1. Kingdoms of Africa
Originally created by Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

2. A Satellite View

3. Great Rift Valley
3,000 miles long

4. Africa: The “Tropical” Continent
Tropic of Cancer 20° N
Africa: The “Tropical” Continent
Equator 0°
Tropic of Capricorn 20° S

5. Vegetation Zones

6. Bantu Migrations Bantu – settled around sub-Sahara Africa
spread to the Nile
provided economic foundation for many African societies,

7. African Kingdoms
800 C.E C.E.

8. African Kingdoms
Ghana
Mali
Songhai

9. GHANA

11. Ghana Empire The Ghana Empire or Wagadou Empire (existed c. 750-1076)
southeastern Mauritania, Western Mali, Eastern Senegal
believed to be the first - of many empires in that part of Africa. eighth century,
Introduced the camel,

12. Ghana Empire
owed its prosperity to trans-Saharan trade strategic location near gold and salt exchanged for textiles ornaments
Many of the hand-crafted leather goods found in old Morocco also had their origins in the empire.
Ghana’s capital changed several times but the last and most famous of them was Kumbi. It became the biggest city south of the Sahara with some 15,000 inhabitants at its peak.

13. Ghana - few natural resources except salt and gold.
Very good making things from iron.
Ghanaian warriors used iron tipped spears – their foes fought with weapons made of stone, bone, and wood.

14. Ghana’s Economy & Decline
The empire struggled in the early 11th century.
By 1059, the population density around the empire's leading cities was seriously overtaxing the region.
The Sahara desert was expanding southward, threatening food supplies.

15. Mali

17. Mali Empire • The Mali Empire from c. 1235 to c. 1610.
• The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I.
• The Mali Empire had many profound cultural influences on West Africa allowing the spread of its language, laws and customs along the Niger River.

18. Mali Empire
The Mali Empire flourished because of trade It contained three immense gold mines
The empire taxed every ounce of gold or salt that entered its borders.
By the beginning of the 14th century, Mali was the source of almost half the Old World's

19. Ancient Timbuktu

20. A powerful king named Sundiata ruled this area from around AD. He led the people in conquering and expanding his kingdom to be as great as Ghana had been.
Perhaps the greatest king of Mali was Mansa Musa ( ). He developed the gold and salt trade of

21. Mansa Musa was a Muslim. He built many beautiful mosques or Islamic temples in western Africa.

22. In 1324, Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage or hajj to Mecca with 60,000 servants and followers and 80 camels carrying more than 4,000 pounds of gold to be distributed among the poor.
Salt, Copper, Gold

23. Songhay

25. Songhay Empire
The Songhai Empire, was a pre-colonial African state centered in eastern Mali.
From the early 15th to the late 16th Century, Songhai was one of the largest African empires in history.
capital was the city of Gao, where a small Songhai state had existed since the 9th Century. Its base of power was on the bend of the Niger River in present-day Niger and Burkina Faso.

26. Songhai Empire

27. Songhay Economy
The Songhai economy was based on a traditional caste system.
The most common castes were metalworkers, fishermen, carpenters. Lower caste participants consisted of
At the bottom were war captives and slaves obligated to labor, especially in farming.

29. This map was created in The same trade routes were used by the merchants of the Songhay kingdom.

30. The great Songhay leader, Sunni Ali saw that the kingdom of Mali was weakening and he led his soldiers to conquer the area. He began the kingdom of Songhay. He also set up a complex government to rule all the lands he had conquered.

31. Djenne