A selection of African historical facts and commentary

A Night of Killing: The Story of John Chilembwe

Thumbnail image for A Night of Killing: The Story of John Chilembwe December 28, 2010
This entry is part 2 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareThe evening of the 23rd of January 1915 settled on the Shiré Highlands of the Nyasaland Protectorate without obvious mishap or portent. January, traditionally the wettest month of the year, could on occasions be drenched by upwards of 10 inches of rainfall, however, on this particular evening, the sky was sheer, the moon high and [...]

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The Native and Prehistory of Malawi

Thumbnail image for The Native and Prehistory of Malawi December 15, 2010
This entry is part 1 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareOne of the preliminary, and sometimes most unexpected lessons learned by the lay student of Southern African is the fact that the signature ‘Negro’ races of the region are not strictly indigenous. The primogenitors of most, in fact, arrived in the region in incremental waves  over many centuries, beginning in the first millennium, in a [...]

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Ian Smith, Prime Minister Rhodesia 1964-1979

Thumbnail image for Ian Smith, Prime Minister Rhodesia 1964-1979 November 14, 2010

ShareIn September 2002 I had a very interesting experience. At the time Rachel and I were living in Harare and were owners of a small guest house in Avondale. On one particular evening I fell into conversation over a few beers with a guest by the name of Anthony Oberdorfer. The discussion quickly turned to [...]

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Cecil John Rhodes the Empire Builder and Capitalist

July 17, 2010

Share Rhodes’ huge territorial ambitions Africa in the 19th century was filled with opportunity, and no less filled with opportunists. The potential to make or break were equally spectacular, and nowhere more so than in South Africa. The great diamond discoveries of Kimberley in 1866 followed by the Witwatersrand Gold Rush of 1886 both helped [...]

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Jan Christian Smuts, the difficult legacy of a world statesman

July 16, 2010

ShareOne of Africa’s greatest statesmen of the Imperial era, and some would say beyond, Jan Christian Smuts was a gargantuan figure in the Abe Lincoln mould. He was essentially a simple and bucolic man who was burdened with greatness but who was able to embrace that greatness in a radically changing world. Boer guerrilla leader, two [...]

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The life of Frederick Courtney Selous

July 16, 2010

ShareFrederick Courtney Selous was one of the more interesting characters of Imperial Africa and one of the great white sons of Africa. Probably the most potent illustration of how Selous impacted the popular British consciousness at the time is the fact that he is the recognised prototype of Ryder Haggard’s popular character Allan Quartermaine of [...]

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