text: It is doubtful that the well-known kingdoms of the West African Coast have had a very long history. The states of Ashanti, of Dahomey, of the Yoruba, or of Benin, to mention a few of the betterknown political groupings, may well have been the result of European contact with Africa. According to historical evidence it is likely that none of these states existed before the end of the fifteenth century and that they began to command political respect and prestige only during the eighteenth century. It was at the end of the fourteenth century that European traders first came in contact with the West coast, and at that time the coastal lowlands, which for climatic reasons had been uninviting even to Africans, suddenly became a source of wealth for the native population and thus attractive to the tribes of the hinterland, who attempted to extend their influence to reach the European trading posts. This struggle for the control of the European markets determined a great deal of the political strife in the area. Smaller tribal states fell victim to the aggression of larger ones, and these, developing monopolies in the trade between coast and hinterland, increased their political power. Aside from the fact that many of the West Coast states had similar origins, few likenesses existed between them. Here the unifying bond of Islam was absent