This covers 1600 CE to the end of the 19^th century, when European penetration of Africa turned into colonial occupation (though colonial penetration had begun earlier and in the mid-to-late 18^th century much of India and present day Pakistan and Bangladesh were under British control). It details the expansion of human populations; the development of strong communities centred mainly on cattle in East Africa (such as the Maasai, Samburu Nandi and); the rise of the Bantu-speaking peoples of southern Africa (Zulu and Ndebele/Matabele, Xhosa, Tswana and others); their assimilation or exclusion of the San and Khoikhoi; and their attitudes and beliefs about hyenas – notably for many the role of hyenas as the undertakers of the bush. The arrival and spread of European presence in southern Africa (the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique, the Dutch and then British in South Africa) had a huge and damaging effect on wildlife and introduced firearms. All these historical developments affected human relations with wildlife, reducing wild prey in substantial quantities in many areas, converting woodland and savannah into farming land and creating conflict between pastoralists and predators like hyenas. The period also saw the rise in commercial and sports hunting by European hunters and travellers – though hyenas rarely figured as highly-desired trophies or sources of skins. The chapter includes the origins of the strange relationship between people and hyenas in the Ethiopian town of Harar.