Kingdoms and States of Africa Chapter 7, Section 2

Kingdom of Ghana Ghana was located in West Africa Emerged around 500 CE Was a grassland kingdom and included some tropical rain forests

Kingdom of Ghana

Kingdom of Ghana Had a series of strong rulers who governed without a set of written laws Kings relied upon a well trained army to enforce their rules and to protect their wealth

Ghana’s economy Ghana had an abundant supply of iron Ghana’s blacksmith made many products which were in high demand (tools and weapons) Ghana also had a lot of gold Iron and gold made Ghana a major trading empire

Ghana’s traders exchanged their products across North Africa Sold iron and gold to Muslim traders for textiles, horses and salt Ghana also exported ivory, hides, and slaves

Trade was carried by the Berbers Berbers – nomadic peoples who used camel caravans to move products Camels became very important to trade, estimated that at times upwards of 100 camels could be in one caravan

Kingdom of Mali Ghana, like most early empires, fell due to warfare Was replaced in the 1100s CE by the Kingdom of Mali Mali was established by Sundiata Keita

Kingdom of Mali

Mali Sundiata defeated Ghana and created a strong central government His empire included the famous trading city of Timbuktu Mali built its power on trading salt and gold

Mansa Musa One of the powerful and richest rulers of Mali was Mansa Musa He ruled from 1312 to 1337 He doubled the size of his kingdom and then divided it into provinces to make it easier to govern

Mansa Musa Musa was a Muslim Decided to make a pilgrimage to Makkah When he went on his pilgrimage, he took thousands of servants and soldiers, hundreds of camels and gifts for other kings

Timbuktu Timbuktu became not only a central trading city It also became one of the intellectual capitals of the world 20,000 students would have attended the Sankore mosque at one time to study

Migration of the Bantus South of Axum, along the Indian Ocean These peoples were nomadic who spoke a dialect called Bantu They were subsistence farmers Subsistence farmers – growing crops for personal use, but not for sale

The Bantu people spread many new technologies Including iron-ore smelting and how to grow certain crops like yams, melons and beans

Trade Odds and Ends The eastern edge of Africa also saw great growth of trade Trade mainly with Muslim countries Built several great trading ports including Mogadishu and Mombasa

Trade also helped spread language and culture One of the key cultures that developed and was spread was that of Swahili

Swahili Swahili – means coast in Arabic and peoples of the coast The Swahili language was a mixture of Bantu and Arabic This allowed Africans to trade easily with Muslim traders