African history sources in the XIXth and XXth centuries

The sources of African history in the 19th and 20th centuries reviewed in this article concern the history of Africans in Africa, especially in French-speaking Africa south of the Sahara, where the different states show obvious similarities in administration and institutions, rooted in their common colonial history. Any survey of archives must extend to both colonial and post-colonial records preserved in Africa, as well as colonial records kept in metropolitan France, plus printed documents, Arabic manuscripts and oral evidence. Altogether these sources offer a wealth of information on Africa, and are acknowledged by Africans as sources of their own history; yet., like any historical source, they should also be subjected to internal and external criticism.