Good lands for crop cultivation, a settled rather than nomadic population, and peace-loving rather than warring kings may have nurtured the impetus to create in this region. African societies where trade was a driving economic force also developed artistic traditions.
Beliefs frequently play a vital role in the kinds of art produced.
In western Africa, trade and flourishing agricultural communities produced city-states in which kings became divinities producing plentiful harvests. In eastern Africa, fertile grasslands encouraged cattle herding and people tended to worship sky divinities and ancestral spirits. Religions from elsewhere, such as Islam and Christianity, also influenced artistic forms but these were adapted to local traditions. Crosses came to be produced in Central Africa as a sign of authority and as a hunting talisman.