What religion spread north Africa to West Africa?
Islam
Following the conquest of North Africa by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century CE, Islam spread throughout West Africa via merchants, traders, scholars, and missionaries, that is largely through peaceful means whereby African rulers either tolerated the religion or converted to it themselves.
How did Islam spread to Africa?
According to Arab oral tradition, Islam first came to Africa with Muslim refugees fleeing persecution in the Arab peninsula. Islam came to root along the East African coast some time in the 8th century, as part of a continuing dialogue between the people on the East coast and traders from the Persian Gulf and Oman.
What regions did West Africa trade with?
Goods from Western and Central Africa were traded across trade routes to faraway places like Europe, the Middle East, and India. What did they trade? The main items traded were gold and salt. The gold mines of West Africa provided great wealth to West African Empires such as Ghana and Mali.
Which is the northern part of Western Africa?
The northern portion of western Africa is composed of a broad band of semiarid terrain, called the western Sudan, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to the area of Lake Chad on the east, a distance of about 2,500 miles (4,000 km).
What are the countries that make up West Africa?
The term West Africa is also often used to refer to this part of the continent. As conventionally understood, however, West Africa is primarily a political and economic designation and comprises all the areas considered here except Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and the Saharan parts of Mali, Mauritania, and Niger.
What is the name of the desert in West Africa?
Saharan Region. The Sahara, or Saharan Region, stretches across the whole northern extent of West Africa, formed by the Sahara Desert. It consists of a variety of arid landscapes varying from sandy sheets and dune fields to gravel plains, low plateaus, and rugged mountains.
What kind of people live in western Africa?
Africa: Western Africa. Western Africa contains a remarkable diversity of ethnic groups. It can be divided into two zones, the Sudanic savanna and the Guinea Coast. The savanna area stretches for some 3,000 miles (4,800 km) east to west along the southern Saharan borderland.