West Africa’s historic ties of trade and Islam with the Arabian Peninsula date back to the 7th and 8th Centuries CE. On independence from colonial rule several African countries turned to the Arab world for official development assistance (ODA). The period from the 1990s has seen Gulf businesses making important financial investments in West African real estate and telecommunications. The Gulf has become an important source of consumer and capital goods for West Africa, as well as a buyer of African exports like coffee, cocoa, and timber. African professionals work in the Gulf, though Asians remain dominant in the Gulf labor force.African and African American StudiesHistor
