History of Africa

Archaic humans emerged out of Africa between 0.5 and 1.8 million years ago. This was followed by the emergence of modern humans (Homo sapiens) in East Africa around 300,000–250,000 years ago. In the 4th millennium BC written history arose in Ancient Egypt,^[1] and later in Nubia's Kush, the Horn of Africa's Dʿmt, and Ifrikiya's Carthage.^[2] Between around 3000 BC and 1000 AD, the Bantu expansion swept from north-western Central Africa (modern day Cameroon) across much of sub-Saharan Africa, laying the foundations for states in Central, Eastern, and Southern regions.^[3] In most African societies the oral word is revered, and as such they have generally recorded their history orally. This has led anthropologists to term them oral civilisations, contrasted with literate civilisations which pride the written word.^{[a][5]: 142–143} Oral tradition often remained the preferred method of recordation in cases when a writing system was adapted or developed; for example the oral recordation of the Kouroukan Fouga in the Mali Empire while having adapted the Arabic script to be used in scholarly pursuits.^[6][7]

Many kingdoms and empires came and went in all regions of the continent. Most states were created through conquest or the borrowing and assimilation of ideas and institutions, while some developed through internal, largely isolated development.^[8] Some African empires and hegemonic kingdoms include Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Ife, Oyo, Bamana/Ségou, Asante, Massina, Sokoto, and the Toucouleur in West Africa; Ancient Egypt, Kush, Carthage, the Fatimids, Almoravids, Almohads, Ayyubids, and Mamluks in North Africa; Aksum, Ethiopia, Adal, Kitara, Kilwa, and Imerina in East Africa; Kanem-Bornu, Kongo, Mwene Muji, Luba, Lunda, and Utetera in Central Africa; and Mapungubwe, Zimbabwe, Mutapa, Rozvi, Maravi, Mthwakazi, and Zulu in Southern Africa. Some societies are heterarchical and egalitarian, while others remained organised into chiefdoms.^[9] At its peak it is estimated that Africa had up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups having distinct languages and customs, with most following traditional religions.^[10]

From the 7th century CE, Islam spread west amid the Arab conquest of North Africa, and by proselytization to the Horn of Africa. It later spread southwards to the Swahili coast assisted by Muslim dominance of the Indian Ocean trade, and from the Maghreb traversing the Sahara into the western Sahel and Sudan, catalysed by the Fula jihads in the 18th and 19th centuries. Systems of servitude and slavery were historically widespread and commonplace in parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient and medieval world.^[11] When the trans-Saharan, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Atlantic slave trades began, many of the pre-existing local slave systems started supplying captives for slave markets outside Africa, creating various diasporas, especially in the Americas.^[12][13]

From 1870 to 1914, driven by the great force and hunger of the Second Industrial Revolution, European colonisation of Africa developed rapidly, as the major European powers partitioned the continent in the 1884 Berlin Conference, from one-tenth of the continent being under European imperial control to over nine-tenths in the Scramble for Africa.^[14][15] European colonialism had significant impacts on Africa's societies, and the suppression of communal autonomy disrupted local customary practices and caused the transformation of Africa's socioeconomic systems.^[16] Colonies were maintained for the purpose of economic exploitation and extraction of natural resources. African history was initially written by outsiders (Europeans and Arabs), and in colonial times under the pretence of Western superiority supported by scientific racism. Oral sources were deprecated and dismissed by unfamiliar historians, giving them the impression Africa had no recorded history. Pre-colonial Christian states include Ethiopia, Makuria, and Kongo. Widespread conversion to Christianity occurred under European rule in southern West Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa due to efficacious missions, with peoples syncretising Christianity with their local beliefs.^[17]

The rise of nationalism facilitated struggles for independence in many parts of the continent, and, with a weakened Europe after the Second World War, waves of decolonisation took place. This culminated in the 1960 Year of Africa and the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 (the predecessor to the African Union), with countries deciding to keep their colonial borders.^[18] Traditional power structures, which had been incorporated into the colonial regimes, remained partly in place in many parts of Africa, and their roles, powers, and influence vary greatly. Many countries have undergone the triumph and defeat of nationalistic fervour, and continue to face challenges such as internal conflict, neocolonialism, and climate change.

African historiography became organized at the academic level in the mid-20th century, and saw a movement towards utilising the oral sources in a multidisciplinary approach.^[19] This culminated in UNESCO publishing the General History of Africa from 1981, edited by specialists from across the continent. The community are still tasked with building the institutional frameworks, incorporating African epistemologies, establishing a continental periodisation, and representing an African perspective.^[20]

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