Medieval and Early Modern States of Central and Southern Africa: Map & History

By the 13th century there were three main federations of states in the western Congo Basin. In the east were the Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza, considered to be the oldest and most powerful, which likely included Nsundi, Mbata, Mpangu, and possibly Kundi and Okanga. South of these was Mpemba. It included various kingdoms such as Mpemba Kasi and Vunda. To its west across the Congo River was a confederation of three small states; Vungu (its leader), Kakongo, and Ngoyo.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Kongo · History: Foundation (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The vata village, referred to as libata in Kongo documents and by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, served as Kongo's basic social unit after the family. Nkuluntu, or mocolunto to the Portuguese, chiefs headed the villages. The one to two hundred citizens per village migrated about every ten years to accommodate soil exhaustion. Communal land-ownership and collective farms produced harvests divided by families according to the number of people per household. The nkuluntu received special premium from the harvest before the division.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Kongo · Political structure (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Slavery had existed since the Kingdom of Kongo's founding, as during its early wars of expansion the nascent kingdom had taken many captives. Kongo's tradition of forcibly transferring peoples captured in wars to the royal capital was key to the power of the Kongolese king, and it was the same mechanism of enslavement and transfer of population that made Kongo an efficient exporter of slaves. Kongolese laws and cultural traditions protected freeborn Kongolese from enslavement, and so most of the enslaved population were war captives. Convicted Kongolese criminals could also be forced into slavery, and were initially protected from sale outside the kingdom. The export of female slaves was also prohibited. Afonso's early letters show evidence of domestic slave markets.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Kongo · History: Expansion of the slave trade (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The kingdom's army consisted of a mass levy of archers, drawn from the general male population, and a smaller corps of heavy infantry, who fought with swords and carried shields for protection. Portuguese documents typically referred to heavy infantry, considered nobles, as fidalgos in documents. The bearing of a shield was also important, as Portuguese documents usually called the heavy infantry as adargueiros (shield bearers). The shields of the heavy infantry extended from the knees unto the neck of the soldier; this force lacked armour. Most shield bearers bore a "scimitar-shaped longsword" as described by military historian Wayne Lee. Shield bearers were limited by number and approximately 1000 were deployed in most Kongo armies. Some archers, especially those in eastern Kongo, used poison arrows. There is weak evidence to suggest revenue assignments paid and supported them.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Kongo · Military structure (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The people of the Kongo are divided into many subgroups including the Yombe, Beembe, Sundi, and others, which share a common language, KiKongo. These groups have many cultural similarities, including that they all produce a huge range of sculptural art. The most notable feature of this region's figurative style is the relative naturalism of the representation of both humans and animals. "The musculature of face and body is carefully rendered, and great attention is paid to items of personal adornment and scarification. Much of the region's art was produced for social and political leaders such as the Kongo king."

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of Kongo · Art of the Kongo Kingdom (CC BY-SA 4.0)

During this period a significant proportion of marriages were interracial, this is at least partially attributed to a lack of 'White' or 'Christian' women within the colony. What later became the racial division between 'White' and 'non-White' populations originally began as a division between Christian and non-Christian populations. The Geslags-registeers estimated that seven percent of the Afrikaner gene pool in 1807 was non-White.

From Wikipedia: Dutch Cape Colony · Demographics (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1795, France occupied the Dutch Republic. This prompted Great Britain, at war with France, to occupy the territory that same year as a way to better control the seas on the way to India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simon's Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, took control of the territory. The United East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic (the Dutch sister republic established by France) in 1798, then ceased to exist in 1799. Improving relations between Britain and Napoleonic France, and its vassal state the Batavian Republic, led the British to hand the Cape Colony over to the Batavian Republic in 1803, under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens.

From Wikipedia: Dutch Cape Colony · History: British conquest (CC BY-SA 4.0)

France was the last of the major European maritime powers of the 17th century to enter the East India trade. Six decades after the foundation of the English and Dutch East India companies (in 1600 and 1602 respectively), and at a time when both companies were multiplying factories (trading posts) on the shores of India, the French still did not have a viable trading company or a single permanent establishment in the East.

From Wikipedia: French India · Background (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Initially, the core of what would become the Lunda confederation was a commune called a N'Gaange in the kiLunda (kiyaka-kipunu) language. It was ruled over by a monarch called the Mwane-a- n'Gaange. One of these rulers, Ilunga Tshibinda, came from the nation of Luba where his brother ruled and married Lueji A'Nkonde, a royal woman from a nation to their south. Their son became the first paramount ruler of the Lunda, creating the title of Mwane-a-Yamvu (c. 1665).

From Wikipedia: Lunda Empire · Origin (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The kingdom of Lunda came to an end in the 19th century, when it was invaded by the Chokwe, who were armed with guns. The Chokwe then established their own kingdom with their language and customs. Lunda chiefs and people continued to live in the Lunda heartland but were diminished in power.

From Wikipedia: Lunda Empire · Collapse (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The line of succession in Imerina used a system called fanjakana arindra ("organized government"), which was established by the Vazimba noblewomen who raised Andriamanelo, founder of Imerina. While the Vazimba had historically tended to favor rule by queens, the Hova favored male heirs, and the marriage between Andriamanelo's Vazimba and Hova parents had produced two sons and a daughter. To prevent conflict, the queen decided that Andriamanelo would inherit the crown upon his mother's death and would be succeeded not by his own child but by his younger brother.

From Wikipedia: Imerina · Political organization (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Due to the thin population density of Madagascar, domestic slavery was a way to broadcast control over resources and manpower. The elite of Imerina relied heavily upon slave labor. Because of this, the Merina king Radama I had little intent to abide by the first British-Merina treaty signed in 1817. Slave ownership became increasingly common in the following decades. As the slave caste expanded, more and more of the Merina population began holding slaves. As imperial conquests continually increased the supply of slaves captured from neighboring tribes, the population of Antananarivo grew from around 10,000 in 1820 to 50,000 in 1833. The demand in slaves matched the rise in supply as a result of fanompoana, or mandatory military service, being established in the Merina kingdom thereby drawing able bodied free men away from agricultural labor and into the army.

From Wikipedia: Imerina · Slave trade: Domestic slavery (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Madagascar's central highlands were first inhabited between 200 BC–300 AD by the island's earliest settlers, the Vazimba, who appear to have arrived by pirogue from southeastern Borneo to establish simple villages in the island's dense forests. By the 15th century the Hova people from the southeastern coast had gradually migrated into the central highlands where they established hilltop villages interspersed among the existing Vazimba settlements, which were ruled by local kings and queens. The two peoples coexisted peacefully for several generations and are known to have intermarried. In this way, a reigning Vazimba queen (alternately given in the oral histories as Rafohy or Rangita) married a Hova man named Manelobe.

From Wikipedia: Imerina · History: Hova-Vazimba conflict (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1872, after a long political battle, the Cape of Good Hope achieved responsible government under its first Prime Minister, John Molteno. Henceforth, an elected Prime Minister and his cabinet had total responsibility for the affairs of the country. A period of strong economic growth and social development ensued, and the eastern-western division was largely laid to rest. The system of multi-racial franchise also began a slow and fragile growth in political inclusiveness, and ethnic tensions subsided. In 1877, the state expanded by annexing Griqualand West and Griqualand East – that is, the Mount Currie district (Kokstad). The emergence of two Boer mini-republics along the Missionary Road resulted in 1885 in the Warren Expedition, sent to annex the republics of Stellaland and Goshen (lands annexed to British Bechuanaland).

From Wikipedia: Cape Colony · History: Responsible government (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Dutch Republic, the mother country of the Dutch United East India Company. This prompted Great Britain to occupy the Cape Colony in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order to stop any potential French attempt to reach India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simon's Town and, following the defeat of the VOC militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, took control of the territory. The United East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic (the Revolutionary period Dutch state) in 1798, and went bankrupt in 1799. Improving relations between Britain and Napoleonic France, and its vassal state the Batavian Republic, led the British to hand the Cape of Good Hope over to the Batavian Republic in 1803, under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens.

From Wikipedia: Cape Colony · History: British conquest (CC BY-SA 4.0)