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Biodiversity hotspots are centres of endemism and thus contain many range‐restricted species. In addition, within these hotspots occur widespread species that might have originated within a hotspot before dispersing to neighbouring or distant regions. We test this hypothesis with a phylogeographic analysis of a miniature leaf litter frog, Arthroleptis xenodactyloides, that has a large distribution throughout the Eastern Arc biodiversity hotspot and other regions in East Africa. Maximum‐likelihood and Bayesian estimates of the mitochondrial gene phylogeny are used as a proxy for understanding the evolutionary history of diversification and the historical relationships between populations. The north–south range of this species extends for approximately 1900 km; our sampling covers approximately 85% of this range. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we estimate the region of origin and direction of dispersal …