History of Africa

History of Africa is the study and account of the continent’s past, from early human origins and ancient societies through colonial rule, independence, and contemporary events.

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Ancient Egypt: A civilization of the Nile Valley that developed from the late fourth millennium BCE and endured through successive kingdoms and dynasties. Its long Nile-centered history is one of Africa’s best-documented ancient pasts.
African archaeology: The study of Africa’s past through material remains, landscapes, and archaeological methods. Archaeology provides evidence for societies whose written records are limited or absent.
Transatlantic slave trade: The forced transportation of millions of Africans across the Atlantic from the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries. It reshaped African societies and tied the continent to the rise of Atlantic economies.
Human evolution: The evolutionary history of humans and their ancestors, reconstructed from fossils, archaeology, and genetics. Africa is central to evidence about the emergence of the human lineage.
African nationalism: Political movements seeking self-government and national sovereignty in African territories under colonial rule. Nationalist organizing drove many independence struggles and new state projects.
Kingdom of Kush: An ancient kingdom in Nubia, south of Egypt, whose centers included Kerma, Napata, and Meroë. Kush interacted with Egypt while developing its own powerful states and traditions.
Oral tradition: The transmission of knowledge, history, and cultural memory through spoken narratives and performance. Oral accounts preserve political genealogies and events that written archives may omit.
Scramble for Africa: The rapid European conquest and partition of most of Africa during the late nineteenth century. It explains how imperial rivalries transformed political boundaries and colonial rule.
Homo sapiens: The species of modern humans, which evolved in Africa and later spread worldwide. Fossils and genetics place the species’ origins within African history.
Apartheid: A system of racial segregation and white-minority rule imposed in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s. Its institutions and resistance movements shaped modern South African history.