The module seeks to integrate new historiographical advances in our reflexion on the history of African societies. It explores interrelated questions such as the impact of the “little ice age” in Africa on human and material circulations, the bureaucratisation of African states, along with the economic, cultural and political consequences of slavery in and out of Africa. The history of Islamic societies will be an important consideration in this course, which also will consider the history of other religious groups in Africa, including Christian societies, from Ethiopia to Congo, and other faith systems, as for Asante and Dahomey. Finally, the course will focus on the interactions between African societies and non-African societies, from the Europeans to the Ottomans.