African Kingdom

  • 500 BCE

    Iron smelting in Nigeria

    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

    Islam spreads around africa
    The religion of Islam begins to spread through Africa
  • 830

    Start of Ghana Empire

  • 970

    Start of the downfall of Ghana Empire

  • Period: 970 to 1076

    Ghana Empire decline

  • 1000

    Iron technology spreading through Africa

    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

  • 1230

    The start of the Mali Empire

    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 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

    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 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.