Ancient Africa. From Acacus to Zimbabwe. 20,000 BCE–17th century.
Belin| N° d'inventaire | 22119 |
| Format | 17 x 24 |
| Détails | 677 p., paperback with flaps. |
| Publication | Paris, 2018 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782701198361 |
Africa: a geographical continent, several continents of history. From the establishment of its population, some twenty thousand years ago, until the 17th century, when Africa shifted into a new global order, this thousand-year-old and plural history is that of empires and cities, of technical and artistic innovations, of nomadic or sedentary lives, of population movements and circulation of ideas. Kerma, Aksum, Mali, Kanem, Makouria, Abyssinia, Ifat, Ife, Kongo, Zimbabwe… How many African societies, long before the influence of foreign powers, exerted their influence and conversed with the other political formations of the world? This book offers, in a unique way, to discover the ancient history of the African continent. It takes us along the roads that attracted Greek and Arab merchants to the great African capitals, that led Sahelian pilgrims from Timbuktu to Mecca, and Nubian diplomats from Dongola to Baghdad. Alongside this Africa in motion, we see the social singularities of herders of cows and camels, hunter-gatherers, blacksmiths, and potters. The history of Africa is the fruit of this balancing act between the short-term nature of actors and the long-term nature of cultural depths. Far from clichés, Ancient Africa, edited by François-Xavier Fauvelle, takes on a challenge: to make every trace a source of history and to present to us both grandiose and tenuous archaeological sites, writings of monks or royal scribes, engravings and rock paintings, remains of tools, ornaments, objects of worship or daily life, fragments of languages, domestic animal robes or even plant genomes, landscapes shaped by man, remembered events. Illustrated by more than 300 documents – photographs, maps, archaeological surveys and drawings –, this book invites us to share the desire for astonishment as much as the pleasure of encounter. This unique collection brings together the best specialists in the world, sometimes the only ones in their field.
Africa: a geographical continent, several continents of history. From the establishment of its population, some twenty thousand years ago, until the 17th century, when Africa shifted into a new global order, this thousand-year-old and plural history is that of empires and cities, of technical and artistic innovations, of nomadic or sedentary lives, of population movements and circulation of ideas. Kerma, Aksum, Mali, Kanem, Makouria, Abyssinia, Ifat, Ife, Kongo, Zimbabwe… How many African societies, long before the influence of foreign powers, exerted their influence and conversed with the other political formations of the world? This book offers, in a unique way, to discover the ancient history of the African continent. It takes us along the roads that attracted Greek and Arab merchants to the great African capitals, that led Sahelian pilgrims from Timbuktu to Mecca, and Nubian diplomats from Dongola to Baghdad. Alongside this Africa in motion, we see the social singularities of herders of cows and camels, hunter-gatherers, blacksmiths, and potters. The history of Africa is the fruit of this balancing act between the short-term nature of actors and the long-term nature of cultural depths. Far from clichés, Ancient Africa, edited by François-Xavier Fauvelle, takes on a challenge: to make every trace a source of history and to present to us both grandiose and tenuous archaeological sites, writings of monks or royal scribes, engravings and rock paintings, remains of tools, ornaments, objects of worship or daily life, fragments of languages, domestic animal robes or even plant genomes, landscapes shaped by man, remembered events. Illustrated by more than 300 documents – photographs, maps, archaeological surveys and drawings –, this book invites us to share the desire for astonishment as much as the pleasure of encounter. This unique collection brings together the best specialists in the world, sometimes the only ones in their field.