By 1500, the Portuguese had landed on this coast and found very powerful and wealth states, with whom they started trading. The West Africans traded pepper, gold, ivory, and slaves in return for glass beads, cloth, and eventually weapons.
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| Kingdoms and State South of the Sudan | ||||||||
| The states of Benin and Yoruba were organized in a different way from the Sudanic empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Benin and Yoruba consisted of a loose confederation of city-states, with only one of the city-states becoming powerful enough to control the others. Trade was a major factor in their rise and power. In fact, the people within these states were intermediaries in the north-to-south trade system. The kings of both states strengthened their power and control by reducing the power of the nobility and instead creating "town-chiefs" loyal to the king and under his king. The appointment of these "town-chiefs" was based on their wealth achieved by farming, trade, and warfare, rather than through hereditary rights. Both Benin and Yoruba states were based on a hierarchy of chiefs rather that the one ruler. The monarch, however, was the absolute and most powerful ruler at the top of the pyramid. He controlled the affairs of the state, including trade and rituals. The kings of Benin and Yoruba had thus increased the centralization of their governments. By 1500, the Portuguese had landed on this coast and found very powerful and wealth states, with whom they started trading. The West Africans traded pepper, gold, ivory, and slaves in return for glass beads, cloth, and eventually weapons. |
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