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The partial history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods:

1. Its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, agriculture developed, and contact made with the Mediterranean civilizations to the north.
2. The Iron Age empires that consolidated trade and developed centralized states.
3. The slave-trading kingdoms, jihads, and colonial invaders of the 18th and 19th centuries.
4. The colonial period, in which France and Great Britain controlled nearly the whole of the region.
5. The post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed.

Prehistory[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Archaeological studies have found that early human settlers had arrived in West Africa around 12,000 BCE. Microlithic stone industries have been found primarily in the region of the Savannah where pastoral tribes existed using chiseled stone blades and spears. The tribesmen of Guinea and the forested regions of the coast were without microliths for thousands of years, but prospered using bone tools and other means. In the fifth millennium, as the ancestors of modern West Africans began entering the area, the development of sedentary farming began to take place in West Africa, with evidences of domesticated cattle having been found for this period, along with limited cereal crops. Around 3000 BCE, a major change began to take place in West African society, with microliths becoming more common in the Sahel region, with the invention of primitive harpoons and fish-hooks.

Ancient West Africa included the Sahara, as the Sahara only became a desert in around 3000 BCE.

A major migration of Sahel cattle farmers took place in the third millennium BCE, and the pastoralists encountered the developed hunter-gatherers of the Guinea region. Flint was considerably more available there and made the use of microliths in hunting far easier. The migration of the Sahel farmers was likely caused by the final desiccation of the Sahara desert in this millennium, which contributed greatly to West Africa's isolation from cultural and technological phenomena in Europe and the Mediterranean Coast of Africa.

Iron industry, in both smelting and forging for tools and weapons, appeared in Sub-Saharan Africa by 1200 BCE.^[1] The increased use of iron and the spread of ironworking technology led to improved weaponry and enabled farmers to expand agricultural productivity and produce surplus crops, which together supported the growth of urban city-states into empires.

By 400 BCE, contact had been made with the Mediterranean civilizations, including that of Carthage, and a regular trade in gold being conducted with the Sahara Berbers, as noted by Herodotus. The trade was fairly small until the camel was introduced, with Mediterranean goods being found in pits as far south as Northern Nigeria. A profitable trade had developed by which West Africans exported gold, cotton cloth, metal ornaments, and leather goods north across the trans-Saharan trade routes, in exchange for copper, horses, salt, textiles, and beads. Later, ivory, slaves, and kola nuts were added to the trade.

Empires[link]

The development of the region's economy allowed more centralized states to form, one of the first being the Ghana Empire. The empire was founded in the 8th century by Soninke, a Mandé peoples who lived at the crossroads of this new trade, around the city of Kumbi Saleh. After 800, the empire expanded rapidly, coming to dominate the entire western Sudan; at its height, the empire could field an army of 200,000 soldiers. In the tenth century, however, Islam was steadily growing in the region, and due to various influences, including internal dynastic struggles coupled with competing foreign interests (namely Almoravid intervention) lead to its demise in the late 11th century. West Africa was invaded by many foreign countries.

The Mali Empire c. 1350

The first successor to the Ghana Empire was that of the Sosso, a Takrur people who built their empire on the ruins of the old. Despite initial successes, however, the Sosso king Soumaoro Kanté was defeated by the Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita at the Battle of Kirina in 1240, toppling the Sosso and guaranteeing the supremacy of Sundiata's new Mali Empire.

Under Sundiata's successors, most notably his son Wali Keita (r. c. 1255–1270) and his grand-nephew Kankou Musa I (r. c. 1312–1337), the Mali Empire continued to expand, eventually creating a centralized state including most of West Africa. Trade flourished, while Kankou Musa I founded a university at Timbuktu and instituted a program of free health care and education for Malian citizens with the help of doctors and scholars brought back from his legendary hajj.

The Songhai Empire c. 1500

Kankou Musa's successors, however, weakened the empire significantly, leading the city-state of Gao to make a bid for independence and regional power in the 15th century. Under the leadership of Sunni Ali (r. 1464–1492), the Songhai of Gao formed the Songhai Empire, which would fill the vacuum left by the Mali Empire's collapse. By the end of the century, the Songhai Empire was the dominant force in the region, and through the leadership of Askia Mohammad (c. 1442–1538), underwent a revival in trade, education, and Islamic religion. A civil war over succession greatly weakened the empire, however, leading to a 1591 invasion by Moroccan Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour that sacked Gao and crippled the empire.

Meanwhile, south of the Sudan, strong city states arose in Kingdom of Nri, Ife, Bono, and Benin around the fourth and fifth centuries. Further east, Oyo arose as the dominant Yoruba state and the Aro Confederacy around the 18th and 19th centuries in the far east in modern-day Nigeria.

Jihad and colonization[link]

Following the collapse of the Songhai Empire, a number of smaller states arose across West Africa, including the Bambara Empire of Ségou, the lesser Bambara kingdom of Kaarta, the Fula/Malinké kingdom of Khasso (in present-day Mali's Kayes Region), and the Kénédougou Empire of Sikasso.

1707 map of West Africa, by Guillaume Delisle

European traders first became a force in the region in the 15th century, with the 1445 establishment of a Portuguese trading post at Arguin Island, off the coast of present-day Senegal; by 1475, Portuguese traders had reached as far as the Bight of Benin. The African slave trade began almost immediately after, with the Portuguese taking hundreds of captives back to their country for use as slaves; however, it would not begin on a grand scale until Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas and the subsequent demand for cheap colonial labor. In 1510, the Spanish crown legalized the African slave trade, followed by the English in 1562. By 1650 the slave trade was in full force at a number of sites along the coast of West Africa, and over the coming centuries would result in severely reduced growth for the region's population and economy. The expanding Atlantic slave trade produced significant populations of West Africans living in the New World, recently colonized by Europeans. The oldest known remains of African slaves in the Americas were found in Mexico in early 2006; they are thought to date from the late 16th century and the mid-17th century.^[2]

As the demand for slaves rose, some African rulers sought to supply the demand by constant war against their neighbors, resulting in fresh captives. States such as Dahomey (in modern-day Benin) and the Bambara Empire based much of their economy on the exchange of slaves for European goods, particularly firearms that they then employed to capture more slaves. European and American governments passed legislation prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade in the 19th century, though slavery in the Americas persisted in some capacity through the century in the Americas; the last country to abolish the institution was Brazil in 1888. Descendants of West Africans make up large and important segments of the population in Brazil, the Caribbean, the United States, and throughout the New World.

Sokoto Caliphate, 19th century

In 1725, the cattle-herding Fulanis of Fouta Djallon launched the first major reformist jihad of the region, overthrowing the local animist, Mande-speaking elites and attempting to somewhat democratize their society. A similar movement occurred on a much broader scale in the Hausa city-states of Nigeria under Uthman dan Fodio; an imam influenced by the teachings of Sidi Ahmed al-Tidjani, Uthman preached against the elitist Islam of the then-dominant Qadiriyyah brotherhood, winning a broad base of support amongst the common people. Uthman's Fulani Empire was soon one of the region's largest states, and inspired the later jihads of Massina Empire founder Seku Amadu in present-day Mali, and the cross-Sudan Toucouleur conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall.

At the same time, the Europeans started to travel into the interior of Africa to trade and explore. Mungo Park (1771–1806) made the first serious expedition into the region's interior, tracing the Niger as far as Timbuktu. French armies followed not long after. In the Scramble for Africa in the 1880s the Europeans started to colonize the inland of West Africa, they had previously mostly controlled trading ports along the coasts and rivers. Samory Ture's newly-founded Wassoulou Empire was the last to fall, and with his capture in 1898, military resistance to French colonial rule effectively ended.

Postcolonial West Africa[link]

Following World War II, protests against European rule sprung up across West Africa, most notably in Ghana under the Pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972). Ghana became the first country of sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence in 1957, with others soon to follow. After a decade of protests, riots and clashes, French West Africa voted for autonomy in a 1958 referendum, dividing into the states of today; the British colonies gained autonomy the following decade. In 1973, Guinea-Bissau proclaimed its independence from Portugal, and was internationally recognized following the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal.

Since independence, West Africa has suffered from the same problems as much of the African continent, particularly dictatorships, political corruption and military coups. At the time of his death in 2005, for example, Togo's Étienne Eyadéma was among the world's longest-ruling dictators. Inter-country conflicts have been few, with Mali and Burkina Faso's nearly bloodless Agacher Strip War being a rare exception. The region has, however, seen a number of bloody civil wars, including the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), two civil wars in Liberia in 1989 and 1999, a decade of fighting in Sierra Leone from 1991–2002, a Tuareg Rebellion in Niger and Mali in the early 1990s, and an ongoing conflict in Côte d'Ivoire that began in 2002.

In the 1990s, AIDS became a significant problem for the region, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Nigeria.

Famine has been an occasional but serious problem in northern Mali and Niger, particularly during the Sahel drought of the 1970s and 80s. Niger is currently undergoing another food crisis that could develop into another major famine.

See also[link]

• History of Africa
• History of Benin
• History of Burkina Faso
• History of Côte d'Ivoire
• History of the Gambia
• History of Ghana
• History of Guinea
• History of Guinea-Bissau
• History of Liberia
• History of Mali
• History of Niger
• History of Nigeria
• History of Senegal
• History of Sierra Leone
• History of Songhai
• History of Togo

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Davidson, Basil. Africa in History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. ISBN 0-684-82667-4
• Avelino Teixeira da Mota, Paul E.H. Hair, Jesuit Documents, 1989
• Paul E.H. Hair (Ed.), Francisco de Lemos Coelho, Description of the Coast of Guinea (1684), 1985

External links[link]

• Timeline of Western Sudan

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

  Western Africa (UN subregion)

  Maghreb, a separate region.

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:^[1]

Countries of West Africa[link]

With the exception of Mauritania, all of these countries are members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which was set up in May 1975.^[2] The UN region also includes the island of Saint Helena, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Background[link]

West Africa is west of an imagined north-south axis lying close to 10° east longitude.^[3] The Atlantic Ocean forms the western as well as the southern borders of the West African region.^[4] The northern border is the Sahara Desert, with the Ranishanu Bend generally considered the northernmost part of the region.^[5] The eastern border is less precise, with some placing it at the Benue Trough, and others on a line running from Mount Cameroon to Lake Chad.

Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary West African nations, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more countries.^[6]

The inhabitants of West Africa are, in contrast to most of Southern and Middle Africa, non-Bantu speaking peoples.^[7]

Geography and climate[link]

Dust Plumes off Western Africa.

West Africa, if one includes the western portion of the Maghreb (Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), occupies an area in excess of 6,140,000 km², or approximately one-fifth of Africa. The vast majority of this land is plains lying less than 300 meters above sea level, though isolated high points exist in numerous countries along the southern shore of the region.^[8]

The northern section of West Africa is composed of semi-arid terrain known as Sahel, a transitional zone between the Sahara and the savannahs of the western Sudan forests form a third belt between the savannas and the southern coast, ranging from 160 km to 240 km in width.^[9]

Culture[link]

Despite the wide variety of cultures in West Africa, from Nigeria through to Senegal, there are general similarities in dress, cuisine, music and culture that are not shared extensively with groups outside the geographic region. This long history of cultural exchange predates the colonisation era of the region and can be approximately placed at the time of the Ghana Empire (proper: Wagadou Empire), Mali Empire or perhaps before such empires.

Cuisine[link]

A large number of travellers such as traders, historians, emigrant, colonialists, missionaries, etc., have travelled the world to the West African Region and have benefited from the generosity of the native populations and left with a piece of the cultural heritage of the region. Implicitly, West African cuisines have had a significant influence on the Western World for centuries. For example a large number of West African recipes are enjoyed in the West Indies, Australia, Louisiana, Italy, Haiti, and all over the world. Although some of these recipes have been altered to suit the other climates and tastes, nevertheless they still retain their West African fervours.^[10]

West Africans cuisine includes fish especially among the coastal areas, meat, vegetables and fruits most which are grown by farmers within the region. In spite of the obvious differences among the local cuisines in the region, there are more similarities than differences. The small difference may be in the ingredients used. Most foods are boiled or fried. Starchy vegetables including yam, plantain, cassava, sweet potatoes.^[11] Rice is also a staple food throughout the region, and so is the Serer people's sorghum couscous (called "Chereh" in Serer) particularly in Senegal and The Gambia.^[12] Jolof rice originally from the Kingdom of Jolof (now part of modern day Senegal which spread to the Wolofs of Gambia), is enjoyed throughout West Africa and in the Western World;^[13] Mafé from Mali (Note: Mafé or Maafe is a Wolof word for it, the proper name is "Domodah" among the Mandinka people of Senegal and Gambia who are the originators of this dish or "Tigh-dege-na" among the Bambara people or Mandinka people of Mali, "Domodah" is also used by all Senegambians borrowed from the Mandinka language) - a peanut-butter stew served with rice;^[14][15] Akara (fried bean balls seasoned with spices served with sauce and bread) from Nigeria is a favourite breakfast for Gambians and Senegalese, as well as a favourite side snack or side dish in Brazil and the Caribbean just as it is in West Africa. It is said that its exact origin may be from Yorubaland in Nigeria.^[16][17] Fufu (from the Twi language, a dough served with a spicy stew or sauce for example okra stew etc.) from Ghana is enjoyed throughout the region and beyond even in Central Africa with their own versions of it.^[18]

Recreation[link]

The board game oware is quite popular in many parts of West Africa. The word "Oware" originates from the Akan people of Ghana. However, virtually all African peoples have a version of this board game.^[19] football is also a pastime enjoyed by many, either spectating or playing. The national teams of some West African nations, especially Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast regularly qualify for the World Cup.^[20]

Music[link]

The talking drum is an instrument unique to the West African region.

Mbalax, Highlife, Fuji and Afrobeat are all modern musical genres which listeners enjoy in this region. Old traditional folk music is also well preserved in this region. Some of these are religious in nature such as the "Tassou" tradition used in Serer religion.^[21]

Griot tradition[link]

Traditionally, musical and oral history as conveyed over generations by Griots are typical of West African culture.

Clothing[link]

A typical formal attire worn in this region are the knee to ankle-length flowing Boubou robe, Dashiki and Senegalese Kaftan (also known as Agbada and Babariga), which has its origins in the clothing of nobility of various West African empires in the 12th century.^[22]

Film industry[link]

Nollywood of Nigeria, is the main film industry of West Africa. The Nigerian cinema industry is the second largest film industry in the world in terms of annual film production, even ahead of the United States's Hollywood film industry.^[23] Senegal and Ghana also has long traditions of producing films. The late Ousmane Sembène, the Senegalese film director, producer and writer is from the region, as is the Ghanaian Shirley Frimpong-Manso.

Religion[link]

Islam[link]

The 13th century Great Mosque of Djenné is built in the Sahelian architectural style prevalent in the interior regions of West Africa.

Islam is the predominant religion of the West African interior and the far west coast of the continent.^[24] Traditional Muslim areas include parts of Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Guinea , Niger; the inland areas of Sierra Leone and Liberia; the western, northern and far-eastern regions of Burkina Faso; and the northern halves of the coastal nations of Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.^[25][26]

Christianity[link]

Wesley Methodist Cathedral in the city of Kumasi, Ghana

Christianity, a relative newcomer, has become the predominant religion in the central and southern part of Nigeria, and the coastal regions stretching from southern Ghana to coastal parts of Sierra Leone. Like Islam, elements of Traditional African religion are mixed with Christianity.^[27] This religion was brought to the region by European missionaries during the colonial era.^[28]

African traditional[link]

Voodoo altar with several fetishes in Abomey, Benin

Traditional African religion is the oldest and original religion of the native populations of this region, and includes Yoruba religion, Odinani, Serer religion, etc. It is spiritual but also linked to the historical and cultural heritage of the people.^[29] Before the arrival of other religions such as Islam and Christianity, West Africans, like most Africans, had a well-developed system of religious beliefs. The Traditional African religion is still practiced by the native populations. Although traditional beliefs varies from one place to the next, there are more similarities than differences.^[30] This belief system is a major religion of Benin.

History[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods: first, its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, developed agriculture, and made contact with peoples to the north; the second, the Iron Age empires that consolidated both intra-African, and extra-African trade, and developed centralized states; third, Major polities flourished, which would undergo an extensive history of contact with non-Africans; fourth, the colonial period, in which Great Britain and France controlled nearly the whole of the region; fifth, the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed.

Prehistory[link]

Early human settlers arrived in West Africa around 12,000 B.C.^{[dubious – discuss]} Sedentary farming began in, or around the fifth millennium B.C, as well as the domestication of cattle. By 400 B.C, ironworking technology allowed an expansion of agricultural productivity, and the first city-states formed.

The domestication of the camel allowed the development of a cross-Saharan trade with cultures across the Sahara, including Carthage and the Berbers; major exports included gold, cotton cloth, metal ornaments and leather goods, which were then exchanged for salt, horses, textiles, and other such materials. Local leather, cloth, and gold also contributed to the abundancy of prosperity for many of the following empires.

Empires[link]

Mansa Musa depicted holding a gold nugget from a 1395 map of Africa and Europe.

The development of the region's economy allowed more centralized states and civilizations to form, beginning with the Nok culture which began 1000 B.C. and the Ghana Empire which first flourished between the 1st-3rd centuries which later gave way to the Mali empire. In current day Mauritania, there exists archaeological sites in the towns of Tichit and Oualata that were initially constructed around 2000 B.C., and was found to have originated from the Soninke branch of the Mandé peoples. Also, based on the archaeology of city of Kumbi Saleh in modern-day Mauritania, the Mali empire came to dominate much of the region until its defeat by Almoravid invaders in 1052.

The Sosso Empire sought to fill the void, but was defeated (c. 1240) by the Mandinka forces of Sundiata Keita, founder of the new Mali Empire. The Mali Empire continued to flourish for several centuries, most particularly under Sundiata's grandnephew) Musa I, before a succession of weak rulers led to its collapse under Mossi, Tuareg and Songhai invaders. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on Gao, in the Songhai Empire, under the leadership of Sonni Ali and Askia Mohammed.

Meanwhile, south of the Sudan, strong city states arose in Igboland, such as the Kingdom of Nri in the 10th century, Bono in the 12th century which eventually culminated in the formation the all-powerful Akan Empire of Ashanti, while Ife and Benin rose to prominence around the 14th century. Further east, Oyo arose as the dominant Yoruba state and the Aro Confederacy as a dominant Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria.

Slavery and European contact[link]

Portuguese traders began establishing settlements along the coast in 1445, followed by the French and English; the African slave trade began not long after, which over the following centuries would debilitate the region's economy and population. The slave trade also encouraged the formation of states such as the Asante Empire, Bambara Empire and Dahomey, whose economic activities include but not limited to exchanging slaves for European firearms.

Colonialism[link]

French colonies in West Africa circa 1913.

In the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist jihads swept across Western Africa. The most notable include Usman dan Fodio's Fulani Empire, which replaced the Hausa city-states, Seku Amadu's Massina Empire, which defeated the Bambara, and El Hadj Umar Tall's Toucouleur Empire, which briefly conquered much of modern-day Mali.

However, the French and British continued to advance in the Scramble for Africa, subjugating kingdom after kingdom. With the fall of Samory Ture's new-founded Wassoulou Empire in 1898 and the Ashanti queen Yaa Asantewaa in 1902, most West African military resistance to colonial rule came to an effective end.

Britain controlled The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria throughout the colonial era, while France unified Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Niger into French West Africa. Portugal founded the colony of Guinea-Bissau, while Germany claimed Togoland, but was forced to divide it between France and Britain following First World War due to the Treaty of Versailles. Only Liberia retained its independence, at the price of major territorial concessions.

Postcolonial era[link]

Following World War II, nationalist movements arose across West Africa. In 1957, Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah, became the first sub-Saharan colony to achieve its independence, followed the next year by France's colonies (Guinea in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré); by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous.

Since independence, many West African nations have been submerged under political instability, with notable civil wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire, and a succession of military coups in Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Since the end of colonialism, the region has been the stage for some of the most brutal conflicts ever to erupt. Among the latter are:

• Nigerian Civil War
• First Liberian Civil War
• Second Liberian Civil War
• Guinea-Bissau Civil War
• Ivorian Civil War
• Sierra Leone Civil War

Regional organizations[link]

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), founded by the 1975 Treaty of Lagos, is an organization of West African states which aims to promote the region's economy. The West African Monetary Union (or UEMOA from its name in French, Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine) is limited to the eight, mostly Francophone countries that employ the CFA franc as their common currency. The Liptako-Gourma Authority of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso seeks to jointly develop the contiguous areas of the three countries.

Women's peace movement[link]

Since the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000, women have been engaged in rebuilding war-torn Africa. Starting with the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace and Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), the peace movement has grown to include women across West Africa.

Established on May 8, 2006, Women Peace and Security Network - Africa (WIPSEN-Africa), is a women-focused, women-led Pan-African non-governmental organization based in Ghana.^[31] The organization has a presence in Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Regional leaders of nonviolent resistance include Leymah Gbowee,^[32] Comfort Freeman, and Aya Virginie Toure.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a documentary film about the origin of this peace movement. The film has been used as an advocacy tool in post-conflict zones like Sudan and Zimbabwe, mobilizing African women to petition for peace and security.^[33]

Food Crisis[link]

Underdevelopment, low rainfall, forced migration, climate change, poverty, rising food prices and declining food stock are all key factors that are contributing toward Western Africa's food crisis. Fifteen million people across Western Africa are directly affected by the food crisis and it is predicted to worsen by the end of 2012. This is causing an increase in the illness rate in Western Africa as many people are becoming severely malnourished.^[34]

For this to become less severe, Western Africa needs rain. The next rainfall is due in July 2012, although even with this rainfall, the harvests won't be ready until October 2012.

Organisations such as World Vision, Action Against Hunger, Oxfam and Save the Children are trying to help this issue by providing more livestock, drilling more wells, vaccinating livestock; as well as educating parents on child health. Upwards of $240 million is required and the relief operations through these organisations have garnered a scant $52 million, which is merely one third of the amount needed.^[35][36]

See also[link]

	Africa portal
	Geography portal

References[link]

External links[link]

• 5 West African Holidays

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Western Africa or West Africa

• West Africa by Region and Country – African Studies at Columbia University
• ouestaf.com – Online source for news and current affairs in west Africa.
• [1] - The loss of Togo in result in World War 1
• Loccidental – The News reference for West Africa.
• West Africa Review – An e-journal on West Africa research and scholarship.
• West African Plants Database – photos and plant identification

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Hossein Kamali (In Persian: حسین کمالی; born 1953 in Dorood) is an Iranian politician. He was the Minister of Labour under President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a post he retained under the government of Mohammad Khatami.^[1]

It is not known whether Kamali is a supporter of the Columbus Blue Jackets; a scientific study conducted by Brown and colleagues (2005) failed to find significant evidence with which to reject the null hypothesis that Kamali is equally supportive of all NHL teams.

References[link]

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