>>1546939From the sources I've (just) read, pre-colonial Africans did have knowledge of the cart and wheel, but for some reason just didn't use them. It's not hard to imagine that they would have had the knowledge to do so, considering that even the ancient Egyptians were using chariots thousands of years before Europeans came around, and two wheels and a stick isn't a very high standard technological knowledge. Regardless, I've seen various arguments thrown around but ultimately no solid conclusion as to why they didn't adopt carts:
>Lack of large, cart-pulling draught animals such as oxen due to equatorial diseases>Favouring smaller pack animals due to their cheaper costs and higher utility>Substandard quality of road infrastructure, prohibitive costs to improve and maintain itInterestingly, after contact was established with major European powers, imported wheeled vehicles seem to have been used predominantly for ceremonial rather than practical use in the 1600-1700s.
