Geographic SettingFor at least 5,000 years, much of North Africa has been occupied by the Sahara Desert. Just south of this desert lies a wide band of grassland known as the savanna, stretching across Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
The savanna became home to large numbers of people herding cattle and sheep. These people learned to smelt iron and grow crops, and developed complex communities with craftsmen, warriors, and traders. South of the savanna are the tropical rainforests of equatorial Africa. The Sahara was a barrier separating the peoples of sub-Saharan (below the desert) Africa from the rest of the world. But trade was never cut off completely, because the Sahara has oases with fresh water springs. Once merchants (people who trade) knew the location of these oases, they could cross the desert on camels, which could go several days, without water. Merchants crossed the Sahara for gold and other riches they could obtain from trade with West Africa. At the same time, West Africans lacked salt. Merchants, moving in caravans across the desert, picked up blocks of salt from desert salt beds along the way to exchange for gold. A thriving trade developed, based on gold-salt trade. |
Rise of the West African Kingdoms
Around the 8th century (the year 700 CE), the West African savanna witnessed the rise of a series of powerful kingdoms based on military strength and control of trade routes. For the next thousand years, these kingdoms dominated West Africa, leading to an exchange of ideas, the rise of cities, and increased wealth.