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ABSTRACT For $$B \subseteq \mathbb F_q^m$$, the nth affine extremal number of B is the maximum cardinality of a set $$A \subseteq \mathbb F_q^n$$ with no subset, which is affinely isomorphic to B. Furstenberg and Katznelson proved that for any $$B \subseteq \mathbb F_q^m$$, the nth affine extremal number of B is $o(q^n)$ as $$n \to \infty$$. By counting affine homomorphisms between subsets of $$\mathbb F_q^n$$, we derive new bounds and give new proofs of some previously known bounds for certain affine extremal numbers. At the same time, we establish corresponding supersaturation results. We connect these bounds to certain Ramsey-type numbers in vector spaces over finite fields. For $$s,t \geq 1$$, let $$R_q(s,t)$$ denote the minimum n such that in every red–blue coloring of the one-dimensional subspaces of $$\mathbb F_q^n$$, there is either a red s-dimensional subspace or a blue t-dimensional subspace of $$\mathbb F_q^n$$. The existence of these numbers is a special case of a well-known theorem of Graham, Leeb and Rothschild. We improve the best-known upper bounds on $$R_2(2,t)$$, $$R_3(2,t)$$, $$R_2(t,t)$$ and $$R_3(t,t)$$.