This New Encyclopedia of Africa is the successor to the Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara that was conceived in 1991 by the late Charles E. Smith of Simon & Schuster and was eventually published by Charles Scribner’s Sons of New York in 1997. It became the standard four-volume encyclopedia of Africa: earlier works were either too short, too limited in content, old-fashioned, or out of print. It was obvious that a million and a half words could not include everything known about Africa south of the Sahara, at the time usually referred to as ‘‘Black Africa.’’ Information changes continually and classifications alter with amazing speed: our original plans required continual rethinking as to approach, structure, content, length of entries, and choice of authors. But we were able to set out coherently what was at the time generally known and accepted about human endeavor and achievement in Africa south of the Sahara. Today and in future years other definitions, classifications, and interpretations have replaced and will continue to replace both those of 1997 and those of today.