WEST AFRICAN EMPIRE

GHANA

• 800-1200

IRON AND POWER

• Iron smelting and forging technologies may have existed in West Africa among the Nok culture of Nigeria as early as the sixth century B.C. In the period from 1400 to 1600, iron technology appears to have been one of a series of fundamental social assets that facilitated the growth of significant centralized kingdoms in the western Sudan and along the Guinea coast of West Africa. The fabrication of iron tools and weapons allowed for the kind of extensive systematized agriculture, efficient hunting, and successful warfare necessary to sustain large urban centers

LOCATION

• Ghana is located on the West Coast of Africa, about 750 Km north of the equator on the Gulf of Guinea between the latitudes of 4 - 11.5 north

ECONOMY

• Ghana offered the traders protection, for a fee. Ghana set up the rules of trade. Trade was even - an ounce of gold for an ounce of salt. The kingdom of Ghana did not have gold mines or salt mines, but Ghana got rich handling the trade for salt and gold

PRODUCTS TRADED

• The West Africans exchanged their local products like gold, ivory, salt and cloth, for North African goods such as horses, books, swords and chain mail. This trade (called the trans-Saharan trade because it crossed the Sahara desert) also included slaves.

SALT

• It replaced fliuds
• It helped preserve food
• It made food taste alot better

MAJOR CITIES

• Accra, the capital, has 10% of the total population. Kumasi is the capital of the Ashanti region. Sekondi has an artificial harbor and was the first modern port built in Ghana. Other major cities include Tema, Tamale, and Cape Coast. People living in urban areas account for 37 percent of the population.

GHANA DECLINE

• A little less than 200 years later, however, Ghana was not so lucky. Weakened by subsequent and frequent attacks, and cut-off from international trade of salt, gold, and other important things, the kingdom was vulnerable and unable to prevent defeat. In 1240 C.E., Ghana was conquered and absorbed/added into the growing nation of Mali, which would soon become the next great empire. Another reason Ghana fell from power, was after the attacks, when Ghana was still recovering, a drought came upon them and forced people to move out of the empire to find more food and water.

MALI

• 1200-1500

LOCATION

• Mali is bordered by Senegal and Mauritania to the west, Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, and Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, and Guinea to the south. Northern Mali is situated in the southern Sahara Desert and is a landlocked country. The coordinates of Mali are between latitudes of 10° and 25°N, and longitudes 13°W and 5°E. Mali has eight regions and one district. The capital of Mali is Bamako.

SUNDIATA

• While in exile, Sundiata became famous as a feared warrior and hunter. After several years, he decided to return to Mali. The people of Mali were fed up with the high taxes of the Soso rulers and were ready to revolt. Sundiata gathered an army and began to fight against the Soso. He won several small victories until he finally met the king of the Soso on the battlefield. Sundiata defeated the Soso in what would later be known as the Battle of Kirina. Legend has it that Sundiata killed the Soso King, Sumanguru, with a poisoned arrow.

ECONOMY

• The vast majority of Malians are employed in farming, herding, or fishing. Cotton and peanuts are the country's only significant cash crops, with millet, rice, corn, sorghum, and vegetables being the major food crops. Agriculture and herding have been increasingly hurt by the encroaching desert. Mali's industries are mainly limited to the processing of farm commodities, construction, and the manufacture of basic consumer goods. Gold, phosphate, kaolin, salt, limestone, and uranium are mined, and the country has extensive unexploited mineral resources, including bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper. Remittances from Malians working abroad are also an important source of income. The Manantali Dam on the Bafing River (a Senegal tributary) produces hydroelectric power.

PRODUCTS TRADED

• Like Ghana, Mali prospered from the taxes it collected on trade in the empire. All goods passing in, out of, and through the empire were heavily taxed. All gold nuggets belonged to the king, but gold dust could be traded. Gold was even used at times as a form of currency, as also were salt and cotton cloth.

MANSA MUSA PILMGRIMAGE

• Mansa Musa is mostly remembered for his extravagant hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca with, according to the Arab historian al-Umari, 100 camel-loads of gold, each weighing 300 lbs.; 500 slaves, each carrying a 4 lb. gold staff; thousands of his subjects; as well as his senior wife, with her 500 attendants. With his lavish spending and generosity in Cairo and Mecca, he ran out of money and had to borrow at usurious rates of interest for the return trip. Al-Umari also states that Mansa Musa and his retinue "gave out so much gold that they depressed its value in Egypt and caused its value to fall."

MANSA MUSA INFLUECE

• Mali achieved the apex of its territorial expansion under Mansa Musa. The Mali Empire extended from the Atlantic coast in the west to Songhai far down the Niger bend to the east: from the salt mines of Taghaza in the north to the legendary gold mines of Wangara in the south. Mansa Musa died in 1337. He had brought stability and good government to Mali, spreading its fame abroad and making it truly "remarkable both for its extent and for its wealth and a striking example of the capacity of the Negro for political organization" (E.W. Bovill, 1958, The Golden Trade of the Moors). back to top

MAJOR CITIES

• 1 Bamako 2 Sikasso 3 Mopti

THE FALL OF MALI

• At its height, The Mali Empire extended over an area larger than Western Europe but following Mansa Musa's death, the kingdom went into a long decline, shrinking to the size of its original territory by 1645.

SONGHAI

• 1500-1590

LOCATION

• The Songhai Empire was the largest and last of the three major pre-colonial empires to emerge in West Africa. From its capital at Gao on the Niger River, Songhai expanded in all directions until it stretched from the Atlantic Ocean (modern Senegal and Gambia) to what is now Northwest Nigeria and central Niger.

SUNNI ALLI

• FSunni Ali Ber was the first great leader of Africa’s Songhai Empire. Like other Songhais, as a young man Sunni Ali had been enlisted in the army of the Malian Empire, which then controlled Songhai areas around the Niger River. Sunni Ali organized an uprising against Malian rule and succeeded in capturing Djenne, Timbuktu, and other market centers. The Malians were driven out swiftly and a new empire was born. The success of the Songhai Empire was due to not just military might but a centralized power structure, headed first by Sunni Ali, that governed the vast empire. Sunni Ali remains a controversial figure. Although many regard him as a hero of his people, his military zeal and anti-Muslim rhetoric led others to call him a tyrant

ASKIA THE GREAT

• Askia the Great, also known as Muhammad Ture, was a Soninke king of the Songhai Empire in the late 15th century. Askia Muhammad strengthened his country and made it the largest country in West Africa's history. At its peak under Muhammad, the Songhai Empire encompassed the Hausa states as far as Kano (present-day Nigeria) and much of the territory that had belonged to the Mali Empire in the west. His policies resulted in a rapid expansion of trade with Europe and Asia, the creation of many schools, and he made Islam an integral part of the empire.

MAJOR CITIES

• Gao, Songhai's capital, which remains to this day a small Niger River trading center, was home to the famous Goa Mosque and the Tomb of Askia, the most important of the Songhai emperors. The cities of Timbuktu and Djenne were the other major cultural and commercial centers of the empire.

FALL OF SONGHAI

• In the late 16th century, the sultan of Morocco wanted West African's gold so he sent an army with 3000 men to the Songhai kingdom. They attacked the capital. Songhai was weak and the Moroccan army destroyed the Songhai kingdom.