1. Aksum, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Zimbabwe
African Kingoms
Aksum, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Zimbabwe

2. Aksum (Axum)
Arabians crossed the Red Sea and intermarried with people from modern-day Ethiopia
These people created the kingdom of Aksum

3. Aksum gains power
In the 300’s AD, Aksum destroyed Kush, becoming the most powerful kingdom in Eastern Africa

4. A trading center
Aksum becomes an important trading center for goods around the Mediterranean, Africa, and Asia
Many new ideas introduced there, including Christianity

5. Aksum converts to Christianity
When a king named Ezana took the throne around 400 AD, he converted to Christianity and made Christianity the official religion of Aksum
There are still millions of Christians in this region today.

6. Islamic Invasions
The Muslim’s invasions into North Africa after Muhammad’s death cut into Aksum’s territory and isolated it
Aksum would endure and become Ethiopia, but would never have the power it once held.

7. Swahili
Refers to the people who live as far north as Somalia in the Horn of Africa and as far south
Indian Ocean trade they are linked with Arabs
Blend of Arab Culture
Islam

8. West Africa
Below the Sahara Desert is a semi-dry region characterized by grasslands called the Sahel (also called Savannah)
The region is rich in gold deposits

9. Gold-Salt Trade
The Sahel region lacks salt deposits, and so people there had to trade for salt from the Sahara Desert
Several powerful empires developed around the trade of gold and salt and would control much of Western Africa for almost 1,000 years

10. Camels
Camels allowed the gold-salt trade to be successful. They allowed people to transport great quantities of gold and salt longer distances.
Other pack animals cannot cross the Sahara, but camels can because they can go up to 40 days without water.

11. Ghana
No one is really sure when the Ghana kingdom began, but they do know that it became very powerful
It is located between the Niger River and the Sahara Desert
Ghana became powerful because of its control of gold in the gold-salt trade across the Sahara Desert

12. Ghana

13. Ghana declines
Ghana eventually declined in power, mostly because it lost its control of the gold trade and because new gold mines were found farther east

14. Animism
The worship of nature spirits- spirits in plants, animals, sun, water, etc.
People from Ghana worshipped an animist religion
Still prominent in parts of Africa today

15. Mali
As Ghana declined in the 1200’s AD, the kingdom of Mali gained in power.
Mali was centered around these new salt mines east of Ghana
Mali’s powerful king Sundiata Keita built an even larger empire
Several of its kings were very devout Muslims, even making the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).

16. Timbuktu
Mali established the city, Timbuktu, which was a center for trade and learning.
Universities were established to promote learning
Many converted to Islam, and built mosques.
Others incorporated parts of Islam into their animist beliefs

17. Mali and Timbuktu

18. Get out your books to page 416
Read the primary source:
What does the word abhorrence mean in this passage?
What do the people of Mali do to guilty people?
How do you think this affects the feeling of safety in Mali?

19. Songhai
Eventually, Mali declined, and Songhai took its place and built an even larger empire
Also was also based on the gold-salt trade
And, it inherited much of Mali’s blend of Islamic and animist traditions

20. Songhai

21. Zimbabwe
So what do we know about Zimbabwe? Z L

22. “Zimbabwe” means “stone houses”

23. Zimbabwe abandoned
No one knows why Zimbabwe was abandoned, but they think it was because the land was over grazed and the soil depleted

24. Your Mission Draw a map of Africa and:
Indicate the locations of the kingdoms of Egypt, Kush, Aksum (Axum), Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Zimbabwe
The location of the gold-salt trade
Indicate the years that Aksum, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Zimbabwe were in power
Indicate the religion of each
Indicate how each gained economic power