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Period: 2000 BCE to 1000
Bantu-Speaking Peoples Ruled Sub-Saharan Africa
The Bantu-peaking people thrived by utilizing iron-working for agriculture. Villages were governed by nomadic kinship groups instead of formal states. Eventually formal states rose from these kinship groups into large kingdoms and empires of West Africa. -
Period: 700 to 1500
Kingdoms and Imperial States in West Africa
Kingdoms and imperial states now rule west Africa including Ghana, the Mali Empire, the Kongo, the Kanem-Bornu, and the Songhay. These kingdoms grew powerful from transregional trade and strong militaries. -
Period: 700 to
Trans-Saharan Slave Trade
Muslim merchants sought cheap slave labor from sub-Saharan Africa to ship to the Mediterranean, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and even East Asia. Many raided villages and traded with existing peoples which resulted in over 10 million African being enslaved through the trans-Saharn slave trade. These systems grew thanks to European interference and existed for over a millenium. -
Period: 700 to 1200
Ghana Empire
Ghana grew powerful by controlling the gold trade and maintaining a strong army. Ghana was succeeded by the Mali Empire as the main power in West Africa. -
Period: 1200 to 1464
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire grew rich and powerful by controlling the gold trade, like their predecessor Ghana. However, they expanded enough to be able to cause the price of gold to decrease, showed Europe the power of African states, and interacted with Muslims in the motherland. -
Period: 1300 to 1400
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe was located in south Africa, and it came to power due to gold, ivory, and slave trade. It mined the gold-rich land to trade and be wealthy. -
Period: 1300 to
Kingdom of Kongo
The Kongo emerged in the central African Congo Basin with a centralized state. They initially had a positive relationship with the Portuguese, even converting to Christianity with King Nzinga Mbemba (aka King Afonso) being a devout Roman Catholic. However, the Portuguese undermined the Kongolese kingdom by buying slaves from locals and eventually went to war. After overthrowing the Kongolese, the Portuguese lost interest in the region and searched for profits in the south. -
1441
Start of Portuguese Slave Trade
First enslaved Africans for the Portuguese were captured in West Africa. At this time, the enslaved were shipped to Spain and Portugal as miners, porters, and servants. -
Period: 1464 to
Songhay Empire
The Songhay Empire succeeded the Mali and was created by Sunni Ali. Sunni created the city-state to generate enough wealth from controlling trade cities Timbuktu and Kenne to conquer the central Niger valley. Sunni built an impressive expansionist empire with an imperial navy, complex government, strong military, and prosperous economy. -
1500
Portuguese Subdued Swahili City-States
Swahili city-states were subdued by Portuguese explorers, starting with Vasco da Gama. The Portuguese hoped to control the trade in East Africa across the Indian Ocean, but they were unsuccessful and only disrupted trade patterns until Swahili city-states declined. -
Period: 1500 to
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was a system of extreme economic importance that enslaved Africans, transported them across the Atlantic, and set them to work in the Americas in brutal harsh conditions. Slave traders traded people for firearms in Africa and often traded war criminals and neighboring peoples causing conflict and disruption. -
Period: 1500 to
Kingdom of Ndongo
Ndongo (aka Angola) was a rich kingdom located in south Africa and traded people with the Portuguese. The Portuguese established colonies there and attempted for many years to take over. They ultimately succeeded and created the first European colony in Africa. -
1516
The First Plantation
The Spanish created the first plantation on Hispaniola and eventually expanded to Mexico in order to grow cash crops like tobacco and sugar for Europe. -
1518
The Start of Slave Labor in the Caribbean
The Spanish began to use slave labor as well as the Portuguese and shipped their first enslaved to the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations. -
1520
The Start of Slave Labor in Mexico
After utilizing slave labor in the Caribbean, the Spanish decided to use the enslaved in their other colony, Mexico. -
Period: 1520 to 1530
The Start of Slave Labor in Brazil
In the 1520s and 1530s, enslaved would be shipped from Angola and the Kongo to Brazil to fill labor shortages on sugar plantations and generate riches for the Portuguese. -
1575
First Portuguese Colony in Africa
The Portuguese created a colony in Ndongo in hopes of taking over. They used this colony to ally with locals and boost slave trade business. -
The Start of Slave Labor in the North American Mainland
The English eventually tapped into the economic power of using the enslaved and shipped slaves to English colonies in North America. -
The Rise of Cotton and Coffee
Cotton and coffee soon became valuable cash crops rivaling sugar and tobacco in the 1700s. -
Period: to
The Age of Abolitionists
Abolitionists to slavery rose up like Olauda Equiano who spoke out against slavery and demanded the abolition of it. -
Haiti's Independence
A slave revolt in the French-controlled sugar colony of Saint-Domingue resulted in the first independent colony of the world which inspired slave revolts and bursts of freedom in the centuries to come. -
Period: to
The Age of Abolishing Slavery
Countries around the world decided that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was complicated to continue and abolished it while looking to alternative forms of cheap labor and yes, even forms of slavery, that have continued on to today.