For millennia, Africa’s economy has been diverse, driven by extensive trade routes that developed between cities and kingdoms. Some trade routes were overland, some involved navigating rivers, still others developed around port cities. Large African empires became wealthy due to their trade networks, for example Ancient Egypt, Nubia, Mali, Ashanti, the Oyo Empire and Ancient Carthage. Some parts of Africa had close trade relationships with Arab kingdoms, and by the time of the Ottoman Empire, Africans had begun converting to Islam in large numbers. This development, along with the economic potential in finding a trade route to the Indian Ocean, brought the Portuguese to sub-Saharan Africa as an imperial force. Colonial interests created new industries to feed European appetites for goods such as palm oil, rubber, cotton, precious metals, spices, cash crops other goods, and integrated especially the coastal areas with the Atlantic economy.[25]
A significant factor on economic development was the gain of human capital by the elite. Between the 14th and 20th century, it can be observed that in regions with more elite violence and hence higher chances to die at a younger age the elite did not invest much in education. Therefore, their numeracy (as a measure of human capital) tends to be lower than in less safe countries and vice versa. This can explain the difference in economic development between the African regions.[26]•
