The 25th Dynasty refers to the kings of Kush (which included Nubia) who ruled all or part of Egypt from around 746 to 653 BC. This period parallels the Egyptian Third Intermediate Period (1070-653 BC). The Kushite kings of this period considered themselves the bodily … Read More25th Dynasty, Ancient Egypt (ca. 746 BC to 653 BC)
The ancient land of Nubia stretched from the Middle and Upper Nile River Valley, from the First cataract of the Nile River down to the merging of the White and Blue Nile Rivers. Many cultures populated and fought over this region resulting in dynamic trade … Read MoreAncient Nubia (ca. 5000 BC-500 AD)
In the following article historian Omar H. Ali explores a lesser-known aspect of the global African Diaspora, the spread of African peoples and their cultures throughout the Indian Ocean basin. Africans had become a visible part of the Indian Ocean world long before the advent … Read MoreIslam and the African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World
The Kingdom of Kush with its three major cities of Meroe, Kerma, and Napata, emerged in the Nubian Desert south of Egypt along the Upper Nile River Valley from the 2nd millennium B.C. to the fourth century A.D. Archaeology, architecture, art, and burials provide the most … Read MoreAncient Kush (2nd millennium B.C. – 4th century A.D.)
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (or Umar Hassan Ahmad el-Bashir) became president of Sudan in 1993 but first gained military power in 1989 during an Islamist-backed coup. He was born in the northern Sudan village of Hosh Bonnaga in 1944. Bashir’s military training began in 1960 … Read MoreOmar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (1944- )
The Mahdist Revolution was an Islamic revolt against the Egyptian government in the Sudan. An apocalyptic branch of Islam, Mahdism incorporated the idea of a golden age in which the Mahdi, translated as “the guided one,” would restore the glory of Islam to the earth. … Read MoreMahdist Revolution (1881-1898)
On June 4, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a major speech addressing the relationship between the United States and the Muslim World at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt. The text of the speech appears below. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I am honored … Read More(2009) Barack Obama, “A New Beginning Between the United States and the Muslim World”
Adolphe-Félix-Sylvestre Eboué, French Colonial Administrator, was the grandson of slaves but was born a free man on December 26, 1884, at Cayenne, French Guiana, a French colony whose residents had full French citizenship. Félix Eboué was the youngest son of the five children of Yves … Read MoreAdolphe-Félix-Sylvestre Eboué (1884-1944)
Most historians of the Roman world have decoupled the concepts of bondage and race that are central to the arguments justifying the enslavement of millions of people in the United States and other modern western nations. Instead they argued that those enslaved by the Romans … Read MoreRoman Slavery and the Question of Race
In the following article Professor Emeritus Jere L. Bacharach, a specialist in Medieval Middle Eastern history, describes the little known saga of one of the largest groups of persons of African descent in the region, military slaves. These enslaved men, utilized for centuries in the … Read MoreAfrican Military Slaves in the Muslim Middle East
