ABSTRACT
In the previous section we emphasized some of the fortuitous factors which seem to have aided or impeded the spread of Islam in different parts of tropical Africa and noted the apparently crucial significance of the prevailing currents of population movement and migration. In East Africa the overall pressure of population shifts ran contrary' to the direction in which Islam was spreading; in the Eastern Sudan, North-East Africa, and West Africa, by contrast, the tides of population movement and Muslim influence broadly coincided-with the results we have seen. We also saw the importance of nomadism as a factor in the dissemination of Islam. We now turn to consider the significance of trade and proselytization as more direct agencies in the spread of Islam through much of tropical Africa.
