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3000 BCE
First human settlements in Central West Africa, discovered by evidence of early iron smelting
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1000 BCE
settlement of Bantu west people
The Bantu people originally lived in Central West Africa at first, specifically Cameroon. This area was their original homeland and settlement. They then spread out to Nigeria and even spread out as far as to East Africa. -
1300
mali empire takes over
The Mali Empire was a large Empire that reigned, expanded, and flourished from the 13th century to the 16th century. They started in Kangaba and eventually expanded southward. In the 13th century, they began to take over West Africa and Central West Africa as well. By the 14th century, they had taken full control. However, by 1550, the Mali Empire was almost completely insignificant. -
Mungo Park Expedition takes place, going from the Niger River to Timbuktu
In 1771, the Mungo Park Expedition took place. It ended in 1806. The expedition went from the Niger River to even as far as Timbuktu. Mungo Park was the leader of this expedition, and he was from Scotland. He was selected by Sir Joseph Banks to explore different areas of Africa. Park died in 1806 from drowning. -
Slaves and Trading
When the Europeans settled, they started taking Africans as slaves. Africans were used to trade there local products such as their crops and other materials. Some slaves were traded for other slaves for their skills. By the 1860s, African slaves had been introduced to many European supply, and Asian foods. They had traded so much of their things it had slowly replaced many traditional African crops and supply with the other cultural supply -
Europeans began to colonize
In 1870 to 1914, Europeans colonize in west central Africa, which was called the European Scramble. as this led on for years, France and Britain finally made the political choice of making european colonies in Africa. Political demands were ineffective so they couldn't do much of this situation. Low world prices in the years of depression became a problem for the europeans to trade with africans. Because of this, they thought the increase of europeans would control security of cheaper produce. -
Brazil became the last country to abolish slavery
Brazil finally made the decision to abolish slavery despite being the last country to do so. The law that passed this decision was called the Lei Aurea, or in English, the Golden Law. This declaration was signed by Princess Isabel. This bill had no exceptions, and it declared that each and every slave be freed. The bill was written by Rodrigo A. da Silva, who was the Minister of Agriculture at the time. -
Campaigns for independence began-
The event that took place in 1909-1972 was the campaign for independence. The main target was to prevent union of Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland to form the British-controlled Central African Federation. Then in the 1950s, they set a goal for the formation of an independent state (Zambia) that would be free from European colonial domination. In the end, they were successful in disabling the federation, and Zambia was officially formed independent from europe. -
Africa drought
lakes have been slowly drying up in many parts of Africa. This has been a big problem for Africa for a while. Because of the lakes drying up, the Africans have been facing problems such as loss of crops and other foods like fish. This has also caused some Africans to migrate. More than 20 million people were affected in this horrible tragedy. Many fishermen and farmers had to leave and were left in need to find new daily chores/jobs. -
Oil and mineral wealth has steadily increased-
Export and import statistics show that about $5.6 million worth of mineral commodities were exported to USA in the 2000s. This income helps west central africa become closer to being economically self-reliant, with a decrease of internal issues. Without africa's rich supply of minerals and oil, they would increase in poverty. Clearly, their increase in minerals and oil is essential for the betterment of africa and its society.
