Peoples & MigrationThe 15th century

Peoples & Migration in the 15th century

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged peoples and migration — settlement, movement and displacement, narrowed to the 15th century — 7 of them, drawn from 7 nations, running from 1400 to 1493. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
7
Nations
7
Earliest
1400
Latest
1493

Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

  1. Africa

    Liberia

    Settlement by Mande, Kwa, and Mel peoples

    Over centuries the region was settled by Niger-Congo-speaking peoples — Mande groups such as the Vai and Kpelle, Kwa groups such as the Kru, Grebo, and Bassa, and Mel groups such as the Gola and Kisi, the last regarded as among the oldest inhabitants.

    Era: Indigenous peoples of the Grain Coast

    Sources: Liberia — People (Ethnic Groups, Languages) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Liberia — peoples and minorities · Minority Rights Group

  2. Africa

    South Sudan

    Nilotic expansion across the upper Nile

    Western Nilotic peoples including the Dinka and Nuer spread out from the Sudd, a dispersal linked to the decline of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia.

    Era: Peoples of the Upper Nile

    Sources: History of South Sudan · Wikipedia, Precolonial History of South Sudan · Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History

  3. Africa

    Equatorial Guinea

    Annobón peopled from Angola

    The remote island of Annobón, uninhabited before Atlantic navigation, was settled by Africans brought by the Portuguese largely from Angola via São Tomé; the Annobonese came to speak a Portuguese-based creole.

    Era: Peoples of the island and the mainland

    Sources: History of Equatorial Guinea · Wikipedia, Equatorial Guinea · Encyclopedia.com

  4. Africa

    Guinea-Bissau

    The coastal and island peoples

    The coast and rivers held the Balanta, Jola, Fula, Papel, Manjaco and Biafada, while the offshore Bijagós formed matrilineal warrior societies of seafarers and raiders — a fragmented mosaic of peoples and small states.

    Era: Kaabu and the peoples of the Rivers of Guinea

    Sources: History of Guinea-Bissau · Wikipedia, Guinea-Bissau (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, A Guide to the History of Recognition: Guinea-Bissau · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian

  5. Africa

    Kenya

    Southern Luo migrate into western Kenya

    Nilotic-speaking Luo communities move into the Lake Victoria basin of western Kenya, the last major wave of the migrations that formed the country's peoples.

    Era: Migrations and the Swahili Coast

    Sources: History of Kenya · Wikipedia

  6. Africa

    Angola

    Portuguese reach the Kingdom of Kongo

    The navigator Diogo Cão reached the mouth of the Congo River and made contact with the Kingdom of Kongo, opening relations between this powerful Central African monarchy and Portugal.

    Era: Kongo, Ndongo and the kingdoms of Central Africa

    Sources: Angola — Colonialism, Independence, Civil War (history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Portuguese Angola · World History Encyclopedia, Kingdom of Kongo · Wikipedia

  7. Africa

    São Tomé and Príncipe

    Deportation of Jewish children and convicts

    The early colonists included Portuguese degredados and some two thousand children taken from expelled Jewish families and deported to be raised as Christians, most of whom died — part of the forced human mixture that founded Creole society.

    Era: Empty islands and the first plantation society

    Sources: History of São Tomé and Príncipe · Wikipedia, São Tomé and Príncipe · Encyclopaedia Britannica