Population history of West Africa

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Round Head rock art figures and zoomorphic figures, including a Barbary sheep[1]

The population history of West Africa is composed of West African populations that were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the

Late Stone Age peoples, who migrated into West Africa[6] as an increase in humid conditions resulted in the subsequent expansion of the West African forest.[7] West African hunter-gatherers occupied western Central Africa (e.g., Shum Laka) earlier than 32,000 BP,[4] dwelled throughout coastal West Africa by 12,000 BP,[8] and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso,[8] and Mauritania.[9]

During the

Central African hunter-gatherers.[8]

With the emergence of the

Trans-Atlantic slave trade, contributed to the depopulation of West Africa.[33] At least 6,284,092 West Africans are estimated to have been enslaved and taken captive during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade; along with Africans enslaved and taken captive in other embarking regions of Africa, such as Central Africa and Southern Africa,[34] as well as between at least 12% and 13% of enslaved Africans taken captive estimated to have died during the Middle Passage,[35] the overall number of Africans enslaved and taken captive during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade is estimated to have been at least 12,521,335.[34] During the modern period, the population of West Africa is estimated to have increased from 69,564,958 in 1950 CE to 413,340,896 in 2021 CE.[36]

Climate

Further information: Climate of Africa
West African monsoon
season

Early Stone Age

In the Falémé River Valley zone, with the exception of stadial phases and interstadial phases, there has been a fairly steady state of humidity and temperature throughout a span of 120,000 years.[37] Additionally, for at least the previous 100,000 years, the presence of flora (e.g., trees) has remained quite consistent.[37] Consequently, this region has remained habitable for human populations, from the Early Stone Age, through the Middle Stone Age, to the Later Stone Age.[37] Furthermore, for the previous 100,000 years, compared to the climate of East Africa, the Pleistocene climate in West Africa has been more steady and humid.[37]

In the Atakora mountainous zone, the Pleistocene climate has supported continuity in human habitation, from the Early Stone Age, through the Middle Stone Age, to the Later Stone Age, which spanned the previous 120,000 years.[37]

Middle Stone Age

In the Falémé River Valley zone, with the exception of stadial phases and interstadial phases, there has been a fairly steady state of humidity and temperature throughout a span of 120,000 years.[37] Additionally, for at least the previous 100,000 years, the presence of flora (e.g., trees) has remained quite consistent.[37] Consequently, this region has remained habitable for human populations, from the Early Stone Age, through the Middle Stone Age, to the Later Stone Age.[37] Furthermore, for the previous 100,000 years, compared to the climate of East Africa, the Pleistocene climate in West Africa has been more steady and humid.[37]

In the

MIS 5.[37] Consequently, the human habitation in Jos Plateau, which is only composed of Middle Stone Age sites, has been distinct in terms of culture and environment in comparison to the Falémé River Valley.[37]

In the Atakora mountainous zone, the Pleistocene climate has supported continuity in human habitation, from the Early Stone Age, through the Middle Stone Age, to the Later Stone Age, which spanned the previous 120,000 years.[37]

Later Stone Age

In the Falémé River Valley zone, with the exception of stadial phases and interstadial phases, there has been a fairly steady state of humidity and temperature throughout a span of 120,000 years.[37] Additionally, for at least the previous 100,000 years, the presence of flora (e.g., trees) has remained quite consistent.[37] Consequently, this region has remained habitable for human populations, from the Early Stone Age, through the Middle Stone Age, to the Later Stone Age.[37] Furthermore, for the previous 100,000 years, compared to the climate of East Africa, the Pleistocene climate in West Africa has been more steady and humid.[37]

In the Atakora mountainous zone, the Pleistocene climate has supported continuity in human habitation, from the Early Stone Age, through the Middle Stone Age, to the Later Stone Age, which spanned the previous 120,000 years.[37]

In 15,000 BP, the

wetlands) and the savanna (e.g., grassland, shrubland) in North Africa.[38] Between 5500 BP and 4000 BP, the Green Sahara period ended.[38]

Pastoral Neolithic

By 4500 BP, sources of water in the Sahara had dried, and subsequently, drought occurred, which resulted in a decrease in the presence of humidity in the region.[39] Concurrent with the decrease of humidity in the Sahara, between 3500 BP and 2500 BP, there was an increase of humidity in the Sahel.[39]

Iron Age

During the 1st millennium cal BCE, between the Later Stone Age and Early Iron Age, the environment was conducive for the growth of pearl millet in the Lake Chad Basin.[39]

Material culture and archaeological data

Further information: History of West Africa § Timeline of archaeological cultures and sites

Early Stone Age

Main article: Prehistoric West Africa § Early Stone Age 2

Middle Pleistocene).[3]

Middle Stone Age

Main article: Prehistoric West Africa § Middle Stone Age 2

Middle Stone Age West Africans likely dwelled continuously in West Africa between

Aterians may have migrated southward into West Africa (e.g., Baie du Levrier, Mauritania; Tiemassas, Senegal; Lower Senegal River Valley).[5]

Later Stone Age

Main article: Prehistoric West Africa § Later Stone Age 2
Representations of West African hunter-gatherers from the Dahomey region of Benin

Earlier than 32,000 BP,[40] or by 30,000 BP,[7][8] Late Stone Age West African hunter-gatherers were dwelling in the forests of western Central Africa[8][7] (e.g., earlier than 32,000 BP at de Maret in Shum Laka,[40] 12,000 BP at Mbi Crater).[8] An excessively dry Ogolian period occurred, spanning from 20,000 BP to 12,000 BP.[40] By 15,000 BP, the number of settlements made by Middle Stone Age West Africans decreased as there was an increase in humid conditions, expansion of the West African forest, and increase in the number of settlements made by Late Stone Age West African hunter-gatherers.[7] Macrolith-using late Middle Stone Age peoples (e.g., the possibly archaic human admixed[6] or late-persisting early modern human[41][42] Iwo Eleru fossils of the late Middle Stone Age), who dwelled in Central Africa, to western Central Africa, to West Africa, were displaced by microlith-using Late Stone Age Africans (e.g., non-archaic human admixed Late Stone Age Shum Laka fossils dated between 7000 BP and 3000 BP) as they migrated from Central Africa, to western Central Africa, into West Africa.[6] Between 16,000 BP and 12,000 BP, Late Stone Age West Africans began dwelling in the eastern and central forested regions (e.g., Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria;[7] between 18,000 BP and 13,000 BP at Temet West and Asokrochona in the southern region of Ghana, 13,050 ± 230 BP at Bingerville in the southern region of Ivory Coast, 11,200 ± 200 BP at Iwo Eleru in Nigeria)[8] of West Africa.[7] By 11,000 BP, the late settlement made by Middle Stone Age West Africans and earliest settlement made by Late Stone Age West African hunter-gatherers emerged in the westernmost region (e.g., Falémé Valley, Senegal) of West Africa.[7] Middle Stone Age West Africans and Late Stone Age West African hunter-gatherers likely did not become admixed with one another and were culturally and ecologically distinct from one another.[7]

In the 10th millennium BCE,

Tenere, Niger/Chad; Air, Niger; Acacus, Libya/Algeria;[46] Tagalagal, Niger; Temet, Niger)[47] of Africa and microlith-using West Africans were of a cultural area encompassing the forest region of West Africa.[46]

Following the Ogolian period, between the late 10th millennium BCE and the early 9th millennium BCE, the creators of the Ounjougou pottery – the earliest

Acacus, some in the Tadrart, some in the Jebel Uweinat) of Libya, in the region (e.g., some in the Tadrart, most abundant in Tassili n'Ajjer) of Algeria, in the region (e.g., Djado) of Nigeria, and the region (e.g., Djado) of Niger.[49][50][51] Amid the early Sahara, Round Head rock artists, who had a sophisticated culture and engaged in the activity of hunting and gathering, also developed pottery, utilized vegetation, and managed animals.[52] The cultural importance of shepherded Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) is shown via their presence in Round Head rock art throughout the Central Sahara (e.g., Libyan region of Tadrart Acacus, Algerian region of Tassili n’Ajjer).[53] Barbary sheep were corralled in stone enclosures near Uan Afuda cave.[53] From up to 9500 BP, this continued until the beginning of the Pastoral Neolithic in the Sahara.[53] Between 7500 BCE and 3500 BCE, amid the Green Sahara, undomesticated central Saharan flora were farmed, stored, and cooked, and domesticated animals (e.g., Barbary sheep) were milked and managed, by hunter-gatherers near the Takarkori rockshelter, which is representative of the broader Sahara; this continued until the beginning of the Pastoral Neolithic in the Sahara.[17]

Round Head figure wearing a Barbary sheep-styled mask[1]

Pastoral Neolithic

Main article: Prehistoric West Africa § Pastoral Neolithic 2

As cattle pastoralism

domesticated cattle and goats).[54] Meanwhile, as late as 2500 BP in the Central Sahara, some of the creators of the Round Head rock art may have continued to persist as hunters.[57]

Preceded by assumed earlier sites in the Eastern

kingdom of Kerma serve as a regional intermediary between the regions of the Nile River and the Niger River.[59]

The “Classical Sudanese” monarchic tumuli-building tradition, which lasted in Sudan (e.g.,

Mande peoples).[59] Sudanese tumuli (e.g., Kerma, C-Group), which date to the mid-3rd millennium BCE, share cultural similarities with Senegambian tumuli.[59] Between the 6th century CE and 14th century CE, stone tumuli circles, which at a single site usually encircle a burial site of half-meter that is covered by a burial mound, were constructed in Komaland; the precursors for this 3rd millennium BCE tumuli style of Komaland, Ghana and Senegambia are regarded by Faraji (2022) to be Kerma Kush and the A-Group culture of ancient Nubia.[59] While the stele-circled burial mounds of C-Group culture of Nubia are regarded as precursors for the megalithic burial mounds of Senegambia, Kerma tumuli are regarded as precursors for the stone tumuli circles of Komaland.[59] Based on a founding narrative of the Hausa people, Faraji (2022) concludes the possibility of the “pre-Islamic rulers of Hausaland” being a “dynasty of female monarchs reminiscent of the kandake of Meroitic Kush.”[59] The tumuli of Durbi Takusheyi, which have been dated between the 13th century CE and the 16th century CE, may have connection to tumuli from Ballana and Makuria.[59] Tumuli have also been found at Kissi, in Burkina Faso, and at Daima, in Nigeria.[59]

sub-Saharan West Africa
.

Herders from the Central Sahara migrated southward toward areas more fit for pastoralism, as the

Sub-Saharan West Africa; it may have particularly been a fertility statuette, created in the region of Senegambia;[23] the Thiaroye figure, which was found among quartz, flint, and ceramic fragments and atop a tumulus, may be associated with the emergence of complexly organized pastoral societies in West Africa between 4000 BCE and 1000 BCE.[24] Amid the 2nd millennium BCE, agriculture, likely along with cord-wrapped, roulette-detailed ceramics, spread throughout the Sahelian and West Sudanian savanna regions of West Africa.[39] Cultural experience with the desertification of the Green Sahara may have contributed to adept adjustment to the drying of the Sahelian and West Sudanian savanna regions of Sub-Saharan Africa by agropastoralists.[39] Agropastoralists, as early agriculturalists, who likely originated in the Central Sahara, began to migrate southward into these regions around 2200 BCE.[39] Agropastoralists traversed through Tilemsi Valley and Ounjougou.[61] Additional adaptations to desertification of the southern Sahara may have been the development of transhumance, which was engaged in seasonally among some agricultural herders, and the increased development of cord-wrapped roulette-detailed ceramics in Sub-Saharan Africa, which likely was first developed in the early period of the Holocene in the Central Sahara.[39] While also hunting and gathering, agropastoralists engaged in agriculture on a seasonal basis.[55] Earlier subsistence strategies involved a combined approach (e.g., agriculture, pastoralism, hunting, foraging).[55] Later, migratory herding, which is solely reliant on pastoralism, developed, and divergence between modern migratory herders and settled agriculturalists occurred.[55] After 1400 BCE and before 800 BCE the spread of agriculture may have been altered, and greening of the western Sahel occurred amid the 2nd millennium BCE.[39] Spread of domesticated pearl millet may reached Lake Chad, via eastern spread from the Niger River or an alternative avenue from the Central Sahara.[39] Increased dryness began to recur after 800 BCE in West Africa and Central Africa.[39] Amid the 1st millennium BCE, agriculture spread, not only near Lake Chad, but near the Niger Delta, Senegal Valley, Jos Plateau, and the southern region of Cameroon.[39]

With exception to some parts of West Africa (e.g., Ntereso,

Central African hunter-gatherers.[8]

Iron Age

Main article: History of West Africa § Iron Age
Nok terracotta sculpture

The

Jenne Jeno) of Mali where it developed into and persisted as Faïta Facies ceramics between 1300 BCE and 400 BCE among rammed earth architecture and iron metallurgy (which had developed after 900 BCE).[40] State-based urbanism in the Middle Niger and the Ghana Empire developed between 450 CE and 700 CE.[64] As part of a broader trend of iron metallurgy developed in the West African Sahel amid 1st millennium BCE, iron items (350 BCE – 100 CE) were found at Dhar Tagant, iron metalworking and/or items (800 BCE – 400 BCE) were found at Dia Shoma and Walaldé, and the iron remnants (760 BCE – 400 BCE) found at Bou Khzama and Djiganyai.[64] The iron materials that were found are evidence of iron metalworking at Dhar Tagant.[69]

The

Bini kingdom of Benin may also be continuations of the traditions of the earlier Nok culture.[82]

Bantu expansionNok cultureAfrican Iron Age
Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details
  Iron Age

Historical period

Painted rock art from Manding peoples are found largely in Mali, where Malinke and Bambara peoples reside.[83] The Manding rock art, developed using black, white, or red paint, is primarily composed of geometric artforms, as well as animal (e.g., saurian) and human artforms.[83] Some of the Manding rock art may relate to circumcision rituals for initiates.[83] During the 15th century CE, migrations from the northern area of Guinea and southern area of Mali may have resulted in the creation of Manding rock art in the northern area (e.g., Yobri, Nabruk) of Mali, southeastern area (e.g., Takoutala, Sourkoundingueye) of Burkina Faso, and Dogon country.[83]

Depopulation due to trade of enslaved Africans

Main article: History of West Africa § Slave trade
Further information:
Trans-Atlantic slave trade

During the

depopulation.[85] A common tactic used by European slavers was getting African intermediaries drunk prior to discussions regarding the trade of enslaved Africans.[86] Some African intermediaries were also enslaved after discussions regarding the trade of enslaved Africans were concluded with European slavers.[86] Areas, such as the Birim River Valley with Akan people, were depopulated.[87] A Ghanaian man provided the following recorded account to a European official during the Danish Gold Coast period of Ghana in 1738 CE:[88]

It is you, you whites they say, who have brought all of this evil among us. Would we have sold each other, if you had not come to us as buyers? The desire we have for your enticing goods and brandy has brought distrust between brothers and friends. So, alcohol has been a great enemy of mankind, since time immemorial—yes, even between father and son. From our fathers, we knew in the past that anyone guilty of malpractice, who had committed murder twice, was stoned or drowned. Otherwise, the punishment for ordinary misdeeds was that the culprit should carry to the offended party’s hut or house a big log of firewood for two or three consecutive days and beg him for forgiveness on his knees. We used to know thousands of families here and there on the coast in our youth. But now, we can hardly count a hundred individuals. That's depopulation. And the worst part is that you have become a necessary evil among us. For if you were to leave now, the Blacks up-country would allow us to live for a half-of-a-year, and then they would come and kill us, with our wives and children. And they bear this hatred because of you.[88]

Richardson (1994) highlighted the "severity" of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the "demographic impact" it had on the "population history of West Africa."

Atlantic basin fell by perhaps two-thirds between 1650 and 1850."[33]

More specifically, between 1501 CE and 1875 CE, the following embarking regions of West Africa are estimated to have at least the following number of enslaved Africans taken captive: 1,999,060 from

Rio de la Plata; 214,888 in other parts of the Spanish Americas; 372,055 in the Spanish Circum-Caribbean; 889,990 in Cuba).[34] The overall number of enslaved Africans estimated to have been taken captive from Africa are at least 12,521,335.[34]

Modern era

Main article: History of West Africa § Post-colonial period
Further information: Demographics of Africa, List of African countries by population, and List of ethnic groups of Africa
See also: Decolonisation of Africa and Neocolonialism

In 1950 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 69,564,958.[36] In 1960 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 84,682,838.[36] In 1970 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 105,658,305.[36] In 1980 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 137,592,173.[36] In 1990 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 180,598,738.[36] In 2000 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 234,198,478.[36] In 2010 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 308,340,050.[36] In 2020 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 402,908,941.[36] In 2021 CE, the population of West Africa is estimated to have been 413,340,896.[36]

Bioanthropological data

McFadden (2023) states:[89]

Human remnants can take many forms of evidence, and a vast array of methodologies can be applied to their analysis for the purpose of

ethnographically informed estimates of house capacity applied to preserved settlement structures (e.g., Porčić & Nikolić, 2016), have also been used to estimate population dynamics in the past.[89]

Skeletal remains

Iwo Eleru skull

The

Iwo Eleru skull, which was found at Iwo Eleru, Nigeria and may be evidence of modern humans possessing possible archaic human admixture[6] or of a late-persisting early modern human, has been dated to 13,000 BP.[41]

In the Acacus region of Libya, at the Uan Muhuggiag rockshelter, there was a child mummy (5405 ± 180 BP) and an adult (7823 ± 95 BP/7550 ± 120 BP).[90] In the Tassili n'Ajjer region of Algeria, at Tin Hanakaten rockshelter, there was a child (7900 ± 120 BP/8771 ± 168 cal BP), with cranial deformations due to disease or artificial cranial deformation that bears a resemblance with ones performed among Neolithic-era Nigerians, as well as another child and three adults (9420 ± 200 BP/10,726 ± 300 cal BP).[90]

Amid the early

Saharan region of northern Mali,[91] near what was likely a lake,[92] between 9500 BP and 7000 BP.[91]

Approximated to the Neolithic, there were "Negroid" skeletal remains found in West Africa.[93][94] At El Guettara, Mali, there were two "Negroid" individuals found.[93] At Karkarichinkat South, Mali, a "Negroid" skull was found.[94]

Two

West African hunter-gatherer remains were found, dated to the early period of the Stone to Metal Age at Shum Laka in 8000 BP, and two other West African hunter-gatherer remains were found, dated to the late period of the Stone to Metal Age at Shum Laka in 3000 BP.[95] The two earlier West African hunter-gatherers from 8000 BP and two later West African hunter-gatherers from 3000 BP show that there was 5000 years of population continuity among West African hunter-gatherers in the region of Shum Laka, Cameroon.[95]

At Ibalaghen, Mali, there was a "Negroid" cranium found,[93] which has been specifically dated between 7000 BP and 4000 BP.[96]

At Tin Lalou, Mali, there was a "Negroid" cranium and mandible found,[93] which have been specifically dated between 7000 BP and 4000 BP.[96]

At Tamaya Mellet, Niger, there were 12 "Negroid" individuals found,[93] which have been specifically dated between 7000 BP and 4000 BP.[96]

Thirteen human remains as well as two female human remains that had undergone incomplete, natural mummification were found at Takarkori rockshelter,

histological inspection.[97]

Between 4500 BP and 4200 BP, human remains from

Sub-Saharan African remains, while the only male Sub-Saharan African remains did not have modified teeth, four young female Sub-Saharan African remains did have modified teeth; these dental modifications may have been markers of group identity, rite of passage, or childbearing.[100]

Two human skeletal remains were found at

Dhar Walata, Mauritania.[101] Though one is undated, based on the date of the other human skeletal remains found nearby, it has been dated to 3930 ± 80 BP.[101]

Human skeletal remains found at Bou Khzama in

Dhar Néma, Mauritania have been dated to 3690 ± 60 BP.[101]

In the mid-4th millennium BP, four "Negroid" individuals occupied Kintampo, in Ghana.[102][103][104]

At Itaakpa rockshelter, Nigeria, human remains (e.g., mandible, maxilla), which are similar to human remains from Shum Laka, Cameroon, and, along with ceramics and African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), are dated to 2210 ± 80 BP.[105]

Human skeletal remains found at

Dhar Néma, Mauritania have been dated to 2095 ± 55 BP.[101]

In 1990 BP, a "Negroid"

agriculturalist (indicated via dental evidence from the skeletal remains) occupied Rop rock shelter, in the northern region of Nigeria.[102]

At the Akumbu mound complex, in

cowrie shells, 11 stone beads, and a fully intact pot.[106]

The remains of a 25-year-old woman with interproximal grooved dental modifications, which was found in the

Sahelian region of Kufan Kanawa, Niger and may have been occupied by Hausa people who later settled in Kano, has been dated to the mid-2nd millennium CE.[107]

Osteological indicators

The creators of the

osteological study showed that the skeletons could be divided into two types, the first Melano-African type with some Mediterranean affinities, the other a robust Negroid type. Black people of different appearance were therefore living in the Tassili and most probably in the whole Central Sahara as early as the 10th millennium BP."[90]

Craniometric and dental morphology

Warrior/Shepherd figures and animals of the Pastoral period

Though the metric study of Ramkrishna Mukherjee et al. (1955) found some close resemblance with the morphology of Nubians from the

Hamitic" morphology, called by him "Elongated," is indigenous to Africa, and not due to external sources. The natural geographical range of these populations included at least southern Egypt."[112]

The morphological features (e.g., craniometric, dental) of modern West Africans and

Epipaleolithic were concluded by the dental/craniometric study of Eugen Strouhal (1984) to be close in resemblance to one another.[112] Joel Irish and Christy Turner (1990) compared the dental evidence of Nubians of the Pleistocene era (e.g., Jebel Sahaba), Nubians of the Christian era, and modern West Africans; the mean measure of divergence between modern West Africans and Nubians of the Pleistocene era were found to be 0.04, and Nubians of the Pleistocene and Christian eras were found to be 0.379; consequently, Irish and Turner (1990) concluded that there is "some degree of genetic discontinuity between Pleistocene and Holocene Nubians, with the former being more similar to modern-day West Africans, whereas the latter were more similar to recent North Africans and Europeans."[114] More specifically, the dental studies of Irish and Turner (1990) as well as C. Turner and M. Markowitz (1990) concluded that the earlier peoples of Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic and Neolithic Egypt and Nubia were not predominantly ancestral to the latter agricultural peoples of ancient Egypt and Nubia; rather, instead, concluded that the earlier peoples of Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic and Neolithic Egypt and Nubia underwent nearly complete population replacement, by latter peoples from further north, such as the Near East or Europe, by the time of ancient Egypt and ancient Nubia.[113] Keita (1993) critiqued this shared viewpoint of Irish and Turner (1990) and explained that it "is well known and accepted, rapid evolution can occur. Also, rapid change in northeast Africa might be specifically anticipated because of the possibilities for punctuated microevolution (secondary to severe micro-selection and drift) in the early Holocene Sahara, because of the isolated communities and cyclical climatic changes there, and their possible subsequent human effects."[112] Keita (1993) further explained: "The earliest southern predynastic culture, Badari, owes key elements to post-desiccation Saharan and also perhaps "Nubian" immigration (Hassan 1988). Biologically these people were essentially the same (see above and discussion; Keita 1990). It is also possible that the dental traits could have been introduced from an external source, and increased in frequency primarily because of natural selection, either for the trait or for a growth pattern requiring less energy. There is no evidence for sudden or gradual mass migration of Europeans or Near Easterners into the valley, as the term "replacement" would imply. There is limb ratio and craniofacial morphological and metric continuity in Upper Egypt-Nubia in a broad sense from the late paleolithic through dynastic periods, although change occurred."[112] Keita (1995) later clarified that, while this critique was not a denial of some Near Eastern immigration having occurred, inferring mass migrations from a single data type is problematic, and that the specifics and complexities of in-situ micro-evolutionary changes and adaptations are not allowed by typological thinking.[113] While Thomson and Maclver (1905) noted some population changes as well as population continuity, Keita (1995) further indicates that descriptive and photographic evidence of the human remains from Dynasty I of Badari-Naqada (4400 BCE - 3100 BCE), Jebel Sahaba/Wadi Halfa (12000 BP - 6000 BP), Wadi Kubbaniya (20,000 BP), and Nazlet Khater (30,000 BP), demonstrates a general population continuity.[113]

The dental study of Irish (2016) indicates that

Democratic Republic of Congo) and West Bantu-speaking peoples (e.g., Congo, Gabon) between 2500 cal BCE and 1200 cal BCE.[115] Irish (2016) also indicates that, in accordance with noted differences from among other West Africans and with oral traditions stating an "origins in the east", Igbo people and Yoruba people may have back-migrated from among Bantu-speaking peoples to their modern locations in Nigeria.[115]

The dental analysis included in the study of Lipson et al. (2020) recognized patterns of wear found on the

Bayaka from the Central African Republic.[116]

Genetics

Main article: Genetic history of West Africa
Further information: History of West Africa § Genetic history of West Africa, and Basal West African
See also: Genetic history of the African diaspora

Archaic Human DNA

Further information: Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans § Archaic African hominins

Archaic traits found in human fossils of

archaic human ancestry in Africans is less certain and is too early to be established with certainty.[41]

Ancient DNA

As of 2017, human ancient DNA has not been found in the region of West Africa.[3] As of 2020, human ancient DNA has not been forthcoming in the region of West Africa.[117]

The

Sub-Saharan African (e.g., Hadza), which is drawn out, most of all, by West Africans (e.g., Yoruba, Mende).[118] In addition to having similarity with the remnant of a more basal Sub-Saharan African lineage (e.g., a basal West African lineage shared between Yoruba and Mende peoples), the Sub-Saharan African DNA in the Taforalt people of the Iberomaurusian culture may be best represented by modern West Africans (e.g., Yoruba).[117]

Ancient DNA was able to be obtained from two

Central African hunter-gatherers are shown to have likely diverged at a similar time, if not even earlier.[95]

Two naturally

mummified women from the Middle Pastoral Period of the Central Sahara carried basal haplogroup N.[119]

Y-Chromosomal DNA

Further information: Y-DNA haplogroups in populations of Sub-Saharan Africa

Eight male individuals from

Cabo Verde carried haplogroup A1a.[120]

As a result of haplogroup D0, a basal branch of haplogroup DE, being found in three

E, originated in Africa.[121]

As of 19,000 years ago, Africans, bearing haplogroup E1b1a-V38, likely traversed across the Sahara, from east to west.[122] E1b1a1-M2 likely originated in West Africa or Central Africa.[123]

Mitochondrial DNA

Further information:
Haplogroup L2 (mtDNA)

Around 18,000 BP, Mende people, along with Gambian peoples, grew in population size.[124]

In 15,000 BP,

L2a1 into North Africa, resulting in modern Mauritanian peoples and Berbers of Tunisia inheriting it.[125]

Between 11,000 BP and 10,000 BP, Yoruba people and Esan people grew in population size.[124]

As early as 11,000 years ago, Sub-Saharan West Africans, bearing

Iberia).[126]

Autosomal DNA

During the early period of the Holocene, in 9000 BP, Khoisan-related peoples admixed with the ancestors of the Igbo people, possibly in the western Sahara.[127][128]

Between 2000 BP and 1500 BP,

Nilo-Saharan-speaking Ethiopians, Nilo-Saharan-speaking Chadians) admixed with one another in northern Nigeria and northern Cameroon.[130]

Medical DNA

Pediculus

During the

ancient Israel, West Africans may have migrated into ancient Israel and introduced head louse from West Africa.[131]

Sickle Cell

Amid the

Arabia.[122] West Africans (e.g., Mende of Sierra Leone), bearing the Senegal sickle cell haplotype,[134][122] may have migrated into Mauritania (77% modern rate of occurrence) and Senegal (100%); they may also have migrated across the Sahara, into North Africa, and from North Africa, into Southern Europe, Turkey, and a region near northern Iraq and southern Turkey.Some may have migrated into and introduced the Senegal and Benin sickle cell haplotypes into Basra, Iraq, where both occur equally.[134] West Africans, bearing the Benin sickle cell haplotype, may have migrated into the northern region of Iraq (69.5%), Jordan (80%), Lebanon (73%), Oman (52.1%), and Egypt (80.8%).[134]

Schistosomes

According to Steverding (2020), while not definite: Near the

migratory Bantu-speaking peoples, into the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Southern Africa, Central Africa).[135]

Thalassemia

Through pathways taken by

North African region of Morocco.[136]

Domesticated Animal DNA

While the Niger-Congo migration may have been from West Africa into Kordofan, possibly from

domesticated the helmeted guineafowls by 3000 BCE, and via the Bantu expansion, traversed into other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa).[29]

Languages

Further information:
Old North African languages, and West African hunter-gatherers § Languages
See also: Writing systems of Africa § Ancient African orthographies, and Writing systems of Africa § West Africa

Jalaa, a language isolate, may have been a descendant language from the original set(s) of languages spoken by West African hunter-gatherers.[137]

According to MacDonald (2003), the regional birthplace of

Libyco-Berber epigraphy, while possibly being composed in playfulness, as a form of code, or as an unknown language unrelated to modern Berber languages, may have also been composed in a Nilo-Saharan language.[138]

descendant languages of the Old North African languages.[139]

Between 10,000 BP and 6000 BP,

Proto-Chadic speakers are presumed to have arrived and resided near Mega Lake Chad, located in the ridge region of Bama, Nigeria, Bongor, Chad, Limani, Cameroon, and Maiduguri, Nigeria.[140]

Though possibly developed as early as 5000 BCE,

West African script on Ikom monoliths at Ikom, in Nigeria.[25]

As late as the 6th century CE,

Tuaregs are presumed to have migrated into the southern region of the Central Sahara (e.g., Algeria, Libya, Niger).[141]

Following the spread of

Timbuktu manuscripts were composed using the Ajami script.[143]

Niger-Congo languages

Main article:
Niger-Congo languages
Niger-Congo language
phylum

In 10,000 BP,

Central Nigerian is presumed to have diverged from East Benue-Congo, which then became Bantoid Cross.[147] Cross River is presumed to have diverged from Bantoid Cross, which then became Bantoid.[147] In 5000 BP, the Bantu languages are presumed to eventually have their origin and development in the grassfields of Nigeria and Cameroon, and subsequently, via the Bantu expansion, spread out to various locations throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Somalia in East Africa, South Africa in Southern Africa).[145]

Building on the

Niger-Kordofanian.[148]

genetic relationship between a form in Bantu and in Atlantic languages, or between Bantu and Mande, we have all grounds to trace this form back to Niger-Congo. If we establish such a relationship between Mel and Kru or between Mande and Dogon, we don't have enough reason to claim it Niger-Congo. In other words, all Niger-Congo languages are equal, but Bantu languages are “more equal” than the others."[149]

Babaev (2013) stated: "The truth here is that almost no attempts in fact have been made to verify Greenberg's Niger-Congo hypothesis. This might seem strange but the path laid by Joseph Greenberg to

Proto-Niger-Congo was not followed by much research. Most scholars have focused on individual families or groups, and classifications as well as reconstructions were made on lower levels. Compared with the volume of literature on Atlantic or Mande languages, the list of papers considering the aspects of Niger-Congo reconstruction per se is quite scarce."[150]

Dimmendaal and Storch (2016) has indicated that the continuing reassessment of Niger-Congo's "

Volta-Niger, Kwa, Adamawa plus Gur, Kru, the so-called Kordofanian languages, and probably the language groups traditionally classified as Atlantic."[151]

Dimmendaal, Crevels, and Muysken (2020) stated: "Greenberg's hypothesis of Niger-Congo phylum has sometimes been taken as an established fact rather than a hypothesis awaiting further proof, but there have also been attempts to look at his argumentation in more detail. Much of the discussion concerning Niger-Congo after Greenberg's seminal contribution in fact centered around the inclusion or exclusion of specific languages or language groups."[152]

Good (2020) stated: "First proposed by

genealogical relationship between the referential NC languages that has not been proven."[153]

African language classifications and population history

population history, Güldemann (2018) highlighted the negative impact of "premature synthetic classification for Africa":[155]

The reliance on Greenberg-like genealogical language classifications in Africa has had and still has important negative repercussions outside linguistics, especially in the disciplines concerned with human history like archaeology, genetics, etc. Flight (1981: 52) once wrote: "From a different point of view – for historians and prehistorians – the significance of Greenberg’s classification is no less obvious. The historical implications are immediate. A genetic classification of African languages is an outline plan for African history." It comes as no surprise that broad strokes of early African population history, for example, by Heine (1979), MacDonald (1998), Ehret (1998, 2002), Blench (1999b, 2006a), etc. rely to a considerable extent on Greenberg’s classification, arguably misguiding basic assumptions about the history of Africa and its peoples. An inspection of the literature makes clear that such a perception of Africa is even influential on the global level. To mention just an extreme example, Manning (2006: 139–141) speculates about the origin of most tropical language families in the Old World by practically deriving them from the equivocal Nilo-Saharan grouping in Africa.[155]

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Bibliography


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