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Oramfe · CC BY 4.0
Landmark Africa archaeological

Ile-Ife

500 CE – still standing

Sacred Yoruba city in Nigeria renowned for its naturalistic bronze and terracotta portrait heads from the 12th–15th centuries

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Wikipedia

The opening of the article, and a way into the rest of it without leaving the site.

Ifẹ on Wikipedia.

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Who held this ground

Borders from dated snapshots, up to a century apart; precision varies.

Reconstruction

  1. Before it was built (3000 BCE–400 CE)
  2. West African cereal farmers (500 CE–800 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. Mandes (900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  4. West African cereal farmers (1000 CE–1200 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. Benin (1279 CE–1700 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  6. Oyo (1715 CE) Border precision: Defined
  7. Africa (1783 CE–1800 CE) Border precision: Defined
  8. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1815 CE)
  9. Ibadan (1880 CE–1900 CE) Border precision: Defined
  10. Nigeria (1914 CE–2026 CE) Border precision: Defined
Border precision
  • Defined
  • Approximate

Elsewhere in Africa at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · Africa

Volubilis

300 BCE – 1200 CE

Polity · Africa

Algeria

Founded 1900 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Conflict · Africa

Sand War (Algeria–Morocco)

1963 CE

Trade route · Africa

East African Coastal Trade

900 CE – 1505 CE

Landmark · Africa

Great Zimbabwe

1100 CE – still standing

Polity · Africa

Angola

Attested 1815 CE – 2026 CE

Conflict · Africa

Nigerian Civil War (Biafra)

1967 CE – 1970 CE

Trade route · Africa

Indian Ocean Trade

900 CE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 500 CE and 2026 CE.

500 CE Ife 750 CE Ghana Empire Wars 757 CE Sijilmasa 789 CE Fez 900 CE Zanzibar

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Chichen Itza Landmark · Americas 600 CE – still standing Tibet Polity · South Asia 1000 CE – 1960 CE Mesoamerican Trade Network Trade route · Americas 1200 BCE – 1521 CE World War I Conflict · Europe 1914 CE – 1918 CE Muhammad Figure · Arabian Peninsula 570 CE – 632 CE Machu Picchu Landmark · Americas 1450 CE – still standing
Image credits 5 pictures from Wikimedia Commons
  • Ifẹ Oramfe · CC BY 4.0
  • Volubilis Subhros · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Flag of Algeria Original: National Liberation Front of Algeria Vector: SKopp · Public domain
  • Great Zimbabwe Andrew Moore from Johannesburg, South Africa · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Flag of Angola Original: Henrique de Carvalho Santos Vector: SKopp · Public domain