African empires

African empires

There have been a number of empires located in Africa throughout history. Below is a list of African empires whose capital cities were on the African continent. An empire (as far as political units are concerned) is, according to Webster's II New College Dictionary, "a political unit, often made up of a number of territories or nations, ruled by a single supreme authority." [Webster's II Dictionary Editors, page 376] It can also be defined as an extensive enterprise under a unified authority. [Webster's II Dictionary Editors, page 376] Webster's goes on to define a nation as a "relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government" or "the territory occupied by such a group of people". [Webster's II Dictionary Editors, page 745] There are other definitions with a focus on independent government and distinct cultures. For the purpose of this article, only African states that held authority over unified groups (ethnic states under kings or chiefs rather than simply ethnicities under no central leadership other than the emperor) will be listed in accordance with the dictionary definition of empire.

List of African empires by date established

*Egyptian Empire [Innis, page 40] (1570 BC – 1070 BC)

*Kushite Empire [Török, page 132] (760 BC – 665 BC)

*Carthaginian Empire (575 BC - 146 BC)

*Aksumite Empire (50 AD - 937 AD)

*Kanem Empire (700 AD - 1376 AD)

*Ghana Empire (750 AD - 1076 AD)

*Fatimid Caliphate (910 AD - 1171 AD)

*Almoravid Caliphate (1061 AD - 1147 AD)

*Almohad Caliphate (1121 AD - 1269 AD)

*Ayyubid Sultanate (1171-1254)

*Marinid Empire (1195 AD - 1465 AD)

*Mali Empire (1235 AD - 1645 AD)

*Mamluk Sultanate (1250 AD - 1517 AD)

*Ethiopian Empire (1270 AD - 1974 AD)

*Songhai Empire (1340 AD - 1591 AD)

*Jolof Empire (1360 AD - 1889 AD)

*Kingdom of Kongo (c. 1395 - 1857)

*Bornu Empire (1396 AD - 1893 AD)

*Oyo Empire (1400 AD - 1895 AD)

*Adal Sultanate (1415 AD - 1555 AD)

*Benin Empire [Gates, page 223] (1440 AD - 1897 AD)

*Sennar Sultanate (1502 AD - 1821 AD)

*Kaabu Empire (1537 AD - 1867 AD)

*Kingdom of Luba (1585 AD - 1885 AD)

*Lunda Empire (1660 AD - 1887 AD)

*Aro Confederacy (1690 AD - 1902 AD)

*Asante Union (1701 AD - 1894 AD)

*Kong Empire (1710 AD - 1894 AD)

*Bamana Empire (1712 AD - 1896 AD)

*Sokoto Caliphate (1804 AD - 1903 AD)

*Liberian Republic (1847 AD - 1980 AD)
**(note: Liberia was established as a republic under the model of the US; however, it fully fit the model of empire as defined by Webster throughout the 19th century)

*Wassoulou Empire (1878 AD - 1898 AD)

Largest African empires by size

*Fatimid Caliphate - 4.1 million km² (969 AD)Turchin, Peter and Jonathan M. Adams and Thomas D. Hall: "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires and Modern States", page 222. Journal of World-Systems Research, Vol. XII, No. II, 2006]
*Mamluke Sultanate - 2.1 million km² (in 1400 AD)
*Almohad Caliphate - 2.0 million km² (in 1220 AD)
*Songhai Empire - 1.4 million km² (in 1590 AD) [Hunwick, page xlix]
*Aksumite Empire - 1.25 million km² (in 350 AD)
*Mali Empire - 1.10 million km² (in 1380 AD)
*Egyptian Empire - 1.00 million km² (in 1300 BC)
*Almoravid Caliphate - 1.00 million km² (in 1120 AD)

Gallery with Maps of African Empires


ee also

*History of Africa
*Empire

References

ources

*cite book |author=Gates, Henry Louis & Kwame Anthony Appiah |title=Africana: The Encylcopedia of the African and African American Experience |publisher=Basic Civitas Books |location=New York City |year=1999 |pages=2095 Pages |isbn=0-46500-071-1

*cite book |author=Hunwick, John O. |title=Timbuktu and the Songahy Empire: Al-Sa’di’s Ta’rikh Al-sudan Down to 1613 and other Contemporary Documents |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |location=Leiden |year=2003 |pages=488 Pages |isbn=9-00412-822-4

*cite book |author=Innis, Harold A. |title=Empire and Communications |publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd. |location=Toronto |year=2006 |pages=287 Pages |isbn=1-55002-662-3

*cite book |author=Török, László |title=The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |year=1999 |pages= 589|isbn=9-00410-448-8

External links

* [http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/Haffenreffer/yoruba2.html Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology]


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