Havana, January 14 (RHC-PL) – A meeting of the UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the elaboration of Volume 9 of the General History of Africa will take place here in Havana from January 23rd through the 28th at Casa de las Americas.

The objective of this meeting, to be held for the first time in this Cuban institution, is to update the general history of Africa, which involves scientists from all continents, called by the Section of History and Memory for Dialogue of UNESCO.

The initiative arose in 1964 when the General Conference of the Organization, in the context of its activities for mutual understanding of peoples and nations, authorized the Director-General to take the necessary steps to prepare and publish a General History of Africa.

The project had the purpose of putting an end to the general ignorance of the history of that continent.  From the beginning, the project had two stages: the first one (1965-1970) had as its main topic to group the work done on the ground, in Africa itself, including written and oral documentation on the subject.

To this end, international scientific consultations (Paris 1969 and Addis Ababa 1970) were organized and there the methods to be used for the project were established.

The second stage began in Addis Ababa in 1970 with the preparation and drafting of the General History of Africa began in eight volumes, under the exclusive intellectual and scientific responsibility of a vast organism knowledgeable about the subject: the International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of General History of Africa.