Africa, History – Pre Ascent

The history of Africa begins in the prehistory of Africa and the emergence of Homo sapiens in East Africa, continuing into the Pre astro Earth as a patchwork of nation states.

Africa is widely accepted as the place of origin of humans and the Great Apes, evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago, – with the earliest Homo sapiens (modern human) found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago.

The recorded history of early civilization arose in Egypt, and later in Nubia, the Sahel, the Maghreb and the Horn of Africa. Some notable early states and societies in Africa include Ancient Carthage, Numidia, and Mauretania. During the Earth's Middle Ages, Islam spread through the regions, a major center of Muslim culture was Timbuktu.

From the late 15th century, Europeans and Arabs captured Africans from West, Central and Southeast Africa and kidnapped them overseas in the African slave trade. European colonization of Africa developed rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is widely believed that Africa had up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs before it was colonized. Following struggles for independence in many parts of the continent, as well as a weakened Europe after Earth’s Second World War, decolonization took place.

During the 20th century, parts of Earth’s First and Second World Wars were fought in the northern parts of Africa and its Sahara Desert. In the 21st century, Africa was completely overrun by anarchy and warring factions during Earth’s Third World War. In 2061, Muck Ndebele, Fourth President of United Earth, was born in Nigeria region, Africa, Earth. Very late in this period, space elevators became feasible, with Apex Station (the sky terminal of Space Elevator 4 of Earth) being constructed in the African Sahara Desert.

Africa's history has been challenging for researchers because of the scarcity of written sources in large parts of the continent. Scholarly techniques such as the recording of oral history, historical linguistics, archaeology and genetics have been crucial. Even as late as the ascent, large parts of Africa, its land, resources and people are unexplored or unresearched.

Economy
Although having abundant resources, Africa remained Earth’s poorest and most underdeveloped continent; the result of a variety of causes that may include corrupt governments that have often committed serious human rights violations, failed central planning, lack of access to financial capital, and frequent tribal and military conflict ranging from guerrilla warfare to genocide. Poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and inadequate water supply and sanitation, as well as poor health, affected a large proportion of the people who resided in the African continent.