Abstract:
Colonial historiography has been an ineffective tool in the study colonialism both in
African and Indian history. It is a major flaw in the thinking of the Eurocentric writers about the
development process of the history of the societies of Africa and India. This development has
formed the subject-matter and focus of the paper. The paper’s findings show that contrary to the
western basis of history which denigrated the African and Indian past, the development and
expression of African and Indian historiography as an ideological wing of nationalist struggle laid
a crucial foundation for the reconstruction of their past. The most significant change in the
historiography during the second half of the 20th century is the use of discourse and locally
grounded narratives to question older paradigms of historical understanding of African and
Indian historiography.The paper has advanced the argument that historical consciousness was a
factor in Indian and African societies in the pre-colonial period and the tools for its expression
grew and expanded only with the different epochs of European activities on the continent, as well
as the events of the post-colonial period. This paper used the historical research method, the
multidisciplinary approach, intellectual perspectives of history, and secondary sources to achieve
the objectives of its focal point. It concludes that African historians must continue to be rigorous
in establishing independent views in their writing of the African past.
