The medieval and early modern history of Africa spans from the medieval and early modern period until the colonial period in the history of Africa.
Central Africa
Sao civilization
The Sao civilization flourished from about the sixth century BC to as late as the 16th century AD in Central Africa. The Sao lived by the Chari River south of Lake Chad in territory that later became part of present-day Cameroon and Chad. They are the earliest people to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon. Today, several ethnic groups of northern Cameroon and southern Chad – but particularly the Sara people – claim descent from the civilization of the Sao. Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze, copper, and iron.Fanso 19. Finds include bronze sculptures and terracotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewelry, highly decorated pottery, and spears.Fanso 19; Hudgens and Trillo 1051. The largest Sao archaeological finds have occurred south of Lake Chad.
Kanem Empire
The Kanem Empire was centered in the Chad Basin. It was known as the Kanem Empire from the 9th century AD onward and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu until 1893. At its height it encompassed an area covering not only much of Chad, but also parts of modern southern Libya, eastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon, parts of South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The history of the Empire is mainly known from the Royal Chronicle or Girgam discovered in 1851 by the German traveller Heinrich Barth.Barth, Travels, II, 16–17. Kanem rose in the 8th century in the region to the north and east of Lake Chad. The Kanem empire went into decline, shrank, and in the 14th century was defeated by Bilala invaders from the Lake Fitri region.
Around the 9th century AD, the central Sudanic Empire of Kanem, with its capital at Njimi, was founded by the Kanuri-speaking nomads. Kanem arose by engaging in the trans-Saharan trade. It exchanged slaves captured by raiding the south for horses from North Africa, which in turn aided in the acquisition of slaves. By the late 11th century, the Islamic Sayfawa (Saifawa) dynasty was founded by Humai (Hummay) ibn Salamna. The Sayfawa dynasty ruled for 771 years, making it one of the longest-lasting dynasties in human history. In addition to trade, taxation of local farms around Kanem became a source of state income. Kanem reached its peak under Mai (king) Dunama Dibalemi ibn Salma (1210–1248). The empire reportedly was able to field 40,000 cavalry, and it extended from Fezzan in the north to the Sao state in the south. Islam became firmly entrenched in the empire. Pilgrimages to Mecca were common; Cairo had hostels set aside specifically for pilgrims from Kanem.
Bornu Empire
The Kanuri people led by the Sayfuwa migrated to the west and south of Lake Chad, where they established the Bornu Empire. By the late 16th century the Bornu empire had expanded and recaptured the parts of Kanem that had been conquered by the Bulala. Satellite states of Bornu included the Damagaram in the west and Baguirmi to the southeast of Lake Chad.
Around 1400, the Sayfawa dynasty moved its capital to Bornu, a tributary state southwest of Lake Chad with a new capital Birni Ngarzagamu. Overgrazing had caused the pastures of Kanem to become too dry. In addition, political rivalry from the Bilala clan was becoming intense. Moving to Bornu better situated the empire to exploit the trans-Saharan trade and to widen its network in that trade. Links to the Hausa states were also established, providing horses and salt from Bilma for Bonoman gold. Mai Ali Gazi ibn Dunama ( – 1503) defeated the Bilala, reestablishing complete control of Kanem. During the early 16th century, the Sayfawa dynasty solidified its hold on the Bornu population after much rebellion. In the latter half of the 16th century, Mai Idris Alooma modernized its military, in contrast to the Songhai Empire. Turkish mercenaries were used to train the military. The Sayfawa dynasty were the first monarchs south of the Sahara to import firearms. The empire controlled all of the Sahel from the borders of Darfur in the east to Hausaland to the west. Friendly relationship was established with the Ottoman Empire via Tripoli. The Mai exchanged gifts with the Ottoman sultan.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, not much is known about Bornu. During the 18th century, it became a center of Islamic learning. However, Bornu's army became outdated by not importing new arms, and Kamembu had also begun its decline. The power of the mai was undermined by droughts and famine that were becoming more intense, internal rebellion in the pastoralist north, growing Hausa power, and the importation of firearms which made warfare more bloody. By 1841, the last mai was deposed, bringing to an end the long-lived Sayfawa dynasty. In its place, the al-Kanemi dynasty of the shehu rose to power.
Shilluk Kingdom
The Shilluk Kingdom was centered in South Sudan from the 15th century from along a strip of land along the western bank of the White Nile, from Lake No to about 12° north latitude. The capital and royal residence was in the town of Fashoda. The kingdom was founded during the mid-15th century AD by its first ruler, Nyikang. During the 19th century, the Shilluk Kingdom faced decline following military assaults from the Ottoman Empire and later British and Sudanese colonization in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
Baguirmi Kingdom
The Kingdom of Baguirmi existed as an independent state during the 16th and 17th centuries southeast of Lake Chad in what is now the country of Chad. Baguirmi emerged to the southeast of the Kanem–Bornu Empire. The kingdom's first ruler was Mbang Birni Besse. Later in his reign, the Bornu Empire conquered the state and made it a tributary.
Wadai Empire
The Wadai Empire was centered on Chad and the Central African Republic from the 17th century. The Tunjur people founded the Wadai Kingdom to the east of Bornu in the 16th century. In the 17th century there was a revolt of the Maba people who established a Muslim dynasty.
At first Wadai paid tribute to Bornu and Durfur, but by the 18th century Wadai was fully independent and had become an aggressor against its neighbors.To the west of Bornu, by the 15th century the Kingdom of Kano had become the most powerful of the Hausa Kingdoms, in an unstable truce with the Kingdom of Katsina to the north. Both were absorbed into the Sokoto Caliphate during the Fulani Jihad of 1805, which threatened Bornu itself.
Luba Empire
Sometime between 1300 and 1400 AD, Kongolo Mwamba (Nkongolo) from the Balopwe clan unified the various Luba peoples, near Lake Kisale. He founded the Kongolo dynasty, which was later ousted by Kalala Ilunga. Kalala expanded the kingdom west of Lake Kisale. A new centralized political system of spiritual kings () with a court council of head governors and sub-heads all the way to village heads. The was the direct communicator with the ancestral spirits and chosen by them. Conquered states were integrated into the system and represented in the court, with their titles. The authority of the resided in his spiritual power rather than his military authority. The army was relatively small. The Luba was able to control regional trade and collect tribute for redistribution. Numerous offshoot states were formed with founders claiming descent from the Luba. The Luba political system spread throughout Central Africa, southern Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the western Congo. Two major empires claiming Luba descent were the Lunda Empire and Maravi Empire. The Bemba people and Basimba people of northern Zambia were descended from Luba migrants who arrived in Zambia during the 17th century.
Lunda Empire
In the 1450s, a Luba from the royal family Ilunga Tshibinda married Lunda queen Rweej and united all Lunda peoples. Their son Luseeng expanded the kingdom. His son Naweej expanded the empire further and is known as the first Lunda emperor, with the title (, ), the Lord of Vipers. The Luba political system was retained, and conquered peoples were integrated into the system. The assigned a or (royal adviser) and tax collector to each state conquered.
Numerous states claimed descent from the Lunda. The Imbangala of inland Angola claimed descent from a founder, Kinguri, brother of Queen Rweej, who could not tolerate the rule of Tshibunda. Kinguri became the title of kings of states founded by Queen Rweej's brother. The Luena (Lwena) and Lozi (Luyani) in Zambia also claim descent from Kinguri. During the 17th century, a Lunda chief and warrior called Mwata Kazembe set up an Eastern Lunda kingdom in the valley of the Luapula River. The Lunda's western expansion also saw claims of descent by the Yaka and the Pende. The Lunda linked Central Africa with the western coast trade. The kingdom of Lunda came to an end in the 19th century when it was invaded by the Chokwe, who were armed with guns.
Kingdom of Kongo
By the 13th century there were three main confederations of states in the western Congo Basin around Pool Malebo. The Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza, considered to be the oldest and most powerful, likely included Nsundi, Mbata, Mpangu, and possibly Kundi and Okanga. South of these was Mpemba which stretched from its capital in northern Angola 200 km north to the Congo River. It included various kingdoms such as Mpemba Kasi, its northernmost and remotest component, and Vunda. To its west across the Congo River was a confederation of three small states; Vungu (its leader), Kakongo, and Ngoyo.
The formation of the Kingdom of Kongo began in the late 13th century. Kongo oral traditions hold that Ntinu Wene (lit. "King of the Kingdom") crossed the Congo River from Vungu to conquer Mpemba Kasi, known as the "Mother of Kongo". The first kings ruled from Nsi a Kwilu, a valley and old religious centre, which produced iron and steel, and linked the copper and textile-producing north to the south. Around the 1350s Nimi Nzima established an alliance with the rulers of Mbata, who were looking to break away from the Seven Kingdoms, and agreed to secure each other's dynasties, making them known as the "Grandfather of Kongo".
Tradition holds that Nimi Nzima's son, Lukeni lua Nimi, wishing to aggrandise himself, built a fortress and blocked and taxed commerce. One day his pregnant aunt refused to pay the toll, and in a rage he killed her. While reprehensible, his action won him followers due to his determination and valour and allowed him to embark on conquests. To the south the market town of Mpangala, itself a sub unit of Vunda, was absorbed, with Vunda also styled as a Grandfather. This weakening of the Mpemba confederation precipitated its conquest and integration into the Kingdom of Kongo. Lukeni lua Nimi also conquered Kabunga in the west, whose leaders were regional religious leaders, not dissimilar from popes. From there Soyo and Mbamba were conquered.
The power and resources gained from these conquests allowed Kongo to expand north into Nsundi, which had multiple sub-units. Traditionally, a governor on Nsundi's western border forebode entry until they had fought a symbolic battle. Kongo conquered Nsundi and delegated it to a royal governor, who greatly expanded the territory, conquering Nsanga and Masinga. Northeast, Teke oral tradition holds that Mabiala Mantsi united the Bateke tribes, centralised his governance, and expanded using militaristic and diplomatic skill. Kongo's conquests eastward brought it into conflict with the formidable Teke Kingdom which halted their expansion. This expansion had primarily been done by allying and co-opting polities. By the late 15th century, Kongo had developed a new administrative system which would increase its centralisation, and after integrating Vunda, they set about conquering these polities and converting them into royal provinces.