A Timeline of Africa
 

Understanding our history can help to propel us forward, if we truly learn from it.


1000 BC: the Queen of Sheba visits king Solomon of Israel
300 BC: the city of Axum is founded
50: Axum rules Eritrea
300: Axum conquers southern Arabia
320: the Syrian monk Frumentius converts Ethiopian emperor Ezana to Christianity
500: Axum conquers southern Sudan
525: King Ella Kaleb of Axum annexes Yemen
5xx: Polynesian people settle Madagascar
5xx: the Christian kingdom of Dongola rules over Sudan

6xx: Arabs colonize East African trade towns including Zanzibar
710: Arabs invade Eritrea and destroy the Axumite empire
8xx: the empire of Ghana controls Mali, Mauritania, Guinea and Senegal
982 BC: Menelik I, son of the Queen of Sheba, becomes Ethiopia's
first emperor
1000: Queen Yodit defeats the last Axumite king Del Na'od
1000: Timbuktu is founded in Africa by Muslim traders
1076: Almoravids from Morocco defeat the kingdom of Ghana and seize Mali and Mauritania
10xx: Great Zimbabwe is the capital of a wealthy Shona kingdom that trades with Asia
10xx: the Shona empire forms between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers
1137: the Zagwe Dynasty is founded in Ethiopia and the capital is moved from Axum to Lalibela

1250: Sudan (Dongola) is conquered by the Mamaluks of Egypt
1250: Sundiata Keita founds the empire of Mali
1270: Yekuno Amlak ends the Zagwe dynasty and founds the Solomonic dynasty in Ethiopia
12xx: the empire of Ghana rules over Mali and Senegal
12xx: the Mali empire expands to Guinea

130x: kingdoms of Kongo, Luba, Kuba, Lunda in the Congo
130x: Mali emperor Mansa Musa hires Arab architects to rebuild Timbuktu and Djenne
13xx: the kingdoms of Ife, Oyo, Benin in Nigeria engage in the slave trade
130x: the empire of Mali expands to the Atlantic
1325: Mansa Musa, the king of Mali, makes his pilgrimage to Mecca carrying 500 slaves and 100 camels

14xx: Bantu people invade the eastern half of South Africa
14xx: Gao raids Mali's capital Niani
1424: prince Henrique the Navigator of Portugal sends the first expedition to Africa
1430: Portugal trades slaves within Africa
1436: Afonso de Baldaya reaches Rio de Oro on behalf of prince Henrique the Navigator of Portugal
1444: the first public sale of African slaves by Europeans takes place at Lagos, Portugal
1464: Gao invades all of Mali
1472: Portugal explores Gabon and Sao Tome
1482: Portugal founds the first European trading post in Africa (Elmira, Gold Coast)
1488: Moroccans invade the African kingdom of Mali

15xx: Portugal establishes a trade post in Mozambique
15xx: Portugal raids Eastern Africa trade towns
15xx: the Shonas found the Rozwi state
15xx: Tutsis from Ethiopia establish a feudal system in the Hutu lands (Rwanda and Burundi)
1500: Portugal "discovers" Madagascar
1506: a Christian, Nzinga Mbemba, becomes king of the Kongo Kingdom
1530: Muslim general Ahmad Gran invades Ethiopia
1542: Portugal helps Ethiopia repel an Arab invasion
1575: Portugal establishes a trade post in Luanda (Angola) to buy slaves for Brazil
1591: the Gao empire collapses

160x: Bantu people invade Namibia
16xx: kingdoms of Kanem Bornu and Hausa in Niger
1632: Fasiladas founds the modern empire of Ethiopia with capital in Gondar
1637: Holland captures Portugal's main trading post in Africa, Elmira
1651: Britain occupies Gambia
1652: Holland establishes a trade post at the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), which develops into a colony of "boers" with its own language (Afrikaans)
1659: France invades Senegal
1660: Portugal defeats the kingdom of Kongo and renames it Zaire
1674: Arabs invade Mauritania
1699: Arabs from Oman invade Zanzibar

17xx: the Ashanti kingdom conquers Ghana with capital at Kumasi, and thrives on the slave trade
17xx: the Muslim kingdoms of Ouadai and Baguirmi (Chad) trade slaves captured in the south
1779: the Boers are defeated by the Xhusa in the first Bantu war (South Africa)
1787: Freed slaves found Sierra Leone, where slaves freed by British forces converge ("krios")
1792: king Andrianampoinimerina of the Merinas invades half of Madagascar and moves his capital to Antananarive

18xx: the Zulus under king Shaka invade nearby kingdoms in South Africa causing mass migrations (difaqane)
1800: 20,000 slaves from central Africa are sold every year in Egypt
1806: Britain annexes the Dutch colony of the Cape (South Africa)
1807: Britain abolishes the slave trade
1810: king Andrianampoinimerina of Merina dies and is succeeded by king Radama I who continues to expand his rule over Madagascar
1820: king Moshoeshoe founds the Sotho kingdom of Basutoland to escape the Zulu expansion
1820: Britain recognizes Madagascar's independence under the Merina king
1821: Mohammed Ali of Egypt conquers northern Sudan
1822: US philanthropists found the state of Liberia for freed slaves
1828: king Radama I of Merina (Madagascar) dies and is succeeded by queen Ranavalona I
1830: Mzilikazi founds the Ndebele state
1832: Oman moves its capital to the slave trade center of Zanzibar
1834: Britain abolishes slavery in South Africa
1834: Mailikazi of the Nbedele people invades the Rozwi state
1836: Boers migrate ("great trekk") and found the Orange Free State and the Transvaal
1839: king Sabhuza I of Swaziland dies and the boers invade the country
1843: Britain annexes Natal (South Africa)
1843: Swazi, leader of the Barabuza, declares the independence of Swaziland
1847: Liberia becomes independent under Joseph Roberts, which recreates slavery
1849: Libreville is founded as an enclave for freed slaves

1850: Arabs sell into slavery about 100,000 Africans per year
1855: Kasa becomes emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia
1861: queen Ranavalona I of Merina (Madagascar) dies and is succeeded by king Radama II
1863: king Radama II of Merina (Madagascar) dies and is succeeded by queen Rasoherina
1865: 15,000,000 Africans have been deported in the Americas since the slave trade began, and 30-40 million have died before reaching the Americas (17 million have been deported by Arab traders to the Muslim world)
1866: diamond deposits are discovered at Kimberley, South Africa
1867: Diamonds are discovered in South Africa
1868: Lij Kasa conquers Amhara, Gojjam, Tigray and Shoa in Ethiopia
1868: Basutoland becomes a British colony
1868: Tewodros of Ethiopia is defeated by the British and commits suicide
1869: Italy buys land in Eritrea

1870: the Ndebele relocate their capital to Bulawayo
1872: the chieftain Tigrayan becomes emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia
1874: Britain defeats the Ashanti kingdom (Ghana)
1884: German explorer Carl Peters begins to colonize Tanganyika
1884: Cameroon becomes a German protectorate
1885: France colonizes Central Africa
1885: Britain establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland (Botswana)
1885: Kongo/Zaire becomes a colony of Belgium (Congo Free State), headed by king Leopold, which begins a brutal repression of the natives
1885: Britain is defeated in Sudan by the Mahdists
1886: Britain establishes a protectorate over Zanzibar
1886: Gold is discovered in South Africa
1889: Addis Ababa becomes Ethiopia's capital
1889: Yohannes IV of Ethiopia dies in battle and is succeeded by emperor Menelik II
1889: Cecil John Rhodes begins to colonize the Southern African regions (Rhodesia, South Africa) for the British
1889: Italy invades Eritrea

1890: Rhodes conquers the Ndebele state (which becomes known as Rhodesia) and founds Salisbury (Harare)
1890: Namibia becomes a German colony
1890: the Tutsi kingdom of Rwanda and Burundi becomes the German colony Ruanda-Urundi
1891: Nyasaland becomes a British protectorate
1891: France invades the kingdoms of Niger and Guinea
1893: Swaziland becomes a British protectorate
1894: Uganda and Kenya become British colonies
1894: the Merina queen abdicates and Madagascar becomes a French colony
1894: Togo becomes a German protectorate
1894: the kingdom of Dahomey is annexed by French West Africa
1894: Belgium conquers eastern Congo from the Arabs
1895: Italy invades Ethiopia but is defeated and only Eritrea becomes an Italian colony
1896: France conquers southern Chad and Mauritania
1896: France occupies Ouagagougou (Upper Volta)
1897: Somaliland is divided between Italy and Britain
1898: Britain conquers Sudan from the Mahdists
1898: France conquests French Sudan (Mali)
1899: 26,000 Boer civilians die in concentration camps during the war between Britain and the Boers

1901: British Ghana incorporates northern territories
1902: Lourenco Marques becomes the capital of Mozambique
1902: Britain defeats the Boers
1903: France imposes a "head tax" on Cote d'Avoir's population
1904: 12,000 British settlers live in Rhodesia
1904: Brazzaville becomes the capital of French Central Africa
1905: France occupies all of Madagascar
1906: Guinea becomes part of French West Africa
1908: at the end of the Congo war, the native population had declined by 10-20 million (at least 3 million were killed)
1910: Britain assembles its colonies in the Union of South Africa
1910: Gabon (Libreville) is separated from Congo (Brazzaville) but remains a French colony in central Africa
1910: Middle Congo (Zaire) becomes a colony of French Equatorial Africa
1912: the African National Congress is founded to promote the rights of blacks in South Africa
1913: Menelik of Ethiopia dies and is succeeded by Lij Iyasu
1914: Togo is occupied by Britain and France
1915: South Africa inherits Namibia from Germany
1916: Britain conquers Tanganyika from Germany
1916: France conquers northern Chad (kingdoms of Ouadai and Baguirmi)
1916: Lij Iyasu of Ethiopia is deposed and is succeeded by Menelik's daughter, Zawditu
1916: Belgium conquers Rwanda and Burundi from Germany
1918: France and Britain conquer Cameroon
1919: Upper Volta becomes a separate territory of French West Africa

1922: the British settlers of Rhodesia vote to secede from South Africa
1926: Andre Matswa forms the liberation movement of French Congo
1930: Zawditu of Ethiopia dies and is succeeded by Ras Tafari Makonnen, who becomes Emperor Haile Selassie I
1930: USA and Britain cut off diplomatic relations with Liberia, which still practices slavery
1930: France completes the railway in the Congo that cost the lives of 17,000 African workers
1934: racial laws forbid blacks from running any business in Rhodesia
1936: Italy invades Ethiopia
1941: Britain liberates Ethiopia
1943: William Tubman becomes president of Liberia, a state in which only 3% of the population is free
1944: Felix Houphouet-Boigny founds the Syndicat Agricole Africain in Cote d'Avoire
1945: Eritrea becomes a British protectorate
1947: France kills thousands of demonstrators in Madagascar
1947: Jomo Kenyatta leads the liberation movement of Kenya
1948: the white government of South Africa creates apartheid to segregate blacks from whites
1948: Kwame Nkrumah founds the Convention People's Party in Ghana

1952: Eritrea and Ethiopia are federated in one country under Haile Selassie
1952: the Mau Mau guerrillas pledge to drive white people out of Kenya
1953: Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland are united in a federation
1954: Julius Nyerere founds the Tanganyka African National Union
1956: British Togo votes to be annexed to Ghana
1956: Sudan becomes independent but the Christian south rebels against the Muslim rulers
1956: end of the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya (13,000 Kenyans and 100 Europeans dead)
1957: Ghana, under Nkrumah, is the first African country to win independence from a European colonizer
1958: Guinea becomes independent under Sekow Toure, who creates a Maoist one-party state and carries out widespread "purges"
1958: Kenneth Kaunda forms a liberation movement in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)
1958: Liberia outlaws racial discrimination
1958: Patrice Lumumba founds the liberation movement of Congo
1959: Tutsis kill Hutu leaders, starting riots that will kill 100,000 Tutsis

1960: British and Italian Somaliland gain independence and merge to form Somalia
1960: Senegal becomes independent under Leopold Senghor
1960: Central Africa becomes independent under David Dacko
1960: Mauritania becomes independent under Mokhtar Ould Daddah
1960: Gabon becomes independent under Mba and enjoys an economic boom
1960: Benin becomes independent
1960: Chad becomes independent under dictator Francois Tombalbaye
1960: Niger becomes independent under Hamani Diori
1960: Nigeria becomes independent under Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
1960: Belgian Congo (Zaire) becomes independent under Patrice Lumumba
1960: Herman Toivo Ya Toivo form the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), the Namibia liberation movement
1960: the white police of South Africa kills 67 blacks during anti-apartheid demonstrations in Sharpeville
1960: Madagascar becomes independent under Philibert Tsiranana
1960: French Congo (Brazzaville) becomes independent under Fulbert Youlou
1960: the African National Congress is banned in South Africa and Nelson Mandela launches armed resistance against the white regime
1960: Cote d'Avoire becomes independent under Houphouet-Boigny and enjoys an economic boom
1960: Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) becomes independent under Maurice Yameogo
1960: French Togo becomes independent under Sylvanus Olympio
1960: Mali becomes independent under Modibo Keita
1961: Tanganyika becomes independent under Julius Nyerere
1961: Cameroon becomes independent under Ahmadou Ahidjo

1961: Anti-Portuguese riots and guerrilla in Angola by MPLA (sponsored by the communists) and UNITA (sponsored by South Africa)
1962: Frelimo, led by Eduardo Mondlane, starts a liberation war against Portugal in Mozambique
1962: Ethiopian emperor Haile Sellassie dissolves the Eritrean parliament and annexes the country, while Eritreans begin an independence war
1962: Nelson Mandela is arrested in South Africa
1962: Milton Obote leads Uganda to independence but establishes a brutal dictatorship
1962: Rwanda becomes independent under Gregoire Kayitanda, a Hutu, while Tutsis start a guerrilla war
1962: Burundi becomes independent under Tutsi king Mwambutsa IV
1962: Christians in the south of Sudan begin a civil war

1963: the first conference of the Organisation of African Unity is held in Addis Ababa
1963: Chad's government outlaws all opposition parties, triggering civil war with Frolinat
1963: Olympio overthrown and killed in Togo
1963: Alphonse Massamba-Debat seizes power in Congo Brazzaville and steers the country towards socialism
1963: the federation of the Rhodesias dissolves
1964: Nothern Rhodesia becomes independent and is renamed Zambia
1964: Nyasaland becomes independent and is renamed Malawi under Hastings Banda who declares himself president for life
1963: Zanzibar becomes an independent sultanate
1963: Kenya becomes independent under Kenyatta
1963: African nations form the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
1964: Kenyatta outlaws all parties but his own
1964: the sultanate of Zanzibar is overthrown and Zanzibar is united to Tanganyika to become Tanzania

1965: Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in Belgian Congo and renames it Zaire
1965: Gambia becomes independent under Dawda Jawara
1965: Riots in Nigeria
1965: Hutus win the elections in Burundi but Tutsi king Mwambutsa IV refuses to appoint a Hutu prime minister
1965: white leader Ian Smith declares the independence of (Southern) Rhodesia
1966: Yameogo of Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) is deposed by Maurice Lamizana
1966: Bechuanaland becomes independent under Seretse Khama and changes name to Botswana
1966: Ntare V deposes his father Mwambutsa IV in Burundi but is overthrown by Michel Micombero in a military coup
1966: SWAPO of Namibia launches guerrilla attacks against the occupying troops of South Africa
1966: Jean-Bedel Bokassa ousts Dacko in Central Africa and installs a brutal dictatorship with help from France
1966: Balewa is overthrown and killed in a failed military coup, and is succeeded by Yakubu Gowon
1966: Basutoland declares independence and changes name to Lesotho
1966: Kwame Nkrumah is overthrown in Ghana by the army

1967: Ojukwu declares Biafra independent from Nigeria, following massacres of Ibos and sparking a civil war
1967: Mba dies and El Hadj Omar Bongo seizes power in Gabon with help from Morocco, turning the richest African country into a one-party corrupt mess
1967: Nyere turns Tanzania into a Maoist state, thereby destroying the economy and turning Tanzania into one of the poorest countries in the world
1967: Gnassingbe Eyadema seizes power in Togo
1968: Swaziland becomes independent
1968: Sierra Leone becomes independent under Siaka Stevens
1968: the United Nations imposes economic sanctions on the racial government of Rhodesia, while Joshua Nkomo, Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithule, and Robert Mugabe start guerrilla warfare
1968: France saves Tombalbaye of Chad from Muslim rebels
1968: Massamba-Debat is ousted in a coup by Marien Ngouabi
1968: Moussa Treore seizes power in Mali
1969: minister Tom Mboya is assassinated in Kenya
1969: Eduardo Mondlane, leader of Frelimo in Mozambique, is assassinated
1969: Idi Amin stages a coup in Uganda (300,000 people will die in 8 years of political violence and starvation)
1969: Muhammad Siad Barre seizes power in Somalia and turns Somalia into a communist dictatorship
1969: Jaafar Nimeiri seizes power in Sudan
1969: Francisco Macias Nguema seizes power in Equatorial Guinea

1970: Nigeria re-annexes Biafra after one million people died
1971: Mobutu renames Congo as Zaire
1971: Tubman of Liberia dies and is succeeded by William Tolbert
1972: Gabriel Ramanantsoa seizes power in Madagascar and steers the country towards socialism
1972: Mathieu Kerekou seizes power in Dahomey and turns it into a socialist state
1972: Madagascar's president Philibert Tsiranana resigns and is succeeded by Gabriel Ramantsoa
1972: Kaunda outlaws all opposition parties, introduces socialism and turns Zambia into one of the poorest countries in the world
1972: Libya occupies northern Chad in cahoots with Chad's dictator Tombalbaye
1972: 1,000 Tutsis (including king Ntare V) are massacred in Burundi, and in retaliation the Burundi government kills 150,000 Hutus
1972: General Juvenbal Habyarimana stages a coup in Rwanda
1973: France sends troops to help quell Chad's revolt
1973: El-Ouali leads a group of Sahrawi (Western Saharan) students to form the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro", or Polisario, fighting for independence from Spain

1974: 200,000 people die of famine in Ethiopia
1974: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed in coup while Menghistu Haile Mariam seize power and turns the country into a communist state (end of the empire of Ethiopia)
1974: hundreds of people die of starvation in Somalia
1974: Seyni Kountche seizes power in Niger
1975: Didier Ratsiraka seizes power in Madagascar and establishes a socialist state
1975: Tombalbaye of Chad is deposed by Felix Malloum
1975: Menghistu of Ethiopia orders the execution of 100,000 dissidents over five years of "red terror" and millions will die in famine and civil wars
1975: Spain withdraws from Western Sahara, Morocco invades Western Sahara and the Polisario proclaims the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and begins an independence war against Morocco
1975: Mozambique becomes independent under Samora Machel of Frelimo, who creates a socialist state
1975: Nigerian leader Gowon is overthrown by Murtala Ramat Mohammed, who moves the capital to Abuja
1975: Angola becomes independence but civil war erupts between UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi and supported by South Africa and the USA, and MPLA, backed by Cuba and Zaire and led by Agostinho Neto

1976: Lourenco Marques is renamed Maputo
1976: the Ebola virus is first identified in western Sudan and in a region of Congo
1976: white police massacres 600 blacks during an anti-apartheid uprising in Soweto, South Africa
1976: colonel Jean Baptiste Bagaza, a Tutsi, seizes power in Burundi
1976: Renamo is formed by white Rhodesian officers to fight the government of Mozambique
1977: Menghistu Haile Mariam seizes power in Ethiopia
1977: Bokassa, known for cannibalism, appoints himself emperor of Central Africa in a ceremony, sponsored by France, that costs the equivalent of the country's entire gross national product
1977: France, Belgium and Morocco help Mobutu repel an Angolan attack on Zaire
1977: Ngouabi of Congo Brazzaville is assassinated in a coup and Massamba-Debat (instigator of the coup) is executed, while Joachim Yhombi-Opango becomes the new president
1977: Riots in Guinea against Toure's communist government
1977: Mozambique adopts socialism
1978: the Soviet Union and Cuba send troops to support Menghistu's regime
1978: Daddah of Mauritania is deposed by Mohammed Khouna Haidallah
1978: Agostinho Neto dies and Jose Eduardo dos Santos succeeds him as president of communist Angola
1978: Kenyatta of Kenya dies and is succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi, who establishes an even more brutal dictatorship
1978: Abel Muzorewa succeeds Ian Smith in Rhodesia

1979: Alhaji Shehu Shagari wins the elections in Nigeria
1979: end of Francisco Macias Nguema's regime in Equatorial Guinea (50,000 have died)
1979: Jerry Rawlings leads the revolution in Ghana against corrupt officers
1979: Goukouni Oueddei seizes power in Chad, the first Muslim leader of the country, with help from Libya
1979: France overthrows Bokassa (after it is revealed that he ordered the massacre of 100 children) and re-installs Dacko as president of Central Africa
1979: Uganda attacks Tanzania, but Tanzania defeats Uganda and ousts president Amin
1979: Denis Sassou Nguesso, supported by Angolan troops, seizes power in Congo Brazzaville
1980: Rhodesia becomes independent under Robert Mugabe
1980: Seretse Khama dies and Ketumile Masire becomes the new president of Botswana
1980: Senghor resigns and Abdou Diouf is elected president of Senegal
1980: Mauritania recognizes the Polisario
1980: Samuel Doe overthrows and kills Tolbert in Liberia (the native population runs the country for the first time in its history)
1980: Obote wins rigged elections in Uganda and Yoweri Museveni starts a guerrilla war
1980: Lamizana of Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) is deposed
1980: Mugabe wins the first free elections in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and creates a one-party socialist state
1980: Libya sends troops to support Chad against the French-backed rebels of Hissene Habre (thousands of civilians die)

1982: North Korean troops help Rhodesia crush a rebellion led by Joshua Nkomo that leaves thousands dead
1982: Moi declares a one-party socialist dictatorship in Kenya
1981: Hissene Habre seizes power in Chad
1981: Andre Kolingba ousts Dacko in Central Africa
1982: Swaziland king Sobhuza II dies, leaving 600 children to contend the throne
1982: Ahidja retires and Paul Biya becomes president of Cameroon
1983: Thomas Sankara seizes power in Upper Volta and changes its name to Burkina Faso
1983: Nimeiri imposes shariah over Sudan
1983: Renamo (supported by Rhodesia and South Africa) starts guerrilla war against Frelimo in Mozambique
1983: Nkomo starts guerrilla warfare against Mugabe, and Mugabe retaliates with mass executions
1983: Christian leader John Garang leads the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) in a new civil war against the Sudanese government
1983: Shagari overthrown in Nigeria

1984: 900,000 people die in Ethiopia of famine
1984: Haidallah of Mauritania is overthrown by Maaouya Ould Taya
1984: Sekou Toure of Guinea dies and Lansana Conte succeeds him
1984: France sponsors a coup against Cameroon's Biya that fails but kills hundreds
1985: Ibrahim Babangida seizes power in Nigeria
1985: after mass graves of dissidents are discovered, Obote of Uganda is removed in a military coup led by Tito Okello
1985: Nyere of Tanzania retires and is succeeded by Ali Mwinyi
1985: Nimeiri is deposed in Sudan
1986: Machel of Mozambique dies in an airplane crash and is succeeded by Joaquim Chissano
1986: Botswana posts the second highest growth rate in the world
1986: Joseph Momoth succeeds Siaka Stevens in Sierra Leone
1986: Museveni's guerrillas conquer Uganda's capital
1986: Dacko creates a one-party state in Central Africa
1986: riots in Zambia stemming from poverty
1986: a successor to king Sobhuza II is chosen in Swaziland, Mswati II

1987: Ndura Waruinge and Maina Njenga found Mungiki, a religious sect that promotes traditional moral values and the Mau Mau view of African nationalism
1987: Seyni Kountche of Niger dies and Ali Seybou succeeds him
1987: South African troops invade Angola to support Savimbi's rebels
1987: major Pierre Buyoya seizes power in Burundi
1987: Sankara of Burkina Faso is overthrown and executed by Blaise Campaore
1987: Mugabe and Nkomo reach an agreement that ends the civil war in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
1987: the Mungiki sect in Kenya has more than a million members
1987: France expels Libya from Chad
1988: 20,000 Hutus are massacred by Tutsis in Burundi
1988: civil war erupts in Somalia between Barre and the Isaqs (Somaliland)
1989: DeKlerk wins national elections in South Africa on a democratic program
1989: Hassan al-Turabi seizes power with a coup and becomes Sudan's Islamist philospher and dictator, intent on building a pure Islamic society
1989: riots erupt in Mauritania between Arabs and blacks, and thousands of blacks are expelled to Senegal
1989: a ceasefire is signed between Morocco and the Polisario
1989: Charles Taylor leads rebels against Doe's government of Liberia
1989: SWAPO wins the first free elections in Namibia
1989: people riot against Didier Ratsiraka's economic policies in Madagascar

1990: Namibia becomes independent under president Sam Nujoma
1990: pro-democracy riots in Cote d'Avoire
1990: civil war in Senegal
1990: the Tuaregs of Niger rebel against the government
1990: Tutsi rebels helped by Uganda invade Rwanda but are repelled by Zaire, Belgium and France
1990: Mugabe wins rigged elections in Zimbabwe against Edgar Tekere's pro-capitalist and democratic party
1990: king Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho is deposed by her son Letsie III
1990: Habre of Chad (responsible for the death of 40,000 dissidents) is overthrown by Idriss Deby with help from Libya
1990: Tuaregs revolt against Mali
1990: Nelson Mandela is released from jail in South Africa
1990: Frelimo in Mozambique abandons socialism in favor of capitalism

1991: the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, led by Meles Zenawi, removes Menghistu from power
1991: Barre is deposed in Somalia but civil war erupts among the Somali clans, while Somaliland declares independence under president Mohamed Ibrahim Egal
1991: Seybou is deposed in Niger
1991: Mugabe liberalizes the Zimbabwe economy, after the socialist experience and requisition of white land caused a depression
1991: Eritrean rebels conquer Eritrea under Isaias Afwerke
1991: the brutal dictatorship of Mobutu causes riots in Zaire
1991: South Africa repeals the apartheid laws
1991: Traore of Mali is deposed by Amadou Toure
1991: Frederick Chiluba wins the first free elections in Zambia
1991: Foday Sankoh leads an invasion of Sierra Leone by Sierra Leonean dissidents, mercenaries and forces of Liberia's rebel Charles Taylor

1992: Chissano of Mozambique and Renamo leader Afonso Dhaklama sign a peace agreement that ends the civil war (900,000 people have been killed)
1992: Valentine Strasser seizes power in Sierra Leone
1992: the United Nation sends troops (led by the USA) in Somalia to stop fighting by clans that has claimed 300.000 lives, but local warlords led by Muhammad Aideed expel them
1992: Albert Zafy wins the first free elections in Madagascar
1992: Biya wins rigged elections in Cameroon
1992: Alpha Konare wins the first free elections in Mali
1992: Dos Santos wins the first free elections in Angola, but Savimbi refuses to recognize the result and resumes the civil war
1992: Pascal Lissouba wins the first free elections in Congo Brazzaville
1992: Jerry Rawlings wins the first democratic elections in Ghana

1993: Eritreans vote to become independent
1993: Houphouet-Boigny dies after ruling Cote d'Avoire for 33 years, and is succeeded by Henri Konan Bedie
1993: Bongo barely wins the first free elections in Gabon
1993: end of the civil war in Senegal
1993: Felix Patassie wins the first free elections in Central Africa
1993: Moi wins the first democratic elections in Kenya, despite having destroyed its economy
1993: Mahamane Ousmane wins the first free elections in Niger
1993: Melchior Ndadaye wins the elections in Burundi and becomes the first Hutu president, but is assassinated by Tutsis in a coup that leaves thousands dead and starts a civil war that would kill 200.000 people
1993: Moshood Abiola wins the elections but general Sani Abacha seizes power in Nigeria

1994: Nelson Mandela wins the first free elections in South Africa and becomes its first black president
1994: Yahya JAmmeh deposes Jawara in Gambia
1994: a moderate Hutu, Cyprien Ntaryamira, is appointed president of Burundi, but is assassinated by Hutu extremists with the president of Rwanda, Juvenbal Habyarimana
1994: Jean Kambanda leads the government of Rwanda and Theoneste Bagosora defines its strategy while 800,000 Tutsis are slaughtered by Hutus
1994: Tutsi rebels conquer Rwanda, led by Paul Kagame
1994: Banda is defeated in Malawi's first free elections and Bakili Muluzi becomes president
1995: Benjamin Mkapa wins the first free elections in Tanzania
1995: Meles Zenawi wins the first free elections in Ethiopia
1995: Konare's government of Mali signs a peace agreement with the Tuareg rebels
1995: Abacha executes oppposition leaders in Nigeria
1995: the Ebola virus kills entire villages in Congo (Zaire)
1995: white palaeontologist Richard Leakey leads the opposition in Kenya

1996: a meningitis epidemics kills thousands of people
in Burkina Faso
1996: Ahmed Tejan Kabbah wins elections in Sierra Leone, but is deposed by general Johnny Paul Koroma
1996: warlord Muhammad Aideed of Somalia dies and is succeeded by his son Hussein
1996: Zafy is deposed and Didier Ratsiraka wins the new elections in Madagascar
1996: Rwanda invades Zaire to fight Hutu militias
1996: Mugabe wins rigged elections in Zimbabwe after all other candidates withdraw
1996: colonel Ibrahim Mainassara seizes power in Niger
1996: a ferry sinks in Lake Victoria killing about 600 people
1996: Museveni wins the first free elections in Uganda
1996: Pierre Buyoya seizes power again in Burundi, while Hutu rebels conduct a guerrilla war that kills 100,000 people
1997: Charles Taylor wins the elections in Liberia
1997: Kofi Annan of Ghana becomes the secretary general of the United Nations
1997: the government of Niger and the Tuareg rebels sign a peace treaty
1997: Somali factions sign a peace treaty
1997: Laurent-Desire Kabila, helped by Rwanda, wins Zaire's civil war while Mobutu is abroad, and JeanPierre Bemba and other Mobutu officials flee the capital
1997: Rwandan troops, pursuing Hutu militias, invade Congo (Zaire)

1998: Ethiopia and Eritrean fight a border war
1998: Festus Gontebanye Mogae becomes president of Botswana
1998: Nigerian troops restore president Tejan Kabbah in Sierra Leone, but Foday Sankoh continues the civil war
1998: an oil pipeline explodes in Nigeria killing more than 500 people
1998: Civil war in Chad between the forces of president Deby and the rebels led by Youssouf Togoimi
1998: Jean Kambanda of Rwanda is convicted of genocide by the United Nations tribunal
1998: Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe send troops to the Congo to support Laurent Kabila against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda
1998: Nigerian dictator Abacha dies
1998: the U.S.A. bombs Sudan for helping terrorists and Afghanistan's camps where Osama bin Laden trains his militants
1998: two truck bombs destroyed the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 213 people in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania

1999: Olusegun Obasanjo wins democratic elections in Nigeria
1999: Umar al-Bashir has Turabi arrested in Sudan
1999: Liberia supports rebels of Sierra Leone led by Sam Bockarie, a deputy of Foday Sankoh
1999: Mainassara of Niger is assassinated and succeeded by Daouda Wanke
1999: Thabo Mbeki wins the elections in South Africa and succeeds Mandela as president
1999: Tandja Mamadou wins elections in Niger

2000: 2,000 people are killed in fighting between Muslims and Christians in the Nigerian city of Kanduna
2000: mass killing in Kanungu, Uganda, is carried out by members of Joseph Kibwetere's Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (more than 700 dead)
2001: John Kufuor wins the elections in Ghana and becomes its new president, while Rawlings retires peacefully
2000: Abdoulaye Wade wins the first free elections in Senegal and replaces Diouf
2000: rebel Foday Sankoh is captured in Sierra Leone, but civil war continues
2000: the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), supported by Guinea, is formed by Liberian refugees and exiles to fight Charles Taylor's government
2000: Squatters seize hundreds of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe
2000: Islamic law ("sharia") is introduced in some states of Nigeria
2000: Laurent Gbagbo wins rigged elections in Cote d'Avoire
2000: peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea
2000: the USA approves a law (AGOA) to eliminate tariffs on hundreds of items for African countries

2001: Marc Ravalomanana wins the elections in Madagascar
2001: the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) dissolves and is replaced by the African Union
2001: Riots in Nairobi's slums
2001: Laurent Kabila of Zaire (Congo) is killed by a bodyguard and succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila
2001: the Sudanese government arrests several leaders of the Islamist party (Popular National Congress), including its leader Hassan al-Turabi
2001: Nigerian army soldiers kill 200 civilians in retaliation for the murder of soldiers in Benue state
2001: an Ebola epidemic spreads in Congo Brazzaville and Gabon
2001: the party of Mauritania's president Maaouiya Ould Taya, the Democratic and Social Republican Party (PRDS), wins democratic elections

2002: 100 people are killed in the Nigerian city of Lagos during riots between Muslims and Christians
2002: Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of Somaliland dies and is succeeded by Dahir Riyale Kahin
2002: Somali factions sign a truce deal after decades of civil war
2002: 1,000 people die in Senegal when a ferry capsizes
2002: Togoimi and Deby sign a peace deal, ending the civil war in Chad
2002: Amadou Toumani Toure wins rigged elections in Mali
2002: Jonas Savimbi, leader of UNITA, is killed and the Angolan civil war ends
2002: Levy Mwanawasa wins elections in Zambia and becomes the new president
2002: 90 Somalis die on a boat from Somalia to Aden
2002: failed coup against Laurent Gbagbo in Cote d'Avoire
2002: 200 people are killed in the Nigerian city of Kanduna by Islamic fanatics protesting against a Miss World pageant
2002: Mugabe loses national elections in Zimbabwe but declares himself the winner and approves the "acquisition" of thousands of white farms
2002: France sends troops to restore order in Cote d'Avoir, following an armed uprising
2002: "Ninja" rebels, led by Pastor Ntumi, stage a rebellion against government of Congo Brazzaville
2002: the Burundi government and the Hutu rebels sign a ceasefire agreement
2002: the Sudanese government and the Christian rebels of the SPLA sign a ceasefire agreement
2002: Francois Bozize leads a rebellion against Patasse in Central Africa, and Libya sends troops to defend the government
2002: the Congolese Liberation Movement carries out cannibalism, rape, torture and murder in the Congo province of Ituri
2002: about 42 million people are infected with AIDS (70% in Africa), 3.1 million people died of AIDS in 2002 alone, and half of them are women

2003: Mwai Kibaki wins the elections in Kenya and replaces Moi
2003: Mungiki cult members kill 23 people in Kenya
2003: Francois Bozize captures the capital of Central Africa and deposes Patasse
2003: Hundreds of people are killed during ethnic fights in the oil-producing region of the Niger Delta in Nigeria
2003: fierce battles between the army of Burundi and rebels of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy
2003: both Sam Bockarie and Johnny Paul Koroma flee from Sierra Leone to Liberia
2003: Hutu politician Dominitien Ndayizeye becomes the new leader of Burundi while Hutu rebels of the Forces for National Democracy (FNL) attack the capital killing hundreds of people
2003: 1,000 people die in fierce tribal fighting in eastern Congo (Zaire) as Ugandan troops pull out of Congo
2003: Charles Taylor of Liberia is indicted for war crimes by a United Nations court, while LURD soldiers close in on the capital, and is forced to step down by USA pressure
2003: Isaias Samakuva is elected leader of Angola's former rebel movement UNITA
2003: A transitional government of national reconciliation is created in Congo/Zaire (president Joseph Kabila, Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi for the old Kinshasa government, Azarias Ruberwa for the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma, the largest rebel group, Jean-Pierre Bemba for the Ugandan-backed Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), the second largest rebel group, and Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma for the Kinshasa political opposition).
2003: rebel Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone dies in jail
2003: the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), responsible for abducting thousands of children during the civil war, kills about 60 people in Uganda
2003: more than 250 people die when a boat capsizes in the Democratic Republic of Congo
2003: former Madagascar prime minister Tantely Andrianarivo is sentenced to 12 years of hard labour for abuse of office[/color]

http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/africans.html


(Please do your own research to confirm historical info. provided by the above site)

Where in Africa did African Americans Originate?
 

Where in Africa did African Americans Originate?

Demographics of identifiable regions providing slaves for export between 1711-1810. (Provided in P.D. Curtin's book "Atlantic Slave Trade.")

Sene-Gambia (Senegal-Gambia)* 5.8%
Sierra Leone 3.4%
Windward Coast (Ivory Coast)* 12.1%
Gold Coast (Ghana)* 14.4%
Bight of Benin (Nigeria)* 14.5
Bight of Biafra (Nigeria)* 25.1%
Central and Southeast
Africa (Cameroon- N. Angola)* 24.7%

For add'l info. and other literary sources of pertinent info. visit http://www.africanamericans.com/Origins.htm

Sorry, but I dispute any time line of Africa that does not acknowledge Nigeria south of the Niger and Benue. Where did you get this from, can I access it?

Your question was unclear, are you referring to the 1st or 2nd posting?
The 1st post cites notable historical events in Africa, while the 2nd references areas where most African slaves were acquired from (although some of the names and borders may have now changed). The (books) sources of the information are provided on the website, so YES, you may access the source of data from the links provided.

I also believe one or both sites have asked that those with additional or correctional information may contact them for updates.

Going back to my ROOTS.
 

Someone had written this, and I think it may be useful for those trying to trace their ROOTS.

"There were especially a large number of slaves who were Igbo people from what is now southeast Nigeria. They came from villages that were very densely populated. Also, we find a large of number of Ibibio, who inhabited a similar region and had a related culture."
"I can say without question, however, that one-fourth of the Africans imported into what became the U. S. were from southeastern Nigeria," said Gomez.

With above quotes, I would like to introduce the work of Professor Michael Gomez, an African-American historian who asserts that one quarter of all the slaves brought to the US are of Igbo origin. Prof. Gomez, formerly at UGA and now at New York University makes these assertions in a book titled; "Exchanging Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South." published in 1998 by the University of North Carolina Press.

I think this book is very significant because many African-Americans tend to identify with Akan and Yoruba roots because of the pervasive knowledge disseminated about the Akan and Yoruba religious practices which survived in the New World. But many African-Americans are of Igbo origin but this fact is not known. It should be disseminated as widely as possible. Please see below for a review of the book.
http://www.franklin.uga.edu/chronicl...cles/gomez.htm

UGA HISTORIAN SAYS IT MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS TO DETERMINE INFORMATION ON AFRICAN ANCESTORS

ATHENS, Ga. ? Slavery brought more to America than chains and shame. It brought an entirely new population that would grow up with the struggling country, in the process losing memories of Mother Africa, tribal affiliations and whole languages. Parts of that rich heritage survived, but untangling it has been difficult for historians because of gaps in the record and the faded memory of terrible times.

Now, however, a University of Georgia historian has discovered that it is possible for African-Americans to begin identifying particular ethnic cultural and social influences once thought unrecoverable. Using African sources, runaway-slave advertisements, ex-slave narratives and folklore, Michael Gomez has found that the lost history of African-Americans may not be so lost after all.

"I found to my surprise that certain ethnic groups were disproportionately represented among slaves," said Gomez. "There were especially a large number of slaves who were Igbo people from what is now southeast Nigeria. They came from villages that were very densely populated. Also, we find a large of number of Ibibio, who inhabited a similar region and had a related culture."

Gomez not only found from where large groups of identifiable Africans came ? he discovered where they settled in the U.S. His research was just published by the University of North Carolina Press in a book called Exchanging Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South.

The task facing Gomez was daunting. Although author Alex Haley was able to trace a relative to the Kinte clan in Gambia and celebrate that discovery in the book Roots, few African-Americans know where their families originated. In fact, Gomez's research extends only until 1830, after which African influences and memories began to fade as African-Americans became more mobile.

The amount of information on Africans in America before that time, however, was surprisingly large, even to a seasoned historian like Gomez, himself an African-American.

"Prior to 1830, there is in fact all kinds of information about ethnicity," said Gomez. "The people themselves recorded it, but the slave holders were also well aware of it, too. They had a good idea as to where groups of people came from in Africa and even had stereotypic notions that certain people were predisposed to jobs such as animal husbandry."

Among the more specific details was tribal scarification, the so-called "country marks" mentioned in the title of the book. These marks were often reproduced or described in runaway slave ads, and they helped Gomez trace the influence of certain ethnic groups in America. The real question in "exchanging our country marks" is how slaves began to see themselves as a different people entirely ? part of a homogenous group bound by slavery rather than separated by language or culture in Africa.

Along the way, these first- and second-generation Africans began to add to an already rich tapestry of culture in the American South, providing new ideas on cooking, food selection, religion and work. This influence is today pervasive in the South among whites and blacks, though few know the origins of the customs.

While the Igbo and Ibibio people were disproportionately represented among slaves, other large groups came from what is now the Republic of the Congo, Angola and other countries in west Africa. There were also significant numbers of Muslims. Using records, Gomez was able to discover that there are three rough zones of African ethnic influence in the U.S.: Virginia-Maryland-Chesapeake Bay, South Carolina-Georgia, and Louisiana.

"I can say without question, however, that one-fourth of the Africans imported into what became the U. S. were from southeastern Nigeria," said Gomez.


Gomez was not surprised to find that during this period the slaves developed a sense of race. Perhaps it was inevitable, given the shared burden of slavery. He also argues, however, that they quickly developed a sense of class that can in some instances be related to ethnicity. This was based as much on how they were viewed by slave holders as how they viewed the world themselves. Religion was also a useful a marker of class.

Gomez said that he has not spent nearly as much time tracing his own roots as he did in the decade it took to research and write this new book.

"I suppose being a descendant of these people gives you a certain perspective, but I don't know if it's any better than another," he said. "People not of African descent can come to these issue with perspectives that are as valuable as mine."

He does know that his father, a native of Puerto Rico, is of African descent, and that his maternal grandfather's family, from Mississippi, came originally from Virginia and was possibly of Igbo or Akan ancestry.

(For information from the University of North Carolina Press regarding this book, call Lisa Dellwo at 919/966-3561, ext. 234 in Chapel Hill.)

****************

The purpose of Gomez's reseach is not necessarily to trace the ancestry of individual African-Americans to Igboland but to identify the broad origins of the present day African-Americans.

I deliberately phrased this thread as 'the roots...' to make clear that I was not suggesting that there are stil 'pure' Igbos among AA today. Indeed, as you have pointed out yourself, there is a tendency on the part of some AA to identify with some other parts of the continent whereas as a matter of historical record, most of the slaves who landed in the Americas came from West and Central Africa.

I am fascinated by Gomez's work because:
1. most AA scholars tend to focus on the Akan and Yoruba roots of black Americans especially because of the pervasive presence of Yoruba and Akan religious rituals in New World black religions like vodun, candomble and santeria. In contrast, abakua, which has Ibibio, Efik and Igbo roots is relatively less studied.
2. he based his research in slave ship records in the old slave ports in the new world
3. he also did research in the Carribean and has pointed to significant populations of Igbo ancestry in e.g. Jamaica

If you asked most educated AA to name an African language or people, they are most likely to identify Swahili, Yoruba and Akan in that order. This is because so much research has been done on the Akan and Yoruba ancestry of black Americans. Now finally, an African-American scholar has ventured to further afield and has discovered that at least 25% of all slaves brought to America were Igbo. Rememeber that Olaudah Equiano was an Igbo man? Prof. Felix Ekechi of Kent State University argues that his real name was 'Ola'udah Ekwu'anu' and that he was probably from somewhere in the present day Imo or Abia states.

I am not conversant with haematology and so I can't explain the low prevalence of sickle cell among AA.

I am still digging up more stuff on this and will post it as I find it.

(African) Skull alters theory on colonization of Americas
 

The Japan Times
September 22, 1999

REDISCOVERED IN BRAZILIAN MUSEUM

Skull alters theory on colonization of Americas

RIO DE JANEIRO - Anthropologists unveiled the oldest known human fossil from the Americas on Monday, a woman's skull with African features that could revolutionize theories about the continent's early inhabitants.

The fossil first discovered in Brazil in 1975 but only recently found to come from a woman who lived 11,500 years ago shows there were human beings on the continent long before Asian immigration, said anthropologist Ricardo Ventura Santos.

"This is a piece that, in practice, is important toward understanding ... the settlement of the Americas," said Ventura Santos, of the National Museum and the prestigious Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
"There's a lot of curiosity about it, that's why we're showing it to the media today."

Scientists dubbed the woman "Luiza," Brazil's answer to the famed "Lucy," just over a year ago when new methods proved she was the earliest known American. Luiza's namesake is a 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor found in Ethiopia and now on display in a Paris museum.

Scientists say Luiza was a nomad who wandered with about a dozen relatives in an area of what is now central Brazil, eating the natural vegetation or, on occasion, animal meat. She died at around age 20 in some sort of accident.

Before Luiza's appearance, paleontologists had been working on the theory that the earliest Americans were the Asian ancestors of the Indians that European colonizers encountered when they arrived on the American continents 500 years ago.
These ancestors would have come from what we now know as Siberia and Mongolia, having crossed the Bering Strait between Asia and North America on a glacial bridge at the end of the last Ice Age.

About a year ago, archaeologist Walter Neves, one of the few specialists in human paleontology in Brazil, took an interest in the unusual shape of Luiza's skull, which had been packed away for decades in the museum's vast archives.

He believed the skull, which had been found in a 13 meter deep cavern in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, showed Negroid features rather than the Mongoloid features typical of Brazil's Indians. "Its characteristics are very different in relation to the native population. Therefore, it has a very big importance, above all in explaining the settlement of the Americas and also for the history of humanity," said Jose Henrique Vilhena, UFRJ's director.

SCIENTISTS UNVEIL a reconstruction of Luiza's head at the National History Museum in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. Luiza is considered to be Brazil's oldest woman, based on remains found in the state of Minas Gerais that have been dated at 11,500 years old.

http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news143.htm

:cry