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FOUR THOUSAND YEARS, ONE CONTINUOUS THREAD.

Filter by pillar, move through the timeline, then trace the same history across geography.

INTERACTIVE TIMELINE

TIMELINE

C. 3100 BCE

UNIFICATION OF KEMET

Nile Valley

C. 750 BCE

KINGDOM OF KUSH RULES EGYPT

Nubia

1235

FOUNDING OF THE MALI EMPIRE

West Africa

1619

AFRICANS ARRIVE IN VIRGINIA

North America

1804

HAITIAN INDEPENDENCE

Caribbean

1865

ABOLITION IN THE UNITED STATES

United States

1955-1968

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

United States

1957-1975

AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE ERA

Africa

INTERACTIVE MAP

MIGRATIONS, ROUTES, AND LANDMARKS

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Interactive Map
LANDMARK

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

Principal arrival port of the North American trade; center of the Gullah Geechee corridor.

RELATED ARCHIVE ITEMS
FEATURED

FIGURES IN THIS PERIOD

COLONIAL ERA

KING JAMES I

1566 – 1625

A scholar-king whose reign shaped colonial charters, translation, and the legal language of empire.

FREEDOM MOVEMENTS

QUEEN NZINGA OF NDONGO AND MATAMBA

1583 – 1663

Negotiated and fought against Portuguese expansion in West Central Africa for nearly four decades.

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

MANSA MUSA

c. 1280 – c. 1337

Expanded Mali's reach and invested its wealth in mosques, libraries, and scholarship at Timbuktu.