Africa through space and time

Origins Atlas

Explore places, kingdoms, sites and people across the continent. Choose a country on the map or from the list.

Has atlas entries Site with a surveyed location Approximate location Territory with disputed status Modern borders shown for orientation only; historical kingdoms, peoples and cultural regions did not follow them. Map data: Natural Earth (public domain).

Browse by region and country

Regions follow the UN geoscheme, one convention among several.

North Africa (1 entry)

West Africa (5 entries)

Central Africa (0 entries)

East Africa (8 entries)

Southern Africa (1 entry)

Also drawn on the map, not linked: Somaliland, Western Sahara (status disputed or not internationally recognised).

Western Sahara: a territory whose status is disputed. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has been a member of the African Union since 22 February 1982 (AU Member States page); it is not a UN member state, and Morocco claims the territory.
Somaliland: declared independence from Somalia in 1991; it is not recognised as a state by the African Union or the United Nations.

Through time

Periods are conventional and approximate; scholars divide African history differently from region to region.

All periods
Human origins and prehistory No entries yet
Ancient (to c. 500 CE) 3 entries
c. 500 – 1500 CE 8 entries
c. 1500 – 1800 1 entry
19th century No entries yet
Colonial era (c. 1880s – 1960s) No entries yet
Independence era (c. 1950s – 1990s) 3 entries
Contemporary (1990s – today) 1 entry

All atlas entries

SiteTimbuktuA city at the edge of the Sahara in present-day Mali that became an intellectual and spiritual capital in the 15th and…

Historical figures →

Map of Africa

All atlas entries