What powerful states were there in Africa in the Middle Ages?

In different periods of the Middle Ages in the north of Africa there were: the possessions of the Byzantine Empire (VI century), the Arab Caliphate (VII-VIII centuries) and the Fatimid Caliphate from the XII century – Ayyubids. The latter were overthrown by the Mamluks in 1250 and ruled Egypt until the beginning of the 16th century.

In western Africa, Songhai (XV-XVI centuries) were large states on the territory of modern Mali. Previously, the empire of Mali and the empire of Ghana (north of the modern state of Ghana) existed there.

There were several small sultanates in Somalia, the largest of which was probably Mogadishu, where Vasco da Gama sailed at the end of the 15th century.

In Ethiopia, statehood existed until the Middle Ages (Aksum), it adopted Christianity early (IV century), from the middle of the XIII century it was ruled by the Solomon dynasty.

On the east coast, the most developed area was near the cities of Mombasa and Zanzibar, the inhabitants of that region spoke Swahili, but in the 8th century Islam penetrated them from the Arabs.

The kingdom of Benin existed in Nigeria; it flourished in the second half of the 15th century.

South of the equator, statehood developed poorly, it is worth noting the great Zimbabwe in the XIII-XV centuries.