European Influence in Africa in the Face of Civilization and Relations

Carlos TestaProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.0

Word count: 127K words
Chapters: 13

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Influencia Europea na Africa perante a Civilisação e as RelaçõesAuthor: Testa, Carlos, 1823-1891,Language: Portuguese, Class: DT: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Africa, Release Date: May 29, 2008

Editor's review

This is a historical treatise written in Portuguese by Carlos Testa, discussing European influence in Africa and how that influence intersects with so-called "civilization" and the relations among the parties involved. The author was born in the nineteenth century, and both his stance and his questions bear the mark of that era. The book's first value therefore lies not in offering today's conclusions but in showing how European intellectuals of the time understood their own role in Africa: what concepts they used and what logic they followed to defend or contest expansion. For readers studying colonial discourse, the historiography of African history, and the intellectual history of the Portuguese-speaking world, it is a primary text open to analysis. Read it with critical distance: the value judgments and civilizational hierarchies in the book are objects of study, not conclusions to be accepted wholesale. It suits use as source material for essay writing, as a contrast text for classroom discussion, or for close thematic reading by readers interested in Portuguese-language documents of the colonial period.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University faculty and students studying colonial discourse and the historiography of African history
Readers interested in nineteenth-century intellectual documents of the Portuguese-speaking world
Scholars writing papers who need primary material for textual analysis
Advanced readers with a specific interest in the history of European influence in Africa

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners seeking an introductory overview of African history
Readers expecting a critical survey from a contemporary perspective and the latest research
Readers unfamiliar with Portuguese and without access to a parallel translation

Reading tips

Learn about the author's life and the background of his era before entering the text, so as to recognize its period stance and rhetorical strategies.
While reading, distinguish "the author's claims" from "statements of historical fact," and mark value-judgment sentences with annotations for later citation and analysis.
Read alongside a contemporary general history of colonialism in Africa to situate the book within the historiographical landscape.
If using it for a paper, retain original page numbers and context when excerpting key passages to avoid quoting out of context.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How difficult is the Portuguese in this book?

It is nineteenth-century argumentative prose with long sentences and period vocabulary, posing a certain barrier for non-native readers. Readers with upper-intermediate Portuguese reading ability and familiarity with historical argumentative style will find it more accessible; beginners are advised to start with an introduction or parallel materials.

Do the book's views still hold today?

They should not be taken directly as today's conclusions. The author lived in the nineteenth century, and his "civilization" framework and Eurocentric perspective are precisely what contemporary research reflects upon. The book is better suited as a text for analyzing colonial discourse than as factual evidence for African history, and its status as a historical source should be made explicit when citing it.

Is it suitable for course reading materials?

It is suitable as supplementary material for courses on historiography or colonial discourse, to be discussed in contrast with contemporary research. Given its length and style, it cannot support general history teaching on its own; instructors need to supplement it with background introductions and countervailing literature.

What should I note when reading the electronic edition?

The Project Gutenberg edition is a free ebook laid out mainly as plain text, and long sentences and old-style spellings may affect reading rhythm. Use reading software with adjustable font size and annotation features, and pay attention to chapter divisions to avoid missing paragraphs due to the simplified formatting.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Carlos Testa Author · Portuguese · 1823–1891

Carlos Testa (1823–1891) was a Portuguese naval officer and political writer born in Lisbon. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and taught at the naval school, combining military experience with scholarly work. His writings focus mainly on international law, diplomacy and Portugal's colonial policy in Africa. His representative works include Portugal e Marrocos perante a historia e a politica europea, A politica intercolonial e internacional e o tratado de Lourenço Marques, A Influencia Europea na Africa perante a Civilisação e as Relações, and a study of Lord Palmerston. His works combine historical and political analysis of European rivalry in Africa and of treaty and diplomatic questions concerning Portuguese colonies, in a style that is both argumentative and empirical. Public information on the details of his life is limited, and scholarly attention centres chiefly on his political and colonial-policy writings.