South Africa: Did you mean...?

Disregarding the extremely inhospitable spots even the most stubborn of us have enough common sense to avoid, humans have managed to cover an extraordinary amount of territory on this earth. Go back 200,000 years, however, and Homo sapiens...

Caesarea was actually the name of three separate cities: one in Palestine, one in Cappadocia (Asia Minor), and one in Mauretania, present-day Algeria. The first city, Caesarea Maritima, was built by Herod around 25 BCE and, like the other...

The causes of the Boer War (aka Second Anglo-Boer War, South Africa War, and Second War of Freedom, 1899-1902) stretched back to the early 19th century and competition for land and resources between British and Boer settlers. The rivalry...

The legions of Spain, Roman Africa, and Egypt did not see the intensity of action that prevailed elsewhere in Europe. However, the presence of these four legions - VII Gemina, IX Hispana, XXII Deiotariana, and II Traiana Fortis - was still...

The Mali Empire (1240-1645) of West Africa was founded by Sundiata Keita (r. 1230-1255) following his victory over the kingdom of Sosso (c. 1180-1235). Sundiata's centralised government, diplomacy and well-trained army permitted a massive...

The Bantu migration from their origins in southern West Africa saw a gradual population movement sweep through the central, eastern, and southern parts of the continent starting in the mid-2nd millennium BCE and finally ending before 1500...

From 1940 to 1943, the desert of North Africa became an important theatre of the Second World War (1939-45) since it was the only place the British Empire, standing alone, could directly fight on land the Axis powers of Germany and Italy...

This collection of maps tells the story of World War II in Europe and Africa (1939–1945), a global conflict that emerged from unresolved tensions after World War I, economic instability, expansionist ambitions, and the rise of totalitarian...

The Fashoda Incident of 1898 occurred in Sudan and caused a diplomatic crisis between the British and French empires. A small French force claimed authority over the town of Fashoda (modern Kodok) and the Upper Nile Valley. A much larger...

The Swahili Coast on the shores of East Africa was a region where Africans and Arabs mixed to create a unique identity from the 8th century called Swahili Culture. Swahili is the name of their language and means 'people of the coast.' The...