The Iron Age in West Africa started around 500 BC and prevailed among the Nok culture of Nigeria, while the Iron age in South Africa commenced around 500 AD. Why are they
![Iron Age Africa - Africa in the Iron Age: c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1400. By Roland Oliver and Brian M. Fagan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. Pp. xi+228 and 64 figures. £ Iron Age Africa - Africa in the Iron Age: c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1400. By Roland Oliver and Brian M. Fagan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. Pp. xi+228 and 64 figures. £](https://static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0021853700015115/resource/name/firstPage-S0021853700015115a.jpg)
Iron Age Africa - Africa in the Iron Age: c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1400. By Roland Oliver and Brian M. Fagan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. Pp. xi+228 and 64 figures. £
![File:Iron Age Protohistoric artefacts from Northeastern Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1764315079).jpg - Wikimedia Commons File:Iron Age Protohistoric artefacts from Northeastern Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1764315079).jpg - Wikimedia Commons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Iron_Age_Protohistoric_artefacts_from_Northeastern_Sierra_Leone_%28West_Africa%29_%281764315079%29.jpg)