This reference work provides a summary of historical and contemporary aspects of urbanisation in Africa. The volume is organised in three parts. The first part provides a historical overview of urbanisation in Africa from ancient civilisations to the present day. The second part provides detailed studies of urbanisation in 15 highly urbanised African countries. Each chapter in this section is devoted to one country, and the chapters are arranged alphabetically for convenient access. Countries profiled are located in different regions of the continent, and each has an urban population of at least 500,000 people. The third part of the volume includes chapters on topics of special importance to African urbanisation, such as economics and demographics. The chapters are written by expert contributors and provide current references. The volume concludes with a selected bibliography.