Combining a chronological and thematic approach, this course will examine select themes of African history from the 16th Century to the present. The first four weeks of the semester will be devoted to pre-colonial Africa. The rest of the semester will focus on the colonial and post-colonial periods. Among the topics that the course will explore are: Images of Africa in Western scholarship; pre-colonial social and political organization; economic production and pre-colonial trade. Colonialism was a brief but very intensive interlude in the long history of Africa. Themes in this section include: imperialism and the scramble for colonies; White settler colonies and colonial economies; Africa and the two World Wars; the missionary project, formal education and socio-cultural changes; urbanization; women, gender and colonialism; apartheid, liberation struggles and decolonization. Rather than the euphoria that followed the attainment of independence, the last segment of the course will focus on some of the crises confronting the continent including civil war conflicts and child soldiers; and the HIV/Aids crisis. Grading will be based on section attendance and participation (15%), 2 map quizzes (5%) Midterm (30%), one research paper (20%), and a final examination (30%).