This substantial expansion and reworking of the classic Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara (1997) covers the entire continent, from the Europe-facing shores of the Mediterranean to the commercial bustle of Cape Town. The set addresses the entire history of African cultures from the pharaohs and the ancient civilizations of the south through the colonial era to the emergence of 53 independent countries, some of them, like Nigeria, newly emergent in world commerce and others deep in conflict (Sudan, Liberia, Congo). The NEA treats todays African peoples not as the obscure other of a Dark Continent but as actors on a world stage where issues of global development, the AIDS crisis, and international terrorism play out across a map of indigenous cultures functioning beneath an imperfect European overlay of national states. Articles in anthropology, geography, history, and cultural studies by an international team of more than 600 distinguished Africanists (including over 150 from Africa and the African Diaspora) present Africa - as seen by Africans themselves.

Features hundreds of photographs, including five color inserts, plus maps, thematic outline, chronology, and appendix of ethnic and identity groups.