AFRICA THROUGH WESTERN EYES

Part 1: Original Manuscripts from the Royal Commonwealth Society Library at Cambridge University Library

The first two parts of Africa Through Western Eyes are based on the unique holdings of the Royal Commonwealth Society Library, now housed at Cambridge University Library. Part 1 is particularly rich in sources covering:

• Nigeria
• Liberia (including papers of the International Commission on Slavery)
• the Congo
• South Africa
• Kenya
• Uganda

There is also material for Tanzania, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Sierra Leone, Sudan, the Cameroons, Senegambie and Calabar. Pride of place must go to the 41 volumes of diaries of the explorer, Cuthbert Christy, but there are many other equally fascinating diaries, journals, letters and scrapbooks in the reels that follow.

Having such a large number of small collections of papers of explorers, traders, tourists, diplomats, soldiers and missionaries, is invaluable for students who will be able to build up a textured and nuanced picture of Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries.