Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800

Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800 investigates the impact of warfare on the history of Africa in the period of the slave trade and the founding of empires.
It includes the discussion of:
: * the relationship between war and the slave trade
* the role of Europeans in promoting African wars and supplying African armies
* the influence of climatic and ecological factors on warfare patterns and dynamics
* the impact of social organization and military technology, including the gunpowder revolution
* case studies of warfare in Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Benin and West Central Africa

John K. Thornton is Professor of History at Millersville University, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 (Cambridge, 1998).