Based on the needs of national history curriculum standards and history education for junior high school students, this study promoted Africa research from a different perspective in Mainland China to improve research on history textbooks. Taking the Africa-themed books of Sinomap Press in 2006 as an example, we explored junior high school students' cognitive understanding regarding history textbooks. A document analysis method was applied to summarize the cognition situation of historical textbooks and present the thematic evolution of knowledge related to Africa in the history syllabus and curriculum standards. Moreover, a questionnaire was adopted to study this theme. The research also included observation, an auxiliary interview, and a combination of theoretical and empirical research. The following research plan was adopted: scrutinize subject matter contents in the history syllabus→implement test surveys using two types of questionnaire→perform statistical analysis on the two types of results→ observe teaching (teaching process design)→analyze results→reflect on research results and countermeasures. The results of the study may provide vital theoretical and practical implications for the improvement of history textbooks in Mainland China, the history education of middle school students, and the improvement of history teaching practice.