Rarely-seen photos of African kingdoms taken just before and after European colonialists launched a wave of terror that would change the continent forever.
A dignitary from the Ethiopian Empire, before it was overthrown by Italy in 1941. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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Queen Ranavalona III, last ruler of the Merina Kingdom (present-day Madagascar), before it was overthrown by France in 1896. Circa 1890-1895.Wikimedia Commons
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A woman of the Ethiopian Empire. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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King Otumfuo of the Ashanti Empire sits on his throne. The Ashanti Empire won its independence from Britain in 1931, after being forced into three decades of life as a British Protectorate. Kumasi, Ashanti Empire. 1953.Wikimedia Commons
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A child in an Ethiopian village. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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The great war drum of the Ashanti in the palace of the king. The skulls are those of kings defeated by the Ashanti Empire. Circa 1870-1879.Wikimedia Commons
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Three women of the Dahomey Kingdom. Four years later, Dahomey would be fully colonized by the French. 1900.Wikimedia Commons
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A Dahomey chief. Circa 1900.Wikimedia Commons
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Princess Ramasindrazana, aunt of Queen Ranavalona III of Merina. Circa 1890.Wikimedia Commons
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King Bell of the Duala People, present-day Cameroon. 1874.New York Public Library
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Priests training in the Ethiopian Empire. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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Mfutila, the King of Kongo, in what is today part of Angola. 1892.New York Public Library
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An Ethiopian church. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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Chiefs of the Dahomey kingdom watch a festival. Circa 1890.New York Public Library
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A young girl in an Ethiopian village. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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Dahomey Priests. Circa 1900.New York Public Library
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The daughters of the Ethiopian emperor in Addis Ababa. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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Chief Aivnah of the Ashanti Empire with his followers. Circa 1890.Wikimedia Commons
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Radama II, King of Merina. 1861.Wikimedia Commons
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A courtyard in Ethiopia. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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A Duala man poses for a photograph in Dido Town, present-day Cameroon. Circa 1874.New York Public Library
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A young girl stands in front of her home in the Ethiopian Empire. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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The residents of an Ethiopian town work together to build a house. Here, they are preparing a thatched roof. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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The last king of the Wadai Empire, surrounded by his followers. Circa 1910.New York Public Library
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An Ethiopian dignitary on horseback. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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Decorated cars lead a procession to the coronation of the Ashanti king in Kumasi. 1937.Wikimedia Commons
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A man and his donkey prepare for a long journey. Ethiopian Empire. 1932.Wikimedia Commons
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Dahomey chiefs get ready for a party in Porto Novo. Circa 1900.Wikimedia Commons
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Ethiopian soldiers on horseback prepare for war against the fascist Italian army. 1936.Wikimedia Commons
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Female soldiers in the Kingdom of Dahomey. Date unspecified.Wikimedia Commons
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Two Ethiopian men look out from a terrace. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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The mausoleum of Emperor Menelik I of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. 1934.Wikimedia Commons
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A temple in the Ashanti Empire. Circa 1890.Wikimedia Commons
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Adjiki, son of King Tofa of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Circa 1890-1900.New York Public Library
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Ashanti warriors are taken prisoner by the British Army. Circa 1899-1902.Wikimedia Commons
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A French colonialist relaxes as he is carried by men of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Circa 1890.Wikimedia Commons
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Colonialists teach young children their French language. Upper Senegal-Niger. Circa 1900.New York Public Library
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A Congolese prisoner is stripped naked and brutally beaten for not collecting enough rubber for the Belgian colonists. Congo Free State. Circa 1890-1900.Wikimedia Commons
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Congolese men hold up their mutilated hands for the camera to show the world what life is like under Belgian rule. Congo Free State. 1904.Wikimedia Commons
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A missionary stands with a victim of atrocities in the Belgian-run Congo Free State. Circa 1890-1910.Wikimedia Commons
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Dahomean Chiefs, now under French rule, publicly make amends to the French government for the death of a colonial administrator. 1912.Wikimedia Commons
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Three boys show their severed hands. Congo Free State. Circa 1900.Wikimedia Commons
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Ethiopian men are hung by Italian soldiers. 1936.Wikimedia Commons
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A man named Nsala stares at the severed hand of his daughter, who was murdered and cannibalized as punishment for his failure to meet the rubber quota. Congo Free State. 1904.Wikimedia Commons
44 Photos Of African Kingdoms Just Before European Colonialists Stormed In — And Just After
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Before European colonialists took control during the 19th century, Africa was ruled by empires whose histories remain little-known today. Many of the great African kingdoms fell hundreds of years ago and so much time has passed that we may never fully understand what life was like in their worlds. A small group of these African kingdoms, however, stayed strong and kept their independence long enough to be documented during the age of photography.
Nations like the Ashanti Empire, for example, survived into the age of colonialism, holding off colonial rule, in fact, for hundreds of years. They were a nation so powerful that, when the first European visitors wrote home about what they'd seen there, most Europeans didn't believe that the empire really even existed.
The Ethiopian Empire, like the Ashanti, kept its freedom for centuries, reigning over its territory for nearly 800 years. For that empire, things turned dark when the fascist Italian army invaded in 1935. For a brief time, the land was conquered and its emperor, Haile Selassie, was forced into exile. The Italian colonialists, though, didn't keep their power for long. In short time, the Ethiopian Empire ruled once more.
Other African kingdoms weren't as lucky. The Merina Kingdom of modern Madagascar fell to the French in 1897, only surviving a short time, just long enough to leave photographs of their pre-colonial way of life. The French colonialists then swept through the Wadai Empire, which they conquered in 1909.
Other African kingdoms went through even worse conquests, like the kingdoms of Luba and Lunda, which were annexed into the Congo Free State. There, some of the worst atrocities in human history were inflicted against them.
For hundreds of years before this era, however, Africa was ruled by distinct empires, each one with its own government, culture, religion, and so on. Each of these African kingdoms was incredibly unique, just one corner of a land of unparalleled diversity — before foreign invaders conquered this land while simultaneously carving it up among themselves and lumping it all together into a single place they cared to know only as "Africa."
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
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Oliver, Mark. "44 Photos Of African Kingdoms Just Before European Colonialists Stormed In — And Just After." AllThatsInteresting.com, February 13, 2018, https://allthatsinteresting.com/african-kingdoms-before-colonization. Accessed February 22, 2025.
