How did contact with Europeans affect West Africa socially, politically, and economically? I know about how the slave trade did it, but I want...

Contact with the
Europeans did affect West African societies in other ways. The European traders brought new
diseases to West Africa, for example. Smallpox and tuberculosis had a devastating impact on the
populations of West Africa. Similarly, the European traders were so afraid of African disease
that they did not venture far beyond the West African coast, thereby limiting the geographical
remit of slave trading.

Depopulation was not only caused by the arrival of
new diseases. As the reference link notes, two-thirds of the people captured and sold into
slavery were male. The loss of so many young males would have had wider consequences on the
African economy and society.

In addition, the economic character of many
West African coastal towns and villages changed. Where they had once between centers of fishing
and the production of salt, the growth of slavery transformed these towns and villages into
centers of slave trading. They became bustling ports and harbors in response to the...

href="https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/riches-misery-the-consequences-the-atlantic-slave-trade">https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/r...