When you talk about Africa, it’s hard not to think of its rich history. Apart from its diverse wildlife and natural wonders, the continent has preserved places which are home to history that dates back to centuries ago.

Places such as The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt—the largest and most famous pyramid structures in the world—The Door of No Return in Ghana, where millions of Africans were shipped to slavery, and South Africa’s Robben Island, which is well known as the place where Nelson Mandela, a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, and the first democratically elected president of South Africa, was imprisoned for 27 years in jail.

These, among other places, preserve Africa’s rich history. Here are some of them;

Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

This is considered as one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world. Paleoanthropologists said to have found hundreds of fossilised bones and stone tools in the area dating back to millions of years, and due to this, it is said to hold the earliest evidence of the existence of human ancestors.

Kigali Genocide Memorial

The memorial site works as the place that educates about how and what happened during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. It has beautiful gardens where visitors have some quiet time to reflect on what really happened. The building also has its walls covered with hundreds of thousands of names of people whose remains were laid to rest at the site. Kigali Genocide Memorial serves as the final resting place for more than 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. 

Lalibela, Ethiopia

There is history and uncommon structural designs in Lalibela. This place is best known for the monolithic rock-hewn churches that were excavated from solid rock, with an enormous underground maze of tunnels and passages. The churches are said to have been established by Zagwe people. Tales have it that their king, Lalibela, travelled to Jerusalem and that when he returned and Jerusalem fell to the Islamic conquest, Lalibela ordered for the construction of this place to act as a new home for Christianity.

Gorée Island, Senegal

The island was known as the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast. Transformed into a museum, the place was one of the earliest European settlements in Western Africa and served as a base for slave and other trading. On this island, human beings chained in their holds were shipped off to western countries to work as slaves on plantations.

Thimlich Ohinga, Kenya

The name refers to a "frightening dense forest” in Dholuo language, a Nilotic group who occupy the region. The archaeological site is a complex of stone-built ruins in Migori County, Nyanza, and said to be the largest one of 138 sites containing 521 stone structures that were built around the Lake Victoria region in Kenya. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) website, Thimlich Ohinga is the largest and best preserved of these traditional enclosures. It is an exceptional example of the tradition of massive dry-stone walled enclosures, typical of the first pastoral communities in the Lake Victoria Basin, which persisted from the 16th to the mid-20th century.

Idanre hills, Nigeria

This is a major tourist destination in Ondo state, Nigeria. Estimated to be over 800 years old, the hills remain one of the wonders of nature and a wonderful tourist destination. The hills also contain significant land form features and an appealing cultural landscape within the setting.

Tomb of Askia, Mali

It is said to be the burial place of Askia Mohammad I, one of the Songhai Empire’s most prolific emperors. Built with mud bricks, the place is now used as a mosque and cultural centre for the people that reside in Gao region. It represents the power and riches of the empire that thrived in the 15th and 16th centuries through its control of the Trans-Saharan trade.

Jebel Barkal, Sudan

This is a historical mountain located some 400 km north of Khartoum. Some of the most important archaeological monuments in Sudan are located at the foot of this mountain. The sanctuary includes a remarkable number of buildings; temples, and palaces among others.