African history Coloring Book - a Surprise Castle exclusive

24 hand-illustrated scenes from five thousand years of empires, traders, warriors, and liberators, from a pharaoh on his throne to Mandela casting his vote.

A continent's worth of history. One page at a time.

A hand-drawn adult coloring book, 24 scenes that run from pyramid construction sites and trans-Saharan caravans to anti-colonial battlefields and the first free elections. The pace is set by the slow drag of a stone block and the speed of a Saharan trade wind, not the next notification.

Step up to the ballot box where Nelson Mandela casts his vote during the South African transition, fellow citizens watching. Walk to a hillside where a liberation fighter in camouflage holds his rifle above a village, smoke rising from the valley. Pull up to a coastal proclamation where a leader addresses a crowd under an independence flag with a single star. Then back to a Zulu warrior in feathered headdress holding a spear, a colonial encampment in the distance.

The pages keep moving. Anti-colonial fighters with rifles in the bush, a village burning behind them. European colonizers planting a Christian cross flag at a coastal fort, a sailing vessel anchored offshore. A medieval African warrior-king in ornate armor with sword and crown, his armed entourage in formation. Harbor workers with picks excavating stone blocks, a colonial steamer at the wharf.

Wander through empires. A nineteenth-century European table where leaders divide an African map into colonies. A second Zulu warrior with beaded shield and feathered crest, smaller warriors flanking. A coastal stone fort with chained chests, the transatlantic slave trade in heavy outline. A Saharan caravan led by a decorated trader on camelback with a gold staff.

Keep going. A bearded merchant leading a caravan across the dunes under an Islamic flag. An Egyptian pharaoh on his lion-armrest throne with the ankh held across his chest. An Arab prince on a decorated camel arriving at a fortress gate. An Axumite king in royal regalia holding a Christian cross. A Saharan scholar with a camel-borne chest of gold coins on a desert market. An Islamic cavalry soldier on horseback before fortified gates beneath a crescent banner. An Egyptian queen in a tall crown holding the ankh among temple columns and a pyramid. An Arab dhow with a moon-and-star sail at a Mediterranean harbor. A second seated pharaoh in nemes crown beside two carved lions and a pyramid horizon. Modern military officers in uniform before a government building flanked by tanks. A pharaoh standing between two papyrus columns, attendants at his side. And to close, a line of Egyptian laborers hauling a great stone block on wooden rollers, the sphinx watching the rising pyramid.

There's a reason coloring sticks around. It gives a busy mind somewhere to land, and in this case that somewhere is the linen of a pharaoh's collar or the beadwork of a Zulu shield. Some pages are bold and forgiving. Others will eat a whole afternoon. Works fine with colored pencils, fine-tip markers, or gel pens.

If you know someone with Howard French and Basil Davidson on the same shelf, a friend writing a thesis on the Mali Empire, or anyone who watches every Mandela documentary that comes out, this is for them. It's also for the person who'd quietly rather shade a pyramid on a Saturday than scroll.

Open the chronicle.

Inside you'll find 24 scenes: Mandela voting in the South African transition, a liberation soldier on a hillside, an independence speech under a single-star flag, a Zulu warrior in feathered headdress, anti-colonial fighters in the bush with a burning village, European colonizers planting a cross flag, a medieval warrior-king in ornate armor, harbor workers excavating stone for a colonial vessel, European leaders dividing the African map, a second Zulu warrior with beaded shield, a coastal slave-trade fort with chained chests, a Saharan trader on camelback with gold staff, a bearded explorer leading a caravan under an Islamic flag, an Egyptian pharaoh on a lion-throne with ankh, an Arab prince on a decorated camel at a fortress gate, an Axumite king with Christian cross, a Saharan scholar with a chest of gold, an Islamic cavalryman before fortified gates, an Egyptian queen with ankh and pyramid, an Arab dhow with moon-and-star sail, a second seated pharaoh, modern military officers with tanks, a pharaoh between papyrus columns, and Egyptian workers hauling a stone block toward a pyramid.