COURSE CODE: HIS 807

COURSE TITLE: ECONOMIC HISTORY OF WEST AFRICA

QUESTION:

EXAMINE THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC RELATIONS

BETWEEN THE PEOPLE OF WEST AFRICA ON THE SOCIO-

POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE REGION

SUBMITTED TO

DR. BASHIR OLAITAN IBRAHIM

GROUP MEMBERS

BABA JUMAI KHADIJAT UIL/PG2016/1132

JULIANA BEAUTY AKPOTAIRE UIL/PG2016/1064

AWOWALE AYOMIDE MAYOWA UIL/PG2016/

USMAN ISMAIL AJIBOLA UIL/PG2016/

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QUESTION:

Examine the impact of economic relation between the peoples of West Africa

on the socio- political transformation of the region.

ANSWER:

It was neither possible nor realistic for any states to ignore its neighbors. In

fact, the economic and political survival of any given state depended on the

relationship with its immediate and distant neighbor whether friendly or hostile. The

motives which brought the people of West Africa into contact with the North Africa

were two primarily economic in origin. Trade between these two regions was a natural

consequence of the different environment and way of life enjoyed by the Berbers and

West African people who inhabited the two regions out of the contact between the

West African pastoralist with the Berber neighbors to the North whose nomadic life

moved them seasonally towards and away from the zone of Mediterranean agriculture

and civilization, grew a long distance trade across the desert that linked the subsequent

histories of these two regions of Africa.

Those items such as salt that West Africa could not provide for themselves

were easily obtained from the Berbers of North Africa who were willing to trade salt

for West Africa’s gold which was in high demand in the Magreb.1

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 HISTORY OF WEST AFRICA

West Africa also called western Africa and West of Africa is the westernmost

sub region of Africa. West Africa has been defined in (Encyclopedia Britannica inc) as

western African continent comprising the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Island

Nation of Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia,

Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods first its pre-

history in which the first; human settlers arrive, developed agriculture and mad contact

with the people of the north, the second; the Iron age empires that consolidates both

intra- Africa and extra- trade and developed centralized states, third; major politics

flourished, fourth; the colonial period and finally the post – independent era in which

the current nations were formed.2

PREHISTORY

Archaeological studies have found that early human settlers arrived in West

Africa around 12,000BC. Geological also reviewed that there were significant

structural changes and crystal movement that occurred in West Africa like other parts

of Africa. Stone industries known as the stone age have been found primarily in the

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region of the Savannah where pastoral tribes existed using chiseled stone, plates and

spares. Sedentary farming began in, or around the fifth millennium BC. By 15000BC,

iron working technology allowed an expansion of agricultural productivity, and the

first city- state later formed. Northern tribes developed walled settlement and non-

walled settlement that numbered at 400.

The iron industry in both smelting and forging tools and weapons, appeared in

sub Saharan Africa by 1200BC. Iron smelting facilities in Niger and Nigeria have

radio carbon dated to 500- 1000BC. The increase of iron and the spread of iron

working technology led to improved weapon and enables farmers to expand

agricultural productivity and produce surplus crops, which together supported the

growth of urban city states into empires.

In the forest regionn, iron age culture began to flourish and an inter region

trade appear. The desertification of the Sahara and the climatic change of the coast of

the Sahara caused trade with the upper Mediterranean people to be seen.

By 400BC, contacts had been made with Mediterranean civilization, including

that of Carthage and a regular trade in good been conducted with the Saharan Berbers,

as noted by Herodotus. The trade was small until the camel was introduced, the

domestication of the camel allowed the development of the trans- Saharan trade with

culture across the Sahara. West Africans exported gold, cotton cloth, metal ornament,

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leather goods, across the Trans – Sahara trade route which were then exchanged for

salt, horses, copper, textiles and beads. Later, Ivory, slaves, kola nuts were also

traded.3

EMPIRES

The development of the regions economy allowed more centralized states and

civilizations to form, with the NOK in central Nigeria around 1000BC. The NOK

people produced miniature terracotta including human heads, elephant and other

animals. Iron used in smelting andn forging tools appears in NOK culture Africa at

least by 550BC. It developed on the Jos plateau until it vanished under an unknown

circumstance by 200 or 300CE. Ghnana empire that first flourished between the first

and third centuries was first mentioned by Arab geographer AL- Farazi in the 19th to

8th century. The empire grew healthy by taxing the trans- Saharan trade that linked

Tiavel and Sijilmasa to Aoudaghost. A percentage of salt and gold going through its

territory was taken. Though Ghana later gave way to the Mali empire due to various

influences including internal dynastic struggles coupled with competing foreign

interest ( Almoravid intervention), transfer of the gold trade East to the Niger river and

the Taghaza Trail, political instability through rivalry among different hereditary

polities. Ghanaconsequent economy declinedand the empire came to an end in 1230.

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 The fall of Ghana empire gave birth to Mali empire which began the 13 th

century. The Mali empire created a centralized state including most of West Africa.

The most important trade to Mali empire was the salt and gold trade even though

agriculture and pastoral was also critical. The growing of Sorghum, Millet and Rice

was a vital function. On the Northern borders of the Saharan, grazing of cattle’s,

sheep, goat and camels were major activities.

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.4

WEST AFRICA’S RELATION WITH NORTH AFRICA

The regular commercial and cultural exchange between West Africa and the

Mediterrean did not start properly until the 8th century AD. It is pertinent to note that

the earliest contact with West Africa took the form of trade relations. Traders from

outside North Africa enabled West Africa to do more business.

The conditions of trans Sahara trade changed remarkably after Northern Africa

became of Islamic world in the 7th century AD. The vast Umayyid caliphate, reaching

from the slopes of Pigrenes to the banks of Indus, formed a solid market area the

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monetary system of which was based on gold. In practice, north meant that this

precious metal had a great demand throughout the Islamic world.

The Arab merchants acted effectively as middlemen in the exchange of the

west Africa product for European manufacturers. The Caravan routes also promoted

a great deal of interest in African trade.

For many centuries, the people of West African had engaged in a great variety

of art and craft involving iron smelting, blacksmithing, salt mining, tie and dye, leather

working among others. This made it possible for items like gold, dyed clothes, leather,

goods and slaves to be exchanged for salt, Arab dresses, cowries, French silk, mirrors

among others which attracted them to the trade world.

As a result of the trade, the outsiders began to exercise considerable influence

on the West Africans with whom they interacted. Soon, the culture, practices and the

religion of the traders were also introduced. Finally, groups of the local population

developed who were attracted to the trade activities and sometimes also to the new

faith.

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THE TRANS SAHARAN TRADE

This was a trade that was initiated by Phoenician colony of Carthage in around

600BC. It had become a strong power in western Mediterrean region. Their wealth

was built on trade in products got from tropical Africa across the Sahara. The Berbers

used two wheeled horse drawn vehicle called chariots, and pack oxen in transporting

products across the desert. The trade routes in this trade passed from Fezan through

Ahaggar mountains to Gao in the south. The second route went from Morocco to

Mauritania at Akjout and the Hitt. Major chariotees are said to have been the

Garamates who live in Fezan and raided to the south.

The use of chariots, packed oxen, donkey and horses had been proved

ineffective. In 3rd century and 4th century, there was introduction of camels and the

Berbers which revolutionized the scope and the scale of the trade. The camels were

resistant to hardship across the desert. It could carry could that weighed over 100kg of

goods, drinks about 50litres of water and travel over 100km in a single a day and last

over ten days without fresh water. With the introduction of camels, experienced

traders were able to reach distant oasis and settlements by moving long distancnes

across the desert.5

The North African trade led to the establishment of caravan routes across the

nSahara Desert. One of these routes began in Tunis came over the Sahara Desert and

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ended at Kano. Another began at Inpoli and ended at Nejazargamu which served as the

capital of Karnem Bornu. The means of transport across the Sahara were camels

which acquired the reputation of being ‘sheep’s of the desert’.

All along the caravan routes, there were centres such as Air, Agades, Fezzan, and

Bilma. The bulk of the centres were under the control of the north Africa Berber

merchants who financed the caravans. The caravans where negotiated in terms of trade

with the West Africans and agreed on seasons of trade and method of payment. One

important features of the trade relationship between the West African and the outsider

was the introduction of Islam.

DECLINE OF TRANS SAHARAN TRADE

The Portuguese journey around West African coast opened up new avenues for

trade between Europe and West Africa. By 16th century, Europeans bases were being

established on the coast and trade relationship with the wealth Europeans became

prime importance to West Africa. North Africa had declined in both political and

economic importance, while the Saharan grossing remained long and treacherous. The

trade routes finally fell due to the battle of Tondibi of 1591 to 1592 whereby the

Morocco sent troops across the Saharan and attacked Timbuktu, Gao and some other

important trading centres, destroying buildings and property and exiling prominent

citizens. These battles led to the decline of thennn trade.6

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THE ATLANTIC TRADE

From the late 15th century, a second relationship with the wider world became

available, as gallant little Portuguese ship ventured ever further down the desert coast

line of Mauritania. By 1445, they had reached the mouth of the Senegal River. By

1475, they had reached Fernando Po.

The Portuguese came first, but other European sea faring nations soon joined

them and for the peoples of the West African coast line it meant an economic

revolution. Previously, the coast had been thinly populated by fishermen and salt

makers who looked out unto a pounding perilous surf and an empty sea. Now, it

became a key area of international trade. The first European visitors sought a wide

variety of local product including gold, ivory, pepper and the local textiles. These last

they bought in one part of West Africa and sold in another so that were actually acting

as carriers in internal African trade. They also carried slaves from one part of West

Africa to another, and exported a few to Europe, but the number taken to Portugal

were low, for the Portuguese economy could not absorb large numbers of slaves.

However, coastal trading state would obtain their slaves from the interior of

West Africa, purchasing them with both their local products such as salt, dried fish,

kolanuts, and cotton textiles as well as European goods, such as cloths, fire arm and

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coin. They would then bring the slaves to the trading post on the coast where they

would exchange slaves for European goods such as rum, clothes, iron and guns. They

Africans made sufficient use of these goods to meet their own needs. For example,

African blacksmiths iron bars to create local agricultural tools which would yield a

greater amount of crops in less time. There was even the case of imported European

woolen clothes been unraveled for their trade and rewoven by slave coast weavers to

produce style clothes for consumption on the gold coast.7

At the same time, new American food that were imported by the Europeans for

their own needs were quickly adopted by African producers. These included

fundamental crops such as maize, sweet potato, manioc cacao, and coffee. By the

1860’s, communities on the slave coast were anctually supplying maize to European

ships. Europeans also introduced pigs and Asian products such as citrus fruits to the

Africans. Many of these crops slowly replaced or supplemented traditional African

foods and help create denser and healthier population. Everywhere on the coast

Africans benefitted from European trade and introduction of new products as they

were able to use them to their own advantage.

It was perhaps the central tragedy of West African history that this external

trade came to be dominated more and more by the trade in slaves. In this, ships

financed and crewed by Europeans came to the shores of Africa, and in exchange for

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an assortment of goods purchased are men, women, and children, who a little while

before had been, for the most part, free citizens in their own land. They were carried

across the Atlantic Ocean in conditions so terrible that many of them died on the way.

In the new world, they worked as European slaves until they died. Their children, if

they had any were slaves after then.

In the 18th century, 90% of the value of West Africans exports were slaves.

The other 10% was primarily made up of gold, ivory, sugar, wax, pepper, hides.

Between 1662 and 1897, over four out of five slaves left African from just four

regions: The Gold Coast, Bight of Benin, Bight of Biafra, and West central Africa.

For Europeans, the price of a slave was the Europeans cost of goods that

needed to purchase them. These cost of goods was known as the” prime price”.

It was a trade so terrible and Barbaric that it is sometimes hard to believe it

really existed. It developed solely for the economic benefits of the Europeans. Briefly,

at the end of the 15th century, they had discovered the Americas. Here, there was

abundant farming land and mineral wealth. They experimented with different forms of

labour, including Indian and white indentured servants, and finally concluded that the

labour of enslaved Africa was the most economically profitable.8

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IMPACTS OF ECONOMIC RELATIONS ON WEST AFRICA

West Africa’s relations within and outside the region left indelible marks, of

course some are positive while some are negative. These impacts shall be examined

below:

With the increased volume of Trans Sahara trade in the Islamic period, new

cultural influences began to spread in Western Africa. The most important of them

was the new religion, Islam, which was adopted in the states belonging to the sphere

of the Caravan trade by the end of the 11th century. The conversion was peaceful and it

had been preceded by a long period of co- existence in the trade routes terminus.9

A new system and method of writing was introduced into West Africa as

African Muslims learned Arabic language and writing, which gave them access to the

entire scientific literature. In the middle ages, the Arab geography was more

developed compared to that of European, for the Arabs had close commercial contact

not only with sub Saharan Africa, but also with India, China, Russia and central

Europe:

West Africa’s contact with the Arabs resulted into the forming of more

formidable states and empires in West Africa i.e. it brought about the Borgu Empire,

Kanem Bornu Empire among others. As trading link grew, formidable structures were

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put on ground to enable the transfer and establishment of external political and

religious system.

An important aspect of the consequences of the Europeans slave trade for

Western Africa was its effect on the region’s population. Although, the total number

shipped from Africa are still being debated by historians, archival research conducted

by specialists has demonstrated that the available evidence supports an export estimate

of atleast 13 million slaves. Between 1700 and 1809, about two third of the total

export were from West Africa (Senegal through Cameroon), and virtually all the rest

from West Central Africa (Congo and Angola); exports from Eastern at this time went

mostly to French Island in the Indian Ocean.

The slave trade left Africa’s economy retarded as middle aged men and women

were taken as captives while the weak ones that could contribute almost nothing were

left behind. The very young and the very old were rarely included, the bulk of the

export ages 15 to 30. These export characteristics were determined primarily by the

preferences of the European employers of slave labours in the America.10

CONCLUSION

The different states in West Africa had social, political, cultural and economic

reason to relate with one another before their contacts with North Africa which were

primarily economic in origin. Trade between the two regions promoted intergroup

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relations because of the difference in physical environment and geography in order to

obtain those goods and services that region could not produce. The principal items of

trade exported from Western included kolanut, gold, ivory, ostrich feathers, hides and

slaves to North Africa in exchange for salt, horses, dry dates, beads, metal wares,

clothes, perfume and leather work. The slave coast of the West Africa, 1550- 1750:

However, the diplomatic relations between the regions left significant impact

on West Africa’s economic, social and political sectors.

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 REFERENCES:

1. Jerven, Morthen “African Growth Recurring: An economic History perspective

on African Growth episodes”, 1960- 2010, (2010)

2. History of West Africa. wikipedia

3. Barth, H. “Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa, (1850),

London

4. Ibid

5. Timeline of Art History, “Socail and economic impact of the Trans Saharan

trade on Africa North and South of the Saharan”

6. Ibid

7. Law, Robin.”The salve coast of the West Africa, 1550- 1750: The impact of the

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade on an African society, (1991), New York.

8. Ibid

9. Balogun, S.A. “History of Islam up to 1800”, Groundwork of Nigeria History,

(1980), London.

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