John Iliffe: the historian who changed how Africa’s past was understood

John Iliffe, the distinguished scholar renowned for his life’s work in African history, died on 20 August 2026 at the age of 87.

He shed light on big themes in Africa’s history.

His 12 books were scrupulously researched, many of them being pioneering works that set out new areas of scholarship.

He taught hundreds of undergraduates in Tanzania, Malawi and the UK over a career that lasted over 40 years.

He trained over two dozen doctoral students, many of whom now occupy positions of importance in African and British universities.

The young Iliffe did his PhD at Peterhouse College, Cambridge.

He wrote about the early 20th century governor of German East Africa, Albrecht von Rechenberg , whose policies had pushed the local population toward rebellion.

His dissertation came in at 1,046 pages (Cambridge’s history faculty was later to cap dissertations at 80,000 words ).

In 1965 Iliffe went to Tanzania, where he took up a lectureship in the history department at the University College of Dar es Salaam.

It was a heady time.

Tanzania had just been born out of the union of two territories – Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

President Julius Nyerere was looking for cultural and historical properties that could unify the nation.

Dar es Salaam was hosting an astonishing range of liberation movements .

Iliffe and his colleagues were part of what came to be called the “ Dar es Salaam School of African History ”.