Africa in the Public Records

Abstract

To attempt a discussion of ‘sources for African history in the Public Record Office’ immediately raises the question, ‘are there such sources?’. Or are there only sources for the history of the British encounter with Africa, or, indeed, as some would claim, the English encounter with Africa? The editor and compilers of the 1971 Guide to manuscripts and documents in the British Isles relating to Africa may have such questions in mind when they chose to use the title ‘documents relating to Africa’ rather than perhaps, ‘sources for the history of Africa’. In this volume you will find, in the section devoted to the Public Record Office, twenty-two closely printed pages listing in the region of one thousand record classes.