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.
Gorée Island, located two miles from the Senegalese capital, Dakar, was a critical trading port for Europeans and played a major role as an entrepot for slaves taken from West Africa. Long before being conquered by the Europeans, the island was called Bezeriche Island or … Read MoreGorée Island, Senegal (ca. 1000- )
Originaire in St. Louis, Senegal, ca. 1860 Image Ownership: Public Domain The Four Communes of Senegal in French West Africa, Gorée, Dakar, Rufisque, and Saint-Louis, were the only places during the African Colonial period, where African inhabitants were granted the same rights as French Citizens. … Read MoreFour Communes of Senegal (1887-1960)
Freetown, ca. 1820 Image Ownership: Public Domain Sierra Leone’s founding dates back to 1787 when several waves of freed black settlers originating from England, Nova Scotia, and Jamaica all arrived in the area. Utilizing some English government funding, The Committee for the Relief of the … Read MoreFounding of Sierra Leone, 1787
Ganges Harbour, Salt Spring Island Image Ownership: Public Domain Now known as an upscale tourist destination, few people realize that Saltspring Island, British Columbia was seen as a land of freedom and of opportunity for many blacks in the mid-19th Century. It was a new … Read MoreSaltspring Island, British Columbia
Map Showing Little Liberia "Image Courtesy of Quintard Taylor" Initiated in the early 20th century by Los Angeles attorney Hugh Macbeth and the Lower California Mexican Land and Development Company, the Baja California settlement known as “Little Liberia” was envisioned as a racially-exclusive community through … Read MoreLittle Liberia, Baja California, 1919
The Songhai Empire was the largest and last of the three major pre-colonial empires to emerge in West Africa. From its capital at Gao on the Niger River, Songhai expanded in all directions until it stretched from the Atlantic Ocean (modern Senegal and Gambia) to … Read MoreSonghai Empire (ca. 1375-1591)
The Mali Empire was the second of three West African empires to emerge in the vast savanna grasslands located between the Sahara Desert to the north and the coastal rain forest in the south. Beginning as a series of small successor trading states, Ancient Ghana, … Read MoreMali Empire (ca. 1200- )
Located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert and six miles north of the Niger River in the present-day nation of Mali, Timbuktu has been a centuries-old, significant city in West Africa. In the 14th Century it became the commercial, religious and cultural center … Read MoreTimbuktu (ca. 1100 – )
Located in the Western region of Africa, Ancient Ghana occupied an area that includes the present-day nations of Mauritania and Mali, was the first of three powerful centralized states to emerge in the savanna, a vast, flat grassland area between the Sahara Desert on the … Read MoreGhana (ca. 750-1076)
Located in the northeast region of contemporary Ethiopia, the city of Axum sits on a high plateau next to the Red Sea. With the city’s ascendance centuries before the birth of Christ and its position next to the Red Sea, Axum became a major center … Read MoreAxum (ca. 100 B.C.E.-ca. 650 A.D.)