Africa

In the 18th century, Europeans in the tropics found themselves beset by an array of unpleasant afflictions. They blamed black women, the climate and the strength of their own masculinity.

The revolt against President Omar al-Bashir was not the first in Sudan’s history, but it was the first since Africa’s former largest country split in two.

Africa has been global for millennia, but its history is too often eclipsed by narratives that focus on slavery and its abolition.

The shortest war in history began (and ended) on 27 August 1896.

Fiercely independent, highly skilled sailors, the Kroomen of Sierra Leone forged an alliance with the Royal Navy to rid the African coasts of slavers.

The civil war that resulted from the division of Nigeria was a major human disaster that should not be forgotten. 

In 1947, fraught Anglo-French relations came to a head in the crucible of the Indian Ocean with the outbreak of Madagascar’s Malagasy Uprising.

Since gaining independence Botswana’s history has not been without turmoil, but the country has emerged as a model African state.

After the kidnapping of Moroccan revolutionary Mehdi Ben Barka in 1965, the fingers of blame pointed in several directions. The details of what happened are still not known.