Research Guides
History : Africa: Encyclopedias
A research guide to primary and secondary sources for African history.
Encyclopedias help you figure out the who, what & where of a topic. Knowing the who, what & where of a topic is the first step in researching a topic and discovering the "how" and "why". Encyclopedias and dictionaries can provide background information and can be used to identify key people, events and dates which can then be used as search terms for finding additional information. Many also provide a jumpstart on your research by listing related readings.
Major encyclopedia: Oxford Research Encyclopedia: African History
Two online encyclopedia collections: Gale Ebooks & Oxford Reference Online
Encyclopedias
- Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society
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- African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations
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- Encyclopedia of Africa
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- Encyclopedia of African colonial conflicts
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- Encyclopedia of African history
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- Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa
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- Encyclopedia of the Yoruba
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- Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450
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- Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa
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- Macmillan encyclopedia of world slavery
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- New encyclopedia of Africa
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- Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
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Historical Dictionaries
- Historical Dictionary of Egypt
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- Historical Dictionary of Lesotho
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- Historical Dictionary of Niger
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- Historical Dictionary of Togo
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- Historical Dictionary of Uganda
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- Historical Dictionary of Zambia
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In-Depth Info: Handbooks & Companions
These books provide a survey of the state of research about a topic or region, historiography or concise overviews.
- Africa in Global History: A Handbook
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- African History: A Very Short Introduction
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- Companion to African History
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- Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea
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- Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction
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- Oxford Encyclopedia of African Historiography: Methods and Sources
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- Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology
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- Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle-Eastern and North African History
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- Oxford Handbook of Modern African History
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- Oxford Handbook of Nigerian History
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- Palgrave Handbook of African Colonial and Postcolonial History
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- Palgrave Handbook of African Traditional Religion
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- Palgrave Handbook of Bondage and Human Rights in Africa and Asia
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