John Donnelly Fage was a British historian who was among the first academics to specialise in African history, especially of the pre-colonial period, in the United Kingdom and West Africa.
15 Facts About John Fage
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John Fage published a number of influential studies on West African history including Introduction to the History of West Africa.
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John Fage subsequently co-founded the Journal of African History, the first specialist academic journal in the field, with Roland Oliver in 1960.
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John Fage was born in Teddington in Middlesex, England on 3 June 1921.
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John Fage was educated at Tonbridge School and Magdalene College, Cambridge from 1939 where he studied history but his studies were interrupted by World War II.
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John Fage served in several postings elsewhere on the continent, including in Madagascar.
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McCaskie noted that John Fage "was part of a generation that emerged from the second world war into the optimistic ferment that surrounded both African decolonisation and British university expansion".
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In 1949, John Fage took a post at the new University College of the Gold Coast in Accra, Gold Coast which was affiliated to the University of London.
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In 1959, John Fage returned to the United Kingdom to take a post at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London alongside Roland Oliver with whom he collaborated on several publications.
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John Fage moved to the University of Birmingham in 1963 to establish the Centre of West African Studies which he directed for over twenty years.
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African studies expanded rapidly in the United Kingdom at the same time, and John Fage became one of the founding members of the African Studies Association of the United Kingdom in which he served as president before being elected an honorary member.
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John Fage published A History of Africa for The History of Human Society series.
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John Fage chaired the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO and was a committee member of the International African Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
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John Fage was a joint recipient of ASAUK's "Distinguished Africanist Award" in 2001 and his memoir entitled To Africa and Back was published in 2002.
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John Fage died, aged 81, at Machynlleth on 6 August 2002.