Fertile Crescent :
195-765: Europe : Africa : Siberia : The Soanian culture is a prehistoric technological culture from the Siwalik Hills , Pakistan . It is named after the Soan Valley in Pakistan . Soanian sites are found along the Siwalik region in present-day India , Nepal and Pakistan . The Soanian culture has been approximated to have occurred during the Middle Pleistocene period or the mid-Holocene epoch ( Northgrippian ). Debates still go on today regarding
390-512: A Persian prince from Shiraz arrived and acquired the island of Kilwa from the local inhabitants, before quarrel with the Bantu king led to the severing Kilwa's land bridge to the mainland. Settlements in northern Madagascar such as Mahilaka [ de ] , Irodo , and Iharana also engaged in the trade, attracting Arab immigration. Bantu migrated to Madagascar and the Comoros from
585-702: A Roman civil war , which ultimately led to its conquest by Rome in 30 BC. The Crisis of the Third Century in the Roman Empire freed the Levantine city state of Palmyra who conquered Egypt , however their rule lasted only a few years before Egypt was reintegrated into the Roman Empire . In the midst of this, Kush regained total independence from Egypt, and they would persist as a major regional power until, having been weakened from internal rebellion amid worsening climatic conditions, invasions by both
780-568: A coup d'état in 522 brought Dhu Nuwas back to power who again began persecuting Christians . The Aksumites invaded again in 525, and with Byzantine aid conquered the kingdom, incorporating it as a vassal state after some minor internal conflict . In the late 6th century the Aksumites were driven out of Yemen by the Himyarite king with the aid of the Sassanids . Further north-west,
975-590: A power vacuum in North Africa. The Zengid dynasty , nominally under Seljuk suzerainty , invaded on the pretext of defending Egypt from the Christians, and usurped the position of vizier in the caliphate. Following the assassination of the previous holder, the position of vizier passed onto Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (commonly referred to as Saladin). After a joint Zengid - Fatimid effort repelled
1170-644: A revival in pyramid-building . After a century of rule they were forcibly driven out of Egypt by the Assyrians as reprisal for the Kushites agitating peoples within the Assyrian Empire in an attempt to gain a foothold in the region. The Assyrians installed a puppet dynasty which later gained independence and once more unified Egypt , with Upper Egypt becoming a rich agricultural region whose produce Lower Egypt then sold and traded. In 525 BC Egypt
1365-489: A wet period in the Sahel opened areas for human habitation and exploitation which had not been habitable for the better part of a millennium. Based on large tumuli scattered across West Africa dating to this period, it has been proposed that there were several contemporaneous kingdoms which have unfortunately been lost to history. Some important polities likely founded in the early-to-middle 1st millennium who did make it into
1560-784: A writing system was adapted or developed ; for example the oral recordation of the Kouroukan Fouga in the Mali Empire while having adapted the Arabic script to be used in scholarly pursuits . Many kingdoms and empires came and went in all regions of the continent . Most states were created through conquest or the borrowing and assimilation of ideas and institutions , while some developed through internal, largely isolated development. Some African empires and hegemonic kingdoms include Ghana , Mali, Songhai , Ife , Oyo , Bamana/Ségou , Asante , Massina , Sokoto , and
1755-1045: A 2017 study to be between 350 and 260,000 years ago, compatible with the estimated age of early H. sapiens . The study states that the deep split-time estimation of 350 to 260 thousand years ago is consistent with the archaeological estimate for the onset of the Middle Stone Age across sub-Saharan Africa and coincides with archaic H. sapiens in southern Africa represented by, for example, the Florisbad skull dating to 259 (± 35) thousand years ago. H. s. idaltu , found at Middle Awash in Ethiopia, lived about 160,000 years ago, and H. sapiens lived at Omo Kibish in Ethiopia about 233,000-195,000 years ago. Two fossils from Guomde, Kenya, dated to at least (and likely more than) 180,000 years ago and (more precisely) to 300–270,000 years ago, have been tentatively assigned to H. sapiens and similarities have been noted between them and
1950-463: A comparatively homogeneous single species of H. sapiens from more diverse varieties of archaic humans (all of which were descended from the early dispersal of H. erectus some 1.8 million years ago) was debated in terms of two competing models during the 1980s: " recent African origin " postulated the emergence of H. sapiens from a single source population in Africa, which expanded and led to
2145-475: A complex behavioural system. This method entails carefully surveying and recording artifacts along vast regions, seeking to understand the spatial relationship each lithic culture has with one another. This form of observation has allowed scholars to observe the relations of the emergence of specific tools to specific geographical contexts. Hundreds of edged pebble tools were discovered at Adiala and Khasala Kalan , about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Rawalpindi terrace on
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#17327720179242340-840: A conditional alliance to counter Damot , with Shewa at times forced to pay tribute to the pagans. In the 13th century the Ajuran clan established the Ajuran Sultanate on the eastern coast of the Horn and expanded, conquering the Tunni and vassalising Mogadishu , coming to dominate the Indian Ocean trade , while the Warsangali clan formed the Warsangali Sultanate on the Horn's north-eastern coast. The turn of
2535-468: A convention popular in the 1990s, Neanderthals were classified as a subspecies of H. sapiens , as H. s. neanderthalensis , while AMH (or European early modern humans , EEMH) was taken to refer to " Cro-Magnon " or H. s. sapiens . Under this nomenclature (Neanderthals considered H. sapiens ), the term "anatomically modern Homo sapiens " (AMHS) has also been used to refer to EEMH ("Cro-Magnons"). It has since become more common to designate Neanderthals as
2730-690: A devastating ambush crippled their military leadership, and throughout the 12th century they gradually lost territory to the Christians. To the east, the Fatimids saw their empire start to collapse in 1061, beginning with the loss of the holy cities to the Sharifate of Mecca and exacerbated by rebellion in Cairo . The Seljuk Turks , who saw themselves as the guardian of the Abbasid Caliphate , capitalised and conquered much of their territories in
2925-454: A heavy tax. The Exarchate of Africa covered much of Ifriqiya and the eastern Maghreb , surrounded by numerous Berber kingdoms that followed Christianity heavily syncretised with traditional Berber religion . The interior was dominated by various groupings of tribal confederations, namely the nomadic Zenata , the Masmuda of Sanhaja in modern-day Morocco , and the other two Sanhaja in
3120-406: A higher forehead, and reduced brow ridge . Early modern people and some living people do however have quite pronounced brow ridges, but they differ from those of archaic forms by having both a supraorbital foramen or notch, forming a groove through the ridge above each eye. This splits the ridge into a central part and two distal parts. In current humans, often only the central section of the ridge
3315-437: A major activity in the numerous streams and lakes formed from the increased rains. Mande peoples have been credited with the independent development of agriculture about 4000–3000 BC. Evidence of the early smelting of metals – lead , copper , and bronze – dates from the fourth millennium BC. Egyptians smelted copper during the predynastic period , and bronze came into use after 3,000 BC at
3510-574: A marked increase in the diversity of artifacts found were associated with modern human remains. The Soanian culture is in the Western part of the Sub-Himalayan terrain, stretching between the river Indus and Yamuna . This area is the primary producer of Soanian artifacts. This technological culture has been correlated to the prehistoric geographical changes in the region that allowed prehistoric humans easy access to raw materials. This view
3705-578: A millennium, with Punt exchanging gold , aromatic resins , blackwood , ebony , ivory and wild animals. Towards the end of the ancient period, northern Ethiopia and Eritrea bore the Kingdom of D'mt beginning in 980 BC, whose people developed irrigation schemes, used ploughs , grew millet , and made iron tools and weapons . In modern-day Somalia and Djibouti there was the Macrobian Kingdom , with archaeological discoveries indicating
3900-670: A monopoly on Indian Ocean trade in the region. Aksum's rise had them rule over much of the regions from the Lake Tana to the valley of the Nile , and they further conquered parts of the ailing Kingdom of Kush , led campaigns against the Noba and Beja peoples, and expanded into South Arabia . This led the Persian prophet Mani to consider Aksum as one of the four great powers of the 3rd century alongside Persia , Rome , and China . In
4095-503: A number of physiological details which can be taken as reliably differentiating the physiology of Neanderthals vs. anatomically modern humans. The term "anatomically modern humans" (AMH) is used with varying scope depending on context, to distinguish "anatomically modern" Homo sapiens from archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Middle and Lower Paleolithic hominins with transitional features intermediate between H. erectus , Neanderthals and early AMH called archaic Homo sapiens . In
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#17327720179244290-754: A process of deurbanization of the Harappan culture, where they began to decrease in size, turning into smaller village-type settlements. In a broader geographical context, Soanian culture is one of many different lithic cultures in Southeast Asia that are abundantly available in Sub-Himalayas. Many unifacial flake tools belonging to the Hoabinhians are discovered near Soanian sites. These tools are also found throughout Nepal , South China, Taiwan and Australia . Another prominent lithic culture in
4485-486: A separate species, H. neanderthalensis , so that AMH in the European context refers to H. sapiens , but the question is by no means resolved. In this more narrow definition of H. sapiens , the subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu , discovered in 2003, also falls under the umbrella of "anatomically modern". The recognition of H. sapiens idaltu as a valid subspecies of the anatomically modern human lineage would justify
4680-650: A series of crucial victories and expanded rapidly, forcing the Byzantines to evacuate Syria. With Byzantine regional presence shattered, Egypt was quickly conquered by 642, with the Egyptian Copts odious of Byzantine rule generally putting up little resistance. The Muslims' attention then turned west to the Maghreb where the Exarchate of Africa had declared independence from Constantinople under Gregory
4875-508: A smaller, more receded dentary, making the rest of the jaw-line stand out, giving an often quite prominent chin. The central part of the mandible forming the chin carries a triangularly shaped area forming the apex of the chin called the mental trigon , not found in archaic humans. Particularly in living populations, the use of fire and tools requires fewer jaw muscles, giving slender, more gracile jaws. Compared to archaic people, modern humans have smaller, lower faces. The body skeletons of even
5070-576: A study published in 2020, there are indications that 2% to 19% (or about ≃6.6 and ≃7.0%) of the DNA of four West African populations may have come from an unknown archaic hominin which split from the ancestor of humans and Neanderthals between 360 kya to 1.02 mya. Generally, modern humans are more lightly built (or more "gracile") than the more "robust" archaic humans . Nevertheless, contemporary humans exhibit high variability in many physiological traits , and may exhibit remarkable "robustness". There are still
5265-498: A virtual skull shape of the last common human ancestor to modern humans/ H. sapiens , representative of the earliest modern humans, and suggested that modern humans arose between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations in East and South Africa while North-African fossils may represent a population which introgressed into Neandertals during the LMP. According to
5460-694: Is associated with the African megadroughts during MIS 5 , beginning 130,000 years ago. A 2011 study located the origin of basal population of contemporary human populations at 130,000 years ago, with the Khoi-San representing an "ancestral population cluster" located in southwestern Africa (near the coastal border of Namibia and Angola ). While early modern human expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa before 130 kya persisted, early expansion to North Africa and Asia appears to have mostly disappeared by
5655-484: Is estimated as having taken place over 500,000 years ago (marking the split of the H. sapiens lineage from ancestors shared with other known archaic hominins). But the oldest split among modern human populations (such as the Khoisan split from other groups) has been recently dated to between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago, and the earliest known examples of H. sapiens fossils also date to about that period, including
5850-528: Is estimated that Africa had up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups having distinct languages and customs , with most following traditional religions . From the 7th century CE, Islam spread west amid the Arab conquest of North Africa , and by proselytization to the Horn of Africa. It later spread southwards to the Swahili coast assisted by Muslim dominance of the Indian Ocean trade , and from
6045-553: Is evidence that the characteristic human brain development, especially the prefrontal cortex, was due to "an exceptional acceleration of metabolome evolution ... paralleled by a drastic reduction in muscle strength. The observed rapid metabolic changes in brain and muscle, together with the unique human cognitive skills and low muscle performance, might reflect parallel mechanisms in human evolution." The Schöningen spears and their correlation of finds are evidence that complex technological skills already existed 300,000 years ago, and are
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6240-434: Is famous for rectangular slabs of ochre engraved with geometric designs. Using multiple dating techniques, the site was confirmed to be around 77,000 and 100–75,000 years old. Ostrich egg shell containers engraved with geometric designs dating to 60,000 years ago were found at Diepkloof , South Africa. Beads and other personal ornamentation have been found from Morocco which might be as much as 130,000 years old; as well,
6435-535: Is of the order of about 1% to 4% in Europeans and East Asians, and highest among Melanesians (the last also having Denisova hominin admixture at 4% to 6% in addition to neanderthal admixture). Cumulatively, about 20% of the Neanderthal genome is estimated to remain present spread in contemporary populations. In September 2019, scientists reported the computerized determination, based on 260 CT scans , of
6630-541: Is often hypothesized to have resulted from boulder conglomerate formation in the Siwalik region between 0.7 to 1.7 million years ago. These formations are collections of large rocks made of small fragments that have been deposed through tectonic processes. They can look like levitated ranges or hills. The tectonic process also formed rivers and fluvial systems that carried and collected raw materials, such as distal alluvial fans and proximal-distal braided stream systems. In
6825-493: Is particularly true of the various cultures and dynasties of Ancient Egypt and of Nubia . From around 3500 BC, a coalition of Horus -worshipping nomes in the western Nile Delta conquered the Andjety -worshipping nomes of the east to form Lower Egypt , whilst Set -worshipping nomes in the south coalesced to form Upper Egypt . Egypt was first united when Narmer of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt , giving rise to
7020-477: Is preserved (if it is preserved at all). This contrasts with archaic humans, where the brow ridge is pronounced and unbroken. Modern humans commonly have a steep, even vertical forehead whereas their predecessors had foreheads that sloped strongly backwards. According to Desmond Morris , the vertical forehead in humans plays an important role in human communication through eyebrow movements and forehead skin wrinkling. Brain size in both Neanderthals and AMH
7215-521: Is significantly larger on average (but overlapping in range) than brain size in H. erectus . Neanderthal and AMH brain sizes are in the same range, but there are differences in the relative sizes of individual brain areas, with significantly larger visual systems in Neanderthals than in AMH. Compared to archaic people, anatomically modern humans have smaller, differently shaped teeth. This results in
7410-415: Is sometimes mythical and social, and truth generally viewed as relativist . Oral tradition can be exoteric or esoteric . It speaks to people according to their understanding, unveiling itself in accordance with their aptitudes, and is not always to be taken literally. The first known hominids evolved in Africa. According to paleontology , the early hominids' skull anatomy was similar to that of
7605-445: Is taken to reflect a process towards a smaller and more fine-boned skeleton beginning around 50,000–30,000 years ago. The cranium lacks a pronounced occipital bun in the neck, a bulge that anchored considerable neck muscles in Neanderthals. Modern humans, even the earlier ones, generally have a larger fore-brain than the archaic people, so that the brain sits above rather than behind the eyes. This will usually (though not always) give
7800-846: Is useful especially for times and regions where anatomically modern and archaic humans co-existed, for example, in Paleolithic Europe . Among the oldest known remains of Homo sapiens are those found at the Omo-Kibish I archaeological site in south-western Ethiopia , dating to about 233,000 to 196,000 years ago, the Florisbad site in South Africa, dating to about 259,000 years ago, and the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco, dated about 315,000 years ago. Extinct species of
7995-665: The 11th dynasty conquered all of Egypt to form the Middle Kingdom in 2055 BC. The 12th dynasty oversaw advancements in irrigation and economic expansion in the Faiyum Oasis , as well as expansion into Lower Nubia at the expense of Kerma . In 1700 BC, Egypt fractured in two, ushering in the Second Intermediate Period . The Hyksos , a militaristic people from Palestine , capitalised on this fragmentation and conquered Lower Egypt, establishing
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8190-580: The 15th dynasty of Egypt , whilst Kerma coordinated invasions deep into Egypt to reach its greatest extent, looting royal statues and monuments. A rival power base developed in Thebes with Ahmose I of the 18th dynasty eventually expelling the Hyksos from Egypt, forming the New Kingdom in 1550 BC. Utilising the military technology the Hyksos had brought, they conducted numerous campaigns to conquer
8385-631: The 1st and 2nd dynasties of Egypt whose efforts presumably consisted of conquest and consolidation, with unification completed by the 3rd dynasty to form the Old Kingdom of Egypt in 2686 BC. The Kingdom of Kerma emerged around this time to become the dominant force in Nubia, controlling an area as large as Egypt between the 1st and 4th cataracts of the Nile , with Egyptian records speaking of its rich and populous agricultural regions. The height of
8580-635: The Aghlabids controlling Ifriqiya under only nominal Abbasid rule and in 868 when the Tulunids wrestled the independence of Egypt for four decades before again coming under Abbasid control. Late in the 9th century, a revolt by East African slaves in the Abbasid's homeland of Iraq diverted its resources away from its other territories, devastating important ports in the Persian Gulf , and
8775-729: The Aksumites and the Noba caused their disintegration into Makuria , Alodia , and Nobatia in the 5th century AD. The Romans managed to hold on to Egypt for the rest of the ancient period. In the Horn of Africa there was the Land of Punt , a kingdom on the Red Sea , likely located in modern-day Eritrea or northern Somaliland . The Ancient Egyptians initially traded via middle-men with Punt until in 2350 BC when they established direct relations. They would become close trading partners for over
8970-782: The Barghawata of Masmuda , the Ifranid dynasty , and the Midrarid dynasty , both from the Zenata . The Idrisid dynasty would come to rule most of modern-day Morocco with the support of the Masmuda , whilst the growing Ibadi movement among the Zenata culminated in the Rustamid Imamate , centred on Tahert , modern-day Algeria . At the turn of the 9th century the Abbasids' sphere of influence would degrade further with
9165-418: The Comoros . This second wave possibly found the island of Madagascar sparsely populated by descendants of the first wave a few centuries earlier, with the Vazimba of the interior's highlands being revered and featuring prominently in Malagasy oral traditions . The wider region underwent a trade expansion from the 7th century, as the Swahili engaged in the flourishing Indian Ocean trade following
9360-419: The Ekoi civilisation rose circa 2nd century AD, and are most notable for constructing the Ikom monoliths and developing the Nsibidi script . The turn of the 7th century saw much of North Africa controlled by the Byzantine Empire . Christianity was the state religion of the empire, and Semitic and Coptic subjects in Roman Egypt faced persecution due to their 'heretical' Miaphysite churches, paying
9555-410: The First Punic War began when Carthage came into conflict with the expansionary Roman Republic on the island of Sicily , leading to what has been described as the greatest naval war of antiquity, causing heavy casualties on both sides, but ending in Carthage's eventual defeat and loss of Sicily. The Second Punic War broke out when the Romans opportunistically took Sardinia and Corsica whilst
9750-448: The Ghana Empire to control the affluent trans-Saharan trade routes in the Western Sahara , forming the Almoravid empire before conquering Maghrawa and intervening in the reconquest of Iberia by the Christian powers on the side of the endangered Muslim taifas , which were produced from the fall of the remnant Umayyad Caliphate in Cordoba . The Almoravids incorporated the taifas into their empire, enjoying initial success, until
9945-404: The Hafsids of Masmuda in modern-day Tunisia , before finally being extinguished in 1269. Meanwhile, after defeating the Christians' Fifth Crusade in 1221, internal divisions involving Saladin's descendants appeared within the Ayyubid dynasty , crippling the empire's unity. In the face of Mongol expansion , the Ayyubids became increasingly reliant on Mamluk generals. At the end of
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#173277201792410140-433: The Harappan civilization near the Indus alluvial plain. Its artifacts are often found near those of Acheulian culture , which is a Homo erectus culture that took place around the same sub-Himalayan culture zone. There is currently no evidence of the two cultures ever crossing paths and is believed to have existed in different timeframes. There are currently two main interpretations of the prehistoric timeframe occupied by
10335-441: The Jebel Irhoud remains from Morocco (ca. 300,000 or 350–280,000 years ago), the Florisbad Skull from South Africa (ca. 259,000 years ago), and the Omo remains from Ethiopia (ca. 195,000, or, as more recently dated, ca. 233,000 years ago). An mtDNA study in 2019 proposed an origin of modern humans in Botswana (and a Khoisan split) of around 200,000 years. However, this proposal has been widely criticized by scholars, with
10530-426: The Jugurtha to the Romans. At the turn of the millennium they both would face the same fate as Carthage and be conquered by the Romans who established Mauretania and Numidia as provinces of their empire, whilst Musulamii , led by Tacfarinas , and Garamantes were eventually defeated in war in the 1st century AD however weren't conquered. In the 5th century AD the Vandals conquered north Africa precipitating
10725-432: The Khurasanid dynasty and Arab tribes ruling Ifriqiya , to be later displaced by the Norman Kingdom of Africa . In the late 10th and early 11th centuries the Fatimids would lose the Maghreb to the Hammadids in modern-day Algeria and the Maghrawa in modern-day Morocco , both from Zenata . In 1053 the Saharan Sanhaja , spurred on by puritanical Sunni Islam , conquered Sijilmasa and captured Aoudaghost from
10920-490: The Levant from the Canaanites , Amorites , Hittites , and Mitanni , and extinguish Kerma , incorporating Nubia into the empire, sending the Egyptian empire into its golden age. Internal struggles, drought and famine, and invasions by a confederation of seafaring peoples , contributed to the New Kingdom 's collapse in 1069 BC, ushering in the Third Intermediate Period which saw Egypt fractured into many pieces amid widespread turmoil. Egypt's disintegration liberated
11115-575: The Maghreb and Ifriqiya were mostly cut off from the cradle of civilisation in Egypt by the Libyan desert , exacerbated by Egyptian boats being tailored to the Nile and not coping well in the open Mediterranean Sea . This caused its societies to develop contiguous to those of Southern Europe , until Phoenician settlements came to dominate the most lucrative trading locations in the Gulf of Tunis , initially searching for sources of metal . Phoenician settlements subsequently grew into Ancient Carthage after gaining independence from Phoenicia in
11310-539: The Maghreb traversing the Sahara into the western Sahel and Sudan , catalysed by the Fula jihads in the 18th and 19th centuries. Systems of servitude and slavery were historically widespread and commonplace in parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient and medieval world . When the trans-Saharan , Red Sea , Indian Ocean and Atlantic slave trades began, many of the pre-existing local slave systems started supplying captives for slave markets outside Africa, creating various diasporas , especially in
11505-401: The Mesolithic and the Neolithic , due to increased selection pressures and due to founder effects associated with migration . Alleles predictive of light skin have been found in Neanderthals , but the alleles for light skin in Europeans and East Asians, associated with KITLG and ASIP , are (as of 2012 ) thought to have not been acquired by archaic admixture but recent mutations since
11700-478: The Old Kingdom came under the 4th dynasty who constructed numerous great pyramids , however under the 6th dynasty of Egypt power began to decentralise to the nomarchs , culminating in anarchy exacerbated by drought and famine in 2200 BC, and the onset of the First Intermediate Period in which numerous nomarchs ruled simultaneously. Throughout this time, power bases were built and destroyed in Memphis , and in Heracleopolis , when Mentuhotep II of Thebes and
11895-419: The Old Testament . Meanwhile during the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries Islam spread through the Somali Peninsula , largely via da'wah . The Harla Kingdom of Hubat also converted to Islam circa 700. The Somalis were organised into various clans , and relations with Arabs led tradition to hold their lineages to Samaale , Daarood or Sheikh Ishaaq , traditionally descendants of Muhammad's cousins . To
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#173277201792412090-642: The Omo remains from Ethiopia ( c. 233,000 years ago ). Scientists have suggested that Homo sapiens may have arisen between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations in East Africa and South Africa . Evidence of a variety of behaviors indicative of Behavioral modernity date to the African Middle Stone Age , associated with early Homo sapiens and their emergence. Abstract imagery, widened subsistence strategies, and other "modern" behaviors have been discovered from that period in Africa, especially South, North, and East Africa. The Blombos Cave site in South Africa, for example,
12285-463: The Romans established the province of Africa , with Numidia assuming control of many of Carthage's African ports. Towards the end of the 2nd century BC Mauretania fought alongside Numidia's Jugurtha in the Jugurthine War against the Romans after he had usurped the Numidian throne from a Roman ally. Together they inflicted heavy casualties that quaked the Roman Senate , with the war only ending inconclusively when Mauretania's Bocchus I sold out
12480-488: The Sao civilisation flourished for over a millennium beginning in the 6th century BC, in territory that later became part of present-day Cameroon and Chad . Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze , copper , and iron , with finds including bronze sculptures, terracotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewellery, highly decorated pottery, and spears. Nearby, around Lake Ejagham in south-west Cameroon ,
12675-405: The Siwalik Hills first caught the interest of archaeologists and palaeontologists in the early 1800s when the Miocene age fossil apes were uncovered. This led to Western scholar's interest in exploring the region for potential pre-historic cultural artifacts. The first official discovery of lithic artifacts in the Western Sub-Himalaya zone was reported in 1880 by Theobald W in a report titled: “On
12870-462: The Syrian Wars with the Seleucid Empire , the Ptolemaic Kingdom lost its holdings outside Africa, but expanded its territory by conquering Cyrenaica from its respective tribes, and subjugated Kush . Beginning in the mid second century BC, dynastic strife and a series of foreign wars weakened the kingdom, and it became increasingly reliant on the Roman Republic . Under Cleopatra VII , who sought to restore Ptolemaic power, Egypt became entangled in
13065-536: The Toucouleur in West Africa; Ancient Egypt, Kush, Carthage, the Fatimids , Almoravids , Almohads , Ayyubids , and Mamluks in North Africa; Aksum , Ethiopia , Adal , Kitara , Kilwa , and Imerina in East Africa; Kanem-Bornu , Kongo , Mwene Muji , Luba , Lunda , and Utetera in Central Africa; and Mapungubwe , Zimbabwe , Mutapa , Rozvi , Maravi , Mthwakazi , and Zulu in Southern Africa. Some societies are heterarchical and egalitarian , while others remained organised into chiefdoms . At its peak it
13260-453: The Zirids . From there they conquered up to modern-day Syria and Hejaz , securing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina . The Fatimids became absorbed by the eastern realms of their empire, and in 972, after encouragement from faqirs , the Zirids changed their allegiance to recognise the Abbasid Caliphate . In retaliation the Fatimids commissioned an invasion by nomadic Arab tribes to punish them, leading to their disintegration with
13455-459: The brain case is quite rounded and distinct from that of the Neanderthals and is similar to the brain case of modern humans. It is uncertain whether the robust traits of some of the early modern humans like Skhul V reflects mixed ancestry or retention of older traits. The "gracile" or lightly built skeleton of anatomically modern humans has been connected to a change in behavior, including increased cooperation and "resource transport". There
13650-690: The early Muslim conquests . Settlements further centralised and some major states included Gedi , Ungwana [de] , Pate , Malindi , Mombasa , and Tanga in the north, Unguja Ukuu on Zanzibar , Kaole , Dar es Salaam , Kilwa , Kiswere [ de ] , Monapo , Mozambique , and Angoche in the middle, and Quelimane , Sofala , Chibuene , and Inhambane in the south. Via mtumbwi [ uk ] , mtepe and later ngalawa they exported gold , iron , copper , ivory , slaves , pottery , cotton cloth , wood , grain , and rice , and imported silk , glassware , jewellery , Islamic pottery , and Chinese porcelain . Relations between
13845-413: The fall of Rome . Swathes of indigenous peoples would regain self-governance in the Mauro-Roman Kingdom and its numerous successor polities in the Maghreb, namely the kingdoms of Ouarsenis , Aurès , and Altava . The Vandals ruled Ifriqiya for a century until Byzantine reconquest in the early 6th century AD. The Byzantines and the Berber kingdoms fought minor inconsequential conflicts, such as in
14040-496: The gorilla and the chimpanzee , great apes that also evolved in Africa, but the hominids had adopted a bipedal locomotion which freed their hands. This gave them a crucial advantage, enabling them to live in both forested areas and on the open savanna at a time when Africa was drying up and the savanna was encroaching on forested areas. This would have occurred 10 to 5 million years ago, but these claims are controversial because biologists and genetics have humans appearing around
14235-433: The island's estuaries , with oral histories describing bloody clashes and earlier settlers often pushed along the coast or inland. An Arab geographer wrote in 1224 that the island consisted of a great many towns and kingdoms, with kings making war on each other. Assisted by climate change, the peoples gradually transformed the island from dense forest to grassland for cultivation and zebu pastoralism . Oral traditions of
14430-603: The lipid catabolic process . A 2017 study found correlation of Neanderthal admixture in phenotypic traits in modern European populations. Physiological or phenotypical changes have been traced to Upper Paleolithic mutations, such as the East Asian variant of the EDAR gene, dated to c. 35,000 years ago. Recent divergence of Eurasian lineages was sped up significantly during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM),
14625-599: The mid-Holocene global arid phase, when water supply starts to dry up across the globe, the Harappans who were originally around the Indus Valley mostly shifted to the sub-Himalayas in search of water sources. This led to a diminishing of the broad trading system of resources within the civilization, including materials like metal. As a result, Harappans started to manufacture tools using stones that were later discovered to be Soanian tools. This period has been viewed as
14820-850: The recent "out of Africa" migration , likely between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago. Recent admixture analyses have added to the complexity, finding that Eastern Neanderthals derive up to 2% of their ancestry from anatomically modern humans who left Africa some 100 kya . The extent of Neanderthal admixture (and introgression of genes acquired by admixture) varies significantly between contemporary racial groups, being absent in Africans, intermediate in Europeans and highest in East Asians. Certain genes related to UV-light adaptation introgressed from Neanderthals have been found to have been selected for in East Asians specifically from 45,000 years ago until around 5,000 years ago. The extent of archaic admixture
15015-452: The wider Red Sea trade and transported their cargo via beden , exporting myrrh , frankincense , spices , gum , incense , and ivory , with freedom from Roman interference causing Indians to give the cities a lucrative monopoly on cinnamon from ancient India . The Kingdom of Aksum grew from a principality into a major power on the trade route between Rome and India through conquering its unfortunately unknown neighbours, gaining
15210-985: The 11th millennium BP , pottery was independently invented in Africa, with the earliest pottery there dating to about 9,400 BC from central Mali. It soon spread throughout the southern Sahara and Sahel . In the steppes and savannahs of the Sahara and Sahel in Northern West Africa, the Nilo-Saharan speakers and Mandé peoples started to collect and domesticate wild millet, African rice and sorghum between 8000 and 6000 BC. Later, gourds , watermelons , castor beans , and cotton were also collected and domesticated. The people started capturing wild cattle and holding them in circular thorn hedges, resulting in domestication . They also started making pottery and built stone settlements (e.g., Tichitt , Oualata ). Fishing , using bone-tipped harpoons , became
15405-474: The 1980s all extant groups have tended to be subsumed into a single species, H. sapiens , avoiding division into subspecies altogether. Some sources show Neanderthals ( H. neanderthalensis ) as a subspecies ( H. sapiens neanderthalensis ). Similarly, the discovered specimens of the H. rhodesiensis species have been classified by some as a subspecies ( H. sapiens rhodesiensis ), although it remains more common to treat these last two as separate species within
15600-507: The 1st century AD, and formed various city states which traded via the Indian Ocean trade , constituting the Swahili civilisation . Madagascar was possibly first settled by Austronesians from 350 BC-550 AD, termed the Vazimba in Malagasy oral traditions, although there is considerable academic debate. The eastern Bantu group would eventually meet with the southern migrants from
15795-608: The 1st century AD, forming the Gokomere culture in the 5th century AD. The second thrust from the Great Lakes was eastward, also in the 1st century AD, expanding to Kenya , Tanzania , and the Swahili coast . Prior to this migration, the northern part of the Swahili coast was home to the elusive Azania , most likely a Southern Cushitic polity, extending southwards to modern-day Tanzania . The Bantu populations crowded out Azania , with Rhapta being its last stronghold by
15990-504: The 1st millennium BC iron working had reached Northwestern Africa , Egypt, and Nubia. Zangato and Holl document evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African Republic and Cameroon that may date back to 3,000 to 2,500 BC. Assyrians using iron weapons pushed Nubians out of Egypt in 670 BC, after which the use of iron became widespread in the Nile valley. The theory that iron spread to Sub-Saharan Africa via
16185-689: The 2010s with the discovery of admixture events ( introgression ) of populations of H. sapiens with populations of archaic humans over the period of between roughly 100,000 and 30,000 years ago, both in Eurasia and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Neanderthal admixture , in the range of 1–4%, is found in all modern populations outside of Africa, including in Europeans, Asians, Papua New Guineans, Australian Aboriginals, Native Americans, and other non-Africans. This suggests that interbreeding between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans took place after
16380-818: The 3rd millennium BC. Iron smelting developed in the area between Lake Chad and the African Great Lakes between 1,000 and 600 BC, and in West Africa around 2,000 BC, long before the technology reached Egypt. Before 500 BC, the Nok culture in the Jos Plateau was already smelting iron. Archaeological sites containing iron-smelting furnaces and slag have been excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria in Igboland : dating to 2,000 BC at
16575-494: The 4th century AD Aksum's king converted to Christianity and Aksum's population, who had followed syncretic mixes of local beliefs , slowly followed. In the early 6th century AD, Cosmas Indicopleustes later described his visit to the city of Aksum , mentioning rows of throne monuments, some made out of "excellent white marble" and "entirely...hewn out of a single block of stone" , with large inscriptions attributed to various kings, likely serving as victory monuments documenting
16770-751: The 4th millennium BC the Congo Basin was inhabited by the Bambenga , Bayaka , Bakoya , and Babongo in the west, the Bambuti in the east , and the Batwa who were widely scattered and also present in the Great Lakes region ; together they are grouped as Pygmies . On the later-named Swahili coast there were Cushitic -speaking peoples, and the Khoisan (a neologism for the Khoekhoe and San ) in
16965-681: The 6th century BC, and they would build an extensive empire , countering Greek influence in the Mediterranean , as well as a strict mercantile network reaching as far as west Asia and northern Europe , distributing an array of commodities from all over the ancient world along with locally produced goods, all secured by one of the largest and most powerful navies in the ancient Mediterranean . Carthage's political institutions received rare praise from both Greeks and Romans, with its constitution and aristocratic council providing stability, with birth and wealth paramount for election. In 264 BC
17160-587: The 6th century, the Kingdom of Aksum ruled over much of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea , with the Harla Kingdom to its east, while ancient Somali city-states such as Mosylon , Opone , Sarapion , Avalites , and Aromata on the Somali Peninsula continued to thrive off of the lucrative Indian Ocean trade and their preferential relations with India. Following the birth of Islam in
17355-608: The 740s the Berber Revolt rocked the caliphate and the Berbers took control over the Maghreb, whilst revolts in Ifriqiya were suppressed. The Abbasid dynasty came to power via revolution in 750 and attempted to reconfigure the caliphate to be multi-ethnic rather than Arab exclusive, however this wasn't enough to prevent gradual disintegration on its peripheries. Various short-lived native dynasties would form states such as
17550-549: The 7th century AD, Bantu spread to the Upemba Depression , forming the Upemba culture [ es ] . During the 1st millennium BC the Bantu spread further from the Great Lakes to Southern and East Africa. One early movement headed south to the upper Zambezi basin in the 2nd century BC. The Bantu then split westward to the savannahs of present-day Angola and eastward into Malawi , Zambia , and Zimbabwe in
17745-516: The 7th century saw the Swahili coast continue to be inhabited by the Swahili civilisation , whose economies were primarily based on agriculture , however they traded via the Indian Ocean trade and later developed local industries, with their iconic stone architecture . Forested river estuaries created natural harbours whilst the yearly monsoon winds assisted trade, and the Swahili civilisation consisted of hundreds of settlements and linked
17940-560: The 9th century expanded southwards. The history becomes murky, however tradition holds that Aksum's expansion brought it into conflict in 960 with the Jewish Kingdom of Beta Israel , led by queen Gudit and located in the Simien Mountains . Accordingly, Gudit defeated and killed Aksum's king , and burnt their churches. It's possible that Gudit was a pagan queen who led resistance to Aksum's southward expansion. To
18135-414: The 9th century, when zebu were first brought. From the 10th century Kilwa expanded its influence, coming to challenge the dominance of Somalian Mogadishu located to its north, however details of Kilwa's rise remain scarce. In the late 12th century Kilwa wrestled control of Sofala in the south, a key trading city linking to Great Zimbabwe in the interior and famous for its Zimbabwean gold, which
18330-498: The Americas by about 40,000–25,000 years ago. Evidence for the overwhelming contribution of this "recent" ( L3 -derived) expansion to all non-African populations was established based on mitochondrial DNA , combined with evidence based on physical anthropology of archaic specimens , during the 1990s and 2000s, and has also been supported by Y DNA and autosomal DNA . The assumption of complete replacement has been revised in
18525-647: The Americas . From 1870 to 1914, driven by the great force and hunger of the Second Industrial Revolution , European colonisation of Africa developed rapidly, as the major European powers partitioned the continent in the 1884 Berlin Conference , from one-tenth of the continent being under European imperial control to over nine-tenths in the Scramble for Africa . European colonialism had significant impacts on Africa's societies , and
18720-660: The Berber that this conflict was not just against the Byzantines. The Arabs returned and defeated Kusaila and Altava in 690, and, after a set-back, expelled the Byzantines from North Africa. To the west, Kahina of the Kingdom of the Aurès declared opposition to the Arab invasion and repelled their armies, securing her position as the uncontested ruler of the Maghreb for five years. The Arabs received reinforcements and in 701 Kahina
18915-569: The Book ”) constituting the Dhimmi class were permitted to practice their religion and exempted from military service in exchange for a tax , which was improperly extended to include converts. Followers of traditional Berber religion , which were mostly those of tribal confederations in the interior, were violently oppressed and often given the ultimatum to convert to Islam or face death or enslavement. Converted natives were permitted to participate in
19110-625: The Carthaginians were putting down a ferocious Libyan revolt , with Carthage initially experiencing considerable success following Hannibal 's infamous crossing of the alps into northern Italy . In a 14 year long campaign Hannibal's forces conquered much of mainland Italy , only being recalled after the Romans conducted a bold naval invasion of the Carthaginian homeland and then defeated him in climactic battle in 202 BC. Carthage
19305-637: The Cave of Hearths in South Africa has yielded a number of beads dating from significantly prior to 50,000 years ago, and shell beads dating to about 75,000 years ago have been found at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Around 65–50,000 years ago, the species' expansion out of Africa launched the colonization of the planet by modern human beings. By 10,000 BC, Homo sapiens had spread to most corners of Afro-Eurasia . Their dispersals are traced by linguistic, cultural and genetic evidence. Eurasian back-migrations, specifically West-Eurasian backflow , started in
19500-914: The Christians and after he had put down a revolt from the Fatimid army , Saladin eventually deposed the Fatimid caliph in 1171 and established the Ayyubid dynasty in its place, choosing to recognise the Abbasid Caliphate . From there the Ayyubids captured Cyrenaica , and went on a prolific campaign to conquer Arabia from the Zengids and the Yemeni Hamdanids , Palestine from the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem , and Syria and Upper Mesopotamia from other Seljuk successor states . To
19695-523: The Dahlak archipelago . Despite having ancient roots, the Red Sea slave trade expanded and flourished following the Muslim conquests with Bejas , Nubians , and Ethiopians exported to Hejaz . Aksum gradually lost their control of the Red Sea , and the expulsion of the Byzantines from the region isolated them, causing their society to become introspective, drawing inspiration from biblical traditions of
19890-610: The Great Lakes in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and both groups continued southward, with eastern groups continuing to Mozambique and reaching Maputo in the 2nd century AD. Further to the south, settlements of Bantu peoples who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen were well established south of the Limpopo River by the 4th century AD, displacing and assimilating the Khoisan . By the Chari River south of Lake Chad
20085-614: The Horn's southeast coast the Tunni clan established the Tunni Sultanate , and the clans of Sarapion formed the Sultanate of Mogadishu . Traditionally, Gudit's dynasty reigned until 1137 when they were overthrown or conquered by Mara Takla Haymanot , with traditions differing on whether he was an Aksumite general or relative of Gudit, who established the Zagwe dynasty . In Ethiopia tradition holds that prior to his accession to
20280-448: The LGM. Phenotypes associated with the " white " or " Caucasian " populations of Western Eurasian stock emerge during the LGM, from about 19,000 years ago. Average cranial capacity in modern human populations varies in the range of 1,200 to 1,450 cm for adult males. Larger cranial volume is associated with climatic region, the largest averages being found in populations of Siberia and
20475-705: The Markanda River to the east. The area is approximately 60 km long and covers an area of approximately 100 km square. Research areas in Pakistan along the Soan river have faced damages due to sewage disposal and municipal waste onto rivers. Modern-day excavation methods have also changed from the time of De Terra. During his time, scholars focused more on assessing the scattering patterns of tools in smaller sampled regions. Modern observations due to technological developments focus on Soanian tools' occurrence as
20670-521: The Middle Pleistocene period from circa 774,000 to 129,000 years ago. Scholars of this view believe the technological culture potentially belonged to the ancient hominid group: homo erectus . The three intervals are known as Pre-Soan, Early Soan, and Late-Soan. The exact dating of these periods is unknown due to tools often found in undatable surface contexts. This view is developed from Helmut de Terra and Thomas Thomson Paterson's early work in
20865-544: The Muslims returned to the Maghreb to find the Byzantines had reinforced the Exarchate and allied with the Berber Kingdom of Altava under Kusaila , who was approached prior to battle and convinced to convert to Islam. Initially having become neutral, Kusaila objected to integration into the empire and in 683 destroyed the poorly supplied Arab army and conquered the newly-found Kairouan , causing an epiphany among
21060-438: The Neanderthal lineage, as "pre-Neanderthal" or "early Neanderthal", while the divergence time between the Neanderthal and modern lineages has been pushed back to before the emergence of H. heidelbergensis , to close to 800,000 years ago, the approximate time of disappearance of H. antecessor . The term Middle Paleolithic is intended to cover the time between the first emergence of H. sapiens (roughly 300,000 years ago) and
21255-604: The Nubian city of Meroe is no longer widely accepted, and some researchers believe that sub-Saharan Africans invented iron metallurgy independently. Metalworking in West Africa has been dated as early as 2,500 BC at Egaro west of the Termit in Niger, and iron working was practiced there by 1,500 BC. Iron smelting has been dated to 2,000 BC in southeast Nigeria . Central Africa provides possible evidence of iron working as early as
21450-784: The Omo Kibbish remains. Fossil evidence for modern human presence in West Asia is ascertained for 177,000 years ago, and disputed fossil evidence suggests expansion as far as East Asia by 120,000 years ago. In July 2019, anthropologists reported the discovery of 210,000 year old remains of a H. sapiens and 170,000 year old remains of a H. neanderthalensis in Apidima Cave , Peloponnese , Greece , more than 150,000 years older than previous H. sapiens finds in Europe. A significant dispersal event, within Africa and to West Asia,
21645-688: The Patrician . The Muslims conquered Ifriqiya and in 647 defeated and killed Gregory and his army decisively in battle . The Berbers of the Maghreb proposed payment of annual tribute, which the Muslims, not wishing to annex the territory, accepted. After a brief civil war in the Muslim empire, the Rashidun were supplanted by the Umayyad dynasty in 661 and the capital moved from Medina to Damascus . With intentions to expand further in all directions,
21840-488: The Sahara in modern-day Algeria , who all mainly followed traditional Berber religion . In 618 the Sassanids conquered Egypt during the Byzantine-Sasanian War , however the province was reconquered three years later. The early 7th century saw the inception of Islam and the beginning of the Arab conquests intent on converting peoples to Islam and monotheism . The nascent Rashidun Caliphate won
22035-525: The Siwalik region, quartzite pebbles, cobbles, and boulders are the dominant raw materials. From 1.6 million years ago onwards, the existing boulder conglomerate formation saw more changes that further contributed to easy raw materials access for local ancient humans. Further tectonic movements and erosion saw the Siwalik fluvial courses altered –developing more complex river systems and deposits that carried and collected sediments. This also contributed to new drainage systems formed by new alluvial conditions in
22230-671: The Siwalik region. , In analyzing the terrace sequence along the Soan valley in Pakistan, Paterson believed that several Soanian technological phases existed within the glacial and interglacial periods. Pre-Soan and Early Soanian tools are mostly heavy-duty tools like choppers and core scrapers derived from the lower Paleolithic technological culture of the region. These tools contrast with Late-Soan tools, which consist of flake tools that are smaller in size and for finer purposes. Scholars of this view suggest that Soanian technology did not evolve in three intervals. Still, instead, all belong to one distinct period in early homo sapiens history during
22425-663: The Soan Valley of Pakistan, Guler (Beas Valley) and Toka site complex in India, and the Arjun-3 site in Nepal, Soanian and similar assemblages rarely comprise more than a few dozen artifacts. The emergence of Soanian tools has been tied to the local development of boulder conglomerate formation through prehistoric tectonic processes that created a convenient transporting system for raw materials. Recent research have been focusing on
22620-539: The Soanian culture. One sees the Soanian culture as a period that occurred in three connecting intervals throughout the Middle Pleistocene (774,000 to 129,000 years ago). The other sees the Soanian culture as a single distinct technological culture that may have existed earliest from the mid- Holocene epoch, with some artifacts potentially belonging to the Harappan culture. According to this view, Soanian technological culture evolved throughout three broad intervals during
22815-616: The South Siwalik region. These new developments allowed for easy access to materials and prevented the need for long-distance transport. This geographical context from which the Soanian culture developed is known to scholars as the Post-Boulder Conglomerate Formation period. Scholars of the single interval period argue Soanian tools were developed due to the movement of the Harappan culture . During
23010-512: The Wolaita-Mala dynasty established the Kingdom of Damot in the 13th century, locally known as the Kingdom of Wolaita , which followed a traditional religion . The history continues to be murky, however regional hegemony was contested between the Kingdom of Damot , the Zagwe , and the Sultanate of Shewa . Damot likely drew its economic power from gold production, which was exported to Zeila. The Zagwe and Shewa were forced into
23205-525: The age of Y-chromosomal Adam have been pushed back significantly with the discovery of an ancient Y-chromosomal lineage in 2013, to likely beyond 300,000 years ago. There have, however, been no reports of the survival of Y-chromosomal or mitochondrial DNA clearly deriving from archaic humans (which would push back the age of the most recent patrilinear or matrilinear ancestor beyond 500,000 years). Fossil teeth found at Qesem Cave (Israel) and dated to between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago have been compared to
23400-524: The ailing Rustamid Imamate and fought a proxy war against the remnants of the Umayyad dynasty centred in Cordoba , resulting the eastern Maghreb coming under the control of the vassalized Zirid dynasty , who hailed from the Sanhaja . In 969 the Fatimids finally conquered Egypt against a weakened Abbasid Caliphate after decades of attempts, moving their capital to Cairo and deferring Ifriqiya to
23595-415: The case of Garmul , however largely coexisted. Further inland to the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa were the Sanhaja in modern-day Algeria , a broad grouping of three groupings of tribal confederations , one of which is the Masmuda grouping in modern-day Morocco , along with the nomadic Zenata ; their composite tribes would later go onto shape much of North African history . In the western Sahel
23790-430: The central highlands describe encountering an earlier population called the Vazimba , thought to have been the first settlers of Madagsacar, represented as primitive dwarfs. From the 13th century Muslim settlers arrived, integrating into the respective societies, and held high status owing to Islamic trading networks. The 7th to 13th centuries in West Africa were a period of relatively abundant rainfall that saw
23985-491: The contemporary height distribution measured among Malay people , for one. Following the peopling of Africa some 130,000 years ago, and the recent Out-of-Africa expansion some 70,000 to 50,000 years ago, some sub-populations of H. sapiens had been essentially isolated for tens of thousands of years prior to the early modern Age of Discovery . Combined with archaic admixture this has resulted in significant genetic variation , which in some instances has been shown to be
24180-423: The continent's south. The Bantu expansion constituted a major series of migrations of Bantu -speaking peoples from Central Africa to Eastern and Southern Africa and was substantial in the settling of the continent. Commencing in the 2nd millennium BC, the Bantu began to migrate from Cameroon to the Congo Basin , and eastward to the Great Lakes region to form the Urewe culture from the 5th century BC. In
24375-487: The continent, and, with a weakened Europe after the Second World War , waves of decolonisation took place. This culminated in the 1960 Year of Africa and the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 (the predecessor to the African Union ), with countries deciding to keep their colonial borders. Traditional power structures remained partly in place in many parts of Africa, and their roles, powers, and influence vary greatly. Many countries have undergone
24570-507: The continent. The community are still tasked with building the institutional frameworks, incorporating African epistemologies , establishing a continental periodisation, and representing an African perspective. In African societies, the historical process is largely a communal one, with eyewitness accounts, hearsay , reminiscences, and occasionally visions , dreams, and hallucinations crafted into narrative oral traditions which are performed and transmitted through generations. Time
24765-578: The dental material from the younger (120,000–80,000 years ago) Skhul and Qafzeh hominins . Dispersal of early H. sapiens begins soon after its emergence, as evidenced by the North African Jebel Irhoud finds (dated to around 315,000 years ago). There is indirect evidence for H. sapiens presence in West Asia around 270,000 years ago. The Florisbad Skull from Florisbad, South Africa, dated to about 259,000 years ago, has also been classified as representing early H. sapiens . Scerri (2018) , pp. 582–594 In September 2019, scientists proposed that
24960-412: The description of contemporary humans with the subspecies name Homo sapiens sapiens . However, biological anthropologist Chris Stringer does not consider idaltu distinct enough within H. sapiens to warrant its own subspecies designation. A further division of AMH into "early" or "robust" vs. "post-glacial" or " gracile " subtypes has since been used for convenience. The emergence of "gracile AMH"
25155-573: The discovery of a celt of Palaeolithic type in the Punjab”. Wadia and K.R.U Todd first noted discoveries in the Siwalik Hills for paleolithic lithic occurrences. Their research influenced the academic duo of Helmut De Terra and Thomas Thomson Paterson to conduct their research in the region. De Terra and Paterson deemed the artifacts found in Siwalik belonged to a specific technological culture named “Soanian”. They did not excavate but focused on selectively collected surface materials from surrounding terraces. This work confirmed lithic occurrence specific to
25350-623: The distal bones were shorter, usually thought to be an adaptation to cold climate. The same adaptation is found in some modern people living in the polar regions. Height ranges overlap between Neanderthals and AMH, with Neanderthal averages cited as 164 to 168 cm (65 to 66 in) and 152 to 156 cm (60 to 61 in) for males and females, respectively, which is largely identical to pre-industrial average heights for AMH. Contemporary national averages range between 158 to 184 cm (62 to 72 in) in males and 147 to 172 cm (58 to 68 in) in females. Neanderthal ranges approximate
25545-438: The earliest H. sapiens (and last common human ancestor to modern humans) arose between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations in East and South Africa . Among extant populations, the Khoi-San (or " Capoid ") hunters-gatherers of Southern Africa may represent the human population with the earliest possible divergence within the group Homo sapiens sapiens . Their separation time has been estimated in
25740-437: The earliest and most robustly built modern humans were less robust than those of Neanderthals (and from what little we know from Denisovans), having essentially modern proportions. Particularly regarding the long bones of the limbs, the distal bones (the radius / ulna and tibia / fibula ) are nearly the same size or slightly shorter than the proximal bones (the humerus and femur ). In ancient people, particularly Neanderthals,
25935-467: The earliest genetic splits among modern people, according to some evidence, dating to around the same time. Sustained archaic human admixture with modern humans is known to have taken place both in Africa and (following the recent Out-Of-Africa expansion ) in Eurasia, between about 100,000 and 30,000 years ago. The binomial name Homo sapiens was coined by Linnaeus , 1758 . The Latin noun homō (genitive hominis ) means "human being", while
26130-489: The early Holocene or already earlier in the Paleolithic period, sometimes between 30 and 15,000 years ago, followed by pre-Neolithic and Neolithic migration waves from the Middle East, mostly affecting Northern Africa, the Horn of Africa, and wider regions of the Sahel zone and East Africa. Affad 23 is an archaeological site located in the Affad region of southern Dongola Reach in northern Sudan , which hosts "the well-preserved remains of prehistoric camps (relics of
26325-402: The early 7th century, the north-central Harar Plateau was settled by early Muslims fleeing persecution , intermingling with the Somali who became some of the first non-Arabs to convert to Islam . Muslim-Aksumite relations were initially positive with Aksum giving refuge to early Muslims in 613, however relations soured after Aksum made incursions along the Arab coast and Muslims settled
26520-413: The east in the 9th and 10th centuries, the Somali clans such as the Dir and other groups formed states in the Harar Plateau , including Fatagar , Dawaro , Bale , Hadiya , Hargaya , Mora , Kwelgora , and Adal , with the latter centred on the port city of Zeila (previously Avalites ). They neighboured the Sultanate of Shewa to their south, who's dynasty hailed from the Meccan Banu Makhzum . On
26715-415: The east, however the Fatimids repelled them from encroaching on Egypt. Amid the Christians' First Crusade against the Seljuks , the Fatimids opportunistically took back Jerusalem , but then lost it again to the Christians in decisive defeat . The Fatimids ' authority collapsed due to intense internal struggle in political rivalries and religious divisions, amid Christian invasions of Egypt , creating
26910-526: The emergence of "anatomically modern humans". Since the 2000s, the discovery of older remains with comparable characteristics, and the discovery of ongoing hybridization between "modern" and "archaic" populations after the time of the Omo remains, have opened up a renewed debate on the age of H. sapiens in journalistic publications. H. s. idaltu , dated to 160,000 years ago, has been postulated as an extinct subspecies of H. sapiens in 2003. H. neanderthalensis , which became extinct about 40,000 years ago,
27105-433: The emergence of a much more detailed picture, intermediate between the two competing scenarios outlined above: The recent Out-of-Africa expansion accounts for the predominant part of modern human ancestry, while there were also significant admixture events with regional archaic humans. Since the 1970s, the Omo remains, originally dated to some 195,000 years ago, have often been taken as the conventional cut-off point for
27300-665: The end of MIS5 (75,000 years ago), and is known only from fossil evidence and from archaic admixture . Eurasia was re-populated by early modern humans in the so-called "recent out-of-Africa migration" post-dating MIS5, beginning around 70,000–50,000 years ago. In this expansion, bearers of mt-DNA haplogroup L3 left East Africa, likely reaching Arabia via the Bab-el-Mandeb , and in the Great Coastal Migration spread to South Asia, Maritime South Asia and Oceania between 65,000 and 50,000 years ago, while Europe , East and North Asia were reached by about 45,000 years ago. Some evidence suggests that an early wave of humans may have reached
27495-625: The exact period occupied by the culture due to artifacts often found in non-datable surface contexts. The anthropology and archaeology team led by Helmut de Terra and Thomas Thomson Paterson first discovered and named this culture. Soanian artifacts were manufactured on quartzite pebbles , cobbles , and occasionally on boulders , all derived from various fluvial sources on the Siwalik landscape. Soanian assemblages generally comprise choppers , discoids, scrapers , cores , and flake-type tools, all occurring in varying typo-technological frequencies at different sites. Excluding some localities in
27690-460: The explosive growth of trade, particularly across the Sahara desert , and the flourishing of numerous important states. The introduction of the camel to the western Sahel was a watershed moment, allowing more merchandise to move more easily. These desert-side states are the first to appear in the written record, with Arab and Berber merchants from North Africa leaving descriptions of their power and wealth. Nevertheless, there remain massive gaps in
27885-426: The extinction of all other human varieties, while the " multiregional evolution " model postulated the survival of regional forms of archaic humans, gradually converging into the modern human varieties by the mechanism of clinal variation , via genetic drift , gene flow and selection throughout the Pleistocene. Since the 2000s, the availability of data from archaeogenetics and population genetics has led to
28080-401: The father and son duo Anujot Singh Soni and Vidwan Singh Soni have found Soanian tools on datable sites near Northwestern sub-Himalaya. These sites were dated to be from the mid to late mid-Holocene. Potsherds and weathered redware with coarse fabric were also discovered on some of the sites. These artifacts are believed to have belonged to the Harappan civilization that later lived in villages on
28275-486: The first obvious proof of an active (big game) hunt . H. heidelbergensis already had intellectual and cognitive skills like anticipatory planning, thinking and acting that so far have only been attributed to modern man. The ongoing admixture events within anatomically modern human populations make it difficult to estimate the age of the matrilinear and patrilinear most recent common ancestors of modern populations ( Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam ). Estimates of
28470-407: The foundations for states in Central, Eastern, and Southern regions. In most African societies the oral word is revered, and as such they have generally recorded their history orally. This has led anthropologists to term them oral civilisations, contrasted with literate civilisations which pride the written word. Oral tradition often remained the preferred method of recordation in cases when
28665-520: The genus Homo include Homo erectus (extant from roughly 2 to 0.1 million years ago) and a number of other species (by some authors considered subspecies of either H. sapiens or H. erectus ). The divergence of the lineage leading to H. sapiens out of ancestral H. erectus (or an intermediate species such as Homo antecessor ) is estimated to have occurred in Africa roughly 500,000 years ago. The earliest fossil evidence of early modern humans appears in Africa around 300,000 years ago, with
28860-438: The genus Homo rather than as subspecies within H. sapiens . All humans are considered to be a part of the subspecies H. sapiens sapiens , a designation which has been a matter of debate since a species is usually not given a subspecies category unless there is evidence of multiple distinct subspecies. The divergence of the lineage that would lead to H. sapiens out of archaic human varieties derived from H. erectus ,
29055-417: The governing of the Muslim empire in order to quell the enormous administrative problems owing to the Arabs' lack of experience governing and rapid expansion. Unorthodox sects such as the Kharijite , Ibadi , Isma'ili , Nukkarite and Sufrite found fertile soil among many Berbers dissatisfied with the oppressive Umayyad regime , with religion being utilised as a political tool to foster organisation. In
29250-612: The historical record include Mema , Takrur , Silla , and Wagadu (commonly called the Ghana Empire). Soninke traditions mention four previous foundings of Wagadu , and hold that the final founding of Wagadu occurred after their first king did a deal with Bida , a serpent deity who was guarding a well, to sacrifice one maiden a year in exchange for assurance regarding plenty of rainfall and gold supply. Soninke tradition portrays early Ghana as warlike, with horse-mounted warriors key to increasing its territory and population, although details of their expansion are extremely scarce. At
29445-440: The historical record, and many details are speculative and/or based on much later traditions. Anatomically modern humans Early modern human ( EMH ), or anatomically modern human ( AMH ), are terms used to distinguish Homo sapiens (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans, from extinct archaic human species. This distinction
29640-433: The impression Africa had no recorded history. Pre-colonial Christian states include Ethiopia, Makuria , and Kongo. Widespread conversion to Christianity occurred under European rule in southern West Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa due to efficacious missions , with peoples syncretising Christianity with their local beliefs . The rise of nationalism facilitated struggles for independence in many parts of
29835-411: The last 70 thousand to 200 thousand years. The fossil record shows Homo sapiens (also known as "modern humans" or "anatomically modern humans") living in Africa by about 350,000–260,000 years ago. The earliest known Homo sapiens fossils include the Jebel Irhoud remains from Morocco ( c. 315,000 years ago ), the Florisbad Skull from South Africa ( c. 259,000 years ago ), and
30030-470: The latest in Egypt and Nubia. Nubia became a major source of copper as well as of gold . The use of gold and silver in Egypt dates back to the predynastic period. In the Aïr Mountains of present-day Niger people smelted copper independently of developments in the Nile valley between 3,000 and 2,500 BC. They used a process unique to the region, suggesting that the technology was not brought in from outside; it became more mature by about 1,500 BC. By
30225-405: The leadership of self-proclaimed caliph Abd al-Mu'min and, after gaining the support of the Zenata , swept through the Maghreb, conquering the Hammadids , the Hilalian Arab tribes , and the Norman Kingdom of Africa , before gradually conquering the Almoravid remnant in Al-Andalus , proclaiming the Almohad Caliphate and extending their rule from the western Sahara and Iberia to Ifriqiya by
30420-500: The lineage of modern humans since the split from the lineage of Neanderthals , roughly 500,000 to 800,000 years ago. The time of divergence between archaic H. sapiens and ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans caused by a genetic bottleneck of the latter was dated at 744,000 years ago, combined with repeated early admixture events and Denisovans diverging from Neanderthals 300 generations after their split from H. sapiens , as calculated by Rogers et al. (2017). The derivation of
30615-421: The mid-Holocene epoch. Scholars began to question the three-interval theory when both early Soanian and Late-Soanians tools started to be found together along the same undatable sites. To continue, the Soan river 'terraces' observed by de Terra and Paterson were later discovered to be erosional features rather than terrace sequences that would suggest the prehistorical timing of the artifacts. Second, new findings by
30810-528: The modern human lineage following the split from the Neanderthal lineage. Such a cladistic definition would extend the age of H. sapiens to over 500,000 years. Estimates for the split between the Homo sapiens line and combined Neanderthal / Denisovan line range from between 503,000 and 565,000 years ago; between 550,000 and 765,000 years ago; and (based on rates of dental evolution) possibly more than 800,000 years ago. Extant human populations have historically been divided into subspecies , but since around
31005-507: The more Egyptianized Kingdom of Kush in Nubia, and later in the 8th century BC the Kushite king Kashta would expand his power and influence by manoeuvring his daughter into a position of power in Upper Egypt , paving the way for his successor Piye to conquer Lower Egypt and form the Kushite Empire . The Kushites assimilated further into Egyptian society by reaffirming Ancient Egyptian religious traditions , and culture, while introducing some unique aspects of Kushite culture and overseeing
31200-409: The moulding of their respective societies and meant that prior to the accession of trans-Saharan trade routes , symbiotic trade relations developed in response to the opportunities afforded by north–south diversity in ecosystems, trading meats , copper , iron , salt , and gold . Various civilisations prospered in this period. From 4000 BC, the Tichitt culture in modern-day Mauritania and Mali
31395-447: The oldest open-air hut in the world) and diverse hunting and gathering loci some 50,000 years old". Around 16,000 BC, from the Red Sea Hills to the northern Ethiopian Highlands , nuts, grasses and tubers were being collected for food. By 13,000 to 11,000 BC, people began collecting wild grains. This spread to Western Asia , which domesticated its wild grains, wheat and barley . Between 10,000 and 8000 BC, Northeast Africa
31590-477: The participle sapiēns means "discerning, wise, sensible". The species was initially thought to have emerged from a predecessor within the genus Homo around 300,000 to 200,000 years ago. A problem with the morphological classification of "anatomically modern" was that it would not have included certain extant populations. For this reason, a lineage-based ( cladistic ) definition of H. sapiens has been suggested, in which H. sapiens would by definition refer to
31785-419: The period held by some to mark the emergence of full behavioral modernity (roughly by 50,000 years ago, corresponding to the start of the Upper Paleolithic ). Many of the early modern human finds, like those of Jebel Irhoud , Omo , Herto , Florisbad , Skhul , and Peștera cu Oase exhibit a mix of archaic and modern traits. Skhul V, for example, has prominent brow ridges and a projecting face. However,
31980-427: The popular Fumo Liyongo . The islands of Pemba , Zanzibar , Lamu , Mafia and the Comoros were further settled by Shirazi and grew in importance due to their geographical positions for trade. By 1100, all regions of Madagascar were inhabited, although the total population remained small. Societies organised at the behest of hasina , which later evolved to embody kingship, and competed with one another over
32175-399: The possibility of other unknown sophisticated civilisations at this time. After D'mt's fall in the 5th century BC the Ethiopian Plateau came to be ruled by numerous smaller unknown kingdoms who experienced strong south Arabian influence , until the growth and expansion of Aksum in the 1st century BC. Along the Horn's coast there were many ancient Somali city-states which thrived off of
32370-508: The recent evidence overall (genetic, fossil, and archaeological) supporting an origin for H. sapiens approximately 100,000 years earlier and in a broader region of Africa than the study proposes. In September 2019, scientists proposed that the earliest H. sapiens (and last common human ancestor to modern humans) arose between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations in East and South Africa . An alternative suggestion defines H. sapiens cladistically as including
32565-409: The region and prompted further research. Excavations later followed outside of India, taking place in Pakistan and Nepal, further confirming pre-historic culture in the Siwalik zone. Recent research predominantly takes place in India, led by scholars with a broader scope. As of 2006, the study area encompassed the Siwalik frontal slopes and some interior zones between the Ghaggar River to the west and
32760-415: The region belongs to the Acheulians, which are distinguished by their preference for bifacial tools. Most of the post-Siwalik fluvial deposits today are mostly disintegrated; they currently lie above older decomposed sedimentary deposits. Some of them are covered in thick vegetation. These sites stand in contrast with remaining deposits that still stand today, forming basin-like structures. Understanding of
32955-455: The region. Other cultures found in Siwalik like the Ancheulian are often described to be of bi-facial nature and focused on hand axes. The comparison between other culture of the same region has seen Soanian technology categorized as a continuation of archaic technology rather than Neolithic . This is due to Soanian culture often being isolated within the mountainous region away from plain populations who have access to more materials. Scholars of
33150-719: The result of directional selection taking place over the past 15,000 years, i.e., significantly later than possible archaic admixture events. Some climatic adaptations, such as high-altitude adaptation in humans , are thought to have been acquired by archaic admixture. Introgression of genetic variants acquired by Neanderthal admixture have different distributions in European and East Asians , reflecting differences in recent selective pressures. A 2014 study reported that Neanderthal-derived variants found in East Asian populations showed clustering in functional groups related to immune and haematopoietic pathways , while European populations showed clustering in functional groups related to
33345-431: The rise of settled communities occurred largely as a result of the domestication of millet and of sorghum . Archaeology points to sizable urban populations in West Africa beginning in the 4th millennium BC, which had crucially developed iron metallurgy by 1200 BC, in both smelting and forging for tools and weapons. Extensive east-west belts of deserts , grasslands , and forests from north to south were crucial in
33540-573: The river's bend. At Chauntra in Himachal Pradesh , hand axes and cleavers were found. Tools up to two million years old have been recovered. Many fossil-bearing rocks are exposed on the surface of the Soan River Gorge. 14 million-year-old fossils of gazelle , rhinoceros , crocodiles , giraffes and rodents have been found there. Some of these fossils are displayed at the Pakistan Museum of Natural History in Islamabad . History of Africa#Paleolithic Archaic humans emerged out of Africa between 0.5 and 1.8 million years ago. This
33735-502: The singular interval period view Soanian technology's development due to the deurbanization of the Harappan culture 's deurbanization. This group was initially thought to have had large trading networks with intricate tools, and their own scripting system. However, due to climate change during the mid-Holocene epoch, many original settlements collapsed in search of water and have been reduced in size. The group began adopting tools that were more easily accessible. The Western Sub-Himalaya and
33930-424: The site of Lejja (Eze-Uzomaka 2009) and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi (Holl 2009). The site of Gbabiri (in the Central African Republic) has also yielded evidence of iron metallurgy, from a reduction furnace and blacksmith workshop; with earliest dates of 896–773 BC and 907–796 BC respectively. The ancient history of North Africa is inextricably linked to that of the Ancient Near East and Europe . This
34125-434: The societies and kingdoms of the interior, such as those of the Zambezi basin and the Great Lakes , to the wider Indian Ocean trade . There is much debate around the chronology of the settlement of Madagascar , although most scholars agree that the island was further settled by Austronesian peoples from the 5th or 7th centuries AD who had proceeded through or around the Indian Ocean by outrigger boats , to also settle
34320-470: The states fluctuated and varied, with Mombasa , Pate , and Kilwa emerging as the strongest. This prosperity led some Arab and Persian merchants to settle and assimilate into the various societies, and from the 8th to the 14th century the region gradually Islamised due to the increased trading opportunities it brought, with some oral traditions having rulers of Arab or Persian descent . The Kilwa Chronicle , supposedly based on oral tradition , holds that
34515-483: The sub-Himalayas. Early human civilizations emerged from antecedent agricultural communities of hills bouldering the Indus alluvial plain. Anatomically modern humans (i.e., Homo sapiens) are believed to emerge from Africa within the Soanian time period around 300,000 years ago; it's been argued that their ways of life changed relatively little from that of archaic humans of the Middle Paleolithic . It would remain this way until about 50,000 years ago when discoveries of
34710-519: The suppression of communal autonomy disrupted local customary practices and caused the irreversible transformation of Africa's socioeconomic systems . Colonies were maintained for the purpose of economic exploitation and extraction of natural resources . African history was initially written by outsiders ( Europeans and Arabs ), and in colonial times under the pretence of Western superiority supported by scientific racism . Oral sources were deprecated and dismissed by unfamiliar historians, giving them
34905-408: The technological culture's connection with the Harappan culture that originated near the Indus River . Scholars have debated the prehistoric dating of Soanian culture due to artifacts often found in undatable surface contexts. Some argue it is a culture developed by ancient extinct hominids, Homo erectus . Others have suggested that it was the creation of a group of deurbanized people derived from
35100-856: The technological development of Soanian tools has been limited due to most sites rarely comprising more than a few dozen artifacts. Soanian culture's technologies are based on stone-based and often described as non-bifacial assemblages. These tools are categorized based on their unifacial nature with a singular flat surface. Soanian assemblages generally comprise varieties of choppers , discoids, scrapers, cores, and numerous flake-type tools. These tools are mainly for heavy duty but also have finer purposes, as seen in some flake tools used for cutting. These tools are often manufactured on quartzite pebbles, cobbles, and occasionally from boulders. With Soanian technologies being limited, tools often remain similar in shape and sizes to their sourced materials. Soanian technological culture differ largely from other pre-historic culture in
35295-399: The throne, Gebre Meskel Lalibela was guided by Christ on a tour of Jerusalem , and instructed to build a second Jerusalem in Ethiopia. Accordingly this led to the commissioning of eleven rock-hewn churches outside the capital in Roha, which was renamed Lalibela in his honour, and quickly became a holy city in Ethiopian Christianity . According to oral traditions, Motolomi Sato of
35490-447: The triumph and defeat of nationalistic fervour, and continue to face challenges such as internal conflict, neocolonialism , and climate change . African historiography became organized at the academic level in the mid-20th century, and saw a movement towards utilising the oral sources in a multidisciplinary approach. This culminated in UNESCO publishing the General History of Africa from 1981, edited by specialists from across
35685-444: The turn of the 13th century. Later, the Christians capitalised on internal conflict within the Almohads in 1225 and conquered Iberia by 1228, with the Emirate of Granada assuming control in the south. Following this, the embattled Almohads faced invasions from an Almoravid remnant in the Balearics and gradually lost territory to the Marinids in modern-day Morocco , the Zayyanids in modern-day Algeria , both of Zenata , and
35880-403: The wars waged. The turn of the 6th century saw Aksum balanced against the Himyarite Kingdom in southwestern Arabia, as part of the wider Byzantine-Sassanian conflict . In 518, Aksum invaded Himyar against the persecution of the Christian community by Dhu Nuwas , the Jewish Himyarite king. Following the capture of Najran , the Aksumites implanted a puppet on the Himyarite throne, however
36075-477: The west from the 7th to 15th century, Arab tribes migrated into the Sudan , during which time the Beja Islamised and adopted Arab customs . In the 8th century, Beja nomads invaded Aksum 's northern territories and occupied the Eritrean Highlands , leading punitive raids into Aksum, with the Beja establishing various kingdoms . The Aksumite population migrated further inland into the Ethiopian Highlands , moving their capital from Aksum to Kubar , and later in
36270-407: The west, there was a new domestic threat to Almoravid rule; a religious movement headed by Ibn Tumart from the Masmuda tribal grouping, who was considered by his followers to be the true Mahdi . Initially fighting a guerilla war from the Atlas Mountains , they descended from the mountains in 1130 but were crushed in battle , with Ibn Tumart dying shortly after. The movement consolidated under
36465-424: Was also at one point considered to be a subspecies, H. s. neanderthalensis . H. heidelbergensis , dated 600,000 to 300,000 years ago, has long been thought to be a likely candidate for the last common ancestor of the Neanderthal and modern human lineages. However, genetic evidence from the Sima de los Huesos fossils published in 2016 seems to suggest that H. heidelbergensis in its entirety should be included in
36660-501: Was conquered by the expansive Achaemenids , however later regained independence in 404 BC until 343 BC when it was re-annexed by the Achaemenid Empire . Persian rule in Egypt ended with the defeat of the Achaemenids by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, marking the beginning of Hellenistic rule by the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. The Hellenistic rulers, seeking legitimacy from their Egyptian subjects, gradually Egyptianized and participated in Egyptian religious life . Following
36855-517: Was cultivating wheat and barley and raising sheep and cattle from Southwest Asia. A wet climatic phase in Africa turned the Ethiopian Highlands into a mountain forest. Omotic speakers domesticated enset around 6500–5500 BC. Around 7000 BC, the settlers of the Ethiopian highlands domesticated donkeys , and by 4000 BC domesticated donkeys had spread to Southwest Asia. Cushitic speakers, partially turning away from cattle herding, domesticated teff and finger millet between 5500 and 3500 BC. During
37050-477: Was eventually put down after decades of violence, resulting in between 300,000 and 2,500,000 dead. This gradual bubbling of disintegration of the caliphate boiled over when the Fatimid dynasty rose out of the Bavares tribal confederation and in 909 conquered the Aghlabids to gain control over all of Ifriqiya . Proclaiming Isma'ilism , they established a caliphate rivalling the Abbasids , who followed Sunni Islam . The nascent caliphate quickly conquered
37245-447: Was followed by the emergence of modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) in East Africa around 300,000–250,000 years ago. In the 4th millenium BC written history arose in Ancient Egypt , and later in Nubia 's Kush , the Horn of Africa 's Dʿmt , and Ifrikiya 's Carthage . Between around 3000 BC and 1000 AD, the Bantu expansion swept from north-western Central Africa (modern day Cameroon ) across much of sub-Saharan Africa, laying
37440-514: Was forced to give up their fleet, and the subsequent collapse of their empire would produce two further polities in the Maghreb; Numidia , a polity made up of two Numidian tribal federations until the Massylii conquered the Masaesyli , and assisted the Romans in the Second Punic War; Mauretania , a Mauri tribal kingdom , home of the legendary King Atlas ; and various tribes such as Garamantes , Musulamii , and Bavares . The Third Punic War would result in Carthage's total defeat in 146 BC and
37635-408: Was killed and the kingdom defeated. They completed their conquest of the rest of the Maghreb, with large swathes of Berbers embracing Islam, and the combined Arab and Berber armies would use this territory as a springboard into Iberia to expand the Muslim empire further. Large numbers of Berber and Coptic people willingly converted to Islam, and followers of Abrahamic religions (“ People of
37830-416: Was substantial in the usurpation of Mogadishu 's hegemony, while also conquering Pemba and Zanzibar . Kilwa 's administration consisted of representatives who ranged from governing their assigned cities to fulfilling the role of ambassador in the more powerful ones. Meanwhile the Pate Chronicle [ fr ] has Pate conquering Shanga , Faza , and prosperous Manda , and was at one time led by
38025-411: Was the oldest known complexly organised society in West Africa, with a four tiered hierarchical social structure. Other civilisations include the Kintampo culture from 2500 BC in modern-day Ghana , the Nok culture from 1500 BC in modern-day Nigeria , the Daima culture around Lake Chad from 550 BC, and Djenné-Djenno from 250 BC in modern-day Mali . Towards the end of the 3rd century AD,
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