Frumentius, brought to Ethiopia as a slave, becomes the kingdom's first Christian bishop

Christianity reaches the kingdom of Dongola, in present-day Sudan

Islam reaches Shanga, off the east coast of Africa, with the building of a tiny wooden mosque

A Muslim dynasty is established at Kilwa, on the east African coast

Islam replaces Christianity as the religion of the kings of Dongola, in present-day Sudan

A friar, who has failed to find Prester John in the east, publishes a book proving that the fabulous king lives in Ethiopia

Coffee, derived from wild plants in Ethiopia, is cultivated in Arabia

The Portuguese set up a trading post on the east African island of Zanzibar

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim leads Muslim Somalis in a holy war against Christian Ethiopia, destroying churches and shrines

A fleet from Oman evicts the Portuguese from Mombasa and Zanzibar

An Egyptian army makes its camp at Khartoum, subsequently the capital of an Egyptian province in the Sudan

Zanzibar becomes the main place of residence of the sultan of Oman

An Ethiopian baron usurps the throne and proclaims himself emperor, as Theodore II

Speke and Grant find the Ripon Falls, over which the headwater of the Nile flows from Lake Tanganyika

British explorer Samuel Baker annexes the southern Sudan, or Equatoria, on behalf of the khedive of Egypt

The British consul in Zanzibar persuades the sultan to end the island's notorious slave trade

Mohammed Ahmed, proclaiming himself the Mahdi, defeats three Egyptian armies in the Sudan

General Gordon marches south to protect Khartoum from the advancing forces of the Mahdi

Karl Peters hurries round east Africa persuading chiefs to accept the German emperor as their protector

British general Garnet Wolseley sails from London on a mission to rescue Gordon, trapped by the Mahdi in Khartoum

Bismarck grants Karl Peters a charter to rule a German protectorate in east Africa

Italian troops occupy Eritrea, a province of Ethiopia

German warships arrive in Zanzibar harbour to persuade the sultan to cede territory to the Kaiser, William I

Addis Ababa is founded, to become subsequently the capital of Ethiopia

Germany and Britain define neighbouring spheres of interest in east Africa