more populous European nations during the Napoleonic Wars of the 19th century could routinely put this number of men into a single battle. The environment also hindered use of wheeled transport for the movement of goods in parts of Africa, particularly pre-colonial West Africa, though wheeled vehicles are depicted from ancient times at Tondia, near Goundam, south of Timbuktu in today's Mali, and possibly at Kourki south of the Niger bend in the Republic of Niger. Some scholars note that the tsetse fly belt which its debilitating effect on load-bearing draft animals, and the presence of terrain such as jungle or brush make extensive use of wheeled conveyances inefficient or impractical. One Old Calabar ruler in today's Nigeria for example imported a European style carriage but all the draft horses to pull it died. They had to be replaced with men, a pattern occurring in several areas including Dahomey where people usually had to provide the motive power. In 1845, Dahomey deployed a cart presumably wheeled, to carry a 500 feet long chain intended to secure prisoners during their campaign against Badagry, but this too may have needed human power. The problem of expense and impracticality is illustrated by the gift of a carriage to the ruler of Asante in precolonial times, which required the construction of new roads though brush or jungle terrain, including building of new bridges to cross streams, with a final obstacle: inability of the vehicle to move through narrow streets in the capital city, requiring new streets to be made. Practical and economic considerations to the use of various technologies are not unique to Africa. Scholar R.W Bulliett notes that wheeled vehicles declined and became uncommon throughout the entire Middle East early during early medieval times, as people adopted cheaper, more rational solutions in the form of pack animals such as camels. Political fragmentation also hindered the growth of large armies, and African tribes could be divided and defeated separately by foreign invaders, just as Rome did with numerous tribal opponents in antiquity. Nevertheless, despite such limits, the internal consolidation and growth of African states played an important part in military transformation. The Zulu system for example did not rely on foreign horses, guns or ships. The evolution of African military systems is thus not a simple tale of outside influences but a complex web of indigenous development that adapted, shaped and sometimes rejected outside