African History
Mudashiru Ayeni: The Nigerian Student Sent to a Psychiatrist After Building a Robot
How a young Nigerian’s reported attempt to create a robot office assistant became one of the country’s intriguing stories about invention, institutional suspicion and...
Africa Was Civilised Before Colonisation: The Great Kingdoms and Empires That Built a Continent’s History
When people talk about civilisation, they often mention ancient Greece, Rome, and other parts of the world. But how often do we hear about...
The Cement Armada: How Nigeria Ordered More Cement Than Its Ports Could Handle
In the years immediately after the Nigerian Civil War, Nigeria entered one of the most ambitious periods of reconstruction and development in its history.The...
Blaise Compaoré’s 27 Years in Power: What Happened After Sankara?
On 15 October 1987, Thomas Sankara was killed in Ouagadougou. Within hours, Blaise Compaoré, his former comrade and one of the most powerful figures...
From Silence to Justice: How Burkina Faso Finally Confronted Sankara’s Murder
On 15 October 1987, Thomas Sankara was killed in Ouagadougou during a violent coup that brought his former ally, Blaise Compaoré, to power.Sankara was...
October 15, 1987: The Day Thomas Sankara Was Killed
At about 4:00 in the afternoon on Thursday, 15 October 1987, Thomas Sankara arrived at the Conseil de l’Entente in Ouagadougou for a meeting...
King Leopold II and the Congo Free State: The Private Empire That Became a Global Scandal
When Leopold II became King of the Belgians in 1865, Belgium was a young European state with an expanding industrial economy but without the...
Sophie Oluwole Could Find Socrates in Her Textbooks. Where Was Òrúnmìlà?
They taught Sophie Oluwole Socrates, Plato and Kant. But as she moved deeper into philosophy, another question began to bother her: if these men...
Jaja Wachuku’s Famous “Sleeping” Photo Was Actually a Protest
For years, one photograph has been used to tell a very simple story about Nigerian diplomacy.Jaja Wachuku is seated at the United Nations with...
The Fulani Jihad That Transformed Northern Nigeria
In 1804, a religious dispute in the Hausa state of Gobir exploded into a revolution that would change the political map of West Africa.At...