Africa
23 empires
Egyptian Empire (New Kingdom)
The age of the pharaohs greatest power. Ramses II ruled for 66 years and may have been the pharaoh o...
Aksumite Empire
One of the four great civilizations of the ancient world alongside Rome, Persia, and China. Minted i...
Mali Empire
Mansa Musa, the richest person in history, was its most famous ruler. His 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca g...
Songhai Empire
The largest empire in African history. Controlled the trans-Saharan trade routes in gold and salt. A...
Zulu Kingdom
Shaka revolutionized African warfare with the short assegai and close-combat formations. Defeated th...
Kingdom of Kongo
A major African kingdom that voluntarily converted to Catholicism. Kings corresponded with the Pope ...
Kingdom of Ghana
Called the Land of Gold by Arab traders. The king was known as the Ghana, meaning warrior king. Gold...
Kingdom of Zimbabwe
Built Great Zimbabwe, the largest stone structure in sub-Saharan Africa. The walls stand 11 meters h...
Mamluk Sultanate
Slave soldiers who overthrew their masters and ruled themselves. Defeated both the Crusaders and the...
Ptolemaic Kingdom
A Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. Alexandria became the intel...
Ancient Carthage
A Phoenician city that grew into a maritime empire controlling trade across the western Mediterranea...
Fatimid Caliphate
An Ismaili Shia caliphate founded in North Africa that conquered Egypt in 969 and founded Cairo. It ...
Kanem-Bornu Empire
A long lived empire around Lake Chad that controlled trans-Saharan trade routes. Its Sayfawa rulers ...
Kingdom of Benin
A kingdom in the forest region of southern Nigeria ruled by the Oba from Benin City. Its city walls ...
Oyo Empire
A Yoruba empire in what is now southwestern Nigeria and Benin. Its powerful cavalry dominated the sa...
Ashanti Empire
An Akan empire in present day Ghana with its capital at Kumasi. According to tradition the priest Ok...
Ethiopian Empire
Also known as Abyssinia, ruled by the Solomonic dynasty, which claimed descent from King Solomon and...
Kingdom of Kush
An ancient kingdom in Nubia along the Nile. Its kings conquered Egypt and ruled as the 25th Dynasty ...
Almoravid Empire
A Berber dynasty that began as a religious reform movement in the western Sahara. Yusuf ibn Tashfin ...
Almohad Caliphate
A Berber movement founded by the religious reformer Ibn Tumart and led to empire by Abd al-Mumin. It...
Kingdom of Mutapa
A Shona kingdom between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers in present day Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It su...
Ayyubid Sultanate
Founded by Saladin, a Kurdish commander who ended the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt. Saladin defeated t...
Sokoto Caliphate
An Islamic state founded after a jihad led by the Fulani scholar Usman dan Fodio against the Hausa k...