Badawi brilliantly connects different parts of Africa into a common historical timeline, highlighting conflicts, trade, flows of ideas, and other interactions that knit the continent together.

1899 Boers invade Cape Colony in South Africa, sparking war with Britain. 1914-18 Britain and Germany clash in Tanzania, where Britain deploys over 50,000 African soldiers.

About 74,000 years ago, Sumatra’s Mount Toba experienced a super-eruption, one of the largest in Earth’s history, potentially kicking off a massive disruption in the world’s climate.

The recent welcoming of Afrikaner refugees can be understood as the latest chapter in a history of U.S. support for white South Africans.