Researching African Colonies Family History

There can be overlap between the modern African countries and those of the past.

 

There can be overlap between the modern African countries and those of the past.
Thankfully there are multiple resources for those interested in African genealogy.

African Ancestry is a paid service that uses DNA analysis to check your DNA against the largest database of African genetic sequences. This could give you an insight into a more scientific breakdown of your ancestry but it is not a family history option. 

Family Search have a large list of records from around the United States for those interested in African-American family history. 

Similar to the above, Black Past have another large list of family history links that covers America, Africa and other general genealogy resources that may prove useful. 

Family Tree Magazine’s list is also part American and part African resources. However it is quite comprehensive and may be the only website needed for those freshly starting.

Genealogy Research

 

Researching UK Family History

 

Researching Worldwide Family History

Useful links

 

FamilySearch has a few resources linked to on their Sudan Genealogy page. It is not one of their largest, however the mailing lists may be of use to some researchers.https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sudan_Genealogy
There is an apparent lack of records access for Sudan, and this is a recurring theme for several of the African countries.

 
 

Kindred Trails have a few links to genealogy resources, however it is not an exhaustive list.http://www.kindredtrails.com/lesotho.html
The Forebears link may prove more useful, but it is not as complete as their other country records.http://forebears.co.uk/lesotho

 
 

Accordion ContentKindred Trails have a page for Botswana that is a useful starting point.http://www.kindredtrails.com/botswana.html

 
 
 

World Vital Records allows researchers to search Kenyan Genealogy.http://kenya.worldvitalrecords.com/
Kindred Trails have a page for Kenya that contains military records.http://www.kindredtrails.com/kenya.html

 
 

Information about Somali clans can be found here.http://www.ascleiden.nl/publications/total-somali-clan-genealogy-second-edition
The FamilySearch page for Somalia contains standard links that provide a starting point to research.https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Somalia_Genealogy

 
 

Family Tree Nigeria allows researchers to search databases of Nigerian records and share family trees with others.http://www.familytreeng.com/index.php
Nigeria Family Tree is a nonprofit organisation that transcribes BMD records from across the Nigerian states. http://nigeriafamilyrecord.com/

 
 
 

Family Search once again have a good source of links for government sources and cemetery records.https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Egypt_Genealogy
Forebears’ genealogy listings also cover Egypt, including British Nationals born in Egypt during its occupation.http://forebears.co.uk/egypt

 
 

FamilySearch only have two links, one to Forbears and one to RootsWeb, but it may prove useful nonetheless.https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Gambia_Genealogy
Ghana
The Root have a very good article for those wanting to begin researching Ghanaian family history. http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/02/ghanaian_ancestry_how_do_i_research_it/
Who Do You Think You Are? Have another article walking researchers through how to best research genealogy in Ghana.http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/tutorials/overseas/ghanaian-ancestors

 
 

Zambia & Rhodesia Genealogy help is a blog that can provide help for your family history research.http://a-brickwall.blogspot.co.uk/
Forebears’ listing also covers Zambia.http://forebears.io/zambia

 
 

FamilySearch have multiple Malawi links on their genealogy page.https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Malawi_Genealogy
Kindred Trails have links to landowner indexes and several other links. http://www.kindredtrails.com/malawi.html

 
 

FamilySearch have multiple articles and links to getting started with Sierra Leone genealogy research.https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sierra_Leone_Genealogy

 
 

Those interested in South African genealogy have multiple resources available to them. 
Ancestry SA was established especially to help those outside of South Africa search for family from the country. They are constantly updating and expanding their databases.http://www.ancestrysa.com/ 

Cyndi’s List has an amazing collection of links for South African genealogy that covers a wide range of genealogical links.http://www.cyndislist.com/south-africa/general/

 
 

The National Archives website for Zimbabwe is very slow or unresponsive at the time of writing. But it should be where researchers can find BMD records. Records are also physically held at a regional level.http://www.archives.gov.zw/

 
 

Forebears have some searchable records form Swaziland.http://forebears.co.uk/swaziland
The RootsWeb mailing list for Swaziland may be of some use to researchers.http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SWZ/
Citizens of Swaziland can get their own birth or marriage certificates from the government, but those without citizenry will struggle to obtain physical copies.http://www.gov.sz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=81%3Ahome-affairs&id=1368%3Acivil-registration&Itemid=95

 
 

With Tanzania being a relatively new country, locating records from Tanganyika and Zanzibar is fraught with difficulty. 
Kindred Trails have a few records linked to for Tanzania, but no BMD or cemetery records.http://www.kindredtrails.com/tanzania.html
The British Library’s African Database provides some Tanzanian related records.http://eap.bl.uk/database/collections.a4d

 
 
 

World Vital Records have a small section of Ugandan records.http://ugandan.worldvitalrecords.com/
FamilySearch have multiple links and a search tool for Ugandan Genealogy.https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Uganda_Genealogy