what is the history of west africa?

Question

Im of west african descent, in the books it never mention anything about west africa, just south africa, north african and east africa

Answer 1

Have you tried looking up specific countries?

Have you learned about Goree, the slave island?

Gloria Chuku is a fabulous doctor of history from Nigeria who has focused specifically on the role women played in West Africa.

Kwame NKrumah (sp?) was a fabulous leader in Ghana who led a pan-African nationalist movement. He inspired much of the continent to finally gain its independence.

I hope that gave you some good places to start. West Africa's history is so rich and well known that it is hard to encapsulate it in just this one place.

Answer 2

It's well-described at the link below to Wikipedia. The article there, "History of West Africa," is divided into into 5 major eras, and then at the end provides individual links to more information specific to each West African country.

Answer 3

West Africa was sparsely populated until about 1000 BCE. I have read that, because of the soil texture, until the introduction of Iron plows agriculture was not practical. In any case West Africa was populated by migration about 3000 years ago and the evidence indicate that they went from the stone age directly to the iron age. See http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAFRCA/IRONAGE.HTM
For information about subsequent civilizations see
http://www.mrdowling.com/609-nok.html