How Did Africa Change Over Time

Africa’s continent has gone through many changes over the years, including its physical features, climate change, development of technology and tools, trade routes, and introduction or conversions of different religions. Africa’s history can be traced back to about 18000 BC. One mythical claims about Africa and its peoples, that was thought to be true for decades was they were savages of the land and were not civilized. Discoveries of ancient kingdoms falsify this claim. Africa’s history has also been shaped by the contact with Europeans. Their influenced began to change the Africa it once was.

The geography and climate of Africa is a major reason why early humans were being pushed out of certain regions. The Northwest of Africa’s soil is mountain

West African communities were influential in the important trade route northward. Travelling across the Saharan Desert, the North dealt with the West. The West Africans exchanged their goods such as gold, ivory, salt and cloth, for the North’s horses, books, swords and chain mail. Trading goods for other goods was called bartering and was common all over Africa. The West African peoples also had a type of money that they used in trade; gold dust. Gold dust was the “money” of their time and was used among the traders. Since slavery was already in Africa when the Europeans came for the blacks, it was easy to trade them for clothing, gold and other useful goods. Slaves in Africa were more like indentured servants and were not mistreated. The trade of language, such as Arabic, Hausa, and Swahili became popular for early traders. Trading in Africa sustained the lifestyles that were formed in the ancient continent. As trading became more popular, roads and waterways were used more for that use. Trading was used to help other communities survive, and not able gaining power; although in the future, kingdoms would fight for