Book Description

Equatorial Guinea is one of the horror stories of the post-colonial era in the developing world. Consisting of the continental territory of Rio Muni and the island of Fernando Po, it was a small but relatively prosperous Spanish colony until 1968. The successor regime of the Nguema clan is a bloody dictatorship, which has destroyed the economy and driven one-third of the population into exile. Today the country is among the world's poorest, and has dropped out of the international system. In recent years France has replaced Spain as the regime's chief economic backer, with no amelioration of its appalling human rights record. This is the first comprehensive monograph in English on Equatorial Guinea, and the Swiss author, Max Liniger-Goumaz, is the acknowledged international authority on the subject. Contents: Physical and Human Geography; The Colonial Period; Independence Miscarried; Demographic and Cultural Aspects of the Nguema Era; The Economy Under the Nguema Dictatorships; Present and Future; Conclusions; Postscript; Bibliographical Note; Short Bibliography of Post-Independence PublicationsàR ... Read more

Book Description

This study is presented in an easy-to-use format that gathers information from pre-history to the current political regime and provides concise entries on important people, significant events and places, political parties, and liberation movements, both before and after independence ... Read more

Book Description

Geography, history, people, language, culture, traditions, economy, government, politics, constitution, places to visit, info for travelers... ... Read more

Book Description

'The Missionary Outreach of the West Indian Church' is the story of Jamaican Baptists, ex-slaves who, four years after Emancipation (1838), established a witness in the Cameroons (West Africa) in cooperation with their British pastors and with the reluctant aid of the Baptist Missionary Society of London. Professor Russell analyzes the relationship between the undertaking of the mission and the new self-awareness of a freed people. The institutions created to achieve their aims are discussed and their fortunes are followed amid the chaotic ecclesiastical, economic, and political happenings consequent upon the Anglo/Hispanic rivalry at the time. The book is also a study of what happens when a mission-field becomes a mission agency with missionaries of its own. ... Read more

Book Description

Fernando Po, home to the Bantu-speaking Bubi people, has anunusually complex history. Long touted as the key to West Africa, it isthe largest West African island and the last to enter the worldeconomy. Confronted by both African resistance and ecological barriers,early British and Spanish imperialism foundered there. Not until thelate nineteenth century did foreign settlement take hold, abetted by aclass of westernized black planters. It was only then that Fernando Podeveloped a plantation economy dependent on migrant labor, workingunder conditions similar to slavery.In From Slaving to Neoslavery,Ibrahim K. Sundiata offers a comprehensive history of Fernando Po,explains the continuities between slavery and free contract labor, andchallenges standard notions of labor development and progress invarious colonial contexts. Sundiata's work isinterdisciplinary,considering the influences of the environment, disease, slavery,abolition, and indigenous state formation in determining theinteraction of African peoples with colonialism.From Slaving toNeoslavery has manifold implications. Historians usually depict thenineteenth century as the period in which free labor triumphed overslavery, but Sundiata challenges this notion. By examining the historyof Fernando Po, he illuminates the larger debate about slavery currentamong scholars of Africa.

"From Slaving to Neoslavery is a first.No other books exist on Fernando Po in English.The work is originaland the scholarship impressive. It will be a must in studies about lateslavery, contract labor, and Creoledom. It is a well-researched historyof another big plantation island, and its ties with the Caribbean,especially Jamaica, are well handled."Jan M. Vansina, University ofWisconsin

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