History -

Ancient Africa
2,600,000 BCE The world’s earliest stone tools, Ethiopia
2,100,000 BCE Tanzanian stone tools
700, 000 BCE Stone tools at Abu Simbel, Nubia
400, 000 BCE Cave Drawings of antelopes and other animals at Porc Epic cave near Dire Dawa, Ethiopia (unconfirmed)
250, 000 BCE Numerous stone artifacts in Nubia and Egypt

Post- Paleolithic / Neolithic in Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Africa
75,000 BCE Shell Jewelry found in Blombos Cave, South Africa in 2004
37,000 BCE/ 25,000 BCE Mathematical artifacts found in Swaziland and Ishango, Congo
37,000 BCE Baboon fibula with 29 parallel notches, Border Cave South Africa
35,000 BCE Decorated ostrich egg shells found in Namibia
26,000 BCE Painted stone slabs, Namibia
16,000 BCE Domestication of wild grasses: Ethiopian/ Nubian complex
15,000 BCE Domestication of sorghum: Nubia, present day Sudan, East Africa
10,000 BCE Pottery at Sarurab, Nubia
9370 BCE Pottery at Tagalagal and Tamaya Mellet, Niger, West Africa
8000 BCE Africa’s oldest boat - found in Dufuna, Northeast Nigeria
8000 BCE Domestication of barley and wheat, Ethiopia
7000 BCE Wavy line pottery across the Sahara/Sahelian region in the latitude between pre- dynastic Ghana and Mali and the Nubian/Egyptian complex

Politics and Society in East and West Africa
3800 BCE Ta-Seti, Ist Nubian kingdom: ‘A’ group artifacts; political symbolism on incense burner found at Qustul; stone lined graves of 12 pharaohs (Bruce Williams)
3400 BCE Evidence of beer making, braided hair attachments and writing in Egypt
3400 BCE Unification of Egypt from rival kingdoms and city states
2686 BCE to 2125 BCE Old Kingdom, Egypt
2300 BCE to 1559 BCE Kingdom of Kush- Kerma, the first capital; round tombs; thin walled pots
1950 BCE to 1100 BCE Egyptian colonization of Kush
1000 BCE to 550 BCE 2nd Kingdom of Kush with capitals at Napata and Meroe (270 BCE to 600 CE)
747 BCE to 200 BCE Kushite conquest of Egypt. (Kushites remain until 200BCE in some areas)
500 BCE Date of the temple of Yeha, Northeast of Aksum, Ethiopia
1000 BCE Pre-Aksumite empire; Disputed emergence of the queen of Ethiopia and Sheba
600 BCE to 1400 CE Nubian Christianity prevails in the kingdoms of Alwa and others until Arab conquest
300 BCE to 1640CE Empires of Ghana (Wagadu), Mali and Songhai (Sahelian West Africa). Note Moroccan and later French conquest of this region.
*1000 CE to 1900 CE Kingdom of Nri, Eastern Nigeria, source of the Igbo-Ukwu artifacts; Empire of Benin, West Nigeria The Oyo Empire, West Nigeria Dates vary for individual regions and power centers.

Foreign Invasions, Conquests and Resistance
332 BCE Greek conquest and occupation of Egypt by Alexander of Macedon
32 BCE Roman conquest and occupation of Egypt
400 CE Vandal (German) invasion of North Africa
639 CE Arab conquest and occupation of Egypt
868 CE Turkish / Ottoman conquest and occupation of Egypt
1441 to 1860s The first wave of Western European encroachments/conquests initiated by the Portuguese in West, South and East Africa ; Dutch invasion and encroachment in South Africa in the 1650's The Belgian conquest of the Congo by Leopold 11 in the 1860's
1885 to 1900 A second wave of coordinated colonial conquests by the British, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish; A new wave of resistance by Africans- against the European invasions- by Samori Toure and others
1950s CE to 1991 CE A second wave of liberation and resistance/ movements to regain independence - by freedom fighters such as Amilcar Cabral, Samora Machel, Eduardo Mondlane; Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela; Robert Mugabe, Joseph Nkomo etc. These struggles culminated in the successes of the 1970s for Guinea Bissau, Angola and Mozambique; 1980 for Zimbabwe and the 1990s for Namibia and South Africa.
1980s to present Financial recolonization by institutions and mechanisms of globalization such as the IMF and the World Bank- through the so-called Structural Adjustment Programs ( SAPs) now called PRSPs. Debt relief continues to be tied to economic liberalization, neo-liberalism and the acceptance of corporate globalization programs.

This Timeline was compiled by Dr. Gloria Emeagwali, History Department, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut, USA