West African Regional Development

Africaother subsistence combinations
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The West African Regional Development tradition is located from the western borders of Chad and Cameroon to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the Gulf of Guinea north to the Tropic of Cancer. It occurred from 1200 to 500 BP (800 to 1500 AD). The West African Regional Development can best be characterized by how pre-existing cultural traits persist alongside new forms of subsistence, settlement, sociopolitical structures, and religion. Subsistence ran the gamut from hunter/gatherer/fishers to horticulturalists to nomadic pastoralists to intensive agriculturalists, with an accordingly varied diet featuring rice, millet, oil palm, and yam. Long distance trade and craft specialization increased. Settlement ranged from cities to towns to trading centers to areas with no apparent community organization. Sociopolitical complexity ranged from states to chiefdoms to, again, areas lacking evidence for political unity. Islam expanded farther south during the tradition.

Identifier
Region
  • Africa
Subregion
  • Western Africa
Subsistence Type
  • other subsistence combinations
Countries
  • Benin
  • Cameroon
  • General Africa
  • Gambia, The
  • Ghana
  • Guinea
  • Cote d'Ivoire
  • Liberia
  • Mali
  • Mauritania
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Senegal
  • Sierra Leone
  • Togo
  • Burkina Faso