These elaborate ear pendants and headdress were worn by Jewish or Berber women in modern-day Morocco
North Africa
The church, baptistry, basilicas, public buildings, streets, monasteries, houses and workshops in this early Christian holy city were built over the tomb of the martyr Menas of Alexandria, who died in 296 C.E
Abu Mena
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)
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
Sudan is home to the oldest sub-Saharan African kingdom, the kingdom of Kush.
Ancient Nubia and the Kingdom of Kush, ...
This head of Augustus was found at Meroe, buried in front of the steps of a Kushite temple, possibly dedicated to Victory.
Head of Augustus at Meroë
Rock art is one of the best records of the life of past peoples who lived across the Sahara.
Rock Art in the Green Sahara (Africa)
Learn about the geography of North Africa.
About North Africa
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Ancient Egypt
Kairouan is the oldest Islamic city in Africa, holy in its own right and critical for the westward spread of Islam.
Kairouan (from UNESCO)
Elements of pre-Islamic, Roman, and Byzantine architecture all appear in this high-status structure.
The Great Mosque of Kairouan
These images reveal how the Sahara changed from rich grassland to inhospitable desert over thousands of years.
Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus
Who is this mysterious running horned woman, painted in a secluded, difficult to access part of Tassili?
Running Horned Woman, Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria
Tassili n’Ajjer’s “forests of stone” are the site of painted and engraved images, some up to 12,000 years old.
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