John Iliffe (born 1 May 1939) is a British historian, specialising in the

history of Africa The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and — around 300–250,000 years ago— anatomically modern humans (''Homo sapiens''), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of di ...

and especially

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

. He was Professor of African History at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and fellow of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

. He was awarded the 1988

Herskovits Prize The ASA Best Book Prize, formerly known as the Herskovits Prize (Melville J. Herskovits Prize), is an annual prize given by the African Studies Association to the best scholarly work (including translations) on Africa published in English in the pr ...

for ''The African Poor: A History''. Iliffe was a fellow of the British Academy from 1989 to 2006.

Notable works

* ''Africans : The History of a Continent'' * ''Cattle Rancher'' * ''The African Poor : A History'' * ''East African Doctors: A History of the Modern Profession'' * ''A Modern History of Tanganyika'' * ''Honour in African history'' * ''Famine in Zimbabwe, 1890-1960'' * ''The Emergence of African Capitalism'' * ''Obasanjo, Nigeria and the World'' * ''The African AIDS Epidemic: A History''

External links

Page at St John's College, Cambridge

Biography by the Society of Old Framlinghamians
1939 births Living people Historians of Africa British historians British Africanists Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge University of Dar es Salaam faculty Historians of Zimbabwe Historians of Tanzania Historians of Nigeria Professors of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy {{UK-historian-stub