Conclusion
In spite of the relative paucity of data, environmental and human responses to climatic events in the region considered can be deciphered. During the dry phases there was a relative reduction in the extent of the rainforest and its edaphic variety, coupled with an expansion of open forests or woodland/grassy savannas. Conversely, in the wet periods, there was a recovery of the forest vegetation at the expense of the savannas.
Reduction in the spatial extent of the forest created conditions which enhanced the remarkable spread of the oil palm, based on palynological evidence. Of particular significance is the pattern of occurrence of oil palm pollen, which strongly suggests that humans contributed to the expansion and spread of this economically important tree.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Caratini, C., and Giresse, T. M. (1979). Contribution palynologique à la connaissance des environnements continentaux et marins du Congo à la fin quaternaire. Comptes Rendus à l’Academie des Sciences de Paris 288: 379–382.
Dechamps, R., Guillet, B., and Schwartz, D. (1988). Découverte d’une flore forestière mid-Holocène (5800−3100 B.P.) conservée in situ sur le littoral ponténégrin (R.P. du Congo). Comptes Rendus à l’Academie des Sciences de Paris 306: 615–618.
Einsele, G., Herms, D., and Schwartz, U. (1977). Variation du niveau de la mer sur la plate-forme continental et la côte Mauritanienne vers la fin de la glaciation de Wurm et a l’ Holocene. Bulletin de l’Association Sénégalese pour l’Etude du Quartenaire de l’Quest Afrique Dakar 51: 35–48.
Elenga, H., Schwartz, D., and Vincens, A. (1992). Changement climatiques et action anthropique sur le littoral congolais au cours de l’ Holocène. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 163(1): 83–90.
Elenga, H., Schwartz, D., and Vincens, A. (1994). Pollen evidence of late Quaternary vegetation and inferred climate changes in Congo. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 109: 345–356.
Elenga, H., Schwartz, D., Vincens, A., Bertaux, J., de Namur, C., Martin, L., Wirrmann, D., and Servant, M. (1996). Diagramme pollinique holocène du lac Kitina (Congo): mise en évidence de changements paléobotaniques et paléoclimatiques dans le massif forestier du Mayombe. Comptes Rendus à l’Academie des Sciences de Paris Séries IIa 323: 403–410.
Flight, C. (1976). The Kintampo culture and its place in the economic prehistory of West Africa. In Harlan J.R., de Wet, J.M.J., and Stemler, A.B.L. (eds.), Origins of African Plant Domestication, Mouton, The Hague, pp. 211–221.
Hartley, C.W.S. (1977). The Oil Palm, Tropical agriculture series, 2nd edition, Longman, London, New York.
Kadomura, H., and Kiyonaga, J. (1994). Origin of Grassfields landscape in the west Cameroon highlands. In Kadomura, H. (ed.), Savannization Process in Tropical Africa II, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, pp. 47–85.
Maley, J. (1996). The African rain forest-main characteristics of changes in vegetation and climate from the Upper Cretaceous to the Quaternary. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 104B: 31–73.
Maley, J., and Brenac (1998). Vegetation dynamics, palaeoenvironments and climatic changes in the forests of western Cameroon during the last 28,000 years B.P. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 99: 157–187.
Oyelaran, A. (1997). Man-induced changes in the vegetation and the effects on the hydrological input of a catchment area-a study of Osaru pond in Iffe-Ijumu, Kogi State, Nigeria. [unpublished research paper]
Pastouret, L., Chamley, H., Delibrias, G., Duplessy, J. C., and Thiede, J. (1979). Late Quaternary climatic changes in Western Tropical Africa deduced from deep-sea sedimentation off Niger Delta. Oceanologica Acta 1(2): 217–232.
Reynaud-Farrera, I., Maley, J., and Wirrmann, D. (1996). Végétation et climat dans les fôrets du sud-ouest Cameourn depuis 4770 ans BP: analyse pollinique des sédiments du lac Ossa. Comptes Rendus à l’Academie des Sciences de Paris Series II 322: 749–755.
Richards, K. (1986). Preliminary results of pollen analysis of a 6,000 year core from Mboandong, a crater lake in Cameroon. Hull University Geography Department Miscellaneous Series 32: 14–28.
Schwartz, D. (1992). Assèchement climatique vers 3000 B.P. et expansion Bantu en Afrique centrale atlantique: queleues reflexions. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 163(3): 353–361.
Sowunmi, M.A. (1981a). Nigerian vegetational history from the late Quaternary to the present day. Palaeoecology of Africa 13: 217–234.
Sowunmi, M.A. (1981b). Aspects of late Quaternary vegetational changes in West Africa. Journal of Biogeography 8: 457–474.
Sowunmi, M.A. (1981c). The late Quaternary environmental changes in Nigeria. Pollen et Spores 23(1): 125–148.
Sowunmi, M.A. (1985). The beginnings of agriculture in West Africa: botanical evidence. Current Anthropology 26(1): 127–129.
Sowunmi, M.A. (1999) The significance of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) in the late Holocene environments of west and west central Africa: a further consideration. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 3: 365–374.
Stahl, A.B. (1985). Reinvestigation of Kintampo 6 rock shelter, Ghana: implications for the nature of culture change. African Archaeological Review 3: 117–150.
Stahl, A.B. (1993). Intensification in the west African Late Stone Age. In Shaw T., Sinclair P., Andah, B., and Okpoko, A. (eds.), The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns. Routledge, London, New York, pp. 261–273.
Talbot, M.R. (1981). Holocene changes in tropical wind intensity and rainfall: evidence from Southeast Ghana. Quaternary Research 16: 201–220.
Talbot, M.R., Livingstone, D.A., Palmer, G., Maley, J., Melack, J.M., Delibrias, G., and Gulliksen, S. (1984). Preliminary results from sediment cores from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. Palaeoecology of Africa 16: 173–192.
Thomas, M. F. (1994). Geomorphology in the Tropics: A Study of Weathering and Denudation in Law Latitudes, Wiley, Chichester.
Vincens, A., Guillaume, B., Elenga, H., Foumier, M., Martin, L., Namur, C. de, Schwartz, D., Servant, M., and Wirrmann, D. (1994). Changement majeur de la végétation du lac Sinnda (vallée du Niari, Sud-Congo) consécutif à assèchement climatique holocène supérieur: apport de la palynologie. Comptes Rendus à l’Academie des Sciences de Paris Series II 318: 1521–1526.
Vincens, A., Schwartz, D., Bertaux, J., Elenga, H., and Namur, C. de (1998) Late Holocene climatic changes in western equatorial Africa inferred from pollen from Lake Sinnda, south Congo. Quaternary Research 50: 34–45.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sowunmi, M.A. (2002). Environmental and Human Responses to Climatic Events in West and West Central Africa During the Late Holocene. In: Hassan, F.A. (eds) Droughts, Food and Culture. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47547-2_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47547-2_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-306-46755-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-306-47547-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive