History of Africa

Contemporary political map of Africa (Includes Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa)

The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and — around 300,000–250,000 years ago — anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states.^[1] The earliest known recorded history arose in Ancient Egypt,^[2] and later in Nubia, the Horn of Africa, the Maghreb, and the western Sahel.^[3]

Following the desertification of the Sahara, North African history became entwined with the Middle East and Southern Europe while the Bantu expansion swept from modern day Cameroon (Central West Africa) across much of the sub-Saharan continent in waves between around 1000 BC and 1 AD, creating a linguistic commonality across much of the central and Southern continent.^[4]

From the 7th century AD, Islam spread west from Arabia via conquest, intent on forcibly converting pagans to monotheism, and via proselytization, mainly by Fakirs, to North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and later southwards to the Swahili coast, then from the Maghreb traversing the Sahara into West Africa, catalysed by the Fulani Jihad.

Many kingdoms formed throughout African history, with some notable states including:

North Africa: Ancient Egypt, Kushite Empire, Ancient Carthage, Makuria, Fatimid Caliphate, Almoravid dynasty, Hafsid dynasty, Kingdom of Tlemcen, Ayyubid dynasty, Mamluk Sultanate, Saadi dynasty, Funj Sultanate, and the Alaouite dynasty.
East Africa: Land of Punt, D'mt, Kingdom of Aksum, Azania, Zanj Empire, Empire of Kitara, Zagwe dynasty, Ethiopian Empire, Kilwa Sultanate, Ifat Sultanate, Adal Sultanate, Ajuran Sultanate, Buganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Busoga, Nkore, and the Kingdom of Imerina.
West Africa: Ghana Empire, Gao Empire, Kingdom of Nri, Kingdom of Kano, Oyo Empire, Wagadugu Kingdom, Mali Empire, Jolof Empire, Songhai Empire, Kaabu Empire, Kingdom of Bissau, Kingdom of Dahomey, Ashanti Empire, Bamana Empire, Sokoto Caliphate, and the Toucouleur Empire.
Central Africa: Kanem Empire, Kingdom of Kongo, Wadai Empire, Luba Empire, Bailundo, Kotoko Kingdom, Kasanje Kingdom, Kuba Kingdom, Kazembe Kingdom, Dar al Kuti, and the Sultanate of Utetera.
Southern Africa: Kingdom of Mapungubwe, Kingdom of Zimbabwe, Mpondo Kingdom, Xhosa Kingdom, Empire of Mutapa, Kingdom of Butua, Empire of Maravi, Ondonga, Uukwanyama, Rozvi Empire, Kingdom of Swaziland, Mthethwa Empire, Lozi Kingdom, Zulu Kingdom, Kingdom of Lesotho, Gaza Empire, and the Kingdom of Mthwakazi.

Some societies maintained an egalitarian way of life without hierarchy, such as the Jola or Hadza peoples, whilst others did not organise and centralise further into complex societies, such as the Boorana and the chiefdoms of Sierra Leone, and are rarely discussed in political history. At its peak, prior to European colonialism, it is estimated that Africa had up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs, with most following African traditional religions.^[5]^[6]

Slavery in Africa has historically been widespread and systems of servitude and slavery were common in parts of Africa in ancient times, as they were in much of the ancient world.^[7] When the trans-Saharan, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Atlantic slave trades began, many of the pre-existing local African slave systems started supplying captives for slave markets outside Africa.^[8]^[9] The Atlantic slave trade was the most exploited of these, and between 1450 and 1900 transported upwards of 12 million enslaved people overseas in terrible conditions with many dying on the journey.^[10]^[11]^: 194

From 1870 to 1914, driven by the Second Industrial Revolution and its rapacity, European colonization of Africa developed rapidly from around 10% of the continent being under European imperial control to over 90% in the Scramble for Africa (1881–1914).^[12]^[13] European rule had significant impacts on Africa's societies and the suppression of communal autonomy disrupted local customary practices and caused the transformation of Africa's socioeconomic systems.^[14] Whilst there were some Christian states in Africa preceding the colonial period, such as Ethiopia and Kongo, widespread conversion occurred under European rule due to efficacious missions, particularly in southern West Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa, with peoples syncretising Christianity with local beliefs.^[15]

Following struggles for independence in many parts of the continent, with a weakened Europe after the Second World War (1939–1945), waves of decolonisation took place across the continent, culminating in the 1960 Year of Africa and the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, the predecessor to the African Union.^[16]

In Sub-Saharan African societies, history generally used to be recorded orally despite most societies having developed a writing script, leading to them being termed "oral civilisations" in contrast to "literate civilisations".^[17] Disciplines such as recording of oral tradition, historical linguistics, archaeology, and genetics have been vital in rediscovering the great African civilizations of antiquity, as well as documenting those of later periods.

^ "Evolution of Modern Humans: Early Modern Homo sapiens". www2.palomar.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
^ "Recordkeeping and History". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
^ "Early African Civilization". Study.com. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
^ "History of Africa". Visit Africa. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
^ Meyerowitz, Eva L. R. (1975). The Early History of the Akan States of Ghana. Red Candle Press. ISBN 978-0-608390352.
^ Boyes, Steve (October 31, 2013). "Getting to Know Africa: 50 Interesting Facts". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 2013-12-27.
^ Stilwell, Sean (2013). "Slavery in African History". Slavery and Slaving in African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 38. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139034999.003. ISBN 978-1-139-03499-9. For most Africans between 10000 BCE to 500 CE, the use of slaves was not an optimal political or economic strategy. But in some places, Africans came to see the value of slavery. In the large parts of the continent where Africans lived in relatively decentralized and small-scale communities, some big men used slavery to grab power to get around broader governing ideas about reciprocity and kinship, but were still bound by those ideas to some degree. In other parts of the continent early political centralization and commercialization led to expanded use of slaves as soldiers, officials, and workers.
^ Cite error: The named reference Lovejoy-2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Sparks, Randy J. (2014). "4. The Process of Enslavement at Annamaboe". Where the Negroes are Masters : An African Port in the Era of the Slave Trade. Harvard University Press. pp. 122–161. ISBN 9780674724877.
^ Ronald Segal, The Black Diaspora: Five Centuries of the Black Experience Outside Africa (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995), ISBN 0-374-11396-3, p. 4. "It is now estimated that 11,863,000 slaves were shipped across the Atlantic." (Note in original: Paul E. Lovejoy, "The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the Literature", in Journal of African History 30 (1989), p. 368.)
^ Cite error: The named reference Martin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Chukwu, Lawson; Akpowoghaha, G. N. (2023). "Colonialism in Africa: An Introductory Review". Political Economy of Colonial Relations and Crisis of Contemporary African Diplomacy. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1007/978-981-99-0245-3_1. ISBN 978-981-99-0244-6.
^ Frankema, Ewout (2018). "An Economic Rationale for the West African Scramble? The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1835–1885". The Journal for Economic History. 78 (1): 231–267. doi:10.1017/S0022050718000128.
^ Mamdani, Mahmood (1996). Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (1st ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691027937.
^ Walls, A (2011). "African Christianity in the History of Religions". Studies in World Christianity. 2 (2). Edinburgh University Press: 183–203. doi:10.3366/swc.1996.2.2.183.
^ Hargreaves, John D. (1996). Decolonization in Africa (2nd ed.). London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-24917-1. OCLC 33131573.
^ Vansina, Jan (1971). "Once upon a Time: Oral Traditions as History in Africa". Daedalus. 100 (2). MIT Press: 442–468. JSTOR 20024011.

[1] "Evolution of Modern Humans: Early Modern Homo sapiens". www2.palomar.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-27.

[2] "Recordkeeping and History". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2023-01-22.

[3] "Early African Civilization". Study.com. Retrieved 2023-01-22.

[4] "History of Africa". Visit Africa. Retrieved 2020-05-27.

[5] Meyerowitz, Eva L. R. (1975). The Early History of the Akan States of Ghana. Red Candle Press. ISBN 978-0-608390352.

[6] Boyes, Steve (October 31, 2013). "Getting to Know Africa: 50 Interesting Facts". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 2013-12-27.

[7] Stilwell, Sean (2013). "Slavery in African History". Slavery and Slaving in African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 38. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139034999.003. ISBN 978-1-139-03499-9. For most Africans between 10000 BCE to 500 CE, the use of slaves was not an optimal political or economic strategy. But in some places, Africans came to see the value of slavery. In the large parts of the continent where Africans lived in relatively decentralized and small-scale communities, some big men used slavery to grab power to get around broader governing ideas about reciprocity and kinship, but were still bound by those ideas to some degree. In other parts of the continent early political centralization and commercialization led to expanded use of slaves as soldiers, officials, and workers.

[Lovejoy-2012-8] Cite error: The named reference Lovejoy-2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Sparks_process-9] Sparks, Randy J. (2014). "4. The Process of Enslavement at Annamaboe". Where the Negroes are Masters : An African Port in the Era of the Slave Trade. Harvard University Press. pp. 122–161. ISBN 9780674724877.

[10] Ronald Segal, The Black Diaspora: Five Centuries of the Black Experience Outside Africa (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995), ISBN 0-374-11396-3, p. 4. "It is now estimated that 11,863,000 slaves were shipped across the Atlantic." (Note in original: Paul E. Lovejoy, "The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the Literature", in Journal of African History 30 (1989), p. 368.)

[Martin-11] Cite error: The named reference Martin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[12] Chukwu, Lawson; Akpowoghaha, G. N. (2023). "Colonialism in Africa: An Introductory Review". Political Economy of Colonial Relations and Crisis of Contemporary African Diplomacy. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1007/978-981-99-0245-3_1. ISBN 978-981-99-0244-6.

[13] Frankema, Ewout (2018). "An Economic Rationale for the West African Scramble? The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1835–1885". The Journal for Economic History. 78 (1): 231–267. doi:10.1017/S0022050718000128.

[CitizenSubject-14] Mamdani, Mahmood (1996). Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (1st ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691027937.

[15] Walls, A (2011). "African Christianity in the History of Religions". Studies in World Christianity. 2 (2). Edinburgh University Press: 183–203. doi:10.3366/swc.1996.2.2.183.

[16] Hargreaves, John D. (1996). Decolonization in Africa (2nd ed.). London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-24917-1. OCLC 33131573.

[17] Vansina, Jan (1971). "Once upon a Time: Oral Traditions as History in Africa". Daedalus. 100 (2). MIT Press: 442–468. JSTOR 20024011.

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