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Line 32: ===Early civilizations and trade=== About 3300 BC, the historical record opens in Africa with the rise of literacy in the Pharaonic-ruled civilisation of [[Egypt]], which continued, with varying levels of influence over other areas, until 343 BC.<ref>Hassan, Fekri A. (2002) ''Droughts, Food and Culture'', Springer. p. 17. ISBN 0-306-46755-0.</ref><ref>McGrail, Sean. (2004) ''Boats of the World'', Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 0-19-927186-0.</ref> Apart from the [[Nile]] valley, the [[Sahara desert]] presented a near impenetrable barrier between north and south, until the introduction of the [[camel]].<ref>Stearns, Peter N. (2001) ''The Encyclopedia of World History'', Houghton Mifflin Books. p. 16. ISBN 0-395-65237-5.</ref> This beast of burden was first brought to Egypt by the [[Persian Empire|Persians]] after 525 BC, although large herds did not become common enough in North Africa to establish the [[trans-Saharan trade]] until the eighth century AD.<ref>McEvedy, Colin (1980) ''Atlas of African History'', p. 44. ISBN 0-87196-480-5.</ref> The [[Sanhaja]] [[Berbers]] were the first to exploit this, and after the spread of [[Islam]] a steady trade in precious metals, ivory, salt and [[Islamic slave trade|slaves]] ensued between the Muslim states in the [[Maghreb]] and the Sahelian kingdoms.<ref>Fage, J. D. (2001) ''A History of Africa'', Routledge (UK). p. 256. ISBN 0-415-25248-2.</ref> ===Precolonial Africa===▼ {{inuse}} Precolonial Africa possessed perhaps as many as 10,000 different states and polities at times [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/01/11/DI2006011101372.html] characterised by different sorts of political organisation and rule. These included small family groups of hunter-gatherers such as the [[Bushmen|San]] people of southern Africa; larger, more structured groups such as the family clan groupings of the [[Bantu]]-speaking people of central and southern Africa and wealthy, extensive and socially complex kingdoms such as the ancient empires of [[Mali Empire|Mali]], [[Ghana Empire|Ghana]] and [[Kingdom of Kongo|Kongo]]; and autonomous city-states such as the [[Swahili people|Swahili]] coastal trading towns of the [[East Africa]]n coast, whose trade network extended as far as [[China]]. In 1482, the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] established the first of many trading stations along the Guinea coast at [[Elmina]]. The chief commodities dealt in were slaves, gold, ivory and spices. The European discovery of the Americas in 1492 was followed by a great development of the [[slave trade]], which, before the Portuguese era, had been an overland trade almost exclusively, and never confined to any one continent.<ref>Oliver, Roland. (1977) ''The Cambridge History of Africa'', Cambridge University Press. p. 453. ISBN 0-521-20981-1.</ref> Line 50 ⟶ 57: <!-- To do: Merge the below sections which chronologically repeat the above sections --> ▲===Precolonial Africa=== ▲Precolonial Africa possessed perhaps as many as 10,000 different states and polities [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/01/11/DI2006011101372.html] characterised by different sorts of political organisation and rule. These included small family groups of hunter-gatherers such as the [[Bushmen|San]] people of southern Africa; larger, more structured groups such as the family clan groupings of the [[Bantu]]-speaking people of central and southern Africa and the heavily-structured clan groups in the [[Horn of Africa]]; wealthy, extensive and socially complex kingdoms such as the ancient empires of [[Mali Empire|Mali]], [[Ghana Empire|Ghana]] and [[Kingdom of Kongo|Kongo]]; and autonomous city-states such as the [[Swahili people|Swahili]] coastal trading towns of the [[East Africa]]n coast, whose trade network extended as far as [[China]].
===Colonial Africa=== | |||