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Posted on 9 November 2011, last modified on 9 October 2023
26 June 2020
Rahmane Idrissa published a new article in the London Review of Books Diary, travelling to Djenné to discover more about the history of the Songhay Empire. Songhay was one of the largest states ever established in Sub-Saharan Africa; for much of the 15th and most of the 16th century, it ruled over what is now Mali, as well as parts of Senegal, Mauritania and Niger, northern Benin and north-western Nigeria.
26 June 2020
On the occasion of the Africa 2020 year, the ASCL has created Infosheets about the countries that became independent in 1960. Of the seventeen colonies gaining independence in that year, Congo (earlier known as Zaire, nowadays called the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was the fifth one: on 30 June. Congo had been a Belgian colony from 1908 until 1960, after having been a ‘Free State’ under a company owned by the Belgian King Leopold II from 1884.
10 June 2020
The Library of the African Studies Centre of Leiden University is open for visitors - reservation by e-mail is compulsory. Studying in the ASCL Library will be possible during time slots of maximum 3 hours. Please remember that face masks are mandatory when you enter, leave and move around in the building. Read all about the new regulations.