The encyclopedia for the Horn of Africa treats all important terms of the history of ideas of this central region between Orient and Africa. After its completion the set will comprise five volumes four text and one index volume with altogether approx. 4000 articles. The topics range from basic data over archaeology, ethnology and anthropology, history, the languages and lit-eratures up to the art, religion and culture.

The German lacuna in Edward Said’s 'Orientalism' has produced varied studies of German cultural and academic Orientalisms. So far the domains of German politics and scholarship have not been conflated to probe the central power/knowledge nexus of Said’s argument. Seeking to fill this gap, the diplomatic career and scholarly-literary productions of the centrally placed Friedrich Rosen serve as a focal point to investigate how politics influenced knowledge generated about the “Orient” and charts the roles knowledge played in political decision-making regarding extra-European regions. This is pursued through analyses of Germans in British imperialist contexts, cultures of lowly diplomatic encounters in Middle Eastern cities, Persian poetry in translation, prestigious Orientalist congresses in northern climes, leveraging knowledge in high-stakes diplomatic encounters, and the making of Germany’s Islam policy up to the Great War. Politics drew on bodies of knowledge and could promote or hinder scholarship. Yet, scholars never systemically followed empire in its tracks but sought their own paths to cognition. On their own terms or influenced by “Oriental” savants they aligned with politics or challenged claims to conquest and rule.

The encyclopedia treats all important terms of the history of ideas of this central region between Orient and Africa. After its completion the set will comprise five volumes - four text and one index volume with altogether approximately 4000 articles. The topics range from basic data over archaeology, ethnology and anthropology, history, the languages and literatures up to the art, religion and culture. This first volume combines about 1000 articles in the English language, written by approximately 250 authors with extents varying from a few lines to several pages. Approximately 150 maps and about the same number of illustrations round off this unique reference book.

Erstmals wird hier die Fulle der englischsprachigen Athiopienliteratur geordnet dargeboten. In 100 Sections fuhrt der Autor alle fur die wissenschaftliche Beschaftigung mit Athiopien wichtigen Buch- und Zeitschriftenbeitrage zum Beispiel zur "Historyof Research", "Archaeology", "Religion", aber auch Fragen der "Sociology", "Agriculture", "Zoology" und "Medical Sciences" auf. Wie im Falle der deutschsprachigen Literatur ("Bibliographia Aethiopica: Die athiopienkundliche Literatur des deutschsprachigenRaumes" = Aethiopistische Forschungen 9 [1982]) berucksichtigt der Autor auch alle ihm zuganglichen Besprechungen, womit bei einer Aufnahme von mehr als 24.000 Titeln eine Art "Bibliographic Enzyclopedia" entstanden ist.

First published in 1993, this is a new revised and substantially expanded edition of a highly acclaimed reference resource that evaluates the leading sources of information (other than bibliographies) on Africa South of the Sahara.