A Time Line of Africa

4 m.y.a.^*	Australopithecines (early hominids) live in northern Rift Valley (Ethiopia, Kenya).
2.5 m.y.a.^*	Early Stone Age; Homo habilis appears (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania).
*1.5 m.y.a.^-150,000 B.C.**	Homo erectus appears.
240,000-40,000 B.C.	Middle Stone Age.
80,000-20,000 B.C.	Late Stone Age.
20,000-10,000 B.C.	Farming introduced in lower Nile Valley.
10,000-6000 B.C.	Cattle domesticated in northern Africa.
	Millet and sorghum grown in western Africa.
6000-5000 B.C.	Khoisan hunters of southern Africa create rock paintings.
3000 B.C.	King Menes unifies Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt.
	Agriculture develops in Ethiopian highlands.
2000-1000 B.C.	Horses introduced in Sahara region.
	Bananas grown in central Africa.
332 B.C.	Greeks occupy Egypt.
200 B.C.	Romans gain control of Carthage.
32 B.C.	Royal city of Meroë flourishes in what is now Sudan.
A.D. 300s	Aksum invades Meroë; Aksum king adopts Coptic Christianity.
530s	Byzantine empire takes Mediterranean ports.
600s	Muslim Arabs invade North Africa.
ca. 1000	Shona begin building Great Zimbabwe.
1200s	Portuguese voyage to northwest coast of Africa.
	Sundjata Keïta founds Mali kingdom.
^m.y.a. million years ago*

1312-1337	Mansa Musa rules Mali and makes pilgrimage to Mecca.
1400s	Benin kingdom flourishes.
1498	Vasco da Gama sails around the southern and eastern coasts of Africa on the way to India.
1505-1510	Portuguese seize Swahili towns in eastern Africa and fortify Mozambique.
	Kongo king Afonso I converts to Christianity.
1517	Ottoman Turks conquer Egypt and port towns along the Mediterranean.
1578	Moroccans defeat Portuguese, remaining free of colonial control.
1591	Al-Mansur invades Songhai.
1600s	French, English, and Dutch establish trading posts along western coasts to export gold, ivory, and slaves.
	Akan state emerges.
1650s	Dutch settle at Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa.
	Arab traders settle on East African coast.
1700s	French and British establish network for slave trade in Central Africa.
	Zanzibar prospers as Arab trading center.
1721	French colonize Mauritius.
1787	British missionaries found Sierra Leone.
1795	British seize Cape Colony from Dutch.
1798	Napoleon leads French invasion of Egypt.
1805	Muhammad Ali takes power in Egypt, breaking free of Ottoman control.
1807	Britain and the United States abolish slave trade.
1817	Shaka emerges at head of Zulu kingdom in southern Africa.
1821	Freed slaves from the United States settle in what is now Liberia.
1828	Queen Ranavalona takes throne in Madagascar.
1830s	French rule proclaimed in Algeria.
	Slave trade continues in western Africa.
1835	Dutch settlers in southern Africa head north in "Great Trek."
1840s-1880s	Slave trade flourishes in East Africa.
1847	Republic of Liberia is established.
1852-1873	David Livingstone explores Central and East Africa.
1858	Portuguese abolish slavery in Central Africa.

1855-1868	Emperor Téwodros rules Ethiopia.
1859-1869	Suez Canal is built.
1869	Diamonds are discovered at Kimberley in northern Cape Colony.
1880-1881	Afrikaners rebel against Britain in the First Anglo-Boer War, and British withdraw from Transvaal in southern Africa.
1885	Mahdist forces capture Khartoum.
1880s-early 1900s	European powers colonize most of Africa (present-day names of countries listed):
	Belgians in Congo (Kinshasa);
	British in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Mauritius, Seychelles, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland;
	French in Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Bénin, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), Chad, Djibouti, Madagascar, Réunion, and the Comoro Islands;
	Germans in Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi;
	Portuguese in Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Angola, and Mozambique;
	Spanish in Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea.
1893-1895	Africans in King Leopold's Congo revolt.
1895	France forms federation of colonies that becomes French West Africa.
1896	Ethiopian emperor Menilek defeats Italians, maintaining country's independence.
1899-1902	Afrikaners defeated by British in Second Anglo-Boer war.
1910	Union of South Africa formed.
1914-1918	World War I: French and British capture German Togo; Africans fight on the side of various colonial powers in Africa.
1922	Egypt gains its independence.
1930	Haile Selassie I crowned emperor of Ethiopia.
1935	Italians invade Ethiopia.
1936	Union party in South Africa revokes voting rights of blacks.
1939-1945	World War II: many major battles fought in North Africa; Africans in French and British colonies drafted to fight in Europe and Asia.
1940s	First nationalist political parties are formed in western Africa.

1944	William Tubman becomes president of Liberia.
1945	Arab League, an organization of Arab states, is founded in Cairo.
	Ethiopia regains its independence.
1948	Policy of apartheid introduced in South Africa.
1950s	Several independence movements against colonial rule develop.
1951	Libya declared an independent monarchy under King Idris I.
1952	Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
1953	Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and Nyasaland (Malawi) join to form the Central African Federation.
1954	War breaks out in Algeria.
1956	Sudan, Morocco, and Tunisia become independent.
1957	Ghana achieves independence, with Kwame Nkrumah as president.
1958	Guinea, under Sékou Touré, becomes independent.
1960	Independence achieved in Cameroon (French Cameroun), Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Dahomey (Bénin), Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Togo, and Upper Volta (Burkina Faso).
1961	Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Tanganyika become independent.
1962	Independence achieved in Algeria, Burundi, and Uganda.
1963	Kenya (under Jomo Kenyatta) and Zanzibar become independent.
	Central African Federation ends.
	Organization of African Unity is founded.
	FRELIMO begins armed struggle for liberation of Mozambique.
1964	In South Africa, Nelson Mandela stands trial and is jailed.
	Tanganyika and Zanzibar join to form Tanzania.
	Malawi and Zambia become independent.
	Hutu overthrow Tutsi rule in Burundi.
1965	Rhodesia declares independence under Ian Smith.
	Mobutu Sese Seko takes power in Congo (Kinshasa) and renames it Zaire.
	King Hassan restores monarchy in Morocco.
	The Gambia gains independence.
1966	Independence achieved in Lesotho and Botswana.

1967-1970	Biafra attempts to secede from Nigeria.
1968	Swaziland becomes independent.
1969	Muammar al-Qaddafi seizes power in Libya.
1970	Egypt/Sudan: Aswan Dam is completed.
1974	Guinea attains independence.
1975	Cape Verde and Angola become independent.
	FRELIMO government gains independence in Mozambique.
1976	Spain withdraws from Western Sahara; Morocco and Mauritania fight over territory.
	Residents of Soweto and other South African townships begin violent protests.
1970s-1990s	War erupts across the continent within the countries of Angola, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Western Sahara, and between the nations of Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, and Sudan and Uganda.
1980	Zimbabwe becomes independent.
1990	Nelson Mandela released from prison.
	Namibia becomes independent.
1993	Apartheid ends in South Africa.
	Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia.
1994	Rwandan and Burundi presidents assassinated; ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi continues.
	Nelson Mandela becomes first black president of South Africa.
1995	Outbreak of deadly Ebola virus in Congo (Kinshasa).
1997	Laurent Kabila takes power in Zaire and renames it Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa).
1999	Libya hands over two suspects in 1986 airplane bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.
2000	Ghana chooses president John Kufuor in free elections.
	Paul Kagame is the first Tutsi to become president in Rwanda.
2001	Congo (Kinshasa) leader, Kabila, is assassinated; Kabila's son, Joseph, succeeds him as president.