West Africa

==History==
{{Main|History of West Africa}}
{{See|Sub-Saharan Africa#Western Africa|African empires#West Africa|List of kingdoms in pre-colonial Africa#West Africa}}
The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods: first, its prehistory, in which the first [[human]] settlers arrived, developed [[agriculture]], and made contact with peoples to the north; the second, the Iron Age empires that consolidated both intra-Africa, and extra-Africa trade, and developed centralized states; third, major polities flourished, which would undergo an extensive history of contact with non-Africans; fourth, the colonial period, in which [[Great Britain]] and [[France]] controlled nearly the entire region; and fifth, the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed.

===Prehistory===
{{Main|Prehistoric West Africa#Early Stone Age 2}}

West African populations were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the [[population history of West Africa]].<ref name="Haour II">{{cite book |last1=Haour |first1=Anne |title=Outsiders and Strangers: An Archaeology of Liminality in West Africa |date=Jul 25, 2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-969774-8 |page=38 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYBpAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22population+history+of+west+africa%22&pg=PP1 |chapter=Wealth-in-people |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199697748.001.0001 |oclc=855890703 |s2cid=127485241}}</ref> Acheulean tool-using [[archaic humans]] may have dwelled throughout West Africa since at least between 780,000 BP and 126,000 BP ([[Middle Pleistocene]]).<ref name="Scerri">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.137 |chapter=The Stone Age Archaeology of West Africa |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |date=2017 |last1=Scerri |first1=Eleanor |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 }}</ref> During the [[Pleistocene]], [[Middle Stone Age]] peoples (e.g., [[Iwo Eleru skull|Iwo Eleru people]],<ref name="MacDonald">{{cite journal |last1=MacDonald |first1=Kevin C. |title=Korounkorokalé Revisited: The Pays Mande and the West African Microlithic Technocomplex |journal=The African Archaeological Review |date=1997 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=161–200 |doi=10.1007/BF02968406 |jstor=25130625 |s2cid=161691927 }}</ref> possibly [[Aterians]]), who dwelled throughout West Africa between [[MIS 4]] and [[MIS 2]],<ref name="Niang">{{cite journal |last1=Niang |first1=Khady |last2=Blinkhorn |first2=James |last3=Ndiaye |first3=Matar |last4=Bateman |first4=Mark |last5=Seck |first5=Birame |last6=Sawaré |first6=Gora |title=The Middle Stone Age occupations of Tiémassas, coastal West Africa, between 62 and 25 thousand years ago |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |date=December 2020 |volume=34 |pages=102658 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102658 |bibcode=2020JArSR..34j2658N |s2cid=228826414 }}</ref> were gradually replaced by incoming [[Central African foragers|Late Stone Age peoples]], who migrated into West Africa<ref name="Schlebusch">{{cite journal |last1=Schlebusch |first1=Carina M. |last2=Jakobsson |first2=Mattias |title=Tales of Human Migration, Admixture, and Selection in Africa |journal=Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics |date=31 August 2018 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=405–428 |doi=10.1146/annurev-genom-083117-021759 |pmid=29727585 }}</ref> as an increase in humid conditions resulted in the subsequent expansion of the [[Guinean Forests of West Africa|West African forest]].<ref name="Scerri II">{{cite journal |last1=Scerri |first1=Eleanor M. L. |title=Continuity of the Middle Stone Age into the Holocene |journal=Scientific Reports |year=2021 |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=70 |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-79418-4 |pmid=33431997 |pmc=7801626 |oclc=8878081728 |s2cid=231583475}}</ref> [[West African hunter-gatherers]] occupied western [[Central Africa]] (e.g., [[Shum Laka]]) earlier than 32,000 BP,<ref name="MacDonald" /> dwelled throughout [[Guinea (region)|coastal West Africa]] by 12,000 BP,<ref name="MacDonald X">{{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=Kevin C. |title=Archaeology and Language II: Archaeological Data and Linguistic Hypotheses |chapter=Archaeology, language and the peopling of West Africa: a consideration of the evidence |date=Sep 2, 2003 |publisher=Routledge |pages=39–40, 43–44 |isbn=9780203202913 |doi=10.4324/9780203202913-11 |oclc=815644445 |s2cid=163304839 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=48iKiprsRMwC&q=%22West+African+hunter-gatherers%22&pg=PA37}}</ref> and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso,<ref name="MacDonald X" /> and Mauritania.<ref name="Abd-El-Moniem">{{cite book |last1=Abd-El-Moniem |first1=Hamdi Abbas Ahmed |title=A New Recording Of Mauritanian Rock Art |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1444476/1/U591781.pdf |date=May 2005 |page=221 |publisher=University of London |oclc=500051500 |s2cid=130112115}}</ref>

During the [[Holocene]], [[Niger-Congo]] speakers independently created pottery in [[Ounjougou]], Mali<ref name="Ness">{{cite book |last1=Ness |first1=Immanuel |title=The Global Prehistory of Human Migration |chapter=Sub-Saharan Africa: Linguistics |date=Nov 10, 2014 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |page=100 |isbn=9781118970591 |oclc=890071926 |s2cid=160957067 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HMTBwAAQBAJ&q=niger+congo+bce&pg=PA100}}</ref><ref name="Ehret V">{{cite book |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |title=Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE |date=2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691244105 |pages=14–17 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5KjEAAAQBAJ |chapter=African Firsts in the History of Technology |doi=10.2307/j.ctv34kc6ng.5 |jstor=j.ctv34kc6ng.5 |oclc=1330712064}}</ref><ref name="Jesse">{{cite journal |last1=Jesse |first1=Friederike |title=Early Pottery in Northern Africa - An Overview |journal=Journal of African Archaeology |date=December 2010 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=219–238 |doi=10.3213/1612-1651-10171 |jstor=43135518 }}</ref> – the earliest [[Pottery#Africa|pottery in Africa]]<ref name="Huysecom X">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.66 |chapter=The First Emergence of Ceramic Production in Africa |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology |date=2020 |last1=Huysecom |first1=Eric |isbn=978-0-19-085458-4 }}</ref> – by at least 9400 BCE,<ref name="Ness" /> and along with their pottery,<ref name="Huysecom X" /> as well as wielding independently invented [[bows and arrows]],<ref name="Blench">{{cite web|last1=Blench |first1=Roger |title=Africa over the last 12000 years: how we can interpret the interface of archaeology and linguistics? |date=21 October 2017 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28768228 |pages=13, 25 |publisher=University of Cambridge}}</ref><ref name="Roy">{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Kaushik |title=A Global History of Pre-Modern Warfare: Before the Rise of the West, 10,000 BCE–1500 CE |date=Sep 15, 2021 |page=Unnumbered |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781000432121 |oclc=1261367188 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yE85EAAAQBAJ&q=Bows+arrows+West+Africa+independently+hunting |chapter=Military Convergence And The Bronze Age Civilisations of Eurasia}}</ref> migrated into the Central Sahara,<ref name="Huysecom X" /> which became their primary region of residence by 10,000 BP.<ref name="Blench" /> The emergence and expansion of ceramics in the Sahara may be linked with the origin of Round Head and Kel Essuf rock art, which occupy rockshelters in the same regions (e.g., [[Djado]], [[Tadrart Acacus|Acacus]], [[Tadrart Rouge|Tadrart]]).<ref name="Achrati">{{cite journal |last1=Achrati |first1=Ahmed |title=What ever Happened to the People? Humans and Anthropomorphs in the Rock Art of Northern Africa: International Conference (Brussels, 17, 18 & 19 September 2015) |journal=Rock Art Research |date=May 2020 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=109–112 |id={{Gale|A623569190}} {{ProQuest|2403309251}} }}</ref> Hunters in the Central Sahara farmed, stored, and cooked undomesticated central Saharan [[flora]],<ref name="Mercuri">{{cite journal |last1=Mercuri |first1=Anna Maria |title=Plant behaviour from human imprints and the cultivation of wild cereals in Holocene Sahara |journal=Nature Plants |date=January 29, 2018 |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=73 |doi=10.1038/s41477-017-0098-1 |pmid=29379157 |s2cid=3302383 |hdl=11380/1153032 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> underwent domestication of [[antelope]],<ref name="Aïn-Séba">{{cite journal |last1=Aïn-Séba |first1=Nagète |title=Saharan rock art, a reflection of climate change in the Sahara |journal=Tabona |date=2022 |volume=22 |pages=303–317 |doi=10.25145/j.tabona.2022.22.15 }}</ref> and [[domesticated]] and shepherded [[Barbary sheep]].<ref name="Mercuri" /> After the [[Kel Essuf Period]] and [[Round Head Period]] of the Central Sahara, the [[Pastoral Period]] followed.<ref name="Soukopova I">{{cite journal |last1=Soukopova |first1=Jitka |title=Central Saharan rock art: Considering the kettles and cupules |journal=Journal of Arid Environments |date=August 2017 |volume=143 |pages=10–14 |doi=10.1016/J.JARIDENV.2016.12.011 |s2cid=132225521 |bibcode=2017JArEn.143...10S }}</ref> Some of the hunter-gatherers who created the Round Head rock art may have adopted pastoral culture, and others may have not.<ref name="Soukopova X">{{cite journal |last1=Soukopova |first1=Jitka |title=Tassili Paintings: Ancient roots of current African beliefs? |date=September 2015 |url=https://www.academia.edu/24483825 |journal=Expression |issn=2499-1341 |pages=116–120}}</ref> As a result of increasing [[aridification]] of the [[Green Sahara]], Central Saharan [[hunter-gatherers]] and cattle [[herders]] may have used seasonal waterways as the migratory route taken to the [[Niger River]] and [[Chad Basin]] of West Africa.<ref name="Soukopova II">{{cite journal |last1=Soukopova |first1=Jitka |title=Rain and rock art in the Sahara: a possible interpretation |date=2020 |url=https://www.academia.edu/43418786 |journal=Expression |issn=2499-1341 |pages=79–90}}</ref> In 2000 BCE, "[[Thiaroye]] Woman",<ref name="Metropolitan Museum of Art">{{cite book |last1=LaGamma |first1=Alisa |title=Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara |date=2020 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1-58839-687-7 }}{{pn|date=January 2024}}</ref> also known as the "[[Venus figurine|Venus]] of Thiaroye",<ref name="Thiam">{{cite journal |last1=Thiam |first1=Mandiomé |title=Milieu et culture matérielle dans le Néolithique sénégambien |journal=Antropo |date=2012 |volume=27 |pages=13–121 |url=http://www.didac.ehu.es/antropo/27/27-16/Thiam.pdf |oclc=884501689 |s2cid=160637192}}</ref><ref name="Metropolitan Museum of Art"/> may have been the earliest [[statuette]] created in [[Sub-Saharan]] West Africa; it may have particularly been a [[Fertility rite|fertility]] statuette, created in the region of [[Senegambia]],<ref name="Thiam" /> and may be associated with the emergence of [[complex society|complexly organized]] [[Pastoral period|pastoral societies]] in [[History of West Africa#Iron Age|West Africa]] between 4000 BCE and 1000 BCE.<ref name="LaGamma">{{cite book |last1=LaGamma |first1=Alisa |title=Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara |date=2020 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1588396877 |pages=74–75 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cfLDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Thiaroye%22+%22Venus%22&pg=PP2 |chapter=Pre-Islamic Artistic Patronage}}</ref> Though possibly developed as early as 5000 BCE,<ref name="Akpan" /> [[Nsibidi]] may have also developed in 2000 BCE,<ref name="Hales">{{cite thesis |last1=Hales |first1=Kevin |title=The Moving Finger: A Rhetorical, Grammatological and Afrinographic Exploration of Nsibidi in Nigeria and Cameroon |date=2015 |url=http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1431071905 |page=15 }}</ref><ref name="Akpan">{{cite book |last1=Akpan |first1=Unwana Samuel |title=African Media Space and Globalization |date=Aug 24, 2023 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-031-35060-3 |page=32 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPPSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |chapter=African Traditional Media: Looking Back, Looking Forward |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-35060-3_1 |oclc=1395910241}}</ref> as evidenced by depictions of the [[West African script]] on [[Ikom monoliths]] at [[Ikom]], in [[Nigeria]].<ref name="Akpan" /> Migration of Saharan peoples south of the Sahelian region resulted in seasonal interaction with and gradual absorption of West African hunter-gatherers, who primarily dwelt in the [[West Sudanian savanna|savannas]] and [[Guinean Forests of West Africa|forests]] of West Africa.<ref name="MacDonald X" /> In West Africa, which may have been a major regional cradle in Africa for the [[domestication]] of crops and animals,<ref name="Shen">{{cite journal |last1=Shen |first1=Quan-Kuan |display-authors=etal |title=Genomic analyses unveil helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) domestication in West Africa |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |date=1 May 2021 |volume=13 |issue=evab090 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evab090 |pmid=34009300 |pmc=8214406 |oclc=9123485061 |s2cid=234783117 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Scarcelli">{{cite journal |last1=Scarcelli |first1=Nora |title=Yam genomics supports West Africa as a major cradle of crop domestication |journal=Science Advances |volume=5 |issue=5 |page=eaaw1947 |year=2019 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aaw1947 |bibcode=2019SciA....5.1947S |oclc=8291779404 |pmid=31114806 |pmc=6527260 |s2cid=155124324}}</ref> Niger-Congo speakers domesticated the [[helmeted guineafowl]]<ref name="Murunga">{{cite journal |last1=Murunga |first1=Philip |display-authors=etal |title=Mitochondrial DNA D-Loop Diversity of the Helmeted Guinea Fowls in Kenya and Its Implications on HSP70 Gene Functional Polymorphism |journal=BioMed Research International |year=2018 |volume=2018 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1155/2018/7314038 |pmid=30539018 |pmc=6258102 |oclc=8754386965 |s2cid=54463512 |doi-access=free}}</ref> between 5500 BP and 1300 BP;<ref name="Shen" /> domestication of field crops occurred throughout various locations in West Africa, such as [[Yam (vegetable)|yams]] (d. praehensilis) in the Niger River basin between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria (northern Benin), [[rice]] ([[oryza glaberrima]]) in the [[Inner Niger Delta]] region of Mali, [[Pearl millet#Africa|pearl millet]] ([[cenchrus americanus]]) in northern Mali and Mauritania, and [[cowpeas]] in northern Ghana.<ref name="Scarcelli"/> After having persisted as late as 1000 BP,<ref name="MacDonald X" /> or some period of time after 1500 CE,<ref name="Van Beek">{{cite book |last1=Van Beek |first1=Walter E.A. |last2=Banga |first2=Pieteke M. |title=Bush Base, Forest Farm: Culture, Environment, and Development |chapter=The Dogon and their trees |date=Mar 11, 2002 |publisher=Routledge |page=66 |isbn=9781134919567 |doi=10.4324/9780203036129-10 |oclc=252799202 |s2cid=126989016 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppuKAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Tellem%22+%22Dogon%22&pg=PA57}}</ref> remaining West African hunter-gatherers, many of whom dwelt in the [[Guinean forest-savanna mosaic|forest-savanna]] region, were ultimately acculturated and admixed into the larger groups of West African [[agriculturalists]], akin to the migratory [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]]-speaking agriculturalists and their [[Bantu expansion#Central Africa|encounters]] with [[Central African hunter-gatherers]].<ref name="MacDonald X" />

[[File:West African sites with archaeobotanical remains from third to first millennium cal bc.webp|thumb|300px|West African sites with [[archaeobotany|archaeobotanical]] remains from third to first millennium cal bc. The arrows indicate directions of [[pearl millet]] diffusion into [[sub-Saharan]] West Africa.]]

===Empires===
{{Main|History of West Africa#Iron Age}}
{{See|History of Africa#West Africa|History of Africa#West Africa 2|Blacksmiths of western Africa}}
{{See also|Jews of Bilad el-Sudan}}
[[File:Mansa Musa.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mansa Musa]] depicted holding a [[gold nugget]] from a 1395 map of [[Africa]] and [[Europe]]]]
The development of the region's economy allowed more centralized states and civilizations to form, beginning with [[Dhar Tichitt]] that began in 1600 B.C. followed by [[Djenné-Djenno]] beginning in 300 B.C. This was then succeeded by the [[Ghana Empire]] that first flourished roughly between the 2nd and 12th centuries C.E., which later gave way to the [[Mali Empire]]. In current-day Mauritania, there exist archaeological sites in the towns of [[Tichit]] and [[Oualata]] that were initially constructed around 2000 B.C., and were found to have originated from the [[Soninke people|Soninke]] branch of the [[Mandé peoples]]. Also, based on the archaeology of the city of [[Kumbi Saleh]] in modern-day Mauritania, the Mali empire came to dominate much of the region until its defeat by [[Almoravid]] invaders in 1052.

Three great kingdoms were identified in ''Bilad al-Sudan'' by the ninth century. They included Ghana, [[Gao]] and [[Kanem Empire|Kanem]].<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Nehemia Levtzion|last1=Levtzion|first1=Nehemia|title=Ancient Ghana and Mali|date=1973|publisher=Methuen & Co Ltd|location=New York|isbn=978-0841904316|page=3}}</ref>

The [[Sosso Empire]] sought to fill the void but was defeated ({{Circa|1240}}) by the [[Mandinka people|Mandinka]] forces of [[Sundiata Keita]], founder of the new Mali Empire. The Mali Empire continued to flourish for several centuries, most particularly under Sundiata's grandnephew [[Mansa Musa|Musa I]], before a succession of weak rulers led to its collapse under [[Mossi people|Mossi]], [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] and [[Songhai people|Songhai]] invaders. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on [[Gao]], in the [[Songhai Empire]], under the leadership of [[Sonni Ali]] and [[Askia Mohammed]].
[[File:African slave trade.png|thumb|13th-century Africa – Map of the main trade routes and states, kingdoms and empires.]]
Meanwhile, south of the Sudan, strong city-states arose in [[Igboland]], such as the 10th-century [[Kingdom of Nri]], which helped birth the arts and customs of the [[Igbo people]], [[Bono state|Bono State]] in the 11th century, which gave birth to the numerous [[Akan people|Akan]] States, while [[Ife]] rose to prominence around the 12th century. Further east, [[Oyo Empire|Oyo]] arose as the dominant [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] state and the [[Aro Confederacy]] as a dominant [[Igbo people|Igbo]] state in modern-day Nigeria.

The Kingdom of Nri was a West African medieval state in present-day southeastern Nigeria and a subgroup of the Igbo people. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland and was administered by a priest-king called as an [[Eze Nri]]. The Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people and possessed divine authority in religious matters.

The [[Oyo Empire]] was a [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] empire of what is today Western, North central [[Nigeria]] and southern [[Republic of Benin]]. Established in the 14th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the outstanding organizational skills of the Yoruba, wealth gained from trade and its powerful [[cavalry]]. The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the region from the mid-17th to the late 18th century, holding sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in [[Yorubaland]], but also over nearby African states, notably the [[Fon people|Fon]] [[Kingdom of Dahomey]] in the modern [[Republic of Benin]] to the west.

The Benin Empire was a [[post-classical]] empire located in what is now southern [[Nigeria]]. Its capital was Edo, now known as [[Benin City]], [[Edo State|Edo]]. It should not be confused with the modern-day country called [[Benin]], formerly called [[Republic of Dahomey|Dahomey]]. The Benin Empire was "one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa, dating perhaps to the eleventh century CE",. The Benin Empire was governed by a sovereign Emperor with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and a powerful council rich in resources, wealth, ancient science and technology with cities described as beautiful and large as [[Haarlem]]. "[[Olfert Dapper]], a Dutch writer, describing Benin in his book ''[[Description of Africa (Olfert Dapper)|Description of Africa]]'' (1668) ". Its craft was the most adored and treasured bronze casting in the history of Africa. It was annexed by the [[British Empire]] in 1897 during the invasion and scramble of Africa.

===European contact and enslavement===
{{Main|Atlantic slave trade}}
[[File:Africa de l'Oèst en 1875-es.svg|thumb|right|260px|West Africa {{Circa|1875}}]]
Portuguese traders began establishing settlements along the coast in 1445, followed by the [[France|French]], [[England|English]], [[Spain|Spanish]], [[Denmark|Danish]] and [[Netherlands|Dutch]]; the [[African slave trade]] began not long after, which over the following centuries would debilitate the region's economy and population.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156 |title=Historical survey: Slave-owning societies |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223090720/http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156 |archive-date=February 23, 2007}}</ref> The slave trade also encouraged the formation of states such as the [[Bono state|Bono State]], [[Bambara Empire]] and [[Dahomey]], whose economic activities include but not limited to exchanging slaves for European [[firearm]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Peterson|first1=Derek R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Om12BgAAQBAJ|title=The Politics of Heritage in Africa|last2=Gavua|first2=Kodzo|last3=Rassool|first3=Ciraj|date=2015-03-02|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-09485-7|language=en}}</ref>

===Colonialism===
{{Further|Colonisation of Africa}}
[[File:French West Africa 1913 map.png|thumb|left|French in West Africa {{Circa|1913}}]]
In the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist [[jihad]]s swept across Western Africa. The most notable include [[Usman dan Fodio]]'s [[Fulani Empire]], which replaced the [[Hausa people|Hausa]] city-states, [[Seku Amadu]]'s [[Massina Empire]], which defeated the Bambara, and El Hadj [[Umar Tall]]'s [[Toucouleur Empire]], which briefly conquered much of modern-day Mali.

However, the [[France|French]] and [[United Kingdom|British]] continued to advance in the [[Scramble for Africa]], subjugating kingdom after kingdom. With the fall of [[Samory|Samory Ture's]] new-founded [[Wassoulou Empire]] in 1898 and the [[Ashanti people|Ashanti]] queen [[Yaa Asantewaa]] in 1902, most West African military resistance to colonial rule resulted in failure.

Part of the West-African regions underwent an increase in the [[numeracy]] level throughout the 19th century. The reason for such a growth was predetermined by a number of factors. Namely, the [[peanut]] production and trade, which was boosted by the [[demand]] of the [[Colonialism|colonial states]]. Importantly, the rise of the numeracy was higher in the regions which were less [[Hierarchy|hierarchical]] and had less dependent from the [[slavery]] trade (e.g. Sine and Salum). Whereas areas with the opposite trends illustrated opposite tendencies (e.g. central and northern Senegal). Those patterns were further even more stimulated with the French colonial campaign.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baten |first1=Jörg |title=European Trade, Colonialism and Human Capital Accumulation in Senegal, Gambia and Western Mali, 1770 – 1900 |journal=CESifo Working Papers |date=May 2017}}</ref>

Britain controlled the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria throughout the colonial era, while France unified Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Niger into [[French West Africa]]. [[Portugal]] founded the colony of [[Guinea-Bissau]], while [[Germany]] claimed [[Togoland]], but was forced to divide it between France and Britain following [[First World War]] due to the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. Only [[Liberia]] retained its independence, at the price of major territorial concessions.

===Postcolonial era===
{{Further|Decolonisation of Africa|Postcolonial Africa#West Africa|Neocolonialism}}
{{See also|Neocolonialism#Françafrique|West African CFA franc|Status of forces agreement}}

Following [[World War II]], nationalist movements arose across West Africa. In 1957, Ghana, under [[Kwame Nkrumah]], became the first West African colony to achieve its independence, followed the next year by France's colonies (Guinea in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré); by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous.

Since independence, many West African nations have been submerged under political instability, with notable civil wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and a succession of military coups in [[History of Ghana|Ghana]] and [[History of Burkina Faso|Burkina Faso]].

Since the end of colonialism, the region has been the stage for some brutal conflicts, including:
* [[Nigerian Civil War]]
* [[First Liberian Civil War]]
* [[Second Liberian Civil War]]
* [[Guinea-Bissau Civil War]]
* [[First Ivorian Civil War|Ivorian Civil War]]
* [[Sierra Leone Civil War|Sierra Leone Rebel War]]
* [[Mali War]]