West African crocodile 2011–2015. Despite the long history of confusion, genetic testing has revealed that the two are not particularly close. The closest relatives of the Nile crocodile are the "Crocodylus" species from the Americas, while the West African crocodile is basal to the clade of Nile and American crocodiles. The West African crocodile inhabits much of West and Central Africa, ranging east to South Sudan and Uganda, and south to Democratic Republic of the Congo (in all three countries it may come into contact with Nile crocodiles). Other countries where found include Mauritania, Benin, Liberia, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic,
History of the Central African Republic of Meroë, the capital of the Kingdom of Kush. During the Bantu Migrations from about 1000 BC to AD 1000, Ubangian-speaking people spread eastward from Cameroon to Sudan, Bantu-speaking people settled in the southwestern regions of the CAR, and Central Sudanic-speaking people settled along the Ubangi River in what is today Central and East CAR. Production of copper, salt, dried fish, and textiles dominated the economic trade in the Central African region. The territory of modern Central African Republic is known to have been settled from at least the 7th century on by overlapping empires, including the Kanem-Bornu, Ouaddai, Baguirmi,