1419-1566
Nothing happened for a while.
Some (mostly negative) events, but it's hard for an event to really hurt you when you're so isolated. I have no diplomatic contacts. I do have knowledge of Ivoria, which allows me to compete for trade once I reach trade 1.
I got infra 1, promoted TCs, and then left the slider on Trade for the next 120 years. The "action" (using the term liberally) started around 1470 when the Ashanti took over Ivoria from Benin, thus giving me my first diplomatic contact (my first stroke of luck). Using my healthy treasury and high diplo ratings (the only thing I really have going for me), I bribed them and exchanged maps. Then I bribed and maptraded the Songhai, which gave me the map to Morocco. Mind you, I still don't have a way to actually get out of the Kongo, since none of those guys know the border area. Somewhere around here I get infra 2 and build a FA academy. At this point, my income is really not too bad, especially since I have no expenses and all.
I bribe Morocco to +200 and try to exchange maps a few dozen times, but no dice. Then, around 1511, I get a random event converting me to Suuni (my second stroke of luck). Getting this event (or the other one that converts you to catholicism) is really crucial for me, and I got it only 11 years after it unlocks. Although Catholic has better diplomat bonuses than Suuni (the better colonist bonuses are irrelevant given my DP settings), I think Suuni will be better in the long run since my most reasonable avenue of expansion (if I ever expand) will be into Suuni north Africa.
I figure Morocco will be more likely to exchange maps with a coreligionist. After a few dozen more attempts I'm starting to get discouraged, when (presumably to make me go away) Morocco finally exchanges maps with me. Now, at last, the isolation penalty is gone. But I STILL can't go anywhere, since the only nations that know the land and sea zones around me are colonial nations like Portugal, Spain, and France, who won't give me the time of day.
So, I go on a map-exchanging daisy-chain, from Oman to the Golden Horde to the Chatagai Khanate to Bengal to Malacca. Somewhere during this period, I claim sole defender of the Suuni faith. I'll probably end up regretting giving up those 1000 ducats down the line, but at the moment I didn't see anywhere else to spend them.
Finally, I have more than a hundered more provinces known than France, and I figure they will be down with a map exchange. Just as I start bribing them, though, Portugal plants a second TP on my border - this one in the crucial TI Douala province. So, the painstaking map exchanging I just spend 25 years working on is irrelevant, but you won't find me complaining. I march through and join the war in progress between the Songhai and Benin (who have regained Ivoria), on the side of the Songhai.
The Songhai settle for ducats a few months in, just when things are getting good. Not one to be deterred, I happily take the 7 stability penalty and jump right back into war. This war is very long this time, and the obnoxious Songhai leader Da'ud insists on taking Benin's capital himself (well, at least he left Ivoria to me). After numerous rejections, Benin finally gives me their other four provinces, including Ivoria.
So, it appears that, as of 1569, I've established myself as something of a regional power. My plans for the moment involve waiting for my current crap-admin monarch to die, then converting the four provinces of Benin. I really need to pry Douala away from the Portugese (to get a land connection to the rest of W-Africa), and I'd like to get the other three costal provinces on my border as well (one of which is also TPed by Portugal, and all of which are core provinces). Obviously, a showdown with the very large Songhai empire (already annexed Ashanti, reduced Dahomey to 1 province, have one of Benin's provinces) is inevitable.
I know that was a lot for one update (150 years) but you gotta realize that until I marched into Benin, I never took the game off of extremely fast.