Yaa Asantewaa was an influential Ashanti queen at the beginning of the twentieth century who remains a powerful symbol today. Her birthdate is contested; she is generally believed to be born between the 1840s to 1860s in the Ashanti Confederacy in present-day Ghana. She was a skilled farmer before ascending … Read MoreYaa Asantewaa (mid-1800s-1921)
The Golden Stool (full title, Sika Dwa Kofi) has been the symbol of power in Ashanti Kingdom since the 17th century. According to oral tradition, Okomfo Anokye, a High Priest and one of the two founders of the Ashanti Confederacy, conjured the Golden Stool, decorated with … Read MoreThe Golden Stool (17th c.- )
The Anglo-Ashanti Wars were five conflicts that occurred between the Ashanti Empire and the British Empire and which ultimately resulted in the Ashanti Empire being incorporated into the British Gold Coast Colony (now the nation of Ghana). The First Anglo-Ashanti War began when the Ashanti claimed territory disputed with the … Read MoreThe Anglo-Ashanti Wars (1823-1900)
Following the Partition of Africa during the Berlin Conference of 1885, Prime Minister Francesco Crispi of Italy began his nation’s colonization in Africa. Italy focused on the Red Sea because of its trade routes to Asia and East Africa, and subsequently stationed troops in the … Read MoreThe Italo-Abyssinian War (1889-1896)
The Battle of Waterberg took place on August 11, 1904, in German South-West Africa (Namibia) and triggered the annihilation decree by German military of the Herero people, the indigenous nomadic inhabitants of the area. An estimated 60,000 to 100,000 people perished after the Battle of … Read MoreBattle of Waterberg (1904)
Niger Armed Forces fighting Boko Haram in March 2015 “Image Ownership: Public Domain” Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri in 2002.The official Arabic name of the group is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, … Read MoreBoko Haram (2002- )
Ousmane Sembène, prolific writer and film producer, was born in January 1923 in Ziguinchor, Senegal. Official documents were rare in 1920s French colonies, so even though Sembène was officially listed as born on the eighth of January, he says that it is likely that he … Read MoreOusmane Sembene (1923-2007)
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- )
The Spanish colony of Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) would be the target of aggression from its Hispaniola neighbor, French-ruled Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), in the early nineteenth century culminating in a twenty-two year occupation which would have long term consequences for both nations. Haitian … Read MoreHaitian Invasions and Occupation of Santo Domingo (1801-1844)
