Africa's Discovery of Europe 1450-1850

Rating:
Summary: Through African Eyes
Review: David Northrup provides the reader with a unique experience in AFRICA'S DISCOVERY OF EUROPE, 1450-1850. Using direct and indirect quotations from 16th-19th century Africans whenever possible, he recreates four centuries of African reactions to Europe and Europeans. Emphasizing the diversity of African experiences and opinions, he documents their interactions with and opinions of European traders, priests, and rulers. He examines the impact on Africa of European products, technology, and religion (as well as the slave trade), always focusing on the actions and choices of specific African groups and individuals. Individual Africans appear vividly on his pages, sometimes in a single sentence, sometimes in more detail: rulers and slaves, traders and slavers, Christian converts and Eurafricans, Africans who visited Europe and those who spent a lifetime there. Amply footnoted, the slender (200-page) volume is very readable and does not overwhelm the general reader with masses of detail or a pedantic tone. Challenging not only the dominant Eurocentric viewpoint of most American books on Africa but also the monotone view of Africans as passive victims of European domination, Northrup's approach is refreshing. He attempts not a definitive account but one that provokes speculation and invites further research, while sharing sources that personalize these critical centuries of African history. A thoroughly enjoyable book.

Rating:
Summary: Through African Eyes
Review: David Northrup provides the reader with a unique experience in AFRICA'S DISCOVERY OF EUROPE, 1450-1850. Using direct and indirect quotations from 16th-19th century Africans whenever possible, he recreates four centuries of African reactions to Europe and Europeans. Emphasizing the diversity of African experiences and opinions, he documents their interactions with and opinions of European traders, priests, and rulers. He examines the impact on Africa of European products, technology, and religion (as well as the slave trade), always focusing on the actions and choices of specific African groups and individuals. Individual Africans appear vividly on his pages, sometimes in a single sentence, sometimes in more detail: rulers and slaves, traders and slavers, Christian converts and Eurafricans, Africans who visited Europe and those who spent a lifetime there. Amply footnoted, the slender (200-page) volume is very readable and does not overwhelm the general reader with masses of detail or a pedantic tone. Challenging not only the dominant Eurocentric viewpoint of most American books on Africa but also the monotone view of Africans as passive victims of European domination, Northrup's approach is refreshing. He attempts not a definitive account but one that provokes speculation and invites further research, while sharing sources that personalize these critical centuries of African history. A thoroughly enjoyable book.