African History Encyclopaedia

Arthur Thomas Porter (1834-1908) was a wealthy businessman who plied a dubious but profitable trade in supplying indentured labour from Freetown to the Zaire (present-day...

Foray Benia Porekere (18?-December 28, 1893) was an able general who became leader of the Sofa, troops of the great Mandinka emperor, Samori Touré. His...

Vita Nkanga (16?-October 29, 1665), also known as Antonio 1, ruled over the Kongo kingdom for a short time in a period when the state...

Thomas Peters (circa 1738-June 25/26, 1792) was a courageous Afro-American slave who escaped from his master and eventually became the leader of the black emigrants...

Nzinga Mpudi (circa 1510-November 4, 1561) ruled from 1545 to 1561, as Mani Kongo (ruler of the Kongo) during a period of confrontation between the...

Moise Tshombe (November 19, 1919-June 29, 1969) served as president of the secessionist state of Katanga, and then as prime minister of the Republic of...

Nyaiyongwa (circa 1885-1961) ruled the artificially-created Lobala-Likoka sector, between the Ubangi and Giri rivers northwest of present-day Makanza throughout its entire existence from 1940 to...

Nsaku ne Vunda (a title in use in about the 14th century) was not only the title of a chief, but also the name of...

Nkongolo, a Luba folk hero, (who may have lived in the earlier 16th century), was the legendary Mulopwe (chief) who supposedly laid the first foundations...

Albert Thys (November 28, 1849-February 10, 1915), a Belgian military officer, directed the planning, financing, and construction of the first railroad in the Congo Free...