Timeline

c.300,000 years ago
The first modern humans, called Homo sapiens (“wise man”), emerge in Africa. Around 270,000 years ago, Homo sapiens spreads out from Africa into Asia and Europe, probably in a series of migrations over many tens of thousands of years.

55,000–50,000 years ago
A more advanced Homo sapiens—people who have developed sophisticated language and devised more effective tools, weapons and hunting techniques—emerges in Africa. They start to migrate to Asia and Europe.

c.8000 BC
Hunter-gatherers create rock paintings at Tassili n’Ajjer in the Sahara Desert.

c.2000 BC–AD 500
Bantu migrations: Bantu people, living in the region of modern Nigeria and Cameroon, start to migrate south and east. They take with them knowledge about crops and working with iron. By AD 500, they have reached the region of modern South Africa.

814–146 BC
The civilization of ancient Carthage, centred on the Phoenician city-state of Carthage on the coast of modern Tunisia, is a major trade hub in the Mediterranean.

500 BC–AD 200
In the region of modern Nigeria, the Nok culture flourishes. Craftworkers produce the earliest known sculptures in Africa.

AD 1st century–early 2nd century
Christian churches are set up in the region of Egypt, from where Christianity spreads across North Africa and southeast to modern Ethiopia.

2nd century–7th century
The Kingdom of Aksum thrives in the region of modern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Its people trade extensively and build tall, thin monuments called stelae.

644–1500
Growth of Islam: The Arab Empire spreads across North Africa, bringing the Islamic faith. Timbuktu in modern Mali becomes a major centre of Islamic culture. Traders carry the faith south of the Sahara Desert. By 1500, Islam has spread to the regions of modern Nigeria and Sudan, and down the east coast of Africa.

c.800–c.1235
The Ghana Empire, in the region of modern Mali and Mauritania, is powerful. It controls the gold and salt trades across the western Sahara Desert.

c.800
The Swahili Coast: Trade has brought Muslim Arab merchants to the East African coast. Settlements blending Arab and African culture start to grow in importance, giving rise to the Swahili culture. One of the most important centres is Kilwa, off the coast of modern Tanzania, where traded goods include ivory, slaves and gold.

836
The Great Mosque of Kairouan is built, in modern Tunisia. It has the world’s oldest minaret.

c.900–1897
The city-state of Benin, in modern Nigeria, is powerful. By the 15th century, the city-state has expanded into an empire.

11th century–1808
The Hausa states are key centres of trade in the region of modern Ghana, Niger and Nigeria.

12th–13th centuries
Eleven churches are carved out of the rock at Lalibela in modern Ethiopia.

1220–1450
The Kingdom of Zimbabwe in southern Africa is powerful through trade, acting as the “middleman” between the gold-producing states to the west and the Swahili traders on the east coast. The city of Great Zimbabwe is the capital.

c.1230–c.1600
In West Africa, the Mali Empire thrives, taking control of the trans-Saharan trade from the Ghana Empire. In 1324–5, its ruler Mansa Musa makes a pilgrimage to Mecca and shows off his immense wealth.

1390–1914
The Kingdom of Kongo thrives, trading ivory, pottery and metalwork. At its peak it is the largest state in Central Africa.

1415
Portugal conquers Ceuta on the north coast of Africa, an important centre of the spice trade. It is the first European foothold in Africa.

c.1464–1591
Having gained independence from the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire becomes the major power in West Africa. Its capital is Gao in modern Mali.

1498
Having established trading posts on the west coast of Africa, the Portuguese reach the Swahili Coast.

1502
The Slave Trade begins. The first large shipment of African slaves sets sail across the Atlantic Ocean for the Americas. Between 1502 and the 1860s, 12 million African men, women and children are kidnapped and loaded on to slave ships. Around 10–20% of them die on the crossing—between 1.2 and 2.4 million people. Many more die soon after arrival in the Americas, or later as a result of cruel treatment, hard labour, revolts and New World diseases.

1574
The Ottoman Empire, centred on Constantinople in modern Turkey, has expanded its territory across the north and northeastern coasts of Africa as far as Algeria in the west and Somalia in the east.

c.1600–1900
The Kingdom of Dahomey, in modern Benin, is powerful through farming and slave-trading with Europeans.

1652
The Dutch found a colony at Cape Town on the coast of modern South Africa.

1661
The British found their first settlement in Africa: James Island on the Gambia River.

1701–1896
In the region of modern Ghana, the Asante Empire (also known as Ashanti) is one of the most powerful states in sub-Saharan Africa, trading gold and slaves in exchange for European goods. Asante territories are eventually seized by the British.

1787
The British found a colony for freed slaves in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

1803
Denmark is the first country to ban the slave trade, followed by Britain in 1807 and the USA in 1808. The last country to ban the shipment of slaves is Brazil, in 1831.

1816–28
Shaka Zulu rules the Zulus of southern Africa. They are a powerful nation of farmers and warriors.

1820
The USA starts a colony for freed slaves in Liberia, West Africa. The state becomes independent in 1847.

1830
The French invade Algeria and start to build up an African empire.

1841
David Livingstone arrives in Africa, sent by the London Missionary Society. He is one of hundreds of Christian missionaries in Africa during the 19th century. Many people in southern and central Africa convert to Christianity.

1884–1914
The “Scramble for Africa”: The Berlin Conference decides how European powers are to divide up Africa—no African representatives are present to decide their own future. By 1914, all of Africa has been taken by European powers, except for Ethiopia and Liberia.

1895–6
During the First Italo-Ethiopian War, Ethiopia defeats Italy’s attempts to establish control over the country. This makes it the only African country to defeat a European colonial power and remain an independent nation.

1930–74
Haile Selassie is president of Ethiopia. The Rastafari movement begins in the Caribbean island of Jamaica. Followers worship Haile Selassie as the messiah (God in human form) who will lead the peoples of Africa to freedom.

1931
The British government allows South Africa to become fully self-governing. Racial segregation and oppression of the black majority had begun under Dutch and British rule. From 1948, the Afrikaner National Party takes power and passes laws to enact the system of racial segregation and discrimination known as apartheid.

1939–45
World War II: Fighting takes place between Allied and Axis troops in North Africa, East Africa and Madagascar. More than 1 million African troops enlist, mostly fighting for Britain. In 1943, German and Italian forces in North Africa surrender.

1945–80
Decolonization: Europe is weakened as a result of World War II. Across Africa, nations struggle for independence from European powers. The first country to gain it is Libya, in 1951. The last country is Zimbabwe, in 1980. Some colonies become independent peacefully, while others, such as Algeria (1962), Kenya (1963) and Angola (1975), are forced to fight for it. Great leaders of the decolonization movement include Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) and Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal).

1963
The Organization of African Unity is founded, with 32 member countries. It aims to promote the unity of African states and to work for economic and political stability. In 2002, it is replaced by the African Union, which has 54 member states.

1967–70
Civil war rages in Nigeria, causing 1 million deaths.

1971–79
Idi Amin seizes control of Uganda and rules as dictator. Around 300,000 Ugandans die under his regime.

1980
Zimbabwe becomes independent from British rule, with Robert Mugabe as president. He is initially viewed as a hero, but is later accused of ordering the deaths of 20,000 Ndebele people and other human rights violations.

1991
A treaty signed in Abuja, Nigeria, creates the African Economic Community and sets up plans for an African Central Bank and ultimately a monetary union similar to the euro.

1994–99
Following the dismantling of the system of apartheid, Nelson Mandela becomes president of South Africa. He fosters reconciliation between races, combats poverty and improves healthcare.

1994
1994 Rwandan genocide: between 500,000 and 662,000 people of the Tutsi ethnic group are killed by Hutu militias

1998–2003
The Second Congo War: Civil war breaks out, involving nine African countries in the fighting. More than 5 million people die, making it the deadliest war in modern African history.

2001
The Nobel Peace Prize is jointly presented to the United Nations (UN) and Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is Ghanaian. Annan is recognized for revitalizing the UN, working for human rights and trying to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

2001
South Africa wins a major legal battle against 39 multinational pharmaceutical companies who tried to prevent the importation of cheaper, generic HIV/AIDS drugs.

2003–04
Darfur genocide: Sudanese government brutally suppresses ethnic African rebels in the western region of Darfur. An Arab militia known as the Janjaweed massacres hundreds of thousands of Darfuri people

2004
The Pan-African Parliament holds its first session. It is the law-making body of the African Union. It aims to promote democracy, peace and stability on the continent.

2006
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia becomes Africa’s first female head of state. In 2011, she is jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for women’s rights.

2010–11
The Arab Spring: Anti-government demonstrations start in Tunisia on 18th December 2010. Protests sweep across the Arab world, toppling the governments of Tunisia and Libya.

2011 onwards
War ravages the Sahel region of West Africa, involving Islamist uprisings against national governments. The conflicts are at their most intense in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as in northeastern Nigeria.

2013–16
The Ebola virus breaks out in Guinea, spreading to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Mali. Around 11,300 people die from the disease.

2014
More than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, Nigeria, are kidnapped by the Islamist group Boko Haram (which means “Western education is forbidden”).

2023 onwards
Sudanese civil war: fighting between the Sudanese government army (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti) breaks out in Khartoum on 15th April