UNESCO releases three new volumes of its "General History of Africa"
UNESCO’s General History of Africa project was launched in 1964 with a clear goal: to tell the history of Africa from an African perspective. Over the years, more than 550 African and international experts contributed to this body of work, culminating with three new volumes released in 2025. Today, UNESCO is bringing this rich corpus to classrooms worldwide.
17 October 2025
Last update:3 November 2025
‘The face of Africa has long been concealed from the world by myths and prejudice of all kinds,’ wrote Amadou Mahtar M’Bow, the Director-General of UNESCO, in 1979. ‘The General History of Africa throws a new and original light on the continent’s past, considered as a totality.'
In 1964, as Africa’s nations gained their independence, UNESCO launched a groundbreaking project with a simple premise: to tell the history of Africa from an African perspective.
Over the following three decades, UNESCO brought together some of the best minds from Africa and around the world – including Djibril Tamsir Niane, Cheikh Anta Diop, Théophile Obenga, Ali Mazrui and Gamal Mokhtar – to produce a unique body of work*.*
Steered by a predominantly African Scientific Committee, 550 specialists wrote the first eight volumes of the General History of Africa, covering the continent’s ancient civilizations as well as its more recent past.
Challenging conventional approaches, this corpus integrated insights from oral traditions, along with written archives and scientific and archaeological findings. It was published in 13 languages, including Fulani, Hausa and Kiswahili.
Three new volumes in 2025
In 2009, the African Union called for a new phase in the General History of Africa, to continue the story and connect it to the modern world. Three new volumes were planned – to chronicle African diasporas around the world and explore challenges and opportunities facing Africa today.
Under Director-General Audrey Azoulay, this project was renewed and revived, in line with UNESCO’s prioritization of the African continent and the aims of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).
Released in 2025, the new books tell the story of modern Africa – from the slave trade to the Harlem Renaissance and negritude. They celebrate African people’s ideas and creativity, which continue to shape the world.
This pioneering corpus, complete with richly illustrated maps, explanatory charts and revelatory photographs, replaced colonial distortions with an African perspective, rectifying widespread ignorance and discriminatory prejudices through a pluralistic, interdisciplinary approach to historiography.
Audrey AzoulayUNESCO Director-General
From bookshelves to classrooms
Today, UNESCO is working to ensure that this groundbreaking body of work transforms how the African continent is understood worldwide. This starts with giving the General History of Africa its rightful place in classrooms – especially in Africa itself, which has the youngest population in the world.
To support curriculum developers on the continent and beyond, UNESCO is releasing a new Curriculum Pathway Tool on 17 October. Teachers' guides, including up-to-date learning materials on the history of Africa and user-friendly lesson plans, are being finalized, and will be disseminated to teachers and other education personnel.
UNESCO is also testing new forms of educational outreach by entering the gaming world. African Heroes is a free-to-download video game that brings ten iconic African figures – such as Zumbi dos Palmares, Queen Nzinga, and Toussaint Louverture – to life. Spanning five African subregions and multiple historical eras, the game offers an engaging, interactive way to connect with Africa’s rich and diverse heritage