This textbook provides students with a comprehensive and engaging narrative of the history of West Africa from the earliest times to the present. Based on several decades of research and teaching on Africa, the book exposes students and readers to a more balanced history of West Africa. The content follows historical transformations in the region from the early history of animal and plant domestication to the creation and dispersal of various cultures. Adopting the vision of history as a record of significant events enacted in the past by human beings as members of societies, the book presents activities, challenges, and successes of West African peoples as they settled and lived their lives, interacted with each other and with the outside world, and transformed their environments. The key benefits of this text are: Chapters are organized around particular events and themes, and arranged to help students make connections between the topics. Guides to Resources and Further reading provide help for students and tips to faculty for supplementing their lessons. Primary sources, definitions of terms and glossary of non-English terms, and short biographical sketches are provided in textbooks throughout the text. A history of West Africa is essential reading for courses on West African History and African History more generally