Zusammenfassung der Ressource
West Africa Barrett S.
- Ghana
- Geology
- Im the mid 400s, a group of
primarily nomadic people
formed at kingdom just
south the Sahara Desert. This
was called Ghana
- They built their
capital city,
Kumbi-Saleh, right
on the edge of the
Sahara Desert.
- While Kumbi-Saleh was
the capital if Ghana, it
was actually two cities,
six miles away
connected by a road.
- Religion
- Their center of
Kumbi-Saleh,
contained a grove
filled with trees for
religious practices.
- It was inhabited by Arab
and Berber merchants,
and house almost a
dozen mosques
- Achievements
- Gradually, Ghana
grew very rich
form the
Trans-Saharan
Trade route.
- As Ghana grew
richer, the
kingdom
expanded into
an empire.
- They began to use
camels to carry goods
across the Sahara
Desert.
- Economy
- From the north
came salt; west
came with the rich
resources of gold,
ivory, and other
goods.
- Ghana was
located in the
middle of the salt
and gold trade
routes.
- The king required
traders to give him a
portion of their goods,
and if they had gold,
they would have to
give him a portion of
their gold.
- The king, or
ghana, also put
a tax on the
local goldmines.
- Social Structure
- The most important
part of Kumbi-Saleh
was the center. This
was protected by
large walls, and was a
political and religious
center.
- The king lived in the
center of the capital,
which was a
religious and
political center for
Kumbi-Saleh.
- Politics
- The kingdom was
ruled by a king,
or ghana.
- The ghana was
the supreme
judge of the
kingdom
- Mail
- Geology
- Mali, located in the Sahel, a
grassland region on the
southern border of the Sahara
Desert, became powerful by
controlling the rich
trans-Saharan trade routes
between northern and western
Africa, especially because of
the gold trade.
- Mali was located in a
agriculturally rich area
along the upper Niger
river.
- Religion
- Timbuktu, an
important city in Mali,
became one of the
major cultural centers
not only of Africa, but
of the entire world.
- Vast libraries
and Islamic
universities
were built.
- Achievements
- Control of the Niger
river grew Mali into
an empire.
- At the time Sundiata's rule,
the empire of Mali
extended over 1,000 miles
form east to west and Mali
took over the gold and salt
trade.
- Sundiata is also said to
have introduced the
cultivation and weaving
of cotton into the area.
- Mansa Musa was Mali's
greatest king, ruling from
1312 to 1337 CE.
- During his rule, he
doubled the land area
of Mali; its became
larger than any empire
in Europe at the time.
- The cities of Mali
became important
trading centers for all of
West Africa.
- Politics
- After the death of Mansa Musa, the
power of Mali began to decline.
- Mansa Musa's sons
could not hold the
empire together
- In 1430 C.E., the Berber in
north took much of Mali's
territory, including the city
of Timbuktu, and gradually
Mali lost its hold on tad until
it crumbled.
- Economy
- Social Structure
- The rulers of Mali
came to be called
"mansa,"
meaning
"emperor" or
"master"