12 CHAPTER ONE inadequate rainfall;indeed,contrary to the popular imagination,only 8 percent of the continent has a tropical climate.Approximately one-third of the world's arid land is in Africa. In Africa,two other factors have aggravated the cost of extending power in the face of low population densities.First,African countries have quite varied environmental conditions.Ecological differences across provinces of a country in West Africa,which can be coastal,forest,savan- nah,or near-desert,are greater than in any European country.s Therefore, the models of control an African state must develop for these highly differentiated zones are more varied,and thus more costly,than what a government in Europe or Asia must implement in order to rule over their more homogenous rural areas.Second,it is expensive to project power over distance in Africa because of the combination of a peculiar set of geographical features.As Ralph Austen notes, The geography of Africa also presents serious barriers to long-distance trans- port.Water travel is limited by the small amount of indented shoreline relative to the size of the interior surface of the continent,as well as the disrupted navigability of most rivers,due to rapids and seasonal shallows.The wheel was introduced into northern Africa for overland travel during ancient times but then abandoned because the terrain and distances to be covered could not feasibly be provided with the necessary roads." The daunting nature of Africa's geography is one of the reasons the re- gion was only colonized in the late 1800s despite its proximity to Eu- rope.The Europeans found it easier to colonize Latin America hundreds of years before despite the much greater distances involved. Why the particular pattern of population density occurred,given Af- rica's geography,is not within my competence to explain.?Rather,this book examines how successive sets of leaders in Africa responded to a political geography they were forced to take as a given.This is not an argument for the kind of gcographical determinism that has captivated scholars from Ibn Khaldun to Montesquicu to Jeffrey Sachs.3 A variety of paths were open to African leaders as they confronted their environ- W.Bediako Lamouse-Smith and Joseph School,Africa Interactive Maps,CD-ROM, (Odenton,Md.:Africa Interactive Maps,1998). s W.Arthur Lewis,Politics in West Africa (London:George Allen and Unwin,1965),p. 24. Ralph Austen,African Economic History (London:James Currey,1987),p.20. For a provocative thesis,see Jared Diamond,Guns Germs and Steel:The Fate of Hu- man Societies (New York:W.W.Norton,1997),chapter 19. See Ibn Khaldun,The Mugaddimab,trans.Franz Rosenthal (London:Routledge and Kegan Paul,1967),p.63;Montesquicu,The Spirit of the Laws,vol.I (Cincinnati:Robert Clarke,1873),p.255;and Jeffrey Sachs,"Nature,Nurture,and Growth,"The Economist, 14Junc1997,Pp.19-23.12 CHAPTER ONE inadequate rainfall; indeed, contrary to the popular imagination, only 8 percent of the continent has a tropical climate. Approximately one-third of the world’s arid land is in Africa.4 In Africa, two other factors have aggravated the cost of extending power in the face of low population densities. First, African countries have quite varied environmental conditions. Ecological differences across provinces of a country in West Africa, which can be coastal, forest, savan￾nah, or near-desert, are greater than in any European country. 5 Therefore, the models of control an African state must develop for these highly differentiated zones are more varied, and thus more costly, than what a government in Europe or Asia must implement in order to rule over their more homogenous rural areas. Second, it is expensive to project power over distance in Africa because of the combination of a peculiar set of geographical features. As Ralph Austen notes, The geography of Africa also presents serious barriers to long-distance trans￾port. Water travel is limited by the small amount of indented shoreline relative to the size of the interior surface of the continent, as well as the disrupted navigability of most rivers, due to rapids and seasonal shallows. The wheel was introduced into northern Africa for overland travel during ancient times but then abandoned because the terrain and distances to be covered could not feasibly be provided with the necessary roads.6 The daunting nature of Africa’s geography is one of the reasons the re￾gion was only colonized in the late 1800s despite its proximity to Eu￾rope. The Europeans found it easier to colonize Latin America hundreds of years before despite the much greater distances involved. Why the particular pattern of population density occurred, given Af￾rica’s geography, is not within my competence to explain.7 Rather, this book examines how successive sets of leaders in Africa responded to a political geography they were forced to take as a given. This is not an argument for the kind of geographical determinism that has captivated scholars from Ibn Khaldun to Montesquieu to Jef ˆ frey Sachs.8 A variety of paths were open to African leaders as they confronted their environ- 4 W. Bediako Lamouse-Smith and Joseph School, ´ Africa Interactive Maps, CD-ROM, (Odenton, Md.: Africa Interactive Maps, 1998). 5 W. Arthur Lewis, Politics in West Africa (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1965), p. 24.6 Ralph Austen, African Economic History (London: James Currey, 1987), p. 20. 7 For a provocative thesis, see Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Hu￾man Societies (New York: W. W. Norton, 1997), chapter 19. 8 See Ibn Khaldun, ˆ The Muqaddimah, trans. Franz Rosenthal (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967), p. 63; Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, vol. 1 (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke, 1873), p. 255; and Jeffrey Sachs, “Nature, Nurture, and Growth,” The Economist, 14 June 1997, pp. 19–23