The Great Empires Of Ghana, Mali, And Songhay Empire

Africa is a continent rich in history. Africa was home to many great civilizations that laid foundations for the prosperity of Africa while providing a model that later civilizations across the world would follow. The Ghana, Mali, and Songhay Empires all covered vast territories and were rich in resources for trading. The West African civilizations were far more advanced that other societies across the world at this time and showed the first emergence of truly efficient trade across sub-Saharan Africa. Each one had great kings who ruled their empires in the most efficient ways and brought about advances in sciences, architecture, education, and artistry.
The empire of Ghana was founded in 830 CE and lasted until 1235 CE. Ghana originated in

The Great Sundiata founded this grand empire which became known for its wealthy rulers one of which being Mansa Musa. The Mali Empire covered a large territory of western Africa and had numerous villages within it, and has a major impact on the cultural norms of western Africa and its cultural values extended along the Niger River. The kings of Mali converted to Islam while the citizens of the empire remained their traditional religion. Sundiata was a wise leader in that he befriended all the most powerful people in Western Africa. The driving force behind the success of the Mali Empire was its extensive trade. The empire was able to have three gold mines within its territorial borders. Like made use of taxation the same way the Ghana Empire did and placed a tax on all good that entered into its borders. In the 14th century the Mali Empire was a source of nearly half of the gold in the entire world. Gold was one of the staples in their economy, but only the king could possess any. Citizens were only allowed to have gold dust. Salt was also a major trading commodity for the Mali Empire. Salt was valuable because in the southern part of Africa it was necessary for their diet. So merchants were able to take large quantities of salt to these areas and exchange other good for salt because in their reason salt almost had equivalent value to gold. Mansa Musa is the most famous ruler of the Mali Empire, he made the empire renowned worldwide. In 1324 Mansa Musa went on a famous pilgrimage in which he brought along 70,000 people, twelve tons of gold, and eighty camels. This major pilgrimage left the empire broke and in chaos and it eventually