CENTRAL & EAST AFRICA

Today there seems no excuse for giving shelf-space, or serious attention, to a book in which African history begins with the circumnavigation of the ""Dark Continent"" by Vasco da Gama. Not surprisingly, the follow-up embraces only European exploration and colonization. Skipping this entails no significant loss -- in the forty pages, less than a third of which is text, ten countries' products are briefly examined, ""pests and diseases"" and other problems touched upon, and that's about it.