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In about 100 B.C. camels were brought into Africa from Asia.
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The Aksumite Empire, was an important trading nation in the area of modern Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, which existed from approximately 100–940 AD. King Zoskales was the first ruler of the Aksumite Empire.
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100 B.C.E -- 1600 A.D.
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King Ezana of Axum converts to Christianity. Ezana was the second ruler after the king of Armenia to adopt Christianity. He calls himself 'King of Kings, King of Aksum, Saba, Salhen, Himyar, Raydan, Habashat, Tiamo, Kasu, and the Beja tribes'.
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The first settlement in present-day Cairo was al-Fustat, founded in A. D. 641 as a military base by the Arabic commander 'Amr ibn al-'As. Cairo became a major port city over the following centuries.
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The Mali Empire, also historically referred to as the Manden Kurufaba, was a Mandinka empire in West Africa from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa.
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Pilgrims carried the plague to Mecca in 1348, and the ruler of Yemen, newly released from captivity in Egypt in 1351, carried the Black Death home, with his entourage. In North Africa, plague traveled westward from Alexandria and south into Tunis from Sicily in 1348.
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Sunni Ali was the first king of the Songhai Empire, located in west Africa and the 15th ruler of the Sonni dynasty. He reigned from 1464-1492.
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Slavery existed in Africa long before European contact. In fact, slavery within African societies and slave trade routes across the Sahara Desert, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean had been in place for centuries. Although, during the European-dominated Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century about 12 million Africans were transported to the New World through the Atlantic slave trade.
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An east Germanic tribe, the Vandals, were first heard of in southern Poland, but later moved around Europe establishing kingdoms in Spain and later North Africa in the 5th century. The Vandals under Genseric crossed to Africa in 429. Based on Procopius' assertion that the Vandals and Alans numbered 80,000 when they moved to North Africa
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Ghana became very rich as a result of the “salt-gold trade” between West and North Africa. This trade was very important, and Ghana came to control not only gold and salt but also the trade routes that went through their land. Salt was mined to the northeast of Ghana in the Sahara Desert, and Arab traders from the north loaded their camels and donkeys with salt to trade for gold. Traders had to go through Ghana, and so Ghana became like a middleman in the world of the salt-gold trade.
