Editing Sub-Saharan Africa (section)

===Central Africa===
{{Main|History of Central Africa}}

[[File:Ann Zingha.jpg|thumb|left|Fictionalised portrait of [[Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba|Nzinga]], queen of the [[Kingdom of Ndongo|Ndongo]] and [[Kingdom of Matamba|Matamba]] kingdoms]]

Archeological finds in Central Africa provide evidence of human settlement that may date back over 10,000 years.<ref>{{cite book |author=Philippe Lavachery |title=Komé-Kribi: Rescue Archaeology Along the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=3937248285 |display-authors=etal }}</ref> According to Zangato and Holl, there is evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African Republic and Cameroon that may date back to 3,000 to 2,500&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=É. Zangato |author2=A.F.C. Holl |title=On the Iron Front: New Evidence from North-Central Africa |journal=Journal of African Archaeology |volume=8 |issue=1 |date=2010 |pages=7–23 |doi=10.3213/1612-1651-10153 |url=http://www.african-archaeology.de/index.php?page_id=154&journal_id=24&pdf_id=172 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226002521/http://www.african-archaeology.de/index.php?page_id=154&journal_id=24&pdf_id=172 |archive-date=26 December 2013 }}</ref> Extensive walled sites and settlements have recently been found in [[Archaeology of Zilum|Zilum]], Chad. The area is located approximately {{convert|60|km|mi|abbr=on}} southwest of Lake Chad, and has been [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to the first millennium&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite book |author=J. Cameron Monroe |title=Akinwumi Ogundiran, Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa: Archaeological Perspectives |page=316 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1107009391}}, citing Magnavita 2004; Magnavita et al. 2004, 2006; Magnavita and Schleifer 2004.</ref><ref>Peter Mitchell et al., The Oxford Handbook of African Archeology (2013), p. 855: "The relatively recent discovery of extensive walled settlements at the transition from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age in the Chad Basin (Magnavita et al., 2006) indicates what enormous sites and processes may still await recognition."</ref>

Trade and improved agricultural techniques supported more sophisticated societies, leading to the early civilisations of [[Sao civilization|Sao]], [[Kanem Empire|Kanem]], [[Bornu Empire|Bornu]], [[Shilluk Kingdom|Shilluk]], [[Kingdom of Baguirmi|Baguirmi]], and [[Wadai Empire|Wadai]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Appiah|first1=Kwame Anthony|last2=Gates|first2=Henry Louis Jr.|title=Encyclopaedia of Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0XNvklcqbwC&pg=PA254|access-date=2013-05-06|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533770-9|page=254}}</ref>

Following the [[Bantu Migration]] into Central Africa, during the 14th century, the [[Luba Kingdom]] in southeast Congo came about under a king whose political authority derived from religious, spiritual legitimacy. The kingdom controlled agriculture and regional trade of salt and iron from the north and copper from the Zambian/Congo copper belt.<ref name="History of Africa pp. 138,139,142">Shillington, Kevin(2005). History of Africa, Rev. 2nd Ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 138–39, 142, {{ISBN|0-333-59957-8}}.</ref>

Rival kingship factions which split from the Luba Kingdom later moved among the Lunda people, marrying into its elite and laying the foundation of the [[Lunda Empire]] in the 16th century. The ruling dynasty centralised authority among the Lunda under the Mwata Yamyo or Mwaant Yaav. The Mwata Yamyo's legitimacy, like that of the Luba king, came from being viewed as a spiritual religious guardian. This [[imperial cult]] or system of divine kings was spread to most of central Africa by rivals in kingship migrating and forming new states. Many new states received legitimacy by claiming descent from the Lunda dynasties.<ref name="History of Africa pp. 138,139,142"/>

The [[Kingdom of Kongo]] existed from the Atlantic west to the Kwango river to the east. During the 15th century, the Bakongo farming community was united with its capital at [[M'banza-Kongo]], under the king title, [[Manikongo]].<ref name="History of Africa pp. 138,139,142"/> Other significant states and peoples included the [[Kuba Kingdom]], producers of the famous raffia cloth, the [[Eastern Lunda]], [[Bemba people|Bemba]], [[Burundi]], [[Rwanda]], and the [[Kingdom of Ndongo]].