The Europeans main foray to Africa started in the 15th century, with the first contact being with the Africans along the West African coast. The Arabs came earlier, in the 8th century. By then there were, and there had been, numerous civilisations by African ethnicities throughout the continent both south and north of the Sahara. But revisionist Eurocentric historians want to portray a picture that before the white man came, Africa was just a tabula rasa, a terra nullius and a terra incognita! What they implied or meant was that there was nothing much in Africa, nothing was happening, and Africa belonged to no one.
First, Egypt and the ancient Egyptian civilisation is well known. Spoiler alert: Egypt is in Africa!, or is it? I know for a fact that most Egyptians do not identify as Africans, but rather as Arabs or Mediterranean. So, let us leave out Egypt, and look at some of the other authentic African civilisations that were there before the white man and Arabs came budging in.
SOME ANCIENT AFRICAN CIVILISATIONS
750-600 BC NUBIANS – Nubians evolved a civilisation to rival that of ancient Egypt. There was the Kingdom of Kerma, with Kerma as its capital 2,500 years ago. Then under the Kushite Civilisation, Nubians constructed pyramids and even conquered and ruled Egypt, AS BLACK PHARAOHS. At this time, the Brits were living in tribal hamlets in Albion, the ancient name for Britain.
500 BC – Carthaginians from present-day Tunisia traded with Ancient African kingdoms on the West African coast.
100 AD – Kingdom of Aksum founded. The Aksumians (present-day Ethiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia) had writing and were minting coins and expanding their empire. Started minting coins in 100 BC.
400 AD – Aksum became a Christian kingdom.
750 AD – Start of city states of Sofala, Quelimane, Kilwa, Malindi, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Mogadishu, Pemba, and Dar es Salaam. The city states of the East African Coast were quite advanced, because of their interaction with the Arabs and Indians and even the Chinese.
9-14th Centuries – Kingdoms in Ghana, Nigeria, (Ife) Mali, (Timbuktu) Songhay, Benin, Chad (Kanem-Bornu). Traded with Arabs. These kingdoms exchanged slaves, kola nut, and gold for luxury goods and salt.
1,000 AD – Ancient Ghana Empire of Soninke at height, from AD 300. Empire was in present-day Mauritania. Muslim advisors present at Ghana Court. Islam was not just a religion, but useful for literacy and for acquiring knowledge.
1075 – 1220 AD – Mapungubwe Kingdom in present-day area covering parts of Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa.
Circa 1200 AD – Rise of Mali Empire Mande or Mandinka after Soninke Empire. Greatest ruler was Sundiata, who defeated the ancient Ghana Empire in 1240. Timbuktu greatest city, with wealth based on gold, salt, and slaves.
1220 – 1450 AD – Great Zimbabwe of Karanga constructed by ancestors of the Shona.
1323 – 1325 AD – Mansa Musa, King of Mali makes a pilgrimage to Mecca and opens diplomatic missions in Tunisia and Egypt. His pilgrimage to the Haj through Egypt in 1324 AD left the Egyptian economy in tatters as he off-loaded so much gold in gifts that the gold price plummeted.
1300 AD i.e. 14th Century – Complex Lake states established in Great Lakes Region – Bachwezi, Luo, Bunyoro, Ankole.
1300 – 1400 AD Lunda-Luba Empire – Establishment of Lunda-Luba Empire in Lualaba Valley of present-day Democratic Republic of Congo – DRC – stretched up to Lake Tanganyika. Controlled east and central African trade in palm oil and copper and later slavery. Was ruled by a Mulopwe.
1430 AD– Mutapa Empire – led by a Mwenemutapa or Prince of the Land in present-day Zimbabwe. The area had great gold mining and through the Zambezi traded all the way to the Indian Ocean and westwards to the Kalahari.
1400s AD The rise of the Kongo Empire in present day Angola and Congo. Led by a Mani-Kongo, this empire had a capital Mbaza-Kongo. The Kongo later accepted the Portuguese as brothers and initially, the Empire flourished. The Portuguese later turned on the Kongolese, enslaved them and that brought the Empire to an inglorious end.
1450s AD – Lunda Empire of Lunda or Ruund or Uruund people. Discontent and rivalries led to some members of the royal family leaving the Luba Empire and founding a Lunda Empire located along Kasai River tributaries in present-day Shaba Province of DRC. Their leader became a Mwaat Yanv or Mwata Yamfwa, meaning Lord of Vipers. Controlled trade in the central African area extending all the way to Benguela on the Atlantic coast and to the Indian Ocean on the East African coast. From the Luba-Lunda empires came many other empires and kingdoms including the Bemba, Lozi, Luena, and Maravi, to mention but a few.
1500 – 1700 AD – Maravi Empire established in present-day Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. It was made up of the Chewa, Nyanja, and Manganja Kingdoms. All these were from Luba-Lunda area. Maravi means people of fire.
1590 AD – Beginning of the breakup of Mali Empire of Songhay/Songhai. Songhai army destroyed by a Moroccan force led by a white eunuch called Judar Pasha.
1684 – 1834 AD– Rozwi (Rozvi) Empire in present-day Zimbabwe. It exerted independence from a collapsing Mutapa Empire. Led by a Leader called Changamire Dombo. Their economy depended on ivory, gold, cattle, and farming.
There were numerous other African civilisations; SO, COMRADES, STAND TALL AND PROUD AS AFRICANS!
