Egyptian Cabinet’s IDSC Launches Encyclopedia on General History of Africa

 

General history of Africa, I:
Methodology and African prehistory

In a press conference​​ held on Thursday, Egyptian Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), chaired by Eng. Ziad Abdel Tawab, launched a new encyclopedia dubbed as “the General History of Africa: Abridged Edition”.  The encyclopedia was compiled in collaboration with the Egyptian National Library and Archives, the National Center for Translation at the IDSC’s headquarters
The newly-minted encyclopedia neutrally tackles the history and cultures of African peoples, highlighting their contributions past and present to the history of humanity at large as well as the latest developments in African systems of governance.

The press conference was attended by a wide range of public figures, members of Parliament, experts, academics and researchers. Among the attendees were assistant secretary of State for African Affairs, Parliament’s chairperson of the African Affairs Committee, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Culture, director of the National Library and Archives, and director of the National Center for Translation in addition to representatives from the concerned state institutions.

the IDSC’s headquarters

The encyclopedia is comprised of four main volumes, the first of which includes thirty six chapters. It is prefaced with the methodology used in historiography, the select bibliography, a list of African cultures, the peoples and their groupings, African languages, the history and religion of some African nations since antiquity, passing through Christianity and the introduction of Islam up till the 11th century.
 
The second volume consists of twenty nine chapters dealing with the history of Africa since the 12^th century till the late 19th century when kingdoms emerged in various parts of Africa prior to the scourge of European imperialism across Africa. During this period, Africa came into contact with the Western world, ushering in an era of African dependency and exploitation of African manpower in what is known as the era of the transatlantic slave trade, followed by the unfortunate western colonial presence on African land and controlling its resources.

The third volume consists of 19 chapters dealing with the history of Africa in the colonial era of the 19^th century when western expansionism and exploitation in Africa reached its height, and the dismemberment of Africa, by the help of the European military machine, could break the modest African military resistance that existed besides other forms of resistance.

The final volume consists of thirty one chapters dealing with the history of Africa since the early 20th century till the end of the Second World War. This is arguably the period of exploitation, wars and ideologies, in which two major world wars occurred, African national liberation movements emerged, the ideologies of capitalist monopoly and exploitation evolved. Those materialistic ideologies tended to cover the huge expenses of their war factories by forcing Africans to extreme subservience. This was such a great challenge that Africans faced across the continent with a firmer and more liberal response. As a result, the contagious spirit of fighting for freedom prevailed and culminated in the full independence of Africa.
 
The four-volume encyclopedia is abridged in 3236 out of 7216 pages of the original eight-volume encyclopedia, which means that Arab readership has about 45% of the original encyclopedia. The committee that compiled the encyclopedia has been particularly committed to objectivity in the selection of the chapters presented that would accurately reflect on Africa and its peoples. Towards the end, the encyclopedia concludes that both the historical trajectory and destiny of Africa have always shared one unified vision.

It is worth pointing out that the original encyclopedia of the "General History of Africa" ​​first appeared in 1981 and published by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in eight volumes. Each volume contains nearly thirty chapters and is written by African historians who represent all five regions of the continent fairly.

The eight volumes were published in English, French and Arabic, and were translated into African languages ​​such as Swahili, Hausa, Baiol, Yoruba and Lingala. The encyclopedia’s approach is characterized by the combination of several scientific disciplines, the diversity of theoretical views and the wide range of historical sources. The widely-acclaimed encyclopedia has relevantly enriched researchers with a great number of breakthrough researches, besides being an invaluable addition to the field of African studies. In fact, it has become one of the primary sources of reference on Africa’s cultural heritage, historiography and its contributions to human civilization, as well as a comprehensive record of African lifestyle from antiquity till its last issue in the 1990s.  

Edited by Mohamed Ibn Arabi