The history of tropical Africa, whose sources are largely unwritten even for periods quite near in time to our own and whose study has been undertaken systematically only in late years, bears the marks of its necessarily provisional character. But in fact any history of any area or any people, however rich in primary and secondary material, shares this character. In any study of the past, whether near in time or remote, there are always new ways of looking at the material and new evidence to be adduced. History can never be more than a selection, both deliberate and fortuitous, of the factors in a situation. ‘Ultimate history’, which would need no addition, correction, or modification, and which to Acton seemed to lie only just beyond the reach of his generation, is an elusive, unattainable – though always attractive — goal.
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