There is clear evidence that trade routes continued to be used even after the Sahara became a desert.

Scholars also have found that, shortly after the Iron Age reached North Africa, iron tools began to appear throughout the entire continent, and, within few centuries, iron production was being carried on at a number of different locations.

At about the same time, sailors from the far East brought the yam and the banana to the shores of Africa.

These fruits spread rapidly from the east coast across most of the continent, becoming basic staples in the African diet.

New tools and new crops rapidly expanded the food supply and thereby provided a better way of life.
West African Empires Although West Africa had been inhabited since the earliest times, about two thousand years ago several events occurred which injected new vigor into the area.