This new edition of Patrick Manning's established text on the French-speaking countries of west and central Africa includes new material on regional developments since 1985, emphasizing the democratization movements of the 1980s and 1990s, the Francophone movement, and the crises in Rwanda and Burundi. It assesses the effects on the new societies of the precolonial African heritage, the interaction with colonial rulers, and global economic and cultural forces. A substantial new epilogue covers the transition to colonial rule (1880-1940), the transition to independent states (1940-1985), and the reconfiguration of post colonial society after 1985.