Fertile Crescent :
209-453: Europe : Africa : Siberia : Périgordian is a term for several distinct but related Upper Palaeolithic cultures which are thought by some archaeologists to represent a contiguous tradition. Thought to have existed between c.35,000 BP and c.20,000 BP the Perigordian was theorized by prehistorians (namely Denis Peyrony [ fr ] ). The earliest culture in the tradition
418-503: A Persian prince from Shiraz arrived and acquired the island of Kilwa from the local inhabitants, before quarrel with the Bantu king led to the severing Kilwa's land bridge to the mainland. Settlements in northern Madagascar such as Mahilaka [ de ] , Irodo , and Iharana also engaged in the trade, attracting Arab immigration. Bantu migrated to Madagascar and the Comoros from
627-684: A Roman civil war , which ultimately led to its conquest by Rome in 30 BC. The Crisis of the Third Century in the Roman Empire freed the Levantine city state of Palmyra who conquered Egypt , however their rule lasted only a few years before Egypt was reintegrated into the Roman Empire . In the midst of this, Kush regained total independence from Egypt, and they would persist as a major regional power until, having been weakened from internal rebellion amid worsening climatic conditions, invasions by both
836-553: A coup d'état in 522 brought Dhu Nuwas back to power who again began persecuting Christians . The Aksumites invaded again in 525, and with Byzantine aid conquered the kingdom, incorporating it as a vassal state after some minor internal conflict . In the late 6th century the Aksumites were driven out of Yemen by the Himyarite king with the aid of the Sassanids . Further north-west,
1045-574: A power vacuum in North Africa. The Zengid dynasty , nominally under Seljuk suzerainty , invaded on the pretext of defending Egypt from the Christians, and usurped the position of vizier in the caliphate. Following the assassination of the previous holder, the position of vizier passed onto Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (commonly referred to as Saladin). After a joint Zengid - Fatimid effort repelled
1254-627: A revival in pyramid-building . After a century of rule they were forcibly driven out of Egypt by the Assyrians as reprisal for the Kushites agitating peoples within the Assyrian Empire in an attempt to gain a foothold in the region. The Assyrians installed a puppet dynasty which later gained independence and once more unified Egypt , with Upper Egypt becoming a rich agricultural region whose produce Lower Egypt then sold and traded. In 525 BC Egypt
1463-485: A wet period in the Sahel opened areas for human habitation and exploitation which had not been habitable for the better part of a millennium. Based on large tumuli scattered across West Africa dating to this period, it has been proposed that there were several contemporaneous kingdoms which have unfortunately been lost to history. Some important polities likely founded in the early-to-middle 1st millennium who did make it into
1672-487: A Turk as atabeg al-asakir to serve as regent for his infant son Ahmad. After his death, a Circassian emir, Tatar , married Shaykh's widow, ousted the atabeg al-asakir and assumed power. Tatar died three months into his reign and was succeeded by Barsbay , another Circassian emir of Barquq, in 1422. Under Barsbay, the Mamluk Sultanate reached its greatest territorial extent and was militarily dominant throughout
1881-799: A conditional alliance to counter Damot , with Shewa at times forced to pay tribute to the pagans. In the 13th century the Ajuran clan established the Ajuran Sultanate on the eastern coast of the Horn and expanded, conquering the Tunni and vassalising Mogadishu , coming to dominate the Indian Ocean trade , while the Warsangali clan formed the Warsangali Sultanate on the Horn's north-eastern coast. The turn of
2090-668: A devastating ambush crippled their military leadership, and throughout the 12th century they gradually lost territory to the Christians. To the east, the Fatimids saw their empire start to collapse in 1061, beginning with the loss of the holy cities to the Sharifate of Mecca and exacerbated by rebellion in Cairo . The Seljuk Turks , who saw themselves as the guardian of the Abbasid Caliphate , capitalised and conquered much of their territories in
2299-449: A heavy tax. The Exarchate of Africa covered much of Ifriqiya and the eastern Maghreb , surrounded by numerous Berber kingdoms that followed Christianity heavily syncretised with traditional Berber religion . The interior was dominated by various groupings of tribal confederations, namely the nomadic Zenata , the Masmuda of Sanhaja in modern-day Morocco , and the other two Sanhaja in
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#17328701971882508-738: A larger incoming Ilkhanid army. To Egypt's south, Baybars had initiated an aggressive policy toward the Christian Nubian kingdom of Makuria . In 1265, the Mamluks invaded northern Makuria, forcing the Nubian king to become their vassal. Around that time, the Mamluks had conquered the Red Sea areas of Suakin and the Dahlak Archipelago , while attempting to extend their control to the Hejaz (western Arabia),
2717-640: A loyal paramilitary apparatus in Egypt so dominant that contemporaries viewed Egypt as "Salihi-ridden", according to historian Winslow William Clifford. While historian Stephen Humphreys asserts the Salihiyya's increasing dominance of the state did not personally threaten al-Salih due to their fidelity to him, Clifford believes the Salihiyya's autonomy fell short of such loyalty. Tensions between as-Salih and his mamluks culminated in 1249 when Louis IX of France 's forces captured Damietta in their bid to conquer Egypt during
2926-437: A major activity in the numerous streams and lakes formed from the increased rains. Mande peoples have been credited with the independent development of agriculture about 4000–3000 BC. Evidence of the early smelting of metals – lead , copper , and bronze – dates from the fourth millennium BC. Egyptians smelted copper during the predynastic period , and bronze came into use after 3,000 BC at
3135-546: A massive offensive against Syria in 1281. The Mamluks were outnumbered by the 80,000-strong Ilkhanid-Armenian-Georgian- Seljuk coalition, but routed the coalition at the battle of Homs , confirming Mamluk dominance in Syria. The Ilkhanids' rout enabled Qalawun to proceed against Crusader holdouts in Syria and in May 1285, he captured and garrisoned the Marqab fortress. Qalawun's early reign
3344-610: A military caste of mamluks (freed slave soldiers) headed by a sultan . The sultanate was established with the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in 1250 and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Mamluk history is generally divided into the Turkic or Bahri period (1250–1382) and the Circassian or Burji period (1382–1517), called after the predominant ethnicity or corps of
3553-565: A millennium, with Punt exchanging gold , aromatic resins , blackwood , ebony , ivory and wild animals. Towards the end of the ancient period, northern Ethiopia and Eritrea bore the Kingdom of D'mt beginning in 980 BC, whose people developed irrigation schemes, used ploughs , grew millet , and made iron tools and weapons . In modern-day Somalia and Djibouti there was the Macrobian Kingdom , with archaeological discoveries indicating
3762-652: A monopoly on Indian Ocean trade in the region. Aksum's rise had them rule over much of the regions from the Lake Tana to the valley of the Nile , and they further conquered parts of the ailing Kingdom of Kush , led campaigns against the Noba and Beja peoples, and expanded into South Arabia . This led the Persian prophet Mani to consider Aksum as one of the four great powers of the 3rd century alongside Persia , Rome , and China . In
3971-566: A new attempt against Bayezid. This venture failed and Jem was fled into exile again, this time into Christian hands to the west. Bayezid interpreted Qaitbay's welcome to Jem as direct support for the latter's cause and was furious. Qaitbay also supported the Dulkadirid leader, Ala al-Dawla (who had replaced Shah Budaq), against the Ottomans, but Ala al-Dawla was compelled to shift his loyalty to Bayezid c. 1483 or 1484, which soon triggered
4180-571: A precedent for his successors, some of whom established monopolies over other goods such as sugar and textiles. Barsbay compelled Red Sea traders to offload their goods at the Mamluk-held Hejazi port of Jeddah rather than the Yemeni port of Aden to derive the greatest financial gain from the Red Sea transit route to Europe. Barsbay's efforts at monopolization and trade protection were meant to offset
4389-557: A principal organizer of Turanshah's assassination and the recipient of Fakhr ad-Din's large estate by Shajar al-Durr; the latter viewed Aktay as a counterweight to Aybak. Aybak moved against the Bahriyya by shutting their Roda headquarters in 1251 and assassinating Aktay in 1254. Afterward, Aybak purged his retinue and the Salihiyya of perceived dissidents, causing a temporary exodus of Bahri mamluks, most of whom settled in Gaza . The purge caused
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#17328701971884598-627: A series of crucial victories and expanded rapidly, forcing the Byzantines to evacuate Syria. With Byzantine regional presence shattered, Egypt was quickly conquered by 642, with the Egyptian Copts odious of Byzantine rule generally putting up little resistance. The Muslims' attention then turned west to the Maghreb where the Exarchate of Africa had declared independence from Constantinople under Gregory
4807-519: A shadow state opposed to Qutuz. While mamluk factions fought for control of Egypt and Syria, the Mongols under Hulagu Khan had sacked Baghdad , the intellectual and spiritual center of the Islamic world, in 1258, and proceeded westward, capturing Aleppo and Damascus . Qutuz sent military reinforcements to his erstwhile enemy an-Nasir Yusuf in Syria, and reconciled with the Bahriyya, including Baybars, who
5016-744: A shortage of officers, which led Aktay to recruit new supporters from among the army in Egypt and the Turkic Nasiri and Azizi mamluks from Syria, who had defected from an-Nasir Yusuf and moved to Egypt in 1250. Aybak felt threatened by the growing amitions of the Syrian mamluks' empowered patron Jamal ad-Din Aydughdi growing ambitions. Upon learning of Aydughdi's plot to install an-Nasir Yusuf as sultan, which would leave Aydughdi as practical ruler of Egypt, Aybak imprisoned Aydughdi in Alexandria in 1254 or 1255. Aybak
5225-502: A siege of al-Mughith and the Bahriyya at al-Karak, but the growing threat of a Mongol invasion of Syria led the Ayyubid emirs to reconcile, and Baybars to defect to an-Nasir Yusuf. Qutuz deposed Ali in 1259 and purged or arrested the Mu'izziya and any remaining Bahri mamluks in Egypt to eliminate potential opposition. The surviving Mu'izzi and Bahri mamluks went to Gaza, where Baybars had established
5434-441: A sultan whose character was markedly different from other Mamluk rulers. Notably, he disliked engaging in conspiracy, even though this had been a hallmark of Mamluk politics. He had a reputation for being even-handed and treating his colleagues and subordinates fairly, examplified by his magnanimous treatment of the deposed Timurbugha. These traits seem to have kept internal tensions and conspiracies at bay throughout his reign. While
5643-519: Is estimated that Africa had up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups having distinct languages and customs , with most following traditional religions . From the 7th century CE, Islam spread west amid the Arab conquest of North Africa , and by proselytization to the Horn of Africa. It later spread southwards to the Swahili coast assisted by Muslim dominance of the Indian Ocean trade , and from
5852-434: Is famous for rectangular slabs of ochre engraved with geometric designs. Using multiple dating techniques, the site was confirmed to be around 77,000 and 100–75,000 years old. Ostrich egg shell containers engraved with geometric designs dating to 60,000 years ago were found at Diepkloof , South Africa. Beads and other personal ornamentation have been found from Morocco which might be as much as 130,000 years old; as well,
6061-488: Is particularly true of the various cultures and dynasties of Ancient Egypt and of Nubia . From around 3500 BC, a coalition of Horus -worshipping nomes in the western Nile Delta conquered the Andjety -worshipping nomes of the east to form Lower Egypt , whilst Set -worshipping nomes in the south coalesced to form Upper Egypt . Egypt was first united when Narmer of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt , giving rise to
6270-464: Is sometimes mythical and social, and truth generally viewed as relativist . Oral tradition can be exoteric or esoteric . It speaks to people according to their understanding, unveiling itself in accordance with their aptitudes, and is not always to be taken literally. The first known hominids evolved in Africa. According to paleontology , the early hominids' skull anatomy was similar to that of
6479-543: Is the Châtelperronian which is thought to have produced denticulate tools and flint knives. It is argued that this was superseded by the Gravettian with its Font Robert points and Noailles burins . The tradition culminated in the proto- Magdalenian . Critics have pointed out that no continuous sequence of Périgordian occupation has yet been found, and that the tradition requires it to have co-existed separately from
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6688-641: The 11th dynasty conquered all of Egypt to form the Middle Kingdom in 2055 BC. The 12th dynasty oversaw advancements in irrigation and economic expansion in the Faiyum Oasis , as well as expansion into Lower Nubia at the expense of Kerma . In 1700 BC, Egypt fractured in two, ushering in the Second Intermediate Period . The Hyksos , a militaristic people from Palestine , capitalised on this fragmentation and conquered Lower Egypt, establishing
6897-566: The 15th dynasty of Egypt , whilst Kerma coordinated invasions deep into Egypt to reach its greatest extent, looting royal statues and monuments. A rival power base developed in Thebes with Ahmose I of the 18th dynasty eventually expelling the Hyksos from Egypt, forming the New Kingdom in 1550 BC. Utilising the military technology the Hyksos had brought, they conducted numerous campaigns to conquer
7106-617: The 1st and 2nd dynasties of Egypt whose efforts presumably consisted of conquest and consolidation, with unification completed by the 3rd dynasty to form the Old Kingdom of Egypt in 2686 BC. The Kingdom of Kerma emerged around this time to become the dominant force in Nubia, controlling an area as large as Egypt between the 1st and 4th cataracts of the Nile , with Egyptian records speaking of its rich and populous agricultural regions. The height of
7315-614: The Aghlabids controlling Ifriqiya under only nominal Abbasid rule and in 868 when the Tulunids wrestled the independence of Egypt for four decades before again coming under Abbasid control. Late in the 9th century, a revolt by East African slaves in the Abbasid's homeland of Iraq diverted its resources away from its other territories, devastating important ports in the Persian Gulf , and
7524-662: The Aksumites and the Noba caused their disintegration into Makuria , Alodia , and Nobatia in the 5th century AD. The Romans managed to hold on to Egypt for the rest of the ancient period. In the Horn of Africa there was the Land of Punt , a kingdom on the Red Sea , likely located in modern-day Eritrea or northern Somaliland . The Ancient Egyptians initially traded via middle-men with Punt until in 2350 BC when they established direct relations. They would become close trading partners for over
7733-663: The Aurignacian industry rather than being differing industries that existed before and afterwards. History of Africa#Paleolithic Archaic humans emerged out of Africa between 0.5 and 1.8 million years ago. This was followed by the emergence of modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) in East Africa around 300,000–250,000 years ago. In the 4th millenium BC written history arose in Ancient Egypt , and later in Nubia 's Kush ,
7942-749: The Barghawata of Masmuda , the Ifranid dynasty , and the Midrarid dynasty , both from the Zenata . The Idrisid dynasty would come to rule most of modern-day Morocco with the support of the Masmuda , whilst the growing Ibadi movement among the Zenata culminated in the Rustamid Imamate , centred on Tahert , modern-day Algeria . At the turn of the 9th century the Abbasids' sphere of influence would degrade further with
8151-418: The Comoros . This second wave possibly found the island of Madagascar sparsely populated by descendants of the first wave a few centuries earlier, with the Vazimba of the interior's highlands being revered and featuring prominently in Malagasy oral traditions . The wider region underwent a trade expansion from the 7th century, as the Swahili engaged in the flourishing Indian Ocean trade following
8360-419: The Ekoi civilisation rose circa 2nd century AD, and are most notable for constructing the Ikom monoliths and developing the Nsibidi script . The turn of the 7th century saw much of North Africa controlled by the Byzantine Empire . Christianity was the state religion of the empire, and Semitic and Coptic subjects in Roman Egypt faced persecution due to their 'heretical' Miaphysite churches, paying
8569-667: The Fatimid Caliphate 's black African infantry with mamluks. Each Ayyubid sultan and high-ranking emir had a private mamluk corps. Most of the mamluks in the Ayyubids' service were ethnic Kipchak Turks from Central Asia , who, upon entering service, were converted to Sunni Islam and taught Arabic . Mamluks were highly committed to their master, to whom they often referred to as 'father', and were in turn treated more as kinsmen than as slaves. The Ayyubid emir and future sultan as-Salih Ayyub acquired about one thousand mamluks (some of them free-born) from Syria, Egypt and Arabia by 1229, while serving as na'ib (viceroy) of Egypt during
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8778-410: The First Punic War began when Carthage came into conflict with the expansionary Roman Republic on the island of Sicily , leading to what has been described as the greatest naval war of antiquity, causing heavy casualties on both sides, but ending in Carthage's eventual defeat and loss of Sicily. The Second Punic War broke out when the Romans opportunistically took Sardinia and Corsica whilst
8987-448: The Ghana Empire to control the affluent trans-Saharan trade routes in the Western Sahara , forming the Almoravid empire before conquering Maghrawa and intervening in the reconquest of Iberia by the Christian powers on the side of the endangered Muslim taifas , which were produced from the fall of the remnant Umayyad Caliphate in Cordoba . The Almoravids incorporated the taifas into their empire, enjoying initial success, until
9196-404: The Hafsids of Masmuda in modern-day Tunisia , before finally being extinguished in 1269. Meanwhile, after defeating the Christians' Fifth Crusade in 1221, internal divisions involving Saladin's descendants appeared within the Ayyubid dynasty , crippling the empire's unity. In the face of Mongol expansion , the Ayyubids became increasingly reliant on Mamluk generals. At the end of
9405-533: The Horn of Africa 's Dʿmt , and Ifrikiya 's Carthage . Between around 3000 BC and 1000 AD, the Bantu expansion swept from north-western Central Africa (modern day Cameroon ) across much of sub-Saharan Africa, laying the foundations for states in Central, Eastern, and Southern regions. In most African societies the oral word is revered, and as such they have generally recorded their history orally. This has led anthropologists to term them oral civilisations, contrasted with literate civilisations which pride
9614-426: The Jugurtha to the Romans. At the turn of the millennium they both would face the same fate as Carthage and be conquered by the Romans who established Mauretania and Numidia as provinces of their empire, whilst Musulamii , led by Tacfarinas , and Garamantes were eventually defeated in war in the 1st century AD however weren't conquered. In the 5th century AD the Vandals conquered north Africa precipitating
9823-432: The Khurasanid dynasty and Arab tribes ruling Ifriqiya , to be later displaced by the Norman Kingdom of Africa . In the late 10th and early 11th centuries the Fatimids would lose the Maghreb to the Hammadids in modern-day Algeria and the Maghrawa in modern-day Morocco , both from Zenata . In 1053 the Saharan Sanhaja , spurred on by puritanical Sunni Islam , conquered Sijilmasa and captured Aoudaghost from
10032-589: The Knights of St. John , involving three expeditions between 1440 and 1444. Domestically, Jaqmaq largely continued Barsbay's monopolies, though he promised to enact reforms and formally rescinded some tariffs. Jaqmaq died in February 1453. His eighteen-year-old son, al-Mansur Uthman , was installed on the throne but soon lost all support when he tried to buy the loyalty of other mamluks with debased coins. Sayf al-Din Inal , who Barsbay had made his atabeg al-asakir , won enough support to be declared sultan two months after Jaqmaq's death. He ruled when Mehmed II ,
10241-490: The Levant from the Canaanites , Amorites , Hittites , and Mitanni , and extinguish Kerma , incorporating Nubia into the empire, sending the Egyptian empire into its golden age. Internal struggles, drought and famine, and invasions by a confederation of seafaring peoples , contributed to the New Kingdom 's collapse in 1069 BC, ushering in the Third Intermediate Period which saw Egypt fractured into many pieces amid widespread turmoil. Egypt's disintegration liberated
10450-575: The Maghreb and Ifriqiya were mostly cut off from the cradle of civilisation in Egypt by the Libyan desert , exacerbated by Egyptian boats being tailored to the Nile and not coping well in the open Mediterranean Sea . This caused its societies to develop contiguous to those of Southern Europe , until Phoenician settlements came to dominate the most lucrative trading locations in the Gulf of Tunis , initially searching for sources of metal . Phoenician settlements subsequently grew into Ancient Carthage after gaining independence from Phoenicia in
10659-539: The Maghreb traversing the Sahara into the western Sahel and Sudan , catalysed by the Fula jihads in the 18th and 19th centuries. Systems of servitude and slavery were historically widespread and commonplace in parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient and medieval world . When the trans-Saharan , Red Sea , Indian Ocean and Atlantic slave trades began, many of the pre-existing local slave systems started supplying captives for slave markets outside Africa, creating various diasporas , especially in
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#173287019718810868-478: The Old Kingdom came under the 4th dynasty who constructed numerous great pyramids , however under the 6th dynasty of Egypt power began to decentralise to the nomarchs , culminating in anarchy exacerbated by drought and famine in 2200 BC, and the onset of the First Intermediate Period in which numerous nomarchs ruled simultaneously. Throughout this time, power bases were built and destroyed in Memphis , and in Heracleopolis , when Mentuhotep II of Thebes and
11077-419: The Old Testament . Meanwhile during the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries Islam spread through the Somali Peninsula , largely via da'wah . The Harla Kingdom of Hubat also converted to Islam circa 700. The Somalis were organised into various clans , and relations with Arabs led tradition to hold their lineages to Samaale , Daarood or Sheikh Ishaaq , traditionally descendants of Muhammad's cousins . To
11286-642: The Omo remains from Ethiopia ( c. 233,000 years ago ). Scientists have suggested that Homo sapiens may have arisen between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations in East Africa and South Africa . Evidence of a variety of behaviors indicative of Behavioral modernity date to the African Middle Stone Age , associated with early Homo sapiens and their emergence. Abstract imagery, widened subsistence strategies, and other "modern" behaviors have been discovered from that period in Africa, especially South, North, and East Africa. The Blombos Cave site in South Africa, for example,
11495-501: The Ottoman dynasty and the Turkmen allies of Timur , the Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu tribes of southern and eastern Anatolia. Barquq died in 1399 and was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son, an-Nasir Faraj . That year, Timur invaded Syria, sacking Aleppo and Damascus. Timur ended his occupation of Syria in 1402 to fight the Ottomans in Anatolia, whom he deemed a more dangerous threat. Faraj held onto power during this turbulent period, which, in addition to Timur's devastating raids,
11704-400: The Republic of Venice annexed Cyprus. The Venetians promised Qaitbay their occupation would benefit him as well, as their large fleet than could better keep the peace in the eastern Mediterranean than the Cypriots. Venice also agreed to continue the Cypriots' yearly tribute of 8,000 ducats to Cairo. A treaty signed between the two powers in 1490 formalized this arrangement. It was a sign that
11913-463: The Romans established the province of Africa , with Numidia assuming control of many of Carthage's African ports. Towards the end of the 2nd century BC Mauretania fought alongside Numidia's Jugurtha in the Jugurthine War against the Romans after he had usurped the Numidian throne from a Roman ally. Together they inflicted heavy casualties that quaked the Roman Senate , with the war only ending inconclusively when Mauretania's Bocchus I sold out
12122-488: The Sao civilisation flourished for over a millennium beginning in the 6th century BC, in territory that later became part of present-day Cameroon and Chad . Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze , copper , and iron , with finds including bronze sculptures, terracotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewellery, highly decorated pottery, and spears. Nearby, around Lake Ejagham in south-west Cameroon ,
12331-448: The Seventh Crusade . Al-Salih opposed the evacuation of Damietta and threatened to punish the city's garrison. This provoked a mutiny by his garrison in al-Mansura , which only dissipated with the intervention of the atabeg al-askar (commander of the military), Fakhr ad-Din ibn Shaykh al-Shuyukh . As the Crusaders advanced, al-Salih died and was succeeded by his Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia )-based son al-Mu'azzam Turanshah . Although
12540-462: The Syrian Wars with the Seleucid Empire , the Ptolemaic Kingdom lost its holdings outside Africa, but expanded its territory by conquering Cyrenaica from its respective tribes, and subjugated Kush . Beginning in the mid second century BC, dynastic strife and a series of foreign wars weakened the kingdom, and it became increasingly reliant on the Roman Republic . Under Cleopatra VII , who sought to restore Ptolemaic power, Egypt became entangled in
12749-453: The Zirids . From there they conquered up to modern-day Syria and Hejaz , securing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina . The Fatimids became absorbed by the eastern realms of their empire, and in 972, after encouragement from faqirs , the Zirids changed their allegiance to recognise the Abbasid Caliphate . In retaliation the Fatimids commissioned an invasion by nomadic Arab tribes to punish them, leading to their disintegration with
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#173287019718812958-690: The early Muslim conquests . Settlements further centralised and some major states included Gedi , Ungwana [de] , Pate , Malindi , Mombasa , and Tanga in the north, Unguja Ukuu on Zanzibar , Kaole , Dar es Salaam , Kilwa , Kiswere [ de ] , Monapo , Mozambique , and Angoche in the middle, and Quelimane , Sofala , Chibuene , and Inhambane in the south. Via mtumbwi [ uk ] , mtepe and later ngalawa they exported gold , iron , copper , ivory , slaves , pottery , cotton cloth , wood , grain , and rice , and imported silk , glassware , jewellery , Islamic pottery , and Chinese porcelain . Relations between
13167-413: The fall of Rome . Swathes of indigenous peoples would regain self-governance in the Mauro-Roman Kingdom and its numerous successor polities in the Maghreb, namely the kingdoms of Ouarsenis , Aurès , and Altava . The Vandals ruled Ifriqiya for a century until Byzantine reconquest in the early 6th century AD. The Byzantines and the Berber kingdoms fought minor inconsequential conflicts, such as in
13376-496: The gorilla and the chimpanzee , great apes that also evolved in Africa, but the hominids had adopted a bipedal locomotion which freed their hands. This gave them a crucial advantage, enabling them to live in both forested areas and on the open savanna at a time when Africa was drying up and the savanna was encroaching on forested areas. This would have occurred 10 to 5 million years ago, but these claims are controversial because biologists and genetics have humans appearing around
13585-433: The island's estuaries , with oral histories describing bloody clashes and earlier settlers often pushed along the coast or inland. An Arab geographer wrote in 1224 that the island consisted of a great many towns and kingdoms, with kings making war on each other. Assisted by climate change, the peoples gradually transformed the island from dense forest to grassland for cultivation and zebu pastoralism . Oral traditions of
13794-452: The wider Red Sea trade and transported their cargo via beden , exporting myrrh , frankincense , spices , gum , incense , and ivory , with freedom from Roman interference causing Indians to give the cities a lucrative monopoly on cinnamon from ancient India . The Kingdom of Aksum grew from a principality into a major power on the trade route between Rome and India through conquering its unfortunately unknown neighbours, gaining
14003-537: The 'State of the Circassians' ( Dawlat al-Jarakisa ). These names emphasized the ethnic origin of the rulers and Mamluk writers did not explicitly highlight their status as slaves, except on rare occasions during the Circassian period. The mamluk was a manumitted slave, distinguished from the ghulam , or household slave. After thorough training in martial arts, court etiquette and Islamic sciences, these slaves were freed but expected to remain loyal to their master and serve his household. Mamluks formed part of
14212-800: The 11th millennium BP , pottery was independently invented in Africa, with the earliest pottery there dating to about 9,400 BC from central Mali. It soon spread throughout the southern Sahara and Sahel . In the steppes and savannahs of the Sahara and Sahel in Northern West Africa, the Nilo-Saharan speakers and Mandé peoples started to collect and domesticate wild millet, African rice and sorghum between 8000 and 6000 BC. Later, gourds , watermelons , castor beans , and cotton were also collected and domesticated. The people started capturing wild cattle and holding them in circular thorn hedges, resulting in domestication . They also started making pottery and built stone settlements (e.g., Tichitt , Oualata ). Fishing , using bone-tipped harpoons , became
14421-399: The 1st century AD, and formed various city states which traded via the Indian Ocean trade , constituting the Swahili civilisation . Madagascar was possibly first settled by Austronesians from 350 BC-550 AD, termed the Vazimba in Malagasy oral traditions, although there is considerable academic debate. The eastern Bantu group would eventually meet with the southern migrants from
14630-493: The 1st century AD, forming the Gokomere culture in the 5th century AD. The second thrust from the Great Lakes was eastward, also in the 1st century AD, expanding to Kenya , Tanzania , and the Swahili coast . Prior to this migration, the northern part of the Swahili coast was home to the elusive Azania , most likely a Southern Cushitic polity, extending southwards to modern-day Tanzania . The Bantu populations crowded out Azania , with Rhapta being its last stronghold by
14839-428: The 1st millennium BC iron working had reached Northwestern Africa , Egypt, and Nubia. Zangato and Holl document evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African Republic and Cameroon that may date back to 3,000 to 2,500 BC. Assyrians using iron weapons pushed Nubians out of Egypt in 670 BC, after which the use of iron became widespread in the Nile valley. The theory that iron spread to Sub-Saharan Africa via
15048-785: The 3rd millennium BC. Iron smelting developed in the area between Lake Chad and the African Great Lakes between 1,000 and 600 BC, and in West Africa around 2,000 BC, long before the technology reached Egypt. Before 500 BC, the Nok culture in the Jos Plateau was already smelting iron. Archaeological sites containing iron-smelting furnaces and slag have been excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria in Igboland : dating to 2,000 BC at
15257-494: The 4th century AD Aksum's king converted to Christianity and Aksum's population, who had followed syncretic mixes of local beliefs , slowly followed. In the early 6th century AD, Cosmas Indicopleustes later described his visit to the city of Aksum , mentioning rows of throne monuments, some made out of "excellent white marble" and "entirely...hewn out of a single block of stone" , with large inscriptions attributed to various kings, likely serving as victory monuments documenting
15466-769: The 4th millennium BC the Congo Basin was inhabited by the Bambenga , Bayaka , Bakoya , and Babongo in the west, the Bambuti in the east , and the Batwa who were widely scattered and also present in the Great Lakes region ; together they are grouped as Pygmies . On the later-named Swahili coast there were Cushitic -speaking peoples, and the Khoisan (a neologism for the Khoekhoe and San ) in
15675-674: The 6th century BC, and they would build an extensive empire , countering Greek influence in the Mediterranean , as well as a strict mercantile network reaching as far as west Asia and northern Europe , distributing an array of commodities from all over the ancient world along with locally produced goods, all secured by one of the largest and most powerful navies in the ancient Mediterranean . Carthage's political institutions received rare praise from both Greeks and Romans, with its constitution and aristocratic council providing stability, with birth and wealth paramount for election. In 264 BC
15884-567: The 6th century, the Kingdom of Aksum ruled over much of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea , with the Harla Kingdom to its east, while ancient Somali city-states such as Mosylon , Opone , Sarapion , Avalites , and Aromata on the Somali Peninsula continued to thrive off of the lucrative Indian Ocean trade and their preferential relations with India. Following the birth of Islam in
16093-591: The 740s the Berber Revolt rocked the caliphate and the Berbers took control over the Maghreb, whilst revolts in Ifriqiya were suppressed. The Abbasid dynasty came to power via revolution in 750 and attempted to reconfigure the caliphate to be multi-ethnic rather than Arab exclusive, however this wasn't enough to prevent gradual disintegration on its peripheries. Various short-lived native dynasties would form states such as
16302-537: The 7th century AD, Bantu spread to the Upemba Depression , forming the Upemba culture [ es ] . During the 1st millennium BC the Bantu spread further from the Great Lakes to Southern and East Africa. One early movement headed south to the upper Zambezi basin in the 2nd century BC. The Bantu then split westward to the savannahs of present-day Angola and eastward into Malawi , Zambia , and Zimbabwe in
16511-511: The 7th century saw the Swahili coast continue to be inhabited by the Swahili civilisation , whose economies were primarily based on agriculture , however they traded via the Indian Ocean trade and later developed local industries, with their iconic stone architecture . Forested river estuaries created natural harbours whilst the yearly monsoon winds assisted trade, and the Swahili civilisation consisted of hundreds of settlements and linked
16720-545: The 9th century expanded southwards. The history becomes murky, however tradition holds that Aksum's expansion brought it into conflict in 960 with the Jewish Kingdom of Beta Israel , led by queen Gudit and located in the Simien Mountains . Accordingly, Gudit defeated and killed Aksum's king , and burnt their churches. It's possible that Gudit was a pagan queen who led resistance to Aksum's southward expansion. To
16929-414: The 9th century, when zebu were first brought. From the 10th century Kilwa expanded its influence, coming to challenge the dominance of Somalian Mogadishu located to its north, however details of Kilwa's rise remain scarce. In the late 12th century Kilwa wrestled control of Sofala in the south, a key trading city linking to Great Zimbabwe in the interior and famous for its Zimbabwean gold, which
17138-675: The Americas . From 1870 to 1914, driven by the great force and hunger of the Second Industrial Revolution , European colonisation of Africa developed rapidly, as the major European powers partitioned the continent in the 1884 Berlin Conference , from one-tenth of the continent being under European imperial control to over nine-tenths in the Scramble for Africa . European colonialism had significant impacts on Africa's societies , and
17347-642: The Berber that this conflict was not just against the Byzantines. The Arabs returned and defeated Kusaila and Altava in 690, and, after a set-back, expelled the Byzantines from North Africa. To the west, Kahina of the Kingdom of the Aurès declared opposition to the Arab invasion and repelled their armies, securing her position as the uncontested ruler of the Maghreb for five years. The Arabs received reinforcements and in 701 Kahina
17556-561: The Book ”) constituting the Dhimmi class were permitted to practice their religion and exempted from military service in exchange for a tax , which was improperly extended to include converts. Followers of traditional Berber religion , which were mostly those of tribal confederations in the interior, were violently oppressed and often given the ultimatum to convert to Islam or face death or enslavement. Converted natives were permitted to participate in
17765-608: The Carthaginians were putting down a ferocious Libyan revolt , with Carthage initially experiencing considerable success following Hannibal 's infamous crossing of the alps into northern Italy . In a 14 year long campaign Hannibal's forces conquered much of mainland Italy , only being recalled after the Romans conducted a bold naval invasion of the Carthaginian homeland and then defeated him in climactic battle in 202 BC. Carthage
17974-688: The Cave of Hearths in South Africa has yielded a number of beads dating from significantly prior to 50,000 years ago, and shell beads dating to about 75,000 years ago have been found at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Around 65–50,000 years ago, the species' expansion out of Africa launched the colonization of the planet by modern human beings. By 10,000 BC, Homo sapiens had spread to most corners of Afro-Eurasia . Their dispersals are traced by linguistic, cultural and genetic evidence. Eurasian back-migrations, specifically West-Eurasian backflow , started in
18183-824: The Christians and after he had put down a revolt from the Fatimid army , Saladin eventually deposed the Fatimid caliph in 1171 and established the Ayyubid dynasty in its place, choosing to recognise the Abbasid Caliphate . From there the Ayyubids captured Cyrenaica , and went on a prolific campaign to conquer Arabia from the Zengids and the Yemeni Hamdanids , Palestine from the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem , and Syria and Upper Mesopotamia from other Seljuk successor states . To
18392-551: The Crusader fortresses throughout Syria, capturing Arsuf in 1265, and Halba and Arqa in 1266. Baybars's destroy captured fortresses along the Syrian coast to prevent their potential future use by new waves of Crusaders. In August 1266, the Mamluks launched a punitive expedition against the Armenian Cilician Kingdom for its alliance with the Mongols, laying waste to numerous Armenian villages and significantly weakening
18601-611: The Crusaders evacuated their camp opposite al-Mansura. The Egyptians followed them into the Battle of Fariskur where the Egyptians destroyed the Crusaders on 6 April. King Louis IX and a few of his surviving nobles were taken as prisoners, effectively ending the Seventh Crusade. Turanshah proceeded to place his own entourage and mamluks, known as the 'Mu'azzamiya', in positions of authority at
18810-515: The Dahlak archipelago . Despite having ancient roots, the Red Sea slave trade expanded and flourished following the Muslim conquests with Bejas , Nubians , and Ethiopians exported to Hejaz . Aksum gradually lost their control of the Red Sea , and the expulsion of the Byzantines from the region isolated them, causing their society to become introspective, drawing inspiration from biblical traditions of
19019-817: The Egyptian countryside from the rising strength of the Bedouin tribes. He further dispatched the Berber Hawwara tribesmen of the Nile Delta to Upper Egypt to check the Arab Bedouins. During Barquq's reign, in 1387, the Mamluks had forced the Anatolian entity in Sivas to become a Mamluk vassal. Towards the end of the 14th century, challengers to the Mamluks emerged in Anatolia, including
19228-647: The Great Lakes in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and both groups continued southward, with eastern groups continuing to Mozambique and reaching Maputo in the 2nd century AD. Further to the south, settlements of Bantu peoples who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen were well established south of the Limpopo River by the 4th century AD, displacing and assimilating the Khoisan . By the Chari River south of Lake Chad
19437-594: The Hejaz from Bedouin raids. He reduced the independence of the Sharifs of Mecca to a minimum, sent troops to occupy the Hejaz and rein in the Bedouin, and took direct control of much of the region's administration. He aimed to secure the Egyptian Mediterranean coast from Catalan and Genoese piracy. Related to this, he launched campaigns against Cyprus in 1425–1426, during which the island's Lusignan king, Janus ,
19646-598: The Horn's southeast coast the Tunni clan established the Tunni Sultanate , and the clans of Sarapion formed the Sultanate of Mogadishu . Traditionally, Gudit's dynasty reigned until 1137 when they were overthrown or conquered by Mara Takla Haymanot , with traditions differing on whether he was an Aksumite general or relative of Gudit, who established the Zagwe dynasty . In Ethiopia tradition holds that prior to his accession to
19855-590: The Ilkhanate in 1322, bringing a long-lasting end to the Mamluk–Mongol wars. Afterward, al-Nasir Muhammad ushered in a period of stability and prosperity through the enactment of major political, economic and military reforms ultimately intended to ensure his continued rule and consolidate the Qalawuni–Bahri regime. Concurrent with his reign was the disintegration of the Ilkhanate into several smaller dynastic states and
20064-472: The Mamluk army, which he used to oust Baraka in 1380. Ali died in May 1381 and was succeeded by his nine-year-old brother, al-Salih Hajji , with real power held by Barquq as regent. The next year, Barquq toppled al-Salih Hajji and assumed the throne. His accession was enabled by Yalbugha's mamluks, whose corresponding rise to power left Barquq vulnerable. His rule was challenged by a revolt in Syria in 1389 by
20273-510: The Mamluk governors of Malatya and Aleppo, Mintash and Yalbugha al-Nasiri , the latter a mamluk of Yalbugha. The rebels took over Syria and headed for Egypt, prompting Barquq to abdicate in favor of al-Salih Hajji. The alliance between Yalbugha al-Nasiri and Mintash soon fell apart and factional fighting ensued in Cairo, with Mintash ousting Yalbugha. Barquq was arrested and exiled to al-Karak where he rallied support. In Cairo, Barquq's loyalists took
20482-647: The Mamluk military. He recognized the impact of gunpowder technology used by the Ottomans and Europeans, but which the Mamluks had eschewed. In 1507, he established a foundry to produce cannons and created a new regiment trained to use them, known as the 'Fifth Corps' ( al-Ṭabaqa al-Khamisa ). The latter's ranks were filled recruits from outside the traditional mamluk system, including Turkmens, Persians, awlad al-nas , and craftsmen. The traditional mamluk army, however, regarded firearms with contempt and vigorously resisted their incorporation into Mamluk warfare, which prevented al-Ghuri from making effective use of them until
20691-408: The Mamluk practices of confiscation, extortion, and bribery continued in fiscal matters, under Qaitbay they were practiced in a more systematic way that allowed individuals and institutions to function within a more predictable environment. His engagement with the civil bureaucracy and the ulema (Islamic jurists and scholars) appeared to reflect a genuine commitment to Sunni Islamic law. He was one of
20900-467: The Mamluk state and military, Yalbugha revived the rigorous training of mamluks used under Baybars and Qalawun. In 1365, a Mamluk attempt to annex Armenia, which had since replaced Crusader Acre as the Christian commercial foothold of Asia, was stifled by an invasion of Alexandria by Peter I of Cyprus . The Mamluks concurrently experienced a deterioration of their lucrative position in international trade and
21109-592: The Mamluks succeeded in forcing the Anatolian beyliks to largely submit to their suzerainty, Mamluk authority in Upper Egypt was mostly relegated to the emirs of the Hawwara tribe. The latter had grown wealthy from their burgeoning trade with central Africa and achieved a degree of local popularity due to their piety, education and generally benign treatment of the inhabitants. Barsbay died on 7 June 1438 and, per his wishes,
21318-588: The Mamluks were now depending partly on the Venetians for naval security. With the death of Mehmed II in 1481 and the accession of his son, Bayezid II , to the Ottoman throne, Ottoman-Mamluk tensions escalated. Bayezid's claim to the throne was challenged by his brother, Jem . The latter fled into exile and Qaitbay granted him sanctuary in Cairo in September 1481. Qaitbay eventually allowed him to return to Anatolia to lead
21527-559: The Mongol Ilkhanate of Persia, and thereby consolidated his authority over Islamic Syria. During his early reign, Baybars expanded the Mamluk from 10,000 cavalry to 40,000, with a 4,000-strong royal guard at its core. The new force was rigidly disciplined and highly trained in horsemanship, swordsmanship and archery. To improve intracommunication, Baybars instituted a barid (postal network) extending across Egypt and Syria, which led to large scale building of roads and bridges along
21736-675: The Mongol army Hulagu left behind under Kitbuqa in the plains south of Nazareth at the Battle of Ain Jalut in September 1260. The battle ended in a Mongol rout and Kitbuqa's capture and execution. Afterward, the Mamluks recaptured Damascus and the other Syrian cities taken by the Mongols. Upon Qutuz's triumphant return to Cairo, he was assassinated in a Bahri plot. Baybars then assumed power in October 1260, inaugurating Bahri rule. In 1263, Baybars deposed al-Mughith based on allegations of collaboration with
21945-532: The Muslims returned to the Maghreb to find the Byzantines had reinforced the Exarchate and allied with the Berber Kingdom of Altava under Kusaila , who was approached prior to battle and convinced to convert to Islam. Initially having become neutral, Kusaila objected to integration into the empire and in 683 destroyed the poorly supplied Arab army and conquered the newly-found Kairouan , causing an epiphany among
22154-543: The Nubian city of Meroe is no longer widely accepted, and some researchers believe that sub-Saharan Africans invented iron metallurgy independently. Metalworking in West Africa has been dated as early as 2,500 BC at Egaro west of the Termit in Niger, and iron working was practiced there by 1,500 BC. Iron smelting has been dated to 2,000 BC in southeast Nigeria . Central Africa provides possible evidence of iron working as early as
22363-408: The Ottoman sultan, conquered Constantinople in 1453 and ordered public celebrations to commemorate the event, much like the celebrations of a Mamluk victory. It is unclear whether Inal and the Mamluks understood the implications of this event. It marked the rise of the Ottomans as a superpower, a status that brought them into increasing conflict with the evermore stagnant Mamluk Sultanate. By then,
22572-669: The Patrician . The Muslims conquered Ifriqiya and in 647 defeated and killed Gregory and his army decisively in battle . The Berbers of the Maghreb proposed payment of annual tribute, which the Muslims, not wishing to annex the territory, accepted. After a brief civil war in the Muslim empire, the Rashidun were supplanted by the Umayyad dynasty in 661 and the capital moved from Medina to Damascus . With intentions to expand further in all directions,
22781-527: The Sahara in modern-day Algeria , who all mainly followed traditional Berber religion . In 618 the Sassanids conquered Egypt during the Byzantine-Sasanian War , however the province was reconquered three years later. The early 7th century saw the inception of Islam and the beginning of the Arab conquests intent on converting peoples to Islam and monotheism . The nascent Rashidun Caliphate won
22990-530: The Salihiyya welcomed his succession, Turanshah challenged their dominance in the paramilitary apparatus by promoting his Kurdish retinue from the Jazira and Syria as a counterweight. On 11 February 1250, the Bahriyya , a junior regiment of the Salihiyya commanded by Baybars , defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of al-Mansura . On 27 February, Turanshah arrived in al-Mansura to lead the Egyptian army. On 5 April 1250,
23199-425: The Salihiyya's dominance of the paramilitary elite, and inaugurated patronage and kinship ties with the Salihiyya. In particular, she cultivated close ties with the Jamdari (pl. Jamdariyya) and Bahri (pl. Bahriyya) corps, distributing to them iqtaʿ and other privileges. Her efforts and Egyptian military's preference to preserve the Ayyubid state were evident when the Salihi mamluk and atabeg al-askar , Aybak ,
23408-451: The Wolaita-Mala dynasty established the Kingdom of Damot in the 13th century, locally known as the Kingdom of Wolaita , which followed a traditional religion . The history continues to be murky, however regional hegemony was contested between the Kingdom of Damot , the Zagwe , and the Sultanate of Shewa . Damot likely drew its economic power from gold production, which was exported to Zeila. The Zagwe and Shewa were forced into
23617-410: The absence of his father, Sultan al-Kamil ( r. 1218–1238 ). These mamluks were called the 'Salihiyya' (singular 'Salihi') after their master. Al-Salih became sultan of Egypt in 1240, and, upon his accession, he manumitted and promoted large numbers of his mamluks, provisioning them through confiscated iqtaʿat (akin to fiefs; singular iqtaʿ ) from his predecessors' emirs. He created
23826-415: The ailing Rustamid Imamate and fought a proxy war against the remnants of the Umayyad dynasty centred in Cordoba , resulting the eastern Maghreb coming under the control of the vassalized Zirid dynasty , who hailed from the Sanhaja . In 969 the Fatimids finally conquered Egypt against a weakened Abbasid Caliphate after decades of attempts, moving their capital to Cairo and deferring Ifriqiya to
24035-403: The approach of the rebuilt Mamluk army. Another Ilkhanid invasion in 1303 was repelled after a Mamluk victory at the Battle of Marj al-Suffar in the plains south of Damascus. Baybars II ruled for roughly one year before al-Nasir Muhammad became sultan again in 1310, this time ruling for over three decades in a period often considered by historians to be the zenith of the Mamluk empire. To avoid
24244-813: The borrowing and assimilation of ideas and institutions , while some developed through internal, largely isolated development. Some African empires and hegemonic kingdoms include Ghana , Mali, Songhai , Ife , Oyo , Bamana/Ségou , Asante , Massina , Sokoto , and the Toucouleur in West Africa; Ancient Egypt, Kush, Carthage, the Fatimids , Almoravids , Almohads , Ayyubids , and Mamluks in North Africa; Aksum , Ethiopia , Adal , Kitara , Kilwa , and Imerina in East Africa; Kanem-Bornu , Kongo , Mwene Muji , Luba , Lunda , and Utetera in Central Africa; and Mapungubwe , Zimbabwe , Mutapa , Rozvi , Maravi , Mthwakazi , and Zulu in Southern Africa. Some societies are heterarchical and egalitarian , while others remained organised into chiefdoms . At its peak it
24453-415: The case of Garmul , however largely coexisted. Further inland to the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa were the Sanhaja in modern-day Algeria , a broad grouping of three groupings of tribal confederations , one of which is the Masmuda grouping in modern-day Morocco , along with the nomadic Zenata ; their composite tribes would later go onto shape much of North African history . In the western Sahel
24662-430: The central highlands describe encountering an earlier population called the Vazimba , thought to have been the first settlers of Madagsacar, represented as primitive dwarfs. From the 13th century Muslim settlers arrived, integrating into the respective societies, and held high status owing to Islamic trading networks. The 7th to 13th centuries in West Africa were a period of relatively abundant rainfall that saw
24871-420: The citadel and arrested al-Salih Hajji. This paved the way for Barquq's usurpation of the sultanate once more in February 1390, firmly establishing the Burji regime . The ruling Mamluks of this period were mostly Circassians drawn from the Christian population of the northern Caucasus . Barquq solidified power in 1393, when his forces killed the major opponent to his rule, Mintash, in Syria. Barquq oversaw
25080-411: The consequent Mamluk effort to establish diplomatic and commercial relationships with the new states. Amid conditions reducing the flow of mamluks from the Mongol territories to the sultanate, al-Nasir Muhammad compensated by adopting new methods of training, and military and financial advancement that introduced a great level of permissiveness. This led to relaxed conditions for new mamluks and encouraged
25289-423: The continent's south. The Bantu expansion constituted a major series of migrations of Bantu -speaking peoples from Central Africa to Eastern and Southern Africa and was substantial in the settling of the continent. Commencing in the 2nd millennium BC, the Bantu began to migrate from Cameroon to the Congo Basin , and eastward to the Great Lakes region to form the Urewe culture from the 5th century BC. In
25498-487: The continent, and, with a weakened Europe after the Second World War , waves of decolonisation took place. This culminated in the 1960 Year of Africa and the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 (the predecessor to the African Union ), with countries deciding to keep their colonial borders. Traditional power structures remained partly in place in many parts of Africa, and their roles, powers, and influence vary greatly. Many countries have undergone
25707-507: The continent. The community are still tasked with building the institutional frameworks, incorporating African epistemologies , establishing a continental periodisation, and representing an African perspective. In African societies, the historical process is largely a communal one, with eyewitness accounts, hearsay , reminiscences, and occasionally visions , dreams, and hallucinations crafted into narrative oral traditions which are performed and transmitted through generations. Time
25916-464: The country, which led to major social and economic changes in the region. In 1351, the senior emirs, led by Emir Taz, ousted and replaced Hasan with his brother, al-Salih Salih . The emirs Shaykhu and Sirghitmish deposed Salih and restored Hasan in 1355, after which Hasan gradually purged Taz, Shaykhu and Sirghitmish and their mamluks from his administration. Hasan recruited and promoted the awlad al-nas (descendants of mamluks who did not undergo
26125-400: The desert regions west of the Nile, and Barqa (Cyrenaica). In 1268, the Makurian king, David I, overthrew the Mamluks' vassal and in 1272, raided the Mamluk Red Sea port of Aydhab . In 1276, the Mamluks defeated King David of Makuria in the Battle of Dongola and installed their ally Shakanda as king. This brought the fortress of Qasr Ibrim under Mamluk suzerainty. The conquest of Nubia
26334-512: The détente with the Ilkhanids, Qalawun suppressed internal dissent by imprisoning dozens of high-ranking emirs in Egypt and Syria. He diversified the hitherto mostly Turkic mamluk ranks by purchasing numerous non-Turks, particularly Circassians , forming out of them the Burjiyya regiment. Qalawun was the last Salihi sultan and after his death in 1290, his son, al-Ashraf Khalil , drew legitimacy by emphasizing his lineage from Qalawun. Like his predecessors, Khalil's main priorities were organizing
26543-489: The early Holocene or already earlier in the Paleolithic period, sometimes between 30 and 15,000 years ago, followed by pre-Neolithic and Neolithic migration waves from the Middle East, mostly affecting Northern Africa, the Horn of Africa, and wider regions of the Sahel zone and East Africa. Affad 23 is an archaeological site located in the Affad region of southern Dongola Reach in northern Sudan , which hosts "the well-preserved remains of prehistoric camps (relics of
26752-402: The early 7th century, the north-central Harar Plateau was settled by early Muslims fleeing persecution , intermingling with the Somali who became some of the first non-Arabs to convert to Islam . Muslim-Aksumite relations were initially positive with Aksum giving refuge to early Muslims in 613, however relations soured after Aksum made incursions along the Arab coast and Muslims settled
26961-413: The east in the 9th and 10th centuries, the Somali clans such as the Dir and other groups formed states in the Harar Plateau , including Fatagar , Dawaro , Bale , Hadiya , Hargaya , Mora , Kwelgora , and Adal , with the latter centred on the port city of Zeila (previously Avalites ). They neighboured the Sultanate of Shewa to their south, who's dynasty hailed from the Meccan Banu Makhzum . On
27170-415: The east, however the Fatimids repelled them from encroaching on Egypt. Amid the Christians' First Crusade against the Seljuks , the Fatimids opportunistically took back Jerusalem , but then lost it again to the Christians in decisive defeat . The Fatimids ' authority collapsed due to intense internal struggle in political rivalries and religious divisions, amid Christian invasions of Egypt , creating
27379-417: The economy declined, further weakening the Bahri regime. Meanwhile, the harshness of Yalbugha's educational methods and his refusal to rescind his disciplinary reforms provoked a mamluk backlash. Yalbugha was killed by his mamluks in an uprising in 1366. The rebels were supported by Sultan al-Ashraf Sha'ban, who Yalbugha had installed in 1363. Sha'ban ruled as the real power in the sultanate until 1377, when he
27588-454: The end of the 13th century, through the efforts of sultans Baybars, Qalawun ( r. 1279–1290 ) and al-Ashraf Khalil ( r. 1290–1293 ), they conquered the Crusader states , expanded into Makuria ( Nubia ), Cyrenaica , the Hejaz, and southern Anatolia . The sultanate then experienced a long period of stability and prosperity during the third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1293–1294, 1299–1309, 1310–1341), before giving way to
27797-457: The enslavement/manumission process) in the military and administration, a process lasted for the remainder of the Bahri period. This caused resentment among Hasan's own mamluks, led by Emir Yalbugha al-Umari , who killed Hasan in 1361. Yalbugha became regent to Hasan's successor, the young son of the late sultan Hajji, al-Mansur Muhammad . By then, mamluk solidarity and loyalty to the emirs had dissipated. To restore discipline and unity within
28006-402: The expense of the Salihiyya. On 2 May 1250, disgruntled Salihi emirs assassinated Turanshah at Fariskur. An electoral college dominated by the Salihiyya then convened to choose a successor to Turanshah among the Ayyubid emirs, with opinion largely split between an-Nasir Yusuf of Damascus and al-Mughith Umar of al-Karak . Consensus settled on al-Salih's widow, Shajar al-Durr . She ensured
28215-568: The experiences of his previous two reigns where the mamluks of Qalawun and Khalil held sway and periodically assumed power, al-Nasir Muhammad established a centralized autocracy. In 1310, he imprisoned, exiled or killed any Mamluk emirs that supported those who toppled him in the past, including the Burji mamluks. He assigned iqta'at to over thirty of his own mamluks. Initially, he left most of his father's mamluks undisturbed, but in 1311 and 1316, he imprisoned and executed most of them, and again redistributed iqta'at to his own mamluks. By 1316,
28424-460: The explosive growth of trade, particularly across the Sahara desert , and the flourishing of numerous important states. The introduction of the camel to the western Sahel was a watershed moment, allowing more merchandise to move more easily. These desert-side states are the first to appear in the written record, with Arab and Berber merchants from North Africa leaving descriptions of their power and wealth. Nevertheless, there remain massive gaps in
28633-420: The following year by an ethnic Mongol mamluk of Qalawun, al-Adil Kitbugha , who in turn was succeeded by a Greek mamluk of Qalawun, Husam al-Din Lajin . To consolidate control, Lajin redistributed iqtaʿat to his supporters. He was unable to keep power and al-Nasir Muhammad was restored as sultan in 1298, ruling over a fractious realm until being toppled by Baybars II , a Circassian mamluk of Qalawun, who
28842-417: The governing of the Muslim empire in order to quell the enormous administrative problems owing to the Arabs' lack of experience governing and rapid expansion. Unorthodox sects such as the Kharijite , Ibadi , Isma'ili , Nukkarite and Sufrite found fertile soil among many Berbers dissatisfied with the oppressive Umayyad regime , with religion being utilised as a political tool to foster organisation. In
29051-612: The historical record include Mema , Takrur , Silla , and Wagadu (commonly called the Ghana Empire). Soninke traditions mention four previous foundings of Wagadu , and hold that the final founding of Wagadu occurred after their first king did a deal with Bida , a serpent deity who was guarding a well, to sacrifice one maiden a year in exchange for assurance regarding plenty of rainfall and gold supply. Soninke tradition portrays early Ghana as warlike, with horse-mounted warriors key to increasing its territory and population, although details of their expansion are extremely scarce. At
29260-401: The historical record, and many details are speculative and/or based on much later traditions. Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate ( Arabic : سلطنة المماليك , romanized : Salṭanat al-Mamālīk ), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire , was a state that ruled Egypt , the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries. It was ruled by
29469-433: The impression Africa had no recorded history. Pre-colonial Christian states include Ethiopia, Makuria , and Kongo. Widespread conversion to Christianity occurred under European rule in southern West Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa due to efficacious missions , with peoples syncretising Christianity with their local beliefs . The rise of nationalism facilitated struggles for independence in many parts of
29678-462: The internal strife characterizing the succession of his sons, when real power was held by senior emirs . One such emir, Barquq , overthrew the sultan in 1382 and again in 1390, inaugurating Burji rule. Mamluk authority across the empire eroded under his successors due to foreign invasions, tribal rebellions, and natural disasters, and the state entered into a long period of financial distress. Under Sultan Barsbay major efforts were taken to replenish
29887-421: The kingdom. At around the same time, Baybars captured Safed from the Knights Templar , and shortly after, Ramla , both cities in interior Palestine. Unlike the coastal fortresses, the Mamluks strengthened and utilized the interior cities as major garrisons and administrative centers. In 1268, the Mamluks captured Jaffa before conquering the Crusader stronghold of Antioch on 18 May. In 1271, Baybars captured
30096-411: The last 70 thousand to 200 thousand years. The fossil record shows Homo sapiens (also known as "modern humans" or "anatomically modern humans") living in Africa by about 350,000–260,000 years ago. The earliest known Homo sapiens fossils include the Jebel Irhoud remains from Morocco ( c. 315,000 years ago ), the Florisbad Skull from South Africa ( c. 259,000 years ago ), and
30305-470: The latest in Egypt and Nubia. Nubia became a major source of copper as well as of gold . The use of gold and silver in Egypt dates back to the predynastic period. In the Aïr Mountains of present-day Niger people smelted copper independently of developments in the Nile valley between 3,000 and 2,500 BC. They used a process unique to the region, suggesting that the technology was not brought in from outside; it became more mature by about 1,500 BC. By
30514-413: The latter's half-brother, al-Nasir Ahmad of al-Karak, was declared sultan. Ahmad relocated to al-Karak and left a deputy to govern in Cairo. This unorthodox arrangement, together with his seclusive and frivolous behavior and his execution of loyal partisans, ended with Ahmad's deposition and replacement by his half-brother al-Salih Isma'il in June 1342. Isma'il ruled until his death in August 1345, and
30723-405: The leadership of self-proclaimed caliph Abd al-Mu'min and, after gaining the support of the Zenata , swept through the Maghreb, conquering the Hammadids , the Hilalian Arab tribes , and the Norman Kingdom of Africa , before gradually conquering the Almoravid remnant in Al-Andalus , proclaiming the Almohad Caliphate and extending their rule from the western Sahara and Iberia to Ifriqiya by
30932-400: The leading mamluk factions holding actual power. The first of al-Nasir Muhammad's sons to accede was al-Mansur Abu Bakr , who al-Nasir Muhammad designated as successor . Al-Nasir Muhammad's senior aide, Qawsun , held real power and imprisoned and executed Abu Bakr and had al-Nasir Muhammad's infant son, al-Ashraf Kujuk , appointed instead. By January 1342, Qawsun and Kujuk were toppled, and
31141-518: The major Krak des Chevaliers fortress from the Crusader County of Tripoli . Despite an alliance with the Isma'ili Shia Assassins in 1272, in July 1273, the Mamluks, who by then considered the Assassins' independence as problematic, wrested control of their fortresses in the Jabal Ansariya range, including Masyaf . In 1277, Baybars launched an expedition against the Ilkhanids, routing them in Elbistan in Anatolia , but withdrew to avoid overstretching his forces and risk being cut off from Syria by
31350-437: The mamluk emirs initially installed Yalbay al-Mu'ayyadi as his successor. After two months he was replaced by Timurbugha al-Zahiri . Timurbugha was deposed in turn on 31 January 1468, but voluntarily consented to the accession of his second in command, Qaitbay . Qaitbay's 28-year-long reign, the second longest in Mamluk history after al-Nasir Muhammad, was marked by relative stability and prosperity. Historical sources present
31559-475: The mass recruitment of Circassians (estimated at 5,000 recruits ) into the mamluk ranks and the restoration of the state's authority throughout its realm in the tradition of Baybars and Qalawun. A major innovation to this system was the division of Egypt into three niyabat (sing. niyaba ; provinces), similar to the administrative divisions in Syria. The new Egyptian niyabat were Alexandria, Damanhur and Asyut . Barquq instituted this to better control
31768-399: The military apparatus in Syria and Egypt since at least the 9th century, rising to become governing dynasties in Egypt and Syria as the Tulunid and Ikhshidid dynasties. Mamluk regiments constituted the backbone of Egypt's military under Ayyubid rule in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, beginning under the first Ayyubid sultan Saladin ( r. 1174–1193 ), who replaced
31977-507: The more Egyptianized Kingdom of Kush in Nubia, and later in the 8th century BC the Kushite king Kashta would expand his power and influence by manoeuvring his daughter into a position of power in Upper Egypt , paving the way for his successor Piye to conquer Lower Egypt and form the Kushite Empire . The Kushites assimilated further into Egyptian society by reaffirming Ancient Egyptian religious traditions , and culture, while introducing some unique aspects of Kushite culture and overseeing
32186-402: The most prolific Mamluk patrons of architecture, second only to al-Nasir Muhammad, and his patronage of religious and civic buildings extended to the provinces beyond Cairo. Nonetheless, Qaitbay operated in an environment of recurring plague epidemics that underpinned a general population decline. Agriculture suffered, the treasury was often stretched thin, and by the end of his reign the economy
32395-409: The moulding of their respective societies and meant that prior to the accession of trans-Saharan trade routes , symbiotic trade relations developed in response to the opportunities afforded by north–south diversity in ecosystems, trading meats , copper , iron , salt , and gold . Various civilisations prospered in this period. From 4000 BC, the Tichitt culture in modern-day Mauritania and Mali
32604-399: The number of mamluks decreased to 2,000. Al-Nasir Muhammad further consolidated power by replacing Caliph al-Mustakfi ( r. 1302–1340 ) with his own appointee, al-Wathiq , as well as compelling the qadi (head judge) to issue legal rulings advancing his interests. Under al-Nasir Muhammad, the Mamluks repulsed an Ilkhanid invasion of Syria in 1313 and concluded a peace treaty with
32813-447: The oldest open-air hut in the world) and diverse hunting and gathering loci some 50,000 years old". Around 16,000 BC, from the Red Sea Hills to the northern Ethiopian Highlands , nuts, grasses and tubers were being collected for food. By 13,000 to 11,000 BC, people began collecting wild grains. This spread to Western Asia , which domesticated its wild grains, wheat and barley . Between 10,000 and 8000 BC, Northeast Africa
33022-467: The peace. Al-Ghuri is often viewed negatively by historical commentators, particularly Ibn Iyas, for his draconic fiscal policies. He inherited a state beset by financial problems. In addition to the demographic and economic changes under his predecessors, changes in the organisation of the Mamluk military over time had also resulted in large numbers of soldiers feeling alienated and repeatedly threatening to revolt unless given extra payments, which drained
33231-427: The popular Fumo Liyongo . The islands of Pemba , Zanzibar , Lamu , Mafia and the Comoros were further settled by Shirazi and grew in importance due to their geographical positions for trade. By 1100, all regions of Madagascar were inhabited, although the total population remained small. Societies organised at the behest of hasina , which later evolved to embody kingship, and competed with one another over
33440-399: The possibility of other unknown sophisticated civilisations at this time. After D'mt's fall in the 5th century BC the Ethiopian Plateau came to be ruled by numerous smaller unknown kingdoms who experienced strong south Arabian influence , until the growth and expansion of Aksum in the 1st century BC. Along the Horn's coast there were many ancient Somali city-states which thrived off of
33649-519: The postal route. His military and administrative reforms cemented the power of the Mamluk state. He opened diplomatic channels with the Mongols to stifle their potential alliance with the Christian powers of Europe, while also sowing divisions between the Mongol Ilkhanate and the Mongol Golden Horde . His diplomacy was additionally intended to maintain the flow of Turkic mamluks from Mongol-held Central Asia. With his power in Egypt and Islamic Syria consolidated by 1265, Baybars launched expeditions against
33858-411: The pursuit of military careers in Egypt by aspiring mamluks outside of the empire. Al-Nasir Muhammad died in 1341 and his rule was followed by a succession of descendants in a period marked by political instability. Most of his successors, except for al-Nasir Hasan ( r. 1347–1351, 1354–1361 ) and al-Ashraf Sha'ban ( r. 1363–1367 ), were sultans in name only, with the patrons of
34067-455: The region, but his legacy was mixed in the eyes of contemporary commentators who criticized his fiscal methods and economic policies. Barsbay pursued an economic policy of establishing state monopolies over the lucrative trade with Europe, particularly spices, at the expense of local merchants. European merchants were forced to buy spices from state agents who set prices that maximized revenue rather than promoting competition. This monopoly set
34276-548: The rise of Turkmen tribes in the Jazira, and attempts by Barquq's emirs to topple Faraj, also saw a famine in Egypt in 1403, a severe plague in 1405 and a Bedouin revolt that practically ended Mamluk control of Upper Egypt between 1401 and 1413. Mamluk authority throughout the sultanate significantly eroded, while the capital Cairo underwent an economic crisis. Faraj was toppled in 1412 by the Syria-based emirs, Tanam, Jakam, Nawruz and al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh , against whom Faraj had sent seven military expeditions. The emirs could not usurp
34485-431: The rise of settled communities occurred largely as a result of the domestication of millet and of sorghum . Archaeology points to sizable urban populations in West Africa beginning in the 4th millennium BC, which had crucially developed iron metallurgy by 1200 BC, in both smelting and forging for tools and weapons. Extensive east-west belts of deserts , grasslands , and forests from north to south were crucial in
34694-430: The ruling Mamluks during these respective eras. The first rulers of the sultanate hailed from the mamluk regiments of the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub ( r. 1240–1249 ), usurping power from his successor in 1250. The Mamluks under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars routed the Mongols in 1260, halting their southward expansion. They then conquered or gained suzerainty over the Ayyubids' Syrian principalities. By
34903-411: The severe financial losses of the agricultural sector due to the frequent recurring plagues that took a heavy toll on the farmers. In the long term, the monopoly over the spice trade had a negative effect on Egyptian commerce and became a motivation for European merchants to seek alternative routes to the east around Africa and across the Atlantic. Barsbay undertook efforts protect the caravan routes to
35112-424: The site of Lejja (Eze-Uzomaka 2009) and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi (Holl 2009). The site of Gbabiri (in the Central African Republic) has also yielded evidence of iron metallurgy, from a reduction furnace and blacksmith workshop; with earliest dates of 896–773 BC and 907–796 BC respectively. The ancient history of North Africa is inextricably linked to that of the Ancient Near East and Europe . This
35321-434: The societies and kingdoms of the interior, such as those of the Zambezi basin and the Great Lakes , to the wider Indian Ocean trade . There is much debate around the chronology of the settlement of Madagascar , although most scholars agree that the island was further settled by Austronesian peoples from the 5th or 7th centuries AD who had proceeded through or around the Indian Ocean by outrigger boats , to also settle
35530-486: The start of an Ottoman–Mamluk war over the next six years. By 1491, both sides were exhausted and an Ottoman embassy arrived in Cairo in the spring. An agreement was concluded and the status quo ante bellum was reaffirmed. During the rest of Qaitbay's reign, no further external conflicts took place. Qaitbay's death on 8 August 1496 inaugurated several years of instability. Eventually, following several brief reigns by other candidates, Qansuh al-Ghuri (or al-Ghawri)
35739-579: The state apparati, defeating the Crusaders and Mongols, integrating Syria, and preserving the flow of new mamluks and weaponry into the empire. Baybars had purchased 4,000 mamluks, Qalawun 6,000–7,000 and by the end of Khalil's reign, there was an estimated total of 10,000 mamluks in the sultanate. In 1291, Khalil captured Acre , the last major Crusader stronghold in Palestine and Mamluk rule consequently extended across all of Syria. Khalil's death in 1293 led to period of factional struggle, with Khalil's prepubescent brother, al-Nasir Muhammad , being overthrown
35948-419: The state was under severe financial stress, with the state selling off iqta'at properties, depriving the treasury of their tax revenues. Coins based on precious metals nearly disappeared from circulation. Inal died on 26 February 1461. His son, al-Mu'ayyad Ahmad , ruled for a short stint under challenges from the governors of Damascus and Jeddah. A compromise candidate, the Greek Khushqadam al-Mu'ayyadi ,
36157-435: The state's finances. To address the shortfalls, al-Ghuri resorted to heavy-handed and far-reaching taxation and extortion to refill the treasury, which elicited protests that were sometimes violent. He used the raised funds to repair fortresses throughout the region, to commission his own construction projects in Cairo, and to purchase a large number of new mamluks to fill his military ranks. Al-Ghuri also attempted reforms of
36366-427: The state's ruling dynasty by appointing his four-year-old son al-Sa'id Baraka as co-sultan in 1264. This represented a break from the Mamluk tradition of choosing the sultan by merit rather than lineage. In July 1277, Baybars died en route to Damascus, and was succeeded by Baraka. Baraka was ousted in a power struggle ending with Qalawun , a top deputy of Baybars, as sultan in November 1279. The Ilkhanids launched
36575-470: The states fluctuated and varied, with Mombasa , Pate , and Kilwa emerging as the strongest. This prosperity led some Arab and Persian merchants to settle and assimilate into the various societies, and from the 8th to the 14th century the region gradually Islamised due to the increased trading opportunities it brought, with some oral traditions having rulers of Arab or Persian descent . The Kilwa Chronicle , supposedly based on oral tradition , holds that
36784-519: The suppression of communal autonomy disrupted local customary practices and caused the irreversible transformation of Africa's socioeconomic systems . Colonies were maintained for the purpose of economic exploitation and extraction of natural resources . African history was initially written by outsiders ( Europeans and Arabs ), and in colonial times under the pretence of Western superiority supported by scientific racism . Oral sources were deprecated and dismissed by unfamiliar historians, giving them
36993-467: The throne themselves, and had Caliph al-Musta'in ( r. 1406–1413 ) installed as a puppet sultan; the caliph had the support of the non-Circassian mamluks and legitimacy with the local population. Six months later, Shakyh ousted al-Musta'in after neutralizing his main rival, Nawruz, and assumed the sultanate. Shaykh's main policy was restoring state authority within the empire, which experienced further plagues in 1415–1417 and 1420. Shaykh replenished
37202-399: The throne, Gebre Meskel Lalibela was guided by Christ on a tour of Jerusalem , and instructed to build a second Jerusalem in Ethiopia. Accordingly this led to the commissioning of eleven rock-hewn churches outside the capital in Roha, which was renamed Lalibela in his honour, and quickly became a holy city in Ethiopian Christianity . According to oral traditions, Motolomi Sato of
37411-400: The treasury through tax collection expeditions akin to raids across the empire to compensate the tax arrears that accumlated under Faraj. Shaykh also commissioned and led military campaigns against the Mamluks' enemies in Anatolia, reasserting the state's influence there. Before Shaykh died in 1421, he attempted to offset the power of the Circassians by importing Turkish mamluks and installing
37620-414: The treasury, particularly monopolization of trade with Europe and tax expeditions into the countryside. The 'Mamluk Sultanate' is a modern historiographical term. Arabic sources for the period of the Bahri Mamluks refer to the dynasty as the 'State of the Turks' ( Dawlat al-Atrak or Dawlat al-Turk ) or 'State of Turkey' ( al-Dawla al-Turkiyya ). During Burji rule, it was also referred to as
37829-447: The triumph and defeat of nationalistic fervour, and continue to face challenges such as internal conflict, neocolonialism , and climate change . African historiography became organized at the academic level in the mid-20th century, and saw a movement towards utilising the oral sources in a multidisciplinary approach. This culminated in UNESCO publishing the General History of Africa from 1981, edited by specialists from across
38038-444: The turn of the 13th century. Later, the Christians capitalised on internal conflict within the Almohads in 1225 and conquered Iberia by 1228, with the Emirate of Granada assuming control in the south. Following this, the embattled Almohads faced invasions from an Almoravid remnant in the Balearics and gradually lost territory to the Marinids in modern-day Morocco , the Zayyanids in modern-day Algeria , both of Zenata , and
38247-403: The wars waged. The turn of the 6th century saw Aksum balanced against the Himyarite Kingdom in southwestern Arabia, as part of the wider Byzantine-Sassanian conflict . In 518, Aksum invaded Himyar against the persecution of the Christian community by Dhu Nuwas , the Jewish Himyarite king. Following the capture of Najran , the Aksumites implanted a puppet on the Himyarite throne, however
38456-477: The west from the 7th to 15th century, Arab tribes migrated into the Sudan , during which time the Beja Islamised and adopted Arab customs . In the 8th century, Beja nomads invaded Aksum 's northern territories and occupied the Eritrean Highlands , leading punitive raids into Aksum, with the Beja establishing various kingdoms . The Aksumite population migrated further inland into the Ethiopian Highlands , moving their capital from Aksum to Kubar , and later in
38665-407: The west, there was a new domestic threat to Almoravid rule; a religious movement headed by Ibn Tumart from the Masmuda tribal grouping, who was considered by his followers to be the true Mahdi . Initially fighting a guerilla war from the Atlas Mountains , they descended from the mountains in 1130 but were crushed in battle , with Ibn Tumart dying shortly after. The movement consolidated under
38874-433: The written word. Oral tradition often remained the preferred method of recordation in cases when a writing system was adapted or developed ; for example the oral recordation of the Kouroukan Fouga in the Mali Empire while having adapted the Arabic script to be used in scholarly pursuits . Many kingdoms and empires came and went in all regions of the continent . Most states were created through conquest or
39083-449: Was allowed to remain as a vassal. In the end, Qaitbay was unwilling to let him live and Shah Suwar was betrayed, brought to Cairo, and executed. Shah Budaq was installed as his replacement and as a Mamluk vassal, though the Ottoman-Mamluk rivalry over the Dulkadirid throne continued. The next challenge to Qaitbay was the rise of the Aq Qoyunlu leader Uzun Hasan. The latter led an expedition into Mamluk territory around Aleppo in 1472, but
39292-460: Was allowed to return to Egypt, to face the common Mongol threat. Hulagu sent emissaries to Qutuz in Cairo, demanding submission to Mongol rule but Qutuz had them killed, an act which historian Joseph Cummins called the "worst possible insult to the Mongol throne". After hearing that Hulagu withdrew from Syria to claim the Mongol throne, Qutuz and Baybars mobilized a 120,000-strong force to conquer Syria. The Mamluks entered Palestine and confronted
39501-519: Was assassinated on 10 April 1257, possibly on orders from Shajar al-Durr, who was assassinated a week later. Their deaths left a relative power vacuum in Egypt, with Aybak's teenage son, al-Mansur Ali , as heir to the sultanate and Aybak's close aide, Sayf al-Din Qutuz , as strongman. The Bahriyya and al-Mughith Umar made two attempts to conquer Egypt in November 1257 and 1258 but were defeated. They then turned on an-Nasir Yusuf in Damascus, who defeated them at Jericho . An-Nasir Yusuf followed up with
39710-501: Was conquered by the expansive Achaemenids , however later regained independence in 404 BC until 343 BC when it was re-annexed by the Achaemenid Empire . Persian rule in Egypt ended with the defeat of the Achaemenids by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, marking the beginning of Hellenistic rule by the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. The Hellenistic rulers, seeking legitimacy from their Egyptian subjects, gradually Egyptianized and participated in Egyptian religious life . Following
39919-517: Was cultivating wheat and barley and raising sheep and cattle from Southwest Asia. A wet climatic phase in Africa turned the Ethiopian Highlands into a mountain forest. Omotic speakers domesticated enset around 6500–5500 BC. Around 7000 BC, the settlers of the Ethiopian highlands domesticated donkeys , and by 4000 BC domesticated donkeys had spread to Southwest Asia. Cushitic speakers, partially turning away from cattle herding, domesticated teff and finger millet between 5500 and 3500 BC. During
40128-477: Was eventually put down after decades of violence, resulting in between 300,000 and 2,500,000 dead. This gradual bubbling of disintegration of the caliphate boiled over when the Fatimid dynasty rose out of the Bavares tribal confederation and in 909 conquered the Aghlabids to gain control over all of Ifriqiya . Proclaiming Isma'ilism , they established a caliphate rivalling the Abbasids , who followed Sunni Islam . The nascent caliphate quickly conquered
40337-514: Was forced to give up their fleet, and the subsequent collapse of their empire would produce two further polities in the Maghreb; Numidia , a polity made up of two Numidian tribal federations until the Massylii conquered the Masaesyli , and assisted the Romans in the Second Punic War; Mauretania , a Mauri tribal kingdom , home of the legendary King Atlas ; and various tribes such as Garamantes , Musulamii , and Bavares . The Third Punic War would result in Carthage's total defeat in 146 BC and
40546-408: Was killed and the kingdom defeated. They completed their conquest of the rest of the Maghreb, with large swathes of Berbers embracing Islam, and the combined Arab and Berber armies would use this territory as a springboard into Iberia to expand the Muslim empire further. Large numbers of Berber and Coptic people willingly converted to Islam, and followers of Abrahamic religions (“ People of
40755-399: Was killed by mamluk dissidents on his way to Mecca perform the Hajj . Sha'ban was succeeded by his seven-year-old son al-Mansur Ali , though the oligarchy of the senior emirs held the reins of power. Among the senior emirs who rose to prominence under Ali were Barquq and Baraka, both Circassian mamluks of Yalbugha. Barquq was made atabeg al-asakir in 1378, giving him command of
40964-544: Was marked by policies intended to garner support from the merchant class, the Muslim bureaucracy and the religious establishment. He eliminated the illegal taxes that burdened the merchants and commissioned extensive building and renovation projects for Islam's holiest sites, such as the Prophet's Mosque in Medina , the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron . His building activities later shifted to more secular and personal purposes, including his large, multi-division hospital complex in Cairo. After
41173-445: Was not permanent and the process of invading the region and installing vassal kings was repeated by Baybars's successors. Nonetheless, Baybars' initial conquest led to the annual expectation of tribute from the Nubians by the Mamluks until the Makurian kingdom's demise in the mid-14th century. Furthermore, the Mamluks received the submission of King Adur of al-Abwab further south. Baybars attempted to establish his Zahirid house as
41382-431: Was placed on the throne in 1501. Al-Ghuri secured his position over several months and appointed new figures to key posts. His nephew, Tuman Bay was appointed dawadar and his second in command. In Syria, al-Ghuri appointed Sibay , a former rival who opposed him in 1504–1505, as governor of Damascus in 1506. The latter remained a major figure during his reign but he acknowledged Cairo's suzerainty and helped to keep
41591-414: Was reached between Qaitbay and Mehmed II, by which Qaitbay stopped supporting the Karamanids and the Ottomans stopped supporting the Dulkadirids. Now without Ottoman support, Shah Suwar was defeated in 1471 by a Mamluk expedition led by Qaitbay's senior field commander, Yashbak min Mahdi . Shah Suwar held out in his fortress near Zamantı , before agreeing to surrender himself if his life was spared and he
41800-537: Was rebuffed from monopolizing power by the army and the Bahriyya and Jamdariyya, who all asserted that sultanic authority was exclusive to the Ayyubids. The Bahriyya compelled Aybak to share power with al-Ashraf Musa , a grandson of Sultan al-Kamil. Aybak was the main bulwark against the Bahri and Jamdari emirs, and his promotion as atabeg al-askar led to Bahri rioting in Cairo, the first of many intra-Salihi clashes about his ascendancy. The Bahriyya and Jamdariyya were represented by their patron, Faris al-Din Aktay ,
42009-467: Was routed by Yashbak. The next year, Uzun Hassan was more resoundingly defeated in battle against Mehmed II near Erzurum . His son and successor, Ya'qub, resorted to inviting Yashbak min Mahdi to participate in a campaign against Edessa. As this avoided any challenge against Qaitbay's authority, Yashbak accepted. Although initially successful, he was killed during the siege of the city, thus depriving Qaitbay of his most important field commander. In 1489,
42218-448: Was still weak. The challenges to Mamluk dominance abroad were also mounting, particularly to the north. Shah Suwar, the leader of the Dulkadirid principality in Anatolia, benefited from Ottoman support and was an excellent military tactician. Meanwhile, Qaitbay supported the ruler of the Karamanid principality, Ahmad . Initially, the Mamluks failed in a series of campaigns against Shah Suwar. The tide turned in 1470–1471 when an agreement
42427-416: Was substantial in the usurpation of Mogadishu 's hegemony, while also conquering Pemba and Zanzibar . Kilwa 's administration consisted of representatives who ranged from governing their assigned cities to fulfilling the role of ambassador in the more powerful ones. Meanwhile the Pate Chronicle [ fr ] has Pate conquering Shanga , Faza , and prosperous Manda , and was at one time led by
42636-468: Was succeeded by his brother al-Kamil Sha'ban . The latter was killed in a mamluk revolt and was succeeded by his brother al-Muzaffar Hajji , who was also killed in a mamluk revolt in late 1347. After Hajji's death, the senior emirs hastily appointed another son of al-Nasir Muhammad, the twelve-year-old al-Nasir Hasan. Coinciding with Hasan's first reign, in 1347–1348, the Bubonic Plague arrived in Egypt and other plagues followed, causing mass death in
42845-406: Was succeeded by his fourteen-year-old son, al-Aziz Yusuf , with a leading emir of Barsbay, Sayf al-Din Jaqmaq , appointed regent. The usual disputes over succession ensued and after three months Jaqmaq won and became sultan, exiling Yusuf to Alexandria. Jaqmaq maintained friendly relations with the Ottomans. His most important foreign military effort was an abortive campaign to conquer Rhodes from
43054-578: Was taken captive, because of his alleged assistance to the pirates; the large ransoms paid to the Mamluks by the Cypriots allowed them to mint new gold coinage for the first time since the 14th century. Janus became Barsbay's vassal, an arrangement enforced on his successors for several decades after. In response to Aq Qoyonlu raids against the Jazira, the Mamluks launched expeditions against them, sacking Edessa and massacring its Muslim inhabitants in 1429 and attacking their capital Amid in 1433. The Aq Qoyonlu consequently recognized Mamluk suzerainty. While
43263-411: Was the oldest known complexly organised society in West Africa, with a four tiered hierarchical social structure. Other civilisations include the Kintampo culture from 2500 BC in modern-day Ghana , the Nok culture from 1500 BC in modern-day Nigeria , the Daima culture around Lake Chad from 550 BC, and Djenné-Djenno from 250 BC in modern-day Mali . Towards the end of the 3rd century AD,
43472-485: Was then chosen and eventually neturalized his opposition. His reign was marked by further political difficulties abroad and domestically. Cyprus remained a vassal, but Khushqadam's representative was killed in battle after insulting James II (who had been installed by Inal). At home, Bedouin tribes caused unrest and the sultan's attempts to suppress the Labid tribe in the Nile Delta and against the Hawwara in Upper Egypt had little effect. Khushqadam died on 9 October 1467 and
43681-440: Was wealthier, and more pious and cultured than his immediate predecessors. Early into al-Nasir Muhammad's second reign, the Ilkhanids, whose leader Mahmud Ghazan was a Muslim convert, had invaded Syria and routed a Mamluk army near Homs in the Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar in 1299. Ghazan largely withdrew from Syria shortly after due to a lack of fodder for their numerous horses and the residual Ilkhanid force retreated in 1300 at
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