An African Survey: A Study of Problems arising in Africa South of the Sahara, often simply known as African Survey, was a report originally published in 1938 under the auspices of The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) which paved the way for the reorganisation of research into the situation of the British Empire in Sub-Saharan Africa through the Colonial Development and Welfare Act 1940.

[4] The publication's origins arose out of a proposal by Jan Smuts in 1929 when he delivered the Rhodes Memorial Lecture at Oxford University.

John Cell has argued that reference to Jan Smuts in Lord Lothian's foreword to the work should not be given much weight.

He was aided by Lucy Mair and Audrey Richards, both anthropology students of Bronisław Malinowski, who were seconded to the Colonial Office;[3] E. B. Worthington, a Cambridge biologist who assisted with a scientific survey; and Hilda Matheson, who was hired as a secretary to the project, but ended up serving more as an executive manager of the endeavor.

[6] One of the key points made by the report was that rather than have research develop as a piece-meal response to specific problems, it should be integrated into an overall plan with suitable funding from the treasury.