ABSTRACT
This chapter sketches the broad history of migration, mobility, and displacement on the African continent, focusing on overarching trends in the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods. Focusing predominantly on specific intra-African examples, the chapter considers the nature of migration, mobility, and displacement on a continent-wide basis, as well as within specific regions and sub-regions, during these periods. The chapter delves into specific factors – such as environmental and climatic changes, economic development, cultural and religious exchange, and violent conflict – which, while differing in scale and scope at different times, have served as drivers of migration, mobility, and displacement throughout the continent's history. However, the chapter also takes concerted steps to identify how the drivers of migration, mobility, and displacement have shifted over time, particularly as new political institutions and modes of production have been introduced, adapted, and evolved in the colonial and post-colonial eras.
