West African

The West African group includes the Mandinka, Songhai, Mossi, Hausa and Kanembu. Trade in gold and salt linked their lands to North Africa.

The Ghana Empire gave way to the Mali Empire in the thirteenth century, and its ruler Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. Songhai replaced Mali as the dominant power in the fifteenth century and fell to a Moroccan army in 1591. Portuguese traders reached the coast in the fifteenth century, opening the Atlantic slave trade.