Ok, 4 million years ago - 1 million years ago

In Africa, Australopithecus (Australopithecus) - anthropoid primates - appears - remains in Ethiopia, Olduvai (Northern Tanzania in East Africa), near Lake. Chad, in Ubaidiya, Kenya

2 million years ago - 800 thousand years ago

Olduvai era of the ancient Stone Age (Paleolithic).

OK. 1.7 million years ago

The appearance of the “handy man” - remains in Olduvai (Northern Tanzania)

1.2 million years ago

The appearance of Pithecanthropus - remains in Olduvai (Tanzania), Ternifin, Sidi Abdurrahman (North Africa)

OK. 800-60 thousand years ago

Acheulean era of the ancient stone age - improvement of stone tool processing techniques

OK. 100-40 thousand years ago

Paleolithic Sango culture in Central Africa

OK. 60-30 thousand years ago

Middle Paleolithic - Ater culture in North Africa. Neanderthal man in Africa

39 thousand years ago - 14th thousand BC

The oldest Upper Paleolithic culture in Africa is Dabba (Cyrenaica)

OK. 35 thousand years ago

Formation of a modern person

OK. 13th millennium - 10th millennium BC

Oran (Ibero-Moorish) culture of the late Upper Paleolithic in North Africa

10th millennium - 2nd millennium BC

Capsian culture in North Africa (Mesolithic - Middle Stone Age)

6th millennium BC

The emergence of ceramics and domesticated animals. Beginning of the Neolithic in North Africa

5th millennium BC

Cattle breeding and agriculture in Egypt, Sahara, Sudan

First half of the 4th millennium BC

The beginning of the decomposition of tribal relations in Egypt. First predynastic period. Irrigated agriculture in the Nile Valley

XXXI-XXIX centuries BC.

Early Kingdom (1st-11th Dynasties)

OK. 3000 BC

Pharaoh Menes unites Upper and Lower Egypt, founds the capital in Memphis and the 1st dynasty

XXVIII century BC.

III dynasty. Construction of the first pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser in Giza

XXVII centuries BC.

IV dynasty. Construction of the largest pyramids of the pharaohs Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Khefre) and Menkaure (Mykerin)

Mid-XXIII-mid-XXI century. BC.

Transitional period (VII-X dynasties).

The collapse of Egypt into separate nomes and the struggle of Heracleopolis and Thebes for hegemony

Mid-21st century XVIII century BC.

Middle Kingdom (XI-XIII Dynasties)

XXI century BC.

Unification of Egypt by the founder of the 11th Dynasty, Pharaoh Mentuhotep

XX-XVIII centuries BC.

The reign of the XII Dynasty, founded by Pharaoh Amenemhet. Rise of Egypt under Senusret III and Amenemhet III

End of the 18th century - 17th century BC.

I Transition period. Popular uprisings and the conquest of Egypt by the Hyksos. XV-XVI (Hyksos dynasties)

1680-1580 BC.

XVII dynasty in Egypt.

OK. 1580 BC

Expulsion of the Hyksos by Pharaoh Thmose I, founder of the 18th Dynasty

1580-1070 BC.

New Kingdom (XVIII-XX dynasties)

1580 - MIDDLE XIV CENTURY B.C.

XVIII dynasty in Egypt 1450s. BC.

Conquests of Pharaoh Thutmose III in Nubia, Syria and Palestine

1372-1354 BC.

Reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)

354-1345 BC.

Reign of Pharaoh Tutankhaten (Tutankhamun)

Mid-XIV century - end of XIII century. BC.

Reign of the 19th Dynasty

301-1235 BC.

Reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II. The heyday of the Egyptian state and culture. Hiking in Vostochnoye

Mediterranean. Creation of the Egyptian Empire

235-1215 BC.

Reign of Pharaoh Merneptah. Exodus of Jews from Egypt

XIII C.-BEGINNING XII century BC

Invasion of Egypt by the Libyans of the “Sea Peoples” (Aegean)

III-XIII centuries BC.

Formation of state entities in Libya

198-1166 BC.

Reign of Pharaoh Ramesses III (XX Dynasty)

XII century BC

Liberation of Phenicia from Egyptian rule

II century BC.

Phoenicians founded trading colonies in North Africa

XI CENTURY B.C. - MID X CENTURY. BC.

Transitional period (XXI dynasty). The disintegration of Egypt into Lower and Upper. Capture of the Nile Delta by the Libyans

2nd THOUSAND BC.

State of Kush in Nubia with its capital in Napata (modern Sudan)

1050-950 BC.

Later Kingdom (Libyan-Sai and Persian period)

OK. 950-730 BC.

XXII-XXIII (Libyan) dynasties

OK. 950-930 BC.

Reign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I (Susakim). Shoshenq's campaign in Judea, capture and plunder of Jerusalem

Mid-9th century BC.

The disintegration of Egypt into fiefs

825 or 814 BC

Founding of Carthage by Phoenicians, immigrants from Tire

715 BC

Conquest of Egypt by the Ethiopians

715-664 BC.

Unification of Egypt and Kush into one state

674 and 671 BC.

The campaigns of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon in Egypt, the conquest of Egypt by the Assyrians

667-665 BC.

Liberation of Egypt

663-525 BC.

XXVI (Sais) dynasty, founded by Pharaoh Psammetichus I. Renaissance of Egypt

610-595 BC.

Reign of Pharaoh Necho II. Construction of a canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas

OK. 600 BC

Expedition of Phoenician sailors around Africa

525 BC

Conquest of Egypt by the Persians. XXVII (Persian) dynasty, founded by the Persian king Cambyses

525-404 BC.

Revolt against Persian rule

Liberation of Egypt from Persian rule

404-341 BC.

XXVI11-XXX dynasties in Egypt, founded by local leaders

OK. 400 BC

The beginning of the migration from west to east and south of Bantu tribes with metallurgical skills

343 BC

Secondary conquest of Egypt by the Persians, foundation of the XXXI (Persian) dynasty

332 BC

Conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. Founding of Alexandria

305-283 BC.

Rule of Ptolemy I in Egypt. Formation of the Ptolemaic Empire!*

Con. IV.- beginning Ill in. BC.

Transfer of the capital of Ethiopia from Napata to Meroe. State of Meroe

III century BC.

The emergence of state formations in Numidia and Mauretania

274-217 BC.

Wars between Egypt and the Persian Seleucid power for control of Palestine

264-241 BC.

IPunic War of Rome and Carthage

256-250 BC.

The Roman invasion of North Africa and their defeat by the Carthaginians

218-201 BC.

I Punic War of Rome and Carthage

202 BC

Roman commander Scipio Africanus defeats the Carthaginian commander Hannibal at the Battle of Zama, end of the Second Punic War

149-146 BC.

IIIPunic War

146 BC

Capture and destruction of Carthage by the Romans. Formation of the Roman province of Africa

111-105 BC.

The Jugurthine War between Rome and Numidia, which ended with the defeat of the Numidians and the dismemberment of Numidia

OK. 100 BC

Formation of the Kingdom of Aksum (in the territory of modern Eritrea and Ethiopia)

48 BC

The flight of the Roman commander and politician Pompey to Egypt after its defeat by Julius Caesar. Assassination of Pompey by order of Ptolemy XIII. Caesar in Egypt. Exile of Cleopatra VII to Syria

32 BC

The breakup of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian with Mark Antony. Rome's war against Egypt, where Antony and Cleopatra VII were in power

31 BC

The defeat of Antony's fleet at Cape Actium, the flight of Antony and Cleopatra to Alexandria

30 BC

Suicide of Antony and Cleopatra. Egypt becomes a Roman province

OK. 25 BC

Kushites from Meroe invade Egypt, Napata is captured and sacked by the Romans

Capture of Mauretania (modern Algeria and eastern regions of Morocco) by the Roman Emperor Caligula

Decline of the Kingdom of Meroe

Unrest in North Africa and Egypt against Roman rule

Egyptian missionaries convert King Ezan of Aksum to Christianity

Ezan conquers the kingdom of Meroe

St. Augustine Aurelius (354-430) - theologian, Church Father, bishop of Hippo (North Africa)

Sea Peoples from Indonesia begin resettlement in Madagascar

The Vandal invasion of North Africa, their capture of Carthage and the formation of the Vandal Kingdom

533-534 Byzantine armies under the command of the commander Belisarius conquer northern Africa from the Vandals

VII/VIII-XVI centuries.

State of Aloa (in the southern part of modern Sudan)

Conquest of Egypt by Sasanian king Khosrow II

Byzantine Emperor Heraclius I restores Byzantine power over Egypt

Arab conquest of Egypt

Arab invasion of Tunisia

Arab troops destroy the Byzantine city of Carthage. Arab conquest of North Africa

The Berber uprising against the Umayyads (Arab caliphs) and their creation of an independent state in the north of the Sahara

Aghlabid state in Tunisia and Algeria

The kingdom of Kanem is formed on the western shore of Lake Chad

Tulunid Dynasty in Egypt

Ikshidid Dynasty in Egypt

I Fatimid Caliphate in the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria)

Conquest of Egypt by the Fatimids

Almoravid rule in the Maghreb

Reign of the Barbary Almohad dynasty in northwest Africa

Overthrow of the Almoravids by the Almohads

The Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt, founded by the famous Turkic Sultan Salah ad-Din

The legendary state of Kitara in Central Africa

Capture of the Damietta fortress in the Nile Delta by the Crusaders during the 5th Crusade

7th crusade led by King Louis IX, defeat of the Crusaders by the Egyptians, capture of the king

In Egypt, the Mamluks (slave guards) seize power, the beginning of the dynasty of Mamluk sultans (until 1517)

8th Crusade. Death of Louis IX from fever in Tunisia. End of the Crusades

The state of Benin emerges on the west coast of Africa

Plague epidemic ("Black Death") in Egypt

Crusaders led by the King of Cyprus capture and plunder Alexandria, Egypt

The Kingdom of Songhai separates from the Empire of Mali

Portuguese expeditions to Africa to search for the "Country of Ophir"

The first batch of African slaves arrived in Lisbon

Portuguese sailors reach the Cape Verde Islands in West Africa

Wattasid Dynasty in Morocco

Songhai Empire conquers Timbuktu

The Spanish-Portuguese Treaty of Toledo gives Portugal exclusive rights in Africa

The ruler of the Congo converts to Christianity

Waskode Gama Expedition around Africa to India

Muslim conquest of the Christian state of Soba in Nubia

The Ottoman Turks under the leadership of Sultan Selim conquer Egypt, the end of the Mamluk dynasty

Beginning of the African slave trade in America

Ottoman Turks conquer Algeria

Saadian dynasty in Morocco

Portuguese expedition to the Zambezi River

Portuguese attempts to conquer the kingdom of Mwenemutapa

Morocco expands its territory to the south and west of the Sahara and conquers the city of Thuat

Portuguese victory over the Turks near the city of Mambasa in eastern Africa

The Moroccans invade Songhai, inflict a crushing defeat on the empire's military forces at the Battle of Tondibi, and destroy the city of Gao. End of the Songhai Empire

The Dutch seize two islands off the west coast of Africa that belonged to the Portuguese for the slave trade.

France annexes Madagascar

Huguenots, refugees from France, arrive in southern Africa

Completion of the French conquest of Senegal

The Dutch move east through the Hottentot Dutch Mountains

France takes the island of Mauritius from the Dutch

The Dutch begin importing slaves to the Cape Colony in southern Africa.

Mazrui, Governor of Mombasa, declares his independence from the Sultan of Oman

In West Africa, Ashanti warriors defeat Dagomba warriors.

Mohammed XVI becomes ruler of Morocco

The British recapture Senegal from the French

In South Africa, Dutch farmers move north and cross the Orange River

Declaration of Egyptian independence by Mamluk ruler Ali Bey Ottoman Empire

Restoration of Turkish rule over Egypt

The first "inspection" war in South Africa between the local Xhosa tribes and Dutch farmers (Boers)

Foundation of the British Society for the Prohibition of the African Slave Trade

Second "inspection" war between the Boers and Xhosa people over land in South Africa

Egyptian campaign of Napoleon Bonaparte

Turkish governor Muhammad Ali seizes power in Egypt

Prohibition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire

Boer rebellion in South Africa, suppressed by British troops

Prohibition of the slave trade in France

The beginning of the Mfecan Wars in southern Africa, associated with the expansion of the Zulu people

Annexation of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast (modern Ghana) and Gambia to British West Africa

The British war against the Ashanti people in West Africa

Expulsion of the French from Madagascar

The British leave Mombasa

French invasion of Algeria, occupation of the cities of Algiers and Oran

Mfecane Wars spread to northern Zimbabwe

The great migration of the Boers in South Africa to the north, caused by persecution by the British

Mfecane Wars Spread into Northern Zambia and Malawi

Turks overthrow local dynasty in Tripoli and establish direct rule

The Boers in Natal defeat the Zulu people

Anti-colonial Zulu revolt

Liberia becomes an independent republic

In Gabon, the French found the city of Libreville as a refuge for escaped slaves.

Boers create independent Transvaal Republic

British recognition of the Orange State created by the Boers

D. Livingston makes the first European expedition to cross Africa from east to west. Discovery of Victoria Falls

Transvaal becomes the Republic of South Africa with its capital Pretoria

The French found the city of Dakar in Senegal.

Conflict over the enclaves of Ceuta and Melil leads to the invasion of Morocco by Portuguese troops

Construction of the Suez Canal begins

The reign of Ismail Pasha in Egypt, the expansion of Egypt's autonomy, the implementation of reforms

Opening of the Suez Canal

Expedition to Central Africa of the American journalist Henry Stanley, his meeting with Livingston, who was considered missing

Zulu war against the British in South Africa

Boer revolt in the Transvaal against the British, proclamation of a republic

The journey of the Russian geographer V.V. Juncker, his description of the river basin. Uele and the identification of the part

Nile-Congo watershed

Conquest of Tunisia by the French

Liberation movement in Egypt under the leadership of Arab Pasha. Occupation of Egypt by England

Muhammad Ahmed declares himself the Mahdi (messiah) and starts a rebellion in Sudan.

French Colonial War in Madagascar

The beginning of German colonial conquests in Africa

Expulsion of Anglo-Egyptian troops from Sudan. Formation of the Mahdist government

"Ucciali" Italo-Ethiopian Treaty. Annexation by Italy of part of Somalia

The French defeat the Zulu people in West Africa

France captures Timbuktu and drives out the Tuaregs

French occupation of Madagascar

Italo-Ethiopian War. Peace Treaty in Addis Ababa Guaranteeing Ethiopian Independence

Anglo-French Convention on the Division of Colonial Possessions in Africa

Boer War

France seizes the main oases in the Sahara south of Morocco and Algeria

France and Italy enter into a secret agreement that gives France control

over Morocco, and Italy over Libya

French troops defeat the African leader Rabeh Zabeir in the Lake Chad region

The end of the Anglo-Boer War. Loss of independence by the Boers

Suppression of the uprising of the Herero people in German South-West Africa, extreme cruelty of the reprisal

Congo annexed by Belgium

The French completed the conquest of Mauritania

Britain gives the Union of South Africa dominion status

Occupation of the Moroccan capital Fetz by French troops. German military pressure forces France to cede part of the Congo, for which the French receive freedom of action in Morocco

Britain bombards Dar es Salaam, the administrative center of German East Africa. Defeat of British troops at Tanga (in Tanganyika)

Britain declares a protectorate over Egypt

South African and Portuguese troops capture Dar es Salaam

German troops invade Portuguese East Africa

German troops invade Rhodesia

Britain receives Tanganyika from Germany and shares Cameroon and Togo with France

According to an international agreement, the sale of alcohol and weapons is limited in Africa

The French create a colony in Upper Volta (modern Burkina Faso)

Egypt becomes a self-governing monarchy

Slavery abolished in Ethiopia

International Convention assigns responsibility for the abolition of slavery to the League of Nations

The adoption by the English Parliament of the Statute of Westminster, which granted the dominions sovereign rights in the field of foreign and domestic policy. Transformation of the British Empire into the British Commonwealth of Nations

B. Mussolini proclaims the transformation of Libya into an Italian colony

Constitution in Egypt

Italian annexation of Ethiopia

Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of Alliance, maintaining British occupation forces in Egypt

New electoral law in the Union of South Africa that disenfranchises indigenous people

Declaration of war on Germany by the Union of South Africa

The British defeat Italian troops and capture Torbruk and Benghazi in Libya. German troops enter North Africa and besiege the British at Torbruk

British and American troops land in Morocco and Algeria. British offensive in Egypt

German troops capture Torbruk. British units, having won the Battle of El Alamein, stop the German offensive on Cairo

American troops join British forces in Tunisia. German surrender in North Africa

Establishment of the apartheid regime in the Union of South Africa

British troops occupy the Suez Canal zone

Libyan independence

The beginning of the revolution in Egypt

Formation of a national government in the British colony of the Gold Coast

The Mau Mau secret society organizes terrorist attacks against British settlers in Kenya

Eritrea becomes part of Ethiopia

Proclamation of the Egyptian Republic (under 1956 President Gamal Abdel Nasser)

Nigeria becomes a self-governing federation

Declaration of independence of the Republic of Sudan.

Nationalization of the Suez Canal. Egypt's reflection of the aggression of England, France and Israel caused by this act

Independence of Sudan and Morocco

Formation of the General Union of Workers of Black Africa

Declaration of independence of Ghana (unification of the former colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland)

Independence of the Republic of Guinea

Independence of Algeria, creation of the FLN - united government

Niger, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Senegal, Mauritania, Congo and Gabon

receive limited independence from France

“Year of Africa” - liberation from colonial dependence of Eastern Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Dahomey, the Republic of Ghana, the Republic of Niger, the Republic of Upper Volta,

Republic of Chad, Republic of Ivory Coast, Republic of Togo, Gabonese Republic,

Nigeria, the Republic of Mali, the Central African Republic, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, the Republic of Somalia and the Republic of Madagascar.

Mutiny and Belgian occupation in the Congo, removal of Prime Minister P. Lumumba from office

(killed in 1961) and the transfer of power to dictator General J. Mobutu

Revolt of French settlers against Algerian independence plans

South African troops shoot protesters in Sharpeville

Military coup in Congo (Zaire). Renaming the Union of South Africa to the Republic of South Africa and its withdrawal from the British Commonwealth

Unification of Eastern and Southern Cameroon, formation of the Federal Republic of Cameroon 1961-1968.

Declaration of independence of Tanganyika, Uganda, Kenya and Zanzibar, Zambia, Botswana, Madagascar and Mauritius

End of the Algerian War. Algeria seeks independence

Proclamation of Nigeria as a federal republic

In South Africa, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC) N. Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment

Establishment of the apartheid regime in Southern Rhodesia

Coup in Algeria, the rise to power in Algeria of H. Boumediene

Independence of the Republic of the Gambia

Establishment of a military dictatorship in Ghana. Military coup in Burkina Faso

Military coups and separatist insurgency in Nigeria

Bechuanaland becomes an independent state - Botswana

Basutoland becomes the independent state of Lesotho

Abolition of the monarchy in Uganda

The state of Biafra declares itself independent from Nigeria. Civil war begins

Military coup in Mali

Swaziland becomes an independent kingdom

Equatorial Guinea gains independence from Spain

Military coup in Somalia. The head of the regime, S. Barre, is heading towards building a Greater Somalia at the expense of the territories of neighboring states

Military coup in Sudan

Overthrow of the monarchy in Libya. Transfer of power in the country to the leader of the Revolutionary Command Council M. Gaddafi

Constitution in Morocco, restoration of parliament

Rhodesia becomes a republic

Military coup in Uganda. Sergeant Idi Amin - “the black Hitler of Africa” - comes to power

Egypt, Libya and Syria form the Federation of Arab Republics

Military coups in Ghana and Madagascar

Military coups in Burkina Faso and Niger

Revolution in Ethiopia, the deposition of the emperor and the proclamation of a republic. Beginning of the Civil War

The third stage of decolonization of Africa. Declaration of independence of Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles and Western Sahara, Zimbabwe

The beginning of the civil war in Angola, which took on the character of an international conflict

Military coup in Nigeria

Transformation of the Central African Republic into the Central African Empire. President J. Bokassa is crowned with the imperial crown

The head of Ethiopia, M. Haile Mariam, is heading towards building a Marxist-socialist economic model in the country

Proclamation of Libya as Jamahiriya

War between Ethiopia and Somalia over the Ogaden. Defeat of Somalia

Military coups in Mauritania and the Seychelles

Military coups in Guinea and the Seychelles

Nigeria's military hands over power to civilian government

London Accords establishing the multiracial state of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia)

Military coups in Burkina Faso and Liberia

Libya occupies the Republic of Chad

Zonal coup in the Central African Empire. Restoration of the Republic

Assassination of President A. Sadat in Egypt; Hosni Mubarak becomes president

Military coup in Nigeria

Restoration of the presidential republic in Guinea

Establishment of a military dictatorship in Guinea

South African President P. Botha gives limited political rights to "people of Asian descent and coloured"

Military coups in Nigeria, Uganda and Sudan

The US and EU countries impose economic sanctions against South Africa

Military coup in Burkina Faso

Troops of the Republic of Chad, with the help of the French Foreign Legion, expel Libyans from the northern regions

Withdrawal of South African and Cuban troops from Angola

Ethnic conflict in Rwanda, which involves Uganda, Burundi, Zaire

The release of N. Mandela from prison in South Africa

The collapse of the regimes of M. Haile Mariam in Ethiopia and S. Barre in Somalia

Victory of Islamic fundamentalists in elections in Algeria. The government is eliminating the election results and is committed to accelerating market reforms

Adoption of international sanctions against Libya due to the participation of its citizens in terrorist acts

Military coup in Sierra Leone. Beginning of the Somali Civil War

Algerian President M. Boudiaf was killed by an Islamic extremist

Proclamation of independence of the province of Eritrea! from Ethiopia

The presidents of Burundi and Rwanda die in a plane crash. Tribal conflicts erupt in Rwanda and civil war begins

In Khartoum (Sudan), the terrorist “Carlos” was arrested and transported to France, where there should be a trial

In South Africa, the African National Congress wins the elections. N. Mandela becomes president.

Cameroon and Mozambique join the British Commonwealth

In Zaire, rebel forces led by L. Kabila force President J. Mobutu to leave the country and go into exile

Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan becomes UN Secretary General

Military conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia

M. Gaddafi extradites Libyan terrorists to the international community. Easing international sanctions against Libya

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History of Africa

Introduction

Ancient archaeological finds, indicating the processing of grain in Africa, dated to the thirteenth millennium BC. e. Cattle raising in the Sahara began ca. 7500 BC e., and organized agriculture in the Nile region appeared in the 6th millennium BC. e. In the Sahara, which was then a fertile territory, groups of hunters and fishermen lived, as evidenced by archaeological finds. Many petroglyphs and rock paintings have been discovered throughout the Sahara, dating back to 6000 BC. e. until the 7th century AD e. The most famous monument of primitive art in North Africa is the Tassilin-Ajjer plateau.

1. Ancient Africa

In the 6th-5th millennia BC. In the Nile Valley, agricultural cultures developed (Tassian culture, Fayum, Merimde), based on the civilization of Christian Ethiopia (XII-XVI centuries). These centers of civilization were surrounded by pastoral tribes of Libyans, as well as the ancestors of modern Cushitic and Nilotic-speaking peoples. On the territory of the modern Sahara Desert (which was then a savannah favorable for habitation) by the 4th millennium BC. e. A cattle-breeding and agricultural economy is taking shape. From the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e., when the Sahara begins to dry out, the population of the Sahara retreats to the south, pushing out the local population of Tropical Africa.

By the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. the horse is spreading in the Sahara. On the basis of horse breeding (from the first centuries AD - also camel breeding) and oasis agriculture in the Sahara, an urban civilization developed (the cities of Telgi, Debris, Garama), and Libyan writing arose. On the Mediterranean coast of Africa in the 12th-2nd centuries BC. e. The Phoenician-Carthaginian civilization flourished. In sub-Saharan Africa in the 1st millennium BC. e. Iron metallurgy is spreading everywhere. The Bronze Age culture did not develop here, and there was a direct transition from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Iron Age cultures spread to both the west (Nok) and east (northeastern Zambia and southwestern Tanzania) of Tropical Africa.

The spread of iron contributed to the development of new territories, primarily - tropical forests, and became one of the reasons for the settlement throughout most of Tropical and Southern Africa of peoples speaking Bantu languages, pushing representatives of the Ethiopian and Capoid races to the north and south.

2. The emergence of the first states in Africa

According to modern historical science, the first state (sub-Saharan) appeared on the territory of Mali in the 3rd century - it was the state of Ghana. Ancient Ghana traded gold and metals even with the Roman Empire and Byzantium. Perhaps this state arose much earlier, but during the existence of the colonial authorities of England and France there, all information about Ghana disappeared (the colonialists did not want to admit that Ghana was much older than England and France).

Under the influence of Ghana, other states later appeared in West Africa - Mali, Songhai, Kanem, Tekrur, Hausa, Ife, Kano and other West African states. Another hotbed of the emergence of states in Africa is the area around Lake Victoria (the territory of modern Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi). The first state appeared there around the 11th century - it was the state of Kitara.

In my opinion, the state of Kitara was created by settlers from the territory of modern Sudan - Nilotic tribes who were forced out of their territory by Arab settlers. Later other states appeared there - Buganda, Rwanda, Ankole. Around the same time (according to scientific history) - in the 11th century, the state of Mopomotale appeared in southern Africa, which will disappear at the end of the 17th century (will be destroyed by wild tribes). I believe that Mopomotale began to exist much earlier, and the inhabitants of this state are the descendants of the most ancient metallurgists in the world, who had connections with the Asuras and Atlanteans.

Around the middle of the 12th century, the first state appeared in the center of Africa - Ndongo (this is a territory in the north of modern Angola). Later, other states appeared in the center of Africa - Congo, Matamba, Mwata and Baluba. Since the 15th century, the colonial states of Europe - Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, France and Germany - began to intervene in the development of statehood in Africa. If at first they were interested in gold, silver and gems, then later slaves became the main product (and these were dealt with by countries that officially rejected the existence of slavery). Slaves were transported by the thousands to America's plantations. Only much later, at the end of the 19th century, did colonialists begin to be attracted to natural resources in Africa. And it was for this reason that vast colonial territories appeared in Africa.

Colonies in Africa interrupted the development of the peoples of Africa and distorted its entire history. Until now, significant archaeological research has not been carried out in Africa (African countries themselves are poor, and England and France true story Africa is not needed, just like in Russia, in Russia there is also no good research on the ancient history of Rus', money is spent on buying castles and yachts in Europe, total corruption deprives science of real research).

3. Africa in the Middle Ages

The centers of civilizations in Tropical Africa spread from north to south (in the eastern part of the continent) and partly from east to west (especially in the western part) - as they moved away from the high civilizations of North Africa and the Middle East. Most of the large socio-cultural communities of Tropical Africa had an incomplete set of signs of civilization, so they can more accurately be called proto-civilizations. From the end of the 3rd century AD. e. in West Africa, in the basins of Senegal and Niger, the Western Sudanese (Ghana) civilization developed, and from the 8th-9th centuries - the Central Sudanese (Kanem) civilization, which arose on the basis of trans-Saharan trade with the Mediterranean countries.

After the Arab conquests of North Africa (7th century), the Arabs for a long time became the only intermediaries between Tropical Africa and the rest of the world, including through the Indian Ocean, where the Arab fleet dominated. Under Arab influence, new urban civilizations emerged in Nubia, Ethiopia and East Africa. The cultures of Western and Central Sudan merged into a single West African, or Sudanese, zone of civilizations, stretching from Senegal to the modern Republic of Sudan.

In the 2nd millennium, this zone was united politically and economically in the Muslim empires: Mali (XIII-XV centuries), which controlled the small political formations of the Fulani, Wolof, Serer, Susu and Songhai peoples (Tekrur, Jolof, Sin, Salum, Kayor, Coco and others), Songhai (mid-XV - late XVI century) and Bornu (late XV - early XVIII century) - Kanem's successor. Between Songhai and Bornu, from the beginning of the 16th century, the Hausan city-states strengthened (Daura, Zamfara, Kano, Rano, Gobir, Katsina, Zaria, Biram, Kebbi, etc.), to which in the 17th century the role of the main centers of the trans-Saharan revolution passed from Songhai and Bornu trade. South of the Sudanese civilizations in the 1st millennium AD. e. The proto-civilization of Ife was formed, which became the cradle of the Yoruba and Bini civilizations (Benin, Oyo). Its influence was experienced by the Dahomeans, Igbo, Nupe, and others. To the west of it, in the 2nd millennium, the Akano-Ashanti proto-civilization was formed, which flourished in the 17th - early 19th centuries. To the south of the great bend of the Niger, a political center arose, founded by the Mossi and other peoples speaking the Gur languages ​​(the so-called Mossi-Dagomba-Mamprusi complex) and which by the middle of the 15th century turned into the Voltaic proto-civilization (early political formations of Ouagadougou, Yatenga, Gurma , Dagomba, Mamprusi).

In Central Cameroon, the proto-civilization of the Bamum and Bamileke arose, in the Congo River basin - the proto-civilization of the Vungu (early political formations of Congo, Ngola, Loango, Ngoyo, Kakongo), to the south of it (in the 16th century) - the proto-civilization of the southern savannas (early political formations of Cuba, Lunda, Luba), in the Great Lakes region - interlake proto-civilization: early political formations Buganda (XIII century), Kitara (XIII-XV century), Bunyoro (from the 16th century), later - Nkore (XVI century), Rwanda (XVI the Swahili Muslim civilization (city-states of Kilwa, Pate, Mombasa, Lamu, Malindi, Sofala, etc., Sultanate of Zanzibar), in Southeast Africa - Zimbabwean (Zimbabwe, Monomotapa) proto-civilization (X-XIX centuries), in Madagascar the process of state formation ended at the beginning of the 19th century with the unification of all the early political formations of the island around Imerina, which arose around the 15th century. Most African civilizations and proto-civilizations experienced a rise at the end of the 15th and 16th centuries.

From the end of the 16th century, with the penetration of Europeans and the development of the transatlantic slave trade, which lasted until the mid-19th century, their decline occurred. By the beginning of the 17th century, all of North Africa (except Morocco) became part of the Ottoman Empire. With the final division of Africa between European powers (1880s), the colonial period began, forcing Africans into industrial civilization.

4. Colonization of Africa

tasian african colonization slave trade

In ancient times, North Africa was the object of colonization by Europe and Asia Minor. The first attempts by Europeans to subjugate African territories date back to the times of ancient Greek colonization in the 7th-5th centuries BC, when numerous Greek colonies appeared on the coasts of Libya and Egypt. The conquests of Alexander the Great marked the beginning of a rather long period of Hellenization of Egypt. Although the bulk of its inhabitants, the Copts, were never Hellenized, the rulers of this country (including the last queen Cleopatra) adopted the Greek language and culture, which completely dominated Alexandria. The city of Carthage was founded on the territory of modern Tunisia by the Phoenicians and was one of the most important powers in the Mediterranean until the 4th century BC. e.

After the Third Punic War it was conquered by the Romans and became the center of the province of Africa. In the early Middle Ages, the kingdom of the Vandals was founded in this territory, and later it was part of Byzantium. The invasions of Roman troops made it possible to consolidate the entire northern coast of Africa under Roman control. Despite the extensive economic and architectural activities of the Romans, the territories underwent weak Romanization, apparently due to excessive aridity and the incessant activity of the Berber tribes, pushed aside but unconquered by the Romans. The ancient Egyptian civilization also fell under the rule of first the Greeks and then the Romans. In the context of the decline of the empire, the Berbers, activated by vandals, finally destroy the centers of European, as well as Christian civilization in North Africa on the eve of the invasion of the Arabs, who brought Islam with them and pushed back Byzantine Empire, still in control of Egypt.

By the beginning of the 7th century AD. e. The activities of early European states in Africa cease completely; on the contrary, the expansion of Arabs from Africa takes place in many regions of Southern Europe. Attacks of Spanish and Portuguese troops in the XV-XVI centuries. led to the capture of a number of strongholds in Africa (the Canary Islands, as well as the fortresses of Ceuta, Melilla, Oran, Tunisia, and many others). Italian sailors from Venice and Genoa have also traded extensively with the region since the 13th century. At the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese actually controlled the western coast of Africa and launched an active slave trade. Following them, other Western European powers rush to Africa: the Dutch, the French, the British.

From the 17th century, Arab trade with sub-Saharan Africa led to the gradual colonization of East Africa, in the area of ​​Zanzibar. And although Arab neighborhoods appeared in some cities in West Africa, they did not become colonies, and Morocco’s attempt to subjugate the Sahel lands ended unsuccessfully. Early European expeditions concentrated on colonizing uninhabited islands such as Cape Verde and São Tomé, and establishing forts on the coast as trading posts. In the second half of the 19th century, especially after the Berlin Conference of 1885, the process of colonization of Africa acquired such a scale that it was called the “race for Africa”; Almost the entire continent (except for Ethiopia and Liberia, which remained independent) by 1900 was divided between a number of European powers: Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy; Spain and Portugal retained their old colonies and somewhat expanded them.

During the First World War, Germany lost (mostly already in 1914) its African colonies, which after the war came under the administration of other colonial powers under the mandates of the League of Nations. The Russian Empire never claimed to colonize Africa, despite its traditionally strong position in Ethiopia, except for the Sagallo incident in 1889.

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According to the latest research, humanity has been around for three to four million years, and for most of that time it has evolved very slowly. But in the ten-thousand-year period of the 12th-3rd millennia, this development accelerated. Starting from the 13th-12th millennia, in the advanced countries of that time - in the Nile Valley, in the highlands of Kurdistan and, perhaps, the Sahara - people regularly reaped “harvest fields” of wild cereals, the grains of which were ground into flour on stone grain grinders. In the 9th-5th millennia, bows and arrows, as well as snares and traps, became widespread in Africa and Europe. In the 6th millennium, the role of fishing in the life of the tribes of the Nile Valley, Sahara, Ethiopia, and Kenya increased.

Around the 8th-6th millennium in the Middle East, where the “Neolithic revolution” took place from the 10th millennium, a developed organization of tribes already dominated, which then grew into tribal unions - the prototype of primitive states. Gradually, with the spread of the “Neolithic revolution” to new territories, as a result of the settlement of Neolithic tribes or the transition of Mesolithic tribes to productive forms of economy, the organization of tribes and tribal unions (tribal system) spread to most of the ecumene.

In Africa, the areas of the northern part of the continent, including Egypt and Nubia, apparently became the earliest areas of tribalism. According to the discoveries of recent decades, already in the 13th-7th millennia, tribes lived in Egypt and Nubia who, along with hunting and fishing, engaged in intensive seasonal gathering, reminiscent of the harvest of farmers (see and). In the 10th-7th millennia, this method of farming was more progressive than the primitive economy of wandering hunter-gatherers in the interior of Africa, but still backward compared to the productive economy of some tribes of Western Asia, where at that time there was a rapid flowering of agriculture, crafts and monumental construction in the form of large fortified settlements, much like early cities. with coastal cultures. The oldest monument of monumental construction was the temple of Jericho (Palestine), built at the end of the 10th millennium - a small structure made of wood and clay on a stone foundation. In the 8th millennium, Jericho became a fortified city with 3 thousand inhabitants, surrounded by a stone wall with powerful towers and a deep moat. Another fortified city existed from the end of the 8th millennium on the site of the later Ugarit, a seaport in northwestern Syria. Both of these cities traded with agricultural settlements in southern Anatolia, such as Aziklı Guyuk and early Hasilar. where houses were built from unbaked bricks on a stone foundation. At the beginning of the 7th millennium, the original and relatively high civilization of Çatalhöyük arose in southern Anatolia, which flourished until the first centuries of the 6th millennium. The bearers of this civilization discovered copper and lead smelting and knew how to make copper tools and jewelry. At that time, settlements of sedentary farmers spread to Jordan, Northern Greece and Kurdistan. At the end of the 7th - beginning of the 6th millennium, the inhabitants of Northern Greece (the settlement of Nea Nicomedia) were already growing barley, wheat and peas, making houses, dishes and figurines from clay and stone. In the 6th millennium, agriculture spread northwest to Herzegovina and the Danube Valley and southeast to Southern Iran.

The main cultural center of this ancient world moved from Southern Anatolia to Northern Mesopotamia, where the Hassun culture flourished. At the same time, several more original cultures formed in the vast areas from the Persian Gulf to the Danube, the most developed of which (slightly inferior to the Hassun one) were located in Asia Minor and Syria. B. Brentjes, a famous scientist from the GDR, gives the following characterization of this era: “The 6th millennium was a period of constant struggle and civil strife in Western Asia. In areas that had gone forward in their development, the initially unified society disintegrated, and the territory of the first agricultural communities constantly expanded... Forward Asia of the 6th millennium was characterized by the presence of many cultures that coexisted, displaced one another, or merged, spread, or died." At the end of the 6th and beginning of the 5th millennium, the original cultures of Iran flourished, but the leading cultural center Mesopotamia is increasingly becoming, where the Ubeid civilization, the predecessor of the Sumerian-Akkadian one, is developing. The beginning of the Ubaid period is considered to be the century between 4400 and 4300 BC.

The influence of the Hassuna and Ubaid cultures, as well as the Hadji Muhammad (existed in southern Mesopotamia around 5000), extended far to the north, northeast and south. Hassoun products were found during excavations near Adler on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, and the influence of the Ubeid and Hadji Muhammad cultures reached southern Turkmenistan.

Approximately simultaneously with the Western Asian (or Western Asian-Balkan) in the 9th-7th millennia, another center of agriculture, and later of metallurgy and civilization, was formed - Indo-Chinese, in southeast Asia. In the 6th -5th millennia, rice cultivation developed on the plains of Indochina.

Egypt of the 6th-5th millennium also appears to us as an area of ​​settlement of agricultural and pastoral tribes that created original and relatively highly developed Neolithic cultures on the outskirts of the ancient Near Eastern world. Of these, the most developed was the Badari, and the early cultures of Fayum and Merimde (on the western and northwestern outskirts of Egypt, respectively) had the most archaic appearance.

The Fayum people cultivated small plots of land on the shores of Lake Meridov, which were flooded during flood periods, growing spelt, barley and flax. The harvest was stored in special pits (165 such pits were opened). Perhaps they were also familiar with cattle breeding. In the Fayum settlement, bones of an ox, a pig and a sheep or goat were found, but they were not studied in a timely manner and then disappeared from the museum. Therefore, it remains unknown whether these bones belong to domestic or wild animals. In addition, bones of an elephant, a hippopotamus, a large antelope, a gazelle, a crocodile and small animals that constituted hunting prey were found. In Lake Merida, the Fayum people probably fished with baskets; large fish were caught with harpoons. Hunting for waterfowl with bows and arrows played an important role. The Fayum people were skilled weavers of baskets and mats, with which they covered their homes and grain pits. Scraps of linen fabric and a spindle whorl have been preserved, indicating the advent of weaving. Pottery was also known, but Fayum ceramics (pots, bowls, bowls on bases of various shapes) were still quite rough and not always well fired, and at the late stage of Fayum culture it disappeared altogether. The Fayum stone tools consisted of celt axes, adze chisels, microlithic sickle inserts (inserted into a wooden frame) and arrowheads. Tesla-chisels were of the same shape as in the then Central and Western Africa (Lupembe culture), the shape of the arrows of the Neolithic Fayum is characteristic of the ancient Sahara, but not of the Nile Valley. If we also take into account the Asian origin of the cultivated cereals cultivated by the Fayum people, then we can get a general idea of ​​the genetic connection between the Neolithic culture of Fayum and the cultures of the surrounding world. Additional touches to this picture are added by research into Fayum jewelry, namely beads made from shells and amazonite. The shells were delivered from the shores of the Red and Mediterranean Seas, and the amazonite, apparently, from the Aegean-Zumma deposit in the north of Tibesti (Libyan Sahara). This indicates the scale of intertribal exchange in those distant times, in the middle or second half of the 5th millennium (the main stage of the Fayum culture is dated by radiocarbon to 4440 ± 180 and 4145 ± 250).

Perhaps the contemporaries and northern neighbors of the Fayum people were the early inhabitants of the vast Neolithic settlement of Merimde, which, judging by the earliest radiocarbon dates, appeared around 4200. The inhabitants of Merimde inhabited a village similar to an African village of our time somewhere in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bLake. Chad, where groups of oval-shaped adobe and mud-covered reed houses made up neighborhoods united into two “streets.” Obviously, in each of the quarters there lived a large family community, on each “street” there was a phratry, or “half,” and in the entire settlement there was a clan or neighbor-tribal community. Its members were engaged in agriculture, sowing barley, spelt and wheat and reaping with wooden sickles with flint inserts. Grain was kept in clay-lined wicker granaries. There was a lot of livestock in the village: cows, sheep, pigs. In addition, its inhabitants were engaged in hunting. Merimde pottery is much inferior to Badari pottery: coarse black pots predominate, although thinner, polished vessels of quite varied shapes are also found. There is no doubt that this culture is connected with the cultures of Libya and the regions of the Sahara and Maghreb further to the west.

The Badari culture (named after the Badari region in Middle Egypt, where necropolises and settlements of this culture were first discovered) was much more widespread and reached a higher development than the Neolithic cultures of Fayum and Merimde.

Until recent years, her actual age was not known. Only in recent years, thanks to the use of the thermoluminescent method of dating clay shards obtained during excavations of settlements of the Badari culture, has it become possible to date it to the mid-6th - mid-5th millennium. However, some scientists dispute this dating, pointing to the novelty and controversy of the thermoluminescent method. However, if the new dating is correct and the Fayums and the inhabitants of Merimde were not predecessors, but younger contemporaries of the Badaris, then they can be considered representatives of two tribes that lived on the periphery of ancient Egypt, less rich and developed than the Badaris.

In Upper Egypt, a southern variety of the Badari culture, the Tasian, was discovered. Apparently, Badari traditions persisted in various parts of Egypt into the 4th millennium.

Residents of the Badari settlement of Hamamiya and the nearby settlements of the same culture, Mostagedda and Matmara, were engaged in hoe farming, growing emmer and barley, raising large and small cattle, fishing and hunting on the banks of the Nile. These were skilled artisans who made various tools, household items, jewelry, and amulets. The materials for them were stone, shells, bone, including ivory, wood, leather, and clay. One Badari dish depicts a horizontal loom. Particularly good is the Badari ceramics, amazingly thin, polished, handmade, but very diverse in shape and design, mostly geometric, as well as soapstone beads with a beautiful glassy glaze. The Badaris also produced genuine works of art (unknown to the Fayum people and the inhabitants of Merimde); they carved small amulets, as well as animal figures on the handles of spoons. The hunting tools were arrows with flint tips, wooden boomerangs, fishing tools - hooks made of shells, as well as ivory. The Badaris were already familiar with copper metallurgy, from which they made knives, pins, rings, and beads. They lived in strong houses made of mud brick, but without doorways; probably their inhabitants, like some residents of the villages of Central Sudan, entered their houses through a special “window”.

The religion of the Badarians can be inferred from the custom of setting up necropolises to the east of the settlements and placing corpses of not only people, but also animals wrapped in mats in their graves. The deceased was accompanied to the grave by household items and decorations; In one burial, several hundred soapstone beads and copper beads, which were especially valuable at that time, were discovered. The dead man was truly a rich man! This indicates the beginning of social inequality.

In addition to the Badari and Tasi, the 4th millennium also includes the Amrat, Gerzean and other cultures of Egypt, which were among the relatively advanced. The Egyptians of that time cultivated barley, wheat, buckwheat, flax, and raised domestic animals: cows, sheep, goats, pigs, as well as dogs and, possibly, cats. The flint tools, knives and ceramics of the Egyptians of the 4th - first half of the 3rd millennium were distinguished by their remarkable variety and thoroughness of decoration.

The Egyptians of that time skillfully processed native copper. They built rectangular houses and even fortresses from adobe.

The level to which the culture of Egypt reached in proto-dynastic times is evidenced by the finds of highly artistic works of Neolithic craft: the finest fabric painted with black and red paint from Gebelein, flint daggers with handles made of gold and ivory, the tomb of a leader from Hierakonpolis, lined on the inside with mud bricks and covered with multi-colored frescoes, etc. Images on the fabric and walls of the tomb give two social types: nobles, for whom the work was done, and workers (rowers, etc.). At that time, primitive and small states - future nomes - already existed in Egypt.

In the 4th - early 3rd millennium, Egypt's ties with the early civilizations of Western Asia strengthened. Some scientists explain this by the invasion of Asian conquerors into the Nile Valley, others (which is more plausible) by “an increase in the number of traveling traders from Asia who visited Egypt” (as the famous English archaeologist E. J. Arkell writes). A number of facts also testify to the connections of the then Egypt with the population of the gradually drying up Sahara and the upper Nile in Sudan. At that time, some cultures of Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the Caucasus and South-Eastern Europe occupied approximately the same place on the near periphery of the ancient civilized world, and the culture of Egypt of the 6th-4th millennia. In Central Asia, in the 6th - 5th millennium, the agricultural Dzheitun culture of Southern Turkmenistan flourished; in the 4th millennium, the Geok-Sur culture flourished in the valley of the river. Tejen, further east in the 6th-4th millennia BC. e. - Gissar culture of southern Tajikistan, etc. In Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the 5th-4th millennia, a number of agricultural and pastoral cultures were widespread, the most interesting of which were the Kura-Araks and the recently discovered Shamu-Tepe culture that preceded it. In Dagestan in the 4th millennium there was a Neolithic Ginchi culture of the pastoral-agricultural type.

In the 6th-4th millennia, the formation of agricultural and pastoral farming took place in Europe. By the end of the 4th millennium, diverse and complex cultures of distinctly productive forms existed throughout Europe. At the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia, the Trypillian culture flourished in Ukraine, which was characterized by wheat cultivation, cattle breeding, beautiful painted ceramics, and colored paintings on the walls of adobe dwellings. In the 4th millennium, the most ancient settlements of horse breeders on Earth existed in Ukraine (Dereivka, etc.). A very elegant image of a horse on a shard from Kara-Tepe in Turkmenistan also dates back to the 4th millennium.

Sensational discoveries of recent years in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Moldova and southern Ukraine, as well as generalizing research by the Soviet archaeologist E.N. Chernykh and other scientists, have revealed the oldest center of high culture in southeastern Europe. In the 4th millennium, in the Balkan-Carpathian subregion of Europe, in the Lower Danube river system, a brilliant, advanced culture for those times (“almost a civilization”) flourished, which was characterized by agriculture, copper and gold metallurgy, and a variety of painted ceramics (including including painted in gold), primitive writing. The influence of this ancient center of “pre-civilization” on the neighboring societies of Moldova and Ukraine is undeniable. Did he also have connections with the societies of the Aegean, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt? This question is just being posed; there is no answer to it yet.

In the Maghreb and the Sahara, the transition to productive forms of economy occurred more slowly than in Egypt, its beginning dates back to the 7th - 5th millennia. At that time (until the end of the 3rd millennium), the climate in this part of Africa was warm and humid. Grassy steppes and subtropical mountain forests covered the now deserted spaces, which were endless pastures. The main domestic animal was the cow, the bones of which were found at sites in Fezzan in the eastern Sahara and at Tadrart-Acacus in the central Sahara.

In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, in the 7th-3rd millennia, there were Neolithic cultures that continued the traditions of the more ancient Ibero-Moorish and Capsian Paleolithic cultures. The first of them, also called the Mediterranean Neolithic, occupied mainly the coastal and mountain forests of Morocco and Algeria, the second - the steppes of Algeria and Tunisia. In the forest belt, settlements were richer and more common than in the steppe. In particular, the coastal tribes made excellent pottery. Some local differences within the Mediterranean Neolithic culture are noticeable, as well as its connections with the Capsian steppe culture.

The characteristic features of the latter are bone and stone tools for drilling and piercing, polished stone axes, and rather primitive pottery with a conical bottom, which is also not often found. In some places in the Algerian steppes there was no pottery at all, but the most common stone tools were arrowheads. The Neolithic Capsians, like their Paleolithic ancestors, lived in caves and grottoes and were primarily hunters and gatherers.

The heyday of this culture dates back to the 4th - early 3rd millennium. Thus, its sites are dated according to radiocarbon: De Mamel, or “Sostsy” (Algeria), - 3600 ± 225 g, Des-Ef, or “Eggs” (Ouargla oasis in the north of the Algerian Sahara), - also 3600 ± 225 g ., Hassi-Genfida (Ouargla) - 3480 ± 150 and 2830 ± 90, Jaacha (Tunisia) - 3050 ± 150. At that time, among the Capsians, shepherds already prevailed over hunters.

In the Sahara, the “Neolithic revolution” may have been somewhat late compared to the Maghreb. Here, in the 7th millennium, the so-called Sahrawi-Sudanese “Neolithic culture” arose, related in origin to the Capsian one. It existed until the 2nd millennium. Its characteristic feature is the oldest ceramics in Africa.

In the Sahara, the Neolithic differed from more northern regions in the abundance of arrowheads, which indicates the comparatively greater importance of hunting. The pottery of the inhabitants of the Neolithic Sahara of the 4th-2nd millennia is cruder and more primitive than that of the contemporary inhabitants of the Maghreb and Egypt. In the east of the Sahara there is a very noticeable connection with Egypt, in the west - with the Maghreb. The Neolithic of Eastern Sahara is characterized by an abundance of ground axes - evidence of slash-and-burn agriculture in the local highlands, then covered with forests. In the river beds that later dried up, residents engaged in fishing and sailed on reed boats of the type that were common at that time and later in the valley of the Nile and its tributaries, on Lake. Chad and lakes of Ethiopia. The fish were hit with bone harpoons, reminiscent of those discovered in the Nile and Niger valleys. The grain grinders and pestles of the Eastern Sahara were even larger. and are made more carefully than in the Maghreb. Millet was planted in the river valleys of the area, but the main means of subsistence came from livestock raising, combined with hunting and probably gathering. Huge herds of cattle grazed in the vastness of the Sahara, contributing to its transformation into a desert. These herds are depicted on the famous rock frescoes of Tassili-n'Adjer and other highlands. The cows have an udder, therefore, they were milked. Roughly processed stone pillars-steles may have marked the summer camps of these shepherds in the 4th - 2nd millennia, distilling herds from the valleys to the mountain pastures and back.According to their anthropological type, they were Negroids.

Remarkable cultural monuments of these farmers-pastoralists are the famous frescoes of Tassili and other regions of the Sahara, which flourished in the 4th millennium. The frescoes were created in secluded mountain shelters, which probably served as sanctuaries. In addition to frescoes, there are the oldest bas-reliefs-petroglyphs in Africa and small stone figurines of animals (bulls, rabbits, etc.).

In the 4th - 2nd millennia, in the center and east of the Sahara, there were at least three centers of relatively high agricultural and pastoral culture: on the wooded Hoggar highlands, abundantly irrigated by rain at that time, and its spur Tas-sili-n'Ajer, on no less fertile in the Fezzan and Tibesti highlands, as well as in the Nile Valley.Materials from archaeological excavations and especially rock paintings of the Sahara and Egypt indicate that all three centers of culture had many common features: in the style of images, forms of ceramics, etc. Everywhere - from the Nile to Khogtar -pastoralists-farmers revered the heavenly bodies in the images of a solar ram, a bull and a heavenly cow. Along the Nile and along the now dry river beds that then flowed across the Sahara, local fishermen sailed on reed boats of similar shapes. One can assume very similar forms of production, life and social organization But still, from the middle of the 4th millennium, Egypt began to overtake both the Eastern and Central Sahara in its development.

In the first half of the 3rd millennium, the drying out of the ancient Sahara, which by that time was no longer a humid, forested country, intensified. In low-lying lands, dry steppes began to replace tall-grass park savannas. However, in the 3rd and 2nd millennia, the Neolithic cultures of the Sahara continued to develop successfully, in particular, the fine arts improved.

In Sudan, the transition to productive forms of economy occurred a thousand years later than in Egypt and the eastern Maghreb, but approximately simultaneously with Morocco and the southern regions of the Sahara and earlier than in areas further south.

In Middle Sudan, on the northern edge of the swamps, in the 7th - 6th millennia, the Khartoum Mesolithic culture of wandering hunters, fishermen and gatherers, already familiar with primitive pottery, developed. They hunted a wide variety of animals, large and small, from elephant and hippopotamus to water mongoose and red cane rat, found in the forested and swampy region that was at that time the middle Nile valley. Much less often than mammals, the inhabitants of Mesolithic Khartoum hunted reptiles (crocodile, python, etc.) and very rarely birds. Hunting weapons included spears, harpoons and bows with arrows, and the shape of some stone arrowheads (geometric microliths) indicates a connection between the Khartoum Mesolithic culture and the Capsian culture of North Africa. Fishing played a relatively important role in the life of the early inhabitants of Khartoum, but they did not yet have fish hooks; they caught fish, apparently, with baskets, hit with spears and shot with arrows. At the end of the Mesolithic, the first bone harpoons, as well as stone drills, appeared. The gathering of river and land mollusks, Celtis seeds and other plants was of considerable importance. Rough dishes were made from clay in the form of round-bottomed basins and bowls, which were decorated with simple ornaments in the form of stripes, giving these vessels a resemblance to baskets. Apparently, the inhabitants of Mesolithic Khartoum were also engaged in basket weaving. Their personal jewelry was rare, but their vessels and, probably, own bodies they painted with ocher extracted from nearby deposits, pieces of which were ground on sandstone graters, very diverse in shape and size. The dead were buried right in the settlement, which may have been just a seasonal camp.

How far to the west the bearers of the Khartoum Mesolithic culture penetrated is evidenced by the discovery of typical shards of the late Khartoum Mesolithic in Menyet, in the north-west of Hoggar, 2 thousand km from Khartoum. This find is dated by radiocarbon to 3430.

Over time, around the middle of the 4th millennium, the Khartoum Mesolithic culture is replaced by the Khartoum Neolithic culture, traces of which are found in the vicinity of Khartoum, on the banks of the Blue Nile, in the north of Sudan - up to the IV threshold, in the south - up to the VI threshold, in the east - up to Kasala, and in the west - to the Ennedi mountains and the Wanyanga area in Borku (Eastern Sahara). The main occupations of the inhabitants of the Neolithic. Khartoum - the direct descendants of the Mesolithic population of these places - remained hunting, fishing and gathering. The subject of the hunt was 22 species of mammals, but mainly large animals: buffalos, giraffes, hippos, and to a lesser extent elephants, rhinoceroses, warthogs, seven species of antelope, large and small predators, and some rodents. On a much smaller scale, but larger than in the Mesolithic, the Sudanese hunted large reptiles and birds. Wild donkeys and zebras were not killed, probably for religious reasons (totemism). The hunting tools were spears with tips made of stone and bone, harpoons, bows and arrows, as well as axes, but now they were smaller and less well processed. Crescent-shaped microliths were made more often than in the Mesolithic. Stone tools, such as celt axes, were already partially ground. Fishing was done less than in the Mesolithic, and here, as in hunting, appropriation took on a more selective character; We caught several types of fish on a hook. The hooks of Neolithic Khartoum, very primitive, made from shells, are the first in Tropical Africa. The collection of river and land mollusks, ostrich eggs, wild fruits and Celtis seeds was important.

At that time, the landscape of the middle Nile Valley was a forested savannah with gallery forests along the banks. In these forests, the inhabitants found material for building canoes, which they hollowed out with stone and bone celts and semicircular planing axes, possibly from the trunks of the duleb palm. Compared to the Mesolithic, the production of tools, pottery and jewelry progressed significantly. Dishes decorated with stamped patterns were then polished by the inhabitants of Neolithic Sudan using pebbles and fired over fires. The production of numerous personal decorations took up a significant part of the working time; they were made from semi-precious and other stones, shells, ostrich eggs, animal teeth, etc. In contrast to the temporary camp of the Mesolithic inhabitants of Khartoum, the settlements of the Neolithic inhabitants of Sudan were already permanent. One of them - al-Shaheinab - has been studied especially carefully. However, no traces of dwellings, not even holes for supporting pillars, were found here, and no burials were found (perhaps the inhabitants of Neolithic Shaheinab lived in huts made of reeds and grass, and their dead were thrown into the Nile). An important innovation compared to the previous period was the emergence of cattle breeding: the residents of Shaheinab raised small goats or sheep. However, the bones of these animals constitute only 2% of all bones found in the settlement; this gives an idea of ​​the share of cattle breeding in the economy of the inhabitants. No traces of agriculture were found; it appears only in the next period. This is all the more significant since al-Shaheinab, judging by radiocarbon analysis (3490 ± 880 and 3110 ± 450 AD), is contemporary with the developed Neolithic culture of el-Omari in Egypt (radiocarbon date 3300 ± 230 AD).

In the last quarter of the 4th millennium, the same Chalcolithic cultures (Amratian and Gerzean) existed in the middle Nile valley in northern Sudan as in neighboring Predynastic Upper Egypt. Their bearers were engaged in primitive agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting and fishing on the banks of the Nile and on neighboring plateaus, covered at that time with savannah vegetation. At that time, a relatively large pastoral and agricultural population lived on the plateaus and mountains west of the middle Nile valley. The southern periphery of this entire cultural zone was located somewhere in the valleys of the White and Blue Nile (burials of “group A” were discovered in the Khartoum area, in particular at the Omdurman Bridge) and near al-Shaheinab. The language affiliation of their speakers is unknown. The further south you go, the more Negroid the carriers of this culture were. In al-Shaheynab they clearly belong to the Negroid race.

Southern burials are generally poorer than northern ones; Shaheinab products look more primitive than Faras and especially Egyptian ones. The grave goods of the “proto-dynastic” al-Shaheynab differ markedly from those of the burials at the Omdurman Bridge, although the distance between them is no more than 50 km; this gives some idea of ​​the size of ethnocultural communities. The characteristic material of the products is clay. It was used to make cult figurines (for example, a clay female figurine) and quite a variety of well-fired dishes, decorated with embossed patterns (applied with a comb): bowls of various sizes, boat-shaped pots, spherical vessels. Black vessels with notches characteristic of this culture are also found in protodynastic Egypt, where they were clearly objects of export from Nubia. Unfortunately, the contents of these vessels are unknown. For their part, the inhabitants of proto-dynastic Sudan, like the Egyptians of their time, received Mepga shells from the shores of the Red Sea, from which they made belts, necklaces and other jewelry. No other information about the trade has been preserved.

According to a number of characteristics, the cultures of Meso- and Neolithic Sudan occupy a middle place between the cultures of Egypt, the Sahara and East Africa. Thus, the stone industry of Gebel Auliyi (near Khartoum) is reminiscent of the Nyoro culture in Interzero, and the ceramics is Nubian and Saharan; stone celts, similar to those of Khartoum, are found in the west as far as Tener, north of Lake. Chad, and Tummo, north of the Tibesti mountains. At the same time, the main cultural and historical center to which the cultures of Northeast Africa gravitated was Egypt.

According to E.J. Arqella, the Khartoum Neolithic culture was connected to the Egyptian Fayum through the mountainous regions of Ennedi and Tibesti, from where both the Khartoum and Fayum people obtained blue-gray amazonite for making beads.

When class society began to develop in Egypt at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia and a state emerged, Lower Nubia turned out to be the southern outskirts of this civilization. Typical settlements of that time were excavated near the village. Dhaka S. Fersom in 1909 -1910 and at Khor Daud by the Soviet expedition in 1961-1962. The community that lived here was engaged in dairy farming and primitive agriculture; They sowed wheat and barley mixed together, and collected the fruits of the doum palm and siddera. Pottery reached significant development. Ivory and flint were processed, from which the main tools were made; The metals used were copper and gold. The culture of the population of Nubia and Egypt of this era of archeology is conventionally designated as the culture of the “group A” tribes. Its bearers, anthropologically speaking, belonged mainly to the Caucasian race. At the same time (around the middle of the 3rd millennium, according to radiocarbon analysis), the Negroid inhabitants of the Jebel al-Tomat settlement in Central Sudan sowed sorghum of the species Sorgnum bicolor.

During the period of the III dynasty of Egypt (around the middle of the 3rd millennium), a general decline in economy and culture occurs in Nubia, associated, according to a number of scientists, with the invasion of nomadic tribes and the weakening of ties with Egypt; At this time, the process of drying out of the Sahara sharply intensified.

In East Africa, including Ethiopia and Somalia, the "Neolithic revolution" appears to have occurred only in the 3rd millennium, much later than in Sudan. Here at this time, as in the previous period, lived Caucasoids or Ethiopians, similar in their physical type to the ancient Nubians. The southern branch of the same group of tribes lived in Kenya and Northern Tanzania. To the south lived the Boscodoid (Khoisan) hunter-gatherers, related to the Sandawe and Hadza of Tanzania and the Bushmen of South Africa.

The Neolithic cultures of East Africa and Western Sudan apparently developed fully only during the heyday of the ancient Egyptian civilization and the comparatively high Neolithic cultures of the Maghreb and Sahara, and they coexisted for a long time with the remains of Mesolithic cultures.

Like the Stillbey and other Paleolithic cultures, the Mesolithic cultures of Africa occupied vast areas. Thus, Capsian traditions can be traced from Morocco and Tunisia to Kenya and Western Sudan. Later Magosi culture. first discovered in eastern Uganda, it was distributed in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, almost throughout East and South-East Africa to the river. Orange. It is characterized by microlithic blades and incisors and coarse pottery, appearing already in the late stages of the Capsian.

Magosi comes in a number of local varieties; some of them developed into special cultures. This is the Doi culture of Somalia. Its bearers hunted with bows and arrows and kept dogs. The relatively high level of the Pre-Mesolithic is emphasized by the presence of pestles and, apparently, primitive ceramics. (The famous English archaeologist D. Clark considers the current hunter-gatherers of Somalia to be the direct descendants of the Doits).

Another local culture is the Elmentate of Kenya, whose main center was in the lake area. Nakuru. Elmenteit is characterized by abundant pottery - goblets and large earthenware jugs. The same is true of the Smithfield culture in South Africa, which is characterized by microliths, ground stone tools, bone products and rough pottery.

The Wilton crop that replaced all these crops took its name from Wilton Farm in Natal. Its sites are found all the way to Ethiopia and Somalia in the northeast and all the way to the southern tip of the continent. Wilton in different places has either a Mesolithic or a distinctly Neolithic appearance. In the north, this is mainly a culture of pastoralists who bred long-horned humpless bulls of the Bos Africanus type, in the south - a culture of hunter-gatherers, and in some places - primitive farmers, as, for example, in Zambia and Rhodesia, where several polished stone tools were found among the characteristic late Wiltonian stone implements stone axes. Apparently, it is more correct to talk about the Wilton complex of cultures, which includes the Neolithic cultures of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya of the 3rd - mid-1st millennium. At the same time, the first simplest states were formed (see). They arose on the basis of a voluntary union or forced unification of tribes.

The Neolithic culture of Ethiopia of the 2nd - mid-1st millennium is characterized by the following features: hoe farming, pastoralism (breeding large and small horned animals, livestock and donkeys), rock art, grinding stone tools, pottery, weaving using plant fiber, relative sedentism , rapid population growth. At least the first half of the Neolithic period in Ethiopia and Somalia is an era of coexistence of appropriative and primitive productive economies with the dominant role of cattle breeding, namely the breeding of Bos africanus.

The most famous monuments of this era are large groups (many hundreds of figures) of rock art in Eastern Ethiopia and Somalia and in the Korora Cave in Eritrea.

Among the earliest in time are some images in the Porcupine Cave near Dire Dawa, where various wild animals and hunters are painted in red ocher. The style of the drawings (the famous French archaeologist A. Breuil identified over seven different styles here) is naturalistic. Stone tools of the Magosian and Wilton types were found in the cave.

Very ancient images of wild and domestic animals in a naturalistic or semi-naturalistic style were discovered in the areas of Genda-Biftu, Lago-Oda, Errer-Kimyet, etc., north of Harar and near Dire Dawa. Shepherd scenes are found here. Long-horned, humpless cattle, Bos africanus species. Cows have udders, which means they were milked. Among domestic cows and bulls there are images of African buffalos, obviously domesticated. No other pets are visible. One of the images suggests that, as in the 9th-19th centuries, African Wilton shepherds rode bulls. The shepherds are dressed in legguards and short skirts (made of leather?). There is a comb in the hair of one of them. The weapons consisted of spears and shields. Bows and arrows, also depicted on some frescoes at Genda Biftu, Lago Oda and Saka Sherifa (near Errere Quimiet), were apparently used by hunters contemporary with the Wiltonian shepherds

At Errer Quimyet there are images of people with a circle on their heads, very similar to the rock paintings of the Sahara, in particular the Hoggar region. But in general, the style and objects of the images of the rock frescoes of Ethiopia and Somalia show an undoubted similarity with the frescoes of the Sahara and Upper Egypt of predynastic times.

From a later period are schematic representations of people and animals in various places in Somalia and the Harar region. At that time, the zebu became the predominant livestock breed - a clear indication of Northeast Africa's connections with India. The most sketchy images of livestock in the Bur Eibe region (Southern Somalia) seem to indicate a certain originality of the local Wilton culture.

If rock frescoes are found in both Ethiopian and Somali territory, then engraving on rocks is characteristic of Somalia. It is approximately contemporary with the frescoes. In the area of ​​Bur Dahir, El Goran and others, in the Shebeli Valley, engraved images of people armed with spears and shields, humpless and humpbacked cows, as well as camels and some other animals were discovered. In general they resemble similar images from Onib in the Nubian Desert. In addition to cattle and camels, there may be images of sheep or goats, but these are too sketchy to be identified with certainty. In any case, the ancient Somali Bushmenoids of the Wilton period raised sheep.

In the 60s, several more groups of rock carvings and Wilton sites were discovered in the area of ​​​​the city of Harar and in the province of Sidamo, northeast of Lake. Abaya. Here, too, the leading branch of the economy was cattle breeding.

In West Africa, the "Neolithic Revolution" took place in a very difficult environment. Here, in ancient times, wet (pluvial) and dry periods alternated. During wet periods, in place of savannas, which abounded in ungulates and were favorable for human activity, dense rain forests (hylaea) spread, almost impenetrable for Stone Age people. They, more reliably than the desert spaces of the Sahara, blocked the access of the ancient inhabitants of North and East Africa to the western part of the continent.

One of the most famous Neolithic monuments of Guinea is the Cakimbon grotto near Conakry, discovered in colonial times. Pickaxes, hoes, adzes, jagged tools and several axes, polished entirely or only along the cutting edge, as well as ornamented pottery were found here. There are no arrowheads at all, but there are leaf-shaped spearheads. Similar implements (in particular, hatchets polished to a blade) were found in three more places near Conakry. Another group of Neolithic sites was discovered in the vicinity of the city of Kindia, approximately 80 km northeast of the Guinean capital. A characteristic feature of the local Neolithic is polished hatchets, picks and chisels, round trapezoidal dart and arrow tips, stone discs for weighting digging sticks, polished stone bracelets, as well as ornamented ceramics.

Approximately 300 km north of the city of Kindia, near the city of Telimele, on the Futa Djallon highlands, the Ualia site was discovered, the inventory of which is very similar to the tools from Kakimbon. But unlike the latter, leaf-shaped and triangular arrowheads were found here.

In 1969-1970 Soviet scientist V.V. Soloviev discovered a number of new sites on Futa Djallon (in central Guinea) with typical ground and chipped axes, as well as picks and disc-shaped cores chipped on both surfaces. At the same time, there is no ceramics at the newly discovered sites. Dating them is very difficult. As the Soviet archaeologist P.I. Boriskovsky notes, in West Africa “the same types of stone products continue to be found, without undergoing particularly significant changes, over a number of eras - from Sango (45-35 thousand years ago. - Yu. K .) to the Late Paleolithic". The same can be said about the West African Neolithic monuments. Archaeological research carried out in Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Upper Volta and other West African countries shows a continuity of forms of microlithic and grinding stone tools, as well as ceramics, from the end of the 4th to the 2nd millennium BC. e. and up to the first centuries of the new era. Often individual objects made in ancient times are almost indistinguishable from products of the 1st millennium AD. e.

Undoubtedly, this testifies to the amazing stability of ethnic communities and the cultures they created on the territory of Tropical Africa in ancient and ancient times.



Africa is the second largest continent after Eurasia, washed by the Mediterranean Sea from the north, the Red Sea from the northeast, the Atlantic Ocean from the west and the Indian Ocean from the east and south. Africa is also the name given to the part of the world consisting of the continent of Africa and adjacent islands. Africa's area is 29.2 million km², with islands about 30.3 million km², thus covering 6% total area of the Earth's surface and 20.4% of the land surface. In Africa there are 54 states, 5 unrecognized states and 5 dependent territories (island).

Africa's population is about a billion people. Africa is considered the ancestral home of humanity: it is here that the oldest remains of early hominids and their probable ancestors have been found, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster.

The African continent crosses the equator and several climate zones; it is the only continent that stretches from the northern subtropical climate zone to the southern subtropical one. Due to the lack of constant precipitation and irrigation - as well as glaciers or the aquifer of mountain systems - there is practically no natural regulation of climate anywhere except the coasts.

The science of African studies studies the cultural, economic, political and social problems of Africa.

Extreme points

• Northern - Cape Blanco (Ben Sekka, Ras Engela, El Abyad)
• South - Cape Agulhas
• Western - Cape Almadi
• Eastern - Cape Ras Hafun

origin of name

Initially, the inhabitants of ancient Carthage used the word “Afri” to refer to people who lived near the city. This name is usually attributed to the Phoenician afar, meaning "dust". After the conquest of Carthage, the Romans called the province Africa (lat. Africa). Later, all known regions of this continent, and then the continent itself, began to be called Africa.

Another theory is that the name "Afri" comes from the Berber ifri, "cave", referring to cave dwellers. The Muslim province of Ifriqiya, which later arose in this place, also retained this root in its name.

According to historian and archaeologist I. Efremov, the word “Africa” came from the ancient language of Ta-Kem (Egypt. “Afros” - foamy country). This is due to the collision of several types of currents that form foam when approaching the continent in the Mediterranean Sea.

There are other versions of the origin of the toponym.

• Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, argued that the name was derived from Abraham's grandson Ether (Gen. 25:4), whose descendants settled Libya.
• The Latin word aprica, meaning "solar", is mentioned in the Elements of Isidore of Seville, volume XIV, section 5.2 (6th century).
• A version of the origin of the name from the Greek word αφρίκη, which means “without cold,” was proposed by the historian Leo the African. He assumed that the word φρίκη (“cold” and “horror”), combined with the negative prefix α-, denotes a country where there is neither cold nor horror.
• Gerald Massey, a poet and self-taught Egyptologist, put forward a theory in 1881 about the origin of the word from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, “to face the opening of Ka.” The Ka is the energy double of each person, and the "Ka hole" means the womb or place of birth. Africa thus means "homeland" to the Egyptians.

History of Africa

Prehistoric period

At the beginning of the Mesozoic era, when Africa was part of the single continent of Pangea, and until the end of the Triassic period, theropods and primitive ornithischians dominated in this region. Excavations dating back to the end of the Triassic period indicate that the south of the continent was more populated than the north.

Human Origins

Africa is considered the birthplace of man. The remains of the oldest species of the genus Homo were found here. Of the eight species of this genus, only one survived - Homo sapiens, and in small numbers (about 1000 individuals) began to spread throughout Africa about 100,000 years ago. And from Africa people migrated to Asia (about 60 - 40 thousand years ago), and from there to Europe (40 thousand years), Australia and America (35 -15 thousand years).

Africa during the Stone Age

The oldest archaeological finds indicating grain processing in Africa date back to the thirteenth millennium BC. e. Cattle raising in the Sahara began ca. 7500 BC e., and organized agriculture in the Nile region appeared in the 6th millennium BC. e.

In the Sahara, which was then a fertile territory, groups of hunters and fishermen lived, this is evidenced by archaeological finds. Throughout the Sahara (present-day Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Chad, etc.), many petroglyphs and rock paintings dating back to 6000 BC have been discovered. e. until the 7th century AD e. The most famous monument of primitive art in North Africa is the Tassilin-Ajjer plateau.

In addition to the group of Sahrawi monuments, rock art is also found in Somalia and South Africa (the oldest drawings date back to the 25th millennium BC).

Linguistic data show that ethnic groups speaking Bantu languages ​​migrated in a southwestern direction, displacing the Khoisan peoples (Xhosa, Zulu, etc.) from there. Bantu settlements contain a distinctive range of grain crops suitable for tropical Africa, including cassava and yams.

A small number of ethnic groups, such as the Bushmen, continue to lead a primitive hunting-gathering lifestyle, like their ancestors several thousand years ago.

Ancient Africa

North Africa

By the 6th-5th millennia BC. e. In the Nile Valley, agricultural cultures were formed (Tassian culture, Fayum culture, Merimde), on the basis of which in the 4th millennium BC. e. arose Ancient Egypt. To the south of it, also on the Nile, under its influence the Kerma-Cushite civilization was formed, which was replaced in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Nubian (state formation of Napata). On its ruins, Aloa, Mukurra, the Nabataean kingdom and others were formed, which were under the cultural and political influence of Ethiopia, Coptic Egypt and Byzantium.

In the north of the Ethiopian Highlands, under the influence of the South Arabian Sabaean kingdom, the Ethiopian civilization arose: in the 5th century BC. e. The Ethiopian kingdom was formed by immigrants from South Arabia; in the 2nd-11th centuries AD. e. There was an Aksumite kingdom, on the basis of which Christian Ethiopia was formed (XII-XVI centuries). These centers of civilization were surrounded by pastoral tribes of Libyans, as well as the ancestors of modern Cushitic and Nilotic-speaking peoples.

As a result of the development of horse breeding (which appeared in the first centuries AD), as well as camel breeding and oasis farming, the trading cities of Telgi, Debris, and Garama appeared in the Sahara, and Libyan writing arose.

On the Mediterranean coast of Africa in the 12th-2nd centuries BC. e. The Phoenician-Carthaginian civilization flourished. The proximity of the Carthaginian slave-holding power had an impact on the Libyan population. By the 4th century. BC e. Large alliances of Libyan tribes formed - the Mauretanians (modern Morocco to the lower reaches of the Muluya River) and the Numidians (from the Muluya River to the Carthaginian possessions). By the 3rd century BC. e. the conditions for the formation of states developed (see Numidia and Mauretania).

After the defeat of Carthage by Rome, its territory became the Roman province of Africa. Eastern Numidia in 46 BC was turned into the Roman province of New Africa, and in 27 BC. e. both provinces were united into one, governed by proconsuls. The Mauretanian kings became vassals of Rome, and in 42 the country was divided into two provinces: Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesarea.

The weakening of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century caused a crisis in the provinces of North Africa, which contributed to the success of the barbarian invasions (Berbers, Goths, Vandals). With the support of the local population, the barbarians overthrew the power of Rome and formed several states in North Africa: the kingdom of the Vandals, the Berber kingdom of Djedar (between Mulua and Ores) and a number of smaller Berber principalities.

In the 6th century, North Africa was conquered by Byzantium, but the position of the central government was fragile. African provincial nobility often entered into allied relations with barbarians and other external enemies of the empire. In 647, the Carthaginian exarch Gregory (cousin of Emperor Heraclius I), taking advantage of the weakening of imperial power due to Arab attacks, broke away from Constantinople and proclaimed himself emperor of Africa. One of the manifestations of the population's dissatisfaction with the policies of Byzantium was the widespread spread of heresies (Arianism, Donatism, Monophysitism). Muslim Arabs became allies of heretical movements. In 647, Arab troops defeated Gregory's army at the Battle of Sufetula, which led to the separation of Egypt from Byzantium. In 665, the Arabs repeated the invasion of North Africa and by 709 all the African provinces of Byzantium became part of the Arab Caliphate (for more details, see Arab conquests).

Sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa in the 1st millennium BC. e. Iron metallurgy spread everywhere. This contributed to the development of new territories, primarily tropical forests, and became one of the reasons for the settlement of Bantu-speaking peoples throughout most of Tropical and Southern Africa, displacing representatives of the Ethiopian and Capoid races to the north and south.

The centers of civilizations in Tropical Africa spread from north to south (in the eastern part of the continent) and partly from east to west (especially in the western part).

The Arabs, who penetrated North Africa in the 7th century, until the arrival of Europeans, became the main intermediaries between Tropical Africa and the rest of the world, including through the Indian Ocean. The cultures of Western and Central Sudan formed a single West African, or Sudanese, cultural zone, stretching from Senegal to the modern Republic of Sudan. In the 2nd millennium, most of this zone was part of the large state formations of Ghana, Kanem-Borno Mali (XIII-XV centuries), and Songhai.

South of the Sudanese civilizations in the 7th-9th centuries AD. e. the state formation of Ife was formed, which became the cradle of the Yoruba and Bini civilization (Benin, Oyo); neighboring peoples also experienced their influence. To the west of it, in the 2nd millennium, the Akano-Ashanti proto-civilization was formed, the heyday of which occurred in the 17th and early 19th centuries.

In the region of Central Africa during the XV-XIX centuries. various state entities gradually emerged - Buganda, Rwanda, Burundi, etc.

In East Africa, since the 10th century, Swahili Muslim culture flourished (the city-states of Kilwa, Pate, Mombasa, Lamu, Malindi, Sofala, etc., the Sultanate of Zanzibar).

In Southeast Africa - the Zimbabwean (Zimbabwe, Monomotapa) proto-civilization (X-XIX centuries); in Madagascar, the process of state formation ended at the beginning of the 19th century with the unification of all the early political formations of the island around Imerina.

The appearance of Europeans in Africa

The penetration of Europeans into Africa began in the 15th-16th centuries; The greatest contribution to the development of the continent at the first stage was made by the Spaniards and Portuguese after the completion of the Reconquista. Already at the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese actually controlled the western coast of Africa and in the 16th century launched an active slave trade. Following them, almost all Western European powers rushed to Africa: Holland, Spain, Denmark, France, England, Germany.

The slave trade with Zanzibar gradually led to the colonization of East Africa; Moroccan attempts to take over the Sahel have failed.

By the beginning of the 17th century, all of North Africa (except Morocco) became part of the Ottoman Empire. With the final division of Africa between European powers (1880s), the colonial period began, forcing Africans into industrial civilization.

Colonization of Africa

The process of colonization became widespread in the second half of the 19th century, especially after 1885 with the beginning of the so-called Race or Scramble for Africa. Almost the entire continent (except for Ethiopia and Liberia, which remained independent) by 1900 was divided between a number of European states: Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy; Spain and Portugal retained their old colonies and somewhat expanded them.

The most extensive and richest possessions were those of Great Britain. In the southern and central part of the continent:

• Cape Colony,
• Natal,
• Bechuanaland (now Botswana),
• Basutoland (Lesotho),
• Swaziland,
• Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe),
• Northern Rhodesia (Zambia).

In the east:

• Kenya,
• Uganda,
• Zanzibar,
• British Somalia.

In the north-east:

• Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, formally considered a co-ownership of England and Egypt.

In the West:

• Nigeria,
• Sierra Leone,
• Gambia
• Golden shore.

In the Indian Ocean

• Mauritius (island)
• Seychelles.

The colonial empire of France was not inferior in size to the British, but the population of its colonies was several times smaller, and its natural resources were poorer. Most of the French possessions were located in Western and Equatorial Africa and a considerable part of their territory was in the Sahara, the adjacent semi-desert Sahel region and tropical forests:

• French Guinea (now the Republic of Guinea),
• Ivory Coast (Ivory Coast),
• Upper Volta (Burkina Faso),
• Dahomey (Benin),
• Mauritania,
• Niger,
• Senegal,
• French Sudan (Mali),
• Gabon,
• Middle Congo (Republic of the Congo),
• Ubangi-Shari (Central African Republic),
• French coast of Somalia (Djibouti),
• Madagascar,
• Comoros Islands,
• Reunion.

Portugal owned Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bissau), which included the Cape Verde Islands (Republic of Cape Verde), Sao Tome and Principe.

Belgium owned the Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in 1971-1997 - Zaire), Italy - Eritrea and Italian Somalia, Spain - the Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara), Northern Morocco, Equatorial Guinea, the Canary Islands; Germany - German East Africa (now mainland Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi), Cameroon, Togo and German South-West Africa (Namibia).

The main incentives that led to the heated battle of European powers for Africa are considered economic. Indeed, the desire to exploit Africa's natural resources and people was of paramount importance. But it cannot be said that these hopes were immediately realized. The south of the continent, where the world's largest deposits of gold and diamonds were discovered, began to generate huge profits. But before receiving income, large investments were first necessary to explore natural resources, create communications, adapt the local economy to the needs of the metropolis, to suppress the protest of indigenous residents and research effective ways to force them to work for the colonial system. All this took time. Another argument of the ideologists of colonialism was not immediately justified. They argued that the acquisition of colonies would open up many jobs in the metropolises themselves and eliminate unemployment, since Africa would become a large market for European products and enormous construction of railways, ports, and industrial enterprises would begin there. If these plans were implemented, it was more slowly than expected and on a smaller scale. The argument that Europe's surplus population would move to Africa turned out to be untenable. The migration flows turned out to be smaller than expected and were mainly limited to the south of the continent, Angola, Mozambique, and Kenya - countries where the climate and other natural conditions were suitable for Europeans. Dubbed “the white man’s grave,” the Gulf of Guinea countries have seduced few people.

Colonial period

African theater of World War I

First World War was a struggle for the redistribution of Africa, but it did not have a particularly strong impact on the lives of most African countries. Military actions covered the territories of the German colonies. They were conquered by the Entente troops and after the war, by decision of the League of Nations, were transferred to the Entente countries as mandated territories: Togo and Cameroon were divided between Great Britain and France, German South-West Africa went to the Union of South Africa (SA), part of German East Africa - Rwanda and Burundi - was transferred to Belgium, the other - Tanganyika - to Great Britain.

With the acquisition of Tanganyika, an old dream of the British ruling circles came true: a continuous strip of British possessions arose from Cape Town to Cairo. After the end of the war, the process of colonial development in Africa accelerated. Colonies increasingly turned into agricultural and raw materials appendages of the metropolises. Agriculture became increasingly export-oriented.

Interwar period

During the interwar period, the composition of agricultural crops grown by Africans changed dramatically - the production of export crops increased sharply: coffee - 11 times, tea - 10 times, cocoa beans - 6 times, peanuts - more than 4 times, tobacco - 3 times, etc. etc. An increasing number of colonies became monoculture countries. On the eve of World War II, in many countries between two-thirds and 98% of the value of all exports came from a single crop. In Gambia and Senegal, groundnuts became such a crop, in Zanzibar - cloves, in Uganda - cotton, on the Gold Coast - cocoa beans, in French Guinea - bananas and pineapples, in Southern Rhodesia - tobacco. Some countries had two export crops: on the Ivory Coast and in Togo - coffee and cocoa, in Kenya - coffee and tea, etc. In Gabon and some other countries, valuable forest species became a monoculture.

The emerging industry - mainly mining - was designed to an even greater extent for export. She developed quickly. In the Belgian Congo, for example, copper mining increased more than 20-fold between 1913 and 1937. By 1937, Africa occupied an impressive place in the capitalist world in the production of mineral raw materials. It accounted for 97% of all mined diamonds, 92% of cobalt, more than 40% of gold, chromites, lithium minerals, manganese ore, phosphorites and more than a third of all platinum production. In West Africa, as well as in most parts of East and Central Africa, export products were produced mainly on the farms of Africans themselves. European plantation production did not take root there due to climatic conditions difficult for Europeans. The main exploiters of African producers were foreign companies. Exported agricultural products were produced on farms owned by Europeans located in the Union of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, parts of Northern Rhodesia, Kenya, and South West Africa.

African Theater of World War II

The fighting during the Second World War on the African continent is divided into two directions: the North African campaign, which affected Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and was an integral part of the most important Mediterranean theater of operations, as well as the autonomous African theater of operations, the battles in which were of secondary importance.

During the Second World War, military operations in Tropical Africa were carried out only on the territory of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somalia. In 1941, British troops, together with Ethiopian partisans and with the active participation of the Somalis, occupied the territories of these countries. There were no military operations in other countries of Tropical and Southern Africa (with the exception of Madagascar). But hundreds of thousands of Africans were mobilized into the metropolitan armies. More more people had to serve the troops and work for military needs. Africans fought in North Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East, Burma, and Malaya. On the territory of the French colonies there was a struggle between the Vichyites and supporters of the Free French, which, as a rule, did not lead to military clashes.

Decolonization of Africa

After World War II, the process of decolonization in Africa began rapidly. 1960 was declared the Year of Africa - the year of liberation of the largest number of colonies. In this year, 17 states gained independence. Most of them are French colonies and UN trust territories under French administration: Cameroon, Togo, Malagasy Republic, Congo (formerly French Congo), Dahomey, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Mali. The largest country in Africa in terms of population, Nigeria, which belonged to Great Britain, and the largest in terms of territory, the Belgian Congo, were declared independent. British Somalia and Italian Trust Somalia were united and became the Somali Democratic Republic.

The year 1960 changed the entire situation on the African continent. The dismantling of the remaining colonial regimes has become inevitable. The following were declared sovereign states:

• in 1961, the British possessions of Sierra Leone and Tanganyika;
• in 1962 - Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda;
• in 1963 - Kenya and Zanzibar;
• in 1964 - Northern Rhodesia (which called itself the Republic of Zambia, after the Zambezi River) and Nyasaland (Malawi); that same year, Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to create the Republic of Tanzania;
• in 1965 - Gambia;
• in 1966 - Bechuanaland became the Republic of Botswana and Basutoland - the Kingdom of Lesotho;
• in 1968 - Mauritius, Equatorial Guinea and Swaziland;
• in 1973 - Guinea-Bissau;
• in 1975 (after the revolution in Portugal) - Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe, as well as 3 of the 4 Comoros Islands (Mayotte remained a possession of France);
• in 1977 - Seychelles, and French Somalia became the Republic of Djibouti;
• in 1980 - Southern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zimbabwe;
• in 1990 - Trust Territory of South West Africa - by the Republic of Namibia.

The declaration of independence of Kenya, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique and Namibia was preceded by wars, uprisings, and guerrilla warfare. But for most African countries, the final stage of the journey was completed without major bloodshed, it was the result of mass demonstrations and strikes, the negotiation process, and, in relation to the trust territories, decisions of the United Nations.

Due to the fact that the borders of African states during the “race for Africa” were drawn artificially, without taking into account the settlement of various peoples and tribes, as well as the fact that traditional African society was not ready for democracy, in many African countries after gaining independence, civil wars. In many countries, dictators came to power. The resulting regimes are characterized by disregard for human rights, bureaucracy, and totalitarianism, which, in turn, leads to an economic crisis and growing poverty.

Currently under the control of European countries are:

• Spanish enclaves in Morocco Ceuta and Melilla, Canary Islands (Spain),
• St. Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha and Chagos Archipelago (UK),
• Reunion, Eparce and Mayotte Islands (France),
• Madeira (Portugal).

Changing the names of states

During the period of African countries gaining independence, many of them changed their names for various reasons. This could be secession, unification, regime change, or the country gaining sovereignty. The phenomenon of renaming African proper names (names of countries, personal names of people) to reflect African identity has been called Africanization.

Previous title	Year	Current title
Portuguese South West Africa	1975	Republic of Angola
Dahomey	1975	Republic of Benin
Bechuanaland Protectorate	1966	Republic of Botswana
Republic of Upper Volta	1984	Republic of Burkina Faso
Ubangi-Shari	1960	Central African Republic
Republic of Zaire	1997	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Middle Congo	1960	Republic of the Congo
Ivory Coast	1985	Republic of Cote d'Ivoire*
French Afar and Issa territory	1977	Republic of Djibouti
Spanish Guinea	1968	Republic of Equatorial Guinea
Abyssinia	1941	Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Golden shore	1957	Republic of Ghana
part of French West Africa	1958	Republic of Guinea
Portuguese Guinea	1974	Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Basutoland Protectorate	1966	Kingdom of Lesotho
Nyasaland Protectorate	1964	Republic of Malawi
French Sudan	1960	Republic of Mali
German South West Africa	1990	Republic of Namibia
German East Africa/Rwanda-Urundi	1962	Republic of Rwanda / Republic of Burundi
British Somaliland / Italian Somaliland	1960	Republic of Somalia
Zanzibar / Tanganyika	1964	United Republic of Tanzania
Buganda	1962	Republic of Uganda
Northern Rhodesia	1964	Republic of Zambia
Southern Rhodesia	1980	Republic of Zimbabwe

* The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire did not change its name as such, but demanded that other languages ​​use the French name of the country (French: Côte d'Ivoire), rather than its literal translation in other languages ​​(Ivory Coast, Elfenbeinküste, etc.).

Geographical studies

David Livingston

David Livingston decided to study the rivers of South Africa and find natural passages deep into the mainland. He sailed the Zambezi, discovered the Victoria Falls, and identified the watershed of Lake Nyasa, Taganyika and the Lualaba River. In 1849, he was the first European to cross the Kalahari Desert and explore Lake Ngami. During his last journey, he tried to find the sources of the Nile.

Heinrich Barth

Heinrich Barth established that Lake Chad is drainless, was the first European to study the rock paintings of the ancient inhabitants of the Sahara and expressed his assumptions about climate change in North Africa.

Russian explorers

Mining engineer and traveler Yegor Petrovich Kovalevsky helped the Egyptians in search of gold deposits and studied the tributaries of the Blue Nile. Vasily Vasilyevich Juncker explored the watershed of the main African rivers - the Nile, Congo and Niger.

Geography of Africa

Africa covers an area of ​​30.3 million km². The length from north to south is 8 thousand km, from west to east in the northern part - 7.5 thousand km.

Relief

For the most part it is flat, in the north-west there are the Atlas Mountains, in the Sahara - the Ahaggar and Tibesti highlands. In the east is the Ethiopian Highlands, to the south of it is the East African Plateau, where the Kilimanjaro volcano (5895 m) is located - the highest point of the continent. In the south are the Cape and Drakensberg Mountains. The lowest point (157 meters below sea level) is located in Djibouti, this is the salt lake Assal. The deepest cave is Anu Ifflis, located in the north of Algeria in the Tel Atlas Mountains.

Minerals

Africa is known primarily for its rich deposits of diamonds (South Africa, Zimbabwe) and gold (South Africa, Ghana, Mali, Republic of Congo). There are large oil deposits in Nigeria and Algeria. Bauxite is mined in Guinea and Ghana. Resources of phosphorites, as well as manganese, iron and lead-zinc ores are concentrated in the area of ​​the northern coast of Africa.

Inland waters

Africa is home to one of the longest rivers in the world - the Nile (6852 km), flowing from south to north. Other major rivers are the Niger in the west, the Congo in central Africa and the Zambezi, Limpopo and Orange rivers in the south.

The largest lake is Victoria. Other large lakes are Nyasa and Tanganyika, located in lithospheric faults. One of the largest salt lakes is Lake Chad, located on the territory of the state of the same name.

Climate

Africa is the hottest continent on the planet. The reason for this is the geographical location of the continent: the entire territory of Africa is located in hot climate zones and the continent is intersected by the equator line. It is in Africa that the hottest place on Earth is located - Dallol, and the highest temperature on Earth was recorded (+58.4 °C).

Central Africa and the coastal regions of the Gulf of Guinea belong to the equatorial belt, where there is heavy rainfall throughout the year and there is no change of seasons. To the north and south of the equatorial belt there are subequatorial belts. Here, in summer, humid equatorial air masses dominate (rainy season), and in winter, dry air from tropical trade winds (dry season). North and south of the subequatorial belts are the northern and southern tropical belts. They are characterized by high temperatures and low precipitation, which leads to the formation of deserts.

In the north is the largest desert on Earth, the Sahara Desert, in the south is the Kalahari Desert. The northern and southern ends of the continent are included in the corresponding subtropical zones.

Fauna of Africa, Flora of Africa

The flora of the tropical, equatorial and subequatorial zones is diverse. Ceib, pipdatenia, terminalia, combretum, brachystegia, isoberlinia, pandan, tamarind, sundew, bladderwort, palms and many others grow everywhere. Savannas are dominated by low trees and thorny bushes (acacia, terminalia, bush).

Desert vegetation, on the contrary, is sparse, consisting of small communities of grasses, shrubs and trees growing in oases, high-altitude areas, and along water. Salt-tolerant halophytic plants are found in the depressions. On the least water-supplied plains and plateaus, species of grasses, small bushes and trees grow that are resistant to drought and heat. The flora of desert areas is well adapted to irregular rainfall. This is reflected in the wide variety of physiological adaptations, habitat preferences, establishment of dependent and kinship communities, and reproductive strategies. Perennial drought-resistant grasses and shrubs have an extensive and deep (up to 15-20 m) root system. Many of the grass plants are ephemerals that can produce seeds in three days after sufficient moisture and are sown within 10-15 days thereafter.

In the mountainous regions of the Sahara Desert, relict Neogene flora is found, often related to the Mediterranean, and there are many endemics. Among the relict woody plants growing in mountainous areas are some types of olives, cypress and mastic tree. Also presented are types of acacia, tamarisk and wormwood, doum palm, oleander, palmate date, thyme, and ephedra. Dates, figs, olive and fruit trees, some citrus fruits, and various vegetables are cultivated in the oases. Herbaceous plants growing in many parts of the desert are represented by the genera triostia, bentgrass and millet. Coastal grass and other salt-tolerant grasses grow on the Atlantic coast. Various combinations of ephemerals form seasonal pastures called ashebas. Algae are found in reservoirs.

In many desert areas (rivers, hamadas, partial accumulations of sand, etc.) there is no vegetation cover at all. Human activity (livestock grazing, collection) has had a strong impact on the vegetation of almost all areas. useful plants, fuel procurement, etc.).

A notable plant of the Namib Desert is tumboa, or Welwitschia mirabilis. It produces two giant leaves that grow slowly throughout its life (more than 1000 years), which can exceed 3 meters in length. The leaves are attached to a stem that resembles a huge conical radish with a diameter of 60 to 120 centimeters, and protrudes 30 centimeters from the ground. Welwitschia's roots extend up to 3m deep into the ground. Welwitschia is known for its ability to grow in extremely dry conditions, using dew and fog as its main source of moisture. Welwitschia - endemic to the northern Namib - is depicted on the national coat of arms of Namibia.

In slightly wetter areas of the desert, another famous Namib plant is found - the nara (Acanthosicyos horridus), (endemic), which grows on sand dunes. Its fruits constitute the food supply and source of moisture for many animals, African elephants, antelopes, porcupines, etc.

Since prehistoric times, Africa has preserved the largest number of megafauna. The tropical equatorial and subequatorial belt is inhabited by a variety of mammals: okapi, antelopes (dukers, bongos), pygmy hippopotamus, brush-eared pig, warthog, galagos, monkeys, flying squirrels (spine-tailed), lemurs (on the island of Madagascar), civets, chimpanzees, gorillas, etc. Nowhere in the world is there such an abundance of large animals as in the African savannah: elephants, hippopotamuses, lions, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs, antelopes (elands), zebras, monkeys, secretary birds, hyenas, African ostriches, meerkats. Some elephants, Kaffa buffaloes and white rhinoceroses live only in nature reserves.

The predominant birds are gray fowl, turaco, guinea fowl, hornbill (kalao), cockatoo, and marabou.

Reptiles and amphibians of the tropical equatorial and subequatorial zone - mamba (one of the most poisonous snakes in the world), crocodile, python, tree frogs, dart frogs and marbled frogs.

In humid climatic zones, the malaria mosquito and the tsetse fly are common, causing sleeping sickness in both humans and mammals.

Ecology

In November 2009, GreenPeace published a report indicating that two villages in Niger near the uranium mines of French multinational Areva had dangerously high levels of radiation. The main environmental problems of Africa: Desertification is a problem in the northern part, deforestation is a problem in the central part.

Political division

Africa is home to 55 countries and 5 self-proclaimed and unrecognized states. Most of them were colonies of European states for a long time and gained independence only in the 50-60s of the 20th century. Before this, only Egypt (since 1922), Ethiopia (since the Middle Ages), Liberia (since 1847) and South Africa (since 1910) were independent; in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), until the 80-90s of the 20th century, the apartheid regime, which discriminated against the indigenous (black) population, remained in place. Currently, many African countries are ruled by regimes that discriminate against the white population. According to the research organization Freedom House, in recent years, many African countries (for example, Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Congo (Kinshasa) and Equatorial Guinea) have seen a trend of retreat from democratic achievements towards authoritarianism.

In the north of the continent are the territories of Spain (Ceuta, Melilla, Canary Islands) and Portugal (Madeira).

Countries and territories	Area (km²)	Population	Population density
Algeria
Egypt
West Sahara
Libya
Mauritania
Mali
Morocco
Niger		13 957 000
Sudan
Tunisia
Chad				N'Djamena

Spanish and Portuguese territories in North Africa:

Countries and territories	Area (km²)	Population	Population density
Canary Islands (Spain)				Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Madeira (Portugal)
Melilla (Spain)
Ceuta (Spain)
Small Sovereign Territories (Spain)				Countries and territories Area (km²) Population Population density Benin Cotonou, Porto Novo Burkina Faso Ouagadougou Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Cape Verde Ivory Coast Yamoussoukro Liberia Monrovia Nigeria Senegal Sierra Leone Togo Countries and territories Area (km²) Population Population density Gabon Libreville Cameroon DR Congo Republic of the Congo Brazzaville Sao Tome and Principe CAR Equatorial Guinea Countries and territories Area (km²) Population Population density Burundi Bujumbura British Indian Ocean Territory (dependency) Diego Garcia Galmudug (unrecognized state) Galkayo Djibouti Kenya Puntland (unrecognized state) Rwanda Somalia Mogadishu Somaliland (unrecognized state) Hargeisa Tanzania Uganda Eritrea Ethiopia Addis Ababa South Sudan Countries and territories Area (km²) Population Population density Angola Botswana Gaborone Zimbabwe Comoros Lesotho Mauritius Madagascar Antananarivo Mayotte (dependent territory, overseas region of France) Malawi Lilongwe Mozambique Namibia Reunion (dependent territory, overseas region of France) Swaziland Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (dependent territory (UK) Jamestown Seychelles Victoria Eparce Islands (dependent territory, overseas region of France) South Africa Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Pretoria African Union In 1963, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was created, uniting 53 African states. This organization was officially transformed into the African Union on July 9, 2002. The head of one of the African states is elected as the Chairman of the African Union for a term of one year. The administration of the African Union is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The objectives of the African Union are: promoting the political and socio-economic integration of the continent; promoting and protecting the interests of the continent and its people; achieving peace and security in Africa; promoting the development of democratic institutions, wise leadership and human rights. Morocco does not join the African Union as a sign of protest against the admission of Western Sahara, which Morocco considers its territory. Economy of Africa General economic and geographical characteristics of African countries A peculiarity of the geographical location of many countries in the region is the lack of access to the sea. At the same time, in countries facing the ocean, the coastline is poorly indented, which is unfavorable for the construction of large ports. Africa is exceptionally rich in natural resources. The reserves of mineral raw materials are especially large - manganese ores, chromites, bauxites, etc. There are fuel raw materials in depressions and coastal areas. Oil and gas are produced in North and West Africa (Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Libya). Enormous reserves of cobalt and copper ores are concentrated in Zambia and the DRC; manganese ores are mined in South Africa and Zimbabwe; platinum, iron ores and gold - in South Africa; diamonds - in Congo, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Ghana; phosphorites - in Morocco, Tunisia; uranium - in Niger, Namibia. Africa has quite large land resources, but soil erosion has become catastrophic due to improper cultivation. Water resources across Africa are distributed extremely unevenly. Forests occupy about 10% of the territory, but as a result of predatory destruction their area is rapidly declining. Africa has the highest rate of natural population growth. The natural increase in many countries exceeds 30 people per 1000 inhabitants per year. There remains a high proportion of children (50%) and a small proportion of older people (about 5%). African countries have not yet managed to change the colonial type of sectoral and territorial structure of the economy, although the rate of economic growth has accelerated somewhat. The colonial type of sectoral structure of the economy is distinguished by the predominance of small-scale, consumer agriculture, weak development of the manufacturing industry, and lagging development of transport. African countries have achieved the greatest success in the mining industry. In the extraction of many minerals, Africa holds a leading and sometimes monopoly place in the world (in the extraction of gold, diamonds, platinum group metals, etc.). The manufacturing industry is represented by light and food industries, there are no other industries, with the exception of a number of areas near the availability of raw materials and on the coast (Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Zambia, DRC). The second branch of the economy that determines Africa's place in the world economy is tropical and subtropical agriculture. Agricultural products account for 60-80% of GDP. The main cash crops are coffee, cocoa beans, peanuts, dates, tea, natural rubber, sorghum, and spices. Recently, grain crops have begun to be grown: corn, rice, wheat. Livestock farming plays a subordinate role, with the exception of countries with arid climates. Extensive cattle breeding predominates, characterized by a huge number of livestock, but low productivity and low marketability. The continent is not self-sufficient in agricultural products. Transport also retains a colonial type: railways go from raw material extraction areas to the port, while the regions of one state are practically not connected. Relatively developed railway and marine species transport. In recent years, other types of transport have also developed - road (a road was built across the Sahara), air, pipeline. All countries, with the exception of South Africa, are developing, most of them are the poorest in the world (70% of the population lives below the poverty line). Problems and difficulties of African states Most African states have developed bloated, unprofessional and ineffective bureaucracies. Given the amorphous nature of social structures, the only organized force remained the army. The result is endless military coups. Dictators who came to power appropriated untold wealth for themselves. The capital of Mobutu, the President of the Congo, at the time of his overthrow was $7 billion. The economy functioned poorly, and this gave scope for a “destructive” economy: the production and distribution of drugs, illegal mining of gold and diamonds, even human trafficking. Africa's share in world GDP and its share in world exports were declining, and output per capita was declining. The formation of statehood was extremely complicated by the absolute artificiality of state borders. Africa inherited them from its colonial past. They were established during the division of the continent into spheres of influence and have little to do with ethnic boundaries. The Organization of African Unity, created in 1963, aware that any attempt to correct a particular border could lead to unpredictable consequences, called for these borders to be considered immutable, no matter how unfair they may be. But these borders have nevertheless become a source of ethnic conflicts and the displacement of millions of refugees. The main sector of the economy of most countries in Tropical Africa is agriculture, designed to provide food for the population and serve as a raw material base for the development of the manufacturing industry. It employs the majority of the region's amateur population and creates the bulk of the total national income. In many countries of Tropical Africa, agriculture occupies a leading place in exports, providing a significant portion of foreign exchange earnings. In the last decade, an alarming picture has been observed with the growth rate of industrial production, which allows us to talk about the actual deindustrialization of the region. If in 1965-1980 they (on average per year) amounted to 7.5%, then in the 80s only 0.7%; a drop in growth rates took place in the 80s in both the mining and manufacturing industries. For a number of reasons, the mining industry plays a special role in ensuring the socio-economic development of the region, but this production is also decreasing by 2% annually. A characteristic feature of the development of the countries of Tropical Africa is the weak development of the manufacturing industry. Only in a very small group of countries (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Senegal) does its share in GDP reach or exceed 20%. Integration processes A characteristic feature of integration processes in Africa is their high degree of institutionalization. Currently, there are about 200 economic associations of various levels, scales and orientations on the continent. But from the point of view of studying the problem of the formation of subregional identity and its relationship with national and ethnic identity, the functioning of such large organizations as the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), etc. is of interest. The extremely low performance of their activities in previous decades and the advent of the era of globalization required a sharp acceleration of integration processes at a qualitatively different level. Economic cooperation is developing in new - compared to the 70s - conditions of contradictory interaction between the globalization of the world economy and the increasing marginalization of the positions of African states within its framework and, naturally, in a different coordinate system. Integration is no longer considered as a tool and basis for the formation of a self-sufficient and self-developing economy, relying on its own strengths and in opposition to the imperialist West. The approach is different, which, as mentioned above, presents integration as a way and means of including African countries in the globalizing world economy, as well as as an impulse and indicator of economic growth and development in general. Population, Peoples of Africa, Demographics of Africa Africa's population is about 1 billion people. The continent's population growth is the highest in the world: in 2004 it was 2.3%. Over the past 50 years, average life expectancy has increased - from 39 to 54 years. The population consists mainly of representatives of two races: Negroid sub-Saharan, and Caucasian in northern Africa (Arabs) and South Africa (Boers and Anglo-South Africans). The most numerous people are the Arabs of North Africa. During the colonial development of the mainland, many state borders were drawn without taking into account ethnic characteristics, which still leads to interethnic conflicts. The average population density in Africa is 30.5 people/km² - this is significantly less than in Europe and Asia. In terms of urbanization, Africa lags behind other regions - less than 30%, but the rate of urbanization here is the highest in the world; many African countries are characterized by false urbanization. The most big cities on the African continent - Cairo and Lagos. Languages The autochthonous languages ​​of Africa are divided into 32 families, of which 3 (Semitic, Indo-European and Austronesian) “penetrated” the continent from other regions. There are also 7 isolated and 9 unclassified languages. The most popular native African languages ​​include Bantu (Swahili, Congo) and Fula. Indo-European languages ​​became widespread due to the era of colonial rule: English, Portuguese, French languages are official in many countries. In Namibia since the beginning of the 20th century. there is a densely populated community that speaks German as the main one. The only language belonging to the Indo-European family to emerge on the continent is Afrikaans, one of the 11 official languages ​​of South Africa. There are also communities of Afrikaans speakers living in other countries of Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia. It is worth noting, however, that after the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Afrikaans language was replaced by other languages ​​(English and local African ones). The number of its carriers and scope of application are decreasing. The most widespread language of the Afroasiatic language macrofamily, Arabic, is used in North, West and East Africa as a first and second language. Many African languages ​​(Hausa, Swahili) include a significant number of borrowings from Arabic (primarily in layers of political and religious vocabulary, abstract concepts). The Austronesian languages ​​are represented by the Malagasy language, which is spoken by the population of Madagascar - the Malagasy - a people of Austronesian origin who presumably came here in the 2nd-5th centuries AD. Residents of the African continent are typically fluent in several languages, which are used in various everyday situations. For example, a representative of a small ethnic group that retains its own language may use a local language in the family circle and in communication with their fellow tribesmen, a regional interethnic language (Lingala in the DRC, Sango in the Central African Republic, Hausa in Nigeria, Bambara in Mali) in communication with representatives of other ethnic groups, and the state language (usually European) in communication with authorities and other similar situations. At the same time, language proficiency may be limited only by the ability to speak (the literacy rate of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 was approximately 50% of the total population). Religion in Africa Among world religions, Islam and Christianity predominate (the most common denominations are Catholicism, Protestantism, and, to a lesser extent, Orthodoxy and Monophysitism). East Africa is also home to Buddhists and Hindus (many of them from India). Followers of Judaism and Baha'ism also live in Africa. Religions brought to Africa from outside are found both in their pure form and syncretized with local traditional religions. Among the “major” traditional African religions are Ifa or Bwiti. Education in Africa Traditional education in Africa involved preparing children for African realities and life in African society. Learning in pre-colonial Africa included games, dancing, singing, painting, ceremonies and rituals. The elders were in charge of the training; Every member of society contributed to the child's education. Girls and boys were trained separately to learn a system of appropriate gender-role behavior. The apogee of learning was the rites of passage, symbolizing the end of childhood life and the beginning of adult life. With the beginning of the colonial period, the education system underwent changes towards the European one, so that Africans had the opportunity to compete with Europe and America. Africa tried to train its own specialists. Currently, Africa still lags behind other parts of the world in terms of education. In 2000, only 58% of children in sub-Saharan Africa were in school; these are the lowest figures in the world. There are 40 million children in Africa, half of them school age, who do not receive school education. Two thirds of them are girls. In the post-colonial period, African governments placed greater emphasis on education; A large number of universities were established, although there was very little money for their development and support, and in some places it stopped altogether. However, universities are overcrowded, often forcing lecturers to lecture in shifts, evenings and weekends. Due to low wages, there is a staff drain. In addition to the lack of necessary funding, other problems of African universities are the unregulated degree system, as well as inequity in the system of career advancement among teaching staff, which is not always based on professional merit. This often leads to protests and strikes by teachers. Internal conflicts Africa has a fairly firmly established reputation as the most conflict-ridden place on the planet, and the level of stability here not only does not increase over time, but also tends to decrease. During the post-colonial period, 35 armed conflicts were recorded on the continent, during which about 10 million people died, most of whom (92%) were civilians. Africa accounts for almost 50% of the world's refugees (more than 7 million people) and 60% of displaced people (20 million people). Fate has prepared for many of them the tragic fate of a daily struggle for existence. African culture For historical reasons, Africa can be culturally divided into two large areas: North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Literature of Africa The concept of African literature by Africans themselves includes both written and oral literature. In the African mind, form and content are inseparable. The beauty of presentation is used not so much for its own sake, but to build a more effective dialogue with the listener, and beauty is determined by the degree of truthfulness of what is presented. African oral literature exists in both poetic and prose forms. Poetry, often in song form, includes actual poems, epics, ritual songs, songs of praise, love songs, etc. Prose - most often stories about the past, myths and legends, often with a trickster as the central character. The epic of Sundiata Keita, founder of the ancient state of Mali, is an important example of pre-colonial oral literature. The first written literature of North Africa is recorded in Egyptian papyri; it was also written in Greek, Latin and Phoenician (there are very few sources in Phoenician left). Apuleius and Saint Augustine wrote in Latin. The style of Ibn Khaldun, a philosopher from Tunisia, stands out noticeably among Arabic literature of that period. During the colonial period, African literature mainly dealt with the issues of slavery. Joseph Ephraim Casely-Hayford's novel Free Ethiopia: Essays on Racial Emancipation, published in 1911, is considered the first English-language work. Although the novel balanced between fiction and political propaganda, it received positive reviews in Western publications. The topic of freedom and independence was increasingly raised before the end of the colonial period. After most countries gained independence, African literature took a giant leap. Many writers appeared, whose works received wide recognition. The works were written both in European languages ​​(mainly French, English and Portuguese) and in the autochthonous languages ​​of Africa. The main themes of post-colonial works were conflicts: conflicts between past and present, tradition and modernity, socialism and capitalism, the individual and society, indigenous peoples and newcomers. Also widely covered social problems such as corruption, economic difficulties of countries with newfound independence, rights and the role of women in the new society. Women writers are now much more widely represented than during the colonial period. The first post-colonial African writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature was Wole Soyinka (1986). Previously, only Albert Camus, born in Algeria, had been awarded this prize in 1957. Cinema of Africa In general, African cinema is poorly developed, with the only exception being the film school of North Africa, where many films have been shot since the 1920s (cinemas of Algeria and Egypt). So Black Africa did not have its own cinema for a long time, and served only as a backdrop for films made by Americans and Europeans. For example, in the French colonies, the indigenous population was prohibited from making films, and only in 1955 did the Senegalese director Paulin Soumanou Vieyra make the first Francophone film L'Afrique sur Seine ("Africa on the Seine"), and then not in his homeland , and in Paris. There were also a number of films with anti-colonial sentiments that were banned until decolonization. Only in recent years, after independence, have national schools begun to develop in these countries; First of all, these are South Africa, Burkina Faso and Nigeria (where a school of commercial cinema has already been formed, called “Nollywood”). The first film to receive international recognition was Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene's film "Black Girl" about the difficult life of a black maid in France. Since 1969 (it received government support in 1972), Burkina Faso has hosted the continent's largest African film festival, FESPACO, every two years. The North African alternative to this festival is the Tunisian "Carthage". To a large extent, films made by African directors are aimed at destroying stereotypes about Africa and its people. Many ethnographic films of the colonial period were disapproved by Africans as misrepresentations of African realities. The desire to correct the global image of Black Africa is also characteristic of literature. The concept of “African cinema” also includes films made by the diaspora outside their homeland. (Visited 1,265 times, 1 visits today)

The book of the famous German (GDR) historian T. Büttner is devoted to the history of Africa from ancient times to the territorial division of the continent between the imperialist powers. Written from a Marxist perspective and using the works of progressive foreign scientists, this work exposes the racist and colonial apologetic concepts of bourgeois historiography.

INTRODUCTION

“Africa itself will write its own history, glorious and honorable for the entire continent, from north to south,” said the unforgettable Patrice Lumumba shortly before he was assassinated in 1961. And indeed, Africa is now

with its characteristic revolutionary enthusiasm, it revives the most important historical traditions and restores cultural values. At the same time, she must constantly overcome the barriers that the colonialists erected and carefully guarded to isolate Africans from the truth. The legacy of imperialism penetrates deeply into various areas of life. Its ideological impact on the consciousness of the peoples of Tropical Africa was and remains no less important a factor than the economic and social backwardness, poverty, humiliation and dependence on foreign monopolies inherited from colonialism.

Now, however, the peoples of Africa are decisively breaking off the chains with which the colonialists bound them. In the 50s and early 60s, most of the peoples of Africa, who were under the yoke of imperialism, achieved political independence. This was an important milestone on the difficult path of their struggle against imperialism, for national sovereignty and social progress. Gradually they come to understand that their struggle is part of a world revolutionary process in which the main role belongs to the socialist community of states led by Soviet Union. The African peoples are making enormous efforts to strengthen their won political independence and repel the numerous machinations of the neo-imperialists. They face such complex tasks as deep social and economic transformations, democratic agrarian reforms, the elimination of the predominance of foreign monopolies, and the creation of an independent national economy. However, at the current stage, the task of reviving the national culture, partially destroyed or humiliated by the colonial powers, and restoring the historical traditions and glorious deeds of the past in people's memory is no less urgent.

The study of the history of African peoples has received a new direction. To successfully fight against imperialism, one must not only know about the glorious exploits of the fighters against colonialism, but also imagine the remarkable history of state formations of the pre-colonial period. Researchers have managed to almost everywhere strip away the flair of romance and mysticism that shrouded it, and now they are striving to identify the most important progressive and revolutionary traditions that are so important for the modern national liberation revolution. Progressive African historiography can only accomplish this difficult task with the support of Marxists and other forces around the world fighting against imperialism. They are united by a common desire to overthrow the yoke of imperialists and neo-colonialists, eliminate the discrimination they impose and, of course, refute the reactionary bourgeois theories of African history, which are an apology for colonialism.

What fabrications did the capitalists resort to to justify the robbery of the colonies! A common thread running through many printed works is the idea that before the arrival of the colonial masters, Africans were completely or almost completely deprived of the ability for social progress. This idea was developed in every possible way and was vigorously disseminated. Just 30 years ago, one colonial official called Africans “savages passed over by history.” There are countless statements that classify the peoples of Africa as “unhistorical” and even reduce them to the “level of wild animals.” The history of Africa was depicted as a constant ebb and flow of “waves of higher civilization” from outside, which to a certain extent contributed to the development of the African population, doomed to stagnation. European colonialists attributed a lasting rational impact to “dynamic, creative, cultural impulses coming from outside,” for “ancient African culture is devoid of the Faustian desire for eternal life, research and discovery"

In fact, the history of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa was reduced to a system of alien cultural strata. To make things even more convincing, the imperialists were portrayed as “supreme cultural leaders.” Continuing the falsification of African history, apologists of colonialism assessed the ruthless colonial plunder of Africans as a blessing, especially beneficial for their culture and supposedly opened the way for them from stagnation to modern progress. It is quite obvious what political and social functions such theories are intended to perform: they are intended to disguise the true nature and extent of colonial oppression and thereby deprive the anti-colonial and national liberation movement of its anti-imperialist orientation.

Chapter I

IS AFRICA THE CRADLE OF HUMANITY?

DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN ANCIENT AND ANCIENT HISTORY

Apparently, the first people on earth appeared on the African continent, so it occupies a very special place in the study of the entire history of mankind, and the history of the most ancient and ancient periods of our civilization in particular. Discoveries of recent years in South and South-East Africa (Sterkfontein Taung, Broken Hill, Florisbad, Cape Flats, etc.), in the Sahara, especially in East Africa, have shown that the past of mankind is estimated at millions of years. In 1924, R. A. Dart found the remains of australopithecines (man-apes) in South Africa, whose age is approximately a million years old. But prof. L. Leakey, subsequently his son and wife after lengthy and difficult excavations in Kenya and Tanzania - in the Olduvai Gorge south of Lake Victoria, and in the Koobi Fora and Ileret areas (1968), as well as the burial of Laetvlil in the Serengeti (1976) - found bone remains, the age of which is estimated to be from 1.8 to 2.6 million, and in Laetvlila - even 3.7 million years.

It has been established that only on the African continent bone remains have been discovered, representing all stages of human development, which obviously confirms, on the basis of the latest anthropological and paleontological data, the evolutionary teaching of Darwin, who considered Africa the “ancestral home of mankind.” At Olduvai Gorge in East Africa we find remains of representatives of all stages of evolution that preceded the emergence of Homo sapiens. They evolved (partly in parallel and not always receiving further development) from Australopithecus to Homo habilis, and then to the last link in the evolutionary chain - Neoanthropus. The example of East Africa proves that the formation of Homo sapiens could have occurred in a variety of ways and that not all of them have been studied.

Climatic changes that occurred in the Quaternary period and lasted more than a million years, especially the three large pluvial (wet) periods, had big influence to Africa and turned areas that are now deserts into savannas, where prehistoric people successfully hunted. Pluvial-related displacements and changes in water levels can be used, among other methods, to date primitive finds. Already among the archaeological materials dating back to the first pluvial periods, along with the bone remains of the primordial man, the first stone, or rather pebble, tools were found. In Europe, similar products appeared much later - only during interglacial periods.

Findings of the oldest pebble and stone tools of the Olduvai and Stellenbosch cultures, as well as numerous remains of thick and thin processed cores and axes with handles dating back to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic (about 50 thousand years ago), now discovered in many regions of the Maghreb (ater, capsian), The Sahara, South Africa (Faursmith), East Africa and the Congo Basin (Zaire), testify to the development and success of Early and Late Paleolithic people on African soil

The huge number of improved stone tools and rock art dating back to the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) indicates a significant increase in population and high level prehistoric culture in certain areas of Africa since the 10th millennium BC. e. The Lupembe and Chitole cultures of the Congo Basin, as well as the Mesolithic centers in northeastern Angola, parts of Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the northern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, represent an important stage in the further progress of the culture. The people of the Lupemba culture were able to make chisels and hollow objects, broken-backed points and stone leaf-shaped points for spears and dagger-type tools that stand comparison with the best stone points found in Europe.