Peoples and Civilizations of Sub-Saharan Africa to 1885

The history of North Africa, because of its early involvement with Europe and Islam, is dealt with up to c. 1480 in Sections 91 1 and 924; and it is carried to the 19th century in Section 962. The history of Nilotic Sudan to c. ad 550 and of Ethiopia to c. ad 650 is dealt with in Section 911.

With those exceptions, the five sections of Division IV deal first with the geography and ethnology and then with the histories of the peoples and civilizations of the African continent to c. 1885.