Feudalism and comparatism: African cases

The notion of feudalism and comparisons with medieval European societies were part of the explanatory and interpretative arsenal of European settlers during the 19th and 20th centuries in their various endeavors to describe indigenous societies and capture the history of African precolonial societies. During the second part of the 20th century, the Marxist analysis grid brought a new dimension to the outside view of the history of the African continent by proposing various methods to include it in an evolutionary conception. In the end, the historiographical result of a bygone period shows that pre-colonial African societies did not have much to do with European medieval feudalism, and that the question of the feudal mode of production, on the other hand, allowed for interesting discussions allowing a better understanding of certain African specificities. Finally, the most feudal period that the African continent has known was undoubtedly the colonial period...