Book Review: History of Central Africa

A Fair Trade Book

Title: History of Central Africa (Volume 2)

Editor: David Birmingham

Publisher: Longman

Date: 1983

ISBN: 0-582-64676-6

Length: 410 pages plus 22-page index

Illustrations: many maps

Quote: “By the late nineteenth century Central Africa was in the throes of a grave social and political disruption...brought about by the gradual integration of Central Africa into the world system.”

David Birmingham's History of Central Africa is a textbook written by several academic authors, published originally in Britain, and fairly widely used throughout the English-speaking world. This second volume (I've not seen the first volume) details the breakdown of the colonial system and, in a dry academic way, the hardships both the colonial system and its breakdown imposed on the people of Central Africa.

Though written primarily for college use, this book is not beyond the reach of high school or even advanced middle school students who are interested in the subject. I can tell you that it's a readable first book about African history; it was my first book on this subject. I can't tell you whether it's a particularly good history, because, although it was well recommended when my husband bought it and I tend to accept his recommendations, I have no idea how much may have been left out. History books are, by definition, collections of documented facts. That leaves some room for bias, so let's just say that in the 1980s a lot of eyewitnesses to the story told in this book felt that this book told the story with reasonable accuracy.

There is some focus on “trouble spots”: the nine chapter titles include “Mining in the Belgian Congo,” “Capital accumulation and class formation in Angola,” and “Zimbabwe: the path of capitalist development.” Somewhat less attention is given to the history of Gabon, Cameroun, Zambia, Mozambique, and Malawi.

Though not a political document, the writers who attempt to explain “How is it possible that countries with such vast wealth are living in such appalling poverty?” are still writing from a moderately Old Left position. Colonial settlement antedated the philosophies we know as Left and Right, and history could be read to support either leftist or rightist views to some extent. “When farmers clear the land for cultivation, they incur increased health risks...Whether rain-forests are inherently less healthy than savannas is uncertain. Most colonial doctors and administrators believed them to be so.”

What is clear is that, although some of the foreigners trying to “develop” and exploit Africa sincerely wanted to help the indigenous people be healthier, claim their rightful share of their wealth, and even go to Heaven by various Islamic and Christian routes, the colonial structure positively fostered an outrageous level of greed in colonial powers with tendencies in that direction. “In the rubber regions of Ubangi...before 1914, villagers unable to flee were tied together, and brought naked to the forests to tap rubber vines. They lived in the open and ate what they could find.” Or, as the governor of Gabon reported by way of explanation of the decline in that country's already low indigenous population: “If we continue to see the native as tax payer and worker for Europeans, he will continue to disappear.”

The “disappearance” of “the native” was partly a euphemism for massive fatalities in crowded, unsanitary labor camps, but it also refers to the ability of “the native” to slip away into the forest to avoid unpleasant situations. People who live in individual mud-thatch houses, own few belongings, and may fish and plant gardens but are prepared to live on “what they could find” in the woods, are at an advantage in times of flood, plague, or war. Colonial administrations probably did not plan to waste colonial populations—what? lose all that cheap labor, in an only half-mechanized era?--but, “of course,” they “wanted people fixed in place so that they could be counted, taxed, recruited and cured” of such of the diseases that infested the work camps as were curable. “The native” may have owed his or her survival to this ability to “disappear.” As one colonial administrator reported, “Gardens are the principal consideration in selecting a new site. I do not think that as a rule the idea is to avoid taxation.”

Eventually the abuses of colonialism led to violent revolution, which was often settled by totalitarian dictators, which has led to the more recent events in the history of these countries. Some of those events were chronicled in a Volume 3 of this series. I have only Volume 2, but can get all three volumes if you really want them; that kind of thing is what Amazon-affiliated web sites are for.

Birmingham's History of Central Africa is recommended (with the above mentioned reservations) to students, travellers, and anyone interested in African history. To buy it, send $10 per book + $5 per package (two volumes of this series may or may not fit into one package) + $1 per online payment to the appropriate address. (Once again: U.S. postal orders go to Boxholder, P.O. Box 322; Paypal payments go to the Paypal address you get by e-mailing salolianigodagewi and mentioning which books or other products you want.) According to Amazon Birmingham is alive, though retired, so History of Central Africa is available as a Fair Trade Book. For each of the three-volume set you buy from this web site, we'll send $1.50 to him or the charity of his choice.