This course surveys the historical relationship between Africa and the West from the age of Abolition in the early 19th century through the colonial and post-colonial periods. Several broad questions are addressed including: What were the political, economic, social, cultural, and intellectual implications of this relationship? To what extent and in what ways is this historical relationship implicated in Africa's postcolonial, but some would argue, neocolonial present? Has Africa played any role in the evolution of the cultural and geo-political phenomenon called the West? This course emphasizes the agency of Africans in their interactions with the West even as it delves into how Africans have been shaped by this relationship.