## An ancestral maritime experience  
The compact nature of the African continent, the prolonged contact between the Maghreb and other Mediterranean regions, the trans-Saharan caravan trade, the system of Atlantic and Indian Ocean maritime currents moving from south to north and the proximity of these currents in terms of the coast, among other factors of a natural order, account for the low involvement of coastal African populations in long-term maritime expeditions prior to the fifteenth century (Diarra, 2010, p. 351). That said, the practices of nautical navigation and trade were part of the material life of populations living on sub-Saharan Africa's coastlines, as evidenced by their artistic output and fishing. One example of  
the former is the tradition of polychrome wood sculpture, believed to reflect the transmission of knowledge among different peoples by means of the sea. Although it is not known for how long the tradition has existed, it spread over time throughout all of West Africa. In the fifteenth century, upon arrival at the coastline connecting Senegal to Angola, the Portuguese encountered numerous fishing populations that used vessels similar to theirs, fashioned by means of similar techniques (Vansina, 2010, pp. 635-636). Adapting fishing boats in order to target invaders was one means of imposing limits on European domination at the beginning of modern times; boats built in Central Africa were employed in combat in coastal waters and regions where the captains of European fishing vessels experienced operational difficulties. From 1445 to 1452, the peoples indigenous to the region won various naval victories against the Portuguese, leading the latter to then revise their domination strategies. Unable to triumph over the Africans in terms of military strength, the Europeans instead banked on diplomatic negotiations with local authorities, offering forms of stable and combined trade arranged in advance (Thornton, 2010, p. 148).