According to the theory of therecent African origin of modern humans, the predominantly held belief among most archaeologists, East Africa in the area of the African Great Lakes is whereanatomically modern humans first appeared.[12] There are differing theories on whether there was a single exodus or several; a multiple dispersal model involves the Southern Dispersal theory.[13] Some researchers have suggested thatNorth Africa was the region of Africa from which modern humans who first trekked out of the continent.[14]
According to both genetic andfossil evidence, it has been posited thatarchaicHomo sapiens evolved intoanatomically modern humans in the Horn of Africa around 200,000 years ago and dispersed from there.[15][16] The recognition ofHomo sapiens idaltu andOmo Kibish as anatomically modern humans would justify the description of contemporary humans with the subspecies nameHomo sapiens sapiens. Because of their early dating and unique physical characteristicsidaltu and kibish represent the immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans as suggested by the Out-of-Africa theory.[17][18][19][20]
TheBab-el-Mandeb crossing in theRed Sea: now some 12 miles (19 km) wide, narrower in prehistory.
In 2017 finds of modern human remains, dating to ca 300,000 years ago inJebel Irhoud in Morocco, suggested that modern humans arose earlier and possibly in a larger area of Africa than previously thought.[21]
East Africa is one of the earliest regions whereHomo sapiens are believed to have lived. Evidence was found in 2018, dating to about 320,000 years ago, at the Kenyan site ofOlorgesailie, of the early emergence ofmodern behaviors associated withHomo sapiens, including: long-distance trade networks (involving goods such as obsidian), the use of pigments, and the possible making of projectile points. It is observed by the authors of three 2018 studies on the site, that the evidence of these behaviors is approximately contemporary to the earliest knownHomo sapiens fossil remains from Africa (such as at Jebel Irhoud andFlorisbad), and they suggest that complex and modern behaviors had already begun in Africa around the time of the emergence ofHomo sapiens.[22][23][24]
In September 2019, scientists reported the computerized determination, based on 260CT scans, of a virtualskull shape of the last common human ancestor tomodern humans/H. sapiens, representative of the earliestHomo sapiens, and suggested thatHomo sapiens arose between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations inSouth and East Africa.[25][26]
The migration route of the "Out of Africa" theory probably occurred in East Africa through theBab-el-Mandeb. Today at the Bab-el-Mandeb straits, the Red Sea is about 12 miles (19 kilometres) wide, but 50,000 years ago it was much narrower and sea levels were 70 meters lower. Though the straits were never completely closed, there may have been islands in between which could be reached using simple rafts.
Some of the earliesthominin skeletal remains have been found in the wider region, including fossils discovered in theAwash Valley of Ethiopia, as well as in theKoobi Fora in Kenya andOlduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
The southern part of East Africa was occupied until recent times byKhoisanhunter-gatherers, whereas in theEthiopian Highlands thedonkey and such crop plants asteff allowed the beginning ofagriculture around 7,000 BCE.[27] Lowland barriers and diseases carried by thetsetse fly, however, prevented the donkey and agriculture from spreading southwards. Only in quite recent times has agriculture spread to the more humid regions south of the equator, through the spread ofcattle,sheep and crops such asmillet. Language distributions suggest that this most likely occurred from Sudan into the African Great Lakes region, since theNilotic languages spoken by these pre-Bantu farmers have their closest relatives in the middle Nile basin.
Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and theRed Sea coast of Sudan are considered the most likely location of the land known to theAncient Egyptians asPunt.[28] The old kingdom's first mention dates to the 25th century BCE.[29] The ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations withPharaonic Egypt during the times of PharaohSahure andQueenHatshepsut.
Between 2500 and 3000 years ago,Bantu-speakingpeoples began a millennia-long series of migrations eastward from their homeland around southern Cameroon. ThisBantu expansion introduced agriculture into much of the African Great Lakes region. During the following fifteen centuries, the Bantu slowly intensified farming and grazing over all suitable regions of East Africa, in the process making contact withAustronesian- andArabic-speaking settlers on southern coastal areas. The latter also spreadIslam to the coastal belt, but most Bantu remainedAfrican Traditional Religion adherents.
Early Iron Age findings in East and Southern Africa
Over a period of many centuries, most hunting-foraging peoples were displaced and absorbed by incoming Bantu communities, as well as by laterNilotic communities.[citation needed] TheBantu expansion was a long series of physical migrations, a diffusion of language and knowledge out into and in from neighboring populations, and a creation of new societal groups involving inter-marriage among communities and small groups moving to communities and small groups moving to new areas.[32]
After their movements from their original homeland inWest Africa, Bantus also encountered in central east Africa peoples ofCushitic origin.[citation needed] As cattle terminology in use amongst the few modern Bantupastoralist groups suggests, the Bantu migrants would acquirecattle from their new Cushitic neighbors. Linguistic evidence also indicates that Bantus most likely borrowed the custom of milking cattle directly from Cushitic peoples in the area.[33]
On the coastal section of the African Great Lakes region, another mixed Bantu community developed through contact withMuslimArab andPersian traders, leading to the development of the mixed Arab, Persian and AfricanSwahili City States.[34] TheSwahili culture that emerged from these exchanges evinces many Arab and Islamic influences not seen in traditional Bantu culture, as do the manyAfro-Arab members of the BantuSwahili people. With its original speech community centered on the coastal parts ofTanzania (particularlyZanzibar) andKenya—a seaboard referred to as theSwahili Coast—the BantuSwahili language contains manyArabicloan-words as a consequence of these interactions.[35] Its important to note that Kiswahili grammar and structure are purely African and Bantu even if its vocabulary has non-African influence in the same way English remains a Germanic language regardless of its vocabulary being heavily influenced by Latin and French among other languages.
The earliest Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Kenya and Tanzania encountered by these later Arab and Persian settlers have been variously identified with the trading settlements ofRhapta,Azania andMenouthias[36] referenced in early Greek and Chinese writings from 50 CE to 500 CE,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] ultimately giving rise to the name forTanzania.[45][46] These early writings perhaps document the first wave of Bantu settlers to reach central east Africa during their migration.[47]
Between the 14th and 15th centuries, large African Great Lakes kingdoms and states emerged, such as theBuganda[48] andKaragwe[48] kingdoms of Uganda and Tanzania.
ThePortuguese were the first Europeans to explore the region of current-dayKenya,Tanzania, andMozambique by sea.Vasco da Gama visitedMombasa in 1498. Da Gama's voyage was successful in reachingIndia, which permitted the Portuguese to trade with theFar East directly by sea. This in turn challenged the older trading networks of mixed land and sea routes, such as thespice trade routes which utilized thePersian Gulf,Red Sea, andcamel caravans to reach the eastern Mediterranean.[49]
TheRepublic of Venice had gained control over much of the trade routes between Europe and Asia. After traditional land routes to India had been closed by theOttoman Turks, Portugal hoped to use the sea route pioneered by da Gama to break the once Venetian trading monopoly.[50] Portuguese rule in the African Great Lakes region focused mainly on a coastal strip centered around Mombasa. The Portuguese presence in the area officially began after 1505, when flagships under the command ofDon Francisco de Almeida conqueredKilwa, an island located in what is now southernTanzania.
In March 1505, having received fromManuel I of Portugal the appointment of viceroy of the newly conqueredterritory in India, he set sail fromLisbon in command of a large and powerful fleet, and arrived in July at Quiloa (Kilwa), which yielded to him almost without a struggle. A much more vigorous resistance was offered by theMoors of Mombasa. However, the town was taken and destroyed, and its large treasures went to strengthen the resources of Almeida. Attacks followed on Hoja (now known as Ungwana, located at the mouth of theTana River),Barawa,Angoche,Pate and other coastal towns until the westernIndian Ocean was a safe haven for Portuguese commercial interests. At other places on his way, such as the island ofAngediva, nearGoa, andCannanore, the Portuguese built forts, and adopted measures to secure the Portuguese supremacy.
Portugal's main goal on the Swahili coast was to take control of the spice trade from theArabs. At this stage, the Portuguese presence in East Africa served the purposes of controlling trade within the Indian Ocean and securing the sea routes linking Europe to Asia. Portuguese naval vessels were very disruptive to the commerce of Portugal's enemies within the western Indian Ocean and were able to demand high tariffs on items transported through the sea due to their strategic control of ports and shipping lanes. The construction ofFort Jesus in Mombasa in 1593 was meant to solidify Portuguese hegemony in the region, but their influence was clipped by theBritish,Dutch andOmaniArab incursions into the Great Lakes region during the 17th century.
The Omani Arabs posed the most direct challenge to Portuguese influence in the African Great Lakes region. By this time, thePortuguese Empire had already lost its interest on the spice trade sea route due to the decreasing profitability of that business. The Arabs reclaimed much of theIndian Ocean trade, forcing the Portuguese to retreat south where they remained inPortuguese East Africa (Mozambique) as sole rulers until the 1975 independence of Mozambique.
Omani Arabcolonization of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts brought the once independentcity-states under closer foreign scrutiny and domination than was experienced during the Portuguese period. Like their predecessors, the Omani Arabs were primarily able only to control the coastal areas, not the interior. However, the creation of cloveplantations, intensification of theslave trade and relocation of the Omani capital toZanzibar in 1839 bySeyyid Said consolidated the Omani power in the region.[50]
Arab governance of all the major ports along the Swahili coast continued until British interests aimed particularly at ending the slave trade and creation of awage-labour system began to put pressure on Omani rule. By the late nineteenth century, the slave trade on the open seas had been completely outlawed by the British and the Omani Arabs had little ability to resist the British navy's ability to enforce the directive. The Omani presence continued in Zanzibar andPemba until theZanzibar Revolution in 1964. However, the official Omani Arab presence in Kenya was checked by German and British seizure of key ports and creation of crucial trade alliances with influential local leaders in the 1880s.
Between the 19th and 20th century, East Africa became a theatre of competition between the major imperialistic European nations of the time. The three main colors of the African country were beige, red, and blue. The red stood for the English, blue stood for the French, and the beige stood for Germany during the period of colonialism. During the period of theScramble for Africa, almost every country in the larger region to varying degrees became part of a Europeancolonial empire.
Portugal had first established a strong presence in southernMozambique and the Indian Ocean since the 15th century, while during this period their possessions increasingly grew including parts from the present northern Mozambique country, up toMombasa in present-day Kenya. AtLake Malawi, they finally met the recently created BritishProtectorate ofNyasaland (nowadaysMalawi), which surrounded the homonymous lake on three sides, leaving the Portuguese the control of lake's eastern coast. TheBritish Empire set foot in the region's most exploitable and promising lands acquiring what is todayUganda, andKenya. The Protectorate ofUganda and the Colony ofKenya were located in a rich farmland area mostly appropriate for the cultivation ofcash crops likecoffee andtea, as well as for animalhusbandry with products produced from cattle and goats, such asgoat meat,beef andmilk. Moreover, this area had the potential for a significant residential expansion, being suitable for the relocation of a large number of British nationals to the region. Prevailing climatic conditions and the regions'geomorphology allowed the establishment of flourishing European-style settlements likeNairobi,Vila Pery,Vila Junqueiro,Porto Amélia,Lourenço Marques andEntebbe.[51]
TheGerman Empire gained control of a large area namedGerman East Africa, comprising present-dayRwanda,Burundi and the mainland part ofTanzania named Tanganyika.[53] In 1922, the British gained aLeague of Nations mandate over Tanganyika which it administered until Independence was granted to Tanganyika in 1961. Following the Zanzibar Revolution of 1965, the independent state of Tanganyika formed theUnited Republic of Tanzania by creating a union between the mainland, and the island chain of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is now a semi-autonomous state in a union with the mainland which is collectively and commonly referred to asTanzania. German East Africa, though very extensive, was not of such strategic importance as theBritish Crown's colonies to the north: the inhabitation of these lands was difficult and thus limited, mainly due to climatic conditions and the local geomorphology. Italy gained control of various parts ofSomalia in the 1880s. The southern three-fourths of Somalia became an Italianprotectorate (Italian Somaliland).
Meanwhile, in 1884, a narrow coastal strip of Somaliland came under British control (British Somaliland). This Somaliland protectorate was just opposite the British colony ofAden on theArabian Peninsula. With these territories secured, Britain was able to serve as gatekeeper of thesea lane leading toBritish India. In 1890, beginning with the purchase of the small port town ofAsseb from a local sultan inEritrea, the Italians colonized all of Eritrea.
In 1895, from bases in Somalia and Eritrea, the Italians launched theFirst Italo–Ethiopian War against theOrthodox Empire ofEthiopia. By 1896, the war had become a total disaster for the Italians and Ethiopia was able to retain its independence. Ethiopia remained independent until 1936 when, after theSecond Italo-Abyssinian War, it became part ofItalian East Africa. The Italian occupation of Ethiopia ended in 1941 duringWorld War II as part of theEast African Campaign. The French also staked out an East African outpost on the route toFrench Indochina. Starting in the 1850s, the small protectorate ofDjibouti becameFrench Somaliland in 1897.
Since the end of colonialism, several East African countries have been riven with military coups, ethnic violence and oppressive dictators. The region has endured the following post-colonial conflicts:
Tanzania has known a stable government since independence although there are significant political and religious tensions resulting from the political union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous state in theUnited Republic of Tanzania.
Image of the region betweenLake Victoria (on the right) and LakesEdward,Kivu andTanganyika (from north to south) showing dense vegetation (bright green) and fires (red)
Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the "big five": theelephant,buffalo,lion,black rhinoceros,[58] andleopard, though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly those of the rhino and elephant.
The geography of East Africa is often stunning and scenic. Shaped by global plate tectonic forces that have created theEast African Rift, East Africa is the site ofMount Kilimanjaro andMount Kenya, the two tallest peaks in Africa. It also includes the world's second largest freshwater lake,Lake Victoria, and the world's second-deepest lake,Lake Tanganyika.
East Africa has a diverse climate that consists of hot, dry desert regions, cooler regions, and highlands.[64] Its climate generally is rather atypical of equatorial regions, being mostly arid or semi-arid with rainfall totals across much of the lowland regions below 600 millimetres or 24 inches per year. In fact, on the northern coast of Somalia, annual rainfall is less than 100 millimetres or 4 inches[65] and many years can go by without any rain whatsoever.[66] The causes of the low rainfall totals are not fully understood. One factor is presence of theSomali Jet (a fast wind system) in boreal summer, which brings cool southern hemisphere air into East Africa.[67] A second cause is the presence of east to west river valleys in theEast African Rift, which channel strong moisture-laden winds from the Indian Ocean away from East Africa and towards theCongo Basin rainforest.[68]
Rainfall generally increases towards the south and with altitude, being around 400 mm (16 in) atMogadishu and 1,200 mm (47 in) atMombasa on the coast, whilst inland it increases from around 130 mm (5 in) atGaroowe to over 1,100 mm (43 in) atMoshi near Kilimanjaro. Rainfall in most of East Africa east of the Rwenzoris andEthiopian Highlands is characterised by two main rainfall seasons, the long rains from March to May and the short rains from October to December. This is usually attributed to the passage of theIntertropical Convergence Zone across the region in those months, but it may also be analogous to the autumn monsoon rains of parts ofSri Lanka,Vietnam, and the BrazilianNordeste. West of the mountains, the rainfall pattern is more typically tropical, with rain throughout the year near the equator and a single wet season in most of the Ethiopian Highlands from June to September — contracting to July and August aroundAsmara. Annual rainfall here ranges from over 1,600 mm (63 in) on the western slopes to around 1,250 mm (49 in) atAddis Ababa and 550 mm (22 in) at Asmara. In the high mountains rainfall can be over 2,500 millimetres or 100 inches.
Rainfall variability is influenced by bothEl Niño events and a positiveIndian Ocean Dipole. El Niño events tend to increase rainfall except in the northern and western parts of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, where they produce drought and poorNilefloods.[69] Similarly, a positive Indian Ocean Dipole result in warm sea-surface temperatures off the coast of East Africa and lead to increased rainfall over East Africa.[70] Temperatures in East Africa, except on the hot and generally humid coastal belt, are moderate, with maxima of around 25 °C (77 °F) and minima of 15 °C (59 °F) at an altitude of 1,500 metres (4,921 ft). At altitudes of above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft),frosts are common during the dry season and maxima typically about 21 °C (70 °F) or less.
Eastern Africa had an estimated population of 260 million in 2000. This was projected to reach 890 million by 2050, with an average growth rate of 2.5% per annum. The 2000 population is expected to quintuple over the course of the 21st century, to 1.6 billion as of 2100 (UN estimates as of 2017).[71] InEthiopia, there is an estimated population of 102 million as of 2016.[72]
Christianity andIslam are the predominant religions of the region, withtraditional African religions andreligious syncretism being practiced too. Christianity is the majority religion of the countries in East Africa, with the exception ofComoros,Djibouti andSomalia, where Islam predominates, andMauritius, where almost half of the population adheres toHinduism. InEritrea, the two major religions are Christianity and Islam, although the number of adherents of each faith is uncertain. Among the countries where Christianity is the largest religion, there are sizeable Muslim communities inEthiopia, and on theSwahili coast in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.[73] In 2020, the Association of Religion Data Archives found that the majority of Eastern Africa was Christian and mostly Protestant.[74]
Agriculture plays a major role in the economy of East Africa, employing the majority of the population and contributing significantly to theGDP.[78]Tourism is especially developed inTanzania andKenya, due tosafari parks.Nairobi andAddis Ababa are the mainfinancial hubs in East Africa.[79]While East Africa is the fastest growing region in Africa,[80] several countries in the region are struggling economically, with their situation worsened by political instability, such as theeconomy of South Sudan which stagnated due to theSouth Sudanese Civil War.
^Ghirotto S; Penso-Dolfin L; Barbujani G (August 2011)."Genomic evidence for an African expansion of anatomically modern humans by a Southern route".Human Biology.83 (4):477–89.doi:10.3378/027.083.0403.PMID21846205.S2CID17344813.Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved2 November 2019.Data on cranial morphology have been interpreted as suggesting that, before the main expansion from Africa through the Near East, anatomically modern humans may also have taken a Southern route from the Horn of Africa through the Arabian peninsula to India, Melanesia and Australia, about 100,000 yrs ago.
^Mellars, P; KC, Gori; M, Carr; PA, Soares; Richards, MB (June 2013)."Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia".Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.110 (26):10699–704.Bibcode:2013PNAS..11010699M.doi:10.1073/pnas.1306043110.PMC3696785.PMID23754394.These data support a coastally oriented dispersal of modern humans from eastern Africa to southern Asia ~60-50 thousand years ago (ka). This was associated with distinctively African microlithic and "backed-segment" technologies analogous to the African "Howiesons Poort" and related technologies, together with a range of distinctively "modern" cultural and symbolic features (highly shaped bone tools, personal ornaments, abstract artistic motifs, microblade technology, etc.), similar to those that accompanied the replacement of "archaic" Neanderthal by anatomically modern human populations in other regions of western Eurasia at a broadly similar date.
^Najovits, Simson (2004)Egypt, trunk of the tree, Volume 2, Algora Publishing, p. 258,ISBN087586256X.
^David Phillipson: revised by Michael DiBlasi (1 November 2012). Neil Asher Silberman (ed.).The Oxford Companion to Archaeology (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 48.ISBN9780199735785.Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved11 November 2016.
^Casson, Lionel (1989). The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Lionel Casson. (Translation by H. Frisk, 1927, with updates and improvements and detailed notes). Princeton, Princeton University Press.
^Chami, F. A. (1999). "The Early Iron Age on Mafia Island and its relationship with the mainland." Azania Vol. XXXIV 1999, pp. 1–10.
^Chami, Felix A. 2002. "The Egypto-Graeco-Romans and Paanchea/Azania: sailing in the Erythraean Sea." From: Red Sea Trade and Travel. The British Museum. Sunday 6 October 2002. Organised by The Society for Arabian Studies
^Rich, Evelyn Jones; Wallerstein, Immanuel Maurice (2 July 1971).Africa: Tradition and Change. Random House School Division.ISBN9780394009384.Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved14 October 2015 – via Google Books.
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