Africa

A finely cast blue faience ushabti from the Egyptian Late Period (664–332 BCE), inscribed with Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead to serve the deceased in the fields of Osiris. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

A cast brass plaque from the royal court of the Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria, depicting a senior warrior flanked by attendants in full ceremonial regalia. Produced by Benin palace guilds using the lost-wax technique, 16th–17th century.

A large Ethiopian bronze processional cross (qäqwami mäsqäl) from the Amhara or Tigrinya tradition, 15th–16th century, used in the liturgy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church — among the most distinctive sacred objects of African Christianity.

The Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria produced some of the most sophisticated bronze and ivory artworks of the medieval world, centuries before European contact.

In 1896 Ethiopia decisively defeated the Italian army at Adwa, becoming the only African nation to repel a European colonial invasion during the Scramble for Africa.

Shaka kaSenzangakhona transformed a small Nguni clan into the most powerful military kingdom in southern Africa in less than a decade through revolutionary tactics.

After 46 years of state-sanctioned racial segregation and three decades of armed resistance, South Africa held its first fully democratic election on 27 April 1994.

At its zenith under Mansa Musa, the Mali Empire was the wealthiest kingdom on Earth, controlling the world's largest gold and salt trade.

The Kingdom of Kush ruled from the Nile's fourth cataract and at its height conquered Egypt itself, producing the 25th Pharaonic Dynasty.

Great Zimbabwe was a medieval stone city that served as the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe between the 11th and 15th centuries, the largest ancient structure in sub-Saharan Africa.

Founded by Phoenician settlers around 814 BC, Carthage became the dominant commercial and naval power of the western Mediterranean before its destruction by Rome.

Built around 2560 BC as a tomb for Pharaoh Khufu, the Great Pyramid stood as the tallest man-made structure on Earth for over 3,800 years.