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Jan 11, 1200
Kongo
Rise of Kongo empire, centred in modern northern Angola and including extreme western Congo and territories round lakes Kisale and Upemba in central Katanga (now Shaba). -
Apr 9, 1250
Mali
Sundiata Keita founds the empire of Mali -
Mar 13, 1300
Atlantic
The empire of Mali expands to the Atlantic -
May 15, 1482
Diogo Cao
Portuguese navigator Diogo Cao becomes the first European to visit the Congo; Portuguese set up ties with the king of Kongo. -
Nov 27, 1495
Cape Verde
Cape Verde becomes a Portuguese colony -
Oct 1, 1575
Trade posts
Portugal establishes a trade post in Luanda (Angola) to buy slaves for Brazil -
Slave trade
British, Dutch, Portuguese and French merchants engage in slave trade through Kongo intermediaries. -
Belgian King Leopold II
Belgian King Leopold II sets up a private venture to colonise Kongo. -
Henry Stanley
British explorer Henry Stanley navigates Congo river to the Atlantic Ocean. -
Congo basin.
Leopold commissions Stanley to establish the king's authority in the Congo basin. -
Berlin
European powers at the Conference of Berlin recognise Leopold's claim to the Congo basin. -
Free State
Leopold announces the establishment of the Congo Free State, headed by himself -
Katanga.
Belgians conquer Katanga. -
Eastern Congo
Eastern Congo wrested from the control of East African Arab and Swahili-speaking traders -
Belgian
Belgian state annexes Congo amid protests over killings and atrocities carried out on a mass scale by Leopold's agents. Millions of Congolese are said to have been killed or worked to death during Leopold's control of the territory -
Professor Antoin van Bilsen
Belgian Professor Antoin van Bilsen publishes a "30-Year Plan" for granting the Congo increased self-government. -
Congo becomes independent
Congo becomes independent with Patrice Lumumba as prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu as president. -
Congolese army
Congolese army mutinies; Moise Tshombe declares Katanga independent; Belgian troops sent in ostensibly to protect Belgian citizens and mining interests; UN Security Council votes to send in troops to help establish order, but the troops are not allowed to -
Lumumba
Lumumba got arrested. -
Civil war
Christians in the south of Sudan begin a civil war
