Africa Timeline

Timeline

5000 BCE
Organised farming begins in Egypt.
c. 3500 BCE
The Sahara desert begins to spread in Africa due to climate change.
2000 BCE
Speakers of the Bantu language begin migrating southward.
c. 2000 BCE
Farmers and herders travel south from Ethiopia and settle in Kenya.
c. 2000 BCE - c. 1500 CE
The Bantu Migration occurs in Africa starting from southern West Africa and slowly spreading southwards to finally reach South Africa.
1700 BCE
The Kingdom of Kush is formed to the south of Egypt.
c. 814 BCE
Traditional founding date for the Phoenician colony of Carthage by Tyre.
650 BCE
Iron working spreads to North Africa.
631 BCE
Greek colonists from the island of Thera found the city of Cyrene in North Africa.
c. 500 BCE - c. 200 CE
The Nok Culture flourishes in West Africa.
341 BCE
The Persians complete conquest of Egypt.
331 BCE
Egypt is conquered by Alexander the Great without resistance.
250 BCE - 1100 CE
The city of Djenne-Djenno flourishes in West Africa.
204 BCE
Scipio Africanus sails to North Africa in the Second Punic War.
146 BCE
End of the Third Punic War. Carthage is destroyed and its lands become the Roman province Africa.
429 CE
Vandals cross Spain to the Maghreb.
c. 500 CE - 1240 CE
The Ghana Empire dominates West Africa.
c. 500 CE - c. 1365 CE
The Nubian kingdom of Dongola flourishes in the Sudan.
534 CE
Justinian of the Byzantine Empire conquers the Vandal kingdom in Africa.
c. 750 CE
Muslim traders from Arabia begin to settle on the Swahili Coast.
c. 900 CE - c. 1390 CE
The Kingdom of Kanem flourishes near Lake Chad, Africa.
c. 1050 CE - c. 1450 CE
The kingdom of Ife flourishes in West Africa.
c. 1070 CE - c. 1300 CE
Mapungubwe flourishes in southern Africa.
c. 1100 CE - c. 1550 CE
Continuous habitation of Great Zimbabwe.
c. 1100 CE - c. 1500 CE
The trading city-states of Africa's Swahili Coast flourish.
c. 1100 CE - 1897 CE
The Kingdom of Benin rules in southern West Africa.
1240 CE - 1645 CE
The Mali Empire rules in West Africa.
1270 CE
Foundation of the medieval kingdom of Abyssinia, aka the Ethiopian Empire.
c. 1300 CE - c. 1450 CE
Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa flourishes.
c. 1400 CE - c. 1804 CE
Hausaland flourishes in Africa.
c. 1400 CE - c. 1885 CE
The Kingdom of Luba thrives in central Africa.
c. 1400 CE - c. 1700 CE
The Kingdom of Kongo flourishes in west-central Africa.
c. 1450 CE - c. 1633 CE
The kingdom of Mutapa flourishes in southern Africa.
c. 1460 CE - c. 1591 CE
The Songhai Empire dominates the West African savannah.
c. 1471 CE
Portuguese ships arrive off the coast of southern West Africa.
8 Jul 1497 CE - Aug 1499 CE
The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sails around the Cape of Good Hope and on to India and back.
c. 1600 CE
The Kikuyu people are identifiable as a distinct ethnic group in the centre of modern-day Kenya.