In Christian Ethiopia, a new dynasty came to power in 1270. The “Solomonid” dynasty was founded by Yekuno Amlak and was so named because its rulers were purportedly descended from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. In order to separate this new dynasty from the previous Zagwe dynasty, which was alleged to be illegitimate, and to link it to the illustrious monarchs of the ancient kingdom of Aksum, the emergence of this new dynasty is often sometimes referred to as a “restoration.” The new dynasty’s early years were not particularly fortunate.

Yekuno Amlak’s ascension to power was not well regarded, and following his passing, the kingdom had a string of contentious successions. Only when his grandson Amda Tsiyon (1312-1342) succeeded him as king was his dynasty able to solidify its supremacy inside the Christian kingdom’s heartlands and expand its dominance over adjacent territories. In fact, the Christian state at this time had expanded to the point that it might legitimately be called an empire.

Because of the wars he fought against the Muslim nations that flanked his territory’s southern and eastern boundaries as a result of Amda Tsiyon’s expansionist tactics, his reign is mostly noted for those conflicts. The fact that the two parties’ interactions were not always adversarial must be emphasized. They were distinguished by a significant degree of beneficial business collaboration as well.

Additionally, despite the fact that Amda Tsiyon’s military wins helped the Christian state obtain and keep the upper hand over its Muslim neighbors, these triumphs did not stand alone as a deciding factor. The Muslim republics shown a remarkable potential for recovery thanks to their connections to the larger Islamic world, and Amda Tsiyon’s successors encountered many of the same issues. The fight for dominance between the two didn’t really intensify until the Muslims, under Ahmad ibn Ibrahim’s leadership, proclaimed a full-fledged jihad (holy war) in the sixteenth century.

Muslims invaded practically the whole Christian realm between 1529 and 1543. The struggling monarch Galawdewos (1540–1559) was ultimately able to turn the tide because of the expanding ties between Christian Ethiopia and European Christendom, particularly the Portuguese, who had sent an ambassador to Ethiopia in 1520. The Christian soldiers pushed the Muslims out of the central highlands with the aid of a small but well-armed Portuguese detachment. Christians and Muslims did not engage in a major battle again after this catastrophic struggle.

The resurgence of the Ethiopian church, which spread Christianity throughout the previously conquered regions of the empire, was another significant issue. However, the process of Christianization was sometimes just cosmetic in these places, and the local populace kept up with their previous religious customs. Due to inadequate organizational skills, the Ethiopian Church was unable to combat the resulting religious syncretism or “mixed Christianity,” which was in conflict with the laws of the Alexandrian patriarchate in Egypt.

Religious life in the central areas was characterized by escalating doctrinal disagreements, notably those involving Sabbath observance. The monastic movement, which had its roots in the north and was formed by Ewostatewos (c.1273–1352), promoted keeping the two Sabbaths (Saturday and Sunday), which the Egyptian church had forbade. Strong anti-Sabbath forces within the Ethiopian church, particularly the Takla Haymanot-founded monastic order with its headquarters at Debra Libanos in Shoa, resisted them.

The persecution that followed forced the disciples of Ewostatewos to live almost wholly apart from the Alexandrian patriarchate and the Ethiopian church, whose authority and reputation they persistently disregarded in a blatant and exceedingly humiliating manner.

By the time Zara Yaqob (r. 1434–1468) came to power, the Ethiopian church was in danger of disintegrating due to the Sabbath conflict. So, in an effort to end the schism, the monarch called the Council of Debra Mitmaq in 1450. The dispute was resolved in favor of keeping the two Sabbaths, and the disputing parties reached an understanding. Zara Yaqob also started a campaign of religious reforms, although it was only partially successful in eradicating the “mixed Christianity” of the outlying areas.

Ethiopian literature grew in popularity along with the Ethiopian church’s resurgence. Many of the writings created, like the Senkessar, a collection of saints’ biographies, were translated from Arabic. Others, like the Metshafa Berhan (Book of Light), which is credited to Zara Yaqob, were unique. This specifically addresses the Sabbath debate and explains the king’s religious reforms, guiding the Christian community, dispelling heresies, and criticizing non-Christian customs.

The royal chronicles were a significant literary subgenre that first appeared during the reign of Amda Tsiyon with an account of his anti-Muslim efforts. These offer an incredibly comprehensive source for researching Ethiopian history.

The Kebra Nagast (Glory of the Kings), which was adapted to represent Ethiopian concepts of royal legitimacy by linking it not only to an Old Testament heritage through descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, but also to a New Testament heritage through relationship with Christ, was the most significant work of this era, despite not being an original Ethiopian composition.

The foundational traits of the Christian Ethiopian state were therefore created under Yekuno Amlak’s successors. In the political domain, the adoption of conceptions of royal legitimacy, given expression in the Kebra Nagast, and the tighter linkage of church and state had substantially boosted the prestige and authority of the king. It had also established the particular nature of Ethiopian Christianity. However, the Solomonid empire was to show shockingly fragile on the eve of the Muslim conquest, to the point that it was nearly totally annihilated.

The Dahomey Empire. The Aja are thought to have moved from Tado (Togo) to southern present-day Benin in the twelfth or thirteenth century and built the town of Allada. According to oral legend, a throne conflict between three brothers in 1625 prompted more departures. Kokpon took control of Allada, Te-Agbanlin founded the seaside town of Ajatche, which Portuguese traders renamed Porto-Novo, and Do-Aklin migrated inland and established the town of Abomey.

The Aja subsequently merged with the locals to become the Fon ethnic group. Do-grandson Aklin’s Wegbaja (r. c.1645-1685) and his successor Akaba (r.1685-1708) had made Abomey the capital of a strong state, the Dahomey Empire, by the end of the seventeenth century. Unlike the surrounding traditional kingdoms, the kingdom was an absolute monarchy. Its ruler inherited heavenly abilities.

It was important to his position to respect prior rulers and unambiguously proclaim the omnipotence of the royal dynasty. As a result, the national day of celebration, the Annual Customs, comprised multiple human sacrifices to instill dread in his followers and establish a communication channel with ancestors.

During Annual Customs, rulers gathered the whole people, presented sacrifices, performed Vodun rites, distributed gifts, reviewed the past year, and planned future activities. “Messengers,” who had previously been sentenced to death, were sent to the council of past monarchs in the otherworld to speak with them.

Answers to the messengers’ queries were obtained through divination or possession. At the height of Dahomey’s dominance, the king’s palace, as well as his throne, were adorned with human skulls, and human sacrifices were common. The king was the ruler of a tightly stratified society. He bestowed and revoked chieftaincy at pleasure. Commoners who were powerless to oppose him worked in a centralized bureaucracy under his rule. Primogeniture was the method of throne succession. By 1708, every Dahomean citizen understood that his life had to be committed to the service of his monarch.

Dahomey Empire was set up for war not just to extend its territory, but also to capture prisoners and sell them as slaves. Initially, these were confined in the sparsely inhabited country to labor the royal crops. They were later sold to Europeans in return for firearms. The army was mostly made up of regulars who were known for their marksmanship.

It contained the legendary Amazon corps, which was most likely initially a royal guard. While Dahomey prospered, the coastal kingdoms of Allada and Ouidah were upset by competition between European traders, who pitted one chief against another, and vulnerable to Dahomey’s goal to push along the coast to take its portion of the slave trade. When Soso, King of Allada, died in 1724, two brothers vied for his throne. The loser approached Agaja for assistance.

Instead of reinstating his buddy to the throne, Agaja marched south with his army and seized Allada, exiling both rivals. Agaja’s unexpected conduct shattered the customary bonds that had held the peoples together. He said that from now on, the survival of kingdoms in the region would be determined solely by force. Nonetheless, Hufon, king of neighbouring Ouidah, who still believed in the legitimacy of ancient bonds, took no precautions.

Agaja invaded on a pretense in 1727. He encountered little opposition and soon captured and occupied Ouidah. His growth prompted the mighty Oyo kingdom, whose subject Allada had become by the early eighteenth century, to intervene and attack Dahomey. The conflict lasted from 1726 through 1730. Agaja used every available method, including burning down his capital and scattering his followers.

However, the Oyo cavalry eventually defeated Dahomey’s cannons. Agaja was forced to sign a peace treaty, recognize Oyo’s authority, pay an annual tribute, and relocate his capital from Abomey to Allada, the old Aja capital. In exchange, he was permitted to maintain Ouidah, a significant portion of Allada, overall control of his domestic affairs, and his army.

Agaja then focused on reestablishing contact with Europeans. He desired a royal monopoly on the slave trade because his sales were solely motivated by his need for weaponry; but, the Europeans compelled him to deal with them. They acknowledged him as the ruler of the land in exchange for his taking responsibility for the safety of Europeans and promising to work with their commerce. The Oyo, however, attacked again because Dahomey failed to pay the appropriate tribute.

Agaja ran away and died in 1740. His son Tegbesu (r. 1732–1774) succeeded him after a turbulent succession. He discovered that his treasury was empty and decided that commerce was better to conflict. By 1750, the slave trade had become well-organized, and it appeared that it would alleviate Dahomey’s difficulties. Dahomey remained strong as the rest of the Oyo empire crumbled. Nonetheless, the late eighteenth century saw a fall. Captives from Oyo were being diverted from Dahomey’s ports, while Fon raids in the devastated northern territories were unable to capture a sufficient quantity of slaves.

At the same time, European demand was diminishing, first as a consequence of the disruption caused by the conflicts, and subsequently as a result of Britain’s banning of the slave trade (1808). Only until 1818, under King Guezo, did Dahomey’s position improve. The Dahomey Empire has been condemned for its human sacrifices and huge slave trades. Historians have recently endeavored to explain rather than judge.

They remind us that, while Dahomean society accepted human sacrifices, Dahomey also provided order and security to its population. It established a sophisticated system of governance with constitutional checks and balances; it had an efficient administration, courts of justice, and professional combat forces; and it ensured its residents’ spiritual satisfaction and access to means of living. Historians also point out that Dahomean society legitimized the enslavement of conquered people as field laborers and servants, making it simple to transition to selling a few “undesirables.”

This resulted in increased European demand. Fon leaders appear to have entered the trade hesitantly, but they grew reliant on it for weaponry. They saw no other option but to enslave others or be slaves.

The South African, or Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902 is a pivotal moment in South African history since it both ended British imperial control of contemporary South Africa and set the stage for the establishment of a segregationist union state in 1910. British soldiers ended the territorially based Boer (Afrikaner) settler republicanism after a costly and wasteful conflict in the most widespread colonial conflict of the late Victorian “new imperialism.”

In order to secure dependable Boer allies who would defend Britain’s crucial imperial interests in South Africa, Britain then turned to rebuilding and reconciliation with its erstwhile radical nationalist opponent. Disgruntled African residents, many of whom had hoped in vain for enhanced rights after Britain’s victory, paid the price for conciliation between white colonial society and the British Empire.

The finding of gold in the Boer Republic in 1886 and the effects it had on the balance of power in South Africa in the late nineteenth century were the catalysts for the start of the war. When the Witwatersrand mines of the South African Republic (Transvaal) overtook the weak and insignificant agrarian Boer republics in little more than a decade, South Africa’s economic center of gravity shifted away from the coastal British colonies of the Cape and Natal toward an increasingly nationalist, republican Boer state.

The British interests were severely hampered by Transvaal strength. It provided a pathway for pro-Boer imperial opponents to challenge the Royal Navy’s strategic control over the Southern African coastline and exercise their commercial and political might within a traditional British area of influence.

However, the Paul Kruger-led South African Republic government was allied with a conservative landowner elite that took advantage of the mines’ profits but was otherwise not very warm to the country’s changing economic system. The enfranchisement of British Uitlanders (foreigners) with mining backgrounds on the Witwatersrand, a political reform required by Britain as a tactic to construct a more proimperial political framework, was a liberalizing weakening of the Boer ruling class’s monopoly of power.

Disgruntled mining entrepreneurs came to the conclusion that the Transvaal regime’s overthrow was the only way to guarantee the long-term efficiency and prosperity of the gold mines as a British concern. It was also becoming untenable for many imperial politicians and bureaucrats for a great power to be challenged by a small African settler state administered by an independent group of Dutch farmers.

Every geopolitical scenario that followed the 1895 Jameson Raid, a failed attempt to overthrow the Kruger administration by certain scheming businessmen and bluffing imperial politicians, pointed toward war. At the end of the 1890s, when diplomacy ran out of options, a belligerent Britain and a besieged Transvaal—now allied militarily with its sister republic, the Orange Free State—had no choice but to resort to force.

The anti-imperialist Boers declared war on Britain in October 1899 to protect republican independence. Their command took the initiative in an effort to delay the British before reinforcements arrived to fortify the frail garrison position. The Boer goal was to force a negotiated settlement by surprise and coercion. A terrible shock was delivered to metropolitan spectators who had anticipated a quick and straightforward war of conquest.

In the initial phase of hostilities, Boer soldiers advanced well into British colonial territory, handing numerous significant losses to poorly equipped and incompetently commanded British troops, and raising a great deal of controversy at home on the shortcomings of imperial authority.

However, the Boer attack did not serve as a demonstration for effective leadership either. The republican command was unable to capitalize on their early advantages because they became mired down in unnecessary side trips, which gave the British time to feed in a lot of troops, reorganize, and better adjust to the challenging circumstances of the wide South African countryside. Early in 1900, British soldiers started to turn the tide under more capable command, mounting a coordinated attack to seize the Boer nations.

By June, their much outnumbered adversary had been driven back, and the retreating Boer field troops started to break down under duress due to their inability to prevent their areas from being captured. Lord Roberts, the supreme commander of Britain, thought the war was over after gaining control of the Transvaal and Orange Free State State. However, a strong group of republicans from the younger generation remained loyal to the fight.

The Boer enterprise was revived by skillful irregular warfare by mounted troops led by resourceful individuals like Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, and Christiaan de Wet, who were inspired by the resolute Boer women. Dispersed commandos waged a guerrilla battle for over two years, attacking on the run and sabotaging the imperial occupying force.

The British commander, Lord Kitchener, used broad theories of colonial wars of conquest against rural opponents to cut off the Boers from the lifeline of support and sustenance sent forth by their farming populace. The imperial army implemented a broad “scorched-earth” tactic throughout the second part of the conflict, destroying crops, cattle, and thousands of farms.

Thousands of African refugees who had also been uprooted by scorched-earth policies were ushered into segregated black camps while displaced women and children were herded into concentration camps. High death rates were a result of the appalling detention circumstances, and when hostilities concluded, 28,000 Boers and at least 20,000 Africans had died, mostly from illness.

Even the most ardent (or bittereinder) leaders’ will to battle on was finally sapped by Britain’s unwavering desire to suppress Boer republicanism and the immense imperial resources employed to this purpose. Two other significant reasons made their situation worse.

Many Boers had lost hope in their cause and were either giving up their weapons or joining the British Army as cooperating National Scouts to battle their former countrymen. As a result, the conflict broke apart Boer society. Second, residents who were African and “colored” (mixed race) were increasingly defying Boer rule and supporting the British war effort.

Boer military chiefs capitulated and reached an agreement for peace in May 1902 as the struggle threatened to wipe out the very Boer life it had been started to preserve. Even though the republican governments were forced to give up their independence, Britain generously provided postwar rebuilding funding, which resulted in the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910 as a white imperial dominion. By the time the war was over, Britain had sent close to 450 000 troops, while the Boers had sent out roughly 70,000 men. 22,000 imperial soldiers as well as 7,000 Boer men died.

A extra toll of black casualties as a result of fighting can be added to this. The Anglo-Boer War was never straightforward, as black people were heavily employed by both sides as laborers and combat support personnel.

While the British used over 100,000 black individuals in their war effort, up to 40,000 of them carried weapons, the Boers recruited well over 10,000 men to serve commandos. In this sense, the conflict was a real South African War, and because of its political and social ramifications, it was never accurate that the majority of black population was neutral in the so-called “white man’s war.”

The Anglo-Zulu war effectively ended an autonomous Zulu kingdom and forced the territory and its people into South Africa’s white settler-dominated capitalist political economy. On December 11, 1878, the British high commissioner, Sir Bartle Frere, sparked the war by giving the Zulu monarch, Cetshwayo KaMpande, with an impossible ultimatum demanding the dismantling of his country. Cetshwayo was forced to refuse the excessive demands.

Following this, British and Natal soldiers invaded Zululand on January 12, 1879, on the pretext of boundary violations and Cetshwayo’s unwillingness to comply with the ultimatum. The destruction of Cetshwayo’s royal residence on July 4, 1879, and his arrest on August 28 of that same year marked the end of the conflict for the British.

The overthrow of the Zulu monarchy, the political separation of the region, and the stationing of a British resident there later helped the British establish their rule over the Zulu. British dominance culminated with the absorption of the former monarchy in 1887.

The conflict is a textbook example of British imperial involvement motivated by big colonial goals but prompted by local circumstances. Additionally, it remained a defining feature of the imperial conflict with major African powers and was responsible for some of the most outstanding military successes and failures in colonial Africa.

However, the postwar colonial settlement was a strategy that stood out for having a similarly striking Machiavellian element. It benefited British interests to fracture Zululand and divide the last remnants of the kingdom against one another.

Prior to 1879, the Zulu kingdom posed a challenge to Natal and imperial colonial ambitions in southeast Africa. A growing Natal settler population made an attempt to move north in search of resources they believed the Zulu kingdom to possess, including land and labor.

Additionally, by the 1870s, Natal authorities were extremely confident in their capacity to govern Africans using the indirect rule system Sir Theophilus Shepstone, secretary for native affairs, had developed. An almost neurotic fear of the Zulu military might however temper this confidence. The colonial legend of Zulu military superiority, which dates back to Shaka’s time and the founding of the kingdom in the 1820s, contributed significantly to the spread of this dread.

However, the convergence of Natal demands and colonial intentions was what sparked the conflict. In addition to posing a danger to Zulu interests, the establishment of the Boer republic in the northwesterly Transvaal and its incursion into Zulu territory also raised questions for the British government, which wanted to keep the republicans in check and safeguard Natal’s direct access into the interior.

Shepstone saw the Zulu monarchy and military system as a threat, as did many of the British officials he influenced. Frere was also keen to create a confederation of Boer and British areas in order to unify the white state and implement a consistent policy for Africans inside it, notwithstanding his disagreements with neighboring African republics. So far as fearful colonial authorities and calculating imperial agents were concerned, the invasion and annexation of Zululand were “inevitable.”

More than 17,000 soldiers entered Zululand under the direction of Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Thesiger, second baron of Chelmsford. Less than half of them (about 5,700 British regulars and the remaining colonials) were white. More over 9,000 of the force were Africans from the Natal native contingent, which provides some insight into the conflicts that exist within African communities and demonstrates that the idea that the black race could unite against the white race was a creation of a fearful colonial mind. Despite having a large numerical advantage over the invaders and being on their own territory, the Zulu warriors were unable to continue the combat.

Due to Cetshwayo’s defensive tactics and the outdated weapons they had acquired through trade, they were unable to fully exploit their abilities. The British army’s aggressiveness perplexed the Zulu ruler as he made attempts to negotiate a cease-fire. Although high fatalities and the need to care to livestock and crops were more likely causes, this might explain accounts that the Zulu impi (army) just drifted away after fierce battles instead of going on the offensive. The Zulu, however, mounted a valiant resistance that tipped the balance of the peace in their favor.

The actual conflict was far different from the British hopes for an easy victory of an industrialized nation against an indigenous African military structure. Poor planning, logistical challenges delivering supplies across challenging terrain, and—most significantly—shrewd Zulu tactics hindered Chelmsford’s assault. Myopic British officers rejected reports of Zulu forces where they were not anticipated due to their overconfidence in their chances for a swift and successful battle.

Then, by dividing his forces, Chelmsford violated a fundamental principle of engagement. He left the other half of his column tented at Isandlwana and took half of it in pursuit of a tiny Zulu reconnaissance group. On January 22, 1879, a force of about 20,000 Zulu struck here, wiping out more than a third of Chelmsford’s force and dealing the war’s most decisive blow.

After this massacre, a Zulu reserve army under the command of Prince Dabulamanzi, Cetshwayo’s brother, abandoned the defensive strategy and surrounded the fortified depot at Rorke’s Drift, which is just inside Natal. A Welsh regiment of 150 soldiers put up a valiant resistance, killing 500 Zulu assailants out of an estimated 2,000–3,000 attackers, displaying the lethal impact of modern weaponry.

The British garrison suffered just 17 casualties but received the highest Victoria Crosses ever given out for a single combat with 11. At Hlobane, the Zulu overcame a cavalry troop, achieving one more significant victory. However, the Zulu fortifications soon started to crumble. Eventually, British soldiers took control of Ondini, the Cetshwayo capital. On September 1, the British had already won.

Despite losing their monarchy, military structure, and political unity, the Zulu were able to save their land and legal independence at the end of the conflict. After Cetshwayo was banished, Britain “settled” in Zululand, which ultimately contributed to the collapse of the country. With the help of the vehemently anti-Zulu monarchist Shepstone and Sir Garnet Wolseley, the British high commissioner for Southeast Africa, the kingdom was famously divided into thirteen chiefdoms.

They drew inspiration from strategies used elsewhere in the empire for their plan. Local Natal authorities supported obediently appointed and egotistical leaders like Zibhebhu kaMaphitha and the white chief, John Dunn, against remaining Zulu royalists by reviving and capitalizing on long-standing tensions within Zulu culture.

A lengthy and violent civil war resulted from the failed settlement. In the meantime, Cetshwayo and his missionary supporters, Bishop Colenso of Natal and his daughters Frances and Harriette, were successful in petitioning the British government for the reinstatement of the exiled monarch, but with severely reduced authority and domain. This, the appointment of British administrators, and a reserve zone serving as a buffer between the Zulu and Natal only served to increase violence.

Cetshwayo and his adversary Zibhebhu both solicited the assistance of white mercenaries in their ongoing conflict. Dinuzulu, Cetshwayo’s son and heir, was the one who ended the civil war after his untimely death on February 8, 1884. In order to aid the royal cause, he enlisted a powerful force of Boers who had been advancing on Zululand for years. Incomparably large Zulu holdings were ceded to the Boers in the northwest and along the coast as an extravagant price for their triumph.

The situation was fast becoming worse, and the British decided to step in out of concern about a possible Boer-German alliance and imperial concerns. The imperial government finally seized the remaining territory in 1887 after accepting certain Boer claims in Zululand’s interior. Later, colonial administrators made a greater effort to incorporate the damaged Zulu society into the larger colonial political economy.

Thus, the British eventually put an end to Zulu independence with a government that only kept a few aspects of the kingdom before capture. In addition, they levied taxes supported by migrant wage labor, which shifted the productive forces away from the royal system and into the hands of the capitalist South African state.

Anglo-Zulu war

THE RUINS OF WHAT COULD BE ONE OF THE FOUR LOST ANCIENT EGYPTIAN “SUN TEMPLES” WERE FOUND BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS EXCAVATING IN ABUSIR, SOUTH OF CAIRO NEAR SAQQARA, EGYPT.

One of the primary cemeteries for Memphis, the ancient Egyptian nation’s capital, was located at Abusir, an Old Kingdom necropolis. At least 14 royal pyramids, mastaba, and tombs can be found at the site, which was inhabited from the middle of the 24th century BC until the early 25th century BC during the 5th Dynasty.

A Polish and Italian archaeological team excavated the temple of Pharaoh Nyuserre Ini, the sixth pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty.

According to representatives from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the team discovered quartz blocks and mud-brick construction remnants in a context layer that predates the temple. These artifacts may represent one of the four ancient sun temples.
There may have been six sun temples constructed, but only two have been found thus far.

Sun temples were constructed in honor of Ra, a god of the sun, order, monarchs, and the sky who is sometimes shown as a falcon with a sun-disk inside of a cobra.

Archaeologists speculate as to the function of sun temples because of their design, which appears to have more than only royal funeral reasons and is probably a component of the cultic worship of monarchy.

According to a news statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on the discovery, the building is accessible through an entrance cut out of limestone rock, which leads to an area with a paved floor and includes sizable shards of quartz.

Additionally, pottery jars, beer pots, and containers with crimson rims that were probably utilized in temple rites and ceremonies were discovered during excavations.

Kanem Kingdom: Parts of the countries of Niger, Chad, Cameroons, and Nigeria were all within the Kanem Kingdom’s vast territory. The Chad Basin, which spans more than 300,000 square miles, roughly corresponds to the boundaries of the empire. The lake that exists now is a condensed form of a much bigger region that scientists now refer to as Mega-Chad. After 8,000 BCE, the Sahara began to dry up, leading to a gradual loss of the Mega-Chad region.

It is undeniable that the colonization of the productive regions of the MegaChad lakes is where Kanem Kingdom’s roots may be found. According to the historical data, there were possibly two lakes in the first century BCE. The Jurab Depression, as it is currently known, served as a connecting link between the two lakes.

The two lakes were arranged in this way until the Bahr al-Ghazal entry of Lake Chad were blocked with sediment some 250 years ago, at which point the water ceased flowing. The abundance of food must have been given by the lake’s lush soil to the hunters and gatherers who had developed a Middle Stone Age to New Stone Age society.

Groups of Stone Age people arrived in the region southwest of Lake Chad between 2,000 and 1,000 BCE. They first visited the region infrequently, but later they started to colonize the low hills next to the flood plain. They gradually improved their homes as they raised their islands above the flood plains by accumulating clay on the first plane.

In addition to hunting, they tamed cattle. A food-producing society may have developed in this region before 1,000 BCE, based on the pottery of these people. Masakwa, a kind of sorghum, is thought to have been quite widely grown in these regions.

The historical evidence points to Chadic speakers as the first residents of this area. Understanding the commencement of the process of state creation in the Lake Chad region requires an understanding of the early history of the settlements in this area. The Hamitic theory is one early explanation for the genesis of nations. According to the Hamitic theory, Semitic peoples from the north conquered and established themselves as politically centralized governments among the underdeveloped Negroid peoples that lived in the Lake Chad region.

The formation of states in the Lake Chad region, according to a different perspective, did not occur as a consequence of invasion by a superior external force, but rather as a result of cultural exchange and reworking between the northern residents and the area’s indigenous people.

The Fezzan, which was once ruled by the Garamantes in ancient times, borders the Lake Chad area in the north. By the fifth century, the Garamantes had succeeded in creating a consolidated state in the Fezzan. Trade links with Mediterranean towns were governed by this state. Although it’s unknown how closely they were connected to the interior, the evidence points to the fact that they occasionally planned incursions to the south. The Zaghawa lived south of the Fezzan. In the ninth century, Muslim scholars’ writings first mention the Zaghawa.

The first person to mention that they were from a place called Kanem was Al-Yaqubi. There were also the Hawdin, Mallel, and al-Qaqu in this region. It appears that some elements of Kanem’s political structure combined Mallel and Zaghawa political practices. For instance, the kings of Kanem kingdom adopted the title of mais, which belonged to the rulers of Mallel. By the eleventh century, the king of Kanem kingdom had expanded his domain to include the crucial Kawar oasis.

The area east of Lake Chad had at that point developed into a loosely structured polity. It had developed through the union of many tiny, competing nations, most likely under the direction of the Zaghawa. The emergence of these nations had been aided by the expansion of trade as well as the auxiliary requirements of security and transportation. Additionally, by the eleventh century, the emerging state had acquired control of the strategically located Kawar oasis, which boosted cross-border trade even more.

The Saifawa dynasty established its overlordship over the other Zaghawa families after a period of bitter conflict, according to the oral legends of the people, and governed Kanem for a thousand years. The legends claim that Sayf b. Dhi Yazan was the dynasty’s founder.

The Saifawa dynasty united the many communities in the region, established a state east of Lake Chad with a capital at Njimi, and started an imperial expansion effort. Despite the Saifawa dynasty’s lengthy reign, it was in no way a totalitarian regime.

By means of a royal council, the mais governed. The empire was further split into provinces, each of which had a significant administrative and economic center. The mais mother, older sister, and first wife were accorded significant privileges, and the royal family generally maintained control over the governmental system while ensuring the dynasty’s continuation. The Kanem kingdom ruling class converted to Islam in the eleventh century.

The history of the Akan people, who make up about 60% of Ghana as it exists now, is incredibly complex and dates back at least to 1500 BCE. Although the names of secondary deities may vary from location to place, they share a similar language called Twi, a lineage system based on the matriclan, and shared theological beliefs rooted on adoration of the ultimate god, Onyame.

It is unclear how and when the Akan people came to exist as the sizable, recognisable ethnolinguistic community that is now categorized as a member of the larger Kwa subfamily of West African languages.

The most recent archaeological and linguistic research indicates that the Akan originated locally, close to the modern borders of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, contrary to earlier theories that stated their roots were in more remote regions of Africa (perhaps as far east as the Nile Valley).

Currently, the Akan, or Twispeaking peoples, live in the southern half of Ghana as well as in Togoland and the southeast of Côte d’Ivoire. The Ga-Andangme ethnic group of southeast Ghana is their nearest neighbor. Both the Ewe and Guan-speaking peoples border them to the east and north, respectively.

The Akan are divided into a number of main linguistic and political groups, including Akyem, Akuapem, Asante, Assin-Twifo, Wassa, Fanti-Agona, Ahanta, Wassa, Nzema, and Sefwi/Aowin. It appears that the later Akan people had lived in tiny chiefdoms in the woodlands and coastal regions of what is now Ghana since at least the Middle Ages.

Most local legends refer to the old Akan homeland as “Accany,” which roughly corresponds to the contemporary Akan republics of Adanse (in southern Asante), Assin, and Twifo. It is unclear if the “Great Akani” on early Dutch maps from the seventeenth century represented a real state, a confederation of chieftains, or merely a wide geographic or cultural representation.

The formation of communities and pre-states in the northern periphery of the Akan cultural region also took place throughout the era from 1000 to 1500. The well-known royal regalia of all future republics, including the golden stool, golden sword, and golden mace, are believed to have originated in BonoManso (in the Brong area), which later served as the early centre of a northern commercial network.

Despite the fact that this is their primary reputation today, it would be incorrect to refer to the early Akan as merely or even mostly farmers. It is evident that the Akan demonstrated entrepreneurial talents in a wide variety of economic pursuits as early as times when history was first written down.

Farmers, hunters, fishermen, gold miners, and long-distance traders might be a better way to describe this diversity. It is crucial to note that, before the 20th century, the bulk of the Akan states were sparsely inhabited, which reduced the need for extensive food crop cultivation on the land.

The majority of the area was covered in forests, and there were few communities with sizable fields of cleared ground. The majority of agricultural family plots encircling distinctive nkuro, or hamlets, were compact, scattered, and hard for outsiders to distinguish. Asante’s family forest farms were typically approximately 2.5 acres in size, according to contemporary experts (or one hectare).

According to early accounts, there weren’t many interior marketplaces during the pre-colonial era, most people only had basic needs that could be met through subsistence farming, and as a result, the agricultural needs for the most often consumed staples—bananas, plantains, and native yams—were not very high. Protein was added to diets as a result of extensive time spent foraging, fishing, and shooting in the forest (including deer and “bush pups”) (for example, forest snails were a significant food item).

A significant turning point in the Akan people’s history was the beginning of the Atlantic foreign commerce. Contacts with European oceanic traders—first the Portuguese, then the Dutch and English—through trading led to social transformation as well as economic improvement for some.

The potential for financial gain from commerce attracted people from the interior of the nation to the coast, spurring population expansion. As a result, formerly undeveloped settlements that were close to European commercial forts and offshore roadsteads for passing ships gradually evolved into trading cities.

Documents mention the frequent arrival and departure of producers and dealers at coastal settlements including Saltpond, Cape Coast, El Mina, and Axim. The majority of transactions still took place in gold dust or through barter, but the arrival of European coins led to a gradual commercialization of the local economy.

Despite the widespread use of slave labor in both the European trading factories and the independent African businesses, possibilities for artisanship led to experience and regional traditions in skilled crafts like carpentry, stonemasonry, and blacksmithing. The expansion of state formation among significant Akan subgroups was the other important trend, which became more significant in the late 1600s.

Affiliations and confederations of chieftains frequently resulted in the gradual growth of states and kingdoms from previous family, lineage, and village organizations. It’s crucial to keep in mind that the Akan kingdoms lacked fixed borders and that a paramount ruler’s authority over subordinate kings and chiefs depended heavily on the person holding the position.

Like the nodes in a spider’s web, a state’s authority frequently spread along important trade routes, but it was most felt in the cities and villages along those routes. But it is undeniable that the tremendous development of the Atlantic trade, in which imported weapons and other manufactured goods were traded, initially for gold and later, mostly for slaves, paralleled and, in fact, was a major cause of the growth of the great Akan forest kingdoms, such as Akwamu, Denkyera, Gyaman, and, above all, Asante.

Each of these republics saw the emergence of sophisticated, centralized administrative systems. Modern Akan nationalism steadily emerged as a response to British colonial control and Western-style education. The Fante Confederation (1868–1873), under the leadership of both traditional monarchs and chiefs as well as the westernized elite of the central coastal regions, represented a determined effort by the coastal Akan to establish their own self-governing institutions and serve as a counterbalance to the strong Asante inland.

One of the major possibilities lost during colonial rule was the incapacity of British authorities at the time to see the value of this institution as a foundational piece for democratic nationhood.

The Gold Coast Aborigines Rights Protection Society, which was founded in 1897, was another Akan-based proto-nationalist organisation that was successful in thwarting colonial attempts to seize control of all territories with mineral and forest resources. The Akan people have demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurship skills throughout their history.

A recurring significant motif up to the present day has been gold mining, both small-scale (artisanal) and capitalistic (mechanized). However, by the second half of the nineteenth century, these characteristics were also demonstrated in the development of the export trade in wild rubber, the exploitation of local mahogany forests, initially in the southwest region and later in Asante and the Brong-Ahafo region, and, most significantly, in the infamous cocoa-growing revolution.

Polly Hill and Gareth Austin’s research has highlighted the tremendous ability of Akan cocoa farmers from Akwapim, Akyem, and Asante to adapt traditional socioeconomic structures and perfect growing, drying, and distribution systems to suit the needs of the international market throughout the twentieth-century growth of Ghana’s principal export sector.

Here are the ten African Kingdoms nobody talks about. But they should.

10. Empire of Bornu (1380–1893)

In what is now northeastern Nigeria, there was a state known as the Bornu Empire, one of the great African Kingdoms.
It was a continuation of the enormous Kanem Empire that the Sayfawa Dynasty had established centuries earlier. It would eventually grow to be much bigger than Kanem, encompassing regions that are currently a part of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.

9. Civilization of Sao (sixth century B.C. to late 16th century A.D.)

From roughly the sixth century B.C. to as late as the sixteenth century A.D., the African Kingdom Sao civilization thrived in middle Africa. In a region that later belonged to both Cameroon and Chad, the Sao dwelt by the Chari River south of Lake Chad.

Sao artifacts demonstrate that they were expert bronze, copper, and iron smiths.

8. The Empire of Kanem (circa 700–1376)

At its height, the African Kingdom Kanem Empire covered a large portion of Chad as well as portions of eastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, southern Libya (Fezzan), and northern Cameroon. According to reports, the empire could field 40,000 cavalry.

Humai (Hummay) ibn Salamna established the Islamic Sayfawa (Saifawa) dynasty around the end of the 11th century. One of the longest-lasting dynasties in human history, the Sayfawa Dynasty ruled for 771 years.

7. Kingdom of Shilluk

From the fifteenth century, the Shilluk Kingdom was based in South Sudan, along a stretch of land on the western bank of the White Nile. Despite their diversity, the Shilluk people appeared to come together as a nation in 1650, which coincided with a strengthening of the royal power.

A highly centralized government and the monarch, known as the Reth, imposed a monopoly on trade and economic resources.

6. Baguirmi Empire

In the 16th and 17th centuries, southeast of Lake Chad, in what is now Chad, the kingdom of Baguirmi existed as a sovereign nation. To the southeast of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, Baguirmi appeared. Mbang Birni Besse served as the first monarch of the realm. When the sultanate was powerful, it developed an imperialistic mindset. It formed relationships with neighbouring nomadic groups and took control of tiny feudal kingdoms in its periphery.

5. Kingdom of Wadai (1635–1912)

East of Lake Chad, in what is now the Central African Republic and Chad, was the Wadai Empire or Sultanate, an ancient empire. Due to its advantageous strategic location atop the trans-Saharan trade routes, the sultanate greatly increased its authority.

Prior to being defeated on June 6, 1909, the militant Wadai resisted French rule.
Till 1912, there was still resistance.

4. Imperial Luba (1585-1889)

Around 1585, in what is now the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s marshy grasslands known as the Upemba Depression, King Kongolo Maniema established the kingdom of Luba, also known as the Luba Empire.

Kalala Ilunga, Maniema’s nephew and direct successor, grew the empire over the areas along the upper left bank of the Lualaba River. Approximately a million people were paying homage to the state’s king at its height.

Also Read: Farmers, Traders, and the Emergence of Akan States in Akan and Asante

3. Empire of Lunda (circa 1665–1887)

In what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeastern Angola, and northern Zambia, there was a pre-colonial African confederation of states known as the kingdom of Lunda. By 1680, the Lunda Kingdom had a population of 175,000 and ruled an area of around 150,000 square kilometers, but by the 19th century, the state had doubled in size.

2. Kingdom Of Ajuran (13th Century To Late 14th Century)

In the Middle Ages, a Somali Muslim state known as the Ajuran Sultanate held sway over a sizable portion of the Horn of Africa. As one of the principal medieval Somali powers active in castle and fortress construction, the empire left behind a significant architectural legacy.
The engineers of the Ajuran Sultanate are responsible for many of the abandoned fortifications that dot southern Somalia’s landscapes today.

1. Mapungubwe Kingdom (1075-1220)

South of Great Zimbabwe, at the junction of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers, the Kingdom of Mapungubwe was a precolonial state in southern Africa. A development that culminated in the founding of the kingdom of Zimbabwe in the 13th century and with connections to the gold-trading communities of Rhapta and Kilwa Kisiwani on the east coast of Africa was started by the kingdom, which erected stone walls to identify significant locations.

About 70 years were spent in the Mapungubwe Kingdom. There were roughly 5,000 individuals living there at its peak.