Bibliograph

A history of West Central Africa to 1850, John K. Thornton

Type

Label

A history of West Central Africa to 1850, John K. Thornton

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Illustrations

maps

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

A history of West Central Africa to 1850

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1120787134

Responsibility statement

John K. Thornton

Series statement

New approaches to African history, 15

Summary

"For purposes of this study, I am defining West Central Africa largely by the watershed of the Congo River. If the region has a hydrographic center, it is the Lunda Plateau in eastern Angola, a relatively flat region at roughly 1000 meters elevation, origin of many of the largest effluents of the Congo. This highland continues eastward until it reaches the great range of mountains that define the Rift Valley, and separate it from the Nile system. Because human geography is not always identical to natural geography, there are additions to this defined space. An important addition is the rivers that drain from the low mountains that define the western end of the Congo watershed that flow westward into the Atlantic Ocean which are included in the study because many political units had borders that straddled the two, like the kingdoms of Ndongo and Kasanje which were regularly engaged on both sides of the Kwango watershed, or the Luyana Kingdom which lay squarely in the Zambezi River watershed but was in substantial communication with the Lunda Empire. I have also left out the river systems that flow southward into the Congo from the Central African Republic, and the great northern bend of the Congo that they nourish because there was very little engagement by areas lying south of that with them or that is identified in the present historiography"--, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

The Development of States in West Central African to 1540 -- The Struggle for Ambundu and the Founding of Angola -- Ndongo and Portugal at War -- Queen Njinga's Struggle for Ndongo -- The Thirty Years' War Comes to Central Africa -- The Emergence of Lunda -- The Weight of Lunda on the West -- Culmination: Lunda, Luba and the Ovimbundu

resource.variantTitle

History of West Central Africa to one thousand eight hundred fifty

Classification