Africa and Africas

Verhoef maps out the complexity of Africa since earliest times, which exposes the myth of African unity, a single African nationalism and ‘the African culture’ as concepts of political expediency rather than historical validity. Focusing on what was published on business in Africa, the chapter exposes the lack of an all Africa inclusive focus on business of all its people. This chapter highlights the under researched Business History perspective of the agency of individuals, entrepreneurs and business organisations in Africa. Verhoef shows the emergence of business activity among the diverse people of Africa at different stages of the discontinuities of Africa’s history. That sets the context of business development under different modalities of capitalism to guide the study of Business development in Africa.