Robert Smith (historian)
Robert Sydney Smith (born January 31, 1919 , † November 29, 2009 in London , England ) was a British historian who was particularly concerned with the history of West Africa and the Yoruba ethnic group .
Life
Smith was a professor of history at the three Nigerian universities that existed in the west of the country, the main settlement area of the Yoruba, in the 1960s. These were the University of Lagos , Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife and the University of Ibadan . At the latter, the oldest university in the country, he studied and taught at the Institute of African Studies since it was founded in 1962.
Smith published several books on the history of West Africa. He spent the last years of his life near Kew Gardens in London.
Publications
- with JF Ade Ajayi : Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1964.
- Kingdoms of the Yoruba. 3. Edition. James Currey, London 1969, ISBN 0-85222-033-2 .
- The Lagos Consulate 1851-1861 . MacMillan, London 1978, ISBN 0-333-24053-7 .
- Warfare and Diplomacy in Pre-Colonial West Africa. 2nd Edition. Methuen, London 1989, ISBN 0-299-12330-8 .
- Toyin Falola , Robin Law (Eds.): Warfare and Diplomacy in Precolonoal Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Robert Smith . Festschrift. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, USA 1992, ISBN 0-942615-14-X .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smith, Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Smith, Robert Sydney; Smith, Robert S. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British historian of West Africa and the Yoruba |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 31, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Great Britain |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 29, 2009 |
| Place of death | London , England |