Central, South, and East Africa

Africa is a big place. As the second largest continent after Asia, it has long been home to diverse groups of people. Today, more than a hundred different ethnic groups live in sub-Saharan Africa. These people are the descendants of peoples who migrated to these lands long ago. But where did they come from?

People have existed in this part of the world for as long as humans have existed. In fact, scientists believe that our genetic ancestors—homo habilis and homo erectus—first emerged from the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. From there, they migrated across the continent and into other lands more than a million years ago.

Over hundreds of thousands of years, humans came together to form distinct civilizations. People came together as hunter-gatherers, herders, farmers, and eventually, as traders. Although bands of people roved across the continent for thousands of years, the kingdoms of East, Central, and South Africa arose as a result of two important migrations.

As in West and North Africa, agriculture and trade helped certain groups amass wealth and power. Over time, powerful city-states and kingdoms arose in East, Central, and South Africa. Where did they emerge? How did their rulers attain power? What resources and economic activities supported their states?

The story is quite as complicated as you may have suspected. Each area is different and presents a different set of circumstances and difficulties for those settling it. The resources of each area, the types of people who came to power in each, and the way trade flourished or failed to flourish in each location had everything to do with how the kingdoms and city-states developed, prospered or collapsed.

Two thousand years ago, Africa was already a busy place. Trade flourished along the coasts as well as within the interior, and this trade helped kingdoms grow along important routes and crossroads.

By the 15th century, many African peoples and kingdoms had left their mark on East, Central, and South Africa. Many were still thriving when they came into contact with the Portuguese. Some even appeared to benefit from the increase in trade that occurred as a product of contact with the Europeans. In the long run, however, contact with imperial Europe would lead to the division of the continent into a patchwork of colonies.

With so many kingdoms and empires clustered together and competing for resources and trade, it can be hard to keep them straight.
The waters within and around Africa made possible not only human migration and farming but also trade. These rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans served as major arteries that connected Africans with others. Through seafaring trade, merchants brought valuable goods that increased the wealth of African peoples who would rise to become kings and emperors. They also brought Christianity, Islam, and their own political interests. Arabs and Persians would help found the city-states of the Swahili Coast, and the Portuguese would prove the first of a series of European invaders that would forever change the face of Africa.