A now-defunct website left us a gift of history to SHARE!

[Mel Hopkins]

In 2004, when social networking sites were still pure at heart, there was the website Africanfrontdotcom  - and one of the pages listed African history dating back to 40,000,000 BCE. My calling is to gather information, and I immediately copied this timeline from the website because of my preference. Now, of course, due to the colonization of many African nations, other cultures appropriated much of African history. So I use  this info is a reference point for fact-checking and inclusion. This morning, I thought about the chronological timeline I possessed when a famous writer in The Atlantic attributed "Know Thy Self" to the Greeks and not African philosophy. Anyway, my writing is Afrocentric, including my first novel steeped in Ancient African history due to this timeline I found on the Africandotcom website way back in 2004.  I hope you will find this information helpful too.

 

HISTORIA AFRICANA
DATES FOR MAJOR AFRICAN EVENTS

Overview of near-term dates is followed by a more comprehensive chronology of historical events.

December 26-January 1 Kuanzaa / First Fruits / New Year
January 1, 2004 200th Anniversary of African Revolution in Haiti
January 1885 Partition of Africa [The Berlin West Africa Conference]
January 15 Martin Luther King's Birthday
20 February 1957 Establishment of NeoColonialism
April 1958 First Conference of African States
May 25 African Liberation Day
May 1963 Ratification of OAU Charter
October 1965 Sixth Pan African Congress
July 9, 2001 Formation of the African Union
March 18, 2004 Inaugural Session of Pan African Parliament


CHRONOLOGY [100,000 BCE to 1 BCE]    

40,000,000 BCE The Great Rift Valley was formed in two phases, initially by ripping apart of the African and Arabian tectonic plates.

The second phase, which began 15,000,000 years ago and is still ongoing, ripped apart the African continental mass. Central and Eastern of Africa experienced violent tectonic instability and suddenly pulled away from the rest of the continent. It left behind a very long, steep-sided, Y-shaped valley filled with volcanos. The valley filled with a huge inland sea which drained and refilled several times over thousands of years. The Eastern arm of the valley stretches from Lebanon and North Syria, through the Red Sea, through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, to Mozambique. The western arm, known as the Albertine Rift, through Congo, Uganda, Urwanda, Urundi, and Tanzania, where it links up with the Eastern Arm. It is the largest, deepest and longest [6000 miles] valley in the world. Temperatures in the valley make for the hottest and driest places on Earth. The Great Rift Valley is also home to several special and unique ecological systems, and is considered the first home of modern humans.

130,000 BCE The whole of what is now the Sahara desert was populated by Africans.

100,000 BCE Africans make artful incisions in ocher, making Africa home to the oldest images in the world.

50,000 BCE Africa suffers an extinction of 30% of its wildlife species.

41,000 BCE Africans mine iron in what is now Swaziland

37,000-200 BCE Africans in what is now central Nigeria (Nok) produce highly sophisticated sculpures.

35,000 BCE Use of tally sticks in Africa, using base 7 mathematics. Bones with orderly notches representing days in moon cycles.

28,000 BCE Climate deteriorated and the world entered the last major ice age. As a result of this, the Sahara reached up to the Ethiopian Highlands. Central Africa's mountain ranges were covered by ice flow. The River Nile, North of Khartoum, disappeared.

22,000-11,600 BCE Most of the Earth is covered in ice. In the last 4000 years of the ice age, the warming caused the sea level to rise 35 meters. A highly cultivated global Ice Age civilization is destroyed by water.

17,000 BCE Barley was being cultivated at Tushka.

13,000 BCE Cattle were already domesticated in Kenya. In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many animals including the pack ass, and a small screw horned goat which was common from Algeria to Nubia.

11,500-10,500 BCE End of the Ice Age. The climate of the Earth abruptly warmed by 20 degrees or more. Temperature increase of almost 59 degrees in the north polar region within a 50-year period, with rapid rise in sea level.

10,500-6000 BCE Ice Age Civilization in Africa survives intact and is centered in the Uplands of the Nile Valley (the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa). The Sicilian historian Diodorus writing later claims that the African civilization became the source of lost Ice Age culture for the rest of the communities outside Africa, which had become disorganized and culturally impoverished. Diodorus claims that the Ethiopians (inclusive of all Africa, and not to be confused with modern Ethiopia) sent out, under one Osiris, a great army, "with the intention of visiting all the inhabited earth and teaching the race of men how to cultivate ... for he (Osiris) supposed that if he made men give up their savagery and adopt a gentle manner of life he would receive immortal honors..." Africans build the Great Sphinxes (supposedly originally two existed) and other astronomically-correct monuments and astro-geometrical structures all over the Earth. Highly organised astronomic-megalithic African-centred world civilization founds daughter civilizations in MesoAmerica, Eurasia and Oceania. Together the Africans and the other humans build massive stone calendars and clocks to map the sky.

10,000 BCE Climate change brought 500 years of persistent, heavy rains and transformed the Nile from a sluggish flow into a wild river with gorges one mile deep.

9000-2500 BCE What is now the sahara was a savanna grassland with herds of ostrich, giraffe, elephants and various antelopes. In the highlands and in shallow basins on the plains several lakes formed, which supported fish, crocodile and hippopotamus. These places were ideal campsites for the early hunters, and later the water sources were essential to support the large herds of cattle of the nomadic herders, who have left their finely worked stone and bone tools and decorated pottery, as well as heaps of their 'domestic refuse' at many sites along the lakeshores and highland valleys.

8200 BCE In southern and eastern Africa, stones engraved with geometric line designs and representations of animals.

8000 BCE Africans in the Congo basin practice brain surgery, and make complex mathematical notations. Lake Chad almost filled its present drainage basin [covering an area comparable in size to the state of Sudan], and spilled southwest out the Benue River to the Atlantic. The Danakil Depression is created when the crust beneath the ancient Danakil Sea, once part of the Red Sea, collapses. The remainder of the sea is trapped ni the depression, by basalt volcanic dykes, and gradually the water evaporates leaving massive salt flats, salt lakes and salt mines.

8000-2000 BCE People from central Africa occupy the plains of northwestern Africa.

6000 BCE Africans settle in the islands of the Mediterranean and in Europe.

5500 BC By this time, impressive images of animals and humans are engraved and later painted on rock surfaces in the still temperate Sahara. The Large Wild Fauna style features hunting scenes with big game, including the giant buffalo. The Bovidian Pastoral style refers to images of domestic herds thought to have been drawn by early farmers. Tissili and Tibesti Massifs are major centres of African culture, to which communities across Africa trace origins. The harp is depicted in rock art of the Sahara dating back over 7,000 years ago.

5000 BCE Massive volcanic explosion on the floor of the Albertine Rift destroys life and earthquakes cause highly cultivated (Ice Age Osirian) African civilization centered in the Great Lakes Region of Africa to decentralize amid war and inundation. Center of political organization in Africa moves northward to what is now Central and Northern Sudan, and Egypt.

4000 BCE People in the Nile Valley were rearing cattle, goats and sheep. They also engaged in fishing and collected grasses.

4500-2,500 BCE Africa is dominated by the Bovidian (cattle herder) culture, which also produces fine pottery vessels that were typically round, with wavy line, combed or dotted decorations. The drying of the climate forces the herders to move out of the Sahara.

3400 BCE Writing is already developed in Africa.

3300 BCE Bone and ivory labels with writing on them are sealed in the tomb of the King Scorpion I, at Abydos in what is now Southern Egypt.

3310 BCE Sorghum and millet were being cultivated in Africa.

3100 BCE Unification of Ta Waye (Egypt) by Thebaid Pharaoh Nesu Biti Aha after defeat of "Scorpion King". The conquest inscription of Pharaoh Djer at Sheikh Suliman in Ta-Seti (in Sudan); Massive fort at Buhen. Huge pyramid-astronomy complex built at Giza Plateau.

3000 BCE Rice was being cultivated in Africa. A major climatic recession occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and Eastern Africa. Since then dry conditions have prevailed in Eastern Africa, especially in Ethiopia in the last 200 years.

2500 BCE The climate of the Sahara changes rapidly, as it dries up, nomadic herders turn to farming and start to settle in cities and towns across Africa. The international phenomenon known as the Beaker culture begins to affect western North Africa. Named for the distinctively shaped ceramics found in graves, the Beaker culture is associated with the emergence of a warrior mentality. North African rock art of this period continues to depict animals but also places a new emphasis on the human figure, equipped with weapons and adornments. People from the Great Lakes region of Africa settle along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to become the Canaanites who dominated the lowlands between the Jordan river, the Mediterranean and the Sinai desert. Evidence of advanced manufacture and manipulation of glass.

2300 BCE Egyptians are electroplating antimony onto copper, and using batteries to generate electric current, as well as using electric gas discharge lamps.

2250-2050 BCE Rise of Central/Southern African Kerma civilization in Kush and Egypt. The Kerma culture is centered around cattle rearing and refined pottery.

2050-1795 BCE Reunification of Egypt by Pharaoh Mentuhotep II; start of the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI-XII); major forts and temples in Kush at Faras, Aksha, Semna, and Buhen. Conflict between Egyptian and Kushite ruling houses.

2043-1992 BCE Nebhepetre Mentuhotep of the 11th Dynasty maries the Medjey Princess Ashait.

1900-1575 BCE Further expansion of Kerma Culture in Kush; beaker pottery with red polish; huge tumulus burials for Kerma kings with sacrificial burials; massive brick 'defuffa' buildings.

1900 BCE A port is constructed. This port is named Rakouda and was located in the same place as the current Port Alexandria.

1887-1850 BCE Pharaoh Sesostris III (of royal Kushite descent) dominates Europe and Asia, and has extensive military, trading and fort network in Kush and Upper Egypt. Sesostris' African (Kushite) garrison stationed on the Black Sea coast at Colchis becomes the main center of trade and government in the Caucasus. The Garrison does not return home.

1874 BCE A canal connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea (original Suez Canal) is constructed by Sesostris III.

1786-1567 BCE Second Intermediate Period in Egypt (Dynasties XIII-XVII; Hyksos invade Egypt; horses and bronze swords introduced; Return of Kushite autonomy; Hyksos and Kushites ally against Egypto-Kushite Pharoah Kamose's effort to reunify the Nile Valley. Lower Egyptian royalty flee to Kush. Hebrews are captive in Egypt. Introduction of the horse and war chariots to the Nile valley.

1700 BCE Egyptian inscriptions refer to a region in Africa named Punt whose exports include giraffe, apes, ostriches, lions, leopards, elephant tasks, gold and precious stones.

1595 BCE Hittites fight with Egyptians over the control of Canaan (later known as Syria).

1570-1090 BCE Kerma culture begins gradual decline over the course of 500 years in Egypt and Kush. "New Kingdom" era begins in Egypt with Pharaohs who rule the northern Kush reaching the 4th cataract; Numerous forts, temples and towns built. Shaduf (keeyay) water-bucket irrigation technology introduced. The "King’s Son of Kush" becomes an established position that governs Lower Kush (Wawat) and Upper Egypt. Admiral Ahmose, son of Ebana reports that on the kings orders he went on campaign to Kush and penetrated beyond the 3rd cataract and inflict massive losses on Kushites.
1570-1546 BCE Reign of Ahmose I and his wife Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, in Egypt, marking the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. Ahmose captures Avaris and the fortress Scharuhen in southern Palestine after 3 years-siege and thus completes the restoration of Egyptian independence from the Hyksos. He broadens vastly the Egyptian borders, including making three successful campaigns in Kush (following the revolt of Aata) and one in Asia. Ahmose restored an office of viceroy of Kush [styled as "King's Son of Kush"]and thus spread his own influence far to the south.

1550 BCE Use in Africa of acacia gum which contains lactic acid, as a natural spermicide, for contraceptive purposes

1546-1526 BCE Reign of Amenhotep I; Thuwre appointed Viceroy of Wawat and Kush

1530-1515 BCE Pharaoh Thutmosis I dominates north Africa and the near Asia as far as Euphrates, and attacks Kush.

1518 BCE Moses (of the Bible) is born at Memphis Egypt and is adopted by princess Neferubity Thutmosis (sister to Hatshepsut and Thutmosis II).

1498 BCE Kushite armies engage in battles with Egyptian army. Kushites defeat Egyptian forces and capture the whole of Egypt including the Mediterenean coast. The Egyptians unable to free themselves from the Kushite army ask for Moses' help. Moses organizes an Egyptian force and crossing an unguarded snake-infested region of the western desert, bypasses the main Kushite army formations so as to attack Saba (Sheba), the Kushite capital. During the fighting at the fortifications around Saba, Kushite Princess Tharbis demands marriage to Moses as condition for truce, after which agreement the Kushite armies withdraw from Egypt. Moses returns to Egypt with Tharbis.

1478 BCE Moses flees from Egypt after killing an Egyptian.

1473-1458 BCE Reign of Queen Hatshepsut who builds temples in Upper Egypt and conducts trade with Punt in East Africa, and Ophir in Central and South Africa.

1450-1400 Punt is ruled by person with the title or name Parahu (probably Pharaoh), who is succeeded by a female empress called Itey the Corpulent.

1441 BCE Probably on instigation of Mitanni Empire, Ugarit in Canaan revolts against Egypt. Thutmosis III sends son and co-pharaoh Amenhotep II to put down the rebellion.

1438 BCE Moses returns from exile and confronts Pharaoh Thutmosis III over the enslavement of Hebrews. Thutmosis and a division of the Egyptian army are drowned by the Red Sea as a result of unusual hydrolic phenomenon. Amenhotep II succeeds Thutmosis III after his body is recovered from the sea shore. Thousands of Kushites join the exodus with the Hebrews as they leave Egypt. Danaan, Ogham and other leaders also leave Egypt with their followers and go to Greece and Ireland.

1410 BCE Joshua at the battle of Jericho. Africans involved in battle on both sides.

1403-1365 BCE Reign of Queen Tiy and Amenhotep III; builders of temple at Solb. Yuya the father of Queen Tiy is an official in the courts of both Tuthmosis IV and Amenhotep III. Yuya is also Master of Horse, a title which carried the name "Father of the God" (father to Pharaoh - Gen 45:8). Yuya served as chancellor of the North and as a priest of both Hermonthis and Amon during his career. His wife is named Tuya.

1398 BCE Moses dies and succeeded by Miriam, Aaron and Joshua. Miriam confronts Tharbis in the desert. Tharbis returns to Kush. Greeks start to refer to Ta Waye as Egypt, a corruption of HeKaPtah (Spirit Temple of Ptah) the name of the Memphis temple of the god Ptah.

1352-1336 BCE Akhenaten pharaoh in Egypt and co-ruler with Queen Nefertiti, maternal niece of Egypto-Kushite Matriarch Tiy. Like his father, Akhenaten derives his right to rule from his marriage to a member of the matriarchal lineage, usually bearing the title God's Wife of Amun, or High Priestess of Isis. Whereas any male could serve as Pharaoh, and any woman as consort and mother of pharaoh, the real authority of the royal house and the sovereignty of the state always resided in the Queen matriarch (regent or high priestes of Amon or Isis). The women in Egypt carried the royal blood, not the men. King Tut therefore was married to Nefertiti, the daughter of the vizier Ay. Ay was a brother of the leading Egyptian royal, Queen Tiy (Anen was her other brother), and a son of Yuya and Tuya. Nefertiti's mother is not known; Nefertiti was brought up by another wife of Ay named Tey.

1336-1334 BCE Smenkhkare (brother of king Tut) pharaoh of Egypt.

1334-1325 BCE Tutankhamun rules Egypt together with Queen Ankhesenamun. King Tut dies in 1325. Queen Ankhesenamun, writes to Suppiliumas, the Hittite king, requesting one of his sons for her to marry and make pharaoh. After some investigation by Suppiliumas, Ankhesenamun's request is granted, but his son, Zannanza is killed en-route while traveling through Syria.

1325-1321 BCE After Tut's death, 70 year-old Prime-Minister Ay, brother to Matriarch Tiy, and brother in-law of Amenhotep III, rules as Pharaoh and "marries" Ankhesanamun (King Tut's queen).

1321-1295 BCE Horemheb, commander of the Egyptian armies and co-regent with Ay, is Pharaoh in Egypt. Horemheb had no heir so he appointed a military leader, Ramesses I, to succeed him.

1295-1298 BCE Ramesses I is Pharaoh in Egypt.

1279-1213 BCE Reign of Ramses II, son of Seti I and Queen Tuya; Temples at Abu Simbel, Amara West, and Aksha.

1220 BCE Earthquake in Africa destroys the famous twin statues of Amenhotep III [the Colossi of Memnon].

1212-1203 BCE Merenptah, son of Ramesses II is Pharaoh in Egypt.

1210 BCE Egyptians and Pharaoh Merenptah record a major attack by Sea People.

1203-1197 Queen Tenosret and king Siptah are co-Pharaohs in Egypt.

1200 BCE Canaanite Phoenicians borrow the 27 (later 22) character alphabet from the Egyptians. New waves of invasions to the Middle East destroy the balance of order between Egypt, Assyria and the Hittites. Hill, desert and steppe peoples mingle in such efforts. From now, wandering tribes include Hebrews, Philistines, Aramaeans, Phrygians, Dorians, Chaldeans, Medes (Kurds). Dorians Greeks invade from the north, plunder citadels and kings of Mycenae. They displaced older Greek inhabitants including the Ionians of Attica, and the Acheaens. The Sea People destroy Ugarit an ancient Canaanite city hear the coast dating back to Third Millennium. The Phrygians, a tribe from Thrace or Macedonia, moves into Anatolia with the Sea People.

1197-1195 Queen Tenosret is Pharaoh in Egypt.

1198-1151 BCE Reign of Ramesses III in Egypt.

1193 Beginning in his 5th regnal year, Ramesses III son of Sethnakht defeats attact of the delta by massive confederation of Sea peoples, including the "chief of the Pelusti", Sherdens of the Sea, Pelusti, Mycenians, Greeks etc, who have overrun Libya. The invasion includes an assortment of different communities, probably dislodged by food shortages caused by Dorian invasion of Mycenea, or by natural disasters. Invading Sea Peoples arrive with women and children numbering in the tens of thousands and overun Syrian coast. Ramesses kills thousands of Sea Peoples. The confederation of Sea Peoples advances by land and sea to Egypt, they overrun the Hittites and camp at Amor in Syria. Ramesses III fights them in a land battle in Canaan and a sea battle in a delta mouth. The Sea Peoples turn back west and go further, possibly settling among Sicilians, Sardinians, Estruscans. Philistine and Tjekker Sea People who came overland, are resettled by Ramesses III in Egyptian military camps in Canaanite coastal areas, to guard the overland routes on behalf of Egypt. Hittite empire is devasted by Sea People.

1184-1174 BCE Trojan war. King Priam of Troy and many Trojans are under siege by "Sea Peoples" including Myceneans, Pelesgians, Acheaens, etc. Africans fight on both sides. Amazons fight on Trojan side. Memnon, the African king of Persia (and brother to Emathion, king of Arabia) arrives from Susa with 200,000 African troops to defend Troy and is killed by Achilles.

1180 BCE Up to 12,000 Sea Peoples invade Libyan coast and about 20,000 attack Egypt.

1100 BCE Massive stone forts and temples standing in Southern Africa (Ophir), with gold as the main export.

1069 BC-945 BC Egypt is controlled by the high priest of Amun at Thebes.

1069-715 BC Third Intermediate Period in Egypt. (Dynasties XXI-XXIV), rival dynasties in Egypt Tanite (XXI dynasty, 1069-945 BC) established in Delta; later replaced by another dynasty at Bubastis. Herihor serves as King’s Son of Kush under Ramses XI. As Dynasty XX closes Herihor (ca. 1060 BC) becomes High Priest of Amun and his son Piankhi becomes governor of the Thebaid province.
1020-960 BCE In 1020 Makeda is born in Ophir and educated in Abbysinia. Makeda’s mother is queen Ismenie and her father is Chief Minister to Za Sebado, king of Kush. Angabo from Saba (Sheba), the capital of Kush, arrives in Abyssinia and rescinds order to sacrifice Makeda to a serpent named Wainaba. Angabo becomes king in Abbyssina. Makeda’s father succeeds Za Sabado as King in Saba.

1005 BCE Makeda’s father dies and she becomes matriarch ruler of Kush and the rest of Africa, including Egypt, at age 15.

970 BCE Salvage of royal Egyptian mummies to secret cache at Deir al Bahri.

961+ BCE Solomon begins his reign and marries the daughter of Pharaoh Pasebkhanu II. Pasebkhanu sends his daughter off with 80,000 builders and 1000 musical instruments.

950 BCE Kushite commander Aserkhamen conducts military campaigns to restore order to Egypt.

945-715 BCE Reign of Dynasty XXII; Kushites and Canaanites (Hittites & Phoenicians) establish a large number of ports on the North African shore, and on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and western Sicily and on the shore of Spain.

945 - 924 BCE Shishak I (Sheshonq I) married to sister of the wife of king Solomon. Hadad the Edomite prince escapes to Egypt and finds refuge in Shishak’s palace. Lady Talipenes, Pharaoh’s sister-in-law, marries Hadad and gives birth to their child Genubath. Tamrin Chief of Makeda’s Navy tells her about the Temple project in Jerusalem. Kandake (Queen) Makeda travels to Jerusalem to visit Solomon. Tamrin brings gold, ebony and precious stones to Solomon for use in the Temple. Jeroboam, commander of Solomon’s armies rebels and escapes to Egypt to take refuge in Shishak’s palace in Egypt.

936 BCE Pharaoh Shishak invades Israel and attacks Jerusalem.

931 BCE King Solomon dies and is succeeded by his son Rehoboam amid political instability.

900 BCE Timbuctu is a thriving and major metropolis. Africans in what is now Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon are producing sophisticated high art "Nok" terracottas.

894 BCE Pharaoh Osorkon I, called "Zerah the Ethiopian" by the Hebrews, invades the Levant and deploys one million troops against Asa king of Judah. Osorkon suffers the worst defeat recorded in the Bible. The African troops are killed and the survivors retreat to Gerer.

850-825 BCE Takelot II rules in Egypt, but his reign is full of civil war.

850 BCE Napata replaces Sheba as the royal capital of Kush. Rulers in Napata begin burials at Kurru.

818-715 BCE Reign of Egyptian Dynasty XXIII.

814 BCE Tyrian (Canaanite) Princess Elissa founds Carthage after her brother kills her husband.
ca. 800 BCE After Pharaoh Shishak's death Egypt disintegrated. The Delta princes at war with the Pharaoh Osorkon IV of Dyn.XXII. Kushites armies in Libya under command of Kushite Prince Kashta (and king in Libya) enter Egypt to restore order.

790-760 BCE Reign of Kushite Pharaoh Alara, founder of Dynasty XXV, starting the "Late Period in Egypt and the reunification of the Nile valley.

765 BCE Prince Piankhy (grand nephew of Alara) defeats rebellion in Lower Egypt.

760-656 BCE Reunification of Egypt under the Kushite Dynasty XXV.

760-747 BCE Reign of Kushite Pharaoh Kashta. Kashta control all of the Nile Valley and western Africa including the Mediterranean coast. Kashta drives Osorkon IV (Dyn. XXII) back into the Egyptian Delta. Kashta is buried at Kurru in Kush.

751 BCE Kushite King Piankhi becomes pharoah of Egypt. Piye adopted the throne name Menkheperre ("the manifestation of Ra abides") but was much more passionate (in common with many kings of Kush) about the worship of the god Amun.

750-700 BCE Phoenician alphabet arrives in Greece. Oldest Greek text titled “the Ethiopians” is written. Homer (or other writers whose works are attributed to Homer), quoting "The Ethiopians" writes Odyssey and Hesiod, describing the Trojan War. Assyrian attacks destabilize Israel, Judah, and Phoenicia despite Kushite protection.

747-716 BCE Reign of Kandake Neferukekashta and Pharaoh Piankhy, son of Kashta are co-rulers of Kushite Empire.
754 BCE Tiglath-pileser III conquers Babylonia and founds the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian empire quickly becomes the mortal enemy of the Kushite empire. Piankhy controls all of Egypt and uses siege tactics against the Assyrians. To protect the estates of the god Amon, the Pharaoh Piankhy makes Thebes a Kushite province and no longer under Egyptian jurisdiction.
ca. 730 BCE Piankhy fights Tefnakht (Dyn. XXIV) in the Delta and halts Tefnakht’s drive to the south.
ca. 730 BCE Piankhy erects stela.

744-612 BCE Height of Assyrian power. Prince Taharka commands Kushite and Egyptian divisions in the Peloponese to defend allied nations against Assyrian attack.

725 BCE Assyrians capture and obliterate Hittite, Phoenician and other Canaanite city states including Sidon, Tyre (Phoenician) and Israel.

716 BCE Death of Piankhy; he is buried at Kurru.

716-701 BCE Reign of Kandake Amenirdis I and Pharaoh Shabaka, (younger brother of Piankhy); Shabaka sends troops to supports Judea at Al-Taku in the battle against the Assyrians under Sennacherib. In order to divert the Assyrians, Shabaka stimulates revolts in the Levant. Shabaka rules Egypt from Thebes. Shabaka's reign saw an enormous amount of building work undertaken throughout Egypt, especially at the city of Thebes. He also struggled to keep Egypt free from the domination of the Assyrian empire under Sargon II, a task in which he was successful largely because Sargon was distracted by conflicts in other regions. The most famous relic from Shabaka's reign is the 'Shabaka stone' on which is recorded ancient documents the king ordered preserved. Despite being relative newcomers to Egypt, Shabaka and his family were immensely interested in Egypt's past and the art of the period reflects their tastes which harked back to earlier periods. At the end of his life he is buried at Kurru.

701-690 BCE Reign of Pharaoh Shabataka (Shebitqu). A stela from Kawa tells of Shebitku asking his brothers, including Taharqa, to come to him at Thebes from Nubia. He is buried at Kurru.

701 BCE Shabataka deploys Kushite army under command of Prince Taharka to save Jerusalem under the Judean king Hezekiah. The Kushite army kills 185,000 Assyrian troops, breaks Assyrian siege of JeruSalem, and relieves Phoenician, Greek and Hittite allies from Assyrian attacks.

700-500 Heavy Greek colonization of Sicily, Southern Italy, Southern Provence, Andalusia and Cyrenaica, encircling Carthaginian territory.

691 BCE Taharka leads expedition to Spain.

690 BCE Coronation of Taharka, aged about 32, at Memphis (meets his mother at coronation after 18 years away from home).

690-664 Taharka adds to the temple at Jebel Barkal (690 BCE). Taharqa indulged in rebuilding the temple at Kawa, across the Nile from present-day Dongola, which became a major center for the Nubian kings. He built at a number of other sites in Nubia, as well as performing restoration work at the temple of Karnak. Pharaoh Taharka is ruler of Libya as well as Kush. Ruling from Memphis and Thebes he continually fought to protect the Nile valley from the Assyrians led by Esarhaddon (680-669), the son and successor of Sennacherib. Taharka also sought the restoration of Pharaonic authority, religion and architecture.

680-669 BCE Camels introduced to Egypt by Assyrian King Esarhaddon. Later camels became critical in trans-Saharan trade. In order to divert Esarhaddon away from the Nile, Taharka stimulates revolts at Sidon and Tyre in Phoenicia. These revolts were crushed. Esarhaddon attacks Tanis and Memphis in Egypt.

674 BCE Tharka defeats invasion of Egypt by Esarhaddon.

671 BCE Esarhaddon speeds across Sinai with his camel cavalry and meets the Kushite and Egyptian forces of Taharka in the eastern Delta; Taharka is defeated and withdraws from Tanis to Memphis.

670 BCE Iron-smelting begins in Meroë. Iron is not used in Egypt until 650. Taharka retakes the Delta from the Assyrians

669 BCE Assyrians under Esarhaddon siege and sack Memphis; son and wife of Taharka are taken captive by Esarhaddon to Assyria; Taharka resumes sends troops to support Phoenicians against Assyrian attacks.
668 BCE Esarhaddon dies on route back to Egypt. Ashurbanipal, (668-627) son of Esarhaddon resumes military campaign and sacks Memphis.

667 BCE Sardanapalus conquers Lower Egypt. Taharka withdraws from Egypt to Napata.

664 BCE Taharka dies and is buried at Kurru pyramid field. Psammetichus I restores the Egyptian independence and founds the XXVIth Dynasty. He is assisted against Assyria by Lydian troops sent by King Gyges. The XXVI Dynasty will last until 525 BCE.

664-653 BCE Reign of Pharaoh Bakara Tanutamun (Tanwetamani), nephew of Taharka, in Upper Egypt, Kush and Sub-Saharan Africa.

664 BCE Tanutamun regains control of Memphis and the entire Nile valley, but with weak support from the Delta princes under Assyrian pressure and with rival claims to rule Lower Egypt by Psammetichos I (664-610 BC), he withdraws to Thebes.

661 BCE Tanutamun’s army is defeated at Memphis. Ashurbanipal attacks Thebes.

656-590 BCE Kushite withdrawal back to the Sudan and central Africa. Napata becomes center for worship of Amun.

654 BCE Carthage founds colony in the Balearic Islands at Ibiza.

653 BCE Death of Tanutamun; He is the last king to be buried at Kurru

653-643 BCE Reign of Atlanersa

643-623 BCE Reign of Senkamanisken (father of Aspelta and Anlamani); Buried at Nuri

625 BCE Naucratis established in Delta for Greek traders.

623-593 BCE Reign of Anlamani. Campaigns against the Blemmyes in the Eastern desert. Anlamani was crowned at Kawa, and was buried at Nuri.

610 BCE Necho II of Egypt tries to link the Nile and the Red Sea with a canal.

608 BCE Necho defeats Josiah, King of Judah, at the Battle of Megiddo.

606 BCE Nineveh, capital of Assyria, is captured by the Chaldean Babylonians and the Medes, establishing the Chaldean Empire.

601 BCE Nebuchadnezzar attacks Egypt in 601.

600 BCE Pharaoh Necho commissions Phoenician sailors to circumnavigate Africa. The voyage takes 3 years but is successful. Phoenicians spend part of the time in Southern Africa, long enough to grow and harvest food to complete their journey.

593 BCE The Temple of the Sun is constructed in Meroë. Reign of Aspelta [593-568] who begins attacks against Necho II in Egypt; Aspelta is buried at Nuri.

591 BCE Aspelta defeated in attempt to reclaim Egypt from the Saite XXVIth Dynasty. The border of Kush established at 2nd cataract.

590 BCE Psammetichos II (595-589, Dyn XXVI) invades Kush to 3rd cataract, and fights at the northern plain of Dongola seizing 4,200 African captives. He also hacks out inscriptions to pharaohs of the XXVth Dynasty, and his soldiers put graffiti inscriptions at Abu Simbel. He threatens the safety of Napata. Kushites reinstate Saba (Sheba) the old capital. Pharoah Necho II escapes from Egypt and spends the rest of his life as a refugee in Kush.

590 BC - 350 AD Rise and gradual decline of Kush at Saba. Saba is famed for notable iron-production technology; Kings of Kush still proclaimed as "Lords of Two Lands" (meaning Egypt).

586 BCE Jerusalem is destroyed, and the Jews are exiled in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar; many of them, including the Prophet Jeremiah, flee to Egypt and settle there.

580 BCE First Attempts by Greeks to drive Carthageans out of Silicily

574 BCE Tyre falls to Nebchadnezzar, making Carthage the leading Phoenician center.

570-526 BCE Amasis rules Egypt.

568-555 BCE Reign of King Aramatelqo in Kush

550 BCE Carthage allies with the Etruscans against the Greeks. Carthaginian force led by Malchus defeats Greeks in Sicily, but is vanquished in Sardinia. Malchus banished, marches on Carthage, is caught and executed. Carthaginian colonies formed along coast of Africa (Hadrumetum, Leptis).

539 BCE Cyrus II takes Babylon, founding the Persian Empire. All of Phoenicia in the Levant falls to Cyrus the Great of Persia, only the Phoenician colonies, under Carthage, in Africa are left sovereign.

538 Death of Cyrus, succeeded by his son Cambyses. Cambyses mother is an Egyptian princess.

535 BCE Carthage, with Etruscans, destroys Phocaean colony in Corsica and closes Sardinia-Corsica off to the Greeks.

529-521 BC Reign of Persian King Cambyses in Egypt, after his defeat of Psamtik III in 525 at Pelusium. He captures Thebes but is repulsed by the Kushites.
525-398 BC Persian Dynasty XXVII

524 BC Cambyses campaigns in Kush, and renames Saba (Sheba) after his sister Meroe. The Kushites counter attack and drive Cambyses army out of Kush.

514 BC Carthage defeats the Spartan Dorieus' attempt to colonize Libyan coast.

500 BCE Hanno sails down west African coast. His account of the voyage is lost and a Greek version written in 3 AD tells of the account, probably with some inaccuracies.

507 BCE First Carthagean treaty with Rome

498 BCE Hippocrates and Theron seize control in Syracuse and attempt to throw Phoenicians off western part of the island.

487-485 BC Revolt in Upper Egypt.

486 BCE Death of Darius, Xerxes comes to power.

480 BCE Carthagean Alliance with Persia fails to destroy Greeks, military defeat in Sicily as fleet is cut off by superior Athenian forces (Himera). Revolution overthrows Mago dynasty and establishes Court of 104 Magistrates. Carthaginian force under Hamilcar the Magonid defeated by Sicilian Greeks at Himera cutting off access to the East. Hamilcar commits suicide on the battlefield.

479-450 BCE Carthage conquers most of Tunisia. Colonies in North Africa founded or strengthened. Mago's expedition across the Sahara. Sataspes, a relative of king Xerxes of Persia, is forced to sail around Africa but fails and returns home after entering African cities and eating some cows belonging to the short-statured citizens.

474 BC Carthage defeats Etruscans at sea battle off Cumae

470 BCE Hanno, the Carthaginian, sails along the African coast from Ceuta, i.e., Spanish Morocco, extending Carthaginian trade southward as far as present-day Nigeria and the Cameroon mountains.

466 BC Benghazi, Libya: founded as capital of Cyrenaica

462-454 BC Pericles of Athenian alliance captures Memphis, Egypt (460-454); Revolt in Egypt against the Persians. Romans give support to Egyptians.

450-410 BC Jewish Military colony in Egypt on Nile island of Yeb; according to later excavation and discovery, the colony appears to worship several gods includes Yahu (YHW), Eshem ('SM), goddess Anath ('NT), Bethel (BYT'L) & Herem.

430 BCE Herodotus reaches Aswan. He writes The Histories describing Meroe as Africa’s leading metropolis and industrial center.

410 BC Temple of Yahu (YHW) on Nile island of Yeb is destroyed. Phoenicians in Spain join with Celtiberians to secede from Carthage, denying the state important silver and copper revenues. Overland tin trade cut off. Himilco's expeditions in the Atlantic. Hanno's expeditions to Morocco and Senegal.

409 BCE After building a fleet and recruiting mercenaries in 415, Carthage invades Sicily, precipitating a war that lasts 100 years. Carthage initiates attempts to conquer Sicily. Hannibal, grandson of Hamilcar, takes the fortified towns of Selinus and Himera by use of siege towers.

405 BCE Hannibal Mago and hundreds of troops die in epidemic outside fortified town of Acragas. Himilco, his relative, takes over command, is defeated by force out of Syracuse, and has supply disrupted in naval action. Syracusan forces strengthen garrison. Carthaginian squadron breaks through Greek blockade -- the besieged escape under cover of night, Punic forces collect spoils. Himilco takes town of Gela, defeating Syracusan force, then takes town of Camarina. Himilco marches on Syracuse. Army is laid low by epidemic. Himilco seeks peace. Syracuse grants control of most of Sicily and must pay tribute to Carthage. Treaty confirms Dionysius I as dictator (tyrannos) of Syracuse. First Sicilian War concluded.

404-369 Reign of Kushite King Harsiyotef; fought against Blemmyes in eastern desert. Buried at Nuri

398 Dionysius sacks Motya -- Carthaginians permanently relocate main Sicilian base to fortified town of Lilybaeum.
397 Himilco drives Dionysius back to Syracuse and resumes siege. In naval action, sinks or boards 100 Syracusan naval vessels and takes 20,000 prisoners.

396 Epidemic lays Punic forces low for a third time in Sicily. Dionysius capitalizes and defeats Himilco in pitched battle. He survives, but upon return to Carthage, starves himself to death. Fighting continues.

393 Carthaginian force under Mago, nephew of Himilco, defeated trying to re-take Messana.

392 BCEMago defeated a second time. Truce signed.

390 BCEBrennus, leader of the Gauls, sacks Rome.

384 Carthage renews war, initiating minor skirmishes.

380 BC 30th Dynasty founded by Nekhtnebf I, last African dynasty of Egypt

375 BCE Carthage defeated at Cabala -- Mago and 10,000 soldiers killed. Mago's son Himilco defeats Dionysius near Himera -- truce favorable to Carthage concluded.

367 BCE Dionysius attacks Carthaginian base at Lilybaeum -- stopped when fleet defeated by warships under Hanno the Great.

366 BCE Dionysius I dies, still at war with Carthage.

360 BCE Hanno the Great crucified following unsuccessful attempt to usurp power.

360-342 BC Reign of last Egyptian Pharaoh Nectanebo II of the XXX Dynasty (380-343 BC)

350 BCE Carthage now leading Western power, is allied with Egypt and Kush.

348 BCE Second Carthagean treaty with Rome.

342-333 BC Second Persian conquest of Egypt; The last Pharaoh of Egypt Nectanebo II (Dyn. XXXI) flees to Kush.

335-315 BC Reign of Kushite King Nastasen; fought against the Blemmyes and fearful of Persian and Greek attacks. The last Kushite to rule from Napata.

334 BCE At the Battle of the Granicus, Clitus Niger the Black, saves Alexander the Great's life. Carthage makes peace with the Greek empire and with the Lagos monarchy in Egypt.

332 BCE Siege and Defeat of Tyre and Gaza by Alexander the Great of Macedonia; rout of Persians; Conquest of Egypt and end of Persian domination welcomed by Africans (Egyptians, Kushites and Carthageans). Greek expeditions in many parts of Africa; Greek language and culture introduced.

331 BCE Foundation of Alexandria;

327 BCE At Makaranda in Samarkand, Persia, during a drunken rage Alexander murders Cleitus Niger, the African King of Bactria, foster brother of Alexander and commander of the "royal squadron" of the Greek/Macedonian armies under Phillip and Alexander. Anaxagoras, the sceptical philospher in Alexander's entourage, justifies Alexander's murder of Cleitus on the grounds that, by definition, all the king's acts were just. The troops sign a petition to exonorate Alexander from responsibility for the murder.

323 BCE Alexander dies

323-282 BCE Ptolemy I: satrap of Egypt, disciple of Aristotle, moved remaining Jews of Judea to Alexandria & founded Museum in 323, Library in 307, ruled Syria 319-314, in 305 named Soter (Savior), founds Ptolemaic Empire of Egypt

310 BCE Carthaginian force under Hamilcar, grandson of Hanno the Great, defeats Greek force at Himera.

309 BCE Agathocles sails force of 14,000 to Africa. Carthage meets with 40,000 foot, 1000 cavalry and 2000 chariots under Bomilcar and Hanno. Greeks are victorious, Carthage losing 3000 on the battlefield, but city is impregnable. Siege of Syracuse continues.

308 BCE Greeks form local allies against Carthage -- Egypt contributes 10,000. Greeks control Tunisian province and fighting between Carthagean and Greek/Egyptians continues.

308 BCE Bomilcar tries to make himself dictator in Carthage. Is defeated and tortured to death.

307 BCE Greek victory outside Syracuse. Hamilcar captured and killed.

307 BCE While Agathocles oversees events in Syracuse, Carthage defeats the Greek and allied forces. Despite Syracusan reinforcement, Greek cause in Africa is doomed. Greeks desert to Carthaginian commanders Hanno and Himilco in vast numbers. Treaty favorable to Carthage concluded.

306 BCE Third Carthagean treaty with Rome.

305-284 BCE BCE Ptolemy I Soter, rules from Alexandria.

300 BCE Massive African migration southward ahead of the expanding Sahara. Pytheas explores the Atlantic, Euthymenes the coasts of Africa.

289 BCE Agathocles dies. Pre-war division of Sicily resumes. 3rd Sicilian War ends.

279 BCE Pyrrhus of Epirus, relative of Alexander the Great, invades southern Italy and Sicily. Defeats Phoenicians and forces them off the island, leaving Lilybaeum as the only remaining stronghold.

279 BCE Agreement with Rome against Pyrrhus.

285 BCE 300-foot-tall lighthouse on the island of Pharos in Alexandria's harbor serves as a landmark for ships in the eastern Mediterranean. Light from its wood fire, reflected by convex mirrors at its top, can be seen for miles. Built by Sostratus of Cnidus, it is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and will remain an important navigational aid for 1600 years.

284-247 BCE Reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

280-274 BCE Ptolemy II raids Lower Kush for captives, livestock, and has hunting or trading expeditions for elephants in Meroë.

277? BCE Carthage sinks 70 of Pyrrhus' 110 ships and Pyrrhus gives up the war.

275 BCE Manetho: Egyptian High Priest wrote "History of Egypt" in Greek.

274 BCE Ptolemy II wages first war against the Seleucids under Antiochus I.

272 BCE A woman hurls a tile from a rooftop as Pyrrhus invests Argos, killing him before he can begin his second invasion of Sicily agianst the Carthageans.

270 BCE Napatan period of Kush comes to an end. The incident that marks the end of the period of Kushite history was the refusal of Emperor/Pharaoh Arkamani to commit suicide on orders of the college of priests of Amun, at the Forbidden Golden Temple Palace of Napata. Arkamani defies convention by refusing to die, and instead send his army to occupy the temple. Accirding to Diodorus, Arkamani ordered the massacre of the priests. The worship of Amun was superceded by that of Apedemak, the Lion God. The Kushites then abandon use of Egyptian writing and other shared cultural traits and adopted a different culture.

264 BCE Roman public gladiator combats begin. Many Africans will excel and die in this combat. During the first Punic War the Carthaginian army is commanded by Hamilcar Barkas, an African and father of Hannibal.

264-241 BCE First Punic War between Rome and Carthage.

260 BCE First Kushite King Arakamani-qu (Ergamenes) to be buried at Meroë (Bejrawiya cemetery); Arakakamani had studied the Greek language. Expansion of cattle and elephant hunting at Musawwarat es-Sufra in Butana plain; expansion of iron production.

263 BCE First War between Carthage and Rome begins over Sicily.

261 Carthage raids Italian coast. Rome builds its first fleet. Carthaginian defeat at sea off Mylae. Commander Hannibal crucified. Victory at Thermae.

260-253 BCE Second Syrian war between Ptolemy II and Antiochus II.

257 BCE Another sea defeat and Romans land in Africa, take Tunis. Carthage, under forces led by Hasdrubal and Bostzer, defeats Rome before the gates, largely with Numidian cavalry, led by Greek mercenary leader Xanthippus.

256 BCE Hanno the Great II expands territory in North Africa.

256 BCE - 253 AD During the Battle of Ecnomus in [256 BC] more than 700 ships are engaged. After this naval victory, the Romans invade Africa by sea. Thousands of Africans serve in Roman army

253 BCE Rome wins a brilliant naval victory off the Aegates Islands, west of Sicily, cutting off African supply bases. Hasdrubal defeated outside Panormus and is executed by his own forces. Truce called.

250 BCE Synagogues: places to study Torah (Mosaic Law) appear
253 BC Antiochus II married Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy II.

250 BC Translation of Jewish Bible into Greek.

247 BCE Hannibal born in Carthage, later to become general of Carthagian army

247 Hamilcar Barca re-organizes forces on Sicily, but receives no reinforcement.

246-222 BC Reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes; has expedition in Nubia led by Eudoxus and he wages war against Seleucus II in Third Syrian War (246-241). Ptolemy III marries Berenice of Cyrene (daughter of Magus King of Cyrene).

245 BC Babylon and Susa fall to the Egyptian armies of Ptolemy III.

243 BC An additional year, the so-called leap year, is included in the Egyptian calendar. Ptolemy III is recalled from Syria by a revolt in Egypt; he ceases his martial interests and his support of the Egyptian army.

241 BCE War between Carthage and Rome over Silicy ends in defeat of Carthage. Sicily is lost, Carthagean fleet destroyed and finances ruined due to crippling indemnity.

241-237 Mercenaries under Carthage revolt and stir up poverty-stricken peasants in Libya and Utica. Eventually the mercenaries are defeated by Hamilcar. Rome obtains Sardinia-Corsica as price of staying neutral in the war to suppress mercernary revolt.

237 BC Carthagean army under Hamilcar Barca, 33, invades the Iberian Peninsula. Hamilcar Barca reconquers Spain.

228 BC Carthagean General Hamilcar Barca falls in battle. Command of his army in the Iberian Peninsula passes to his son-in-law Hasdrubal.

238 BC Rome captures Sardinia then Corsica from Carthage

222-205 BC Reign of Ptolemy IV Epiphanes; had good relations with Meroë with whom he traded for elephants.

221-204 BCE Ptolemy IV builds in the Dodekaschoenos.

221 BC Carthaginian general Hasdrubal is assassinated. Command of the troops is assumed by Hannibal, 26, a son of the late Hamilcar Barca, and his brother Hasdrubal. Egyptian medical studies at Alexandria are supported by Ptolemy IV, who is weaker than his predecessors but devoted to the pursuit of science.

219-217 BC Antiochus III of Syria seizes the province of Coele-Syria from Egypt, initiating a Fourth Syrian War. Between Ptolemy IV and Antiochus III. Egypt is saved by intervention of Egyptian troops at the battle of Raphia.

218-201 BCE Second Punic War begins as a Carthaginian army under Hannibal attacks Rome's Hispanic allies. He besieges the town of Sagunto, whose inhabitants eat their own dead rather than surrender but are eventually forced to yield. He crosses the Alps with African elephants and defeats Roman forces of Cornelius Scipio at the Ticino River and again at the Trebbia River.

217 BCE The Battle of Lake Trasimene in Umbria June 24 ends in victory for Hannibal, who nearly destroys a large Roman army led by Gaius Flaminius. Carthaginians and Gauls kill some 16,000 Romans, including Flaminius, and turn the lake red with blood. Egyptian hoplites under Ptolemy IV Philopater crush the Seleucid army at Raphia

216 BCE The Battle of Cannae August 2 ends in victory for Hannibal, whose 40,000-man army defeats a heavily armored Roman force of 70,000. Some 50,000 Roman and allied troops are killed, 10,000 are taken prisoner, but Hannibal lacks the catapults and battering rams needed to besiege Rome and contents himself with laying waste the fields of Italy, forcing Rome to import grain at war-inflated prices. Greek sovereigns Philip V of Macedonia and Hiero of Syracuse join Carthage's cause.

214-205 Antigonid Kings of Macedon, attacked by Rome for siding with Carthage in 1st Macedonian War
210-205 Scipio with aid of Numidian Prince Massinissa conquers Spain for Rome. Carthage backs rival Numidian Syphax who along with Hasdrubal Gisco is defeated by Scipio in two successive battles. Scipio invades Africa, takes Tunis.

207 BCE The Battle of Metaurus in Umbria ends Hannibal's hopes of success in Italy. A Carthaginian army under Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal is defeated by the Romans under the consuls Claudius Nero and Livius Salinator. Hasdrubal is killed in the battle.

204 BC Roman forces under P. Cornelius Scipio (Scipio Africanus) besiege Carthage. Carthaginians immolate 100 boys of noble birth in an effort to propitiate the god Moloch to raise the Roman siege. Mago is defeated in northern Italy attempting to reinforce Hannibal. A peace treaty is declared and Hannibal returns to Africa.

204-185 BCE Kush regains control of Lower Nubia and foments revolts in Egypt.

204-180 BC Reign of Ptolemy V Philometor. Inscription of Rosetta Stone.

203-200 BC Philip and Antiochus plot against Egypt.

202 BCE Carthaginan attack on Roman convoy which has run aground re-opens the war. Hannibal defeated at Zama to end Second War with Rome. Fleet reduced to ten triremes, domain limited to eastern Tunisia, Massinissa installed as king of the Numidians at Cirta (Constantine), high indemnities and Carthage denied permission to wage war.

202-150 Trade with North Africa and Greece continues. Agriculture improved to bring in new revenues.

200 BC Greek geographer Erastosthenes describes Nubia. "Nok" high culture ceases.

196 BC Foundation of library at Pergamun.

195 Hannibal becomes Suffete. State reform, new methods of election in Carthage.

194 Hannibal flees to court of Antiochus to escape his Roman enemies.

185? BC Terence born in Libya, later to be enslaved and sold in Rome where he will become writer of drama.

183 Hannibal dies by his own hand to escape Romans in Bithynia.

181-145 BC Reign of Ptolemy VI, reactivates Nubian gold mines and regains control of the Dodekaschoenos to resume temple construction or addition projects.

170-168 BC War between Ptolemy VI and Antiochus IV of Syria.

166-164 BC Jewish (Maccabean) revolt against Antiochus IV who desecrates the temple at Jerusalem and forces Hellenization. The Jewish celebration of Hanukah commemorates the miracle of this time that made a little oil in a lamp burn for eight days.

164-163 BC Flight of Ptolemy VI from Egypt.

159 BC Terence of Libya arrives in Rome as slave, and begins to write comic dramas including: Andria, Hecyra, Heauton timorumenos, Eunuchus, Phormio, and Adelphi.

150 BC Kandake Shanakdakheto has first clearly dated inscription in Meroitic cursive. Carthage attacks Numidians in response to Massinissa's land grabs. Numidia victorious and further indemnities exacted.

149 Rome declares war in retaliation for treaty violation.

149-146 BCE Third and last Punic war. Carthage falls to Scipio Aemilianus. Romans sack Carthage and kill 450,000 Africans. City burnt to the ground. "Delenda est Carthago." Corinth is also destroyed. In the process of the war Polybius, a Greek historian, sails down along the west coast of Africa in ships lent to him by his friend Scipio Aemilianus.

145 BCE Death of Ptolemy VI. Aristarchus and other intellectuals of the Alexandria library flee with the rise of Ptolemy VIII.

145-130 BC Reign of Ptolemy VIII, Physcon.

112-101 BC Marius & Sulla of Rome defeat King Jugurtha of Numidia

111-80 BCE Bocchus I rules Mauretania

105 BCE 1st College of Technology in Alexandria, founded by mathematician Heron

100 BCE Saqia (eskalay) water wheel introduced. Long conquest inscription recorded on stela of Qore (also written “Gore”) Tanyidamani. The Ghana Empire on the Niger by now has a dynasty of 118 royal generations.

80 BCE Ptolemy XI appointed by General Sulla (Dictator of Rome); Ptolemy married former Queen, murdered her and was then murdered by irate mob.

80-51 BC Reign of Ptolemy XII, `the Piper'

73-71 BC Romans finally crush the slave revolt of Spartacus in Southern Italy.

56-34 BCE Artavazd II, Armenian King, playwright, murdered by Antony & Cleopatra

51 BCE Cleopatra daughter of Ptolemy II, becomes Pharaoh/Queen and last independent ruler of Egypt.

51-30 BCE Reign of Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XV, initially as co-regents, then she rules alone.
ca. 50 BCE Diodorus terms Kush as the home of Egyptians, and of civilization itself. Reigns of Kandakes Amanirenas and Amanishakheto.

49 BCE Queen Cleopatra VII is deposed by her brother Ptolemy XIII

48 BC Pompey flees to Egypt where he is assassinated. Alexandrian War and Julius Caesar seeks rule of Egypt. Reinstates Cleopatra as Queen of Egypt.

50-31 BCE Bocchus II ruler of Mauretania

47 BCE Library of Ptolemy I Soter in Alexandria destroyed by fire

44-21 BC Period of activity of the geographer Strabo, who waxes eloquent about the breasts of Meroe’s women.

37-36 BC Mark Antony in Egypt.

31 BC Octavian is victorious at the battle of Actium. Cleopatra and Antony are defeated.

30-28 BC Roman conquest of Egypt under Octavian; suicides of Cleopatra and Antony.

29 BC     Reign of Gore (queen mother) Nyatal and Kandake Amanirena. Romans invade Kush and ambush the Kandake (Candace) Amanirena. Her body guard defeats the Roman legions and Kushites sack southern Egypt and set fire to Thebes.

28 BC Cornelius Gallus, Roman prefect, meets Kushite envoys at Philae temple to have peace negotiations for southern Egypt.

27 BC-14 AD Reign of Roman Caesar Augustus.

27 BC Roman geographer/historian Strabo visits Aswan. Earthquake in Egypt damages the "Colossi of Memnon".

25 BCE Octavian Augustus gives Mauretania (in addition to Numidia to which he had been restored in 31BC) to Juba II as a client kingdom. Juba's kingdom includes modern Morocco and Mauretania. [Juba II married Cleopatra-Selene, daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony. Juba and Cleopatra-Selene's son Ptolemy was murdered by his cousin Caligula emperor of Rome. Their grand son Drusilla II married Agrippa I of Judah].

24 BCE Kush attacks Roman Egypt, attacking Elephantine and Philae at Aswan. Probable time that the statue of Augustus was seized. A bronze head of Augustus found at Meroë as booty from this raid.
23 BC Augustus counterattacks with his forces led by Petronius who seized Premnis in Kush.
ca. 22-21 BC Kushites counterattack at Qasr Ibrim, but are driven back.

 

22-19 BCE Augustus has temple built at Dendera on the Nile

21-20 BCE Kushites obtain reinforcements from central Africa and to avoid defeat Roman Legions at Premnis sue for peace. The Kushites send envoys for negotiations at Samos Island and conclude a peace treaty between Romans and Kushites. Kushite tribute is suspended and a permanent ambassadorial position is established between Meroë and Roman Egypt. Romans withdraw to Maharraka, which establishes Roman control only for the Dodekaschoenos (Lower Nubia). Augustus Caesar establishes standing army as result of strain of war with Cush.

20-4 BCE Reigns of Meroitic King Natakamani and Kandake Amanitore. Third Augustan Legion in Numidia forments rebellion against Kushite rule.

19 BCE The Romans buy alliance of Garamantes (resident in what is now Chad and Libya) and establish base at the lake Chad, connected to Mediterrenean by a route through the desert connected by Oases.

4-0 BCE The Garamantes to the west of the Nile, and the Beja (Blemmys) troops in Kush, as well as several other communities revolt (prompted by Rome) against ruling Kushite Dynasty. Meroe is captured by the Beja troops in the mutiny. Massive political unrest in Kushite empire, massive waves of migrations across Africa. The Beja dynasty takes over the massive Kushite empire (including Madagascar and the Comoros Islands and Central Africa). Southeast Asian crops (rice, yams, sugar cane, eggplant, bananas, and mangos) arrive in East Africa. Jesus Christ is born, and his family move to live in Egypt.

PART II

AFRICAN CHRONOLOGY - COMMON ERA [1 CE to 1000 CE]

20 CE Iron-working in what is now Zambia.
29 CE Jesus Christ is tried and crucified.

37 CE/AD Apostle Philip encounters eunuch who is an official of the Kandake [Candace - female head of state], ruler of Africa.

40 CE Apostle Mark comes to Alexandria

54-68 CE Roman emperor Nero sends explorers and envoys to Kush in 61 AD to find the source of the Nile; Several Greeks are living in the Kushite capital Meroe, and Kushites are selling war elephants to Egyptians and trading with Rome and Carthage. Nero plans campaign in 64 AD in Africa, but not carried out.

67 CE/AD Josephus the historian deserts from the Judean revolt and joins the Romans. Josephus writes about Africans.

70 AD Writer Pliny describes Kush; Kushite cavalry serving the Romans captures Jerusalem.
100-300 AD Post-Meroitic occupation of Qasr Ibrim

180 AD Church of Pantaenus founded in Alexandria. First African Christians are martyred at Scillium.

193-211 AD Born in Leptis in Tripolitania Septimius Severus (described as African by medieval historian Bede) is emperor of the Roman empire. He allowed a Senate in Alexandria. Severus spoke Latin with a Punic accent, and his sister never mastered the Latin language. Punic and Celtic words were allowed on legal documents during his reign, most of the top officials came from Africa or Asia, and he granted Roman citizenship to more provincial towns.

197 CE Tertullian begins writing apologetics in Carthage, Afica.

199 AD Septimus severus attempts to repair the "Colossi of Memnon" in Thebes, Egypt.

203 CE Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas in Carthage

208 CE Severus goes to defend Britain and repairs Hadrian's Wall

212 AD In 212 Caracalla son of Septimus Severus succeeds his father and grants citizenship to all free men in the Empire.

238 AD African Legion in North Africa demobilized by Emperor Gordian III.

246 CE Paul of Thebes retreats to the Egyptian desert and becomes the first Christian hermit.

247-264 AD Patriarch Dionysius seeks Egyptian converts

248 CE Cyprian appointed bishop of Carthage, the largest church in Africa, only two years after his conversion.
ca.260-300 Major conversion of Egyptians to Coptic Christianity.

267 AD -272 AD A black woman, Queen Zenobia, rules Palmyra, an ancient city in Syria, northeast of Damascus.

268-297 Another period of Blemmyes (Beja) wars in Sudan and Egypt.

270-275 Roman emperor Aurelian loots Alexandria to strengthen Roman rule there.

272 AD Queen Zenobia is carried as a captive to Rome, marking the end of the brief glories of Palmyra.

284-304 Reign of Diocletian.

297 Withdrawal of Romans from Lower Nubia to Aswan. Persecution of Christians

300 AD The Empire of Ghana is formed in region of the Niger. First mentioning of Chemistry: "Scientia Chimae", the "Science of Blacks" by Julius Firmicus Maternicus. The word Chemi being the old name for blacks in ancient Egypt. Christian population of Egypt reaches one million. By this time, destruction of the Library at Alexandria and the loss of 650,000 papyrus scrolls of ancient science, math, literature, and religion.

312 AD Emperor Constantine accepts Christianity for the Roman church as a result of his victory at Milvian Bridge in the name of Christianity; Rise of Donatist church in Numidia (endorsed martrydom as a creed of this schismatic group)

318 CE Pachomius a disciple of Anthony organizes a community of ascetics at Tabennis in Egypt (birth of Christian monasticism).

337 CE The Vandals driven by Goths, obtain leave to settle in Pannonia.
ca. 340 AD Axumite leader Ezana defeats Beja (Blemmy) Dynasty, destroys Meroe, becomes King and establishes Christianity in Central and East Africa. More fragmentation of African communities as smaller states replace massive empires.

350-550 AD X-Group, Ballana (Lower Nubia), and Tanqasi (Upper Nubia) cultural horizons having a new syncretic blend of Pharaonic, Kushitic, and Christian characteristics; No textual records, but huge grave tumuli suggesting small states with clear social stratification. Era of Blemmyes strength; the development of the Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Mukurra, and Alwa, and their respective churches and settlements.

November 13, 354 AD Aurelius Augustinus is born in Thagaste in the province of Numidia (today Souk Ahras in Algeria). Augustinus (later Saint Agustine) was the son of a pagan father, Patricius, and Berber Christian mother, Monica.
Augustinus wrote (in Retractt. I, xiii) that 'that which is known as the Christian religion existed among the ancients, and never did not exist; from the beginning of the human race until the time when Christ came in the flesh, at which time the true religion, which already existed began to be called Christianity.'
Summer 387 AD Monica, Augustine's mother dies at age 56, of a fever, after sharing a mystical vision with her son.

391 AD Christianity becomes state religion for Egypt. ‘Pagan’ temples defaced. Christian Egypt becomes part of the Eastern Byzantine Empire.

406 AD Activity of the physicians Caelius Aurelianus (Numidia) & Theodorus Pricianus (Africa).

410 AD Description of the areometer by bishop Synesios of Cyrene

411 AD Council of Carthage condemns the Donatist heresy officially

413 AD Augustine of Hippo writes his "De civetate dei" [City of God]. Foundation of historiography.

428 AD Invasion of Africa by the Vandals from Spain, who were Arian Christians. Vandal commander Gainseric becomes king of Numidia.

430 AD The North African provinces of Mauretania and Numidia are ravaged by Vandals, who rape, torture, and pillage, burning Catholic churches along the way. Catholic bishops and refugees seek refuge in Hippo, which was a fortified city.

August 28, 430 AD Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, dies after suffering a fever for several days. He had prayed with his frightened flock for the gift of perseverance. The bishop of Hippo stood firm until the end while all his world and life's work were destroyed by the Vandals. Though Hippo was partly burned, the library of Augustine was preserved from destruction. It comprised some 100 books, 240 letters, and more than 500 sermons.

436 AD Blemmyes attack Egyptian Nile and even Kharga Oasis
451 AD Effort begins to spread Monophysite Christianity from Egypt, while Egypt is isolated as a result of the Council of Chalcedon (at Constantinople). Effort to resolve differences between Bishop Dioscoros of Alexandria and Pope in Rome. The Council determined that Jesus was a single person with two natures; the Bishop was exiled. Eastern Orthodox insisted that Jesus was of one nature: Monophysite.

452 AD Romans under general Maximinus attack Blemmyes and Nobatia (northern Nubia) to release Roman hostages. Christian missionaries arrive in Nubia.

453 AD Treaty of Philae guarantees right to worship Isis.

476 AD End of Roman Empire in the West
ca. 500 AD Blemmyes still worship Isis at Philae.

514-542 Caleb is emperor in Axum. The empire covers modern Ethiopia, Sudan, northern Uganda, Eritrea, parts of Egypt, Yemen and Arabia.
515 AD Romans pay tribute to Blemmye and Nobatian rulers in exchange for peace.

524 AD Byzantium and Axumite alliance. Blemmyes and Nobatian troops serving in Axumite war in Yemen.

527-565 AD Justinian rules the Eastern Roman of Byzantium. He seeks to reconquer Italy and North Africa
ca.537 AD Nubian King Silko drives out Blemmyes from Nobatia and implies at Kalabsha temple that he is the first Christian king of Nubia. The Isis cult at Philae suppressed by Justinian who officially closes it to ‘pagan’ worship.

543-569 AD First Monophysite Christian kingdoms in Nubia; Missionary Julian given permission by Empress Theodora in Constantinople to evangelize among Nubians.

543 AD Faras established as capital of Christian Nobatia.
ca. 560 Missionary Longinus at Nobatia and Alwa.
ca.569 AD Dongola established as capital of Mukurra after its conversion to Christianity.

570 CE Mohammed is born
579-80 AD Longinus converts Alwa to Monophysite Christianity. Soba is the established capital.

600 CE The Songhay Empire is founded in Africa; the career of Antar, African warrior-poet, begins.

619 AD Chosroes II holds Egypt, Jerusalem and Damascus, and has armies on the Hellespont.

622 CE The Prophet Muhammad's hegira, i.e. flight, to Medina occurs.
632 CE The Prophet Muhammad dies; his brother-in-law, Omar, becomes the second caliph, succeeding Abu Bekr in 634.

639-640 AD Arab Muslim conquest of Egypt led by Amr ibn al ‘As for Khalifa ‘Omar. This begins the first Muslim contacts with Lower Nubians who are forced to pay tribute in slaves and livestock and promise no aggression against Egypt.

641-2 AD Islamic armies of ‘Amr ibn al`As reach the plain north of Dongola but fail to capture it.

646 Egyptians attack Nubia.

652 AD A "baqt" treaty established between Nubia and Egypt under Abdallah ibn Sa'ad ibn Abi Sahr. Nubia would provide 360 slaves each year and promise no attacks; Egypt would provide 1300 "kanyr" of wine. Old Dongola is captured for a period; conflicts noted between Makuria and Nobatia

661-750 AD Umayyad Dynasty in Egypt. Some Nubians serve as mercenaries in the Islamic armies.

697-707 AD Merger of Nobatia and Mukurra under King Merkurius

698 CE Carthage falls to Umayyad armies

705-715 CE Al Walid I of the Umayyad family is Caliph. During Walid's rule the Umayyad empire stretches from Spain to India. It was also al-Walid that coupled islamicization with arabicization. Conversion was not forced on conquered peoples; however, since non-believers had to pay an extra tax and were not technically citizens, many people did convert for religious and non-religious reasons. This created several problems, particularly since Islam was so closely connected with being Arab—being Arab, of course, was more than an ethnic identity, it was a tribal identity based on kinship and descent. As more and more Muslims were non-Arabs, the status of Arabs and their culture became threatened. In particular, large numbers of Coptic-speaking (Egypt) and Persian-speaking Muslims threatened the primacy of the very language that Islam is based on. In part to alleviate that threat, al-Walid instituted Arabic as the only official language of the empire. He decreed that all administration was to be done only in Arabic. It was this move that would cement the primacy of Arabic language and culture in the Islamic world.

710 CE Umayyad armies reach the river Indus.

711 CE African army under Umayyad General Tarik (El Moro) ibn Ziyad occupy Spain in order to relieve Visigoth allies against usurpation of the late King Wittiza's throne by Roderic.

720 AD A "baqt" is recorded between Egyptians and Beja

722 CE Umayyad troops cross the Pyrenees and invade Gothic Gaul (France), seizing several towns. The Copts revolt in Egypt after Caliph Yazid has all Christian images and pagan statues destroyed. This revolt is repeated in 739.

732 CE Massive African army under the command of the Amazigh (Berber) governor of Spain, Abd arRahman, begins laying waste to large parts of France. Rahman defeats Gothic army under command of Eudes at Aquitaine. Charles Martel counter attacks and Frankish/Gothic army engages Ummayyad army at Tours and Potiers in France in October. The battle lasts 7 days. The Umayyad armies withdraw to Spain after failing to break Martels formation.

740's AD Cyriacus, King of Dongola lays siege to Umayyad capital at Fustat (Cairo).

750-870 AD Abbasid dynasty in Egypt.

755 CE Umayyad occupation of Narbonne in France is lifted after battle with Frankish army.

758 AD Abbasids complain of no "baqt" payments and Blemmyes attacks on Upper Egypt.

761 CE Umayyad armies leave France.

765 CE Djenne, a prominent West African intellectual center, is founded.

819-822 AD Dongola king and Beja refuse to pay "baqt" tribute and they mount attacks on Egypt

827 CE Moors begin invasion of Sicily and Rome

835 AD George I (816-920), crowned King of Dongola

836 AD George I travels to Baghdad and Cairo

868-884 Amr Ahmed ibn Tulun rules Egypt; large numbers of Nubians in Tulunid army.

920 AD Reign of Dongola King Zakaria begins

950 AD Some Muslims reported at Soba

951, 956, 962 CE More Nubian raids into Upper Egypt

969-1171 CE The Fatimid, a sudanese dynasty, rule in Egypt; attack on Nubia by al-Umari. The Fatimid are a political and religious dynasty that dominated an empire in North Africa and subsequently in the Middle East and tried unsuccessfully to oust the Abbasid caliphs as leaders of the Islamic world. It took its name from Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, from whom the Fatimids claimed descent.

969 AD Nubian King George II reigns and attacks Egypt
ca. 1000 AD Nilotic cattle pastoralists from southern and central Africa expand into southern Sudan and western Africa.

 

CHRONOLOGY [1000 CE to 1500]

999-1063 CE King Bagauda is ruler in the State of Kano, north of the Niger.

1036 CE Muslim Umayyad dynasty in Spain ends with the death of Hisham III and the caliphrate splits into 8 other kingdoms.

1050 CE Up to 50,000 Nubians serve in Fatimid army. Fatimid dynasty of Egypt during the 11th and 12th centuries is Sudanese.

1117-1133 Emperor Marari establishes Zagwe Dynasty in the Axum Empire.

1128 CE Averroës (Ibn Rushd) of Cordoba, is born. The Moorish philosopher, dies 1198.

1127 AD Saladin (Ayyubids) forces Nubians to withdraw to Upper Egypt; George IV is Nubian King.

1140's AD Christian kingdom of Dotawo (Daw) noted in Nubia

1163 AD Crusaders attack Ayyubids and seek alliance with Nubian Christians.

1171-1250 CE/AD Ayyubid Dynasty in Egypt

1172 Nubian-Crusader alliance against Ayyubids; clashes in Cairo and Delta towns; Turanshah attacks Nubia
1172-1212 Zagwe Dynasty emperor of Axum, Gebra Maskal Lalibela, commissions churches hewn out of sheer rock.

1197 - 1250 CEFrederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, maintains a close relationship with the Moors in Sicily. He retains a Moorish chamberlain who was constantly at his side. Though breaking the Muslim powerbase in the region, he also solicited their aid in his struggle with the papacy. After resettling conquered Muslims on the Italian mainland at Lucera, he recruited an elite guard of 16,000 Moorish troops.
ca. 1200 Rise of the Daju dynasty in Darfur. Northward movement of Dinka, and Nuer populations into Bahr al-Ghazal and Upper Nile
1204 Nubian and Crusader leaders meet in Constantinople

1230-1255 Mari Jata I Emperor of Mali.

1235 CE Last priest sent to Nubia from Alexandria

1244 CE The Egyptian sultan recaptures Jerusalem, which leads to the Seventh Crusade led by Louis IX of France.

1250-1382 Bahri Mamluk Dynasty in Egypt

1260-1277 Forces of Mamluke Sultan Al-Zahir Baybars attack Nubia

1264 Nubians again pay "baqt" tribute, now to Mamlukes

1268 AD Dongola King Dawud pays "baqt" to Mamlukes

1270-1285 Emperor Tasfa Iyasus establishes the Solomonid Dynasty in Axum, and is succeeded by Solomon I. The dynasty lasts 710 years and includes such colourful emperors as Takla George I who was deposed and restored to his throne four times between 1779 to 1800.

1274-1285 Abu Bakr is Emperor of Mali, with one of his capitals at Timbuktu. Abu Bakr is a philosopher and explorer. He sends one expeditions with two thousand ships to the Americas to set up settlements, and abdicates his throne to lead a second expedition with two thousand more ships. Abu Bakr's court has close relations with Granada and Portugal, as well as the rest of Africa.

1275 Dongola King Dawud raids Aswan. King Shakanda ruler in Soba.

1275-1365 Period of warfare between Mamlukes and Nubians

1276 AD Mamluke Egyptians sack Dongola; forced conversion to Islam; King Dawud captured

1289 AD Last Mamluke military campaign against Dongola.

1317 CE Defeat of the last Christian king in Nubia and the first Muslim king Abdullah Barshambu on the throne in Dongola; "baqt" re-established; first mosque is built at Dongola.

1324-1326 Mansa Kanku Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca. Mansa Musa's caravan consisted of eight thousand soldiers, courtiers and servants - some say as many as 60,000 - drove 15,000 camels laden with gold, perfume, salt and stores of food in a procession of unrivaled size. Mansa Musa brought Abu Ishaq, a Muslim poet, lawyer and notary from Granada, back to Mali with him from Mecca.

1330 CE Phillipa wife of King Edward becomes the first Black African queen of England. Philippa was the daughter of William of Hainault, a lord in part of what is now Belgium. When she was nine the King of England, Edward II, decided that he would marry his son, the future Edward III, to her, and sent one of his bishops, a Bishop Stapeldon, to look at her. He described her thus: "The lady whom we saw has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her head is cleaned shaped; her forehead high and broad, and standing somewhat forward. Her face narrows between the eyes, and the lower part of her face is still more narrow and slender than the forehead. Her eyes are blackish brown and deep. Her nose is fairly smooth and even, save that is somewhat broad at the tip and flattened, yet it is no snub nose. Her nostrils are also broad, her mouth fairly wide. Her lips somewhat full and especially the lower lip…all her limbs are well set and unmaimed, and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, and much like her father, and in all things she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us." Four years later Prince Edward went to visit his bride-to-be and her family, and fell in live with her. She was betrothed to him and in 1327, when she was only 14, she arrived in England. The next year, when she was 15, they married and were crowned King and Queen in 1330 when she was heavily pregnant with her first child and only 17. This first child was called Edward, like his father, but is better known as the Black Prince. Many say that he was called this because of the colour of his armour, but there are records that show that he was called 'black' when he was very small. The French called him 'Le Noir'. Philippa was a remarkable woman. She was very wise and was known and loved by the English for her kindliness and restraint. She would travel with her husband on his campaigns and take her children as well. When the King was abroad she ruled in his absence. Queen's College in Oxford University was founded under her direction by her chaplain, Robert de Eglesfield in 1341 when she was 28. She brought many artists and scholars from Hainault who contributed to English culture. When she died, Edward never really recovered, and she was much mourned by him and the country. King Edward had a beautiful sculpture made for her tomb which you can see today at Westminster Abbey.

Besides being mother to twelve children, Phillipa of Hainault led an extraordinary life as a queen. She was quite intelligent about economics and single-handedly realized that much more could be done with the English wool that was being produced out of Norwich. She used part of her dowry to set up factories in Norwich to produce finished cloth, which was worth much more than ordinary wool. A monk later wrote about her, “Blessed be the name and memory of Queen Phillipa, who first invented English clothes.” Phillipa also founded the other key industry of England, the coal operations at Tyndale. Phillipa was quite a warrior, too. In 1346, when her husband was too busy, she managed to stop an invasion of the Scottish and even capture their King. Phillipa was role model for all English women and girls who showed their adoration for her by carrying daggers and wearing hats shaped like helmets (Leon 212, 213).

1350-1386 King Ndahiro I Ruyange founds Nyiginya Dynasty in State of Rwanda

1372 AD Bishop of Faras consecrated by Patriarch in Alexandria

1382-1517 CE Circassian (Burji) Mamluke Dynasty in Egypt

1390-1420Severe and prolonged draught devastes equatorial Africa, causing many lakes across Africa to shrink and in some cases completely dry up. Lake Malawi was so low that people could cross it on foot, and Lake Chad disappeared completely.

1400's Probable time of the replacement of the Daju by the Tunjur Dynasty in Darfur. Luo migrations from the southern Sudan led to creation of Shilluk groups.

1441 CE Start of West European slave raids on African coast. Portuguese sailors led by Antonio Gonzales kidnap 12 black Africans from Cabo Blanco and transport them to Portuguese Prince Henry, who in turn gives them as a gift to Pope Eugenius IV.

1447 By now there are 900 Africans enslaved in Portugal.
c. 1450 Nyasimba Mutota ruler of the Mwanamutapa Empire covering central and Southern Africa.

1453 CE Fall of Roman Empire of the East.
c. 1480-1490 Mukombero Nyahuma is Emperor of Mwanamuatapa Empire.

1490-1494 Changa, a slave son of Mutapa's overthrows the legitimate successor with the help of Arab traders. The son of the rightful heir regains control but the kingdom is split between the Mwene Mutapa at Fura and the Changamire at Zimbabwe.

Jan 2 1492 Al Hambra, capital of Granada the last African state on mainland Europe, surrenders to the joint armies of Isabella and Ferdinand rulers of Castille and Aragon. As a consequence of the fall of Granada, Spain joins Portugal in the capture and sale of black Africans.

1492Historian and traveler Leon Africanus (also known as Hasan al-Wazan), who was raised by a Jewish woman working in his father's household (She taught him Hebrew), migrates with his family to Marakesh, Morocco, as part of the wave of Afro-Spanish refugees following the fall of Grenada. Africanus thereafter converted to Catholicism.

1493 Askiya Mohammad founds Askiya Dynasty of the Songhai Empire.

 

Below: 1500 CE to 2000 CE

1501 First black slaves in America.
1504 The fall of Soba, capital of the Christian kingdom of Alwa [Alwa covers most of Southern Sudan, north Uganda, south-west Ethiopia, north-west Kenya, north-east Congo, and part of the Central African Republic] and ; the beginning of the Islamic Funj Sultanate at Sennar under King Amara Dunqas.

1509 In order to stop the rapid extinction of Native South American populations, Bartolome de Las Casas the Roman Catholic Bishop at Chiapas, proposes that each Spanish settler to America should bring at least 12 (Twelve) number of African slaves. This proposal marks the start of the massive genocidal Transatlantic African slave trade.

1510 At the battle of Table Bay (SA), the Khokhoi defeat and kill the belligerent Portuguese admiral and aristocrat, Dom Franscisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese viceroy in India. King Ferdinard of Spain authorized the purchase of 250 African slaves in Lisbon for his territories in New Spain.

1510 - 1534 Allesandro De Medici, the Duke of Florence, becomes the first black African head of state in Europe in modern times. He was the son of Cardinal Giulio de Medici who later became the Pope Clement VII, and a black African woman. On being elected Pope in 1523, Cardinal Giulio was forced to relinquish the lordship of Florence but he appointed a regent for his thirteen year old son Alessandro who had just been created Duke of Penna, and a nephew, Ipollito. Allesandro wielded great power as the first duke of Florence. He was the patron of some of the leading artists of the era and is one of the two Medici princes whose remains are buried in the famous tomb by Michaelangelo.

Sept. 29, 1512 A company of about 30 families, led by a "Count Anthonius" arrives in Stockholm, Sweden claiming that they came from "Little Egypt". This is the earliest record of Gypsies (Gypsy is short for "egyptian"). In subsequent years Gypsies suffer all kinds of indignities, including expulsion, torture, branding and murders. The origins are disputed even as more people turn up all over Europe who are identified as Gypsies. The first anti-Gypsy laws are passed in Holland and Portugal in 1526. In 1530 the first law expelling Gypsies from England is introduced. Henry VIII forbids the transportation of Gypsies into England. The fine is forty pounds for ship's owner or captain. The Gypsy passengers are punished by hanging. In 1525 Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, issues an edict in Holland ordering all those that call themselves Egyptians (Gypsy) to leave the country within two days. In 1554 during the reign of Philip and Mary, an Act is passed which decrees that that the death penalty shall be imposed for being a Gypsy, or anyone who "shall become of the fellowship or company of Egyptians." Today Gypsies are formally known as Romani.

1514 Antonio Fernandez finds gold in Shona country, and declares the land fit for European habitation, regardless of the fact that it is already inhabited by Africans.

1517 Selim I, ruler of the Turkish empire, captures Cairo and adds title of Caliph to that of Sultan. The Reformation begins, Protestantism is founded by Luther in Germany, from where it will spread around the world.

1518 License to import 4,000 African slaves to Spanish American Colonies is granted to Lorens de Gominot.

1519 Turks under Selim I occupy Algeria.

1526 In what is now the Carolinas, Spaniards put kidnapped Africans to work as slaves.

1532 A Spanish professor questions Pope Clement's 'giving' of the New World to Spain on the grounds that its people are neither civilized nor Roman Catholic; heretics, he argued, are not denied property in Europe unless deprived of it by individual trial, therefore the people of the new continents are true owners of their land. Other early trials of law also upheld aboriginal and incumbent rights, declaring that 'discoverers' might have exclusive opportunities to purchase such lands, but not to take them unless after a formal state of war. In spite of such rational thinking in Europe the actions of Spain and then France and England is that vanquished races had no rights save those conceded by their victors.

1534 Barbarossa, commander of an enhanced Turkish fleet, captures Tunis which commands the narrow seas between Sicily and Africa, from the African rulers who governed as vassals of Spain. Unknown to Spain and the Holy Roman Empire the French provided arms to the Turkish army.

1535 Charles V (1500-1558), the Holy Roman Emperor (1519-1556) and King of Spain and Italy raised an army of 10,000 with 400 ships to recapture Tunis from the Turks. The siege of Tunis results in the capture of 82 Turkish ships and a vast number of Christian slaves. Barbarossa and some of his army escaped. Spain failed to follow and fully destroy the Turkish army because they discovered the French arms and feared a French attack if the army ventured too far into the field.

1540 The bubonic plague starts in Egypt.

1545 The Spanish Council of Trent (1545-1563) is called by Pope Paul III, makes the use of saints names for Christian baptism mandatory. The Protestants resist this "saints" rule and instead baptise with names selected from the Old Testament Bible. The Council of Trent (published in 1563) required marriage be conducted in a church, by a priest, and before two witnesses to be valid and binding.

1550-1600 Shuwa Arabs migrate into what is now Central Chad.

1560-1625 massive drought similar to the one that struck between 1390 and 1420 returns to Africa devastating communities and the environment. Lakes dry up, including Lake Malawi and Chad.

1562 England under Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) began selling Africans to work for the Spanish in America. John Hawkins carried his first human cargo this year.

1567 On the advice of Pope Pius V (1566-1572) and the Archbishop of Granada, Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain issued an edict to forbid all Moorish customs. All Arabic books are to be collected, artificial baths are forbidden. Moorish houses must open the doors to their homes during marriage feasts, on Fridays and on Holy Days of the Spanish Church to observe any Moorish practices. This edict would lead to civil war. The Spanish Moors believed they could raise a 100,000 man army from its 85,000 households and 15,000 from the Turks, Arabs and Moors from beyond the sea.

1568 The Spanish civil war saw the massacre of the priests and their women and children are sold as slaves to Africa in exchange for arms and munitions. The Spanish troops wandered the land plundering and kidnapping Black or Amazhig (Berber) or Arab women to sell as slaves. The rebellion by the Spanish Muslim's is crushed by King Philip II of Spain who also ordered the dispersal of the Moslem population of Andalusia to all parts of Castile. Granada is depopulated and repopulated with genuine Old Christians. Henceforth any male moors and moriscos (christian moors) over age 16 found within 10 leagues of the province of Granada is to be killed and any female over nine and one half is to be sold into slavery. About 60,000 Spanish had lost their lives during the war. The Moors are not allowed to leave their house without permission. They were dispersed among the Christians and forced to attend Christian schools.

1569-73 A Portuguese military expedition into the Zambezi River Valley results in the loss of 800 of 1000 soldiers.

1573 Pope Gregory XIII issues a papal bull forbidding the admission to Holy Orders of the descendants of Jews to the fourth generation, annd the decree is extended to include the Moors.

1573-1580 Saifawa Dynasty Empress Aissa Kili N'guirmamaramama rules empire of Kanem Bornu, consisting of all of modern Chad, a large part of Niger, northern Nigeria, Central African Republic, Libya, west Sudan and western Egypt.

1574-5 A 400-strong Portuguese military expedition into Zambezi valley loses 200 men.

1585-6 Ali Bey organizes the first northern Swahili resistance against the Portuguese.

1588-9 Ali Bey led a second campaign of resistance against Portugal.

1589 The Portuguese sacked Mombasa again and took control of the northeastern coastal cities

1593-4 Work begins on Fort Jesus at Mombasa. The Portuguese build a customs house at Mombasa.

1597-9 The first Augustinian monastery is established at Mombasa. The Portuguese begin to occupy Fort Jesus, although construction continued into the 1630s
1608-18 Several Portuguese expeditions into central and southern Africa fail to find gold and silver.

1618-48 The Thirty Years War ends the ability of the Portuguese government to support further expansion in East Africa.

1619 20 Africans travelling in Dutch ships arrive in Jamestown, Virginia, to work as indentured servants.

1623-1629 Nyambo Kapararidze is last emperor of Mwene-Mutapa Dynasty. In 1628 Nyambo tries to reunite the Shona people by starting a war to expel the Portuguese. Portuguese aid a rival Monomotapa (or Mwene Mutapa) named Mavura to overthrow Nyambo Kapararidze.

1630 The Bani Hassan community of Yemen crosses into Africa and settles in present-day Mauretania. The Bani Hassan leader Siyyid ibn Ahmad becomes ruler of the over the Emirate of Trarza.

1631 Sultan of Mombasa renounces Catholicism and kills most of the Portuguese garrison at Fort Jesus. A new Portuguese garrison arrives the following year.
c. 1635-1655 Abdul-Karim establishes Wadai Sultanate to the southeast of Kanem-Bornu (south/central Chad and Darfur in Sudan).

1641 Massachusetts becomes the American colony to declare enslavement of Africans legal.

1650s Sea-borne Omani Arabs aid revolt against the Portuguese in the city-states of coastal East Africa.

1652 The first European colonists sent to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company, a trading firm. Many of the colonists became farmers.

1653 Timbuktu's most eminent scholar, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi, writes the Tarikh al-Sudan that traces the history and society of Timbuktu from its founding until the time of writing.

1663 Death of Autshumato, Khoikhoi leader who became an interpreter for Europeans passing by the Cape after 1631 and an intermediary between them and the Khoikhoi once a Dutch settlement was established in 1652. He went to Java in 1631-2 and returned to the Cape. He became the first person to be imprisoned on Robben island (in 1658), from which he and his followers escaped after a year and a half.

1680 Virginia passes the "Act for Prevention of Negro Insurrections" that prohibits blacks from carrying clubs, sticks, or arms of any kind. A black person who raises a hand in opposition to a Christian can be punished with 30 lashes.

1684-96 Opponents of Mavura founded a new state (Changamire) and overthrow Mutapa dynasty.

1688 Quakers and Mennonites in Pennsylvania protest against slavery.

1699 Fort Jesus falls after 33-month siege. 1000 Portuguese and some 5000 Swahili allies and residents die during the siege..

1701 Asante Confederation established.

1735 Rwandan troops sack Bunyampaka (in modern Uganda), the capital of the abaShambo state of Ndorwa. Ndorwa disintegrates into the kingdoms of Nkore, Shongora, Buhweju, and Karagwe in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

Sept 9, 1739 In the Stono Rebellion, hundreds of African slaves revolt near Charleston, South Carolina, killing white masters and burning plantations. 60 people, including 35 slaves, are killed.

1745 -1799 Joseph Boulogne le Chevalier de Saint George, an African, emerges as the greatest composer, athlete and fencer in Europe. He also became the Colonel of the French Black Legion. After losing his nomination to be director of the Paris Opera, on account of his color, he composed a series of masterpieces which inspired and influenced Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. At least one of Mozarts works was directly copied from Saint George. In 1779, Saint-George began performing music with Queen Marie-Antoniette at Versailles, at her request, which led some members of the french society to try and kill him. When the French Revolution broke out, Saint George enlisted and became a Colonel. He chose his friend and protege another Black man, Alexandre Dumas as Lieutenant-Colonel. The son of Dumas was later to become famous as the author of The Three Musketeers and other French calssics. Saint George is also credited with saving the young French Republic from counter revolution and treason.

1746 Malachy Postlewayt justfies Britain's participation in slave trade by showing how essential it is to Britain's economy: "The Negro-trade...and the natural consequences resuilting from it, may be justly esteemed an inexhaustible fund of wealth and naval power to this nation...What renders the Negroe-trade still more estimable and important, is, that near nine-tenth of those Negroes are paid for in Africa...We send no specie or bullion to pay for the products of Africa, but tis certain, we bring from thence very large quantities of gold; and not only that but wax and ivory...".

1760-1820Drought more severe than any in the twentieth century devastates Africa. Massive crop failure, extremely dry conditions and massive social unrest, coupled with slavery, causes drastic depopulation and displacement. High solar radiation is thought to have caused this drought, as well as two prior droughts in 1390 and 1560.

1775 Black soldiers fight in the American revolutionary War until the Continental Army -pressured by George Washington - rules to exclude blacks from service. On April 14, 1775, the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery is founded. It is the first abolitionist organization in America.

1779 A group of 20 blacks in New Hampshire - including Prince Whipple, who had crossed the Delaware river in 1776 in the same boat with George Washington - requested that the state restore their freedom. They call themselves "natives of Africa" who had been "born free".

1789 Olauda Equiano, a freedman, publishes his biography in which he explains the profound differences between American slavery and "slavery" in Africa, in order to dispell the myth that American slavery was "normal" or familiar to Africans in their homeland. Equiano explained that unlike in America, African slaves were in fact convicted of some crime or had become prisoners of war, and slavery was punishment. Innocent people were not to be subjected to slavery. Moreover, African slaves were not required to work more than other members of the community, could not be beaten by their masters whim, and that their food clothing and lodging were indistinguishable from that of the master. In fact African slaves could own slaves, and African slavery was largely a distinction of social status demanding deferrence rather than one of economic exploitation entailing physical and verbal abuse as in America.

1792 The sailing of the 15 ships from Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) for Sierra Leone causes the end of Birchtown as a viable Black community. Founded in 1783, Birchtown was the largest settlement of free Blacks in North America, a phenomenon which was noted in the newspapers of the time in New York and London.

Feb 12, 1793 The American Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act which requires the return of escaped slaves to their owners even if they fled their state.

July, 1798 General Napoleon, invades Egypt and captures Cairo.

1800-1897 Madagascar is dominated by Empresses of the Merina Dynasty.     

1805-1849 Khedive Mehemet Ali, Albanian cavalry officer rules Egypt.

Jan 1, 1808 The US outlaws importation of slaves, although the practice will continue illegaly and unenforced.

1816-1828 Shaka son of Senzagakona is king of the amaZulu

1818 Frederick Douglass is born. He is to become the most important advocate for the abolition of discrimination against Africans. He had a decisive influence on Abraham Lincoln and is hailed as one of the great moral voices of the 19th century.

1820 Collapse of the state of Funj in what is now The Sudan. In southern Africa, Makanna, leader of the Ndhlambis who led a revolt against the Dutch colonists, dies while trying to escape imprisonment.

1820s Khedive Mehemet Ali, invaded the Upper Nile Valley.
c. 1820-1830s Vortrekker migrations into central South Africa. Extermination of the Ghonaqua nation (also known as the Ghona tribe). This tribe, which formerly inhabited the country between the Keisi and Camtoos rivers, is now extinct.

1827 Freedm's Journal, the first African-American newspaper is published.

1829 David Walker, a black shopkeeper in Boston publishes the most widely circulated and inflammatory Pan African antislavery document titled Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World that exhorts enslaved Africans to armed resistance. "Kill or be killed," he wrote. "The man who would not fight...in the glorious and heavenly cause of freedom...ought to be kept with all his children or family, in slavery, or chains, to be butcherd by his cruel enemies." The pamphlet incites Nat Turner's uprising. Walker was found dead on the street near his home in 1830. Cause of death was undetemined.

1830 Extinction of the Gunja (also known as the Gunjaman) tribe of Hottentots. The Gunja lived where Cape Town now stands, and it was the Gunja who first ceded to the Dutch East India Company a tract of their country. Thunberg, who travelled in 1773, remarks that, in his time, this tribe was nearly extinct. The National Negro Convention is held in Philadelphia in September 1830. By now 300,000 free blacks live in the US.

Aug 1831 Nat Turner leads the largest slave insurrection ever in the US. His band murders 57 whites in Virginia. More than 100 blacks are killed.

1832 Edward Blyden is born, in the West Indies. He was educated in Liberia, became a Presbyterian minister, professor and statesman; Blyden is considered to be the foremost African intellectual of the 19th century. Robert July writes: “Only one man in 19th century Africa was able to see the [African] problem in its entirety and this man was Edward W. Blyden. It was Blyden who tried and succeeded in fashioning a total philosophy of Africanness which not only had great appeal for his contemporaries, but for future generations of Africans as well. It was Blyden who re-established the psychic and emotional sense of security of the African in the face of Europe’s intrusion with a brilliance that foreshadowed to a remarkable degree African thinking in the mid 20th century . . .”

1834 Slavery is abolished in the British Empire.

1841 Africans who revolted on Amistad, a ship carrying captives for sale, are tried for murder and piracy. Cinque, leader of the revolt, has exceptional intellect and organises the legal defense. He recruits former US president John Adams to defend them in front of the US supreme Court, which rules justifiable homicide, frees Cinque and the others and provides transport for their return to Africa.

March 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. It becomes the biggest selling novel of the 19th century.

1845 In his biographic narrative, Frederick Douglass, an exceptionally talented orator and political organizer, repudiates the bigoted thought that people of African descent are intellectually inferior.

1852-1900 Duration of the Orange Free State republic in central South Africa.

1854 Theodore Canot, a slave trader, records in his Adventures of an African Slaver that during one voyage he lost nearly 40% of his human cargo to disease: "The eight hundred beings we had shipped in high health [from Africa] had dwindled to four hundred and ninety-seven skeletons.

1858 Cape Colony Governor Sir George Grey articulates the need for a southern African federation because, as separate states, the European communities are too weak to stop African resistance. He advocates a uniform "native" policy to protect Europeans.

April 1859 Work began on the Suez Canal.

1860-1865 U. S. Civil war creates demand for Egyptian cotton.

January 1, 1863 Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation freeing Africans slaves.

April 14, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated in Washington DC.

1867 Diamonds are discovered at Hope Creek (a tributary of the Orange River).
Feb. 1868 W.E.B Du Bois is born. He will become the leading Pan Africanist since ancient times. He founded many organizations including the Pan African Congresses. His achievements place him among the greatest influences on world history and certainly on Africa and the African diaspora. He helped to construct the modern identity of Africans.

1868 Britain annexes Basutoland, ostensibly to protect it from Boer aggression.

1873 The Quagga (pronounced quaha, or quacha) is exterminated. The quagga is a southern African equine quadruped (Equus or Hippotigris Quagga), related to the ass and the zebra, but less stripped than the zebra. The cry of the quagga is distinct, and very different from that of either the horse or the ass.

1875 Bombay (Mumbai in India) Africans return to form settlement at Freretown, outside Mombasa.

Jan 22 1879 Dispute over land (Sir Bartle Frere's attempt to win Boer favor by annexing Zulu territory) sparks a battle between the Zulu army under king Cetshwayo at Isandhlwana. 1800 British troops of the 24th Regiment and auxillaries are defeated and killed the fighting.

1879 The United Africa Company (UAC) is founded by George Taubman Goldie, to organize small trading firms along the Lower Niger River.

1880 Cecil Rhodes founds the De Beers Consolidated Mining Company which takes control of the diamond mining industry in the Orange Free State.

1882 An indigenous revolt in the Egyptian Army threatens British interests in the Suez canal. The British attack Alexandria then defeat the Egyptian Army at Tel-el-Kebir, reluctantly taking governmental control of the country. Several important investors joined the UAC and changed its name to National African Company (NAC). Meanwhile two French companies began to trade on the Lower Niger River in competition with the NAC. The British and French reached a settlement for the "Southern Rivers" region between Sierra Leone and Guinea.

1884 Gold is discovered at the Rand, a mountain in Boer Transvaal. General Charles Gordon is sent to pacify the Mahdist in North East Africa but becomes besieged in Khartoum. A relief column of British and Canadian troops arrives late and is unable to save Gordon, and without the resources to continue the fight, leaves the Sudan to the Mahdi's successor, the Caliph.

Nov. 15, 1884 - Feb. 26, 1885 13 European States and the USA divide Africa amongst themselves at the Berlin West Africa Conference. In the agreement is a provision that requires Europeans to occupy the land they claim in Africa. Leading European states declare "protectorates" over all of Africa.

February 1885 Opponents of imperialism began to openly challenge the prime minister in the British Parliament.

1887 Marcus Mossiah Garvey is born in Jamaica.

February 1885 - Dec 1886    European army officers, missionaries, government agents, and agents of trading companies obtain fraudulent treaties by force, and by deception from Africans. After buying out its French competitors, the NAC recieves royal charter and changes its name to the Royal Niger Company, becomes the first of the British chartered companies in Africa. These treaties are used to justify military occupation of Africa by the troops of states that are party to the Berlin West Africa Treaty. In 1886 Joseph Chamberlain, Conservative politician ends opposition to imperialism after visiting Egypt. In Oct. 1886 France and Britain settled East African land claims.

1890 The French conquer Segou in the Middle Niger Valley. Karl Peters, German explorer collected treaties around Lake Victoria. France recognizes British Protectorate over Zanzibar, and Britain recognizes French claims in Madagascar. IBEAC nearly bankrupt from failed plantation schemes. Frederick Lord Lugard, arrived in Buganda to extend IBEAC influence. Anglo-German agreement recognized German Tanganyika. Anglo-German Colonial Agreement (aka "The Heligoland Treaty") recognized British claim in East Africa. White settlers in a column of over 100 wagons arrives in Zimbabwe from the South to exercise mineral rights fraudulently obtained by Cecil Rhodes.

1892 Ras Tafari is born. Later he will become Emperor Selasie and a leader of Pan African movement.
1893-1894 Third Anglo-Ashanti War.

1894 The French conquer Timbuktu.

1895 Frederick Douglass dies.

1896 The Matabele and Shona tribes unite in rebellion. The first Chimurenga (war of liberation) is extinguished by the end of the year and the settlers entrench themselves.

1897 A grand battle between the British and the Mahdhist forces, at Omdurman, outside Khartoum, breaks the power of the Caliph.

1898 Death of Mahdi ends revolt in the Sudan. The French capture Samori Toure to end resistance in the Upper Niger Valley. Members of the French expedition to Lake Chad commit atrocities as they pass through the Middle Niger Valley. France and Britain sign treaty that defines the border between Nigeria and Dahomey.

1899-1982 King Sobhuza II of Swaziland rules for 83 years.    

March 21, 1899 French and British conclude a boundary agreement for territory in the Upper Nile Valley.
Oct. 9, 1899 Anglo-Boer War begins when the British ignore a Boer ultimatum against additional British troops in South Africa.

July 1900 William E.B. Du Bois speaks at the first Pan African Conference in London and predicts that "The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line." Du Bois anticipates and inspires a world wide movement to achieve basic rights for most of the world.

Dec 1900 French capture the African resistance leader Rabah and end resistance around Lake Chad. British open the first concentration camps to "protect" non-combatants in Boer territory (mostly Boer families), but overcrowding turns them into death camps.

Sept. 26, 1901 British annex the Gold Coast.

1905 W.E.B DuBois becomes one of the founders of the Niagara Movement, seeking "full manhood suffrage".

1909 W.E.B DuBois, together with a multiracial group of activists, founds the National Negro Committee which is then renamed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP], and Du Bois serves as editor of its influential journal "The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races".

1911 Universal Congress of the Races in London

1914 Marcus Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association, and advocates emigration to Africa and the creation of a national government. UNIA quickly becomes the wealthiest and largest organization in the US, the Caribbean and Africa. Later UNIA declares Marcus Garvey the First Provisional President of Africa. The Church missions run by UNIA in Kenya organize the Mau Mau insurrection against the British occupation.

1915 Carter G. Woodson founds the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History to help eliminate misconceptions about blacks, and shortly after begins publication of The Journal of Negro History.

1919 Cyril V. Briggs forms the African Blood Brotherhood, a militant black nationalist organization, in New York City. First Pan African Congress held in Paris.

1920 Declaration on the rights of Black people in the world, organized by Marcus Garvey in New York.

1921 Second Pan African Congress held in Paris, Brussels and London.

1923 Third Pan African Congress held in Lisbon and London.

1924 Universal League for the Defence of the Black Race, held in Paris, and organized by Marc Tovolu and Rene Maran.

1925 Malcolm X is born. His father Earl Little, a UNIA organizer is killed by white supremacists. Malcolm advocated African self-defense by "Any means necessary". He was involved in the efforts to establish the Organization of African Unity and on returning to the US formed the Organization of African-American Unity in June 1964.

1927 Fourth Pan African Congress, held in Newy York.

Jan 15, 1929 Martin Luther King Jr., is born. He will become the leader of the civil rights movement.

1930 Founding of the Negritude Movement by Leopold Senghor, Aime Cesaire and Leon Damas.

1930s Richard B. Moore, a Pan Africanist based in Harlem became leading cultural figure. He owned a bookstore and wrote for the journal Freedomways. He worked to discard the use of the word Negro, and argued that blacks were Africans in America.

Oct 3, 1935 Italian forces attack Abyssinia from Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. The Abyssinians boldly defended their territory for seven months against Italian air power and the widespread use of chemical weapons including mustard gas. The International African Friends of Abyssinia is formed to help in the struggle against the Italian fascists. Despite their efforts, Abyssinia was formally annexed by Italy on May 9, 1936.

Feb 19, 1937 After the unsuccessful assassination attempt against Italian Marshal Graziani, the top Italian official in Abyssinia and all of Africa, colonial authorities put to death 30,000 people, including about half of Abyssinia's elite.

1940 Marcus Garvey, founder of the United Negro Improvement Association, and the first Provisonal President of Africa, dies in London England.

1941 Creation of African Business Council in New York.
May 5, 1941 Hailie Salassie returned to Addis Ababa, after the defeat of the Italians by local guerrila forces and volunteer troops from all over Africa, supported by British forces.

1944 Pan African Federation founded in London. Muhumuza, last leader of the Nyabingi resistence movement dies in Uganda. The Nyabingi resistence was instrumental in redefining and reorganizing the Pan Africanist movement.

1945 The 5th Pan African Congress takes place at Manchester - three new African leaders emerge on the world stage, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah and Wallace-Johnson of Sierra Leone, whereas W.E.B. Du Bois is elected the international president of the Congress. The Tanganyika African Association holds its third territorial conference and resolves to enroll all Africans, women and men, in the African Association, open branches in every town and district, and most importantly resolves "to safeguard the interests of Africans not only in this territory but in the whole of Africa". The TAA later went on to change its name to the Tanganyika African National Union in 1954, elect Julius Nyerere as party president, and win independence for Tanganyika.

1946 Rassemblement Democratic Africain is founded in Bamako, Mali.
Oct. 24, 1947 W.E.B. Du Bois addressing the UN on behalf of the NAACP, makes an appeal against racism in the US.

1949 Libya is granted independence by the UN.

1952 Sudanese Mohammed Naguib, leader of the Free Officers of the Egyptian army, overthrows Farouk king of Egypt in a revolution, ending British control. Effectively both Egypt and Sudan become independent states.

1953 Sixth Pan African Congress is held in Kumasi, Ghana.

1954 Richard Wright publishes "Black Power" about African blacks' efforts to grapple with the effects of colonialism.

1956 Gamal Abdel Nasser, captures and nationalises the Suez Canal, effectively ending British claims to the canal. Nasser funded and organized anti-colonial resistence efforts in occupied Africa, including the Simba Rebellion in the Congo. Nasser and Nkrumah developed a friendship and worked together to unite Africa. Morocco and Tunisia gain independence. First Congress of Black Writers and Artists held in Paris and organized by Societe Africaine de Culture, and Presence Africaine.

March 6, 1957 The Gold Coast achieves independence from Britain. Hundreds of Pan African leaders from around the world attend the ceremonies, including Martin Luther King, Ralph Bunch and Philip Randolf. The Gold Coast is renamed Ghana, and Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana's president) declares that Ghana's independence is meaningless unless we are able to use the freedom that goes with it to help other African people to be free and independent, to liberate the entire continent of Africa from foreign domination and ultimately' to establish a Union of African States."

Feb. 1958 Creation of the Parti Regroupment Africaine.

April 1958 First All-African Peoples Congress held in Accra, Ghana - Proposal to create Commonwealth of Independent African States.

Nov. 1958 The Ghana-Guinea Union is formed.
1959 Second Conference of Independent African States takes place in Monrovia, Liberia. Second Congress of Black Writers and Artists, Rome.

1960 Second All-African Peoples Congress takes place in Tunis. Third Conference of African States takes place in Addis Abeba.

June 1960 Creation of Mali Federation includes Senegal. Congo becomes independent with Lumumba as Prime Minister. There are no African officers in the Force Publique, and Belgian officers lose control of the striking troops. Congo becomes chaotic one week after independence. Prime Minister Lumumba appeals to the United Nations for assistance to restore order and to put down the secessionist forces based in the Province of Katanga and led by Tsombe. Independent Africa supports United Nations intervention and those in a position to do so contribute troops and policemen. Many volunteers from other African states go into the Congo to join the rebellion against the UN and NATO troops in the Congo. The threat of crises spreading to other African states causes African leaders to call for unification and political stability.

Dec. 1960 Creation of the Brazaville Group [which later became the African and Malagasy Union, and later still turned into the African and Malagasy Economic Cooperation Union, and finally the African and Malagasy Common Organization].

January 1961 The Union of Ghana-Guinea is expanded to included, Mali and renamed the Union of African States (UAS). The Union's Charter committs the three countries to a common foreign and defence policy, the defining of a common set of economic objectives, opposition to French nuclear testing in the Sahara and support for other African countries waging anti-colonial struggles and "the building up of African unity". Later in 1961, the UAS in is expanded to include Libya, Egypt, Morocco and the Algerian Front for National Liberation (FLN). The UAS became informally known as the Casablanca Group. Its Charter reiterated the objectives of the UAS and appealed to other independent African states to join the Group in a "common action for the consolidation of liberty in Africa and the building up of its unity and security".

May 1961 A rival grouping of African states- the Monrovia Group is formed. The Monrovia Group includes the states of Cameroon, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo. The objectives of the Monrovia Group are the same as those of the Casablanca Group, with the exception that the Monrovia Group wanted gradual economic integration before unification. The Casablanca Group demands immediate political unification which would then assure economic integration.

1963 Organization of African Unity, that includes all of Africa's independent states, is formed with the mission to liberate Africa from colonial occupation and Apartheid. The OAU, a compromise between the gradualist Monrovia Group and the federalist Casablanca Group, has both the characteristics of an intergovernmental organization and a federation of states. The Empire of Abyssinia is renamed Ethiopia in tribute to Pan Africanism. White supremacist bombing of a church in Alabama, USA, kills four young African girls. On his ninety-fifth birthday in 1963, W. E. B. Du Bois received an honorary degree from the University of Ghana in Accra. Six months later, on August 27, Du Bois died on the eve of the March on Washington. Martin Luther King, Jr., eulogized the great Du Bois during that pivotal event in the U. S. Civil Rights Movement.

1965 Malcolm X, a leading Pan Africanist and founder of the Organization of African-American Unity is shot and killed in New York City. Police in the US arrest three male members of the Black Liberation Front and one French Canadian woman for ploting to blow up the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and the Washington Monument. The year was restless and violent as African Americans became more militant. Martin Luther King led 50,000 people in a march through Montgomery, Alabama. Television screens around the world showed horrifying images of police brutalizing blacks in America, using dogs, horses, guns, fire hoses, batons and tear gas to disperse protesters. US president Johnson addressing a joint session of Congress requests the passage of a bill to allow blacks to vote.
1966 The phrase "Black Power" enters the vocabulary of the international media when Stokely Carmichael called for a more militant response to white domination. Carmichael was born in Trinidad, and raised in New York. He made the call for Black Power while leading a march jointly with Martin Luther King, and is credited with having compelled King to use the word Black instead of Negro. He married Miriam Makeba and after his passport had been revoked by the US government went to live in Africa, where he taught school in Tanzania and other states.

October 1966 The Black Panther Party is founded. The Panther's list of demands states that they want "..land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace. And as our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony (meaning the USA) in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny."

1967 Publication of Harold Cruse's The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual. Cruse argued for an independent black cultural reawakening. He believed Africans in America had been robbed of their cultural identity by their ostensible "friends" on the left, including Marxists and pro-integrationist liberals. He envisioned a self-sufficient black community, free from the dictates of even the most well-meaning whites. Cruse's work contributed to the creation of black studies departments at universities across the USA.

April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. News of his assassination caused a massive insurrection by African Americans and caused violent clashes, riots, and burning and looting in more than 120 cities including Washington DC. President Johnson deployed tens of thousands of troops in cities, where they set up curfews and occupied African neighbourhoods. Memorials were held throughout the world. Johnson called for a day of morning and convened the Congress to organize a positive response to the events.

Oct. 16, 1968 In one of the 20th century's most powerful and controversial moments in sports, and a watershed event in the civil rights movement. After failing to convince their fellow black athletes to boycott the Mexico City 1968 Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos succeeded in winning the gold and bronze medals in the 200 meters track & field event. Determined to use the grand stage of the Olympic games as a platform for protest, Smith and Carlos accepted their medals in bare feet (to bring attention to the poverty of the African-American community), wearing beads (in honor of the countless blacks murdered as victims of slavery or racism), and holding black-gloved fists in the air (the "Black Power" salute). A storm of outrage hit Smith and Carlos immediately. For disrespecting the "Star Spangled Banner" and the Olympic games, the IOC forced the U.S. Olympic Committe to withdraw them from the relays, banish them from the Olympic Village, strip their medals and expel them from the U.S. Olympic team. Most of white America was also outraged at their actions, and both men experienced a heavy backlash upon their return home. Nonetheless, their legend has grown, and their action has become a symbol of the struggle for equality.

April 26, 1969 Civil rights leaders James Forman issues the "Black Manifesto", demanding that US churches and synagogues pay $500 million for slave reparations. About $500,000 was collected and used primarily to fund Black Star Publications, a black publishing house.

Dec. 9, 1971 Leading Pan-Africanist Ralph Bunche dies. He had served as United Nations mediator and successfully negotiated an end to the first Arab-Israeli War in 1948. His role in this 1949 truce won him the Nobel Peace Prize. He later oversaw U.N. peacekeeping missions to the Suez Canal, Congo, and Cyprus. He served as a board member for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for 22 years. In the last decade of his life, he actively supported the civil rights movements, marching in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, when he was 61 years old.

1974 Polish craniologists revealed that no fewer than 13.5% of the skeletons from the pre-Columbian Olmec cemetery of Tlatilco were Negroid.

19752 Negroid skeletons were found in the U.S. Virgin Islands. One wore a pre-Columbian Indian wrist band. They were found in layers dated to about A.D. 1250.

Feb. 11, 1990 Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela is released from prison after nearly 28 years of imprisonment in South Africa. Mandela became an international symbol of the struggle for black liberation and universal human rights.

Apr. 6, 1994 Aircraft with presidents of Rwanda and Burundi aboard shot down, triggering worlds fasted genocide with nearly 2,000,000 members of the Tutsi, Hutu and Twa communities killed in 100 days. In defiance of UN orders to withdraw, troops from Ghana, Tunisia and Senegal under OAU mandate save thousands of lives in Rwanda.

Aug. 1996 African Unification Front is formed with a mandate to mobilize and secure the unity and sovereignty of Africa.

March 1997 Mwalimu Julius Nyerere makes a speech in Accra on the 40th anniversary of Ghana's independence: "Africa must unite. This was the title of one of Kwame Nkrumah's books. That call is more urgent today than ever before. Together, we the peoples of Africa will be incomparably stronger internationally than we are now with our multiplicity of unviable states. The needs of our separate countries can be, and are being ignored by the rich and powerful. The result is that Africa is marginalised. ... Unity will not make us rich, but it can make it difficult for Africa and the African peoples to be disregarded and humiliated. ... My generation led Africa to political freedom. The current generation of leaders and peoples of Africa must pick up the flickering torch of African freedom, refuel it with their enthusiasm and determination, and carry it forward."

Nov. 1997 Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro visits Ethiopia - the first Italian leader to do so since the occupation - and expresses his country's regret over the 1936 invasion and five-year occupation of Ethiopia. He describes the occupation as a "mistake" and acknowledged his country's "mistakes and guilt" for attacking Ethiopia and violating the human rights of its people.

Aug. 1998 Thabo Mbeki, Deputy President of South Africa, makes a call for African Renascence. In a series of historic documents and speeches across the continent, Mbeki says that economic growth and political order in Africa are dependent on the restoration of African self-esteem, and "the rebirth of Africa and its diaspora" which will be brought about by the "rediscovery of our soul", captured and made permanently available in the great works of African creativity, including Africa's ancient civilisations, African music and African art.

 

Below: 2000 CE to Present

July 2002 African Union is formed, making Africa a unified political federation for the first time in many centuries, with Addis Ababa as the capital city. Amara Essy become the Chair of the African Union Commission in charge of overseeing the transition. The Union was envisioned as a sovereign state consisting of autonomous political entities with a progressive understanding of human and people's rights. Moreover, the African Union was formed as a defensive response to the persistent marginalization of African peoples by an indifferent and predatory international regime.

July 2003 Alpha Oumar Konare, a professor of African history, is elected Chair of the African Union Commission, during the AU Summit of Heads of State and Government at Maputo in Mozambique. Joaquim Chissano, president of Mozambique replaces Thabo Mbeki as Chair of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.

Dec 2003 Pan African Parliament is ratified. Elections of parliamentary representatives begin (five for each constituent state of the African Union).     

March 18, 2004 Inaugural Session of African Parliament is held at Addis Abeba. The parliament elects Gertrude Ibengwe Mongella president. Mongella becomes the first female head-of-state of the unified Africa.   

[Troy]

Thanking for sharing this timeline.

 

The Greeks did not hide the source of their knowledge.  That came later by others.

 

This is a snapshot of the domain from December 2009, is it the same site?  It does not appear to be.  If it isn't, it is curious the Internet Archive does not have a snapshot the original site prior to 2004.

 

The timeline deserves to be in a book (I'd be surprised if it isn't).  It would be great to juxtapose what was happening in Europe concurrently. The migration of homo sapiens out of Africa populating the rest of the planet should have been included.

 

Also check out the TIMELINE OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA 1501-1865

[Mel Hopkins]

On 5/20/2023 at 9:13 PM, Troy said:

The timeline deserves to be in a book (I'd be surprised if it isn't). 

I’m considering creating a book to make it easier to share.

 

I couldn’t pull up the archived version of the former website.  I remember the timeline had it’s own printable pages.  
 

In other news, so glad aalbc is back - This website is a national treasure!

[Mel Hopkins]

@Troy Maybe godaddy doesn’t like this history

[Troy]

Sorry @Mel Hopkins I meant to post a link to the Internet Archive's snapshot of https://africanfront.com/ (it is not a GoDaddy issue this time. When I looked at in on Saturday it only went back to 2009.  Today is goes back to 2001 (weird), which means we may be able to find out who created this timeline, if we know where they put it.

 

[Mel Hopkins]

45 minutes ago, Troy said:

--I meant to post a link to the Internet Archive's snapshot of https://africanfront.com/ (it is not a GoDaddy issue this time. When I looked at in on Saturday it only went back to 2009.  Today is goes back to 2001 (weird), which means we may be able to find out who created this timeline, if we know where they put it.

@Troy, You rock! I had the page link, so when you pointed to the Wayback machine - I posted the page link to the calendar! I couldn't find out who compiled the history, but I did see they completed it on February 12, 2004!  - https://web.archive.org/web/20040212225207/http://www.africanfront.com/calendar.php

[Pioneer1]

Mel 

Thank you for that valuable jewel!

[Mel Hopkins]

21 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

Thank you for that valuable jewel!

You're welcome!