Transcript West African Kingdoms

West African Kingdoms
Kingdoms of Wealth, Power, and
Intellectual Accomplishment
Ghana
 First West African trading empire
 Became rich because of its relative location
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Located on trade route between Sahara (main
source of salt) and gold fields of Senegal River
Taxed goods passing through kingdom
 Arab traders led trade (salt-gold) on caravan
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Group of camels carrying goods
Mali
 Malinke ruler took control of gold-salt trade
from Ghana
 Wealth of empire came from
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Taxes passing through kingdom
Tributes
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Gifts of farm crops paid to Mali’s ruler by chiefs of
surrounding lands
Mali’s Leader
 Leader of Mali people called mansa, or chief
 Religious as well as political leader
 Most important ruler Mansa Musa
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Brought back Muslim scholars and made
Timbuktu a center of learning
Timbuktu
 Mali built city of Timbuktu when took control of gold-
salt trade
 Trading center of Mali & Songhai
 Became center of Muslim learning
 Great universities produced doctors, judges, priest and
other learned men
 Muslim learning more important than gold-salt trade
Songhai
 Sunni Ali, founder and first leader of kingdom
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Skilled and ruthless fighter
Follower of Islam, religion of Muslim people
Took control of gold-salt trade from Mali
 Wealth of kingdom came from taxes and
tributes
Songhai -continued
 Askia Muhammad, another important leader
of kingdom
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Attracted Islamic teachers and poets to
Timbuktu’s universities
Bantu People
 Bantu: West African people who spoke Bantu
 Learned to heat and shape iron
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Made farming easier and created food
surpluses
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Population increased
Bantu Migrations
 Some of the largest migrations in human
history
 Possible reason for migration
 Looking for new land to farm
 Bantu-speakers settled in Central and
Southern Africa
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Introduced farming, herding, and iron tools to
these regions