Empires and Kingdoms

Queen Shanakdakhete took the Throne of Kush Empire in ancient Nubia from 170 to 150 BC. The Queen ruled with absolute power in the Meroë Empire as well as a result, the Queen became someone known as the Lord of the Two Lands. The Queen also exercised power without the support of a king, which was unusual for the time. …

Amanirenas was the second Queen of the Kush Kingdom, which existed in what is now Sudan. Between 40BC and 10BC, she ruled over the Meroitic Kingdom of Kush in Nubia. She was popularly known as Queen Mother or Kandake, the Nubian people’s title for a ruling queen. She is one of the most well-known Meroitic Kush Queens. The Kingdom of …

The Kingdom of the Banyakitara is also known as the Empire of Kitara or Chwezi Empire (Empire of the Sun, Empire of the Moon, Empire of the Light). It ruled most of the Nile valley and beyond during its peak growth. When the Kingdom of Aksum disintegrated about 940 AD into the kingdoms of Makuria, Zagwe, Damot, and Shewa, another …

Ronald Edward Frederick Kimera Muwenda Mutebi II (born 13 April 1955) is the current Kabaka (king) of Buganda, a constitutional kingdom in modern-day Uganda. He is the Buganda’s 36th Kabaka. He was born at Mulago Hospital in Kampala. He is the son of Kabaka of Buganda Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Muteesa II, who reigned from 1939 to …

The Kingdom of Rwanda was a pre-colonial Bantu kingdom in East Africa that survived under German and Belgian colonial rule with some autonomy intact until its monarchy was abolished in the Rwandan Revolution in 1961. Rwanda became a republic after a referendum in 1961 and gained independence in 1962. A court in exile has been operating abroad since the monarchy …

Idia was the mother of Esigie, the Oba of Benin who reigned from 1504 to 1550. She was portrayed as a great warrior who fought tirelessly before and during her son’s reign as the oba (king) of the Edo people. Following the death of Esigie’s father, Oba Ozolua, Queen Idia was instrumental in securing the title of oba for him. …

Nobatia of Lower Nubia was a late antique kingdom. It succeeded the kingdom of Kush, along with the two other Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia. Nobadia steadily spread after its founding around 400, defeating the Blemmyes in the north and incorporating the territories between the second and third Nile cataract in the south. It converted to Coptic Christianity in …

Osei Kofi Tutu I (c.1660-c.1717), who was assisted by Okomfo Anokye, his chief priest and distant relative, was one of the founders of the Ashanti Empire. The Asante are a West African ethnic group belonging to the Akan ethnic group. Osei Tutu led an Asante coalition against the regional hegemon, the Denkyira, and defeated them completely. He then convinced the …

kingdom of Punt is referred to in ancient Egyptian texts as the “Land of the Gods” – Ta Netjer. Punt’s history is linked with that of the ancient Egyptian kingdoms, and the kingdoms valued Punt as a trading partner. Signs of exchange had already begun to appear in Egyptian material evidence during the pre-dynastic period (c6000 – 3150 BC). During …

In the Middle Ages, the tales about the land of gold in Africa spread throughout Europe. Arab merchants talked about the Wagadu Empire, also known as the Ghana Empire. One of the main gold producers in Africa was the Wagadu Empire, also known as the Ghana Empire. The king owned all of the gold. Every golden nugget weighing between 25 …