The following are short descriptions of the major places which have contributed to the shaping of Global African history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
Asmara (Asmera) is the largest city and capital of the modern state of Eritrea. It was also the capital of Eritrea when it was a colony under Italian rule. Asmara is located in the highlands of Eritrea on the edge of the Great Rift Valley. … Read MoreAsmara, Eritrea (ca. 1000- )
Khartoum, the capital of the modern state of Sudan, is located in an area of rich farmland where the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet. Khartoum initially grew because of the Turko-Egyptian conquest of Sudan in 1821. Mohammed Ali Pasha (1769-1849), nominally an Ottoman … Read MoreKhartoum, Sudan (1821- )
Lagos is the largest city and chief port of modern Nigeria. The area that is now Lagos was settled by Yoruba people during the fourteenth century. The founders created a coastal village they called Eko. In the 1760s, Portuguese traders settled there and began using … Read MoreLagos, Nigeria (ca. 1350- )
Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa. Before the 1837 arrival of the Transvaal Boers, descendants of Dutch settlers, the area that is now Johannesburg was occupied by the Sotho-Tswana peoples. In early 1886, gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand ridge. By 1889, Johannesburg … Read MoreJohannesburg, South Africa (1886- )
Cape Town is the second largest city in South Africa and one of the nation’s cultural and economic centers. Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by San and Khoikhoi peoples. In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established a small colony on the Cape … Read MoreCape Town, South Africa (1652- )
Accra is the political and economic capital of modern Ghana on the Gold Coast. Between 1500 and 1578, a fortress operated by the Portuguese stood at the site of modern Accra. This fort provided the Europeans with an outlet for trade, particularly in slaves, with … Read MoreAccra, Ghana (ca. 1500- )
Abidjan is the former capital of Côte d’Ivoire as well as the country’s principal city. The lagoon on which the city now sits was occupied by the Ebrié people long before the French selected the site of Abidjan in 1903. Intended as the terminus for … Read MoreAbidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (1903- )
Dakar was the political center of French West Africa and is the capital of modern Senegal. Located on Cape Verde, the westernmost point of the African mainland, Ndaxaru, known by its French name, Dakar, has been occupied at least since Europeans began to explore the … Read MoreDakar, Senegal (1857- )
Nairobi is the largest city and capital of the modern state of Kenya as well as the former capital of British East Africa. Nairobi was originally a camp for the engineers constructing the Uganda railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in 1899. Later that year, … Read MoreNairobi, Kenya (1899- )
Gondar is the former capital of the emperors of Ethiopia and remains a regional center to this day. Around 1635, Emperor Fasiladas (reign 1632-67) began construction on a castle in the Gondar Valley near the shores of Lake Tana. The fortification was ideally situated along … Read MoreGondar, Ethiopia (ca. 1635- )
