History of West Africa more states. Early human settlers arrived in West Africa around 12,000 BCE. In the fifth millennium, as the ancestors of modern West Africans began entering the area, the development of sedentary farming began to take place in West Africa. The Iron industry, in both smelting and forging for tools and weapons, appeared in Sub-Saharan Africa by 1200 BCE, and by 400 BCE, contact had been made with the Mediterranean civilizations, and a regular trade included exporting gold, cotton, metal, and leather in exchange for copper, horses, salt, textiles, and beads. Culture developed further with the Nok culture (1000 BCE to
Geography of Nigeria West Africa comes directly under the sun at this time. The sun is overhead throughout west Africa and over Nigeria during this period of the sun's northward migration to the tropic of cancer in the northern hemisphere. The whole of West Africa is heated intensely as result of the increased insolation received from the sun being overhead over west Africa. Temperatures can climb as high as over west Africa during this time. Temperatures in the northern part of Nigeria can go as high as in cities like Maiduguri. The high temperatures coupled with an increase in insolation causes a region