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That's not totally true. There were some large cities already in West Africa pre-colonial period. Look up Ile-Ife and Benin in present day Nigeria. There was also Nok, Timbuktu and Sokoto, all with mud-brick structures and stone paved roads.

Thank you for pointing that out, I must have generalized the whole thing.

I want to visit Benin, heard it's really nice!

I see, where are you based?

Port Harcourt, Rivers State/Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

I left a comment on your other post about transportation in West Africa.

That's a beautiful part of the world @tudors I've seen some photos of Akwa Ibom and it looks amazing!