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4000 BCE
4000 B.C. - Civilizations formed in West Africa.
At the start of the Iron Age, West Africa was inhabited by the Khoitans, San, and Hottentots. Later on, the Nok culture started during 500-200 B.C. and thrived during that time. Nok culture was established in Nigeria. Before Nok culture, there was TIchitt culture that started around 2200 B.C. The most prominent civilization of early West Africa was the Djenne-Djenno people. Their civilization started around 250 B.C. THis tribe started in Ghana, Niger, and Nigeria. -
250 BCE
250 B.C. - The Djenne-Djenno created their civilization in West Africa.
As well as the Nok, Tichitt, and Djenne-Djenno people, many other early African settlements were in Ghana, Niger, and Nigeria. Ghana, Niger, and Nigeria had the best trading resources in all of Africa. Therefore, it would be deemed as valuable land to the tribes. Something that I found out is that Haitian people originated in West Africa. Ghana had many valuable resources such as gold, cocoa, and timber. Ghana also served as a huge nation for slave trade. -
1591 saw the end of the Songhai empire after Morocco invaded and defeated them at the battle of Tondibi.
In the late 1500s the Songhai empire had seized a significant chunk of west African land.
The Songhai empire took a major blow when the Moroccan leader Ahmad al-mansur sent an expedition to what is now Mali which led to the battle of Tondibi. After the battle; the Moroccans still did not have their authority recognized which caused them to wage another war against the remaining Songhai empire. Those final blows led to the death of the Songhai empire which allowed Morocco to seize their land. -
In 1725 the Fulanis tribe launched a Jihad against animist practicing people.
The Fulani revolutions took place In western Africa in 1725. These revolutions were jihads that were led by the muslim practicing Fula people. They first started off as a small uprising in Futa Jallon when Muslim traders and Fulani pastoralists rose against the indigenous people in the region. By 1750 the Fula had formed the “Imamate of Futa Jallon” which had absorbed a decently sized region in lower western africa, and had placed the region under an Islamic law known as “Sharia.” -
In the 1880s many European countries began colonizing and taking over West African land.
European occupation of Africa had started on the coast of a few African countries. They were mostly just businessmen who set up trading posts that they used to trade with the locals, and never moved deeper inland due to the fear of death from diseases like malaria. As time went on England began seeing the land's potential in profitability; they began taking places like southern Africa and Egypt due to how rich they were in raw resources like: rubber, palm oil, and diamonds. -
1900 - The government of Britain assumes responsibility for the whole entire region of Nigeria, which was in charge of a commercial company.
1900 - The government of Britain assumed responsibility for the whole entire region of Nigeria. Nigeria was just previously in charge of a commercial company. This specific commercial company was called “the “Royal Niger Company”. The company’s “territory” was under control of Britain until 1900. The British government also took responsibility for their administration, the “Niger Company ''. This entire situation has been official ever since. -
1914 - The British Rule was “consolidated” in Nigeria because the North and South had merged as a single colony.
1914 - The British Rule was “consolidated” in Nigeria, Africa back in 1914. This was only because the North and South just decided then that they should probably just merge as a single colony to maybe make it simpler. The purpose of this happening was for the economical problems that were going on during that time. The British needed to target Nigeria because of how many resources they had back then. Nigeria had the most superior weapons and advanced technology at that time. -
1943 - A man named “William Tubman” starts a 28 year lasting spell as the president of Liberia.
1943 - A man named “William Tubman” starts a 28 year lasting spell as the president of Liberia. Tubman was president from January 3rd, 1944 until July 23, 1971. Tubman only served as the president for Liberia until July 23, 1971 because he died that year and day. If he lived any longer, he probably would've served longer as the president. Tubman is still to this day the longest serving president Liberia has had. -
2001 - child slavery was found in west africa in cocoa farms
In 2001 somewhere in west africa it was discovered that there was child slavery going on inside of local coca farms. It was found that when they were investigating this incident they found that for them this was normal because during the early times when coca was first introduced in west africa it was normal for slaves to be working with coca. Since then there have been no other incidents where they were using children for things like farming and labor. -
2014 - the Ebola outbreak broke out and there were many casualties
In 2014 it was discovered in a small village in west africa that an 18 month old boy was in the hospital with a terrible sickness that at the time no one could figure out. After a lot of testing on the boy they find that he had picked up a nasty virus from a bat. The disease was called ebola, from the years of 2014 - 2016 the virus spread through africa killing many innocent people especially kids. After a long two and a half years, ebola finally went away leaving africa relieved.