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The Cambridge History of Africa Vol. 7: from 1905 to 1940

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from 1905 to 1940

Series The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 7

Edited by A. D. Roberts

Publication Date 1986

Hardback ISBN-10
0521225051

Hardback ISBN-13
9780521225052

Digital Object Identifier (DOI) 10.1017/CHOL9780521225052

Overview

By 1905 most of Africa had been subjected to European rule; in the 1940s, the colonial regimes faced widespread and mounting opposition. Yet the period surveyed in this volume was no mere interlude of enforced quiescence. The cash nexus expanded hugely, as Africans came to depend for access to household necessities upon the export overseas of primary products. For the first time, tropical Africa began to constitute a significant economic counterweight to North and South Africa. The impact of white rule on African health and welfare was extremely uneven, and African lives were stunted by the labour requirements of capitalist enterprise. Many Africans suffered greatly in the First World War and in the world depression of the 1930s. By then, however, population was generally on the increase, after half a century of widespread decline. Mental horizons were much enlarged especially in the fast-growing towns. By 1940 a majority of Africans were either Muslim or Christian. South of the Sahara, mission education helped Africans to challenge white monopolies of power. Literate Africans developed new solidarities: tribal, territorial, regional and Pan-African. Meanwhile, the colonial powers were themselves improving their understanding of Africa and trying to frame policies accordingly. Co-operation with indigenous rulers often seemed the best way to retain control at minimum cost, but the search for revenue entailed disruptive economic change. By the Second World War, most colonial regimes confronted not only the criticisms of literate Africans but organised protest among wage-earners and farmers, even though anti-colonial nationalism was sitll embryonic.

For more details of the
print book, and how to buy it online, please see
from 1905 to 1940 in the Cambridge University Press online
catalogue.

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The Cambridge History of Africa

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Introduction
by
Andrew Roberts

The imperial mind
by
Andrew Roberts

Aspects of economic history
by
C. C. Wrigley

Christianity
by
Richard Gray

Islam
by
C. C. Stewart

African cross-currents
by
Andrew Roberts

The Maghrib
by
Michael Brett

French black Africa
by
Catherine Coquery Vidrovitch, Elizabeth Edwards and Andrew Roberts

British West Africa and Liberia
by
D. C. Dorward

Belgian Africa
by
B. Jewsiewicki, Yvonne Brett and Andrew Roberts

Portuguese Africa
by
Andrew Roberts

Southern Africa
by
A. P. Walshe and Andrew Roberts

British Central Africa
by
John McCracken

East Africa
by
Andrew Roberts

Ethiopia and the Horn
by
Richard Caulk

Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
by
M. W. Daly

Bibliographical Essays

Bibliography

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