the continent. Yet urbanization has been an important feature of Africa's history for over two thousand years. Towns and cities have been important arenas around which societies have organized themselves: as centres of trade, economic activity and wealth accumulation; as foci of political action and authority; as military garrisons and symbols of physical domination; as sites of ritual power and contact with the sacred; and as places of refuge, shelter and collective security in troubled times.This survey reveals a remarkable depth of urbanization in African history. Each chapter places the city at the centre of discussion. Themes developed are unexpectedly diverse, suggesting not only a distinctive history of urbanism but offering great potential for further research. This volume is thus presented as a starting point for the writing of deeper comparative histories of Africa's urban past.

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