Reference Resources

UW Restricted This image identifies those resources where remote access is limited to University of Washington students, faculty, and staff.

These resources provide background information that can help you define unfamiliar terms, clarify issues, locate quick biographical information, verify dates and events, and locate statistical data.

  Afrikan alphabets
Afrikan alphabets have a long history, fantastic variety, and some continue to be in current use today. They are comparatively little known due largely to their suppression by colonial powers.

  Africa guide
Country, Medical, Political, and Travel information

  Africa maps
Maps of Africa

  Africa south of the Sahara
An explicit one-volume guide to all sub-Saharan African countries, providing invaluable economic, historic, and directory data. Also available through UW RestrictedEuropa world

  African Folklore: an encyclopedia
This resource covers the variety of forms of folklore across all of Africa in over 300 entries, ranging from 500 to 5,000 words. The entries are organized alphabetically by topic, including large sub-groupings that treat categories such as women's folklore, theater, and musical expression.

  African studies companion
Provides over 1,900, for the most part extensively annotated entries. The Companion covers both print and online resources on African studies, and includes an annotated directory of over 200 African studies periodicals.

  Background notes
Country reports compiled by the U.S. Dept. of State.

  Bibliographies/resource lists


UW Restricted Britannica online
Web version of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopędia Britannica Online includes the complete encyclopedia, as well as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, Britannica Student Encyclopedia and the Britannica Book of the Year.

  Bureau of African affairs
United States Dept. of State, advises the Secretary and guides the operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Former Assistant Administrator for Africa of the U.S. Agency for International Development

  Electronic journal of Africana bibliography
A refereed online journal of bibliographies created by the late John Howell, University of Iowa Libraries. Coverage includes any aspect of African cultural, economic, educational, and political life.

  Electronic texts
Various documents and texts available in digital format.

  Embassies around the world
Embassy World provides a list of contact resources for all of the world's diplomatic offices.

  Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara
The Encyclopedia provides current information in over 1,000 articles on the sub-Saharan region. The articles describe such topics as the intricate ties of family and kinship, the complex matrix of government, politics, and law, and the beauties of African arts, cultures, and languages.

  The encyclopedia of African and African-American religions
Covers African and African-American religion in sub-Saharan Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean, and provides vital insights into its growing worldwide influence in Europe, Asia and the South Pacific. Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Encyclopedia of African history and culture
Provides 1,100 entries that examine well-established topics in African history, and also include social, economic, linguistic, anthropological, and political subjects that are being re-evaluated or newly opened for historical analysis by recent research and publication.

  Encyclopedia of African literature
Over 600 entries covering all the key historical and cultural issues in the study of African literature, including criticism and theory, development as a field of scholarship, and studies both of established and lesser-known writers. Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Foreign-Born Population-Profile
Presents data on a wide range of geographic, demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics for the foreign-born population of the United States. Data for the native population are included for comparison.

UW RestrictedGale Virtual reference library
Arts, Biography, Business, Education, Environment, History, Law, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Nation and World, Religion, Science, Social Science, Technology in ebook format.

UW Restricted Global development finance
GDF Online, provides current and time series debt and other financial data by country. GDF is for more specialized research.

  Key events in African history
This reference guide to African history provides substantive entries on 36 events that shaped the history of the continent from the prehistoric past to the dawn of the 21st century. Includes bibliographical references and index

UW Restricted Reference guide to Africa: a bibliography of sources
Electronic access to African studies research mainly in the humanities and social sciences. The introductory sections cover African studies indexes, bibliographies, handbooks, guides and directories as well as electronic sources and Internet web sites. The continuing chapters deal with specific types of materials such as statistics, current events, biography, primary sources, and government publications. The main body of the work is an annotated overview of sources for seventeen disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, and agriculture and ecology. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Also available in print Reference guide to Africa.

  Statistics [InfoNation.com]
Statistics and indicators are provided by the United Nations Statistics Division from the World Statistics Pocketbook, Statistical Yearbook and Demographic Yearbook 1995, except languages.

  Internet living Swahili dictionary
The Internet Living Swahili Dictionary is a collaborative work by people all over the world.

  Swahili and other African languages from Yourdictionary.com
yourDictionary.com is a language products and services company that maintains the most comprehensive and authoritative language portal on the web with more than 2500 dictionaries and grammars in over 300 languages, games that build language skills, and a forum (The Agora) for discussing language issues with the logophile community.

UW Restricted World development indicators
WDI Online, provides general current and time series statistical data for countries.

Created by: Harry Murphy maurice@u.washington.edu
Last modified: Friday February 16, 2007