Skip to content
M

Method

Source Mode

African history has been distorted in two directions: erased by people who wanted it to be empty, and inflated by people who wanted it to answer that erasure. This library takes a third path. Every substantial section carries a rating that tells you how strongly it is supported, so you can tell the difference between an established fact, a live academic debate, a tradition carried orally, and a claim that circulates widely but is rejected by specialists.

Strong scholarly evidence

Supported by archaeology, written records and peer-reviewed research with broad agreement among historians.

Evidence incomplete or debated

The broad outline is accepted but dates, numbers or details are actively argued by specialists.

Oral tradition

Transmitted through griots, elders and community memory. A serious historical source, recorded and read on its own terms.

Contested interpretation

Several incompatible readings exist. We present the disagreement rather than resolving it for you.

Where this comes from

The backbone is UNESCO's eight-volume General History of Africa, written largely by African scholars, alongside African universities, archaeological reporting, genetics literature, oral-tradition collections held by griots and community historians, and African Union documents for the present and future. Oral tradition is treated as evidence — with its own strengths and limits — not as decoration.

The sources

109 catalogued works, institutions and datasets — 47 of them African-published. Every source keeps its evidence rating, and machine-readable ones are re-checked on the cadence shown.

National institutions

National figures come from national institutions first. The library lists 178 confirmed official bodies across 53 African countries — statistical offices, central banks, archives, libraries, electoral commissions, museums, heritage authorities and flagship universities. Only institutions whose official address has been checked and found live are listed; nothing is guessed. Statistical offices are confirmed against the UN directory of national statistical offices.

Algeria

4 institutions

Angola

4 institutions

Benin

3 institutions

Botswana

3 institutions

Burkina Faso

3 institutions

Burundi

3 institutions

Cabo Verde

3 institutions

Cameroon

3 institutions

Central African Republic

2 institutions

Chad

2 institutions

Comoros

2 institutions

Congo (Republic)

3 institutions

Democratic Republic of the Congo

4 institutions

Côte d'Ivoire

3 institutions

Djibouti

2 institutions

Egypt

5 institutions

Equatorial Guinea

1 institution

Eswatini

2 institutions

Ethiopia

3 institutions

Gabon

2 institutions

The Gambia

4 institutions

Ghana

6 institutions

Guinea

2 institutions

Guinea-Bissau

2 institutions

Kenya

5 institutions

Lesotho

3 institutions

Liberia

4 institutions

Libya

3 institutions

Madagascar

2 institutions

Malawi

4 institutions

Mali

3 institutions

Mauritania

2 institutions

Mauritius

3 institutions

Morocco

5 institutions

Mozambique

3 institutions

Namibia

5 institutions

Niger

3 institutions

Nigeria

6 institutions

Rwanda

4 institutions

São Tomé and Príncipe

2 institutions

Senegal

4 institutions

Seychelles

3 institutions

Sierra Leone

3 institutions

Somalia

3 institutions

South Africa

7 institutions

South Sudan

3 institutions

Sudan

2 institutions

Tanzania

5 institutions

Togo

3 institutions

Tunisia

5 institutions

Uganda

4 institutions

Zambia

4 institutions

Zimbabwe

4 institutions

Attribution and rights

Sources are cited, not copied. Where a source is paywalled or restrictively licensed the library records the citation and links out rather than reproducing the text. Statistical series carry the publishing institution, the indicator and the release date. Oral tradition credits the community and, where known, the holder of the account. When a newer figure arrives, the earlier one is kept with its own date instead of being erased — history stays historical.

Found something wrong?

This is a living book. Corrections from historians, linguists, elders and community historians are the mechanism by which it improves — and every correction should come with the evidence behind it.