Western Africa

With travel tips and culture in our guidebooks written by a local, it is never too late to visit Cape Town. Greater Than a Tourist - Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, by author Hendrik Human, offers the inside scoop on Cape Town, the Mother City. Most travel books tell you how to travel like a tourist. Although there is nothing wrong with that, as part of the Greater Than a Tourist series, this book will give you candid travel tips from someone who has lived at your next travel destination.

Many people know about the Mali Empire and its famous ruler, Mansa Musa. But did you know there was a major empire that came before it? Medieval African history tends to get ignored in favor of medieval European history. However, there is so much rich history to uncover, especially in the region of West Africa. The Ghana Empire is considered one of the greatest empires in African history. There was an abundance of gold in the region, and the Ghana Empire was a powerful trading partner. Advancements were made in administration, allowing it to become a dominant power in the region.

The Ottoman world was nothing like an exotic fairy tale featuring tyrant sultans, mean pashas, and ill-fated harem women. The true stories of genuine sultans and princes are a bit more complicated and no less exciting. Incredible facts about this empire still surprise anyone who starts discovering those stories. You’ll find out that, for quite a while, this Islamic state was effectively ruled by women, and that’s just the beginning.

Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?

Have you ever wondered why the Mali Empire was so wealthy and well-known? Find your answer in our guide about the Mali Empire, and learn about its foundation and rise to fame under Mansa Musa. Within this audiobook, you’ll listen to the humble beginnings and hardships that befell Sundiata Keita as he founded the Mali Empire. His thrilling story leads into how the empire was structured and its early laws and customs.

Are you excited about planning your next trip? Do you want to try something new? Would you like some guidance from a local? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this Greater Than a Tourist book is for you. Greater than a Tourist - Western Cape South Africa by Melanie du Toit offers a local’s insight to the stunning landscapes, diverse culture, and unique experiences offered by the Western Cape.

From about the ninth to fifth centuries BCE, the population of Greece grew unprecedentedly large, expanding from about 800,000 people to as many as 13 million. About a quarter million of these lived in Athens. The average size of urban households during this period grew considerably, a fact that suggests that food was suddenly available in excesses sufficient to keep larger families healthy and alive much more effectively than just a millennium earlier. Bigger families meant bigger armies and larger communities that would eventually grow into the metropolises of Classical Greece.

Desde aproximadamente el siglo IX hasta el siglo V antes de Cristo, la población de Grecia creció sin precedentes, expandiéndose de aproximadamente 800.000 a 13 millones. Cerca de un cuarto de millón de estos vivían en Atenas. El tamaño promedio de los hogares urbanos durante este período creció considerablemente, un hecho que sugiere que los alimentos estuvieron repentinamente disponibles en excesos suficientes para mantener a las familias más grandes sanas y vivas mucho más eficazmente que solo un milenio antes.

Deep within the Dark Continent of Africa, the dwindling population of wild Elephants is protected by law yet systematically harvested by poachers. The armed forces of Park Rangers are not enough to protect the ivory prongs from these giants of nature. A hundred years ago, the Great White Hunters were the predators. Now the region calls on one man to protect the elephants from virtual extinction … Tusk.

Decades after the colonial powers withdrew from Africa, the continent is still struggling to catch up with the rest of the world. When the same colonists withdrew from Asia, it kick-started several decades of sustained and unprecedented growth throughout the continent. So what went wrong in Africa? And are we doing the right things to fix it, or are we making matters worse?

Mungo Park was an explorer of the real kind. In 1795, only aged 24, he left Gambia for the uncharted interior of Africa, in a journey that would be filled with tragedy, heroism, and adventure. Park was the first European to ever reach the river Niger and the legendary city of Timbuctoo, thus resolving, once and for all, a century-old geographic debate. He travelled with local guides and later entirely alone, through warring kingdoms, robberies, imprisonment, and extreme duress. By the time he returned to Gambia, he had long been given up for dead.