The least accessible region of Africa, and therefore the one most neglected by historians and archaeologists alike, is that comprised by the equatorial rainforest and the belt of woodland savanna immediately to the north of it. Until quite recently, the forest was penetrable only by its rivers, and these were well guarded from the outside world by the cataracts leading down from the inland basin to the sea, to the extent that even three and a half centuries after the Portuguese established regular communications with the Congo estuary, no European had set eyes on Lake Malebo or the 4000 miles of easily navigable waterways that lay beyond. The woodland savanna to the north of the forest was tsetse-infested and the refore closed to the baggage animals which operated further north, so that the only means of travel was on foot. Here, then, was an area as large as the entire United States and lying geographically at the very heart of the African continent, at the crossroads between north and south, east and west, which apparently lived almost unto itself. Not quite so, however, because with human populations there is always seepage at the edges, and people exchange ideas and technical innovations that affect every aspect of life. While we still face the fact that less is known about the history of this region than any other, what information exists cannot be just passed over in a few glib, negative generalisations.