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Do not fill this in! ==History== {{Main|History of Africa}} {{Further|History of North Africa|History of West Africa|History of Central Africa|History of East Africa|History of Southern Africa}} ===Prehistory=== {{Main|Prehistoric Africa}} {{See also|Recent African origin of modern humans}} [[File:Lucy blackbg.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Lucy (Australopithecus)|Lucy]], an ''[[Australopithecus afarensis]]'' skeleton discovered in 1974 in the [[Awash Valley]] of [[Ethiopia]]'s [[Afar Triangle]] ]] Africa is considered by most [[paleoanthropology|paleoanthropologists]] to be the [[cradle of Humankind|oldest inhabited territory]] on Earth, with the Human species originating from the continent.<ref name="HerreraGarcia-Bertrand2018">{{cite book|first1=Rene J.|last1=Herrera|first2=Ralph|last2=Garcia-Bertrand|title=Ancestral DNA, Human Origins, and Migrations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZF1gDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA61|year=2018|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-0-12-804128-4|pages=61–|access-date=18 October 2020|archive-date=30 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330032459/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZF1gDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA61|url-status=live}}</ref> During the mid-20th century, [[Anthropology|anthropologists]] discovered many [[fossil]]s and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as seven million years ago ([[Before Present|Before present]], BP). Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to have [[Evolution|evolved]] into modern humans, such as ''[[Australopithecus afarensis]]'' [[Radiometric dating|radiometrically dated]] to approximately 3.9–3.0 million years BP,<ref>Kimbel, William H. and Yoel Rak and Donald C. Johanson. (2004) ''The Skull of Australopithecus Afarensis'', Oxford University Press US. {{ISBN|0-19-515706-0}}</ref> ''[[Paranthropus boisei]]'' (c. 2.3–1.4 million years BP)<ref>Tudge, Colin. (2002) ''The Variety of Life.'', Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-860426-2}}</ref> and ''[[Homo ergaster]]'' (c. 1.9 million–600,000 years BP) have been discovered.<ref name=Sayre/> After the evolution of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' approximately 350,000 to 260,000 years BP in Africa,<ref name="Schlebusch2017"/><ref name="Guardian"/><ref name="NYT-20190910"/><ref name="NAT-20190910"/> the continent was mainly populated by groups of [[hunter-gatherer]]s.<ref>Mokhtar, G. (1990) ''UNESCO [[General History of Africa]], Vol. II, Abridged Edition: Ancient Africa'', University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-85255-092-8}}</ref><ref>Eyma, A.K. and C.J. Bennett. (2003) ''Delts-Man in Yebu: Occasional Volume of the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum No. 1'', Universal Publishers. p. 210. {{ISBN|1-58112-564-X}}</ref> These first modern humans left Africa and populated the rest of the [[globe]] during the [[Recent African origin of modern humans|Out of Africa II]] migration dated to approximately 50,000 years BP, exiting the continent either across [[Bab-el-Mandeb]] over the [[Red Sea]],<ref>Wells, Spencer (December 2002) [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1212_021213_journeyofman.html The Journey of Man] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427020944/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1212_021213_journeyofman.html |date=27 April 2011 }}. ''National Geographic''</ref><ref>Oppenheimer, Stephen. [http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/gates2.html The Gates of Grief] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140530001241/http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/gates2.html |date=30 May 2014 }}. bradshawfoundation.com</ref> the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] in Morocco,<ref>{{Cite web|title=15. Strait of Gibraltar, Atlantic Ocean/Mediterranean Sea|url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/humanimprints/slide_15.html|website=www.lpi.usra.edu|access-date=13 May 2020|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126205023/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/humanimprints/slide_15.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fregel |first1=Rosa |last2=Méndez |first2=Fernando L. |last3=Bokbot |first3=Youssef |last4=Martín-Socas |first4=Dimas |last5=Camalich-Massieu |first5=María D. |last6=Santana |first6=Jonathan |last7=Morales |first7=Jacob |last8=Ávila-Arcos |first8=María C. |last9=Underhill |first9=Peter A. |last10=Shapiro |first10=Beth |last11=Wojcik |first11=Genevieve |last12=Rasmussen |first12=Morten |last13=Soares |first13=André E. R. |last14=Kapp |first14=Joshua |last15=Sockell |first15=Alexandra |last16=Rodríguez-Santos |first16=Francisco J. |last17=Mikdad |first17=Abdeslam |last18=Trujillo-Mederos |first18=Aioze |last19=Bustamante |first19=Carlos D. |title=Ancient genomes from North Africa evidence prehistoric migrations to the Maghreb from both the Levant and Europe |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=26 June 2018 |volume=115 |issue=26 |pages=6774–6779 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1800851115 |pmid=29895688 |pmc=6042094 |bibcode=2018PNAS..115.6774F |doi-access=free }}</ref> or the [[Isthmus of Suez]] in Egypt.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/arheo/ska/tekstovi/out_of_africa.pdf|doi=10.1007/s10963-006-9002-z|title=Getting "Out of Africa": Sea Crossings, Land Crossings and Culture in the Hominin Migrations|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|volume=19|issue=2|pages=119–132|year=2005|last1=Derricourt|first1=Robin|s2cid=28059849|access-date=26 December 2013|archive-date=22 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222031934/http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/arheo/ska/tekstovi/out_of_africa.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Other migrations of modern humans within the African continent have been dated to that time, with evidence of early human settlement found in Southern Africa, Southeast Africa, North Africa, and the [[Sahara]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Goucher, Candice|author2=Walton, Linda|title=World History: Journeys from Past to Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gY7cAAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-72354-6|pages=2–20|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611044204/https://books.google.com/books?id=gY7cAAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> === Emergence of civilization === {{See also|Cradle of civilization#Ancient Egypt}} The size of the Sahara has historically been extremely variable, with its area rapidly fluctuating and at times disappearing depending on global climatic conditions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Keenan, Jeremy|title=The Sahara: Past, Present and Future|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KUKPAQAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-97001-9|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-date=28 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228175639/https://books.google.com/books?id=KUKPAQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> At the end of the [[Ice age]]s, estimated to have been around 10,500 BCE, the Sahara had again become a green fertile valley, and its African populations returned from the interior and coastal highlands in [[sub-Saharan Africa]], with [[Saharan rock art|rock art paintings]] depicting a fertile Sahara and large populations discovered in [[Tassili n'Ajjer]] dating back perhaps 10 millennia.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mercier|first1=Norbert|display-authors=etal|date=2012|title=OSL dating of quaternary deposits associated with the parietal art of the Tassili-n-Ajjer plateau (Central Sahara)|journal=Quaternary Geochronology|volume=10|pages=367–373|doi=10.1016/j.quageo.2011.11.010|bibcode=2012QuGeo..10..367M }}</ref> However, the warming and drying climate meant that by 5000 BC, the Sahara region was becoming increasingly dry and hostile. Around 3500 BC, due to a tilt in the Earth's [[orbit]], the Sahara experienced a period of rapid desertification.<ref>[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.htm "Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started by Changes in Earth's Orbit, Accelerated by Atmospheric and Vegetation Feedbacks"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307060153/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.htm|date=7 March 2014 }}, ''Science Daily''</ref> The population trekked out of the Sahara region towards the Nile Valley below the [[Cataracts of the Nile|Second Cataract]] where they made permanent or semi-permanent settlements. A major climatic recession occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and [[East Africa|Eastern Africa]]. Since this time, dry conditions have prevailed in Eastern Africa and, increasingly during the last 200 years, in [[Ethiopia]]. The domestication of cattle in Africa preceded agriculture and seems to have existed alongside hunter-gatherer cultures. It is speculated that by 6000 BC, cattle were domesticated in North Africa.<ref>Diamond, Jared. (1999) ''Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies''. New York: Norton, p. 167. {{ISBN|978-0813498027}}</ref> In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many animals, including the donkey and a small screw-horned goat which was common from Algeria to [[Nubia]]. Between 10,000 and 9,000 BC, pottery was independently invented in the region of Mali in the savannah of West Africa.<ref name="Pottery">{{cite journal |last1=Jesse |first1=Friederike |title=Early Pottery in Northern Africa – An Overview |issue=2 |pages=219–238 |journal=[[Journal of African Archaeology]]|volume=8 |jstor=43135518 |year=2010 |doi=10.3213/1612-1651-10171 }}</ref><ref name="swissinfo">[http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Home/Archive/Swiss_archaeologist_digs_up_West_Africas_past.html?cid=5675736 Simon Bradley, ''A Swiss-led team of archaeologists has discovered pieces of the oldest African pottery in central Mali, dating back to at least 9,400BC''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306002155/http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Home/Archive/Swiss_archaeologist_digs_up_West_Africas_past.html?cid=5675736 |date=6 March 2012 }}, SWI swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), 18 January 2007</ref> In the [[steppe]]s and [[savanna]]hs of the Sahara and [[Sahel]] in Northern [[File:Mathendous giraffes.jpg|thumb|left|[[Saharan rock art]] in the [[Fezzan]], [[Libya]]]] West Africa, people possibly ancestral to modern [[Nilo-Saharan]] and [[Mandé]] cultures started to collect wild [[millet]],<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-89839-1_22 | doi=10.1007/978-3-319-89839-1_22 | chapter=Evidence of Sorghum Cultivation and Possible Pearl Millet in the Second Millennium BC at Kassala, Eastern Sudan | title=Plants and People in the African Past | year=2018 | last1=Beldados | first1=Alemseged | last2=Manzo | first2=Andrea | last3=Murphy | first3=Charlene | last4=Stevens | first4=Chris J. | last5=Fuller | first5=Dorian Q. | pages=503–528 | isbn=978-3-319-89838-4 | access-date=20 May 2022 | archive-date=20 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520170752/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-89839-1_22 | url-status=live }}</ref> around 8000 to 6000 BCE. Later, [[gourd]]s, [[watermelon]]s, [[castor bean]]s, and [[cotton]] were also collected.<ref>Ehret (2002), pp. 64–75.</ref> Sorghum was first domesticated in Eastern [[Sudan]] around 4000 BC, in one of the earliest instances of agriculture in human history. Its cultivation would gradually spread across Africa, before spreading to India around 2000 BC.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/693898?journalCode=ca | doi=10.1086/693898 | title=Evidence for Sorghum Domestication in Fourth Millennium BC Eastern Sudan: Spikelet Morphology from Ceramic Impressions of the Butana Group | year=2017 | last1=Winchell | first1=Frank | last2=Stevens | first2=Chris J. | last3=Murphy | first3=Charlene | last4=Champion | first4=Louis | last5=Fuller | first5=Dorianq. | journal=Current Anthropology | volume=58 | issue=5 | pages=673–683 | s2cid=149402650 | access-date=20 May 2022 | archive-date=20 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520170745/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/693898?journalCode=ca | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 28, 2017 |title=Earliest Evidence of Domesticated Sorghum Discovered | Sci.News |url=https://www.sci.news/archaeology/earliest-evidence-domesticated-sorghum-05271.html |website=Sci.News: Breaking Science News}}</ref> People around modern-day Mauritania started making [[pottery]] and built stone settlements (e.g., [[Tichitt]], [[Oualata]]). Fishing, using bone-tipped [[harpoon]]s, became a major activity in the numerous streams and lakes formed from the increased rains.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/getting-food/katanda-bone-harpoon-point|title=Katanda Bone Harpoon Point|date=22 January 2010|website=The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program|language=en|access-date=19 February 2019|archive-date=14 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814055506/https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/getting-food/katanda-bone-harpoon-point|url-status=live}}</ref> In West Africa, the wet phase ushered in an expanding [[rainforest]] and wooded savanna from [[Senegal]] to [[Cameroon]]. Between 9,000 and 5,000 BC, [[Niger–Congo languages|Niger–Congo speakers]] domesticated the [[Elaeis guineensis|oil palm]] and [[raffia palm]]. [[Black-eyed pea]]s and [[voandzeia]] (African groundnuts), were domesticated, followed by [[okra]] and [[kola nut]]s. Since most of the plants grew in the forest, the Niger–Congo speakers invented polished stone axes for clearing forest.<ref>Ehret (2002), pp. 82–84.</ref> Around 4000 BC, the Saharan climate started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace.<ref name="O'Brien">O'Brien, Patrick K. ed. (2005) ''Oxford Atlas of World History''. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 22–23. {{ISBN|978-0199746538}}</ref> This climate change caused lakes and rivers to shrink significantly and caused increasing [[desertification]]. This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and encouraged migrations of farming communities to [[File:Abu Simbel Main Temple (2346939149).jpg|thumb|Colossal statues of [[Ramesses II]] at [[Abu Simbel]], [[Egypt]], date from around 1250 BC.]] the more tropical climate of West Africa.<ref name="O'Brien"/> During the first millennium BC, a reduction in wild grain populations related to changing climate conditions facilitated the expansion of farming communities and the rapid adoption of rice cultivation around the Niger River.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.066 | title=The Rise and Fall of African Rice Cultivation Revealed by Analysis of 246 New Genomes | year=2018 | last1=Cubry | first1=Philippe | last2=Tranchant-Dubreuil | first2=Christine | last3=Thuillet | first3=Anne-Céline | last4=Monat | first4=Cécile | last5=Ndjiondjop | first5=Marie-Noelle | last6=Labadie | first6=Karine | last7=Cruaud | first7=Corinne | last8=Engelen | first8=Stefan | last9=Scarcelli | first9=Nora | last10=Rhoné | first10=Bénédicte | last11=Burgarella | first11=Concetta | last12=Dupuy | first12=Christian | last13=Larmande | first13=Pierre | last14=Wincker | first14=Patrick | last15=François | first15=Olivier | last16=Sabot | first16=François | last17=Vigouroux | first17=Yves | journal=Current Biology | volume=28 | issue=14 | pages=2274–2282.e6 | pmid=29983312 | s2cid=51600014 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2018CBio...28E2274C }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265663363 |title=Searching for the Origins of African Rice Domestication |date=January 2004 |journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]] |issue=78 |author=Shawn Sabrina Murray |via=researchgate.net}}</ref> By the first millennium BC, [[Ferrous metallurgy|ironworking]] had been introduced in Northern Africa. Around that time it also became established in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, either through independent invention there or diffusion from the north<ref>[http://princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/history1.htm#Irontechnology Martin and O'Meara, "Africa, 3rd Ed."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011083356/http://princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/history1.htm |date=11 October 2007 }} Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1995</ref><ref name="PB 2014">Breunig, Peter. 2014. Nok: African Sculpture in Archaeological Context: p. 21.</ref> and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years,<ref name="FB 1969">Fagg, Bernard. 1969. Recent work in west Africa: New light on the Nok culture. World Archaeology 1(1): 41–50.</ref> and by 500 BC, metalworking began to become commonplace in West Africa. [[Ironworking]] was fully established by roughly 500 BC in many areas of East and West Africa, although other regions did not begin ironworking until the early centuries CE. Copper objects from [[Egypt]], North Africa, Nubia, and Ethiopia dating from around 500 BC have been excavated in West Africa, suggesting that [[Trans-Saharan trade]] networks had been established by this date.<ref name="O'Brien"/> ===Early civilizations=== {{Main|Ancient Africa}} {{clear}} [[File:African-civilizations-map-pre-colonial.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Diachronic map showing [[African empires]] spanning roughly 500 BC to 1500 AD]] At about 3300 BC, the historical record opens in Northern Africa with the rise of literacy in the [[Pharaoh|Pharaonic]] civilization of [[ancient Egypt]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/235724.stm Were Egyptians the first scribes?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626190345/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/235724.stm |date=26 June 2006 }} BBC News (15 December 1998)</ref> One of the world's earliest and longest-lasting civilizations, the Egyptian state continued, with varying levels of influence over other areas, until 343 BC.<ref>Hassan, Fekri A. (2002) ''Droughts, Food and Culture'', Springer. p. 17. {{ISBN|0-306-46755-0}}</ref><ref>McGrail, Sean. (2004) ''Boats of the World'', Oxford University Press. p. 48. {{ISBN|0-19-927186-0}}</ref> Egyptian influence reached deep into modern-day [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] and [[Nubia]], and, according to Martin Bernal, as far north as Crete.<ref>{{cite book|title=History in Black: African-Americans in Search of an Ancient Past|first1=Jacob|last1=Shavit|first2=Yaacov|last2=Shavit|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=2001|isbn=978-0-7146-8216-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VlNkzTO6IecC&pg=PA77|page=77|access-date=30 August 2020|archive-date=5 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405133055/http://books.google.com/books?id=VlNkzTO6IecC&pg=PA77|url-status=live}}</ref> An independent centre of [[civilization]] with trading links to [[Phoenicia]] was established by [[Phoenicia]]ns from [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] on the north-west African coast at Carthage.<ref>Fage, J.D. (1979), ''The Cambridge History of Africa'', Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-21592-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521215923.004 |chapter=North Africa in the period of Phoenician and Greek colonization, c.800 to 323 BC |title=The Cambridge History of Africa |year=1979 |last1=Law |first1=R. C. C. |pages=87–147 |isbn=978-1-139-05456-0 }}</ref><ref>Oliver, Roland and Anthony Atmore (1994), ''Africa Since 1800'', Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-42970-6}}</ref> [[European exploration of Africa]] began with the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Berlin Conference {{!}} Western Civilization II (HIS 104) – Biel|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-fmcc-worldcivilization2-1/chapter/the-berlin-conference/|website=courses.lumenlearning.com|access-date=13 May 2020|archive-date=10 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610192536/https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-fmcc-worldcivilization2-1/chapter/the-berlin-conference/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Greeks, Romans and Barbarians|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/Greeks-Romans-and-barbarians|access-date=30 May 2020|archive-date=4 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504023034/https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/Greeks-Romans-and-barbarians|url-status=live}}</ref> In 332 BC, [[Alexander the Great]] was welcomed as a liberator in [[History of Ptolemaic Egypt|Persian-occupied Egypt]]. He founded [[Alexandria]] in Egypt, which would become the prosperous capital of the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] after his death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/PTOLEMY.HTM |title=Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt: 332 BC – 395 AD |publisher=Wsu.edu |date=6 June 1999 |access-date=18 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528152425/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/PTOLEMY.HTM |archive-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[File:20141108- DSC1502 (15893475532).jpg|thumb|[[Africa (Roman province)|Roman]] ruins of [[Timgad]], in modern-day [[Algeria]]]] [[File:Quartier Punique.JPG|thumb|Ruins of the [[Punic]] district of [[Carthage]]]] [[File:NubianMeroePyramids30sep2005(2).jpg|thumb|[[Nubian pyramids]] at [[Meroë]], [[Sudan]]]] Following the conquest of North Africa's Mediterranean [[coastline]] by the [[Roman Empire]], the area was integrated economically and culturally into the Roman system. [[Africa Province|Roman settlement]] occurred in modern Tunisia and elsewhere along the coast. The first [[Roman emperor]] native to North Africa was [[Septimius Severus]], born in [[Leptis Magna]] in present-day Libya{{snd}}his mother was Italian Roman and his father was [[Punics|Punic]].<ref>{{cite news|title=New exhibition about Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at the Yorkshire Museum|url=http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/features/8826893.New_exhibition_about_Roman_Emperor_Septimius_Severus_at_the_Yorkshire_Museum/|access-date=15 December 2013|newspaper=The Press|date=2 February 2011|archive-date=15 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215152114/http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/features/8826893.New_exhibition_about_Roman_Emperor_Septimius_Severus_at_the_Yorkshire_Museum/|url-status=live}}</ref> Christianity spread across these areas at an early date, from Judaea via Egypt and beyond the borders of the Roman world into Nubia;<ref>{{cite web|title=The Story of Africa – Christianity|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section8.shtml|work=BBC World Service|publisher=BBC|access-date=15 December 2013|archive-date=9 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709142011/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section8.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> by 340 AD at the latest, it had become the [[state religion]] of the [[Aksumite Empire]]. [[Frumentius|Syro-Greek missionaries]], who arrived by way of the Red Sea, were responsible for this theological development.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tesfagiorgis, Mussie|title=Eritrea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0R7iHoaykoC&pg=PA153|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-232-6|page=153|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611044525/https://books.google.com/books?id=f0R7iHoaykoC&pg=PA153|url-status=live}}</ref> In the early 7th century, the newly formed Arabian Islamic [[Caliphate]] expanded into Egypt, and then into North Africa. In a short while, the local [[Berbers|Berber]] elite had been integrated into Muslim Arab tribes. When the Umayyad capital Damascus fell in the 8th century, the Islamic centre of the Mediterranean shifted from [[Syria]] to [[Qayrawan]] in North Africa. Islamic North Africa had become diverse, and a hub for mystics, scholars, jurists, and philosophers. During the above-mentioned period, Islam spread to sub-Saharan Africa, mainly through trade routes and migration.<ref name =Ayoub>{{cite book|last=Ayoub|first=Mahmoud M.|author-link=Mahmoud M. Ayoub|title=Islam: Faith and History|publisher=Oneworld|date=2004|location=Oxford|pages=76, 92–93, 96–97}}</ref> In West Africa, [[Dhar Tichitt]] and [[Oualata]] in present-day [[Mauritania]] figure prominently among the early urban centers, dated to 2,000 BC. About 500 stone settlements litter the region in the former savannah of the Sahara. Its inhabitants fished and grew millet. It has been found by Augustin Holl that the [[Soninke people|Soninke]] of the [[Mandé peoples]] were likely responsible for constructing such settlements. Around 300 BCE, the region became more desiccated and the settlements began to decline, most likely relocating to [[Koumbi Saleh]].<ref name="HollA1985">{{cite journal |last1=Holl |first1=Augustin |title=Background to the Ghana empire: Archaeological investigations on the transition to statehood in the Dhar Tichitt region (mauritania) |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |date=June 1985 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=73–115 |doi=10.1016/0278-4165(85)90005-4 }}</ref> Architectural evidence and the comparison of pottery styles suggest that Dhar Tichitt was related to the subsequent [[Ghana Empire]]. [[Djenné-Djenno]] (in present-day [[Mali]]) was settled around 300 BC, and the town grew to house a sizable [[Iron Age]] population, as evidenced by crowded cemeteries. Living structures were made of sun-dried mud. By 250 BCE, [[Djenné-Djenno]] had become a large, thriving market town.<ref>Iliffe, John (2007). pp. 49–50{{Incomplete short citation|date=October 2021}}</ref><ref>Collins and Burns (2007), p. 78.{{Incomplete short citation|date=October 2021}}</ref> Further south, in central [[Nigeria]], around 1,500 BC, the [[Nok culture]] developed on the [[Jos Plateau]]. It was a highly centralized community. The Nok people produced lifelike representations in [[terracotta]], including human heads and human figures, elephants, and other animals. By 500 BC, and possibly earlier, they were smelting iron. By 200 AD, the Nok culture had vanished.<ref name="PB 2014"/> and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years. Based on stylistic similarities with the [[Nok terracotta figures|Nok terracottas]], the bronze figurines of the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] kingdom of [[Ife]] and those of the [[Bini people|Bini]] kingdom of [[Benin]] are suggested to be continuations of the traditions of the earlier Nok culture.{{sfn|Shillington|2005|p=39}}<ref name="FB 1969"/> ===Ninth to eighteenth centuries=== {{Main|Medieval and early modern Africa}} Pre-colonial Africa possessed perhaps as many as 10,000 different states and polities<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/01/11/DI2006011101372.html|title=The Fate of Africa – A Survey of Fifty Years of Independence|access-date=23 July 2007|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|first=Martin|last=Meredith|date=20 January 2006|archive-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502070029/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/01/11/DI2006011101372.html|url-status=live}}</ref> characterized by many different sorts of political organization and rule. These included small family groups of hunter-gatherers such as the [[San people]] of southern Africa; larger, more structured groups such as the family clan groupings of the [[Bantu languages|Bantu-speaking]] [[Bantu peoples|peoples]] of central, southern, and eastern Africa; heavily structured clan groups in the [[Horn of Africa]]; the large [[Sahelian kingdoms]]; and autonomous city-states and kingdoms such as those of the [[Akan people|Akan]]; [[Kingdom of Benin|Edo]], [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]], and [[Igbo people]] in West Africa; and the [[Swahili people|Swahili]] coastal trading towns of Southeast Africa.[[File:Bronze ornamental staff head, 9th century, Igbo-Ukwu.JPG|thumb|upright=.7|The intricate 9th-century bronzes from [[Archaeology of Igbo-Ukwu|Igbo-Ukwu]], in [[Nigeria]] displayed a level of technical accomplishment that was notably more advanced than European bronze casting of the same period.<ref name="Honour-2005">{{cite book |last1=Honour |first1=Hugh |title=A world history of art |last2=Fleming |first2=John |date=2005 |publisher=Laurence King |isbn=978-1856694513 |edition=7th |location=London}}</ref>]] By the ninth century AD, a string of dynastic states, including the earliest [[Hausa Kingdoms|Hausa]] states, stretched across the sub-Saharan savannah from the western regions to central Sudan. The most powerful of these states were [[Ghana Empire|Ghana]], [[Gao Region|Gao]], and the [[Kanem Empire|Kanem-Bornu Empire]]. [[Ghana]] declined in the eleventh century, but was succeeded by the [[Mali Empire]] which consolidated much of western Sudan in the thirteenth century. Kanem accepted Islam in the eleventh century. In the forested regions of the West African coast, independent kingdoms grew with little influence from the [[Muslim]] north. The [[Kingdom of Nri]] was established around the ninth century and was one of the first. It is also one of the oldest kingdoms in present-day Nigeria and was ruled by the [[Eze Nri]]. The Nri kingdom is famous for its elaborate [[Igbo-Ukwu#Bronzes|bronzes]], found at the town of [[Igbo-Ukwu]]. The bronzes have been dated from as far back as the ninth century.<ref>{{cite web |title=Igbo-Ukwu (c. 9th century) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/igbo/hd_igbo.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204053356/http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/igbo/hd_igbo.htm |archive-date=4 December 2008 |access-date=18 May 2010 |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> The [[Ifẹ|Kingdom of Ife]], historically the first of these Yoruba city-states or kingdoms, established government under a priestly [[oba (ruler)|oba]] ('king' or 'ruler' in the [[Yoruba language]]), called the ''Ooni of Ife''. Ife was noted as a major religious and cultural centre in West Africa, and for its unique naturalistic tradition of bronze sculpture. The Ife model of government was adapted at the [[Oyo Empire]], where its obas or kings, called the ''Alaafins of Oyo'', once controlled a large number of other Yoruba and non-Yoruba city-states and kingdoms; the [[Fon people|Fon]] ''Kingdom of [[Dahomey]]'' was one of the non-Yoruba domains under Oyo control. The [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravids]] were a [[Berber people|Berber]] dynasty from the Sahara that spread over a wide area of northwestern Africa and the Iberian peninsula during the eleventh century.<ref>Glick, Thomas F. (2005) ''Islamic And Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages''. Brill Academic Publishers, p. 37. {{ISBN|978-9004147713}}</ref> The [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Maqil|Banu Ma'qil]] were a collection of [[Arab]] [[Bedouin]] tribes from the [[Arabian Peninsula]] who migrated westwards via Egypt between the eleventh and [[File:Great Zimbabwe Closeup.jpg|thumb|Ruins of [[Great Zimbabwe]] (flourished eleventh to fifteenth centuries)]] thirteenth centuries. Their [[Human migration|migration]] resulted in the fusion of the Arabs and Berbers, where the locals were [[Arabization|Arabized]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/mauritania/8.htm|title=Mauritania – Arab Invasions|website=countrystudies.us|access-date=25 April 2010|archive-date=23 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623125418/http://countrystudies.us/mauritania/8.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Arabs|Arab]] culture absorbed elements of the local culture, under the unifying framework of Islam.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Genetic Evidence for the Expansion of Arabian Tribes into the Southern Levant and North Africa |date=1 April 2010 |pmc=379148 |volume=70|issue=6|pmid=11992266|last1=Nebel|first1=A|display-authors=etal|pages=1594–1596 |doi=10.1086/340669 |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics}}</ref> Following the breakup of Mali, a local leader named [[Sonni Ali]] (1464–1492) founded the [[Songhai Empire]] in the region of middle [[Niger]] and the western [[Sudan (region)|Sudan]] and took control of the trans-Saharan trade. Sonni Ali seized [[Timbuktu]] in 1468 and [[Djenné|Jenne]] in 1473, building his regime on trade revenues and the cooperation of Muslim merchants. His successor [[Askia Mohammad I]] (1493–1528) made Islam the official religion, built mosques, and brought to Gao Muslim scholars, including al-Maghili (d.1504), the founder of an important tradition of Sudanic African Muslim scholarship.<ref name="multiple">Lapidus, Ira M. (1988) ''A History of Islamic Societies'', Cambridge.</ref> By the eleventh century, some [[Hausa Kingdoms|Hausa]] states – such as [[Kano (city)|Kano]], [[jigawa]], [[Katsina]], and [[Gobir]] – had developed into walled towns engaging in trade, servicing [[camel train|caravans]], and the manufacture of goods. Until the fifteenth century, these small states were on the periphery of the major Sudanic empires of the era, paying tribute to Songhai to the west and Kanem-Borno to the east. ===Height of the slave trade=== {{See also|Trans-Saharan slave trade|Atlantic slave trade|Indian Ocean slave trade}} [[File:Africa slave Regions.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|right|Major slave trading regions of Africa, 15th–19th centuries.]] [[Slavery]] had long been practiced in Africa.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 Historical survey: Slave societies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230184609/https://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 |date=30 December 2007 }}, ''Encyclopædia Britannica''</ref><ref>[http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/10/01/html/ft_20011001.6.html Swahili Coast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071206102932/http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/10/01/html/ft_20011001.6.html |date=6 December 2007 }}, National Geographic</ref> Between the 15th and the 19th centuries, the Atlantic slave trade took an estimated 7–12 million slaves to the New World.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156 Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223090720/https://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156 |date=23 February 2007 }}, ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1523100.stm|title=Focus on the slave trade|publisher=BBC News – Africa|work=bbc.co.uk|date=3 September 2001|access-date=28 February 2008|archive-date=28 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728134034/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1523100.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lovejoy, Paul E. |title=Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa|url=https://archive.org/details/transformationsi0000love|url-access=registration |year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-78430-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/transformationsi0000love/page/25 25]}}</ref> In addition, more than 1 million Europeans were captured by [[Barbary pirates]] and sold as slaves in North Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries.<ref>Rees Davies, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml "British Slaves on the Barbary Coast"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425235016/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml |date=25 April 2011 }}, [[BBC]], 1 July 2003</ref> In West Africa, the decline of the Atlantic slave trade in the 1820s caused dramatic economic shifts in local polities. The gradual decline of slave-trading, prompted by a lack of demand for slaves in the [[New World]], increasing [[abolitionism|anti-slavery]] legislation in Europe and America, and the [[Royal Navy|British Royal Navy's]] increasing presence off the West African coast, obliged African states to adopt new economies. Between 1808 and 1860, the British [[West Africa Squadron]] seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2007/03/20/abolition_navy_feature.shtml Jo Loosemore, Sailing against slavery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081103004954/https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2007/03/20/abolition_navy_feature.shtml |date=3 November 2008 }}. BBC</ref> Action was also taken against African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade, for example against "the usurping King of [[Lagos]]", deposed in 1851. Anti-slavery treaties were signed with over 50 African rulers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pdavis.nl/Background.htm#WAS|title=The West African Squadron and slave trade|publisher=Pdavis.nl|access-date=18 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610030306/http://www.pdavis.nl/Background.htm|archive-date=10 June 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> The largest powers of West Africa (the [[Asante Confederacy]], the [[Dahomey|Kingdom of Dahomey]], and the [[Oyo Empire]]) adopted different ways of adapting to the shift. Asante and Dahomey concentrated on the development of "legitimate commerce" in the form of [[palm oil]], [[Cocoa bean|cocoa]], timber and gold, forming the bedrock of West Africa's modern export trade. The Oyo Empire, unable to adapt, collapsed into civil wars.<ref>Simon, Julian L. (1995) ''State of Humanity'', Blackwell Publishing. p. 175. {{ISBN|1-55786-585-X}}</ref> ===Colonialism=== {{Main|Colonial Africa}} [[File:Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913]] {{Excerpt|Scramble for Africa| only=paragraphs}} ===Independence struggles=== [[File:Africa map 1939, colours.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.5|European control in 1939]] Imperial rule by Europeans would continue until after the conclusion of [[World War II]], when almost all remaining colonial territories gradually obtained formal independence. [[African independence movements|Independence movements in Africa]] gained momentum following World War II, which left the major European powers weakened. In 1951, Libya, a former Italian colony, gained independence. In 1956, [[Tunisia]] and [[Morocco]] won their independence from France.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bély, Lucien|title=The History of France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ltzav890zpIC&pg=PA118|year=2001|publisher=Editions Jean-paul Gisserot|isbn=978-2-87747-563-1|page=118|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611045035/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ltzav890zpIC&pg=PA118|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ghana]] followed suit the next year (March 1957),<ref>{{cite book|author1=Aryeetey, Ernest|author2=Harrigan, Jane|first3=Nissanke|last3=Machiko|title=Economic Reforms in Ghana: The Miracle and the Mirage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87V55ZHppSYC&pg=PA5|year=2000|publisher=Africa World Press|isbn=978-0-86543-844-6|page=5|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611044656/https://books.google.com/books?id=87V55ZHppSYC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}</ref> becoming the first of the sub-Saharan colonies to be granted independence. Most of the rest of the continent became independent over the next decade. Portugal's overseas presence in [[sub-Saharan Africa]] (most notably in [[Portuguese Angola|Angola]], Cape Verde, [[Portuguese Mozambique|Mozambique]], [[Portuguese Guinea|Guinea-Bissau]], and São Tomé and Príncipe) lasted from the 16th century to 1975, after the [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]] regime was overthrown in [[Carnation Revolution|a military coup in Lisbon]]. [[Rhodesia]] [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|unilaterally declared independence]] from the United Kingdom in 1965, under the [[White minority rule|white minority]] government of [[Ian Smith]], but was not internationally recognized as an independent state (as [[Zimbabwe]]) until 1980, when black nationalists gained power after a [[Rhodesian Bush War|bitter guerrilla war]]. Although South Africa was one of the first African countries to gain independence, the state remained under the control of the country's white minority, initially through qualified voting rights and from 1956 by a system of [[racial segregation]] known as [[South Africa under apartheid|apartheid]], until 1994. ===Post-colonial Africa=== {{Main|Postcolonial Africa}} {{See also|Decolonisation of Africa|Neocolonialism|Status of forces agreement|Non-Aligned Movement}} Today, Africa contains 54 sovereign countries, most of which have borders that were drawn during the era of European colonialism. Since independence, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The vast majority of African states are republics that operate under some form of the [[presidential system]] of rule. However, few of them have been able to sustain democratic governments on a permanent basis{{snd}}per the criteria laid out by Lührmann et al. (2018), only [[Botswana]] and [[Mauritius]] have been consistently democratic for the entirety of their post-colonial history. Most African countries have experienced several [[Coup d'état|coups]] or periods of [[military dictatorship]]. Between 1990 and 2018, though, the continent as a whole has trended towards more democratic governance.<ref>tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2019.1613980</ref> Upon independence an overwhelming majority of Africans lived in [[extreme poverty]]. The continent suffered from the lack of infrastructural or industrial development under [[Colonialism|colonial]] rule, along with political instability. With limited financial resources or access to global markets, relatively stable countries such as [[Kenya]] still experienced only very slow economic development. Only a handful of African countries succeeded in obtaining rapid economic growth prior to 1990. Exceptions include Libya and Equatorial Guinea, both of which possess large oil reserves. Instability throughout the continent after decolonization resulted primarily from [[Institutional racism|marginalization of ethnic groups]], and [[Political corruption|corruption]]. In pursuit of personal [[Divide and rule|political gain]], many leaders deliberately promoted ethnic conflicts, some of which had originated during the colonial period, such as from the grouping of multiple unrelated ethnic groups into a single colony, the splitting of a distinct ethnic group between multiple colonies, or existing conflicts being exacerbated by colonial rule (for instance, the preferential treatment given to ethnic [[Hutu]]s over [[Tutsi]]s in Rwanda during German and Belgian rule). Faced with increasingly frequent and severe violence, military rule was widely accepted by the population of many countries as means to maintain order, and during the 1970s and 1980s a majority of African countries were controlled by [[military dictatorships]]. Territorial disputes between nations and rebellions by groups seeking independence were also common in independent African states. The most devastating of these was the [[Nigerian Civil War]], fought between government forces and an [[Igbo people|Igbo]] [[Biafra|separatist republic]], which resulted in a famine that killed 1–2 million people. Two [[civil war]]s in Sudan, [[First Sudanese Civil War|the first]] lasting from 1955 to 1972 and [[Second Sudanese Civil War|the second]] from 1983 to 2005, collectively killed around 3 million. Both were fought primarily on ethnic and religious lines. [[Cold War]] conflicts between the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] also contributed to instability. Both the Soviet Union and the United States offered considerable incentives to African political and military leaders who aligned themselves with the superpowers' foreign policy. As an example, during the [[Angolan Civil War]], the Soviet and Cuban aligned [[MPLA]] and the American aligned [[UNITA]] received the vast majority of their military and political support from these countries. Many African countries became highly dependent on foreign aid. The sudden loss of both Soviet and American aid at the end of the Cold War and [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|fall of the USSR]] resulted in severe economic and political turmoil in the countries most dependent on foreign support. There was a [[1983–85 famine in Ethiopia|major famine in Ethiopia]] between 1983 and 1985, killing up to 1.2 million people, which most [[historians]] attribute primarily to the forced relocation of farmworkers and seizure of grain by communist [[Derg]] government, further exacerbated by the [[Ethiopian Civil War|civil war]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/703958.stm|title=BBC: 1984 famine in Ethiopia|date=6 April 2000|access-date=1 January 2010|work=BBC News|archive-date=19 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419011700/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/703958.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Robert G. Patman, ''The Soviet Union in the Horn of Africa'' 1990, {{ISBN|0-521-36022-6}}, pp. 295–296</ref><ref>Steven Varnis, ''Reluctant aid or aiding the reluctant?: U.S. food aid policy and the Ethiopian Famine Relief'' 1990, {{ISBN|0-88738-348-3}}, p. 38</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/722691 | jstor=722691 | title=The Consequences of Resettlement in Ethiopia | last1=Woldemeskel | first1=Getachew | journal=African Affairs | year=1989 | volume=88 | issue=352 | pages=359–374 | doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098187 | access-date=20 May 2022 | archive-date=20 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520194833/https://www.jstor.org/stable/722691 | url-status=live }}</ref> In 1994 a [[Rwandan genocide|genocide in Rwanda]] resulted in up to 800,000 deaths, added to [[Great Lakes refugee crisis|a severe refugee crisis]] and fueled the rise of militia groups in neighboring countries. This contributed to the outbreak of the [[First Congo War|first]] and [[Second Congo War|second]] Congo Wars, which were the most devastating military conflicts in modern Africa, with up to 5.5 million deaths,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/democraticrepublicofcongo/8792068/Is-your-mobile-phone-helping-fund-war-in-Congo.html|title=Is your mobile phone helping fund war in Congo?|date=27 September 2011|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|first=Gordon|last=Rayner|access-date=3 April 2018|archive-date=18 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018135029/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/democraticrepublicofcongo/8792068/Is-your-mobile-phone-helping-fund-war-in-Congo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> making it by far the deadliest conflict in modern African history and one of the [[List of wars by death toll|costliest wars in human history]].<ref>{{cite news|date=22 January 2008|title=Congo war-driven crisis kills 45,000 a month-study|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-democratic-death-idUSL2280201220080122|access-date=20 May 2022|archive-date=14 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414093820/http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/22/us-congo-democratic-death-idUSL2280201220080122|url-status=live}}</ref> <gallery mode="packed"> File:African nations order of independence 1950-1993.gif|An animated map shows the order of [[Decolonisation of Africa|independence of African nations]], 1950–2011 File:Africa’s wars and conflicts, 1980–96.svg|Africa's wars and conflicts, 1980–96<br>{{legend|#cc4c02|Major Wars/Conflict (>100,000 casualties)}}{{legend|#fe9929|Minor Wars/Conflict}}{{legend|#fed98e|Other Conflicts}} File:Political Map of Africa.svg|Political map of Africa in 2021 </gallery> Various conflicts between various insurgent groups and governments continue. Since 2003 there has been an ongoing [[War in Darfur|conflict in Darfur]] (Sudan) which peaked in intensity from 2003 to 2005 with notable spikes in violence in 2007 and 2013–15, killing around 300,000 people total. The [[Boko Haram Insurgency]] primarily within Nigeria (with considerable fighting in Niger, Chad, and Cameroon as well) has killed around 350,000 people since 2009. Most African conflicts have been reduced to low-intensity conflicts as of 2022. However, the [[Tigray War]] which began in 2020 has killed an estimated 300,000–500,000 people, primarily due to [[Famine in the Tigray War|famine]]. Overall though, violence across Africa has greatly declined in the 21st century, with the end of civil wars in Angola, [[Sierra Leone Civil War|Sierra Leone]], and [[Algerian Civil War|Algeria]] in 2002, [[Second Liberian Civil War|Liberia]] in 2003, and [[Second Sudanese Civil War|Sudan]] and [[Burundian Civil War|Burundi]] in 2005. The Second Congo War, which involved 9 countries and several insurgent groups, ended in 2003. This decline in violence coincided with many countries abandoning communist-style command economies and opening up for market reforms, which over the course of the 1990s and 2000s promoted the establishment of permanent, peaceful trade between neighboring countries (see [[Capitalist peace]]). Improved stability and economic reforms have led to a great increase in foreign investment into many African nations, mainly from China,<ref name=Africa/> which further spurred economic growth. Between 2000 and 2014, annual GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa averaged 5.02%, doubling its total GDP from $811 Billion to $1.63 Trillion (Constant 2015 [[USD]]).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD?end=2014&locations=ZG&start=2000 | title=GDP (Constant 2015 US$) – Sub-Saharan Africa | Data | access-date=21 May 2022 | archive-date=21 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521052321/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD?end=2014&locations=ZG&start=2000 | url-status=live }}</ref> North Africa experienced comparable growth rates.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344266156 |last1=Onyishi |first1=Augustine |last2=Solomon |first2=Ogbonna |date=2019 |title=The African Continental Free Trade Zone (AFCFTZ): Economic Tsunami Or Development Opportunities In Sub-Sahara Africa |journal=Journal of Development and Administrative Studies. |issue=1 |pages=133–149}}</ref> A significant part of this growth can also be attributed to the facilitated diffusion of information technologies and specifically the mobile telephone.<ref>Jenny Aker, Isaac Mbiti, [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1693963 "Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330032528/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1693963 |date=30 March 2021 }} SSRN</ref> While several individual countries have maintained high growth rates, since 2014 overall growth has considerably slowed, primarily as a result of falling commodity prices, continued lack of [[industrialization]], and epidemics of [[Western African Ebola virus epidemic|Ebola]] and [[COVID-19 pandemic in Africa|COVID-19]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/117/469/543/5038419 | journal=African Affairs | date=October 2018 | volume=117 | issue=469 | pages=543–568 | doi=10.1093/afraf/ady022 | last1=Frankema | first1=Ewout | last2=Van Waijenburg | first2=Marlous | title=Africa rising? A historical perspective | access-date=21 May 2022 | archive-date=21 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521052321/https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/117/469/543/5038419 | url-status=live | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.un.org/africarenewal/news/development-prospects-africa-undermined-severe-economic-downturn | title=Development prospects in Africa undermined by a severe economic downturn | newspaper=Africa Renewal | date=25 January 2021 | access-date=21 May 2022 | archive-date=21 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521052321/https://www.un.org/africarenewal/news/development-prospects-africa-undermined-severe-economic-downturn | url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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