IRON-ORE

AND

STATE-FORMATION
I N E A R LY W E S T - A F R I C A

MORE THAN 5000 YEARS AGO, HOWEVER, THE RESULTING ALLOY,

THE EGYPTIANS,
had discovered the ornamental qualities of
copper and gold in the creating of jewels as well
as their smelting capacities for making cooking
pots.
COPPER AND GOLD BRONZE,
were too soft for use in hunting, warfare or tilling the
soil. Further research on this weakness led Egyptian
and Asian metal workers to discover an alloy by
mixing copper and tin.
was found to be harder than copper.
However, the weakness of Bronze was that the
raw minerals required for its fabrication were
RARE METALS.

O N L Y K I N G S A N D F A M O U S WA R R I O R S C O U L D E A S I L Y A F F O R D
BRONZE WEAPONS AND GOLD JEWELRY

BUT WERE EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE

FOR THE
common people
As time evolved around 1500 BC, a group of Asian
people living in the region that is called the country of
Turkey today, developed a technique for smelting iron
by subjecting Ore to higher temperatures than
required for gold, copper or tin.

THESE ASIANS WERE THE HITTITES

A N D T H E I R D I S C OV E RY B O R E I M M E N S E VA LU E F O R T H E P E O P L E L I V I N G I N T H E
D E N S E LY F O R E S T E D R E G I O N S O F W E S T - A F R I C A

FIRSTLY, IRON WAS AS PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD HOW TO AS THE ANCIENT WORLD ENTERED ITS

PLENTIFUL SMELT IRON IRON-AGE

unlike the rare metals which bore heavy disadvantages many useful products such as tools and weapons would around this time, Iron became a commonly used
for the use of Bronze. Secondly, Iron was not an end, be fabricated by many different people at many entity in the countries of the Nile valley, along the
but a means to several ends in its production. different places within the region of west-Africa. coast of North Africa and Ethiopia soon after 600BC.

T H E PE O P L E O F W E S T - A F R I C A C AU G H T U P A L I T T L E L AT E R
A RO U N D L I K E LY D AT E S B E T W E E N 3 0 0 A N D 2 0 0 B C
A N D B E G A N S M E LT I N G I R O N O R E F O R M A K I N G I R O N T O O L S A N D S P E A R S .

A SIGNIFICANT EVIDENCE
F O R W E S T- A F R I C A N ’ S I R O N - A G E
WA S F O U N D I N
CENTRAL NIGERIA
IN THE

VILLAGE OF NOK

THE PEOPLE LIVING IN THIS REGION

BEGAN USING IRON MORE THAN 2000 YEARS AGO.

scientists showed how people who lived in the region

of the joining of the Niger and Benue rivers began
using Iron more than 2000 years ago. The scientists
demonstrated this evidence by showing that the people
living in this region left behind some skillfully modeled
art specimens in terracotta (baked clay) in the village of
Nok where some of these artifacts were first discovered.
This culture may have marked the beginning of
West-Africa’s Iron age and the name given to this form
of living undergirded and influenced by developments
in Iron ore was called the Nok Culture.

T H E D I S C O V E R Y O F I R O N WA S R E V O L U T I O N A R Y
I N W E S T - A F R I C A A N D P RO L I F E R AT E D T H E P RO D U C T I O N
OF IMPROVED TOOLS AND WEAPONS.

IRON-POINTED SPEARS PROVED EFFECTIVE FOR THESE INNOVATIONS RESULTED IN WEST-AFRICANS NOW PENETRATED DEEPER

HUNTING MORE FOOD FORESTS

as compared with sharpened sticks or stones.
Iron-headed hoes further proved exceptional at
performing the same tasks which their stone or
wooden-headed versions achieved. Even further,
iron-headed axes fell trees faster and effectively than
stone axes.
Consequently, more food meant improved living
standards and increasing population. Increasing
population figures meant increasing need for living
space on land, which further led to increased
production of tools for more land clearing.
such as the Congo basin, albeit extreme exposure to
wild dangerous animals and dangers. Nonetheless,
they were able to expose new trails as the newly
discovered weapons made for swifter,
efficient defense against attacks from wild animals,
thus they were guaranteed better safety.

B U T, T H E U S E O F I R O N A S A M I L I TA R Y W E A P O N

HEIGHTENED DOMINATION
OF NEIGHBOURS
BY GROUPS
WHO FIRST MASTERED
I T S P R O D U C T I O N

PEOPLE-GROUPS WHICH COULD CONCEAL THE THE RISE OF COMPLEX FORMS OF THE ESTABLISHED STATES VARIED IN LEVELS OF

KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION COMPLEXITY

of iron and its application to themselves were able to
dominate and rule weaker peoples for quite a long
stretch of time. The inevitable result of having a higher
number of dominated peoples under the power of
dominant groups led to an intense search for new ways
of political organization to keep law and order within
these spaces.
sprang up, and with the growth of trade came the
formation of states. Trade, which became a
sophisticated system of exchange both within the
region of West-Africa and between west and North
Africa heightened the necessity for efficient behavior
among neighbors. This need eventually morphed into
the desire for organized governments and states.
and structures as some gave rise to chiefs
and kings with designated executive authority. These
marked early trappings of evidence of governments
with strong central governments in West-Africa. Some
were highly complex at their embryonic stages while
others became complex in their evolution. Some others
saw no need for Kings or chiefs.

PEOPLE- GROUPS LOCATED ON THE MAIN TRAILS OF THE

ESTABLISHED COMPLEX CHAINS OF TRADE
FOUND THAT THEY COULD FUNCTION
EFFECTIVELY BY FORMING SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT
WITH A CENTRAL KING OR GOVERNMENT.

THUS, THE DISCOVERY OF IRON EXPANDED

SPACES OF DOMINATION WHICH EXPANDED TRADE

T R A D E E V E N T UA L LY I N F LU E N C E D T H E F O R M AT I O N O F

EARLY WEST-AFRICAN STATES.