HIS 3290 AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS
This course is a broad survey of sub-Saharan African civilizations. We begin with the ancient northeast African kingdoms of Egypt, Kush and Aksum, and continue with the formation of the Western Sudanese empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, and the southern African kingdoms of Kongo and Great Zimbabwe. Attention will be paid to the spread of Islam and the Muslim slave trade across the Sahara, in addition to contact with Europe and the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the ‘New World’. Together we will look at the impact of missionaries and colonial powers on African social, cultural and political life in the last few hundred years. Finally, the course will explore the independence era and the struggle new African nations have faced in the postcolonial period in the critical fields of governance, economics, and human rights.
Prerequisite
3 credits in History