Oh, I love this thread! Not gonna lie, I also like how my format of these polls is spreading

I'd just change some technicalities in the poll:
- Make "Somalia" civ as a choice instead of chosing particular one of its many civs: Ajuran, Adal, Mogadishu, Warsangali, Punt etc... On another hand modern state of Somalia is so infamous that naming the representative of this civ in a different way probably already incraeses its chances
Because Somalia actually has great history before colonialism and complete disaster afterwards.
- Put into one civ "Great Zimbabwe (Mapungubwe/Zimbabwe/Mutapa/Rozwi)" because let's be honest, who's going to vote for Mapungubwe?
- I'm almost sure Axum should be just treated as part of Ethiopian civ (but somebody may enlighten me and show huge differences)
- Buganda is missing, although it was very badly documented anyway; isn't Kitara essentially undocumented and treated as legendary entity?
Anyway, here are my opinions on certain civs.
Oyo (Yoruba people) - I am so pleasantly surprised they are included in this poll. So underrated and unknown kingdom, even by Subsaharan standards. Nigeria in general has always been one of major civilization spots in Africa and one of most densely populated areas but people tend to only mention Hausa, Nok, Igbo or Benin. Yoruba people are higly urbanised, ancient, sophisticated culture with well organized decently sized (100 000km2) kingdom relying on heavy cavalry. They deny stereotypes so well. The only problem is, Oyo doesn't have (so far, in the Internet) any very well documented major leader figure, but we do have some minor data on names and leaders and in worst case we can go for mythological founders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyo_Empire
Ashanti - They are well known on these forums already. Much, much better representation of "African anticolonial resistance" than terribly primitive Zulu (Ashanti actually fought with organized firearm infantry and required three wars before being dominated). Well documented, culturally rich and cool.
Swahilli - Just brilliant civilization in general.
Zimbabwe - I'd just put it as mentioned, as an amalgam of Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, Mutapa and Rozwi.
Kanem Bornu - I am actually surprised it got only one vote so far, definitely one of major state entities in precolonial Africa. Desert kingdom of cavalry surviving for centuries, major size and influence.
On another hand civs I dislike:
Dahomey - It really, really should be a military city state instead. It was incredibly small (10 000km2, estimated 300 000 people) and it completely relied on a slave trade which isn't exactly the proudest accomplishment.