Five Most Influential African Empires in History

Historical African Empires and Civilization

Menelik II observes the Battle of Adwa against the Italian invasion army in 1896. Le Petit Journal, 1898. ( Poto source: Wikipedia)

It's true that amongst all empires in ancient African history, Egypt happens to be the most popular as there are numerous historical records of ancient Egypt and very few other notable empires across the continent.

Here are five of these empires.

1. The Ethiopian Empire

The Ethiopian Empire was the kingdom that spread across parts of what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. It began with the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty that lasted from C.1270 to 1974.

The Ethiopian Empire was said to have survived a lot of disastrous events. It successfully resisted several invasion attempts by other powerful kingdoms including colonialism, as well as defeated Italy in the First Italo-Ethiopian War. However, it crumbled after losing the war the second time in 1935 which introduced military rule by 1974.

The old Ghana Empire (Photo source: answersafrica.com)

2. The Ghana Empire

The Ghana empire — which is different from the modern Ghana country — was in existence from the 6th to the 13th century CE. It was…