1. Comprised of Soninke clans which belonged to the after A.D. 300
2. They lived in an area called Kumbi, or Kumbi Saleh, which is near the modern day southeastern Mauritania and Mali, close to the Sahara desert; The Senegal and Niger rives were their main sources of water. Since Ghana was in the middle of the Western part of Africa, it made it an excellent spot to control trade (Gold was plentiful in the south, and salt was plentiful to the north) Helped manage trade between north Africans and the Wanagrans. Their land was comprised of two rivers, Senegal and Niger, and their surrounding area was either a Savannah, rain forests, or Sahel, which is a piece of land that acts as a transition zone between the Sahara Desert and the Sudanian Savanna
3. The “salt-gold trade” from the trans-Saharan trade helped the empire to prosper; traders who came to Ghana had to pay tax in order to trade either gold or salt; One gold dinar tax on
…show more content…
Fall of the Ghana Empire was mainly caused by invasion, drought and internal rebellion. Ghana’s rulers were eventually converted to Islam through the influence of trade. Almoravids invaded for religious purposes of trying to convert the leaders to Islam. After several years of fighting, Almoravids finally won, destroying the city of Koumbi Saleh in the process. After the attacks, the Almoravids Badly disrupted the trade and Ghana was unable to regain its power. After the attacks, a drought came and made it hard for farmers to grow crops and harder to live; in the end, and they had to move to find a better environment to farm and live. Internal rebellion. Early 13th century new uprising empire named Mali overthrew the Ghana Empire. Gold mining decreased, which made the total number of trading decrease, which lead to decrease in amount of income. The other kingdoms around the Ghana Empire feared the military power of them, and also were jealous of their wealth; in the end, they tried to compete against them in trading
“Caravans of Gold”, a video by Basil Davison discovers and highlights numerous assets about gold and its prominent role in Africa. Additionally, the video examines some of the past and influential empires and their achievements. Davison discusses the history of Africa before the arrival of Europeans to demonstrate how Africa was already a well-flourished continent. “Caravans of Gold” also discusses many topics such as the Mali Empire, trading systems, and the use of gold which shows the audience of the video of how Africa was. In the long run, the aim of the video is to give the audience of the video an understanding of how the empires in Africa used its resource of gold to flourish.
As the world of trade developed over time, goods were not the only things that were traded throughout these routes. With the merchants that traveled the world, were the ideals and religions that had learned from foreign lands, and the major religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, spread like wildfire throughout the regions of Eurasia and Africa because of this. The spread of Islam throughout the continent of Africa acted as a major influence both politically and socially. After 1600, Islam began to make its mark on the newly centralized states in Africa and was spread through western land trade, and through merchants on the Swahili coast. The major gold trading center of the Kingdom of Ghana, attracted merchants, and was a center for the Muslim community . By the 10th century, the kings of Ghana had converted to Islam in order to improve the relation between the kings and merchants. The early converts of Central and West Africa did not e...
As a result of the Gold and Salt Trade, Africa acquired an abundance of food and money which evidently brought forth a material wealth economy. Leon E. Clark, a writer from Praeger Press, New York, believed that Ghana was a country similar to his own. The Arab traders in the area wanted gold and the Wangara wanted salt. Both wanted to trade with each other, however, to do so, they “to pass through Ghana to trade” (Document #2). The government would then tax both groups of people for being on the country’s land. Through this taxation, Ghana flourished, allowing them to use gold for purposes other than currency. The Council of Kumase used the gold to create Pomas, another word for staffs. These staffs each had a Poma symbol on top, one of which
The first leg of this trade was merchants from Europe bringing refined goods to Africa to trade for slaves. The merchants traded with chiefs and high authority leaders. The chiefs pretty much could and would trade whomever they
Imperialism in Africa took root in the late 19th century when European nations divided up the continent for their own benefit. Each nation practiced a certain type of rule over the Africans of which they conquered. For example, the Germans, the Dutch, and the French used the practice of Direct Rule over their colonies in Africa. This system is characterized by the colonizers need for the colonized to become assimilated into their culture. The purpose of this was to make the African people “civilized” and act like Europeans. The governing administrations forced on the native inhabitants by the colonial power were meant to undermine those institutions set in place by the indigenous people. By taking over the community’s government on all levels,
In conclusion, during the 15th and 16th centuries Europeans visited the Atlantic Coast in the African states to observe for gold and silvers. They took advantage of the Africans to get their desires when the Africans acknowledged them to be equal which drove into Africa’s downfall.
...e, unlike the surrounding nations which were powerful, rich empires, Africa consisted of small tribes and kingdoms. These kingdoms’ greatest exports would consist of gold, salt, and slaves, in exchange for the goods imported from the surrounding empires.
Food was a very big part of Ancient Ghana’s (c.400 - c.1200) culture. The geography of Ghana assists in making Ghana a great place to grow crops. Due to most of Ghana’s agriculture being homegrown, many of its popular cuisines are made using everything that is grown in the Ghana. One of the household favorites in Ancient Ghana was a delicious meal commonly called “Kelewele”, or fried plantains. Back then the technology was not as good as it is today, therefore if they wanted to use ingredients to make dinner, they would have to go out and gather them (“Ghana Culture” 7). After gathering them they would have to prepare the food. Lastly, you would serve your meal and remember the significance of the meal.
There was also a Kingdom called Mali that broke off from the Ghana Empire. At this time they had embraced the religion of Islam and had been under the great rule of Mansa Musa. This empire had the job of protecting the caravans or shipments carrying the goods, so that they can trade. They helped towards the function of trade so that both the importer and exporter gained something. In document 3 it explains how their wealth was great because of their trade. The document also talks about the fact that they had exhibited the characteristics of an advanced divination like sufficient food to feed its people, a strong army equipped with advanced weapons and income derived from taxes. Even though the Mali Empire had wealth there was very little corruption if there was with the ruler. He did not go mad with power but he was generous. In document four it states they there was no person who did not receive a sum of gold from him.
The renown first great Kingdom of Africa was Ghana or Shama and means; Warrior king, or King of the warriors/war lord, from the Mandi language “Wagadu.” Since 300 AD Ghana was respected as the land of gold and salt. During the Sahara gold trade in 800A.D. it came to great prominence. Shama warriors (Asafo) protected the gold from invaders and would-be thieves with giant fifty pound Iron Swords. The Soninke were the first true organized army of West Africa and held the center of world trade (even from merchants extending into India and China) and for their time were exposed to all the existing martial arts (The Black Snake hands way or Ouagadou-Buda).
It had fertile soil, forests, and mineral resources, most notably gold. The future state of Ashanti had two ecological zones. In the southern forest belt there were forests and fertile soil. Original subsistence crops included yams, onions, and maize and, in the 19th century as farming became commercial, cola nuts and cocoa. In the southern savanna belt, there were yams and Guinea corn.
Ghana’s land was full of resources, but iron, gold, and salt were the most important. Starting with gold, Ghana traded gold for most of what they needed as they had so much gold even their dogs wore gold collars. Ghana used gold to trade with other nations to get resources like livestock, tools and cloth. Ghana traded gold because they had so much of it the following was iron. Ghana used iron for strong weapons that they used in battle and tools that helped them live. Iron made items that helped Ghana become stronger. Iron helped Ghana a lot, but not as much as gold. In other words, Ghana used iron to make tools, weapons, and armor. Along with iron and gold came
Nigeria contains more historic cultures and empires than any other country in Africa. People were first known to inhabit Nigeria as early as 5 B.C. They first constructed a kingdom in the center of Nigeria, which is named Jos Plateau. This was the first of many widespread kingdoms of that region, but two centuries later it would extend to Bornu, which is located on the western region of Nigeria (Gascoigne 1). Nigeria was made up of mostly kingdoms until British colonized in the 1800’s. The Soko Jotojhad and Yotruba wars encouraged slave trade at the time the British were trying to abolish the slave trade. Slaves were normally traded for European goods such as guns and gun powder. At this time, the British encouraged trading palm oil over trading slaves. Many of the slaves that were exported to Britain were intercepted by naval ships and shipped to Sierra Leone to collect palm oil. Some Nigerians began to migrate back from Sierra Leone in search of their homes and trade. British missionaries were invited to follow the slaves back, and in the 1840’s they wer...
Chief Abeeku and other chiefs like him used the slave trade for political gain and wealth, they deliberately went against their moral values for their own gain along the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast was also known as the Slave coast as it stretched about 300 miles with different transporting stations throughout. Ghana saw the slave trade as a good money. The slaves sold never seemed to be their own people, but people captured throughout time. Ghana was at first known for its Gold, but as the slave trade increased Ghana was known for their transporting of slaves.
Nigeria is a developing country in West Africa that was colonized by the British in 1884 at the Berlin conference where Africa was divided by European powers (Graham 2009). The British wanted to expand their empire, which meant taking over other countries that had resources that they wanted, and would allow them to expand their trade market and economy. One of the colonies that British colonized was Colonial Nigeria, which was forced to participate in the slave trade in the past and was controlled by the British through the set up of trading posts and selling manufactured goods. The British split Nigeria into the north and the south regions (Temple 1912). The Southern and Northern Nigeria Protectorates controlled these two regions. The Protectorates