Africa

French Senate Blocks Restitution of 27 Artifacts to Benin and Senegal in Dispute with National Assembly

The bill under consideration would compel France to return artifacts plundered from Benin and Senegal in the 1890s. 

New York Times Publishes Sweeping Collection: "Reflections on 1960, the Year of Africa"

The feature includes images from all of the 17 African countries that gained independence in 1960 and reflections of creative people of African descent to give their personal reactions to these images. 

African Americans and Africa: A New Book about Black America’s Relationship with the Continent

 An interview with author Nemata Blyden about her latest book. 

The Forgotten Trauma of a Forgotten War

by Nick Turse

As the World Looks Away, Death Stalks the Democratic Republic of Congo.

How Africa is transforming the Catholic Church

by Elizabeth A. Foster

Pope Francis’s visit to Africa highlights the growing trend toward decolonizing Catholicism

The Black Death may have transformed medieval societies in sub-Saharan Africa

Some researchers point to new evidence from archaeology, history, and genetics to argue that the Black Death likely did sow devastation in medieval sub-Saharan Africa. 

The Historian Who Fell in Love with Africa

by Erik Moshe

An interview with the fascinating Merrick Posnansky at age 87.

Challenges Historians Face in Africa Today: An Interview With Joseph K. Adjaye

by Erik Moshe

"The discipline of history in Africa is facing a crisis in that it is attracting fewer and fewer students."

France weighs how to return Africa’s plundered art

From London to Berlin, Europe’s museums are packed with hundreds of thousands of colonial-era items. Increasingly, they are facing the awkward question of whether they should be there at all.

Old Lions Department: An Interview with the Africanist Joseph C. Miller at 78

by Erik Moshe

How did Miller ever become an Africanist in the first place? By mistake, he says.

“Civilisations" presenter David Olusoga blames Winston Churchill for war crimes in Africa

He says claims about the darker side of the former Prime Minster’s past are often drowned out by his status as a wartime leader.

An African country reckons with its history of selling slaves

In Benin, where the government plans to build two museums devoted to the slave trade in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, slavery is an embattled subject.

China’s Moving in on Africa. Why Africans Should Be Afraid.

by Greg Bailey

As China increases its footprint on the continent there will doubtless be more push back with no guarantees it will be any smoother than the rest of Africa’s beleaguered history.

Berlin's street names provoke debate over forgotten colonial history

Historians want to make people aware of the harsh colonial legacy in Africa that their streets are named after.

Edwin Black’s Response

by Edwin Black

A reply to Jeremy Best’s critique of Edwin Black’s “Before Germans Slaughtered Jews They Slaughtered Africans,” which was featured on HNN two months ago.

Germans Slaughtered Blacks Before they Slaughtered Jews, but You Shouldn’t Draw a Line between both Genocides

by Jeremy Best

A critique of Edwin Black’s article, “Before Germans Slaughtered Jews They Slaughtered Africans.”

Before Germans Slaughtered Jews They Slaughtered Africans

by Edwin Black

The wrenching story of what they did to one group of Africans who got in their way.

Study: Development aid began in the colonial era, not in the Cold War

Concepts of modern development aid have been inherited from Europe's colonialist era and thus have their roots much further in the past than has been thought till now. This is the outcome of a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF whose report was recently published in the book "Developing Africa."

Living African group discovered to be the most populous humans over the last 150,000 years

New genetic research reveals that a small group of hunter-gatherers now living in Southern Africa once was so large that it comprised the majority of living humans during most of the past 150,000 years.

Scramble for Africa 130 years on

130 years ago, Western countries met to discuss the future of Africa in what is known as the Berlin Conference. The result of the meeting saw the countries distributing portions of the continent to come under their control.