The migration, mapped

The map is decorative: every halt is listed below as text.

1. Full itinerary as text
2. 1. Jerusalem, Roman Judea, 135 CE — YEHUDIM. Hadrian's edict of expulsion closes Jerusalem to its own people. The road out of Judea runs south, towards Egypt.
3. 2. Egypt, the Nile Valley, Roman Egypt, c. 135–140 CE — YEHUDIM. The exiles follow the Nile upstream and settle among the Judean communities already established in Egypt.
4. 3. Meroë & Napata, Nubia (Kush), c. 140–300 CE — YEHUDIM. Two centuries in the Kushite capitals. From Nubia the caravan roads open westward across the continent.
5. 4. Omdurman, Khartoum territory, c. 300 CE — YEHUDIM. At the confluence of the two Niles the column turns away from the river and takes the desert road west.
6. 5. El Obeid, Kordofan, c. 300–500 CE — YEHUDIM. Two centuries in Kordofan, on the caravan road that links the Nile to the western sultanates.
7. 6. El Fasher, Darfur, c. 500–550 CE — YEHUDIM. A generation in Darfur, on the darb — the great east–west track of the Sudanic belt.
8. 7. Abeshr (Abéché), Wadaï, c. 550–600 CE — YEHUDIM. Wadaï, last staging post before Lake Chad. The old Egyptian and Nubian caravan routes carry them across the southern Sahara.
9. 8. Kuka, near Barua, Bornu, c. 600–950 CE — YEHUDIM. Three and a half centuries in the Bornu empire, by the shores of Lake Chad — the longest halt of the whole journey.
10. 9. Kano, Sokoto territory, c. 950–960 CE — YEHUDIM. A brief decade in the Hausa trading city, then west again along the Sudanic corridor.
11. 10. Busa, Borgu, c. 960–1100 CE — YEHUDIM. On the Niger in Borgu they still call themselves YEHUDIM, and say so openly.
12. 11. Niki, Upper Guinea, c. 1100–1650 — YEHUDIM. Five and a half centuries in Upper Guinea, at the heart of the Kingdom of Judah recorded on the European maps of Negroland.
13. 12. Fall of the Kingdom of Juda, Atlantic coast of Guinea, 1619–1650 — YEHUDIM. Wars with neighbouring kingdoms break the kingdom; the transatlantic slave trade, opened on this coast in 1619, finishes it. The survivors flee inland, away from the sea.
14. 13. Forests of the Kingdom of Benin, Benin territory, c. 1650–1655 — BEVUNDI. Sheltered by the forest, out of reach of the slave raiders, they take a new name: BEVUNDI, those who carry the Sacred Breath forward.
15. 14. Sokoto territory, Sahel, c. 1790–1800 — BENDZO. Back on the Sahelian trade roads, they pass through Sokoto under a third name: BENDZO.
16. 15. Adamawa, Northern Cameroon, c. 1805 — ÉKANG. On the Adamawa plateau the people take the name they still bear today: ÉKANG.
17. 16. Crossing of the Sanaga — Ossué Nnanga, Sanaga basin, 1810–1815 — ÉKANG. The crossing of the river the Ékang called Ossué Nnanga — on the back of a mythical Leviathan, says the tradition.
18. 17. Kingdom of Pongo — the equatorial forest, Gabon · Equatorial Guinea, c. 1842 — ÉKANG. The Fang branch of the Ékang reaches the equatorial forest and the Atlantic again — this time from the east.