Hic sunt leones
The phrase "Hic sunt leones" (Latin for "Here are lions") was exactly what ancient Roman and medieval European cartographers wrote across uncharted chunks of the African map.
Cities appeared in the last 2000 years - when the slave trade started.
The civilised parts -the North (Egypt, etc) were entirely European until the Arab invasion in 647 and 700 CE. This has been the case for hundred of thousands of years. Evidence: Mousterian, Aurignacian (detected in Canaan, which belongs to Egypt).