Africa's top ancient sites and early civilizations

Africans were developing commercial empires and complex urban societies while Europeans were still running after wildlife with clubs. Arguably the greatest of the African empires was the first: ancient Egypt. Formed through an amalgamation of already organised states in the Nile Delta around 3100 BC, Egypt achieved an amazing degree of cultural and social sophistication. Aksum, which controlled much of Sudan and southern Arabia at the height of its powers between AD 100 and 940, was the first truly African indigenous state. Before the Romans took control of North Africa there was the city state of Carthage (in modern day Tunisia), while on the West African coast the area centred on present-day Mali was home to a hugely wealthy series of empires that flourished over the course of more than 800 years. Southern Africa had the medieval city of Great Zimbabwe, construction of which began in the 11th century.