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Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC · Public domain
Landmark Africa wonder

Lake Chad

3000 BCE – still standing

Historically vast freshwater lake at the edge of the Sahara, once one of the largest lakes in Africa and a lifeline for millions across four countries

See it on the timeline

Wikipedia

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

Lake Chad on Wikipedia.

Read the article

Who held this ground

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

Reconstruction

  1. No border recorded here in this snapshot (3000 BCE)
  2. Saharan Pastoral Nomads (2000 BCE–200 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. No border recorded here in this snapshot (100 BCE–600 CE)
  4. Saharan Nomadic Tribes (700 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. Kanem (800 CE–900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  6. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1000 CE–1100 CE)
  7. Tuareg Nomadic Tribes (1200 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  8. Bornu-Kanem (1279 CE–1500 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  9. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1530 CE)
  10. Bornu-Kanem (1600 CE–1815 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  11. Kanem-Bornu (1880 CE–1900 CE) Border precision: Defined
  12. French West Africa (1914 CE) Border precision: Defined
  13. French Equatorial Africa (1920 CE–1938 CE) Border precision: Defined
  14. Chad (1945 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

Leptis Magna

1000 BCE – still standing

Polity · Africa

Algeria

Founded 1900 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Trade route · Africa

Trans-Saharan Western Route

400 CE

Conflict · Africa

Sand War (Algeria–Morocco)

1963 CE

Landmark · Africa

Volubilis

300 BCE – 1200 CE

Polity · Africa

Angola

Attested 1815 CE – 2026 CE

Trade route · Africa

Trans-Saharan Eastern Route

400 CE

Conflict · Africa

Nigerian Civil War (Biafra)

1967 CE – 1970 CE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 3000 BCE and 2026 CE.

3000 BCE Laas Geel 2000 BCE Kondoa Rock Art 1400 BCE Thimlich Ohinga 1000 BCE Leptis Magna 1000 BCE Nok 631 BCE Cyrene

And in the rest of the world

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

Great Pyramid of Giza Landmark · Middle East 2560 BCE – still standing Tibet Polity · South Asia 1000 CE – 1960 CE World War I Conflict · Europe 1914 CE – 1918 CE Nile River Trade Trade route · Middle East 3000 BCE – 30 BCE Sargon of Akkad Figure · Mesopotamia 2334 BCE – 2279 BCE Great Wall of China Landmark · East Asia 700 BCE – still standing
Image credits 5 pictures from Wikimedia Commons
  • Lake Chad Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC · Public domain
  • Leptis Magna joepyrek from Richmond, Va, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Flag of Algeria Original: National Liberation Front of Algeria Vector: SKopp · Public domain
  • Volubilis Subhros · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Flag of Angola Original: Henrique de Carvalho Santos Vector: SKopp · Public domain