The Regions: East Africa

The following objects originated in East Africa:

There is a huge gap between the earliest evidence of the emergence of mankind in Eastern Africa about 100,000 years ago and the more recent history of the peoples of the region.

No direct descendants of the first human inhabitants of East Africa remain. All present day communities are the descendants of incomers to the area. The majority are members of farming groups, originally arriving from the North-west, to the area north of Lake Victoria, about 2300 years ago. They grow banana, yams, and tropical grain crops.

Herdsmen moved south from southern Sudan through the gap between Lake Victoria and Mount Kenya. They included ancestors of the Maasai and Karamojong.

The development of centralised states occurred throughout the farming communities inhabiting the well-watered areas between the great lakes most notably Ganda and later Nyoro and Soga. Little is known about the early history of these states before 200 years ago, although the Ganda king list indicates considerable antiquity.

Main trade items were ivory, copper from what is now Zambia, slaves and timber, exported to Arabia and India through the Omani maritime empire.

The cattle disease rinderpest destroyed up to 90% of the herds in the 1890s, reducing the viability of cattle-keeping people such as the Maasai who became more dependent on their farming neighbours, who they despised.

Visit the Compass site at the British Museum and follow the 'Tours' link to the 'African Galleries' page for more examples of African objects.

The Collection of African Artefacts site provides a wealth of photographs.