Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allâh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Bakrī (1040-1094 CE) was a Muslim scholar born in Spain, but spent much of his life in Cordova, a principal city in Andalusia, then under the control of Islamic Iberia. A noted theologian and geographer, al-Bakrī’s account of north and west Africa is based on documentary sources, such as Muhammad bin Yusuf al-Warraq’s now lost work, and travelers and merchants who traveled to the Sahara and the Sudanic region, stretching from northwestern to northeastern Africa.

Zheng He (Cheng Ho) was a Muslim admiral originally named Ma Ho (the Chinese version of Muhammad). He made seven diplomatic voyages to East Africa as far as Malindi (near Mombasa) between 1405 and 1433. His expeditions followed long established Arab-Chinese trade routes—as evidenced by Sung dynasty porcelains and copper coins excavated at Swahili burial sites.

The Indian Ocean world was the center of an early global economy and Africa was a key player in it. Africa’s place in the vast Indian Ocean trading network stretched from northeast Africa, along the Swahili coast and its offshore islands, and flowed into present-day Mozambique. There are no precise dates for its beginnings, but eyewitnesses observed this network some 2,000 years ago may have been latecomers. Be that as it may, this much is known with more certainty.

Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi (ca. 1465-1550s) was born in the city of Granada (Islamic Spain). After he and many Muslims were forcibly expelled from Spain in 1492, he and his family resettled in North Africa, where he studied and traveled extensively, including a visit to Timbuktu.

The Tarikh al-Fettash fi akhbar al-buldan wa ‘l-juyush wa-akabir al-nas (“Chronicle of the researcher into the history of the countries, the armies and the principal personalities”) is a well-known, locally produced manuscript on the history of Songhay and the western Sudanic region.

The well-known Catalan atlas of 1375 is credited to Abraham Cresques, a fourteenth century Jewish cartographer from the island of Majorca. The atlas was divided into six large panels. Panel three, the source of the atlas excerpt above, shows principal points along the trans-Saharan trade routes in west and north Africa, as well as camel caravans and some of the major trade goods exchanged—gold, copper, iron, horses, salt, textiles, leather goods, ivory, and captive peoples.

Bantu (“the people”) is a cultural-linguistic cluster of peoples originating around present-day Cameroon and Nigeria in West Africa. The prefix “ba” means “people,” while the stem “ntu” refers to “life force,” hence, “the people.” These African peoples migrated into much of central, southern, and eastern Africa over an approximate 2,000-year period.

The state of Aksum was located in the Ethiopian highlands, where local society developed in the northern end of the central highlands, before gradually moving south. Aksumite society engaged in pastoralism, harvested cereals, coffee and cotton, exploited its iron industry through its major port of Adulis on the Red Sea.

Neferkare or Shabaka, a ruler of the twenty-fifth dynasty, ordered an ancient religious text copied onto stone because the original was worm-eaten. The text belongs to the Old Kingdom (ca. 2649–2150 BCE), but its precise date is unknown. Named after this ruler, the Shabaka inscription shows how the beginnings of Kemetic/ancient Egyptian history had both divine and human origins, and how he, the ruler, was a bridge between both worlds.

Ptahhotep (ptāħ ħwtp) was a sage, city administrator, royal official and oldest son of Djedkare Isesi, the fifth dynasty ruler (r. 2414-2375 BCE) under which the “Instructions of Ptahhotep” were recorded. The instructions of Ptahhotep are one of several “wisdom” texts found in ancient Egypt.

Aksum was one of few states in the ancient world to issue their own independent coinage—in gold, silver, and copper. At the height of its power in the fourth and fifth century CE, the civilization and empire of Aksum extended its trade and influence to Egypt, the Mediterranean and across the Red Sea into Arabia.

The main industrial craft in Meroë was iron smelting and the making of iron tools, weapons, and implements. Iron provided its farmers and hunters with superior tools and weapons. The development and use of iron was thus partly responsible for the very success, growth and wealth of Meroë.