View source for Place:East Africa

{{Short description|Eastern region of the African continent}}
{{Infobox
| bodyclass = geography
| above = East Africa
| image = [[File:Africa-countries-eastern.png|200px]]
| caption = Eastern Africa
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  | {{flag|Burundi}}
  | {{flag|Comoros}}
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  | {{flag|Eritrea}}
  | {{flag|Ethiopia}}
  | {{flag|Kenya}}
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  | {{flag|Mauritius}}
  | {{flag|Mozambique}}
  | {{flag|Rwanda}}
  | {{flag|Seychelles}}
  | {{flag|Somalia}}
  | {{flag|South Sudan}}
  | {{flag|Sudan}}
  | {{flag|Tanzania}}
  | {{flag|Uganda}}
  | {{flag|Zambia}}
  | {{flag|Zimbabwe}}
  | {{flag|Somaliland}}
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  | {{flagdeco|Yemen}} Socotra
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'''East Africa''', '''Eastern Africa''', or '''East of Africa''' is the [[Place:United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Eastern Africa|eastern subregion]] of the [[Earth:Africa|Africa]]n [[Earth:Continent|continent]]. In the United Nations Statistics Division [[Place:United Nations geoscheme for Africa|scheme]] of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) <!-- What does the '*" mean? There is none other on the page. In fact what does the '1-11–(16)' mean? --> territories make up Eastern Africa:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm|title=United Nations Statistics Division- Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications (M49)|work=un.org|access-date=22 September 2008|archive-date=13 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713041240/http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Scientific consensus states the region of East Africa is where anatomically modern humans first evolved circa 200,000 years ago before migrating northwards out of Africa.

Due to the historical Omani Empire and colonial territories of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa, the term ''East Africa'' is often (especially in the English language) used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the three countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.<ref>"East Africa". ''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'', Judy Pearsall, ed. 2001. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; p. 582. "The eastern part of the African continent, especially the countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania."</ref><ref>Robert M. Maxon, ''East Africa: An Introductory History'', 2 Revised edition, (West Virginia University: 1994), p. 1</ref><ref>Mary Fitzpatrick and Tom Parkinson, ''Lonely Planet East Africa'', 7th edition, (Lonely Planet Publications: 2006), p. 13</ref><ref>Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Ed.'', p. 24</ref> However, this has never been the convention in many other languages, where the term generally had a wider, strictly geographic context and therefore typically included Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.<ref name="Somaliland">Somaliland is not included in the United Nations geoscheme, as it is internationally recognized as a part of Somalia.</ref><ref>"East Africa". ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary'', 3rd ed. 2001. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.; p. 339. "A term often used of the area now comprising the countries of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Somalia; sometimes used to include also other neighboring countries of E Africa."</ref><ref>"[http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/east%2520africa.html East Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209103129/http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/east%2520africa.html |date=9 December 2008 }}". ''Encarta World English Dictionary [North American Edition]'' 2007. Microsoft Corporation. "[R]egion in east central Africa, usually taken to comprise Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda". [https://web.archive.org/web/20081209103129/http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/east%2520africa.html Archived] 2009-10-31.</ref><ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, inc, Jacob E. Safra, ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'', (Encyclopædia Britannica: 2002), p.61</ref><ref>"East Africa". ''Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.'' 2003. The Gage Group Inc. "East Africa comprises ten countries: Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Kenya."</ref><ref>[http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/Y1997E/y1997e0l.htm FAO – East Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221001515/http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/y1997e/y1997e0l.htm |date=21 December 2018 }}: "With eight countries (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, the Sudan, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania),[31] East Africa covers a land area of 5.9 million square kilometres."</ref><ref>Sandra Fullerton Joireman, ''Institutional Change in the Horn of Africa'', (Universal-Publishers: 1997), p.1</ref>

*Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, [[Biology:Rwanda|Rwanda]], Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are members of the [[Organization:East African Community|East African Community]]. The first five are also included in the [[Place:African Great Lakes|African Great Lakes]] region. Burundi and Rwanda are at times also considered to be part of [[Place:Central Africa|Central Africa]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-06-08 |title=East Africa Regional Overview |url=https://www.afdb.org/en/countries/east-africa/east-africa-overview |access-date=2023-04-26 |website=African Development Bank - Building today, a better Africa tomorrow |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Eastern Africa region|date=17 August 2017 |url=https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/oceans-seas/what-we-do/working-regional-seas/regional-seas-programmes/eastern-africa}}</ref>
* Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia are collectively known as the [[Place:Horn of Africa|Horn of Africa]].<ref name="Stock">Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guildford Press; 2004), p. 26</ref><ref name="IRIN">{{cite web |url=http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Region.aspx?Region=HOA&Service=ENG |title=IRIN – Horn of Africa |work=IRINnews |access-date=14 April 2008 |archive-date=28 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828095316/http://www.irinnews.org//Africa-Region.aspx?Region=HOA&Service=ENG |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Hodd">Michael Hodd, ''East Africa Handbook'', 7th Edition, (Passport Books: 2002), p. 21: "To the north are the countries of the Horn of Africa comprising Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia."</ref><ref name="Britannica">Encyclopedia Britannica, inc, Jacob E. Safra, ''The New Encyclopedia Britannica'', (Encyclopædia Britannica: 2002), p.61: "The northern mountainous area, known as the Horn of Africa, comprises Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Somaliland."</ref><ref name="Joireman">Sandra Fullerton Joireman, ''Institutional Change in the Horn of Africa'', (Universal-Publishers: 1997), p.1: "The Horn of Africa encompasses the countries of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. These countries share similar peoples, languages, and geographical endowments."</ref> The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Overview of Module Twenty: Southern Africa |url=http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/curriculum/unit-four/module-twenty/ |website=Exploring Africa |access-date=18 May 2018 |archive-date=11 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111220613/http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/curriculum/unit-four/module-twenty/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* Socotra - A governerate of Yemen located in the Indian Ocean.
* Comoros, [[Earth:Mauritius|Mauritius]], and Seychelles – small [[Earth:List of islands in the Indian Ocean|island nations]] in the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]].
* Réunion, Mayotte (geographically a part of the Comoro Islands) and the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean – French overseas territories also in the Indian Ocean.
* Mozambique and {{wipe|Madagascar}} – often considered part of [[Place:Southern Africa|Southern Africa]], on the eastern side of the sub-continent. Madagascar has close cultural ties to both [[Place:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]] and East Africa, and the islands of the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]].
* Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – often also included in [[Place:Southern Africa|Southern Africa]], and formerly constituted the [[Place:Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland|Central African Federation]] (also known historically as the ''Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland'').
* South Sudan and Sudan – collectively part of the Nile Valley. They are situated in the northeastern portion of the continent.<ref name="EAPP">{{cite web |title=Eastern Africa Power Pool |url=http://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/events/2013/July/Afriac%20CEC%20session%202_EAPP_Gebrehiwot_220613.pdf |publisher=EAPP |access-date=15 October 2014 |archive-date=7 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007054320/http://irena.org/DocumentDownloads/events/2013/July/Afriac%20CEC%20session%202_EAPP_Gebrehiwot_220613.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Also members of the [[Organization:Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa|Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa]] (COMESA) free trade area.

== Geography and climate ==

[[File:Aqua rwanda 05jun04 250m.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Image of the region between Lake Victoria (on the right) and Lakes Edward, Kivu and Tanganyika (from north to south) showing dense vegetation (bright green) and fires (red).]]

Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the "big five": the [[Biology:African elephant|elephant]], [[Biology:African buffalo|buffalo]], [[Biology:Panthera leo melanochaita|lion]], [[Biology:Black rhinoceros|black rhinoceros]],<ref name="IUCN, Black rhinoceros">Emslie, R. (2012). ''Diceros bicornis''. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species {{doi|10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012.RLTS.T6557A16980917.en}}</ref> and [[Biology:Leopard|leopard]], though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly those of the rhino and elephant.

The geography of East Africa is often stunning and scenic. Shaped by global plate tectonic forces that have created the East African Rift, East Africa is the site of [[Earth:Mount Kilimanjaro|Mount Kilimanjaro]] and [[Earth:Mount Kenya|Mount Kenya]], the two tallest peaks in Africa. It also includes the world's second largest freshwater lake, Lake Victoria, and the world's second deepest lake, Lake Tanganyika.

The climate of East Africa is rather atypical of equatorial regions. It is generally arid or semi-arid with rainfall totals across much of the lowland regions below 600&nbsp;mm per year. In fact, on the coast of Somalia, many years can go by without any rain whatsoever.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dewar |first1=Robert E. |last2=Wallis |first2=James R |year=1999 |title=Geographical patterning in interannual rainfall variability in the tropics and near tropics: An L-moments approach |journal=Journal of Climate |volume=12 |issue=12 |pages=3457–3466 |doi=10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<3457:gpoirv>2.0.co;2 |bibcode=1999JCli...12.3457D |s2cid=55652367|doi-access=free }}</ref> The causes of the low rainfall totals are not fully understood. One factor is presence of the Somali Jet (a fast wind system) in boreal summer, which brings cool southern hemisphere air into East Africa.<ref>Yang, W., R. Seager, M. A. Cane, and B. Lyon, 2015: The Annual Cycle of East African Precipitation. J. Climate, 28, 2385–2404, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00484.1.</ref> A second cause is the presence of east to west river valleys in the East African Rift, which channel strong moisture-laden winds from the Indian Ocean away from East Africa and towards the [[Place:Congo Basin|Congo Basin]] rainforest.<ref>Munday, C., Savage, N., Jones, R.G. et al. Valley formation aridifies East Africa and elevates Congo Basin rainfall. Nature 615, 276–279 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05662-5</ref> Elsewhere the annual rainfall generally increases towards the south and with altitude, being around {{convert|400|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} at [[Place:Mogadishu|Mogadishu]] and {{convert|1200|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} at [[Place:Mombasa|Mombasa]] on the coast, whilst inland it increases from around {{convert|130|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} at Garoowe to over {{convert|1100|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} at Moshi near Kilimanjaro. Most of the rain falls in ''two'' distinct wet seasons, one centred on April and the other in October or November. This is usually attributed to the passage of the [[Earth:Intertropical Convergence Zone|Intertropical Convergence Zone]] across the region in those months, but it may also be analogous to the autumn monsoon rains of parts of Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and the Brazilian Nordeste.

West of the Rwenzoris and Ethiopian highlands, the rainfall pattern is more typically tropical, with rain throughout the year near the equator and a single wet season in most of the Ethiopian Highlands from June to September – contracting to July and August around [[Place:Asmara|Asmara]]. Annual rainfall here ranges from over {{convert|1600|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} on the western slopes to around {{convert|1250|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} at [[Place:Addis Ababa|Addis Ababa]] and {{convert|550|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} at Asmara. In the high mountains rainfall can be over {{convert|2500|mm|in|0|abbr=on}}.

Rainfall in East Africa is characterised by two main rainfall seasons, the long rains from March–May and the short rains from October- December. Rainfall variability is influenced by both [[Earth:El Niño|El Niño]] events and a positive [[Earth:Indian Ocean Dipole|Indian Ocean Dipole]]. El Nino events tend to increase rainfall except in the northern and western parts of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, where they produce drought and poor Nile floods.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis|first=Mike|title=Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IrKEzgkQkMC |pages=263–266 |isbn=978-1-85984-382-6 |date=July 2002 |publisher=Verso |access-date=14 October 2015 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013172754/https://books.google.com/books?id=3IrKEzgkQkMC |url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, a positive Indian Ocean Dipole result in warm sea-surface temperatures off the coast of East Africa and lead to increased rainfall over East Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Saji |first1=N. H. |last2=Goswami |first2=B. N. |last3=Vinayachandran |first3=P. N. |last4=Yamagata |first4=T. |date=September 1999 |title=A dipole mode in the tropical Indian Ocean |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/43854 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=401 |issue=6751 |pages=360–363 |doi=10.1038/43854 |pmid=16862108 |bibcode=1999Natur.401..360S |s2cid=4427627 |issn=1476-4687 |access-date=26 November 2020 |archive-date=20 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120104531/https://www.nature.com/articles/43854 |url-status=live}}</ref> Temperatures in East Africa, except on the hot and generally humid coastal belt, are moderate, with maxima of around {{convert|25|C|F}} and minima of {{convert|15|C|F}} at an altitude of {{convert|1500|m|ft|0}}. At altitudes of above {{convert|2500|m|ft|0}}, [[Earth:Frost|frost]]s are common during the dry season and maxima typically about {{convert|21|C|F}} or less.

The unique geography and apparent suitability for farming made East Africa a target for [[Earth:Europe|Europe]]an [[Exploration|exploration]], exploitation and [[Social:Colonialism|colonialization]] in the nineteenth century. Today, tourism is an important part of the economies of Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, and Uganda. The easternmost point of the continent, that is Ras Hafun in Somalia, is of [[Earth:Archaeology|archaeological]], [[History:History|historical]] and economical importance.<ref name="Ncaaroth1975">{{cite book |last=Chittick |first=Neville |title=An Archaeological Reconnaissance of the Horn: The British-Somali Expedition |year=1975 |pages=117–133}}</ref><ref name="Gssir">{{cite news |title=Somalia salt industry revives |url=http://www.garoweonline.com/page/show/post/1948/somalia-salt-industry-revives |access-date=8 March 2015 |agency=Garowe Online |date=7 March 2015 |archive-date=14 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114205651/http://www.garoweonline.com/page/show/post/1948/somalia-salt-industry-revives |url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==

===Prehistory===
{{Main|History:Prehistoric East Africa}}

According to the theory of the [[Biology:Recent African origin of modern humans|recent African origin of modern humans]], the predominantly held belief among most archaeologists, East Africa in the area of the [[Place:African Great Lakes|African Great Lakes]] is where anatomically modern humans first appeared.<ref name="Agegmowhsh">{{cite journal |vauthors=Liu H, Prugnolle F, Manica A, Balloux F |title=A geographically explicit genetic model of worldwide human-settlement history |journal=Am. J. Hum. Genet. |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=230–7 |date=August 2006 |pmid=16826514 |pmc=1559480 |doi=10.1086/505436}}</ref> There are differing theories on whether there was a single exodus or several; a multiple dispersal model involves the Southern Dispersal theory.<ref name="lahr">[http://www.human-evol.cam.ac.uk/Projects/sdispersal/sdispersal.htm Searching for traces of the Southern Dispersal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510133600/http://www.human-evol.cam.ac.uk/Projects/sdispersal/sdispersal.htm |date=10 May 2012 }}, by Dr. Marta Mirazón Lahr, et al.</ref> Some researchers have suggested that [[Place:North Africa|North Africa]] was the region of Africa from which modern humans who first trekked out of the continent.<ref name="pmid21212332">{{cite journal |author=Balter M |title=Was North Africa the launch pad for modern human migrations? |journal=Science |volume=331 |issue=6013 |pages=20–3 |date=January 2011 |pmid=21212332 |doi=10.1126/science.331.6013.20 |bibcode=2011Sci...331...20B}}</ref>

According to both genetic and fossil evidence, it has been posited that [[Biology:Archaic humans|archaic ''Homo sapiens'']] evolved into anatomically modern humans in the Horn of Africa around 200,000 years ago and dispersed from there.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Ghirotto S |author2=Penso-Dolfin L |author3=Barbujani G |s2cid=17344813 |date=Aug 2011 |title=Genomic evidence for an African expansion of anatomically modern humans by a Southern route.|journal=Human Biology |volume=83 |issue=4 |pages=477–89 |doi=10.3378/027.083.0403 |pmid=21846205 |quote=Data on cranial morphology have been interpreted as suggesting that, before the main expansion from Africa through the Near East, anatomically modern humans may also have taken a Southern route from the Horn of Africa through the Arabian peninsula to India, Melanesia and Australia, about 100,000 yrs ago. |url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1634&context=humbiol |access-date=2 November 2019 |archive-date=22 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222211436/https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1634&context=humbiol |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mellars |first1=P |last2=KC |first2=Gori |last3=M |first3=Carr |last4=PA |first4=Soares |last5=Richards |first5=MB |date=Jun 2013 |title=Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia. |pmid=23754394 |pmc=3696785 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=110 |issue=26 |pages=10699–704 |quote=These data support a coastally oriented dispersal of modern humans from eastern Africa to southern Asia ~60-50 thousand years ago (ka). This was associated with distinctively African microlithic and "backed-segment" technologies analogous to the African "Howiesons Poort" and related technologies, together with a range of distinctively "modern" cultural and symbolic features (highly shaped bone tools, personal ornaments, abstract artistic motifs, microblade technology, etc.), similar to those that accompanied the replacement of "archaic" Neanderthal by anatomically modern human populations in other regions of western Eurasia at a broadly similar date. |doi=10.1073/pnas.1306043110 |bibcode=2013PNAS..11010699M |doi-access=free}}</ref> The recognition of ''[[Biology:Homo sapiens idaltu|Homo sapiens idaltu]]'' and Omo Kibish as anatomically modern humans would justify the description of contemporary humans with the subspecies name ''Homo sapiens sapiens''. Because of their early dating and unique physical characteristics idaltu and kibish represent the immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans as suggested by the [[Biology:Recent African origin of modern humans|Out-of-Africa]] theory.<ref name="White032">{{Citation |last1=White |first1=Tim D. |title=Pleistocene ''Homo sapiens'' from Middle Awash, Ethiopia |journal=Nature |volume=423 |issue=6491 |pages=742–747 |year=2003 |bibcode=2003Natur.423..742W |doi=10.1038/nature01669 |pmid=12802332 |last2=Asfaw |first2=B. |last3=DeGusta |first3=D. |last4=Gilbert |first4=H. |last5=Richards |first5=G. D. |last6=Suwa |first6=G. |last7=Howell |first7=F. C. |s2cid=4432091 |author-link=Tim White (anthropologist)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-the-contenders-for-earliest-modern-human-17801455/?no-ist |title=Meet the Contenders for Earliest Modern Human |date=11 January 2012 |publisher=Smithsonian |access-date=8 June 2016 |archive-date=2 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602143353/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-the-contenders-for-earliest-modern-human-17801455/?no-ist |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fleagle |first1=John G. |last2=Brown |first2=Francis H. |last3=McDougall |first3=Ian |s2cid=1454595 |date=17 February 2005 |title=Stratigraphic placement and age of modern humans from Kibish, Ethiopia |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=433 |issue=7027 |pages=733–736 |doi=10.1038/nature03258 |pmid=15716951 |bibcode=2005Natur.433..733M |issn=1476-4687 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15078/files/PAL_E2238.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hammond |first1=Ashley S. |last2=Royer |first2=Danielle F. |last3=Fleagle |first3=John G. |date=Jul 2017 |title=The Omo-Kibish I pelvis |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=108 |pages=199–219 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.04.004 |issn=1095-8606 |pmid=28552208|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[File:Red Sea2.png|thumb|left|upright|The Bab-el-Mandeb crossing in the Red Sea: now some {{convert|12|mi|km}} wide, narrower in prehistory.]] 
In 2017 finds of modern human remains, dating to ca 300,000 years ago in [[Biology:Jebel Irhoud|Jebel Irhoud]] in Morocco, suggested that modern humans arose earlier and possibly in a larger area of Africa than previously thought.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.356.6342.993|title=World's oldest ''Homo sapiens'' fossils found in Morocco|last=Gibbons|first=Ann|work=Science|date=7 June 2017|doi=10.1126/science.356.6342.993|access-date=8 June 2017|archive-date=3 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903223523/https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.356.6342.993|url-status=live}}</ref>

East Africa is one of the earliest regions where ''Homo sapiens'' are believed to have lived. Evidence was found in 2018, dating to about 320,000 years ago, at the Kenyan site of Olorgesailie, of the early emergence of [[Philosophy:Behavioral modernity|modern behaviors]] associated with ''Homo sapiens'', including: long-distance trade networks (involving goods such as obsidian), the use of pigments, and the possible making of projectile points. It is observed by the authors of three 2018 studies on the site, that the evidence of these behaviors is approximately contemporary to the earliest known ''Homo sapiens'' fossil remains from Africa (such as at [[Biology:Jebel Irhoud|Jebel Irhoud]] and Florisbad), and they suggest that complex and modern behaviors had already begun in Africa around the time of the emergence of ''Homo sapiens''.<ref name="NPR-593591796">{{cite news |last=Chatterjee |first=Rhitu |title=Scientists Are Amazed By Stone Age Tools They Dug Up in Kenya |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/03/15/593591796/scientists-are-amazed-by-stone-age-tools-they-dug-up-in-kenya |date=15 March 2018 |work=NPR |access-date=15 March 2018 |archive-date=15 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315193655/https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/03/15/593591796/scientists-are-amazed-by-stone-age-tools-they-dug-up-in-kenya |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="The Atlantic-555674">{{cite news |last=Yong |first=Ed |author-link=Ed Yong |title=A Cultural Leap at the Dawn of Humanity – New finds from Kenya suggest that humans used long-distance trade networks, sophisticated tools, and symbolic pigments right from the dawn of our species. |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/a-deeper-origin-of-complex-human-cultures/555674/ |date=15 March 2018 |work=The Atlantic |access-date=15 March 2018 |archive-date=17 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117002023/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/a-deeper-origin-of-complex-human-cultures/555674/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Brooks">{{Cite journal|title=Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age |journal=Science |volume=360 |issue=6384 |pages=90–94 |year=2018 |doi=10.1126/science.aao2646 |pmid=29545508 |vauthors=Brooks AS, Yellen JE, Potts R, Behrensmeyer AK, Deino AL, Leslie DE, Ambrose SH, Ferguson JR, d'Errico F, Zipkin AM, Whittaker S, Post J, Veatch EG, Foecke K, Clark JB |bibcode=2018Sci...360...90B |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In September 2019, scientists reported the computerized determination, based on 260 [[CT scan]]s, of a virtual skull shape of the last common human ancestor to modern humans/''H. sapiens'', representative of the earliest ''Homo sapiens'', and suggested that ''Homo sapiens'' arose between 350,000 and 260,000 years ago through a merging of populations in {{wipe|South Africa}} and East Africa.<ref name="NYT-20190910">{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |title=Scientists Find the Skull of Humanity's Ancestor — on a Computer – By comparing fossils and CT scans, researchers say they have reconstructed the skull of the last common forebear of modern humans. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/science/human-ancestor-skull-computer.html |date=10 September 2019 |work={{wipe|The New York Times}} |access-date=10 September 2019 |archive-date=31 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231125331/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/science/human-ancestor-skull-computer.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NAT-20190910">{{cite journal |last1=Mounier |first1=Aurélien |last2=Lahr |first2=Marta |title=Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species |journal=Nature Communications |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=3406 |doi=10.1038/s41467-019-11213-w |pmid=31506422 |pmc=6736881 |year=2019 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10.3406M}}</ref>

The migration route of the "Out of Africa" theory probably occurred in East Africa however through Bab el Mandeb

Today at the Bab-el-Mandeb straits, the Red Sea is about {{convert|12|mi|km|abbr=off}} wide, but 50,000 years ago it was much narrower and sea levels were 70 meters lower. Though the straits were never completely closed, there may have been islands in between which could be reached using simple rafts.

Some of the earliest hominin skeletal remains have been found in the wider region, including fossils discovered in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia, as well as in the Koobi Fora in Kenya and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

The southern part of East Africa was occupied until recent times by Khoisan [[Biology:Hunter-gatherer|hunter-gatherer]]s, whereas in the [[Earth:Ethiopian Highlands|Ethiopian Highlands]] the [[Biology:Donkey|donkey]] and such crop plants as [[Biology:Teff|teff]] allowed the beginning of [[Earth:Agriculture|agriculture]] around 7,000 BCE.<ref>[[Biography:Jared Diamond|Diamond, Jared]]; ''Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies''; p. 103; {{ISBN|0-393-03891-2}}</ref> Lowland barriers and diseases carried by the [[Biology:Tsetse fly|tsetse fly]], however, prevented the donkey and agriculture from spreading southwards. Only in quite recent times has agriculture spread to the more humid regions south of the equator, through the spread of [[Biology:Cattle|cattle]], [[Biology:Sheep|sheep]] and crops such as [[Biology:Millet|millet]]. Language distributions suggest that this most likely occurred from Sudan into the African Great Lakes region, since the [[Social:Nilotic languages|Nilotic languages]] spoken by these pre-Bantu farmers have their closest relatives in the middle Nile basin.

===Ancient history===

Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Red Sea coast of Sudan are considered the most likely location of the land known to the Ancient Egyptians as ''[[Place:Land of Punt|Punt]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Andebrhan Welde Giorgis |title=Eritrea at a Crossroads: A Narrative of Triumph, Betrayal and Hope |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzlEAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |year=2014 |publisher=Strategic Book Publishing |isbn=978-1-62857-331-2 |page=21 |access-date=14 October 2015 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013172811/https://books.google.com/books?id=CzlEAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |url-status=live}}</ref> The old kingdom's first mention dates to the 25th century BCE.<ref>Najovits, Simson (2004) ''Egypt, trunk of the tree, Volume 2'', Algora Publishing, p. 258, {{ISBN|087586256X}}.</ref> The ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with [[Social:Pharaoh|Pharaonic Egypt]] during the times of [[Social:Pharaoh|Pharaoh]] Sahure and [[Social:Queen regnant|Queen]] Hatshepsut.

The [[History:Kingdom of Aksum|Kingdom of Aksum]] was a trading empire centered Eritrea and northern Ethiopia.<ref>{{cite book|edition=Second|date=1 November 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeJMAgAAQBAJ&dq=Aksum+eritrea&pg=PA48|title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology |author=David Phillipson: revised by Michael DiBlasi |isbn=9780199735785 |editor=Neil Asher Silberman|access-date=11 November 2016 |archive-date=6 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206184052/http://www.google.com/books?id=xeJMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA48&dq=Aksum+eritrea&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Hh7NUozMMKb07AaFmYCADQ&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=Aksum%20eritrea&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> It existed from approximately 100–940 CE, growing from the proto-Aksumite [[History:Iron Age|Iron Age]] period {{Circa|4th century BCE}} to achieve prominence by the 1st century CE. The kingdom is mentioned in the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' as an important market place for [[Finance:Ivory trade|ivory]], which was exported throughout the ancient world. Aksum was at the time ruled by Zoskales, who also governed the port of Adulis.<ref name="Periplusme">[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/periplus.html ''Periplus of the Erythreaean Sea''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814160845/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/periplus.html |date=14 August 2014 }}, chs. 4, 5</ref> The Aksumite rulers facilitated trade by minting their own Aksumite currency. The state also established its [[Social:Hegemony|hegemony]] over the declining [[History:Kingdom of Kush|Kingdom of Kush]] and regularly entered the politics of the kingdoms on the Arabian peninsula, eventually extending its rule over the region with the conquest of the [[History:Himyarite Kingdom|Himyarite Kingdom]].

====Bantu expansion====

Between 2500 and 3000 years ago, [[Social:Bantu languages|Bantu]]-speaking peoples began a millennia-long series of migrations eastward from their homeland around southern Cameroon. This [[History:Bantu expansion|Bantu expansion]] introduced agriculture into much of the African Great Lakes region. During the following fifteen centuries, the Bantu slowly intensified farming and grazing over all suitable regions of East Africa, in the process making contact with [[Social:Austronesian languages|Austronesian]]- and [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]]-speaking settlers on southern coastal areas. The latter also spread [[Religion:Islam|Islam]] to the coastal belt, but most Bantu remained African Traditional Religion adherents.
[[File:East and southern africa early iron age.png|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Early Iron Age findings in East and Southern Africa]]
Over a period of many centuries, most hunting-foraging peoples were displaced and absorbed by incoming Bantu communities, as well as by later Nilotic communities.{{cn|date=July 2023}} The [[History:Bantu expansion|Bantu expansion]] was a long series of physical migrations, a diffusion of language and knowledge out into and in from neighboring populations, and a creation of new societal groups involving inter-marriage among communities and small groups moving to communities and small groups moving to new areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Bantu Migration {{!}} World Civilization|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/the-bantu-migration/ |website=courses.lumenlearning.com|access-date=2020-05-29|archive-date=13 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013172753/https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/the-bantu-migration/|url-status=live}}</ref>

After their movements from their original homeland in [[Place:West Africa|West Africa]], Bantus also encountered in central east Africa peoples of Cushitic origin.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} As cattle terminology in use amongst the few modern Bantu pastoralist groups suggests, the Bantu migrants would acquire [[Biology:Cattle|cattle]] from their new Cushitic neighbors. Linguistic evidence also indicates that Bantus most likely borrowed the custom of milking cattle directly from Cushitic peoples in the area.<ref>J. D. Fage, A history of Africa, Routledge, 2002, p.29</ref>

On the coastal section of the African Great Lakes region, another mixed Bantu community developed through contact with [[Religion:Muslim|Muslim]] Arab and Persian traders, leading to the development of the mixed Arab, Persian and African Swahili City States.<ref>{{cite book |author=James De Vere Allen |title=Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture & the Shungwaya Phenomenon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vURD_nkQGQoC |year=1993 |publisher=James Currey Publishers |isbn=978-0-85255-075-5 |access-date=23 January 2018 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013172759/https://books.google.com/books?id=vURD_nkQGQoC |url-status=live}}</ref> The Swahili culture that emerged from these exchanges evinces many Arab and Islamic influences not seen in traditional Bantu culture, as do the many Afro-Arab members of the Bantu Swahili people. With its original speech community centered on the coastal parts of Tanzania (particularly Zanzibar) and Kenya—a seaboard referred to as the Swahili Coast—the Bantu [[Social:Swahili language|Swahili language]] contains many [[Social:Arabic language|Arabic]] loan-words as a consequence of these interactions.<ref>Daniel Don Nanjira, African Foreign Policy and Diplomacy: From Antiquity to the 21st Century, ABC-CLIO, 2010, p.114</ref>

The earliest Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Kenya and Tanzania encountered by these later Arab and Persian settlers have been variously identified with the trading settlements of [[Finance:Rhapta|Rhapta]], [[Place:Azania|Azania]] and Menouthias<ref>{{cite book |author=Jens Finke |title=The Rough Guide to Tanzania |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781848360754 |url-access=registration |date=2010 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=978-1-4053-8018-8}}</ref> referenced in early Greek and Chinese writings from 50 CE to 500 CE,<ref>Casson, Lionel (1989). The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Lionel Casson. (Translation by H. Frisk, 1927, with updates and improvements and detailed notes). Princeton, Princeton University Press.</ref><ref>Chami, F. A. (1999). "The Early Iron Age on Mafia Island and its relationship with the mainland." Azania Vol. XXXIV 1999, pp. 1–10.</ref><ref>Chami, Felix A. 2002. "The Egypto-Graeco-Romans and Paanchea/Azania: sailing in the Erythraean Sea." From: Red Sea Trade and Travel. The British Museum. Sunday 6 October 2002. Organised by The Society for Arabian Studies</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html |title=Weilue: The Peoples of the West |website=depts.washington.edu |access-date=2 January 2014 |archive-date=23 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223070446/http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Miller, J. Innes. 1969. Chapter 8: "The Cinnamon Route". In: The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire. Oxford: University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-814264-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ua_tAAAAMAAJ |title=Perspectives on the African past – Google Books |date=2010-01-08 |access-date=2020-05-24 |last1=Klein |first1=Martin A. |last2=Wesley Johnson |first2=G. |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013172753/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ua_tAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Hill, John E. 2004. [https://web.archive.org/web/20050315032618/http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html ''The Peoples of the West from the Weilue'' {{lang|zh-Hant|魏略}} ''by Yu Huan'' {{lang|zh-Hant|魚豢}}'': A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE.''] Draft annotated English translation. See especially Section&nbsp;15 on ''Zesan'' = Azania and notes.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqafAAAAMAAJ |title=Africa: Tradition and Change |first1=Evelyn Jones |last1=Rich |first2=Immanuel Maurice |last2=Wallerstein |date=2 July 1971 |publisher=Random House School Division |via=Google Books |isbn=9780394009384 |access-date=14 October 2015 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013172754/https://books.google.com/books?id=pqafAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> ultimately giving rise to the name for Tanzania.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0714611026 |title=isbn:0714611026 - Google Search |website=books.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1743213026|title=isbn:1743213026 – Google Search|website=books.google.com}}</ref> These early writings perhaps document the first wave of Bantu settlers to reach central east Africa during their migration.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o6owAQAAIAAJ |title=Societies, religion, and history: central-east Tanzanians and the world they created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE |first=Rhonda M. |last=Gonzales |date=30 August 2009 |publisher=Columbia University Press |via=Google Books |isbn=9780231142427 |access-date=14 October 2015 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013172754/https://books.google.com/books?id=o6owAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Between the 14th and 15th centuries, large African Great Lakes kingdoms and states emerged, such as the Buganda<ref name="Roland Oliver 1800. pp. 24-25">Roland Oliver, et al. "Africa South of the Equator", in Africa Since 1800. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 24–25.</ref> and Karagwe<ref name="Roland Oliver 1800. pp. 24-25"/> kingdoms of Uganda and Tanzania.

===Modern history===

====Arab and Portuguese eras====
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the region of current-day Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique by sea. Vasco da Gama visited [[Place:Mombasa|Mombasa]] in 1498. Da Gama's voyage was successful in reaching {{wipe|India}}, which permitted the Portuguese to trade with the [[Place:Far East|Far East]] directly by sea. This in turn challenged the older trading networks of mixed land and sea routes, such as the [[Finance:Spice trade|spice trade]] routes which utilized the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and camel caravans to reach the eastern Mediterranean.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=A Portuguese wreck off Mombasa, Kenya |year=1972 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-9270.1972.tb00687.x |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1972.tb00687.x?journalCode=rjna20 |last1=Killman |first1=James |last2=Bentley-Buckle |first2=A. W. |journal=International Journal of Nautical Archaeology |volume=1 |pages=153–157}}</ref>

The [[Place:Republic of Venice|Republic of Venice]] had gained control over much of the trade routes between Europe and Asia. After traditional land routes to India had been closed by the Ottoman Turks, Portugal hoped to use the sea route pioneered by da Gama to break the once Venetian trading monopoly.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |title=Venice, A Maritime Republic |isbn=9780801814600 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQpU2JGJCMwC&dq=venice&pg=PR16 |last1=Lane |first1=Frederic Chapin |date=November 1973|publisher=JHU Press }}</ref> Portuguese rule in the African Great Lakes region focused mainly on a coastal strip centered around Mombasa. The Portuguese presence in the area officially began after 1505, when flagships under the command of Don Francisco de Almeida conquered Kilwa, an island located in what is now southern Tanzania.

In March 1505, having received from Manuel I of Portugal the appointment of viceroy of the newly conquered [[History:Portuguese India|territory in India]], he set sail from [[Place:Lisbon|Lisbon]] in command of a large and powerful fleet, and arrived in July at Quiloa (Kilwa), which yielded to him almost without a struggle. A much more vigorous resistance was offered by the Moors of Mombasa. However, the town was taken and destroyed, and its large treasures went to strengthen the resources of Almeida. Attacks followed on Hoja (now known as Ungwana, located at the mouth of the Tana River), Barawa, Angoche, Pate and other coastal towns until the western [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]] was a safe haven for Portuguese commercial interests. At other places on his way, such as the island of Angediva, near Goa, and Cannanore, the Portuguese built forts, and adopted measures to secure the Portuguese supremacy.

Portugal's main goal on the Swahili coast was to take control of the spice trade from the Arabs. At this stage, the Portuguese presence in East Africa served the purposes of controlling trade within the Indian Ocean and securing the sea routes linking Europe to Asia. Portuguese naval vessels were very disruptive to the commerce of Portugal's enemies within the western Indian Ocean and were able to demand high tariffs on items transported through the sea due to their strategic control of ports and shipping lanes. The construction of Fort Jesus in Mombasa in 1593 was meant to solidify Portuguese hegemony in the region, but their influence was clipped by the {{wipe|United Kingdom}}, [[Place:Dutch Empire|Dutch]] and Omani Arab incursions into the Great Lakes region during the 17th century.

The Omani Arabs posed the most direct challenge to Portuguese influence in the African Great Lakes region.By this time, the [[Place:Portuguese Empire|Portuguese Empire]] had already lost its interest on the spice trade sea route due to the decreasing profitability of that business. The Arabs reclaimed much of the [[Earth:Indian Ocean trade|Indian Ocean trade]], forcing the Portuguese to retreat south where they remained in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) as sole rulers until the 1975 independence of Mozambique.

Omani Arab colonization of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts brought the once independent city-states under closer foreign scrutiny and domination than was experienced during the Portuguese period. Like their predecessors, the Omani Arabs were primarily able only to control the coastal areas, not the interior. However, the creation of clove plantations, intensification of the slave trade and relocation of the Omani capital to Zanzibar in 1839 by Seyyid Said had the effect of consolidating the Omani power in the region.<ref name="auto"/>

Arab governance of all the major ports along the Swahili coast continued until British interests aimed particularly at ending the slave trade and creation of a wage-labour system began to put pressure on Omani rule. By the late nineteenth century, the slave trade on the open seas had been completely outlawed by the British and the Omani Arabs had little ability to resist the British navy's ability to enforce the directive. The Omani presence continued in Zanzibar and Pemba until the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964. However, the official Omani Arab presence in Kenya was checked by German and British seizure of key ports and creation of crucial trade alliances with influential local leaders in the 1880s.

====Period of European imperialism====
[[File:Britisheastafrica 1.png|thumb|Map of British East Africa in 1911]]
Between the 19th and 20th century, East Africa became a theatre of competition between the major imperialistic European nations of the time. The three main colors of the African country were beige, red, and blue. The red stood for the English, blue stood for the French, and the beige stood for Germany during the period of colonialism. During the period of the [[Earth:Scramble for Africa|Scramble for Africa]], almost every country in the larger region to varying degrees became part of a European colonial empire.

Portugal had first established a strong presence in southern Mozambique and the Indian Ocean since the 15th century, while during this period their possessions increasingly grew including parts from the present northern Mozambique country, up to [[Place:Mombasa|Mombasa]] in present-day Kenya. At Lake Malawi, they finally met the recently created British [[Social:Protectorate|Protectorate]] of Nyasaland (nowadays Malawi), which surrounded the homonymous lake on three sides, leaving the Portuguese the control of lake's eastern coast. The [[Place:British Empire|British Empire]] set foot in the region's most exploitable and promising lands acquiring what is today Uganda, and Kenya. The Protectorate of Uganda and the Colony of Kenya were located in a rich farmland area mostly appropriate for the cultivation of cash crops like coffee and tea, as well as for animal husbandry with products produced from cattle and goats, such as goat meat, beef and milk. Moreover, this area had the potential for a significant residential expansion, being suitable for the relocation of a large number of British nationals to the region. Prevailing climatic conditions and the regions' [[Physics:Geomorphology|geomorphology]] allowed the establishment of flourishing European style settlements like [[Place:Nairobi|Nairobi]], Vila Pery, Vila Junqueiro, Porto Amélia, [[Place:Maputo|Lourenço Marques]] and Entebbe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Uganda and Its Peoples: Notes on the Protectorate of Uganda, Especially the Anthropology and Ethnology of Its Indigenous Races |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=71UBAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Protectorate+of+Uganda&pg=PR1 |last1=Cunningham |first1=James Frederick |year=1905}}</ref>

The {{wipe|France}} settled the largest island of the Indian Ocean (and the fourth-largest globally), {{wipe|Madagascar}}, along with a group of smaller islands nearby, namely Réunion and the Comoros.<ref>{{Cite journal |title= Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros by Iain Walker (Review)|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/815121/summary |journal=African Studies Review|year=2021 |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=E30–E31 |last1=Fabian |first1=Steven |doi=10.1017/asr.2021.11 |s2cid=236357241 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Madagascar became part of the French colonial empire following two military campaigns against the Kingdom of Madagascar, which it initiated after persuading Britain to relinquish its interests in the island in exchange for control of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanganyika, an important island hub of the spices trade. The British also held a number of island colonies in the region, including the extended [[Earth:Archipelago|archipelago]] of Seychelles and the rich farming island of [[Earth:Mauritius|Mauritius]], previously under the French sovereignty.

The [[Place:German Empire|German Empire]] gained control of a large area named German East Africa, comprising present-day [[Biology:Rwanda|Rwanda]], Burundi and the mainland part of Tanzania named Tanganyika.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Book review. Revenants of the German Empire: Colonial Germans, Imperialism, and the League of Nations|url=https://academic.oup.com/gh/article-abstract/38/3/505/5863276|journal=German History|author=Leonard V Smith|date=September 2020|doi=10.1093/gerhis/ghaa052|volume=38|issue=3}}</ref> In 1922, the British gained a League of Nations mandate over Tanganyika which it administered until Independence was granted to Tanganyika in 1961. Following the Zanzibar Revolution of 1965, the independent state of Tanganyika formed the United Republic of Tanzania by creating a union between the mainland, and the island chain of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is now a semi-autonomous state in a union with the mainland which is collectively and commonly referred to as Tanzania. German East Africa, though very extensive, was not of such strategic importance as the British Crown's colonies to the north: the inhabitation of these lands was difficult and thus limited, mainly due to climatic conditions and the local geomorphology. Italy gained control of various parts of Somalia in the 1880s. The southern three-fourths of Somalia became an Italian [[Social:Protectorate|protectorate]] (Italian Somaliland).

Meanwhile, in 1884, a narrow coastal strip of Somaliland came under British control (British Somaliland). This Somaliland protectorate was just opposite the British colony of [[Place:Aden|Aden]] on the [[Place:Arabian Peninsula|Arabian Peninsula]]. With these territories secured, Britain was able to serve as gatekeeper of the [[Earth:Sea lane|sea lane]] leading to [[History:British Raj|British India]]. In 1890, beginning with the purchase of the small port town of (Asseb) from a local sultan in Eritrea, the Italians colonized all of Eritrea.

In 1895, from bases in Somalia and Eritrea, the Italians launched the First Italo–Ethiopian War against the Orthodox Empire of Ethiopia. By 1896, the war had become a total disaster for the Italians and Ethiopia was able to retain its independence. Ethiopia remained independent until 1936 when, after the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, it became part of Italian East Africa. The Italian occupation of Ethiopia ended in 1941 during [[Social:World War II|World War II]] as part of the East African Campaign.The French also staked out an East African outpost on the route to French Indochina. Starting in the 1850s, the small protectorate of Djibouti became French Somaliland in 1897.

====Post-colonial period====

== Climate ==
Eastern Africa has a diverse climate change that consist of hot, dry desert regions, cooler, and highlands.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Climate risk report for the East Africa region - Ethiopia {{!}} ReliefWeb |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/climate-risk-report-east-africa-region |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=reliefweb.int |date=11 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

== Popular depictions ==
There are movies that have depicted East Africa in various forms. ''7 Days in Entebbe'', ''The Last King of Scotland'', ''Out of Africa'', ''Queen of Katwe'', ''The Constant Gardener'', ''Hotel Rwanda'', ''The Good Lie'', and ''Captain Phillips'' are a few of the critically acclaimed movies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=7 Days in Entebbe and 13 Other Movies Set In East Africa |url=https://www.tripindigo.com/blog/movies-set-in-east-africa/ |access-date=2021-05-27 |website=tripindigo.com |date=23 April 2018 |archive-date=16 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016022851/https://www.tripindigo.com/blog/movies-set-in-east-africa/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In the video games ''[[Software:Halo 2|Halo 2]]'' and ''[[Software:Halo 3|Halo 3]]'', East Africa is one of the central locations for the campaigns.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Mombasa |url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/locations/new-mombasa |access-date=2020-11-24 |website=Halo Waypoint |language=en-us |archive-date=27 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127062240/https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/locations/new-mombasa |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Culture==
===Art===

===Architecture===

===Clothing===

===Cuisine===

===Music===

===Religion===

==Languages==

In the [[Place:Horn of Africa|Horn of Africa]] and Nile Valley, [[Social:Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic languages]] predominate, including languages of the family's Cushitic (such as Beja, Oromo and [[Social:Somali language|Somali]]), Semitic (such as [[Social:Amharic|Amharic]], [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]] and [[Social:Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]]), and [[Social:Omotic languages|Omotic]] (such as Wolaytta) branches.

In the [[Place:African Great Lakes|African Great Lakes]] region, Niger-Congo languages of the [[Social:Bantu languages|Bantu]] branch are most widely spoken. Among these languages are Kikuyu, Luhya, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kisukuma, [[Biography:Luganda|Luganda]] and many others. [[Social:Swahili language|Swahili]], with at least 80&nbsp;million speakers{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} as a first or second language, is an important trade language in the Great Lakes area. It has official status in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

[[Social:Nilotic languages|Nilotic languages]], such as Luo, [[Social:Nandi–Markweta languages|Kalenjin]], [[Social:Maasai language|Maasai]] and Nuer, are spoken in lesser numbers, primarily in the African Great Lakes and Nile Valley.

[[Social:Indo-European languages|Indo-European languages]], such as [[Social:English language|English]], [[Social:French language|French]], [[Social:Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Social:Italian language|Italian]], remain important in higher institutions in some parts of the larger region.

==Demographics==

Eastern Africa had an estimated population of 260 million in 2000. This was projected to reach 890 million by 2050, with an average growth rate of 2.5% per annum. The 2000 population is expected to quintuple over the course of the 21st century, to 1.6&nbsp;billion as of 2100 (UN estimates as of 2017).<ref name=UN2017>{{cite web|url=https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/|title=World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations |website=esa.un.org|access-date=2017-11-29|archive-date=24 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124201358/https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/|url-status=live}}</ref> In Ethiopia, there is an estimated population of 102&nbsp;million as of 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=n4ff2muj8bh2a_#ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=POP&fdim_y=scenario:1&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=world&idim=country:ET&ifdim=world&hl=en&dl=en|title=IFs Forecast – Version 7.00 – Google Public Data Explorer|access-date=24 October 2015|archive-date=1 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501024849/http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=n4ff2muj8bh2a_#ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=POP&fdim_y=scenario:1&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=world&idim=country:ET&ifdim=world&hl=en&dl=en|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Architecture==

''Further information in the sections of Architecture of Africa:''
* Ancient Eastern African Architecture
* Medieval Eastern African Architecture

==Science and technology==

''Further information in the sections of History of science and technology in Africa:''
{{Div col|small=yes}}
* Astronomy
* Metallurgy
* Medicine
* Agriculture
* Textiles
* Maritime technology
* Architecture
* Communication systems
* Commerce
* By country
{{Div col end}}

==Conflicts==
Since the end of colonialism, several East African countries were riven with military coups, ethnic violence and oppressive dictators. The region has endured the following post-colonial conflicts:

;Northern East Africa:(Horn of Africa)
* Ethiopian Civil War 1974–1991
* Eritrean War of Independence 1961–1991
* Eritrean-Ethiopian War 1998–2000
* Ogaden War 1977–1978
*Dijboutian Civil War 1991–1994
* Somali Civil War 1991–2009
;Northern East Africa:(Sudan)
* First Sudanese Civil War
* Second Sudanese Civil War
* Sudanese nomadic conflicts
* War in Darfur
* 2023 Sudan conflict
;South Sudan
* Second Sudanese Civil War 1983–2005
* Internal Political-ethnic Conflict 2011–ongoing
* South Sudanese Civil War 2013–2015
;Southern East Africa (Southeast Africa)
* Burundian Civil War 1993–2005 and the genocide of Hutus in 1972 and genocide of Tutsis in 1993
* Uganda–Tanzania War 1978–1979
* Ugandan Bush War 1981–1986
* [[Religion:Lord's Resistance Army|Lord's Resistance Army]] insurgency in Uganda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo ongoing
* Rwandan Civil War 1990–1993 and the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi
* Zanzibar Revolution 1964
;Outside Southeast Africa with Southeast African participation
* First Congo War 1996–1997 and Second Congo War 1998–2003
* Kivu Conflict (Laurent Nkunda Rebellion)

Kenya has enjoyed relatively stable governance. However, politics have been turbulent at times, including the attempted coup d'état in 1982 and the 2007 election riots.

Tanzania has known stable government since independence although there are significant political and religious tensions resulting from the political union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous state in the United Republic of Tanzania.

Tanzania and Uganda fought the Uganda–Tanzania War in 1978–1979, which led to the removal of Uganda's despotic leader Idi Amin.

Burundi, [[Biology:Rwanda|Rwanda]], and Uganda have each faced instability and ethnic conflict since independence, most notably the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1993 Burundi genocide and subsequent Burundian Civil War. [[Biology:Rwanda|Rwanda]] and Uganda continue to be involved in related conflicts outside the region.

Djibouti, as well as the Puntland and Somaliland regions of Somalia, have also seen relative stability.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUKL2112773120080521 Canada's Africa Oil starts Somalia seismic survey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322030108/https://www.reuters.com/article/somalia-oil/canadas-africa-oil-starts-somalia-seismic-survey-idUKL2112773120080521 |date=22 March 2020 }} – ''{{wipe|Reuters}}''</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.undp.org/cpr/content/economic_recovery/PCER_Chapt5.rev.pdf |title=Economic Recovery and the Role of the State |access-date=29 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112103732/http://www.undp.org/cpr/content/economic_recovery/PCER_Chapt5.rev.pdf |archive-date=12 January 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Somaliland_appeals_for_cooperation_with_Puntland_a_second_time.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140131003947/http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Somaliland_appeals_for_cooperation_with_Puntland_a_second_time.shtml |url-status=dead|title=Somalia: Somaliland appeals for 'cooperation with Puntland' a second time|archive-date=31 January 2014}}</ref>

South Sudan peacefully seceded from the Sudan in 2011, six and a half years after a peace agreement ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. South Sudanese independence was nearly derailed by the South Kordofan conflict, particularly a dispute over the status of the Abyei Area, and both Abyei and South Kordofan's Nuba Hills remained a source of tension between [[Place:Juba|Juba]] and [[Place:Khartoum|Khartoum]] {{as of|2011|lc=yes}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9534941.stm|date=11 July 2011|access-date=11 July 2011 |title=Sudan's Omar Bashir warning over Abyei|agency=BBC News|archive-date=13 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013172755/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9534941.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Countries, capitals and largest cities==

According to the CIA, as of 2017, the countries in the eastern Africa region have a total population of around 537.9 million inhabitants.<ref>{{cite web |title=The World Factbook – Population|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html|publisher=CIA|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-date=4 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004113653/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country / Territory !! Capital !! Largest city by population<ref name="lcbypop">{{cite web |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2015.htm |work=Demographic Yearbook 2015 |year=2016 |publisher=United Nations Statistics Division |title=Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants |access-date=4 July 2017 |archive-date=2 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402084025/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2015.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>!! Second largest city by population<ref name="lcbypop"/>
|-
! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="4" | '''[[Organization:East African Community|East African Community]]'''
|-
| {{flag|Burundi}} || [[Place:Gitega|Gitega]] (22,989; 2012 est.) || [[Place:Bujumbura|Bujumbura]] || Muyinga
|-
| {{flag|Kenya}} || [[Place:Nairobi|Nairobi]] || [[Place:Nairobi|Nairobi]] || [[Place:Mombasa|Mombasa]] (915,101; 2009 est.)
|-
| {{flag|Rwanda}} || [[Place:Kigali|Kigali]] || [[Place:Kigali|Kigali]] || Gitarama
|-
| {{flag|South Sudan}} || [[Place:Juba|Juba]] || [[Place:Juba|Juba]] || [[Place:Malakal|Malakal]]
|-
| {{flag|Tanzania}} || [[Place:Dodoma|Dodoma]] || [[Place:Dar es Salaam|Dar es Salaam]] || [[Place:Mwanza|Mwanza]]
|-
| {{flag|Uganda}} || [[Place:Kampala|Kampala]] (1,507,114; 2014 est.) || [[Place:Kampala|Kampala]] || Gulu
|-
! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="4" | '''[[Place:Horn of Africa|Horn of Africa]]'''
|-
| {{flag|Djibouti}} || [[Place:Djibouti (city)|Djibouti City]] (529,000; 2018 est.) || [[Place:Djibouti (city)|Djibouti City]] || Ali Sabieh
|-
| {{flag|Eritrea}} || [[Place:Asmara|Asmara]] || [[Place:Asmara|Asmara]] || [[Place:Keren, Eritrea|Keren]]
|-
| {{flag|Ethiopia}} || [[Place:Addis Ababa|Addis Ababa]] || [[Place:Addis Ababa|Addis Ababa]] (2,739,551; 2007 est.) || Dire Dawa
|-
| {{flag|Somalia}} || [[Place:Mogadishu|Mogadishu]] (2,572,125) || [[Place:Mogadishu|Mogadishu]] || [[Place:Hargeisa|Hargeisa]]
|-
! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="4" | '''[[Earth:List of islands in the Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]]'''
|-
| {{flag|British Indian Ocean Territory}} || Camp Thunder Cove || Camp Thunder Cove || –
|-
| {{flag|Comoros}} || [[Place:Moroni, Comoros|Moroni]] || [[Place:Moroni, Comoros|Moroni]] || Mutsamudu
|-
| {{flag|French Southern Territories}} || Saint Pierre || Port-aux-Français || –
|- 
| {{flag|Madagascar}} || [[Place:Antananarivo|Antananarivo]] (1,015,140; 2005 est.) || [[Place:Antananarivo|Antananarivo]] || [[Place:Toamasina|Toamasina]] (3,133,518; 2009 est.)
|-
| {{flag|Mauritius}} || [[Place:Port Louis|Port Louis]] || [[Place:Port Louis|Port Louis]] ||Beau Bassin-Rose Hill
|-
| {{flag|Mayotte|local}} || [[Place:Mamoudzou|Mamoudzou]] || [[Place:Mamoudzou|Mamoudzou]] || Dzaoudzi
|-
| {{flag|Réunion|local}} || [[Place:Saint-Denis, Réunion|Saint Denis]] || [[Place:Saint-Denis, Réunion|Saint Denis]] || Saint Paul
|-
| {{flag|Seychelles}} || [[Place:Victoria, Seychelles|Victoria]] || [[Place:Victoria, Seychelles|Victoria]] || Anse Etoile
|-
| {{flagicon|Yemen}} Socotra || Hadibu || Hadibu || Qalansiyah
|-
! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="4" | '''[[Place:Northeast Africa|Northeast Africa]]'''
|-
| {{flag|Sudan}} || [[Place:Khartoum|Khartoum]] || Omdurman || [[Place:Khartoum|Khartoum]]
|-
! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="4" | '''[[Place:Southeast Africa|Southeast Africa]]'''
|-
| {{flag|Malawi}} || [[Place:Lilongwe|Lilongwe]] (868,800; 2012 est.) || [[Place:Lilongwe|Lilongwe]] || Blantyre (783,296; 2012 est.)
|-
| {{flag|Mozambique}} || [[Place:Maputo|Maputo]] || [[Place:Maputo|Maputo]] || Nampula
|-
| {{flag|Zambia}} || [[Place:Lusaka|Lusaka]] || [[Place:Lusaka|Lusaka]] || Kitwe
|-
| {{flag|Zimbabwe}} || [[Place:Harare|Harare]] || [[Place:Harare|Harare]] || Bulawayo
|}

==See also==
<!---{{main|Outline of Eastern Africa|Index of Eastern Africa-related articles}}--->
*African historiography
*[[Place:Sub-Saharan Africa|Sub-Saharan Africa]]
*[[Place:West Africa|West Africa]]
*[[Place:Southern Africa|Southern Africa]]
*[[Place:Central Africa|Central Africa]]
*[[Place:North Africa|North Africa]]
*[[Place:Horn of Africa|Horn of Africa]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of African History |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn |isbn=978-1-57958-245-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ftz_gtO-pngC |editor=Kevin Shillington |editor-link=Kevin Shillington |year=2005
|chapter=Eastern Africa: Regional Survey |pages=649–659?
|author=Christian Jennings
}}



[[Category:Regions of Africa]]

{{Sourceattribution|East Africa}}