Research Guides: East Africa, c. 1000 CE to the present: Home

General Reference

***NOTE: For resources at Columbia on the countries of the Horn of Africa, see the "The Horn of Africa" research guide

Africa : an encyclopedia of culture and society. 3 vols. Edited by Toyin Falola and Daniel Jean-Jacques. (Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2016)

--See also: E-book

Africa contemporary record: annual survey and documents. (London: Africana Publishing, 1968/69-2002)

Africa south of the Sahara. Annual. (London: Europa, 1971-) Print version

See also: Europa world plus Online

An African biographical dictionary. 2nd ed. Compiled by Norbert C. Brockman. (New York: Grey House Pub., c2006) (667 p.)

African folklore: an encyclopedia. Edited by Philip M. Peek and Kwesi Yankah. New York : Routledge, 2004. (593 p.)
--See also: E-book

African kingdoms : an encyclopedia of empires and civilizations. Edited by Saheed Aderinto. Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2017] (363 p.)

Arabic literature of Africa. Edited by John O. Hunwick and R.S. O'Fahey. (Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1994-) --See especially:

Vol. 2- The writings of central Sudanic Africa. Compiled by John O. Hunwick with the assistance of Razaq Abubakre [et al.]
Vol. 3A. The writings of the Muslim peoples of northeastern Africa. Compiled by R.S. O'Fahey
--See also: Volumes 1-4 online

Area Handbook series [historical]. Prepared by the Library of Congress and sponsored by the US Dept. of the Army. (Washington)

For the handbook of a country, search in CLIO: use country name and "area handbook".
For available online handbooks on Africa, see section on US Dept. of the Army in "US Organizations on Africa," compiled by Columbia University Libraries.

A companion to the anthropology of Africa. E-book. Edited by Roy Richard Grinker, Stephen C. Lubkemann, Christopher B. Steiner, and Euclides Gonalves. Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell, [2019]
--See also: Print copy in African Studies Reading Room

Dictionary of African biography. 6 vols. Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., editors in chief. (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2012)

Dictionary of African Christian biography. (Online). (Overseas Ministries Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut)

Encyclopedia of Africa. 2 vols. Edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010)

Encyclopedia of African history. 3 v. Ed. by Kevin Shillington. (New York : Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005)
--See also: E-book

Encyclopedia of Islam. -- Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2004- Requires a special font.

Falola, Toyin. Key events in African history : a reference guide. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2002.

The handbook of civil society in Africa. Edited by Ebenezer Obadare. New York : Springer, [2014]
--See also: E-Book

Historical Dictionary series. Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ ; Lanham, MD)

---For a dictionary of one country, search in CLIO, with "All fields" in "Advanced Search", and use [current name of country] and "historical dictionary".

The A to Z of pre-colonial Africa. By Robert O. Collins. (2010).
Historical dictionary of civil wars in Africa. 2nd ed. By Guy Arnold. (2008)
Historical dictionary of pre-colonial Africa. By Robert O. Collins. (2001)
Historical dictionary of women in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2nd ed. By Kathleen E. Sheldon. (2016) --See also: E-book

Islam in Africa (1974-2024). Compiled by Paul Schrijver and updated by ASCL Library. (Leiden, The Netherlands: Afrikastudiecentrum = African Studies Centre, University of Leiden, 2018--) --via AfricaBib.Org

Lagarde, François. Mémorialistes et témoins rwandais, 1994-2013 : bibliographie critique. (Paris : Harmattan, c2013)

New encyclopedia of Africa, 5 v. Editor in chief, John Middleton; editor, Joseph C. Miller. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, c2008.
--See also: E-book

Oxford Bibliographies Online (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press)

--Select "African Studies" and see especially:
African Christianity. By Thomas Spear.
Archaeology of Eastern Africa. By Matthew Davies.
Bantu expansion. By Kathryn M. de Luna.
Burundi. By Patricia Daley.
Comoro Islands. By Iain Walker.
Genocide in Rwanda. By Susan Thomson.
Gikuyu (Kikuyu) People of Kenya. By Yvan Droz.
The Great Lakes States of Eastern Africa. By Rhiannon Stephens.
Indian Ocean and Middle Eastern Slave Trades. By George M. La Rue.
Indian Ocean trade. By Edward A. Alpers.
Kenya. By Thomas Spear and Godfrey Muriuki.
The Massai and Maa-Speaking Peoples of East Africa. By Paul Spencer.
Madagascar. By Jane Hooper.
Mau Mau. By Myles Osborne.
Nairobi. By Neil Carrier.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. By Evan Mwangi.
Rwanda. By Noel Twagiramungu.
The Seychelles. By Richard Allen.
Swahili City-States of the East African Coast. By Thomas Spear.
Swahili Language and Literature. By Ann Biersteker and Alena Rettová.
Tanzania. By Gregory H. Maddox.
Uganda. By Shane Doyle and Aiden Stonehouse.

The Oxford encyclopedia of African historiography : methods and sources. Thomas Spear, editor in chief. (New York : Oxford University Press, 2019)
--See also: E-book

The Oxford encyclopedia of African thought. Editors in chief, F. Abiola Irele and Biodun Jeyifo. 2 vols. New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.

The Oxford handbook of African archaeology. Edited by Peter Mitchell and Paul Lane. ( New York: Oxford University Press, 2013)
--See also: E-book

The Oxford handbook of modern African history. Edited by John Parker and Richard Reid. New York : Oxford University Press, 2013.
--See also: E-Book

Oxford research encyclopedias--African history Online. (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press)

Scholarly essays, with extensive bibliographic references, on a wide variety of topics in the field...such as:
African rinderpest panzootic, 1888-1897. By Thaddeus Sunseri.
African women in colonial settler towns of East and Southern Africa. By Diana Jeater.
Africans in the Indian Ocean World. By Richard B. Allen.
Archaeology and heritage of slavery in Eastern Africa. By Lydia Wilson Marshall.
Archaeology of the caves along the East African coast. By Ceri Shipton and Alison Crowther.
Archaeology of the Swahili world. By Stephanie Wynne-Jones.
Archives and Historical Sources for Tanzania. By Paul Bjerk.
The Bantu expansion. By Koen Bostoen.
Bibi Titi Mohamed. By Chambi Chachage and Jacqueline Mgumia.
Christianity and abolition in Africa. By Paul Kollman.
Community-based approaches to African history. By Peter R. Schmidt and Kathryn Weedman Arthur.
Customary law in colonial East Africa. By Harald Sippel.
Dar es Salaam. By Eric Burton.
The Dar es Salaam School of African History. By Gregory H. Maddox.
Early African pasts: sources, interpretations, and meanings. By David Schoenbrun.
East African Revival. By Emma Wild-Wood.
Farming and herding in Eastern Africa: archaeological and historical perspectives. By Freda Nkirote M'Mbogori.
Female slavery in East and Southeast Africa. By Benigna Zimba.
Financing the Indian Ocean Slave Trade. By Hollian Wint.
Forms of slavery in the Great Lakes states (East Africa). By Michael W. Tuck.
Grace Ogot. By J. Roger Kurtz.
Groundnut scheme and colonial development in Tanganyika. By Matteo Rizzo.
Heritage and the use of the past in East Africa. By John Giblin.
History and politics of the Kenya Archives. By Riley Linebaugh.
History of Christian missions to Africa. By Norman Etherington.
The history of Eastern African foragers. By Mary E. Prendergast.
History of higher education in Kenya. By Michael Mwenda Kithinji.
The history of Islam in East Africa. By Felicitas Becker.
History of the Comoro Islands. By Iain Walker.
History of the Mount Kilimanjaro area. By Matthew V. Bender.
History of the Seychelles. By Richard B. Allen.
History of Zanzibar to 1890. By Abdul Sheriff.
History, politics, and culture in central Tanzania. By Philip Gooding.
History, politics, and culture in the highlands of northeastern Tanzania. By N. Thomas Håkansson.
The Indian diaspora in Tanzania. By Ned Bertz.
The Indian Ocean and Africa. By Edward Alpers.
Islam in Kenya. By Hassan Juma Ndzovu.
Julius Nyerere: Tanzanian president, statesman, and intellectual. By Leander Schneider.
Kilwa and its environs. By Elgidius B. Ichumbaki and Neema C. Munisi.
Karamoja historical perspective. By Mustafa Mirzeler.
Labor history of East Africa. By Bill Freund.
Lady Irene Namaganda. By Nakanyike B. Musisi.
Lakwena, Alice. By Heike Behrend.
Madagascar (Modern). By Jane Hooper.
The Maji-Maji War, 1905-1907. By Thaddeus Sunseri.
Mombasa. By Justin Willis.
Music in East Africa. By Alex Perullo.
The Nile Waters issue. By Terje Tvedt.
The politics of archives in Uganda. By Derek R. Peterson.
Popular politics in East Africa from precolonial to postcolonial times. By James R. Brennan.
Routes to emancipation in East Africa. By Felicitas Becker and Michelle Liebst.
Slavery and forced labor in Madagascar. By Gwyn R. Campbell.
Slavery and its legacy in the Comoro Islands. By Ibouroi Ali Tabibou.
Slavery and post-slavery in the Indian Ocean world. By Alessandro Stanziani.
Slavery in East Central Africa. By Eugénia Rodrigues.
19th century Slave trade in Eastern Africa. By Stephen J. Rockel.
Slave trade and urban slavery on the Swahili coast from medieval times to abolition. By Thomas Vernet-Habasque.
Slave trade in Indian Ocean Africa. By Rafael Thiebaut.
Slave trade to and from Madagascar. By Jane Hooper.
Swahili in the African and Indian Ocean worlds to c1500. By Abdul Sheriff.
Tanganyika Rifles Mutiny. By Timothy Parsons.
Tippu Tip in the late 19th century East and Central Africa. By Stuart Laing.
Transport in Tanzania. By Katie Valliere Streit.
Uganda-Tanzania War. By Charles Thomas.
Ujamaa. By Michael Jennings.
Uwilingiyimana, Agathe. By Jennie Burnet.
Urban development and the East African Railways. By Herman O. Kiriama.
Urbanization in East Africa, circa 900-2010 CE. By Andrew Burton.
Wangari Muta Maathai. By Kabiru Kinyanjui.
Water management in East Africa. By Matthew V. Bender.
Women, gender, and sexuality in East Africa. By Miroslava Prazak.
Women in Burundi. By Marie Saiget.
Women in Comoros. By Sophie Blanchy.
Women in Kenya. By Sacha Hepburn.
Women in Madagascar. By Faranirina V. Rajaonah.
Women in Rwanda. By Sarah E. Watkins, Erin Jessee and Emma Brunton.
Women in Seychelles. By Penda Choppy.
Women in Tanzania. By Marjorie Mbilinyi.
Women in Uganda. By Alicia C. Decker.
Women in Ugandan politics and history: collective biography. By Aili Mary Tripp.
The Zanzibar Revolution and its aftermath. By G. Thomas Burgess.

Rake, Alan. African leaders: guiding the new millennium. (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2001)

The Routledge companion to Christianity In Africa. Edited by Elias Kifon Bongmba. New York : Routledge, [2016]
--See also: E-book

Rwandan genocide : the essential reference guide. Edited by Alexis Herr. (Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2018])
--See also: E-book

Westley, David. A bibliography of Swahili language and linguistics. Madison: African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, c2001.

World Bibliographical Series. Published by Clio Press in Oxford, England and Santa Barbara, CA: 1979-1999.

For a country bibliography, search in CLIO and use [name of country] and "world bibliographical".

World biographical information system--African Biographical Archive [Online] [Munich] : K. G. Saur, 2004-2010.

Yakan, Mohamad Z. Almanac of African peoples & nations. (New Brunswick, NJ : Transaction, c1999)
--See also: E-book

Library Catalogs

CLIO
(All CU libraries EXCEPT Teachers College)

Educat (Teachers College)

Borrow Direct (Fast interlibrary book loan)

Interlibrary Loan

WorldCat

Indexes: Articles, Book Chapters, Books

Africa-Wide Information
-- Combine with: Anthropology Plus ; Historical Abstracts ; International Political Science Abstracts ; Social Sciences Full Text; and, Book Review Digest Plus

PAIS Index
-- Combine with Other databases: such as:: Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

CU Law Library -- Legal Research Guides (Select Foreign, International, or United Nations)

Atlases and Maps

Africa: atlas of our changing environment. (Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP, 2008).

Africa's lakes: atlas of our changing environment.. (Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Progam--UNEP, 2006). via Internet Archive

Africa mountains atlas. (Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP, 2014).

Agence française de développement. Atlas of Africa: new perspectives on the continent. E-book. [S.l.] : Routledge, 2021.
--See also: French version in print

Atlas du continent africain. (Paris: Jeune Afrique & Les Editions du Jaguar, 1993).

Atlas du Rwanda. Direction générale et éditoriale, Danielle Ben Yahmed, Nicole Houstin. (Paris : Jaguar, 2013)

Atlas of Africa: energy resources. (Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP, 2017)
--See also: E-book

Atlas of Uganda. 2nd ed. [Entebbe]: Department of Lands and Surveys,1967.

Atlasi ya lugha za Tanzania / Mradi wa lugha za Tanzania. (Dar es Salaam : Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, 2009)

Betz, Richard L. The mapping of Africa: a cartobibliography of printed maps of the African continent to 1700. ([Utrecht], The Netherlands: Hes & de Graaf Publishers, c2007),

Columbia University Libraries: Geospatial Data Catalog (Research Data Services)

Conservation atlas of tropical forests: Africa. (New York; London: Simon & Schuster, 1992).

Eastern Africa atlas of coastal resources. Vol. 1. Kenya. (Nairobi, Kenya : United Nations Environment Programme ; [Brussels] : Belgian Administration for Development Cooperation, c1998).

Eastern Africa atlas of coastal resources. Vol. 2. Tanzania. (Nairobi, Kenya : United Nations Environment Programme ; [Brussels] : Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Zanzibar: United Republic of Tanzania, Institute of Marine Sciences; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: University of Dar es Salaam, c2001).

Environmental Systems Research Institute. The Sub-Saharan Africa map book. (Redlands, California : Esri Press, [2014])

Freeman-Grenville, G.S.P. The new atlas of African history. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991).

Griffiths, I.L. An atlas of African affairs. 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 1994)
See also: Lehman Reference copy.

Historical atlas of Africa. Ed. by J.F. Ade Ajayi et al. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
See also: Butler Reference copy

Kampala A to Z : a complete guide. (Kampala : Tourguide Publications, 2010).

Kenya : atlas of our changing environment. (Nairobi ; Sioux Falls, S.D. : United Nations Environment Programme, 2009).

Kenya wetlands atlas. (Nairobi : Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, 2012).

Kwamena-Poh, Michael et al. African history in maps. (London; New York: Longman, 1982).

Lake Victoria Basin: atlas of our changing environment. E-book. (Arendal, Norway: GRID-Arendal, 2017).

Mapping Specialists, Inc. Africa on file. 2 vols. (New York: Facts on File, 1995).

Maps and Power in Modern African History. (Columbia University Libraries)

Maps of Africa on the Internet. (Columbia University Libraries)

National atlas of Kenya. 5th ed. Nairobi : Survey of Kenya, Kenya Government, 2003.

Perry Castañeda Library, University of Texas at Austin: Maps of Africa (Austin, Texas)

SEDAC--Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center -- Map Gallery
(Center for International Earth Science Information Network, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York)
-- See also: Data sets

Socio-economic atlas of Kenya : depicting the national population census by county and sub-location. Compiled by Urs Wiesmann, Boniface Kiteme, and Zachary Mwangi. Nanyuki, Kenya : Kenya National Bureau of Statistics ; Bern, Switzerland : Centre for Development and Environment, 2014.

Uganda : atlas of our changing environment. Online. Kampala, Uganda : National Environmental Management Authority, c2009.

Uganda wetlands atlas. 2 vols. Kampala : Ministry of Water and Environment, [2015]-

Zanzibar. Department of Urban and Rural Planning. Ng'ambo atlas : historic urban landscape of Zanzibar Town's "other side". ([Volendam], the Netherlands : LM Publishers, [2019]).