LITHOSPHERE
Earth’s crust and the interior of the earth: The earth is almost like a sphere. Its radius is about 6,400 kilometres. There is no scope to observe the interior of the earth by piercing the hard external covering. The geologists…
PERIHELION AND APHELION
The orbit of the earth is an ellipse. Its length is 93,80,51,827 kilometres. The sun is located in the centre or in the focus of the ellipse. Perihelion: In the process of revolution around the sun, the earth on 1st…
DIURNAL AND ANNUAL MOTION OF THE EARTH
Everyday the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. This process led many people in the past to think that the sun is moving and the earth is fixed. The sun moves around the earth. But with…
ORIGINS AND TIMEFRAME OF EARLY TRADE
The connections of West Africa with the Mediterranean world is a very old one, which long predates the rise of Islam in the late 6th century CE. Several centuries before the rise of the Roman empire, the Greek historian Herodotus (c.…
COLONIAL RULE IN WEST AFRICA
The European scramble for Africa culminated in the Berlin West African Conference of 1884-85. The conference was called by German Chancellor Bismarck and would set up the parameters for the eventual partition of Africa. European nations were summoned to discuss…
EUROPEAN CONTACT WITH WEST AFRICA
European sailors first reached sub-Saharan Africa in 1442, when Portuguese ships reached the Senegal river. The Portuguese had been sailing the coasts of Morocco and Western Sahara since 1413, when they captured the Moroccan city of Ceuta [still a Spanish…
THE HISTORICAL ANTECEDENT OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT IN WEST AFRICA
The land of West Africa consists of contrasting kinds of physical environment. The forest environment differs from the savanna environment, a mountainous area from a flat lowland area, riverine area from one away from a river, an area with predominantly…
PROBLEMS OF INDEPENDENT WEST AFRICAN STATES
Most West African leaders were very optimistic about their countries’ future at independence. They hoped to transform their newly independent countries so that their citizens would enjoy the fruits of independence, as colonial rule had brought only few benefits to…
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES IN WEST AFRICA
The expansion of the missionary movement into Africa was part of the growing conception of Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. The anti-slavery issue and the humanitarian conscience also played a vital role in stimulating European interest in…
THE ALMORAVID DYNASTY
The term ‘Almoravid’ comes from the Arabic word ‘al-Murabit, literally meaning “one who is trying” but figuratively meaning “one who is ready for battle at a fortress”. The Almoravid dynasty was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in Morocco. It…
THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE
Created by a jihad launched by Usman dan Fodio (also spelt Usman Ibn Fodio, Uthman Dan Fuduye, or Uthman Ibn Fodio) between 1804 and 1810, the caliphate of Sokoto was the largest and most populated state of nineteenth-century Africa. According…
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN WEST AFRICA
Africa was the first continent, that Islam spread into out of Arabia in the early seventh century. Almost one-third of the world’s Muslim population resides today in the continent. It was estimated in 2002 that Muslims constitute 45% of the…
Study Guide
