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The area located north of West Africa is primarily desert containing the Western Sahara. Ancient West Africa included the Sahara, which became a desert by 3000 BCE. [20] During the last glacial period, the Sahara, extending south far beyond the boundaries that now exist. [21]
West African ancestors may have diverged into distinct ancestral groups of modern West Africans and Bantu-speaking peoples in Cameroon, and, subsequently, around 5000 BP, the Bantu-speaking peoples migrated into other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Central African Republic, African Great Lakes, South Africa). [45]
The date used as the end of the ancient era is arbitrary. The transition period from Classical Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages is known as Late Antiquity.Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world: generally from the end of the Roman Empire's ...
There were many kingdoms and empires in all regions of the continent of Africa throughout history. A kingdom is a state with a king or queen as its head. [1] An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant centre and subordinate peripheries".
Middle Stone Age West Africans likely dwelled continuously in West Africa between MIS 4 and MIS 2, and likely were not present in West Africa before MIS 5. [2] Amid MIS 5, Middle Stone Age West Africans may have migrated across the West Sudanian savanna and continued to reside in the region (e.g., West Sudanian savanna, West African Sahel). [2]
The terms African civilizations, also classical African civilizations, or African empires are terms that generally refer to the various pre-colonial African kingdoms.The civilizations usually include Egypt, Carthage, Axum, [1] Numidia, and Nubia, [1] but may also be extended to the prehistoric Land of Punt and others: Kingdom of Dagbon, the Empire of Ashanti, Kingdom of Kongo, Empire of Mali ...
The 7th to 13th centuries in West Africa were a period of relatively abundant rainfall that saw the explosive growth of trade, particularly across the Sahara desert, and the flourishing of numerous important states. [152] The introduction of the camel to the western Sahel was a watershed moment, allowing more merchandise to move more easily. [103]
By the 6th century AD, the lucrative trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt and slaves had begun in earnest, facilitating the rise of West Africa's great empires. Hunters from the Ghana Empire (or Wagadou), particularly mythical ancestors Kontron and Sanin, were the first Mandinka in the Manding region and founded the Malinké hunter brotherhood ...