Ancient African Kingdoms

Ghana, Mali and Songhai

Empire based on trade – not political control

Controlled trade routes and traders Wealth based on the exchange of gold and salt .

Ghana’s rulers gained power and wealth, and the military grew in strength, too.

Ghana controlled trade and became wealthy.

Ghana protected traders with its army. Traders were not afraid to travel to Ghana.

With so many traders passing through their lands, they made money by forcing traders to pay taxes.

Gold Mines and Salt Mines!

To keep order in

the empire, conquered kings were allowed to keep much

of their power.

They acted as

governors of their

territories.

"The King . . .(wears). . . necklaces round his neck and bracelets on his forearms and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. He (meets people) in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials…and on his right, are the sons of the (lesser) kings of his country, wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold.

At the door of the pavilion are dogs of excellent pedigree. Round their necks they wear collars of gold and silver, studded with a number of balls of the same metals."

10th century geographer Al-Bakri, quoted in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History.

Islamic Mosque in Ghana

blankbluesky.com/ travel/ghana/

After 700 AD, Muslim warriors came into Ghana and fought with the non-Islamic people there. This

weakened the great civilization of Ghana.

Local warriors then decided to break away from the power of Ghana and form their own local kingdoms.

This ended many of the trade networks.

Empire fades away around 1100

Empire of MaliThe wealthy and powerful Mali Empire ruled West Africa after the fall of Ghana.

Sundiata, Mali’s first strong leader, was a great warrior

He conquered Ghana and took over the salt and gold trades.

He had new farmlands cleared for crops of beans, onions, and rice. He also introduced cotton as a new crop.

To protect his authority, he took power away from others and adopted the title mansa.

Mali reached its height under the ruler Mansa Musa.

• Islam was important to Musa, so he made a pilgrimage to Mecca.

• He influenced the spread of Islam through a large part of West Africa and had mosques built throughout his empire.

• During this journey, he introduced the empire of Mali to the world.

• Mali became famous throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.

• He also stressed the importance of education and learning to read the Arabic language.

• He sent scholars to study in Morocco. They came back and set up schools to study the Qur’an.

14th Century Atlas

Mali as depicted on a trade atlas from 1349

Hey! Who’s this guy in the

middle of my map?!?!

Timbuktu becomes a

thriving trade city

It was so far away from Europe and

Asia it led to the referring of any place

that was very far away as

“from here to Timbuktu”

The End of Mali

A series of weak rulers could not stop raiders, leading to the empire’s gradual decline.

The empire had become so large that the government could not control it. Some areas

declared their independence.

Invaders finally took over most of the lands of the Mali Empire around 1400.

Sound like any of the other Empires we learned about this year?

Although Mali fell, another advanced African kingdom took its place, the kingdom of

Songhai

Once a part of Mali, Songhai rose up against it and regained its freedom.

Songhai grew in many ways, mostly due to the work of Sunni Ali. Worked constantly to unify, strengthen,

and enlarge it

Conquered the wealthy trade cities of Timbuktu and Djenné

He participated in both Islam and

local religions

and brought

peace and stability as a result.

Askia the Great worked to support education and

especially supported learning about medicine. Doctors may have discovered that

mosquitoes spread malaria. They also performed surgery on the

human eye.

Songhai fell to Moroccan invaders around 1600 , ending the great era of West African empires.

No match for invaders with cannon and primitive guns!

How do we know all this Because the people of West Africa did not have a written

language, their cultures have been passed down through oral history, writings by other people, and the arts.

Arab Dhows off the coast of Zanzibar

The Swahili Coast! More interested in trade than political conquest and unification!

Swahili-Speaking Areas of E. Africa

SWAHILI [“the coast’] = Bantu + some Arabic

African Trade Routes

Great Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe [1200-1450]

“Zimbabwe” = “Great House of Stone”

Great Zimbabwe Street

Great Enclosure, Zimbabwe

African Trade [15c-17c]