A vast forest–savanna world stretching from Senegal to the Congo Basin. Rivers dominate everything: Niger, Volta, Congo, and innumerable tributaries that serve as the region’s roads. Dense forests isolate groups, while open savannas allow larger polities to form. This landscape generates decentralized but culturally rich societies—trade-linked, linguistically diverse, and shaped by the rhythms of rainfall and river navigation. Civilization here grows horizontally, not vertically.
