African Empires

Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers such as the Nile and the Niger.

Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history. 

In the grand scheme of things, very little is known of Mansa Musa’s life. We know that he was one of the greatest emperors of the Mali Empire. And we know that he was actually one of the richest men of all time due to the enormous gold deposits in West Africa that were under his dominion, but large parts of Mansa Musa’s life remain a mystery.

Have you ever wondered why the Mali Empire was so wealthy and well-known? Find your answer in our guide about the Mali Empire, and learn about its foundation and rise to fame under Mansa Musa. Within this audiobook, you’ll listen to the humble beginnings and hardships that befell Sundiata Keita as he founded the Mali Empire. His thrilling story leads into how the empire was structured and its early laws and customs.

Santana Morelli Jr., also known as Tana, was ruthless, a maniac, arrogant and, most of all, he was feared by everyone. When a tragedy strikes within the family, Tana will stop at nothing to catch the person responsible. In the midst of hunting his prey, Tana starts to destroy everything in his...

A narrative history of how Attila, Genghis Khan and the so-called barbarians of the steppes shaped world civilization. The barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes have played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These nomadic tribes have produced...

As the world progressed through medieval times, great empires rose and fell across Europe and Africa. However, in the 15th century, trans-oceanic voyages were allowing imperialism to reach distant shores. This new form of control became rampant, and untamed capitalism put the slave trade at its core.

Immerse yourself in the intricate story of Africa and discover Africa's true place in world history. Spanning more than 200,000 years, from the emergence of the first humans to the rise of megacities, Africa explores the history and cultures of the world's second-largest continent in vivid...

'A must read' Peter Frankopan From the bestselling author of Dictatorland, this is the long and turbulent history of China’s growing influence over African states. People are increasingly fascinated by – and terrified of – the role of China in the modern world. In Africa, this role has...

Who were the Moors—and why does their story still matter today? For centuries, the Moors have been misunderstood, misrepresented, and often erased from mainstream history. Yet they were one of the most powerful and influential civilizations to ever shape Europe, Africa, and the Mediterranean world. From their African roots in North Africa to their rise as rulers of Spain, the Moors built a civilization that transformed cities, preserved knowledge, and ignited intellectual progress that would later fuel the European Renaissance. But their story is more than conquest and empire—it is a ...

GERMANY’S COLONIAL REPORT CARD Genocide, Empire and the Forgotten German Legacy in Africa Germany’s African empire lasted only a few decades. But within that short time, it produced some of the most brutal episodes in colonial African history. From the Herero and Nama genocide in Namibia to the scorched-earth destruction of the Maji Maji rebellion in East Africa, Germany’s colonies became laboratories of: racial ideology, militarized rule, forced labor, concentration camps, and imperial violence. Why has this history remained so forgotten compared to other colonial empires? Did German...

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK In time for the 250th Anniversary of the birth of the United States comes a sweeping, intimate portrayal of Abigail Adams—wife of one president and mother to another—whose wit, willpower, and wisdom helped shape the fledgling republic. A stunning historical novel...

Bloomsbury presents The Knife Maker of Venice by David Gilman read by Ben Cura and Davild Gilman, and featuring an exclusive interview between them. A young Englishman captured by slavers must survive the snakepit that is seventeenth-century Venice. 1604. As pirates seeking slaves to sell in the...

He gave away so much gold that he crashed the economy of an entire region — and history spent five centuries pretending his empire never existed. In the summer of 1324, a caravan tens of thousands strong crossed the Sahara toward Mecca. At its center rode Mansa Musa, ninth emperor of Mali, master of an empire larger than Western Europe and the gold fields that supplied half the medieval world. When he reached Cairo, he spent and gave on a scale the richest city in the Mediterranean could not absorb. The price of gold there stayed depressed for a dozen years. One act of pious generosity ...

Husband-and-wife treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo run afoul of a dictator who uses false facts about Aztec history to further his claim to power in this #1 New York Times-bestselling series. While scuba diving in Tanzania, Sam and Remi Fargo come upon a relic belonging to a long-lost...

A pioneering work of Afrofuturism and antiracist fiction by the author of Black No More, about a Black scientist who masterminds a worldwide conspiracy to take back the African continent from imperial powers A Penguin Classic “An amazing serial story of Black genius against the world” is how...

#1 Essence bestselling author K’Wan returns with The Diamond Empire, the explosive, hard-hitting follow-up audiobook to the street love story Diamonds and Pearl. It’s about to be an all-out war. While an ambitious rival has taken over Diamonds’s crew, Diamonds lies in wait in exile...

In the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Skeletons in the Zahara, Astoria is the thrilling, true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition, an epic, now forgotten, three-year journey to forge an American empire on the Pacific Coast. Peter Stark offers a harrowing saga in which a band of...

The Ashanti people occupy a unique place in African and global history. The Ashantis of built one of the greatest and most powerful civilizations in African history. From the sacred Golden Stool to the legendary resistance of Yaa Asantewa, the Ashanti story is a sweeping epic of empire, warfare, spirituality, gold wealth, political genius, colonial resistance, and cultural survival. Emerging from the Akan-speaking communities of West Africa, the Ashanti built a centralized empire that became one of the most powerful states on the Gold Coast. Through military strength, political ...

What if one of the world’s oldest civilizations has been misunderstood all along? Ethiopia is often described as ancient, sacred, and exceptional—but beneath these labels lies a far more complex story. In this powerful and thought-provoking book, Frederick Amakom takes readers on a journey through time—from the earliest settlements of the Ethiopian highlands to the rise of the Aksumite Empire, from the mystery of the Queen of Sheba to the global impact of the Battle of Adwa. This is not just history. This is an unmasking. Inside, you will discover: The true meaning behind the name “...