Social Studies Timeline

  • 1400

    Europeans Long Sea Voyages

    Europeans began to make long sea voyages
  • 1400

    Africans Trade with Europeans

    Africans beyond the Sahara began trading with Europeans who had recently arrived on their coastlines
  • 1500

    Europeans Build Trading Posts

    Europeans had built trading posts on the African Coast.
  • 1500

    Africans Sell Enslave People

    African traders began selling enslaved people for guns and other European goods.
  • Africa Colonized

    Africa was colonized as early as the 1600s
  • Slave Trade Outlawed

    The Slave trade was mostly outlawed
  • Europeans Colonize Africa

    European powers began actively colonizing Africa
  • Africa Regains Power

    Africans regained power over their own lands.
  • Europe Divides Africa into Colonies

    European nations had divided most of Africa into colonies.
  • South Africa Independence

    In South Africa, independence came as early as 1910
  • South Africa Goes away from Britain

    South Africa gained independence from Britain in 1910
  • Kikuyu starts a political Organization

    In Kenya, the Kikuyu people started a political organization in the 1920s
  • Ethiopia Never Colonized

    The only country that was never colonized was Ethiopia, though it was invaded by Italy in the 1930s.
  • Africa gains momentum

    African independence movements gained momentum in the 1940s
  • Apartheid Adopted

    In 1948, they adopted apartheid, a former South African policy.
  • Period: to

    Africa gains Independence

    Most of Africa gained independence in the 1950s and 1960s
  • South rebelled North

    Southerners rebelled against northern rule
  • Ghana becomes Independent

    Ghana became independent in 1957
  • Nigeria becomes independent

    Nigeria became independent in 1960
  • Belgian Congo Gains Independence

    Belgium abruptly granted independence to the Belgian Congo in 1960
  • Nelson Mandela Jailed

    He was an ANC leader who was jailed in 1962
  • Kenya Gains Independence

    Kenya gained independence
  • Joseph Mobutu Changes Name of Belgian Congo

    In 1965, army leader Joseph Mobutu seized power and changed the country's name to Zaire.
  • Igbo Attempts to leave Nigeria

    In 1967, an oil-rich region controlled by the Igbo ethnic group attempted to leave Nigeria
  • Nelson Mandela Released

    Mandela was released from prison and agreed to end apartheid
  • Mandela is President

    South Africans of all races voted together and Mandela becam president
  • Hutu Kills

    Hutu Military and militia groups killed an estimated 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis
  • Tons Killed

    Hundred​ of thousands of people, mostly black farmers, were killed in the early 200s
  • Civil Wars

    Civil Wars raged until 2005 and killed several million people
  • Arab Spring

    A movement for more democracy that came to be know as the Arab Spring began in Tunisia
  • Independence

    In 2011, South Sudan became independent
  • Tunisia's Dictator Resigns

    Tunisia's dictator resigned in January of 2011 and a more democratic government was put in place