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for moral leadership, an analysis of the renaissance idea has been made. This analysishas yielded the following results.The Italian Renaissance was sparked off by the returning scholars after the fall of theByzantine Empire in 1453. The revival of classical learning which characterised theEuropean Renaissance was in fact the Graeco-Roman heritage which had beendormant for over a thousand years (400-1400). It was the revival of the Graeco-Roman civilisation from which arose the impetus of the Italian Renaissance. Therewere specific aspects by which the Italian Renaissance was identified. These wereclassical learning, the humanist movement, and revival of the arts. Politicalorganisation also improved tremendously, although its development could not belimited to this period alone.The study revealed a link between the European Renaissance and an AfricanRenaissance. It was through the development of the European Renaissance that theEuropeans “discovered” Africa, around 1444. The imperial exploitation whichfollowed led to the evil of the slave trade, and ushered in the colonial era duringwhich Africans were dehumanised, exploited, and colonised. Africa’s struggle toregain her identity and self-determination is precisely a struggle of Africa’s rebirthafter the European suppression born out of the European Renaissance.This chapter looked beyond the current situation/context of the developing AfricanRenaissance towards its origin. The development of an African Renaissance hasshown that it started as far back as 1900 in the Harlem Renaissance movement in NewYork, USA, by the descendants of the freed African slaves.The reason for the usage of the term “renaissance” by African leaders seems to betwo-fold. Firstly, “African Renaissance” is a rhetorical phrase used to motivateAfricans towards social and politico-economic revival. Secondly, the term is used togather support from industrialised nations since it presupposes that Africa is followingin the European footsteps of development. Contrary to Mbeki of South Africa, somescholars such as Katongole, and heads of states such as Museveni, are opposed to thisdependence and point to the ambiguities inherent to the use of the renaissance ideaitself. Harbeson and Rothschild in their book Africa in World Politics: Post-cold war124