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The Conversation
Timothy Clack, Chingiz Gutseriev Fellow, University of Oxford

Colonialism in Africa: archaeology offers a deeper view

Map of Africa (1722). Original from The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel Wikipedia Commons, CC BY

Colonialism has been a central part of history around the world, differing only in form over time and space. After all, whenever people have moved from one place to another, they have colonised spaces and other people or forms of life.

In Africa, colonialism has mostly been studied as something imposed from outside, for example from Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. A recent special issue of the journal Azania sought to address this. Scholars looked at the topic from an angle that’s so far been neglected – the archaeology and history of colonialism from within Africa.

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