Juxtaposes mediaeval West African societies with their European counterparts. Diop utilises primary sources (eg, ‘Tarikh-as-Sudan’ and ‘Tarikh-al-Fettash’) to illustrate the fundamental components of mediaeval West African civilisation and political organisation. Aspects of African culture that are generally regarded as ‘non-African’ are discussed, such as the existence of indigenous African scripts, the use of armour in African military regiments, in-depth university curricula, and even the possibility of pre-Columbian navigation to America. A must read for student of pre-colonial West African history.