The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods: first, its prehistory, in which the first
human settlers arrived, developed
agriculture, and made contact with peoples to the north; the second, the Iron Age empires that consolidated both intra-Africa, and extra-Africa trade, and developed centralized states; third, major polities flourished, which would undergo an extensive history of contact with non-Africans; fourth, the colonial period, in which
Great Britain and
France controlled nearly the entire region; and fifth, the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed.
Prehistory from the
Dahomey region of
Benin West African populations were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the
population history of West Africa. Acheulean tool-using
archaic humans may have dwelled throughout West Africa since at least between 780,000 BP and 126,000 BP (
Middle Pleistocene). During the
Pleistocene,
Middle Stone Age peoples (e.g.,
Iwo Eleru people, possibly
Aterians), who dwelled throughout West Africa between
MIS 4 and
MIS 2, were gradually replaced by incoming
Late Stone Age peoples, who migrated into West Africa as an increase in humid conditions resulted in the subsequent expansion of the
West African forest.
West African hunter-gatherers occupied western
Central Africa (e.g.,
Shum Laka) earlier than 32,000 BP, and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, figure wearing a
Barbary sheep-styled mask During the
Holocene,
Niger-Congo speakers independently created pottery in
Ounjougou, Mali – the earliest
pottery in Africa – by at least 9400 BCE, migrated into the Central Sahara, Hunters in the Central Sahara farmed, stored, and cooked undomesticated central Saharan
flora, underwent domestication of
antelope, and
domesticated and shepherded
Barbary sheep. Some of the hunter-gatherers who created the Round Head rock art may have adopted pastoral culture, and others may have not. As a result of increasing
aridification of the
Green Sahara, Central Saharan
hunter-gatherers and cattle
herders may have used seasonal
waterways as the migratory route taken to the
Niger River and
Chad Basin of West Africa. In 2000 BCE, "
Thiaroye Woman", also known as the "
Venus of Thiaroye", Though possibly developed as early as 5000 BCE, as evidenced by depictions of the
West African script on
Ikom monoliths at
Ikom, in
Nigeria. Niger-Congo speakers domesticated the
helmeted guineafowl between 5500 BP and 1300 BP; remaining West African hunter-gatherers, many of whom dwelt in the
forest-savanna region, were ultimately acculturated and admixed into the larger groups of West African
agriculturalists, akin to the migratory
Bantu-speaking agriculturalists and their
encounters with
Central African hunter-gatherers. The
Sosso Empire sought to fill the void but was defeated () by the
Mandinka forces of
Sundiata Keita, founder of the new Mali Empire. The Mali Empire continued to flourish for several centuries, most particularly under Sundiata's grandnephew
Musa I, before a succession of weak rulers led to its collapse under
Mossi,
Tuareg and
Songhai invaders. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on
Gao, in the
Songhai Empire, under the leadership of
Sonni Ali and
Askia Mohammed. Meanwhile, south of Sudan, strong city-states arose in
Igboland, such as the 10th-century
Kingdom of Nri, which helped birth the arts and customs of the
Igbo people,
Bono State in the 11th century, which gave birth to the numerous
Akan States, while
Ife rose to prominence around the 12th century. Further east,
Oyo arose as the dominant
Yoruba state and the
Aro Confederacy as a dominant Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was a West African medieval state in present-day southeastern Nigeria and a subgroup of the Igbo people. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland and was administered by a priest-king called an
Eze Nri. The Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people and possessed divine authority in religious matters. The
Oyo Empire was a
Yoruba empire of what is today Western, North Central
Nigeria and Southern Republic of
Benin. Established in the 14th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the outstanding organizational skills of the Yoruba, wealth gained from trade and its powerful
cavalry. The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the region from the mid-17th to the late 18th century, holding sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in
Yorubaland, but also over nearby African states, notably the
Fon Kingdom of Dahomey in the modern Republic of Benin to the west. The
Efik Kingdom was also a prominent early Kingdom and the associated
Ibibio of present day Nigeria.
Calabar, the seat of the Efik Kingdom was the seat of government of the
Southern Protectorate of Nigeria before the amalgamation of various parts of the present day Nigeria. For this reason,
Calabar is often considered as the first capital city of Nigeria, followed by
Lagos and now
Abuja. The Benin Empire was a
post-classical empire located in what is now southern
Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as
Benin City,
Edo. It should not be confused with the modern-day country called
Benin, formerly called
Dahomey. The Benin Empire was "one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa, dating perhaps to the eleventh century CE". The Benin Empire was governed by a sovereign Emperor with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and a powerful council rich in resources, wealth, ancient science and technology with cities described as beautiful and large as
Haarlem. "
Olfert Dapper, a Dutch writer, describing Benin in his book
Description of Africa (1668) ". Its craft was the most adored and treasured bronze casting in the history of Africa. It was annexed by the
British Empire in 1897 during the invasion and scramble of Africa.
European contact and slave trade Portuguese traders began establishing settlements along the coast in 1445, followed by the
French,
English,
Spanish,
Danish and
Dutch; the
African slave trade began not long after, which over the following centuries would debilitate the region's economy and population. The slave trade also encouraged the formation of states such as the
Bono State,
Bambara Empire and
Dahomey, whose economic activities include but not limited to exchanging slaves for European
firearms.
Colonialism In the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist
jihads swept across Western Africa. The most notable include
Usman dan Fodio's
Fulani Empire, which replaced the
Hausa city-states,
Seku Amadu's
Massina Empire, which defeated the Bambara, and El Hadj
Umar Tall's
Toucouleur Empire, which briefly conquered much of modern-day Mali. However, the
French and
British continued to advance in the
Scramble for Africa, subjugating kingdom after kingdom. With the fall of
Samory Ture's established
Wassoulou Empire in 1898 and the
Ashanti queen
Yaa Asantewaa in 1902, most West African military resistance to colonial rule resulted in failure. Part of the West African regions underwent an increase in the
numeracy level throughout the 19th century. The reason for such a growth was predetermined by a number of factors. Namely, the
peanut production and trade, which was boosted by the
demand of the
colonial states. Importantly, the rise of numeracy was higher in the regions which were less
hierarchical and had less dependence on the
slavery trade (e.g. Sine and Salum). Whereas areas with the opposite trends illustrated opposite tendencies (e.g. central and northern Senegal). Those patterns were further even more stimulated by the French colonial campaign. Britain controlled the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria throughout the colonial era, while France unified Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Niger into
French West Africa.
Portugal founded the colony of
Guinea-Bissau, while
Germany claimed
Togoland, but was forced to divide it between France and Britain following
First World War due to the
Treaty of Versailles. Only
Liberia retained its independence, at the price of major territorial concessions.
Postcolonial era Following
World War II, nationalist movements arose across West Africa. In 1957, Ghana, under
Kwame Nkrumah, became the first West African colony to achieve its independence, followed the next year by France's colonies (Guinea in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré); by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous. Since independence, many West African nations have been submerged under political instability, with notable civil wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and a succession of military coups in
Ghana and
Burkina Faso. Since the end of colonialism, the region has been the stage for some brutal conflicts, including: •
Nigerian Civil War •
First Liberian Civil War •
Second Liberian Civil War •
Guinea-Bissau Civil War •
Ivorian Civil War •
Sierra Leone Rebel War •
Mali War ==Geopolitical division==