The call for a Pan‑African professional society of astronomers dates back several years and emerged alongside the steady growth of astronomy across the African continent. In 2008, both Peter Martinez (South Africa) and Pius Okeke (Nigeria) published influential articles on strategies to advance astronomy in Africa, with Okeke explicitly calling for the formation of a Pan‑African African Astronomical Society (AfAS).
At the time, regional professional astronomical societies already existed in West Africa and East Africa, while colleagues in North Africa had also established organised professional astronomy bodies. In South Africa, a long and well‑documented history of astronomy further demonstrated both the capacity and the need for continental coordination.
Momentum toward a continental society increased significantly at the 2010 launch of the African Physical Society in Dakar, where astronomers from across Africa and the African diaspora resolved to establish the AfAS, following a model similar to that of the African Physical Society. After this meeting, Pius Okeke prepared a white paper outlining the formation, purpose, and structure of the AfAS, which was widely disseminated among African astronomers and helped consolidate support for the initiative.
At the same time, Claude Carignan of Burkina Faso, who had also participated in the Dakar meeting, was actively organising an International Astronomical Union (IAU) Symposium on galaxy formation in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, scheduled for December 2010. This symposium was historic in its own right, as it was the first IAU Symposium ever held in Africa outside of South Africa. Participants from the Dakar meeting agreed that this symposium would provide the appropriate forum at which to formally establish the AfAS.
Following a visit to Cape Town, Carignan and Kevin Govender, then Manager of the Collateral Benefits Division at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), agreed to convene a Skype teleconference to broaden consultation and build consensus around the formation of AfAS. As a result of this consultation, an Interim Working Group was established and tasked with formally creating the Society at the Ouagadougou meeting.
At the Ouagadougou IAU Symposium, the Interim Working Group agreed on the initial structure and constitution of the African Astronomical Society (AfAS). Jacob Ashong of Ghana was mandated to register the Society under the laws of the Republic of Ghana, a task that was successfully completed in January 2011. The Ouagadougou meeting is therefore recognised as the moment of AfAS’s formal formation, as well as the first IAU Symposium ever held in West Africa. The symposium was made possible in part through the generous support of UNESCO, Sweden’s International Science Programme, and the National Society of Black Physicists. This initial registration was later withdrawn, and AfAS was subsequently registered in South Africa.
The AfAS was ceremonially launched at the Second Middle East and Africa Regional IAU Meeting (MEARIM) in Cape Town, South Africa, in April 2011, marking its formal introduction to the international astronomy community. During this formative period, Hakeem Oluseyi was appointed Interim President of AfAS (2011), serving through the launch, after which Pius Okeke was recognised as President at the MEARIM meeting.
Despite this strong foundation, AfAS experienced a period of limited activity in the years following its launch. As astronomy capacity and major initiatives continued to expand across the continent, the absence of a fully active continental professional society became increasingly apparent. This led senior African astronomers and key stakeholders to initiate a process at the MEARIM meeting in Ethiopia in 2017 to revitalise AfAS.
This renewal effort culminated in the Astronomy in Africa meeting held on 25–26 March 2019 at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town. The meeting brought together approximately 80 participants from more than 20 African countries, as well as members of the African diaspora, representing a broad cross‑section of the African astronomy community.
During the meeting, several decisive steps were taken to re‑establish AfAS as a functional and sustainable organisation. A revised and modernised constitution was adopted, providing updated governance structures, clarified membership categories, and a renewed strategic mandate. A new Executive Committee was elected to guide the Society, and the then South African Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) agreed to support the AfAS Secretariat, providing critical institutional and administrative stability.
Following the Cape Town meeting, AfAS entered an incubation phase from April 2019 to March 2020, during which administrative systems were established, membership processes formalised, and strategic plans developed. On 1 April 2020, the AfAS became fully operational as an independent, non‑profit, Pan‑African professional scientific society, marking the successful completion of its relaunch and the beginning of a new chapter in its history.