African History and African Studies

This volume is the fascinating story of the transition of Professor G.N. Uzoigwe, whose academic training is in European history, specializing in European imperialism, and who was quite ignorant of African history by the late 1960s, to become one the pioneers of the ¿New African History¿ that emphasizes, among other things, the primacy of Africäs major contributions to world history and to human civilization. The author argues that by the 19th century the West, aided by the Renaissance and the new military technology derived from the Industrial Revolution, used the power of the Christian religion¿a major beneficiary of these developments¿whose teachings have been seriously undermined in Europe, to justify its conquest and colonization of Africa, and frankly got away for a long time with treating the continent as a ¿dark¿, ¿uncivilized¿ and ¿backward¿ region of the globe who made no contribution to world history. He suggests further what the African continent needs to do to become a major factor in the modern world. The transition was not easy, but it was worthwhile and rewarding.