A THOUSAND YEARS OF WEST AFRICA HISTORY

Since the end of the Second World War, we have made significant progress in our universities and institutions of higher learning towards a new appraisal of the African past. This development has been dominated by two main ideas. The first is the rejection of the old view which made history synonymous with the study of written documents only and which took the absence of written documents to mean the absence of events worthy of historical study. From this has resulted the reinstatement of non-written sources, particularly oral traditions of African peoples, as valid material for historical research. The second is the insistence that African history must be the history of African peoples and not merely the activities of their invaders from Europe and Asia. From this too it follows that, even in studies of the European contact with Africa where European archival material remains the major source, there should be a focus on the role played by Africans themselves in the great events that have shaped their continent.