The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum are found close to Ethiopia's northern border.
The Art of Africa
with its imposing stone walls, Loropéni is the best preserved of ten fortresses in the Lobi area and is part of a larger group of 100 stone enclosures that bear testimony to the power of the trans-Saharan gold trade
Ruins of Loropéni
From 1625 to 1900, 12 kings succeeded one another at the head of the powerful Kingdom of Abomey (in Benin)—and they built palaces.
Royal palaces of Abomey
The mosque, whose prayer room has 13 aisles with eight bays, is one of the largest in Algeria.
Al Qal’a of Beni Hammad (mosque)(UNESCO/NHK)
The lamba (generic name for cloth in Madagascar) is worn as a shawl for everyday wear, but the Merina peoples of Central Madagascar also use it as a shroud in which to wrap the dead during burial ceremonies.
Silk textile (lamba akotofahana), Merina peoples
This brass head clearly portrays a person of status and authority, possibly a king (ooni) of Ife
Head of a ruler, Ife
From a live Smarthistory webinar: Dr. Allison Young, Teaching El Anatsui & "Global Contemporary" Art
From a live Smarthistory webinar: Dr. Allison ...
Twin figures known as Ère Ìbejì reveal how a Yorùbá mother navigates the loss of twins
Yorùbá artist, pair of twin figures (Ère ...
Ghanaian coffins are famous for their creative shapes
Paa Joe, Coffin the Shape of a ...
Vibrant annual ngoun celebrations involve masks used in gatherings in the Bamun Kingdom, Camerooon
Pageantry in the Palace—Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon
Beautiful glass was popular from ancient Egypt into the Coptic period
Glass dish, Coptic
In the course of the fourth and fifth centuries C.E., Christians transformed the architectural landscape of pharaonic Egypt by building monumental churches, martyrs’ shrines, and monasteries
Byzantine Egypt and the Coptic period, an ...
By the seventh and eighth centuries in Egypt, patterns on the highest-quality silk panels had become extremely sophisticated and complex
Coptic silk panel
King Piye was the first major ruler in Egypt of the Kushite Dynasty (referred to as the Twenty-fifth Dynasty)
King Piye and the Kushite control of ...
Throughout the Meroitic period Egyptian elements introduced into Kushite royal burial practices under the early Napatan kings were retained and reinterpreted
Meroitic period of the Kingdom of Kush
Between 500 and 600 C.E., the rulers of three Nubian medieval kingdoms, Nobatia, Makuria and Alwa, governed the Nile valley from the first cataract to just south of modern Khartoum in Sudan—and eventually became Christian
Medieval Nubian Kingdoms, an introduction
This mask is used by dancers in performances during burial rites
Punu-Lumbo mask, from Gabon
This wooden coffin in the form of eagle with painted gold feather markings was made in the village of Teshie in Ghana.
Coffin in the shape of an eagle
These pieces of broken pots were picked up on a beach in Tanzania, East Africa, and they come from pots that were actually made as far away as China or the Middle East.
Kilwa pot sherds
Sudan is home to the oldest sub-Saharan African kingdom, the kingdom of Kush.
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