North Africa: Did you mean...?

In the aftermath of World War I (1914–1918), Africa remained overwhelmingly under European colonial domination, despite widespread African participation in the war effort. While the conflict weakened several European powers, it did not dismantle...

The Battle of Gazala in Libya in May-June 1942 was a decisive victory for German and Italian forces led by General Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) against British, Commonwealth, and Free French forces during the Western Desert Campaigns (Jun 1940...

Eritrea, located on the Red Sea coast of the Horn of Africa, was the ‘firstborn’ colony of Italy. The potential of a trade centre and naval base at Assab first attracted Italian interests in 1869. The Kingdom of Italy, however, did not officially...

An early title page from The History and Description of Africa by Leo Africanus (1485-1554), first published in 1526.

A photograph showing a parade of African Askari troops commanded by German officers in German East Africa. Taken some time during the First World War (1914-18). German Federal Archives

The Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 was the opening encounter of the Anglo-Zulu War and a famous Zulu victory against the British Army. Over 25,000 Zulu warriors attacked and destroyed a British-led force of 1,700 men camped at the...

The Desert Rats was the nickname of the 7th Armoured Division of the British Eighth Army, which first fought in North Africa during the Second World War (1939-45). Fighting in the Western Desert Campaigns and the North Africa Campaign, the...

The transatlantic slave trade (also given as the Atlantic slave trade, circa 1492 to 1860) was the practice of enslaving the citizens of African states and transporting them across the Atlantic Ocean to the "New World" of the Americas. Although...

A map indicating the general direction and timings of the spread of Islam in Africa from the 7th to 18th century CE

An early-20th-century painting by Wilhelm Kuhnert depicting German-led African Askari troops at the Battle of Mahenge during the Maji-Maji Rebellion (1905-7) against colonial rule in German East Africa.