# INTRODUCTION  
## Life Stories and Freedom Narratives of Global Africa Paul E. Lovejoy  
People in Africa have moved, migrated and mingled throughout history. We know this from archaeology, linguistics and historical documentation, which allow some reconstruction of how societies have evolved, social structures have developed and economic change has occurred. The General History of Africa (GHA) provides an overview of this long history. Historical analysis can reveal social and political forces that are important in examining the process of change and the resulting impact of climate, ecological and environmental parameters, war and economic development. Sometimes, however, the picture that is painted leaves out the fact that history involves individuals, whether in kin groups, villages, towns or cities.  
Certainly, one of the most important, massive and long-lasting migrations that has affected Africa, and which formed the contours of Global Africa, arose from enslavement, the slave trade and slavery. Over the past five hundred years, many millions of people were displaced through slavery, at least 12.8 million across the Atlantic and several million more across the Sahara, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, although not all of these migrants survived the journey. Moreover, millions more were relocated within the African continent and, because enslavement was usually violent and the transfer of people over land and sea hazardous, the attendant mortality affected the lives and livelihoods of an even larger population. On one level, the tragedy of what this entailed has