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1,200 Years Ago in West Africa

Around 700 AD, the minor kingdoms of Gao and Kanem were founded. In 846 AD, the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu arose east of Lake Chad. These states included both black Africans and Berbers from the Sahel of North Africa (the Sahel is the arid savanna region between the Sahara desert to the north and the more fertile areas to the south). The Yoruba and Hausa kingdoms also arise at this time in western and northern Nigeria.

By 900 AD, Ghana had become the most important kingdom in West Africa, having taken over Gao. Other important cities in the kingdom were Kumbi and Audaghost. Attacks by the Almoravid Empire (an Islamic Berber state which included southern Spain, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) weaken Ghana after 1000 AD. The West African kingdom of Takrur converts to Islam. In 1020, the city-state of Gao accepts Islam. The Almoravids declare a jihad or holy war to forcibly convert the Ghanaians to Islam. In 1054, the Berbers take Audaghost and Ghana city itself, but then withdraw.

Although a smaller kingdom of Ghana continued to exist, it had lost its power over it neighbours. This "time of confusion" saw many small states arise to occupy the power vacuum left by the fall of Ghana. These included Wolof states in Senegal, Yoruba states in western Nigeria, and Mandinke states near the Gambia River. The so-called Grasslanders, herding people of the savanna, including the ancestors of the Fulani people, move into the forests of Nigeria, marking the begin of kingdoms in Oyo and Benin. The kingdom of Benin would last from 1100 to 1897.

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