About us

Being a network and interdisciplinary think tank, the aim of the Heinrich-Barth-Institute is to gain insights into the archaeology and environmental history of Africa. One of our main tasks is the conception and support of long-term research projects [Projects  and Project Funding ]. Other objectives include the publication of research results in our own publication series Africa Praehistorica , Colloquium Africanum  and Africa Explorata , additional training for African students  and a sustained commitment to preserving the cultural heritage of African countries, e.g. by supporting efforts to create UNESCO cultural heritage sites or raising the awareness of tourists and travellers to Africa on how to deal with cultural heritage [flyer Respect the Desert ].

Founded in 1989 as a non-profit organization within the framework of the Africa Archaeology Unit  of the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology (University of Cologne), the HBI builds on documentation projects on the rock art of southwestern Africa that began there in 1963, as well as on pioneering research on the archaeology of settlements in the eastern Sahara that began in 1980.

In its objectives, the HBI follows the work of Heinrich Barth  (1821-1865), whose travels and publications more than 150 years ago laid the essential foundations for interdisciplinary African research. With his unbiased view of the connections between environment and history and his assessment of Africa's significance for the overall development of mankind, he continues to point the way forward until today.

Meine Art der Anschauung ist der historische Zusammenhang des Menschen mit der reichen Gliederung der Erdoberfläche. (Heinrich Barth 1857)