John Fage

John Donnelly Fage FRHistS (3 June 1921–6 August 2002) 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.

McCaskie noted that 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".

[...] In default of sufficient written material, archaeological and linguistic findings were drawn on, and use was made of the oral traditions which social anthropologist had reported but whose value for historical reconstruction could be exploited only through the skill of historians.

[1] In 1959, Fage returned to the United Kingdom to take a post at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London alongside Roland Oliver with whom he collaborated on several publications.

Fage chaired the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO (1966–83) and was a committee member of the International African Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.