The period covered by this volume has several major themes: the triumph of Islam; the extension of trading relations; cultural exchanges and human contacts; and the development of kingdoms and empires.

The unification of the Maghrib under the Almohads
the spread of civilization in the Maghrib and its impact on Western civilization
the disintegration of political unity in the Maghrib
society in the Maghrib after the disappearance of the Almohads
Mali and the second Mande expansion
the decline of the empire of Mali - the 15th to 16th centuries
the Songhay from the 12th to the 16th century
the peoples and kingdoms of the Niger Bend and the Volta basin from the 12th to the 16th century
the kingdoms and peoples of Chad
the Hausa and their neighbours in the central Sudan
the coastal peoples from Casamance to the Cote d'Ivoire lagoons
from the Cote d'Ivoire lagoons to the Volta
from the Volta to Cameroon
Egypt and the Muslim world from the 12th to the beginning of the 16th century
Nubia from the late-12th century to the Funji conquest in the early 16th century
the Horn of Africa - the Solomonids in Ethiopia and the states of the Horn of Africa
the development of Swahili cilvilization
between the coast and the Great Lakes
the Great Lakes region
the Zambezi and Limpopo basins 1100-1500
Equatorial Africa and Angola - migrations and the emergence of the first states
southern Africa - its peoples and social structures
Madagascar and the neighbouring islands from the 12th to the 16th century
relationships and exchanges among the different regions
Africa in inter-continental relations.