1. Aim: How did trade and the spread of Islam lead to florescence of new civilizations in West Africa?
Do Now: Read “The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade,” and answer the questions: (1) What natural resources were at the center of trade in West Africa? (2) How did trade lead to the spread of Islam in West Africa?
Homework: (1) Study for Quarterly Exam,
(2) Mansa Musa DBQ – due Wednesday 4/1/15

2. What are the natural resources?
Major Trade Routes
What are the natural resources?
How were they traded through the desert?
How did trade lead to expansion of civilization?
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3. African Civilizations -Traditional Society and Culture
Village Government – Power was shared among members of the community rather than exercised by a single leader. Decisions were often made by consensus.
Family Patterns – The nuclear family was common in hunting, and gathering societies. Parents and children worked and lived together.
Religious Beliefs – Varied. Many identified nature with divine spirits.

4. Rise and Fall of African Kingdoms
Towns became an important part of trade networks. Gold and salt were the most important products that were traded.
People needed salt in their diets to prevent dehydration. There was plenty of salt in the Sahara, but there was little in the savanna.

5. Rise and Fall of African Kingdoms
The Kingdoms of West Africa included: Ghana ( ), Mali ( ) and Songhai ( ).
In East Africa, the kingdom of Axum became a center of international trade

6. What geographical features, and natural resources, influenced the development of the West African empires?

7. Around AD 800, the rulers of many farming villages united to create the kingdom of Ghana.

8. Spread of Islam
Muslim merchants brought their religion and ideas when they settled in the kingdom of Ghana
Ghana was influenced by Muslim military technology, ideas about government, and cultural, such as Arabic writing and Muslim styles of architecture.

9. Mali
Mali was ruled by powerful kings, called mansas.
Mansa Musa, Mali’s most powerful ruler, Mali extended its borders and dominated West Africa.
Mansa Musa converted to Islam, and made the city of Timbuktu a center of Muslim learning.

10. Ibn Battuta

11. Ibn Battuta
Moroccan explorer of Berber descent. He is known for his extensive travels, accounts of which were published in the Rihla. Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of the known Islamic world, as well as many non-Muslim lands.
His journeys included trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Ibn Battuta is generally considered to be one of the greatest travellers of all time.