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Pre-colonial states

There have been a number of historical African states of varying size and influence:

Iron Age  empires of North Africa

Ancient Somali city states  on the Berber coast.

Medieval (8th to 13th century) Islamic empires (caliphates) in North Africa and the Horn of Africa

Medieval and modern  Somali states.

The medieval Sahelian kingdoms

The Ethiopian Empire is notable as an empire in continuous existence from the 13th to the 20th centuries.

Empires of the 15th to 19th centuries.

Islamic sultanates of the Sudan and the Horn of Africa

Kingdoms of West Africa succeeding the Sahelian kingdoms

Kingdoms of Central and Southern Africa such as the Kongo Kingdom and the Mutapa Empire.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Comparison

2 List of African kingdoms

o 2.1 North Africa

2.1.1 Ancient North Africa

2.1.2 Islamic states

o 2.2 Horn of Africa

o 2.3 Sahel and West Africa

2.3.1 Nok culture

2.3.2 Medieval kingdoms

o 2.4 Empires of Transition Age Africa

2.4.1 West Africa

2.4.2 Great Lakes

2.4.3 Kongo

2.4.4 Southern Africa

o 2.5 Madagascar

3 References

4 Sources

5 External links

Comparison[edit]

Vansina (1962) discusses the classification of Sub-Saharan African kingdoms, mostly of Central, South and

East Africa, with some additional data on West African (Sahelian) kingdoms distinguishing five types, by

decreasing centralization of power:

1. despotic kingdoms: kingdoms where the king controls the internal and external affairs directly.

Examples are Ruanda, Nkore, Soga and Kongo in the 16th century

2. regal kingdoms: kingdoms where the king controls the external affairs directly, and the internal affairs

via a system of overseers. The king and his chiefs belong to the same religion or group.

3. incorporative kingdoms: kingdoms where the king only controls only the external affairs with no

permanent administrative links between him and the chiefs of the provinces. The hereditary chiefdoms

of the provinces were left undisturbed after conquest. Examples are the Bamileke, Lunda, Luba, Lozi.

4. aristocratic kingdoms: the only link between central authority and the provinces is payment of tribute.

These kingdoms are morphologically intermediate between regal kingdoms and federations. This type

is rather common in Africa, examples including the Kongo of the 17th century, the Cazembe, Luapula,

Kuba, Ngonde, Mlanje, Ha, Zinza and Chagga states of the 18th century

5. federations such as the Ashanti Union. kingdoms where the external affairs are regulated by a council

of elders headed by the king, who is simply primus inter pares.

The Islamic empires of North and Northeast Africa do not fall into this categorization and should be discussed

as part of the Muslim world.

List of African kingdoms[edit]

Listed below are known pre-colonial empires with their capital cities on the African continent.

North Africa[edit]

Ancient North Africa[edit]

Ancient Carthage and its dependencies in 264 BC.

Pre-Islamic empires of North Africa.

Egyptian Empire  (3100 BC – 870 BC)

Kushite Empire  (760 BC – 656 BC)

Carthaginian Empire  (650 BC - 146 BC)

Kingdom of Numidia  (202 BC – 46 BC)

Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans  (435 – 534)

Islamic states[edit]

Kingdom of Nekor  (710–1019)

Barghawata Kingdom  (744–1058)

Emirate of Sijilmassa  (758–1055)

Rustamid  imamate (Tahert area, 767–909)

Idrisid dynasty  (Morocco, 789 - 974)

Fatimid Caliphate  (910 - 1171)

Hammadid  kingdom (Western Ifriqiya, 1014–1152)

Zirid dynasty  (Ifriqiya, 1048–1148)

Khurasanid emirate of Tunis  (1059–1128 & 1148–1158)

Almoravid dynasty  (Morocco, 1061–1147)

Almohad dynasty  (Morocco, 1121–1269)

Ayyubid dynasty  (Egypt, 1171–1254)

Hafsid dynasty  (Ifriqiya, 1229–1574)

Kingdom of Tlemcen  (Oranie, 1235–1556)

Marinid dynasty  (Morocco, 1248–1465)

Mamluk Sultanate  (Egypt, 1250–1517)

Wattasid dynasty  (Morocco, 1420–1554)

Sultanate of Sennar  (1504–1821)

Saadi principality of Sus and Tagmadert  (1509–1554)

Saadi dynasty  (Morocco, 1554–1659)

Naqsid principality of Tetouan  (1597–1673)

Sultanate of Darfur  (1603–1874 & 1898–1916)

Republic of Bou Regreg  (1627–1668)

Alaouite dynasty  (Morocco, 1666 - current)

Muhammad Ali dynasty  (Egypt, 1914–1951)

Senussi dynasty  (Libya, 1951–1969)

Horn of Africa[edit]

Domains of the Aksumite Empire and theAdal Sultanate.

Dʿmt  (c. 980 BC – c. 400 BC)

Aksumite Empire  (50–937)

Ethiopian Empire  (1137–1974)

Zagwe dynasty  (1137–1270)

Solomonic dynasty  (1270–1974)

Ifat Sultanate  (1285–1415)

Warsangali Sultanate  (1298–present)

Ajuuraan Empire  (14th century–17th century)

Adal Sultanate  (1415–1555)

Geledi sultanate  (late 17th century–late 19th century)

Majeerteen Sultanate  (mid-18th century–early 20th century)

Kingdom of Gomma  (early 19th century–1886)

Kingdom of Jimma  (1830–1932)

Kingdom of Gumma  (1840–1902)

Sultanate of Hobyo  (1880s–1920s)

Dervish State  (1896–1920)

Sahel and West Africa[edit]

Nok culture[edit]

The Nok Civilization is considered to be one of the most advanced ancient sub-Saharan civilizations in

African history. Beginning some time around 500 BC, it was largely concentrated in what is now Nigeria

but produced some of the first sub-Saharan iron smelting and terracotta architecture. Mysteriously died out

around 200 AD.

Medieval kingdoms[edit]

Main article: Sahelian kingdom

Mali Empire c. 1350.

The Sahelian kingdoms were a series of medieval empires centred on the West African sahel, the area of

grasslands south of the Sahara.

The first major state to rise in this region was the Kingdom of Ghana. Centered in what is

today Senegal and Mauritania, it was the first to benefit from the introduction of pack animals

by Arab traders. Ghana dominated the region between about 750 and 1078. Smaller states in the region at

this time included Takrur to the west, the Malinke kingdom of Mali to the south, and the Songhai

Empire centred around Gao to the east.

When Ghana collapsed in the face of invasion from the Almoravids, a series of brief kingdoms followed,

notably that of the Sosso; after 1235, theMali Empire rose to dominate the region. Located on the Niger

River to the west of Ghana in what is today Niger and Mali, it reached its peak in the 1350s, but had lost

control of a number of vassal states by 1400.

The most powerful of these states was the Songhai Empire, which expanded rapidly beginning with

king Sonni Ali in the 1460s. By 1500, it had risen to stretch from Cameroon to the Maghreb, the largest

state in African history. It too was quite short-lived and collapsed in 1591 as a result ofMoroccan musketry.

The Mossi Kingdoms emerged in the 14th century in central Burkina Faso, and expanded to include most

of the central and southern areas of the modern country of Burkina Faso, and the northern half of what

became the modern state of Ghana.[1][2][3] They remained one of the only significant non-Islamised states of

the Sahel (except in the case of the Mossi sub-states of Mamprussi and Dagomba). The Mossi Kingdom

remained until it was sacked by the French in 1896.[4]

Far to the east, on Lake Chad, the state of Kanem-Bornu, founded as Kanem in the 9th century, now rose

to greater preeminence in the central Sahel region. To their west, the loosely unitedHausa city-states

became dominant. These two states coexisted uneasily, but were quite stable.

In 1810 the Fulani Empire rose and conquered the Hausa, creating a more centralized state. It and

Kanem-Bornu would continue to exist until the arrival of Europeans, when both states would fall and the

region would be divided between France and Great Britain.

Wolof Empire  (1350 - 1889)

Shilluk Kingdom  (1490 - 1865)

Alodia  (7th century – 1504)

Nobatia  (350–c. 650)

Kingdom of Makuria  (4th century - 1312)

Bonoman  (11th century – 19th century)

Empires of Transition Age Africa[edit]

From the 15th century until the final Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, a number of empires emerge

also south of the Sahel, especially in West Africa, prospering on the Transatlantic slave trade of the period.

West Africa[edit]

Further information: History of West Africa

The Kingdom of Nri (1043 - 1911) was the West African medieval state of the Nri-Igbo, a subgroup of

the Igbo people, and is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of

world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as

a sphere of religious and political influence over much of Igboland, and was administered by a priest-

king called the eze Nri. The eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Igbo people, and was

the possessor of divine authority in religious matters.

The Oyo Empire (1400 - 1895) was a West African empire of what is today western Nigeria. The empire

was established by the Yoruba in the 15th century and grew to become one of the largest West African

states encountered by colonial explorers. It rose to preeminence through wealth gained from trade and its

possession of a powerful cavalry. The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the region

from the mid-17th to the late 18th century, holding sway not only over other Yoruba states, but also over

the Fon kingdom of Dahomey (located in the state now known as the Republic of Benin).

Benin Empire  (1440 - 1897), a large pre-colonial African state of modern Nigeria.

The Kingdom of Dahomey (1600 - 1900) was a West African kingdom in part of modern Benin.

Kaabu Empire  (1537 - 1867), a Mandinka Kingdom of Senegambia (centered on modern

northeastern Guinea-Bissau but extending into Casamance, Senegal) that rose to prominence in the

region thanks to its origins as a former province of the Mali Empire. After the decline of the Mali Empire,

Kaabu became an independent kingdom.

Aro Confederacy  (1690–1902), a slave trading political union orchestrated by the Igbo subgroup, the Aro

people, centered in Arochukwu in present day Southeastern Nigeria.

Asante Union  (1701–1894), a pre-colonial West African state of what is now the Ashanti Region in Ghana.

The empire stretched from central Ghana to present day Togo and Côte d'Ivoire, bordered by the

Sahelian Dagomba kingdom to the north (a sub-state of the Mossi), and Dahomey to the east. Today, the

Ashanti monarchy continues as one of the constitutionally protected, sub-national traditional states within

the Republic of Ghana.

Kong Empire  (1710–1894) centered in north eastern Côte d'Ivoire that also encompassed much of

present-day Burkina Faso.

Bamana Empire  (1712–1896) based at Ségou, now in Mali. It was ruled by the Kulubali or Coulibaly

dynasty established c. 1640 by Fa Sine also known as Biton-si-u. The empire existed as a centralized

state from 1712 to the 1861 invasion of Toucouleur conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall.

Sokoto Caliphate  (1804–1903), an Islamic empire in Nigeria, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’adu

Abubakar. Founded during the Fulani Jihad in the early 19th century, it was one of the most powerful

empires in sub-Saharan Africa prior to European conquest and colonization. The caliphate remained

extant through the colonial period and afterwards, though with reduced power.

Republic of Liberia.

Toucouleur Empire  (1848–1893), established as a jihadist stete bu Al hajj Umar Tall in present Mali, upon

the conquest of the kingdoms of Segu and Masina.

Wassoulou Empire  (1878–1898), a short-lived empire of built from the conquests of Dyula ruler Samori

Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army.

Kingdom of Bamum  (1394–1884), a state in what is now northwest Cameroon that became part of German

Kamerun in 1884.

Great Lakes[edit]

Further information: History of East Africa

The Sennar Sultanate (1502 - 1821) was a sultanate in the north of Sudan, named Funj after the ethnic

group of its dynasty or Sinnar (or Sennar) after its capital, which ruled a substantial area of

northeast Africa.

An Empire of Kitara in the area of the Great Lakes of Africa has long been treated as a historical entity, but

is now mostly considered an unhistorical narrative created as a response to the dawn of rule under

the Lwo empire, the sole historical record of an organized Nilotic migration into the area.[5]

The Kingdom of Buganda (1300–present), home of the Baganda people of Uganda

Kongo[edit]

The Kingdom of Kongo (1400 - 1888) was a quasi-imperial state as is evident by the number of peoples

and kingdoms that paid it tribute. The kingdom eventually became a vassalage of theKings of Portugal, a

European imperial power.

The Luba Empire (1585–1885) arose in the marshy grasslands of the Upemba Depression in what is now

southern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Lunda Empire  (1660–1887) in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, north-eastern Angola and

northwestern Zambia. Its central state was in Katanga.

Southern Africa[edit]

Further information: History of Southern Africa

The Mutapa Empire or Empire of Great Zimbabwe (1450–1629) was a medieval kingdom located between

the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers of Southern Africa in the modern states of Zimbabwe andMozambique.

Remnants of the historical capitol are found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe.

Zulu Kingdom  (1816 – 1897)

Madagascar[edit]

The Merina Kingdom ruled most of Madagascar from the late 18th century until the island became a French

colony in 1896 and the last monarch, Ranavalona III was sent into exile.