First published in 1968. The present volume originated in a seminar which was conducted at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London during the 1965-66 academic session. With the possible exception of railways, there have been no projects in Africa of comparable size and implications to the giant dams, involving as they do such un-paralleled commitment of resources, with corresponding social, political and legal consequences. Some of these consequences have been considered in the essays presented here, both in the specific context of particular projects and as in the more general context of comparative surveys, by experts who were (with two exceptions) present at the seminar.