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Archaic humans emerged out of Africa between 0.5 and 1.8&nbsp;million years ago. This was followed by the emergence of modern humans (Homo sapiens) in East Africa around 300,000–250,000 years ago who spread across the world. The oral word is revered in most African cultures, and history has predominantly been passed down through oral tradition. In the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE Ancient Egypt and Kerma arose in the northeast, while the Tichitt Tradition flourished in West Africa. Between around 3000 BCE and 500 CE, the Bantu expansion swept from north-western Central Africa (modern day Cameroon) across much of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa, displacing or absorbing groups such as the Khoisan and Pygmies.

Some societies were heterarchical and egalitarian, while others organised into chiefdoms. At its peak it is estimated that Africa had around 10,000 polities, with most following traditional religions. The continent has seen the rise and fall of many states, and there have long been extensive trading networks between its regions. Some African empires and kingdoms include:

  • Kush, Carthage, Numidia, Masuna, Makuria, the Fatimids, Almoravids, Almohads, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Marinids, Zianids and Hafsids in North Africa;
  • Wagadu, Mali, Songhai, Jolof, Ife, Oyo, Benin, Bonoman, Nri, Ségou, Asante, Fante, Massina, Sokoto, Tukulor, and Wassoulou in West Africa;
  • , Aksum, Ethiopia, Damot, Ifat, Adal, Ajuran, Funj, Kitara, Kilwa, Sakalava, Imerina, Rombo, Bunyoro, Buganda, and Rwanda in East Africa;
  • Kanem-Bornu, Kongo, Anziku, Loango, Ndongo, Mwene Muji, Kotoko, Wadai, Mbunda, Luba, Lunda, Kuba, and Utetera in Central Africa; and
  • Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Mutapa, Butua, Rozvi, Maravi, Oukwanyama, Lozi, Lobedu, Mthwakazi, and amaZulu in Southern Africa.

From the 7th century CE, Islam spread west amid the Arab conquest of North Africa, and by proselytization to the Horn of Africa, bringing with it a new social system. It later spread southwards to the Swahili coast assisted by Muslim dominance of the Indian Ocean trade, and across the Sahara into the western Sahel and Sudan, catalysed by the Fula jihads of the 18th and 19th centuries. When the trans-Saharan, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Atlantic long-distance slave trades began, local slave systems started supplying captives for markets outside Africa. This reorientated many African economies, and created various diasporas, especially in the Americas.

Between 1870 and 1914, driven by the Second Industrial Revolution European colonisation of Africa grew rapidly in the "Scramble for Africa", and saw the major European powers partition the continent at the 1884 Berlin Conference, resulting in territory under European imperial control increasing from one-tenth of the continent to over nine-tenths. European colonialism had significant impacts on Africa's societies, and colonies were maintained for the purpose of economic exploitation of human and natural resources. Though Christianity has had a long history in Africa, widespread conversions occurred under European rule in southern West Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa due to successful missions, and the syncretization of Christianity with local beliefs.

The rise of nationalism gave birth to independence movements in many parts of the continent, and with a weakened Europe after the Second World War, a wave of decolonisation took place, culminating 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, which had been incorporated into the colonial administration, remained partly in place in many parts of Africa, and their roles, powers, and influence vary greatly. Many countries have experienced the rise and fall of nationalism, and continue to face challenges such as internal conflict, neocolonialism, and climate change.

History in Africa

The oral word is revered in most African cultures, and history has predominantly been passed down through oral tradition. In accordance with African cosmology, African historical consciousness viewed historical change and continuity, order and purpose within the framework of a person and their environment, the gods, and their ancestors, who believed themselves to be part of a holistic spiritual entity. 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. In oral traditions time is sometimes mythical and social, and ancestors were considered historical actors.