These articles cover: early agricultural development; history of agricultural crops; patterns of land use and tenure; introduction and use of metals; economic and technological aspects of the Iron Age; patterns of trade; trade routes and centres; and media of exchange.

These articles cover: early agricultural development; history of agricultural crops; patterns of land use and tenure; introduction and use of metals; economic and technological aspects of the Iron Age; patterns of trade; trade routes and centres; and media of exchange.

A new account of economic performance and state development in African countries across the long twentieth century.

These articles cover: early agricultural development; history of agricultural crops; patterns of land use and tenure; introduction and use of metals; economic and technological aspects of the Iron Age; patterns of trade; trade routes and centres; and media of exchange.

Why has Africa remained persistently poor over its recorded history? Has Africa always been poor? What has been the nature of Africa's poverty and how do we explain its origins? This volume takes a necessary interdisciplinary approach to these questions by bringing together perspectives from archaeology, linguistics, history, anthropology, political science, and economics. Several contributors note that Africa's development was at par with many areas of Europe in the first millennium of the Common Era. Why Africa fell behind is a key theme in this volume, with insights that should inform Africa's developmental strategies.

Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.