Precolonial Black Africa is one of three major works by Cheikh Anta Diop that attempts to reconstruct African history and the black contribution to the foundations of Western civilization. In this book, Diop compares the political and social systems of Europe and black Africa from antiquity to the formation of modern states. Throughout, his intent is not to provide a history as such, but rather guidelines for historians and others who seek a scientific understanding of precolonial societies in Africa, the Mediterranean, and Europe and their links with the earliest known stages of human development. Students and scholars of Africa and world history will be challenged by Diop's original - though controversial - analysis of the similarities and striking differences between black Africa and the West. Since 1974, when Diop's African Origin of Civilization first appeared in English translation, his ideas have transformed the basic thrust of African studies in the United States. Now in its tenth printing, this classic work reclaims thousands of years of African history that were either glossed over or suppressed by the Western missionaries and scholars who "opened up" Africa. In the words of John Henrik Clarke: "Those who read this book seriously are in for a shock and a rewarding experience in learning. This is a major work by a major Black historian. At last, the renaissance of African historiography from an African point of view has begun, and none too soon." Educated in his native Senegal and at the Sorbonne, Cheikh Anta Diop was director of the Radio Carbon Dating Center at the University of Dakar, Senegal until his death in February, 1986.