"A History of East Africa up to the nineteenth century results from long-felt need for a handy textbook within easy reach of Form One students and their teachers. The book based on the History Syllabus for Secondary Schools, Form I-IV, issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1997. It is a revised version of section I of the work by the Institute of Curriculum Development (now Tanzania Institute of Education) titled: Secondary History Book One: The Development of African Societies up to the Nineteenth Century, published by the Dar es Salaam University Press in 1981." -- (Preface)