Documents for "African History":

• Abyssinia see Ethiopia.

• Berlin, Conference of 1884-85, international meeting aimed at settling the problems connected with European colonies in Africa. At the invitation of the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, representatives of all...

• Biafra, Republic of secessionist state of W Africa, in existence from May 30, 1967, to Jan. 15, 1970. At the outset Biafra comprised, roughly, the East-Central, South-Eastern, and Rivers states of the Federation of Nigeria , where the Igbo people predominated. The country, which took its name from the Bight of Biafra (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean), was established by Igbos who felt they could not develop—or even survive—within...

• British Cameroons see Nigeria , Federation of; Cameroon , Republic of.

• British East Africa inclusive historical term for several former British dependencies, especially Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar.

• British South Africa Company see Zimbabwe.

• British Togoland see Togoland.

• British West Africa former inclusive term for the British colonies of Cameroons, Gambia, Gold Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togoland.

• Cameroons Fr. Cameroun, Ger. Kamerun, former German colony, W Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea and extending N to Lake Chad. Germany's penetration of the area began in 1884 and by 1902 its possession was recognized. A portion of French...

• Congo, kingdom of the see Kongo, kingdom of.

• Fashoda Incident 1898, diplomatic dispute between France and Great Britain. Toward the end of the 19th cent., while Britain was seeking to establish a continuous strip of territory from Cape Town to Cairo, France...

• French Cameroons see Cameroons.

• French Congo see Congo, Republic of the.

• French Equatorial Africa former French federation in W central Africa. It consisted of four constituent territories: Gabon , Middle Congo (see Congo, Republic of the ), Chad , and Ubangi-Shari (now the Central African Republic ). The capital was Brazzaville. The federation was formed in large part through the efforts of Savorgnan de Brazza , who forged the link between French possessions in the Congo basin and those in W Africa. French Equatorial Africa (originally called French Congo) was officially established in 1910. Until 1920,...

• French Guinea see Guinea , republic, Africa.

• French Somaliland see Djibouti , republic.

• French Sudan see Mali.

• French West Africa former federation of eight French overseas territories. The constituent territories were Dahomey (now Benin), French Guinea (now Guinea), French Sudan (now Mali), Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Niger,...

• German East Africa former German colony, c.370,000 sq mi (958,300 sq km), E Africa. Dar es Salaam was the capital. German influence emerged in the area in 1884 when Carl Peters, the German explorer, obtained treaties...

• Guinea an archaic term for the west coast of Africa. In its widest sense it has been applied to the region from Angola to Senegal. Parts of the region bore names originating in early colonial trade,...

• Italian East Africa former federation of the Italian colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland and the kingdom of Ethiopia. The federation was formed (1936) to consolidate the administration of the three areas...

• Kamerun see Cameroons.

• Kanem former empire in Africa in the areas near Lake Chad that are now part of Chad and N Nigeria. The empire began in the 9th cent., when the Sefawa migrated to the area from the Sahara. The rulers...

• Kongo, kingdom of former state of W central Africa, founded in the 14th cent. In the 15th cent. the kingdom stretched from the Congo River in the north to the Loje River in the south and from the Atlantic Ocean in...

• Kush see Cush.

• Lancaster House conference series of three meetings (1960, 1962, 1963) in which Kenya's constitutional framework and independence were negotiated. In 1960 lack of agreement led Colonial Secretary McLeod to issue an interim...

• Lunda ethnic group of central Africa. The Lunda speak a Bantu language and now live in S Congo (Kinshasa), E Angola, and N Zambia. In the 16th cent. Lunda living near the upper Lulua and Kasai rivers...

• Mande language group, W Africa, including the Malinke, Dyula, Marka, Mende, Bambara, and Soninke subgroups. The Mande-speakers today number about 3 million and live mainly in Senegal, Mali, Guinea,...

• Mau Mau secret insurgent organization in Kenya , comprising mainly Kikuyu tribespeople. They were bound by oath to force the expulsion of white settlers from Kenya. In 1952 the Mau Mau began reprisals against the Europeans, especially in the "white highlands," claimed as Kikuyu lands. The settlers retaliated and non-participant Kikuyu were killed by the Mau Mau. Jomo Kenyatta and other nationalist leaders were imprisoned. By 1956, however, British troops hunted down the Mau Mau in the mountain forests. Most leaders were captured and executed. Later the entire Kikuyu...

• Mbundu black African ethnic group, W Angola. The Mbundu speak Bantu languages and number about 6 million. By the late 15th cent. they had formed the Ndongo kingdom, ruled by the ngola (from which the...

• Middle Congo see Congo, Republic of the.

• Mwanamutapa former state, SE Africa. The Mwanamutapa empire, headed by a ruler of the same name, was founded c.1420 among the Karanga people (a subgroup of the Bantu-speaking Shona) and was centered at Great Zimbabwe in present-day SE Zimbabwe. The empire was ruled in pyramidal fashion, with the Mwanamutapa appointing regionally based vassals. In about 1490 the empire split into two parts—Changamire in the...

• Nilotes people of E Africa who speak Nilotic languages. Among these are the Nuer and the Masai. The most prominent Nilotic ethnic groups live in S Sudan, N Uganda, and N Kenya. Originally from E Sudan,...

• Pan-Africanism general term for various movements in Africa that have as their common goal the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy from the continent. However, on the scope...

• Portuguese West Africa see Angola.

• Senegambia short-lived (1982-89) confederation of Senegal and The Gambia.

• Slave Coast name given by European traders to the coast bordering the Bight of Benin on the Gulf of Guinea, W Africa. It was the principal source of slaves from W Africa from the 16th cent. to the mid-19th cent....

• Sokoto Caliphate see Usuman dan Fodio.

• Spanish Africa historical name for the Spanish possessions in Africa— Ceuta and Melilla (enclaves in Morocco), the Canary Islands , and Western Sahara. Spain also formerly held Ifni (now part of Morocco)...

• Spanish Guinea see Equatorial Guinea.

• Togoland or Togo , historic region (c.33,500 sq mi/86,800 sq km), W Africa, bordering on the Gulf of Guinea in the south. The western section of Togoland is now part of Ghana , and the eastern portion constitutes the Republic of Togo. The primary inhabitants of the region are the Ewe in the south and various Voltaic-speaking ethnic groups in the north. From the 17th cent. until the early 19th cent. the Ashanti (situated in present-day Ghana) raided Togoland for slaves, who were then sold to European traders at the coast. European penetration of the region began in the 1840s with the arrival of German...

• Uccialli, Treaty of see Menelik II.