Population Distribution. In the Western Sudan— with grasslands, savanna, and relatively limited agricultural areas unevenly distributed throughout the region—human migration and shifting populations were a constant part of the geopolitics and history. People migrated to take advantage of more-favorable land resources, to gain access to reliable fresh water, and to escape encroachments by the Sahara. They also migrated for religious purposes and to avoid warfare. Migrations affected the ability of land resources to support populations, shifted military advantages, changed the locations of staging posts for trade routes, and created reliable and unreliable patterns of settlements for state formation. Four migratory peoples who strongly influenced development in the region are the Berbers, the Fulani, the Mande, and the Zhagawa and Kanuri.

The Berbers. The Berbers had learned to survive in the Sahara even before the introduction of the camel around the first century B...