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500 BCE
Iron smelting in Nigeria
Evidence of iron smelting in Nigeria and central Niger. Spreads to rest of West Africa by 1000 AD -
Period: 300 to 1200
Kingdom of Ghana
Ghana was the first of the three early African empires, lasting roughly from 300-1200 CE. -
800
Islam spreads around africa
The religion of Islam begins to spread through Africa -
830
Start of Ghana Empire
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970
Start of the downfall of Ghana Empire
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Period: 970 to 1076
Ghana Empire decline
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1000
Iron technology spreading through Africa
Iron metallurgy, the process of extracting iron from iron ore, was spread throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa during the Bantu expansion, a period in which Bantu-speaking peoples moved to southern and eastern Africa. The main method for processing iron in Africa was called the bloomery process. -
1076
Fall of the Ghana Empire
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1230
The start of the Mali Empire
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I. -
1464
The start of the Songhai Empire
The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city of Gao, where a Songhai state had existed since the 11th century. Its base of power was on the bend of the Niger River in present day Niger. -
The fall of the Songhai empire
Following the death of the Emperor Askia Daoud, a civil war of succession weakened the Empire, leading the sultan of the Saadi Dynasty of Morocco to dispatch an invasion force (years earlier, armies from Portugal had attacked Morocco, and failed miserably, but the Moroccan coffers were on the verge of economic depletion and bankruptcy, as they needed to pay for the defenses used to hold off the siege). -
The fall of the Mali Empire
The mansa’s defeat actually won Manden the respect of Morocco and may have saved it from Songhai’s fate. It would be the Mandinka themselves that would cause the final destruction of the empire. Around 1610, Mahmud IV died. Oral tradition states that he had three sons who fought over Manden’s remains. No single person ever ruled Manden after Mahmud IV’s death, resulting in the end of the Mali Empire.