History: Africa: Reference

Materials which are referred to for brief or general information. Examples include:

• Background or overview synopses (encyclopedia)
• Definitions (dictionary)
• Synonyms (thesaurus)
• Statistics
• Biographical Details
• Maps (atlas)

Reference resources are organized in an order that aids searching (alphabetically, chronologically, etc).  Most include an index which points users to the appropriate section.  Tips for searching:

1. Decide on your search terms
2. Try searching with them
3. If not satisfied with the results, try searching a synonym or related idea

Things to watch out for:

• Is the computer searching only the title/header of the entries or the full-text of the information?  You will get more results, but more of them will be irrelabent if you are searching the full-text.
• Are you searching for a proper noun (name, place,...)?  Make sure that the spelling is correct and try variations if it originated in a foreign language.
• Searching for something by date?  This is trickier than it sounds.  If possible, search for an event name or topic rather than a date, e.g. civil rights movement or hippies or flower children rather than 1960s.

Search a group of online encyclopedias on this topic. Place here GVRL subcollection widget, if available.

Or, search individual titles below:

Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World
Call Number: Ref GN 495.4.E53 1993

Black Africa: a comparative handbook
Call Number: Ref DT 352.8 .M67 1989

Africa south of the Sahara
Call Number: Ref DT 351.E53 1997

Dictionnaire des Civilizations Africaines
Call Number: Ref DT 352.4.B3

Historical atlas of Africa
Call Number: Ref G 2446.S1H5 1985

The Middle East and North Africa
Call Number: Ref DS 49.M5 2000

Encyclopedia of African History
Call Number: Ref DT 20 .E53 2005

Encyclopedia of twentieth-century African History
Call Number: Ref DT 29 .E53 2002

Encyclopedia of precolonial Africa: archaeology, history, languages, cultures, and environments
Call Number: Ref DT 2 .E53 1997

The African studies companion: a guide to information sources
Call Number: Ref DT 19.8 .Z45 2003

African Development Indicators
Call Number: Ref HC 800 .A5653 1996

International historical statistics : Africa, Asia & Oceania, 1750-2000
Call Number: Ref HA 4675 .M552 2003