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104-473: The Poole Logboat is an ancient logboat made from a single oak tree . It was excavated in the town of Poole , Dorset , England . The boat is over 2,200 years old and is estimated through carbon dating to have been constructed around 200–300 BCE, likely around 295 BC. The Iron Age vessel was unearthed in 1964 during dredging work in Poole Harbour . The log boat, which could accommodate 18 people and

208-594: A fertility statuette, created in the region of Senegambia , and may be associated with the emergence of complexly organized pastoral societies in West Africa between 4000 BCE and 1000 BCE. Though possibly developed as early as 5000 BCE, Nsibidi may have also developed in 2000 BCE, as evidenced by depictions of the West African script on Ikom monoliths at Ikom , in Nigeria . Migration of Saharan peoples south of

312-556: A tacking rig ; others "shunt" that is change tack "by reversing the sail from one end of the hull to the other." Tacking rigs are similar to those seen in most parts of the world, but shunting rigs change tack by reversing the sail from one end of the hull to the other and sailing in the opposite direction (the " Pushmi-pullyu " of the sailing world). In the Pacific Islands , dugout canoes are very large, made from whole mature trees and fitted with outriggers for increased stability in

416-507: A Dutch writer, describing Benin in his book Description of Africa (1668) ". Its craft was the most adored and treasured bronze casting in the history of Africa. It was annexed by the British Empire in 1897 during the invasion and scramble of Africa. Portuguese traders began establishing settlements along the coast in 1445, followed by the French , English , Spanish , Danish and Dutch ;

520-630: A fisheries regulations Act in 2010 and installed a satellite-based monitoring system and Senegal enacted a fisheries code in 2015. In Cape Verde, the fishermen communities of Palmiera and Santa Maria have organized themselves to protect fishing zones. Mozambique finally created a conservation area, including a coastline. West Africa, broadly defined to include the western portion of the Maghreb ( Western Sahara , Morocco , Algeria , and Tunisia ), occupies an area in excess of 6,140,000 km , or approximately one-fifth of Africa. The vast majority of this land

624-530: A linden wood log-boat of nearly 6 meters (20 ft) were found at Männedorf -Strandbad in Switzerland at Lake Zürich . The boat has since been dated to be 6,500 years old. In 1902 an oak logboat over 15 meters (49 ft) long and 1 meter (3.3 ft) wide, was found at Addergoole Bog , Lurgan , County Galway , Ireland, and delivered to the National Museum of Ireland . The Lurgan boat radiocarbon date

728-645: A logboat was uncovered in Poole Harbour , Dorset . The Poole Logboat dated to 300 BC, was large enough to accommodate 18 people and was constructed from a giant oak tree . It is currently located in the Poole Museum . An even older logboat (the Hanson log boat ) was unearthed in 1998 in Shardlow south of Derby . It has been dated to the Bronze Ages around 1500 BCE and is now exhibited at Derby Museum and Art Gallery . There

832-531: A rear that defecates"), symbolizing the unending cycle of ingestion, digestion and evacuation. A centuries-old unfinished dugout boat, a big banca (five tons, measuring 12 meters (39 ft) by 2 meters (6.6 ft) by 1.5 meters (4.9 ft)) was accidentally retrieved in November 2010 by Mayor Ricardo Revita at Barangay Casanicolasan, Rosales, Pangasinan , Philippines , in Lagasit River, near Agno River . It

936-590: A result of increasing aridification of the Green Sahara , Central Saharan hunter-gatherers and cattle herders may have used seasonal waterways as the migratory route taken to the Niger River and Chad Basin of West Africa. In 2000 BCE, " Thiaroye Woman", also known as the " Venus of Thiaroye", may have been the earliest statuette created in Sub-Saharan West Africa; it may have particularly been

1040-641: A rich ecology , with strong biodiversity and several distinct regions. The area's climate and ecology are heavily influenced by the dry Sahara to the north and east, which provides dry winds during the Harmattan , as well as the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, which provides seasonal monsoons. This mixture of climates gives West Africa a rich array of biomes , from biodiversity-rich tropical forests to drylands supporting rare and endangered fauna such as pangolins , rhinoceros , and elephants . Because of

1144-723: A single log, often totara , because of its lightness, strength and resistance to rotting. Larger waka were made of about seven parts lashed together with flax rope. All waka are characterized by very low freeboard. In Hawaiʻi , waʻa (canoes) are traditionally manufactured from the trunk of the koa tree. They typically carry a crew of six: one steersman and five paddlers. The Australian Aboriginal people began using dugout canoes from around 1640 in coastal regions of northern Australia. They were brought by Buginese fishers of sea cucumbers , known as trepangers , from Makassar in South Sulawesi . In Arnhem Land , dugout canoes are used by

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1248-547: A subgroup of the Igbo people. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland and was administered by a priest-king called an Eze Nri . The Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people and possessed divine authority in religious matters. The Oyo Empire

1352-442: Is 10 metres (33 ft) long was based at Green Island in the harbour. After it was found, it was kept submerged in water for 30 years while archaeologists decided what to do with it. It was restored by members of York Archaeological Trust and dried for two years. The boat is on display in Poole Museum . In May 2023, the boat was removed into safe storage while the museum is under renovation. The boat has been described as one of

1456-497: Is a transnational highway project to link 12 West African coastal states, from Mauritania in the north-west of the region to Nigeria in the east, with feeder roads already existing to two landlocked countries, Mali and Burkina Faso . The eastern end of the highway terminates at Lagos , Nigeria . Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) consider its western end to be Nouakchott , Mauritania , or to be Dakar , Senegal , giving rise to these alternative names for

1560-517: Is affected by the depth of the water, tides in the ocean, currents, and winds) of West African canoers facilitated the skillful navigation of various channels of the regional river system, while engaging in activities such as trade and fishing. The construction schema for West African dugout canoes were also used among canoes in the Americas constructed by the African diaspora . The sacredness of canoe-making

1664-796: Is also lighter than most other tree types in European old-growth forests , and for this reason, boats made from linden wood have a better cargo capacity and are easier to carry. The Pesse canoe , found in the Netherlands , is a dugout which is believed to be the world's oldest boat, carbon dated to between 8040 BCE and 7510 BCE. Other dugouts discovered in the Netherlands include two in the province of North Holland : in 2003, near Uitgeest , dated at 617-600 BC; and in 2007, near Den Oever , dated at 3300-3000 BC. Dugouts have also been found in Germany . In German ,

1768-549: Is demographically and economically one of the fastest growing on the African continent. Early history in West Africa includes a number of prominent regional powers that dominated different parts of both the coastal and internal trade networks, such as the Mali and Gao Empires . West Africa sat at the intersection of trade routes between Arab -dominated North Africa and further south on

1872-619: Is expressed in a proverb from Senegambia : "The blood of kings and the tears of the canoe-maker are sacred things which must not touch the ground." In addition to possessing economic value, West African dugout canoes also possessed a sociocultural and psychospiritual value. In 1735 CE, John Atkins observed: "Canoos are what used through the whole Coast for transporting Men and Goods." European rowboats , which frequently capsized, were able to be outmaneuvered and outperformed in terms of speed by West African dugout canoes. Barbot stated, regarding West African canoers and West African dugout canoes,

1976-548: Is now on display in front of the Municipal Town Hall. Dugout canoes are one of the most used traditional fishing vessels in India. Forest Department at Kolleru Lake held various contests with the dugout canoe among local fishing communities. In an era where the traditional canoe faces extinction, the boat race saw 22 participants. They also noted that within two decades, there were over 1,000 dugout canoes employed for fishing in

2080-579: Is plains lying less than 300 meters above sea level, though isolated high points exist in numerous states along the southern shore of West Africa. Benin Burkina Faso The Gambia Ghana Guinea-Bissau Guinea Ivory Coast Liberia Mali Mauritania Nigeria Niger Senegal Sierra Leone Togo The northern section of West Africa (narrowly defined to exclude

2184-457: Is rather majestic and looks like a huge phallus and a deformed animal or thing is protruding from it. It is said to be the dwelling place of a pangool . Ngoye njuli is protected by the Senegalese authorities and attracts visitors. In West Africa, as in other parts of Africa where the baobab tree is found, the leaves are mixed with couscous and eaten, the bark of the tree is used to make ropes, and

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2288-573: The African slave trade began not long after, which over the following centuries would debilitate the region's economy and population. The slave trade also encouraged the formation of states such as the Bono State , Bambara Empire and Dahomey , whose economic activities include but not limited to exchanging slaves for European firearms . In the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist jihads swept across Western Africa. The most notable include Usman dan Fodio 's Fulani Empire , which replaced

2392-508: The Ahanta people . By 1679 CE, Barbot observed Takoradi to be "a major canoe-producing center, crafting dugouts capable of carrying up to eight tons." Between the 17th century CE and 18th century CE, a production area and/or marketplace of dugout canoes was in Shama , which later became only a marketplace on Supome Island. Amid the 1660s CE, in addition to other local canoers manufacturing dugout canoes,

2496-554: The Benue Trough , and others on a line running from Mount Cameroon to Lake Chad . Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary West African states, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more states. In contrast to most of Central, Southern, and Southeast Africa, West Africa is not populated by Bantu -speaking peoples. The West African region can be divided into four climatic sub-regions namely

2600-553: The Elbe and Morava rivers. Poland is known for so-called Lewin -type log-boats, found at Lewin Brzeski , Koźle and Roszowicki Las accordingly, and associated with the Przeworsk culture in the early centuries CE. Lewin logboats are characterized by a square or trapezoidal cross-section, rectangular hull-ends and low height of the sides in relation to vessel length. In addition, nearly all

2704-575: The Fetu people were observed by Muller as having bought dugout canoes that were made by the Ahanta people. West Africans (e.g., Ghana , Ivory Coast , Liberia , Senegal ) and western Central Africans (e.g., Cameroon ) independently developed the skill of surfing . Amid the 1640s CE, Michael Hemmersam provided an account of surfing in the Gold Coast : "the parents 'tie their children to boards and throw them into

2808-708: The Hausa city-states, Seku Amadu 's Massina Empire , which defeated the Bambara, and El Hadj Umar Tall 's Toucouleur Empire , which briefly conquered much of modern-day Mali. However, the French and British continued to advance in the Scramble for Africa , subjugating kingdom after kingdom. With the fall of Samory Ture's established Wassoulou Empire in 1898 and the Ashanti queen Yaa Asantewaa in 1902, most West African military resistance to colonial rule resulted in failure. Part of

2912-514: The Limpopo River basin in the south through East and Central Africa and across to West Africa . African teak is the timber favoured for their construction, though this comprises a number of different species, and is in short supply in some areas. Dugouts are paddled across deep lakes and rivers or punted through channels in swamps (see makoro or mtumbwi ) or in shallow areas, and are used for transport, fishing, and hunting, including, in

3016-463: The Niger River , and exchanged them in a regional trade network. The Nok terracotta depiction of a figure with a seashell on its head may indicate that the span of these riverine trade routes may have extended to the Atlantic Coast. In the maritime history of Africa , there is the earlier Dufuna canoe , which was constructed approximately 8000 years ago in the northern region of Nigeria; as

3120-675: The Senegambia region (Senegal and the Gambia) used to have a diverse wildlife including lions , hippopotamus , elephants , antelopes , leopards etc. However, during colonization, the European colonizers such as the French and British killed most of the wildlife particularly the lions, using their body parts as trophies. By the turn of the 20th century, the Senegambia region had lost most of its lion population and other exotic animals due to poaching . By

3224-767: The Slavs built monoxyla that they sold to Rus' in Kiev . These boats were then used against the Byzantine Empire during the Rus'–Byzantine Wars of the 9th and 10th centuries. They used dugouts to attack Constantinople and to withdraw into their lands with bewildering speed and mobility. Hence, the name of Δρομίται ("people on the run") applied to the Rus in some Byzantine sources. The monoxyla were often accompanied by larger galleys, that served as command and control centres. Each Slavic dugout could hold from 40 to 70 warriors. The Cossacks of

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3328-602: The Stone Age people in Northern Europe until large trees suitable for making this type of watercraft became scarce. Length was limited to the size of trees in the old-growth forests—up to 12 metres (39 ft) in length. In Denmark in 2001, and some years prior to that, a few dugout canoes of linden wood , was unearthed in a large-scale archaeological excavation project in Egådalen, north of Aarhus . They have been carbon dated to

3432-685: The Zaporozhian Host were also renowned for their artful use of dugouts, which issued from the Dnieper to raid the shores of the Black Sea in the 16th and 17th centuries. Using small, shallow-draft, and highly maneuverable galleys known as chaiky , they moved swiftly across the Black Sea. According to the Cossacks' own records, these vessels, carrying a 50 to 70 man crew, could reach the coast of Anatolia from

3536-459: The forest-savanna region, were ultimately acculturated and admixed into the larger groups of West African agriculturalists , akin to the migratory Bantu -speaking agriculturalists and their encounters with Central African hunter-gatherers . The development of the region's economy allowed more centralized states and civilizations to form, beginning with Dhar Tichitt that began in 1600 B.C. followed by Djenné-Djenno beginning in 300 B.C. This

3640-702: The mouth of the Dnieper River in forty hours. More than 40 pre-historic log-boats have been found in the Czech Republic . The latest discovery was in 1999 of a 10 meters (33 ft) long log-boat in Mohelnice . It was cut out of a single oak log and has a width of 1.05 meters (3.4 ft). The log-boat has been dated to around 1000 BC and is kept at the Mohelnice Museum (Museum of National History). Geographically, Czech log-boat sites and remains are clustered along

3744-554: The population history of West Africa . Acheulean tool-using archaic humans may have dwelled throughout West Africa since at least between 780,000 BP and 126,000 BP ( Middle Pleistocene ). During the Pleistocene , Middle Stone Age peoples (e.g., Iwo Eleru people , possibly Aterians ), who dwelled throughout West Africa between MIS 4 and MIS 2 , were gradually replaced by incoming Late Stone Age peoples , who migrated into West Africa as an increase in humid conditions resulted in

3848-493: The "speed with which these people generally make these boats travel is beyond belief." Alvise da Cadamosto also observed how "effortlessly" Portuguese caravels were outperformed by Gambian dugout canoes. The skill of Kru canoers to be able to navigate the challenging conditions of the sea was also observed by Charles Thomas. Amid the 1590s CE, Komenda and Takoradi in Ghana served as production areas for dugout canoes made by

3952-565: The 10th-century Kingdom of Nri , which helped birth the arts and customs of the Igbo people , Bono State in the 11th century, which gave birth to the numerous Akan States, while Ife rose to prominence around the 12th century. Further east, Oyo arose as the dominant Yoruba state and the Aro Confederacy as a dominant Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was a West African medieval state in present-day southeastern Nigeria and

4056-491: The 16 countries of Benin , Burkina Faso , Cape Verde , The Gambia , Ghana , Guinea , Guinea-Bissau , Ivory Coast , Liberia , Mali , Mauritania , Niger , Nigeria , Senegal , Sierra Leone , and Togo , as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha ( United Kingdom Overseas Territory ). The population of West Africa is estimated at 419 million people as of 2021, and at 381,981,000 as of 2017, of which 189,672,000 were female and 192,309,000 male. The region

4160-489: The 1930s, the Gambian elephant population became extinct. That phenomenon was not only limited to the Senegambia region but affected much of West Africa as the region lost much of its "natural resources once tied so closely to its cultural identity. Poaching has stolen most of its wildlife." The British issued poaching licenses, and although they would later try to reverse the damage that had been done by attempting to preserve what

4264-418: The 1950s. Some have identified the two recent decades as a recovery period. Others refer to this as a period of "hydrological intensification" with much of the annual rainfall increase coming from more severe rain events and sometimes flooding rather than more frequent rainfall, or similarly other works underline the continuity of the drought even though the rainfall has increased. Since 1985, 54 percent of

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4368-645: The Atlantic. Due to Mauritania's increasingly close ties to the Arab World and its 1999 withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in modern times it is often considered, especially in Africa, as now part of western North Africa . Major and principal cities in West Africa include, geographically eastward: Before European colonisation , West African countries such as those from

4472-458: The Guinea Coast associated with a reduction of the wet spells under both 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming level. A Trans-ECOWAS project, established in 2007, plans to upgrade railways in this zone. One of the goals of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is the development of an integrated railroad network. Aims include the extension of railways in member countries,

4576-662: The Guinea Coast, Soudano-Sahel, Sahel (extending eastward to the Ethiopian border) and the Sahara, each with different climatic conditions. The seasonal cycle of rainfall is mainly driven by the south-north movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which is characterised by the confluence between moist southwesterly monsoon winds and the dry northeasterly Harmattan. Based on the inter-annual rainfall variability, three main climatic periods have been observed over

4680-608: The Ivory Coast, have lost large areas of their rainforest . In 2005, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ranked Nigeria as the state with the worst deforestation rate in the entire world. Causes include logging, subsistence agriculture , and the collection of fuelwoods. According to a ThoughtCo publication authored Steve Nix (2018), almost 90 percent of West Africa's original rainforest has been destroyed, and

4784-560: The Japanese occupation - with their small visual and noise signatures these were among the smallest boats used by the Allied forces in World War II. After the sinking of PT-109 , Biuku Gasa reached the shipwrecked John F. Kennedy by dugout. West Africa West Africa , also called Western Africa , is the westernmost region of Africa . The United Nations defines Western Africa as

4888-462: The Lewin-type boats have a single hole in the bow and two at the stern. The low height is a result of the parent log being split lengthwise in half, in order to obtain two identical timbers from a single trunk. The advantage lies in the resulting identical twin hulls, which are then joined to form a double-hulled raft. The paired hulls were joined by transverse poles, which did not go through the holes in

4992-560: The Neolithic Stone Age . This is probably because they are made of massive pieces of wood, which tend to preserve better than others, such as bark canoes . Construction of a dugout begins with the selection of a log of suitable dimensions. Sufficient wood must be removed to make the vessel relatively light in weight and buoyant, yet still strong enough to support the crew and cargo. Specific types of wood were often preferred based on their strength, durability, and density. The shape of

5096-517: The Niger River basin between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria (northern Benin), rice ( oryza glaberrima ) in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali, pearl millet ( cenchrus americanus ) in northern Mali and Mauritania, and cowpeas in northern Ghana. After having persisted as late as 1000 BP, or some period of time after 1500 CE, remaining West African hunter-gatherers, many of whom dwelt in

5200-589: The Sahel: the wet period from 1950 to the early 1960s followed by a dry period from 1972 to 1990 and then the period from 1991 onwards which has seen a partial rainfall recovery. During the dry period, the Sahel experienced a number of particularly severe drought events, with devastating effects. The recent decades, have also witnessed a moderate increment in annual rainfall since the beginning of 1990s. However, total annual rainfall remains significantly below that observed during

5304-562: The Sahelian region resulted in seasonal interaction with and gradual absorption of West African hunter-gatherers, who primarily dwelt in the savannas and forests of West Africa. In West Africa, which may have been a major regional cradle in Africa for the domestication of crops and animals, Niger-Congo speakers domesticated the helmeted guineafowl between 5500 BP and 1300 BP; domestication of field crops occurred throughout various locations in West Africa, such as yams (d. praehensilis) in

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5408-508: The West African regions underwent an increase in the numeracy level throughout the 19th century. The reason for such a growth was predetermined by a number of factors. Namely, the peanut production and trade, which was boosted by the demand of the colonial states . Importantly, the rise of numeracy was higher in the regions which were less hierarchical and had less dependence on the slavery trade (e.g. Sine and Salum). Whereas areas with

5512-403: The absence or presence of a beam (a bridge for a double hull). Hull shapes and end forms vary greatly. Masts can "be right or made of double spars." Hulls can be constructed by assembling boards or digging out tree trunks. Intended use (fish, war, sea voyage) and geographical features (beach, lagoon, reefs) are reflected in the design. Importantly, there is an important dividing line: some craft use

5616-539: The ancient tradition. In December 2021 dugout boat culture of Estonia's Soomaa region was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Dugout canoes were constructed by indigenous people throughout the Americas, where suitable logs were available. The Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest were and are still very skilled at crafting wood. Best known for totem poles up to 24 meters (80 ft) tall, they also construct dugout canoes over 18 meters (60 ft) long for everyday use and ceremonial purposes. In

5720-435: The archaeology of the city of Kumbi Saleh in modern-day Mauritania, the Mali empire came to dominate much of the region until its defeat by Almoravid invaders in 1052. Three great kingdoms were identified in Bilad al-Sudan by the ninth century. They included Ghana, Gao and Kanem . The Sosso Empire sought to fill the void but was defeated ( c.  1240 ) by the Mandinka forces of Sundiata Keita , founder of

5824-429: The archaeology of water transport to AD 1500 . Routledge. ISBN   9780582319752 . 50°42′45″N 1°59′20″W  /  50.7125°N 1.9888°W  / 50.7125; -1.9888 This article about a specific civilian ship or boat is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Logboat Dugouts are the oldest boat type archaeologists have found, dating back about 8,000 years to

5928-412: The boat is then fashioned to minimize drag, with sharp ends at the bow and stern. First, the bark is removed from the exterior. Before the appearance of metal tools, dugouts were hollowed out using controlled fires. The burnt wood was then removed using an adze . Another method using tools is to chop out parallel notches across the interior span of the wood, then split out and remove the wood from between

6032-701: The capability of the canoes to be able to persist and navigate throughout the interconnected river system that connected the Benue River , Gambia River , Niger River , and Senegal River as well as Lake Chad ; this river system connected diverse sources of water (e.g., lakes, rivers, seas, streams) and ecological zones (e.g., Sahara , Sahel , Savanna ), and allowed for the transport of people, information, and economic goods along riverine trade networks that connect various locations (e.g., Bamako , Djenne , Gao , Mopti , Segou , Timbuktu ) throughout West Africa and North Africa . The knowledge and understanding (e.g., hydrography , marine geography , how canoe navigation

6136-463: The colony of Guinea-Bissau , while Germany claimed Togoland , but was forced to divide it between France and Britain following First World War due to the Treaty of Versailles . Only Liberia retained its independence, at the price of major territorial concessions. Following World War II , nationalist movements arose across West Africa. In 1957, Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah , became the first West African colony to achieve its independence, followed

6240-425: The continent, the source of specialized goods such as gold , advanced iron-working , and ivory . After European exploration encountered rich local economies and kingdoms, the Atlantic slave trade built on already existing slave systems to provide labor for colonies in the Americas. After the end of the slave trade in the early 19th century , European nations, especially France and Britain , continued to exploit

6344-435: The craft is known as Einbaum (one-tree). In the old Hanseatic town of Stralsund , three log-boats were excavated in 2002. Two of the boats were around 7,000 years old and are the oldest boats found in the Baltic area. The third boat (6,000 years old) was 12 meters (39 ft) long and holds the record as the longest dugout in the region. The finds have partly deteriorated due to poor storage conditions. In 1991, remains of

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6448-401: The earliest pottery in Africa – by at least 9400 BCE, and along with their pottery, as well as wielding independently invented bows and arrows , migrated into the Central Sahara, which became their primary region of residence by 10,000 BP. The emergence and expansion of ceramics in the Sahara may be linked with the origin of Round Head and Kel Essuf rock art, which occupy rockshelters in

6552-456: The end of colonialism, the region has been the stage for some brutal conflicts, including: Geopolitically , the United Nations definition of subregion Western Africa includes the preceding states with the addition of Mauritania (which withdrew from ECOWAS in 1999), comprising an area of approximately 6.1 million square km. The UN region also includes the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in

6656-496: The finest examples in Western Europe. As an internationally significant object, the logboat has been fully recorded digitally using 3D scanning. The logboat is of a shell built design type that has a 'fitted transom added'. The boat has a reasonable degree of stability and seaworthiness. With a freeboard of 76 centimeters, research has determined the logboat could support the weight of up to 18 persons (weighing 60kg) each. McGrail, S (2014). Ancient boats in North-West Europe :

6760-579: The fruit and seeds are used for drinks and oils. West Africa is greatly affected by deforestation and has one of the worst deforestation rate. Even "the beloved baobab tree" which is viewed as sacred by some West African cultures are under threat due to climate change , urbanization and population growth. "Huge swaths of forest are being razed to clear space for palm oil and cocoa plantations. Mangroves are being killed off by pollution. Even wispy acacias are hacked away for use in cooking fires to feed growing families." Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana and

6864-408: The human population relies. West Africa is west of an imagined north-south axis lying close to 10° east longitude . The Atlantic Ocean forms the western as well as the southern borders of the West African region. The northern border is the Sahara Desert , with the Ranishanu Bend generally considered the northernmost part of the region. The eastern border is less precise, with some placing it at

6968-649: The interconnection of previously isolated railways and the standardization of gauge, brakes, couplings, and other parameters. The first line would connect the cities and ports of Lagos , Cotonou , Lomé and Accra and would allow the largest container ships to focus on a smaller number of large ports, while efficiently serving a larger hinterland . This line connects 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge and 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) metre gauge systems, which would require four rail dual gauge , which can also provide standard gauge . The Trans–West African Coastal Highway

7072-479: The lake. Now, their count has dwindled to less than a hundred. In ancient Europe many dugouts were made from linden wood , for several reasons. First, linden trees were abundant in the Paleolithic after the melting of the Weichselian glaciation and readily available. Secondly, linden grew to be one of the tallest trees in the forests of the time, making it easier to build longer boats. Linden wood also lends itself well to carving and doesn't split or crack easily. It

7176-536: The local Yolngu people , called lipalipa or lippa-lippa . Torres Strait Islander people used a double outrigger , unique to their area and probably introduced from Papuan communities and later modified. It was about 14 metres (46 ft) long, with two bamboo masts and sails made of pandanus -mat. They could sail as far as 80 kilometres (50 mi) and carry up to 12 people. The Solomon Islanders have used and continue to use dugout canoes to travel between islands. In World War II these were used during

7280-447: The main hull by long poles. In the case of two outriggers , one is mounted on either side of the hull. The Dufuna canoe from Nigeria is an 8000-year-old dugout, the oldest boat discovered in Africa, and is, by varying accounts, the second or third-oldest ship worldwide. The well-watered tropical rainforest and woodland regions of sub-Saharan Africa provide both the waterways and the trees for dugout canoes, which are commonplace from

7384-408: The mid-17th to the late 18th century, holding sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in Yorubaland , but also over nearby African states, notably the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey in the modern Republic of Benin to the west. The Benin Empire was a post-classical empire located in what is now southern Nigeria . Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City , Edo . It should not be confused with

7488-523: The modern-day country called Benin , formerly called Dahomey . The Benin Empire was "one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa, dating perhaps to the eleventh century CE". The Benin Empire was governed by a sovereign Emperor with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and a powerful council rich in resources, wealth, ancient science and technology with cities described as beautiful and large as Haarlem . " Olfert Dapper ,

7592-638: The new Mali Empire. The Mali Empire continued to flourish for several centuries, most particularly under Sundiata's grandnephew Musa I , before a succession of weak rulers led to its collapse under Mossi , Tuareg and Songhai invaders. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on Gao , in the Songhai Empire , under the leadership of Sonni Ali and Askia Mohammed . Meanwhile, south of Sudan, strong city-states arose in Igboland , such as

7696-458: The next year by France's colonies (Guinea in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré); by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous. Since independence, many West African nations have been submerged under political instability, with notable civil wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and a succession of military coups in Ghana and Burkina Faso . Since

7800-573: The north; the second, the Iron Age empires that consolidated both intra-Africa, and extra-Africa trade, and developed centralized states; third, major polities flourished, which would undergo an extensive history of contact with non-Africans; fourth, the colonial period, in which Great Britain and France controlled nearly the entire region; and fifth, the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed. West African populations were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout

7904-496: The notches. Once hollowed out, the interior was dressed and smoothed out with a knife or adze. More primitive designs keep the tree's original dimensions, with a round bottom. However, it is possible to carefully steam the sides of the hollow log until they are pliable, then bend to create a more flat-bottomed "boat" shape with a wider beam in the centre. For travel in the rougher waters of the ocean, dugouts can be fitted with outriggers. One or two smaller logs are mounted parallel to

8008-484: The number of registered trawlers operating in African waters, increase the monitoring and control and set up regional fisheries organizations. Some steps have already been taken in the form of WARFP (the World Bank's West Africa Regional Fisheries Program which empowers west-African countries (i.e. Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, and Senegal) with information, training and monitoring systems. Furthermore, Liberia enacted

8112-564: The ocean, and were once used for long-distance travel. The very large waka is used by Māori people , who came to New Zealand probably from East Polynesia in about 1280. Such vessels carried 40 to 80 warriors in calm sheltered coastal waters or rivers. It is believed that trans-ocean voyages were made in Polynesian catamarans and one hull, carbon-dated to about 1400, was found in New Zealand in 2011. In New Zealand smaller waka were made from

8216-449: The opposite trends illustrated opposite tendencies (e.g. central and northern Senegal). Those patterns were further even more stimulated by the French colonial campaign. Britain controlled the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria throughout the colonial era, while France unified Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Niger into French West Africa . Portugal founded

8320-504: The past, the very dangerous hunting of hippopotamus . Dugouts are called pirogues in Francophone areas of Africa. A Nok sculpture portrays two individuals, along with their goods , in a dugout canoe. Both of the anthropomorphic figures in the watercraft are paddling . The Nok terracotta depiction of a dugout canoe may indicate that Nok people utilized dugout canoes to transport cargo , along tributaries (e.g., Gurara River) of

8424-565: The platform ends but were fastened to the top walls or in special grooves at the hull ends. These vessels were typically 7 meters (23 ft)–12 meters (39 ft) in length, and the largest of them could carry up to 1.5 tons of cargo because of the special design. Many pre-historic dugout boats have been found in Scandinavia . These boats were used for transport on calmer bodies of water, fishing and maybe occasionally for whaling and sealing. Dugouts require no metal parts, and were common amongst

8528-400: The population has been affected by five or more floods in the 17 Sahel region countries. In 2012, severe drought conditions in the Sahel were reported. Governments in the region responded quickly, launching strategies to address the issue. The region is projected to experience changes in rainfall regime, with climate models suggesting that decreases in wet season rainfall are more likely in

8632-469: The pressure for economic development, many of these ecologies are threatened by processes like deforestation , biodiversity loss , overfishing , pollution from mining , plastics and other industries, and extreme changes resulting from climate change in West Africa . The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods: first, its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, developed agriculture , and made contact with peoples to

8736-447: The region through colonial relationships . For example, they continued exporting a number of extractive goods , including labor-intensive agricultural crops like cocoa and coffee , forestry products like tropical timber , and mineral resources like gold. Since independence, many West African countries, like Ivory Coast , Ghana , Nigeria and Senegal , have played important roles in the regional and global economies. West Africa has

8840-512: The region's wildlife populations, there are still some protected nature reserves within the region. Some of these include: West Africa is also home to several baobab trees and other plant life . Some baobab trees are several centuries old and form part of the local folklore, for example, a mythical baobab tree named Ngoye njuli in Senegal which is regarded as a sacred site by the Serer . The tree itself

8944-453: The rest is "heavily fragmented and in a degraded state, being poorly used." Overfishing is a major issue in West Africa. Besides reducing fish stocks in the region, it also threatens food security and the livelihoods of many coastal communities that largely depend on artisanal fishing . The overfishing generally comes from foreign trawlers operating in the region. To combat the overfishing, Greenpeace has recommended countries reduce

9048-708: The same regions (e.g., Djado , Acacus , Tadrart ). Hunters in the Central Sahara farmed, stored, and cooked undomesticated central Saharan flora , underwent domestication of antelope , and domesticated and shepherded Barbary sheep . After the Kel Essuf Period and Round Head Period of the Central Sahara, the Pastoral Period followed. Some of the hunter-gatherers who created the Round Head rock art may have adopted pastoral culture, and others may have not. As

9152-456: The sea, with light boards under their stomachs. They waited for a surf; and came rolling like a cloud on top of it. But I was told that sharks occasionally dart in behind the rocks and 'yam' them." Thomas Hutchinson provided an account of surfing in southern Cameroon in 1861: "Fishermen rode small dugouts 'no more than six feet in length, fourteen to sixteen inches in width, and from four to six inches in depth. ' " An 8000-year-old dugout canoe

9256-730: The second earliest form of water vessel known in Sub-Saharan Africa , the Nok terracotta depiction of a dugout canoe was created in the central region of Nigeria during the first millennium BCE. The engineering and methodology (e.g., cultural valuations, use of iron tools) used in the construction of West African dugout canoes (e.g., rounded point sterns and pointed bows with 15° - 50° angle above water surface, increased stability via partly rounded or flat base, v-shaped hull, shallow draft for sailing water depths less than one foot, occasionally spanning more than one hundred feet in length) contributed to

9360-859: The south Atlantic Ocean . In the United Nations scheme of African regions , the region of Western Africa includes 16 states and the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha : Mali , Burkina Faso , Senegal and the Niger are mostly in the Sahel , a transition zone between the Sahara desert and the Sudanian Savanna ; Benin , Ivory Coast , The Gambia , Ghana , Guinea , Guinea-Bissau , Liberia , Sierra Leone , Togo and Nigeria compose most of Guinea ,

9464-507: The state of Washington , dugout canoes are traditionally made from huge cedar logs (such as Pacific red cedar ) for ocean travelers, while natives around smaller rivers use spruce logs. Cedar logs have a resilience in salt water much greater than spruce. In 1978, Geordie Tocher and two companions sailed a dugout canoe (the Orenda II ), based on Haida designs (but with sails), from Vancouver, British Columbia , Canada to Hawaiʻi . The dugout

9568-528: The subsequent expansion of the West African forest . West African hunter-gatherers occupied western Central Africa (e.g., Shum Laka ) earlier than 32,000 BP, dwelled throughout coastal West Africa by 12,000 BP, and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. During the Holocene , Niger-Congo speakers independently created pottery in Ounjougou , Mali –

9672-649: The traditional name for the area near the Gulf of Guinea ; Mauritania lies in the Maghreb , the northwestern region of Africa that has historically been inhabited by West African groups such as the Fulani , Soninke , Wolof , Serer and Toucouleur people , along with Arab-Berber Maghrebi people such as the Tuareg ; Cape Verde is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean ; and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha consists of eight main islands located in four different parts of

9776-495: The water. ' " In 1679 CE, Barbot provided an account of surfing among Elmina children in Ghana: "children at Elmina learned "to swim, on bits of boards, or small bundles of rushes, fasten'd under their stomachs, which is a good diversion to the spectators." James Alexander provided an account of surfing in Accra , Ghana in 1834 CE: "From the beach, meanwhile, might be seen boys swimming into

9880-463: The western Maghreb) is composed of semi-arid terrain known as Sahel , a transitional zone between the Sahara and the West Sudanian savanna . Forests form a belt between the savannas and the southern coast, ranging from 160 km to 240 km in width. The northwest African region of Mauritania periodically suffers country-wide plagues of locusts which consume water, salt and crops on which

9984-545: The western Sahel, and increases more likely in the central to east Sahel, although opposite trends cannot yet be ruled out. These trends will affect the frequency and severity of floods, droughts, desertification , sand and dust storms, desert locust plagues and water shortages. However, irrespective of the changes in seasonal mean rain, the most intense storms are expected to become more intense, amplifying flood frequency. Enhanced carbon emissions and global warming may also lead to an increase in dry spells especially across

10088-756: The years 5210-4910 BCE and they are the oldest known boats in Northern Europe . In Scandinavia, later models increased freeboard (and seaworthiness) by lashing additional boards to the side of the dugout. Eventually, the dugout portion was reduced to a solid keel , and the lashed boards on the sides became a lapstrake hull. In the United Kingdom , two log boats were discovered in Newport, Shropshire , and are now on display at Harper Adams University Newport. The Iron Age residents of Great Britain , were known to have used longboats for fishing and basic trade. In 1964,

10192-526: Was 3940 +/- 25 BP. The boat has holes suggesting that it had an outrigger or was joined to another boat. In 2012, at Parc Glyndwr , Monmouth , Monmouthshire, Wales, UK, an excavation by the Monmouth Archeological Society, revealed three ditches suggesting a Neolithic dugout trimaran of similar length to the Lurgan log boat, carbon dated to 3700+/-35 BP. De Administrando Imperio details how

10296-582: Was 40-foot (12 m) long, made of Douglas fir , and weighed 3.5-short-ton (3.2 t). The mission was launched to add credibility to stories that the Haida had travelled to Hawaiʻi in ancient times. Altogether, the group ventured some 7,242 kilometres (4,500 mi) after two months at sea. The Pacific Ocean has been the nursery for many different forms of dugout sailing craft. They differ in their sail plan (i.e., crab-claw or half-crab-claw, Latin, or triangular), hull formats (single, double, catamaran or proa),

10400-507: Was a Yoruba empire of what is today Western, North Central Nigeria and Southern Republic of Benin . Established in the 14th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the outstanding organizational skills of the Yoruba, wealth gained from trade and its powerful cavalry . The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the region from

10504-553: Was another pre-historic boat at the same location, but it was buried in situ . In Northern Europe , the tradition of making dugout canoes survived into the 20th and 21st centuries in Estonia , where seasonal floods in Soomaa , a 390 square kilometers (150 sq mi) wilderness area, make conventional means of transportation impossible. In recent decades, a new surge of interest in crafting dugouts ( Estonian haabjas ) has revitalized

10608-750: Was found by archaeologists in Kuahuqiao , Zhejiang Province , in east China. This is the earliest canoe found in Asia. The Moken, an ethnic group that lives in Myanmar's Mergui Archipelago and the north of Thailand as sea nomads, still builds and uses dugout canoes. According to the Moken's accounts of their people's origin, a mythical queen punished the forbidden love of their ancestral forefather for his sister-in-law by banishing him and his descendants to life on sea in dugout canoes with indentations fore and aft ("a mouth that eats and

10712-441: Was left of the local wildlife, but by that time, it was too late. During the 1930s, the elephant population in the Gold Coast was about 300, and Sierra Leone between 500 and 600. Although a small number of elephants survived in Nigeria, hunting, agricultural expansion and clearing of forest in that country drastically affected its wildlife population, particularly elephants. Despite the historical damage that has been done to

10816-604: Was then succeeded by the Ghana Empire that first flourished roughly between the 2nd and 12th centuries C.E., which later gave way to the Mali Empire . In current-day Mauritania, there exist archaeological sites in the towns of Tichit and Oualata that were initially constructed around 2000 B.C., and were found to have originated from the Soninke branch of the Mandé peoples . Also, based on

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