Table of Contents

Introduction: Kings, Kingship and Kingdoms in African History
John Parker

1. Ancient Egypt and Nubia: Kings of Floods and Kings of Rain
David Wengrow

2. The Sudanic Empires: The Gold, the Arts, the River
Rahmane Idrissa

3. The Solomonic Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia
Habtamu Tegegne and Wendy Laura Belcher

4. The Yoruba and Benin Kingdoms
Olatunji Ojo

5. The Kongo Kingdom
Cécile Fromont

6. Buganda
John Parker

7. From Hausa Kingdoms to the Sokoto Caliphate
Muhammadu Mustapha Gwadabe

8. The Akan Forest Kingdom of Asante
John Parker

9. The Zulu Kingdom
Wayne Dooling

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An essential overview of great kingdoms in African history and their legacies, written by world-leading experts

About the Author

John Parker taught the History of Africa at SOAS University of London from 1998 to 2020. He is the co-author of African History: A Very Short Introduction (2007), co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Modern African History (2013), and the author of In My Time of Dying: A History of Death and the Dead in West Africa (2021).