Before The Slave Trade: African World History in Pictures

before the slave tradeHello and welcome to the official website of Before The Slave Trade: African World History in Pictures, published by Black History Studies Publications.

This is where you will find information about the book Before The Slave Trade: African World History in Pictures. 

The best place to start is to watch the trailers below and visit the About The Book page. You can also find the Contents Page for the book and Excerpts from the book.

There is an informative Interview with the author about the writing process and the book. 

Finally, there’s a page of Links to websites referenced in the book. 

We hope you enjoy your visit to the site!

Check out the three part trailer below:

Before The Slave Trade provides novices to Black History and teachers of Egyptology or African Civilisations with key photographic images as visual proof of the greatness of the Black past. Such visual resources are always necessary and it is important that such resources are readily accessible, especially as teaching material.

The book bridges the immense gap between what scholars know about the early history and achievements of Black people and what the general public knows. This gulf has unfortunately remained constant for over a hundred years.


The book serves as both an introduction and a supplementary volume to our much larger work When We Ruled. There is almost no overlap between the two books but they complement each other well.


The book shows the role of Black men and women in the development of high cultures in Africa before the coming of the Europeans. It also shows the role of Black men and women in the origin and evolution of high cultures that have shaped the world, such as Ancient Nubia, Ancient Egypt, Carthage, and the Moorish Empire. Challenging the view that the African was peripheral to the development of world civilisation, it also shows the critical role of Black people in the ancient civilisations of the East (i.e. Phoenicia, Judah, Arabia Felix, Sumer, Elam, and the Indus Valley). Finally, the book discusses the role of Africans in the ancient and medieval history of Central America.


Before The Slave Trade is an essential resource for the teacher, researcher or student of Black History, African World Studies or Egyptology.


Book Details:

Paperback: 200 pages 
Publisher: Black History Studies Publications (1 Sep 2008) 
Language English 
ISBN-10: 0955969506 
ISBN-13: 978-0955969508 
Product Dimensions: 152mm x 227mm