There have been a number of empires located in Africa throughout history. Below is a list of African empires whose capital cities were on the African continent. An empire (as far as political units are concerned) is, according to Webster's II New College Dictionary, "a political unit, often made up of a number of territories or nations, ruled by a single supreme authority."[1] It can also be defined as an extensive enterprise under a unified authority.[2] Webster's goes on to define a nation as a "relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government" or "the territory occupied by such a group of people".[3] There are other definitions with a focus on independent government and distinct cultures. For the purpose of this article, only African states that held authority over unified groups (ethnic states under kings or chiefs rather than simply ethnicities under no central leadership other than the emperor) will be listed in accordance with the dictionary definition of empire.
(note: Liberia was established as a republic under the model of the US; however, it fully fit the model of empire as defined by Webster throughout the 19th century)
^ abcdefg Turchin, Peter and Jonathan M. Adams and Thomas D. Hall: "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires and Modern States", page 222. Journal of World-Systems Research, Vol. XII, No. II, 2006
Gates, Henry Louis & Kwame Anthony Appiah (1999). Africana: The Encylcopedia of the African and African American Experience. New York City: Basic Civitas Books, 2095 Pages. ISBN 0-46500-071-1.
Hunwick, John O. (2003). Timbuktu and the Songahy Empire: Al-Sa’di’s Ta’rikh Al-sudan Down to 1613 and other Contemporary Documents. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 488 Pages. ISBN 9-00412-822-4.
Innis, Harold A. (2006). Empire and Communications. Toronto: Dundurn Press Ltd., 287 Pages. ISBN 1-55002-662-3.
Török, László (1999). The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization. Leiden: BRILL, 589. ISBN 9-00410-448-8.
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