Empires and Kingdoms

Queen Amina of Zaria, also known as the warrior queen, was the first woman who ruled an African kingdom for over 30 years in the sixteenth century. She was the first Sarauniya (queen) in the area. Amina was born around 1533 in Zazzau, now called Zaria in the northern of Nigeria. She was the daughter of the 22nd ruler and founder of …

Yaa Asantewaa was born in 1840 and passed on in 1921. She was a good farmer and a successful mother. A policymaker, a human rights activist, the Queen and a leader who was very intelligent. Yaa Asantewaa is popular and famous for leading the Ashanti rebellion to defend the Golden Stool against British colonial rule. She advocated women’s liberation and …

Southern Nigeria was home to the Benin Empire. The capital of the Kingdom of Benin was Edo, now in Edo state known as Benin City. The Kingdom of Benin was one of the oldest and most developed states in the West African coastal hinterland, dating back to the 11th century CE. The Empire was established by the People of Edo …

The First Battle of Dongola was a battle between early Arab-Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Nubian- forces of the Kingdom of Makuria in 642. The battle, which resulted in a Makurian victory, temporarily halted Arab incursions into Nubia and set the tone for an atmosphere of hostility between the two cultures until the culmination of the Second Battle of Dongola in 652. The Second Battle of Dongola or Siege of Dongola was a military engagement …

The Ethiopian Kingdom is considered for being Africa’s last fortress. The empire occupied the northern portion of present-day Ethiopia starting with the Zagwe dynasty in 1137. The Zagwe dynasty maintained the Aksum Empire Christianity which prevailed before Queen Yodit ‘s takeover of the region (whose successors were brought down by the Zagwe dynasty founder Mara Takla Haymanot). The Zagwe dynasty …

The Kingdom of Dongola was located within the present day southern Egypt and northern Sudan, the dominion was best referred to as Nubian independent region. It was one among the Nubian empires that rise after the collapse of the dominion of Kush which controlled the region from 785 BC to AD 350. Other kingdoms which emerged were Nobatia with its …

The Kush Empire was centered in North East Africa, in the south of Ancient Egypt. The central towns of Kush were located along the Nile River, along the White Nile River, and the Blue Nile River. For more than 1400 years the Kingdom of Kush managed to remain a regional empire in Africa. In the 2nd millennium B.C., this ancient …

In Southern Africa at the beginning of the nineteenth (19th) century, Shaka Zulu set up Zulu Kingdom and completely changed its warfare. In 1787 Shaka was born to Senzangakhona who was a minor chief of one of the clans of Zulu tribe. His mother Nandi was the daughter of the rival clan chief Mbhengi. According to Zulu believes Shaka’s birth was a …