Editing Ancient history (section)

===Africa===
====Afro-Asiatic Africa====
=====Carthage=====
{{Main|Carthage}}

Carthage was founded around 814 BC by [[Phoenicia]]n settlers.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=58}} [[Ancient Carthage]] was a city-state that ruled an empire through alliances and trade influence that stretched throughout North Africa and modern [[Spain]].{{sfn|Roberts|Westad|2013|pp=212–213}} At the height of the city's influence, its empire included most of the western Mediterranean.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=58}} The empire was in a constant state of struggle with the [[Roman Republic]], which led to a series of conflicts known as the [[Punic Wars]]. After the third and [[Third Punic War|final Punic War]], Carthage was destroyed and then occupied by Roman forces. Nearly all of the territory held by Carthage fell into Roman hands.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=264}}

=====Egypt=====
{{Main|Ancient Egypt}}
[[File:Egypt.Giza.Sphinx.01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Khafre's Pyramid]] ([[Fourth dynasty of Egypt|4th dynasty]]) and [[Great Sphinx of Giza]] ({{circa|2500 BC}} or perhaps earlier)|left]]

Ancient Egypt was a long-lived civilisation geographically located in north-eastern Africa. It was concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River,{{sfn|Parker|2017|pp=62–63}} reaching its greatest extent during the 2nd millennium&nbsp;BC, which is referred to as the New Kingdom period.{{sfn|Parker|2017|pp=68–69}} It reached broadly from the [[Nile Delta]] in the north, as far south as [[Jebel Barkal]] at the [[Fourth Cataract]] of the Nile. Extensions to the geographical range of ancient Egyptian civilisation included, at different times, areas of the southern [[Levant]], the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the [[Sinai Peninsula]],{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|p=64}} and the [[Libyan Desert|Western Desert]] (focused on the several [[oasis|oases]]).

Ancient Egypt developed over at least three and a half millennia.{{sfn|Parker|2017|pp=62–63}} It began with the incipient unification of Nile Valley polities around 3100 BC, traditionally under [[Menes]].{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=63}} The civilisation of ancient Egypt was characterised primarily by intensive agricultural use of the fertile Nile Valley;{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=62}} the use of the Nile itself for transportation;{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=73}} the development of writing systems – first [[hieroglyphs]] and then later [[hieratic]] and other derived scripts – and [[literature]];{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=75}} the organisation of collective projects such as the [[Egyptian pyramids|pyramids]];{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|pp=72–73}} [[trade]] with surrounding regions;{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|pp=73–74}} and a [[polytheism|polytheistic]] religious tradition that included elaborate funeral customs including [[Egyptian mummy|mummification]].{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|pp=77–78}} Overseeing these activities were a socio-political and economic [[elite]]{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|pp=70–71}} under the figure of a (semi)-divine ruler from a succession of ruling [[dynasty|dynasties]].{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|pp=56–57}}

Ancient Egyptian history is divided across various periods, beginning with the [[Old Kingdom]], which saw pyramid building on a large scale. After 2100 BC, the Old Kingdom dissolved into smaller states during the [[First Intermediate Period]], which lasted about 100 years.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=62}} The [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] began around 2000 BC with the reunification of Egypt under pharoes ruling from [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]]. The Middle Kingdom ended with the conquest of northern Egypt by the [[Hyksos]] around 1650 BC.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=66}} The Hyksos were expelled from Egypt and the land was reunited in the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] around 1550 BC. This period lasted until about 1000 BC, and saw Egypt expand its borders into Palestine and Syria. The [[Third Intermediate Period]] was marked by the rule of priests as well as the conquest of Egypt by [[Nubia]]n kings and then later Assyria, Persia, and Macedonians.{{sfn|Parker|2017|pp=68-69}}

=====Nubia=====
[[File:Rulers of Kush, Kerma Museum.jpg|thumb|[[Pharaoh]]s of Nubia]]

The Ta-Seti kingdom in [[Nubia]] to the south of [[Egypt]] was conquered by Egyptian rulers around 3100 BC, but by 2500 BC the Nubians had created a new kingdom further south, known as the [[Kingdom of Kush]], centred on the upper Nile with a capital at [[Kerma]].{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|pp=64–66}} In the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|Egyptian New Kingdom]] period, Kush once more was conquered by Egypt. However, by 1100 BC a new kingdom of Kush had formed, with a capital at [[Napata]]. Nubian rulers conquered Egypt around 760 BC and retained control for about a century.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|pp=67–69}}

=====Aksum and ancient Ethiopia=====
[[File:The Ezana Stone (2840202630).jpg|thumb|227x227px|The [[Ezana Stone]] records negus Ezana's conversion to Christianity and conquests of his neighbors.]]

The [[Kingdom of Aksum]] was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa centred in present-day [[Eritrea]] and northern [[Ethiopia]], it existed from approximately AD 100 to 940, growing from the Iron Age proto-Aksumite period around the 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD.{{sfn|Phillipson|2012|p=48}} The Kingdom of Aksum at its height by the early 6th-century AD extended through much of modern Ethiopia and across the [[Red Sea]] to Arabia. The capital city of the empire was [[Axum|Aksum]], now in northern Ethiopia.{{sfn|Munro-Hay|1991|p=57}}

====Niger-Congo Africa====
=====Nok culture=====
{{Main|Nok culture}}
[[File:Nok sculpture of a sitted person-70.1998.11.1-DSC00322-black.jpg|thumb|upright|Nok sculpture of a seated person]]

The Nok culture appeared in [[Nigeria]] around 1000 BC and mysteriously vanished around AD 200. The civilisation's [[social system]] is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok civilisation was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta which have been discovered by archaeologists. The Nok also used [[Smelting|iron smelting]] that may have been independently developed.{{sfn|Shaw|1978}}

====Sahel====
=====Djenné-Djenno=====
{{Main|Djenné-Djenno}}

The civilisation of Djenné-Djenno was located in the Niger River Valley in the country of [[Mali]] and is considered to be among the oldest urbanised centres and the best-known archaeology site in [[sub-Saharan Africa]]. This archaeological site is located about {{convert|3|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} away from the modern town and is believed to have been involved in [[Trade|long-distance trade]] and possibly the domestication of African rice. The site is believed to exceed {{convert|33|ha|acre|abbr=off}}; however, this is yet to be confirmed with extensive survey work. With the help of archaeological excavations mainly by [[Susan McIntosh|Susan and Roderick McIntosh]], the site is known to have been occupied from 250 BC to AD 900. The city is believed to have been abandoned and moved where the current city is located due to the spread of Islam and the building of the [[Great Mosque of Djenné]]. Previously, it was assumed that advanced trade networks and complex [[Society|societies]] did not exist in the region until the arrival of traders from [[West Asia|Southwest Asia]]. However, sites such as Djenné-Djenno disprove this, as these traditions in [[West Africa]] flourished long before. Towns similar to that at Djenne-Jeno also developed at the site of Dia, also in Mali along the [[Niger River]], from around 900&nbsp;BC.

=====Dhar Tichitt and Oualata=====
{{Main|Dhar Tichitt|Oualata}}

Dhar Tichitt and Oualata were prominent among the early urban centres, dated to 2000 BC, in present-day Mauritania. About 500 stone settlements littered the region in the former savannah of the Sahara. Its inhabitants fished and grew millet. It has been found that the Soninke of the Mandé peoples were responsible for constructing such settlements. Around 300 BC, the region became more desiccated and the settlements began to decline, most likely relocating to Koumbi Saleh. From the type of architecture and pottery, it is believed that Tichit was related to the subsequent Ghana Empire. Old Jenne (Djenne) began to be settled around 300 BC, producing iron and with sizeable population, evidenced in crowded cemeteries. The inhabitants and creators of these settlements during these periods are thought to have been ancestors of the Soninke people.

=====Bantu expansion=====
{{main|Bantu expansion}}

Peoples speaking precursors to the modern-day [[Bantu languages]] began to spread throughout southern Africa, and by 2000 BC they were expanding past the [[Congo River]] and into the [[African Great Lakes|Great Lakes]] area. By AD 1000 these groups had spread throughout all of southern Africa south of the equator.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=81}} Iron metallurgy and agriculture spread along with these peoples, with the cultivation of millet, oil palms, sorghum, and yams as well as the use of domesticated cattle, pigs, and sheep. These technologies helped increase population, and settled communities became common in sub-Saharan Africa except in deserts or heavy forests.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|pp=82–83}}