We follow the rise of civilization and of powerful empires in West Africa before the slave tade, based upon iron-working and the traffic in gold and salt across the Sahara, followed by the spread of wealth and power southward, towards the gold fields and the tropical forests, and finally the reverberating impacts of the arrival of Portuguese traders on the coast, which paved the way for the rise of the Atlantic slave trade.

Suggested further reading: Rodney, “History of the Upper Guinea Coast”; Ajayi, ed., “History of West Africa,” vol. 1

Image: Sculptural head from Ife, bronze & brass, ca. 1300s

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