Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966

“Confidential Print: Africa provides scholars with unprecedented electronic access to the United Kingdom’s confidential correspondence covering almost the entire period of European conquest and colonisation of Africa.”

Professor Jeremy Martens

Chair of History, University of Western Australia

Africa: from 'New Imperialism' and the 'Scramble', to the battle against tropical diseases, apartheid in South Africa and the colonies' push for independence, this new online database offers unique research and study opportunities using primary sources covering the whole of this fascinating continent.

Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966 is an Archives Direct project: all collections within this cross-searchable portal are sourced from The National Archives, UK.

The resource will include the following file classes from The National Archives, UK, in their entirety:

• CO 879/1-190 (Africa, 1848-1961)
• CO 886/1-11 (Dominions, 1907-1925)
• DO 116/1-8 (Dominions (South African), 1913-1944)
• FO 341/1-3 (Africa 1884-1900)
• FO 401/1-48 (Abyssinia, 1846-1956)
• FO 403/1-482 (Africa, 1834-1957)
• FO 413/1-99 (Morocco and North-West Africa, 1839-1957)
• FO 458/1-157 (West Africa, 1882-1950)
• FO 468/1-4 (British Commonwealth, 1945-1949)
• FO 485/1-3 (Liberia, 1947-1949)
• FO 540/1-6 (Libya, 1951-1956)

The resource will also include selected files from:

• CO 885/1-140 (War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office Confidential Print, 1839-1966)
• DO 114/1-120 (Dominions Office Confidential Print, 1924-1951)
• DO 201/1-53 (Commonwealth Relations Office Confidential Print, 1946-1966)
• WO 287/1-287 (War Office Confidential Print, 1904-1949)