Africa 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.