Now in its third edition, this is a bigger (more than 11,000 entries), updated version of the 1989 original covering the enormous kaleidoscope of changing political boundaries, names, and rulers of Africa.
This exhaustive reference allows the user quickly to determine what happened in or to each country and when—changes of names, political systems, rulers, and so on. The term “state” is loosely defined to embrace, throughout the history of Africa, any area of land with recognized borders and evidence of a continuing governmental structure, almost always with a capital city.
Entries give official name of country, dates during which it went by that name, location, capital, alternate names including cross-references to previous and later incarnations, and a list of rulers with dates of power when known. A new table details AIDS in the African states.

John Stewart is the author of non-fiction books on a variety of topics including African states and rulers, Antarctica, the British Empire, Moons of the solar system, Italian movies, Broadway musicals, the British circus, Lord Byron, Jefferson Davis, and Confederate spies. Winner of numerous reference book awards, he lives in West Jefferson, North Carolina.

John Stewart
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 431
Bibliographic Info: chronology, appendices, bibliography, indexes
Copyright Date: 2014 [2006]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9564-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1707-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

An Overview of African Geopolitical History      3

The States and Rulers      5

A Chronology      245

Appendix A: The Modern Countries with Their Historical Constituents      303

Appendix B: The Colonial Powers’ Holdings      308

Appendix C: Dates of Admission into the United Nations      311

Bibliography      313

Index of Places and Persons      317

Index of Rulers      323

“the most in-depth treatment of Africa’s changing political boundaries and heads of state”—Booklist; “Stewart’s organization and his index…make his work indispensable”—Library Journal; “considerable detail…useful”—ARBA; “the most complete record to date…the source to turn to”—Wilson Library Bulletin; “good source for political facts…recommended”—Catholic Library World.