Odds are, human beings hit upon the lifestyle and innovations that enabled them to populate the planet in some place very like the Kalahari Desert, a small, surprisingly diverse, just-barely desert in southern Africa that still harbors what many geneticists consider the original human beings. The 100,000-square-mile (260,000 sq km) Kalahari is a faint echo […]

Something happened. Something bad. Something strange. Some 6,000 years ago, the region of North Africa that today constitutes the world's greatest desert was a lush grassland studded with scrubby trees, lakes, and streams. Antelope, rhinos, hippos, lions, jackals, giraffes, clams, fish, and human beings wandered about in well-hydrated content. That hospitable grassland habitat dated back […]

Hail, tornadoes, snowstorms: at first glance the climate of South Africa seems to resemble that of the US Midwest. In reality, the extremes here are more localized and not terribly common. Sunshine and moderate warmth are actually the most prevalent features of South African climate. Jutting into the Atlantic, the southwest corner of the Western […]

At the heart of equatorial Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) has one of the more dependable climatic regimes of the continent. The ITCZ pulls wet, thundery weather to the north from March to November and to the south from December to February. In between, the central Congo basin, including Mbandaka (perched directly […]

More than any other continent, Africa is swept by the back-and-forth migration of meteorology's equator. Africans watch the globe-straddling intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) as intently as a day trader watches stocks. As the ITCZ sloshes north and south over its annual cycle, it brings much of Africa its only period of annual rainfall. The dry-season/wet-season […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE On June 1, 2001, Nkosi Johnson died from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). He was the longest living South African child born with HIV. In February, he celebrated his 12th birthday—but weighed just 27 pounds. Living with a foster mother, the child had become […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE Mauwa Funidi wonders about the future of her country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as she looks around the rundown university library where she works. She has not been paid her salary of 12 dollars per month in many months. Classes at the university have been suspended because of a lack […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE In April 2000 in Zimbabwe, armed men attacked the farmhouse of a white farmer whose family has lived in Zimbabwe for generations. A political crisis that goes back to Britain's colonial rule caught white farmers in a violent crossfire. British colonial rule ended in 1980, but more than 4,000 white farmers in […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE A Congo riverboat ride from Kinshasa to Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a journey all visitors should take. The riverboat is essentially a floating village. Each barge shakes with music and dancing. In addition, the Congolese fill the riverboat with market stalls stocked with all types of food. […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE A visit to Goree Island, off the coast of Senegal, can be a moving experience. This island served as one of the busiest points for exporting slaves during the slave trade. From the mid-1500s to the mid-1800s, Europeans transported about 20 million Africans through Goree Island. The island has a slave house, […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE According to legend, around 814 B.C. a Phoenician queen founded Carthage, one of the great cities of ancient Africa. She located it on a peninsula on the Gulf of Tunis. The location was ideal. The Lake of Tunis protected the rear of the peninsula from invasion. In addition, because Carthage was on […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE East Africa is called the “cradle of humanity” because of the large number of prehistoric human remains found in the region. In 1931, Louis Leakey, an English archaeologist, began doing research in Olduvai Gorge, located in northern Tanzania. Olduvai Gorge has contained the most continuous known record of humanity. The gorge has […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE Akierou Awe lives in a mud-brick house in Nigeria's Niger delta, a region that contains most of Nigeria's oil. On the morning of July 10, 2000, Awe's four sons had been collecting fuel from a leaking pipeline to help scrape out a living in this poverty-stricken region. They hoped to resell the […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE In 1352, 48-year-old Ibn Battuta, a great traveler from Morocco, set out for the empire of Mali in West Africa. His most challenging obstacle was the Sahara, a desert nearly the same size as the continental United States. Battuta and his caravan set out in February. They traveled only in early morning […]

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE Angola's rebel leader Jonas Savimbi kept his forces fighting by bargaining with arms dealers and haggling with international diamond traders. Diamonds—one of the world's most precious and valuable gems—have enriched some of Africa's countries, including Botswana and South Africa. However, in other diamond-rich countries such as Angola, people use diamonds to fund […]

Zanzibar, an island state in the Indian Ocean, lies about 30 miles off the coast of East Africa. Long an Arab stronghold, it became a British colony in the late 1800s. Zanzibar gained its independence in 1963 and the next year joined Tanganyika in forming the United Republic of TANZANIA. Geography Zanzibar consists of two main islands, Unguja (also […]

One of the Earth's more distinctive climates is the wetdry tropical climate . Here, the weather is largely dry for much of the year, but there is a rainy season of a few months duration in which most of the annual rainfall occurs. Precipitation during the wet season is quite variable, ranging from little or none to torrential rainfalls that produce […]

The Zulu, a large ethnic group in SOUTH AFRICA, are based in Natal Province on the country's eastern coast. They speak a BANTU language closely related to that of the XHOSA. Originally one of many small societies in the region, the Zulu grew into a powerful nation in the 1800s. Traditionally the Zulu were farmers, growing millet, a kind […]

POPULATION: 15.25 million (2014) AREA: 150,803 sq. mi. (390,580 sq. km) LANGUAGES: English (official); Shona, Ndebele NATIONAL CURRENCY: Zimbabwe dollar PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Syncretic (part traditional, part Christian) 50%, Christian 25%, Traditional 24%, Other 1% CITIES: Harare (capital), 1,752,000 (2001 est.); Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare, Kwekwe, Kadoma, Hwange, Masvingo ANNUAL RAINFALL: Varies from 40 in. (1,020 mm) in Eastern Highlands to 15 in. (400 mm) in […]

Ruled 1434–1468 Emperor of Ethiopia Zara Ya'Iqob, a powerful and intelligent Ethiopian ruler, was a devout Christian. He sometimes took strong measures to make sure that Christianity remained the dominant religion in ETHIOPIA. The son of emperor Dawit of Ethiopia, Zara Ya'iqob was educated at his father's royal court. When his father died and his brother became emperor, Zara Ya'iqob […]

POPULATION: 15.72 million (2014) AREA: 290,586 sq. mi. (752,618 sq. km) LANGUAGES: English (official); Bemba, Tonga, Lozi, Lunda, Nyanja, others NATIONAL CURRENCY: Zambian kwacha PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Christian 50–75%, Hindu and Muslim 24–49%, Traditional 1% CITIES: Lusaka (capital), 1,640,000 (2001 est.); Kitwe, Ndola, Chingola, Mufulira, Luanshya, Kabwe, Livingstone ANNUAL RAINFALL: Varies from 50 in. (1,400 mm) in the north to 20 in. (510 mm) in […]

The Zambezi River is the fourth longest in Africa, after the NILE, CONGO, and NIGER rivers. It runs for 1,678 miles across the southern part of the continent, from ZAMBIA through ANGOLA, NAMIBIA, BOTSWANA, ZIMBABWE, and MOZAMBIQUE before emptying into the Indian Ocean. Along the river's course are many distinctive natural and human-made features. For 354 miles from its source […]

The term Yoruba refers to several western African peoples, including the Ife, Ibadan, and Egba. Europeans called all these groups Yoruba because they shared commons features of language, political organization, and culture. However, when referring to themselves, the Yoruba tend to use the names of their individual groups. Located mainly in southwestern NIGERIA, BENIN, and northern TOGO, the Yoruba number more […]

The Xhosa, an ethnic group of SOUTH AFRICA, mostly live in Eastern Cape province in the southeastern part of the country. Although some groups farther north speak Xhosa, they are not considered part of the cluster of Xhosa chiefdoms. The language of the Xhosa reveals clues about their history and their connections with other groups. It is very closely […]

Although there are thousands of African LANGUAGES, most of the systems used to record them originated outside the continent. A number of factors determined the writing system chosen for each language, including which system seemed to fit the language best and various social and political reasons. Types of Writing Systems There are two basic types of writing systems: logographic and […]

Although Africa did not play a significant role in either World War I or World War II, the wars had a major impact on the continent. Africans participated in fighting, and African colonies supplied the European powers with food and raw materials. A number of colonies changed hands as a result of the wars, and the wartime struggles inspired Africans […]

During the second half of the 1900s, the rise of women's movements around the world brought new attention to the role of women in Africa. Long overlooked by historians and scholars, African women have begun to gain recognition for their contributions to economic and political life as well as to the home and family. Still, African women generally do not […]

The Wolof, a western African people, live in the nations of SENEGAL and GAMBIA, mainly in villages between the Senegal and Gambia Rivers. The Wolof number about 4 million. Their language, also called Wolof, is widely spoken in Senegal. According to tradition, individual Wolof villages combined to create an empire with its center in northwest Senegal sometime in the […]

Many Africans view both misfortune and spectacular success as unnatural and believe that witchcraft or sorcery causes such events. Individuals referred to as witches or sorcerers—and by various local African names—are said to use secret, magical forces to hurt other people, to bring great success to themselves, or to maintain a powerful position in society. Their activities, which are usually […]

1830–1905 Nama leader Hendrik Witbooi, chief of the Nama people, was a religious leader who fought against German rule in southern Africa. Trained as a carpenter, he became a deacon, an official of the Christian church. Witbooi was born in Pella, a region south of the Orange River, between the nations of NAMIBIA and SOUTH AFRICA. After nearly dying […]

Elephants passing in slow, stately groups, lions lazing under a tree in the noonday heat, shaggy mountain gorillas feeding in a clearing in the rain forest—these images instantly suggest Africa, which is famous around the world for the amount and variety of its wildlife. Yet the rapid growth of Africa's human population, accompanied by the use of ever more land […]

POPULATION: 261,794 (2014) AREA: 97,000 sq. mi. (252,000 sq. km) LANGUAGES: Arabic (official); Berber dialects NATIONAL CURRENCY: Moroccan dirham PRINCIPAL RELIGION: Muslim CITIES: El-Aaiun (Laayoune), Cabo Bojador, Bu Craa, Smara (Semara), Ad Dakhla ANNUAL RAINFALL: Less than 2 in. (50 mm) ECONOMY: GDP per capita: N/A PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS AND EXPORTS: Agricultural: fish Manufacturing: handicrafts Mining: phosphates GOVERNMENT: Claimed and administered by Morocco since 1979, […]

Europeans began setting up trading posts on the coast of western Africa in the mid-1400s. The result was a string of European settlements from present day SENEGAL to the coast of modern NIGERIA. Centuries later these trading posts became the bases for European colonial claims in western Africa. European traders referred to sections of the coast by the main […]

Warfare has played a role in almost every society in human history. As societies grow larger and more complex, the nature of conflict and the motivation behind it tend to change. In Africa, where warfare once consisted of quick raids made by small bands of people, these changes are evident. Modern African nations have permanent professional armies backed by powerful […]

Vodun is a traditional religious practice of southern BENIN. Also known as Orisha to the YORUBA people of the region, Vodun was brought to the Americas by slaves. There, especially in Haiti, it developed into a form called voodoo. People who practice Vodun believe that their ancestors entered into agreements with several deities called the Vodun, which represent forces of […]

1901–1966 South African politician Hendrik Verwoerd created South Africa's policy of racial segregation known as apartheid. As prime minister in the early 1960s, he followed racist policies that deepened the divide between whites and blacks. Born in the Netherlands, Verwoerd moved with his family to SOUTH AFRICA when he was two years old. His father, a grocer, was a […]

1619–1677 Dutch colonial administrator Jan Van Riebeeck was a Dutch merchant who founded Cape Colony, the first European settlement in what would later become SOUTH AFRICA. Born in the Netherlands, Van Riebeeck began traveling at an early age with his father, who worked for the Dutch East India Company. In time he, too, worked for the company, and he […]

1754–1817 Founder of the Sokoto Caliphate Uthman dan Fodio was an Islamic scholar and preacher who founded the Sokoto caliphate in what is now northern NIGERIA. In the 1800s Sokoto became one of the largest independent states in Africa. Born in the town of Gobir, Uthman belonged to a family of Islamic scholars. He grew up speaking Fulfulde, the language […]

Created after World War II, the United Nations (UN) is an international organization that promotes peace and security among member states and cooperation on economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian issues. When the UN was founded in 1945, only four African countries were independent states and members of the organization: EGYPT, ETHIOPIA, LIBERIA, and SOUTH AFRICA. By 2000 more than […]

Informal worker's unions and trade associations first appeared in Africa during the 1890s. However, organized union activity did not get underway until after World War I in the British colonies and after World War II in French colonies. Few unions arose in Portuguese territories such as ANGOLA and MOZAMBIQUE. In SOUTH AFRICA, years of rule by racist white governments led […]

ca. 1794–1864 Muslim leader in West Africa A Muslim cleric, or religious leader, Umar ibn Sa'id Tal played an important role in spreading Islam across a broad area of West Africa. Through his writing, military achievements, and his role in the religious brotherhood of the Tijaniyya, he remains a prominent figure for Muslims in West Africa. Born in the […]

POPULATION: 37.78 million (2014) AREA: 93,065 sq. mi. (241,038 sq. km) LANGUAGES: English (official); over 40 others including Swahili, Ganda, Nyoro, Lango, Acholi, Alur, Chiga, Kenyi, Teso, Arabic NATIONAL CURRENCY: Uganda shilling PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Christian 66%, Traditional 18%, Muslim 16% CITIES: Kampala (capital), 1,212,000 (2001 est.); Jinja, Mbale, Mbarara, Masaka, Entebbe, Gulu ANNUAL RAINFALL: Varies from 90 in. (2,250 mm) near Lake Victoria […]

1920–1997 Nigerian writer Nigerian novelist Amos Tutuola gained fame for his retelling of traditional YORUBA myths, legends, and fables. The son of a poor farmer, Tutuola struggled to obtain an education. He gathered and sold firewood to help his father pay for his schooling. When his father died in 1939, however, the family could no longer afford Tutuola's tuition, and […]

1931– South African religious leader and activist Aleader of the Anglican Church, Desmond Mpilo Tutu is best known for his tireless efforts for peace, unity, and human rights in SOUTH AFRICA. Born in Klerksdorp, he hoped to become a doctor but could not afford medical training. Instead, he became a schoolteacher and attended the University of South Africa. After graduating […]

POPULATION: 11.00 million (2014) AREA: 63,170 sq. mi. (163,610 sq. km) LANGUAGES: Arabic (official); French; some Berber dialects NATIONAL CURRENCY: Tunisian dinar PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Muslim 98%, Christian 1%, Jewish and other 1% CITIES: Tunis (capital), 1,897,000 (2001 est.); Bizerte, Sousse, Sfax, Gabes ANNUAL RAINFALL: Varies from 60 in. (1,524 mm) in the north to 8 in. (203 mm) in the Sahara region. ECONOMY: […]

1895–1971 President of Liberia Considered the man who modernized LIBERIA, William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman served as president of that nation for 27 years. Born in southeastern Liberia, Tubman was a descendant of freed American slaves who had moved to Liberia from Georgia in the 1800s. A member of Liberia's ruling class, he received a college education and became a lawyer […]

The Tuareg are an Islamic people who dwell in and around the SAHARA DESERT. They speak Tamacheq, one of North Africa's Berber languages. Numbering about one million people altogether, Tuareg can be found mainly in MALI and NIGER but also in BURKINA FASO, ALGERIA, and LIBYA. Descendants of the nomadic BERBERS, North Africa's original inhabitants, the Tuareg appeared first in […]

1917–1969 Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo Moise Kapenda Tshombe was one of the first leaders of CONGO (KINSHASA). Born in Katanga province in what was then the colony of Belgian Congo, he was trained as a Methodist preacher and a teacher and later became a merchant. In 1958 he helped found the Confederation of Tribal Associations of Katanga, […]

Tribalism is identification with a particular ethnic group or “tribe.” In discussions of African politics and culture, tribalism usually appears as the opposite of NATIONALISM, devotion to the interests and culture of one's entire country. African leaders seeking to build new nations sometimes regard tribalism as primitive, an obstacle to developing a modern national identity. Another view of tribalism, however, […]

Early in recorded history, people from outside Africa visited—or at least knew about—the lands on Africa's northern coast. In ancient times kingdoms of the Middle East and southern Europe had dealings with EGYPT. Phoenicians from what is now Lebanon founded the colony of CARTHAGE (in present-day TUNISIA), the Greeks established settlements in LIBYA, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, and for […]

Africa suffers from an overall lack of transportation facilities, and many of those that do exist are inefficient, inconvenient, unreliable, and poorly maintained. Moreover, the quality and availability of transportation varies greatly from one place to another. Methods of getting around in Africa range from jet aircraft to camels. Upgrading and expanding the transportation infrastructure is a major challenge facing most […]

Trade has always been the engine of economic growth. Individuals and communities that trade successfully with their neighbors gain wealth and power. In precolonial times, Africa's natural riches gave it an important place in international trading networks. However, the SLAVE TRADE and European colonization profoundly disrupted the development of African economies, and the impact of these events is still felt today. […]

Traveling to experience places and people other than their own, tourists spend money on hotels, restaurants, tours, transportation, entertainment, visits to museums and historic sites, and souvenirs. The business of providing those goods and services, the tourism industry, accounts for a significant part of the incomes of some African countries. History Tourism in Africa began in the 1800s, when […]

ca. 1922–1984 First president of Guinea Aleader of the INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT in GUINEA, Sekou Toure became the first president of the newly independent Republic of Guinea in 1958. Born to a modest Muslim family in upper Guinea, Toure had little education. However, he had natural talent as a speaker and leader and he acquired some Islamic learning. After practicing […]

ca. 1830–1900 Ruler in Guinea Samori Toure built a state that stretched far across the savannas of what is now the Republic of GUINEA and defended his kingdom for many years against French colonization. Toure was born along the upper Milo River in the highlands of Guinea. The valley of the Milo was an important long-distance trade route that […]

1918–1975 President of Chad The first president of CHAD, Francois-Ngarta Tombalbaye promoted the interests of Christian groups in southern Chad at the expense of Muslims in the north. Born in southern Chad and educated by Protestant missionaries, Tombalbaye became a school teacher. However, his interests eventually turned to politics, and in 1946 he helped create the Chad Progressive Party. He […]

POPULATION: 7.115 million (2014) AREA: 21,930 sq. mi. (56,790 sq. km) LANGUAGES: French (official), Ewe, Mina, Kabye, Dagomba, Komkomba NATIONAL CURRENCY: CFA franc PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Traditional 70%, Christian 20%, Muslim 10% CITIES: Lome (capital), 513,000 (1990 est.); Sokode Palime, Atakpame, Bassari, Tsevie, Anecho ANNUAL RAINFALL: Ranges from 40 in. (1,020 mm) in the north to 70 in. (1,780 mm) in the south. ECONOMY: […]

ca. 1837–1905 Arab trader and ruler Hamed bin Muhammed el-Murjebi, known as Tippu Tip, was an Arab trader on the CONGO RIVER who established a powerful empire during the late 1800s. Working as an ivory merchant between the east coast and Lake Tanganyika, Tippu Tip gradually built up a military force and gained control of the Upper Congo region. […]

1805–1887 Nigerian merchant Madame Tinubu was a Nigerian woman who flourished as both a trader and a politician. Her people rewarded her services with the title iyalode, the highest honor a woman could receive, and she has become a legend. Tinubu spent her life in towns on the southwestern Nigerian coast that traded with Europeans. Born in Abeokuta, she […]

Located near the NIGER RIVER in northern MALI, the town of Timbuktu rose to greatness as a center of trade in the 1300s. It was a stop on the caravan routes that crossed the SAHARA DESERT, and river traffic linked it with regions to the southeast and southwest. Culturally, Timbuktu was a point of connection between Islamic North Africa […]

1895–1970 Kenyan political leader Harry Thuku led a nationalist group in KENYA that opposed the land and labor policies of the British colonial government. Born into a poor family in northern Kenya, he attended a missionary school. At the age of 16, he traveled to NAIROBI, where he worked as a messenger before being jailed on minor charges. After […]

Theater in Africa takes many different forms and comes from diverse roots. Indigenous customs, such as storytelling, ritual, dance, and masquerades, are the oldest types of theater on the continent. In North Africa and other areas dominated by Islamic culture, theater often includes reciting popular tales and acting out religious stories, such as the deaths of the grandsons of the […]

ca. 1820–1868 Emperor of Ethiopia Considered the first modern ruler of ETHIOPIA, Tewodros set out to reunite his country, then a cluster of warring states. Born to noble parents and originally named Kasa, he was educated at Christian monasteries. He became a bandit in the early 1840s, and in 1852 he launched a military campaign against feudal chiefs throughout […]

POPULATION: 51.82 million (2014) AREA: 364,928 sq. mi. (945,166 sq. km) LANGUAGES: Swahili and English (both official); Chagga, Gogo, Ha, Haya, Luo, Maasai, others NATIONAL CURRENCY: Tanzanian shilling PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Christian 45%, Muslim 35%, Traditional 20% CITIES: Dar es Salaam (capital), 2,347,000 (2001 est.); Dodoma (to be new capital) 1,238,000 (1999 est.); Zanzibar City, Tanga, Mwanza, Arusha, Morogoro ANNUAL RAINFALL: 30–100 in. (770–2,570 mm), […]

1912–1966 Prime Minister of Nigeria The first prime minister of NIGERIA, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa helped keep a newly independent Nigeria united in the early 1960s despite serious ethnic and regional differences. A HAUSA born in northern Nigeria, Abubakar became a schoolmaster in 1933 and published a prizewinning novel the next year. However, politics was his true calling. In 1946 Abubakar […]

Sin and taboo are two ways of regulating behavior that are used by African religions and African social systems. A sin is a wicked act that breaks the laws of a deity or deities. It is also a deliberate act—the sinner knows that he or she is committing a sin. Taboo is a type of social rule that must […]

POPULATION: 1.269 million (2014) AREA: 6,704 sq. mi. (17,364 sq. km) LANGUAGES: siSwati and English (both official); Zulu, Afrikaans NATIONAL CURRENCY: Lilangeni (plural: Emalangeni) PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Christian 60%, Traditional 40% CITIES: Mbabane (administrative capital), 47,000 (1990 est.); Lobamba (legislative capital), 30,000 (1988); Manzini, Mhlambanyati, Tshaneni, Bunya, Goedgegun ANNUAL RAINFALL: 35–90 in. (900–2,300 mm) throughout most of country ECONOMY: GDP $4.413 billion (2014) PRINCIPAL […]

The Swahili people live in towns and villages along a 1,000-mile stretch of the East African coastline, from SOMALIA to MOZAMBIQUE. Many also live on ZANZIBAR, Pemba, and the COMORO ISLANDS off the coast. The name Swahili, an Arabic term meaning “people of the coast,” was given to them by Arabs who conquered the region in the early 1700s. However, […]

ca. 1580–ca. 1632 Emperor of Ethiopia One of the most powerful emperors of ETHIOPIA, Susenyos attempted to change the Ethiopian Church. Soon after taking the throne in 1607, Susenyos decided that, for political and religious reasons, Ethiopia should accept the authority of the Catholic Church in Rome rather than the Coptic Church in ALEXANDRIA in Egypt. A Jesuit missionary, Pedro […]

1464–1492 Ruler of Songhai Sunni Ali was a member of the Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled the Songhai Empire of western Africa in the 1300s and 1400s. Known for his immense energy and leadership skills, he expanded the borders of the empire. By the time Sunni Ali came to power, the Songhai kingdom had lost much of its influence […]

ca. 1205–1255 Founder of the Empire of Mali Abrilliant military leader and skilled administrator, Sundjata Keita founded the empire of MALI, one of the great SUDANIC EMPIRES OF WESTERN AFRICA. Under his rule Mali adopted various laws and customs that are still followed by the people of the region. Born in the west African city of Dakajala, Sundjata was […]

Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, has had a profound influence on the beliefs and practices of Muslims in Africa. Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula first brought Islam to Africa in the A.D. 600s. By the early 1200s various orders, or schools, of sufism had emerged in North Africa, based on the teachings of influential religious leaders. Sufism reached […]

The Suez Canal is an artificial waterway in EGYPT that links the Mediterranean and the Red Seas. Cut across the Isthmus of Suez, a strip of land connecting Africa and western Asia, the canal made it possible for ships to travel from Europe to Asia and back without sailing all the way around Africa. The Suez Canal was not […]

The Sudanic empires of Western Africa were a group of powerful states that developed south of the SAHARA DESERT between the A.D 700s and 1500s. The most prominent of these states were GHANA, MALI, and Songhai. The Arabs called the whole stretch of land south of the desert bilad al-sudan (“the land of the blacks”). Thus the term “Sudan” came […]

POPULATION: 39.35 million (2014) AREA: 967,244 sq. mi. (2,505,813 sq. km) LANGUAGES: Arabic (official); Nubian, Ta Bedawie, English, dialects of Sudanic and Nilotic languages NATIONAL CURRENCY: Sudanese pound PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Sunni Muslim 70%, Animist 25%, Christian 5% CITIES: Khartoum (capital), 2,731,000 (2001 est.); Port Sudan, Wad Medani, El Obeid, Atbara, Juba, Malakal, Renk ANNUAL RAINFALL: From 5 in. (130 mm) in the central […]

1841–1904 British explorer and author Henry Morton Stanley made several extensive journeys in Africa in the second half of the 1900s. The books he wrote about his adventures were widely read. Stanley was born John Rowlands in Wales, where he grew up in an orphanage. In 1859 he traveled to the United States and changed his name to that […]

Sraditional African cultures valued play and recreation. Africans enjoyed board games and took part in organized activities such as wrestling, dancing, and canoe racing. When Europeans introduced Western sports during the colonial era, Africans found aspects of those sports familiar. Since then Africans have incorporated Western sports into their cultures, won prizes in international sports competitions, and continued to enjoy traditional […]

In spirit possession, nonhuman forces or entities are believed to enter a person's body and affect his or her actions. Western cultures usually view possession as a sign of madness or evil. But in Africa, spirit possession is considered a form of communication between people and spirits that has important religious, social, and political meaning. Although it is believed that […]

1934– Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka is a noted Nigerian writer and political activist. He was born in Ijebu-Isara in western NIGERIA, the son of a schoolteacher. After studying at a university in the city of Ibadan, he traveled to England, where he attended the University of Leeds and earned a degree in English literature. In 1957 Soyinka moved to […]

The arrival of Europeans in southern Africa in the 1600s set in motion a long period of upheaval that transformed the region. A series of violent conflicts pitted Dutch settlers against indigenous peoples, the Dutch against the British, the British against indigenous peoples, and various African groups against each other. After white settlers discovered gold and diamonds in the 1800s, […]

POPULATION: 54.00 million (2014) AREA: 471,008 sq. mi. (1,219,912 sq. km) LANGUAGES: English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu (all are official) NATIONAL CURRENCY: Rand PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Christian 68%, Traditional and animistic 28.5%, Muslim 2%, Hindu 1.5% CITIES: Pretoria (administrative capital), 1,508,000 (2001 est.); Cape Town (legislative capital), 2,993,000 (2001 est.); Bloemfontein (judicial capital), 300,150 (1991 est.); Johannesburg ANNUAL RAINFALL: Varies […]

POPULATION: 10.52 million (2014) AREA: 246,000 sq. mi. (637,660 sq. km) LANGUAGES: Somali (official); Arabic, Italian, English NATIONAL CURRENCY: Somali shilling PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Sunni Muslim CITIES: Mogadishu (capital), 1,219,000 (2001 est.); Hargeisa, Kismayu Merca, Berbera, Boosaaso, Borama, Giamama ANNUAL RAINFALL: Less than 3 in. (77 mm) overall, but up to 20 in. (550 mm) on high ground ECONOMY: GDP $5.707 billion (2014) PRINCIPAL […]

Kings of Swaziland Sobhuza I (ca. 1780–1839) founded the Swazi kingdom of southwest Africa by uniting various Nguni-speaking clans in southern SWAZILAND. To accomplish this, he used techniques of persuasion that included arranging alliances through marriage and granting titles and choice lands to neighboring chiefs. Sobhuza then moved his people into central Swaziland, defeating rival clans and expanding his holdings […]

1870–1950 Prime Minister of South Africa Jan Christiaan Smuts spent most of his life trying to unify SOUTH AFRICA, first as a soldier and later as a politician. The son of Afrikaners, South Africans of Dutch ancestry, Smuts lived in Cape Colony before studying law at Cambridge University. After returning to South Africa, he fought on the side of the […]

Slavery involves treating human beings as property that people can own. In the past, when slavery was legal or customary in many places, some slaves were granted certain rights and privileges. However, no slave ever had true liberty or freedom, and the institution of slavery rested on force or the threat of force that could be used against the enslaved. […]

Throughout history SLAVERY has been a feature of many societies in all parts of the world, including Africa. Some Africans were enslaved within their own homelands. Far more, however, were carried off as slaves to other parts of Africa or around the world through the slave trade. The slave trade was a type of commerce in which enslaved humans were […]

POPULATION: 6.316 million (2014) AREA: 27,699 sq. mi. (71,740 sq. km) LANGUAGES: English (official); Krio, Temne, Mende, Limba NATIONAL CURRENCY: Leone PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Muslim 60%, Traditional 30%, Christian 10% CITIES: Freetown (capital), 669,000 (1990 est.); Bo, Koindu, Kenema, Makeni ANNUAL RAINFALL: Varies from 200 in. (5,000 mm) on the coast to 85 in. (2,160 mm) in the north. ECONOMY: GDP $4.838 billion (2014) […]

The Shona are a cluster of peoples who have lived for about 2,000 years in the Zimbabwean Plateau, a region of southern Africa that includes most of ZIMBABWE and part of MOZAMBIQUE. The Shona divide themselves into clans that are associated with particular chiefdoms and areas. Although most Shona identify with a clan rather than with the Shona group as […]

1870–1935 South African church leader Isaiah Shembe was a ZULU prophet who founded his own church in the early 1900s. As a young man Shembe experienced a dramatic conversion that led him to give up worldly things and become a wandering preacher and healer. He joined the African Baptist Church in 1906 and eventually became an ordained minister. However, […]

ca. 1790–1828 Ruler of the Zulu Shaka Zulu founded the Zulu kingdom, which once controlled sections of present-day South Africa. In 1816 Shaka succeeded his father as ruler of the Zulu, a small ethnic group in southern Africa. Shaka soon expanded his chiefdom. He created a fierce army, providing his troops with long-bladed spears that were ideal for stabbing […]

1909–1962 Tanzanian poet and writer Sheikh Shaaban Robert is regarded as one of the greatest poets and writers in the SWAHILI language. He developed a new style of Swahili writing that combined traditional storytelling with the techniques of modern poems and novels. He also introduced the essay into Swahili literature. Born near the port city of Tanga in Tanganyika […]

POPULATION: 91,530 (2014) AREA: 175 sq. mi. (454 sq. km) LANGUAGES: English and French (both official); creole NATIONAL CURRENCY: Seychelles rupee PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Roman Catholic 90%, Anglican 8%, other 2% CAPITAL CITY: Victoria, 25,000 (1993 est.); Main islands: Mahe, Praslin, La Digue ANNUAL RAINFALL: On Mahe varies from 90 in. (2,300 mm) at sea level to 140 in. (3,560 mm) on mountain slopes. […]

1906–2001 President of Senegal Leopold Sedar Senghor was both a successful poet and a major political figure. Born in French West Africa (now SENEGAL), Senghor studied to become a Catholic priest. However, he was forced to leave the seminary because he protested against racism. In 1928 he traveled to France to study. He hoped to become recognized as a […]

POPULATION: 14.67 million (2014) AREA: 75,749 sq. mi. (196,190 sq. km) LANGUAGES: French (official); Wolof, Malinke, Fulani, Pulaar NATIONAL CURRENCY: CFA Franc PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Muslim 92%, Traditional 6%, Christian 2% CITIES: Dakar (capital), 2,079,000 (2001 est.); Kaolack, Thies, Saint-Louis, Zinguinchor ANNUAL RAINFALL: Varies from 12–20 in. (300–500 mm) in north to 40–60 in. (1,000–1,500 mm) in south. ECONOMY: GDP $15.66 billion (2014) […]

1923–2007 Senegalese author and film director Ousmane Sembene is widely regarded as the father of African CINEMA. Born in SENEGAL, Sembene served in the French army during World War II. He returned to his homeland briefly and took part in a railway strike in 1947–1948. He went back to France and, over the next several years, traveled to Denmark, Russia, […]

The English term “secret societies” refers to a wide range of traditional cults in Africa. Members of these groups possess secret knowledge gained through participation in rituals. Belonging to a secret society gives its members power in the community. During the colonial era, Europeans in Africa viewed secret societies with alarm. They felt threatened by the involvement of these […]

1855–1920 South African writer Olive Schreiner wrote various works of social criticism and fiction, including South Africa's first important novel, The Story of an African Farm (1883). Her books combine vivid descriptions of life in South Africa, criticism of British colonialism, and support for women's rights and racial equality. Schreiner was born in Wittebergen, SOUTH AFRICA, where her German father […]

1864–1910 Ghanaian politician John Mensah Sarbah was the leading African politician in the Gold Coast (modern-day GHANA) in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Born into a wealthy family, Sarbah went to England to study law. At the age of 23, he returned to the Gold Coast to set up a legal practice. He became known for defending the […]

POPULATION: 186,300 (2014) AREA: 372 sq. mi. (964 sq. km) LANGUAGES: Portuguese (official); Fang, Kriolu NATIONAL CURRENCY: Dobra PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS: Roman Catholic (89.5%), Evangelical Protestant, Seventh-Day Adventist CITIES: Sao Tome (capital), 43,000 (1993 est.); Trindade, Santana, Neves, Porto Alegre, Santo Antonio ANNUAL RAINFALL: Varies from 40 in. (1,000 mm) in northern lowlands to 150–200 in. (3,800–5,000 mm) in highlands. ECONOMY: GDP $337.4 million (2014) […]

1956– Congolese painter Cheri Samba is one of the first modern African painters to receiveinternational recognition for his work. His paintings explore how relations between Africans and Europeans have influenced the way Africans view themselves. Samba has described himself as an explorer of modern Africa and the West. According to some art critics, the main subject of his paintings […]