Bücher der Reihe African historical dictionaries

Originally formed to harbor freed slaves and Americans returning to Africa, Liberia once was a land of hope. That was shattered by a long Civil War that shook its very foundation. Today's Liberia is glimpsed in this second edition.Building on the first edition, this updated volume focuses on the personalities, from the founders of Liberia, to the soldiers who are responsible simultaneously for destruction and the hope of stability. Along with these people, various social and ethnic groups, political parties and labor movements, economic entities and natural resources are profiled in this updated work.A new chronology of Liberia is included, and a selected bibliography suggests further readings for the scholar.

Mali is currently the seventh largest country in Africa. It shares borders with Mauritania and Senegal in the west, Algeria in the north, Guinea and Ivory Coast in the south, and Burkina Faso and Niger in the east. After decades of dictatorship, in 1992, a new democratic constitution was adopted and today Mali is one of the most politically and socially stable countries in Africa. While Mali still has a long way to go with their economy_they are considered to be among the 10 poorest countries in the world_they continue to make progress and their increase in cereal and gold production are steps in the right direction. The fourth edition of the Historical Dictionary of Mali, through its chronology, bibliography, introductory essay, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions and significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects, provides an important reference on this African country.

Thoroughly updated and extensively revised, this 4th edition provides a very solid and substantial guide to a better understanding of this richly endowed but poorly understood nation. Students and others seeking information about the country will find an introductory narrative accounting of Guinea's political and economic history, a chronology that spans the earliest known history of the area to the present day Republic of Guinea, 400 dictionary entries covering the personalities and events that made contemporary Guinea, and an extensive bibliography of current publications.