Pliny the Elder on Nigerian Natural Resources: Reading the Natural History in the Context of West African Ecology

Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia (Natural History) is an encyclopaedic classical work containing extensive observations on African flora, fauna, minerals, and natural phenomena that have been insufficiently examined for their relevance to West African natural history and ecology. This study undertakes a close reading of selected African sections of Pliny's Natural History, Books V to VII and Books XXXI to XXXVII, evaluating their potential relevance to what is now the West African region, including Nigeria. A source-critical methodology was adopted, comparing Pliny's descriptions of African minerals, plants, and animals with current ethnobotanical, zoological, and geological data from Nigeria and the broader West African region. Secondary scholarship on Roman knowledge of Africa from 2018 to 2023 informed the contextual analysis. Findings indicate that Pliny's descriptions of African plants and minerals include several identifiable species now endemic to the West African savanna belt, suggesting access to trans-Saharan trade knowledge about sub-Saharan resources. His descriptions of African elephant behaviour and the gold and salt trades have particular resonance with documented West African ecological and economic history. The study concludes that Pliny's Natural History, while requiring careful source criticism, contains data of genuine relevance to West African environmental history and recommends interdisciplinary research combining Classical Studies with Nigerian environmental sciences.

Keywords: Pliny the Elder, Natural History, West African ecology, classical sources, environmental history