plus years ago; and of the earli...est iron smelting, 4,000 or more years ago. Ehret then turns to agricultural innovations between the ninth and seventh millennia BCE, introducing the evidence that shows that Africa helped usher in the "Age of Agricultural Exchange," and was, on the whole, a net exporter of agricultural innovations into Eurasia (including twelve early essential crops, and domesticated donkeys). Chapter four, "Towns and Long-Distance Commerce in Ancient Africa," turns attention to the roles of Africans (particularly the regions of Sudan and the Congo Basin) in the development of new systems for trading over distance, which facilitated an emerging class of merchants, during the second and first millennia BCE. Next, "The Africanity of Ancient Egypt," summarizes the evidence of intensive cultural interaction between the lands several hundred kilometers south of the confluence of the White and Blue Niles in modern-day Sudan all the way north to Middle Egypt. Finally, a closing chapter, "Africa and Africans in Global History," takes up the problem of how to bring what we have learned about 'ancient' Africa integrally into how we tell World History and proposes a new periodization of African and World History over the ages from around 68,000 BCE-when true, fully modern humans all still lived in eastern Africa-down to the first three centuries CE"--

Saved in:
Place a Hold Save to List Email this

2nd Floor Show me where

960.1/Ehret
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 960.1/Ehret Checked In
Subjects
To 1498
HISTORY / Africa / General.
Civilization.
Africa > Civilization.
Africa > History > To 1498.
Africa.
History.
Genres
History
Published
Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press [2023]
Language
English
Main Author
Christopher Ehret (author)
Physical Description
xii, 210 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780691244099
  • Acknowledgments
  • Chapter 1. Introducing the Issues and Themes
  • Chapter 2. African Firsts in the History of Technology
  • Ceramic Technology in World and African History
  • Women as Inventors and Innovators
  • Metallurgy in Ancient Africa
  • Historical Connections of Copper to Iron Metallurgy in Africa
  • Mechanical Invention in Early World and African History
  • Issues and Propositions
  • Chapter 3. Ancient Africa and the Export of Agricultural Innovation
  • The Era of Early Agriculture
  • African Agricultural Beginnings
  • Early Agriculture in West Africa
  • The Age of Agricultural Exchange
  • Chapter 4. Towns and Long-Distance Commerce in Ancient Africa
  • The West African Commercial Revolution
  • A Second African Commercial Revolution: The Congo Basin
  • Commercial "Revolutions" in the Global Frame
  • Chapter 5. The Africanity of Ancient Egypt
  • The Deep Background of Ancient Egyptian History, 20,000-6000 BCE
  • The Not-So-Deep-Time Story of Egypt's Foundations, 6000-3100 BCE
  • Chapter 6. Africa and Africans in Early Global History
  • Global History, 68,000-20,000 BCE
  • Global History, 20,000-9700 BCE
  • Global History, 9700 to the Sixth Millennium BCE
  • The Age of Agricultural Exchange, 6000-3000 BCE
  • Global History, 3000 BCE-300 CE
  • "Civilization"
  • Appendix: Considerations for Historians Reading Genetic Studies
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index
Review by Choice Review

Although the ancestors of all human beings alive today lived in Africa, the continent and the history of its peoples occupy remarkably little space in histories of the ancient world. Ancient Africa goes a long way toward rectifying that. Originating with his 2019 Nathan I. Huggins lectures, Ehret (Univ. of California, Los Angeles), the doyen of ancient African historiography, draws on archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic, and genetic evidence to reconstruct the history of Africa from c. 68,000 BCE to late antiquity. Focusing on social and economic developments, he treats the history of ancient Africa and its significance for world history. Following the introduction, chapters consider African firsts in ceramic technology and metallurgy, early African agriculture and its spread to Asia, independent development of cities and commerce in Africa, and the African roots of Egyptian civilization. A final chapter summarizes the work's conclusions. Highlights include Ehret's illuminating discussions of women's active role in early technological and agricultural development and the African elements of archaic Egyptian culture. This masterful, accessible summary of a brilliant historian's life's work will appeal to everyone interested in ancient world history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. --Stanley M. Burstein, emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

UCLA historian Ehret (The Civilizations of Africa) delivers a comprehensive and stimulating look at the major transitions in African history and their significance for the global development of early civilizations. Drawing from archaeology, linguistics, and anthropology, Ehret argues that major transformations in the history of civilization developed independently in Africa, often preceding similar developments in the Near East, Middle East, Mediterranean, and Asia. He recognizes five historical periods between 68,000 BCE and 300 CE, each with distinctive technological, dietary, and commercial developments. Major innovations between and during these periods include the development of ceramics in present-day Mali, in which women played a significant role; the smelting of metals from ores at various locales across the African savannas in the eighth and ninth centuries BCE; mechanical weaving and textiles; the shift from foraging subsistence to early agriculture, including plant and animal domestication; the establishment of towns and long-distance trade; the growth of specialized craft production and trading centers such as the Tichit region in today's Mauritania; and the rise of early cities, states, and nations. Throughout, Ehret notes the influence of climatic change on these transformations and makes a persuasive case that "African history offers strong counterweights to... presumptions about male and female roles in history." Exhaustive and carefully documented, this is a vital reconsideration of world history. Illus. (June)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Writing a book on the history of an entire continent requires a certain deftness in providing a holistic view of vastly different cultures and how those societies interacted with one another over time. Historian Ehret (UCLA; The Civilizations of Africa) does an admirable job of addressing African history from the close of the last Ice Age to the rise of kingdoms and empires in the first centuries of the common era. His book combines recent archaeological and linguistic research to show how pottery and ironworking were taught across the continent before the earliest evidence of similar technology elsewhere in the world. The author also identifies Africa's influence on other parts of the world through agricultural exchange. VERDICT Ehret provides a vital new perspective on Africa's significant role in the ancient world. This is an essential book on early African history that uses several types of evidence to demonstrate how different groups in Africa impacted each other and eventually the world.--John Rodzvilla

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Similar Items