9.1: Chronology
200,000 – 100,000 BP (Before Present) First behaviorally modern human emerged in Africa
c. 7000 BCE Beginnings of the Agricultural Revolution in Africa
c. 3000 BCE – 1500 CE The Bantu expansions
900s BCE Rule of Queen Makeda (Ethiopia)
c. 800 BCE – 300 CE Kingdom of Da’amat (Ethiopia)
c. 250 BCE Founding of Djenne-Jeno, one of Africa’s first cities (Western Sudan)
c. 100 – 950 CE The Empire of Aksum
c. 300 CE Ghana emerged as a state (Western Sudan)
c. 325 – 350 CE The rule of King Ezana (Aksum/Ethiopia)
c. 800 CE Ghana became an empire (Western Sudan)
1000 – 1500 CE Height of Swahili society (East Africa)
1200 – 1450 CE Height of Great Zimbabwe (southern Africa/ Zimbabwe Plateau)
1235 CE Sundiata Keita founded the Mali Empire (Western Sudan)
1324 – 1325 CE Mansa Musa performed the hajj (Western Sudan)
Early 1400s CE Portuguese began to explore the Atlantic coast of West Africa; beginnings of the Age of Exploration
1460s CE Sunni Ali built the Songhai Empire (Western Sudan)
1493 – 1528 CE Askia the Great ruled during the Golden Age of the Songhai Empire (Western Sudan)
Early 1500s CE The Portuguese built a Trading Post Empire in the Indian Ocean (East Africa)
1591 CE Moroccans invaded the Songhai Empire (Western Sudan)
1699 CE The Omanis (allied with some Swahili rulers) seized Swahili city-states from the Portuguese (East Africa)