History of Algeria

Cave paintings found in southern Algeria indicate that there were people living there as early as 8000 B.C.

History of Angola

Bantus occupied Angola some 15 centuries before the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão arrived at the Congo River region in 1482.

History of Benin

Beginning sometime after the 12th century, a number of small kingdoms arose in what is now Benin.

History of Botswana

The British made the region that is now Botswana a protectorate in 1885, and named it Bechuanaland, after the largest ethnic group.

History of Burkina Faso

Little is known of the area that became Burkina Faso until the 15th century A.D., when the Mossi people organized themselves into several city-states.

History of Burundi

Among the first known inhabitants of Burundi were the Twa and the Hutu. About the 15th century, the Tutsi migrated into the region from the north.

History of Cameroon

Little is known of the history of Cameroon before the 15th century, when the Portuguese arrived and established a slave trade on the coast.

History of Chad

Chad was inhabited as early as 3.5 million years ago by humanlike creatures known as australopithecines.

History of Congo (Brazzaville)

Pygmies are believed to be the original inhabitants of the region. They were largely displaced by Bantu groups that began spreading throughout the area about the first century A.D.

History of Congo (Kinshasa)

Pygmies who roamed the area during the Stone Age are believed to be the original inhabitants of what is now the Congo.

History of Cote D'Ivoire

The dense rain forests of Côte d'Ivoire inhibited for centuries the development of large political states, and through much of its history the area was divided into small chiefdoms.

History of Egypt

The history of modern Egypt started after the permanent division of the Roman Empire into the Western Roman and Eastern Roman (Byzantine) empires in 395 A.D.

History of Eritrea

Parts of Eritrea were ruled by Ethiopia and parts by local clans until 1890, when Italy made the region a colony.

History of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is an ancient country, traditionally dating back to before 1000 B.C. Its borders were vague but generally included both southern Egypt and Sudan (Nubia).

History of Gabon

The first inhabitants of Gabon were probably pygmies. About 1000 A.D., various Bantu peoples migrated into the region from the south.