It's a Continent: Unravelling Africa's history one country at a time

by Astrid Madimba, Chinny Ukata

Why is Africa still perceived as a country when there are around 2,000 languages spoken on the continent alone?

IT'S A CONTINENT aims to counter the misconception that Africa is a country by breaking down this vast, beautiful and complex continent into regions and countries. Each of the 54 African countries has a unique history and culture, and this book highlights the key historical moments that have shaped each nation and contributed to its global position, as well as within the African continent.

Each chapter (focusing on a different country) of the book brings to light stories and African figures that have been marginalised in mainstream education, in a humorous and easily-digestible format, breaking down facts and events that you wouldn't believe happened.

Why is the Liberian flag so similar to the Stars and Stripes of the United States? Have you heard about Thomas Sankara's quest for Burkina Faso's self-sufficiency? African soldiers' contribution to World War II?

There are many aspects of history that mainstream education doesn't address, and this book allows the reader to understand the consequences of historical colonial activities within the African Continent, and how many African countries continue to re-build. The majority of countries within the continent are young, not just in population but in age, as many only gained independence in the 20th Century. IT'S A CONTINENT is the bold and brilliant book for readers who want to gain an understanding of things you were never taught in school.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Africa, Politics, Audiobook, Social, Book Club

355 pages, Hardcover

Published May 26, 2022

Reviews

[Jacob Vollebergh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the chapters are interesting and I learned a lot about the stories being told, they only tell a story about one person or a single happening in the country. The chapters are as a result quite short and straight to the point. The idea behind the book is very nice, that's why I bought it. It gives you a comprehensive and short story about each country in Africa and you get to know countries a little better that are often left in the background of world politics and live in the shadows of countries like South Africa, Kenya and Egypt.
This book however is littered with the opinions of the writers themselves by giving sarcastic comments in the middle of chapters and other remarks. You get the feeling that they have an agenda.
It is very victim-opressor based and most of the stories are about colonial times or post-colonial times, I would like to have seen more information about pre-colonial times.
There are also many spelling and sentencing mistakes throughout the book which were sometimes annoying
As the book stand however, it's a good start in learning a little bit about every country and serves well for further investigation into a country that you found interesting. So I give them thumbs up for that

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have you ever read a history book punctuated with the sarcastic comments of an angry teenager? Well I feel like I just did and that was extremely painful.

The promise of the book - giving you insights on a significant point in history/important historic figure of each African country - peters out as soon as you realize that in 9 countries out of them, the approach is : "Let's take one of the thing colonising nations did in this country and blame them for every single thing that's gone wrong ever since".

And don't get me wrong, the vicious effects of colonisation are at the base of a lot of problems encountered by these still young nations. But anyone who knows the topic also knows that colonialism is not the only pain in the equation. Putting every blame on the white male might seem very en vogue, but it's also very lazy and one of those arguments that leaves no chance to self-questioning and looking forward.

The same book by someone knowledgeable - or just someone who's set foot in Africa at least once in their life - would be awesome.

[Bodie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this book with middling expectations, but still excited for an interesting learning experience.

First of all, the positives; I loved the structure of this book! I personally felt the podcast format of going from one country to another, and one region to the next, translated well into a non-fiction book. Also, the stories that the authors chose to tell were, more often than not, pretty interesting and definitely new information to me personally (which only confirms the need for a book like this!).
Sadly, that's where the positive feedback ends for me.
This book was absolutely full of typos, which I personally found very distracting. At times there were repeated sentences, as well as misspellings (which was especially confusing when a word was presented only twice, each time spelt differently - which one is correct?!), and most frustratingly, *mis-translations* (specifically between French and English). This links in to an unfortunate theme in this book, which is the lack of nuance presented by the authors on Francophone ex-colonies, 'le francophonie', and decolonisation within the French empire... The decision to portray Mayotte remaining a DOM of France as an entirely negative event, indicative of self hatred on the part of the Mayottais, was ahistoric at best, and infantilising at worst.
I wouldn't call myself an expert on the (de)colonisation of Francophone Africa by ANY means. I did a degree in French Studies, with a focus on the French language and French-Caribbean literature and history. However, there are some undeniable similarities in the treatment of Frances' Caribbean and African colonies (namely; terrible and brutal oppression), and I found that the authors completely failed to accurately portray the nuances of the state of Francophone countries, ex-colonies and peoples, both those who chose to become independent, and those who opted to remain as DOMs, or maintain an affiliation with Metropolitan France.
Other than this main gripe, I have several other issues with the book;
- The writing style sucked. It read like an essay written by a first-year undergrad student, interspersed with adolescent commentary that I think was supposed to come off as witty, but fell flat.
- Inconsistent sourcing.
- The analysis was shallow, in my opinion. The book uses various lenses of analysis - Feminist, Marxist, Post-Colonial - and most of the time, these analyses were unfortunately one-dimensional and bland. The only way I can describe it is like 'pop-history' or 'pop-academia'.
- A touch of whitewashing of African history. Yayyyyy.
-Again; typos, mistranslations, misspellings... did they not have an editor?!!

Overall the book kinda sucked. It had potential, and I was super disappointed to find shallow, whitewashed, unimaginative and utterly uninteresting mini-essays for chapters, written in the style of a teenager.

[Esme Kemp · Rating 4 out of 5]

THINGS IVE LEARNT
- Gaddafi was a man of the peeps before he became a raving despot
- France is still colonising one of four of the Comoran islands and using it for military intelligence
- There are STILL TWO European cities inside Morocco at this very moment!!!
- Russia tried to colonise parts of Africa and lowkey failed miserably
- Taytu and Menelik II are absolute couple goals
- Dr Wangari was a BADGYAL
- Queen Nzinga of Angola was a feminist warrior baddass and far superior to her brother
- The Germans practiced their concentration camps in Namibia first before WWII
- Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso fame made men go to market, buy the ingredients and cook on Women’s Day so they would understand what life was like for women
- Omg RIP Amilcar Cabral - what a guy. Wonder what would have happened to Africa had the Europeans not assassinated anyone with revolutionary and innovative ideas x
- About the richest man in the world Mansa Musa who single-handedly crashed the value of gold by giving it out too liberally (goals) jeff bezos could never

[Lumumba Mthembu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out Mobutu and Gaddafi’s legacies are not as straightforwardly negative as they may appear. The balanced reportage of their deeds — and those of other despots — respects the intelligence of the reader by not guiding them to any pre-conceived conclusion.

For clarification on artificial borders, the legitimacy of democracy, and ethnicities made up by colonisers, consult Madimba and Ukata’s history book for non-historians. It’s accessible tone belies the thoroughness of its research. By no means is it a comprehensive summary of Africa’s 54 states. You are encouraged to use it as a springboard for your own continued interest.

[Kazik Michalik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jak ktoś rzeczywiście myśli że Afryka to państwo (?) albo że kolonializm był dobry (??) i do tego jeszcze lubi sarkastyczny nastoletni pseudohumor to pewnie mu się spodoba. Najgorsza książka roku a jest dopiero marzec. Blurb na okładce opowiada że nie, słuchajcie, są różne państwa w Afryce musisz różnych spróbować bo rużne sa, ale każdy rozdzialik (poza może trzema) to dokładnie ta sama historia o tym że kolonializm bad (no wiem) a potem była niepodległość zamach stanu dyktatura – czyli wsm właśnie wychodzi na to, że wszędzie było to samo i trudno mówić o jakiejś różnorodności kultur, bo to nie jest książka o kulturze w ogóle, tylko wyłącznie o historii kolonialnej i postkolonialnej. Miejscami dość słabo przetłumaczona też. Nie daję jednej gwiazdki bo czegośtam się jednak dowiedziałem, ale jakim kosztem xdd

[Alitzel · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, this book was a great idea, but it fell short of what it could have offered.
To be fair to the authors, they explicitly state that their goal is to provide just a sneak peek into the diversity of events, characters, and topics related to the African continent—which predominantly go unnoticed in other regions of the world due to a Western/Euro-centric focus in education programs, media, etc. They do deliver on this promise, and it left me wanting to continue researching and learning more.

So, why the 2-star rating? I think there were two main reasons:

1. Lack of focus: The chapters varied greatly. From one country to the next, you could jump from a biography of a 21st-century figure back to ancient times, and then to the story of disputed territories. The miscellany was too broad for my taste. I think defining the book around a more specific time or thematic period could have made it more cohesive and robust.


2. Overly brief chapters: The chapters were excessively short, which made the content feel a bit too superficial and simplistic.

That said, I still think the effort was commendable, and I liked the authors (though I wasn’t a fan of their writing style, but that’s a minor point). Hopefully, if they ever decide to publish a second edition, they can offer a more comprehensive and in-depth book.

Would I recommend the book? Yes, if you’re completely unfamiliar with Africa or have no idea where to start exploring the immense diversity the continent's Histories (yes, I mean it in plural) and cultures has to offer.

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humbled yet again, and so much learned about the rich and diverse continent that is Africa. I’m sure I am not the first middle-age, white western man to think he knew quite a bit about Africa, only to find out how much I don’t know at all. There’s a lot of really good stuff in here. It has some refreshing approaches, new angles and interesting insights, looking at every African nation through a slightly different lens to the standard narratives that most fall into. With this dedicating around four to six pages on each of the fifty-four (internationally recognised) nations, we never overstay our welcome at any destination, and if anything we are often left wanting much more.

So many interesting areas, like Ceuta and Melilla, the two autonomous cities claimed by Spain, in spite of both of being in Morocco. Both are riddled with contradictions, like in spite of being in the EU, apparently Africans have to have been living there for at least 10 years before being able to apply for Spanish citizenship. These en/exclaves are obviously heavily protected with multiple, barbed fencing, cameras and heavy, continuous police presence. The Spanish police have been known to provide African immigrants with water laced with tranquiliser, then wrapping them in adhesive tape, covering most of their bodies, including their mouth before dumping them on military planes back to their country of origin.

This also does a fine job of raising awareness of a small number of the women who achieved and did so much for their respective cultures and countries, people like in Taytu Betul in Ethiopia, Wangari in Kenya and Bibi Titi Mohammed in Tanzania. Then there’s the likes of the Kingdom of Kush in modern day Sudan, Kerma was an advanced state which pre-dated the likes of Babylon, Rome and Greece.

I'm not sure that I've ever met another adult who thought Africa was a country, but then I've never lived in America. And of course there is that long list of countries who have claimed or still claim independence and seek sovereignty, but are rarely acknowledged let alone granted recognition by the vast majority of the world. Somaliland, Western Sahara and Biafra to name only a small selection.

Some of the more memorable leaders include the likes of Guinea-Bissau’s Amilcar Cabral, who strove for an end to forced labour and sought strong worker’s rights and a robust welfare system with good health centres for the elderly, freedom of religion and free and compulsory primary education. Cabral was assassinated by Portuguese agents in 1973.

Then there is the remarkable story of Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara. He banned first class travel for all civil servants, and stopped the use of Mercedes vehicles for them, substituting them for Renault 5s (the cheapest the country had at the time). There were no images of him in public places. He lived frugally, having four bicycles instead of luxury vehicles, paying himself around USD $450 a month, making himself the world’s poorest president. As well as telling the IMF and the World Bank where to go, he introduced widespread vaccine programs, eradicating polio, measles and meningitis, delivering 2.5 million vaccinations in one week. Women’s rights made great progress. He introduced the first state owned supermarket in the country.

Though unfortunately it wasn't all good, he had his dark side too, not allowing any other political parties to exist, he wouldn’t allow unions and he wouldn’t indulge teachers during strikes and other dark and disturbing policies. He was assassinated in 1987 in a military coup, cut into pieces and buried in a shallow grave.

This also reminds us just how cruel, petty and awful successive governments of Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Britain and the US are, it illustrates their cold indifference to the millions that make up these nations, they were largely impoverishing and enslaving them. I love that over the last five to ten years that more and more of these books have been getting published, wonderful, exciting and provocative books which challenge white perspectives, and the ignorant, dominant narratives which we have been indoctrinated for centuries. This is an intelligent and engaging read and I highly recommend it.

[Ilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too opiniated for my taste. Many of the chapters are mostly pointing fingers and trying to explain historical events in simplistic "oppressor-victim" terms. Which is fine, there definitely were a lot of victims in Africa. But I wanted to learn about the history of the countries and how those historical events came to be from the perspective of the people living through those events. Instead, I got modern commentary from authors that clearly have an agenda.

I was furious at several points for the lack of simple objectivity. Case in point - black people enslaving black people in Liberia. The authors commented that this was due to black enslavers being "brainwashed" by evil white colonial culture, not even considering the possibility that there might be more to it...

[Oliwia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Książka naprawdę mi się podobała, pokazuje zaskakująco ile złego człowiek jest w stanie wyrządzić drugiemu człowiekowi. Moim zdaniem każdy powinien przeczytać tą książkę aby zmienić swoje myślenie co do Afryki która wcale nie jest taka jak nam się wydaje.

[Renata Janney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish. Some interesting information, and I would like to read more African history books, but the writing was poor and many of their takes were unconvincing. This may have worked better as a YouTube explainer video series, but I’m not convinced that focusing on Africa country-by-country was a good idea in any format.

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a continent is a flawed but worthwhile introduction to the complexities of African history. At its best, it serves as a springboard to ignite an interest in the many facets of Africa’s diverse history. I am a big fan of the concept, and would love to read more books like this for other parts of the world as well.

Not all chapters feel like they tackle a strong idea, I feel like I learnt more about Russia than Djibouti for the Djibouti chapter, but most of them do provide a good step stone. The beginning of a picture that sparks areas to further explore. I don’t know Africa much better after reading this, but I at least have somewhere to start.

A majority of chapters were focused around the country’s independence movements, and these were often the most well researched and interesting. There is an incredible breadth of brave leadership throughout the continent who have encountered brutal repression. Not every story is happy one, but most are inspiring. Had the book dedicated itself to exclusively exploring this theme and time period for each country individually, I probably would have enjoyed it more. The odd chapter here and there about a 500 year old kingdom left me wanting to know more about how that country fit into the interwoven tapestry of struggle experienced across the continent in the 19th and 20th centuries.

While most of the histories provided are well constructed, several left a ghastly taste in my mouth. I was particularly affronted by the authors indictment and mocking of Africans for the number of coups they have been subject to, or the implication that authoritarianism comes more naturally than democracy to Africans. The Tanzanian and eSwatini chapters were my least favourite because of this. It is hard to explain why some chapters stood out like this, when many others were well considered. My leading theory is that this is a consequence of the book being authored by two different people.

While the book is consistent in its criticism for colonialism and its effects on Africa, it shows a limited depiction or appreciation for neo-colonial forces that ravaged the continent after independence, and how deeply these forces are and were tied to capitalist practice. “Why wouldn’t Africans want to get in on that wealth they’re seeing in the Europeans?” as a justification for the failure of egalitarian politics made this book hard to take seriously. European wealth came from Africa. It can’t be returned by copying European institutions unless someone else to exploit can be found. Capitalism is bad of course, except for everywhere it happens it seems.

With those criticisms out of the way, I do think on the whole it is worth reading. The sore points seemed like they would make this book difficult to finish, but as I persevered I found it to get stronger, with each chapter having greater depth as it went on.

A solid read with some rough edges.

[Kasia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jeśli ktoś nie wie nic o Afryce, to nie warto sięgać po tą książkę, to wydaje mi się, że po przeczytaniu nic nie będzie pamiętać, bo jest tak dużo informacji, że zostały ze mną może dwie-trzy nowe ciekawostki. (Np. władczyni królestwa na terenie Angolii, Nzinga.

Z drugiej strony jak się już coś wie więcej, to ta książka jest niesamowicie irytująca, bo się wydaje powierzchowna. I jeszcze we wstępie autorki piszą, że nie do wszystkich państw są wystarczające źródła, żeby coś o nich opowiadać. Po prostu przypada 5 stron na kraj, wyobrażacie sobie napisać coś o Polsce tylko na 5 stronach?!

Dobre miała intencje ta książka, ale według mnie efekt jest słaby niestety, a szkoda, bo wydaje się być całkiem popularna.

[Alice Vandommele · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a 3,5/5, but I always round up. It's clearly a surface level overview of the topics it describes but that's to be expected in this sort of thing. It does very much offer a good and, just as important, accessible starting point to learn about African history, even if sometimes the generalising doesn't give the full picture or nuance.

I do hope if there's ever a reprint they re-edit some stuff though. There were quite some typos, and passages often repeated unnecessarily or felt disconnected.

[lesneczytanko · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Harry Tomlinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Alicja Malinowska]

Bardzo otwierająca oczy i wartościowa

[Dominik · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5★/5

Autorki mając na myśli wszystkie kraje Afryki mówią dosłownie o WSZYSTKICH- w książce znajduje się 55 minirozdzialików, które mają bardziej formę ciekawostki, trampoliny do dalszego zgłębiania tematu, ponieważ nie da się w pięć stron opisać w dokładniejszy sposób tak złożonych przecież kwestii. A te są różne, najczęściej dotyczą oczywiście kolonializmu, walki z nią, stopniowego uzyskiwania niepodległości lub okresu po niej, ale istnieją też rozdziały np. o Mansa Musie czy o starożytnym królestwie Kusz. Podobał mi się ten mały format, dzięki któremu można było bardzo łatwo się wkręcić w historię kolejnych państw. Pomagał w tym także język popularnonaukowy, niewymagający znajomości wielu terminów czy wydarzeń.
Kolejnym plusem jest to, że o większości historii człowiek nigdy nie słyszał, a te mniej lub bardziej znane są fajnie wyjaśnione. Każdy może się dowiedzieć z tej książki bardzo wiele.
O ile język jest bardzo dużym plusem, to jednocześnie jest też minusem, ponieważ kolejne rozdziały są zazwyczaj bardzo podobne do siebie, przez to ostatnie kilka czytało się już nieco pod przymusem. Drugą rzeczą która mi przeszkadzała były komentarze autorek, uważam, że one były niepotrzebne.
Mimo wszystko polecam książkę bardzo w ramach poszerzenia wiedzy o Świecie nas otaczającym.

[Wendelle]

read 2/3. This book features brief chapters and tidbits about formative historical moments for each of the countries in Africa. This include interesting stuff, like profiles of significant leaders such as Tanzania's pan-Africanist leader Julius Nyerere, Egypt's feminist campaigner Doria Shafik, South Africa's anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko, Botswana's king and first president Seretse Khama, Kenya's female conservationist activist Wangari Maathai, Lesotho's independent King Moshoeshoe, Angola's queen Nzinga, the conflict along religious and ethnic lines that exist in countries like Mauritania and Sudan-South Sudan, the triumphant act of rebuilding and reconciling the nation in Rwanda after ethnic genocide, Eritrea's resistance to becoming Ethiopia's satellite state.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

indrukwekkend boek met korte historische context over alle landen in Afrika. Mega interessant en wat heeft Europa een potje gemaakt van Afrika

[Nigel Caiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed this book. My knowledge of Africa is sketchy so it was interesting to have a view of all the nations in the continent. Unlike some reviewers I liked the one chapter per nation format. I also liked the fact that one key feature or interesting person or happening was discussed. My main issue and hence three stars is the poor quality of the writing- pretty clunky in places and it could do with an edit of the whole book to avoid annoying repetition and the sarcastic comments etc.

[Charlie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Weronika Drzazgowska · Rating 1 out of 5]

Autorki same zaznaczały na początku, że chcą przedstawić historię krajów Afrykańskich w sposób inny niż ma to miejsce w szkole. To dlaczego cała te książkę czułam się jakbym czytała podręcznik do historii albo Wikipedię. Pomysł bardzo fajny ale wykonanie fatalne.

[Merel Cosijn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just the fact that it took me so long to finish this…. Says enough. I was so hyped for this book, but it disappointed me heavily unfortunately. I wanted to read about everything but colonialism, because i believe all these countries have so much more to them! Let’s see, next time better.

[Turlough Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Astrid and Chinny for the efforts put in to educate me and others. As a geography teacher I did enjoy learning many new aspects to the wonderful nations of people across Africa. I would say I found some of the chapters too short and wondered whether focussing on say 10-15 countries; going more in depth on those, would have made the book even better. Plus this would allow for a second or third book! I would highly recommend Dipo Faloyins book in case people are interested in learning more about the continent of Africa.

[Aleksandra Kecka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ta książka to niezły wstęp do historii kontynentu. Jednak sama forma może sprawić, że nie wszyscy poczują się zainspirowani do pogłębiania wiedzy o Afryce

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is truly remarkable in how many ways the European colonial powers have distinguished themselves over the past centuries through their absolutely arrogant and inhuman behaviour.
Although "It's a continent" sheds light on more than just the colonial history of virtually all African nations, the unflattering "influence" of the Europeans repeatedly comes to the fore in this analysis, which is accompanied by cynical marginal notes. The authors devote a similar number of pages to each country - unfortunately! Here one wishes for more details, there one could do without, because sadly history has only repeated itself in a similar way.
Overall, Madimba and Ukata always try to put on a different lens, sometimes approaching the countries through colourful or controversial personalitie, through strong women, feminist movements avant l'heure, report on sexual intolerance induced by the colonial powers, on religious disparities and, of course, on geopolitical circumstances: It is no secret that the colonial powers, with their arbitrarily set national borders, forcibly united population groups that were not traditionally on friendly terms. And so the themes dominate the individual chapters again and again: War, slavery, exploitation.
It can't be a funny book, it doesn't want to be. It stimulates, it upsets. Above all because it sheds light on much of the past, but is no less topical for that when it comes to current discussions, roles, attitudes, pride and arrogance. There is still a lot to learn. And even if this book has some weaker passages, it still makes a hugely informative contribution. Definitely worth reading.

[Reon Mitage · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this with high hopes, as I realise my knowledge of African history is very limited and it is a topic which clearly deserves to be better known. Unfortunately, it became apparent from the first pages that this book is written in the style of a petulant teenager. Very superficial, interspaced with predictable comments exposing the chip apparently carried on shoulder of the authors. I was hoping for a book with substance and genuine insight into African history, including the awful colonial period, but also the much wider context over the centuries. Perhaps in hindsight the title ‘It’s A Continent’ might have warned me - does anyone really think that Africa is a country, or is this just a falsehood erected by the authors as an excuse to adopt a victim mentality? My search for a good book on African history will continue and I’ve learnt to be more careful in my next purchase.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a good idea. Unfortunately, the result was disappointing. It reads rather like a series of below-par Sixth Form essays cribbed from Wikipedia (with added spurious comments that read like silly comments from the back row of the class. It could have been so much better. A little more fact-checking and a very heavy edit might have produced a worthwhile book.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction 🌟