This history of the poor of Sub-Saharan Africa begins in the monasteries of 13th-century Ethiopia and ends in the South African resettlement sites of the 1980s. Its thesis is that most very poor Africans have been incapacitated for labour and bereft of support in a land-rich economy.

This is a book for all concerned with the future of Africa, as well as for students of poverty elsewhere.

Preface
1. The comparative history of the poor
2. Christian Ethiopia
3. The Islamic tradition
4. Poverty and pastoralism
6. Yoruba and Igbo
7. Early European initiatives
8. Poverty in South Africa, 1886-1948
9. Rural poverty in colonial Africa
10. Urban poverty in tropical Africa
11. The care of the poor in colonial Africa
12. Leprosy
13. The growth of poverty in independent Africa
14. The transformation of poverty in southern Africa
Notes
Bibliography
Index.