Africa, dark only because of our ignorance of it, comes alive through the eyes and voices of its people in this classic work. First published more than two decades ago and now thoroughly revised and updated, the book lets Africans speak for themselves through autobiography, traditional and modern literature, historical and contemporary documents, letters and diaries.

Volume 1 begins with the African past, focusing on the ancient kingdoms of both East and West Africa and continues through the coming of the Europeans and the African colonial experience, concluding with the rise of nationalism in which Africans struggle to regain their freedom from the Europeans.