Africa:

Sixteenth century:  By this point, Byzantine sorcerous techniques 
have become codified as 'Hermetic' magic and have become common 
across Europe.  Hermetic techniques begin to leak into Africa, but remain
rare.  While some minor colonies are established along the coast by the
Portuguese and Spanish, most of Africa remains independent of European
influence.  However, the growing slave trade begins to alter African
society...

Seventeenth century:  The Dutch establish a trading post at Cape Horn,
which becomes the center of a small colony.  The locals, under attack by
tribes migrating south, are unable to resist.  In Western Africa, urban
culture flourishes as coastal nations grow rich raiding the interior
nations and selling the captives as slaves.  Western Hermetic magic
becomes somewhat more widespread with the growth of cities.  The tribes of
the interior suffer from increasing slave trading and face difficulties of
maintaining their own civilizations.


Eighteenth century: Byzantine Empire conquers Egypt from the Mameluks
and wars with the Emperors of Ethiopia, inconclusively.  Slave trading
continues to benefit the coastal nations and cause trouble for the
interior.  Disease continues to protect Africa from becoming colonized,
except in South Africa, where the Dutch presence grows.  

1798:  Napoleon conquers the Byzantine holdings in Egypt.
1799:  Napoleon goes back to France, Byzantines reconquer the area.

Nineteenth century:
During the Napoleonic wars, South Africa passes into British hands.  
French colonize Algeria, finally taking action against the Barbary pirates
in the 1830s.  In the 1870s, Hermetic mages finally find a cure for
Malaria, and the great colonization expansion into Africa begins.  Much of
West Africa falls into French hands.  Belgium and Germany also grab a
piece of the pie.  The British take control of Egypt, where the Suez Canal
is built.  However, Britain is defeated by Zulu magical might in 
the Zulu wars and loses control of most of South Africa, which remains
free of European control, as does Ethiopia.  

20th Century:

West Africa is divided into several French colonies, except for a few
coastal pockets controlled by the Spanish, and 'Liberia', a land settled
by repatriated ex-slaves. However, the region around the Congo river is a
colony of Belgium.  The French colonies contain several major cities,
though they have declined somewhat with the end of the slave trade.

Most of Southern Africa is controlled by the Zulu Empire, ruled by Shaka
II.  The Zulu have a large number of powerful war shamans who enabled them
to overcome the British and Boer resistance.  However, the southernmost
tip of Africa remains under British control.  Shaka has allowed the Boers
to continue to live in the territories they had occupied, but they face
the same sort of status as blacks did in South Africa in the 'Real World'.
Many fled into the still British controlled Cape Colony, which is now
overcrowded and poor.

Eastern Africa is largely controlled by the British, as is Egypt, which is
technically an 'independent' protectorate.  Ethiopia, however, remains an
independant empire, in large part due to the strong tradition of Hermetic
Magic in the empire, which allegedly dates back to the first Emperor, one
of Solomon's many children.  Imperial legend also claims that the Ark of
the Covenant is hidden away in one of the many sanctuaries of the
Ethiopian Jews, who practice a branch of Judaism that only possesses the
Pentateuch (The first five books of the Bible).  


Railroads are starting to connect the major cities, though they remain
rather sketchy.  Egypt, the Mediterranean coast, the Western Coast of
Africa, Capetown, and Ethiopia are the most 'civilized' areas by European
standards.