Africa in 1560
This map shows the 16 states and peoples the data has for Africa in that year.
Watch these borders move
Play the changes on an animated map, in your browser. Free, no account needed.
States and peoples in Africa in 1560
Largest first, by area on this map.
- Ottoman Empire
- Safavid Dynasty
- Songhai Empire
- Funj Sultanate
- Ethiopian Empire
- Saadi Sultanate
- Mali Empire
- Bornu Empire
- Kingdom of Kongo
- Kingdom of Spain
- Hafsid Dynasty
- Sultanate of Harar
- Republic of Venice
- Portuguese Africa
- Kingdom of Portugal
- Spanish Empire
New on the map since 1535
Saadi Sultanate · Sultanate of Harar
Gone from the map by 1585
Kingdom of Spain · Hafsid Dynasty · Sultanate of Harar · Portuguese Africa · Kingdom of Portugal
Animated maps of this time
- The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923)
- Rise and Fall of the Mongols, 1162–1783
- Spread of Christianity, 30–2025
- Where elephants and mammoths lived, 21,000 years ago to today
- The Making of South Africa, 1488–2026: African Peoples, Colonies and Republics
- Italian Maritime Republics & Their Overseas Empires, 1000–1797
Africa in other years
Other regions in 1560
The outlines are coarse and follow the Cliopatria dataset: borders before modern surveys are estimates, and a blank area means the data has no state on record there, not that nobody lived there. A state that changed hands during the year can appear together with its successor.