Transformations in Africa: Essays on Africa's Later Past

The essays presented in this volume serve as reminders of the dynamic character of Africa's later past. It offers a series of insights into major elements of change over the past few thousand years and some indication of the interplay of change and continuity during that period. The capacity for adaption shown by hunter-gatherers, the shift to food production, the profound impact of cattle pastoralism, the development of cultural complexity, the growth of precolonial African urbanism, the fundamental role of climactic change, the increasing level of interaction with the outside world, the impact of European expansion are all provided as examples of the many transformations that took place during the later prehistoric and early hisotrical period in Africa.