East Africa

Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors as well as later ones that have been dated to around 7 million years ago, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster—the earliest Homo sapiens (modern human), found in Ethiopia, date to circa 200,000 years ago.

The British Empire set foot in the region's most exploitable and promising lands acquiring what is today Uganda, and Kenya.

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda (Jamhuri ya Uganda), is a country in East-Central Africa.

The German Empire gained control of a large area named German East Africa, comprising present-day Rwanda, Burundi and the mainland part of Tanzania named Tanganyika.

Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi (Republika y'Uburundi, ; République du Burundi, or ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge.

The British also held a number of island colonies in the region, including the extended archipelago of Seychelles and the rich farming island of Mauritius, previously under the French sovereignty.

The capital of the 115-island country, Victoria, lies 1500 km east of mainland East Africa.

The French settled the largest island of the Indian Ocean (and the fourth-largest globally), Madagascar, along with a group of smaller islands nearby, namely Réunion and the Comoros.

Madagascar (Madagasikara), officially the Republic of Madagascar (Repoblikan'i Madagasikara ; République de Madagascar), and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately 250 miles off the coast of East Africa.

Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in south-central Africa (although some sources consider it part of East Africa ).

Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the "big five": the elephant, buffalo, lion, black rhinoceros, and leopard, though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly those of the rhino and elephant.

Panthera leo melanochaita is a lion subspecies in Southern and East Africa.

Some of the earliest hominin skeletal remains have been found in the wider region, including fossils discovered in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia, as well as in the Koobi Fora in Kenya and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, northern Somalia, and the Red Sea coast of Sudan are considered the most likely location of the land known to the Ancient Egyptians as Punt.

The country has since recovered and now has the largest economy (by GDP) in East Africa, having the largest population in the region.

These states are now typically considered part of East or Southern Africa.

The term southern Africa or Southern Africa, generally includes Angola, Botswana, Eswatini (also known as Swaziland), Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, though Angola may be included in Central Africa and Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe in East Africa.

Some researchers have suggested that North Africa was the region of Africa from which modern humans who first trekked out of the continent.

Some researchers have postulated that North Africa rather than East Africa served as the exit point for the modern humans who first trekked out of the continent in the Out of Africa migration.

The easternmost point of the continent, that is Ras Hafun in Somalia, is of archaeological, historical and economical importance.

Jutting out into the Guardafui Channel, it constitutes the easternmost point in Africa.

The French settled the largest island of the Indian Ocean (and the fourth-largest globally), Madagascar, along with a group of smaller islands nearby, namely Réunion and the Comoros.

Despite its distance from the coast, the Comoros is situated along the Swahili Coast in East Africa.

Some of the earliest hominin skeletal remains have been found in the wider region, including fossils discovered in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia, as well as in the Koobi Fora in Kenya and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

A steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley that stretches across East Africa, it is about 48 km long, and is located in the eastern Serengeti Plains in the Arusha Region about 45 km from Laetoli, another important archaeological site of early human occupation.

Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, northern Somalia, and the Red Sea coast of Sudan are considered the most likely location of the land known to the Ancient Egyptians as Punt.

Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa in East Africa.

According to the theory of the recent African origin of modern humans, the predominantly held belief among most archaeologists, East Africa is the area where anatomically modern humans first appeared.

By some 50-70,000 years ago, a subset of the bearers of mitochondrial haplogroup L3 migrated from East Africa into the Near East.

Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the "big five": the elephant, buffalo, lion, black rhinoceros, and leopard, though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly those of the rhino and elephant.

Fossils of leopard ancestors were excavated in East Africa and South Asia, dating back to the Pleistocene between 2 and.

The Swahili culture that emerged from these exchanges evinces many Arab and Islamic influences not seen in traditional Bantu culture, as do the many Afro-Arab members of the Bantu Swahili people.

The Swahili people (or Waswahili) are an ethnic and cultural group inhabiting East Africa.

After their movements from their original homeland in West Africa, Bantus also encountered in central east Africa peoples of Cushitic origin.

Africans bearing the E-V38 (E1b1a) likely traversed across the Sahara, from east to west, approximately 19,000 years ago.

According to the theory of the recent African origin of modern humans, the predominantly held belief among most archaeologists, East Africa is the area where anatomically modern humans first appeared. The major competing hypothesis is the multiregional origin of modern humans, which envisions a wave of Homo sapiens migrating earlier from Africa and interbreeding with local Homo erectus populations in multiple regions of the globe.

sapiens'' (and last common human ancestor to modern humans) arose between 260,000 and 350,000 years ago through a merging of populations in East and South Africa.

The major competing hypothesis is the multiregional origin of modern humans, which envisions a wave of Homo sapiens migrating earlier from Africa and interbreeding with local Homo erectus populations in multiple regions of the globe.

The derivation of the genus Homo from Australopithecina took place in East Africa after 3 million years ago.

Rainfall in East Africa is influenced by El Niño events, which tend to increase rainfall except in the northern and western parts of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, where they produce drought and poor Nile floods.

In Africa, East Africa—including Kenya, Tanzania, and the White Nile basin—experiences, in the long rains from March to May, wetter-than-normal conditions.

Between the 14th and 15th centuries, large African Great Lakes kingdoms and states emerged, such as the Buganda and Karagwe kingdoms of Uganda and Tanzania.

Unified in the 14th century under the first king Kato Kintu, the founder of Buganda's Kintu Dynasty, Buganda grew to become one of the largest and most powerful states in East Africa during the eighteenth and 19th centuries.

The unique geography and apparent suitability for farming made East Africa a target for European exploration, exploitation and colonialization in the nineteenth century.

Then in 1334–1339, he visited North Africa and East Africa.