The history of Central Africa has been divided into its prehistory, its ancient history, the major polities flourishing, the colonial period, and the post-colonial period, in which the current nations were formed. Central Africa is the central region of Africa, bordered by North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Sahara Desert. Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary Central African states, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more states.
Geography
The area located at the south of the desert is a steppe, a semi-arid region, called the Sahel. It is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara desert to the north and the Sudanian Savanna to the south. The Sudanian Savanna is a broad belt of tropical savanna that spans the African continent, from the Atlantic Ocean coast in the West Sudanian savanna to the Ethiopian Highlands in the East Sudanian savanna.
Climate
In 15,000 BP, the West African Monsoon transformed the landscape of Africa and began the Green Sahara period; greater rainfall during the summer season resulted in the growth of humid conditions (e.g., lakes, wetlands) and the savanna (e.g., grassland, shrubland) in North Africa. Between 5500 BP and 4000 BP, the Green Sahara period ended.
Prehistory
By at least 2,000,000 BP, Central Africa (e.g., Ishango, Democratic Republic of Congo) was occupied by early hominins.
In 90,000 BP, the oldest fishing-related bone tools (e.g., barbed harpoons) of Africa were developed in Central Africa, particularly, Katanda, Central African Republic.
Between 25,000 BP and 20,000 BP, hunter-fisher-gatherer peoples in Central Africa (e.g., Ishango, Democratic Republic of Congo) utilized fishing tools and natural resources from nearby water sources, as well as may have engaged in and recorded mathematics (e.g., Ishango bone, which may demonstrate knowledge and use of the duodecimal system, prime numbers, multiplication).
Iron Age
Archaeometallurgical scientific knowledge and technological development originated in numerous centers of Africa; the centers of origin were located in West Africa, Central Africa, and East Africa; consequently, as these origin centers are located within inner Africa, these archaeometallurgical developments are thus native African technologies. Central Africa provides possible evidence of iron working as early as the 3rd millennium BCE. In particular, evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African Republic and Cameroon may date back to 3000 BCE to 2500 BCE. Gbabiri, Central African Republic has yielded evidence of iron metallurgy, from a reduction furnace and blacksmith workshop, with its earliest dates being 896 BCE – 773 BCE and 907 BCE – 796 BCE.Eggert (2014). pp. 53–54.
Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Iron Age
Ancient history
Rock art in Central Africa is generally located between the savanna and the Congo Basin forest. There is rock art found in Cameroon (e.g., Bidzar; Galdi, Adamaoua; Djebel Mela, in Kotto and Lengo; Mbomou, Bangassou in Bakouma), the Democratic Republic of Congo (e.g., Bas-Congo; Ngembo; Fwakumbi), in Angola (e.g., Mbanza Kongo; Calola; Capelo; Bambala Rock Formations in the Upper Zambezi Valley), and in Gabon (e.g., Ogooue, Otoumbi; Oogoue, Kaya Kaya; Lope National Park).
The engraved rock art (e.g., circular marks, concentric circles, cupules, petals) of Bidzar, Cameroon, which was likely engraved using a hammer, is likely no older than the Early Iron Age (2500 BP - 1500 BP).
Bantu expansion
Between 2500 BP and 1800 BP, amid the Iron Age, at Lope National Park, Okanda, Gabon, 1680 engraved rock art in total were created with iron implements (e.g., chisels) by Bantu-speaking peoples during the Bantu migration. Among the 670 engravings in the western region of Elarmekora and Epona, there are specifically 240 petroglyphs at Elarmekora and 410 petroglyphs at Epona. At Elarmekora, there are hunting depictions of assegai and animals (e.g., four-legged animals, lizards, a giant-headed insect, tortoise carapace) and a non-hunting depiction of a hoe. At Epona, there are various geometric depictions (e.g., concentric circles), which compose 98% of the overall depictions and may bear the symbolic meaning of cosmic cycles and the flow of time, as well as depictions of five lizards, and a single/double-bladed Bantu throwing knife. In the eastern region of Kongo Boumba, there are 1010 petroglyphs. At Kongo Boumba, there are various geometric depictions (e.g., circles, chain-like circles, concentric circles, concentric circle arches, dissected circles, pecked circles, stitched shapes, spirals), 35% of all depictions being chain-like depictions; there are also depictions of snake-like lines, cruciform, lizards, double-bladed throwing knives, small axes, oval-bladed throwing knives with handles and spurs. There are also some realistic animal depictions of lizards, six-legged lizards that appear commonly in African symbolisms, and a dotted hoe layered atop a throwing knife (the most common depiction on rock art in Central Africa) that indicates there were two distinct timeframes that engraving has occurred. At Elarmekora, pottery, with concentric circles like found on the rock art, were found in deposits which dated to 1850 BP, and radiocarbon dating has provided dates between 2300 BP and 1800 BP. At Kongo Boumba, the Okanda ceramic tradition dates from the 2nd century BCE to the 2nd century CE.
Sao civilization
Sao civilisation began as early as the 6th century BCE or the 4th century BCE, and by the end of the 1st millennium BCE, their presence was well established around Lake Chad and near the Chari River. The city states of the Sao reached their apex at some point between the 9th century CE and 15th CE.
Although some scholars estimate that the Sao civilization south of Lake Chad lasted until the 14th century CE or the 15th century CE, the predominant consensus is that it ceased to exist as a separate culture sometime in the 16th century CE subsequently to the expansion of the Bornu Empire. The Kotoko are the inheritors of the former city states of the Sao.
Post-classical history
Kanem Empire
In the 8th century CE, Wahb ibn Munabbih used Zaghawa to describe the Teda-Tubu group, in the earliest use of the ethnic name. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi also mentions the Zaghawa in the 9th century CE, as did Ibn al-Nadim in his Kitāb al-FihristAl-Fiḥrist, Book I, pp. 35–36 in the 10th century CE. Kanem comes from anem, meaning south in the Teda and Kanuri languages, and hence a geographic term. During the 1st millennium CE, as the Sahara underwent desiccation, people speaking the Kanembu language migrated to Kanem in the south. This group contributed to the formation of the Kanuri people. Kanuri traditions state the Zaghawa dynasty led a group of nomads called the Magumi. The area already possessed independent, walled city-states belonging to the Sao culture. Under the leadership of the Duguwa dynasty, the Kanembu would eventually dominate the Sao, but not before adopting many of their customs.Urvoy, Empire, 3–35; Trimingham, History, 104–111.
Bornu Empire
By the end of the 14th century CE, internal struggles and external attacks had torn Kanem apart. War with the So brought the death of four Mai: Selemma, Kure Gana, Kure Kura, and Muhammad, all sons of 'Abdullāh b. Kadai. Then, war with the Bulala resulted in the death of four Mai in succession between 1377 CE and 1387 CE: Dawūd, Uthmān b. Dawūd, Uthmān b. Idris, and Bukar Liyāu. Finally, around 1387 CE, the Bulala forced Mai Umar b. Idris to abandon Njimi and move the Kanembu people to Bornu on the western edge of Lake Chad.Smith, "Early states", 179; Lange, "Kingdoms and peoples", 238; Barkindo, "Early states", 245–6.
But even in Bornu, the Sayfawa Dynasty's troubles persisted. During the first three-quarters of the 15th century CE, for example, fifteen Mais occupied the throne. Then, around 1460 CE Ali Gazi (1473 CE – 1507 CE) defeated his rivals and began the consolidation of Bornu. He built a fortified capital at Ngazargamu, to the west of Lake Chad (in present-day Nigeria), the first permanent home a Sayfawa mai had enjoyed in a century. So successful was the Sayfawa rejuvenation that by the early 16th century CE Mai Idris Katakarmabe (1507 CE – 1529 CE) was able to defeat the Bulala and retake Njimi, the former capital. The empire's leaders, however, remained at Ngazargamu because its lands were more productive agriculturally and better suited to the raising of cattle. Ali Gaji was the first ruler of the empire to assume the title of Caliph.
Kongo Kingdom
The first king of the Kingdom of Kongo, Dya Ntotila, was Nimi a Nzima and Luqueni Luansanze's son Lukeni lua Nimi (c. 1380 CE – 1420 CE). After the death of Nimi a Lukeni, his brother, Mbokani Mavinga, took over the throne and ruled until approximately 1467 CE. The Kilukeni Kanda — or "house", as it was recorded in Portuguese documents — ruled Kongo unopposed until 1567 CE.
Shilluk Kingdom
According to Shilluk legends, the kingdom was founded in 1490 CE. Its legendary first ruler ("Reth") was the hero known as Nyikang who claimed to be half-crocodile and possessed power over the rain. Nyikang was the son of a king, Okwa, who ruled a country located "far south near a large lake". This may be Lake Albert, where the Acholi live. After Okwa's death, Nyikang went to war with his brother Duwadh, the legitimate successor to the throne. Facing defeat, Nyikang left his homeland with his retinue and migrated northeast to Wau (near the Bahr el Ghazal, "river of gazelles" in Arabic). Here (known by the Shilluk as the Pothe Thuro) Nyikang married the daughter of Dimo, the local magician. After a conflict with Dimo Nyikang migrated north (crossing the Bahr el Ghazal) to Acietagwok (a Shilluk village about west of the village of Tonga) around 1550 CE. Nyikang then traveled to Nyilual, an uninhabited region west of the present town of Malakal.Oyler 1918, p. 108 In the end, legends claim that Nyikang vanished in a whirlwind in the middle of a battle.
Modern history
Sultanate of Bagirmi
The Bagirmi carried a tradition that they migrated from far to the east, which is supported by the resemblance of their language to various tribes on the White Nile. It is not entirely clear when and by whom Bagirimi kingdom was founded: some king lists trace this event to 1480 CE, when it was supposedly founded by Mbang Abd al-Mahmud Begli, while others deem Mbang Birni Besse responsible, who is said to have founded the kingdom in 1522 CE. He seems to have displaced the earlier Bulala, while he also began to build a palace in Massenya, the capital of the state. The fourth king, Abdullah (1568 CE – 1608 CE), adopted Islam and converted the state into a sultanate, permitting the state to extend their authority over many pagan tribes in the area, including the area's Saras, Gaberi, Somrai, Gulla, Nduka, Nuba, and Sokoro.
Kingdom of Luba
Archaeological research shows that the Upemba depression had been occupied continuously since at least the 4th century CE. In the 4th century CE, the region was occupied by iron-working farmers. Over the centuries, the people of the region learned to use nets, harpoons, make dugout canoes, and clear canals through swamps. They had also learned techniques for drying fish, which were an important source of protein; they began trading the dried fish with the inhabitants of the protein-starved savanna.
By the 6th century CE, fishing people lived on lakeshores, worked iron, and traded palm oil.