Writers, Scholars & Scientists

John William Colenso (January 24, 1814-June 20, 1883), was the Anglican archbishop of Natal from 1853 onwards, during the age of British imperial expansion. He...

I.W.W. Citashe (circa 1845-circa 1930) was a Xhosa poet who wrote from around 1875 until the early 1900s. He exhorted Africans to use education, rather...

Louis Faidherbe (b.1818) was the son of a Lille (France) merchant.  He attended the Polytechnic School and later the Metz Military School from which he...

Abba Gorgoryos, also called Gregorius, or Gregory (1600-165?), was a 17th-century historian and philologist, and a friend of Hiob Ludolf, a German specialist in Ethiopian...

Francisco Alvares (14?-circa 1542) was a Portuguese Roman Catholic priest who wrote the first detailed travel book about Ethiopia, the Verdadera Informaçam das terras do...

The Rev. Samuel Richard Brew Attoh-Ahuma (December 22, 1863-December 15, 1921) was a nationalist politician, journalist, and author, active at the height of the colonial...

Anton Wilhelm Amo (about 1703-March 3, 1756) achieved fame in Europe as a scholar and philosopher, lecturing at three universities in central Europe. He was...

Cornelis Jacob Langenhoven (August 12, 1873-July 15, 1932) was a writer, journalist, and politician, but above all fighter for the rights of the Afrikaans language....

Nicolaas Petrus Van Wyk Louw (1906-1970), the foremost Afrikaans poet, essayist and dramatist, was born in Sutherland, Cape Province. He received his education both there...

Roy Campbell (October 2, 1901-April 22, 1957) was a South African poet and writer. His vigorous verse was in marked contrast to the introverted literary...