The city of Gao, situated near the north bend of the Niger River, served as the capital city of the Songhai state in West Africa from the 11th century until the fall of the Songhai Empire at the end of the 16th century. Gao emerged … Read MoreGao, West Africa (ca. 1450- )
Thomas Sankara, political leader of Burkina Faso in the 1980s, was born on December 21, 1949 in Yako, a northern town in the Upper Volta (today Burkina Faso) of French West Africa. He was the son of a Mossi mother and a Peul father, and … Read MoreThomas Sankara (1949-1987)
Joseph Mobutu, named Joseph-Désiré Mobutu at birth, was the second president of Zaire (now called the Democratic Republic of Congo) from 1965 to 1997. Mobutu was born in 1930 in the Belgian Congo and studied journalism. In 1958, Mobutu became the country’s state secretary and … Read MoreJoseph-Désiré/ Mobutu, Sese Seko Kuku Waza Banga Mobutu (1930-1997)
Hugh Mulzac, the first African American ship commander, was born on March 26, 1886 in the British West Indies’s Union Island in Saint Vincent Grenadines. After graduating from high school, Mulzac served on British merchant vessels. He earned a mate’s license from Swansea Nautical College … Read MoreHugh Mulzac (1886-1971)
The Organization of African Unity (OAU, 1963-2002) was an alliance of independent African nations working to enhance cooperation between the newly decolonized African governments. The alliance had its basis in the Pan-Africanist philosophy encouraging the unity of all peoples of African ancestry, but it also … Read MoreOrganization of African Unity (1963-2002)
Chartered in 1672, the Royal African Company was a royally chartered company which had a legally based monopoly on English trade to West Africa until 1698. The monopoly specifically extended through five thousand miles of the western coast from Cape Sallee (in contemporary Morocco) to … Read MoreRoyal African Company
The Tirailleurs Sénégalais were West African Colonial Army troops who fought for the French during World War I, World War II, and in numerous conquest, police, and colonial counterinsurgency operations. Despite the name, the Tirailleurs Sénégalais were composed of soldiers recruited and conscripted from throughout … Read MoreTirailleurs Senegalais (1857– )
Arthur Dooley Wilson, best remembered for his popularization of the hit song “As Time Goes By” in the 1942 film classic Casablanca, was born in Tyler, Texas in 1886. Around 1913, he moved to Manhattan, New York, where he performed with the honorable James Reese … Read MoreArthur Dooley Wilson (1886-1953)
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
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)
