African Studies

A comprehensive, online research encyclopedia that will combine high quality, peer-reviewed scholarship with opportunities to deeply engage readers that would not be available in a traditional printed reference work. Articles will be based on the latest, most persuasive research in the field, and will incorporate audio, visual, and video materials, as well as links to digitized archives and other primary sources.

Historical Abstracts is an exceptional resource that covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more - essential for libraries supporting upper-division and graduate research. This authoritative database provides indexing of more than 1,700 academic historical journals in over 40 languages back to 1955.

(Description taken from EBSCO website.)

British government files related to South Africa under the first thirty years of the apartheid regime. Broad range of material from South Africa, Britain, the United States and other countries. Part of Archives Direct.

The Confidential Print series, issued by the British Government between c. 1820 and 1970, is a fundamental building block for political, social and economic research.

The series originated out of a need to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. These range from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports and texts of treaties. All items marked Confidential Print were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet and to heads of British missions abroad.

The documents in Confidential Print: Africa begin with coastal trading in the early nineteenth century and the Conference of Berlin of 1884 and the subsequent Scramble for Africa. They then follow the abuses of the Congo Free State, fights against tropical disease, Italys defeat by the Abyssinians, World War II, apartheid in South Africa and colonial moves towards independence. Together they cover the whole of the modern period of European colonisation of the continent from the British Governments perspective.

Primary sources on the colonization of Africa in the 19th Century. Part of Gale Primary Sources Nineteenth Century Collections Online.

Primary law, chiefly case law, from South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland,Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. For the Republic of South Africa, coverage of court and tribunal decisions is very comprehensive.

Devoted to the study and understanding of the history of slavery in America and the rest of the world from the 17th century to the late 19th century. Consists of more than five million cross-searchable pages sourced from books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, legal documents, court records, monographs, manuscripts, and maps from many different countries covering the history of the slave trade.

Primary source materials focusing on colonial rule, the dispersion of exiles, and international intervention. Initially released as part of Aluka. Now a JSTOR Primary Sources collection.

Searchable database with information on 35,000 slaving voyages. Searchable by variables such as date, nation, origin and destination, etc.

Visual, contextual, and spatial documentation of African heritage sites. Initially released as part of Aluka. Now a JSTOR Primary Sources collection.

Primary source documents include annual reports, laws, and accounts sent to the British Government by colonial administrations in Africa as well as material on Apartheid era South Africa. Series includes 14 collections.

Contains primary source materials published by political parties on both sides of the racial and ideological divide. Part of the Governing Africa series.

Selected papers from the library of Colin Legum, a journalist and scholar. Includes his writings and other material on 20th century African politics. Part of the Governing Africa series.

Blue Books and other archival material from 13 British colonies and protectorates.

Originally known as the 'Government Gazettes', each item contains the colonial laws for the year they were published. The legal records also include property for sale, probate records and bankruptcy notices. This is the first part of the three part series 'Colonial Law in Africa'. These gazettes were published alongside the African Blue Books of Statistics during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Originally known as the 'Government Gazettes', each item contains the colonial laws for the year they were published. These records cover the transfer of Southern Rhodesia from the British South Africa Company to colonial rule. This is the second part of the three part series 'Colonial Law in Africa'.

These gazettes contain copies of the laws and ordinances which were introduced in the years they cover. Each item was originally published as the Government Gazette for a colony and year. Their contents include tenders of property, probate records and insolvency notices. This is the third part of the three part series Colonial Law in Africa.

This collection includes annual reports compiled by the colonial government of Gambia. It covers the period from the creation of the British administered Gambia Colony and Protectorate to independence.

The Gold Coast and British Togoland were managed by the government departments who wrote these progress reports. The statistics for Ghana, but not Togo, are included in Colonial Africa in official statistics, 1821-1953.

The colony of Kenya was managed by the government departments who wrote these A1:F79 reports. They start when Kenya was a part of the East Africa Colony and continue until independence.

This collection contains annual reports compiled by the British colonial government of Nyasaland (modern day Malawi). The documents cover the period from the dissolution of the Central African Protectorate in 1907 to Malawi’s declaration of independence and beyond.

This collection contains annual reports compiled by successive British colonial administrations in Nigeria and Cameroon. The documents cover the period from the establishment of the Colony and Protectorate of Lagos to the creation of an independent Nigerian state.

This collection contains letters and supplementary material compiled by its various West African branches during the period 1700-1850. Material from the collection coalesces around British West Africa, which contains the modern day nation-states of Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Guinea.

The colony of Uganda was managed by the government departments who wrote these progress reports. Some reports start in the 1900’s, but most reports cover from the 1920’s until independence. The statistics for Uganda are included in Colonial Africa in official statistics, 1821-1953. These reports explain why those statistics are at the levels recorded. The contents pages at the front of each report list the departments which existed at that time. Comparing the contents pages reveals how the structure of the colonial government changed over time.

This collection contains annual reports by successive colonial administrations in Rhodesia. It ranges from the period of corporate colonisation in the late 19th century right through to the creation of an independent Zimbabwean republic in 1980.