Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize, Cundill History Prize, Fage and Oliver Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award Winner of the Historical Writers Association NonFiction Crown 2020Winner of the American Historical Associations Jerry Bentley Prize in World History 2020Winner of the Nayef AlRodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding 2019An Observer and Wall Street Journal Book of the Year 2019A groundbreaking history that will transform our view of West AfricaBy the time of the Scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth century, Africa had already been globally connected for many centuries. Its gold had fuelled the economies of Europe and Islamic world since around 1000, and its sophisticated kingdoms had traded with Europeans along the coasts from Senegal down to Angola since the fifteenth century. Until at least 1650, this was a trade of equals, using a variety of currencies most importantly shells the cowrie shells imported from the Maldives, and the nzimbu shells imported from Brazil.Toby Greens groundbreaking new book transforms our view of West and WestCentral Africa. It reconstructs the world of kingdoms whose existence (like those of Europe) revolved around warfare, taxation, trade, diplomacy, complex religious beliefs, royal display and extravagance, and the production of art.Over time, the relationship between Africa and Europe revolved ever more around the trade in slaves, damaging Africas relative political and...

Binding: Paperback;656 pages; Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Classification: HBJH; Weight: 570 g; Dimensions: 129 x 196 x 28

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