| AD 1 |
| 17 - 24 | Revolt of Tacfarinas, Numidian leader, against Roman government in North Africa |
| 40 | Mauretania (now northern Morocco and northwestern Algeria) annexed by Rome |
| 61 - 63 | Roman force explores up the Nile Valley into Sudan |
|
| AD 100 |
| c. 100 | Aksum becomes capital of major state in Eritrea, northern Ethiopia |
| 115 | Revolt of Jewish community in Cyrenaica (northeastern Libya) against Roman administration |
| 193 - 211 | Libyan Septimius Severus is emperor of Rome |
|
| AD 200 |
| c. 200 | Roman emperor Septimius Severus strengthens frontier defences in North Africa with chain of forts and long ditches |
| 238 | Revolt in Africa against Roman rule begins half-century of unrest |
| 295 - 300 | Emperor Diocletian reorganizes local government in North Africa |
|
| AD 300 |
| c. 300 - 400 | Bantu cereal cultivators in southeast Africa begin to herd cattle |
| c. 330 - 40 | Beginning of conversion of kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia-Eritrea to Christianity, by Bishop Frumentius |
| c. 350 | End of Kushite civilization at Meroe; it is possibly brought down by invasion from kingdom of Aksum |
| c. 397 | Berber prince Gildo begins a major rebellion against Roman emperor Honorius |
|
| AD 400 |
| RELIGIOUS WORLDS |
| c. 400 | Use of iron spreads through eastern Africa |
| 400s | Christianity in the Aksum empire in northeastern Africa becomes more widespread |
|
| AD 500 |
| c. 500 | The Ghanaian empire becomes the most important power in West Africa |
| 525 | King Kaleb of Aksum conquers Yemen in southern Arabia; he builds many churches |
| c. 550 - 600 | Nubians in Sudan, northeastern Africa, become Christian |
|
| AD 600 |
| 640 - 41 | Caliph Omar, a successor to Mohammed as Islamic leader, conquers Egypt |
| c. 640 - 711 | Arabs, carrying the Muslim faith, expand across northern Africa |
| 642 | Arabs erect first mosque in al-Fustat, new capital of Muslim Egypt |
| 652 | Christian Nubians and Arabs in Egypt agree that Aswan on Nile should mark southern limit of Arab expansion |
| 697 - 98 | Arabs destroy Byzantine city at Carthage in North Africa; new city of Tunis built nearby |
|
| AD 700 |
| c. 788 | Idris, Arab chief, becomes ruler in Morocco |
|
| AD 800 |
| NEW NATIONS |
| 800 - 909 | Aghlabid dynasty rules in Tunis on the coast of North Africa; the rulers set up a colony in Sicily (827 - 902) and invade southern Italy |
| c. 800 - c. 950 | Christian empire in Ethiopia continues after the decline of Aksum |
| 800s | Arabs and Persians explore East African coast and set up trading stations at Malindi, Mombasa, Kilwa, and Mogadishu |
| 868 | Ahmad ibn-Tulun, Egyptian noble of Turkish descent, breaks away from Abbasid caliphate and sets up Tulunid dynasty in Egypt |
|
| AD 900 |
| c. 900 | Kasar Hausa (Hausaland), a fertile region on the lower Niger river in West Africa, prospers due to increasing trade and industry |
| c. 950 - 1050 | Igbo-Ukwu culture thrives in eastern Nigeria |
| 969 | Fatimid dynasty expands from Tunis and conquers Egypt from Tulunid dynasty; Fatimids build Cairo which becomes Egyptian capital |
| 970s | Fatimids built al-Azhar University in Cairo, one of the world's first universities; it still exists today |
|
| AD 1000 |
| MONKS AND INVADERS |
| 1000s | Bantu-speaking peoples set up kingdoms in southern Africa |
| 1000s | Kingdoms of Takrur and Gao flourish in West Africa due to gold trade |
| 1021 - 35 | Reign of Fatimid caliph al-Zahir marks start of decline of Fatimid power |
| c. 1050s | Culture of Yoruba people of Ife flourishes in Nigeria in West Africa; it survives until |
| 1050s - 1146 | Almoravids, Berber Muslims from western Sahara, take over Morocco, Algeria, and part of Muslim Spain; they invade Ghana in 1076, and establish power there |
| 1062 | Almoravids found capital at Marrakech |
|
| AD 1100 |
| c. 1100 | Ghana empire in West Africa declines |
| c. 1100 | Katanga in Zaire central Africa probably founded |
| 1147 | Almohads, Berber Muslims opposed to Almoravids, seize Marrakech and go on to conquer Almoravid Spain, Algeria, and Tripoli |
| 1150s | Zagwe dynasty rules in Ethiopian highlands |
| 1171 | Saladin, Muslim warrior and commander in Egyptian army, overthrows Fatimid dynasty |
| 1173 | Saladin declares himself sultan of Egypt |
|
| AD 1200 |
| CONQUEST AND PLAGUE |
| C. 1200 - 30 | King Lalibela of Ethiopia responsible for churches cut from rock |
| 1218 | Ayyubid empire breaks up but Ayyubids rule Egypt to 1250 |
| c. 1220 | City state of Kilwa in Tanzania increases in prosperity |
| c. 1230 | Hafsid monarchy takes over from Almohads in Tunisia and acquires much trade across the Sahara desert |
| c. 1235 | Great warrior leader Sun Diata founds Mali empire in West Africa; it expands under his rule |
| c. 1250 | Kanem kingdom in Lake Chad region begins to break up into rival factions |
| 1250 | Last Ayyubid ruler in Egypt murdered; Mamluks, soldiers from central Asia employed by Ayyubids, seize power and found military state |
| 1260 - 77 | Mamluk commander Baybars takes over as sultan of Egypt |
|
| AD 1300 |
| 1300 | Ife culture of West Africa produces famous brasses |
| 1324 | Emperor of Mali, Mansa Musa, goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Arabia |
| 1348 | Egypt devastated by plague, called Black Death |
| 1352 - 53 | Ibn Battuta, Berber scholar, travels across Africa and writes an account of all he sees |
| c. 1380s | Foundation of Kongo kingdom in Congo river-mouth region of Zaire, central Africa |
|
| AD 1400 |
| THE EXPANSION OF KNOWLEDGE |
| c. 1400 | Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa thrives on gold trade |
| 1400s | Gold from mines in Zimbabwe is exported to Asia via Sofala on the east coast |
| c. 1400 | Engaruka community farms land in Tanzania |
| c. 1420 | Portuguese sailors begin to explore west coast of Africa |
| 1420s | Songhai people in Gao region, West Africa, begin raids on Mali empire |
| c. 1430 | Sultans of Kilwa on east African coast begin grand building programme |
| 1434 - 68 | Reign of Christian emperor Zera Yacub in Ethiopia; he expands church and promotes great monasteries |
| c. 1450 | Building at Great Zimbabwe, southern Africa, at its height |
| 1462 | Sonni Ali becomes ruler of the Songhai and goes on to build an empire |
| 1482 | Portuguese explore Congo river estuary |
| 1491 | Ruler of Congo kingdom baptized as Christian by Portuguese |
|
| AD 1500 |
| THE GREAT RULERS |
| 1500s | Songhai empire in West Africa enters period of greatest expansion and power under Askia Mohammed Turré |
| 1500s | Trade encourages growth of Hausa states in West Africa |
| 1505-07 | Portuguese capture Sofala on east coast and found Mozambique; they begin to trade with Africans |
| 1507 | Nzinga Mbemba, Christian and Portuguese ally, becomes king of Kongo kingdom in central Africa |
| 1517 | Ottomans defeat Mamluks and conquer Egypt |
| 1529 | Muslims defeat Christian Ethiopian forces at the Battle of Shimbra Kure and overrun the kingdom until 1543, when Portuguese troops help to defeat them |
| c. 1530 | Beginning of trans-Atlantic slave trade organized by Portuguese |
| 1560s | First Portuguese embassies in Timbuktu, West Africa |
| 1562 | Sir John Hawkins starts English slave trade, taking cargoes of slaves from West Africa to the Americas |
| c. 1570 - c. 1610 | Kanem-Bornu kingdom in western Central Africa at its most powerful; alliance with the Ottomans brings it firearms, military training, and Arab camel troops |
| c. 1575 | Portuguese begin to colonize Angola; more than a century of warfare follows |
| 1590-91 | Songhai empire overthrown by Moroccan army |
| c. 1598 | First Dutch trade posts set up on Guinea coast, West Africa |
|
| AD 1600 |
| COMMERCE AND COLONIES |
| 1600s | Kalonga kingdom, north of Zambezi river, becomes rich through ivory trade |
| 1600s | Hausaland dominates trade routes to Sahara |
| 1600s | Great Zimbabwe replaced by several regional capitals in Transvaal, Botswana, and Zimbabwe |
| 1620s | Queen Nzinga of Ndongo fights Portuguese in Angola |
| 1650s | Portuguese clash with Muslims in Zambezi region |
| c. 1650 | Ethiopia expels Portuguese missionaries and diplomats |
| 1652 | Dutch found Cape Town in South Africa |
| 1660s | Mawlay-al-Rashid restores sultanate of Morocco |
| 1670s | French settle in Senegal |
| 1670s | Fulani pastoralist people gain control of Bondu in southern Senegal |
| 1680s | Rise of Asante kingdom in West Africa |
| 1680s | Butua kingdom flourishes in Zimbabwe plains; Portuguese are driven into Zambezi valley, and also eastwards |
| 1686 | Louis XIV of France officially annexes Madagascar |
| 1698 | Portuguese expelled from Mombasa on eastern coast |
|
| AD 1700 |
| THE AGE OF ENQUIRY |
| 1701 | Osei Tutu creates free Asante nation in West Africa |
| c. 1705 | Bey (army commander) Husain ibn Ali founds dynasty at Tunis in North Africa |
| c. 1705 | Kongo prophetess, Dona Beatrice, founds new religious cult and helps to end civil war |
| 1710 | Dey (military leader) becomes pasha in Algiers, controlling northern Algeria |
| 1714 | France captures the island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean |
| 1720s | Yoruba state of Oyo still dominates region west of the Niger river in West Africa |
| 1722 -23 | Asante conquer kingdom of Bono-Mansu north of the forest area of Akan region of West Africa |
| 1724-34 | King Agaja of Dahomey in West Africa temporarily disrupts slave trade; it is reintroduced in the 1740s |
| c. 1725 | Fulani Muslim cleric Alfa Ibrahim appointed ³Commander of the Faithful² in Futa Jalon in West Africa |
| 1727 | Death of Mulai Ismail followed by 30 years of anarchy in Morocco |
| 1740s | The Lunda create prosperous new kingdom |
| 1746 | Mazrui dynasty in Mombasa, East Africa, becomes independent from Oman |
| 1755 | The first outbreak of smallpox, brought by sailors, in Cape Town, South Africa, spreads rapidly inland; it kills many Khoisan hunters and herders |
| 1764-77 | Reign of Osei Kwadwo, Asante ruler, in West Africa |
| 1768-73 | Scottish explorer James Bruce travels in Ethiopia |
| 1768 | Ali Bey, a Mamluk army officer, makes himself ruler of Egypt |
| 1770s | Tukolor kingdom gains power in former Songhai region of West Africa |
| 1773 | Ali Bey dies a week after being wounded in a battle with rebels led by Abu'l-Dhahab |
| 1777 | Sidi Mohammed, ruler of Morocco (1757-90), abolishes Christian slavery |
| 1779 | Dutch farmers in Cape Colony clash with organized Xhosa resistance |
| 1781 | Militant Tijaniyya Islamic order set up in Algeria |
| 1785 | Omani rulers reassert influence in Zanzibar |
| 1787 | Tuaregs, nomads in Sahara, abolish Moroccan pashalik of Timbuktu |
| c. 1788 | Usuman dan Fodio, a Fulani cleric, stirs holy war against a Hausa king |
| 1788 | African Association founded in England to explore interior of Africa |
| 1795 | British seize Cape Colony from Dutch for the first time |
| 1795-96 | Scottish explorer Mungo Park travels through Gambia and reaches Niger |
|
| AD 1800 |
| INDEPENDENCE AND INDUSTRY |
| 1804 | Fulani begin jihad (holy war) in northern Nigeria |
| 1805-06 | Mungo Park explores Niger river, West Africa |
| 1805-48 | Mohammed Ali rules Egypt; Egypt breaks away from Ottoman empire |
| 1807 | Asante invade Fante confederacy of states |
| 1808 | Fulani invade Bornu near Lake Chad |
| 1814 | Cape Colony in south Africa formally ceded to Britain by Netherlands |
| c. 1816-28 | Career of Zulu ruler Shaka in South Africa |
| c. 1820 | Fulani emirate founded in Adamawa, West Africa |
| 1820-64 | Fulani in Mali, West Africa, found and rule Hamdallahi caliphate |
| 1822 | Liberia founded in West Africa as home for freed slaves |
| 1825 | Egyptians found the city of Khartoum in Sudan |
| 1828 | Basel mission to Ghana (then called Gold Coast), West Africa |
| 1828 | Shaka, Zulu ruler, assassinated by his half-brother Dingane who takes over as ruler of Zulu nation |
| 1830 | French invade Algeria; they gradually occupy the country |
| 1832-47 | Abd-al-Kadir leads Arab resistance to France in Algeria |
| 1836-37 | The Great Trek of Boers (Dutch farmers) away from British in South Africa; they fond the Republic of Natal in 1838 and the Orange Free State in 1854 |
| 1840 | Imam Sayyid Said, ruler of Oman (1806-56), makes Zanzibar, a small island off the east African coast, his capital |
| 1843 | Britain takes over Natal from the Boers as a British colony |
| 1852 | Tukolor leader al-Hajj 'Umar launches jihad along Senegal and upper Niger rivers to establish Islamic state |
| 1852 | In South Africa, Britain recognizes Transvaal's independence |
| 1853-56 | Dr David Livingstone crosses Africa; follows course of Zambezi river, reaches Victoria Falls |
| 1855-68 | Reign of Emperor Theodore of Ethiopia |
| 1863 | Al-Hajj 'Umar takes Timbuktu |
| 1865-68 | Wars between Orange Free State and Moshweshwe's Basuto people, in South Africa |
| 1867 | Diamonds discovered at Kimberley at South Africa |
| 1869 | Suez Canal opened |
| 1872 | Cape Colony in South Africa granted self-government by Britain |
| 1873-74 | War between Asante kingdom and Britain |
| 1874 | Beginnings of Mande state in old Mali under Samori Turé |
| 1879 | Zulu war with British; British defeated at Isandlwana but victorious at Ulundi |
| c. 1880 | Beginning of the European ³Scramble for Africa² |
| 1880-81 | First Boer War, Transvaal defeats Britain |
| 1885 | Conference in Berlin on Scramble for Africa |
| 1885 | in Sudan, Muslim leader, the Mahdi, takes Khartoum from Egypt; General Gordon killed |
| 1886 | Gold found in Transvaal |
| 1894 | French set up protectorate in Dahomey (Benin), West Africa |
| 1895-96 | Jameson Raid into Transvaal |
| 1896 | France takes Madagascar |
| 1896 | Ethiopian ruler Menelik crushes Italian army at Adowa |
| 1897 | Slavery banned in Zanzibar |
| 1899-1902 | Second Boer War in South Africa |
|
| AD 1900 |
| THE WORLD GOES TO WAR |
| 1900 | Buganda, East Africa, is ruled by the kabaka, or king, with British advice |
| 1900-01 | Rising in Asante, West Africa; Britain annexes Asante |
| 1902 | Treaty of Verceniging ends second Boer War in South Africa; defeated Boers remain bitter and determined to regain power |
| 1903 | Sokoto caliphate in Hausaland taken over by Britain |
| 1904 | French create federation of French West Africa |
| 1905 | Kaiser William II of Germany visits Tangier and provokes crisis with France |
| 1905 | Maji-Maji rebellion begins in Tanzania (German East Africa) |
| 1906 | Tripartite pact (Britain, France, Italy)seeks to preserve integrity of Ethiopia |
| 1907 | Government of Mozambique organized |
| 1908 | Belgium takes over Congo Free State |
| 1909 | Franco-German agreement reached on Morocco |
| 1909 | Liberia calls on United States for financial assistance |
| 1910 | Union of South Africa |
| 1912 | New loans to Liberia coupled with US control over customs revenue |
| 1912 | French make Morocco a protectorate at Treaty of Fez |
| 1913 | South African government introduces laws to reserve 87 per cent of land for whites |
| 1914 | Britain and France occupy German colonies in West Africa |
| 1916 | Boer leader Jan Smuts leads an anti-German drive from Kenya into Tanzania (German East Africa) |
| 1916 | British and Belgian troops take Yaounde, the capital of the German Cameroons |
| 1917 | Ras Tafari (later, Haile Selassie) becomes regent of Ethiopia |
| 1917 | German forces in German East Africa withstand British and Portuguese at Mahiwa; Germans withdraw into Mozambique |
| 1919 | ANC demonstrates against pass laws in Transvaal |
| 1920s | More British and Indians settle Kenya |
| 1921-26 | Abd-el-Krim leads Berbers and Arabs against Europeans in North Africa |
| 1922 | Egypt becomes independent from Britain under King Fuad |
| 1923 | Ethiopia admitted to League of Nations |
| 1930 | White women given the vote in South Africa |
| 1930 | Ras Tafari crowned emperor of Ethiopia, and takes name Haile Selassie |
| 1931 | First trans-African railway completed, from Angola to Mozambique |
| 1934-36 | British colonial government of Ghana suppresses radical African critics |
| 1936 | Representation of Natives Act denies black South Africans any chance of political equality |
| 1935-36 | Italians under Mussolini invade and annex Ethiopia |
| 1939 | South Africa declares war on Germany at start of World War II |
| 1941 | German army under Rommel attacks British in North Africa |
| 1941 | Ethiopia liberated from Italians by Ethiopians and British, and recognized as independent |
| 1942 | British defeat German army at Battle of El Alamein in Egypt |
| 1943 | Germans and Italians driven from North Africa |
| 1948 | Afrikaner National Party wins power in South Africa |
| 1951 | Libya gains independence |
| 1952-59 | Mau-Mau guerrilla war against British in Kenya |
| 1954-62 | War for independence in Algeria; freedom won in 1962 |
| 1954-70 | Colonel Nasser rules Egypt; revolutionary changes |
| 1956 | Suez crisis; Britain and France attempt to regain control of Suez canal from Egypt, but fail |
| 1956 | Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan gain their independence |
| 1957 | Ghana is first country in sub-Saharan Africa to become independent |
| 1958-60 | Independence for Zaire, Nigeria, Somalia, and 12 of France's 13 sub-Saharan colonies |
| 1960s | Civil war in south Sudan |
| 1960-65 | Civil war in Zaire, formerly Belgian Congo |
| 1961-67 | Independence for Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho, Botswana, Gambia, and Swaziland |
| 1963 | Organization of African Unity founded |
| 1965 | White regime in Zimbabwe declares independence |
| 1967-70 | Biafran War, Nigeria |
| 1970s | Severe droughts in northeastern Africa and the lands on the southern edge of the Sahara |
| 1974 | Nigeria becomes leading oil producer in Africa |
| 1974-91 | Revolutionary regime in Ethiopia; civil war spreads |
| 1974-75 | Portuguese colonies gain independence after long struggle |
| 1976 | African schoolchildren spark uprisings in Soweto in South Africa |
| 1980 | Zimbabwe gains independence after guerrilla war |
| 1983- | Conflict in Sudan; more than 1.5 million people die |
| 1983- | African countries adopt IMF (International Monetary Fund) plans for managing their economies |
| 1989- | Zambia and other countries see changes of government by democratic election |
| 1990 | Namibia gets independence |
| 1990 | Nelson Mandela freed in South Africa; process of dismantling apartheid begins |
| 1993 | Eritrea (in north Ethiopia) breaks from Ethiopia; first successful secession in post-colonial Africa |
| 1994 | African National Congress (ANC) wins first multi-racial election ever held in South Africa |
