Overview

Northern Africa is dominated by the Sahara Desert, stretching across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. This book is about the people who lived around the edges of the Desert and the different ways in which they responded to its challenges, establishing networks of communication across its expanse. But the Sahara has not always been a desert. From about 9000 BC the region began to enjoy a warm, humid period allowing vegetation to flourish and wild animals to move in. Humans soon followed practising pastoral economies but with the onset of harsher conditions once more around 3000 BC the desert reclaimed its own. Since then fluctuations in climate have continued to affect the lives of people living around the desert fringes. The communities occupying the North African Coast and in the Nile Valley have come under the influence of the states dominating the Near East and the Mediterranean but those living in in the Sahel to the south of the desert have developed their own distinctive cultures. The book tells the story of the growing links between the two worlds, showing that Africa played a crucial part in the development of the Old World before it was drawn into the story of the New World.

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9780192858887

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Reviews

"""Barry Cunliffe completes his circumnavigation of the ancient Mediterranean world by navigating the often little known, and ever-changing, relationships between North and Sub-Saharan Africa. He describes the contests between humans and their environments and between polities for control of resources. His compelling story is based on ""the detritus of human existence"", also oral and written histories. He conjures up a remarkable chronicle of human interactions from often obscure and little-known sources that extend from Morocco to the East African coast and far beyond. Facing is a beautifully written masterpiece of historical synthesis that places the Sahara in its true historical context. I couldnât put the book down."" -- Brian Fagan, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of California, and author of The Long Summer."

Author Information

Barry Cunliffe taught archaeology in the Universities of Bristol and Southampton and was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2008, thereafter becoming Emeritus Professor. He has excavated widely in Britain (Fishbourne, Bath, Danebury, Hengistbury Head, Brading) and in the Channel Islands, Brittany, and Spain, and has been President of the Council for British Archaeology and of the Society of Antiquaries, a Governor of the Museum of London, and a Trustee of the British Museum. He was a Commissioner of English Heritage from 2005 to 2013. His many publications include The Ancient Celts (1997, second edition 2018), Facing the Ocean (2001), The Druids: A Very Short Introduction (2010), Britain Begins (2012), By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean (2015), and The Scythians (2019) all published by Oxford University Press. He received a knighthood in 2006.

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