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Africa’s History
Civilization is believed to have
begun in what is now the heart of
the Sahara Desert, which in 5200 BC
was savanna, and far less arid than it
is today. Agriculture was possible,
but poor soil and limited rainfall
made cultivation difficult, keeping
populations sparse and largely
pastoral. Early populations also
followed river valleys, such as the
Nile, Upper Congo, and Niger. By
1500 BC agriculture had spread,
domestic animals were being kept,
technologies such as iron-smelting
were being practised, and the
population was on the increase.
Africa’s first great civilization
emerged in Egypt in around 3200
BC, while Carthage was founded by
the Phoenicians in North Africa in
the 9th century BC. In 146 BC, after
the Third Punic War, North Africa
became part of the Roman Empire,
the province comprising what is
present-day northern Tunisia, as
well as the Mediterranean coast of
modern-day western Libya along to
Syrtis Minor.
Christianity spread across these
areas from Palestine via Egypt, also
passing south beyond the borders of
the Roman world into Nubia and by
at least the 6th century into Ethiopia,
where in previous centuries the
Semitic Kingdom of Axum (Aksum)
had flourished.
Islam
spread via Spain to North
Africa in the 7th century AD,
reinforcing the Arab influence that
had long prevailed, and spreading to
East and Central Africa where an
extraordinary tribal and cultural
diversity was already in existence.
By the 9th century a string of
dynastic states stretched across the
sub-Saharan savanna, the most
powerful of them being Ghana, Gao,
and the Kanem-Bornu empire, with
Kanem accepting Islam in the 11th
A Concise History of Africa
Even after the Sahara
had returned to being a
desert, it could still be
penetrated by people
traveling between the north and
south. The use of oxen for desert
crossings was common, prior to
the introduction of the camel, and
trade routes followed chains of
oases, located at intervals across
the desert.
OPPOSITE:
The Great Pyramid of Giza
is the oldest and largest of the three
pyramids at Giza. The Great Sphinx is in
the foreground
.
ABOVE:
Blue-colored paint dominates
the old medina in the city of
Chefchaouen, Morocco.
ABOVE RIGHT:
The ruins and the
Roman site of Volubilis, Morocco, that
date from 217 AD.
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