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Timeline of Africa

1000 BC: the Queen of Sheba visits king Solomon of Israel

300 BC: the city of Axum is founded

50: Axum rules Eritrea

300: Axum conquers southern Arabia

320: the Syrian monk Frumentius converts Ethiopian emperor Ezana to Christianity

500: Axum conquers southern Sudan

525: King Ella Kaleb of Axum annexes Yemen

500: Polynesian people settle Madagascar

500: the Christian kingdom of Dongola rules over Sudan

600: Arabs colonize East African trade towns including Zanzibar

710: Arabs invade Eritrea and destroy the Axumite empire

800: the empire of Ghana controls Mali, Mauritania, Guinea and Senegal

982 BC: Menelik I, son of the Queen of Sheba, becomes Ethiopia’s first   emperor

1000: Queen Yodit defeats the last Axumite king Del Na’od

1000: Timbuktu is founded in Africa by Muslim traders

1076: Almoravids from Morocco defeat the kingdom of Ghana and seize Mali and Mauritania

1080: Great Zimbabwe is the capital of a wealthy Shona kingdom that trades with Asia

1084: the Shona empire forms between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers

1137: the Zagwe Dynasty is founded in Ethiopia and the capital is moved from Axum to Lalibela

1250: Sudan (Dongola) is conquered by the Mamaluks of Egypt

1250: Sundiata Keita founds the empire of Mali

1270: Yekuno Amlak ends the Zagwe dynasty and founds the Solomonic dynasty in Ethiopia

120: the empire of Ghana rules over Mali and Senegal

1200: the Mali empire expands to Guinea

1300: kingdoms of Kongo, Luba, Kuba, Lunda in the Congo

1300: Mali emperor Mansa Musa hires Arab architects to rebuild Timbuktu and Djenne

1300: the kingdoms of Ife, Oyo, Benin in Nigeria engage in the slave trade

1300: the empire of Mali expands to the Atlantic

1320: Amda Siyon becomes negus of Ethiopia and expands the empire

1325: Mansa Musa, the king of Mali, makes his pilgrimage to Mecca carrying 500 slaves and 100 camels

1400: Bantu people invade the eastern half of South Africa

1400: Gao raids Mali’s capital Niani

1424: prince Henrique the Navigator of Portugal sends the first expedition to Africa

1430: Portugal trades slaves within Africa

1436: Afonso de Baldaya reaches Rio de Oro on behalf of prince Henrique the Navigator of Portugal

1444: the first public sale of African slaves by Europeans takes place at Lagos, Portugal

1464: Gao invades all of Mali

1472: Portugal explores Gabon and Sao Tome

1482: Portugal founds the first European trading post in Africa (Elmina, Gold Coast)

1488: Moroccans invade the African kingdom of Mali

1495: Cape Verde becomes a Portuguese colony

15xx: Portugal establishes a trade post in Mozambique

1500: Portugal raids Eastern Africa trade towns

1500: the Shonas found the Rozwi state

1500: Tutsis from Ethiopia establish a feudal system in the Hutu lands (Rwanda and Burundi)

1500: Portugal “discovers” Madagascar

1506: a Christian, Nzinga Mbemba, becomes king of the Kongo Kingdom

1533: Muslim general Ahmad Gran invades Ethiopia

1542: Portugal helps Ethiopia repel an Arab invasion

1571: Portugal attacks Mali

1575: Mali defeats Portugal

1575: Portugal establishes a trade post in Luanda (Angola) to buy slaves for Brazil

1591: the Gao empire collapses 

*(see more of the timeline by going to the link of the site at the top of the page).

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