Africa
Don’t blame Britain
Obsessing over the sins of empire only serves to hide the flaws of dysfunctional modern states
In Darwin’s dreamland
A two-year stint on an island in Lake Victoria makes for a poignant and memorable memoir
Plains of plenty
The Masai Mara has defied gloomy predictions of decline and still supports a thriving ecosystem as rich as it ever was
Dawning continent
The West has underestimated Africa’s independent economic potential
The “Scramble for Africa”
Was the “Scramble for Africa” in the late nineteenth century strategically planned?
To catch a culture thief
A vast global market in stolen and forged art and artefacts has only grown in the context of the pandemic, but technology and international policing may be catching up
Inside Ethiopia’s civil wars
Abiy Ahmed has joined the long list of Africa’s “democrats” who became dictators
Out of Africa
To get a handle on African cinema, watch Mandabi
Afiya and me: searching for East Africa’s lost tribe
David Smith recalls his time as a journalist covering the devastating famine in Karamoja, northern Uganda, in the 1980s
Front line dictator
What the death of Idriss Deby Itno in battle means for the fight against Islamic terrorism