Sundiata Keita was the first ruler of the
Early medieval legends reported that one of the three kings who paid homage to the newborn Christ Child in Bethlehem was from Africa. But it would be nearly one thousand years before artists began representing Balthazar, the youngest of the magi, as a Black African.
According to historians, the richest person ever to walk the earth was a man named Mansa Musa, a 14th century West African ruler, whose wealth was simply “indescribable” and “incomprehensible”, per the BBC.
And how much was his net worth back then? Think about the wealth Elon Musk owns now, then add a couple hundred billion, and you will get close to Mansa Musa's fortune in the 14th century. Economists estimate that the West African emperor possessed riches equal to almost 400 billion US dollars.
Mansa Musa (about 1280 – about 1337) was an emperor (manse) of the Mali Empire during the 14th century. He became emperor in 1312. He was the first African ruler to be famous in all of Europe and the Middle East he was also the 9th emperor in his times. Historians say he was the richest person to have ever lived.
King Agorkorli was a ruler of Nortsie in western side of Africa. His leadership was based on justice and hardship. He used his people to build a thick giant wall around his kingdom against his enemies. This made his people referred to him as a wicked king.
On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region.
However, numerous sources cite King Sargon of Akkad as the first king in human history, or rather, the first king that was not considered a myth or legend. Sargon is believed to have ruled over a vast and agriculturally rich empire called Mesopotamia circa 2330 BCE.
Early medieval written legends report that one of the three kings who paid homage to the Christ Child in Bethlehem was from Africa. But it would take nearly 1,000 years for European artists to begin representing Balthazar, the youngest of the three kings, as a black man.
The most powerful of these states was the Songhai Empire, which expanded rapidly beginning with king Sonni Ali in the 1460s. By 1500, it had risen to stretch from Cameroon to the Maghreb, the largest state in African history.
First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, setting the stage for slavery in North America. On August 20, 1619, “20 and odd” Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, arrive in the British colony of Virginia and are then bought by English colonists.
The first 130 years the Portuguese dominated the transatlantic slave trade. After 1651 they fell into second position behind the British who became the primary carriers of Africans to the New World, a position they continued to maintain until the end of the trade in the early 19th century.
#1: Queen Amina of Zaria
Queen Amina of Zaria is one of the greatest African warrior queens to date. She was the daughter of King Nikatau and Queen Bakwa Turunku. Born in 1533, Queen Amina was a warrior queen of Zazzau—which is today's Zaria City in Nigeria's Kaduna State.
Some notable pre-colonial states and societies in Africa include the Ajuran Empire, Bachwezi Empire, D'mt, Adal Sultanate, Alodia, Dagbon Kingdom , Warsangali Sultanate, Buganda Kingdom, Kingdom of Nri, Nok culture, Mali Empire, Bono State, Songhai Empire, Benin Empire, Oyo Empire, Kingdom of Lunda (Punu-yaka), Ashanti ...
The pre-colonial period in West Africa was dominated by three empires: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish a physical presence in Africa, in the 1480s, but through the 1870s European outposts were restricted to ports along the African coasts focusing on trade and diplomacy.
Reign period
Today King Mswati III is Africa's last absolute monarch in the sense that he has the power to choose the prime minister, other top government posts and top traditional posts.
In the 16th Century, ruthless warrior Queen Amina commanded an army of 20,000 men in what is now Nigeria. She is the third story in a new eight-part series, African Women who Changed the World, which aims to shed light on great African women whose stories deserve to be heard.
For the twelfth time in a row, Aliko Dangote (b. 1957) has been named the richest man in Africa in 2023, with an estimated net worth of around $13.5 billion. 1 He is also the richest black man in the world.
The richest man in Africa is also the richest Black man in the world. Once a small sugar trader, Aliko Dangote now has a net worth of $13.5 billion. He is the 86th richest person in the world, and single-handedly makes up 25% of the total wealth of African billionaires.
The transatlantic slave trade had its beginning in the middle of the fifteenth century when Portuguese ships sailed down the West African coast. The intention was to trade for gold and spices, but the voyagers found another even more valuable commodity—human beings.