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Rise and fall of Mali Empire
Rise and fall of Mali Empire
trace the origins of the mali empire
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Africans are far from uniform. In fact, they are quite diverse. This diversity is largely due to the greatly varied and often hostile terrain. Africa is home to deserts, savannahs, tropical rainforests, and other vegetation zones, including a swath across the north of the continent that lies on the Mediterranean Sea and enjoys its climate. Africa’s history is closely related to overcoming hostile environments. The tse-tse fly, which carries “Sleeping Sickness,” prohibited raising of livestock and subsequently the transport of goods over a large portion of the continent. The Sahara Desert provided a natural barrier that prevented all but those accustomed to the largest desert in the world from entering sub-Saharan West Africa. Those who did traverse the desert, mostly Berbers, created trade networks with the people of West Africa. The Berbers also introduced Islam, which was the greatest outside influence on Africa prior to the slave trade, into West Africa. A great empire of West Africa, Mali, was founded by Sundiata in the eleventh century according to oral tradition. With a centralized and militarized government, Mali was a powerful, advanced civilization: the rival of any in Europe at the time. A later ruler, Mansa Musa, was the first make the Haaj. He also made Timbuktu into an important center of learning. As a gold producing empire, Mali was not only powerful but incredibly wealthy. Other West African societies, such as the Igbo, were so-called “stateless” societies because they lacked a centralized state with a recognized ruler. They were “quasi-democratic” and were ruled by assemblies. Although such societies could be quite advanced, Europeans considered them to be uncivilized due their lack of hierarchal government.
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...influences became more prevalent. Government took many forms and cultural practices diverged greatly across the continent. Some societies were matrilineal; others were patrilineal. To speak of Africans as being a uniform people is incredibly misleading. Nothing is farther from the truth. They did, however, share some qualities. First of all, they viewed control of people in much the same way that Europeans viewed control of land. This was due to an abundance of land and a scarcity of people to perform labor. Africans were also a people who migrated often. Although environmental difficulties varied across the continent, they were present over virtually the entire continent, making the taming of it common to all its inhabitants as well. Finally, regardless of what differences may have existed in Africa prior to the Europeans, the societies had a collectivist nature.
The first aspects we can analyze is the level of difference between the slavery of Africa compared to the European form of slavery. As these sources illustrate traditional African slavery was quite different on several levels compared to the European form of slavery many are familiar with. Slavery in Africa as stated before can be more closely associated with indentured servitude where the slaves were often treated as a member of the family rather than treated with brutality. According to the multiple sources discussed earlier, a prominent aspect of European slavery in Africa was to the harsh treatment and dehumanizing of its slave it order to keep them subordinate to their European captures. Historians might beg the question why was European slavery different than traditional African
The kingdom rose to power and used its resources to become wealthy and prominent. Mali used its central trading location and surplus of valuable goods such as gold, salt, and copper to become the strongest and most powerful trading nation in Africa and Southern Europe. The nation had a strong leader in Mansa Musa who brought order, the Islamic faith, great economics, and an emphasis of scholarship to Mali, all of which were crucial to the country's success. Mali became an Islamic nation which brought a sense of togetherness for the citizens of Mali but gave Mali strong ties with other Islamic Nations. This togetherness helped Mali obtain peace and civility and helped in diplomacy. Mali’s Military also served as valuable asset in its rise to power. The army protected trade routes, helped keep peace and order in the country, expanded its borders and secured tribute from other countries. Mali’s success as a nation can be attributed to many different factors all of which were crucial in the development of the empire. Mali rose to great heights and flourished as nation. Their success should be respected and admired by
It is only recently that more reliable studies have brought to light much information about great civilizations that developed in Africa while Europe was in the period often referred as the Dark Ages. The earliest of these mature civilizations were in West Africa. In a vast region south of the Sahara, Africans organized kingdoms which in time became great empires. This region is called the Sudan (a word meaning "land of the Blacks" in Arabic) The Sudan was important in the early history of Black Africa because the Africans first practiced agriculture in this region, and thus became the first people south of the Sahara to fashion and use iron tools and weapons. They were also among the first people in Africa to organize viable political systems. The Sudanic Blacks had learn to domesticate crops long before the coming of Christianity, and their grain production furnished food for an expanding population.
Prior to the 19th century, the Europeans traded mainly for African slaves. It turns out they were not immune towards certain diseases and therefore had an increasing risk of becoming sick. For years to come this continued, but not much land was conquered. Eventually, conference between only the Europeans was held to divide up the land appropriately, and the scramble for Africa began. The driving forces behind European imperialism in Africa were expanding empires, helping natives, and natural resources.
Before the arrival of European traders, Africa had successful in maintaining complex civilizations. The cities of Timbuktu and Mali demonstrate this with their qualities. A Moroccan traveler journeyed to Timbuktu and described it as a land of “many doctors, judges, priests and other learned men, that are well maintained at the king’s cost. Various manuscripts and written
In Africa, there were achievements in the empires or kingdoms and their cities before the Europeans arrived and took control. In the Kingdom (Empire) of Axum they developed a trade route. In the Kingdom of Ghana they had characteristics of powerful nations today. In the city of Timbuktu they had great morals and developed the center of Islamic Art. There are many other things that Africa achieved in.
There are many things that imperialism did to Africa. I will be talking about how and why the Belgium’s took control of Africa and the effects of them doing this. I will be diving into the causes and effects of Europe’s imperialism in Africa.
European colonization had an impact on the government of Africa. One day, a white man came to the African council and told them that they now had a king. The King of Europe was now their king and Africa was his land. A new council was made in the town of Nairobi, in which acted for their King and was Africa’s government. The council made laws for the Africans to follow (Doc.
The spread of Islam in Africa had taken course from a number of factors, including external and internal forces. After my analyzing of the spread of Islam in Africa, I have gather three main themes that stuck out during the expansion of Islam: Islam and trade, the conversion conditions of Islam, and the economics/political development involving Islam. These three themes provide great insight on how Islam started to spread through out Africa. Through trade the culture and religion of Islam was spread to many different areas. This correlates to the conversion of different people, which helped spread Islam. By these conversions Islam was able to establish Islamic states, which played a factor in the development of strong economic and political
Africa, a continent filled with astonishing geography. It was once a home to many beautiful and strong ancient civilizations. Faced with genocide in Rwanda, invaded in the age of imperialism, its people traded as slaves, and the land wanted for its rich resources.
The Kingdom of Mali was an African hub of wealth, trade and education for over 225 years. Mali is an Arab version of the Mandinka word that means, “Where the king dwells”, and was vitally important in spreading trade, education, religion and culture along the Niger River. The rise of Mali into an Empire occurred in the early 13th century, when Sundiata defeated his enemies and won control of the West African gold mines. In 1312 Mansa Musa became ruler of Mali. During his reign which was known as Mali’s, “Golden Age”, he introduced Islamic beliefs to many communities along the Niger and enhanced education after his historic pilgrimage to Mecca. Mali’s rise was attributed to the Trans-Saharan Trade routes leading to and from Western and Eastern Africa. These trade routes contributed to the rise and fall of powerful African Kingdoms for hundreds of years, but for 250 years, Mali was the crown jewel of Africa.
The Europeans colonized Africa without considering where different ethnic groups lived. This was very bad for the countries that were colonized. After the Europeans the left, violent conflict was unavoidable because the different ethnic groups were fighting for control of the country. In the text page 188, Sudan had two civil wars between the north and the south,and millions were killed. This shows that the violence in Africa was unavoidable.
Africa is a continent that is full of life, history, and future discoveries that should be regarded as one of the learning meccas of the world. It is the second largest continent by area and population, which makes it three times as large as the United States. Africa is a place many people travel to in order to learn, relax, and discover new ideas in order to improve the country. Africa is sometimes shed a bad light on due to its poverty in some parts of the continent. But many of the everyday things we use come from African countries. Also, many exotic plants and animals live in Africa that is not available for purchase anywhere else in the world. Growing up in both private and public schooling, Africa has not been a major topic of interest
In order to properly understand the effects of colonization, one must look at its history. Most of Africa was relatively isolated from Europe throughout early world history, but this changed during the 17th to the 20th centuries. Colonization efforts reached their peak between the 1870s and 1900 in the “Scramble for Africa” which left the continent resembling a jigsaw puzzle Various European powers managed to colonize Africa including Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, and Spain. This intense imperialist aggression had three major causes. The primary reason was simply for economic gain. Africa is refuge to vast, unexplored natural resources. European powers saw their opportunity and took it. Another motive was to spread the Christian religion to the non-Christian natives. The last major incentive was to demonstrate power between competing European nations. African societies did try to resist the colonial takeover either through guerilla warfare or direct military engagement. Their efforts were in vain, however, as by the turn of the century, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained not colonized. European powers colonized Africa according to the guidelines established by the Berlin Act (1885). Many of the colonized nations were ruled indirectly through appointed governor...
There were many driving forces behind the scramble for Africa, European imperialism being one of them. The partition of Africa resulted in many changes to the continent of Africa. Economically, European countries colonized for trade purposes and natural resources. Culturally, they wanted to spread the beliefs of Christianity and portray a sense of national pride. Politically, they also wanted more land.