This volume deals with the beginnings of history, from around 500 BC, the date when historical sources begin to embrace all Africa north of the Sahara. It is shown that these northern Africans were not simply passive recipients of other cultures' influences or religions.

When this had been done, the foundations were laid for a wholly African civilization and, by the end of the period, the Bantu expansion had brought almost all the southern half of the continent within its sphere.

Introduction J. D. Face
1. The legacy of prehistory J. Desmond Clark
2. North Africa in the period of Phoenician and greek colonization R. C. C. Law
3. North Africa in the Hellenistic and Roman periods R. C. C. Law
4. The Nilotic Sudan and Ethiopia P. L. Shinnie
5. Trans-Saharan contacts and the Iron Age in West Africa Raymond Mauny
6. The emergence of Bantu Africa Roland Oliver and Brian M. Fagan
7. The Christian period in Mediterranean Africa W. H. C. Frend
8. The Arab conquest and the rise of Islam to North Africa Michael Brett
9. Christian Nubia P. L. Shinnie
10. The Fatimid revolution and its aftermath in North Africa Michael Brett
11. The Sahara and the Sudan from the Arab conquest of the Maghrib to the rise of the Almoravids Nehemia Levtzion
Bibliographical essays
Bibliography
Index.