History of Early Africa

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Perspective

The history of early Africa began with the emergence of archaic humans in East Africa. The earliest written history arose in Ancient Egypt, and later spread through Nubia and the Sahel to the Horn of Africa. North African history became entwined with the empire of Islam, which expanded into Southern Europe. Meanwhile, the expansion of the Bantu peoples swept from Central Africa across the Sahel in waves beginning around 1000 BC. This created a community of related languages across much of central and southern Africa.

Farther south, the Nok culture developed in 1500 BC in what is now Nigeria. The Nok produced terracotta figures of human heads and forms and various animals, and by 500 BC they had developed an iron industry. But by 200 AD the Nok culture had vanished. Based on stylistic similarities, the bronze figurines of the kingdoms of Ife and Benin appear to have been derived from the traditions of the earlier Nok culture.

During the 7^th century AD, the empire of Islam began to spread west from Arabia to Egypt and went on to become the foundational faith of the West African empires of Mali, Ghana, and Songhai. Before the onset of European colonialism, Africa had some 10,000 different states and tribes with their own languages and customs.

sample map

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Kongo

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