The goal of the paper is to demonstrate how international slave trade spread the institution of slavery throughout Africa, resulting in long-term effects of the continent’s income and political centralization. The author first estimated the travel time to slave ports from each society in the Ethnographic Atlas to determine predicting factors for the adoption of slave trade in African societies. The author reported that societies with high exposure to slave capture in the past were more likely to have the custom of slavery and the custom of polygyny. The author further suggested that slavery institutions emerged in West Africa through local, politically centralized aristocratic systems while emerging in East Africa through the preservation of wealth within the nuclear family over generations.

The goal of the paper is to demonstrate how international slave trade spread the institution of slavery throughout Africa, resulting in long-term effects of the continent’s income and political centralization. The author first estimated the travel time to slave ports from each society in the Ethnographic Atlas to determine predicting factors for the adoption of slave trade in African societies. The author reported that societies with high exposure to slave capture in the past were more likely to have the custom of slavery and the custom of polygyny. The author further suggested that slavery institutions emerged in West Africa through local, politically centralized aristocratic systems while emerging in East Africa through the preservation of wealth within the nuclear family over generations.

The goal of the paper is to demonstrate how international slave trade spread the institution of slavery throughout Africa, resulting in long-term effects of the continent’s income and political centralization. The author first estimated the travel time to slave ports from each society in the Ethnographic Atlas to determine predicting factors for the adoption of slave trade in African societies. The author reported that societies with high exposure to slave capture in the past were more likely to have the custom of slavery and the custom of polygyny. The author further suggested that slavery institutions emerged in West Africa through local, politically centralized aristocratic systems while emerging in East Africa through the preservation of wealth within the nuclear family over generations.

Lowes and Nunn test the theory that the transatlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades of the thirteenth to nineteenth centuries prompted a shift towards matrilineal kinship systems throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Controlling for ecological variables commonly thought to affect kinship structure (including ruggedness of terrain, suitability for agriculture, etc.), the authors find a significant correlation between the number of people enslaved from a given ethnic group, and the tendency of that group towards a matrilineal kinship system. Polygyny was also identified as a statistically significant characteristic of communities most impacted by the slave trade.

In this paper, the authors argue that polygyny creates social inequality in which economically advantaged men marry multiple women and economically disadvantaged men marry late in life or potentially never. The institution of polygyny results in a higher proportion of single men without families ("excess men"), who, the authors propose, may turn to violence to achieve higher wealth or prestige. Following this theory, the authors hypothesize that societies with more polygynous neighbors will be at higher risk for intergroup conflict, for which they find robust support. They also find that young men in polygynous societies, who are more likely to be economically disadvantaged and have less prestige, are also more likely to feel as though they are treated unequally and more ready to resort to violence, supporting the authors' theorized underlying mechanism.

This article focuses on ecological correlates of sexual division in the control of resources. The author tests several ecological theories put forth by others. Sex coalitions are examined in humans, and sexual dimorphism in resource acquisition and control is discussed.

This article focuses on ecological correlates of sexual division in the control of resources. The author tests several ecological theories put forth by others. Sex coalitions are examined in humans, and sexual dimorphism in resource acquisition and control is discussed.

In this study, the author closely examines the educational outcomes of Christian missions in sub-Saharan African societies. He shows that there was local demand for formal education, but theorizes that this demand decreased in polygamous societies as Christian missionaries required monogamy for entry. His results show areas that experienced this struggle over polygamy are associated with worse educational outcomes than those that did not.

This article focuses on ecological correlates of sexual division in the control of resources. The author tests several ecological theories put forth by others. Sex coalitions are examined in humans, and sexual dimorphism in resource acquisition and control is discussed.

This study investigated the difference in rates of violence of precolonial states and stateless ethnic groups in postcolonial Africa. The author hypothesized ethnic groups of precolonial states (PCS) would experience more violence, (i.e. coup attempts and civil wars) than non-PCS groups. The author suggested that because of PCS countries’ inability to allow rival ethnic groups into power positions in addition to the extra power PCS groups gained under colonial rule may lead to more violence.