Ghana’s Golden Coast
This West African state was a focus of the slave trade for centuries, and the first African colony to win independence, exactly fifty years ago. Graham Gendall Norton finds lots of history to explore.
West Africa
The Gambia
Historical travel, alone or in organized tours, is burgeoning and fun. Our new series suggests some places for the past-minded traveller to think about. Graham Gendall Norton introduces an accessible but exotic land which has long been a cultural crossroads.
Mali’s History at Risk
Sarah Searight highlights the problem of pillaging for those trying to piece together Mali’s rich heritage.
A New Slavery?
Angela V. John looks at the uncomfortably long and close links between slavery and the cocoa trade.
Death of Mary Kingsley
The explorer of West Africa died in Cape Town on June 3rd, 1900.
Ghana's Slave Castles
Ghana's slaving past, long regarded as too sensitive to even discuss, is now becoming a lively issue. A group of Ghanaians, led by lawyers and tribal chiefs, have convened an Africa-wide meeting to seek 'retribution and compensation for the crime of slavery’.
Ghana's Crumbling Heritage
Graham Norton looks at dilapidated forts and castles in West Africa
Death and Politics: West Africa in the 1940s
Missing person or ritual murder? Richard Rathbone probes a cause célèbre from an age of colonial and tribal transition.
West Africa’s Mary Kingsley
‘England… requires markets more than colonies.’ Mary Kingsley’s espousal of the African cause was founded on the empathy between second-class citizens in a white, male-dominated society, as Deborah Birkett reveals.
The Berlin West Africa Conference - A Timely Centenary?
John D. Hargreaves looks at the 1884 meeting of European nations and the impact on Africa.