MapMaster 3

A world map shows early Sub-Saharan states and empires, marked with blue shaded regions.

The ancient sub-Saharan states and empires can be categorized into three clusters: western, eastern, and central and southern Africa. In the western cluster, major states included Mali in present-day western Mali and Senegal, Ghana in western Mali, and Songhai in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The Hausa states occupied regions in Niger and northern Nigeria, while Kanem Borno spanned Niger, Chad, northern Nigeria, and Cameroon. Closer to the seacoast, smaller kingdoms like Ashanti in present-day Ghana, Dahomey in Togo and Benin, and Ife/Oyo, Benin, and Nok in modern Nigeria thrived.

In the eastern cluster, ancient states such as Darfur and Kush or Nubia were located in southwestern and northern Sudan, respectively. Axum and Abyssinia were prominent in northern Ethiopia. Bunyoro and Buganda were significant in what is now Uganda, while Swahili city-states emerged along the coasts of present-day Kenya and Tanzania.

The central and southern African cluster included the Kongo near the coast of the modern Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Angola. Lunda spanned eastern Angola and adjacent parts of Congo, while Lozi covered eastern Angola and adjacent parts of Zambia. The Karanga/Mutapa state was in Zimbabwe, with Swazi and Zulu in eastern South Africa, and Merina in Madagascar.