Flashback

ADF STAFF The Maravi kingdom, which took up parts of what are now Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and eastern Zimbabwe, was a vibrant society of skilled administrators, ivory traders, healers, sages and metallurgists. It began with the tribes…

ADF STAFF Uganda’s five kingdoms date back hundreds of years and continue to play a role in the lives of people today. The largest and most powerful was the Kingdom of Buganda, which traces its beginnings to the 13th century, when it was…

ADF STAFF The Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, dates to the seventh century, the time of the Prophet Muhammad. But Muslims believe the pilgrimage dates back thousands of years earlier, to the time of Abraham.…

CLUES Walled towns and settlements, known as paletas, were built on high plains or hills to provide a strategic and defensive advantage. Dry stone terraces prevent soil erosion, collect water and create terraced fields used in…

ADF STAFF Great Zimbabwe is mostly deserted now, but in its time it was a wondrous place. Historians believe that members of what is now the Shona tribe began work on the city-state Great Zimbabwe in the ninth century, with its heyday…

ADF STAFF In 1861, 3,000 heavily armed female Soldiers charged a thorny wall during a skills demonstration. King Glele, their ruler in Dahomey, a region that is now part of Benin, was eager to show off the ferocity and skill of his…