There are presently 13 monarchies in Africa; that is: self-governing states, territories, or nations on the continent of Africa where supreme power resides with an individual, who is recognised as the head of state. All are similar in that the sovereign inherits his or her office and usually keeps it until death or abdication. However, only four are sovereign, while the remaining nine are sub-national monarchies. Of the former, three are constitutional monarchies, wherein the sovereign is bound by laws and customs in the exercise of their powers, and one is an absolute monarchy, wherein the sovereign rules without bounds; currently three of these monarchies are independent states, while the remaining one is a dependency of a European monarchy. Those monarchies that are sub-national in nature are not sovereign, and exist within a larger political associations.

[edit] Current monarchies

State	Dependency	Succession	Monarch	Reign since	Heir apparent
Lesotho	Kingdom; constitutional	Elective	Letsie III	12 November 1990	Unknown
Morocco	Kingdom; constitutional	Agnatic primogeniture	Mohammed VI	23 July 1999	Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco
Swaziland	Kingdom; absolute	Elective	Mswati III	25 April 1986	Unknown
Territory	Type	Succession	Monarch	Reign since	Heir apparent
Canary Islands (Kingdom of Spain)	Autonomous community	Cognatic primogeniture	Juan Carlos	22 November 1975	Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Ceuta (Kingdom of Spain)	Autonomous community	Cognatic primogeniture	Juan Carlos	22 November 1975	Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Melilla (Kingdom of Spain)	Autonomous community	Cognatic primogeniture	Juan Carlos	22 November 1975	Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Saint Helena including Tristan da Cunha and Ascension Island (United Kingdom)	British overseas territory	Male primogeniture[N 1]	Elizabeth II	6 February 1952	Charles, Prince of Wales[1]
Nation[N 2]	Type	Succession	Monarch	Reign since	Heir apparent
Zululand (South Africa)	Sub-national monarchy	Cognatic primogeniture	Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu	17 September 1968	Misuzulu Zulu
Ashanti (Ghana)	Sub-national monarchy	Elective	Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II	26 April 1999	Unknown
Barotseland (Zambia)	Sub-national monarchy	Cognatic primogeniture	Lubosi II	October 2000
Buganda (Uganda)	Sub-national monarchy	Elective	Muwenda Mutebi II	31 July 1993	Unknown
Bunyoro (Uganda)	Sub-national monarchy		Iguru I	1994
Busoga (Uganda)	Sub-national monarchy	Elective	TBA		Unknown
Kano (Nigeria)	Sub-national monarchy	Cognatic primogeniture	Ado Bayero	October 1963
Kanongesha-Lunda (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia)	Sub-national monarchy	Cognatic primogeniture	Mbumb II Muteb	1997
Toro Kingdom (Uganda)	Sub-national monarchy	Cognatic primogeniture	Rukidi IV	5 September 1995	TBA

[edit] Former Commonwealth realms

• The Gambia (abolished 1970)
• Ghana (abolished 1960)
• Kenya (abolished 1964)
• Malawi (abolished 1966)
• Mauritius (abolished 1992)
• Federation of Nigeria (abolished 1963)
• Sierra Leone (abolished 1971)
•  South Africa (abolished 1961)
•  Tanganyika (abolished 1962)
• Uganda (abolished 1963)

[edit] Former monarchies

[edit] Pre-colonial Africa

• Iron Age empires of North Africa
• Medieval (8th to 13th century) Islamic empires (caliphates) in North Africa
• the medieval Sahelian kingdoms
• The Ethiopian Empire is notable as an empire in continuous existence from the 13th to the 20th centuries, succumbing neither to the Islamic conquests nor to European colonialism.
• empires of the "transitional period" of the 15th to 19th centuries.
  • Islamic sultanates of the Sudan and the Horn of Africa
  • kingdoms of West Africa succeeding the Sahelian kingdoms
  • kingdoms of Central and Southern Africa such as the Kongo Kingdom and the Mutapa Empire.

[edit] 20th century

• Ankole (Uganda) (abolished 1967)
• Kingdom of Burundi (abolished 1966)
• Central African Empire (abolished 1979)
• Congo Free State (annexed by Belgium, 1908)
•  Egypt Kingdom of Egypt (abolished 1953)
•  Ethiopia Empire of Ethiopia (abolished 1975)
•  Libya Kingdom of Libya (abolished 1969)
• Rhodesia (not recognized; abolished 1970)
• Kingdom of Rwanda (abolished 1961)
• Tunisia (abolished 1957)
•  Zanzibar Sultanate of Zanzibar (abolished 1964)

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Equal primogeniture is being considered.
2. ^ Nation here refers to the more strict usage of the word, meaning a body of people or a community. The monarchies in this column are all sub-national monarchies, and do not constitute sovereign states.

[edit] References

v • d • e Monarchies List of current monarchs Geography Africa · Americas · Asia · Europe · Oceania Absolute Brunei · Saudi Arabia · Swaziland · Vatican City Constitutional Antigua and Barbuda · Australia · Andorra · The Bahamas · Bahrain · Barbados · Belize · Belgium · Bhutan · Cambodia · Canada · Denmark · Grenada · Jamaica · Japan · Jordan · Kuwait · Liechtenstein · Lesotho · Luxembourg · Malaysia · Monaco · Morocco · Netherlands · New Zealand · Norway · Oman1 · Papua New Guinea · Qatar1 · Spain · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Lucia · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Solomon Islands · Sweden · Thailand · Tonga · Tuvalu · United Arab Emirates · United Kingdom Elective Andorra · Cambodia · Kuwait · Malaysia · Swaziland · United Arab Emirates · Vatican City Subnational Ghana Ashanti · Dagbon Malaysia Johor · Kedah · Kelantan · Negeri Sembilan · Pahang · Perak · Perlis · Selangor · Terengganu Nigeria Ibadan · Nri · Kano · Sokoto Caliphate · Lagos Uganda Ankole · Buganda · Bunyoro · Busoga · Toro United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi · Ajman · Dubai · Fujairah · Ras al-Khaimah · Sharjah · Umm al-Quwain Wallis and Futuna Alo · Sigave · Uvea Others Māori (New Zealand) · Yogyakarta (Indonesia) · Zulu Kingdom (South Africa) · Barotseland (Zambia) Italics indicate Commonwealth realms, which each share the same person as head of state. 1 Monarchy is constitutional by law, but remains absolute in practice.