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76-504: The greater Turkana Basin in East Africa (mainly northwestern Kenya and southern Ethiopia , smaller parts of eastern Uganda and southeastern South Sudan ) determines a large endorheic basin , a drainage basin with no outflow centered around the north-southwards directed Gregory Rift system in Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The deepest point of the basin is the endorheic Lake Turkana ,

152-527: A brackish soda lake with a very high ecological productivity in the Gregory Rift. A narrower definition for the term Turkana Basin is also in widespread use and means Lake Turkana and its environment within the confines of the Gregory Rift in Kenya and Ethiopia. This includes the lower Omo River valley in Ethiopia. The Basin in the narrower definition is a site of geological subsidence containing one of

228-638: A creation of new societal groups involving inter-marriage among communities and small groups moving to communities and small groups moving to new areas. After their movements from their original homeland in West Africa , Bantus also encountered in central east Africa peoples of Cushitic origin. As cattle terminology in use amongst the few modern Bantu pastoralist groups suggests, the Bantu migrants would acquire cattle from their new Cushitic neighbors. Linguistic evidence also indicates that Bantus most likely borrowed

304-560: A first or second language, is an important trade language in the Great Lakes area. It has official status in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Geologic record At a certain locality on the Earth's surface, the rock column provides a cross section of the natural history in the area during the time covered by the age of the rocks. This is sometimes called the rock history and gives a window into

380-448: A larger area of Africa than previously thought. East Africa is one of the earliest regions where Homo sapiens are believed to have lived. Evidence was found in 2018, dating to about 320,000 years ago, at the Kenyan site of Olorgesailie , of the early emergence of modern behaviors associated with Homo sapiens , including: long-distance trade networks (involving goods such as obsidian),

456-519: A millennia-long series of migrations eastward from their homeland around southern Cameroon. This Bantu expansion introduced agriculture into much of the African Great Lakes region. During the following fifteen centuries, the Bantu slowly intensified farming and grazing over all suitable regions of East Africa, in the process making contact with Austronesian - and Arabic -speaking settlers on southern coastal areas. The latter also spread Islam to

532-401: A nearby trough or structural basin region that lies at a relative lower elevation that can accumulate additional deposits. By comparing overall formations, geologic structures and local strata, calibrated by those layers which are widespread, a nearly complete geologic record has been constructed since the 17th century. Correcting for discordancies can be done in a number of ways and utilizing

608-538: A number of different responses to an increasingly arid landscape. Evolutionary studies of the Turkana Basin have found what may be major intervals of faunal turnover after the Miocene as well, most notably in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, though later studies have suggested more gradual changes in herbivore community composition throughout this interval. One cause of focus on the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene

684-404: A number of technologies or field research results from studies in other disciplines. In this example, the study of layered rocks and the fossils they contain is called biostratigraphy and utilizes amassed geobiology and paleobiological knowledge. Fossils can be used to recognize rock layers of the same or different geologic ages , thereby coordinating locally occurring geologic stages to

760-521: A target for European exploration , exploitation and colonialization in the nineteenth century. Today, tourism is an important part of the economies of Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, and Uganda. The easternmost point of the continent, that is Ras Hafun in Somalia, is of archaeological , historical and economical importance. According to the CIA, as of 2017, the countries in the eastern Africa region have

836-448: A total population of around 537.9 million inhabitants. Eastern Africa had an estimated population of 260 million in 2000. This was projected to reach 890 million by 2050, with an average growth rate of 2.5% per annum. The 2000 population is expected to quintuple over the course of the 21st century, to 1.6 billion as of 2100 (UN estimates as of 2017). In Ethiopia , there is an estimated population of 102 million as of 2016. In

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912-548: Is now southern Tanzania . In March 1505, having received from Manuel I of Portugal the appointment of viceroy of the newly conquered territory in India , he set sail from Lisbon in command of a large and powerful fleet, and arrived in July at Quiloa ( Kilwa ), which yielded to him almost without a struggle. A much more vigorous resistance was offered by the Moors of Mombasa. However, the town

988-473: Is the large literature on hominin fossil remains showing an apparent " adaptive radiation " across this boundary. While previous hominin species are considered to be part of a single, continuously evolving " anagenetic " lineage, hominin fossil remains become extraordinarily diverse in East Africa 2.5 million years ago, with numerous species of robust australopithecine and early human ancestors found first in

1064-477: The Abyei Area , and Abyei and South Kordofan's Nuba Hills both remained sources of tension between Juba and Khartoum as of 2011 . Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the " big five ": the elephant , buffalo , lion , black rhinoceros , and leopard , though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly those of

1140-693: The Democratic Republic of the Congo , Somalia, Burundi , Kenya, Rwanda , South Sudan , Uganda and Tanzania. Notably, the African Great Lakes region overlaps significantly with these countries. Inside of Somalia there are two unrecognised states; Somaliland and Puntland, although Puntland still wants to join back with Somalia, for now it is independent. Adjacent to these mainland territories are island nations and territories such as Socotra , Comoros , Mauritius , Seychelles , Réunion , Mayotte , and

1216-629: The Horn of Africa and Nile Valley , Afroasiatic languages predominate, including languages of the family's Cushitic (such as Beja , Oromo and Somali ), Semitic (such as Amharic , Arabic and Tigrinya ), and Omotic (such as Wolaytta ) branches. In the African Great Lakes region, Niger-Congo languages of the Bantu branch are most widely spoken. Among these languages are Kikuyu , Luhya , Kinyarwanda , Kirundi , Kisukuma , Luganda and many others. Swahili , with at least 80 million speakers as

1292-458: The Kingdom of Madagascar , which it initiated after persuading Britain to relinquish its interests in the island in exchange for control of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanganyika , an important island hub of the spices trade. The British also held a number of island colonies in the region, including the extended archipelago of Seychelles and the rich farming island of Mauritius , previously under

1368-607: The Oligocene and Miocene are characterised by similar fluvial regimes that are not however unified under a single geological group or system . Approximately 4.2 million years ago (Ma), the region experienced widespread and significant volcanism , associated with the Gombe basalts in the Koobi Fora formation to the east and with the Lothagam basalts further south; this event created a lake in

1444-682: The Orthodox Empire of Ethiopia . By 1896, the war had become a total disaster for the Italians and Ethiopia was able to retain its independence. Ethiopia remained independent until 1936 when, after the Second Italo-Abyssinian War , it became part of Italian East Africa . The Italian occupation of Ethiopia ended in 1941 during World War II as part of the East African Campaign . The French also staked out an East African outpost on

1520-460: The Ottoman Turks , Portugal hoped to use the sea route pioneered by da Gama to break the once Venetian trading monopoly. Portuguese rule in the African Great Lakes region focused mainly on a coastal strip centered around Mombasa. The Portuguese presence in the area officially began after 1505, when flagships under the command of Don Francisco de Almeida conquered Kilwa , an island located in what

1596-576: The Puntland and Somaliland regions of Somalia, have seen relative stability. South Sudan peacefully seceded from Sudan in 2011, six and a half years after a peace agreement ended the Second Sudanese Civil War . South Sudanese independence was nearly derailed by the South Kordofan conflict , particularly, South Sudanese independence was nearly derailed by a dispute over the status of

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1672-616: The Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean . Regions including portions of Mozambique and Madagascar , often aligned with Southern Africa , share significant historical and cultural connections with East Africa, particularly through the Indian Ocean's maritime networks. Sudan is also sometimes included due in part because it is a member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) free trade area. According to

1748-512: The United Republic of Tanzania by creating a union between the mainland, and the island chain of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is now a semi-autonomous state in a union with the mainland which is collectively and commonly referred to as Tanzania . German East Africa, though very extensive, was not of such strategic importance as the British Crown's colonies to the north: the inhabitation of these lands

1824-485: The attempted coup d'état in 1982 and the 2007 election riots . Tanzania has known stable government since independence although there are significant political and religious tensions resulting from the political union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous state in the United Republic of Tanzania . Tanzania and Uganda fought the Uganda–Tanzania War in 1978–1979, which led to

1900-506: The slave trade and relocation of the Omani capital to Zanzibar in 1839 by Seyyid Said had the effect of consolidating the Omani power in the region. Arab governance of all the major ports along the Swahili coast continued until British interests aimed particularly at ending the slave trade and creation of a wage-labour system began to put pressure on Omani rule. By the late nineteenth century,

1976-511: The tsetse fly , however, prevented the donkey and agriculture from spreading southwards. Only in quite recent times has agriculture spread to the more humid regions south of the equator, through the spread of cattle , sheep and crops such as millet . Language distributions suggest that this most likely occurred from Sudan into the African Great Lakes region, since the Nilotic languages spoken by these pre-Bantu farmers have their closest relatives in

2052-616: The "Out of Africa" theory probably occurred in East Africa through the Bab-el-Mandeb . Today at the Bab-el-Mandeb straits, the Red Sea is about 12 miles (19 kilometres) wide, but 50,000 years ago it was much narrower and sea levels were 70 meters lower. Though the straits were never completely closed, there may have been islands in between which could be reached using simple rafts. Some of the earliest hominin skeletal remains have been found in

2128-620: The 1880s. Between the 19th and 20th century, East Africa became a theatre of competition between the major imperialistic European nations of the time. The three main colors of the African country were beige, red, and blue. The red stood for the English, blue stood for the French, and the beige stood for Germany during the period of colonialism. During the period of the Scramble for Africa , almost every country in

2204-524: The 1975 independence of Mozambique. Omani Arab colonization of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts brought the once independent city-states under closer foreign scrutiny and domination than was experienced during the Portuguese period. Like their predecessors, the Omani Arabs were primarily able only to control the coastal areas, not the interior. However, the creation of clove plantations , intensification of

2280-651: The British colony of Aden on the Arabian Peninsula . With these territories secured, Britain was able to serve as gatekeeper of the sea lane leading to British India . In 1890, beginning with the purchase of the small port town of Asseb from a local sultan in Eritrea , the Italians colonized all of Eritrea. In 1895, from bases in Somalia and Eritrea, the Italians launched the First Italo–Ethiopian War against

2356-502: The French sovereignty . The German Empire gained control of a large area named German East Africa , comprising present-day Rwanda , Burundi and the mainland part of Tanzania named Tanganyika. In 1922, the British gained a League of Nations mandate over Tanganyika which it administered until Independence was granted to Tanganyika in 1961. Following the Zanzibar Revolution of 1965, the independent state of Tanganyika formed

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2432-660: The Great Lakes region during the 17th century. The Omani Arabs posed the most direct challenge to Portuguese influence in the African Great Lakes region. By this time, the Portuguese Empire had already lost its interest on the spice trade sea route due to the decreasing profitability of that business. The Arabs reclaimed much of the Indian Ocean trade , forcing the Portuguese to retreat south where they remained in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) as sole rulers until

2508-452: The Portuguese built forts, and adopted measures to secure the Portuguese supremacy. Portugal's main goal on the Swahili coast was to take control of the spice trade from the Arabs . At this stage, the Portuguese presence in East Africa served the purposes of controlling trade within the Indian Ocean and securing the sea routes linking Europe to Asia. Portuguese naval vessels were very disruptive to

2584-568: The Turkana Basin, and ultimately in South Africa as well. The earliest putative evidence for stone tool use among human ancestors is found within the Turkana Basin. East Africa East Africa , also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa , is a region at the eastern edge of the African continent , distinguished by its geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes,

2660-569: The Turkana Basin, either through migrations or de novo evolutionary events . Fossilized leaves characteristic of more mesic landscapes, faunal community compositions, and increase " C4 " or arid-adapted plant contribution to herbivore carbon intake, all suggest that the Miocene world was more lush than the Pliocene . Some herbivores, like horses , responded rapidly to the spread of C4 grasslands , while other herbivores evolved more slowly, or developed

2736-600: The area comprising Kenya , Tanzania , and Uganda , largely due to their shared history under the Omani Empire and as parts of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa . Further extending East Africa's definition, the Horn of Africa —comprising Djibouti , Eritrea , Ethiopia , and Somalia —stands out as a distinct geopolitical entity within East Africa. The East African Community , an economic and political bloc, currently includes

2812-623: The basin center, suggest that the basin has alternated between fluvial and lacustrine regimes throughout the Plio-Pleistocene , primarily as a result of continued volcanic activity first to the east, and later to the south of the basin. Fossil records in the basin help establish much of what is known about African faunal evolution in the Neogene and Quaternary . As in other regions, the end-Miocene Messinian aridification crisis and global cooling trend seem to have influenced fossil assemblages in

2888-567: The center of the basin and apparently established the modern, continuous depositional system of the Turkana Basin. Deposition in the Turkana Basin overall is driven primarily by subsidence , a result of rifting between the Somali and Nubian plates that has created a series of horst and graben structures, and led to approximately 1 km of sedimentary deposits at the center of the basin every 1 million years. Sedimentary records , which become more sparse and discontinuous at greater distance from

2964-403: The coastal belt, but most Bantu remained African Traditional Religion adherents. Over a period of many centuries, most hunting-foraging peoples were displaced and absorbed by incoming Bantu communities, as well as by later Nilotic communities. The Bantu expansion was a long series of physical migrations, a diffusion of language and knowledge out into and in from neighboring populations, and

3040-501: The commerce of Portugal's enemies within the western Indian Ocean and were able to demand high tariffs on items transported through the sea due to their strategic control of ports and shipping lanes. The construction of Fort Jesus in Mombasa in 1593 was meant to solidify Portuguese hegemony in the region, but their influence was clipped by the British , Dutch and Omani Arab incursions into

3116-415: The cultivation of cash crops like coffee and tea , as well as for animal husbandry with products produced from cattle and goats, such as goat meat , beef and milk . Moreover, this area had the potential for a significant residential expansion, being suitable for the relocation of a large number of British nationals to the region. Prevailing climatic conditions and the regions' geomorphology allowed

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3192-465: The custom of milking cattle directly from Cushitic peoples in the area. On the coastal section of the African Great Lakes region, another mixed Bantu community developed through contact with Muslim Arab and Persian traders, leading to the development of the mixed Arab, Persian and African Swahili City States . The Swahili culture that emerged from these exchanges evinces many Arab and Islamic influences not seen in traditional Bantu culture, as do

3268-604: The description of contemporary humans with the subspecies name Homo sapiens sapiens . Because of their early dating and unique physical characteristics idaltu and kibish represent the immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans as suggested by the Out-of-Africa theory. In 2017 finds of modern human remains, dating to ca 300,000 years ago in Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, suggested that modern humans arose earlier and possibly in

3344-487: The emergence of Homo sapiens . In September 2019, scientists reported the computerized determination, based on 260 CT scans , of a virtual skull shape of the last common human ancestor to modern humans / H. sapiens , representative of the earliest Homo sapiens , and suggested that Homo sapiens arose between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations in South and East Africa. The migration route of

3420-548: The establishment of flourishing European style settlements like Nairobi , Vila Pery , Vila Junqueiro , Porto Amélia , Lourenço Marques and Entebbe . The French settled the largest island of the Indian Ocean (and the fourth-largest globally), Madagascar , along with a group of smaller islands nearby, namely Réunion and the Comoros . Madagascar became part of the French colonial empire following two military campaigns against

3496-400: The geologic ages from 37.2–55.8 MA . Comparing the record about the discordance in the record to the full rock column shows the non-occurrence of the missing species and that portion of the local rock record , from the early part of the middle Eocene is missing there. This is one form of discordancy and the means geologists use to compensate for local variations in the rock record. With

3572-400: The larger region to varying degrees became part of a European colonial empire. Portugal had first established a strong presence in southern Mozambique and the Indian Ocean since the 15th century, while during this period their possessions increasingly grew including parts from the present northern Mozambique country, up to Mombasa in present-day Kenya. At Lake Malawi , they finally met

3648-410: The law of superposition. However using broadly occurring deposited layers trapped within differently located rock columns, geologists have pieced together a system of units covering most of the geologic time scale using the law of superposition, for where tectonic forces have uplifted one ridge newly subject to erosion and weathering in folding and faulting the strata, they have also created

3724-579: The many Afro-Arab members of the Bantu Swahili people . With its original speech community centered on the coastal parts of Tanzania (particularly Zanzibar ) and Kenya —a seaboard referred to as the Swahili Coast —the Bantu Swahili language contains many Arabic loan-words as a consequence of these interactions. Its important to note that Kiswahili grammar and structure are purely African and Bantu even if its vocabulary has non African influence in

3800-546: The middle Nile basin. Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Red Sea coast of Sudan are considered the most likely location of the land known to the Ancient Egyptians as Punt . The old kingdom's first mention dates to the 25th century BCE. The ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with Pharaonic Egypt during the times of Pharaoh Sahure and Queen Hatshepsut . The Kingdom of Aksum

3876-621: The most continuous and temporally well controlled fossil records of the Plio-Pleistocene with some fossils as old as the Cretaceous . Among the Basin's critical fossiliferous sites are Lothagam , Allia Bay , and Koobi Fora . Lake Turkana sits at the center of the Turkana Basin and is flanked by the Chalbi Desert to the east, the Lotakipi Plains to the north, Karasuk to the west and Samburu to

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3952-552: The name for Tanzania . These early writings perhaps document the first wave of Bantu settlers to reach central east Africa during their migration. Between the 14th and 15th centuries, large African Great Lakes kingdoms and states emerged, such as the Buganda and Karagwe kingdoms of Uganda and Tanzania. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the region of current-day Kenya , Tanzania , and Mozambique by sea. Vasco da Gama visited Mombasa in 1498. Da Gama's voyage

4028-407: The natural history of the location that spans many geological time units such as ages, epochs, or in some cases even multiple major geologic periods —for the particular geographic region or regions. The geologic record is in no one place entirely complete for where geologic forces one age provide a low-lying region accumulating deposits much like a layer cake, in the next may have uplifted

4104-528: The overall geologic timeline . The pictures of the fossils of monocellular algae in this USGS figure were taken with a scanning electron microscope and have been magnified 250 times. In the U.S. state of South Carolina three marker species of fossil algae are found in a core of rock whereas in Virginia only two of the three species are found in the Eocene Series of rock layers spanning three stages and

4180-443: The overall geologic record into a series of component sub-sections representing different sized groups of layers within known geologic time, from the shortest time span stage to the largest thickest strata eonothem and time spans eon . Concurrent work in other natural science fields required a time continuum be defined, and earth scientists decided to coordinate the system of rock layers and their identification criteria with that of

4256-486: The recently created British Protectorate of Nyasaland (nowadays Malawi ), which surrounded the homonymous lake on three sides, leaving the Portuguese the control of lake's eastern coast. The British Empire set foot in the region's most exploitable and promising lands acquiring what is today Uganda , and Kenya . The Protectorate of Uganda and the Colony of Kenya were located in a rich farmland area mostly appropriate for

4332-559: The region is recognized in the United Nations Statistics Division scheme as encompassing 18 sovereign states and 4 territories. East Africa is acknowledged as the cradle of early modern humans , who first emerged around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago before spreading globally though Madagascar was only settled 3000 years ago. In a narrow sense, particularly in English-speaking contexts, East Africa refers to

4408-463: The region, and the same area is instead one that is weathering and being torn down by chemistry, wind, temperature, and water. This is to say that in a given location, the geologic record can be and is quite often interrupted as the ancient local environment was converted by geological forces into new landforms and features. Sediment core data at the mouths of large riverine drainage basins , some of which go 7 miles (11 km) deep thoroughly support

4484-569: The remaining 2% of water inflow – are the Turkwel River and the Kerio River in Kenya, in the western part of the basin. Much of the Turkana Basin today can be described as arid scrubland or even desert. The exception is the Omo- Gibe River valley to the north. Important towns within the Turkana Basin include Lokitaung, Kakuma, Lodwar, Lorogumu, Ileret and Kargi. The Turkana people inhabit

4560-400: The removal of Uganda's despotic leader Idi Amin . Burundi , Rwanda , and Uganda have each faced instability and ethnic conflict since independence, most notably, they experienced the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1993 Burundi genocide and the subsequent Burundian Civil War . Rwanda and Uganda continue to be involved in related conflicts outside the region. Djibouti , as well as

4636-478: The rhino and elephant. The geography of East Africa is often stunning and scenic. Shaped by global plate tectonic forces that have created the East African Rift , East Africa is the site of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya , the two tallest peaks in Africa. It also includes the world's second largest freshwater lake, Lake Victoria , and the world's second deepest lake, Lake Tanganyika . The unique geography and apparent suitability for farming made East Africa

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4712-446: The route to French Indochina . Starting in the 1850s, the small protectorate of Djibouti became French Somaliland in 1897. Since the end of colonialism, several East African countries have been riven with military coups, ethnic violence and oppressive dictators. The region has endured the following post-colonial conflicts: Kenya has enjoyed relatively stable governance. However, its politics have been turbulent at times, including

4788-474: The same way English remains a Germanic language regardless of its vocabulary being heavily influenced by Latin and French among other languages. The earliest Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Kenya and Tanzania encountered by these later Arab and Persian settlers have been variously identified with the trading settlements of Rhapta , Azania and Menouthias referenced in early Greek and Chinese writings from 50 CE to 500 CE, ultimately giving rise to

4864-452: The slave trade on the open seas had been completely outlawed by the British and the Omani Arabs had little ability to resist the British navy's ability to enforce the directive. The Omani presence continued in Zanzibar and Pemba until the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964. However, the official Omani Arab presence in Kenya was checked by German and British seizure of key ports and creation of crucial trade alliances with influential local leaders in

4940-412: The south. Included within these regions are desert scrub, desert grass and shrubland, and scattered acacia or open grasslands. The only true perennial river is the Omo River in Ethiopia, in the northern part of the basin, which discharges into the lake on its northern shore and supplies the lake with more than 98% of its annual water inflow. The two intermittent rivers – which almost alone contribute

5016-419: The theory of the recent African origin of modern humans , the predominantly held belief among most archaeologists, East Africa in the area of the African Great Lakes is where anatomically modern humans first appeared. There are differing theories on whether there was a single exodus or several; a multiple dispersal model involves the Southern Dispersal theory. Some researchers have suggested that North Africa

5092-468: The time ruled by Zoskales , who also governed the port of Adulis . The Aksumite rulers facilitated trade by minting their own Aksumite currency . The state also established its hegemony over the declining Kingdom of Kush and regularly entered the politics of the kingdoms on the Arabian Peninsula , eventually extending its rule over the region with the conquest of the Himyarite Kingdom . Between 2500 and 3000 years ago, Bantu -speaking peoples began

5168-468: The two remaining marker species it is possible to correlate rock layers of the same age (early Eocene and latter part of the middle Eocene) in both South Carolina and Virginia, and thereby "calibrate" the local rock column into its proper place in the overall geologic record. Consequently, as the picture of the overall rock record emerged, and discontinuities and similarities in one place were cross-correlated to those in others, it became useful to subdivide

5244-403: The use of pigments, and the possible making of projectile points. It is observed by the authors of three 2018 studies on the site, that the evidence of these behaviors is approximately contemporary to the earliest known Homo sapiens fossil remains from Africa (such as at Jebel Irhoud and Florisbad ), and they suggest that complex and modern behaviors had already begun in Africa around the time of

5320-435: The west of the Basin, the Samburu and Pokot people inhabit the south, and the Nyangatom , Daasanach and Borana Oromo peoples inhabit the north and east. The oldest sedimentary records go back to the Cretaceous , including units previously informally referred to as the Turkana grits like the Lapurr Sandstone and are dominated by eastward flowing fluvial sequences draining into the Indian Ocean; later formations from

5396-434: The wider region, including fossils discovered in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia, as well as in the Koobi Fora in Kenya and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. The southern part of East Africa was occupied until recent times by Khoisan hunter-gatherers , whereas in the Ethiopian Highlands the donkey and such crop plants as teff allowed the beginning of agriculture around 7,000 BCE. Lowland barriers and diseases carried by

5472-506: Was a trading empire centered Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 100–940 CE, growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period c.  4th century BCE to achieve prominence by the 1st century CE. The kingdom is mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as an important market place for ivory , which was exported throughout the ancient world. Aksum was at

5548-411: Was difficult and thus limited, mainly due to climatic conditions and the local geomorphology. Italy gained control of various parts of Somalia in the 1880s. The southern three-fourths of Somalia became an Italian protectorate ( Italian Somaliland ). Meanwhile, in 1884, a narrow coastal strip of Somaliland came under British control ( British Somaliland ). This Somaliland protectorate was just opposite

5624-593: Was successful in reaching India , which permitted the Portuguese to trade with the Far East directly by sea. This in turn challenged the older trading networks of mixed land and sea routes, such as the spice trade routes which utilized the Persian Gulf , Red Sea , and camel caravans to reach the eastern Mediterranean. The Republic of Venice had gained control over much of the trade routes between Europe and Asia. After traditional land routes to India had been closed by

5700-466: Was taken and destroyed, and its large treasures went to strengthen the resources of Almeida. Attacks followed on Hoja (now known as Ungwana, located at the mouth of the Tana River ), Barawa , Angoche , Pate and other coastal towns until the western Indian Ocean was a safe haven for Portuguese commercial interests. At other places on his way, such as the island of Angediva , near Goa , and Cannanore ,

5776-457: Was the region of Africa from which modern humans who first trekked out of the continent. According to both genetic and fossil evidence, it has been posited that archaic Homo sapiens evolved into anatomically modern humans in the Horn of Africa around 200,000 years ago and dispersed from there. The recognition of Homo sapiens idaltu and Omo Kibish as anatomically modern humans would justify

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