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| | | | West Africa |
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| 1466 |
| | | The Portuguese settlers on the Cape Verde islands are granted a monopoly on the new slave trade | |
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| c. 1480 |
| | | An increase in trade through the central Sahara benefits the Songhay, with their capital at Gao, at the expense of Mali | |
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| 1492 |
| | | A French privateer off the west coast of Ghana is the first to plunder a Portuguese vessel carrying home African gold | |
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| c. 1500 |
| | | The people of Benin begin a lasting tradition of sculpture in brass, melted down from objects brought by traders | |
|  | Nigerian Bronze Head, 16th century
British Museum
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| c. 1550 |
| | | Africans, bought in the Portuguese trading posts of west Africa, are shipped across the Atlantic as slaves | |
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| c. 1570 |
| | | The Ashanti establish a powerful kingdom in present-day Ghana, with their capital at Kumasi | |
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| c. 1600 |
| | | The Yoruba develop an extensive empire centred on Oyo in southern Nigeria | |
|  | Beaded crown of a Yoruba ruler
Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
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| c. 1625 |
| | | Three brothers among the Dahomey people establish a long-lasting kingdom in the Bight of Benin | |
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| 1638 |
| | | The French build a trading station on the estuary of the Senegal river in west Africa | |
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| 1661 |
| | | The British establish Fort James on an island in the Gambia river | |
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