In the mid 12th century, a small kingdom in the Sahel would grow to become one of the largest and most powerful empires sub Saharan Africa had ever seen.

This is a thread on the Mali empire! The Mail empire is one of those states where the origin date is impossible to pin down specifically. What we do know is that it began as a small kingdom of the Mandbe people in what is now southern Mali in the 11th century. Around this time, the Arab historian Al-Bakri says a ruler from the ‘Malal’ kingdom in a similar region converted to Islam, suggesting it was beginning the process of adopting the religion that would define it (though as we’ll see later the exact time at which its rulers adopted Islam is disputed).

In 46 BC, Julius Caesar would set out on an expedition in North Africa to finish off his remaining foes in the region, opening a new front in his civil war.

This is a thread on the battle of Thapsus! By the end of 47 BC, Julius Caesar was in the strongest position he’d been in years. His main rival Pompey was dead, he’d survived an adventure in Egypt with his client (and lover) Cleopatra and taken the big prize of Rome, implementing numerous reforms incl the introduction of a new calendar. Things looked good, but the optimates he was fighting were down but not out and had regrouped in North Africa.

In the early 13th century BC, a young Egyptian pharaoh would set out on campaign against his Hittite neighbours, yet things would not go as planned.

This is a thread on Ramasses II and the battle of Kadesh! In the mid 1270s BC, Ramasses II had just began what would be a 65 year reign. In his early 20s and eager to make a name for himself, he decided an easy way to do so would be to go to war with his kingdom’s main opponent at the time, the Hittite empire.

In the late 1240s, the French king Louis IX would attempt to conquer Egypt for Christendom, but his initially successful attempts would end in farce and tragedy.

This is a thread on the 7th Crusade! In 1244, the 15 year truce between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ayyubid Sultanate whereby the latter had given the former temporary control of Jerusalem and several other cities expired. The sultanate retook the great city, and killed a number of Christian inhabitants while doing so before desecrating several of their holy sites in the city including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

In the 3rd century B.C, the up and coming Roman Republic would enter into its first major naval conflict with a rival power in North Africa.

This is a thread on the First Punic War! By the 270s B.C, the Roman Republic had expanded from the city state of Rome itself to encompass much of the Italian peninsula. It had just repulsed a hard fought effort by the Epiran king Phyrrus to destroy it, and sort to gain the status of regional hegemon. This would call it to run into trouble with a power opposite the Mediterranean.

In the mid 17th century, the Portuguese would fight several wars in the heart of Africa with various local kingdoms for control and dominance of the region.

This is a thread on one of those wars, with the Kingdom of Ndongo! By the early 1600s the Portuguese were well established in central Africa, having established key trading relationships with Kingdoms like the Kongo and Ndongo (corresponding to parts of the modern Congo republics and Angola). They had overseen their conversion to Catholicism as well, and a symbiotic relationship existed whereby the Portuguese traded and received local goods from these states in return for providing them New World goods like corn.

In the 10th century, Muhammad’s descendants based in North Africa would create the only Shia Caliphate in history.

This is a thread on the Fatimid Caliphate! By the late 800s, the Islamic world was becoming fractured. The Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad still claimed sovereignty over the Islamic community (Ummah) but this claim was unrecognised in Spain and becoming increasingly nominal elsewhere. In the Maghreb several dynasties such as the Aglabhids and the Idrisids operated as de facto independent states. It was into this world the Fatimids emerged.

In the early 6th century, kingdoms from the opposite sides of the Arabian Sea would go to blows in large part because of two of the world’s most famous religions.

This is a thread on the Askumite invasion of Himyar and its aftermath! By 500 AD, the Kingdom of Askum in modern Ethiopia had been Christian for 150 years, while the Kingdom of Himyar in modern Yemen had adopted Judaism roughly 120 years prior. To fully describe the beliefs in Arabia would go beyond the scope of this thread but suffice to say there were a mix of pagan religions and beliefs, as well as minorities of various Christian and Jewish sects, both orthodox and heretical. Being separated by the Arabian Sea, both kingdoms had been mostly content to let the other practice their religion in peace. However, that was about to change.

In the early 13th century, Emperor Frederick II would attempt to retake Jerusalem for Christendom and succeed-but in the most bizarre way possible.

This is a thread on the 6th Crusade! In early 1222, the final of the Crusaders from the 5th Crusade debacle returned to Europe. Many were demoralised by the failure of the effort, and looked for someone to blame. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II made for a convenient scapegoat.

During the 5th century, a Germanic tribe would use the collapse of the Western Roman Empire to establish a century-long kingdom in North Africa.

This is a thread on the Vandal Kingdom! In the early 400s, the Western Roman Empire was in free fall. Permanently split from its eastern counterpart after 395, it was under the rule of the incompetent Honorius, and subject to the growing number of Barbarian tribes moving in for the kill. Though far from Germania, North Africa would soon become a target.

In the early 20th century, archeologists in central Nigeria would make a find which would reveal the remains of a once great ancient culture.

This is a thread on the Nok culture, its discovery and what we know (and don’t know) about it so far! 🧵 In 1928, the nation of Nigeria was under British colonial rule. With its vast natural resources, the mining industry was in hot demand, and a British soldier and WW1 veteran named John Dent-Young co-owned a local tin mine in the central part of the country (known as the middle belt). While digging in that mine was underway that year, a miner stumbled upon some terracotta statues.

In the 7th century B.C, a group of Greek settlers in North Africa would create one of the continents longest lasting cities.

This is a thread on the city of Cyrene! The city of Cyrene was founded c. 630 B.C. Greek legend claimed that the Greek deity Apollo seduced the huntress Cyrene (from where the city is named) and took her to Libya. A more likely story is the account of Herodotus, who says it was founded by Greeks from the city of Thela who travelled to North Africa after being instructed to by the oracle of Delphi due to overpopulation.

In the early 12th century, a small Islamic movement in North Africa would transform the region, and Spain forever.

This is a thread on the Almohads! By the early 1100s, North Africa was clearly under the grip of the Almoravids. They had been in power for nearly a century, and looked set to rule for many more years to come. Until a new preacher disillusioned with their rule began to attract attention.

In the late 6th Century B.C, the newly formed Achaemenid empire would set its eyes on a former regional power in Africa, one that would provide them with great wealth and prestige.

This is a thread on Achaemenid Egypt! By the 530s B.C, Cyrus the Great had established the largest empire in history up to that point, stretching from the Dardanelles to the borders of India. Nevertheless, Cyrus wasn’t yet satisfied and wanted more. Specifically, he wanted the land of Egypt.

In the 60s AD, the Roman Empire would carry out an expedition which was arguably the ancient equivalent of going to the moon.

This is a thread on Nero’s Nile expedition! 🧵 In 62 AD, the emperor Nero ordered a Roman expedition south into Africa to discover the source of the Nile. This was no small feat, given the difficulties in travel and navigation in comparison to our time.

The new Gladiator film stars Denzel Washington as a Black African who seeks to seize control of the Roman Empire.

But how much contact did the average Roman and sub-Saharan Africans actually have?

[Thread] 🧵 Firstly, we might as well cut to the chase: The real emperor that Denzel’s character, Macrinus, is based on, was not dark-skinned at all: as the first Berber emperor, from the Mauri tribe, he is depicted as light skinned in the contemporary depictions we have of him.

In the early 16th century, a conflict would break out in the Horn of Africa which still shapes the region to the present, yet hardly anyone today has heard of it.

This is a thread on the Ethiopian-Adal war! By the early 1500s, the Solomonid dynasty in Abyssinia, and the Adal Sultanate in Northern Ethiopia and Somalia had bordered each other for a century. Christian and Muslim respectively, there had been multiple clashes between the two states during this 100 year period.

The Romans engaged in trade with many other nations through the long course of their history. What was trade with their African neighbours like?

This is a 🧵 on Roman trade with Sub-Saharan Africa. After defeating and destroying Carthage in the Punic wars, Rome quickly took control of the North African trade centres. This presented multiple opportunities to exchange goods with those in the south.

The Middle Ages produced many great kingdoms in Africa, Asia and Europe, yet one of them, in modern Sudan is often overlooked.

This is a thread on the Kingdom of Makuria 🧵 In the 4th century, the millennia old Kingdom of Kush collapsed. A harsh climate, combined with raids from the neighbouring Kingdom of Askum took their toll, and eventually the Kingdom snapped under the pressure.

The Roman Empire’s territory in Africa bordered the Sahara region to the south. Did the Romans ever explore this vast expanse?

This is a thread on Roman expeditions to Sub-Saharan Africa! 🧵 Rome’s first expedition below the Sahara occurred shortly after the empire’s founding. In 19 B.C, African Proconsul Balbus was sent to put down a Berber tribe, the Germantes, in Libya. After accomplishing this, Balbus sent an expedition south to explore the ‘land of the lions’.

One of the more overlooked crusades in the Middle East in the medieval period was not in the Holy Land at all. Rather, it was in Egypt.

This is the story of the Fifth Crusade 🧵 After the disastrous 4th Crusade, Pope Innocent III was eager for a new Crusade to achieve what it was meant to accomplish: the conquest of Egypt, for use as a base from which Jerusalem could be retaken. He called another Crusade in 1212, aimed at carrying out this goal.