Introduction: understanding the contours of Africa's past -- Western transitions: slave trade and "legitimate" commerce in Atlantic Africa -- Eastern intrusions: slaves and ivory in eastern Africa -- Southern frontiers: colony and revolution in southern Africa -- Revival and reaction: North African Islam -- Jihad: revolutions in western Africa -- The eastern crescent: the Islamic frontier in eastern Africa -- The compass and the cross -- "Whatever happens": towards the scramble -- Africans adapting: conquest and partition -- "Pax colonia": empires of soil and service -- Hard times: protest, identity, and depression -- Battles home and away: Africa in global war (again) -- The beached whale: colonial strategies in the postwar world -- Conceiving and producing nations -- Compromising conflict: routes to independence -- Unsafe foundations: challenges of independence -- Violence and the militarization of political culture -- Rectification, redemption, and reality: issues and trends in contemporary Africa.