History of Africa

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Pre-colonial African states from different time periods

Contemporary political map of Africa (Includes Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa)
Obelisk at temple of Luxor, Egypt. c. 1200 BC

Baguirmi knight in full padded armour suit

Part of a series on

Human history
Human Era

↑ Prehistory   (Pleistocene epoch)

Holocene

 Timelines
Neolithic – Contemporary

(10,000 BCE – 2021 CE)

 Age of the human race
 Recorded history
 Earliest records
 Protohistory
 Proto-writing

Ancient

 Bronze age
 Iron age
 Axial antiquity
 Classical antiquity
 Late antiquity

 Africa
 North America
 South America
 Oceania
 East Asia
 South Asia
 Southeast Asia
 West Asia
 Europe

Postclassical

 Africa
 Americas
 Oceania
 East Asia
 South Asia
 Southeast Asia
 West Asia
 Europe

Modern

 Early modern
 Late modern

 Africa
 North America
  South America
 Oceania
 East Asia
 South Asia
 Southeast Asia
 West Asia
 Europe

See also

 Modernity
 Futurology

↓ Future   

 v
 t
 e

The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and

—at least 200,000 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, and later in Nubia, the Sahel, the Maghreb and
the Horn of Africa.
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 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. [2]
During the Middle Ages, Islam spread west from Arabia to Egypt, crossing the
Maghreb and the Sahel. Some notable pre-colonial states and societies in Africa
include the Ajuran Empire, Bachwezi Empire, D'mt, Adal Sultanate, Alodia,
Warsangali Sultanate, Buganda Kingdom, Kingdom of Nri, Nok culture, Mali
Empire, Bono State, Songhai Empire, Benin Empire, Oyo Empire, Kingdom of Lunda
(Punu-yaka), Ashanti Empire, Ghana Empire, Mossi Kingdoms, Mutapa
Empire, Kingdom of Mapungubwe, Kingdom of Sine, Kingdom of Sennar, Kingdom
of Saloum, Kingdom of Baol, Kingdom of Cayor, Kingdom of Zimbabwe, Kingdom of
Kongo, Empire of Kaabu, Kingdom of Ile Ife, Ancient Carthage, Numidia, Mauretania,
and the Aksumite Empire. 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.[3][4]
From the late 15th century, Europeans joined the slave trade. [5] One could say the
Portuguese led in partnership with other Europeans. [5][6][weasel  words] That includes the
triangular trade, with the Portuguese initially acquiring slaves through trade and later
by force as part of the Atlantic slave trade. They transported enslaved West, Central,
 and Southern Africans overseas.[7] Subsequently, European colonization of Africa
developed rapidly from around 10% (1870) to over 90% (1914) in the Scramble for
Africa (1881–1914). However following struggles for independence in many parts of
the continent, as well as a weakened Europe after the Second World War (1939–
1945), decolonization took place across the continent, culminating in the 1960 Year
of Africa.[8]
Disciplines such as recording of oral history, historical
linguistics, archaeology and genetics have been vital in rediscovering the great
African civilizations of antiquity.

A. Contents

 1Prehistory
o 1.1Paleolithic
o 1.2Emergence of agriculture and desertification of the Sahara
o 1.3Central Africa
o 1.4Metallurgy
 2Antiquity
o 2.1Ancient Egypt
o 2.2Nubia
o 2.3Carthage
o 2.4Macrobia and the Barbari City States
o 2.5Roman North Africa
o 2.6Aksum
o 2.7West Africa
o 2.8Bantu expansion
 3Medieval and Early Modern (6th to 18th centuries)
o 3.1Sao civilization
o 3.2Kanem Empire
o 3.3Bornu Empire
o 3.4Shilluk Kingdom
o 3.5Baguirmi Kingdom
o 3.6Wadai Empire
o 3.7Luba Empire
o 3.8Lunda Empire
o 3.9Kingdom of Kongo
o 3.10Horn of Africa
o 3.11North Africa
o 3.12Southern Africa
o 3.13Southeast Africa
o 3.14West Africa
 419th century
o 4.1Southern Africa
o 4.2Nguniland
o 4.3Sotho-Tswana
o 4.4Voortrekkers
o 4.5European trade, exploration and conquest
o 4.6France versus Britain: the Fashoda crisis of 1898
o 4.7European colonial territories
 520th century
o 5.1World War I
o 5.2World War II: Political
o 5.3World War II: Military
o 5.4Post-war Africa: decolonization
o 5.5Historiography of British Africa
 6Economic history of Africa
 7Military history of Africa
 8Genetic history of Africa
 9Historiographic and Conceptual Problems of North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa
o 9.1Historiographic and Conceptual Problems
o 9.2Conceptual Problems
 10See also
 11Notes
 12References
 13Further reading
o 13.1Atlases
o 13.2Historiography
 14External links

B. Prehistory[edit]
Further information: Prehistoric North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa
§  Prehistory, Prehistoric West Africa, Central Africa §  Prehistory, East Africa
§  Prehistory, Horn of Africa §  Prehistory, and African archaeology
1) Paleolithic[edit]
Main articles: Lower Paleolithic, Middle Stone Age, and Later Stone Age
The first known hominids evolved in Africa. According to paleontology, the early
hominids' skull anatomy was similar to that of the gorilla and the chimpanzee, great
apes that also evolved in Africa, but the hominids had adopted a bipedal locomotion
which freed their hands. This gave them a crucial advantage, enabling them to live in
both forested areas and on the open savanna at a time when Africa was drying up
and the savanna was encroaching on forested areas. This would have occurred 10
to 5 million years ago, but these claims are controversial because biologists and
genetics have humans appearing around the last 70 thousand to 200 thousand
years.[9]
By 4 million years ago, several australopithecine hominid species had developed
throughout Southern, Eastern and Central Africa. They were tool users, and makers
of tools. They scavenged for meat and were omnivores. [9]
By approximately 3.3 million years ago, primitive stone tools were first used to
scavenge kills made by other predators and to harvest carrion and marrow from their
bones. In hunting, Homo habilis was probably not capable of competing with large
predators and was still more prey than hunter. H. habilis probably did steal eggs from
nests and may have been able to catch small game and weakened larger prey (cubs
and older animals). The tools were classed as Oldowan.[10]
Around 1.8 million years ago, Homo ergaster first appeared in the fossil record in
Africa. From Homo ergaster, Homo erectus evolved 1.5 million years ago. Some of
the earlier representatives of this species were still fairly small-brained and used
primitive stone tools, much like H. habilis. The brain later grew in size, and H.
erectus eventually developed a more complex stone tool technology called
the Acheulean. Possibly the first hunters, H. erectus mastered the art of making fire
and was the first hominid to leave Africa, colonizing most of Afro-Eurasia and
perhaps later giving rise to Homo floresiensis. Although some recent writers have
suggested that Homo georgicus was the first and primary hominid ever to live
outside Africa, many scientists consider H. georgicus to be an early and primitive
member of the H. erectus species.[11][12]

African biface artifact (spear point) dated in Late Stone Age period

The fossil record shows Homo sapiens (also known as "modern humans" or

"anatomically modern humans") living in Africa by about 350,000-260,000 years ago.
The earliest known Homo sapiens fossils include the Jebel Irhoud remains from
Morocco (ca. 315,000 years ago),[13] the Florisbad Skull from South Africa (ca.
259,000 years ago), and the Omo remains from Ethiopia (ca. 195,000 years ago). [14][15]
[16][17]
 Scientists have suggested that Homo sapiens may have arisen between 350,000
and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations in East Africa and South
Africa.[18][19]
Evidence of a variety behaviors indicative of Behavioral modernity date to the
African Middle Stone Age, associated with early Homo sapiens and their emergence.
Abstract imagery, widened subsistence strategies, and other "modern" behaviors
have been discovered from that period in Africa, especially South, North, and East
Africa. The Blombos Cave site in South Africa, for example, is famous for rectangular
slabs of ochre engraved with geometric designs. Using multiple dating techniques,
the site was confirmed to be around 77,000 and 100–75,000 years old. [20][21] Ostrich
egg shell containers engraved with geometric designs dating to 60,000 years ago
were found at Diepkloof, South Africa.[22] Beads and other personal ornamentation
have been found from Morocco which might be as much as 130,000 years old; as
well, the Cave of Hearths in South Africa has yielded a number of beads dating from
significantly prior to 50,000 years ago,.,[23] and shell beads dating to about 75,000
years ago have been found at Blombos Cave, South Africa. [24][25][26]
Specialized projectile weapons as well have been found at various sites in Middle
Stone Age Africa, including bone and stone arrowheads at South African sites such
as Sibudu Cave (along with an early bone needle also found at Sibudu) dating
approximately 60,000-70,000 years ago, [27][28][29][30][31] and bone harpoons at the Central
African site of Katanda dating to about 90,000 years ago. [32] Evidence also exists for
the systematic heat treating of silcrete stone to increased its flake-ability for the
purpose of toolmaking, beginning approximately 164,000 years ago at the South
African site of Pinnacle Point and becoming common there for the creation of
microlithic tools at about 72,000 years ago.[33][34] Early stone-tipped projectile weapons
(a characteristic tool of Homo sapiens), the stone tips of javelins or throwing spears,
were discovered in 2013 at the Ethiopian site of Gademotta, and date to around
279,000 years ago.[35]
In 2008, an ochre processing workshop likely for the production of paints was
uncovered dating to ca. 100,000 years ago at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Analysis
shows that a liquefied pigment-rich mixture was produced and stored in the two
abalone shells, and that ochre, bone, charcoal, grindstones and hammer-stones also
formed a composite part of the toolkits. Evidence for the complexity of the task
includes procuring and combining raw materials from various sources (implying they
had a mental template of the process they would follow), possibly using
pyrotechnology to facilitate fat extraction from bone, using a probable recipe to
produce the compound, and the use of shell containers for mixing and storage for
later use.[36][37][38] Modern behaviors, such as the making of shell beads, bone tools and
arrows, and the use of ochre pigment, are evident at a Kenyan site by 78,000-67,000
years ago.[39]
Expanding subsistence strategies beyond big-game hunting and the consequential
diversity in tool types has been noted as signs of behavioral modernity. A number of
South African sites have shown an early reliance on aquatic resources from fish to
shellfish. Pinnacle Point, in particular, shows exploitation of marine resources as
early as 120,000 years ago, perhaps in response to more arid conditions inland.
[40]
 Establishing a reliance on predictable shellfish deposits, for example, could reduce
mobility and facilitate complex social systems and symbolic behavior. Blombos Cave
and Site 440 in Sudan both show evidence of fishing as well. Taphonomic change in
fish skeletons from Blombos Cave have been interpreted as capture of live fish,
clearly an intentional human behavior.[23] Humans in North Africa (Nazlet Sabaha,
[41]
 Egypt) are known to have dabbled in chert mining, as early as ≈100,000 years
ago, for the construction of stone tools.[42][43]
Evidence was found in 2018, dating to about 320,000 years ago, at the Kenyan site
of Olorgesailie, of the early emergence of modern behaviors including: long-distance
trade networks (involving goods such as obsidian), the use of pigments, and the
possible making of projectile points. It is observed by the authors of three 2018
studies on the site, that the evidence of these behaviors is approximately
contemporary to the earliest known Homo sapiens fossil remains from Africa (such
as at Jebel Irhoud and Florisbad), and they suggest that complex and modern
behaviors began in Africa around the time of the emergence of Homo sapiens.[44][45]
[46]
 In 2019, further evidence of early complex projectile weapons in Africa was found
at Adouma, Ethiopia dated 80,000-100,000 years ago, in the form of points
considered likely to belong to darts delivered by spear throwers. [47]
Around 65–50,000 years ago, the species' expansion out of Africa launched the
colonization of the planet by modern human beings. [48][49][50][51] By 10,000 BC, Homo
sapiens had spread to most corners of Afro-Eurasia. Their dispersals are traced by
linguistic, cultural and genetic evidence.[10][52][53] The earliest physical evidence
of astronomical activity appears to be a lunar calendar found on the Ishango
bone dated to between 23,000 and 18,000 BC from in what is now the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.[54]
Scholars have argued that warfare was absent throughout much of humanity's
prehistoric past, and that it emerged from more complex political systems as a result
of sedentism, agricultural farming, etc.[55] However, the findings at the site
of Nataruk in Turkana County, Kenya, where the remains of 27 individuals who died
as the result of an intentional attack by another group 10,000 years ago, suggest that
inter-human conflict has a much longer history. [56]
2) Emergence of agriculture and desertification of the
Sahara[edit]
Further information: Neolithic Revolution §  In Africa
Around 16,000 BC, from the Red Sea Hills to the northern Ethiopian Highlands, nuts,
grasses and tubers were being collected for food. By 13,000 to 11,000 BC, people
began collecting wild grains. This spread to Western Asia, which domesticated its
wild grains, wheat and barley. Between 10,000 and 8000 BC, Northeast Africa was
cultivating wheat and barley and raising sheep and cattle from Southwest Asia. A
wet climatic phase in Africa turned the Ethiopian Highlands into a mountain
forest. Omotic speakers domesticated enset around 6500–5500 BC. Around 7000
BC, the settlers of the Ethiopian highlands domesticated donkeys, and by 4000 BC
domesticated donkeys had spread to Southwest Asia. Cushitic speakers, partially
turning away from cattle herding, domesticated teff and finger millet between 5500
and 3500 BC.[57][58]
During the 11th millennium BP, pottery was independently invented in Africa, with
the earliest pottery there dating to about 9,400 BC from central Mali. [59] It soon spread
throughout the southern Sahara and Sahel.[60] In the steppes and savannahs of
the Sahara and Sahel in Northern West Africa, the Nilo-Saharan
speakers and Mandé peoples started to collect and domesticate wild millet, African
rice and sorghum between 8000 and 6000 BC. Later, gourds, watermelons, castor
beans, and cotton were also collected and domesticated. The people started
capturing wild cattle and holding them in circular thorn hedges, resulting
in domestication.[61] They also started making pottery and built stone settlements
(e.g., Tichitt, Oualata). Fishing, using bone-tipped harpoons, became a major activity
in the numerous streams and lakes formed from the increased rains. [62] Mande
peoples have been credited with the independent development of agriculture about
3000–4000 BC.[63]
In West Africa, the wet phase ushered in an expanding rainforest and wooded
savanna from Senegal to Cameroon. Between 9000 and 5000 BC, Niger–Congo
speakers domesticated the oil palm and raffia palm. Two seed plants, black-eyed
peas and voandzeia (African groundnuts), were domesticated, followed
by okra and kola nuts. Since most of the plants grew in the forest, the Niger–Congo
speakers invented polished stone axes for clearing forest. [64]
Most of Southern Africa was occupied by pygmy peoples and Khoisan who engaged
in hunting and gathering. Some of the oldest rock art was produced by them.[65]
For several hundred thousand years the Sahara has alternated between desert and
savanna grassland in a 41,000 year cycle caused by changes ("precession") in the
Earth's axis as it rotates around the sun which change the location of the North
African Monsoon.[66] When the North African monsoon is at its strongest annual
precipitation and subsequent vegetation in the Sahara region increase, resulting in
conditions commonly referred to as the "green Sahara". For a relatively weak North
African monsoon, the opposite is true, with decreased annual precipitation and less
vegetation resulting in a phase of the Sahara climate cycle known as the "desert
Sahara". The Sahara has been a desert for several thousand years, and is expected
to become green again in about 15,000 years time (17,000 AD). [67]
Just prior to Saharan desertification, the communities that developed south of Egypt,
in what is now Sudan, were full participants in the Neolithic revolution and lived a
settled to semi-nomadic lifestyle, with domesticated plants and animals. [68] It has been
suggested that megaliths found at Nabta Playa are examples of the world's first
known archaeoastronomical devices, predating Stonehenge by some 1,000 years.
[69]
 The sociocultural complexity observed at Nabta Playa and expressed by different
levels of authority within the society there has been suggested as forming the basis
for the structure of both the Neolithic society at Nabta and the Old Kingdom of Egypt.
[70]
 By 5000 BC, Africa entered a dry phase, and the climate of the Sahara region
gradually became drier. The population trekked out of the Sahara region in all
directions, including towards the Nile Valley below the Second Cataract, where they
made permanent or semipermanent settlements. A major climatic recession
occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and Eastern Africa.
3) Central Africa[edit]
Main article: Central Africa §  History
Archaeological findings in Central Africa have been discovered dating back to over
100,000 years.[71] Extensive walled sites and settlements have recently been found in
Zilum, Chad approximately 60 km (37 mi) southwest of Lake Chad dating to the first
millennium BC.[72][73]
Trade and improved agricultural techniques supported more sophisticated societies,
leading to the early civilizations of Sao, Kanem, Bornu, Shilluk, Baguirmi, and Wadai.
[74]

Around 1,000 BC, Bantu migrants had reached the Great Lakes Region in Central

Africa. Halfway through the first millennium BC, the Bantu had also settled as far
south as what is now Angola.[75]
4) Metallurgy[edit]
Main articles: Copper metallurgy in Africa and Iron metallurgy in Africa
9th-century bronze staff head in form of a coiled snake, Igbo-Ukwu, Nigeria

Evidence of the early smelting of metals – lead, copper, and bronze – dates from the

fourth millennium BC.[76]
Egyptians smelted copper during the predynastic period, and bronze came into use
after 3,000 BC at the latest[77] in Egypt and Nubia. Nubia became a major source of
copper as well as of gold.[78] The use of gold and silver in Egypt dates back to the
predynastic period.[79][80]
In the Aïr Mountains of present-day Niger people smelted copper independently of
developments in the Nile valley between 3,000 and 2,500 BC. They used a process
unique to the region, suggesting that the technology was not brought in from outside;
it became more mature by about 1,500 BC.[80]
By the 1st millennium BC iron working had reached Northwestern Africa, Egypt, and
Nubia.[81] Zangato and Holl document evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African
Republic and Cameroon that may date back to 3,000 to 2,500 BC.[82] Assyrians using
iron weapons pushed Nubians out of Egypt in 670 BC, after which the use of iron
became widespread in the Nile valley.[83]
The theory that iron spread to Sub-Saharan Africa via the Nubian city of Meroe[citation
needed]
 is no longer widely accepted, and some researchers [which?] believe that sub-
Saharan Africans invented iron metallurgy independently. Metalworking in West
Africa has been dated as early as 2,500 BC at Egaro west of the Termit in Niger, and
iron working was practiced there by 1,500 BC.[84] Iron smelting has been dated to
2,000 BC in southeast Nigeria.[85] Central Africa provides possible evidence of iron
working as early as the 3rd millennium BC.[86] Iron smelting developed in the area
between Lake Chad and the African Great Lakes between 1,000 and 600 BC, and in
West Africa around 2,000 BC, long before the technology reached Egypt. Before 500
BC, the Nok culture in the Jos Plateau was already smelting iron.[87][88][89][90][need quotation to verify][91]
[92]
 Archaeological sites containing iron-smelting furnaces and slag have been
excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria in Igboland: dating to
2,000 BC at the site of Lejja (Eze-Uzomaka 2009)[85][93] and to 750 BC and at the site
of Opi (Holl 2009).[93] The site of Gbabiri (in the Central African Republic) has also
yielded evidence of iron metallurgy, from a reduction furnace and blacksmith
workshop; with earliest dates of 896-773 BC and 907-796 BC respectively. [92]

C. Antiquity[edit]
The ancient history of North Africa is inextricably linked to that of the Ancient Near
East. This is particularly true of Ancient Egypt and Nubia. In the Horn of
Africa the Kingdom of Aksum ruled modern-day Eritrea, northern Ethiopia and the
coastal area of the western part of the Arabian Peninsula. The Ancient Egyptians
established ties with the Land of Punt in 2,350 BC. Punt was a trade partner of
Ancient Egypt and it is believed that it was located in modern-
day Somalia, Djibouti or Eritrea.[94] Phoenician cities such as Carthage were part of
the Mediterranean Iron Age and classical antiquity. Sub-Saharan Africa developed
more or less independently in those times.[citation needed]
5) Ancient Egypt[edit]
Main article: History of ancient Egypt

Map of Ancient Egypt and nomes

After the desertification of the Sahara, settlement became concentrated in the Nile

Valley, where numerous sacral chiefdoms appeared. The regions with the largest
population pressure were in the Nile Delta region of Lower Egypt, in Upper Egypt,
and also along the second and third cataracts of the Dongola Reach of the Nile in
Nubia.[95] This population pressure and growth was brought about by the cultivation of
southwest Asian crops, including wheat and barley, and the raising of sheep, goats,
and cattle. Population growth led to competition for farm land and the need to
regulate farming. Regulation was established by the formation
of bureaucracies among sacral chiefdoms. The first and most powerful of the
chiefdoms was Ta-Seti, founded around 3,500 BC. The idea of sacral chiefdom
spread throughout Upper and Lower Egypt. [96]

The pyramids of Giza, symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt

Later consolidation of the chiefdoms into broader political entities began to occur in
Upper and Lower Egypt, culminating into the unification of Egypt into one political
entity by Narmer (Menes) in 3,100 BC. Instead of being viewed as a sacral chief, he
became a divine king. The henotheism, or worship of a single god within a
polytheistic system, practiced in the sacral chiefdoms along Upper and Lower Egypt,
became the polytheistic Ancient Egyptian religion. Bureaucracies became more
centralized under the pharaohs, run by viziers, governors, tax collectors, generals,
artists, and technicians. They engaged in tax collecting, organizing of labor for major
public works, and building irrigation systems, pyramids, temples, and canals. During
the Fourth Dynasty (2,620–2,480 BC), long-distance trade was developed, with
the Levant for timber, with Nubia for gold and skins, with Punt for frankincense, and
also with the western Libyan territories. For most of the Old Kingdom, Egypt
developed her fundamental systems, institutions and culture, always through the
central bureaucracy and by the divinity of the Pharaoh.[97]
After the fourth millennium BC, Egypt started to extend direct military and political
control over her southern and western neighbors. By 2,200 BC, the Old Kingdom's
stability was undermined by rivalry among the governors of the nomes who
challenged the power of pharaohs and by invasions of Asiatics into the Nile Delta.
The First Intermediate Period had begun, a time of political division and uncertainty.
[97]

Middle Kingdom of Egypt arose when Mentuhotep II of Eleventh Dynasty unified

Egypt once again between 2041 and 2016 BC beginning with his conquering
of Tenth Dynasty in 2041 BC.[98][99] Pyramid building resumed, long-distance trade re-
emerged, and the center of power moved from Memphis to Thebes. Connections
with the southern regions of Kush, Wawat and Irthet at the second cataract were
made stronger. Then came the Second Intermediate Period, with the invasion of
the Hyksos on horse-drawn chariots and utilizing bronze weapons, a technology
heretofore unseen in Egypt. Horse-drawn chariots soon spread to the west in the
inhabitable Sahara and North Africa. The Hyksos failed to hold on to their Egyptian
territories and were absorbed by Egyptian society. This eventually led to one of
Egypt's most powerful phases, the New Kingdom (1,580–1,080 BC), with
the Eighteenth Dynasty. Egypt became a superpower controlling Nubia
and Judea while exerting political influence on the Libyans to the West and on the
Mediterranean.[97]
As before, the New Kingdom ended with invasion from the west by Libyan princes,
leading to the Third Intermediate Period. Beginning with Shoshenq I, the Twenty-
second Dynasty was established. It ruled for two centuries.[97]
To the south, Nubian independence and strength was being reasserted. This
reassertion led to the conquest of Egypt by Nubia, begun by Kashta and completed
by Piye (Pianhky, 751–730 BC) and Shabaka (716–695 BC). This was the birth of
the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. The Nubians tried to re-establish Egyptian
traditions and customs. They ruled Egypt for a hundred years. This was ended by
an Assyrian invasion, with Taharqa experiencing the full might of Assyrian iron
weapons. The Nubian pharaoh Tantamani was the last of the Twenty-fifth dynasty.[97]
When the Assyrians and Nubians left, a new Twenty-sixth Dynasty emerged
from Sais. It lasted until 525 BC, when Egypt was invaded by the Persians. Unlike
the Assyrians, the Persians stayed. In 332, Egypt was conquered by Alexander the
Great. This was the beginning of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ended with Roman
conquest in 30 BC. Pharaonic Egypt had come to an end.[97]
6) Nubia[edit]
Main article: Nubia §  History
Further information: Kerma Culture and Kingdom of Kush

Nubian Empire at its greatest extent

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Around 3,500 BC, one of the first sacral kingdoms to arise in the Nile was Ta-Seti,
located in northern Nubia. Ta-Seti was a powerful sacral kingdom in the Nile Valley
at the 1st and 2nd cataracts that exerted an influence over nearby chiefdoms based
on pictorial representation ruling over Upper Egypt. Ta-Seti traded as far as Syro-
Palestine, as well as with Egypt. Ta-Seti exported gold, copper, ostrich
feathers, ebony and ivory to the Old Kingdom. By the 32nd century BC, Ta-Seti was
in decline. After the unification of Egypt by Narmer in 3,100 BC, Ta-Seti was invaded
by the Pharaoh Hor-Aha of the First Dynasty, destroying the final remnants of the
kingdom. Ta-Seti is affiliated with the A-Group Culture known to archaeology.[100]
[dubious  –  discuss]

Nubian Temple of Apedemak, Naqa

Small sacral kingdoms continued to dot the Nubian portion of the Nile for centuries
after 3,000 BC. Around the latter part of the third millennium, there was further
consolidation of the sacral kingdoms.[citation needed] Two kingdoms in particular emerged:
the Sai kingdom, immediately south of Egypt, and the Kingdom of Kerma at the third
cataract. Sometime around the 18th century BC, the Kingdom of Kerma conquered
the Kingdom of Sai, becoming a serious rival to Egypt. Kerma occupied a territory
from the first cataract to the confluence of the Blue Nile, White Nile, and Atbarah
River. About 1,575 to 1,550 BC, during the latter part of the Seventeenth Dynasty,
the Kingdom of Kerma invaded Egypt. [101] The Kingdom of Kerma allied itself with
the Hyksos invasion of Egypt.[102]
Egypt eventually re-energized under the Eighteenth Dynasty and conquered the
Kingdom of Kerma or Kush, ruling it for almost 500 years. The Kushites were
Egyptianized during this period. By 1100 BC, the Egyptians had withdrawn from
Kush. The region regained independence and reasserted its culture. Kush built a
new religion around Amun and made Napata its spiritual center. In 730 BC, the
Kingdom of Kush invaded Egypt, taking over Thebes and beginning the Nubian
Empire. The empire extended from Palestine to the confluence of the Blue Nile, the
White Nile, and River Atbara.[103]
In 664 BC, the Kushites were expelled from Egypt by iron-wielding Assyrians. Later,
the administrative capital was moved from Napata to Meröe, developing a new
Nubian culture. Initially, Meroites were highly Egyptianized, but they subsequently
began to take on distinctive features. Nubia became a center of iron-making and
cotton cloth manufacturing. Egyptian writing was replaced by the Meroitic alphabet.
The lion god Apedemak was added to the Egyptian pantheon of gods. Trade links to
the Red Sea increased, linking Nubia with Mediterranean Greece. Its architecture
and art diversified, with pictures of lions, ostriches, giraffes, and elephants.
Eventually, with the rise of Aksum, Nubia's trade links were broken and it suffered
environmental degradation from the tree cutting required for iron production. In 350
AD, the Aksumite king Ezana brought Meröe to an end.[104]
7) Carthage[edit]
Main article: Ancient Carthage §  History

Carthaginian Empire

The Egyptians referred to the people west of the Nile, ancestral to the Berbers,
as Libyans. The Libyans were agriculturalists like the Mauri of Morocco and
the Numidians of central and eastern Algeria and Tunis. They were also nomadic,
having the horse, and occupied the arid pastures and desert, like the Gaetuli. Berber
desert nomads were typically in conflict with Berber coastal agriculturalists. [105]
The Phoenicians were Mediterranean seamen in constant search for valuable metals
such as copper, gold, tin, and lead. They began to populate the North African coast
with settlements—trading and mixing with the native Berber population. In 814 BC,
Phoenicians from Tyre established the city of Carthage.[106] By 600 BC, Carthage had
become a major trading entity and power in the Mediterranean, largely through trade
with tropical Africa. Carthage's prosperity fostered the growth of the Berber
kingdoms, Numidia and Mauretania. Around 500 BC, Carthage provided a strong
impetus for trade with Sub-Saharan Africa. Berber middlemen, who had maintained
contacts with Sub-Saharan Africa since the desert had desiccated, utilized pack
animals to transfer products from oasis to oasis. Danger lurked from
the Garamantes of Fez, who raided caravans. Salt and metal goods were traded for
gold, slaves, beads, and ivory.[107]

Ruins of Carthage

The Carthaginians were rivals to the Greeks and Romans. Carthage fought

the Punic Wars, three wars with Rome: the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC),
over Sicily; the Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC), in which Hannibal invaded
Europe; and the Third Punic War (149 to 146 BC). Carthage lost the first two wars,
and in the third it was destroyed, becoming the Roman province of Africa, with the
Berber Kingdom of Numidia assisting Rome. The Roman province of Africa became
a major agricultural supplier of wheat, olives, and olive oil to imperial Rome via
exorbitant taxation. Two centuries later, Rome brought the Berber kingdoms of
Numidia and Mauretania under its authority. In the 420's AD, Vandals invaded North
Africa and Rome lost her territories, subsequently the Berber kingdoms regained
their independence.[108]
Christianity gained a foothold in Africa at Alexandria in the 1st century AD and
spread to Northwest Africa. By 313 AD, with the Edict of Milan, all of Roman North
Africa was Christian. Egyptians adopted Monophysite Christianity and formed the
independent Coptic Church. Berbers adopted Donatist Christianity. Both groups
refused to accept the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.[109]
Role of the Berbers[edit]
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As Carthaginian power grew, its impact on the indigenous population increased

dramatically. Berber civilization was already at a stage in which agriculture,
manufacturing, trade, and political organization supported several states. Trade links
between Carthage and the Berbers in the interior grew, but territorial expansion also
resulted in the enslavement or military recruitment of some Berbers and in the
extraction of tribute from others. By the early 4th century BC, Berbers formed one of
the largest element, with Gauls, of the Carthaginian army.
In the Mercenary War (241-238 BC), a rebellion was instigated by mercenary
soldiers of Carthage and African allies.[110] Berber soldiers participated after being
unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. Berbers succeeded in
obtaining control of much of Carthage's North African territory, and they minted coins
bearing the name Libyan, used in Greek to describe natives of North Africa. The
Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in
the Punic Wars; in 146 BC the city of Carthage was destroyed. As Carthaginian
power waned, the influence of Berber leaders in the hinterland grew. By the 2nd
century BC, several large but loosely administered Berber kingdoms had emerged.
Two of them were established in Numidia, behind the coastal areas controlled by
Carthage. West of Numidia lay Mauretania, which extended across the Moulouya
River in Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean. The high point of Berber civilization,
unequaled until the coming of the Almohads and Almoravid dynasty more than a
millennium later, was reached during the reign of Masinissa in the 2nd century BC.
After Masinissa's death in 148 BC, the Berber kingdoms were divided and reunited
several times. Masinissa's line survived until 24 AD, when the remaining Berber
territory was annexed to the Roman Empire.[citation needed]
8) Macrobia and the Barbari City States[edit]
Main article: Macrobia
Further information: Maritime history of Somalia

Reconstruction of the Oikumene (inhabited world) as described by Herodotus in the 5th century BC.

Ruins of Qa'ableh, an early center of Somali civilization

Macrobia was an ancient kingdom situated in the Horn of Africa (Present day

Somalia) it is mentioned in the 5th century BC. According to Herodotus' account,
the Persian Emperor Cambyses II upon his conquest of Egypt (525 BC) sent
ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to entice his
submission. The Macrobian ruler, who was elected based at least in part on stature,
replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in the form of an
unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to string it, they would have the right to
invade his country; but until then, they should thank the gods that the Macrobians
never decided to invade their empire.[111][112][113]
The Macrobians were a regional power reputed for their advanced architecture and
gold wealth, which was so plentiful that they shackled their prisoners in golden
chains.[112]
After the collapse of Macrobia, several wealthy ancient city-states, such
as Opone, Essina, Sarapion, Nikon, Malao, Damo and Mosylon near Cape
Guardafui would emerge from the 1st millennium BC–500 AD to compete with
the Sabaeans, Parthians and Axumites for the wealthy Indo-Greco-Roman trade and
flourished along the Somali coast. They developed a lucrative trading network under
a region collectively known in the Peripilus of the Erythraean Sea as Barbaria.[114]
9) Roman North Africa[edit]
Further information: Africa (Roman province) §  History, Numidia §  History, Libya in
the Roman era §  History, and Romans in Sub-Saharan Africa

Northern Africa under Roman rule

"Increases in urbanization and in the area under cultivation during Roman rule

caused wholesale dislocations of the Berber society, forcing nomad tribes to settle or
to move from their traditional rangelands. Sedentary tribes lost their autonomy and
connection with the land. Berber opposition to the Roman presence was nearly
constant. The Roman emperor Trajan established a frontier in the south by encircling
the Aurès and Nemencha mountains and building a line of forts from Vescera
(modern Biskra) to Ad Majores (Henchir Besseriani,[115] southeast of Biskra). The
defensive line extended at least as far as Castellum Dimmidi (modern Messaâd,
southwest of Biskra), Roman Algeria's southernmost fort. Romans settled and
developed the area around Sitifis (modern Sétif) in the 2nd century, but farther west
the influence of Rome did not extend beyond the coast and principal military roads
until much later."[116]
Fayum mummy portrait of Demetrios, a citizen of Roman Egypt, c. 100 AD, Brooklyn Museum

The Roman military presence of North Africa remained relatively small, consisting of
about 28,000 troops and auxiliaries in Numidia and the two Mauretanian provinces.
Starting in the 2nd century AD, these garrisons were manned mostly by local
inhabitants.[117]
Aside from Carthage, urbanization in North Africa came in part with the
establishment of settlements of veterans under the Roman
emperors Claudius (reigned 41–54), Nerva (96–98), and Trajan (98–117). In Algeria
such settlements included Tipasa, Cuicul or Curculum (modern Djemila, northeast of
Sétif), Thamugadi (modern Timgad, southeast of Sétif), and Sitifis (modern Sétif).
The prosperity of most towns depended on agriculture. Called the "granary of the
empire", North Africa became one of the largest exporters of grain in the empire,
shipping to the provinces which did not produce cereals, like Italy and Greece. Other
crops included fruit, figs, grapes, and beans. By the 2nd century AD, olive oil rivaled
cereals as an export item.[citation needed]
The beginnings of the Roman imperial decline seemed less serious in North Africa
than elsewhere. However, uprisings did take place. In 238 AD, landowners rebelled
unsuccessfully against imperial fiscal policies. Sporadic tribal revolts in the
Mauretanian mountains followed from 253 to 288, during the Crisis of the Third
Century. The towns also suffered economic difficulties, and building activity almost
ceased.[citation needed]
The towns of Roman North Africa had a substantial Jewish population. Some Jews
had been deported from Judea or Palestine in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD for
rebelling against Roman rule; others had come earlier with Punic settlers. In addition,
a number of Berber tribes had converted to Judaism.[118]
Left: Memnon, foster child of Herodes Atticus; marble bust (showing sub-Saharan facial features), ca. 170
AD, from the villa of Herodes Atticus at Eva, Arcadia.
Right: an ancient Roman mosaic from Antioch depicting a sub-Saharan African man carrying goods over
his shoulder.

Christianity arrived in the 2nd century and soon gained converts in the towns and
among slaves. More than eighty bishops, some from distant frontier regions of
Numidia, attended the Council of Carthage (256) in 256. By the end of the 4th
century, the settled areas had become Christianized, and some Berber tribes had
converted en masse.[citation needed]
A division in the church that came to be known as the Donatist heresy began in 313
among Christians in North Africa. The Donatists stressed the holiness of the church
and refused to accept the authority to administer the sacraments of those who had
surrendered the scriptures when they were forbidden under the
Emperor Diocletian (reigned 284–305). The Donatists also opposed the involvement
of Constantine the Great (reigned 306–337) in church affairs in contrast to the
majority of Christians who welcomed official imperial recognition. [citation needed]
The occasionally violent Donatist controversy has been characterized [by whom?] as a
struggle between opponents and supporters of the Roman system. The most
articulate North African critic of the Donatist position, which came to be called a
heresy, was Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius. Augustine maintained that the
unworthiness of a minister did not affect the validity of the sacraments because their
true minister was Jesus Christ. In his sermons and books Augustine, who is
considered a leading exponent of Christian dogma, evolved a theory of the right of
orthodox Christian rulers to use force against schismatics and heretics. Although the
dispute was resolved by a decision of an imperial commission in Carthage in 411,
Donatist communities continued to exist as late as the 6th century. [citation needed]
A decline in trade weakened Roman control. Independent kingdoms emerged in
mountainous and desert areas, towns were overrun, and Berbers, who had
previously been pushed to the edges of the Roman Empire, returned.[119]
During the Vandalic War, Belisarius, general of the Byzantine emperor Justinian
I based in Constantinople, landed in North Africa in 533 with 16,000 men and within
a year destroyed the Vandal Kingdom. Local opposition delayed full Byzantine
control of the region for twelve years, however, and when imperial control came, it
was but a shadow of the control exercised by Rome. Although an impressive series
of fortifications were built, Byzantine rule was compromised by official corruption,
incompetence, military weakness, and lack of concern in Constantinople for African
affairs, which made it an easy target for the Arabs during the Early Muslim
conquests. As a result, many rural areas reverted to Berber rule. [citation needed]