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Jan 11, 1000
Oral history origins
The Mijikenda tribe would use storytelling to tell an oral history of their tribe. We can date their history back to around 1000 A.D. This is the some of the oldest stories we can find that were only done through word of mouth in east africa. This was only diluted when the Arabs, Persians, and Portuguese influence. The Mijikenda tribe was a very intellectual tribe, so they decided to start learning and telling their history in these new languages. This eventually evolved into Swahili. -
Jan 27, 1010
Islam's invasion of africa
The tribes of now what we would call Zimbabwe, would start to have kings rise up around the 11th century. Also around this time, Islam was starting to spread over the world. Having the middle east being close to the northern and eastern side of Africa, they started sending missionaries to spread Allah’s word. This ended up turning into a revelation and many tribes became muslim once their kings fell to Islam by 1315 and completely replacing Christianity. -
Nov 12, 1200
The great mosque
In the beginning of the 13th century, the muslims of Kilwa started to construct the Great Mosque and Husuni Kubwa. This buildings were built out of coral blocks, were Tanzania's first major architectural advancements. The construction of these were heavily influenced by Arabic and Indian designs. -
May 14, 1488
Vasco de Gama
In 1488, the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama came to East Africa becoming the first European to be in East Africa. The Portuguese explorer arrived in East Africa with force and violence when the people there were used to peaceful arrivals of people from other countries. His reasoning for coming to the region was to take a part in the trade. Vasco de Gama wanted to find his way to India for the trade and the people of East Africa showed him where to go. They were glad to see him leave. -
Jan 12, 1505
Portugese invasion
In 1505, Portuguese explorers came into East Africa and made an invasion in the region. They completely took over the place. The explorers took away the things of some cities in East Africa and even killed the people. Also, the Portuguese even bombed a city in Kenya and took it over. The explorers greatly impacted East Africa, but in a terrible way. -
Portuguese Rule Over the Coast of Kenya
In 1585 and 1589, the Portuguese beat the Ottoman Turks in taking over Kenya. When the Portuguese ruled over the people of Kenya, they treated them unfairly and brutally. They did not show them any fairness and did things in force. They even tried to make them change into Catholicism by using their weapons. But, they were not successful since Islam was already greatly spread throughout the coast of Kenya. -
The beginning of the Digos
The Digo are a group of Bantu tribes who formed to make Mijikenda or the “Nine Towns.” They were some of the last tribes to completely convert to Islam from Christianity. This eventually turned into almost an Islamic oppression where the families were having to give their children as “blood money” or Kore to groups that would become the Boko Haram because of a famine. This oppression wouldn’t stop, but actually grow. These groups kept spreading to places like Nigeria and Niger. -
Imperialism in Eastern Africa
In the 1870’s, European imperialism started in Africa. It became known as the scramble for Africa. Africa, not being ravaged acontinent, became a resource grab. The continent had abundances of gold, oil and eventually, slaves. This was like a literal and figurative gold mine for all of Europe. They “liberated” Africa and divided the tribes. It wasn’t until 1977 that Europe had seceded their colonization of Africa. -
Germans invasion
During the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, battles occured due to the invasion of Germans in East Africa. Colonies in modern day Namibia and Tanzania caused native rebellions because of the invasion of their land. Because of the Germany's advances in technology, they began to thrive and local natives began to adapt to the German way of life. -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
During World War ll, Italy began to occupy Ethiopia because of the at the time dictator Gaetano Salvemini. Because of his rule, conflict occured because of the peace Ethiopia presented to the Italian that was dismissed. Also because of the German colonization, Ethiopia and other parts of East Africa faced a Nazi-Fascist reality and some were oppressed. This began a large bloody cascade during the Second World War.
